Rutabaga Dreams

We had a busy weekend and there’s more that I want to post than I think I have time for, so I guess I’ll just mention a few things and see if I can find a little more time later in the week. Matt’s parents came up from Southern CA for a visit on Friday, and Matt, Gregory and I promptly left Emma in their care to go to a homeschooling conference in Modesto. We mainly went to hear Susan Wise Bauer speak, but we also enjoyed wandering the show floor and buying a few things. I would love to blog more about hearing Bauer speak, but I also have some comps to do and a newsletter to create this week, so evening blogging time will be very limited so I’m not sure if it is going to happen. We really enjoyed ourselves though, and Gregory did very well. Matt and I got to hear most of both seminar sessions we attended, and Gregory got lots and oohs and aahs from the other attendees.

On Saturday we visited, went to the Farmer’s Market and Trader Joe’s, then came back and hung out and visited some more. We engaged in one of our favorite past-times, which is leisurely creating and consuming yummy meals while visiting. Matt and his father also went out and bought a new screen door for the back door, which means we can open that up again… thank goodness! I really missed that cross draft for those couple days after the cats tore a big whole in the screen. (Obnoxious beasts!)

We had a big breakfast Sunday morning then went out to some friends of Matt’s parents who have a house near the Delta. They have a boat, so we all took the boat out to a little restuarant, had lunch, then their daughter and Matt did some wake-boarding. Well, Matt attempted wake-boarding, as he had never done it before… but he did get up, which is a lot more than I would have been able to do in the same situation!!

And just to round out the post, here’s a few pictures.

Gregory playing peek-a-boo with us - if you look closely you can see his two top teeth.

Matt trying to wake-board. Unfortunately there isn’t a good one of him up and out of the water!

What we did while Matt was practicing… when we weren’t cheering him on, that is! Holding Gregory in that life vest was like trying to cuddle a beach ball. He did remarkably well in it though, even nursed and took a nap in my arms after lunch.

Don’t we have cute kids?

We went on a family field trip yesterday evening to the Oakland Zoo, and it was fantastic. My parents are members of that zoo, and they invited us to go to an after-hours event there. If you ever have the chance to do something like this, do it! The animals are so much more active an alert in the evening, and there were all sorts of docents and zookeepers around to answer questions. We got to see some very active siamangs, chimps and birds, but I think the highlight for me was watching the giraffes. We actually got to see them run, and they are spectacular! They look like they are hardly even moving, but yet they cover so much ground in almost no time at all. They have a young giraffe there, and two of the adult giraffes appeared to be trying to get the youngster to go behind the fence. The giraffes looked like they were trying to herd the little one in, but all the little one would do was run a bit then stop and watch the older ones. The older ones then started a trick that looked like something we’d do with our cocker spaniel when she’d get out and start running away… they would get the baby’s attention then start running away from it, and the baby would start to chase the adult. Then the adult would loop back around toward the gate, but then the baby would reach a point and stop following. The adult would go through the gate, then poke its head out a few moments later to look at the baby. Then the adult would do it again - sometimes just the one adult, and sometimes two of them. It was beautiful, amazing, and hilarious!

We also had a really interesting discussion with an elephant keeper. I told him about something that had happened to me at the zoo a few months ago, where I was standing and swaying with Gregory in the sling and then I looked up and saw that one of the elephants was swaying right in time with me. I thought this was really neat, but the zookeeper said this was actually neurotic behavior in an elephant. It is not something they do in the wild, only in captivity, and they seem to do it to relieve stress. He said that at most zoos, elephants spend an average of 30% of their total day in neurotic behaviors such as these, but that the elephants at the Oakland Zoo only spend about 2% of their time doing these things. All of their elephants come from other zoos where they were not kept in particularly good conditions, so they brought these behaviors with them. For example, one of the elephants was at a zoo where all he would do was stick his head between the bars of his feeding trough and sway. He doesn’t do it at all now, but it took several years before he stopped completely. They’ve been able to drastically reduce the amount of time spent in these behaviors by giving them lots of room to roam, lots of stimulation through toys and a changing environment, and frequent (11 times a day!) feedings. He said that for five nights a month, every month, the elephant keepers camp out in the tall trees and watch the elephants when no one else is around. They want to see what they do when the elephants think they are alone, and make sure they are not falling into these behaviors at night. They have an amazing dedication to these animals, and it was really neat to hear about how they are trying to hard to learn about the elephants and take such good care of them.

