How to summarize a whole week?

How do I summarize a whole week?  Probably with the rather odd and unbelievable assertion that it was my last trip to Texas without a kid in tow.

It involved a big extended family Thanksgiving gathering, lots and lots of old family china and silver and place mats, beaucoup de food, canoeing with my parents, working on collaborative craft projects which will become Christmas presents, a collaborative mosaic made for sick relatives, looking at old family papers and photos (which included reading letters written back and forth between teenage cousins in the 1880's - there was some intrigue about a girlfriend and wanting to have her love letters forwarded for the reading of other cousins and the girlfriend finding out and no one admitting to having squealed...), a lovely baby shower thrown by my sister in honor of my future offspring, a wonderful trip to Houston to meet my blogging buddy, interesting Sunday school discussions, a few little walks in the neighborhood,  entirely too much chocolate, a walk at Town Lake with my sister and her fiance, lots of good conversation, board games, cat clicker training, and some eating out.

One lovely surprise after my return home to Washington late Wednesday night was that when I got up to get ready for work at 5:30 on Thursday morning, the water in the shower was hot, not lukewarm as it has been since we moved in.  Jared got the maintanance folks out to do something about it while I was away.  Yay!

"You guys have such an eventful life."

Said my friend Kate.  'Tis true!  Recent events and changes of plan:

1) Massive unpacking/dejunking/reorganizing effort has resulted in only four or five unpacked boxes left in the apartment in one corner, the Room of Doom has become actually useful, we have much-needed shelving for the stack of bulk goods in the corner of the kitchen, and the baby got a dresser for its diapers.  While there is quite a lot more that can be done, I feel very good about living like a bit less of a pig.  Became a huge fan of freecycle during the process, and I have a stack of more things which will get advertised thereupon after I return from Texas.

2) Latest  maintainance issue: the spin cycle on the washer broke yesterday.  No surprise.  We already didn't run the thing on the super-duper wash cycle, because the belt would start smelling.  Only four times through the dryer on 70 minute cycles got our supper soggy towels dried!  I hope they fix/replace it soon, although my hopes are not up due to the holiday...

3) Jared witnessed a domestic dispute in the parking lot yesterday afternoon.  While he called police, I saw the tail end of it.  After three cop cars showed up and spent a couple of hours here, I got to speak with two of the cops, one at a time.  The second one took a recorded statement from me.  It appeared that one of the disputants was removed handcuffed in a patrol car.  And the second cop gave me his card and said to call if we had any trouble.  He didn't think we'd have any since neither disputant actually lives in the complex, and they were neither likely aware of who had made the call.

4) We were supposed to be having lunch with Aunt Glenda today - in fact I was supposed to be picking her up at the airport right now, but as it turns out, her flight was much delayed, so we're going to miss her entirely.  I just hope she doesn't miss her connection!  Sad about that.

5) We've been using a free, unlocked wifi for the last several months, and now it has been locked.  There's another one I'm using at the moment, but it's temperamental at best.  Won't do for my Skype lesson this afternoon.  Free lunch comes to an end.  Perhaps it is time to buy our own internet service!

Half marathon

Last summer/early fall, I was increasingly ill and in pain to the point where Jared went out and found a doctor for me and made an appointment, because I hate going to the doctor that much.  After a few weeks of appointments and specialists and tests, the diagnosis indicated surgery.  In the weeks and months prior to the point of surgery there were most days when my energy was LOW and I was not feeling good.  But there would be an occasional day when I had boundless unexplained energy - so much so that I didn't know what to do with it all.  So I would go out and run our circle (not really being much of a runner) or swim laps (not being a swimmer at all) to burn some off.  About two weeks post-surgery, I was comfortable enough and so full of unexplained energy again that I had to go outside and run and run it all off.  Seemed like I had done a good run, so I came back in and calculated my milage, and it turned out to be about three miles, which was a huge surprise to me.

Suddenly I was getting inspired.  I quickly learned that if you can comfortably run three miles, you can train for a half marathon in twelve weeks.  And it just so happened there was a half marathon coming up in Birmingham in February which was more than twelve weeks away.  So I mustered some uncommon discipline and trained for the race, which Jared and I both ran.  When I reached the finish line, I felt like I might burst and die, and I was in awe of the people who were running the same course again to complete a full marathon.  And I decided that I would train to do the full marathon in February 2013.

Ok, so that's off the table.  We moved.  I'm not much into a running mode these days, although I am doing a good lot of serious walking.

But today marks a half marathon of sorts: 20 weeks means, give or take, I've made it half way through this pregnancy.  It's going slowly and quickly at the same time.

And I'll bet I'll try to start running again in May or so.  I wonder when there's a convenient full marathon coming up after that?

