Just regular folks.

Superglue.

2012-01-30T21:12:00.003-05:00

Someone superglued his fingers together.

Wonderful weekend -

2012-01-29T21:36:00.000-05:00

It is not often that the Lees are together. We are far flung and all have demanding schedules. On a rare weekend together, we managed to celebrate my parent's birthdays. Both turned 70 a few months ago and we haven't been able to celebrate until now. We did get the parents matching iPads. I am still not sure how much they will use them - I hope they love playing Angry Birds as much as I do.

Uncle Donald came and it is always a good time when he is around. He is such a good sport, playing Wii with Vince, helping Edda with a bath and he is all around advice person for: bikes, electrical work, Mac adjustments, games, puzzles, things that are "cool" and dancing. In other words, there was not a still moment for him! Also, do you think we look alike? At least 17 people this weekend told us we look exactly alike! :)

Our 70th Birthday Party

2012-01-29T02:13:00.004-05:00

Tonight (Saturday, 1/28/2012), Rena, Jeremy, Doris, Donald and I dined out to celebrate our (Rena & I) 70th birthday. Actually, our 70th birthday happened in November and December last year, respectively.

But, in November last year, we both were in China. Furthermore, last December, Rena was here and I was in China. So, it was a kind of catch-up birthday party for both. For this, Donald flew in from San Francisco specifically for this memorable gathering. And indeed, we enjoyed a lot.

In the morning hours, we also received our iPADs as birthday gift from Doris and Donald with their birthday greeting engraved on it. Really nice and, for us, it is a perfect gift and especially for Mom. She is going away in late February to work on AP1000 (Advanced Nuclear Reactor) Project as a short-term consultant. She needs a new one and this iPAD came just in time.

Vince is quite happy to see uncle Donald also. Edda is becoming very heavy for me to lift her upstairs to take a nap. But, she is as lovely as always.

Happy Chinese New Year to all - year of the Dragon :)

Mom rocking' out

2012-01-28T21:39:00.001-05:00

With the Dr. Dre headphones.

Concert

2012-01-27T21:57:00.000-05:00

We were delighted to attend Vince's 4th grade instrumental music concert on Wed. night. When it was time to pick what kind of instrument, I tried so hard to get him to play another instrument besides violin, which he has been playing for a year and a half already. All the music they would have at the elementary school, even in the advanced class would be too easy for him. What about the baritone, sweetie?

I played the violin in elementary and middle school and I am wistful about all the marching band practices I missed out on. I should have played the bassoon. Actually, I'm not sure if bassoon is a marching band instrument. I think I was a band geek in a former life. Alas, Vince did not want to practice another instrument, so violin it was.

This shirt/tie/pants outfit we purchased for Tony's wedding last summer is really our go-to formal outfit and has exceeded my expectations on the number of times we have been able to use it. Vince has had more dry cleaned visits than I have this year! I was really impressed with the music teacher, very sweet, but also very disciplined. The concert ended with a resounding rendition of Ode to Joy. Beethoven would have been very pleased.

Edda had a nice nap during the performance. Poor girl, I know that she would rather be home in a warm bath or snuggled in bed during these night time activities, but somehow we take her along just to take her along. She is a good sport. I think she even went grocery shopping with Jeremy after the concert (there was desperate need of Popsicles (in January!) and bacon, I'm sure) - didn't get to be in her bed until 9 pm.

On a completely different note, I found this to be hilarious - and so did my parents, they practically fell over laughing when they saw this --

Happy Chinese New Year - Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T08:13:00.003-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year - Year of the Dragon.

This time, I was in China to personally witness the mass movement of going home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Practically, everyone that I know of is going home - near or far. All weeks, their eyes glue on the Internet Official Site of www.12306.com to buy train tickets inside China. It records billion hits almost every day. No wonder, the earth rotation rate might be affected due to different concentration of mass on top of it.

Well, I am also glad that I came back the USA on the Chinese New Year eve and stayed away from places that packed with a lot of constantly moving human heads :)

Jeremy's media coverage -

2012-01-20T21:28:00.000-05:00

Today was a big day in the Lee-Martin household. Jeremy's interview (7 minutes long!) on NPR's Living on Earth aired today. You can listen to it here. I know I'm a little biased, but he sounds fabulous! So expert-like. I know he is an expert on this bio-fuels stuff, but the his voice plus the sound editing make him sound super fantastic. And now that he's had an interview on radio - he is, like, famous. I'm married to a celebrity. Ha ha.

He's also quite happy with this blog post: A Swift Kick, or a Polite Tap on the Shoulder.

And a blog post is not a blog post without a photo. I had my eyes checked. No need for bifocals yet!

A suburban dog.

2012-01-19T21:13:00.000-05:00

If reincarnation exists, I think I want to come back as a suburban dog. Warm place to sleep, enough to eat, every once in a while some table scraps. In the mornings, when I have time, Ruby and Maxi meet up with a bunch of other suburban dog for a good romp. Well, Maxi romps, Ruby runs around trying to catch balls before the younger dogs get to them and trying to find out who has the doggie treats in their pocket.

Ruby is 11!

2012-01-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

Ruby turned 11 on Monday. My first baby is 11! We fixed her and Maxi some extra-special goodness of chicken meat and some of that chicken gelatin that forms on the bottom of the pan when you refrigerate it.

Someone is super excited to be fed her breakfast. Ruby is the best dog ever - gentle, kind and loyal - she also has aged incredibly gracefully, all her parts seem to be in order and although she would rather sleep in on most days, she still chases tennis balls around the dog park. Sometimes the older dogs (and even some of the younger dogs) at the dog park seem to have a litany of ailments, we had lung cancer, breast cancer, knee replacements, hip massages and glaucoma which Ruby has somehow hit the genetic jackpot and avoided all of these ailments. Although, I must admit, she still smells pretty bad especially when she gets wet.

Sunday night dinner.

2012-01-16T18:41:00.004-05:00

We have been having Sunday night dinner with the cousins for more than 4 years now. It's amazing to see how big the kids have gotten. We hosted at our house last Sunday where Jeremy did a roasting cook-off between "organic" chicken and "cruelty-free" chicken. The results were not disputed, the organic chicken was more tender and tasted better and the cruelty-free chicken, well, does not taste better and is a little tougher and is more expensive, but that is because presumably it got to run around outside some for some parts of its life.

My mom came and brought 17 million pieces of assorted clothing that she got on super-duper sale for the kids from TJ Maxx or Ross:

This past weekend, Tilli, our new au pair, arrived from Germany - I do not have a proper photo, but you can see her in the background with the black scarf. Much to my chagrin, the kids were at their best crazy, shirts were off - lots of yelling, running around the house, and barking from the dogs - there was also spirited demonstration of booty dancing and various other things that I'm sure convinced Tilli that the Martins are indeed CRAZY!

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Devin came over!

2012-01-15T22:10:00.002-05:00

Little (or not so little) boys and sleepovers. Parents pack pajamas - they get ignored in favor of just sleeping in boxer shorts. Endless electronic games. Can a friendship be maintained just by talking to each other over strategies of little avatars? I swear - these two boys spent 24 hours together and all they wanted to do was play video games and eat junk food. I had to actually camp out in the room until 11 when they both fell asleep, which is like an hour and a half past my bedtime. And they were up by 7 am, TV on and bed heads all around.

Lunch: Tater tots, ravioli and peanut butter sandwiches.

Change is in the air.

