forestofglory

bits and bobs: sick kid edition

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 17:32:30 GMT

*The school year ended for us last Friday. (It still feels very early to me!) Today was supposed to be the kiddos first day of summer camp, but we gave her a covid test this morning since that seems like the safe thing to do, and it came back positive! So no summer camp for her this week. Right now she's hanging out in her room watching minecraft videos and drinking water. She has running nose but not a fever. We are trying to keep her isolated as much as possible.

*in other news I have finally installed Zotero after having been told about it for years. And its great! If you give it a pdf it can mostly figure the title ect! Which is nice when you have pile of pdfs with unhelpful titles. Plus it has tagging! So now my horde of pdfs about Chinese history is much better organized and I can find things more easily. Also I made a pretty bibliography for my most recent fic.

*for June I've decided that I'm going to sew whatever I feel like! I've been working on a quilt top that I have no plans for I just want to make it. Its strip quilt and I had all the strips put together so its going pretty fast. I can't remember when I first started it but probably years ago, so it will be nice to finish it up. (It took me forever to bind the chicken quilt but it's finished now!)

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Goals Again

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 18:25:40 GMT

It's November already!

Here are my October goals and how I did on them:

1)Write fic or LB posts on 20 days. Stretch Goal actually post something!
I only manged 16 writing days, but I did post two things. (Short and Sweet: Collections and Anthologies and My Very Own Star)

2) Baste Chicken baby quilt
I made the back for this but didn't get any further.

3) Sew a garment for the kid
I completed a dress! (picture on Instagram)

4)Celebrate the kid's birthday!
After the the celebrations mention in the last goal post we also had small outdoor birthday party which went well. Fun was had and cupcakes where eaten.

5) Halloween!
I didn't end up making much for the holiday this year. The kid wore an old costume my mom made for me, and she asked someone else to help with the cookies she brought for her class party. I did design a pumpkin which R helped me carve. Trick-or-treating went well too!

6) Two more Classical Chinese lessons
I struggled with this and only manged to complete one

Between my wrist problems and getting a cold I wasn't able to get as much done as I hoped. I'm still learning my new limits and I don't like it. For next month I'm going to try setting less ambitious goals.

1) Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Break
I'll be hosting a small family Thanksgiving and the kid will have the whole week off school.

2)Write fic or LB posts on 15 days.

3) Sew two long sleeve shirts for the kid
Going to use a simple pattern I have made many times before, so this should be easier than last months dress.

4)Complete another classical Chinese lesson, stretch goal: complete a second one

Also this month we are having the outside of our house painted and my mother in law is having cataract surgery.

I hope you all have good November!

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Recent Happenings

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 17:27:45 GMT

This week I've been trying to finish up as many of my monthly goals as possible while also not overdoing things with my wrist. It's a *fun* balancing act. On Tuesday I realized that I would be happier if finished at least some of the goals rather than having them all almost done. I so I decided to focus on the easiest to finish goal and do that when my wrist allows, and then the next easiest, and so on an so forth. I've manged two goals this way, I'm not sure that I'll finish any of the others, but I do feel better about things.

Tomorrow I'm taking the kid on her first ever camping trip. She's so excited! I have not been camping in years, so I asked a friend who goes camping a lot to help us out. We are going car camping pretty close to where we live, so if things go wrong we will have the option to go home.

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One Handed Life

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 17:36:42 GMT

So I've been trying not to use my right hand for the last week and a half. Here's a couple notes on that's going.

* I have declared comment amantisty on DW. I hit the mark all read button on my inbox. There where some things there that I really wanted to get to but I just can't right now.

*I've been writing my daily to do lists with my left hand. I think my hand writing has gotten a little bit better.

*R found me a one handed cutting board with some ways to hold what you are cutting! I still can't do much but I've cut up a couple of peaches now.

*Last Friday I had a small fall and put wiegth on my wrist. So dispite all my resting it's been hurting more since then. I might have do an extra week of rest. It's very discouraging

*I can't drive which makes it harder to take the kid places, but a couple of times now R has dropped us off at a park. So I've gotten to do some outings.

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May Goals Wrap Up and June Goal Setting

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 16:12:19 GMT

Hello new wiscon people! Welcome! I use this space to set myself monthly goals and help create more structure in my life. At the start of the month I look over the last month's goals and then set some new goals for the current month.

