Random Bits of Info

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted.

It's my busy season at work, I've got three huge surveys going live in January and I'm trying to make sure that'll happen. I've got oodles of developing to get done and I hope none of my clients throw a wrench into the process.

For Fern's birthday in July we gave her a weekend at the beach for her and two of her friends. This past weekend was it, I took the girls to Ocean City. It was a lesson in patience. It takes about an hour for three teenage girls to wake up in the morning and to cycle through the bathroom for showers after beach time. I tried to give the girls their space at the same time as being the parent on duty. I think everyone had a good time.

I've finished the rush of Girl Scout vests that were dumped on me during the summer. My in-box is empty, but I still have many other projects that require attention. Like the new pair of socks I'm knitting, because I just had to have a new ball of yarn from that shop on the boardwalk.

Long-time readers of this blog may have noticed I haven't posted anything about my Mendoza line in quite a while. That's because I've been over my I-shall-never-be-over-this-weight weight for almost two years. I was successful losing some weight last spring in preparation for our 10-day cruise so I could get into summer clothes. After we got back, I gained it all back and then some. It would have been very easy to just throw up my hands and change my Mendoza line, but I didn't want to, I didn't want to settle for that. I was past the edge where I should buy the next size larger clothes. I didn't want to go up that next size, I didn't want to discard what's in my closed (again) for new, bigger stuff. Dan's been doing Weight Watchers now and has lost some weight. I was watching what I was eating and lost a little, but wasn't really getting significantly nearer my Mendoza line. Now I'm doing WW with Dan and all I can say is "Wow!" First of all, I never realized how much I was eating until I started writing it down and assigning points to it. Secondly, when I started eating within my points range, the weight started to really fall off. The "just one more" mentality does make a difference. I didn't need just one more. It's getting easier to retrain that part of my brain that wants to snack all evening to a) eat a smaller snack serving, 2) eat a healthier snack, and iii) skip the snack altogether. I'm still above my line, but it's within sight, and I'm very excited about that.

I got called a "good mom" by a woman who was about to get her nipples re-pierced.

Oh, a Bunch of Random Stuff

Over the last several months Fern has been watching Gilmore Girls on the TV in the sewing room. She records it from the ABC Family channel every day. I started absorbing the show by osmosis when I was working on my quilts. Then the next thing I know, I'm hooked. I'm wondering how wise it is to learn parenting-a-teen-girl tips from Lorelai Gilmore.

My grandmother would have been 94 today, but died at 86. I still miss her. Happy Birthday, Grandma. It was hard for her to celebrate, however; she lost her son this same week in 1984 and then her husband in 1992, the same week.

Today, Census is having a quilt display to honor Women's History Month. I'll be displaying two quilts. I'm hoping I'll meet other quilters from the building and we can form a once-a-month lunchtime group.

My regular Bowie guild is having their annual quilt show this weekend and my quilt is almost ready, just need to put a label on the back.

I was the only person to show up for my group session last night at the personal trainer's gym so I had a private session at the group price. My arms were very rubbery afterward with all the different things he had me do.

The new dishwasher, a couple weeks old now, is doing fine, very quiet. The capacity is a bit more and the tines have a different arrangement than the old one, so I'm still trying to learn the best loading/running procedure. It's that sweet spot I'm looking for, don't want to run it too empty, but if I wait another day, I'll have more than enough to fill it.

I think I'll make a cup of tea.

More about the Weekend

Saturday afternoon I took Kevin to the barber shop for a haircut. I'd never gone in there on the weekend before, so I was a little unfamiliar with the procedure when almost every waiting area chair is taken. Usually I take him on a weekday evening when there is no or very little wait. I wasn't raised on the barber shop culture, being a girl and all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about taking Kevin for a haircut, I just don't know those unspoken rules about waiting and whose turn it is.

