New Beginnings

Holy smokes.  It's been 6 months since I've posted anything.  I don't think I'm even going to try to back-post 6 months worth of stuff.

We're currently in the throes of winter over here.  It's been pretty snowy already, which of course I love.  Though I do wish I didn't feel so unsure about taking the kids outside.  Somehow even in snowsuits, taking two 1 year olds outside to frolic seems like a bad idea.  It's also been pretty cold, especially in comparison to last winter where it almost never dropped below 40.  This is all to say that I've been spending a LOT of time not leaving the house.  I don't mind it nearly so much as I thought I would.  We do get out once a week for story time at the library, and I'm usually the one that does the weekly grocery shopping (though I let DS do it today because I was out yesterday).  That's twice a week.  Whoo!  Living on the edge!

So I love winter, and the snow is lovely and awesome, but I won't be too sad when it warms up enough that I can start taking the boys to the park again.  I do sort of miss our daily walks to the train station to pick up DS after work.

I can't remember if I've mentioned it, so I wanted to say that I've been sort of on the fence about how easily available I should be making photos of the kids on the internet.  I mean, it's the internet, so if someone wanted to get them they could, but that doesn't mean I have to make it simple.  So I might not put a lot here, but there are SO MANY on my Flickr account.  You just have to be signed in and marked as my friend or family.  (If you don't know how to do that and want to, just e-mail me.)  I will share this photo with you of them in their Christmas diapers though:

I love it so much.  I really like the way you can tell the difference in their skin color here.

We took them to the local children's museum last week.  DS's mom got us a membership for Christmas and I was anxious to get out of the house.  It's sort of geared for kids ages 3-7, but they have these slightly more contained areas with small features for the wee littles.  It was a lot of fun for them, and I was actually surprised we were able to stay an hour and a half.  That feels like a lifetime with a newly minted toddler.

In non-kid news, I've started doing a little writing for the site Rhymes with Nerdy.  Currently, I'm just recapping the show Reign, but perhaps once that is over I'll stretch my wings a little.  We'll see.  It's more work than I expected, and to be honest, these days I'm doing really well if I manage to shower.  My days are certainly full.

I also started a local Sci-fi/Fantasy book club.  I've been looking for a book club in general since moving here 3.5 years ago, but my efforts have failed until now.  This time I decided to bite the bullet and pay for the Meetup service, and that's been fruitful.  The first meeting drew about three people, and we average 3 or 4 for a bit with the members that came shifting.  Somehow in the last month though, it's just started to take off.  We're now up to 23 members on the site, with 13 of them saying they're coming to my house for the next meeting.  I'm probably going to need a new meeting place after this, which is nuts but so exciting.  Initially I wanted it here because it was easier with the babies to not have to leave, but I think we're getting to the point where I can slip away every now and again.  They tend to be scheduled after they go to bed anyhow.

Which reminds me, I'm also the recording secretary for the local moms of multiples group, which is a national organization that has local chapters.  I'm still not sure how they managed to rope me into being a board member, but despite the obligation it puts on me to always attend, I'm glad.  I've met a lot of lovely people, and it's always nice to have other multiples moms to talk to about this crazy life.

So here we are.  I'm slowly starting to integrate parts of my old life back into this new one, and hopefully that means I will be able to keep up with things a little more here.  Wish me luck.

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Whoa, this was my 700th post, and June will mark 9 full years of writing here.  That just seems crazy.

Christmas #1

DS and I decided to do Christmas with each other and the cats today.  It was the last full day we had to ourselves at home, without work or other obligations.  Also, I was in the mood for a pick me up.

Most of our gifts for each other were mostly things that we needed and wanted, but for whatever reason, had not gotten around to getting for ourselves.  The gifts for the cats were more whimsical, and honestly, bought more for Felix than Winston.  Winston likes two things in life: rabbit fur covered mice, and edibles.  Felix is much more well-rounded.  We got them a play tube, a toy that rolls and has feathers and burlap, and a packaged set of interchangeable sushi toys filled with catnip and with velcro pieces to attach to a stick and string.  So far, neither cat has been very interested in the tube, though I was thoroughly surprised to see Winston immediately get in it.  It was a short-lived excitement.  He hasn't cared about it since.  I'm more surprised that Felix doesn't care about it.  In fact, she seems afraid of it.  She's always seemed very fond of small, enclosed places, so I had thought she would love this thing.  I figured she'd love the rolling toy, because she can sink her claws in the burlap, and chew on the feathers, and roll it around the floor.  All of which have been true.  They both love the sushi toys.  I wasn't sure if the catnip would win over Winston, but he's been attacking them with gusto, so long as we pick them up.  Felix, in typical fashion, is quite happy to drag them around the house without our intervention.

Here are some photos of our decorations and Winston attacking some sushi.

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Engineering Christmas Party at WHYY

Tonight was the annual holiday party for the Engineering School.  It's held somewhere different every year.  Last year it was at the Academy of Music, which is the same place the ballet is held.  This year it was at the studios of WHYY, which is essentially Philadelphia's PBS station.  It was really cool to see the studios, and even though they weren't filming tonight, the control rooms were still functioning since they were still showing taped things on air.  

As seems usual at this point, the evening started with cocktails and appetizers.  The empanadas were amazing.  Elmo was running around, which was interesting.  Then there's the big sit down dinner.  This year we had three different  buffets with different kinds of food.  DS and I felt it was important to try all of them.  The kimchi pancake things with the aioli sauce... wow.  So good.

