Virtual Family Bake Off

I received a call from my son Thursday evening.  This is a somewhat unusual occurrence as the last time I spoke to him was on the occasion of his 31st birthday back in early February.  In our defense, we are both busy professionals working much more than your typical 40-hour work week, so we don’t have a lot of spare time for idle chit-chat.

Derek and Ton Ton
Derek and Ton Ton

We exchanged pleasantries and got caught up on the latest antics of their new pet Rottweiler, Ton Ton, when he popped the question.  You know, the one you always expect when your offspring call you because they never call you unless they … wait for it … want something.  But this time, my son surprised me.  He wanted my Italian Herb bread recipe.

Seriously?  This was too easy and too good to be true.

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Birthday Bonanza

I scramble every year during this second week of November.  When I was a kid, I only had to remember that my dad’s birthday was the 18th.  Then, as I got older, approaching my adolescence, I added my uncle (my father’s younger brother) on the 17th.  Yes, that’s right, one day before my dad.  They are separated by four years minus one day.  Also, their youngest sibling, my aunt, falls in November, but thankfully it’s after Thanksgiving.

I left home and went off to college in Wichita, where I met my future husband (thirty years ago this past September).  I won’t share that story in this post, as it’s a poorly kept secret among close relatives and friends.  I shouldn’t have been surprised though to discover that his birthday falls on November 14th, four days before my dad.

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My Pseudo-Google Alter-Ego

My husband and I trade salvos across the DMZ of household organization, not constantly, but consistently.  I am highly organized virtually, but lack motivation for the more tangible aspects on the home front (I’ll let you translate that however you want).  Terry is just highly organized (I will refrain from further labeling or categorizing in the interest of keeping the peace).

With the prospect of a mostly rainy three-day weekend to look forward to, I’ve decided to de-clutter the front closet.  Tonight, Terry and I will inventory all our winter coats and jackets, with an eye towards donating most of them to GoodWill Saturday morning.  I also plan to relocate all the orphaned games from when Rachelle and Derek were children, possibly storing them in the closets of their old bedrooms.  I can make better use of that shelf for storing kitchen-related items, since our house does not have a pantry (beyond a small cabinet-like area next to the refrigerator).   I envision reclaiming some of my counter space and pantry space by storing the crockpot, blender and other small appliances on the shelf in that closet.

Terry also suggested a couple of days ago that we finally work on Rachelle’s ‘green’ bedroom.  This is the room I hope to turn into an office/library/reading room.  Her ‘purple’ bedroom requires a lot more work, including purchasing a shredder to permanently deal with documents of a sensitive nature that we no longer need to store but can’t really just throw away intact.  Once we get that clutter dealt with, we can finish remodeling the room by installing the wood floor.  We removed the carpet for Rachelle in both rooms to help ease the symptoms of her asthma and allergies.

When I need to find something at home, I rely heavily on my photographic memory (not audio-graphic, just photographic … if I’ve seen it, I remember it) and my brain’s ability to find the memory with a speed that sometimes rivals an internet search engine (but is slowing as I age, sadly).  Terry … just calls me … or yells for me (if I’m within earshot).

While I can remember, almost with install recall, whatever I’ve seen, Terry amazes me with his ability to remember, replicate and improve what he hears.  He puts this ability to exceptional use as a rhythm guitarist (because he also possesses impeccable timing) for his band WolfGuard.  I hope he’ll get an opportunity to compose a few more originals soon as he’s also a gifted composer.   I’m looking forward to their next gig a week from Saturday and hoping they book a few more shows over the summer.

It’s a long-running joke between us that when I receive the phone call that begins with “I can’t find … ” from Terry, my first response is “And you stood in the middle of the room and couldn’t find it …” meaning if it didn’t jump up and bite him, he couldn’t find it.   This happened today, but only in reverse.  Terry couldn’t find his cell phone (therefore he couldn’t call me to ask where it was and I was too far away to hear him yell).  When he did find it, he called me to tell me he couldn’t find it from the middle of the room, but once he moved towards his favorite recliner, he spied it under something, where it had fallen on the floor beside said recliner.  Predictably, I laughed.  He ended the conversation abruptly, responding to an urgent call of nature, to which I replied, “Yes, please don’t stand in the middle of the room and do that.”