M K Relates

Filling our freezer

2008-07-16T16:42:00.003-04:00

I love early summer! We're enjoying all sorts of fruits, and stocking the freezer for later, and the best part of it is how much of this we're doing for free!

First were the strawberries from our own garden. We ate berries each evening when they came in, and then cut up however many didn't get eaten and put them in the freezer. I think we ended up with about a quart there. Not anywhere near the quantity that we typically use in our smoothies over the course of the year. Darn those slugs!

James found a plum tree at work that no one seemed interested in. . . so home came those free plums to be pitted and frozen. The final count there-three tubbies of 1 1/2 quarts each. Those go into smoothies because they're a bit too tart to eat plain.

Peaches showed up at the farmers' market last weekend, and when we asked for a bushel we were told we had to wait until early August when the freestone peaches come in. But then he offered us seconds at two quarts for $5, rather than $7 a quart for the pretty ones. Some of the seconds were bruised, some just had spots on the skin. We only ended up with three that were too bruised to salvage the majority of them. Final count-over 18 lbs of pieces to freeze for $15. Those are primarily for smoothies, but will also be used in cobblers during the winter. We'll continue collecting and processing seconds through the season. It's much easier to do the smaller batches than it was to do the whole bushel+ we did over three days last summer.

Best of all, the wine berries (wild raspberries) are ripe. We made the twins join us to pick them before they went over to their dad's house weekend before last, and brought home a quart and a half. James and I picked another three quarts on Sunday, and James had done another picking trip one evening while I was at kung fu. It looks like something in the neighborhood of five quarts in the freezer, not including all the ones eaten fresh. There's nothing quite like berries that make it from branch to belly in ten seconds! We haven't taken bowls to pick berries on our walks since Sunday, but have each picked and eaten almost a cup each evening. Life is good!

Next up. . .blackberries! (We found the first dozen or so ripe ones last night, so I'm sure James is going to be out picking those while I'm at my sisters. He's the real blackberry fan in the house, but Samuel gives him some good competition for the berries.)

My favorite beekeeper

2008-07-16T16:42:00.000-04:00

James is really enjoying his bees, but he has learned to put on his hat and shirt when doing major work in the hives. This time he was moving a bar of brood (eggs & larva) from the strong hive to the weaker one.

Isn't this a nice looking piece of comb?

Kung fu

2008-07-16T14:42:00.001-04:00

Samuel figures he's safely too far ahead of me in kung fu for me to catch up with him before he graduates, so I started this spring. I found that I had too much on my plate and skipped April, but was ready to test for my yellow sash in June. This is me doing my form at testing.

Samuel looks much better doing his forms, but he should. His final test (of 6!) to earn his black sash (after four & a half years) will be the 26th of this month. I love watching him! He moves with such grace and style.

Celebration-5/60/261

2008-07-11T22:15:00.002-04:00

Five years/Sixty months/Two hundred sixty-one weeks since the wonderful afternoon that James and I gathered with F/friends and family to make our commitment to each other, and we're even more certain now than we were that afternoon!

It is wonderful to have found this man to be my love, my partner, and my best friend. I do so appreciate the relationship and life we are building together, and it was fun to hear my mom comment on it when I talked to her this afternoon.

I'll get pictures and news of other happenings up tomorrow, but wanted to post a quick acknowledgment of this wonderful day tonight.

(And how have we spent our anniversary? Well, I've had both orthodontic and dental appointments in the last two days, so my mouth is tender, so we had a simple -soft!-supper and watched the tape of today's Tour de France race segment, then took Torri and her friend Alex to get free little slurpees from 7-11.)

Miriam!

2008-05-06T21:01:00.003-04:00

Finally, here's a picture from Miriam's dancing at the school Russian Night.

Safely Home

2008-05-05T05:52:00.004-04:00

This is James, putting the new queen cage into one of his top bar hives. After spending most of a year (because he got taken with the idea too late to start last year) learning about bees and building the top bar hives, James spent Thursday-Saturday on a driving trip down to Georgia to buy his small-cell, and very docile!, bees. While there he learned how to make queen cups and cages, and all sorts of other useful tips. We wore the bee veils while loading the boxes into the hives, but haven't worn them since.
Now I get to tease him about the "exciting Sunday afternoons sitting there watching the bees buzz" (I'll get a picture one of these days!), and the eco-logic of driving twenty hours to buy four pounds of bees, and "interstate trafficking in captive females" (since they didn't get many drones into those cages). But I'm fascinated also, and looking forward to having our own pollinators and honey.
James has really upped the food production in the yard this year, or at least the food planting! We'll see what produces throughout the year. The kale from last fall is still producing, but is going to flower at this point. We're enjoying making smoothies with our fresh chocolate mint and berries foraged and frozen last year- really yummy!
I'm wrapping up my first year as a PhD student. My big paper for this semester is the proposal for my "thesis" due next April, but which I hope to complete over the summer or early next fall. I sent the first "complete" draft off to both professors who'll be grading it and my advisor, as well as the group of colleagues who'll be discussing it in our seminar this Thursday. I'll be expanding and reshaping it all week as I receive feedback, but my stress level has gone way down with that step completed. Beyond that, all I have left is creating a poster with my preliminary statistical analysis for Thursday's class, and grading students' papers before Friday.
We're looking forward to a visit with James's folks, and while there will be planning another trip to help move his grandmother to an apartment close to where they live until she can get into a senior living facility. Granny's having some health issues and is finding her big house too much to take care of and too isolating. At the same time, it's really hard to leave the house Grandpa built for her almost 50 years ago!
The kids are pretty much just keeping on. I do finally have the picture of Samuel's testing at Jing Ying. That's Samuel at the top, standing on Jose's shoulders- something they've been planning since they tested for , I think.