Gregory

One year ago today, Gregory departed rather suddenly and tragically at the tender age of 4 1/2, and it is hard to tell you how much I still miss him.  He was the most out-going, smartest cat I've ever met; he seemed much more human than feline to us.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.  No baby pictures, because those were taken on a film camera.  Sorry - a few of them are sideways.

Hi, I'm Gregory.

And I like to ride on Dad's shoulders.

I like shopping bags.

I stole this tennis ball from Dad, and no matter where you hide it, I'll find it.

I realize Dad is having a tough time finishing this project, but I can help him.

I do like to peer down from above.

And peer out from below.

And be held on my back. 

And hang out the third floor window to smell the breezes and see what's going on on the street below.

Brother and I like to nap and play together.

Don't think you can hide any views from me!

I like to nap in the sun.

Dad was gone for several weeks, and I'm so glad he came home!

Napping here is even better when you people put the screens in the windows.  Of course, you know I can open them myself and walk around on the 3rd floor ledge over a busy street.  I'll come back in when I feel good and ready.

Cabinets are made for climbing.

Squirrel is my favorite daily visitor.

There's a wrist bone I'm going to have to gnaw out of you.  I will also work on your knuckles, too.

This one is way out of order, but anyway, he was checking out a box in our BHM summer rental.

Black Bean, don't be scared of this new washing machine.  See, the people just reach up here and push these buttons and then you can watch things go round and round through this window here.  It's fun!

This was the first time I caught him letting one of the "rats" next to him.

But he and the two babies quickly made friends.

This is the three of them enjoying the summer heat when we were living at the Dunn's for six weeks.

Gregory loved the deep, deep window sills in the BHM rental.

Checking out the new market basket Beth sent.

This is that last picture I took of him about a week before he died.  And the night we went to bed a few hours before his accident, these three were again curled up there in this same pose for the night's slumber.

When inspiration strikes...

As I mentioned in my last post, Jared should send me to see Leah more often, because I am inspired to be more organized and more clean on general principles.  And that I had been to the Container Store to use a gift card for the purposes of such.  And this flurry of inspired activity, it turns out, comes at the right moment.  Because Jared's parents have decided to come visit him for Thanksgiving next week.  I'm glad for their visit on two levels: 1) Jared can't get away because he has to work mornings during the holiday time.  2) I'm leaving for a week to visit family and friends in Texas, and Jared will be lonely with only the cats to keep him company.

My big project is turning our second bedroom/office/Room of Doom/haunt of jackals and wild beasts/fire hazard/mountain-of-garbage-which-must-be-climbed-over into a space in which we can blow up the queen-size air mattress and have walking room on at least two sides of it.  I can't promise that the Room of Doom will become attractive in any way before I fly out, but I can promise that it will become a lot more functional.   And hopefully comfortable enough for several nights of family visitors.

I'm not done with it yet, but I have some good time this weekend to plow through a lot more stuff.  I'm not that good at cleaning out on any regular basis.  And for your amusement, here are some things I actually went through and cleaned out today: an old wallet which contained $30 Canadian, receipts from when I was in college, and a library card I wouldn't have used in about fourteen years; an unopened package of printer photo paper for which we've never, ever had a printer (I don't even know where it came from!); lots of odds and ends in "desk storage boxes" such as a single leather glove welded into an permanently unusable position, a long piece of shoe string, pennies, thumbtacks, spools of thread, paper clips, and contact information from potential students who did not study with me two moves ago.  Yes, that is just my own personal detritus which has been packed and moved too many times.  Jared is also a "save it for later" kind of guy, so we have piles of the same sort of detritus from his life as well.  Now you know why my mom would occasionally send us over to play with the neighbors and attack our rooms with a large garbage bag while we were away.  It's going to take many "play dates" before we have an actually beautiful Room of Doom...  Ah, downsizing!

Next week is going to be busy.  My nanny job starts again Monday morning (which I'll be doing Monday through Wednesday next week), I'm teaching Monday and Tuesday (granted not a huge number of lessons), and Jared's aunt will be here for a short visit on a layover on Tuesday as well.  And Wednesday I'm getting on an airplane to leave town again for seven days.  Gotta figure out what to pack and tie up loose ends for Jared before I go.  And I'll be leaving behind a Room of Non-Picky-Guest-Worthiness, which I suppose doesn't really have the same ring to it.

Clicker training

My mom is going to start clicker training with her cats.  She has a nice list of things she is going to teach them.  Like staying off the table.  And getting into their carriers on command.  And like coming to get their nails trimmed rather than running away.  I first heard of clicker training from a lady whose yard we were helping clean after the tornados in Huntsville.  She had clicker trained a number of animals, and we saw her working with a stray dog she had caught.  I was inspired to click train Gregory to play fetch.  Unfortunately, things didn't work out, and he died before that became a reality.

