*Poof* Just like that, gone.
I am tired today. Leif was up at 4:30am and what is unusual about this is that he would not go back to sleep. He was flat out convinced this was the time we get up. At about 5:30 or so I gave up, pulled him out of the crib and layed on the floor with him (bad move I know, but I was tired)... at this point Leif started on a game of name and touch (i.e., poke hard) mommy's body parts. "Eye" and he touches my eye, "nose"and he touches my nose, yes, then I know what is coming next... NOSTRIL. No, he doesn't say nostril, but it is the natural progression in Leif world from nose. Ack, as his finger extends as far up as possible.
Let's go watch a movie I tell him and get gleeful responses of "moo-wee"! Baby Einstein buys me a few minutes of closed eye time until I hear *crash*! Eyes pop open and Leif is toppling the barstools in the dining room, no longer enamored with Baby Neptune. Grumble, grumble...
Finally 6:30 arrives and I mercilessly swung the door open to the Master bedroom where AB is/was snoozing away. Minutes later I am in the shower. I can still hear Leif screaming his head off outside the Master bedroom door, but *I* am in the shower.
He has had a real mommy attachment thing going on. He needs to be either on my lap or in my arms most all of the time and while I love all the attention, it is getting tiring being the only one who can console him. I know, it is a phase. Next week, it will be all about daddy.
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Friday I succeeded in getting my haircut. I have a new stylist. I successfully escaped the owner's grasp again. She seems to fire or let go a lot of the stylists I use, or at least two so far. Until she hires a new stylist she always takes me over as her client. Problem is, I don't care for her haircutting style. No matter what, I end up with the same cut everytime. I couldn't make my appointment Thursday night, so I rescheduled. Darn the receptionist tells me, Jenny isn't available Friday evening, but do you want to come in next week? NO! I tell her, I will take whoever is available.
I got a very, very young girl. Graduated from high school a mere 1.5 years ago. She also loved high school, would LOVE to go back. People like that bug me... I just can't believe that anyone really loved high school. It is supposed to be a miserable time for everyone. Immediately my feelings towards her start clouding. But when she tells me why she liked high school (because she was homeschooled up to that point), I cut her some slack. I got a great haircut and once again have wormed myself away from Jenny. If she fires this new girl I am going to decide I am just bad luck and find another salon.
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Saturday morning Leif had fun at swimming lessons. He still *hates* floating on his back, but we just ignore the teacher during that part. A quick trip to a used kid's clothing store after that. I was in search of jeans for Leif, but no luck. Instead I found a flannel in the same fabric as one I have (coincidentally also from Gap - circa 1994 or so) and a cute sweater in 3T I couldn't pass up for next year. Saturday afternoon a "quick trip" to Costco to get TP, paper towels, olive oil and parmesan. $326 later...
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Sunday we walked with our friends and their dogs. I found out the "mountain" I thought we hiked last weekend was not actually THE mountain. No, it was a hill. So no more touting the "I did The Mountain in 20 minutes up"... ha ha ha. Winny chased 3-4 jackrabbits with her doggy buddies. Her one on one with a jackrabbit = no chance in hell. Her and her two buddies against one jackrabbit = maybe we should watch them a little closer...
My Broncos bit the dust in their bid for the Superbowl. I am positive it was because their good luck charm (Leif in his Broncos outfit) was sleeping and woke up with 3:34 left when it was too late to do any good. AB's team, otoh, is making their first Superbowl appearance ever. This morning I gave in and ordered Leif a Seahawks outfit. He will be dressed in blue and green from head to toe in two weeks.
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Leif remains enthused about his shishies. The two remaining fish are doing well. Don't ask...
This weekend Leif had an epiphany though that I thought I would write about. Normally he brings a book and we sit down and read it, 14 times or so. After three times through The Belly Button book (which btw is a great book - Leif dances when we sing their favorite song and at the end he says "no no" repeatedly that we don't sing the song in winter time), I told him that he could go get another book. Leif looked at me like I was joking. No seriously, I tell him, go pick out another book! Suddenly a new world has opened up! A world where we can read a book twice and move onto something new! Wohoo!
This lasted for about 40 minutes. We would read a book, maybe twice, then he would go get a new one. And he is picky. He doesn't just grab a random book. No, he examines the spines to find the most appealing book. I may regret teaching him to pull out a few books to look at the covers and see if he would like it or not. But oh well! No more reading the same book for hours on end!
The other new development this weekend is that Leif seemed to be more adept at playing by himself in our presence. This was especially helpful while the football game was on and Leif colored while daddy watched the game and worked. I was able to clean out my closet!
I did copious amounts of laundry this weekend. Frightening amounts really. What this said was that everything left in my closet was things that I hadn't worn in a minimum of two weeks. I took this opportunity to pull each of those things out and honestly look at it and ask if I will EVER wear it? Many received the "umm no". Others got the "I can wish..." Those size 8 pants were so darned cute... in 1996. I got over it. IF I should ever wear a size 8 again I will buy new cute clothes, I will deserve it. Until then, bye bye tapered leg pants, old sweatshirts and ancient skirts.
Next weekend, the drawers. I ordered NEW pajamas, 3 pairs! My sleeping t-shirts are so holey it is embarrassing and no one even sees me in them. When they arrive, my dresser drawers are getting the once over and every single holey shirt is going into the rag bag.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Friday, January 20, 2006
TGIF!
It is so hard to be productive on Fridays. I got in this morning and after spending $150 on Pottery Barn clearance items I ran to a meeting for 30 minutes. The rest of my day is thankfully open. I have e-mailed my mentor, who I saw running through the halls, and asked for 5-10 minutes of his time while he is here and not in DC. I have a lunch scheduled with a former student of mine who is home visiting family at 11:45. Other than that, I have a blissfully open day!
I am excited to see my former student. She worked with me for two summers while she was an undergrad on that one really awful project I was hired onto. Then she graduated a year and a half ago and applied to and is attending a top tier school studying biostatistics. I thoroughly enjoyed writing letters of recommendation for her, not only because she is an exceptionally hard worker and deserves this prestige associated with attending a top tier school. But I also enjoyed simply writing a letter to a top tier school knowing that oftentimes letters of recommendation make or break a student. Which meant someone, at a top tier school, was actually paying attention to what I was saying!
I graduated from a small, state school, the University of Nevada at Reno. Which has the number one grad program for chemistry for schools of comparable size. But I would still classify it probably as a third tier program. Very often people's last resort, or the one that students apply to who really intend on spending the winters skiing or snowboarding at Tahoe as opposed to actually doing research. I often felt as though my research and contributions to the field were minimized because of the school I attended. But truth be told, I chose to go there, I had other options. I loved my time there, I had a great grad school experience and happened into a great position now. No regrets on my part. But some of that prestige is still lingering in my mind, a kind of "what if" type of thing along with a desire to prove myself as capable despite the fact my grad experience may be viewed by some as sub-par.
Ok, rambling or what.
AB has to be home on time tonight from work because I have a haircut appointment. I know it is the start of his busy time at work and so this is kind of a hassle. But darn it, he hasn't been home before 7pm since Monday.
Tomorrow Leif has swimming (and AB will work). I hope Leif has as good of a time this week as he did last week. Afterwards V and I are going to a used kid's clothing store. Leif is out of his two generously sized 12 month size pants and needs more pants. Yet, I also hate to, at this point, buy him pants. Before we know it, it will be spring and pants will be put away.
Sunday we have a dog walking date with some friends and their 14 month old son. Aside from that, we don't have many plans. The Christmas gear needs to go in the attic. Although knowing that I just ordered clearance Christmas goods from Pottery Barn just might waylay that. I know AB would be horribly disappointed if I didn't push him into the attic to heist goods up for storage. He was rolling his eyes when I mentioned it the other day.
So major score at Pottery Barn online sale today that I am so excited about. I really, really wanted this. It would look so good with the new buffet/hutch. For a room that yes, I don't even have a dining room table for yet. So OK, moving on. I bought these instead. Two of them for our library. I have been looking for more shelving for the library for some time now. But everything I like that I find, AB says, "The price is outrageous, I can build that for 1/4 the cost." End of story. And well, usually he is right. He *could* build it for 1/4 the cost, BUT he is too busy. So instead our library just stays cluttered with too many books and pictures and stuff, and we continue to complain about it. But not for long! Even AB agreed that there is no way he could make them for $49 each AND it be worth his time. Next thing I need for the library will be a nice big comfy chaisse, chair and ottoman or loveseat. Then that room just needs to be painted and will be done for the most part. (Of course except for my desire to relocate the computer to that room with a new computer desk so that as Leif gets older he can play on the computer within view.)
Well I am off to meet my student. Have a terrific weekend everyone!
I am excited to see my former student. She worked with me for two summers while she was an undergrad on that one really awful project I was hired onto. Then she graduated a year and a half ago and applied to and is attending a top tier school studying biostatistics. I thoroughly enjoyed writing letters of recommendation for her, not only because she is an exceptionally hard worker and deserves this prestige associated with attending a top tier school. But I also enjoyed simply writing a letter to a top tier school knowing that oftentimes letters of recommendation make or break a student. Which meant someone, at a top tier school, was actually paying attention to what I was saying!
I graduated from a small, state school, the University of Nevada at Reno. Which has the number one grad program for chemistry for schools of comparable size. But I would still classify it probably as a third tier program. Very often people's last resort, or the one that students apply to who really intend on spending the winters skiing or snowboarding at Tahoe as opposed to actually doing research. I often felt as though my research and contributions to the field were minimized because of the school I attended. But truth be told, I chose to go there, I had other options. I loved my time there, I had a great grad school experience and happened into a great position now. No regrets on my part. But some of that prestige is still lingering in my mind, a kind of "what if" type of thing along with a desire to prove myself as capable despite the fact my grad experience may be viewed by some as sub-par.
Ok, rambling or what.
AB has to be home on time tonight from work because I have a haircut appointment. I know it is the start of his busy time at work and so this is kind of a hassle. But darn it, he hasn't been home before 7pm since Monday.
Tomorrow Leif has swimming (and AB will work). I hope Leif has as good of a time this week as he did last week. Afterwards V and I are going to a used kid's clothing store. Leif is out of his two generously sized 12 month size pants and needs more pants. Yet, I also hate to, at this point, buy him pants. Before we know it, it will be spring and pants will be put away.
Sunday we have a dog walking date with some friends and their 14 month old son. Aside from that, we don't have many plans. The Christmas gear needs to go in the attic. Although knowing that I just ordered clearance Christmas goods from Pottery Barn just might waylay that. I know AB would be horribly disappointed if I didn't push him into the attic to heist goods up for storage. He was rolling his eyes when I mentioned it the other day.
So major score at Pottery Barn online sale today that I am so excited about. I really, really wanted this. It would look so good with the new buffet/hutch. For a room that yes, I don't even have a dining room table for yet. So OK, moving on. I bought these instead. Two of them for our library. I have been looking for more shelving for the library for some time now. But everything I like that I find, AB says, "The price is outrageous, I can build that for 1/4 the cost." End of story. And well, usually he is right. He *could* build it for 1/4 the cost, BUT he is too busy. So instead our library just stays cluttered with too many books and pictures and stuff, and we continue to complain about it. But not for long! Even AB agreed that there is no way he could make them for $49 each AND it be worth his time. Next thing I need for the library will be a nice big comfy chaisse, chair and ottoman or loveseat. Then that room just needs to be painted and will be done for the most part. (Of course except for my desire to relocate the computer to that room with a new computer desk so that as Leif gets older he can play on the computer within view.)
Well I am off to meet my student. Have a terrific weekend everyone!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Procrastination
I have loads of things to do, samples to be dropped off at the other site, a report to finish and go work in the lab with a coworker at my convenience. Yet none of it sounds appealing right now. So Hi!
My shins are sore today, abs too. Yesterday I got up and took Winny for a run at 6am. I was walking out the door and Leif started wimpering. AB looked at me and told me to go, he would get up with Leif. Wow and yay!
I actually had a really good run for not having run in a few months and only sporadically the last umpteen months. I was thrilled with myself and Winny loved it. However, shins are sore today! I got back and did situps on the big ball, 40 of them. I used to do 120. Hello flabby abs.
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I got an e-mail today from a product line manager. I had approached her, a different one than my normal one, with an idea. She liked it, a lot. It is a fairly novel approach to a complex materials problem. One that, to my knowledge, has not been attempted. I got a coworker to agree to work with me on this... the whole "I would be honored to" one. And then the idea has sat and stewed. I heard nothing from the PLM. My mentor told me to let it rest for a little while, that this PLM has a 3 year old and is busy, but she always follows up. Plus, this call for proposals does not have a close date. Just submit at your convenience at least 6 months before you want to start the work.
This is a new client that no one I know has dealt with before. And the proposal process is a serious p.i.t.a. 5 copies with 8 attachments, etc. It will take some serious time. Time (and money for my time) that I don't have right now.
Anyways, so the e-mail arrived in my box. She gave me money for one week of my time to write and get this proposal out! It sort of made my stomach ache.
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Speaking of PLMs... I met with my regular one last week. I really, really like him. I took him a new idea and he was excited about it. Told me to write up the white paper and submit it. He said it would be a perfect "exploratory" project, BUT the client killed the exploratories this year. So what he expected they will do is simply give me a plus up on my funded project/task and add it as a seperate task.
This bums me out. Yeah, it is funds and would look good on my fact sheet. But the fact that the client tasked my project under a larger one is eating at me right now because I am subject to the PIs recommendations and desires on the task. He is "giving" me a task to manage (how generous). Whoopee. Any thoughts to the fact that I essentially gave you $1.8 million for the next 4 years that your project didn't have before?
Team building is a real big keyword here. We should all build teams, find others strengths, etc. My desire to do this when I continue to have my original ideas funded and pulled away from me and given to someone else to manage because I am "young" is really killing me. My "youthfulness" is routinely cited by the old boys funding network (and some part of me wonders if the old boys network has also noted the fact that I am a woman). The first time this happened was when I was on maternity leave and got a small proposal funded. My team lead told me it was just the roll of the die, I was on maternity leave and the project needed a PI who was there. (apparently interim PI was not considered.) The new PI never took me up on my offer to work on the project and I was too ticked to push it.
Now I see my big project being pulled away. I am not going to let it and I will do my best to push forward on this project and stay involved. But my being just a source of ideas without any real responsibility is starting to irritate. There is a major part of me that is considering not proposing my idea that my PLM loved. Trying to find a different client, something. I just don't know what.
And so goes the politics of science.
My shins are sore today, abs too. Yesterday I got up and took Winny for a run at 6am. I was walking out the door and Leif started wimpering. AB looked at me and told me to go, he would get up with Leif. Wow and yay!
I actually had a really good run for not having run in a few months and only sporadically the last umpteen months. I was thrilled with myself and Winny loved it. However, shins are sore today! I got back and did situps on the big ball, 40 of them. I used to do 120. Hello flabby abs.
----------------------------
I got an e-mail today from a product line manager. I had approached her, a different one than my normal one, with an idea. She liked it, a lot. It is a fairly novel approach to a complex materials problem. One that, to my knowledge, has not been attempted. I got a coworker to agree to work with me on this... the whole "I would be honored to" one. And then the idea has sat and stewed. I heard nothing from the PLM. My mentor told me to let it rest for a little while, that this PLM has a 3 year old and is busy, but she always follows up. Plus, this call for proposals does not have a close date. Just submit at your convenience at least 6 months before you want to start the work.
This is a new client that no one I know has dealt with before. And the proposal process is a serious p.i.t.a. 5 copies with 8 attachments, etc. It will take some serious time. Time (and money for my time) that I don't have right now.
Anyways, so the e-mail arrived in my box. She gave me money for one week of my time to write and get this proposal out! It sort of made my stomach ache.
-------------------------------
Speaking of PLMs... I met with my regular one last week. I really, really like him. I took him a new idea and he was excited about it. Told me to write up the white paper and submit it. He said it would be a perfect "exploratory" project, BUT the client killed the exploratories this year. So what he expected they will do is simply give me a plus up on my funded project/task and add it as a seperate task.
This bums me out. Yeah, it is funds and would look good on my fact sheet. But the fact that the client tasked my project under a larger one is eating at me right now because I am subject to the PIs recommendations and desires on the task. He is "giving" me a task to manage (how generous). Whoopee. Any thoughts to the fact that I essentially gave you $1.8 million for the next 4 years that your project didn't have before?
