31 posts tagged “amos”

A Funny Thing Happened

Nov 19, 2009
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I woke up with a goal in mind. Today, yes TODAY, I was going to finish up this proposal/research paper that has been hanging over my head like a guillotine. The word limit was 3000-5000 words, and I have had 1300 words (all appendices and the introduction) finished for weeks now. Research is piling up on my desk, with tons of notes and outlines, but I have been sitting behind the biggest writer's block of the century. Add to that a sick baby for a week, meaning she stayed at home with me rather than go to the sitter, and my work time/desire has been shot. Until last night, when I just shook myself and said, "Tomorrow. DO IT TOMORROW."

So, after having a banana and some coffee at my desk this morning, I dove into the material. About 6 hours later I hit "save" on the nice, neatly formatted 3900-odd words and started high-fiving my computer. Seriously, I could have danced some kind of Irish jig if I had any Irish rhythm. Not only did I finish with rough draft, with just minor stuff to add next week after one more interview, but I had another hour and a half at least until Amos and Hazel would be home! WOOOO, SPRING BREAK!!!!!!!

To celebrate I decided to take a shower AND use a sugar scrub. I know, it's like my own private honeymoon with myself! After stepping into the special, awesome, Vera Wang, Amos-gifted robe that I can't wear around a baby, I thought a little apple wine might be nice while I let my hair air-dry. I always let my hair dry for about 20, 30 minutes before using the blow dryer, so why not make that time special when I'm feeling so awesome, right? Right! My good friend Amy gave me two bottles of homemade apple wine last summer, one of which was chilling in the fridge for just such a moment. I poured a glass and settled down at my computer to catch up on all my favorite blogs.

My phone rings from the kitchen. I stand up, stumble into the hallway, and realize two things. First of all, I'm walking down the hall bracing myself on either side with my hands. Secondly, I'm walking like that because I'm drunk. Like, druuuuunk. Drunk-dialing drunk. Mouth open drunk. Bangs are in my eyes and I'm not moving them because I don't see them drunk. Yep. And, being drunk, I think this is pretty funny.

See, I kind of skipped lunch because I was in a writing fury. And I kind of wasn't hungry because I drank 6 cups of not-decaf coffee today after breakfast. Yeaaaaah.

All I can think is that I have GOT to eat and it has to be NOW because if Amos comes home and sees me I am going to be kind of embarrassed. I blow-dry my hair, whipping that machine around (FYI, not all that fun if you're drunk), throw on a flannel, and careen down my crazy steep staircase, hoping to duck into the natural foods store below us and grab some kind of granola to soak up the wine. I bust out onto the sidewalk and hear "It's Mama!!!!" from across the way. I turn in classic slow-motion to see Amos and Hazel waving like adorable maniacs, mouths open and everything. Of course he can tell something's up, and of course he pokes fun at me while we're in Tom's. It's only when we get upstairs, and he sees how little is gone from the bottle, that he actually laughs so hard he has to put Hazel down before he drops her.

The moral of this story is that if you have a cool husband he'll take you out for Mexican so you can sober up at 4 pm.

Happy Halloween!

Oct 31, 2009
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Trick or Treat from Liberace (and her parents)!!

Daddy & Liberace

Liberace & Mama, Halloween 2009!

The whole dorky family

Taking Advantage of the Best, Shortest Season in NY

Oct 4, 2009
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Fall here is something to behold. Lasting for only a fleeting moment, the trees turn shades that have inspired poets, musicians, and artists for centuries. Amos took a school trip to Plattsburgh last year, and ever since he's talked about driving to this certain point along the way, where there are little waterfalls and a gorgeous view. Today, with the warmer 55 degree weather, we dropped all our work and jetted off. These are the kinds of trips I like the best; Amos and I both have so much work to do, we hadn't eaten lunch, but we knew that if we didn't grab the incentive and just GO we would never have the time. I only made time to grab my knitting, camera, and some milk for Hazel, and we took the afternoon off.

NY Fall

13 months

Daddy & Hazel

(I love that face on her. She was actually laughing, I just caught her at a weird moment, but these are the pictures I love the best.)

On the way home we found an excellent bar & grill way out in the middle of nowhere. I don't know what town it's in, I think it may be called Ohio, but I know we'll make our way back there. Hazel had an apple we brought along and some homemade, and therefore not at all greasy, sweet potato fries. These fries were reason enough to go back, clearly hand-cut and fried for just a second without any breading to mush things up. Homemade pickles and a fantastic burger eaten in front of a crackling fire sealed the deal for me.

Oops, forgot one!

Hey what's this thing?

Why is September almost over?

Sep 22, 2009
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I still have tons of stuff to do!!!!

