(Actually now with PhD, but Doctor of Philosophy just doesn't have the same evil ring, does it?)
The damp is likely to be a problem for the books.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Finding the Loose Ends*
Yes, I'm finding them. Doesn't necessarily mean that I've begun
winding them up yet, but I have at least been able to clear a space
off the coffee table and see some of the loose ends.
For about two weeks now, Limelet has been relatively healthy and
sleeping well. It's had a profound effect on our everyday lives. I
think that for a month or so last autumn this happened, but as I was
still recovering from the whole broken-leg incident I was not able to
take advantage of it or appreciate it as well. It's been three and a
half years that we've been living with some level of sleep
deprivation...from agonizing torture to merely exhausting
day-disrupting.
Lately, until about two weeks ago, the night usually went like this:
Limelet finally asleep around 10:30 or so after bedtime routine begun
at 8:15. (Mentally shakes fist at daycare naptime that lasts until
3pm). I want to read before bed the entire time I'm putting him to
sleep, but once he's asleep I'm usually too tired. So I fall asleep
shortly thereafter. Maybe three or four minutes thereafter. Limelet
starts tossing and turning at about 12:45, may calm down quickly with
a little soothing from me. Again at about 3:00, and then 4:30, and
then 5:30. At each instance he becomes more awake and has a harder
time getting back to sleep, sometimes five minutes, sometimes two
hours. We may both end up just being awake in bed from 5:30 onwards,
or from 4:30 to 7:00. Which is exactly when I have to get him up for
daycare.
That routine is still loads better than it was only a year ago, but
still exhausting.
So it is with great relief that I have welcomed this recent upgrade of
his sleeping habits to pretty much staying asleep until 7:00. Now I do
have to still soothe him a bit through the night from time to time,
but only for a minute or two. In fact, Friday night he slept
completely solid all the way to 4:30. Unprecedented!
I can't believe what a change this has effected.
The coffee table is nearly cleared off, my clean laundry and Limelet's
have both been hung up for a week now instead of piled on the floor
near our closets as it has been since we moved here, we got more done
(both work and fun) yesterday than we normally would in an entire
weekend, the dishes are clean, garden's weeded, food is made ahead,
the finances and other paperwork are in order, social obligations are
starting to be met, etc.
It's like what one would picture a "normal" family might be like! You
know, people doing stuff. Not slouching around dispiritedly and
exhaustedly, while we alternate child care for a miserably sick and
tired kid, so that the other might get some urgent basic household
task done. Which is what our lives have been like every day for years.
Solid. Years. This past couple of weeks has felt like escaping some
kind of prison. I literally do not know what to do with myself during
the days! Hopefully I can finally send out those résumés I planned
to...in November.
You know what this means, right? It means I am certain to discover
that I'm pregnant any second now. I just bet.
*With apologies to my husband, as he will be sure doom is headed our way since I dared to speak aloud that anything is going well. We've both become very superstitious about this over the past couple of years. Every time we've dared to say anything like "I'm feeling good" or "things are going well" something terrible has happened nearly immediately. Really!
winding them up yet, but I have at least been able to clear a space
off the coffee table and see some of the loose ends.
For about two weeks now, Limelet has been relatively healthy and
sleeping well. It's had a profound effect on our everyday lives. I
think that for a month or so last autumn this happened, but as I was
still recovering from the whole broken-leg incident I was not able to
take advantage of it or appreciate it as well. It's been three and a
half years that we've been living with some level of sleep
deprivation...from agonizing torture to merely exhausting
day-disrupting.
Lately, until about two weeks ago, the night usually went like this:
Limelet finally asleep around 10:30 or so after bedtime routine begun
at 8:15. (Mentally shakes fist at daycare naptime that lasts until
3pm). I want to read before bed the entire time I'm putting him to
sleep, but once he's asleep I'm usually too tired. So I fall asleep
shortly thereafter. Maybe three or four minutes thereafter. Limelet
starts tossing and turning at about 12:45, may calm down quickly with
a little soothing from me. Again at about 3:00, and then 4:30, and
then 5:30. At each instance he becomes more awake and has a harder
time getting back to sleep, sometimes five minutes, sometimes two
hours. We may both end up just being awake in bed from 5:30 onwards,
or from 4:30 to 7:00. Which is exactly when I have to get him up for
daycare.
That routine is still loads better than it was only a year ago, but
still exhausting.
So it is with great relief that I have welcomed this recent upgrade of
his sleeping habits to pretty much staying asleep until 7:00. Now I do
have to still soothe him a bit through the night from time to time,
but only for a minute or two. In fact, Friday night he slept
completely solid all the way to 4:30. Unprecedented!
I can't believe what a change this has effected.
The coffee table is nearly cleared off, my clean laundry and Limelet's
have both been hung up for a week now instead of piled on the floor
near our closets as it has been since we moved here, we got more done
(both work and fun) yesterday than we normally would in an entire
weekend, the dishes are clean, garden's weeded, food is made ahead,
the finances and other paperwork are in order, social obligations are
starting to be met, etc.
It's like what one would picture a "normal" family might be like! You
know, people doing stuff. Not slouching around dispiritedly and
exhaustedly, while we alternate child care for a miserably sick and
tired kid, so that the other might get some urgent basic household
task done. Which is what our lives have been like every day for years.
