I finally figured it out.
The only way I'm going to get anything posted in LJ ever again is to have nights when I DO NOT READ MY FRIENDS PAGE. So if anything interesting happened to you today or yesterday, I don't know about it. /disclaimer
STUFF. ABOUT ME.
I've joined a CSA (community supported agriculture program). For those unfamiliar with the idea, Geauga Family Farms gets my money now, during let's-plant-stuff time. I get paid back in weekly produce throughout the growing season. If the harvest sucks, that's the risk of my investment. If it's awesome, that's the other side. Either way, a little more of my money stays in northeast Ohio, and I get to eat incredibly fresh organic veggies from people I can actually meet. I will have a lot more to say on why I picked this particular CSA later (as opposed to City Fresh or other possibilities), but for now I'll just say that I'm excited about it.
Tatiana (one of the toddlers I care for at work) is on REALLY STRONG antibiotics for an ear infection that just won't go away. Consequently, I spent half an hour yesterday scrubbing poo from the floor, carpet, chair, teddy bear, bookshelf, cushion, and the bottom of Joey's shoe. All her clothes except for her shoes were sent home in a double knotted bag. Today she had three loose BMs, but the first two stayed mostly in the diaper. Yogurt and probiotics in her water don't seem to be doing much. We're keeping three full changes of clothes at school until she's off the meds ... Poor kid. As much as I hate diaper explosions, it's got to be a lot worse for her.
I've been reading Sharon Astyk. i went to the Berea library on Sunday, looking for a book on plant ecology, only to discover that they're reorganizing, and they've only got a few adult books out for borrowing right now. Her new book was in the same Deweyish vicinity as the one I was hoping to borrow, so I discovered it while moping there on the floor as a way of expressing my disapproval of all things reorganizational to the universe. I like her style, I like what she has to say. And even if things magically turn around and don't go the way she thinks they will, we're mostly better off for having listened anyway. And she quotes people I admire. That's generally my definitive benchmark for approval.
I have until May to come up with a steampunk costume for a birthday party. I have no idea what I'm doing. Fun! And mild trepidation. Not that anyone will mind my showing up in a crappy costume but me, but as truly creative birthday gatherings are such a rare and precious thing, I insist on throwing myself into their themes with a relish nearing fanaticism.
I'm on the Area Teaching Committee for the Baha'is of Greater Cleveland. This basically means that I get to do a lot of stuff I love (like planning things and analyzing how they went) and also stuff I don't like (talking on the phone). It's a lot of work. But I'm definitely learning a lot, too. Every community is different, and this is one of the quickest ways to discover what makes my current community tick.
Both of my thumbnails are broken below the quick, on the outside side (away from the other fingers). It's extremely annoying, but fiddling with them means I pick at my fingerskin less, so at least that's something.
I feel completely spiritually unprepared for Naw-Ruz for the first time in my life. This has been the first Fast that I haven't made a single material mistake. Not one accidental taste of dinner cooking, nothing. I haven't felt hungry. I haven't felt weak. But I haven't prayed much more than usual. I haven't read much more of the Writings. Maybe even a little less. I didn't glean all sorts of new insights to take with me into the new year. I feel like this is the one year I didn't really fast at all, even though I refrained from eating, and I worry about what that means for the next year.
I am determined to get paid for the half hour of overtime I worked last week. Yes, it'll amount to all of six dollars in my pocket, but it's the principle of the thing.
I wish the people at work would quit bitching about each other. Can't they see we're all trying to make this ship float together? Why do people insist on trying to tell me this stuff, anyway? I'm tired of making noncommittal noises and changing the subject all the time. The weather's gorgeous. Let's talk about the weather!
Yes, let's talk about the weather. Really. The weather the other day was absolutely amazing. On an impulse, I skipped my turn for home, and drove into the Metroparks instead. It was around 6, an hour and a half before sundown. And wouldn't you know, half the town had the same idea! There were so many people just wandering around like they'd been asleep all winter and only just woken up. Kids. Elders. Families. There was a couple with an infant pointing at birds from the observation point. Another with a sevenish year old girl in shamrock antennae helping to push toddler twins in the stroller. An intergenerational group walking together and conversing enthusiastically in Spanish. An elderly couple just sitting in their car with the windows down. Kids on bikes. People walking dogs. Fishers. Rollerbladers. College athletes out for a quick run. I want to hang on to this picture of Berea. Not so fractured. Not so worried. Not the Giant Eagle that ate my ice cream store, or the buckets under the leaky ceiling at The Shoppe. People, out together, smiling at one another. That's what I want my hometown to be known for.
Speaking of the natural world, my kidlets at work are learning about plants. Thanks to Ruth for her generous donation of enough baby spider plants for all my kids to get to experience this up close and personal. It's by far the best thing I've done with this group to date. I'm thinking it'd be cool to have a little class container "farm" and grow something quick, easy, and edible. I'm thinking radishes? I've never heard of anyone screwing up radishes. Even an impatient two-year-old should be able to handle that, properly supervised.
Finally, my starter is coming along nicely, and I intend to do a ton of baking on Sunday morning. Yes, I do get fairly domestic when mom is out of town. I'm just horribly self-conscious about doing things like cooking and cleaning in front of other people. I'm always worried that I'm going to do it wrong. So the kitchen is spotless, and I have yet to eat out or resort to frozen pizza. My bedroom is another story. I wouldn't be me if I weren't still a mess in some way, right?
