We are in Redding

We drove to Redding from Austin (three eight hour days--give or take--plus one four hour day....but who's counting?) for Christmas. After a drive like that, we decided to stay a while. And so here we are. Doing a whole lot of nothing. Both Joe and I have work to do, though, and we'll get on that this week before we drive back.

The real reason for the post is to say that we got a camera for Christmas! Woot! What this means is more pictures of babies for you. Also, hippies. Because I plan to document some of the Austonian weirdness for you. It'll be fun.

See you soon.

Allison's most recent show

Allison's school puts on shows for parents once a month or so. Previous shows have entailed a play of some sort, followed by a gallery showing of the children's work in their art room. This time, they staged a musical performance. They've been doing a unit on South America, which included learning some Spanish. They did two song, both of them a mixture of English and Spanish.

First, they sang "Bienvenidos a nuestra clase," and then they went on the superb color song, pictured below, featuring Allison's class on egg shakers and vocals plus their teacher Miss Casey on additional percussion and backing vocals.

















The lyrics:

Ooh! Aaah! I see the colors
Ooh! Aaah! I see los colores

The sun is yellow. Amarillo! Amarillo!
The sky is blue. Azul! Azul!
My blood is red. Rojo! Rojo!
The trees are green. Verde! Verde!

There's a bit of dance that goes with it. If you're lucky, Allison will do it for you. If you see her, you should ask her.

I took more pictures but you know, they all pretty much look the same.

For atmosphere, here is a view of Allison's adoring fans:





















And a post-performance stupor. Really, I wanted to take a picture of her in that spectacular dress but she wasn't interested. This shot represents a protest against mother-enforced picture taking.






















Only a matter of time before she starts hopping again, though.






















I had to crop my finger out of the frame. Quality nice.

Halloween.

The kids had a great time on Halloween, even though trick or treating in our neighborhood was fairly lame. By lame, I mean a number of people left candy on the porch--even though they were clearly at home. Because, you know, all that human interaction is just kind of icky. A bunch of others were loady 20 somethings who clearly didn't even realize it was halloween. We got some candy from some of them--on hand for the munchies, I assume--a bag of cashews from one shirtless dude and, my personal favorite, a dollar. Sorry, little dudes! We're all out of candy! But buy yerself something, mmmkay?

The kids, of course, did not mind at all and they had more than enough candy to eat themselves sick.

On to the costumes. Allison decided to go as a fairy ballerina princess, which mostly involved wearing a lot of random stuff we had around the house. She went to a ballet birthday party, so we had a leotard and tights from that. I bought her a tutu and some wings ("fairy" was a late addition to the costume idea). Then we accessorized from the toy chest.






















Frances felt the need to dress up as well and she made it clear she wanted to go as more or less exactly what Sissy was going as. We did our best. I think she looks like a figure skater. In any case, she was quite pleased with herself.






















And here they are together. Yes, my front hall is a bit of a mess. All the time.























And, finally, their mode of conveyance. Because walking from house to house simply will not do. At least, not for Frances who was not wearing shoes because she didn't have slippers like big sissy. No worries. It was quite warm that night.

And yes, Frances did gather treats in her little pink purse. She gets these ideas.

Children galore!

We had some photos developed, so I have some pictures for you. Our connection is wicked slow, though, so I only have patience for a few at a time.

Here they are, playing in our itty bitty back yard.

And update.

I am pregnant.

Yes, I meant to get pregnant. No, the academy is not in charge of my reproductive life. Yes, I am very happy. No, I could not wait until I was past the first trimester to spill the news. Yes, I had a miscarriage last year. No, I do not think we're going to have a repeat of that experience. Yes, I could be wrong about that. No, I don't mind telling you. Yes, I will have to tell you if I have a miscarriage. No, I am not having this baby in a hospital if I can at all avoid it. Yes, I am hiring a doula. No, I do not believe in husband coached labor. Yes, I have morning sickness. No, I am not having another child because I want a boy. Yes, I could go on this way indefinitely. No, I'm not going to do that.

