Dabbling Dilettante

A Tuesday in January

2009-01-27T11:00:00.003-05:00

It's telling that I almost didn't remember the password to Blogger and first I put in the wrong email address.

Here's what I've been doing...

read all 4 Twilight books in one month
Christmas, Holidays, etc.
bemoaning the lack of snow in Central Virginia
working on my recipe project wherein I rip up five years of back issues of Cooking Light and Bon Appetit in order to make my own cookbook and recycle millions of magazines that have been sitting in a big bin and clogging up my kitchen
now I'm reading The Historian because Twilight set me off on a mini-vampire kick (nowhere near the extent of my Anne Rice forays of the 90s)
agonizing over the Kindergarten Decision (boy, summer birthday, September cut-off, etc.)
agonizing over moving, the timing of, work on the house, etc.
laundry
gaining ten pounds over December
thinking about learning scrapbooking
doing braids, pigtails, ponytails and barrettes in my almost two-year-old's growing long hair
cleaning out the house and making many trips to Goodwill--fun!! I think I'm the only one in the house without the packrat gene.

We're Still Here

2008-12-03T14:07:00.004-05:00

setting up stuffed animals on the couch cushions

taking walks

and some of us have been spending a little too much time on Facebook--!

2008-12-03T14:07:00.001-05:00

Hi! I'm gonna write on my blog later. I think. Won't that be fun.

My Favorite Color is Blue

2008-10-22T10:14:00.002-05:00

Obama is here today.

If I hold my breath, will Virginia turn blue with me?

Ha ha...that's my clever/dorky thought of the day.

All I Want

2008-10-06T15:49:00.000-05:00

is to lay on the couch and watch Food Network or something for one hour.

I don't think I've had that luxury in a year and a half.

What's Been Goin' On

2008-09-29T08:08:00.005-05:00

This is the cake I just made for a friend's 4th birthday. That was a fun one.

Before that, we had our first soccer game. Ever.

Before that, we were in California for my brother's wedding. Elvis officiated. He called me his Priscilla. Although he was an orangey hue, he was a lovely Elvis and my twelve-year-old crush was renewed.

Before that, we went to the beach, where, in true child-form, Zen didn't sleep the whole night in the hotel and, upon taking her to Patient First in the morning, it was discovered that she had a bacterial upper respiratory infection with fluid behind both ear drums. We were to fly out to California in two days.

Before that, we had the big fourth birthday party that went off perfectly and much fun was had by all.

The Omnivore's Hundred

2008-09-29T07:59:00.003-05:00

via Ilana Stephens via Itchy Bits

"Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results."

Venison
Nettle tea
Huevos rancheros
~~Steak tartare~~
Crocodile
~~Black pudding~~
Cheese fondue
Carp
Borscht
Baba ghanoush
Calamari
Pho
~~PB&J sandwich~~
Aloo gobi
Hot dog from a street cart
Epoisses
Black truffle
Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
Steamed pork buns
Pistachio ice cream
Heirloom tomatoes
Fresh wild berries
Foie gras
Rice and beans
~~Brawn, or head cheese~~
~~Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper~~
Dulce de leche
Oysters
Baklava
Bagna cauda
Wasabi peas
Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
Salted lassi
Sauerkraut
Root beer float
~~Cognac with a fat cigar~~
Clotted cream tea
Vodka jelly/Jell-O
Gumbo
Oxtail
Curried goat
~~Whole insects~~
~~Phaal~~
Goat's milk
Malt whiskey from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
~~Fugu~~
Chicken tikka masala
Eel
Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
Sea urchin
Prickly pear
Umeboshi
Abalone
Paneer
McDonald's Big Mac Meal
Spaetzle
Dirty gin martini
Beer above 8% ABV ? don't know probably not
Poutine
Carob chips
S'mores
Sweetbreads
Kaolin
Currywurst
Durian
Frogs' legs
Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
~~Haggis~~
Fried plantain
~~Chitterlings, or andouillette~~
Gazpacho
Caviar and blini
Louche absinthe
Gjetost, or brunost
~~Roadkill~~
Baijiu
Hostess Fruit Pie
Snail
Lapsang souchong
Bellini
Tom yum
Eggs Benedict
Pocky
Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
Kobe beef
Hare
Goulash
Flowers
~~Horse~~
Criollo chocolate
Spam
Soft shell crab
Rose harissa
Catfish
Mole poblano
Bagel and lox
Lobster Thermidor
Polenta
Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
~~Snake~~

Saturday Morning Something

2008-08-02T06:48:00.002-05:00

Friday Fiver

1. Last party you went to?
the 2nd birthday party of the son of a new friend of mine

2. Do you pee in the shower?
no, I certainly do not

3. Have you ever fired a gun?
actually, yes, strange as that is

4. Where do you call home?
Richmond, VA, but Union, NJ, is always in my heart

5. What's your favorite board game?
Quelf and Trivial Pursuit

First Pigtails!

2008-07-30T06:49:00.002-05:00

She walks, she talks (sentences! well, like, "Here you go, Mommy," and "Let go!" and Go get!") and she has huge feet. I just got her size 6 sandals yesterday. And she's two pounds heavier than Little Guy was at her age. M. says definitely a basketball net is in order when we move to a new house. :)

Pokemon Cake

2008-06-27T08:55:00.003-05:00

After Scrubbing the Kitchen Garbage Can at 7:30 am...Friday's Feast

2008-06-27T07:03:00.002-05:00

Feast 195

Appetizer

What is the weather like today where you live?
78° and sunny right now; with a high of 94° and PM thunderstorms expected

Soup

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you?
Considering I gave up my career to stay home with kids, I guess that puts me very low on the scale. But I will go back, probably not until Zen is in first grade, though. At that time, I feel like I'll be more interested in excelling at my career than I ever have at any other job in the past.

Salad

What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds, curtains, shutters, etc.?
Blinds and curtains on most windows; blinds and valances in the kitchen; only blinds in playroom because when we took the dining room curtains down to paint and then converted it into a playroom, I never put curtains back up.

Main Course

Name something that instantly cheers you up.
the prospect of a vacation/trip on the horizon and planned

Dessert

How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning?
I used to hit it maybe twice and sometimes not at all...now I have either yells from the crib or someone climbing around my bed begging me to get up and come downstairs...both hard to ignore.

Husband's Cousin's Shower Cake

2008-06-19T06:09:00.000-05:00

The June Post!

2008-06-19T05:55:00.002-05:00

Apparently the 19th is my day to write a blog post.

Hi! 6:56 am reporting for duty. Why does an almost four-year-old wake up at 6:30 more than he wakes up at 8, when he's not falling asleep at night earlier than 8 or 9? He used to get up at 8 consistently. Now, 6:30, 6:45, 7:00. Early. And today Zen got up crying at 5:30 so I thought she was up for the day. I took her downstairs, but before I could even change her diaper, she fell right to sleep while I was holding her. So I put her back in bed and she slept for an hour, until 6:30 when The Boy turned off the fan we use for white noise (our upstairs is really little so we hear every little thing.)

Anyway, here we are. Rising and shining. Now the question is: how do I fill a 15-hour summer day with an almost-four and a 15-monther? We've already gone to the Children's Museum (it's not that good there and I, for one, am bored with it since we are members). Playgrounds are a staple of every day when it't not too hot. We have a big baby pool on the deck that's been good, but for only so long each day. There's a really historic pretty park with a petting zoo but, well, been there done that and also went to a birthday party there in late May. Maybe we'll take a picnic there today. I'm thinking about going the state park near here but I don't have a double jog stroller. I really want one of those sid-by-side ones for walks.

Well, today I know we'll go food shopping because we were so low yesterday, I was able to wash down the whole refrigerator. And I have to start nephew's Pokemon birthday cake for this weekend. I hope Zen's not sick. Maybe we'll go the teacher store and get tempera paints and big paper. Or finger paints.

Hmm, the June post leaves a little something to be desired, no? I'm just too tired.

The May Post

2008-05-19T20:53:00.002-05:00

Hi! Still here! Still plugging along. Just hanging around here playing with Matchbox cars. And hospital. And UPS man. You get the idea.

Spanish is going well. Friday is the last day of preschool. (!)

We went on a trip to Pennsylvania, in the mountains near Scranton, to visit my best friend from kindergarten and her husband and to meet their new baby. They actually live outside Boston but her parents live in PA and it seemed like a good place to meet in the middle. It was a really nice visit and it made me relax about our upcoming flight to California in August. We took six hours to get there and eight getting back (because we stopped at a Bob Evans in Maryland with s....l....o....w service.) The kids were FABULOUS. Amazing. I couldn't believe it. We barely even had any car toys. Just one big Magna Doodle between them (I forgot their mini ones), a toy stethoscope, the little DVD player which was used surprisingly little, and a big snack bag. The trip and car ride were so fun, it made me want to start scrapbooking about family trips (and I never thought I would say "want" and "scrapbook" in the same sentence.)

In PA, Little Guy got to fulfill a lifelong dream and climb the Coolest.Tree.Ever.

And Daredevil Second Child went down the slide alone for the first time. With sippy cup in hand.

She is days away from walking. Or weeks. All she wants to do is hold someone's fingers and do laps around the house. She attempts a few steps toward someone every now and then but ends up lunging herself at us because she thinks it's funny.

What am I going to do this summer? We don't have a pool (just a baby pool which is better than nothing.) And we don't belong to a pool. I'm thinking about making a schedule like a preschool, i.e., 8-9 TV, 9-9:30 Reading Time, 9:30-10:30 Playground 10:45-11:15 Craft Time. Like that. My fear is that it will turn in Sprout/Noggin marathons. More post about that later. Perhaps I shall post again in May!

And also...

2008-04-07T21:57:00.002-05:00

I hired a Spanish teacher! She is a lovely Argentinian woman who comes to my house and sits at my kitchen table with me and teaches me Spanish while the baby takes her morning nap and the boy is in preschool. I've been trying to become fluent in Spanish since sixth grade when I first took a language and have been self-teaching for years and years. I know I should have gone to a Spanish-speaking country for immersion but that never quite happened.

And also...

Shout out to Funky Smith! I hope you are feeling better this week.

Oh look, a review! On a blog? How strange.

2008-04-07T21:35:00.003-05:00

I just ate half a pint of Haagen Dasz cherry vanilla ice cream and watched Must Love Dogs. I'm having alone time. It's damn fun.

1. I wish I were as beautiful, graceful, skinny, and lovely as Diane Lane.

2. Did they make this movie to catch all the fans of Say Anything who are now in their thirties and early forties? Because the Lloyd Doblerness was evident--down to the long trenchcoat. And it still works.

3. Almost every scene ended with a quirky little one-liner. Didn't always work.

4. The acting felt very forced in many scenes.

5. Some parts were really stupid--the crew boat, Sarah jumping in the water, the Partridge Family song

6. Some part were genuinely funny--mostly John Cusack, once by Diane Lane

7. Overkill on the Dr. Zhivago

Overall, pretty good for a silly romantic comedy.

The Cake

2008-03-10T22:20:00.001-05:00

Momentous Occasions

2008-03-07T10:13:00.002-05:00

1. Little Guy is, right now, on a field trip, like some kind of big boy...WITHOUT ME. Yes. They went to the Children's Museum where he is comfortable because we've been there ourselves quite a few times already. And the teacher made sure he was riding with his best friend EVER, a little Cambodian girl. Actually they're both riding with another little white girl and her mom. They have a big ole minivan. I'm sure he's having fun. I couldn't go because Zen needs her morning nap or she emits blood-curdling screams until she is put in her crib or until the car is driving steadily. And on top of that, she has her one-year check-up at 2:00 today and no way will she be able to make it to that time without a nap. She needs to be in a well-rested, sunny mood in order to give her shots in her baby thigh!

2. For the first time ever, I'm not annoyed by Kelly Ripa. I think she may have just won me over. Just a little bit.

3. Wait 'til you see the cake I'm making for Zen. I don't know why I undertake these things. There are tiers involved. And fondant baby buggies. And one tier has three layers. And a fondant snail. It may turn out like shit. It will be fine.