A barber will finish with a client and call out "can I help someone," or "who's next?" For a second no one moves. I see all these people waiting, but no one is getting up. I look around, Kevin can't be next, we just got there, surely someone will get up. The barber calls again and someone does take his chair. I settle back and occupy myself with solitaire on my phone. Kevin is content watching the show. He learns by watching so sitting still in a barber chair is nothing new, he's a pro. Getting him to verbalize what he wants is a whole other ball game.

There's another woman who is jabbering a lot to her grandson's barber and to whomever will listen to her. I focus on my solitaire. A couple more chairs open up and get taken. I figure out some clients are waiting for specific cutters, others, like us, don't care. Another chair opens and no one moves and I guess it's Kevin's turn.

How much do you tip on a $14 haircut?

Fern skated at the Bowie Valentine Invitational Competition on Sunday. She participated in three events, her technical program, solo compulsories and with the large production team.

I thought she did a good job but was a little wobbly during her technical program, and didn't hold her spirals very long (skating backward on one foot, other leg parallel to the ice). I've seen her skate better in practice so I wasn't surprised when she got forth out of four skaters, disappointed, yes, but not surprised.

Then she did her compulsories. I thought she did great and videoed her with my phone. After she was done I asked her if she wanted to see the video. "No Mom, I was just there." I got a completely opposite response when I offered it to her coach. She studied it and beamed about how long the spirals were and that her sit-spin had eight revolutions. There was some kind of mix-up when it was time to award the medals for her event so we had to wait much too long to find out.

The large group event, the production team went well. I'd not seen it yet so I got to see it with a fresh eye. It is a 4-minute program where about 30 skaters do routines to songs with a jungle theme. Bowie's competition was the team from Piney Orchard. Their show had a "Family Game Night" theme and it was very cute and well done. At awards time, Piney got second, and Bowie took first.

Then, they got around to awarding the medals for the compulsory events. Fern got first place out of three skaters. Needless to say, I was just thrilled.


 

A New Quilt

I work with mostly guys in my office, young guys. Well, younger than I am. Young fertile guys.

Two babies are due next month and one in June. And I've promised baby quilts. Two boys and a girl. This one is for the girl. It needs one more border strip at the bottom, then quilting. The group baby shower is next Wednesday. Do you think I can get them done? I've already decided to not work on the June's baby quilt until after our guild's show since I still need to finish the quilt for that but I should be able to knock out two simple pieces quickly.

Oh, but wait, Fern's ice skating competition is Sunday and I have no idea what time she's on the ice. Got to find that out. Kevin skis on Sunday, too. Maybe I'll be able to sew on binding while I wait for her to perform. If I get that far with the quilts. (OK, this just in, she is scheduled to skate her freestyle program at 12:30 ±10 minutes; and her compulsories at 3:00 ±10 minutes. Please come by to watch.)

I hope these guys in my office are blessed with great kids as I have been.

Weekend Round-up, Among OtherThings

I'm not usually one of those moms that dash off to the ER at the sight of blood, but when the sight of blood wasn't ending, I took The Boy in. I knew there was nothing to stitch up, since the edge of his left index finger was gone, but I knew I couldn't stop the bleeding by myself. He was cutting salami.

Dan was in Tampa for the weekend golfing with his friends.

I did a lot of laundry this weekend. The last load is in the dryer right now. It's the "everything else" load. Usually I pick through what is on the floor of the laundry room to make a load of like items, darks, pastels, colors, whites, towels. The "everything else" load is the stuff that falls through, the stuff that doesn't pass muster on previous sorting rounds. It's the load you hate to put away because it's usually a bunch of mismatched socks and shirts that are too small for your youngest child. You know. I'll have that load waiting for me tonight. Oh joy.

Lost is back tomorrow night after a nine-month hiatus. I gotta make sure the DVRs are set. Yes, both of them. I started a Lost marathon yesterday by rewatching season 5. This interrupted a Lois & Clark season 1 marathon and ended up being interrupted by watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days because we wanted to send it back to Netflix.

