The Wilder Life

I just finally finished reading The Wilder Life, by Wendy McClure.  It was really one of the most perfect books I've read in a long, long time.  I loved the Little House books as a girl, though the later books were just never as good to me as the earlier ones.  I've so enjoyed reading the first two books with Elizabeth, and dream of a Little House tour to some of the homesites - even more so after finishing The Wilder Life.

There's one passage in the book that was just so perfect, I had to capture it here:  

In my mind, the world of the Little House books just went up in smoke at the end, their heroine disappearing into clumsy ordinariness and ignominy.  It had always trailed off with a vague, unspoken disappointment. It's the kind of story we learn over and over again about everything in the world: your life starts out as a wide open frontier that you explore until the forces of time or history or civilization or nature intervene, and then suddenly it's all gone, it all weathers and falls down and gets built over; everyone dies or moves away of becomes a grainy photograph, and yes, at some point you just get fat and fall off a streetcar.  Progress - it dumps you on your aging and gigantic ass!

Harry Potter has interrupted our Little House books, but we'll be on the bank of Plum Creek soon.

fandom, Andrew style

We've really enjoyed Andrew's love of all things sports, especially football.  It's too bad we took the extended break from blogging, because I'd like to remember when we realized that at a young age he could tell us which teams were playing and who was winning, because he figured out - entirely on his own - the score box shown on various networks.  Right now, he can identify almost all pro football teams, and a large number of college, though he doesn't entirely get the difference between the NFL and the NCAA.  His favorite team has been UVA, until this year.  Last year, he loved UVA's quarterback, whose nickname was Rocco.  Well, Rocco transferred, so Andrew ha been mad at UVA for "firing their best quarterback."  Miffed, he's varied his favorites over the season.

Because of his deep love for cardinals (have I never written about that?  In addition to sports, he enjoys birdwatching, and is really into cardinals), his new favorite team is the Arizona Cardinals.  We traveled to Arizona this past October to visit a friend and he's still annoyed we didn't go to a football game there.  But his second favorite team is often FSU, thanks to a great season and lots of opportunities to watch on TV (and a desire to please Mommy, too).  (His other teams are the Bears (to please Daddy), or sometimes the Redskins, again for Mommy.)

Anyway, Sunday night, at dinner, we had this conversation:

M:  Guess what - tomorrow night FSU is playing in the championship game!
A:  Really?  (munch munch on dinner)  Who are they playing?
M:  Auburn
A:  Is Auburn any good?
M:  Well, Auburn is really good.  I'm a little nervous.
A:  Auburn is going to win.
M: What?! Why do you say that?
A: You said they were good.
M:  Well, FSU is really good!
A: (munch munch)
M: FSU has the best team! Auburn has won two games on last second, weird plays! FSU has really good players!  The FSU quarterback won the Heisman!
A: (munch munch, unmoved by my increasingly strident arguments)
Daddy:  starts interjecting to also chime in that FSU is good
A:  (munch munch, completely unmoved)
M:  A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK FSU WILL WIN!  [the line, at that point, was FSU by 9]
A:  (completely flat tone)  I don't.

So, yeah, there was that.  I was pretty nervous that FSU could pull it out, and now completely convinced my 5 year old had predicted the game.

Monday night, Rich worked with Elizabeth on her homework assignment that we had all break to do but waited until the last night, and Andrew and I watched the game.

When Auburn went up 21-3, Andrew calmly observed: "They are crushing us."  And it was at that point that I decided it was time for him to go to bed.

(But when he came into our bed in the middle of the night, I was pleased to be able to tell him he had been wrong and Florida State had won the National Championship. So there!)

hell week

I"ve long had last week circled in my calendar.  Hell week.  Every fall activity beginning, plus a birthday and a handful of other activities means we're all exhausted today.  But it was fun.

So here's our fall schedule, along with the extras from last week:

Monday- Elizabeth soccer practice
Tuesday - School Of Religion for Elizabeth, and the first week was a family mass followed by potluck.  But not potluck dinner.  As exhausting as that would have been, at least we'd have gotten fed.  No, it was potluck snacks at 5 pm.  This week it's the opening ceremony for SOR.  For the love of god (literally), can we just get this thing going?
Wednesday - morning, Andrew's music class, afternoon, Andrew's soccer class

Then, last week Thursday was parent association meeting in the morning at Elizabeth's school, and of course Elizabeth's birthday (post to come!).  Friday was the co-op sale that my friend TSM runs (post to come on AwwwClutter!).  Saturday is usually Elizabeth's soccer game, but it was mercifully cancelled because of wet fields, so we had more time to prep for our supposedly easy neighborhood happy hour / birthday party.  Saturday night Elizabeth hosted her first ever sleepover, as a special birthday treat, with a her friend who lives down the street.  The girls stayed up til midnight and woke up at 7 am.