Friday Fill-In

2008-03-07T07:19:00.004-05:00

1. Ahhhh, it's so nice to smell spring in the air and open the windows everyday.
2. One of my favorite things on my desk or bureau is the portrait of my grandmother from the 40s.
3. Japanese Cherry Blossoms can probably be found here.
4. Bed, the deck, or the kitchen table, or the couch are my favorite places to sit and read.
5. Ritz crackers and cream cheese is delicious!
6. I love to watch a musical montage in movies.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to working on Zen's birthday cake, tomorrow my plans include Zen's birthday party and Sunday, I want to hang out at home!

Happy Birthday To Zen Baby!!

2008-03-05T08:21:00.007-05:00

From this:

To this:

In ONE YEAR. Always an amazing concept.

Sleep, Great!

2008-03-03T22:54:00.002-05:00

The sticker chart has been AMAZING! As well as the threat to put one of his toys outside on the deck overnight. He has this idea that it rains every night and he's terrified for his toys to be out in the rain. I really have no idea where he got this night rain theory. Anyway, the last time he tried running out of bed, I had reached my last straw, grabbed his little bucket of dominoes and put them outside the back door. He was in bed faster than he could snatch a toy out of Little Zen's hand. There are definitely benefits to dealing with a three-year-old...you could never get away with that with older kids--(BettyBetty-I'm thinking of you here).

I can't say too much more about sleep because I believe in jinxing. It happens. And it's happened here.

In other news, I'm thinking about shutting down operations here for awhile. No really good reason why. Then again, maybe I won't. Or will.

The Ubiquitous Sleep Issue

2008-02-20T23:51:00.003-05:00

My brain is fried and blank.

Little Guy has overcome so many transitions since March 2007 and he's done a great job. Have I listed them a thousand times already on here? Oh, well.

1. new baby sister (March 2007)
2. big boy bed (August-turned 3)
3. started nursery school (September)
4. stopped using pacifiers (October)
5. potty training--(started first week of September-finished two weeks ago)

And the final hurdle before we can leave him alone? Falling asleep in bed BY HIMSELF. I know there are a lot of advocates for co-sleeping and for "parenting" kids to sleep by staying with them in their rooms or beds, but that's not for me. And I know that for sure because I've been doing it for a year.

Little Guy has always had a few sleep issues. Starting with his eczema at 3 months due to food allergies, to standing up in his bed at a year old and yelling, to throwing his pillow and "Baby" out of the crib at 18 mo., to begging for endless songs at two. And there have been the amazing, fabulous, wonderful times where, after books and songs, he would lay in his crib, talk and sing to himself and go to sleep.

Alas, when Zen Baby was born and I was still in the hospital, I made the mistake of sending M. home to be with Little Guy. To that now, I say, "Why?" I clearly needed him with me, post C-section; Little Guy was two-and-a-half and staying at our house with grandparents and everything was fine. But I got all hormonal and crazy and missed him incredibly and imagined him wondering where we were, when in reality, he was watching Curious George with Mema and eating potato chips every day. But when M. showed up, it threw a wrench in the works and got Little Guy all clingy and nervous that something was going on and I wasn't there, too. Enter--laying with him to help him go to sleep. It started out with M. doing it all the time but somehow shifted to me and now it HAS to be me. Some nights it's fine if he falls right to sleep after books. Some nights, like tonight, he took two-and-a-half hours to fall asleep. And that's excruciating. And it takes away the only free time I have.

And I know it's not only about me. I think he's to the point now that he wants to try to do it on his own because sometimes he kicks me out of his room but then calls me back in. Also, I hate that he thinks he needs me in there when really he doesn't. So, I would never just make him quit this cold turkey, but eventually he's got to let it go. And then there's the new and great phenomenon in which he kicks me out of his room and then gets out of bed, goes downstairs, or runs out his door and runs around upstairs and then runs back in bed when he sees me. So we started a sticker chart this week. He gets a sticker in the morning if he stayed in bed. It's working well so far. Last night he stayed in bed and went right to sleep. Tonight he took so long to fall asleep probably because he fell asleep on the couch at 2:30 today and I let him sleep for an hour. I knew better but I did it anyway. But the good part is, he stayed in bed all that time because he wanted his sticker. (Stickers never worked for potty training. Hm.)

So for now, I'm happy with overcoming the stay-in-bed obstacle. Once that's sorted out, we'll see what happens with staying with him. (I have graduated to sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed, though, instead of actually lying on the bed with him.)

And that's why my brain is fried and blank.

And We Have Lift-Off

2008-02-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

Retro Valentine

2008-02-14T14:26:00.002-05:00

February 1983. I was 7 and my sister just turned 4.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T08:17:00.002-05:00

These are the cupcakes I made for my first class party--Little Guy's Valentine party at preschool.

Portrait of a Disaster

2008-02-13T10:30:00.001-05:00

Last week, I got the kids all dressed up and we went to get studio portraits done. Little Guy had them done twice before, once at three months (Sears) and once at early two (J.C. Penney's), and Zen has never had them done. I figured now would be a good time since she'd be able to easily sit with Little Guy and he would be good and cooperative about following the photographer's directions. The first two portrait experiences I just mentioned went pretty smoothly. My sister was there both times to help get Little Guy comfortable and smiling and I loved the results. The second time, Little Guy had just turned two and was in a very willful mood and it took so long to get him coaxed onto the photography platform that we almost bailed on the whole thing. But once he got up there, he did great and the photographer was so patient and good with him. I was very appreciative and impressed so I thought I'd go back there for these. Mistake.

We were the first scheduled for the day and got there before the photographer. We were not early. But the kids were happy and calm and still neat in their clothes, so I didn't mind. The photographer starts turning on the lights, checking phone messages, and various other morning tasks. Finally she leads us back into the studio where she starts up the camera and shows she is thoroughly confused about how to start it up and use it.

Then she pulls the white backdrop over the little platform, proclaims it "filthy" (which it was), and says she doesn't have time to put the clean one up that she just brought in because the next people are scheduled for 10:20. My appointment time was 10:10 and we got there at 10:00. At this point, it's about 10:08.

So she pulled the black one over and we tried to put Zen on the platform. Then she told me to take off her tights. I thought they looked cute but off they went. I stepped away from the platform and Zen started to cry. We gave her juice and Cheerios and Little Guy got up on the platform with her but she was still pretty fussy. The photographer was over-aggressive with her in trying to get her to laugh which just made her cry more. Little Guy followed every instruction to a T.

I sat down on the platform with them and the photographer focused so I wouldn't be in the picture and there were a few seconds where she could have gotten a decent picture but didn't even press the camera button. This all happened in about three minutes. Then we heard voices in the waiting area and the photographer started telling me to reschedule and that Zen needs a nap! I told her she had already taken a nap, but thanks. She tried to get me to reschedule for the following Tuesday and told me what a great photographer she is and I would love what she does. I said Little Guy had his first dentist appointment that day so, no. And she said, Ok, so bring them after that! Ummm, no.

So after being practically kicked out after a five minute session, she still tried to get us to reschedule as we walked out through the waiting room. So I said, "Well, even if we were to reschedule, what would be a time of day when we would have some time to get the pictures done?" It was horrible and I was so disappointed.

Since then I've had two separate recommendations for the another studio so I guess I'll try there sometime this spring. But we'll never go back to that studio in the mall.

The Big Boy, but still Little Guy

2008-02-10T21:33:00.000-05:00

I really have to go finish the little fondant heart guys I promised Little Guy I would make for his class Valentine cupcakes. Then I have to make sure M.'s work clothes are dry and unwrinkled for a major presentation he has tomorrow (he's still at work practicing). Then I have to call my brother. And, of course, Zen, who never wakes in the night, is crying in her crib off and on. Plus, I only slept three hours last night (finished Kira-Kira and then couldn't sleep and then Little Guy wet himself on the way to get me to tell me had to go the bathroom at 3 am.)

BUT...

I just have to say that I hope I never forget the image of Little Guy, in his red, sports balls footie pajamas, having just fallen asleep on a cold, windy night, clutching two Lego guys, one in each hand.

His behavior has drastically improved, by the way. I think it might have been one of those things where he was on the verge of a developmental change, i.e., he poops! In the toilet! Without tears! Without tantrums or fits or writhings or self-created constipation! And he's also falling asleep much better than he had been. Very calm and low-key. No fighting the system. He'll be three-and-a-half on the 23rd of this month. I'll take it.

Eleven Months

2008-02-04T22:08:00.001-05:00

Really. Wow. Little Guy's first year felt like three times the duration of Zen's first year. I can't believe she will be a year old in one month. ONE MONTH!

So, she doesn't crawl. Little Guy started crawling a week before he turned eleven months. (He didn't walk until 15 months.) She gets around by doing the army trench move. Like this...

But without the gun. Instead she wields Tinker Toys, train tracks, huge Legos, and other contraband she swipes from Little Guy's playing field.

A few hours ago, though, she pulled to standing using the toddler couch for support. So, it wasn't actually to standing straight up because the little couch is so low, but she was on her feet. Then she climbed right over the back. It'll all even out soon.

Tiny Snowbug

2008-02-04T21:40:00.000-05:00

In light of today's temperature high of 69° and tomorrow and Wednesday's forecasted highs to be 73°, I thought I'd share our sole encounter with snow this winter.

The tiny snowbug.

I made what I thought was going to be a little snowman, but Little Guy stuck his antennae in and there he was. Ahh, good times.

And for perspective, here he is next to the boots of a three-year-old.

I know I'm always complaining about it not being cold enough (or when it gets very cold, for not lasting longer) but I got a taste of spring today, and, folks, it was good. You know how different seasons have their signature smells? It smelled like spring today. It smelled like possibility and excitement. Really. I get that way about the smells of seasons. Thursday it's supposed to go back down into the forties which is seasonable--nice and chilly. Last year at this time it must have been in the thirties because in the picture of Little Guy in the valentines we sent out last year, he's way bundled up in his swing outside.

Reading

2008-02-01T10:20:00.000-05:00

I'm still working on Arrowsmith-I'm liking it, but it's just one of those slow ones. Once that's done, though, I'm hoping to go on a binge of sorts and read fun stuff from my stacks. I have Pulitzer 9 ready to go, though. I bought it through Alibris from a used bookstore in Virginia, a few hours away in a town I've never been to. It seems like a nice store to visit if I'm ever in that part of the state, though. I think my book might be a first edition. Not that it has any value monetarily, but since I've been so immersed in the first quarter of the 20th century, I love the thought of reading the very same physical book that people of that time period read as well. (My maternal grandmother, the oldest of the four grandparents, was 13 when this book was published.)

If I can break off my obsession and stop the Pulitzers for a little while, then here is what I hope to read:

A visit to the used bookstore the other day yielded The Tea Rose and A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly (much-loved by many book bloggers), The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton by Jane Smiley for the Book Awards Challenge, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip, also for the Book Awards Challenge (that is still going on, right?)

I also still have on my shelves and in piles, The Historian, The Book Thief, a two-in-one edition of Maisie Dobbs and Birds of a Feather, the first Stephenie Meyer, Twilight and Night Watch by Sarah Waters. Plus Kira-Kira which I still have out from the library and that I feel like I'm hoarding away from a legitimate kid that wants to read a good Newbery winner. And, of course, there are others.

Oh yeah, and Atonement which I got for $6.00 from Borders because I had a $5.00 Members Rewards coupon and the cashier scanned her 30% coupon for me. It's the bad movie cover, but, who cares, maybe I'll get rid of it on BookMooch one day if I ever start using that site.

Which should I read first?

Friday Fill-In

2008-02-01T09:48:00.001-05:00

1. Once I was an employee.
2. I'm afraid of being sick.
3. Today at work I researched the topic "resistant to potty training," made Ritz crackers with peanut butter, and packed honey Teddy Grahams for preschool snack.
4. What's happiness and contentment all about?
5. If I make a mistake I beat myself up about it relentlessly.
6. When I woke up this morning, I thought 5:30 am is too early for a 3 1/2 year old to be waking up for the day, but he says he has to poop. Potty training is now disrupting his sleep.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to the fact that M. said this morning, "When I come home tonight, consider yourself 'off' for the night!!!!, tomorrow my plans include taking Little Guy and his friend to a birthday party and continuing to babysit the friend after the party and Sunday, I want to eat hors d'oeuvres with my mom and half-watch the Superbowl with M. and my dad!