In May my goals where:

1) Write fic on 20 days
I managed 15 days. Due to wrist pain and travel I wasn’t able to write more. I thought I might be able to write while traveling but I really didn’t have the mental energy

2) ~~Finish the improv rainbow quilt~~ Finish the blue section of the improv rainbow quilt
I scaled this goal back due to hand pain, but I was able to meet the scaled back goal. This has become very much a slow and steady project.

3) Figure out what's next in Classical Chinese
I’ve been teaching myself Classical Chinese via self study. Its super fun and I love learning it! In April I finished the first unit in A New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese by Paul Router and I wasn’t feeling ready to move on to the next unit, so I had to think about what to do next. I’ve decided to start another textbook (An Introduction to Literary Chinese by Michael A. Fuller) and go over the basics again!

( Read more... )

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March Goal Wrap Up and April Goals

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:32:22 GMT

It's a new month! March has some issues that have made it harder to get things done. At the start of the month I experienced and lot brain mush and wasn't able to focus, then this last week my wrist has been really painful and I've had to rest a lot. But I did ok at my goals. Lets go over them.

1) Write fic on 20 days
Done! A writing day is three sentences or more which is low bar, but I find often that three sentences is enough to build up a bit of momentum so I can keep writing. I've been working on a long fic that I'm not sure I want to finish, and I also started writing a sequel to what is probably my least popular fic. That one I think is finishable though. I don't usually work on more than one WIP a time so that's been interesting.

2) Post essay about my research process
"Fanfic Research Methods: A Case Study"

3)Work on Improv Rainbow quilt
I finished both the orange part and the yellow part of this! It was fun to work on!

4) Do lessons 8 and 9 in A New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese by Paul Router. Stretch goal: Also do lesson 10.
Done, just under the wire as I finished up lesson 9 yesterday.

5) Hugo Nominations!
These where due March 15 and I was able to nominate some stuff!

6) Get medical attention for my wrist pain, and if given exercises to do at home do them regularly
I thought I was doing well at this but I had a relapse this week. Possibly I used my wrist too much. So while I've been good about the stretches I need to be more careful.

I completed all my March goals! Given how the month went I'm proud of myself!

Here are my goals for April

1) Write fic on 20 days

2) Sew two pairs of shorts for the kid
I took the kid to the fabric store and let her pick out fabric and patterns for two garments. She wants two pairs of shorts which I haven't started on yet.

3) Do lesson 10 and the lesson 6-10 review in A New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese by Paul Router. Stretch goal: Also do lesson 11.

4)Spring Break
Spring break is next week which feels early to me. I have some fun small expeditions planned with the kid, like going swimming. It should be a busy week

5) Passover
I might actually have Seder with people outside my household this year! I'm hopeful but keeping an eye on the numbers. Also looking forward to doing some passover cooking!

Hopefully this month will be less full of set backs than last month!

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Dentists Offices

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 17:28:37 GMT

In the last month I’ve both gone to the dentist and taken my kid to the dentist. Dentists offices are such particular spaces to begin with, with their special chairs and lights and tools. Going to the dentist has always been a unique spacial experience for me. With the extra pandemic safeguards in place dentist offices feel even more like their own slightly alien worlds.

My dentist’s office hasn’t actually changed that much. More of the staff wear masks now, and there are some extra plastic panels in the front office, but that’s it. Of course I can’t wear a mask while my teeth are being examined or cleaned. But it still feels different to go to the dentist now, perhaps just because I go into so few buildings these days.

On the other hand, the kid’s dentists has changed a lot. Just before the pandemic started their was a fire in the old office. So during the pandemic we’ve been going to a different, further away, temporary office. Before I used to go in and sit in the waiting room. Now we park outside and text the dentist, then when they are ready for us the text back. I walk the kid to the office and then wait in the car until they are done. So I’ve barely seen the inside of this new office. It gives the whole thing a feeling of isolation.

Dentists offices have always been something of a space apart and the pandemic has only made them more so.

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October Goals Wrap Up and November Goals!

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 18:17:57 GMT

It's November already! Time to see how I did on last months goals and set some goals for the new month.

1) Finish the Space Bees quilt
I did not finish this, but I have started quilting it.

2) Finish Chicken quilt top
This is finished! I was really happy with how it came out. I'd like to use this pattern again for a bigger quilt someday (Pictures Tiwtter Instagram

3) Write two posts talking about what I've been observing in the built and natural environment around me
Observational Bits and Bobs
Pandemic Space
I don't really feel like either of these is my best work.

4) Write something about my experience with language self study as an adult with APD
Adventures in Classical Chinese
This ended up being less focused on APD that I thought it would be.

