tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50052998910073624602024-03-14T04:02:24.204-05:00Canon in DeedThe voice called Katie in the fugue of life.Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.comBlogger196125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-51971188486607660792014-07-14T15:41:00.001-05:002014-07-15T09:23:28.008-05:00Twitterature--July 2014Some recent reads:<br />
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<i>The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making</i>, by Catherynne M. Valente.<br />
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This reminded me a lot of The Wizard of Oz, or maybe Narnia, or The Hobbit. Omniscient narrator who addresses the reader, child on a magical adventure, that sort of thing. It was fun and sweet and I think I finished it in less than a day.<br />
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<i>The Walking Dead,</i> by Robert Kirkman<br />
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I think I'm up to Volume 7 or 8 in the comic that inspired the TV show (which we watch religiously). Frankly, I'm not really a fan of the comic book/graphic novel format. I'm sure I'm somehow missing out on the subtleties of the art form, or whatever, but I feel like I'm reading the Cliff's Notes version of the story--sort of a sketchy summary of the depth of story you get in a book or a TV show. Also, I'm terrible at facial identification, so I'm always getting characters mixed up (this happens in TV and movies, too). It's interesting to see the differences between the comics and the show, and I know it's a classic. I'm not sure how long I'll keep up with it, though. Also: even darker than the show. Also: no Darryl. Worth a try if you need a zombie fix during the show's hiatus.<br />
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<i>Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal</i>, by Mary Roach.<br />
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I read Roach's <i>Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers </i>last year and liked it, and thoroughly enjoyed <i>Gulp </i>as well. I probably have a high tolerance for grossness in my reading material, but honestly Roach's exploration of her topics (in <i>Stiff</i>, dead bodies; in <i>Gulp</i>, digestion) is so fascinating that you forget it's supposed to be gross. Also, she's a great lover of puns. Perfect pick for armchair scientists and people who like to pick up random trivia tidbits to try out at cocktail parties.<br />
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<i>The Nesting Place</i>, by Myquillyn Smith.<br />
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I read this book and a week and a half later moved every piece of furniture in our two living rooms and painted a wall that I have hated for six years. Partially this is because her start-where-you-are, it-doesn't-have-to-be-perfect philosophy is inspiring, and partially it's because there was a picture in the book of a room with blue walls and oak trim. (The wall I hated was hunter green, hideous and dark. Unfortunately, the DDH a) likes hunter green and b) insisted he couldn't think of another color that would go well with the oak trim. And since the oak trim is a MAJOR part of the WHOLE HOUSE, I am not allowed to paint it. The picture proved to him that a blue-gray color also looks good with oak trim. He still thinks the old wall was fine. Everyone else agrees the new one is better.)<br />
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<i>A Place of Greater Safety</i>, by Hilary Mantel.<br />
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Mantel's later novel Wolf Hall is better (and still one of the best books I've read, ever). She's still finding her groove with style and pacing in this early novel, but it still works. I had a hard time finishing it, but I think this has to do with how depressing the events are. I knew very little about the French Revolution, and though of course this is a narrowly focused, fictional account, it's pretty horrifying. This would be a great book club pick; I wish I had someone around with whom to discuss some of the ideas it brings up.<br />
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<i>Linking up with <a href="http://modernmrsdarcy.com/2014/07/summer-reading-halfway/?utm_source=Modern+Mrs+Darcy+blog+posts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=70e795155a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_4d660a8654-70e795155a-15382577">Twitterature </a>at <a href="http://modernmrsdarcy.com/">Modern Mrs. Darcy</a>, if I remember to come back and link up since I'm a day early. But if you're looking for more suggestions on what to read (or avoid reading) this summer, check it out!</i>Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-83209793880570639372014-07-14T15:12:00.001-05:002014-07-14T15:12:34.824-05:0028 years and 19 months and 30 weeksI know I never post anymore. I've been busy. And lazy.<br />
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T-Rex is 19 months now. So far, I have to say that I love the toddler stage. He is such a happy, curious, lovely little human. He plays independently. He cuddles and listens to me read books. HE SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT (most of the time). He goes places and does things. He's learning words but not is not yet at the exhausting chatterbox preschooler stage. It's lovely.<br />
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He likes cars, dogs, bunnies, birds, and water. He adores fruit, especially bananas and blueberries, and will eat it all day long. He also really loves corn on the cob, but he dislikes avocado, lettuces, and blackberries. He loves to dance, and has recently started "playing" his piano and xylophone and "singing" along. He gives the dogs hugs, pets the bunny, and runs around like crazy all the time.<br />
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My brother was in town last week and we took him to the aquarium. He shrieked with excitement about the beavers and otters, which he called "big bunnies" and "water bunny dogs," respectively. He also liked the various fish, but was slightly scared of the shark tunnel until Uncle Michael picked him up and carried him.<br />
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We've taken him berry picking twice, which is how we discovered he dislikes blackberries. I was trying to pick blackberries, and after picking a few and spitting them out, he ran away from me, straight for a blueberry bush, where he happily stayed for a good thirty minutes, munching away on blueberries.<br />
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He feeds the dogs every day (puts their pre-measured cups of food in their respective bowls), retrieves his plate or bowl for me from the shelf when it's time to eat, puts his dishes in the dishwasher afterward, and cleans up the living room each evening. He loves to help put things away in the kitchen, cook, and carry things for me. He's really quite helpful.<br />
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I'm also just about thirty weeks pregnant with boy number two. I'm worried, because I'm in such a nice groove with T-Rex and because frankly, I dislike infants (have I mentioned I don't do well with sleep deprivation? Also, babies are boring), but we're excited, too. T-Rex has no idea what he's in for, poor little guy. But the pregnancy is going smoothly and I hope the brothers will be friends.<br />
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I turned 28 last week. I also found my first gray hair. I'm busy with things other than the toddler and the pregnancy, but those do take up most of my energy. And they're the easiest to talk about. I've been reading a good bit, and doing stuff in the kitchen, and working, and volunteering with church things. The usual.<br />
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So there you go. Twenty-eight years and nineteen months and thirty weeks. That's where we are right now.Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-11206963217299653432013-12-04T13:58:00.002-06:002013-12-04T13:58:20.590-06:00What I'm Into--November 2013More like what I've been into since April--has it really been so long since I posted one of these?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6OMhyvurPRg/Up-FnH9NEzI/AAAAAAAALXk/ABWH9PKrgak/s1600/20131120_193947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6OMhyvurPRg/Up-FnH9NEzI/AAAAAAAALXk/ABWH9PKrgak/s320/20131120_193947.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Birthday boy.</i></td></tr>
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<b>Life</b><br />
<br />
T-Rex turned one last month. The DDH turned thirty. We celebrated five years of marriage. It was a milestone month for everyone.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fYz8cwf7K1c/Up-FEo7SdeI/AAAAAAAALXc/HdO7H9j50p8/s1600/20131204_121615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fYz8cwf7K1c/Up-FEo7SdeI/AAAAAAAALXc/HdO7H9j50p8/s320/20131204_121615.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>And our one-year nursiversary!</i></td></tr>
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<b> </b><br />
We had a little dinosaur (of course) themed party for T-Rex, which was fun, and the next weekend he stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while the DDH and I stayed two nights in a hotel and had a spa afternoon with massages and the works. It was awesome.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lqGbzrzOGFk/Up-GEMoNH1I/AAAAAAAALX8/PSYPO5NSUvE/s1600/20131123_153613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lqGbzrzOGFk/Up-GEMoNH1I/AAAAAAAALX8/PSYPO5NSUvE/s320/20131123_153613.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>T-Rex cake made by my MIL.</i></td></tr>
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<b>Read and Reading</b><br />
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Oh gosh. I've been working my way through Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper series, which just keeps getting better and better. Definitely a must read for fantasy fans. Lindskold is from Albuquerque and I've met her several times; she is just the nicest person, and these books prove she's a good author, as well. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o7cNHHbHMoM/Up-FyosflZI/AAAAAAAALXs/vR-_MB4ShgA/s1600/20131120_195242.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-o7cNHHbHMoM/Up-FyosflZI/AAAAAAAALXs/vR-_MB4ShgA/s320/20131120_195242.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Carrying things in his mouth is a trick he learned from the dogs.</i></td></tr>
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<b>On TV</b><br />
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As T-Rex gets older, tv viewing gets pushed more and more firmly back to after his bedtime. We are way behind on all our shows, with a queue on Hulu a mile long.<br />
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Favorite new shows this season? <i>Agents of SHIELD </i>and <i>Sleepy Hollow</i>. Of the two, <i>Sleepy Hollow </i>is actually my favorite--the characters are excellent, though the premise is ridiculous. <i> </i><br />
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<i>Once Upon a Time</i> is having a better season than last, IMHO. We're so far behind that I'm not sure I've watched enough of the spinoff, <i>Once Upon a Time in Wonderland</i>, to evaluate it properly, but it was growing on me.<br />
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I've also been slowly working my way through a rewatch of <i>Firefly</i>, which leads me to two conclusions: one, why did they ever cancel this show??? so good. and two, comparing <i>Firefly </i>to <i>Castle</i> makes me realize Nathan Fillion is getting old, which is sadface. Also three: WHY DID THEY CANCEL THIS SHOW? <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xHOYjz0olwA/Up-GNwi8fhI/AAAAAAAALYE/-2z8yj8-9oI/s1600/20131124_112932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xHOYjz0olwA/Up-GNwi8fhI/AAAAAAAALYE/-2z8yj8-9oI/s320/20131124_112932.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ride 'em, cowboy.</i></td></tr>
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<b>In Theaters</b><br />
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I have been waiting for an <i>Ender's Game</i> movie since the eighth grade, which was more years ago than I care to admit (umm, thirteen. or fourteen. ack). It did not disappoint my tempered expectations, but it wasn't the book, either.<br />
<b> </b><br />
I know we went to the movies at least one other time in the last six months, and certainly we've rented movies to watch, but I don't remember anything particular. Except--<i>Man of Steel</i> was surprisingly boring, and T-Rex loved <i>The Sound of Music</i>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BClxQSY3API/Up-GkofbvLI/AAAAAAAALYc/m1GFijJqHQc/s1600/20131124_163042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BClxQSY3API/Up-GkofbvLI/AAAAAAAALYc/m1GFijJqHQc/s320/20131124_163042.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Birthday boys.</i></td></tr>
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<b>In the Kitchen</b><br />
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We did about two weeks of a semi-Whole 30 in October. It was a disaster. For one, we simply cannot afford that much meat. Our diet relies heavily on legumes and grains and streeeeetching out the meat as much as possible. We did each lose about ten pounds, which was nice, and it did break me of what was getting to be an out-of-control candy habit. I guess it wasn't a total disaster. But it was very stressful, having to plan out every single bit of food that went into out mouths. That is just not healthy for me psychologically AT ALL.<br />
<b> </b><br />
I'm looking at getting raw milk come January. If the weather isn't too disastrous, we plan to visit the farm this weekend. So looking at the weather forecast...maybe next weekend.<br />
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I made some grain-free pumpkin chocolate chip muffins that were to DIE for. Eventually I'll get around to updating the food blog. Probably in another six or seven months. ;-)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8yKWZLVhp58/Up-GYZkphtI/AAAAAAAALYM/ITWy3ROWGxc/s1600/20131124_143223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8yKWZLVhp58/Up-GYZkphtI/AAAAAAAALYM/ITWy3ROWGxc/s320/20131124_143223.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Green chile stew at his birthday party.</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ea4WQPi7rCI/Up-GAMUP4vI/AAAAAAAALX0/RSq9tXOIz9s/s1600/20131123_095429.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ea4WQPi7rCI/Up-GAMUP4vI/AAAAAAAALX0/RSq9tXOIz9s/s320/20131123_095429.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>First time tasting yogurt.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<b>Music</b><br />
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It's FINALLY Christmas music time! My Pandora list knows pretty well what I like--but what's your favorite Christmas tune?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BYAL9kHjOr8/Up-G7yM8nyI/AAAAAAAALYk/a2xMR4lr8Xc/s1600/20131126_134849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BYAL9kHjOr8/Up-G7yM8nyI/AAAAAAAALYk/a2xMR4lr8Xc/s320/20131126_134849.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Rex and Meg.</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6pSm4_lc_cs/Up-HKdnTq9I/AAAAAAAALYs/_7Y-CIqTPNI/s1600/20131126_135650%25280%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6pSm4_lc_cs/Up-HKdnTq9I/AAAAAAAALYs/_7Y-CIqTPNI/s320/20131126_135650%25280%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pat the bunny.</i></td></tr>
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<i>Linking up with Leigh at Hopefulleigh, like I used to before I fell off the face of the blogging earth. Check out what everyone else has been into this month.</i></div>
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<i><div class="What-I'm-Into-button" style="margin: 0 auto; width: 250px;">
<a href="http://www.leighkramer.com/blog/what-im-into" rel="nofollow"> <img alt="What I'm Into" height="188" src="http://www.leighkramer.com/What%20I%27m%20Into%20button.jpg" width="250" /> </a>
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<b><i>What are you up to, friends? </i></b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZtSoTjh-qY/Up-HXittCrI/AAAAAAAALY0/ZDVtdQpOeB4/s1600/20131126_142331%25280%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZtSoTjh-qY/Up-HXittCrI/AAAAAAAALY0/ZDVtdQpOeB4/s320/20131126_142331%25280%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Goodbye, November!</i></td></tr>
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-59653792983714640482013-11-13T16:47:00.000-06:002013-11-13T16:47:09.741-06:00What's On My Bookshelf?Last week, Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy asked us if we snuck peeks of <a href="http://modernmrsdarcy.com/2013/11/other-peoples-bookshelves/">other people's bookshelves</a> when we visited their houses. Of course we did! And so this week, we're <a href="http://modernmrsdarcy.com/2013/11/whats-on-your-bookshelf-a-link-up/">linking up</a> pictures of our bookshelves for others to ogle.<br />
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I have a lot of books, y'all. So here we go!<br />
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The first bookshelf you see when you enter the house is this one:<br />
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Until recently, it held very few books; I had only recently consolidated
the APO memorabilia to one shelf instead of two. But then T-Rex started
walking and pulling books off shelves, so I had to clear the lower
shelves of another bookcase, and those books got jammed in here willy
nilly.<br />
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Most obviously, the stack of German textbooks on the very top of the bookcase:<br />
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Then more German books, shoved in around the original contents of the shelf: parenting and baby books. That <i>Having a Baby</i> book is the one my mom read when pregnant with me in the eighties. You may recognize <i>The Chronicles of Narnia</i> in the middle there--but auf Deutsch. I wrote my senior thesis on Thomas Mann's <i>Doktor Faustus</i>, which is why I have that one in both English and German.<br />