Sunday Salon

2008-01-27T11:38:00.000-05:00

I'm reading two books--Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata, 2005 Newbery; and Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, 1926 Pulitzer for the Novel.

Arrowsmith is the eighth Pulitzer winner. I've read the previous seven and it's been fun reading them in order. Some have been more fun than others, but all have been interesting in their own ways, but there is something about this one that's making it a little tedious. It's not boring; I have an interest in the characters and their fates and decisions; I've been immersed in the midwestern setting for six of the other books so I'm developing a strong interest in that part of the country; I just don't know what it is. It's not the kind of book I can just read at night before I go to sleep and get it finished. This is the kind that I'm going to have to start chipping away at during the day whenever I have a tiny snippet of time, otherwise it'll just keep dragging on. I'm not getting anywhere.

It's about a doctor named Martin Arrowsmith who is a passionate, high-strung person. It takes place in the early 20th-century in a fictional state near Illinois and in North Dakota. In medical school, Arrowsmith was a difficult classmate in that he disdained the regular general practitioner in favor of hard science and laboratory work. After graduation, through a series of events, he becomes a country doctor and switches perspectives a little. Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt had a cameo near the beginning. I'm actually a little surprised that this book is still in print. Some of the earlier Pulitzers seemed more appealing to the masses, yet are not in print anymore. This one is available in mass market at the big box bookstores. I guess it's Sinclair Lewis's name that keeps it going. I'm still only in the first third, heading to halfway through. Hopefully by next Sunday Salon, I'll be finished and have more to say about it. As of now, it's completely in keeping with the first seven Pulitzer winners for the Novel in the sense that it's all about the changing of the country at the turn-of-the-century, horses giving way to cars--livery stables turned garages, towns growing into cities, rural areas becoming outlying areas of towns, etc. Yet there's also a strong theme of doctors using traditional remedies versus modern scientific discoveries; corporations and big business versus the common man; doctors using somewhat dishonest practices to make money versus idealistic doctors who truly want to cure disease and make the world a better place. I guess it's the big ideas that keep it from tripping along quickly.

Friday Fill-In

2008-01-25T16:29:00.000-05:00

1. Coffee, books, and finding kindred bloggers make(s) me happy.
2. I would like a short break, please.
3. White chocolate tastes SO good!
4. Saturday is my favorite day of the week because M. is usually here and we can all be together.
5. ___?__ my best feature. Does this mean what is my best physical or personality attribute?
6. We could learn so much from refusing to acknowledge stereotypes.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to maybe watching a movie with M., either Strictly Ballroom or 28 Up!, tomorrow my plans include possibly visiting in-laws and cousins and Sunday, I want to clean the desk-not a major weekend coming up.!

Booking Through Thursday

2008-01-24T20:49:00.000-05:00

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

I love a book called The Day I Became an Autodidact by Kendall Hailey. I found it at a used bookstore a few years ago. I was just aimlessly browsing, something about the spine attracted me, I pulled it out, bought it, and loved it.

Kendall Hailey wrote the book as a teenager when her parents allowed her to take a year off, not go to college, and become one who teaches herself--an autodidact. I fancy myself somewhat of an autodidact, or someone with the heart of an autodidact, hence Dabbling Dilettante, so here I found a soulmate. Also, is it safe to say that 99% of book bloggers love books about reading? Autodidact has books, lists, reading, learning, coming-of-agedness--everything I love. Now I want to reread it!

Kendall is now 41, I think, and her husband has this blog.

The Runaway Boy

2008-01-23T08:14:00.000-05:00

Once there was a little boy who wanted to wreak havoc on his household.
So he said to his mother, "I am going to drive you insane."
"If you drive me insane," said his mother, "I will have to chug wine from the bottle like a pirate at 12:30 pm. For you are my little boy."

"In order to drive you slowly and completely crazy," said the little boy, "I will dump a whole bottle of Mrs. Dash on the newish living room rug and massage it carefully into the fibers."

"If you dump the Mrs. Dash," said his mother, "I will go get the big black vacuum and vacuum the cheap spices off the floor."

"If you vacuum the rug," said the little boy, "I will get into your cake decorating box and dump those contents all over the floor. I will even stuff some under the baker's rack in the kitchen, and if some of the cake stuff is in baggies within the main box, I'll dump those, too," said the boy. "Then I will dump all those little metal tips and the icing colors on top of the other mess so the tips will get all out of order. And finally, I will open some of the icing colors and leave blue streaks on the floor. I will do this all in a matter of five minutes."

"If you dump all the cake decorating stuff," said his mother, "I will make you clean it all up while I'm on my hands and knees putting the tips back in order."

"If you make me clean it all up," said the little boy, "I'll go in the playroom and pull all the wipes out of the brand-new travel wipes pack for no reason. You will not be able to put these wipes back in and they will all dry out."

"If you pull out all the wipes," said the mother, "I will ineffectively put them in a basket not having the wherewithal to put them at least in a freezer bag in which they would have dried out anyway."

"If you are that much of a dumbass," said the little boy, "I will dump out the whole bottle of Adobo on the playroom table and floor, prompting Dad to say 'Oh. My. God.' upon peering into my lair."

"If you dump out the Adobo," said his mother, "we will have no more cheap spices left to cook with. Also, I will get the vacuum once again."

"If you vacuum again," said the little boy, "I will go to Grandma's house and pull all of the toilet paper off the roll and onto the floor when everyone thinks I'm washing my hands. Then I will come home and dump all the hand soap in the bathroom, the one that you just refilled, down the sink. There will be lots of bubbles."

"If you dump all the soap and toilet paper," said the mother, "then I will begin to stress eat M&Ms, fat-free sugar-free butterscotch pudding, Cheerios, buttered toast, and Weight Watchers cakes."

"Shucks," said the boy, "This is all so much fun, I might just as well stay where I am and be your little boy, time-outs be damned."

And so he did.

"Have a Teddy Graham," said the mother.

With all due respect to Margaret Wise Brown.

This Is A Snowbug...

2008-01-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

You know he is small and meager because these are a three-year-old's boots.

We do what we can with what we have.

Let There Be Poop!

2008-01-22T22:44:00.000-05:00

And there was poop.
And it was good.

And then there were jellybeans. And they were good, too.

Five Things

2008-01-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by Kirsten at Nose in a Book!

5 things I was doing 10 years ago
So that would be early 1998--I was 22
1. living in New Jersey in my parents' house having just finished student teaching kindergarten in my hometown
2. working full-time at Barnes & Noble cafe
3. listening to Alice by the Cocteau Twins every night on the way home from work
4. started temping in a law firm that spring
5. moved to Richmond August 1998--wow, I'll have been here 10 years this August?

5 things on my to-do list today
1. I would like to buy myself new socks
2. return Little Guy's jeans to Old Navy--5T's are still too big
3. clean and organize this desk area and the kitchen cabinet
4. buy more items from the wishlist of a women's shelter to bring to them Thursday
5. make Zen Baby's twelve-month check-up appointment

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire
1. buy a new house
2. help my parents get a house or property in California
3. travel
4. maybe buy a small house at the Outer Banks to use and rent out
5. help my sister buy the bed and breakfast she wants in Hawaii

5 things I'll never wear again
1. floofy scrunchies
2. hi-top sneakers
3. jams
4. jelly bracelets
5. Skidz
I had the very same ones as the guy on the right except my squares were magenta. My friend Kristin had them, too, in blue. And were soooo comfortable. I loved wearing them to high school. I also will never wear black Z. Cavaricci pants with the vertical white label at the zipper.

5 favorite toys
1. Barbie's--A-#1 favorite toy
2. sticker book
3. bike
4. something called a Learning Machine, I think
5. Speak & Spell and Speak & Math

No tagging...if you do it, I will read it.

Good Saturday, Saw Snow

2008-01-19T23:37:00.000-05:00

It snowed all day! Accumulation? Zero. My poor niece (9) who lives two hours south of us in southern Virginia apparently stood out in it for a little while and then longingly watched Weather Channel images of New England and other states where snowbanks abound. I think one of these years I'd like to spend a winter in Minnesota or northern Vermont or somewhere with a hardcore winter. New Jersey was always good for deep snow and cold in winter, but I haven't had enough. Maybe I'd like to be in this chilly state for fall, too. Virginia, though, has a lovely spring. It pops flowers and buds like nobody's business starting in March.

Well, I'd hoped for some alone moments today but didn't really get any. I would have--M. was going to take Nick with him to dispose of a trailer load of raked leaves--but M.'s uncle came to visit instead. He was there right through Kari's nap. That's OK, I'm having my time now. Nick went to bed so nicely tonight that I had a rather lengthy evening to catch up on blogs. M. didn't think he had a movie in him tonight, and me either, actually. We have Strictly Ballroom to watch and we just mailed back Ratatouille. I fell asleep in the middle of Ratatouille. I have to be really, really tired to do that. And also, I found it a little boring. So M. told me the ending and that was enough for me.

I had a bag of dried navy beans that I had to use up so I made soup tonight. (I know I've had these beans for almost a year because we bought them when Kari was first born last March and we thought we would freeze them and use them to alleviate any breast engorgement I might have had. Well, that never happened, so why not make soup?!) So I quick-soaked the beans and put them in a pot with chicken broth and water, bay leaves, onion and garlic. I simmered that for awhile. Then added diced potato, sliced carrots, tiny cubed cooked ham, kale, S&P, I think was it. We ate it with crusty bread and a glass of red wine. Awesome winter dinner. And the soup was Core, too.

Household Meme

2008-01-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

Stolen from kookiejar at A Fraternity of Dreamers

Now, you might think this would be a really boring meme. A quick glance over the questions and you think, oh god, spare me. But I read kookiejar's version and was endlessly fascinated. And I thought to myself, Why? Here's why: It's because this is my world. The home. It's my office, my restaurant, my bar, my dance club, my hangout, my hotel, my movie theater. I'm in charge here, pretty much. So I'm interested. And maybe you are, too!

What kind of soap is in your shower right now?
either Dial or Lever 2000. I usually buy Lever 2000 because I got scared away from using too many antibacterial products because of the whole getting immune to bacteria thing.

Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator?
No, it's winter and I don't like watermelon anyway and usually I don't buy what I don't like even though other members of the household may like it. For instance, it took me years to realize about buying peanut butter...I hate it so it just never registered on my radar that other people might like to eat it. I know, so selfish.

What would you change about your living room?
it needs to be a different shape (it's long and rectangular) and have room for bookshelves...in other words, I need a whole new living room in a new house

Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty?
clean

What is in your fridge?
Do you know in junior high, I used to actually have conversations like this on the phone? Like, my friend Anne and I would stand on the phone with our refrigerator doors open and be like, "We have Hellman's. Oh you do, too? What kind of ketchup do you have?" This would drive my father CRAZY.

So...we have Silk soy milk, a gallon of skim, a cauliflower with some purple stuff on it but it came that way...it's not even old), ketchup, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, Hershey's syrup, shredded coconut, brown rice, Smart Balance Light, Dannon plain yogurt, eggs, Guinness that I used to make bread but no one wants to drink, white grape juice, Brita water pitcher, fat-free sour cream, ZenSoy pudding, Diet Coke and Diet Cherry Coke in cans, coffee, bread flour, salsa, Tofutti cream cheese, champagne, Bisquick and that's all off the top of my head, but there's more!

I'm justifying that by saying it was a brain exercise. Like those games where you have to stare at a tray of items and then it's taken away and you have to list everything you can remember.

White or wheat bread?
whole wheat

What is on top of your refrigerator?
my JVC radio/CD/tape player that I got for my 17th birthday...my parents got their money's worth out of that, cereal boxes, a basket of takeout menus, a coffee cup of pens and pencils, the kitchen scale, paper plates

What color or design is on your shower curtain?
It's cream with lavender sprigs of something and some green in there

How many plants are in your home?
wow, none...I'm bad with plants but at least one would be nice

Is your bed made right now?
halfway

Comet or Soft Scrub?
whatever, but come to think of it, I like Comet and here's why. It reminds me of the smell of the YMCA pool area and bathroom from when I was manager (read: scorekeeper) of the high school swim team

Is your closet organized?
Why yes, it is!

