So a few months back, I was talking with my friend M., a counselor back home in Portland who dyed green stripes in her hair. I was telling her that I was super jealous that she had the kind of job where she could dye her hair green on a whim since librarians in upstate tend to be more conservative and I'm job hunting. Well, guess what ( Read more... )

I don't like dressing up for Halloween anymore. When I was little my mother made me elaborate costumes and I spent ages planning and dictating exactly how the costumes should go. One year she sewed a stuffed ladybug shell that I could wear on my back ninja turtle style. It even had a second pair of arms that moved when my arms moved via a special ( Read more... )

One more Alice story and then the next few entries will probably skip around a bit ( Read more... )

We are still in California scouting for Dustin's job interview. The interview in Pasadena is on Monday and we're flying back home Tuesday ( Read more... )

Warning: 90% of this entry will be about toilet training. The other 10% is about controlling my own emotions ( Read more... )

Each day is its own country,
Filled with citizens clamoring to be heard,
Speaking in tongues of rage, or hope, or tears,
Today fully inhabited,
Today alive and engaged,
But tomorrow foreign and incomprehensible,
Refugees waiting to bleed over the borders of time,
To colonize the future space in my mind.

My girl is so big now, but also not so big. We're still working on the potty training. She went on total strike a couple weeks ago and so I backed off and just let her fester in her diaper and stopped all changes that she didn't initiate. Two days before her birthday she spontaneously began peeing in her potty by herself. We were pretty excited, ( Read more... )

I taught my first real art class on Monday night. It was three hours long and three people registered on Friday so the venue called and asked if I wanted to cancel since they don't like to run classes below four people. I told them I still wanted to teach, if for no other reason than just to gain experience. Well . . . seven additional people ( Read more... )

Last month, I went to the nearby park with Alice. We took a bubble wand that a stranger gave to us at the neighborhood Clean Sweep and blew bubbles. A man was there with two very outgoing children, a boy about one and half, and a girl, who just turned four. They were all over Alice and blowing bubbles together and having a high time. I spoke with ( Read more... )

It came out of nowhere. Two weeks ago Alice asked me, "am I bootiful?" I said, "of course you are" without hesitation. Then she asked, "are you bootiful?" And I said, "Yes. We are both beautiful." Then after a minute I added, "all people are beautiful unless they have ugliness in their hearts." But I don't think she can understand ( Read more... )