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Next, the rest of the German books, my Latin stuff, and a few political/sociological books joined the original Gardening and Animals<i>/</i>Nature shelf.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0uQRFWGJwcnJktzq7FDeGxPMztjHONZDDAOnYcLTYmn2ApKnokBJlNbiIuT3eGcfQbr9djid3cpQ5kyioGkHMSH7HkRzsY6t1OA_RATPp19b0DdCQmm_Gbu9r99iU8fsK0rVj_ZKPKs/s1600/20131113_142210.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc0uQRFWGJwcnJktzq7FDeGxPMztjHONZDDAOnYcLTYmn2ApKnokBJlNbiIuT3eGcfQbr9djid3cpQ5kyioGkHMSH7HkRzsY6t1OA_RATPp19b0DdCQmm_Gbu9r99iU8fsK0rVj_ZKPKs/s320/20131113_142210.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A shelf in the cabinet at the bottom of this bookcase holds the rest of the rescued books: politics/sociology/finance, mostly, though you might spy a few more linguistics/language books--including <i>Cat in the Hat </i>in Latin.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4GX-2kJ4VduxnzvGLQhVuBkomlg51fMg7HAFymakpzwJi9d-mYNzj1ogf0Vr5_LCd_LgVvCkX-J-Yd4eOiOV7_yViouEsno39AEX-zmGBYFDLgrakbNvHjv6D_RaqLmr2iTw-Vtud-4/s1600/20131113_142227.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4GX-2kJ4VduxnzvGLQhVuBkomlg51fMg7HAFymakpzwJi9d-mYNzj1ogf0Vr5_LCd_LgVvCkX-J-Yd4eOiOV7_yViouEsno39AEX-zmGBYFDLgrakbNvHjv6D_RaqLmr2iTw-Vtud-4/s320/20131113_142227.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Since Anne mentioned her own little yellow German books, I decided to gather all mine up and take a picture just of them, all two dozen of them:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7zRKssEHTgXDdVLjXgSjH0lMLH5wCcCdRYz9mll1Pov61k903km9jJPO8wyHGJegQYQB8Sszch_WJdRLBc9kl2MWGRZX8Cp7O4YHwFKlC-DMMfLA3T2zfHfkc1SgQG-FnrZNEkwEfz8Q/s1600/20131113_142106.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7zRKssEHTgXDdVLjXgSjH0lMLH5wCcCdRYz9mll1Pov61k903km9jJPO8wyHGJegQYQB8Sszch_WJdRLBc9kl2MWGRZX8Cp7O4YHwFKlC-DMMfLA3T2zfHfkc1SgQG-FnrZNEkwEfz8Q/s400/20131113_142106.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I don't know why Goethe's <i>Faust</i> is green and not yellow. Because it's so special, I suppose.<br />
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The family room holds the majority of our books in five different bookcases.<br />
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First up, the little bookcase I had to clear to save from the toddler:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6WptXl-4-w1CvKTSrXojsmL63jxqAKvakMT56R_GWY0zqusWARJN-uzvuqFxNUL-KlsoL0bTxZN19fZG_4sxqIo0_7IIH-cULT0VhuIeDLTGgRTesQxgZ72da37bTl22d4jgfXWj9fgg/s1600/20131113_141346.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6WptXl-4-w1CvKTSrXojsmL63jxqAKvakMT56R_GWY0zqusWARJN-uzvuqFxNUL-KlsoL0bTxZN19fZG_4sxqIo0_7IIH-cULT0VhuIeDLTGgRTesQxgZ72da37bTl22d4jgfXWj9fgg/s320/20131113_141346.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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The top shelf is nothing but Bibles. Well, and a concordance:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdfIdu5R-NnIwYQcEYKc6dVnrNNZpGumjf1-T4ZtybKqTKuqHiUcavalVwX-_fKO2M7AdDRVaDY3KiEjhSC8a9_TZB_fwlbZKJKdL2MZbK9nXB4KUSvZDsJi6uHzkItHKUSKUPuVAMzk/s1600/20131113_141355.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdfIdu5R-NnIwYQcEYKc6dVnrNNZpGumjf1-T4ZtybKqTKuqHiUcavalVwX-_fKO2M7AdDRVaDY3KiEjhSC8a9_TZB_fwlbZKJKdL2MZbK9nXB4KUSvZDsJi6uHzkItHKUSKUPuVAMzk/s320/20131113_141355.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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Also? Not even all the Bibles we own.<br />
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The next shelf is about a third hymnals and songbooks, one third random religion/theology books, and one third the beginning of my German collection:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOykUTuiLYX5cmFnu50lWmZVAHE2bAPtb2Tg47mNNmSZPpjLIRoC1domlwW_e5Y8jxBxd1KHWPEhRWlTMVoxJpVU7ldS5JapwA8xFZ84_-EzFA9OdSpKZ3xE61GliKP_tf3RAIdDO-Na8/s1600/20131113_141400.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOykUTuiLYX5cmFnu50lWmZVAHE2bAPtb2Tg47mNNmSZPpjLIRoC1domlwW_e5Y8jxBxd1KHWPEhRWlTMVoxJpVU7ldS5JapwA8xFZ84_-EzFA9OdSpKZ3xE61GliKP_tf3RAIdDO-Na8/s320/20131113_141400.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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Recognize this little volume, Anne? Jane Austen's <i>Stolz und Vorurteil.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iQ1mxsvyHIVbXeCQWth0-EQ5UyLqpopsQkwSBGG_NGdV6z5mkYjVZew2HForo_Pju6eVGSkiNIHWVJNlT5u2dcHVbM5HMSgK8MVQqGNQmga88OgVdXD1YMNeMsF5oMmhiOdQSR3-3Hs/s1600/20131113_141417.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iQ1mxsvyHIVbXeCQWth0-EQ5UyLqpopsQkwSBGG_NGdV6z5mkYjVZew2HForo_Pju6eVGSkiNIHWVJNlT5u2dcHVbM5HMSgK8MVQqGNQmga88OgVdXD1YMNeMsF5oMmhiOdQSR3-3Hs/s320/20131113_141417.jpg" width="180" /> </a></div>
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The two built-ins hold mostly Fancy Law Books and movies:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFzpwlvu_fVHUWbSiwuwUZctNw5EP0oM9PYnS_Y5-yLnc8iVDAB0IoNfngTnDmRsQdbiwGneLFlIAoikB9rNhwnz0Y1p5rLXnm3FjjZsih-o7ITo3S_FTSIlus5MiCcFU-CtXSNDT69o/s1600/20131113_141451.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFzpwlvu_fVHUWbSiwuwUZctNw5EP0oM9PYnS_Y5-yLnc8iVDAB0IoNfngTnDmRsQdbiwGneLFlIAoikB9rNhwnz0Y1p5rLXnm3FjjZsih-o7ITo3S_FTSIlus5MiCcFU-CtXSNDT69o/s320/20131113_141451.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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But there are some random reference books, Spanish textbooks, and modern fiction scattered in:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj38_g2MNTSu94ZB0R9mPfCk8VODWuyjnmbOHGU05M5HyY_SUOQ4jZBbW0cw9zy94SwBwFcwXfpfa-M9aqlRvnK0qhh13WsNd4a_opRumObiL-SBDjNbs7Xdynn267Fa_JAhYGqJ5_iyR8/s1600/20131113_141458.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj38_g2MNTSu94ZB0R9mPfCk8VODWuyjnmbOHGU05M5HyY_SUOQ4jZBbW0cw9zy94SwBwFcwXfpfa-M9aqlRvnK0qhh13WsNd4a_opRumObiL-SBDjNbs7Xdynn267Fa_JAhYGqJ5_iyR8/s320/20131113_141458.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Also some board games and middle school social studies textbooks:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfblgJhL-289_PPR3mfZozaccth20Ql03MuWVGnVdNxW4P6AtZIDORLvcTkl3yimJIlcCqh1H1B53zJ7CY7pDa53h7S7fMeucXQzBxHDzuleJAiEDhce5r8Q87fjQO15zL1p-2OZadoM/s1600/20131113_141505.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUfblgJhL-289_PPR3mfZozaccth20Ql03MuWVGnVdNxW4P6AtZIDORLvcTkl3yimJIlcCqh1H1B53zJ7CY7pDa53h7S7fMeucXQzBxHDzuleJAiEDhce5r8Q87fjQO15zL1p-2OZadoM/s320/20131113_141505.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The other built-in really is just Fancy Law Books:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC6fzuea12G5xcQj0mSfq4oQX5YHvZCoasFwQzv93mMil5hFQXaTKHA5HfMgh0GHlN5amdSFflspacroai7iFv59aVGOuZBSRGL2yyZ1vWvTAibCRw8AIwi9NJnGMuqJN8UH1Hcws0550/s1600/20131113_141527.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC6fzuea12G5xcQj0mSfq4oQX5YHvZCoasFwQzv93mMil5hFQXaTKHA5HfMgh0GHlN5amdSFflspacroai7iFv59aVGOuZBSRGL2yyZ1vWvTAibCRw8AIwi9NJnGMuqJN8UH1Hcws0550/s320/20131113_141527.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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The final two bookcases hold most of my history and English books from college:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hdWNtTEiy-3Ibb17P3Pud7ILiOltpN1odDepA9zzpkG6AofG6k5W1WIQMWR6ocGLFI9OWFaECJ5WAy7HT_7oTB9ad9oPAPiZdeNgiq9dMYvnXH7BdEM-gscqdXYujn57vLDGhprUKs8/s1600/20131113_141651.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7hdWNtTEiy-3Ibb17P3Pud7ILiOltpN1odDepA9zzpkG6AofG6k5W1WIQMWR6ocGLFI9OWFaECJ5WAy7HT_7oTB9ad9oPAPiZdeNgiq9dMYvnXH7BdEM-gscqdXYujn57vLDGhprUKs8/s320/20131113_141651.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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From which you can clearly deduce that my history concentration was Asian history:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSNq1f51QQQBPER3yrEJLO5SpxWwyEjAhh1ZR6-EaC6FKzgjpMdGu4d8YiveHHdLtpD8vBuWWnNIC3P8Smt8AN8I99pZhXa-_ltdlXhm6F5N0KguTDD2aDQToZD5YVukjCgrguDxjhV_s/s1600/20131113_141708.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSNq1f51QQQBPER3yrEJLO5SpxWwyEjAhh1ZR6-EaC6FKzgjpMdGu4d8YiveHHdLtpD8vBuWWnNIC3P8Smt8AN8I99pZhXa-_ltdlXhm6F5N0KguTDD2aDQToZD5YVukjCgrguDxjhV_s/s320/20131113_141708.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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That <i>Mao</i> biography is heavy stuff. Anyway. Some random war histories, the Crusades, and one of my two books on the sinking of the Titanic--not sure what happened to the first.</div>
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Then, a bit of a mix:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0jO38WA277J-zbyltyZY-EvKXyGaSLWpGQkTulFCuNT1LCdV0H-iQ1C5q3Huit7ZA9Nf2ogTwxKDgtWZoFISSXfHy2oTEGJiatPCRRKYtGWsWlzJL-bBr5iOO06hZLM9eeLTkwPpFZU/s1600/20131113_141716.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF0jO38WA277J-zbyltyZY-EvKXyGaSLWpGQkTulFCuNT1LCdV0H-iQ1C5q3Huit7ZA9Nf2ogTwxKDgtWZoFISSXfHy2oTEGJiatPCRRKYtGWsWlzJL-bBr5iOO06hZLM9eeLTkwPpFZU/s320/20131113_141716.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Various nonfiction titles, classic fiction, Bullfinch's Mythology, the one volume of Harry Potter I own (the British edition of book seven. Wait, I also own book three auf Deutsch), some other Harry Potter stuff (<i>Looking for God in Harry Potter </i>is a good one for literary types) and, for some reason, two-thirds of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as a combo edition. Whatevs.</div>
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Next shelf: where English books go to die:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3NwcZJOZ64SXHGSQ8cZkT26nKrEI9mTathH2rV_eX1myEG3xkAqjRzXILOwhoW5t2lD8xIPRjDEDMeXLPj2WCYKMtMMfvf8uhQeDGjE8S8SQ3vJLmRVrAsGwEuu0moCYJ8ryHKSHqnA/s1600/20131113_141727.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga3NwcZJOZ64SXHGSQ8cZkT26nKrEI9mTathH2rV_eX1myEG3xkAqjRzXILOwhoW5t2lD8xIPRjDEDMeXLPj2WCYKMtMMfvf8uhQeDGjE8S8SQ3vJLmRVrAsGwEuu0moCYJ8ryHKSHqnA/s320/20131113_141727.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Can you tell my advisor was a Faulkner scholar? All those gold books in the middle are Faulkner. I think this shelf is arranged novels/short stories and then plays.</div>
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More, including the much-loved Norton anthologies:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO17mrNFEG4iPDZ3Y8tn0KeP3hRwb9p0vFpQ9aqXED85NtEi7-DdHi5vrq5VJwC3di_PX4riS4BOWTI6jqy5k7LuEtzAS2Zriy9rAHBZ4Lks54Al-MtwehGEp3PlPpO-7t8dqvM-5oYcc/s1600/20131113_141749.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO17mrNFEG4iPDZ3Y8tn0KeP3hRwb9p0vFpQ9aqXED85NtEi7-DdHi5vrq5VJwC3di_PX4riS4BOWTI6jqy5k7LuEtzAS2Zriy9rAHBZ4Lks54Al-MtwehGEp3PlPpO-7t8dqvM-5oYcc/s320/20131113_141749.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The random Grisham novel is the DDH's; because he's a lawyer, people keep giving him Grisham books. The book on top of it, <i>To Set Before a Queen</i> is a tell-all cookbook written by a former chief chef to Queen Elizabeth II. I found it hidden away in a used bookstore while looking for something else, <b>which is where all the best books come from.</b></div>
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Next up, the kitchen:</div>
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<b> </b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzqsvx1VAOjYyGnTaxdfumRlVecn0egEbB50tzgSGTgrE23LMRgSnOApSmsuLsSkG4LjmhLzcJ-r2wnLKNM6MPKpY7eQ6TILA2oP0YYpWRcKLEuG_Ul0tI6vjl0g5cHJvxuiZh-OBobQ/s1600/20131113_121527.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxzqsvx1VAOjYyGnTaxdfumRlVecn0egEbB50tzgSGTgrE23LMRgSnOApSmsuLsSkG4LjmhLzcJ-r2wnLKNM6MPKpY7eQ6TILA2oP0YYpWRcKLEuG_Ul0tI6vjl0g5cHJvxuiZh-OBobQ/s320/20131113_121527.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The three books on top are usually displayed elsewhere<b></b>: <i>Die echte deutsche Kueche</i>, a Schwabisch cookbook, and the Lindt <i>Book of Chocolate</i>. Yum.</div>
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I refer most often to <i>Joy of Cooking</i> and <i>How to Cook Everything</i>, which is why they're on the end where they're less likely to set off a destructive domino chain of cookery books. The binders are Kitchen Stewardship eBooks that I printed out because I use them pretty often. There's a healthy collection of church cookbooks from around the country in the middle there.</div>
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Ok! On to the less public rooms and their books.</div>
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The children's/young adult books live in the guest room:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstxPmWtNGzSzupX8HIu5gRW-ywoNOC11VvQSvdX2YMuewPI9N04sxAUxHo_4cpVt02laIWe53t0wUcAtK8jVgNUUih7nv_f-_ESxeW0cxZEzI1ut-h7N-BrrIrzyPzvIUb20R0ooUmsI/s1600/20131113_142300.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstxPmWtNGzSzupX8HIu5gRW-ywoNOC11VvQSvdX2YMuewPI9N04sxAUxHo_4cpVt02laIWe53t0wUcAtK8jVgNUUih7nv_f-_ESxeW0cxZEzI1ut-h7N-BrrIrzyPzvIUb20R0ooUmsI/s320/20131113_142300.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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Oh, Animorphs. I still think you're awesome, even though I'm no longer in middle school:</div>
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The white books are the Billabong series, an Australian series of novels about a girl growing up on a sheep station in the Australian bush in the 1910s (spanning WWI). My aunt sent them to me two a time for every birthday and Christmas when she lived in Australia, where I guess they're a classic akin to <i>Little House on the Prairie</i> here. I love them so. much.</div>
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Here's my Redwall collection; I was a little obsessed with those mice for awhile in elementary school:</div>
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Here you can see a bunch of the books left over from my childhood horse obsession, including a really beautiful edition of <i>Black Beauty</i>. Also, dinosaur books:</div>
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Some more random children's books, including a children's cookbook I got for my seventh birthday and a few German storybooks:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEapcYv1oLOOS1c78GZPliJQovNLW9asG18lfYNLilVxBeSvga8uXMxrizw7AUbaemo4DdKagc0x1m1nUO_sNNgNaCywDJW3zr76MnEzLvNp4evnGdOYAq9fVHwRw1U90yzwkAOW9Xi5M/s1600/20131113_142337.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEapcYv1oLOOS1c78GZPliJQovNLW9asG18lfYNLilVxBeSvga8uXMxrizw7AUbaemo4DdKagc0x1m1nUO_sNNgNaCywDJW3zr76MnEzLvNp4evnGdOYAq9fVHwRw1U90yzwkAOW9Xi5M/s320/20131113_142337.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A few of the children's books live in the nursery:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUE3rPh9JYSGFffSHy4mZCTExXCmeTpsQ6xtH8c1BP2ykkEtvYZIxybBF7ZChSi-duuhag1Hrwr622bG9AOutNhZ1L8Jyw4Vk9MD0K2daOkimr1gbl9gczWuGhEwvMuVLj8J6F4ApmqE/s1600/20131113_075600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUE3rPh9JYSGFffSHy4mZCTExXCmeTpsQ6xtH8c1BP2ykkEtvYZIxybBF7ZChSi-duuhag1Hrwr622bG9AOutNhZ1L8Jyw4Vk9MD0K2daOkimr1gbl9gczWuGhEwvMuVLj8J6F4ApmqE/s320/20131113_075600.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Notably, our <i>How Do Dinosaurs...? </i>collection and some Bible storybooks, including one that is fuzzy like a lion. Also, <i>The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter</i> from my own childhood.<br />
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There are a few more children's books around the house. His Indestructible books (paperlike, but unrippable) and a few other board books were on the bottom of that shelf I cleared off for him in the living room. His current favorite is <i>Die liebste Mama der Welt</i>. He also has a German My First Dictionary that contains pictures of things very important to German children, like public transportation ticket vending machines, that do not translate well at all to the American Midwest.<br />
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Here are the books in the office:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxK1crWv2uXwCtlIwo7WXHti1CMMis6cWovMh0N_izeZ_VGzoJZaYTG3_L_XA86-JfM82ar-apsqcGO2o7qQtSl8tR1V54gmebVcPY0RLVc3gN0FPlN5GWG_ZXKC7MA0deFfmp85g788/s1600/20131113_142353.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxK1crWv2uXwCtlIwo7WXHti1CMMis6cWovMh0N_izeZ_VGzoJZaYTG3_L_XA86-JfM82ar-apsqcGO2o7qQtSl8tR1V54gmebVcPY0RLVc3gN0FPlN5GWG_ZXKC7MA0deFfmp85g788/s320/20131113_142353.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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They're mostly the DDH's law and psychology books.<br />
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Last but certainly not least, the books in our bedroom. First, the stack by my bed:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Uw_In0te9VMPvamkd2moCVZ51VcA1kUXDa6K5G8PBLdwiWa8YKEiVVoqfZ9RD82qLsDZiVINsSonEqJvKNX3tPJO364vbLOPPxNyREM2emI7BRB-a4AIom1aaYOQzmMZZsQLLyW7KL4/s1600/20131113_084256.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Uw_In0te9VMPvamkd2moCVZ51VcA1kUXDa6K5G8PBLdwiWa8YKEiVVoqfZ9RD82qLsDZiVINsSonEqJvKNX3tPJO364vbLOPPxNyREM2emI7BRB-a4AIom1aaYOQzmMZZsQLLyW7KL4/s320/20131113_084256.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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I haven't gotten around to putting <i>What to Expect When You're Expecting </i>away yet. The DDH gave me the first Game of Thrones book to read, but I haven't yet started it. I love the <i>Then Sings My Soul</i> devotional, which looks at the origins of hymns. The Lutheran Study Bible because Lutherans decided they needed their own Bible. <i>Here I Stand</i>, the excellent biography of Martin Luther that I have been two chapters away from finishing for more than a year now.<br />
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Then there's the built-in shelf, where I keep the sci-fi/fantasy novels:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7dvOj3JlvI3OlEBtyk3FaElwAZrbLR3wPNmidfZqgf85pPHyGgHLk8P6WH2IvVWtK792hX8_Yydhq0rpZhLru-57rMJPBFU_enONdDdjkspN-qeuIlFZGbiglMO_ljv4CKHVkurbJZdM/s1600/20131113_084003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7dvOj3JlvI3OlEBtyk3FaElwAZrbLR3wPNmidfZqgf85pPHyGgHLk8P6WH2IvVWtK792hX8_Yydhq0rpZhLru-57rMJPBFU_enONdDdjkspN-qeuIlFZGbiglMO_ljv4CKHVkurbJZdM/s320/20131113_084003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Theoretically they're in alphabetical order by author. At one time they were, anyway. <i>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i> starts us off. <i>Watership Down</i> is one of my absolute favorite books. The Ender books and some other Orson Scott Card novels, which I've loved since we first read <i>Ender's Game</i> in eighth grade. <i>I Capture the Castle </i>is a charming little novel, written by the author of <i>101 Dalmations</i>. Stephen Gould, the author of <i>Jumper</i>, lives in Albuquerque and those are all signed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrTPi88Q5l-9AIRJkQODrCtdAOKIzyHDO0t2VaoJ0HQXnkcykSMCey9zSbKkjIfGZimqiOtI_uaMvF0xdA0vXrxtBqmoNvaUnTox6XpLPNhBzXL_FPW4BPJM5wHO2na0aSRBxIFKxEXw/s1600/20131113_154452.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrTPi88Q5l-9AIRJkQODrCtdAOKIzyHDO0t2VaoJ0HQXnkcykSMCey9zSbKkjIfGZimqiOtI_uaMvF0xdA0vXrxtBqmoNvaUnTox6XpLPNhBzXL_FPW4BPJM5wHO2na0aSRBxIFKxEXw/s320/20131113_154452.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Let's see. Some Wizard of Oz books that need to move downstairs to the guest room. L'Engle, <i>of course</i>. Jane Lindskold is another Albuquerque author and her books are also signed; we're apparently both Tigers in the Chinese zodiac. I was obsessed with Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern novels for the entirety of middle school.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8A_0FfAE_H-TF5QZDg5e2HEDJVcWLe6nq7uISZS_eLvjcHidQZ6U2MLdmgs508ua5ePZ99AunbWYuhgVuWd0LGP3BgamEa-h9__VAHAmDmCt1tPQgNxFghoYyq17WHJoHwn1i7djzDeg/s1600/20131113_154448.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8A_0FfAE_H-TF5QZDg5e2HEDJVcWLe6nq7uISZS_eLvjcHidQZ6U2MLdmgs508ua5ePZ99AunbWYuhgVuWd0LGP3BgamEa-h9__VAHAmDmCt1tPQgNxFghoYyq17WHJoHwn1i7djzDeg/s320/20131113_154448.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And I stole that <i>The Atlas of Pern</i> from my dad--the other place all the best books come from. Robin McKinley--love her books. <i>Deerskin </i>is beautiful and sad.<br />