I am pregnant. Six weeks, four days.

Photo proof of the tale below.

More pictures to come...

Yah, so....we cut Francie's hair, right?

Allison's hair parts nicely on one side and I prefer no bangs to start, so she can make her own choices and there's no awkward growing out phase, you know? So anyway, Frances is another story. Her hair kind of grows in a swirl from the top of her head, which is to say it sort of parts horizontally at the crown, which means it falls in her face in the front but there isn't really a good place to part it.

Sorry if that doesn't make sense. Just trust me. Bangs seemed like a good idea, giving the hair growing in odd directions situation. So we trimmed the front--Joe did it, kinda jaggety--and it sort of looks cute, in a mullett-esque way. I would take a picture but we don't have a camera, so Joe and I came up with this illustration.

A mullet is business in the front party in the back, right?

Frances's hair is dumb in the front (a la Jim Carrey) and dumber in the back (a la Jeff Daniels)













which, if you think about it, might be kind of awesome.

Marlayna!

Some of you know Marlayna. Some of you don't. For those who don't, you're missing out.




















Marlayna is a little girl we knew from church and she was one of Allison's best friends when we lived in Atlanta. They are just the same age and it was just a little girl love-fest every time we got them together. The rest of us love Marlayna, too. She's such a petite, pretty little thing but she's never been shy about telling anybody and everybody what's what. She's quite the little lady. I think about her sitting between me and Allison in our pew in the second row. I think of the day she pointed up at the crucifix and said, Jesus is wearing a diaper! And I remember the day she looked up and said, is Allison your little girl? I told her yes and she followed up with, Can I be your little girl, too? Yes, sweetheart, you certainly can. She's her mother's little girl and she's definitely her daddy's girl but she's got my heart, too.

For those of you who don't know Marlayna's story, she was diagnosed in January of 2007 with a brain tumor. After 18 months of chemo, she's doing quite well. I had an email, as I'm sure some of you did, asking for donations to Team Marlayna, for a fundraising walk. I decided to throw it open to ya'll, just in case you didn't see it or in case you don't know Marlayna.

Anything will help.

http://www.firstgiving.com/marlayna

Fist hurt!

Often when I try to teach her something (like how to do a somersault) she invents her own version, something all her own that she knows how to do, and she'll teach it to me (as in...somerkaut*).

Anyway, this one time I was teaching her to do a fist bump and she decided that no, we shouldn't do that. We should do a fist hurt.

In her own words, Allison will now describe to you fist hurt.

A fist hurt is something that you do when you want to do it. And you have to make a fist and then smash each other with a fist. When you do the fist hurt it hurts.

So, essentially, Allison argues that the fist hurt is rather like a fist bump, except instead of gently bumping knuckles one to another, you punch as hard as you can. And it hurts. Bonus points for popping knuckles.


*Joe and I had a long discussion the other day about how to spell somerkaut. I was for somerkott but he insists it should mirror somersault. He's right. Somerkaut it is. I'm not going to describe it. It's silly.

Eggs, eggs!

Twice this week, we've had a meal of breakfast tacos. Austinites are crazy for the breakfast tacos. Rightly so. The breakfast taco is fabulous.

We use the super cheap fajita size tortillas. I can get 50 for under $2.

Then I set out:

Scrambled eggs with tabasco
chorizo browned with potato and onion
cheddar cheese
some pico de gallo I made (fresh peppers, tomatoes and onions plus garlic and cilantro and a little lime juice)
sour cream (frances likes it)

Dinner last week, lunch today. The kids like it. Joe likes it. Try it, you'll like it!

Add a dinner of fresh pasta last night, which took four eggs, and we ate our dozen for the week.

Tomorrow, I acquire more eggs. Tonight, I will dream about a breakfast taco.

Joe: you'd hardly notice him.