Can you describe your flashlight?
we have so many flashlights I can't even begin...M. loves flashlights and so does Nick...they're obsessed. It's ridiculous

Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home?
glass and ceramic

Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now?
no. M. does it in the summer, though, but I don't drink it.

If you have a garage, is it cluttered?
No garage, but M. just built a big shed. And yes, it's a little cluttered but it's because it's unfinished.

Curtains or blinds?
both

How many pillows do you sleep with?
one now; 400 when pregnant

Do you sleep with any lights on at night?
yes-not in our room, but downstairs

How often do you vacuum?
mmm, maybe once a week, sometimes twice?

Standard toothbrush or electric?
standard

What color is your toothbrush?
purple

Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch?
not really a welcome mat, more of a "wipe your feet" mat, very utilitarian

What is in your oven right now?
cold oven racks

Is there anything under your bed?
Our box spring is right on the floor so just microbes and molecules and stuff

Chore you hate doing the most?
cleaning the bathroom

What retro items are in your home?
M.'s great-grandmother's Victrola...it's the tall kind with the cabinet in the bottom part for storing records...her original records are in there, too...Thomas Edison Studios and all that; the desk at which I sit is old, too, but I don't know how old

Do you have a separate room that you use as an office?
no, maybe one day

How many mirrors are in your home?
one in each bathroom, plus two in my room makes four

What color are your walls?
living room--I think it was Cinnamon Cake

dining room now playroom-Restoration Hardware Butter or Buttercream but I'm not sure to look at the website now

N.'s room--Lemon Drop

K.'s room--pinkish mauve

our room--the mint green we bought the house with

upstairs bathroom--Pepto Bismol we bought the house with

downstairs bathroom--pretty pretty blue

laundry room--primer

Wow, I even bored myself with that one.

What does your home smell like right now?
Us, I guess...hopefully not baby poop

Favorite candle scent?
not a big fan of scented candles...but generally good vanilla or cake batter or something fall-y

What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator right now?
Vlasic Kosher Dill Stackers

What color is your favorite Bible?
I don't have a favorite Bible.

Ever been on your roof?
No, but M. goes there to clean the gutters.

Do you own a stereo?
I guess the aforementioned JVC.

How many TVs do you have?
One in the kitchen, one in living room, one in our bedroom makes three

How many house phones?
kitchen (2), living room (2), playroom, bedroom...why do we have six phones??

Do you have a housekeeper?
that would be me

What style do you decorate in?
that's under development...right now it's whatever we had in our single person apartments combined with a few utilitarian Target pieces...except our living room couches and chairs...those are from Macy's and we love them

Do you like solid colors or prints in furniture?
solids

Is there a smoke detector in your home?
When your husband is the safety patrol, you will have no less than four.

In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you only could make one quick trip?
my journals dating back to 1985, the book we have all the computer passwords in

Because if I Want Blog Friends, I have to post, right?

2008-01-18T11:19:00.000-05:00

I'm so ambivalent about blogging! Do I want a Mommy blog? Do I want a book blog? Can I have both? Should they be separate or the same blog? Do I want to blog at all? These are the questions that keep me up at night. Not really, because Arrowsmith usually knocks me out in five minutes.

So what do any of you think? I know I need to post more and I LOVE reading blogs. I love all my blog-friends. And I want to keep you and be a part of it all.

But see, now it's 11:22 am and I have to go get Kari out of her crib and get her dressed and make her a bottle. Then I have to find some kind of treat for Nick (that just sounds weird...I don't know if these names will last) because I always bring him a treat of some kind when I pick him up from preschool (teddy grahams, a bank lollipop, a Christmas candy cane). It's a bad habit from those first few weeks of school that were hell. Then I have to get his epipen and Zyrtec together and put them in the diaper bag because we're meeting M. for lunch at P.F. Chang's. Oh yeah, I have to put some baby food and a spoon in there, too. And a bib. And Purell. And wipes. Better go get started.

But I just spent the better part of the preschool/nap respite reading Finslippy archives. And I don't feel too bad about that because, as every blogging mom knows, she makes you feel normal and ok, with laughing. My mom (kids 32, 29, 24--she is the queen of revisionist history) and sister (no kids, not married) have this idea that Little Guy should have gotten completely potty-trained on the day he turned 2 1/2, that he should never say a word while I'm on the phone, that he should sleep peacefully in his bed from 7 pm-7 am and be happy and grateful to get into said bed at night, etc. So now I feel better. 11:29! Must get ready!

For Tomorrow

2008-01-16T21:21:00.000-05:00

36° F | 32° F
2° C | 0° C

90% chance of snow

They changed it from 90% chance of ice pellets.
I'll take it.

Is It Wednesday?

2008-01-16T09:15:00.000-05:00

I'm afraid I might be losing steam. Yesterday I only cleaned out the kitchen junk drawer. And did loads and loads of laundry, which is better than my usual one load per day. Today the plan is to tackle two kitchen cabinets that are not stellar examples of good uses of space. Tomorrow might be a good day to do the computer/technology/USB-wires-and-download-cords-mess area because we're supposed to get a wintry mix, so we'll most likely be in for the day.

Pulitzer Update

2008-01-14T10:49:00.000-05:00

I posted on the first winner, His Family, back in June. Then I posted on the fifth in September which was One of Ours. Now I'm on the eighth, Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. So, I've been a little bit sporadic.

Here's what I can tell you so far: Out of the first eight books, six of them take place in the midwest. Two in New York. Interesting, I think. And it looks like the ninth, Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield might, too. And almost all deal with the characters coming to grips with the social, geographic, economic, civic changes of the late 19th century. This is understandable. They went from horses to cars in a matter of a few years, city and town layouts changed, the way people lived and worked and where they lived changed, etc. But why such a focus on the midwest?

First of all, most of the authors are from that part of the country:

1918 His Family by Ernest Poole: from Chicago but this book takes place and is all about a changing turn-of-the-century New York

1919 The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington: from Indianapolis; Indiana is important in much of his work--This book takes place in Indianapolis though not named

1920 (No Award)

1921 The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: New Yorker, born and bred

1922 Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington: takes place in midwest: see above

1923 One of Ours by Willa Cather: born in Virginia but moved with her family to Nebraska as a child; well-known for Nebraska works such as My Antonia--This book takes place in Nebraska

1924 The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson born in Iowa--book takes place in Iowa

1925 So Big by Edna Ferber born in Michigan, lived in Wisconsin--book takes place in and around Chicago

1926 Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis born in Minnesota--book takes place in a fictional place called Zenith, Winnemac, near Illinois.

1927 Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield from Ohio, defined as a Midwestern-American writer--not sure where book takes place as I haven't gotten there yet, but I'm thinking midwest.

Just an observation so far. Reading chronologically gets you looking for patterns, I guess.

Book Awards Reading Challenge

2008-01-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

I'm not making any promises, but it looks like I might be on track to finish the Book Awards Challenge. I've read four out of twelve books so far which is not phenomenal but I have until June 30. Age of Innocence and Alice Adams will be addressed if I ever post about my personal Pulitzer project.

I read The Higher Power of Lucky and Criss Cross as part of the Book Awards Challenge and partly because I've been reading Newberys between Pulitzers as a break. Whereas I've started the Pulitzers from the beginning and am going backwards, I've started the Newberys from most recent and am going back to the beginning. I have Kira-Kira on the bedside table.

I guess what I might want to say about the two Newbery winners mentioned above is that the voices in both novels are what stand out the most. And the characters are fabulous, of course. Voice is such a large part of what makes a children's or YA novel great, I think. Voice is important in any novel, but, man, Susan Patron and Lynne Rae Perkins have this aspect of writing DOWN. They also both have in common this amazing "realness" and sense of being a kid. Both have little illustrations throughout the book and I remember loving books as a pre-teen/early teen that looked like the characters actually had a hand in creating the book.

I am now in love with both of these writers and would like to read anything at all by them, especially Lynne Rae Perkins. I super super loved Criss Cross. If my niece were a little older (she's 9 and the kids in the book are 14) I would have this book in her hands. She's not much of a reader but I don't see any early teenager who couldn't find something to identify with in this book.

Not much of a review I know. Book reviewing is not my forte and I'm short on time.

New Names

2008-01-14T10:14:00.001-05:00

I'm tired of my little nicknames for the kids. I'm still not comfortable using real names. I know a lot of people do it and it's perfectly fine, but I'm just not there yet. So I'm picking names that are similar to their real names.

Hence, Zen Baby shall hereby be referred to as Kari. (Although I still did like her nickname.)

and Little Guy shall be called Nick.

I remain Camille and husband is just M.

He's like my 007 boss.

Cleanest House in the East

2008-01-14T10:05:00.000-05:00

It's just lovely. I should have taken before and after pictures. The whole upstairs is done except for the bathroom.

The bathroom is just gross. I'll definitely take before and after pics of that when we start remodeling it. The vanity had crackle paint on it which we hated for years. One day, M. got the idea that we could chip it off with a putty knife. So he chipped and chipped. Some came off, some didn't. And there it is. Left like that for months and months. The whole bathroom needs doing.

But as for the rest:

My room and closet DONE
Kari's room and closet DONE
Nick's room and closet DONE
Living Room DONE
Playroom DONE DONE DONE I vacuumed in there! I can see the floor! There's carpeting in that room. It's blue! Who knew?

Now on to the kitchen: junk drawer and cabinets--under attack
and the laundry room has a pile of mess in front of the dryer that includes paint cans and track lighting. It's not pretty.

Frittering

2008-01-11T11:27:00.000-05:00

I just spent almost the whole time Little Guy is in nursery school going back and labeling all of my 165 posts. I still have more to do. The whole time I felt like I was wasting my time but I just couldn't stop. It was kind of fun.

Friday's Feast

2008-01-11T10:18:00.000-05:00

175

Appetizer
What is your middle name? Would you change any of your names if you could? If so, what would you like to be called?
Elizabeth
No, I like them just fine except my married last name. I don't think it'll ever feel like mine

Soup
If you were a fashion designer, which fabrics, colors, and styles would you probably use the most?
I don't know--this question is not for me. I have to envision Stacey and Clinton with me in the rare occasions that I go shopping.

Salad
What is your least favorite chore, and why?
cleaning the bathroom

Main Course
What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life?
being a sad, lonely and bored empty-nester--that won't be me but it's kind of what my mom created for herself and it's not pretty

Dessert
Where are you sitting right now? Name 3 things you can see at this moment.
Our computer is in the living room (small house).
the big canvas Little Guy painted with M. while I was away for the weekend at a baby shower in Pennsylvania in October, my empty venti Starbucks cup, size 3 brown Mary Janes

Friday Fiver

2008-01-11T10:10:00.000-05:00

You'll forget the sun

1. Where do you like to walk?
I grew up being able to walk everywhere-food store, schools, library, convenience store, the center of town, parks-and I loved that. Where I live now I can only walk to the elementary school, the middle school, and a nice park. There's a trail through this little patch of woods that leads to the middle school and the park and Little Guy and I love to walk there.

2. What does your hair look like?
brown, shoulder-length (and growing), frizz/wavy, sometimes straightened with this amazing appliance

3. What are you jealous of?
I hate being jealous and rarely am. And I hate when other people are jealous, but it does happen. So I guess it would be successful stay-home mom writers if I had to give an answer.

4. What kind of promises do you make?
ones I can keep

5. What makes you stare?
super attractive people

Mommy Milestone

2008-01-11T09:59:00.000-05:00

I have my first class party to do as a mom (not a teacher)! I'm doing Little Guy's nursery school Valentine's Day party with two other moms next month. We need a treat, a craft or game, and a treat bag to take home. My second year teaching, I had a classmother who made these amazing, big, heart-shaped sugar cookies with the kids' names on them. She individually wrapped them and they were awesome. Any ideas on what I can do with three-year-olds?

Keep On Keepin' On

2008-01-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

Today I:

straightened and organized the kids' closets

cleaned and vacuumed the living room

packed up the last little bit of Christmas stuff

emptied out my whole closet (and now there's a huge pile of crap on my bedroom floor)

made apple crisp with Little Guy

made a really good chicken potpie

cleaned out my Favorites (websites)

Have to go watch the only TV shows I have the slightest interest in, Celebrity Apprentice and Who Wants to the Be the Next Supermodel or whatever it's called on Bravo.