Sunday the neighborhood was shut down because of the Latino festival that takes place one block from our house, and brings something insane like 30,000 people to our little neighborhood, shutting down all streets around us.

Oh, and let's not forget another parent snagged Rich one morning at school and asked if we could bring snacks for the week, then sent us a page-long rules of snacks (no artificial colors! no Nuts! no dairy!) that sent us off to two different stores and boiling 24 eggs and lugging three giant bags of snacks into school last week.

And then let's talk about our plague.  Of fleas.  Which meant a previously unscheduled, 2-hour, expensive trip to the vet during the week, and a full day Sunday of flea control measures.  Frontline, you ineffectual crap product, I hate you and your expensive price tag with a passion!  There was simply no time to go 100% on flea control before Sunday - when Rich did 7 loads of laundry (none of them clothes!) and bathed both pets and I read up on fleas and combed both pets and swept and swept and swept.  The only good news is we have a new product for Skipper and an entirely different new product for Harrison so maybe, just maybe, after an entire summer of battling fleas (I cannot believe I am admitting our flea problem, but let me just make it clear we have been AGGRESSIVELY battling fleas since mid-July, and none of measures worked because our main line of defense - Frontline - only managed to DO NOTHING, but we have been combing and bathing and washing and flea bombing and doing everything we are supposed to do to no avail) maybe we will finally turn the corner and gain mastery over them.  Or, it will finally get cold and no longer so humid and the cycle will end for the year.  One or the other.

So that's why we all struggled out of bed this morning bleary-eyed.  To start it all over again this week with the soccer and the religion and the soccer and so on.  But we made it through, a more regular schedule starts this week, and the humidity is finally scheduled to break, so maybe fall has really begun now.

putting my intention out there

Ack!  Earlier this week I checked on the ye good ole blog just to see how many posts I had done in July, since I am making such an effort to post and document more and- what the heck?  None?  Zero?  The entire month of July nearly gone and no posts?  This summer is flying by, far too quickly.

And now I have so much still to cover, from the end of the school/spring activities to the end of our vacation!  School ended June 20th, and stars again a mere 9 weeks later on Aug 22, and it's already the end of July, 5 weeks down so we only have 4 weeks left!  And, in my major news, I start a new, part-time job next week, so I have this sad feeling summer is over already.  I've been meaning forever to do a 'what do we want to do with our summer post,' a la Our Madill-Lowe, but the summer has just been speeding along.

As many of us do, I remember the summer of my childhood as stretching endlessly, with periods of boredom along with longer periods of just playing, without many cares, punctuated by 1-2 weeks of vacation and some fun day trips thrown in to change things up.  And I think, so far, that's what Elizabeth and Andrew have experienced, this summer.  Which isn't bad, all in all.  But we have to squeeze out what's left of summer and really make sure we haven't missed any of it.

Posts on vacation to come soon, but now, for the record, I've got to state my intention for the world, so that I can make it come true.  After last week's unstructured, small-town vacation, what I want - what I intend to make happen - is to be able to spend a month on the Shore, kids, cat, and dog, for many summers of Elizabeth and Andrew's childhood.   Or at least a couple of summers.  We'll spend some time at the beach, and hit a pool when we can, and do story time at the library, and shop at the small markets, and eat local, fresh produce, and ride bikes, and hike in the marsh, and get too many bug bites, and do a little fishin' and crabbin' and clammin', and spend some time being bored and driving each other crazy, and a lot of time out exploring the world.  Maybe I'd work some, and maybe Rich would have to commute back and forth a bit and perhaps spend long weekends, but in today's wireless world, we can make this happen.  Not next year, or likely the year after, but this is an achievable goal.  And right now, on my list of Dreams I Can Definitely Make Happen (as opposed to general dreams I'd like to happen, like winning the lottery, or moving for a year or two to a foreign country, or even the semi-possible biggie of actually buying a second home), it's the top one. 

