Bibliomama

 I am trying really hard not to lose it, but I am so jumpy and my stomach is so heavy, FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We're in really good shape. I just finished the third of three batches of biscuits, ribs and chicken for 22 are in the freezer (some people cook at camp, but I can't do that, so I cook at home and we do our dinner one of the first nights there). I just have to heat up and then decant my pineapple simple syrup and the food is done. And my hands are still a little bit functional - thanks to the really great super-sharp knives I bought on prime day after the last time I tried to slice the skin off a pork roast and destroyed my hand for four days - and my back is bad but not terrible. That's better than many years. Now we just have to get there and set everything up and there, alas, lies the rub. Matt convinced me not to cook more rotini for the rotini and grilled corn salad. We always end up with too much food, and I said merrily "oh well, if this is the year we ru...

 1. ANGUS IS HOME. For a little bit, before he moves SUPER FAR AWAY, let's be in denial about that part. He's going to come camping to Sandbanks with us, which is good because Eve is not, for I think the first time since we started, and I think I would be sad to be there completely offspring-less. Angus loves camping in a way that Eve doesn't, which is totally fair because she has skin issues and gut issues that are invariably triggered by something at some point, and she's a trooper about it, but she loves the beach and the water. Often a group of us will go down to the beach at night and look at the stars and sit in the sand and maybe swim. One time a few years ago we did this and I walked up to Angus and he was being quiet and contemplative and saying this felt very therapeutic, and then Eve ran between us with her head down and her hands in her pockets, making a NEER NEER NEER NEER siren noise, which is kind of a perfect representation of their respective personalit...

 Do you need to shower every day? Do you shower in the morning or at night? I don't want to start a whole thing like I kind of did with the top-sheet-or-not thing, but I find it interesting. When I was old enough to shower independently, I always needed to shower in the morning. I would shower even if I was just going out to suntan with a friend and my dad would say that's super dumb, you're showering off the skin barrier that might prevent a sunburn, and he was right but dude, we were oiling up with basically barbecue sauce at that time, so I was undeterred. I can't remember when I started needing to shower at night (AS WELL AS in the morning, not instead of). I think my heat regulation problems started in my early twenties, so maybe then? The night time shower was quick, basically a rinse off, but I couldn't get into bed without it.  With my sleep issues, getting up early was even more painful when I had to shower and wash my hair. My hair was oily, though, so ski...

 I have been feeling panicky about how long it's been since I blogged, which is silly and I don't like it. I will not belabour the subject. End of school year! Start of summer! Last year I was so utterly exhausted and enervated at the end of the school year that the thought of packing up and heading to our friends' cottage for Canada Day weekend made me weep (I know - what an ingrate). I forced myself, of course - Matt is so good at assuring me that I will feel better when I get there and I almost invariably do. And it was fantastic! Remember the hose shower? Wait, I can't link to the hose shower post because I can't find it, which is extremely weird because I have a very clear memory of writing it and people commenting on it. (Margot and Michael's cottage is at the top of a mountain (sort of) and you have to go down a steep switchbacky trail to get to the water and then back up again and it is VERY DIFFICULT for those of us who are not in tip-top shape, and las...