5) Work through lesson 10 in Classical Chinese for Everyone
Complete! Still having a lot of fun with this.

5) The kid's birthday
As mentioned in my mid month check in I think this went well.

6) Halloween!
We had a good Halloween. The week before Halloween the kid was allowed to bring a costume to school and wear it for the last hour of everyday. They also had treats each day. My mom hosted a very small pumpkin carving party on Friday night and we had a lot of fun carving pumpkins. On Halloween itself the kid decided to wear the dragon/dinosaur costume, and we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. It's not a big neighborhood for trick-or-treaters but there where lots of exciting decorations anyways.

I was fairly sick for a couple of days mid-month, and the kid was not very sick but had stay home and wait for the results of a covid test, so I got a bit behind on things. However I was able to get caught up with everything except the Space Bees quilt so that was pretty good.

Here are my goals for November:

1) Finish the Space Bees quilt
I need to do about have the quilting and then the binding. Since I was planning to do all the quilting last month this shouldn't be too much.

2) Finish the Unicorn Forest quilt
My mom paid for this to be professionally quilted as present and I got it back last month. It looks amazing! I have to do the binding before its done, but that shouldn't take long.

3) Write two posts talking about what I've been observing in the built and natural environment around me

4)Finish with Classical Chinese for Everyone
There's three lessons left which what I did last month so I think I can do this.

5)Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving break
I'm going to host at least my parents and brother this year! Also the kid has whole week off of school.

6)Write on 25 days.
I know a bunch of people doing NaNo, but I'm not a fast enough writer. I would like to do some more writing this month, however I don't have any specif projects in mind right now. A days written goal will encourage more writing without tying me to a specif word count or project. 25 days means I have to write most days, but get a few days off.

That's it for now. Think it would help my mental health if I could do better at creating structure for myself, but it's difficult.

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Mid October Goal Check In

Fri, 15 Oct 2021 16:40:03 GMT

1) Finish the Space Bees quilt
I have bought the supplies I need for this, and have based the quilt.

2) Finish Chicken quilt top
I'm so close to done with this! I have sewn all the blocks and mostly sewn them all together just three more seems to go.

3) Write two posts talking about what I've been observing in the built and natural environment around me
So far I've written one: Observational Bits and Bobs

4) Write something about my experience with language self study as an adult with APD
This is all written, and going to be posted at ladybusiness soon! It ended up not being very focused on the ADP aspect.

5) Work through lesson 10 in Classical Chinese for Everyone
I'm currently working on lesson 9, which feels like good progress. I think I'm managing the pacing a bit better now.

5) The kid's birthday
The birthday was earlier this is week and I think it went well. We made cupcakes together for her to bring to school, and R made her a special dinner. She seems to like the presents we got her too.

6) Halloween!
R has done some seasonal decorating around the house. We now have blinking orange and purple lights outside. Also I took the kid over to my moms to look at the Halloween costumes, that my mom made for my and my brother when we where young. We picked several that fit and that the kid likes! So now the Halloween costume is taken care of.

I made progress on all my goals! I feel accomplished! How is your month going so far?

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Thu, 26 Aug 2021 17:11:14 GMT

Since school started last week the main building I interact with other than my house is the school, so I thought I would tell you all a bit about my morning routine.

I get up before everyone else and putter around making the kids lunch and emptying the dishwasher. I enjoy the quite of being in the house when everyone else is asleep. Then I take my meds, take a shower, and eat breakfast. If the kid is not awake by the time I finish breakfast, I go wake her up. Generally we snuggle for a bit and then she get dressed.

She has breakfast and plays for a bit and then I drive her to school. The school is about 10 minutes from our house. Most of the time I park near this house with an amazing native plant garden, and then we have to stop and admire the flowers.

There's a very cheerful crossing guard who always greets us as we cross the street. The sidewalk outside the school is generally crowed but everyone wears masks. There's a door directly form the sidewalk into my kid's classroom. I'm not allowed in the class room so I say goodbye at the door and then leave.

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Summer Adventures

Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:37:24 GMT

Here are some adventures I've been having over the last couple of weeks:

*Our local botanical garden is no longer requiring reservations to visit, so and I was able to take the kid there one afternoon. It was not crowed at all, and we had a lot fun wandering around all the twisty paths. The kid especially enjoyed following the creek.

*I went on a hike with a good friend to celebrate my birthday! I made my favorite cookies, and packed us a picnic with those and strawberries and carrot sticks. We had lovely walk, it was sunny but cool with a bit of breeze, and fog banks in the distance.

