abracanabra | Entries tagged with important

Less than two weeks now until the end of school and the onslaught of summer vacation. Phil says I always act like it's this big scary thing to have the kids home and like I won't be able to do anything else for the whole time--and he's right. I do act that way. BECAUSE IT'S TRUE!

Kidding. A little. But I am trying really hard to finish writing the rough draft of Desolation Station before summer hits, and I don't expect to get a whole lot done after that.

Yesterday was my birthday. I didn't go collecting birthday freebies or do much this year, mostly because I was still recovering from Saturday's 5K. It's not as much fun going places when you're using a cane and prone to unpredictable spikes of pain in your knees. But Phil got a fancy "tuxedo" cake, and steaks, and corn on the cob. We had a very tasty dinner--the steaks were *so good*. Grilled perfectly, just short of well-done but still juicy. Penzey's Chicago Steak Seasoning is delicious. The kids got me a candle (Theia) and an "Ignore the Mess" mug (Cassius--very funny, kiddo!). Phil plans on taking me to a home store to buy a new lamp for the bedroom. And then after the kids were theoretically in bed, we watched Inside Man.

The 5K was on Saturday! Theia's been doing Girls on the Run this year, an afterschool program that culminates in running a 5K at the State Fair Grounds with approximately 3,000 other Girls on the Run, their running buddies, and their coaches. Theia needed a running buddy, and it was very unclear if I would be physically capable of this. Phil tried running. Once. And immediately got shin splints that ruled this out. Because of his recent work trip to China and how busy he's been at work with other projects, he didn't have the time to try and scale up training. I've been doing a Couch-to-5K program this spring. I tried this program last year, too, and it went really badly. I was basically always crippled after trying it. This year I was smarter and did a lot of physical therapy work before beginning running. I have really bad knees thanks to post-traumatic osteoarthritis caused by blowing out my ACLs and the surgery that replaced them.

And now I need to rest a bit and do more of my physical therapy exercises to recover.

(time passes)

So now it's one week until the end of school. ::runs around screaming with panic--except I can't run right now:: I am still getting lots of gnomes randomly stabbing my knees with daggers. This is what happens when my knee inflammation flares up and I get meniscus involvement and some other bullshit. I can kinda walk down stairs semi-normally today, though, which is better than the rest of the week. (Edit: nope. Thought I could, and then a gnome stabbed me in the knee while I was going downstairs and I nearly fell down the damn steps.) So that's severely inhibited my ability to do things around the house, plus I need to take time to ice my knees, do physical therapy exercises etc. I am not good at taking that time.

And then our dishwasher flooded all over the floor on Friday. We were able to get an appointment to have the repair guy come out on Sunday and take a look at it. He did, he has ordered new replacement parts for the filter and pump, and when they arrive we will need to make another appointment. In the meantime, we maybe cleaned out the filter enough that it kinda works? With close supervision? (Edit: also nope. It flooded all over the place. Again.) And there have been a lot of handwash dishes, which is a problem for me since standing for long Angers The Knees. But Phil's been great, and I made the kids wash some dishes too.

We had been thinking of maybe traveling to Wisconsin for cousin graduation parties, but appliance repair plans and long car rides being bad for knees nixed that. Instead, on Saturday Theia had a birthday party to attend at Johanna Beach, which is a nice little beach in Arden Hills that I'd never visited before but it was the perfect weather for it. And Phil and I looked around Home Depot and Target and surveyed lamp options for my "new bedroom floor lamp" birthday present. Eventually I concluded that modern lamps all suck (and are too short! what's up with so many modern floor lamps being under 5' tall???) and I'll be buying a Tiffany knock-off from the internet.

The rest of today is basically going to be struggling to get the kids to do their homework. (Edit: That went really badly. 5 hours of being screamed at.) Next week is field trips and special events and school wrap-up events. And then next weekend is 4th Street Fantasy convention for me, a writers' convention that I look forward to every year! As well as Father's Day, so I need to help the kids do something for that.

Hey, I finished a journal entry!

On Tuesday (our first day without kids!), we slept in and then went and got donuts at one of the Lamar's Coffee and Donuts shops (a local chain). They were pretty much sold out of donuts, didn't have a lot of selection, and they didn't have creamer for their coffee, as the worker was kind enough to warn me. So we took our donuts to the coffee shop next door instead, which also meant we had a place to sit and eat.

Then we went to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which is an awesome museum that I can't recommend highly enough. We meandered up the block and saw what else was in the vicinity while we waited for them to open.

The museum presents their collection with care, they have so many interesting stories and historical details and images, and they provide a really in-depth perspective of the rise and decline of the Negro Baseball Leagues. Phil also replaced his much-worn Monarchs baseball cap. Alas, our side quest to find a baseball-shaped ice cube tray was unsuccessful.

We had lunch at the nearby PeachTree Cafe'Teria, which checked off a whole bunch of "eat Southern food while in Missouri" boxes. It was located in a little strip mall next to a "we're classy, damn it" pole dancing exercise joint. I went with the 2 meats, 2 sides option and got meatloaf, baked chicken, collards, and mac & cheese. Phil got all different things except for the collards, plus he got peach pie. All the food was really good, except for the mediocre mac & cheese. We both agreed that the collards were REALLY good, which is not always the case! It was a huge barn of a place that was totally empty except for us, but then we were there at non-peak hours. They had a huge stack of to-go orders rolling out, though. It was a great choice of a place to go while in the neighborhood. Would go again, would recommend to anyone visiting the jazz and baseball museums.

After lunch, we went back to the Jazz Museum, which is next door to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. And there's a discount if you do both, although that isn't widely advertised. This...was a lot less my jam. There was a lot of jazz you could listen to, if you wanted to sit in a booth and play through the songs. And there were some interactive "listen to the difference" exhibits, where we learned that I *definitely* cannot hear the difference without help. It's a cool place, but it's probably best for people who are already musicians to some degree? And while there are interactive exhibits, they aren't the kind that would work well for kids. Their gift shop also did not have novelty ice cube trays, alas, although they did have drum and musical note wooden spoons that were tempting... And coasters of murals, which is a thing for me to remember if I ever do that mural photography project I've been pondering for ages.

On the way back to our rental, we stopped at Crown Plaza shopping center in an attempt to fulfill our side quest. The actual Missouri gift shops were *useless* when it came to novelty ice cube trays! I tell you, it's a shocking oversight. That and stylin' tank tops. Both in short supply. Who wants a t-shirt in hot weather? All that fabric. Ugh. However, there was a fancy culinary store where we acquired trays that make adorable small dolphin ice cubes and huge diamond gem ice cubes that last a shockingly long time in orange juice.

