Author: Doris

Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms, but especially to Rena & Doris.

Mom was super happy these days. On Thursday, mom received beautiful followers at the plant from Doris & Company including one of her favorate grand daughters, Ruby. There were three people to deliver the flowers to Mom personally, a gentleman and two ladies. Also, yesterday afternoon, Donald called. So, she was really excited.

On top of that, we are going to see Donald again at the SF airport this Thursday when we will make the connection flying back to Washougal, WA (Portland, OR). Within these two months, this will be the third time that we would be able to see Donald. A rare ocassion since he left home for Boston after his high school days. We would like to do it more often from now on.

Also, yesterday, we drove south ~100 miles to Santa Babara to have our steak dinner there with one of our close friends. I made the reservation before the fire. Sure enough, the restaurant was closed the day before yesterday, due to the heavy smoke and approaching fire. Even yesterday, we could see people were cleaning up ashes on the ground and nearby mountains still had a lot smokes. We even saw a fire engine parked in the mall together with a lot of firefighters and cops.

Before dinner, we went window shopping in those upscale stores around. Not too many buyers so far I could see. I guess the stimuls plan is still not bubbling up to the rich and powerful 🙂 but I hope it is now trickling down to the needy and not-so-poor ordinary folks. I am afraid neither. It is always easier to spend other folks’ money and promise the world with the resources that one does not have or own.

Even the restaurant had to hold down their prices with all-inclusive-meal-type offerings with smaller portions to attract their customers 🙂 This morning, my glucose level was still pretty good too. Again, Happy Mother’s Day to all!

I am always amazed and envious of people who maintain a wide circle of friends. I’m trying to figure out how to be a better friend, I’m trying to figure out how to “get out more”. It’s not easy since I like routine and I like being at home quite a bit. I also have this underlying belief that other people are too busy to want to hang out with me, so I’m a little bit shy to arrange outings.

Vince refuses to have his hair cut. Before I had children, I promised myself that I would not obsess about their appearances, but I have to say, the hair is driving me crazy.

Jeremy’s been quoted in the NY Times! I got a screen shot of the article when it was on the “front page” for about 15 minutes this afternoon (unfortunately, you have to scroll past the story about the murderer).

It’s another exciting media week. Here is a cute quote from Jeremy in the Detroit News… “The best biofuels take a big bite out of global warming emissions without gobbling up our food crops”.

A few weeks ago, I read the kids a cute story about collections and Vince asked “What can I collect?”. I though about it for a few days (it needed to be something small, neat and finite) and suggested that we collect the state quarters. I went out and bought a little collection book, which I have been coveting for a while (months?) but could never justify spending money on, even though it was only $14.95. (I’m a little strange, it gives me great pleasure to put off some small purchase so I that later, when I actually do buy it, I will enjoy it that much more). I’m having so much more fun than either of the kids hunting down quarters. I cannot believe that the whole series is almost done, I remember so clearly in 1999 when Delaware came out and thinking that it would be soooo long until all of them came out. Woosh – ten years have gone by….

It’s been a few months since I started taking Lexapro and I feel much, much better. No more whirling obsessive thoughts, no more intense moments of despair, no more crying at parties. It is a welcome relief. I have been able to clear my email backlog, I’ve been able to go back to making lists of things to do and cross them off, I’ve been able to enjoy the kids and Jeremy more. I think it makes everyone happier. It’s always hard for me to enjoy what I have, I always want it to be better in a sort of irrational and unspecific kind of way which is not very helpful in counting my blessings.

Vince made a scavenger hunt to look for him in his hiding place for us this weekend:

Started at the front door.

Then behind the couch:

On the step:

Into the closet:

By the window:

In his room!

Our pal Ruth came and spent the night last night. We had Cuban take out. She says she has noticed a big difference in Edda’s responsiveness and interest in creating rapport with other people in the 6 months since she last saw her. Since I see Edda everyday, it’s harder for me to gauge changes in her behavior or personality, but I have been feeling that Edda’s been happier and more easily engaged in laughter and play.

Childcare has been sorted out. We’ve matched with an au pair who has already been in the US for a month or so who’s original match has not been working out for various reasons that I believe will not pose a problem for us.

I grind my teeth at night. Jeremy grinds his teeth at night. Vincent grinds his teeth at night. Edda grinds her teeth only during the day (and much less than she used to).

I love my mouth guard. Apparently Ruby does too.

Yvonne, our beloved au pair, is ending her year with us in mid-May and going back home to Germany. I preparation for her departure, about 2 months ago, we decided to match for a 2nd au pair who would take over after Yvonne left. We decided on a very sweet person from Mexico who was scheduled to arrive in about a week and a half. I bet you can see where this is going. Now that Mexico has pretty much shut down to try and staunch the spread of swine flu, our au pair will not be allowed to leave Mexico and enter the US until August! I spoke with the coordinator on the phone today and she asked if we had a backup child care plan and the answer is no we don’t! Anyways we are scrambling. We have a few leads which look promising which I hope won’t put us in the lurch for too long. Life is never dull.

And the Capitals won! One of my best friends at work has season tickets and so she fills me in on hockey details. I try and amuse her by reading the first 2 paragraphs of the news reports of the game and then I can say, “oh how about the goalie, wasn’t he amazing?!” or “look out for so-and-so, he’s off his game”. And then I can sit back while she talks for 20 minutes in response to my Cliff Notes version of the game. The Metro was filled with fans last night, all happy on the way to the game while I was heading home from work. The lady reading the book is making some funny face, maybe she doesn’t like hockey.

There is an article in this week’s New Yorker talking about new cystic fibrosis drug therapies which enable broken proteins to restore normal function. I hope this is just the beginning of a long a fruitful path which will show that all types of broken proteins can be fixed. Cystic fibrosis is one of the most common rare genetic diseases. Their national organization is well funded and is spearheading a lot of great drug trials and research.