Artwork by Lucy

At school yesterday, Lucy drew this picture. I double checked with her teacher to confirm that yes, she did this all by herself. She did. This is a picture of our family. Notice bellybuttons.



**Special thanks to 83 Durant Guest Kanga who provided technical assistance on working with this image.

Snowy

So the blizzard came, and we're all OK. There isn't a full foot of snow out there, but it is blowing like crazy all over the place. This morning we did some shoveling and Lucy went out to test her new snowboots and snowpants. All is in order, and there's a promise to go sledding later today.

Given the weather (and the virtual closure of every means of transport into or out of the area), we're quite glad that we weren't traveling over Christmas. We do have some plans ahead for a west coast visit (I'm going to MLA in Los Angeles) but we're glad to just be able to stay here and not worry about travel right now.

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated at the home of friends, and joined in their traditional Polish Christmas Eve festivities. The food was delicious -- perogies (filled with cheese, potatoes, and cabbage), and barszcz (white soup) with uszka (pasta shells filled with mushrooms). My favorite part was the pre-dinner tradition of breaking Opłatki, or unleavened bread. Each person had a piece of the bread (or "cracker" as Lucy liked to call it) and walked around to speak with everyone individually. As you wished each person a good year of good health, joy, and prosperity, you broke off a piece of their bread and gave it to the other person to eat; then as they wished you the same, they break off a piece of their bread and give it to you to eat. It was a lovely tradition.

Christmas was very nice here at 83 Durant. Lucy was most excited about the jellybeans. Really, none of the other presents mattered. We give her like four beans at a time, and it's like we've just given her beans filled with joy and rainbows. She's easy to please (and also easy to anger -- look out for the rage when you tell her "that's enough jellybeans for now").

We had brunch with Matt & Mary on Christmas day, gorging ourselves on Jake's home-made pop-tarts (amazing!) and Mary's eggs benedict and home-made bagels. And then Christmas cookies (and also jellybeans for those who were so inclined). It was lovely.

Santa also brought us some lovely Christmas presents including some great graphic novels that I wanted to read, and also, something that I didn't even know I wanted: Resident Evil 4 for the Wii. Jake thought it was the sort of thing I would enjoy playing. He knows me well. If you don't hear from me for a while, it is because I am playing (saving the world from zombies). We've actually be playing it together (he uses the nun-chuck to walk us around, and I shoot things); it's an intense game. Perfect for a snowy day when you're trapped inside!

Update: Re: Sledding:

Visiting Salem

On the Tuesday before Christmas, Jake and I took a day off together (with Lucy at school) and went to Salem for two things we've been wanting to do there for a while (no, we did not have any witches in need of hanging).

1. First we visited J & A King Bakery, an absolutely amazing bakery. We had breakfast and lunch there, and also brought home plenty of bread to have with our soup for dinner. They make amazing stuff. Here is a list of the things that we had and can fully endorse:

• ham & cheese croissant
• sticky bun
• apricot danish
• French ham & cheese sandwich (on baguette)
• roast beef sandwich (their own roast beef, also on baguette)
• ciabatta bread
• some other kinds of bread, can't remember what kind but it's all amazing
• peacan shortbread cookies
• peanut butter cookies

If you are in Salem, or anywhere in striking distance, go there. Eat there. You will be joyful.

2. We have long been wanting to visit the Peabody Essex Museum, specifically their exhibit, Treasures from the Forbidden City, which is only there until January 9th, so if you can swing it, you really should go! Now! What are you waiting for?

The exhibit features an 18th-century royal compound that is on its only visit outside of the Forbidden City. Ever. They're restoring the whole area of the gardens, and making some awesome discoveries (like beautiful panels hidden behind other beautiful panels), and really, it's just cool stuff. The specific stuff in the exhibit is from the Quianlong Garden, also known as the "Tranquility and Longevity Palace Garden," which was a private retreat for the emperor within the Forbidden City. So it was on like super-secret probation.

I was particularly taken with the names of the rooms and buildings found in the Forbidden City and the Palace. The signage in the exhibit indicated that certain objects came from "The Palace of Earthly Tranquility," "The Hall of Mental Cultivation," "the Belvedere of Well-nourished Harmony," "the Hall of Wish Fulfillment," "the Pavilion of Expecting Good Omen," and perhaps my favorite, "the Studio of Exhaustion from Diligent Service." I am thinking that we need to re-name the various rooms of 83 Durant more appropriately. I'll start with "the Chamber of Procrastinative Internetting."

Our other favorite exhibit (one that we didn't know about before we arrived) was an installation by Charles Sandison. He used a space in the museum (East India Marine Hall) that has been there for a long time and is filled with various marine-related art and archives, and installed I don't know how many projectors in it. He went through 18th-century logs from ship captains and then projected the text of the logs all over the walls, in their original handwriting. The effect is very cool, because added to it is the fact that the texts move all over the place, tracing a trail that corresponds with their sailing of trade routes. It's difficult to describe, but if you follow the link above, take a look at the video, which will give you a better sense of how awesome this installation is. Better yet, go to the Peabody Essex Museum and see it -- it's really terrific!

It's Here!

I got an early Christmas present today, brought by my friendly UPS delivery man:
I can't quite believe it. It's done. It's here. It can be there: link to Amazon for the purchase



Cheers!

He's a STAR!

