sarahmichelef | Entries tagged with dailylife: miscellanea

I love the peaceful feeling of the first snowfall. Nothing stuck (despite Michael TAUNTING the powers that be... I will have to have a talk with him about that) so it was just pretty while it was falling. I don't look forward to the hassle of dealing with snow that sticks, though.

In honor of the first snowfall (and because dinner plans had hinged on me having made pasta last night and us having leftovers tonight, but instead we had the leftovers last night and didn't have time to make the pasta tonight) we had soup with dinner - carrot/apple/ginger soup which is supertasty. Unfortunately, and I have no idea how this happened because my back was turned, TRex managed to spill her entire bowl of soup all over herself, and it was still pretty hot. So there was a mad dash to get her out of the soup-covered clothes and underwear (she didn' thave any pants on, because she never has pants on if she can help it) and into the tub to get cool water on the affected areas. Thankfully the soup wasn't hot enough to burn her badly - by the time she got her real bath, her skin was barely even more pink than usual.

After bath the kiddo got a haircut. Thank heavens for curly hair that is very forgiving of not perfectly even cuts! I think it will be pretty cute - I'm letting her bangs grow out and they are in an awful getting-in-her-face stage, but there's nothing a haircut can do about that.

Having finished coding the latest batch of data yesterday, I started mucking around with it in Numbers today. Until I decided I needed to sort it. After that it all went downhill, because no matter WHAT I do, I can crash Numbers by asking it to sort the data. I've posted a question on the Apple support forum and I'm sure I'll get yelled at for treating Numbers as if it were Excel (this seems to be a trend on that particular forum, which is quite different than the usual tenor of the Apple support forums). For the time being, I exported to NeoOffice and sorted there, but I'd prefer to do everything in one application. (I know, I'm SO DEMANDING.)

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... is that I feel like I have lots of things I should be blogging about, too! But then I have no inspiration - just none at all. So you get total randomness.

( software I <3 )

( kid & camera )

( what I just finished reading )

And can anyone explain to me why I really can't STAND the process of making the next day's lunches? Seriously, I dread that task every single school night.

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My entire stash of uncut fabric fits in two large space bags.

Does this mean that I am good about not buying fabric all willy-nilly, or that I am clearly a failure as a SCAdian/seamstress?

Things to ponder...

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Today is International Wear a Dress Day, according to A Dress A Day (curse you, siriel, for reminding me of the existence of that blog!) Not being one to flaunt such a mandate, I have on a lovely blue-print faux-wrap dress (the one in this picture) and my tall boots have made their seasonal debut. I love how it's not possible to NOT strut in these boots - so much fun. They are sorely in need of a polishing, though. I'll have to get on that.

The remains of Ike blew through here between about 8 last night and 10 this morning. We lost power for about 5 hours and there are some small branches down around, but it wasn't anything major. TRex woke up around midnight and was scared because her night light wasn't on, so we put the lantern (which has a night light on it) in her room. When we woke again (5:40ish... ugh... though we weren't out of bed for real until 6:20), the power was back on.

The weather did make for our most interesting two-block trek from the train station to preschool yet, though. My kid, like most preschoolers, has exactly two speeds: pokey (as her teacher last year called her) and running. I don't know, maybe she's worse than most four-year-olds (or almost four year olds) in that regard - M has the exact same two speeds, and he isn't four years old. Add in wind and rain and you have a recipe for not getting ANYWHERE very fast. Our commute was further delayed (or, more accurately, had already been delayed) by the fact that there is some construction going on on the train tracks way down at the downtown end of the line. (For those playing along at home, the subway in Buffalo has only one line, which runs from HSBC arena to UB South campus.) So the trains are running only about half as often as they usually do during rush hour (every 12 minutes instead of every 7). by the time the train arrived at University Station, there were as many people on the platform as would fit on a normal train. Only, in a fit of reasonable-ness, the NFTA has made the wise decision to run double-length trains! (Normally they run two cars; both trains that I've taken today have had four cars.) So rather than scrambling for seats for any of us, we had three seats together!

Dude, it's 4 pm. Where did my day go? Eesh.

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Tacos and salad are a win for a quick dinner that makes EVERYONE (grownups as well as the under-four set) happy. Double-bonus for being able to make it taco SALAD for those of us who are doing WW.

TRex and KidP are hilarious - she is just enough older than he is that he pretty much wants to follow her around and do everything she does except he's also a LITTLE shy when they're at our house and she was exceedingly enthusiastic about him being here that she was overwhelming him a little bit. But dinners with guests are SO much easier when there's another kid and we can stash them at the kiddie table and they can entertain each other while the adults do the same.

It has actually been a very busy and social week for us. We had open house at preschool on Tuesday, and then the G's came over to have dinner and inherit baby stuff last night (quote of the night: TRex looks at MG and says, "when he [the baby] comes out, will you be his daddy?"). There are now NO MORE INFANT CLOTHES IN OUR HOUSE. And then tonight the P family came over and tomorrow is Summer's End and yes, we are insane.