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More Lindskold because they wouldn't fit on the top shelf. More McKinley; more McCaffrey. A penguin ice cream scoop.<br />
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And there we go! Longest post ever, but I have a lot of books!<br />
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<i>What do you think? Do you check out other people's bookshelves when you come to visit? What do your own bookshelves say about you? Be sure to check out the <a href="http://modernmrsdarcy.com/2013/11/whats-on-your-bookshelf-a-link-up/">linkup </a>to snoop on more awesome reading collections.</i></div>
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-61116301054512185012013-08-19T08:46:00.000-05:002013-08-19T08:46:01.375-05:00Twitterature: August 2013<br />
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<img alt="twitterature monthly reading linkup short reviews" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-12547" height="259" src="http://modernmrsdarcy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/twitterature-graphic1.jpg" title="twitterature monthly reading linkup short reviews" width="570" /><br />
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I haven't been writing much lately, but I have been doing a lot of reading! Here are some of my favorite reads from the last few months, Twitterature style:<br />
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<b>Literature with a Capital L</b><br />
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<i>Wolf Hall</i> by Hilary Mantel<br />
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A engrossing, clever account of Catherine's fall and Anne's rise (Henry VIII wives 1 and 2) from the POV of Thomas Cromwell. Best book I've read this year so far. The #sequel <i>Bring Up the Bodies</i> is almost as good.<br />
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<i>A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea</i> by Dina Nayeri<br />
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A story about loves lost--but in this case, the loves are a sister, a mother, and pre-revolution Iran. Well-plotted and poignant.<br />
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<b>Murder, Mayhem: Mysteries!</b><br />
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<i>The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie</i> by Alan Bradley<br />
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The first in the Flavia de Luce series about a precocious, chemistry-loving eleven-year-old in rural 1950 Britain. Charming unreliable narrator. Sometimes a bit cutesy but overall delightful; the mysteries improve as the series progresses. Check out the #audiobook for an excellent reading by Jayne Entwistle.<br />
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<i>The Midwife's Tale</i> by Samuel Thomas<br />
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Seventeenth-century midwife at the center of a web of mysteries. Written by a history teacher, it's a fascinating look at the rituals of birth and death in the 1640s and the role of the midwife. #firstnovel #waitingformore <br />
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<b>The Truth Is Out There: Fantasy and Science Fiction</b><br />
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<i>Cinder</i> by Marissa Meyer<br />
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First book in the Lunar Chronicles, dystopian futuristic re-tellings of your favorite fairy tales. Kind of. Book two, <i>Scarlet, </i>introduces new characters and expands the universe, but Cinder's still my favorite.<i> </i>Fast, fun, #isthethirdbookoutyet?<br />
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<i>Earth Unaware: The First Formic War</i> by Orson Scott Card<br />
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Did you know Card was writing a trilogy of prequels to <i>Ender's Game</i>? Somehow I missed that. This and the second (<i>Earth Afire</i>) are out and must-reads for #Ender fans.<br />
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<i>Watchmen</i> by Alan Moore<br />
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If you've only ever seen the movie, you owe it to yourself to read the original and get the full scope of the storyline. Masterfully plotted with gritty artwork by Dave Gibbons.<br />
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<b>Just the Facts, Ma'am: Non-Fiction</b><br />
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<i>LEGO: A Love Story</i> by Jonathan Bender<b> </b><br />
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A peek behind the scenes of LEGO and its devoted adult fandom. Wanders at times but still fascinating to anyone with a fondness for those nifty little bricks.<br />
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<i>Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers</i> by Mary Roach<br />
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Fascinating, but not for the weak-stomached.<br />
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<b>Be sure to click over to <a href="http://modernmrsdarcy.com/2013/08/twitterature-august-2013-edition/">Modern Mrs. Darcy</a> to see what others have been reading.</b></div>
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<b>And then put a nice long list of books on hold at the library. ;-) </b></div>
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<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-53520537791820986872013-07-13T12:28:00.000-05:002013-07-13T12:28:49.586-05:00Where do they all come from?Leigh wrote an important series on finding community recently (first post <a href="http://www.leighkramer.com/blog/2013/07/nashville-doesnt-love-me.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Hopefulleigh+%28HopefulLeigh%29">here</a>), inspired by her feelings of loneliness in Nashville.<br />
<br />
I could second most of that first post, except for the part about having any friends in the first place--something my husband and I have long lamented (I think I've mentioned before that we're both shy introverts, so making friends is not exactly easy for us).<br />
<br />
But <a href="http://everybreathitake.com/">Jennifer </a>left a comment that made me stop and think about my own situation a bit more:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="comment-6a0128776e0503970c0192abcff487970d-content">You
mentioned that you wouldn't notice it as much if your calendar was more
full, and that's just the thing. People don't know they are lonely cause
they've made themselves so busy. But the deep ache for community
doesn't diminish with a full schedule. I make a living (as a yoga
teacher) of asking people to lay on the floor and just be present with
themselves and their thoughts. I hear, time and time again from people
that this agitates them. To which I lovingly reply, "no - it just forces
you to see the agitation that is already there, that you have perfected
the art of ignoring." </span></blockquote>
Well. The DDH and I have long semi-joked about how we don't have any friends we can do things with, but it's always been as much joke as problem. Lately, however, I've been realizing just how deeply lonely I really am.<br />
<br />
Something has forced me to "see that agitation" that I had "perfected the art of ignoring," and I think I've figured out what.<br />
<br />
As an introvert, I lose energy quickly when around other people. As an <i>extreme</i> introvert (100% I and 0% E on the MBTI), I lose energy <i>extremely</i> quickly, and it doesn't take many people to do it. Telephone calls tire me out.<br />
<br />
The office where I worked was one big room where the three of us had our desks. The CEO had his own office but was in and out of ours (and we of his), and other people were always coming through--contractors, clients, the IT guy, the UPS men. Though it was a small office, with few people, there was no getting away from them.<br />
<br />
I came home completely drained every day. My dealing-with-other-people energy bucket was bone dry by every evening. I usually got home an hour or two before the DDH, which gave me enough time (most days) to build up just enough energy to deal with him, and no more.<br />
<br />
I was lonely, I had no friends--but I also had zero energy to deal with any if I had them. The fact that my interaction-with-others quota was being exceeded every day masked the loneliness.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
Then I started staying home with T-Rex. Most days, the only person I see is the baby, with the DDH for a few hours in the evening and the occasional encounter with a cashier. While there are some days when T-Rex's demands still manage to drain me (even the dogs take their share from that energy bucket, I've discovered), my dealing-with-other-people energy bucket rarely runs dry anymore.<br />
<br />
While I was working, I thought I had friends via the internet. See, introverts also hate small talk--it's a big waste of our limited energy stores. And you don't need to small talk the internet. You can read blogs and leave comments and discuss the sorts of deep issues you might get into over an evening coffee date with a good friend, without all the hi-how-are-yous-nice-weather-we're-having-isn't-its.<br />
<br />
So with my energy bucket empty and my discussion bucket at least somewhat full, I thought I was doing okay.<br />
<br />
At first while staying home I spent even more time on the internet, until finally I realized--these people weren't my friends. I read their words and I wrote mine in the comments, but I didn't really know them and they didn't really know me. You. I don't really know you, and you don't really know me, and as much as we might enjoy our conversations, I can't call any of you up for a picnic in the park or a baby-free evening at a coffee shop. (Which doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading and commenting. You know what I mean, I think.)<br />
<br />
I stopped reading a lot of the blogs. Or I would read them, but not comment. It just seemed pointless. And now I'm to the point where I have dozens of people liking my cute pictures of T-Rex on Facebook, but no one who will come to my house for a dinner party, even when I offer to provide all the food. There's no one I can talk to about my frustrations or work out a problem with.<br />
<br />
*** <br />
<br />
This week I learned that New Mexico does not reciprocate with any other states for bar passage. In other words, the only way the DDH could ever work there is if a) he got a federal law job (unlikely, but always possible. maybe.) or b) he takes the bar exam again, which at this point he has sworn he will never do (and he's really bad at standardized tests, so that's probably a good plan on his part).<br />
<br />
In other words, we will never move back to my hometown. We will never live near my parents or the friends who live there, who are still friends, or would be, if we lived close and our lives could better include each other.<br />
<br />
I don't really know what to do about it. I've tried for five years to make friends here, but the one I succeeded in making moved away last month. It's hopeless, I guess. As an INTJ who's not that into Feelings, I don't really know how I feel about that.<br />
<br />
But I think it's sad. I think how I'm feeling is sad.Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-35826116986517985132013-07-05T11:01:00.001-05:002013-07-05T11:01:30.262-05:00Red white and blue like the fourth of July<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h5TnMEr4zik/Udbrg7zQNqI/AAAAAAAALBY/fkfR9Ca3ml4/s1600/20130704_121908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h5TnMEr4zik/Udbrg7zQNqI/AAAAAAAALBY/fkfR9Ca3ml4/s320/20130704_121908.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dressed for the day. ;-)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
July is my favorite month.<br />
<br />
Of course it is. It's my birth month. I was due June twentieth, and I was born next week. Well, next week twenty-seven years ago.<br />
<br />
Clearly baby-me knew that July was the best of months and desired to firmly declare it as my own.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SStQNM9Xrm4/Udbq-LbqBGI/AAAAAAAALA0/il0nFORwWec/s1600/20130704_180326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SStQNM9Xrm4/Udbq-LbqBGI/AAAAAAAALA0/il0nFORwWec/s320/20130704_180326.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Watching firecrackers.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
T-Rex is still not back to sleeping all through the night but he's doing a little better and I'm trying to just roll with it. The DDH does not take quite as relaxed a view, but then, the DDH has to get up and go to work every morning.<br />
<br />
Yesterday we spent the day at my in-laws' lounging around, eating hamburgers and setting off fireworks. T-Rex took these completely in stride. You could practically see him saying, "Ok, this is a thing that happens in the world" and adding it to his little mental Encyclopedia of Life.<br />
<br />
My mother-in-law's sister and her husband are in town, and I do love them. It's nice to see out-of-town family.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dPl-Z5QOBUk/UdbrWYYxzRI/AAAAAAAALBM/2_NGqcEoxKI/s1600/20130704_123401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dPl-Z5QOBUk/UdbrWYYxzRI/AAAAAAAALBM/2_NGqcEoxKI/s320/20130704_123401.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Raowr!</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I cannot believe this weather. Last night, while watching fireworks, I kind of felt like a sweater wouldn't have gone amiss, when the breeze rose. I needed a blanket while nursing T-Rex in the hammock. We ate lunch out on the porch. This is usually impossible in Oklahoma in July. But yesterday was beautiful. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cS6XJVqT7Xk/UdbrKvLKONI/AAAAAAAALBE/yfopcAAbpe0/s1600/20130704_140937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cS6XJVqT7Xk/UdbrKvLKONI/AAAAAAAALBE/yfopcAAbpe0/s320/20130704_140937.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Windchimes.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
My stepfather-in-law's father (got that?) and I share a birthday, so we celebrated that yesterday as well. We have 110 years between us. I love sharing a birthday with him.<br />
<br />
Next week and the week after, T-Rex has swimming lessons! Because he is the first child and I'm already preparing reasons for subsequent children to declare he's my favorite. Also because he loves baths so I think he might like pools.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H5sPGH4DcIs/UdbrGIT89aI/AAAAAAAALA8/EuBp4XFhxkI/s1600/20130704_141650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H5sPGH4DcIs/UdbrGIT89aI/AAAAAAAALA8/EuBp4XFhxkI/s320/20130704_141650.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Family portrait.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The DDH's brother is supposed to visit sometime this month, and then my dad and brother are coming at the end of the month. T-Rex and I plan to take off with them to help move my brother to his new home (he's entering a doctorate of music program in Mississippi), and Dad and I plan to swing up and visit family in Austin on the way back. Then my sister and her boyfriend are coming to visit.<br />
<br />
Some of that will be in August, but still. July is always a good month, and I'm hoping this year will not disappoint.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WeKRBS1yDAI/Udbq3FOYGwI/AAAAAAAALAs/uHdBDxZH24Q/s1600/20130704_202222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WeKRBS1yDAI/Udbq3FOYGwI/AAAAAAAALAs/uHdBDxZH24Q/s320/20130704_202222.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Stop! Hammock time.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-50790196976824837312013-07-01T16:03:00.001-05:002013-07-01T16:03:08.095-05:00Seven MonthsWe're having kind of a rough go of it lately.<br />
<br />
T-Rex stopped sleeping through the night a couple months ago. He went two weeks never sleeping longer than two hours and mostly it was between sixty and ninety minutes. He was teething and we had started giving him Real Food, which seemed to cause him stomach troubles. We stopped the food and he's gone back to sleeping between two and three hours at a time. Which at first seemed great compared to one hour, but now is terrible, especially when he used to sleep nine hours a night. All three of us wake up angry and yelling over and over again.<br />
<br />
T-Rex has gotten grumpier, too, though he only has the two teeth. He's quicker to get frustrated with being left to sit and play. He whines a lot. He's heavy and he's grabby and he's only happy being held while walking around. Which is an exaggeration; he's happy most of the time still. But he gets grumpy and he doesn't want to be held while you're sitting. He doesn't want to be held while standing still. He has to be moving around. I vacuum a lot.<br />
<br />
In the middle of that, after the two weeks of basically no sleep, I got really sick. I had pink eye in both eyes, a sinus infection, and then two rounds of a stomach bug. I had a fever for a week straight. I would sit in bed staring at T-Rex while he screamed because he was bored of playing in the bed, and I would pick him up and stagger downstairs and it would take me half an hour to change his diaper.<br />
<br />
I don't remember much of that week and what I do remember I'm not entirely sure is true. Fevers are like that, I guess.<br />
<br />
We ran through our entire stash of frozen pumped milk sending T-Rex off to spend the day with his grandma or having his dad watch him overnight so I could sleep. When the stomach bug hit at the end of the week, I stopped producing entirely (not to mention was completely incapable of sitting up to nurse him at that point), and we had to give him formula. Apparently he made awful faces and refused to eat it at first, but eventually he did, and then he even slept through the entire night while at his grandparents' house.<br />
<br />
He seems to be waking up because he's hungry, but our forays into feeding him Real Food mostly seem to give him stomachaches. I think my supply is still low from being sick, and it doesn't seem to matter how much oatmeal I eat or fenugreek I take. So I don't know. I guess we'll all just be tired and short-tempered for awhile.<br />
<br />
I guess this is a lot of complaining. But if you could hear me saying this, instead of reading me write it, I'm not whining. It's just facts. It's the way things are right now. So it goes.<br />
<br />
There are lots of other things to complain about, too: work, friends, church. But I'm sure it's boring enough to listen to my problems with the baby, so I'll spare you the rest.<br />
<br />
