No big house projects were done or started on this weekend, as I had bigger fish to fry, visiting with long lost LINDA!

(Look at me, playing in photoshop, wheeee!)

I met Linda at BYU’s Theatre Workshop when we were both.. oh I don’t know.. 14? 13? Workshop was the point in my young life where I truly moved from “child” to “young adult.” Have 30-50 people work together, play together, eat together, sleep together, build, dance, act, sing together for 5 weeks, and you get very close. It was an amazing experience and when it was over, it was heartbreaking to say goodbye. I didn’t know her well the first year, but I went back the next year and we immediately bonded as several in the small group that had gone to workshop the year before. Linda is quite the writer, and it meant that she corresponded diligently throughout all our time apart. I couldn’t tell you where the other friends I made at workshop ended up (except when I ask linda, and she sometimes knows), but Linda and I wrote diligently.

We both ended up at BYU freshman year, which made “keeping in touch” much easier 🙂 The summer after freshman year, we decided that we simply MUST room together at least one term, short as it might be, and so spent summer term in Campus Plaza, a hole of an apartment complex whose biggest asset is the proximity to campus (I could get out of bed at 7:50 and still make it to my 8am class with a few minutes to spare). We had many adventures, hiking to the Y, driving up to Park City where my folks lived for the weekend, and a road trip to Grand Junction, CO for the 4th of July (we were determined to go to a state that would celebrate the FOURTH OF JULY HOLIDAY ON THE ACTUAL FOURTH OF JULY – and it was on a Sunday, and therefore celebrated Saturday instead of Sunday in most of Utah. GOOD LORD PEOPLE.)

She also roomed with me a year later after one of my roomates moved to the dorms and we had a spot open in my apartment. She later transfered to Arizona State University, and I later transferred Away From Utah. I visited her in Arizona, she visited me in Atlanta, we met in New Orleans once. She was (one of) my maid of honor when I was married, and through the glory of email we’ve kept in touch. I haven’t seen her in quite a while though, and so I was very excited to see her this weekend and hear about her adventures in Korea and in life.

Much was discussed over chips and queso (the girl’s been in Korea, of course she must be taken to California Tortilla for chips and queso), aimless driving in the car, and in a quaint little park in Manassas were we just chilled out for a few hours. More was discussed at home, over many many many MANY alcoholic beverages. I made waffles in the morning that lacked the proper amount of eggs, and the proper amount of baking powder, and subsequently were like eating cardboard. They made me feel as if I’d eaten a brick (not a good feeling when the hangover is just barely staved off). I was sad to see her go after I drove her to the bus station in DC (and again, sorry about making you late, darest dearling!)

Anyway, lovely weekend, mostly spent visiting with Linda Lou Lou.

Yesterday at about 4:15, Ethan’s school called me up and told me that he had a fever of 104.

I prompted dropped everything and ran out the door, calling James on the way to do the same in case he could get there sooner.

Crappy thing is we both work a ways away and it takes us both way too long to get back to the homeish area. So, I pulled up at the school an hour later and tried not to RUN into the school’s office to see my boy. he was burning hot to the touch, and I gave him some tylenol (stopped and got it on the way, thus the hour instead of 40 min.) and then got Jocelyn and started home.

He seemed to perk up a bit on the way home. He was were bleary-eyed, but feel rotten didn’t stop him from pointing out the fire engine that screamed by, or the backhoe we passed. Some things transcend 104 degree fevers, it seems.

I felt kind of bad, because yesterday morning, when I went into his room to get him he pointed hear the back of his neck, and stated, “My neck hurts.” I thought it was odd, and even asked specifically, “How about your throat, does your throat hurt?” but he said no, and pointed again to his neck, not at the nape, but more on the side.

He acted fine all morning, but later when he was brushing his teeth and I had picked him up to stand on the edge of the tub, I thought he might be feeling a little too hot, and even took his temperature just to see. It was fine at 98 degrees, so I shrugged it off and the morning continued as usual and off he and Jocelyn went to school.

Obviously, he stayed home today, and me along with him, and we went to the doctor’s office this morning.

I was a bit nervous, because the last time we were there was for his 4 year checkup, and when he got his 4 yr old shots, well… let’s just say all hell broke loose, and we were picking up the pieces for quite some time. He did very well, although he did ask me nervously SEVERAL times, “No shots, right mommy?” and was visibly relieved when I assured him that no, there wouldn’t be any shots.

