Daily Fiber

It came up in conversation a few days ago that I have a blog.  Well, I sort of write a blog….I have written posts on a blog….I once had a blog that wasn’t read so often….my life got really busy.  Can I still claim to have a blog if I don’t visit so often?

 So here, on my visit to this barren land, is a quick update of the last (nearly) two months since I last posted here:

• I interviewed for a job that I really wanted on September 11th.  On the same day my partner and I met with an expectant woman at our adoption agency who was considering an adoption plan.
• I had a second interview for the job a month later.  I was offered the position and accepted.
• I resigned from the job at the dysfunctionally managed nonprofit where I have spent more than five years doing good work with an incredible group of volunteers.  The news was not received well; I felt punished by the executive director for leaving. 
• My last day at the old place was the same day as the due date of the woman we met with.  She decided to parent and I think it was a good decision.  (I will write more about this at another time)
• I took a week off for some transition time before starting the new job.  My partner took off most of the week as well and we played ‘local tourists’, going to all of the theaters, museums, and restaurants that we have intended to visit but never got around to.
• The new job is challenging (!).  (I will also write more about this in another post)

Also to come in future posts: My mother’s recent trip to Israel-Palestine with an evangelical Christian tour group, my ‘perfectly stable’ life–as described by a friend at dinner on Friday night, and considering biological parenthood while continuing to wait in the adoption process.

Thanks to Femiknit Mafia for the meme

Life’s to do list – Completed items are bolded

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula (no need to complete this one!)
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris (France yes, Paris no)

12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables (and I hope to do much more of this in years to come)
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb (see parentheses on #17)
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (I might have been a strange child)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces or 50 states (I’m working on it, less than 10 states to go)
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe (I’m more of a bed and breakfast traveler than a backpacker)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing (and I have the scars to prove it)
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland (couldn’t fit it in the last two trips, maybe the year to come)
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow (and goats and sheep and ……)
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving (alas, only snorkeling)
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (see 17 & 32)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played any game for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (it is on the short “to do” list)
95. Performed in aisles at Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (working on it)
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (thank goodness this is more than I need to lose)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show (I have attempted this one)
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse (and been thrown from a horse)
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the
Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad – and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream (working on it)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair (someday)
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s life (if you count being a blood and platelet donor for 15 years)

Again? So soon?

The 12-hour workdays are definitely bringing me down. I am taking a five minute break to write this post while I wait for the almighty contract tech to arrive to connect our office server so that I might move on to get ready for tomorrow.  It is a short list this week, indicative of my mood:

1. My darling partner and I were somehow able to get away and go camping this weekend, even in the midst of craziness.  Even with severe thunderstorms and a flat tire, it was exactly what we needed, some time away with just the two of us.  The temperature was 15-20 degrees lower than at home, making our decision to get out of town exactly the right thing to do.

2. This construction/renovation/program change project at work may actually have an end.  We go live tomorrow morning.

3. I have completed my first knitted wool diaper soaker. 

So my work life and my home life have been a little chaotic lately.  Here it is Wednesday, and I am just getting to to Monday’s post. 

On the work front: After a very long renovation project, we are moving into our new office space over the next few days.  This entire process has not been managed as well as could be hoped and the staff is pretty stressed as we head into the final hours and days.  There could potentially be a grudge match before it is all over and done.

And on the home front, my darling partner and I have embarked on yet another home improvement project–updating the closets of our 1908 house.  Yes, we are in the closet for a few hours each day.  (insert your jokes and comments here)  In this 90+ degree heat the small spaces seem even smaller and hotter.

But this was meant to be a Grateful Monday post, so….

1. I have a new power tool for the closet project, courtesy of my father in law.  Power tools are a girl’s best friend after all.

2. The tomatoes are starting to ripen–not the tomatoes from the farmer’s market, but the tomatoes in our backyard.  I will post our favorite tomato recipes in the next few days.

3. There must be something in the water, because our neighbors on both sides are pregnant!  I want to think that could only mean good things for us too.

Starting my week with five things to be thankful for:

1. I spent part of the sweltering weekend moving my creative stuff from the second floor down to the basement.  This is something that I have wanted to do for over a year and finally the space in the basement is ready.  It is quiet and cozy and perfect.  I haven’t decided what to call it, either my apartment or my studio.

2. Mopsa and her Lovely Partner became moms this week after many attempts and much waiting.

3. My partner gave the sermon yesterday.  She is the attorney, I’m the one who went to seminary, and she is the one giving the sermon.  She’s neat.

4. Enough rain yesterday morning that I didn’t need to water any of the outside plants

5. Pita chips

So I received an invitation about a week ago from a colleague at another organization for a town hall meeting with Katie Couric. It was a compliment that my colleague thought I would have valuable things to say in this event and I was even more flattered after yesterday’s meeting.  I was impressed by the quality of the conversation, which gave a great deal of thought to the quality of media coverage and the impact of fair news coverage upon American society.  I too often feel that Americans are hurting ourselves by our insularity, seeing the impact of actions taking in this nation’s name only as far as our borders.  I was surprised by what was on the minds of the attendees: only a few discussed the Iraq conflict, more discussed their families and communities, health issues, national politics, and the impact of the North Korean missile test.

The meeting gave me the opportunity to talk about poverty, the working poor, and gay marriage rights.  I do want to clarify the Star Tribune article’s statement that ”a gay couple who were against gay marriage” was at the meeting.  There was one man who, after talking about another issue, mentioned that even though he and his partner have been together for over a decade, he does not feel the need to work for gay marriage.  He never said he was against gay marriage.  Mine was only one of a number of hands that shot up to discuss the issue.  Judging solely by the people in the room who responded, there are more people who feel neutral to supportive than I had thought existed outside of my usual orbit.  It was a good morning.

God bless the grass that grows through the cracks.
They roll the concrete over it to try and keep it back.
The concrete gets tired of what it has to do,
It breaks and it buckles and the grass grows through,
And God bless the grass.

God bless the truth that fights toward the sun,
They roll the lies over it and think that it is done.
It moves through the ground and reaches for the air,
And after a while it is growing everywhere,
And God bless the grass.

God bless the grass that grows through cement.
It’s green and it’s tender and it’s easily bent.
But after a while it lifts up its head,
For the grass is living and the stone is dead,
And God bless the grass.

God bless the grass that’s gentle and low,
Its roots they are deep and its will is to grow.
And God bless the truth, the friend of the poor,
And the wild grass growing at the poor man’s door,
And God bless the grass.

Malvina Reynolds, 1964