02.28.11: Restaurant Week Trials

Dear Friends and Family,

Since we had friends in town last weekend and since weeknights are touch and go depending upon traffic, we decided to take advantage of lunch and dinner on Sunday for Restaurant Week. Guessing your toddler's sleep schedule two weeks out is at best a guess. And, as it turned out, I guessed wrong.

P fell asleep on her way to lunch and we had to wake her an hour into what is typically a two hour nap. And, she fell asleep on her way to dinner and we had to wake her 45 minutes into what was a catch up nap. Needless to say she wasn't in the best of moods for either meal.

Which makes me wonder if we've bitten off more than we can chew for next weekend. We have a haircut followed by a play date followed by dinner with friends all jammed into Saturday. Recipe for disaster? I guess we'll find out.

On the development front, she's gotten (in her mom's opinion) a lot smarter in just a little bit of time. She can count to ten. She can recite the alphabet. She can recognize her letters and numbers out of order. She can do her twelve piece puzzle. She knows several pairs of opposites including stop-go-slow when we're driving, up-down, in-out, open-close, and big-small. She recognizes home when we're driving. She's a little better than 50-50 on left-right. And, she's cleared approximately 350 words.

It's a fun time. But, it can also be a trying time if she's tired or frustrated.

We saw a picture of her last night taken when she was still a baby - head full of hair, lying on her stomach, smiling at anyone who smiled at her. I love playing with her now, but I miss those days as well.


Cheers!
mouse

Friday!

Dear Friends and Family,

It's Friday. And, once I get through a couple of meetings, I can plow through a pile of emails and hopefully head into the weekend.

I've been having a quandary about one of the people who works for me. He's a very conservative person and I wonder what it must be like for him to work for some as liberal as I am.

Sometimes it seems like he has a lot on his plate. There's work. There's applying to graduate school. There's church. There's teaching at church. There's Boy Scouts. There's basketball. There's his baby. There's his wife. And, because life isn't complicated enough, there's his carpool.

And, I know he and his wife both want to move back out West. And, I know he's waiting to hear back from school. And, it's not out of the question that he's contemplating baby #2.

And, I just wonder how he prioritizes and how he makes it all fit (or not fit) into a 24 hour day.

And, that's why I think it's important to have a Top Three. And, that's where I'm sometimes glad to have a simpler life. There's P. There's Mr. mouse. There's work. There's Weight Watchers. There's trying to get the house organized. There's trying to make my feet less disgusting. And, that's about it. And, the last three can be thrown overboard in a heart beat if I need to.

I like that my life is at a point where I can be a simple person.


Cheers!
mouse

De Boles Gluten Free Corn Spaghetti Style Pasta

Dear Friends and Family,

I tried gluten free pasta last night and it wasn't bad. In fact, it was a very satisfactory alternative for when we have friends over who are living a gluten-free life.

The only words of caution I will give is you need to keep an eagle eye on the timer to make sure you don't overcook it. And, I'm not sure how reheated pasta will taste. I'll find out in the next couple of days when we eat the leftovers.

Other than that, I think I'll need to stock a couple of boxes in the pantry.


Cheers!
mouse

Evening with P

Dear Friends and Family,

Mr. mouse had a late night last night. One of his colleagues who is leaving was having a happy hour and Mr. mouse wanted to stop by.

So, it was the P and Mommy Show last night. We got home at a decent hour. We played with puzzles. We ate dinner - sweet potato fries and maple glazed pork chop with dip for P and an odd combination of brown rice and spaghetti sauce for me. Then, we read, did more puzzles, changed into our pajamas, danced, and fell asleep together in bed.

P woke up around 9:30, we read a couple more books, and she fell asleep in her crib by 9:45.

She's fun to spend time with. She smiles and talks and laughs and tries to tickle you and hides behind you to surprise you and does all those things I know I will miss when she grows up.

It goes too quickly. In three months she'll be two. Wow.


Cheers!
mouse

Mommy...

