It was a great weekend! Ian and I got to go to see Eddie Izzard play Oakland’s Oracle Arena with some friends. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a bigger venue for anything. We had nosebleed seats way up top, but it didn’t much matter. We so enjoyed him. Anybody who does Latin jokes is my hands-down favorite. I took a pic with my cell phone, but I don’t know how to get the picture to my computer…

Yesterday we moved Lucas’s bed into Asher’s room. Well, Lucas and Ian moved the bed. I performed support tasks and kept Asher out of the way. It’s quite an adventure taking Ikea furniture apart and putting it back together again. Good think my hubby’s so handy! Both of the boys seem very excited about this new arrangement. Last night at bedtime there was a kind of slumber-party feeling in the air. I expect it will take some getting used to, but I think they will adapt nicely. Asher’s bed is now beneath Lucas’s bed, which gives Asher a kind of cubbyhole to sleep in. I think he will come to really like that, at least for a time. We’ll leave things like this awhile and eventually move my office into Lucas’s old bedroom. I feel a little guilty taking his room from him—it’s been his since his birth. But the new arrangement will give my office a door (a blessed, beautiful door!) that I can close to keep out family noise while I’m working. I look at it as a short- to medium-term investment in my sanity and my business, and possibly in my kids’ relationship. Perhaps sharing a room will promote brotherly closeness. Or perhaps that’s my wishful thinking.

I got to share a meal with some girlfriends last night and I’m more determined than ever to make that a more regular occurrence.  I just need to get out more and my kids can now handle it better.

We’re getting ready for Asher’s birthday party next weekend. I’m excited!

It’s still raining. Everything’s gray and cold. I have no issue with rain per se, but my idea of rain is warmer  and more … romantic … than the rain presently falling from the sky. Looking out my windows, I see my yard is dreary. My favorite plants are shorn or dormant. The lawn is full of yellow dead patches. Only the redwood trees look nice, and my, they’ve grown tall! I am looking forward to some sunny days to lift my spirits.

Asher and I were alone this afternoon and we just had to get out of the house for awhile. There’s a great “creek” running down our street so we took a boat outside to float it. Asher didn’t want to be bothered to try out the yellow rain boots for splashing in puddles. He just went for it! Also, the boat wasn’t nearly as interesting as the runoff. Just look at the glee on his face!

This splashing was a great distraction for me, too. I knew Ian was driving home from Fresno in the rain and I worry only because I know he doesn’t much like driving in the rain. I was anxious for him to be home safe and sound.

And now he is and I’m grateful.

It’s been a long day and I’m ready to call it. Lucas is abed; Asher will be soon. Good night. I hope you occasionally enjoy a good splash, too.

I’ve been working on a project that I learned about through Amanda Soule’s SouleMama blog and her book The Creative Family. It was the perfect project to allow me to practice with all the awesome new tools I got for Christmas.

What is it, you ask?

It’s a bunting for decorating. Some might call it a banner. It’s reusable, unlike crepe paper. I thought it would be nice to use this to decorate for Asher’s upcoming birthday party. I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m pretty stoked about how it turned out!

First, I bought fat quarters and spent entirely too much money. (If I were already a sewer with lots of useful fabric scraps lying about, this wouldn’t have been necessary.) To cut out the triangles I used the Fiskars rotary cutter and self-healing cutting mat my mother gave to me for Christmas. I also used the little Gingher embroidery shears that Lucas and Asher gave me and the Singer “Prélude” sewing machine from Mom and Dad.

That rotary cutter is an amazing and beautiful tool. Cutting took only a fraction of the time I thought it would take.

Isn’t my Singer pretty?

Over several short sessions, I sewed the triangles closed. Today I sewed the bunting all together using wide bias tape. It went very smoothly. I am still debating about whether to pink all the triangle edges.

