Sunday, July 22, 2012

Other Things

Things I would have written about last week if I hadn't been distracted by women being patronizing to another woman:

- I wore my hair in a French braid to work. I'm not sure if any professional woman has done that since 1988, but it was nice to do something with it besides throw it up in a messy bun (actually blow drying and styling it being out of the question of course).

- Vermin count in my house to date: 9 geckos (3 still at large), 1 snake, 139 spiders, 6,345,231 springtails, 1 horned frog, 3 moths, 12 beetles, 1 dinosaur cockroach, 2 regular cockroaches, and as of last Tuesday, 1 dead squirrel. Luckily, that last one was outside on our deck, but it was right next to the side of the house, so I think it counts. 90% of the rest of the count was from our bathroom. I'm thinking of letting the geckos stay, it's the natural introduction of a predator in our ecosystem.

- I am trying to learn accounting. It’s going as well as my attempt to learn organic chemistry in college. I really REALLY wish I’d taken business classes in undergrad. In fact, the business school is the only school I didn’t have a single class in on the entire campus (being a liberal arts honors/pre-med/biology/philosophy major who loves math), which is surprising since my new boyfriend took nearly all of his classes there and I really couldn't get enough of him.

- I just watched the footage JP shot of Landon's birthday party cake moment and found out that he zoomed in on my boobs while I was bent over (in my apparently rather low cut bathing suit cover-up dress) distributing cupcakes. I'm trying to decide if I need to edit it out. I'd say yes, but I would have to first learn how, so we're probably talking hours of time that could be doing something else like writing blog posts. And not that we're totally inappropriate around them (not totally), but I doubt it will come as a huge shock to my grown children that dad would zoom the camera in on that general area.  But still, I'm torn.

- I temporarily lifted our moratorium on unnecessary spending to buy a whole bunch of rugs and door mats at Target. We have 9 exterior doors and coming in from the pool onto tile was becoming a safety issue. The fact that they make my house look pretty was purely incidental.

- This article on Bikers Against Child Abuse made me cry. I can completely understand how, for a kid, something like this might make them feel safe when their parents or guardians can't.

- Claire is so fun and sweet and adorable right now that I have no words to explain it. I've tried- I have a draft "2nd birthday" post that I've been working on and off on for weeks, but I just can't capture her. She hops (hops! with great enthusiasm) to JP whenever he calls her to come over. She hugs fiercely and she says "wuv you. wuv you SO MUCH" while doing it. She talks so much and so fast it's hard to keep up, but she says things with such conviction that you have to pretend you understand, even if your brain is still trying to translate her language into yours. She is so brave- JP is doing her swim lessons and she sobs the whole time, but when he tells her they're going to do something one more time she nods her head and chokes out "otay" through the sobs. She only wants to eat fruit and cheese. She doesn't whine, only screams when Landon does something she doesn't like (never at JP or me, oddly enough), and only throws the occasional, blessedly short (less than 30 seconds) tantrum. She is fiercely independent and yet is so sweet she makes me melt. Also laugh. There are no words.

- My very favorite show is back on TV. Breaking Bad is the only show I don't watch with my laptop open on my lap. It's serious business.

- I'm still going to my barre class. I think my arms jiggle less and a complete stranger complimented me on my legs on Saturday. The woman at Gap (where I was just browsing... for the children...) will never know it, but she just guaranteed my next 10 classes.

8 comments:

  1. Man, I do *not* know how you are keeping your cool with the bugs. (Geckos, though: those guys are awesome!) The tradeoff for the rain here is that we have few bugs (but lots of slugs).

    And I love French braids! Bring the style back, LL!

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  2. 1 - Katniss seemed to bring back the french braid - just do it sideways.

    2 - Keep the boobs in the video. It would make me laugh if it were my parents, and it shows the kids that Mom and Dad were still in love and playful at that point in time. And be grateful... my hubby tends to zoom in on my nose, on a blemish, etc.

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  3. Just wondering here. . .do you guys watch the Olympics? On the one hand, I would think it'd be cool to watch something you used to do (and see people you know!) but on the other hand, it might bring up some difficult memories for JP. (Esp of He Who Shall Not Be Named).

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    1. Ha, oh yes, we're huge fans. We originally got DVR in Austin because the swimming was always on TV right at Landon's bed time and we were arguing over who had to put him down. JP may have a strong dislike for a certain former Olympian, but he loves swimming more than anything in the world (besides me I suppose, but it might be close) and having it on the big TV instead of the little USA swimming website video page is a once every four years not to be missed experience. (plus the former business partner is retired ;). We already have the dates of the various events in our calendars and the DVR set to record!

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    2. So glad this question was asked! I was just getting ready to ask if you were planning to watch. I love the recaps that you give on the swimming matches. I'm not a swimmer myself, so it's nice to hear what someone who has competed has to say. It humanizes more than the Today Show and all of the announcers are able to.

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  5. What I love about the summer where I am is that I can get away with air drying it by keeping the windows of the car open while I drive to work and thereby dry it. Winter just means frozen hair..

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  6. geckos are good luck!

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