I found Season 1 of Lois and Clark on eBay for The Girl (and myself!) because I enjoyed it 16 years ago and thought she might like it, too. "Like it" turned out to be an understatement. She loves it and thinks Dean Cain is wonderful, gorgeous, and very good-looking. He was quite yummy in that show, wasn't he? I found Season 2 on eBay and she had that watched in a heartbeat. Now she's dying to have Seasons 3 and 4, but I can't find them as cheaply as I found 1 & 2 and I'm not willing to pay $61 per season at Borders, or even $40 at Amazon. She'll get her homework done and I'll keep looking for bargains online.

I've had 21 Girl Scout vests to work on this month. I didn't think my stack would ever diminish, but it's down and I now have only four to go, then it's back to personal sewing/quilting. Yay.

The quilt retreat is coming up at the end of next week so I've made a list of projects to take with me. It's a small list, only ten or twelve things. Sheesh. I probably ought to take my ritalin with me so I can stay focused and not get overwhelmed. And get stuff done. There are three guys in my office whose wives are due with babies and I've promised them all baby quilts. Silly me. The nice thing about baby quilts is that you can make them small and no one will complain.

I ordered a portable sewing machine table with some birthday and badge-sewing money. It should be here in time for the retreat. This new table will make it easier to do machine quilting at retreat, where it was impossible before because the table was not flush with the bed of the sewing machine.

Since I haven't had a proper blog post in a while, I'd better stop here. I can't give away all my secrets at once, and, I still have real work to do even though the crush is (almost) past.



 

Waiting Room

I'm sitting in the waiting room at my son's pediatric dentist's office. He's getting his newly erupted molars filled and sealed. Last time we had this done, it was done as an out-patient at the hospital because he had to be sedated. This time it's just a mild sedative and nitrous oxide.

The dentist's office is next door to a Nite-time pediatrics office with free Wi-Fi so I'm able to get some work done while I wait. I've been here since 10:00 am, it's 12:40 now. Except for the fact the free WiFi blocks some web sites with certain web content. Not unusual, but number one being government sites. Can you believe it? I can't log in to the work web sites. Really? Governments sites blocked! So I'm on telework status but can't check my email. Sheesh.

Then I take a break to blog. Except Blogger is blocked. I can get to my specific blog, just can't get to the write a new post. Really? I wonder if porn sites are accessible? Then I remember I can email a post to blogger, problem solved.

They gave him his sedative earlier and Kevin now is back in the treatment room with under the influence of N₂O₂ and doing fine. So fine, in fact, he doesn't want me back there. I sneak peeks to check on him every couple minutes. After a check a while ago I realized I was hungry. Oh, for some candy or gum. Oh, yeah, this is a dentist's office.

There is a McD's next door. I check on Kevin again and let the staff know where I'm going.

The customers were lined up only one-deep at the counter, even though the drive through line is very long. "Can I help the next customer?" barked a gravelly older woman at the end of the counter, who clearly did not want to be there today. In my bubbliest voice I said, "Hi, how are you today? Can I have a number one, please." Medium or large? "Medium." Here or to go? "To go, please." She had started smiling a bit then, then became crestfallen. Oh. The nice ones always have it to go. I'm glad I could make her day a little better.

Now I'm back in the waiting room, Kevin is still doing well. It looks like they've finished drilling and are putting the sealant on the teeth.

They are done, and I just got the post-op information form. Kevin is eating the rest of my fries and slurping down my coke. Sheesh.

The boy is unphased, and I will recover, too, I'm sure.

Why

can't my kid turn in her homework?

When I Retire

When some people hear I'm a quilter, I often hear them say, "I want to quilt when I retire." I always think why wait? Sure you have more (theoretical) time when you retire, but it's a great stress reliever and you'd benefit from quilting now.

Over the last 40 years I've taken ceramics classes, a couple when I was a kid at the Huntington Gallery of Art, then one as an elective in college, and a few more at the local community college.

It's one of those loves I keep on the back burner, my dream is to have my own wheel and kiln one day and space enough for it all. I really really don't need another hobby, but I just love to play in the clay. I was never really good at it, I mean, good enough to enjoy it, but not good enough to pursue it as a primary livelihood. Now, I'm telling myself "...when I retire...."

