Rethinking

I've had a bit of trouble fitting in my blog writing. I need to figure out a schedule that will work for me. I have more that I want to say than I have been writing these past few nights, but I've been too sleepy to try to figure out the words. I'm trying something new tomorrow, so we'll see how that works.

Perchance to Dream

Instead of writing, tonight my husband and I curled up on the couch and watched an episode of Once Upon a Time followed by an episode of Castle. Now it's time to sleep.

Grandparents are Wonderful

My parents have taken the little bear on a walk. I think the plan was to head toward the playground. If she fell asleep on the way, then they would walk until she woke up; otherwise, they would play for awhile and then hopefully get her to take a nap on the way home.

I love it when my parents visit. We have extra people to help entertain the little one, which is always wonderful because it allows us to either relax a bit or to get more school work done (or a little bit of both). The baby was congested and fussy this morning, so my father came into the bedroom and took her out to the living room with him. They walked around and the little bear slept for an additional hour and a half. And so did I! It was great.

No Post Today

This post is in direct opposition to the title. I think. Anyhow, nothing of substance today - I'm too busy getting work done and visiting with my parents.

Quick Takes

1. My parents will be here in a few minutes, so I have to keep this short.

2. The baby was up until almost 11:00 last night. She just would not fall asleep. Needless to say, she is now very grumpy.

3. Speaking of grumpy, I need to go play with her now.

4. It'll be nice to have a couple of extra pairs of hands on hand this weekend.

Dancing - No Stars

The lights shined down on the four remaining couples on the stage. We had lasted through many elimination rounds to get this far; if we made it through this one, we'd be in the finals.

I still don't know how I convinced my husband to do this with me. He hates dancing. But I saw the advertisement and, somehow, he knew that I wanted to do this so much that he immediately agreed. We entered the competition, which was loosely based on "Dancing with the Stars" but without the stars (and with expert dancers only teaching, not competing). Instead, professional dancers taught everyday couples how to dance. The twist was that each member of the pair chose a different style of dance and then a routine was created that was a fusion of the two styles.

The other three contestant pairs looked beautiful - they were practically sparkling. In comparison, I felt like we were wrapped in plaid flannel. (That wasn't the case, but there's no accounting for nerves.) It was our turn next. I moved into position and closed my eyes. Everyone else had chosen sexy, popular dance styles ... flamenco or hip hop or something equally exciting. What did we choose, him and me? Ballroom dancing and Irish step.

The music started. I opened my eyes. The baby was laying beside me, wide awake and telling me that it was time to start the morning.

I've Got Nothing

The title says it all - I've got nothing to say today. I could talk about how thrilled I am with the election results (very), or about how Little Bear does the Rumpus when we read Where the Wild Things Are, but I'm too tired. I think it's a combination of staying up too late last night with the cold/allergies that I'm experiencing now. Blech. Time to curl up with a book and some hot chocolate.

I'll be back tomorrow with more pep in my writing.

Voting PSA

Public Service Announcement:

Writing Rhythms

I know that I write best in the morning. During the last semester that I was writing my Master's thesis, I would often get up around 6 or 7 and write for an hour or two before eating breakfast and changing out of my pajamas. With having the baby, though, I can't seem to get into any kind of morning writing rhythm. The time change means that Little Bear has woken up earlier than normal the past two days, so maybe we'll get into an earlier routine and I'll be able to fit in some morning writing.

Today would have been perfect for giving me an hour or so of uninterrupted writing time because my husband was going to take the baby to the toddler story time at the library. But he woke up with a cold, so I ended up taking her instead. It's now early afternoon, which is when my brain barely functions. The baby is napping, but I can't kick my mind into gear. It feels rather fuzzy, actually, which makes me think that I'm coming down with the cold too. Well, that and the running nose.

Anyhow, I have a few sentences here, and a few there, and I need to mesh them together into some sort of coherent paragraph or two. Wish me luck.

Dirty Laundry

I spent the day doing laundry. For most people, that would involve sticking clothes into the washer, transferring them to the dryer (or putting them on the clothesline, for the environmentally friendly), and putting the clean, dry clothes into a basket to be folded sooner or later. For those unfortunate enough to not have a washer at home, the same steps would be taken at a laundromat.

We do not have a washer and dryer. And our laundromat is very, very expensive. Especially when my standing bribe to get my husband to do the laundry all the time (rather than alternating with me) was to allow him to go to a cafe during the drying cycle. I used to wash the laundry using a plunger. Thankfully I gave up that insanity after the baby was born. Now I use a mini washer that sits on my counter and I wring out the sopping wet clothes with a spin dryer. It doesn't take as much time as plunging the clothes, but it is still rather time intensive compared to the modern method of clothes washing:

Fill up washer with water, soap, and clothes ... in 10-15 minutes, put soapy clothes in sink and put more dirty clothes in washer ... rinse soapy clothes ... put rinsed clothes in spin dryer ... rearrange clothes because it's unbalanced ... shoo baby away from spin dryer ... rearrange clothes ... shoo baby away ... pull some clothes out ... run spin dryer ... put wrung out clothes in laundry basket ... spin second half of load ... take clothes outside and hang them on the line to dry ... repeat. Ugh. My insanity knows no bounds.