Aging Right Alongside Rockstars

Friday Mr. Banks and I traveled to Central Park for the last of Pavement’s NYC shows on their reunion tour. The show was awesome. It was a beautiful September night in the city with an insanely good set list. It was one of those experiences that lifts your spirits and makes you want to raise a glass to the good life of family, fun and memories. They even had a wine truck selling tall glasses of pinot noir if you’re not one that can stomach Coors Light in the can.

Better yet, they started at 8 and we were out of there by 10 pm which makes a mid-thirties mama happy. I can only sustain that good-feelin’ vibe for so long before I’m tired, and my feet hurt, and I want to put on my lounge pants.

We couldn’t help but notice that the other concert goers were the typical Pavement fans from way back when. They were just 10 years older, like us. Let me tell you, we weren’t the only ones checking our phones just in case we missed an emergency text from the babysitter.

Somehow DIY

We have this mulch pit that the previous owners of our house gifted us with in the backyard (along with so many other things like the faux wood and faux wrought iron decorative shelf in the half bath downstairs.) Presumably they used this spot for a small swingset, but over the years, the mulch has been washed away and we’ve never replaced it. (Who knows what they used that ghastly decorative shelf for.) Now this dirt pit is just the lowest spot in our yard and becomes a mud puddle where rain can conveniently settle next to our “bilco door”.

So we have cooked up a scheme to solve the problem with our own bare hands. And, when I say “our”, I mean mostly Mr. Banks’ hands. Now I have done my small part to help with the process including ripping our bushes, cutting down two small trees and picking up several wheel barrow’s worth of rocks. But, this is Mr. Banks project. When you’re calculating a 1/4-inch drop if land grade per linear foot, you own the project.

Our solution to this problem is to regrade the area next to the bilco door down toward our fence line so water washes away from the house and doesn’t gather for a meeting in our basement. We are also adding a paved walkway of roman cobble so the dirt under the fence gate is no longer a mud path.

So far, we are moving slow but steady never wanting to sacrifice entire weekends to trips to stone yards and digging. The pallet of stone and dump truck of sand arrive this Friday.

Quote Of The Week

After our early evening, Saturday dinner out together as a family, I requested that we stop by the “drink store” before heading home. We parked the car, and I decided to go into the wine store by myself while Mr. Banks took Lolo to Walgreens to check out their cool Halloween display. Inside the wine store, I met another customer’s dog named Catfish. This is the conversation that ensued.

Me: “Hey Lolo, guess what?”
Lolo: “What?”
Me: “I met a doggie in the drink store named Catfish.”
Lolo: “Someone brought their doggie?”
Me: “Yeah, this lady brought her dog in and I got to pet her while I was waiting in line.”
Lolo: “Was the dog getting a drink in the drink store?”
Me: “No, they only have drinks for grownups there, not dogs.”
Lolo: “Well, if the doggie was in the drink store, I think she was getting some wine.”