After dinner there's always some entertainment.  This year, it was a live performance of Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!  It was hosted by Carl Kasell and Patrick Stoner.  They used two professors as the contestants, and it was pretty funny.  Afterwards, they were both kind enough to hang around and talk to people and have their photos taken.

Carl Kasell enjoying dessert

 Mr. Kasell has been doing radio for 62 years.  Just let that sink in for a bit.

Dessert was so delicious.  We had spiced apples, gingerbread, chocolate mousse tarts, hibiscus cheesecake, and some kind of pistachio brittle.  I had all of it.  Some of it more than once.

One of my favorite things about these parties is that I get to dress up.  I don't get to do that a lot often.  This year I felt like doing something different with my hair, and this is what I came up with:

Up-do for the Engineering Christmas party

I got a lot of compliments on these earrings, which I made just before the party to match my dress.  I'm afraid people think I wove the pearls together, but alas, I bought them that way.  One person even asked how to find my shop, so fingers crossed!

2011 Sleep Goblin Ornament

I have been quietly re-opening my Etsy shop for business over the last few weeks.  You might have noticed some activity on the store's Facebook page if you follow that.  I also started a Google+ page, just to cover all my bases.  So if any of you want some custom stuff made by Christmas, now is a great time to let me know so it can be done in time!

But the more important thing I have to tell you is that the 2011 ornament is done!  Well, designed.  I still need to "mass produce" them.  They're themed after the carol 12 Days of Christmas, specifically a partridge in a pear tree.  It took a long time to figure this one out.  I had originally planned on doing it last year, but it just didn't come together.  This year I had a brilliant idea for layered paintings, but I couldn't figure out how to incorporate the partridge in a way that made me happy.  I still love the layer idea, but it will have to wait for something else.

A pear tree painting inside an ornament.

After debating between sculpted paper, cross stitch, and felt, I finally settled on felt.  I had to figure out how make a 3d bird plush, which I'd never done before.  Normally I just sew two flat pieces together and put some stuffing inside.  I did some research and found out the partridge referred to was most likely a red-legged partridge, so I tried to make it look like that.  They have a lot of color changes in their feathers, so it's not perfect, but I'm cool with it.  Then I threw in some real twigs with some felt leaves and pears, and done!

If you like it, you can pre-order it for $10 through the end of November, and then the prices go up to more accurately reflect the time and effort put into them.  Also, if you're missing any previous year's designs, I found a bunch of half finished things that I'm going to try to finish up and put in the shop so I can be rid of them.  Keep an eye out for those as well!

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Au Revoir

This morning I took my husband to the airport. He's on his way to France. Again. For free.

Jerk.

This time it's only a week though, so I'll have him back again next Friday night. Also, this trip makes me hopeful for his career. Strangely enough, his advisor back in Madison invited him to go, all expenses paid. Meaning he chose DS over other, current, students. Exciting for what that means about his talent, but kind of sad for the options for the current round of people.

At any rate, this is both good and bad for me personally. The good news is that with me being so swamped at work (how long has it been since I made a blog post??), severely behind on deadlined crafting projects, and heavily addicted to the game Dragon Age: Origins, some time alone will probably be helpful in getting back on track. The bad news is that without DS, my sleep schedule always becomes highly erratic, and having him to talk to has been keeping me sane. I mean really, if you're just going to be a complete ass on the phone, you should probably do your shopping on the website instead. I'm just saying.

I'm finding it hard to believe that it's mid December. Even with the tree up, lights outside, Christmas cookies in the house, all of that and it feels like any other time of the year. Is it because I'm not going home for Christmas (AGAIN?)? That it's officially "cold" here at 50 degrees and a little rain? That there are like 30 new blooming plants outside?

Whatever it is, I find myself paying more attention to the Facebook statuses of my Wisconsin friends (thank you Facebook friend lists, for being amazing development), scouring them for snow related information. Also, I find myself getting excited about my trip to Kentucky planned for January.

Now, if you'll excuse me, me and the cats need to snuggle this morning. They need reassurance that just because their daddy is gone, doesn't mean they're abandoned.

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Back-posting may follow to fill that... very long gap of silence. Because occasionally I did some stuff these past 2 months that I might want to remember later.

2008 Sleep Goblin Ornament

The new ornaments are going up in the store as we speak! This year's design features little trees made of feathers. Particularly, pheasant feathers, which are just lovely. There are also a few turkey feather designs.

Wonderful Things

1. Several of my work friends have a tradition of "trashing" a co-worker's office on their birthday. Plans are made in secret, and all work is done after the co-worker has left so they'll be surprised the morning of their birthday. This week was Jim's birthday, and he came in to 3 feet of balloons. Check out that static*! 286 balloons are good for that.

2. I have a large marker board in my office. When it's not full of ideas for work projects, people draw on it. This image started with the sailboat, then came the guy falling off and a shark eating his leg. A few days later, a turtle was eating a shark, and then a whale was eating the turtle. Then Jonah appeared, and then an alien "fishing" for the whale. What I love most is that I never asked any of these people to add to the drawing, it just happened. Often when I wasn't in the room.

3. It's snowing. Hard. And the winter storm warning doesn't even start for several more hours. I love winter!!

4. We put up our Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving as usual while we watched Christmas Vacation. This year I bought extra plug timers so I don't have to turn on or off any of my lights. They're on when I get home from work, and go off some time after I fall asleep. Aside from the fact that we can't keep Winston from chewing on the tree (that crazy cat likes to chew on plastic.. makes me almost wish we'd gotten a real tree), I'd say our new apartment is a decorating success! Also, Winston would like to start the countdown to Christmas!


* Image may require enlarging to see static effects.