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August 31, 2005

how to make my stomach turn

be Carl Quintanilla on NBC and say that the 1500 (?) policemen and women in New Orleans have been asked, as night falls, to abandon search and rescue missions and instead to focus on curbing looting.

These people have lost everything. Damn. Let 'em get some stuff from Wal*Mart for free. God knows MalWart can afford it.

Posted by mryonker at 09:27 PM | Comments (3)

yeah

right. First read this. Pay special attention to this part: "I was on the phone with my sister tonight outside in the front yard waiting for Jon to call and say that he was on his way home. He has had to work late recently BECAUSE! OF ALL THOSE THINGS WE CAN‘T TALK ABOUT HERE!" Yeah. Ditto.

right. So.

Things going on around here:

H-bear watching The Princess Diaries 2.

J-bear playing Dora on nickjr.com and yellling "Map! MAP!"

J-baby sitting on my lap, eating bean dip with his fingers.

B out, doing his first day of classes.

Me sitting at the dinner table with the lovely zuke soup and some bean dip (b/c the kids won't eat just zuke soup, if they eat it at all).

T, the brother, still MIA.

Yeah. I'll talk about teaching, which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't sweat so much (gah. I'll have to throw away the shirt I wore on Tuesday), a different day.

So yeah. Read dooce. Not me.

Posted by mryonker at 07:06 PM | Comments (2)

August 25, 2005

two day redux

Tuesday:

All day: TA orientation.

Afternoon/Evening: Tyra and I trek to SPAC to see Tori Amos work her magic.

While a longtime, somewhat zealous-less, fan (never bought more than _Little Earthquakes_), I never made it to see her. And since I haven't had cable in nearly 10 years, I haven't seen videos and etc, either. To actually see her (finally) was quite, hm, creepy. Well, not creepy in a bad way. If there can be a non-bad creepiness. But I'm convinced she is a witch. She flew out onto the stage with a non-human grace. Her musicianship is out-of-this world. I mean, who plays the piano with one hand on one side, and plays the organ with the other hand on the other? Her voice is truly one-of-a-kind as well. I was entranced, mezmorized. It was a fabulous, fabulous show.

Yesterday:

Morning: TA orientation. Incidentally, B asked me at one point, "Why do you have to keep attending orientation? Haven't you already done that?"

"Yes, dear. This time I'm an "orientER, not an orientEE."

"Oh," he says. "That makes sense."

Afternoon: We travel as a family unit to Cazenovia, where I'll be working two FY comp classes. I had to fill out HR paperwork, and B wanted to see the village and campus. As we come into the ginger-bread cottage town, J-baby begins making his "ouch" noises. "Ya-ya!" he moans. "Ya-YA!" and grabs between his legs.

I figure he needs a new diaper, and tell him, "Just a minute, honey."

We get to the little house that is the HR building and I go in to get the stack of paperwork. The weather is rather beautiful (and I've been cooped inside for a week), so I take the stack outside, thinking I'll sit on the front porch and watch B chase the boys up and down the sidewalk.

B had changed J-baby's diaper, but J is still crying and grabbing at himself. The minute he sees me, he runs over and grabs me. I am overtaken by guilt and anxiety. I haven't seen J in nearly 36 hours, as I left yesterday morning before he woke, returned home yesterday night well after he went to bed, left this morning before he woke, etc. I realize I have no idea what he's eaten, how much water he's drunk, what injuries, if any, he's sustained, etc. I begin to panic and CANNOT focus on filling out the background check form (where did I live two years ago? shit. where the hell am I RIGHT NOW??)

I return the paperwork to the HR people scribbled furiously. I don't bother filling out half of the application since I've already been officially hired. I rush back to the car, where suddenly the frantic baby-crotch grabbing has subsided and he's happily steering the wheel and changing the radio stations.

Gah.

So we get home and T, the resident vagrant brother, has his van backed up to the house and is steadily packing it with his drums and other various equipment. I pause, wondering if it is a gig, or if he's leaving. I figure I'll ask.

It turns out he's packing to leave, or more specifically, packing his stuff to pawn and then move out. He's angry because I've asked my mom if she will keep Ch (T's daughter) this year, as I am working about twice as much and will be trying to finish exams. Apparently, I've betrayed him by not asking his opinion on the subject first.

Well.

It would be easier to ask an opinion of a person if he were actually around once in a while (not just to come home in the morning to take a shower and then leave immediately), or if he would answer/remember to take with/remember to charge the cell phone I bought him.