Team building is a real big keyword here. We should all build teams, find others strengths, etc. My desire to do this when I continue to have my original ideas funded and pulled away from me and given to someone else to manage because I am "young" is really killing me. My "youthfulness" is routinely cited by the old boys funding network (and some part of me wonders if the old boys network has also noted the fact that I am a woman). The first time this happened was when I was on maternity leave and got a small proposal funded. My team lead told me it was just the roll of the die, I was on maternity leave and the project needed a PI who was there. (apparently interim PI was not considered.) The new PI never took me up on my offer to work on the project and I was too ticked to push it.
Now I see my big project being pulled away. I am not going to let it and I will do my best to push forward on this project and stay involved. But my being just a source of ideas without any real responsibility is starting to irritate. There is a major part of me that is considering not proposing my idea that my PLM loved. Trying to find a different client, something. I just don't know what.
And so goes the politics of science.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
A Red Shirt
I own one.
I bought one on clearance online last week, it arrived and I wore it today. This is my first ever red shirt. As a redhead, I have always had a fear of wearing red, orange and yellow. This is probably brought on more by always being told as a kid that if I wore red, my hair would look orange (MAJOR fear), I couldn't wear orange because my hair would look funky and yellow, just isn't my color. I really am working to not pigeonhole Leif like that either. Not that a little boy would be sensitive to what color looks best on him, but you never know. I probably overcompensate in that area because if you look in his drawers you would find lots and lots of orange (and blue, and green). Ok, you would just find lots of clothes.
This Christmas I noticed that a lot of my friends sported red tops and how nice they look. I wanted something festive too. (16 year old self kicking and screaming inside) I actually am very aware of what colors compliment me and which don't (yellow). But darn it, I liked the red shirt and well it was on clearance. Need I say more. I have to admit that today I actually feel like I stand out like a sore thumb though. Not because it might make my hair look orange, but because red is very eyecatching. I feel so bright! My other clothing options are really quite monochromatic.
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I got a phone call during teleconference today. One of those where you check to see who it is from, see daycare listed and get up and excuse yourself. Turns out the biting is still going on. Today, the face. He was bitten on.the.face.
I just don't know what to do. His teachers assured me that they are watching him extra closely, but invariably they turn their backs and he gets bitten. I am tired of this. But I also know enough to know that the only real answer is to keep him home. And I really do love his daycare now and my staying home with him just isn't an option. Neither is it an option for AB.
Last night I tried talking to Leif about it. One of his teachers last night commented that he is nearing conversation stage. She can ask him non yes or no questions and he will think and try to answer. (If you ask a yes/no question, the answer is always no... my child is a typical toddler.) For example, "Leif who is picking you up tonight?" Leif stops and thinks and replies with a nod of the head, "mama". (Secret joy that he CAN say and use mama in the proper context!)
So I asked him, using words and the few signs I know, if his arm hurt where the skin was broken. He replied touching the spot, "owee". Being the curious mom, I asked him who gave him the owee? The answer was "sa". If that is what he calls the child it narrows it down to about 1/3 of the class... Soren, Sebastian, Teresa, or Tessa sprang to mind. But I am probably reading too much into the answer. Either way this biting is making me a little ill right now. I want his regular teacher back, now.
Oh and Leif cracks me up when I go pick him up now. He sees me, no "hi mama" or kiss hello. Nope, he sees me and makes a full on break for his locker to get his coat, gloves and hat on. I hope he is still enjoying school...
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AB had class last night. He ran into his former boss, the one that made his life miserable for nearly 2 years. He actually stopped and they talked civily. AB wasn't sure he would ever be able to look the guy in the face without popping him one should they ever meet. Sure enough he has enrolled in the same program as AB, 2 years behind him and AB will see him every Tuesday and Thursday likely. The former boss had a baby girl 10 days ago, their first.
What is it about someone telling you they just had their first child and all of a sudden all feelings of animosity soften. All of a sudden, my questions like "so what did the jackass have to say about..." turn to "a boy or girl? Name? How did Lori's labor go?" I suppose membership into the club brings with it a free pass to start new with people wronged. AB says it isn't completely water under the bridge now, but I saw him softening.
I bought one on clearance online last week, it arrived and I wore it today. This is my first ever red shirt. As a redhead, I have always had a fear of wearing red, orange and yellow. This is probably brought on more by always being told as a kid that if I wore red, my hair would look orange (MAJOR fear), I couldn't wear orange because my hair would look funky and yellow, just isn't my color. I really am working to not pigeonhole Leif like that either. Not that a little boy would be sensitive to what color looks best on him, but you never know. I probably overcompensate in that area because if you look in his drawers you would find lots and lots of orange (and blue, and green). Ok, you would just find lots of clothes.
This Christmas I noticed that a lot of my friends sported red tops and how nice they look. I wanted something festive too. (16 year old self kicking and screaming inside) I actually am very aware of what colors compliment me and which don't (yellow). But darn it, I liked the red shirt and well it was on clearance. Need I say more. I have to admit that today I actually feel like I stand out like a sore thumb though. Not because it might make my hair look orange, but because red is very eyecatching. I feel so bright! My other clothing options are really quite monochromatic.
--------------------------------
I got a phone call during teleconference today. One of those where you check to see who it is from, see daycare listed and get up and excuse yourself. Turns out the biting is still going on. Today, the face. He was bitten on.the.face.
I just don't know what to do. His teachers assured me that they are watching him extra closely, but invariably they turn their backs and he gets bitten. I am tired of this. But I also know enough to know that the only real answer is to keep him home. And I really do love his daycare now and my staying home with him just isn't an option. Neither is it an option for AB.
Last night I tried talking to Leif about it. One of his teachers last night commented that he is nearing conversation stage. She can ask him non yes or no questions and he will think and try to answer. (If you ask a yes/no question, the answer is always no... my child is a typical toddler.) For example, "Leif who is picking you up tonight?" Leif stops and thinks and replies with a nod of the head, "mama". (Secret joy that he CAN say and use mama in the proper context!)
So I asked him, using words and the few signs I know, if his arm hurt where the skin was broken. He replied touching the spot, "owee". Being the curious mom, I asked him who gave him the owee? The answer was "sa". If that is what he calls the child it narrows it down to about 1/3 of the class... Soren, Sebastian, Teresa, or Tessa sprang to mind. But I am probably reading too much into the answer. Either way this biting is making me a little ill right now. I want his regular teacher back, now.
Oh and Leif cracks me up when I go pick him up now. He sees me, no "hi mama" or kiss hello. Nope, he sees me and makes a full on break for his locker to get his coat, gloves and hat on. I hope he is still enjoying school...
-----------------------------
AB had class last night. He ran into his former boss, the one that made his life miserable for nearly 2 years. He actually stopped and they talked civily. AB wasn't sure he would ever be able to look the guy in the face without popping him one should they ever meet. Sure enough he has enrolled in the same program as AB, 2 years behind him and AB will see him every Tuesday and Thursday likely. The former boss had a baby girl 10 days ago, their first.
What is it about someone telling you they just had their first child and all of a sudden all feelings of animosity soften. All of a sudden, my questions like "so what did the jackass have to say about..." turn to "a boy or girl? Name? How did Lori's labor go?" I suppose membership into the club brings with it a free pass to start new with people wronged. AB says it isn't completely water under the bridge now, but I saw him softening.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Kids are truly amazing
Really, they are. I never thought parenthood could be so much fun. Sure there are days like ones back last week with The willful child. Then there are all the other ones. (Hoping the "other ones" continue to outnumber the ones where I scream.)
There seems to be a biting problem in Leif's class. So much so, that I received a call from daycare yesterday about it. Thankfully, it isn't Leif doing the biting, although I am starting to wish he would. Nope, he is on the receiving end and his arms look like hell for it. Three bites in two days. One that broke the skin. All three from different children.
His substitute teacher (his teacher is in India - I love her and miss her), told me yesterday on the phone that she thinks it is due to his freakishly strong grip. AB ate that comment up. He prides himself on his grip. When he shakes someone's hand I can expect a full report on whether or not the person is a wuss. *rolling eyes* Anyways, when another child comes to take Leif's "work" away from him, they can't just walk up and take it like with other kids. Nope, Leif hangs on for dear life and the other children resort to biting him to force him to release his freakishly strong grip. All of this happens in milliseconds before the teacher gets over to straighten out the fact that "this is Leif's work, when he is done with this work you can use it".
Seeing his bruised and battered arms yesterday just broke my heart. He tolerates it all quite well. Each teacher in the room has talked to me about it. So I do feel as though they are keeping an eye out for the triggers.
On another topic one of Leif's teachers last night commented to me how well Leif is doing with his manners. She said that just recently whenever a teacher gives him something he ALWAYS says "thank you" and gave me a verbal pat on the back for reinforcing this at home. I stood there shell shocked for a minute after she tells me this. We always say "thank you" to Leif and encourage him to say it, but I have never heard him say it. Never. Well good to know that it has been sinking in anyways!
We bought three goldfish last night. Leif is completely enamored. He stood and watched them for as long as he could last night. Their names are evidently "Ish", "Shishy" and the big one is "Dada". (Note that there is no "mama"? This needs to change.) This does jive, however, with the card he gave AB for his birthday this weekend, it has a big dog and a puppy on the front and Leif repeated to AB that the little dog was "da" (dog) and says "woof" and the big dog is "dada". So big things in relation to other similar beings are dada's.
This morning when I got Leif out of his crib I asked him, like I always do, "how are you doing this morning?" This morning he looked at me and said, "happy"! What could be better than knowing your child is happy? Not much.
The leaving for school in the morning process is now longer thanks to the ish. Leif had to say "bye bye shishies" to the fish about 8 times. Everytime I would coax him to walk off he would pull away and say "no no" and go back to the shishies. Finally I convinced him to go say "bye bye" to Winny. Which always is a process in itself, "bye bye", Leif looks at me and says "teet?" (treat). I hand Leif a dog treat, he gives it to Winny. We watch Winny "eat teet" and then "bye bye" again. He will again request a "teet", to which I say no and insist he say "bye bye". He does and then kisses her on the mouth. If she happens to turn her head or not lick back, he persists in getting a good, full on wet slobbery kiss from his dog. Awww. (Or ick depending on your perspective.)
This weekend was good. Leif was happy, a little mellow as he recovered from his cold. He loved playing on the slides at the park this weekend. Leif loves slides and after last weekend where there was a slide he could do all by himself or "no no by self", it was all we could do to convince him we needed to help. He wanted to go down the tall slides so badly, and not only that, but wanted to go down them standing up. Grey hairs? Popping up. We took him home and changed his pants, the slides were sopping wet from all the rain, but that didn't slow him down. Both days he had terrific naps. All was good and happy!
There seems to be a biting problem in Leif's class. So much so, that I received a call from daycare yesterday about it. Thankfully, it isn't Leif doing the biting, although I am starting to wish he would. Nope, he is on the receiving end and his arms look like hell for it. Three bites in two days. One that broke the skin. All three from different children.
His substitute teacher (his teacher is in India - I love her and miss her), told me yesterday on the phone that she thinks it is due to his freakishly strong grip. AB ate that comment up. He prides himself on his grip. When he shakes someone's hand I can expect a full report on whether or not the person is a wuss. *rolling eyes* Anyways, when another child comes to take Leif's "work" away from him, they can't just walk up and take it like with other kids. Nope, Leif hangs on for dear life and the other children resort to biting him to force him to release his freakishly strong grip. All of this happens in milliseconds before the teacher gets over to straighten out the fact that "this is Leif's work, when he is done with this work you can use it".
Seeing his bruised and battered arms yesterday just broke my heart. He tolerates it all quite well. Each teacher in the room has talked to me about it. So I do feel as though they are keeping an eye out for the triggers.
On another topic one of Leif's teachers last night commented to me how well Leif is doing with his manners. She said that just recently whenever a teacher gives him something he ALWAYS says "thank you" and gave me a verbal pat on the back for reinforcing this at home. I stood there shell shocked for a minute after she tells me this. We always say "thank you" to Leif and encourage him to say it, but I have never heard him say it. Never. Well good to know that it has been sinking in anyways!
We bought three goldfish last night. Leif is completely enamored. He stood and watched them for as long as he could last night. Their names are evidently "Ish", "Shishy" and the big one is "Dada". (Note that there is no "mama"? This needs to change.) This does jive, however, with the card he gave AB for his birthday this weekend, it has a big dog and a puppy on the front and Leif repeated to AB that the little dog was "da" (dog) and says "woof" and the big dog is "dada". So big things in relation to other similar beings are dada's.
This morning when I got Leif out of his crib I asked him, like I always do, "how are you doing this morning?" This morning he looked at me and said, "happy"! What could be better than knowing your child is happy? Not much.
The leaving for school in the morning process is now longer thanks to the ish. Leif had to say "bye bye shishies" to the fish about 8 times. Everytime I would coax him to walk off he would pull away and say "no no" and go back to the shishies. Finally I convinced him to go say "bye bye" to Winny. Which always is a process in itself, "bye bye", Leif looks at me and says "teet?" (treat). I hand Leif a dog treat, he gives it to Winny. We watch Winny "eat teet" and then "bye bye" again. He will again request a "teet", to which I say no and insist he say "bye bye". He does and then kisses her on the mouth. If she happens to turn her head or not lick back, he persists in getting a good, full on wet slobbery kiss from his dog. Awww. (Or ick depending on your perspective.)
This weekend was good. Leif was happy, a little mellow as he recovered from his cold. He loved playing on the slides at the park this weekend. Leif loves slides and after last weekend where there was a slide he could do all by himself or "no no by self", it was all we could do to convince him we needed to help. He wanted to go down the tall slides so badly, and not only that, but wanted to go down them standing up. Grey hairs? Popping up. We took him home and changed his pants, the slides were sopping wet from all the rain, but that didn't slow him down. Both days he had terrific naps. All was good and happy!
Monday, January 16, 2006
Sap or Sucker? You decide.
I am one or the other, not sure which.
I grew up in a household of pets. All shapes, sizes, warm blooded, cold blooded, etc. We had dogs (a dachsund named Inga - with two sets of puppies, a German Shepherd named Brandy, and an obnoxious cocker named Twix are the ones since my memory), cats (Suzy - with one set of kittens, Jocko, Ally - another set of kittens, and Calley), a hamster named Chrissy - from Three's Company, a gerbil whose name evades me (it was evil), a rat named Morrison, hermit crabs, a guinea pig named Jezebel and many fish (guppies named Sandy and John - from Grease and their many, many progeny, black Mollys and neons, and my betta bowl). There were equally as many animals at my dad's house post-divorce. Lhasa Apsos named Sam and Gene, cats named Popcorn and Sparky that moved to a "farm", my dad's rotty, a number of Monitor lizards (that my stepmom really thought was only one Monitor lizard for a long time due to mishaps no one would admit to - topic for later)...
Ok, you get the idea. I grew up with pets of all types. Having only one dog for the last nearly two years after Calley's passing has been good for me. But the time has come to add to our family. I believe that barring allergies, that it is good for kids to grow up with animals. It teaches responsibility and compassion (of which towards animals I have an overabundance AB believes).
I decided after Leif's obsession with fish, that he should have a fish bowl with a goldfish on his dresser. AB thought this idea was less than good and asked me a few times about Leif's obsessive nature and his growing climbing ability and will we be picking up rocks and a flopping fish off of the carpet. He gave in reminding me he would have nothing to do with this ish and tagged along to Petsmart for the humor of it all.
I picked up a cute little one gallon "tank" with a filter and some food, some rock for the bottom and some plants. Then I went to the counter and asked for two goldfish please.
The pet care manager looks in my cart and sighs. "You aren't planning to put them in *that* are you?" And goes on to tell us that for every inch of adult fish you need one gallon of water, he talks about ammonia levels (yes I am a chemist, but I blank out leaving the water chemistry discussions to AB).
He tells us that before long, in that small tank we will be explaining why Mr. Goldfish is floating and must visit the toilet. Well the explaining part isn't what got me, Leif is 18 months and has no concept of death and if the fish disappeared one night and in a few days another one appeared, I doubt he would notice.
What killed me though is pet responsibility. I believe in my heart that if you bring an animal into your home that you are bound to providing, within reason, the best care for that animal. Fish, dog, lizard, whatever. It is a lifetime commitment. The thought of a poor helpless fish swimming in ammonia... *gulp*.
