Lepton & Quark (thanks to Oxford University for the "sign"! ;)

Note: I wrote this whole thing on 8/11, nearly a month ago. Why didn't I post it then? Because I wanted... "needed" to include photos. ha ha ha. Here it is, finally, and without any photos in the end, because it'll just take me too long to select some and add them, etc. I will post photos eventually, though. 
...............


I knew I needed to marry someone who liked cats, so I did and many many years ago (between 16 and 21 years ago, seriously)... before we were married, we'd picked out a name for a yellow/orange cat: Lepton (paying homage to K's discipline). I don't know why, but I felt that this name sounded and felt somehow like "yellow."

Fast forward to the adoption of our newest family members... We knew for sure one of them would be named Lepton, but what about the other? Well, "Quark" was my first thought, but in our future-pet-conversations-back-when-we-were-dating we'd both agreed that Quark was a good name for a smallish, sand colored, fat short-haired dog (which we'd never had because I think dogs are too much work).

Enter Oxford University -- thank you, thank you so much! -- which is the very first Google result when you type in "Lepton and Quark" and which I looked up even before we decided for sure we were going to adopt our "babies." The reason I'm so thankful is that I actually took the following statement as a sign that we should most definitely adopt these kitties:

The term 'quark' was introduced by Murray Gell-Mann, the word originating from the book 'Finnegan's Wake' by James Joyce in which the quotation 'Three quarks for Muster Mark' appears.

When I found out that the word Quark had actually been taken from a literary work I was just delighted! You see, our boys' names were also chosen for their respective connections to K's discipline and to mine (literature -- Linton is a last name in one of my favorite books, Wuthering Heights), so it's really cool that our new cats' names have these connections as well!

And so they were named... our Lepton -- which is much smaller, lighter and faster and daring than Quark, which is fittingly heavier and more cautious (think electron vs. neutron). Yeah... overly geeky like most things in our family! :)

Now all I need is the courage to break the news to BIL this weekend and then I can fill up facebook with photos of my cuties! ;)


I told BIL two weekends ago and he sounded like he already knew. Well, I said "oh, I want to show you guys photos of the new members of the family" and he replied "The kitties?" I wonder who told him. Whatever... They were here last weekend and fine with the cats, but of course that's because they still live in the garage.

I know I shouldn't care what others think of our decision to have pets and all, but unfortunately I'm very susceptible to worrying about other people's opinions of everything in my life. :(

So... what do you think of our geeky kitty names? What are your present & past pets' names?

P.S. I can't believe I've been blogging so little, I have to catch up. Even with November (NaBloPoMo), I risk not passing last year's number of posts. :(  Oh! but I just remembered I have another post today!!

Car Troubles (Bureaucratic)

I may be late for work today because of car troubles.

Just yesterday morning, as we were getting ready to leave (we had to teach on Labor Day), K realized that both cars' inspection stickers were expired. Thankfully we came and went with no incident, but we can't risk driving with expired stickers for much longer, so this morning K went to get one of the cars inspected.

Guess what? He realized that the registration was expired too... Sigh...

He did that online for both cars, printed out the receipt and headed out to have the first car inspected. He hasn't come back or called me, so I'm about to call him and let him know that I'll be taking the other (expired) car and driving to the university because I have stuff to print before my first class (as always).

Well, wish us luck, I'll update later to let you know how it went.

Edited to add: 10:05, K got back with the inspected car. I won't be really late. Phew!

A Day in the Life of an ADHD Housewife

So many things to do... today I'm unable to sleep in after alarm goes off for hubby, before 7 am... I'm not teaching today and that's exactly why today is going to be a tough long day of active "housewifery." Brother-in-law & family coming tomorrow, I have to clean the house!

Gotta wash these bed sheets, out they go... and into the washer, but I need to put other things to do a full load... back upstairs.

Find older boy doing homework he forgot last night, cuddle with sleepy-head youngest one in bed and get him awake, but can't linger long...  because...

Oh, yes! I've gotta sort the boys' clothes, waitaminute, I need to wash their bedsheets and one is navy-blue, so perhaps I should do a dark load first... Rush to our bathroom's hamper and start sorting there too.

Wait! I need to make lunch for the youngest, and the oldest should eat some eggs this morning -- he's been complaining he's starving, dizzy and nauseous before lunch from hunger. Go find him and ask what kind of eggs he wants (fried, hard yolk), prepare them.

Maybe I should eat too, but this kitchen floor's so dirty, I can't even walk on it, gotta sweep it a little. Oh, OK, gotta go to the bathroom now...

Oh! I forgot I need to finish sorting those clothes (my hamper's in the bathroom) and I better get the dark wash in soon, but first I need to soak these grass-stained (from lawn mowing) socks! But wait! The boys's soccer socks could soak together with these... go get them in the boys' bedroom.

Since I'm donwstairs, let me check on the kittens. "Good morning, babies!" Oh, I need to feed them.

In the kitchen, get the cat food out and wash the empty can afterwards, feed cats. I need to read more on how to prevent/ eliminate fleas! Rush to computer and spend several minutes browsing, meanwhile, checking email.

Wait! I forgot to make a sandwich for my son and prepare his lunchbox.(& I need to eat, I didn't have any meals yesterday). Did I start the dark clothes' wash? Hmmm... maybe not. Before that, let me check our bedrooms for any missing dark clothing items.

Then I remember that I need to make sure the cats ate their food andI  go downstairs and spend sometime with them. Oops! The dark clothes. Finally get the washer going, think of this post and come to the computer to start writing it. But then I go check the cats in the garage again.

"Where is his backpack?" screams my husband from upstairs, and I also hear crying since someone had to be reprimanded for not coming to the bathroom quickly enough or something.

Find backpack and think again that I need to eat. Stress a bit more about cats and go back to computer to check some natural flea treatment websites. See that I have too many emails from Kohl's and decide to spend a few minutes deleting all older ones from inbox. (I swear that didn't take long). Go back to kitchen and think I need to eat.

Remember I need to call my friend because I want to invite her to eat with us tomorrow and invite  her kids to come over this afternoon, get cell phone to look up number, pick up house phone, look at the time (still before 9) and decide that it's too early to call her.

Go to kitchen to eat something, but the sink is full, the dishwasher needs to be loaded, and the cat food cans rinsed and put into the recycling bin. I hear a beep, dark clothes are clean... rush downstairs and empty washer. Spend some minutes rinsing grass-stained socks (I think: "45 minutes wasn't long enough soaking, but I have to get this wash going 'cause it's the heavy cycle which lasts 1h30"). Get washer started.


Open garage door slightly only to see kittens cutely playing on top of a booster seat which is on top of a shelf, weaving around a small soccer goal/net and play-fighting with each other. Rush upstairs to get camera, get back down to cute kitties only to find out that the battery needs to be recharged. Put charger in outlet and head to the office to get the old camera, but then, sit down at the computer to continue this post.

It's 9:44 and I still haven't eaten anything. Or hanged the clean dark clothes in the line to dry. I head out to do that, but first get camera and see if kittens are still in cute position. They were still there, look (one jumped down as soon as I got the camera out)!

The day is partly cloudy, feels a bit humid, but I hung the clothes anyway. It's 10:10 and just because I'm blogging I will try and eat something (and call my friend)... before I completely forget. Itchy legs from bugs or stuff outside.
 ............

Guess what? I'm starving, it's 10:30 and I'm still at the computer, first, looking at photos of a little cousin (K's cousin's daughter) who was born yesterday, then, the gorgeous photos of a friend's wedding shower. delicious foods... sigh... hungry!!! (did I mention that yesterday I didn't have one meal, I just snacked & ate one Luna bar all day?)