2012-01-14T21:39:00.000-05:00

We went a week without childcare and survived. Since I work from home, I often toy with the idea that perhaps we do not need to hire childcare as it is a large expense of ours and I would love to spend the money to replace thread-bare and stained sofas (which are starting to be an embarrassment when pals come over) and paint the house (which is still contractor white) and a nice beautiful leather purse. But it usually takes only a week of juggling, getting less sleep, calling in favors, being behind on work and cancelling appointments to convince me that, indeed, childcare is money well spent. It just that Vince is quickly approaching the age where he does not need very much supervision - while Edda still very much does.

I spent the morning filling out a form called the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Test for Edda because she needs to be categorized within the school system. Pages and pages of check marks indicating the severity of her disability. No, she cannot point to three major body parts when asked, nor does she tell lies nor does she hold a part time job. I don't really no what the point of this test is - but dutifully I fill it out.

Of course, I am not really doing well on my quest to lose 5 pounds - here is an exquisite caramel/chocolate/sea salt cupcake I ate on a girl's lunch out last week. Yum!

2012-01-10T14:54:00.001-05:00

Making cookies!

Thank you Denise!

2012-01-07T18:20:00.000-05:00

Denise worked her last day on Friday - we are sad to see her go, but she is off on bigger and better adventures. Thank you for taking care of the kids - we celebrated her last working day by going out to our favorite pizza joint, the Slice of Rockville!

Eel.

2012-01-06T17:49:00.000-05:00

Vince loves sushi. Well, he loves avocado rolls. I'm the one who loves eel.

Our friend the philosopher.

2012-01-05T07:15:00.001-05:00

Alan, our friend the philosopher, stayed at our house over the holidays. He was in town for a philosophy meeting. We discussed the prevalence of black turtlenecks at the meeting. Can't you just imagine all the people sitting around in black turtlenecks philosophizing? Vince asked what exactly a philosopher does. What does a philosopher do? Read, write, and teach. Philosophers also enjoy eating cupcakes!

My mom and pizza.

2012-01-03T16:13:00.000-05:00

My mom surprised me today and asked to go to lunch! Pizza and tomato soup. Yum.

Poughkeepsie Children's Museum.

2012-01-02T16:59:00.002-05:00

I took the grandparents and the 4 grandchildren to the children's museum on Christmas Eve. Vince and Edda are getting to be a bit old to be at the children's museum, but we ran around and kept ourselves entertained for at least two hours.

Ice cream.

2011-12-31T16:45:00.000-05:00

The kids made ice cream using a ball ice cream maker. Ice/salt on the outside and cream/sugar/vanilla on the inside and you kick it around the house for 15-20 minutes. Wonderful!

The 22nd of December.

2011-12-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

I was in charge of making dinner the first night of our holiday week. I made this challah bread from a recipe given to me by Edda's camp counselor. Yummy!

Some photos of my family that day!

Cutting down the Christmas tree.

2011-12-29T11:00:00.002-05:00

I am spending the morning taking down the (artificial) Christmas tree at our house and I will share how the kids cut down the real Christmas tree a week ago. The Christmas tree farm had a bunch of stumps that were low to the ground and had grown this fungus (?) on it:

I was campaigning for this Charlie Brown-esque tree, but I was outvoted.

Felix:

Vince:

Edda (trying to avoid all the prickly pine needles):

Back from Christmas.

2011-12-28T21:21:00.000-05:00

We are back from our Christmas vacation in the mid-Hudson Valley. We spent a lovely week with all of Jeremy siblings (3!) and all of the grandchildren (4!). It was a lovely time - Katherine, my mother-in-law, did a lot of planning and arranging to make sure that the cooking/cleaning was evenly divided, that gift giving was primarily focused on the little ones and that there were little outings to break up the times that we were eating. The kids had a lovely time together and I really enjoyed a week where I ignored all my email and responsibilities for a week and rested and ate and slept pretty much to my hearts content. On the 6 hour drive home, Jeremy and I managed to put together a long, 2-column list of things to be done by the time we are back at work on Monday. So we are back slowly in the swing of things.

Backing up to before the holidays, Vince and Edda were in the annual Christmas pageant. I'm pretty sure this is the last year Vince is going to be in the performance. To say that he was not enthusiastic would be putting it mildly.

Edda was a chicken this year. Vince was a dog (which is really a role for a 5 year old, so one of the reasons he was a bit ornery was because his costume squished his noggin too much and gave him a headache). I have been searching high and low for a chicken hat as awesome as the one the church has, but so far, I have been unable to find one.

Office holiday party -

2011-12-16T09:25:00.002-05:00

Went to Jeremy's office holiday party at the Hotel Helix downtown last night. It was a hotel so hip, it had these awesome lamps all over the place:

How long did it take me to drive downtown last night? Oh maybe 1.75 hours. Mostly down Connecticut Avenue. I hate driving so much, but every once in a while I am presented with a driving challenge so great that I know I need to do it - you know, to keep my driving skills up to snuff. And frankly, everyone is travelling at 10 mph, no one is going to get hurt.

My two kids have very different attitudes about late-night partying.

Vince (life of the party):

Edda (what? a party? I'm taking a nap):

Monument walk.

2011-12-15T06:51:00.000-05:00

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Vince, Jeremy and I (and the two doggies) did a moonlight, 4-mile monument hike last Saturday night. I had never seen all the monuments and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do them all in one fell swoop. Also - we would get to see the new MLK monument that just opened a few months ago. We went with the mid-Atlantic hiking club - so there were about 200 other people who showed up to the hike. I was a little worried that Vince would find it a little tiresome (and he did complain after the first monument that his feet hurt), but after a little while, he cheered up and did the rest of the walk without complaint. We had lots of discussions about the different wars (esp. the Korean War) and Maxi freaked out over the soldier sculptures and barked her head off at them.

Vince and Eleanor:

This was the first cold, long walk we've done with Maxi and it was pretty clear that she was freezing her little butt off, she doesn't have the warm undercoat that Ruby has. We need to get her a doggie sweater.

All the way from Singapore!

2011-12-14T09:24:00.001-05:00

One of Edda's teachers from Singapore just happened to be on a tour of the US this past Monday. The tour just happened to book at a hotel less than 5 miles from our house, so we had to run and pick her up and hang out with her for a few hours. She taught Edda when she was 2-3 years old - thanks Miss Audrey for coming over! I hope your cough is better.

Sharp dresser.

2011-12-13T09:07:00.001-05:00

Vince and Jeremy sporting the same outfit to school and work today. Vince is performing in a holiday concert today and asked if Jeremy could match his outfit this morning!

Friends.

2011-12-12T12:06:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I get a little down because Edda does not have friends in the most traditional sense - friends to tell secrets to, friends to argue with, friends to trade clothes with, friends to get in trouble with. I don't really think Edda thinks about it as much as I do, which I guess is OK. But Edda is always surrounded by people who love and care about her which always, always brings joy and happiness to my heart. Jen, her counselor at camp this summer, came by this weekend to spend some time with Edda. Here is a photo which is happiness all around and the feeling of the holiday season all wrapped up in one single moment :)

My little victories.

2011-12-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

I try and count all my victories and successes in my life - no matter how small. I present my littlest victory this week - I got my mother's gardenia to rebloom! Earlier this summer, she gave me this plant and within a month all the leaves started turning yellow and falling off and little white capsules infested all the leaves and stems. I was disheartened. I thought the plant was on it's way the compost bin. I learned that gardenias are difficult indoor plants and that they are often thrown away after their initial blooms fade, but I persevered! I rescued it and now I have one beautiful bloom which fills the foyer with a wonderful smell. Now my goal it to try and keep it alive until spring when I can put it outside on the porch again. It will be tough, we don't get enough light in the house - but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Nightime routine.

