Boxes

This was the day we hit the tipping point: More empty boxes to be used for packing than actual stuff in our home we can pack.

Snow Day

All this within about two hours. It's big for Silver City.

Haz-Mat Fantasia

Oh...this is a semi-long story that I'm not sure I'm creative enough to re-tell right now. Why didn't I post this back in February when it was current? Can you tell who this is?:

Excerpt from an email I wrote my family the weekend of the event...which was around Valentine's Day:

Chocolate Fantasia was from noon-4pm, and Simon & I walked around to collect our 20 chocolates (choosing from the 30 possible sites).

Our first stop was to the Curious Kumquat to see "crazy daddy" who scared Simon a little at first. Rob had a whole "chocolate experience" planned and was very secretive about it - so we had to wait in line (in the 65 degree sunshine!) until one of two "danger guides" led us through the experience. As we waited in line we had to read a page of directions explaining that it was experiential, don't tell anyone about it, etc. etc. also a minimal disclosure about the ingredients for anyone w/ allergies. Anyone who chose the "normal" route went straight into the store and got their normal chocolate from the employee at the register. Anyone choosing danger had to wait for a guide.

Adam came out in his full haz-mat garb and led us inside. Once we were out of earshot, he talked in a normal voice to Simon & said "hi buddy," after which Simon was okay with "crazy daddy."

For those of you who have been to the Curious Kumquat, the "danger" route took us to the right, through the tea tasting room, and then through a bunch of plastic sheeting that sectioned off the "chamber." The air smelled thickly of chocolate (I learned later that after every other person Adam had a spray bottle to mist "chocolate air" into the chamber. It was actually an "edible perfume" with a flavor/scent of hot chocolate.)

So we get into this plastic-sheeting draped chocolate experience chamber (which is actually their storage/delivery room) where it's dimly lit and heavily chocolate-laden in the air. Adam hands a

chocolate to me and says "we recommend eating your chocolate here in the aroma chamber for the best chocolate experience" or something like that. It was too dark to really be able to see what it looked like, but it tasted pretty good. Then you step outside through more plastic sheeting (sort of like a carwash, actually) and there are several large signs to read as you walk out the back door & back to the parking lot. They basically said, "we hope you enjoyed your cilantro cheesecake with chocolate air" or something like that - because I guess that's what it was. :)

It was a fun experience. Later Adam said he was sweating really bad in all that gear, and Rob kept having to wipe the chocolate mist off his goggles when he'd come outside b/c he couldn't really see through them. Ew. He kinda smelled like chocolate for the rest of the afternoon. :)

College Night

On Monday nights I'm typically rehearsing with our local Chamber Singers choir. It's a fun group, and I enjoy the music. I'm an alto, and I think the alto section is probably the craziest & most fun. Most rehearsal nights we plan "what we're going to do the next week" - and it's typically something pretty silly. St. Patrick's Day we wore green, and the week of Valentine's we all wore red - not too wild. But sometimes it's "band-aid" night and we all have a band-aid somewhere on our faces. Inevitably, on a night such as that, the director will say something about everyone else keeping a distance from the altos "who appear to have all gotten some strange affliction." Silly. One night not too long ago we did "college night" - which, for most of us, meant simply wearing a shirt from our alma mater. I happened to have a little flair left from a basketball game over 2 years ago. Go Calvin!

Calvin, Calvin, sing we all to thee
Our dear alma mater we pledge fidelity

Forever faithful to maroon and gold

Thy name we ever shall uphold!*

*Note of corny family trivia for you: I actually learned this song from my parents (both went to Calvin) and NOT from actually being at Calvin. I'm sure my kids will learn it too - just b/c it's sometimes fun to sing.

Strike!

I was recently reading an issue of Entertainment Weekly from a few weeks ago, and the cover story was Conan's writers' strike survival guide...i.e. what to do with yourself now that you can't vegetate in front of the boob tube every night as you otherwise would. I found myself rolling my eyes & feeling like those TV addicts needed to get a life. But then...

Late Friday afternoon our phone stopped working. I changed to the phone with the cord, thinking it was somehow a problem with the cordless not being fully charged, but the same static/buzz was there. Then we realized that the phone was only giving a busy signal when anyone called it, and our internet was out too.

Suddenly I was the victim of my own mini-strike of technological distraction. It was a weekend, and I couldn't call anyone, and I couldn't get online to blog - or check email - or look things up. I felt so restless! And then I realized that I wasn't any different from the TV watchers I'd so harshly judged earlier that day. But then I also realized that it wasn't that long ago we didn't have internet easily accessible. And how many times have I gone on wilderness retreats, or even just camping, and had no technology (not even a light bulb) for a week?

So I reminded myself of how fun it is to have limited technology. On top of it all, the weather was wintry - as you might expect February to be, but not so much in New Mexico. Sunday the sky was increasingly cloudy and the wind was powerful. Today we had the same strong wind, complete cloud cover, but we also got lots of snow (for here). To top it off, Simon had hurt his arm yesterday and I was reluctant to shuffle him in & out of the car if it wasn't necessary, so we just hibernated at home.

The phone didn't ring. I didn't have to call anyone or check emails. I just played with my kid in our warm house while it blew blustery horizontal snow outside. And it was a wonderful, snuggly, sweet day.

Late this afternoon a guy from the phone company came & fixed a few things, so even though we still have a little repairing to do, we at least have our phone & internet functioning again. But I didn't get online right away, and I still haven't called anyone. I wonder if I could do a self-imposed technology strike while home (it's easier while camping - you don't expect to check Facebook!) periodically, to remind myself of how easy it is to become dependent on external communication rather than just being here, present, with my kiddo.