Cause this?  Visiting a sandbar in the middle of Assateague Bay? Is how I want to remember summers. Yes, those small figures are us, taken with our co-vacationer Tricia's iphone.  Can't wait to get cds from both Ryan and Tricia to share more pics of our awesome vacation! 

The From Left to Write Book Club consists of over 100 bloggers who read books and then write posts inspired by the book (not a review of the book). This month's post was partially inspired by The Costume Trunk by Bob Fuller.  I type 'partially inspired' only because it's been so long since I've written a post and I while I started writing thinking I was going to write something else, somehow my fingers made this post about my dream (instead of the princess story I was trying to wrestle to fit into this post).  And I think the author might just encourage mommys and daddys to use their imaginations and have dreams, too.  In any case, Elizabeth and Andrew enjoyed coming home from vacation and finding this book waiting for them, but we have not had enough time with it to do more than read it twice.  They both like it.  As a book club member, I was given a free copy of the book.  

 

What's your dream?  Will you share an intention with me?  

Happy World Ocean Day

When I was in grad school (the source of my Seminole love), my group was pretty tightly knit and pretty much exclusively just us oceanography students.  That's not surprising - grad school is all encompassing under any circumstances, but particularly so in science, with experiments and field work and lots of time in the lab and lots and lots of work at all hours.  We worked hard, and well, we played hard too.  In short, we pretty much traveled as a loose, semi fluid pack of broke grad students, spending all our time together.  And despite our obvious differences, our work meant we were more alike than different.  

My housemate Heidi was better at branching out and having outside friends, and so every once in a while we'd hang out with some rugby players.  (Heidi is still with Clarence, a rugby player whom she met near the end of their time at FSU.)  And actually one of the physical oceanographers was a rugby player, too, so there were some connections.  Anyway, however it happened, here was a connection to people who were a little different in their work and ambition than us - the thing that held them together was rugby, but they did all sorts of other things in their real life.  The thing that held us together was oceanography, and that was pretty much all we did.

At this point in my life, I'd spent two summers and one winter as a park ranger at Assateaugue Island National Seashore, (the best job I've ever had), another summer as a naturalist at Pocomoke River State Park, two other summers on a conservation crew working on the Pocomoke River, I was diving weekly in the Gulf of Mexico for our research, spending weekends diving in the clear freshwater springs that dot Florida, spending time at the Marine Lab, teaching kids on the weekend about the natural history of the Florida coast - in sum, doing things I loved that were also fun.  I'd be on one deep sea research cruise, and had missed diving to the bottom of the ocean in Alvin by a coin flip for the last spot on the last dive. 

And I've never forgotten a conversation held at a bar with some random rugby player one night.  He was going to law school, and was asking us about our research and our work and what we did.  He told me that his goal was to make a lot of money, which was why he was in law school.  And he'd work hard at law, and make that money, and on his vacations, 4 weeks a year, he'd go diving and swimming and camping and visit and stay in fabulous places.  And I remember just being incredulous.  I'd never actually met anyone who professional goal was to make money in order to fund the things he loved doing.  Everyone I knew at that point did the things they loved doing on a daily basis.  And sure, we'd never make a lot of money, but who needs a lot of money when you get to spend every single day doing what you loved?  It was a totally different perspective - one I've since come to learn is, let's be real, the prevalent one in the US.  Work is the thing you do to make money.  I'd always thought of work as your vocation - the thing you love to do more than any other thing and so while the reward may or may not be monetary, the true rewards come from doing what you were meant to do. 

And, well, since that time I went on two more deep sea cruises, and did get to visit the bottom of the ocean in Alvin, and realized research wasn't the path for me, but that the intersection of science/policy/education was and did lots of interesting work in interesting places.  And then along came Elizabeth.  And when I was pregnant with Elizabeth, I worked two port calls for the scientific research vessel my company managed and I stood on the deck of the ship and felt a powerful tug to sign up for a two month long research cruise, but also knew that was never, ever going to happen.  And then there was Andrew, and I've managed to patch together work in science and policy and education, until lately I've not been been able to.  And now I'm looking at jobs that are just that - jobs.  To earn money.  To be able to do the things that really matter to me.  But those things now are t-ball and field trips and music class and story time. 

It makes me sad, to be perfectly honest, to realize I can't make it work.  I look at lists of "good mom jobs" and think why didn't I become an accountant?  And then I think of free-falling in Alvin with the siphonphores twinkling in the dark of the deep ocean and know I wouldn't trade any of that away.  I just can't, for a variety of reasons, make it work right now, but now isn't forever. 

