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On Thursday I ordered a new Fastrak transponder for our "new" car. I'm going to be using it on Monday to pick up Ian's parents from the airport. To my surprise the transponder arrived today. To test it out and to beat the heat we drove across the bay to Pacifica.
We took the scenic route through Half Moon Bay and up along the coast. While we drove with the AC on (the only AC we have access to is in the car) Harriet got a well needed nap.
We had dinner at Rockin Rob's at Rockaway Beach. We haven't been there since Sean was about 18 months old. He has no memories of eating there. The kid who used to run around in the thick Pacifica fog in shorts complained about how cold it was (when it was probably 70° F). We splurged and got a scoop of ice cream for dessert.
Afterwards we walked down to the sea wall by the Lighthouse hotel. We stayed to watch the sunset. As we watched we also saw pelicans diving for fish, a small pod of dolphins swimming where the waves were braking and farther out near the horizon we saw a small pod of gray whales coming up for air every so often.
Sean and Harriet loved watching the sunset and all the wildlife. As Sean and I were sitting together on the anchor statue he told me that this was his first sunset.
By the time we got home it was ten o'clock, an hour and half past the kids' normal bedtime but it was so worth keeping them up late to see what we saw.Current Mood:  chipper Current Music: The Ark (Dr. Dog) |
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School ended yesterday for Sean. He came home with bags of stuff he had done over he year and a huge packet of review work for the summer. There's a lot of Chinese work which is great. He'll need to keep practicing for it to be fresh in his head in August.
He also brought home is last report card. He earned the equivalent of As and Bs. At the bottom was the most important bit: "class assigned, 2nd grade"!
Today he's lounging around in his jammies watching videos and playing video games. We're also baking a sourdough loaf (or two). Then on Monday he starts summer camp which is being run by his old preschool. They have expanded to include grades 1-3.Current Mood:  awake Current Music: An Eluardian Instance (Of Montreal) |
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Sean has so many drawings now that he has started a scrap book to keep them together. Today we bought him the scrap book along with some goodies to decorate the pages. Meanwhile Harriet is old enough for her own "treasure box" to match her brothers. So we got her a balsa wood box just like his for her to decorate and put her treasures.
Then it was off to Target for summer jammies. They've grown so much they don't fit into any of their light weight jammies from last year.
Home for a quick lunch before heading out to Castro Valley for an open house. Sean's preschool has expanded to a second site. The new site is for grades 1 - 3 and is starting as a summer school program. It will then be an after school program in the fall. Sean and Harriet had so much fun testing out the new school's playground that we stayed an hour!
Then home for scrap-booking and decorating of the treasure box. Once Harriet had her box decorated she did her own scrap book page but decided to hang it on her wall.
Before dinner I collapsed for an hour nap while Ian cooked homemade spaghetti sauce from the local farmers' market. Current Mood: chipper Current Music: How to Dream (Sam Phillips) |
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This song is causing a bit of trouble in my family. My son HATES it with a fiery passion. My daughter LOVES it with a similar passion. It's the first track in the CD changer in my car. When my son is in the car, I am NOT to play it. When my daughter is in the car it's the first thing she requests. When they are both in the car I have to mediate between the two loudly shouting at me.
I have also learned that the song takes exactly the amount of time to go from my daughter's preschool to our parking spot in the carport. Current Mood:  ditzy Current Music: Video Killed the Radio Star (The Buggles) |
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Apologies for the blurry photo. Sean lost his first tooth tonight at dinner. He's had that tooth since he was 4 months old and now he's working on his first adult tooth.
Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Thunderball (Tom Jones) |
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The photo taken by my son is three years old. I was pregnant with Harriet at the time!Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Just a Ride (Jem) |
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Sunday we spent a lovely day at our local park to celebrate our neighbor's second birthday. Sean and his older brother are school mates so it was extra fun this year.
The kids playing ball. There were actually 2x as many kids playing but it was hard to get them all in frame at the same time.
That's the birthday boy's oldest brother (and Sean's school chum) on the right in the green shirt). Harriet's on the left and I don't remember the other boy's name.
The birthday boy is right behind Harriet on the ladder.
Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Ya Laure Hobouki (Natacha Atlas) |
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Wednesday was open house at Sean's school. He's doing great in his Mandarin immersion. He has two writing journals now: one in English and one in Mandarin. Here are some photographic highlights of the night.
Sean shows Ian his Chinese journal.
A close up of the journal
Sean teaches Harriet and Ian some words.
Harriet takes a turn at an activity.