OK, enough blogging and time to do some work on the kitchen! I hope you all have a lovely day!

I am annoyed. I am trying not to be annoyed, but nonetheless, I am annoyed. I’ve been making fake blood for this movie, but I was never totally pleased with how it was turning out. I thought I had something that would be decent, so that’s what I settled with and that’s what I brought with me yesterday to the movie location. I prepped my surfaces and put it on… and so long as it was a horizontal surface, it looked ok. However, on vertical surfaces it was way too pink because I couldn’t get it to stay thick enough. My brother asked the make-up guy what he thought I should do and he just said “oh, here, just use my blood”. Well, that was great because his blood was much better than mine (these really are odd sentences, when I stop to think about it!) but if I had known that was a possibility it certainly would have saved me hours of research, shopping and experimentation!! My brother wanted me to come back and do the clean up for the kitchen scene after they were done, and as they weren’t planning on finishing up until 3 or 4 in the morning, I said I would get up early and go over there to clean things up. The people who live in the house said they are up at 5:30, so I got up at 4:30, had breakfast and got over there at 5:45. The house was totally dark and there were no signs of life in the house. I humphed a bit but then went back to my car and listened to an audio lecture from Peter Kreeft (I just recently found out via Julie that he has quite a few up on his site for free and they are really neat!) for about 20 minutes then checked the house again. Still no signs of movement. I figured that since they were probably kept up late with all the activity in the house they might be sleeping in, so I went back home and headed back over there at a little before seven. Once I got over there their front door was open, but there was no sign of anyone… so I went in, saying “hello, I’m here” and peeked at the kitchen, where much to my surprise there was no blood anywhere - someone had already cleaned everything up. I was glad not to have to scrub the floor and peel up the contact paper and all… but still it would have been nice if someone could have told me that they were going to clean it all up! As an aside though, it was rather nice to be up so early in the morning… I really should do it more often. Strange as this probably sounds, but I think I prefer getting up at 4:30 rather than 6, as I’ve been trying (with some success, actually) to do. It seems like a rather insane thing to do, but yet there’s a real attraction to it… I’ll have to think about it some more. It will probably seem much less attractive when I’m really dragging at about 4 this afternoon!

I feel so superfluous in this movie endeavor… but yet I spent so much time on it because I was asked to do all these things that didn’t end up needing to get done! I guess that’s pretty common in this industry though - think of all the actors who have their bit parts cut in the editing room, or the special effects that get chopped at the last minute or all sorts of other little “injustices” that happen in every project. For an industry that has such a reputation for being such an ego saturated environment, it seems like you need to be pretty ego-less in order to survive it without seriously elevating your blood pressure and frustration levels!

Oh well, at least I am now done. I sorted out my props, and I can give those back to my brother sometime this weekend. I think I may have a couple of things I need to return, but that can be done next week. This has definitely been a very good lesson on why being able to say “no” is such an important skill.

Yay! The heat wave appears to be ending. We were able to have our doors and windows open for several hours this morning, and the A/C actually kicked off before we went to bed this evening. We have lots of lovely fresh air wafting through the house, and while it is still on the warm side, it is significantly better than the oven it has been. Ahh… it is supposed to even drop into the 80’s this weekend!

Tomorrow is my last big day with the movie, but it should be a doozy. I have to make the kitchen where we’re filming all bloody, and hopefully not stain anything in the process. I have a plan, but I’m still a bit nervous about it. It should be interesting. I made up a batch of fake blood this morning because I thought I would need it for some clothes today, but it ended up the make-up guy (who is really good!) had some he made so they didn’t need my amateur stuff. I think I’ll need to make another batch tomorrow morning just to make sure I have enough.