Fern took ceramics classes at summer camps and enjoyed them a lot as well. So when I found out about a family ceramics class at the local park service art center, I signed us up. It's a short class, only three weeks, but long enough to try out the facility, meet the faculty, and see if I'd want to go back for a longer series of classes.

Yesterday was our first class. Fern harassed me for bringing my own bucket of tools I'd accumulated over the years, (you're a dork, Mom) but then found them useful when the time came. We made the traditional "pinch pot" first, then used the slab roller to create another piece. These are my pieces, I'm not sure what I'll use them for, tea cups or flower vases, but I had fun. It was so good to get my hands dirty again like that. Next week we will try out the wheel and the last week will be painting/glazing.

I found it interesting Fern told me she was telling herself not to compare her work with mine because I was older. She wanted to do well on her pieces on her own. I'm proud of her.

I already want to sign up for the adult class series which starts tomorrow, and there's even a space available in the class. But that means I'll be out every night of the week. Sigh. Maybe next time when I quit taking water aerobics...
 

Lost Weekend

He's a faker! OMG! He's such a faker! He's not even from Iraq.
No, Honey, he's an actor.
He's a faker!
He's an ac-tor.
Faker!
Actor.

The Girl is yelling at the TV. Or maybe me. I am watching the bonus features DVD for Lost Season 2 and she joins me part-way through. Naveen Andrews is talking on the screen about the show with a pristine British accent although he plays the Iraqi Republican Guard survivor on Lost. Also from London is Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who plays a Nigerian crimelord-turned-priest. Later, Daniel Dae Kim, who speaks no English on the show, only Korean, speaks accent-free English in the bonus features. It's all quite jarring, especially if you've bought into all these characters, hearing then talk in their native tounge. The Girl is outraged. These people are fakers! No, they're actors. She storms out.

The Lost season 5 premier is January 21 so we've been watching the past seasons pretty much non-stop the past two weekends. She says her homework is finished... I even bought Season 4 yesterday, which The Girl had to break into right away even thought we hadn't even finished watching Season 3. She's so into it now, when the show premiered in 2004, it was too much for her, too gory, too adult. Now she's giddy, it'll be the best thing about next week.

Outwitting the Outwitter

I like chocolate milk. I have a hard time drinking it plain. I'll make a glass for myself and after I've finished my first gulp the glass disappears. My son also likes chocolate milk and believes any glass of milk in the house is meant for him. He'll finish any glass I've made for myself, he'll even take it right out of my hands mid-sip.

So I make two glasses and drink from of one of them. He takes it away. I pick up the other and start drinking it. Score one point for Mom.

He takes the new glass away from me and pours the remaining milk into his other glass.

Sheesh.
 

Evidently, I'm Creepy...

...according to my daughter and her friends because I took a picture of them while they waited to play for their winter concert.

I just can't seem to get through to her all parents take pictures of their kids, and to prove this point, I asked her if she noticed the hundreds of cameras present at the concert the other night.

But, Noooo, I am the creepy one.

Sheesh.
 

I Want to be an Air Traffic Controller

United Airlines broadcasts communications from the tower and cockpit on channel 9 on the armrest console. I like to listen because it's different from the usual canned music on other channels and it's more interesting than the flight attendants trying to get stupid passengers to load their suitcases wheels first in the overhead bins.

At first I'm not sure what I'm listening to, but slowly get acclimated to the rhythm of the controllers' and pilots' patter. The rhythm is fast, the speech is brief, professional and friendly.

All our passengers are loaded, the doors are closed, and our cellphones are off. In my ears I hear United 356 requests permission to push back. Permission is granted, and I feel the plane move away from the jetway. We are given cryptic instructions for taxiing to runway 16 left. Eventually I hear "United 356, you're cleared for take-off, have a nice flight." As we lift off I can see a line of school buses leaving a school and four empty, lush golf courses. Maybe I'll get to golf over the weekend.