2011-12-06T12:46:00.001-05:00

Jeremy reads to Vince at night. Edda is in the same room and usually she is already asleep. I pick out the books and even though I am in the bed with Edda, I am usually surfing the web or reading my own book - I don't usually pay attention to the book that the boys are reading, I just like picking them out for them. Right now the boys are reading Jacob Have I Loved - which is apparently really weird. There is stuff in there about eternal damnation (Vince had to ask what exactly that was), a 14 year old girl having a crush on an older man and weird sibling/twin stuff going on. Jeremy asked where I got the idea that we should book and I said that it was a Newbery Medal winner and that it takes place in MD on the Chesapeake Bay. What could be better than that? Anyways - it's weird.

Poor Edda, she is suffering from chapped skin from mouthing her hand in the winter. I try and combat it with a slathering of petroleum jelly at night to heal the skin.

Walking in the woods.

2011-12-05T12:00:00.001-05:00

I do love under scheduling the kids. I love it because then we get to do more things as a family or more things with friends and I don't feel like I'm driving the kids all over the place. This weekend we had all Saturday free and went walking in the woods near the house.

This was to get us all out of the house - it is really easy for all of us to hunker down in front of respective electronic screens and tune out the rest of the world. But this is more fun for all of us.

Especially for Maxi. Someone (ahem) dropped her leash and Maxi took the opportunity to flee! What a crazy dog. Doesn't she understand that we are the ones who feed her and give her a warm place to sleep at night. Took us 20 minutes to catch her!

Bacon boat.

2011-12-03T14:02:00.001-05:00

How long can we ride the bacon wave? Apparently for a long time. This year - in the Raingutter Regatta - Vince crowned his boat "THE B B" aka the bacon boat.

Thanksgiving was a blast.

2011-11-29T09:49:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving was wonderful. I missed my own family (my parents are in China, my brother decided to do other *more exciting* things), but the Martins are good cooks and good fun. We ate a lot and talked a lot and went to see the Muppets after the turkey dinner! I have to admit we had never taken Edda to see a full-length feature film in the theater. I was worried that she would be too loud, but frankly the movie soundtrack was so loud to begin with that it really wasn't a problem. She really loved it and (although the movie was a little slow at times) we loved it that she loved it so much.

Here's her favorite clip :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T18:24:00.001-05:00

Achilles

2011-11-22T21:16:00.001-05:00

Jeremy went camping this past weekend. He does not often take leave of us on the weekend, but this was something special. He brought Ruby (but not Maxi who cannot be trusted to come when called) and had a great time. Ruby had a wonderful time tromping through the leaves along the wooded trail, she ate all the discarded apple cores from the boys, got petted by a whole Boy Scout troop and slept at the foot of a sleeping bag.

Jeremy's been worried about his Achilles heel and how painful it has been just walking around the neighborhood (the picture below shows him icing it after a neighborhood walk). He was worried that maybe he wouldn't be able to hike in the woods, but for whatever reason, his heel didn't bother him that day.

Hippotherapy -

2011-11-21T15:54:00.001-05:00

I never went through a horse phase when I was growing up. So when I took Edda to hippotherapy this past weekend, I thought I would say hello to some of the horses to see if I could conjure up some sort of affection for these enormous animals.

I think I still don't like horses. They are very large. They look at me suspiciously. They wonder why I didn't bring them a carrot. I don't really like horses, but I do love horse accessories - all the leather saddles and the boots and this little guy holding a lantern!

Happy 70th Birthday to Mom

2011-11-20T15:12:00.004-05:00

Happy 70th Birthday to Mom. Yesterday (Sunday), a day before her birthday, we got up at our regular hours and took a walk along the beach just across our apartment. Afternoon, we went to the the market to buy roses and several ingredients for her birthday cake. In the evening, we made her birthday cake together. At night, we chatted a lot, while reflecting upon on our life, our encounters and endless memories - both bad and good.

In fact, in our life, we are pretty lucky to have Doris and Donald came along, plus Jeremy, Vincent and Edda. Furthermore, both of us are pretty healthy and "don't need a lot medical attentions" which is a Blessing. Only one thing, that we would do differently, is to spend more time with our kids. I believe we did our best at that time but probably more should be better and sweeter. Anyway, so far, we are blessed to enjoy our birthdays together - a pair, not just one person.

Tonight, after work and alone, we are going to have dinner together. Of course, both of us look forward to dating again :) Only this time, we know each other for 46 years and have married for 41+ years.

picture 1: Mom with a stick and a home-made fishing boat

picture 2: Mom, roses and her home-made birthday cake

Not the only turkey.

2011-11-20T09:43:00.001-05:00

Edda was a turkey in the school play last week. I mentioned this to a good friend of mine and she said that she hoped that Edda wasn't THE turkey in the play. Frankly, it hadn't really crossed my mind that Edda might be the centerpiece of a Thanksgiving feast because a few days before the play, Edda's teacher and I were discussing the odds of Edda even being awake for the play and perhaps if Edda was sound asleep at 10 am (which is her regular morning nap time) then maybe she would sit out the play. Anyways, I was relieved to see the following photos from the school, Edda wide awake - off to the side (of course) - being a turkey with a thousand other 2nd grade turkeys. Now you might be wondering what sort of weird Thanksgiving day play offers up a hundred turkeys? Maybe the turkeys are holding a rebellion for a national holiday centered around putting their own necks on the line? No. Apparently it was a debate on whether the national bird should be a turkey or a bald eagle. (Bald eagles not seen in photo and probably on the other side of the stage).

Muck and mire.

2011-11-18T15:03:00.001-05:00

Well. Things don't often go as planned and unfortunately, the drilling rigs were supposed to be done on Tuesday - but today is Friday and they are still here in the backyard. I have a lovely photo of the work on Monday, nice leaf covered backyard with the sluice from bedrock/water mixture coming from the bore hole. Since Monday, it had rained and various problems have cropped up - including city permitting issues as well as hitting the aquifer - which has basically turned the backyard into a huge wrestling mud pit. I actually do not know the details and I'm trying not to worry about the whole thing because I think we are past the point of no return. We are going to run those loops 250 ft into the ground, by golly, come hell or high water. Oh, I guess the high water is already here.

On Thursday, we went to Edda's school to meet with a psychologist/teacher/team to discuss how to "classify" Edda's disability. Edda is doing great at her school, this week she went to see the symphony at the Strathmore with all the 2nd graders and enjoyed it and she also was a turkey in the school play on Wed. Basically there were two classification categories to be picking from (as Edda is not blind or deaf or whatever other categories there are) - autism or intellectual disability. We requested to have her classified under both categories to basically try and encompass more services for Edda going into the future. I thought we could get it all done at that meeting, but apparently, she has to be assessed and the team has to write up reports and do all this extra stuff to figure out that she is really OK to be in both categories. Seems like extra work to me, but what do I know. Nothing (both about psychology and drilling 250 ft into the ground).

I do handle a lot of the school meetings and appointments for the kids, but for these kinds of meetings (which I have done alone before) I asked Jeremy to try and make room in his crazy busy schedule to come home and attend with me. Even though I know all the teachers and staff want the best for Edda, it is always so hard to hear what Edda can't do. And she can't do a lot. And I know there is a lot she can do - most importantly love us and be loved by us - but in many ways what she cannot do always weighs heavily on my mind. It's always heart wrenching and, you know, I want to cry and really , I want Edda without Rett Syndrome and no amount of school intervention is going to make that come true. Anyways, thank you to Jeremy for being there for me.