*The local pool will let you reserve half the sallow area for 45 minutes at a time for "family swim. " I've now taken the kid three times. She loves it. She had few summer swimming lessons and was excited to show what she's learned! I don't know what it is about swimming but even this low key hanging out in the pool made me very hungry!

*My parent took me and the kid out to visit some family friends who live in rural area. They have 13 chickens and 2 kittens. The kid got to feed the chickens and gather eggs. Plus we fed the neighbor's horse some carrots.

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June Goal Wrap Up and July Goals

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 17:59:19 GMT

The subjective experience of time passing is really very strange. 2020 was the longest year ever, but 2021 seems to be racing along. Now it's July and we are halfway through. Since it's new month its time look back on last months goals and them set some new goals

1) Finish space bee quilt top
I did this, and I'm very pleased with how it came out! Pictures on Twitter or Instagram

2) Write two posts talking about what I've been observing in the built and natural environment around me
Santa Cruz Trip Report
Long days, hot days, foggy days

3) Read Five SFF shorts
I did this, in fact since I started reading an anthology I'd had hanging around for a while I read more than five. (It's a bit easier for me to focus on reading when its not on a computer screen -- sorry lovely online stories)

4) Family Trip to Santa Cruz
This was fun except for the heat exhaustion. Trip report linked above.

5)Various Medical Stuff
Done. I had my cervical cancer screening, got my eyes checked, and bought new glasses. It was my first time buying glasses online and it was good experience. I am so happy to have some up to date not falling apart glasses!

For June I decided not to take on too many goals, and that worked out well for me. I finished everything! It's been kind of a stressful time with lot of transition and uncertainty. R is going back to work, the kid has summer break, and I still have lot of uncertainty about covid. So for July I'm going to continue to have slightly fewer goals. Here are my July goals:

1) Finish the rainbow quilt. Stretch goal: finish the Space Cats quilt.
I have all the batting,thread and fabric I need to finish these up. It will be nice to get them to the people I made them for.

2) Write two posts talking about what I've been observing in the built and natural environment around me

3) Read Five SFF shorts

4)Short trip with my parents
My parents are renting a house for several days and invited me and my siblings to stay as well. Hopefully it will be fun. I plan to stay out of the sun and drink lots of water!

5)Summer expedition with the kid
The kid has camp for the first part of the month and we do have trip planned, but I would like to take her on a fun outing or two. Maybe to the botanic garden, or to the beach?

oh and my birthday is at the end of the month so maybe I'll do something nice for that. I'll at least eat something tasty.

I'm also slowly working on a fic. However I'm finding not setting any goals for that and just working on it when its fun is the best plan.

I hope everyone had a good June. Do you have any exciting summer or winter plans?

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Santa Cruz Trip Report

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 18:44:04 GMT

Last Friday morning we drove down to Santa Cruz. I packed us sandwiches for lunch which we ate in the car. But we also stopped for a bit in Campbell, a city a bit south of San Jose and took a short walk, there was a trail by a creek and some fun wooden bridges.

We got to Santa Cruz too early to check into the house we were staying at, so we went right to the Boardwalk. Well the kid and R went to get tickets and I went to look at the beach and put my feet in the sea. But when I got back they were still in line. We waited around for a bit longer but finally got everything taken care of. The kid got to go on a couple of rides, and then we had timed tickets to the local art museum at 4 pm so we did that. It was fun, though they didn't have quite as much stuff as pre-pandemic.

Then we checked and unpacked and relaxed for a bit. After that we went shopping and got food to make our own breakfasts and lunches and also picked up pizza for dinner. My half of the pizza had mushrooms and roasted garlic with white sauce and was really good. R and the kid just had pepperoni.

On Saturday morning the kid and I went to the beach for a while and played in the waves and did a little digging in the sand. It was fun but the kid's mask got all wet, so we came back to the house and took showers. In the afternoon the kid and R spend a long time at the boardwalk and the kid went on a lot more rides. We got Chinese takeout for dinner.

Sunday we went for a hike in the redwoods. Which was very pretty but I ended up getting heat exhaustion. The hike wasn't that strenuous -- it was 2 miles mostly flat, but it was quite warm and I didn't pack enough water. I didn't realize how bad it was so I took a rest while the kid and R went to the boardwalk. But when they got back I felt worse, and started vomiting! R suggested I take a cool shower which really helped, but I was still really out of it and threw up several more times. Poor R had to take care of me and the kid.