Back on the road, we also happened across a shop that just said BOOKS ! RECORDS ! RECORDS! BOOKS! in huge letters. Later we found out this was Mills Record Company (which explains the t-shirts in the racks) and Wise Blood Booksellers. This also seemed to be the gay area of Kansas City, as we saw a lot more welcoming rainbow flags there than anywhere else. This record/books store is basically the perfect combination for Phil and I, as I am happy to look at books for as long as he is happy to look at records. The book selection was extremely curated and very low on SF/fantasy, but in the used sale section I found a steampunk compendium and a little book about the Greek Art of War. And I acquired my new favorite pair of earrings here, a set of dangling knives with "Killing It" written on them.
They also had a badass ceiling mural.

For an early dinner, we went to Guy Fieri's Dive and Taco Join in the Power & Light District. Because, c'mon, Taco Tuesday. And excessive kitsch. How could we resist? It was kinda weird because there was a large performance stage ringed by restaurants that clearly do most of their business during events. And the elevators to the parking garage were locked, so we had to park and then walk around the block and go up creepy echoing stairs with some graffiti embellishments. But we persevered, because tacos.

And lo, there were tacos. And an assortment of margaritas. It was all tasty, but TBH, I think the chicken trash can nachos and the cheeseburger taco were the best. The gleeful trashiness of tex-mex americana was ... as advertised.

Lots going on the last couple of weeks. The kids had their last day of school on Thursday, June 13th.

Then I immediately turned around and disappeared off to 4th Street Fantasy convention Friday - Sunday. This is an excellent, small literary SF and fantasy convention with single-track programming that I look forward to every year, and it did not disappoint. As always, I came away with my writing notebook full of pages of thoughts and at least a half-dozen new story ideas.

I got home Sunday at dinnertime and immediately had to get everybody packed and ready for a road trip the next morning! No decompression time for me.

We had talked with the grandparents (my side of the family) about sending the kids to them for a week in the summer, and it turned out that the best week for them was the very *first* week of summer vacation! We were not prepared for that. There was some scrambling and last-minute plans, but it all worked out pretty well.

We agreed to meet them in Kansas City and hand off the kids there. So early Monday morning, we dropped off the dog at dog boarding for the week, and the kittens at their previous foster (HUGE advantage to knowing the person you're adopting from!), and drove. As always, Diamond Jo's marked the passage of the border. NOT as always, we also stopped at the Welcome Centers along the way. Victory is mine!

The kids were pretty good on the drive down despite only having one game loaded on an old kid's Fire tablet that they had to share. Cassius had the 2nd Shadow & Bone book, and Legendborn, which we got from our Buy Nothing group. Theia is reading her way through the W.I.T.C.H. manga series, which our library has a very disorganized collection of (with weird gaps).

We got to Kansas City just before dinner time and checked into the AirBnB I'd found in Waldo Neighborhood. It was a convenient driving distance from all touristy Kansas City things, and there were a couple of restaurants etc within easy walking distance. (Listing: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/48080241)

Yes, the "Where's Waldo?" jokes are plentiful there!

It was a small, charming 2-bedroom house on a very busy street. The owners did most of the renovating themselves, which showed in some places, and the modernist decorating. Definitely the right size for a vacation but it would be a challenge to actually live in the house. The kitchen was professionally remodeled and really nice and stocked with basic pantry ingredients and cooking tools, the dining room table was a good height for working on a laptop, the living room was fairly comfortable, and the wifi was strong. The air-conditioning was also powerful (especially in the bathroom), which is very important in Kansas City during the summer! And although the street noise was constant in the dining and living rooms, you couldn't hear it at all in one bedroom and in the other one it was fairly muted. In addition to the large flatscreen TVs, they also had a record player and collection that Phil took full advantage of during our visit.

The biggest drawbacks to the place were the exceptionally tiny single bathroom (seriously, it was so small they had to have a tiny house-style sink, your shoulder brushed the wall when you were sitting on the toilet, and there was literally no room for a wall-mounted toilet paper holder), and the driveway. A narrow driveway on a busy street with a very busy intersection uphill at the top of the block is a serious challenge for getting in and out, but we made it through our visit unscathed.

Anyway, it served us well. They didn't have ice cube trays, for some reason, so finding a (preferably novelty) ice cube tray became a side-quest for our first day in Kansas City.

My dad and stepmom arrived just in time for dinner. Dad wanted BBQ, but Elena's semi-vegetarian and understandably wasn't enthused about the idea! Poor Dad. His desire for BBQ was thwarted. We went to Taj Mahal Authentic Cuisine of India instead. Some of the flavors were a little different from what we're used to (the owner was Punjabi), but the food was really tasty and plentiful and spicy enough that the waiter double-checked with me before making Cassius's order spicy. I said yes, of course, and it was good. No pictures because I was too busy eating.

Then we handed off the kids and went back to the AirBnB to put our feet up in the blessed quiet, while they drove the remaining 3 hours to get home.

I am feeling seriously overwhelmed and not getting much done, because of my stupid hide-from-everything-and-do-nothing-useful reaction to stress.

Halloween was good! Phil thinks we got at least 50 kids. The kids and I were out trick-or-treating for a couple of hours, and they are still eating all the candy they got. As I mentioned before, Cassius was The Hollow Knight and Theia was Artemis. The weather was so nice that they didn’t even need jackets. That’s not a good thing overall, but it was pleasant for Halloween. While walking, we ran into friends of Theia’s who live just a couple of blocks away and go to the same across-town magnet school. Theia was really excited to see Hezekiah especially, so that was great.

There was an incident on Theia’s school bus of one kid looking up “sex” on their phone and showing other kids the resulting video. That’s not great. At least it’s a fairly straightforward “those are actors, real sex in a relationship is different (better!) than that, do you have any questions or feelings?” parent talk. She seems unfazed.

Phil’s promotion finally went through officially, along with a hefty raise to get his salary somewhat closer to competitive! There was so much bullshit he had to jump through around getting this, from applying for a job that he’d been told was “his” to having to “explain” to HR why he wasn’t getting paid what he should be for his current job. Ugh.