Current Mood:  busy Current Music: Dheere Dheere Se Meri Zindagi Mein Aana (Poolside Remix) (Bollywood Revisited) |
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The kids and I spent a fun hour and a half tonight making collages. While they worked on their pieces I made two postcards to use in the future with Postcrossing.
 Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Looking For Strange (KMFDM) |
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I took Sean and Harriet to the zoo today after lunch. I love having a membership because I don't feel like we have to spend all day there. Typically after about ninety minutes they are ready to head home. If we go after lunch there is usually ample parking right near the gates.
Before we did anything both kids bought a stuffed snake with some money they got for Valentine's day. They got matching Coral snakes. Since we had a lot of walking to do, I stuffed them into my purse and they kept trying to burst out the rest of the day. It was very silly!
Today we saw the meerkats, lions, some snakes and lizards, and the African elephants. My favorite part today was seeing the elephants. Or rather, the guests to their enclosure... a flock of wild turkeys.
The gaps in the gates are high enough that the turkeys can walk right in. They didn't seem at all put off by the giant elephants. Likewise, the pachyderms didn't seem to notice the birds.
On our way back to the car we finally had a chance to do something we've wanted to do since we became members: ride the train. The train depot is actually outside of the zoo with a bunch of carnival rides. Since we're still newish members I'm still trying to figure out how everything works. We were the last ones on the train and had the extra fun of riding backwards in the caboose. It was a blast!
All along the tracks they have statues of wild animals. There are also beautiful plants and flowers and one spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay. We were sitting behind a foursome of Japanese tourists who were as enthusiastic about the ride as we were. We were probably the noisiest group on the train.Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Lass of Loch Royal (Maddy Prior & June Tabor) |
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Today Sean and I made collages to pass time while it pours outside. Sean did a large collage involving robots, volcanoes and other mayhem. He plans to take it to school tomorrow for show and tell.
Meanwhile I made three postcards. If you are on Postcrossing and like homemade cards, you might get one of them.
Here's what I made:
Mar. 1st, 2009 @ 03:50 pm
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| » 100 miles = 1 busy day |
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Let me start of with this: I love my job. But sometimes it can be exhausting. Today was one of those days.
My day begins at 7:30 when I log in to my client's computer system and start to make the updates for the daily publish of their intranet site. As it's for employees only, it's behind a large number of firewalls. To make things more complicated this morning, we had a power outage just minutes before I was supposed to log on for the day. Fortunately it was over by 7:30. Unfortunately it had confused our router and Ian had to take half an hour to get it reconfigured.
I telecommute. I'm in the East Bay. The company I work for is in San Carlos. The client we work for (my boss and I on different projects but for the same company) is based in the Silicon Valley, Texas and other parts of the world.
What makes the job tricky is the security protocols the client has for accessing their machines. We have managed for 5 years to access their servers and files as needed with our company machines and their software but that's changing this year. They are turning off their current VPN and modem bank and moving to a system that can only be accessed by their company machines.
This final change in protocol has forced the client to give us two of their machines to use for our contract. Since we are formally working out of their main building down in the Silicon Valley we were told to pick up our new machines down there (no couriering possible). We went down on different shifts and then met back at the home office in San Carlos.
I won't go into the details except to say that the machines aren't set up and ready to go. That will require another trip down to a different building to get software installed and our passwords activated on the machines.
In the meantime my password to their servers had been deactivated and put into a "new employee" status due to a misunderstanding with the help desk when we wanted to see if there was a way to log into the machines remotely without having them first set up at the physical location of the site. That wasted another couple hours of my work day with trying to get a working password again.
In that time I had just enough time to eat a banana for lunch.
All the while, I had a urgent thing to update to their intranet site and there wasn't a darn thing I could do about it. Sometime in the near future we will have to schlep back to the client to get the machines fully activated and whatnot. That will be another huge time sink and another near 100 mile round trip.
So then after getting the post finally posted and some work done for tomorrow's update I had to dash to get my son from school. Then home again to help him with his homework before taking a call for a freelance gig I'm doing.
By 4:!5 when I was at last done I told Sean I needed some fresh air. We took about 1/2 or 3/4 mile hike in our local canyon. We saw a doe and her child and numerous wild animal tracks.
Jan. 26th, 2009 @ 06:21 pm
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| » Where the wild things aren't |
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Every Thursday Sean brings home a book from his school library and it's due on Wednesday the next week. Last week he picked out Where the Wild Things Are. We kept it downstairs where we do our nightly reading and that's where it stayed until yesterday morning.
