Another thing I said I would *never* do

That would be let Leif watch more than one Baby Einstein DVD in a row. But he was too cute, and I was cleaning out the pantry and fridge and really enjoying NOT having help with this. He was sitting on his quilt watching World Animals (his favorite), then pretty soon he was laying on his quilt watching, close to dozing off. I put in Language Nursery when it finished. He only lasted about 10 minutes before he realized that learning to sing songs in different languages was far less neat than helping mom clean the pantry.

He is such a helper cleaning the pantry too. I found my Zoom hot cereal in the library, his carrot juice under the coffee table and graham cracker box was opened and contents emptied on the kitchen floor.

We had a low key, relaxed weekend. Friday, take out Thai. Saturday was salmon. We picked up the house, Hans dried nectarines. I made two batches of zucchini bread and froze 3/4 of it. We went to Target and spent way too much money. Went to the grocery store and didn't spend near enough money evidently since I have a long list of things to get on our way home.

Swimming lessons was on Sunday and Leif had a good nap beforehand. Thanks in part to our new technique, i.e., go drive around town and look at available view lots before swimming. We still haven't found anything that we like more than our favorites, but it is good to look. The swimming pool was freezing, so being the wuss that I am... really it is proven that redheads nerve endings are closer to their skin surface than non-redheards, I stayed out and "let" Hans take Leif. And evidence of his redheadedness was apparent by the large level of wailing we endured and his scrambling for the side and the stairs at every opportunity.

I cooked crab cakes last night with red beans and rice. Yum. We watched Six Feet Under, I really don't know how they will ever wrap up this season in 75 minutes next week. I am dying here to see it and knowing that next week will be it.

This morning I took Leif to daycare. He has a cough again and is wheezing, ugh. This afternoon we will visit the Montessori school for an hour or so. His teachers are already expressing their sadness at him leaving, which breaks my heart.

I got in this morning to "the e-mail" in my mailbox I have been waiting for. Preliminary feedback on the proposals. Mine is "on hold". I am thoroughly ticked because they advertised that a significant portion of the funded proposals would be new starts. There was ONE new start slated for this portfolio, which is less than a typical year. I know, while it is "on hold" I can't rule it out. But it isn't looking pretty.

So, I have my LDRD task, which will likely be doubling in value (I hope). Then I have my 1831 project thru the end of December for sure, and the continuation is up in the air. We got fantastic results and so it is looking like commercialization is in our future. But what my role will be beyond Dec 2005 is up in the air. I can't count on anything based off the review in July and knowing that interest in the technology is waning. I expect the client to pull funds and run with the technology they have.

Ah well. Here we are, another week. Hoping for a good one. I will be in a workshop tomorrow and Wednesday and so will be scarce.

Oh yes, some current Leifer pictures...

Leif loves to carry things across the house. I know there must be some order to which he does these types of things. I keep imagingin, "stupid mommy, doesn't she know that boxes go in the library?" Also a couple birthday presents, Leif loves his tent with tube from our extended family here locally. The other was a gift from mom and dad, the water table. The boat serves as a great means to transport water from the table to the floor.