and the long wait begins

I finally finished my application to the College of Public Health and took it over this morning. Whew! My application is mostly complete...though they'd misplaced my GRE scores (now found) and an old prof hasn't done my recommendation yet. Sent an email his way and hopefully it'll be taken care of soon. The bad news is that I probably won't know until late May...! They have professors from each of the six departments review each application, score it, then tally the scores. I really don't know if I'll get in. Hopefully. Not in my hands now anyhow.

In other news, my little boy is growing up...he and his Papa just left last night to go visit Grandma and Aunt Anne, along with cousins. Ellie does really badly on long car drives, which is the only reason we stayed back. It's only the second time I've been away from him overnight (the first was for Ellie's birth). Sounds like he's handling it better than I am, though; he didn't even look up to wave as they drove away.

I know they have to become independent, but why does it have to start so darn early?

Oh! And Jon and I got away for a date last weekend; we saw V for Vendetta. If you haven't seen it, see it. Seriously. Seriously. You can read a well written review here.

wochenende

I'm excited about the upcoming Marie Antionette film and hope that the trailer is true to the movie. Brilliant---using music from one decadent era to illustrate another. About time there's a period movie that isn't completely formulaic.

Yesterday was a really full day. I met up with a mom who I'd happened to run into at Target a few weeks back (hi, Heather, I know you're there, lol). She came up to ask about my Hotsling, we got to talking, and after a while she said, "Wait! Are you mamaspeak on Amity's?" Haha. We got together for Mexican food yesterday for lunch and she got a chance to try on my sling :). Hopefully, we'll be getting together in the future as well.

Last night, my mom and I went to see Cirque du Soleil. Note to self: if the title of a show is Delirium, expect it to be bizarre and at least vaguely disconcerting. It was nice to get out with my mom, though.

Had a really amazingly powerful dream last night. You know, the kind that changes your life but would sound incredibly stupid if you tried to explain it. Still processing that.

And, yay! Weather's warming back up!

caffeine!

I officially feel like a grown-up: I have my own coffee maker.

I did a deal through Gevalia---got a programmable stainless steel 12 cup coffee maker and four 1/2 lb packages of coffee for $10 shipped. Details on the deal can be found at the SlickDeals.net forums (I did offer 110894, though there are many, many to choose from). Anywho, got here in a bit under a week and I just cleaned the machine up and made my first pot.

Incidentally, and despite being a habitual Coca-Cola drinker and actually having worked in a coffeeshop for about six months, I am experiencing my first bout of caffeine jitteriness. I was actually kind of worried until I realized what it was. Crazy feeling. I think I'll pick up some decaf to mix the regular with...though I am a bit more productive than usual since it hit my system, so I might reconsider that.

Oh, and Jon's first day at his job went well yesterday. He said it will be a challenge, but he's glad he took the job. And he has his own office for the first time :)

intermission

We've been having a nice, though rainy, weekend here in Arkansas.

Jon suprised me yesterday with a trip to a day spa for a massage and steam treatment. It was wonderful! My first massage since 2002, and it was sooooo nice. And such a surprise!

We watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith last night after the kids were in bed. It was hilarious! Quite entertaining, very much recommended :). Perhaps I shouldn't enjoy seeing a dysfunctional married couple shooting at each other, but it was a really fun movie.

I started Reading Lolita in Tehran, loaned to me by a friend whose mom sent it from Karachi. Kind of a round-about way to get ahold of a book I could just go check out from the library, but it's really well-written and I'm liking it.

Eleanor pulled up to a stand all by herself for the first time this morning! She pulled up on the side of Tristan's bed. She's in such a hurry! She's also become a screamer (I'm told she takes after her mother in this) and has five teeth. Ack!


Fun distraction of the day: go to Google, type in "asshole", and hit 'I'm Feeling Lucky'. Yay for my mom, who has finally joined the 21st century by getting DSL---even you can watch this, lol.

And, finally, thanks to those who leave comments :). It helps to have a sounding board.

just a scarf

And a happy end o' the week to all y'all out in Blogworld.

I finally got my house somewhat presentable, though there's an odd stink in the kitchen that I can't identify. Smells like rotten sweet potatoes (don't ask me how I know), but we're fresh out of those. Hrm.

Yesterday was kind of an odd day. I have different social circles and it's always so strange when the meet up. My sister came over, since they were out of school, and yesterday happened to be the day for a semi-regular playdate we have with other Muslim mamas and kiddos. She said she had a fine time and I know that Tristan enjoyed himself (as always), but I just kind of feel, well...odd. I think it was the first time that she'd seen me in hijab, which of course made me think about that whole issue and how I can resolve it personally.

