January and February here in the northwest have been ridiculously boring. No snowmageddons or snowpocalypses or other storms of the century. (And here I was, so excited to try out the new all-wheel drive wheels in inclement weather.) The weather has been dark, dank, dreary, depressing, rainy and cold. Visions of vacations to warmer climes dance in my mind, but Sonja and I have remained cooped up inside.
As is my modus operandi, I’ve started and abandoned a few topics for this blog, and felt guilty that I haven’t kept the post count up as was my New Year’s resolution. So I decided I’d better confess to my boring winter ways, lest I have nothing to say at all until spring arrives.
In the waking hours when Sonja is asleep, I’ve been entertaining myself with entertainment. I’ve watched the first two seasons of Boardwalk Empire. Despite the show’s tendency towards the overly/graphically violent, I recommend it for the sharp dialogue and the unique and fascinating characters they create. (Nelson Van Alden is bizarre and, for lack of a better term, whack-a-doodle; Richard Harrow is intriguing and tragic.)
I also watched the recently-released fourth season of Nurse Jackie. There’s a lot I like about Jackie, especially Merritt Wever in the role of Zoey. She is a comedic revelation. And the show is certainly a cut above your standard half-hour sitcom, but I take issue with the occasionally sloppy writing. Some of the characters, especially Dr. Cooper (played by noted vampire Peter Facinelli), do not seem to be fully realized. While seasons don’t need to pick up where they left off (see Mad Men), this show tends to drop plot lines you were hoping might have some resolution.
Out of desperation I also succumbed to watching a few movies, including Argo and Flight, which I liked and The Master which I didn’t.
Also out of desperation, I went to a Mom’s meetup I found online. The plan was to walk the kids around the mall in the strollers for a while, then let them play in the play area. I doubted my child’s willingness to be in the stroller for any length of time at all, but thought I’d give it a whirl. There was one other 17-month old there who sat quietly for the whole walk. Meanwhile Sonja and I were bringing up the rear as she toddled along, straying in to stores with loud music playing so she could dance, all the while refusing to hold my hand or let me carry her for more than a few steps. When we finally reached the play area, which she hadn’t been to before, she walked right up to the entrance and started chanting, “opah, opah, opah,” (open) but alas, the area was closed for the day.
In between those few minutes of excitement have been long, long stretches of sheer boredom. Sonja is at the age now where she loves to go outside and play, and luckily our neighbor’s have a giant yard with lots of slides and swings and kid-friendly toys. When it’s not raining and not completely freezing, walking over there takes away another few minutes of boredom. It makes me realize that we are going to have to get our messy yard in shape this year so that Sonja isn’t swallowed up by the mass of weeds and moss we call a lawn. We’re looking in to hiring a gardener because it’s too much for yardwork-haters like us. This might actually be a great topic for a blog, especially if we get some great before and after pictures. For this and many other reasons, I cannot wait for spring to arrive. I really hope it’s less boring than winter has been.
Suite Story Productions 