Honu Girl

Videos!

2009-08-11T10:27:00.006-05:00

Let's try uploading some videos for today. First up, a video of Ginny dancing.

Next up, a video of Kieran riding his bike without training wheels!

Hopefully this doesn't break my blogger :D

I love my kids, and they're both growing up so fast. I can't believe that Kieran started 1st grade today!

First loves

2009-07-22T11:10:00.002-05:00

If you've been following me on twitter of facebook, you may have seen me mention that my daughter has her first crush. And she's crushing hard. The neighbor boy, who plays with Kieran fairly often, is very good with her, and she has started calling him "MY X." (I won't use his name for sake of his privacy). She looks for him whenever she and Kieran play outside, and asks where he is if he isn't around.

Yesterday, X. came over to play Wii with Kieran. They usually play outside, but they decided to play Wii Sports inside for a change. X. and Kieran and pretty evenly matched, even though X. is significantly older (almost 4 years) than him, becaue Kieran has been playing Wii for ages and X. hasn't been. They had to keep pausing the games because Ginny would come up and start hugging X. She even tackled him and started laughing when she had him pinned to the sofa. When it came time for X. to leave, Ginny followed him to the door and then just leaned against it, crying for "My X!" to come back.

Poor girl. I feel for her, but some day, maybe things will work out. After all, it's about the age difference between me and Andy...

When the husband's away

2009-07-19T18:10:00.002-05:00

The kids will play. Or not. Whichever will drive their mother insane at the moment.

Gah, Andy's only been gone two days and I'm already ripping my hair out. Or crying. Or both. Just five more days until he's home.

I'll survive, really I will. I just wish I were doing better than just "surviving."

Space Center, July 4, 2009

2009-07-09T10:10:00.003-05:00

Picture post today, of our recent trip to Huntsville Space and Rocket Center.

Ginny imitating her big brother, trying to ride a lunar cycle.

Kieran kind of riding the lunar cycle.

Mock up of the Ares V, which is part of the next lunar mission. Ask Apollo for more details, as I didn't get a chance to read any of the signage with two pingpong children around.

Daddy and Ginny taking a breather looking at the space shuttle outside. It was hot. We should have gone the next day, when the storms came through - it would have been a lot cooler.

And the most fabulous thing there, the Saturn V. We've been there several times since this exhibit opened, and I'm still floored every time. I wish I were smart enough to be an aerospace engineer and get to work on those things!

I wish I had more photos, but the kids really were like pingpong balls, and I had a hard time keeping up with them, let alone snap pictures of them loving every second of this place. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it. We go several times a year.

Life, in a nutshell

2009-07-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

... is that I'm nuts. I've been feeling really stressed out and down lately, with everything that's been going on in my life, so things have been neglected. One of those things, obviously, is this blog. I can't promise that's going to change any time soon, but I think I'm going to make an effort, because writing makes me feel better.

Last post, I mentioned we had made an offer on a house, and sold our house. Well, closing came and went (with a LOT of stress - we had to do some things to our house to make the sale that we weren't expecting). We managed to move most everything ourselves, and had the pros move things like the piano and some big furniture. We're still not completely unpacked, though. I'm not sure when that will happen - we need bookshelves for our books, which we don't have the money for at the moment because we just moved. Vicious circle. My best bit of advice though when buying a house is GET THE HOME WARRANTY. Our AC went out, and to replace the whole thing is only going to cost us the $60 call-out fee.

Overall, the move has been positive. Very stressful, but positive. Our new neighborhood is fantastic. There are a lot of kids around, and Kieran has integrated into their group fairly well and is having a great time going outside and playing. The backyard is more kid-friendly than our old one, and both kids love being outside in it - it's hard to get them to come in sometimes when we need them. We can walk to the grocery store, and to a couple of different places for dinner. We already know more neighbors than we did at the old house.

One way we got to meet more neighbors was at a neighborhood open house. Apparently they have these periodically just to spend time together. Every summer, they even have a crawfish boil for the whole neighborhood, which I'm looking forward to. Going to the open house made me feel very adult. I may be in my mid-30s (ack!) but I don't always feel like a grown-up. This was a very grown-up sort of party. This latest open house had the added benefit of being able to meet one of the candidates for an upcoming city board of education election. It was good to actually talk with the candidate and find out what she thought.

And it's good to get to know the neighbors. They look out for each other, for the kids in the neighborhood (even the ones who don't have kids), for each other's property. They're good people, it seems. Friendly, and welcoming. Primarily academics or academic-like, they also genuinely seem to care about the community and what happens. It's a nice change.

So, like I said, overall, the move has been positive, just very stressful. Not something we need to do any time again soon. But luckily, I think we've found our place in Tuscaloosa for as long as we're here. At least, it feels like home, moreso than our old house did.

2009-04-20T15:00:00.002-05:00

Well, hello there, blog. I haven't been by in a while. Let me sum up what's been going on.

1) Went to a conference in St. Peterburg, FL. Had a great time.

2) Went casually house-shopping. Found one we loved, made an offer, had offer accepted.

3) Freaked out.

4) Kieran got accepted to the Magnet School.

5) Put our house on the market.

6) Frantically painted the interior of the house.

7) Took cat to vet for a large unexplained wound on her belly.

8) Had an open house.

9) Dealt with tornado/severe t-storm warnings with screaming cats in the car during the open house.

10) Received offer on house.

11) Freaked out again.

12) Andy got tenure.

13) Normal kid's lives somehow kept functioning.

So it's not you, it's me, blog. Life has this way of getting in the way of life.

Love,

Denise

So yeah, lots going on here. We've been casually looking at old houses in the historic district near campus off and on for a couple months now. A house that we really liked the look of and we had seen on the market about two years ago came back on the market just recently, so we arranged a showing. We put in an offer the next day, and it was accepted, contingent on us selling our house. There was definitely an OMG WE'VE GOT TO SELL OUR HOUSE NOW feeling.

Our house went on the market about three weeks ago, and we've had a couple of showings and an open house. We fully expected the house to be on the market for several months, because that's about average around here. But after the open house we had yesterday, we received an offer. It's not final yet, but it's looking good. I'll try to keep you posted.

We had to take Mollie to the vet about a week and a half ago for a lump on her belly that ended up being a large wound that we have no idea how she got. She's back at the vet today to get it checked, and I'm now waiting on the vet to call with how she is. It still looks raw, but better than it did. The vet was concerned because it had a hard center to the wound, which could mean something more serious, so if that hasn't gone away, they'll have to do a biopsy. Again, I'll try to keep you posted.

So Andy got tenure! We've known unofficially for a couple months, but word hadn't been officially handed down from the provost until yesterday. So that's a relief. We got the word about his tenure in the midst of all the thunderstorm/tornado warnings that were happening yesterday, and an ant swarm, and the offer phone call. Overall, a hectic 45 minutes there.

And amongst all of this, the kids are still doing swim lessons, Kieran still has soccer, they both have school. Kieran is excited (and a bit scared at times) of going to a new school, but I think once he gets started there, he'll really love it. A few of his friends from his current school have also been accepted, so he'll have some familiar faces.

So, my friends, what's been up with you?

Off to the races...

2009-03-10T16:19:00.001-05:00

Well, actually, St. Petersburg, FL, to attend a conference so I'll be scarce for the next few days. Conference prep has kept me fairly busy, too, but am looking forward to a few days out of town. I'll be back after the weekend.

Giant Mice are Scary

2009-03-09T10:19:00.003-05:00

Whoever thought up Chuck E. Cheese's (where a kid can drive their parent crazy(TM)) needs to DIAF, because there is nothing pleasant about the experience, really.

The kids love it, so we put up with it for the occassional birthday party that we attend there, but wow, I always leave that place feeling dirty and headachy and gross. Do any adults actually enjoy the experience? The only way I might be able to would be if I could drink vast quantities of beer while there, and as the past few parties we've been to have been on Sundays, I haven't been able to have one. Yes, CEC actually gets one thing right - they serve beer, or at least most of them do. Except for on Sundays in Tuscaloosa because we've got arcane blue laws!

I don't have much point to this, other than whinging about how horrible a place it is. I don't envy those who work there.

Must keep reminding myself that the kids have fun there, though, so it isn't ALL bad, right? RIGHT?!?

Monthly Goals, March

2009-03-05T08:29:00.003-06:00

Last month's goals, with success/fail rate:

Blog every weekday that I'm in the office. mostly SUCCEED, with a few fail whales thrown in.
Swim at least once/week, after healed from surgery. Wash, as I've just really healed enough
Do Wii Fit 2x/week, after healed from surgery. Ditto
Drink no more than one soda/day. FAIL, but only on a few occassions, so overall SUCCESS
Read (and finish) a book that isn't Anathem. SUCCEED! And I got mostly through another one, too.
Be less grumpy. General success
Go on a date with my husband. SUCCEED! And it was even a sort-of valentine's date.
Get together with Sarah, &c. FAIL :( But hopefully this month :)
Write a letter to the editor about lack of recess, in the same vein as this. Not SUCCESS yet, but I'm working on it.
Sleep in my own bed all night more nights than not (I still end up going in to Ginny most nights). SUCCESS!! Although she's taken to sometimes sleeping on our floor, but at least I get to stay in my own bed.

Here's some new goals for the month. I'll keep some of the same, and try to work in some new ones each month. Please, suggest some other goals for me, silly or serious, and I'll add them to the list.

Blog every weekday that I'm in the office.
Swim at least once/week.
Do Wii Fit 2x/week.
Drink no more than one soda/day.
Go on a date with my husband.
Get together with Sarah, &c.
Write a letter to the editor about lack of recess, in the same vein as this.
Enjoy my trip to a conference in St. Petersburg, FL.
Sleep in my own bed all night more nights than not (I still end up going in to Ginny most nights).

So suggest away! I want ideas! I like having monthly goals - seems more reasonable than setting goals much longer term.

Ode to Coffee

2009-02-27T09:45:00.002-06:00

sung in a Spongebob-ian voice

I love cofffee

Coffee's the drink for me

I love coffee

And coffee sure loves me!

I love coffee,

Coffee coffee coffee!

Coffee Coffee Coffee!!

repeat while dancing in a circle, until you fall down or run out of coffee. If the latter, go get more coffee and continue singing and dancing until you do fall over.

(I think I've had too much coffee and watched too much Spongebob lately, don't you?)

Thoughts and Prayers

2009-02-26T10:47:00.002-06:00

... go out to the lovely Aunt Becky, aka the Notorious Bex, of Mommy Wants Vodka. Her beautiful newborn daughter is having brain surgery today, and she needs all the support she can get.

UPDATE: Looks like Amelia's out of surgery. Yay! Keep your fingers crossed for a speedy recovery.

Heroes Babble

2009-02-24T08:00:00.003-06:00

Last night's ep was all about H.R.G. I was looking forward to this, because I really liked the last HRG ep, "Company Man," getting some backstory on him.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

But last night just ANNOYED me. They promised answers, and everything ended up just as grey as before. Noah's motivation to join up with Nathan seemed forced, even if you accept the premise that was put out at the end that he's going to be working from the inside. Angela thrilled me, as always, with her skillful manipulation of people and of situations. Seeing her always improves an ep for me.

Matt is an emotional idiot, Mohinder is an arrogant ass, and Peter is, well, Peter. The Hunter is pretty damn awesome, though. Discussion question: Does he know that Nathan is one of them? And is he maybe one of them, too?

Literary Meme

2009-02-18T08:44:00.002-06:00

This is a variation on the three truths and a lie meme. It's three truths and a lie, all about books!

My favorite books are "Catch-22" and "Good Omens."
I loved "Moby Dick."
I hate "Catcher in the Rye."
I once told a history professor in college that I couldn't read "Great Expectations" because I can't stand how Dickens wrote, and that "you can tell he was paid by the word."

So, which one is the lie? Guess in the comments, and I'll let you know.

Book Meme

2009-02-17T09:30:00.005-06:00

I'm copping out today, because today is like the worst Monday ever, even though it's Tuesday. So, here's a meme.

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading. (I didn't do this)
4) Tally your total at the bottom.

Here's the list:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (x)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (x)+
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (x)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (x)+
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (x)
8 1984 - George Orwell (x)
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (x) +
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (x)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (x)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller(x) +
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (x)+
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (x)
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (x)
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (x)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (x)+
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (x)
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (x)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (x)
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (x)+
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (x)+
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres (x)
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (x)+
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (x) +
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (x)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (x)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (x)+
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel (x)
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (x)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov (x) +
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (x)
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (x)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (x)
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (x)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson (x)
75 Ulysses - James Joyce (x)
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt (x)
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (x)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (x)
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (x)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (x)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (x)
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (x)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams (x)
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole (x)
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas (x)
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (x)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (x)
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (x)

I've read 48/100. There are a few I've started but never finished, but I didn't count those.

Update on Recess

2009-02-13T13:55:00.002-06:00

This is an update on a previous post I wrote about my son's school and recess.

I just got off the phone with the principal of the school. She was very receptive to my letter, and frankly, agrees with me. Her hands are fairly tied about what she can do based on state legislation, but has told me that the children do get some free play (10-15 minutes) at the end of every PE class, which they have every day. This is something she helped institute at the start of this year.

I took the opportunity to broach the homework issue with her since she seemed so open. There is apparently no school, district, or state standard for homework. She told me about the 10 minutes/grade level guideline that they use, and understood how frustrating it was to watch that 10 minutes turn into an hour of battling wills. She seemed keen to learn more about the Stop Homework project, so I have directed her here to the site.

Overall, I was left feeling both satisfied and frustrated. Satisfied that the principal agreed with me, yet frustrated because she is powerless to change things at this time. We can only hope that this changes.

I want to thank Sara Bennet, of Stop Homework, for her support in this. She even posted my original letter on the Stop Homework blog.