Ate some fruit (a fig, a nectarine), called my friend and while we talked, ate a banana with Nutella and swept the hallway and some of the kitchen. Talking on the phone is the only thing that allows me to "concentrate" on menial housework tasks such as sweeping, putting away my clothes, etc. Too bad the talk wasn't that long and I had to concentrate & feel stressed just a bit when talking about cats with her so I didn't sweep as much as I should have...

Beep! Second load of laundry ready. Brought the kittens outside for a bit while I hung the clothes, but then was combing through their fur afterwards anxious about fleas (found none). At least the family room situation is sorted out -- my friend's kids are coming over in the afternoon to see and play with the train-track, that way we can pull it a part and put the pieces away so I can vacuum the first floor (it's been 3 weeks...). The boys won't let us dismantle the track without these particular friends seeing it. Sigh...

 Now, if I can just concentrate long enough to clean the rest of the house... Sigh. I wish I had more people to call. (12 pm now). I hear car noise outside. It's the mail! Gotta go get it!

Time magazine is here, but I will be strong and resist and not open it, and neither the Land's End catalog & Costco magazine. More free address labels in the mail (St. Jude's Hospital). 3 so far in K's name and only 1 in mine. I guess these marketers know who the "head of the household" is. ;) K's calling... he agrees with my plan not to cook lunch for tomorrow and eat at the academy's cafeteria instead, yay!

(before moving on to cleaning some windows, particularly the front glass door, I spent 15 minutes checking new blog posts in my feed. i know, I'm really bad)

Confession: I browsed Time as I ate a plate of leftover rice with scrambled eggs & sipped lemonade. First real meal in, maybe 36+ hours. On to do some more cleaning. It's 1:12, gotta pick up the boys (and their friends) at 2. I hope it's not a disaster to have those 4 kids this afternoon. ;)

Swept floor of laundry "closet" and downstairs bathroom,cleaned sink and started dishwasher before heading out to pick up kids at school (stopping at hardware store first) -- today they get off at 2 pm. Before leaving, had to rearrange stuff in the back of mini-van to bring  the back seats up.

Classic example: Got back home with the kids, friend's daughter went straight to the garage to see kittens with Linton. I was there with them for a while and then decided to change their water. On my way into the house I spilled some water on the hallway and had to dry it. As I was drying, I got distracted by the boys playing with trains and as I walked into the family room and looked out the back door window, I remembered that the clothes were probably dry outside. I headed out and collected the kids' bedsheets. Good thing I came back in through the garage because on my way in, I saw the cats' water dish still waiting to be refilled... I refilled it, brought a big toy to store upstairs and now I'm here, but I have to go back and make the boys' beds...

The infuriating thing is that these little lapses & distractions happen hundreds of times a day, and concentrating
long enough to get anything actually done is a minute by minute challenge which I often lose.

By 4:30 I finally got the boys' beds done, but with some significant detours... I went to clean the litter box and realized that it would be good to simply get rid of the old litter, wash the pan and put fresh one in... to make a long story short, I ended up sanitizing and washing (outside with a hose) our tall trash container, because its smell was so awful I nearly puked! Then I filmed the train track which we're pulling apart today.. and did other things I can't even remember. (like putting new refills in my wall flowers)

I think it's about time I publish this post. I still have TONS of things to do today, I have to collect the rest of the clean laundry from the line and try to fold & put it away, I need to figure what to cook for dinner (poor K didn't have lunch), clean the kitchen, vacuum the house, including downstairs after we dismantle the train. Good thing K is coming home... oh, and I have to put away the foods he's bringing, the clean dishes from the dishwasher... Sigh. And I think this is the most boring post ever. :)


P.S. people are talking of a long weekend (e.g. my friend Aliki), but K & I don't have one (the boys do). :(  I'm still glad it's Friday, though...

One last thing, if by any chance you don't know, what ADHD is, see here.

Adoption, Birth Parents & Steve Jobs

I've said it before, but I'll say it again... adoption is the issue I most learned about -- particularly from the birth-parent's point of view -- since I started reading blogs & blogging. Unfortunately some for the bloggers from which I learned the most are no longer blogging (Dawn, Kateri, Manuela), good thing that others still are (hi Jenna! and AmFam!). Adoption is such a thorny, heart-breaking subject and one about which lots of people have very preconceived and unethical views. I am glad to have been exposed to the powerful, at times soul wrenching writing of the above-mentioned women, they opened (and are still opening) my heart to understand the "weakest link" in the adoption "triad:" the birth-parents.

I just learned this summer that one of my good recent friends (met her just 1 year ago here in VA) is a birth-mother. Her story is very sad and I wish I had the courage to ask her more about it (she was only 15, living at a boarding school, and had to give the baby up because she had no family to even take care of her, let alone her baby). Maybe someday we'll talk more about it, it's just that I don't think I can have a conversation about this without bursting into tears.

I have another friend who is a birth-father and who was only able to contact his daughter about 5-6 years ago, when she turned 15 years old. They are now "in reunion" (term used by birth-parents and adoptees for their lives after they meet) and I'm just so happy for him. One of the first things he said to me when we met 19 years ago was that he had a daughter... and he pulled out a small photograph of a beautiful blonde toddler. You could tell how sad he was for not being part of her life and her not even knowing that he existed.

Today this New York Post article (whose title and byline I really dislike, but whose content is good) about Steve Job's 80 year old birth-father brought tears to my eyes. I am sure that it's not only his "Syrian pride" and regrets for not having parented Jobs that prevent Jandali from contacting his biological son. Society and people who promote adoption -- even and perhaps especially international adoption -- do all they can to simply erase the birth-parents, particularly the birth-fathers, since they don't actually carry the baby for 9 months. As if conceiving and giving birth to a child could be simply forgotten after giving the child away (and films like Juno perpetuate this absurd notion).

Some birth-parents may put it behind them... a smaller group may even reject the child (like Susan Ito's birth-mom), but I'm sure that most think of that baby they didn't get to parent every single day of their lives. However, society just doesn't allow them to express and validate their grief, it just forgets that they ever existed. Mr. Jandali has been conditioned to keep himself out of the picture since after all, "he's not the father," Mr. Jobs is.

I know, it's the whole age-old "Nature versus Nurture" debate and "Nurture" seems to be our culture's "darling." However, as the article points out, "Nature" is pretty fascinating too, since Jobs and his bio-father have striking physical similarities. I personally think that biological ties are uncanny and strong, therefore I would never, ever consider donating eggs and I shudder to think of babies who are conceived with anonymous donor sperm...).

I am saddened that these two man are constrained by so many obstacles and haven't, and perhaps won't be able to ever get together. And I blame it on hundreds of years of a system of adoption that shames the young unwed mothers and tries to erase, completely obliterate the birth-father.

How unspeakably sad.

General Education Students

I think one of the big "culture shocks" for me as an expatriate wasn't selling all my furniture, packing all my clothes, photos & cds and leaving family and friends behind to move to another country. It wasn't even the depression that settled in as I realized we were spending all our hard-saved money and not making enough. It wasn't speaking a different language, since I was 100% fluent in it after all... and the culture wasn't that different from what I was used back home.

One of the big shocks was... surprisingly, teaching undergraduate students (another was health care, particularly pre-natal care and I blogged all about this here). I still have lots of difficulty really connecting to most Americans and I find it hard to blog about this because after all, my blog readers and blog friends are exactly those Americans I've best connected with! Now... maybe it'll be a bit easier to write that I find that connecting with undergraduate students, particularly "Gen Ed" undergrads here in the U.S. to be utterly impossible!