Solid. Years. This past couple of weeks has felt like escaping some
kind of prison. I literally do not know what to do with myself during
the days! Hopefully I can finally send out those résumés I planned
to...in November.
You know what this means, right? It means I am certain to discover
that I'm pregnant any second now. I just bet.
*With apologies to my husband, as he will be sure doom is headed our way since I dared to speak aloud that anything is going well. We've both become very superstitious about this over the past couple of years. Every time we've dared to say anything like "I'm feeling good" or "things are going well" something terrible has happened nearly immediately. Really!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Some Changes Are in Order
Now, you've probably already heard (or...read) me rant ad nauseum
about daylight savings and how that should be changed. Ideally,
eradicated. For God's sake let it die already. So, yeah, I've got some
ideas about that.
Anyway, I also have other lunatic fringe ideas about other dearly held
social conventions. Such as the seven-day week. It's not based on
natural phenomena like months (although some claim some kind of
relationship with "four" moon phases, which to me begs the question),
or even like the number of our digits.
Since earlier societies had "weeks" of anywhere from four to ten days,
as I read, we could reasonably still choose something in that range. I
think six days would be better. And we have to maintain the two-day
weekend, too. Five workdays in a row is just too many! So there'd be
five weeks per month and, what, 61 weeks per year? Perfect.
Perhaps we can start a religion that uses the six-day week, just to
get it some publicity.
* * * * * *
I have been thinking about this, mostly at 3:30 and 5:15 in the morning. Now as far as what day I would remove from the week--it's not the one you'd imagine: Monday. No, with a six-day week no one would need to dread Mondays. And I like the whole "Sunday, Moonday" aspect. In fact, that's what I'd change it to. Anyway. It's Tuesday I'd remove.
You probably think that's crazy (as opposed to the rest of the scheme), but hear me out. So we have Sunday, Moonday, ... Tuesday? I can never for the life of me remember what that's named for. Odinsday and Thorsday, those are pretty obvious. And Freiaday. Since Freia is one of my favorite chocolate companies, I'd make that a day sacred to chocolate-eating. But then we have...ta-da! Saturnsday. What the heck? Sun, moon, Norse pantheon, and then...Saturn? Isn't that Roman? I'm changing that. It can be, let's say...Lokisday. For the sake of continuity.
Now somebody go look up the meaning of Tuesday for me, please, as I have run out of time.
about daylight savings and how that should be changed. Ideally,
eradicated. For God's sake let it die already. So, yeah, I've got some
ideas about that.
Anyway, I also have other lunatic fringe ideas about other dearly held
social conventions. Such as the seven-day week. It's not based on
natural phenomena like months (although some claim some kind of
relationship with "four" moon phases, which to me begs the question),
or even like the number of our digits.
Since earlier societies had "weeks" of anywhere from four to ten days,
as I read, we could reasonably still choose something in that range. I
think six days would be better. And we have to maintain the two-day
weekend, too. Five workdays in a row is just too many! So there'd be
five weeks per month and, what, 61 weeks per year? Perfect.
Perhaps we can start a religion that uses the six-day week, just to
get it some publicity.
* * * * * *
I have been thinking about this, mostly at 3:30 and 5:15 in the morning. Now as far as what day I would remove from the week--it's not the one you'd imagine: Monday. No, with a six-day week no one would need to dread Mondays. And I like the whole "Sunday, Moonday" aspect. In fact, that's what I'd change it to. Anyway. It's Tuesday I'd remove.
You probably think that's crazy (as opposed to the rest of the scheme), but hear me out. So we have Sunday, Moonday, ... Tuesday? I can never for the life of me remember what that's named for. Odinsday and Thorsday, those are pretty obvious. And Freiaday. Since Freia is one of my favorite chocolate companies, I'd make that a day sacred to chocolate-eating. But then we have...ta-da! Saturnsday. What the heck? Sun, moon, Norse pantheon, and then...Saturn? Isn't that Roman? I'm changing that. It can be, let's say...Lokisday. For the sake of continuity.
Now somebody go look up the meaning of Tuesday for me, please, as I have run out of time.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
C'mon People.
So, can we be just a little tiny bit less of pains in the ass? Right now I particularly mean all of us White people. Is it really (really!) so excruciatingly hard and painful to get called on your shit, even in a polite way, and even by another White person who's trying to be careful of your gigantic teetering defenses? I mean basic, super-simple stuff like exoticization?
It is? …Well, okay, then can you at least look it up later in private to find out what it means, and how you might be doing it?
I mean, I'm sure not saying I'm perfect about it, either.
And technically, yes, I am an expert on the subject, to answer your unasked question. But expert does not equal perfect. It means I'll own mine, and look into myself if someone calls me on my dominant stuff. I might even apologize. Maybe that'll have to be when I get over feeling crappy and guilty, but I try not to blame the caller-outer for that.
Is that really such a threatening thing to consider doing?
Dang.
And hey, this also applies to all of us hetero-identified, Christian-raised, cisgendered, non-indigenous, age-privileged, marriage-accepted, ability-approved, all-that-other-stuff people. Whatever our dominant statuses are.
Find out yours.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
My Little Vampire
For no reason. Or just because several people have mentioned that Limelet looks like the sparkly vampire. So what do you think?
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