Polyamorous Reading

Ocular proof I started this Harkness book in July, having excitedly preordered it, and I am still damned reading it.

Books I am in the actual middle of reading, a partial list in no particular order:

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness.
If I Am Missing Or Dead: A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation by Janine Latus.
A Wanted Man by Lee Child. (Previous post on my Reacher habit here.)
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.
First Shift by Hugh Howie.
Fifty Shades Darker by E.L. James. (Whatever.)

Books I have completed lately:

Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson. (OMGZ page turner.)
Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson.  (Darned inspirational, really.)
What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter, and Me by Rielle Hunter. (NOT PROUD, OKAY?)

I never used to be like this, but I've kind of become a starter and not a finisher of books. I've never felt qualms about abandoning a book that isn't good, but lately I'm abandoning books that ARE good and that I enjoy. Yet I managed to watch all of season 1 of Homeland in the last two weeks. Hmmm.

Part of the issue is a formatting problem. I can't decide whether I still like reading physical books or prefer the kindle version. I look at this list and see that the three books I finished lately were all ebooks, and of the unfinished list, only one is.

What are you reading, and do you have commitment issues too?

Raccoon Girl Treads The Boards

Smoky Eye!

Tonight was Laura's first Little Mermaid show. She had to show up wearing black eyeliner and mascara for the makeup ladies to start with. She did it herself; this pic is after her first attempt, before I got in there and smudged her up a bit. Then she goes, "I look too goth!" And I'm like, "You're playing a lost soul who has been enslaved by a sea witch. It's not too goth. And how do you know what too goth looks like? Also hush."

So her show was from 7-8:30, then she had to come home and do her homework, which took until after 10. And it was the lamest dumb ass busywork that there could be: Answering 18 questions for a "study guide" in science, and then turning right around and writing definitions to vocabulary words, right out of the same chapter. This was not a high-level learning activity. And I have never complained about a teacher in seven years of Laura's schooling, but I'm going to email the principal and register my discontent. This teacher has a false notion of "rigor" that she seems to be reaching for, but what is revealed in all of her assignments is that she's about one chapter ahead of the students AND she doesn't know what's most important and significant in the material. She was hired to fill in for a teacher who fell ill and had to retire suddenly, and I remember when at curriculum night, she boasted that before she took the job teaching, she was in "private industry." Oh! Oh well my goodness! Tell us a story of the tycoons or magnates you have known! Children, how lucky we are!

Not to be a bitch or anything.

I didn't go to the show tonight, but I'm going to--I kid you not--the next five. My parents are accompanying us tomorrow, then Matt's mom on Friday, and then I'm taking pictures at the Saturday shows. I can't wait to see it all put together with the lights and the costumes. When I picked up L and her friend after the show, they were bubbling with excitement, even after a full school day and then hours at the theater. Youth. I hope by the end of the run, we are still so excited and not collapsed in a little goth puddle.

Anway, that's all from here. xoxox

PS: Weird day, huh? Post-election hangover, only in a good way. Coming down from the nerves? Sleep deprivation? Dunno, something. I tried on a bunch of hats in REI and that soothed me. How are you?

I Just Almost Jinxed This Whole Thing

Settling in.

My parents came into town this afternoon and are watching the election returns with me. Earlier my mom and I were in the grocery store getting provisions, and we espied a sale on ice cream sandwiches. I never buy this stuff, but I said to mom, "Maybe we could have them later as a celebration." Then, just now, watching all the red and blue fill in the map, I said, "I could really go for one of those ice cream bars." My dad looked over and goes, "HEY! Nobody cracks a Klondike bar until they call Ohio."

Okay!

It was a rainy and blustery day. The kids were home--election day is a school holiday here--and we all slept in a bit. Then I voted with no waiting at all, then I worked out with Pretty Neighbor. Then I went to Laura's dress rehearsal for the Little Mermaid in case I needed to help with makeup, but there was a squadron of high school girls handling it. Then I went home and snapped some pictures of the game company boys as they packed up and left for their new office. Then I watched over six children who arrived at my house to play with Hank. I did all of this with a feeling of nervous excitement. I mostly stayed off the internet and away from all the rampant chatter-about-nothing going on there.

Last night I realized that maybe we've been talking about the election a bit too much around here, because when I mentioned going to vote, Hank sighed and said, "I am so stressed out." I was like, why buddy? He said, "I just really want Barack Obama to win." I told him that I believed it was all going to be okay. And I said, "You know bud, whoever wins this election, your life is going to be just the same the next day." And he mumbled, so sadly, "No, it'll be different in like a million ways." And he said it with such sad resignation! It made me think he knows something I don't! Kids, man. I can actually remember that feeling--having a dawning awareness of world affairs and feeling totally small and shaky in the face of it.