I TAed and then taught them for nearly six years, including several summers and winter sessions during graduate school and I just felt so inadequate, so "not a person." I thought that maybe it was because I was in grad school and that it would be way better when I was done. Well... of course I'm not a real "professor" yet, but most students don't really know that.

I must give this state credit where credit is due and maybe it's because we're already in the South here and people in the South are friendlier, warmer, a bit more caring, but I do like the students in VA "better" than those in MA. And I know that student populations vary greatly from school to school.

Another thing... I enjoyed working with language students last year, I think they're a little different, more interested. However, this semester I am teaching a "Gen Ed" class... Today was the first day and I already find the students challenging as I felt they'd be. I'm planning to make this class more learner-based, thus, with more discussion, group work, etc. and I don't know how well that's gonna go.

I think one of my biggest problems with American undergrads (and people in general) is that I haven't experienced schooling in this country and I have no idea how it is -- just from films or reading and now from some of your blogs when you write about your students.

Well, yeah. I don't know what else to say. This sounds very lame. It is exactly what I wanted to share today, after teaching my first GenEd class in 7 years. But I'm not blaming on the students per se (I have three students in the class that have taken my other classes and I know them, so that's nice) -- I'm blaming it on the "requirement" of having to take these GenEd classes that they aren't really interested in, but have to take. I hope they get to learn something from this class -- not "from me," but from the readings, the films, from our class activities -- I can only try to motivate them and be enthusiastic about the subject.

Teaching blog friends/readers of mine... do you think my problem is due to my expatriate status or do you find hard to connect to your students as well? (I know Jo(e) most certainly doesn't, but then, again, she's awesome and her students are too).

Another thing I worry about -- am I letting my own (perhaps pre-conceived) view of my students influence me too much? Should I try to be more open, caring, and accommodating and not so judgmental? Maybe ta change of attitude will help, right? Any thoughts you can share with me will be appreciated.

P.S. I have six students, it looks like I'll be fine with that class! Hey, I'm surprised that this has become (for right now) a teaching blog! Oh my! Who knew!

First Day (and hope for the other class)

Today I begin teaching again, one more year of "working in the margins" for me. Last Friday was a bad day... I was depressed and angry, particularly during the all faculty meeting that I attended just to go with K and to eat a free breakfast (yeah, when you grow up frugal & thrifty like I have you never, ever pass up a chance to have a free meal).

We talked and talked, K and I. He understands my frustration, and though he knows that I am a "realistic pessimist" (I think I wrote a post about this some time...) he has a hard time dealing with my reasonings. He was pretty patient, though... Right now we have no other option, so we'll see for how long I'll be OK with this situation.

Last night I received an email from the dept. chair saying that if worse comes to worse they can pay me by the student -- which makes way more sense than having to do independent studies for free, right? Her email was motivated by the fact that one of my students emailed her and begged her not to cancel the class. Yay for involved students!!

OK, I have to go now... I need to get ready to leave and I still need to finish my syllabi for tomorrow as well as print out today's at the university.

I'll let you know how the day goes, OK? I'm so excited about my new class about Brazil!!

What about working without being paid?

Sigh.

I'm just so stressed out right now! Just what I needed when I need all the energy I can muster to put the finishing touches in my syllabi and my planning for the new semester that starts next week.

Sigh again.

It just so happens that if I don't get 2 extra students for my 200 level language class, it will get cancelled and then I will NEED to teach it as an independent study for the other students (5!) and obviously I get paid NOTHING to do that.

I did independent studies with three students in the past year, but I didn't mind because I was already teaching my two classes and these students were in their very last semester and worked really hard. One student did a whole semester in two months last Fall and the other two had a time conflict with my class (which then had only 6 students) and met with me once a week all through Spring.

Now, doing an independent study with 5 students (2 of which are really weak and need lots of help) will be just too much! And what's worse, chances are that the next (and last) 200 level class won't happen next semester again and will need to be an independent study (in spite of the fact that I have one student that may return, I just saw him today) so these students can graduate.

Someone please wake me up and tell me it was just a nightmare!!

The only thing I can do right now is to say to the chair of the department that they will have to ask the former Portuguese instructor (the one who is a full time staff member -- not tt) and who receives a full time salary (as far as I know) to do it. But then I risk being told that I'm not coming back to teach as an adjunct again. Sigh.

To add insult to injury, in the 101 class I have 18 students. How many of them are seniors? (who won't be taking the 200 level): 7. Ha... ha... ha...

OK, I should go work on my syllabi and quit the whiny blogging. Sorry!!!

Earthquake!!

And the worst part about it? (tongue in cheek)

I was driving, so I never felt the first earthquake of my life. oh well... :P

K felt it very strongly in his office and he says it was scary to see his desk, his computer, his books, move around, but the scariest thing was when the window shades started banging against the window. Yikes! He and his colleagues went into the hallway and began wondering what was going on until they realized that it really was an earthquake.

My youngest son and his class felt it, but my 4th grader and his classmates didn't notice anything, so Kelvin and I were both disappointed for "missing" the quake. Maybe next time, though I earnestly hope there won't be a next time!

BIL K3 says he was in a meeting and one of the people had lived in California and made them all get up and leave the building immediately.

Several friends called us right away or left messages for us and I received several emails including one my from my brother who happens to be in Bolivia right now. It's good to know that friends and loved ones are concerned with us and want to know whether we're ok.

I won't say how close we were to the epicenter for the sake of this blog's semi-anonymity... ;)

Next thing K will do is to call our homeowners' insurance and check whether it covers earthquake damage!

Well, those of you in California are probably laughing at the hullabaloo that such a small and seemingly inconsequential quake has caused, but when a region hardly ever has any seismic activity and suddenly does, it's no laughing matter, right?

Ready for School Tomorrow

Their backpacks were ready two weeks before our trip and today we started the bedtime routine soon after dinner, with enough time to pick outfits, let the boys' bedroom clean and organized, make sure we'd packed every single item in the school supply list.

So I guess we're ready. Kelvin can't wait to begin 4th grade and is really excited to be going back to school tomorrow (albeit 4 days late), but Linton keeps saying he doesn't like school. I know he's going to have a great time in 2nd grade, though!

In spite of the lack of a family vacations, we had a nice weekend with friends and family.

Too bad the boys are much readier than I am to go back to school (teaching). :(   I think next Sunday night I'll be a nervous wreck.  Sigh...

Tomorrow, kitten blogging,  promise!!

First Day of School - Away

Well, it was the first day of school for my sons, but they just happen to be almost a thousand miles away from their school today.

The school called my cell phone about 9 am, but I couldn't answer since I'm in Canada and that's how I was reminded that it was the first day of school. I talked to the boys' teachers beforehand, but forgot to mention to the secretary and principal that we were going to be away.

We're starting the drive back home tomorrow and today I got to help my lucky sister-in-law who got to see a good friend giving birth on the day before her trip to Brazil. Yesterday afternoon we had walked to the building across the street to see this baby girl's nursery and we had a nice, leisurely talk with our friend Isa, while we felt baby Lys kick inside. Little did we know she would decide to be born today. I think she knew her parents needed M (my sister-in-law) to be there for moral support and that M wanted so much to see the birth.

Best of all, we're here to look after baby N while his mama is away (she still is). He's having a good time with his cousins, giggling a lot at their antics. And the cousins enjoyed playing Bejeweled games while N napped. We're taking him out on the stroller now and I can't wait to see photos of baby L.

they're ours

them.

since last Tuesday.