But last night on the way home from group class, Jared and I had a brilliant idea.  We're going to train our three cats!  Black Bean is going to learn to clean the carpets after he barfs on them.  Nutmeg is going to learn to empty the litter boxes into the toilet and refill them.  And Feathers is going to learn to change diapers.  That should keep her busy!  Wish us luck!  Ha.  Its time for these animals to start earning their keep around here.  No more of this napping all day and watching the wildlife for hours on end.  ;-)  And furthermore, it seems that cats like things which people consider stinky, but they have no interest in things we think smell good.  So let's divvy up the work based on interest, I say.

I'm back!

Monday afternoon through Saturday morning I was away on my trip to New York.  The trip involved all kinds of things, including (in no particular order): playing cards with Leah and Ryan, a walking tour of West Point, attending a ladies' prayer meeting, making a practice violin and bow for Shiloh and starting her on them, holding Hadassah, reading to Shiloh, playing with kids, cooking, washing the dishes, a little drive to Cornwall-on-Hudson to get take-out, changing diapers, seeing a machine gun up close, watching a ceremony for an army dude moving up to a higher rank, driving past the exit in NJ for the hospital where I was born, trying out a baby carrier and stroller, walking the dog, folding laundry, hacking through some violin duets with Leah, playing in the snow, looking through Leah's books, chatting...  It was wonderful.  And Leah sent me back with some maternity clothes, cloth diapers, and a video on calming babies.  Thanks, Leah!!!

And my flight home on Saturday got in an hour early, so we were able to make it to church, which was also excellent.

Sunday's adventure involved Linda and Jeffrey and me meeting with a lady and her husband who own a wedding dress that my sister is thinking of buying for her upcoming wedding.  The dress is beautiful and in good condition.  And then we had a dark moment in which it was determined that since I'm only slightly larger than my sister, it would be beneficial for me to try the dress on and see how close it was to fitting me.  Um... so yeah, I got stuck in the dress in the Sears fitting room, and there I am in my underwear with my pregnant belly poking out showing the scar from last year's surgery, with part of this dress stuck on me, and Linda plus this lady I've never met before (the dress owner) are pulling and pushing, to solve the problem.  It also involved my brother running up to the hardware department to find a measuring tape for some measurements while I'm in this particular state...  So yes, this goes in the Embarrassing Events of Life category, but thanks to all my medical procedures which happened last fall, standing around in one's underwear in front of strangers seems quasi normal.  Ha.  However, I was glad to contribute to Emily's wedding in some small way since I won't get to be there in person.

After that, Jeff, Linda and I walked around the mall and visited a bit (the visiting part was nice!), but can I say that I hate swanky malls which are crowded with people spending, spending, spending?  The worst of American capitalism.  "Let's celebrate the birth of Jesus by buying a lot of expensive things we don't need and reveling in material goods made by people in China earning 50 cents a day for my personal satisfaction."  And then to top it off, I drove to Bellvue to another super swanky mall already in holiday mode, because I had a gift card (thanks to my grandmother!) to the Container Store, and I finally had some ideas of what to use it for.  Let's just say that Jared should send me to see Leah at least once a year, because I come back inspired to be less of a pig in my housekeeping/organization efforts.

You know what?  I came home to vacuumed floors and a big pot of pumpkin butter!  That's Jared for you.  :-)

Milestones

Yesterday evening Jeff and Linda were here for dinner.  And I realized it was November 4th, and thusly exactly two years since Feathers and Nutmeg arrived.  We were living in Huntsville, and it was a Thursday.  I was headed out to Jared's school to teach a violin lesson and attend my child development class, but in the few minutes before I left, I was going to walk the block over to our mailbox and see if we had anything waiting.  And when I opened the door I heard a piteous mewing, and there were two TINY kittens on the sidewalk crying.  I quickly looked around and saw no people or mother cat to whom they belonged, and tried to pick them up.  Little Nutmeg came right away.  So I walked in the house with her, went into our 2nd bedroom, held her with one hand, and unfolded and set up the cat cage with the other.  After putting her inside, I took some canned meat outside, and Feathers was interested enough to sniff it so I could collect her, too.  I gave them a dish of water, a dish of food, and some litter in a tiny box.  They were super little.  Anyway, I was just thinking to keep them safe until I could find out who they belonged to.  Turned out they would belong to me.  And they were about four or five weeks old and had only ever nursed, and I had to bottle feed them for a while (even in the night!) until they learned to eat meat.

Here's a photo I took minutes after they arrived.

Here's a (sideways!) photo of them being bottle fed.  They were so wobbly on their tiny legs!

And this is one of my favorites taken about two months later with Gregory, who became their surrogate mom.  They loved Gregory, and I'm glad they had a year with him before he died!

Justice

First of all, you can listen to two songs we sang at church yesterday.

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

Shine Jesus Shine

And second of all, here are four passages which stood out to me this morning when I was reading in Isaiah.  The first five chapters (that's how much I read) were written to God's people in Judah and Jerusalem who were following him in name and religious practice, but not in deed, and he was angry about it.  Maybe some good lessons for the church today...