I realize that this blog is now in danger of being the all-Carter-all-the-time blog with nothing about our house. But the truth is, our dog is famous. Much more famous than any of us or our house will ever be, so we need to talk about our dog.

Tonight, we got a babysitter and went to see The Fighter here in Lowell. For those of you who do not live in Lowell, New York, or LA, you cannot see The Fighter yet. But here in Lowell, we're special.

The movie was pretty great. The boxing scenes were hard (for me) to watch. It was very fun to see all the local sites and know where every scene was happening, including the fact that Charlene's house, which another character claims is on Stevens Street is actually in our neighborhood, far from Stevens Street. When you come to visit us, we can take you on a tour of The Fighter's Lowell. And, of course, you can meet its major -- in fact only -- canine star, Carter.

Carter's scenes were great. There are two of them, and in one of them, Christian Bale yells "Is that a cocker spaniel?!" at him. Christian Bale has talked about my dog.

Carter is kind of a big deal.

When we returned home, giddy and pleased, we asked the babysitter how things had gone. She got a worried look and said "everything was OK, but there was one thing.....Carter got up on the table and got the banana bread."

Well, who are we to deny a major star his banana bread when we went off to the movie -- his movie -- without him.

Further updates when the dog press junket begins.

Update: I just googled "The Fighter" Wahlberg spaniel to see if there were any mentions of Carter in the reviews of the movie so far.

O.M.G.

Here's one: http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/12/10/the-fighter-review/ where you will find this:

It's also funny in very random moments, like when Dicky turns to a passerby who's gawking at his argument with Charlene and says, "Hey, what kind of dog is that? Is that a cocker spaniel?"

And then there are multiple sites that include quotes from the movie, and this is what they say in the little blurbs under discussion of The Fighter:

Related Quotes

1. Hey, what kind of dog is that? Is that a cocker spaniel?
   SOURCE: Cinematical 2 days ago

I'm telling you, just keep checking in on "Is that a cocker spaniel?" in the next few weeks....it's going to be the "whaaazup" of 2010.

Update: Jake just asked me "didn't they ask you what kind of dog he was?" -- I did -- and he followed: "so you co-wrote that scene." YES! Also, Jake totally co-directed with Russell, as Carter needed some coaxing to do that thing he does.

Lesson Learned: Pop Culture Trumps Parenting

I've been (foolishly) proud of Lucy's musical ear. She's very good at picking out tunes and recognizing her favorites. I'm always (again foolishly) proud when she yells out "that's Wilco!" or "I want Jonathan Richman!" from the backseat. We fell like virtuous hipster parents when this happens. We beam with delight as she sings along to Magnetic Fields songs we sing to her as lullabies.

So I was rather shocked by today's conversation with Lucy:

While driving home from school, we were listening (naturally) to NPR, which had a story on "The Making of a Hit Song," featuring samples. Suddenly, from the backseat, I hear:

"That's Justin Beiber! Mom! That's Justin Beiber!"

And she proceeded to sing along to lyrics that mostly seemed to feature the word "baby" in various inflections.

I am not lying when I say that I don't know a Justin Beiber song. I am vaguely aware of his existence, and the fact that he's some sort of pop music phenom (perhaps from American Idol? I don't actually know). It's not that I dislike him, I'm just not hooked up to that particular line of contemporary popular music culture. I had no idea that she knew that such a thing as "Justin Beiber" existed, let alone that she could recognize one of his songs. Apparently, they have learned about Justin Beiber -- where else? -- at school. They regularly have dance parties (of which I totally approve) and apparently, one of her teachers is a fan.

Pop culture, you have won. We surrender.

Also, Plumbing: Shower mystery

Oh, and lately we've been neglectful about documenting various home projects/problems. Mostly this is because we've been too busy. But this morning, we were shocked to find that our upstairs shower doesn't work. At least, it doesn't spray any water, which, to me, is really the essence of what a shower needs to do. We don't know what the cause is, so further investigations will be necessary.

Jake promised to tackle the problem tomorrow. If you're a regular reader, you'll recall that previously, such a project ended with calling a professional. I just realized after looking through past posts that I don't think I ever documented this one. Let's just say it involved the shearing off of a pipe. Fun. Let's hope this adventure is less, uh, adventurous. We'll start by not waiting until after 5pm to start the project.

Updates soon. Until then, we'll try not to smell too much.

Update: Friday, 12/10: The shower is fine. After Jake collected his tools to prepare for the plumbing battle, Lucy wanted to know all about what he was doing. So he brought her into the shower to show her what was wrong and how the shower is supposed to work. While doing so, he noticed a tiny lever on the shower head itself that we had never noticed before. Turns out, the shower head had an on/off switch, and it had fallen into "off." So he put it back to "on," and it's fixed. Hooray! Best plumbing story ever.

As promised, pictures with Santa

I mentioned the other day that Carter got his photo taken with Santa. Since he's famous now, I'll bet this photo will sell like hotcakes!
Happy Holidays!

NEWS FLASH! Carter is IN THE MOVIE!

I just got word that yes, indeed, it is true, OUR DOG, CARTER STEPHEN BRIDGE, APPEARS IN THE MOVIE THE FIGHTER AND CHRISTIAN BALE TALKS ABOUT HIM!!!

The scene made it in!!! Carter is famous!!!

We have not yet seen the film but our friend who has a movie reviewer friend has confirmed it.