Barren yard, with grass seed

My big accomplishment this week was seeding our backyard with bee lawn! Fescue, White Dutch Clover, Self-Heal, Blue-eyed Grass, Yaak yarrow, and Creeping Thyme. This should help support pollinators and also be more pretty and low maintenance than our current grass. The advantage of seeding in fall is that I don’t have to rake the seed in, or water it, or fertilize it. The disadvantage of seeding in fall is that our huge silver maple tree was dropping ALL of its leaves. So it was rake a patch, start aerating the patch, re-rake the patch, finish aerating the patch, re-re-rake the patch, seed the patch, and watch the patch disappear under a layer of leaves. Rinse and repeat. Pondering seeding the side of our house, too, but I’m not sure anything will really grow there what with the dog’s crazy sprints. I also scored some Late Figwort from the Hosmer free seed library (organized by the mom of yet another of Theia’s chance-met friends!) and planted it near the fence, so we’ll see how it grows. It’s supposed to do well in shade and grow up to 5 feet???

12 leaf bags

Today I will vote early and then maybe treat myself to a croissant.

Have I really not made a real diary entry in almost a year? I guess this is how I start most of my updates. Today is Halloween 2022.

Cassius is going as the Hollow Knight from the game, which involves a bodysuit, cape, and mask from Spirit Halloween, and a handmade Needle that he built out of cardboard and various colors of tape. Yay Cardboard Camp skills! We accidentally left it at Grammy’s house in Wisconsin after her annual Halloween birthday party last weekend, but she was able to mail it to us in time. Whew!

Theia is going as Artemis, in a generic “goddess” costume plus a bow and arrow. Both kids are deep into mythology, thanks to the Percy Jackson series and the Greeking Out podcast. And of course I’ve read them various myths and folktales as bedtime stories, since I have a collection of such things.

Last weekend we were in Wisconsin, as I mentioned. Phil went as a Plague Doctor (one of the most popular costumes for a while, I’m guessing) and I had a thrown-together steampunk Mad Hatter kind of getup, because when you already have the fancy Victorian jacket, top hat, and refracting goggles just lying around, you should use them. We helped prep for the party, had a good time, and then turned around and left the next day.

While there, we walked through the Shalom Wildlife Zoo, which is lovely in autumn, and I got some excellent photos of various wildlife. They have baby tiger cubs!

The real excitement there was when Phil’s dad walked out of the bedroom in his tighty-whiteys because he was having a medical incident the night before the party. He’s got Parkinson’s (recently diagnosed) and various blood pressure issues, but it turns out that wasn’t what caused the problem although it means he’s sometimes a bit confused and might not communicate well. Turns out the problem was a kidney stone on the move (ugh). But it was pretty scary for a while, as they called the emergency services and all. The kids were still awake, so they got to have that experience. Fortunately, everything ended well.

...And that’s my time for Monday journaling. Okay, real quick, what else?

Just had parent-teacher conferences. Cassius is doing well in school, mostly As although he doesn’t like having homework every day. Theia scored very low in math. The teacher thinks she wasn’t focused during the test, but she also needs to work on it more.

I’m over 1/4 of the way through my SF novel, Desolation Station.

I’m seeding our yard with Bee Seed as part of the lawns to legumes pollinator project. I’d hoped to do more planting, but I waited too long to get started and all the native plant nurseries have stopped stocking plants. I’m really angry at myself about that.

Phil is finally getting a promotion at work, but they’re managing it in a really annoying roundabout way and he has to justify why he should get a huge raise that won’t even get him up to industry standard and it’s just a pain in the ass right now but it will be great once it goes through.

This weekend I got to go to Alex’s All Hallows party and see the lovely improvements to her house (and finally reclaim my baking pan, LOL), and then our whole family got to go to brunch at Hillary and Doc’s and we got to chat with folks we haven’t seen for ages and the kids loved hanging out with other kids and playing video games. We also did Halloween at Midtown Global Market, I tried the new momo place, we did the scavenger treats thing at Lunds & Byerly’s (worth it!), and trick-or-treated in downtown Edina, which is also always worth it.

I need to figure out how to use Dreamwidth's picture hosting so I can post pictures... Maybe next time (in less than a year! LOL.)

I only had one short story published this year, “Fear of a Stuntwoman” (Fireside Magazine, September 2021, 2,953 words). I am very proud of it! A divorced stuntwoman does what she has to in order to provide for her child. Warning: here there be unsexy, horrifying vampires. Free to read here: https://firesidefiction.com/fear-of-a-stuntwoman

Yes, “Fear of a Stuntwoman” is eligible for fantasy/horror short story awards for 2021. If you nominate or vote in such things, please consider it!

Why only one short story? Well, first ... pandemic. Once the kids were back in school, though, I put all my work time into revising and polishing Scorpion Dance, my lush, escapist contemporary fantasy thriller set on a luxury tour in Belize. It’s now sitting on agents’ metaphorical desks, so I’m getting back to working on more new projects of varying lengths. Yay!

Looking back over what I read that was published this year, I’m reminded of how many great books came out this year that I haven’t read yet. So that’s something to look forward to. Both standout books I read are part of a larger series.

First, Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries series, but it stands alone) by Martha Wells. So much fun! Such a poor, put-upon cyborg who has to keep solving the situations these humans get themselves into.

Second, The Last Graduate (The Scholomance #2) by Naomi Novak. The sentient(ish) magic school wants her to be an evil sorceress, but she just wants to graduate without dying or disappointing her saintly mom. Oh, and also she refuses to be evil because screw other people’s expectations. I love this so much, can’t wait for the next in the series. Best read after reading the first in series.

Short story favorites! John Wiswell’s “We Are Not Phoenixes” (Fireside Fiction, March 2021, 817 words) for its magic & mortality & the aching bittersweetness of life. And very recently, Marissa Lingen’s “Star Corps Crew Manual Section 15-A37: On Mental Dislocation” (Nature, Nov 2021, 847 words) for its hilarious tongue-in-cheek commentary on various dimension-shifting SF tropes and its earnest solutions.

Edited to add a late-breaking short story favorite! The Cold Calculations" by Aimee Ogden (Clarkesworld, 2021, 5540 words). Best story of the year because of all the feels, a course correction long overdue, and a rousing call to action. Highly recommended, hankie required.

Favorite new recipe that I cooked? The garlic aioli from Simply Ming’s steak frites recipe: https://www.pbs.org/food/recipes/steak-frites/ . Of course, making it properly does require cooking a steak. Oh noes. Whatever will I do.

Favorite new skill I learned? Driving! It’s true, I haven’t had a driver’s license since I was a teenager (and then moved to the mountains of India, where only professionals should drive). The pandemic provided the shove I needed to actually re-learn how to drive, and I took the road test early this year so I'm counting it. Although our family still only has one car, being able to drive it myself has given me a lot more freedom of movement.