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I really don’t want to commit myself to something like this again! At least it will be over soon. Although there’s a few more minor scenes that need to be done, I think I’ll be able to hand over all my props by the end of the week. That will be such a relief!

On Saturday, the town I live in broke a 89 year old high temperature record.  The record breaking temp?  115 degrees, sailing past the 112 deg heat reached on that day in 1917.  I’m thankful that I wasn’t there for that temperature in the days before insulation and air conditioning…  but still, enough is enough!  It was 109 yesterday, and at least 107 or 108 today.  It usually isn’t like this around here, especially for this long!  We also haven’t been cooling off at night, so we’ve been sleeping with the house closed up each night.  I’ve been waking at about three and opening up the windows because it is so stuffy, but we just have to close them again by 7:30.

In order to escape the house and the heat, I took the kids to the San Francisco Zoo after I finished with my movie obligations.  I didn’t write down the directions as I have been there several times before…  and boy was that a mistake.  Everything looked only familiar enough for me to realize that I had missed my exit or my turn after said turn or exit had already passed.  And since it is all so urban over there, trying to turn around to do something over again is not an easy task!  I probably added 45 minutes to our trip because of my mistakes and my ineptness in trying to rectify them.  I usually have a very good sense of direction, and even in this I was never lost at all…  I just couldn’t get where I wanted to go because of one way streets, no left turns, and hidden freeway on-ramps.  Emma and I were both enjoying listening to The Secret Garden while Gregory slept, so it really wasn’t a particulary stressful or frustrating experience.  Although once we finished the book I noticed that I started getting far more frustrated, so perhaps there’s a connection…
We had a very nice time at the zoo once we finally got there.  It was classic San Francisco summer weather - cool, slightly foggy, with an occasional chilly ocean breeze.  I thought it felt lovely, but Emma and Gregory seemed to find it rather cold.  I had checked the weather before I left, and they were projecting sunny skies and 75+ temps - definitely not what we experienced when we got there!  I luckily had a sweatshirt and socks (which I pulled up almost to his knees - I opted for warmth over style )for Gregory, but all I could do for poor Emma was give her a sun hat to wear and unbutton the bottoms of her capris to turn them into pants.  That did seem to make a psychological difference at least, and she was much happier.  Since it was overcast I committed the stupid but common mistake of not putting on any sunscreen…  I’m almost thirty, you’d think I would remember that you can get a sunburn on foggy/cloudy days too!  Emma was fine as she has her father’s complexion, but I burned my face, shoulders, and neck.  Poor little Gregory has burned knees, since that was the only part of him that was exposed.  It doesn’t seem to be bothering him, but I do feel bad for the little guy.

Driving back I watched the car thermometer closely…  it was 66 at the zoo on the coast, 70 driving past downtown SF, 80 in Oakland, a little way inland from the bay, 90 in Hayward, 100 just past the top of the Dublin Grade, and 107 in the driveway of our condo.  50 miles and 41 degrees, pretty amazing!

You know it is really warm when your coconut oil is completely liquid and it is 10:15 at night…

It is supposed to be 103 tomorrow, and 105 on Saturday. After that it drops to a downright chilly 98 degrees. Enough!

Ah well, at least I don’t live in Baghdad…

I have a really hard time saying no to old stuff from family members, especially if it comes from my paternal grandparents. There is stuff from them that I really should have said no to, but for some reason if my Grandma Jeanne offers me something, I just can’t turn it down. She’s been working on cleaning out her small garage ever since my grandfather died eight years ago, and I’ve taken in a few things, most of which have been pretty useless and have only earned me at least a mental eye roll from my husband.