I wanted to write a long, nice announcement post, full of photos and stuff, but I didn't and don't have time.  (remember I was sick last week? And that we had to travel from Virginia to Vermont to Montreal, Canada?)

I also didn't want to blog about it before telling K's family because I didn't want my one family member [dear sister-in-law] who reads the blog to find out through here... but... I changed my mind today after telling "French Canadian" brother-in-law K4 in person.

I realized that it's better to tell people who might not be very happy with your pet decisions in person rather than online (and I didn't even know K4 might have a negative reaction, BIL K2 is the one I'm really stressed about 'cause he is strongly adverse and apparently allergic to them too). So I think we're only spilling the beans to the closest living family members when we see them next weekend or the following one. MIL doesn't need to know just yet (and she's really cool and neutral and doesn't interfere in our lives. I just love my mother-in-law. :)

Furthermore, I know "Blogger SIL" ;) won't mind learning through my blog (that's how I found out she was adopting a cat many years ago, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy and understood in a way that only people who have family members who can't stand cats do) -- just don't tell anyone yet, OK, Rene & K3?

I'll let you know their names next time -- I'm just SOOOO excited about that! -- & I'll have photos too.

Today the boys and I arrived just in time for my nephew's 1st birthday party (delayed for a month so we could be here) and it was lovely! And now I have to go to bed.

Did you think we were going to get the kittens or not? Were you surprised? (some "real life" friends were :) Let me know, I'm curious!

This was the worst week to get sick

I have some strange digestive track virus... thankfully no vomiting, but lots of pain and discomfort and even a low grade fever (all day Tuesday and last night again). I'm a bit better, but I haven't eaten pretty much anything since Tuesday (when my last "meal" was a bagel anyway) and I'm not hungry in the least. I must have lost a couple of pounds already, which is not a good thing for me.

And this, of all weeks, is when I didn't need and really couldn't have been sick, but I am. K has not been able to help much because he's working like crazy to try to have his grant proposal written as well as elaborate a poster to present a conference he's going to next week. On Tuesday night, when I was feeling really bad, he didn't come home until after 10 pm, then he stayed home yesterday morning, but didn't come back home until nearly 5 am this morning. At least the first draft of the grant proposal is ready, but he still needs to get the poster done and he thinks it's unlikely that he'll finish before tonight, so instead of driving to PA and only having about 6h to drive tomorrow, we'll have to travel for over 10h to New England. :(

And there's something else going on that I'll write another post about shortly!

I hope I can be well soon. Wish us luck!

Edited to add: the hardest thing for me is taking care of the boys, trying to feed them when I can't get close to food and can hardly make any effort since I'm pretty week and getting them ready for bed and in bed without help from K (he usually takes care of the bedtime routine). We're surviving, anyway. That's when having mostly "free range" kids comes in handy...

Linky Post: Michael Moore, Immigration, The end of the Middle Class etc. & Smart Memory Cards

My apologies for having become a really boring blogger (either whining or whining about kittens -- how cliched!). I really need to get some links I've been saving for ages out, so here you go!

1) I've been reminding myself for over six months now to post about this geeky thing that I tweeted about back in December last year: "A compulsive photographer's dream come true!! "Eye-fi" memory cards: what could be better than that?!" Can you imagine not having to connect your camera to your computer or take off the memory card and put it in the computer to transfer the photos you took? They can all be transferred wirelessly? I hope I can get one of these someday! :)

2) Michael Moore:  I should be following his blog because he often writes good stuff, but at least I already follow him on twitter.* Back in March, he tweeted a link to this NYT magazine story saying something about immigration and how important/ relevant it is: "The Tire Iron and the Tamale." (my apologies for not recalling MM's tagline for the story). Also back in March, MM posted a link to this 60 minutes report on children and homelessness which is worth watching.

Last, but not least, earlier in the day today (I haven't gone to bed, so for me it's still Friday 8/5), before news of the S&P downgrading of the U.S.'s debt credit rating, Moore wrote a blog post about how "30 years ago today, the death of the middle class began. One of the darkest days in American history."

Here's how his post begins:

From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.
Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."
Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" -- to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.
And they've succeeded.
On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.

And today they hastily passed a law that will help FAA workers get back to work. Sigh.

He talked about this in his documentary Capitalism: A Love Story, and here's the video:


Food for thought in this other perhaps negatively significant day for this country's economy and politics. Because that's what it is -- S&P's decision was 100% political. I totally agree with my friend Gradmommy who tweeted a little while ago: "This is a Republican conspiracy." I think you may be right sister!

* I heartily recommend it. He doesn't tweet that often and when he does, it's several tweets at once, but all very relevant. Moore & Obama are the only "celebrities" that I follow on Twitter, BTW, I don't have time to waste on irrelevant people, unless it's someone you'd highly recommend -- let me know if I'm missing someone/ something!

They Stole Our Hearts and Now We're in So Much Trouble!

Just look at them!

Some other ones:

These babies are the surviving guys of a litter of five at the farm where we get our CSA share from (and where I work for a few hours a week to help pay for my share). And they're only alive because we expressed an interest in adopting them. Sigh. I can't bear to post photos of the other siblings when they were just two-three weeks old. I don't think I can ever look at those pictures again.

In any case... as you already know, my sons have tested positive to cats in allergy skin tests and K has generally been adamantly against us having cats again.

and I -- cold hearted new home owner -- really want to have cats, but I'm SUPER stressed out about our new sofas and storage ottoman. I know, such a bad reason, right? It's the only thing that's holding me back right now. Actually, it's not... if K agrees, we're getting them soon. Right now they're still nursing a bit and they live in a basement window shaft from which they can't get out (so they don't really know what to do when we bring them up to the porch).

I also know that apart from the allergies and the couches, the cats will be a significant expense (they'll have to be fixed and vaccinated and tested, etc) and a nuisance when we travel (which is a lot) since we need to find pet sitters.

They have stolen our hearts, though... and we know they need a home. And besides, since Blues disappeared last year I have this gaping hole in my heart that is begging to be filled. Sigh.

Very hard decision to make. I'll keep you posted, OK?

Before July's Over -- 40th B. Celebrations

I just wanted to share these pics before it's too late. I wanted to wax poetic about this watershed birthday, but the words have fled. I'm too busy to think reflectively right now... Hope you like the photos.

Mismatched candles -- the 4 is from both boy's 4th birthday, 5.5 and 3 years ago. The zero? Can't even remember. Could possibly be from my 30th? I hope not! ;) (gotta check my photo albums)

 Delicious truffle chocolate cake made by my dear friend Carolina:

The silly ancient husband o mine. Why not 740? ;)

 

Lily & Lilies -- I also wanted to write a post about why I resist reinventing myself & going by Lily instead of my name. I guess I can do it in a sentence or two: it's partly a cultural thing (in Brazil we don't use nicknames so pervasively as you do here in the U.S.) and also a conscious choice since when I was a teen I actually loved Lily. Go figure. But I still lived in Brazil then. 

So, these were blooming on my birthday (two days later in this pic). Our yard's birthday present to me! (coincidentally -- really, I was supposed to have bought mini, pastel colored calla-lilies, but the vendor didn't have them anymore -- stargazer lilies were also in my wedding bouquet -- see here).

This is True, But People Don't Want to Listen: Forks Over Knives Documentary

I can't wait to watch this documentary, but I know that a lot of people just don't want to believe the evidence and think that food is pretty irrelevant where health issues are concerned. I've read scathing reviews of The China Study and I know that it is a very radical concept that they are presenting both in the book and in the documentary, but I think that the results of people changing their diets should speak for themselves.