Finally, we returned the eye gaze machine to the rep - I'm glad that we got to trial it for a month. It really allowed us to see if we would really use it on a day to day basis and the resounding answer is no. It really is cumbersome to use, it takes up a lot of room on the dining room table and crashes all the time. Edda did not enjoy using it, we did not enjoy using it, and the teachers did not enjoy using it. I think it is - by far - the easiest way for Edda to access choices and maybe if it gets cheaper or smaller in the future (think iPad or Kindle small) then we'll pick it up again - otherwise we are letting it go for now.

Scouting for food.

2011-11-13T20:46:00.001-05:00

Scouting for food is one of my favorite scouting activites. Combine a beautiful fall morning with a morning walk and collecting food for the food pantry and doing it all with friends make my heart sing. Poor Ruby got voted to ride in the wagon while being pulled by a bunch of nine year olds. She was not excited.

Edda had a great time walking with the boys. Or at least starting the walk - the boys rapidly outpaced her. but she really loved being outside in the sunshine - lots of smiles and laughing. It reminded me and Jeremy that we need to take more outdoor walks with Edda even though it can be a pain to get us all up and outside and actually walking.

Donuts and hot chocolate for everyone.

Boys with their papas. And the butts of our two doggies.

Our little environmental dream.

2011-11-10T18:10:00.001-05:00

So we are fullfilling a little dream of ours (OK, maybe really Jeremy's). We are installing a geothermal heating system in our back yard. I don't want to go into the lengthy years-long decision process for installing a new system because really, if the old (well, actually relatively new) system was sized correctly and installed correctly, maybe we wouldn't be doing this, but here we are - enjoying large earth moving equipment in our backyard.

Monday afternoon.

2011-11-09T20:42:00.001-05:00

I got to spend a few hours on Monday afternoon with Caroline and her mom, Marta. It was so nice to go to our local park and spend a few hours swinging back and forth in the bucket swing with the fall leaves all around us. Caroline reminded me so much of Edda when Edda was small, I called her Edda at some point in the afternoon when I was cuddling her in my arms.

Mac mini.

2011-11-03T09:55:00.001-04:00

If you know us, we are a die-hard PC family. Jeremy worked for years at AMD which supplies chips to only PC makers and I feel like Apple has advertised it's way into people's hearts, making them spend more $ than they need to on computer equipment. I don't like it that Apple feels a little cult-like and the long lines that form outside an Apple store on the day something is released just makes me uncomfortable to think that there is nothing better to do than to wait in the cold and dark for a little shiny object.

Anyways, all this doesn't mean we aren't immune to the allure (we did buy an Apple TV for Edda, which was one of the best birthday gifts ever for her), especially when you have a little brother who always happens to be an early Apple adopter.Donald surprised us with his old MacMini when he upgraded, which Jeremy promptly added to our little electronic family, Lifehackering it into a little space underneath the kitchen cabinets. As cosmic computer karma would have it, that same night the MacMini came on board, one of our PC laptops died. Sigh.

Halloween.

2011-11-02T13:37:00.000-04:00

Halloween was a success (of course). How could is not be a success? Actually, at the dinner table last night, we were trying to think of costumes which would top the bacon/egg combo and we don't really have any good ideas. Jeremy told me that I need to revel in my success as costume-maker and not immediately worry about what I have to do to next year. I took only one photo of the trick-or-treat mayhem - we had the dogs with us and ran into many neighbors which meant that I had to be on the lookout for poop/other dogs/Vince running away with his pals/Edda not being too cold or unhappy. Anyways, my one photo has both the bacon and egg (and chef and a wizard friend) framed in the light of a doorway. Not too shabby.

Our annual sort - KitKat is the clear winner. Jeremy's favorite, SweetTarts, had a poor showing.

The real halloween costumes.

2011-10-31T20:14:00.001-04:00

I am in bed with Edda on Halloween night. This is her "real" costume. I was still sewing it as of yesterday morning. We made it down the block so we could show off our themed costume of bacon, egg and chef to a few of our neighbors. Now Vince and Jeremy are out on the massive candy run. Vince plotted out the route this morning on Google maps. I wonder if they will make it home before nine.

Halloween party -

2011-10-30T20:36:00.000-04:00

On Friday, I volunteered at Edda's school for the Halloween parade/party. Edda's special ed class is slightly less (or more? I can't really figure that out right now) that 1:1 ratio and they really needed people to come in and help out as the special needs kids are dispersed within the typical classrooms and really need 1:1 attention. I failed to get Edda's "real" costume done in time, so I grabbed an old Snow White outfit to pack into her backpack in the morning. Edda really has a 6th sense about parties - she seems to know when they are coming and instead of being overwhelmed, she often decides that it's a good time for a nice, long nap.

I did manage to wake her up to walk the whole parade route (which was up an incredible number of stairs and across a grassy knoll and down a long, long ramp), but she was grumpy and really wanted to be sleeping soundly. This parade always makes me feel a little grouchy. I want Edda to like more "fun" things more, but you know - Edda has different priorities and marching around in a Halloween parade doesn't seem like one of her top priorities.

Back in the classroom, there were several crafts we (I guess I should say I) mustered through, mainly with Edda sleeping soundly against my shoulder. I really wanted this Halloween mug that I could decorate myself, but I didn't want to be hogging the orange and black markers from a bunch of 2nd graders, so I made mine Christmas colors instead.

I love fall!

2011-10-28T12:38:00.000-04:00

I took the kids to a new pumpkin patch last Friday - the kids had off school (apparently the teachers were headed to Ocean City for the annual Maryland Teacher's Association meeting) and it was a beautiful day! We went to Summer's Farm in Fredrick, MD which is not a farm I've been to before, but I really wanted to do a corn maze and this seemed like the closest one with a good size maze. Vince had a play date and neither boy wanted to go to the corn maze, they all wanted to stay inside and play video games, but being the cruel, uncompromising mother that I am, I dragged us all out to the un-fun corn maze which was amazingly fun 5 minutes after we pulled into the parking lot. Edda had a great time - laughed and was awake, which is ringing endorsement from her. I forgot to pack her off-roading wheelchair, so it was a bit of a comedy routine with the boys running ahead and then me and Edda and Denise chasing them and then calling them back to help Edda get unstuck from the muddy patches. As I said, a good time.

Vince wallowed in a huge pile of corn.

And everyone picked a pumpkin and the rule was that they had to be able to carry it to the car because there was no way I was going to be hauling anyone's pumpkin anywhere. I think Vince ended up rolling his to the car.

Deskstar.

2011-10-27T18:01:00.000-04:00

Our desktop computer died last week and Jeremy went inside to operate on its guts. I started out this marriage handier than Jeremy, but now I suspect he might be handier than I. In the past two days, Jeremy has not only fixed the computer, but he has also fixed our heater by spending $11.94 on a fuse at Home Depot. I had spent about an hour trying to figure out what was wrong with the damn heater and I think it took Jeremy only 15 minutes to figure it out. I defend myself with the fact that I don't understand anything about electricity. I am suspicious of anything I can't see and feel. Also the juxtaposition of electricity and magnetism always throws me for a loop.

Jeremy might have spent an extra 5 bucks or so to buy a Deskstar hard drive over the absolutely cheapest model. I used to make these hard drives for IBM, before Hitachi bought them out - was a process engineer for the HSA, the head stack assembly, the part which swings back and forth across the disks to read the data. When I was making them, they retailed for more than $800 for much less storage, but this one was $45? maybe $50?

