It's looking like today is going to be a crazy runaround day. At least for a while.
I've got a risk review for the Beast project from 10-11, and then a meeting to go over comments from the proposal review committee. Neither of those meetings are the kind where I'll be able to zone out and only pay attention with half my head -- I'm the leader/moderator for the risk meeting, and I've been asked to be the typist for the proposal one.
And on top of that, the proposal meeting is guaranteed to run straight through the time I usually go to the gym. Oh, well, it's been quite a while since I've had to go to the gym in the evening. Guess it was about due.
Right, well, busy as my day is looking, I guess I'd better get on with it. Sorry this is short. Talk amongst yourselves or something, right?
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Location Location Location
I went to Book Club last night, and we had a nice time. We didn't want to talk about the book much, so we spent most of the meeting talking about our kids, which is what usually happens.
Somewhere in there, someone mentioned that the Jumping Joey where Penny's had her last three birthday parties is closing next month.
Well... crap. She'd already settled on having yet another birthday there, of course. I broke the news to her this morning, and tried to be upbeat. "We'll figure out someplace else for your party, okay? We could go bowling, or to the Virginia Living Museum -- you really enjoyed Heidi's party there last year, right?"
"How about our house?"
"No, I'd really rather go somewhere, hon. Parties at our house are a lot of work for me and Daddy."
Sulk. "But it's my birthday, and I get to be the queen! And I want our house!"
"Sweetie, our house just isn't big enough to have more than one or two friends over at a time."
"...I guess, Rachael and Jess."
Oh, good lord. She'd rather cut down her guest list than go somewhere else? Crap. "But don't you want to invite Ray? And Gillian?"
"Well, but I don't see Jess that often! I want to catch up with her"
"Honey, that's great, but if we had the party somewhere else, you could invite all your friends!"
She's still not convinced. So I've got about three months to talk her into an alternate location for her party. Joy.
Somewhere in there, someone mentioned that the Jumping Joey where Penny's had her last three birthday parties is closing next month.
Well... crap. She'd already settled on having yet another birthday there, of course. I broke the news to her this morning, and tried to be upbeat. "We'll figure out someplace else for your party, okay? We could go bowling, or to the Virginia Living Museum -- you really enjoyed Heidi's party there last year, right?"
"How about our house?"
"No, I'd really rather go somewhere, hon. Parties at our house are a lot of work for me and Daddy."
Sulk. "But it's my birthday, and I get to be the queen! And I want our house!"
"Sweetie, our house just isn't big enough to have more than one or two friends over at a time."
"...I guess, Rachael and Jess."
Oh, good lord. She'd rather cut down her guest list than go somewhere else? Crap. "But don't you want to invite Ray? And Gillian?"
"Well, but I don't see Jess that often! I want to catch up with her"
"Honey, that's great, but if we had the party somewhere else, you could invite all your friends!"
She's still not convinced. So I've got about three months to talk her into an alternate location for her party. Joy.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Late
Late post this morning -- after I dropped the kids off at school, I came back home long enough to make some coffee and eat a cup of yogurt, and then I went back out to a doctor's appointment. Specifically, it was an ultrasound of my thyroid, so my doctor can be reassured that the bump he felt in my neck is really just a cyst and not an alien tracking/homing device.
That went more quickly and smoothly than I had expected, and I was walking out the door a mere 30 minutes after I'd walked in. Which means I should have time to hit the gym today, after all, whoo!
I'm working from home today, which is usually very peaceful and restful and productive, but it because of the proposal, it might have been better if I was working at work instead. Oh, well; we'll see how things go. If I'm really shockingly unproductive this morning, I might pack up and go back into the office after the gym and lunch. (The afternoons are less productive at home, anyway, because Penny gets home from school around 3:30 anyway.)
We had an interesting conversation in the car this morning, though, after we'd dropped Alex off. It started with Penny asking me when she might be allowed to eat the school lunches again. We'd tried her on them at the beginning of the school year, but they're so carb-heavy, they were making a huge mess of her afternoon and evening sugars, and after the first week, we gave up and switched her to a packed lunch. I tried to explain this to her, and I said, "Maybe if you were to go on a pump, we could try the school lunches again."