Long story shorter? We walked out of Petsmart with a 10 gallon aquarium setup and will go back tonight for our two goldfish.
I grew up in a household of pets. All shapes, sizes, warm blooded, cold blooded, etc. We had dogs (a dachsund named Inga - with two sets of puppies, a German Shepherd named Brandy, and an obnoxious cocker named Twix are the ones since my memory), cats (Suzy - with one set of kittens, Jocko, Ally - another set of kittens, and Calley), a hamster named Chrissy - from Three's Company, a gerbil whose name evades me (it was evil), a rat named Morrison, hermit crabs, a guinea pig named Jezebel and many fish (guppies named Sandy and John - from Grease and their many, many progeny, black Mollys and neons, and my betta bowl). There were equally as many animals at my dad's house post-divorce. Lhasa Apsos named Sam and Gene, cats named Popcorn and Sparky that moved to a "farm", my dad's rotty, a number of Monitor lizards (that my stepmom really thought was only one Monitor lizard for a long time due to mishaps no one would admit to - topic for later)...
Ok, you get the idea. I grew up with pets of all types. Having only one dog for the last nearly two years after Calley's passing has been good for me. But the time has come to add to our family. I believe that barring allergies, that it is good for kids to grow up with animals. It teaches responsibility and compassion (of which towards animals I have an overabundance AB believes).
I decided after Leif's obsession with fish, that he should have a fish bowl with a goldfish on his dresser. AB thought this idea was less than good and asked me a few times about Leif's obsessive nature and his growing climbing ability and will we be picking up rocks and a flopping fish off of the carpet. He gave in reminding me he would have nothing to do with this ish and tagged along to Petsmart for the humor of it all.
I picked up a cute little one gallon "tank" with a filter and some food, some rock for the bottom and some plants. Then I went to the counter and asked for two goldfish please.
The pet care manager looks in my cart and sighs. "You aren't planning to put them in *that* are you?" And goes on to tell us that for every inch of adult fish you need one gallon of water, he talks about ammonia levels (yes I am a chemist, but I blank out leaving the water chemistry discussions to AB).
He tells us that before long, in that small tank we will be explaining why Mr. Goldfish is floating and must visit the toilet. Well the explaining part isn't what got me, Leif is 18 months and has no concept of death and if the fish disappeared one night and in a few days another one appeared, I doubt he would notice.
What killed me though is pet responsibility. I believe in my heart that if you bring an animal into your home that you are bound to providing, within reason, the best care for that animal. Fish, dog, lizard, whatever. It is a lifetime commitment. The thought of a poor helpless fish swimming in ammonia... *gulp*.
Long story shorter? We walked out of Petsmart with a 10 gallon aquarium setup and will go back tonight for our two goldfish.
Broncs versus Hawks?
We are one step closer to the Superbowl of dreams. The rivalry of the household, Denver Broncos versus Seattle Seahawks! Will it happen?
I grew up a Denver fan, how could you not living just 50 miles north of Denver? AB grew up a Seahawks fan because evidently if you have no team near you, you adopt the closest one.
The decision as to what Leif will wear on that day is still up for debate. We can either change his clothes every quarter... yeah right. OR he will be sporting a Broncos top, Seahawks pants and hat.
(Now to secretly work on his "Go Broncos" verse!)
I grew up a Denver fan, how could you not living just 50 miles north of Denver? AB grew up a Seahawks fan because evidently if you have no team near you, you adopt the closest one.
The decision as to what Leif will wear on that day is still up for debate. We can either change his clothes every quarter... yeah right. OR he will be sporting a Broncos top, Seahawks pants and hat.
(Now to secretly work on his "Go Broncos" verse!)
Friday, January 13, 2006
Friday night
(Scroll down for the meme tag to the next post.)
Which means sci-fi Friday in our house. AB is recording sci-fi on Tivo (still loving that) and watching some movie he rented. And well, here I am.
This weekend is looking frighteningly busy. I get tired just looking at the list. It started with a quick visit to K&V's house for a webcam op with an online friend of mine. I had a great time seeing and chatting with Amy while V worked at solving her webcam problems. Amy and I met on a Delphi wedding board about 6.5 years ago and survived, with a few others, boards that were shut down, boards that spontaneously combusted, etc. In this online community there are about 20 or so of us who over the years have become quite close. We have seen marriages, kids born, moves, etc. We all talk nearly daily. The community recently became private because it just isn't fair to a new person to bring them in. It is difficult to fall into a groove with a close knit group of people. It is also difficult to explain these friendships, I call them all good friends, yet have only met maybe a third (at best) the women in person.
Ramble, ramble, ramble. So AB got Leif down to sleep, we ordered pizza and sci-fi is on. Leif and I have swimming lessons tomorrow which for some reason I cannot keep at the forefront of my memory. Tomorrow, 9:15am, we need to be in the car on our way. After that it is a trip to the grocery store for food for our dinner party. We are having 5 people over tomorrow night for crab cakes and clam chowder. (And a few other things that are yet to be confirmed.) In order to really be prepared for this, the food may be only halfway done, but the Christmas tree must.come.down. I am particularly anal about getting stuff packed up. AB? Not so much and likes to torment me with talk of "wouldn't it be a lot easier just to leave stuff up until next year". Watch me twitch.
Sunday is AB's birthday. I am a little irked because one of his gifts has not arrived. To top it off it has been sitting in town since yesterday morning according to the tracking. Gurr... That's ok I guess, his other three gifts are here and ready to be wrapped. AB will get a birthday massage (that he is already talking about so as I don't forget I suppose). I really need to run out with Leif and get him new shoes, the kid is a weed. And while out and about getting an ish is imperative. I had to drag him crying from the ish tank at school today. Yes, pick your battles... spending the night in front of the ish at school, not an option. AB has yet to tell me what I shall cook for his birthday dinner (my guess is that he will BBQ steaks, which conveniently takes me off the hook save for side dishes).
So, busy weekend yes? How about yours?
Which means sci-fi Friday in our house. AB is recording sci-fi on Tivo (still loving that) and watching some movie he rented. And well, here I am.
This weekend is looking frighteningly busy. I get tired just looking at the list. It started with a quick visit to K&V's house for a webcam op with an online friend of mine. I had a great time seeing and chatting with Amy while V worked at solving her webcam problems. Amy and I met on a Delphi wedding board about 6.5 years ago and survived, with a few others, boards that were shut down, boards that spontaneously combusted, etc. In this online community there are about 20 or so of us who over the years have become quite close. We have seen marriages, kids born, moves, etc. We all talk nearly daily. The community recently became private because it just isn't fair to a new person to bring them in. It is difficult to fall into a groove with a close knit group of people. It is also difficult to explain these friendships, I call them all good friends, yet have only met maybe a third (at best) the women in person.
Ramble, ramble, ramble. So AB got Leif down to sleep, we ordered pizza and sci-fi is on. Leif and I have swimming lessons tomorrow which for some reason I cannot keep at the forefront of my memory. Tomorrow, 9:15am, we need to be in the car on our way. After that it is a trip to the grocery store for food for our dinner party. We are having 5 people over tomorrow night for crab cakes and clam chowder. (And a few other things that are yet to be confirmed.) In order to really be prepared for this, the food may be only halfway done, but the Christmas tree must.come.down. I am particularly anal about getting stuff packed up. AB? Not so much and likes to torment me with talk of "wouldn't it be a lot easier just to leave stuff up until next year". Watch me twitch.
Sunday is AB's birthday. I am a little irked because one of his gifts has not arrived. To top it off it has been sitting in town since yesterday morning according to the tracking. Gurr... That's ok I guess, his other three gifts are here and ready to be wrapped. AB will get a birthday massage (that he is already talking about so as I don't forget I suppose). I really need to run out with Leif and get him new shoes, the kid is a weed. And while out and about getting an ish is imperative. I had to drag him crying from the ish tank at school today. Yes, pick your battles... spending the night in front of the ish at school, not an option. AB has yet to tell me what I shall cook for his birthday dinner (my guess is that he will BBQ steaks, which conveniently takes me off the hook save for side dishes).
So, busy weekend yes? How about yours?
Double Meme Tagged
HG and Sarah both tagged me with the topic "five weird habits I have".
The first player of this game starts with the topic "five weird habits I have" and people who get tagged then write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says you have been tagged? (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.
(Reading these you might suddenly realize where Leif's obsessive nature comes from... it is becoming shockingly apparent to me.)
1. I must get out of bed at a "good" time. A "good" time would be one that ends in 8 ideally. If that will really make me late I will deal with one that ends in 4. 5:58 is a good time, 6:28 would be even better because 6+2 = 8. But Leif has seriously put a cramp on this. Leif's idea of a good time to get up does NOT necessarily end in 8.
2. When I get in the car to leave I immediately wonder if there is anything I have left on. This means that I invariably have to go back in the house and check my curling iron. I am paranoid of burning down the house with a curling iron. (Nevermind that it has an auto shut off... that might just fail, you never know.) Yes and sometimes this thought doesn't strike me until I am a few blocks from the house, which means we get to turn around and go check. About 30% of the time it has not in fact been turned off. The exception to turning around is when AB is driving. He flat out refuses to humor me and let me go check.
3. Books... they need to be the right size and style to be on my bookshelf. I am not a fan of mass market books because they look and feel less refined for some reason. I prefer the thick paper paperbacks. I know, mass markets are cheaper, save some money! I will buy them if I really need to read a book and it is not available otherwise that I can fine. (For example, A Prayer for Owen Meany - great book btw.)
(This is getting hard.)
4. I am strangely into etiquette. It is there for a reason, to make guests feel comfortable. I can get past it, but my husband will get to hear all about it first.
5. I suck at talking on the phone. I can be, unintentionally really, rude on the phone. Honestly, I don't like the phone and I am not a sit and talk on the phone type of person. Guess I got it all out of my system when I was 13 and it was permanently attached to my head. I have to remind myself that if someone actually wants to talk to me it is a good thing (except for telemarketers, they are bad). I use the phone to convey important info - Leif is sick and we won't be able to play, what should I bring for the dinner party, what time do you want to meet for a Winny walk... Or to once a week talk to my mom and grandma.
This aversion is a fairly new development really, started when I was pregnant and I would get woken up from very precious sleep in the middle of the night by panicked phone calls that would send my husband over the edge. It was then that I seriously considered getting rid of the phone for good. (I was an irrational, hormonal, pregnant woman, what can I say.) That evolved into a hatred and deep seated fear of the phone simply ringing. We have worked past that and now we are onto the issue that it is just really, really hard to sit and talk on the phone with a toddler. Therefore in my "keeping an eye on my son" efforts while on the phone I sometimes forget to actually listen to the person (which is rude), one might get cut off if Leif is particularly interested in the phone (accidentally of course and not really my fault), or if he is sleeping than I am usually running around like a madwoman trying to get things done, I may forget to listen or I may sound harried. (Am I now just making up excuses?)
And don't even GET me started on call waiting. (The rudest invention ever.)
Tag to rockergirrl, Prissy Jane, Chem Mom, What Free Time, and The Mental Packrat.
The first player of this game starts with the topic "five weird habits I have" and people who get tagged then write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says you have been tagged? (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.
(Reading these you might suddenly realize where Leif's obsessive nature comes from... it is becoming shockingly apparent to me.)
1. I must get out of bed at a "good" time. A "good" time would be one that ends in 8 ideally. If that will really make me late I will deal with one that ends in 4. 5:58 is a good time, 6:28 would be even better because 6+2 = 8. But Leif has seriously put a cramp on this. Leif's idea of a good time to get up does NOT necessarily end in 8.
2. When I get in the car to leave I immediately wonder if there is anything I have left on. This means that I invariably have to go back in the house and check my curling iron. I am paranoid of burning down the house with a curling iron. (Nevermind that it has an auto shut off... that might just fail, you never know.) Yes and sometimes this thought doesn't strike me until I am a few blocks from the house, which means we get to turn around and go check. About 30% of the time it has not in fact been turned off. The exception to turning around is when AB is driving. He flat out refuses to humor me and let me go check.
3. Books... they need to be the right size and style to be on my bookshelf. I am not a fan of mass market books because they look and feel less refined for some reason. I prefer the thick paper paperbacks. I know, mass markets are cheaper, save some money! I will buy them if I really need to read a book and it is not available otherwise that I can fine. (For example, A Prayer for Owen Meany - great book btw.)
(This is getting hard.)
4. I am strangely into etiquette. It is there for a reason, to make guests feel comfortable. I can get past it, but my husband will get to hear all about it first.
5. I suck at talking on the phone. I can be, unintentionally really, rude on the phone. Honestly, I don't like the phone and I am not a sit and talk on the phone type of person. Guess I got it all out of my system when I was 13 and it was permanently attached to my head. I have to remind myself that if someone actually wants to talk to me it is a good thing (except for telemarketers, they are bad). I use the phone to convey important info - Leif is sick and we won't be able to play, what should I bring for the dinner party, what time do you want to meet for a Winny walk... Or to once a week talk to my mom and grandma.
This aversion is a fairly new development really, started when I was pregnant and I would get woken up from very precious sleep in the middle of the night by panicked phone calls that would send my husband over the edge. It was then that I seriously considered getting rid of the phone for good. (I was an irrational, hormonal, pregnant woman, what can I say.) That evolved into a hatred and deep seated fear of the phone simply ringing. We have worked past that and now we are onto the issue that it is just really, really hard to sit and talk on the phone with a toddler. Therefore in my "keeping an eye on my son" efforts while on the phone I sometimes forget to actually listen to the person (which is rude), one might get cut off if Leif is particularly interested in the phone (accidentally of course and not really my fault), or if he is sleeping than I am usually running around like a madwoman trying to get things done, I may forget to listen or I may sound harried. (Am I now just making up excuses?)
And don't even GET me started on call waiting. (The rudest invention ever.)
Tag to rockergirrl, Prissy Jane, Chem Mom, What Free Time, and The Mental Packrat.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
One Great Company and One Sucky Company
XM Radio. Love it. I cannot sing praise enough, and well, you wouldn't want to hear me try to sing anyways. I have 8 channels programmed, well 9, but that last one is for my news obsessed husband so that he doesn't mess everything up trying to find the news. Number 9, it's yours AB.
Just in the last 24 hours I was privy to hearing Boomtown Rats (ok, at least 8 years since I last heard them), Joe Jackson (still have not replaced the cd that was stolen out of my car), Social Distortion (another cd that wasn't replaced after the break-in) English Beat... Oh yeah, I was complaining about The 80's previously? It's that no radio station here plays "the right" 80's. I am digging on the new music too, it isn't all reminiscing. The newest Soul Coughing sounded awfully good.
-----------------
Sallie Mae topped my shit list yesterday. Somehow I got to thinking about the fact that I never received my new coupon payment book from them back in November. Then it was "oh shit, that means I haven't PAID my student loan since the end of October!" I panicked and went to their website where I finally retrieved my login and password that I created 3 years ago when I consolidated my loans. The e-mail they had for me was my old, never checked e-mail from 3 years ago. Turns out that IF they have an e-mail address on file for you, then you would no longer receive coupon books and it would be online notification.
Great, as long as that e-mail address is still in use. I never check that e-mail account. Gurrr... I still cannot believe that I had two outstanding payments (coincidentally when my coupon book finished) and no one even called or mailed something to my house to see what was going on. Oh I am sure they contacted the credit agencies though. Gurrr... goodbye excellent credit rating.
Just in the last 24 hours I was privy to hearing Boomtown Rats (ok, at least 8 years since I last heard them), Joe Jackson (still have not replaced the cd that was stolen out of my car), Social Distortion (another cd that wasn't replaced after the break-in) English Beat... Oh yeah, I was complaining about The 80's previously? It's that no radio station here plays "the right" 80's. I am digging on the new music too, it isn't all reminiscing. The newest Soul Coughing sounded awfully good.
-----------------
Sallie Mae topped my shit list yesterday. Somehow I got to thinking about the fact that I never received my new coupon payment book from them back in November. Then it was "oh shit, that means I haven't PAID my student loan since the end of October!" I panicked and went to their website where I finally retrieved my login and password that I created 3 years ago when I consolidated my loans. The e-mail they had for me was my old, never checked e-mail from 3 years ago. Turns out that IF they have an e-mail address on file for you, then you would no longer receive coupon books and it would be online notification.
