teensleuth 

Such a great day with Ro.  Long morning walk followed by housekeeping while chicken napped, then great walk in Laurelhurst park, where we saw a double crested cormorant, several hooded mergansers, many mallards, and some Canada geese in the pond. Jess & Elsa joined us.  Spent evening writing my new syllabus, still a work in progress.  Ro scratched me in a moment of frustration, then said "sorry mommy hurt you" and hugged me. 

Painted, had brunch with Jill, Eric & Jascha, and tidied up a bit.  Fun at the playground. 

Really excellent day.  Made great progress with painting the Cat Room, had lovely supper at Adam & Mimi's (Ro ate her weight in chard & Jerusalem artichokes) and babysat for young Jascha, 2.  Ro slept while he was here, so Jascha and I walked down to Pistils & peeked at the chicks for sale, then hit the coffee shop.  It was pretty fun to see people double-take us--Ro and I walk on Mississippi a lot, and people were clearly having twilight zone moments--isn't her kid younger?  and a girl?  I can't believe I forgot to write about the best part of Wednesday.  Ramona's toddler class did an art project.  The idea was to make a piece of art that could travel as a testament to why you should let your toddler get messy & paint.  The teachers stripped the gang down to diapers & aprons, gave them trays of paint and pine branches as brushes, and set them on a big sheet of fabric, which they had at.  Luckily for me, I was fulfilling part of my 10 hours per term parent involvement, so I got to be there.  The results are to travel to the Clark county fair, a library, and the campus art museum, along with pics of the kids at work.  I so love this daycare--heads up, Ben & Laura--it's cheap, and Clark is always looking for ESL teachers!  Here's a pic of that good stuff. 

Lots of neighborhood walking with Ro plus painting in the former Cat Room of our house, about to be the study & home to our new computer, an Imac, which is awesome.  Also walked to pizza after painting--major house projects or moving must end in pizza.  Big media week for me: I was interviewed by the Trib as a "Mom involved in the arts" on account of the reading series.  That article comes out in April.  I think I was kind of coherent.  Then left Ro with Jill & Eric for a Blazers game.  Blazers won by not very much, though their opponents have the worst record in the West. But we did get free chalupas, as they scored more than 100.  Most of these steps are due to parking hell and gone from the stadium.  Also playdated at 8 this morning with a colleague's kiddo, very fun.  Ramona now says "love you mommy" along with "zebra" and "penguin".  Here's a pic of our neighborhood woodpecker, the Northern Flicker, my fave. 

Kid stroll, accompanied by a photographer and a reporter from the Oregonian.  I contacted the paper to see if they'd report on the crews illegally maiming our neighborhood cherry trees to sell the branches to florists and yuppies in the Ikea parking lot.  Showed them the dying trees and talked with them about the problem while Ramona slept in the stroller and Vera tugged at the clip-on waist leash.  We all posed for pictures by a sad cherry that will not bloom this year.  Then took Ramona to a day of campus daycare I'd already paid for anyway, but as I'd finished grading went for services in NW--as a street roots volunteer, I get a free service at Aveda once a month (a cool program to reward volunteering).  Got a facial that rocked & took my new face to solo sushi off 23rd, where I didn't read Tristram Shandy as planned but found a copy of People magazine on the bench.  Strolled among the pretty folk and unwound.  Then hit Kinko's, where I made color copies of birds commonly seen on campus & spent the evening post-kid sleeping making a display for Ramona's daycare by pasting pics to large pieces of paper & writing in block print things like "I AM AN ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD.  I AM A VERY COOL BIRD! I FLAP MY WINGS SO FAST TO FLOAT AND ZOOM, AND I LIKE TO DRINK NECTAR AND EAT SPIDERS!"  I donated some feeders to hang outside the classroom window, and the toddlers are going to watch them.  This is what my trees looked like before the butchers showed up two years ago, and what many will look like again after this industry gets shut down.  The article will run next Thursday.

Administered my final exams.  Such an awesome day.  My students in 101 gave me two cards and some great Chinese tea, and my 098 class all signed a beautiful card.  Favorite comment in it "You singlehandedly changed my mind about whether I could write."  Such a good job.

Graded papers on campus & saw a wicked litte hummingbird!

I totally suck.  I bail whenever school starts.  Didn't even blog about Hawaii, or Ramona learning to say "my turn pen please."  Vow to be better in the future.

Stayed up until 1 finishing the student papers.  Done!

Great teaching day.  098 students are rising to the occasion and love creative writing.

Lamentably missed book club to grade and prep. 

Finished my column mostly and graded papers, am now walking Ro in the stroller a little to get her to nap in the morning, a very successful strategy.

Crazy fun day.  Took Ramona to Baby Loves Disco to cover it for Metro Parent, an afternoon night club for parents & kids.  We won the Hustle competition and Ro ran around dancing to Blondie & eating string cheese.  Went directly from there to my first Blazers game.  I am now a fan.  Brandon Roy turned into the Matrix in the 4th quarter and brought the team from 15 points back to winning by one in the last nine seconds.  Ramona slept through the second half despite the screaming.

Long dog walk while Marsh napped with Ro and then primed the former Cat Room. 

Book club here.  I heart Tristram Shandy.

Great day beginning with Lucie & David brunch at Simpatica, only slightly marred by the owner being rude when I checked on our order after an hour.  Ro ran around and we read her In the Night Kitchen, and she ate most of ,my potatoes.  Great to be out with friends for brunch; it was the first installment of our 3rd Sunday standing date with D & L, a great way to keep in touch. 

We really busted out work on the house, this weekend concentrating on cleaning out the back room to paint and carpet it & make it a cozy study for the computer we plan to buy with our tax return.  Did an awesome power walk with grateful Vera while M & R shopped for carpet; did an hour in Irvington & stopped at the dog park on the way home, where Vera romped with a goofy St. Bernard pup & we all made gentle fun of a standard poodle's fancy gait.  Then groceries and a little school work.  Ro said "these are birds" when we looked at my bird book.  Ran into the people who make the great safe paint we're using at the grocery store.  Won the bathing suit of my dreams on ebay, a Betty Grable-esque vintage 60s one piece, black & straight across the bottom with a little help up top.  Hawaii next month will be the first time I've worn a bathing costume in over 2 years.