January Clean-Out

2008-01-06T20:03:00.001-05:00

Along with everyone else this month, we are doing our best to go through all the clutter and junk and mess in the house and clean it out. We got so much done this weekend.

1. Finally put out the garbage and recycling (we missed a pick-up and had so much waiting to go.)

2. Cleaned up the leaves in the front and side yards.

3. Solved the leak problem in my sister's boyfriend's stinky Passat that somehow we got saddled with.

4. Cleaned up and stored the rest of the Christmas stuff.

5. Stored bins of outgrown kid clothes and maternity clothes that had been sitting in our respective bedrooms.

6. All this week I have been shredding and filing bills, etc.

7. Vacuumed, mopped, etc.

Still to do:

Continue shredding/filing process

Continue cleaning out my whole room and closet

Finish uploading pictures of the kids and make a slideshow to send to my aunts and cousins that I promised in October.

Clean off the computer desk.

Organize cords and wires and USB things and such.

CLEAN OUT THE PLAYROOM

Baby's First Profanity

2008-01-05T08:39:00.001-05:00

What do you do about a three-year-old who has gotten into the habit of saying, "I Don't Caaaayeeer!" in the worst little sing-song voice. I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know what it means, but the first time he said it, I told him that it wasn't nice to say and that was the kiss of death. I think he heard it once from M. when he was reprimanding him for something and Little Guy talked back and M. said, "I don't care if blah, blah, blah, you'll do it anyway..." something to that effect. So now he goes around the house and says it for no reason. He doesn't really use it correctly in response to anything so I guess that's good. I've taken to ignoring it because responding was kicking it into a new stratosphere of constant usage. Ignoring it has helped significantly. Maybe he'll get bored of it soon and move onto something else.

Good Morning, Bloggers

2008-01-03T11:24:00.000-05:00

Reading

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (8th Pulitzer winner for Fiction-1926) and Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (the 2005 winner of the Newbery)

I just read the first two chapters of Kira-Kira last night in bed and couldn't sleep for the longest time because Kadohata has such a strong voice going on--it's the narrator as a child--that she kept talking in my head. (And I'm not even crazy!)

Two Questions for You Guys

1. Does anyone have any input or experience on potty training a boy who refuses to poop in the toilet? He's been trained otherwise (peeing) since the end of September. But he always begs for a pull-up to poop. And I know I'm probably enabling him by giving it to him, but, man, you should see those fits when he has to go and we withhold the pull-up. He writhes around on the floor, screams, cries, and won't go for two days. It just seems tortuous to do to him. So for now, I've just been giving in to him until he's ready?

2. This one is crazy--we are going to visit my brother in California sometime this year as a family. He lives in Martinez, in the Bay Area. So flying there was what we've been discussing in our preliminary plans. But...what if we drove? It would probably be terrible and take way too long, I'm sure, but it's a fun thought. I went cross-country the southern route from L.A. to Tucson to Albuquerque to Amarillo etc. to Graceland and then to Harrisonburg, VA and I'd love to do it again. And M. is dying to drive cross-country. BUT with a three-year-old and one-year-old? in a Honda Pilot?

But there's this...my sister is in Hawaii right now. They took off from LaGuardia and had to land in Salt Lake City because their plane had a fuel leak. They were kept on the plane for a few hours and then allowed into the airport for a few more hours until the plane was fixed. (Happily they made it across the Pacific and are safely in Maui.) I just kept thinking...thank god it wasn't me with the two little kids!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T10:19:00.000-05:00

We had a really wonderful Christmas and New Year this year. M. took off from work for the whole week of Christmas and we had some great family time. He had been working late and on weekends so much throughout the fall so we needed that time together. It's been such a great Christmas I already can't wait for Christmas next year and I've never been like that. Usually as soon as New Year's Day passes, I'm like, "Get this stale Christmas stuff out of here." But so far, I'm still enjoying all the decorations. Of course, I will be taking it all down this week anyway.

I don't like New Year's Resolutions because who sticks to them? But there is something exciting and hopeful about planning changes you'll make in the new year and ways your life can be different and better, right? So I decided just to focus on budget and organization this year. I can't make diet a resolution because that puts too much focus on it. It puts too much importance on it and makes any change feel like an obligation for some reason. So I'm just keeping in mind that I had started Weight Watchers Flex plan last May and then the Core Plan in October. I totally went off in December but now I'm starting again. I hope I didn't do too much damage this month.

Reflections on 2007:

1. Last year at this time I was pregnant. So hard to believe! Now I'm starting to think about a first birthday cake. Zen will be 10 months this week.

2. Little Guy got rid of pacifiers, moved to a big boy bed, got halfway potty-trained, and started preschool (besides getting a new little sister).

3. My brother got married (although we were not invited and didn't even know about it until three weeks later...story later.)

4. My sister graduated from culinary school and moved to Queens. She's in Hawaii right now.

5. Little Guy turned three and had his first train ride.

Not much went on with me except for the childbirth part, I guess. Oh, and I did start my bookkeeping job a year ago which is still going great and I love it. This year maybe I'll be able to focus a little more on myself...work on Spanish, more submitting of essays, more working on writing.

More blogging?

I Promise Real Posts Are Coming Soon...

2007-12-20T19:54:00.001-05:00

This one's from myspace.
See if you can guess the theme in five words.

1. How old were you in 1980?
5

2. How old were you in 1989?
14

3. Were you a Toys R' Us kid?
does this mean I shopped there? yeah, sometimes

4. Did you watch Transformers?
no, too boyish

5. Did you see E.T. on the big screen?
yes--second grade, I think

6. Did you own a Lite Bright?
yes

7. Who is your Favorite Golden Girl?
Sophia

8. When someone says "Who you gonna call?" You think?
um, Ghostbusters

9.What was your favorite toy?
Barbies, hands down, no shame

10. Did you have a Pogo Ball?
no, but I think I had a friend who did

11. Did you listen to New Kids on the Block?
oh, yes

12. What New Kid did you have a crush on?
Donnie...I used to kiss him on my poster before bed every night

14. Did you watch The Care Bears?
yes

15. Did you have Jelly bracelets?
but of course

16. Did you have a charm necklace and/or bracelet?
yes, I still have my necklace in the attic

17. Did you own a glo-worm?
not sure what this is...sounds familiar but I don't remember

18. Did you own slap bracelets?
oh, yes

19. The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles?
The Breakfast Club

20. Did you have a crazy hair style?
no, just high Jersey bangs

21. What was your first bike?
a little blue Camel two-wheeler with a banana seat and training wheels. It had sparkles in the paint. I loved it.

22. Name one thing you still own from your childhood?
I have a lot...Barbies, stuffed animals, dolls

23. Did you have a Cabbage Patch Kid?
yes, Wilona Greer...I still have her

24. Did you dress like Madonna?
no

25. Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake?
I liked them both and had a doll of each. The Rainbow Brite had the little friend Twink and the Strawberry Shortcake blew out good-smelling air when you squeezed her stomach.

26. Did you watch Miami Vice?
Only when my grandmother babysat us. She loved it.

27. Did you own a pair of Jelly Shoes?
Yes, but my sister could pull them off way better than me. They gave me blisters.

28. Did you own a Trapper Keeper?
yes, white with red squares all over it and a black foldover

29. Atari or Nintendo?
first Atari, then Nintendo

30. Did you play Pac-Man?
yes

32. He-Man or She-Ra?
I did watch He-Man. Was She-Ra on that show?

33. What movie scared you the most?
Gremlins

34. Did you try to dance like Michael Jackson?
yes, I used to try to moonwalk

Friday Fiver--Lame posting continues

2007-12-18T03:41:00.000-05:00

Friday Fiver

1. What's the last movie you saw?
Transformers

2. Are you gentle?
most of the time

3. Do you sleep with your bedroom door shut?
no

4. What's your middle name?
Elizabeth

5. Friday fill-in:
I could learn to like ___.
tea

More Something, Anything

2007-12-18T03:34:00.000-05:00

friday's feast

Appetizer
What is your favorite carnival/amusement park ride?
the Great American Scream Machine at Great Adventure in NJ

Soup
How do you react in uncomfortable social situations?
can't find the right words, sound like an idiot

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy discussing deep, philosophical topics?
10

Main Course
Did you get a flu shot this year? If not, do you plan to?
no, but the kids did

Dessert
Approximately how many hours per week do you spend watching television?
maybe 7?

Something, Anything

2007-12-18T03:31:00.001-05:00

friday's feast

Appetizer
Make up a word and give us its definition.
Nah.

Soup
What is currently your favorite song?
Navidad by the Gipsy Kings

Salad
What’s at the top of your Christmas wish list this year?
food processor

Main Course
Name a scent that reminds you of someone special in your life.
new diapers

Dessert
Who is someone on television that you feel probably shouldn’t be, and why?
Paula Deen's sons

Back on the Wagon with a Meme

2007-12-10T16:34:00.000-05:00

Tagged by BettyBetty because I've been sadly away from blogging for oh so very long. I'm thinking this absence coincided with the end of Little Guy's naps? Will have to check on that. On with the show...

The rules:

-Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
-Share 7 facts about yourself.
-Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
-Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I hate peanuts and peanut butter (partly because of a slight allergy/partly because I think they're yucky.)

This annoys most people.

2. Virginia's capricious weather gets on my nerves.
(But it's way colder now than at time of writing, so I'm happy.)

3. I was recently addicted to the Core Plan message board on the Weight Watchers website.

4. I am a meticulous babybook keeper.
Ask me a weight or a milestone, I will provide you with a date and sometimes a context.

5. It's 3:53 am. Why am I not sleeping?

6. I miss snowstorms.

7. I'm always tired, physically and mentally, lately. And absent-minded. My kids have been taking a toll on me. But things will change eventually...they always do.

Monthly Post

2007-12-02T10:24:00.000-05:00

I should start doing some memes again to work myself back into blogging.

So today we're decorating for Christmas. Yay! While Little Guy and Big Guy are at the food store, I have to straighten up the living room. Now's my chance b/c Zen is asleep. But...I'm still online.

In other news, I've lost 18.5 lbs. since May--9 since October 29. My secret is...Weight Watchers Core program. It's fabulous.

I just read Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene. (See sidebar for link.) It's now one of my top ten favorite books ever. Maybe top five.

Also, I'm on Pulitzer 7--So Big by Edna Ferber. A movie was made based on it in the thirties but Netflix doesn't have it and neither does our library system. We've seen every movie that was based on the winners I've read so far, like Age of Innocence, Alice Adams, The Magnificent Ambersons. I'm sure I can find So Big for cheap on eBay or Half.com but I don't really want to buy it.

OK, I will post again before December is out!

A Month and a Week

2007-10-30T08:28:00.000-05:00

Bless me Blogger for I've been away...it's been 37 days since my last post.

And, of course, just when I sit down to do a quick comeback post, Little Einstein's goes off and Mr. Three is off the couch, taking away the tape measure from Little Zen, jumping over her, and wreaking general havoc around the no longer peaceful living room. OK, shhh, he's reading a book now, I might have 30 more seconds. I have to go give Zen a bath anyway and then we have to go buy storage bins for summer clothes. 3Ts and 6-9 mo. outfits are things of the past. And hopefully short sleeves and shorts, too. The chilliness seems to be here to stay.

OK, Little Guy is on my lap. Gee do I miss his naps. Preschool is going fabulously. No more crying at drop-off. Potty training is still just half done (he's fully trained for peeing, won't poop) but that's because I've been enabling him with pull-ups. So last night he didn't get a night pull-up for the first time and he woke up completely dry and peed first thing. So pull-ups will be rapidly phased out this week. Next to go will be pacifiers. I don't feel too bad about those...he is 3 years and two months old...it's time.

Zen baby will be 8 months old next week. That's just crazy. No major milestones to report there. No crawling yet. Still the same two bottom teeth. But she's good.

OK, that's all I can do now. I'll be back before December, really!

Pulitzer Proj.

