i just want to say that i'm on draft 2.5 of the dissertation chapter i started last time we went to norway. this morning i was on draft 2.3 so somewhere there's progress--even if it means that i actually cut three pages and rearranged sections so that you could read it without wanting to put forks in your eyes. and really i think this happened because i heard owen downstairs asking my mom to read sections from for whom the bell tolls. i confess to not having actually read it yet--which is why it's downstairs on the coffee table as part of my new intrigue with hemingway or rather expat writers and their posthumous memoirs--but i heard nana reading something about snow. owen said "read the next poem!". so maybe that's the real progress, right? or maybe it means my son will finish my dissertation for me when he reaches eight.
the monday post from the friday five
(it's been a crazy week and without my laptop i've been a bit slow in all things computerish but here's our friday five from last friday wtih pics taken from my barely-haning-in-there phone while down at the treepark but it makes me happy nonetheless and we can always use some extra friday joy!)
five things to do with a pair of pretend kitchen tongs:
5. wear them as headphones 4. pick grass 3. use them to keep the sun out of your eyes 2. make a pretty necklace 1.reach the tippy tops of the trees
let's go
so the conversation started something like--so why do you want to go to alaska when you're in norway? if you want to go anywhere, we should go to paris. you know, they have fabulous carousels for kids. and he said--well, if you come to norway i'll take you to paris. and i said, i can come to norway, can you take us to paris?
and that's how i like to think of it--this flirty i-dare-you conversation with the guy i've been madly in love with since i was 18. and my best friend. and really that's how it went. but it wasn't so much about paris as it was about that big happiness quote i posted a couple weeks ago. because this thing we've been doing works as long as it works. and at a certain poitn you have to acknowledge when you just can't do the maddening commute and when it breaks your heart that daddy comes home to visit. and all the practical things have been done and it's time to just go for it. sooo. we're going to norway. all of us and this is my public proclamation. mind you it's no 12 week homestay but we're packing up and driving the dog back up to seattle and spending six weeks together as a crazy live out of three suitcases threesome. we're in the process of figuring out dates and such and this is my prayer of sorts out in the universe that all things conspire to good. so far we're looking at mid may-june so, as they say, stay tuned.
this is my green library chair
this afternoon we returned some videos to the library and chose another round of books--owen has decided that he has his own library chair and has taken to given his own book readings. he grabbed dr. seuss oh say can you say? and really gave the dr. a run for his nonsense rhyme with what can be nothing less than owen-ese. i realized that despite the fact that the faceplate is completely blank and the screen has huge black blobs after getting run over by a golf cart my little verizon phone still takes mini video clips--i missed the seuss but i did get this rendition of a book about shaumu the killer whale. move over miss peggy!
owen top 5
Just arrived here in Norway, and travelled for 28 hours to get here -- gave me some time to think back about the week at home, and come up with my Owen top 5:
1 walks to tree park These was fun just walking and trying to get Owen to follow -- he seemed to go at his own very slow pace and find sticks in letter shapes.
2 puzzle time Crazy for the puzzles -- it doesn't matter how "tricky" they are.
3 garbage truck song Maybe he knows that i'm faking my way through this by changing the words to the wheels on the bus song, but he still smiles.
4 daddy.. where are you! Always catching me sneaking off to check my email, or work on taxes and bills.
5 owen writing his name On the special get well card to grandpa -- owen wrote his name -- scarily good for his age.