August 18, 2008

And Now for some Completely Unoriginal Content

Coffee is officially good for you!

I'm saved, vindicated, thrilled, whatever.

Got my third juried show application off this morning, so now I can relax a little. The painting just plain didn't happen this past weekend, due to Unforseen Circumstances Beyond My Control and really really nice weather that made me think "hm. We won't have many more days like this. I should be outdoors."

Posted by mwashburn at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2008

So... Tired...

My first kid-free weekend away. It's great to be home, but as a brief summary I will tell you that my weekend involved (in no particular order): lesbians, mummies, ballroom dancing, being flirted with by men nearly a decade my junior, good coffee, bad coffee, Brooklyn transplants in Indiana, Indiana transplants to Brooklyn visiting Indiana, half a Cuban black bean pizza, on-the-house sushi dinner, the horrifying experience of actually seeing a Pussycat Dolls video on the MTV at my hotel, and less sleep than I normally get living with a toddler. Bliss.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:39 PM | Comments (1)

June 08, 2008

Little Dreaded Things

Things you dread hearing:

Mommy! (shouted from the other room) An ant!
"Don't worry, it won't bother you"
It's on my plate!!!

Things you dread finding in your trunk:

A dozen eggs you missed when bringing groceries into the house TWO WEEKS AGO.

Posted by mwashburn at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2008

Spring Break Woo!

Well, we're just back and there's lots to tell. We're sick of the road, sick of eating crappy food, and very glad to be home. There were laughs, there were tears, there were new friends and old. A very epic Spring Break. The worst thing is that we are just terrible about taking photos while on trips, so I'm sorry that most of this post will not be illustrated. But, let's see... a few highlights:

• Easter Egg hunting (yes, a week early, and no, we don't actually celebrate Easter at home) with the Bug and her cousins.

• Meeting an online friend in NYC for the first time. If you're ever in the West Village, eat lunch at 'Snice. The food was awesome and they make a PERFECT latte. And despite my trepidation about meeting someone I've known only online for the last 3 1/2 years, it all went really well and she was a lot of fun.

• New ink for the first time in 10 years (I know, I couldn't believe it either). I figured I couldn't let Adam have all the fun (and a shoutout to all the fantastic artists at SAVED TATTOO in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.)

• Meeting friend CA's new baby. He's just as cool as she is.

• Getting home to find that Patita sent me a card signed by Heather Armstrong (assuming they met up at SXSW, which I WILL make it too someday)

Lows include:

• Parents who repeatedly used words like "dummycrat" and kept insisting that Obama is a "sleeper." Don't even get me started.

• Ridiculously excessive signage in the state of Pennsylvania. I mean, ridiculously. Twenty-three posted rules at each highway rest stop. Big green mileage signs EVERY TENTH OF A MILE. Etc.

So check out Adam's blog too; I'm sure he'll be posting more interesting stuff than I, and I couldn't presume to post his tattoo pics, so you'll have to check there. Here are mine:

Posted by mwashburn at 04:03 PM | Comments (3)

March 02, 2008

Weekend

Seeing old friends good.
Bloomington Brewing Company Java Porter good.
Bloomington good.
Runcible Spoon good.

The Bug scored an awesome hoodie sweater from Chile, we got to catch up with S & L who we haven't seen in nearly 3 years, Captain Keys got lots of attention, and we enjoyed the best 24 hours we've had in a while.

Posting may be spotty from here on out, as we've got more travel coming up the end of this week, but we'll see what transpires.

Posted by mwashburn at 06:52 PM | Comments (1)

February 28, 2008

That's It, I'm Moving to Sweden.

Let's take a look at the facts.

Sweden is full of atheists.

By many measures it is considered to be one of the top ten "Happiest Countries".

They invented Ikea and Swedish Meatballs.

And the Tempurpedic mattress. Which is the real subject of this entry. Last night was my first night on our new Tempurpedic bed. Aaaahhhh. Considering we've been sleeping on the same busted old Serta from Sam's Club for the last 12+ years, I think bearskins and clean rocks would have been an improvement. I'll have to give it a couple of weeks to see how it truly stacks up, but so far I'm impressed. I actually didn't sleep real well last night, but it wasn't because I was uncomfortable. In fact, being awake a lot made me appreciate how comfortable the thing was all the more. And I definitely noticed a difference in my sinuses in the morning. Suffering from lots of allergies, I generally get really grossed out when I think of the things that were probably living in our mattress. Now, I've heard conflicting reports on whether memory foam is actually better for allergies. I've heard that it's dense enough that it discourages dust mite proliferation, but I've also hear that this is not true, and that they are also suceptible to molds if the humidity is high or if they get wet. So we will probably opt for an allergen cover anyway; I figured in the face of conflicting research it certainly couldn't be any worse than what we were already sleeping on.

Another huge plus is the lack of motion transfer. Considering that I sleep next to one large perpetual motion machine and (although with decreasing frequency) one small being who likes to kick the covers off and stick her ice-cold feet down my pajama pants, this is a huge bonus. Like my own little isolation chamber.

Now if those Scandanavians could just do something about the soul-crushing endless night of winter in the Northern latitudes, I might be tempted to move there. Especially pending election results in November. We shall see.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:51 AM | Comments (1)

January 29, 2008

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Me on Sunday: "Yeah, Adam and the Bug both had that awful cold and I totally stayed healthy! I can't believe it! It's so great! This never happens!"

Me today: "Sniffle. Ugh. Hack. Ow."

Me on Sunday: "Yeah, Lily has slept all night in her own bed for five days straight in the last week!! I can't believe it! She's finally sleeping all night and so am I!!!"

Me today: "Uh, yeah. Lily's been up crying at midnight every night since Saturday. I slept in her room last night because she wouldn't settle back down" Oh, and see first item. Fffthlt.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2008

Cheating Update

Well, old gym, it's over. Two workouts (including a kick-ass Pilates class) pushed me over the edge. I canceled my membership. That's pretty final. I feel a little twinge of guilt, but then again maybe that's just the soreness in my abs from training with someone who knows what the hell they're doing.

It's time for me to get started training for the Ringing In Spring 5K as well. I kinda have to do it this year, since now I have last year's time to beat. I am in better shape than I was last year (um, I think). Maybe not better running-shape, but better overall shape. And somehow, the plateau is over and I've shed 2 pounds!! I know it's only two pounds, but when Lily weaned my weight started to creep up and I felt a sense of panic. But I think it was just my metabolism readjusting, and I tried to stay calm and now it has worked itself out. I've always been obsessed with my weight, but I try to fight it through exercise, focusing on strength/fitness rather than actual weight in pounds, and not owning a scale. I am critically diet-impaired. The word diet makes me get hives, and being hungry is worse than having bamboo slivers shoved under my fingernails. So there you have it.

The point of this whole tale is that I'm excited to simply have somewhere different to work out, a different kind of workout to do, and new goals to work on. See you in swimsuit season!!

Posted by mwashburn at 07:23 AM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2008

Cheating

Well, I'm sorry old gym. I went and tried out that other New Gym today. Your flabby trainers, oldster music, and outdated equipment just weren't doing it for me any more. At 5:40 am I got on my running shoes, drove to the other side of town, and sweated somewhere else. It was a brightly lit place where the free weights were right next to the Nautilus machines. There were five wide-screen TVs with earphone jacks on the exercise equipment (and none of them were showing Fox News). There were people who actually looked in shape. I got my own locker AND lock. I'll go back for more. I get to take Pilates for FREE on Thursday. I'm sorry, old gym. I think it's over. Looks like I'm going to need to buy some new gym clothes.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:37 AM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2007

Christmas in Hell

Today was the day I decided to take a bit of a break from step class. Our instructor showed up in red, skin-tight, knee-length leggings and a red half-shirt with "Merry Christmas" handwritten on the front. Her front-closure bra came undone in the middle of class and she had to fish around in her cleavage for a while to fix it. The music was the soundtrack of my nightmares, starting with something along the lines of "Holy Jeeeeeesus, Holy Jeeeesus" (indeed) and moving on into something that sounded like Lalo Schifrin does Christmas. And you try doing leg-lifts to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." I almost walked out at that point, but I was just reaching my target heart rate.

Thank goodness I'm headed to warmer climes.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:39 AM | Comments (2)

December 09, 2007

Weekend Randomness

The Family
We're entertaining the stomach flu this weekend, in a bout of vomiting that seems to be an annual pre-holiday event. All I can say is that I'm glad the Bug waited until after the holiday open house at the new Dean's house to hurl the entire contents of her stomach across the room.

Knitting
Finally got my Ravelry invite! I'm foureyedflygrrl there, so if you're on, look me up.

Reading
I finally started reading The Golden Compass. I would have LOVED this book when I was younger. I mean, I am really enjoying it now, but at the time in my life when I was fantasy-prone and extremely into that sort of fiction it would have really engrossed me. I can't figure out why I had never heard of it. In any case, it's actually quite complicated and dense for a book aimed at children. And however they may have softened up the movie, the book is quite clear in its anti-religion stance, using words like "papacy" and so forth, so the connotations of the Catholic church are there. What I can't figure out is why groups like the Catholic League want to actually ban such books/movies. You'd think that a strong, meaningful, legitimate worldview would stand up to scrutiny and invite examination of counter argument. Oh, wait a minute...

Which leads me to my next item. Trying to make up my mind about throwing myself behind The OUT Campaign. Suddenly finding myself among tons of other non-theists, skeptics, etc. online has made me really examine my own unbelief and what it means in a larger sense. I see a big movement towards "coming out," which I think is important for atheists for a number of reasons, but at the same time I want to avoid the trap of setting up yet another faction, especially one based on supposed intellectual superiority. I think that the point I always want to make in outing myself as an atheist is my similarities to everyone else, not my differences. I think that showing myself to be a loving, caring, concerned, ethical, civic-minded person who is also an atheist does more for acceptance and understanding of atheism than doing the whole elitism thing. But by the same token I think not enough atheists are out, speaking out about the misrepresentation of atheism in the media, combating all the misconceptions out there, and so on. People like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris have been doing a HUGE part of this work by writing books and being so available to the media this past year, but it's not enough. In any case, I will probably be posting more about this as I sit around and continue to think through it all.

Posted by mwashburn at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)

December 04, 2007

Am I Being Punished?

