Work is awesome

Hi friends. This is Mark writing. I'll admit up front that this is a somewhat dorky post, but today was special and I thought it was worth writing down. I won't be offended if you stop reading shortly. The event: simply going back to work with the orchestra after a vacation period. But here's what made it cool:

1. It is rewarding to return to doing something I love. There's no question I'm extremely fortunate to have this period each summer of four to five weeks off. Perhaps only teachers have a similar benefit. I really don't take it for granted. We had a great time working outside, traveling, cooking fun dinners, spending time with both kids, and enjoying a generally lighter schedule. But there's something about the rigidity of work that is appealing. There's really nothing else in our lives that is absolutely set in stone."You WILL be here between the hours of such and such." And I really do love playing classical music. There are, of course, ups and downs like with any job. But the highs are very high - involving passion, emotion, and beauty. It's fantastic. 

2. Employment is a significant blessing. We've had some friends recently and in our past go through long periods of job hunting. It has to be among life's most arduous and unpleasant tasks. In fact, one of the things I really liked about seeking an orchestral post is that the path to a job is clearly defined. It was plenty challenging, but there wasn't really any networking, endless resume posting, career workshops, etc. Auditions are announced publicly, you send your resume. If invited, you show up, play and hope for the best. Unemployment in America is high right now, orchestras here and there are folding. I am extremely fortunate to have a job performing music.

3. Here's the dorky part. I love cymbals, I really do. I know, many of you are imagining Far Side cartoons, or muttering something to yourself about banging trash can lids. Hmmph. In the orchestra, I get assigned a variety of percussion instruments. In our usual arrangement with my colleagues, I play the mallet instruments most often - xylophone, bells, etc. I love those too, but I play them enough that I get my fill. I have the same affection for cymbals, but don't play them as often, so it's a treat to play a good cymbal part. Today, the rehearsal began with Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." You probably know the tune. There's a lengthy trombone and trumpet melody, which, at its peak, is punctuated by a beautiful, loud cymbal crash - my first note after vacation. That alone would be cool, but what made it even better was the cymbals I was playing. They're made by a guy in Italy named Roberto Spizzichino. Each custom made, by the hands of a true artisan. They are the Stradivarius of cymbals. They cost a fortune, and we had to do a lot of pleading and dealing with the management to purchase this particular pair. The sound is magnificent, and PERFECTLY suited for this note in Ride of the Valkyries. It was just a real joy to come back from vacation, and have that be my first note. The whole program was rewarding, but highlighted by that one note.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!

A New Start

For the last few years, right around this time, I begin yearning for a fresh start.  The summer seems to drag on, and I'm ready for a change of pace.  Ready to have a break from the intense, relentless Houston sun.  Ready to stop applying sunscreen and bug spray every time we go outside.  Ready for a steady routine - for Ben to go back to school (!) and to get back into the rhythm of every day life. 
This year, I am ready for a few other fresh starts as well. 

I'm ready to get our family into a better schedule.  To once again have a little quiet time in the evening.  Ben's bed time has been creeping later and later, and we still haven't gotten into our groove with little Katie.  We were in Oregon last week visiting my parents for our "summer vacation," and she was such a little trooper!  She was really easy-going, slept incredibly well, and Mark and I dared to think "has she rounded the corner, is she going to get easier?".  But then Ben came down with a nasty cold, and now all four of us have it.  Which means we have a household full of sick, tired and cranky people---no one excluded.  I desperately hope it will feel better when we have a little more structure and regularity - because it feels like it has been a very long time --- five months, in fact, since we've been in a groove.  And I'm desperate to regain control of our household.

I'm ready to re-establish some boundaries and expectations for our vivacious three year old.  I'm beginning to feel that he has way too much control of our day.  Again, he's been sick for over a week, which results in incredible whiny-ness (as I write this, he's actually standing right next to me whining), so I'm trying to cut him some slack.  But I also feel like I've been making excuses for him for a while now.  He had the adjustment to having a baby sister, he moved up to the next class at school, he gave up his Biddy.  I guess I'm starting to learn that he is going to always have adjustments (don't we all?), and that I need to be more deliberate and consistent in my expectations for him.  So wish me luck with that one.  I don't know exactly what this will look like, or what it means exactly, but I'm determined to be more deliberate about it.  And Benjamin, I'm learning this parenting thing as we go, Bud, so I know there will be some significant screw-ups along the way.  Sorry about that in advance.

And finally, I'm ready to regain control of my own body.  It has definitely not bounced back after Katie's birth the way it did after Benjamin's.  I feel heavy and out-of-shape and tired.  Both Mark and I were actually getting into a good groove with exercising more and eating healthier dinners.  But it hasn't been enough.  It has been an adjustment for me to come to terms with the fact that I may no longer be able to get away with eating whatever I want and still staying slim.  It makes me feel old.  It makes me feel like I am entering the next "stage" of our lives --- no longer the young and "new" to everything.  And that's kind of scary.