The doctor looked in his ears, up his nose, and at his eyes, commenting all the while how there was nothing, nothing at all going on.. until she looked in his throat. She showed me too, and damn, those tonsil were swollen. It’s any wonder the boy can eat anything at all (which, he hasn’t been much). She did a rapid strep culture which turned out negative, and so did the 3 day wait culture next, but said that it looked like strep and she’d be getting a lot of strep cases, and recommended we start antibiotics anyway, and if the culture came back negative, we would just stop the antibiotics. I’m not one to give antibiotics willy nilly (I don’t even buy antibacterial soap), but I went with her recommendation especially since his fever has risen every time the tylenol has worn off. If it comes back negative I am going to kick myself for helping grow a new generation of extra resistant bacteria. yeah, totally having second thoughts now. Argh.

By the time we got home from target (got prescription, and popsicles, oogled over patio furniture) his fever had spiked back up again, right on schedule. He’s been dosed and is in bed napping now.

Jocelyn also stayed home sick on tuesday, after waking up with a fever the night before. She also visited the doctor, but throat was fine, ears were fine, nose and sinuses – not fine. She was diagnosed with sinusitis and is currently on day 4ish of her antibiotics.

It’s just anti-biotic city around here. James pointed out to me that we did have a pretty good streak, which is true, the kids have been pretty healthy since, oh probably January or February. And in Jocelyn’s case, I have a sneaking suspicion that the mac n’ cheese we have thought was “fine” in terms of milk (she is intolerant of dairy, gets all snotty when she has milk protein) in fact, isn’t fine, which would explain all the snottiness on her end for the last 2-3 weeks. Note to self: no more box mac n’ cheese for the young’uns.

Anyway, so I’ve stayed home tuesday and friday this week. Next time – it’s JAMES’ TURN!

What really sucks is that I’ve missed casual friday. I don’t mind (HA! MIND! as if I’d MIND) staying home, but I at least want to make it count, and stay home on a day where I’d OTHERWISE have to PICK AN OUTFIT that has some modicum of fashion sense, instead of throwing on jeans and a t-shirt. Humph.

My friend Linda is home (as in, back in the country) from teaching in Korea, and is here in DC for the weekend, and we’re making tentative plans to get together tonight, and I’m just so tickled. I haven’t seen her in a zillion years.

CAN NOT WAIT.

-amy better not get sick now.

I’m kind of jonesin’ for a big house project to do.

I haven’t done any major sort of projects since we finished James’ office in the basement. We had a contractor finish the room for us, and then we painted it green (this was mostly James with help around the edges from me) and laid down laminate flooring (this was mostly me & James, with help from Chris, Ann, and Kurt).

We also bought a huge stack of laminate flooring (it was on sale at Costco) to do more in the future. We first planned on putting it upstairs, but I am a very fickle person, and have since decided (and convinced James) that downstairs would be better. I love the wood, but it is on the orangey side, and I’d rather get a different shade for upstairs, plus, this is the same stuff in the office, so the whole downstairs will be done in the same shade.

Other projects: Last year I painted the 3 secondary bedrooms, Ethan’s room is a dark royal blue, the guest room is a melted chocolate ice cream brown, and Jocelyn’s is a lovely lavender purple. The master bedroom, hallway, bathrooms, laundry room is still left unpainted.

There is still so much we want to do to the house, there is a MYRIAD of things I could pick from to do. It’s just a question of WHAT to do, and when, and how much it’d cost.

I’ll be so happy when the entire place is painted, it makes such a big difference. I have an idea of how to paint our two front rooms, especially after seeing Misty’s dining room, I just need to experiment with colors to get the right combination.

I am loathing our wall to wall carpeting more and more every day, and that is all going to go someday. I’d like to do the entire upstairs in laminate flooring, a nice dark brown, maybe walnut or redwood colored. The main level, I’d like to tile the kitchen, bathroom and our two front rooms, and then extend the oak hardwood flooring that is currently in the entryway/hallway through the family room, or at least replace the shit carpet that is in there with something nice. Most of the flooring projects are in the “let’s do it someday” folder, as they’re pretty time and money consuming. However, I feel like the tiling in the front two rooms is something we could do ourselves, with the right tools. No counters/fridges/dishwashers to worry about moving/shimming up. Just rip up carpet and get to work. Also, laying the laminate flooring in the basement is something we can totally do, and soon, just as soon as the main room gets cleaned out, which James has started to do. There’s a lot of stuff down there, however, so it will take some time.