Kids and kin

2008-04-16T12:48:00.003-04:00

Samuel (and two friends) started testing for his black belt in kung fu in February. At Jing Ying, testing to Black is a 6-12 months long process. Besides demonstrating excellence in the forms, including multiple weapons forms, the students also take responsibility for teaching others. It’s wonderful to see how much Samuel has enjoyed and accomplished over the last four+ years that he’s been studying here. I really appreciate the family feel of the school.

I tried to start kung fu last month, but reality intervened this month, and I’ve postponed that adventure until next month- when I’ll have more time during the summer (yeah, right!) to get into the groove there. Samuel had figured he’s far enough ahead of me that I wouldn’t be able to catch up with him. . . James just wondered when/how I was going to fit it into my schedule. (You can say “I told you so” now, darling.)

Miriam has been busy with learning Russian dances for a performance this weekend. I’ll try to get a picture of that posted, but you’ll be more likely to see it on James’s blog first!

Kyle called James on St. Patrick’s Day, just before he headed out for a band trip to Florida, and then was going to be heading to Ohio Valley University this month for a Bible Bowl event.

Liza was out for a quick visit last month, and it was wonderful to see her! She’s taking a photography class at the local community college, and busy with plans for next Fall.

Tori’s working and taking classes and dancing and still finding time to travel to dance weekends and drop everything to come down and be here for her little sister when Miriam needed her.

That’s one of my biggest joys. I enjoy the relationships I have with my kids, and treasure the time we spend together, but I am still the parent. There are times when I have to push or set a boundary, and there’s an imbalance in our relationship because of our role differences. It makes my heart sing to see how close the kids are to each other. I love my sibs, and am so glad to have them in my life. I’m thrilled to see my own kids growing into strong relationships also.

Last Friday James and I drove down to Alexandria to watch Aria’s theatrical debut. She was a spider in her elementary school production of Sleeping Beauty-the Enchanted story of Princess Briar Rose. It was a fabulous production, put on at the high school!, with live music and incredible performances. Aria was spectacular! She takes after her Aunt Becky in her delight at being in the spotlight (but I’m her favorite aunty because I was there!).

I’m so glad we live close enough to Rob & Lisa to enjoy watching their kids grow up! We were down last month for our annual Epilepsy Walk adventure, this time representing SeizureTracker.com! James and I were brochure distributors extraordinaire (“Have you heard about SeizureTracker.com yet?”). I’m so proud of what Rob and Lisa have done with that project! They’re fabulous parents, especially with all that they have going on with keeping their brilliant kids challenged while managing Evan’s medical needs. And somehow they’ve created time to develop this site and provide this service for others.

Our own beautiful corner of the world

2008-04-16T12:46:00.001-04:00

James and I are enjoying the bursting Spring as we take our walks around the neighborhood. I haven’t had much time for gardening, but we did stop by Homestead Gardens Saturday and picked out a few plants. James got them all planted Saturday afternoon while I was doing my homework. We also picked up hyacinths in a pot for my desk at work (almost too fragrant for the enclosed space!), and another orchid for James’s collection. (Is it fair of me to encourage him to buy another one, and then tease him about doing so???)

Last night was just about the first time I did anything in the garden besides enjoy it. . . I took a few minutes and untangled the kiwi vines and wrapped/tied them further up the arbor. I had taken a few minutes last week to pollinate the peach blossoms (all 7 of them!) with a paintbrush since we hadn’t seen any bees around at that point, and helped a bit with planting peas last month, but James is doing most of the garden work these days.

James will be driving down to Georgia to pick up his special small-cell bees sometime in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully they’ll be well established by next Spring, and I won’t have to hand pollinate the peaches then.

We’ve accomplished one goal: eating something fresh from the garden every month of the year. We had fresh kale and black-eyed peas for dinner last Saturday (and lunch on Monday!) and I just harvested the last of my wintergreen berries. We may have strawberries before the end of the month. There are a few blossoms already. The peach tree and our bush cherries have blossomed. The apple and pear trees, along with the figs, kiwis, grapes, wolfberry, & quince are beginning to leaf out. The blueberry bushes are loaded with blossom buds. We’re going to thin those a bit, but will let them bear some this year.

James cleared the pachysandra from another bed in the front so that he could use that space for growing food.

Our frogs made it through the winter, and we even had a pair of wood ducks stop by for a visit to the pond last week. I was hoping they’d stay around and eat slugs, but haven’t seen them since. (Anyone know where I can buy slug-eating beetles???)