Great, as long as that e-mail address is still in use. I never check that e-mail account. Gurrr... I still cannot believe that I had two outstanding payments (coincidentally when my coupon book finished) and no one even called or mailed something to my house to see what was going on. Oh I am sure they contacted the credit agencies though. Gurrr... goodbye excellent credit rating.
The Obsessed Child
Not quite so willful when he is sick with a cold! In fact, he is a cuddler. Poor guy. Last night and this morning he just wanted to snuggle on the couch. Both times he cried when I had to get up. This morning he cried and cried when I left him at daycare. I hate that.
Leif does have a new obsession though. Ish. (Or for those of you who don't speak Leif, that would be fish.) Everyday when we leave daycare he takes me to the older kids room and shows me the ish. Baby Neptune has returned to the number one position in the movie ranking position for two reasons, there are ish and then the quacking duck song towards the end.
This morning on the Today show they had a piece on the dolphins that were displaced due to Katrina and were now in the Bahamas. Leif was so excited about the ish on TV. Of course, AB has to correct him that "no those aren't fish, they are mammals". *sigh* Just give it to him, he identified an animal in the water that looks an amazing amount like a fish.
Oh and those Alaskan Salmon ads in the food magazines? Have you seen those? The ones that are a page of salmon stickers? Also a favorite in our house right now. It is hi-larious to stick the ish stickers on Leif's hands/clothes/face or Mommy and Daddy's hands/clothes/face.
So ish are the thing in our house right now. I am pretty seriously thinking about taking Leif to Petsmart this weekend and getting him a goldfish or betta in a bowl to put on his dresser in his bedroom.
Leif does have a new obsession though. Ish. (Or for those of you who don't speak Leif, that would be fish.) Everyday when we leave daycare he takes me to the older kids room and shows me the ish. Baby Neptune has returned to the number one position in the movie ranking position for two reasons, there are ish and then the quacking duck song towards the end.
This morning on the Today show they had a piece on the dolphins that were displaced due to Katrina and were now in the Bahamas. Leif was so excited about the ish on TV. Of course, AB has to correct him that "no those aren't fish, they are mammals". *sigh* Just give it to him, he identified an animal in the water that looks an amazing amount like a fish.
Oh and those Alaskan Salmon ads in the food magazines? Have you seen those? The ones that are a page of salmon stickers? Also a favorite in our house right now. It is hi-larious to stick the ish stickers on Leif's hands/clothes/face or Mommy and Daddy's hands/clothes/face.
So ish are the thing in our house right now. I am pretty seriously thinking about taking Leif to Petsmart this weekend and getting him a goldfish or betta in a bowl to put on his dresser in his bedroom.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Monday already
Oh how sad, to have a weekend that is only 2 days long. Blah.
We had a nice weekend. Saturday was swimming with Leif. AB went in the pool with him and Leif was NOT happy about that swimming at all. He showed his dissatisfaction in his face too, big sad frowns. AB eased him into the class and they had a somewhat okay experience. C had a blast and her smiles indicated it. After leaving AB told me how much he disliked the teacher. I don't know that he had been in the pool with her before, but he was raging when we left. Evidently she thought AB should push Leif to be on his back when he clearly didn't want to be on his back. Yes, let's just traumatize the child even more. He was particularly irritated that she was so into getting the baby used to placement of their bodies in the water... hello, let's just get them used to the water to start.
Saturday night we went out to eat at a nice local restaurant while the neighbor girl babysat Leif. Leif survived and so did we. My initial experience with the babysitter was not a fluke. Everything (Leif's dishes, the high chair mess, her dishes, her pop cans) was left out and untouched. This bugs me. I know she isn't hired to clean, but simply picking up after oneself at least would be nice. It still isn't a deal breaker, I do like her and she likes Leif. I will survive.
Sunday was my birthday. AB let me sleep in, then he made swedies and we took Leif and Winny to the river and then to the playground of dreams. Leif LOVED the tot lot and the fact that he could go up the slide steps and down by himself, about 32 times. I, otoh, didn't appreciate this new found independence nearly as much as Leif did. My baby is growing up. :-(
Leif had a good nap on Sunday. I worked on finishing my book club book (one more day to finish). Then AB cooked a rotisserie chicken. Our weird child really, really does not like potatoes. I cannot figure this one out, even tater tots. Mashed potatoes and gravy elicited a major "this is nasty" response. After dinner Leif (who now has the hang of presents) helped me open my gift...
XM radio!! Wahhoo! I am really, really excited about this. In fact, I spent about 30 minutes last night installing it in my car while Desperate Housewives was on pause (love Tivo). The 30 minutes of installation was really in realizing I was missing a vital mounting piece and then locating the mounting piece (placed in the glove box of all places). It was super easy to install otherwise.
I am just so stoked on this. I have always been a big music fan. AB is a TV guy, I am a music girl. One thing that absolutely KILLED me in moving here was the lack of radio stations. I remember driving to work after we just moved here in April 2002 and hearing a "new" artist, Jack Johnson. I had owned that particular cd for a year at that point. New my ass. In order to stay somewhat up on new music I resorted to online streaming of kfog at work while working at my desk.
There is a serious radio problem in this area. Maybe it is a consequence of being fairly rural, I don't know what it is, but why do radio trends move like molasses when every other technology moves at light speed? Seriously, I have heard "Pour Some Sugar on Me" 100 more times in the last 3.5 years than I did when I was in 9th grade and it was popular. And there is just no reason Back in Black should be treated like the gospel, really no reason at all. And popular stations are STILL running "80's Lunch Hour" or "The 80's Drive Home". Can we say passe? Ok, just plain OLD.
I used to love "To Rye Ay" and "Melt With You", Billy Squier, Flock of Seagulls and *gasp* Loverboy. I still like Prince on occasion (yes, I will admit to it). But not.all.the.freakin.time. New music... it is out there, but it might take effort for a radio station to find. You know, they may have to deviate from soda pop and 80's crud. Oh and when exactly did U2 become "classic rock"? (Oh yeah... I just turned 34... *sob*.)
No longer will I be forced to live with the local radio stations. May I never again hear "Pour Some Sugar on Me". See you later crappy morning shows that *think* they are oh so funny, and deejay dorks who talk fast in an attempt to pretend they are the coolest rockers around (whose wife is an anchor woman on the bad TV news channel with likely the same mullet she had in 1988). I opted not for just the pay per month, no I prepaid for years of XM radio this morning all without having experienced it in my own vehicle so far. It has GOT to be better than what is out here (and bonus - commercial free)!
THANKS AB for the most wonderful Birthday present!!
We had a nice weekend. Saturday was swimming with Leif. AB went in the pool with him and Leif was NOT happy about that swimming at all. He showed his dissatisfaction in his face too, big sad frowns. AB eased him into the class and they had a somewhat okay experience. C had a blast and her smiles indicated it. After leaving AB told me how much he disliked the teacher. I don't know that he had been in the pool with her before, but he was raging when we left. Evidently she thought AB should push Leif to be on his back when he clearly didn't want to be on his back. Yes, let's just traumatize the child even more. He was particularly irritated that she was so into getting the baby used to placement of their bodies in the water... hello, let's just get them used to the water to start.
Saturday night we went out to eat at a nice local restaurant while the neighbor girl babysat Leif. Leif survived and so did we. My initial experience with the babysitter was not a fluke. Everything (Leif's dishes, the high chair mess, her dishes, her pop cans) was left out and untouched. This bugs me. I know she isn't hired to clean, but simply picking up after oneself at least would be nice. It still isn't a deal breaker, I do like her and she likes Leif. I will survive.
Sunday was my birthday. AB let me sleep in, then he made swedies and we took Leif and Winny to the river and then to the playground of dreams. Leif LOVED the tot lot and the fact that he could go up the slide steps and down by himself, about 32 times. I, otoh, didn't appreciate this new found independence nearly as much as Leif did. My baby is growing up. :-(
Leif had a good nap on Sunday. I worked on finishing my book club book (one more day to finish). Then AB cooked a rotisserie chicken. Our weird child really, really does not like potatoes. I cannot figure this one out, even tater tots. Mashed potatoes and gravy elicited a major "this is nasty" response. After dinner Leif (who now has the hang of presents) helped me open my gift...
XM radio!! Wahhoo! I am really, really excited about this. In fact, I spent about 30 minutes last night installing it in my car while Desperate Housewives was on pause (love Tivo). The 30 minutes of installation was really in realizing I was missing a vital mounting piece and then locating the mounting piece (placed in the glove box of all places). It was super easy to install otherwise.
I am just so stoked on this. I have always been a big music fan. AB is a TV guy, I am a music girl. One thing that absolutely KILLED me in moving here was the lack of radio stations. I remember driving to work after we just moved here in April 2002 and hearing a "new" artist, Jack Johnson. I had owned that particular cd for a year at that point. New my ass. In order to stay somewhat up on new music I resorted to online streaming of kfog at work while working at my desk.
There is a serious radio problem in this area. Maybe it is a consequence of being fairly rural, I don't know what it is, but why do radio trends move like molasses when every other technology moves at light speed? Seriously, I have heard "Pour Some Sugar on Me" 100 more times in the last 3.5 years than I did when I was in 9th grade and it was popular. And there is just no reason Back in Black should be treated like the gospel, really no reason at all. And popular stations are STILL running "80's Lunch Hour" or "The 80's Drive Home". Can we say passe? Ok, just plain OLD.
I used to love "To Rye Ay" and "Melt With You", Billy Squier, Flock of Seagulls and *gasp* Loverboy. I still like Prince on occasion (yes, I will admit to it). But not.all.the.freakin.time. New music... it is out there, but it might take effort for a radio station to find. You know, they may have to deviate from soda pop and 80's crud. Oh and when exactly did U2 become "classic rock"? (Oh yeah... I just turned 34... *sob*.)
No longer will I be forced to live with the local radio stations. May I never again hear "Pour Some Sugar on Me". See you later crappy morning shows that *think* they are oh so funny, and deejay dorks who talk fast in an attempt to pretend they are the coolest rockers around (whose wife is an anchor woman on the bad TV news channel with likely the same mullet she had in 1988). I opted not for just the pay per month, no I prepaid for years of XM radio this morning all without having experienced it in my own vehicle so far. It has GOT to be better than what is out here (and bonus - commercial free)!
THANKS AB for the most wonderful Birthday present!!
Friday, January 06, 2006
Cannot sit still
That would be me this time, not Leif. I just got out of a super boring meeting, reitterating everything I already knew about a proposal call from one of my division's main clients that will be coming out. *I* could have given that presentation more effectively... I left and hurried (or tried to hurry - I rode with others who stood around chatting after the fact) back here so that I could call one of the client managers here. I have the bomb of an idea. It is killing me. I need to bounce it off someone! The setup is amazingly simple and a freakishly easy concept (at least for someone with my grad school training). Yet I am 95% sure that this hasn't been considered in the past, especially given that I am an oddity in this division. Nuclear physicists just don't do surface science and vice versa, except well, me.
So while I am waiting for the client manager to call me back and before my mentor meeting in 30 minutes I will blog. Today is Friday, yay! It is long overdue to get the Christmas decorations down, that is the task for tomorrow. Winny has been ultra-abused this week with a serious lack of walks thanks to Leif's early waking time all week. So we need to get her out for a walk. I also must, must finish the book for my book club meeting on Tuesday (The Sparrow - which I am rather enjoying).
I signed Leif and I up for parent-tot swimming classes for the month of January and I am looking forward to that Saturday morning. With Leif's current love of the water, I think he will really enjoy it and get more out of it than he has in the past. I worry a little about his lack of fear of the water and his desire to never again be contained, but I think we will get through it.
Saturday night AB and I have dinner reservations that I am *so* looking forward to. The neighbor girl is babysitting Leif while AB and I drop $100 or so on a seafood dinner not cooked by us and thus not requiring kitchen clean up. Yippee!
Sunday is my birthday so I will probably cook something. AB will probably get an ice cream cake like he does every year (per my request). I will be 34 on Sunday. How is that even possible? I bought some clothes online the other day with a little of the leftover birthday money my mom sent. Most of which went to purchase the buffet, but I had a little leftover to buy some things on sale. I needed tops badly and found a few.
Enough rambling I suppose. My meeting begins in 15 minutes with my mentor. I think I will bounce my idea off of him and see what he thinks. Have a super weekend everyone!
So while I am waiting for the client manager to call me back and before my mentor meeting in 30 minutes I will blog. Today is Friday, yay! It is long overdue to get the Christmas decorations down, that is the task for tomorrow. Winny has been ultra-abused this week with a serious lack of walks thanks to Leif's early waking time all week. So we need to get her out for a walk. I also must, must finish the book for my book club meeting on Tuesday (The Sparrow - which I am rather enjoying).
I signed Leif and I up for parent-tot swimming classes for the month of January and I am looking forward to that Saturday morning. With Leif's current love of the water, I think he will really enjoy it and get more out of it than he has in the past. I worry a little about his lack of fear of the water and his desire to never again be contained, but I think we will get through it.
Saturday night AB and I have dinner reservations that I am *so* looking forward to. The neighbor girl is babysitting Leif while AB and I drop $100 or so on a seafood dinner not cooked by us and thus not requiring kitchen clean up. Yippee!
Sunday is my birthday so I will probably cook something. AB will probably get an ice cream cake like he does every year (per my request). I will be 34 on Sunday. How is that even possible? I bought some clothes online the other day with a little of the leftover birthday money my mom sent. Most of which went to purchase the buffet, but I had a little leftover to buy some things on sale. I needed tops badly and found a few.
Enough rambling I suppose. My meeting begins in 15 minutes with my mentor. I think I will bounce my idea off of him and see what he thinks. Have a super weekend everyone!
Thursday, January 05, 2006
The willful child
When Leif was about 6 months old his daycare teacher started telling me he would give us a run for our money. She called him her "willful charmer". An evil mix. When I took Leif back to daycare on Tuesday they told me how quiet it was last week, no Leif to remove from the walls. But towards the end of the week they realized how much they missed him, no Leif dancing on the tables. My willful charmer.
I don't see this crazed "I will do this and you can't stop me" look in the other kid's eyes. According to Leif's daycare - and I see this too, traditional disciplinary tactics don't work. You can remove him from the table all you want and tell him "no we don't walk on the tables" and redirect him. But the next thing you know he is TRYING to get your attention while walking on the table. "Hello, I am doing something I shouldn't do, come remove me so I can do it again. It is such a FUN game!"
Plain screaming, as I found out this morning, doesn't work either. I am not a screamer, I am a crier. So why I felt the need to scream at the top of my lungs after 15 minutes of attempts to put him in his carseat so we could go to daycare/work, I have no idea. I screamed. Leif stopped, looked at me and smiled his charming smile and persisted in making body stiff as board while flipping the hips and sliding out of his coat (then sweather and shirt). I physically could not get him in his carseat. Redirection? Yeah, right. This kid has focus.
Everyday is different, there is no predicting his responses. The other day to get the teeth brushed I pinned him beneath me, Hans held down his arms and I pried my finger in his mouth (while he bit down - hard) and scrubbed his teeth, quickly. This morning? I couldn't get the toothbrush out of his hands. This wouldn't be so bad, he can take the dang toothbrush to daycare, but he wouldn't leave the bathroom vanity. Why? Because he had to be lifted up to spit and rinse his toothbrush 32 times. Teeth, very clean. Not something I want to discourage lest we end up with the pinning experience more often, but after 8 minutes of brushing, spitting and rinsing, we.have.to.go.
Just when you think you have reached your limit, he turns and gives you that smile for a little bit, puckers up his lips for a kiss, wraps his arms around my neck and squeezes, then runs off to the next challenge.
I wouldn't have it any other way. I love him with all my heart, willfulness and charming qualities included. Someday I will be able to effectively communicate and reason with him about why we don't need to brush our teeth for 10 minutes, why we do need to get into the carseat, why we need to get out of the bath, have his diaper changed, change clothes, not throw things at the dog... won't I? He will understand one day, won't he? And I will look back on these days when he was little and have completely forgotten about how he tries me somedays.
Which then raises the question... I can't possibly end up with a second child with the same personality, can I? Memo to self... no sex during October... cannot conceive another Leo.
I don't see this crazed "I will do this and you can't stop me" look in the other kid's eyes. According to Leif's daycare - and I see this too, traditional disciplinary tactics don't work. You can remove him from the table all you want and tell him "no we don't walk on the tables" and redirect him. But the next thing you know he is TRYING to get your attention while walking on the table. "Hello, I am doing something I shouldn't do, come remove me so I can do it again. It is such a FUN game!"