Dear Friends and Family,

Yesterday morning, I got to school a little early, compliments of the reduced traffic on a federal holiday. And, P looked so peaceful sleeping in her "safety seat." I decided to let her sleep in a little before waking her to go in.

I took some pictures and then was reading the news on my phone when I heard a happy, "Mommy" from the back seat. I looked back and found P awake with a giant smile on her face.

I smiled back. And, because I couldn't resist. I took a couple of more pictures of giant smile P before unbuckling her and getting her ready for school.

Little things that add big doses of happiness to a day.


Cheers!
mouse

02.21.11: Friends in Town

Dear Friends and Family,

Instead of an exhausting trans-Pacific flight, we spent the weekend at home doing not much of anything besides eating out and spending time with our friends visiting from en route to their water park vacation.

And, since it's Monday and I need to get ready for my Monday morning sprint to the office, I think I'll stop here and write more tomorrow.


Cheers!
mouse

Personal Hygiene

Dear Friends and Family,

Some of this may be TMI.

But, I'm going to try and be a better groomed person one step at a time. First step? I'm going to see if I can do something about my feet.

It's a couple of months into winter and they need some love. They're dry and callused and crackly and in need of attention.

So, I think I'm going to try to do one small thing each day of the week until spring comes around to see if I can get my peds in shape for warm weather shoes.

Monday: lotion socks
Tuesday: foot wax
Wednesday: callus oil
Thursday: skip
Friday: lotion socks
Saturday: foot scrub
Sunday: callus scrub

Well, I'll give it a week starting tonight and see if I can get my feet in shape for spring.

Nothing like focusing on little things to get your mind off of big things.


Cheers!
mouse

Resolution

Dear Friends and Family,

I started off the millenia with four grandparents. And, in April of 2001 I lost my maternal grandfather. And, then my paternal grandmother. And, then my maternal grandmother. And, now, my paternal grandfather.

Which means we're down to three generations of mice - my parents, my siblings and me, and P. It's a funny feeling. Knowing that if we had gotten on a plane and gone to see him, he would have passed away the day we left to see Mr. mouse's grandmother.

I'm hoping against hope that my dad finds resolution in all of this. His relationship with my grandparents was overly complex with a lot of emotional stress compounded by extraneous melodrama built into the very foundation of their relationship.

I'm hoping against hope that my dad gets through the disposition of the estate without additional stress. There's the issue of the house which my dad bought decades ago and my grandparents lived in. And, then there's the little things which my sister and I would probably treasure, but my parents will probably toss.

And, I'm hoping against hope that my dad stays compliant with his medicine through all of this. He's got a chronic breathing problem and when he's not taking his meds his symptoms flare.

And, last but not least, I'm hoping that one day, when P is going through this, her life is simpler because my life was simpler.


Cheers!
mouse

You're Free to Fly

Dear Friends and Family,

Hooray for February 15th.

It didn't start out on the best foot with P vomiting in the car in the parking lot of school, but it ended up a more than okay day.

Mr. mouse wrote mid-morning to say that he had gotten promoted at work back to his "old level." And, talking to him at home, he's back to his good-natured self about work. Seems like he's okay with the end result even if he's not really happy with how it all played out.

Which means... IF I end up hating new work, I'm free to leave and consider alternatives. I like that option. Frankly, I can put up with a lot at work. But, I love having the flexibility of walking. I know I always have the flexibility to walk, but I feel a sense of responsibility to us, as a family, to not do anything irrational.

I feel a different bounce in my step.


Cheers!
mouse

Hallmark Holidays

Dear Friends and Family,

P officially loves Valentine's Day.

At school she got:

• a bucket and cup with hearts on in
• a fruit twist snack
• a box of hearts
• two bags of gummies
• a bag of play dough
• a box of chalk
• two rubber ducks
• stickers, temporary tattoos, and a bookmark

What's not to like? It's almost better than Halloween when we don't let her eat her loot.

The two year olds were walking out the door with goodie bags. Guess the bar gets set a little higher every year.


