Saturday Yoga

I'm on my way to the last yoga class I'll teach this semester at the university. I'm really hoping that I'll have actual participants today; it's not unusual for university yoga classes to be lightly populated, particularly on a lovely, sunny, moderately warm Saturday morning at the end of the semester. It's highly probable that I'll be the only person in class this morning.

I've got to start exercising more. My graduate work has taken priority over my workout schedule over the past several months. One of my post-graduation goals is to bring up my attendance in fitness classes. I'll let you know how that goes.

Does a Bear S**t in the Woods?!

The scene: Saturday morning. I'm in bed reading (A Dry White Season, if you're curious). My beloved husband is sitting next to me tapping away on his laptop when he turns to me and asks "do you want to buy a cooktop today?"

Sorry?! Are you kidding?! You really think you have to ASK?!

Oh, and while we're at it, can we buy an oven, too?! PLEEESE!!! I am desperate to bake again...

Some Women Buy Shoes....

I buy books.

Bowyer and I spent part of yesterday afternoon together. He brought me to his favorite used book store. It's a place I never would have thought to go into without being told how wonderful it is; it's a little hole-in-the-wall tucked into a nearly abandoned, 1970's era strip mall. It's run by a man who is almost a freak of nature - he KNOWS books - authors, titles, where they are in his shop and how long it will take him to get them on order if he doesn't have them on-site. It was wonderful.

When it was all over I came home with about 15 books. I've read four of them before (in the above pile, I'd already torn through Wicked and Ahab's Wife last year) and I bought a copy of Crichton's Timeline, which we used to have but loaned to someone - we're not sure who - and never got it back. I was able to get a bunch of titles I've been wanting to have for my own, and did it all for a lot less money than I expected to spend.

I have ZERO time right now to do any reading, but once I do, I'm going to have plenty to work with. It's exciting in a geeky sort of way.

Another Milestone Reached

PunkinPie had her first sleep-over last night.

Well, TECHNICALLY, it's not her FIRST sleep-over. She's stayed overnight at Bowyer's place a bunch of times, but Bowyer is family, so that doesn't really count.

Anyway, she was wildly excited about the whole thing. Her little girlfriend called her on Friday to invite her to stay over on Monday night. We spent most of the weekend watching her bounce off the walls. At seven-thirty on Monday morning, she started packing. Seven-thirty in the morning! On the first day of April Vacation! GO BACK TO BED!!

She was a little out of control.

She was picked up yesterday in a minivan crammed with little girls and was in such a hurry to leave that she barely remembered to kiss me goodbye. Since Daddy wasn't home when she left, we crashed her party after dinner so that proper love could be given. I had hoped she would call before she went to bed, but she didn't.

She's going to be gone most of the day today - the Party Girl's mother has all kinds of activities planned for the group this afternoon - bowling, pottery painting, maybe a movie (though the weather seems to have broken, at least momentarily, so I suspect some outdoor time might be in the offering).

I HATE how much I miss her. I'm glad that she's growing up, that she's included in a group of friends, and that she has a good store of self confidence and independence, but I'm also sorry that she's growing away from us, even just a little bit. I understand it's my job to teach her how to do just that, but there are times when it's harder than others.

And I suspect it will always be so.

"You Are My Rock"

...these words were spoken to me yesterday by someone I love very much, someone who's going through something difficult and painful and awful. While I'm so sorry my friend has to go through this, I am so glad that my friend recognizes that I'm here. Being there is one of the things I pride myself on. Being a good friend is one of the ways I define who I am.

I'm going to be spending an awful lot of time and energy being with this friend. I may not be able to do much more than listen, or provide a place to crash when things get to be too much, but I will do anything - and everything - that I can. It's one of the things I do best.

Happy Easter

We had a lovely day. I hope it was the same for you.

Springing

Spring is starting to show herself around these parts. The only signs I can show you as yet are of the forsythia bush in the side yard...














...and the daylilies are starting to push through last fall's leaves...