Milestone

2009-02-10T09:52:00.003-06:00

Kieran reached an important milestone yesterday. He lost his first tooth!

I saw his teacher, and she told me that he was VERY excited about it, and that she was glad it was FINALLY out, because apparently he'd been driving her crazy with it :D I was certain it was going to fall out over the weekend, but it didn't, so I was glad that it finally came out - he hadn't let me try to twist it out because he was afraid it would hurt.

The other tooth is already grown in some (you can't really see it in that photo), and he was extra careful about brushing it last night "because it's a GROWNUP tooth!"

The tooth fairy did come by last night and left him a dollar for his tooth (is that the prevailing rate these days? The tooth fairy wasn't sure).

BSG - "Blood on the Scales" babble

2009-02-09T09:38:00.002-06:00

Finished watching the latest Battlestar Galactica last night (how I love my DVR). Just a few quick thoughts about it to start off the week. WARNING: Spoilers follow.

Gaeta, Gaeta, Gaeta. What happened to you? Or is that answered in the webisodes I didn't watch?
How nice that this isn't the Lee/Starbuck soap opera any more.
Zareck - what the hell with the Quorum? COMPLETELY unexpected, to me at least.
Go Adama and Roslin, thanks for not hiding your affair any more!
Tyerol saves the day! He seems to be doing better now that his son isn't his son. But, what the hell is up with those cracks we saw him staring at at the end?
Cylons have fear just as the rest of us do. They're more human than not.
Baltar gets a spine, somewhat? Interesting. I'm wondering where they're going with that.
Personally, I'm still reeling from Dualla's death in the S4.5 opener, so two more (and maybe a third) major character death hits kind of hard, even though it needed to be done, I think.
What is going to happen to Anders, do you think? Live or die?
Ellen's back next week... so the final five COULD resurrect? They just hadn't? What makes them different? Have they just not died once yet, since the destruction of Earth?

What were your thoughts? Probably much more clear than mine.

Torchwood Trailer!

2009-02-06T09:36:00.002-06:00

Hey, y'all, the new trailer for Torchwood is out.

What do you think? I think it might be a return to the less soap-opera-y-ness that I enjoyed at the start of TW. Sarah and I were chatting about why there are so many shots of Jack looking moody, though. Is it because of all the time he spent buried alive? Discuss.

I'm looking forward to getting more of my Whoinverse. Wish we'd actually get the UK specials of Doctor Who soon, though.

Please don't be a biblioclast

2009-02-05T09:58:00.005-06:00

A word I came across today, while trying to come up with something to blog about, is biblioclast. Think about the word, and see if you can come up with the meaning.

Got it? It is a destroyer or mutilator of books.

Not just of the Bible, as I first thought, but of books in general. The root biblio- can mean the Bible in specific or books in general (e.g., bibliography). What a terrible thing to be a destroyer of books. Books are wonderful, beautiful things, and shouldn't be harmed purposefully. I understand a book getting the spine cracked by reading, or even dog-earing the pages (although I don't personally dog-ear), because that's being done through love of the written word. But to purposefully destroy a book, whether by burning it, defacing it, shredding it, or whathaveyou, is just terrible. Just the thought of it makes my skin crawl.

As terrible things go, this isn't really up there, but it bothers me A LOT. I guess because I'm much more likely to run into a biblioclast than a murderer or thief or such.

Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned...

2009-02-05T09:43:00.005-06:00

Which of the seven deadly sins—sloth, greed, lust, gluttony, anger, envy, and pride—are you most likely to commit?

I think I've committed all these sins at some point in my past. Right now, I'm probably most in danger of sloth. I'm just not motivated to do much of anything lately. Part of that is normal winter mode for me, but it's a bit worse than it has been in previous years.

Who hasn't committed these sins at some point or another? If anyone claims that they haven't, they're lying to themselves if not others. Just look at a 2 year old, and you can see greed, and maybe even gluttony. Lust happens on a daily basis for many healthy adults. Who hasn't gotten angry? Or envious? And who hasn't had pride in something they've accomplished, beyond what they "should" have?

I suppose it comes down to "all things in moderation" which essentially is what gluttony is all about. So if one of these is worse than the others, would that be gluttony, as that's the only one you can't really have in moderation?

This prompt got me going on why these sins were considered "mortal" sins by the Catholic Church as opposed to venial sins. There is nowhere in the Bible that has a specific list of these seven as being any worse than anything else, so where did the idea come from? From Wikipedia:

The modern concept of the Seven Deadly Sins is linked to the works of the 4th century monk Evagrius Ponticus, who listed eight "evil thoughts" as follows (Refoule, 1967):
Gluttony; fornication; avarice; sorrow; anger; discouragement; vainglory; pride.
The first three of these sins, as Refoule explains, link to lustful appetite; anger links with the irascible; and vainglory and pride link with the intellect. Some years after Ponticus, in 590 AD, Pope Gregory I (Pope Gregory the Great) would revise this list to form the more common "Seven Deadly Sins".

So this whole idea of "Deadly Sins" is not something that is necessarily codified within the Bible, but rather taken from others interpretations. Just goes to show just how much interpretation is taken in our understand of the Bible and Christianity.

February monthly goals

2009-02-04T08:28:00.003-06:00

It's a new month, so let's check is with how I did with last month's goals.

Blog every weekday that I'm in the office. SUCCEED
Swim at least once/week. FAIL (but due to surgery)
Do Wii Fit 3x/week. FAIL (see above)
Not fall over on Tree Pose in Wii Fit yoga. SUCCEED (with tips from Marciepooh)
Drink no more than one soda/day. partial FAIL - I failed the day of my surgery, because they kept bringing me soda instead of water.
Finish Anathem. SUCCEED (will have a post on this later)
Be less grumpy. neither fail nor succeed
Go on a date with my husband. FAIL (again, surgery got in the way)
Wear lipstick every day. FAIL
Get together with Sarah, &c. SUCCEED (fabulous trip to Atlanta)

Here's some new goals for the month. I'll keep some of the same, and try to work in some new ones each month. Please, suggest some other goals for me, silly or serious, and I'll add them to the list.

Blog every weekday that I'm in the office.
Swim at least once/week, after healed from surgery.
Do Wii Fit 2x/week, after healed from surgery.
Drink no more than one soda/day.
Read (and finish) a book that isn't Anathem.
Be less grumpy.
Go on a date with my husband.
Get together with Sarah, &c.
Write a letter to the editor about lack of recess, in the same vein as this.
Sleep in my own bed all night more nights than not (I still end up going in to Ginny most nights).

So suggest away! I want ideas! I like having monthly goals - seems more reasonable than setting goals much longer term.

Because I'm lazy

2009-02-03T08:53:00.002-06:00

My husband, the podcast star (can't seem to embed the actual video, so just the link):

http://gobama.ua.edu/podcast/ag8.html

His only comment to me about this was "I look too young to be a professor."

Groundhog's Day: Celebrate it!

2009-02-02T09:01:00.003-06:00

Today's my birthday, and while I'm actually at work, I'm still pretty screwed up on painkillers. So this is it for the day: Surgery went well, I'm recovering nicely, and I did not see my shadow this morning.

Cut me open

2009-01-28T08:21:00.002-06:00

WARNING: Probably TMI, but it's what's most on my mind right now.

Tomorrow, I'm having diagnostic laproscopic surgery. I've been having pelvic pain for several months, and figured it was just a recurring ovarian cyst. One ultrasound seemed to confirm this, but a followup ultrasound showed no cyst while I was still having pain. So, with a history of endometriosis, the best option is this surgery to see what's going on.

I had this same surgery ten years ago, for similar issues, so I kind of know what I'm in for. It's uncomfortable, but not terribly painful, I think. So I'm nervous, because hey, it IS surgery, but I'm not in a panic.

So, if I'm quiet for a few days, you'll know why. I'll be propped up in bed or on the couch with a tender tummy.

Cats + Physics = AWESOME

2009-01-27T08:24:00.002-06:00

This is an old, but very interesting, tidbit that Sarah passed on to me today. It's an article about Feline Ballistics, and is calculations about what speed and angle a tiger would have to obtain to get out of its enclosure. Their conclusion? Yes, the tiger could have launched itself out of its enclosure to attack those people.

Cool use of physics in a problem that puzzled some people. Just do the math, and it all makes sense!

Roller skates!

2009-01-26T08:46:00.004-06:00

Kieran had a birthday party to go to this weekend at a skating rink. He was excited about roller skating, and scared of it, too. Let me tell you, there's something very funny about a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds on skates for the first time, especially with parents who probably haven't been on skates for 20 years or so following behind them.

I was the parent deemed lucky enough to don the roller skates with Kieran. I've been on ice skates in the last decade (barely) but not on roller skates since probably middle school. So I was a bit shaky. Kieran had no concept of how to balance on the skates to stand still, let alone propel himself forward. Or really any direction other that >FLAIL<

After a few minutes on the skates, I did remember what to do - it is something that comes back to you, although you might be shaky. But trying to convince Kieran to not "walk" with the skates was a battle of wills. He's very stubborn (gee, I wonder who he gets that from?). I spent a lot of time just hauling him back upright, or him just grabbing onto me for dear life. At least there was a small area at the end of the rink that was coned off for n00bs to practice in, even though some snot-nosed tweens kept flying in there at high speed to slalom around the cones. I spent a lot of time going back and forth with Kieran.

I'm pleased to say, though, he was starting to get it by the end of the session. He was able to go back and forth without holding onto the wall, just me, and he was using me more for balance than clutching support (although there was the occasional grab). He even figured out how to stop without falling over.

I think Andy might have taken some pictures. If he did, I'll add them when I get them.

Recess

2009-01-23T08:49:00.002-06:00

Dear Principal/School Board,

My son, K, is in kindergarten at School. It has come to my attention that they have no recess period during the day. While I understand that according to standards, they are only required to have PE OR recess everyday, I want to urge you to reconsider reinstating a recess period in addition to PE.

Recess (unstructured time) is important for many reasons. Childhood obesity rates are on the rise, and more physical movement during the day could help reduce that. Recess holds other physical, social, and even academic benefits for children.

Physical activity and UNSTRUCTURED play time not only provides physical health benefits but mental health benefits as well. As an adult often feels emotionally more balanced after exercise, children feel the same. Also, recess gives children an outlet for their natural urge for exuberant play. With an allowed time for this, children are generally calmer and more focused on their academics in the classroom.

Recess also allows for development of interpersonal skills that lead to cooperating, helping, sharing, and problem solving, including conflict resolution. These are not things that just magically appear in children as they get older; they need to learn them through unstructured play. By eliminating recess, we eliminate a vital aspect of our children's social development.

I understand that recess has been eliminated to make more time for "academics." However, studies have shown that kids who have recess have higher learning and test scores. Physical exercise enhances brain function. Students who spend more of their school day engaging in physical activity perform better academically than those who spend more time in instruction.

Recess has far too many benefits to be considered optional. I urge you to reconsider your standards, instituting both a PE and recess requirement for younger grades.

For more information please read the enclosed article.

Sincerely,

A concerned parent

Next time won't you sing with me?

2009-01-22T09:15:00.003-06:00

Because I can't come up with any ideas of my own today, here's one that I've seen floating around.

Using one word for each letter of the alphabet, make a list of the words you most associate with yourself or that you feel best describe you.

Argumentative

Benign

Caring

Delightful

Exanimate

Friendly

Goofy

Humble

Intelligent

Joyful

Kind

Lucky

Magnificent

Nimble

Open-minded

Polite

Quiet

Redhead

Sleepy

Tolerant

Unselfish

Vital

Willful

Xenophile

Youthful

Zany

I don't know how I feel about some of these, but it's the best I can do today. Try it - it's not as easy as it seems at first!

testing

2009-01-21T10:23:00.001-06:00

This is a test post from my G1. I'm home sick today, so this will be all you get from me today, probably. Just wanted to play with some new software :)

Weekend Wrapup

2009-01-20T07:50:00.002-06:00

Had a pretty good long weekend. I like long weekends and the resulting short week. Ginny FINALLY got better, with a minor setback on Saturday, but it seems like she's finally kicked whatever has been keeping her down.

Saturday was spent with the beautiful and exciting Sarah, Etc. with a roadtrip to the Atlanta Ikea. Seriously, folks, why doesn't Birmingham or Tuscaloosa have one of these? I think the community is big enough to support one, especially with all the AL plates I see in the parking lot at the Atlanta store. Sarah wanted to get a desk and a bookcase, which wouldn't fit in her car but would fit in my Toyota 4Runner. So yay! Roadtrip! Bonus was I got to meet Poptart who was just as fabulous and fun as Sarah had led me to believe. Ikea is always fun, if overwhelming. Last time Sarah and I went we seriously spent about 2 hours sitting on different chairs, assessing their relative comfort versus looks. This time was a much more precise mission - unfortunately, we were thwarted in the end by the desk she wanted being far more popular. Even though we had checked the stock before we left, they had sold out of the desk by the time we got down to the warehouse. We did succeed on getting the bookcase, which was the part that wouldn't have fit in her car anyway. So partial success on furniture, but full success on a day with Sarah!

Sunday was spent going to an open house at a house that I've had my eye on for months. It's a beautiful old house, built in 1857, in the historic district near the university. It's been on the market for about 8 months, and the price has just recently been reduced to a point that is almost attainable by us. They finally had an open house on Sunday, so I got to see what the reality versus my imaginings were. The house is beautiful, and rambling, with wood floors throughout, some in better shape than others. The major thing that needs fixing right away would be the windows - single paned, and rattley, and breezy. I think that would be a deal breaker for us - windows are expensive, and this house would be at the upper limit of what we would be comfortable spending. The house other than the windows is perfectly livable, but has enough projects to keep us busy for years to come. We're not looking desperately to move, but we always keep our eyes out for things like this. But I don't think this house is meant to be for us at this time.