At least I'm reading a lot. So there's that.<br />
<br />
Here's a picture to make up for the complaining:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AEjlijz94BA/UdHt-EdOznI/AAAAAAAALAc/QoxcAzJExR8/s1600/20130630_122425.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AEjlijz94BA/UdHt-EdOznI/AAAAAAAALAc/QoxcAzJExR8/s320/20130630_122425.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Eating eggs.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-25882880161011901832013-05-31T14:12:00.000-05:002013-05-31T14:20:30.062-05:00An English Major Begs for Book RecommendationsI set a goal this year of reading one nonfiction and one fiction book each month.<br />
<br />
So far, I think it's going quite well. The goal reminds me to sprinkle all my detective novels and science fiction with the occasional serious read, and I've learned something about a number of interesting topics so far.<br />
<br />
However, I'm already looking ahead to next year, and I think I know what my next reading goal needs to be: to read some of those Classics that I've never read.<br />
<br />
I don't mean re-reading books I like or that I maybe read not-so-closely in a rush to get them done for school, though that would be another good list. I mean ones that I really have never read before.<br />
<br />
My reading history is pretty erratic, and there are some somewhat surprising holes that deserve filling.<br />
<br />
So, I'm taking suggestions. What classics do you think are Must Reads?<br />
<br />
Here's a brief survey of some of what I have and haven't read:<br />
<br />
<b>American</b><br />
<br />
I feel like I'm fairly well-read here. I've read two or three novels and myriad short stories by both Fitzgerald and Hemingway. My college adviser was a Faulkner scholar, so I've read almost everything he's written. I've read <i>Walden</i> and both <i>Tom Sawyer </i>and <i>Huck Finn </i>(though nothing else of Twain's save some short stories). I've read a fair amount of Poe.<br />
<b> </b><br />
For being an avid science fiction and fantasy reader, I've read very little of the classic authors--Asimov, Heinlein<i>. </i>Any speculative fiction fans out there who suggest I catch up on any of these?<br />
<br />
Who else am I missing on this list? Clearly it's a very short one. Who are your favorite (North) American authors?<br />
<br />
<b>British</b><br />
<br />
Ok, the big guns: I have most of Shakespeare under my belt, with the notable exception of the histories. Should I remedy that? I've read <i>The Canterbury Tales</i> and <i>The Green Knight</i> and most of what's in the Norton Anthology.<br />
<br />
I've got a pretty good grounding in the twentieth century playwrights: Beckett, Stoppard, Orton. I've read Joyce though not <i>Ulysses</i> (my alma mater has a big Joyce collection, for some unknown reason).<br />
<br />
This may shock you: the only Jane Austen I've read is <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>. What of her others should I read (choosing just one for the purpose of this challenge).<br />
<br />
I've read Defoe's <i>Moll Flanders</i> but not <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>. I've read <i>Jane Eyre</i> but not <i>Wuthering Heights.</i> I've read a number of things by Dickens, though I'll admit that when I think of <i>A Tale of Two Cities</i> I mostly think of the Wishbone episode, even though I had to memorize that famous first paragraph in the ninth grade.<br />
<br />
Who are your favorite Brits? What do I neeeeeeed to read?<br />
<br />
<b>German</b><br />
<br />
Maybe I'll lose most of you here, and anyway, I think my German major hit most of the highlights. Though admittedly I never did finish Mann's <i>Joseph und seinen Bruedern</i>, and I really have no excuse because my copy is an English translation.<br />
<b> </b><br />
Would anyone be interested in a German Greatest Hits list? Most things can be found <i>auf Englisch</i>, especially the older stuff. I could do a list on <i>Filme</i>, too, if anyone wanted.<br />
<br />
<b>Russian</b><br />
<br />
I'll admit it. I've read pretty much none of those people. Tolstoy and his kin. I got halfway through <i>Anna Karenina</i> and abandoned it because my holds on the Twilight novels came in. *ducks and hides from thrown stones*<br />
<b> </b><br />
What of these should I really really read? Should I go back and finish <i>Anna</i> (I would have to start over from the beginning as this was several years ago).<br />
<br />
<b>Rest of World</b><br />
<br />
Kafka is Czech but wrote <i>auf Deutsch</i>, so I've read most of his stuff. I even saw a stageplay of <i>Metamorphosis</i> which was the weirdest freaking thing I ever did see. (This is partly because the Freiburg theater company was <i>weird weird weird</i>).<br />
<b> </b><br />
I've read Kundera's <i>Unbearable Lightness of Being</i> (and loved it). I've read <i>Inferno</i> but not the rest of the Divine Comedy. I've never read <i>The Three Musketeers</i> or <i>Don Quixote</i> (again, do Wishbone episodes count?).<br />
<br />
I'd especially like it if anyone has any suggestions of classics from some of the other parts of the world: Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America. I've read a few things here and there but definitely would enjoy more.<br />
<br />
<b>Ok. Paring this down to just twelve could be pretty difficult.</b> Which is why I need your help. What are your favorites, your Must Reads? I know you're a well-read bunch out there. Help!<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b> </b>Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-48635515487880165762013-05-20T13:57:00.003-05:002013-05-20T13:57:51.310-05:00Six Months<br />
Baby Rex is six months old now. What. It's hard to believe but at the same time it's not.<br />
<br />
When my sister was born, I was four and my brother was two. We were duly excited for the new baby, and there is grainy home video of us running around excitedly and begging to hold her and watching her get her first bath.<br />
<br />
But after a few weeks, we approached our mother, hand and hand, and said, "It's time for Baby to go home now. Her real mommy is missing her."<br />
<br />
Mom tried to explain to us that no, Baby wasn't going anywhere, that she was Baby's real mommy and this was Baby's real home. But we were insistent. "No, you're our mommy. She has a different mommy and it's time for her to go to her real home."<br />
<br />
Sometimes I feel like that about T-Rex. I'm wondering when his real mommy is going to show up, and if it's time for him to go to his real home yet. Even after six months, it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that <i>this </i>is his home, that <i>I</i> am his mother, that he's not going to just go away, that having him around is not going to end (or not for a good eighteen or so years, anyway).<br />
<br />
I love him fiercely. He's a funny little guy and a joy to have around most of the time. But I love a number of people--my husband, my parents, my siblings. This is different. Not because the love is greater (maybe it is, I don't know), but because it's less...independent, or something. Maybe that will change as he grows. But right now he's his own person but also kind of an extension of me, all at once.<br />
<br />
It's perplexing. That's how I feel about him most of the time. Just sort of confused, like I'm not exactly sure how to feel about him.<br />
<br />
He just started crying and I guess no one else is going to come and pick him up, so I will. Because I am his mother and maybe someday I'll feel like I am.Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-23544122219166150022013-05-03T09:11:00.000-05:002013-05-03T09:11:07.420-05:00Talk Derby to MeDid I ever tell you about my Insane Multi-Cultural German Cinco de Derby party?<br />
<br />
Let me tell you.<br />
<br />
When I studied in Germany, I had a friend also studying there who was from Louisville. I'm from New Mexico. That year, the Kentucky Derby fell on May 5th, aka Cinco de Mayo. We started planning an Epic Party well in advance.<br />
<br />
Louisville's father sent a box filled with awesome Derby/Southern Party supplies: white gravy mix, Derby themed toys and shirts, and a bunch of other odds and ends. We raided the local German grocery store for Kentucky bourbon and tequila, and tried to figure out what sort of German cheese most closely resembled the cheese one uses for queso (because Germans don't eat Velveeta, natch).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1F2XyeU388M/SGehIiweYYI/AAAAAAAABd0/OKOhjqQjstY/s1600/P1011055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1F2XyeU388M/SGehIiweYYI/AAAAAAAABd0/OKOhjqQjstY/s320/P1011055.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I'm the one in blue.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We cooked all day, making biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, tacos, and Spanish rice. We made mint juleps and margaritas. We made salsa, to enjoy with the surprisingly tasty German tortilla chips.We also concocted a strange (but delicious) approximation of queso.<br />
<br />
We set the table with the Derby party supplies and some random Mexicanish items we found at the Euro Store, which is like the Dollar Store, only weirder as only Europeans can be (there was a large and prominent display of one Euro dildos at this particular store, right next to a bunch of cheap kids' toys. Not even kidding).<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-olWoybSZQbE/SGehQjfGFsI/AAAAAAAABeY/geVLRxhdVz4/s1600/P1011062.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-olWoybSZQbE/SGehQjfGFsI/AAAAAAAABeY/geVLRxhdVz4/s320/P1011062.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Run for the Mango Salsa.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Our party guests consisted of two other Americans (from Minnesota and Pennsylvania), our septilingual Finnish friend, and a variety of Germans.<br />
<br />
We printed off some articles about the race, with lists of the horses running, and everyone bet on a horse. Big stakes here--dishes duty.<br />
<br />
The only hitch to the day was that we couldn't find the race streamed live from anywhere. Clearly German tv was too busy airing things like <a href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=01c_1199399863">this </a>to air an American sporting event.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-b9rnenJpU8o/SGehjk0KYSI/AAAAAAAABf4/ZJQszQnNspw/s1600/P1011075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lzryBZv9zeo/SGehkSIah6I/AAAAAAAABgE/vK4M-4yhM7w/s1600/P1011076.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lzryBZv9zeo/SGehkSIah6I/AAAAAAAABgE/vK4M-4yhM7w/s320/P1011076.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Toasting a party well hosted.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We eventually found a replay of the race on ESPN.com. My horse won, because clearly I'm a horse-picking genius. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q31yJt6WYCQ/SGehKoITntI/AAAAAAAABd8/lfG2zbQx6yc/s1600/P1011056.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q31yJt6WYCQ/SGehKoITntI/AAAAAAAABd8/lfG2zbQx6yc/s320/P1011056.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>SO EXCITING. </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-46012422464637900372013-04-29T16:03:00.002-05:002013-04-29T16:03:53.647-05:00What I'm Into: April 2013Is it really the end of April already? I'm not sure why I'm asking that, actually; it seems like it's been April forever. News events-wise, April really was the cruelest month, wasn't it? And it's been alternating a few days of hot and sunny with a week of cold and rainy all month: strange weather. Tired weather.<br />
<br />
Here's what I've been up to:<br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Read and Reading</b><br />
<br />
I've
made the goal for the year to read at least one non-fiction and one
fiction book each month, because it's too easy to just get sucked in to
blog-hopping on my smartphone and never actually read anything of
substance (not that blogs can't be substantive, but the brain reacts
differently to words on a page versus a screen). I met that goal this month.<br />
<br />
<br />
I blew through another bunch of the Temperance Brennan novels by Kathy Reichs. I wouldn't say these are stellar detective stories, but they're interesting because Reichs focuses each one on a topic so that it's almost like reading a short non-fiction book on Nascar or the Joint POW/MIA Action Command or diamond mining in Canada as well as a murder mystery. Quick reads, anyway.<br />
<br />
I also read <i>The Kingmaker's Daughter</i> by Philippa Gregory, but it was depressing, because everyone dies. Also: flashbacks to interminable college classes covering the literature of the War of the Roses.<br />
<br />
For non-fiction, I slammed through <i>Surprised by Oxford</i> by Carolyn Weber. And by slammed, I mean, I'm not sure it took me an entire twenty-four hours to finish it. I've never read a conversion memoir before, but I found this one compelling, if a bit overwritten (it's clear Weber is an academic. She can't help herself). Good stuff to chew on.<br />
<br />
<b>TV</b><br />
<br />
It seems like most of our shows took hiatuses for most of April. Plus, I'm really not into TV these days. I spend too much time staring at screens. It continues to be the DDH's favorite activity, though, so there's that.<br /><b> </b><br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Movies</b><br />
<br />
We saw and enjoyed <i>Oblivion</i> (I love weird science fiction movies) and <i>Django Unchained,</i> which was surprisingly funny. I know people are love 'im or hate 'im about Quentin Tarantino. Let's put it this way: both <i>Django</i> and <i>Lincoln</i> are set in roughly the same time period, and I know which one I would rather watch. I don't care if that makes me hopelessly prol; it's true.<br />
<br />
<b>Food</b><br />
<br />
My CSA started up a couple weeks ago, and I'm having fun using up the different veggies we get. Also: does anyone know of anything interesting to do with pecans? So far I have about a pound and a half of local ones. The DDH and I don't really like them, but I hate to waste them.<br /><br />
<b>May</b><br />
<br />
T-Rex will be six months in May. This means I can finally go get my eyes tested and get new glasses. Also, that my baby is getting impossibly huge. Sniff.<br /><b> </b> <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>What were you up to in April? What are you looking forward to in May?</i></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-69833772175777353072013-04-05T15:49:00.001-05:002013-04-05T15:49:18.491-05:00A List of Lists: Purchases Edition<b>THINGS I'M NOT ALLOWED TO BUY</b><br />
<i>Because I have too many and simply can't justify it</i><br />
<br />
1. <b>Bags</b>. I have closets full of purses, totes, luggage, backpacks...the answer is no. Somewhere we have something that can make do.<br />
2. <b>Baby clothes in sizes from Newborn through nine months</b>. I gave away about half of what we received, and we still have enough clothing to outfit a small army of infants (now there's a scary thought).<br />
3. <b>Dogs</b>. Or any animal, really. Well, except maybe some fish. Oh dear, I have a problem.<br />
4. <b>Body wash</b>. I'm still recovering from a Bath and Body Works binge in my early twenties (ewwww, I'm not in my early twenties anymore!). I sold a lot of barely-used bottles of body wash, lotion, and body spray at a garage sale. I still have enough body wash and lotion to keep me clean and moisturized for another two or three years, at least. <br />
<br />
<b>THINGS I SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BUY</b><br />
<i>Because I have too many, but I can always justify another</i><br />
<br />
1. <b>Books</b>. Obvs.<br />
2. <b>Shoes</b>. Though I have many shoes, I can always think of situations where I need shoes other than the ones I have. Also, my favorites get worn out, so I go looking to buy replacements, but it takes a long time to find shoes worthy of Favorite status, and so I end up with both ratty-but-well-loved shoes and lots of not-quite-perfect favorite candidates. It's a problem I really need to work on.<br />
3. <b>All-silicone spatulas</b>. I feel this should be just as obvious and self-evident as books.<br />
4. <b>Washi tape</b>. I'm obsessed with the stuff lately. <br />
<br />
<b>THINGS I NEED TO BUY BUT NEVER DO</b><br />
<i>Because I chicken out on spending money</i><br />
<br />
1. <b>Nice jewelry</b>. I want to have sweet or unique quality pieces. But I always end up buying (and getting lots of compliments on ) cheap costume jewelry from Target instead.<br />
2. <b>Rugs</b>. I'm intimidated by buying rugs. I love how they look in other people's houses and on the internet, but I'm afraid of Doing It Wrong. Also, they're expensive.<br />
3. <b>Shampoo</b>. I'm incapable of remembering to buy the stuff. It's a good thing the DDH has so little hair.<br />
4. <b>Curtains</b>. I have purchased curtains for exactly one window in the entire house (the bay window, which is really three windows). The beagle ate those a couple years ago, so I replaced them and hung the chewed ones up in another window. Our bedroom has curtains I cut in half to fit the tiny window. All the other rooms have nothing. Oh, the nursery has the valances that match the crib sheets. Anyway. Curtains that haven't been masticated by a canine would probably be a big step up for my home decor. <br />
<br />
<b>THINGS I HAVE TO KEEP BUYING OVER AND OVER AGAIN</b><br />
<br />
1. <b>Carrots</b>. I buy carrots almost every time I go to the store. It's a hazard of owning a bunny.<br />
2. <b>Oatmeal</b>. Because I eat it every day.<br />
3. Ok, if this is a list of foods it's a dumb list. Ok, it's a dumb list. I just wanted to point out that I always need to buy more carrots. When in doubt, stick carrots in the cart.<br />
4. Oh! I thought of something else. <b>Notecards</b>. Like, thank you notes, and the ones that are blank inside. Because mail is awesome.<br />
5. And on a related note (har har): <b>Stamps</b>. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>What are some of your entrants to these lists? What other lists should I make?</i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>I love making lists. </i> </div>
<br />
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-75951146537877613842013-04-03T10:21:00.002-05:002013-04-03T10:21:52.255-05:00What I'm Into (March 2013)It was a busy March this year! St. Patrick's Day, Easter, and all kinds of other things going on. The month flew by. Here's some of what I was up to:<br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Read and Reading</b><br />
<br />
I've
made the goal for the year to read at least one non-fiction and one
fiction book each month, because it's too easy to just get sucked in to
blog-hopping on my smartphone and never actually read anything of
substance (not that blogs can't be substantive, but the brain reacts
differently to words on a page versus a screen). In February, I didn't finish a single non-fiction book; in March, I don't think I read a fiction one.<br />
<br />
<br />