We’re looking forward to showing off our gardens, and are busy plotting ideas to share with my brother Chuck. He just bought another five acres- and has to hurry and get the gardens laid out before that plot gets infested with the equine epidemic that got his first lot. I figure that we’ve got four kinds of apples and four pears and a peach on our 1/5 of an acre. He can have lots more in an orchard in one corner, and still have room for his hops and salsa gardens. And he already has a handy source of manure to enhance the soil! I overheard James trying to talk him into a couple of beehives. . .

Catching up-school stuff. . .

2008-04-16T12:37:00.003-04:00

After two months without blogging, I guess I’d better do a bit of catching up. This post is about my school stuff. I’ll do another one about the garden and a third about the kids.

School is going well, but keeping me very busy. I really set myself up for a challenge this semester when I carried a research project over from last semester, and then just kept complicating my life- with a trip to Hawaii and then taking an extra class- but that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who knows me.

The research project was for my Sociology of Mental Health class, and I thought it would be interesting and relevant to research the long-term mental health consequences for children whose parents divorce. Interesting? Maybe. But definitely NOT fun, and way too close to home. As the original due date approached, I thought I’d change topics, but then I couldn’t get timely access to materials for my alternate topic (the University of Maryland doesn’t do much with Appalachia), and just before school resumed in January I admitted I’d be better off going back to my original topic, even if things with Kyle seemed to “blow up” every time I got into my research. I did finally finish that paper over Spring Break. The good news is that the vast majority of children whose parents divorce end up in the “normal” range as young adults (up to about age 30 is as far as the research goes), with about 10% moving from a low normal range to display clinical-level depression at some point in their twenties. Much of that seems to be related to their exposure to continuing parental conflict, or loss of relationship with the non-custodial parent (hence the personal relevance particularly with Kyle’s absence).

While post-divorce parenting questions were my motivation for returning to school, I won’t be following that path unless I can find a team to work with on relevant issues. It’s just “too close to home” at this point in my life. I joked about studying sex, since it’s much more fun, but I think I’ll be doing more with education or work-life balance issues, and probably involving the military. We have a fabulous Military Sociology program here at UMCP, and the advisors are tremendously helpful. It’s also the community with the most “older” students, and I’m quite comfortable there. I realized the other week that I’ve carried a dependent’s ID card for all but 8 years of my life!

Which leads me to another factor that complicated this semester: taking an extra class. The program pays for 10 credits/semester- three courses and a seminar that meets once/week or every other week & has minimal homework. My courses this semester are: second semester Statistics (Multiple Regression Analysis), the core course for Gender, Work & Family (only taught in alternate years), and the new Survey of Research Methods course that is designed to introduce us to various research methodologies and to help us prepare our proposal for the Second-Year Paper (Master’s Thesis equivalent but designed to be just about ready for submission to a journal for publication). Typically students also take Contemporary Theory Spring semester of their first year, but I couldn’t fit it in and it’s offered every year so that got postponed. I also had to postpone taking the Military Families course that I’d wanted to help with my research for next year.

. . . I asked Mady Segal for some guidance on foundational readings for my research on the impact of parental military service on children’s educational attainment. She first suggested that I scan the course syllabus, and then talk to some students who’d taken her course in the past. Then she thought I’d be better off if I audited the course this semester- do all the readings and attend seminar, but save the papers for some later time and get credit for it through Independent Study credits at that time.

The official “seminar” this semester for our cohort was a statistical analysis programming workshop (STATA). “Unofficially” I’m also in the Military Sociology seminar that all of the MilSoc folks attend, whether or not we’re registered, AND the Works-in-Progress seminar that meets every other week to discuss individual student research projects.

So, I’ve ended up doing most of the work for four classes, and that after taking a ten-day trip to Hawaii for most of the first two weeks of the semester! No wonder I’ve felt a bit busy.

Fortunately I’m figuring out how to play the grad school game more comfortably. The reading is easier now that I’ve learned the jargon and format of the articles. I am having fun.

It looks like I’ll be teaching my own class next Fall. I’ve tried to talk my way into a research position, but keep hearing that they have me in mind to teach. . . So this summer I’ll be preparing for that, plus creating my own mini-research experiences. One of the profs in our department is working on a Community Greens project in Baltimore and needs interviewers, so I jumped on that. And I’ll probably be helping with coding and analysis of another qualitative research project over in the Family Studies Department. Then trips to Colorado to help Becky with her yard, Boston for the American Sociological Association annual meeting in August, and Baltimore Yearly Meeting the week after that. No time to get bored here!

A trip to Paradise

2008-01-31T17:52:00.000-05:00

They keep telling me they hope the weather improves (warms up) while I'm here, but gee, it's January and I'm running around in shorts and short sleeves. What's a little tropical breeze or occassional showers?

Lunch yesterday was a box of sushi and haupia malasadas (think doughnuts filled with coconut pudding). Dinner was more vegetable tempura than I could finish because Paul, Millie and Edwin all gave me most of their tempura from their combination plates. They are having trouble with understanding how I get enough to eat on my vegan diet. And I found dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts that are vegan too!

Paul's doing well recovering with surgery. The doctor cleared him for most activities except lifting/pushing/pulling. That means he's home in his place, but cleaning up and replacing kitchen gear after the remodeling effort are off limits. I wiped out the cabinets yesterday. We'll start putting things away after his nap. (I've been working on school stuff all morning, and he was ready for a rest by the time I got that part done yesterday.)