Happy World Ocean Day. 

T-ball and choices

As most of you know via my facebook posts, I've volunteered to be an assistant coach of Elizabeth's t-ball team.  This is very amusing to everyone that knows me - I'm not exactly athletic.  And I spent three awful years in middle school bumbling my way through pony-tail league slow pitch softball, coached by my mom.

I've spent most of my life thinking that my mom really wanted to coach, and so that's why I was forced to play, despite my complete lack of skill of any sort.  But after coaching a few practices, I really rethought that whole history.  Did my mom really want to coach, or was it just something that needed a volunteer with some level of interest?  The community needed coaches and you step up when and where you can, knowing it's good for your child and the community. 

I like baseball.  I do think it's good for Elizabeth.  And in this case, I think it's good for me, too.  Even if it may kill me.  In practices, we do a variety of drills, just trying to get the kids to acquire basic skills.  There's a lot of the coach (me) rolling grounders or throwing balls to kids, who then throw the ball back to the coach.  Our kids are not very skilled, and there are a lot of errant balls.  Last week, a kid made a bad throw back to me, and I chased after the ball, thrusting out my foot to stop it, and instead mistakenly stepping onto the ball while running.  My ankle rolled, and I tumbled to the ground on my side.  I've got floppy ankles, and about once a year roll one or the other of them, resulting in a minor sprain.  One of these days I'm really going to do a number on one of them, but my floppy ankles just flop back into place, so it's always just a slight sprain that's stiff a couple of days.  Anyway, I rolled from my side onto my back, and stared up at the sky, (inwardly) cursing my clumsiness and wondering exactly how badly I had sprained my ankle, cause it hurt like hell.  Elizabeth came over and knelt down and patted my head, concerned I was hurt.  But another boy from my group also wandered over and stared down at me, before observing: "you sure do have a lot of silver in your hair."  Thanks kid.  So I got up and hobbled around some and went back to rolling grounders. 

The next day, I was reading the list of benefits that Rich's company offers.  I've been interviewing for a job there, and it's been getting more real (although after ten months of job hunting, I can't tell you how many "sure things" have evaporated for increasingly ridiculous reasons).  Suddenly, I read a shocking benefit, and immediately ran to find Rich.

M: "You have a community service benefit!  Your company will pay you for 40 hours of community service!"   
R:  "Uh, well, yeah......." 
M:  "YOU could be getting PAID to COACH TBALL!"
R:  "uh, well, yeah, I guess......."
M:  "YOU COULD BE GETTING PAID TO COACH TBALL!!!!!!!"
R:
M:  "I SPRAINED MY ANKLE AND WAS INSULTED BY A 5 YEAR OLD AND YOU COULD BE COACHING TBALL AND GETTING PAID FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE!!!!!!"
R:  "I'm very busy.........."

The thing I've since realized is that I actually kinda like coaching t-ball.  It's fun.  The kids are learning and having fun.  Elizabeth is gaining confidence.  And I'm getting exercise and sun and having fun, too.  And Andrew is waiting in the wings, ready to play. 

And now I'm going to contort this post to make it fit into the book club.  That's sort of the thing right there, isn't it?  I'm struggling to find work that provides good work/life balance, so that I can coach t-ball and (someday) be a girl scout leader and volunteer at school and go on field trips and just be there.  There are companies that offer family-friendly, community-oriented benefits.  There are companies that - on paper - offer part-time options.  But finding and then getting those benefits is not exactly easy.  Until employees - specifically, hard-driving, high-achieving, full-time employees in the companies - start pushing to take advantage of those opportunities, they are just words on piece of paper. The more people who overall take advantage of family-friendly policies, demonstrating success while keeping a reasonable work/life balance, the better it will be for everyone. 

The From Left to Write Book Club consists of over 100 bloggers who read books and then write posts inspired by the book (not a review of the book). This month's post was (well, partially) inspired by Good Enough is the New Perfect, by Becky Beaupre Gillespie and Hollee Schwartz Temple. As a member of the book club, I was given a free copy of the book.  I've only just started it, but already know I'm a "good enough" person, without a doubt.  This post is pretty disjointed and doesn't hang together well, but I'm two months behind in posts and quite honestly, it just has to be good enough! 

What the-?