The longer I listen the more I get accustomed to the language and I start to comprehend what I hear. Every communication from the control center starts by the flight number and the instruction, followed by the pilot repeating her/his flight number and confirming the instruction. Often this is followed by friendly bit, like "United 356, you're cleared for take-off, have a nice flight." Sometimes the reply would be very informal with a simple "OK." Othertimes the reply would be like old friends saying good-bye: "Alaska fourteen-fifty-one, roger, I'll be back in a couple days, see ya then."

The airport tower controls the planes on the ground, on approach, and taking off; they control the planes they can see. After leaving the airport airspace the pilots are given another frequency and handed off to another control center.

The tower at SEA-TAC gets us in the air to flight level 15-7, turns us left to a heading of zero-five-zero and sends us to Seattle center. Seattle Center takes us up to flight level three-seven-zero and eventually hands us off to Salt Lake Center. Salt Lake passes us off to Denver, and finally Denver Approach.

Whenever a plane would get handed off to another controller for another sector or at another control center the communication always had the same staccato form.
"United 356 contact Denver center one-two-six-point-five."
"United 356 twenty-six-five, good night."
"Denver control this is United 356 at three-seven-zero."
"United 356, light chop above three-three-zero."
"United 356, thank you."

About a half-hour before we are scheduled to land I hear the controller directing the pilot to start the decent and later the hand-off to Denver approach. The woman at Denver approach quickly rattles off a string of instructions I'd not yet heard and couldn't decipher, but our pilot repeats the instructions verbatim, and we end up at our appointed gate.

For every part of the flight the pilot would always confirm the instruction given, getting a repeat or correction if needed, and the task would be done. I wish children did that.

"Child oh-one, turn left at stairs, maintain heading to level two, bedroom three right."
"Child oh-one, left at stairs to level two, bedroom three-right, good night."
"Child oh-two, turn left at stairs, maintain heading to level two, bedroom two-left."
"Child oh-two, left at stairs to level two, bedroom two-left, good night."

Putting kids to bed would not be easier.

In Your Face!

Maybe you will remember I posted about Fern and her struggles with Algebra last year. She got D's all year. Just after the fourth quarter started she asked for tutoring, so we invested many dollars in many hours of tutoring. Much of the last quarter was devoted to HSA prep. With the tutoring she managed an 83 on her final, but still a D for the quarter because of missed assignments and, according to her, no grades in the gradebook after they started focusing on the HSA.

The guidance counselor, her algebra teachers, yeah, she had two, but that's another story, and the principal all thought she should repeat algebra, that she couldn't do the work in geometry, didn't understand algebra, yada yada, and since she was only a 7th grader, she had plenty of time to retake it and get the rest of her math in before graduation.

So here we are, on the cusp of a new school year. Fern has been getting ready mentally to be in algebra again, determined to do well. I spoke to the principal about my concerns: Fern absolutely must have a dynamic teacher this year who is going to hold her attention all year so she doesn't get bored, and when she's bored she won't do her work and then receive another low grade. I also tried delicately to imply I didn't trust the teacher, whom she had for most of last year, had graded her fairly, not giving her all possible credit due. How does someone get and 83 and still a D? But, either she ignored my jabs about her employee, or was oblivious to them. (I'd leave a message for the teacher to call me, but instead returning my call, she'd harass Fern in class the next day.)

I was not going to tolerate another year with a teacher like that. So Fern was placed with Mrs Lamb. Fern likes her, she was the teacher who ran the morning HSA prep sessions before school last spring. All will be fine.

(pause for dramatic music)

This week I got a call from her principal: The HSA scores came in and Fern blew it out of the water (my words, not hers). Fern got a very high score, and she is allowed to go on to geometry if she wants to, with the stipulation she will commit to it and work hard. Fern's decision.

The drawback of staying in algebra: boredom, especially in spring quarter when the class is doing HSA prep and she's exempt.

The drawback to going on to geometry: the algebra grade stands. It could, and probably will hold her back from getting into Bowie Summit or Roosevelt (the area's advanced high schools). But the upside is, she can thumb her nose (figuratively, please) at those teachers and counselors who said she couldn't do it.

