Monday, September 30, 2013

They're coming right for us!

Mommy deer and her two babies were hanging out on the front terrace this evening when the boy and I got home from school, work, doggie day care and Five Guys tonight. It took her a few minutes, but mommy deer finally hauled ass down the stairs and through the Halloween decorations (that's a a glow-in-the-dark skeleton and a a severed hand hanging from that tree, FYI). Baby deers one and two followed; all the while Fizzy and Turkey Sandwich barked up a storm in their car crate in the back of the Subaru. Poor girls, tormented by the mean ol' deer.


That orange blob behind mommy deer is the top one of the awesome pumpkins that we got at the pumpkin farm in Half Moon Bay yesterday. We spent the afternoon with a good friend from school--climbing, pumpkin rearranging, solving a giant corn stalk maze. Much running around in piles of hay ensued. 


Hey! That's a lot of hay!


Sunday, September 29, 2013

Bumper Crop

I picked me two of the finest specimens at the pumpkin patch!


Two solid hours of running through a corn stalk maze, climbing over walls of haystacks, and picking the perfect pumpkins. I know one kiddo (and one mommy) who will be sleeping very well tonight. 

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Smells Like Old

I spent a good part of the day working with some particularly delicate velvet. Beautiful and luxurious, in deep, chocolaty tones, it reminded me of my old cat, Milhouse (the one on top). Then, in the afternoon, this came along:


This fabric was thick and coarse, and immediately made me think of my great-aunt and uncle on my father's side. It looked exactly like something I would expect to find in Aunt Rutho and Uncle Dewitt's apartment. Heavy, old, with some sort of back story, and the distinctly aged fragrance of and old person--not mothballs or good bond, but not perfume or food either. Just...age.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Peace Over Power

The kiddo had his first karate class this evening. It was more of a sample class to see if he likes it and if he would want to take regular classes. Sanctioned punching and kicking? Yes, please.

Now, let's see how long it takes until I can get him to paint the house or wax my car.


Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Good, The Bad, and The Engrish

The unthinkable has finally happened. Over the weekend, I went online and bought the kiddo a toy gun. Granted, it's to go with his army guy costume for Halloween, so I could technically say that it's a theatrical prop. But man, you should have seen his face when the long, rectangular box from Amazon arrived at our house today--you never saw a happier almost-six-year-old. Plus, take a look at the charming box:




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Monday, September 23, 2013

Overwhelmed...but this time by water

And there was glass protecting us, so we were really only overcome with sheer awesomeness.


At the living bay area of the Monterey Bay Aquarium over Labor Day weekend, also known as eons ago.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

In the dictionary between "Exciting" and "Terrifying"


o·ver·whelm
ˌōvərˈ(h)welm/

verb
past tense: overwhelmed; past participle: overwhelmed

bury or drown beneath a huge mass.
"planning the coming week around my new work schedule is starting to overwhelm me to point of tears."
synonyms: swamp, submerge, engulf, bury, deluge, flood, inundate.

defeat completely.
"I am overwhelmed by this new work schedule."
synonyms: defeat (utterly/heavily), trounce, rout, beat (hollow), conquer, vanquish, be victorious over, triumph over, worst, overcome, overthrow, crush.

give too much of a thing too (someone); inundate.
"I am overwhelmed by the emotions brought on by this new job and its associated schedule."

have a strong emotional effect on.
"I am overwhelmed with guilt every time I think about how many hours I will be out of the house, away from my dogs and child."
synonyms: overcome, move, stir, affect, touch, strike, dumbfound, shake, devastate, floor, leave speechless

be too strong for; overpower.
"another glass of whiskey will overwhelm this general sense of overwhelmedness."

Friday, September 20, 2013

Day Three: Ain't Nobody Worryin'

To reward all of you wonderful people for supporting me and cheering me on as I take this giant step into the Next Phase of My Life, I will not blog about day three. That is my gift to you.

Also, this:


I love yous guys, and I want to hug all of you the way a weasel would hug his little weasel friend. Tightly, and in a mildly dominating manner. 

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Top 5 Awesome Things About the Second Day of My New Job

1. I found a parking space right out front.

2. I got to make giant pillows out of this ikat.



3. My letter opener is a pocket knife with an engraving of a basketball player shooting the ball.

4. One of my new coworkers used some of the leftover mink from this ridiculously luxurious sectional to make a pair of underpants for herself.



5. I was done in time to pick Samson up from carpentry class and hear about how he used the brace drill.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Day One: Why Can't I Stop Crying?