Sunday we were getting ready for our annual Father's Day outing - which I will blog about someday, I promise. I looked out the backdoor getting ready to lock the door, when, what's this?
It's not what's here that's the problem, it's what's not here. Isn't there supposed to be an umbrella in our table? Wasn't there an umbrella there an hour ago? Where could it be? Did someone randomly steal our umbrella?

Um, what? Why is our umbrella way up in the neighbor's tree? How the heck did that happen? Did the wind lift it up? 30 feet? Past three electric/phone cables? How did it get shoved, stake in, to the tree?

And most importantly, how the heck do we get it down?

I don't think it's easy to see in the above picture, but turns out, throwing a soccer ball up to try to knock it down only results in soccer ball stuck in lower branches. Also a wooden stake in is there, too. Now what?


Yelling at the umbrella to come down does not work. And surprisingly, 4 year olds can't throw things high enough ot even hit lower branches. And see the hose? It's too high up for a strong water stream to reach and possibly dislodge. Not to worry, 4 year old, 19 month old, and mommy spent most of the time safely on the back porch.

So, Daddy climbed the fence, with a cleaning brush that has an extendable handle. Which dislodged the soccer ball and stake, but still could not reach the umbrella. It could reach some of the branches, though, so with a little bit (a LOT, actually) of shaking the branches, the umbrella dislodged and fell down, luckily missing the wires. Whew!

Our Hero!

So, enclosed back patio - fenced on all sides. No unfettered channels for wind. And yet umbrella was apparently lifted straight up at least 30 feet in the air, then spun around and driven into tree branches. I suppose it could have been worse.

long day

It was a gorgeous day today, and even with wracking coughs, we are slowly getting better. So despite everything there is to do around here, we decided to hit the zoo. two cool kids out for a day of fun

let's go!

Andrew watching the lemurs. When something strikes Andrew as interesting or funny, he lets out the oddest little chuckle. It's almost a cross between a loud inhalation and a hiccup. And totally unpredictable, so we'll never get it on video. The lemurs warranted.

Elizabeth has inherited one thing from her mother - after glancing at each exhibit, she was quick to say, let's go see something else. So we missed any pictures of her today as she was constantly on the move.

With the trip to the Zoo, Andrew didn't get an afternoon nap. We were eating dinner, when Rich said, is Andrew ok? Looked over and he was shoving his face with food, as usual, but while bobbing and weaving and closing his eyes. I put out my hand to steady his cheek, and he just sort of melted into dreamland. This tickled Elizabeth to no end.

One tired little guy.

And while I'm here typing, here's what passes for a typical night now -
8 pm - Andrew out in his crib
8:30 - Elizabeth out
9 - Susan crawls into bed, watches a DVR'ed show
9:30 - Andrew crying - put in the paci, and back off to dreamland
10 - Susan out
10:30 - Susan wracked with coughs, but back asleep quickly
11:30 - Andrew up again, but this time awake. Susan doesn't move. Rich rocks him back down in about 30 minutes
12:30 am - Elizabeth wracked with deep coughs. Susan doesn't move. Medicine, water, cough drop, a little story reading to calm her down, cuddles
2 - Rich gets to bed
5:30 - Andrew awake, nursing does not result in sleep. Perhaps mommy coughing prevents Andrew from drifting back off
6:30 - Susan gives up, take Andrew downstairs to play
7:50 - Andrew decides he is tired, wants up to be held, settles in for a nap
8:10 - Susan grows tired of sitting on couch holding Andrew. Maneuvers so she and Andrew are both laying on couch
8:50 - Elizabeth wakes and gets Rich up, both come downstairs. Elizabeth amazed at Mommy and Andrew
9:15 - Susan extricates herself, and heads to bed
11:30 - Susan awakens to Andrew's cries. Comes downstairs to find he has eaten a green marker. Crying because Daddy took it away.
11:45 - Rich takes both kids out, Susan gets ready and cleans up a bit
12:30 pm lunch
2 - head to zoo

Hmm. Rich is also sick, though much better. But after typing it out, he really is the hero of last night. Despite a fair amount of sleep, I'm still dragging.

Lethargy

Sitting around:

Me: Feels like we've been sick forever
Rich: I know - feels like ten days not just this week
M: When did she first get sick? That's how it started?
R: Dunno. Can't even keep track anymore. What day did she miss school?
M: Tuesday
R: Right, Tuesday.
M: We didn't take her to the doctor though, did we?
R: No, remember she got sick, one day of a slight fever we kept her home, but then it was just a cold the rest of us got.
M: Oh, right. It feels like forever.
.
.
.
R: Wait, it wasn't Tuesday. It was last Tuesday.


