My Silly Valley

Just after sunset

Heartthrob

This kid is something else. I don't even think he knows just how adorable he is. He's taken to wearing a black beanie, which makes him even more cute. What great kids I have. Sighhhhhhhhhh.

Raindrops on roses

This is my coffee shop, one of my favorite things.

Oh yes I AM a superhero

McArches Boy

He eats the nuggets, most of the fries.
Enjoys the chocolate milk that  I let him buy.

Digs out the toy and enjoys it a second
Then flings it aside when a rescue it beckons

He flips up the box and disguises himself
And leaves me alone to read by myself.

The power it seems is not just in the hat,
But how he wears it, or looks so all that.

Soon every kid has dumped out the meal,
But none wear the box with Walter's appeal.

The sun, weakly

Kayla's sewing lesson

She's taking it Very Seriously. She got a new sewing machine for Christmas, along with a month of sewing lessons. If she likes it, we can get her more lessons for February.  The first lesson involved learning how to put a needle in the machine, how to hook up the foot pedal.

Then she went to town sewing on printed paper -- straight lines, wavy lines, star shapes. She had to stop and pivot at corners, control her speed along the way and pretty much stay on the lines. (This is one of those things where staying on the line is valued.)

I'm not sure what's up next, but I have printed out a bunch of templates for her to puncture with her machine. 

Walter wants his own machine now. Surprise!

Grandma's in the House

I don't think it's important to agree with her politics to be incredibly
pleased about Nancy Pelosi being the speaker of the house. (Of course
I happen to agree with her politics, so I can say that.)

I distinctly remember the day I heard that Sandra Day O'Connor (whose
politics I don't agree with) was nominated to the Supreme Court. I
was in my little red Volkswagen on the campus of the University of
Utah, in front of the Annex Building, listening to it on the radio,
making myself late for an appointment.

I remember what I was wearing, how the air was, the texture of the
seat -- because I marked it in my mind and said "I will want to
remember this moment, it is important."

I had a similar experience when Geraldine Ferraro was nominated to be
Walter Mondale's vice presidential running mate. (Side story is that
this is how I met Granger's father -- I was wearing a Mondale/Ferraro
button THAT DAY that I had made in the print shop I worked in and he
stopped me to ask both why someone else in podunk southern Utah would
be wearing such a button and did I have another.)

Linda Wertheimer, a commentator on NPR, did a wonderful job talking
about Pelosi's swearing in and first moments of leadership. The
moment that sticks in my mind is her description of Pelosi holding her
youngest grandchild in one arm -- a weeks-old newborn -- while
greeting new colleagues. Wertheimer says it eloquently, but it's
something like it's nothing new for women to be "taking care of the
children and getting the job done."

Linda Werthheimer's commentary at NPR.

 

Belated Happy New Year!

Kayla and Walter rang in the New Year with sparkler's provided by our dear friends Craig and Rena Slama. Their party is always the most fun, and we've been going every New Year's Eve since we moved here, with a couple of exceptions when we were out of town.  They are the parents of one of Granger's elementary school best friends, Patrick.

Goodbye, Farmer Joe

For the second time in three months, we've had to have a plantar wart burned from the bottom of Kayla's right foot. It's just a regular old wart, but since it grows on the bottom (plantar) side of the foot, it's painful because it gets pushed up into the foot and can feel like there's a pebble in  your shoe.  The doctor took nitrous oxide and burned the spot while we slowly counted to 20.  They did this in October, too, but it didn't work.

Our instructions now are to go home, pumice off the skin, apply Compound W, then a bandaid, a pad, then DUCT TAPE.  We have to seal the tape around the edges of everything well so air doesn't get in, and leave it oh, three weeks or so. (We should change everything every three days, just because.)

Imagine my delight.

During the time the darn thing has been hurting, Kayla nicknamed the wart.  He's a plantar wart so his name is, obviously, Farmer Joe. We held a farewell party for him in the office just before the Big Burn.

Three-drink minimum

This is my desk on a typical day. Latte, vitamin water and the ubiquitous Diet Coke. And paper. Lots of paper.