We also desperately need to seal/stain our deck. I’ve ordered some special environment-friendly deck stain called Bio-Wash Natural Deck Oil, so there’s that project that needs doing, and SOON. We were planning on having our handy man do that, but I’m not exactly thrilled with the job he did power washing the deck, plus, the astronomical amount of money we’ve alreaedy shelled out to him for odd jobs around the house is just too staggering to me. And it all started because we didn’t have a tall enough ladder to install the cage to keep the birds out of our dryer tube ourselves. He did install our new kitchen sink though, and our bedroom ceiling fan with remote, which .. let’s be honest, we’d never get around to doing, so I can’t be too bitter. (YES I CAN!) Ahem. So anyway, I’m thinking about maybe doing the deck sealing myself, but we’ll see. It’s hot out. I hate heat.

Oooh. OUTSIDE! There is another project that has been on my mind a lot, and that is TRELLISES. My sweet little vines that I’ve planted around our deck have really taken off, and they need something more to climb on than the dinky wooden dowels I stuck in the ground for them for now. I have priced trellises, and they are expensive, and since I want 4 or 5, I really have no hankering for spending a zillion dollars. Plus, wouldn’t they be easy to make myself? I may try my hand at that. I wish I remembered all my mad skillz from 7th grade wood shop. I made a mean pen-holder, I tell you whut. With James’ help, I bet we could fashion something simple and yet groovy.

So… here I am, wanting to do housey stuff. With a WHOLE MESS of projects I could choose from. I think I may be picking one (or more) and getting on it for the upcoming 4th of July weekend. Yes, some people choose to relax and enjoy time off on the holiday, but me? Well, I look on it as a whole extra day to get something DONE!

So here are the projects that I could *possibly* do:

1. build some trellises (trellisi? Trelli? bah!)
2. lay laminate flooring in the basement
3. tile one or both of the front rooms on the main floor
4. Pick a room, and PAINT IT.

I may be painted out, because I don’t really want to paint. Trellises, I may be kidding myself, but I think I could turn those out in a weekend, once I get a good plan for construction, and with James’ help. Laminate flooring would be fun, but it may not be ready to do. I’m thinking that TILING is the way to go!

I have had great help in the past, in the form of Tamara, who came over after I called her pleading for help and perspective, (“TAMARA! I THINK I PICKED THE WRONG COLOR! IT’S TOO DARK COME TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK PLEEEEEEEAAAAASE!”) and Chris, Ann, and Kurt who endured the smoke that comes from using too wimpy of a saw blade for laminate boards on the miter saw, and even stayed to help LONGER THAN MY OWN HUSBAND. Well, Chris didn’t, but I forgive him. BUT JAMES LEFT, AND NO, I DON’T CARE THAT YOU HAD “CLASS” TO GO TO. HIGHER LEARNING MY ASS. (I kid, because I love.)

So does anyone want to learn how to tile with me? You know you want to. You know you’ve been eyeing YOUR bathroom and thinking, “Hmmm. I wonder how hard it would be to pull up this vinyl and throw down some backerboard and TILE!”

Well, now’s your chance. You can practice ON SOMEONE ELSE’S HOUSE! Plus, I’ll come help you when you need help! Ahhhh, I wish I was Amish, because you know, many hands make work light! Especially with a miter saw! Which the Amish would probably frown on, so screw that.

– amy goes to add as many tiling shows as possible to her tivo

Ever since I posted a sort of photo journey of Ethan through the years on his birthday, it has been bugging me that some of our old photos were AWOL. I looked and LOOKED through flickr and our photos locally and could not find the pictures I KNEW we had somewhere of the day that Ethan was born. The early ones I posted were from when he was a few weeks old.

So finally, I hounded James to dig up HIS old archives and put them on our file server, and I’ve been going through them fairly meticulously and checking them against flickr and uploading the ones that were missing.

The photos taken on day that Ethan was born are now there, however, NOW I can’t find the photos of the trip we took to NY the fall of 2003.

Argh. I think this may be a long process.

and once again, I’m reminded of the couple of factors with flickr that make me not love it with the fierce blazing heat of a thousand suns, like everyone else seems to. I’ve just uploaded some photos ranging from 1999 to 2004 and it seems like everything is always organized by date UPLOADED rather than date TAKEN and that bugs me to no end. I always have to go in to ‘archives’ and specify ‘date taken’ to find anything at all. Oh well.

Didn’t I promise photo bliss? I’ll shoosh now and get to it. some cute baby pictures of my babies. Sometimes it’s hard to realize how much and how many changes we as parents have gone through as well as the kids themselves.. until we look at the photos and say, “Awwww, remember when?”

