May 2023

The Chaos Begins: Life Under Construction
On May 1, as scheduled, the demolition phase of the Bigass Remodel began at 7:30 sharp. Dozens of Guys™ swarmed the place, hammering and sawing and making unholy noise … good thing the kids were at school for most of it. I literally did not go to bed the night before — despite all our work, there was still SO MUCH STUFF to get out of the way, omfg. I dragged the last box and bag out to the garage at around 6:30 a.m., napped on the couch for an hour, then got the school day routine started. We had moved the couch and the Wichita Falls table & chairs into the garage, me including kitchen stuff for what turned out to be wildly optimistic plans of cooking “some” meals: I bought a one-burner induction camp cooktop and a microwave, and we had our toaster, toaster oven, and coffeemaker all on R.’s custom-height work bench; I’d bought a restaurant-grade steel prep table and a drying rack for hand-washing dishes in the utility sink; and the garage cabinetry plus some plastic bins made do for a pantry. It’s comfortable enough, and R. had prioritized getting a big TV and a surround sound so we can hang out and still have movie nights, but it can’t help being a little cramped, and by day three I was sick of the dishwashing situation — I bought a bunch more disposable stuff, feeling like a one-woman ecological disaster but with no other way to do it. We’ll be sending our laundry out (except for cold/special care stuff, which I’ll do at Grandma & Grandpa’s), and I guess we’ll get some sort of special award for DoorDash customer volume … 

Miscellaneous
One good big distraction for everyone but me was a new game on the Switch, called
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom — the three of them, and pretty much everyone we know, got instantly and totally addicted. We had a pretty decent Mother's Day even though we obviously couldn’t host; I took Annika to her comp swim class and got a workout while she was in the pool, and later we all went to brunch at a restaurant downtown, The Farmers' Union, with Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Amy & Uncle Paul. Lukas’s chess club sessions at school ended, and he ranked well enough among his peers to win a trophy! And finally, at the end of the month and kicking off summer, we had a cool, overcast Memorial Day weekend — not pool weather at all. Annika and I went to FanimeCon both days via light rail; R. and Lukas probably didn’t even notice we were gone, as absorbed in Zelda as they both were, lol. 

Out and about
As it happened, we had quite a few plans this month. We took a mini-trip down to Monterey the first weekend; for my birthday, R. had given me tickets for us to see the Pixies at a cool restored theater down there, and we decided to make it a getaway. We drove down Friday night, staying in a hotel for free (with points) and had an excellent dinner in the hotel. The next morning, we walked a mile or so on a lovely seaside path to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and spent the day there, then had dinner in a local restaurant. R. and I went to the show that night — the building was literally within two blocks of our hotel, we could actually see it from our room. And the next morning, we had the hotel buffet breakfast, took our time getting home, and then had dinner at the Patels’, before commencing another chaotic week in the construction zone. A couple of weeks later, we went on another excursion: One last roll at the old Sea Bowl, which was closing its doors on May 31 after 40+ years in business. R. and I couldn’t let the place go without a farewell, so we drove up, met Tom for lunch at Celia’s, took a little walk around our old neighborhood and saw the house on Dolphin Drive (currently unoccupied, so we also snuck back in to look at the yard and peer into the tiny kitchen — which used to seem big to us, after the Barbie-sized one in San Francisco!), and then went to have a couple of Caucasians (White Russians) and toss a few stones; we only played two games because the wait was so long to start — everyone else in the Bay Area apparently had the same idea. It was a good trip down memory lane(s); we’re really sorry to see the place go, but it had a lot of good times to appreciate.

R’s 50th
This month, R. became the newest member of Club 5-0. I had debated what to do, and he wasn’t really forthcoming (shocker!), so, since Ami had offered their house as a venue, I decided to throw him a party the weekend after his actual birthday (which we celebrated with a cake from Icing on the Cake, takeout Indian food, and of course, presents). I invited all of our local friends, the California Saucers, our new cool neighbors, and a couple of his longtime friends from work; hired a bartender, a taco truck, and a bunch of standing party tables … and then told him about it, lol. So, not a surprise party per se, but not really much chance of refusal, either — it just felt like something that we really should celebrate, and I knew he’d like it (wouldn’t have done it if I thought he’d hate it!). I decided on a Brady Bunch theme, calling it A Very Brady Birthday, and encouraged costumes/dress-up (people LOVED that, for real — so many great interpretations of the ask!). R. made his own playlist (which ruled), I printed hundreds of Brady headshots at OfficeDepot to staple to the Patels’ fence (and needed all their help to remove later, ha!) as decor, made a standee describing our three signature cocktails (a Tomaszo del Ray, a Mai Tai, and Paper Planes), and had cupcakes delivered from an awesome bakery. We ended up with about 60 people — a great number to make a rockin party, but not so many that the birthday boy didn’t get to see them all. Lukas set up his own mocktail bar at the other end of the big backyard, with three signature mocktails (plus whatever sodas and stuff) for the kids and non-drinkers, which was a huge hit. And at the end, we had a Brady Bunch trivia contest, put together on slides by Lukas himself, and emceed at R.’s request by our friend Alastair — who grew up in Scotland and had never even seen an episode of the show. It was hilarious, and a great night — I was really nervous hosting (and hadn’t thrown a party this size since our wedding!), but I’m so glad we did it. Happy birthday, BP! Here’s to the next 50!