Adventures of a Maude in Training

I'm sick with something that makes my throat, nose, and eyes feel like they've been scoured by sandpaper.

Sucks.

Not much else. Just days full of nursing, diapering, and entertaining the children.

Still need to sort out the hospital billing for L.'s birth, make an eye doctor appointment, and call about gymnastics classes for S. I also still have delusions of turning my grapefruit peels into candied peels---I got Jaques Torres' "Dessert Circus" from a Friends of the Library sale a few weeks ago and I am feeling marginally inspired. I also need to decide if I am am going to try to join the board of the preschool. Decisions, decisions.

Now, it's time for bed.

Up and around, trying to figure out what to do with the day outside of the obvious (nursing, diapering, cooking, and cleaning). I'd like to get outside and do *something*. My body hurts as I've done something weird to my lower back, left foot, and left hip. ::sigh::

Went to the Friends of the Library sale last night and scored some great old funky cookbooks, included a random Lutheran church cookbook form 1948, complete with funny old ads and newspaper clippings left inside. I love shit like that. Also got Jacques Torres' "Dessert Circus" book for $2 and some random books for S. S. enjoyed picking out his own books. ptor got a bunch of O'Rielly books for 75 cents an inch--can't beat that.

Not too much else happening around here. Just dealing with newborn life and life with the bigger guy. ptor had lots of activity on the job search front last week so we are really hoping something pans out soon.

Wish I had something more exciting to say but I don't really...just plugging along here.

Oh, I am thinking hard about some workshop proposals for NOLOSE. That is interesting and exciting. Need to get moving on all that.

We also need to start thinking about and working on our garden. We also have what I expect is a mold problem in the house which we need to get assessed and then start the fun of dealing with our landlord about it. Yick.

Onward.

S. is sick with some sinus thing and I was up with him until 4:30 this morning. Thankfully he finally slept and stayed asleep until 11:30. He cannot breathe when he is lying down so he doesn't want to sleep. Poor guy.

I have officially hit the final-weeks-of-pregnancy-wall. I am so tired I don't want to do anything. Seriously. Unfortunately we have a whole lot of stuff to get done. Just putting one foot in front of the other.

ptor has an in-person interview today and another (at a different company) tomorrow. We are hoping something comes of either or both of them. However, now that we are so close to Baby Pickle showing up it is not great timing, but we need the income so we will do whatever we need to do. I am very disheartened that Adobe is laying off 680 employees, Applied Materials 1,300-1,500, and EA is cutting 1,500. These are all huge tech employers in the Bay Area and that is a whole more jobs just gone. Not to mention Sun's recent massive downsizing and the impending NUMMI plant closure which will eliminate nearly 5,000 jobs at NUMMI alone, not to mention the tens of thousands that will be affected by the plant's closure.

The weather is finally sorta kinda changing around here. No longer feels like the end of summer.

I am jamming away on a baby blanket for the baby, and also need to get a hat done for my nephew and for S. We also need to take care of holiday gift shopping very soon. I'll put it on the list.

The political climate continues to distress and depress me. The Stupak Amendment to the health care reform bill is just one glaring example of why. It is clearly the goal of far too many to restrict access to abortion to a level which would effectively make it illegal once again. It's just wrong and tragic.

And with that I should go fix S. the blackberries he has requested and convince him that we need to rest today because he is SICK!!!!

ptor is on his way home from yet another job interview. Here's hoping for the best.

S. had a bit of a cold earlier in the week (he has it the "snufflies") and now I have a sore throat and sinus stuff. Bleah. I took a nap and don't really feel any better. He's still asleep (three hours already). He was a tired guy.

The chocolate tasting is on Saturday. You really should check it out if you can. Halloween themed goodness! Come in costume for a discount at the door (discounted tickets can also be purchased online, but you really should still come in costume). I am dragging my 31-week pregnant self up on stage to perform...all you have to do is show up, eat chocolate, and watch the show.

