Having three children in a single house is chaotic and does not lead to good nights of sleep. If one wakes up, the others stir, too, and therefore, so do their parents.
I should have blogged earlier in the evening to fulfill my NaBloPoMo obligations, but I didn't. It means that my brain is dead now and I can't really think of much to say. We still love Bend. We're having a great time again and finding even more great things about this town. Michael skiied this morning and loved it. I did a bit of Christmas shopping in the downtown.
That's the whole story for today.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Coincidence? I Think Not!
The Moomintrolls are taking over! Just the other day, I was writing about the glorious wonders of the Moomintroll books. Tonight, after a lovely Thai meal, we browsed in a couple used bookstores to draw out our date night a bit. And there, on a few shelves of new books, were FOUR of the Moomintroll books. With accolades on the covers by Neil Gaiman of all people. One of them was one I haven't ever read, but it is Buy Nothing Day and we'd already skirted the concept by buying a meal.
Date Night!
That's really all there is today. I'm getting a night out with my sweet husband! We've had a day with kids and we'll provide daycare tomorrow night for our daycare providers tonight. I'm not sure where we're eating yet, but I'm sure it will be tasty!
It doesn't happen very often, date night, so it's exciting.
It doesn't happen very often, date night, so it's exciting.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Things I'm Thankful For
Michael has just gone to bed. I'm waiting up for friends who are having a longer drive than I think they expected. We will celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow with Crescent City friends and an old friend from King Salmon. Darcy is sound asleep. The house is warm. I'm typing this on our new computer that is, at least for now, replacing the two that were stolen last week.
I have a job. Michael has a job. We have excellent health insurance, two working vehicles, and a house that is slowly, but surely becoming the house we want it to be. Sort of.
Darcy loves school and learns something every day. When I ask her how her day was when I pick her up, she says, "Great!" When I ask what her favorite part of the day was, she says, "Everything!" She is healthy and happy. She reads and writes and counts and plays. She has a new favorite fairy and has insisted on blue clothes for three days now to honor that fairy.
We live in an incredibly beautiful place. Any day we want, we can see the Pacific Ocean and the beautiful rocky coastline. We can see the tallest trees in the world in their fern and moss world. It rains. A lot. And that's what makes the redwoods spectacular and our rivers clean and clear.
My work is busy. My hours were cut in the first real expression of the recession in our household. In 32 hours each week, I try to cram the same amount of work I used to do in 40. But every day, I do something that helps people and that lets me think about and write about food and agriculture and gardening. And in those extra eight hours I have outside of work each week, I manage to get our yard a little tamer, cook a good soup, work on our house, and just generally get a bit more living done.
I am getting to go to New York for Christmas for the first time in three years. I hope to catch up with good friends I haven't seen in too long. I will get to see my extended family. I will visit Ashokan and see in person the huge, but positive changes that have been happening since my last visit.
Michael will be Willy Wonka in March. Every day, we will watch Darcy learn more, do more, and become her own even more interesting self. I will get to help several communities figure out how they most want to improve their food system and find ways for them to achieve some of their dreams.
I have many, many reasons to be thankful. Given the current state of our national economy, just having a job, a house, and health insurance is a wonderful place to be in and we have so much more. I have a most amazing husband and a daughter who leaves me in awe at her talents. Every one of my days start and end with kisses and hugs from them. I am incredibly lucky and I am grateful.
It is now after midnight. It is the 24th day of November and of NaBloPoMo. It is also Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
I have a job. Michael has a job. We have excellent health insurance, two working vehicles, and a house that is slowly, but surely becoming the house we want it to be. Sort of.
Darcy loves school and learns something every day. When I ask her how her day was when I pick her up, she says, "Great!" When I ask what her favorite part of the day was, she says, "Everything!" She is healthy and happy. She reads and writes and counts and plays. She has a new favorite fairy and has insisted on blue clothes for three days now to honor that fairy.
We live in an incredibly beautiful place. Any day we want, we can see the Pacific Ocean and the beautiful rocky coastline. We can see the tallest trees in the world in their fern and moss world. It rains. A lot. And that's what makes the redwoods spectacular and our rivers clean and clear.
My work is busy. My hours were cut in the first real expression of the recession in our household. In 32 hours each week, I try to cram the same amount of work I used to do in 40. But every day, I do something that helps people and that lets me think about and write about food and agriculture and gardening. And in those extra eight hours I have outside of work each week, I manage to get our yard a little tamer, cook a good soup, work on our house, and just generally get a bit more living done.
I am getting to go to New York for Christmas for the first time in three years. I hope to catch up with good friends I haven't seen in too long. I will get to see my extended family. I will visit Ashokan and see in person the huge, but positive changes that have been happening since my last visit.
Michael will be Willy Wonka in March. Every day, we will watch Darcy learn more, do more, and become her own even more interesting self. I will get to help several communities figure out how they most want to improve their food system and find ways for them to achieve some of their dreams.