When Becky called yesterday, she asked if I'd gotten the bathroom done too. Gee, Bec, who's the bossy one? Three thousand miles away and she's still telling us what to do! (Love you bunches!)

It is good to have this opportunity to spend time with Paul, and to be able to give back some small measure of what he's given us over the years. It's interesting how this came up as I was considering what it means to be family, both in who is family and what we do with and for each other. But that's for another post.

"Can I tell you 'sumping '(something)?"

2008-01-25T21:58:00.000-05:00

I've enjoyed spending the last two days with my niece and nephew, Aria and Evan. Evan is the one who enjoyed the miraculous improvement in his epilepsy after his surgeries last November, and is still doing physical therapy four times/week. Thus, when both Mom and Dad have to work, they need to find more than day care, they need a chauffeur! With this being my last week of winter break before I head back to class, I got to play "Aunt Mary to the rescue!"

I also cleared a box of books that our kids have outgrown and were ready to share with their cousins. At just four years old, Evan read me two books this afternoon. He was thrilled to find some books that looked interesting to him in that box. Most of the books on his level had already migrated down there for Aria when she was at that stage.
Now in kindergarten, and just turned six at Christmastime, Aria is a voracious reader. She discovered the Magic Tree House books-chapter books at a 3rd grade independent reading level, and devoured the first one in less than an hour and a half- all by herself! I took advantage of a few minutes while Evan was occupied with his trains to have her read for me. She sight read the first few pages of one of the American Girl books, totally new to her, with great expression. This is NOT a kindergarten or even first-grade level book! I don't know how her teachers can challenge her at all in the regular classroom! While her class is learning to count to 100 by tens, at dinner tonight we were working on counting to a thousand by hundreds, and then taking it all the way to a million. The kid is a sponge!

Meanwhile, Evan never stops talking or singing. And, being very polite, he checks to make sure you're really listening. . ."Can I tell you sumping?" "Did you see my fish? Isn't he cute?!"(complete with a cute squinch of his face and shoulders) "Can I tell you sumping?" "I love my new Little Blue Engine that Could." "Can I tell you sumping?" etc. (Lots of etc!)

It's so much fun to live close by, and to be able to enjoy watching them grow up!

Evan, can I tell you sumping? I love you! (And you too, Aria!)

More project pictures

2008-01-21T16:46:00.000-05:00

I've been busy working on more projects! (James is making comments about how productive I get when I'm avoiding things. Whatever paper could he be referring to??? Certainly not the divorce and mental health paper I have hanging around. I deliberately choose not to work on that one when the family's home!)
This is the skirt I made for Tori, out of the remainder of the fabric from her Ball dress. There are 16 panels, so it's almost a circle, or a circle and a half!, skirt. It should twirl nicely when she's dancing.

I hope she'll enjoy dancing in this skirt! And if she doesn't, Miriam has already registered an intention to borrow it, so I'm sure she'll be glad to take it off Tori's hands.

We had a lovely time dancing with her and the twins at the contra dance at Glen Echo on Friday night. Miriam's knee was bothering her a bit, so she didn't dance as much as the rest of us did, but Samuel and James and I had a blast! Our friend, Steve Hickman, was one of the band members, and when Steve's on fiddle the music's always fantastic!
Here are the six zabuton pillows I got covered on Saturday afternoon, before we ran over to Columbia to hang out with Lee & Jon and their kids. I do so enjoy having family (by blood or by choice!) nearby, and being able to be a part of their lives as the kids grow up! It's hard to believe the twins are almost six. I remember when they were tiny and we propped them up with their giant teddy bears and took a picture of all the twins together! Now even baby Daniel's almost two, and the twins are reading!

Here's a picture of Miriam wearing the new lounge pants I made for her after I finished the skirt and before I changed to the navy thread to make the zabuton covers and our curtains. I have another pair of pants to make for her, and a pair for James, and several for Samuel- who is growing like a weed and needs comfy pants to sleep in.

I made the blue curtains for our bedroom yesterday, and then got to tease James because he hadn't obtained the cup hooks to hold the tiebacks by the time the curtains were finished, and he'd had a whole week's notice. He said something about my not usually finishing a project that quickly, but I must be mistaken! . . .Okay, so how long ago did I finish the red bedding set for the library (since back in the time when Kyle was visiting regularly!), and have had the fabric for the curtain sitting around since then. But I got that finished this afternoon too!

The curtains did a wonderful job of darkening our room, and kept it warmer, too!

The red curtains in the library will block the streetlight and let our guests sleep without hanging a towel in the window!

Projects galore!

2008-01-17T13:20:00.000-05:00

After completing much of the last curtain panel at the Christmas Country Dance School (aka CCDS, while in seated classes or gatherings), I finally tied it off on the 5^th. Here is a picture of the first and last panels for our bedroom, hanging in the window. I made the second and third panels wider, and then had to make this one wider still for balance. It’s still not exactly the same, but that’s the delight of handmade, right?

