Hey Mama, Hey Nico.

So we have an interesting new development with Nico... he has apparently convinced himself to cry at the drop of a hat.  And not likey whiny baby whining... full on, meltdown crying his face off crying.  Yes... its pretty exciting.  And by that I mean, not at all. 

One thing he is doing that is pretty fun is he says, "Hey Nico" kinda randomly.  I am trying to turn that into "Hey mama" to which I reply, "Hey Nico." 

In the job market report:  I asked another professor at FSU to write a letter of recomendation for me.  To which she agreed (which was actually a surprise, because I would have told me no.)  The reason I asked is that she has known me longer than some of the others I probably could have asked (like profs that served on my dissertation committee).  But I think she could speak to my development as a human and as a scholar.  But maybe that is the lesson...sometimes some people just need to catch a break.  I feel like this is me catching a break.

Right now my list of applications looks like this (this list is based only on positions that have been posted and for which I may qualify):
Washington and Lee University (Lexington, VA)
University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse (LaCrosse, WI)
Luther College (Decorah, IA)
Carleton College (Northfield, MN)
Denison College (Granvile, OH)
Franklin College (Franklin, IN)
U of New Mexico (Albuerqueque, NM). 

Know what else is me catching a break?  The article I worked on last year with IE (based on the poster we presented at PAA)?  Its being made into a TV movie!!  Holla!  Okay, not really.  Its not being made into a TV movie.  It is,  however, being published by Springer in a text called, "Applied Demography and Public Health." Isn't that sexy?  I am resisting the urge to run my happy self to publix for celebratory cupcakes and beer.  What?  I can't drink beer at work?  What if I am a published author?  Can I drink beer now?  No.  Can I interest you in a cupcake?

THAT email

Not much new to report around here.  We had a pretty fun weekend.  Nico and I are starting a weekly tradition of driving out to the west side of Tallahassee for sonic slushes and diggers.  Someone is doing a bunch of work on Tennessee, so we get to see some diggers.  Its pretty fun.  Here is Nico on Friday:


Isnt that funny? 

Nico went swimming with Dave on Saturday when I went to campus to write (boooo!!).  Then on Sunday we went over to Margot and Mike's house to see Zoe Claire and have dinner.  It was pretty fun. 

************Disclaimer: below this line is discussion about President Obama, who I voted for in 2008 and an email that I got from his campaign.  You've been warned.*********************************** 

So... in unrelated news.  I supported President Obama when he was a candidate- I think I signed up for his mailing list and liked him on facebook.  I dont think I gave him any money- but none the less I am on his mailing list- much to my family's chagrin.  You know what that sound was?  The sound of my family supporting Romney, Huntsman, T-Pawl, Bachman and Santorum.  But this isn't a story about how much of a blacksheep I am.  This is a story about how I got an email from the President last week. 

Yeah.  Scanning the email I picked up words like, "president", "invite", "dinner." 

You know that half a second after you've opened up a spam email saying that a long lost relative in Nigeria left you 19 million dollars and all the sender needs is your bank account?  You know, that moment before you realize that you didnt actually win 19 million dollars, when you have this flash of all the stuff you're going to buy?  The houses, the cars.  The savings accounts for your kid so they never have to work a day in their life?  All the trips you're going to take (finally!!  an expedition to Antartica on a cruise ship!!)  And you already start drafting your letter of resignation, which always goes something like this: "I'm out, bitches!"

And then that little let down when you realize that you didnt actually win 19 million dollars.  It was like that.  My initial thought was, "Of course the President wants to have dinner with me.  I have a lot of great ideas.  In fact, I have an idea to fix the housing crisis, the economy and the homeless problem in one fell swoop.  He probably wants to have dinner with me because I have a PhD.  That's what's up" By the way, whenever lucky things happen to me, I ALWAYS chalk it up to me having a PhD.  Got assigned a new assignment at work: its probably because I have a PhD.  Got a good groupon for cupcakes?  Prolly cause I have a PhD.  Got a 9 out of 10 on my CPR test?  Prolly cause I have a PhD!!