I did return <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Princess-Academy-Shannon-Hale/dp/1599900734"><i>Princess Academy</i></a> by Shannon Hale on March 2, so I guess we'll count that. It was...fine. Not the best YA novel I've ever read, but not the worst. It did not inspire me to seek Hale's other works.<br />
<br />
For non-fiction, I finished Siddhartha Mukherjee's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography-Cancer/dp/1439170916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362002134&sr=1-1&keywords=emperor+of+all+maladies"><i>The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer</i></a>, which I began last month. Maybe I'm naive, but I was not prepared for how devastating this book would be. It's an excellent, excellent book, and Mukherjee does a great job of tracing the history of cancer as seen through the lens of three or four particular kinds of cancer, though he focuses much more on the developments of the last century or so than of any older history of the disease.<br />
<br />
But. While I was reading this, one of my good friends at church died of lung cancer. No matter what breakthroughs and success stories Mukherjee found in the treatment of cancer in the last century or so, I know how this story ends: without a cure and, for many, many people, without hope. It was hard to get excited or root for the small successes because I know the ultimate success is still so far out of reach.<br />
<br />
Mukherjee is himself an oncologist, which greatly enhanced the book. He conveyed the mixed emotional bag doctors work from--the tension between caring about their patients as people and becoming inevitably, perhaps necessarily, inured to the suffering they see everyday, sometimes not even wanting anymore to fight the temptation to dehumanize their patients. It felt honest because it didn't always reflect well on him, and I appreciated that.<br />
<br />
I also sped through <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Garlic-Intimate-Divinely-Odorous/dp/1553656016"><i>In Pursuit of Garlic</i>: </a><span class="subTitle"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Garlic-Intimate-Divinely-Odorous/dp/1553656016"><i>An Intimate Look at the Divinely Odorous Bulb</i></a> by Liz</span> Primeau. While I'm tempted to pick up a copy to have on hand as a reference book (I grow garlic, as does the author), the book was not at all what I expected. I expected some sort of history of garlic, something more...narrative, maybe? But it's actually a garlic reference book (how to grow and cook with garlic) interwoven with a few of the author's personal stories involving garlic, including trips to two different garlic festivals. I don't recommend it as a book to read, but it would be useful if you want a basic introduction into using and growing garlic.<br />
<br />
I've said garlic way too many times now in this blog post. <br />
<br />
<b>TV</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843230/"><i>Once Upon a Time</i></a>, of course, continues to enthrall. Seriously.<br />
<br />
Season Two of <i>Game of Thrones</i> came out on DVD, and the DDH, the MIL, and I watched it, having watched Season One together back at Christmas. It may surprise you, knowing what a big fantasy buff I am, but I've never read the books. The DDH has, and has been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to watch the show (we don't have HBO and it's not shown on Hulu or Netflix, so I bought him both seasons for Christmas). Now we have to wait until Season Three is released.<br />
<br />
Not for children. Not entirely sure it's for most adults. But it's very, very well done.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Movies</b><br />
<br />
We were so, so disappointed by <i>Oz the Great and Powerful</i>. Yes, I'm one of those people who has read the books, but <i>Oz</i> is really a prequel to the iconic movie and not based on the books, and that's fine. EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT IT WAS TERRIBLE.<br />
<br />
Part of what bothered me about the movie is that <i>Oz </i>is weirdly anti-woman, even though it made no sense for the story and <i>in complete opposition to the source material</i>. L. Frank Baum was married to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_Gage_Baum">Maud Gage Baum</a>, the daughter of the prominent suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage, and the Oz <i>books</i> are strongly feminist. Almost all of the major characters are female. They are queens and witches (good and bad) and brave little girls from Kansas and sassy, outspoken hens and the adventures are about them and what they do. They rescue others; the rescue themselves--they are never (or rarely) rescued by men. They form close and powerful female friendships and platonic friendships with men (or male creatures, really; think Toto and the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion), but there are no romantic storylines in the books (at least partly because they are books for young children).<br />
<br />
I'm not really one to drone on about wanting my entertainment to conform to some feminist ideal; I don't usually think there's some vast Hollywood conspiracy to present movies that aren't feminist enough. But when the industry takes source material that is so rich with powerful women and turns it into a plot-hole-filled farce about catty females waiting around for a man to step in and rescue them--it makes me wonder. Perhaps if the storyline had been compelling enough, I wouldn't be as bothered by the rest. Unfortunately, the story is so bad and nonsensical that I had way too much time to sit and reflect on all the other problems with the movie.<br />
<br />
So. Yeah. There's that.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Food</b><br />
<br />
Speaking of garlic, my trademark Easter recipe (or my mom's trademark Easter recipe) is asparagus with lemon and garlic. It was a smash hit at the in-law's Easter dinner.<br />
<br />
Also, the DDH bought me a ceramic cast iron Dutch oven for Valentine's Day and I cook almost everything in it now. I love that thing.<br />
<br />
<b>April</b><br />
<br />
With Easter over so early, April should be a quiet month. I plan to get the garden going and do some other yardwork once the weather remembers that it's spring.<b> </b> <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>What were you up to in March? What are you looking forward to in April?</i></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-23573763899201507702013-03-30T20:17:00.003-05:002013-03-30T20:19:48.732-05:00I am wishing you a happy Easter.I'm probably jinxing it by telling you, but if he does it again tonight, T-Rex will have slept through the night seven nights in a row.<br />
<br />
A full week of full nights of sleep?<br />
<br />
I am a new woman. All of the things are clean. ALL OF THE THINGS.<br />
<br />
I was going to write something lovely and meditational for Maundy Thursday and/or Good Friday and/or Easter, but. I didn't. Oh well.<br />
<br />
I will say that Pope Francis seems like a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/pope-francis-holy-thursday-foot-washing_n_2972775.html">pretty cool dude</a>. I don't know if you're supposed to call the Pope "dude," but I'm not Catholic, so it's probably okay.<br />
<br />
I'm not Catholic, but <b>five years ago, I was in Rome for Holy Weekend</b> (if that's not what it's called, it should be). We went to mass in St. Peter's for Good Friday, then out to the Coliseum for the stations of the cross. On our way out of St. Peter's we bought a loaf of bread and some cheese at a corner store, and all my pictures of us at the stations of the cross involve this GIANT loaf of bread. I think we named it Tony.<br />
<br />
On Saturday, we went back to St. Peter's for the Holy Saturday vigil mass thing (I didn't know, prior to that, that Catholics had to go to mass on Holy Saturday, but apparently they do). The line to waiting to be let in to St. Peter's was forever long. We were in line behind a group of nuns from...I want to say Morocco, but I could be wrong there.<br />
<br />
Anyway, these nuns were hilarious and very friendly. We shared snacks while waiting (probably the remains of Tony, honestly), and we managed to convince the nuns that <b>it's an American tradition to toast with your food</b>. You know how you clink beer or wine glasses together before drinking? We were doing that with bread.<br />
<br />
Then our Catholic friend felt guilty about lying to nuns and told them that wasn't really how the Americans did it, but I insisted that yes, it really was, and continued to toast my food for the rest of the time we were in Italy, because <b>I am good at nothing if not beating a joke to death</b>.<br />
<br />
We finally got in to the mass, where I got in trouble with my Catholic friend for talking and spilling candle wax on my pants.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure why she was mad at me for spilling wax on MY pants, but there you are.<br />
<br />
Rereading this, I wonder that my Catholic friend put up with me at all. I was being obnoxious. Which is weird, because I was actually very excited to have mass in St. Peter's and see the Pope up close and in person (well, I think I was the fourth person in from the aisle when he passed by; that counts). It was all very solemn and ceremonious and moving, but I was trying to explain things to our Non-Liturgical Christian friend and I'm clumsy and I swear I wasn't trying to act like a five-year-old, but not all of us have preternatural sitting-still abilities.<br />
<br />
Ok, so we didn't get out of that mass until about one or two in the morning. The trains had long since stopped running, so we and about twenty thousand other people needed to catch taxis home. This was an adventure that perhaps deserves its own post sometime, but it ended with us driving the wrong way down a one-way street, backwards, because <b>every stereotype you have ever encountered about Italian drivers is absolutely, one hundred percent true</b>.<br />
<br />
Catholic Friend exacted her revenge on Non-Liturgical Christian Friend and me the next morning. Though we hadn't arrived home until well after three, we had to be back at the Basilica at some ungodly hour, seven or eight a.m., all packed and checked out of our hostel. I'm not entirely sure how we did it, and <b>without coffee</b>, but Catholic Friend did it with a smile on her face.<br />
<br />
Non-Liturgical Friend did it grousing like a champion grouse, but she also found us coffee and pastries while Catholic Friend and I saved us seats. Between Catholic Friends manic single-minded slave drivering and Non-Liturgical Friend's liberal provisions of our drug of choice (caffeine), I made it there. <br />
<br />
But. It was...<b>I can't even describe how beautiful and perfect that morning was</b>. Sunny and warm, the most perfect, clear spring-morning light. The crowds of tired/happy people in their fancy dress clothes. The sound of myriad languages being spoken. The gleaming white of St. Peter's. The third Latin mass in a row; we were starting to catch on to it a bit. The cardinals and the Pope decked out in red and white and gold.<br />
<br />
It was...I'm not Catholic, but it was an experience I'll never forget. For the first time I actually <i>felt</i> the globalness of the faith, the ancientness of it. The bigness of it. <b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>The joy of Easter was tangible in that moment</b>.<br />
<br />
Pope Benedict XVI, good ol' Ratzinger, speaks Latin and Italian with a German accent. My linguist ear loved listening to his papal address, though I have no idea what he said. I didn't need to. I'm a very rational, analytical type of person and do not entirely approve of touchy-feely church <i>experiences</i>, but that day, the emotional experience was enough. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/pope-francis-holy-thursday-foot-washing_n_2972775.html">"Things from the heart don't have an explanation."</a><br />
<br />
<b>I've always loved Easter</b>, the transformation from the darkness and black of Good Friday to the brightness and white of Sunday morning. The return of the Hallelujahs, said over and over and over again because they've been gone so long and you just can't get enough.<br />
<br />
<b>Three masses in a row in Latin and Italian and I didn't understand any of it, except those Hallelujahs. Over and over again. <i>Hallelujah</i>. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! <i>Hallelujah.</i></b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Happy Easter, friends.</i></div>
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-68016787162603571952013-03-13T09:50:00.001-05:002013-03-13T09:50:38.373-05:00A Parental CourtshipMy parents' anniversary is this week, so I thought I would tell you their story to celebrate.<br />
<br />
In 1981, my mom was working in New York City (where she grew up) as an English as a Second Language teacher, teaching college students English and How to Live in America. <br />
<br />
There was a young man Mom and her best friend had known in college who was somewhat obsessed with the BFF. He had tried to date her in college, but he was annoying and somewhat creepy. Anyway, he was in town on leave from the Navy for Christmas and wanted to get together with the BFF for a date. BFF finally agreed, on the condition that he bring along a friend for Mom and they make it a double date.<br />
<br />
The plan, of course, was for the girls to band together, get a nice free meal from Dude and his surely-just-as-obnoxious friend, then bail together and call it an early night. They set the date for the day after Christmas.<br />
<br />
Dude and his friend came to pick the girls up in Friend's car. As Mom was getting in, she noticed some linguistics textbooks in the front seat. She had her Master's in linguistics, so struck up a conversation on the subject with Friend who, it turned out, also had a Master's in linguistics.<br />
<br />
According to BFF, that was The End right there. Mom and Friend (who, of course, is actually Dad) spent the whole evening completely engrossed in conversation with each other, abandoning BFF to the mercies of Dude and failing to pick up her increasingly unsubtle distress signals. As BFF put it, "It's a good thing you ended up marrying him, or I'd still be mad at you."<br />
<br />
Mom and Dad continued to see each other whenever Dad could get away from his duty station. At some point, they traveled to Michigan together to meet Dad's parents and siblings.<br />
<br />
As they were sitting with Dad's parents one evening after dinner, Dad asked, "So, when should we have the wedding?"<br />
<br />
"What wedding?" asked Mom. "You haven't asked me to marry me."<br />
<br />
"I guess not," Dad said. "I just assumed. Will you marry me?"<br />
<br />
Clearly she said yes. They bought rings from a jeweler congregant of Grandpa's (Grandpa is a pastor) and headed back to New York, where Mom proceeded to organize a whirlwind wedding in about a month. BFF and another friend went to the mall and managed to agree on a dress to wear as bridesmaids. They were married in mid-March, 1982, in a ceremony at BFF's church*, and Mom's parents hosted the reception in their Long Island apartment, just two and a half months after Mom and Dad met.<br />
<br />
The parents took a quick honeymoon in San Antonio, accompanied by a trip to the Austin area to meet Dad's extended family. When Great-Grandma met Mom, she looked at her and said to Dad, "So, this is that damn Yankee you married." See, to GG, "damnYankee" was all one word and just what you called anyone from north of the Mason-Dixon Line. No one thought this was strange except Mom.<br />
<br />
Another fun honeymoon story: While driving across the Texas countryside, Mom suddenly gasped and grabbed Dad's arm. Dad, who thought she had seen a small child run out on the highway or something, panicked. "What is it??"<br />
<br />
"Look, Dad--COWS."<br />
<br />
Dad looked out the window at the cattle grazing a little way from the highway, as cattle are wont to do in Texas. "No shit, Mom," he said. (Ok, this story loses something when using Mom and Dad instead of their real names....)<br />
<br />
"You mean they just let them wander around loose like that?" Mom was shocked. She had never seen an animal other than a dog, cat, or pigeon outside of a zoo. The Central Park Zoo has cows in the Petting Zoo area. That was her only experience with cattle. Dad spent summers on his grandparents' ranch in Texas. Maybe there was some truth to GG's "damnYankee" label....<br />
<br />
Anyway. <br />
<br />
They returned to NYC, where they packed up their possessions and shipped them off to Dad's next duty station: La Maddalena, a little town on the island of Sardegna in Italy.<br />
<br />
They lived on Sardegna for two years, first in a hotel in La Maddalena, then in a house the Navy found them in a nearby town, on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYnHQPTGh337pbIZ1FSnjRo4rTdRUNyyrNDrmTgzgTkaPCGV2vGCvrXJBvOEujia5FLfaLWNwVHTmSNhAaS-aLW8wsTNyS1eDkSnR2uonmzbMcb0J3B67ykbA_VIkA-8DTfacoywkJIc/s1600/House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYnHQPTGh337pbIZ1FSnjRo4rTdRUNyyrNDrmTgzgTkaPCGV2vGCvrXJBvOEujia5FLfaLWNwVHTmSNhAaS-aLW8wsTNyS1eDkSnR2uonmzbMcb0J3B67ykbA_VIkA-8DTfacoywkJIc/s320/House.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Yeah. Here. This was their first house.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
They got to know their neighbors. They became regulars at local restaurants and were invited to dine with the owners. They attended local weddings and festivals celebrating the locals' divine deliverance from some army or another during World War II (I think they were hiding from being conscripted by the Italian/Axis army, not from being invaded by the American/Allied army, but I'm not entirely sure). They adopted a dog and a cat adopted them. They experienced firsthand the mania that accompanied Italy's 1982 World Cup victory. And every leave Dad got, they took off for other parts of Europe: Germany (but only the west part), France, Ireland, England, mainland Italy.<br />
<br />
After two years, the Navy moved them back to the States (to California wine country, which I'm pretty sure can only be a disappointing place to live if you're coming from Italy). Two years after that, I was born, and then my brother and then my sister.<br />
<br />
Thirty-one years later, the Naval officer and the New York City girl live in Albuquerque--the desert, and a "big city" to Dad but a "small town" to Mom. But it works. And they're happy.<br />
<br />
Happy Anniversary, Parental Unit! May you have many more.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Mom was reared Catholic<span style="font-size: xx-small;">; Dad's <span style="font-size: xx-small;">dad is a Lutheran pastor. They decided Mom would become Lutheran rather than Dad becoming Catholic or splitting religions. The BFF also happened to be <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Lutheran, so they used <span style="font-size: xx-small;">her church. Then they <span style="font-size: xx-small;">spent the next two years celebrating Catholic Mass in Italy. Life is funny.</span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-80511826035707423152013-03-08T16:24:00.001-06:002013-03-08T16:24:49.069-06:00An Ode to Doing LaundryI love laundry. Perhaps I won't be saying that in a few years when I have the clothes of multiple and older children added to my loads, but for now, I really do.<br />
