My tylenol and my kleenex, they comfort me . . .

Mildly. Oh, this is the worst cold ever! I don't know if I'd rather be delivered of it or the baby more . . . and yeah, the kids are whining and fighting.
To their credit they've occasionally played quite well, while their mother neglects them . . .
To Alli's defense: she isn't allowed anything more than tylenol for her cold either . . . so she's both my nemesis and pathetic companion in this.

"Hon, I'm going to take the kids out and give you a break"

What, me, el Prego, need a break from this???

While I was cruising around town on my own, every Jane, Wilma and Sally wanted to know if I thought I'd have the baby this week. Four-ish more

weeks . . .

Self-portrait, My Profile

(just put a smiley stick-figure to the side).

We love them even though their kids are more photogenic. . .

Happy times last weekend with dear friends Bethany and Ryan (both not pictured, telling jokes off-camera) and their kiddos Nathan and Cody. Alli either didn't get the joke or wasn't going to smile about "the friends" leaving; Simon was in a Star Wars fantasy.

Geology loveliness!

Can you think of a better way to display geology--I can't. Mark did this and I love it--he would want you to know that one rock is pre-Cambrian, one is a dinosaur bone, and one is of an incredible age (the precise quantity of of years my prego brain can't remember . . .). Come visit; you can learn more details.

The Valentine Phantom came!!!

For the kiddos--the Valentine Phantom found these super-fun animals and fingerpaint paper. A complete surprise to me too!


(I had almost lost my faith in humanity because I have been searching since Christmas for fingerpaint paper, to no avail, but the beloved V.P. found it!)



















my valentine installation
by mark

love it!!!!!

how does he think of this--so fabulous!!!!


AND, we get a date to the fine arts museum tonight. big smile.

Who snaked my yog???!!?

So there is something going on at Mark's work.

Its level of ridiculousness makes it almost like a Cam Jensen mystery (if you don't remember those, you should hunt them out--Simon and I love them). Mark often packs a yogurt for himself as part of his lunch. And since he tries to be frugal and put in a long, solid work day he saves the dear sweet Yoplait (with its small bit of protein) to tide him over in the late afternoon.

One afternoon about two weeks ago he told me that much to his dismay, his yogurt was gone from the communal fridge (I don't know how many people use it--maybe twenty). We dismissed that, just an accident. But then again the next day, yogurt lifted. So what is a person thinking, "Oh, someone brings this everyday, but they don't really want it" or "I can take whatever I want from my mom's fridge so . . ."? We were baffled, but managed to move on.

Now this is the thing--Mark's yogurt has now been snaked four times in the last week or so. Who does this, what are they thinking? I could kind of see the temptation if it was, say, a loaf of banana bread, and you help yourself to a slice one day when you're desperately hungry--not that I would, but . . . 4 times? When it first started happening we thought of leaving a little note that said: "Let me know your favorite flavor and I'll bring you one too, just leave one for me." Weird thing was, it was never like Mark had left it for days; it was always just "bring it in the morning and it's gone before sunset."

And who can't afford their own silly yogurt? Guess there's a yogurt addict loose in the Medical Center who just can't help themself. ;) Reminds me of the 3 towels and a 25cent washcloth talk.

We thought it's now time to put this before the blog community tribunal--where all things small and weird can be known. Any theories?

For now, we've just marked them with a sharpie, so our little amnesiac will realize that's not his name on the yogurt and he didn't actually bring himself a life supply and stock the fridge a while ago.

Sinfonietta

Way back in December I broke a string on my viola, the day before I was supposed to play in a welcome slew of Christmas music events at church. So I had to track down an instrument shop. There are generally two types of these: 1) megamusic shops that carry tons of beginner piano music and drums and band instruments and some token string stuff, or 2) charming string shops that make you feel like you've stepped into a little bit of Italy (see Nancy's recent Cremona post). I was delighted to find one of the latter and as an added bonus it's a working luthier shop.

While there, the girl working there asked what orchestra I played with, and I somewhat sheepishly answered that I play mostly just at church (imagine Alli and Simon milling around my prego belly to complete the image). She recruited me to be a part of the chamber orchestra she plays in--it's so great to be a viola player because you're always in demand for great opportunities like these.

So in January I began rehearsing with the H* Sinfonietta, which has these great features:

• the best name of any group I've ever played with--and I'd never even heard the term before. It's not a symphony (those are too large), it's not an orchestra (generally strings only), it's got a little Euro spelling and flair (and an older little Greek conductor--all adjectives meant to be complimentary).
• the string sections are small--3-6 players in each. If you're a string player in my area, you should join up!!!
• a full and talented woodwind and brass section
• a concert on March 9--just early enough that I can be sure that I won't burst before then.
  

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

let's hear it for the rat!

I'm off to make a dragon to dance with with my kids--I love this stuff!

(Yes, I was a humanities major!)