Author: Doris

Remember Edda was fussy? It most likely was her teeth. We went to the dentist last week who confirmed that she had an abscess due to a molar coming in a crooked angle. Anyways, the whole time I was setting up the appointment to the time that I actually got to the dentist I was thinking 2 things. One, please, please, please let this be a dental problem which does not involve general anesthesia and two, it just will kill me if Edda had been in intense pain for 2 weeks (I looked up abscess on the internet and all over the entries was written INTENSE PAIN!!!) and I did nothing about it.

So regarding worry #1, the abscess does not require going under. Thank goodness. And worry #2, I asked the dentist and hygienist about the pain and they both said they’ve seen kids with really bad teeth and abscesses and they seem fine and relatively pain free. So whatever, it seems if Edda was in great pain, she would have let me know somehow. Anyways, we have a follow up appointment in a few weeks to see how the dental saga ends.

There was something wrong with the gas cook top that was pretty simple to fix and Jeremy started fixing it at 7:30 this morning (note coffee mug and bed head).

By the time we finally stepped away from the stove at 1:30 this afternoon and called a temporary truce between us and the stove, we had made 3 trips to Home Depot, taken a hacksaw to one of the burners and also called the repairman for a Tuesday appointment. Don’t even ask.

Between the two of us, I’m a work-a-holic and Jeremy is not. When we first met in graduate school, in the midst of falling in love and being totally infatuated with each other, Jeremy actually got more work done because I insisted that I needed to go back to lab after dinner and he would agree to come with me and work and extra two or three hours. I knew when I married him, I would more likely to be guilty of staying late at work than he would ever be.

So it is with some surprise that at lunch today, I asked him, “You are working all the time, aren’t you?”. Even though his hours at home vs. work have not changed, I notice that he tucks in an email or two as he’s making breakfast, he’ll also go over something right before bed. Over the weekend, we’ll carve out a few hours for him to work on a report. It’s all so quick and subtle that I hardly notice that it’s happening – but he did tell me, “yeah, I’m working a lot.”

Even though there are a few days left in the school year, Edda graduated from preschool tonight. We love(d) Edda’s preschool, teachers and aides all wonderful and hard working, I could not have asked for a better place for her.

The graduation was a little like a European soccer match, the fans were a little out of control. When the graduates walked out, all the parents rushed the stage with phones (do they take video now?) and fancy cameras (me included) and no one could see anything. Not a single butt is in a seat.

I missed the cute little dance numbers, I missed most of the kids getting their little paper diplomas. I almost missed Edda’s march to the front of the room. Edda was not thrilled to be at school at 7:15 pm. She wanted to be in the middle of her bedtime routine. Vince rushed the stage and managed to take his shoe off at the same time. All and all, a good time. Ha!

The wonderful Ms. Sarah who taught Edda so much this year. (Photo by Vince, hence the low, upward angle of the photo!)

I’m hoping that as Edda grows up, she will learn to turn her love of Barney, ABBA, and the Avenue Q soundtrack (a little inappropriate for little kids, I know, but she can’t talk, so she won’t be telling) into a love of live music. Right now, it’s a sure bet that we won’t last a whole performance (we get persistent whining a lot of the time), but I figure a regular exposure to live music will someday lead Edda to sit through a whole high school performance of Grease (or at least learn that auditorium seats are a nice place to take a nap).

This weekend, Edda and I went to see a live performance of the Baltimore’s Men’s Choir. It was at the church, I figured it would be pretty low-key, there was a sound-proof crying room to retreat to and also we could just turn home if we needed to.

Started by being asleep in the main concert hall:

and then retreated to the crying room.

Jeremy had made fun of me for dressing Edda in a dress and then stretchy capri pants that did not match the day before, so on this day, I went way in the other direction which, at home, looked OK to me, but when we were out an about, I realized that Edda was showing way too much leg (there were shorts under there… they were just short shorts).