I have many, many reasons to be thankful. Given the current state of our national economy, just having a job, a house, and health insurance is a wonderful place to be in and we have so much more. I have a most amazing husband and a daughter who leaves me in awe at her talents. Every one of my days start and end with kisses and hugs from them. I am incredibly lucky and I am grateful.
It is now after midnight. It is the 24th day of November and of NaBloPoMo. It is also Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
Children's Books I Love
Yesterday's post title, In Which My Husband Has A Wish, is an homage to some of my favorite children's books. Books, quite frankly, that almost nobody seems to know about. It might be because they're Norwegian (I believe). I was introduced by my first-generation Norwegian-Australian third-grade teacher. I own very ratty copies purchased many, many years ago at the Barnes and Noble Annex for one dollar each. I know this because they both have their price stickers still on them. The list price was a buck and a quarter. I got a bargain.
What are these wonderful books? I'll let this post be a Thanksgiving treasure hunt. It's about time I had a truly interactive blog post. My blog title was in the format of the chapter titles/headings. My hint for the treasure hunt is this: "Chapter IV: In which owing to the Hattifatteners' night attack the Snork Maiden loses her hair, and in which the most remarkable discovery is made on Lonely Island."
Do you know these books from your childhood and recognize the description? Or are you just good at Googling? Either way, try to Name That Book/Those Books in the comments!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
In Which My Husband Has A Wish
It's getting near the end of NaBloPoMo and I have no pictures because of the stolen computers, etc. My pickings are slim. Last year, I could just post random cute pictures of Darcy and pretty much get away with that. The lack of access to our photos is really interfering with my blog.
Luckily, my husband has a wish, and that is clearly material for the blog.
(Of course, really, my husband has many wishes. He wishes he could have an iPhone. And an iPad. He wishes people would buy all the CDs and books he has listed on Amazon. He wishes the wind hadn't blown down a gazillion leaves and redwood needles last night after he spent time raking on Sunday morning.)
The relevant wish is that he has a goal for the Redwood National and State Parks Facebook page. He created and maintains the page as part of his job. His goal is to get 1,000 "likes" before the end of the year and he now has 971. If you have a Facebook account and you don't yet like the Redwood National and State Parks page, would you please follow the link above and like it? And if you wanted to repost or let your friends and their friends know about his wish, that would be awesome!
If you need some heart-string-tugging to make you do this: we decided last night that we need to skip presents to each other this year because of the money we'll spend replacing the stuff we had stolen in the break-in. The total loss is not enough over our deductible to make it worth having the insurance claim on the books. By liking this page, you will help me give him a gift that is free of financial burden. How great will that feel? I'm banking on pretty darn great!
Luckily, my husband has a wish, and that is clearly material for the blog.
(Of course, really, my husband has many wishes. He wishes he could have an iPhone. And an iPad. He wishes people would buy all the CDs and books he has listed on Amazon. He wishes the wind hadn't blown down a gazillion leaves and redwood needles last night after he spent time raking on Sunday morning.)
The relevant wish is that he has a goal for the Redwood National and State Parks Facebook page. He created and maintains the page as part of his job. His goal is to get 1,000 "likes" before the end of the year and he now has 971. If you have a Facebook account and you don't yet like the Redwood National and State Parks page, would you please follow the link above and like it? And if you wanted to repost or let your friends and their friends know about his wish, that would be awesome!
If you need some heart-string-tugging to make you do this: we decided last night that we need to skip presents to each other this year because of the money we'll spend replacing the stuff we had stolen in the break-in. The total loss is not enough over our deductible to make it worth having the insurance claim on the books. By liking this page, you will help me give him a gift that is free of financial burden. How great will that feel? I'm banking on pretty darn great!
Monday, November 21, 2011
An Unconvincing Day
I had a surprisingly unproductive day at work today. I had anticipated selecting two candidates for the VISTA positions I'm recruiting for right now. A rescheduled interview with one of my top candidates derailed that. I got a few small tasks off my desk, but the day was just so unmotivating. Gray skies. Wind. Rain. My office never really got out of the original gloom. My overhead lights buzz, so I don't use them, and the floor lamp I bought to replace them doesn't give off all that much light. Most of the year, that's just fine. But today, I felt like I was in a hibernation cave all day and got about as much done as a hibernating bear.
Now, that's probably not quite true, because I answered a lot of emails and took many calls, so it seems likely that I accomplished something over the course of the day. It just doesn't feel like it.
Tomorrow will have to be extra-special-productive to make up for it. It would be more likely if I had made a to-do list before I left today. But again, it was a very unconvincing day. I think it was really just one long twilight. With heavy rain. And wind.
Now, that's probably not quite true, because I answered a lot of emails and took many calls, so it seems likely that I accomplished something over the course of the day. It just doesn't feel like it.
Tomorrow will have to be extra-special-productive to make up for it. It would be more likely if I had made a to-do list before I left today. But again, it was a very unconvincing day. I think it was really just one long twilight. With heavy rain. And wind.
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