More updates once we actually see it, but we had to let you know.

HOORAY!

Local Family Fun

I'm feeling good about this weekend because we did some great local family fun stuff. First, we spent part of the day on Saturday at Western Avenue Studios here in Lowell, an enormous artists' studio space where they were having Open Studios all weekend (and will do so again this weekend, so you should go too!). We saw lots of great stuff and Lucy had a blast collecting candy from the various studios. We also stopped at a terrific free activity, Anne Ruthman's Photobooth, where she took a bunch of photos of us, shown here:







This was a very quick, on-the-fly session, but we are so impressed with her. We will be going back for a real session at some point, but wanted to sing her praises here. If you're looking for a photographer, Anne is a gem! You too can join the photobooth fun next weekend! In the meantime, check out Anne's blog here, or her Facebook here.



Then today we went to Wignall's Animal Hospital, Carter's vet, where they were having their annual Santa Sunday. If you have the chance to go to Santa Sunday in the future, you should go. We only went for the very last part (because Lucy was taking her first decent nap in probably a month!), but we had a great time. Carter and Lucy had their picture taken with Santa. We hope to have a file to upload very soon. There was also a raffle with cool prizes, and all the proceeds went to take care of animals, so we're feeling good about the whole thing.

You can judge how busy I've been by the utter lack of complete sentences that will have to serve as a limited update on the current status of life here:

Lucy: She's 3! Look! New Big-Girl Bed!



Grandparents!


Food/Cooking:

Pie:


More coming soon when my eyes recover from too many hours of reading too many things.

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!
Happy (soon-to-be-upon-us) Holidays!

My Creation(s)

My book is done. I have just (immediately preceding the posting of this entry) submitted the final final final proof of the book, and it will be in the production line tomorrow. This is cause for celebration, which I will be doing tonight by going to see Sufjan Stevens at the Orpheum in Boston. I'm so excited.

But perhaps more importantly, and certainly more amusingly, I must tell you of my favorite latest Conversation with Lucy (TM). We've been reading a lot of Halloween-themed books to her lately (her choice, though certainly we have quite a stock of options) and a current favorite is one about the Littlest Pumpkin, wherein, on the final page, there is a picture of a giant Jack-o-Lantern surrounded by three kids in Halloween costumes.

When we get to the page (as part of her ever-widening stalling routine) she asks "What are their costumes?" which is now just what we do at the end of the book, every time.

Last night, I dutifully told her "there's a witch, a clown, and a Frankenstein."

Last night, Lucy replied: "No, Mommy, that's a Frankenstein's Monster."

Seriously, I could not be more proud. I go over this ALL THE TIME in my Gothic novel/horror story classes, about how Frankenstein is the name of a person, and he created a monster, so really, the guy with the green head is "Frankenstein's monster," NOT "Frankenstein." I can't believe I even tried to get away with not giving her the correct name this time. I stand corrected. And glowing (green?) with pride.

Update on the Media Empire

I should have included this info in last night's Halloween post, but I ran out of time with all the trick-or-treat tending.

My faithful readers will remember that two summers ago, I was interviewed for a PBS special on haunted places in New England (specifically my research on local witches). It aired last fall locally, but I've recently heard from the producer that the thing now has national distribution and that it was one of the top 5 shows distributed by American Public Television this fall. It even won some awards, including an Aurora Award, a Communicator Award, and a Telly Award. Whoa! It's also apparently a top-selling DVD on PBS's website. I had to laugh, though, because the only user review it currently has is very bad; the reviewer is disturbed by all the paranormal/pseudoscientist stuff. I am proud to lay claim to the title of the "voice of reason & skepticism" on the program.

Anyway, suddenly I'm hearing from a bunch of colleagues and students about how they saw me on TV this weekend. Apparently they're blanketing the airwaves with this stuff, and in fact, it was the show that was on just before the latest Mystery series, which, by the way is AWESOME. It is a new, updated Sherlock Holmes and it rules. Two of the three episodes have aired, but you should totally go watch it.

So I'm enjoying my temporary star turn, knowing full well that I am about to be trumped by my dog. The Fighter drops December 10th. That happens to be my last day of classes here. It would seem there are many reasons to get a babysitter that night!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Greetings, visitors to 83 Durant. I'm writing this post while sitting by the door waiting for the trick-or-treaters to show up. Jake has taken Lucy up to Ruthie's house where the kids (Lucy, Ruth, Woodrow, & Aiden) will trick-or-treat together (probably just to a few houses). Carter is here with me, being protective. He tried to pounce on the first three-year-old witch who showed up at our door. Thankfully, I restrained him, and now I have him in the front room, with a baby gate in the doorway between the front room and the hallway so that he can see what's going on but not be a danger to visitors (or himself for that matter).



Lucy is dressed up as Madeline. There's one shot up there, but there will soon be more once I get the camera unloaded.



We had a lovely Halloween today, with Jake competing at Orchard Cross, a cyclo-cross event at a New Hampshire Orchard (Applecrest Farm). It was a great day, with kids and families in costumes. Lucy's friends Emma and Jonah even raced in the kids event. There were cider donuts, lots of dogs, and good New England fall fun.



I'm blogging while I wait for the doorbell, so as long as I'm writing a silly (and soon-to-be-interrupted) post, I'll give you some mini updates on our lives.