Aaaannnd....just called Ohio. Klondike bars all around, and my love to you, whatever your leanings.
xoxox

My Hungarian Wig-Loving Housecleaner is Back

Remember Fabienne? I first had her start coming to clean like three and a half years ago, and I last wrote about her when she broke up with me in a text. That was the summer of 2011. We parted as friends and life went on. Hank would ask about her every few months, possibly as a comment on my housekeeping.

Then a few weeks ago, I was sitting somewhere waiting for a kid to do something. I got a text and it was from Fabienne, after over a year of silence. It said, "Hello, I'm thinking of you. You're in my prayers."

Well, I was reminded of the joke about the psychoanalyst who passes an acquaintance on the street. His friend says, "Hello," and the shrink thinks, "I wonder what he meant by that." I read her text a few times and went, "Hmm, huh?"

Then I texted back something like, "Hi! Thank you, we're doing great, how are you?" But then I sat there and stewed, yes Reader, I stewed. You see, that day I was in a vulnerable frame of mind about my health and cancer and dread and mortality. I don't know, I mostly feel bulletproof but there are still bad moments. They get farther apart. But something had made me feel afraid, and then I got her text, and I was like, "Why am I in Fabienne's prayers? Does she know something I don't know? Does she sense, like, a disturbance in the Force?"

Yes, I can be this crazy, Reader. It's time you knew. (You already knew?) But I am also pretty good at recognizing when I need to be talked off the ledge, and I can sort of talk myself down from there. I spun my little hamster wheels. Then I realized, aha, it's early October and we have all been hit with a veritable air-drop of pink ribbons and of course she's thinking of me because everything is breast cancer breast cancer all the time. She sees that and is reminded of me. Okay. Yes, so that's how I convinced myself that Fabienne did not have supernatural/divine knowledge that I was sick again.

Writing it really makes it seem more ridiculous than it felt in the moment.

ANYWAY.

So we exchanged a few more textual pleasantries and then she says, "Can I come back and clean for you?" And I'm like, "So am I in your prayers really or was that just your opener?" Ha! No I didn't. I said, yes please, come on Friday. So she did.

She's come twice since then; she did a really good job the first day and a slightly-less good job the second day. So we're back to where we were.

Her telling me I am in her prayers reminded me of something my sister told me. When Christians want to say no without saying no, they say, "I need to pray about it." I love that so much. Because there is no rejoinder. You're being pressured to buy a car or sign up for a timeshare? I need to pray about it. Extra PTA responsibilites? Better pray about it.

Anyway, so Fabienne is back on the scene and I thought I'd bring you up to speed. I don't know why the story of her reentry has to be so tied up in the story of my ongoing mental adjustment to having had cancer but there it is.

xoxoxo

Beans Don't Burn on The Grill

So as I was saying, the video game company in my basement is leaving the nest. Three and a half years ago, they were two guys in our guest room. Then they were five guys in our guest room. I still can't believe that worked, like, at all. Then, if you've been reading for a while, you probably remember (ie, were traumatized by) the Big Basement Project of 2011, which led to at least one marital argument and a few all-nighters and at least one diaphragmatic hernia. So pretty standard for home renovation.

So the guys moved into the basement office and life has been grand. I've loved having them down there. Matt was close but not too close, and it had the feeling of being part of an exciting enterprise. I do recommend hosting a start-up in your home at least once in life--it is fun. Lots of ups and downs. We've celebrated the ups with many a midnight ice-cream party, and we've weathered the downs with countless whispered kitchen conferences. It has been a pleasure watching these guys work hard, and watching Matt get to do what he wants to do. Now the news around here is that, as the result of various wheelings/dealings, the game company is moving up and out. This is good, all good. It's a great deal for them. It means they'll get to grow and hire people and bust a move into phase 2. But since we're here to talk about me, I'll tell you that I'm a little sad to not be Wendy with the Lost Boys anymore. And I'll miss the flexibility of having Matt on the premises during the day. Yet, at the same time, it was also time for this start-up to get, like, started up. Doncha know.

So last night Matt and I went out and I was totally rocking this pair of Tracy Reese booties I found on ebay for a song and they are so adorable yet way, way less comfortable than I hoped. I think we're talking your basic one-hour shoes. Anyway, right. So we went out and then after dinner he showed me around the offices they're moving to. They're joining forces with a bigger game studio, and these guys have got a super-slick space and lots of great resources. Like a usability/testing lab. Which is apparently greatly to be desired.

