Pureed squash = MAJOR WIN at our house.

Actually, yes. Yes I do.

1952 Dodge pickup. Or similar vintage. I *wish* was a gearhead, or had the money to become one, because you can find trucks of that era in junk piles for very little cash. It's the fixing them up that gets very expensive very fast. But they just have... such a homey grace about them.

Dear Alexandra,

Today you are three months old. I can't believe you've been with us such a short time, because I can't imagine life without you now. You're two feet tall already, although you're a skinny little thin so everyone says that you're tiny. Not for lack of trying, though - I've never seen a kid with such a voracious appetite. It seems you spend most of your waking hours nursing. But if that's what it takes to get you to sleep through the night, I am more than happy to do it. Right now you sleep from about 9 pm to 7 am. Thank you for that, peanut. Really. It makes Mom's life pretty awesome.

You're learning so much now. You're just learning how to bat at things (like the hanging birdie on your play mat, which is one of your absolute favorite things), and you're starting to roll over. Now, you can get from your back to your side - I dont think it'll be long before you make it all the way over. You love to stretch, and stand up on Mommy or Dada's lap. Sitting up still disorients you a wee bit, but you can do it if we put your boppy around you. You do like being upright, though, because you're constantly looking around and watching everything.

You're just so much fun, little girl. Every day with you is a delight. I can't even tell you how much we love you and how glad we are that you are ours.
Love, Mama

As I wait for the headache to subside enough to sleep. (Stuck in traffic jam for two hours. Baby in back seat. Migraine triggered. Nuff said.)

* Did a trial run with babysitter today! Seemed to go very well, although Miss Thing was a fuss budget.
(She's been fussy quite a bit lately: I suspect A) reflux and B) an upcoming growth spurt. It feels as if she's right on the cusp of putting a few things together and it frustrates her. Her perception of things around her has exploded, but she can't quite pull together the motor skills to interact with everything she sees. She's SO close: she's started batting at things occasionally, although half the time it seems like an accident. Add that to indigestion and I'd be fussy, too.)
It was just about the hardest thing ever, and I was on the verge of a panic attack just about the whole time. I hear it will get easier.

* But the best part was that I got my Christmas shopping more or less done. Need to put an order in on Amazon for a few things, and have a craft project to do at Anthology for the grandmothers, but both of those will be fun and do not involve the mall.

*Also, I was able to get my eyebrows done. I cannot express how wonderful that felt. It's a silly, shallow thing maybe, but it's also one of the things that makes me feel put together. It's like slapping on lipstick. I can be in my pajamas, with my hair in a ponytail, but when my eyebrows are done and I have lipstick on, I feel *good*.

*Next, something must be done with the hair. I really kinda want blonde streaks, so that when I do rolls with it they really pop. But that involves effort, and skill with hair that... I just don't have. And I can't justify, financially or ethically, the amount of money it would cost to have it done in a salon. So it's on the wait and see list.

*Meanwhile, on the job front... only rejection letters so far, but haven't heard back from the majority. That should change in the next couple of weeks. I vascillate between not thinking about it, frantically checking the wiki, feeling optimistic, and despairing of ever finding gainful employment. Then I decide that if I don't get a job this year, at least I won't have to figure out how to pay for child care and will get to enjoy a year at home with A. while I figure out what comes next. Then the cycle begins again.

* Anyone else on Google wave? I'm starting to grasp the possibilities with it, but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts.

*Desire for sleep taking over! Off I go...

1. What 3 historical figures would you invite to a dinner party, and why?

1. Julius Caesar. Total dead guy crush. Also, what a fascinating personality. This is a man who conquered most of the known world AND wrote a book on grammar. He was every woman's man and every man's woman, and his very name came to mean power. Why WOULDN'T you want him around?

2. Ovid, my favorite poet. Although I'm slightly afraid he'd be far less amusing in person than he is on the page. Also, I'd want to know exactly what got him kicked out of Rome.

3. Ben Franklin. For one, he'd have a great time with the first two. For another, he's my favorite founding father. The guy played with game theory in the 18th century, for pete's sake.

2. How do you feel about the lifestyle changes you've made since pregnancy/birth of your daughter?
It really is a mixed bag. I've completely quit smoking, which is wonderful, and almost never drink anymore, which is also good. On the other hand I feel like we spend a lot more time vegging, and less time doing things. This is partly just where we are right now: she's just becoming movable, and is no longer either sleeping or nursing. And we're coming into the cold and dark part of the year. But I miss the socializing we used to do. We've definitely lost a few friends when Alexandra arrived: one of them simply saying "I'm just not that in to babies" and vanishing.
(Don't get me wrong: I also have friends who don't like babies, are honest about it, and don't particularly want to spend time around *her*. But they still return my emails and phone calls. That's a totally different.)