But since it wasn't that easy, and since mom's technically, legally, got primary custody of Ch, I figured I wasn't too out of line asking her if she would mind Ch staying this year. God knows Ch is happier with mom. She's an only child there. Here, she's got to compete with my three.

Yeah. So he was mad. And I was already all tanked up on adrenaline from the HR/J-baby incident, that I shook and stuttered as I tried to tell T that if he wanted to move out, that was fine, but that the smart thing to do would be to stay, quit spending his paycheck at the bar, save his money, get his own place, and then try to get custody, if that's what he wanted.

Not sure how effective my big-sister speech was. He left shortly after I tried to convince him we weren't all ganging up on him. And I told him it was admittedly selfish of me to ask mom to keep her, but that I needed to be selfish right then, and that I was entitled to for once put my own needs in front of his. FOR ONCE.

Whatever. I haven't seen him since.

Today:

I woke up at 530, ran 5 miles, attended the Writing Program's Fall Conference, found the buildings I'll be teaching in next week, attended a new part-time instructor orientation. Had various run-ins with people whom I've not been particularly attentive to.

Stress. Hel-lo. Sometimes people suk.

Posted by mryonker at 09:40 PM | Comments (4)

August 22, 2005

a little panic (and a couple keelings over)

well. the perfunctory entry so that the white space doesn't encroach:

This week is the week before classes start.

Today [was]: CCR Community Day. I generally enjoy this function, as it is a rare opportunity for the grad students and faculty to peek in on what one another is doing. Tasty free lunch, too.

Tomorrow and Wednesday: New TA orientation. I enjoy working with the incomings, just because they are full of verve and vigor (and venom, too, which makes things interesting).

Tomorrow night: I'm freeloading on a friend, ganking both ticket and ride to Tori Amos concert. For a rare night out. I may keel over with the thought of it.

Thursday: Writing Program Fall Conference.

Friday: Drive to Erie PA to meet my mom halfway--she's got my Hannah and I MISS HER!!

Saturday: Return home from PA

Sunday: Back-to-Brownies kick-off BBQ

Monday: Classes begin.

Must finish before Monday: tweak WRT 105 syl and calendar. Put up blog for WRT 302 (Digital Writing). Readings, schedule, etc are all compiled I just need to post the entries and downloads, etc. AND must flesh out syl and calendar for EN 101 courses I'm picking up at another local college. And get to said local college to fill out HR paperwork. And prep for meetings with Exam Chair.

Still nursing (at night, only) that crazy baby. I swear, when I get that first full night's worth of sleep, again, I may just keel over.

Posted by mryonker at 08:58 PM | Comments (1)

August 17, 2005

welcome, Damaris!

My dear friend from high school, Damaris, is having a baby. Not something that I imagined would ever happen, mostly because when I left her my junior year, she was the oldest of five children--or maybe was it six?--and I'm sure had had enough of mothering duties by the time she left for college for the rest of her life.

But, apparently not. I've already dissuaded her from reading any posts from my "momness" category, so that while she suffers now as a pregnant lady she'll still feel as though she has something to look forward to.

Oh, I do love my babies. I do.

And today I did NOT nurse J-baby once. Every time he crawled up into my lap and did his little posturing (throw head back, bury face in boob, dig with little hands around to get my shirt up) I told him my milk was all gone. :(

Of course, it's not. I'm feeling all full and heavy now. But the day went surprisingly well. After I'd say, no, it's all gone, I would hold him and hug him and he would kind of lay on me a little, but he seemed to understand and he did not ONCE throw one of his Monster fits.

We'll see how tonight goes. He's still up once a night to nurse, and I'm normally so beat that I just want him to go back to sleep so I throw him in bed with us and let him.

And because you're asking, I'm sure: he's 22 months. I think it's time?

Posted by mryonker at 10:58 PM | Comments (6)

August 16, 2005

vung

Thanks to Deb for her word, "vung," which means (and I gather this only from context): dang, crud, drat, crap, scat.

I say "vung" because today was a doozy. B took a trip to NYC to pick up (what else) an engine. He was gone from 4 am until dinnertime.

From the moment I got out of bed until right now, Joshua (aka Monster Toddler and Destructo Boy) has been AT ME. Right now he happily babbles his nonsense language in the tub. But ALL today he cried at my legs. When I picked him up he cried for me to ____ (not sure, really, what he wanted). He CRIED. And yelled. And cried more.

I spent three hours away from him at a pre-school board meeting, and he was, allegedly, quite good for the sitter (meaning he didn't cry for her).

B assures me that Josh doesn't cry for him, either. Apparently, it's just me.