Being on a crocheting binge, I stopped by Joann’s to pick up some other yarns to make a couple of vests. I got this one finished in about three hours. Two strands of yarn and a big hook make things go quite quickly. I love the depth of colors that comes from combining the two different blue yarns. If I use this pattern again, I’ll make the shoulder straps shorter, and probably approach it a bit differently, but I rarely follow a pattern anyway.

I’m working on another vest, made with black chenille with little specks of color. I’ll post a picture when I finish that one. It’s rather bulky, so I’m still carrying my ball of thread and the tiny needle when I go out. I am almost finished with a doily that I started in Meeting for Business on the sixth. I’ll post a picture when I finish it. I don’t use doilies around the house, so if someone wants to use it, let me know. If not, I’m thinking about putting it in the auction for the scholarship fund at this year’s CCDS.

The major project for this week was Tori’s gown for the Midwinter Ball. The theme is the Roaring Twenties, and she wanted a flapper dress. Now, if it were that simple, she could have borrowed Aunt Lisa’s flapper dress, but no! Being the princess (or whirling dervish?) that she is, Tori wanted it to have a twirly skirt that hid when she was standing still, so that the dress maintained the lines of the flapper style! Okay, have you ever tried to find a pattern for a flapper dress in January? Maybe in August or September, when people are working on Halloween costumes, but not January. No big deal. I am an old pro at making costumes, and it’s basically a sac, right? We found a delightful fabric in the red tag section on Saturday, and all those fabrics went on a further 50% markdown with the new sale on Sunday, so we set it aside.

I used muslin to make a mockup, and it worked pretty well. I was awake for hours two nights in a row, waking from dreams trying to figure out the geometry of a hidden twirly skirt. (The things we do for our kids!) After trying two (or three, depending on how you count it) variations on the muslin skirt, we were ready to cut the real fabric.

Lots of pressing and trying it on, (the fabrics hang very differently!), we ended up with a quite satisfactory dress, and I made a little clutch purse to match. I think the socks really make the outfit, don't you?

(Sorry about the gap on the page. I can't figure out how to make it go away.)

I didn’t have the right serger thread, so Tori took Miriam out to get that, and bought her flannel to make lounge pants and a soft top to sleep in. Then there are Samuel’s lounge pants, and the curtains full-length blue curtains to hang over the café curtains in our bedroom, and the ones that have been waiting to be made for the library/guest room so we can take down the towel to keep the streetlight from shining in that window, and the covers for the zabuton (floor pillows) because we like to sit on the floor, and need them if we’re going to host teen parties very often, and . . . etc.

Where has my break gone??? School resumes in another week and a half. I’ve missed having the time to do these creative projects during the semester. It’s fun to look at something I’ve made and think “I did that!”

What's up around here???

2007-11-24T18:58:00.001-05:00

For those of you who don't follow James's blog, here's what we've been up to lately:

James has been building things for the house, like beehives (which will require a trip to GA in the spring to pick up the special organic bees!). . .

a sign with our house number from scrap wood scavenged from a flooring company on his way to work. . .

and a cat tree and shelves for Kit. . . but she's not so sure about this whole thing.

He's also really gotten into orchids, and displaced my seed starting shelves to set up adjustable shelves for his orchids. He took all four of my seedlings' grow lights to light his orchids. He's bought hundreds of containers . . . because they were only sold in units of one gross (12 dozen!) to hold the clay pellets he bought to grow the orchids semi-hydroponically. And then bought a few clay pots- to tie the orchids to the outside! I do tease him, but I get to enjoy having something blooming almost constantly, and I did pick out four at the orchid show and bring one home from a neighbor's house, so I can't complain too much. I don't complain at all, except for the teasing. He needs something to keep him busy while I'm playing in my PhD program, or he'll build something else huge to fit in the living room!

Tori spent September and October working at the Renaissance Festival, and we got to see her every weekend, since we live closer than she does! With the aggravations of her office job increasing, she's considering a switch. . . buying a pick-up truck and traveling the faire circuit, working a faire on the weekends and either freelancing or working temp during the week. My vagabond daughter!

Tori and Liza are saving money to take a month or so this summer and go vagabond in Europe together. I'm so glad they enjoy each other's company!

Liza's doing some general education courses and nannying for her aunt, while her uncle is in Kuwait. It has its advantages. . . for her-income to buy a computer and soon a quality SLR digital camera, for me-appreciation of what was involved in getting her to 18, or even 8, alive. That was one unexpected phone call!

James went to see one of Kyle's band competitions, but Kyle was too busy to even have a conversation. They've had a couple of phone calls, but it's really hard to feel the distance increasing, and he just turned 16 this week. He's looking ahead to college- Ohio Valley U, unless he's changed his mind. We may see him for a Christmas trip to C'burg to visit the grandparents.

Samuel is keeping busy, and learning to balance/juggle numerous demands. High school academics are a bit more intense, but the pressure is off now that he earned his laptop. He's still keeping busy with Scouts and kung fu, and I'm being the mean mom and not letting him add tennis team until he wraps those up. He starts testing for his black sash in kung fu in January!

Miriam is also enjoying many aspects of high school- if only it didn't include algebra! She was working as a page at the public library, but cut that out to focus on academics and school-based activities like Model UN and Interact (the high school version of Rotary International). She is growing up so fast! My baby went to homecoming this year!