Cheers!
mouse

02.14.11: Weekend at Home

Dear Friends and Family,

I got home Friday to a morose P. We dosed her with some ibuprofen and then held her hacking body until she cheered up enough to want to play. And, that was when I realized getting on the plane with her would be an incredibly selfish thing to do. So, we're here and it's Monday and I'm okay with life.

The house cleaners came on Saturday and did their magic. It warmed up enough for P and me to head out for breakfast and a walk. I ordered pancakes for P, but she wanted my ham which was fine by me. She ate a slice and a half of ham and three or four silver dollar pancakes.

We spent the weekend at home enjoying a couple of walks in the milder weather and letting P nap at home in her crib. She decided to let her vocabulary explode this weekend taking on words like computer and camera and a whole book of Korean exclamations. She's trying valiantly at two puzzles we got her that are tougher than the peg puzzles at school. And, she's exploring her expanded world since we've been leaving the gate to the living room open more often.

She loves watching us cook. She loves helping unload the dishwasher. And, she loves emptying the cabinet.

I guess, in the end, I'm glad we stayed home. Mr. mouse is still hacking away. P is doing much better than she would have been if we had taken her on a plane. And, I am okay with it all. I've rationalized that my grandfather and I were never very close. And, if having him see P was that much of a priority for me, I would have gone earlier. She's 21 months old so we've had plenty of opportunity. Therefore, jumping on a flight with a toddler, 92 diapers and 23 juice boxes of soy milk would have been a last ditch effort to get a box checked - technically checked, but not in a way that had meaning for any of the parties involved.

So, I'm here and I need to get ready so that I've got a couple of extra minutes to distribute P's Valentine's Day cards.


Cheers!
mouse

Torn

Dear Friends and Family,

My grandfather in Korea is ill. He is 101 years old. And, he is dying.

As Mr. mouse hacks up a lung, I am sitting in the "family room" debating whether or not we should make the trek out to see him. He is not no longer aware of his surroundings nor is he conscious of visitors.

If I'm doing this for P, I'm not sure it's worth it. To drag her on a plane for 20 hours to potentially spend 5 minutes with someone she doesn't know and will not remember seems like a questionable idea.

If I'm doing this for my parents, I'm not sure it's worth it. They have my aunt and uncle with them and have explicitly said it's not a good idea to come out.

If I'm doing this for Mr. mouse, I'm sure it's not worth it. He sounds miserable.

If I'm doing this for my grandfather, I'm not sure it's worth it. Frankly, in a matter of days he will most probably have passed away.

So, selfishly, it all comes down to me. If we go, I'm doing this for myself. I'm not sure what I'll decide, but it's nice to have boiled down the complexities into a single variable.


Cheers!
mouse

PMS

Dear Friends and Family,

Feeling tired and want to crawl into a hole for a week. Instead, headed on a trip that is sure to tire me out even more.

First, there's the packing. Then, there's the flying. And then, there's the guaranteed social drama. Then, there's the jet lag. Then, there's the flying. Then, there's tackling all of the work that will have built up. Then, there's the new job.

Excellent.

I think I need a vacation.


Cheers!
mouse

Home Alone

Dear Friends and Family,

Mr. mouse took one of his rare overnight business trips last night. And,

• I had a mega commute compounded by
• more snow,
• non-functioning rail lights,
• a crying, feverish toddler,
• and who knows what else was conspiring to keep me from home.

I gave P some Tylenol. She drank a bunch of water and milk. She looked at a class photo and named all of her friends, pointed out her teachers' glasses and declared herself a "big girl" when pointing to herself in the picture.

I put her to bed around 9. I took the time to finish unloading the car and clearing the kitchen island before calling Mr. mouse for the evening. P woke up right as I was calling Mr. mouse and needed hugs and cuddles and fell asleep curled in a ball on our bed. I carried her to her bed and made it through the night without further incident.

Time to go get ready for the day. Hopefully P's feeling better this morning.


Cheers!
mouse

02.07.11: Frazzled Weekend

Dear Friends and Family,

Well. It wasn't that frazzled. We got a lot done. And, we played with P. The grand experiment of the moment is leaving one of the gates undone to give P access to more of the house. Of course, her first instinct is to explore since the living room was an area of limited availability.