But the biggest change has been in my faith. I don't talk religion here very often: my friends are of very diverse backgrounds, and I want to honor that. And some have downright PTSD from lousy church experiences, and I want to respect that, too. But I gotta say: becoming a parent has made religion much more meaningful and important to me.



3. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character or Muppet, and why?

Fizzgig, the little fuzzball from The Dark Crystal.
No good "why" about it, honestly. I just love the little guy.

4. Recommend a book that you feel strongly about (that is, not just a fun read).
Wow, that's hard to come up with easily. "The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity" is pretty mindblowing, only because it blasts some myths about the ancient world that classicists of a certain vintage really want to hold on to. You might have to be a certain kind of geek to really enjoy it, though. "Lamb" by Christopher Moore is a book that is incredibly important to me, and gets reread all. The. Time. (It's the Gospel According to Biff,and is the most reverantly irreverent think I've ever read.) "Forests of the Heart" fills a similar niche, as does almost anything by Charles de Lint.

5. What do you most look forward to in the next year?

Finishing the dissertation. Getting a real job (pretty please, God?), or figuring out Something Else. Alexandra's first words. Just getting to know her more - she's a really cool little person. Getting my body back - not just from the pregnancy, but from EVERYTHING. For the last 18 months, I've been either A) recovering from the accident and broken bones B) recovering from surgery or C) pregnant. My body has really been weakened by the whole series of events, so I'm looking forward to building it up again.

(I actually have a theory that part of the reason my labor took so damned long was that after the accident and surgery, my body could only respond to the pain as trauma to protect itself from, not anything that could be productive.)

- Six week follow-up with Dr Henry today. I am officially cleared for a return to all normal activities! Also, I have now officially nursed in public. Somehow the fact that it was the doc's office made it not intimidating at all. I don't know why it should be: I'm not exactly shy. But that's one more hurdle jumped.

- Speaking of the bean, she's making up for yesterday by being extra adorable today. She's in a good mood (except for when I her her in the EBIL CARSEAT OF DOOOOOOM!), cuddly, and napping long enough to let me get some work done. Based on pumping, my supply seems to have gone up about 30% since yesterday, so I'm guessing that explains the nursing streak (Six. Hours. Straight. After which she took 3 oz. off a bottle when I finally HAD to get out to the grocery store.)

- nidea posted this: I'm going to giggle all day.
"Polyamory is WRONG!"




- It's amazing the difference a beautiful sunny day like today can make. Twenty degrees warmer would be nice too, but it's November in Wisconsin. I think this is as good as it gets.

- Charleston app goes out tonight. I think it's moot, however: I suspect they actually want to hire the VAP they have, since he's listed on the webpage in terms that match the posting. Which is fine by me, because he's a really nice guy who deserves an awesome TT. But my anxiety won't let me pass up a feasible posting.

- I have a fantasy that one day I'll have something to post about OTHER than baby stuff or job market stuff. Like the fact that I'm about to dive into Christmas prep, or something. But we'll see...

Several of the jobs posted want "Evidence of excellence in teaching" or some such equivalent phrasing. How exactly does one provide this? Do I submit my stats, ie, that I get good rankings each semester? Do I cherry pick out some good reviews? Ask for my evaluation file with the letters written by my supervising profs? Bribe a former undergraduate to write a letter of rec. for me? (Joking on that last one.) I get the gist of the question but the actual mechanics baffle me.

Thank god for side-lying nursing and netflix...

THere's a job up at a school at which I have a relationship with two of the faculty. As in, the chair of the department taught me the first two yers of Latin, and I visit with them for a stretch at every conference.

SO here's the question: is it out of line to send her an email letting her know I'm applying for the position? Esp. since I'd be applying under my married name, and she knew me under my maiden name. Obviously I wouldn't want to imply that I think I have an "in", but they had encouraged me to apply for a position a couple years back when they were looking for a VAP so I don't think it would be completely presumptuous... Thoughts?

A. is currently nursing with one hand behind her head and her feet crossed at the ankles. Cuz she's just cool like that, yo.