So, one day, several years ago, I decided to get my car washed. This is the beat-up old blue-green Nissan Altima I drive, pre-dented for me by my dear departed Grandmother. She liked to drive about five miles an hour, passenger-side wheels on the sidewalk, and couldn't back up to save her life, hence the dents in the trunk.

Anyway, this car has one of those stupid antennae that goes up when you turn on the radio and retracts when you turn it off. I went through the automatic carwash, and left the radio on. Snap. So, I've been living with no antenna for several years now. Which means that unless I'm driving past the block the radio station is on, all I get is fuzz. On a cloudy day I can get the community radio station here, which is a mixed bag to be sure. The Beatles show is nice. Local political commentary by ill-informed college students I can do without. But for some reason days will go by where I can get nothing. Nothing. Today I was on my way home from the gym at 6:30 am and thought "I'd like some entertainment." I hit the "search" button. Around and around the numbers went. Finally they stopped on the only thing with decent reception. A South Bend country station. ARGH. What did I do to deserve this? (Drove through a carwash with my antenna up, apparently).

On a related note, have you seen the new iTunes commercial with Mary J Blige? Every time it's on, the Bug stands, transfixed, in front of the TV. "What is this one?" she asks. "Mary J Blige" I answer. "Lilybug like that!" she says. Huh. I actually have her last album, The Breakthrough, and it's not bad. I keep meaning to play it for Bug, but just haven't gotten around to hooking the iPod back up to the stereo.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:20 AM | Comments (0)

November 23, 2007

The Holidays Begin

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We had sent out a general invite to all the Usual Suspects, and for whatever reason this year no one could make it. We were adjusting to the idea of having a quiet (and, frankly, somewhat lonely) Turkey Day when we got an invite to head to Indianapolis to spend the day with Jamie, Susanne, and the Littles. It turned out to be a really nice day. Lily had constant entertainment in the form of J and her pet bird, a musical Barney doll, and Bo the Beagle. I discovered that I really like cornbread stuffing and fried apples, I didn't kill nut-allergic Susanne with my pecan pie, and a good time was had by all. Hopefully my second-glass-of-wine ranting and raving didn't offend anyone. Oprah wasn't there to get offended, so if you don't tell her, I won't.

Most of today was spent at my office upgrading my computer to OSX Leopard. Woo-hoo. Except I didn't find out until afterwards that it doesn't get along too well with Konica Minolta printers. I might have a major problem come Monday morning, but I'm trying really hard not to lose too much sleep over it. We purposefully stayed away from all retail locations in silent protest of the Madness that is Black Friday. We may venture out for some holiday consumerism tomorrow. Maybe.

And, I finished the hat and mitten set I've been knitting for the Bug.

We ended up renting the old Rankin-Bass Frosty the Snowman cartoon to watch with Lily tonight, not realizing it was going to completely traumatize her, but I'll be covering that over at the Lilyblog.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Posted by mwashburn at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)

November 15, 2007

Pink is Great, but Not In Your Eyes

I am currently at a pinnacle of crankiness. My day started off, as usual, at the gym at a ridiculous hour. When I started hitting the gym at 5:45 a.m., it was peppered with a couple of employees getting a workout in before their shift and a few quiet retirees. All of a sudden it's full of soccer moms, marathon runners, and college kids. Today I watched a 160 lb guy doing bicep curls with 20 lb dumbells wearing a weight-lifting belt. The kind you wear if you're deadlifting twice your bodyweight on stage while wearing a banana hammock. C'Mon people. And there's a new sign that we're supposed to disinfect the equipment after we use it. In the Nautilus room. Isn't that why I pay a membership fee? So they can pay people to, um, clean? I mean yeah, if you're sweating like I pig I appreciate a wipedown of the pads before you walk away, but otherwise, who's got time?

So, I was already in a mood. I decided to call the Bug's pediatrician this morning to ask about her persistently goopy eye. It started during a week when we both had seasonal allergy stuff going on, and my eyes were constantly crusty and bloodshot, so I didn't think much of it. But one of her eyes just hasn't cleared up with the cold weather. It looks red just in the membrane in the corner, and there's a small scratch. So I am not convinced it's pink eye. But the pediatrican won't see her. If there's discharge, they just want you to stick ointment in the eye for a week and not bother them with your possibly contagious child. Be cause the "p" word was mentioned, she can't go within 100 yards of the daycare center either. So I'm home today. Which is great. We're eating cinnamon raisin toast and watching Sesame Street. I wish for this sometimes. But in the meantime I've got postcards for people who insist on grammatically incorrect phrases, bookmarks for an event that starts today for which the logo is being redesigned tomorrow, and a host of other fun things that, while in the universal scheme of things are trifles, STRESS ME THE FUCK OUT.

Maybe it's better that I'm not at work today. At least I can knit.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2007

Ugh

Yay! Bronchitis! I've had a fairly mild cold for almost a month now, and it finally decided to get serious this weekend. I'm now coughing nonstop, and hacking up really frightening things from the deepest regions of my lungs. I decided not to go in to work today (meaning I'll work some at home, and probably still go in for a meeting and to do a couple of things at the end of the day) but the big decision is whether to keep the Bug home. She has a mild cough, so if I were a responsible parent (and one with paid sick time) I would probably just keep her home, but since I do need to at least stop in the office for a little bit I haven't quite decided. Adam can come home early-ish, which is a help, and I could always load up the trusty box of crayons and risk bringing her with me. We'll see. I just hope I'm over this soon.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:15 AM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2007

Nothing Like the Sound of Bad Dance Music at 6 AM

I recently determined that most of my morning workouts were junk. I was patting myself on the back a little too much for getting up every day at 5:30, and figuring just being at the gym was enough. Well, it wasn't. My post-Bug-weaning self has begun to grow in a way I find totally unacceptable. After talking to a couple of people who know about these things, I decided to quit valuing cardio as the be-all, end-all of exercise, and get serious about more total body workouts and more intensive weight training. I did two days of weight training this week, and two days I attended the 6:15-7:00 step class. I've done step class before, and despite the fact that one feels like a total cornball, and the fact that one is forced to listen to Cher, it really is a good workout. The instructor is a perky woman who looks to be in her late 40s or early 50s, in fairly good shape, with curly blonde hair, a tiger print sports bra, and a navel ring. She's very perky at 6 a.m., which I can forgive her for. And it's better than the overweight trainer who taught the strength class to country music and always showed up late. So look out Increased Metabolism, here I come!!

Posted by mwashburn at 07:43 AM | Comments (1)

October 13, 2007

Or, You Could Just Shoot Me Now

Today was my long-awaited annual visit with my OB/GYN for All Things Female. I like her, she's smart, she's accessible, and she's generally very non-judgmental. But today, we started off with the routine questions... how is your mood? Very good, for the most part. Are you exercising? Yes. Have you cut out the alcohol? My brain comes to a screeching halt. "I still have a couple of drinks per week." Disapproving frown, but she moves on.

Next, we discuss the fact that prior to my last period (which, as it happens, was my very first post-weaning period), I spent two days in tears. I figure it's just my estrogen and progesterone levels re-adjusting, and that it will straighten out in a couple of months. "Oh, that's PMS. We usually treat it with mood elevators, Prozac, Zoloft, two weeks on, two weeks off." woah. "Well, I'd like to give it a few months and see if things straighten out before I try that." "OK, then you should watch your diet. Load up on protein..." check. "Cut out the carbs..." now I'm getting worried. "NO caffeine or sugar." That bullet goes straight to my heart. Sigh. But it's better than Prozac.

We went on to talk about off-label uses of contraceptives for treating severe premenstrual symptoms, which apparently only works about half the time, and to discuss pro-active treatment of Postpartum Depression should I choose to get pregnant again (not likely, but I just wanted to discuss all possibilities). Disappointingly, the clinical model for that particular eventuality is just to start meds at 36 weeks. This is part of what I struggled with during my bout of PPD; I understand that meds have an important place in treatment of depression and other psychological disorders, and there's no doubt in my mind that it was the right thing for me at the time, but I still have to question the medical model of just throwing these drugs at everything. Is spending two days in tears before every menstrual period (not that I'm there yet) a little drastic? Yes. Is it something I can live with and maybe modify on my own through prevention, diet, exercise, whatever? Quite likely. So why is a doctor who hardly knows me so eager to just write a prescription? I really don't understand it. It's so tempting to just take it; feel like there's a quick fix for everything.

I don't know if I can cut out caffeine and alcohol. Actually, yes, I do. I know that I can't. The terrible sort of wish-thinking that afflicts the Alcoholic side of my family affects me too. I insist to myself that I have a very healthy diet, no matter how many cookies I shove in my face on the sly (they're High Fructose Corn Syrup FREE cookies!) so it's not hard to make that particular delusional leap to "I don't drink that much" and so on. I see quite clearly how it happens. So what do I do about it? Well, I think I actually DO lead a very healthy lifestyle. The "bad" things I consume, I consume in moderation. I'm not really willing to risk the sort of binge-and-purge response to forced deprivation that I've had in the past. It's less sticking my head in the sand and more If it Aint [REALLY] Broke, Don't Fix It.

Posted by mwashburn at 01:38 PM | Comments (1)

October 08, 2007

At Least She Was Breastfeeding

This woman really knows how to party. I never thought of snorting my coke off a baby!!!

From the Times Union (an upstate New York newspaper):

Police said Wendy Cook of Saratoga Springs was on a drug-fueled spree Monday when she was arrested during a crackdown on prostitution in the Hamilton Hill, Central State Street and Vale Cemetery areas...

According to the police report, Cook inhaled lines of powdered cocaine off the infant's stomach as she breast-fed him while riding around Schenectady.

There's more, and it's just really horrifying. I keep hearing news stories involving terrible neglect and abuse of young children, and even in my worst mommy moments of wanting to shout at my child because she won't come brush her teeth, I can't even comprehend the lack of empathy and affection that allows people to do these kinds of things.

Posted by mwashburn at 04:15 PM | Comments (3)

September 27, 2007

Back from Purgatory

The Bug and I just spent five days in the foothills of the Adirondacks, visiting my father and stepmother in the bucolic little town I grew up in. Of course that bucolic little town is now bursting at the seams with meth dealers, drug addicts, loonies, and all manner of other people you wouldn't want to spend much time with. Decades of economic and social decline have left it a place full of nostalgia and little else of note. Up on The Hill, as we've come to call it, though, it's very easy to relax and feel like you're on vacation in the picturesque Adirondack foothills, especially this time of year.