I've believed in these truths all my life and, for the most part, thanks to very health and food conscious parents, lived it. I was basically cured of all my allergy symptoms when I became vegan at age 18, but I slowly went back to dairy food and though now I'm still pretty symptom free (unless I consume a lot of cheese), I believe I could have nearly eliminated the boys' chance of having asthma (they have mild cases & other allergies) if I had been careful with my diet during the pregnancy and the 5.5 years breastfeeding them. We're trying now to stick to a food based diet most of the time, but I wish I had not exposed the boys to these foods for the past 9 years. :(

Edited to add: 
Filmmakers Discuss Forks Over Knives:

iKelvin and his Dream Come True

I was going to blog about my 9 year old earlier this week, when in one day he watched two 80 minutes long Apple keynote addresses (one of which had Chris Martin performing at the end -- I watched that with him!) -- that's my boy, geeky and Apple obsessed, that's why we call him iKelvin, but today I have to blog about him.

So... after several days of deliberations that involved tears when daddy thought we shouldn't do it and the coming together of two very "generous" brothers that gave up all their savings (U$ 390.00!), we...

DRUMROLL...


Got an iPad today!

Too bad that the friends at whose house we're staying in PA don't have internet today, maybe Comcast is having troubles because of the heatwave. So... iKelvin and I had to come to Panera bread to get itunes for the laptop and go online to get the iPad to work. Now we're going back home and maybe we'll go into a 94F pool, naturally heated by the sun.

OK, I'll have to blog about the Nikon camera that we also bought later. It's like Christmas day for our family today. ;)

The Decision-Making Challenged Professor

I'm not really absent minded, just hyperactive, distracted and overwhelmed and, to be frank, I feel a bit of an imposter calling myself a "professor" (it's that whole depressing issue of being contingent labor, yada, yada, yada).

In any case, I've always had a horrible, really awful time making decisions. I HATE that about me, but I just can't be someone else, you know? The sad part is that my oldest son seems to have inherited this unfortunate trait. :(

When the decision in question is/was just an inconsequential one, like deciding with shoes to buy or which entrée to order at restaurant, it can be annoying (to me and anyone with me) to waste so  much time trying to decide, but when it's a more serious decision -- such as, which books to teach in the Fall -- it can have some serious consequences.

You see, I decided to propose a new class for the Fall and my department graciously let me teach it (I think any department is happy to offer more general education classes, no?). I even participated of a workshop on syllabus writing, back in June, but since then, I've been frantically trying to decide which books to teach.

On Monday I went to the university to check out two more books from the library (and I obviously got 6) and to make some copies of texts I have already decided (gasp!) to teach. I took this opportunity to talk to the secretary who is in charge of book orders (I had been meaning to email her for ages, of course, but was waiting until I could make a decision). That conversation didn't go very well, initially, because she told me that the deadline had passed (in May!) and then she had to comment that the people at the bookstore would hyperventilate when she sent them a book order this late. (nice!) I explained the situation to her (brand new class, no way to have decided back in May -- of course there was the whole month of June, but... well... what is a month, wait, nearly TWO months by now! ;) and she calmed down.

When I talked to her on Monday, I said that the students wouldn't need the books I'd be requesting until the 3rd of 4th week of classes (this calmed both of us down and it was true at the time). However, when I finally made the decision yesterday, I realized that I will actually need one of the books from the beginning.

One last unfortunate thing. I emailed her at noon yesterday and felt very relieved and happy. I also emailed the registered students. Today I went to the university to work for a few hours at K's office (with the boys -- very hard to work), but then, the internet was DOWN and I couldn't check my email. I also forgot to do it at home while we were getting ready to drive to PA -- this was fortunate because I would have been very upset during the whole drive. I finally opened my email tonight and... guess what? The secretary had emailed to say that she needed the publishers (I'd given her titles, authors and ISBN numbers) before she could send the order to the bookstore. And... she also said that she was taking the day off on Friday!! That means that the order will be sent out only on  Monday.

I feel truly awful about this. :(  I know it'll be OK in the end -- I will already plan the syllabus not trying to rely on the book I need for the first two weeks -- but still, I hate to make blunders like this one... It makes me feel even more imposter syndrome. I've PROMISED to myself that by October 1st I'll have my book order for the Spring ready to go! (I want to teach yet another class in the Spring. My husband thinks I should teach the same one, but I want to spread my wings and do something more literary for a change ;). It will be easier too, I think. 

Well, if you've read this far, thanks for your patience. Oh, and, of course, I have another awful problem, in addition to the difficulty in making decisions: I'm the world's biggest procrastinator. :(  I even procrastinate writing blog posts. It can't get worse than that, can it?

Edited to Add: and of course instead of finishing up my syllabus, now that I've FINALLY decided about the books, I'm here writing this post! Shame on me!

P.S. last week I read the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother book and I'd love to blog about it. If only I could find the time!  I liked it and was surprised by a few things. The way she writes about her career is bizarre, I mean... is it really like that in law? If it is, I don't think it's a field that can be taken that. (I'm talking about how apparently easy it was for her to get her jobs at Duke and then Yale).

Exasperated with Blogger & Internet Browsers

This is a "throw-away" post, a small rant when there's so, so much more that I want and wish to post about... in any case... here it goes. Consider yourself warned. ;-)  (all three readers of my blog)

You know, I feel really stupid for not having switched to Wordpress yet and the latest trouble with Google (my son feels upset now when he sees me checking my email and even more upset if I ever open Google +) makes me want to consider ditching Google altogether (although I really love their email service and I've been with them forever*).

My latest problem is not a big deal, but it's still REALLY super annoying. I use the blogroll in this blog as my "feed reader" and I click on people's blogs on my sidebar once they're updated. There's just a small problem -- if I leave my browsers open (Firefox & Chrome are my browsers of choice), even if I close the blog's tab and reopen a new one next time I logon -- my blogroll simply doesn't update or reload, no matter how many times I press the re-load button!!!

Do you know what I can do to avoid that? Do I have to close all browsers and shut down my computer whenever I'm not using it? That sounds unreasonable!

In the first few times this happened, I went and opened Explorer and... voilá! there was the blogroll, freshly updated (which kind of ruled out a problem with Blogger). HOWEVER, today I tried that (and explorer has been closed for a few days) and it didn't work!!!\

So, yeah... I'm getting really annoyed. And I know it may be my fault and I'm really a dumb computer user & stuff, but still... whatever.

Thanks for listening. I feel WAY better now. phew!! ;)

Edited to add: of course the minute I publish this blog post and click on "view blog" -- there is the blogroll, updated! Well, I guess the universe is trying to tell me to blog more often, what do you think? :D WHATEVER!

*I haven't been able to figure out how long it has been! There are thousands of emails in my inbox and I don't have time to waste clicking back to my earliest emails and figuring out when they were sent. I'm sure I'm just DUMB and there must be a way to do it. I went to my profile and poked around & found nothing. When was gmail created? I got my account soon after. I checked, it came out in April 2004... that means that Linton has had a gmail account since right after he was born --> see? Back then we didn't

Google Made My Son Cry Too or How Google+ Ruined Our Evening

First, I have to let you know that this post's title refers to Martin Sutherland's post Google Made My Son Cry, written a week ago. You should read it (or at least check it out), as well as its follow-up post, because our experience tonight was very similar to his and he explains it all so much better than I can/could.


