Yes, after two weeks of anguish and angst, we have liftoff of a work albatross! Bye bye, little albatross!
AW: The buddy system. Everybody needs an editor. I got suggestions Sunday night, and in the middle of the night from someone on vacation overseas. Loyal colleagues, or what?
W: Daughter is going to be late for work. Again. I know she doesn't like the current job, but getting fired seems like a bad career move. Also, I should just stuff a sock in it, and stop playing the part of the Human Alarm Clock.
Wildlife report: Kittens are all doing great! Tiny is less tiny each day, full of vim and vigor. The whole bunch are really funny and loving. Two of the kittens from the last batch have gotten adopted!
AW: My beloved has been working out his angst with yard projects. He just finished about 50 feet of fence on a steep slope -- posts set in cement, cross-supports, shoring up the underbelly to discourage critters and drift of dirt, and fence boards cut to size and angle. Many trips to the home improvement depot; lots of fun with power tools.
What's up with you guys?
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In a similar parenting department whine:
Sweet was disappointed this morning when she did not get to watch tv this morning while I was showering. All because she was a slowpoke getting her clothes on. Mama is taking the long view, in which we will need to be at kinder 45 minutes before we were at preschool. Mama is not wanting to get up 45 minutes earlier, so this process needs speeding up. Getting you where it hurts, kid. Maybe it will work.
Hooray for departing albatrossi.
I will not be a bitch. I will not be a bitch. That is all.
Not about you, Esperanza. You're a superhero.
Had a refreshing and fulfilling weekend.
Saturday, spent the day with folks from all around the country who are affiliated with the organization whose state affiliate I raise money for (pr0ch0!ce activists). And it was amazing and inspiring and enriching and wonderful.
And then I went to church and talked about it during the "joys" part of "joys and sorrows". Bragging on my pr0ch0!ce activist experience at my church, that is a welcoming and loving congregation.
Then I went out for drinks with the activists and bragged on my church being supportive of my bragging on the organization. "UU?" asked an activist. "YES". And we all laughed and laughed.
But I pointed out that UCC would have been a good guess too. And reform Judaism, except then I wouldn't have called it "church".
And I met a bloggy tweety friend I've been blogging and tweeting with since the days of Dr. Bitch, PhD.
esperanza, you are a rockstar.
(((Kathy)))
Liz! That's so wonderful, all of it. You are in a great congregation. And doing good work.
...add a few Presbyterian congregations to your list, if I may speak up for my peeps.
"I will not be a bitch" is a fairly good mantra. I may take it on.
W: I will adjust to summer and having the Baboos home with me every live long minute, right?
Liz: that sounds like a wonderful weekend.
Medals of Bravery in the Face of Daughterly Lateness for both esperanza and kathy a.
AW: We've had a good long weekend! Here's a picture of our packing progress. (I sure hope I remembered my HTML correctly.)
W: it's so stressful! What if something goes wrong this week?
W: Sweet now has Mystery Fever with Whiny-ness. So she can't go to the last day of school tomorrow. Which is also my birthday. Wah.
Esperanza: any camps still have spots for Baboos? Anyone you can persuade into kidlet trade-offs?
Lookin' good, QWP!! Something will go wrong, but never fear! You can just stuff leftover things in bags and boxes at the last minute, buy extra pizza and beer for the friends you dragoon into helping, and call it a move. :)
Oh, Esperanza! This calls for brief outings to get what mama wants, long stretches of whatever silly video she will watch without stirring, and an early daddy arrival to take care of things.
Happy Birthday! xoxoxo
Oh no, esperanza! Your birthday! Will this affect your dinner plans with your friend?
(I hope you manage a happy birthday, and that the Mystery Fever goes away quickly.)
Daddy has already agreed to take evening duty, so I can go to birthday festivities at the Kindergarten Parent meeting and then supper with my friend. I'm holding him to it. Hoping he can take them on Friday, when I already have things planned in Big City. I was going to take them with me, but it would be more fun by myself.
Esperanza. One does not hope; one must insist, seeing how you're about to spend an entire Wild Baboo Summer, and also there's a birthday going on. Which I believe entitles you to everything all week. Isn't that the rule?
I believe it is the rule, especially for a large # birthday that begins with 4 and ends with 0.
However around here, plans are always contingent upon someone dying or being seriously sick.
in...2011, I had just weaned Mini around the first of May. I was desperate to be away by myself. So that was my gift, an entire day--15 hours I think--away from home. I had a wonderful time.
Happy Birthday Esperanza!!!!!!
Kathy a. I love your mantra, and would consider it for myself, but my new mantra is to try to take on only things I think I can manage to do,.....
and, alas, I do not think I can succeed at your mantra. Definitely not until school is over. and actually, then I will be home with bored offspring, so definitely not then either. Oh well.