Got our cable wiring fixed today after losing a whole bunch of channels. Not having access to Bravo (and hence, Top Chef) was the final straw and I called Comcast last night.

Not too much else...just busy and a bit stressed.

Onward and upward.

We are all still sick. I took S. to the doctor today and his ears are completely full of fluid again. They have not been clear since sometime prior to February. Urgh. We are seeing an audiologist in a few weeks as well as the doctor to see how badly his hearing is being impacted and whether or not we are getting any sort of drainage going. If it does not resolve soon we will need to explore options with an ENT. YUK. ptor and I are coughing a lot and are quite congested. We are tired. S. slept 12 hours last night and took a 3.5 hour nap this afternoon. He never sleeps that much at night. He is one tired guy.

Other than being sick, we are still working on ptor's job search. He had another interview in the city today and it went OK. Some bad, some good. We should know soon.

I have a bunch of half-started projects around the house that I need to finish. It is overwhelming sometimes.

For Easter we are going to Ardenwood Farm with my parents and aunt and uncle. We plan on a picnic, checking out the baby animals and maybe doing some of the Easter-related things going on there (golden egg hunt and Easter egg roll).

I need to finish the latest dance for the Fly Girls this week so we have time to work on it before the Day of Dance. I also need to work on planning the rest of the year in terms of choreography.

That is all for now.

Just busy.

We find out in an hour and half if S.'s ears are clear enough to fly this week. We hope they are for numerous reasons, not the least of which is we cannot wait to meet our new nephew! We are busy mostly are getting ready for the trip, cleaning and trying to get healthy. We had to buy S. new sandals for the trip as he has grown out of the ones we bought at the end of last summer (he grew out of his first pair of the year mid-summer). We also picked up a new pair of sneakers for him as he is approaching the end of his beloved Thomas sneakers. I have unearthed our swim suits and hats, summer clothes and purchased sunscreen. We still need insect repellent so we don't come back with West Nile.

In other news, Peter had three job interviews last week. He got rejected for one today (boo!) but he seems to still be in the running for another. We really hope it comes through and soon.

S. starts pre-school tomorrow. We are excited. He and ptor dropped off our TB test verifications today so we are approved to work at the school. It is a co-op and we have to work in the classroom one day a week, though I will certainly be there with S. both days he goes for a while at least.

Big Moves is mostly quiet now production wise, but we are busy dancing and training which is nice. I am working on a new piece that I and the other dancers are very excited about. I am thrilled to be using a Morphine song and our newest dancer is super-tickled by it as well. She said "I love Morphine, but I never thought of dancing to it." Yup. Not the easiest to music to work with choreographically, but I am loving the challenge and the result.

We have been trying to declutter around here and it is moving forward slowly. It can be overwhelming, but we are getting there. I am resisting the urge to dump everything in the house into a dumpster. ;-P

Speaking of houses, if and when ptor gets a job, and if the salary is in the range we are anticipating, we are going to start the process of (hopefully) buying a house. Home prices in our area have come down enough to make it a very real possibility for us. We want to be out of our current neighborhood one way or another by the time S. starts elementary school because a.) we are tired in living in crufty gangland (there are gang tags all over the place here) and b.) the elementary school and high school in our district are the worst in the city and below the standards we find acceptable for numerous reasons (e.g., beer cans strewn around the elementary school campus, gang tags at the park next door to the school, needles have been found at the park neighboring the elementary school, the high school is across the street from a liquor store and it is a bad scene and there is more violence in our area than in other parts of the city). Don't get me wrong, it is still really tame and mild here compared to some places I've lived (downtown San Jose and Oakland), but if we would like something better. We also don't need the absolute bestest of the best or anything, we just want schools that aren't quite so questionable. At first look there are plenty of homes in our price range in areas we'd be happy in so we are feeling hopeful. We are not counting our chickens, just thinking ahead.

I need to go take a shower then wake S. up for his doctor's appointment. I so hope his ears are good to go.