The backup restore got hung up a little - it told us that it would finish in 70 years or so!

Hip-hop

2011-10-21T09:29:00.001-04:00

I kind of want to do this:

Bed head

2011-10-20T18:46:00.002-04:00

I might have sent Vince to school on picture day with his hair sticking straight up.

Fairfax stroll-a-thon!

2011-10-19T19:24:00.000-04:00

Beautiful weather for the stroll on Sunday - I think our final haul was over $35,000, maybe $40,000. Not too shabby! Here we are strolling, in our crazy-ass t-shirts. This is our 4th stroll and we bought these shirts 3 years ago and Edda is no longer really fitting into hers very well. Of course, we didn't get a group photo - somehow we always manage to end the stroll without a picture of all the girls. Sigh.

I met this beautiful 4-month old cavachon named Amy! I asked (all curious and nosy) if she was housebroken yet and the answer was a resounding NO!

Rio

2011-10-18T20:29:00.000-04:00

Movie night at the elementary school. Every year, the elementary school hosts a movie night - they have a huge inflatable screen in the gym and hundreds of kids show up and make their parents sit cross legged on the floor to watch a movie. This year it was Rio (which amplified my desire to own a talking bird).

Jeremy and Edda stayed long enough to enjoy the pizza dinner and then they skedaddled back home which was not the original plan. Edda was already falling asleep and Jeremy can't sit on the floor and -also- we thought we had set up camp on the "edge" of the viewing area so that our lawn chair and wheelchair weren't blocking anyone's sight line. But after a while it became clear that our chairs were basically in the middle of the gym. Oh well. Anyways, I kind of wish I was the one to leave because the noise from the kids was so loud, I could never hear the movie and they never dimmed the lights 100% and so I couldn't sleep either. Vince had a great time though as can be seen from the photo above. The first thing I think about when I see that photo of the boys is "OMG! THE LICE ARE JUMPING FROM HEAD TO HEAD!"

Schweddy Balls

2011-10-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

It has been Rett Syndrome awareness month and I'm pooped. We went to three events within a three-week period and I'm emotionally exhausted from all this fundraising and general aware-ness raising. I do the fundraising because I love Edda. However, I'm a cynic and general pessimist and I no longer believe that a cure is around the corner. It is too difficult for me to keep on hoping that Edda might someday be miraculously be able to talk, feed herself, go to college, get married. These dreams for Edda are no longer part of my world. My dreams for Edda are simpler these days - is she loved by friends and family? is she exposed to new experiences? is she making the most of what she is able to do? how am I going to get her into those fashionable skinny jeans? The stroll-a-thon (which was the last of the three events) happened yesterday and I'm glad that the stroll slid into the hours of Sunday night dinner. I'm glad I got to go from being surrounded by my Rett Syndrome family to my own family. I'm so glad that Edda got to enjoy the new Ben and Jerry's flavor, Schweddy Balls.

It was a nice quiet evening (except when everyone started dancing!). Now if only Jeremy had shaken his booty...

Blue Sky Girl event

2011-10-15T21:15:00.002-04:00

I love my Rett Syndrome family. Although I could do without Edda's disability, I do like that I have a name for it and that I've connected with families all around the world who share similar struggles. Today we participated in Blue Sky Girl event - which was an awareness event to let people know about Rett Syndrome. We bought balloons in blue and yellow - blue for the sky and yellow for the sun.

All around the world, in designated spots with staircases, we were all suppose to climb up the stairs to show what girls with Rett can do. Here we are at the bottom of the stairs:

And here we all are at the top!

Tooth fairy - slacker.

2011-10-14T21:21:00.000-04:00

Vince lost a tooth last night. The tooth fairy forgot to come. We were all a little embarrassed at her tardiness.

Puppies -

2011-10-10T20:48:00.000-04:00

I got to hold 4 week old puppies this weekend!

Walk to school day!

2011-10-07T20:20:00.001-04:00

Well, we walk to school everyday - but here we are in local cable TV glory - Ruby and Maxi get a starring role!

One month trial -

2011-10-04T20:23:00.002-04:00

Excitement in the air! Edda gets to trial an eye-gaze computer for the next month. Jeremy and I went to Edda's school this morning for the initial set up and training. The county's coordinator for augmentative communication looked at me in the eye and said, "Please be careful with it!" and I was confused because I thought that the computer would stay at school for the whole month, thus absolving me from actually having to do any computer work with Edda. I asked nervously if the computer was coming home with Edda - and apparently the answer is - everyday on the bus. Oh, it puts a little bit of extra work which I dread a little bit because I can feel the stress and frustration building already which I am trying to tamp down. AlI can say is that I'm happy that our one month trial is this month and not last month when we were all swamped with work.

Edda has no problem calibrating the system and her eyegaze is accurate up for 48 icons. Just imagine 48 spaces on the computer screen, if there is 1 picture of Dora in a sea of blank spaces, Edda can pinpoint that picture in no time flat. During this month, we are going to try and see if Edda can answer some academic questions - without showing that Edda can use it functionally, then most likely the school system won't purchase the system.

After working about 15-20 minutes, Edda fell asleep. Her teacher gave her bunny ears :)

Here we are trying it out at home -

End of the fiscal year.

2011-10-03T20:59:00.001-04:00

Both Jeremy and I rushed towards work deadlines for the end of the fiscal year (September 30th). I don't think I have ever seen Jeremy so busy at work. Now that we are in October, a calm has settled in the house - I feel like I can catch up on laundry and take time for a nap or to listen to a bed-time story. Jeremy has been able to take some time to make us a delicious chicken dinner!

Zhaoyuan City, Yantai, Shandong, China

2011-10-02T04:00:00.005-04:00

Currently, China is the world top gold producer and Zhaoyuan, Yantai, Shandong is the Gold Capital of China. It is not too far from here. Just like Haiyang, it is part of Yantai City. It locates in the NW direction of Haiyang. When Mom comes back, probably we can take a trip there together and visit their gold museum.

In addition, Mom will go to Nan Tong City, just north of the Chong Ming Island & across the river, to visit her relatives there on the 6th. The bridge on the north side of Chong Ming Island is under construction now. Therefore, Mom has to take a ferry to get to there. However, the south side bridge to Shanghai has been completed for a while. Therefore, there are a lot of bus runs between Shanghai and Chong Ming Island. It is very convenient to get in and out of Chong Ming these days.

Working in the Wee Hours and Misc

2011-10-02T00:26:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I started working at 8:00 AM all the way until 2:00 AM of this morning. Then I woke up at 6:00 AM and ready to work again.

Ha, Ha I haven't anticipated that I needed to work in the wee hours at my age. But, it was good. This evening, probably, I will hit my old, warm sack right after dinner. I have already taken out some of Mom's egg dumplings out of freezer this morning.

The other day, one of my local friends gave me lot peanuts. After cooking, I just spread them on the living room floor to let them dry. This, I take cue from the local farmers. They spread them on the highway and corner it off so cars can't running their peanuts over. Good dry-clean-and-large surface to dry peanuts with GREEN things in mind :) - no energy from any source except sun and wind.

Oh, the other day, when Mom was here. Both of us saw an awful car accident. The most grotesque one in my whole life, I believe. Evidently, a motor cycle hit at the dump track, which was full of heavy rocks, on the back, the motor cycle gas tank exploded. When our bus drove by the scene, we saw a completely burned char-coal body with one leg and one head stick up a little bit on the highway. It was still burning there. There are a lot of fire engines and policemen around but nothing could be done at that point. Just too bad, very bad accident indeed.