The last I had seen the book was Sean grabbing it and running up stairs. Unfortunately I had a horrible migraine so my memory of the morning wasn't as sharp as it normally is. When I picked Sean up after school he said he couldn't turn in the book because it wasn't in his backpack.
Still feeling crap from the migraine I lost my temper. I made Sean spend most of yesterday looking for the book in the house. We tore the place apart. I didn't let him play any video games. His choices were: homework or look for the book.
All Sean could remember was the book getting too heavy in his hand and having to put it down. The book has all of 64 pages. It's not that heavy.
I also emailed his teacher asking what we should do about the lost book. I had told Sean that he would have to pay for a replacement out of his computer fund. He was sad but understood.
Then this morning (the absolute last day to turn in the book) I got a reply to my email telling me that Sean had turned in the book to the library book box in his classroom first thing in the morning yesterday. See, the book had gotten heavy because he had carried it all the way to his class (not just upstairs to his backpack).
GROAN.
Jan. 22nd, 2009 @ 09:43 am
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| » Short Story update and other stuff |
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I'm just shy of 600 words in my short story. I haven't been making the time to write. I originally had planned to write over the week before New Year's Eve but ended up with a stomach bug. Now I'm home with the kids while Ian has been on a trip. Of course I have time during the day and after they go to bed but I just haven't been motivated.
Somehow writing for Nanowrimo where the word count is king is easier than just writing for fun. Part of my not writing time I've been using for research but that's still not a valid reason for not having more done.
In other news, Ian is flying home today. He has two flights to hop across the country. His first flight got a late start by 20 minutes but he has enough time in his layover that the delay shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully the fog at SFO will be cleared by the time his second flight takes off so we don't get a fog delay.
Assuming the second flight stays more or less on schedule, the plan is for Sean and me to pick up Harriet 45 minutes early from school and make the drive to SFO. I don't want to be parked longer than I have to because parking is expensive and the kids get squirrelly. Then we'll pick up Ian and take him to Chevy's since he won't be buying meals on the planes.
Then home again and kids to bed.
Speaking of bed, Harriet and Sean now prefer to have bed time stories read together in the master bedroom. They'll tuck themselves into our bed and I'll read from the pile of books they've picked out. Then if Sean still needs a bath, he'll give himself one while I put Harriet to bed. If he doesn't, then both will go to bed at the same time.
Jan. 9th, 2009 @ 10:41 am
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| » Just me and the kids until Friday |
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Ian's in Washington DC for a conference until Friday. We dropped him off at eleven for his one o'clock flight. He just called about an hour ago to say he had landed and was in the shuttle to baggage claim. He plans to call again from the hotel but I'm not sure when.
After we had dropped him off I took the kids to the park near Lake Chabot. The kids like the sand pit there. They spent most of their time making castles and stomping them flat. Then they went sliding and all that running around wore out Harriet. It was time to leave when she started to melt down.
Lunch for Sean and Harriet was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I had left overs because I just don't like "PB Jelly" as Harriet calls it.
For dinner I roasted a chicken, steamed some rice and boiled some peas. It was our basic generic dinner. With just the three of us that chicken will probably last us most of the time Ian is gone.
School starts for Sean and Harriet tomorrow.
Jan. 4th, 2009 @ 07:16 pm
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| » Sean's chores |
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12/22: $3 for 3 loads laundry.
Dec. 22nd, 2008 @ 07:19 pm
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| » What's been going on |
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Sean:
Ian and I had our parent/teacher conference with Sean's teacher. He's doing fine. They don't do letter grades but he's at or above all his required skills. He needs to learn to work a little faster (he's more worried about writing neatly than getting the work done on time) and he needs to be a little more willing to draw when it's pat of an assignment. He's in the highest reading group; is good a math and spelling (something I wasn't at his age).
Sean is now at $35 towards his new computer.
Speaking of Computers...
The AC Adapter for Sean's laptop has a short in it so it doesn't actually charge the machine except if it's put in just so. Since I don't want him to zort himself, I'm letting him use my AC adapter and I'm stumbling along with his adapter. It took me most of yesterday to figure out how to get it to work.
Ian has ordered us a replacement but with Christmas coming up, it might not arrive until after we get back from our holiday trip.
Harriet:
Harriet is really looking like a little girl now and not a baby. She's in that big growth spurt that happens at age two. She now loves wearing her hair in a ponytail most days.
She can talk in full sentences but tends to grunt when she's frustrated. Sean used to do the same thing.
Her school is having its annual party on Thursday. I'll be taking along a loaf of sourdough bread.