The view from my parents' back deck:

The Bug got to spend time with her cousins, I got to catch up with my many cousins and relations at the family wedding we attended on Saturday, and I was again reminded that although I love my family fiercely, I am very glad that I live 700 miles away. Being shouted at to "Get off my Liberal high horse" when I whined that I don't care for Bill O'Reilly's voice was just the tip of the iceberg. Years of family-of-origin psychopathology come bubbling to the surface on every one of these extended trips "home," ending in tears of every emotion from frustration to love and hate and back on the car ride back to Albany airport. But as always, I put it all out of my mind and the pathos fades with the scent of cigarette smoke as I wash and re-wash every article of clothing in my well-traveled suitcase.

It's good to be home.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:10 PM | Comments (1)

September 17, 2007

Seven Long, Long Years

Just kidding. Well, not about the seven years part. Yes, yesterday was our wedding anniversary. It was also the opening of the South Shore Arts Salon Show, so we had a lovely pre-made date all ready for us. Babysitter and the whole nine yards. We had a really nice time. So, this was also a day to reflect upon the crazy journey that is our marriage, and I still remember all the planning for our actual wedding day.

[This post is sponsored by HitWeddings.com]

I use the internet quite extensively (yes, at work!) to aid in planning our wedding. There are a lot of sites out there, most of which cater to your typical bride, and I was probably anything but. We wrote our own vows, and while we certainly tried not to thoughtlessly shit all over time-honored traditions, we certainly put our own stamp on them. This was, alas, the days before everyone was blogging, so we didn't have benefit of so much personal experience for our Wedding Planning. Hitweddings.com boasts a blog, a ton of articles on planning, and lots of helpful links both to other bloggers' sites as well as planning resources. They even have a section on planning a "green" wedding, something that, though trendy, I cannot frown upon. I treated the internet much as I treated wedding magazines-- ideas, eye candy, but not The Bible of wedding planning. We were really happy with the results of our wedding. Everyone had a blast, the food was great, everything looked good, and it was ours. We still joke around about the fact that our Catholic families somehow lived through a secular wedding, performed in a Presbyterian Church, by a gay Baptist-ordained friend. It seemed exactly the right thing. We also had very fancy food, but not a sit-down dinner, and there was a sundae bar (for which my generous Dad halted an entire production line at the ice cream plant one day to make vegan sorbet for the handful of vegans at our wedding). Some of the more adventurous guests even made it into the basement of the old social club building we had the reception at, and found the old bowling alley. I've seen the photos, though somehow I never made it down there myself.

So my advice to anyone out there planning a wedding is to have fun, stop and enjoy it, focus on what is important to you and your intended, and let the rest go (pick your battles in other words). We talked about eloping, but then decided that there was something important about pledging our lives to each other in front of all of our accumulated friends and family at that point in our lives. Besides, the last time the entire clan on my side of the family had gotten together was a funeral, and that was just no fun. You only go this way once, and as Auntie Mame (for whom my inimitable Great-Grandmother was nicknamed) said, "Life's a banquet, and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death."

Posted by mwashburn at 06:43 AM | Comments (3)

September 10, 2007

More About my Weekend

Working in reverse order here (and skipping Sunday altogether). I left out the entire day of Saturday in my last post, because what bits of the evening were still left in my alcohol-addled mind were still fairly fresh.

In any case, Saturday morning Adam got up early and left the house to go run in the Popcorn Panic, an annual 5-mile race that kicks off the much-anticipated Popcorn Fest. I kid you not. Orville Redenbacher grew up here or something, so every year we celebrate Redenbacher's legacy of class-action lawsuits over popcorn lung (or something like that). But, the race goes practically right by our house. So the Bug and I grabbed our coffee and sippee cups and walked to the corner to cheer on the runners along with our neighbors. This is about the halfway point of the race, and I'll let Adam tell you all about how he did, but the Bug really got into it, clapping and yelling when her Dad went by.

After Adam returned and hit the showers, we decided to head downtown to check out the festivities. We've managed to either ignore or be out of town for the festival the first two years we lived here, so this was our chance. I also figured it was a pleasant (i.e. not 97% humidity) day, and the Bug is now old enough to enjoy a parade. We had to walk a fair distance from the available parking, but that's no biggie (but then I hadn't just run 5 miles). I have to say, I was a bit disappointed that the Valpo marching band didn't put in a very good performance. The band from Kouts was much tighter. Yes, Kouts, for god's sake. The Bug liked the marching bands, and the police cars with their sirens blazing.

So the festival was pretty much what I expected. Adam got to realize his greatest dream, which was to eat a deep-fried twinkie. The Bug and I went through the mini corn maze, and shared a shaved ice. I tried not to ruin the day by ranting and raving about how the kids' entertainment lineup for the day revolved around Ronald McDonald (McD's wonderful hypocritical marketing shitfest for kids that is disguised as education to keep them active and healthy. I love it when corporations use that kind of sleight of hand with your kids. Have you seen the study showing that kids think that food tastes better when it's in a McDonald's wrapper?) Anyway, I digress. I also found out that port-o-potties and toddlers are really not a very fun combination, but while we were in there we missed the Pro-Life float. Darn.

There were the usual craft booths, full of puppy dog throw blankets and yard art, but there was one seller with really cool silver jewelry made from old silverware. I've always loved that stuff. I have a hair clip made from an old spoon handle that I got from the Spoon Man during my trip to Portland a few years ago.

So, I managed to swallow my slice of Americana and make it home without too many blisters on my feet. The rest of the day you know all about. Well, except for my trip to Costco in the early afternoon, but somehow I doubt it bears retelling. Have a great Monday everybody.

Posted by mwashburn at 06:52 AM | Comments (2)

September 09, 2007

SURPRISE!

Just when I thought my birthday was over...

Adam, coolest of all husbands, threw a surprise party for me last night. A real live grown-up cocktail party, with wine and cheese and olives! It was a blast. The best part was that dear friend Ben from Louisville (well, formerly a Bloomington friend) showed up. I saw a motorcycle pull in the driveway about 4:30, and about lost my shit when I realized who it was. That's a long way to drive for a birthday party. Some people just know you so well, and no matter how long you go between visits, it's like they never left. I am lucky enough to have several of those people in my life. One of the others happened to call me last night in the midst of the party, and I can't say it isn't nice to be the center of attention sometimes.

I'm just mad that I didn't take any pictures. At all. I never remember to use my camera; I'm always too busy doing things to try to actually record them in pictures, and then I'm always sorry afterwards. But anyway, thank you to all the friends (both old and new) who came, and to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I really don't expect a big deal to be made, especially at this point in my life, but it is always nice to know people are thinking of me.

We got up today and headed to the Viking Chili Bowl yet again for breakfast. I was treated to "Happy Birthday to MOMMY!" a couple more times at the breakfast table. It's hilarious that all these birthdays are happening at once and the Bug just doesn't comprehend what it's all about, but is certainly having a lot of fun with it. I also found out today that, unlike when I was in my twenties, I can't throw back drink after drink all night, get up early the next day, eat eggs for breakfast, and then run four miles. Can you say extreme nausea? So the rest of the day shall be very low-key, and tomorrow it's off to the races again...

Posted by mwashburn at 01:08 PM | Comments (2)

September 06, 2007

Happy Birthday to Me

My dear cousin Patita sent me a really lovely birthday package. I opened it a day early because, frankly, I had a shitty afternoon at work. I've already drunk 2 Coronas and declared that working, does, in fact suck. But, then, the grass is always greener. Patita kindly supplied WAGE the Ugly Doll (in celebration of my renewed position of Wage Slave):

As well as some cute stitch markers and a cool assortment of yummy yarn:

I'm thinking the peach cones must be some kind of cotton, and I'm wondering if I can make a skirt out of them. The others seem destined for hats, although yesterday I was looking at this amazing afghan over at the Mason Dixon Knitting blog and thinking that maybe, just maybe, little by little I could knit such a thing. Amazing. The more I try to swear off knitting, the more of an obsession it becomes. I guess it's better than drinking. Oh, wait, I do that too.

Posted by mwashburn at 06:32 PM | Comments (2)

August 24, 2007

We're Still Here!

Thanks for all the phone calls of concern, friends and family, but we have not yet been swept away by the floodwaters. We are close to the action, but not quite in the thick of it. There have been tornado sirens pretty much daily, and a few trees down, but our house is still here, we are not in a boat, and we are none worse for the wear.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:16 PM | Comments (1)

August 05, 2007

Another Lazy Weekend

Although I ended up at the office for most of Saturday afternoon, the weekend was not lost. We spent Saturday morning lazing around Chesterton. We went to the European Market for the first time this season, which was great because it's the only place around here you can get decent European-style pastries. There's a bakery from, I think, up in Michigan that has to-die-for croissants and danishes. So it was some fresh fruit, pastries and coffee, and then off to the Chesterton Art Fair. There was some pretty cool stuff, and the requisite kittens-in-a-basket paintings. I was excited to find some new jewelry:

from Kirsten at Funky Artsy Jewelry. She even made me some custom coral and pearl earrings to match:

I am also thinking about these earrings or at least something from this seller on etsy. Great stuff.

Today was supposed to be spent clearing dead tree parts out of the backyard, but as it was a rainy morning we drank too much coffee and played with finger paints. Tomorrow is Monday again, but I'm still in the honeymoon phase where I look forward to going to work.

Posted by mwashburn at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)

July 29, 2007

So Tired...

We just wrapped up a very busy week and a very nice weekend. My first week at the new job went well. I think it's a really good fit, though there are definitely going to be some growing pains. It's hard, after two years at home, to adjust to a new schedule, new roles, etc. I spent two evenings crying over sending the Bug to daycare, despite the fact that I know it will be good in many ways (and it is undoubtedly good that I am going back to work) and despite the fact that it doesn't happen for four more weeks.

I think no matter when it happens, it's bound to be a stressful transition and one fraught with mixed feelings. Even though my rational mind knows that the Bug will be safe and happy and still under our influence the majority of the time, my emotional and instinctual side just feels panicky about her not being with me 24 hours a day. Work is flexible enough that I think I may sign us up for a Friday morning toddler class at the Y; I'll only miss a couple of hours of work per week and I'll have an additional one-on-one activity with her during the week. Even though it's the same kind of thing she'll be doing at preschool, it will be something we do together. She's already got the library with Daddy and so forth.