My book: I currently have in my hands the proof for my book. I even know what the cover will look like. I'm making the index, which is a difficult thing to do. It's supposed to be out in January, which is pretty exciting. And by the way, if you're reading this and want to read my book (seriously, people, it's an academic book) don't pay the full price on Amazon. Seriously. That price point is really meant for libraries buying the book. But if you seriously want a copy, let me know, as I get a considerable author discount and I can hook you up.



Upcoming Holidays:

1) Lucy's Birthday: Boy, she's a bit excited about this. She's very into telling us what is going to happen on her Birthday. One of the things she claims is that she will use the potty then. Potty training has not really been happening, as every time we suggest we try, she responds "I will use the potty on my Birthday!" Jake's sister Jess informed him recently that Josh did something similar, so we are hopeful that she really is into this and we will be diaper-free by Thanksgiving. That would be something to be thankful for indeed.



2) Thanksgiving: Are you coming to our house? Because a lot of people are. If you are coming, you might want to BYOC, by which I mean, Bring Your Own Chair. I am quite sure we will have plenty of food, but chairs may be in short supply. Our official Thanksgiving dinner will be on Friday (so we can get the marked-down, day-after-Thanksgiving turkeys on sale, of course).



3) Christmas: We have no idea what we're doing yet. We're thinking we might just be sticking around here because of



4) Los Angeles: Bridget's going to LA for her business's convention in January. Do you have any recommendations for things she should do there, besides enjoy the chance to sleep through the night with no interruptions from Lucy?



Sadly, Lucy has been night-waking a lot lately. Mostly I mean that she's been waking up in the middle of the night demanding a drink and a diaper change. But also, for a couple days now, she's been waking up super-early and insisting that it's time to wake up. This makes me grumpy. I think I'm going to take it out of her future allowance. Or possibly her trick-or-treat candy.



Also, somewhere out there, there are photos of me in a Madeline costume. It was sometime in grad school, at a Phillips Place Halloween party several years ago. After a quick combing of photo albums, I have not been able to find any pictures. I suspect that they only existed electronically in some older online photo gallery thing that I have no longer have access to. If you have a picture of me as Madeline, could you send it to me?

Kitchen Upgrade: Recycling Bins

Just a quick update: we replaced our large Ikea recycling bins in the kitchen with slightly smaller, more svelte recycling bins. Check out the new trash/recycling center in the kitchen:


Those are 2 units of Ikea's Retur line (large size). We like them quite a lot.

They are screwed into the wall, and they open to accept containers (top) and paper (bottom). Then the whole drawer thing actually comes out entirely for easy emptying. I think this is a nice upgrade. They're smaller in terms of footprint, but still hold a fair amount of recycling. We've moved the big bins out to the back porch for the occasional big recycling times.

An Open Letter to the Creature

This is an Open Letter to the Creature who was stockpiling rice in a box in the basement:

Dear Creature,

I suspect you are a mouse, or perhaps small group of mice. I salute your industry. It appears that you have been very busy and/or well-organized. You have brought what I guess to be at least an entire cup of rice to your sneaky hiding place. I would never have found it had I not been looking for a box to pack some things in that I need to ship. I never would have guessed that you would hide in the bottom of a cardboard box once used to hold paper.

I do have a few questions for you. First of all, how long have you been going about this project of rice relocation? How much rice are you capable of carrying in your tiny, tiny arms? Also, where are you now? Are you still hiding somewhere in our home, perhaps in another box, or have you moved on to rice-ier pastures?

Also, were you planning to eat all of this rice yourself? It seems like a lot for one mouse. Perhaps you have an eating disorder? The fact that the rice in the box was mixed with nearly equal parts of -- uh, how to say this delicately? -- your excrement (which looks alarmingly like black rice) makes me suspect you have some issues. Seriously, dude, that is totally gross. The image of you sitting in a dark cardboard box, surrounded by rice and your own poo is not a pretty picture.

Finally, one last question, Creature: where did you get the rice? We have not yet determined the source from which you created your stash. Did you gnaw a hole in a bag somewhere that we have not yet found? Was it in the upstairs pantry, or the basement storage pantry? If you want to just leave us a note, that would help. Thanks.

Well, Mr. or Ms Mouse, I have taken your rice (and poo) and thrown it in the trash. If you want it, you can find it outside in the dumpster. Please, please stop with the hoarding....at least inside our house. And if you see an odd looking contraption made of wood and wire that seems to be inviting you to eat some delicious peanut butter, run. Run like the wind, little friend.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Love,
83 Durant Street

P.S. Photographic evidence of your infraction:

Centralville Update

You may remember a post from back in February, when we mentioned that a nearby landmark on Bridge street had been destroyed by a fire. This past Friday night, another terrible fire demolished another 4-story building just one block away. This fire, unlike the previous one, took two lives, and left a third man in critical condition. It was very, very bad, and we were very sad to hear this news. It was a building we pass every day.

The first floor of the building was a business called Guaranteed Aluminum, which made replacement windows, screens, and the like. It was a business that we had frequented on occasion, for instance, when our storm window shattered and we needed a replacement, and when we needed a screen for our front storm door. The picture below is from their website; I had never had a chance to take a photo of the place:

We walked down to Bridge street on our extended walk this afternoon and saw this:


That's the same corner as in the photo above.