I cannot find my phone. I either left it in the studio yesterday or dropped it outside by the car in front of the studio. If it is the former I can count on getting it back. If it is the latter it is gone, gone, gone. I have had that phone for eight and a half years and the same number for eleven. I am not amused at this turn of events. Yes, I can go get a new one, but I really don't want to.

And since I am complaining, the left side of my face still really hurts.

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. Last week my sister was visiting from out of state. Last Saturday we had her baby shower. On Sunday she, her friend, S. and I went to the harvest festival at Ardenwood Farm. We had fun and picked lots of popping corn. Later that night I had rehearsal and then I took her to her hotel on the peninsula as she had an early morning flight out of SFO.

Monday S. and I did shopping and stuff and that night I performed with the Fly Girls at the Hubba Hubba Revue. It went OK. Crappy carpeted stage which kind of sucked, but we did OK. Saw zahraa there which was nice, spilled beer on my dress which was not so nice. S. was running around wired to the gills when I got home after midnight. ::sigh::

Tuesday I cannot even remember what S. and I did but then I had dance class Tuesday night and thankfully the shoes I accidentally left in the studio two weeks ago were still there. I really ought to write my name in them So, that was three nights in a row I was not home in the later evening or for dinner. ::double sigh::

Wednesday S. and I traveled to ptor's work for lunch with him then we went to the post office to get our mail, mail a package and purchase postcard stamps for the Big Moves mailing and that turned out to be more of an adventure than I'd hoped. I really, really hate the post office. S. is, however, endlessly fascinated by the package lockers at the post office.

Thursday we had music class, then Starbucks for a snack and tea, then the library for puzzles and new books, then Trader Joe's shopping and then a walk where S. fell asleep in the stroller and I popped a tire in the stroller after rolling over someone's random earring. Thankfully the tire pop came at the end of the walk. While S. slept and a little after I picked the remaining tomatoes and later discovered that they didn't taste all that good. I think we are done with our tomatoes for the year. S. played with the water as usual and, as usual, got soaked.

Friday S. and I took a trip into the city so I could pick up my mailing labels from Dancer's Group for our mailing. After we did that errand we picked up catzen at his work and had lunch with him. We had fun and S. watched boats and ate his first ever french fries. He also picked up the raw red onions off catzen's plate and ate those. Then we came back home and a few hours later I had to turn around and drive back up to Oakland for a dance performance. catzen attended with me and it was pretty good.

Today (Saturday) I had rehearsal in Berkeley and it was good. I am trying to bot get crushed by the anxiety around the fact that the show is in only three weeks. I got home to discover ptor and S. were gone and ptor's phone was off. I drove to Panera and, as expected, they were there, ptor sipping coffee and reading and S. sleeping in the stroller. They'd been out and about and had a trip to the library. I ordered and ate a quick lunch then we all went home and I headed back out for my hair appointment. My hair looks good even though the stylist cut my face layers shorter than I had intended and they were cut before I had a chance to say "NOOOOOO!". It actually looks really good though, so alls well that ends well.

Those have just been the events of my week. I also have been doing all the general keeping up with a two year old that has to be done, cooking and cleaning, and then a few hours of concentrated Big Moves related work every night. It has been stressful and hectic and it will not slow down for another three weeks or so. I actually have so much to do right now I do not know where to begin.

That 4X100 relay final (men's swimming) was made of awesome.

I am stunned. I actually jumped in the air and screamed.

What Lezak pulled off was nothing short of absolutely amazing.

It has been busy around here. I read livejournal, but I am so burnt by the end of the day (when I have a chance to read) that I don't ever seem to get around to posting those thoughtful, meaningful posts I intend to post. So here's what has been going on...

My sister and brother-in-law visited from Florida over Memorial Day weekend and the week following. Unfortunately, S. got sick the day before they showed up, but he was in good spirits nonetheless. That same weekend we managed to see quietshell, klwalton and Tim for a lovely but too brief visit. We had fun with my sister and BIL and they, along with my mom and I, took S. to the Children's Museum on their last day here which was very nice for all of us. He and I go a lot but it was the first time any of our family members went with us. So, family visit nice, but too short. There has been some sadness and major stress in my birth family that I cannot talk about here, so it was good to see everyone.