Plain screaming, as I found out this morning, doesn't work either. I am not a screamer, I am a crier. So why I felt the need to scream at the top of my lungs after 15 minutes of attempts to put him in his carseat so we could go to daycare/work, I have no idea. I screamed. Leif stopped, looked at me and smiled his charming smile and persisted in making body stiff as board while flipping the hips and sliding out of his coat (then sweather and shirt). I physically could not get him in his carseat. Redirection? Yeah, right. This kid has focus.
Everyday is different, there is no predicting his responses. The other day to get the teeth brushed I pinned him beneath me, Hans held down his arms and I pried my finger in his mouth (while he bit down - hard) and scrubbed his teeth, quickly. This morning? I couldn't get the toothbrush out of his hands. This wouldn't be so bad, he can take the dang toothbrush to daycare, but he wouldn't leave the bathroom vanity. Why? Because he had to be lifted up to spit and rinse his toothbrush 32 times. Teeth, very clean. Not something I want to discourage lest we end up with the pinning experience more often, but after 8 minutes of brushing, spitting and rinsing, we.have.to.go.
Just when you think you have reached your limit, he turns and gives you that smile for a little bit, puckers up his lips for a kiss, wraps his arms around my neck and squeezes, then runs off to the next challenge.
I wouldn't have it any other way. I love him with all my heart, willfulness and charming qualities included. Someday I will be able to effectively communicate and reason with him about why we don't need to brush our teeth for 10 minutes, why we do need to get into the carseat, why we need to get out of the bath, have his diaper changed, change clothes, not throw things at the dog... won't I? He will understand one day, won't he? And I will look back on these days when he was little and have completely forgotten about how he tries me somedays.
Which then raises the question... I can't possibly end up with a second child with the same personality, can I? Memo to self... no sex during October... cannot conceive another Leo.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Proof of it all
Sledding is great fun!
Dog? I didn't hide the dog. 
A DRUM! Just what mommy and daddy were hoping I would get. Thanks for helping me Aunt Tara!
Merry Christmas NM and AB!
Getting past New Years
The holidays were nice this year. We went to Alaska, as mentioned previously. The main goal was to see AB's aging grandparents and let them see their great grandson. In this effort, others decided to stay in Alaska that were going to leave and others yet flew to Alaska. So we ended up having a nice family Christmas in Alaska with most of AB's family.
We spent some time in Anchorage, then some time at my MIL's cabin, and then in Anchorage again. My inlaws are now divorced after 30-some years of marraige. Coming from a divorced family I find this less of a challenge logistically than AB's family I believe. To me, splitting time with family is a fact of life. AB's family hasn't broached this yet and in fact, both my MIL and FIL were around the entire time. My FIL even spent the few days at the cabin with us all. It was nice to have everyone in one spot, less trouble for hauling Leif around. But it isn't something that we expect to be maintained in the future and to a certain degree AB and I feel bad to have put the family in this position by making the decision to go to Alaska for the holidays.
All in all we had a nice time. We both enjoy Alaska, AB a little more than me likely. However, part of that is his growing up there. We succeeded for the most part at keeping Leif on a reasonable schedule. Leif succeeded in charming everyone up there and worked especially hard on his aunt Tara - not that he needed to work hard on her, she was pretty receptive. We enjoyed the time with AB's brother and his wife as well, we always enjoy hanging out with them. There was, of course, the requisite drama, but we survived.
----------------------------
I spent about a week off at home with Leif while AB worked after Christmas. I loved the time. Leif and I hung out and picked up the house, got a lot of errands done. I cooked dinner (*shock*). (Those who know me are probably surprised to hear that this is a shocker, I love to cook and am ashamed at how my daily cooking duties have taken a back seat.)
Let's see, Leif has expressed a love for canned (ick) green beans. Twice now he has eaten an entire can by himself. The second time he even tried to drink the "juice". Ick. So there is one vegetable that I do not have to hide.
I bought and received my buffet. It is in the house, loaded up. Will put it in the next picture post. Merry Christmas to us!
Leif's language skills are moving along. He surprises us daily with repeating new words. In addition to the old stand bys he knows baby, bye-bye, cookie (courtesy of my homemade, stellar recipe triple chocolate chip cookies), dog, done, and his favorite right now?? Daddy.
We were home together and he pointed to the fall pictures at the pumpkin patch and repeated "daddy daddy!" I said, "yes, that's daddy. Who is this?" Pointing at myself in the picture. Leif looks at me, is quiet, then points back at AB and again exclaims "daddy daddy!"
---------------------------
Resolution time
I rarely make meaningful resolutions. This year I resolve to make meaningful resolutions.
Resolution 1 - Get out with the dog every morning.
Reality Resolution 1 - Get out with the dog every morning that Leif appears that he will be out like a light until at least 6:30am.
Resolution 2 - Start bleaching my teeth, floss everyday and brush twice a day in preparation for the new bridges.
Reality Resolution 2 - This shouldn't be hard to do, plus, I *have* to do it.
Resolution 3 - Get and stay out of credit card debt, all extra cash each month goes on the cards until they are gone.
Reality Resolution 3 - Come on NM, you guys make good money, WHY are you still carrying credit card debt! Snap into shape, NOW!
Resolution 4 - Pending successful outcome of resolution 3, but a camp trailer.
Reality Resolution 4 - Buy a camp trailer no matter the outcome of resolution 3. (Since when does purchasing something have to be a resolution?)
Resolution 5 - All those little jobs around the house? They aren't going to get done, hire a handyman or contractor to do them.
Reality Resolution 5 - Pending successful outcome of resolution 3, convince AB it is OK to hire a handyman or carpenter to do the little jobs that need to be done.
We spent some time in Anchorage, then some time at my MIL's cabin, and then in Anchorage again. My inlaws are now divorced after 30-some years of marraige. Coming from a divorced family I find this less of a challenge logistically than AB's family I believe. To me, splitting time with family is a fact of life. AB's family hasn't broached this yet and in fact, both my MIL and FIL were around the entire time. My FIL even spent the few days at the cabin with us all. It was nice to have everyone in one spot, less trouble for hauling Leif around. But it isn't something that we expect to be maintained in the future and to a certain degree AB and I feel bad to have put the family in this position by making the decision to go to Alaska for the holidays.
All in all we had a nice time. We both enjoy Alaska, AB a little more than me likely. However, part of that is his growing up there. We succeeded for the most part at keeping Leif on a reasonable schedule. Leif succeeded in charming everyone up there and worked especially hard on his aunt Tara - not that he needed to work hard on her, she was pretty receptive. We enjoyed the time with AB's brother and his wife as well, we always enjoy hanging out with them. There was, of course, the requisite drama, but we survived.
----------------------------
I spent about a week off at home with Leif while AB worked after Christmas. I loved the time. Leif and I hung out and picked up the house, got a lot of errands done. I cooked dinner (*shock*). (Those who know me are probably surprised to hear that this is a shocker, I love to cook and am ashamed at how my daily cooking duties have taken a back seat.)
Let's see, Leif has expressed a love for canned (ick) green beans. Twice now he has eaten an entire can by himself. The second time he even tried to drink the "juice". Ick. So there is one vegetable that I do not have to hide.
I bought and received my buffet. It is in the house, loaded up. Will put it in the next picture post. Merry Christmas to us!
Leif's language skills are moving along. He surprises us daily with repeating new words. In addition to the old stand bys he knows baby, bye-bye, cookie (courtesy of my homemade, stellar recipe triple chocolate chip cookies), dog, done, and his favorite right now?? Daddy.
We were home together and he pointed to the fall pictures at the pumpkin patch and repeated "daddy daddy!" I said, "yes, that's daddy. Who is this?" Pointing at myself in the picture. Leif looks at me, is quiet, then points back at AB and again exclaims "daddy daddy!"
---------------------------
Resolution time
I rarely make meaningful resolutions. This year I resolve to make meaningful resolutions.
Resolution 1 - Get out with the dog every morning.
Reality Resolution 1 - Get out with the dog every morning that Leif appears that he will be out like a light until at least 6:30am.
Resolution 2 - Start bleaching my teeth, floss everyday and brush twice a day in preparation for the new bridges.
Reality Resolution 2 - This shouldn't be hard to do, plus, I *have* to do it.
Resolution 3 - Get and stay out of credit card debt, all extra cash each month goes on the cards until they are gone.
Reality Resolution 3 - Come on NM, you guys make good money, WHY are you still carrying credit card debt! Snap into shape, NOW!
Resolution 4 - Pending successful outcome of resolution 3, but a camp trailer.
Reality Resolution 4 - Buy a camp trailer no matter the outcome of resolution 3. (Since when does purchasing something have to be a resolution?)
Resolution 5 - All those little jobs around the house? They aren't going to get done, hire a handyman or contractor to do them.
Reality Resolution 5 - Pending successful outcome of resolution 3, convince AB it is OK to hire a handyman or carpenter to do the little jobs that need to be done.
The curse lives on
Not only do AB and I suffer the curse, but those who choose to associate with us are subject to the gravitational pull of the curse. Let’s analyze:
New Years Eve 1993: The curse starts. AB and I had dated for a few months. He went to Alaska with his family for Christmas, I was home at my apartment where I rented a couple of movies by myself. Flop #1.
NYE 1994: I had gone to Alaska for Christmas with AB for the first time and come back before New Years. AB was working in Prudhoe Bay and had headed back up to work. I was in Boulder and had rented the movies Schindler’s List and Crooklyn. Bad move. Flop for both of us.
NYE 1995: We were in Alaska. We spent NYE at Simone’s house with some of AB’s friends (John, Brian, and Josh). I didn’t know anyone well and the apartment was crowded. The highlights I remember were seeing Brian’s face when he ate salt and vinegar chips for the first time (he didn’t like them) and all of us eating Jenny’s rum balls. This was not a flop, but not one of the great times we were used to having as 25 year olds.
NYE 1996: Our first year in Reno. We had driven to Colorado for Christmas. I think we wandered around Old Town Fort Collins looking for something to do. We ended up going back to my mom’s house… early. FLOP!
NYE 1997: In Alaska. Ok, this one might classify as the epitome of flop… AB, me, John, his sister Catherine and Brian. We all sit around watching Southpark the.entire.night with a 12 pack of beer. We kept talking about going and doing something… AB’s parents came home and had partied harder than we had.
NYE 1998: I don’t even remember, so it must have been good, not.
NYE 1999: John and his fiancé rockergirrl came up to Reno. AB both overcooked and undercooked the prime rib (charred outside, raw inside). John was sick that night. We sat on the porch watching fireworks huddled under blankets, listening to the neighbor girl yell at the people upstairs for not being quiet, waiting for the world to explode at the stroke of midnight. It didn’t, so we went to bed.
NYE 2000: We went to Colorado Springs to visit Tanya. This is another one of those nights that was in no way a flop. We cooked dinner and ate about 10pm, watched fireworks and then went to bed. But given that we were child-free 28 year olds it definitely was not a party hardy atmosphere. We had a good time and this one is probably the closest we ever came to kicking the curse.
NYE 2001: But we apparently didn’t. The curse was back. I don’t remember what we did this year, but it *had* to have been a flop.
NYE 2002: In Alaska. This is another one of those NYE’s that really wasn’t as awful. But the fact that I had the worst cold/bronchitis/pink eye of my freaking life made it a flop for me. I was so doped up. We were out on a frozen lake in Alaska, with a huge bon fire with Josh and Brian and a couple of their other friends. There was a potato gun and fireworks. Every Alaska Boy’s dream. But for NM? Flop.
NYE 2003: This was going to be the bomb of New Years Eve, despite the fact that I was pregnant and nauseated. We rented a condo in Steamboat, Colorado with AB’s brother and wife who we adore and their friends Tracy and Rick. We had loads of plans, dinner out, games and drinking. It was going to be juice for me, but I was fine with that. No, it wasn’t my being sick that sidelined this trip, it was the flu bug that AB and his brother picked up during the day skiing that knocked them on their asses (and later my SIL). We were a rocking group that night.
NYE 2004: We surrendered. We had a 5 month old who had to nurse every few hours. We played Mexican train dominoes with my mom and stepdad, grandma and uncle. We went to bed early since we flew home at 8am.
NYE 2005: The determination set in. We were not going to let this curse get the better of us. We have good friends here that we like and had been planning our evening for a few months. Dinner, snacks, games, all were in the works. We had it planned out! Leif would go down at their house and we would party it up!
That is until Leif didn’t go down. Refused to go down, wanted nothing to do with sleep… etc., etc. It was getting bad. After lasagna, homemade sushi and before crème brulee (sob) and stuffed mushrooms and games, we packed up and left.
The curse stands.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Eight pairs of gloves
EIGHT! Yesterday and my comment about AB adding in 40 lbs of additional winter gear? Uh huh. We are taking with us to Alaska, for one couple and a toddler for one week, eight pairs of gloves. No joke. And apparently every glove has its purpose.
Pair #1 - I will justify this pair, my leather driving gloves that go in my purse. My alternative to my heavy powder gloves. This is the pair of gloves that AB sees absolutely no purpose to. From AB's perspective, if you wouldn't want to be wearing this pair of gloves to dig your hand into the snow and pull out a big hunk of snow, pack it into a ball and launch it at someone, why own them? (I need them, end of story.)
Pair #2 - My powder gloves. This is my heavy ski gloves. They are wonderful, glove inside, mitten on the outside, Goretex, a cuff and they extend about 4" above the cuff. "Now these are gloves!" AB said as he gave them to me for Christmas one year. (AB's favorite gift to give? Gloves.)
Pair #3 - Leif's fleece mittens. The ones I can actually get him to keep on his hands. $2.99 at Target and as far as real protection? That is about what they are worth. Better than nothing at all, but he leaves them on his hands (for the most part).
Pair #4 - Leif's GoreTex mittens. Cannot for the life of me get them to stay on Leif's hands. I do not know what he does with his fingers in there, but they fall off within minutes of putting them on. To which Leif responds "uh oh" and stands there and looks at them and then holds out his hand to have it put on for the 574th time. Maybe I will find connectors in Alaska that will make them worthwhile? Or maybe in Alaskan MIL who raised 3 sons up there will have some secret to getting them to stay on his hands.
Ok... so here is where we get hairy...
Pair #5 as described by AB last night - "These are the coolest gloves, I forgot I had these! You can flip the mitten part off to expose your fingers which is great for fine work, like ice fishing, and I want to go ice fishing by the way. The only bad thing about these gloves is that they are fleece and don't protect your hands from the wind."
Pair #6 as described by AB - "Well you have to have mitten covers, these make any pair of gloves wind and probably waterproof too, I am pretty sure this fabric is waterproof. They will be perfect for snowmachining and see how they tighten around your wrist and extend up your arm. I have to bring these!"
Pair #7 as described by AB - "These are just like the other mitten covers, but they are a really good brand, Outdoor Research you know, they are a really good brand. But they aren't as good as the others. But we have to bring these. If your gloves get wet, you will be really happy to have these to wear when you go outside, I know I hate having wet mittens." (He doesn't know his wife very well... wet mittens = wife inside with hot cocoa and Baileys. Plus, I could have sworn that my GoreTex powder gloves were *the* pair of gloves that *never* gets wet. Le sigh.)
Pair #8 as described by AB - "Well these are my regular good gloves, the go under either of the mitten covers since the fingerless gloves wouldn't fit under the mitten covers. I have to have these."
The kicker that sent NM over the edge in a giggling fit - "Hey honey, when we are up in Alaska I want to see if I can find some new gloves, I need a new, good, all purpose pair and I can never find good gloves down here."
Pair #1 - I will justify this pair, my leather driving gloves that go in my purse. My alternative to my heavy powder gloves. This is the pair of gloves that AB sees absolutely no purpose to. From AB's perspective, if you wouldn't want to be wearing this pair of gloves to dig your hand into the snow and pull out a big hunk of snow, pack it into a ball and launch it at someone, why own them? (I need them, end of story.)
Pair #2 - My powder gloves. This is my heavy ski gloves. They are wonderful, glove inside, mitten on the outside, Goretex, a cuff and they extend about 4" above the cuff. "Now these are gloves!" AB said as he gave them to me for Christmas one year. (AB's favorite gift to give? Gloves.)
