Saturday, January 30, 2010

Well Who Knew...

Stopping in briefly to report that you can buy B&M Brown Bread in a can at my local Hannaford's. Apparently it is a conspiracy.

It is also on the menu for Tuesday evening when I will prepare baked beans and brown bread in a can for Bob's birthday dinner. Lucky man.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Old business, new business and What is happening to yogurt

In the category of old business, our basement did NOT flood, the sump pump did its job and we are happy. Also, the Instrument of Death for the mice in our basement, i.e. the Zapper, has killed four mice so far. FOUR. I will check and check and go for weeks without anything, and then just like last night, I will find it has zapped one on down the road to the big mouse farm. Yippee for the Zapper.

In newish news, we were on Vomit Watch 2010 for the last few days in our house because on Tuesday I arrived at Coopers school to find that they were on hazmat lock down in his room because one of his friends threw up. ON COOPER. Oh LORD HAVE MERCY this tested the bounds of my love for my child. They had changed his pants, and had given the pants to the friends' parents to wash, which was nice of them but honestly, I never want to see the pants again. I am a WIMP when it comes to vomit. Well, I have gotten better about it since having Cooper, because there is very little you can do when you have an infant or toddler and they are vomiting on you except to take the hit and hose down later. But I very briefly entertained the idea of saying "You can keep him for the next four days" when they told me someone had thrown up on him.

But I didn't. I brought him home and tried not to appear too obvious about attempting to avoid actual contact with him til I could get him home and strip off the clothes and disinfect him. I really should keep a log of things I am pretty sure will come up in his therapy sessions later in life. See how many I get right. The end of this story is that we remain vomit free in our house, for now, and I am pretty sure Cooper still knows I love him.

Now on to yogurt. Has anyone noticed what is happening to individual sized yogurt containers? They are shrinking. 8oz. used to be the norm. Now it is 6. Why? Did someone complain that those 2 extra ounces were unnecessary, going to waste? Oh I know it is about money, but stop it. Because I liked the 8oz. size. There are two places I can still get an 8oz. container - my local Hannaford's store brand yogurt is still 8oz. and Costco's Kirkland brand yogurt is still 8oz. The Shaw's down the street just makes me extra crazy. Not only are ALL of the yogurts 6oz., or smaller in some cases - I mean WHY BOTHER??? - but they almost never have peach LOW fat yogurt. Cooper likes his peach yogurt, but I don't want to buy him the non fat yogurt, or the low sugar sweetened with Aspartame or Splenda business because our family has enough gas already thank you very much. In the event you don't already know this, Splenda can cause serious gas in people, and Aspartame, i.e. nutrasweet, can cause migraines. It's like they are trying to kill me with yogurt. One of the healthiest foods on the planet and they are making it deadly.

I can buy full fat yogurt in the large containers, but they never have that in peach. Vanilla, plain and strawberry, but not peach. Which works for smoothies but not for sending in his lunch.

It is a small complaint in comparison to the struggles of the people of Haiti, I do recognize that. But is it too much to ask that I can find 8oz. peach low or full fat yogurts? Really. And this doesn't even begin to touch the subject of the TOPS on the yogurt containers, or lack thereof. They used to have the foil seal, and a plastic lid. The lid came in handy for two reasons: you could reseal the yogurt if you opened it and then had to stop eating for some reason, and it kept things from damaging the foil seal before you were ready to eat it. I have found upon getting home from shopping that every so often something, likely a fingernail of the odd check out lady at the store, or some other item in my grocery bag, has punctured the foil. Now I am not eating that yogurt at all. It makes me a little angry. Again, Costco wins because not only do their yogurts come in 8oz. containers, they come with plastic lids. AND they come in a package of 12, which has a cardboard layer on top and bottom, so NO ONE is poking their fingers in my yogurt at Costco! The only disadvantage is that I have to go to Costco to buy it, and sometimes that is more of a commitment to shopping that I need to make to buy yogurt.

I guess if this is my only complaint, I am doing pretty well.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

It all started with the Vermont Country Store catalog

There I was, perusing the The Vermont Country Store catalog which is laden with all sorts of fabulous and archaic items like old fashioned candies and Vim and Vigor a tonic that sounds like it cures everything.

Ever so innocently I say "Look, brown bread in a can" to which The Bob says "Oh YUM that is good stuff with baked beans."

The thought bubble above my head looked like this "...."

