Boots and dogs and boots and dogs

I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow on Monday night and didn’t wake up until the alarm went off on Tuesday morning. I only mention this because it rarely happens and it always feels like a major accomplishment even though I can’t take any credit for it because if I knew what I did to make that happen then I would do it every night for the rest of my life.

But I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to face the day. I got Caroline up and ready for school and then let Piper and Mabel ride with us because it is one of their favorite things in the world. And to their great delight, a man wearing a helmet on a motorcycle pulled up behind us at a stoplight. You can’t even imagine the excitement this turn of events caused.

After I dropped Caroline off at school, Piper, Mabel and I came home and they sat around and watched me while I drank my coffee. Mabel was feeling especially needy and propped her head right on my knee to make sure I hadn’t forgotten she existed.

I posted that picture on Instagram and someone mentioned it looks like Mabel wants to start a blog. But I don’t know that a blog is really her thing. I think she’d be more likely to open a Tumblr account and post a lot of dramatic poetry about being in love with a city she’s never been to and in love with a dog she’s never met along with some of her favorite quotes from various philosophers. She might even include some illustrations from a comic strip she’s working on about a family of raccoons who adopted a skunk named Lola and maybe a few self-portraits of herself wearing a beret. The possibilities are really endless.

After I finished my coffee, I did some more laundry and finished my grocery store list and then I had some things to return to Old Navy because Caroline needs long sleeve t-shirts but doesn’t like any long sleeve t-shirts that exist anywhere in the world. And then I meant to go the grocery store but I got distracted and came home to regroup. The bottom line is I was very conflicted about what to cook for dinner. I have no idea why. It’s like now that the weather is cold I feel like I have so many dinner time options because of all the soups and stews and such that I am unable to make a decision. I vacillated between chicken and dumplings, jambalaya, tortellini soup, and beef stew and so I regret to inform you that I ultimately ended up cooking pork chops.

I can’t even explain what happened. It just seemed easier when it came right down to it and I decided to save the soups or the stew or the dumplings for tomorrow night. Plus P decided to take Caroline to Cavenders because she needs a new pair of cowboy boots and I wasn’t sure what time they would be finished and even as I’m typing this I can’t tell you how that really has anything to do with my decision to cook pork chops.

And they came home from Cavenders with no boots. Honestly, it validates me as a mother and a human and a shopper to know that P didn’t have any more success shopping with her than I do. She’s a little like Mabel and in love with a boot she hasn’t met yet.

We finally managed to find a pair online that appear to be possibly acceptable but we won’t know until they get here because boots are kind of a hard thing to buy without trying on, but hooray for free shipping and free returns. And the internet. How else would we have been able to look at every boot that has ever been made that comes in a size 5 1/2 or a 6? We wouldn’t have.

And that’s pretty much what’s been going on here. Or as Mabel quoted Henry David Thoreau this morning, “The true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. It is a little star dust caught, a segment of the rainbow which I have clutched.”

She is so smart.