Me: *to Joe* I can't believe Palin said Joe Six Pack when she was in a debate with a man named Joe. I totally stopped saying things like Joe Blow or whatever when I met you. Joe shouldn't be the generic name.
Joe: It's true. I'm not everyman.
Allison: Right, Daddy. You're just one man.
Joe: That's right.
Allison: You're just like every other man, though.

Ah, motherhood.

I'm not saying one way or another about high fructose corn syrup but this interaction? Absolutely priceless.

Open House

Allison had an open house at school today. Since it's visual and performing arts, the children both put on a short play and they had an art show, where they displayed some of their water colors.

The play was based on a story the children told to their teachers about what they wanted to be when they grew up. They were gathering, many years in the future, to have a party and talk about old times. They brought with them photographs (laminated drawings they made) of their lives, their families, their houses.

They actually did this in two groups, so there were two short plays. The kids arrived one at a time, after ringing the doorbell, and each was supposed to talk about their photos but most of them were very shy and quiet, so the teacher narrated.

The occupations were pretty amusing. In the first group, there were three or four horse doctors. I was actually pretty amused by that since that's what my grandmother calls doctors she thinks are incompetent. He's some kind of horse doctor! Anyway. There was also a cowboy, which is lucky since there were so many horse doctors around.

Allison was in the second group, which was very, very amusing. There was a future fireman and a dancer. There was also an animal doctor specializing in snails--you can't make these things up, I swear. My absolute favorite was Allison's weird little friend Molly--I have pictures she drew of Allison on my refrigerator--who announced that she was going to live at Disneyland when she got older and that, as a job, she was going to be....wait for it...a pegasus!

Allison informed me on the way home that Molly wasn't just going to be a pegasus, she was going to be a flying pegasus. I told her those are the best kind. Could we visit her in Disneyland when I grow up, she asked? I said, of course. If your friend Molly figures out a way to live at Disneyland, we're totally going to visit.

Allison's pictures showed her house, on a teeny road in a little village. Her family--a husband, a little girl, and a best friend. And she told everyone in a strong, clear voice that when she grew up, she wanted to be a mama.

It was very sweet.

We brought her watercolors home. We're starting to get quite a pile of art, so there will be art work coming in the mail to anyone who wants it. We already sent one piece to Uncle Luke. We'll send more and add Uncle Marty and all the grandparents to the list.

I really wish I had pictures because it was such a sweet little show. But alas, no camera.

You've got to have goals

Allison: When I grow up I want to be a Mama.
Me: You do?
Allison: Yes, because girls are Mamas.
Me: This is true.
Allison: I'll have one baby.
Allison: Or two.
Me: Are you going to do anything else?
Allison: I also want to go to grajeate school.
Me: Really? Wow.
Me: What do you want to study?
Allison: hmmmm.....Plutarch?

I have news.

I don't know if I mentioned it here but we were approved for WIC some time ago--it's supplemental food program, which we qualify for since our income is low at the moment. It's a very well-run program here in Texas. No paper vouchers, just a debit style card that allows us to acquire a certain amount of eggs, cheese, milk, juice, beans, peanut butter, and cereal each month.

It's more eggs and cereal than we'd normally eat. Anybody have any recipes that call for a flaming horde of eggs? If you've got anything, throw it out. Because I have a whole lot of eggs. Bonus points if it also calls for a whole bunch of cereal.

We also applied for the Texas state children's health insurance program. We weren't sure if we'd qualify, given that we have some savings, but as it happens, we did. I just got the call a few minutes ago letting me know that the girls would be covered. This is excellent news. I'm very happy. In fact, I might cry a little bit.

St. Edward's University: Not all of the buildings are awful

Camera scurf

The memory card from the camera survived the accident, so I have some last pictures of the girls before we go camera-free around here.

What have they been up to lately? Well, they played in a box. Especially Frances. This was quite popular, the box.





































Allison is starting to enjoy having hairdos (her word, not mine) and we both sort of enjoy inflicting them on Frances. Frances is not such a fan.






















