kcobweb

The other day, Elena was flipping through her favorite books about the planets, and said "Mom, dwarf means small, right?" Some time later, she commented, "Next year, when Pluto grows up, it will be a REAL planet." I engaged in a brief discussion with her about how planets don't really grow that way, and so I didn't think.... but she was completely uninterested in my point, so I dropped it.

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Nice weekend. Friday, galagan had the day off (because the markets were closed) and Elena went to school, so the two of us got to hang out all morning, no pressure and no kid..... It was very nice. Then he took off to play poker, and I pretended to do school work all afternoon. (ha!) Saturday, I got up and went to work, which was workish, and then came home and read my book while galagan slept off that poker binge. Last night we went to kassrachel's seder, with samtheeagle in tow, and it was lovely and low-key and yummy. Parsley, horseradish, charoset..... these things make me happy. We came home and put E to bed very late and then stayed up extra late talking with Sam himself. Got up this morning, gave Elena some chocolate, went to breakfast with Sam, and then waved goodbye to him. Since then, we've just had a quiet lazy Sunday - I've done a little school work, and there's reading and snacks. And leftovers for dinner. :)

Hmmm, it sure seems like there's been a lot going on. We had a playdate yesterday that was a real downer, mostly because the other mother spent a large percentage of the visit complaining about how difficult her daughter is. Her daughter is a little overwhelming and bossy, yes, but I have not seen the horrible horrible child her mother depicts. It was very depressing. I want to like this woman (among other reasons, because our daughters are friends), but she was making it a tad difficult.

Also, galagan is back, woooooooo! Elena was starting to get X-tra whiny, but with his return, she has once again become a mostly delightful child. Whew.

She has been telling me stories. Detailed stories with great narration. She uses phrases like "she said" and "he explained" and "he moaned" and "she wailed" correctly and to great effect. She gets really into dramatic voices too. Last night's story was about her and Ariel and a boy from the library who were all mermaids and then turned into humans, and then into princesses, and they were wearing a blue dress and a yellow dress and a pink dress. (E had the pink dress, of course.) Today's story started out with Owl and Rabbit and Piglet in the Hundred Acre Wood but expanded to include all kinds of other characters and had a dramatic plane crash and dinosaurs. (The stories are dramatic, but they don't necessarily make sense yet - give her a few years to work on her plots.)

My classes for the next quarter start today! In one of my classes is someone who lives here in Williamstown! (The closest classmate I've yet encountered was in Fitchburg, I think.) We may actually get to meet face-to-face, which would be a first for me in this program. Also, one of the classes is Public Library Service, in which we examine all aspects of public libraries. One of our assignments later in the course is to read a bestselling book, preferably in a genre we might not typically choose for ourselves. Which would you pick for yourself? For me? I generally will categorically refuse to read bestsellers because I am a snob they just don't interest me. I see a couple of options there - I refuse to read horror and I'd rather not read an action thriller type. My dad said to read the Grisham, but that seems like cheating, as I have voluntarily read Grisham in the past. Maybe The Host, for the giggles? The Picoult, though I think I'd read that voluntarily too? Decisions, decisions.... (This will likely end up hinging on which book I can easily check out first from the library. But it's still fun to ponder.)

I suddenly remembered last night that I had already bought a birthday present for galagan (turns 39 on Thursday) - but couldn't remember where I'd stashed it. Whew, I just turned it up. Now I don't have to tear the whole house apart.

I've had such a good weekend! ( Read more... )

When I look at my recent entries, I realize that I haven't made a Real Post in like forEVAR. So I think I'll try - but it may end up being a random laundry list.

* School is good. This has been an unexpectedly easy quarter, which is lovely and nice. I am surviving Stats, and maybe even understand some of it. (I have an AWESOME prof - that helps.) And the quarter is almost done. Dang, quarters go fast...... In 3 weeks I will be 1/4 of the way through the entire degree!

* Work is good. I like my crappy, low-paying job, and that's a nice realization. And someday, the economy will shift and there will once again be job openings, and I can hope to move on from this to something bigger and more challenging. All in good time (I hope).

* Elena is about to turn 4. 4!! Yes, I know. She is roughly 8 feet tall and talks a blue streak when she gets going...... We had a playdate this morning and I can tell she really likes this particular mom, because she talks about her (as opposed to talking about her child) before they even showed up, and once they got here, she would not shut up! She kept bringing books and toys to K to show off to her.