"But I'm never going to want the pump!" she protested.
"Oh. Well, sorry," I said.
Penny was quiet for a moment, then she asked, "Does it hurt?"
"The one I wore didn't hurt at all. It mostly just felt like a sticker on my skin."
"A sticker? That's it?"
"Well, there's a little bit of plastic that goes under your skin, but that didn't hurt when the nurse put it in. After that, all I could feel was the sticker that goes on top to keep it there. I don't think it would hurt any more than the shots you're already getting, anyway. And you'd only have to do that every two or three days, instead of having five shots every day. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Yeah... Why not four days?"
"Well, after a while, your skin gets tired, and it needs to be moved."
"Where did you move yours?"
"Oh, I just had the one. I wanted to see what it felt like. But I just got the part that goes on your skin, not the whole pump. So when my three days were up, it was done. I pulled it out and threw it away, and I didn't have another one to put on. It was just a test one."
"Oh. Was there blood?"
"No, no blood."
"Oh. Huh." She thought about it for a little while. "What if I wanted to do a test one?"
"We can certainly talk to Dr. G about letting you test it, if you want, sweetie. Do you want to?"
"I don't know."
"Well, there's no rush. You think about it, and if you decide you want to try it, I can make the appointment for us to go look again. Or you can talk to Dr. G about it at your next appointment with him, okay?"
"But my next appointment with him is in August!"
"Well, yes. But like I said, there's no hurry. If you want to do it before then, I'll call. You just let me know what you want to do."
"I don't know!"
"I know, honey. You think about it, okay? ...You know what? Remember that girl, Amy, who said she might be able to babysit? She had a pump. Maybe we'll ask her to come over sometime and help us out, and while she's here, you can ask her about it."
"Yeah, that's a good idea. She was really nice. You should call her."
"Okay."
So. I don't know how serious Penny is about this move toward the pump, but apparently our chat cleared up some misconceptions she'd somehow come up with. That's a start. I hope I managed to project the right level of encouragement and support without getting pushy or trying to take away her sense of power over the decision. As good as a pump would be in the long run, I think she's got to fully commit to making that switch on her own, or it'll just be a waste of time and money for us.
But I'm hopeful.
That went more quickly and smoothly than I had expected, and I was walking out the door a mere 30 minutes after I'd walked in. Which means I should have time to hit the gym today, after all, whoo!
I'm working from home today, which is usually very peaceful and restful and productive, but it because of the proposal, it might have been better if I was working at work instead. Oh, well; we'll see how things go. If I'm really shockingly unproductive this morning, I might pack up and go back into the office after the gym and lunch. (The afternoons are less productive at home, anyway, because Penny gets home from school around 3:30 anyway.)
We had an interesting conversation in the car this morning, though, after we'd dropped Alex off. It started with Penny asking me when she might be allowed to eat the school lunches again. We'd tried her on them at the beginning of the school year, but they're so carb-heavy, they were making a huge mess of her afternoon and evening sugars, and after the first week, we gave up and switched her to a packed lunch. I tried to explain this to her, and I said, "Maybe if you were to go on a pump, we could try the school lunches again."
"But I'm never going to want the pump!" she protested.
"Oh. Well, sorry," I said.
Penny was quiet for a moment, then she asked, "Does it hurt?"
"The one I wore didn't hurt at all. It mostly just felt like a sticker on my skin."
"A sticker? That's it?"
"Well, there's a little bit of plastic that goes under your skin, but that didn't hurt when the nurse put it in. After that, all I could feel was the sticker that goes on top to keep it there. I don't think it would hurt any more than the shots you're already getting, anyway. And you'd only have to do that every two or three days, instead of having five shots every day. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Yeah... Why not four days?"
"Well, after a while, your skin gets tired, and it needs to be moved."
"Where did you move yours?"