For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to encourage the twins to have a party next weekend, the first that they've been here and not had some school or church function on Saturday night. They took a bit of prodding to start the guest list, but then momentum got going and I got nervous! I finally cut them off and gave them a limit of 40 on the guest list! (Here's hoping they don't all show up. . . but I heard a few whispers of "___ will bring ___ anyway, so we don't have to include him in the count". At least the invitations will include a note prohibiting drugs and alcohol- "because the parents call the cops", so we won't have the whole school showing up!)

Me? I'm just trying to juggle ten hours of class each week, twenty hours each for homework and TA responsibilities, a few hours of meetings of one sort or another, commuting to DC, and having interesting conversations with my colleagues and family, and maybe sleeping occasionally. I picked up my crochet hook to start the last panel of our curtains for the first time last weekend during a visit to James's parents' house- something that's just been sitting around since I blogged the last one!

A special thanks-giving. . . my nephew, Evan, completed three brain surgeries this month, and has come through fabulously! His seizures seem to have stopped, and he's walking and talking-two things that are always a concern when you go into the brain. He charmed the nurses most of the time he was there, but will be glad to get out of the hospital and home.

On top of school, but life around the edges . . .

2007-11-20T09:09:00.001-05:00

I know I haven't been posting in ages. . . Oh, well. I'm still figuring out how to keep up with the game. We're in the final stretch of the semester and it's looking do-able. I am having a blast! I'll try to get a kid update up sometime over the long weekend (in between grading 60 student research projects, writing a 20-page paper, and reading a book or three!).

Just wanted to get a quick post up to celebrate the gorgeous colors on my drive in this morning. I'm reminded of an impressionist painting with the golds and reds and rusts and oranges showing between the evergreens and the few deciduous trees that are still green.

Also, today is my nephew Evan's last brain surgery, so we're keeping him in our thoughts and prayers.

I think I've figured it out. . .

2007-09-14T06:33:00.000-04:00

I am finally feeling like I'm "caught up" and, amazingly enough, I've almost finished my task list for the week. (It flowed onto a third page, so that's a real accomplishment!) Of course, I haven't had posting to my blog on my list, so you can tell it isn't even a complete list.

My Stats prof gave us a guideline yesterday that our homework shouldn't take more than 6 hours/week. I'm not sure if that includes the reading time or not, but using that guideline, I'm looking at 28 hours of class-related time (9 hours of academic courses + 18 hours of homework + 1 hour of seminar) each week, + 20 hours per week for my TA responsibilities, + essentially 10 hours per week of driving, and somewhere in there I ought to fit in a few hours of reading and working on long-term projects (say 5 hours/week?). I'm on campus from 8-3:30 most days. I stay late (until almost 9:30-long day!) on Wednesdays and leave early (2:15 or so) on Fridays. It looks like that means I'll need to set aside another 10-15 hours per week to work at home. That would be challenging (impossible?) to do without James's support. I'm so fortunate to have him standing beside me (except when he's out running kids around, working to support our family because we sure couldn't make it on what I make as a grad student!, picking beans and tending the garden, cooking dinner, or any of the other gazillion things he's doing to keep us all fed, clothed, housed & happily involved in life!). With James's support, and the realization of what needs to be scheduled, I think I may actually be able to make it without going into "survival mode".

Of course, James may just be throwing those boxes of papers away come November. I made a promise that I'd go through all my old classroom & memorabilia files by November or he could just take them out to the recycling/trash. I'm not sure how I let all my free time get away from me earlier this year, but it's going to be a trick to squeeze that project in on top of the schedule I described above. Oh well. This is part of that "simplifying life" game we play. (Is that possible when I just added grad school, or even more essential???)

James and Samuel picked and snapped and put in the freezer two more gallon-sized bags of beans from our harvest last night. I didn't get a picture of the sink before they started, but when I got home one sink was full to the top with beans, and James wasn't finished picking at that point! We also enjoyed beans in our steamed vegetables for dinner. James picked up several types of squash and fresh corn at the produce stand on his way home, then picked beans and tomatoes fresh from our garden. Simple food, but so very good!!!

Well, it's almost 7, and I've got to get out the door to school. Have a great day!

Busy week-school's back in session

2007-09-08T15:02:00.000-04:00

From a week that started a bit sleep-deprived after spending last weekend with house guests-two five-year-olds and a toddler!- through four days of class and into this weekend when I need to read at least two books and part of two more, I guess I'd have to say we're into the school year. Not to mention Back-to-school night on Thursday. . .

It's quite a change having to read at a pace with others. Sure, I read at least 17 books in August (those are the ones I remembered to add to my reading list/bibliography), but they were on a variety of subjects, and most were written with a popular audience in mind. Books written for an academic audience tend to be more densely packed with detail, and I've been feeling like I'm learning another language. Sure, I recognize almost all of the words in any given sentence, but deriving meaning from the combination can be a challenge. And when I do, information overload takes over very quickly.

What am I supposed to do when just the introduction to the book gives me more ideas and questions than I have room to discuss or raise in the entire "journal post" I am supposed to send to the class? Check in at my sociology blog if you want details.