Pair #3 - Leif's fleece mittens. The ones I can actually get him to keep on his hands. $2.99 at Target and as far as real protection? That is about what they are worth. Better than nothing at all, but he leaves them on his hands (for the most part).
Pair #4 - Leif's GoreTex mittens. Cannot for the life of me get them to stay on Leif's hands. I do not know what he does with his fingers in there, but they fall off within minutes of putting them on. To which Leif responds "uh oh" and stands there and looks at them and then holds out his hand to have it put on for the 574th time. Maybe I will find connectors in Alaska that will make them worthwhile? Or maybe in Alaskan MIL who raised 3 sons up there will have some secret to getting them to stay on his hands.
Ok... so here is where we get hairy...
Pair #5 as described by AB last night - "These are the coolest gloves, I forgot I had these! You can flip the mitten part off to expose your fingers which is great for fine work, like ice fishing, and I want to go ice fishing by the way. The only bad thing about these gloves is that they are fleece and don't protect your hands from the wind."
Pair #6 as described by AB - "Well you have to have mitten covers, these make any pair of gloves wind and probably waterproof too, I am pretty sure this fabric is waterproof. They will be perfect for snowmachining and see how they tighten around your wrist and extend up your arm. I have to bring these!"
Pair #7 as described by AB - "These are just like the other mitten covers, but they are a really good brand, Outdoor Research you know, they are a really good brand. But they aren't as good as the others. But we have to bring these. If your gloves get wet, you will be really happy to have these to wear when you go outside, I know I hate having wet mittens." (He doesn't know his wife very well... wet mittens = wife inside with hot cocoa and Baileys. Plus, I could have sworn that my GoreTex powder gloves were *the* pair of gloves that *never* gets wet. Le sigh.)
Pair #8 as described by AB - "Well these are my regular good gloves, the go under either of the mitten covers since the fingerless gloves wouldn't fit under the mitten covers. I have to have these."
The kicker that sent NM over the edge in a giggling fit - "Hey honey, when we are up in Alaska I want to see if I can find some new gloves, I need a new, good, all purpose pair and I can never find good gloves down here."
Monday, December 19, 2005
Promised Pictures
Playing on C's rocking horse.
"This is the best Christmas gift ever!! Thanks Santa!!"
"A big box and paper is about the only thing that might be better!"
Check me out in my cute Christmas pj's.
Sickly Monday
I am not *that* sick, but I am at home. I managed to come down with a fever yesterday afternoon. I NEVER get a fever. I just don't. I have no idea the last time I have had a fever, probably as a young child. But even as a kid I remember thinking my mom's old mercury thermometer was faulty because the thing never budged. So imagine my surprise when I was freezing, had the chills, yet AB was hot and the thermostat said 73F (much to AB's dismay that I had turned it up that high) , and my temp was 101.2F.
AB tried to convince me to head to the Urgent Care, but I was *just* there last weekend for conjunctivitis, they were going to think I was one of "those" people. Ugh. Nope, I would be fine. But that danged pulled muscle in my back that hurt when I breathed deep might kill me... umm yeah.
Got in to see the doc this morning when my fever returned when the Advil wore off and that danged pulled muscle had now spread around to the front of my chest... Strep and Pleursy. Fun. AB was so paranoid that it was going to waylay our trip to Alaska. Nope, apparently not. But it may dig into my fun as I am not on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. You guessed it no alcohol. (grumble, grumble, grumble...)
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Aside from that we had a nice weekend. AB and I ordered Mexican on Friday night. Saturday we hit a few furniture stores. We have our buffet choices narrowed down to two. One that is a gorgeous piece of furniture, dove tail joints, nice quality construction. Made by Hooker and located here. The other is a nice buffet, taller than most with a marble top, 5 drawers (the center with a silver insert... should we ever accumulate any silver) and three cabinets. The construction is not as polished I guess. I was unimpressed with how some of the drawer fit and no dovetail joints. But it is still a very pretty piece of furniture. (No picture for it.)
I guess the only thing I am hesitating on with the Hooker piece is that it is black. I like dark woods, but black... hmmm... The nice thing about it is that there is a darker wood paneling in the hutch part so it would match a darker wood table. And the room we will be putting it in has a lot of black in it already (black photo frames). I think our decision is made, it is just going to be finding time to get back to the furniture store. I think we will wait until after Christmas and hope that we can score an even better price on it.
Saturday night we went to K&V's house for dinner, gift exchange and playdate. Leif and C played, Leif LOVES C's rocking horse and he rocked and rocked. We had a fantastic Thai chicken pizza. I have never had a Thai pizza and as a Thai purist have been skeptical. It was fantastic! We ate Christmas goodies and opened a few gifts.
Sunday we had our Christmas morning. Leif was thrilled to see that Santa left him the Little Tykes workshop. (Pictures in another post since Netscape doesn't like to participate in photo uploading to Blogger... annoying.) We opened our gifts to each other and tried to convince Leif that there were really fun things within the paper. But he decided that opening was not his forte and after a few gifts went to watch a movie instead. Silly boy!
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This morning I thought I would go to work for a little while. Wrong. Hans looked at me like I was nuts to suggest this. So I e-mailed in sick today. I gave thought to going in after my appointment, but by the time I got lunch and stuff it was after 12. Leif has his Christmas party/program at 3:30pm today. I decided to call it a wash with work today. Plus, charge codes are lean right now. I am one of the lucky ones in my group with a few options to charge to. But not a lot of work to be done pending a variety of things (machine shop, items on order...). By taking today as a sick day and working tomorrow, things will probably be a little better.
I have us most of the way packed for Alaska. Leif and I are packed. The ultimate Alaskan boy scout has yet to pack his stuff, check through my "gear" and then load us down with 40lbs more "necessary" gear (all while I keep reminding him that the past two weeks have been colder here than it has there...). Leif has videos and books and munchies for down time. I am betting the toy haul will be immense up there and so I am not packing other toys for him. I am praying that he sleeps the entire trip up tomorrow... please, please, please.
I will likely not be online much in the next week and a half. Everyone have a great holiday season!
AB tried to convince me to head to the Urgent Care, but I was *just* there last weekend for conjunctivitis, they were going to think I was one of "those" people. Ugh. Nope, I would be fine. But that danged pulled muscle in my back that hurt when I breathed deep might kill me... umm yeah.
Got in to see the doc this morning when my fever returned when the Advil wore off and that danged pulled muscle had now spread around to the front of my chest... Strep and Pleursy. Fun. AB was so paranoid that it was going to waylay our trip to Alaska. Nope, apparently not. But it may dig into my fun as I am not on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. You guessed it no alcohol. (grumble, grumble, grumble...)
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Aside from that we had a nice weekend. AB and I ordered Mexican on Friday night. Saturday we hit a few furniture stores. We have our buffet choices narrowed down to two. One that is a gorgeous piece of furniture, dove tail joints, nice quality construction. Made by Hooker and located here. The other is a nice buffet, taller than most with a marble top, 5 drawers (the center with a silver insert... should we ever accumulate any silver) and three cabinets. The construction is not as polished I guess. I was unimpressed with how some of the drawer fit and no dovetail joints. But it is still a very pretty piece of furniture. (No picture for it.)
I guess the only thing I am hesitating on with the Hooker piece is that it is black. I like dark woods, but black... hmmm... The nice thing about it is that there is a darker wood paneling in the hutch part so it would match a darker wood table. And the room we will be putting it in has a lot of black in it already (black photo frames). I think our decision is made, it is just going to be finding time to get back to the furniture store. I think we will wait until after Christmas and hope that we can score an even better price on it.
Saturday night we went to K&V's house for dinner, gift exchange and playdate. Leif and C played, Leif LOVES C's rocking horse and he rocked and rocked. We had a fantastic Thai chicken pizza. I have never had a Thai pizza and as a Thai purist have been skeptical. It was fantastic! We ate Christmas goodies and opened a few gifts.
Sunday we had our Christmas morning. Leif was thrilled to see that Santa left him the Little Tykes workshop. (Pictures in another post since Netscape doesn't like to participate in photo uploading to Blogger... annoying.) We opened our gifts to each other and tried to convince Leif that there were really fun things within the paper. But he decided that opening was not his forte and after a few gifts went to watch a movie instead. Silly boy!
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This morning I thought I would go to work for a little while. Wrong. Hans looked at me like I was nuts to suggest this. So I e-mailed in sick today. I gave thought to going in after my appointment, but by the time I got lunch and stuff it was after 12. Leif has his Christmas party/program at 3:30pm today. I decided to call it a wash with work today. Plus, charge codes are lean right now. I am one of the lucky ones in my group with a few options to charge to. But not a lot of work to be done pending a variety of things (machine shop, items on order...). By taking today as a sick day and working tomorrow, things will probably be a little better.
I have us most of the way packed for Alaska. Leif and I are packed. The ultimate Alaskan boy scout has yet to pack his stuff, check through my "gear" and then load us down with 40lbs more "necessary" gear (all while I keep reminding him that the past two weeks have been colder here than it has there...). Leif has videos and books and munchies for down time. I am betting the toy haul will be immense up there and so I am not packing other toys for him. I am praying that he sleeps the entire trip up tomorrow... please, please, please.
I will likely not be online much in the next week and a half. Everyone have a great holiday season!
Friday, December 16, 2005
"So you're not really fired..."
Wuss. That is what I am. I worked up all my confidence to be strong and have a backbone in my meeting this morning with C and the two guys working on our project. Well they are still working on our project and C told me afterwards I was so nice. Too nice? I asked her. "Probably", was her response. Ugh. And here I felt like I was being such a bitch.
It appears that my direction here is headed towards project management. I have three proposal calls to respond to in early January, one that was sent to me specifically and that I am working with a PLM on, another that was sent to me and two other people by my manager asking each of us to please submit something to the call, and the last call that came in this morning from my main client for FY07 that I am "expected" to put in for. I have GOT to have more spine when it comes to project management. Because if I got even half of the funding (probably unlikely...) I am putting in for next year my job will be quickly transitioned to project management.
Today is Friday, yay! We had our group women's lunch and ornament exchange today. It was fun as usual. Note to self, next year organize the potluck better than "bring a dish to share"...
We are hitting a few furniture stores with Leif and the new umbrella stroller, Goldfish, pacifier and blankey in tow. It has got to go better than last weekend. I need to go to Barnes and Noble. And we need to pack for Alaska. I am still neurosing about the flight with Leif even though I am nearly convinced that he will be getting a dose of Benadryl to calm the hyper boy for the flight. Yes, you can chastize me for this, but I guarantee you don't want to be the person sitting next to us on a 5 hour flight with him.
Meanwhile, visions of hottubs in the snow are dancing in my mind. Games with the family, lots of food, skiing, what could be better?
Have a great weekend all!
It appears that my direction here is headed towards project management. I have three proposal calls to respond to in early January, one that was sent to me specifically and that I am working with a PLM on, another that was sent to me and two other people by my manager asking each of us to please submit something to the call, and the last call that came in this morning from my main client for FY07 that I am "expected" to put in for. I have GOT to have more spine when it comes to project management. Because if I got even half of the funding (probably unlikely...) I am putting in for next year my job will be quickly transitioned to project management.
Today is Friday, yay! We had our group women's lunch and ornament exchange today. It was fun as usual. Note to self, next year organize the potluck better than "bring a dish to share"...
We are hitting a few furniture stores with Leif and the new umbrella stroller, Goldfish, pacifier and blankey in tow. It has got to go better than last weekend. I need to go to Barnes and Noble. And we need to pack for Alaska. I am still neurosing about the flight with Leif even though I am nearly convinced that he will be getting a dose of Benadryl to calm the hyper boy for the flight. Yes, you can chastize me for this, but I guarantee you don't want to be the person sitting next to us on a 5 hour flight with him.
Meanwhile, visions of hottubs in the snow are dancing in my mind. Games with the family, lots of food, skiing, what could be better?
Have a great weekend all!
Thursday, December 15, 2005
How to make NM's day
E-mail: "Early Release. The lab will close at 3pm today and all non-essential employees will be released."
This is the time when it is good to be deemed "non-essential".
Now if only we were being released due to snow. But alas, no. It is due to freezing drizzle that is making the roads (in my dad's words) slicker than snot.
I am sitting for a little while waiting until I expect Leif to be up from nap before going to get him. Then we are going home, turning on the Christmas lights and making hot cocoa. Which btw, is Leif's new favorite thing to drink and say with a little grin on his face.
This is the time when it is good to be deemed "non-essential".
Now if only we were being released due to snow. But alas, no. It is due to freezing drizzle that is making the roads (in my dad's words) slicker than snot.
I am sitting for a little while waiting until I expect Leif to be up from nap before going to get him. Then we are going home, turning on the Christmas lights and making hot cocoa. Which btw, is Leif's new favorite thing to drink and say with a little grin on his face.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Hate, hate, hate the dentist
I had a routine dental exam and cleaning today. The dentist has not been my friend since I was a kid. I had my first orthodontist exam in 2nd grade where I started wearing a headgear. Then I transitioned to retainers and then a bionator (evil thing) and finally braces for about 5 years and then retainers.
You wouldn't know this looking at my mouth. Ok, maybe you would, I am no longer quite so buck toothed with an overbite and no gapping canyon between my front teeth. If that would have been my only three problems. Nope, most of my tooth problems were a lot less obvious. I had too many teeth on the bottom and too few on top, literally. My mouth was presented at many an orthodontic conference as a case study. I had no eye teeth, and then unidentifiable teeth on the bottom. My lower jaw was too small... yadda yadda yadda. They talked about breaking my jaw and rearranging everything, but my parents couldn't do it to me. Instead I had 12 or so years of orthdontia. (My child's jaw will be broken and rearranged should he be unlucky enough to inherit my mess.)
So the "no eye teeth" thing is what I am dealing with now. I was born without permanent eye teeth. I had the baby teeth until I was 16 when they finally decided my mouth had matured enough to go onto the next step, pulling them and inserting bridges. Misery.
Fast forward to 18 years later and they are falling out of my mouth, literally. They look awful as well. Today was my dentists last straw, they *have* to be replaced. He had been encouraging me to consider it for awhile, but a large crack on one has made it a more imminent problem.
Now had I planned this appropriately I would have arranged to have one done before '05 ends and the next done just after '06 starts. But no, I can't do that now since it is what, Dec 14th, lol. And well it can't wait until the end of next year. So I will have both sides done sometime in February it appears. Ugh.
$860 per tooth, 6 teeth for the two bridges. My insurance will cover their maximum $1500 and I get to hope I don't have anything else I need done next year since my entire benefit will have been exhausted for the year. I am on AB's dental insurance (anticipating this ordeal) and apparently they have a "missing tooth clause", meaning that if the tooth was missing before the insurance coverage went into play they won't cover. They might be able to work around this since I do have a "tooth" there, albeit a fake one. But if they cover it will also be a maximum of $1500. So we are nearing 50% coverage.
Oh well, I really didn't want that promotion raise for anything neat. Just new teeth.
You wouldn't know this looking at my mouth. Ok, maybe you would, I am no longer quite so buck toothed with an overbite and no gapping canyon between my front teeth. If that would have been my only three problems. Nope, most of my tooth problems were a lot less obvious. I had too many teeth on the bottom and too few on top, literally. My mouth was presented at many an orthodontic conference as a case study. I had no eye teeth, and then unidentifiable teeth on the bottom. My lower jaw was too small... yadda yadda yadda. They talked about breaking my jaw and rearranging everything, but my parents couldn't do it to me. Instead I had 12 or so years of orthdontia. (My child's jaw will be broken and rearranged should he be unlucky enough to inherit my mess.)
So the "no eye teeth" thing is what I am dealing with now. I was born without permanent eye teeth. I had the baby teeth until I was 16 when they finally decided my mouth had matured enough to go onto the next step, pulling them and inserting bridges. Misery.
Fast forward to 18 years later and they are falling out of my mouth, literally. They look awful as well. Today was my dentists last straw, they *have* to be replaced. He had been encouraging me to consider it for awhile, but a large crack on one has made it a more imminent problem.
Now had I planned this appropriately I would have arranged to have one done before '05 ends and the next done just after '06 starts. But no, I can't do that now since it is what, Dec 14th, lol. And well it can't wait until the end of next year. So I will have both sides done sometime in February it appears. Ugh.
