So, lock your doors, get your flannel jammies on, and drink your cocoa in bed!
Friday, January 14, 2011
FFF: Hibernation
So, lock your doors, get your flannel jammies on, and drink your cocoa in bed!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Times when a map would come in handy
When you live with a highly verbal preschooler, you soon realize that every conversation is actually a thin path bordered on each side by miles and miles of quicksand. And you, the parent, do not know the path at all. And your preschooler just happens to regard quicksand as her natural habitat.
I am thinking of the conversation Cora and I had in the car about a year ago, when I was explaining Memorial Day and why it was a holiday, and soon found myself facing the laser-beam gaze of a four-year-old asking, "Would you die for your country, Mommy?"
Which brings me to the most recent episode. The one that got me thinking that Cora actually does know the path, but the path she wants me to follow her down is indeed overlaid with quicksand, and so long as I don't panic, we will be just fine. The thing about these conversations is that they always seem to come out of nowhere. Sunday evening, we were watching Nickolodeon after dinner - I am not sure why, but iCarly has caught Cora's attention in a big way - and Cora was also coloring on the floor while I caught up with some editing work. Then she asked me if the world started when Baby Jesus was born.
This was actually still sure-footing territory, because if there is one thing I am clear on, it is that the world existed for a very long time before that point in history. And I thought it would be cool to talk about evolution and dinosaurs and so on. But, she cut off the science talk to ask why the people "crossed him." We are nowhere near Easter! Where is this coming from?!
Cora might be much smarter than me, because I'm pretty sure that it took me another six years to realize that being nailed by your hands and feet does not kill you. And that was her next question: If they didn't put a nail through his head, why did he die? And this is where I thanked Mary Roach and her book Stiff for providing me the answer, which I delivered in short, relatively non-graphic language. (But, face it, once you are talking about crucifixion, you are in the graphic language whether you want to be or not.) And then we were back to why, and a discussion of Biblical-times politics.
How much of this has to do with amorphous knowledge of the Arizona shootings? Did she hear Chris and I talk about it? Something in the air? We don't watch news shows with her, and I don't think they do "breaking news" on Nick or PBS. Is it just synergy? Even though I often fumble my way through the theological discussions, trying to tread that thin line between cultural and personal assumptions and beliefs, I find the discussions of real-world violence harder. I would rather explain the mechanics of childbirth than try to explain war.
Which means I have my work cut out for me, because I have read, written, and thought a lot about certain world events, and one day Cora is going to be able to read. She's going to look at those collections of books and have some big questions about words like Holocaust, genocide, Rwanda, and others that she can find in our volumes of history, politics, literature, poetry, and graphic novels.
Really, it has already started, because she's seen The Sound of Music, and while you don't have to go into the whole WWII history, you do have to talk a little about Nazis. And, thinking she would love the dancing, I did show her some clips on YouTube of West Side Story, which turned out to require a primer on gangs and the politics of the "other".
There are so few sure pathways!
I am thinking of the conversation Cora and I had in the car about a year ago, when I was explaining Memorial Day and why it was a holiday, and soon found myself facing the laser-beam gaze of a four-year-old asking, "Would you die for your country, Mommy?"
Which brings me to the most recent episode. The one that got me thinking that Cora actually does know the path, but the path she wants me to follow her down is indeed overlaid with quicksand, and so long as I don't panic, we will be just fine. The thing about these conversations is that they always seem to come out of nowhere. Sunday evening, we were watching Nickolodeon after dinner - I am not sure why, but iCarly has caught Cora's attention in a big way - and Cora was also coloring on the floor while I caught up with some editing work. Then she asked me if the world started when Baby Jesus was born.
This was actually still sure-footing territory, because if there is one thing I am clear on, it is that the world existed for a very long time before that point in history. And I thought it would be cool to talk about evolution and dinosaurs and so on. But, she cut off the science talk to ask why the people "crossed him." We are nowhere near Easter! Where is this coming from?!