2007-09-22T10:20:00.000-05:00

My goal in reading all of the Pulitzer prizewinners for Fiction and the Novel was mostly to introduce myself to new writers and works. I like lists but I don't subscribe to the idea that certain lists and prizes mean that those books are the best of the best and all others should be overlooked. Duh. What hardcore reader would think that anyway? That's what annoys me when people say they hate book lists and book prizes. I mean I understand that lists and prizes bring certain books to the forefront and leave others out and then people who want easy suggestions turn to the lists and a lot of good books go unread. So yeah, that argument makes sense. But that doesn't mean that people should go opposite and entirely ignore lists and prizewinners, right? I feel like good readers will search out obscure books and also read popular or classic "canon" works, as desired.

But you know anyway? Some of the early Pulitzers are most certainly obscure. Of the first five, only two were readily available in Borders or Barnes & Noble: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. The first one, His Family by Ernest Poole, I had to order from Dodo Press, a press that reprints out of print works. The fourth and fifth, Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington and One of Ours by Willa Cather, were in the library, and didn't seem like they had much circulation.

Anyway, One of Ours by Willa Cather has made my venture worthwhile. If I stop right now and don't read past the first five books, I'll have reached my goal. I LOVED that book. It was one of those books in which you get so deep into it, you live it. You know the characters so well and then, THEN, the setting entirely changes and you see how the characters interact in situations and locations totally different from where they started out. Sister Carrie is another example like that. This was the only one I've cried over so far, twice. I was sobbing at the end. And now I have a new spark of interest in World War I. Who knew? I have this out from Netflix now.

I read Death Comes for the Archbishop and My Antonia in high school and hated them both, and therefore never cared for Willa Cather. Now, 15 years later, I see her in a whole new light. I can't wait to read The Song of the Lark.

I'm taking a break now, after the first five. I'm reading The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron as the most recent Newbery winner. I might try to read all those in reverse order, most recent to oldest. We'll see.

Thoughts

2007-09-13T12:22:00.000-05:00

1. Britney Spears is NOT fat.

2. Potty training is NOT fun.

3. Granola is so good (especially French Vanilla Almond or BareNaked's Banana Nut)--but 13 points for one cup? Not worth it.

4. Baby shopping off someone else's registry is really fun.

5. Fall is coming. My favorite season!!!

Successes!

2007-09-11T20:36:00.001-05:00

I can't believe I've been so away from blogging! It always seems to happen that just when I get good and established with my blog posts and get involved in other blogs' goings-on and challenges and such, I quit blogging regularly. Anyway, I've been busy.

1) We have potty training success! He's not fully trained, but he's been wearing underpants every day for exactly one week. And using the toilet! Don't get me wrong, his love affair with pull-ups is not over, but he's doing really well. And this helped. A lot. (I picked it up just before Labor Day weekend as an impulse buy at the front of TJ Maxx--it was one of those 50% off things that I ordinarily wouldn't have even paid attention to.)

2) First day of pre-school was yesterday and he was soooo excited to go. (We had a visitation/open house on Friday). He did cry when I left but they said he calmed down after a few minutes. And then when I picked him up, he was fine and wanted to explore the rest of the building. It's only 2 hours this week. And he'll only be going 2 days a week. But I think it's going to be good.

Still reading Pulitzer 5 (P5, as I refer to it)--One of Ours by Willa Cather

Beach

2007-09-01T06:58:00.001-05:00

Mommy Life

2007-08-31T11:08:00.001-05:00

This is what I used to comb my hair yesterday morning after my shower.

Incidentally, that was my last daytime shower during the week. Zen Baby sat in her babyseat in the bathroom and screamed the whole time. And by screams, I used to mean crying, but now, I do literally mean screams. And Little Guy sat out on my bed, as usual, but this time he wrote on my sheet with a pen, opened the back battery panel of my booklight, and other various things. He used to just lay on the bed and watch a Baby Einstein DVD. But now he's three...!!!

Oh my goodness--look what I just bought! Cannot believe she is 6 months old.

Husband's Results

2007-08-17T13:43:00.000-05:00

I took the quiz for him. It was accurate. He's from southern Virginia.

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Southern

People used to hate Southern accents but now everyone wants one.

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

I Love Accents

2007-08-17T13:24:00.000-05:00

Saw this at Book-A-Rama. I'd taken one before, but I like this better. The map especially.

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Northeastern

This could either mean an r-less NYC or Providence accent or one from Jersey which doesn't sound the same. Just because you got this result doesn't mean you don't pronounce R's.(People in Jersey don't call their state "Joisey" in real life)

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Jealous Mistress

2007-08-16T10:47:00.000-05:00

I really need to get back into writing on here again. I miss it. But you know who the jealous mistress is? myspace. Yes. I'm like a seventeen-year-old. It's so freaking addictive. The kids are sleeping better now so I can't blame it on them.

Anyway, I'm reading Alice Adams, the fourth Pulitzer winner. I need to get my notes together on those. Not even necessarily to post, but since it really looks like I'm doing this, I'd like to be a little bit organized.

Off to the beach Saturday.
These are from last year. I can't believe he was only 23 mo. and turned two at the beach last year and now he's turning 3. It seems like such a huge age difference. Yet, interestingly enough, the swimmer diapers are still present. :)

Gone to New York: Book One: Armchair Traveler Challenge

2007-08-09T07:22:00.000-05:00

Gone to New York: Adventures in the City is a collection of "Talk" pieces from The New Yorker written by Ian Frazier over a period of about 10-12 years. Ian Frazier is one of my super-favorite literary nonfiction writers. He doesn't work for the The New Yorker anymore, and has since written books such as Great Plains, On the Rez, and Family, all of which I've loved.

Gone to New York gives the reader fascinating snippets of New York life as seen from an outsider of sorts. Although Frazier lived there, he was born and raised in Ohio and was constantly amused. He writes about his obsession with bags hanging from trees all through Brooklyn and Manhattan and what he decided to do about it, his description of Canal Street from one end of the island to the other, and a walk he decided to take from his suburban town in New Jersey to Manhattan via Route 3, plus much more. It's a great introduction to Ian Frazier if you've never read him before. It's fascinating facts, interesting people, and great stories.

1:24 am

2007-07-31T00:24:00.000-05:00

That's the time it is right now as I type this sentence. Ever since Fourth of July, Little Guy has not been sleeping through the night and ever since about a week ago, Zen Baby isn't either. Tonight is Little Guy's first night in his big boy bed and so far he is doing great. He couldn't wait to get in it first of all. By the time we got it upstairs and situated in his room, it was about 7:30 and he looked outside and said, "It's night-time!" He couldn't get into his pajamas fast enough. It took awhile for him to settle down after we read books (two dixie cups of water, one potty try, lots of songs) but he finally went to sleep and he seems way more comfortable than he was in the crib.

Then Baby got up about 11 and stayed up. Until now. Finally she's getting fussy as I type this. OK, anybody still out there? I'll be back!

Yes, I'm reading, too! Age of Innocence. LOVE IT.

And I read most of Gone to New York: Adventures in the City for the Armchair Traveler Reading Challenge.

Delays

2007-07-11T07:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I would be starting the Armchair Traveler reading challenge, except that three of my books that I ordered specifically for it a month ago (Uncommon Carriers, Gone to New York, See You in A Hundred Years) have still not been shipped by Amazon. It's my fault, though, because we got new credit cards and I forgot to update Amazon so it was trying to charge my old one to no avail. Also, one of the books, Stick Kid, not for the challenge, would not be available until December, so I canceled that one. I'm not sure why this took a month for them to let me know, though. Also, one of those books is Sleepless Nights that I was going to read with the Slaves of Golconda, but now I'll probably receive it too late. Oh well, I'll read it anyway.
I could have started Blue Latitudes, though, or The Historian. But I finished The Magnificent Ambersons (and put the A&E movie at the top of my Netflix queue) and got eager to start The Age of Innocence so I could get the first three Pulitzers under my belt. Maybe when I'm more established in that, I could start a second book. Unlike a lot of book bloggers, I'm usually a one-book woman.

Books I did procure:
(at my favorite used bookstore to which I'm addicted)

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

a double edition of Maisie Dobbs and Birds of a Feather (two books in one)

Also, I haven't been able to blog lately and I'm not sure why. I think it's Little Guy. He's so high maintenance lately, he's like two kids in one. It must be that he's turning three in a month and a half and knows intuitively that he has a lot of transitions to make over the next year (get rid of pacifiers, switch from crib to big boy bed, potty training, starting nursery school). He's not falling asleep well at night--he needs someone with him, he won't play by himself, he wouldn't even stay with M. (his own father) on Saturday so I could run out to the store to get soy milk, bread, and orange juice. I had to take him with me.

Now the little one is ready to get out of her crib and have her morning bottle. Then it's off to the mall to try to find summer shoes for Little Guy. No luck at Target, Payless, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, or Shoe Carnival. We're going to have to kick it up a notch and go to Stride Rite, Sears, Macy's, or J.C. Penney.

Camille Needs. . .

2007-07-01T21:51:00.001-05:00

Lots of people have been doing this and I've been highly amused by the results but never thought of doing it myself. For some reason, I read Nancy's answers and got inspired to do my own. Although Camille is not my real name, (I named myself after Camille Saint-Saens, the composer), that's what blog people know me as, of course, so I used that.

1. Camille needs bodyguards because too many people hate her. Oh my!

2. Camille needs men. I could go in so many different directions with this one.

3. Camille needs issues addressed on the level of feelings. Why, aren't you pleased with me and my blog? Don't you like it the way it is? Should I change it? Do I come across too happy? Too boring? What? Oh, boo hoo!!

4. Camille needs to write a description of herself. Oh, OK. Well, I have brown hair that I recently had cut to chin length. I have green eyes, I'm the mother of two, about 5'7", big reader, love coffee ice cream, hate bugs. . .

5. Sylvan thinks Camille needs a duck to keep her company Oh, really, Sylvan? Well, I think you need a platypus to keep you company!

6. Camille needs a backbone, in my estimation, but that's okay. Gosh, this isn't painting a very nice picture of me, is it?

Pop Quiz

2007-06-30T13:32:00.000-05:00

It's a warm, muggy Saturday afternoon.
Both kids are napping in their cribs.
Husband is napping on the couch.

Do I . . .

A. clean up the bowls, forks, glasses, napkins, and cartons from the leftover-Chinese-food lunch

B. mop the kitchen floor because it really needs doing

C. go lay in bed right now and read The Magnificent Ambersons

D. sit here at the computer for a little longer and play with my blog, even though I just cleared all the bolds off my Bloglines list and added a few more feeds (hi Kookiejar, Book Chase, and dovegreyreader scribbles.)

Books! I Bought Some

2007-06-24T16:42:00.000-05:00

Coming from Amazon:

Stick Kid by Peter Holwitz
saw this on Hidden Side of a Leaf and had to have it

Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee
I'm a huge John McPhee fan and this just came out in paperback

Gone to New York: Adventures in the City by Ian Frazier
I love creative nonfiction (see above) and I'm an Ian Frazier fan, too. So I thought this one would be good for the Armchair Traveler Challenge.

See You in 100 Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America by Logan Ward
This is a local writer-he's a member of the writers' organization for which I am the bookkeeper. I thought it might qualify for the Armchair Traveler Challenge and also I like to read the locals' work.

Sleepless Nights by Elizabeth Hardwick
To read along with the Slaves of Golconda.

Bought yesterday at my favorite used bookstore:

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
I've been hearing great things about this from other book bloggers. I love YA books and I used to be a big vampire-book reader so there you go.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Again, heard good things from book bloggers.

Bought at Borders last week:

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
I've never read Sarah Waters--thought I'd rectify that situation

The Armchair Traveler Reading Challenge

2007-06-22T07:01:00.000-05:00

I have finally assembled a list for this challenge which I must take part in because it's hosted by the illustrious Lesley at A Life in Books. How could I refuse? Some of these may be stretches, but maybe not.

Gone to New York: Adventures in the City

by Ian Frazier

Reason for reading: Ian Frazier is one of my favorite literary nonfiction writers and my sister just moved to Astoria, Queens.

The Historian (Eastern Europe)

by Elizabeth Kostova

Reason for reading: I bought it a long time ago and it's one of those TBRs that's been hanging out under the night table.

Blue Latitudes (world exploration)

by Tony Horwitz

Reason for reading: Although I hated Confederates in the Attic, I still like the genre of literary nonfiction and if there were ever a travel-themed book, here it is.