You go girl! I mean really, go, go do your homework!
 

The Rest of the Story(s)

Last year I was comfortably below my Mendoza line, that weight I never want to go over. Clothes were fitting well; life was good. Winter came and as usual, I struggled with keeping the annual hibernation weight off. Then it took a while to get the spring break in Europe weight off. Finally I got below the line, but not as far below as I was last year, but I was holding steady. Life was OK. Then I went to Vegas and came back many pounds over the line, and not just a smidge, either. It took me a month to get stay back below.

Monday morning: I'm way over again. Too much food at the cook-out I guess. I hate that. Even the watchband won't stay clipped, I'm up so much.

---

I'm still not sleeping well, I tossed and turned until after 1:00 last night, then I got up and roamed the house for a while. I vacuumed the carpet in the sewing room and laid out my triangle quilt on the floor and studied the borders, auditioning different possibilities. I realized I don't like the inner-most border, it's too wide. So much for using the Fibonacci number sequence for border widths. Blah. I'll start taking off the borders tonight or tomorrow and re-work them. Maybe this time it'll work for me better. Here are two possibilities, a thin cream border before the green stripe and a thin dark red strip in the middle of the green:

---

When Fern went away to camp a couple weeks ago, her roommate, whom she had last year too, gave her a Stonehenge tote bag. Two days later she took it to the Orioles game with her, in it was her book and camera and other odds and ends. The following two weeks the bag was lost, she couldn't find it anywhere. I kept offering to call Orioles' guest relations office to see if they found it and she kept telling me she read the book on the way back from the game and didn't leave the bag there. But yet, the bag was still MIA.

Then I remembered she went to the church that night to help with vacation bible school. Sure enough, the bag was left at church and it was recovered a couple days later.

My parents sent Fern a tote bag for her birthday. She took it with her on our trip over the weekend. In it was some movies she watched on the laptop and her book. Monday night we start to gather the movies to return to Blockbuster. She can't find them. Where are they? In the tote bag. Where is it? I don't know. Did you leave it at Michelle's? I didn't take it there. Did you leave it in Damascus at the cookout? Maybe.

I call our friends and they have the bag. Tonight after work I'll drive up to meet them half-way to retrieve the bag. Aye-yi-yi.

In the mean time, The Girl has left the family Nintendo DS with the Guitar Hero cartridge at a neighbor's house. When she went over to collect the DS she brought home yet another forgotten tote bag.

---

Kevin continues to have wacky sleep patterns. He was awake at 4:30 yesterday morning. I'm not sure if he'd been awake all night long or just woke up in the middle of the night. We managed to keep him awake until after 8:00 last night, but then he fell asleep in our bed. At 5'10" he's too big to move while he sleeps so I had to wake him. I pulled the blanket off him and he woke right up and tried to pull it back. I told him I was changing the sheets and he had to go to his room. It worked. I am a mean mommy.

Fern was slow in waking for skating camp on Monday and Tuesday this week so I told her she had to be in her room lights out at 11:00. At 11:00 I tapped on her door and told her to turn off the light. I moved away from the door so the floor creaked a bit and stood there quietly. Thirty seconds or so later the light came back on. She was genuinely surprised when I pushed the door open and told her to turn off the light. I am a very mean mommy.

Weekend Roundup

There's not a lot to round up from this weekend, blogger was misbehaving, my daughter was, well, shall we say, being a new "teenager."

If I had to recap my weekend in one word, it'd have to be laundry.

Our laundry room is a small space off the second floor hallway. The washer and dryer face each other with a space in between where we dump our clothes to be washed. I'm proud to say I got all the way down to the floor. I even used a hanger to dig out all the escaping socks from underneath the washer. Usually when I do laundry I start at the top of the pile and pick out all the clothes I can find of the selected color family, do a load, then pick off the next major color category, jeans, khakis, reds, etc. A couple loads every weekend usually keeps the family going. The little items usually slip to the bottom as I pick out each load and it might be a month or more before I get around to doing my "favorite" load: the dark socks. Everybody's got'm, my dress socks, my husband's dress socks, my daughter's skate socks. Fun indeed.