"What? You have eaten this bread in a can?" I asked. It is made by B&M, the baked bean guys, so I guess it isn't that far out of the realm of possibilities that it was edible. And a good match with baked beans. And I have seen recipes for baking bread in a can, but it had not occured to me to purchase it already in a can, ready to eat. With beans.

Then The Bob proceeds to tell me that Saturday night was baked beans night in his household. Okay, I can buy that. I have heard tales of baked bean dinners at churches. This is New England afterall. I may even have attended one or two in my childhood. My mother can tell us if that is true or not. But that is not where this story ends.

"I used to go to the local bar to get them to go" he added.

Again, "...." ran through my head as I processed this. "You went to a bar to get baked beans" I repeated. Yes was the response. "How old a person were you when you were doing this" I asked. "Oh, I was a kid" he said.

"...."

"Let me understand this. As a child, you left your house, presumably on foot, and went to a local bar to get baked beans to go, and ate them with canned brown bread. Have I got this right?"

"And it was tasty. We should try it sometime" he said.

Now I am not adverse to the idea of eating baked beans and bread. I probably will draw the line at the already prepared in a can brown bread, no offense to the nice B&M people. I even like the idea of making my own baked beans. I don't have a slow cooker though, which probably would make this easier. I did do some research on the whole condept of Saturday night baked beans. This article talks about it being a hold over from Puritan days when a wife would begin cooking the beans Saturday morning, serve them for dinner at the beginning of the Sabbath, and serve them the next day cold or at minimum warm when she shouldn't do any cooking. Even with all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books I have read I missed out on this tradition.

But I am still processing the part where Bob would go to a bar to get them to go. Walking 5 miles, in 3 feet of snow, uphill, both ways. I am sure that is how the story will be told to Cooper.

Monday, January 25, 2010

That sound you hear is my fingers, tapping on the table.

We are currently watching and waiting to see if the $2100 sump pump system we had installed two summers ago, during the Great Flood of 2008, is going to keep up with the torrential downpours we are experiencing. What with the three feet of snow that was in our back yard, and the rain falling on top of it now, it only makes sense that the Pit of Despair would be filling with water.

The Bob has reported in that it appears to be keeping up so far. I would like to sleep through the night without waking every hour from dreams that my basement is full of water and my furnace has shut down, so I hope it stops raining before bedtime.

In other news, I would like to sign Cooper up for gymnastics. Did you know how EXPENSIVE gymnastics classes are, even for toddlers who probably spend most of the time trying to do a somersault (and did you know how hard it is to SPELL somersault without using spell check? Impossible)? In this area, for a 20 week, once a week, session it is close to $500. Seriously. I think it would be a great outlet for him on Saturday mornings, and would help to improve his coordination and balance. He already acts like our living room furniture is a jungle gym. He is VERY strong, and has core strength I can only dream about. Since he was really small but able to sit up he has done the equivalent of baby yoga and baby Pilate's moves. I think it would be good for him, although the idea of getting him to gymnastics for an 8:30am class on a Saturday makes me a little dizzy. But since usually we have been up for 2 hours by that time with him, so why not go to gymnastics.

So who wants to sponsor a future Olympian in gymnastics? I will even put some sponsorship emblems on a sweatshirt for him with your logo or name.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

A new venture

Well, I decided to launch another blog. This one is about that which I spend nearly 80% of my life doing, financial aid. Ask The Financial Aid Expert. I feel slightly pretentious referring to myself as an expert, but I think after 20 years of doing anything, a person is probably an expert in that field.

I have no idea if this new blog will find an audience, but after doing a little poking around, I didn't find one that was well written, by a professional in the field, that wasn't specifically geared toward the students at a particular college. So I went for it.

If you read this blog and know anyone who could use the info offered in my new one, please share the URL with them.

In other news, I have a cold. But I will live. Cooper is considering giving up his afternoon nap, and I am considering selling him to the gypsies. That nap is my sanity on weekends! Granted, it does limit our lives to a certain extent, being locked into a 2 - 3 hour window of sleeping, but it is soooo nice to have that down time to do what we need to without having to run interference with him too. And I think he still needs it. But it was bound to happen eventually. The last three days we have met a lot of resistance to it, but eventually he settles down and sleeps.

And despite my cold I went over to Harvey's house this morning to rehearse some songs for this semester's jazz group. Harvey is the "band leader" if you will of the group. He is a professional musician, and teaches music out of his home as well as through the college. My new favorite song is I've Got the World On a String, which we will sing this semester. FUN!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

On Double Standards and Role Models

Let me start by saying EIGHT HOURS OF SLEEP PEOPLE! I went to bed at 9:15pm last night, and Cooper slept until 5:30am. Today is so much better than the last week has been and that is even with me having caught his cold. He went to school today too. Ahhhh.

