Monday, May 16, 2005
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Bleah!
Okay, so I generally do pretty well with the ickier parts of parenting. There was the aforementioned squirting of the private area in the bathroom of Airport Beach in Maui. When Rachel gets migraines, I have to give her a suppositories. I have assisted in the final stages of bad constipation in both my children. And this past week, I dealt with Rachel's infected finger pretty well. I squeezed stuff out of it with my own fingers a few times, even. But that situation has finally confronted me with parenting ickiness I am finding it tough to abide. The final chapter in the infected finger saga (I hope!) is that the finger nail has come off. Ew! Ew! Ew!
Unfortunately our first inkling of this came last night when we were having dinner with our friends Lisa and Paul and their children. Lisa is the most squeamish person I know, and as Rachel and I had a short discussion of her finger beginning with her disturbing announcement that her nail was coming off and ending with my gasping and putting my hands over my mouth after she showed me how it could flip up like a car hood, Lisa, who is close to 9 months pregnant, turned a color comparing to that of printer paper. Not fun.
Our solution last night was to just leave the nail on there, held on by a bandage, but at some point in the night I decided that might not be sanitary, so a little while ago we took off the nail, rinsed the finger, and recovered it with a fresh bandage. While doing so, I got to feeling a little faint but made it through. But it was horrifying. Fingers are meant to have nails on them, y'all. Please, don't try this at home!
Unfortunately our first inkling of this came last night when we were having dinner with our friends Lisa and Paul and their children. Lisa is the most squeamish person I know, and as Rachel and I had a short discussion of her finger beginning with her disturbing announcement that her nail was coming off and ending with my gasping and putting my hands over my mouth after she showed me how it could flip up like a car hood, Lisa, who is close to 9 months pregnant, turned a color comparing to that of printer paper. Not fun.
Our solution last night was to just leave the nail on there, held on by a bandage, but at some point in the night I decided that might not be sanitary, so a little while ago we took off the nail, rinsed the finger, and recovered it with a fresh bandage. While doing so, I got to feeling a little faint but made it through. But it was horrifying. Fingers are meant to have nails on them, y'all. Please, don't try this at home!
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Rachel's Finger, or: Holy Crap, California History is Boring! (2nd attempt)
Tuesday I wrote this long post about Rachel's show and and Rachel's finger and it wasn't really that funny so I'm kind of glad it ended up floating around somewhere in cyberspace instead of on my blog. In it, I went on and on about how boring the 4th grade show, "California Alive!" is and how this is the second year I've seen it and *snore* and all that. And really, you know, they're 9 and 10 years old, and through no fault of their own, they live in a state with a really boring history and attend a school where part of the 4th grade curriculum is immortalizing said boring history in song. And this year, violin solos. Whatever. They worked hard and did a good job, so kudos to the 4th grade at Montgomery. Another rite of passage fulfilled.
The thing that really sucked about the show was that Rachel lives for this kind of thing but she didn't enjoy performing in this one at all because she has this infected finger. She's been chewing on her fingers a lot lately and her left index finger ended up infected around the cuticle, and Sunday and Monday it got pretty painful. On Monday afternoon I took her to the doctor and she was put on antibiotics with instructions to soak it and bring her back Wednesday if it wasn't better. Tuesday morning, I kept her home from school because it was big and gross and painful, and I even took a picture of it, which became part of the blog entry that wasn't. Which was stupid because a) who wants to look at that?, b) it wasn't a good enough picture that you could really tell what it looked like, and c) by afternoon it looked about 10 times worse anyway. First thing Wednesday, I made an appointment to take her to see the doctor again.
We hadn't seen our regular ped on Monday, and when she saw Rachel's finger for the first time on Wednesday, she stared at it, frowning. She mentioned getting another ped in to slice it open, but then decided to just try poking it herself, which she did, and which opened it up just fine. She squeezed most of the stuff out of it and took a sample to send to the lab, and Rachel was great and calm and everything, even though the ped kept re-poking it to open it more and all. Then she totally freaked out and cried and cried when they gave her a shot of antibiotics in the butt, and I felt horrible and took her out to lunch and to the video store and then I ordered her some used Beatles cassettes off Amazon.
I wanted to send her to school today even though I knew I was going to have to pull her out for an hour or so to take her back to the doctor for a re-check, but this morning the finger was looking pus-filled again and it wasn't draining and she was insisting it hurt to much to hold a pencil, so I kept her home again (that's 9 days she's been out in the past few weeks :-/), and here we are. I don't know if the antibiotics she's taking are helping in the least, and I don't want it to be staph but at least if it is, that would explain why it doesn't seem to be getting better. I guess we'll find out around 11:20 this morning. I hope so, because right now, in addition to being home from school, she has a finger that looks like it belongs a corpse that's been pulled out of the water after 3 or 4 days :-P
The thing that really sucked about the show was that Rachel lives for this kind of thing but she didn't enjoy performing in this one at all because she has this infected finger. She's been chewing on her fingers a lot lately and her left index finger ended up infected around the cuticle, and Sunday and Monday it got pretty painful. On Monday afternoon I took her to the doctor and she was put on antibiotics with instructions to soak it and bring her back Wednesday if it wasn't better. Tuesday morning, I kept her home from school because it was big and gross and painful, and I even took a picture of it, which became part of the blog entry that wasn't. Which was stupid because a) who wants to look at that?, b) it wasn't a good enough picture that you could really tell what it looked like, and c) by afternoon it looked about 10 times worse anyway. First thing Wednesday, I made an appointment to take her to see the doctor again.
We hadn't seen our regular ped on Monday, and when she saw Rachel's finger for the first time on Wednesday, she stared at it, frowning. She mentioned getting another ped in to slice it open, but then decided to just try poking it herself, which she did, and which opened it up just fine. She squeezed most of the stuff out of it and took a sample to send to the lab, and Rachel was great and calm and everything, even though the ped kept re-poking it to open it more and all. Then she totally freaked out and cried and cried when they gave her a shot of antibiotics in the butt, and I felt horrible and took her out to lunch and to the video store and then I ordered her some used Beatles cassettes off Amazon.