What are your favorites from this year?

Heh, when I share the editorial from my writing markets newsletter, I usually feel like I'm putting "business" in my personal feed, but I think I did it the other way 'round this month!

Thoughts in Passing

What does re-establishing normal look like? (Note: this is a long one where I'm kinda thinking out loud about boring routine stuff, so feel free to skip to Things Shiny or Useful!) For me, having my kids go back to school is definitely the most important step. My spouse is still mostly working from home (But he got his first shot on St. Patrick's Day 🍀, thanks to being an essential worker. Yay!). I still can't safely sit down to write in a coffee shop or at the library. My writer's groups and other literary events are all virtual. I'm a special guest at a summer SF convention (Diversicon 28: http://www.diversicon.org/), and they're still deciding whether it will be virtual or in-person. But within the walls of my home, it feels normal and that feels weird.

I'm working on fitting everything into a regular routine. "Everything" is a lot, especially since it includes scheduling time to catch up on everything that I let slide during the bad times. Here's my current day-in-the-life schedule:

7:00 - 7:45 AM: Wake up and/or sleep in. I am so not a morning person, but theoretically I'm trying to do the wake up at sunrise and start the day with a little writing thing. Very theoretically.

7:45 - 9:10 AM: Get myself and the kids ready for the day and get them on the school bus. I still feel elated every time I wave goodbye to them!

9:10 - 9:35 AM: Walk the dog, listening to writing podcasts on the way.

9:35 - 10:00 AM: Chores. Cleaning up after breakfast, getting the dishes going, etc.

10:00 - 11:30 AM: Computer time. I turn on my Happy Light for 40 minutes, make myself a mug of coffee, and sit down at my computer. I always start with a #vss365 writing prompt on Twitter. After that, I prioritize deadlines (like this newsletter or paying bills or critiques for my writing group) and handling submissions and rejections. Theoretically then there should be writing. My goal is 250 words, because I should be putting most of my time into editing right now, but I get stir-crazy if I'm not writing at least a little. I'm not a morning person, so I'm not at my most productive during this time.

11:30 - 12:00 PM: Yoga. Physical activity is so important when I spend most of my time sitting in front of the computer. I wasn't able to do yoga while supervising my kids in distance learning, and of course I'm not setting foot inside a gym yet, so this is a great addition to my routine. I've started doing the 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene series on YouTube. I highly recommend it! Putting yoga immediately before lunch makes it part of my regular routine and not something that I have to decide to stop and go do. That's a bundling technique. Physically, it also breaks up the sitting in front of the computer time.

12:00 - 1:30 PM: Lunch etc. I put away screens during this time, and read a physical book while I eat. Reading is so critical for writers! After lunch, it's again with the chores and cleaning and decluttering and trying to dig my way out of the pit o' doom that is my home. I subscribe to a couple of newsletters that give new cleaning missions each day, which helps.

1:30 - 4:20 PM: My butt should be back on my writing seat (I like an exercise ball as a seat. It allows for bouncing when I'm pleased by a particular passage of writing! 😉). My two main writing goals are the aforementioned 250 new words, plus a chapter or short story's worth of revisions. I am still working on getting myself focused during writing time.
4:20 - 5:00 PM: Retrieve children from school bus, get them their after-school snack, and get them into Quiet Time.
5:00 - 7:30 PM: Cooking, eating, and cleaning up after dinner. I am the worst at estimating how long it will take to cook dinner. Seriously, the worst! Sometimes I have a little time at the beginning before dinner if we're eating leftovers or pizza etc. Maybe this is a time I should use for action-needed writing tasks and miscellanea?

7:30 - 9:00 PM: Getting children to bed.

9:00 - ??: Attempting to relax, usually watching TV with the spouse or futzing around with emails and social media, while being frequently interrupted by my night owl child. This is highly unproductive time for me, but I never want to go to sleep at a reasonable time! I really should work on that. I know it would help with the whole waking up early thing...

Challenges, I have a few. I'm working on flipping back into productive mode during designated writing time. I don't have a good scheduled time for my writing-related tasks and miscellanea, and I've got a lot of those to do. I need to make sure that I establish good writing quantity goals, ones that I can sometimes achieve early so I get that burst of brain-rewards and also some free time. Establishing a "done now" achievement point, which is separate from the amount of time I have available, will do that. I hope. Stay tuned and find out!

(Do you have a writing question? Send it to me, either by replying to this email or by using the comment form on my website, and it may get answered in the next newsletter.)

What I've been up to lately, writing-wise:

Same old, same old... I had fun taking two separate staggered submission calls and combining both with one of my story ideas. I've submitted the piece to the first publication, and if they reject it, it will go on to the second! I love deadlines and submission themes, I truly do.

(Full Aswiebe's Market List here: http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/markets.html)

Phil & Abra Staffin Wiebe

& Cassius & Theia

Dear Friends and Family,

Well, this is one hell of a year to try and write a Christmas letter in, isn't it? The pandemic, the Uprising (we live only a few blocks from George Floyd Square), distance learning and working from home, and that's without even getting into the politics of 2020. So much has happened, yet at the same time so little. To quote the Doctor, time is "a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff," and it has never seemed more wobbly.

Phil is still working for Suez Water, but now he is mostly working from home. He has refitted the basement to be his work office, using the ping-pong table as his desk, an old TV as his second monitor, and a rug from India to cushion the icy cold of the tile floor in our unheated basement. He also has an excellent foot-warmer in the form of our black lab dog, Hawk. A few days a month, he has to go in to work to run experiments on the machines, but mostly his life is virtual meetings and data. And driving back and forth to the school to pick up supplies and assignments for the kids, and our weekly school lunch boxes. Thanks to those school lunch boxes, we have enough frozen apples and carrots for the next five years!

Abra had surgery to remove her gallbladder this summer. She'd been trying and failing to use a restricted diet to manage the pain episodes, so once the ban on elective surgeries was lifted, she did the thing. Not losing hours to unpredictable pain episodes is a definite improvement! The other major change in her life is her attempt to switch from being a night owl to a morning lark. Before everyone wakes up is the only time she has to work on writing, so she's been trying to switch her schedule to wake up at 5 or 6 AM. Y'all, this does NOT come naturally! She's been enjoying attending virtual conferences and writing talks that wouldn't have been available before.

Abra has also been supervising the kids' distance learning since they were sent home this spring. It's a full-time process, from the moment they wake up until 5 or 6 PM. It's rough. There is crying and screaming and hitting and biting and running and hiding. Not every day, of course, but too often. We cannot WAIT for the vaccine roll-out. And our kids are some of the ones doing the best in their classes!