So a couple of days ago, I joined Weight Watchers Online.  And then yesterday I tracked my "points" for the first time.  Since I am nursing full-time (and Katie's not yet eating solids), I actually get quite a few points.  But I still went about 50% over my points yesterday, and that was even with what I thought was being relatively careful.  Yikes.  I guess that's why I'm not losing all that baby weight.  While nursing, I am only supposed to lose 1 pound a week...so I should be back to my pre-pregnancy weight in about six months. :)

And finally, I want to be better about writing in this blog.  I want to document our lives at this point --- which, as challenging as it can sometimes be, is also so precious, and I know that I'm really going to miss these days with young children once they grow up.

So wish me luck with all these goals in our "fresh start" this fall!

And since I have been so bad about posting pictures, here is a favorite from our trip to Oregon last week.  We took a trek to the beach --- but Benjamin was already a bit sick, it was SUPER windy and also fairly cold (also, his jacket is way too small and the wind was blowing sand into his eyes, that's why he's wearing my sunglasses).  Not the most picture-perfect day, but I'm glad we did it, and it makes for a fairly humorous memory.

Ben & Katie

I have so much I want to blog about right now --- What Katie is like (and what life with Katie is like) at 4 months, Benjamin giving up his Biddy (!)... but all I have time for now is a quick picture of our two kiddos.  They are growing up too fast!

Fun Outside

Well hello everyone! This is Mark writing. It's been over a month since I made a contribution to the blog so I thought it high time to get on it. Katie has been kicking our butts lately with her sleep habits. Katherine will probably write more about that soon, but I think there's definitely been some improvement since we started working hard at sleep training. Aside from that, Benjamin and I have been spending a good chunk of time everyday working and playing outside. This is a major win-win situation. The garage remodel is moving right along, the shrubs are trimmed, and most importantly, Ben has gotten his much needed time to run around being a boy.
    Here are some of his activities:

Digging, either with shovels or his excavator
Sandbox
Running through sprinklers
Mowing the lawn with the umbrella stroller
Riding a tricycle
"Washing" the car
Climbing on the car
Practicing hula hoop
Helping daddy hammer and sweep in the garage
Helping daddy haul things to the shed

Pretty good list huh? Seriously, it's been a tremendous amount of fun to have him out there with me while I work on the garage. And it feels so good to be able to actually get stuff done WHILE he's playing. It wasn't very long ago that he had to be watched continually for fear of running into the street. We're still very mindful of his whereabouts but he's able to be safely play much more independently.
    We've been doing this in the late afternoon which, surprisingly, has not been terribly hot. Yes, it is quite warm and very humid (we both immediately take bath/shower afterward), but the sun is not merciless like earlier in the day. And, is it possible? Perhaps I am getting just a bit acclimated to the Texas heat? I remember growing up in Dallas, where it's even warmer than here, I never hesitated to go outside because of the heat.
    Here are lots of pictures. Sorry Katie, only one of you. She's getting more adorable everyday. Four months is nearing the height of baby cuteness I think. We really need to do a Picasa upload. Watch for that soon...

Everything's all packed up and placed neatly in the center of the garage. The former owner had installed DOZENS of little shelves between the studs, now almost all removed. This guy was a nail fanatic too - used to hang tools I guess - now all removed. 

Beautiful isn't it? Like a blank canvas, just waiting to be adorned.

What a great helper!

It's important to wear safety goggles when mowing the lawn.

Apparently it's not as important to protect the rest of oneself. 

What a cutie!

A Place for Everything, and Everything in its Place

Favorite words of every OCD. :)  The latest subject in my attempt to deal with all of our "stuff," and create a household that is clutter-free and easy to maintain: the File Cabinet.  Oh, how I dread the file cabinet.  It seems impossible to not have the files constantly overflowing and very hard to organize them so you can actually find what you need.

I probably would have saved this element of our household for last, as its not terribly fun to deal with files --- but for my birthday last year, my sister and mother gave me a filing organizing system called Freedom Filer.  Ever since, it has sat in a pile of junk for me to deal with, and as I picked my way through this pile, I decided it was time to give it a go.

Freedom Filer was definitely designed by an OCD --- it even has practice labels so you can decide how you want to stick them on the label holders (stuck directly on top of the plastic insert, or inside the insert, or on a piece of paper in the insert) --- and yes, I did practice, and includes a discussion on why they chose to use sticker labels instead of paper labels.  I am totally impressed with and in love with this system, and admittedly wished that I had come up with the idea myself.

It was a lengthy process to set it up, which included three separate trips to Office Depot for file folders, as I kept under-estimating how many files we have.  Apparently, we have just about 100 files.  And dealing with the files themselves was not much fun.

But now, how impressive does our file cabinet look?  And while I haven't done any filing myself yet, Mark told me that it was indeed much easier after he dealt with our last round of bills.

So glad to be done with that project!

