Year: 2017

We might be finally sleep training Edda.  Now when she gets up at 10 pm, 2 am and/or 4 am, we just turn on the camera, see that she’s not stuck somewhere and then we go back to sleep in our own bed.  She falls back asleep eventually.  This morning, I had to shake her awake at 6:30am  This took us only 12 years to figure out.   We are enjoying our extra sleep.

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Sharon (our elementary school crossing guard) came by today – she misses having dogs of her own.  I hadn’t had the chance to tell her that Ruby passed away in the fall.  Maxi gave her a bunch of loving and sniffed out the doggie treats she always has in her handbag.

Wed.  (OK now it’s Thursday morning).  I’m in a mood.  I feel like the house is too cluttered and I start throwing stuff out.  Then Vince and Jeremy get all nervous.  Are you throwing my stuff away, they ask?  ummm, yeah!  It’s all your stuff that is driving me crazy – you crazy hoarders you.  I told them I decluttered our shoe closet and that my criteria for throw-away-ness was any shoe that they hadn’t worn in the last two days.  Jeremy said – thank goodness I’m wearing some shoes right now so you didn’t have the chance to throw that pair away.

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Wed night is quilt night at the UU church.  Activism and crafting at the same time.  Efficient.  A few postcards of encouragement to the Muslim community & an update on the relative disorganization of the established Democratic system and how now certain groups are just not waiting around for those fuddy-duddies and going ahead and doing their own thing and then I’m good to go.

This is the quilt we are making this year.  I little old fashioned for my taste, but it’s OK.  I’m the newest member and I don’t know how to quilt, so I’m keeping my mouth shut and just doing what they tell me.

Valentine’s Day started beautifully with a full night’s sleep for both me and Jeremy – gifted to us by this beautiful tween.  Though later on in the day, I got the email that our two insurances – primary government employee health insurance & secondary Medicaid insurance – both had finally turned down our appeal to get Edda’s sleep safe bed covered which we had started applying for way back in August.  So *(#^ you insurance companies.

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I went to class today in the afternoon.  These people are fun.  I would have never guessed it because I’ve never been a teacher, but different classes have different personalities and this one is the funnest one of the five I’ve been through in nursing school.  For example, the class on resumes?  The teacher asked for everyone’s past work experience to teach how transferable those skills are to nursing. People started shouting out – waiter, computer tech support, pharmaceutical sales, etc.  And then from the very back, someone shouted very clearly – stripper / pole dancer.  And the whole class erupted in laughter.  Customer service. maybe?

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Jeremy was very nice to me today and made me a very nice dinner – pork loin (145F – the usda recently lowered the pork “done” temp, it’s perfect at 145F, a tiny bit pink in the center).

And Vince and Jeremy assembled a berry themed dessert.

I bought everyone gifts at the Walgreens.  Jeremy got cinnamon gum and heart shaped Reese’s peanut butter cups.  Edda got a caramel heart.  Vince got some cola gummies and chocolate flavored lip balm.

Time to do passport photos.

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Outtake #1

Outtake #2

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My washing machine is like my unpredictable lover.  Sometimes saving me and making me feel so loved and well taken care of and sometimes purposely ignoring my texts while I silently glare at my phone for the little undulating dots.  My washer has has a small, intermittent leak.  It’s so intermittent that I get all sad when it leaks, then I don’t do laundry for a few days.  Then I do one load and it doesn’t leak and I get all happy.  Then I try to run 7 loads through it during the day and then it leaks every 2.3 loads and then I get sad and frustrated.  I try to not let the state of my appliances dictate the state of my mood, but I can’t help myself.  It’s like trying to stop eating Doritos after a handful when you are alone and have just opened a huge bag.  Especially if they are the original nacho flavor.   I’m tired just thinking of putting the machine up on blocks to see where the leak is coming from and then taking apart the machine, then replacing all the rubber parts which have aged in the last 1.5 decades and then finally replacing the pump (ordering the part, paying extra for 2 day shipping, installing it) and then not being able to fix it (deinstalling pump, boxing up the pump and going to the UPS store) and finally having to spend $800 +/- $200 on a new washing machine.

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Math test for Vince tomorrow on volumes of 3D shapes.  I’d been checking some of Vince’s practice work earlier and I was going to continue after dinner while Jeremy washed the dishes, but Jeremy sliced his fingertip off with a mandolin (note thumb condom) so he asked to trade night time duties.  I said sure – I’ll do the dishes, you can do the math.  Which then led Jeremy to groan when he realized that he had to figure out the volume of a truncated cone.

I spent hours and hours outside today.  Mostly by myself – running, hiking, getting lost.  I did spend a couple of hours with other people who are teaching me how to read a map in the woods.

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Sunday night dinner at the famous Far East restaurant!  A Rockville landmark for 40 years.

Jeremy went on a bike ride this morning and, while on my own, I got into a tiff with Vince and then I felt blue.  To feel better, I went and took myself out for a walk and Jeremy just happened to come home and spy me walking towards the pizza place.  He asked where I was going and I told him I was just taking myself for a walk for pizza because I was blue and then he asked – did you and Vince get into a fight?  How did he know? He asked me to wait for him and he drove the three houses home and got changed and came back and took me out for pizza and ice cream at 2pm.  He laughed at me and said – you two are quite a pair, a true dyad.  While I was eating my pizza, Vince was trying to text and apologize and I texted back my apology too.  The apology involved edamame gifs.