After that, we went to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. This place should definitely be considered one of the circles of hell. There are few places that I'd like to be at less than Chuck E. Cheese - bad food, loud noise, and other people's kids running amok. But the kids had fun, which is the important thing.

Yesterday wasn't as fabulous a day as the previous two. I had a follow up doctor's appointment for an ovarian cyst that was diagnosed about a month and a half ago. Good news: no cyst. Bad new: no cyst. Because I'm still having pain, and there's no cyst, there's probably something else going on, like endometriosis or fibroids. So yippee! I get to have laparoscopic surgery sometime soon. It's not scheduled yet, but most likely within the next month or so. It's outpatient, so not that big a deal, but still annoying. I had this done about 10 years ago, when I was having similar issues, so this isn't that big a surprise to me that I have to have this done. Plus, I now have Ginny's cold and feel pretty rotten.

So, two days out of three being good isn't bad, right?

too cold to think

2009-01-16T08:33:00.003-06:00

Okay, I know that some peope are going to claim I'm wimpy, but I think it is FAR TOO COLD today, at 18 degrees F outside, with windchill below 0. I know places are colder than that, but they are not in Alabama, fercrissake. It's not supposed to get this cold here! It's one of the reasons I agreed to move here, because I don't like to be cold!!

Ginny is still sick, and today is Andy's day with her. He was going to bring her by my office for a bit while he goes to a faculty meeting, but I think I'm going to tell him that I'll be coming home for that instead. It's too cold for Ginny to be outside, while she's still running a fever.

Off to huddle in front of my space heater - I don't think the heating system here is designed for these temperatures.

They're biological weapons, I tell you...

2009-01-14T08:51:00.002-06:00

Warning: Probably TMI about my poor sick kid.

Poor Ginny is sick. She woke up the night before last at just after midnight with a fever and vomiting. Not a fun way to wake up, for either of us. And she never wants Daddy for that - just Mummy. Luckily the vomiting was a single occurence, and happened long enough after she woke up that she managed to throw up into the "puke bowl." That made things easier to clean up, and I'm sure she felt better not throwing up in her bed, getting it in her hair and all. She finally went back to sleep around 3:30, but would only sleep in the big bed in her room with me there next to her.

So I stayed home with her yesterday. Generally, she was definitely not her normal perky self. Very cuddly, and typically running about 100-102 degree fever. Although she wouldn't nap. She finally told me, "No nap. Nap in car." Which I took to mean if I took her out for a drive she'd nap, and she really needed some sleep. So we went out for a nice long drive - she was asleep even before we left our neighborhood.

Late yesterday, her right eye starting getting all gunky. Great, I thought. Now pinkeye on top of everything else. Luckily, that seems to have mostly cleared up overnight. Hopefully it will stay clear, or she won't be able to go to school. I'm hoping she can go to school tomorrow, but there's no guarentee that will happen at this point. Her fever has to stay down all day, which it hasn't been.

But last night! This girl needed me to sleep with her. Yes, needed. I can't let her cry it out, because she WILL cry all night or until she throws up, which I am unwilling to let her do, especially if she's sick. So I got in the big bed with her, and was there with her through her fever spiking and then breaking, the coughing fits, the general restlessness. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well. But she seems generally better this morning, but still not up to her normal self.

Andy has the stay-at-home duty today. I'm lucky that we get to split that, usually. It's hard to look after a sick kid, especially when the kid doesn't want to sleep or watch TV or do anything but have you cuddle her. She didn't even like it if I tried to watch something on TV while cuddling her, and goodness me, certainly couldn't read, except for books to her, which we read A LOT. There's only so much of "Brown bear, brown bear, what can you see?" that a person can take, though.

Hopefully I'll hear from Andy that she's perked up enormously throughout the day, or I'm home with her again tomorrow. Hopefully, though, if I'm home with her tomorrow she'll be more herself. Now to keep our fingers crossed that no one else gets this...

Dreamscape

2009-01-12T07:35:00.003-06:00

I've been having some weird weird dreams lately. One I had involved Obama - we were on jury duty together (him with all his secret service people) and the jury got around to talking about how WE didn't really elect him, but rather the Electoral College did and how unfair that really seemed. He asked what he could do about it, and I told him to change the constitution to allow for direct voting. He said he's work on it. Last night's strange one involved living aboard a submarine to do research. Also, lipstick shopping with Sarah. These two things were linked somehow, and I still don't quite get how.

The good news is, that I've actually been sleeping pretty well, strange dreams and all. After this weekend, I feel rested for the first time in MONTHS. Even getting up early today to go swimming hasn't made me feel all that tired, which is such a relief. I've been operating in such a fog for the past few months, never feeling like I got enough sleep.

Speaking of swimming, it was COLD this morning. Not just outside, although that was cold by Alabama standards. The pool area was not much warmer than outside, and the pool water itself wasn't as warm as it usually is. I spent most of my workout shivering. I finally stopped shivering in the hot shower I took after I swam.

swim log: 500 yards, pathetic!

Nothing to report

2009-01-09T07:59:00.002-06:00

I've really got nothing to say today, other than I don't feel like being at work, but I also don't feel like being anywhere else.

I also think my head is particularly screwed up lately because some WANK on LJ has almost made me cry FOR NO REAL REASON. I know it shouldn't upset me, and yet it does.

So, post funny links/etc in the comments to lighten my mood. Otherwise today is going to be a loooong day for me.

Which is harder?

2009-01-08T07:24:00.004-06:00

Parenthood or Marriage? That's the question posed on "Momversation" this week.

I don't usually watch/listen/whatever to Momversation, because I'm afraid that it will send me into a tailspin thinking about everything I should be doing as a mother that I don't (yes, I'm that confident in my mothering skills). But this one is quite interesting to me.

Two of the three panelists say that marriage is harder. Heather Armstrong, of dooce.com is the dissenting opinion. I happen to agree with her. I think parenthood is MUCH harder.

Maybe because I've been married longer than I've been a parent, I find the marriage part easier. Maybe because I have a loving, supportive husband that I can argue with and work through things with, and we've had a lot of practice at it (not that we fight all the time - we don't. But we can fight if we need to). You can use logic with a spouse, and reason with them, which you can't always with small children. Ultimately, your spouse is not solely dependant on you for food, shelter, their very well-being.

A child is solely dependant on you (and the other parent, if you're lucky) for these things. Without you, your child very well may die. You're shaping a life, with every decision that you make. You can't necessarily use logic and reason to talk things over with your child, because those skills haven't been developed yet. You are the primary source for your child's happiness. It has longer term effects if you screw it up.

This is not to say marriage is easy. Both marriage and parenthood take work. I think that because I had a good example of a marriage growing up - my parents have been married for 44 years - that I have a better idea what it takes to make a marriage work and last. Things haven't ever been "perfect" - in fact, I sometimes wondered how my parents could stand each other - but they always showed they loved each other, and were working on things. So this was part of my expectation of marriage - you had to work at it, but it becomes a part of you.

Not to say that you don't have to work at parenting - of course you do! You have to work harder at it, I think. I have great parents, but I don't really have role models for how to deal with my kids NOW, as I don't really remember what my parents were like/did when I was this age. So I'm flying somewhat blind on the parenthood thing. Daily thoughts I have with respect to motherhood:

How badly am I screwing up my kids with my screw-ups?
Am I doing what's best for them, or what's best for me?
This little person depends on me, and I can't find my arse with both hands some days!

And so on. I'm much more confident I'm not screwing up my marriage. I think it's better defined what it takes to screw up a marriage than what it takes to screw up parenthood.

I also think that if you talked with me in a couple years, I might have a different opinion. I think both marriage and parenthood get easier in some ways and harder in others as time passes, and which one is harder might just depend on the stage of life you're at. Neither one is a cake-walk, and anyone who tells you differently is LYING.

ETA: Discussion on NYT about this. Comment #5 starts with "I find being a partner to be more challenging on a daily basis, and being a parent to be more daunting in the long term." Thoughts on that?

Splish Splash

2009-01-07T08:46:00.002-06:00

Ginny had her first swim lesson last night. I don't know who was more excited about it, her or Kieran. Kieran liked "showing off" his sister to everyone while we were waiting for our lesson time. "This is my sister. She's going to take swimming lessons, too!" Like people couldn't figure out that a girl in a swimsuit, standing by the edge of a pool full of swim lessons, is going to be taking lessons herself :D

Kieran had his lesson at the same time as Ginny had hers, with me in the water with her, so I didn't get to watch anything that Kieran did, which kind of makes me sad. I like seeing how he's progressing. He's made such progress from less than a year ago. He's somewhat cautious about things he perceives as risky, like swimming, so it's been great to watch him gain confidence in the water and start being able to support himself and such.

For Ginny's lesson, it's as much for the parents as for the kids. It's a way for parents to get comfortable with their kids in the water, and for the kids to get comfortable in the water, while learning some basic things, like floating. Ginny actually went under the water last night, which the instructor said was really good for a first lesson. She seemed to really enjoy herself - didn't always want to do what we were supposed to be doing, though. At the end, the kids are supposed to "monkey walk" along the wall to the ladder. She was all about putting her feet up on the edge and doing it that way, floating back in the water. She's a goof-ball. And when she got out, all she wanted to do was jump back in, which I think is a good sign.

I can't believe I have two kids old enough to be taking swim lessons. I still remember when I was taking swim lessons!

Blast from the Past

2009-01-06T08:32:00.002-06:00

I joined Facebook a couple of months ago. I'm glad I did, because it has led to such wonderful discoveries as this:

I'm in the front row, wearing the cream colored dress with flowers, between "Heidi" and the girl in hot pink.

This was posted by one of my classmates, and has led me to reconnect with several other of my classmates. I was in school with this same bunch of people from kindergarten through my sophmore year of high school, when I moved to Virginia. A big part of my life was spent with these kids, and I'd lost track of most of them, so it's really nice to reconnect with them. It's great to see them all grown up, with kids of their own, too.

Eleven

2009-01-05T08:41:00.003-06:00

Some random thoughts on Matt Smith being chosen as the Eleventh Doctor, replacing the popular David Tennant.

Dude, what's up with the hair? (comment from Sarah,&c - "I am wondering how if it's a requirement since 9 that all Doctors have semi-sentient hair.")
Yay for an unknown!
Ten fangirls need to calm the hell down.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. I'll withhold final judgement until Moffat gets his hands on things and we actually see what happens.

Montly goals Jan 2009

2009-01-02T08:54:00.002-06:00

Y'all, New Year's Resolutions are too far looking for me. So I'm going to continue with my monthly goals. First, an update on last month's goals.

Blog every weekday that I'm in the office. - FAIL (see this post explaining)
Swim at least once/week. - FAIL, but that's because the pool is closed right now!!
Drink no more than one soda/day. -success, but for one day when I had a migraine and needed more caffeine, and there was no coffee available.
Eat lunch with my husband once/week. - SUCCESS
Eat dinner at the table (not in front of the tv) once/week. HUGE SUCCESS. Most nights at the table, in fact.
Read a substantial part of Anathem. (The book is HUGE people. It might be on my list for a while) - SUCCESS. The end is in sight! I've got mixed feelings about that.
Cook a big Christmas dinner for my parents and sister and rest of family. - SUCCESS! Turkey AND ham, y'all. It was GOOD.
Be less grumpy. success - not hugely, because I was still grumpy, but overall, less so, I think.
Go for an entire day without watching tv. SUCCESS. Actually went several days, while in San Francisco.
Have bacon for dinner at least once. SUCCESS.
Spend a day with friends, sans kids. SUCCESS (again, in San Francisco)
Contact one old friend that I haven't communicated with in a long time. SUCCESS - some of that was just writing Christmas cards, but still!

It's a new month (and a new year!), here's some new goals for the month. I'll keep some of the same, and try to work in some new ones each month.

Blog every weekday that I'm in the office.
Swim at least once/week.
Do Wii Fit 3x/week.
Not fall over on Tree Pose in Wii Fit yoga.
Drink no more than one soda/day.
Finish Anathem.
Be less grumpy.
Go on a date with my husband.
Wear lipstick every day.
Get together with Sarah, &c.

Please, suggest some other goals for me, silly or serious, and I'll add them to the list.

At least it gets me moving

2008-12-31T08:10:00.002-06:00

My dad gave me Wii Fit for Christmas. It's pretty fun. I especially like the yoga. Anything that focuses on deep breathing is a bonus in my book :D.

One thing I don't necessarily like about it is that the "Body Test" focuses a LOT on BMI. BMI isn't the be-all, end-all of fitness (for example, read this or this). I'm not just saying that because my BMI is currently over 30 (barely) thereby classifying me as obese. BMI is only one factor in overall health.

But overall, I'm having fun with it so far. The balance games are a trip. I'm terrible at some of them (soccer heading, for example) and pretty good at others (ski jump, anyone?). Kieran loves the skiing ones, and is having fun with the tightrope as well.

I've already said that I enjoy the yoga. Some of the poses I do GREAT at, because they just make sense to me (e.g., Half Moon, Sun Salutation) but there's a couple that I'm not that great with. I am having huge issues with Tree - I can kind of get my leg up, but when I raise my arms, I cannot stay upright.

The strength exercises have been surprising me. Apparently, my weak flabby self is pretty damn good at push-ups and side planks. At least, I am according to the Wii. I must have the pressure points right, and the Wii can't tell that I'm shaky and doing "girly" push-ups with my knees down. But other strength exercises are surprising me as well - I'm not doing too badly on any of them.

The aerobics are hard for me - I've never been one for high impact sorts of things, as my joints tend to hurt when I do them. But I am a Hula-Hoop demon - apparently I've got good hip motion. Andy really likes watching me do that one :D And even with the running I'm not doing too badly. They have a "guide" that you run behind that you're not supposed to pass, that varies speed a bit according to how you're doing. I'm able to run for the entire "short" distance without stopping (probably about 2 minutes) which is better than I thought I could. I might try the long distance tomorrow or Friday and see if I can keep up with that.