I wanted to send her to school today even though I knew I was going to have to pull her out for an hour or so to take her back to the doctor for a re-check, but this morning the finger was looking pus-filled again and it wasn't draining and she was insisting it hurt to much to hold a pencil, so I kept her home again (that's 9 days she's been out in the past few weeks :-/), and here we are. I don't know if the antibiotics she's taking are helping in the least, and I don't want it to be staph but at least if it is, that would explain why it doesn't seem to be getting better. I guess we'll find out around 11:20 this morning. I hope so, because right now, in addition to being home from school, she has a finger that looks like it belongs a corpse that's been pulled out of the water after 3 or 4 days :-P
My hair
I had my hair cut last Friday. The whole time we were in Hawaii, it looked gruesome and knowing that I had an appointment to get it colored and cut the day after we got home was very psychologically helpful to me. I went in and told my hairdresser I wanted it off, and she and I discussed it and then she started cutting and I ended up with a short layered cut that I liked a lot, something I thought was pretty different from what I had before.
And then, over the next several days, I saw lots and lots of people I know, and maybe 2 of them said anything about it.
Naturally, after a couple of days, I started to get paranoid. I began to worry that it was such a hideous new 'do that everyone had noticed and no one wanted to say anything. I knew this was stupid because of all the times I've told people I liked their new haircuts (or outfits or shoes or whatever) when I really didn't but I'm a nice person and they had a new haircut (or a new outfit or new shoes) and having a compliment about it would make them feel good. And I knew that even if people didn't think my new haircut was wonderful, there was no way it was so horrible that people were just averting their eyes as though I'd been disfigured in some way.
In any case, obviously the truth is that, in spite of how different this haircut feels to me, it's not different enough for most people I encounter at school or whatever have even noticed. Even my good friend I ran into last night said "I like your hair -- it's different, right?" Uh, yeah. *sigh* It seems the rest of the world is not as obsessed with the state of my hair as I am...
And then, over the next several days, I saw lots and lots of people I know, and maybe 2 of them said anything about it.
Naturally, after a couple of days, I started to get paranoid. I began to worry that it was such a hideous new 'do that everyone had noticed and no one wanted to say anything. I knew this was stupid because of all the times I've told people I liked their new haircuts (or outfits or shoes or whatever) when I really didn't but I'm a nice person and they had a new haircut (or a new outfit or new shoes) and having a compliment about it would make them feel good. And I knew that even if people didn't think my new haircut was wonderful, there was no way it was so horrible that people were just averting their eyes as though I'd been disfigured in some way.
In any case, obviously the truth is that, in spite of how different this haircut feels to me, it's not different enough for most people I encounter at school or whatever have even noticed. Even my good friend I ran into last night said "I like your hair -- it's different, right?" Uh, yeah. *sigh* It seems the rest of the world is not as obsessed with the state of my hair as I am...
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
TV
I would post over at Television Without Pity where this kind of stuff belongs except that they are soooo picky on the forums. God forbid anyone says what anyone else has said already. I can understand there is a bandwidth reason over there -- that's fine -- I'm choosing not to participate is what I'm saying.
Anyway, the "Veronica Mars" finale last night -- awesome! Actually, the last two episodes were great. I'm really excited this show got renewed. Watch it, people! Watch the DVDs of season one and tell me that's not better that 99% of what's on TV these days. Seriously, you won't be disappointed.
"The Amazing Race" -- woo hoo! The best team wins, again! You couldn't ask for nicer people who would appreciate their winnings more than Uchenna and Joyce. They were so lovely to each other and to everyone else, and when they said they were going for another baby, I almost burst into tears. They seemed like their lives really and truly had been changed. Now, I'm actually not a hater of Rob and Amber like many. I didn't root for them on Survivor and I didn't want them to win here, but I totally give them props for always treating each other well, throughout the race, no matter how hairy things got. Rob may well be a self-important jackass prick, but there is no doubt that he is nuts about Amber, and the one time he got testy with her, in this last episode, he immediately apologized for it. I think they actually have a pretty good chance of having a happy life together and I wish them well with it. And I cannot stand the teams that turn on each other in times of great stress, in large part because I worry that that's how I would be if Ryan and I ever did something like this show together.
Anyway, last night was a good night on TV, so yay! And now my Tuesday night TV/activities-outside-the-house conflict is over for a while, so that's good too. Which is not to say that I'm not counting the days till my two favorite shows in the world start their new seasons!
Anyway, the "Veronica Mars" finale last night -- awesome! Actually, the last two episodes were great. I'm really excited this show got renewed. Watch it, people! Watch the DVDs of season one and tell me that's not better that 99% of what's on TV these days. Seriously, you won't be disappointed.
"The Amazing Race" -- woo hoo! The best team wins, again! You couldn't ask for nicer people who would appreciate their winnings more than Uchenna and Joyce. They were so lovely to each other and to everyone else, and when they said they were going for another baby, I almost burst into tears. They seemed like their lives really and truly had been changed. Now, I'm actually not a hater of Rob and Amber like many. I didn't root for them on Survivor and I didn't want them to win here, but I totally give them props for always treating each other well, throughout the race, no matter how hairy things got. Rob may well be a self-important jackass prick, but there is no doubt that he is nuts about Amber, and the one time he got testy with her, in this last episode, he immediately apologized for it. I think they actually have a pretty good chance of having a happy life together and I wish them well with it. And I cannot stand the teams that turn on each other in times of great stress, in large part because I worry that that's how I would be if Ryan and I ever did something like this show together.
Anyway, last night was a good night on TV, so yay! And now my Tuesday night TV/activities-outside-the-house conflict is over for a while, so that's good too. Which is not to say that I'm not counting the days till my two favorite shows in the world start their new seasons!
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Rachel's Finger, or: Holy Crap, California History is Boring!
Here's a picture of Rachel when she sang her little solo:
Too bad I didn't know how to zoom in with my camera till I was looking through the manual this morning, huh?
Too bad I didn't know how to zoom in with my camera till I was looking through the manual this morning, huh?
Maui: the last two days
I've actually been home about 5 days now, but I did decent job of journalling while we were over there so I want to finish the job.