Okay, now onto something completely different. Senator Scott Brown. This gentleman just created a huge upset here in Massachusetts by winning the senate seat vacated by Edward Kennedy when he passed away four months ago. Senator Kennedy had held this seat since 1972. His brother John F. Kennedy had held the seat before him. It has been a democratically held seat for decades. And now it is held by a republican. And it is almost all anyone can talk about these days.

What are they NOT talking about? That Scott Brown posed nude in Cosmo when he was in law school in 1982. I personally just found out about this earlier in the week, right before the special election. I am baffled. I am amazed. I am puzzled. Only today on the news did we hear for the first time anyone mention that he had done this spread.

I ask you, if his female opponent, currently the Attorney General of MA, had posed like this for a magazine sometime in her past, would it have gone undiscussed during the campaign? I would put money on NO. Would people be referring to her as a role model to the children of this state? No.

I don't particularly CARE that he posed for Cosmo. And yes, he is a hottie. Hi The Bob. But there is such a double standard in this society it is makes the mind reel. Vanessa Williams was dethroned as Miss America because she had posed nude once upon a time. I mean MISS AMERICA doesn't create laws or political agenda and yet it was disgraceful enough that she posed nude that they took away her crown. But no one mentioned one word of this during the campaign and it is getting almost no traction now.

I am curious how Senator Brown would feel if one of his very beautiful daughters announced that they were going to fund their college education by posing for Playboy or Penthouse or even Maxim. I know you can't unring the bell, and he would probably say he wouldn't do it again if he could go back. It would be the politically correct thing to say. But I am fascinated by the fact that this has gone almost unnoticed. No one is questioning whether he is capable of making proper judgement calls on behalf of the people of MA since he possibly showed poor judgement back when he posed. But if he had been a woman it would have been a death knell for her campaign. No one questions what kind of role model he is for our youth, but if he had been a woman, I would bet people would question it.

So while I am going to hold off on forming any opinions on whether he will be a good and effective Senator, and I don't care what he did over 25 years ago to pay for law school, I mean it was legal after all, and while I give his opponent props for not being the one to bring this into the debate, I am going to continue to be puzzled by the fact it was not mentioned and am unconvinced that it is because as a society we have risen above that kind of thing. I think it is just a plain old double standard.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

This is all I have to say after getting up at 3:30am and trying only partially successfully to get another hour or so of sleep before dragging my ass to work and leaving The Bob in charge for another day.

I am so tired. I haven't felt this tired since Cooper was a tiny baby getting up every four hours to eat. But even then he would eat and then GO BACK TO SLEEP.

I feel badly for him because I know he doesn't feel good, and he isn't eating properly so he is probably hungry. But dear GOD I cannot handle this and I know it is wearing thin on The Bob too.

I hope he is well enough to go to school tomorrow, which will go a long way toward restoring balance in our lives.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Seriously, I should not be allowed out in the world

So today has been fun. It started last night when Cooper finally developed a fever and a fabulous cough that was so bad it made him gag and oh so unhappy. And then he woke up at 4am, for the third day in a row. Wheee. Bob got up with him so I could get a few more hours sleep since I HAD to be at work to deal with all the students who were returning today for spring term. The ones who had no paid their bills and needed more aid. FUN.

I called the doctor's office at 9am promptly, and they saw him and he has strep. Yippee for antibiotics.

In the meantime, I managed to email all of my personally identifiable information to all of the staff and facutly at the college when I sent an email out about hiring work study students and the forms they needed the students to complete. I attached what should have been a blank copy of a W4 but was in fact the one I completed for our HR department earlier this year and had all my info on it. Like my SSN and name and birthdate etc. AWESOME. The IT department is trying to pull it back, but it isn't 100% foolproof.

Sleep deprivation is evil.

Today is the special election in MA to fill the senate seat vacated by the late Ted Kennedy. It is a tight race. I can't decide where I fall on this honestly. There are pros and cons to both candidates. I will probably vote for the Democrat. She most closely represents my priorities. Not that my priorities are the best for the nation. But that is how our government works. Voice of the people etc.

