Back to normal

I think we're seeing light at the end of the craziness tunnel. I've neglected my blog for long enough, and yet, what to write? My brain has been totally saturated by school and moving and toddlerdom that I haven't had any bloggable thoughts lately. Hmmm.

How about the final weeks of 2009: There are six weeks left of the first decade of this millenium. (Ray pointed this out the other day and I nearly fell over.) I think these next few weeks are going to be really great. Here's why:

1. I have a very structured schedule for working on my pre-dissertation project manuscript and related conference proposal. It seems quite doable, and so therefore fun. I think my paper is going to be accepted at this conference, as it's a good study. Just a little nervous that I can present it in a way that lives up to its theoretical origins.

2. If I do well on the next two neuro exams, I can skip the last exam on the 11th, thus ending my quarter a few days early.

3. I'm excited to have all of the week of Dec 14th blocked out to write (really, this is part of #1).

4. We are hosting Thanksgiving for my family at our new house...and since they haven't seen it yet, I can't wait to show it to them.

5. We're planning a end-of-quarter/holiday/housewarming thingy for the weekend of Dec 12-13. I'm thinking pie, cheese, fruit, and hot spiced wine.

6. We're planning on a big Christmas tree this year. Woohoo!

7. Front door is aching for a nice green wreath.

8. I AM taking the last 2 weeks of December off. August and I will be looking for lots of fun activities for those weeks.

9. Diane suggested adding another rockstar to my committee. I love having a great mentor with fantastic connections.

10. The furnace we need to replace is actually working great. Hoping that continues for at least a few more months.

11. Ray picked up my old tv from his dad, so now it's set up in the basement by my exercise bike, just waiting for a cycling/movie watching occasion.

12. Sheila's annual chocolate party -- can't wait. (And another good reason to be happy about #11.)

All set, pretty much

The boxes are 98% packed. Just a little food left to bag up. Art off the walls, nails removed. A few boxes still open waiting for last minute random stuff. Movers arrive at 8:30 am. Should I shower? Did I sticker all the boxes? Ooops ran out of colors. What do I do with this thing? Oh, just throw it in box.

Hate to wait

I've always been terrible at waiting. If something is wrong, just tell me now so I can work out my Plan B. I'm awful at anticipating the unknown. Welcome to life.

Once again we are waiting to hear about our new house. Nothing dire probably, everything appears to be moving forward "as far as we know," but we're waiting to hear back about the filing of some paperwork that should clear title. Title must clear...will it?

The plan is to have the keys by Friday morning (yes, this Friday) and rent the place until we close, possibly on the 16th or at least some time in November. I am not going to be confident (i.e. relaxed) until we a) have the keys in hand and b) sign our names on the dotted line. Of course this is real estate 101...but geez is it ever an emotionally draining process.

If worse comes to worse, we will have the movers pack our stuff into storage containers, stay with Sooz for a few days, find an apartment and unpack the essentials, and find a new house. It will be challenging but it will be temporary.

And that's why I should not be so stressed about all this...it's all ultimately temporary!

Halloween

August dressed as a Thomas (the train) Princess, because trains, tutus and tiaras naturally go together.

We had 75 trick-or-treaters this year. The last two hit paydirt: at 9 pm we set out a shoebox FULL of the remaining loot, blew out the pumpkins, but kept the glowy cauldron going. Not more than 10 minutes later we heard two kids giggling and whispering how much of the shoebox goods they should take. They took about 2/3 of the candy and ran off. They could've had the whole thing...no one else came by.

My sister had a whopping 522 at their house. Impressive!

You study...what?

When people ask what I do/study -- even people I know well -- I'm a little stumped as to what to say. If I give them the short-n-sweet, they respond with a glazed over look. If I give them the long-and-longer, well...it's pretty much the same look. Now that I've had a year or so of practice, here's how I've boiled it down: start with one word, and if they want more, go to a phrase, then a sentence, then a paragraph. For example: "Rebecca, what is it that you study again?"