Wednesday was our last full day in Maui. I'd planned to rent some snorkling equipment for our last beach visit, but when returning Ryan's rental Miata ended up taking longer than expected, I decided to scrap those plans so we could all just get out to the beach as soon as we could. We headed back to Airport Beach and spent probably 2 hours there, floating and swimming and enjoying the water. The surf was gentle enough that the kids enjoyed kind of rolling around in it, which was fun for them, but -- it meant that Rachel and I ended up back in the bathroom with her naked and me squirting her with a water bottle once again. Bleah. At least this time we caught it early enough that she was able to go back out in the water for a while after that.
When everyone was ready to head back to the condo, we packed up, rinsed off, and headed back. We went in the pool for a while to get all the sand off and then cleaned up and rested for a while in the condo. Mid-afternoon, we drove into Lahaina for lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. The good news: no cruise ship docked offshore today, so Lahaina wasn't too crowded. Bad news: it was HOT. And humid. Having showered felt pointless. Even though CiP is open-air, it was pleasant due to getting the breeze off the water, and we had a good lunch there. Walking around Lahaina afterward was less than pleasant though. I was looking for gifts for a few of my friends, Rachel was looking for a tee shirt, Ryan was trying to sneak off to a jewelry store and buy me a Mother's Day gift, and it just seemed like we could hardly get anywhere. We did take the kids to the Celebrities gallery to see the Beatles exhibit, but it wasn't quite the same without them playing Beatles music, and the kids were so hot and crabby by the time we got there that they didn't get much out of it. We got some ice cream, made our purchases, and slogged our way back to the car, and as soon as we got back to the condo, Dana and the kids and I jumped in out swimsuits and headed out to the pool. Weird weather out there. Suddenly it was cold, with the sun behind the clouds. The kids swam and Dana and I went in the hot tub, then sat out on lounges. But as soon as the sun came back out, it felt like it was searing our skin. We spent about half an hour out there and then said goodbye to the pool for the final time. We spent the evening hanging out, finishing what we could of the leftover food, and getting organized and packed up. I was the last to go to bed, around 10, after I finished the book I was reading.
The next morning we were up around 6:30 and we mostly bustled around packing up. Left in plenty of time to get to the airport, drop off the rental, check in, etc -- IF we hadn't gotten behind the slowest driver ever on the highway back to Kahului. Also, Will got carsick and we ended up stop to let him throw up by the side of the road. Long story short: what should have been a 30-minute drive took an hour. We pulled up to the car rental return in a state of silent anxiety, grabbed our stuff, hopped the shuttle to the airport, and happily walked right up to the counter to check in with North American. Dana got in line to wait to check in at United, but since her flight left more than an hour after ours, that was fine. Little did we know they were going to make a federal case out of the can of Off! in one of our suitcases. We told them to just pull it out and throw it away, but they still insisted on filling out paperwork and getting a bunch of signatures before they let us go. We were still kind of freaking out about getting to the plane on time, even though it was 45 minutes till it was supposed to take off, mostly because we hadn't seen what the security line looked like yet and we knew it was potentially long, and the airline people were just taking their time, la la la. Finally they let us go and we sprinted off toward the gate (gate 39 in an airport with 39 gates, naturally). The kids were asking questions and we were telling them to stop, and for some reason Ryan blurted out that "our plane is getting ready to leave." OMG, I could have killed him. Will immediately bursts into hysterical sobs, which only slows him more, and we're both trying to calm him. I'm not sure if Ryan even noticed that I didn't speak to him for the next hour or so.
Well, the security line was nothing, and we hiked all the way to our gate at the opposite end of the airport, where the nice airline people told us to relax while we sat and filled out our boarding passes for this part of the flight -- we boarded in plenty of time and I read HP4 to Will for the length of the 18-minute flight to Honolulu. Once we got there, we had an hour layover and actually had to get off the plane -- we had lunch, picked up a few things, reboarded, and flew back to Oakland. Once again, we rented the digital TV thing, and after Will had a nap, he watched "Racing Stripes" with Rachel while Ryan and I read and I napped. We got in on time at about 10 pm, waited a bit for our luggage, waited forever for our shuttle back to the La Quinta motel where our car was parked (we later discovered that Rachel left her backpack on that shuttle -- Ryan went back to Oakland to get it on Saturday) and got on the road. Were in our own beds in Davis by 1 am -- but it only felt like 10.
All in all, great vacation. I can't wait to do it again!
Wednesday was our last full day in Maui. I'd planned to rent some snorkling equipment for our last beach visit, but when returning Ryan's rental Miata ended up taking longer than expected, I decided to scrap those plans so we could all just get out to the beach as soon as we could. We headed back to Airport Beach and spent probably 2 hours there, floating and swimming and enjoying the water. The surf was gentle enough that the kids enjoyed kind of rolling around in it, which was fun for them, but -- it meant that Rachel and I ended up back in the bathroom with her naked and me squirting her with a water bottle once again. Bleah. At least this time we caught it early enough that she was able to go back out in the water for a while after that.
When everyone was ready to head back to the condo, we packed up, rinsed off, and headed back. We went in the pool for a while to get all the sand off and then cleaned up and rested for a while in the condo. Mid-afternoon, we drove into Lahaina for lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise. The good news: no cruise ship docked offshore today, so Lahaina wasn't too crowded. Bad news: it was HOT. And humid. Having showered felt pointless. Even though CiP is open-air, it was pleasant due to getting the breeze off the water, and we had a good lunch there. Walking around Lahaina afterward was less than pleasant though. I was looking for gifts for a few of my friends, Rachel was looking for a tee shirt, Ryan was trying to sneak off to a jewelry store and buy me a Mother's Day gift, and it just seemed like we could hardly get anywhere. We did take the kids to the Celebrities gallery to see the Beatles exhibit, but it wasn't quite the same without them playing Beatles music, and the kids were so hot and crabby by the time we got there that they didn't get much out of it. We got some ice cream, made our purchases, and slogged our way back to the car, and as soon as we got back to the condo, Dana and the kids and I jumped in out swimsuits and headed out to the pool. Weird weather out there. Suddenly it was cold, with the sun behind the clouds. The kids swam and Dana and I went in the hot tub, then sat out on lounges. But as soon as the sun came back out, it felt like it was searing our skin. We spent about half an hour out there and then said goodbye to the pool for the final time. We spent the evening hanging out, finishing what we could of the leftover food, and getting organized and packed up. I was the last to go to bed, around 10, after I finished the book I was reading.