Overall, I'm giving the Wii Fit a thumbs-up. I've been doing it every morning, and will hopefully continue to do so in the future. I may skip mornings I swim (pool's closed this week, I think, so I haven't been going) but this will be a good way to keep me moving, and that's the first step to feeling better about myself, both physically and mentally.

I'll write a review of the other Wii game we got, Lego Indiana Jones, after I've played it some more. Kieran is addicted to it, so it can't be all bad.

Saga of my life (at least the last few weeks of it)

2008-12-30T08:21:00.003-06:00

Wow, kinda fell off the post every day bandwagon there. But! I was out of town at a conference for a good part of my silence, with limited web access. The conference was a lot of fun - I learned some, caught up with old friends, and made some great connections. I love San Francisco.

Then came our 10th anniversary, spent up in Sonoma, CA, at the same B&B where we spent our honeymoon. Ten years! I can hardly believe it. It's been an amazing ten years - up and down at times, but the ups far outnumber and outweigh the downs. Andy is amazing to put up with my crap.

After that was the trip back from minor Hell. Our flight was late leaving SFO (Dec 21), which made us miss our connection in Denver by minutes. Minutes!! The line at customer service was horrendously long, so I decided to call customer service to see if I might be able to get something from them sooner. I did get through, but it took 45 minutes of being on the phone with the guy to get a flight out of Denver TWO DAYS later on the 23rd. And that was with something like two connections (when we had had a direct flight previously). But at least it would get us there before Christmas! We still had to wait in line to get our hotel vouchers, so we asked the wonderful lady at the desk if there were ANY flights ANY time sooner, and she managed to get us on a flight out the next morning. Woohoo! Only one night in a hotel without clean clothes! So we got back a day later than intended, but feel lucky that at least ours wasn't a weather delay, for two reasons. One, we were able to make it home relatively easily, just waiting for space rather than space AND weather; and two, they gave us a hotel voucher which apparently they don't have to if the delay is weather-related.

After THAT, it was Christmas and the ensuing hecticness, made worse by losing a day that both Andy and I had planned on using to get some shopping and manini errands done. I had a great Christmas, mainly because both the kids had a great time. It was nice to have my parents around for a while, and my sister even came down for the holiday. We had a stupid-huge Christmas dinner, from which we still have some quite tasty leftovers.

So now it's back to work for me. Not a lot of people in the office, but enough that it doesn't feel desolate. Time for me to earn my kibble!

Crazy weather

2008-12-11T14:02:00.001-06:00

Today, we might get snow. Snow! In Alabama! It's crazy. Earlier this week, it was 60 degrees.

My sinuses hate this.

>HACK< >HACK<

2008-12-10T08:16:00.003-06:00

I am now on day 12 of being sick. And it's not like I've been HORRIBLY sick, just a nasty cold. I thought that I was finally over it, but woke up this morning hoarse and phlegmy and hacking up great green globs of nastiness.

I just hope this isn't a new cold...

'Scuse me while I go drink lots of warm things and feel wretched over in the corner, thanks.

I got nothing

2008-12-09T07:17:00.004-06:00

SPOILERS for those Tivo Heroes.

So, what did people think of Heroes last night? I was pleased that Claire wasn't the catalyst, but pissed off at how easily Hiro lost it to Arthur Petrelli. And is anyone else annoyed with the whole Sylar is/isn't a Petrelli thing? I am. I'm sorry Elle is gone, but at the same time, wow, Kring actually killed a white girl. Will she stay dead? I guess she might come back in flashbacks, but I think she might be really truly dead.

I was trying to come up with more coherent discussion on this ep. However, I'm all "meh" like I've been most of this season. At least Hiro finally has his memory back. And please, Kring, don't let Ando get powers. It's really nice to have a few non-"specials" around regularly, and he's one of the few outside the Bennets.

fashion woes

2008-12-08T12:50:00.002-06:00

I'm certainly not a fashionista. I'm lucky if everything matches, and nothing's ripped, most days. But sometimes I do make an effort, and one of those times is coming up - a big national meeting in San Francisco next week. It's a bit easier this year than years past - at least coming from here I have some cold-weather clothes, which I had all about given up in Hawaii.

The most vexing part of my dressing is shoes. I still have lots of fair-weather dressy shoes, but very few pairs of shoes that are appropriate for cold weather, let alone dressy shoes appropriate for cold weather. This isn't an issue here - I can get away, mostly, with my two pair of standards, or in a pinch, my hiking boots (gotta love being a geologist!). But at a professional meeting, at least for my presentation, I need nice looking, cold-weather-appropriate shoes that are also COMFORTABLE for walking. I'll be on my feet the entire day, so heels (at least high ones) are out. My feet are a weird shape (I have a very narrow heel) so a lot of shoes will be tight in one spot and loose in another, which leads to BLISTERS, which are never fun. Ideally I'd like shoes that I can wear with a skirt or with jeans, so they'll get use post-meeting. Any suggestions for places to look for such, or styles to look out for? Thanks!

Why I Swim

2008-12-05T09:08:00.004-06:00

Hunting around for topics to blog about, Sarah suggested I blog about why I swim, and peppered me with start-up questions:

Why did you start? What do you get out of it? Is there a zone? Is it weird to "zone" in a sport where your face goes underwater? I personally would think it was a little weird to zone in a sport with water. But then, maybe that's part of achieving the zone? You're so tuned into your breath?

Good questions, and things I haven't necessarily thought about in a long, long time. You see, I started swimming on a team when I was 8 years old. At the start of the summer, a good friend of mine pestered me to join the team with her. I did, and had a great time with it. I wasn't very fast, but I was steady and consistent.

The next summer rolled around, and I joined the team again. It wasn't a huge time commitment - an hour or so in the morning, meets on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. Looking back now, it probably just didn't seem like a big time commitment to me, but the meets took a good chunk of time for my parents, I suppose. But I could bike to the pool, so my mom didn't have to worry about schlepping me to practice, so except for meets, it was my own time. I have always loved being in the water, so this was just a bonus to me - time I *had* to be in the water.

Once my parents knew I was going to stick with it, they started looking at "off-season" swim programs. For a couple years, I did pre-season practice at a local fitness club. Then, when I was 12, my parents signed me up for a much more competetive program at a swim club that was about 1/2 hour drive from our house. We carpooled with some of my summer teammates, and my completely chlorinated teen years began. I really have fond memories of that time - my dad and I bonded a lot on those short trips a few times a week, and we're closer today I think because of that. I hope that I can do something like that with my kids.

But why do I love swimming? There's something about the efficiency of motion in swimming that appeals to me. You have to use your entire body, yet it isn't jarring like running or biking. You don't necessarily have to be strong to be fast - if you improve your stroke efficiency, you can essentially out-finesse the competition. While it's ultimately a team sport, swimming is very individual - it's hard to hear people cheering for you when your ears are under water.

I find it easy to get into a zone when I'm swimming - outside distractions are reduced, because you can't hear anything but your exhaling bubbles and the slap of limbs on the water and maybe some echo-y coaching if you're indoors. I'm very concious of my breathing when I swim. You have to be, because you have to plan when to breath in, and when to exhale. That to me is a lot like meditation. I'm also very aware of how my body is moving through the water - how can I make this stroke more efficient, or work this different muscle.

Because those outside distractions are limited, it's a great time for self-reflection, or singing stupid songs to yourself (a favorite of mine), or planning out your day, or rehashing that "discussion" you had with your partner, or figuring out a sticky research problem. It gives me that alone-time that I don't always get otherwise. I've always liked that solitary thinking time.

I swim because it's like meditation with the added benefit of a cardio-vascular workout.

Ask me questions in the comments, and I'll try to do posts about them in the coming weeks. Ask anything!

More Anathem

2008-12-04T07:58:00.002-06:00

I am so enjoying reading Anathem. It's going to take me a long time, but wow, is it worth it. I was laughing out loud with pleasure last night at some sections. And not just because I was remembering Sarah's quoting of them, because I had honestly forgotten about that until I was thinking about the passage this morning.

But! Doesn't this bit just make you laugh and grin and all happy??

"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "We have a protractor."
"Okay, I'll go home and see if I can scrounge up a ruler and a piece of string."

Ruler and string! And protractor! I LOVE IT.

The dialogue is just wonderful. Listen to this exchange, from earlier.

"I'd like you to punch me in the face," [Lio] said. As if he were asking me to scratch his back.

"Not that I haven't always dreamed of it, " I said, "but why would you want it?"

"Hand-to-hand combat has been a common element of military training down through the ages," he proclaimed, as if i were a fid. "Long ago it was learned that recruits--no matter how much training the had received--tended to forget everything they knew the first time they go punched in the face."

"The first time in their lives, you mean?"

"Yeah. In peaceful, affluent societies where brawling in frowned on, this is a common problem."

"Not being punched in the face is a problem?"

"It is," Lio said, "if you join the military and find yourself in hand-to-hand combat with someone who is actually trying to kill you."

And it continues on like that. This conversation you can hear going on.

You must read this book. First, I'd recommend cutting your teeth on Stephenson's Snow Crash, though, because have I mentioned this book is DENSE??

Growing old(er)

2008-12-03T09:35:00.003-06:00

Growing up is hard to do. I still don't feel like a grownup, even though I'm married, with two kids, a mortgage, a steady job, and all the incumbent responsibilities. Will I ever feel like a grownup? I don't know.

I feel grown-up in certain ways - I have a job, I take responsibility for my actions, things like that. But I've done that since I was in college, when I certainly wasn't a grownup yet, so they don't feel like "grownup" responsibilities. But, I see people my age who act like their actions have no repercussions, or think of their job as something to pay for the beer, I wonder how they manage to pay their bills on time and feed themselves well enough not to get scurvy.

But I feel like a faker around other parents - they all know what they're doing! They're grownups! I'm just pretending! Particularly when I go to functions at Kieran's school - even though I'm physically older than many of the parents there, I feel like a n00b. I wonder how many other parents feel that way? A few? Many? All of them? Will I ever feel like I'm responsible enough to be caring for two other little humans? (That said, I do think we're doing a pretty good job at keeping our kids healthy and happy, so we must be doing something right.)

But I think back to my parents when they were this age, and they seem so much more together. Were they faking it, or were they really that much better prepared to deal with life? I mean, we still eat in front of the tv most nights, and we never did that as kids. My mom never forgot to send something to school on the proper day - I'm lucky if I remember to send the things that go to school EVERY day.

But I suppose I should face the fact that I am, indeed, a grownup. I go to bed by 10pm, I have a mortgage and car payments, two kids, a husband, and two cats that depend on me. When did this happen? Oh yeah. It happening while I've been experiencing a wonderful life :D

Update on monthly goals

2008-12-02T07:55:00.001-06:00

Update on my November monthly goals.

Blog every weekday - SUCCESS, other than Thanksgiving and Black Friday
Swim at least once/week - FAIL, although I was sick and kids were sick
Drink no more than one soda/day - SUCCESS, and I think I've lost some weight with it.
Eat lunch with my husband once/week - FAIL, but that was on his side of things.
Eat dinner at the table (not in front of the tv) once/week - SUCCESS
Read a substantial part of Anathem - SUCCESS. I love this book
Cook a big, yummy Thanksgiving dinner, with a brined turkey - SUCCESS (and it was yummy)
Be less grumpy - neither success nor failure, I'll say.
Play MarioCart with Kieran at least once - sort of SUCCESS, as we played Raymond Raving Rabbits a lot instead of LSW
Spend one evening with Andy without the kids - FAIL
Have bacon for dinner at least once - FAIL, although we had it for a big breakfast
Twitter more often than my cat - SUCCESS (I think)

So, since it's a new month, some new goals for the month. I'll keep some of the same, and try to work in some new ones each month.

Blog every weekday that I'm in the office.
Swim at least once/week.
Drink no more than one soda/day.
Eat lunch with my husband once/week.
Eat dinner at the table (not in front of the tv) once/week.
Read a substantial part of Anathem. (The book is HUGE people. It might be on my list for a while)
Cook a big Christmas dinner for my parents and sister and rest of family.
Be less grumpy.
Go for an entire day without watching tv.
Have bacon for dinner at least once.
Spend a day with friends, sans kids.
Contact one old friend that I haven't communicated with in a long time.

What do you think? Suggest a goal, silly or serious, for me, and I might just add it to my list.

Weepy

2008-11-26T07:49:00.005-06:00

As I was lying in Ginny's room last night, waiting for her to go to sleep, I wrote a blog post in my head. I do this quite often, actually. I usually don't write things down, though, which I really should.

Last night, I didn't write anything down, but I don't need to. I remember what I was thinking about, and frankly, it was depressing. I came up with an entire post about how much I miss Hawaii, that I'd miss people here, but Hawaii has been the only place in my adult life that has truly felt like home to me. And also about how low I've been feeling lately, and how fatalistic I've felt. And that was the more upbeat part of things.

I don't know why I've felt so meh and blah and frankly, SAD, lately. Thanksgiving is probably about my favorite holiday, with Christmas a close second. I don't usually get this way around the holidays. Maybe it's making contact with a lot of old Hawaii friends that's making me miss it so? I don't know. I've recently changed meds, which has helped with the crankiness, but now the sad is becoming almost overwhelming. I cry at the slightest thing, or for no reason whatsoever. And I HATE crying.

So, happy thoughts! What do you do when you're feeling really down?

Lazy Post

2008-11-25T07:50:00.002-06:00

A lazy post today, as I'm home with the boy since he's off school all week. Since when has school been closed the entire week of Thanksgiving? This is crazy. Add to that the three weeks he's off at Christmas, and I think the school system thinks at least one parent should stay home full time with the kids, because really, who has that much vacation time??

So, a day of playing Wii, a make-up swim lesson, and final shopping for Thanksgiving is in the works. Have a great day, y'all!

Android Rocks!

