Oh the joys of animal fries

This is an interview about In N'Out, my very favorite burger joint ever. As NPR calls it, it is a "California delicacy." And one I miss!

Listen to burger goodness here.

The honey-do list that never ends

Our front lock broke, so last night, Jonathan spent a good portion of the evening installing a new one. Tonight we painted the back porch (and got eaten alive by mosquitoes, I might add). Before that it was moving the huge ladder that was collecting dirt and bugs outside, before that it was trimming the bushes so they don't overhang the driveway, and before that it was cleaning the gutters.

There seem to be two seasons to homeownership in Cincinnati: winter, and construction. Who knew that the latter season would be so much work?!

Quick poll: what is your most hated house/apartment upkeep chore?

Hahaha

Report: 90% Of Waking Hours Spent Staring At Glowing Rectangles

I love The Onion. (aka fake news)

July 12th Xander-fix

Xander self-portrait

Flowers are fun

Communing with Daddy

Let me OUT!!!

Oooh, a stud finder. It flashes and everything!

Incentive to stand up.

Yummy yummy yogurt.

The three videos below explain why Simcha is still my favorite cat (shh, don't tell the others!)

My new favorite book

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace, by Ayelet Waldman.

The book is amazing. It's the kind of book I wish I'd written. Waldman is a liberal Jewish woman living in Berkeley, a Harvard-trained lawyer who became a stay-at-home mom and then a writer. The premise of the book, basically, is how to alleviate the guilt and the pressure we put on ourselves to be "good mothers." There are 18 essays (for chai, life) and they are all brutally honest, ranging from sassy to glib to poignant to hysterical to very serious. I relate to her pull between being a lawyer and missing her baby, or staying home and going crazy. I share the feminist guilt over being a bad role model for her daughters by letting her husband do all the handy work, and (though hopefully Xander doesn't have any) I really liked her discussion on feeling terrible that she was disappointed when her son was diagnosed with learning disabilities. The most heart-wrenching chapter is when she talks about aborting her third pregnancy after the amnio found severe genetic abnormalities, and how she read a letter "to my community and to the baby that I killed" in temple at Yom Kippur. It left me breathless.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book for any parent, or for anyone who wants to be a parent. Heck, I recommend it to anyone who's a child. I first heard about it when she was interviewed on NPR, and last week it was listed as #25 on Newsweek's list of 50 best books you should read today. If you're interested, here are the reviews in the NY Times and the LA Times.

Meme stolen from JR

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?
Utilities. I resent having to give up comfort (heat or AC) because of money. And if I turn the thermostat the way I want without regard to cost, the bill is ridiculously high.

2. Do you miss being a child?
Not really. I like being able to eat ice cream for dinner if I want. Plus, I don’t remember the stress levels childhood being any easier than adulthood.

3. Chore you hate the most?
Used to be the litterbox, but now Jonathan does it. :)

4. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
That would be Outback for our 5th year anniversary. It was romantic for about 45 minutes until the babysitter called to say she couldn’t get the baby to stop screaming and to please come home.

5. If you could go back and change one thing what would it be?
I agree with JR: “Nada. I'm not that kind of girl.”

6. Name of your first grade teacher?
Lilian. For about two weeks. Then she skipped me to second grade.

7. What do you really want to be doing right now?
Cuddling with Jonathan on the couch. Of course that means he still has hours to go at work.

8. What did you want to be when you grew up?
An astronaut. I was persistent though - I asked for cash for my Bat Mitzvah gifts so I could go to Space Camp. It was a major letdown when I found out the occupation required an interest in math and science.

9. How many colleges did you attend?
Three: one for the BA, one for the MA, and now HUC.

10. Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?
It matched my skirt, and it’s convenient to nurse in.

11. What are your thoughts on gas prices? We need to be less dependent on foreign oil.

12. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?
Alarm? Hahaha. That would be the baby. I don’t even think anymore, I just roll out of bed. Also, what counts as “morning”? The 2am call, 5am call, or 7am call when he gets up for good?