However, this time things are different - my grandmother is looking to get rid of my grandfather’s workbench and storage cabinet. The workbench and perhaps the cabinet were built by my great-great Uncle Lee, who was a cabinet maker and carpenter. These two objects are definitely old, but they are in great condition - G.G. Uncle Lee really knew what he was doing because these things are as sturdy and well crafted as could be. The drawers on the cabinet and bench are amazing - they open like they are on super smooth gliders or rollers rather than wood on wood. I’m not sure things like this are even made anymore, or if they are they certainly aren’t in my price range. I can’t believe my father and uncle were just going to have them hauled away… it just boggles the mind. I’m so glad they asked us if we would be interested in them. Now to clear out some room in the garage for them… I think Matt’s going to be really pleased with the bench because he’s thought about building a nice woodworking sort of bench once we move and while he won’t get the experience of building the bench, he will have a great surface to work on as he builds other wonderful things!

I’m hoping that the bench will distract him enough that I can slip in the electric ukulele that my great-grandfather (who was quite an amateur craftsman in his own right) made for my grandmother when she was a girl. And yes, you read that correctly - an electric ukulele. My grandmother wanted guitar lessons, but for some reason this is what my grandfather came up with instead. I have no idea what I’ll do with this, but it just seems too good to pass up.

Updated at the end of the post

So I think my wrists are getting well enough that I could probably start practicing piano again, so long as I take it slow and I don’t try to play for too long at a time. Matt’s also thinking about trying the piano, because he’d like to gain some knowledge of basic music theory, notes, and that sort of thing and learning the piano seems like a good way to start on that. I think it is really neat that he wants to do this, and I hope he does. However, this raises a bit of a difficulty because we don’t have a piano - and while I might be able to get over to my parent’s once or twice a week to practice (which really isn’t enough, anyways) there really is no chance that Matt will be able to do that. So, we’ve started talking about buying something that we can have here. There are a multitude of decisions that need to be made though, such as electric or “real”? If electric, full-size or modified? What features would we want/need? Used or new? And of course, the ever important - where are we going to put the darn thing? Right now we’re leaning towards an electric keyboard, probably one without the full complement of keys. As for features, well, the only things I care about right now are headphones and a sustain pedal, but I know so little about them that it is hard to know what else I could want.

Anyone out there have any advice?

BTW, I wanted to add that even if we get an electric keyboard, we would still plan on getting a “real” piano eventually - most likely it would be soon after we move. And we really do have a problem with where to put a piano - we were talking about it last night and we realized that we would either have to dump the couch, the chairs we really like to sit in, a couple bookshelves, or the computer in order to have space. The living room here is rather small and shaped like an “L” with a fireplace in the outside corner of the “L”… so it is very hard to arrange! And being able to play a keyboard with headphones while living in this condo with its thin walls is definitely an attraction too…

Ugh, I am just so ready to move!!!

Gregory finally got his two top teeth in! We’ve been watching them for quite awhile, but they were very slow to break through his gums. This morning I peeked in his mouth (like I’ve been doing every morning for the past week or so) and they had just cut through overnight. I’ll see if I can take a picture of them soon and post it.

It is supposed to be blazingly hot here again today, so I best go run and close up the house… I probably should have done it an hour ago, but oh well. You can tell it is going to be a hot day when the last traces of that nice morning freshness are out of the air by 7:45! Yesterday the car thermometer said it was 108 deg outside, which I don’t think could be correct… but it was probably still at least 102 or 104 yesterday afternoon. Ick!

About a month or so ago, I stumbled across some information about milk protein sensitivities in babies while looking for a dairy-free way to make buttermilk. After reading this very informative site, I realized that this is probably what I’ve been dealing with in Gregory, and what Emma struggled with too when she was a baby. Since the author of the site suggests that babies can start to outgrow this at around six months, I thought I would start doing a little careful experimentation to see where we were at with Gregory. The verdict? I can eat cheese again!!!! You have no idea how happy this makes me. We had pizza tonight and I actually got to eat it. It was lovely, especially after my super busy day (Day 2 of filming down, phew)! Non-cooked or non-aged milk products still seem to be a problem, so no ice cream for me (yet!). I’m so glad he’s growing out of this already but I wonder if all our babies will be like this… I guess only time will tell.