The next morning we were up around 6:30 and we mostly bustled around packing up. Left in plenty of time to get to the airport, drop off the rental, check in, etc -- IF we hadn't gotten behind the slowest driver ever on the highway back to Kahului. Also, Will got carsick and we ended up stop to let him throw up by the side of the road. Long story short: what should have been a 30-minute drive took an hour. We pulled up to the car rental return in a state of silent anxiety, grabbed our stuff, hopped the shuttle to the airport, and happily walked right up to the counter to check in with North American. Dana got in line to wait to check in at United, but since her flight left more than an hour after ours, that was fine. Little did we know they were going to make a federal case out of the can of Off! in one of our suitcases. We told them to just pull it out and throw it away, but they still insisted on filling out paperwork and getting a bunch of signatures before they let us go. We were still kind of freaking out about getting to the plane on time, even though it was 45 minutes till it was supposed to take off, mostly because we hadn't seen what the security line looked like yet and we knew it was potentially long, and the airline people were just taking their time, la la la. Finally they let us go and we sprinted off toward the gate (gate 39 in an airport with 39 gates, naturally). The kids were asking questions and we were telling them to stop, and for some reason Ryan blurted out that "our plane is getting ready to leave." OMG, I could have killed him. Will immediately bursts into hysterical sobs, which only slows him more, and we're both trying to calm him. I'm not sure if Ryan even noticed that I didn't speak to him for the next hour or so.
Well, the security line was nothing, and we hiked all the way to our gate at the opposite end of the airport, where the nice airline people told us to relax while we sat and filled out our boarding passes for this part of the flight -- we boarded in plenty of time and I read HP4 to Will for the length of the 18-minute flight to Honolulu. Once we got there, we had an hour layover and actually had to get off the plane -- we had lunch, picked up a few things, reboarded, and flew back to Oakland. Once again, we rented the digital TV thing, and after Will had a nap, he watched "Racing Stripes" with Rachel while Ryan and I read and I napped. We got in on time at about 10 pm, waited a bit for our luggage, waited forever for our shuttle back to the La Quinta motel where our car was parked (we later discovered that Rachel left her backpack on that shuttle -- Ryan went back to Oakland to get it on Saturday) and got on the road. Were in our own beds in Davis by 1 am -- but it only felt like 10.
All in all, great vacation. I can't wait to do it again!
50 Book Challenge: #17
Nursery Crimes by Ayelet Waldman (BC)
Enh. I like the idea of a stay-at-home mom who gets so bored that she starts solving crimes/mysteries, but this one didn't really grab me. I didn't like the way her daughter and parenting skills were written. The husband who is home all the time was a convenience I found hard to swallow as well. Also, I figured out who the killer was quite a while before the heroine did, so that was kind of annoying. I don't see this one generating much discussion at book club, which is fine since I didn't spend much on it and it only took me a day to read. Am now plowing through East of Eden by Steinbeck. It's long and kind of dense but I'm moving through it pretty quickly and I'll look forward to the discussion.
Enh. I like the idea of a stay-at-home mom who gets so bored that she starts solving crimes/mysteries, but this one didn't really grab me. I didn't like the way her daughter and parenting skills were written. The husband who is home all the time was a convenience I found hard to swallow as well. Also, I figured out who the killer was quite a while before the heroine did, so that was kind of annoying. I don't see this one generating much discussion at book club, which is fine since I didn't spend much on it and it only took me a day to read. Am now plowing through East of Eden by Steinbeck. It's long and kind of dense but I'm moving through it pretty quickly and I'll look forward to the discussion.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
50 Book Challenge - #16
16. Therapy by Jonathan Kellerman (*)
These books are preposterous, and badly written besides, but I eat them up. He's the only mystery writer whose books I always read, and I always go along rolling my eyes at the writing and eating up the story. The man can weave an intriguing tale! Ironically, the next book on my list is also a mystery -- a book club selection, looks fairly flimsy but I'll probably enjoy it. I have another, Rape in Paradise, a true crime book I picked up at Costco the other day, that I can start on the plane tomorrow if I blow through the book club mystery, but when I get home I probably have to start right in on East of Eden, which is my other book club selection for May and is pretty damn long.
These books are preposterous, and badly written besides, but I eat them up. He's the only mystery writer whose books I always read, and I always go along rolling my eyes at the writing and eating up the story. The man can weave an intriguing tale! Ironically, the next book on my list is also a mystery -- a book club selection, looks fairly flimsy but I'll probably enjoy it. I have another, Rape in Paradise, a true crime book I picked up at Costco the other day, that I can start on the plane tomorrow if I blow through the book club mystery, but when I get home I probably have to start right in on East of Eden, which is my other book club selection for May and is pretty damn long.
Maui: Losing track of the Days!
I'm way behind here but I'm going to try to catch up -- briefly at least!
Sunday: not a beach day, as we were heading back to Kahului to pick Dana up at the airport. We checked her flight online and found it was running about 30 minutes late, but we were ready to leave by 9:30 so we went ahead and did so. Stopped by Hilo Hattie's in Lahaina to pick up a few things, including a new Hawaiian shirt for Ryan, as the one he was wearing had a little altercation with Will's elbow and the pocket got half ripped off :-) We enjoyed most of a can of butter toffee-covered macadamia nuts on the way to the airport. We were going to make a KMart run once we got to Kahului but that ended up not happening, so once we met Dana, we went to KMart and picked up a few more things, then had lunch at a sketchy but delicious little Mexican place by the aquarium, then hit Safeway (and Maui Dive Shop for a new swim shirt for Will) on the way back to the condo. We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool, then watched some of the ultimately doomed Kings/Sonics game. Ryan grilled steaks out by the pool for dinner, and we hung out on the balcony for the rest of the evening. At some point, Dana bravely disappeared upstairs with the kids. She is so laid back! It doesn't seem to bother her one bit to be up there with them, in the heat, with Will insisting on sleeping in the smaller of the two beds *with* her and their stuff *everywhere*. I guess she is still used to it from growing up with all those brothers.