13. Last thought before going to sleep last night?
Please stay asleep Xander, please stay asleep.

14. What famous person would you like to have dinner with?
Angelina Jolie.

15. Have you ever crashed your vehicle?
Full-on crash, no. Shaving off the passenger side rear-view mirror, yes. I still claim that the pole jumped out at me.

16. If you didn't have to work, would you volunteer?
Absolutely. I’d die of boredom otherwise.

17. Get up early or sleep in?
Sleep in. Though I must admit, I sure do get a lot done when I get up early.

18. What is your favorite cartoon character?
Toss-up between Feivel Moskowitz and Helen Parr from the Incredibles.

19. Favorite thing to do after dinner?
Play with the baby, put him to bed and watch a movie with my husband. God I’m domesticated.

20. When did you first start feeling old?
I don’t feel old. I feel like an adult. I think there’s a difference. Though I will admit, I was a bit thrown when I realized that some of the kids in the 4th grade class where I was a teacher’s aide have now graduated from college.

21. Favorite lunch meat?
Roast beef. Mmm.

22. What do you get every time you go into Wal-Mart?
I don’t shop at Wal-Mart. They fire pro-union workers, have low wages, purposely keep employee benefits to part-time so workers can’t get benefits, pick locations for their stores where they can crush local businesses, and leave pesticides in the open air where they leak into the drainage systems and pollute the environment.

23. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?
Not at all. I don’t necessarily think the government should be involved in it as an institution, but I like it as a commitment ceremony between two people.

24. Favorite movie you wouldn't want anyone to find out about?
Well, if I wouldn’t want anyone to find out about it, why would I write it down?

25. What's your favorite drink?
Peach bellini.

26. Who from high school would you like to run in to?
Trina. She introduced me to Monty Python, RenFaire, and the SCA. Last I heard she was living in Oregon.

27. What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now?
The local pop station. I miss KISS FM.

28. Sopranos or Desperate Housewives?
Sopranos. Though I lost interest when they killed off Adriana.

29. Worst relationship mistake that you wish you could take back?
I don’t think I had one. I learned from everything that ever happened.

30. Do you like the person that sits directly across from you at work?
The students who sit across from me change daily. But my computer screen at the Archives winks saucily all the time.

31. Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purposes?
Nope. And I hope I never do.

32. Last book you finished reading?
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros. She’s a keystone player in Chicana literature. The book reminded me of borderland discussions in dave paddy’s class in college.

33. Do you have a teddy bear?
Does Jonathan count?

34. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?
What a good question! I’d have to say in the dirty bathroom on the overnight train from Prague to Budapest when I was backpacking central Europe with Glenna.

35. Do you go to church?
No. Temple, however, is a different story.

36. How old are you?
Twenty-eight.

Heh, the forward ended on number 36. That’s double chai in Hebrew! [In Hebrew each letter of the alphabet has a corresponding number, and the letters that make up the word “life” add up to 18. So 36 is double 18.]

Un-4th of July

I really used to like the Fourth of July. Fireworks start going off when it gets dark and continue til midnight or so, lighting up the sky with their brilliance.

This looks very different on the other side, now that I have a nine-month old who barely got any sleep last night because fireworks started going off when it got dark and continued past midnight, lighting up the sky with their brilliance.

So on this grumpy July the 5th, Jonathan and I dealt with a cranky, sleep-deprived little boy by doing lots of house errands. We put mulch all over our sanctuary area, weeded and mulched the front flower beds, laid down grass seed in the front and back yards, assembled a table and laid out chairs in the sanctuary, and assembled our porch swing (to be hung later). We were very, very dirty. And the child was very dirty, and still very cranky.

The child is now sleeping. I am very, very grateful.

Why must I always make life harder than it is?

Jonathan and I cleared out the space in back of our garage. We want to make a sanctuary, a private place to sit and think. This includes putting up the hammock we bought years ago in Cancun.