She was poking through our DVDs last week, and pulled out The Little Mermaid. (Yes, I own it. Shut up.) She was instantly drawn to it, and has watched it every day since. (Actually - she's only allowed to watch it once a day, and we've gotten it so that she watches half of the movie per day - that's 45 minutes, and about as long as her attention span will really go.) This is her first movie obsession (in that toddler way of watching the same movie over and over and over and over) - and it's not THAT bad. She has absolutely no problems with Ursula the Sea Witch. (Let me point out that she won't watch Sesame Street anymore - though she loves it - because she's afraid of Cookie Monster, despite my repeated statements that he's a very nice monster who just gets a little excited sometimes...... But Ursula is no problem? Sheesh.)

So let's add mermaids to the obsession list of princesses and ballerinas.

She's always telling me about her sisters (usually represented by dolls). Sometimes they get time-outs for no apparent reason. It's always a little horrifying to watch her parody of parental discipline and wonder if that's how we appear to her.

She is completely madly utterly head-over-heels in love with me right now. She's so affectionate too, which means she'll launch herself at me for a full body hug and lots of kisses. If she knocks me over, so much the better. This also means, in the balancing scale which is parenting, that she's totally not into Daddy right now. This is okay - he knows how it goes, and that eventually it will shift back again. But this did lead to an amusing conversation yesterday when I left for rehearsal:

Me: I'm going - now you be nice to Daddy, okay?
Her: Okay. I won't push him.
[pause]
Me: Okay, don't yell at him either.

I need to plan a birthday party for her..... My mom will be here all next week (leading up to E's birthday), so that will be help on some fronts, and also more work entertaining the house guest, etc. etc.

* I have read so many good books in the last month or so! Some of the recent favorites: Graceling, Feed, Fires of the Faithful, Uglies (!!!!!!), the Sharing Knife series, the Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, Spiral Hunt, Rapunzel's Revenge. Mmmmm, good stuff.

* I am sick. This sucks. The first symptom was general malaise and total brain-dead-ness. I've been staring off into space a lot. Now it's mostly a terrible sore throat.

* The timing is particularly bad, because classes just ended and my brain left just before everything was due. Fortunately, I'd done the bulk of the work already, so most of my final review process consisted of "well, these all seem to be complete sentences, so I guess I'm probably good to go." ::click submit::

* I am now done with my first quarter! Vacation!

* galagan left today to go to Las Vegas with boylawyer and his lovely wife and elklad and a few other somebodies? I don't begrudge him the trip at all, but I'm really not in the right frame of mind to be fulltime single parenting. See above re: sick. I have about a thimbleful of patience right now, and it's being continuously overturned by a whiny child. So to speak.

* I am making a beef stew, because I was randomly craving something like that last week, and the departure of the house vegetarian means it's time to cook meat! I never cook meat, so I feel like such a clueless idiot whenever I do. Wait, is this right? Is that? Aaaagh. So far, it smells lovely though, so I'm calling it good.

I'm sure there are other insightful and pithy comments I could make or updates I could update on, but my brain is at the dribblin' down da brain level, so I'll wrap it up. Back to watching bad TV and playing silly games.

I had one final question I was stuck on for the homework assignment, and galagan was in here, and asked me about it. I said "see, I put this term here and then I put this term here and then I get nothing."

He said, "Watch, while I'm standing here, this time it will work."

And do you know what? IT DID. Same search terms as the previous 10 attempts, swear to the gods, and this time I had a whole page of results.

I've already told him that I want him to just stand behind my chair for our final exam.

Whew. It's been a crazy couple of days. My Dad's been here visiting, which has its own set of Stuff -n- Issues. More later on that, perhaps.

School is good. I am doing well in my classes, and the workload is manageable - I'm only taking 2, so it's not that bad. My biggest fear - posting enough on the discussion boards - seems to be unfounded and I'm even doing okay (or oaky) on that front. (I always hated class participation. I'm better about that stuff than when I was 18, certainly, but it's still sometimes a struggle.)

Work is good too. I've been totally swamped lately, but in a good way, I suppose. Let me just say that I hate shelving picture books. They are all oversized (or strange shapes) and so thin, and easily pushed behind each other, and each author has about 14 different titles to rummage through. And a medium-sized stack is a million books (roughly) and just that much takes forever. Give me chapter books, any day. :)

Today I drove my dad to the airport - saw my first snow of the season crossing the small rise on Route 7 just past the Vermont border (just flakes blowing around in the air). What a cold day, too! While in the Big City, I ran a bunch of errands. I went into a JoAnn Fabrics Etc., and was stunned by the huge range of crafty stuff there (the words "You've never seen such a place!" entered my head).