2008-11-24T08:44:00.003-06:00

I've been lusting after a new phone for a while, the T-Mobile G1 Android. It has pretty much everything I've been looking for - a full QWERTY keyboard, GPS, WiFi, touchscreen. Andy ordered one for me, as a surprise, but I kept bugging him about it so he ended up telling me before it got here that he'd ordered it for me.

It arrived on Friday, and right out of the box, it looks great. The battery cover is stupid-hard to get off, but that's not really a bad thing, because that's the kind of thing you don't want coming off randomly. My biggest issue was that because we ordered it (we couldn't get them in our local stores as there is no 3G in the area) we didn't have the data plan immediately enabled. That took maybe an hour of calling T-Mobile, getting hung up upon and transferred a gazillion times. Especially annoying because you couldn't make or receive calls on the phone until you had the data plan set up, because to set up the phone you need to enter your gmail info. But that allowed me to get the phone mostly charged before playing around with it.

Once the data plan was enabled, things were smooth sailing - easy to enter info, and BOOM, up and running, with gmail and chat all set to go. The IM interface is slick, and Android Gmail gets a BIG thumbs up from me, especially over the blackberry interface. The Android Market is nice - lots of useful apps already there, with more arriving each day. After only having the phone for a couple days, I'm already relying on it for more than I did with the blackberry.

My only other complaint is a minor one - the finger-response touchscreen is really nice, but sometimes I think my fingers must be fat - I'm often hitting the wrong button on the screen unintentionally. May just take some more getting used to, so I'll hold back serious judgment on that.

All in all, I'm in love with my new G1, and wish that everyone could have one. This does have potential to be a iphone killer, I think, or at least a serious competitor.

What I wish I could have done this morning

2008-11-21T09:00:00.002-06:00

Dear Boss-Man,

I can't come into work today, because I'm calling in meh. I'm not sick, and it's not that I don't really want to come to work, but I'm just all "meh" about the day. I think the best thing for all involved would be for me to go back to bed for a couple of hours.

After that, I think I'd like to read Anathem for the rest of the day instead of depth-registering well logs. I know the well logs need to be depth-registered, but a trained monkey could probably do it and really, I think a better use of my time would be to read about Fraas and Suurs and Provener. Monday, I promise, I'll be more exciting about depth-registering, but today, I'm meh.

Thanks for understanding. Hope you have a better than meh day.

a hui hou,

Honu-Girl

Ten things

2008-11-20T07:52:00.000-06:00

Ten things I'm pessimistic about.

The state of the economy
My daughter's sleep habits
My son's DRAMA
My parenting skills
My spousal skills
That I'll ever get back to live in Hawaii
Living in Alabama
My weight
My sleep habits
Life in general

And to offset that, ten things I'm optimistic about.

My children and what they can achieve
My hair
My husband
The people I've met in Alabama
Swimming habits
Eating habits
Going back to live in Hawaii
Our personal finances
Fabulous books to read
Life in general

I'm neither optimist nor pessimist, as you can tell by some repeats on the two lists. It depends on the moment of the day. I think that's generally a good thing - I have hope about good things that can and do happen, but am also somewhat realistic in my expectations (generally). I know some of the pessimitic things are actually unrealistic, but I can't help feeling them anyway.

What are you optimistic and pessimistic about?

The eyes have it

2008-11-19T08:32:00.002-06:00

I was inspired by recent posts on other blogs to attempt to document my eyeshadow experiments. I don't always wear makeup, but when I do, if I go all out anywhere, it's on the eyes. I guess part of that is because the outrageousness can be muted by my glasses, if I go overboard. Plus, I think my eyes are my best facial feature, so I like to play them up.

Anyway, here we have this morning's experiment. I was going for bold, yet subtle. When my eyes are open, it's not as in-your-face as it is here. (And wow, I just noticed the glasses dent on my nose. That's not attractive). For your edification, this is using MAC's Chocolate Quad from the Cult of Cherry collection and is as follows:

lid: sweet chesnut
arch: nanogold
crease: brash
lashes: black mascara
liner: prunella eye kohl

All are MAC products. I really like this quad, and have used varying combinations of it to produce different effects. I think my favorite color in the quad is the brash, though - it's very bronzy and plays to my hair color.

What color should I experiment with next? I'm looking to branch out from earth-y tones, and green. I have some muted purples, but I think I might want to go bolder with that. Any other suggestions?

(non)Sleeping Beauty

2008-11-18T07:40:00.001-06:00

Ginny is really turning into a daddy's girl. She has this routine now of cuddling with him on the couch after dinner, and gets very upset if she can't do that. Goodness gracious if we skip that - the bedtime routine is COMPLETELY RUINED, she thinks, if she can't have that cuddle time. And we certainly don't want to mess with the nighttime routine, because the girl suffers from insomnia.

Yes, insomnia. One night last week, she was awake until 11:30. She was tired, but just AWAKE. Another night she was exhausted, and kept waking herself up instead of going to sleep. Yet another night, she was up at 2am, awake but tired, and not going back to sleep. That time, you could kind of tell she wanted to go to sleep, but just couldn't do it, just like I am with insomnia. Unfortunately, she needs someone up WITH her - she won't just play in her room until she goes back to sleep, but will scream until she either makes herself sick, or until someone comes in to her. If we're lucky, she'll then lay down in her bed and be awake while we lie on the other bed and can actually sleep. But often, she won't stay in bed and at that point, the best thing to do is leave the room with her for a while. Bad SciFi on the Tivo is sometimes the cure at this point - I don't play with her, but she's awake with me in the room. Eventually she'll crawl up into my lap and snuggle. At that point, we can usually transfer back to her room, where she'll either go to sleep or at least stay in bed.

This is the same girl, though, who can fall asleep sitting up, mid-play. She'll be playing with Kieran, and you'll look over, and she's asleep, sitting up - usually starting to slump over, but she starts out upright. I'm beginning to think that we might need to work with the doctor on her sleep issues, but I also don't want to make a bigger deal out of them than the already are.

We already try to keep to a "normal" routine, but it doesn't seem to help. We've tried keeping track of what she eats (pretty easy, since she doesn't eat much of anything) to see if it's a food sensitivity, and haven't noticed any pattern yet. Any ideas what else we could do? I'd like to get a full night's sleep again. I miss it.

Bad poetry

2008-11-17T09:37:00.003-06:00

I've been visiting the Imagination Prompt Generator to help give me ideas about what to write, and one that popped up today was:

Write a limerick.

Limericks are interesting to me, because they do follow a strict form. The first line traditionally introduces a person or place, with that person or place being the last word of the line to establish the rhyming scheme for the 2nd and 5th lines. According to Wikipedia, the most prized limericks incorporate a kind of twist, either in fact or in twisting/torturing the actual rhyme in the last line, or sometimes both. Wordplay is often employed.

Wiki also states the view that the true limerick, as a fold form, is ALWAYS obscene, with clean limericks a periodic fad, rarely rising above mediocrity. And on that note, a clean, mediocre limerick for you to laugh at (not that it's funny, but that it's pathetic).

There once was a girl named Denise,

Who had issues saying her piece,

'til one day she found,

Her tongue unbound,

Then others were never at peace.

So, there you have it. Let's see YOU write a decent limerick!!

Necessary Quiet

2008-11-14T09:22:00.000-06:00

My favorite time of day is first thing in the morning, when I can get up on my own and have some time to myself. I lvoe my family, but those few minutes of quiet before the rest of the house is up are sheer bliss. I miss it when I don't get it. I always feel a bit off if I don't get at least a couple of minutes to myself before I have to interact with other humans. I think that's one of the biggest things wearing make-up has given me - no one can help me with that, so I usually have those few minutes to myself, at least, even if it's a bit later in the morning. It's not quite the same to have those few quiet minutes right when I first wake up, but it helps.

I love the mornings where I go swimming, because I don't interact with anyone (except to have the person swipe my card in) for an hour or so after I get up. My brain works better after that. Even if the kids are up before I go, I get that cocoon of personal space while doing laps. It's pretty hard to talk and do laps, even if you're swimming with someone. I think that's one of the reasons I like swimming so much. That, and there's an efficiency of motion you can develop so that while you might not be strong, you can still move through the water swiftly.

I also love the first few minutes in at work - the day is fresh, anything can happen, and again, I usually have those few minutes completely to myself. The day never seems quiet right if I don't get those few minutes of being alone. Cleaning out the inbox, checking a few blogs, firing up gchat, planning the path of the day. Those few minutes can mean the difference between a productive day and a day where I feel as though I'm playing catch-up.

This morning, I didn't get any of those times, really - the kids got up before my alarm went off, and so they were climbing all over me and Andy in the bed while we were trying to get up, I didn't go swimming because it was my turn to take the kids to school, and a coworker was waiting by my office for me when I got in this morning. But the chat with the coworker was (mercifully) short, so I was then able to settle back into my morning routine pretty easily. The day is looking up already.

Morning Video Laugh

2008-11-13T08:03:00.002-06:00

This song made my morning, which had gotten off to a rough start.

Enjoy! Thanks, chris, for vastly improving my morning.

Goals for this month

2008-11-12T10:49:00.002-06:00

Goals, serious and not, for the upcoming month:

Blog every weekday (so far, so good, even if some of the posts are lame)
Swim at least once/week
Drink no more than one soda/day
Eat lunch with my husband once/week
Eat dinner at the table (not in front of the TV) once/week
Read a substantial part of Anathem.
Cook a big, yummy Thanksgiving dinner, with a brined turkey
Be less grumpy
Play MarioCart with Kieran at least once (he always wants to play LSW)
Spend one evening with Andy without the kids
Have bacon for dinner at least once
Twitter more often than my cat

I'll report back at the end of the month with how I did with that.

THANK YOU

2008-11-11T08:45:00.004-06:00

Today is Veteran's Day. Take a moment to thank all those who have served or are serving our country.

I'm off work today with the son, who's off school. We'll spend the day together, thankful that we live in the US, able to express our opinions and differences thanks to those serving both here and overseas.

Thank you, veterans. You make this country the great place it is.

YA Reading

2008-11-10T09:14:00.003-06:00

As is typical for me, I get into work, fire up gchat, and get on with my day, chatting with Sarah and Chris and others while I work. (I am the ultimate multi-slacker!!)

So far today, in my chatting, I've gotten sent an awesome fanvid, had a discussion of stoats and how they're members of the viverridae family, a fact I learned from following Stephen Fry on twitter, and gotten a link to a review of fabulous book that I MUST GET, The Turtle Moves!The Discworld Story Unauthorized.

This quote from the review had me ROLLING:

Watt-Evans does a tremendous job summing up the books and pointing out how the start of the series was direct parodies of the fantasy genre, summing up Anne McAffrey’s whole output with just two words: “magic ponies.” (Anyone who has read her work should all be laughing now.)

BECAUSE IT'S TRUE.

I'm a McAffery reader from waaay back. Not so much any more, but back in the day (middle school) she was a favorite. Her stuff is what really got me into fantasy books (at least, it's the first series of fantasy that I remember reading, unless you count Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain), which then led me into reading hard-core sci-fi. Which led me to watching sci-fi TV and movies, which in turn led me to the wonderful Sarah through the beauty that was Firefly.

So as fluffy as McAffery's works can be, ultimately, they helped form my reading and viewing habits of today. I can't give her all the credit - other authors helped, like Heinlein and Piers Anthony and Terry Pratchett and oh god I'm forgetting some major ones here.

What authors from your youth influenced your reading even today? C'mon, admit them, even if they're somewhat embarrassing. I want to know!

Friday Reading

2008-11-07T07:09:00.005-06:00

I've finally gone out and gotten Neal Stephenson's Anathem. I'm only about 30 pages in, and I'm feeling two things about it. First, wow, it's interesting and dense. Second, am I an idiot because I'm having a hard time following what's what? To that end, Sarah assures me that I'm not an idiot:

me: I don't want to work today. I want to sit outside and read Anathem! Does some of it get easier as you go?
I'm spending a lot of time flipping back to the glossary and back and forth in the pages.
I'm only about 20 pages in, too.
I'm enjoying it, it's just DENSE.

Sarah: Yes, it does.

me: Oh good.

Sarah: And yes, gawd, it is.
The part about teh clock and the concent made me want to cry because I thought I was just not getting it.

me: I'm at that part right now!!

Sarah: It really starts to lighten up around page 40 / 50. Then it'll go back into that every once in a while, but it mostly stays easier.
Just sorta imagine what you can.
It'll be okay.

me: The clock/concert is HOLY SHIT complicated. I've read it maybe three times now, and think I've got it.
Or at least have it enough to be able to move on.

Sarah: Oh hell yes. Don't worry if you don't have it.
All you need to know is that it takes vibration to get the clock moving so they can wind it for the aut.

me: I won't. I feel better knowing that you had similar issues.

Sarah: Doc and Slinger told me what i'm telling you. Just get in there and go.

So there you have it. Anathem = hard as shit, but worth it in the end. And Sarah is da bomb for helping me figure things out. I felt much better at when I understood her statement about the aut and wasn't all WTF about it.

I still don't feel like working - I'd rather sit and read. But I must work so that I can afford to buy books like this :D

I'll be grumpy over there, thanks

2008-11-06T07:10:00.004-06:00

I am incredibly grumpy today, probably from lack of sleep. Ginny decided that she wasn't going to go to bed last night. I seriously think the girl gets insomnia - she was tired, but not sleepy. She finally went to sleep about 11 pm last night, later than I usually stay up. Then, she woke up at about 2am and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I had to go in to her. I tried to get Andy to do it, but he kept falling back asleep between the time I'd ask and him actually getting out of bed. So while she fairly quickly went back to sleep, I didn't. I didn't get back to sleep until about 4:30, and my alarm is set to go off at 5:30 so I can go swimming before work.