The other big thing this week was a visit from our friends Adam and Jen from Champaign-Urbana. We hung out and made homemade pizzas on Saturday and today went to the beach, then for lunch at the Red Cup Cafe, and then for a walk down to the cool little garden/park with the Japanese koi pond. We are all exhausted from so much exercise and fresh air. It was great to see them. I always love having house guests, especially ones who share my love of food. To end our busy week and fun but exhausting weekend, I'm looking forward to a big salad for dinner, then bath time, and an early bedtime. Look for the blog redesign sometime this week too (I hope!)

Posted by mwashburn at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2007

Blueberry Day

Today was a busy day. First thing this morning Adam, the Bug and I went to visit the new daycare we'll be using when I go back to work (there is an offer on the table and I'll be making a final decision by the end of the week. Woo hoo!) I really like the teacher in the 2-year-old room, and Lily seems pretty comfortable there. It's just really scary to think about her being with someone else for a big chunk of the day. It will be a big transition, but we'll get through it. I feel really good about getting back to work at least part time.

After hanging out at "school" for a little while, Nana and Bug and I met up with some friends at Blue Sky Berry Farm. We spent about 2 hours picking blueberries and playing on their little toddler playground. We got almost 6 lbs of berries. The Bug was soooooo good, and picked some berries for her little bucket (though most ended up in her mouth). We are still trying out this potty training thing, and although I asked her about ten times if she needed to use the potty before we went out in the field, about five minutes later she said "Bug want a diaper." I looked over and she had had an "accident." She even peed in her socks, poor kid. But the rest of the morning went very smoothly. I now have six bags of frozen blueberries, a nice blueberry pie, and some refrigerated berries for a pie for our Friday potluck.

The rest of the day consisted of running errands, having the 2 stumps in our front yard ground out by a local tree service (wasn't expecting that, but they were in the neighborhood and gave us a good price, and those stumps have been bugging me FOREVER), and Adam and I got in a 3.5 mile run before dinner.

And a little PSA: Although I know some readers are a little annoyed at my blogging-for-pay, I figure it's actually making me blog more often about other stuff, to offset any guilt for being a blog whore. I have checked out a couple of other pay-to-blog services and decided against them, mainly because I wouldn't have as much control over which things I choose to blog about. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about participating in the whole scene; to some degree I think a lot of unscrupulous people are blogging about things without really taking care to make sure they endorse them, resulting in Google hits on certain companies or products being mainly reviews-for-pay. I don't think that's a good thing. And I'm not sure I can sit around and say "well, it's ok because I'm the ethical exception." I'll wrestle with this a bit more, I'm sure, before all is said and done.

On my plate for the rest of the week are more job interviews, some beach time, a blog redesign, and saying goodbye to Nana. Some people think having their mother-in-law stay with them for three weeks is a bad thing. I have time to myself, another person in my house complimenting my cooking, and every time I turn around the dishes are done. I really can't complain.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:45 PM | Comments (1)

July 14, 2007

Robbed!

I started reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the other day to try to catch up before my pre-ordered copy of Deathly Hallows shows up. I took it to the beach with me this morning and happily read a few chapters while Adam and the Bug built sand castles. I set the book on top of the toilet paper holder in the rest room while Lily and I changed out of our swimsuits before we left, and we got half a mile down the road before I realized I'd left my book in the restroom. We turned around and went back, but my book was already gone. I can't believe someone swiped it in the time it took us to load the car, drive for two minutes, and then turn around and go back. And my favorite bookmark was in it too. Crap.

Posted by mwashburn at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

June 07, 2007

A Little Context

I would just like to provide some of the context, and my thinking behind, yesterday's post. The conversation I took part in started as a discussion of Criss Angel, heavy-metal illusionist. Or whatever he calls himself. He's good. Very good. And very entertaining. But he's an illusionist. I was talking to people who thought what they were seeing on his TV show was REAL. People making statements like "I think he must be a witch; not necessarily a satan-worshipper, but a witch." I was trying to explain the long tradition of staged magic, people like Penn and Teller and James Randi who are illusionists, but are on a public mission to debunk superstitious thinking and show how magicians take advantage of how the mind and eye work. I was met with much resistance, as well as the question "So you don't believe in psychics?" posed quite incredulously, as if all reasonable people believe in psychic ability.

In the (probably paraphrased) words of Richard Dawkins, Just because something is nice to believe in and gives us comfort, doesn't make it true.

I think it's not just a matter of science education, it's also a matter of both rigorous thinking and healthy skepticism, media literacy, and so many other things.

Posted by mwashburn at 01:27 PM | Comments (9)

June 06, 2007

Note to Self... Keep Mouth Shut

Funny how you're suddenly the most unpopular person in the room when you declare vehemently that all psychics are frauds and that no, all atheists are not horrible people and that you ought to know because, well, you are one.

Posted by mwashburn at 06:27 PM | Comments (9)

June 03, 2007

Bring on the Hillbillies!

This past Friday and Saturday we held our big garage sale; two friends also contributed stuff so it was a pretty impressive spread. For some reason we didn't make as much money as last year (could have been timing, location, who knows what) but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Highlights include:

• The soccer mom who dropped a glass perfume bottle, breaking the top, then nonchalantly told her son it was time to go, climbed back in her minivan, and left. I didn't say anything, but I was fuming.

• The neighbor from around the corner, who I had never met before, who stopped by to introduce herself, then proceeded to ask me every nosy question under the sun, starting with "Why are you selling all your baby clothes? Aren't you having more children?" and ending with "What church do you go to?"

• The earlybirds who insisted upon nosing around my garage at 6:45 even though the signs said 8am - 3pm. "I'm just getting set up." "That's ok!" as they brush past me into the garage.

• The truck full of hillbilies, including a 200 lb woman with buttons missing and no bra who waddled up to me (after scooping EVERYTHING out of the box marked "Free") and said "Can I get a bag for all this freebie shit?"

• The woman who let her children knock almost everything off the toy table onto the lawn, and didn't even attempt to pick up after them or ask them to pick up after themselves.

• The woman (probably in her 60s) who noticed my friend's toddler's IU basketball outfit and proceeded to launch into a diatribe against IU, where she went to graduate school: "That place is a trash heap! They didn't like women in my department. Full of queers!" My friend and I just looked at each other, dumbstruck.

The moral of the story is that I just don't like people very much. But somehow, I'll tolerate them for two days straight to get rid of my crap and take their ones and quarters. I have no pride.

Posted by mwashburn at 10:13 AM | Comments (4)

May 28, 2007

Our Weekend: Long Version

So this past Friday, long overdue for a "get out of town" weekend, we headed to Bloomington.

First stop, Heidi's place. Lily had lots of fun playing with Captain Keys, and we had some lunch and got to admire Heidi's spiffy new sofa. Next stop, TIS Bookstore, where I spent four good years of my life and made a lot of friends. We hadn't seen any of those folks in way too long, and it was fun to catch up and let everyone meet Lily. After that, we hit Monroe County Martial Arts where we caught up on what was going on with lots of our old Tae Kwon Do and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu friends. It's amazing how much changes in five years. Marriages, divorces, deaths, people off to college. There is something nice about getting to see people you haven't seen in a long time, to have them be excited about seeing you, to know that you are remembered fondly and missed.

All weekend we stayed with the ever hospitable Nick and April, and made twin unfortunate discoveries about our child. First, she is allergic to cats. Second, apparently all we need to keep her endlessly amused is a cat house.

The rest of the evening consisted of grilling hamburgers, drinking beer, and playing Heidi's Wii. This is one of the benefits of occasionally hanging out with childless friends–playing video games sans guilt.

Saturday we spent the morning in Indianapolis at the Children's Museum, which was just a blast. It is one of the largest in the world, and is considered among the best. It is completely and entirely designed around children, and has tons of stuff to do for kids under 5. We spent most of our time in "Playscape," which is a hands-on activity wonderland for the toddler set. Lily ran herself ragged playing with the water and sand tables, giant dollhouse, birdhouse slide, and other stuff. She was thrilled to see Martimus, the museum's stuffed polar bear, as Nick and April had given her a book about him for Christmas. She was a little afraid of the "Dinosphere," an IMAX theater that has been converted into an immersive dino environment, complete with dinosaur skeletons, sounds, sky simulation, and smells. She was fine with the dinosaur noises, but got frightened when the thunderstorm started. She thought we were really outside. Adam tried to explain that it was just a CD with storm noises, but now the way she tells it is "Daddy turned storm on. Too scary for Lily. We go back inside." Before leaving, we had time for a ride on the big carousel.

Next it was off to Broad Ripple, our old stomping ground, for lunch with Jamie and Susanne and littles Jordan and Claudia. We've known Jamie forever, but Susanne and her girls are a new addition and we had corresponded via email but never met in person. It was one of those situations where I met someone and felt like we already knew each other. Of course I always feel completely distracted during lunch conversation because I'm usually trying to keep Lily from choking on her grapes or running into the restaurant kitchen, but we had a really nice time and hung out a little bit longer, walking up the Monon by the canal to check out the ducks until rain started falling and Lily started falling apart. She was so beat that she was asleep by the time our car was out of the parking lot.

Saturday night was more of the same in Bloomington, including yummy, yummy pizza from Aver's, which we never get any more.

Sunday, we said our goodbyes to Nick and April, and headed out to McCormick's Creek State Park to go for a short hike and say our final goodbyes to Sophie. We used to do the .8 mile creekside hike all the time, and never thought much about it. But I discovered that scrambling over slippery, wet hunks of limestone is a little bit different with a 27-lb person strapped to your back. It was a good workout. I forgot how beautiful it is there. You almost forget you're in Indiana.

After our hike, it was brunch with old friends Brian and Maria, and their new baby. We had a very brief visit on our last trip to Bloomington, but had to make a hasty retreat when Lily started throwing up all over the place in their front hallway. (Unbeknownst to us, she was coming down with rotavirus, and picked a really choice moment to start the vomiting phase...)

Memorial Day was spent mostly at Home Depot and Menards, though we did end up going to a last-minute backyard barbecue. It was a wonderful, happy, packed-full weekend. Goodnight everyone.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:38 PM | Comments (0)

May 27, 2007

Our weekend

Our weekend was fabulous. More when I have time.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:00 PM | Comments (2)

April 25, 2007

Artstuff

So I've been quite the busy little artist lately. I'm having major frustration with a painting; I'm trying to do a serious painting-painting, rather than my current collagey stuff, but find myself extremely frustrated with acrylic paints. They just don't behave the way I expect, and the colors suck. But, my annoyance was mitigated by returning to my computer to find an email telling me about this blog entry.