Cora might be much smarter than me, because I'm pretty sure that it took me another six years to realize that being nailed by your hands and feet does not kill you. And that was her next question: If they didn't put a nail through his head, why did he die? And this is where I thanked Mary Roach and her book Stiff for providing me the answer, which I delivered in short, relatively non-graphic language. (But, face it, once you are talking about crucifixion, you are in the graphic language whether you want to be or not.) And then we were back to why, and a discussion of Biblical-times politics.
How much of this has to do with amorphous knowledge of the Arizona shootings? Did she hear Chris and I talk about it? Something in the air? We don't watch news shows with her, and I don't think they do "breaking news" on Nick or PBS. Is it just synergy? Even though I often fumble my way through the theological discussions, trying to tread that thin line between cultural and personal assumptions and beliefs, I find the discussions of real-world violence harder. I would rather explain the mechanics of childbirth than try to explain war.
Which means I have my work cut out for me, because I have read, written, and thought a lot about certain world events, and one day Cora is going to be able to read. She's going to look at those collections of books and have some big questions about words like Holocaust, genocide, Rwanda, and others that she can find in our volumes of history, politics, literature, poetry, and graphic novels.
Really, it has already started, because she's seen The Sound of Music, and while you don't have to go into the whole WWII history, you do have to talk a little about Nazis. And, thinking she would love the dancing, I did show her some clips on YouTube of West Side Story, which turned out to require a primer on gangs and the politics of the "other".
There are so few sure pathways!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Fav Foto Friday: New...CrazySock!
My fabulous friend Nora is hosting Fav Foto Fridays - each Friday she posts a theme, and any blogger who wants to play along picks up the theme, posts a picture, and links back to her.
I am so tardy with photos all the time, and I hope that participation will both inspire me to post more often and also to take more photos.
Her theme for today is "New" and this is as good a time as any to introduce...CrazySock!
CrazySock was knitted, felted, stuffed, and decorated for Cora this Christmas. I had to work on it when she was around because it took FOREVER and I got a late start. Because the initial knitting is indeed a sock, albeit a gigantic one, I told her that it was a sock for Grandpa Dave. Amazingly, she had no trouble believing this. When I knit the ears, I told her they were decorations for the sock. When Grandpa Dave arrived for Christmas, I overheard her telling him that he was getting a crazy sock for Christmas.
The horse was finished in time, thanks to help from my mom, who knit the i-cord for the reins while I sewed on the eyes and mane and D-rings for the reins, and I carefully placed it in the very front of all the presents so it would be seen first - otherwise I knew it would be lost in the wash of other gifts. And CrazySock and the sled from Chris were indeed the first things she saw, played with, and fell in love with - pwhew!
(As usual, I wish I had thought to take more photos of the process. Something to remember in the future.)
I am so tardy with photos all the time, and I hope that participation will both inspire me to post more often and also to take more photos.
Her theme for today is "New" and this is as good a time as any to introduce...CrazySock!
CrazySock was knitted, felted, stuffed, and decorated for Cora this Christmas. I had to work on it when she was around because it took FOREVER and I got a late start. Because the initial knitting is indeed a sock, albeit a gigantic one, I told her that it was a sock for Grandpa Dave. Amazingly, she had no trouble believing this. When I knit the ears, I told her they were decorations for the sock. When Grandpa Dave arrived for Christmas, I overheard her telling him that he was getting a crazy sock for Christmas.
The horse was finished in time, thanks to help from my mom, who knit the i-cord for the reins while I sewed on the eyes and mane and D-rings for the reins, and I carefully placed it in the very front of all the presents so it would be seen first - otherwise I knew it would be lost in the wash of other gifts. And CrazySock and the sled from Chris were indeed the first things she saw, played with, and fell in love with - pwhew!
(As usual, I wish I had thought to take more photos of the process. Something to remember in the future.)
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Brushing away the cobwebs
I intended to start off the new year easy, with a nice little questionnaire meme borrowed from The Fairly Odd Mother's blog. I didn't intend to make any resolutions this year - my mom had the idea of choosing a word for the year instead. Her word is BOLD! At first, I thought of joke words (FACETIOUS!) or dour words (SCHEDULE!). Ugh. I wanted a fun word, too, a good word, a positive word, a word that didn't feel like a chore. I thought about FOCUS...but I always focus. Sometimes too much. There are a lot of things I would like more of this year. More time, more reading, more making, more stability and resources. But MORE does not seem like a good word - too needy, perhaps.
