Better than Thursday

Thursday, after the most bizarre work experience of my life, and after I sat on the couch drinking diet Coke and watching Dr. Phil in a complete daze, I met up with Pat and we walked over to the photo building for Greta's art show premiere. I avoided crying in front of any of the students and parents, and we enjoyed looking at the preschoolers' artwork. The kids in Greta's class made artwork inspired by Leo Lionni books. Look how cute!

After the art show, we went back home, and there was a very exciting package for Greta. Pat had ordered her a pink electric guitar and amplifier. This may not seem especially interesting on the surface, but it seems notable to me, because maybe 20 minutes after we found out I was pregnant and Pat and I got over the initial OMG-we're-having-a-baby! excitement, the first thing Pat said was, "I need to start thinking about what kind of guitar to buy the baby." I suggested he wait a little while since she was pretty much a zygote. Since that conversation, Pat has spent quite a bit of time researching guitars for kids, weighing the options, and he finally settled on the perfect one. Greta loves her new guitar, and it matches all of her outfits perfectly. :)

Friday evening, we headed over to NTID for a contemporary dance performance of Sleeping Beauty. Our good friend Amy was one of the dancers, and we knew Greta would love seeing Amy perform AND see one of her favorite princess stories set to dance. It was really fun, and Greta hasn't stopped talking about how cool Amy is since.

Saturday we lazed around a lot. The big thing is after Greta went to bed, Pat and I cooked our annual Valentine's dinner. Given my employment predicament, the menu probably should have consisted of hobo beans, but we splurged for organic beef tenderloin, sautéed mushrooms, beet and warm goat cheese salad, good bread, and we opened a nice bottle of wine from our collection. The food was great, and we watched a romcom we both actually liked (500 Days of Summer), and we just generally had a nice night. We ended up waiting to have our dessert until today, since we were way too full to eat it, but I made chocolate soufflé. I am still far from mastering soufflé, but at least this time I made it the soufflé did rise (the only other time I attempted soufflé it came out flat as a pancake). No pictures. I was too busy eating.

What else? I am feeling much better about the whole getting-laid-off thing as of today. Other than my freshman year in college, I've had a regular job since I turned 15. I am staying positive about finding something else I'll enjoy doing (or like even better!), and, meantime, I'm determined to enjoy my mini temporary retirement. I'm looking forward to the challenge, including finding ways to save money, and living off the land and my wits and riding the rails (well, okay, maybe not that last part).

Oh, yeah, and happy Valentine's Day.

Fran