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grandma wanted; orphans preferred 2002-09-27 Do you ever get the feeling that reality is extremely elastic? Like, two people can be involved in the same incident but view it shockingly differently? I'm having that feeling lately, and it would freak me out except that historical events indicate it's not My vision that's skewed. I'm not going to hold a grudge and I'm not going to lose sleep. That is all I'm going to say about that, and god bless. As usual I overestimated the horror of something, namely the retreat we had yesterday. My poor sweet Boy had a low grade fever on Wednesday night, so we decided to keep him home from school again on Thursday. We are sure he has a virus--probably the 2 week one I had. My mom always had the rule that her children should be kept home from school if they had fevers, and that they should be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school. I think this is a good rule and I am following it. Boy didn't have a fever at all yesterday (i.e. within 24 hours of this morning), so we sent him back today. But I digress. The upshot of Boy staying home from school yesterday was that I arrived late at our retreat, because Francisco had a dentist appointment at 9:00 and couldn't be home for the first part of the morning. I called my boss at about 8:30 and he had no problem with me arriving late, and fortunately this meant that I missed out on the part of the schedule wherein we learned "what the boss does all day". I can't claim to have had any interest in that, so that was some torture avoided. It was not too bad a day, and it went by fairly quickly. We didn't have to go to the icky place for lunch and I had a fairly good eggplant parmigian sandwich at the place that won the lunch vote. The retreat really wasn't too bad, as far as these retreats go. Some of us even hung out and had a beer afterwards. There was a variety of beer up for grabs, and I chose a Budweiser, because it had a Kid Rock kind of appeal. I don't mind cheap beer. Some people in our office, including me, are slated to go to a workshop in Winston Salem (about 1 1/2 hours from here) in November, and my boss just sent an email around to say he is renting a 15-passenger van so we can all ride together. But just last week (I think it was last week) I heard a piece on NPR about those vans, and it sounds like they are very unsafe. I emailed the boss back to say that I will drive myself, and this way there will be few enough people to get a smaller van. I haven't heard back from him, but I think he'll be okay with that. I feel like I'm being ridiculously high maintenence about this, but if I'm driving myself then I'm not really inconveniencing anyone. The boss will still drive almost everyone, and I will meet them there. Did anyone else hear that thing on NPR? Because I swear those vans sound like accidents waiting to happen. Literally. I was thinking about the cats this morning and I realized that September is our 9 year anniversary with them. I can't remember the exact day in September 1993 that they came to live with us, but that was a good day. I had seen an ad for 2 female kittens, and we specifically wanted 2 female kittens, so I called the ad lady. We arranged to go meet them (and take them home, most likely) and when we showed up at her house, the girls were really tearing the place up. They were running all around the house, playing. All over the furniture, real crazy-like. I remember I was standing behind an armchair when Lucy clawed her way up onto the back and sniffed at me. I put my face down to hers and she sniffed it all over and then took off playing again. After we met them there was no question about taking them home. We had brought one of those smallish cardboard cat carriers, and we loaded them into it. They were very small and cute in there, except that Esther, in what would prove to be completely characteristic for her, was yowling her head off. After a few minutes she stopped and I peeked it to see Lucy licking her head. When we got them home we took them into the bathroom to introduce them to the litter box. Lucy got right in and crapped a load--she gets a bad stomach when she's nervous. Once they were familiar with the box and the bathroom, we opened the door and they ventured out, little tails up, to explore the apartment. Lucy threw up in the living room (see? bad stomach); the first time of many. and I got a little worried when they went behind the stove, but they were okay. For the first year they were with us, they were big players. We got them a cat tree and when they weren't sleeping they were almost always on it or tearing around the apartment. It was better than television. They don't play too much anymore, but they're still so great to have around. I can deny them nothing. The other night Esther was making assaults upon the covers, trying to get under them, and I kept telling her, "I'm not letting you in. I'm not letting you in." And then I let her in. Because yes, I was too warm in the covers and she made it even warmer, but I can't resist her cuteness and how happy she gets when she's in the covers. Survivor last night was interesting but kind of disappointing. Disappointing because I think the wrong ('wrong' meaning 'more annoying') team is winning, and also because so far there aren't many people on the show that I like. ALSO disappointing because I think Chewing Gum voted off the wrong person. I like the show but I'm not really Into it yet. It takes me 3 or 4 episodes to really work up an interest, but I know I will because I always have before. We broke our tradition already--we had Indonesian fried rice for dinner instead of Thai food, but I think that's probably exotic enough. Next week, the Thai Food. I decided yesterday that if I'm ever having an argument or discussion that is at an impasse, I will just shrug and say, "Oh well. Abortions for some; tiny American flags for others", a la The Simpsons. And I think that technically I will win any argument I can end with that, even if I didn't really win. I feel a craft binge coming on. I really want to learn how to make a sweater, but it's tricky. I think I could follow most of a pattern for a sweater, but there are parts I know will confuse me (I am terrified of armholes) and I'm not sure what I'll do when I get to a place I can't figure out. I went to a nearby yarn store that offers classes, but there weren't any classes for sweaters. I was thinking this morning that what I really need is a Grandma. My dad's mom died when he was in his early teens, and my mom's mom died when I was in junior high, so I have no ready-made Grandma. I had this big idea for a few minutes this morning that I could go to a local senior center (not a nursing home--just a place where seniors hang out) and advertise for a Grandma. I composed an ad and everything (it needed fine tuning) before I sort of came to my senses and realized that I can't offer the kind of commitment a Grandma would require. For one thing I can't absolutely guarantee to be in this area any longer than next summer, and also, what if my chosen Grandma turned out to need a lot of help? I would do as much as I could for her, but my time is not unlimited. I've gotta work, I've got family commitments, etc. I think it would be unfair of me to acquire a Grandma right now, so I think what I'll do instead is advertise (at the local Whole Foods and/or food cooperative and/or a senior center) that I would like to barter with someone for help with knitting. I think that would be better and more equitable all around. But when Francisco gets a job and we move? THEN I'll get me a Grandma. I'll conduct interviews and everything. I've got a lot in mind for this weekend. Mostly the cleaning out and reorganizing of kitchen cabinets and closets and stuff. I'm in pre-nesting mode for Fall and Winter. I also plan to make Beef Bourgignon (sp? dammit?), because we had that in Chenonceaux, France, and it was So good. Also there is a potluck to attend on Sunday, hosted by one of Francisco's professors. And a Netflix to watch. It should be a pretty good weekend. Now if only 5:00 would roll aROUND already. Have a great weekend! Love,
come over some time & see me - 2011-02-25 |
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