So, after the initial disappointment in realizing that I was special, just like millions of other supporters, I put the email out of my mind, thinking that I would donate later, maybe when I got paid.  Then today I got an email again from the campaign.  Which was good because I needed the reminder.  But it was bad because this one wanted to let me know that Joe Biden invited himself to the dinner.  Which is fine, I guess... except that he is a little bit of a clown.  I mean, I cant think of the last vice president who dropped the F-Bomb on TV.  None the less, I took the email as what it was meant to be, which was a reminder to donate.  So I did. 

But now, I have a tricky problem... the campaign probably thinks that the only reason why I donated was because I found out Biden was going to be there.  So now, if I win, I can pretty much be sure of sitting next to Biden and talking about trains all during dinner (instead of architecting the plan to fix America).  And if I dont win, now I am getting a bunch of emails from Joe Biden now.  Biden!!

Of course, I have a blog post with the words "president", "obama", "biden", "crisis", "economy" and "bomb" in it.  I think I just hit the trifecta: FBI, CIA and Homeland Security- checkin out mai blogz!

Eyes wide closed.

Not much new going on around here.  Dave had to go to Orlando yesterday for a work thing, so Nico and I were on our own. Nico is doing this really funny thing now where when we see a digger or a tractor or a truck and he says "more", I say "Alright, keep your eyes open, we might see some more."  He takes that as a cue to close his eyes.  It's really really really adorable.  I got a video of him doing it yesterday.  Stinking adorable.  Will try to upload it tonight.

Other than that, not much going on around these parts.  Still in a cast for another three weeks (booo!)  Nico's seperation anxiety with me is starting to get a little better.  He doesnt meltdown whenever I leave him to go to work.  I thought he was going to REALLY melt down yesterday when I took him to school.  So that is good.

All for now.

Nothing new...

I have nothing new to report. That is part of what goes down when your wings are clipped a little (which is what's going on here with me being in a cast). I can't carry food around the kitchen much at all... so I don't do a lot of cooking. So if Dave doesnt make it or pack it for me, I usually end up eating drive through or take out. Isnt that sad? Especially so since there is so much stuff I want to make... lots of cool things I am seeing on Pinterest.
Like chocolate chip cookie dough truffles.
Hungry Girl's Mac and Cheese.
and Popsicles.

I know, right... isnt it cool? Please, friends, join right now. Thanks.

The really fun stage of teaching your kids funny stuff is now upon us. Dave and I have decided to teach Nico all the British terms for things... like butt is bum, the bathroom is the loo, elevators are lifts. Its pretty awesome. I am also teaching Nico that when he falls down and gets dirt on himself that he needs to "Brush it off, just like the haters."

He's also getting kinda fun in that he can blame his classmates at school for stuff. So yesterday he had sand in his ears and in his diaper. And when I asked him what happened he said that Dexter did it.  Interesting.  But I kinda have to be careful because then when I ask about other kids, Nico just says yeah. So this is how the conversation goes:

Me: Dexter poured sand on your head? What about the other kids? Did Ezekial pour sand on your head?
Nico: Yeah.
Me: Did Avery pour sand on your head?
Nico: Yeah.
Me: Did Ovid pour sand on your head?
Nico: Yeah.
Me: Did Molly pour sand on your head?
Nico: Yeah.

Now, I love my boy. But I have a hard time believing that he was sitting there minding his own business and these kids ganged up on him and all started pouring sand on his head. I mean, its possible, Ezekial could have held Nico down while the rest of the kids poured sand on Nico's head. But it seems awefully viscious for two year olds...

All for now. Hope your week is going well.

Watermelons!