So I am choosing ABUNDANCE. And I mean that sentence in both ways.
And I was going to leave it at that. But, as the day has gone on, and I have heard other friends talking about some of their resolutions, I have developed the resolution itch. I don't believe in setting myself up for failure, in making resolutions that are made for breaking. I like ones like "try to cook more new dishes" or "get into Indian food" or "learn how to knit socks" - those resolutions worked for me.
I'm still working on the ones for 2011. I'm also using the guidelines on The Happiness Project web site to develop them, but I am pretty sure at least one of them will involve cooking, and at least one will involve making and at least one will involve writing. I'll get back to you on those.
In the meantime...meme time!
1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yes and no, to both questions.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My cat Emily – after 18 years, I think I can say she was indeed close to me. Close to my heart.
5. What countries did you visit?
Mainly the Kingdom of Crazy, where I reign supreme.
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Hmm. Lots of things spring to mind. Stability would be a nice start.
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I am not so good with dates, frankly. I’ll remember lots of events, but I doubt I will be able to match them to dates within a year. I’ll remember the opera finally happening, camping, the godawful process of selling the house, moving, Christmas with my parents.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not completely falling apart about #1.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not completely keeping it together about #1.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing that will leave a visible scar.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Markers for Cora. It seems like there was something else I was saying was the best thing, just a few days ago, but now I have no idea what it was. Oh - Chris says it was the slow cooker and the awesome slow cooker cookbook (The Slow Cooker. That's the title. Seriously.)
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
14. Where did most of your money go?
Moving, definitely.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Knitting, sewing, cooking, finishing the Thumbelina poems.
16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Somehow, both happier and sadder. Not thinner, not with the bumper crop of stress 2010 brought in. And, financially, poorer. Alas. In some less tangible ways, richer.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Writing. Relaxing. Sleeping. Sewing. Reading. Eating out at favorite Twin Cities restaurants.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Packing! Worrying! Crying! Not-sleeping!
20. How did you spend Christmas?
With Chris and Cora and my parents – my dream Christmas companions.
21. Did you fall in love with 2010?
God, no. I think the last year I even had a strong crush on was 2008.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Was there a mystery in it? A dead body? A scientist or other brainy-type person? A good fight scene? An improbable turn of events? A modicum of clever dialogue? Yep - that was my favorite.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
24. What was the best book you read?
I didn’t read as much I would have liked. I don’t remember a lot of what I read. I’m going to say Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars, because it is fresh in my mind. This is a good place to say again how much I love, love, love my Kindle!
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Pandora!
26. What did you want and get?
Help, when I was able to ask for it, or when someone caught me at the right time.
27. What did you want and not get?
Help; I was not always good at being able to ask for it and I often put up a better front than I should have.
28. What was your favorite film of 2010?
I think I saw two films in the theater, so I guess it has to be Inception or Tangled. Did I see other films? I have no freaking clue.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2010?
32. What kept you sane?
33. What political issue stirred you the most?
34. Who did you miss?
My parents, lots. Chris, when he was in ND. Friends in far and not-so-far places.
35. Who was the best new person you met?
I don’t think I could choose just one.
36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
I’m still sorting out the lessons I learned in 2010. There were a lot of them. Not all were welcome ones.
37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Some slip through your fingers and onto the floor
Some days you're quick, but most days you're speedy
Some days you use more force than is necessary
Some days just drop in on us
Some days are better than others
“Some Days Are Better than Others,” U2
So I am choosing ABUNDANCE. And I mean that sentence in both ways.
And I was going to leave it at that. But, as the day has gone on, and I have heard other friends talking about some of their resolutions, I have developed the resolution itch. I don't believe in setting myself up for failure, in making resolutions that are made for breaking. I like ones like "try to cook more new dishes" or "get into Indian food" or "learn how to knit socks" - those resolutions worked for me.
I'm still working on the ones for 2011. I'm also using the guidelines on The Happiness Project web site to develop them, but I am pretty sure at least one of them will involve cooking, and at least one will involve making and at least one will involve writing. I'll get back to you on those.