Here's the Varnum Building that went down in February:


And here's what it looks like now:

These two buildings (and now empty lots) are just one block away from each other. Our friend Matt told me that there was actually a third 4-story building in the lot between the two of them that was condemned years ago and torn down by the city. I wish I could find some good historic photos of Bridge Street for comparison; the whole skyline -- not to mention street-level -- has changed so much just this year.

Building & Improving

Today Lucy and I did some building! It was great fun. Here she is, assembling her Ikea Trofast:

And here's the completed project:
And here's the new nook we've created:

Lucy really enjoyed being a part of the assembly process. She was very good at handing me tools and appropriate hardware.

And although this isn't really building, I finally put the new duvet cover on the bed/futon in the guest room:

The color of the walls doesn't come out very well here (wow, our lens is dirty!) but the new cover looks very nice with our green walls.

Those are the improvements for the weekend. Hope you're enjoying some lovely fall weather wherever you are!

Fairness

On Friday, we went to the Topsfield Fair, the oldest agricultural fair in the U.S. A good time was had by all. Here's Lucy about to feed some chickens or geese:


And here she is, enjoying a little snack of ice cream:

While on Jake's head. Yes, there's some ice cream in his hair.

We went to the fair last year and really enjoyed it. Lucy was more directive this time, telling us which things she wanted to see and do. Jake and I enjoyed Italian sausage sandwiches this year, and we all had ice cream. There was a frightening array of food options, particularly of the fried variety.

Lucy's favorite things about the fair (she is now dictating the blog entry):
--the bunnies
--the piggies
--the giraffes......LUCY! There were no giraffes!
--the cows
--the birdies
--eating the bagel
--eating the creamsies (the whipped cream on top of the ice cream).

So there you go. Fair, unbiased reporting of the fair.

Deceptions

A long time ago, Jake's cousin Paul shared with us his favorite piece of parenting advice. He explained that when the ice cream truck drives through your neighborhood, you should get excited and dance around and announce that the "Music Truck" is in the neighborhood. Make no mention of ice cream whatsoever. This worked well with his first child, although I believe it has been less successful with the later ones.

We loved the idea, and definitely instituted it, as there are at least three different, competing ice cream trucks that regularly cruise our neighborhood in the summertime. Lucy loves dancing to the "Music Truck." Awesome. Recently, a friend and parent of three of Lucy's young friends told us that his three girls think that Lucy is really deprived. Whenever they complain about something awful their parents have done (like not allowing them to eat candy all the time), they say "well, at least you know what an ice cream truck is. Lucy doesn't even know that!" This is hilarious to me, and then sometimes (briefly) makes me feel guilty about the way we've warped her mind. What will happen when she figures it out? Hmmmmm....

This comes to mind at the moment -- rather after the ice cream truck season afterall -- because Lucy has eaten 5 popsicles today. I know, that sounds absolutely outrageous. But here's what her popsicles look like:



Yes, that is one of the new Popsicle "MIGHTY MINI" pops (with Slow Melt technology!*). The Mighty Minis are awesome. I have a large stockpile in our basement freezer because I fear they might be discontinued. I don't know what will happen if Lucy actually finds out what regular-sized popsicles look like. It might be rather like what happened the first time I met an actual full-sized ("standard") poodle, after thinking all my life that the toy poodle was the only size poodles came in. Scary.

Lucy loves them. She often gets to have three popsicles. This makes her very happy. Today she had five because she had a little accident where she ran her lip into my computer (the very computer on which I am typing this). There was a lot of blood and a distraught mom and Lucy, so I swiftly decided that the way to staunch the blood and calm the child was to administer a popsicle. Actually, she got two. Then, after dinner, she got 3 more, just for good measure.

And the next day....

Jake was getting Lucy out of the bathtub. She bumped her elbow. She cried and looked sad. Jake kissed it and said he thought it would be OK. Lucy announced, through (presumably feigned) tears:

"I think a popsicle would make it better."

Oh, the deceptions.

*"Slow Melt Technology" involves gelatin being added to the pops so they don't melt so fast.

Big Girl Bed!

Lucy is officially a Big Girl. Last Friday, we let her sleep on an air mattress. It was a bit rough, but over the next few days of naps and nighttime sleep, she did pretty well. So yesterday, we dismantled the crib and in the next week or so we hope to buy her an actual bed. Right now, she is loving the air mattress. Hooray! So far, she has not attempted to get out of bed and walk around (at least as far as we know) but I'm sure it's only a matter of time til she puts it together that she has free run of things in the room now.

Update: She did fall out of bed last night and was distraught about it. But she went back to sleep.

Further proof that Lucy's a big girl: Today, apropos of nothing, she turned to me and asked "Can I have my own computer for my Birthday?"

Seriously? She's going to be 3. [There has been A LOT of talk lately about what will happen for her Birthday.] I asked her what she wanted it for: "So I can Skype with Ma and Pa."

Lovely.

Bad Parenting Commentary, by Lucy

I am guilty of some bad parenting. My guilt has been compounded by the fact that my daughter has pointed out to me the error of my ways. I stand corrected, and shamed. So I'm sharing the details with you:

While giving Lucy a bath this evening, I remembered an e-mail that I needed to write. I am fully aware that this e-mail was not super-important (no e-mail really is); I will attempt to justify it only by saying that I needed to contact a student, and that I was worried that I would forget to do so if I didn't write it down or do it (and I had neither pen & paper or the internet in the bathroom). I know what I did was wrong.