Washington DC, the Best City to Raise Kids

2011-09-30T01:11:00.002-04:00

The other days, I just learned that Washington DC was voted to be the best city to raise kids. I guess I need to ask Doris & Donald then :)

Here in China, we have this big National Holidays (Oct. 1 - Oct. 7) coming up. Too bad, I have to work all these days because our data center is moving from Houston to Shanghai. Not only that, I probably need to work on wee hours. But, hopefully not. Gladly, my English class for locals are going to be over soon. Next year, probably, I wouldn't like to sign up for it.

Hopefully, this Thanksgiving time, Donald will be able to travel toward west (Hawaii, Japan, Korea ??) so we can have a mini-family re-union there. If with two, then we will leave them alone :) Of course, next time, Mom think that our family re-union is much better on a cruise ship. May be Alaska Cruise. Not sure yet.

The weather is getting cold here. This place is great for summer - nice and cool. Winter, hopefully, will be moderate also. A lot of people told me that up north, just across mountains, there will be a lot of snow, but not here.

Shana Tova

2011-09-29T17:14:00.001-04:00

Happy Rosh Hashanah to everyone! I love new year celebrations - a sense of renewal and starting again. Vince and Edda were lucky enough to have the day off of school - why MCPS celebrates Jewish holidays and none other is always a bit perplexing (I always want to have Chinese New Year off - I think the number of Jewish folks and the number of Chinese folks in the public schools are relatively comparable). As we were not going to new year services today, I was clever enough to schedule the kid's flu shots for this morning - more than a month in advance. I love to pat myself on the back for small successes that show off my scheduling prowess, I'm not good at very much, but I love to keep the household well scheduled.

When I made the appointment, they mentioned that they were out of the flu-Mist vaccine, the one that is sprayed up your nose like a backwards sneeze. So I could not confirm Vince's anxious question - am I going to get the shot, or can I get the nose one? So he was on pins and needles the whole ride over. Edda, on the other hand, doesn't really give a rat's ass about shots. Also, I'm not sure how I would tell her to suck up the nose medicine into her sinuses. Anyways, they had the Mist in stock (thank goodness) - Vince was able to get his up the nose and hilarity at the doctor's office ensued.

Mom Has Been Away for 2 Days

2011-09-28T05:02:00.002-04:00

Well, Mom has been away for 2 days. First day, I ate one of her dishes stored in our refrigerator. The second day, I was invited to a dinner hosted by one of my colleagues from Shanghai. Tonight, I need to teach English (boys, mine is just so-so) to locals. Tonight, my teaching subject is, this year, Ms. Tu YouYou (81) received the prestigious US Lasker award for discovering a Chinese traditional medicines - sweet wornwood shrub, to eradicate malaria in Africa. The program of using this medicine on the small island of Moheli, off Africa, has proven a huge success.

Well, for day 3, I am going to have more of Mom's stuff inside my refrigerator.

Life at Haiyang, Shandong, China

2011-09-25T20:47:00.007-04:00

Pictures to share:

1) Mom caught a big Jelly Fish. Of course, it ended up in our dinner table.

2) Mom on a beach in front of our expat village along the Yellow Sea. The stick is, just in case, to chase away a lot of guard dogs probably with rabbit but no rabbit shot. Those guard dogs are used for guarding numerous fish ponds behind the beach.

3) My expat village apartments. Mine is about (~1,200 ft*ft, with two bedrooms & two full baths, and solar-powered water heaters are on top) which is on the second floor, first row closed to the gate, on the very right. This gate is guarded 24 hours a day. The guard house to on this side of the gate (not shown). Mom needs to have a pass to get in. But, she has a lot of friends at the gate. She, from time to time, gave away some chocolate candies to them.

4) Our door and kitchen facing the opposite side of the gate.

5) Our living room windows facing the Yellow Sea and the gate. Guard house is at the left.

Well, Mom is heading for Shanghai today. She probably will not be back for a month. But, she left a lot of cooked food in the refrigerator :)

ltyl and stay tune ...

Girl Power 2 Cure gala!

2011-09-25T15:55:00.003-04:00

Friday night, Girl Power 2 Cure hosted their first Gala ever in Georgetown to fund research for Rett Syndrome. It was a lot of work for everyone and it was a lot of fun! The Martin clan showed up and led the dancing - we ended up having at least 40 people on the dance floor. We also had the chance to invite Edda's team from her school to join us and it was really very meaningful to us to have them there for the evening.

I didn't take a lot of photos, there was a professional photographer there who captured the evening beautifully if you'd like to see more photos -

Here is Vince enjoying his Georgetown cupcake from the Gala first thing the next morning.

Vince feeding Edda.

2011-09-22T07:08:00.001-04:00

Last night was Vince's back to school night. After years of ignoring his schoolwork - we are buckling down and trying to make a good go of it all. School is so hard for a 4th grader - I think he easily does an hour and a half of homework each night. He is rapidly making progress on all the math I know in the world, luckily, I still have a handle on 4th grade math, but in 5 years when I have to help with 10th grade math (ha ha!), I'm not too sure.

I AM IN ...

2011-09-22T00:46:00.002-04:00

Finally, I found a way to get in to our family blog. Very good. I can share several pictures we have during the weekend.

Mom is ready to leave for Shanghai, Chong Ming Island and Taiwan. These days, she has cooked a lot of food for me to have while she is gone. Too bad, our refrigerator is much smaller than the one we have back home.

She and I are having allergic reactions to our place here in Shandong, China. I guess this is an agricultural area with a lot of chemicals around. Just like at Richland, WA, USA. Mom almost takes a walk along the beach of Yellow Sea every morning.

Btw, I just heard that Chinese Government to tax us (expats) more, as much as 11%, for joining their social security and health programs. I believe I have never had a chance to use them anyway, but it is mandatory.

Seizure cat.

2011-09-21T06:57:00.001-04:00

Edda's seizures are coming back. Slowly but surely. I need to call the neurologist. I don't want to call him, I just want them to go away by themselves. Such is my life. Living in my world involves some denial. I think that is OK. I'd like to have a cat, but I really can not take care of one more thing right now - even though I know cats almost just take care of themselves. I found this lovey cat outside our garage the other day - paused enough for a little pet.

Look at these beautiful photos taken with a large DSLR camera. Can't compare to an iPhone. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" - I'm raging against the inevitability of owing a phone with my camera in it. That day will come.

Scene from Sunday night dinner

2011-09-19T17:44:00.001-04:00

There was takeout Chinese food that Edda refused! She never refuses Chinese food. Strange girl!

Here's Christine and Jane. Can you believe Jane is going to be a driver ON THE SAME ROAD AS YOU AND ME in less than 1.5 years.

And, of course, Maxi, enjoying the dinner leftovers.

The devil dog

2011-09-18T08:18:00.000-04:00

Maxi has been a thorn in my side. I do not know how we ended up with such a naughty dog, but somehow she is the most trouble of all my children. She eats everything (toys, food, plants), she sniffs your butt when you walk into the house, she barks at everything! She is cute though - although it doesn't make up for much.

Jeremy is home again, finally, after another long week of travel. This time he went to Minnesota - it's really not the same in the house without him.

My birthday!

2011-09-14T20:26:00.001-04:00

Today I am 39. I wish I could get into the habit again of taking photos everyday. This decade-long hobby of picture taking and blogging is somehow at risk. I have been thinking that I need to get a different camera, a smaller one, maybe one I could put in my pocket - like an iPhone and give up on my DSLR. But then I get all upset at the lame picture quality berate myself for not taking photos everyday with the camera that I have.