So, forgive the infrequent posting as we head into NaBloPoMo. Soon enough you will have your daily fill. Meanwhile, I was too confident our sleep troubles were resolving. The weekend after this post, Andrew had a horrible sleep weekend. However, last night, despite the congestion, he slept til 6:45 am. He's still working on the steps, getting bolder but still prefers crawling.

Things You Don't Want Your Neighbors to Know

#143. Sometimes, you don't pay your parking tickets.


(and since the neighbors now know, why not the internets?)

So, yep, I've (and yes, it's all me) acquired a few parking tickets in the Subaru. But over the past two years or so. Just yesterday parking enforcement was driving through the neighborhood and Rich asked what was on their car and I told him they have cameras now on the roof, and they drive slowly along taping all the plate numbers and looking up info about the cars. And here's the evidence today of how well that system works - I got snagged. And look, you can't live in a crowded city without getting tickets every once in a while. You should, however, pay the few you get promptly. That's my deficiency.

The city used to be incredibly efficient when it came to tickets - it was the only part of the city that worked. But over the past years as the city has improved, parking enforcement hasn't been as important, but they are ramping back up operations. I was pleased to see, on the notice, that unlike the last time I was booted (in 1994! I don't make a habit of getting booted), instead of treking to the DMV, you can now pay your ticket online or by phone, according to the handy dandy info included with the boot. So I walked inside and pulled up the website - except it couldn't be found. The form had the wrong website address! After searching around a bit I found enough info to suggest you could not pay online. But there was a phone number! So I called, and went through an incredibly detailed menu, paid the outstanding tickets, and the boot was removed within the two hour window as promised.

Again, I was booted back in the day - 1994, I think. I had gone to the Eastern Shore for some reason and stayed over, then got up early and drove straight to work, parking on the street. Came out to feed the meter and found the boot, with detailed instructions of how to get to the one place you had to go to pay the fine, which was not conveniently located. A Metro ride, a bus transfer, and a long walk later, the fine was paid and I was free to go. I remember the actually pretty nice woman had told me the boot would be off before I made it back to the car. So after backtracking the tedious route, got back to the car exhausted, ready to just get home after a too-long day - to find I had gotten a ticket inbetween the time the boot was removed and I arrived back at the car! Ticket writers back in the day were ferocious. So I'm standing there, feeling sorry for myself, after the long trek, early morning, and now an additional ticket to add insult to injury, and I look through the paperwork and they actually had a section that said if you were ticketed after the boot was removed you were not liable, but had to appeal by going in person to the same inaccessible office in some 5-minute window on a Thursday that fell on a full moon or some other such hoop jumping instructions.

So I just paid the fine. By mail. On time.

NaBloPoMo friends

So we made it through NABloPoMo - a post a day. I'm sure you've noticed our blogroll over on the right - all friends from my mom's group, all of whom agreed to participate in NaBloPoMo. We had fun posting, reading each other's posts, and commenting. Blogging is a nice way to have a little window into daily life. My mom's group formed based on a weekly breastfeeding support group we all attended in the fall of 2005. I went initially to get out of the house and talk to other new moms, and kept going because it was so much fun to be in a room with women who were experiencing similar life changes, had similar questions, and who could provide just general support and friendship. After each class, we'd gather our stuff and head off to a long lunch to continue talking. As our time in the class drew to a close, I was bummed to lose this support group, and it turns out others were too - and so we started meeting monthly for a playdate, and e-mailing, and then meeting monthly for Mom's night out dinner, then monthly for downtown lunches. And from all that, real friendships have forged.

We had a special night out at Therese's to celebrate NaBloPoMo - Thrift Store Mama documented the night and the "blogging awards."

- Susan

people are nice when you're pregnant

So, I've been running errands the past few days, trying to get things bought for the baby and E and the house and me (I should be Christmas shopping too!), and honestly relishing a little bit of freedom. And today experienced two good deeds, which I totally chalk up to pregnancy sympathy.

I had an errand to run in Virginia (we need a futon for our frame - and we need it in 2 weeks for when my sister arrives!) and took the chance to stop in my favorite store. Talbot's Outlet was having a sale, and their discontinued children's stuff was 75% off, plus maybe I figured I'd find a good deal on shirts for me. Picked out a few things, all super discounted and cheap, and then made the fatal mistake of checking out the shoes - my downfall. And of course found the nicest pair of tall brown boots. About $60, with all the markdowns. And then went and stood in line.