In the meantime...meme time!
1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yes and no, to both questions.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My cat Emily – after 18 years, I think I can say she was indeed close to me. Close to my heart.
5. What countries did you visit?
Mainly the Kingdom of Crazy, where I reign supreme.
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Hmm. Lots of things spring to mind. Stability would be a nice start.
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I am not so good with dates, frankly. I’ll remember lots of events, but I doubt I will be able to match them to dates within a year. I’ll remember the opera finally happening, camping, the godawful process of selling the house, moving, Christmas with my parents.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not completely falling apart about #1.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not completely keeping it together about #1.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing that will leave a visible scar.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Markers for Cora. It seems like there was something else I was saying was the best thing, just a few days ago, but now I have no idea what it was. Oh - Chris says it was the slow cooker and the awesome slow cooker cookbook (The Slow Cooker. That's the title. Seriously.)
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
14. Where did most of your money go?
Moving, definitely.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Knitting, sewing, cooking, finishing the Thumbelina poems.
16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
Somehow, both happier and sadder. Not thinner, not with the bumper crop of stress 2010 brought in. And, financially, poorer. Alas. In some less tangible ways, richer.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Writing. Relaxing. Sleeping. Sewing. Reading. Eating out at favorite Twin Cities restaurants.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Packing! Worrying! Crying! Not-sleeping!
20. How did you spend Christmas?
With Chris and Cora and my parents – my dream Christmas companions.
21. Did you fall in love with 2010?
God, no. I think the last year I even had a strong crush on was 2008.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Was there a mystery in it? A dead body? A scientist or other brainy-type person? A good fight scene? An improbable turn of events? A modicum of clever dialogue? Yep - that was my favorite.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
24. What was the best book you read?
I didn’t read as much I would have liked. I don’t remember a lot of what I read. I’m going to say Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars, because it is fresh in my mind. This is a good place to say again how much I love, love, love my Kindle!
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Pandora!
26. What did you want and get?
Help, when I was able to ask for it, or when someone caught me at the right time.
27. What did you want and not get?
Help; I was not always good at being able to ask for it and I often put up a better front than I should have.
28. What was your favorite film of 2010?
I think I saw two films in the theater, so I guess it has to be Inception or Tangled. Did I see other films? I have no freaking clue.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2010?
32. What kept you sane?
33. What political issue stirred you the most?
34. Who did you miss?
My parents, lots. Chris, when he was in ND. Friends in far and not-so-far places.
35. Who was the best new person you met?
I don’t think I could choose just one.
36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
I’m still sorting out the lessons I learned in 2010. There were a lot of them. Not all were welcome ones.
37. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Some slip through your fingers and onto the floor
Some days you're quick, but most days you're speedy
Some days you use more force than is necessary
Some days just drop in on us
Some days are better than others
“Some Days Are Better than Others,” U2
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Grateful
Family, friends, the emails and notes and phone calls
that come from the friends so recently moved away from.
I am unceasingly grateful for my parents, my sweet grandma,
my brothers and the lovely families they have founded.
I feel absurdly grateful for Facebook.
I am grateful that our new home is as nice as it is,
that we are steadily getting to feel more and more
at home, that my husband spent the time
to find a place I would feel comfortable in.
I'm grateful that my daughter's spirit
is so buoyant and accepting.
My gratitude to the writers and artists
of the world is unending and vast.
I am grateful for winter sunshine this morning.
For leftover lasagna,
and all that the having of those leftovers implies.
I am, simply, grateful.
that come from the friends so recently moved away from.
I am unceasingly grateful for my parents, my sweet grandma,
my brothers and the lovely families they have founded.
I feel absurdly grateful for Facebook.
I am grateful that our new home is as nice as it is,
that we are steadily getting to feel more and more
at home, that my husband spent the time
to find a place I would feel comfortable in.
I'm grateful that my daughter's spirit
is so buoyant and accepting.
My gratitude to the writers and artists
of the world is unending and vast.
I am grateful for winter sunshine this morning.
For leftover lasagna,
and all that the having of those leftovers implies.