Ginny woke up at 5, and came into our room. When I tried to get up, she started screaming and clinging to me. This went on until I left the house about 6 to go swimming. (I ended up bailing on swimming, and took a 20 minute nap in my office instead.) When I left the house, she was on the kitchen floor, screaming, not letting Andy touch her. She's nothing if not stubborn. Hopefully she'll calm down enough to eat some breakfast, and let Andy eat something, too.

When I walked into the kitchen this morning, the dishes from last night hadn't been done, nor had the dishwasher even been run. I had assumed that Andy had done them - usually whoever doesn't make dinner does the dishes, so I had assumed that while I was fighting getting Ginny to sleep that he had done them. Apparently not, and I hadn't checked before I went to bed. This meant I had to hand wash some sippy cups for Ginny, plus the other dishes. Also? The coffeepot hadn't started yet, because apparently the clock was set 12 hours off (am for pm). Normally, any one of these things doesn't bother me, but all together, it's led to a grumpy morning.

But the good news is, I made a backup of my home itunes library last night, and am currently restoring it to my work computer, so I'll have infinite variety of music. The speakers I had for my ipod were just not cutting it. At least I'll be able to rock out to some music that will keep me awake.

Also good: both Andy and I have our flights to San Francisco for the AGU meeting in December. It will be strange - the first time that Andy and I are away together without the kids. Bonus is that it will be our 10th wedding anniversary that week, and we'll be spending it at the same B&B we honeymooned at up in Sonoma.

So I'm grumpy, but trying to look on the bright side of things. Give me happy unicorn rainbow thoughts!

Prezzie from the husband

2008-11-05T09:00:00.001-06:00

Andy got back from a week long trip to South Africa late last week. He was in Capetown for a conference. I really wish I could have gone with him, but with the kids it's hard, physically and financially, to do that kind of thing. So, I spent the week he was away missing him, and spending some extra time with the kids.

He doesn't always bring back a present when he travels, but this time he did, and I love it. It's a beautiful necklace with beads and etched metal. The detail on it is amazing, and it really suits my style (what little I have, that is).

So the husband done good. Maybe I should make him some wife soup?

GO VOTE

2008-11-04T09:32:00.002-06:00

Because you haven't heard it enough today, go vote. It gives you the right to complain for the next four years :D

Plus, there are local elections and issues that you need to consider, wherever you are. It's not just about the presidency, y'all. It's all of it.

I've been slack about some things in my life, but I've never missed an opportunity to vote since I turned 18. I wish I could vote twice, once for me and once for Andy (he's not naturalized, so doesn't get to vote). I wish we'd have 100% turnout. Let's break some records, folks!

Thus ends the public service announcement. You may now go refresh your news page to see if it's changed in the last 20 seconds.

Internal Editor OFF

2008-11-03T10:24:00.003-06:00

So, I have a few friends doing NaNoWriMo this year (yay Sarahetc and chris!), and I contemplated signed up for NaBloPoMo, but wussed out because I have a hard time getting to a computer on weekends. But, I'm going to try to write a blog post every weekday this month, at least, just to see if I can make myself do it. Some will be less boring than others, I'm sure, but the point is for me to get back into the habit of actually writing. I may not edit as I go, in the spirit of NaNoWriMo, so here comes what may.

Halloween was Friday. Yet again, Kieran did NOT go out trick or treating. He HATES wearing costumes, and gets totally freaked out by it, in fact. This year, I thought it might be different, as he actually talked about what he wanted to dress up as (Indiana Jones, even though he hasn't seen any of the movies!) at the start of the month. By about mid-month, he was telling me, "I don't need to go trick or treating, because I have enough candy." Close to the actual day, he starts saying, "I don't want to go to school on Halloween."

I don't know what it is about costumes that freak him out so much, but they really do. Luckily, the K classes weren't dressing up, other than as "farmers" for another activity, which meant that Kieran just had to find his John Deere t-shirt to be dressed appropriately. However, the rest of the grades I think were allowed to dress up, which I am sure contributed to his acting up on Friday. He's been behaving so well in school lately, that it was unusual for him to act up so badly. I can't say I was surprised by it, though.

I always had such fun trick or treating. I wish there were something I could do to help Kieran get over his fear of costumes and masks, so he could enjoy this rite of kid-hood, too. Any suggestions?

Homework Update

2008-10-21T09:23:00.003-05:00

An update on the previous discussion.

We had a very successful parent-teacher conference last week. Kieran is doing quite well in school, particularly in math and what little science they get to do. He's close to or surpassed the "standards" for the December DIBELS test (don't get me started on standardized testing for K... I'll save that for another post).

We were the last conference of the day, so we actually had some extra time to talk. We got to talk a bit about Kieran's behaviour - he's a very active 5 year old boy, with excess energy. With only PE during the day (no recess - again, don't get me started!) as his only energy outlet, sometimes he just can't sit still. And because PE is very structured, he sometimes gets in trouble and is made to SIT OUT of PE for not following directions. His teacher has no control over that, but hopefully if I keep bringing it up, then maybe the school will reassess having recess. His behaviour significantly improved when he started doing Karate and soccer a few days a week - another outlet for energy. However, he needs more unstructured play time, I think.

Which brings us to the homework discussion. Kieran's teacher is a relatively new teacher, and this is her first year teaching K at this school. She's also at a disadvantage because she was brought in to this class from another school about two weeks into the year, and the kids are still feeling the effects of that transition, 3 months into the school year. She doesn't set the homework - the homework is determined by another one of the K-team teachers, so she really doesn't have that much say in it. However, when I brought up my concerns about Kieran saying he hates school because of homework, she reacted in what I felt was an appropriate way, saying "Oh no! We certainly don't want that!"

She explained her philosophy - the homework is to help practice handwriting, because they just don't have time in class, and the homework is to encourage parental involvement at home. The most important part of the homework, she said, was to be sure we read with him every night (which we do, regardless of whether it was homework or not). If the other parts are a struggle, just don't do it. If we don't have time one night, don't worry about it. As long as some of it gets done sometimes, that's fine - and it doesn't even have to be exactly what's assigned. For example, Kieran likes to draw and label things, but doesn't really like to practice individual letters. So, I asked if he could maybe draw and label some things instead, and she was all for it. She essentially said that we know our child best, and should do what's best for him. Homework isn't worth the battle, she said, so do what's best for him.

So, not complete success, but progress, I think. I don't think I could get homework eliminated, since it's grade-wide, but at least I understand that Kieran's teacher doesn't put much emphasis on it, which relieves me, and ultimately relieves Kieran.

Thanks for all the wonderful helpful comments on the previous post. I really appreciate them. Talking here really helps with focusing on what the real problems are.

Homework and Kindergarteners

2008-10-08T13:57:00.003-05:00

This started as a tweet discussion, and then on a forum. But because other people read this than those, I'm bringing it up here.

What do y'all think of homework for kindergarten? Kieran has nightly homework, due on Fridays. It's nothing much, just things like practicing a letter a few times, and sometimes something else, like "Draw two things that begin with the same sound as "mouse."" So, it's not a major time sink, but it still takes time. We're also supposed to read to and with him every night, too, which we do anyway.

Kieran hates doing his homework. He's even stated "I hate going to school because I get homework." He's 5, and already hates homework, two months into the school year. It's hard to get him to do it. I have to nag at him, and it ends up cutting into the time we would spend playing or reading together. So we end up reading LESS with him that we used to. We've kept doing all the homework anyway, because I don't want to undermine the teacher. But I think I need to talk with the teacher. Luckily, we have a parent-teacher conference on Friday, so we can talk then.

I'm reading a book right now called, "The Case Against Homework: How Homework is Hurting Children and What Parents can do About It," by Sara Bennet and Nancy Kalish. There is study after study quoted in this book about the detrimental effects of homework on elementary and middle school students. They haven't mentioned any studies showing benefits of homework, just mentioning ones that are inconclusive. I haven't gotten to the part yet where they talk about how to approach teachers, etc., but I hope to by Friday.

I don't want to seem confrontational, or like I don't think the teacher knows what she's doing, or anything like that. I just want my son to love school, and right now, homework is contributing to his hating it. The work is not onerous, but the effects it has on other things are - it makes it difficult to have dinner (I can't cook while I'm helping him with the homework), or to go to soccer practice (where's the time?), or to just sit on the couch and talk about his day. And I know it's only going to get worse as he gets older, so I want to learn how to handle the situation now, before it gets totally out of control.

I'm going to be the mother that the teachers dread, aren't I?

What are your thoughts? Should K kids have homework? What do you give up in order to do homework, versus what do you gain? I'm seriously interested in this, pro and con, so please, talk with me.

ETA: Meeting went well. The teacher is pretty well on-board with how I'm feeling about the homework. She really doesn't care what or even if we do, as long as we do something, which she said she knows we do. So, for now, we'll do the homework when we can, and not worry about it when we can't. But I'm glad to have had this discussion, and it will help me out in future fights, with balancing all the pros and cons. Thanks to everyone!

Multitasking DEMON

2008-09-19T09:30:00.002-05:00

So far today, I've editing two short announcements, fielded a few phone calls, entered a bunch of data, tracked down a form, and called the doctor to get a form for Kieran. I think I've accomplished enough for the day. It's not yet 9:30. Can I go home now plz? K thx.

First experience with youth soccer

2008-09-16T08:40:00.005-05:00

Kieran not only has started Kindergarten this year, but he's also playing organized sports for the first time. Specifically, soccer. We signed him up through the Y, as it seemed less competetive than other programs.

It's been interesting. First off, they (the people organizing this) seem incredibly disorganized about the whole set up. We were originally told we'd hear about practices by the end of August, with first games being the week of Sept. 8. One call from the coach to tell us that they're still working on the schedule, and then nothing for almost two weeks. At that point, I called the coach, saying "Ummm, aren't they supposed to have a game this week? Are they going to have a practice before the game?" That at least seemed to prompt an email out to everyone saying "We're working on it!"

Kieran had a practice last week, and his first game last night. (They pushed everything back a week - apparently they're short of coaches and have some coaches working with two teams, so they had to make sure that the same coach wasn't supposed to be in two places at once.) Watching 5 year olds play soccer is an interesting experience. Some understand what's going on, mostly, but most just mob the ball and are lucky if they start kicking it the right direction down the field. In fact, the first goal of the night was a girl on Kieran's team shooting into our own goal. I don't know if they counted that as a score for the other team or not.

The game was actually pretty good, considering the skill set of those we were watching. All the kids were REALLY good about sitting out when they weren't on the field. This shocked me with Kieran, as he usually can't sit still for more than about 30 seconds. And while there was lots of falling over, the kids just bounced right back up and kept on running and playing. It was great to see their resilience. At this age, they don't play positions, so in general it's a mob rushing around the ball, then some kid manages to break away and tear down the field (hopefully toward to correct goal) for an attempted shot. About half the time they make the shot, half the time it goes way out there.

The final score was (I think) 5-4 to the other team. Or at least close to that. They don't make a big deal out of the score, which is good, but they do at least acknowledge that one team one. Kieran made a goal, and assisted on another, so I'm really pleased with that. He didn't whine too much when things didn't go his way - that's a big change from even a week ago. He seems to have turned a maturity corner this week.

I'm proud of my guy. He had fun, played well and fairly, and listened well to the coaches. I think this experiment with organized sports may pan out.

Now, if we could just find time to do his homework on those nights, or if I could get up enough guts to tell the teacher that hw for K is pointless, we'd be set....

Rough start to the day

2008-09-11T11:24:00.004-05:00

So, I leave the house this morning, not feeling that great (I've got some post-nasal drip going, blurg). I manage to get Ginny in the car without too much fuss, get out of my driveway without running over any plants (if you've seen my driveway, you understand what I mean).

Then it happens. Just before the stop sign, not 100 yards from my house, my car LURCHES to a halt. I can't get it out of gear. It won't move. I'm panicked. MY CAR IS DEAD.

I call Andy to come out and check things for me, just to make sure I'm not being an idiot or something. He comes out, pulls the floormat back, and everything is FINE. It appears that the floormat got caught up in the clutch and brake pedals, maybe. There's a hook that's supposed to keep the mat in place, but doesn't. I usually tug the mat back as I get in the car, but I guess I didn't this morning. The mat is now in the back so it won't be an issue again.

Bad news is that I'm an idiot because I didn't even THINK to check that. But, good news is that my car isn't fucked. I had visions of needing either major repair work or even a new vehicle, and I love my little Subaru.

On another note, I had thought to do a 9/11 post, but I don't think I can say anything much different than I did two years ago. I don't think that the memories will ever be any less painful for me. It was a scary time for me, for everyone, and really world-changing. I still have a hard time with it. Just remember to tell everyone you love that you do love them. I know I say it far more now that I did prior to 9/11/01, because you never know when something will happen.

New toy!

2008-09-04T12:48:00.002-05:00

Yes, I admit, I'm a geek. And somewhat impulsive.

I went to Toys "R" Us to get diapers (cuz usually they're the cheapest there, although they have gone up quite a bit), and saw this guy sitting with "Darth Tater." I had seen Darth before, but never Artoo Potatoo. I had to have him, and he's now taken up residence on my desk. He even has a little blue ghost-like Obi-Wan!

Pic-spam of US Space and Rocket Center

2008-09-04T09:03:00.005-05:00

Because I'm all out of words (or at least mostly out) here's a pic-spam from our trip to Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center over the past weekend:

The Saturn V. This is a new exhibit, and it's just spectacular. This used to be kept outside, but they've restored it and moved it into a brand new building where you can really see things.

Kieran and Ginny walking on the moon. I loved how Ginny was chasing Kieran around. Should have taken a video.

This is the Orion Capsule, which I believe is the next space vehicle that will take humans, after the shuttle retires. Very similar to the Apollo capsules.

This is a Saturn V that's standing outside. It's just so impressive and awesome.

And this is the space shuttle prototype used to test out the 747s that carry the shuttle. Couldn't get really good shots of this as it appears they're working on restoring this.

