I'm really not all that good with mornings. Who came up with the idea of mornings, anyway? I think it's just an unnecessary nuisance, myself. We should skip straight to afternoons.
I spent the morning answering email, followed by cleaning the living room and vacuuming floors downstairs. Mike and I had a conference call with an editor at 11:00, which had some not-completely-encouraging news. (Can't really talk about it, though.) At a little after 1, my friend Denise showed up with her daughter Elliana, and the kids played. After awhile of playing in the house, we went outside to let them play on the swingset. Then they played in the sprinkler, which at times they found fun and at others they found terrifying. Ahhh, the joys of toddlerhood. Then we came in and hosed off the muddy babies in a bath, and THEN we had a snack (tomatoes, raisins, cucumbers, and crackers). After that, we had some of the birthday cake that Denise had made for me. Then they had to go leave to pick up Elliana's dad.
In the evening, I mostly played games online. I was not tired enough to fall asleep yet, but too tired to really concentrate on work. Maybe tomorrow will be a more productive day. Mike and I cooked dinner together at night, which was nice. He did most of the cooking, of course, but I managed the risotto.
Adam's teething. This is no fun for anyone. He doesn't sleep well, and he seems to whine and cry more than usual. At times, it's very hard to take. And I'm starting to get that sleep-deprived feel that was so familiar when he was a newborn. *sigh*
Errand day. My dentist appointment was at 10, so my appointment with Kathy was at 9 - WAYYY too early in the morning. I was, in her words, crabby. We had a chat about stuff, then I left. Mike and Adam were just coming in as I was coming out, so we all headed to the car. Then I went to the dentist. That is NOT a fun visit. I'm getting my teeth cleaned, and it's a painful, embarrassing experience. I say embarrassing because they numb half of my face at a time. So then I have to walk around talking as if I'm a stroke victim. I don't relish it.
Next stop was the bank, to send a wire transfer. Then the grocery store, then home. Spent hours answering email (getting ready for the next Mall Crawl), then took a break to do some hand quilting and pick up some toys (play date tomorrow). After dinner I got back to work on the OfficePro article, which I finished (but for Mike's looking through it to make suggestions/comments/additions/whatever.
Then bed. Bedtime was not fun. Adam's teething, and he's burning up (running a fever of 100-102). He's also crabby, not sleeping well, and nursing alot. Nobody slept much.
Another day around the house. Didn't do much except get some laundry put away and answer a bunch of email. I posted a few more Questions-and-Answers at QuiltIndex, and got some code (finally!) working for an article Mike and I are co-writing. This one's about Microsoft Access and Microsoft PowerPoint and VBA. Once I got the code going, then I started on the article I need to have it finished before we go out of town next week, but getting the code working was the hardest part. (Knock on wood). I made dinner last night, too - pork curry, coconut-ginger rice, green beans and wilted kale. No dessert, though - I think I'm falling down on the job. ;)
This morning I took the dogs to the home of our St. John veterinarian. We're going to have to board them when we go to San Francisco next week, so they needed to get their shots updated. That was a quick $84. The boarding itself is going to run $102, so add that to our travel expenses. This trip better be worth it, is all I have to say. The dogs handled their shots and bordetella nose-spraying very well, and I spent about an hour chatting with the vet about all kinds of things, including this amusement park that's north of Coeur d'Alene. Apparently, you can make a day-trip of it with your family during the summer. It was an interesting idea. I doubt I'll ever talk Mike into going to an amusement park, though, so maybe I'll keep it in mind for when the kid(s) is(are) a little older.
After I got home and Adam woke up from his nap, we headed out again. Stopped briefly at the post office in Endicott to drop off some mail, then went into town. I realized along the way that I had forgotten Adam's diaper bag, so I went to the grocery store and got some disposable diapers and wipes. I ended up only needing one, but it's not the kind of thing you want to be caught without. Then we went to the bank to make a couple of deposits, and drove into Pullman. We had a late lunch at the New Garden Chinese restaurant, which had a contrived little waterfall view. It was cheesy, but Adam enjoyed it. "Almond chicken" is not at all what I expected, but at least it was edible. I still haven't found any what I would call good Chinese food in the PNW. This place has its strengths, but IMO food ain't one of em.
Then we went to the park. Adam had a lot of fun splashing around in the little fountain-y thing they have there, and he got absolutely soaked. Then it was off for a walk around the grounds, pausing to watch the first practice of the WSU swim team. Most of the swimmers are awful, but there are a few good ones. When they were waiting their turn to race, some of the female swimmers cooed at Adam. He ate it up. Then Adam noticed a little tiny dog (Rocky, strangely enough) who was playing with his owners across the park, so he toddled over to check it out. Rocky was a long-hair chihuahua, and Adam thought it was very curious to see such a small dog. A slightly bigger dog showed up a little later (a terrier), and that wasn't near as much fun.
Somewhere in there I noticed that I was painfully engorged, so I retreated to a picnic table a little ways away from the other park-goers, and proceeded to try to get Adam to nurse. He was too interested in the unfamiliar sights and sounds, though, so he wasn't having it. I ended up leaning over as if I was intently studying a trail of ants on the ground or something, and spraying milk onto the grass. I had glimpses in my head of Pullman's finest showing up to cart me away for indecent exposure, but thankfully, it didn't happen.