(OMG look at the red hair! it’s red! oh how i miss thy redness! except that it’s gone from that nice red to a nasty orange color i hate and that’s the entire reason i stopped dying my hair red but STILL! I LOVE YOU RED!)

Oh, right, this was about Ethan. Not my nasty orangey red hair. Carry on.

I wish I had a photo like this one without my hands on his head, but the truth is, I just couldn’t keep my hands off him. Not even for a picture of just him. He was just too beautiful.

And just so you realize just what exactly the sort of man I’m married to …. here is the photo he took of his son’s first shit:

this same man also turned to me a few hours after holding our son and being together as a family for the first time, and said with a little tear in his eye,

“Our son will never know a world without Tivo.”

I only smiled and nodded, too emotional to speak.

My favorite sheets, the first ones I bought for our real live adult bed, the beautiful soft cotton 500 thread count sheets… have finally given up the ghost.

In fact, they probably gave up the ghost about a month before I stopped using them, but I was in denial. The threadbare spots gave way to actual holiness, and not the kind of holiness that brings you closer to God. The kind that brings you closer to MATTRESS.

Still even they they had holes and I’d mended some rips in them, they still had to have some practical use, right? YES DAMMIT I LOVE THEM I’M KEEPING THEM IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER!

Well, I am always intrigued when I read my Lucy Maud Montgomery books and they talk about braided or rag rugs.

So, fIrst, I tore my beloved top sheet into 1″ strips. Then I crotched myself a nifty bag. I don’t think I have any pictures of my bag.

Both the kids were quite taken with my bag. So next I made one for Jocelyn.

I didn’t think Ethan would like a bag, so I started to make a rug for him to go next to his bed. But when I told him that, he informed me that he wanted a bag too. So I made him one too.

What these bags really need are linings.

I was pretty enamored with my bag for a while. I even stopped using my purse completely. However, the novelty has worn off and the drudgery of digging through the bag for all my crap — well, I’ve lost my love of the bag. I need a bag with pockets – and different sections.

Maybe I could sew up a lining with sections / dividers, but honestly, I am really not that great a sewer. I took the mandatory sewing in home ec. in jr. high, but all my efforts since then, including the stab at quilting I’ve done a few times, have been of my own engineering and thoughts with no real knowledge of the “correct” way to do anything to back me up.

So if anyone wants to throw some sewin’ learnin’ at me, I would be so appreciative.

Still. Cute bag. Love the super-whiteness of it.

Yes, it’s only mid june, and I’m already thinking about what I want to do next year.

Mostly, I wish I had planted more vegetables. Flowers are always nice, but there’s just nothing like getting to EAT the fruit of your labors. Plus, I have been loving Christa’s blog, Calendula and Concrete – she and her husband have a plot in a community garden in DC and she posts such beautiful photos of what they’re growing, and how they cook it up to eat. Makes me hungry every time. Today’s post was about chard and anticipating the garlic that will soon be harvested. I don’t have chard, but I think I will make some pasta sometime this weekend.

I WORK HARD FOR THE GREEN BEANS:

So, here are some much awaited VEGGIE PHOTOS!

itty bitty ones.

and as Jocelyn would say, “That’s a BIG ONE!”

It’s no longer there, because as SOON as I took this picture, I picked it. And ate it. It was good. I have to keep myself from eating them on the spot.

THE FRUIT OF MY LABORS:

STRAWBERRIES! Can’t wait.

The raspberries however, are still having issues.

Here’s what they looked like when I first planted them (April 15):

And now:

Not a whole lot of growth going on. I think it’s safe to say we won’t be getting any raspberries this year. At least there have been a few new leaves springing up.

OTHER VEGGIES AND HERBS:

My rosemary died. James needed fresh rosemary for a marinade for the chicken he grilled last week, so we bought some at the store. It was the “Living Herbs” type, with the roots and dirt still attached… so, I planted it. Don’t know if it will survive, but I guess we’ll see!

I also bought another tomato plant. The two I grew from seeds are cherry tomotoes, and I got to thinking that I would like to have some nice big round tomatoes too, so into the ground that went:

I still need to get a cage for it.