"Oh, I just had the one. I wanted to see what it felt like. But I just got the part that goes on your skin, not the whole pump. So when my three days were up, it was done. I pulled it out and threw it away, and I didn't have another one to put on. It was just a test one."
"Oh. Was there blood?"
"No, no blood."
"Oh. Huh." She thought about it for a little while. "What if I wanted to do a test one?"
"We can certainly talk to Dr. G about letting you test it, if you want, sweetie. Do you want to?"
"I don't know."
"Well, there's no rush. You think about it, and if you decide you want to try it, I can make the appointment for us to go look again. Or you can talk to Dr. G about it at your next appointment with him, okay?"
"But my next appointment with him is in August!"
"Well, yes. But like I said, there's no hurry. If you want to do it before then, I'll call. You just let me know what you want to do."
"I don't know!"
"I know, honey. You think about it, okay? ...You know what? Remember that girl, Amy, who said she might be able to babysit? She had a pump. Maybe we'll ask her to come over sometime and help us out, and while she's here, you can ask her about it."
"Yeah, that's a good idea. She was really nice. You should call her."
"Okay."
So. I don't know how serious Penny is about this move toward the pump, but apparently our chat cleared up some misconceptions she'd somehow come up with. That's a start. I hope I managed to project the right level of encouragement and support without getting pushy or trying to take away her sense of power over the decision. As good as a pump would be in the long run, I think she's got to fully commit to making that switch on her own, or it'll just be a waste of time and money for us.
But I'm hopeful.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Full On Edit
I think the reason I've been struggling to write blog entries -- or anything else -- this last week or so is that I'm in full-on edit mode at work. I'm working a proposal, which for me means that I'm pulling together write-ups of old projects and rearranging them to highlight their similarities to the job we're trying to get, and I'm getting the resumes we're submitting and doing the same thing, and I'm getting all this stuff buffed and polished with regards to formatting, and then I'm reading through the main parts of the proposal (which have been written, mostly, by writers ranging from horrible to adequate) and fixing typos and grammar and spelling and rewording things that are awkward and generally... editing.
Mind you, I'm good at this. The grammar and spelling and formatting can be done by any half-competent high school graduate (though having interviewed for our last three tech writer openings, those aren't as numerous as you might believe) but the rewriting and smoothing and rearranging and highlighting? That's my shining star, and I'm glad my office's managers understand that and let me do what I do.
But it's very much a left-brain effort -- manipulative rather than creative -- and I'm not very good at switching gears. So when it's time to do something creative, like writing from scratch... I'm floundering a lot. I've got stories that I want to write that just refuse to come out. I load up this blog every morning and can't come up with even a single anecdote.
As an aside: I've seen several comic characters who use writing to access their powers -- Promethea springs to mind, as do Kevin Thorn and the Literals from Fables, and (arguably) any number of Sandman threads. But I'd love to see a comic duo of the Writer and the Editor, neither of whom can properly function on their own: the Writer generates the power, but needs the Editor to shape and direct it. The Writer's icon would be a quill, and the Editor's would be a red pen. There: since I don't write comics, an idea free for the taking to anyone who does.
Yeah, I amuse myself.
On the plus side, editing mode is perfect for scrapbooking. You might think scrapbooking would be a creative effort, and it can be, but largely, it's rearranging and highlighting and smoothing and editing: what's the best way to crop these pictures, and the best way to arrange them on the page? I can get creative with paper shapes and decorations when I'm in the mood to do that, but when I'm not, a simple strip or two on the side or top of the page suffices to accent the pictures without making me dig for true creativity.
So last night, when Matt was out and by all rights I should have been taking advantage of the quiet to write, I scrapbooked instead. I managed to finish up last year's scrapbook, finally. Now I need to think about this year's -- specifically, whether my falling so far behind on last year's is indicative that I'm trying too much and need to do something of less impressive scale (e.g., a single 2-page spread for each month, leaving most of my pictures for flickr) or if I just need to buckle down and commit more time to my scrapbooking projects. I don't know; I'm still thinking about it.