...oh, and this is a clump of what will eventually be violets. I'm excited to see them; I didn't think they'd come back this year...













...and this is Te, lounging on her favorite spot on top of my car, where she can safely survey the land...

Who Gets to be an American?

Ok, you all know that I'm not one to tackle political issues here at Blue Door. Politics generally aren't my thing and I'm usually happy going quietly about, holding certain, what would likely be described as liberal beliefs, and voting when the time comes.

The question of immigration policy has been raised to me by HamRadio, a very dear, very Republican friend of mine (who would have guessed that I'd have a very Republican friend? Certainly not I!). He sent me an email containing excerpts from an alarmist speech given, ostensibly, by former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm who said, in a nutshell, that America's current immigration policy is going to destroy America. I'm gathering that this is going around the internet and that's how he got it - you can find it here.

I'm astounded and horrified by this on so many levels. I'm certain that much of my outrage comes from the alarmist tone of the piece, and the overwhelming sense of Us vs. Them. This feels to me like the slippery slope that leads to divisiveness and fanatic nationalism and hatred of the "other." Aren't we ALL "other"?

I have so much more to say on this, but can't seem to get myself put in a place where I can speak coherently about it quite yet. I may be too close to Holocaust studies to not think that we are headed down a similar path. Note this, lifted directly from a speech given by Adolf himself:

7. We demand that the State shall make it its primary duty to provide a livelihood for its citizens. If it should prove impossible to feed the entire population, foreign nationals (non-citizens) must be deported from the Reich.

8. All non-German immigration must be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans who entered Germany after 2 August 1914 shall be required to leave the Reich forthwith.

Am I just making this stuff up, or are we really headed down a very dangerous road?

Adventures in a Bridal Shop

Husband's cousin is getting married in July and has asked the ladies to be her flower girls. I posted a while ago about this, after having found some adorable dresses for not-too-much money, where I expressed the hope that Cousin would like the dresses enough to allow the girls to wear them at the wedding.

We met her today at a bridal shop in a neighboring state. I brought the dresses with me, but Cousin never looked at them - by the time we got there, she and her mother (both of whom I love, by the way) were already pawing through the rack of flower girl dresses and yanking out numerous samples for the girls to try on. While I will admit that both the girls and I had a great time trying all those dresses on, I am a little stymied by a couple of things:

~since when did flower girl dresses become mini bridal gowns? ALL the dresses - literally ALL of them - were white or ivory with tulle and bows and, in some cases, even trains. No patterned fabric, no cap sleeves, no "little girlish" styles - all were tiny versions of the brides' dresses that the store had on display.

~is there any other use, other than dress-up, to which a flower girl dress can be put? If yes, what? If not, do you think it's possible to sell the things on consignment to at least recoup SOME of the expense? I dropped slightly less than two hundred bucks for what you see below, and while I'm happy to do what I can to make Cousin happy on her big day, the cheap Yankee in me is looking for a way to establish some financial balance through this whole affair.

The girls really ARE going to be beautiful in these dresses - I'm hoping that Cousin goes with the light green sash instead of the hot pink sash - but either way they'll be lovely. I just wish they had potential to be more than just a one-time shot.

Kitchen Pics

I know, I know; it's been a while since I've posted pictures of the progress in the kitchen. Sorry - I've been busy.

This is the view you've all seen before, but not with the fridge put back where it belongs. We've decided that we're going to replace the fridge - eventually - with a black, cabinet-depth model. It seems a shame for Husband to have lined everything up sp beautifully to end up with a behemoth appliance sticking out and wrecking the lines, don't you think?

This is the view facing the sink. The cabinets on the end are as far as cabinets will go, but the counter will go around the corner and make up my workspace, where my computer and a file cabinet for work stuff and bills will go. There will be two wall cabinets up on that side wall, but we haven't gotten around to putting them together yet.

This last picture is of half of what will be the island. Husband will be building a wall from which to hang the back cabinets this weekend - then we'll buy a cooktop and a wall oven and hire someone to come to measure and install the countertops!