Other than a brief issue with the professor I'm working with, which was resolved the same day it came up, the week has gone very well. I'm really enjoying the mental challenge, the new ideas, and generally just plain being in the academic community. The driving is not as stressful as I thought it might be. Part of that is choosing to go in before rush hour, and making it home before rush hour builds up too much most days. Of course, there was Wednesday. If I had the sun rising in my mirror on my way in, and setting in my mirror on the way home-after having my late class canceled for the week, and it's only the first week of September. . .what is November going to be like??? (Dark to dark and then some! Silly question, Mary.)

Going in early also means I have my office to myself most of the time, because after all, college students aren't morning people. (And neither are most graduate professors judging by the quiet hallways!) I'm still working on the time management components, and figuring out how to prioritize and process all the new ideas and responsibilities.

I appreciate James's support so much! The kids have been great, and help out where they think of it, but James is the one catching the brunt of the adjustments. He's doing virtually all of the shuttling of kids and household management. And to top it off, he's there to answer questions when I run into a challenge with making a chart in Excel or such. I am so blessed to have him supporting me in this!

Samuel's working on preparations for his Eagle project. The girls and I are planning on doing the GlamourShots thing next Friday-one last fling before Liza heads out to Washington the following week. James is keeping the gardens going, and the beans are really prolific this year. This morning he picked and prepped two gallon-sized bags plus a big pot for dinner! We may actually be able to grow most of a year's supply of green beans for our family.

Matching curtains!

2007-09-05T05:54:00.001-04:00

I did it! I finally made two panels that actually match! They are the same width, and have the motifs going in the same direction, and the trim lines are the same, and. . .

Unfortunately, now that I've got the pattern figured out, I have to modify it slightly to make the last panel. The one that will share that window is only 5, not 9, motifs wide (oops! miscounted while waiting in the airport) and needs an extra-wide panel to give it enough fullness. I'll probably start that one this weekend, after I catch up with my readings and when I have time to concentrate.

This panel took less than two weeks. I started it Tuesday of orientation (8/21), did nothing more until worked on it while visiting in Christiansburg the following weekend, and finished it while sitting on the sofa making sure my niece and nephews were safe this past weekend. (I tried to read for class, but that was more stressful than productive. . . "Aunty Mary! Aunty Mary!" while trying to translated words into meaning in a new field just wasn't going to work!) Crocheting was something I could do while they talked to me, and the twins took turns "helping" me by pulling off loops of thread as they chattered.

New blog. . .

2007-09-02T21:18:00.001-04:00

I'm starting another blog focused on musings around my studies in Sociology. You're all welcome to stop in and read there, but I figured it made sense to separate the family stories from my "professional" stuff. I'll get the FeedBlitz link there set up tomorrow (if I get quiet time) or maybe Wednesday evening (since I really do need to get my readings done for class in time to post my thoughts to the class link by Wednesday noon). For now, I think I'll take advantage of the quiet, and go to sleep myself!

Kid pics

2007-09-02T20:49:00.000-04:00

Here are the twins-barely tolerating Mom's insistence on pictures before their first day of high school.

And here's Tori in her newest outfit for working at the Renn Fest.

This time it's Liza's turn to dodge the pictures, but I'll get her again before she leaves.

How do I get myself into these situations???

2007-09-02T20:33:00.000-04:00

Having once lived through five-year-old twins, one would think I'd have the sense not to repeat the experience, but no!

James and I are exhausted but enjoying having my "sister's" kids while she and her husband are enjoying a music festival in Vegas. (Sister is in quotes because we're family by choice, dating back to high school at least. I did live with them for several months in my early college years, and was acknowledged as one of the girls by both parents-with varying degrees of enthusiasm.) The twins, Noe & Gil, are five and a half, and enjoying kindergarten. Daniel is four years younger, and quite a handful! And they all like to talk! (Really makes us appreciate having teenagers!)

I suppose the shirts Mom packed for them should have given me a clue as to what we were in for: Gil's is a Hawaiian-themed "Here Comes Trouble". Daniel's reads "Monkey See-Monkey Do-Monkey get in trouble too". Noe left her matching shirt at home, but Gil really wanted her to put it on for the picture! Noe's line of the week seems to be, "He always does (pronounced dues) that sometimes." Daniel's favorite word is "Uh-oh!"

We're definitely ready for bedtime when 8 o'clock rolls around! Fortunately, they have inherited the family interest in books, and we can usually carve out a bit of calm with a stack of new books.

New pictures added

2007-08-21T06:51:00.000-04:00

I finally got the pictures into my post about my trip to stay with Becky's kids in Colorado. (July 5th) Here's one to give you a sense of how my days started out there. . .
The game they're playing is Trouble (think loud popping thing to roll the die), and the time on the clock was basically 6:15 AM! (I did mention their energy levels are as high as their mother's, right?)

Marvelous Miriam

2007-08-19T12:25:00.000-04:00

. . .has a new job, too!

Miriam did so well last year as a summer teen volunteer at the library that they were waiting for her to turn fourteen so they could hire her as a page. There was one opening earlier in the year, just after her birthday, but that didn't pan out. The librarian in charge of pages did ask Miriam to keep her application on file, and they called her back a couple of weeks later to ask about an opening that was coming available in July.