I think it’s very festive!  The bunting is six yards long and I have enough triangles to make another of probably the same size. I think I will, since I’m not sure what I’d do with all these leftover triangles. I suppose I could try to make a quilt, but I think I’m not really ready for that yet.

It’s 10:30 a.m. on a holiday. My boys are all home and presently engaged in drawing backdrops for the Lego movie they plan on making today. I have no idea how they will accomplish this, given that we have an old-fashioned camcorder and not a fancy digital camera, nor any editing software. Perhaps I’m overthinking it. I’m hearing phrases about aliens and space police and stop-motion. Asher is helping, so it will be interesting to watch with one eye how this project unfolds (and potentially is destroyed by Baby Godzilla) .

I’m sitting here in my office in my living room trying to work and not pay too much attention to everyone. I’m trying to edit a strategy guide for a ubiquitous game franchise and it feels for all the world like I’ve read these exact words a hundred million times before. (OK. Maybe I’m not trying all that hard if I’ve stopped to write this post.)

Rain is falling outside and my throat’s a little sore, but I know there’s no point in going back to bed to rest more.

I’ve signed up for a class on developmental editing for fiction—I’m interested in learning how other people tackle this sort of thing, especially since I work in a vacuum most of the time. I’m hopeful that I’ll learn a bunch that will help me land more such projects. So I’m looking forward to the class and also hoping that it won’t take too much time away from my projects.

I’m starting a new project tomorrow and I’ll be working directly with the author. I expect another big nursing copyedit to come my way, but this one won’t be a whole book. I’ll be editing test questions and I expect that to take about two months, starting any day now.

My meeting with my uncle, who is the editor in chief for a religious publisher, was very productive. I get to look at his fall list and choose some books that sound interesting to me. I don’t know if I’ll really get my pick(s), but it sounds like a strong possibility. His books are very clever, scholarly, and carry some cachet, and the prospect of working on something challenging sounds good.

So, at the moment, I’m feeling pretty great about where I am in the world. Some interesting new things are on my horizon! Oh! And I bought a fabulous new coat yesterday.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars seeps into my home via the playground—a Waldorf playground, mind you. Neither of my children have seen any Star Wars movies, and yet …

Asher: “I’m R2D2. I say ‘beepboopbopbeep’ and I have no arms. You want to be Yoda?”

Me: “No, thanks.”

Asher: “You want to be a guywalker?”

Me: “No.”

Lucas: “What about Leia Skywalker? She’s Luke’s sister. Do you want to be her?”

Me: “Not really.”

Lucas: “What about Ahsoka?”

Me: “Who is Ahsoka?”

Lucas: “YOU DON’T KNOW WHO AHSOKA IS?!?!?”

Me: “Nope.”

Lucas: “She’s Anakin’s PADDYWON.”

Me: “What’s a paddywon?”

Lucas: “I don’t know.”

Asher: “I’m R2D2firefighterStarWarsCloneWarsdoctor! Beepboopbopbeep! Yoda fights a creepy bad buy named nofing. I’m cooking dinner. Meatballs and getti. You want to come to my factory?”

Poor baby has pinkeye today. It doesn’t seem to be slowing him down any. It’s a different story for me, though. I hope he will be all better tomorrow.

Jan 15, 2010 Edit: Our pediatrician says it’s not pinkeye. Asher has a virus and it has caused viral conjunctivitis. This morning both his eyes were very, very red but not constantly goopy. So, basically, there is nothing we can do for him but let his immune system fight the virus, and support him in all the usual ways.

“I Captain Baby Asher. You Captain Mommy.”

“You want to buy something from my store? Like a chocolate milkshake?”

“Whatchu doing, Lucas?”

“I want to watch a program.”

“I need a nack (snack).”

“You like my daddy? You like my brother? You like a baby? Me?”

“I don’t like this dinner.”

“Baby use your red phone?”

“Can we eat at a restaurant?”

“Leave me alone. I need to work.”

“I a superguy. A superhero!”

“Look out! Aliens are coming!”