P officially has three more teeth in, just barely, filling in the gaps between her front eight and her read four molars. The bottom left has yet to make an appearance.

Mr. mouse was sick with something awful coughing up some nasty sounding phlegm. Yuck.

And, I was mentally sorting through my old job and my new job and coming to terms with it all. And, beginning to put together the prep list for our quickie trip to the Pacific Rim to see the grandparents.

I spoke with my Mom on Sunday and sometimes I wonder if her English has gotten worse since she's retired - both literally and figuratively. I think the literal part is easy to understand since she probably spends 90% of her time speaking Korean. But, I think figuratively there's a change in mental models as well since she's with other Koreans all of the time she's become "more Korean." We spent a call lost in translation where my Mom kept saying don't try to schedule this = you don't know if you're going to see Grandpa for the last time or if you're going for the funeral. And, I get that. But, I still wanted to let her know when we plan on showing up and leaving, not because we expect her or my grandfather to work their schedule around ours, but just so that she knows when we'll be there. I'm still not sure she got it.

Well, P's up so time to get ready for work.


Cheers!
mouse

New Job

Dear Friends and Family,

Well. Let the stress begin.

New job. New boss. Sick grandparent.

Time to assess how it all goes.

I had a meeting with my VP who wants to grow my business sevenfold in the next two years and thought I would not be the right person to make that happen - which I 110% agree with. But, well, unless God is out pounding the pavement looking for work, I'm not sure they'll necessarily find someone to meet that goal.

Me? I could probably do double in two years. And, I'm humble enough to know that someone else may be able to do triple or maybe even quadruple. But, seven? No thanks. Let someone else try to climb Mount Everest with a Snickers bar and some comfortable sneakers.

So, it's on to a new job and a new boss. Hopefully I enjoy it enough to see it through to when P transitions to new school. But, if it's not, than I'm sure we'll figure it out.


Cheers!
mouse

"Vegan" "Pizza"

Dear Friends and Family,

Yesterday, we went out for lunch and I had a pizza with clams, with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and no mozzarella cheese, and I liked it. I can see liking it without the parmesan and with a bunch of vegetables instead of the clams.

Technically, not 100% vegan since I have no idea what the restaurant uses in their crust, but I didn't think it had egg or cheese. I suppose it could have butter. But, close enough for my purposes.

More food for thought.


Cheers!
mouse

Snowstorm of the Millenia

Dear Friends and Family,

Big storm headed our way, but, my mind is in a different place thinking about food.

I think my brain processes food by a combination of the food itself and the process of eating. There's the taste of spaghetti and the act of twirling noodles around a fork and eating spaghetti and both are gratifying and combined give me a certain level of joy.

That, I think, is the problem with people who try to change eating habits. I think I can become a pescatarian or vegetarian or a vegan or a flexitarian or anything if I find the right combination of foods to satisfy both the taste and the process.

Like, pasta. That's easy. Linguine noodles, crushed tomatoes, garlic, basil and some good olive oil with a side salad with some good balsamic and I'd say I have a satisfying vegan dinner on the table.

And, burgers. That's easy as well thanks to the nice people at Boca Burgers. I'm fine with garden burgers. I imagine I'd be fine with their vegan burgers. Add a bun, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and a side of fries or chips and another satisfying vegan meal on the table.

And, Japanese. Not as easy. But, I think, a bowl of rice, a bowl of miso, some seaweed salad, and some vegetable tempura (sans egg) would be another satisfying meal.

And, Chinese. Let me think. Rice. Stir fried vegetables. Pan fried vegetable dumplings. Mapo tofu (sans pork and using vegetable stock). Done.

And, Middle Eastern. Hummus. Pita. Falafel. Baba Ganoush. Tabbouli. Easy.

So, I think it can be done. I think it's easier if you plan it out than if you go the other way with a blank slate. Once you have at least one go to meal in each cuisine type I think I'd feel satisfied. Then, I could always grow the portfolio at a steady pace.


Cheers!
mouse