back in my school-bus-riding days there was a friday tradition to yell F-R-I!!!! D-A-Y!!! FRIDAY!!!! and then bang on the sides of the bus. when i was a wee lass i didn’t join in but once i was a little older and could discern the knowing smirk on Arsilla’s face (bus drivers have the best names, especially in indiana)  i would pound right along. Arsilla was just as happy as we were to not have to ride that bus for two days.

now that i’m a stay-with-my-kid-all-the-time mom i don’t have that same sense of relief that floods in at 4:59 pm friday evening. 33.33 repeating percent of the time i don’t even know that it is friday. but yesterday i tried to have a good ol’ fashioned friday night celebration with my girl.

after a day of errands and a failed attempt at visiting the natural play area at highbanks metro park – located it but atmospheric conditions prohibited proper exploration – we spent some time at the neighborhood park. i’m going to wikileak this photo out before the salty sailor update:

this is a tree at the end of our block that has never received its due notice. today darla exclaimed “look, mom, that tree is all tied in a knot with itself.” so it is.

sensing that it was definitely a soup day, i made broccoli and cheese soup by loosely following pioneer woman’s recipe. ’twas delicious dishes. *tangential story at the bottom of this post if you’re interested.

we finished the evening watching castle in the sky cozied up in bed. pretty subdued. but, truthfully, i need subdued like whoa right now. the little miss was actually pretty good company today but i’m so worn out. it didn’t help that i was up all night trying to work through ambitions and mastermind plans for taking over the world. and not even this world. a future world. that’s how big my plans are!

i feel a little down about not having any big friday night to-do or anything special for the weekend really. at one point i was contemplating just getting into the car with darla and visiting some destination spot in ohio just to feed my gluttonous craving for novelty. then the thought surfaced that this could be the last girls weekend darla and i have together. i am of course thrilled that mike and all his saltiness will be returning shortly but i’m always a little sad when my solitary time with darla is coming to an end. the dichotomy of being a mother is maddening, i tell ya.

so we’ll just stay close to home for the weekend and leave ourselves open to discoveries such as that tree. things that have been there all along but have been overlooked in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

and we’ll wait for a man named mr. mike.

*tangential story time. have i ever mentioned that the universe always gives me what i want? i’m pretty lucky that way. if i voice a want to the universe it somehow makes it to me. not in the “i want a million dollars” way but little everyday graces. such as earlier this week when i noticed we hadn’t made a dent in our broccoli from the last produce delivery and i said, i said to me-self “hmmm, i should look up a broccoli and cheddar soup recipe.” i sit down at my computer and BAM the first post in my bloglovin’ is broc + cheese soup from pioneer woman. added bonus the recipe called for tons of butter!!! thanks again universe. i gots your back and you gots mine!