Monday I felt well enough to walk around and hold a conversation though not totally fine. We weren't sure if we were going to make it to our Monterey Bay Aquarium tickets at 3pm. But we decided to try. First the kid and I wandered around downtown Santa Cruz while R got some time to play at the arcade by himself. The kid didn't like the snacks I had on me so we went on a snack shopping spree in the local grocery store. Then we mostly sat around and ate. After a bit we met up with R at a local bookstore. Then after an adventure finding a bathroom we drove to Monterey. In Monterey we had lunch then took a walk then it was time to go to the Aquarium. It was so nice! We got to see otters and the deep ocean tank and the kelp forest and the kid had fun with the touch pools.

Then we drove back home, arriving just in time for bedtime.

After a few days of recovery form the heat exhaustion I'm feeling much better, bending is no longer painful!

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Watching the Moon

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 17:24:17 GMT

My kid's remote kindergarten class is doing a unit on the moon. All of us adults think this is great. As part of the unit we are supposed to go look at the moon every night. So, I have learned that its very hard to see the moon from our house most nights. I was vaguely aware that I didn't see the moon very often, but looking for it nightly has made it very clear how hard it is to see the moon. We live in a bit of a canyon with lots of trees around so there's just not a lot of clear sky. For a bit we could see the moon if we walked down the street a bit to a clearer spot but now its rising latter and it doesn't get visible before bedtime. (We also had to skip a few days due to smoke)

The moon unit is timed around the mid-autumn festival, which was last Thursday. We had a little family celebration. After dinner we went for a drive to try and see the full moon. However it was either to early or too smokey because we couldn't find it. So that was disappointing. After failing to find the moon we came home and had an indoor picnic sitting on a blanket on the floor. R had been to the Chinese bakery earlier that week and brought home six mooncakes each a different flavor. So we had one of those, lotus paste with salted egg because that was the most traditional, and some chocolate. Then we put the kid to bed.

Did any of you observe the min-autumn festival? What did you do?

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Recent Outdoor Adventures

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 17:12:59 GMT

The days are so long now! It's light before I get up, and light well after the kid is supposed to be in bed. It's been effecting both of our sleep schedules, but not too badly.

We have been having many picnics lately. We get takeout from somewhere and eat in on a blanket in the park. It's so nice. It still keeps us socially distanced, but we get to eat restaurant food and get out of the house for a while. The Bay Area is still pretty locked down. Open air dinning is just starting to be a thing here.

There was one bad thing that happened on a picnic, the kid got her 1st bee sting! She must have just put her had down right on top of a bee. It was unpleasant experience for us all. We took her right home, and got her an ice pack to help with the swelling and she sat with one hand on the ice pack and played phone games with the other for long time. She recovered quickly and seemed fine now, but shes a bit wary of bees on our walks.

Since things are slightly opening up we have formed a social bubble with my parents and brother. Our social bubbles are very limited -- we can hang out together outside while masked. But I have now gone on several walks with my family, which has been lovely.

The kid still loves visiting the fish pond in our neighborhood. This week they have added about a dozen little fish to the pound, which is very exciting. Most of them are orange, but a few are black and one is white with orange spots.

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Observations

Thu, 21 May 2020 17:28:39 GMT

Suddenly there are lot of fawns around. We saw three on our walk yesterday -- including a tiny one! It was hiding in someone's front garden and bolted away when we walked by. We live up in the hills, so there are lots of narrow twisty streets, and a ton of deer. We see then in our backyard a lot. As I was writing this I looked out the back window to thing about how to describe the backyard and there was another fawn, and its mom! It looked a me for sec and then went back to eating grass! Anyways not much grows back there except to big redwood trees, so the deer are welcome to whatever they want.

We have been having some usually wet weather for May in the Bay Area. Its not that in never rains in May, but well hardly ever. But we have several days of rain and then it was kind of hot and muggy. One of the great things about Bay Area weather is that it's almost never muggy so I did not enjoy that.

It strange and scary to watch so many places opening up again. Here in the Bay Area we are still mostly sheltering in place, with some very cautious opening up maybe next month. But right now my life is very contained. On Tuesday the kid I drove to the park, and the first time I'd driven anywhere in weeks. Most of our walks have been around the neighborhood -- we are still visiting the fish a lot.