Uncommon Carriers (transcontinental US, Canada, Europe)

by John McPhee

Reason for reading: Although this book is about freight transportation and shipping it's also about travel because travel is an intrinsic part of shipping and freight. McPhee travels with cargo from Nova Scotia to Kentucky, New England, France, and the Illinois River.

See You in a Hundread Years: Four Seasons in Forgotten America (western Virginia)

by Logan Ward

Reason for reading: The main concept of this book is along the lines of those PBS House series where a group of people lives in the setting of a specific time period in history to experience it firsthand. Yet there is a strong sense of place in it as well since the family has relocated from NYC to a small community in western Virginia which becomes a huge part of their lives.

If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska

by Heather Lende

Alternates:

Wide Sargasso Sea (Caribbean)

by Jean Rhys

Tropic of Cancer (Paris)

Henry Miller

Pulitzer Project: Book 1

2007-06-20T07:47:00.000-05:00

His Family by Ernest Poole. Won in 1918.

This is what they wore:

This is what they drove.

This was their New York.

Trinity Church in lower Manhattan. Basically this would be a picture of Ground Zero now, except the church is OK.

His Family is a portrait of a middle class New York family headed by a widowed father trying to make sense of his changing family within the context of a changing world and an evolving New York. Roger Gale is the father of three daughters--Edith, a traditional stay-home mom to five children; Deborah, a radical social reformer heavily involved in the public school system and improving life in the tenements for the city's growing immigrant population; and Laura, the youngest, a party girl with expensive taste and no social conscience.

It's not an action-packed novel, but more a comment on the times. World War I was beginning, cars and buses were becoming ubiquitous, the immigrant population was rapidly growing, skyscrapers and high-rises were going up every day. Grand Central Terminal opened on Feb. 2, 1913. Women suffragists were hard at work and would win the right to vote in six years. It was a time of great change and everyone was trying to adapt and keep up. Yet, the book is also about continuity and how times evolve and generations come one after the other, creating what we have in the present. Throughout the book, Roger is either stressed about the troubles his kids are creating all around him, or reflecting nostalgically back on his childhood in the mountains of New Hampshire and how it was early in his marriage when he first moved to New York. A recurring theme is that as we go through life, we always feel young, like we're just starting out with something, and don't really notice that time is moving on and on until something momentous happens, like a new grandchild or the death of a close relative.

Ernest Poole was not known for this novel, but for The Harbor, a novel with a "strong socialist message." It was interesting to see the changing views by and about women at the time and how things were so similar to today despite the "old-fashioned" setting. There was the issue of stay-home mom vs. a working mom and about helping the poor vs. helping your family first, and there was a lot of family drama.

"To throw someone over" was one antiquated phrase I hadn't heard before. It means "to break up with someone." Otherwise, the language and everyday phrases really haven't changed much in 100 years.

I'm excited to keep going with this project because it's almost like going back in time and then coming back to the present year by year, stopping once a year for a glimpse into everyday life.

I've already started The Magnificent Ambersons which won in 1919, but I'm taking a break from it already to read The Mermaids Singing for The Written Word.

I'm Back

2007-06-18T14:10:00.000-05:00

A new batch of chefs has graduated. Tall white hats were flying. My sister was valedictorian and won two awards, one of which was the same award Sara Moulton won when she graduated there in 1977.

Our hotel was directly across from the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt so we visited there, too.

Blogger doesn't feel like uploading photos right now (or I don't feel like waiting long enough) so I'll post some later. I have a picture of FDR's library.

Mini Vacation!

2007-06-13T16:17:00.000-05:00

See ya, folks. I'm off to upstate New York for my sister's graduation from The Culinary Institute of America. My sister will officially be a chef. I'll only be gone until Saturday--it's a mini-trip because I can't leave Zen Baby (Thanks, Liesl!) for too long.

I really and truly need this break. It'll just be my parents and me going. I think I need some uninterrupted sleep, some time to be me, and some space to clear my mind a little bit. Because I'm absolutely addled. Here are some of the things I've done in the past week alone:

trimmed 8 of my 10 fingernails and didn't notice for days
took out the kitchen garbage and never put a new garbage bag in--when M. went to take it out on garbage day, it was full and NASTY with leftovers, eggs, green pepper cores and tomato scraps, coffee grounds, etc.
tried to get Little Guy to leave the house without shoes on, again
walked right past my car after leaving Borders and tried to get into someone else's with my key (I think that one disturbed Little Guy a little)
my friend just told me her cell phone number and I wrote it down. Then got in the car and tried to call it, but got it one number off and called her husband instead. When I met her I told her she had given me the wrong number. When I got home, I saw that I had written down the correct one.
put Zen Baby (in her carrier) in the car without strapping her in--luckily I noticed before I drove away
continuously forget to buy things at the store
I think there was one more but I forgot it.

Plus I was up last night from 2 am to 5 am with Zen Baby.

I have 60 pages to go on His Family. So I'll work on that tonight and on the plane (short flight to Newark) and I'll bring The Magnificent Ambersons to start there. After I finish that, it'll probably be July and I can start in on the Book Awards Challenge.

Book Awards Reading Challenge

2007-06-11T21:55:00.000-05:00

Here is my challenge list after days of deliberation. I'm so excited about this challenge. I've decided to use it to branch myself out into genres I don't usually read and to expose myself to new authors I haven't encountered yet. I've also selfishly included some Pulitzer-prize winners to further my own personal goal of working my way through all of those. But I kept the number down to three to keep the spirit of a challenge.

1. On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Orange)
I've been wanting to read this for awhile and recently bought White Teeth, which I haven't read yet, either.

2. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (Nebula)
Having recently finished the Earthsea books, I am a renewed fan of LeGuin's. (I remember liking her as a kid after reading the first Earthsea book.) I'm curious about her other works.

3. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (Pulitzer)
This is the third Pulitzer winner. I'm planning on having finished the first two in June.

4. Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington (Pulitzer)
This the fourth Pulitzer winner. Again, to pursue the completion of my personal goal.

5. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron (Newbery)
I like YA and children's novels. I'm curious about the most recent winner.

6. Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (Newbery)
If you read the most recent winner, you might as well read the next to most recent winner. You never know when you'll want to finish that list, too, one day.

7. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear (Agatha)
I never read mysteries so this is a genre I wanted to represent in this challenge. I checked through the Edgar winners but they looked too scary for me (probably why I tend to shy away from mysteries). But on the Malice Domestic website Agatha winners are described as "...mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence; usually featuring an amateur detective, they have a confined setting and characters who know one another." Sounds like my cup of tea.

I'll read Maisie Dobbs first so I'm all caught up.

8. Possession by A.S. Byatt (Man Booker)
I recently bought this at the used bookstore. Thought I'd throw in a few TBRs.

9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (Costa/Whitbread)
My brother and his fiancée read this in Iraq while they were stationed in Fallujah and they liked it. I've been wanting to read it for awhile.

10. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (Hugo)
Branching out into science fiction

11. Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip (World Fantasy)
Further explorations into the fantasy genre

12. The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton by Jane Smiley (Spur)
Definitely new territory for me, the western-set novels. Plus I started Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel but have never read any of Jane Smiley's fiction.

Alternates

1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Man Booker)
own it-TBR
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Nebula)
TBR
3. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Nebula)
I keep hearing about Neil Gaiman from other book bloggers.
4. Dune by Frank Herbert (Nebula)
I think I remember my dad reading this in the early 80s. I never had an interest but now I'm curious.
5. Sophie's Choice by William Styron (National Book Award)
TBR
6. One of Ours by Willa Cather (Pulitzer)
Pulitzer goal; 5th winner

Reader In Training

2007-06-08T08:33:00.000-05:00

It turns out you no longer have to be able to write your own name to get a library card. At least that was the rule when I was little.

We went to sign up for the library's summer reading program this year and every person has to have a library card. So Little Guy signed up and now he has his very own card! Needless to say, it was a proud moment. (And then he stuck the sticker to the kitchen table.)

We didn't sign up last year because I felt he was too young, turning 2. Of course we read him books all the time, but I didn't see a need to have him be in the program. But now that he's almost a pre-schooler (turning three in August), why not? It also turns out that newborns are eligible. Is that silly? I guess if it encourages people to read to their kids, then all the better. But Baby Sister will not be joining the Summer Reading Program this year. Instead, this summer she will focus on yoga, most specifically the modified Cobra pose.

State of the Night Table

2007-06-08T06:53:00.000-05:00

Danielle recently asked if anyone was willing to share a picture of their night table's book piles and I happened to have one already on the computer, so here it is.

Actually, this picture was taken on 7/19/05, so just about two years ago and the funny thing is, it looks almost exactly the same. The main difference is that the big pile on the floor is now two piles on the shelf under the table. A few of those books I've read like Confederates in the Attic, Bel Canto, The Known World, and The History of Love and are still sitting there. But some I still haven't gotten to yet like The Historian, Blue Latitudes, and PrairyErth.

For You

2007-06-07T20:05:00.000-05:00

This rainbow is for Nattie from Nattie Writes.

Reading Quote from His Family

2007-06-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

This is said by a librarian who was a poor immigrant when he came to New York while he's giving a tour of his small public library.

"They read all, all!" cried Isadore. "Look at this Darwin on my desk. In a year so many have read this book it is a case for the board of health. And look at this shelf of economics. I place it next to astronomy. And I say to these people, 'Yes, read about jobs and your hours and wages. Yes, you must strike, you must have better lives. But you must read also about the stars--and about the big spaces--silent--not one single little sound for many, many million years. To be free you must grow as big as that--inside of your head, inside of your soul. It is not enough to be free of a czar, a kaiser or a sweatshop boss. What will you do when they are gone? My fine people, how will you run the world? You are deaf and blind, you must be free to open your own ears and eyes, to look into the books and see what is there--great thoughts and feelings, great ideas! And when you have seen, then you must think--you must think it all out every time! That is freedom!" He stopped abruptly. Again on his dark features came a huge and winning smile, and with an apologetic shrug, "But I talk too much of my books," he said. "Come. Shall we go to my cafe?"

Momentary SAHM Blues, or No, I Don't Want to Go In the Playroom Right Now!

2007-06-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

I think I need to join a real-life book club or writer's workshop. Something for which I'll have to get out of the house at least once a month. When I was teaching Wilton cake decorating classes, I was guaranteed to get out once a week (two at first). And when I quit, M. said he'll definitely help me get out of the house for a "me" night once a week. But I stopped teaching in December, and have I had any "me" nights? No. Of course, this is just as much my fault. I could make it happen and I should. It's like teaching school. You'd much rather go to school than take the day off because getting ready for a sub is so much work. So it's just easier to go to work yourself. It's the same with being a SAHM/house manager. For me, at least. I'm sure some dads have it all under control and the kids don't bat an eye if the mom steps out.

I guess it's just with M. building the shed in the backyard with only the help of his dad, my dad (sometimes), and a friend, I've been a single mom since the middle of May. And it's a big shed. A car could fit in there and it has a second story. So when he's not working late, he's outside after work doing the shed and working on it all weekend until after kids are in bed. So it's all kids, all the time. And, well, I didn't want to kvetch, but since I am already... The other night, Baby Sister was still wide awake at 11:30 pm. (I had let her take a very late nap that day.) This was after Little Guy had been up until 12 am the night before with a stomachache and then I had to get up at 6 that morning with Baby. So I was tired that night, and, of course, had been with the kids all day, but Baby was still going strong. So I'm carrying her around and M. is lying on the couch watching TV. Then at about 11:45, he starts asking me about Fahrenheit 451. At last, adult conversation!! About books!! So I answer his questions, he takes the book upstairs and goes to bed! This is a man who reads maybe 2 books a year, if that. (Yes, I married a non-reader.) Leaving me to stay up until 12:30 or 1, when Baby finally fell asleep. I was so jealous of his free reading time and his going-to-bed-whenever-I-want attitude.

OK, I'm done. If I had labels for this blog, this one would be boring kvetching.

Arco Iris

2007-06-06T07:49:00.000-05:00

October 10, 2005--Outer Banks

Biggest one I've ever seen.