Pigtails:

POST-pigtails :

Maybe everyone out there in internet land is a total hottie. Hey. It’s the internet. We’re all hot on the internet, right? But this happened IN REAL LIFE. And I don’t know about you, but strange men blabbering on about my beauty does NOT happen every day. It doesn’t even happen from not so strange men! So this was a little flabbergasting event in my day today:
scene: The Dunn Loring metro parking lot (outside, not a garage). Me walking through the lot (not on the sidewalk, but down an aisle of cars) toward the metro. I’m wearing a snazzy purple skirt with a light purple blouse and black open toed sandals. Headphones on, listening to the Dawn and Drew Show. I’m not wearing any makeup. Even though I’m going to see some of my clients. I know, I know. Oh well. There is a man in a nice suit with a nice bag walking toward me. As he approaches, he stops and starts talking to me and I have to take off my headphones. All I can remember about the man was that he was shorter than me, and appeared to be in his right senses (despite all other evidence to the contrary).
man: *talking, but I can’t hear him so I take off earphones*

man: Oh, sorry, *motioning to the headphones*

me: Oh, no problem.

I am expecting to be asked for directions. I hope he hurries up, because I am running a bit late.

man: I’m sorry to bother you, I just noticed you over there, and I just had to come over and tell you–

(my mind is wandering a zillion miles a minute, still kind of thinking about the podcast I was listening to, and kind of searching through his words in the back of my mind for items I can lock onto to give directions too. I’m just waiting for “I66” or “beltway” or “hotel” or an address or something I can point him to.. and so I can’t remember any of the exact words he says, just the general gist that he is complimenting me in a rather cute, honest way. I mean, no other guys were around to have to pay off the bet, so.. )

man: –your face, and your eyes, I mean, I really don’t come over to strange women, but I would kick myself if I kept walking, and, even from the sidewalk, I had to come over, you just have this presence–

(I am blushing furiously and can’t help wondering if he is really serious or just pulling my leg or if there are hidden cameras somewhere that will jump out and holler, “HAHA!” and maybe this guy needs his contacts prescription checked? I really can’t form any words, and the only thoughts in my head were, “uhhhhhhhh really?? me???” and “but i’m married!” and still i’m kind of checking to see if he’s going to toss in “which way to tyson’s corner?” in there somewhere)

man: — so I hope you don’t mind me asking your name?

me: Uhhh. Amy.

man: And what do you do Amy?

me: Uhhh. I’m a web designer. I’m sorry, I am just in a little bit of a hurry. (I make strange waving motions toward the metro station)

man: Oh, right, of course, Can I walk with you? Would you mind giving me your number? I’d love to–
me: (seriously blushing so much that I beleive they may be able to see my red face from SPACE, because I am so embarassed) I’m sorry, I’m married.

man: (glances down at my left hand. )

(My ring doesn’t fit on my 4th finger anymore, so I wear it on my 3rd. I feel bad and even guilty, like I’ve misrepresented myself to him somehow and all this hoo ha could have been prevented if I JUST HAD MY RING ON THE RIGHT FINGER, but (thankfully) before brain could register all this and send words to tongue to babble on endlessly, the man turns to go)

man, turning to go: Ahh, sorry to have bothered you then, tell him he’s a lucky man!

me, totally flabbergasted, and kind of thoughtless: Sorry- thanks- I will!

On relating this tale to my husband, his primary comment was: “It must be the boobs.”

Could be. I do have nice boobs.

-amy doesn’t swagger or saunter. amy strolls.

I’ve been following this story. The 13 acre community garden in South Central LA got plowed today. Very sad.

I wish it had turned out differently. The garden was located in an area with the highest concentration of impoverished residents county wide and served as both a source for food and a safe place for families and people to spend time in an area surrounded by warehouses and factories. A food bank sits across the street and coordinates food distribution to local charities.

The land’s ownership has been disputed and only recently (it was arranged in 2003) been sold back from the city to Horowitz, the previous owner. CNN reports quotes from the owner that makes it sound as if he has generously let them farm there for the past decade, but in actuality he got his land back and is turning right around and selling it. They were there by permit from the city, not from any boon from him.

The Trust for Public Land, with help from The Annenberg Foundation tried to raise the money to buy the land. When they offered Horowitz the price he was asking, he refused to sell to them.

This just makes me want to cry.

There are other garden sites offered by the city to the farmers. I can fully understand wanting to keep what you’ve worked so hard on for over a decade, however. When they first started, they hauled away barrels and barrels of concrete, glass and metal. Several celebrities joined in the protest and they, along with the farmers had to be bodily removed.

I would have climbed a tree too.

Read more:

April 5 – L.A. Urban Farmers Fight for Community Garden, The New Standard
June 13 – We Shall Over Mulch!
June 13 – Daryl Hannah Removed from Tree, CNN
today, constantly updated – Sheriffs Deputies Evict South Central Farmers, LA Voice