I consigned some notecards at Magpie in Boston recently, and it brightened my day to see them mentioned and with such a nice photo. So thanks guys!!

Posted by mwashburn at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)

March 28, 2007

Ahhh...

How do you lose a metal 36" ruler? You have a toddler in the house. It was under my office bookshelves.

And today's offering:

Everyone's favorite atheist on NPR's Fresh Air

Posted by mwashburn at 02:10 PM | Comments (1)

Huh?!?

OK, HOW, people, HOW do you lose a 36" ruler? It's driving me absolutely insane. If you've seen my large ruler, please send me an email.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2007

My Life in Purgatory

Well, a few things are brewing here at the ranch. One is that the Bug graciously decided to share her Rotabug with me. I've been a mess since Sunday. I thought I was getting better yesterday, but nooooo, back on the Immodium today. I have not bothered doing anything that needs doing. Well, except for the gargantuan freelance project that thankfully came my way last week. Not good timing for having a stomach that makes noises like a bathtub draining, but what are you going to do? I've decided that I need to find out if there is a patron saint of freelancers. If there is, I'm sure her name is Perpetua, or something like it.

In other news, I've decided that Adam is a bad influence on Lily. When I told her politely today that she could not have a sip of my tea because I was still sick, she said back to me "Mommy not share poopie germs." Great. Oh, and she's started referring to herself in the third person as "Lilybug." It's so nice to hear, at 3am "Lilybug wants more nursies, right noooooow!" (followed by shrieking). This nursing renaissance seems to have been brought on by her illness; it was the only thing between her and dehydration, but it's been hard to convince her that the party is over.

Gurgle.

Posted by mwashburn at 02:53 PM | Comments (2)

February 21, 2007

Frosty

The weather is finally warming up a bit, and so today the morning was very foggy, resulting in ice crystals forming on pretty much everything. It was very pretty, so I took a few photos out in the back yard.

Posted by mwashburn at 10:59 AM | Comments (1)

January 15, 2007

Aliens and Drug Fiends

Why is it that when I'm cleaning artichokes, I always feel like they're going to come to life and bite my fingers off?

These weren't the best artichokes, but they were very yummy stuffed with a mixture of herbs, breadcrumbs, spinach, and a smidge of lemon juice and baked until tender. Lily had fun eating them too. I have had to get really creative to make old standards without the dairy, but this one turned out really well.

The other part of this post's title comes from the current Sophie situation. She actually came home from the vet the other day, as you probably read at Ennui Central. The bad news is that we went ahead and decreased the dosage of Prednisone (you start at the highest and then back it off to find the lowest effective dose), and even cutting down for one day we saw a definite loss of function in Soph's back legs. What this means is that once that dose is no longer effective, there's nothing more we can do. We are guessing now that it's a matter of weeks. As long as we can keep her happy and comfortable for those few weeks, we're going to hang on. In addition to the Prednisone, there are about 7 other pills per day we have to give her. Tagamet for her stomach (since Prednisone is very hard on the digestive tract), Glucosamine to help her joints in general, and a Sam-E supplement to help her liver, since Prednisone damages that over the long haul as well. Our kitchen table looks like the pharmacy counter at Walgreens.

Adam and I have been discussing a suitable way to deal with Sophie's remains. It may seem a morbid discussion, and it in no way implies that we aren't terribly sad at the thought of her passing. But, we are practical people. The top two choices are giving her body for veterinary research, since Purdue has a vet school; and having her creamated and taking the ashes to McCormick's Creek State Park near Bloomington. It's a beautiful hiking spot we used to take Sophie to all the time back when we lived in Bloomington. She always had a lot of fun there. I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it. I can't believe she got old so fast. You just think your dog is always going to be there, you know?

Posted by mwashburn at 05:51 PM | Comments (2)

January 10, 2007

Doggie Woes

Well, as reported at Ennui Central, the old Sophster is not doing very well. She continues to decline, and as of today is pretty much unable to walk. We saw the vet again this morning. I was going to post pretty pictures of her X-rays, but the disc they gave me contains a bunch of files that are not image files, so we'll have to do without. Suffice to say, Sophie has a mass encompassing about five vertebrae just south of her cervical vertebrae. Though she seems to be more comfortable after being on the anti-inflammatory Rimadyl for a few days, the X-rays are still a fuzzy mess. One possibility the doctor suspects is disc disease, though after looking at several other views today she said it could also very likely be a tumor. The prognosis is not good. She suggested that we could take her to Purdue for an MRI and surgical consult, but Adam and I are having to ask some hard questions about whether another $600 consult is going to change how we proceed. If it's a tumor, it's pretty much over. If it's disc disease, can we afford thousands of dollars for surgery? How much quality life are we really going to buy her? While I think of her as "people" and part of the family, my father brought up the perspective that often we go to such extremes for our pets not for their quality of life, but for ourselves; because of guilt, because of not wanting to let go when it really is the best thing for them.

But I just don't feel ready to say goodbye. We've only had her for six years (though we have no idea how old she was when we adopted her; the buest guess is that she is now 9-11 years old). I really thought she'd be cleaning up Lilybug's crumbs well into preschool, if not into Kindergarten. It wasn't supposed to happen so soon, or so fast. I really hate having to make these sorts of decisions.

The plan of action at present is to try her on Prednisone for a few days to see if it relieves any of the spinal compression and gives her any functionality back in her legs. We see Dr. Danielle again on Saturday, at which time we will face some really hard choices if there is no improvement.

All I can say is that I hate hate hate this.

Posted by mwashburn at 03:25 PM | Comments (3)

December 25, 2006

Not a Creature Was Stirring

So it's beginning to seem a bit like Groundhog Day around here. Somehow parents failed to communicate the actual Christmas schedule to us. Rather than having all of our Christmas concentrated into one busy statewide happy day, Christmas has arrived piecemeal, on the wrong days, at the wrong times, unbeknownst to us. Tonight is Christmas eve #3, the final Christmas eve, but the one that feels the most "real." We are at my father's house, a light snow is falling, and everyone is here. There is a heap of presents under the tree that looks to be about six hours worth of gift opening tomorrow, which makes me a little apprehensive. And there's even a Christmas mouse, who left his little footprints in the Foucault's pendulum sand drawing thingie my parents have on the island in the basement. I'm hoping he doesn't eat my baby while she sleeps, but I have been assured that it's a benevolent mouse.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)

December 19, 2006

Flygrrl, Scourge of the Rodents

Well, or at least mice. We were suddenly visited in the night the other day by mice. We didn't know how many, but Adam saw one, and there were mountains of mouse droppings all over my counters, dishes, and pantry floor in the morning. I declared war, while Adam politely talked of live traps, drives to the country. I promptly bought mousetraps, the old-fashioned, cruel, neck-snapping kind; visions of horrible plague-ridden filth covering my kitchen floor to ceiling. I went through many Clorox wipes.

Night two: I woke at some unkown wee hour, listening to mice rattling the dishes in the sink. SNAP! One of the traps went off, but alas, in the morning, no mice, dead or alive, to be seen. Mouse droppings again EVERYWHERE. Yuck. I talked to the expert, my Dad, about how to Set a Better Mousetrap. Apparently, tying a small piece of string to the trigger, and coating THAT in peanut butter, helps. The mouse tugs at the string to get all the peanut butter, and SNAP! Sure enough, last night, we caught three mice. Adam was horrified at the gruesome scene in the kitchen. I donned rubber gloves, emptied the traps, cleaned them, tossed the evidence into the trash bin. I really don't have any problems with it. Think of the germs! I mean, I wouldn't go out in the field and start spearing mice, but somehow when they start encroaching on my territory (and leaving droppings in the bowl of my stand mixer) it becomes another matter.

Then I stop and think that maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just lazy, and we should have used live traps and driven the little dimwits to the country. Maybe I'm lacking in moral fiber and compassion for all creatures, especially at this time of year. But, if I have to live-trap dirty mice in my kitchen, that leads down a whole path of moral and ethical self-examination that ends in me becoming a vegetarian again. While I think that this whole inner journey is looming somewhere on the horizon (especially when I have to explain to Lily that those cute cows and pigs and chickens and fish dancing around in her books, um, yeah, we kill them and eath them), I'm not ready for it just yet.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:27 AM | Comments (4)

December 14, 2006

When the System Breaks Down

I run a tight ship around here. I tend to think I'm this laid back person, then reality shatters that illusion. We all came down with the stomach flu Tuesday night, and man, talk about chaos. Appointments canceled, baking undone, diapers gone, tumbleweeds of dog hair the size of volkswagens rolling down the hallway, laundry in complete disarray with every set of sheets we own in the washer. I seem to have been hit hardest. This thing has spread like wildfire through every family we know here. Adam had the mildest case, which was lucky since he had to go give his final exam on campus last night. Poor Lilybug didn't know what was going on. Every time she would vomit, she would shake her head no and say "like it." (the difference between her expressions for 'like' and 'don't like' is the head shake.)

So I vegged out all afternoon on the couch watching Angie Dickinson Modeling Agency while Lily slept for four hours and a friend brought me diapers and some Gatorade. I'm better today. What little food I've eaten has thankfully stayed down, though my stomach seems to be of two minds about whether it ought to stay there. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back to normal, though the contagious period for this thing (and the fact that I haven't made cookie dough) means that I won't be participating in the Christmas cookie exchange tomorrow evening. Sniff. Although, my shopping is done, my knitting is done, my planning is done, so for once, thank goodness I stress out and get things done early.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:26 PM | Comments (3)

December 04, 2006

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

After several days of grumbling grinchiness about our lack of decent decorations and not wanting to open boxes of stuff, Adam surprised us yesterday by bringing home a 7 foot Christmas tree. So, it looks like Christmas and smells like Christmas. The best was that I got home from UU with Lily asleep, so she didn't see the tree until she woke up from her nap, and it was all up and lit. She had fun helping us hang ornaments. We listened to the Nutcracker and drank hot beverages while enjoying the evening.

My other project for the day was making homemade marshmallows. I saw these in the Williams-Sonoma catalog, and said "damn those look good, but I'm not paying $12 plus shipping for sugar..." so I looked up the Martha Stewart marshamllow recipe and whipped up a batch. They don't look quite as nice as the Williams-Sonoma ones, but they are very tasty. The white ones are vanilla and the green ones are peppermint. You really need a powerful mixer to make them; my little Kitchen Aide could barely handle it, but it was really cool to watch hot, gooey sugar syrup turn into fluffy white marshmallow fluff. Now to keep from eating all of them this afternoon...