Cassius is 9 years old now. He has recently made the strategic decision that pajama pants are the best pants for the whole day. Hard to disagree! He is thriving in advanced math and has started learning piano. He loves all things game-related and is currently obsessed with Minecraft and Terraria. He also loves to read and to play imagination games with his sister.

Theia turned 7 before Thanksgiving. She had a gold- and Trolls-themed birthday decorations all over the house, and she enjoyed a birthday Zoom call and card shower. She loves all animals and insects and the weird in-between critters. Her list of desired pets: bearded dragon, chinchilla, hermit crab, kitten, spider, ant farm, owl, bat, unicorn. Her current goal is to be a zookeeper when she grows up--or maybe an opera singer. She loves everything pink, cute, and unicorn- or fairy-related. She also likes to help Mom cook.

At least in this, the Year of Our Pandemic and Distance Learning, we are all still here (no, literally here, all trapped in one house 24/7). Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, we wish you a 2021 worth celebrating!

With love,

Phil & Abra

& Cassius & Theia

Halloween pic
Christmas tree harvest

Documenting food/medical stuff.

So, I tried pork. It seemed to go fine. But the next day, I had an Episode for the first time in 2 weeks, eating foods that normally haven't caused problems (but the meal did have more grams of fat than I usually try to eat in a sitting, which is a theoretical issue, although I have *also* eaten higher fat content foods without a problem). So I am not so sure pork is okay after all. It could be a trigger A (inflammatory) + trigger B (high fat content) issue. And it's not necessarily immediate.

::scowls in the general direction of food::

On the plus side, I went to Phil's work's holiday party and banquet and apparently chose wisely in what I ate because everything was delicious and I was fine afterward.

Sadly, I'm on an elimination diet to try and see if I can control my abdominal pain (likely gallbladder-caused) that way. It really sucks. I am slowly adding foods back in. So far chocolate is on the nope list. Sob.

Today I tried tomatoes (low probability trigger), and so far, so good! This is my recipe for no-onion, no-garlic (high probability triggers) spaghetti sauce. It was delicious. Seriously, I'm making this again someday regardless.

Ingredients:
olive oil
1/2 zucchini
2 fresh tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
salt
pepper

Directions:

Quarter zucchini lengthwise, then slice quarters. Heat a little olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Add zucchini, salt and pepper to taste. Cook, tossing frequently, until zucchini are soft and beginning to brown. Take out the zucchini and set aside.

Using your food processor with the grating attachment (or a box grater) grate the fresh tomatoes. Add to pan. Add the can of diced tomatoes. Add sugar, basil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes have reduced to the thickness you like your sauce. Add zucchini back in and stir.

Serve over spaghetti.

I try to take Sundays off of social media, but it has occurred to me that what I really mean by that is "fast" social media, the constant churn. So perhaps Sunday is the right day to take 5 minutes to type a longer post. And there is one such post that ought to be done!

Cassius recently turned 7. Seven!! How is this possible?!? He starts 2nd grade tomorrow, and he's very excited to go back and see his school friends again. He says that he's met the teacher one time before. He seemed comfortable with her at the school open house, so that's great. This year he is no longer in Early Childhood Special Education, so he won't be getting the same kind of assistance and interventions. Fingers crossed that everything goes well! He seems ready. His fine motor strength has improved a lot, and if he's still a little socially awkward, well, who among us isn't?

At age 7, Cassius is full of thoughts and full of chatter. He finds it exceptionally difficult to stop talking unless he's reading a book. His reading has really taken off in the last few months. He's reading chapter books on his own, and loving it. He particularly likes nonfiction, whether it's about dinosaurs or the pyramids or inventions or engineering.

When he grows up, he wants to be a scientist or an engineer or an architect. He thinks maybe a toy engineer, although recently he's also discussed game design as something he's interested in.

He is very happy that we have recently acquired a dog. A Dog Called Hawk is a one-year-old, 60 lb, black lab with all the energy and self-control of a puppy.

Cassius loves playing Pokemon, whether it's Pokemon Go (anybody want to be friends?) or the card game. He also likes reading all about the Pokemon. He has recently started watching Lolirock, which I can only describe as magical girl rock star anime. He really likes shows in that kind of genre. He's started tackling a half-size Rubik's cube. He really enjoys building Lego kits.

Cassius is very sensitive and concerned about other people's feelings. He has fears about losing his parents/family in a crowd, and about being left behind. He is 100% lawful-good. He is extremely concerned about following the rules and making sure others do the same. He does not like scary movies (unlike his younger sister) even if things turn out okay.

Challenges: when he gets upset, he tends to run away from us if we are out and about (like in a grocery store or at the mall), which isn't safe and which we are working on. He'll also sometimes just refuse to walk. Apparently nonviolence resistance techniques are genetic. Who knew? He and his sister love each other (they missed each other so much on the recent son-daddy trip to Wisconsin) very much, but they also tussle constantly and do things deliberately to tick each other off. But they hate being separated. Oof.

Brother and sister reunited

We have returned safely home from our trip to Wisconsin for the funeral of Phil's grandmother, Romayne. There was (just our) family cabin time and snow and more travel and funeral and funeral ham with cheesy potatoes and then the kids besieging their teenaged cousins and (extended) family stories and drinking and family gossip and very poor sleep (because my three-year-old has been waking--and staying--up at 3 AM, and also that hideabed was awful) and the most country kitsch motel I've ever seen, let alone stayed at.

Today there was a lot of driving home. The kids had predictable we-hate-traveling meltdowns and less-predictable we-hate-chicken-nuggets meltdowns. We made it home, hitting the beginning of rush hour traffic. Then I found and cleaned up all six places the cats had puked and pooped around the house, changed the cat litter, and wrangled the kids through dinner and homework and baths and bed.

And nobody killed anybody.

And I am all disoriented due to travel and missing work/school days and daylight savings time starting, so I thought today was Wednesday and I was going to save this to post in Small Victories Wednesday. It is Tuesday. I am still very proud of this victory, though, so. Posted.

Hello there!
I'm Abra Staffin-Wiebe, a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. I've had short stories appear at publications including Tor.com, Escape Pod, and Odyssey Magazine. When not writing, I shoot photographs, collect folk tales, and wrangle two small children, three large cats, and one medium-sized mad scientist. You can find out more at my website: http://www.aswiebe.com/.

