It's Official - I have the Coolest Housemom

Hi all,

Due to Karaoke and then a migraine last night (I was in bed by 8...), blogging just simply didn't happen. So...here's the run-through.

Thursday morning I wasn't able to get to the stain glass workshop because Beau had a dentist appointment. Sam can't drive (he's not insured here since he's here only 5 months), and so it fell to me to take him. Luckily, Beau was tally-ho about the whole thing, and barely rested during rest hour, he was so excited. He kept pointing to his teeth. His appointment took over an hour, so we basically just got back in time for lunch. He'd walk up to everyone and proudly point to his teeth. They do look very nice.

Before this whole excursion (goodbye rest hour in the morning...) I'd taken the neighbor housefather to go and pick up their car. It was a bad morning for squirrels...we saw at least 4 in the middle of the road. I was able to get my cell back (and had several missed calls and messages, as I hadn't blogged and had mentioned my allergic reaction...whoops), and that was nice.

I managed to conk out for 10 minutes (impressive, right?) and had a very intense dream where there was also a dead squirrel. Ah, my transparent brain functioning... This was kind of disturbing, but only got odder. As I was the only one (really... no one else was there from the work group!) one in the co-op, I lugged in the order that'd been dropped off early. As I tried to open the door - the oh-so-helpful delivery guy had gotten them too close - I see a squirrel run off. Probably the same one that jumped at my face. Anyhow, I finally get the door open and see that the clever bugger had chewed a flap on the end, slit down the tape, pried open and untwisted the plastic (without chewing a hole in it), extracted exactly 1 walnut, and had eaten half of it before I showed up. So, it was a strangely squirrel-filled day.

The other laugh I got out of the co-op was from the order sheet. I'd requested a sample, and at the bottom it stated: 4 oz sample: WTF and MUL. That's right, I got a free 4 oz sample of WTF. White Turkish Figs. It has to be a joke in the office. The MUL were mulberries, which I wouldn't recommend. Although I'd eat several ounces of WTF any day...

I missed dinner because I drove into Hudson to go to a chiropractor appointment. When it was practically too painful to get out of bed Tuesday (?) morning - I had to literally pull myself over to the chair and slowly shift to standing - I finally caved and actually called. The chiropractor set right to work - he's a spry, older gentleman who kept up the banter while giving helpful advice. Needless to say, the doctor's office has now given me fish oil...bleh, thankfully in capsule form. I picked up some packing tape for housemom at Walmart and then came home - feeling very light, as my back actually didn't hurt.

Thursday night was quite exciting. I got dressed up a little since housemom was coming out - Julia very graciously came and housesat for us. Sam was eventually able to get a car (long story...) and so I didn't need to drive. So I had a whole two drinks. Given my poor current tolerance, this was just perfect. It was also Flo's last Karaoke night, and Barry got a bit teary about it. Flo and I sang "Build Me Up, Buttercup", and I think everyone had a great time. We didn't get the typical German contingent, but there were still about 20 people there. Housemom said she'd probably never look at all the co-workers in the same light again. Need I mention that Bean sang (from memory, mostly) "I Like Big Butts"? Actually, there was a higher-than-typical amount of old-school rap, but it was still pretty fantastic.

We also pretty much dominated the scene, making quite the show for those 6-8 people clustered around the bar. Housemom mustered her courage, had a drink, and did some singing. She has a really nice voice, and a lot of people had come to hear her - and to say goodbye to Flo, of course. It was a great night.

Friday morning I was good to bounce out of bed and get the pancakes rolling. Housemom was chugging coffee all morning. I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, as I unexpectedly had to go to the doctor's office. Luckily, the reaction is almost gone, but I'll be taking some steps to hopefully keep it from returning. I also then did a co-op run with housemom. However, the meatballs, sauce, bread, noodles and salad all managed to get done in time for lunch. We had two co-worker guests and aside from the children being unusually loud and unruly, it was very nice.

Friday afternoon it was very busy in the afternoon with unpacking the produce order and the IGA order. I also made a UNFI order sheet, and learned how to put the order in. A very time-consuming process. Apparently you can use a scanning system (where you merely point, shoot, and request the number of cases based off the barcode and not the ordering number that you look up every time), but we haven't got it implemented. Baby steps towards electronification will be happening in the next year, especially if we end up using cards for foodstamps. Should be interesting.

I then horsed around with the 4 year old, using a shoulder ride as a bribe to get him out of the house, where he and the middle child were driving housemom up the wall. I surely paid for it this morning. My neck was SOOOOO sore. We have some topical stuff for inflammation and joint pain, and that helped, along with a heating pad. No more shoulder rides though.

Today we cleaned in the morning and had leftovers for lunch. I spent most of my resthour making calls. My house had cafe/gift shop rota, so I sat in the giftshop with Beau. We both had books (his picture album), and I tried a decaf something or another from the coffee shop (they needed practice...I thought it tasted fine, but I'm nothing that's close to a connoisseur!), and read "The Book Thief". Which I am thoroughly enjoying. It's also teaching me more slang and naughty German words - which I get to demonstrate to Sam.

We got back in time for us to prepare for Bible evening - something I've rarely done here. We had someone from outside the house come and run it, and it was a little different from how I've seen it before. Not to mention we were only 4 people. So it wasn't a bad experience at all - especially since she's quite an interesting lady.