Happy December, everyone!

Posted by mwashburn at 02:05 PM | Comments (4)

October 30, 2006

Egg York and Bleach

Adam finally returned home around midnight last night. We, the unshowered, were very very glad. It was so funny this morning—I had left a sleeping Lilybug to climb into bed with Adam at around 7:00, and shortly thereafter a sleepy, pajama-clad Bug stuck her head in the bedroom. Her eyes got big, fixed on Adam, and she held out her arms and walked as fast as I've ever seen her go towards him. All weekend she kept saying "Daddy. Miss." We weathered the four days alone pretty well, except for the Dog Antics of Saturday Afternoon. It involved stinkiness, baths, bleeding toenails, and the discovery that Sophie has been availing herself of the Bug's new bed in our absence (it's not fun to wash dog blood out of new lilac sheets at 9pm when all you really want is to go to bed).

So every time Adam goes to New York, he brings me back a little something. This time it was pastries from a little Japanese pastry shop he discovered at Rockefeller Center. I didn't know the Japanese enjoyed pastries, but apparently, after a fashion, they do. I didn't think to capture these delicacies in photo form until I had already eaten the first one, a small, twinkie-like thing with a sweet potato center. Pictured here are the other two:

On the left is a bean pastry, much like the little sweet bean cakes you can get in many Japanese restaurants for dessert. The other is a gelatinous blob of bean gelatin and agar-agar surrounding a hazlenut center. It tasted good, but the texture made me unable to finish it. The best part of the whole treat, of course, was the packaging. Each pastry was individually wrapped in very pretty paper, and the ingredient list was by turns interesting and disturbing.

I can only assume that the "bleach" listed on the ingredient label is some sort of food-grade thing approved by the FDA. I'm not dead yet, so my assumption seems to have held. Also amusing is the inclusion of "egg york" on one of the ingredient labels. That would have been one for submission to engrish.com had I managed to photograph it. Most amusing was the calorie count:

I guess by lifting the thing to your mouth you shave off three calories.

The rest of my day was not nearly as adventureous, but it is wonderful to have "Daddy" back home.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

September 25, 2006

My First Piece of Hate Mail!

This comment was actually blocked by MT Blacklist due to it being on an old entry, but I thought I'd post it as an entry because it is so amusing. I've never had hate mail before! This one is just brimming with good grammar, well thought-out ideas, and an overwhelming sense of perspective and compassion.

pie808@aol.com writes:

all of you stacy and clinton HATERS need to get off it! OBVIOUSLY, the show is NOT for those with attitudes like yourselves..its for people who actually have HOPE and are WILLING to ADMIT that going around looking a mess (even if you are a brand new mother) just ISN'T ATTRACTIVE. stacy and clinton are there to improve their look but they definitely have the power to change lives....whoever posted this i just want you to know...when i read what you've written, you just sound like a sad new mother suffering from postpartum depression who is extremely upset and holding a grudge against poor stacy and clinton because nobody has nominated you(and deep down you KNOW you NEED it). get over it it's just a show. And if you weren't too lazy to take the five minutes you normally take to get dressed to actually consider what you look like and how it's making you feel, then you wouldn't take it out on them just because they have the fashion sense, the show, and the confidence to TRY TO HELP OTHERS. Grow up and stop being so miserable so you can show your newborn that life can be interesting and fun if you take a hold of it yourself!

I guess I'd better grow up and start believing everything my TV tells me again... oh, and I'm so glad to know that the cure for postpartum depression is just some TV and a great pair of $300 kitten heels! I'm so relieved.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:19 PM | Comments (4)

September 21, 2006

Random Fall Stuff

I had planned several pithy, thoughtful, and well-organized posts, but then life got in the way. We just returned from a trip to New York, where we attended a friend's wedding, saw two sets of grandparents, and ate way too much good food. Lily charmed the pants off both Nana and Pop ("Bop!") and Grandma and Grandpa ("Gummy" and "Gump") and also got to spend some time with her cousins. The plane ride? Once again, no sweat. We had kind of a bumpy landing at Laguardia, but Lily was grinning the whole way down, and when the plane stopped moving she said "more! more!" She also WENT TO SLEEP WITHOUT CRYING AND SLEPT ALL NIGHT IN THE CRIB for her Nana. I think we need to visit more often.

We returned to Indiana to find the mercury dropping and fall setting in. I've always loved fall, although it fills me with a strange sense of melancholy. I usually re-read "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" this time of year; it just seems to fit. I like apples and cider and donuts, and the little bit of chill in the air. Getting ready for the hibernation of winter. I don't like the shorter days, however, and I find myself thinking of last fall, when I started really feeling depressed and trapped and alone. Things are so much better this year. I have work, I have many friends, and I have a little person who can actually communicate with me. As always, it seems there is far more to do than I have time for though. I'm almost done with Lily's socks, and want to do a matching hat, as well as sew some placemats with my new sewing machine. We'll see what I can get around to, as I also start planning for the holidays. I started reading Adrienne Rich's "Of Woman Born" on the trip, and really want to post about that a bit as I have time to process. It is amazing to read a more poetic person than I write about the difficulties of motherhood, and to know that most creative people struggle with how to keep the Muse alive with an infant constantly sucking the life out of you. It takes so much strength, and some days I just wonder if I have it in me. Things do move forward, but so incredibly slowly. I don't like how aware of growing old, of mortality, I have become since having a child. On the other hand, the silver lining seems to be a new awe of life and time that comes from watching a little person grow and change and learn. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Posted by mwashburn at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

September 06, 2006

Binge and Purge

We just wrapped up a nice long holiday weekend with my brother (uncle "Mite" if you're the Bug) who came for a visit from Phoenix. After several days of consuming large quantities of meat and beer (including a dinner out at the fabulous Gaucho's Steakhouse,) it was time to say goodbye to Michael and get back to some semblance of schedule. It started yesterday with another purge of my closet. I have so many things I haven't worn in years now (literally), so I keep pulling out bag afer bag of clothing for either consignment or Goodwill. My body is totally different now than it was before, and I also feel like I don't know how I should dress any more. It's odd. So even things that fit me still are completely unappealing or just feel wrong somehow. So, time to empty the closet and start anew. I also got rid of about 3/4 of my fabric bin for similar reasons. Oh, and I haven't quilted in about five years.

The other part of my new resolve involves physical exercise. It used to be such a part of my life, and, I have decided, my mental health. So, as of this morning I am going to the gym before Lily wakes up. I hope to do this every day, figuring that five 30-40 minutes workouts are easier to arrange than 2-3 90 minute marathon workouts like I used to do. I don't know that I feel a need to lose weight, specifically; most of the baby weight went its own way a while ago. It's mostly that I need to firm up and, more importantly, feel strong again (aside from the one bicep I use to lift Lily all the time...).

Oh, and thank God we finally got to see some pictures of the Tom Cruise baby. I mean, really, thank God.

Posted by mwashburn at 11:52 AM | Comments (5)

August 16, 2006

DON'T Ask Sherwin-Williams. Really. Just Don't.

I had been thinking that it would be cool to get my hands on some wallpaper sample books to use for various artsy craftsy projects. Yesterday, I finally got around to going to beg for some. I was at KMart, and right next door is a Sherwin-Williams store. They were so nice about it, and said "yes! We have a stack at the end of every month that we just throw out. Take whatever you like." They even carried them to my car for me. I selected three books: one "juvenile," one "traditional," and one "designer." I got home, and was horrified to find that while the juvenile book was about what you'd expect, the "traditional" book was full of roosters and fruit, and the "designer" book— oh my, just keep reading to have a look:

With names like "Baja" and "Milan," you will be transported straight back into the 1980s, feeling like you're on the set of Miami Vice... although they claimed these books were from the previous month, this one smelled like it had been sitting around since the '80s. Ugh.

Another comment I have on this topic is the blatant misuse of the term "Designer." You see it all over the place, tossed around in much the same way as "gourmet." It's more of a marketing tool than a designation of taste or quality. "Designer" should mean that a designer whose name you have heard before has painstakingly crafted the thing you are about to buy. Really, A designer was involved with the creation of pretty much anything you wear, carry, or decorate with, but only things created by a capital-D Designer ought to have that label (in my mind). Not that it necessarily means better, but hopefully it means that someone with a little experience in designing things has made it.

Posted by mwashburn at 03:08 PM | Comments (3)

August 10, 2006

At least they eat Spiders

One of these scrambled across the floor and under the base of our floor lamp yesterday afternoon. Shudder.

Posted by mwashburn at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)

July 03, 2006

Long Weekend

OK, let me just get this out of the way first: I really don't like the fourth of July. As a holiday, I mean. I find firecrackers going off all night really irritating, especially now that I have a child to put to sleep (and still have a dog who is terrified of loud noises). It just seems pointless and juvenile. I'll be glad when it's over, though I know that all those idiots will be using up their boom booms for the next two weeks.

Now for the good part. Adam took a real long weekend because of the holiday, but we decided we needed a break from working on the house Friday, so we hopped in the car and headed to Indianapolis. I apologize to any of you whom we did not contact about our impromptu trip, but it was so spur-of-the-moment. Anyway, we went to the Indianapolis Zoo, mostly to show Lily some monkeys. We had to settle for gibbons, which she enthusiastically refered to as monkeys (by pointing, flopping her arms up and down, and making a monkey screech noise). Nevermind the fact that they're actually apes. Close enough for a year old. She liked the dolphin dome, where she very pointedly decided that the dolphins were fish. OK, they swim in the water, I'll take it. The really baffling one, though, was the flamingoes, which she insisted were pigs. Maybe because they're large and pink? She pointed, then dutifully put her finger on her nose and snorted like a pig. "No, sweetie, those are birds" (flapping motion with arms). Again, point... finger to nose... snort. Sigh. As long as you are amused.

We hung out at the zoo a while longer, checked out the new meerkat exhibit, the giraffes, etc. etc., then decided that since it was nap time again, we had to either head home, or journey further. We decided on the latter, and headed to Bloomington for dinner with Heidi at the Encore Cafe. Yum. We were exhausted by the time we got home, but it was so nice to get away for a bit.

