Life: It Goes On - March 14

I'm writing this on Saturday morning, before I leave to go to what will always be my Mom's and Dad's house to celebrate my dad's birthday. I know that every "first" after someone dies is hard, but coming this soon after my mom's passing, this birthday is going to be even harder for my dad. My mom loved entertaining and having family with her; birthday dinners were always special. It's going to be so hard not having her there. 

Last Week I: 

 Listened To: Liane Moriarty's Truly, Madly, Guilty until I had to set that aside to listen to this month's book club selection, The Music Shop. 

Watched: Some basketball, some volleyball, The Voice, and Resident Alien on the Sci-Fi network, which both The Big Guy and I highly recommend, especially if you were a fan of Northern Exposure thirty years ago. 

Read: The Girl In The Painting, which I reviewed this week and then I picked back up Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. I'm enjoying it but can't seem to make myself read more than 15 or 20 pages at a time. 

Made: It's been a comfort food kind of week. Last night I made Better Than Sex cake for my dad's birthday dinner. The name makes it seem like an odd choice for a birthday dinner, doesn't it. But I haven't made it in so long and it's so deliciously decadent. 

Enjoyed: Almost daily FaceTime calls from Miss H, checking in on her mama. It would make her grandma proud; it's exactly the kind of thing my mom would have done. 

This Week I’m:  

Planning: I'm spending this week in Lincoln with my dad so I'm planning meals. For St. Patrick's Day, I'm going to make Reuben sliders with homemade rye bread rolls. Well, assuming they turn out. I should probably buy a loaf of bread, too.

Thinking About: What I would need to do to keep BG working on 40 Bags while I'm gone. Tuck little treats in his t-shirt drawers so he's got to pull them all out to find it so might as well clean them up? Leave all of his dress shirts piled on the bed when I leave and hope he sorts through them before just shoving them back in the closet? Leave a desk drawer on his recliner?  

Feeling: Pretty sure you already know the answer to this. The other morning when I finished The Girl In The Painting, I headed to put it in the box of things to take to my mom, knowing it was a book she would enjoy. Then I remembered. As I do in so many little ways.

Looking forward to: Lots of time with my dad this week and book club on Tuesday. We missed last month so we'll be talking about both The Color Purple and The Music Shop. 

Question of the week: This week, Ti, of Book Chatter, recommended a book to help with grief, Steve Leder's The Beauty of What Remains, which I've ordered. Are there any books you would recommend?