Monthly Archives: June 2006

1/2 way through my civic duty….

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So I am “on call” for jury duty this week, which I have to say is stressing me out more than it should. I mean, I haven’t actually had to go downtown for jury duty yet–I just have to call the phone service each evening to find out if I have to go. But it’s stressing me out anyway–mostly because it would involve having M a full day in daycare, and either her godmother picking her up and watching her until L gets home from class at 9pm (if I get detained/sequestered past daycare closing time) OR L missing a night of summer school. It would require getting a sub for work, navigating the courthouse, etc. And the whole thought just leaves me stressed. It’s just the anticipation that I’m out of control and that my whole next day, possibly the rest of my week could be upturned on a moment’s notice.

addendum to yesterday’s lessons about food spoilage: yogurt goes GROSS when left in a car trunk for 6 hours!! Yes, I typed yesterday, complaining the school fridge, a fresh carton of Trader Joe’s vanilla yogurt was fermenting in my trunk. What are the odds? Thankfully, I remembered the groceries just before it started to rain, so at least I didn’t get wet, I guess.

So I’ve got my fingers crossed that the rest of the week goes “smoothly”…my car is currently getting a new alternator, so tomorrow we are carpooling to daycare and work, and then bumming a ride to the repair shop, hauling the convertible carseat with us wherever we shall roam. What a pain!! I’m focusing on the good fortune I had to be able to DRIVE the car in, that the alternator didn’t actually go kaput while driving, AND that I got a 10% off coupon in the mail for the dealership the day I made the appt. So that’s something. A meager something when being faced with the bill, but something nonetheless.

Really, all I want to do is to do laundery and start packing for Grandma and Grandpa’s this weekend, and head on out for some visiting and relaxation. Only 3 more days to go!!!

In Babe news, she’s getting FOUR teeth that I can feel. FOUR, and I believe they are all molars (top/bottom, L&R)–yowser. No wonder she’s been a crank and not napping as well. Thankfully she’s a huge fan of the assorted teething remedies I have, and of Children’s Tylenol as well. Hopefully we’ll get those chompers through before we hit the road on Friday!!!

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What I learned today…

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Today, at 7:30am, as I opened what turned out to be a very odiferous fridge to get out breakfast for my students, I quickly learned that :

a)if you pop a circuit breaker in a room with a fridge, verify that the fridge is still working…especially if this happens on a Friday

b)after 2 days of no power, the fridge actually gets warmer than the air-conditioned room it sits in

after 2 days in a steamy fridge:

c)chocolate pudding turns green

d)2%milk turns into cottage cheese

e)green salad turns brown but stains white tupperware green

f)cheese is very gelatinous at high temperatures that don’t quite make it melt

g)sometimes the plastic bags that ice cream cups come in have little holes that melted ice cream can slip through

h)bags of frozen strawberries have the same problem

GROSS, I know…..I hope that everyone had a better start to their Mondays!!!

News of the Babe

Enough grossness for now. Friday night the Babe answered a question for us!!! We were walking home from the park, and L asked, “What does the doggie say, M?”; and of course, we didn’t really expect an answer. Except we got one–she said, “woof, woof”!!! It was VERY exciting, and now, of course, is our favorite party trick. So her words now are “ba ba” (bottle) “da da” (daddy), something between “ha” and “hiya” whenever she picks up anything that remotely resembles a phone, and “woof woof”. Soon enough she will have more words than I have fingers, I know for sure!

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Visit #3 and 6.5 hrs at the IMA

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Yesterday was our 3rd visit with J, G, K & Z since the Babe’s arrival–we saw them at Christmas, for Z’s 4th bday, and we had a fun picnic yesterday. Why yesterday?

I’ve learned that J likes to take a few days off of work to, in her words, “get ready” for a visit with us. She typically works 50+hrs a week, and rather than have just one day off, she saves her vacation time so that she can take several days off in a row. In April, she told us that she’d have some time coming around her bday, which was Tuesday (which, oddly enough, is also K’s bday). So when we looked at what would work for all involved, a Friday afternoon turned out to be best.

We found a park near L’s office, so that he could just leave work a little early rather than have to take a 1/2 day or whatever, and I packed some snacks, including little cupcakes to celebrate J and K’s bdays (we sent e-cards earlier in the week).

Like I wrote about April’s visit, we weren’t nervous this time–it really is like going to see relatives we see only a few times a year. The only thing we weren’t sure about was G–he and J haven’t been getting along very well lately, and as J has put it, she think it’s sort of the “beginning of the end”. But everyone came, and everyone behaved and the Babe did just fine.

We played on the playground, snacked, and J and I took Z and the Babe around the little lake for a stroll, so we got to talk a little bit without the boys. K commented on all the recent pics on the Babe’s photoblog–she’s a frequent visitor. We hung out for about 1 1/2 hrs, and then the Babe was past tired, so we packed it up.

6.5 hours at the IMA

From there, L took the Babe home, and I moved on to the next part of my day–a girls night out!! I got together with a few friends for a movie under the stars at the Art Museum. They show movies every Friday in the summer–VERY cool. It’s an adult, BYOB type picnic, so I went prepared with an adult beverage cooler and some cheese and bread. Really, what else do you need?!?!

We went a few summers ago as a group, and remember long lines, and the shows selling out and whatnot, so we were prepared this year!! I got there at 5pm, ready to camp out in line…except there was none. The tickets didn’t go on sale til 5:30. So I hung out in the shade, people watching and enjoying the silence. A friend arrived right at 5:30, and she also wondered where the crowds were. But we weren’t taking any chances–we bought tickets for the other 2 in our group, and we went to go stake out a “good” spot on the terrace. We were the 2nd group out there–so we did get a “good” spot!

A museum volunteer did let us in on a secret–since we now observe DST–the movies don’t start til close to 10pm–so the crowds don’t come so soon. After baking in the sun for 3 hours, I can understand why! And really, the crowds never did come–there were no lines for the BR, no lines to buy food, no lines for anything. Very weird, but maybe the subtitles turned people off–who knows.

Regardless, we all had a great time consuming our beverages, snacking and catching up–although we were yawning when Like Water for Chocolate started at 9:40pm!!

As we packed up at 11:30, I did some mental math and realized that I had spent more time at this, my second picnic of the day, than I had at work. Not a bad way to spend a Friday in June.

VIVA LA SUMMER!

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