OK, I am feeling a bit better and more at peace after reading Martin's posts (I read them with my son), but I'm feeling a bit disgruntled and sighing a lot, because after all, it was a hard and sad experience. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Soon after our sons were born, back in 2002 and 2004 after we had been using gmail accounts for a bit (I cannot remember find out when we started using gmail, it's just too hard to do it using my inbox, does anyone know how I can do it more easily?), we created gmail accounts for our sons because we wanted to save their names. In the end, K forgot Kelvin's password and that account was lost (and that name cannot be used anymore, blah!) and only Linton's original email is still available.

Then, three years ago (I blogged about this, but I'm too lazy to look up the exact date/post) I got an email for Kelvin and he used it sporadically to email family. This email has just been disabled today and will be permanently deleted, with all its content, in 29 days. As I understand it, until fairly recently (up until last year is what I was able to surmise from forum postings online), one didn't need to provide a birthday to open a Google account, one should only agree to their terms of service. And it is in this respect that Martin and I did wrong -- since we should have been aware, from something that is not even clearly stated in those terms, had we read them, that our sons could not have an account until they were 13 years old.

Well, but our sons did have gmail accounts and when they tried to join Google+ and entered their birthdates, they lost access to their accounts. What made Kelvin most upset of all was that I, unaware of what could happen, had agreed to his suggestion that I add him to Google+ (I honestly thought it'd be OK since he already had a gmail account -- we were both aware that he was not supposed to be part of facebook until he was 13). So I had failed him big time. :(

Losing that email account is not such a serious problem for Kelvin (perhaps only for the code for Bejewled Twist that he had in an email there) since most emails he exchanged with friends and family were fairly short and unimportant, but it was still very upsetting for him. And obviously I feel/felt very guilty about all this.

I'm very thankful that I found Martin's posts, but I'm upset that my son had to go through this. He does have other gmail accounts and I hope we can keep those. One thing my husband was wondering about is about the username -- will he be able to use the same username in three and a half years?


It's strange moments like these that remind me that we're definitely living in a "brave new world" and that so many of the things that people and, most importantly, kids nowadays take for granted are, indeed, very recent and new.

I haven't been that excited about Google+ and now I'm definitely very upset at this -- according to Martin -- unintended consequence of its roll-out: depriving children of their cherished email accounts.

How would you feel if you could no longer use your email?

P.S. Martin received lots of really nasty comments for his original post. I hope I don't get those here. I supervise my son's use of the internet. He would check his email once a week, sometimes once a month at best. I am actually very relieved that it was not such an important thing to him. PHEW!

Forty & Fabulous? You be the judge of that ;)

Cris, a dear friend whom I haven't seen for several years turned forty a couple of months ago, shortly after her beautiful wedding. "Forty & fabulous" was what she posted on facebook on her birthday -- and she most certainly is really, really, fabulous -- to which I commented back "I hope I can say the same in my birthday that's coming up." I don't know I can be so assertive, but you can take a look at some photos of this day.

First, my boys brought me breakfast in bed, yum!

And K adapted the mug he got on his 30th birthday to match the day:

After we had lunch at an Indian buffet, I decided to have a haircut. Since self-portraits are usually the worst and I wanted to show you what I really look like, here's one, taken with my cell phone in the car, right before the haircut:

And this is after the haircut, with my camera, at home:

I have decided that I'm ready, in August, to cut the back of my hair really short and have the front longer -- K loooves my neck and says he's always told me that short hair was the way to go, but I have resisted all these years. I think now I'm ready for that, as long as the front is longer and assymetrical. Hopefully I'll look very "modern" hahaha. So... it looks like I'll really embrace a different look in my 40th year, right?

I hope to post more later, but thanks to everyone who has already sent me birthday wishes on facebook!

10 Best Accomplishment of the Past 40 Years (40th Birthday Preview Post 2)

Kate asked: "what are the 10 accomplishments (big or small) you are most proud of from your first 40 years?"

1. Becoming a Mother. Particularly realizing my dream of having fully unmedicated births (birth stories here). When I was a teenager I'd heard, mesmerized, the birth stories of two of my cousins in Curitiba (Monica and Vânia) who gave birth to their children naturally and in a crouching position* (each had two and they were all in my wedding) and I promised myself that I would deliver my children naturally someday and I did!!! Becoming a mother will always be my greatest accomplishment in life.

2. Getting a PhD. Writing a 500 page dissertation and finishing my PhD, even if after 10 years and 2 sons.

3. Meeting K and getting married to a  wonderful man who is the perfect person for me.

4. Learning English (beginning at age 15, I learned very quickly) and French (in grad school), a language I heard since I was a baby (more on that in a future post about my birth) and which my parents spoke to each other, so I knew some already and had always wanted o learn.

5. Traveling to the places I had most dreamed of visiting in my life. First, the U.S. trip with K's family in 1993 (I have to blog about this trip, I was reading my journal from it last Sunday), then going to France/Switzerland to study France for a summer in 1999 and in 2000 going on a fantastic month-long backpacking trip thorough 10 cities in Europe with K: Paris, Barcelona, Geneva, Florence, Rome, Venice, Salzburg, Munich, Berlin & Amsterdam; in 2001 we spent a week in London (I was 6 months pregnant). In 2003 we visited 7 National Parks in the American South and North West. Traveling is a passion that I inherited from my parents (that's one of my favorite posts in this blog).

6. Becoming an "accidental immigrant." This is the accomplishment that I have most mixed-feelings about, but I think I'm happy with my life as an expatriate in the United States. (sigh)

7. Helping, particularly cooking for people. In Brazil we had a group at the university and we did several weekend & long weekend retreats & I cooked for 3 to 50+ people for most of them. I mostly cooked by myself (i.e. I decided the menu, went shopping for all the food with a friend, then scheduled everyone in the group to help with each meal). I once worked for 11 hours straight cooking on a Friday and I didn't mind one bit. I really enjoy cooking for large groups (with a bit of help, of course). Here in the U.S. I also fed our campus group in MA for three years (lunch and or brunch and countless Friday night meals at our house) as well as always cooked and helped in the kitchen for the various churches we went to.

8. Blogging here and making all these marvelous blogging friends. It literally changed my life, Thank YOU so much!!! ;)

9. Becoming a teacher/ professor. First, in Brazil teaching language classes for children, then in graduate school, first as a T.A. and then instructor and now, adjunct teaching.

10. Being a caring, empathetic person/friend. Interacting with people is the thing that I most enjoy in life. In the long run nothing else matters, really, relationships are our greatest richness.Aat least that's how I feel about life. That's why blogging is so central to me & my life.

* you have no idea how uncommon unmedicated births are in Brazil, the land of the C-sections.

Expatriate Life & Bilingual Kids (40th Birthday Preview Post 2)

I hope Kate doesn't mind if I answer her question later today (after all, I had only two questions when I began my "preview" two days before my b-day), but I think I can answer American Family's questions relatively quickly (if I don't begin linking or going too deep into my answers. ;)

1) I want to know what you miss the most about Brazil (besides family and friends).

Foods: I miss the fruit (grapes, figs, fruta do conde, jabuticaba, pitomba -- I'll add links later, promise!), some foods (pastel - fried dough with filling, similar to the hispanic empanadas, just crispier!), this delicious yellow vegetable that is a cross between a carrot and a potato and which is just SOOOO tasty, we call it various names in Brazil: batata-salsa (parsley potato), mandioquinha (small manioc/cassava), batata baroa  and other names.

Architecture and urbanism: I miss the way houses are built (I have taken photos of houses to post in the blog since 2005, but since I'm not happy with how photos look in my blog) and architecture and city structure (Brazil is pretty European in this respect, the U.S. is quite unique in the world, I think as far as urbanism is concerned).