STUFF. ABOUT ME.
I've joined a CSA (community supported agriculture program). For those unfamiliar with the idea, Geauga Family Farms gets my money now, during let's-plant-stuff time. I get paid back in weekly produce throughout the growing season. If the harvest sucks, that's the risk of my investment. If it's awesome, that's the other side. Either way, a little more of my money stays in northeast Ohio, and I get to eat incredibly fresh organic veggies from people I can actually meet. I will have a lot more to say on why I picked this particular CSA later (as opposed to City Fresh or other possibilities), but for now I'll just say that I'm excited about it.
Tatiana (one of the toddlers I care for at work) is on REALLY STRONG antibiotics for an ear infection that just won't go away. Consequently, I spent half an hour yesterday scrubbing poo from the floor, carpet, chair, teddy bear, bookshelf, cushion, and the bottom of Joey's shoe. All her clothes except for her shoes were sent home in a double knotted bag. Today she had three loose BMs, but the first two stayed mostly in the diaper. Yogurt and probiotics in her water don't seem to be doing much. We're keeping three full changes of clothes at school until she's off the meds ... Poor kid. As much as I hate diaper explosions, it's got to be a lot worse for her.
I've been reading Sharon Astyk. i went to the Berea library on Sunday, looking for a book on plant ecology, only to discover that they're reorganizing, and they've only got a few adult books out for borrowing right now. Her new book was in the same Deweyish vicinity as the one I was hoping to borrow, so I discovered it while moping there on the floor as a way of expressing my disapproval of all things reorganizational to the universe. I like her style, I like what she has to say. And even if things magically turn around and don't go the way she thinks they will, we're mostly better off for having listened anyway. And she quotes people I admire. That's generally my definitive benchmark for approval.
I have until May to come up with a steampunk costume for a birthday party. I have no idea what I'm doing. Fun! And mild trepidation. Not that anyone will mind my showing up in a crappy costume but me, but as truly creative birthday gatherings are such a rare and precious thing, I insist on throwing myself into their themes with a relish nearing fanaticism.
I'm on the Area Teaching Committee for the Baha'is of Greater Cleveland. This basically means that I get to do a lot of stuff I love (like planning things and analyzing how they went) and also stuff I don't like (talking on the phone). It's a lot of work. But I'm definitely learning a lot, too. Every community is different, and this is one of the quickest ways to discover what makes my current community tick.
Both of my thumbnails are broken below the quick, on the outside side (away from the other fingers). It's extremely annoying, but fiddling with them means I pick at my fingerskin less, so at least that's something.
I feel completely spiritually unprepared for Naw-Ruz for the first time in my life. This has been the first Fast that I haven't made a single material mistake. Not one accidental taste of dinner cooking, nothing. I haven't felt hungry. I haven't felt weak. But I haven't prayed much more than usual. I haven't read much more of the Writings. Maybe even a little less. I didn't glean all sorts of new insights to take with me into the new year. I feel like this is the one year I didn't really fast at all, even though I refrained from eating, and I worry about what that means for the next year.
I am determined to get paid for the half hour of overtime I worked last week. Yes, it'll amount to all of six dollars in my pocket, but it's the principle of the thing.
I wish the people at work would quit bitching about each other. Can't they see we're all trying to make this ship float together? Why do people insist on trying to tell me this stuff, anyway? I'm tired of making noncommittal noises and changing the subject all the time. The weather's gorgeous. Let's talk about the weather!
Yes, let's talk about the weather. Really. The weather the other day was absolutely amazing. On an impulse, I skipped my turn for home, and drove into the Metroparks instead. It was around 6, an hour and a half before sundown. And wouldn't you know, half the town had the same idea! There were so many people just wandering around like they'd been asleep all winter and only just woken up. Kids. Elders. Families. There was a couple with an infant pointing at birds from the observation point. Another with a sevenish year old girl in shamrock antennae helping to push toddler twins in the stroller. An intergenerational group walking together and conversing enthusiastically in Spanish. An elderly couple just sitting in their car with the windows down. Kids on bikes. People walking dogs. Fishers. Rollerbladers. College athletes out for a quick run. I want to hang on to this picture of Berea. Not so fractured. Not so worried. Not the Giant Eagle that ate my ice cream store, or the buckets under the leaky ceiling at The Shoppe. People, out together, smiling at one another. That's what I want my hometown to be known for.
Speaking of the natural world, my kidlets at work are learning about plants. Thanks to Ruth for her generous donation of enough baby spider plants for all my kids to get to experience this up close and personal. It's by far the best thing I've done with this group to date. I'm thinking it'd be cool to have a little class container "farm" and grow something quick, easy, and edible. I'm thinking radishes? I've never heard of anyone screwing up radishes. Even an impatient two-year-old should be able to handle that, properly supervised.
Finally, my starter is coming along nicely, and I intend to do a ton of baking on Sunday morning. Yes, I do get fairly domestic when mom is out of town. I'm just horribly self-conscious about doing things like cooking and cleaning in front of other people. I'm always worried that I'm going to do it wrong. So the kitchen is spotless, and I have yet to eat out or resort to frozen pizza. My bedroom is another story. I wouldn't be me if I weren't still a mess in some way, right?