* 40w, 6 days. Maybe I should just start hoping for a record.

* Appt. with Doc this afternoon, though,so we'll see if the last 36 hours of "fun" (HA!) have gained us any results. I look like hell - complete with black circles under my eyes. If this continues I will need to procure a fainting couch and lacy white nightgown for "the confinement". Go big or go home, I say!

* Meanwhile, Spit-kitty has gone missing. She was around most of the day yesterday, but didn't come back when it started raining last night and hasn't been seen since. Yes, she's an outdoor cat. We tried to keep her in for the first years we had her, but she was feral the first year of her life. When we kept her inside, she gained a ridiculous amount of weight, had just about stopped grooming herself, and was mean and cranky constantly. She would hiss and snarl at everyone, and randomly piss all over the house. So last fall we decided to let her out, although she didn't go out at all over the winter. Since then she's lost most of the weight, her coat is bright and shiny again, and she's turned into a loving, affectionate critter. We knew the odds were that letting her out may lead to exactly this scenario. But she was miserable inside. She's not a climber, or a hunter. She spent most of her days in either our yard or the immediate neighbors', all of whom knew her. She has really become the neighborhood  cat.
Still hoping she turns up, though. It's only been a day.  

Who in turn stole it from the Marion Star:

In 1979, I sat in Dr. Richard Cutter's early morning Greek class at Baylor University praying my professor would call on someone else to translate the homework passage from Plato. 
My prayers were answered when he called on John.
John was more clueless than I was in this second-year Greek class, but he took a gallant stab at translating the passage.
After five agonizing minutes, Dr. Cutter thanked John and interrupted our naps with seemingly the most random of questions.
"How many of you think crap is a bad word?" he asked the class comprised of mostly Baptist ministerial students.
A few brave souls from the conservative South raised their hands, while the rest of us stared forward with wide-eyed incredulity.
"A freshman girl came to me after class last week," he said, introducing his reason behind the question. "She told me that she was offended by my occasional use of the word crap because her East Texas upbringing taught her that it was an expletive."
Cutter told us he'd apologized to the girl, but explained to her that his upbringing on a Kansas farm taught him to understand crap as a common word.
For him, the word was a homonym, a word having the same spelling and pronunciation, but with different meanings. Offering an example, he explained that a Baptist deacon in Kansas might use crap to describe the proposed church budget as well as the piles scattered in the pasture next door.
Hoping his heartfelt explanation had convinced us, he repeated his polling question. "How many of you still think that crap is a bad word?"We cowered in silence. It was our second year with Dr. Cutter, and most of us recognized the sound of him loading both barrels.
"Good," he said, taking our silence as approval.
"John," he exclaimed pointing to the unfortunate translator, "that translation was a bunch of crap."

I'm only caught up through half of season 2. I really don't mind spoilers, honsetly: the fun for me is watching HOW things play out, and I don't mind losing the surprise of plot developments. should I watch the S5 premier tonight? Which is to say, will I be able to follow ANYTHING at all? Or will I just be completely and utterly baffled?

Vogue Patterns is having an online sale, if anyone is interested. All their patterns are 5.99 for today only. That includes their whole vintage line!

I finished the rough draft of the diss today. *faceplant*
The ending was really REALLY rough. I'm not at all happy with the last chapter. But it's all going on the shelf for a while.

Is anyone else seeing a delay in financial aid? I've usually gotten things disbursed more than a week before school starts, and nothing has gone through yet.

Sir,
You complain now that your journal was attacked by "a flash mob of trolls". I beg to differ.
Trolls are people who go to a Catholic blog and quote the DaVinci code, or to a Jewish blog and post anti-semitic propaganda. What happened to you was a community response.

You see, LiveJournal is not blogger. What you say here, you say as part of a broader community of users. That community happens to have an inordinately high (as contrasted with the general public) population of GLBT folk and their allies. You made a post that most of them found grossly offensive. And they reacted as a community does. They went to your blog and told you that you were patently offensive.

Since then you have mischaracterized the response. While a few people were, in fact, downright rude (leaving comments that consisted solely of 'Fuck you!'), the overwhelming majority of the more than 700 replies to your post were civil. I saw only one or two that were anti-Christian, and those were quickly smacked down by other commenters.

This community decided that it would not listen to someone who clearly stated that he considered homosexuals to be the literal equivalent of pedophiles and "dead puppy rapists" without responding. That's what communities do.
Sincerely,
Aliera

I'm going to Gen Con.