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It is threatening to be fall here... needing a light jacket in the mornings; today I have on woolen trousers and long sleeves and I have not been swelteringly hot (though it was too warm for my awesome baby-blue trenchcoat by the time I left the gym at 10 am). Somehow I manage to be surprised twice a year to re-discover that the winter->spring and summer -> fall transitions are my favorite "seasons".

We have a bunch of projects going on around the house.

The bleeping leak in the second floor bathroom came back AGAIN and we threw our hands up and called a new plumber. He took a look and discovered that there's a blown gasket on the drain overflow thingy at the very least - they're coming to cut up the ceiling, take a closer look, and fix it tomorrow. That means that tonight M and I will be moving the bulk of the resident electronics (printer, my iBook, his old laptop, the video camera) to safer ground tonight and probably also the books that are scattered all over the place. This is in anticipation of re-arranging the room in a way that will make it a less-private guest room but a better-functioning study (including, possibly, a networked printer, yay!). And, sorry houseguests, but our daily use trumps your occasional use.
We are doing a very thorough weeding and mulching of all of the garden spaces. On Labor Day, I planted a bunch of crocuses and 15 hyacinths for next spring.
Last night I did the final sanding on the drywall repair in the laundry room/future playroom and we have paint chips hanging on the wall in there so we can assess color choices. If TRex had her way it would be a very mardi-gras room; the carpet is a kind of neutral green (more or less this color) and she does want it to be purple. We are going to oblige her in that wish, but she is not getting the deepest purple on the paint chips like she wants. I think it might be fun to do an accent wall in one of the slightly deeper shades, but I'm not sure M will be down with that. Even if I do, it will be something of darkness number 2 on the card. I am gravitating towards the cooler purple tones due to the green carpet.

I had other things I wanted to say but I forget them now. Oh well. Back to thinking about how bloggers define "private".

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There was a weekend. In that weekend there was errand-running, kid-napping, kid-painting (she did the painting, not us painting her), playing, a VERY wet MoD Family Teams picnic, working, sewing, watching of football and tennis (I was up late last night not only because I had a caffeinated beverage at 9:30 pm but also because my Tennis Girlfriend was about to win her 3rd U.S. Open).

During naptimes Saturday & Sunday I got the bolero for TRex's birthday dress done and the bodice mostly put together. I might rip out and re-do the zipper, though, because it doesn't look as nice as I would like it to. I remembered why I do 13th century stuff in the SCA... sewing curves makes me CRAZY! But I popped the mostly-done bodice over her head yesterday afternoon, and it's going to fit just fine. I am the queen of pattern-tetris - I had bought the quantity of fabric that Simplicity said I needed to make a 3 but I managed to cut a 4 out of it, so she should be able to wear it next summer, too.

And then there's the fashion.. I'm looking for any excuse I can come up with to wear my fun red flats, so today it's a chocolate-brown shirt, glen plaid pants and red-and-brown accessories.

This whole week promises to be insane. Tomorrow we have to go vote in the local primaries (there are hot primary races for DA and Family Court Judge; I don't know if our state senator is opposed in the primary but I haven't seen any evidence that he is) and then TRex has a swimming lesson after school and it's open house night at school which we both want to go to. So we'll see how all that shakes out in terms of dinner and transportation and so on. Then we have dinner guests on Thursday and Friday (Friday is the P family; they're low-maintenance and I think I'm going to make tacos) and Summer's End is on Saturday. Hrm, I had hoped to have an award medallion done for the A&S on Saturday; we'll have to see if I can make that happen. If not, oh well! I'll show the embroidery as it stands right now - it's only been displayed at Pennsic, not locally yet.

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Pennsic stuff is packed except for toothbrushes, pillows, and food.

Stuff for the kiddo for OK is packed except for toothbrushes, hair stuff, toys, and the new portable DVD player. (Did I mention that my iPod got either lost or stolen last week? Rargh... so angry with myself about that...)

TRex is napping, I'm watching TLC daytime and putzing on the Internet... later I will wash the child and we will finish cleaning the house (P's are coming over for dinner tonight and crashers will be here tomorrow night).

Relaxing day, oh yeah. And now Miss Thing is waking up.

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We had a very chill weekend... it was quite nice in advance of the madness that is coming.

Saturday was errands in the morning, then a nap for TRex while M and I did various things around the house (like sorting through the giant pile of software CDs in the study and throwing way approximately 2/3 of them, as well as salvaging data from & wiping 8 100 MB zip disks), and then we went to the pool with the P family until it decided to pour on us. I had mis-remembered T's age - he just turned two, not three... but my confusion was forgiven as he is nearly as big as TRex and at least as coordinated. She woke up this morning declaring, "I like T!" In the evening, M and I cooked some food (he made his special Gen. Tso's Chicken, for which I can post the recipe if anyone wants (and if I haven't previously) and I made pasta sauce in an attempt to use up the fresh oregano we brought back from MD and then I kicked his butt at Bust a Move for a while.

