Happy birthday, attractive (unshaven!) older man

L is supposed to be working on a new header for my blog. She is taking forever, though! I will wait a bit longer and then will have to make my own if she's not done soon. I don't like the unmatching look on the blog now.

L & H had a birthday party to attend on Sat. Our friend Logan turned nine! We all met at the bowling alley to celebrate. I was suffering in real pants again (counting the minutes til I could return to my comfy sweats), but the kids had a great time. I considered sending Mark with the kids, but I just couldn't miss Logan's big day.

We rarely go to bowling alleys, and this one made for some interesting people watching. I was not bored. The folks who have their own fancy, decorated bowling shirts, complete with names stitched on the front, along with coordinated bowling gear, seem to have interesting taste in style. Apparently very, um, sculpted hair which requires copious amounts of hairspray seems to be a requirement for the chic bowler babe. Wow. Peg Bundy lives on.

This guy is old now. He finally left his 30's and joined me in the next decade. Our family (including Hunter) and my parents went out for lunch to celebrate. The rest of the day we gave M his choice of how he would like to spend his bday, and he chose reading (The Hobbit, which he just finished) and napping.

While he was reading and L was spending time in the herbivore room, I finished up my owl softie. L isn't done with hers yet. Much of the time I've worked on it and asked her if she wanted to work on hers, she has opted to work on her computer art/animation. Eventually she will finish her owl.

I wanted to knock mine out, so I could move on to my next big project on my sewing list (after I get a few mending projects done). I have the fabric and an idea to make a cat hammock or two for the cat enclosure. I think they will enjoy hanging out in a snuggly hammock, while they watch life outdoors. I've certainly never made a cat hammock before, so I'm not sure if my idea will hold up or not. I'll figure something out.

Fur Free Friday

I awoke still in tremendous pain and was pretty concerned about getting to our FFF protest. As I was the media contact and very involved with this event, I just didn't feel like I could miss it. After much heat, ice, ibuprofen and any other drug which looked like it may help, the family piled in the car and left for Rockford. We had to stop in Beloit to pick up our friend Les.

I slipped jeans on right before we left, and one minute later couldn't wait to get them back off. Real pants are still quite painful, so I'm sticking with sweats when at home. I learned that riding in the car was horrible. The way my seat is designed pushed against my lower back very uncomfortably, and the bumps made everything worse.I was moving quite slowly and inefficiently all day, so we arrived about two minutes late. Before we reached the demo site, my cell rang. It was the reporter who was supposed to interview me, and he was there waiting. Shit. I told him we would be there in a minute, and he was very nice about staying and waiting for me.

M dropped me right at the site, so I didn't have to walk but a few steps and then just stand in place for two hours. The 20-ish degree temperature didn't help at all either. Even with our hand and foot warmers, we were all bitterly cold and ready to go home and get warm.

I absolutely would not have made it through any other even. It was so miserable! When it's for the animals, though, I can put up with anything. They suffer SO MUCH WORSE than the pain and cold I was dealing with, and where I have a choice and can go home, they never do. I really welcome the misery at times like that, as a powerful reminder of exactly why I would die happily for this cause. The innocent do not deserve to suffer at the hands of humans for the paltry and disgusting money that is made off their lives.

The minute I walked in the door, my sweats went back on, I took more drugs, and spent the rest of the day trying to get warm again.

These photos were taken by L, which is why she didn't appear in them. I wasn't with it enough to take pics, even though I had my camera with me.

Thanksgiving

We went over to my parents' for some delicious vegan lasagna. It was just our immediate family of four and my parents this year, which was nice.

After we ate (too much) we played a game of Moods, followed by a game of Clue.

A raucous cat fight started at around 1:00 am, the night before Thanksgiving. I was starting to drift while watching tv, but M was rudely awakened. He jumped up and yelled out, "Get out of bed!" before he was even awake. I jumped up to run downstairs and on the first step, my foot slipped, went up in the air, I became airborne for a brief second of "hang time", only to land on my tailbone on the edge of the step four or five down from my slip.

My landing was loud. Really loud. It awakened L from a sound sleep (in her room with the door closed). She came running out to see what was going on and asked what sounded like an atomic boom. Mark helped me up, because I couldn't move for a bit at first. He tried to keep from laughing, at least until he felt certain I wasn't going to die or be paralyzed. L found it supremely funny. While I was in horrific pain and not thrilled to be in this position YET A-FUCKING-GAIN, I could understand the laughter. I seem to have a knack for this kind of thing, and the ridiculousness of this happening to me repeatedly tends to inspire laughter.