All I have for today is a picture that is over 2 weeks old! I feel undocumented.

Erasure!

2011-09-12T07:12:00.001-04:00

Here's Andy of Erasure - saw them on Tuesday night with my pals at the 9:30 club. He's looking good!

2011-09-09T07:44:00.001-04:00

We are having a good case of the grumps around here. Jeremy and I were talking about it last night and he mentioned that the week between our birthdays (the 7th for him, the 14th for me) has always been a bad week for us. It kind of coincides with the start of the school year, our anniversary, our birthdays, the end of the fiscal year for both of our jobs and - this year in particular - Jeremy is traveling a lot. I joke a lot that Jeremy's work travel is his "vacation" because he gets to go to cool places with cool people, but I know that he works a lot on these business trips and they can be very draining on him. I also know that he misses us and tries to not be away from home more than he needs to be.

Anyways, I mercilessly teased him for MONTHS when I found out he was going to a business trip in Monterey, CA and have a catered dinner in the aquarium! Really, what could be more fabulous than that? Not much really. OK, well maybe being in Monterey with us. Without the work :)

Labor day party.

2011-09-08T09:45:00.000-04:00

In my Sociology 101 class, we've been learning about the capitalist and the worker classes. Marx, Weber, and Durkheim - the three classical sociologists. Usually I think I'm surrounded by natural scientists who know nothing about the social sciences, but I've had conversations with a bunch of people in the last week who have basically fallen over themselves all excited to tell me about the three dead white guys who started the field of sociology.

In the spirit of honoring the worker class, we went out to my friend Andy's annual Labor Day party. He is a wonderful man with a knack for the wacky and fun. In the backyard, he has a pool and trampoline. Sound pretty OK so far, right? But wait! He also has a cotton candy machine, 2 machines cranking out 5 flavors of slushies and 3 working pinball machines. He is an ebay scounger, craigslist follower and master tinkerer trying to fix all these machines that he finds for bargain basement prices.

Vince ran around and tried all the flavors of slushie and the cotton candy. Edda was a little underwhelmed as you can tell from this photo!

2011-09-07T14:38:00.001-04:00

Edda falls asleep in the most unlikely of places.

Edda's school year has started and it is always nice to see her enjoying her friends and teachers at school. I just finished reading a memoir called Keeping Katherine. The author has a daughter who has Rett Syndrome (who is now in her 30s) and I really enjoyed reading it. Some of the feelings that she expresses are spot on with what I felt or what I feel - other very strong feelings that she had did not apply to me at all. I've known about this book for a long time, but I did not read it until now because I didn't not think I was ready yet. My own feelings about Edda and her disability are always such a jumble - acceptance, grief, hope, action and, of course, love - it's very difficult for me to put into words.

In the photo of Edda above, you will notice she's wearing a silver necklace. It is the guanine base pair, the one that she is missing (806delG). Guanine pairs with cytosine in the DNA strand - so I always wear my cytosine necklace.

Althea and John's anniversary -

2011-09-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

We headed out for a nice 15th anniversary party for some friends of ours, it was a really lovely evening and we got to play some games, eat good food and meet some new people.

Vince busted out his gogos, which he tried to patiently explain to some adults at the party. Nigel, his pal, contributed Transformers.

Jeremy met a woman who works in the same building as he does, just 2 floors down. Jeremy's building is not very big, one figures that you'd get to know a lot of the people in the building! Apparently, they have not noticed each other in the many years that they have been sharing an elevator.

First week of school, done!

2011-09-02T17:02:00.000-04:00

The first week of school for everyone (including me) is done! Hooray! But, of course, my blogging is a few weeks behind - here is a photo of all of us at a beach near Portland a few weeks ago. Trying to capture the last bit of summer before Jeremy gets home from his business trip this week; because he's been gone for a week, I haven't counted this week as "getting back into our routine". That's for next week!

First day of school -

2011-08-30T07:00:00.001-04:00

First day of school! Jeremy is traveling and Denise is only working a few days this week, so Katherine, my wonderful mother-in-law is in the house helping us get ready and get going for the first week of school. Edda is still going to her school-commuity based program - she has a new teacher this year (a last minute change) who not only has taught for the past 5 years or so in the county's program for kids with the most severe disabilities, she's also worked (in the past) as an inclusion counselor for Edda's summer camp! I'm looking forward to a great year. Edda's two former teachers are still in the building - the special needs program at Edda's school is expanding. It was nice to go to the open house and see all the familiar faces.

Katherine plaiting Edda's hair for the first day - gotta look good!

Vince is also all gung-ho for 4th grade. It's a big year. Forget about math and science. Forget about reading and field trips - apparently it is an auspicious grade for meeting girls (!).

And last, but not least, I started taking classes myself! I'm going to try and work my way to an RN degree. Really, it's because I love being in school and want to keep learning. On the first day, I learned that boat shoes are back in style.

Camping!

2011-08-26T21:21:00.000-04:00

Edda had a wonderful time at Camp JCC this summer. Edda rediscovered her love of water and being in the pool and ended the summer with a deep, golden tan. Vince also got to attend - he was not in the same group as Edda, but there were kids with disabilities integrated into his group and it was a wonderful experience for him as well. Edda's inclusion counselor, Jennifer, was wonderful and so responsible and kind it's hard to believe that she's only 16. Camp ended weeks ago and we are still singing camp songs and Vince still has his swim test bracelet on. We are looking forward to next year!

Back from Portland

2011-08-25T21:23:00.000-04:00

We are sitting here awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Irene. While I was working today, I looked outside my office windows at all the huge trees in the backyard and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that none of them will fall on the house during the wind/rain storm.

We are just back from the glorious Northwest! We visited my parents in Portland and Jeremy's relatives in Seattle and had a wonderful, relaxing time. Due to some scheduling issues, I needed to travel alone with Edda across the country starting from Baltimore with a connection through Phoenix and finally landing in Portland. Throughout our travels through airports, jet ways, and security lines, I always asked for help from the nearest person when I needed an extra pair of hands. No one turned me down, no one looked at me strangely, all six different people I asked stepped right up and held Edda by her shoulders while I folded her wheelchair, looked for her shoes and/or went to the airplane bathroom. Humanity can be really wonderful.

Jeremy, Edda and Vince in front of Mt. Rainier!

Vince is the next Scorsese.

2011-08-11T08:10:00.000-04:00

Vince took movie making at camp. This is his masterpiece.

Date night at the pickle bar -

2011-08-09T15:46:00.003-04:00

Last week, Vince went to Hershey Park and rode his first roller coaster (which was the Comet - there was no vomit) and it looked like:

While he was frolicking, Jeremy took me and Edda on a date to the closest pickle bar at the Woodside Deli:

Terrible mothering -

2011-08-06T12:17:00.001-04:00

I let Vince go without taking a bath/shower for over 3 weeks. I mentioned this at dinner the other day and Vince countered with the fact that he has been in the pool at least twice a day and that he was clean because of that. Denise mentioned that perhaps people pee in the pool? We all looked at Edda who smiled as if to say "Who, me? I never pee in the pool."

I can see a glimpse of an older Vince in this shower picture - I think he is even using soap.

Sleepy Edda

2011-08-05T11:41:00.001-04:00

I had been wrestling with Edda for over an hour to get her to fall asleep. Jeremy came in and took my place, scooted next to Edda and in 5 min, she was snoring away.

National Night Out

2011-08-04T11:20:00.001-04:00

I love my neighborhood - we can walk to a lot of places, the neighbors are fabulous and I can practically throw a rock from my driveway to I-270. OK, the last one is not so great, but I can't have everything. Our neighborhood had a great National Night Out - a block party BBQ. Someone brought sangria!