Upcoming events and appearances

4th Street Fantasy Convention
St.Louis Park, MN, June 17-19, 2016

CONvergence Convention
Bloomington, MN, June 30 - July 3, 2016

Térata Extravanganza!
Big V's Saloon, St. Paul, MN, July 24, 2016
http://www.meetup.com/MinnSpec/events/232398314/
A delightful event filled with music, art, and dark fiction!

Submit It Now! Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Short Stories
Teaching 2-day workshop at The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis
August 6th AND August 13th
Openings are limited. Register now!

MidAmeriCon II (AKA WorldCon 74)
Kansas City, MO, August 17-21, 2016

Other Places Online

Note: I don't usually post the same thing in multiple places, except for my market list updates, new publications, and other major news (writing-related or not).

http://www.aswiebe.com/ - The best place to find things I've written.

Livejournal - Here! I don't post as often on Livejournal as I used to, but I tend to keep my longer daily life posts and the important updates over here, along with the occasional photo or recipe post.

Facebook - Short updates about my life, bemused writing-related comments, as well as random links I enjoy or find useful. You know. I use it like most people do.

Twitter - Mostly SF/F and writing-related posts these days.

Goodreads - Strictly business. This is my author account on Goodreads, not the personal one that I deluge with my to-reads.

I also occasionally post on Google+, Pinterest, Flickr, and Ello.

It feels like this week has been full of socializing, although that's partly because any week where I see friends more than once feels crazy-busy!

It also feels like this week has been horrible for productivity, and that is true for a couple of reasons. Primary among them is that I have been a bit stuck in the two novels that I'm writing in parallel. Not stuck as in I-don't-know-what-to-do-next, but stuck as in I-need-to-plot-the-next-bit (side project Codename Dragon Succubus) and I-need-to-do-lots-of-research-first-and-I-don't-wanna (main project Real Name Scorpion Dance). And I've been feeling somewhat stressed and responding to it in my usual unhelpful avoidance way. Grr.

Speaking of which, notice how I'm writing a journal entry now instead of writing? Sure, my goal is to write a journal entry every week and it's been over a month since my last one, but that doesn't mean it isn't avoidance. It just means I am super-well-supplied with other things to do. Like sort through the thousand-plus emails in my inbox, which is next on my avoidance plan for the day. Oops, sorry, this is my Mother's Day Away. Make that my "Relaxation Plan." There, that sounds better.

I've started using my gym membership to the YMCA, which is going pretty well. During the week, when Cassius is in preschool, timing doesn't work out so well for me being able to go and take a full class and use whatever's left of the 2 hours of free babysitting to write, so I usually just hit the machines for a while, shower, and then edit for a half-hour before I have to pick up the kids and get on a bus to take Cassius to preschool (his preschool is in the afternoon). I do like the working out part, though, even if I wish I could make my time usage there more efficient to take advantage.

Also, annoyingly, even though we won a month of "Whole Family" membership, that doesn't mean I can get the member rate for Cassius' swim lessons. You have to register about a month in advance for that, and you have to have the child be a full member both IN ADVANCE when you register, and AT the time of the lessons. Grr. Ripoff. Still getting him lessons, though. Just not sure if family membership is going to be worth anything more than my individual membership, because it doesn't really get us anything extra.

Our poor girl kitty is slowly improving. We found out a couple of months ago that she had kidney failure, which led to near-lethal high blood pressure, which led to lethargy, refusal to eat, and one of her eyes having blood vessels rupture inside of it. She already had cataracts and so was mostly blind, but with that, she became completely blind on that side. I don't know if her sight will come back (even slightly) once the blood has all left the eye. It was totally black, filled with blood. Now I can see the rim of her iris again and there's a pale pink cloud in the center of her eye where the blood is slowly being reabsorbed. Her blood pressure is under control with 2x daily medication. And apparently cats can live with kidney failure for several years, although it's best if they eat a special diet for animals with kidney failure, and she's picky.

Lots of fun with socializing lately.

A pack of Phil's female relatives came up from Wisconsin to visit. We drove through downtown looking at all the lights that turned purple in memory of Prince. We went bra shopping at the Mall of America (so much not fun, but necessary). We ate at IKEA and they went shopping while I lounged on a couch and fiddled with edits. We went to Surly Brewery, where they were sad that they could not purchase growlers and I learned why they have so many glasses from drinking establishments they've visited on "girls weekends." Then we went to Betty Danger's Country Club (by the owner of Psycho Suzi's), enjoyed the ferris wheel tremendously, ate the delicious foods, and utterly failed in our attempt to visit her other two establishments, partly because the designated driver doesn't parallel park ... and this is the city.

Dave had a biking pub crawl birthday party where he asked the guests to be made up as "subtle" clowns. I was able to make it to the Eastlake portion of the night. Our whole family went to the Sabathani Prince block party earlier in the afternoon, where we mostly watched the kids go down bouncy house slides and bounce around in the bouncy maze. Total madhouse. Cassius also asked for a snowplow balloon animal, which was a real challenge for the balloon clown. I asked for a snake with pop eyes, which I gave to the birthday boy later. Also managed to get face paint done for the clown birthday party at the prince block party. Multitasking!

The rest of the week(ish) in brief:

May in Minneapolis means the May Day Parade. Thanks to Drew's friend Anna for letting us join the house-and-lawn party that she throws during the parade. I took many pictures.

Cassius brought home baby chicks from preschool, and we successfully kept the cats from eating them during their overnight visit. Cassius is good and gentle with chicks. Theia not so much.

Cassius lost Theia and I in the library, freaked out, and ran out of the building, only to be caught a block later. So scary. Spouse yelled at me a lot. Full story from Fb: We were at the library in Uptown. I took Theia into the bathroom to change her, and when I came back out, Cassius was GONE. Not in the kids' play area, not among the book shelves, not in the sitting area. Turns out, he didn't hear me tell him where we were going, freaked out when he didn't see us, and RAN OUT OF THE LIBRARY (after us, he thought). Thank God for the concerned stranger who came back to find me, the ones who pointed which direction he'd gone, and the ones who stopped him and helped. He made it about a block away, in the direction of his preschool (also in Uptown). Most of us have that "I lost my parents" (in the grocery store, etc.) memory. I think this is going to be the one that sticks for him.

CenterPoint repair guy actually had the part required to make our dishwasher mostly functional again. Amazing.

Thursday, I made it to Electra's graduating senior art reception, admired the art (hers was sealife-themed), and took lots of pictures that I now need to edit and watermark. Then we went to the Riverview Cafe and chatted over yummy brownies.

