Ardis Martin Johnson, October 3, 1936--July 2, 2021

My mother-in-law has died. 

You might recall she was diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM), which is a very aggressive brain cancer. That was true for her as she died barely a month after her diagnosis. I'm glad it was quick and as far as we could tell, relatively painless. But I will miss her.

Two quick stories about her:

After it was clear Kent and I were a thing and headed for a long-term relationship, we were visiting her in the Tulsa area. I was going on and on about Kent, how wonderful he was, etc. etc. most likely to an obnoxious degree. She looked at me and said, “You do know he’s not perfect, right?” I cracked up and assured her that yes, I most definitely did know that but that he was darn near perfect for me.

I graduated from college at 43; Kent and I were engaged but not yet married. She hopped in her car with Kent’s aunt Judy, and they drove four hours to sit in the hot sun at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, KS to watch me and everyone else walk across that stage to graduate. She gave me a big sweaty hug, a card and then got back in her car to drive back home. She never understood why that was such a big deal to me and was honestly puzzled when I tried to thank her.

She also loved to cook and entertain—food was part of her love language and she enjoyed having us there so she could cook for us. One of her signature dishes was crawfish étouffée and a dessert she called raspberry swirl. 

I wanted to honor that part of her so last night, I made a vegan version of the étouffée. I hunted for something that would be a good stand-in for her dessert, and found a recipe for  Raspberry Chocolate Ganache Tart which was beyond good. We toasted her memory with some champagne and enjoyed the heck out of our dinner. 

Rest in peace, Ardis Martin Johnson, you were the best mother-in-law I could have ever asked for and I’m a better woman for having known you.

Back to Bryn Mawr (briefly)

After we got home from our Thanksgiving visit with Ben and Jen, we flew out the following Friday to Bryn Mawr, PA. My younger brother had a significant birthday this month, and all his siblings and spouses flew in to surprise him at his mother’s house (she’s my stepmother).

We had a great, rowdy, boisterous visit over the four days we were there, and my brother Stephen was completely surprised by it. He told me later he saw me about the second person in and then it dawned on him—hey wait a minute, the whole family is here!

It was good to see everyone. Technically, the step-siblings aren’t my step-siblings any longer. Well legally anyway, but I’ve known them since I was three years old so they are absolutely family.

Church of the Redeemer

That Sunday I attended the church we all went to when I was little. It's a gorgeous building and I was so happy to see the parish is still flourishing. That was also the only Advent service I was able to attend this month, because the day after we got back from Bryn Mawr, I hopped on a plane for Las Vegas. That one was a work trip, and anyway I don't care for gambling nor do I drink much these days. So it was a long week.

At the end of those 10 days, I was thoroughly confused about what time zone I was in. We'd spent nearly a week in California, home here in Kansas for a few days (Central time zone), then four days in PA (Eastern time zone) and then I spent nearly a week in Las Vegas (Pacific time zone again).

Last weekend, we drove to Tulsa to see Kent's mother. She's in a nursing home and unable to travel so we make sure to celebrate Christmas with her. Kent's brother gets her room decorated in early December, which she loves, and we buy the presents from her to us then have fun opening them with her.

So this weekend is the first and only weekend I've been home this month. I won't lie, it's nice to be home if only for a couple of weeks.

Everyone, including spouses

Melissa (brother's GF), me, Jennifer

All the siblings plus my stepmother

Silly family--Kent, Erin, Matt in the back, then Jen, me, Pierce

I can't feature that

Since I’m running more frequently each week, and since I prefer running shorts with the underwear built in them, I’ve been looking for a couple more pairs of running shorts (currently I own two pairs, and let’s face it, butt sweat is gross).

While I like the higher end sports clothing, I loathe the prices especially when I equally like the running clothing at Old Navy and Target (which cost a fraction of the name brand stuff). Only I can’t find any shorts that (a) also have the underwear in them, (b) don’t have faux compression leggings underneath (no thank you, it’s HOT outside), and (c) aren’t micro-mini short.

The same thing is true of my sports bras. I own just two right now, and unless I’m willing to do laundry every other day, I need some more.

So Kent and I looked around yesterday—Target (no luck), Dick’s (truly no luck, and super expensive to boot), REI (bought two bras at full price) and a place called Scheel’s, which I had never heard of but is sort of like Dicks’ only with a working Ferris wheel in the middle, and a food court. Isn’t that odd? I found a pair of Nike running shorts there, that were on sale. I didn’t try them on, though, that place was pretty weird.

Once I got home, I had serious buyer’s remorse and started looking online. Sure enough, I found those bras for half the price of REI, and a pair of running shorts that were easily $15 cheaper than the ones I got on “sale” at Scheef’s.

As my mother-in-law would say, I couldn’t feature paying that much money. So today, I returned all three items and ordered them online. They should get here Tuesday, and I spent $60 less.

And because it's relaxing, here's a random (bonus) photo of Eddie and Wally.

Best piece of furniture ever

A couple of years ago, my mother-in-law Ardis offered us the armoire you see here. I think she wasn’t entirely ready to pass it on but we took her up on that offer so fast we made her head spin. We used it in our guest room in Crush House in Kansas City, where held my doll house supplies and some of my sewing things.

Here in Boston it does far more than that. Let me show you the wonders of this armoire assisted by my kitties. This armoire is so useful to us that if I had Kent's mad skills with Gimp, I'd have put a halo or at least some sort of heavenly light all around every picture I took of it today.

First, the closet part of the armoire is our coat closet. We rotate out the lightweight coats during the winter and reverse the process come spring. I also store my yoga mats in here, you might be able to see one just behind the blur that is Wally.

The bottom drawer holds my patterns plus the materials for the next project. You already know Wally likes to help me sew, and he is just showing his interest here.


Next is the drawer that holds our kitchen tea towels. Kent’s grandmother made a set for each of her grandchildren when they got married, and from the looks of them, Kent’s first wife never touched them. I love them and will be really sad when they finally turn into holey rags.


The next drawer contains our essentials for surviving Boston winters: hats and gloves, lots of both. I don’t think we’ll move those anywhere come warm weather, partly because there’s really no other place for them to go.


The top two drawers hold two sets of towels each. We brought just six sets altogether so we can rotate our towels and also have towels for the rare overnight guest.



Finally the top of the armoire is Wally’s personal space. I included these pictures even though they are blurry, because he was rolling all around up there while I took the rest of the pictures. In fact I thought he might just roll right off. I finally gave in and used the flash for the last picture, and of course then he stopped moving.