Nor does she have a lot of hair.





















And she pulled it out.




















Now, here is Allison on her way to school, wearing a hairdo, and striking her trademark "sweet" pose. You'll be familiar with this from her other posing work on this blog.





















Here we are, off to school, all in pink and, I don't know, sassy or something. She's very hip.

Hi, friends.

So Monday morning, right? I'm getting ready to take Allison to school and I set my laptop bag down on the curb while I get the girls in their seats and seatbelts and then I get in the car and I drive away.

That's right. I left it on the curb.

I figured this out when I got down to Allison's school so I raced back thinking please let it be there. Please let it be there. Alas, it was not. My laptop. My phone. My camera. My wallet.

I had to assume someone stole it, so I went to a payphone to call Joe. I went to campus to look for him, he wandered around looking for me. Eventually we found each other and I borrowed his phone to cancel credit and debit cards and then I went home to feel sorry for myself because I no longer had a computer and, while most of my data was backed up, not many of my notes were and none of my lectures. Not that I'm that far ahead on class prep but I had a few lectures ready already.

Sigh.

Meanwhile, Joe had the superb idea to put a sign on the tree out front saying did you find a bag, if so call this number. About 9pm, I got a call on Joe's phone from a man who said he had my bag. This was good news. He brought it by and I opened it up.

To discover everything in it was broken. Laptop. Camera. Phone. Non-functional. What's up with that, yo? I wasn't sure until I remembered that I *thought* I'd driven over the curb pulling away. See, Allison thinks this is funny. So we drove over something and she laughed and told me I was a bad driver. Which I might be because, see, I drove over my bag. With my laptop in it. And the camera. And my phone.

So how am I typing this? Well, when you're in a tight spot, call yer mom. She might just help you out. My mom sprang for a new laptop, for which I am most grateful, and I picked it up today and I am back to poaching a signal.

As it happens, the hard drive of my old laptop could be salvaged, so all of my data is intact, so that is also very good news. We're out $57 to replace the phone and we don't have a camera anymore. It could be worse. I could have run over Sonja or something, you know?

Who is Ike?

It didn't even rain.

What else is happening?

Let's start with me since I'm the one at the keyboard. I'm teaching. It seems to be going fine. My class is starting to loosen up a little. They seem like good kids. Nothing much to report there. I need to make some friends, in other news. I find myself chatting to people on the bus because a) they aren't in my class and b) neither are they four years old. I actually have a bus friend--her name is An--that I see on my way home. The fact that I'm telling you this should communicate everything you need to know about my social state at the moment.

Meanwhile, a friend of a friend is taking a course on Islam at the local mosque and I've decided to take it, too. I have to teach Islam this semester, so it will be good prep. It will also be another social outlet. That starts on Sunday night.

Now for Joe. He's into his classes, which are kind of a mixed bag but generally everything seems to be going fine. He's managing everything with just the kind of understated angst a person should expect from Joe. He's also making some friends in the program, which is great. His fellow TA and officemate had a party for all the first year students, so I met everyone, too. He's got some good student colleagues and he's TAing with a couple of really nice people. He's got a couple of long days on campus that are beginning to include grabbing a beer before seminar and chatting about Aristotle. It's shaping up to be a pretty good life.

How about the children? The children, as you might expect, are loud. They are noisy beings all. Allison is enjoying school. Her drawing skills are already improving tremendously. They've been learning to draw people. She went from abstract scribbling to representational art overnight. Super fun times. I am going to photograph and post the text from her latest book, I think, which is called: Jewish People That Escaped from God. There are princesses in it. She is weird but don't tell her I said that. She hasn't learned to appreciate weirdness.

Frances is also quite fine. She gets very excited whenever Mama or Daddy comes home and greets us with squeals and kisses. She's a happy little girl. Except when she's screaming.