We saw lots more, but trying to keep up with two running kids while taking pictures doesn't work out too well. We'll go back soon, and I'll try to get some more pics. I wish we lived closer, because I think I'd enjoy working there, and I know I'd like to go more often than we do.

Arachnid Haven

2008-08-19T06:46:00.003-05:00

Apparently, our home is an arachnid sanctuary. We have an amazing variety of spiders living outside our house right now. I posted a picture of one here, and since then, we've had maybe a dozen different species form webs around the house.

Last night, as I pulled into the garage, I noticed Andy had parked on the opposite side than he normally does. This is why:

This gal had built a HUGE web in the side of the carport, right next to where Andy would normally park. We saw another one like her in the yard yesterday (what's up with that funky zig-zag stripe in her web? I think it's awesome, but definitely weird) but she's bigger than that one, and was hanging out right at eye level. She's not quite as huge as the picture makes her out to be, but still a good 5 cm or so in length. She appears to be an Black and Yellow Argiope (hey! there'ssome discussion of the zig-zag there!) also known as a "writing spider."

Unfortunately, I did have to displace her last night - one of her anchor-points of the web was our garbage can, which had to go down to the curb. I managed to move the can without destroying her web although I did disturb it quite a bit. She was gone this morning - I hope she finds another place to build!

Still haven't gotten a picture of the funnel web spider living outside our den window. There's been some turf wars between that one and another orb weaver (not the giant lichen orb, but a more typical "garden" spider), but they seem to have settled into an uneasy truce. I'm going to try to get pics of both of them tonight.

Cuteness ahead, cuz I can't think of anything else to post

2008-08-18T09:41:00.004-05:00

Cute kid-ness:

Because we all need cuteness now and then. We grilled last night, and while we were waiting for the food to cook, Ginny decided that potato chips were THE BEST THING EVER, but only if she was sitting next to Kieran.

So even though I've spent the past week and a half with nasty sinuses because of these darlings, how can I be mad at them?

Title goes here

2008-08-13T14:12:00.003-05:00

I've started so many posts lately, and just never gone anywhere with them. I've been incredibly fuzzy-brained lately.

It's been almost a week now, and Kieran is (so far) surviving Kindergarten pretty well. Even after suffering from face-plantage minutes before orientation last Tuesday. He was climbing out of the back of our 4runner, and somehow tumbled so the asphalt got quite well acquainted with his face. Giant lump on the forehead, slight graze on the cheek, and massive scrape under his nose. At least we know where the nurse's office is, though. At least it was at the orientation, and not the actual first day.

So, he started school looking like he had been in a bar fight.

You can barely see it in the photo, but he's got an impressive scab on his upper lip, and still a pretty massive yellowing bruise/bump on his forehead.

We left him in the classroom on Thursday with no tears, on his part or ours. There were some tears that night, when he said "None of my preschool friends are in my class, except M! I miss them!" Generally, though, he's adjusting well. He LOVES that there is no naptime in K, as that was the part of the day he hated at preschool, and was also usually the only time he'd get in trouble.

I got a chance to talk with his teacher some on Monday morning (I had to drop off snacks for the week - it rotates from parent to parent). Iin response to me asking how he was adjusting, she said, "He's doing great, although a bit..."

"Dramatic?" I finished.

"Exactly. He can turn it on and off, can't he? And everything is the end of the world!"

"Yep. He's a ham. You just have to ignore it."

My son, the drama-king. I can't WAIT 'til he's a teenager :D

He's enjoying being treated like a big kid, taking care of his own things, buying his own lunch. But there are times that he just wants mom. This morning, when I dropped him off in the gym, he just clung to me and didn't want me to leave. I felt so heartless leaving him there, but I know that I just had to go. Hopefully he's had an okay day.

And, just because I thought the picture was cute, here's an image from our visit to the Birmingham Zoo this past weekend:

Ginny often insists on holding Kieran's hand when we're walking places. Kieran usually really likes it. The two of them were zooming around the place on Sunday, having a great time. Kieran is such a good big brother.

Hair apparent

2008-08-06T10:22:00.003-05:00

Is it possible to fall in love with a hair appliance? If so, I am head over heels in love with the Remington Wet 2 Straight flat iron. After getting my haircut a few weeks ago, I went out and bought a hair dryer and a flat iron, so that I could at least attempt to recreate that sleek smooth look. Hadn't had any really great success with it, although I was able to do a somewhat passable job after finding a few anti-frizz products.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had been thinking "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if I could straighten and dry my hair in one go? The blow-drying really brings out the frizz, no matter how carefully I go." A bit of googling later, I come across links to the Wet 2 Straight. Rave reviews, at several places. And relatively cheap to boot. So, while at Target yesterday, I looked to see if they had it, and they did. Woohoo!

This morning I tried it out. Towel-dried my hair, put some anti-frizz serum on, and tried out my new toy. WOW! No hair-frying (which is what other flat irons can do on wet hair), smoother and straighter than anything else I've tried. I've still got a bit of frizz (but it's AL in the summer, so that's to be expected, really) but not nearly as much, and I'd probably have less if I were more patient and went a bit slower. My hair is the closest it's been to what the stylist did, and I couldn't be happier.

So, in the past year, I've gone from a no-makeup, no-hairstyling gal, to a make-up wearing, hair styling fiend. Nothing over the top, but definitely a big change for me. Maybe I'm finally thinking of myself as an adult?

Light-headed

2008-07-17T16:22:00.003-05:00

I'm feeling a bit light-headed at the moment. This morning, I looked like this:

As of half an hour ago, I look like this:

The ponytail is going to Locks of Love. I'll probably be sobbing tomorrow morning, and I know that Andy will be sad tomorrow night (he's away until then). But, I think after the morning-after regret, I'll like it, at least for a while. And if not, hey, it will grow back!

The major concern I have? Can I actually straighten my hair like that ever again? Or is it going to shrink up above my ears from the curl?

Books and Life

2008-07-10T07:36:00.003-05:00

Even though I really have no time to read, I'm currently in the midst of four different books, all different. I'm still reading Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle - I find I have to do that in bits and pieces to digest everything, so it's taking me far longer than it "should." I'm also reading a book about science and religion (interesting from all sides, whether you believe in a higher power or not), and one other non-fiction book by A.J. Jacobs, The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. I'll talk more about that one another time, as I've just started it, and I've already got a whole bunch of new words.

The book that's captivating me now in Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture (cowritten with Jeffrey Zaslow). For those of you who haven't heard about it, this book came about from a lecture Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon's "Last Lecture" series, entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." Many have given a so-called "last lecture" but Randy's really is - he was recently diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. He wrote the book (with assistance) to further expand on those thoughts, even though it took time away from his family. One reason he gave for writing the book is so that his kids (6, 4, and 18 months, give or take) will have something else of him.

This book is so bittersweet. Randy doesn't seem angry. He often only mentions the cancer in passing - although he likes to call it the "elephant in the room." But, the thing that's really getting me, is that he's continuing to lead his life as he always has. He's just become more vocal about how to do it, and what you should do.

But really, what I wanted to talk about was a chapter of his that talked about his views about what college is/should be. He makes a statement that many people today look at college as a consumer - they pay some money, they expect a result, similar to buying a shirt or a car. He argues, however, that while it is a consumer product, it's more akin to paying for a personal trainer - you don't give a personal trainer money and *poof* you're in shape (no matter how much we might wish for that to happen). You give a personal trainer money to assist you in reaching your goals. The same could be said of college.

I think that's something that a lot of people forget. College (or any education) doesn't give you something for nothing, or something for just a bunch of money. Yes, you pay for it and should expect certain things from it, but you also have to work for it. Just paying for it is only the start. It's a collaborative effort.

There's lots of other things in the book that are wonderful and beautiful. And Randy is also not shy about mentioning his faults - that he can be arrogant and a jerk. I think one thing this books shows is that we ALL have something of value to share with the world. We just don't all know how to do it.

Swim log: 900 yards! Best day since I started again. Got inspired by Sarah telling me that she gets motivated using the "Denise" method, where I encouraged her to push herself on the treadmill. I figured I should follow my own advice, but I also realize that I'm a much better coach than athlete.

My husband, the archanophobe

2008-07-08T11:05:00.003-05:00

Image (c) Lewis Scharpf

We've been watching a spider build a HUGE web across a little-used side door at our house. Unfortunately, before I was able to get a good picture of either the web or the spider, Andy had to displace the spider (he didn't kill her) and take down the web because it FREAKED him out. I'm proud that he managed to move the spider across the yard, considering he is a serious archanophobe.

We did managed to identify her, though. We figured out she was an orb-weaver by the size and design of her web. But, I had never seen a green spider like her before, so it took a while to track her down. We finally found out that she most likely is a Giant Lichen Orbweaver. Check out those links for more pictures. This was one impressive looking spider.

We also have a funnel spider living outside our den window. She's built a pretty impressive web as well, in a very different form. We'll see if I can get some photos of that before Andy displaces her, too!

swim log: a pathetic 600 yards.

Videos of Kiddos

2008-07-07T09:25:00.003-05:00

Because I have nothing else to talk about, here are some videos of my darling kids. Please excuse the saccharine sweetness of this post.

First up, Ginny running at Andy.

That giggle is quiet compared to what she had been letting out at the sight of pelicans! and seagulls! Too terribly exciting!

And then there's Kieran, being a goofball in the ocean at Gulf Shores:

Both these videos were taken with Andy's cell phone, a Nokia N95 that he is in love with. Now I'm thinking we might actually have to get a real video camera.

Minor Freakout

2008-07-02T15:35:00.002-05:00

Having a minor freak-out at the moment. We wrote the last check for Kieran's preschool today. He starts kindergarten in just over a month.

He's starting real school! He can't be that old! How am I going to handle it if they assign him homework, since it's been shown not to do any good for little kids? Where do you buy clear backpacks? Is he going to get picked on at school? How are we going to handle the logistics of kids at different schools? Will he like school? Will he make friends? Is this school actually good enough, or should we have sent him to a private school?

I'm going off to the corner now to curl up and sob uncontrollably.

Day Brightener

2008-06-24T11:07:00.002-05:00

This video made me laugh and cry and want to jump for joy.

See for yourself...

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

(found via MetroDad)

Matt is about the luckiest guy - he gets to travel and dance and be happy, and get enough money to live on, at least for a while. And all those people! So happy!

Go ahead. Watch again. I won't tell.

Some Advice

2008-06-23T08:23:00.002-05:00

Some tidbits I picked up from my week on Grand Jury last week.

If you have drugs in the car, obey all traffic laws. Getting pulled over for a routine traffic stop was the most common way people got caught with drugs.
If you let the cops into your house for a voluntary search, don't go running off to flush your drugs. They know you're going to do it, and will watch you, and get a bit annoyed.
If you have digital scales, clean them after you weigh your drugs.
If you are in a car accident, don't leave the scene. That's a felony, regardless of injury.
If you must leave your GHB (a "date rape" drug, that also is sometimes used to just mellow you out) in your car, don't leave it in a soda bottle where your kid can get it.
If you're going to write fake prescriptions, don't try to fill them at the same pharmacy on the same day.

There's lots more advice I could give, but these are the ones that immediately pop to mind. Thank GAWD I only have one more day of this to deal with. I'm not sure I could take more.

In other news, Mario Cart for Wii ROCKS!! Now I just have to set it up for wifi :D

Yet another reason to vote Burns!

2008-06-12T12:56:00.002-05:00

Anyone who uses higher math to conclusively PROVE who is perfect candidate is the ideal choice. I haven't been this excited about a candidate in, well, forever.

Burns/Alba 2008! Do it for the kittens!

One reason I've been so quiet

2008-05-21T09:43:00.002-05:00

I've been feeling a lot like this (click to enlarge):

And while part of me knows that I'm not a horrible mother, I have been snapping at my kids all the time. And I hate that, and am trying to fix it, but sometimes that involves me retreating into myself. Also, it involves actually convincing myself that I'm not actually a horrible mother.

Gratuitous kid cuteness

2008-05-14T15:42:00.000-05:00

Because I need some more cuteness today, here's a video of my son from Monday, his fifth birthday.

He had a wonderful birthday, with lots of cake and presents and hyperactivity. And yes, he really did have alligator for dinner.

No, I'm not TRYING to be a cacafuego

2008-05-09T08:35:00.002-05:00

I haven't been motivated to post lately. I've been sliding down into a deep dark pit of depression, and I was having a hard time pulling myself out of it. I go through this sometimes. I know it's just part of the up and down cycle that can be my depression, but it still sucks.

The past two days have been much better, thanks in large part to Sarah and chris who both have the amazing ability to make me smile and laugh no matter how crappy I feel. Twitter is also improving my mood - go sign up for it, follow me and Sarah and Doc and all. Y'all, we talk about boobs and great links and how Doc doesn't have a Sonic or Waffle House near him. Great times that you'll be missing if you don't join up!

I hadn't been swimming in over a week, either, which I don't think helped my mood. Amazing how quickly I got used to the exercise high I get. Just enforces my resolve to keep it up, though.

And, Andy has been spectacular this week. Letting me know he's there if I need him, but also giving me my space. Cheering me up with an early mother's day present of a personalized license plate. Getting mini chocolate souffles for us for dinner one night. Putting up with my pissiness. And singing "Boom de yada" at random points (check out that first link if you haven't yet - Mike Rowe goodness!). Because that always makes me happier. How can it not?

Oh, just in case your wondering what a cacafuego is, check out this list of 10 insulting words you should know.

Preschool Teachers are amazing

2008-05-01T08:04:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, Kieran's class had a field trip to the zoo. His teacher is a MASTER of organization. She had bags put together for each group with a first aid kit, disposable camera, sunscreen, snacks, and other miscellanea. She had grouped the kids together with other kids they got along with, but wouldn't get too rambunctious together. Made sure the few kids that didn't have parents along were with groups that had extra parents.