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Cooking Ramble

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 17:31:51 GMT

I this morning I made cupcakes with N. We've been doing a lot of baking to keep busy. We made cake, and cookies and quick bread. I love baking with her, it so fun, but I don't generally do it. All the adults in the house are diabetic or at risk of diabetes so we try not to keep too many sweets around.

I enjoying cooking. It's nice to make physical things. When I was learning to cook and for a long time after I would always use a recipe. But now when I make dinner I rarely use a recipe -- or a use one I know by heart. Its nice just make things. I find a lot of cooking is knowing when things look, or taste or smell right. It makes it hard to explain things to other people, especially when they aren't there. But take say cooking an onion -- I know how to cut an onion from doing it so many times. I know what it should smell like cooking, and I know it always takes longer than recipes say it does, and know what it looks like when the onions are cooked. So things I can cook because I know them well are soothing but new recipes often stress me out.

But my favorite thing about cooking is feeding other people! I want to nourish people and give them yummy food. Sometimes this is a bit tricky -- right now everyone in my household is a bit picky and we all have different things we don't eat so finding meals for everyone is a bit less fun. I often struggle with meal planing, and sometimes when its my turn to make dinner I just don't feel very excited by what ever I'm cooking that evening. And I don't often have energy for really complicated stuff.

So I'm really enjoying this lock down baking. I don't have to plan it in advance, I can do it early in the day when I have energy, the kid enjoys doing it with me, its all pretty great.

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Status Update

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 17:57:31 GMT

I thought I should write an update about how I'm doing. ( cut for current events )

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Bits and Bobs: Finally Raining

Wed, 04 Dec 2019 19:06:20 GMT

Bits an bobs is my many short unrelated things make a post category. Comments on any topic welcome, no need to comment on all of them.

*It has been raining since Thanksgiving, and everyone in my household expect me has been sick with a bad cold. The kid stayed home on Monday (which is a work day for me) but was well enough to go to preschool yesterday and today. However this morning she slept in almost and hour and was late to school.

*Many of my internet pals have offered to send holiday cards and I have signed up for a lot of them. I'm excited that I will be getting mail, though I feel a little bad that I'm not sending anyone anything. I am however pleased that I realized I can used some of the space I created by getting rid of books that I'm not friends with to display all my holiday cards. I now have a nice empty shelf waiting.

*I have stared reading Winnie-the-Pooh to my kid! As you might have gathered form my icons, I'm very fond of Winnie-the-Pooh, and its lovely to share something something I love with my kid. Also rereading the stories again, I'm charmed once again by the characters and the the prose.

*I have been meaning to upgrade to a paid account for ages, and I finally did it yesterday since the sale announcement reminded me. I'm not sure if I will actually use any of the paid features, but I'm happy to give DW some money. Maybe I will go upload some more icons? I have been remembering to use different icons for posts and comments slightly more recently and it might be nice to have a few more. Anyone have recommendations for places to find icons?

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Bits and Bobs: Mostly Bookish Thoughts

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 19:06:13 GMT

Bits an bobs is my many short unrelated things make a post category. Feel free to comment any of the points without commenting on all of them.

*I forgot to say but the power came back on Monday afternoon last week, and has been on since!

*My library has Link+, the state wide ILL system, back! I have order a couple of things! Its very exciting!

*In other library news the new catalog seems to be having some difficultly with mulit-volume manga. I have been requesting that the library buy things recently, and they've bought basically everything I asked for. (My library is pretty great) One of these was the slice of life manga Barakamon. The library bought more volumes than I requested, which was nice, but then I tried put a hold on some of them and found out that the system won't let me. Also the online catalog currently doesn't distinguish between volumes -- so all the volumes I currently have check out or have holds on look the same. So that's a bit frustrating.

*My parents are traveling and having their floors done while they are gone. This means my brother, who lives with them has been over a lot. Which is nice. I like hang out with him and he's been helping out with childcare too. He'll be staying over a couple of night as well.

*Our Halloween was good! The air was not bad and we went trick-or-treating with the kid. In the end she decided to go as rainbow kitty astronaut and wore the hat with ears that I made.

*I have been reading some kidfic, fanfic where the characters take care of kids, and I have come to the conclusion that most of it is about the fantasy of having really good parents, and not about the reality or even the fantasy of being a parent. No one is ever up in the middle of the night covered in vomit, or spends half a hour talking a kid into leaving the house, or worries that they said the wrong things. Parents and children are all just pretty great all the time. I see why that's appealing, especially if one had rough childhood. Still I'm frustrated that I can't find stories about parenthood, especially motherhood, that are about that kind of thing that don't feel cheesy. Maybe I'm just too picky

*The other day some friend and I where chatting about why we keep books, and some one said "books are my friends" So this morning I looks through my shelves and asked myself "Is this book my friend?" And I got rid of a lot of books! And I kept a lot of books too, but I feel good about having them because they are friends!