I keep the utility laundry behind the bedroom door, towels and sheets, the big stuff. I only did one load of utility wash this weekend and I probably will get another load in tonight while I'm still in the mood to get it done. Now if these people would stop taking showers and wearing clothes, there wouldn't be laundry to do.

But, on a happier note, we have less that a week to go before spring break. Dan's posted a map of our trip on his blog, please stop by to see it. I won't be redundant and post the same thing here.

Weekend Roundup

1. I'll not do that again. I posted an entry from home on Thursday night and another one on Friday. No-one commented on the Thursday post for until AM did on Sunday afternoon. I don't write these for my health, you know. OK, I'll wait here while you scroll down and read it.
   
   Thanks.


2. Friday evening I picked up the car from the shop. $1300. Kevin made a beeline for the garage when I got home and made a comment about "...going to check on the green car...." All's right with the universe again.


3. Then I went to play Bunco with a bunch of quilters from my guild. I'd never played before. It's a simple, fun game with dice and partners, prizes are involved, usually money, we played for quilting stuff, like fabric and thread. You never have the same partner in consecutive rounds so you find yourself cheering against the very person one round whom you were cheering for in the previous. I came home empty handed. I ate a lot of fritos though, does that count?


4. Saturday, the usual kid-ferrying duties, lessons and the last practice for Fern's Ice skate team before the Valentine Invitational competition on Sunday, and Kevin to his swimming program. Fern needs a black skating skirt for her jump and spin team's costume. The pro shop doesn't have any her size and none even close.
   
   I bought a half yard of black swimsuit/dance fabric. I haven't sewn slinky knits like that in years and I start to panic about the skirt. At the same time a friend calls from my quilt bee about our bee meeting tonight. Do you know anything about knits? She did and I spent almost 3 hours at her house trying to make a black skirt for The Girl. It didn't turn out like I had envisioned, mostly because I measured her waist and she wanted it on her hips so the design had to be adjusted. She didn't think it would work.


5. Sunday, I got up early and drove to Target to look at their selection of dance wear. I found a black ballet skirt and bought it, even though it was very sheer and I didn't think it would work. Then I searched down into the depths of my fabric stash for black knit and found some. I made yet another skirt with a different design and The Girl asked if I could sew the two together. I did and it worked great.
   
   Kevin had to be at his ski program drop-off point at 9:30. Fern had a 10:00 call for her 11:20 Jump and Spin event. She had trouble with her change-foot spin, but landed her souchow beautifully. After her event we went for lunch, then back to the rink for the awards. Her team got third! Out of three teams. Her next call was at 3:00 for her 5:04 event for production team, so we went home for a break. I read some of my book and got so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open. So I took a nap. I don't usually take a nap so when Fern couldn't find me when it was time to go back to the rink, she checked the neighbor's house and called AM before she found me in bed.
   
   Kevin is supposed to be picked up from his ski trip at 5:30 so Dan and I debated which parent would see Fern skate and which parent will get The Boy. AM saved the day and picked up Kevin for us. That woman ought to be knighted. What is the female equivalent of "knighted," "lady-ed?" Ok, I'll just wait here while those of you who know and love her stop laughing.
   
   Seriously, what is the female equivalent of being knighted?
   
   Anyway, Fern skated wonderfully, thought her team should have won, but I told her about several of the little skaters who fell into a pile which she didn't know about. My throat always tightens up and my eyes start to sting when I see her on the ice. She's so beautiful. Yeah, I'm a biased mom, but there's biased mom and then there's a beautiful daughter. Her team took second! Out of three teams.
   