In more fun news, Bossy is going on a cross country NOT a book tour. And she is coming to Boston! And she might hang out with moi! She did a cross country tour once before, on her way to the Blogher conference. Should be a good time. I told her she is welcome to stay with us, that we have a nice guest room with a TV and internet access, and that sleeping with a geriatric beagle who is a bed hog and snores like a dragon with adnoid problems is optional. My only concern is Bossy is by trade an interior designer/painter/organizer and minimal living person. My house is minimal in size, but there is work that needs to be done and well, STUFF is my middle name. I have gotten better with the arrival of Cooper, but we do have clutter. One toddler, three dogs and two adults. Clutter happens.

Anyway, here is to sleeping through the night and no one stealing my identity. Sigh.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

How to occupy your Saturday morning



If you have a toddler who has a cold, you could spend the morning watching A Bugs Life and CARS and having sticker bandaids applied to your leg.

Friday, January 15, 2010

A helping hand

Even though my life is full of anxiety about money, work, or lack of it, and all, I still have a house, a car, food on the table, a husband/partner/friend and a son who are healthy and happy. I have an abundance, my cup overflows.

I have a hard time seeing the news about anyone who is suffering, and obviously what is happening in Haiti is just as hard as any.

There are many ways and opportunities to give, even if it is just $5 to help them. There are some scammers, but there are some legitimate ways - through the Red Cross, The Salvation Army, on Facebook and Twitter, via several cell phone options.

Mrs. G over at The Women's Colony has set up an Oxfam site to accept donations that will go to the efforts in Haiti. I like donating through an organization that is already established and has the organization in place to put that money to use right away and in the ways most needed. If you are so inclined, go here to donate. Her goal is $1000 but I hope she gets more.

And thanks for your comments yesterday! It is fun to see who visits.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Delurking day



Today is Delurking Day in the blogosphere. If you visit blogs regularly, but don't comment or otherwise let people know you visit their blogs, today is the day to say HI! and let them know you are there. I personally would love to know if there are people who read this that I don't know about. So if you are here, reading, and don't mind saying hi, please do.

In other news, I am tired of being hit, accidentally, but still hit, in the face by my child. Do other mothers experience this? The random head butt of enthusiasm, the poke in the eye by a stuffed animal being flung about, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time when a hand is stuck out into space to grab something or push something away. I have been brought to tears twice by a head to the cheekbone. Cooper is a very strong kid, and even in harmless, but very enthusiastic play on the floor with his trucks, or the sudden need to dismount from a cuddle on the couch, my face has been in the way of his head and BA BLAM I am seeing stars and just want to vomit.

This morning was a stuffed animal in the eye. I was changing his diaper and clothes and he decided the guy in his hand should be somewhere else, and TA DA I was in the path of that flying beast. He is only three, so I get that there is a lot to learn about self control and personal boundaries and we work on that all the time. He is very aware when something has happened, and apologizes immediately, but we need to work on the impulsiveness of the actions that lead to mom getting a concussion. I exaggerate a bit.

And finally, Pat Robertson is an idiot. Plain and simple.

Pat Robertsons Haiti comments.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

But I don't WANT to answer the phone

Do you have a person in your life you simply do not want to deal with? Talk to, exchange emails with, no contact at all, but you HAVE to for some reason? I do. At work. There is very little chance she knows about this blog, but in the interest of being polite, I will not mention names or positions. Let's just say she doesn't work in my department, but in one I have to deal with fairly regularly.

I cannot explain how hard it is to talk to her on the phone or even in person for that matter. I hear the words, and if you take them individually, you would swear that yes indeed, she is speaking English. But when she puts them all together in a sentence, she makes no sense. Seriously. I have taken to not answering the phone when I can see it is her - THANK THE GODS for caller ID - which forces her to leave long, practically indecipherable voicemail messages. It isn't a problem of an accent or speaking some other language as her first language. It is just the combination of words that come out of her mouth never seem to go together. And I don't do her job. I never have, so when she references some part of the business that is totally out of my realm of experience, I have no idea what she is talking about.

The first thing that baffles me is that she always says "Hi this is FULL NAME in the XXX office." When you leave a voicemail, the system tells the person listening who called before playing the message. And I have been working with her for 10 years. I know who she is. I even know where she works. I could tell you who it was even if she didn't say her name. But that would be fine if I could actually understand what she wants.

So I end up listening to her voicemail 10 times, and then I ask someone else who knows her well and knows more about the work that department does to interpret, and then I respond by email. Because it is never the end of the discussion, and eventually I am going to have to follow up on a variety of points, and I like to have things in writing, so I can review them and make sure I respond to each one. But even then, when we begin exchanging emails, it doesn't make the pain go away.