Monday -- up early, of course, and we were at the beach (Kapalua again) by 9. At first the water was frighteningly cold and I didn't think I was going to be able to stay in it, but then it got nicer and we were out there a long time. Dana and I ultimately headed up the beach to read (and/or nap) in the sun, but Ryan stayed out in the water with the kids for what seemed like forever! When they finally came in, they were ready to head back to the condo. It was 11:30! We knew they were going to be *zonked*. When we got back, Dana, the kids and I jumped in the pool to cool off/get the sand off before going back to the condo to shower, and after lunch Ryan took the kids down to the pool while Dana and I went shopping :-) I bought a Fresh Produce tank top (way too expensive but I couldn't resist) and then found the cutest dress -- knit, periwinkle blue with a turtle design on the front (yeah, there's a dolphin too, but I don't really care about that :-)), and it was actually cut in such a way as to be flattering on me! It had stupid pockets but I knew I could take care of them. So I was pleased with that. We went back to the condo and I spent about an hour doing surgery on the dress, and then Ryan called a cab and he and I headed into Lahaina for our "date" while Dana stayed with the kids. We had dinner at a nice little place where we could sit on the patio, then wandered, shopped, had another drink, shopped some more, and got some ice cream. I bought my mom a necklace for Mother's Day (and two for myself!), and we went into the Celebrities gallery, which we'd read had a Beatles thing going on. It was very cool and we are definitely planning to get the kids over there today (our last day :-() We were in a cab headed back to the condo by 8:30 pm -- so much for late night! We had fun though. When we got back, Dana and the kids had already headed upstairs for the evening, and Ryan and I sat on the balcony and enjoyed the evening air for while before going to bed.
Tuesday morning, I took Ryan and his golf clubs over to a car rental place early and he headed off for a day of golf. When we were all ready, Dana, the kids and I went to the aquarium. It was kind of muggy and the kids were a little punchy, but it was a nice little aquarium and we had a nice time. I loved the sea turtles and I could have hung with them a while longer. Dana and I both also really liked the dark room with the jellyfish tank in the middle. I could have sat there with them all day! After we were done there, we got some ice cream and headed back to the condo for lunch. Watched about half "The Incredibles" before Dana and Will started picking on each other and then it was time to hit the pool. We spent about an hour and half down there. The kids were really good even though Dana and I didn't spend much time actually in the pool with them -- there were lots of kids in there, and Will's swimming skills are really coming along (though I was glad he had hit noodle). We came back to the condo and the kids and I showered -- then we hung out and watched Oprah till Ryan got home and wanted to watch the Kings game. I fixed burritos for dinner and we ate and Ryan bitched about the way the game was going, and Dana and I busted out the Arbor Mist, and I just read and read. I don't think I've ever blown through a Jonathan Kellerman mystery in 2 1/2 days before, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, the Kings season is over (it's a building year, people!) and we sat on the balcony drinking and laughing for a while, and then Dana disappeared and Ryan went to bed and I wanted to finish my book but I kept falling asleep on the couch. Finally sat up and made myself finish it.
That brings us to this morning. Plans for the day -- head to the beach, and I want to rent some snorkle equipment on the way -- then come back here, clean up, go to Lahaina for lunch/dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise and take the kids to see the Beatles thing at the Celebrities gallery. And then come back here and start packing up, as we have to head to the airport tomorrow morning. I KNEW this trip was going to go by too fast! I comfort myself with a few things:
1) it's pretty humid here, and I miss the mild spring weather and air conditioning at home
2) my hair is disgusting, and it's been freeing to just let it go and not worry what it looks like, but I have an appointment to have it colored and cut off short on the morning after we get home
3) I miss my car. The one we have here sucks.
None of this is to say that I wouldn't extend our trip by a few days, given the choice, but you have to find the silver lining where you can, no?
Sunday: not a beach day, as we were heading back to Kahului to pick Dana up at the airport. We checked her flight online and found it was running about 30 minutes late, but we were ready to leave by 9:30 so we went ahead and did so. Stopped by Hilo Hattie's in Lahaina to pick up a few things, including a new Hawaiian shirt for Ryan, as the one he was wearing had a little altercation with Will's elbow and the pocket got half ripped off :-) We enjoyed most of a can of butter toffee-covered macadamia nuts on the way to the airport. We were going to make a KMart run once we got to Kahului but that ended up not happening, so once we met Dana, we went to KMart and picked up a few more things, then had lunch at a sketchy but delicious little Mexican place by the aquarium, then hit Safeway (and Maui Dive Shop for a new swim shirt for Will) on the way back to the condo. We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool, then watched some of the ultimately doomed Kings/Sonics game. Ryan grilled steaks out by the pool for dinner, and we hung out on the balcony for the rest of the evening. At some point, Dana bravely disappeared upstairs with the kids. She is so laid back! It doesn't seem to bother her one bit to be up there with them, in the heat, with Will insisting on sleeping in the smaller of the two beds *with* her and their stuff *everywhere*. I guess she is still used to it from growing up with all those brothers.
Monday -- up early, of course, and we were at the beach (Kapalua again) by 9. At first the water was frighteningly cold and I didn't think I was going to be able to stay in it, but then it got nicer and we were out there a long time. Dana and I ultimately headed up the beach to read (and/or nap) in the sun, but Ryan stayed out in the water with the kids for what seemed like forever! When they finally came in, they were ready to head back to the condo. It was 11:30! We knew they were going to be *zonked*. When we got back, Dana, the kids and I jumped in the pool to cool off/get the sand off before going back to the condo to shower, and after lunch Ryan took the kids down to the pool while Dana and I went shopping :-) I bought a Fresh Produce tank top (way too expensive but I couldn't resist) and then found the cutest dress -- knit, periwinkle blue with a turtle design on the front (yeah, there's a dolphin too, but I don't really care about that :-)), and it was actually cut in such a way as to be flattering on me! It had stupid pockets but I knew I could take care of them. So I was pleased with that. We went back to the condo and I spent about an hour doing surgery on the dress, and then Ryan called a cab and he and I headed into Lahaina for our "date" while Dana stayed with the kids. We had dinner at a nice little place where we could sit on the patio, then wandered, shopped, had another drink, shopped some more, and got some ice cream. I bought my mom a necklace for Mother's Day (and two for myself!), and we went into the Celebrities gallery, which we'd read had a Beatles thing going on. It was very cool and we are definitely planning to get the kids over there today (our last day :-() We were in a cab headed back to the condo by 8:30 pm -- so much for late night! We had fun though. When we got back, Dana and the kids had already headed upstairs for the evening, and Ryan and I sat on the balcony and enjoyed the evening air for while before going to bed.