I was in incredible pain on Thanksgiving day and moving really, really slowly. I definitely appreciated the low-key holiday--especially since I had to wear sweats, because real pants were too painful.

For a solid three days after the incident, L kept saying "Atomic BOOM", and laughing. Every time I would walk into a room, she would say it. I'm glad it brought her so much hilarity. Walking just isn't one of my gifts.

Charlie, a.k.a. Chucklebutt

We enjoyed another fairly decent family weekend, though Saturday was a bit much. I had a board retreat early in the morning, so I was bummed about having to set my alarm on a Sat. I had it on my mind so much, that I awoke a little before 6 on Friday morning, thought it was Sat. and I had forgotten to set my alarm, and freaked out. By the time I realized that for whatever reason my brain had ended up on the wrong day, I was too wide awake to get back to sleep. So by Sat. morning, I was extra bummed that it was my second early wake up in a row, on a non-work day.

We had a decent retreat, though it was really just an extra-long meeting, and you know how much I love meetings. :-P The fact that I enjoy the people almost makes up for the meeting, but not totally. I rushed back to town as soon as the meeting ended, because I was already way behind on my normal Sat. chores, which are dominated by the big, long, weekly cleaning of the herbivore room. We also had to get to the library to get L’s next stack of supplementary reading for the next couple weeks of history. Then, at the end of the day, when I was exhausted and ready to sit down…we had to make one of our epic runs to the grocery store.

L went to see the new Harry Potter movie with Grandpa, so she escaped our Sat. night shopping. I HATE grocery shopping with a passion which is why I avoid doing it for as long as possible. Then when we do go, we have two big carts full and it takes another hour to get everything put away at home. It is really an icky task. Someday I will find a way to avoid this task altogether! At least now, though, I won’t have to worry about going again for a few weeks.

After L’s dance class on Sunday, M wanted to run to Barnes & Noble to get a book. He wanted to replace his Hobbit book that Dej borrowed and destroyed (back in high school, I think). He likes to re-read the Lord of the Rings series (starting with The Hobbit) every few years. He really felt that he needed to start his reread that day. We almost skated through B&N without a 40 pound stack of books. That was until I got up to the counter to pay and they explained their books-for-foster-kids program. M always wanders off when I pay in stores. He will never just stand near the register with me, which has proven to be kind of convenient in that I don’t always want him to know the total amount. This was one of those times. Since it was just L & I left to our own devices in front of a big wall of kids books (LOVE kids’ books!), we ended up doing some major damage by the time we left there. I don’t feel bad about it at all.

Children in the U.S. foster system break my heart in a way that few other ‘groups’ can. It is such a visceral response that even the term ‘foster child’ triggers a physical pain in my stomach. It’s a horrible, horrible experience that no child should have to go through—constantly being an outsider, feeling unwanted, not knowing unconditional love, never experiencing security or stability—a complete tragedy.

L and I finished our animal-care chores when we got home and then spent most of the evening sewing. We’re still working on our little stuffed owls, though they are getting close to being finished and looking quite cute!

While we sewed, we turned the TV on to watch a mini-marathon of Paranormal State (which is not supposed to be a comedy but is funny as hell!), and worked on her ability to evaluate things like that as a skeptic. (What else could have caused a strange noise like that? Why, with their ‘definitive’ proof of ghosts and other entities, had they not yet attempted to win the million $ prize offered by Amazing Randi’s foundation?) It’s important to us that she evaluate everything scientifically and approach life as a skeptic with excellent research skills. Starting out by having her watch these overly-dramatized, supposedly true encounters, is an easy way to get her mind engaged in that way of thinking. I initially let her watch them and credulously believe whatever they stated. We’ve worked slowly since then on applying logic, reason, as skepticism. She’s doing a really good job so far with evaluating claims!

All photos are of Charlie, looking so sweet and innocent. Notice his ever-present face scratches. You would think the defense wounds given by the cats he traps and torments would start to make him think twice about doing that, but it doesn't seem to be a deterrent at all! His most recent hobby is unrolling and playing with the toilet paper. Just when Lila outgrew it, Charlie started in. Unlike Lila, he actually eats chunks of it. He is so strange.

