The Photog Game

We are settling into the rhythm of Fall.  This week was the first week that Nico's soccer team was on "winter break", so we had LITERALLY nothing we had to do.  These kinds of weekends make me equal parts anxious and excited... anxious because I feel like there are things I am supposed to be doing.  Excited because I have so many things I am going to get done.

For example, this weekend, I made apple sauce from the apples we picked and blueberry muffins (from the blueberries we picked during the summer).  I also made Shepherd's pie for dinner tonight and a kick ass slow cooker shredded pork dish for dinner last night.  I made a serious dent in the laundry and caught a nap on both days.  Of course, there is all the teaching stuff that I had planned to do, but somehow didnt have the time for it.  :)

In other news,  I have been booked for two weddings.  As a photographer.  Wait, what?  What am I even talking about?  I have been trying to breathe life into JBR Photography, whenever I am not teaching and doing the 23498723498 things it seems like we have to do.  Back in the Spring and the Summer, I was bidding on smaller, one off jobs: someone needing photos for med school applications, someone needing photos of products for a website.

To be honest, I've been weary about shooting weddings.  Mostly because the stakes are so high and I get nervous.  An old friend from Tallahassee recently got engaged and was looking a photographer so I submitted a bid.  One of my gym girlfriends also got engaged over the summer and was interested in whether I would be interested in shooting her wedding- but that is not till 2016.  So I have time.

In an effort to take my photog game to the next level, I purchased a new Canon camera.

I thought about going with a Nikon- as it seems like a lot of the photographers that I know shoot with Nikons.  However, I wanted to be able to use my current lenses.  I'd been keeping my eye open for the Canon I got on eBay and Amazon.  It is the lower end of the professional grade cameras- but I love it so far.  I am definitely looking forward to shooting more when the quarter is over.

The Bishop-Royses go to Royse City

 We had a really fun Thanksgiving Holiday.

The Friday night before we left, I scooped up Nico and got him out of the house so we could run some errands.  This entailed dinner down in Lincoln Park.  We were headed towards the train when we stopped by the DePaul Athletic Center and caught a DePaul volleyball game against Butler.  Nico and I watched for about 30 minutes.  He seemed to be pretty into it.

A new development, which will get it's own post probably next week, is that Nico has just taken off with the reading and the writing.  It's pretty amazing.  He has filled up a composition book at school with "work" and he brought it home before Thanksgiving.  And he is just so smart.  It's fantastic.  He is reading street signs and signs at the store and everything.  It's awesome.

 

For Thanksgiving, we drove down to Texas to see Nico's cousins.  They had an absolute blast.  Nico was so excited to have other kids to play with (NOT AT SCHOOL), that he showed his tail a bit.  He was totally over stimulated and off his schedule, so I guess I can cut him a little slack.  Plus, Nicole and Cody's house is amazing.  Seriously- they have a zipline: 

I know, right?

We stayed with Nicole and Cody Monday-Saturday and had a good time hanging out.  I got in a little shopping and had so much fun.  The weekend before we headed out, we got Nico a couple of new pair of shoes (blue adidias with flourescent orange stripes and blue pumas).  Whenever Nico was not wearing the shoes and becks found them, he would bring them to a grown up and ask for the shoes to be put on his fit.  What does it say about an 18 month old's feet when they can fit in his 4 year old cousin's shoes?  Yeah.  Big honkin feet.  

On the way back to Chicago, we ran through Royse City, Texas. A town founded by Dave's people.  It's pretty non-desript.  The depot has a sign that was clearly spelled Royce City, but that someone had to fix, which I found very funny.  

We got back on Sunday- and have been back on the grind since.  While we were gone, someone stole the catalytic converter off of Dave's 4Runner- which is annoying.  Have you ever driven a vehicle without a catalytic converter?  So annoying. It's loud.  Not like, man- that is a souped up engine loud.  But rather, who doesn't have a muffler on their vehicle loud.  Normally its a $2200 repair job, but luckily, we had comprehensive coverage on the 4Runner... so Progressive is handling it- and all we have to pay is our $500 deductible.  It's always something... but it could have been a lot worse. 

All for now.  

I'm baaaaaaaaaack....

Well hello there!!  It's good to see you.
As promised, I have returned from the hiatus- with a mixed record as to what I did with my time.  Before Thanksgiving, I had gotten down to within 5 lbs. of pre-nico weight, but I undid a bit of that when we were in Texas over the holiday.  I went to the doctor (to get some meds reupped) and was weighed on his "official" (read: bullshit) scale.  He confirmed that since August 7th, I had lost 18 lbs.  This works out to be about a pound per week.  The upside to this that my left knee is feeling great- which is a departure from what it usually feels like.