I just got a call from Obama people asking me to volunteer, and the bitch nasty person.... no, bitch made me feel bad for saying that I was swamped and couldn't volunteer. Thanks a bunch. I should have chewed her out, instead of just sharing my frustration with y'all. Sometimes I wish I were a leetle more confrontational, and a little less passive about these things.

It occurred to me that I haven't been listing books here lately - and I'm not sure I'm going to catch up. Um, I do track them via Goodreads (which you can see on my Facebook page too). If you strenuously object, and you need my reading lists to be a regular feature of your life or something - tell me that, and I'll see what I can do. Maybe I'll post the highlights for my adoring fans.

* I registered for two classes, and we've started! They are both intro-level this-is-what-library-science-is kind of things - I think I'll have episodes of confusion as to which readings and assignments are for which class..... but there are a handful of people in the same classes, so we'll all be confused together.

* The online system seems to work well so far, EXCEPT that it doesn't work well with Firefox 3, so they recommend using IE instead. Argh. I hate IE. It's making me crazy.

* So far the readings are pretty good - surprisingly readable, and self-deprecating, zany and irreverent in their tone and humor (one of them quotes George Carlin). I'm hopeful that this trend will continue. Or are they trying to lure us in and get us comfortable, and then hit us with massive tomes of dryness and boredom? :)

* I already contributed one tiny little post (in response to someone else's) on the discussion board for one class. Look at me doing class participation!!! (I was never good at that in college.)

* My computer has been faltering lately, in small ways - this is not good, as I am now dependent on it for Very Important Things. So I took the plunge and bought myself a new laptop the other day. It should be here next week sometime (I hope). The extra memory and speediness should be handy.

* My mother arrives tonight for a long visit! She can be an extra pair of hands, which is good because galagan is going out of town for a few days. We might go to PA to see my sister for a few days too. I have to figure all this out, because I have HOMEWORK, people.

* I have lots of ideas of Things I want to do while Mom is here. Apple-picking. See the Dear Jane quilt at the Bennington Museum. Go shopping. Cheese-making. Do mucho cooking. See above about how to fit everything in. Yeah.

* I have a bug bite on my foot which itches like crazy. Elena has some terrible ones on her legs. Go away, bugs.

* My head is still spinning a little, just from the whiplash of my life. :)

* did laundry (I'm going away for a long weekend, so I need clean clothes)
* sent my itinerary to my mom again
* picked basil and made pesto
* cooked chickpeas and made hummus
* printed out a letter and resume for a job opportunity that has been presented to me (nothing exciting - just a few hours, low pay - it's basically just for the glory. More to come if I actually get it).
* helped galagan muck around on the roof - seeing if there are any visible problems that could have caused the leak the other night (not particularly), plus cutting some branches that were overhanging the roof and sweeping leaves and shit off.
* got an email from Drexel that they got my online application, and now I just need to send them X, Y and Z. And transcripts from my colleges - which were sent weeks ago.
* have heart attack
* call Drexel and get it all straightened out (I think) - they seem to have them, just they were laying about somewhere else.
* eat lunch (still in progress)
* see that my sister's boyfriend has changed his status on Facebook from "In a relationship" to "engaged". I knew this already (of course) - this is just the most public announcement I've seen thus far. They are keeping it very cool and on the down-low. Not going to have a big fancy wedding. Still! My baby sister! :)

Next: errand-running and volunteering at the library

* galagan is back from the Yukon, and had a great time. Perhaps if you all clamor, he will write up more of it in his LJ. Go, clamor. Show him the love. :)

* Elena was beyond thrilled that her daddy came back. I wish I could say that her behavior has turned around completely - but she's still acting up terribly. Mainly testing every limit she can think of / find. Also, she's having terrible trouble with petty decisions: I will ask something simple like "do you want the pink skirt or the blue skirt?" and she will change her mind 14 times, then say "blue". Then as I start to put the blue skirt on her, she *screams*, "NO, PINK! PINK! PINK!" I reach for the pink.... well, we go through several iterations of this, until everyone's exhausted. Then we go on to the next decision..... :( Srsly, it sucks. We've tried calmly explaining to her that she just has to pick, and we don't *care* which skirt she wears (or whatever) but thus far, that hasn't really worked. She has a temper and she's easily frustrated. In short: there's a lot of yelling (from everyone, unfortunately) going on.

* I have been waiting to submit my other school applications until I get my letters from my second reference. I've started feeling really impatient..... This afternoon, I got an email from her assistant that they've been put in the mail; they should be here in a few days, and I can package them up with my other stuff and send them off. And then do more waiting.

* Synchronized diving rocks! Stupid beach volleyball does not.

* In 10 days, I get to go ALL BY MYSELF for a long weekend to my cousin's wedding. Woo!