Mind you, I'm good at this. The grammar and spelling and formatting can be done by any half-competent high school graduate (though having interviewed for our last three tech writer openings, those aren't as numerous as you might believe) but the rewriting and smoothing and rearranging and highlighting? That's my shining star, and I'm glad my office's managers understand that and let me do what I do.
But it's very much a left-brain effort -- manipulative rather than creative -- and I'm not very good at switching gears. So when it's time to do something creative, like writing from scratch... I'm floundering a lot. I've got stories that I want to write that just refuse to come out. I load up this blog every morning and can't come up with even a single anecdote.
As an aside: I've seen several comic characters who use writing to access their powers -- Promethea springs to mind, as do Kevin Thorn and the Literals from Fables, and (arguably) any number of Sandman threads. But I'd love to see a comic duo of the Writer and the Editor, neither of whom can properly function on their own: the Writer generates the power, but needs the Editor to shape and direct it. The Writer's icon would be a quill, and the Editor's would be a red pen. There: since I don't write comics, an idea free for the taking to anyone who does.
Yeah, I amuse myself.
On the plus side, editing mode is perfect for scrapbooking. You might think scrapbooking would be a creative effort, and it can be, but largely, it's rearranging and highlighting and smoothing and editing: what's the best way to crop these pictures, and the best way to arrange them on the page? I can get creative with paper shapes and decorations when I'm in the mood to do that, but when I'm not, a simple strip or two on the side or top of the page suffices to accent the pictures without making me dig for true creativity.
So last night, when Matt was out and by all rights I should have been taking advantage of the quiet to write, I scrapbooked instead. I managed to finish up last year's scrapbook, finally. Now I need to think about this year's -- specifically, whether my falling so far behind on last year's is indicative that I'm trying too much and need to do something of less impressive scale (e.g., a single 2-page spread for each month, leaving most of my pictures for flickr) or if I just need to buckle down and commit more time to my scrapbooking projects. I don't know; I'm still thinking about it.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Off-Kilter
I'm feeling a little weird and off-kilter this morning.
It was a good enough weekend, I guess. Alex pretty much flat refused to nap on Saturday -- I'd blame it on the Dr. Pepper I let him drink while we were waiting for Matt and Penny to come out of Penny's swimming lesson, but I really don't see four sips of soda hitting him hard enough to push off his nap for four hours. Eventually, Matt took him for a drive, and he ended up getting a half-hour nap in the car, but that was about it.
My sleep was weird all weekend, too, but I can't put my finger on it. I went to bed around the usual times, I got up around the usual times, but... I don't know. I had a bunch of weird dreams this morning -- I was hunting bad guys with the Teen Titans, for petesake -- and I'm fairly sure that at least one point, Matt was snuggling me in an effort to get me to stop snoring.
But the weather was better than expected -- cloudy but not rainy, and warm. We watched Sky High with Penny, and I think some of it was a little too fast or over her head -- she kept asking me to pause the movie so she could ask questions, until Matt got irritated enough to tell her to stop it and wait until the end, and she was still asking questions and trying to figure it out the next day. But overall she seemed to enjoy it, so we may actually be able to ease her into a few live-action movies, now. And honestly, I'm glad she was asking questions: it shows me that she was actually thinking about what was going on and trying to follow the action instead of just mindlessly watching; and it also gave me a sense of what she did and didn't understand, and what she picked up and what was a little too subtle for her. These are good things to know. (For myself, I didn't like the movie quite as much as I'd hoped to, but it was cute.)
She spent most of the weekend playing with Ray. Between them, they wrecked both houses (we actually had to make Ray come back over to our house after dinner last night to finish cleaning up) and they sprayed each other with the hose while washing Ray's mom's car, and generally had a fantastic time being kids and doing the things that kids do. I always like watching Penny and Ray together.