Lucy was enjoying her bath, playing and having fun. So I said "I'll be right back; keep playing," and hustled off to the front room. I sat down to start a quick e-mail so that I wouldn't forget. Thirty seconds or so later, I hear the patter of little (wet) feet. Lucy is coming to get me.

Me: What are you doing?
Lucy: I'm done with my bath.
Me: But you were supposed to wait in the bath.
Lucy: But you weren't there. So I got out.
Me: But you're not supposed to get out of the bath by yourself.
Lucy: But you weren't there.

[By the way, by now I have scooped her up in a towel and we are talking in the bathroom while I dry her off. There are wet footprints everywhere. Also note, prior to this, I don't think Lucy has ever gotten out of the bathtub by herself.]

Me: Lucy, you weren't supposed to get out of the bathtub by yourself. It's dangerous.
Lucy: You weren't supposed to be in the front room.
[Yikes. She got me there.]
Me: OK, yes, you're right. I shouldn't have left. I'm sorry. But don't get out of the bath by yourself again, OK? Promise you will ask for help next time?
Lucy: But you will be in the bathroom next time.

My child is a guilt-inducing machine. More than usual today, it seems.

Scam? Also, other random Lucy conversations

On Friday evening, at about 7 pm, our doorbell rang. A woman showed up at our door, offering us a free carpet cleaning. She claimed they were opening a business nearby and wanted to give us a free trial. She handed me a coupon, and then said it was only valid RIGHT NOW. It was 7 pm on a Friday night. Seriously? I mean, I know we're pretty lame, but are people really clamoring to get their carpets cleaned at 7 pm on Friday evening? I declined and she took back the coupon and left.

Earlier in the week, while I was taking a walk with Carter on the leash and Lucy in the stroller, four little girls came running after me. I stopped and said hello; I don't know their names, but I recognize them as some girls who live on our street. They were carrying shiny brochures and folders. The youngest one held out a pile of papers to me and said "can you buy some things?" Uh, no. Sorry. I'm out for a walk. They were not even able to explain why they were selling things, or what exactly the things were (it looked like a giant catalogue of junk). They looked very surprised and totally disappointed, but I kept walking. My mom tells me that recently in her town, a group of kids were going door to door with a flyer trying to sell cookies, but in fact there were no cookies. I think these girls might have been involved in a legitimate fundraiser for something, at least in as far as any of those fundraisers are legitimate, but man, I hate those things. And I say that as a former Girl Scout cookie seller, as well as a former band kid who sold pizzas, ham sandwiches, and candy bars.

OK, end of my scam rant. There's not much to report at the moment from 83 Durant. We're pretty busy at work, and Lucy is busy at school. Her very best friend, Ruth, is now going to the same school as her two days a week, so that has been great. Here is today's conversation:

Lucy loves my sticky notes, which are really these thin strips of paper with sticky stuff at one end, which I use to mark relevant passages in books that I'm teaching. Today she took two of them and stuck them on the back of her teddy bear. She then held him up and said

"Look Mom, he's a fairy!!"
And indeed, if you squinted, I suppose those two small tags of paper on his back might look like wings. But here's the thing: I have never before talked about fairies with her. How does she know what they are? Or how to make one? I'm sure this came up at school or in a book something, but I'm just shocked at the things she comes up with sometimes.

Lately she's been talking a lot about her dreams in the morning when she wakes up. Following is a reconstructed medley of recent dream conversations:

Parent: So what did you dream about last night?
Lucy: Crocodiles! But they were nice crocodiles! They ate all of Carter's food.
Parent: Uh oh! Well, what will Carter eat?
Lucy: They shared. They were nice crocodiles!
Parent: Oh, that's good.
Lucy: There were nice crocodiles and mice. Mice are already nice.

This is a mash-up of her conversations with both Jake and me. I particularly love the "mice are already nice" bit, which it seems is her explaining why she doesn't need to modify "mice" in the same way she does "crocodile." That's my girl.

Yard update

While Jake and I were able to make some headway in the backyard clean-up project, we decided to hire our wall-building neighbor to do the heavy-duty work. He finished the roto-tilling today! Check it out:





We're figuring out now what to do next. Roland has suggested we hire someone to hydro-seed the backyard, and then in select areas (like around the holly tree and up on one of the levels at the side of the house) we get crushed rock (rather than mulch). Any suggestions, readers?

We might be grown-ups

Today, while Jake was putting the finishing touches on our new media set-up, I realized that we might be grown-ups. We now have a living room that is:

1. Not hot pink

2. Painted -- professionally -- in a color we actually chose

3. Has three pieces of furniture that we bought from a store. More importantly, we are the FIRST owners of these three pieces.

4. We have a large (in my opinion) TV & attached media equipment

5. Said equipment is arranged nicely in a cabinet, with dedicated electrical switches that don't involve an elaborate set of extension cords crossing the room.

6. There are actual curtains, actually hemmed to fit the particular windows in which they hang.



I know, some of you might have said that buying a house, or maybe, having a child, were rather obvious signs we were grown-ups. Or the fact that I am updating this blog on a Friday night. OK, fine. We're grown-ups. But here's the evidence:















If you'd like to see how far we've come, you might enjoy a walk down memory lane through some old blog posts about the room formerly known as the pink room, such as this one, or this one, or this one. We've come a long way, baby.