I don't miss that much, to be frank, and that's a bit sad. If I remember more things, I'll share later.

2) What did you find the strangest about the US when you first came?

Oh, my friend... I have been planning (and am already paying for the URL for months now) for years to have an entire website/blog (I want it to be collaborative with people's contribution) about the things I find strange, there are  too many to count. My favorite: how Americans LOVE fake things, e.g. fake shutters by the windows of houses, vinyl or aluminum siding that looks like fake wood. YIKES! Most brick in construction here is just a façade, it's like they're "fake bricks" too... and the list goes on and on. ;) I really need to get my website/blog started!

3) How bilingual are your kids? Are you happy with their ability in both languages?

My kids are fully bilingual, but in different degrees as far as speaking is concerned. Both were monolingual (i.e. only spoke Portuguese) until they were 4.5 years old -- that's one of the reason for the name of my blog, I was constantly translating for them. Kelvin learned English online (YAY for Sesame Street's website, it used to be better) and with DVDs and videos and poor Linton was forced to come into Kelvin's classroom with me for 3 days a week and had a sudden forced "immersion" in English.

Kelvin can still speak Portuguese very fluently, he can even read, but Linton -- who is really much more prone to peer pressure and to pleasing others around him -- is more resistant to the language and sometimes we feel that he does lack the vocabulary to express himself. If we could still afford to go to Brazil every year, it would be easier. According to my husband, the biggest impediment to their full bilingualism was the fact that I worked at Kelvin's school for one year and then did cyber-schooling for another year and thus had to speak in English with the boys, thus "polluting" the home environment with the majority language. Sigh.

I am trying to enforce the "Portuguese at home" rule, but it's hard. I think we'll be fine in the end and I value bilingualism very highly, but I don't think I'm a "militant" for it anymore. :(

Any follow-up questions? Thanks for asking, A!

Plans & Dreams for the Future (40th Birthday Preview Post 1)

Thanks for the dear friends who sent me questions and encouragement in the comments to the previous post. I will answer the questions in the order I got then, OK? :)

My friend Cloves & Cinnamon asked:

"what are some of the things on your to do list for the future?? Sort of a bucket list??"

Well... I am always hesitant to do "things to do before you die" lists, because my list is just too long and I really want to do so many of the things, such as visiting lots of marvelous places and reading some significant books.

In any case, there are some things, however, that I not only dream of doing, but that I am firmly planning to do in the next ten to fifteen years:

- take photography classes (after I fulfill my dream of getting a "real" camera) and learn to take good photos;

- establish and lead a "study abroad" summer program in Brazil at our university and get to go to Brazil for a month every summer for free! ;)

- hopefully have a more permanent position at work (this is just a wish, it doesn't depend on me at all) or find an alternative job or something that can help our family be better off financially;

- take my sons to Europe several times, to London, to Portugal & Spain, to France, Italy, etc.

- live in Europe (probably in Paris -- that's where my husband would easily find research work, how lovely, huh?) for at least six months and get to travel around during that time. My dream is for this to happen in six years when K gets to have his sabbatical. The boys will be 16 and 14, maybe a bit too old, but I hope they can still enjoy it (the plan is that they will know French by then -- Kelvin already wants to learn);

- send the boys to live in Brazil for at least one year. It would be cool if I could go too, but probably unpractical;

- buy a hot tub for the back patio and do some home renovations (appliances & counter in kitchen, new floors in kitchen and bathrooms);

There are more things, but small list is a beginning. It's fun to think about the future. Thanks G!

Now, I'm thinking of Kate's question. I'll answer it tomorrow! If you have any other questions, send them my way!

The Truth Is...

... I am happy and have tons of reasons to be not only delightfully happy, but also very thankful for all the wonderful things I have (lovely family -- loving hubby & sons), good health, a nice house with a beautiful garden, etc, etc...

I have not, however, felt as happy as I should for various reasons that you're probably not interested in, but which have a lot to do with the kind of birthday celebrations I wanted to have for my 40th birthday.

OK, I cannot write this post. I am starting to cry.

Sorry. I will try again tomorrow.

There have been relatively heated and discouraging arguments with my husband and general and always unreasonable "whininess" from my part (this is my biggest and most annoying defect: being always whiny).

I know I could go on, but I'll get all whiny on you and I don't want that. That's something that has prevented me from blogging more often for years now. Sigh.

REQUEST: Is there anything you want to know about me as I approach this very depressing milestone in my "young" life? Yes, I know that 40 is the new 30 and that I'm, "oh, so young" (hahaha), but I still feel really old. I want to try to make-up somehow for the celebration I can't have in real life by trying to celebrate myself in the blog. I'm doubtful as to whether it'll work, but I can at least try, right? Can you help me?

Thanks.

P.S. I began to cry because my MIL just mentioned that one of my best friends who is her neighbor in Brazil was asking for my address & phone # and I know that my dear friends who are far away are thinking of me and my birthday and that warms my heart, but also makes me unbearably sad. Sigh. I want my friends. My twin friends (one of them is in Michigan, but it's pretty far from VA). OK, let me go to bed.

Library of the Early Mind: a fantastic documentary about children's literature

So, I am going to talk more about the conference after all, before it's too late and I forget to do it.

I saw a screening of this documentary tonight and it is just amazing. If you enjoy children's books you should definitely try to see it when it is released (I will let you know as soon as I hear, they plan to release a DVD by the end of the year and I hope it works out). Here's the trailer:


For me, just getting to know David Small was 100% worth it, but there is so, so much more there! And to think that I missed the first 20 minutes of the film and will have to wait to see it when it becomes available on DVD. A couple more things about the conference... my paper presentation went really well and our  panel was awesome.

 The bad wireless connection here just "ate up" this angsty paragraph  I'd just written about how my paper and this conference have awakened my desire to write the book I've always wanted to write (the dissertation that I never got to work on which is good because it might have " killed" the subejct for me). In any case... writing an academic book is a pretty useless endeavor if one doesn't have a "real"  (i.e. TT) academic job, but I'm stupid enough to want to try to do it. I just wish I could be less of a slacker and have the stamina to do it... I don't know how in the world I could do it, but I sure can try! I'll keep you updated... 

Did she really think I am 22?

I'm enjoying this conference experience more fully than I've experienced conference before, but it's not quite the ideal I picture just yet. Someday I want to be really involved in things and in the swing of things (e.g. up to speed with the current scholarship and publications, etc.), and, hopefully, someday I want to come to a conference knowing that I have a real job. I shouldn't complain, though, my department is amazingly generous, giving me up to 1K a year for conference travel, isn't that unbelievable?

In any case, I may, or may not, write more about this conference, but this post is mostly to record that unbelievably, I apparently still look pretty young, in spite of the fact that I turn 40 in only a few weeks. Talk about an ego booster! ;)  (but I do think that that lady's coffee hadn't quicked in yet, as she sat next to me during breakfast).

(I have to say that when I was in my 20s, even late 20s, people sometimes remarked that I looked 13-15. Motherhood took that away from me, but I consider that a privilege and a joy, truly, every single stretch mark in my belly, but I digress)

Last, but not least, my dear husband deserves a prize for attempting to work (directing 4 students working in his lab for the summer) with two boys in tow at the university. One more day only, I'll be back home tomorrow night.

Jose Vargas's "My Life As an Undocumented Immigrant"

I've written about immigration issues here before and it is a painful subject for me since I know so many people in his situation. When you read someone's story like Jose Vargas's, this serious problem takes on a more real and very human face. I wonder what will happen to him now. He must feel relieved after "coming out" for the second, and most important, time in his life, but now what?!