At least here you think I am nice, but I fear that is because you don't really have to live with me!
--Neighbor Lady
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ESPERANZA!!!! And you may definitely add the Presbyterians to the list. I was going by My County's Churches and knew that we've got a pro-Equal Marriage contingents in the Episcopal church and others, but I don't know where most of 'em are on Choice.
For us, choice is equally as controversial as equal marriage rights. Not as discussed. I imagine the lines fall in the same places. Sigh.
Great mantra kathy a!! And yay on the work albatross. WooHoo!
I'll second the nominations for Bravery in the face of daughterly lateness for kathy and esperanza.
Liz that sounds like such a wonderful weekend! Yay for you and yay for your church!!
NL - we like you for you, and all your pixie wonderfulness!!
AW: Long weekend here. Hubby and I spent the day watching Inspector Lewis episodes on n*tfl&x. And getting the balcony ready for eventual bbq action. It was a good day.
W: Should I be concerned that the very best sort of day for me is a day when I don't have to open the door and go anywhere?
NL, I find it hard to believe that you're a terrible person. Even under the stress of school, or home with bored kids. Maybe feeling a little testy sometimes, but who isn't?
That's kind of an interesting set of points about marriage equality and right to choose. I think marriage equality has gone past the tipping point, and it is all but done nationally -- maybe in part because this is a Public issue, being legally recognized, and there is no traction on legal issues against that right.
On the other hand, the right to choose is intensely personal. Not public. And the people trying to intrude on that, trying to butt in, are counting on the folks who might need that choice for their own PERSONAL reasons not going all public. It's a nasty campaign.
And I can see discussion of the latter not coming up as much in communities like churches.
Good distinction between public and personal. Theoretically, in a church setting, there would be no public/private distinction in morality. It's either moral or it's not, because the "public" isn't the audience. I think. It's a bit early and I'm a bit foggy.
Sweet has no fever this morning, and is Very Sad that she is missing Water Fun Day at school. I think I have placated her by offering Fun! Times! With! Mommy! on the upholstery project. (Side note, it's amazing how interested she is in this chair. And how un-interested Mini is).
I'm kind of hoping that pro-choice congregations might want to come out and do clinic escorting during the anti-choice congregations' "Forty Days for Life" campaigns. Show the opposition that they don't own the Divine View on abortion.
I agree that the need to behave in a moral way doesn't shift depending on if the issue is private or public.
But "morality" can be a complex problem; there are many situations where the answer is not clearcut, and competing concerns must be weighed. We know for sure there are people who would like very much to impose their standards on everybody else.
I like the Forty Days idea Liz - that would be great!
I agree that morality is a complex human matter. Unfortunately, the people most strongly opposed to both equal marriage and a woman's right to choose, don't see any murky areas at all. The anti-choice people see the issue so clearly that they don't see anything else (for example, they will "protect" all the babies, but then stop caring once the babies are born). The blinders go up and extremism goes to work.
Keep up the good work Liz - the world needs more voices on the side of reason and justice.
W: I wish I could send the rain we're having today to put out wildfires. :(
What Sue said. I'm with making sure the babies that have arrived are loved and wanted and have food, medical care, shelter, homes that aren't chaotic and damaging, educational opportunities -- all areas where those of the Puntitive Brand of Morality seek to punish families with less.
The same people tend to be strongly in favor of the death penalty -- having state employees carry out the most premeditated of all homicides -- to demonstrate their opposition to killin'. Go figure. (Even though capital punishment is more expensive than life without parole! Apparently "love the sinner" doesn't extend to sharing air with them.)
My deepest sympathies to anyone who has lost somebody to violent crime. As it happens, we lost a colleague last summer in a terrible way. But her family felt that killing the perp would not be a good memorial to her; it's enough that he never gets out. That's some kind of grace and enlightenment, in my opinion.
BTW, I am sorry if I'm coming across as being judgy of folks who are not pr0ch0ice.
I realize we have all views here on WW, and I don't want anyone to feel unwelcome or less valued by me if you have a different view.
That being said, I do love that we have represented here folks who are not just members but ministers of welcoming and pr0ch0ice churches.
XOOXOXO
Well, Spot the cat continues to be all fraught about the baby cats. It's not fair, he cries. Apparently he has issues about them being fed wet food, and also they are cute. And then there was an incident where I put Puny on the floor to meet him, and Puny hissed in his tiny ineffectual fashion -- and Spot did some major hissing and ran off. Which scared the tiny cat, but... Apparently I am teaching social skills to non-humans. Some are more ready to learn. ;)
Peeking back for a quick visit: good and lively conversation here this week! Happy birthday to esperanza, and I'm glad that Sweet hasn't been too high maintenance today.
AW: I had a good appointment with my GP today, and she's really understanding of my wish to switch to a different OBGYN, and she was actually more informative about treatment options than my specialist was. The best part of it was that she listened to me, and respected my choices (ding ding ding we have a theme this week!), which my OBGYN really wasn't doing.