“I need water. One ice. Two ice.”

“Baby touch your nipples GENTLY?”

Blessed quiet fills the house this morning. School has started back up, and although it was a trifle rocky getting Lucas out the door, I am very pleased to be back to our school-days routine. I am enjoying filling my body with the silence and deep breaths. There is plenty to do: editing work, chores, errands. And yet, I’m feeling peaceful and happy.

We had a good, long winter break. Ian was off work for the entire time the kids were out of school and daycare, and that, my friends, is a BEAUTIFUL thing. I’m so grateful because my work didn’t slack off at all until New Year’s Day and if Ian hadn’t been at home to keep the children occupied, I never would have made it. I am burned out and weary, but the last couple of days have been mellow, with hardly any work at all—just a check-in here, an email to write and send there. Rest is most welcome and I’m hoping to get a lot of it this week.

Christmas. What can I say? It was glorious and outrageous as ever. It was abundant and fun. It was also both busy and a little weird at times. Family troubles dominated my family’s side of things this year. Fortunately, I think my boys didn’t even notice. The gift-giving at RoRo’s house was low-key compared to usual, which was a blessing. And yet, somehow, my parents made up for that by showering presents on my kids. Mom and Dad and Jonathan arrived at our house Christmas morning with a huge carload of gifts. My mother kept shaking her head and muttering, “I guess I got a little carried away this year.” This amuses me; it’s not really like her to do so.

Ian and I approached Christmas with a fair amount of trepidation. Some of which was totally unfounded. We enjoyed a spur-of-the-moment shopping spree at Toys R Us for the kiddos. We also plowed through our home and garage in the last days before Christmas and boxed up lots of old toys for Goodwill and some for Ian’s clinic. So far, not a single item has been missed by Lucas or Asher.

I am so grateful the children had such a nice Christmas. Our days were full of conspicuous good behavior, talk of Santa Claus, and lots attention from Daddy.

Here are just some of the wonderful gifts we received:

Lucas: lots of science kits (experiments, volcanoes, science you can eat such as soda, rock candy, etc.), rollerblades, books, awesome colored pencils, Green Lantern action figures, and massive amounts of Lego.

Asher: books, puzzles, a noisy rocket ship, a noisy fire truck, a noisy cash register (his new “computer”), wooden boats, play dough, a carved owl that hoots, wooden tools, and nice block crayons.

Ian: a gorgeous new rug, many books, lots of music, a sweater, slippers, and high-quality cookware.

Sara: a gorgeous new rug, a Singer sewing machine, Gingher sewing shears, books, sweaters, two scarves, and lotion.

Our 15th annual Christmas party was a huge success! We were delighted to welcome old friends and new to our home Christmas night. I’m still smiling about it. We had a bunch of kids come, too, which was great fun for our boys. The last guests left at 2:30 a.m. on Boxing Day.

I had high hopes to make gifts this year. None of my plans panned out because my work kept me cranking hard the whole month. Some part of me finds it interesting to watch my internal struggle about that; letting go of my expectations and banishing the Shoulds is often hard for me. But I did it eventually out of necessity. Our Christmas was bountiful in every way, and that is thanks, in part, to the work I do.

Thank you to all who showered us with presents, good food, their presence, good wishes, and love.

An elfin warrior and a good soldier koala man fight the evil emperor, who threatens the kingdom of cuddly Oo Ah Ee creatures!

No toys in this house are played with as much as these colorful silk scarves, except perhaps for Legos. Lucas never tires of inventing stories and now that Asher is almost 3-years-old, he has plenty to add to the games. Their play is far more imaginative,  interactive, and involves more role-playing than it was just six months ago. This is a beautiful thing because the more they play imagination games, the more they are cooperating instead of competing for resources. Fortunately, we have plenty of play silks.

“The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads”

This is what I often find after working in the evening: Asher asleep in our room with Ian folding laundry and watching a program.