Saturday update

I just used this tutorial to make my new blog header. I know it looks pretty basic, but not too bad for my first try I think. New year, new look. I think it captures the basic elements of my lack of domesticity. Except I couldn't come up with an image that represents "perpetually single". =P I'm up ridiculously early for a Saturday. Isaac came in before seven o'clock. I love how during the week I have to drag him out of bed at that time to get ready for school but on Saturdays he is bright eyed and bushy tailed, climbing into bed with me. I kept laying there with my eyes closed, determined to drift back off, but my neighbor's car alarm was going off repeatedly. At about seven o'clock I gave up officially. My dad should be coming over today. I got curtains for my living room way back in November for my birthday and they have been sitting in a box in my kitchen ever since. My mom is in California visiting her sister so I managed to convinced my dad to make the drive from the Lanc to come and put them up and hang out for a while. I think it would go a long way to making my house look more cozy and homelike. After living here nearly two years, I have hardly any curtains up anywhere. I've almost knocked out Something Blue by Emily Griffin which will bring my total of books read since Christmas to 3. Some of my friends/co-workers are forming a book club, so I need to pick up the book and get working on that. I love discussing books with other people, but I haven't had a forum to do that since college. I hope everyone takes it as seriously as I plan to. The book is Sarah's Key. Anyone ever read it? I can't remember the author offhand. As much as I love my fluffy chick lit, I think I am ready to shift gears into something more meaningful. Anyways, I should clean my house before my dad gets here so he doesn't faint when he sees the state of my bathroom. I'm also trying to squeeze in a trip to the gym this morning. We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies last night and I need to do something to try to counterbalance the five or six I have eaten since then. Plus, I am (very slowly) getting back into the groove of running again, and I am sort of looking forward to getting on the treadmill and pushing myself more. Hope your Saturday is fabulous!!

Emily Griffin

My girlfriend Jami just gave me a whole stack of Emily Griffin books.

I just finished:

Now onto: It's light, fluffy, easy chick lit, which seems to be what I am in the mood for right now. What are you reading?

Useful for PA people...

Yoga for Snow Shoveling

Phulladulphia, Leannic Ciy

A friend shared this on facebook. I love it. This is why I can't get my students to spell things correctly. You tell them to say the word outloud and write the sounds they hear. Yikes

Okay, I finally updated last years goals/progress page. I'm not sure how I want to handle this year's goals yet.

live music is good for the soul

I saw Mary Fahl last night at the Tin Angel in Philly, a little venue in Old City. She is from the old band October Project and now she is doing her own solo thing. She's a cross between a slightly edgier Enya and Joni Mitchell. We were the youngest in the audience by about 20 years I would say. I really wanted to see her, and the only other person I know who would be interest was WJM (old college bf). He is the one that introduced me to October Project and we saw her once a long time ago when we were dating. Anyways, it actually wasn't awkward to see him again. It's so odd to hang out with him in person again, because it is like we are strangers getting to know each other now, but we know everything about each other's past. I think a concert was a good environment too. Not too much time for talking. But at any rate, I enjoyed myself. Mary's voice is incredible. She sang everything from Italian Arias to folk covers. Afterwards we waited around to talk to her, and WJM started talking to her about how he seen October Project on Prism when he was a kid. He was actually being really heartfelt and complimentary, but as soon as she realized we weren't about to purchase her 40 dollar cd (a Dark Side of the Moon cover album) she didn't have much time for us. We were like "Okay, then". Here's a few videos. This one is October Project. I don't know why it is weird random pictures in a slideshow though. That's youtube for you. This is one that she wrote to be the soundtrack in a movie about 9-11 firefighters.

here's another one

Sorry, I'm sure these are not interesting to anyone but me, but they make me laugh. That was such a different time in my life working full time, grad school full time, parenting a young child. Isaac is so easy and managable now. August 2007 So today I wake up. My clock reads 7:08. I completely panic, as I supposed to be at work at 7 and I am already in a bit of trouble with attendance, so I can't be late and I am pretty sure a new person will be in my house and I should be there to help them out, and now I will hit traffic so who knows when I will get in.... I call the overnight supervisor, frantically shout at him that I overslept but that I am on my way, and hang up before he can really respond while pulling on clothes and simultaneously brushing my teeth. I am running through a mental list of what I need to grab before I run out the door and I am like,okay, I have school today, I need to remember to grab my schoolbag. Then I remember, if I have school today, I must need to turn my final in, which I know I haven't done. Why haven't I done it??? OH BECAUSE TODAY IS SUNDAY. I call the overnight supervisor back and he is just laughing at me like, "Yeah Lisa, I will see you tomorrow, take your time coming in". I'm losing it people. I really am. This one was entitled "The saga of getting ready." From July of 2007. My mom must have been out of town. So I am trying to get ready to get out the door. Why is life with a toddler one step forward, two steps back? Here is the story of my morning: Open closet. Look for skirt. Put skirt on. Ponder shirt. Hear Isaac in bathroom (never a good thing!) He has found the bleach bottle I carelessly left on the counter and is spraying it on himself. I clean him up, get him distracted by brushing his teeth and set off to find the shirt. Can't find the shirt, but I slip on my shoes. He sees my shoes are on, and wants to put his shoes on too. I want to throw some sandals on him, but he insists on the nearly impossible to put on (though terribly stylish) camo hightops. Almost ten minutes lost jamming the darn things on him. I set him up with a movie, back to search for the shirt. Decide I look fat in the shirt. Glance in on Isaac. He has found my purse and is dumping the contents everywhere and his legs are somehow covered in magic marker. I take my wallet from him (I can't tell you how many times I have gone to pay for something or show ID only to have the card missing because he has gleefully dumped my wallet earlier that day). He starts to cry, hanging on me and trying to grab the wallet and then starts coughing like crazy. I decide to get him some cough medicine since he has been coughing all morning. Twenty minutes go by trying to persuade him to take it. Spray self (and Isaac, at his insistance) with perfume. Set him up in front of Youtube. Set off to look for specific flattering black shirt that may or may not be clean. Find shirt. Put it on. Ignore crashing sounds coming from Isaac's room. Brush hair. Isaac is comes in crying because "My shoes are too hard". Take shoes off him. Send him on his way. He returns a minute later because his "Yips hurt". Can't find any chapstick or clear lipgloss. Put pink lipgloss on him to appease him. Send him on his way. Make mental note to wipe off lipgloss before we get to Daddy's. Decide to attempt eyeliner. Line one eye. In the reflection in the mirror near a pile of discarded clothes on the floor I notice something suspicious. Is that? It can't be? When would it have happened? I almost can't even bring myself to look. Yes, confirm that there is a large chunk of poo sitting proudly on my white carpet. Ponder how and when the poo could have been left there without me noticing as I find paper towel (not hard, as the whole roll has been unwound on the bathroom floor when Isaac was brushing his teeth). Scoop up poop. Flush away. Clean floor. Enter Isaac with a pair of scissors in his hand "Mommy-- hair cut?" Take scissors away to the office and while passing by his room observe that earlier crashing noise was Isaac overturning his toybox everywhere. Hear bathtub water turning on and find Isaac giving his stuffed dog a "Baf!" Glance at self in the mirror. Realize only one eye is lined... Need I go on? Man I am exhausted. Thank God my mother is coming home today!