We have been extremely busy, all three of us. With the start of the school year (for both Amos and I) came a crazy rush of adjusting to yet another new schedule. We have lived by some serious schedules since I got pregnant with this baby! Here's a little run-down of what all has been going on:

1. Daycare started for Hazel, and I think she likes it as much as any 1-year-old would. When we drop her off she cries for a while, which I didn't know about until yesterday, but Donna says she does fine not too long after we leave. She hasn't been the sweetest baby these days because she is starting to teethe again, so it's been a little rough with her. But with plenty of Tylenol we'll get through it!

2. School is awesome. And hectic, and scary a little. I finally have grades back in both classes, so I feel like I am doing ok thus far. With English classes you sometimes don't get grades back until your first big paper, which could be assigned two months into the semester, so it can be a little nerve-wracking to be doing all this work and not know if you're doing it correctly. Luckily I'm making A's in both classes right now - whew!

3. I'm having a long stroke of bad luck that is getting me down, but I figure the longer it goes on the sooner it just has to stop. That includes losing my newest camera, the cute little red Nikon that I've been using pretty much exclusively to get all these quick, nice shots of Hazel, and which also had my 4 GB card inside. I still have a 1 GB card for the other, bigger Nikon, but I am SUPER UPSET about losing that camera. Maybe I can hold out until Black Friday and beat the crowds back to get a cheap deal on another one...until then there may not be as many pictures of Hazel, though I know I haven't been posting many here.

I have to go make a Powerpoint on feminist literary theory, so this is going to be a short summation. But more to come soon. Until then, here's a little something funny to take the edge off!

12 months waking up medium

Some Bully

Sep 7, 2009
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Amos is home from work today because it's Labor Day. I'm enjoying my coffee, savoring it really, because Amos is taking care of Hazel. I look up and see this waddling past my chair.

hug me

I like this thing

Sep 1, 2009
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Here are a few pictures we've taken of Hazel with our iphones. Amos has been surprisingly into taking Hazel's picture with his phone, though he never was before.

Blurry, and pretty red, but not too bad!

Teeth brushing

At Trent's birthday party; she has a tiny little busted lip from a fall she took right beforehand, but she's really tough. This is the one that Amos took!

Fat Lip

We were *running* yesterday, not walking! Hazel has taken steps on her own, but she doesn't really seek that out. More often she grabs a finger, just one, and tries to get us to run beside her. We are working on it though.

Running

Happy Birthday Hazel

Aug 26, 2009
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Today is the anniversary of several things:

The worst pain I've ever felt.

The first time my Mama saw all my junk in probably 20 years.

The first time someone I barely knew helped me go to the bathroom.

A bunch of even grosser stuff that I won't mention again. Ever. Probably.

But most importantly, the moment that our daughter was born, the moment we became parents, and the moment our parents became grandparents, our siblings became aunts & uncles, and our friends honorary ones. Happy Birthday Hazel, our sweet, funny, squishable, beautiful daughter.

and some more crying

Hazel

This video I just took! Birthday dancing!

Birthday Dancing

See-Saws and Berry Muffins

Aug 17, 2009
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This week and weekend were busy for us also.

Yesterday the three of us braved the disgusting humidity we thought we'd fled three years ago to attend the sweet reception for our friends Carrie and Andy. These two sealed the deal after being high school sweetie pies with a small wedding last month, and held a relaxed reception last night for all their extended family and friends. Picnic tables with flowers and candles in Mason jars were scattered across the back yard, and the potluck buffet and candy table were delicious. Oh, and I got to have a piece of Carrie's chocolate cake, and if you've had it then you know what a big tasty deal that is.

I don't have any pictures, though. I know, what's wrong with me? I only snapped these couple:

Amos didn't see me, but someone did!

They call it a teeter-totter here.

...which are pretty sweet, so they make up for the lack of other photos.

I didn't do too much because I am completely sapped after trying (and kind of failing) to have a yard sale this weekend. Actually I just horned in on my friend Leah's yard sale, dumping a ton of Hazel's old clothes and junk onto her lawn and sitting back in my her chair, sipping water and knitting a sweater. I did sell a few things, then turned around and promptly bought the dining table she was selling, so my profit from two days totals $4.75. One of those dollars came from her four-year-old.

This past week I've been in the kitchen, breaking all kinds of moral codes and making muffins. I am trying, after 26 years of ignoring it, to reform the way I eat. I go in cycles with this (whatever, I'm a woman, I'm governed by cycles of all kinds), but after having Hazel I feel like it is vital for us to really shape up how we eat and how we treat food. So, this past week, I've been making not only a weekly menu for dinner, but also one for breakfast and lunch for myself. It's working! I made these triple berry muffins last week and froze them, so I can take out one or two for breakfast each day.