I will try to post some more details of the changes, but for now I wanted to post this so that certain people (Moms, we're looking at you) could see the results now!

Conversations with Lucy

I know I owe you a post w/ pictures of the changes, but we've hit a bit of a setback, with Lucy getting sick, then Jake getting sick, and now (surprise!) I'm sick too. Blargh. But for now, I must share with you this conversation from this morning's drive to school. As usual, we were listing to NPR's Morning Edition. Lucy was very quiet in the back, so in fact I thought she might have fallen asleep. But no, she was listening to the news, which was featuring a story on Jimmy Carter's trip to North Korea to get an American teacher out of prison there (the man is from Massachusetts, so this is an especially big story around here).

Lucy: Did they say "Carter"?
Me: Yes.
Lucy (with glee): They're talking about Carter!
Me: Oh, honey, they're not talking about your dog, Carter. They're talking about a man named Carter who was President.
Lucy: Carter! That's a funny name for a President.

Indeed!

More later when I'm feeling better.

Changes Afoot

I told Lucy we gave away our TV. I realize that this might be seen as cruel. We did in fact give away our TV -- or more appropriately, we returned it to our kind friends who gave it to us. This is because we are getting a new TV! We have not yet told Lucy this part, but she definitely knows something is up.

For the past couple of years, this cabinet has been the keeper of our television:


But this cabinet is rather large and bulky. While I like the fact that it keeps the TV & media out of sight when we're not watching it, it does take up a lot of space in this room. In the corner opposite this cabinet (both literally in the room and in the figurative sense of the opposing contender for media storage) is this built-in cabinet:

We have often thought that it would be nice if this could be our media center. It would completely re-orient the room. There are shelves on top (obviously) but there's also a neat little cabinet down below, which, sadly, has been blocked by the couch for all these years because of the current media/seating configuration.

Can you guess what's coming next? Well, you'll just have to wait. I'll update as we accomplish the transition -- it may be a couple of days. Stay tuned....

Updates of Various Sorts

This will be a bit of an update pot-luck, containing the bits and pieces I've been meaning to write for a while:

Paint Update:

Quite some time ago, we blogged about the array of paints we found in the basement. While my mom was here, we got around to doing something about those cans of paint that we will surely never use, like the hot pink that was once in the (now blue) living room, the bright orange that was in the basement, and several other random cans of unknown origin. There were a few that were dried out, so they went to the trash. Then there were several that had paint in them, so we used mom's solution of drying them out using sand. Grandma and Lucy had a very regular job for several days that involved checking on the paint cans. Lucy LOVED this and was very diligent about bringing sand around and checking on the cans VERY often. Today, Grandma would be happy to hear, the painted was deemed dry by local authorities (me) and the sandy-paint cans went out to the trash. Hooray! A job well done.


Infestation Update:

I don't know how or why this happened, but the three plants in our bathroom have become infested with some manner of tiny, flying bugs. It got so bad, I moved them all outside, as I'm not so keen on bugs inside the house. We've had the plants for quite some time. One is a Christmas cactus that Jake got me on our first Valentine's day, one is a spider plant we inherited from Jess when she moved across the ocean, and the third is a leafy guy that one of our neighbors gave us when we moved in here. About a month ago, I re-potted all of them in nice, new, matching blue pots that I got at Target. Could it be that the soil was infested? Any suggestions, readers? I liked having plants there, but (call me species-ist) I'm really not in favor of supporting an insect habitat indoors. Here they are, sadly outside, waiting for further action:


Seating update:

A while back, as documented in a photo from this post, Jake purchased two Adirondack chairs at our local Ace Hardware. He put them together a while ago, but they were bare wood, and we thought some paint or stain would be a good idea. Grandma to the rescue again: while we were off in New Hampshire getting away for an overnight, she gave our new chairs a good coating of stain/protectant. So now we have two quite lovely folding Adirondack chairs for the next time you come visit us!
Additionally, we should note that our new walls, both out front and out back, provide pretty awesome (if hard) seating, should you wish to visit us and rest your feet.

Garden Update:

Between the building of the wall, our various travels, and the lack of rain lately, our garden has not been doing so well. Lucy did just harvest a small array of tiny tomatoes:

They were delicious, and also kept Lucy busy with the picking, arranging, cleaning, and distributing of them. But other than that, there's not a whole lot going on in the garden. That's OK. Our CSA farm share has been terrific, and the local farmers' markets have been bursting with goodness. Tonight, Jake made a tremendous dinner of super-fresh local ingredients, including corn on the cob, a lovely green salad w/ ingredients from our CSA, and absolutely amazing omelets featuring eggs from Matt & Mary. Have we mentioned our friends Matt & Mary? Well, they are awesome. They have chickens (5 of them) in their yard, and they share the eggs with us. They're away for a few days, so we're minding the chickens. This means we get lots of eggs. They are awesome and amazing and delicious. YUM!
By the way, the tomato omelet is topped with Jake's home-made herbed creme fraiche. YUM!

Media Update:

During our travels, our friends recommended a variety of fabulous television shows, movies, and blogs that we think deserve mention here.