Sunday M & TRex went to donuts, I did some yoga, we lounged around, splashed in some puddles. We took advantage of having a monstrous vehicle (our rental replacement while the Outback is getting its side panels and door skin replaced) and M went out and bought the extension ladder we've been needing for a while and then he fixed a drainpipe and cleaned out the gutter underneath the neighbor's ancient maple tree. We spent some time watching the clouds, idly weeding in the gardens (and M cleared out the joint between the curb and the street, which is the most fertile soil in our entire yard, I swear), going for a walk around the block.

It was nice not to be out DOING all day Sunday, even if the DOING is just going to the pool.

This morning M took TRex to school on the bus-and-train and I had breakfast with

spanish_rhode and her hubby. And now I'm back to dissertating.

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There are so many dirty dishes you don't have a place to put the clean ones as you take them out of the dishwasher! (I like to stack the plastic stuff before carrying it all across the room.)

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Finally saw Garden State this weekend (M and I had our anniversary chinese take out and a movie Saturday night). Loved it with huge big piles of loving.
In research news, I closed my survey last week and have started coding data. Whoohoo!
The reunion of the original cast of Rent was underwhelming. Am I wrong in thinking that Jesse L. Martin was in the original cast? Because he certainly wasn't on stage last night (but Taye Diggs in glasses and a bow tie? hee! so much adorable!)

Also, we are probably in the minority in America in having felt torn between watching the Tonys and the basketball game. Plus I had baronessmartha telling me I need to watch In Plain Sight as well.

I am feeling very productive today, despite having not actually done much but swim most of a mile.

It is to the point that the only part of swimming which I don't enjoy is dealing with my goggles. I have NEVER liked goggles, but I also really can't stand water in my eyes (like, even in the shower, I can't stand water in my eyes). And the goggles I have, well, I can't go more than about three laps (half a lap of freestyle) before I have water sloshing in my eyes. It's annoying.

We have pretty much decided that we are going to be a public-transit family come fall, as much as we can. M will buy two metro passes through work (pre-tax, whoo!) and we will make use of the handy park&ride lot at UB on a daily basis. So, yay for that.

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BRT yesterday, I already linked the pictures. We had fun. TRex refused to nap, like you do, and passed out in the car on the way home, like you do.
We had a small caulk failure in the upstairs bath. I think I have licked it; we will know for sure tomorrow or Tuesday when I shower in there.
When TRex and I traded bedroom/sewing room, one of the challenges was closet space. See, the closet in the small room (now my sewing room) is under the eaves, and the hanging bar is about 4' off the ground. There is a row of hooks in the tall wall, though, and so when we first swapped I just put all of our long tunics on hangers on the hooks. That proved to be untenable, though - if a garment was at the back of a hook, I couldn't get to it without taking everything in front of it down, and the clothes blocked access to other stuff in the closet. So today I got a standalone rack and moved things around a bit to make space for the rack (the bookcase was in pretty much the only place where the rack could go). Thus far, it's working fine - I'm reserving judgment because this rack got mixed reviews on the Target website.
There's something to be said for lounging in bed with a laptop, a beverage, and a sporting event about which you could not care less as background noise on the tv.
TRex has no school tomorrow. It is supposed to be 90 again. If we don't end up over at her friend J's house in their pool, I'm willing to put money on at least one of us being out in the sprinkler at some point during the day.
Oh! Last week we got an e-mail from my FIL telling us that he (and all of us by extension) had been invited to join a nine-day trip to India over Christmas/New Year's 2009-2010. At this point, it seems like we are going to try to go. ZOMG!

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I feel like our car has been through a Subaru rite of passage today: First time a bike carrier got strapped to the back. I was unable to get both of our bikes on there, so I just took mine to the shop. Bike Shop Guy tried to convince me that I could buy a new bike comparable to mine (Huffy cruiser, bought ... six years ago or so) for what it will cost to get mine running. I told him I don't care about the cosmetic rust, I just want it to go. Guess what, I will owe them under $65 when I pick it up in a couple of days and the CHEAPEST bike on the Target website is $100. So somebody needs to stop looking down his nose at my Target bike. ;^)

The worthwhileness of investing in fixing up the bikes was confirmed when it cost me $50.53 to fill up the tank of the car. Here's hoping that tank will last us a while! I am kicking myself because I forgot the milk coupon that I had, so I couldn't hit Tops on this trip. I will go either tomorrow when I go out to transport TRex to or from school, whichever half I do tomorrow, or if it's rainy when pickup time comes, we'll stop tonight, as there's a Tops right by the train station.

Also, this took some talent and made getting TRex to school this morning something of an adventure.

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10 hours at the computer + intermittent jackhammers and other plumbery noises in the basement all day + no functioning toilet since about 11:30 = a very tired me

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