Ultimate Luxury

two dozen white roses from the supermarket: $25


eight long-coveted vintage china dinner plates, ebay: $20


shoes that turn wearer into fairy ballerina princess,
post-holiday department store sale: $50

A Christmas without a single credit card charge: priceless.

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Curious how the holiday decorating went? I've been uploading new pictures here.

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Building a Mystery

strange portrait of me writing, courtesy of my three year old son.

It occurred to me today that many of you are still wondering and worrying about us, and that I need to let you know that good things are happening around here. It's still too early to write the latest chapter in the story, but it feels like we've turned the corner.

I can tell you it got worse before it got better. On the off chance my sister, my mother, and Jen turn out not to be delusional, and I ever get to sit on a talk show couch with a book of mine in hand, I will have some damn good stories to tell. Let's just say I had my Debra Winger in Terms of Endearment moment. You know, right before she starts sleeping with John Lithgow.

At any rate, the wind has shifted. Patrick is suddenly snowed under with work. Since last Sunday, he has had about twelve hours sleep. You won't hear either one of us complaining. Decisions have been made and some big changes are on the horizon, which you'll hear about in due course.

Before all that good stuff happened, my mom decided she just couldn't hack the long-distance worrying, and booked a flight to join us for Christmas. She arrives tomorrow night, and we are beyond excited. It's going to be a good end to a tough year.

Maybe the beginning of a great new one.

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The Rocking Horse Winner

And so the house came to be haunted by the unspoken phrase: There must be more money! There must be more money!

The Rocking Horse Winner, DH Lawrence

Last week, the lovely Nina Smith interviewed me about the challenges and rewards of our freefalllancing lifestyle, for Blogher. You can read it here, if you like. And I promise you our story is a slightly more upbeat read than Lawrence.

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Weekend Update

Birthday party season is back in full swing. Multiply three children in school or pre-school by fifteen to twenty classmates each and you get a pretty good idea how I spend my weekends during the school year. If we decide to sell our house, I vote we replace it with an Airstream trailer. Then we can just tow it to whatever party facility all the kids have unanimously decided is this year's must-rent and live out of it. With the gas money saved, I could afford presents.

This weekend we got hit with four birthdays, three girls, one boy. You do the math.

Yesterday I set out on a mission to find four birthday gifts on a limited budget. Bonus challenge: they could not be junk. At the dollar store I was able to put together three girly-girl bags that I think would pass for boutique swag. And for a nine-year-old boy, a dartboard, consigned to the discount store by retailers who feared it would put somebody's eye out. But in light of the Mattel toys lead-contamination scandal, a toy with visible hazards might be a welcome change.

The total damage for four presents, including gift bags? Twenty five dollars. Turns out, I am the poster girl for frugal living.

In other news:

Wrangling three little boys into church clothes, through an hour-long service, and away from the refreshments table is not nearly as much fun as you might think.

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