Friday, I went to my old friend Jason's birthday party, tasted kava for the first time, and saw it prepared ... burlesque-style. More pictures were taken. The stuff looks like off-colored, watery milk, smells like dirt with an acrid undertone, and tastes like nothing much although the aftertaste is pretty awful. The first effect is a tingling tongue. The effect it had on me seemed to be a sharpening and clarity of sight and sensation. No idea if that's how most people feel, as I had to leave then. Silly buses and their schedules.

Saturday, I was peopled out. Morning, went to the gym. Took a weightlifting/body pump group class. Afternoon, went to coffee shop, plotted/adjusted the plot for the rest of the side project (Dragon Succubus), and wrote some. Spent the night fighting with trying to figure out watermarks and custom brushes and why it wasn't working damn it. Figured it out, eventually, but still need to manage batch watermarks for things I don't edit before uploading (like May Day photos).

Today is Mother's Day. I slept in a lot. Made myself French toast. Left to go to a coffee shop until dinner, which is where I currently am. Cassius being in two preschool classes meant I got two Mother's Day presents from him! I got a shiny bead-and-button bracelet that has a whole lot of gold buttons and some red and green flower beads, and a bar of soap that he felted with sheep's wool during their field trip to Gale Woods (which he loved--he says he likes spinach now).

Oh, and also the car died in the middle of the highway and Phil had to get it fixed. So that happened.

Oof. Just checked the internets and learned there was a mass shooting (disgruntled employee version) in/near my Kansas hometown. The main shooting was in nearby Hesston, my mother's hometown, but it sounds like someone was shot in Newton, where my dad still lives.

I'm lousy at making phone calls and writing letters to people I care about, because I'm always busy and I think there will be more time later. That ain't always the case. Talk to your loved ones, people.

Since we didn't get this out by Christmas ... or New Years ... I suppose this qualifies as a Valentine's Day Letter? Happy Valentine's Day! Hug the ones you love.

Unlike the unusually warm first part of winter, our year has been blessedly ordinary, with no calamities or commotions (knock on wood). Cassius began preschool this year. Theia started talking up a storm and developing one heck of a personality. Phil's work went crazy. All of these changes are the kind that occur as time goes on. We even managed to find a little time to have our first real family vacation (not work-related, not visiting extended family) in November.

For the last few months, Phil has been working more than ever, as his company starts using a new machine to make new products. They've had all the problems and late hours that one would expect from any start-up project. Phil's been working 14- to 16-hour days on a regular basis, which means that I've been doing a lot of single-parenting. Originally, this was supposed to be done by end of the year, but since things haven't been going well, it looks like it will continue on into the new year. Oh, goodie.

Cassius has started preschool. He absolutely loves it, although he is more interested in the toys than in the other kids. We've also learned that he has a fine motor skills delay that makes drawing and writing more difficult for him, and a social/emotional development delay. He'll be getting assistance with that beginning this year.

Although Abra's had the usual two-small-children difficulties with finding time to work on her own projects, she's sold a few short stories this year and there are other developments on the horizon. Most recently, "In Their Image" is up as a podcast AND as text over at Escape Pod! Warning: contains religious philosophy. And fluffy pink murderbear aliens!

Overall, next year looks like it will be a good one, as various work projects come to fruition, the kids grow more independent, and more adventures are planned.

Phil & Abra

& Cassius & Theia

Fifteen minutes to describe what's been going on in my life since my last journal entry of 11/9/2014, more than three months ago.

Is too much. I will sum up.

Phil had his first work trip to California of the year, so I had a week of single-parenting it. Mostly everything went okay. On the last day of his trip, I even managed to wrangle two small children onto the bus to the Midtown Global Market DMV to renew my instructional driver's permit! It was an epic trip. First the DMV (and I highly, highly recommend this location--5 PM on a Friday afternoon and the wait was only about 10 minutes!). Then we watched adorable kids doing traditional Chinese dancing, including the Lion Dance, to celebrate the Chinese New Year in MGM's main area. Cassius got to "feed the lion" by holding out a red envelope with a dollar in it. He liked this idea a lot. Holy Land for a dinner that was only a moderate success, since I ordered poorly and spent too much for food that the kids didn't eat (the leftovers were delicious, though, and Holy Land's fries have officially replaced those of McDonald's in my affections, something I thought would never happen). After a half-hour in the extremely popular play area, I hauled the kids out under protest. We swung by Chicago-Lake Liquor (since I had a valid ID again) and back to the bus stop, where there were a variety of future Jerry Springer contestants waiting for the bus. Fortunately it was all talk and I didn't have to explain anything to Phil about why our offspring were traumatized.

I finished the-story-that-took-forever-to-finish! I got through all the finicky changes and details and whatnot for A Circus of Brass and Bone. So pleased that I got that wrapped. There are still three tiny typos that I have to wait for a long enough sales lull to fix. I'm not sure if it'll pick up any momentum beyond the initial friends-and-family sales, but I don't have a marketing budget to throw at it, so I'll just have to wait and see. I'm taking one day every week to work on PR stuff. It is like pulling teeth to get reviews, though, even (especially!) customer reviews on Amazon etc. Gah. The marketing hat is uncomfortable on my head, but I'm doing my due diligence. I owe it to the story. I feel like there are a lot of people who would get something good out of the story, but who will never even know it exists. Sadface.

Um. My journaling time is up, but other stuff happened too! Working on getting Cassius into preschool, working on getting Cassius potty-trained (related), readjusting to having any free time, horrified by the state of my house, intimidated by the state of my short story editing backlog, looking forward to the next project but wanting a clearer deck before I start it but also wanting to get to it before I lose my enthusiasm, and a whole bunch of developmental advances by Theia, who is now getting the hang of walking and talking and acting almost like a toddler instead of a baby! Sniff.

A Circus of Brass and Bone has launched! It's now available for purchase in trade paperback (on Amazon) and in ebook format at major online retailers.

If you would enjoy escaping into a post-apocalyptic steampunk novel about a circus traveling through the collapse of civilization, you can find the purchase links below.

A Circus of Brass and Bone

It's the end of civilization, but the show must go on.

The Loyale Traveling Circus and Menagerie is in turmoil. During their ocean voyage from British India to Boston, someone murdered their ringmaster. The killer must be one of their own. Unfortunately, that is the least of their problems.

While they were at sea, an aetheric calamity sent a wave of death rolling across the world. In post-Civil War America, a third of the population died outright, and many of the survivors suffer strange nervous symptoms that are steadily increasing in severity. Basic technology is also rendered dangerously unstable by the disaster. The circus members find themselves traveling through the collapse of civilization. In such desperate times, what use is a circus?