Moreover, I am getting so strong.  Case in point: we do a lot of pull-ups in CrossFit.  I have never been able to do a pull-up and have always had to use the black band (think of a very large rubber band that you loop over the bar and put your feet in.  Then you step off the box and your weight is somewhat supported by the band).  In order of support, the colors are: purple, black, green, blue.  Since I started CF, I have been on the black band, and have tried a couple of times to go down to the green, but could not get the pull-up.  But the black band has felt really easy the last couple of weeks... like not even a workout.  This week, just for grins, I gave it a go and was able to get a couple of pull-ups.  It was fantastic.  I'm not sure I could do a whole workout with just the green band (yet), but it's nice to have that as a measure.

Last night I went to an Olympic lifting class for the first time.  I am starting to really like a couple of the movements (power cleans and power snatches), but my technique is a hot mess.  So I went to the class to do a little work and just get in a lot of reps.  It's totally like goalkeeping... where sometimes the only way to improve is to do 100 punches over the crossbar.  It is what it is.

So that is great.  The trade off is that I am sore all the time these days.  And I have a lot more muscle... so clothes just do not fit.  Not only the ones that I already have but most the ones I'm looking at when I go shopping.  But I guess that is a good problem to have, right?

In other news, I am looking (on my desk) at a complete second draft of a paper that I have been working on.  Today I will be sending it to my old boss at the FSU COM, for his comments and remarks before we submit it for publication later this month.  Which is fantastic.  I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I got another publication last month (November).  Back in the spring, I helped one of the FSU COM students with a paper he wanted to submit for a patient safety award.  Well, as I left, he was working on getting it published.  Back in October our old boss (the third author) sent me a note that it had been published.  So, make that two publications since I have been in Chicago.  Isn't that cool?

I have about a third of the lectures for my Winter Quarter class edited.  I still need to record and post them, but I like the progress so far.  I am experimenting with "flipping the classroom", where I record my lectures and my students view them on their own time.  Then they come to class and we work on problems together.  For statistics??  I think it could be really good.

More later.

Haters Should Hate

I think it would be hard to like me.

I don't know if I have haters, but assure me, I probably deserve it.

I have a fantastic life: an adorably funny and smart son; a superhot husband who does laundry and cooks (almost as well as I do). I have a job that I LOVE. I live in a cool ass city and I am getting some time to do things I have wanted to do for a long time (photography and fitness... A LOT OF BOTH). Nobody's life should be allowed to be that awesome, right??

Speaking of awesome, take a look at this kid:

So that is how the cookie crumbles.

I had my interim probationary review at work this week and my boss had some really nice things to say. One component of my job is to provide research consultation to faculty members. This might be anything from helping someone run some stats, to finding data sources for someone else. Earlier this week a faculty member that I helped a couple of months ago approached my boss and raved about me. Unsolicited. Yeah... that is pretty cool.

I really like the people I work with. While I appreciate that I have fairly low standards for work-place interactions, I believe that my current situation would be enviable to anyone. My boss is cool in that he tries to empower all of us to be in control of ourselves and our work. In fact, he hates us having to be dependent on him for stuff. Which works out great for me, because I hate being dependent on people for stuff.

My co-workers mostly leave me alone. We all have the things that we do and no one tries backstab or undercut each other. We all have the things that we bring to the table, so we don't compete with each other. And here is a weird thing, that "bitchy-we're-all-friends-but-we-aren't" thing that happens in a lot of places? Not up in the SSRC. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Opportunity Knocks

So, in other exciting news, I have been offered a course for the winter quarter at DePaul.  I know, right?  Just when I think I am out, they pull me back in!!

Turns out that the senior research methodologist in the SSRC has taught classes in statistics and methods, prior to my arrival, so the teaching coordinator asked if I would be interested.  While I have never taught a statistics class, I have taught methods.  And I have had some pretty damn good training  in the art of teaching.  And also, I have won two teaching awards.  So it's not really like this:

Of course, I am not sure how much of this the coordinator knew when she asked me to teach an undergraduate statistics course.  It's probably a bit uncommon, for someone who is a good teacher to not move automatically and fully into the teaching track.  If I wasn't in Chicago at DePaul, I would probably be at a teaching college, with my four courses a semester and no research activity.  

The conversation I had with the coordinator was a great conversation and she said that she would send me the course list so that I might consider teaching some of the "fun" classes in demography and health.  Yeah.  How much fun will that be?

This development is actually quite fortuidous...Dave and I watched a thing on Sunday Morning a couple of weeks ago about the Khan Academy that has made me rethink how I would revamp my teaching style, if it ever came to that.  

That said, I believe that I will make every effort to incorporate memes in this class, as well as pop culture references to Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Keeping up with the Kardashians.  For example, here is a question that I might ask on a midterm:

"Following the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, a CDC researcher is interested in how many people are infected ("turned") each day.  She has been collecting this data for a year, but decides to draw a random sample of 30, for which she obtained a sample mean of 34.1 infections per day, with a sample standard deviation of 0.4."

