Train Crashes and Tornados and Teething - Oh My!

I think Led Zeppelin says it best, "I'm having a nervous breakdown, drive me insane." Unfortunately in my case it's not a cute girl induced nervous breakdown, it's more the stress of the random and not so random weirdness that seems to come with life as you get older. Which, btw, I realized lately that I no longer really feel old, the way I did when I was 28 or 29. And that is because I've realized that back then I WAS old, for a young person. But now I am YOUNG, for a middle-aged person. And somehow that brings me comfort. Anyway, here are some pictures from the tornado. I was at work when it hit, evacuating people to the safe area, thinking it was probably not much of anything. But as soon as I pulled out of the garage to head home, I could tell something had definitely happened. Huge old trees were toppled all over the place, and I had to vary my route a few times. (And a. I love love love weather excitement and b. I hate that seriously at least half, if not more of, the old trees in my neighborhood have been lost now, do to weather or illness. bummer.) When I got home there were people outside milling around, inspecting the damage, even though it was dark and the power was out. Fortunately my power came back on the next day (thanks in part to my brother who works at ComED) but we did lose a refrigerator's worth of food and had some damage to the garage and the yard.








Here's the aftermath of the brush cut up:


And here is a picture of Liam with his sunflowers, that were getting pretty tall before the damn tree fell on them and smooshed them. As God is his witness, He'll plant again!! (fist shaking toward the heavens)

I Want a Do-Over (or, Everybody Must Get Stoned)

The weekend started with a breakfast that included me and my four favorite boys. Then we whisked the three littlest boys to my in-laws for their first over night stay since Aidan was born. Next stop - 90 minute massages for me and Eric. Doesn't that sound amazing? Except for some reason shortly afterward, (i.e. near the start of our freedom,) I became soooo tired I could hardly muster any energy for the rest of the ENTIRE DAY/NIGHT/NEXT MORNING. Curses!

I don't know if I can blame it entirely on the massage, though I know that was a part of it, (even though they've never affected me like that in the past) but I'm sure my perpetual state of near-exhaustion contributed too. We did go out for lunch (Pick Me Up) and dinner (Ben Pao) and a movie (Midnight in Paris at the Century Center Cinema) and picked up The Tourist on the way home and watched that, and the next morning we went to that sexy, shimmery place called Home Depot to get mulch. So I can't say all was lost, but really, when you have a weekend to yourself and you feel like you've been given Phenobarbital, you get to complain a little bit, right?

However, as a consolation prize I did chip a small piece of my tooth late last week. (Not "my tooth" as in my one and only tooth, but "my tooth" as in one of my teeth, most of which I still have.) Why is that so awesome, you ask? Well a. it didn't hurt, b. it didn't require a root canal or any other horrible procedure and c. when I went to the dentist today he gave me the badass-feel-good-hookup, that only gets better the more you breathe. Plus then he reenacted the Tonys for me, and let me tell you I don't know who was higher. All my tensions and stress melted away, and everything was once again happy in Donnaland. So the lesson I learned is that next time Eric and I have a weekend to ourselves I should create a dental problem for myself and then go to the dentist. Let the games begin.

Ah, hindsight.

ps. Blonde on Blonde is the perfect album to listen to on a beautiful summer day riding home from grandma and grandpa's house in the country.