Look out evil-doers everywhere! Leia and Indy are out to get you!
Oh no! Leia’s down – she got ambushed by some nasty storm-troopers!
We need the force! Call on the force to get up! The force (otherwise known as Jeremy) is coming from above.
Ahhh, much better – now we are off to the Temple of Doom!
Happy halloween everyone! Keep warm and safe and don’t eat all the candy at once.
This week, we finally turned on the heat in the house, it has turned so cold here in MD – I’m wondering if I need to break out the winter coat. I’m still trying to right myself emotionally from various minor injustices I’ve felt throughout the week, it involved way too many tears in front of way too many people, but I think I’m done thinking about it all and as Jeremy said, “it’s not a guanine” – a reference to Edda’s genetic deletion (806delG on the MECP2 gene) meaning that these things I’m shedding tears about are bound up in my ego and actually nothing really is wrong with life.
The kids are well, the neighborhood is full of kids and every afternoon after homework, Vince runs off to a number of different houses on the block which is great – but there is also major playground politics which are as complex as any adult group interaction.
Edda has been nursing an amazingly disconcerting sore on the corner of her mouth where she constantly stretches due to her hand mouthing. I’m sure it has to do with the sudden turn in the weather, I was actually worried that we needed to take her to the emergency room last night as it looked like it was getting infected and spreading to her lips, but luckily this morning, it looked a million times better with some antibiotic ointment.
Here’s a hair salon photo from last Sunday night’s dinner.
This weekend, I’m going to my first gala event – a fundraiser for the ballet school that Vince and Edda go to. The dress code is elegant. I went to the thrift shop (I’ve been pretty lucky trifting these days) and got this:
It’s understated and shows a little skin which I guess makes it elegant. Then is occurred to me that I could wear my Chinese wedding dress:
A little flashier – I’m only going to know one other person at the gala (Jeremy isn’t going) – and I thought it would attract a bit too much attention. Anyways, which dress should I wear?
Jeremy and I have been married for 10 years, together for 13 and for that whole time, we’ve relied on each other heavily for friendship – we’ve moved every year during our time together – it’s been hard to make friends when you are pretty sure you won’t be around next year to hang out with them. So now that we’ve made the decision to stay here in the burbs of DC, I’m enjoying getting to know other people and going out and doing stuff with them (like having a mojito). What a new concept! So I did a few things this week, I went to the Obama rally in Leesburg with a friend from work, I went to the religious education meeting at church and then last night, I went out to dinner with women who have special needs kids and we all laughed and laughed and talked.
So why is this post titled the “official make Doris feel bad week”? Well along with all this greatness, I often felt kind of hurt this week by a slew of unrelated offhand comments about things I work really hard at. These are those comments made you know, as you are turning the corner to leave, or while you are chatting while waiting for the bus/elevator/another person. I know I shouldn’t take these little issues to heart, but what can you do?
I stumbled upon the Obama headquarters in Alexandria, VA
and I had a Five Guys burger for lunch.
I got to go to Leesburg today to see Barack Obama. Can you see him? He’s the dude at the podium.
As citizens of the Great State of Washington working in New Jersey, we got our ballots in the mail. Will vote tomorrow.
Fairfax is about 35 minutes away from the house – with a stroll-a-thon walk start time of 10 am, I left the house at 6:30 am to set up the silent auction – the plan was to have the rest of the family follow 2 hours later. However, Vince caught whiff of this plan and insisted that he leave the house with me before the sun got up. His reason? He wanted to be there as soon as the DJ turned on the music. He wanted to do the Electric Slide, the Makarena, the Chicken Dance, the Line Dance, and the Cha-cha Slide from the very beginning. Powered by the strength of half a bagel with cream cheese, he boogied his little tushie off for a good 2 and a half hours.
The silent auction went well, the take was about $2700 for about 50 items which was down significantly from last year – but as the person doing the tally mentioned, it might have had something to do with everyone’s net worth being 72% lower this year. I wanted to break last year’s total, but I think about a month ago I realized it wasn’t going to happen – with the move, the end of the fiscal year at work and whatever else got in the way, and I just had to let it go.
This year, I was a little more relaxed about the stroll, I got to meet a few more families in the area and chat with them – about 25 families participated. Also, our wacky shirts made a huge difference. Couldn’t you just feel the smiley-face love? It’s a nice way to get together and say hello. I just wished it had been about 10 degrees warmer.