Last week, at 4pm on Friday (office close on campus at 4:30) she called me. And called again. She was up against a deadline that was today, and needed info fast. For something I have never had to be involved with before, and couldn't just pull the info for out of my butt instantly. Inevitably when I do try pulling info out of my butt instantly, I end up with, well, shit. So I really try to avoid doing that. I need time to assess what is needed, get the info together and then respond. So a little heads up is always helpful. Eventually I was able to produce the information she needed, but not without some pain. I have estimated that answering her questions takes me 5 times longer than it would if someone else asked me the same questions.

Every time I see her name on my phone or an email pop up, I just put my head on my desk and whimper. And I am not alone. Almost anyone who has had to deal with her has the same basic reaction. Which is sad and comforting all at the same time.

I don't see a solution to this problem, so I will continue to run from my office screaming every time I see her name, but thanks for listening.

Monday, January 11, 2010

What would you say...

This past weekend a bunch of the neighborhood moms and their spouses were going to get together for a dinner out to celebrate one of the families moving to a new house. Since this summer we have had three such events occur. One family relocated out of the state, and that was a big deal, so the dinner was an out on the town event. The next one just relocated to the next town over, so it wasn't like we were not going to ever see them again, in fact they host a new years open house every year and did it again this year. That time we had a BBQ/potluck gathering at one of our houses. It was lovely.

This time the family that moved also only relocated to another town nearby. Chances are we will see them again, but someone suggested another night out on the town. We originally said sure we would go, but then last week, after reviewing our financial situation, I suggested to The Bob that we forgo attending because between a babysitter and dinner for two at this particular restaurant we would spend well over $100, closer to $150 and quite frankly, we had other things we could spend that on that we NEEDED. He agreed, although he is always up for doing something and was looking forward to being out for dinner without our child.

So I emailed the mom who was organizing the evening, and told her the truth. I said that because Bob was essentially still unemployed although working hard not to be, we were continuing to tighten our belts and cutting expenses and because the night out would involve a babysitter etc. etc. we were opting out of going. Hope to see everyone soon otherwise.

And then I was deafened by the absolute silence. No response. No "Oh, okay, too bad, you'll be missed" or "So sorry to hear that, catch you soon" or "Totally understand, no worries". NOTHING.

I am pretty sure that I would have responded with SOMETHING if the tables had been turned. Maybe she just isn't good at sympathy. Or she doesn't like me, which is entirely possible. We don't really click. Which is fine. I don't dislike her, I just don't feel a huge bond. But I do think I still would have said "No problem, see you around".

People continue to puzzle me regularly.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

SAVE TED

If you have never watched it, get thee to Hulu or ABC.com and watch Better Off Ted. It is hands down one of the funniest shows that is currently on TV, or has ever been on TV. It has bizarre plots, and quirky characters, a fun sound track and it doesn't hurt AT ALL that Ted is played by the adorable Jay Harrington III originally of Wellesley MA and an alum of Syracuse University, places that are near and dear to my heart (I live near one and several generations of my family have attended the other, you do the math).



As one character noted in a recent episode, he has perfect hair. And smile. Ahem.

Anyway, it is at risk for being cancelled because it only has a measly 4.89 MILLION VIEWERS. If my blog had that many viewers I could retire. Ted needs us. ABC has decided to "burn off" its remaining episodes in a short time period rather than run them at their regular pace. They are doing the same thing with Scrubs, but I would argue that Scrubs has had its time in the sun and since all the original actors have either left or are leaving soon, it isn't what it once was in its glory days.

But Ted has just begun, it deserves a chance to thrive and make me laugh out loud EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. Seriously. I laugh out loud. The two guys working in the lab are hilarious, and Portia De Rossi's Veronica manages to be a soul sucking, deviously maniacal loon with a heart all at the same time.

The whole show is delicious. Just go watch while you still can.

And here is a short clip from a rehearsal of our jazz group from last month. I have nothing from our actual performances, as The Bob did not go to any of them. He brought Cooper to this rehearsal, and you will hear him quite clearly in it. He has good timing.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Turning disappointment into a delicious treat...in the kitchen.

Over the break I attempted a few different culinary feats that didn't quite work out as planned, but ultimately turned into something delicious.