Had a less-than-optimal drop-off for Alex this morning: they've moved the baby/toddler room, so Alex couldn't find Ms. Gwen at first, and then when he did find her, she didn't have any crackers to give him, so when I finally got him back to the 2-year-old classroom, he broke down not only in tears but screaming and I had to pry him off my arms to walk out of the room. I hate those days. Hate them. I should start carrying an extra package of crackers or something in my car, just in case.
And Mondays are always a little messed up, schedule-wise, anyway. I've got oddly-stacked meetings that make my trip to the gym awkward, and I never can seem to get anything done.
And all I really want to do is go back to sleep and see if I can't manage something a little more restful, this time around.
Guess it's time for some coffee.
It was a good enough weekend, I guess. Alex pretty much flat refused to nap on Saturday -- I'd blame it on the Dr. Pepper I let him drink while we were waiting for Matt and Penny to come out of Penny's swimming lesson, but I really don't see four sips of soda hitting him hard enough to push off his nap for four hours. Eventually, Matt took him for a drive, and he ended up getting a half-hour nap in the car, but that was about it.
My sleep was weird all weekend, too, but I can't put my finger on it. I went to bed around the usual times, I got up around the usual times, but... I don't know. I had a bunch of weird dreams this morning -- I was hunting bad guys with the Teen Titans, for petesake -- and I'm fairly sure that at least one point, Matt was snuggling me in an effort to get me to stop snoring.
But the weather was better than expected -- cloudy but not rainy, and warm. We watched Sky High with Penny, and I think some of it was a little too fast or over her head -- she kept asking me to pause the movie so she could ask questions, until Matt got irritated enough to tell her to stop it and wait until the end, and she was still asking questions and trying to figure it out the next day. But overall she seemed to enjoy it, so we may actually be able to ease her into a few live-action movies, now. And honestly, I'm glad she was asking questions: it shows me that she was actually thinking about what was going on and trying to follow the action instead of just mindlessly watching; and it also gave me a sense of what she did and didn't understand, and what she picked up and what was a little too subtle for her. These are good things to know. (For myself, I didn't like the movie quite as much as I'd hoped to, but it was cute.)
She spent most of the weekend playing with Ray. Between them, they wrecked both houses (we actually had to make Ray come back over to our house after dinner last night to finish cleaning up) and they sprayed each other with the hose while washing Ray's mom's car, and generally had a fantastic time being kids and doing the things that kids do. I always like watching Penny and Ray together.
Had a less-than-optimal drop-off for Alex this morning: they've moved the baby/toddler room, so Alex couldn't find Ms. Gwen at first, and then when he did find her, she didn't have any crackers to give him, so when I finally got him back to the 2-year-old classroom, he broke down not only in tears but screaming and I had to pry him off my arms to walk out of the room. I hate those days. Hate them. I should start carrying an extra package of crackers or something in my car, just in case.
And Mondays are always a little messed up, schedule-wise, anyway. I've got oddly-stacked meetings that make my trip to the gym awkward, and I never can seem to get anything done.
And all I really want to do is go back to sleep and see if I can't manage something a little more restful, this time around.
Guess it's time for some coffee.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Every Year
I do this to myself every year, it seems. I expect it to get warm faster than it does.
I remember deciding to take a swimming class to fulfill one of my PhysEd requirements in college, and then thinking that if I took it in the spring semester, I'd spend less time running around wet and cold. Which was really stupid of me. All of September and half of October are plenty warm for swimming, with occasional warm spurts well into November. But though warm days start in March, you can't really count on it being warm here until May.
And it's only gotten worse over the years. Something in my body chemistry shifted while I was pregnant with Penny, and after she was born, I couldn't stand it being cooler than about 72, where before I was fine down to 65 or so. And now that I've shed a hundred pounds of insulating fat, I'm really most comfortable at around 75 or 76, unless I've just finished a workout.
We had a warm spurt a couple of weeks ago, and I settled into it, so now I've spent half of April whining about how cold it is.
It's got its bonuses, though. I discovered last summer that I was fairly comfortable in temperatures all the way up to 90 or so, where before I started sweating and muttering under my breath and looking for air conditioning as soon as we hit 80. Who knows? Maybe my ranking of the seasons will change.