<br />
There's a comfortable rhythm to it, the familiar cycles, the meditative act of folding.<br />
<br />
I love figuring out the most efficient way to run the loads, the best settings for each kind of cloth. Diapers on hot, towels on warm, clothing on cold. Balancing hot water against dishwashers and showers, following a bleached load with a load of something that won't be harmed if there's bleach residue left in the tub. Which loads get soap nuts, which get my homemade detergent, which run on Bulk or Delicate or Regular. <br />
<br />
I love the loose predictability of my laundry schedule: Diapers on Sunday, adult clothes on Monday, baby clothes Tuesday, diapers again Wednesday, special/extra items on Thursday, towels on Friday, swimsuits on Saturday, and back to diapers again. Every day its load to wash, dry, fold, put away.<br />
<br />
I love sorting, separating the differences and joining the samenesses. Collating. Keeping fuzzy socks away from the DDH's work shirts because he hates getting fuzz on them.<br />
<br />
I love warm fluffy anything from the dryer (in this, at least, I'm sure I'm not alone).<br />
<br />
I love watching Jayne examine every basket of clean laundry for possible stowaway tennis balls (I use them in the dryer instead of dryer sheets; one of these days I'll invest in actual wool dryer balls but for now tennis balls suffice.)<br />
<br />
I love the Tetris puzzle that is hanging clothes and diaper covers to dry on the drying racks, packing the racks full with every item laid out just right.<br />
<br />
I love folding most of all. The matching memory game of socks. The neat piles growing, the unfolded chaos shrinking. The sorting and stacking. It's peaceful. It's meditative, a mind-clearing action my muscles have memorized.<br />
<br />
It's worship, this daily blotting out of stains, this offering of fresh starts, this service given in love. However else I might fail, as a mother, as a wife, as a person, this I can do. The clothes are made clean again; my soul is, too.<br />
<br />
I'm not a hater of chores. I don't mind vacuuming, though I refuse to mop. I take a certain pleasure in dusting. I grit my teeth and clean the bathroom because it must be done.<br />
<br />
But laundry. Laundry I love.Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-58460586086223661212013-03-06T08:40:00.004-06:002013-03-06T08:40:59.015-06:00Smart Phones and Dumb People<div class="clearfix" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0">
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1]">
<div class="clearfix UFIImageBlockContent _42ef" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0">
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1]">
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
<div class="UFICommentContent" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0]">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">Ok, kids, change of pace. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentContent" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0]">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentContent" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0]">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">A friend of mine posted <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324503204578318462215991802.html?dsk=y&dsk=y">this </a>story about smart technology on Facebook a couple weeks ago. </span></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentContent" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0]">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="UFICommentContent" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0]">
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2]"><span class="UFICommentBody" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0"><span id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[0]">It's interesting reading, and</span></span></span> I think the author makes a good distinction between
technologies that enable you to overcome problems/be informed vs. those that
try to force you to behave a certain way or share all your information with
others. One size fits all, doesn't. Anything that tries to conform people to
the same mold and limit individual liberty--including the liberty to make
mistakes and do stupid things--worries me. <b>We don't really have a paradigm
for dealing with these types of problems yet </b>and deciding how far is too far. </div>
<div class="UFICommentContent" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0]">
</div>
<div class="UFICommentContent" id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0]">
However, from the headline of the piece ("Are Smart Gadgets Making Us Dumb?"), I thought the article was going to be about something somewhat different, as did my friend, so we ended up discussing what we thought the article was about rather than what it actually discussed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
My friend said, "I think there are 'smart' things that
are making us dumb, or less able to think on our own, but the article doesn't
cover that much. Math teachers having been arguing for years that calculators
are encouraging students to never learn basic math."</div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
</div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
Yes, yes they have. But that leads me to one of my pet rants. I thought I would post it here and see what you guys think. ^_^</div>
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</div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
<b>Smart gadgets are not necessarily making us less smart so much as
changing our intelligence.</b> </div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
</div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
The same thing happened when we switched from being
an oral culture to a literate one. Smart stopped meaning memorizing lots of
things and started meaning knowing how to read well. We no longer memorize and recite <i>The Odyssey</i>, we read it in a book.</div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
<i> </i></div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
Now being smart means knowing how to use
machines to help you get answers that were once found in books, and which before that
had to be memorized.
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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So it's not necessarily less smart, but differently smart.
<b>In all cases it matters not so much what you know or know how to do, it's what
you do with that knowledge. </b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Lots of people can remember things in an oral
culture, but only a few create that which is worth remembering. Lots of people
read in a literate culture, but only a a few write what's worth reading </b>or read
what others have written about discoveries and use it to make new discoveries.<b>
Lots of people use calculators and smart phones and computers, but only some
use them to expand mathematics or create art or cure diseases.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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So, yes, relying on a calculator makes you less able to do
basic math in your head, but that only matters if you think doing math in your
head is of some intrinsic importance and that being able to do it makes you
smart. Because a calculator also makes it possible for you to perform longer
and more complicated equations. Remember in Tom Stoppard's <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_%28play%29">Arcadia</a>, </i>one of the characters in the nineteenth-century timeline discovered some important mathematical concept, but it couldn't be proved until computers were invented. The character filled page after page with hand calculations, but an entire lifetime was not long enough to make all the calculations necessary, calculations that a computer could do in a few minutes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Many great mathematicians and scientists are
terrible at doing basic math in their heads, but that doesn't make them stupid.
In a way it's intelligent to not allocate brain space to remembering basics if
it means you then have brain space available for advanced thought.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Machines are, or historically have been, tools. You still
have to know how to use them. </b>The problem is, we're starting to enter territory
where we no longer have to know even that, because the tools tell you how to
use them and what to do. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This loops back to the actual topic of the article and
the importance of being allowed space to make mistakes. It's one thing to ask a
calculator to calculate twenty divided by five for you and learn it's four, and another for the
calculator to tell you that the number you want is four because that's the
number all your friends wanted you to know.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don't necessarily disagree that technology often
atrophies brain functions that I, at least, consider important. But I don't
think the changes it makes to our brains are always and only a bad thing any
more than they are always and only a good thing.</div>
</div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
After all, you can use smart phones
to say "omg c u l8r" and watch Jersey Shore, and you can use them to
read <i>The Wall Street Journal </i>and discuss the impact of technological changes on human
intelligence (I tapped out the entirety of my side of this conversation on my smart phone while nursing T-Rex). The phone you use doesn't make you more or less smart. It's a
tool you can use to exercise your brain as well as one that can let your brain
be lazy.</div>
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<br /></div>
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My friend then pointed out, "I just see
kids learning ways to 'cheat' and not understand what division is by relying on
their calculator so much, instead of just using it as a tool to not have
memorized all the division tables.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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"Most common example is the need for parenthesis in using the
calculator where they were 'understood' when written on paper. For the students
who never understood exactly what was written, they were using their machine
incorrectly for the problem and getting the wrong answer. It frustrated me to
explain it over and over when they just wanted a quick fix 'so just tell
me when I need them, ok mrs friend's name?'"</div>
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<span class="uficommentbody">I agree that you still
need to learn those basics in your head when you're young. That's part of
understanding how to use the machines for other purposes once you're older. So
I'm actually in favor of forbidding calculators until maybe high sc</span><span id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3]"><span id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0"><span id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0.[0]">hool
or late middle school math classes (my younger self would NOT have agreed; I'm
terrible at math! Also, it's only now that I'm older that I understand why my dad (who's a physicist) would check my math homework with a calculator but wouldn't let me use one to do it in the first place).</span></span><br id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0.[1]" />
<br id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0.[2]" />
<span class="uficommentbody"><span id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0.[3]">Then,
there's also the fact that a lot of technologies change and affect our brains
in ways we don't yet understand. Staring at screens has been shown to<a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/really-using-a-computer-before-bed-can-disrupt-sleep/"> make itharder for you to sleep</a> because the artificial lights stimulate the brain, and I do think the screens have
given us rather shorter attention spans, which is a problem. So I mean. I'm pretty
ambivalent about a lot of it, personally. But I suppose <b>change always comes
with costs as well as benefits, and we need to learn how to manage those costs, not stop the changes.</b></span></span><br id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0.[4]" />
<br id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0.[5]" /><span class="uficommentbody"><span id=".reactRoot[112].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2145505}.0.[1].0.[1].0.[0].[0][2].0.[3].0.[6]"></span></span></span></div>
<br />
I'm definitely addicted to my smartphone, and am making a conscious effort to distance myself from it a bit. I can tell it's shortening my attention span, and I'm trying to negate that effect by making sure to read non-fiction in book form. But I don't think I would argue it's making me or anyone else less smart. </div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0">
<br /></div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0" style="text-align: center;">
<i>What do you think? Are smart gadgets making us dumber, smarter, neither, both? </i></div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0" style="text-align: center;">
<i>What do you think about the actual topic of the article?</i></div>
<div id=".reactRoot[36].[1][2][1]{comment381164598657038_2142410}.0.[1].0.[1].0" style="text-align: center;">
<i>More importantly, what are you supposed to do with kids in this gadget-saturated world?</i></div>
</div>
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Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-51838786928700983962013-02-27T15:57:00.000-06:002013-02-27T15:57:13.375-06:00What I'm Into (February 2013)Was it Woody Allen who had the quip about avoiding Februaries whenever possible? Usually I wholeheartedly agree, but this February was actually pretty great. The weather was lovely most of the month, but we also saw T-Rex's first snow! We had a nice Valentine's Day, and T-Rex and I got to visit with my brother, which was fun. All around a good month!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F7I6pZyDT7k/US5_lc7Sf8I/AAAAAAAAK30/5TMv1OhqrIs/s1600/2013-02-19+17.49.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F7I6pZyDT7k/US5_lc7Sf8I/AAAAAAAAK30/5TMv1OhqrIs/s320/2013-02-19+17.49.24.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>T-Rex and I in Norman with my brother.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Read and Reading</b><br />
<br />
I've
made the goal for the year to read at least one non-fiction and one
fiction book each month, because it's too easy to just get sucked in to
blog-hopping on my smartphone and never actually read anything of
substance (not that blogs can't be substantive, but the brain reacts
differently to words on a page versus a screen). Sadly, I really only met the fiction half of the goal this month.<br />
<br />
For fiction, I read all of the<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/series/52515-nikki-heat"> Nikki Heat books</a> by "Richard Castle." They actually improved substantially as the series continued, and the most recent one ended on a serious cliffhanger. I'll be watching for the next to come out!<br />
<br />
In keeping with a tv-related book theme, I also read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Bones-Novel-Temperance-Brennan/dp/1416525661"><i>Devil Bones</i></a>, by Kathy Reichs. The Bones tv series is based off the character in this book, who is based off of Reichs herself. I've read some of the other books, and they're okay. Interesting murder-mystery-type fare. But <i>Devil Bones</i> was really preachy and not that great.<br />
<br />
For non-fiction, I have technically read the prologue and half the first chapter of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-All-Maladies-Biography-Cancer/dp/1439170916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362002134&sr=1-1&keywords=emperor+of+all+maladies"><i>The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer</i></a>. The topic sounded interesting, and it's fascinating so far, but clearly I'm not that far into it. It's a long one, though, so surely it's okay to count it for both February and March?<br />
<br />
<b>TV</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843230/"><i>Once Upon a Time</i></a>, of course, continues to enthrall. The latest episode on Gold/Rumpelstiltskin? AMAZING. He's my favorite.<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<i>Castle</i> had a great two-parter involving the kidnapping of Castle's daughter. So full of feels, as the internet says.<br />
<br />
So on everyone-in-the-world's recommendation, we watched the BBC <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_%28TV_series%29"><i>Sherlock</i>.</a><b> </b>Oh. Em. Gee. I think I might die from how purely awesome that show is. It's only fault is that there's not a whole lot more of it. My mother claims they're scheduled to start filming the next season next month. I really, really hope so, because unfortunately I can see how the last season could have ended the series entirely--it was tied up very nicely in the open-ended way characteristic of the best books and movies.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Movies</b><br />
<br />
The MIL watched T-Rex so the DDH and I could go on a linner-and-a-movie date on Presidents' Day. We say the new <i>Die Hard</i>. It was pretty much exactly what you would expect. Lots of shiny explosions and car chases; very little plot or substance.<br /><br />
<b>Music</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes">This</a>. (Major language warning.)<br />
<br />
You're welcome.<br />
<br />
<b>The Internet</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324503204578318462215991802.html?dsk=y">This </a><i>Wall Street Journal</i> article sparked some interesting discussion with a Facebook friend.<br />
<b> </b><br />
Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer's decision to <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/25/technology/yahoo-work-from-home/?hpt=hp_t1">end telecommuting for Yahoo! employees</a> depresses me, because working at home is saving my life right now.<br />
<br />
I've jumped on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KisuGP2lcPs&list=PL6690D980D8A65D08">The Lizzie Bennett Diaries</a> bandwagon and wondering why it took me so long.<br />
<br />
Have you met the spouses at Kathleen's <a href="http://becomingpeculiar.com/meet-the-spouse-benjamin/">Meet the Spouse</a> linkup? This was fun! I introduced the DDH <a href="http://canonindeed.blogspot.com/2013/02/meet-spouse-ddh.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
An Australian billionaire is building a <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/02/27/173043463/come-aboard-heres-what-the-titanic-ii-will-look-like-inside-and-out">replica of the Titanic</a> which will travel the original's ill-fated route. What. <br />
<br />