   Fern's team waiting to take the ice, Fern by the door
   
   

   
   JJ and Fern after the award ceremony



6. I thought I'd be home for the night after skating, but Fern asked me if she could go to the Town Hall meeting and see Hillary. Oh, all right. I had no first-hand information, no specifics. It was at Bowie State from 7:30 - 9:30 pm, very vague. My husband said follow the cars and you'll find it. Thanks. We got there at 7:30 and waited in line in 28° windy darkness for a half-hour before we got inside to the warm of purse searches and metal dectors. I still had no idea when the meeting was supposed to actually start, but 8:30 Fern was bored and tired and had a headache and wanted to leave and I held her off for another 30 minutes. Hillary and gang came out at 9:00. The county executive started his speech and I had the feeling I wasn't going to hear Hill for another 20 minutes. Fern was insistent so we left. I probably should have made her suck it up and stay, it would have been good experience, but I relented. She had had a long day after all. I hate the whole political thing anyway, so it wasn't too hard walking out. I'll pay more attention in November.
   
   
   From my seat before we left
   
   

Stung

I deliver chocolate milk to The Boy's room, he likes a glass of frothy goodness before bed. The Girl's door is cracked, I see the blue light emitted from the TV, Gilmore Girls flickering into the air. Her head's on the pillow, her eyes are closed. She likes to fall asleep with the TV on, "it helps her." sheesh. I know she's faking it, there with her eyes closed, much too perfectly. I want her to know I know she's not asleep. I whisper: "You want $20?"

"Really!?"

This evening I sat in the car, window down, waiting for practice to be over, listening to the game on the neighboring field. Twa-ing. The unmistakable sound of a base hit, an aluminum bat against a softball. That's all right ladies, two outs now, any base, any base... I'm a softball mom now. Fern joined the girls' '92-'95 spring Boys and Girls Club league. This is her first time playing a team sport outside gym class, and I'm so thrilled she's having a good time. She's playing catcher so she's throwing the ball a lot, more than the pitchers because they are rotated every couple of innings. And my baby's arm is sore.

It's my first time being a team sport mom. I don't yet know the chatter a parent yells from the bleachers, the nuances of "little league." When do I suggest to the coach my daughter needs to rest an inning? Or do I? So much to learn.

Here she is behind home plate:

Waiting

Spinning

I had my "skate mom" hat on yesterday, my rear end planted on cold bleachers in the Ice Arena. Fern's been taking freestyle lessons as well as "Artistry" classes, and yesterday was the spring show. I'm not sure what I expected, but when I saw the program "Sunday April 22, 5-8pm" I knew I didn't expect that. Three hours! What about all that refrigerator food I'd just bought at the warehouse store? The program indicates two selections by the artistry classes, if Fern doesn't skate in the first one, I'd dash home and put the chicken away and come back in time for the second program. Well, she was in the first group, and did wonderfully. She's so wonderful on the ice. I'm a little disappointed with my pictures. I took them without the flash, so they are a bit out of focus. Oh well, maybe next time.

I have a question for you parents: Do you ever withhold information from your kids about something you'll be doing just so you don't have to endure 30 minutes of "can I come too"?

Yesterday I went to New York for my semi-annual shearing at Nick Arrojo's Studio and didn't tell anyone. My husband knew, of course, but I didn't tell Fern nor any of my friends. I tried to explain to Fern parents get to do things like that, sans offspring, but she's still mad. She'll get to go when she gets straight A's on her report card, but sometimes I get to go by my self.

sheesh.

 

Gold-star parenting day!

This morning I dropped off Fern at skating daycamp. She'll be 11 on Friday and I'm trying to be aware of that "don't embarrass me, Mom" stage so I'm not really affectionate in public with her anymore unless she takes the lead. She's sitting with some friends and I whisper in her ear that I'd put some money on her tab at the snack bar for lunches. She says thanks and I turn to leave. She calls me back and I see she's blowing a kiss to me. We have this game where blown kisses are like arrows. When it lands on you, it hurts, so the receiver will make a funny face of pain, and may even say "Ow!" So, here comes this kiss from across the room and I have to play along, right? I catch the kiss with the appropriate act of pain and send one back. She catches hers with a loud "Ow!" and I get a round of approving smiles and giggles from her friends and a smile from my daughter that says, "Isn't my mom cool!"