my feet are in the water, waiting for the tide to come

maura @ 4:15 pm

I never had a TV in my bedroom as a kid/teen/college student, and Jonathan and I have never had one in the bedroom either. I could never really figure out why anyone would want a TV in their bedroom, but then again while we do watch TV we are weirdy about it. We don’t have cable and the rabbit ears aren’t all that good so we tend to watch computerized TV (online or downloaded) and thus aren’t tivo-ers or channel-surfers. TV is very, very intentional in our house.

With the (now not-so-)new room setup Jonathan’s desk is across from the foot of the bed. One night last week we were getting ready to watch something and felt too tired + lazy to copy it over to the laptop and head into the living room, so we thought, why not just watch it on Jonathan’s computer?

And now I get it. So comfy! So cozy! I may never sit on the sofa again! Except for movie night, of course, because we can’t all eat dinner in the bed (too messy).

disconnecting analogs

maura @ 7:15 pm

I wish I had more time to read.

some things never change, some things stay the same

maura @ 8:24 pm

Yes, I signed Gus up to play soccer this spring. The first game was today, and last week I had this whole blag post worked up in my head on the way I was swinging back + forth between ambivalent + neurotic about the whole thing. The usual whining you’d expect from the small + uncoordinated nonsporty parent* of a small + uncoordinated nonsporty kid.

* And I’m the sportier parent!

But you know what? It went just fine. A pal from school is on his team. The name they chose for their team is Scorpions, which Gus suggested. He was happy to go, happy to play, and happy to have breakfast at a diner afterwards.

His team lost terribly, something like 10 to 1 (no one kept score). It was clear that 4/5ths of the other team had played soccer before, while approximately 0/5ths of the Scorpions had. Or maybe it’s just all of those hippie feel-good vibes he gets in his progressive school: he and his buddy didn’t seem to want to steal the ball from any of the kids on the other team, as if they were giving everyone a turn.

I think I’m actually looking forward to next weekend’s game. Thankfully it’s not at EIGHT (8!!!) AM, which is cruel + unusual punishment for a weekend morning. As our friend said, “NOTHING should start before SCHOOL starts!!!” Esp. nothing the morning after one has insomnia. I had 4 cups of coffee + 1 cup of tea today and still felt like I did when Gus was a baby and woke up every hour or so.

Just don’t call me a soccer mom!

it was undeniably clear to me i don’t know why

maura @ 8:45 pm

I know you’re all wondering how I’m making out with my organizer situation these days. And I think we have a winner!

No, it’s not an iphone.* Nor is it the old school at-a-glance day planner. It is…

* Purchase of said shiny gadget has not been completely ruled out, esp. after I was told (by my iphone enabler) that it’s only $20/mo. more on our cellphone contract to have one. Not that $240/yr is nothing, but it’s less than it could be (master of the obvious, c’est moi!). But nothing will happen on that front until after the new toys are introduced at MacWorld (because the old toys will be cheaper then, right?).

…index cards. Held together with a binder clip.

No lie! I have one card per week, M-W on one side and Th-Su on the other. Those are at the front of the pack. Appointments/tasks/painfully early soccer games (more on that soon) are noted under each day. Then I have one card each for lists: phone numbers, house tasks, me tasks, short term work tasks and long term work tasks. Those are at the back of the pack. When the week is over I draw a line through the old card and stick it in the middle of the pack. Right now I’ve only got cards through May 18, so the pack isn’t too unwieldy.

Jonathan says that this setup has a name: apparently it’s called the hipster pda. I cannot possibly call it that, though, because the whole “-ster” trend makes me nauseous. And why does it need a name, anyway?

OTOH, those #$%&ster folks did come up with some cool templates. J printed one with a 2008 calendar on it that’s very useful. So they’re not all bad.

P.S. I have a big crush on these shoes. Frivolous, yes; pricey, hell yeah. But useful for dressy bessy days at work, I think. Comments?

P.P.S. And you have to love the hilarious Zappos marketing-speak: “Never lose your preference for a youthful silhouette…” Oh heavens, I hope I never do!

stay on target

maura @ 8:45 pm

Tonight was movie night, and we watched Star Wars. Yes, my kid’s meanie parents FINALLY let him watch Star Wars! Can you believe we made him wait so long?