Tuesday morning, I took Ryan and his golf clubs over to a car rental place early and he headed off for a day of golf. When we were all ready, Dana, the kids and I went to the aquarium. It was kind of muggy and the kids were a little punchy, but it was a nice little aquarium and we had a nice time. I loved the sea turtles and I could have hung with them a while longer. Dana and I both also really liked the dark room with the jellyfish tank in the middle. I could have sat there with them all day! After we were done there, we got some ice cream and headed back to the condo for lunch. Watched about half "The Incredibles" before Dana and Will started picking on each other and then it was time to hit the pool. We spent about an hour and half down there. The kids were really good even though Dana and I didn't spend much time actually in the pool with them -- there were lots of kids in there, and Will's swimming skills are really coming along (though I was glad he had hit noodle). We came back to the condo and the kids and I showered -- then we hung out and watched Oprah till Ryan got home and wanted to watch the Kings game. I fixed burritos for dinner and we ate and Ryan bitched about the way the game was going, and Dana and I busted out the Arbor Mist, and I just read and read. I don't think I've ever blown through a Jonathan Kellerman mystery in 2 1/2 days before, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, the Kings season is over (it's a building year, people!) and we sat on the balcony drinking and laughing for a while, and then Dana disappeared and Ryan went to bed and I wanted to finish my book but I kept falling asleep on the couch. Finally sat up and made myself finish it.
That brings us to this morning. Plans for the day -- head to the beach, and I want to rent some snorkle equipment on the way -- then come back here, clean up, go to Lahaina for lunch/dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise and take the kids to see the Beatles thing at the Celebrities gallery. And then come back here and start packing up, as we have to head to the airport tomorrow morning. I KNEW this trip was going to go by too fast! I comfort myself with a few things:
1) it's pretty humid here, and I miss the mild spring weather and air conditioning at home
2) my hair is disgusting, and it's been freeing to just let it go and not worry what it looks like, but I have an appointment to have it colored and cut off short on the morning after we get home
3) I miss my car. The one we have here sucks.
None of this is to say that I wouldn't extend our trip by a few days, given the choice, but you have to find the silver lining where you can, no?
Sunday, May 01, 2005
More 50 Book Challenge
14. Drop City by T.C. Boyle (BC, *)
15. The Beatles by Hunter Davies
I haven't decided whether I would recommend this Beatles book quite yet. It goes into minute detail about how the group came together and rose to fame, but it was originally written in 1968 and only has updates since then. They hadn't even done their last couple of albums by the time the original book was finished, so it feels incomplete. At the same time, it had so much detail, so many comments from the Beatles themselves, and was so British and engrossing, that I want to give it a thumbs-up. I'll have to read some more books about them before I form a full opinion about this one. I'm particularly interested in reading about their individual lives after the band broke up, and about the music itself and the creative process behind writing the songs.
Drop City was a fun, if lengthy, read about a 70s commune, which I read for one of my book clubs. Now I've started a Jonathan Kellerman page-turner. Definitely beach reading :-)
15. The Beatles by Hunter Davies
I haven't decided whether I would recommend this Beatles book quite yet. It goes into minute detail about how the group came together and rose to fame, but it was originally written in 1968 and only has updates since then. They hadn't even done their last couple of albums by the time the original book was finished, so it feels incomplete. At the same time, it had so much detail, so many comments from the Beatles themselves, and was so British and engrossing, that I want to give it a thumbs-up. I'll have to read some more books about them before I form a full opinion about this one. I'm particularly interested in reading about their individual lives after the band broke up, and about the music itself and the creative process behind writing the songs.
Drop City was a fun, if lengthy, read about a 70s commune, which I read for one of my book clubs. Now I've started a Jonathan Kellerman page-turner. Definitely beach reading :-)
Maui, Day 3
Yesterday was a really nice day! We were all up around 5 am again, of course, and after eating breakfast, hanging out, etc, around 7 am, Will and I headed out to find our beach for the day. It was frustrating -- we couldn't hardly find beach access among all the condos, and we came back feeling like it had been a useless trip. But we all headed off in our swimsuits with towels in the car, planning to go back to Airport Beach, where we'd been the day before, but we went north first, in search of the ABC Store I *swore* I'd seen. We didn't find it, but we did find access to Kapalua (sp?) beach, so we decided to check it out. And it was great! We went there the first day on our last trip, but for some reason we hadn't really enjoyed it, and had ended up spending the rest of our beach-going days at Airport. This time I think it will be the opposite. We spent about 2 hours there, mostly floating beyond the surf, but also collecting coral and rocks, then headed home to shower and have lunch. We decided to eat at Hula Grill, where we had lunch one day wit my parents, and as we were pulling into the parking garage at Whaler's Village, we noticed how tired we all were. Floating around out there seems really relaxing, but it's amazingly tiring! The kids barely stayed awake through lunch. We were going to do a little shopping before heading back, but we ended up nixing that so we could head right back to the condo to nap. Naturally, Will fell asleep in the car on the way back, and I was the only one who actually ended up napping when we got back. Around 4 pm, the 4 of us headed down to the pool for about an hour, and then we came back to the condo. I fixed the kids some mac & cheese for dinner, and Ryan fixed taquitoes for the two of us, which we ate out on the balcony after it cooled off a little. The kids watched a Rugrats DVD for what seemed like several hours while we sat on the balcony, hanging out, talking and reading. They went to bed at some point, and we came inside. Ryan zonked out on the couch for quite a while and I read and read till past 10. It felt like quite an accomplishment! I'm very near the end of this book about the Beatles I'm reading, and it's so interesting, I just could hardly put it down. Anyway, this morning we will be headed back into Kahului (sp?) to pick up Dana at the airport, and we will probably go to the aquarium while we are out that way as well. Should be another fun day!