I'm still struggling with our cat problems. Charlie and Basil are still tag teaming the other boys, and it's horrible for them. Ivan, Petey, and Jasper have learned to let out a loud scream when they're cornered by the boys. I come running, yell C & B's names, and they know exactly what the problem is. They walk away looking very guilty. When I'm not home, however, there's no one to rescue the little guys when they're trapped. I know they do it when I'm gone, because I come home and find fur clumps and often C &/or B have fresh scratches on their noses. I have tried absolutely everything I can think of, but have seen no appreciable improvement. I'm down to my last available option, which I don't like at all, but can't think of anything better. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to lock C & B in the cat room while I'm at work or if I'm gone for a long period of time. I hate the idea of confining any living creature. It makes me sick to think about it, BUT it also makes me sick to think of how frightened and miserable the other boys are when I'm gone and they have no safe place. I was so hoping that we would have this resolved by now.

Tonight was completely uneventful, quiet, and wonderful! I left work this afternoon after having gotten the best of the Java problem I've been struggling with for a couple of weeks, so I left work feeling good about life. I made it all the way home without having to look at any murdered deer piled on the back of an asshole redneck chickenfucker's truck. In November in WI, that's pretty lucky.

My mom, Luce, and I stopped by for a brief visit with a friend, who made a beautiful purse for L. Then back home to make dinner and take care of critter chores. I worked hard and fairly efficiently and had all of my chores and dinner cleanup done by 6:30. That left L and I with time to work on sewing our owls. Lila decided that she wanted to play 'catch the thread', as I was trying to sew. That made it quite challenging.

We then moved on to a game of chess. I did not want to play chess, but she did. We're at a tough stage with the chess. She is at a point where she needs to start working on her strategy and planning ahead, in addition to remembering to keep an eye on what her opponent is up to. My usual non-competitive game playing doesn't work well with chess, and it doesn't serve her well. I know that if I want her to be a good player (or even just a better player), I have to step up the game and not just let her win, or let it end in a draw. I do not like to beat her at all. At anything. It makes me feel shitty and it's not fun. I took it less easy on her tonight, (though I still gave her hints and let her take one move back) because I want her to learn and improve. I really wish someone else could take over the chess, though. It's important that she learn to be a respectable and a strategic player, so I will stick with it...at least until I can find and recruit a teacher for her who doesn't mind winning!


Lila and Charlie snoozed on the couch near us, and Basil had a blast playing in the box that their cat food came in.Last but certainly not least important--We watched Monty Python's Holy Grail for our family movie on Sunday night. It's the first time L has seen any M.P. She liked it (yay, the family tradition continues!), so we think this year that we'll take both girls to Spamalot. We didn't want to get tickets and take her only to find she didn't really like the humor, but she's seen it advertised and been asking to go. Dej has been wanting to see it since we went a few years ago and loved it. We're excited to go as a family for the first time!

Breathing

We spent Saturday's date night at the Coronado in Rockford again! I think that's the first time we've ever attended the same venue for two dates in a row. This time it was for the RSO's performance of Carmina Burana. We continue to be impressed by the quality of their performances.

Other than date night and L's dance class on Sunday, we had a lot of family time at home over the weekend. It was very nice and very needed, as I feel like we haven't had enough of that lately. After Sunday's class, L and I did some sewing--we're making stuffed owls, and we each got our owls eyes sewn on. Lila enjoyed a little snooze in the laundry basket (til I woke her with the flash), and M enjoyed a snooze on the couch (the flash didn't bother him).

November is an icky month for me (hunting, thanksgiving). It's an inescapable travesty, and I spend most of the month vacillating between despair and rage. It's a really good month to hide from the holocaust in my house, with my family. My motto for the month is, "The only good hunter is a dead hunter." I need a bumper sticker.

Luciana's Dance

Kalaanjali Annual Day

We made it through the performance. It went well but was a very long day! She told me she wasn't nervous backstage at all, but when she got out on the stage, and looked down at all the people, she didn't feel like her legs would hold her up. I asked her how she felt about performing; if it was something she could see herself doing in the future. She said, "Yes," and that she liked it and wanted to do more performances. She did NOT get that from me!

I didn't get any pictures of L with her grandparents or Uncle Dan & Beth, because by the time I got backstage to get her, she had already stripped off hger costume and jewelry. I was quite annoyed, but I understand. The elaborate costumes/jewelry and not remotely comfortable!

Here's her guru Meenakshi with her younger son, and then in her role as the goddess Sita.

Happy (belated) Diwali!

I finally got around to taking shots of the other pumpkins L carved--a bat and a cat.

L's first big Bharatanatyam performance is tomorrow! That's kept me busy and stressed this week! I am extremely nervous about this--not L's dancing--but about getting her dressed and made up correctly. I barely slept last night, with worrying about her veshti (similar to a sari) coming unwrapped while she's dancing, or her many elaborate pieces of temple jewelry falling out of her hair.