To attempt to make amends for our obvious parental deficiencies we spontaneously showered him with gifts: a teeny x-wing fighter from some long-gone playset (from Jonathan), and old school R2D2 and Chewbacca figures (from me). Because aren’t they better played with than collecting dust on a shelf in our bedroom? Then of course Gus kept asking throughout the whole movie if we had any other toys for him.

I’d forgotten about all of the new scenes. I know it’s not the only thing that makes me an old fart, but I don’t like ’em. They’re just discombobulating and distracting, all of that CGI amidst the spaceship models + prosthetic aliens. Down with computers!

Continuous questioning is the gold standard for movie watching around here, and tonight was no different. He was a little stressed out by the garbage masher. And he was confused about many characters names: lots of “Dark” Vader (predictable), and also Obi-Wan became “Toby,” which always got a giggle out of us old folks.

Indeed Gus was so into it that we’re breaking our kid-imposed movie night pattern of watching one cartoon (last week: Castle in the Sky), then one live-action film, etc. (they talk about patterns a lot in math these days so we are always hearing about them here). Next week it’ll be all Hoth, all the time, baby. Saddle up yr tauntaun!

you look so good in the shoes of an outcast

maura @ 8:20 pm

Over the past few days I’ve been having a hard time reining in my annoyance over Gus’s admittedly completely typical 6 yr old behavior. Things like being so severely poky in the mornings that he will only make it the bus if his trusty valet gets him dressed + shod. Or being completely unable to sit still/facing forward/on his butt at the dinner table for even a minute. Or the whining over having to eat healthy food in order to have some dessert. Oh, I am a cruel parent, so cruel!

But today I suddenly Got Over It. And things were better. There was still lots of wiggling at the dinner table, but Gus accidentally started wiping his mouth with his sock which provided a good opportunity for giggles. (I’m still not sure how it happened — he really didn’t even know he was doing it!)

After dinner he taught me how to play Super Mario Galaxy: “Mommy, why haven’t you played this game? Daddy and I are experts. I’ll teach you.” Not that I told him this, but I haven’t played it because he is hogging it! I guess it is his game.

long nights with the headphones on

maura @ 8:57 pm

So, writing. Haven’t done much of it lately, which makes me feel grumpy. And out of practice. Resolved: write more.

Those krazy kats over at NaBloPoMo have decided to kick it up to every day, every month. I can’t spare the time for that, but I will use this month’s theme (Lists) as tonight’s posting framework.

5 Super Things About the Location of My New Job:

1. Close enough to walk to work! (And far enough that it’s actually decent exercise to walk fast to work in the morning.) I feel a little nerdy doing the Mr. Rogers changing shoes thing at work, but what can you do?

2. Farmer’s market in the plaza nearby on Tuesdays! (And apparently on Thursdays, too, from April-December). This was esp. useful early last week when we didn’t have enough food for lunch — I scored some Empire and Jonagold apples and averted starvation (or hitting the vending machines).

3. OMG the BEST post office ever!!! Longtime (har) readers will recall that I have post office issues. This post office has TWO automated machines (in a space open 24/7!) and stamp machines and windows and lots of space and forms and envelopes and a scale — incredible! It’s the main post office, of course, so it would have all of that stuff. It’s the post office promised land!

4. Pretty close to the Goodwill, too (and you know how I love the Goodwill). And there’s other decent shopping nearby, very handy for errands.

5. Convenient to eight (8!) subway lines, which makes for easy trips home, to Gus’s school, or into/back from Manhattan (east AND west sides!). Not that I’ve taken the train to Gus’s school yet, but it’s only 2 stops away, what could be easier?

when you walk out, look up in the sky

maura @ 8:18 pm

Why I am writing this?! I have much too much to do. I bought 2 pairs of pants over the weekend that (of course, because I’m a shorty) require hemming. And there’s not quite enough food in the house for my lunch tomorrow. We’re a little understocked + underslept here at mauraweb! since we went to my mom’s over the weekend AND Gus is sick (again) and waking us up with his hacking coughs + persistent fevers.