Friday, April 29, 2005
Maui: Days 1 & 2
We had such a smooth day travelling to Maui yesterday! Got up early at the motel near the Oakland airport and took their shuttle over to the airport -- it was pouring and it didn't make me feel very sorry about leaving CA! I'd been nervous about our flights because we were booked on an airline I'd never heard of before -- North American -- but it turned out to be great! Once we found our way past the huge Sun Trips check-in line, we walked right up to the NA counter, then went through security and soon boarded our plane. The flight was uncrowded and we had a whole row (6 seats) to ourselves, and we rented a little digital TV thing so the kids were able to watch "Shark Tale" and "Racing Stripes." Will and I took a nice nap as well. And when we got off the plane and went to the baggage claim, our bags were already waiting for us!
Our rental is yet another crappy GM minivan -- I didn't even know Oldsmobile *made* a minivan! -- but it's getting us around just fine. And after killing several hours with very tired, bored kids (we landed at 10:30 am and couldn't get into our condo till 3, so we hit Costco and KMart, ate lunch at Cool Cat Cafe in Lahaina and shopped at Hilo Hattie's as well), we drove to the Papakea resort where we are staying. The condo is functional other than a kind of scary spiral staircase up to the loft where the kids sleep, but it's all very comfortable and the grounds are just beautiful. Ryan took the kids in the pool while I went grocery shopping and got the condo organized -- then we had our Costco roast chicken for dinner and the kids were in bed early. We watched "Survivor" and "CSI" and then hit the sack. I'm surprised we made it that long, having been up since 5 am Pacific time!
Not surprisingly, we were all up by 5 am Hawaii time this morning. We killed several hours hanging around, eating breakfast and hanging out, and then I made a quick trip to Longs before we packed up a picnic and went over to Airport Beach, where we spent a lot of time last time we were here. We were a little dismayed at how high the tide was and the roughness of the waves compared to last time, but there was a storm fairly recently, and that definitely affected things. For a while, poor Ryan made the kids stay close to shore, convinced he was going to lose one of them in the water. We go through this every time we go to the ocean. Ryan grew up taking all of his vacations at the ocean but never actually swimming into it, and if he had his way, the kids would stand at his sides, holding his hands and not going in past their ankles. This was never going to work since a) these kids like the ocean and b)the waves were crashing so hard on the beach that it was actually safer out further, beyond where they broke. I know it's counter-intuitive, but it's the truth, and it took me a while to convince him, but once I did, it was good. Out in the water was the clincher that I need to go on a diet -- my butt actually functions as a floatation device. That's great when you are floating in the ocean, but since I don't spend all that much of time time floating, I'd like to do something about it. Will work on that when I get home!
Anyway, the beach is great -- except for the sand. That shit gets *everywhere*. It gets in places you might never have thought of! I certainly never anticipated being in a beach rest room, standing in front of my 10YO daughter and encouraging her to spread her personal parts out so I could pour water from a water bottle on them :-/ Poor kid. She seemed to feel a lot better afterward though, so it was worth it. When we returned to the beach, Ryan and Will had also had enough, so we snacked a little, packed up, and headed home to our condo. It was almost noon!
We rinsed off, ate lunch, vegged a bit, then went out to the pool, which is really nice -- warm and with a tile-bottom so your feet dont get chewed up. We were out there maybe an hour, then we came back to the condo. Ryan took the kids down to the putting green they have here for a bit while I napped, then Will and I went out to get pizza and salad for dinner while Ryan watched the Kings defeat Seattle on TV. Now the kids are in bed (Will was sleeping by 6:30 and was in bed by 7:30) and Ryan and I are out on the balcony (I refuse to call it a "lanai" like everyone else around here). I asked him if he wanted to watch a movie but he said he wouldn't make it through one. So I suppose he'll be heading to bed soom, and maybe I will too. In spite of my nap, I'm feeling pretty punchy. We discussed plans for tomorrow and have already decided we will make less of a production of going to the beach tomorrow -- we won't worry about packing a lunch and all, and we'll go early and plan to come back and eat here. Not sure if we'll go back to the same place.
Laundry to fold!
Our rental is yet another crappy GM minivan -- I didn't even know Oldsmobile *made* a minivan! -- but it's getting us around just fine. And after killing several hours with very tired, bored kids (we landed at 10:30 am and couldn't get into our condo till 3, so we hit Costco and KMart, ate lunch at Cool Cat Cafe in Lahaina and shopped at Hilo Hattie's as well), we drove to the Papakea resort where we are staying. The condo is functional other than a kind of scary spiral staircase up to the loft where the kids sleep, but it's all very comfortable and the grounds are just beautiful. Ryan took the kids in the pool while I went grocery shopping and got the condo organized -- then we had our Costco roast chicken for dinner and the kids were in bed early. We watched "Survivor" and "CSI" and then hit the sack. I'm surprised we made it that long, having been up since 5 am Pacific time!
Not surprisingly, we were all up by 5 am Hawaii time this morning. We killed several hours hanging around, eating breakfast and hanging out, and then I made a quick trip to Longs before we packed up a picnic and went over to Airport Beach, where we spent a lot of time last time we were here. We were a little dismayed at how high the tide was and the roughness of the waves compared to last time, but there was a storm fairly recently, and that definitely affected things. For a while, poor Ryan made the kids stay close to shore, convinced he was going to lose one of them in the water. We go through this every time we go to the ocean. Ryan grew up taking all of his vacations at the ocean but never actually swimming into it, and if he had his way, the kids would stand at his sides, holding his hands and not going in past their ankles. This was never going to work since a) these kids like the ocean and b)the waves were crashing so hard on the beach that it was actually safer out further, beyond where they broke. I know it's counter-intuitive, but it's the truth, and it took me a while to convince him, but once I did, it was good. Out in the water was the clincher that I need to go on a diet -- my butt actually functions as a floatation device. That's great when you are floating in the ocean, but since I don't spend all that much of time time floating, I'd like to do something about it. Will work on that when I get home!
Anyway, the beach is great -- except for the sand. That shit gets *everywhere*. It gets in places you might never have thought of! I certainly never anticipated being in a beach rest room, standing in front of my 10YO daughter and encouraging her to spread her personal parts out so I could pour water from a water bottle on them :-/ Poor kid. She seemed to feel a lot better afterward though, so it was worth it. When we returned to the beach, Ryan and Will had also had enough, so we snacked a little, packed up, and headed home to our condo. It was almost noon!