Question 1: Calculate the standard error of the mean.

Question 2: Construct a 95% confidence interval to estimate the mean number of infections.

Question 3: Write a narrative explanation of this confidence interval.  

And so on... couldn't it be very fun??

I think so.  

In addition to that new opportunity... I was chatting with one of the other girls at CrossFit this afternoon and she mentioned that she (and another girl in our class) do Roller Derby.  Apparently this particular establishment is pretty good.  And they invited me to come to their tryouts!!  Can you believe it?  My mother's dream come true!  When I pointed out that I don't "skate" they replied this as not as big of a problem as you would think.  Apparently, being an athlete is a solid enough foundation... then after that, it's just learning how to skate.  Normally, I would be all over this.  But I decided to show some restraint and not jump with both feet.  But it was cool that they invited me.  And in case you were wondering, yes, I have thought about what my name would be.  

Guns McGee.  

Of course this only works if you have actual guns (i.e. well-developed biceps).  Otherwise, its just sad.  So we will revisit this issue in the nearish future.   

The Illinois Railway Museum

I meant to post this earlier in the week, but forgot.  Last week was pretty awesome.  We wanted to have a bit of a low-key weekend, because we still had work to do on the house.  So much stuff to do, cleaning, organizing, cleaning.  You get it.  Friday night we stayed in and hung out.  Saturday morning, I got us Panera for breakfast and Nico said the funniest thing.  He had been eating a parfait and came over to where I was sitting in the living room, with yogurt all over his face.  He made the funniest motion with his hands and said, "Here comes a snuggle from yogurt face!"  Which was hilarious.  Later, Saturday Nico had his swimming lessons.  Still weird about jumping in and putting his face in the water, but I am hoping that wears off soon.

After, Nico and I headed out to Sonic in Franklin Park.  Turns out while I love most of everything about living in Chicago, the proximity to Sonic is thus far, unsatisfactory.  After snagging some lunch we tried to take a nap at the house.  But the 20 min nap in the car was basically a cat nap that served to power Nico up for the rest of the day.  We facetimed with his BFF from Tallahassee, which basically resulted in Graham and Nico making funny faces at each other and showing each other their favorite toys.  Which was great.

There was a festival in Lincolnwood (just up the road from us), complete with a carosel, ferris wheel and rides.  So, that is where we spent Saturday evening.  The festival had gyros and beer and street food, so you know Dave and I had a good time.  The weather was delicious and Nico had a blast.  He even recognized a friend from his new school.  It's funny, because we bought the unlimited ride bracelet at the fair last year and ended up getting burned because Nico only went on like 5 rides.  This time we didnt do the bracelet, but there were like 5 rides that Nico could have ridden all night.  I guess we are there now.

Sunday, Dave and I had a soccer game.  We ended up being short 5 players, which is awesome when it's only 8 a side (you do the math).  I got shelled, but made some good saves.  I also got megged.  And that is never good for business.  Dave had found out about the Illinois Railway Museum which is in Union, IL (about an hour drive from the city).  This weekend, they had an antique car day at the museum.  So we headed out, hoping to find antique firetrucks and police cars, after our soccer game.

We got there a bit late (after the car show ended), but had a good time walking around checking out the old trains.  Nico wasn't as interested in it as we would have hoped.  The really cool thing is that they have a track that they run the old trains on, out a couple of miles into the Illinois countryside and back.   We rode on the Zephyr, which apparently used to provide service between Chicago and Nebraska.  

We can't wait for the cousins to come to town, because we think they would like it!!

Ice Cream

So, one of the best things about the new place is it's proximity to a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robins.  When I got home from work yesterday, Nico and I sent Dave to do some work at a coffee shop and we did some stuff around the house.  I tried to put the bed together- but failed because we are, apparently, missing a piece (don't ask me how).  Then we had some dinner and walked to get ice cream.  Isn't that awesome!!

I have biked to work two days this week.  It's a nice ride... about 12.5-13 miles round trip.  Overwhelming though, because I see all these places where I want to go... this bar...this restaurant... this book store.  Its hard to keep my bike going.  It's weird because I used to be so gunshy about riding my bike.  I would go out of my way to stay on bike paths.  And often I would end up lost.  I've finally just said, "to hell with it!" and just got out there with the cars.  I fully expect to get tagged some day... but since I am riding on crowded city streets,  I am banking on the offending driver only going about 20-30 mph when they hit me.  And since I am wearing a helmet, I think I will be okay.  I mean, obviously, it would hurt, which is why I am careful- defensive. When I have questions about other drivers being aware of me- I just hop off my bike and wait for them to go by.  No big deal.  

It's cool. 