If they can defend themselves against the starving populace, if they can outwit and outperform the political factions that have seized power, if they can fight off the ravening monstrosities born of the aether storm ... they just might find the answer.

Trade paperback: $13.99, Ebook: $3.99

If you're still undecided, try reading the free novelette, A Stranger Comes to Town: A Circus of Brass and Bone Adventure! (Also included in A Circus of Brass and Bone.)

A Stranger Comes to Town

An aetheric chain-reaction sends a wave of death rolling around the world, warping living beings and aether-based technology alike. In one afternoon, trains go from being the power that pushed civilization out to the frontier, to being very expensive sheds of scrap metal, filled with rotting produce and dying cattle. Cities go hungry.

The farmers are in hardly better shape than their former customers in the city. Some trees bear withered fruit, while gobbets of exploded fruit flesh drape the limbs of others. One wheat stalk might be strong and firm, but its neighbor disintegrates to dust at a touch. Harvesting crops takes more work, but yields less food. People try not to starve, using a variety of tactics.

The Loyale traveling circus survives the aether storm mostly unscathed and decides to continue touring despite the difficulties. When the circus comes to Seppanen Town, all seems well until a ragged fugitive plunges into their camp and begs for sanctuary.

Smashwords | Google Play | B&N | and many others

(Currently $.99 on Amazon, will be free once price-matching catches up.)

And don't forget--there's nothing wrong with hoarding books!

hoardnotext

#SFWApro

I'd planned on writing a 6-month update for Theia, but instead it is apparently going to be a 7-month update! The delay in writing about her is related to her existence, too.

Theia is currently a fairly healthy baby. Parapertussis is only making her cough a little bit. Her "eczema" has stayed gone since we stopped treating her with an anti-fungal and switched baby soap and laundry detergent. She hasn't had any soy/dairy problems since Mother's Day, so if all stays clear until August, I'll actually get to eat a bit of dairy and see if she's okay with it! One month to Caesar salad, baby! Ooo, or maybe a donut. Or just a block of cheddar cheese. Or mac 'n cheese! Or--okay, some planning still needs to be done. Do you know, it's almost two years since I've been an omnivore? I really miss it.

Her 6-month doctor's visit went well. She is a remarkably tall baby, very strong, with a great reach (that allowed her to snag the doctor's big hoop earrings). She got her shots. She also got complimented on how much she likes being on her tummy and how well-shaped her head is. At six months, she weighed 17 lbs., 10 oz. (74th percentile) and was 2 ft., 4.35 in. tall (99th percentile), for a BMI of 15.4 (15th percentile). So it would be nice if she were fatter, but at least she's staying on her growth curve, and her development is at a normal pace. Unfortunately, her doctor is switching to working in the hospital, so we've got to switch doctors on her. We had this problem with Cassius, too.

She is quite tall, as you can see from those stats. At six months, we moved her into the 18 month clothing size. She isn't chubby like many babies are, so I fear that she's inherited the Staffin super-skinny-until-30 body type. That always leads to lots of fun conversations with pediatricians. She has also inherited Phil's blue eyes. I can only hope she got his fighter pilot eyesight, too. Her hair is blonde and very fine. The poor thing got my hairline. Her tramp-stamp birthmark hasn't faded yet. Aside from that, she's still young enough that it's hard to guess what she'll look like when she grows up, but she and Cassius are *very* clearly brother and sister.

The kids get along really well, although sometimes Cassius wants to roughhouse with her, and she really isn't old enough yet. There's lots of, "Giving her a hug is great, but crawling on top of her or rolling her over is not. No, not even if you're being a snake." Lots of hugs, lots of ugga-muggas, lots of holding hands, lots of playing with baby toys together, lots of trying to push her in her swing. On her side, there's lots of squealing happily at him, waving her hands toward him, crawling after him, and grabbing big fistfuls of his hair. Earlier today Cassius crawled on the floor ahead of Theia so she could chase him, and then they had a crawling "race" side-by-side along the floor. The cuteness, it is ridiculous.

She is army-crawling very well, although she has yet to lift her tummy off the floor. Cassius never did, so she may not. Who knows? I'm really happy we bought a playmat for her to roll around on and practice her sitting up and rolling over and crawling on *without* banging her head repeatedly against our hardwood floor. Things learned as a second-time-around parent! Other developments . . . She is very good at grabbing things with her hands and passing things from hand to hand. She has mastered sitting, though she preferentially rolls onto her tummy and lounges that way. Or crawls. She recently started babbling syllables. Phil was over the moon the day that she decided the best thing to say, all day long, was "Da-da!" That may be her first word, though I don't know if it counts if she's not actually speaking yet. I think she's going to be a thumb-sucker, although she prefers her toes when she can get them.

Her favorite activities include crawling all over the living room, hugging and nomming on cats, bouncing in the johnny-jump-up, grabbing her brother's hair, grabbing people as they walk past the johnny-jump-up, and being cuddled.

She's showing interest in food, so we'll start that soon. She's tasted some brownie with raspberry sauce, some orange juice, and some cherries.

A normal day has her waking up around 6-7 AM, taking a morning nap from 9 AM - 11 AM, an afternoon nap from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, and going to sleep for the night at about 9 PM. She's sleeping through the night almost every night right now. No teeth yet, so I'm sure that'll change once she starts teething. She nurses about every hour and a half. After nursing, I try to keep her upright for a few minutes in the bug exersaucer or the johnny-jump-up. When she's no longer interested in standing, she gets to lay in the kitchen swing or crawl around the living room, depending on what she tolerates and where I'm trying to do household chores.

The Saturday before Easter, my father married Elena, a long-time family friend. We left Wednesday afternoon, took two days to drive down to Kansas, and drove home in one shot on Easter Sunday.
( Read more... )

Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

Being the journal of an all-too-human writer, reader, and eater of deliciousness

5K, End of School, Etc.

Kansas City, Day 1

Kansas City Day 0

Halloween and Bee Lawn

Halloween Season

Year in Review: Favorites of What I Wrote, Read, Cooked, and Learned

Day in the Life

Merry Christmas, 2020

What's My Beef With Pork?

Recipe: No-Onion, No-Garlic Spaghetti Sauce

Cassius, Age 7

Home From the Funeral

Welcome!

This Week ... Sick Cat, Lousy Productivity, Kava, Lost Child, Gym!

Time is not infinite

Happy Almost-Valentine's-Day!

Hey, look, I have a life too!

Post-Apocalyptic Steampunk Launch Day!

Theia at 7 Months

My Dad's Wedding

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