We are back from a week in Michigan; pics to follow in the next couple of days. The kids have been asleep pretty much all day!
Archive for March, 2009
15 Mar
under the wire
I just finished Grandma’s quilt. I am giving it to her tomorrow. Pics to follow! I would have been done earlier but I am having issues with my machine–thread keeps breaking. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the thread so maybe it’s time for a tune-up. But whatever. Quilt is done. I am tired.
13 Mar
Friday rants: Virginia
Why does Virginia suck so much to drive in?
Seriously, would it be so hard to put up a road sign? Or, perhaps, make it possible to turn? Ever?
It’s a miracle anyone ever finds anything. Including one’s own home.
12 Mar
No-complaining Thursday: poor baby
Wesley is sick.
I feel sorry for him, obviously. But he is so, so cute and snuggly that a part of me is sort of cherishing it. I know–mean. But oh–the cuteness. He is cuddling me more or less every waking moment. And he isn’t cranky, just tired and sad and snuggly. I hope he recovers soon, but still. Cute.
Mike and Sandy arrived last night, so we had dinner with them and with David (who is in town for work). Mary almost couldn’t handle the excitement. All these men keep arriving who look sort of like Daddy.
10 Mar
sixteen hours
…is how long Mary and Wesley slept last night.
I put them down for naps at 6:30. They woke up around 10:30 this morning! I don’t know what to make of it. (Except that it was lovely–I slept well too aside from getting up to get Wesley a bottle.)
So, we’ve been watching a lot of “Jeeves and Wooster” (a TV show based on the Wodehouse books, starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie). In this series, Hugh Laurie plays Bertie Wooster. He looks like this, with an incredibly British accent:
Then we watched an episode of “House,” in which Hugh Laurie plays Dr. House, with an American accent (and, you know, a decade or two later). He looks like this:
And Mary said, “Izzat Bertie Wooster?!”
10 Mar
oh! I forgot to post.
I discovered last Friday that Wesley has a tooth!
Unfortunately I discovered this because he bit me while he was nursing, but still–exciting developments, folks.
In the department of dumb parenting decisions: I couldn’t get the kids down for a nap. They finally went to sleep around 6:30.
They are still asleep. Do they know what time it is?! Mary is going to need dinner when she wakes up. But I don’t want to wake her myself, because that’s usually (read: always) a mistake. Maybe they’ll sleep until morning.
9 Mar
my porch
Is clean.
For some reason, everyone who visits me has a tendency to put things out on the porch. (I think it is because once you add more humans to our fairly-small house, something has to be removed to make more space.) Anyway, things had piled up out there and I cleaned up today. I removed things, cleaned things, and took them back where they belong. It looks…like someone else’s porch.
7 Mar
more on the 9*9*9
Update on the reading project:
Despite having a time crunch to finish with my library books (for my dissertation), I have made a little progress on my reading list.
You may recall that I despised Anthony Burgess’s first memoir, “Little Wilson and Big God.” Luckily, the second volume, “You’ve Had Your Time,”is a lot better. (Conor pointed out that they were written years apart–so maybe that’s the reason.) I’m almost enjoying “You’ve Had Your Time.”
Almost.
I read, in one volume, “The Castle of Otranto,” “Vathek,” and “The Vampyre.” All completely ridiculous. It is interesting reading, though, because they are the precursors of different kinds of stories. “The Castle of Otranto” is typical Gothic romance in the vein of Udolpho. “Vathek” is an early version of the “mystical foreigner” story–some of the descendants of which are the Mr. Moto stories and H. Rider Haggard’s books. (Incredibly politically incorrect.) And “The Vampyre” (which, it turns out, is a short story more than a novella), is–obviously–an early vampire tale.
I also read “Jamaica Inn,” by Daphne du Maurier, which I’ve been wanting to read for a long time. It was okay. It is not nearly as good as my favorite du Mauriers, though, which are “Rebecca,” “My Cousin Rachel,” and “The Scapegoat.” Those are some of my absolute favorite books ever, by anyone. “Jamaica Inn”…well, it’s okay. I also just read “The House on the Strand,” by du Maurier, which is an interesting concept but doesn’t quite hold together.
I read William Cash’s book about the Graham Greene/Catherine Walston affair, “The Third Woman.” There is some good material in there, and I found it engaging enough to read, but what kind of a biography doesn’t have any citations?! Seriously, there’s not even a bibliography or anything. Useless in that regard.
I also read “Saying No,” the author of which I again cannot remember. (I’ll add it later.) I thought this was going to be more practical psychology, but it turned out to be hard-core psychoanalysis (Freudian). I enjoyed it but I can’t think of anyone I could recommend it to, unless it’s my professor from MSU who taught me feminist Freudian theory. It certainly was not as relevant to our toddler-centric life as I thought it might be.
I am currently reading Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience to Authority,” which is excellent. It’s fascinating. I will report back when I’m done (I’m about 2/3 of the way through). I’m also reading “The Politics of Heroin.” The main problem with that is that it is too complex for me to read before bed, so it’s slow going. It’s interesting so far but the author clearly has an axe to grind, so now I feel like I’ll have to read other books on the topic.
So that’s the scoop on the 9*9*9. I’ll keep you posted.
greenepiece 