Saturday, March 28, 2009

Quiet weekend

It’s a quiet weekend for me so not a lot to say today. Tiger Lily is with her father for the third weekend this month (okay, she was only with him half a weekend the first time) so I’m catching up on stuff around the house and going in to work. My house is too quiet without her and we all know since I’ve said it enough times that I miss her when she’s gone. I don’t think there’s a mother out there that doesn’t say that on visitation weekends. That being said, I also know that spending time with her father makes her happy so I don’t begrudge any of the time they get to spend together. Our agreement was purposefully written to be flexible and it seems to be working—of course Ted can’t chime in here and correct me if I’m wrong so I guess this is a one sided observation….. I hope I'm not.

We have company coming this week so we will be busy. Tiger Lily’s cooking classes start up again after Spring Break so that will pretty much fill up our weeks until the end of the school year. I’m taking a foods of Spain cooking class this week so I can not only learn how to make paella and but also how to pair wines with it. Sounds like another idea for a happy hour/party, paella night…..

Have a good weekend.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

all tiger lily news today

Today was a big day for Tiger Lily, she had her palate expander removed!!! She was very excited and called me immediately afterwards from the orthodontist's office. The difference it made in her smile and teeth is amazing and I am a big fan of the process. Now, no more getting food stuck in between it and the roof of her mouth.

Another week of testing--still not happy but I figure I ranted enough last week about it. She is calmer this week and will be happy when it's done.

Softball starts up again this week and we're back into being busy just about every night again. I wouldn't have it any other way though and I'm looking forward to a busy spring/summer.

As the posting title says, it's all about Tiger Lily today. Have a great rest of the week.

PART II

We had acting class tonight and it was parent participation night. Surprisingly I enjoyed myself (we all know that being on stage without a lectern and a laser pointer just makes me way too nervous), I learned some things and Tiger Lily told me I shouldn't quit doing what I do. Acting isn't my thing but it is hers and I was happy to share the night with her. She wants to visit Ford Theater and maybe we'll just have to make an evening of it and see a play soon so she can see the theater in action...

Saturday, March 21, 2009

It is really the middle of March???

It's hard to believe March is already more than half over. Where does the time go?

We had a great time last night and had 27 people over for the first happy hour/Wii tournament of the year. I'm glad I have a big room to fit everybody. The Whoopsy Daisy was a huge success and will be a signature part of all future events. I'm lucky to have such creative friends that she even make special tags for the glasses.

We spent the day in DC today and visited the Holocaust Museum. Tiger Lily went through the public exhibits several weeks ago with her dad and expressed an interest in going to see the whole thing. They recently read a book in class about a young Jewish girl during the Nazi occupation of Denmark and how they escaped to Sweden (I learned just recently that Sweden was actually a neutral country during WWII like Switzerland). We took it slow and mainly discussed the rise of the Nazi party and why they did what they did. We went very quickly through the floor that details "the final solution" and spent some time again on the floor that talks about the resistance and the world's discovery of what happened. They make sure that anything truly graphic is behind barriers that someone of Tiger Lily's age must stand on her tip toes to see (we didn't spend much more than about 15 seconds on our tip toes before she was eager to move on and I wasn't going to disagree). I went to Dachau when I was 17 years old and it is something I don't think you ever forget.

We bought the movie "Twilight" on the way home and plan on snuggling up tonight and watching with a huge bowl of popcorn. I'm sure we will have at least one friend over by the number of phone calls that have come through while I'm posting this. I read the series during radiation last fall and she's half way through the second book. We'll talk when she gets to the fourth book....

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. The Henri Matisse pictures didn't display right so hope you like the new gadget I put on. I became a huge fan of his work after spending a way too short afternoon in the private collection at The Hermitage.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

No Child Left Behind

Tiger Lily had the first day of "no child left behind" testing today. I have some pretty stong feelings about this and am still not sure whether or not this is the best method to hold the schools accountable. There is so much emphasis placed on these tests and Tiger Lily was so nervous last night she couldn't go to sleep. They focus on these tests for most of the school year so are they now teaching to the tests or teaching what the students should learn? I don't have a better way but I do know that the teachers don't like the mandate, the students don't like the mandate and as a parent, I don't like the mandate. I guess the big question is: Who does?

We finally entered the 21st century and signed up for NetFlix so tonight after acting class we'll stay up a little late and watch one of our movies. A treat for a hard day. We just have to go through this all over again next week....

The picture was actually taken by my nephew, it is the space shuttle when it launched earlier this week. We used to watch them from the balcony of my dorm when I was at the same university as an undergrad. I still think it's pretty cool and it was even better in person.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

What people think....