It is depressing to have a baby cry at you all day. Here, you want to eat this? Want to play with this? I guess if I was smart I would have put him in the tub at 9 am this morning.

Although, now again, he's screaming and screeching. Oh, the humanity. I want to throw him from the window. A first floor window, of course.

Posted by mryonker at 08:14 PM | Comments (2)

August 11, 2005

Frankstock 2005

Sorry for the white space. I have my settings to display the last seven days' worth of posts, and when you go, say, for 11 days without posting, there's nothing to display. Thanks for the heads up, Heather.

Anyhoo: the rundown on the Frank family reunion will probably take a couple of posts/days for me to digest and report completely. It was, in all, a highly enjoyable friendly weekend. I learned several things about myself and my family.

The first: my nagging feelings of not being "good enough" from childhood, which I've managed to squelch as an adult, return full on when I'm among people I haven't seen in 15 years. My car was not shiny enough, my kids not clean enough, my job didn't pay enough, my eyebrows not shaped perfectly enough, my volleyball skills not sharp enough. [Brian points out to me, during the volleyball tourney, that I'm too bossy on the court.]

I have many cousins, most of whom are women and between the ages of 22 and 35, and they are *all* fit, small, pretty, smart. I literally come from a family of beautiful women. My mom and her sisters, all in their 50s now, are all exceptionally good-looking, and were all especially handsome in their youth as well. I'm not saying this just because they're my family, either. 

I just always feel like I'm the one with, you know, skin blemishes and dirty fingernails, and I haven't ridden my bike across Iowa. [yet!]

Whatever. The initial shock of how perfect everyone else is dissapated after a while. We had a pig roast, a moon walk for all the great-grand kids (we had 16 kids between the ages of 2 months and 10 years there), a bon fire, a keg, tamales, barbershop and folk music.

There were, of course, the requisite foibles and rows: the initial site for the reunion (an aunt's house) was nixed by the landlord--but he offered up an empty old house that had 5 apartment units and a large yard instead. I had my doubts about the comforts an unoccupied apartment building would offer to the 7-or-so families who had to travel from out-of-state--but it wasn't horrible. I imagine my aunt spent a good deal of time scrubbing the place before we got there. It was situated about 50 yards away from the railroad that carried the twice-hourly Chicago-to-Milwaukee Amtrak, which shook the building all night and woke kids napping under the trees in the yard during the day. There were no screens in the windows, so during the day we'd hang the doors open to keep the breezes blowing and at night we hung flypaper. Some of the showers in some of the units worked, some didn't; the same went for things like outlets, appliances, etc.

Yes. This was no convention at the Hyatt. But fun no less. Slideshow at flickr to follow.

Posted by mryonker at 09:50 AM | Comments (3)

August 01, 2005

mid-to-late summer happiness

Behold, the best husband EVAR! as he opens, guts, and makes anew the ailing iBook.

Indeed, I did mock him when he proclaimed something "fried" after simply sniffing the damn thing. I should remember, though, that this is the man who, before he purchases a car, takes great care in smelling every single imaginable dipstick. And there are several dipsticks on a car, mind you.

Anyway, he found that the DC power in-board had a melted and cracked heat sink looking thing, and so he found, ordered, and received in the mail today a new one.

My bibliographies, the summer work on Cs online, my in-progress syllabi: all of it safely returned to me. :) Quite happy am I. Quite backing-up-everything-imaginable am I.

***In other news-ish:

Those of you know me know that between me and my great running-and-gardening neighbor, Deb, many many many zucchini and yellow squash are produced. We are always looking for another meal to hide a zuke in. Here I present the greatest soup I've ever made, ever.

5 big carrots
As many zukes and yellow squash you must use to get rid of (2-3 medium--more, if necessary)
1 decent-sized onion

Chop into medallion-sized chunks. If the squash are extremely large, halve or quarter the medallions. Chunk onion.

Put into sauce pan and barely cover with water. In fact, it's OK if about an inch of vegies are sticking OUT of the water. Squirt in enough Bragg's* to color the water (1/4 C, at most). Boil until carrots are soft.

Put in half the vegies, most of the broth, and 8 oz of cream cheese into the blender or food processor until smooth. If you like your soup smooth, stick all the chunks in there. I like some chunks, though.

Pour the carrot-squash-cheese smoothie back into the pan with the remaining broth and veggies. Heat through and serve with some black pepper. Quite tasty, I must say.

*Bragg's is like soy sauce in a salty kind of way. I use it to make broth and in place of soy sauce. Good stuff. Wegman's has it.

Posted by mryonker at 09:38 PM | Comments (8)