The local firemen came by and gave out hats:

Edda enjoyed meeting McGruff:

Sloth vs Activity

2011-08-01T17:14:00.000-04:00

I have found that happiness is just finding the right mixture of sloth vs activity. Too much sloth - usually sleeping and surfing the web too much and I'm cranky and the house is dirty. Too much activity and I feel stressed and overwhelmed. This past weekend was sliding into too much sloth, so I had to find some projects to keep me occupied. I decided to fix the bathroom door which was slowly becoming unhinged.

Wood glue and matchsticks.

Stuff sticky matchsticks into stripped screw holes.

Have crazy dog try to pull matchsticks out of said stripped screw holes.

Yell at dog.

Entirely too much poo.

2011-07-31T12:26:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I think my life is just one long conversation about poo. Jeremy actually had to establish a rule - no talk about poop at the dinner table (this includes any talk about farts as well). In this house, this is actually a difficult rule to follow. Anyways, Edda is having poo problems. Mainly getting the poo out. Poor girl, makes her not comfy. Jeremy thinks it triggers seizures. We will now track both poo and seizures on the calendar. Other people track birthdays, swim meets and dr appts - we have all those plus a few extra!

Edda at camp.

2011-07-29T08:14:00.001-04:00

Edda in the pool

2011-07-25T14:42:00.000-04:00

Summer in the pool!

Shabbat

2011-07-24T14:17:00.001-04:00

As the kiddos are going to a Jewish summer camp - they've been learning about Shabbat. So we decided to celebrate with the traditional Friday evening meal - we got the candles, the grape juice and the challah bread and said all the prayers which we printed out from the internets. I know, I know that it's not the kosher grape juice, but I tried looking for it and I couldn't find it. I hope that with along with all my other transgressions, this one will be forgiven.

My little projects.

2011-07-21T21:58:00.001-04:00

I got some hand-me-down wooden benches with iron sides which were in pretty bad shape. I tore all the wood slats off and then spent an afternoon sawing through the rusted bolts that held the slats to the iron frame. Then I got my hands on some spray paint (which is really lovely stuff) and then went to town on refurbishing the iron sides.

Jeremy took me to a local lumber yard to get some cedar slats and they are sitting in the garage waiting for another block of free time to put it all together. Hopefully, it will be done before I turn 40.

Gazette mention -

2011-07-20T20:30:00.001-04:00

Jeremy is on a local traffic commission and got quoted in this week's Gazette about pedestrian safety along the Rockville Pike.

Tomato hornworm -

2011-07-19T17:10:00.001-04:00

I'm growing tomato plants. Yesterday, I found this monstrosity in the midst of the tomato leaves.

I huge green caterpillar with white maggots hanging off it's back. I screamed and fell backwards a little bit.

Apparently, it is the infamous tomato hornworm with parasitic wasp cocoons attached to it's back. The wasp larvae will suck the innards out of the the hornworm and save my tomato plants. Thank goodness, because I don't want to touch that thing.

That damn dog.

2011-07-18T07:43:00.001-04:00

On Thursday - I was so excited becuase I had a $3 coupon off for children's Motrin at CVS. So I bought my 240 mL bottle of berry flavored ibuprofen and left the new box in the CVS bag on my bed on Thursday afternoon. At 8 pm that evening, we discovered the Maxi had eaten through the box, through the tamper resistant/childproof cap and indulged herself with almost 5 grams of pain reliever. So off she went to the emergency vet for 2 days of detox and rehab. She is fine. So I really didn't save that much money on the bottle of Motrin. That dog cannot be left alone. Anyways, that it why I did not go to the beach/memorial service this weekend because Maxi needed to be picked up late Sat night.

Here she is with the cone of shame so she doesn't mess with the IV port.

RIP Marty.

2011-07-17T11:37:00.000-04:00

This weekend, Jeremy, Vince and Edda headed to NJ to attend Marty's memorial service. He passed away a few weeks ago at 95. Marty is Jeremy's paternal grandmother's (Sylvia) sister's husband - so Jeremy is actually not a blood relation to Marty, but we usually see him every year at the Martin Thanksgiving until two years ago when he was too frail to travel. Everyone flew/drove into a NJ beach town and the kids played on the beach. The service was more of a reminiscence, looking at old photos and telling stories.

For various reasons, I stayed home and I was a little worried about sending Jeremy with both Vince and Edda alone to the beach, but I shouldn't have worried - Jeremy said that everyone helped out, carried Edda's wheelchair and took naps with her, looked after both Vince (at the beach) and Edda (in the air conditioning) and Jeremy managed to have a lovely (and emotional) time.

I have some beach photos from Jeremy!

Tete-a-tete.

2011-07-14T09:42:00.000-04:00

Our biggest expense due to Edda's disability is her childcare. I don't think about it too much because for the most part, it is what it is - although sometimes I sigh thinking about how low our childcare costs could be if Edda was a typical 7-year-old. We are so lucky to have great people to look after Edda and enjoy spending time with her. Here's Edda with Denise sharing a moment together:

Not the best idea.

2011-07-13T09:51:00.001-04:00

Immediately after we picked up Vince, we headed to Montecello, home of Thomas Jefferson. This was not the most brilliant idea as Vince was exhausted and wanted to just hole up at home in air conditioning and play video games for a few hours. But he was not too bad - he tried to write in quill ink a copy of the Declaration of Independence:

Edda loves ice cream.

2011-07-12T08:07:00.000-04:00

Vince's summer camp is nestled in the depths of Virginia - so we decided to organize a mini-road-trip around picking him up. On Friday - we drove to Montpelier, the home of James Madison. Traveling with Edda without Vince can be a luxurious experience in some ways - although she cannot participate by herself in almost all of the kid-centric activities such as a Children's Museum or a moon-bounce, she is always excited to walk/stroll on a downtown boutique boulevard or try new foods at a strange restaurant. It's not to say that the day doesn't present challenges - we always travel with movies and if Edda is impatient, we whip out the movies and she is content. In this way - we enjoyed the house tour at Montpelier and a 2 hour dinner with Edda.

We did have a theme for the day - Edda loves ice cream! (Actually we all love ice cream - but we like to blame our indulgences on Edda.)

Here's Edda at Sweet Frog frozen yogurt in Charlottesville, VA looking a little concerned that maybe we are eating too much of her frozen yogurt.

I announced about 20 minutes from Montpelier that I needed to pee. If you know me, you know I hate to stop the car to pee (I don't mind if someone else stops the car because they need to pee, I just don't like doing it), I don't like finding bathrooms, I don't like inconviencing anyone. I know, it's weird. I'm weird. But I think it must have been karma, because the closest bathroom was at the Moo Thru - a great local ice cream shop!

Back from camp!

2011-07-11T11:43:00.001-04:00

We picked up Vince from camp on Saturday - he was hoarse from screaming and yelling and singing all week. He was dirty and smelly from a week in the lake and some inadequate showering. He caught fish, learned to build a fire and learned lots of camp songs. He had a great time! Jeremy and I couldn't chaperone the troop this summer because of work obligations - but Jeremy is pretty determined to make it next year. We are all so happy to see him back. First order of business - a BATH!

Missing Vince!

2011-07-07T20:42:00.000-04:00

I miss Vince. I don't think I've gone so long without actually speaking to him! I know he is having fun at camp (we get daily updates on the group activities), but it's not the same as actually talking to him...

Edda is enjoying her time at camp. Here she is getting ready to go zip-lining!