Then we came home. The rest of the day was pretty normal. A little work, a little dinner, then off to bed.
I haven't been feeling real good the last couple of days. I've been kind of "down" (not physically, but emotionally). Part of it is, I think, that I've been so over-busy for so long, and now a couple of my major commitments have wound down at about the same time, so I'm finding myself with a lot less to do all of a sudden. Don't get me wrong; I still have plenty of projects that want doing, but most of these aren't tied to an immediate deadline, so they feel different. Another part of it is just that I feel sad all the time. Maybe that's part of the therapy - the grieving of loss stuff that goes along with the recovery I'm doing. I don't know if I've mentioned here why I go see Kathy (the therapist) every week or not, but it's because my step-father was sexually abusive to me, and I'm trying to deal with that in healthier ways than I have in the past (you probably don't want to know how I did so in the past). Anyway, I've been moody lately, Mike says for the past week or so. He just handles it, and doesn't give me a lot of shit about it, which I very much appreciate.
I took Adam into town for a quick visit to get milk. We only went as far as the little grocery store in Endicott. I know a few people there, and everyone remarked on how big and cute Adam is getting to be. A girl I had in a couple of classes I subbed for a few years ago - Sheena - asked if he could walk yet. I put him down to demonstrate, and walk he did - right over to some cookies. He picked out a package of Teddy Grahams. They're only 39 cents, so I figured what the hell, and got them for him. I also chatted with Sheena about her upcoming year in school (she's a sophomore this year, and will be the head cheerleader). I had forgotten a lot of the crap that goes along with being a teenager. Then we talked about the possibility of my teaching a quilting class for the junior high this year (that's still up in the air - have to iron out some details with the home economics teacher first), and she basically confirmed something I had suspected, and reinforced my resolve to stand my ground. I know, that all sounds pretty cryptic, but some people in Endicott read this journal, and I don't want to start any trouble. Some of you know what I'm talking about, and if you don't know but want to, just email me and I'll fill you in. heh.
Besides that, it was just more fabric cutting (I find it cathartic) and more TV-watching. I also tried to design a table-runner for a commission, but didn't like anything I've come up with yet, so I'll keep at it. I like commissions. :) (Thanks, you-know-who-you-are!!)
I finished the last 2 galleys for the book I'm revising (hallelujah!) so it's completely done. I think. I also started on the cutting for that commissioned quilt. I didn't get very far, but at least it was a start. I kinda-of helped Mike with dinner, then I came upstairs to mess around with PowerPoint. We've sold an article about automating it, and so I'm trying to figure out how to write code for it. It's not the easiest thing I've ever done, either. Oh, well, so it goes.
It was a veg-out kind of day. I think I've been too stressed for too long, and I took the day to sort of decompress before jumping back in. For the most part, I hung out downstairs, ignoring email and sorting the stuff that's piled up on my cutting table while working on various sewing projects. I put a bunch of it away in my fabric storage room upstairs, and finished ironing all the fabric needed for that commissioned quilt. Next step is to actually cut some of that fabric out and sew it together, but I won't be doing that right away. I did a smidge of hand-quilting, but really not too much of what you could call productive work.
In the late afternoon (5-ish) I left for Moscow. I bought my ticket to see Summer Catch, then went to El Mercado (in the mall) to eat dinner. The food was so-so (not as good as last time) and the service was pretty miserable. They even rang my credit card through for someone else's (more expensive) meal and brought it to me to sign. Thank God I actually looked at it this time. Then I went to see the movie. It was pretty good, and parts of it were really funny. And Freddy Prinze, Jr. is a hottie. ;) The guy who played Billy Brubaker, Matthew Lillard, was absolutely hilarious. I've seen him in other movies, and he's always incredibly funny. I'll go see anything he's in.
Then it was the long, lonely drive back home, where I found my boys already in bed, but not totally asleep. I missed em.
Today was mostly a running-around day. After Adam had his morning nap, we (Adam and I) drove over to Lewiston, Idaho to have Adam's one-year photos taken (stopping along the way in Colfax to make some deposits at the bank). We did the pictures again at Sears (you can see his Christmas pictures here), but got a different photographer last time. She must have not been as good a saleslady, because I managed to stick with the $12.99 package. They try to sell you all kinds of "extras" (like photo packs and cards and what-not) but her "Oh, that's cute" got quite repetitive and not-believable. Adam was in need of a nap when he started the shoot, so most of his pictures weren't as cute as she was (half-heartedly) letting on, but he's an adorable baby anyway, so of course his pictures are gorgeous. ;)
Then we drove into Moscow to pick up some fabric pens and a holepunch (at Michael's and Joann's, respectively). The pens were to send along with fabric squares for a quilt I'm making for a friend's memory wedding quilt. The holepunch is for applique templates (I could explain that, but you probably don't care). Then we drove into Pullman to drove of a box at the UPS, and then on to Colfax where I sold 3 dozen eggs and stopped at Subway for late lunch/early dinner. All told, that was a LOT of driving, and it wore me out. Adam was pretty crabby, too, since he hadn't napped much along the way.
We got home and Mike had to give me some rather disappointing news, which I can't talk about here. So I kind of moped around the house and ironed fabric all day. The fabric is for yet another quilt for yet another friend (this one's commissioned, though). I didn't really have the energy or heart for much more than that.