So. What did you guys think about the Oscars? Kind of a snooze, I thought. When I watched Seth McFarlane announce the nominations, I felt like he was singularly unfunny, and nothing really dispelled that opinion last night. The Michelle Obama part was pretty cool, though. I vote for Tina and Amy next year.

We all focused on recovery this weekend. I'm still fighting an upper respiratory thing, and I'm debating heading to the doctor today. I am getting better, but I'm not well yet and it's been three weeks now. But the doctor is a haul from here and it's such a hassle. This shouldn't be a decision, but for some reason, it is. We stuck with bland food Friday night but braved an oyster roast/fundraiser for a friend of ours who is running for local office on Saturday. The event was held at one of my favorite locations in Norfolk (see that view in #7? not shabby) and it was a misty, cold and drizzly day. To my mind though, this is the quintessential Norfolk oyster roast: steam rising off the grill, trays of hot oysters and rolls of paper towels, bottles of hot sauce on all the tables. It should be chilly and misty (and if the crowd is small enough, there should be bloody marys, but that's for another day). There was a pig at this event too and live music doing Grateful Dead covers. It was a great afternoon, and we were thrilled for our friend. Thrilled for our city too, to see so many young adults come out and get involved in the civic life of our community. That's exciting.

I've been working on a river series of photos in my 365, and my original goal had been to get a shot of the river from its vantage point near our home on Fridays because my commute is shifted a bit to allow me the time. Callum's ski accident a couple Fridays back messed up that plan one week in (this is how things always go for me!), so I got a shot Saturday that week. Okay, so maybe weekend river shots? Because this Saturday I missed too, using this shot instead. Sunday morning, I woke up to early fog. Nobody else was up, so I threw a coat on over my jammies and snuck down to the river for my weekend shot. I'm glad I did it, but I was sleepy for the rest of the day.

Poor Callum stayed mired in make-up work all weekend, but I made him muffins, and Neel hung our Valentine's gift: a photo of all three of our girls, each as their best selves. And then we come full circle, back to the Oscars. We watched with our neighbors who have a new baby. Pizza on the grill and some salad. Some wine and dip and catching up. Slow-moving Sunday. Those are the best, aren't they?

I can't thank you all enough for your sweet and funny comments about our recent travails! I'm hopping on to respond to all of your comments now, but thank you, thank you. We have one more week to get through before Spring Break...I think we might just make it!

Moving slow today. We had the last of Callum's conferences this morning and I seem to have caught his cold overnight. Go me. I think I'll take all of the brilliant advice offered on Friday and crawl back under the covers pretty sharpish. I'm feeling the need for some tea and sympathy. All in all we had a good weekend though. Callum is feeling much better, despite a lingering cough, and I got to kick things off with coffee with a dear friend on a rainy Friday. A surprise giftie from my mom totally made my day! She and I had both bemoaned the difficulties of my present hand mixer. It had so much power that it was actually somewhat terrifying to use! This one is apparently a bit easier to manage. We'll try with another batch of muffins but maybe tomorrow. That led me to give away the old mixer in the gigantic clean-out Neel made us do on Saturday (see #6). That room was originally the back bedroom of our house, so when our master addition was built, right before we moved in, it became something of a pass-through room. You have to go through it to get to our bedroom, which makes it great for a nursery (not necessary) or office (that's the ticket!). Since we walk through that room everyday and since those bookshelves are what we see from our bed, it's kind of important that the room is a little pulled together. It looks much better now.

It was a good cooking weekend. I did a tuna with black bean sauce, roasted asparagus and coconut rice for dinner on Saturday night. We're trying to cook nicer dinners together on Saturdays, but since Callum was still feeling a bit wiped out and he and Neel were in the middle of a Sherlock Holmes marathon, I took over. It's all good. And I'm not always in the mood to do a big brunch, but this Sunday I was, and that was very good. Neel handled dinner Sunday: don't you know? Beer-Butt Chicken! Our fave! My mashed potatoes have been a bit of a fail lately though. This time, I'm blaming the potato.

I think the high point of the weekend for Neel was getting a new drill. His plan for the weekend involved removing part of our back fence, and his current drill wasn't up to the task. And here's the sweet story. Neel comes home from the big box hardware store saying he'd spent more than he'd wanted to (uh, $20 more, but whatevs). He got lots of help, and initially landed on a drill that was under his budget. Then he mournfully turns to the woman who had been helping him and says, "But it's ugly." After she stopped laughing, she had to agree. Ultimately, he bumped up his budget that last little bit and came home with a drill that I swear I saw him hug once or twice out in the yard. I get it. I totally do. When I order this lens in a few weeks, I plan on sleeping with it.

Okay kids. Thanks for bearing with me and being patient. Things are trucking along here. Lurching, actually. I know it hasn't been smooth sailing here at SPL, but I've brought in reinforcements and I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Soon! We'll be back on track. Love you, my ducks. XO

Weekend Recap, February 25 edition

Weekend Recap, February 11 edition