February 2002
feb 25 — we went to the beach this morning with a very nice homeschool family and had a great time! here’s an interesting article on public education. we are expecting 42 boxes of girl scout cookies to arrive in the mail sometime this week!
feb 23 — was talking to some friends and remembered that my first irc experience was on the undernet, and i remembered playing in #acro and #riskibus for hours (back when i used mirc — this must have been back in very early 2000, before i got the lunix). this was before i discovered the openprojects network… so anyway last night i got on the undernet and played acro and riskibus for a while and had a lot of fun! played riskibus again this morning and actually won a game. (acro is a game of creating phrases based on random acronyms; riskibus is a jeopardy-like trivia game) went to bed WAY TOO LATE last night; this is not the irc’s fault, it’s just dan and i were just having such a peaceful pleasant evening just talking and watching tv and using our computers that we sort of forgot to go to bed. the TiVo recorded another episode of California’s Gold about Alcatraz Island — fascinating! today is saturday; i woke up before 7am again for some reason so i am t-i-r-e-d. looks like it’ll be another hot one after the fog burns off. we’re going to check out some hobby stores in escondido and bring the photo development stuff over from sally’s house and try to set up a darkroom in the bigger bathroom. also need to get the library — running out of books! henry did really well at karate yesterday. he seems to focus and concentrate very well, and he really tries his best. they were working on the kata and henry carefully observed the senior students and corrected his own mistakes. proud of that boy :)
feb 22 — yesterday it was HOT and dry, so i aired all the blankets on the balcony and did laundry. i picked henry up from matthew’s at 3, so all morning did house stuff and played on my computers and started work on the farmhouse model. it’s got dozens of pieces and is really tricky. i built the front porch already, and listened to the end of Dragonsong (audiobook). dan and i watched Califonia’s Gold together — huell was visiting the salt farms in san francisco and it was really neat! the TiVo is 10000 times better than the dishplayer was. it actually records the things you tell it to record. amazing.
feb 17 — forgot to mention that the nice weather service guy showed us a computer monitor which indicated the humidity levels over different areas, and he said it looked as if we might get some rain on sunday or monday. well, today is sunday and i just got up, looked out the window, and saw the beautiful rain! hooray for miguel the weather guy :) i’m sitting here on our sofa, looking out at the rain over the balcony, and i think i’ll treat myself to my special coffee drink (2/3 cup coffee, one large spoonful of sugar, 1/3 cup heavy cream). yum :) called mom first thing and she’s doing a bit better. i’ll go keep her company for a while later on. also after my coffee i think i might build another of my farm buildings. last week i made the machine shed, the corn crib, and the piggery.
feb 16 — poor mom is sick with stomach flu. i spent most of the day sitting with her, giving her chips of ice. i finished my cow picture and started a bookmark for henry — it has his name in big block letters and i’m filling them in with blackwork, in blue floss. he’s SO CLOSE to being a confident reader and i’m going to give him this special bookmark to encourage him. :) did you hear about the canadian warship?
feb 15 — i cleaned both bathrooms and the kitchen very thoroughly, even washed the floors on my hands and knees (like a little orphan girl, said henry) and now it is so much nicer! this apartment is really lovely. oh, on tuesday after junior theater we bought henry a nice little thick foam bed which folds up into a little chair. he is delighted, and loves having his own room.
feb 13 — the field trip to the national weather service was really fun! and it was a lot cooler today which was nice. the last few days were really hot. i landed wrong on my bad foot (and forgot to wear my brace) at gymnastics today… had to ice it and sit out the rest of the class. but philip said my cartwheel was “a little better” :) finished “dark nantucket noon” which is a mystery by jane langton. it was pretty good, not too bad, kind of predictable.
feb 09 — we just got back from the video store — lucky for us there’s a Hollywood Video just down the street. they have a very good selection, much better than crappy wherehouse or blockbuster, and they are not too expensive. we got “the sting” because dan’s never seen it and i think he’ll like it. i am very very happy today. henry and i went to the library yesterday and got a pile of books, and i started reading “the long winter” to him and he loves it. we read a few more chapters this morning before i took him to matthew’s house. that’s my favorite of the whole series so i’m delighted to get to read it to him! i also stopped by the model railroad store this morning while i was down in SD, and bought a magnetic uncoupler, and also went by the needlecraft cottage in PB for more yarn. and it was HOT today, mercy, nearly 80. i hope winter comes back tomorrow.
feb 07 — we went to scripps aquarium this morning with a homeschool group (celia sets up lots of great field trips for us) and we got to touch a brittle star, a purple urchin, some isopods, and some hermit crabs. it was neat! our apartment is so lovely. when i get up in the morning it is very quiet and peaceful.
feb 05 — picked up lela-the-cat from the vet… poor thing, her bad eye is stitched shut and she looks like frankenstein, and her belly is shaved and she has stitches there and a cone around her neck. poor little lela. she needs antibiotics and painkillers twice a day for 12 days, so that’s an extra trip to sally’s house every day for a while. we have our DSL again! and it’s super-speedy, way faster than it was at sally’s. dan laid out miles of ethernet cable tonight and we are all hooked up. i’m on the sofa with my laptop right now :)
feb 04 — still no DSL… we had a nice day today; we walked down to the park across the street (well, henry rode his scooter) and explored down there, and found that down on a mesa below the park is a huge wild open vacant lot kind of area, with a hard-packed trail around the perimeter suitable for scooting and biking! so dan took his helicopter down and flew it around. rob has a nifty page now; his “trash tv” story makes me think of watching bad daytime tv with darren years and years ago :) oh, forgot — henry lost both front top teeth — looks so adorable.
feb 02 — hello again! we love our new apartment (X). but we are sharing dial-up until the DSL gets installed so i’m not on much. still moving stuff out of sally’s house too. henry has his very own bedroom and he is so happy! he spent a long time today hanging his shirts in his closet and putting things on his shelves, and listening to “the cricket in times square” audiobook on cd.