We had a pretty fun weekend here. Uncle JJ came up to see us! We waited till after nap on Saturday to go out to Monticello for the Watermelon Festival. We pretty much got there as they were taking it down :( but not before we snagged some sno-cone and meat on a stick- which you can't beat!!

We pretty much just hung around the house. In one sense it was good because I havent had a lot of that lately, but I am feeling the pinch now. I am trying to get these two damn papers out the door.

I seem to be getting sick. Or I seem to be now, at the age of 31 developing a serious set of allergies. Or its just head cold central up in here. In any case, Dave brought home some Allegra tonight and that seems to be helping. Speaking of which, I have calculated it out and it looks like I will be doing dishes and making dinner for the rest of the year. Given that I am totally not weight bearing, that means I have to walk with crutches. Have you ever tried carrying food to and fro while carrying crutches? Yeah, do not like.

So on the way back into town, from the watermelon festival, we snagged some fruit at a fruit stand on Capital Circle. We got a bag full of almost ripe peaches and some watermelon. Today, after school, I sat Nico on the table and had started on a peach and offered him a bite. He ate the whole damn thing. Out of my hand. Refusing to hold it his own self. Seriously. He likes fresh peaches? And pizza? Yeah, until about three weeks ago, I was pretty sure that the only food he liked was CHICK nuggets. Turns out he likes pizza too. Like a fool. That kid changes every day.

Birthday decision!!

I spent some time yesterday at lunch looking around for birthday locations for Nico's birthday. Because he has the misfortune of being born in August, an outside party is almost certainly a no-go (unless it's at a pool). Otherwise we'd have a situation like we had last year, with 4325874958734295 people at our 1500 square foot house... and it rained. Yeah, I am in the wrong business. Apparently the real money is in birthday party locations. 300+ dollars for a party at the ghetto pool at 9am or 630 pm? Right...

So, I think we might just skip the madness this year. Maybe have a fun "Nico Day" that entails going to the pool and getting frozen yogurt. And maybe getting this:

After his little friend Ezekial's birthday party, this might be a good option. If you remember, Nico spent most of the day on a tricycle.

Maybe a good choice?

Seriously... can't you just eat him up?

meh

Not much new to report. We had kind of a laid back weekend. Dave's parents drove back through Tally on their way home, so we saw them briefly on Saturday night and again on Sunday morning for breakfast. Nico and Dave went swimming at their hotel on Saturday night, which you know that Nico loved...

Friday night, Nico woke up throwing up in the middle of the night. Apparently its been going around at his daycare. Apparently there are parents out there that think its okay to send their kid to school puking and sick. Lovely. We ended up throwing Nico in the bath and getting him cleaned up. But it took almost 2 hours for him to go back to sleep. It took him the rest of the weekend to really kick it though... he was pretty snuggly. Which is nice, but I know that he's sick when he wants to be held more (like this weekend).

Yesterday I was thinking about how different he is turning out from Dave and Me... he is really OCD about cleaning things. I dont know if this is the age or this is a permenent feature of his personality. Whenever he spills rice out of his rice table, he wants to sweep it up right away. He takes the time to sweep leaves off the sidewalk and the front step. We've started letting him put money in his piggy bank. This started as just something to do...to work on his fine motor skill and recognizing shapes. But now its a little ritual that we do... whenever he finds coins in our car or on our desk he wants to put them in the pig. Of course, he has no idea what money is for, what those coins will do. But I can't help but wonder if he's going to be one of those kids who is constantly exasperated by his clown parents who didnt grow up. Like we're clowns who need to have someone making sure that we dont eat jelly beans and maple syrup for dinner. He's also relentlessly interested in fire trucks and garbage trucks, which is kind of fun.