Liriodendron tulipifera

2007-06-06T06:33:00.000-05:00

I love scientific names. It was my favorite part of 7th grade biology.

Mr. Bradbury, It's Happening Already!

2007-06-05T13:41:00.000-05:00

Saw this article at Danielle's and thought it apropos in light (no pun intended) of my recent posts.

And yes, it does seem like a tricky way to sell books. But what it sounds like to me is that the bookstore owner just got really frustrated that he couldn't get rid of his books the way he originally wanted to and needed to take out his aggression.

Either way, it's an awfully dramatic move.

And it's true. It's hard to say much more without being judgmental.

See comments for more discussion.

More Thoughts on Fahrenheit

2007-06-05T07:48:00.001-05:00

So I already knew I might not read Children of Men right now and now I definitely know in my gut that it's not my time to read The Road. That's the hard part about challenges. Reading is an organic process, I think, for most people, and often I can't just plan out what I will read ahead of time and stick with it. I never know what I really want to read next until I finish the current book. Anyway, this challenge goes until November 6 so I'll probably pick up my last two books this fall.

Dewey kindly pointed me toward an extremely interesting article about Ray Bradbury's intentions with Fahrenheit 451. (Thanks so much, Dewey!) It's not about banned books or government censorship as so many people seem to think. And, if you read the book, you will see that there are pages of explanation by one of the characters telling how the book burning came about. It was society's choice. Books began to be shortened little by little and anything contentious was eliminated until the point where books were little more than footnotes. By "anything contentious" I mean anything that could possibly offend anyone. And that brings me back to my fascination with Ray Bradbury's insights into the society of the future. Not only did he foresee the prevalence of television and the disconnect between nature and human society, but he also predicted hyper-political correctness.

"You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can't have our minorities upset and stirred. Ask yourself, What do we want in this country, above all? People want to be happy, isn't that right? Haven't you heard it all your life? I want to be happy, people say. Well, aren't they? Don't we keep them moving, don't we give them fun? That's all we live for, isn't it? For pleasure, for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these."
"Colored people don't like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don't feel good about Uncle Tom's Cabin. Burn it. Someone's written a book on tobacco and cancer of the lungs? The cigarette people are weeping? Burn the book. "
"Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, topheavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals . . . Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. . . . Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

I just finished this book and already I want to read it again.

Here is Ray Bradbury's website. There are video clips of him explaining, among other things, how he feels about television, censorship, and Fahrenheit 451.

Cake Pending

2007-06-04T10:15:00.000-05:00

I have to make a Shrek cake for my nephew's 7th birthday in a few weeks. Here's the cake I made for him last year.

That's a buttercream transfer. I'm going to have to probably do this year's the same way with a Shrek picture.

Baby Sister Sleeps

2007-06-04T10:08:00.000-05:00

Dare I say it? I think I see a schedule forming. Baby Sister (I still need a blog name for her) is starting to go down regularly for a morning nap about 10 am. Then an afternoon nap, still fuzzy, but around 3:30 or 5ish. And then last feeding between 8 and 10 pm. Then she's down for the night until 7 am or sometimes gets up for a bottle around 4 or 5 am. But then goes back to sleep. She's just a better sleeper all around than Little Guy was, but he was suffering from eczema and must have been so itchy the first 5 months of his life. And, of course, there's the bottle vs. breast thing. But also, I think it's just her personality. Already she seems more laid back than he was/is. And she was born into a noisy house. When it was just Little Guy and I, it was pretty quiet around here so he was used to sleeping in quiet. She can sleep through tantrums, the vacuum, toy drums, etc. She'll be three months old tomorrow so maybe the grandmothers are right; three months really is the magic number.

Pulitzer Number One: His Family: 1918

2007-06-02T23:25:00.000-05:00

First of all, my obnoxious plan to read all the Pulitzers does not merit the lovely comments I received on my last post about it. But the comments were lovely, indeed. Who knows how far I'll get with this, but I know I won't get very far this summer. I'll try, though. It may take me years. I may just quit.

So I'm just beginning His Family by Ernest Poole. It won the first Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. No award was given in 1917. It's takes place in New York City at the turn of the century. It's about a widower who is struggling to get to know his three grown daughters better before he dies. He sees how "modern" they are and how times are changing. He's most aware,though, of the changes in the city. He notices and dwells upon the city's evolution, from the stories told to him by people of his parents' generation, to how it was when he first moved there as a young man (horse-drawn carriages in the streets), to what it's becoming at the time the story takes place. Highrises are going up in his neighborhood, minority populations are growing (and by minority he means Italians and Jews), and his daughters go out dancing at night. It should be interesting to see where this goes.

Fahrenheit 451: Fourth Book for Dystopian Challenge

2007-06-02T21:29:00.001-05:00

I know I had read this book before, but I didn't remember a thing about it. Also, I had it mixed up in my head with a short story from The Martian Chronicles. (The one where the last person in the town hears the phone ring and tries to figure out where it's coming from. That's all I remember.)

So Fahrenheit 451 is about a fireman named Montag. You can't call him the politically correct firefighter because he does exactly the opposite. He starts fires. Firemen, in Bradbury's "future" society, set fire to homes for which they've gotten the alarm or a tip-off that there are books on the premises. Montag, at first, enjoys his job. His wife stays home, drugs herself, and watches TV all day, except that the TV is huge and takes up whole walls and you can interact with it. After Montag meets a strange and different teenager on his block, he begins to see things in a different light and realizes that there is more to life than what his society has become.

I agree that this book has earned its status as a classic. But what truly amazes me is Ray Bradbury's extremely insightful portrayal of the future. For instance, the book was published in 1953. TV had only really gotten off the ground 5 or 6 years before. I think only about half of the American population even had TVs in 1953, and 1953 was also the first year that color television was available. I think it's just amazing how he was able to foresee the power and influence that TV would gain over the years. Of course, we don't have TVs on all four walls in a room BUT-- we do have ever-increasingly larger screens available, some people do spend all day with it, some people are obsessed with certain shows or actors. It's a big part of almost everyone's lives.

The people in the book are so out of touch with the natural world, human emotion, art, or any kind of deep thought. Everything is supposed to be vacuous and fun. In a conversation between two of Montag's wife's friends about how their children are, one of them says she has no children and the other says she had two by Cesarean even though her doctor told her she didn't need to. She said something along of the lines of it being easier to have had the surgery. (Then she puts the kids in front of the TV when they're not at school.) Again, in light of the current issue of unnecessary C-sections, Ray Bradbury was spot on.

Our society is not like the one in Fahrenheit (although the book takes place sometime in the 90s.) But it could be. So everyone, keep reading! Love your books and keep them alive.

The Blogroll Game

2007-05-29T13:29:00.000-05:00

Play the Blogroll Game! Go see Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf to find out how and why. I'm always looking for new blogs to read so I'm playing.

Kids Say . . .

2007-05-29T07:46:00.000-05:00

You know those plastic, plain picture frames that have magnets on the back for refrigerators or file cabinets? Where you just stick the picture into the slot and then usually the picture falls right out the bottom when you stick up the frame? Well, anyway, Little Guy was sitting in front of the refrigerator the other day and pulled one of those apart until it broke.

"Why did you do that?" I say, throwing the plastic pieces in the garbage.
"Was there a picture in it?"

"Yes," he says and shows me the picture.

It was of my brother and me on the Spirit of New Jersey cruise after his high school graduation in 2001. I had on a sundress and my hair was a little past chin length.

"Don't you know who these people are?" I say, joking to Little Guy.

"Uncle John," he says.

"And?"

"I don't know," says Little Guy.

"Who's this?" I ask, pointing to myself.

"I don't know," he replies again.

"It's Mommy!" I say.

He draws in his breath in amazement.
"I didn't know you were a lady!" he says. "And now you're a Mommy!"
All of this with wide eyes and a shocked expression.

C'mon. Can't you be a lady in capri-length sweatpants, maternity T-shirts, and flip-flops?

Pulitzer Summer

2007-05-27T08:10:00.000-05:00

So, if you used to read my old blog or the book blog I started just before I shut down operations on those blogs about a year ago, you might know that I have a plan to read all the Pulitzers. (I shut down because I was getting creeped out by a weird comments from a commenter with no link to anywhere, and I was newly pregnant, so the hormones and the creep factor led me to drastic measures.)

Anyway, I don't want to make a challenge or anything (unless anyone else wants to). It's just a personal challenge or goal. I used to have this little plan written in my About Me section but now maybe I'll put it in the sidebar in some kind of way. I was going to start with the very first winner which is His Family by Ernest Poole and read them in order from the beginning. I think the first book won in 1918. It's out of print so I had a bit of a time finding it. I started it a while ago but stopped for some reason. Now I'd have to start all over again.

From 1917-1947, the prize was for a "novel."
From 1948-present, the prize is for "fiction."
There was no award given in 1917.

So maybe I can make it a summer goal to get through the first half of the list--the awards given up to 1947. Or I can alternate between the first list and the second. But maybe there would be some educational value in doing them in order because it would keep me in the era of the writers and I could maybe make some observations or comparisons about writing in the early 20th century and how it evolved as mid-century approached.

Nymeth at Things Mean a Lot recently posted about reading the Pulitzers,too, but for now, it's just a personal one-woman challenge to myself. I'm certainly open to company on this endeavor, though.

Eight Things About Me

2007-05-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

Since I'm a wannabe book blogger and like to hang out with the big kids, I'm going to be like the Little Sister in Mercer Mayer's "Me, Too!" and do this ubiquitous meme. (If I had known about blogs before I had two little kids, I would have been able to post a lot more about books. But now I'm down to my 30 minutes a day of reading before I fall asleep with the book on my face.)

Here are the details:

1: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3: At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4: Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I was born and raised in Union, New Jersey, and lost most of my accent in college when all anybody wanted to do is hear me say, "I'm getting cawfee at the mawl." Then they laughed and said I was from the "Armpit of the United States" or "The Garbage State." Nice, huh? I'm proud be a New Jerseyan, though. I moved to Virginia when I was 23.

2. I never drank coffee until I worked in a Barnes & Noble cafe (Springfield, NJ Rt. 22). Then I couldn't stop.

3. I used to be a litigation paralegal for a big law firm and applied and got into law school. I put down my deposit and then realized that I didn't want to be a lawyer. So I went to graduate school and got a Master's in Writing and Rhetoric.

4. I've only been out of the country twice--and both times were for spring break. I went to Cancun one year and the Bahamas the next. I used to be a bit of a party girl.

5. I put my sister through hour after hour of "playing school" when we were little. Sometimes, if she weren't available, I'd teach my stuffed animals and dolls. I am now a certified elementary school teacher. I was teaching first grade when I became a stay-home mom with my first. I love what I'm doing now, but I'm excited to get back to teaching. Case in point: We went with my mom's walking tour group to a historical house the other day and five yellow school buses drove by for a field trip there.

I got goose bumps.

6. I love to be barefoot. But flip-flops are a close second.

7. I have a short name that can't really be turned into a nickname and so does my husband, but both our kids have longish names that are not used because they go by the accepted nickname. By accepted, I mean, Bill for William, Katie for Katherine, Judy for Judith, etc.

8. If I had a full free day all to myself I would: sleep until I woke up on my own, go out for coffee, read, take a walk, write, blog, run errands, read, do a little housework, and listen to music, either in the car or blasting in the house. Right now I'd put on "November Rain" by Gn'R (still a sucker for the old Axl even after 15 years), the Guinevere soundtrack, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (my very favorite), and that song from Curious George by Jack Johnson. (I have a big Curious George fan in the house.)

Memorial Day Shed Building

2007-05-26T07:07:00.000-05:00

Here's what going on here this weekend. Hopefully getting a roof on the new shed.

We used to have a tiny shed that M. packed full of tools and mess so that it looked like footage from one of those documentaries about hoarders. So his dad came and hauled it away. A year ago. Little Guy wasn't even two yet. M. is a procrastinator.

Finally, we will have outdoor storage. No more Riyobi and Craftsman battery chargers for flashlights and drills on the washing machine. No more toolboxes on the dryer blocking the lint trap so you have to move everything to do laundry. No more full-size cooler in the kitchen. No more big plastic bin of painting supplies in the living room. And Little Guy can have his little bike outside instead of in the playroom.