Five Things! Start of a Long Weekend Edition

It’s Saturday morning and the girls and I are doing Saturday morning things. Cartoons and novels are involved and we just had eggs and toast for breakfast. In a bit here, we are headed to yoga and then maybe a stop at the bookshop to give my employee a break (the girls do not know that part yet). Long, holiday weekends, especially ones that are call-filled, used to feel me with dread. I am so thankful for older children! Telfer isn’t working the entire weekend – we went to a lovely dinner last night and we are meeting good friends at the park this afternoon. He will join us part-way through. I am opening the bookshop on Monday, but Telfer will be home. We are also plotting the perfect Memorial Day hamburger…

Here are five things that made my week.

1. These two girls. I love being their mom and watching them play and love each other.  I was sitting with them while they ate their dinner this week (english muffins and eggs – we are fancy) and asked if I could send Daddy a picture of them together being sweet sisters. Of course, they fight and have unkind moments, but a good chunk of the time they are becoming increasingly good friends.

2. Telfer and I watched the finale of Mad Men on Sunday night. It packed a punch. Telfer made Manhattans of course and I sort of leaked all the way through the episode. I have been worried about Don for so many years…I won’t give anything away because everyone should watch this show at some point but! I was very satisfied with the ending. (I tend to be satisfied with most endings. I get that I am not the writer).

3. I finally read Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast this week. Such a moving, funny, and infuriating portrayal of her parent’s last years. I am never going to drink Ensure! We have sold so many copies of this at the bookshop and I feel vaguely like a terrible person recommending a book that I have not read. I am in the same boat with Americanah which is still sitting on my shelf giving me the stink eye.

4. This, my friends, is The Tangle Teaser. I read about it on a blog and approximately 19 seconds later ordered it. Cate’s hair is really thick and she’s never been able to comb it herself. Picture post-bathtime hair combing. It’s never been fun, for her or for me. But she can Tangle Tease! Yes, it’s already a verb in our house. Life-changing.

5. I have been posting on Instagram the various sets we have at the bookshop for possible collection candidates. Which also make great presents. So far, I have posted Puffin in Bloom and Penguin Threads and of course I am going to do Penguin Dropcaps and Harper Perennials. Am I missing any others? I am going to gather as many as I can and post all of them on the shop blog at once. Thoughts?