I also finished my work for the College of Medicine this weekend.  I had been working half time for the grant since I left in April... helping with presentations and posters and such.  Yesterday was the big annual meeting and I helped pull together the figures for it.  It was a bit unceremonious of an end for me.  The person who took over my position seemed grateful for my help, but my old boss seemed a bit ambivalent about my contribution.  Oh well.  Consider that a life lesson learned.  

All for now. 

In Chicago

We've made it safely to Chicago.  We are still unpacking- hence the no updating.  Nico is loving the crap out of the city.  He likes riding the train (no surprise).  I have been working while Dave and Nico are at home.  This has resulted in this thing where they go do fun stuff without me.  Nico and I have a new thing where I tell them not to have fun without me.  Then at the end of the day, Nico reports on all the fun things they did.

Nico seems to like our new house.  I am so relieved to be past that shitty part... past living apart from my boys, past packing up, past unloading the truck.  Now we are slowly putting together our house.  I have a girl cave.  This is a place for all my craft stuff.  I want to make it a craft space+photography studio+home office space.  Dave says the weird little room in the basement isn't big enough.  I say challenge accepted!!

Our kitchen is tiny.  And apparently, I can't say no to kitchen devices.  Seriously, I just can't do it.  The result is that our painfully small kitchen is spilling out into the dining room.  So I took this island and made it a bar cart.  As soon as we get those plates off of there.   

Thursday I came home from work and scooped up Dave and Nico and went to a German place called Leshatt's Inn.  Was one of the best meals we've had in a long time.  Of course, it's not hard when you have a crazy beer selection.  Afterwards, we stopped for ice cream... which was completely off the chain.  Nico loved it of course.

I found out that four of my five favorite musical acts are touring this summer (Springsteen is touring, but it looks like mostly Europe for now:(  Counting Crows+Wallflowers and Goo Goo Dolls+Matchbox 20 will both be in Chicago this year.  I keep trying to convince my sister and mom to please come to Chicago so they can go with me.  To no avail. 

I think I might suffer from some type of mild manic depression, only with out the depression. Because I get on these whiriling, high energy "must do all the things now!" kicks.  The latest one has produced a new blog... that is separate from the Royse show.  It's more about crafty mccrafterson stuff.  

http://thejbrshow.com/

Basically I just want to blog organization+food+crafty+diy+photography+awesome+memes+chicago stuff for moms who ain't got time for that!!  Still trying to figure out a posting schedule.  But I am working on it.  Especially now that I have a girl cave.  

Starting to get Sad

It struck me today, that we are leaving Tallahassee- and it's not all rainbows and butterflies.

I was talking to Nico tonight on the phone and we were talking about how we are going to be moving in a few days.  The conversation turned to Graham, and Nico insisted that Graham is coming with us.  I guess when they have talked about it school that has been the conversation: that Nico and his family are moving to Chicago and Graham is going to come with us.  And I just got really sad for Nico.  I don't question the decision we made.  In the long run, this is going to end up being amazing for him.  He doesn't realize it, but things are going to change for him this weekend.  His two best friends (Graham and Ovid) are still going to be in Tallahassee and he will be in Chicago.  We are going to try to see them one final time this week, but it's difficult, because none of them will realize that it's probably the last time (at least for a while) that they will see each other.  

This spring, I read "Nurture Shock" by Po Bronson.  It's basically about what the latest science says about children and how they develop.  One of the most intriguing chapters of the book was about the psycho-social development of kids and the degree to which they learn sharing, compassion, and empathy from the relationships that they have with siblings.  Turns out that the better predictor of their abilities to express compassion, empathy, and to share come from the relationships that they have with their friends.  Since Graham has a little sister, he's always had to share.  And he is awesome with her.  He is very matter of fact about her abilities and the fact that she is little.  But he doesn't ever seem to view her presence as a drag (bringing down the fun that Nico and he were going to have).  His way and what he wants aren't the only thing that matter.  So when he interacts with Nico, they have a really fun way of playing, where they go from activity to activity to activity, both playing together.  Bossing each other and pushing back against the bossing, but never abandoning each other.  Never getting pissed at each other and deciding to do something different.  Which I think is awesome.  I hope that someday, when Nico is an older brother, he is half the brother Graham is to his little sis.  

In any case, we'll try to do google hangout and facetime and all of that.  I am in the process of assembling a mail kit for Nico, so that he can send letters and post cards to Graham and Ovid.  I'm also going to have a photobook printed of his friends and the house on Atapha and the hospital and the house on Apakin.  And the parks.  I hope it will help.

Getting there...

Well, I made it here safely.
I left Tallahassee on Tuesday April 23rd and rolled into Chicago on the afternoon of the 24th.  It was an easy drive, except for some hard rain I encountered leaving Louisville on Wednesday.  I brought the Kia, loaded down with clothes, toiletries  kitchen items and a few craft things.  I got them all unpacked and into the house by Wednesday night.