We rinsed off, ate lunch, vegged a bit, then went out to the pool, which is really nice -- warm and with a tile-bottom so your feet dont get chewed up. We were out there maybe an hour, then we came back to the condo. Ryan took the kids down to the putting green they have here for a bit while I napped, then Will and I went out to get pizza and salad for dinner while Ryan watched the Kings defeat Seattle on TV. Now the kids are in bed (Will was sleeping by 6:30 and was in bed by 7:30) and Ryan and I are out on the balcony (I refuse to call it a "lanai" like everyone else around here). I asked him if he wanted to watch a movie but he said he wouldn't make it through one. So I suppose he'll be heading to bed soom, and maybe I will too. In spite of my nap, I'm feeling pretty punchy. We discussed plans for tomorrow and have already decided we will make less of a production of going to the beach tomorrow -- we won't worry about packing a lunch and all, and we'll go early and plan to come back and eat here. Not sure if we'll go back to the same place.
Laundry to fold!
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Weird Nights
I've been have night sweats where I wake up drenched, and it sucks. This has been going on for more than a year, only before it was maybe once or twice a month, and now that I'm on medication that's supposed to control this and other hormonal issues, it's happening more like twice a week. Or more. Blech.
Last night, in addition to waking up drenched in my own sweat, I also got a nosebleed. I think it was related to my nose ring -- maybe I was rubbing my nose and the end of it poked me somewhere up in my nasal cavity and made it bleed. All I know is that as I was waking up, I had a vague sense that something was wrong in my nasal area, and the next thing I knew, my one nostril was a faucet and I used tissue after tissue to catch the flow and finally ended up going back to sleep with one wadded up and crammed up my nose. Very lovely. When I woke up, it looked like someone had been murdered on my side of the bed, so I'm washing my sheets. Just what I have time for this morning.
This week I had two dreams where I still lived at 83 Ryegate Place, the home I grew up in. Which naturally takes me back to the question I often have of how and why my dream-brain has gotten stuck, sort of, in my childhood. One of the dreams I had this week was about the hens coming to visit -- only I lived at home with my mom and that's where we all came to stay. It was like Ryan and the kids didn't exist. And sometimes I have dreams where they do definitely exist, and I still live on Ryegate, and they live -- I don't know, it doesn't come up. I've even had dreams where I seem to be in high school and I'm dealing with getting to class on time, whether I have homework or if I can remember the combination to my locker or there's a cute guy I'm all excited about -- but I'm also stressing about finding a babysitter for the kids so I can actually go to school. Very weird. I've always wondered why my dreams are still stuck in San Ramon. Maybe because I still "experience myself" as a teenager, as my therapist talked about? I don't know. Still curious though.
Last night, in addition to waking up drenched in my own sweat, I also got a nosebleed. I think it was related to my nose ring -- maybe I was rubbing my nose and the end of it poked me somewhere up in my nasal cavity and made it bleed. All I know is that as I was waking up, I had a vague sense that something was wrong in my nasal area, and the next thing I knew, my one nostril was a faucet and I used tissue after tissue to catch the flow and finally ended up going back to sleep with one wadded up and crammed up my nose. Very lovely. When I woke up, it looked like someone had been murdered on my side of the bed, so I'm washing my sheets. Just what I have time for this morning.
This week I had two dreams where I still lived at 83 Ryegate Place, the home I grew up in. Which naturally takes me back to the question I often have of how and why my dream-brain has gotten stuck, sort of, in my childhood. One of the dreams I had this week was about the hens coming to visit -- only I lived at home with my mom and that's where we all came to stay. It was like Ryan and the kids didn't exist. And sometimes I have dreams where they do definitely exist, and I still live on Ryegate, and they live -- I don't know, it doesn't come up. I've even had dreams where I seem to be in high school and I'm dealing with getting to class on time, whether I have homework or if I can remember the combination to my locker or there's a cute guy I'm all excited about -- but I'm also stressing about finding a babysitter for the kids so I can actually go to school. Very weird. I've always wondered why my dreams are still stuck in San Ramon. Maybe because I still "experience myself" as a teenager, as my therapist talked about? I don't know. Still curious though.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Exercise
I've been working my ass off (would that I meant that literally!) exercising this week, even though my allergies are killing me. Monday, I walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes and lifted weights (abs and upper body). Tuesday, 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer and weight lifting (abs and lower body). Yesterday I ran three miles and did abs, and today I took an hour-long stability ball class that just about killed me. During the last 15 minutes, the teacher had us in constant motion to get our heartrates up, so I even got some cardio in.
Tomorrow is a day off. We're skipping the gym and going shopping :-)
Tomorrow is a day off. We're skipping the gym and going shopping :-)
The Dog
Buster is surprisingly clever sometimes, but this day wasn't one of those times. He could tell I was going to be going out soon and didn't want me to find him and put him in his crate.
Monday, April 04, 2005
And More
12. Cold Blooded by Carlton Smith
13. The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough (BC, *)
Currently working on two more -- one parenting-type book that will probably take a while to slog through, and also a book about a 70s commune for one of my book clubs.
13. The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough (BC, *)
Currently working on two more -- one parenting-type book that will probably take a while to slog through, and also a book about a 70s commune for one of my book clubs.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
50 Book Challenge
11. The Clique by Lisi Harrison
I generally like young adult fiction but the above kind of sucked. The true crime book I'm currently reading does too. But I'm going to start reading two more books this weekend, one of which is something I've read before, which I'm reading again for book club, and it's a good one, so at least I know I'm guaranteed one good read in the next few days. Although I would still argue I shouldn't have to read something I've already read to read something good. It's annoying that all these books are turning out to be kind of crappy lately :-/
I generally like young adult fiction but the above kind of sucked. The true crime book I'm currently reading does too. But I'm going to start reading two more books this weekend, one of which is something I've read before, which I'm reading again for book club, and it's a good one, so at least I know I'm guaranteed one good read in the next few days. Although I would still argue I shouldn't have to read something I've already read to read something good. It's annoying that all these books are turning out to be kind of crappy lately :-/
I'm not saying everything with which I've ever festooned a vehicle makes tons of sense or anything, but... why exactly would anyone want to put, on the back of a perfectly nice-looking car, a sticker with a picture of a monkey that says "I Fling Poo"? Is there any logical explanation for this? I think not.
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