Sunday, May 15, 2005
It has been a long and tiring weekend. Not restful. I did get a lot accomplished. I got the condo straightened and cleaned up for showing. Tomorrow the carpets are being cleaned professionally. The neutral paint on the walls looks gross to me, but hopefully it will help sell the place.
Alesia started her periods on Friday – Friday the 13th. She took it all very calmly, and didn’t seem too perturbed. Granny and I were secretly sort of relieved, since she had been somewhat of a pill all last week – so this explains it, we thought.
Yesterday morning, the poor baby woke up to quite a mess. I’ll spare you the details. Major laundry had to be done. I had to instruct her in certain things. It was traumatic for us both. My plans for taking her swimming had to wait.
We went to see a cute movie yesterday, Monster In Law. Very funny. Jane Fonda was in it [I can hear my father still “She should’ve been shot for a traitor!”] Personally, I like her exercise videos and most of her movies. I ignore her politics. I ignore the politics of MOST people in Hollyweird.
We got a LOT of boxes unpacked yesterday. Mom is feeling much better. We had 6 huge cartons to unpack in the dining room, and that was a major pain, but we unpacked like crazy, put up some lace curtains and got the china cabinet in order, and it looks really nice.
We hung several paintings and mirrors around yesterday, even though we still haven’t gotten to all the boxes. The paintings really make the place look more homey. We’ve gotten a lot done – I can tell by looking out the window to the mailbox. There are many bags of garbage and flattened boxes for the trash folks to pick up tomorrow.
This morning we were rudely awakened about 6:30 by a huge clap of thunder that knocked out the power just long enough to screw up the clocks. I was lying in bed thinking about having to put on clothes and run down to the front courtyard and move in the flattened boxes out of the rain, and suddenly Alesia appeared, “Mom, I scared.” That’s my little girl, puberty or not.
My friend Kate and her husband and son and mother came over for brunch today. Mom and I had fixed a breakfast casserole, and had fresh fruit and croissants. It was a good spread. They ate well, which pleased Mom enormously.
Kate and her mother both work at a nursery, and they gave us a lot of good information about the plants, and of course the many many weeds we need to get rid of. I bought some Weed Be Gone and meant to put it at least on the graveled paths, but found no time to accomplish that this weekend. Bob, Kate’s husband, explained to me about the pump in the fishpond. Now we just need to find the button to push to make the pump work. And clean out the algae. And weed, and knock down the renegade bamboo shoots which have sprung up everywhere. Lots of work. The house is priority #1, however.
Alesia and I and Kate and her family all went to the Festival of Russian Culture at the Jewish Community Center. There were several displays of professional artwork. The children’s art, from Alesia’s class, was displayed also. Only one of Alesia’s drawings was displayed, which was something of a disappointment. She didn’t seem bothered. Some of the kids’ artwork was almost professional looking. I thanked the teacher, who was very nice. She gave Alesia a certificate and a gift, some very nice watercolors.
We also bought Alesia a book in Russian, a mystery. I want her to keep reading Russian, so she won’t forget her language.
We had tea in a Russian tearoom [actually a classroom they had decorated, beautifully], and a woman sang a folk song. It was fun. The tea was Lipton. That was actually authentic – I saw a lot of Lipton tea in Russia.
When we got home I was too pooped to do anything. I watched a DVD movie called “Birth.” It stars an actor I like, Danny Huston. Dreadfully bad film. Really awful. I’m sorry I got it. Yikes.
This is Alesia’s last week of school. She is excited. We bought a present for her favorite teacher on Saturday, Miss Kerivan. She is Russian, and has been extremely kind to Alesia. We bought her some travel accessories. She is going to Russia this summer.
We got back Alesia’s formal portraits yesterday. They look really nice. She doesn’t look at all awkward, like most girls her age. She looks really cute. Of course, I am proudly biased…