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Personal Update

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 18:22:04 GMT

On the stomach bug front E came down with a mild case and recovered quickly, and I haven't got it at all. R is now recovered, but he was shaky for a day there.

On the power front our power went out around 10pm Saturday night. Sunday morning it was still out and the entire house smelled like smoke, from the fires in Sonoma. I checked the air quality online and it was solidly in the red "unhealthy" zone. Last year we got some air filters to help deal with this type of thing but they need power to work.

So we somewhat haphazardly decided to get out of the house for the day and drove off to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, where we have membership. The drive seemed to take an extra long time but we got there in the end. Its really a fabulous aquarium. N is mostly just interested in the hands on kids stuff rather than looking at the actual fish, but she seemed a bit more interested in the fish than last time. We sat an looked at the deep ocean tank together for a bit. I also got to spend some time watching the sea otters play when very few other people where around.

The drive back was also long, and the place we stopped for dinner was not as quick as we hoped. However the air quality got better while we where away which was good. We where all very tried when we got home. (I had planned to do a lot of reading yesterday while the power was out, but that didn't happen, I barely read anything.)

This morning the air quality was bad again and we still don't have power. We might get power back sometime today? But its supposed to be out again all day tomorrow, due to more high winds. I'm at work where we do have power so I'm charging things. R and E have plans to take N somewhere inside this afternoon after preschool. So that's the current status.

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October Goals

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 18:56:24 GMT

It's a new month, so its time to talk about goals again.

First a quick review of last months goals and how they went:

1) Read five pieces of short SFF online and finish reading Hexarchate Stories
Success!

2)Research starting a cosy SFF zine.
After I was flailing about this in my last goals post lunabee34 suggested breaking it down into smaller steps. So I (with some help form a friend who is good at goals) did that. The the 1st step in the broken down steps was to outline a prospectus, so I did that but I'm not I'm happy with it. Still progress was made.

3)Brainstorm 5 nature/built enviroment topics that I could write about.
This turned out to be another goal that wasn't well defined. "Idea I could write about" is just too vauge. But I did brainstorm some ideas.

4)Host a Dire Panda themed Guardian event.
Success, mostly. I'm trying not to be anxious about the fact that only one person has submitted a work. I know at least one more person is working on a fic. Plus lots of people had fun with prompts and enjoyed learning that dire pandas are a thing. So its fine. (I just have to remind the bit of my brain that craves external validation that its fine)

5)Sew a shirt for the kid, and pick a pattern to use for the fabric she wants me to make a dress out of.
The shirt is almost done. I was having a bit a bad brain week last week so instead of the last step which is a bit stressful I cut out a new project so I could look at some cute fabric. I've decided to put off sewing the dress until spring because there aren't that many good long sleeve dress pattern.

Now on to new goals for October:

There's a lot of things I want to write just now: My next Short&Sweet column for Lady Business, that zine prospectus, one of the those nature/built enviroment ideas and, the fic idea I have for the dire panda thing. I don't know if I can write all that. So lets try for some smaller goals I guess.

1)Write the next Short&Sweet
This one has actual, if flexible, deadline so I'd really like to get it done on time for once.

2)Show my cosy zine notes to other people who are interested in helping with the project
Is this too vague? Its probably too vague. If it helps I also do have specif people in mind for this. Anyways I want to keep working on this but am not sure that I have time/energy to write a whole prospectus this month.

I think I'm going to leave not make any other concrete writing goals but see if I end up with time for other project and then refer back to this list.

3)Read 5 online works of short SFF and The Stars Change by Mary Anna Mohanraj This amount of short SFF reading seems to be sustainable so lets keep this goal. The Stars Change is short novella/collection of interconnected stories. The author is going to be one of the Honored Guests at FOGcon so I'd like to read it before I go. I've met the author at cons before and she is very nice, but I have not read her work, even though this book has been in my house for years.

4)Finish the shirt that I started last month and also the new one I just cut out
Seems doable. I kind of want to make a Halloween costume for my kid too but she can't commit -- and I don't want spent a lot of time on something that doesn't get worn. So I will either buy something or make something very quick closer to the time.