As part of our parental volunteer duties, I will also be taking photographs of the girls and the performance. I tried to get M to usher, which would have covered our contribution, but he flatly refused. In retrospect, I should have been more firm about him doing it, because he's Mr. Skippy Stress-free over this whole event, while I'm freaking!

The next activity L decides to get involved in really needs to be something that requires M to be very involved in. It's his turn for a little bit of this work and stress that always seems to fall on 'mom'. We need a good labor-intensive dad-managed activity!

I have to get her up in the morning and get her all dressed, and I'm not feeling very confident in getting her pleats and wrapping right. Also have to do the dreaded side-bun-with-center-part hairstyle that pushed my poor crippled hands' limits last time I did it. Then we have to do the elaborate makeup and jewelry, get her bags all packed up, and leave before 11 to pick up a friend from her class. The girls have to be there at noon, though the performance doesn't start until 2:00. I'm curious to see how Meena will be able to keep all of those girls from getting messy before the performance. Nothing about the clothing and jewelry is comfortable. Those girls have to stay in their costumes until after 4, when the show is finished.

Between the stress of trying to figure out what I'm doing with the clothes & jewelry, the intense daily practices, and the many trips back and forth for practices, this has completely monopolized my life and thoughts for the past two weeks. It will be such a relief when it's over tomorrow! All of the girls were looking good at last night's stage rehearsal, so it should be a beautiful show!

Wednesday night was my birthday and was very much like any other Wednesday. I came home from work, made dinner, cleaned up and did chores, and then my mom came over to help my find ways to keep L's heavy sun & moon medallions in her slippery hair. We all watched the previous Thursday's episode of Outsourced online, once we got the hair jewelry solution we needed.

We all enjoy watching Outsourced (NBC)! It is a very funny family show. M & I don't often like the network sitcom type humor, and most of the shows we find funny aren't age appropriate for L, so we watch after she goes to bed. This is one that we all agree is funny, and it's kind of nice to be able to share it.

Weekend update

M & I both worked hard all day Saturday to get our chores (and my grading) done in time for date night. Our last date night, two weeks previous, I basically ruined. Fairly early in the evening, I decided to clear some dust from an item in my basement by blowing very hard at it. A large, sharp, pointy, spear of debris flew into my eyeball causing significant pain and scratching to it. I spent the entire rest of the night in severe pain, picking my runny eye, because I wasn’t sure if the pain was all due to the scratch or if there was a portion I hadn’t gotten out. My eye was very sore and nasty for a couple of days, but then it cleared up.

M had planned this date night as our night out for my upcoming birthday. As always, I had no idea what we were doing but knew I had to be ready by 4:45 and be fairly dressed up. That proved to be a little tricky, because I was having one of those days where I didn’t like the way I looked in anything I put on. I finally settled on an outfit, not because I loved it, but because I ran out of time. I actually liked the skirt/blouse/sweater combo I ended up in, but didn’t really like the tights or shoes I had on with it. They were better matches for the previous outfit that I had rejected. So I made it through the night and nobody pointed out that my tights were not the best choice for the color scheme of my outfit. J

After a delicious dinner of bangain bhartha (YUM!), we went to the Coronodo Performing Arts Center in Rockford, IL. I’ve blogged about the Coronodo before, but have to reiterate what a beautiful theater it is! Just spending a couple of hours in there looking at the feast of beauty that is everywhere is enjoyable, so a good performance on top of that is an extra bonus.

The show we saw was the Rockford Symphony Orchestra playing “Halloween Pops”. Each time we have heard RSO, we’ve been quite impressed by them. This time was no exception. They hit it out of the park with their first piece! In addition to the symphony, there was a classically-trained actor from NY there, telling some short Halloween-type stories. He had a rich baritone-bass voice and with his perfect diction, captivated all of us. I have always been drawn to the dark/macabre, so the music and the whole theme of the night worked for me.

My favorite portion of the evening was the final act, his classical reading of Poe’s classic, The Raven. I LOVE Poe. I love The Raven. I love to hear it read aloud by true thespians, so the whole experience was a score for me.

Sunday was kind of a whirlwind day. We had to go to Madison in the afternoon for L’s dance rehearsal; then back home to a few chores; then time to get ready for Trick or Treating.

L played a very cute prank on her dance teacher. The big performance is next Sunday, and everyone gets a bit stressed, as preparations and practice is pretty intense at this point, especially her teacher. The girls’ hair length is quite important in this style of dance, and Meenakshi always stresses when the girls get their hair cut or trimmed that it may not be long enough by the next performance. L showed up for rehearsal wearing her little play wig, which is her hair color and looks frighteningly authentic. It’s also very short. Meena saw L, put her hand up over her mouth, and said, “Oh my god!” She then said, “Did you CUT your HAIR?” L immediately broke into giggles and took the wig off. Meena was able to then breathe a sigh of relief and laugh.