The house has two stories and a basement.  I moved all my clothes into one room upstairs and am sleeping in the other room (on an air mattress).  I didnt do much last week, except figure out how to get to work and where the closest grocery is.

On Saturday I drove to Plainfield to get a firetruck bed for Nico.  A tollbooth lady told me that I could pay with cash at my last tollbooth, I couldn't.  So, I can't wait to see the ticket or the fine I will get for that. Should be good times.  When I got back, I headed over to campus to video chat with the boys (since my internet at home isnt being installed until Thursday).  On my my way out of there, I swung by the fiber arts store I found in Lincoln Park on my last go.  I picked up some yarn for a hat for Nico (for Christmas). Saturday night, I went to Target to get a few food items.

I went to a benefit on Sunday for the Read/Write Library of Chicago.  One of my friends/coworkers helped organize it.  I went and got to see another part of the city.  In all, things have been pretty good here.  I miss my boys like crazy.  Dave's parents are in town this week- so hopefully Nico won't notice how much he misses me.

My main source of transportation to work is the brown line from Kimball station to Fullerton.  There is apparently work going on on the brownline somewhere so transportation is a little wonky now.  But I asked a transit worker and he directed me in the right direction.  No big deal.

I have a life list item to run all the bridges in Chicago.  Today after work, I am going to give my first couple a try.  Should be fun.

I have a list a mile long of things I still need to do.  Then there are the things I want to do.  :)

All for now.  Will write more later.

Gamer?

Not much new to report.  Life is kinda boring right now.  I have been trying to establish some regular cleaning routines around the house.  Its tough because session is happening right now, so I am on my own with Nico a lot in the evenings... so I cant spend 2-3 hours when I get home cleaning and organizing, because who is going to make dinner?  Get Nico showered and in bed?

I read a book called, "Lean In".  It's by Sheryl Sandberg, who has been all over Facebook and social media promoting the book.  Her main argument is that women aren't striving to leadership positions in business and academia and the work place.  There are many reasons for this, but namely, work+life is too difficult for some women.   In any case, I was thinking that the book women really need is how to hack the house so that you dont have to spend a lot of time cleaning, cooking, etc.  That is the book that needs to be written.

Randomly, I am wondering if I am too old to start playing video games.  My favorite show.  Of. All. Time. Is. The Walking Dead.  Seriously.

The problem with this is that there are two episodes left this season.  And then it's not back until October.  And there is a Walking Dead video game.... wouldnt that be funny?  Especially if I became a "gamer"?  No? Oh well... there goes that idea.

Headed to Chicago next week.  Hopefully I can finalize a place for us to live.  Dave and I had originally talked about me going up for the week and him flying up with Nico for the weekend.  It ended up being really expensive for airfare and we're not entirely sure Nico would enjoy that kind of trip.  So I'm going solo. The trip will also be a little different because I am staying in Lincoln Park.  Seriously.  Literally, a mile away from my office.  Since 1.5 hours of every day won't be spent commuting to and fro, hopefully, I will be able to spend some more time exploring the area.  AND. FINDING. A. HOUSE.

Where in we have a hard time finding a house...

I had a temper tantrum yesterday.  Literally, a crying, throwing stuff temper tantrum.

It started on Saturday.  When I found a house in Forest Park.  Now, let me back up a minute.  We are exceptionally difficult people to find a house for.  In addition to requirements that we NOT live in Crackden, IL, USA, we need a place that will let us have dogs.  We also need a place with a yard, because I am not trying to walk dogs down 2390482390 flights of stairs at 2am, just so Gordon can sit there and look at me like I am an idiot.

We are also trying to find a place we can actually afford... and that has at LEAST 2 bedrooms.  I say at least 2 bedrooms, but what I mean is two bedrooms and a basement or three bedrooms.  Shockingly, this puts us eligible for about 5% percent of listings that I actually find.  Now, once you rule out all the places in Indiana and the far flung suburbs (seriously, I'm not driving  my happy ass an hour and change to work every day.  Nor am I going to sit my happy ass on a train for 4+ hours every day.  Aint gonna happen.  Aint no one got time for that.)  So this makes us eligible for about 1% of the places that I can actually find on the internets.  And then there was the place in Forest Park.

It is the second suburb west out of Chicago (next to my dream town of Oak Park).  It is a 3/2 with a finished basement. In our price range.  With a yard.  Walkable to the El.  I convinced a DePaul coworker to go by... he gives it the two thumbs up. We set an appointment for him to look at the inside of the house for Tuesday at noon.  And I get an email from the realtor at 1145 that the house is off the market because someone else rented it.  SON. OF. A-.

The most annoying thing?  Its not like I have been looking for a day.  I have been looking since mid-January. I have apps for this.  Today when my mechanic decided to open his shop up an hour and a half late (seriously, who does business like that?) I was on my phone.  Searching for properties. So, this is annoying.  We have a couple of feelers out there... some friends in the area who have leads on places, one in Arlington Heights and potentially Oak Park.