I know many children in a similar situation, some who came here when they were as young as 3 or 4 and who will be teenagers soon and will start thinking of going to college (which is becoming harder and harder now). It's so complicated! Sigh. I wish something like the "Dream Act" can be passed someday soon, but I frankly don't have much hope it will... :(

"I don't like Math anymore..."

Said my 7 year old son and all kinds of worries went through my mind in a split second, but then he continued:

"... because it's too easy!"

(sigh of relief). He takes after his older brother, his daddy and his uncles who are all mathy types. I think Math will always be easy for him and his brother, at least in grade school, but I bet daddy will be teaching the boys calculus before they get into college. I know that in a few years my 9 year old (and maybe the 7 year old too) will probably be doing research in dad's lab over the summer.

This comment came when I reminded K that we bought a school-sponsored Math summer book for the boys and that this is a good activity for this afternoon and the next two days in which daddy will have to take care of the boys in his office while mommy goes to a conference by herself (we're trying to find a sitter for the whole day tomorrow, though). I have to go finish writing my paper and packing before I leave this afternoon, but I can't wait to blog about our adventures in Montreal!

A New Year's Bloggy Wish Come True: Meeting Jo(e)

Last Friday we finally, after years of trying to schedule a blogger meet-up, were able to spend some time with Jo(e) at Pretty Color Lakes (meeting her was the first item in my "things that have to happen this year" post). Unfortunately we were too busy talking (and taking photos of the gorgeous lakes) that I forgot to ask to take a proper photo of the two of us (which would be awkward without faces anyway, so it's ok in the end, I guess). Here's a fuzzy photo I took of Jo(e), my sons and K:

Too bad that we didn't have much time, but we're hoping to be able to meet again on other trips up North.

I'm including a few more photos of our time there. I hope Jo(e) can email me more photos, since she took several, including of our family!

Pretty Color Lakes is really pretty!

The boys had a great time climbing up the banks of the trail/lake.

The reflex is greener than the actual trees

In Less than 2 hours

We are supposed to be leaving for out rip up North and I hope I can be ready, in spite of the fact that tons of things remain do be done, including, but not limited to, finishing packing our clothes.

We're going to Montreal for the weekend, but stopping in upstate NY on our way there. I hope to be able to blog about our adventures by Sunday night, if not earlier.

The past week was really busy, with my in-laws' here until Sunday and I worked a lot in my course syllabus during the summer institute I participated in last week.

I wish I could be more organized and more relaxed about packing for trips, but getting ready to travel is at the top of my list of anxiety and stress inducers. :(

I'm glad that the neighbor across the street is going to water my plants (I planted some shade flowers and foliage yesterday and several bulbs/ seeds in the past two weeks).

Well, I have to continue packing. I hope we have a nice trip. Oh, my brother reported that they're having a good time in Russia. I think tomorrow will be their last day by themselves in Moscow and then they will be visiting friends over the weekend.

See you again soon!

It's a Boy!!!!!

And he's going to be a gorgeous curly haired, blue or green-eyed boy.* [swoon] The first nephew to whom I'm going to be related to by blood. I love him so, so, so much already! Of course I love my four precious nephews and one niece dearly, but I know I will have a special place in my heart for my only brother's children.

My first new year's wish came true -- and because of it, the second wish will have to wait. :(  This is actually the Discrete Joy I blogged about back in March, but now I'm saying it out loud!! I ask my "real-life" friends who read the blog, (probably just Lucy, Cris, Eni, maybe Ci) to still be discrete about it (don't tell anyone else) because my brother hasn't told his friends in Brazil yet...

That's what 2 and a half years of TTC** does to you. Brother was particularly afraid that I or my mom would post about this in facebook back in March (he didn't like how his own friends shared their baby news there), but he doesn't know how much I can't stand facebook. I don't know how he'd feel about me sharing this information semi-anonymously to the whole internets, but I'm not going to ask his permission this time, sorry! Not now that we all know the baby (due in November) is a boy!!

I'm just a bit sad that unless my brother and sister-in-law come to the U.S. next year or go to Brazil between June and August (when we're going) I won't get to meet my dear nephew until he is one or maybe almost two years old. I'm hoping they can come to visit, though, or meet us in Brazil because they can afford it, but we don't (sigh #Ihatemoney).

The story of how this baby came to be is quite interesting, not to say one of "destiny's irony." You may recall that back in 2006 my brother and SIL moved to China. When they started thinking about having a child, my SIL decided they needed to move to another country and she found a job for my brother in New Zealand (I blogged about this here). After trying for 2.5 years and soon after a failed IUI*** my SIL was talking to our mutual friend in NZ who shared the success in conceiving that a friend of hers had with Chinese traditional medicine. After some inquiries SIL found a Chinese doctor (herbalist, acupuncturist) in Auckland and she and my brother started taking the herbal supplements and she had several sessions of acupuncture. One month later, they were looking at a positive test. Isn't that incredible and almost ironic? They left China, but China "came after" them. ;)

So, yeah... after we buy a car (or two) we have to start saving to go to New Zealand, probably in two or three years... I'm hoping I'll get to meet my dear nephew before then, though! (or maybe my brother will get an awesome job in Brazil and relocate there). I hope my brother and SIL have a safe trip -- they are taking a one month vacation and visiting friends in Russia, Sweden, Finland and some other northern European countries. I love my siblings or siblings-in-law's fancy vacations (one BIL & his family are just getting ready to visit four of my favorite cities in Europe: Barcelona, Florence, Venice & Rome. I'm super relieved I've already been there so I'm spared the pain of feeling jealous). ;)

Sorry for the long post, but I'm just SO excited!!

P.S. My nephew will have the nursery decorations that we used for our boys!!

*My brother is a really handsome green-eyed man and my sister-in-law is gorgeous, blue-eyed and (very) curly-haired.
** Trying to Conceive in infertility blogspeak. ;)
*** Intra Uterine Insemination or artificial insemination.

P.S. the P.S. came true!!!

I promised myself not to blog again and get to work (or to cleaning the kitchen), but I was re-reading the "This has to happen this year" post before closing the tab & browser and I noticed that I had a tiny P.S. in that post: that all I wanted was a new house and we have it!! Awesome!

And I don't know about the grapes and raspberries, but I just spent three days planting a bunch of bulbs (summer flowering ones -- I know, it's SUPER late to plant and they might not sprout until next year if they don't die) and I can't wait to plant tons more in the fall.

Dreams come true are the best!

Have I Told You?

Have I told you...

... how we love, love, loooooove our new house?

...that the boys have been on vacation for over a week already?

... that I'm excited about the new class I'm going to teach?

.... that we love our new couch?

... that the awesome "blogger meet up" I've been looking forward to for years and was part of my "new year's wish" post may soon happen?

... that I had a minor car problem last week and ongoing major car situations?

... that I can't stand facebook much, but really liked The Social Network?

... that I'm going to a conference in two weeks and don't know how I'll find the time to write the paper?

... that we live in a place that has tons of poppies and I took hundreds of lovely photos of them last May?

... that I went to IKEA and now my dining-room is nearly complete?

No? I haven't told you? Well, I hope to soon be able to find the time to blog about all these things and more, but for now, I'm too busy designing my Fall class (and being paid to do it!) and hosting my in-laws who will be here in a couple of hours with K (he went to pick them up) and help us with the boys (a "first" in the past 9 years -- it's always my parents).

So... I hope this post will motivate me to come back and share more about each of those things. And thanks for your patience if you're still reading.