The line at the Talbot's Outlet is always long, and everyone chats. I got into a discussion with the two women in front of me - The Outlet has changed some policies, which upsets everyone, and there aren't as many bargains, the stock is really tanking right now (down to $3 a share today!), the company is trying, can they survive this downturn, etc. And why aren't they marking stuff down the way they used to? Well, the woman in front of me says, at least you have your extra 30% off card, right? D'oh! No! I don't! I left it at home. They actually sent two cards, and the woman two people in front of me says, oh, shoot, I just gave my other card away. Oh, that's ok, everything I'm getting is so cheap, I replied. Except the boots......

The checkout counter is a big island, two sides, and we all stepped up to our respective cashiers. I quizzed my woman - well, this is 75% off, right? And this 30%? And did that ring up right? And I was frowning at the boots - that extra 30% off eating at me - when the woman two in front of me whips around the counter and passes me her 30% card, then runs back and finishes checking out! Thank you, I mouthed at her, and she winked at me. I can feel ok about tall brown boots at $42! We finished our purchases and I met her on her side and passed her card back to her - thank y0u! She said, oh, it was the boots. I couldn't let you put them back. Plus I need the good karma of a good deed. And with a smile and a wave, she was off.

It might just have been the chatting, but I think sympathy for the pregnant lady played a part.

Then, after striking out at the futon place, I stopped by the Lord & Taylor - they've been advertising a massive consolidation sale, and I was curious. Well, it looked like it was all of their unsold summer/early fall merchandise, all marked down at least 50% off the lowest marked price. I scored two pairs of Robeez shoes for $6 each. And lined crocs for E for $9.00! And Rich's favorite dress shirts were $18! So I went and stood in line, and the woman in front of me asks the cashier if they accept the 15% coupon on the consolidation stuff. They do. And yes, I also have not loaded those coupons in my bag yet, either, darn it. The woman and I had been chatting about the coming baby, and so what the heck, I asked - um, are you going to keep using your coupon? She replied promptly, I am, but I'm happy to stay here and wait while you use it, too. So another extra 15% off.

The shopping karma was strong with me today. Ooh, plus another friend sent me a 30% off coupon for Old Navy, and they have the best deals on tights, so after buying those E is finally set for cold weather clothes!

I'm going to need to do some good deeds in the future.

Now where can we get a good deal on a nice futon mattress????

- Susan

(ps. I've been doing the last few posts - I forget to sign mine!)
(pps. I still might return the brown boots. The Outlet's new policy is 30 day returns.)

The Return

We had a whole list of possibilities lined up for today's post - Halloween, football, a few funny sayings - but a string of coincidences led to joyous news for us today.

In May, we were devastated when our favorite restaurant, Louisiana Express, closed. I'd been going since I moved here in 1993, and had introduced Rich to the delights of this semi-dive hole in the wall place. I used to live pretty close, and there was a period of time when we went almost weekly - the first and only place we've ever been regulars. It might have helped we always got the same thing - me, crawfish etouffee and a Crimson Voodoo and Rich, blackened london broil and Blackened Voodoo. And no green onions sprinkled on for garnish. The brunches were awesome (me - poached eggs Sardou, Rich, Po'Mans breakfast), and our annual Mardi Gras party was not finished until the big gathering the next morning rehashing all the gory details from the party. We knew the place was in trouble last winter when they lost their liquor license, but we, and they, held on until May.

We'd heard on various blogs that our favorite waiter Carlos and the chef were trying to re-open and were scouting locations, but hadn't heard anything in months, and I was constantly moaning about missing the place. We've tried to curtail dining out recently and yet Louisiana Express's reasonable prices would have still fit in our budget - not weekly, but still regularly.