I remember deciding to take a swimming class to fulfill one of my PhysEd requirements in college, and then thinking that if I took it in the spring semester, I'd spend less time running around wet and cold. Which was really stupid of me. All of September and half of October are plenty warm for swimming, with occasional warm spurts well into November. But though warm days start in March, you can't really count on it being warm here until May.
And it's only gotten worse over the years. Something in my body chemistry shifted while I was pregnant with Penny, and after she was born, I couldn't stand it being cooler than about 72, where before I was fine down to 65 or so. And now that I've shed a hundred pounds of insulating fat, I'm really most comfortable at around 75 or 76, unless I've just finished a workout.
We had a warm spurt a couple of weeks ago, and I settled into it, so now I've spent half of April whining about how cold it is.
It's got its bonuses, though. I discovered last summer that I was fairly comfortable in temperatures all the way up to 90 or so, where before I started sweating and muttering under my breath and looking for air conditioning as soon as we hit 80. Who knows? Maybe my ranking of the seasons will change.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
CSA
I said something yesterday on the diet blog about increasing my veggie intake. A bit later, Matt emailed me with a link to Dominion Harvest, a local CSA. Our friend Vicki found them a while back, and I'd given some thought to signing up, but hadn't gotten around to asking for the link.
Since Matt had the link ready to hand, and I've been thinking about trying this out since I first heard about CSAs a few years ago, I decided to sign us up. CSA, if you didn't feel like following the link above and haven't heard of it before, stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and is basically a buy-in to one or more local farms. Typically, you pay a set fee, and then you get a share of whatever happens to be producing at the time.
I'm hoping this will be a great opportunity for us to help support our community and to be exposed to produce (some of it possibly even new for us!) when it's perfectly in-season and therefore tasting its best. The website says they do deliveries sometime in the Wed-Fri timeframe, which makes it perfect for my menu planning (which I usually do on Thursdays or Fridays) -- I'll know what we've received and be able to incorporate things into my plans.
Of course, it's possible that we'll just end up with a lot of food turning fuzzy and brown in the bottom of the fridge every couple of weeks, so to start, I signed us up for the standard produce box every two weeks. If it works out great and we're eating the veggies and fruits and loving it, we might consider upping it to weekly. I don't see us ramping up to one of the eggs/cheese/bread/meat boxes, because we really don't eat as much of those things. (Or more precisely, we mostly eat diet-friendly versions of those things, like low-fat cheese and low-carb bread.) But if they show up in the "add-ons" section, I might consider throwing them in from time to time.
I'm kind of weirdly excited about this, and looking forward to deliveries starting in May.
Since Matt had the link ready to hand, and I've been thinking about trying this out since I first heard about CSAs a few years ago, I decided to sign us up. CSA, if you didn't feel like following the link above and haven't heard of it before, stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and is basically a buy-in to one or more local farms. Typically, you pay a set fee, and then you get a share of whatever happens to be producing at the time.
I'm hoping this will be a great opportunity for us to help support our community and to be exposed to produce (some of it possibly even new for us!) when it's perfectly in-season and therefore tasting its best. The website says they do deliveries sometime in the Wed-Fri timeframe, which makes it perfect for my menu planning (which I usually do on Thursdays or Fridays) -- I'll know what we've received and be able to incorporate things into my plans.
Of course, it's possible that we'll just end up with a lot of food turning fuzzy and brown in the bottom of the fridge every couple of weeks, so to start, I signed us up for the standard produce box every two weeks. If it works out great and we're eating the veggies and fruits and loving it, we might consider upping it to weekly. I don't see us ramping up to one of the eggs/cheese/bread/meat boxes, because we really don't eat as much of those things. (Or more precisely, we mostly eat diet-friendly versions of those things, like low-fat cheese and low-carb bread.) But if they show up in the "add-ons" section, I might consider throwing them in from time to time.
I'm kind of weirdly excited about this, and looking forward to deliveries starting in May.
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