There are three places that are on our list now, one is in Evanston- small, with an unfinished basement... Evanston is cool because its kinda hipster and an easy ride on the train to my work... Northwestern is there.  Another in Norridge (an easy, short commute), which is a 3/2 with a finished basement, but Dave doesnt like Norridge.  And another in Hoffman Estates- which is verging on too far... but the house is CRAY.  It has more bathrooms than our house has rooms.  It looks like one of the victims of the bursting housing bubble... 2700 square feet.... HAY (which is short for Huge Ass Yard).  You think Jessi Bishop-Royse has a hard time keeping a 1500 square foot home clean?  Wait till she is dealing with a 2700 square foot home.  Seriously- I kind of want to have the house just so that during the holidays, JJ and I could play soccer in the living room and Max and Emme can play tackle football in the kitchen.

I am starting to rethink my strategy.  I wonder if I should just sit tight and wait till I get up there at the end of the month.  Then find a place I want, go there, start throwing money at them until they get me a key.  Probably a good idea.  Meh.

Jerk Squad...

We had a pretty chill weekend.

We went to fun station junior with Graham on Saturday, which was fun.  Nico is still captain of the Jerk squad when he has to leave... which is sort of sweet in it's own perverse way.

We chilled at the house, tried to get some chores done.  Dave had press skits rehearsal and I got a pedicure.

Nico has amassed quite the truck collection.  Isn't it cool?  Friday night, we were at Target and he wanted a truck... so I got it for him with the condition that he help me clean his room up.  I think he might be starting to get the hang of this bribery thing.

Pipe Dream

Not much else going on.  The legislative session is about 4 days old and I am already over it.  I am going to be glad when the session is over... and better yet, when Dave doesnt have to deal with Florida's legislative session.  Boom!!

We took Gordon to the vet yesterday for Cardiologist appointment.  You know you have old dogs when your vet starts recommending senior dog stuff.  Cray.  

We are going to Fun Station Junior on Saturday with Graham.  I can almost promise that Nico is going to show his tail when we leave.... But hopefully he will have more fun than last time when it was just us.  I think he will.

Other than that, I am hoping we can just have a chill weekend.  I am trying to stay on top of the cleaning and whatnot at the house.  Who knew that running a household would be so much work?  I don't know how our Moms handled it.  I am just worn out most of the time.  I am looking forward to the days when I can just sit on the couch and knit ALL DAY while alternates between doing chores and playing... I'm living a pipe dream, you say?  Oh well.

Gonna Rename it.

Additionally, I think I am going to change the address of this blog.

There are several reasons, but mostly because the blog is really about all of us, the Nico Royse Show on Blogger isn't really an accurate assessment of what is going on.  Additionally, I don't want to have to deal with a snotty 9 year old daughter in 10-11 years who is like, "You don't love me as much as you love Nico!!  You named the blog after him!!"  Aint nobody got time for that!!!

Also, as we move onto Chicago, I would like to blog about that experience for anyone who is still in Florida and who cares... which means I am going to make this one public again.  I guess I could just start a new blog for that, but there is a threshold on the amount of stuff that I have scattered to the far-flung corners of the internet.

I won't do so until probably May or so, so if you are one of the 2 readers who aren't my sister and mom, make sure you either comment or send em an email at jessibishoproyse at gmail.com,  so that I know to invite you to the new one.

I heart chicago

So, a post from the windy city, eh?  I know, you guys are annoyed.  You're annoyed that I don't update the old blog-0 very often.  I am sorry... I really am... Maybe I will get it together.  How bad do you feel about Nico, like for serious.

In any case, it has been relatively uneventful here in Chicago.  I am staying in Pilsen, which is near the Lower West Side of Chicago.  I have started using Air BNB when I travel by myself, mostly because it gets me out of the same old same old hotels- like Best Westerns and Holiday Inns.  But Jessi, you could stay at nicer hotels, you say.  "Ain't nobody got money for that!!" With Air BNB, you can rent just a room or a couch or a futon, or you could rent the whole place.  Its cool because it hinges on my favorite thing about traveling, which is stepping into life in a place.  It's hard to get that in a hotel.  The place I am staying at is an artist loft.  The person who owns the place actually manages 3 other places on Air BNB... I had originally booked at another place, but she put me in this place because it is nicer.  The walls in the place are covered with art... It's not very good.  Can I say that?  I know, who died and made me an art critic?  As it turns out, I am an art snob.  It is what it is.  

Wikipedia says: In the late 19th century, At Pilsen was inhabited by Czech immigrants who named the district after Plzeň, the fourth largest city in what is now the Czech Republic. They replaced the Germans and Irish who had settled there first, in the mid-nineteenth century. The population also included smaller numbers of other ethnic groups from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, such as Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats and Austrians, as well as immigrants of Polish and Lithuanianheritage. Many of the immigrants worked in the stockyards and surrounding factories. Like many early 20th century American urban neighborhoods, however, Pilsen was home to both wealthy professionals and the working class, with the whole area knitted together based on the ethnicities, mostly of Slavic descent, who were not readily welcome in other areas of the city.  