So, the coincidences:
- Last week we got an e-mail from Hard Times with a deal this week on 4.99 chili. Awesome, we thought, we'll get takeout chili on Friday.
- Called Friday, special was just on eat in. So we decided ok, we'll go out Sunday night.
- Hard Times has a variety of locations, and it's a toss up if we go to Arlington or Bethesda. We decided Bethesda.
- We can never remember the right street in Bethesda, so we turned down one street, nope, not right, turned the corner on another, hmm, not right either.
- On my side, I notice a sign - grand opening, Louisiana Kitchen. Hmmm. There is something familiar about the font......
- I crane my head and body all the way around (not an easy feat at 37 weeks) and Rich drives past - Hey, I think that's Carlos in the window!
- Rich lets me out to investigate. I look at the menu posted outside. OMG, it's identical to Louisiana Express's. I rush in. There behind the bar - Carlos! Who greets me like an old friend, asks about Elizabeth, notices the pregnancy, we chat about them opening. I say, you have no idea how excited I am! Couple at the bar laughs and says them too. Carlos gives me a takeout menu, and I say we'll be back!
- I walk out arms raised in victory. Climb in car, and Rich says, we don't have to go to Hard Times, you know.
- D'oh. We don't. We HAVE to go to Louisiana Kitchen.

Yes. We had our usuals. Sadly there's no more Blackened Voodoo to be had (ever since Katrina - though Crimson has been hard to find for a long time). But Rich had an Abita TurboDog, so he was happy.

Louisiana Kitchen. Yum.

We'll be back.

NaBloPoMo

Happy National Blog Posting Month!

30 posts, 30 days. Made a little bit difficult by a big life change due near the end of the month, but between Rich and me, we should be able to do it. And maybe I can configure my iphone to be able to post from the hospital? (hospital food = still bad). I think one of the tricks of NaBloPoMo is not to be boring. Along those lines, my mom's group friends (see blogroll on the right) have decided to include a little friendly competition.

I would post some Halloween pics, but R and E are off to UVA today for the Miami game, while I get the day to myself. My goal - to have a little fun, declutter a little, and just relax. Halloween was a wee bit exhausting for this 8.5 month pregnant 40-year old.

Whassup??!! Genius!

Remember this?



Of course you do. And if you knew Rich (and Ryan) 8 years ago, you know they spent MONTHS screaming whaaaasssssuuupp??!! at each other. Heck, they'd probably still do it today if not separated half a world away. Though it has been supplanted with 'chowda!' which is a story for another day (perhaps during NaBloPoMo when we need old stories to post).

Anyway, yesterday I saw something so genius, that despite my private promise to myself not to get too political on this blog, I had to post.



Frigging GENIUS.* If you know me, you know I value the clever almost over ideology (almost!). And this is clever. SAME actors. Closely hews to original script. Hits ALL the hot buttons - foreclosures, Iraq, stock market, health insurance, global climate change and response to disasters - and CHANGE. Appropriately for each character. And did I mention same actors? Brilliant.

In other political news, you may remember that E early on learned to identify Barack Obama, helped a bit by Gee and me. With a little encouragement from Rich, she got John McCain down, too. Last week, while watching the news, she looked up at the TV and said hey, that's Sarah Palin! She did it again this week. First, we definitely watch too much TV. But believe me, no one in this house has been encouraging her to id Palin. She caught on entirely on her own.

On the one hand, as the mother of a girl in 2008, this is sort of the dream, right? The equality dream? Where it is perfectly normal in her worldview to see women and men and people of color doing perfectly normal things like running for the highest offices in the land. What's normal on TV for her is vastly different than it was for me 30+ years ago, and, yeah, that's a good thing. On the other hand......well, it'll all be over soon.

Joe Biden appears to have made no impression whatsoever.

*Edited to add: Aha. Of course just a little digging turns up the history of this viral video. In another coincidence, Rich, Ryan and I went to see Drumline when it came out. Ryan and me to indulge our inner band geek, of course, and Rich to laugh at us. This guy is a genius.

38

All our birthdays are lined up right in a row, 4 weeks after each other. First Gee in July, then me in August, Sweetpea in September, and Sunday Rich hit the big 38. If all goes as planned, in 4 weeks the new little guy will follow nicely.

However, one of my friends just had her baby 2 weeks early. When I was pregnant with E, a neighbor had an emergency c-section 1 month early, which galvanized us to finish painting the room, buy diapers, get a carseat, etc - just be prepared. We're not so prepared this time around, except that we are since we have so many hand me downs. A box of diapers and a little decluttering and we'd be fine. Still, it's wasn't much comfort to hear the doctor yesterday say I was measuring big. However, I measured big with E all the way through, and she was a week late. 60% of second babies come after the due date.

Anyway! This is supposed to be a birthday post! Happy 38th birthday Rich! If this is the smooth, unblemished, untouched by troubles face of three, I guess 38 shows just a wee bit more living?