Everyone who owns a dog already knew <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2276973/Your-dog-really-does-understand--Theyre-likely-steal-food-think-research-reveals.html#axzz2Kk3Qu5Po">this </a>was true.<br />
<br />
<b>Food</b><br />
<br />
The DDH declared my <a href="http://realitychef.blogspot.com/2013/02/beef-stroganoff.html">condensed cream of mushroom soup-free beef stroganoff</a> a success.<b> </b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PYqf7m7Tqgk/US6ASipFOEI/AAAAAAAAK38/kvbdgqeQMxc/s1600/2013-02-25+17.56.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PYqf7m7Tqgk/US6ASipFOEI/AAAAAAAAK38/kvbdgqeQMxc/s320/2013-02-25+17.56.19.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Look at this big guy.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b> ...</b><br />
<br />
<br />
I think that's all for now, folks.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Linking up with the lovely <a href="http://www.leighkramer.com/blog/2013/02/what-im-into-february-2013-edition.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Hopefulleigh+%28HopefulLeigh%29">HopefulLeigh</a>!</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.leighkramer.com/blog/what-im-into" title="What I'm Into at HopefulLeigh"><img alt="What I'm Into at HopefulLeigh" src="http://www.leighkramer.com/What%20I%27m%20Into%20site.jpg" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>What are you into these days?</b></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-55901997342688090252013-02-26T13:11:00.002-06:002013-02-26T13:11:49.325-06:00I am happy.Do you remember the Roald Dahl novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_%28novel%29"><i>Matilda</i></a>, about the smart little girl whose abusive, neglected family situation led her to have magical powers?<br />
<br />
Spoiler alert if you've never read it, but at the end, when she's been adopted and skips ahead five grades in school and is happy and loved and challenged--her powers fade away. They served her well when she was in distress, but she no longer needed them once everything was going well in her life.<br />
<br />
Well, sometimes I feel like writing is that way for me. When I'm anxious and overwhelmed and depressed, I write a lot. All the time. The words come pouring out, processing all those Big Emotions.<br />
<br />
But when I'm happy and content with my life...nothing.<br />
<br />
And I'm happier now than I have been since I was a kid, I think.<br />
<br />
It's not that I have nothing to say, but the impetus to put words on paper (or the screen) just isn't there.<br />
<br />
But let me tell you how happy I am. For the last several years, I've doubted myself. See, I never had a plan for What I Want To Be When I Grow Up. Because I knew, I just knew, that I would stay home with my children like my mom did (in retrospect it was quite naive of me to assume that I was guaranteed a husband and children at all, but that's youth).<br />
<br />
So I majored in English and German (with a history minor because why not?), which I enjoy greatly but which don't necessarily prepare you for any particular career.<br />
<br />
I never expected to get married so early. I intended to go on to graduate school, maybe work at <i>something</i> (I had vague notions of a career in academia, I think). But I never put much thought into a future career, because there was nothing I was passionate about, nothing I really <i>wanted</i> to do despite being good at many things.<br />
<br />
So, when the reality of finding work and working jobs hit, I was lost. I hadn't had a plan or a destination, and so I just sort of wandered aimlessly from job to job, all of which I was grateful to have at the time I had them, but none of which I ever enjoyed. And the longer I saw that future stretching in front of me, the more lost I felt. Apparently I had been wrong in thinking I would be a stay-at-home mom and everything would work out. Apparently I should have trained for something, because now I did nothing.<br />
<br />
Eventually I ended up in the job I had been working. It was a very good job, making a reasonable amount of money, intellectually challenging, different and interesting and with a good title. But the boss is emotionally abusive. And it still wasn't really what I wanted to do.<br />
<br />
I was downright depressed during my pregnancy thinking I would have to go back to that job (or any job, but especially that one), abandoning poor little T-Rex and, so far as I could see, ramping up my stress levels to eleven to no purpose except a financial one. \<br />
<br />
(I still can't imagine how working moms do it, how they get up and get themselves and one or more kids ready and drop them off and go to work and are on on on all day and then go and get the kids again and come home and feed them all and somehow in there also do at least a minimum of laundry and cooking and housecleaning and quality time. I don't understand how they do it. I get burned out just thinking about it, and was spiraling deeper and deeper into a burnt-out depression contemplating that future while pregnant.)<br />
<br />
Maybe if I enjoyed my job, if I had some sort of career ambitions or passion for my work or believed I was making a difference in the world, maybe then it would be different. But I didn't and don't.<br />
<br />
Then somehow, miraculously, my boss agreed to let me work from home. I assist with some paperwork and record maintenance and other things I can do from my computer at home without being in the office. It's just a few hours here and there, but it pays our car insurance and some groceries and that's enough. <br />
<br />
And so now I'm happy, truly happy, relaxed and content with my life, for the first time since college. I can keep on top of laundry and house cleaning. I get to nurse and play and watch my little guy all day. I go to exercise classes and funerals and all sorts of things I could never do before. I truck T-Rex around to grocery stores shopping the sales. I cook dinner. I pet the dogs.<br />
<br />
It is still work--T-Rex is not really <i>always</i> a happy baby, and I still have a short temper. I'm taking seriously the responsibilities of having hot food on the table for us in the evening, of doing the various household chores that I used to split with the DDH.<br />
<br />
But this, finally, is work I'm passionate about. Work I enjoy as well as excel at. The worst part of the day is the time I spend working for money, though at least I get to do it from home, when convenient for me.<br />
<br />
Not everyone would be happy here. But I am. I don't know how long it will last; at some point my old boss is likely to get irritated and demand I either come in to the office or quit completely. At that point, if nothing has changed with the DDH's salary, I'm not sure what we'll do.<br />
<br />
But for now, I'm treasuring this time, and I'm happy, and I'm sorry if I'm not on here much. I always wanted Matilda to be happy <i>and</i> have magical powers. Maybe I'll manage to make that happen in my own life.<br />
<br />
This was a strange and rambly and not entirely coherent post, so here's a cute picture of T-Rex so it's not a total waste of your time ;-):<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d27VPxBXk1I/US0IeqPNNRI/AAAAAAAAK3Y/BtQ4mcn-lN4/s1600/2013-02-20+18.09.26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d27VPxBXk1I/US0IeqPNNRI/AAAAAAAAK3Y/BtQ4mcn-lN4/s320/2013-02-20+18.09.26.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In a funny snow sack.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-38983992191257717632013-02-20T11:59:00.000-06:002013-02-20T12:05:23.396-06:00Three MonthsI can't believe T-Rex is three months old already. Is it possible?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9v8JFbwVDto/USUF8ON8f7I/AAAAAAAAK04/JdE5dPQX4dI/s1600/2012-11-24+00.38.05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9v8JFbwVDto/USUF8ON8f7I/AAAAAAAAK04/JdE5dPQX4dI/s320/2012-11-24+00.38.05.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Baby burrito at four days old.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
At the same time, it seems like it's been much longer. It's been an action-packed three months: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Houston. Crazy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SfUVuDDJelA/USUGMmAbOfI/AAAAAAAAK1A/BkBRWIxJq9Q/s1600/2012-11-25+10.27.56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SfUVuDDJelA/USUGMmAbOfI/AAAAAAAAK1A/BkBRWIxJq9Q/s320/2012-11-25+10.27.56.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dressed for church at five days old.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I look back at the newborn pictures of him and it's amazing how much he's already changed. Where did my little newborn burrito go? Now he's this big old baby trying to sit up.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CGeNlY0DAv0/USUGjP98ojI/AAAAAAAAK1I/vskaIGcxu38/s1600/2012-12-03+12.08.18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CGeNlY0DAv0/USUGjP98ojI/AAAAAAAAK1I/vskaIGcxu38/s320/2012-12-03+12.08.18.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Baby hugs, almost two weeks old.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I drove him out to Norman yesterday to see my brother, who was auditioning at OU for their doctoral music program. Uncle Misha last saw T-Rex at his baptism in early January. He said, "He's starting to look like a little person now, and not just a baby."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EGjB91C87w4/USUHDH6bblI/AAAAAAAAK1Q/SL8DQidIJNI/s1600/2012-12-22+08.24.49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EGjB91C87w4/USUHDH6bblI/AAAAAAAAK1Q/SL8DQidIJNI/s320/2012-12-22+08.24.49.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>With Kaylee, one month + two days.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And he is a little person, or starting to seem like one, with his own personalities and preferences.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wg1IL--SnyY/USUHkreDwtI/AAAAAAAAK1Y/KxA0LERavvQ/s1600/2012-12-25+09.58.46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wg1IL--SnyY/USUHkreDwtI/AAAAAAAAK1Y/KxA0LERavvQ/s320/2012-12-25+09.58.46.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Santa Baby.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He's mellow and happy almost always but gets grumpy in the evenings--I guess he's a morning person.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wTwL4M1vRKg/USUH4hC0ENI/AAAAAAAAK1g/JvTyIJqmeaQ/s1600/2012-12-31+22.45.35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wTwL4M1vRKg/USUH4hC0ENI/AAAAAAAAK1g/JvTyIJqmeaQ/s320/2012-12-31+22.45.35.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Suave.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He likes to talk to his parents and his toys but clams up around other people. Still, he has a smile for everyone.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JoiJryLSbSk/USUJzygVykI/AAAAAAAAK1w/6po2KMzAN4M/s1600/2013-01-06+11.42.04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JoiJryLSbSk/USUJzygVykI/AAAAAAAAK1w/6po2KMzAN4M/s320/2013-01-06+11.42.04.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In his christening gown for his baptism.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He always has to be able to see everything; he loves observing and watching the world go by.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NDnarIsec0Y/USUJZ1BQcvI/AAAAAAAAK1o/k7YSAH9EvaQ/s1600/2013-01-15+11.16.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NDnarIsec0Y/USUJZ1BQcvI/AAAAAAAAK1o/k7YSAH9EvaQ/s320/2013-01-15+11.16.23.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Almost two months old.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He's so much happier now that he's big enough to be carried facing out in the Moby wrap.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IK0AEVrQ8Hw/USUKFhAL1JI/AAAAAAAAK14/SU3IwcoN84o/s1600/2013-01-24+16.32.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IK0AEVrQ8Hw/USUKFhAL1JI/AAAAAAAAK14/SU3IwcoN84o/s320/2013-01-24+16.32.44.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Happy traveler on his way to Houston.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He loves to travel. Usually he falls asleep, but sometimes I'll look back in the mirror and he's sitting there with eyes wide open, quietly watching the world go by.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6aULRUh1HhA/USUKambbwLI/AAAAAAAAK2A/134pjowsrhw/s1600/2013-02-09+16.38.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6aULRUh1HhA/USUKambbwLI/AAAAAAAAK2A/134pjowsrhw/s320/2013-02-09+16.38.09.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dr. Pepper baby at Pops.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm excited to meet the little person he's
becoming. I miss his little newborn self. Sometimes I want to stop time,
to grab him and say, "Freeze! I need time to soak in who you are right
now before you get to move on to being someone else!"<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlIcTdielEg/USUKriBxb_I/AAAAAAAAK2I/8oxr2XBzJvU/s1600/2013-02-10+09.02.22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jlIcTdielEg/USUKriBxb_I/AAAAAAAAK2I/8oxr2XBzJvU/s320/2013-02-10+09.02.22.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Little man.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But I can't. And he doesn't. He goes right on growing (he weighed in at
fifteen pounds today!) and changing--changing himself, and changing me.
Because I'm not the same person I was three months ago, either.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sRAsN1GAZ_0/USULEx9COvI/AAAAAAAAK2Q/Rg9OC3gTVSw/s1600/2013-02-19+17.48.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sRAsN1GAZ_0/USULEx9COvI/AAAAAAAAK2Q/Rg9OC3gTVSw/s320/2013-02-19+17.48.52.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>With Uncle Misha at OU.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I think, on balance, that's a good thing.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JotV0v2JO-s/USULcjk531I/AAAAAAAAK2Y/ty7QKVPu6nA/s1600/2013-02-20+10.30.14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JotV0v2JO-s/USULcjk531I/AAAAAAAAK2Y/ty7QKVPu6nA/s320/2013-02-20+10.30.14.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A snow day for his birthday. </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Linking up with the Tuesday Baby Link Up at <a href="http://everybreathitake.com/">Every Breath I Take</a>.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf__CnzZJtw1eJiZGKK3DDnbLFUep4LpJ4fkHe6HaV4UdRP4dG_RP3Ii3HUXkuSP0gneCmO9jEOxWiqp-EK9ioASTMK3MRBSxytrvwDeq5uEX5XT58TEI0k-fRI14tjRwrenDpdnE6h4U/s1600/BabyLinkUp500px.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf__CnzZJtw1eJiZGKK3DDnbLFUep4LpJ4fkHe6HaV4UdRP4dG_RP3Ii3HUXkuSP0gneCmO9jEOxWiqp-EK9ioASTMK3MRBSxytrvwDeq5uEX5XT58TEI0k-fRI14tjRwrenDpdnE6h4U/s1600/BabyLinkUp500px.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Sorry this kind of turned into a photo dump. I figured out how to get photos into Blogger again. Apparently it just doesn't like the ones from my real camera.</i></span>Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-66582290054805917622013-02-16T22:40:00.004-06:002013-02-16T22:40:52.873-06:00Meet the Spouse: The DDH<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfskfxntWC2zgkgLUNGMiBIAP1WWQsmQoVdwmSvxLj-i85i-0VQrHv3flEVFuVybU_Ch9alHW5ionZNBLaqDnnwus8wdF_ky6R6Z10PQOovUTXwztzqwG88ESTtH-xOMXLWmXdCIYh60/s1600/meet-the-spouse4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFfskfxntWC2zgkgLUNGMiBIAP1WWQsmQoVdwmSvxLj-i85i-0VQrHv3flEVFuVybU_Ch9alHW5ionZNBLaqDnnwus8wdF_ky6R6Z10PQOovUTXwztzqwG88ESTtH-xOMXLWmXdCIYh60/s320/meet-the-spouse4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Kathleen at <a href="http://becomingpeculiar.com/">Becoming Peculiar</a> had the genius idea to share posts about our spouses. Because we write about our lives, our children, even our pets, but often our spouses make only cameo appearances on our blogs.<br />
<br />
So without further ado...<b>the DDH</b>!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pvi2y7qdcC8/T5f06-h20BI/AAAAAAAAHNw/hN648UySQW4/s1600/2012-04-22+14.30.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pvi2y7qdcC8/T5f06-h20BI/AAAAAAAAHNw/hN648UySQW4/s320/2012-04-22+14.30.43.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>At <a href="http://route66.com/">Pops </a>in Arcadia, OK last spring.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
The DDH and I met in college (Blow, '<a href="http://www.utulsa.edu/">Cane</a>!). He was the Assistant Resident Director (the student staff member in charge of all the other student staff members) for the Honors House (where we lived) and another dorm. I was a freshman. There was probably a rule against that, oops.<br />
<br />
His first memory of me is of a dorky freshman wearing a straw cowboy hat. Admittedly, that is precisely what I was. My first impression of him is probably lost somewhere in a blur of new faces and panic, but I came to know a man who was funny, intelligent, interesting, and a firm Christian<i> </i>(though he tricked me into thinking he was Lutheran, which he wasn't).<br />
<br />
After only a few weeks hanging out with him, I said to myself, "This is the man I'm going to marry." And I did.<br />
<br />
Ironically, at the time I decided that, I was oh-so-generously helping him woo a girl at a different college. Because I'm tricksy like that. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Dz8n94hLsk/TqRYj0IZsFI/AAAAAAAAEx0/QwynNLvvwE0/s1600/2011-10-23+13.09.26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Dz8n94hLsk/TqRYj0IZsFI/AAAAAAAAEx0/QwynNLvvwE0/s320/2011-10-23+13.09.26.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Oktoberfest 2011.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We began dating steadily October 1 (having just met in August*). We continued dating all through my freshman/his junior year and my sophomore/his senior year.<br />
<br />
During this time, we managed to take a couple of courses together (one block level psych class (his major) and one block level history class (my minor)). We were both very active in <a href="http://www.apo.org/Home">Alpha Phi Omega</a>, a co-ed community service fraternity, and traveled together to Denver, St. Louis, Louisville, and other less exotic places for fraternity conventions, as well as logging countless service hours together. During this time, his parents went through a very messy divorce and his little brother's life spiraled out of control. I considered dumping him because he would answer his mom's phone calls and spend dozens of minutes talking to her while out on dates with me. In retrospect, this demonstrates his emotional stability and empathy, or something, but at the time it was <i>really</i> annoying.<br />
<br />
Finally, during my junior year of undergrad and his first year of law school, in a paddleboat on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schluchsee">Schluchsee </a>in the Black Forest, he asked me to marry him (I was studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany at the time). A week later, after spending six days traveling around Italy with my parents and siblings in an SUV that only nominally seated six people, he still wanted to marry me. So, we went ahead with planning a wedding and were married in the November after my graduation from college, in 2008.<br />