So today, I did what I always do when faced with a problem. I did research. How does one put up a hammock, I wondered? Well, first one buys two 6in wide x 6in long 8ft wooden posts, two 80lb bags of cement, and U-bolts from Lowe's. Then one rents a posthole auger from Sunbelt Rentals. One then digs two 18in holes in the ground, puts the posts in, adds cement, adds water, wiggles the posts to mix up the cement, lets it set for 24 hours, attaches the hooks, and finally, attaches the hammock.

It took me about an hour to figure this out, what with looking online and talking to the people at the two stores. Then Sarah called to say hello. I explained what I was doing.

"Oh," she said. "That doesn't really sound like your kind of project. Have you checked with Sears or LL Bean? You can just buy a hammock stand instead."

ARRGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New York and the Garden State

Last weekend Xander and I spent a whirlwind three days in NY and New Jersey. The first day was mostly travel. We left Cincinnati at 11am and I did my best to tire the kid out at the airport. We sang songs, we played with cups....





And most importantly, he crawled and crawled and CRAWLED all over. He was fascinated by a wheelchair sitting at the gate, so I borrowed it and wheeled it all around. The videos are shaky because I took them while steering the wheelchair in circles.

In this one you hear a man say, "Mommy, I'm tired!" Xander had been crawling for probably 20 minutes now, and had made friends with a family on our flight who were avidly watching him. Everyone always wants to know his name and how old he is.

When we got into NY, we took a cab over to Mara and Mark's. It was truly like a hotel: Mara set out towels, fun magazines for me to read, and even a stuffed giraffe for Xander. After settling in, we walked around her neighborhood in Queens. There is a public square very close to where she lives, and Xander and I took in a clown show. So many colors and so many noises! It was actually a promotion for a local church, but it was lovely to sit there and hear Spanish and Greek spoken right next to me.




We continued walking and had dinner at a cozy Greek restaurant (I always go for Greek when I'm by myself, since Jonathan doesn't like it that much. He always goes for Chinese whenever I'm not around, for the same reason). What diversity there is to be found in NY! More than LA even. Let's not even compare it to Ohio.



Sunday morning we were up bright and early to go with Phil and Alyson to the wedding. We drove through Manhattan and passed many famous sites I'd been to before. Behold, the Empire State Building.




Then came the big event... Xander crawled more in the reception hall while the ketubah was being signed. The wedding ceremony itself was beautiful, and it was a mini-reunion of HUC folk who I hadn't seen in two years. Think of HUC-Cincy but with new people: the baby was held by everyone else until he got cranky, then I rocked him to sleep in the back. The reception was unbelievably fun: I popped Xander in my wrap and danced with him the whole time, and he loved it! When he started to squirm I took him to the lobby to crawl and explore. We schmoozed all night, and someone later told me he won the "cutest baby at the wedding award."

I was too busy having fun to actually take any pictures, so I must credit Dave and his camera phone for all the ones below.

Me and Stephanie.

Smile for the camera!

HUC boys: Dave, Josh, bride and groom, and Phil

For all the rest of the wedding photos go here: The rest of the wedding photos. But warning: if any of you know Mara and Mark and want to see a full display of the wedding, you'll be disappointed. I figure most people who care about the whole thing are on Facebook and will see the pictures there. The ones I downloaded are just of me and Xander.

Monday after the wedding was very relaxing. Unfortunately, I had left my baby carrier in New Jersey, so I had to nix my plans to walk all over Manhattan. That's okay though, it worked out well as there was much less pressure and I was able to keep Xander to his nap schedule. Odelia came by to see us and we hung out for a while, then she came with us to the airport and helped me get through the security line with our bags. Then we said goodbye, boarded the plane, and again, the baby made friends.

All in all, Xander's an excellent traveler, I was so happy to be a part of Mara's wedding, and I was glad to be back in the Big Apple. Go mini-vacations!

Shots from last week

Father's Day! The shirts were my present to Jonathan.

Xander liking his applesauce.

What a smirk! This was when he first fed himself the spoonful. He was very proud of himself.

Simcha and Yentl the cuddlecats. Osher though has really warmed up to Yentl in the past week; they were even grooming each other.

Yentl makes crawling so difficult....

And let baby-proofing commence... the baby is now standing up! I'll try to get pictures soon.