I wore hijab for six months straight after we converted/reverted in January 2004. Then I had a bit of a crisis of faith, took it off, and shaved my head (yah, weird, I know). And, now, I wear it to the masjid, Islamic social events, and whenever else I feel like it, but I haven't worked back up to wearing it full time. Why? Well, I just can't get myself so concerned about it...I don't really think that it is obligatory to cover one's head. But wouldn't the "better safe than sorry" argument apply well here? I just don't know, I can't decide. But I know that I don't like the indecisiveness of wearing it sometimes and not wearing it sometimes. I just want to figure out a way that I can feel comfortably consistent.

yum yum

Ever since I went to Germany in high school, I've ordered my sodas without ice...mostly because I'm cheap and want the most for my money (and ice takes up like half the glass!) but also because I don't like the diluted taste coke gets after the ice melts. Now, for all those who think I'm just a quirky miser, I have another reason:

"I thought there might be a little bacteria in the ice, but I never expected it to be this much," she said. "And I never thought the toilet water would be cleaner."

Her discovery: Seventy percent of the time, the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Ick ick ick.

surprise

We've been having amazingly beautiful weather here this week and it's gotten me itching to work outside. I've always had dreams of a berry garden and had scoped out our yard and found that there is one raised flower bed that is positioned perfectly and is one of the few spots in our yard that gets enough sunlight to sustain a fruit or veggie garden.

So, this afternoon, I got out there to clean out the residual fall leaves and start breaking up the dirt a bit. I didn't get far before I discovered some metal hardware cloth buried an inch or so under the dirt. One thing led to another and I ended up pulling out:
- lots of metal garden fencing
- two very large iron railing sections (one approx 3', one 6', the kind used on porches)
- a Ford hubcap
- a terra cotta saucer emblazoned with "Happy Valentine's Day 1988"
- unidentified twisty metal piping that looks like something from underneath a car
- a broken sundial
- lots of old (read: likely laced with arsenic preservative) lumber
- a shallow aluminum bucket
- an entire package of plastic cutlery
- an old-fashioned canister vacuum, complete with plug, that looked like it had originally been a shade of mint green

Aah, the joys of home ownership :). Needless to say, the dirt all that sat in for who-knows-how-long would not be ideal for a blackberry patch. Pooh.

On the lighter side of things, though, it was five years ago today that Jon and I met in person for the first time. Wow! And what an amazing five years :)

for the moms

A reminder: tidy up.

flashlight recall

Some Little Tikes flashlights have been recalled because they were apparently painted with lead paint.

Idiots. Seriously, how could that have been a slip? Ugh.

not so bad

I had kind of a bad day yesterday. I caught someone casing our garage and it really just bummed me out; I stayed up til 1 last night looking at alarm systems.

I did some running around today and when I got home, we parked out front and I unbuckled the kids. I looked at our house and everything was perfect. The sun was shining through the trees while the birds sang and the wind was that amazing temperature where if you close your eyes, you can hardly tell where your skin stops and the air begins.

Then, in the distance...in a nicely retro chime, Do Your Ears Hang Low? An ice cream truck.

Aaaaah. Simple perfection.

saturday

We're back home. Whew!

We had a great time in KC. I got a chance to see various mom friends---hey, Julie and Sarah!---and we saw plenty of family as well. I got to go eat out with the KCAP mamas one night, which was really nice; I don't get to do that kind of thing often! We also hit a couple of our top favorite restaurants: Cinzetti's Italian buffet and the amazing but unknown Malay Cafe. I hope it won't be too long before we can make it back up there.

I did have an awfully bad time with my shoulder there for a few days. I've had joint pain on and off for five years or so and my shoulder has been fairly bad for the past month. Around Tuesday, though, it got *really* bad---so bad that I could not raise my arm at all, could barely hold something as lightweight as a cup, and certainly couldn't get myself dressed alone. It felt like it was coming in and out of the socket when I moved. We got a sling and after a few days of resting it while Jon did almost all baby and child care, it began feeling better. It's almost back to pre-crisis levels of general achiness, but I am doing my best to take it easy...don't want that to flare back up before the rheumatologist can help me. No more babywearing for this mama :(

And...drumroll...big news: Jon got the job! He'll be the college's Systems Librarian, which means that he'll be in charge of all of the library's technical services. It's a lot more in line with what he wants to make a career out of. It pays better and the benefits---especially the health insurance (!!!)---are great. I'll even be able to take fun blow-off classes like ceramics or photography for the measly sum of $5 a credit hour. I'm really excited for him and for us :)