Here are 10 Best Places to Live 2009, USA.

1. Albuquerque, N.M.
2. Auburn, Ala.
3. Austin, Texas
4. Boise, Idaho
5. Durham, N.C.
6. La Crosse, Wis.
7. Loveland, Colo.
8. San Luis Obispo, Calif.
9. St. Augustine, Fla.
10. Upper St. Clair, Pa.

For No. 8 – San Luis Obispo

Tucked into California’s sweeping Central Coast region is lovely San Luis Obispo, Calif. Its warm, gentle climate, with temperatures rarely surpassing 90 degrees, is perfect for hitting nearby beaches or touring local vineyards. In addition, California Polytechnic State University, which is located in town, infuses the community with intellectual energy.
Although area home prices have fallen by as much as 35 percent over the past two years, the national housing bust may have also created another reason to make San Luis Obispo your home, says John Day, a local real estate broker. “There are just plain good deals” in the current market, he says.

Jane loves make-up (she’s 12) and I volunteered to be her model at Sunday night dinner. Growing up, I somehow completely skipped over the makeup phase. I loved hair, but I didn’t care very much about make-up. Jane turned me into a completely different person who I now affectionately refer to as Mrs. Wong. Look at them eyebrows! Jane started to pluck some of my white hairs and I told her that she needed to stop because there are a million of them now – you can clearly see them in the first photo. Ack!

Edda’s been fussy and complaining a lot lately. I just spent 45 minutes in bed with her listening to her cry and trying not to go crazy myself. It’s pretty hard to do. Lately, during the day, she’ll be happily watching TV and then all of a sudden, she’ll cry at the top of her lungs for 15 minutes while we try and change the video, take her to the potty, try and feed her, etc and then as suddenly as it started, it’s all over. I don’t know if she’s constipated, reflux-y, tired, hungry, in pain, or just pissed that we are having chicken again for dinner (trust me, sometimes Vince gets the most angry at us for our dinner selections, so I wouldn’t put it past Edda). I reminds me of her crying jags in the midst of her regression a few years ago, I hope that it isn’t her brain somehow rearranging itself to regress again. Who knows?

Interspersed with all this fussiness have been some really fantastic days where it seems like she loves to do everything that we are doing – for example, a few weekends ago, we went to Target and Edda acted like it was the most amazing shopping trip evah! Laughing and smiling and walking for over an hour, why can’t everyday be happy? I know, everyday can’t be like a trip to Target, but still, one can hope and wish.

See? Even doing the famous bath/soap/mohawk thing-y couldn’t cheer Edda up.

On the other hand, Vince loved it.

This morning, I found the following article in italic. It is funny. When my professional becomes the number one “hardest jobs to fill in America“? Even with that, if I could start all over again, I probably would become a politicians first, then a lawyer, followed by a doctor. Engineer? No, of course, not.

My family, the immigration-generation of Lees are all engineers. For our next generation, only few engineers and scientists left. The majority of Lees are gradually but surely transforming its into more doctors or MBAs. For our next-next generation, probably no Lee will become an engineer.

The Hardest Jobs to Fill in America

In today’s economic climate, it’s hard to believe there are jobs that employers are having a hard time filling. But they do exist, according to the staffing firm Manpower’s annual talent shortage survey. From the 2,019 employers who responded to the survey in January, Manpower created this list of the 10 hardest jobs to fill in the U.S.

1. Engineer

There are several reasons it’s hard for employers to find qualified engineers, says Jonas Prising, Manpower’s president for the Americas. First, employers don’t want to hire two or three engineers with a variety of specialties, they want one engineer who is trained in several areas. Another reason is that there are far too few new college graduates in engineering to replace retiring engineers. Also, the Obama administration’s pledge to rebuild America’s infrastructure is increasing the need for talented engineers.

2. Nurse …

3. Technician …

4 Teacher …

5 Sales Representative …

…