First and foremost, we are now officially fans of the fabulous British sitcom, The IT Crowd (thank you, Tamara!). There are three seasons, all available on Netflix to watch instantly. They are funny. As Jake IS the IT department at his office, so he has many opportunities to experience some of the scenarios in the show. Also, Season 3, Episode 5 features a plotline involving "FriendFace" that totally explains why I am not on Facebook. [I'm not. Don't ask me to join. Jake's on if you want to poke him or whatever it is you people do on the Facebook with your Interwebs.]

My new favorite blog is Hyperbole and a Half. This might not be appropriate for some readers, but it is very, very funny. And often quite dark. Just as we like it. The new pain rating scale located here, is one of my very favorites. Be forewarned, there is some language that may offend some readers. And some shocking images rendered in childish cartoon drawings.

In recent movie releases, while at the beach, we went to see Inception. It was very enjoyable, and worth seeing on the big screen. These days we tend to wait until movies are out on DVD so we can watch them at home, thus saving on the babysitter front. We've been burned too often by the likes of Wolverine to get a sitter for a movie with questionable reviews. Fellow parents, I decree, Inception is babysitter-worthy.

In recent DVD releases, while at my brother's house, we watched Star Trek -- the one from last year with Chris Pine as Kirk and Eric Bana as the baddie, and Winona Ryder as Spock's mother (WHOA!). Some of you may be aware of my Star Trek issues. For those of you unaware and those who need a refresher, here is the deal: when my Mom was going into labor with me, my Dad told her to wait until the episode of Star Trek he was watching was over, and then he would take her to the hospital so she could give birth to their first child (me). I am not kidding. I've not quite managed to forgive him or Spock for this choice. So I'm not a big fan. My brother, on the other hand, can safely be referred to as a Trekkie. I mean, he owns the latest Star Trek film, and most of the other ones (feel free to correct me here, Brendan) and (I believe) various items signed by various members of casts of the various Star Trek franchises. Despite my misgivings, we sat down to watch Star Trek on Brendan's considerably large television. It was good. Very good. We thoroughly enjoyed it. As has happened previously with breakfast sandwiches and cream cheese, I have learned that the things I once despised and mocked are actually pretty good. I stand corrected.

That's the media round-up for today. Readers, feel free to suggest additional films, TV shows, blogs or Twitter feeds that we should be watching so that we can catch up with the rest of the world.

August Update

Howdy! We're back from our travels and our guests have left, and boy has it been forever since we've posted. There are many new things I've been meaning to blog for a while, so let's get right to them, shall we?

I'll start with the biggest news first, or at least, the biggest project. While my Mom was here, she painted our guest room/craft room. Yes, you read correctly, while she was a guest in our house, actually using the guest room, she painted the room. She is awesome. Thank you, Mom. This is a project we'd wanted to have done for some time, but we kept putting it off because....well, you read this blog & know what happens here. But Mom was ready for the challenge.

We had a variety of thoughts on color; I had previously wanted this room to be a periwinkle that I had seen in a friend's office, but after the change in the pink room (to dark blue) I wasn't sure if that was still going to work. We tried out a couple of paint samples that we had and ruled out both colors, deciding that the "French Lavender" was too bright and the "Spring Green" was too dark.
This shot also gives you a sense of how the room color needs to be OK with the blue room (and also the dining room, since there's also a door between this room and the dining room).

I think it's also the best shot I have here that portrays the original color of the room, which I had come to describe as the color of an old Band-Aid, fabric kind. I thought initially that it was sort of a neutral color, but after a while (this room was my office when we first moved here) I came to loathe this color and its ace-bandage-ish tone.

The room also featured a wallpaper border up by the ceiling:

It was sort of bland; we didn't realize until we were up on the ladder that it's actually textured. The worst part is that our ceilings are VERY high. So we were going to be scraping wallpaper up high above our heads, working on ladders. This part was not fun. Using a lot of vinegar and a ladder was had to lean up against the wall, we managed to get the thing down:


But we realized that we couldn't paint using a ladder that we leaned against the wall. We discovered that Taylor Rental near us would rent a ladder (just $12! who knew?) and then we were also able to borrow one from our fabulous next-door-neighbor, so it all worked out.

Mom did the vast majority of the painting. After about 5 minutes of painting, I came to the conclusion that I do not like, nor am I good at painting. But Mom did a very professional job, getting a coat on the ceiling, doing the color, touching up trim, and painting all of the baseboards (which really needed it).

Here's an after shot so you can get a sense of the color.
What's that down in the lower portion of the picture, you ask? I'm so glad you asked! It's Ella Fitzgerald!


My lovely friend Gab gave me this switchplate ages ago, and I brought it with me when we moved. I just hadn't found the right place for it. This is totally the right place! Hooray!

OK, here are a couple more shots of the new walls:


We're very happy with the color. Thanks, Mom!

That's all for tonight. I hope to post more soon.

Welcome Back, Clematis!

Our clematis has finally bloomed! We thought we had killed it, but then we noticed one long shoot wrapping itself around the yellow rose bush, and then....finally....this lovely flower appeared. Hooray!

We're at the beach at the moment (the photo above is a few days old). Lucy is having some ups and downs. We were down by the ocean today, but didn't last long because Lucy is 2, and 2-year-olds, well, they have strong opinions about what they want to do and when they want to do it. On the walk back to the bike (to return home) we had this conversation:

Lucy: There's sand in my shoes.

Jake: Yeah, well, that's OK.

Lucy: That's why they're called sandals.

Wow. I wish I had thought of that line.