I'm not the only one completing organizing projects in our house, though.  Check out Mark's latest project:

The Garage

I wish he had taken true "before" pictures, as the garage was a MESS.  He's already spent many hours cleaning it up to get to this point.  His plan is to turn our garage into a use-able workshop, with future plans to build an airplane in it!  So the first step is cleaning out all the clutter that has been accumulating there during the past five years.  He's made good progress!  He is also working on the "design" of the garage.  And I should mention that he has a little OCD in him as well, as I caught him using my old engineering graph paper to draw out the dimensions of the garage (both overhead and elevation) and also created to-scale cut-outs for the contents of the garage to see where he would put them.  It's all rather cute. 

So look for future updates with progress as Mark begins installing wiring, insulation, a wall A/C unit, drywall, paint and then builds his cabinets to hang on the wall!  Whew, he's going to be busy!

Happy Independence Day!

Lessons in Domesticity

Two posts in one day (please see the other post for Katie below)!  Benjamin is home from school next week, so I know it will be difficult to get on the computer --- and there are so many things I want to remember from this special time at home.  So here we go.  We'll see how long Katie naps to let me get through these posts.

First, it's done.  Is this not a beautiful picture?

That's right --- these are the last few EMPTY tupperwares that housed our stuff from our Hurricane Ike evacuation.  It only took 21 months to move completely back in to our house. :)  Over the last few weeks, we've been putting the final items away, and even hung pictures on our walls.  It looks like we live here now, and I love it!

So now everything has a home.  No more boxes and tupperwares lining empty walls waiting to be dealt with.  I now have the luxury of moving on to stage 2:  trying to make the things that we actually use accessible and easy to put away.  Some of the closets are packed rather full, and while everything fits in them, it's not always easy to get things out and put them back away.  I'm hoping to purge more items during this second go around so that there may even be a little extra room to grow.  Because in all likelihood, we will acquire more stuff, and once we return to "real" life (ie me going back to work), I want to be able to maintain some sense of order and not let our house slowly (or in some cases, quickly) creep towards the chaos it had become before my maternity leave began. 

So on my to-do list is everything from cleaning out our files and organizing our digital photos to re-organizing the hall bathroom to make way for two children's worth of toys, washcloths, diapers, etc.

In addition to this "tweaking," I am still pursuing my other "project" --- learning how to cook.  While I am definitely contributing more to feeding our family than I was a few months ago, it's definitely not yet a 50-50 task in our household.  But Mark and I are getting much better at actually planning out our meals at the beginning of the week (versus, "shoot, it's 6 o'clock... do we have any pizzas in the freezer?) --- and I'm especially proud that we've incorporated more vegetables and fruits into our evening meals!  I probably actually cook only 1-2 meals per week, but I am becoming quite a skilled sous-chef for Mark.  It's fun to work together in the kitchen, and I like doing the simpler steps that don't require concentration like washing and chopping vegetables or herbs.  Because half the time, I'm trying to appease Katie or get something for Ben, and the other half of the time, Katie wants to nurse right smack in the middle of a time-sensitive step in the cooking process.  I've come to realize that I don't really have a strong desire to become an expert chef --- each household only needs one, and Mark fills that role beautifully!  His cooking has really improved (although I thought he was good already), and it's fun to enable him to use his talents to make delicious, healthy meals for our family.  Whoever thought that broccoli would become our family's favorite part of the meal?  (try Cook's Illustrated Roasted Broccoli --- it is absolutely fabulous!).  All this is to say that my efforts in the kitchen are going well.  The other aspect that we'd like to be better about is buying food seasonally and locally.  But hopefully that will also come.

So as I continue to be a SAHM "poser" (I felt like this way when Katie and I went to a recent lecture about "babyproofing your marraige" at our church on a Tuesday MORNING), I figured I better learn another job duty of a housewife (smile!) --- how to clean.  That might sound strange, but we have all sorts of cleaning products and I've never really understood which products you are supposed to use where, and why you need different products for different parts of the house.  What is the part that actually dis-infects and makes things clean?  What is the difference between natural or non-toxic and traditional cleaning products?  A big drive in all this is the fact that I would like to rid my house of anything "dangerous" to young children.  Partially because I'm tired of calling the poison control hotline ("um, yeah, my son may have just squirted 409 into his mouth, what should I do?") and partially because we really want to integrate more chores into our routines with Benjamin --- and I can't clean with him around if I have to worry about the chemicals I am using.  Understanding how to "organically" clean has been something I've wanted to do for a couple of years now --- but never had the time or mental energy to do anything about it.

So I picked up a book called Organic Housekeeping, and despite first impressions, it's actually a very interesting book to read!  Now the author is admittedly a bit extreme (no, I am not going to wipe down my shower walls after EVERY shower, and I intend to continue to use my sponges), but it's very enlightening (and also a bit scary) to learn what is in traditional cleaning supplies, what the natural alternatives are, as well as bigger picture approaches like thinking about how we set-up our house to make cleaning easier.  The Fly Lady's book is next on my list for another perspective.  If you have any other recommended reads, let me know!

Okay, Katie is now up from her nap, so it's time to go. More later!