Tuesday, November 28, 2006

 

Songs from the changing table

Maya has become quite the singer. Usually, she sings of twinkling stars, rowing boats, or letters. However, a few nights ago, she entertained herself during a diaper change by singing her first (original) song:

Baby Baby
Baby Maya
Baby Mama
Happy Birthday
Mama Birthday
Birthday Birthday
Happy Birthday

Monday, November 27, 2006

 

Tradition

When I was growing up, it was tradition to decorate our Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend. The day after we gorged ourselves on turkey and all the fixins, Mom would drag all the Christmas boxes out of storage, unfold the tree, carefully unwrap each ornament, and disentangle the lights. And then she would begin, first by wrapping the tree with miles and miles of multicolored lights, followed by strands of garland and the meticulous placement of ornaments. And tinsel. Lots and lots of tinsel. This was all done while I eagerly watched from a distance as my actual handling of the decorations was a big nicht nicht.

Now that I'm an adult (okay, older) with a family of my own, I've carried on the tradition. Before Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close, we drag out all the Christmas boxes, put the tree together, unwrap the ornaments, and disentangle the lights. And then we begin to decorate the tree in much the same way my mother did when I was little, only now Maya watches eagerly as we wrap the tree with miles and miles of lights and ornaments are meticulously placed and I'm so happy to share this with her. Although, after Maya started plucking ornaments from the branches as quickly as they were placed, only to relinquish her prize and immediately run back for a new one I started to think maybe the distance thing wasn't such a bad idea after all.


Sunday, November 26, 2006

 

Christmasing


Saturday, November 25, 2006

 

Fall fling


Thursday, November 23, 2006

 

Thankful





Wednesday, November 22, 2006

 

A Reminder

On the far side of our gym, past all the intimidating weight machines and the guys with sweaty backs, there is a water fountain. And centered directly above the water fountain is a sign. Its words are evenly spaced on the page, and every letter is carefully written in red marker and capitalized to stress the sterness of the author's message: DO NOT SPIT IN THE WATER FOUNTAIN. And as I lean down to get a drink after spending thirty minutes skillfully not falling off the treadmill, I really really hope that other members have heeded the warning.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

 

Better than a comment

This morning I discovered that one of my pictures at Zooomr had been viewed over 200 times. One of the newer ones. Overnight. At first I assumed it was some sort of computer glitch (the most viewed photograph on my page tops out somewhere in the mid-sixties, and that picture has been up for several months). Turns out, I've been favorited. Thomas Hawk, a photographer in the San Francisco area whose work I happily discovered earlier this year (his self-portraits alone were enough to endear him to me) has included one of my pictures in a smart set of favorites, which, I must say, is pretty damn cool.

Monday, November 20, 2006

 

Lucky

Things like this never happen around here.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

 

Go to Sleep


Saturday, November 18, 2006

 

Fallen


Friday, November 17, 2006

 

Shadows and tall trees


Thursday, November 16, 2006

 

Empty chair


Wednesday, November 15, 2006

 

Sidetracked

Maya asked for a bedtime story tonight before she went to sleep, so Justin regaled her with a retelling of A New Hope, from Luke's perspective. Sadly, I missed out on the story because I got all sidetracked by some soccerbots. And the slow walking man. And this nut. And all the clacking. I'm such a sucker for moving pictures.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

 

The Marshon

A poem, hastily written by little Mandy Jo, age 7, during show & tell so she would have something to share with her second grade class (and, all these years later, used as content for her blog).


Click clock, tick tock goes the clock.
Ding Dong, ting tong goes the door bell.
Click clock tick tock, ding dong ting tong go the clock and doorbell.
But do any of those have 14,000 toes! and go Grr, Grr, Grr?

Monday, November 13, 2006

 

walk on

So, tonight I found myself back at the gym, this time on a treadmill, silently praying that the exercise gods would grant me the dexterity to keep my awkwardness at bay so I don't lose my balance and slip off the back of the machine. Turns out the whole walking nowhere on a motorized belt thing kind of takes a bit more coordination than you might suspect. I now have all sorts of new respect for OK Go. It did get easier the longer I walked. Maybe next time I'll get all crazy and actually let go of the handrail.

To celebrate my evening of successful treadmill navigation, I ordered a three-cheese calizone as soon as I hit the door. I figure it will only take me around ten hours or so to walk that off.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

 

Vampire Blues


 

Hard habit to break

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I was late to class every day during my senior year of high school. Every. day. Try as I might, and I honestly did try (at least in the beginning), I could not make it safely to my seat before the bell. Morning or afternoon, it made no difference. It just didn't happen.

Oddly enough, I don't remember suffering any consequences for my serial tardiness. In fact, at the end of the year, I was even commended. Sort of. For graduation, Justin gave me a Danbury clock with the words 'Amanda Ever Prompt' engraved on the front. And I have faithfully lived by that clock ever since, the clock that has been perpetually stuck at 3:34 for the last, oh, nine years or so because I have never quite gotten around to replacing the battery.