Good news, QWP!
Yay QWP!!!!
W: I have a corn on my toe.
AW: ? At least it's not something worse?
that's all.
except: you seem to be awesome at teaching social skills to cats, kathy a. Perhaps you would like to try your hand with a few small humans as well....? I have quite a number you could choose from, including my own at times!
AW: But, tonight, after a very stressful work day, my own 6th grader made dinner tonight. hugely appreciated, so I guess I can't really complain.
And yet, I do. apparently, a lot. Thank goodness for the pixies because everyone else is tired of hearing it!
:)
--Neighbor Lady
There's a new motto, NL! ....because everyone else is tired of hearing it! (Pixies never get tired of it).
That 6th grader is a keeper, I'd say. QWP, hooray for a doctor who has functioning ears!
Lol! "because everyone else is tired of hearing it!" Yep. (true in my case, for sure)
Yay for a good doc QWP!
That's an awesome 6th grader you've got NL!
AW: New dishwasher being installed today!!!!! It's earlier than expected, and sooooooooo welcome.
New dishwasher, arriving before June! Hooray! *happy dance* What a relief, Sue!
NL, we'll never tire of hearing about it (and that new motto suits me so well). I was just wondering how you were doing, with the end of the school year approaching. (And what a good kids you have!)
(And sympathies regarding the toe corn. I'm dealing with one too.)
W: moving with a teething toddler. Did I mention that she's cutting four molars at once? She's handling it better than she handled the first few teeth, but there are still a few extra emotions, and a bit more wakefulness.
AW: baby painkillers, and my kid's new enthusiasm regarding medicine. (I gave her a clean medicine syringe, and she administers medicine to her toys.) Also, last night I convinced her that, if she wakes up and get mouth hurts, she can chew Bunny's ears.
(I'm thankful regarding her medicine enthusiasm, because until recently she hated it and fought me the whole time. That made life a nightmare when she had a throat infection.)
Moving and Teething should never have to be in the same sentence. :(
Foot confession: no corns, but alas, a bunion. It makes wearing pumps on Sundays a bit uncomfortable. Sigh.
NL, yay for your 6th grader! That is really wonderful. Sure, I'll borrow your kittens any time. ;)
Oh, Sue. The dishwasher is early!! That is a fabulous AW.
QWP, that's some good mama magic, persuading the small one to be cooperative with the meds. Kudos!
Had a thing; got some hard conversation out of the way. Man, it's not even noon and I'm pooped.
The babies were all slumbering in a laundry basket when I got home. Then my beloved came home and riled everybody up, and next thing you know -- he went in to rescue daughter's camera, which had been taken hostage by the big kittens and was in the process of being pummeled to death, and he closed the drawer to her dresser before realizing the littler ones were MISSING. Yep. Babies in the drawer.
AW: (may this not jinx it). The Baboos have been playing together nicely for 2.5 hours. No fights. Only one mess that required my intervention. I have no idea what stars have aligned to make this happen.
W: The mess accompanying this miracle, is of course, spectacular.
yahoo, esperanza! we'll just send over a small bulldozer for the mess. ;)
Further AW: they (with my help and direction, natch) cleaned up the mess relatively quickly. Wow.
Yay for Messy Baboo Miracles!
And babies in the drawer (I'm dying from imagining the cuteness).
New dishwasher = perfection.
Yay for new dishwasher! Yay for baboos on disaster clean-up with no fighting. Yay for Kittens! Kittens in a drawer!
Hooray for a new dishwasher! (Side note: our first apartment did not have a dishwasher. So when we moved into the house at Mr. E's first church, we dubbed it "the magic white box."
W: Two nights in a row of insufficient sleep. Like half enough. Mini is coughing, coughing, coughing. And a bit of a fever last night. So we're headed to the pediatrician. Missing Sweet's preschool "graduation" (which I think is a bit silly, but she was excited about it). Mini is distraught, way more upset than Sweet was the other day. Lack of sleep is not making me very kind or sympathetic. Loooonnnng day ahead, I fear.
Bleah on not enough sleep. I've been sleeping fine until 2:30 a.m., then tossing the rest of the night. Does not do a lot for brain function.
Hope Mini is feeling better!
Kittens are all going back for a checkup. The bigger two will have their surgeries today, and be up for adoption this weekend! The littler two (drawer kittens) will return until they achieve 2 lbs.
We're supposed to keep the kittens in one room. Foster Grandpa rigged a kitten gate! We have an old wooden card table of my grandmother's, which fits perfectly in the door frame; extend a leg for stability, and voila! (Don't think a standard baby gate would work, since these babies are climbers.) We can watch the silliness without risking mass escapes! They all come running over when someone comes to visit!