$860 per tooth, 6 teeth for the two bridges. My insurance will cover their maximum $1500 and I get to hope I don't have anything else I need done next year since my entire benefit will have been exhausted for the year. I am on AB's dental insurance (anticipating this ordeal) and apparently they have a "missing tooth clause", meaning that if the tooth was missing before the insurance coverage went into play they won't cover. They might be able to work around this since I do have a "tooth" there, albeit a fake one. But if they cover it will also be a maximum of $1500. So we are nearing 50% coverage.
Oh well, I really didn't want that promotion raise for anything neat. Just new teeth.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Tuesday Miscellaneous
I have an hour before I get to head out. Today has been an unusually busy day for this time of year. Mostly because my good project manager is out on travel. So I was given more responsibility this week regarding teleconference prep. Basically assembling results that aren’t mine and getting them off to the client. Our year ends with this client tomorrow as they close starting next Monday for two weeks over the holidays. Work will resume in January when we are flush with cash again. Oh happy days!
I had book club last night. I had a great time, although I felt really bad for not having finished the book, The Dark is Rising. When I was a kid I lapped up these types of books. I loved Narnia, The Hobbit, etc., I would have loved Harry Potter. I don’t know what my mental block with them right now is. I feel as though my reading time is so limited right now, that when I do have the chance to read a book, I want it to be something I really want to read. And for me, this didn’t fit that bill unfortunately.
I felt badly though, because I adore the host and I felt bad that the girls felt obligated to tell me how the storylines went. I really need to not fail to complete another reading “assignment”.
We did a holiday exchange for book club and I love the gift I received! It is a book journal. I can’t wait to start filling it up. I have such a poor memory, I remember loving a certain book, but frequently forget a main characters name or what exactly was the plot twist… kind of like my ability to tell a joke I guess. AB always says “stop, before you get any further. Do you remember the punchline?” More frequently then not I have to admit that I don’t. Anyways, my new book journal will be put to good use!
Leif had an evening home with daddy and woke up to a little visitor in our house. We are dogsitting for friends. Leif was thrilled to be able to chase Miss Sophie through the house this morning – which did lead to us being late in getting out the door. However, after cleaning up the second pile of crap this morning though I was remembering why we had started avoiding taking care of Miss Sophie… ugh. But our friends were in a bind, headed out on business travel and a flake of a dog sitter left them scrambling at the last minute. And I am just a pushover, anything to help friends out because I would hope that our friends would do the same for us if able.
I got up at 5:58am to a quiet house. Leif was miraculously still asleep. I was awake though with a sleeping dog next to me. (Mine, not Miss Sophie) It wasn’t too long ago that I would wake at 6am to dog breath in my face ready to head out for our daily walk. I have been so hit or miss with it lately, thanks mostly to Leif’s early wakings lately and the cold. So since I was awake, instead of staying in my warm bed I got up and put my warm clothes on headed out into the 16F (-9C) air with Winny. She ate it up. She loved it. And to prove her worthiness as a snow dog when we returned she stayed outside, refusing to come in until we were ready to leave.
I have a good online friend who is struggling in her marriage right now. I feel for her greatly. It breaks my heart to read how awful her husband is being to her. I want them to be able to work it out, I really do. Divorce just sucks for everyone. And she is 7 months pregnant with their second child. I just am afraid I don’t see things turning around for her with him. I just wish he would shape up. I wish I had some answers for her. When I read her e-mails to me I see that my minor and relatively rare complaints about AB are just silly. Such as my post the other day about “Cue the Violins”… so very minor in comparison.
Monday, December 12, 2005
"You're Fired!"
I wish I were Donald, he doesn't seem to have a problem saying this to someone.
Ok, so I am not firing anyone per se. But my coworker C and I are having a sit down with two guys working on our project. We expect, in the end, to thank them for the time and effort (ha on both accounts) they have put into the project to this point, but we have people who actually WANT the hours we are offering. Especially this time of year while we are all waiting for money to come in and there are people we know looking for work.
Ugh, I just don't like doing this type of thing. I hate personnel issues. The main problem... the task lead that we assigned is not leading his task. It appears he has assigned it to someone else, namely someone we don't want running the task. The both of them *never* show for project meetings (one did e-mail an apology last week, he got caught up programming...), we never have any idea what is going on with their task, and there is no commitment to the project.
C thinks that we need to get a clear and verbal "Yes, I want to continue working on this project" in order for them to continue. I agree with her. But I am a wuss. She is a driver expressive... she will take care of it? Won't she?
So I e-mailed them a note with "read receipt", so I know that it has been opened explaining the purpose of the meeting and then sent a meeting request.
This is hard. I actually like these guys personally. But working with them professionally is like pulling teeth.
Ok, so I am not firing anyone per se. But my coworker C and I are having a sit down with two guys working on our project. We expect, in the end, to thank them for the time and effort (ha on both accounts) they have put into the project to this point, but we have people who actually WANT the hours we are offering. Especially this time of year while we are all waiting for money to come in and there are people we know looking for work.
Ugh, I just don't like doing this type of thing. I hate personnel issues. The main problem... the task lead that we assigned is not leading his task. It appears he has assigned it to someone else, namely someone we don't want running the task. The both of them *never* show for project meetings (one did e-mail an apology last week, he got caught up programming...), we never have any idea what is going on with their task, and there is no commitment to the project.
C thinks that we need to get a clear and verbal "Yes, I want to continue working on this project" in order for them to continue. I agree with her. But I am a wuss. She is a driver expressive... she will take care of it? Won't she?
So I e-mailed them a note with "read receipt", so I know that it has been opened explaining the purpose of the meeting and then sent a meeting request.
This is hard. I actually like these guys personally. But working with them professionally is like pulling teeth.
Christmas Party Recovery
My ears! My ears! Ok, I am not one for drama, so it doesn't fly well when I try to use it. The Christmas party on Friday was borderline bust. We had a great table of people, our couple friends who have a daughter a few months older than Leif, another couple friends who have 3 kids (one near Leif's age) and are adopting their 4th. Then another couple we are friends with, the wife is in my book club, and two single guys that are really super. Free and good wine (Barnard Griffin Merlot, always nice), decent appetizers, mediocre dinner, really bad band... well you get the idea. The night just kept getting worse and worse.
The band... what can I say... they sucked. They played mostly just bad music and when the played an occasional good song, they just massacred it. No redeeming qualities. And hello, do you really need 3 guitarists? It just looked odd with 3 guitarists and 1 electric bass all lined up there. (I dated a musician for awhile in college, I know something about bands.)
They were so loud, we couldn't even chat at the table. It was well over dominating. We (most of us at our table) finally gave up and went home.
The door prizes? Oh yeah, AB won one! Of course he won it AFTER we left, which means he forfeited it. I am trying to convince myself there is no way that he won one of the $300 mall gift cards... I am positive it had to have been one of the fugly (and humongous) poinsettas.
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We got home and the babysitter left. Nice girl. She got Leif down to bed on time and with no comlications. My only surprise was that she didn't pick up her and Leif's dinner dishes and wipe off the high chair. It really isn't that big of a deal, but during the old days when *I* babysat, I would have never left that stuff out. Maybe that is why I was constantly called back to babysit. Of course it isn't a deal breaker by any means, I will gladly have her back, but it doesn't earn her an extra buck an hour. ;-)
--------------------------------
We had a nice weekend, albeit far too fast. Saturday we had to bail on a birthday party because I came down with a lovely case of conjunctivitis. I was self medicating with sulfa based drops that work well for me normally, but to no avail this time around. I ended up making a trip to Urgent Care on Saturday where the doc on duty proclaimed me highly contagious and ordered me to stay in for the entire weekend. Umm yeah right. With my list of things to do? I just carried a bottle of hand sanitizer with me and avoided touching things I wasn't buying (and touching my eyes). If Leif and AB hadn't picked it up at that point I think I was doing a pretty good job of keeping the cesspool of goo isolated to my eyes only.
Saturday afternoon we ventured to Macy's Furniture Store in search of a buffet. I thought we would walk in and walk out with no luck. We did walk in and walk out, but not by our choice. It was Leif's doing. About 3 minutes into our shopping trip he was screaming and throwing a temper tantrum from hell. Ok, we went back home. I was so bummed because in our brief visit we found at least 2 buffets we would have purchased and the prices were superb comparatively. Marble topped, contemporary styled buffet for $1200 or mission style buffet for $850. Wow!
For our Sunday morning errands we stopped at Target and bought an umbrella stroller (for $10) and then went on our errands to Best Buy (for the Tivo) and Petsmart. Given how effective our trip to Best Buy with Leif was and our afternoon dog walk on Sunday... if that is all the benefit I get out of the stroller it was $10 well spent. Leif loved how low it sat, he could see around, and it kept him contained.
We are having serious issues with him in public. It used to be that we couldn't go out to dinner, now we are having a hard time simply taking him to stores because he *hates* confinement and feels he should be allowed to run amuck from one end of the stores to the other. Not going to happen. So then he simply melts down and throws a temper tantrum... also not acceptable. The new stroller (knock on wood) seems to have helped with some of this so far. We will see how long before the novelty wears off.
The band... what can I say... they sucked. They played mostly just bad music and when the played an occasional good song, they just massacred it. No redeeming qualities. And hello, do you really need 3 guitarists? It just looked odd with 3 guitarists and 1 electric bass all lined up there. (I dated a musician for awhile in college, I know something about bands.)
They were so loud, we couldn't even chat at the table. It was well over dominating. We (most of us at our table) finally gave up and went home.
The door prizes? Oh yeah, AB won one! Of course he won it AFTER we left, which means he forfeited it. I am trying to convince myself there is no way that he won one of the $300 mall gift cards... I am positive it had to have been one of the fugly (and humongous) poinsettas.
--------------------------------
We got home and the babysitter left. Nice girl. She got Leif down to bed on time and with no comlications. My only surprise was that she didn't pick up her and Leif's dinner dishes and wipe off the high chair. It really isn't that big of a deal, but during the old days when *I* babysat, I would have never left that stuff out. Maybe that is why I was constantly called back to babysit. Of course it isn't a deal breaker by any means, I will gladly have her back, but it doesn't earn her an extra buck an hour. ;-)
--------------------------------
We had a nice weekend, albeit far too fast. Saturday we had to bail on a birthday party because I came down with a lovely case of conjunctivitis. I was self medicating with sulfa based drops that work well for me normally, but to no avail this time around. I ended up making a trip to Urgent Care on Saturday where the doc on duty proclaimed me highly contagious and ordered me to stay in for the entire weekend. Umm yeah right. With my list of things to do? I just carried a bottle of hand sanitizer with me and avoided touching things I wasn't buying (and touching my eyes). If Leif and AB hadn't picked it up at that point I think I was doing a pretty good job of keeping the cesspool of goo isolated to my eyes only.
Saturday afternoon we ventured to Macy's Furniture Store in search of a buffet. I thought we would walk in and walk out with no luck. We did walk in and walk out, but not by our choice. It was Leif's doing. About 3 minutes into our shopping trip he was screaming and throwing a temper tantrum from hell. Ok, we went back home. I was so bummed because in our brief visit we found at least 2 buffets we would have purchased and the prices were superb comparatively. Marble topped, contemporary styled buffet for $1200 or mission style buffet for $850. Wow!
For our Sunday morning errands we stopped at Target and bought an umbrella stroller (for $10) and then went on our errands to Best Buy (for the Tivo) and Petsmart. Given how effective our trip to Best Buy with Leif was and our afternoon dog walk on Sunday... if that is all the benefit I get out of the stroller it was $10 well spent. Leif loved how low it sat, he could see around, and it kept him contained.
We are having serious issues with him in public. It used to be that we couldn't go out to dinner, now we are having a hard time simply taking him to stores because he *hates* confinement and feels he should be allowed to run amuck from one end of the stores to the other. Not going to happen. So then he simply melts down and throws a temper tantrum... also not acceptable. The new stroller (knock on wood) seems to have helped with some of this so far. We will see how long before the novelty wears off.
Friday, December 09, 2005
Friday Christmas Party
And another reason why I cannot possibly be "analytical analytical"... I am actually looking forward to the Christmas party tonight. We were going to go to AB's, but he changed his mind when few of his friends at work were going. So since I already had a babysitter lined up that meant that we were going to my Christmas part.
Aside from holding the Christmas party at the wackiest place ever, a convention type center that is way too big for the group, it tends to be a nice time. There are a large number of very nice door prizes, which we never win. Favors that are usually a nice Christmas decoration. And decent food, dessert and free beer and wine. I guess I should qualify "free" as we pay $10 a head to attend the party.
So tonight we get to get dressed up and head out to mingle! We will probably be home early, we typically leave after dessert and door prizes and BEFORE the karaoke machine gets broken out. Maybe that's why I always remember it as a nice time...
-------------------------------
I spent the afternoon going over a paper I am writing with a coworker. CW is a good friend of mine and has been since I started here. He has offered me a lot of really good advice and been there for me to vent to. I was pleased that he was happy with the state of the paper... yes the one I had been procrastinating... and sees the end in sight.
I remember writing a paper in grad school and we would go through countless iterations and redos of the data. It drove me nuts. So to have the CW say "looks good, change this and send it off" just kind of freaks me out. I mean, are you sure you don't want to read it over at least 50 more times?
We had a nice chat afterwards, we always do. He is really excited for my promotion, that it finally happened. I cried in his office last year when I did not get promoted and he knew the issues. He reminded me not to slack off this year and said if I maintain step that next promotion is right around the corner.
After that I came back to my office and my good PM drove out to visit. He *never* does this, so I knew there was more up than just dropping off the box from FedEx. He sat down and inquired as to my funding status for next year, seriously concerned about how my project is being transitioned to the client and thus cutting my time to next to nothing after March. He repeatedly stated how much he wants me to remain on the project and how he wants to put me on another task or, if funded, hand me the IR&D project. That would be so cool... we just have to wait and see!
So now that I have had a stellar afternoon at work with a couple people who I greatly respect pumping me up with compliments I am going to leave before anyone walks into my office and decides to detract from my happiness! Instead, I am going to pick up Leif and we are going to go pick up the house and hang out before the babysitter gets there!
Have a super weekend everyone!
Aside from holding the Christmas party at the wackiest place ever, a convention type center that is way too big for the group, it tends to be a nice time. There are a large number of very nice door prizes, which we never win. Favors that are usually a nice Christmas decoration. And decent food, dessert and free beer and wine. I guess I should qualify "free" as we pay $10 a head to attend the party.
So tonight we get to get dressed up and head out to mingle! We will probably be home early, we typically leave after dessert and door prizes and BEFORE the karaoke machine gets broken out. Maybe that's why I always remember it as a nice time...
-------------------------------
I spent the afternoon going over a paper I am writing with a coworker. CW is a good friend of mine and has been since I started here. He has offered me a lot of really good advice and been there for me to vent to. I was pleased that he was happy with the state of the paper... yes the one I had been procrastinating... and sees the end in sight.
I remember writing a paper in grad school and we would go through countless iterations and redos of the data. It drove me nuts. So to have the CW say "looks good, change this and send it off" just kind of freaks me out. I mean, are you sure you don't want to read it over at least 50 more times?
We had a nice chat afterwards, we always do. He is really excited for my promotion, that it finally happened. I cried in his office last year when I did not get promoted and he knew the issues. He reminded me not to slack off this year and said if I maintain step that next promotion is right around the corner.
After that I came back to my office and my good PM drove out to visit. He *never* does this, so I knew there was more up than just dropping off the box from FedEx. He sat down and inquired as to my funding status for next year, seriously concerned about how my project is being transitioned to the client and thus cutting my time to next to nothing after March. He repeatedly stated how much he wants me to remain on the project and how he wants to put me on another task or, if funded, hand me the IR&D project. That would be so cool... we just have to wait and see!
So now that I have had a stellar afternoon at work with a couple people who I greatly respect pumping me up with compliments I am going to leave before anyone walks into my office and decides to detract from my happiness! Instead, I am going to pick up Leif and we are going to go pick up the house and hang out before the babysitter gets there!
Have a super weekend everyone!
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Honor and Ears
Burrr, it is cold! I am turning into such a wuss with the cold, it is sad.
So today’s topic is “honor”. What does it take for you to tell someone you are “honored” to do something for them? Honor is, IMO, a huge and heavy word. I remember first thinking about this in grad school when I was assembling my committee. I had a few of the people I asked respond to me saying that they were honored to sit on my committee. My initial thought was that it was weird, *I* am the one who is honored to have them sit on my committee, not the other way around. Sitting on a committee is a tedious job.