<br />
He graduated law school and passed the bar in 2011, and has been working as an assistant district attorney in the juvenile bureau for the last year and a half.<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> (That's one reason I call him the DDH on the blog, though many of you know his real names<span style="font-size: x-small;">. There are people out <span style="font-size: x-small;">there who don't care much for prosecuting attorneys, turns out.)</span></span></i></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VeK-K0lCwgQ/T_JC4PIw78I/AAAAAAAAIi4/yDPYLLFMg7M/s1600/P1090467.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VeK-K0lCwgQ/T_JC4PIw78I/AAAAAAAAIi4/yDPYLLFMg7M/s320/P1090467.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>At the Oklahoma State Capital for his swearing in ceremony.</i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In some ways, I think we're<b> too similar</b>. We're both painfully shy as well as introverted, and incredibly indecisive. We have had more than one argument about not being able to choose a place to have dinner or a way to spend an afternoon, and somehow we each resent being the one who "always" has to make these decisions.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rBIbeuQvYYs/SGbOkeHjaPI/AAAAAAAABWg/IefuuUKvYX0/s1600/P1010004.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rBIbeuQvYYs/SGbOkeHjaPI/AAAAAAAABWg/IefuuUKvYX0/s320/P1010004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Over the Main River in Frankfurt.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
But in other ways, he complements me beautifully. He is very <b>handy</b>, willing and able to fiddle with everything from electronic gadgets to Christmas lights to furniture to fix, build, or otherwise make it work properly. I, on the other hand, am something of a technophobe who has difficulty following the instructions in beginner Lego kits.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YzCBcuYTxlc/SHEv3-EVxJI/AAAAAAAADPY/O5f2SaGzpPI/s1600/P1011489.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YzCBcuYTxlc/SHEv3-EVxJI/AAAAAAAADPY/O5f2SaGzpPI/s320/P1011489.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In the paddleboat where he proposed.</i></td></tr>
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He <b>loves and supports me unconditionally</b>, never complaining about the strange dishes I cook (though he does give his honest opinion) or my various other experiments, and always egging me on to write more. <br />
<br />
He loves the things that I love, like <b>food </b>and <b>travel </b>and <b>cheesy action movies</b>. He's a gift-giver and a romantic and general all-around thoughtful guy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicikfAb9sgyhEja7QY2sfcczX1KmDq-c5wuz1-odV2SIOzdzTV7ROOgXiel-wbOENAD5pxXe4dgQWPa9dF_EY6u0YfYuoHfpPfVYufKdpts1q458anSWroxpIcm5YPU5YjXesnylKOOxo/s1600/2012-11-19+17.20.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicikfAb9sgyhEja7QY2sfcczX1KmDq-c5wuz1-odV2SIOzdzTV7ROOgXiel-wbOENAD5pxXe4dgQWPa9dF_EY6u0YfYuoHfpPfVYufKdpts1q458anSWroxpIcm5YPU5YjXesnylKOOxo/s320/2012-11-19+17.20.31.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>At the hospital, waiting for T-Rex to be born.</i></td></tr>
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I mean, he has his faults, and we disagree on lots of things big and small, from televisions in bedrooms to fine details regarding the doctrine of Original Sin. I suppose life would be pretty boring if we agreed on everything. And anyway, the important thing is, <b>he always takes my side against his mother</b>, even when I am, ah, <i>less than delicate</i> about expressing my opinion about her opinions (heh).<br />
<br />
In particular, I have always envied him his <b>certainty </b>about his calling. He has known he wanted to be a lawyer since high school. He worked steadily through high school, college, and law school with that goal in mind, and now here he is. He loves his job. He loves the law. He loves being a lawyer, and he loves the kind of law he practices right now. I have never known what I want to do and have never loved a job. I envy him that certainty and sense of <b>vocation</b>, and I am so glad at least one of us has it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-24JEYnNoqCc/T_JAnStkwII/AAAAAAAAIgY/pmk1rlKy5Y0/s1600/P1090397.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-24JEYnNoqCc/T_JAnStkwII/AAAAAAAAIgY/pmk1rlKy5Y0/s320/P1090397.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="http://pricetower.org/">Price Tower Artz Center</a> in Bartlesville, July 2011.</i></td></tr>
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And he loves T-Rex. Watching him with our son the past three months has been a joy. He plays with him and shows him off and rocks him when he cries. He not only never once questioned my decision to go with cloth diapers, he volunteers to change them. <b>He is a wonderful father</b>, and I can't wait to see them together as T-Rex grows and as (hopefully, eventually) other children join our family.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-USjIywvfyyk/USBRUT8NLnI/AAAAAAAAKyQ/0MFfWt3W4aA/s1600/IMG_20130216_162323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-USjIywvfyyk/USBRUT8NLnI/AAAAAAAAKyQ/0MFfWt3W4aA/s320/IMG_20130216_162323.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Cool dudes.</i></td></tr>
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<br />
Basically, he's the best. I am blessed far beyond what I deserve.<br />
<br />
<i>Linking up at Becoming Peculiar for the Meet the Spouse! carnival.</i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Few people, however, can beat my parents, who were introduced on a blind date the day after Christmas and were married the next <span style="font-size: x-small;">March, about eleven weeks after they met. And they're still married, almost 31 years later.</span></span></i><br />
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-51915556900302441312013-02-06T09:06:00.000-06:002013-02-06T09:06:04.018-06:00I am resolved.I'm a month late with the annual resolutions and goals post, but the DDH sort of permanently took over the computer for most of his January leave. What can you do?<br />
<br />
While I'm trying to take things as they come, stay relaxed, and generally not expect too much so that I can enjoy this first year of motherhood, I do have a few things I'd like to commit to this year.<b> </b>So, in no particular order:<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes by the end of the year</b>. I can evaluate this as the year goes on, but let's just say that thanks to the coinciding of the holidays with the ravenous early breastfeeding days, I actually weigh more now than I did the week after T-Rex was born. And clearly that needs to stop. I debated whether my goal was a number (goal weight) or just being able to fit back into my clothes and went with the clothes for now (muscle weighs more than fat, so sometimes clothes are a better measure). But I know pregnancy can wreak some permanent havoc on bellies, so we'll see.<br />
<br />
Regardless of how I define it, I know when I'm fit: when I feel strong and have energy. Both of those will be important as T-Rex gets heavier and then mobile!<br />
<br />
Anyway, toward this end the DDH and I signed up for a YMCA membership, since it includes childcare. We've scheduled ourselves to go and workout together (weights and swimming) at least two nights a week, and I've already tried a few yoga and zumba classes that hopefully I can attend during the day. After three months doing nothing more than an (almost daily) afternoon walk, this feels amazing.<br />
<br />
<b>Make at least four dinners per week at home.</b> This kind of goes with the above goal and kind of fits in because we have no money now. I am picking up some part-time hours at my old job from home, but it's still obviously not the same as pre-baby. We were awful about this in January with the DDH home all day, but I did pretty well in December and am back on the meal-planning wagon starting this week!<br />
<br />
I've had to switch up how I cook, and to a certain extent what I cook, thanks to T-Rex. More on this another time. <br />
<br />
<b>Read at least one non-fiction and one fiction book per month</b>. I tend to get sucked into all the blogs and Facebooks and etc. because it's easy to operate my smartphone with one hand. But reading longer format works on the page and not on the screen is entirely different for my brain, and I want to make sure I'm intentional about this. I did great with this in January and need to pick out books for February ASAP.<br />
<br />
<b>Spend quality time with the DDH. </b>Clearly we were together 24/7 this past month, which was nice. Now, with our new schedules and baby responsibilities, I want to be intentional about making time for each other. It's been great working out at the gym together twice a week, and I'm thinking monthly date nights (Grandma is more than happy to babysit) might be in order, too.<br />
<br />
<b>Make friends.</b> This is my vaguest goal. Frankly, the reason I don't really have any (real life, close) friends these days is because I don't know how to make them. I had a group of ladies I thought of as friends that I worked out with pre-T-Rex, but that gym closed and I realized I don't have any other way to contact them. Most of our college friends have moved away, and we just don't meet other people.<br />
<br />
I'm hoping at some point to maybe find a mom playgroup, maybe through one of the other churches in town (ours doesn't have one, mostly because there aren't that many young couples there). Regular attendance at fitness classes may yield a new set of fitness buddies. And the DDH and I are discussing ways to reach out and see some of our semi-friends from church or work (mostly older than we are, but nobody ever said you can only be friends with people in your age bracket!) outside of those settings. <br />
<br />
<b>Find a new job.</b> While I'm quite happy to work for the old firm from home indefinitely, the volatile nature of the CEO means this is not guaranteed forever. If I have to go to work somewhere at some point, I don't want to go back there.<br />
<br />
I'm trying, at 26, to finally figure out what I want to do when I'm grown up. One answer clearly is that what I want, and what I'm good at, is taking care of a house and family. Unfortunately, no one's offering me money for that, so I would like to figure out either what I enjoy that I could get paid for, or find a work situation that leaves me plenty of time and energy (especially mental energy) to do the mom thing. Let's just say that I envy people like the DDH with a clear passion and vocation for a profession.<br />
<br />
<b>***</b><br />
<br />
I have some other areas I want to work on, like cleaning and organizing the house (and keeping it that way), making the garden actually work this year (being home during the day should help this), that sort of thing.<br />
<br />
We need to sit down and re-order our finances with my changed work situation. Luckily, between everything we received from others before and since T-Rex's birth, and since we're using cloth diapers and he's still just breastfeeding<b>, </b>T-Rex doesn't actually cost us anything extra at the moment. That will change eventually, of course.<br />
<br />
But a lot of the items on that short list are pretty intense and time-consuming, so I don't want to clutter the list with too much. <b>My main focus for the year is T-Rex</b>. Watching him grow and learn has been such a pleasure so far, and I can't wait to see how he changes in the next year. My friend Sarah said that <a href="http://sarahkoller.com/?p=4675">every age is her new favorite age</a>, and I think I know exactly what she means.<br />
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<b>I've already read most of y'all's annual goal lists. So how's it going? Any advice for me?</b></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-16816786124473116372013-02-04T13:13:00.002-06:002013-02-04T13:13:20.482-06:00Houston, We Have a T-RexIt turns out that T-Rex is a spectacular traveler. We stopped twice on the way there but actually only once on the way back. He slept the whole way and didn't cry at all.<br />
<br />
I'm beginning to think I shouldn't have any more kids, because I will probably get The Worst Baby Ever to make up for what a mellow and happy guy T-Rex is.<br />
<br />
Houston, grieving family stuff aside, was awesome. T-Rex got to meet his great-grandmother, his grandfather, and his great aunt, all of whom (of course) adored him, and we actually got to do a few touristy things. The weather was phenomenal, sunny and seventy the whole time. It really felt like a vacation, and I've missed those.<br />
<br />
We hit up an outlet mall on Saturday. I resigned myself to reality and stocked up on some Old Navy clothes in larger sizes. Meh. Speaking of needing larger clothes, we had dinner at one of those Brazilian steakhouse places with the all-you-can-eat meat. Yum.<br />
<br />
On Sunday, we visited a lovely old Lutheran church downtown, where I was invited to join the choir (visiting churches is such an ego boost for me; that might not be a good thing). We had lunch at a place that served Indian food pizza (delicious) and hit up Ikea! The DDH had never been to one, and I had only been to the one in Freiburg, Germany, so it was a fun time. We also hit up another store that Tulsa lacks, The Container Store. Which, let me tell you, heaven. Immediately upon walking in the door I found something I had been searching for at stores in Tulsa for MONTHS. Perhaps more daytrips to Dallas are in order.<br />
<br />
I'm really irritated by the fact that Blogger is refusing to let me upload any pictures, but if you follow me on <a href="http://instagram.com/ktindeed/">Instagram </a>(ktindeed) I did upload several from the trip. Mostly of T-Rex, obviously.Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5005299891007362460.post-25018822481483045062013-02-04T11:03:00.000-06:002013-02-04T11:03:17.086-06:00What I'm Into January 2013The DDH had all of January off for FMLA and it was <i>wonderful</i>. It's so much fun watching him with T-Rex and seeing him bond with the little guy. <br />
<br />
This month, T-Rex's behavior has stabilized a bit, and we're starting to get into a good rhythm (or we will, now that we're back to normal life sans Daddy). Hopefully this means I'll be able to get work done (my employer agreed to let me pick up hours working at home instead of coming back into the office, yay!) as well as hang out with him.<br />
<br />
Ok, onward to the meme!<br />
<br />
<b>Read and Reading</b><br />
<br />
I've made the goal for the year to read at least one non-fiction and one fiction book each month, because it's too easy to just get sucked in to blog-hopping on my smartphone and never actually read anything of substance (not that blogs can't be substantive, but the brain reacts differently to words on a page versus a screen). Anyway, I did well on that goal this month!<br />
<b> </b><br />
For non-fiction, I read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Scientist-Crib-Early-Learning-Tells/dp/0688177883"><i>The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind</i></a>. Highly readable cognitive science for babies. I loved it and am looking for something similar published more recently (this was 1999). I also enjoyed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Up-B%C3%A9b%C3%A9-Discovers-Parenting/dp/1594203334/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359995881&sr=1-1&keywords=bringing+up+bebe"><i>Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting</i></a>. Also fascinating, though mostly what I got out of it is that apparently Druckerman's American mother friends just don't have a lot of common sense.<br />
<br />
For fiction, I read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/River-Sky-Amelia-Peabody-Mysteries/dp/B005X4CLKK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359996139&sr=1-1&keywords=a+river+in+the+sky"><i>A River in the Sky</i></a>, a decent, relatively new Amelia Peabody mystery by Elizabeth Peters. I've also been blowing through the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=nikki+heat">Nikki Heat </a>books by "Richard Castle" that ABC publishes as a tie-in to the show <i>Castle</i>. They are surprisingly (and increasingly, as the series progresses) not awful.<br />
<br />
<b>TV</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843230/"><i>Once Upon a Time</i></a>, of course, continues to enthrall (did you see I did Megan's weekly <a href="http://www.sortacrunchy.net/sortacrunchy/2013/01/once-upon-a-time-on-wednesday-in-the-name-of-the-brother.html">post </a>on the series a couple weeks ago?).<br />
<b> </b><br />
<i>Bones, Castle, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1595680/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Being Human</a>, </i>the usual. Oh! We started watching <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2300923/?ref_=sr_1"><i>Go On</i></a> because of the ads for it during the Olympics, and guess what? It's actually really good.<br />
<br />
We've also been working our way through <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0439100/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><i>Weeds</i> </a>on Netflix, and it's...I don't know. I'm tiring of the shocking suburban criminal trope, I guess. My mom has recommended the BBC <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_%28TV_series%29"><i>Sherlock</i> </a>and also Netflix's <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856010/?ref_=sr_1"><i>House of Cards</i></a> (starring the Princess Bride!). Anyone else care to weigh in?<br />
<br />
<b>Movies</b><br />
<br />
The MIL watched T-Rex for us one afternoon so we could see <i>The Hobbit</i>. Love. Though the DDH didn't realize it was only Part I and he was mad when it ended halfway through the story. Oops.<br />
<b> </b><br />
Clearly it's harder to go see movies in the theater now, and if we rented any this month I don't remember them. Oh wait, I think we rented <i>Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter</i> and it was as expected, that is, campy and awesome both.<br />
<br />
<b>Music</b><br />
<br />
I'm not a music person and never will be. Meaning, I love music, but I don't have Taste and I don't follow artists or find them. Oh well.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>...</b><br />
<br />
Given that I'm still trying to settle into a new normal life, I think that's all for now, folks.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Linking up with the lovely HopefulLeigh!</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.leighkramer.com/blog/what-im-into" title="What I'm Into at HopefulLeigh"><img alt="What I'm Into at HopefulLeigh" src="http://www.leighkramer.com/What%20I%27m%20Into%20site.jpg" style="border: none;" /></a></div>
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<b>What are you into these days?</b></div>
Katiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15145777024732747573noreply@blogger.com4