I am, simply, grateful.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
A brief dispatch from a new location
(That's a good title. It deserves more than a blog post...something to file away under "future poems")
We made it. The final day of going through the old house was kind of awful in that it just went on and on. We were underprepared. We had to rent a trailer for the "leftovers". I have learned a lot about moving, both on the practical end and on the emotional end. What was nice was that our drive, done in two stages with an overnight in between, was easy and eventless. What was nice was that I knew that at the other end of the whole ordeal my mother, a saint on earth, would be coming for a week to help us. And help us she did - with getting the kitchen put together; with keeping Cora entertained for a week without school; with putting up with living among mountains and piles and spires of boxes; and with generally assuring me that sanity was mine for the having.
There are still many boxes to unpack. I am sometimes appalled at how much stuff we have, and have to remind myself that we lived in our old house for twelve long years. That that house, though smaller than our new duplex apartment, actually had much more storage (including a basement). For example, this kitchen is the perfect size for someone who either doesn't much like to cook, or who mainly cooks one type of thing. For someone who cooks a variety of things, it can get a little cramped. As in, I have had to give up an entire bookcase so that I have space for all the herbs and spices. As in, my delicious curry habit is costing me about two feet of book-space! And when I think about it like that, it is hard to complain. Because I really, really, really love curries.
I am still finding my way around, still hoping to find work that does not involve wrapping other peoples' purchases or making them lattes, still trying to figure out where I might find a sack of white whole wheat flour. But, I have found a butcher shop that I already really like. And not just because the woman behind the counter was so kind to Cora, who insisted on bringing her stuffed piggie into the store and then lecturing the poor woman on how she could NOT chop up the pig because it is a STUFFED pig. Not a REAL pig.
In case this town was wondering, Cora has arrived.
We made it. The final day of going through the old house was kind of awful in that it just went on and on. We were underprepared. We had to rent a trailer for the "leftovers". I have learned a lot about moving, both on the practical end and on the emotional end. What was nice was that our drive, done in two stages with an overnight in between, was easy and eventless. What was nice was that I knew that at the other end of the whole ordeal my mother, a saint on earth, would be coming for a week to help us. And help us she did - with getting the kitchen put together; with keeping Cora entertained for a week without school; with putting up with living among mountains and piles and spires of boxes; and with generally assuring me that sanity was mine for the having.
There are still many boxes to unpack. I am sometimes appalled at how much stuff we have, and have to remind myself that we lived in our old house for twelve long years. That that house, though smaller than our new duplex apartment, actually had much more storage (including a basement). For example, this kitchen is the perfect size for someone who either doesn't much like to cook, or who mainly cooks one type of thing. For someone who cooks a variety of things, it can get a little cramped. As in, I have had to give up an entire bookcase so that I have space for all the herbs and spices. As in, my delicious curry habit is costing me about two feet of book-space! And when I think about it like that, it is hard to complain. Because I really, really, really love curries.
I am still finding my way around, still hoping to find work that does not involve wrapping other peoples' purchases or making them lattes, still trying to figure out where I might find a sack of white whole wheat flour. But, I have found a butcher shop that I already really like. And not just because the woman behind the counter was so kind to Cora, who insisted on bringing her stuffed piggie into the store and then lecturing the poor woman on how she could NOT chop up the pig because it is a STUFFED pig. Not a REAL pig.
In case this town was wondering, Cora has arrived.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
ACK!, or "what's that over there?!"
We will be moving in just a few days. Boxes are everywhere, but there are not nearly enough of them. It would seem that the more time you spend in denial, the less gets done. In lieu of an actual post, I present photos of some things I've made recently.
 |
| Rapunzel on her way to the school party, also her last day at her beloved school. While I doubt I will win any wig-making awards with this one, she's pretty thrilled with it. |
 |
| A new dress, as requested it is down to her feet. |
 |
| Mmmmmm...pumpkin donuts.... |
 |
| Hard to get a good photo when they keep disappearing! |
 |
| Knitting coffee sleeves is oddly satisfying. |
 |
| I thought this fabric would make a cute skirt or dress, tried a new pattern out of a new book, hoped it would be liked. |
 |
| Mission accomplished. |
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