First was caramel. I wanted to try making it to make individually wrapped candies to give as gifts. I had a recipe from my friend Tammy who has a food blog Food On The Food. It has honey in it, and while she swears her set up, mine did not. I left it in the fridge for 24 hours, and as soon as I cut into it, it oozed back into itself like it had healing powers like the cheerleader on Heros. I don't even watch that show. But it tastes FABULOUS so I decided to just keep the gooey caramel goodness to use other ways. So far the best use has been with corn bread. Seriously, a layer of caramel on the bottom of the dish, corn bread batter on top, and later you have the best damn corn bread you have ever eaten, EVER. It will make its way onto ice cream undoubtedly, and into coffee.

The other thing I tried was butternut squash ravioli. A friend of mine put a recipe on Facebook, and I thought it was simple enough. She used wonton wrappers instead of pasta. This is where I feel the recipe failed. Wonton wrappers when boiled get very floppy. When fried or baked they get all crisp and yummy, but boiled they are not so tantalizing. And they stick together instantly once out of the water, so it just became a weird gloppy, slightly slimy mess. Pasta dough would have been way better, but I don't have a press and at that point, it might be more work than I was interested in doing for ravioli. I know my great grandmother used to make her own, probably rolling it out with a rolling pin on the table. Again, probably more work than necessary for me. But maybe someday I will give it a whirl.

The squash part itself was amazing, and I had far more stuffing than I needed for ravioli, so I made it into soup. If I could have swum in it I would have. The original recipe Toni provided had honey it, so I added more to the rest of the squash along with a half cup of heavy cream (which I had from making caramel, otherwise it would have been 2% milk) and two cubes of chicken boullion, water as needed to thin it and some parmasean cheese. Salt and pepper. There was a hint of garlic from the original recipe for the ravioli. It was so wonderful with a big hunk of crusty bread. I would eat just that for dinner almost any night of the week. To make The Bob happy I have to throw in at least a side salad to round out the meal, but for me that is enough.

So while I cannot say I successfully reproduced either of the original recipes, I ended up with something useful and tasty in the end. The Bob often marvels at how he can look in the fridge and see just a few bits of things here and there, but if I go in there I come out with a meal. And that is what I think the essence of cooking is all about. Taking failed attempts at one thing and making another, making a whole out of little bits and parts. I think there is stew on the menu for tonight or this weekend sometime. I do love winter if for no other reason that SOUP! And STEW! CHILI!

Now I am hungry.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

To sleep, perchance to dream...

Usually I have no problem sleeping. Every so often a gremlin gets in and mucks up the works and causes me issues, but generally Morpheus and I are like *THIS*.

The last few nights have been CA-RAZZY in my head. Two nights ago I woke up every hour beginning at 1:30 or so. When I did sleep, the dreams were bizarre and not in the least restful. Last night I slept, until 2:50am when Poncho, the littlest of the Schnauzers, woke me up whining and crying downstairs. When that happens you get down there as fast as possible because something either has happened or is about to happen in the crate that you do NOT want to clean up. Turns out this was a "has happened" evening. But then he launched himself outside to do more of whatever he needed to do. 20 minutes later I had cleaned up what I could, taken the dog bed out and replaced it with blankets and was back in bed. To sleep fitfully for the next two hours.

The dreaming is the kicker. I have always had very vivid dreams. Much of the time I am not left feeling very rested. I work hard in my dreams, and sometimes it is related to real life stuff, but a lot of the time it is fantastical and bizarre. I will not attempt to reconstruct any for you, as that never goes over well. And dreams are funny. They can be so crystal clear as you are having them, but as soon as you try to find the words to describe them, the images disappear like fog burning off in the sun. I know it was there just a minute ago. It was, I don't know...foggy. With a bit of extra fuzz, and the color of...fog. I swear, it was WEIRD.

The thing I do enjoy about the few times I can't sleep well is listening to the night. Night in the winter is so different from night in the summer. During the winter, at least around New England when there is a foot of snow on the ground, everything is muffled, like you are hearing the sounds through a pillow. Cars squeak by on the road, wind is harsh and makes things snap. In the summer, sounds are clearer, you hear the crickets and frogs chirping, and because of the humidity you often feel just slightly drunk even when you have had nothing to drink. The wind is different, because of the leaves, which are absent in the winter, making so much noise.

I do like sleeping better though. I don't function very well on a cognitive or patience level without adequate sleep under my belt. So here's hoping as the full moon continues to wane I will get more, restful sleep. Full moons always make me more wakeful no matter what time of the year or season. Good night moon.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

How to spend new years day...


Snow on New Years Day

A real yawn




A fake yawn, done for effect, because he wanted to.

Baking zuccini bread, banana chocolate chip bread, and hanging with the Coop. Who, by the way, can fake yawn.