Finally, there's the church hunt. We took a break last week and visited a baptist church, which is where Allison will attend Awana. I'm really excited about Awana because she's got a smattering of bible knowledge but it's all jumbled up (see: Jewish People That Escaped from God). Anyway, it was big, it was baptist. They immersed someone, they did an altar call. In between, there was a long sermon about demons.

We've been to three episcopal churches so far. At the first, we were greeted at the door by a female priest who told us they were liturgically proper but theologically liberal. The former seemed to be the case. Can't say much for the former, although they did do Rite I.

Next, we visited a place that was really quite a lovely little community but it was very small. As in, I was recruited for the choir in the foyer after the service. That's okay with me, actually, except that they didn't have many kids in the congregation.

After that, we visited a place that belongs to the Common Cause Partnership, St. Luke's on the Lake. It is astoundingly beautiful.
















The glory of God's creation streaming in the windows. You can't tell it from this picture but the whole of the front of the church is windows and the building is situated on a cliff, overlooking Lake Travis.

The service itself was not bad for Rite II. That's the best way to put it. And people were extremely friendly. It is a very welcoming church. It is also, on the other hand, pretty evangelical. That isn't the worst thing--we're both from evangelical backgrounds, so it's familiar--but we'd prefer something a little more anglo-catholic.

We're going to try one more place, a continuing church, that looks a little more traditional. That will be Sunday. If it doesn't suit, we'll return to St. Luke's and stay there for a while.

Pictures of the kids should be coming soon. I have some pictures of the girls playing in a box. Isn't it so interesting when I tell you about pictures instead of posting them? It's thrilling, I'm sure.

So that's it. I promise to post pictures soon. Really.

Stay home Ike. Tina ain't here*

Hi all. Yes, we are in the path of a very large hurricane, so I thought I'd write a little note here. I'll update you on the other side. It's expected to be a fairly major storm here in Austin but we're not on the coast and Ike, while extremely large, is not an exceptionally strong hurricane. I think we should be okay. The main concern around here is hail damage. We're going to put the car in the carport--we usually park on the street--to minimize the threat of damage. Other than that, I think we should be fine.

Okay, this is my hurricane post. I think I'll write another to update you on what else is happening. And there will be some pictures soon. We don't have an internet connection at home and I keep forgetting to put the pictures on my laptop so I can post them.




*as seen on a restaurant sign on my way down to St. Ed's this morning. I thought it was funny.

The semester begins

Allison doesn't start school until next week but I started teaching on Tuesday and Joe went to the first session of his TA class this afternoons. He isn't home yet, so I don't know how it went. My class, on the other hand, seems fine. I even have a pair of sisters. I don't know their order but they are habited. It's a first and kind of fun, actually. They are very sweet and seem to be quite bright.

The grand tour

First, a little neighborhood ambiance. Alright, so not all of the houses on our street look like this but this is the sort of thing you see in Austin. It's eclectic!















Welcome to our house!




















The front room from the entry way. As you can see, it leads directly to the kitchen and dining area.















From the other direction. There's actually nice light in the kitchen. And look! The tile is the color of dirt with dirt colored grout! I could not be more happy about that.






















The kitchen is tiny but very functional an it has a ton of storage.
















I like the view out the kitchen window.















The girls have a lot of stuff but I found a place for it.


































Our room doubles as an office
















and triples as a library. Most of our books are in storage, though.

















So that's it.

The kids at auditorium shores

The kids like to play in the fountain here, in a downtown park. It's about 10 minutes drive from our house.

Wagoneering

We've been taking the wagon lots of places. Allison doesn't like to be in the sun.

Ever take it off any sweet jumps?

The Huffy.

I'm getting a bike!

So I've been in Austin for about 15 minutes, right? And now I need a bike. Everyone bikes here. There are bike lanes! All over! The commute to work is about 9 miles and through downtown, so it's not convenient but I've decided I should bike to the grocery store.

Ergo, craigslist and a new bike. I found one I liked. It's pink and it has a basket on the front. My plan is to buy a beater now and if I find that I do ride it regularly, then I'll be able to justify the expense of buying something a bit nicer.