Okay, so what they meant was that they would start the hiring process in July, and we spent several hours one day the last week she was here running back and forth between the high school and the library: pick up the work permit from the school, take it to the library to get the work section completed, back to the high school to get the counselor's signature/permission to work, stop by the bank to open an account for direct depositing her paychecks, return to the library to turn in all the paperwork, . . .and then wait for the central office to give their okay to add Miriam to the payroll and start orientation. With the traveling she's been doing (NC & Boston, MA) with Shannon and her sibs, orientation has been scheduled for this week.

I am delighted that, in spite of the energy I may expend at times getting the kids to do their chores around the house, they have picked up a work ethic that has them in demand in the world at large. Miri-chan, I'm glad you're my girl!

BTW-I looked for a picture to post with this note, and I think Miriam is more camera-shy than Samuel. She's just quiet about it, so we don't realize that she's dodging the spotlight! But then she came in to get Liza for church, and I was able to grab a quick picture. Isn't she turning into a real beauty?!

Powerfully creative---Tori

2007-08-19T09:40:00.000-04:00

Tori starts a new job this week.

Before we left for the reunion in Florida, we were talking about how she'd like to rearrange her schedule. She wanted to cut back on her hours at Premier Windows a bit, and let go of the call center support work so that she could pick up more hours at the restaurant during their busy summer months, and get weekends freed up so she could work at the Renaissance Festival. . .but that all meant getting out of the job for which she was originally hired at Premier!

When she got back to work upon our return, they had hired a new employee "downstairs", and he was going to bump Tori to fourth in line for the computer-making it almost impossible for her to do the call center support work she didn't like anyway. They didn't want to lose her, since she is such a marvelous worker, and were a bit nervous about how she'd react. Not only did she get to adjust her schedule to exactly what she'd told me she wanted, Tori got to make it look like she was doing them a favor by not being upset at the change!

The Renn Fest starts next weekend, and runs through late October- eight (?) weekends of dress-up fun!

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate and admire the way Tori is growing up and learning to be responsible? Even more, I'm impressed at how well she is doing figuring out who she is and what matters to her, and living her life by those values. Not knowing exactly what she wants to do/be/study can be a disconcerting space to be in. I think it's easier to take on external standards, and follow the culturally-acceptable path (ie. go to college), than it is to step off that path and admit that there's nothing drawing her into the classroom at this point. Yes, she enjoys learning, and she's good at the academic game, but she's also good at other things. Traveling is definitely much easier before kids and mortgage complicate the scheduling and financial picture.

I appreciate Tori's work ethic. Everywhere she has worked, the supervisors are ready to take on her siblings-just because they're her sibs. One of the restaurant managers she worked for last year is eagerly looking forward to the twins turning 16 so he can hire them! He even wanted Liza for just the few weeks that she's here before she heads out to Washington, but logistics intervened.

The balance in Tori's life is pretty tilted toward work these days, but she's also doing well maintaining relationships and fitting in some fun. Keep up the good work, Tori, that's a lifelong challenge! I'm glad I get to be your mom!

And, oh yeah, the picture . . . a friend did Tori's hair in braids, and my wonderful daughter let mommy play- and I got to weave the braids into a visor. (Something I always wanted to do to mine when my hair was long, but it's hard to do to your own hair!) We laughed and joked while I was weaving-reminiscing about the time we cut iris leaves and wove a basket that fell apart as it dried. Good times, good memories!

She's wonderful!

2007-08-19T09:15:00.000-04:00

And she's home!!!!!

If you're noticing that Liza's getting most of the focus these days, that would be because she's been gone so long, I'm delighting in having her here, . . . and it's summer so the twins have been spending much of the time with their dad. (I had my big block of time with them at the beginning of the summer for our Florida reunion.) They'll be back tonight and I start orientations for school this week, so I'm trying to get caught up on my blogging before things get busy again.

This picture is from Liza's homecoming presentation to the Parole Rotary club-her sponsors for her Hungarian adventure. When she made her farewell presentation at this time last year, I was so impressed at how she had grown through the process of getting ready for the trip.

I was in tears of delight that morning (as I am again now) at the young woman she is now! Liza did a fantastic job with her presentation! She put together a PowerPoint presentation with slides from some of her adventures, and used that as the basis of her talk.

She was so poised! The audience was with her the whole time, and she spontaneously included humor that had everyone chuckling, or laughing out loud.

She was real. We all felt her love for the country, the experiences, and most especially the people. Liza let us all see and feel how much her families there mean to her. It takes courage to stand up in front of a good-sized audience of any age. When they're all older than you are, and you're talking about things that evoke strong emotions, the courage required is even more. And to let them see your tears?!?, and then keep speaking. . . Tremendous!

Other parents have asked me how I could let Liza go so far away. How could I not? This was something she wanted and worked to make happen. Yes, I missed her. Yes, it was hard to hear about her challenges. Yes, I've felt her homesickness-for Hungary!, and wished there was something I could do to make it better. But all of this is part of life, and Liza's doing so well with it!

Liza, your mom is proud of you, and loves you very, very, very much!