Neurolinguistics.
...
Neurological disorders impact on language.
...
Aphasia, which is a disorder which often follows a stroke and impacts language processing.
...
Aphasia. You see, after a stroke, some people have one or more lesions in their brain which impair their ability to understand and/or produce language. While their speech musculature might be completely fine, they just can't connect concepts with words to a greater or lesser degree.
...
(And if they really want the whole story -- I've given this answer maybe once -- add to the above:) More recently, some people believe that aphasia co-occurs with impairments in attention and working memory. My research looks at how attention and working memory might play a larger role in word finding difficulties, the primary characteristic of aphasia, than we think.

Are you still with me? No? Oh well.

Getting closer

Just a moment to post. House purchase appears to be moving forward, despite sellers' legal hurdles. Had inspection today:

Inspector: "You found something really special here."
Ray: "Yeah, my wife loves old houses."
Inspector: "Well buddy, you hit the jackpot."

Stay tuned. Some day I will get back to regular blogging.

Happy thoughts

The house we're trying to buy may slip away due to bankrupt agents without integrity and large financial institutions without a soul.

Expecting the best, preparing for the worst, and meanwhile working on thinking happy thoughts.

Bittersweet

The For Sale sign went up in front of our house a few days ago. Yesterday our real estate agent told us about a call he received:

Caller: "I'm calling about the house for sale."

Agent: "Which one?"

Caller: "The one with your name on it?" (chuckles)

Agent: "The house on 12th?"

Caller: "Yeah, why are they moving?"

Agent: "Well, they're just ready for something bigger."

Caller: "Oh. I don't want them to move."

Given our agent's description we knew exactly who the caller was: our 140-year-old next door neighbor, who shares his tomatoes, climbs up his ladder to help us harvest plums, and who lost his wife about a month ago. While he's a man of very few words, I guess he's likes us as neighbors as much as we like him.

Meanwhile, we're putting in an offer on this house abut 6 blocks away. The seller went bankrupt, so our offer has to be approved by the court, hopefully by midweek. Crossing fingers!

Unraveling the fetal position

I started writing this garbled, stressed-out post yesterday about buying and selling houses, but since I wasn't quite coherent, I gave it up. Now I have some clear perspective on that matter, and on its context in life.

Part I
We are selling our house. We are hoping incoming first-time buyers taking advantage of the current tax credit will jump on our house with enthusiasm...or so says our real estate agent, who seems to be right about quite a lot of things. While scrambling to get our house ready to list and show in the next week, we've also just dipped our toes in looking for a new house and -- BAM, The Opportunity comes along. It's a not-quite-complete remodel, way under our price range, nearly 3x the size of our current home, 1925 Tudor, and dead center of our life in West Seattle, geographically speaking. The banker started crunching numbers on something called an FHA(203)k, which gives us a new mortgage plus some cash to complete the remodel. As soon as it was approved (bless him, working this Sunday morning), we learn the seller (bank repo) will not entertain contingent offers. Damn.

Meanwhile, and against my better judgement, I started to get really attached to the idea of this house (the space! the price! beautifully remodelled!) and really unattached to other things in our price range (why up our monthly mortgage payments that much for just a little more space?). Sigh...the house will very likely be gone by the time we have an offer.

Part II
I went to cheer for Team Stomp This today, day 3 of the 3-Day Walk. Incredible, inspirational...more than 2,000 people gave up 3 days to walk 60 miles for breast cancer research. And Ms. Stomp This herself, Sheila, was right there, beautiful big smile, spring in her step, even though this has been the most physically and emotionally harrowing year of her life. We cheered, were teary and huggy and wired on the good juju fueled by the event, not to mention that she only had less than 4 miles to go to the finish line.

Among the walkers were a few firefighters who had committed to walking in full fire paraphernalia. While I read about this in the paper, it wasn't until I was standing in the sun for an hour that I realized how uncomfortable and exhausting this must be for these walkers. But there they were, walking by, one of them carrying an axe. I hope they were drinking a lot of water.

Anyway, what all this reminded me about is what's really important...life, health, family, good friends, fun, challenges, taking risks and care of each other. There will be lots of houses eventually dubbed The Opportunity, but there is only one Sheila, and one son Ollie squirting the walkers with water as they walked by, and one husband Jason keeping everyone up to date on when and where to cheer. And there are just a handful of firefighters crazy enough to walk 60 miles in the heat in their black, fire-retardant suits and heavy sloping helmets for a good cause.