I am working hard trying to get two papers out the door my early mid-july to help strengthen my application materials. But it sucks. Really. I am kind of worn out... Seems like every time I sit down at my desk, its covered in stuff... a stack of Nico's books I took out of my bag (which I used as a diaper bag going to breakfast). A pile of clothes that need to be folded. Crayons and markers from Nico coloring. Mail. So when I am at home, its never just being able to sit down and write. It's difficult to write at night when Nico goes to bed because our schedule has gotten so late and I am the one who puts Nico to bed. So if Nico doesnt get to sleep until 930- it's damn near impossible to get back in front of the computer, because I am usually already pretty tired. I could take some adderall- but then I would be awake all night. I could go somewhere, but its just too much of a production and nothing here is open after about 1000 anyways.

IE says the market is starting now and it still looks sort of dismal. Most of the positions that I am seeing are for non-permanent, one year lecturer positions, which I am a bit wary of. It would mean that I'd basically go back on the job market in the fall of 2012 after moving us from Tallahassee to where ever. I was pretty excited about a post I saw at Washington and Lee University, which is in the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia. Apparently, I need to go back to college and study a map, because its like 3-4 hours outside of DC and 2 hours away from Richmond in Lexington, VA. Not "in the DC area", like I originally thought.

Other than that, I went to the doctor yesterday and they removed my cast. Took out the stitches and gave me a new one.

Nico noticed it right away when I went to pick him up yesterday. He's also getting pretty good at holding doors and helping me with the crutches. He's pretty much adorable.

swimmin...

Thursday. The weekend is almost here. Thank god.

Not much new to report. Dave had a work thing last night and I worked after work on a paper. He got done a little early and we snuck to the Black Bean cafe without nico? It was so strange to be at dinner without him. It was delish and we had the chance to talk about some job market stuff. There is a position at the University of the Virgin Islands that I sent him, thinking, dang how sweet it would be to live in the caribean? He pointed out that I would probably get annoyed about the only place to shop being the shitty kmart and the tourist market in Charlotte Amalie. I reminded him that while I am prone to impulse and flights of fancy, I at least have enough sense to not complain when I brow beat him into agreeing to something. He declined to comment.

I managed to find some swimming lessons for little guys done by the city of Tallahassee. I think that we might try to do them with Nico next month. It's funny, because I find myself saying "swimming" like "swimmin" with the emphasis place equally on both syllables, like Nico says it. In any case, it should be fun. I hope it looks something like this:

Birthday party?

Not an awful lot going on around here. Same old, same old. We are getting a repreive from soccer practice this week, as most of our girls are at soccer camp at Thomas University. So that is pretty sweet.

Nico is a lot of fun lately. He is talking up a storm and is interested more than ever in trucks (dump, fire and garbage). Dave and I may have created a monster by letting him watch Youtube videos of trucks. Although, to be honest, I would rather he watch videos of real stuff than BS like the Wiggles or Barney. To this day, Barney makes me want to kick the dog. "I love you, you love me..." indeed.

At a birthday party this weekend, I was talking with the mother of one of his friends about birthday parties. Did you know that to host a party at someplace like Truesdale pool its a couple of hundred DOLLARS? Wha-what? Its not like its a crazy party with kry-STAL and coke and strippers. Its a pool party. BARF. So I am reassessing what to do about Nico's birthday this year. Given that it will be during the suckiest part of the year in North Florida, our options are somewhat limited. One thing is for sure, we probably need something a little smaller than what went down in our house last year.

Parenting Nico whilst being on crutches is turning out to be less of challenge than I originally thought. He seems to "get it" and takes it easy on me. He has been pretty good about just getting in the car when I go to get him from school. He also realizes I cant just pick him up whenever he wants.

The crutches are getting old. I ventured into the garden yesterday afternoon. It was BADLY in need of some water and there is just no way to do that easily and Nico doesnt take direction THAT well yet. We do have some tomatoes that are almost ripe, plus a bunch more coming in. The watermellons arent fairing well, but the pumpkins have taken OVER.

All for now. Later!

Nico cute

Doing a workshop this week at work. Will write more later. Here is some cute.

Have a great weekend!