Mlog and Clog

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Plans for 2013

New Year's Resolutions by Month:

January – Make it through the whole month without slipping on the snow. If successful, this may be the only January of my life to have succeeded in that (not counting the two Januarys I spent in South America).

February – Act like a 26 year old. I’ll be nearing my late twenties, and ought to start acting like it.

March – Pinch at least 5 people on St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve always wanted to pinch random strangers I see in the store who don’t have green. This year, I’m going to do it.

April – Plan at least three amazing April Fool’s pranks (friends/family: beware!)

May – There will still be snow. My goal will be to set a cap on how much I can complain about it: No more than four times per day.

June – Celebrate Camm’s birthday . . . something comes up every year so I miss it (like I have a baby, or am in a different state, or a different country)

July – Take Ruby swimming every day. Don’t forget to get it on video so that when she’s in the Olympics in 19 years they can have it play during the commercials.

August – Eat a Pronto Pup at the Tillamook County Fair (haven’t tasted the goodness since 2007 – way too long).

September – Figure out something academic-ish to start since I won’t be starting school.

October – Plan my Halloween costume more than two hours ahead of time (this will be a first).

November – Embrace my consumerist-American heritage and join in Black Friday (just to see what it’s like).

December – Celebrate Festivus (somehow we missed it this year).

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2012 HighLights (and Low-lights)

January - Began another semester teaching stats. This time I had read the book ahead of time so I at least sort of knew what I was talking about.

February - I actually asked Camm to throw me a surprise birthday party and he actually threw me one. Reflecting back, I have two main questions: 1 - who does that? 2 - does that even count as a surprise party?

March - Camm was out of town the same weekend Ruby was sick. At 3am I thought I couldn't take one more second and purchased a "Soundspa Lullaby" noisemaker for the baby. I was sure it would help. Unfortunately, I forgot that it takes three days for Amazon to deliver.

April - I woke up Easter morning to Ruby's cries and realized the Easter Bunny had completely spaced it. Good thing I still have time to practice this mommy stuff.

May - My teaching schedule changed to 5 HOUR SATURDAY STATISTICS classes. Can't believe the class didn't fill up. Also can't believe they didn't have 500 other people fighting for my job.

June - Pulled my hair out every day Camm was in Oregon and we were still in Utah. At least it was only a mere $600 to fly him back for Ruby's birthday. (Why does it cost so much to fly from Klamath Falls? Can someone answer that?)

July - First day in Oregon I put Ruby in her stroller on the porch and turned to lock the front door. When I turned back, Ruby had rolled off the porch and, still strapped in the stroller, was lying face down on the pavement. Welcome to Oregon, Clark Family!

August - Fell in love with the Redwoods. Need I say more?

September - Ruby's learning of the word "No" changed my life. Simple statements ("let's change your diaper" or "time to go to sleep") that were once followed by blind obedience now are followed by an angry face with shouting "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

October - I skipped autumn. It was summer when I left to visit my grandpa in Tillamook. It was winter when I got home.

November - First sentence Ruby ever spoke was to a very kind little Peruvian lady, Armanda, who was trying to feed her some rice. Ruby kept shaking her head, but when Armanda persisted, Ruby looked her straight in the eye and yelled as loudly as she could, "No, Armanda!!"

December - Six months out of school, I am still taking advantage of "Amazon Student". Is that morally wrong?

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The shut down

I'm in Tillamook, OR--an even smaller town than Klamath Falls hanging out at my Papa's house. I spent one evening with my aunt at McDonald's using the free wifi - some kind of connection to the outside world.

For those who don't know my aunt Robin, here's a little brief: As a kid I spent the summers visiting her in Tenakee Springs, AK where she taught me to paint Styrofoam heads, make jewelry with my lost teeth, beat 15 pound fish over the head with a bat, and bathe naked in a public hot spring (that's just the start of everything). I love her.

So the McDonalds employee (we'll call him Chester - because it seems like a good fit even though I technically didn't get his name) kept trying to flirt with me. He tried to strike up conversations about our computers, where we're from, whatever he could think of. Every time he walked by it was something new. Robin never let it go too far. She shot him down so many times. But Chester was persistent.
This time he directed his question right at me, "So, is that a paper you're working on?"

Before I opened my mouth Robin said, "No, that's a screen, not paper."

I couldn't stop laughing. And Chester stopped pestering.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

the doctor

At our twelve month check-up, Dr. Willmore checked Ruby's weight, height, developmental skills, and anything else doctors check.

"She's only in the 5th percentile for weight," he told us, "that could be dangerous." And he prescribed a high in fat and protein diet.

"What words is she saying?" he asked.

"Well, she says 'mama' and 'daddy' but but not much else," I said sheepishly.

"Work with her. If by 15 months she's not talking more, we'll need to get her in for speech therapy," he told me.

As any new mom would, I left the doctor's office worried about my beautiful baby girl.

Then we moved to Oregon and got a new doctor - Dr. Lang. Two days ago we went to Ruby's 18 month check-up. When we walked into the office, she seemed like a stern woman. Her long gray hair was pulled up in a bun and she wore no make up. I almost wondered if she would be too stern for my baby (after all, Dr. Willmore always seemed like a jolly man - yet even he could scare me).

She asked about Ruby's speech.
"Well, she really still doesn't say much. She says a few words, babbles constantly, and has said a lot of words once that she hasn't repeated again," as I said it, I was afraid we'd have to start speech therapy.

"Great," was the doctor's only response. I began to relax.

She looked at the charts for weight and height and marked Ruby in the 75th percentile for height and the 8th percentile for weight. I worried she'd make us do even more crazy fattening diets. Yet she said nothing about it. Instead she asked us if we had any concerns.

"Well, our last doctor was really concerned about Ruby being so little weight-wise," Camm explained.

"Listen, there are ENOUGH fat kids in this world. Ruby is nothing to worry about."

I think I'm going to like this doctor.

VOTE HERE PLEASE! I dropped down to being ranked in the fifties now, my goal is the top 25!!