As I looked at my posting from Friday, the caption on the picture and the comment I realized that I was worried what people thought about me. I didn’t want people to think that just because Ted left me I had suddenly become one of those women who goes to the bar every night and leaves her child at home. Before Tiger Lily was born I used to go out to happy hour, when she got old enough for me to start again Ted was too busy going to happy hour with someone else so I just didn’t go. As I have said, I am in the process of rediscovering myself and I do enjoy going out occasionally with friends. I know that I will not drink until I can’t see straight and I don’t go to meet guys (the last, and only, time I met a guy it was such a great experience I’m in no hurry to repeat it (sketchy detail guy who couldn’t tell the truth)) and what I know is what is important here. I need to stop worrying what others think about me and, more importantly, that concept needs to be an essential part of my rebirth. So, no the glasses weren’t ours, our table had more!!!

Our week ahead is going to be quiet, Tiger Lily has “no child left behind” testing this week. She is worried but will do fine. I will admit she is very strong in verbal studies and not so strong in math but that’s how most people would describe me. I think we can all agree that anyone who breaks into hysterical laughter when they see the question “plot the course of a heat seeking particle on a concave surface” on a test definitely is not a math whiz.

We are having a happy hour/Wii tournament at the house on Friday which will hopefully make up for the quiet work/school week. It will be nice to have a house full of people and we do love to entertain. One of the guests is designing a signature “adult beverage” for the occasion and she’s already named it a “Whoopsy Daisy”, could be interesting….

And finally: Yes!!!! I survived another “visitation weekend”.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Weekends Away

Tiger Lily is off again for her weekend with her father. I absolutely hate it when she goes away, even if it is just for two days. She is adjusting well to the schedule, the whole situation and not seeing her father everyday. In some ways his distance for nearly 5 years now made this whole situation easier on her. Probably the roughest is still the transition time when she comes back, it is easier when Ted allows me to pick her up somewhere since this gives her time to readjust to our lives. We usually will stop for Starbucks on the way home so that she can talk etc. She does not have her own personal space at their place which sometimes worries me but since she doesn’t spend a lot of weekends in Frederick I guess it is the way it will be. In some ways having to deal with the whole weekend visitation schedule thing with Ted’s two older children has allowed me to have a better understanding of the emotions she has.

I usually spend my “single” weekends doing stuff around the house that I don’t do when she’s there. I actually have homework from her this weekend—we are looking for something to volunteer for. She wants to do the Big Sister program while I’m thinking more along the lines of a soup kitchen so I have to find a few things somewhere in between.

Oh, and the new picture, I couldn’t resist since it was funny to see all those glasses lined up—they really weren’t ours.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

YouTube Video

I put a link here for a YouTube Video that sort of touches home. Although my days of cancer research are over (by choice) it's still something I identify with. The video was put out by a group that supports the use of animals in research just to warn you. They are asking for people to visit it to get a certain number of hits to show that people do support the responsible use of animals in research. That's not the reason I'm passing it along though, it just made me glad to be where I am.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT4lLIDsjGA

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Goodbye to my nephew

My nephew leaves to go back to school today and I always hate when he leaves. He's a great person (I can't call him a kid anymore since he can now go to the bar with me) and fun to be around. He also keeps me young, reminds me when I'm being to serious and happily walks Babe for me. He's always up for a new adventure.

One fun thing he did was convince me to sign up for Facebook so if you know what to look for you can find me. I can see how so many people get addicted but given the fact that I don't write on here everyday I can't see myself posting daily things to my status and all that. The government blocked access for its employees for a reason obviously. I have found an old friend from grad school and happily found out that she is moving back here so it's already served its purpose.

We enjoyed the warm weather yesterday and did some much needed work in the yard. It looks like rain today so we'll have to see if I get much more done. Besides which, tamoxifen makes your hair curly so guess what I have to deal with now whenever it rains!!! It's 10 times worse than it ever was. Now I wish I had taken Ted up when he kept offering to get me the Japanese hair treatments to straighten it...

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

fun in the snow

Crazy crazy day but I just had to post that when I got home today I spent some time sledding with Tiger Lily! Nothing like a face full of snow to remind you how much fun being a kid is. My nephew tried to show off his surfing skills, he got more than a face full of snow. We tried to build a snowman but the snow is better skiing snow than snowman snow. Gives me an idea for the next adventure, spring break is just around the corner....

We've decided to try Peruvian food next--anyone got a good recommendation?

Looking forward to the 60 degree weather this weekend but I'll miss the snow too!

Have a great rest of the week.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Next adventure

So we decided to head into DC for dinner tonight and ended up in Adams Morgan and had Ethiopian food. A very good friend and my oldest nephew joined us. It was great, Tiger Lily enjoyed herself and thought the whole idea and set up was cool. We walked back to the Metro in the snow and caught a few snow flakes on our tongues on the way.

My house stays at sixes and sevens but we are settling in. I need to stop boo hoo hooing and just deal. Of course, right in the middle of the move I discovered another pin hole leak in one of the pipes in the basement. My usual tricks to patch the hole didn't work so a big huge thank you to my friend that just left--we have water again.

Have a great week everyone and stay tuned, with my oldest nephew in town we always end up doing something fun.