So I will uncurl from the fetal position, wait for the right house to come along, and be grateful...for so many things.

Inspired

We went to see Julie & Julia tonight, which was truly delightful, and inspired a lingering appreciation for...1950s-era pumps!


Bruno Magli's Aulia


Taryn by Taryn Rose's Candid


Pour La Victoire's Jacqueline

As for Ray, I think he's still thinking about Bœuf Bourguignon.

Birthday appointments

I hate it when I get out of sync with blogging. It's like how other people feel when they haven't gone to aerobics in a few weeks. Heck, it's how I feel when I haven't gone swimming in...awhile. Must rectify.

This week I've been thinking about a couple of things, but nothing terribly pressing: selling/buying new house (not pressing, but big), scheduling subjects for study that wraps in less than a month, configuring new laptop for lab, realizing that I think my data analysis so far is actually (dare I say it) meaningful, blaming fake sweeteners for bad mood on Monday, and thinking about how I'm going to celebrate my birthday with a much needed day OFF.

This shouldn't be a matter for much contemplation. Lots of people take days off, especially on their birthday. I am notorious for scheduling myself out of time off with what seems, at the moment anyway, urgent business. I once had a 2 week vacation that dwindled down to 3 days because I thought I was needed elsewhere. This is hogwash, and a bad habit. I need to be nicer to myself...so this year it's going to be different. I am going to trick myself into a day off by scheduling my day with things I want to do. And it's all going into my calendar, so when I try to schedule a meeting or project or whatever, I'll be like, "Ooh, looky here, I guess I'm all booked up that day."

Here are some preliminary thoughts on birthday "appointments": early swim in Lake Washington, drive to Salish Lodge for pancakes or stand in line at Salumi for lunch, massage, facial, matinee...ah, I had another thought when I began this post and now I've forgotten...go to Le Panier and write a short story while people watching, take a fun and frivolous one day class (on what I don't know). Make a movie, visit 5 places that begin with the letter M, take a photo every hour on the hour...something fun and silly and slightly creative.

"Appointments" cannot be anything on the run-of-the-mill to do list, no household projects or shopping or errand running, but fun or engaging experiences, outdoors if possible, maybe a beautiful drive, relaxation required, 99% laptop free, and no cancellations.

How about them...

Blog therapy

I'm sitting at Uptown Espresso grading papers and realizing: I need to reduce my workload-induced anxiety. I find I can't enjoy things I would normally enjoy (grading papers for instance, believe it or not), because I can't ignore the tension associated with wondering how I'm going to get everything else done (most of which I would enjoy too, if I just had sufficient time).

It seems silly that while my life is filled with activities I really love to do, I just can't enjoy them because there are just too many. (For example, I'll be cutting this post short...)

Hmmm, need to work on this. Can't reduce the load so much, so I'll just adjust my attitude. Somehow.

Recipe themes

Just grabbed my recipe in-box stack, which has probably been accumulating for more than a year, to find a specific recipe for a black bean/corn salad I made a while ago. Of course it was on the bottom of the pile, but it was fun to leaf through and realize how many recipes are not-so-distant relations. My food/cooking tastes pretty much boil down to:

Grilly sandwiches
Vegetable soups (roasted, Italian wedding, spicy, tomato, asparagus)
Salads (roasted butternut squash, roasted tomatoes, etc.)
Brownies
Chicken with green chiles
Chicken with ginger, honey, garlic, sesame oile, soy sauce, or some such combo.
Pumpkin (bread, biscotti, rice, custard, pancakes, you name it)
Banana pudding, bread
Gingerbread
Asparagus
Apple tarts
Fried green tomatoes
Hot spiced wine

Trip highlights

We're back in town and I'm still exhausted. I think I've been fighting off a cold helped along by a late night flight home. Anyway, we had a marvelous time which included the following highlights:

- Phenomenal Latin food at Emiliano's in Gainesville. We went here twice. Ray had some outstanding BBQ. Sangria was also excellent.
- Had the best Gazpacho ever while in Atlanta, and will attempt the recipe myself sometime this weekend.
- Disney World was incredibly fun.
- Swam near dolphins while staying on Tybee Island. At one point they were about 15 ft away. Incredible.
- Did not make it to Mrs. Wilkes in Savannah as the line was too long for August to endure, but Ray bought her cookbook.
- Architectural tour of Savannah was interesting, and tour guide Jonathon's knowledge was very deep. Highly recommended.
- Learned at Fort Pulaski that the Union soldiers named their cannons after generals, while the Confederate soldiers named their cannons after their moms and sweethearts.
- Southern mosquitoes LOVE me (more of a lowlight than a highlight)
- I have new home layout/floorplan ideas after staying in 3 different homes and one condo. And a new appreciation for the Ranch and Frank Lloyd Wright.
- Ate some of the best pizza ever at Satchel's in Gainesville.
- August learned how to climb out of her pack-n-play a few days after we arrived. She also climbed out of her crib the day after we returned home. Sigh.
- Renewed appreciation for chilled white wine.
- When you have the absolute "best" mattress at home, it spoils you for all other mattresses. My back is slowly unkinking. Love love love Tempur-Pedic.
- Waffle House pecan waffles rock.
- Did stop at Sonic and got a blue coconut slushy, which I quickly realized would make me sick, so dumped out. Oh well.
- Really dislike that GPS lady. Directions consistently idiotic.
- The only way I'll eat crab is fresh, boiled, and untainted by anything but a bit of dipping butter.
- Hmmm, what else. Maybe I'll post a few photos...

Pilgrimage to Mickey: success!

I've pretty much believed it was a bit premature and silly to bring a young toddler to Disneyland/world. But when faced with our choices for outings this weekend, and rain in the forecast for the beach, we said "well...why not?" The decision was fortified by August's new and enthusiastic interest in Mickey Mouse (which we think may have started at daycare).

Last night we scoured the website, picked out a handful of toddler appropriate activities, mapped our driving route, and packed up the hats and sunblock. We headed out about 8 am this morning, aiming to get there by 10 am. By the time we parked, took the tram to ticketing, boarded the ferry and made it to the Magic Kingdom, it was probably 11 am. But no matter, we knew we'd only see a small portion of the park, and there's no pushing it with a 2-year-old in tow.

We walked down Main Street, saw the last part of the show with Mickey in front of the castle ("Mickey Mouse!"), then went in to a cafe in Tomorrow Land for an early lunch. By the time we finished, a parade was trotting by ("P'ade!...Mickey Go!"), which we watched for a minute from a distance before going to Fantasyland and Mickey's Toon Town (home to most of the toddler-appropriate stuff). We tried Mickey's PhilharMagic first (too loud and strange for a 2-year-old...the day's misstep), then Small World (absolutely August's speed). From there it was Pooh's Playful Spot for some running around time, then Toontown Hall of Fame, Mickey's Judges Tent to meet the mouse himself, and Minnie too (which we feared would scare August, but she absolutely loved it). Then we rode the Disney World train around the park and realized that it was naptime. We headed into some Pinocchio-themed eatery, where we had some cool drinks and snacks while August conked out in her stroller for a good hour. Meanwhile, the afternoon monsoon had started, but that didn't stop Ray and I from taking turns running over to the Haunted Mansion (not quite as cool as I remembered it, but of course I was 12 the last time). Both soaking wet, we used the umbrella to shield a now awake August, and ran through giant puddles to get to only Must on the list for the day: Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. Basically it was a comedy routine MCed by Mike Wazowski, which of course August didn't understand, but she loved seeing the characters "live" and clapping with the audience. I think it was the highlight of her day, followed by meeting Mickey and Minnie as a close second.

Since it was now almost 6 pm, we decided to try our luck on the Pirates of Caribbean, another favorite from my previous trip. While the rain was gone, there was no line, and Ray and I again took turns on the ride, while August ate dinner and gleefully and inadvertently smeared peanut butter on her new Mickey doll.

Walked back to the main entrance, took the monorail to ticketing, tram to parking, and drove back up to Gainesville. Whew.