Saturday I dutifully went to the nurse-in at Victoria's Secret with some friends. I'll post the article once I have a scanned copy, but in a nutshell, it got good press coverage, though only about 10 women showed up. It was kind of underwhelming, but then that was the point. We're here, we're nursing, um... go on about your business. It did, however, strike me as kind of ironic that I, the woman who hated children with a passion, am now attending nurse-ins with my nursing almost-toddler. Oh well.

The only other news is that I happily shed a ton of hair on Friday morning. I got it really chopped off. It's all spiky and about 2" long except for some longer bits on the sides. It finally feels "right." And no one will notice if I don't wash it for a couple of days...

The next two weeks are weeks of finishing stuff... some knitting projects, a painting/collage, and packing, packing, packing. House is almost ready. The bathroom is functional, and we are scheduled to move in on the 15th. I can't wait.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:24 PM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2006

More like BL⁄€CH

I tried new Coca-Cola BLAK (sorry, I don't have that made-up phonetic character on my computer keyboard) today. "Coke Effervescence with Coffe Essence" say the ads. More like "Coke I left out to go flat with coffee from two days ago I forgot to clean out of the pot because I'm too lazy. Oh yeah, and with aspartame aftertaste." Thanks Coke, for alienating the cola drinker and offending the coffee lover in me.

And the Blak website is pretty funny. It's a marketer's wet dream, full of buzzwords and crap to make me feel all cool and sophisticated for trying Blak. It even has an art gallery, where I can look at other people's artwork or make my own with their clumsy little tool. I'd show you mine here, but they took it away unless I gave them my email address for them to mail me a link to it later. So it's not really your artwork. You can't have a jpeg file of it.

Oh yeah, and Happy Mother's Day. Hopefully I'll get around to writing something profound about that at some point too. Right now I'm going to go finish my day of doing whatever the Hell I want.

Posted by mwashburn at 02:58 PM | Comments (3)

May 03, 2006

Today's Excitement

Aside from becoming obsessed with the color selector tools at Glidden and Behr Paints, today's big excitement was finding a four leaf clover. I found a patch of them when I was about nine years old, and I've always been sort of obsessed with looking for them. I generally scan any patch of clover I see, and figured that it was just dumb luck back then and I'd never find one again. Well, today as I set out on a much-delayed walk around the block with Sophie and the Bug, I spotted what I thought was a four-leaf clover in the patch of grass between the sidewalk and street right in front of our place. No, I thought, it's an illusion; there's just one clover overlapping another. But I picked it, and it was the real deal! There were four others as well. I'm pressing them in my copy of The Joy of Cooking to save them for posterity.

Other than that my day involved crying, only one nap for Lily, and the dishwasher repair guy leaving a plastic bottle of Dishwasher Magic to melt on the heating element. Mmmmm... the smell of burning plastic does tend to overpower the lovely scent of freshly cut lilac, doesn't it?

Posted by mwashburn at 06:09 PM | Comments (0)

May 01, 2006

Three Things I Never Thought I'd Do

1. Go to Wal-Mart for diapers

But I couldn't justify the gas money to drive to Costco when that was the only thing I needed. We have a BIG Wal-Mart here. Huge. I wandered the aisles, dumb-struck, for a long time. Why there and not Target or K-Mart? Well, I am desperately searching the globe for a goofy little rainbow plastic slinky for Lily, since she played with one last week and loved it. I've already checked everywhere else in town, so I figured it would be a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone kind of trip. I also found some nice stretchy headbands for Lily and a large yarn needle for myself.

2. Return a pair of shoes after wearing them

I bought a pair of shoes last week in a panic to find something to go with a suit for a job interview. I really loved them, but had to admit that they were not in my budget and did not actually fit quite as comfortably as a pair of shoes should. So I used a toothbrush to clean any bits of dirt out of the soles, put them back in the box, and went back into the Shoe Dept. and returned them. I feel dirty.

3. Turn down a job offer

I interviewed for an actual graphic design job on Thursday. It went really well, and they called me on Friday to offer me the position. I agonized over it all weekend. The bottom line was that the pay was good but not great, and it's a 60-mile round trip drive. That reduces my takehome pay significantly, and though they were willing to work with me on hours/working at home/etc., I felt like the position was going to require a lot more time than I was willing to commit to by the time some of the deadlines rolled around. If it had been a superfun, creative-type job, I would have been more interested in the stress level, but it was mainly work producing mailers and a product catalog for an engineering parts firm. Not portfolio work, really.

Anyway, in some ways I feel like I must be crazy to turn something down, but on the other hand, it was a good ego boost to have a positive reaction to my portfolio and experience. I think if I keep my eyes open I should be able to find something closer to home. I am really ready to go back to work part-time, but I want a job I will enjoy, not one that I'll end up hating. And since I am in a position to be choosy, I'm going to exercise that option.

Posted by mwashburn at 01:18 PM | Comments (3)

April 21, 2006

I just couldn't do it

I wandered into Barnes & Noble today, dressed in the only nice pair of pants I have left, and with cute, well-behaved Lily in her stroller. I wandered around the children's department, where an employee was enthusiastically reading from Shel Silverstein's Runny Babbit to a group of equally enthusiastic children. I didn't see any other employees in the children's area, and the customer service desk was swamped. I pretended to browse, thinking "this place just isn't as enjoyable to shop at as Borders," and "hmmm... if I ask for a manager, will I seem to desperate?"

You see, I was plotting to ask whether they needed any part time help in the Children's Department. I have decided that I shall either work as a Designer, or I shall get a mindless job on nights and weekends just to bring home some extra money. Or both. I'm in the 'heavily contemplating' stage, and now really feeling bizarre about being in my thirties and looking for a "job" as opposed to making a "Career move." This is only temporary. This is only temporary.

My only requirement is that the "job" not involve food, and be somewhere where I can make the employee discount count.

In any case, I grew weary of circling, and none of the employees looked friendly enough or in-charge enough to approach (I refuse to ask someone younger than myself for a job). So Lily and I left, after quickly looking for books on food allergies, returning home still jobless, still ourselves. Sigh.

Posted by mwashburn at 03:54 PM | Comments (2)

March 09, 2006

On the Road

Reporting here from someplace called Clarion, Pennsylvania. I really don't know quite where we are but for some reason, after driving through the wilds of Pennsylvania, there is this strange little oasis of hotels, Wal-Mart, and a bunch of fast food restaurants. Oh, and a Staples. Anyway, we stopped at a Holiday Inn, thus ending our five-year-long boycott of Holiday Inn (due to unpleasantness around our wedding arrangements). There's some sort of hunting convention going on here, so there's a bunch of guys in camo sitting in the conference room listening to lectures on hunting, and lounging in the halls with beer talking about how they'd love to go hunt in Nevada or some crazy thing.

Lily is handling the trip very well. She was bouncing and waving her arms to the mariachi music in the Mexican restaurant we had dinner at. Now it's time to relax and rest up for another day of driving tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing Nana and Pop and everyone else from our New York Posse on Saturday!!

Posted by mwashburn at 07:44 PM | Comments (2)

February 25, 2006

My First Ever Trip to Menards

Between the ugly logo, cheesy music, and NASCAR promotions, I swore I'd never set foot inside Menards. Well, today one more "never" came crashing down around my head as Lily and I headed off to the juggernaut for 17% off babyproofing supplies. It was as terrifying as I had feared. A huge warehouse of a store filled with hard-to-find items and clueless employees. I did find the bi-fold door locks and outlet covers, but a HEPA filter for the vacuum cleaner proved more daunting. I found the mini-aisle of vacuum cleaner accessories. No filter for my make and model. I search in vain for an employee. Finally I spot one, trying not to make eye contact. "Can you help me find something?" I ask cheerfully. Lily, by this time, was growing very tired of chewing on her hat.
"Maybe" this helpful midget said.
"I'm looking for a vacuum cleaner filter."
"I can take you to that section."
"Um, I've already been to that section and didn't see it. I have a part number."
"Well, I have to get someone who works in that section."

OK, fast forward. Someone is now getting a little cranky because she's pooped her pants (hint: it wasn't me), and two employees are staring at the same shelf I already stared at, unhelpfully reading off every part name even though I've already told them what brand of vacuum I own. "Do you have a part number?" asks Doofus #1. "Yes..." I show it to him. "Oh, it's a LONG number," Doofus says, and continues rifling through the three items on the shelf.

I gave up. I guess big box stores don't keep stuff "in back," but really, why do they bother paying people to help when they are incapable, either by genetics or training, of actually being helpful?

In any case, I tried to wander through the paint and tile sections, daydreaming about the house we might one day soon own, but Ms. Poopypants put a stop to that. I tossed some gummi worms in the cart on top of my few meager purchases, and got the hell out of there.

Posted by mwashburn at 02:47 PM | Comments (2)

February 22, 2006

So What Ever Happened with That House?

We made an abysmally low offer. They countered with an abysmally high figure. We said, eh, forget it. Turns out the sellers don't have a mortgage on the place. I'm not convinced they really wanted to sell, seeing as the place was so overpriced. But it's a shame to see such a gorgeous old house be split up and rented out. We're looking at a couple more places this week, but it just seems like there's always something not quite right. Cute place, but bad layout. Great location, crappy house. Etc. Etc. and on the hunt goes. We'll find something, I'm sure. I just worry about getting towards the end of our lease and having to make a decision about what to do.

Posted by mwashburn at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2006

Not Sold in Stores, Eh?

I was behind a woman at the Target checkout this morning who was actually buying Monster Ballads. The commercials say 'not sold in stores,' so I don't know what's up with that. The commercials also say "the greatest rock ballads by the artists who taught us to love." I don't know about you, but Saigon Kick did NOT teach me to love.

Even more unbelievable is that overnight the Bug has stopped crying when it's time to sleep. I'm in total shock. She is admittedly harder to settle back to sleep when she does wake during the night, but naptime has been a breeze the last few days. I suppose I should knock on wood and tfu tfu tfu and all that... but a little while ago, she finished nursing, smiled and kicked her feet, and started rubbing her eyes. "Why don't we take a little nap," I suggested, and laid her down on the futon mattress now on the floor in her room (since she won't sleep in the crib). SHE CLOSED HER EYES AND WENT TO SLEEP. I'm still in shock. Is this a fluke, or is this the new, developmentally appropriate, baby who sleeps? Either way, I'm trying to enjoy it.