Triple Berry Muffins

Two muffins are actually about the size of one, since these didn't really rise. The more time I spend in the kitchen, the more I realize I should just live in there so I can get everything correct. But they taste good, and that's more important than looks. At least, that's what they told me; these muffins have good self-esteem. I also made gazpacho, which lasted as my lunch for about three days. Now that came out deliciously. On this week's menu for lunches are a tomato & cheese curd panzanella salad and a carrot & ginger soup. I'll let you know how those turn out.

I'll leave you with this relaxing picture I snapped on a whim Friday. This is the view from the back of our favorite diner here, Eddie & Zina's. The building is old, a mishmash of rooms slapped haphazardly together, with cracked vinyl booths and scratched tabletops, but the food is perfect, the service friendly and prompt, and you can't beat this view.

Upstate

Slovenes, Wine Country, and B&Bs

Jul 22, 2009
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Last week was the wrap-up on our whirlwind vacation summer. We took one last trip in mid-July, meeting up with Amos's parents and kind of tagging along on their vacation. We had a great time, but I've been too pooped out to write or even look at those photos until now.

The first stop on this vacation was New Castle, PA. New Castle looks a lot like Utica: abandoned and creepy. There was a little downtown part that looked like they were trying to fix it up, but I guess they just started on that effort. But we weren't there to sightsee; we were there for the Slovene festival! Carnival food vendors, bands, musicians, and polka lovers flocked from all over the country to this days-long jam session. The site was also a campground, so we took advantage of the picnic tables, playground, and pool while there. Actually they had a little wading pool, I guess you'd call it, which was only about 3" deep and had fountain streams jetting into it. Amos walked Hazel around in it, and she loved it.

Unfortunately she was still having a bit of a hard time with her tooth coming in while we were here, so Amos and I spent more time in our hotel room trying to get her to sleep or eat or calm down than we did at the actual festival. I think Jim and Nancy had fun, though, and we did while we were there. I also will say that we encountered no good food there, with the exception of this one greasy spoon. It was something like $14 for the 4 of us to eat breakfast, which is just awesome.

After the festival we headed up to Geneva, NY, which is located in the Finger Lake/wine country region of upstate. It's actually really close to where we live, only about 2 hours away. Geneva definitely had more curb appeal than New Castle, though it was surprising in its way. The downtown area, which we could walk to from our B&B, looked cool, but really there wasn't much there. This seems to be common in the NY villages we've visited; the buildings and downtown area look cool, but have things like attorneys, real estate offices, just places that you don't visit.

On the Lake

So, being a family of problem-solvers, we drove to other places during our 3 days in Geneva. We visited Canadaigua and racked up at the Salvation Army there, and also visited Naples, which is tiny but had some nice wine and a pretty nature trail. Hazel was feeling much better during this part of our stay, so we were able to get out and do more. Also, we stayed at the cutest place here called The White House on Washington. It was comfortable, elegant, and relaxing, plus the host, Eric, kind of let us go crazy. The 5 of us took up the 2 rooms in the B&B, so we kind of also took over the kitchen. Nancy even cooked dinner there a couple of nights instead of going out. I hope we get to stay there again!

Nature Trail in Naples

After all the fun it was time to come home, and I was honestly ready for it. We have been on the road this summer, me more than the other two Confers, and I have enjoyed just being in my apartment with my stuff doing my laundry. This was a great summer, though, and I'm so happy we got to visit all these people we love and see all these new places!!

Hazel will bite you

On the Map

Jul 4, 2009
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We are just living up the short, not too hot summer that we are allotted way up here in the tundra. I've been slowly adjusting to the 3 hour time difference (staying up all night while flying back probably threw me off more than the actual time change), so in between my naps and Hazel's naps we've been walking outside, visiting our CSA farm, and hanging out with Amos. Next weekend we're going to Pennsylvania for a Slavic festival with Amos's parents, followed by a 3-day stay in Geneva, NY, for a quiet little vacation together. Geneva is a sweet town on the finger lakes, which incidentally really do look like fingers from the sky, and I am excited for our stay. We're shacking up in a B&B run by a very sweet couple, and between his parents & us we are taking up the whole house. That's a B&B stay I'm willing to risk! Plus Nancy has spoken to the couple, and they are both thrilled to have a little baby there for a visit. After that we aren't traveling again until Christmas, but my mama will be up at the beginning of August for a quick long weekend. I'm really looking forward to seeing her again. While she's here we're going to have a slightly early birthday for Hazel. Oh, and I bought her birthday outfit in Portland, and it's SO cute, not to mention being orange & blue, which is just a cool bonus.

Here are a few photos taken just yesterday, plus one of her dress. Amos dressed her that day as the Incredible Hulk; he's such a dorky laugh riot!