I snapped this picture of the testing lab because as soon as I walked in the door I was transported to my college language lab. Do you remember the college language lab? Man, I don't know, I love languages and liked studying them, but somehow that language lab just sucked the life right out of me. Just me? One cool thing he pointed out though is that each little station has a camera set up to film the person playing, I guess so their reactions can be gauged and somehow used to improve gameplay. I dunno but fancy!

And across the hall is a room full of snacks.

This is one of the standard amenities in tech companies, I think--keep your people from wanting to wander away from the office by plying them with goodies--but it would be a big problem for me. There's a huge glass jar full of peanut butter cups and I would just move my laptop over next to it. And then get my head stuck in there. Problem.

Anyway, it's all a lot nicer than our basement, I GUESS. And it's only about ten minutes from our house so I'll still be able to pop in and give my opinions about everything, which I know they totally want me to do.

That's the update on the life/work sitch around here. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this. xoxo

First Rule of Fight Club

The shadows are long on the village green and I have not given you a blog post. So this is gonna be one of those posts where I just tell you what I did today. With pictures. Come along, won't you?

I started the day by taking Hank to his first sparring class. Funny, Hank has now been going to karate for a year. I know no more about it, truly, than I did when he began. I mean no more about, like, the deeper theory of this pursuit, and at every new stage of the activity, I'm kind of like, okay, whatever. He is having fun though. And six year-olds sparring is high-larious. It's funny, you never know how your kids will be in a new situation, but Hank turned out to be exactly what I would have predicted. I explained it to Matt, "He's not aggressive, but he is somehow, like, tough-minded." He's just hanging in there and he's not afraid. At the start of class, he turned to his little buddy, who is five years old, and said, "Max, don't take it easy on me." I died. After class he asked for pizza so I went next door and bought him a large.

Set-build day

Another biggish thing that is going on in Matron family life is that Laura has been cast in a small part in her middle school production of The Little Mermaid. OMGeez y'all, I'm surprised you didn't read this news written in the sky, she has been over the moon. She had been cautioned that it's hard for sixth graders to be cast, but she wanted to try anyway, and she did, learning a dance and singing a song. I was like, really! This is serious business! And she got in, with a few of her friends. Her part? One of the Poor Unfortunate Souls in Ursula the Sea Witch's number. That made me laugh. She is also a chef in the Les Poisson song. Thrilled, lord she was so thrilled, and I'm glad for her. Nobody can say the girl doesn't put herself out there.

Anyway, what this has meant is a rather escalating schedule of rehearsals over the last five or six weeks, and now, finally, show week is upon us, and it is all go go go until next weekend. They went around and performed at all three of the feeder elementary schools on Friday, so Hank got to see her, and now it's dress rehearsals for a few days and then six shows late this coming week. Y'all, I mean, I have never seen a middle school play on this scale. It is kind of beyond. I'll have more pics to show you what I mean, but just the costumes, set pieces, everything. And like so much at the rather plush public schools around here, it all runs on heavy, heavy parent volunteer effort. There must be fifty or sixty parents helping make this happen. I signed up to bring snacks, drive carpool, take pictures, and do makeup, and yet I'm feeling guilty that I wasn't there this morning hammering nails or something. I went today to take cast pictures and I snapped this. I'm also on call to take lots of candids during the dress rehearsals. For when the show is covered by Variety, you know. Okay I'm rambling but this has been taking up a lot of family bandwidth.

In the early evening, we all four went up to the tennis court and hit balls, then Matt and I played a set of singles, him beating me 6-3. Which surprised me, because I have been playing basically nonstop for months and months and he has been having, like, a job. I apologized to him for misunderestimating him and he was very gracious. Then we left the kids to their own devices and went out for a quick bite, and he showed me around the new offices of Blue Mammoth Games. OMG the game company boys are leaving the basement! I should have led with that! I'll tell you next time. In writing, this is what we refer to as parking on the downhill slope. xoxox

Adult Halloween: This Year Was My Choice

Tennis, anyone?

I first had the idea of our Halloween costumes months ago. I pondered them in my heart. As time drew near, it took some freight train-style enthusiasm on my part to get Matt on board. When he first put on the little white shorts, he said, "No." And I said, "YES!" And he was all, really? And I was like YEEEEESSSS! I think it didn't gel for him until he put the wig on. It gelled for me as soon as I saw him in those socks. Gelled big time.

This is an easy costume to do and I highly recommend it for comfort, couple-friendliness, light-hearted sunshineyness, and budget accessibility. The only real expenditure was two pairs of Adidas Sambas. But I thought they were utterly integral to my vision, and you know, I figured they are also functioning shoes, like, after Halloween. I had the old Lacoste polo, I got the wooden racquets from Pretty Neighbor (and there are a ton floating around out there), and I found the little shorts at, where else, American Apparel. We're just wearing two different sizes of the exact same shorts.