Standard baby gate's holes are too big, I imagine.
Mystery Fever with Snot and Coughing turns out to be strep. Huh. She says her throat doesn't hurt. Can we keep Daddy from getting it before his surgery Tuesday? Tune in for more whining!
Ack! Not strep! Well, I'm sure the entire preschool is grateful that y'all did not share this special gift.
Weird dream division: last night, had a very vivid dream that I had big swollen lymph glands on my neck. Must have been channeling the Mystery Fever.
Aw, I hope Mini feels better soon. (((esperanza)))
Great kitten gate idea kathy!
I am going to award myself the Person Who Got Zero Done This Morning medal - then I'm going to take it away because someone who spent the morning in my slug-like state shouldn't get a medal.
That is all.
Sue, I could share that award with you, most days.
Esperanza: oh no! I'm so sorry about the strep!
AW: our suite is completely ready! Finished and clean, two days before we move in! I'm so relieved. No more delays!
W: the need to coordinate people helping us move. And we haven't heard back yet from the phone company about when they'll come hook things up at the new place. They'd better not take too long.
Yay for moving day!! I hope all the necessary coordination goes smoothly.
Happy moving, QWP! I do not envy you, except for the brand new suite part.
AW: Mini took a two hour nap and is already asleep (thank you, melatonin). She seems much improved already. Whew. Now for the rest of us to avoid catching it.
W: oh my goodness, there is SO MUCH TO DO TODAY! I basically need to get the rest of the apartment packed, minus things we absolutely need. And I really want to take E to library group today. Okay. Finding ways not to exhaust myself today.
AW: I think E will be more cooperative today if she can go to library time, and leave the apartment.
AW: so glad we live in an air conditioned apartment today! It's going to be hot. (Most of the pixies, but especially esperanza and kathy a would find my definition of "hot weather" to be adorable. It's going up to 30C/86F today!)
86F is hot to me!
Best with the packing, QWP! Library sounds like a grand idea. The stuff will all get moved, one way or another.
Glad Mini is on the mend!
All the baby cats came back -- some miscommunication. Yay! They did not like being caged all day, no they did not, so there was crazy cat partying.
Library group sounds like a good plan QWP. A quiet respite for both of you on a hectic weekend.
30 degrees!!!! Awesome. We have a bright globe shining in the sky but we will hit 21-22 if we're lucky. It's only room temp, but it's not snow, right?
Hooray for the return of the baby cats!
AW: we survived library time!
I'm not supposed to mention how a kitten captured and got wrapped in someone's underwear while purring festively, so I won't elaborate.
Kittens! I needed that story today.
QWP, it was 86F here today, and super humid. Our air conditioner is running, so it's not out of reason to consider it "hot." We've had an unseasonably nice May...what does that mean for summer? We'll see.
Old Skool
W: After 15 months or so of me having a short haircut, Mr E finally confesses he likes it better long (which I already knew; his lack of comment was speaking loudly).
W: Regardless of that, and as a stalling technique (not crazy about growing it out), I went for a haircut today and requested "a trim, only on the bottom. Keep the top like it is." With the first snip of the scissors, I was doomed. 1/2" at least, all around. Sigh.
AW: it's hair. It will grow back.
An unrelated funny
Mr. E is having plastic surgery on the tip of his nose next week. Partly for looks, mostly for function. He has only told the church he is having "minor elective surgery." I'm pretty sure most of them assume he's having a vasectomy...most of them are not privy to our infertility saga.
Oh, Esperanza. Would it be impolite to snort? Won't someone notice just where the bandage is?
I'm snorting away. I'm sure they'll notice post-surgery, but the advance speculation is funny.
For instance, someone said to me, "just call us for a night of babysitting. You'll want a date night before the surgery." Mmm hmm.
Oh, you should definitely call. :)
Esperanza - HILARIOUS!!!
Tween Son has found a non-maternal alarm clock that is working for him. Praise the Pixie Spirits!! This mama hates mornings and wakings and is looking forward to school being out for the summer!!
W/AW: I am currently very happy with a unexpected situation but it is a sea change from what people expect from me.
W/AW: I am really not into being on the bleeding edge of barrier busting but I have done it before and I will do it again.
W/AW: But maybe wait out the summer first? I'm sure lots can go wrong before I have to deal with certain ramifications, right?
Miranda! Yay about the regular alarm clock. All the rest sounds very mysterious, but you go, sister!
Lol esperanza!! Make the call, have the date night, then watch their faces when they see the bandage on Mr. E's nose. Fun with Rumours!!
Go Miranda! I'm in favour of non-Mom alarm clocks every time.
AW: Sitting. On. The. Balcony.
Dear Winter: You lose. Signed, Me.
Bought new bras. Wacoal now makes G cups! My remembering what it's all abouts are singing the theme to An Officer and a Gentleman.
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