This came to mind yesterday again. I have come up with, what I think, is a great proposal idea. It stemmed out of a brainstorming session I had with my good project members a few months ago. I had hedged onto an idea with one of my CWs and we bounced the thought back and forth a few times in the meeting, then it slid out of lack of interest from the other team members in favor of a different approach. Well I think I found a wonderfully appropriate avenue for this idea and the call for proposals *just* came out. I e-mailed CW and asked if he agreed about pursuing this avenue and if so, would he consider working with me on it. Writing a proposal is a commitment that you are not reimbursed for (until the later stages if your proposal makes it that far). So it is a favor to ask someone to do for you. And for me, being relatively new here (at least compared to my CW who has been here 15 years), writing for a call that is not one of our main clients, this will be a big challenge. I need someone more experienced to help me here.
CW wrote back to me yesterday about what a wonderful idea it is and that he would be “honored” to work with me on this. Why does this sound so weird to me? Once again, it is ME that is honored that he would accept to help me with this. Is it an issue of self confidence? Why do I feel so weird about hearing someone say this?
We took Leif to an ENT doc this morning to talk about tubes for his ears. He does fall into that “tubes recommended” category by number of ear infections. Fortunately he doesn’t have fluid behind his ear routinely, or get really sick with an ear infection. So for those reasons he is on the lower end of being recommended. It isn’t a must, but he will probably benefit from them. If it wasn’t that he is just not responding well to everyday antibiotics, or that I worry about him being speech delayed, I might opt out. But it is probably a good thing to do.
Well it is lunchtime and I am hungry. So I am going to go fetch food. Likely a run to Safeway where I can pick up a few groceries (snack for Leif’s class tomorrow), a latte and something from the Deli for lunch. Have a great day!
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Moving forward
I had a long diatribe on my excessively crummy day yesterday written up, but then couldn’t get logged on to upload it. Now that I read it over it sounds whiny and stupid. So I am moving forward.
Leif fell and konked himself on the head at daycare yesterday. This was after they decided to try a new “control” method with him. Ha! He has, overnight, turned into a climber. This I am blaming solely on C… she spent Saturday afternoon instructing him in her monkey ways while we were busy watching Harry Potter. ;-)
The new “control” method is to basically tell Leif “no” once, and then ignore him. He sees being told “no” as a way to get attention. So it is a fast guarantee that he will repeat the offending behavior. I gave my approval for this “technique” and he promptly proved why one should not be standing on a table by falling off. Later in the day he apparently became very frustrated with this new management technique and so would get on the table and stomp his foot to GET someone’s attention that “hello, I am doing something I am not supposed to, come chase me off the table”. His teacher told me this morning that she caught him trying to walk on the window sill. Ugh.
I had some “sad” news yesterday; my good project is coming to a close, sooner than initially thought. I am so disappointed. It is coming to a close for a good reason; we are transferring the technology to the client starting Jan 1 (pushed up from July 2006). They will do the process optimization and deal with running their own client samples for demos. We had hoped to retain this capability here. As AB pointed out, “well that means that they will be licensing the patent asap, right?” Yes, it does. Which means royalties. Everything you want to see come out of a well run project… concept, research, proof of concept, patent, working process, happy client. It is a model of a well run project.
Still I am sad. This has been the best project I have worked on here. I have loved my time on that project. Seeing it end is like seeing a good friend move away. I am reminding myself that even though I have loved this project, when my own money comes in after the first of the year, it was going to take a hit because my time availability would plummet. It is a good thing.
Tonight I have plans to head out for a little Christmas shopping at the mall. I really, really need to get things purchased, wrapped and shipped. I had such a good ahead start this fall and then let it sit. So now I am scrambling. Couple that with the fact that my trip to Target on Sunday was less than productive. Ugh.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Cue the violins
Leif was up and unhappy at 4:30am. By 5am, I had him back down and sleeping.
5:20am hits and he is back up and cranky. I get him coaxed back down at 5:30am, small miracle.
5:40am and he is wailing again.
AB sits up and groans "well I guess *I* wasn't meant to sleep this morning".
Cue the violins.
5:20am hits and he is back up and cranky. I get him coaxed back down at 5:30am, small miracle.
5:40am and he is wailing again.
AB sits up and groans "well I guess *I* wasn't meant to sleep this morning".
Cue the violins.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Friday
TGIF!
I had a weird night. I woke up at 6:41am, amazed that Leif was still asleep (he was up at 3am). I thought about that I hadn't talked to V about when we were shopping this weekend, Saturday or Sunday, then went back to sleep, figuring I would call her about 9am. At about 6:50am, Leif started fussing and so I went to his bedroom. On the way there I got to wondering why my house was still messy... the housecleaner comes on Fridays... Then a major "oh shit!" It isn't Saturday morning, it is Friday morning and I am LATE! I pulled Leif out of the crib and yelled at Hans to get up and help get him ready while I get in the shower. I was so confused.
It snowed yesterday. It even snowed enough that when we got home Leif and I got to build a reasonably sized snowman. He thought the snow was hi-larious. He kept going "oh oh oh" when he would take a step. He tasted the snow, but was relieved when he found out he did not *have* to eat snow for dinner. He played outside, Winny was in heaven with the snow. I shoveled some, AB shoveled some and then we went in for the night. LOVE the snow.
This morning Leif decided to remove the star garland from the tree. We thought this might happen, so something will need to be done with that. Leif is really cracking me up with the tree. This year I bought a couple small trees to distract him from the large tree. Ha. Well they are now *my* decorative trees, afterall, why would Leif opt to play with small trees when the large one is right there?
I am really surprised though (knocking on wood) how gentle Leif is being with the tree. "Gentle" is not a word I would use to describe Leif most often. We do have the non-breakable ornaments on the bottom and breakable ones up top just in case. And I also neurose about Leif pulling the tree over, which AB assures me cannot happen because it is too heavy and huge. (Those words do not give me confidence, they worry me more.)
I am starting to worry a little more about Leif and OCD however. ;-) Leif tried to help me finish decorating the tree on Wednesday. This was his routine:
1. Remove ornament from ornament box.
2. Hang (or get help hanging) the ornament on the tree.
3. Admire ornament for 20 seconds and say "oooh".
4. Remove ornament.
5. Return ornament to ornament box.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 with new ornament.
Leif really seems to like the Sesame Street character ornaments, that for some reason, I have had for a number of years. He spins them and likes to watch them swing back and forth. If they aren't Sesame Street however, they are removed. Now that the ornament box has been moved for the season, he puts the ornaments in a neat little pile.
------------------------------
So Leif has a few new things he is doing and saying. First off is the dishwasher. He knows how to operate the dishwasher better than I do. If the dishwasher is running he will go into the kitchen and turn it off by hitting the "reset" button, despite my screaming "NOOoooo!"
We luckily have a "lock" on the dishwasher. This only slows him down because he has figured out that if the "reset" button doesn't beep, to press the "lock" button... twice... then push "reset". This buys us a few seconds before having to start the noisy thing again... from start.
The good part about him LOVING the dishwasher is that he is really into unloading it right now. (Even if it is dirty... ick.) He starts with the silverware, takes one item, goes to the silverware drawer, opens it, deposits item in drawer and goes to get next item. This is a great way to keep him busy while we quickly unload the rest of the dishes (as long as the steak knives are put in the drawer quickly first). Leif LOVES to help.
Leif's vocabulary has also been increasing. "Cacker" and "shoose" is old news and commonplace now. We now have "sheez" (cheese)... notice the trend with food? He most definitely is our son... We also have "upsy" when he wants to be picked up (from "upsy daisy") and "bubbas" when he wants us to blow bubbles. "Uh oh" is also far more commonly used in an appropriate sense than I prefer.
Leif got his second dose of flu shot this morning and didn't even cry. I am positive it is because his adrenalin was so high from running around the doctor's office like a wild beast. (ugh)
Well I must go work in the lab for a little while. Everyone have a super weekend!
I had a weird night. I woke up at 6:41am, amazed that Leif was still asleep (he was up at 3am). I thought about that I hadn't talked to V about when we were shopping this weekend, Saturday or Sunday, then went back to sleep, figuring I would call her about 9am. At about 6:50am, Leif started fussing and so I went to his bedroom. On the way there I got to wondering why my house was still messy... the housecleaner comes on Fridays... Then a major "oh shit!" It isn't Saturday morning, it is Friday morning and I am LATE! I pulled Leif out of the crib and yelled at Hans to get up and help get him ready while I get in the shower. I was so confused.
It snowed yesterday. It even snowed enough that when we got home Leif and I got to build a reasonably sized snowman. He thought the snow was hi-larious. He kept going "oh oh oh" when he would take a step. He tasted the snow, but was relieved when he found out he did not *have* to eat snow for dinner. He played outside, Winny was in heaven with the snow. I shoveled some, AB shoveled some and then we went in for the night. LOVE the snow.
This morning Leif decided to remove the star garland from the tree. We thought this might happen, so something will need to be done with that. Leif is really cracking me up with the tree. This year I bought a couple small trees to distract him from the large tree. Ha. Well they are now *my* decorative trees, afterall, why would Leif opt to play with small trees when the large one is right there?
I am really surprised though (knocking on wood) how gentle Leif is being with the tree. "Gentle" is not a word I would use to describe Leif most often. We do have the non-breakable ornaments on the bottom and breakable ones up top just in case. And I also neurose about Leif pulling the tree over, which AB assures me cannot happen because it is too heavy and huge. (Those words do not give me confidence, they worry me more.)
I am starting to worry a little more about Leif and OCD however. ;-) Leif tried to help me finish decorating the tree on Wednesday. This was his routine:
1. Remove ornament from ornament box.
2. Hang (or get help hanging) the ornament on the tree.
3. Admire ornament for 20 seconds and say "oooh".
4. Remove ornament.
5. Return ornament to ornament box.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 with new ornament.
Leif really seems to like the Sesame Street character ornaments, that for some reason, I have had for a number of years. He spins them and likes to watch them swing back and forth. If they aren't Sesame Street however, they are removed. Now that the ornament box has been moved for the season, he puts the ornaments in a neat little pile.
------------------------------
So Leif has a few new things he is doing and saying. First off is the dishwasher. He knows how to operate the dishwasher better than I do. If the dishwasher is running he will go into the kitchen and turn it off by hitting the "reset" button, despite my screaming "NOOoooo!"
We luckily have a "lock" on the dishwasher. This only slows him down because he has figured out that if the "reset" button doesn't beep, to press the "lock" button... twice... then push "reset". This buys us a few seconds before having to start the noisy thing again... from start.
The good part about him LOVING the dishwasher is that he is really into unloading it right now. (Even if it is dirty... ick.) He starts with the silverware, takes one item, goes to the silverware drawer, opens it, deposits item in drawer and goes to get next item. This is a great way to keep him busy while we quickly unload the rest of the dishes (as long as the steak knives are put in the drawer quickly first). Leif LOVES to help.
Leif's vocabulary has also been increasing. "Cacker" and "shoose" is old news and commonplace now. We now have "sheez" (cheese)... notice the trend with food? He most definitely is our son... We also have "upsy" when he wants to be picked up (from "upsy daisy") and "bubbas" when he wants us to blow bubbles. "Uh oh" is also far more commonly used in an appropriate sense than I prefer.
Leif got his second dose of flu shot this morning and didn't even cry. I am positive it is because his adrenalin was so high from running around the doctor's office like a wild beast. (ugh)
Well I must go work in the lab for a little while. Everyone have a super weekend!
Thursday, December 01, 2005
A quiet Thursday
Today is shaping up to be a nice day. Leif had us (ha ha ha, I mean "ME") up at 5:15am. Little turkey. Would not go back to sleep. At 6am I got him out of his crib and plopped him in front of a Baby Einstein movie with a sippy cup of milk. I woke up AB and pointed him sleepily towards the couch while I dressed up warm to go out and walk the dog. I have been a slacker about this the past few days.
Damn it was cold! I actually started running to warm up. It felt good, too bad I didn't actually wear my running shoes, and instead had my warm "snow clogs" on. I don't know why they call them that, they aren't "clogs", they have a heel on them. Anyways, I was able to run some.
We got back and I showered and got ready, walked out to the living room to relieve AB and noticed that it was snowing! Yay! I pointed it out to Leif, but I don't think he got what I was trying to show him. Oh well. We got ready to go and at 8am we had maybe a half inch of snow on the ground! Yay!
That half inch of snow in combination with stupid traffic being rerouted to MY route to work caused a major traffic jam to get on the highway to work. Tonight coming home is going to be hell. Tomorrow I think I will take Leif to get his second flu shot on the way in to work and then leave early in an effort to avoid the traffic. Today, no such luxury.
I have little things to do all day, but nothing major. I have a paper I need to work on writing. AB asked me this morning how long I have been threatening to write this paper... oh about since last February. Got to get it done and out.
Yesterday my good project team was INSTRUMENTAL in helping me get some names down to replace the people who had cancelled on my section of the upcoming ACS meeting that I am chairing. I had the required 6, then my two industry talks bailed. I now have another four people to ask. Conveniently (or not) my section turned into an "invited talks only" section. I signed on to do a "contributed talks section", but this changed, somewhere along the lines.
It also made me happy this morning to see the Dow up 101 points so far today and nearing the 11,000 mark. This, of course, prompted me to go take a look at my 401K... doing nicely. What I am really, really stoked about is a particular stock that I started buying about 6-8 months ago. After hanging out doing not a whole lot for a few months, the last two months have shown significant action. I was buying it at about $27 a share and today it posted an all time high of $39 a share. That's a $12 increase per share in 2 months. I am so kicking myself for not doing as AB suggested and taking $1000 (on top of what I had already been putting in) and investing it. I kept hmmm'ing the notion, fearful of the stock taking a dive and losing the $$... it wouldn't be classified as one of those "safest" investments per se... like oh, Johnson and Johnson, or Microsoft. It is a tech stock, and they have been doing alright the past few months in general as the industry is set for a rebound and possibly an unveiling of next generation technology. I, unfortunately, cannot divulge what particular stock I purchased. Instead I will just chat about it and make everyone wonder. ;-)
Well I need to get something going this morning. Everyone have a great day.
Damn it was cold! I actually started running to warm up. It felt good, too bad I didn't actually wear my running shoes, and instead had my warm "snow clogs" on. I don't know why they call them that, they aren't "clogs", they have a heel on them. Anyways, I was able to run some.
We got back and I showered and got ready, walked out to the living room to relieve AB and noticed that it was snowing! Yay! I pointed it out to Leif, but I don't think he got what I was trying to show him. Oh well. We got ready to go and at 8am we had maybe a half inch of snow on the ground! Yay!
That half inch of snow in combination with stupid traffic being rerouted to MY route to work caused a major traffic jam to get on the highway to work. Tonight coming home is going to be hell. Tomorrow I think I will take Leif to get his second flu shot on the way in to work and then leave early in an effort to avoid the traffic. Today, no such luxury.
I have little things to do all day, but nothing major. I have a paper I need to work on writing. AB asked me this morning how long I have been threatening to write this paper... oh about since last February. Got to get it done and out.
Yesterday my good project team was INSTRUMENTAL in helping me get some names down to replace the people who had cancelled on my section of the upcoming ACS meeting that I am chairing. I had the required 6, then my two industry talks bailed. I now have another four people to ask. Conveniently (or not) my section turned into an "invited talks only" section. I signed on to do a "contributed talks section", but this changed, somewhere along the lines.
It also made me happy this morning to see the Dow up 101 points so far today and nearing the 11,000 mark. This, of course, prompted me to go take a look at my 401K... doing nicely. What I am really, really stoked about is a particular stock that I started buying about 6-8 months ago. After hanging out doing not a whole lot for a few months, the last two months have shown significant action. I was buying it at about $27 a share and today it posted an all time high of $39 a share. That's a $12 increase per share in 2 months. I am so kicking myself for not doing as AB suggested and taking $1000 (on top of what I had already been putting in) and investing it. I kept hmmm'ing the notion, fearful of the stock taking a dive and losing the $$... it wouldn't be classified as one of those "safest" investments per se... like oh, Johnson and Johnson, or Microsoft. It is a tech stock, and they have been doing alright the past few months in general as the industry is set for a rebound and possibly an unveiling of next generation technology. I, unfortunately, cannot divulge what particular stock I purchased. Instead I will just chat about it and make everyone wonder. ;-)
Well I need to get something going this morning. Everyone have a great day.
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