So the lesson we learned is: Yes! If you're in the vicinity, do Disney with a toddler, but set your schedule and expectations low for the day. Pick out only a few things to see, allow for nap/downtime at some nice air-conditioned eatery, and pick out one "big kid" ride to do on your own. Since we forgot snacks in the car, we were grateful for healthy choices like PB&J, apple slices, grapes and strawberry yogurt (though I fear a chicken nugget or two crept into our meals today).

All in all, it was a truly fantastic day, definitely worth the cost of the tickets...especially considering August giggled most of the way back to Gainesville.

Bit of the South

I'm starting to accumulate a list of things we must do during our FL/GA odyssey, per recommendations and a few self-generated ideas. Here's what I have so far:

1. Sonic drive-in
2. Waffle House: order pecan waffle and cup of coffee; note Southern slice-of-life.
3. [DEL Terrell's BBQ] Emiliano's here in Gainesville (twice/check)
4. Get some boiled roasted peanuts
5. [DEL Possible day at Gulf Coast beach] Disneyworld (check)
6. Drive to Charleston
7. Cumberland Island
8. buy some Gator gear (check)
9. listen to some live bluegrass (rained out)
10. architectural tour of Savannah
11. Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House for some Southern food
12. Antique market in Savannah

Launch to Florida

Today's the big day. The optimistic part of my personality is trying to overcome the catastrophistic part of my personality. Flying with a toddler might not be pretty, but then again, it might be just fine, and either way it'll be over by midnight tonight. Heck, I can endure anything for a few hours, right.

New little toys and books are wrapped, lollipops stowed, dvds selected, teddybear at the ready. Blanket and monkey are stashed in luggage, along with Bob's ABCs and Elmo's bedtime book. Three swimsuits, 2 sunhats, 1 blowup beach ball...check. Sunblock? About 4 kinds.

Oh yeah, I'm going to Florida to work! I've packed my stats workbook and a million articles related to my project, 3 pairs of sandals, and a sweater for the overly air-conditioned VA building. Pencils, post-its, laptop.

This morning I just need to pack last minute items, set up Twitter mobile, and take August to the park for some energy burn-off. Flight's at 2 pm.

Summer checklist

Every summer I think about what I'd like to do before fall rolls around again. Then Jana posted her 38 things before 39 list, and that lit a fire:

1. Lunch with Ray at Armandino Batali's
2. Replace back door
3. Replace deck roofing
4. Goodwill
5. Put bike in trunk of car for some semi-commutes to school
6. Outdoor concert with August
7. Experience Sonic drive-in
8. Go to Savannah!
8a. Go to Paula Deen's restaurant?
8b. See about driving up to Charleston
9. Find one bit of the South to bring home with me.
10. Get inaugural flight with toddler out of the way
11. At least 4 open water swims in Aug-Sept
12. Meet up with friends/family at Lincoln Park
13. Shoe/museum outing with Jana
14. Make a new book for August's 2nd birthday
15. This is a toughie: do not get consumed by pilot study which peaks in Aug-Sept
16. Take August to swim at Madison Park beach on a sunny afternoon.
17. Look into/attend kiddie concert series at Seattle Symphony.
18. One NW weekend away.
19. Paint trim.
20. Work on flexibility

Clearing the backlog

The last week or so has been rather hectic, and I keep thinking I'd post the latest, but it just never happened. While Ray loads the rental truck for the dump and I wait for my fish sticks (yes, fish sticks) to come out of the oven, I'll do a little blog-cleanse, twitter version:

Rental car! I love driving rental cars, even this strange little Pontiac whatever-it-is.

DSW—ever been there? It’s like a paradise for the shoe addict. Some cute bags too.

Fever. August has a fever, and it looks like her 3-day holiday with Nana is on hold, or maybe cancelled. Ugh.

You know, you'd never know this kid was sick 30 min post Tylenol.

No sleep last night with feverish toddler in bed with us. And I had plans to get so much done today.

Trip to Nana's resurrected. Doctor thinks this fever thing will run a mild course. Meanwhile I am behind!

Fever gone, August-Nana meet up successful, home to get cranking on my prep for tomorrow’s meetings. But ey am I tired.

Frantically considering what “essentials” need to be ordered to arrive before launch to Florida in 9 days. Car seat table/tray on its way.