So, as much as I wanted to be a timely NaBloPoMo participant, as much as I wanted to have all thirty posts in before midnight each day, it seems I'll just have to settle for merely being a participant, and an unofficial one at that (because I failed to, um, add my name to the participant list on time).

Friday, November 10, 2006

 

Outside my window




Thursday, November 09, 2006

 

The tourist

So, here's the thing. I have never been to the state capitol. Shocking, I know. I mean, how is that someone who was born and raised in Oklahoma manages to escape childhood without a field trip to the state capitol?

This afternoon I accompanied Justin to Oklahoma City to attend the opening ceremony for Hidden Voices, Coded Words, an exhibit honoring the Choctaw and Comanche code talkers. On our way to the museum, I kind of let it slip that I hadn't set foot inside the state capitol. Really? (pause) Really? So after the ceremony (which made me cry) and a tour of the exhibit (check it out if you're in the OKC area) I was ushered over to the capitol for a quick peek under the dome before anyone else found out and threatened to rescind my state residency.









Wednesday, November 08, 2006

 

Optimistic

Democrats have won control of the House AND the Senate, Rummy is stepping down, the country is poised for its first female Speaker of the House, and I managed to convince myself that spending time on a stationary bike and elliptical machine this evening was a good idea.

I gotta say it was a good day.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

 

Democrats win House. Nanda temporarily loses mind.

J: Hey, the first Muslim has been elected to Congress.
A: Really? What party?

 

Thanks for stopping by

Now, go VOTE, you people!


Monday, November 06, 2006

 

Fitter Happier

For months I've been going on and on (though mostly to myself since everyone else is pretty much tired of hearing it by now) about the need to increase my physical activity. And for months my lazy self has been taking action to protect its interests by focusing time and energy on creating reasons to discourage me from doing any activity that remotely smacked of exercise. The weather was never right to walk. No time in the evenings to reshape my body with Debbie Sieber, what with all the walking back and forth to the kitchen and the marathon couch sitting. Girls from work sacrificing their thirty-minute lunch to go to the gym? Again? Can't. It cuts into my lunch hour.

I know I should go. I tell them as much each day as they file out of the office, and I even make promises to join them the next day, or the day after when I finally remember to bring my shoes and a change of clothes, or maybe at the beginning of the month, that way I'll be sure to get my money's worth for the $15 monthly fee, the steep one that the gym doesn't prorate.

And then last night I caved. While I was sleeping, my dream self agreed to go with the girls to the gym to sign up for a membership, even though it was during my lunch hour and it was not the first of the month. Only when she got there, she noticed that the facility had a limited number of machines, so she was a little put off by that. But, she was there and she signed up and she successfully navigated the initial health screenings (all newbies are weighed, have their blood pressure taken, and are pricked for a blood sugar screening - JOY!).

So, today when the girls rounded everyone up to head for the gym, I filed out with them. I'll be damned if my subconscious self slims down before I do.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

 

Anticipate


Saturday, November 04, 2006

 

Distraction

Oh, come on. It's not like you didn't see this coming. You knew there'd be days like this. I had intended to post a clip of little girl acting all silly but couldn't fenagle a way to do it in time. So, I decided to post Bubblevision to detract from the lack of content instead. If it's any consolation, this isn't just any PowerPuff Girl cartoon chosen at random, but one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Friday, November 03, 2006

 

Conventional Wisdom

If a member of an interview committee asks you what qualities you possess that make you suited for a job in social work, it is probably a good idea to not start your answer with 'I am not a patient person' and even better to not let 'patience is not my virtue' be the crux of your response. And while it's great that you're interested in this job because you 'think this type of work sounds interesting', tucking something about, say, helping people into your answer might be a good idea. Social work is a helping profession, after all.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

 

The view from here



A view of Cowtown from my window on the third floor at the office.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

 

It's not easy being green

We decided to get Little Girl a frog costume for this year's door-to-door candy solicitation. It was either that or a giraffe, and since neither of us were quite certain exactly what sound a giraffe makes, we went with the frog. Ribbit, ribbit.

Before Halloween, my main concern had been whether or not the costume would be the right size. This fear was quickly replaced by a new, unexpected one Halloween day when her grandmother slipped her into the costume for first time (it fit!) and Little Girl let us know by way of a tantrum exactly how much she hated that frog suit. Grandma rescued her from the costume and round one went to Maya.

We were eventually able to distract her with a Halloween balloon long enough to get her into the costume without much of a fuss, though she still wasn't all that keen on being in it.


She brightened a bit after she had been in it for a little while... and she made the connection between her outfit and all the delicious suckers.

She was pretty much good to go after that. We made a quick candy run, mostly to homes of friends and family who had asked us to come by, and then went home to thaw and sift through this year's haul (which primarily consisted of an assortment of ...suckers).



Oh, and if by chance any of you do in fact know what sound a giraffe makes, please let me know. Happy Halloween!

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