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I trimmed Edda’s bangs this morning.  Kitachi then put her hair in two ponytails, she looks like a Japanese superhero.

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I went to Thu’s monthly dinner – this was a cheese wheel party.

I used Thu’s party as an excuse to buy things at Whole Foods that I covet and only want one slice of.  Pineapple upside down cake.

Sometimes I do really well at Thu’s party and can chat a lot.  Sometimes I can’t.  Tonight, I was particularly introverted and I worked on a puzzle.  First by myself, but then later with three puzzle friends.

Right after his report card came home, Vince asked for an extension on electronic curfew – from 9 to 9:30.  I hesitated.  This is primarily because I want my parenting duties for Vince to be over at 9 pm, because I want to shift my focus from my children back to myself.  And also because our best time as a family come between 9 and 9:30 pm, when Jeremy’s home from evening meetings, when the child care providers are out of the house, when all the homework and school work is done and we are winding down.  It’s when Vince tells us both what’s going on in his own little world – concerns about friends, various sticky school situations, and funny memes so we don’t get too far behind.

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Jeremy worked from home today and we celebrated Valentine’s day with lunch out.  Adriana, who now works Tuesday nights, last week asked if she could have Valentine’s Day off and reminded us about the holiday.  (It’s her first Valentine’s Day with her beau).  I looked at Jeremy and said, oh yeah, Valentine’s Day doesn’t matter to us and gave her the night off.  And then I looked at Jeremy again and took it back and said, oh no, I meant every day is Valentine Day around here.  xoxo.

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We facetimed Gong Gong and found him asleep in bed.

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Max(ine) is our gender fluid dog.  Recently, she’s taken up humping her bedding.

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We went to my parents’ house for dinner where they have entirely too much ice cream.

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Edda’s so happy tonight!  Maybe because it’s my favorite day, Friday!

After two days in the 70s, it snowed here today…  It didn’t stick because the ground was so warm – can you see any snowflakes in this bus pickup photo?

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Vince and I procrastinating with selfies.  I wish I had his eyebrows.

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Vince has a pet sitting gig this weekend.  Two basset hounds.  They clearly love each other.

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Vince totally did it.  It was a lot of work – mostly on Vince’s part, but also my dad tutored in Chinese and I ran a tight ship.  It wasn’t a supreme stretch about Vince knowing the content, it was all those things I thought didn’t need to be taught – planning, organizing, thinking of test taking strategies, figuring out priorities, figuring out what the teacher wants and cultivating the desire to try or try a little harder.  This next term, I told Vince I’m not going to be able to help him as much keep track of work as I’m busier and out of the house more & my Dad’s in China for a month soon – it’s going to be up to him to manage his time and his assignments. Anyways, that’s the goal – for me to be totally uninvolved with any sort of schoolwork/leisure logistics.  I think before he didn’t even think this was possible, but I’m sensing that now that he knows he can do it and how much work it takes (which is manageable), he will endeavor to continue.

It was a little bit cooler today.  Not by much though.

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I was planning on having dinner on the table as soon as Jeremy walked in the door.  I put the chicken in the oven at 5pm, giving it 75 min to roast.  I misunderestimated the amount of time by more than 30 min!  I hate when that happens, then the whole evening goes off kilter.  Jeremy finally had to unstuff the cavity (I had put onions and lemons in there) and chop off all the dark meat so we could start eating while the white meat went back in the oven for another 10 minutes.  Jeremy’s reading the chicken temp with an instant thermometer – 145, still not done.

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I went to quilting tonight where I saw an antique quilt that had been lovingly restored.

And I saw a bunch of beautiful fabrics.

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I came home and I implemented Vince’s electronic curfew at 9pm.  He put all his stuff away and then (since Edda was still awake), crawled into bed with Jeremy and Edda and glommed off of Jeremy’s phone.  Then Vince started yammering away and Jeremy said – hey, if you want to use my internet access, then you gotta watch what I’m watching and you need to be quiet.

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Small act:  I opened up the ARC form to testify on behalf of Edda about her waiver services, but then I realized I need to think a little more about it.  xo

What the heck?  It’s 70 degrees here in Maryland.  Though I still wore my fuzzy boots and huge down coat because it’s FEBRUARY.  We are so doomed.  OK, maybe I’m not doomed, but for sure Vince’s kids are doomed.  I just hope it’s not 110 degrees all summer.  I’m sure it is only because I bought my dad a snowblower for Christmas.  It’s not climate change, it’s just karma.  Just for this winter.

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I often drive Vince to school in the mornings and he almost always forgets something.  Today he forgot a a social studies packet.    I’m trying to teach him to manage his time between his obligations (mainly school) and leisure (mainly video games).  Vince is conflicted on this matter.  Yesterday, he came home from school all upset because he wanted to play video games all the time and have all his work done too.  I told Vince that this is a very common struggle, not one that will go away in a lifetime.

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Of course, I have the same struggle.  I’m trying to stay on -ask with a new sand timer I ordered from China via Amazon.  It’s suppose to be 20 min, which is the right amount of time for steady work.  But it’s only 12 minutes and 30 seconds long.  That’s too short, so I have this idea that I should turn it around once it runs out for a timer of 25 minutes, but that doesn’t seem very satisfying.

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Small act:  Called our Republican governor to issue a statement against the president’s travel ban.  I also should have told him that I hate that school now starts after Labor Day.  Boo…