Since the 1950s and 1960s, many of the old Europeans had died off or were pushed out of the neighborhood by Hispanics (mostly Mexicans) immigrating to the US and deciding to settle near Chicago.  In the last 10 years or so, it has been re-gentrifying, so hipster artists and bike afficianados have been moving in, displacing Hispanics.  As it is in big urban areas.  Today, Pilsen still has a strong Hispanic influence, as evidenced by the sheer number of bodegas and Mexican restaurants   You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a place selling tacos and margaritas.  Seriously, I tried.  There was a dead cat on the ground outside my place.  I picked it up and swung it.  I hit a mexican restaurant.  

If you know me, you know I am not really that big a fan of Mexican food. Mostly because I don't know what everything is... seriously, I know what a quesadlla is, as well as a taco and a burrito.  But I don't know what a chimichanga is or a sopapilla.  On Sunday when I got in, I didnt feel like traipsing all over the city looking for suitable edables.  So I popped into a bodega and got: rice, garbanzos, a can of salmon, a can of soup, some hot pockets, bread, margarine, and cookies.  On Tuesday when I started at my job-job (Monday I did training at the Loop Campus), a co-worker took me across the way to a grocery store, where I got the basics for this week (fruit, milk, cheese, bagels, etc).  So I have been eating mostly at home.  So not exciting.  

I have been experimenting with different methods of transporting myself.  On Monday, I took the 18 Bus to the Roosevelt Metro station, where I took the red line north to the Loop campus.  It was an easy ride and relatively relaxing.  Tuesday I took the 18 bus in the wrong direction, got the red line and panicked because I was packed into a subway car like cattle with 2654654 other people.  So I ended up on the purple line, taking it to Lincoln park.  Wednesday, I found that the 8 bus took me along Halstead, through Pilsen, West Loop, River West, Goose Island, Greek Town, Ranch Triangle, Sheffield Neighbors, and Lincoln Park to a stop about .25 miles away from campus.  The bus ride was easy and enjoyable, about 40 minutes long.

Its been cold here.  Dave told me that as long as we are going to be in Chicago, that I am never, ever, never allowed to complain about the cold weather.  So, I make the statement that it's cold, so that you can get some context for what its like.  Apparently, the winter has been relatively mild, so no one is complaining about the cold.  When I got in on Sunday, it wasnt too bad.  Tuesday, when I went to leave the loft, I slid on some ice and fell on my ass. Hard.  It was starting to snow and I was mesmerized the winter wonderland I was walking out into.  Coincidentally, the patch of ice that I slid on is still there.  And I now give it wide berth.

Everyone is bundled up against the cold weather, which actually suits me just fine.  Because I like being bundled up.  Despite the fact that I have 8 different pairs of gloves/mittens and hats, I managed to bring only two pair knit gloves and no hats.  Duh.... I think yesterday was the coldest weather I have ever been in... it was 11 degrees farenheit and with the wind, it felt like -8.  Again, I love it.  Especially if it means fewer days in June, July, and August that are oppressively hot.

Other than that, not much going on.  I miss my boys.  Nico isn't taking this terribly well... he has been a peach for Dave, but wants his mama snuggles.  Looking forward to getting home to my boys.  

Chicago, Chicago...

So, I think most of the people who read this thing are also friends with me on facebook.  So, it's official.  We are moving to Chicago!!  So excited.  I am dancing.  In my head.  Not really dancing.

So now begins the logistics of this.  My replacement can't take over day to day stuff at the College of Medicine until mid-April.  I am going to Chicago next week to get signed up with HR and start meeting people.  It's pretty cool.  I think I will go up again in late March, and with Nico and Dave joining me for the weekend, so that we can find a place to live.  Next week, I am supposed to ride the train to some of the suburbs and try to figure out a commuting situation I would be okay with.  Then, I will drive up in mid-April, leaving Nico and Dave.  Once there, I will try to find a school for Le Boy.  Dave has to stay in Tallahassee at least through the session.  I think I will end up flying home the week before Memorial Day and helping to pack up the house and the moving truck.  And the dogs.  Then we drive up to Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.  I think it might end up where one of us is driving the moving truck and the other is driving the 4-Runner with Nico in the back seat and the dogs in the back-back.  I don't know- I think its going to be kind of an adventure!!  Really looking forward to it.