We went around the corner to a party in our neighborhood Saturday night. This is the party I told a bit about last year, where the people move out all their furniture starting Labor Day and completely transform their house. This year the theme was sort of medieval disco dungeon. Last year it was more like Zombie Ethan Frome. I think that's a thing.

Last year. Pretty sure Matt was more comfy this year.

This party is the occasion for my annual consumption of jello shots. Which were brought around by uniformed waiters this year, which I found hilarious. But also very convenient! It was all lots of fun, and the costumes were great. Yes, a lot of the ladies were nearly naked in that way of current Halloween fashions, but there were some clever things too. This lesbian couple dressed up as Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World. It was uncanny. There was also a couple doing Grant Wood's American Gothic, and it was one of those things where it's like not even a costume, it's just part of their souls. Anyway, a good time was had by all and we were home by 12:30, little the worse for the jello shots.

Nobody did anything scandalous or embarassing, that I remember, though this one lady's girl scout costume was both.

I am already thinking of next year, but to get Matt excited, I think I need an idea that engages his fantasy life. So, basically that gets us to Vikings, barbarians, other tall hirsute characters? I'm reminded of that John Cheever story where the directive for a costume party was, "Come as your heart's desire," or something to that effect, and all the men came in their old school football outfits and all the women came as brides.

Did you guys dress up? Deets plz!

Bump in the Night

Laura's friend hatched a plot that a few of them would go as Sesame Street characters. I don't think Laura realized that Big Bird is such a highly relevant figure in this election season, I think she just likes feathers. And more feathers are even better. By the time this plan reached my ears, it was already arranged that the friend's mom would make the costumes. My reaction was something like, "Her mom is going to make your costume? I'll believe that when I see it." It seemed like one of those things that would not come to pass.

But then the next thing I knew, Laura was being called for fittings. When I saw the other mother at the tennis court the next day, I practically crushed her to my bosom. "Aren't you such a seamstress!" I said. It emerged that whereas we had both taken sewing and Home Ec in high school, I had made a tote bag while she had made a lined suit. I was all, rock on woman. No really, don't let me keep you. Don't you have some sewin' to do?

Then a few days later she emailed around asking if anyone had a dog crate to sell, and I was like I HAVE THE DOG CRATE AND YOU CAN HAVE IT AND THE PRICE IS ONE BIG BIRD COSTUME. And I was glad because I was gonna have to come up with one damn good loaf of banana bread to say thanks. Or something.

She made Woody and Jessie costumes for her husband and herself.

Where was I? Oh yes, the children.

Cookie Monster bought her costume to match.

Elmo's mom was the seamstress.

For the first time in years, these girls did not make use of a golf cart to scour the neighborhood, which happily reduced the tonnage of candy they brought home. I'm not sure why they all wanted to do the Sesame Street thing. There might be something to be said about how all five of these girls clung to childlike representations of themselves this year, probably the last year that they are truly little girls. But just look at them, sweet.

And for the third year in a row, Hank tagged along with one of the (K)Cathy's kids. Her husband drives them around and helps them climb in and out of the truck.

Rolling party.

So with no kids to escort around and Matt doing candy duty, where did that leave me? Having a beer with Normal Neighbor and watching her hand out full-size candy bars. Then it was back home, and the whole operation shut down by nine, with Hank hiding his candy bucket in his bedroom because he was afraid his daddy would eat it while he slept. And he is right to be afraid.

A couple of nights ago, we were sitting having supper, and Hank said, "So what really is the point of Halloween? I mean, how did it really start? It's not because of Jesus because Jesus is not really anything to do with all the Halloween things." I love it. I mean, this kid! Sometimes it's like he's auditioning for a poster entitled Teachable Moments. Matt was up to bat, so he started with All Saints Day and how that was a holy day and Hallows Eve as a tradition, then he really got warmed up and told them about syncretism and the Christian assimilation of older pagan and Celtic rituals, traditions, and motifs, and then they really got it, and they were like, Easter Bunny! Christmas Tree! And I was like, "Nice job hon!" And I thought, I guess this is why we went to college.

Did y'all have a good night? We really didn't get very many trick-or-treat customers. We never do, because we're the only house down our steep hill that gives out candy. Though I did note that my foster daughters were allowed to trick-or-treat this year, though their parents had their porch light off. Hmmph!

Blogging every day in November! This is the start! We'll have plenty of time to talk of adult things, but you know they take my membership card if I don't put up pics of the Halloween kids. xoxoxo