Anyhow, I should probably clean my room so I won't do it tomorrow. I think I'll do a Great Barrington run tomorrow (although I have no one to keep me company), and then berry picking if weather permits with the house. It's rained every day I think this last week, and I'm ready for it to be done. Especially since it poured for a majority of the day today.

Hope all is well,
Steph

PS. And after an informal poll, it was declared that I do, in fact, have the coolest housemom in the village.

Karaoke Strikes Again

Hi all,

By now, you'd think Karaoke would be hardly worth mentioning, right? I have to say though, every time I go up my hands shake a little less and less. I did the right "Breathe 2 A.M." with Julia (co-worker next door) again and mixed it up with "Don't You Want Me Baby" - which Flo was fantastic in. Plus there were several people present would could acutllay really sing - which is always great, unless you go immediately after them. I did not. We were going to leave at 10:30, but didn't end up leaving until 11:30. But let's rewind...

Thursday morning I looked over my medicine giver's notes quickly and then conked out and dreamed about seizures. Pleasant. I got a few wrong on the test, but still passed with flying colors. With all the hype surrounding the test, I was surprised at how easy it was - although I can definitely see how it would be much more difficult for a non-native English speaker. And then I got a nap. : )
The afternoon was a short one-hour crash course in anthroposophical meds. It lasted a confusing hours and then was done. So then Schmee and I ran to the nearest grocery store and I got some pictures printed off for Maria from the zoo. I made it back in time to get everything set up for dinner, and made some especially potent pesto. Then I worked on another hanging tomato planter, which looks like this:

(They're looking better as I'm making more, this one is too long...)

Then we had karaoke. Housemom said she'll come next week (and she can sing, although I don't know if we can convince her to sing), and so hopefully that'll work out!

Today was pretty much a blur. I didn't have even Franklin this morning, there was a special meeting about a relationships course that will be happening. So I did the veggie/meat market run, made yogurt, started laundry, dropped off the milk pail, did a huge co-op run, vacuumed, emptied the dishwasher, set the table, made salad dressing, made a salad (wash greens, roast/chop walnuts, add craisins), thaw and reheat meat sauce, cook noodles, prepare meds, helped the substitute neighbor cook, grated cheese while keeping the youngest with me and amused, prepped cheese quesadillas, washed up all the dishes. All by 12:20.

The afternoon went by pretty quickly as well. With only one villager in the co-op (and she was in a very slow mood), I managed to get the Friday order list done and some restocking. A second one came in to give her family members a tour, although I ended up closing early to help out at the house for the picnic. Got the quesadillas fried just in time. The softball game was as fun as ever (and Beau had a wonderful time - he's a real crowd-pleaser!), although the Germans are still really struggling with the rules. (Have to explain that lapping people just isn't allowed...but they're so earnest that it's great.). I jokingly suggested a session during orientation that covered the rules...

And so, now I have a cake that needs a orange ganache and chocolate buttercream frosting...and I have a walk to the co-op to accomplish first. It's going to be a loooooooooong day tomorrow...

Hope all is well,
Steph

Picking Up Pieces of Me

Hi all,

When you live with a group long enough, in an isolated setting especially, you see how you start to pick up other people's characteristics/habits. I now have a good portion of the house commanding inanimate objects to "Stay!", between Sam and I a lot now say "Ja!" and today when I caught Beau talking to himself he stayed completely unfazed and brightly said "Hi!" - something I also do when caught mumbling (or full-out lecturing) to myself. This, of course goes 2 ways and I'm sure that I'm picking up pieces of other people as well.

This morning started off slowly, and then had some nice grueling cleaning: bathrooms, vacuuming, co-op run, dishes...after a few hours you're just ready for lunch and a nap. I didn't get the nap, but since we were heading off to Millerton I didn't mind. Millerton is named after the engineer who designed the railroad system, by the way. Just a fun fact that we picked up while doing our short hike after poking around the downtown. It's a nice paved hiking path that they put over where the rail used to run. We were a motley group with the children, and I'm afraid we pissed off some "hardcore" bikers. Meh.

While walking along with the eldest child, she earnestly confided (after hearing how I got my cigarette-burn scar) that she has: "A particularly good dirty look". I told her she should become a teacher. Her mother chimed in Librarian. Unfortunately, she soon rolled her ankle while racing, and I gave her a piggyback ride for the last 3/4 of a mile or so. Considerably more of a challenge with 50 extra pounds on your back!

It's ok, it probably helped me burn off our "tea break" that we'd taken at the cafe before starting. I looked over from my table to see housemom with a blissed-out look on her face as she sneakily pinched off a glob of the frosting from her cupcake to devour with a look of utter contentment (and then utter embarrassment as I caught her eye...). My seat also faced towards the entrance, and at one point an older gentleman walked in, rubbed/itched (?) his back against the inside door frame corner and then left. This was a little odd, and slightly confusing.

Beau was in high spirits today and cheerily waved to passerbys and drivers alike - getting a wave from a USPS driver and several outside diners. After dinner (pizza...always a crowd-pleaser!), we drove back home. While driving with Beau up front (housemom in another vehicle), we got passed rather unsafely by a little mini cooper. I braked for them, and Beau shook his fist. Good to have solidarity on that front!

Anyhow, tomorrow is my day off. I have a whole list of things I need to work on. First I have to get my room moved (yay for downstairs!!!) and then various other things as well. Should be a full day. It's also "Whitsun" so there's special celebrations going on (I made a paper dove today...) and they're also doing something with the new greenhouse. Again.

Hope all is well,
Steph