We proceeded with our normal Halloween traditions after that. A quick, early dinner of pizza at my parents’, where Logan & Colton joined us. We headed out for ToTing from there, walking from my parents’ home to ours and back. All three kids had full buckets. Since L doesn’t eat most of her candy (not a big candy eater, and she only eats the vegan goodies), she had given most of it to the boys by the time we dropped them off at home. We got back to our house a bit after 9 and tried to get her settled in for bed. The very small amount of candy she has left will probably sit in her bag until I get tired of looking at it and dispose of it a few months from now.

All three of the kids ended up in “scary” costumes this year. Logan was a devil; Colton was a skelton; and L was a werewolf. She and M went shopping a few weeks ago, without me or my input, and returned home with the werewolf mask and gloves. I assumed that M explained to her the problems with a full face mask like that, as she’s never had or worn one before. I learned last night that he did not. She didn’t like the condensation and constant wetness dripping in the rubber face mask. She didn’t like that it was kind of hard to see out of the eye holes whenever the mask shifted. She didn’t leave the gloves on very long, because she couldn’t use her hands in them. She was a bit whiney about the whole thing. I KNEW she wasn’t going to like the mask experience, but I assumed that he had explained it all to her, and she said it wouldn’t bother her and wanted to get it anyway. If I were there, I would have explained in graphic detail what she would experience wearing that big mask. She might have listened and chosen something else, but she very likely would have agreed, said she didn’t mind, and still proceeded to whinge about it.

Back when they got the costume, she came home wearing it. Daisy and Jezebel were at the side door looking out (as usual), so they saw her approaching. Daisy became very frightened and started backing up, and two little turds actually eeked out of her butt—she was that terrified of the mask at first site. L took that as a great endorsement that she was indeed a very scary werewolf. Daisy’s fine with it now.

Jasper should have been able to go collar free yesterday, but alas, it looks like it will have to remain on him for the foreseeable future. Though the stitches are out and the inside has healed well, the outer part of the incision has not been able to heal up the way it should. Jasper is obsessed with getting at it and has learned to scratch it open with the edge of his collar. I can’t find any means to block him from doing this. I routinely come home to find that the edge of his collar is smeared with fresh blood. It is so frustrating, because if he would just leave it alone for two days, this whole nightmare would be over. My poor little guy just doesn’t understand that, so he is making a lot of unnecessary suffering for himself.

Last week in review

We’ve had a very busy week! Lots of headaches and little sleep. I haven’t even been able to squeeze in blogging time. Since my memory is not good, I have kept little notes of the high point. Here’s the week in review.

MONDAY: Jasper got his stitches removed but not his e-collar. Petey also had to go in for Xrays. After completing a round of Clavamox for a urinary infection, his urine on Sunday was full of blood. Xrays showed no stones or blockages, so he was put on a different antibiotic.

TUESDAY: Worked am & pm with chores in between.

WEDNESDAY: Alliance for Animals Board meeting. Day two of the worst wind I’ve ever driven in. The Interstate drive to work and back on both Tues. & Weds. was really rough! The drive back to Madison for Weds. night’s board meeting was unreal. It took all of my upper body strength to keep the Corolla in my lane! The lovely Marina brought a bowl full of pumpkin seeds, and I used all of the internal strength I had to keep from scarfing them down greedily.

THURSDAY: Full school day for L & I. History used to be one of her favorite subjects, but she’s grown very tired of it and annoyed that it’s, “…just a bunch of dumb men fighting for a piece of land or an imaginary god”. I fear that will always be the one-sentence summary of human existence. My midterm grades were due, so I spent a fair bit of time getting all the grading finished, so I could calculate and enter all of the grades.

FRIDAY: Logan & Colton came bright and early in the morning to spend the day playing with us. H joined us in the afternoon. Weather was decent enough that the kids played outside for the majority of the day. All four got along well, so it was a pretty good day for everyone. After a dinner of baked potatoes with chili (H & L both LOVE that meal), the kids played until they finally went to sleep (quite late). Dej came over and hung out with us for the evening.

SATURDAY: L carved her pumpkins, and I made a delicious batch of pumpkin seeds for us to snack on and enjoy. We LOVE pumpkin seeds! She carved three pumpkins, but with the shortage of time, I only got a photo of the first one.