Kieran LOVES the zoo, and we go about once a month or so. But yesterday seemed more tiring than normal. I think it was keeping up with 3 boys and being social with two mothers I didn't know before yesterday. I get tired being "on" even sometimes with people I know well. I don't know how Kieran's teachers keep up with the WHOLE CLASS every day. Whatever they're paid, it's not nearly enough.

Or maybe it was tiring just from the sheer volume of people around. I think most of Tuscaloosa County schools were there yesterday. There were at least 10 Tuscaloosa County school buses in the parking lot, and at least one private school from the county there that didn't use buses. Crazy number of people.

The kids got to experience an educational program at the zoo, where a zoo educator brought three animals to show them and talk about. I may be biased after doing things like this as my job, but while she wasn't bad she wasn't very good, at least for this age group. She's probably used to working with older kids. She'd ask questions that were well beyond a 5 year old's grasp. Plus, I think she might have been sick. But, I like that she was trying to engage the kids in her talk, and was fairly patient with them. The kids still enjoyed it, and got to pet a baby alligator.

Exciting things since the last time we were there - the butterflies have opened for the season, and the new kangaroo exhibit was open. It was too cold for the joey to be out, but we did see some adult 'roos hopping around. And I'm such a sucker - I got a stuffed kangaroo mom and joey for Ginny. Way too much money, but SO CUTE.

I forgot my camera, but hopefully we'll get some copies of the pictures the teacher took and from the disposable camera. Overall, a great day.

On a side note, they finally reverted R M Scrushy Pkwy back to Lloyd Noland Pkwy. Took 'em long enough.

Stream of Conciousness of an almost 5 year old

2008-04-29T07:39:00.002-05:00

"Mummy, why do we build houses somewhere? If we didn't build houses somewhere, they'd be nowhere, right? The workers made our house of brick so it would be strong. How come the zoo is so far away? Can we play Lego Star Wars? I stayed on green! Why do we always play Lego Star Wars? Is it because I love you? Because I love you and you love me. Can we have burgers for dinner? We had science class today. Did you know that air is all around you? Blow on your hand and you can feel it. Why did you pick me up? Is Daddy going to be home? Can we go to the store? I changed my mind. I am going to marry Hannah, now that she's back from China. [note: she was actually in NC] Did Ginny get a green turtle? She's little, so she doesn't know any better. I'm strong, because I'm OLD. Why do I go to school? Do I go to school the day after this day? Are we almost home? Our house is in the forest, because there's trees all around. We beat Daddy home!"

Editor's note: This was pretty much the entirety of our "conversation" on the way home from preschool yesterday. I may have left out some of the things he said, but I got most of it, I think, including the random transitions and not allowing me to respond to anything. I love his active mind, but wow, can he talk!

Swim log: 700 yards. I seem to be stuck here.

Pro-sleep has my vote!

2008-04-25T10:31:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you, but I am sick of presidential politics. Luckily, I have decided who I am voting for in the upcoming election. Paul Burns is the only candidate for me! Not only is he the only pro-kitten candidate, he is also for a good night's sleep, and has a bitchin' vocabulary. His policies are sounder than any other candidate. Really.

I think Sarah and I are becoming de facto Paul Burns campaign workers. Anyone else want to join us? Reform politics now! C'mon, you KNOW we need an official Presidential Slapper.

Round-up of the past several days

2008-04-21T15:25:00.004-05:00

I'm still in recovery mode from last week. Y'all, Grand Jury duty is not physically hard, but it is emotionally draining. Even though, in reality, there's not that much crime going on, it certainly seems that way when you have to hear 600(!) cases in a week. Not full cases - just enough to decide if there's enough to hand down an indictment. One week down, two more to go. Luckily, it's not three weeks in a row - my next week to serve is in May, and the final week is in June.

And I didn't even really have a restful weekend, either. We went to Atlanta on Saturday to go to Ikea (hey, Ikea - open a store in Birmingham or Tuscaloosa! You'd get lots of business, as fully one third of the license plates in the parking lot were from Alabama, primarily Tuscaloosa and Jefferson Counties.) I think we spent about 5 hours there. Andy likes (likes isn't quite the right word, but whatever) to agonize and fret and ponder big purchases. We had some things we were definitely getting, but we were looking at some other things, too. We got some storage for Kieran's room, and spent maybe 2 hours looking at desks for Andy. I love Ikea, and the kids have fun (to a degree) but everyone gets cranky by the end of it, especially knowing that you have a 3 hour drive ahead of you after you get everything in the car.

And I didn't get swimming at all last week. I was just too tired to go, and also didn't want to risk being late for jury duty. However, I did get back in the water today, and it felt great. 700 yards! And it didn't feel like I was pushing myself too much, so I have high hopes for greater distance on Wed.

Hope y'all had better weeks than me.

Grand jury vs petit jury

2008-04-15T06:07:00.003-05:00

Wow, I've learned a lot about the justice system in the past day. I finally understand the difference between a grand jury and a petit (or "regular") jury*. And let me tell you, if you ever get called for jury duty, hope that it's for "regular" duty. If you have to serve as a grand juror, you're obligated for 3 months.

Granted, it's not every day for 3 months. But, I'm at the courthouse all day, every day this week, and for one week in May and one week in June. Plus a couple of half-days here and there. For this, I get compensated a lovely $10 a day, plus the generous mileage allotment of $0.05 per mile.

Grand juries essentially decide if there is enough for a case to go to trial. This week alone, we're going to rule on something like 600 cases. A lot of these do get lumped together (we were able to take care of something like 150 cases in about 10 minutes in one instance) as each individual charge is a separate case at this level.

And, while I'm not foreperson, I am what's called the "bookkeeper." This is not accounting as in dollars and cents, but I keep track of what we decide on each case, and record it and some other pertinent information into the log book that we'll use to give our report to the judge. I ended up there an extra half-hour or so last night, completing the paperwork from what we did (those 150 cases? Each had a form that had to be filled).

Obviously I can't talk about specifics on these cases. But wow. It's amazing already some of the things I've heard. Wish me luck on all this.

*A "grand jury" is a large jury - 18 people. Twelve people need to vote in favor of an indictment for it to go through. A "petit jury", or small jury, is 12 people and hears cases in the "trial by jury" sense. To convict, all 12 need to vote to convict. There's some other things, but that's the basics.

Sad gorilla is sad (plus bonus jury duty!)

2008-04-14T06:56:00.003-05:00

We went to the zoo this weekend, where we were saddened to learn that Babec died. Babec made world news when he received the first successful cardiac resynchronization therapy device, or CRT, in 2004. Unfortunately, the cardiac disease continued to progress, and Babec was euthanized on Friday. Babec was always one of Kieran's favorite stops on our zoo trips, and he will be missed. Jamie, the other gorilla, is great, but doesn't have quite the same personality.

In other news, I'm on jury duty this week. Only the second time I've ever been called, and this is the first time I'm ever reporting. The first time I was called was just before we left Hawaii - my date was actually after we moved, so I was no longer in the state. Great excuse there! I'm interested to see how things go - am I really "too educated" to serve on most juries? Do I follow the news "too much"? Will I just sit around and be bored out of my skull, waiting? I'll keep you posted. Obviously not about the details of a case if I'm actually seated, but at least about the whole process.

Feeling like a failed parent

2008-04-11T07:21:00.002-05:00

I know I'm not. Just there are some times when you feel that way, no matter what is actually going on. Yesterday was one of those days.

Ginny, who is 18 months, apparently bit a "friend" yesterday in daycare. I feel HORRIBLE about this. Kieran was on the receiving end of a biter for almost two years, and I was always so thankful that he wasn't a biter. I never got mad at the biter, or the biter's parent, because I know it's a phase, and that it's done because the kid can't communicate his/her feelings another way. They're little - they're still learning. But I know there are some parents out there who will blame the parent of the biter, wanting you to smack the child for biting, or worse still, bite them back. How does biting back teach a child not to bite? One thing I'm grateful for is that the teachers at preschool never say who the biter or bitee are - that way, no blame is assigned to the parents. I always kind of wanted to know who the biter of Kieran was, so I could reassure them that I understood, and that it was okay. I am just hoping that Ginny's victim's parents are as understanding. And, I really hope that Ginny doesn't become a chronic biter. She's not very verbal yet, which I think it one of the reasons she might bite. We're working on that, or on other ways for her to express herself.

Kieran also didn't have that great a day yesterday. They have a green, yellow, red traffic-light behaviour system in their class. They usually get warnings before they're moved to yellow or red, and if Kieran is on yellow, it's usually for not being quiet during nap time. If it's not that, it's for not following directions, and then he's usually on red. This happens maybe once every three weeks or so, with yellow happening more often (sometimes once a week or more). Because Kieran has had such a hard time listening and following directions at home, we decided to try to give him an incentive to at least follow directions at school. We told him if he stayed on green all week, we'd go to the Huntsville Space Center this weekend. It's worked well at home and at school, until yesterday. He wasn't quiet at naptime (which his teachers are somewhat forgiving of, but only to a point). More importantly, he blatantly disobeyed his teacher at one point. They were playing outside, and he wanted a drink. His teacher said not right now, we'll all go in to get one in just a bit. He went to the door of their classroom, and his teacher told him if he went in, he'd go on red. He went in anyway. The kicker on this one is that Kieran told me when I picked him up "It's no big deal." That I think upset me more than him disobeying.

Both kids screamed in the car the entire way home. Then they both were screaming and clamoring on me and pushing each other pretty much until dinnertime. Ginny was better after dinner and a bath - she had a good cuddle with me and went to sleep (and slept well!) after that. Kieran threw a hissy-fit about taking a shower (we had given him the option of shower or bath, and he chose shower) and another one about where he was going to sleep and about even going to bed. I know he's stubborn, and he gets that from me, but there's also a part of me who thinks I must be a bad parent if I can't get my child to follow simple directions.

I'm feeling better about things this morning. Part of that is just perspective. Also, both kids apparently woke up in a good mood and are (so far) behaving quite well. Here's hoping it will continue for the rest of the day.

So we won't be heading to Huntsville this weekend. But maybe, if Kieran's good, he and his dad can "camp" in the backyard this weekend.

Swim log: 700 yards

OH NOES! MAH INTERWEEBS!

2008-04-09T10:36:00.004-05:00

On the days I swim, I've been getting into the office earlier than normal. (Logic being as I increase the distance/time of my workout, I won't have to get up any earlier). I've been using that time to blog, read other blogs and fanfic, check non-work email, and other general interweeb stuffz. This morning, however, I was thwarted. We had no connection to the outside world. (I didn't try the phones, although they often go out too). Whatever was I going to do? I was isolated. I felt alone.

An hour later, we had connection again. I don't know what was wrong, and/or what got fixed, but I felt a great sense of relief. Probably more so than I should have. I felt connected to the world, and more complete. Hard to believe that 15 years ago I had barely heard of email, and now so much of my life, work and personal, involves computer connection.

"Back in my day, we only had a 2400 baud modem, and were grateful for that!" I can just picture that conversation with my kids later in life :D

Swim Log: Less muscle hurt today, but still some. Managed to do 600 yards, and will hopefully be back up to 700 or more by Friday.

Youngest backseat driver EVER

2008-04-08T08:35:00.002-05:00

Well, maybe not the youngest ever, but Kieran is starting earlier than most.

This morning, I was taking him to preschool. We were on the final approach, essentially getting close to the turn we had to make to get to the preschool. This last stretch is a transition from freeway to high-volume surface street.

He pipes up from the back, "Get in the center lane, Mommy! There's a space! Why aren't you in the center lane? I want to be in the center lane!"

"No, sweetheart. I want to be in the right lane."

"But we need to be in the center lane EVERY DAY." (This is a phrase that he uses a lot when he wants something. I have no idea what it means, either.)

"No, we don't. I need to be in this lane."

"There's a space, Mommy! Get in the center lane! That truck is far enough back that you can get in the center lane!"

"Sweetheart, I'm the one who's driving. When you can drive, you can travel in the center lane if you think it's necessary. However, I'm staying in the right lane for now, end of discussion."

"But can we go in the center lane sometime?"

"Sure thing. Just not now."

"Okay then. We'll go in the center lane the day after this day." (Another common phrase he uses, which apparently does NOT mean tomorrow to him. He's not very good with linear time yet.)

We then pulled into the preschool parking lot, where he proceeded to tell me that I had to pick him up today so he could go to his swim class (which is true), and that I mustn't forget to pick him up (which I never have).

Maybe he's just bossy :D

Random beauty

2008-04-07T13:11:00.004-05:00

Random beauty in a pretty terrible thing:

Click on image for spectacular full-size. Ganked from here, which if it isn't on your daily reading list, should be.

I'm tempted to use it as my desktop, and I'm currently resisting the urge to macro it.

Today on Child Discovery

2008-04-07T07:43:00.004-05:00

Ginny is so much fun at this age (18 months). She's so into discovering things. When you're an adult, you sometimes forget just how much there is to discover about the world. One of Ginny's favorite things to do right now is to put lids onto things, or put things into other things. At mealtime, she often spends a lot of it taking food out of the little tupperware, putting it on her plate, picking it back up and putting it back into the tupperware, and then closing the lid. It keeps her entertained, with the added bonus that she will occasionally actually eat a piece in the process.

Last night, during her bath, she was playing with the cup we use to rinse off the soap. She started trying to grab handfuls of water to put in the cup. >>grab<< >>place in cup<< >>surprise that nothing is in there<< >>repeat<< style="font-style: italic;" size="2">Swim log: Only 500 yards today, which is the minimum I'll allow myself to do. Seem to have maybe pulled a muscle in my leg, which made varying my stroke impossible (didn't hurt when I swam crawl, but did if I did anything else). Hopefully some stretching in the next couple of days will work that out. I'd like to get up to 1000 yards by the end of the semester.