1:10-20 "Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand?  Trample my courts no more;
bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation - I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.
When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes;
cease to do evil, learn to do good;
seek justice, rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;
but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; 
     for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

God is calling his Chosen People "Soddom and Gomorrah" - not exactly the compliment they were expecting to receive.  They were doing all the religious things he commanded them - celebrating the festivals and sabbaths he ordained, giving the sacrifices he'd told them, following his commands about incense in the temple.  They were praying and bringing him offerings.  But God told them he hated all of their religion, because they were doing evil by perpetrating injustice, oppressing others, not looking out for the orphans and widows.  I believe the church ought to be on the lookout for our own sins in this regard - are we doing "all the right things"? Going to worship and Bible study, giving tithes and offerings, praying? But then neglecting to work on behalf of those among us who are "the least of these"?  Are we looking out for the suffering among us, or are we busy protecting our own interests?

God says here that he is willing to make us clean, but we have a choice to make - be willing and obedient to "the weightier matters of the law" or to refuse and rebel, which will lead to a bitter end for us.  God is not talking to "those people out there," he is talking to the people who profess to follow him.

2:11 "The haughty eyes of  people shall be brought low, and the pride of everyone shall be humbled; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day."

In the end, we shouldn't be looking for our own glory.  Because God is going to bring us down - all of us.  It's only God's glory that matters.  So we shouldn't be chasing after wealth or status or fun or attention or any of the other things which make us the center of our own little universe.  In the end, only God is going to be exalted, and it will be a lot less painful for us if we give up our own aspirations to take over his throne now.

3:13-15 "The LORD rises to argue his case; he stands to judge the peoples.  
The LORD enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: 
It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.  
What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? 
     says the LORD GOD of hosts."

God is planning especially to hold the "elders and princes" of his people accountable - could that today mean leaders in the church?  and the wealthy business people who profess Christ?  and politicians who call themselves Christians?  If any of these people have harmed the poor, God is noticing it.  Not all that glitters is gold.

5:1-7 "Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. 
I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briars and thorns;
I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice, but saw bloodshed;
righteousness, but heard a cry! "

God gave his people absolutely everything they needed to produce righteous fruit - he loved them, he put them in a fertile place, he did all the ground work for them, he planted the best seeds, he kept watch over them, he prepared the wine vat for the fruit he expected.  But even with all this care, his people produced wild, selfish fruit.  He was expecting all of his efforts to produce justice (fair treatment of others - especially those in distress: the poor, foreigners, children without a loving family, old people with no way to support themselves) and righteousness (doing things with honesty and integrity, not cutting corners, being on the level).  God was not pleased.  We had better make sure that we're not unwittingly being unjust or unrighteous.

Lots of tough stuff for me to think about.

 

 

 

NY bound

Monday afternoon I am flying out to NY to visit my dear friend Leah.

We met at audition day in February 1998, when we were both hopefuls at the Cleveland Institute of Music.  We were both there with our moms and violins, and after the audition events for the day were over we all walked across the street together to the art museum (which was free!).  When I learned Leah was from Alaska, I was quite in awe, never having given Alaska much thought other than the proverbial igloo-building one learns about in 1st grade.  Leah told me later she thought I looked like a J. Crew model.  This was utterly hilarious to me, because a) I am probably not the most fashionable person around, and b) I was wearing an audition outfit which felt rather foreign to my Texas high school self, selected by my mother and grandmother - long, grey wool skirt, cream colored turtleneck shirt, and snowflake pattern wool sweater with metal buttons.  Plus winter coat.  I, of course, thought it was freezing in Cleveland, and Leah and her mom had shown up with a light sweater or jacket, assuming that Cleveland was going to be substantially warmer than Fairbanks.  (It was.)

Anyway, we ended up both studying with the same teacher that fall, and our junior year became roommates, not to mention quartet mates.  We've been good friends for a long time, and have survived trips to Texas, Alaska, the Midwest, and Europe together, as well as living together for three years.

The last time I saw her was about 2 1/2 years ago in Virginia shortly after her first daughter was born.  We have been trying to get together since, and circumstances finally worked themselves out last night with the gift of a milage ticket in conjunction with my being less employed next week!

Leah is excited for my visit, because she has her hands full with her two small daughters plus her own challenges, so I am going to be her helper for the week.  Jared is less excited for my visit, because he will probably be lonely for several days, and he is not used to trips which aren't business- or parent-related.  However, I told him it will be an apprenticeship for me, and thusly educational, because I'm going to have a lot of days taking care of a toddler and a baby - good practice for my post-April life.  But more than anything, I really need to spend a few days with my friend; it's been rough inside my head lately, and I need some time with Leah who is a great encouragement to me.