5)Host a birthday party for the kid
I'm very meep about social stuff with other parents. I'm hoping to just do something low key with a few kids and some cupcakes. Cupcakes at least I can handle.

I'm feeling extra anxious about this months goal setting because I feel like didn't meet all my goals last month, even thought I mostly did ok? And I'm feeling a bit down on myself because I didn't go to services and the challah I was making didn't turn out. But I'm hoping this just a passing depression spike and that the month will get better.

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Bits and Bobs: Un-Trip Report

Sun, 29 Sep 2019 23:29:25 GMT

Bits an bobs is my many short unrelated things make a post category. Feel free to comment any of the points without commenting on all of them.

*R was in SoCal visiting with friends for most of last week. He left Tuesday and got back Friday before dinner. We where able to have N stay late at school most days so it wasn't too much extra childcare, but I was surprised by how stressful I found it. I really missed him!

*Wednesday was one of those very hot days we often get this time of year in the Bay Area. So after I picked N up from pre-school we headed to the Oakland Museum. Its really lovely local museum where I have membership, and they have AC, which is a bit rare in these parts. We spent time in all three permanent exhibits -- History, Science and Art. So that was pretty fun and good way to beat the heat.

*Rosh Hashanah starts tonight at sundown. Happy New Year everyone! I have not gotten organized to go to services tonight, but I have stared making this recipe for apple and honey challah. I guess that's pretty typical of my Judaism: good at food, and bad at ritual, but I do wish I was bit better at the community stuff.

*This morning the kid wanted to have her stuffed animals fight each other but I suggested we have protest march instead. I made little protest signs! I thought they where pretty cute, have a picture (via twitter). This felt like a pretty good parenting win!

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Bits and Bobs: Fall Happenings

Fri, 13 Sep 2019 17:14:15 GMT

*Today is the Midautumn Festival and twitter is making me want mooncakes

*I'm still getting used to the new routine of N having pre-school five days a week. It's mostly been good. But mornings have been a bit stressful. There has been a certain amount of disagreement about getting dressed. I'm still not quite sure what day of the week it is some days. Last week I almost forgot to to go to the library on Tuesday! It doesn't help that the last two Mondays have been off -- first it was Labor day and then I was sick.

*On the subject of the library I have very little self control when putting books on hold. I keep saying to myself "I'll just check and see if the library has it, but I won't put a hold on it yet" and then putting a hold on it. I suppose that a pretty harmless problem. Also it library news there's now an official date for Link+ the statewide (and awesome) ILL system to to be back. It Oct 31! I've missed Link+ so much -- its been down since May.

*I've decided that brainstorming five workable ideas is not actually very actionable. I can't decide what ideas are workable or not. So I've just got a piece of paper and I'm writing stuff down on and I will pick at least one idea form there to try at the end of the month.

*Today is the last day this year for the California legislature to pass new laws. I've been trying to keep up with the flurry of new bills this week, but I haven't really manged. Still several good housing laws, including just cause eviction and a limit to rent increases have passed.

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Summer Break is Almost Over

Sun, 25 Aug 2019 20:04:11 GMT

Well, N goes back to Preschool tomorrow after a two week summer break. Kids have so much energy, I don't know where they get it all from. Anyways here's some of the things we have done during break:

*hung out with my mom, including going out to lunch
*visited with my friend who moved to Germany while she was home visiting family and met her new baby
*attended a friends ice cream party
*gone to N's favorite restaurant multiple times (It's our favorite local burrito place and she just loves it.)
*ridden on small steam trains and a merry-go-round
*gone to the beach. This time we drove to a proper ocean beach a bit further away. N enjoyed playing in the waves and manged to stay upright the whole time -- with a little bit of help. Also seagulls where very aggressive
*gotten ice cream after having been to the beach
*gone to the park a lot

That was fun, but now I'm tried. I'm looking forward to school starting and having a bit more time to myself.

Despite all the the childcare that's been going on I have gotten some work done on my personal projects. I finished the quilt! Now to track down the busy parents of the kid its for so I can do a hand over. I'm also making slow progress on the Guardian food rewatch. Only episodes 39 and 40 to go and sakana17 gave me some pretty detailed ep 40 notes so won't have to watch the whole episode.

I have read some more short fiction on the internet and stared reading Hexarchate Stories. Of course that means that there's 4 books that I'm technically in the middle of right now. Plus quite a bit of fic that I'd like to read. I finished watching The Untamed yesterday and I think I'm not going to start any new TV for a bit and just focus on reading all the things.

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