Ian:
Ian has a couple interviews line up for jobs next year. He has a phone interview next week and then has to go to a conference in Washington DC (not during the inauguration) for a couple other interviews.
He has finished teaching at Holy Names and got very nice teaching evaluations from his students. He needs the time next semester to finish his thesis so money will be extra tight for a few months.
Me:
With so many layoffs in the tech sector it's getting harder and harder to find extra work to make up the cut in my hours. I'm actually working as much as I used to but with the restructuring of my pay I'm getting paid pennies on the dollar for what I was making over the summer.
Dec. 14th, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
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| » Our first Christmas Tree |
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We have no room in our home for a Christmas tree. Besides we're never actually home for the holiday. But Sean and Harriet have been begging for a tree since about Halloween so we've compromised with this mini Italian pine. It has the advantage of being small and being alive. We'll keep it safe and sound for next Christmas (it will need transplanting after New Year's).
It even has decorations!
Here it is lit up. The lights blink.
We also have a string of lights around our two windows.
Dec. 12th, 2008 @ 08:26 pm
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| » I guess we were due... |
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Every two years or so, Sean comes up with a really really really BAD idea. Bad ideas in the past have included: putting all his toys into the toilet (age about 2) and dumping all his books out the window (age about 3 1/2).
Last night while Sean was taking a bath, Ian runs upstairs screaming to turn off whatever water I have running because it's running downstairs into the bathroom down the walls. I look at him oddly. I didn't have any water running anywhere.
Meanwhile, Sean comes running upstairs, having scrambled out his his bath. He's in tears and looking very very very guilty.
Meanwhile, Ian is tearing into the stuff under the upstairs sink (we live in a split level so the bedrooms are downstairs). The bathroom is dry. The water heater in the closet next to it is dry (and quiet). The washing machine is dry. The dishwasher is dry (and no where near the bathroom).
Yet, somehow (can you guess?) the walls are soaked downstairs in the bathroom and the light switch is arching in the walls. We have to turn off power to the downstairs (thus killing our internet connection during my usual blogging hour!) before things get out of hand.
Turns out Sean had decided to squirt the walls with his squirt gun. The kitty themed light switch over looked like a PERFECT target. Until it started crackling.
**Headdesk**
Anyway, keeping power off for an hour and the outlet open to air out has done the trick. And we've confiscated Sean's squirt gun and hidden it from him.
Dec. 7th, 2008 @ 09:53 am
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| » Christmas Pancake Breakfast |
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Yesterday we went to Sean's school for the annual pancake breakfast. They had the cafeteria decorated with trees, lights and other wintry things.
They also had all the participating art for the "Reflections" contest posted. Here is Sean's entry.
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He took all the photographs himself, manipulated them in Photoshop and decorated the final version with stickers. He didn't win but he had fun and I'm proud of him. :)
After breakfast we had about half an hour to kill before Sean's grade was scheduled to sing carols. So we let the kids play.
Then it was back to the cafeteria for Sean to sing.
Sean is in the back, far left. Sorry about the poor quality. One of the kids had gotten a syrup on my lens and I hadn't discovered the problem yet.
Dec. 7th, 2008 @ 09:38 am
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| » $570 to go |
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Sean wants a new computer. We can't afford to buy him one (or ourselves one for that matter). So he's decided to save up his chores money. After a little more than a month he's up to $30. I figure more power to him and heck, I get 600 loads of laundry folded.
Dec. 3rd, 2008 @ 02:53 pm
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| » Tummy bug |
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Last night at midnight Harriet woke up crying. It was the crying of something being horribly wrong. If you have kids, you know what I mean. Ian got there just in time to have her throw up on him and the bed. He got her to the bathroom where he was able to clean her up while I got her bedding.
She woke up at least one more time after that at about 3 or 4 in the morning. The details are a little hazy in my head. That time though wasn't for her stomach. She had just misplaced her favorite blanket and wanted to be tucked in again.
This morning the kids let Ian and me sleep in until almost 10. I found them on the couch looking miserable and pale. I have Harriet some pedialite and she drank about four ounces. Sean also wanted some and managed about two. He's now running a fever too.
By ten thirty both children were back in their beds sleeping. Ian is out getting Jello and other easy on the stomach things for when they feel well enough to eat.
Nov. 23rd, 2008 @ 10:43 am
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| » Vampires are all the rage. |
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Sean is nuts about vampires right now. His current passions involve:
and...
Nov. 19th, 2008 @ 08:02 pm
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