I'm not going to say that everything went perfectly. Nor will I say that it was a horrible mess. Neither would be true.

My first day at my new job was many of the things one might expect from an adventure--new roads to navigate, new customs to learn and cultures to adapt to, excitement, oddities...and homesickness. Let's skip the part where I showed up 15 minutes late. Let's forget about the part where one of the seamstresses sewed through her finger. We'll even ignore the part where after 3.5 hours of training, I was tossed into the sea, left to sink or swim (spoiler alert: I slowly dog-paddled to safety.). Any way you slice it, I got to spend the day surrounded by beautiful fabric, creative people, and a sense of emotional freedom that I haven't felt since...I can't remember when. Still, as soon as I left the studio, the tears came and I couldn't hold them back. While I wandered around the Potrero Hill area, looking for the car I had parked this morning in a panicked frenzy, I cried. While I drove to the kiddo's soccer practice to catch the last 20 minutes of scrimmage, I cried. While a was getting attacked with leaps of love by the dogs, I cried. While I recounted the day's events to friends and family, I cried.

But now, as I record it all, sitting quietly under a gigantic full moon in my own backyard, the sobbing has subsided to mere sniffling. And even that is fading away.

Let's review. Today was my first day:

>at my brand new job as an office manager/pillow maker at a custom upholstery shop.
>as a full-time employee in over six years.
>commuting to San Francisco, not to mention that it was well before I would have normally been taking my 1st grader to school.
>actively living my life as a regular person who does not make decisions solely based on how many more months a neuro-oncologist (and statistics in general) told her she likely had left to live. Four years ago. And, for the record, he was way, way off.


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Tiny Little Clothes Pins

"Come to think of it, I did wonder how they were going to fit fifty clothes pins into a reasonably-sized bag." said Max, after he opened his Amazon order and realized he had not noticed the "mini" part of the product description.


Monday, September 16, 2013

Real Life is Super Scary

Tomorrow is my last day at my current job. The job I've help for the last two years. At the company where I've worked, on and off (mostly on), for the last 14 years. It's hard to say goodbye to a stellar group of unbelievably fun people, and I yearn for the day when this transition is complete and I stand firmly in my new shoes, comfortable and confident in my new role in a new place. NEW=INCREDIBLY TERRIFYING. But the mere fact that I'm making this step proves that I have the confidence I need to live my life the way it is supposed to be lived: fully. And with every expectation that it will still be here tomorrow.

And the day after that.

And the week after that.

And the month after that.

And the year after that.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Best Buds

The exhibit hall opened at 7:30 east coast time this morning. PJ's, meet room service. I think you're going to become very good friends tonight.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Fanciest Bathroom Mirror In the World

OIN THE WORLD. 


Now I can watch Law & Order: SVU while I shower! Orlando, is there anything about you that's not awesome?

Monday, September 09, 2013

Love and Loss

Being in Orlando without going to Disney World is like:

>going to Benihana and not getting the chicken fried rice. 
>staying up late for the Perseid meteor shower and only seeing fog. 
>going to see Spinal Tap at the Fox Theater in Oakland when they're really only just phoning it in. 

Sunday, September 08, 2013

Hello, I Must be Going

After an outrageously fun weekend camping with some great friends, I'm off to fabulous Orlando tomorrow to help out at a conference for a few days.

Expected Highlights

1. The Peabody Ducks
2. The Ice Bar
3. Finishing up the roll of film that I started over the weekend

Not So Super Awesome

1. The weather

Thursday, September 05, 2013

More Contradictory Religousness

As far as I can tell, the kiddo's first AYSO game of the season is on Yom Kippur. We will be taking the Sandy Kofax route on this one. Yes, I will withhold my almost six-year-old from his first soccer game with an actual team (as opposed to last year, which was mostly just 40 kids runnning around together on a field--not that there's anything wrong with that. We loved bunchball last year!) because of my cultural Judaism. But then we'll have bacon cheese burgers for lunch--you know, and show my total disdain for the religous part of Judaism.

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Happy New Year

Now, I'm not a religious person (understatement of the century). I take every opportunity to subtly show the kiddo how science and logic are standing quietly behind god's magic curtain (this is especially important if I hope to equalize the Jewish studies at his school). It's not that I don't think religion is important to childhood--but this is all fodder for a whole other post. 

Rosh Hashonah is a circular holiday. Tonight, one year ends and a new one begins. I want to say goodbye to a tough year--a fine year, a year or learning and growth, but a difficult and extremely challenging year nonetheless. And HELLO to a new, different, and adventurous year! L'shana Tova!