It’s probably just as well that I don’t have time to write much because all I really want to talk about these days is my new job. (Which I really, really like, by the way, have I told you that yet? No? Then pull up a chair!) Jonathan has been listening politely, but I can tell that he is is very bored of me prattling on + on about libraries and information literacy strategies and all of the minute details of my days. Though I did bring home cookies from the lecture I went to last Friday, and who doesn’t like cookies?

impossible architectures

maura @ 9:50 pm

I’m having some organizational issues lately. Not that I’m feeling disorganized, more that I’m no longer quite sure what’s the best format for my stuff. Help me internets!

(n.b. this post will be long-winded and boring. you’ve been warned!)

Okay, so there’s work stuff, which I’m entering into the work email calendar thing. Then there’s home/Gus stuff, which I write on a calendar hanging on the wall at home. But it would be nice to have a computerized linked-up calendar with Jonathan for home/Gus stuff, now that we are both working. Everything in the same place, living the dream!

I was using my 8 yr old Visor to keep track of stuff (retro!). It worked well when I was in library school — I esp. like the ability to make lists and memos. Who doesn’t love lists?! And I could occasionally even jot down a quick blag on the subway.

But the PDA thing is just not fitting in with my slick new work lifestyle. I don’t just sit at my desk all day, I’ve got places to go! I’m already usually carrying a phone, keys, ID, notebook, and pen, and not everything has pockets.

Mostly I am trying NOT to get an iphone. For all the usual crunchy, stingy thrifty, spazzy, whiny reasons you can probably imagine:

Too expensive! What if I lose it? Or drop it and it breaks? Okay, actually, I have never broken a cellphone and have only lost one. And I learned my lesson there, boy howdy. Sandwiches can be dangerous!

Also, you have to get a more expensive plan when you have an iphone, because if you have the ability to surf + email from anywhere of course you will! And do I really need to be surfing + emailing from everywhere + anywhere? Does anyone?

So I went to this old school office supplies place near my new job and got a paper date book. Not sure if it’s really going to work out either, but at least if I drop it I won’t be out $400.

on first and second avenues

maura @ 8:21 pm

The problem with being sick for most of your week off is that you then try to cram everything you planned to do in that week into the two remaining days after you feel better. And I did get a huge amount of stuff done this weekend, probably due to my spazzy energy from my body’s relief at finally not feeling yucky anymore.

One of the things I didn’t do last week when I was sick is make applesauce, so I did it today. Yes! Cooking! Me! I mean, applesauce is no bacon, white bean and kale soup, nor is it homemade chocolate pudding (the things that were cooked in our house today not by me). But it’s not nothing either!

Here’s how to make it:

1. Take a bunch of apples out of the fridge. However many you have is fine, but make sure to ask the people you live with if they want any apples to remain unsauced for eating.

2. Wash ’em and quarter ’em and core ’em. Don’t take off the skin, that’s the secret ingredient!

3. Put about 2mm* of water in a big pot, then dump the apples in. Turn the heat up to simmer and cover the pot.

* Don’t use too much water, because adding it at the end will make the sauce too watery, but the UberCook will say, with horror, “you can’t waste all of that precious apple vitamin juicy water!!!”

3.5. While you’re waiting, unload the dishwasher!

4. Stir the apples every so often and check for doneness. If you’re using a few different types of apples they may be ready at different times.** The apples are ready when they’re soft and just starting to peel away from the skin.

** Honeycrisp take a LONG time; Pink Lady, not so much

5. Take your grandmother’s old Foley Food Mill out of the cabinet, and put it onto a big bowl. Dump the apples in as they’re ready, 4-6 pieces at a time, and turn that mill, baby! Pick out the pieces of skin as needed (i.e. when they start to gum up the works).

6. When all of the apples are milled (whew, good exercise!), dump in the appley water from the pot and stir it all up. Shake a bunch of cinnamon in there (to taste). Marvel at the slightly pinkish color of the finished product — that’s why we leave on the skins!

Everyone in your house will want to try some right away while it’s still warm. Even the 6 yr old, who has been growing ever more picky recently about what fruits he will deign to eat, loves it so much he will consume three (3!) bowls in one day! Now that’s time well-spent, don’t you think?