Speaking of going places, I am out and about with S. a lot these days. We have always done a lot outside the house, but winter and wintertime illnesses kept us at home a lot more than we liked earlier in the year. I am enjoying the warmer weather and longer days. Over the past couple of months I have taken S. to the Children's Discovery Museum a couple of times, the Oakland Zoo, the Lawrence Hall of Science, Ardenwood Farm ~ once a week for "Toddler Time" and just to go hang out with the tractors and the anmials (including Sheep Shearing Day and Fire Truck Day which fell on Sundays so we got to go as a family), Crown Beach/Crab Cove and a couple of local playgrounds. We have music class once a week and gym class once a week as well. It really, really helps to have scheduled activities and I try to make it out to a "big outing" (zoo, museum, etc.) once a week. Saturday we all go up to my rehearsals and ptor and S. (and sometimes catzen) walk all around and visit various art studios and funky shops while I dance. After rehearsal we usually go out to eat and walk around some more. We also do things like grocery shopping during the day--it is amazing what I can pack into the basket underneath S.'s stroller--it is seriously like a clown car.

Those are my days. Keeping after S., cooking and feeding us, cleaning up, planning and doing activites, shopping, etc. We have been trying to take walks every night after ptor gets home from work and I have been trying to get more efficient when preparing dinner, but it still takes quite some time. We've been baking bread and really enjoying it. I made the multigrain bread from the Cheese Board cookbook last week and everyone was a fan. Evenings are hectic with trying to cram in walks, making dinner, eating dinner, cleaning up, nursing S., bathing myself and S. and getting S. into bed.

Late at night (as in after 11pm) I am usually working on Big Moves stuff. The past few weeks I have been earnestly researching possible venues for a fall show (long story there) and it has been incredibly time consuming and quite frustrating at times. I also recently (back in January) became the co-artistic director of the Fly Girls sharing that job with Matilda (I am still the director of Big Moves here in the bay, but that is an administrative position, not artistic.) This means I am doing a lot more choreography than I was before and I somehow have to squeeze that in between 11pm and 2am. I am currently working on two new dances for the group (one lyrical and one jazz/burlesque) and I have another Broadway-style jazz I need to turn out in the next few months. I am doing the bulk of teaching at rehearsals now and am training all the dancers in jazz/lyrical movement and skills. I am really enjoying it. I am so glad I am finally getting a chance to work on serious technique within Big Moves. It is also fascinating to me how much dance knowledge I actually do have. It is no surprise as I took ~7-10 hours of classes a week for nearly five years, not to mention all the work I have done with Big Moves, but it has been a bit of a revelation to me how much is there as I slowly unpack it all for others. Don't know if that makes sense.

So, that is a lot of what is going on here.

We have a garden that is finally starting to thrive thanks to ptor spending so much time hunting snails at night. The Early Girls are setting fruit and my chard and lettuce (in barrels) are doing quite well. I finally got bean sprouts that survived the snails, so I am hoping something happens with them.

Our stove crapped out in about five different fantastic ways and our landlord came by today and poked it with a stick and agreed to buy us a new one. He noted the lawn was a bit brown (yeah, well, it was dead when we moved in and I had to re-seed) and I agreed to re-seed some more and water more. Although, we pay for our water and I am not going to water that much to keep a stupid lawn green in the hot summer. Especially since there is not sprinkler system and we have to and water. And if our water gets rationed he can forget about his lawn. Seriously.

I need a new computer. Another post about that later.

I am reading Margaret Atwood's "Blind Assassin" and am enjoying it. I read "Cat's Eye" and "The Robber Bride" earlier in the year. Just prior to this I re-read Marge Piercy's "Braided Lives"--I had only read it once before. I liked it more than I remembered. It is sad and powerful.

I need to pick up my crochet again. I need to produce some more baby hats and finish the goldfish I started for S. a while back.

Time for some work then bed.