This is my dream bike. I'll post a picture of my huffy with the basket on the handlebars when I get it tomorrow. I have to get the u-frame so I can ride in a skirt.















I already got a wagon to drag the kids down to the park. It's brilliant. It's super fun to live someplace this walkable, bikeable, wagonable, and bus-able.

Time for some breakfast tacos. More pics of the kids later.

Getting settled

So I mentioned that when we arrived, we were greeted by a squatter. We named her Emily. By "we" I mean "Allison" and she names almost everything "Emily."




















When we first arrived, the girls entertained themselves with the bare minimum of toys.



































Supplemented by a generous amount of running to and fro.
















We are just so close to having things more or less in place. I'll post a tour of our new home in pictures when we're done with that. Meanwhile, things have improved, now that the girls have their own things around them and Nana is here to help entertain them while Joe and I work on unpacking.

For the sake of clarity

Several people have asked me what moving to Austin means in terms of my dissertation--will I transfer, have I finished? The answer is that it means relatively little for my dissertation. I'm still writing--that's a long story, some of you know it--and I will finish my degree, assuming I finish it, from here. I'll communicate with my committee by email, which is what I did in Atlanta anyway, and I'll have to make a trip out to defend. Assuming I finsih.

I say assuming I finish because I don't know. I don't know if I'm making progress or not. I'm cautiously optimistic about the current situation with my committee but I really couldn't say whether--let alone when--this is going to be done. Whether or not I finish is, in some respect, up to me. In another respect, it isn't. At all. I've already produced hundreds of pages that went nowhere. I can't say that won't happen this time, as I approach the 100 page mark again. All I can do is write and hope for the best.

Incidentally, if the current dissertation direction doesn't work out, I'm not going to make yet another shift. I've already told my committee that. This is my last volley. It's been going well so far, which is the only reason I haven't quit already. Bottom line, if my committee asks me to start over yet again, I'm not interested in doing that. I'm going to leave the program without a degree. There's no question of a terminal master's. I already have one. They don't really grant them to folks leaving the PhD in my field. So that's it. Done.

I feel good about that decision. This has come to a place where it's about my survival, in a truly desperate sense. I can't keep participating in this cycle of...not even writing of rewriting. Of writing and then writing again. I can't and I shouldn't.

This isn't to say that I believe my work is poor--I certainly don't--or that I couldn't hack it, couldn't get down to writing, couldn't do the intellectual work. I can. I don't think I'd be a poor academic. I think I'd be quite good and I know I'm an excellent teacher. I've had a t-t job offer at a place I absolutely loved. I have confirmation from lots of other sources that my work is interesting and valuable. I have certain accomplishments. No, I really do think I'm good at this stuff. In fact, it's because I think my work is genuinely good that I have to stop this if I can't satisfy my committee this time around. That's the sense in which I think I shouldn't keep at this. I have something to offer and I shouldn't waste it stuck in the samsara of graduate school. Time to escape to nirvana by ridding myself of my attachment to getting a phd.

Nirvana, in this case, means part-time employment teaching somewhere in the short term but the longer term plan is to get my master's in social work. Yes, another degree! But a short one and only a master's. I might also consider a certification in clinical pastoral education to pursue professional chaplaincy--I'm especially interested in hospice work--but the first course of action would be to research programs in social work and see where that takes me.

I'm writing this all out here because while some people reading here know these things, some don't quite know what is happening and several people have asked me whether I'm finished and what not. I thought I'd put it down here for the sake of clarity. I may very well finish. I'm still working on the dissertation and yes, things seem to be going relatively well at the moment. But the future is uncertain. Of that I am sure.

Da Ali B Show

yo yo yo booyahkashah!

she says this is her mad face but I think she looks straight up gangsta. Born in the capital of the dirty south, ya'll.

Driving

Something to remember me by

I left them a present.