Nico is getting big and funny.  He has started the campaign for a little brother or sister.  It is mostly in the context of when we leave someone's house that has kids that he plays with.  This weekend, I took Nico over to Dexter and Colleen's house to deliver some food.  Dexter used to go to school with Nico and has recently been diagnosed with autism (aspergers).  They didn't use to play well together, but they were great on Sunday.  When it was time to leave, Nico was melting down and I had to carry him out of there.  He was wailing that he wants a little brother or sister.  Then, two nights ago, he was telling Dave that he want's a brother or sister, and wondered if we could order one online.  Squeeeeeeeee.  So adorable.

Here are my boys counting.  I didnt get when they counted in French earlier.  This video makes it appear that Dave is teaching Nico only the languages of the former Axis Powers, which is not the case.

The Firefighter Routine

This is one of Nico's favorite things to do.  He is "sleeping" when I ring the alarm.  He wakes up, slides down the pole, and grabs his "ticket" (which tells where the fire is), then jumps in the fire truck and takes off.



I love it.
Not much happening around here.  I got a bunch of my friends together on facebook to have a garage/yard sale.  Someone invited someone else, who turns out to be REALLY bossy and she kind of took it over.  I guess that is okay, except that the sale ended up not being on the day I wanted, or the place I wanted.  But I guess I won't get my dander up about it.

This means that I am going through all Nico's clothes.  Even the new born stuff that I have been holding onto.  Right now, his old baby clothes take up half his closet.  So I am trying to only keep the things that have a lot of meaning (like the three sweaters that Granny You has made him- and all the UL shirts and onesies).  But I am really looking forward to getting rid of a LOT of stuff.

And Dave better watch himself- because I might get rid of some of his stuff too.:)

They have no idea...

Last week, I was on an roller coaster of emotion.  I can't talk about some of it... yet.  But I will.

The completely amazing and wonderful thing that happened?  We won districts.  AGAIN.  Seriously.

The game was awesome.  We went up 1-0, but then Florida High equalized just before the half.  And we battled for another 40 minutes before going to overtime.  I was prepared for ANOTHER PK shootout when Madi Harris said, "Nah, Imma end it now."  See:



It was so awesome.  I can hardly believe that it happened.  Especially since the first time we played Florida High, we lost to them in the second half when they took the momentum and we couldn't get it back.

It was kinda sad too, for Florida High, because this was supposed to be a down year for us.  We went from beating them bad two years ago and last year.  They snuck a win this year at their place.  And a tie at our place.  But they had to definitely feel like this was their year.  Just before the end of regulation their keeper made a huge save against us.  It was crazy.  Its the kind of save, that as a goalkeeper, you know you got because you live right.  But they just couldnt keep Madi out of the net.  It was kinda sad for them, I think.  They have to know that this was the closest that they would ever get to us- because we are only losing three players. And we are gonna be damn good next year.

Dave's parents came up this weekend.  We did some belated Christmas festivities and they got to hang out with Nico.  Nico got a couple of new firefighter and police shirts.  Which is fantastic, because that is all he would wear if possible.  You know its bad when your kid wears the same shirt all weekend because you can't get it off him.  Seriously.

He is big and sassy.  He's loving the math- especially when counting down how many slides down the pole he gets.  Also, there is this:

Nico: Mama, do you know why I am letting you cut my finger nails?
Me: No, why are you letting me?
Nico: Because I like to do fun stuff with you and Dad.  And I know that I have to let you do this so that we can do fun stuff.

FINALLY!!  He gets it!  We go to Europe now! Kthnxbai!

Bribery.

Not much going on around here.  The soccer season is starting the downhill slide to the end.  We go to Taylor tomorrow to play in the semi-final game.  Against Taylor County.  Not a real big fan of playing them at their house.  I don't like the potential to not be in control of the game.

Nico has been pretty great lately.  We are (still) potty training.  Yeah, can you believe that?  He is really great about peeing in the potty, but not so much with #2.  I could understand it, if the kid weren't obviously brilliant.  But I have actually had conversations with him about how he needs to tell me if he has to go.  He nods and says, "I just went."  Fail.

So, I have resorted to bribery.  This goes against everything that the hippie school has suggested.  BTW- you know your kid goes to a hippie school when their best idea is, "Don't put any pressure on him, he'll go when he is ready."  To which I call B.S: 1.  Because he says he will start going when he is 4.  And that is a really long time away.  And 2: At Aunt Ennie's house in Jeffersonville, homeboy was all about going on the potty.  And he has a fantastic memory.  I used to be able to tell him something and he might forget it.  But now, if I tell him something and dont follow through, all holy hell breaks out.

So, I bought him an awesome water pack that you wear and spray out fires (it actually sprays water).  I have told him that if he goes in the potty three times, he can have it.  The really great thing is that he seems to be "getting" it, intellectually. In that, he is trying.  He actually practices sitting on the toilet.  Which is awesome, because I could never get him to do that.  Ever.  So, hopefully this works out for us.  Either that or he is going to expect a car when he turns 12 and gets good grades.  So there is that.