Posted by mwashburn at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)

January 30, 2006

Lazy and Distracted

I had some scathing commentary on current events in my head a couple of days ago, but didn't get a chance to post and now it's gone gone gone. So, on to the usual blather. One top tooth is through the gums, and we are anxiously awaiting its sister. The lack of sleep engendered by teething crankiness is one reason for my general dazed-ness this past week. The other is the ultimate distraction: house hunting. We put an offer in on the lovely house I wrote about last week. Our realtor is probably getting her ass handed to her by the listing agent right now. We aren't getting our hopes up, but we had to at least try.

Posted by mwashburn at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2006

"So What's Up with That House?" You Ask

We continue to agonize about The House. Yes, I believe it is an Arts & Crafts, for those of you who asked. There are some real plusses and some real minuses. We are pre-approved for a loan, but are not comfortable with the monthly payments we'll be required to make if the house sells for anywhere close to the asking price. The good news: our realtor thinks it's grossly over-valued. We're going to take another look at it on Thursday night to determine if we can manage to live on the first floor for at least six months (there is now an upstairs tenant through July, which is good in terms of a little financial help for us). The other big monkey in the works is our current lease, which is through July. There's no guarantee that replacement tenants can be found, and we really can't afford to be on the hook for 4-5 more months of rent plus our mortgage.

We'll see how it all shakes out, and of course will keep everyone posted.

In other news, one of Lily's top teeth is now poking through, after a harrowing weekend of sleepless nights. My knitting lessons are coming along well. I'm almost done with the felted bunnyrabbit, and the next project we've been assigned is a cute two-color ball for the little 'uns to play with. Will post pics soon (not to rival An Idea of Happiness with the craftiness, of course).

Posted by mwashburn at 03:38 PM | Comments (1)

January 18, 2006

What are we thinking???

I've been a terrible blogger lately, I admit it. But I'm keeping very busy pursuing all those new year's resolutions. Knitting group, La Leche League, and, somehow, this whole house hunt thing. Adam and I found a house that we absolutely LOVE on Monday, and are actually going through the hare-brained craziness of getting pre-approved for a mortgage and thinking about making an offer on this place. The only real negatives are the lack of yard and parking. It's a corner lot, so no privacy to the yard, and street parking only. But the house itself is a stunner, and really underpriced because it's currently split into two residences. If we bought it, we might end up being landlords for a little while. Here's a photo:

It was built around 1920, and it's all the really nice quality touches that make it my dream house. It's got a built-in window seat in the dining room, and a beautiful dark wood buffet, as well as hardwood floors and lots of storage space (including a full basement), and is half a mile from downtown/the library/YMCA/etc.

I'll keep you posted. This is really really scary.

Posted by mwashburn at 12:46 PM | Comments (5)

December 14, 2005

Sense of Self Worth: Restored

I am happy to report that the planets have aligned properly and I officially have semi-steady freelance work. I am now working with two separate individuals who are farming out work to me; some design, some copy editing. I am absolutely thrilled. I no longer feel like a liar when I write "self-employed" on forms. I can contribute some meager amount to our household.

And all this coincides with Lily being more than happy to sit and play on her own for decent chunks of time. I've also committed myself to putting in the effort to get her napping better on her own. Her naps have finally settled into a somewhat predictable pattern, but her ability to stay asleep in her own bed is still hit or miss. She slept through the night last night (asleep at 9:30, awake to eat at midnight, then asleep until 6am), which was a wonder unto itself, but I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the fact that she went to bed when we did, a little on the late side. All the baby books say that you'll damage your baby horribly if you don't establish an early (i.e. 6:30-7:30ish) bedtime, but with Adam getting home after 6pm things really don't calm down in our house until around 8:00. So what if my baby goes to bed at 9:30pm if she sleeps better. The only drawback is that Adam and I don't get any alone time in the evening, but then alone time interrupted by a crying baby every half hour hasn't really been relaxing either. Live and learn, I suppose.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:23 AM | Comments (1)

Dear Neighbors

I will stop leaving dog poop on your lawn when you start shoveling your sidewalk.

Posted by mwashburn at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2005

Sophie the Senior Citizen

Sophie had her annual doggie checkup yesterday. According to her fake birthday (the one we made up for her based on best guesses when we adopted her) she'll be 10 years old on Monday. She checked out just fine, maybe a few pounds overweight, but we knew that. For the second time in the past year, the vet had to express her anal glands. Now, you can do this at home, but people, this is a job I would pay twice the price to have someone else do. Because Soph is getting a little long in the tooth, apparently her diet needs more fiber for her to properly empty the little glands that shoot off doggie smells when she does her business and marks her territory. Otherwise, much discomfort ensues. The solution? Green beans. And possibly "senior" dog food. Kinda sad that the old Soph is starting to enter the Fiber Years. I didn't know that happened to dogs too.

Posted by mwashburn at 05:47 PM | Comments (4)

December 09, 2005

The Plague Diaries

I mentioned in a previous post that Lily had conjunctivitis. She's over it. I, on the other hand, finally saw a doctor today after two days of ringing and pain in my right ear on top of all my other discomforts. In addition to finding out that I had a fever of over 101, I was also diagnosed with:

•Conjunctivitis
•Sinusitis
•Bronchitis
•Ear infection in both ears, one pretty severe

Thanks for being there when I need you, immune system!!

Posted by mwashburn at 11:32 AM | Comments (1)

December 02, 2005

The Apple Store is Too Sexy for Me

So yesterday, the Bug and I accompanied Adam to the illustrious Apple Store on Michigan Ave in Chicago. It's a gorgeous store, and everyone in it is beautiful. It looks just like one of their ads. Maybe they hire their models to pose as shoppers as well. It was sort of this Bennetton multicultural beautiful people thing, with everyone in expensive dark wash jeans, cashmere scarves, funky haircuts, with that upbeat, intelligent Apple Techno music softly playing in the background. I felt sort of out of place in my cheap Target corduroys, disheveled new mom hair, and dragging a snotty infant. (As an aside, the Bug has contracted a nasty case of pink eye, and though she's a trooper as always, she looks a bit repellent). But Adam was able to get service for his disabled laptop, I got the crappiest Starbucks cappuccino I've ever tasted, and we were able to have some family time.

But I know that what you really want to hear about is Thanksgiving, so read on.

Thanksgiving

Let's see if I can remember all of this. Well, we had a great trip. We were lucky enough to avoid weather the whole way, and estimated pretty accurately how long each leg was going to take us. Tensions were high Tuesday morning when we didn't get out the door until 9am, but our rented 2006 Nissan Maxima had trunk space to spare, so at least we weren't trying to tie things to the roof at the last minute.

We overnighted in Erie, PA, at a run-of-the-mill Best Western. We got to G-Loversville around 3pm on Wednesday, and had time to catch up with Robin and see my aunt and uncle before they left for Connecticut. After a major dinnertime diaper blowout, Lily just had time for a bath before my stepsister and her husband showed up with their 3 year old son Will and Lily's new cousin Lauren. Cute photo below:

My brother and stepbrother were also in attendance. The uncles all seem crazy about Lily. She is at that really entertaining stage where you can just kind of watch her do her thing, and get her giggling pretty easily.

Thanksgiving dinner was the usual over-the-top spread by my Stepmother, who doubles for Martha Stewart at upstate New York functions. Turkey with all the trimmings, four kinds of pie, etc. etc. Lily was still out of sorts from the long trip, and getting her to sleep proved nearly impossible Thursday night. She cried and cried, and after about two hours of unsuccessful bedtime attempts, Adam, uncle Michael, Robin and I headed to the basement to chill out and hang with Lily until she could sleep. We were all chatting quietly, Lily almost asleep on my chest when we heard a burst of hearty laughter from upstairs. "Must be they found the pirate treasure!" My brother Mike said. Punch drunk as we all were at 10:30 pm, we all cracked up. I was trying so hard not to laugh because I didn't want to wake Lily again, but I couldn't help it and burst into laughter. We all got laughing so hard we had tears streaming down our faces; one of those moments where the laughter is contagious and you just can't stop. All of a sudden I felt Lily quivering on my chest. She started laughing too. Well, of course this got us laughing all over again. It was completely ridiculous, but it felt good. My brother Mike is the only person who can get me laughing like that, so it's always very therapeutic to see him.

Friday, Adam's family came up from Westchester to visit, and stayed for dinner. Uncle Erik brought Lily a giant Eeyore stuffed animal. Again, the uncles just love Lily.

Saturday, we headed back to Erie and did the whole trip in reverse, again managing to avoid any nasty winter weather. We had a nice holiday, but it was good to be home.

I'm not sure I feel particularly Christmassy this year. I usually do some holiday entertaining, which I'm not. I am going to bake cookies and we are going to at least one holiday party, so hopefully I'll get in the mood.

Posted by mwashburn at 09:39 AM | Comments (2)

October 19, 2005

Oh, Old Dude in the Short Red Track Shorts

Please, please, please, wear some supportive underwear at the gym. No one wants to look at your hairy, wrinkled balls while you're doing that nice knee-to-chest stretch on the warmup mats.

Posted by mwashburn at 07:12 PM | Comments (1)

October 12, 2005

The Hunt is On!

It is so strange to be house hunting. It's kind of like apartment hunting, but scarier and more fun at the same time. We looked at another house last night, and we loved it, but it's a little more than we want to pay, and a little bigger than we need (we realized that it would look VERY empty with our meager furniture).

I checked out every first-time homebuyers' book I could find at the library, so we're doing our homework right now, and will probably start the loan preapproval process next month. It's so weird, because all just through happenstance we've started this process, not realizing how ready we actually were. Since closing can take a good two months, it's not too early at all for us to be looking. I also like the real estate agent a lot. We found her by accident, but it turns out she sold our friends their house, and they really liked her. She's been very good about finding us listings in our price range and the type of home we're after.

It's also Lily's four month birthday today. I really should update her website. She's starting to do little abdominal crunches, which will surely lead to sitting up pretty soon. She is also getting a lot more squirmy on her back, so we're anticipating rolling over any day now. The sleep schedule has become even more erratic; since her sicky episode a couple of weeks ago, sleeping through the night has been obliterated, and I have been beating myself up about how I'm handling it/not handling it. I just don't know what the right thing to do is. I'm inclined to just go with the flow and work around her schedule, but in the back of my head is this worry that I need to be struggling with her somehow to get on a schedule. Why struggle? I'm not sure why we make such a big deal out of t