Bliss

This is how I feel inside today:

Ahhhhhh . . .

Three Cloth Diapers A Day

Text taken from the "Change 3 Things" Facebook page:

"Change 3 Things: 3 cloth diapers. One planet. Big impact.

"Why three diapers? We are busy parents too and really appreciate achievable, manageable goals. Changing three cloth diapers a day is something that almost any parent can do (stay at home or working). Do my 3 cloth diapers per day really matter? Yes, it matters!

. . .

"How does it really change me? Every cloth diaper saves about $.25 (depending on what brand of disposables you buy). If you save $.75 a day, it may not seem like much, but those three diapers can save you approximately $260 over the upcoming year. In addition to the savings per diaper, you can save yourself time, money and gas for those emergency trips to the store when you run out of diapers.

"As parents, we know how frustrating it is to do those repetitive tasks like dishes, laundry, picking up toys, and changing diapers only to turn around and do it again a short time later. By joining the Change 3 Things revolution, you can take one of those repetitive tasks and turn it into an opportunity to create lasting impact that your two year old can’t undo in five minutes.

. . .

"One baby in disposables could contribute as much as one ton of waste to a local landfill! Your participation in this revolution of change could prevent the disposal of as much as 55 million pounds of waste."

Will you take the challenge with me?

Sculpture or Drawing?

Adara's latest masterpiece. Would you call it mixed media?

We try to accessorize Naomi's outfits:

She likes being cute, and posing for the camera. But when the glow of attention wears off, she feels compelled to analyze the specimen to discover its secrets. (And potentially exploit them to further her own ends.)

Crummy Day

I was having a crummy day. Everyone was feeling it. How did Naomi react to my crumminess?

I picked up the camera and when I next saw Naomi, she was doing this:

This is how she looked when I requested a repeat performance:

I wish I could say that my day got better. From a larger perspective, however, this day was great. How many other days, which are otherwise unremarkable, get immortalized on the blog?

Blog Catch Up #3 - Pennsylvania

In mid-July 2010 we moved to Pittsburgh. The following pictures were taken at the New River Gorge Bridge visitor's center near Fayetteville, West Virginia. The pictures do not do justice to the place. If you're ever near there, it is worth your while to stop and stretch your legs while enjoying the incredible view.

The Altar Church in Pittsburgh. We loved the exterior of the doors and stairs. Wicked!

Just Naomi -- documenting her cuteness (July 2010).

A sisterly friendship begins (August 2010). To me it felt like forever for them to get to this point. Having seven sisters of my own, I really want my girls to know what it is like to have a fun, best sister friend.

Blog Catch Up #2

This is from last summer. The socks were an attempt to wean Naomi from sucking on her fingers. She was pretty frustrated at not being able to suck her fingers. She learned how to take the socks off of her hands by using her teeth. I think it goes without saying that she still sucks her fingers.

For his 30th birthday, Jon went skydiving. First time jumpers were required to go tandem. If I hadn't been pregnant at the time, I still would likely not have done this with him.

Adara on the 4th of July (2010). Her friend is Nathan, and they are sitting on Nathan's grandma's lap. Adara's dad and Nathan's dad get along really well, and they hope their kids continue that tradition. Of course they are half-joking, but it's kinda weird to see how complementary Adara and Nathan are. For example, at the hot dog lunch that day, Adara only wanted a hot dog and Nathan only wanted a bun (this is normal eating behavior for both of them). And they play together remarkably well.

We visited Nathan, his mom, and his little brother Blake recently. His smile was pretty kooky, and when I commented on it, his mom said that Blake only had his canine teeth -- none of the others have come in yet. I thought that was fairly significant because Naomi has all over her teeth except her canines. Just coincidence? We will wait and see.

Speaking of Naomi and teeth -- I think the intent of this next picture was to capture Naomi's kooky teeth when she was one year old.

Characterization

Yesterday I was in Asheville, North Carolina. Nearly everyone you meet there is a character, and I once again wish that I knew more about writing. I was there to meet the staff of the regional arts and culture magazine, with which I volunteer. Everyone on the magazine's staff is a volunteer. And I am the proofreader.

Please, if anyone reads this, please forgive my clumsiness and blatant observations. If anyone can tell me somewhere where I can learn how to "write" a character, I'd really be grateful.

Ok, enough apologizing. Here's the story.

The party was at the hippie-dominated Mellow Mushroom, a pizza place whose most popular menu items included the words "organic" and "vegetarian". The "back room" looked to me like a fire hazard, though it was probably only me. The room was probably perfectly navigable before I entered, one baby strapped to a pack on my chest, and another in a stroller in front of me.

Can you imagine a more uncomfortable situation? The picture of conservative, traditional American family life in a hippie establishment. A mother encumbered with babies in a crowded room full of breakable glasses and drippy food. A proofreader in a room full of non-professional writers.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time there. The first person I met was the writer of the beer article. He was very sociable, seemed to know everyone else, and was willing to help out the newbie (me). It's probably stereotyping to say that I should have expected the beer guy to be like that. And I'm okay with stereotyping people, to some extent, and especially when the stereotype is a pleasant one. But when the stereotype is unpleasant . . .

The wine guy was not aware that the magazine had a proofreader. Until he met me. From reading his articles, it seems to me that he believes that not many people are very well educated on the subject of wine. He may be quite right about that. He put a fine point on the idea that his article did not need to be corrected by anyone other than himself. I found myself going to unnecessary lengths to assure him that I rarely found mistakes in his articles. He quickly began to ignore me. *Sigh*

The two writers that were the friendliest to me were reviewers. One was the music reviewer (who, I discovered, was an elementary school teacher by profession) and the other was one of the movie reviewers. Perhaps their friendliness to me was because they can sympathize with the sometimes unpleasant task of providing critiques on others' work. Or, perhaps it is because neither of them seems overly concerned with making mistakes. (You can read that as, their articles frequently have a lot of mistakes in them.)

Finally, the graphic designer. I do not proofread her work. She sends me the unpublished work to proofread, and I return the corrections to her. She has an androgynous name, so I was quite interested in meeting her, just to know her gender. She was a very calm person. I don't have many other words to describe her personality. Her physical appearance could help give an idea of the feeling you get when you're around her. She is black, though she gave no signs of being part of the black culture. Her most striking feature was her hair: full and long (extensions?), giving a sense that she was royalty, or a medicine woman with connections. She was relaxed and polite in a deliberate, dignified, and calm way.

I also briefly met the publisher. He was the only other person there who had brought children with him. He had two boys, one seemed to be older-elementary school, and the other might have been kindergarten age or so. And the publisher himself? I was surprised at how unassuming he was. The other people in the room were definitely characters, but he was not obviously such. I did not spend much time talking to him, but, since publishing is my career of choice, I have a lot of questions for him. I realize he volunteers as the publisher, so perhaps it's different than being a professional publisher. But still, I would like to know what he knows about publishing.

Has anyone read all the way here? How would you characterize me in the story? My own view: I'm the one trying to make everyone feel valuable, like their work is acceptable and good. I don't want them to think I am overly critical.