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Thursday, May. 02, 2002 - 7:06 p.m. - What happened to Spring?
Man, what happened to our spring weather. I guess our spring was only 3 days long. I’m really upset that our weather got bad today, since I know that a certain online journaler is coming into town today and is staying for 3 days – all of which are forecast to have cold, wet weather. What a shame. Seattle is so much more beautiful when the sun is out, the sky and water are blue and the mountains are standing there in all their glory. Instead, for the next three days everything will be gray, the sky (no sight of mountains anywhere) and the water and even the trees will have a misty, gray sheen to them. It makes me sad. I love to show off my beautiful city and it makes me sad when people come all this way and don’t get to see it in it’s best light. I am going to be meeting up with her and her family tomorrow for lunch! I’m really excited and a little nervous too. This is the first time I will be meeting in person with an online journaler. In fact, her journal was one of the first I started reading about 2 years ago and was very inspirational to me to start my own online journal. Her journal was one of the first I read that was really down to earth and real, she wrote the way she spoke and I liked that. I know I can never write as wonderfully as some of the journalers out there in the journaling community and instead I tend to write from my heart. Often, I realize, my sentence structure really stinks (I use way too many parenthesis and commas and we won’t even go into my overuse of exclamation points), but I write the way I think and speak. So tomorrow I’ll be lunching with N and her family! Yeah! Think of us! I’m hoping to meet up with another online journaler that lives here in Seattle someday soon as well. Mom and I got together and started talking about how we want to do the mural in the baby room. I’m sure my mom can do a good job, but I’m a little nervous about my own contribution. My mom definitely has an artistic hand, but I can barely draw stick figures. I’m not joking here. I can copy something simple though, so hopefully I can manage. I can also sponge stars and do some simple things, but a lot of this is going to be my mom’s artistic work. I’m eager to get started. We are going to go to Michael’s to buy some paint colors and brushes and sponges. This is a whole new world for me. I keep trying to remind myself that we’re not trying for perfection here, and that anything we do or draw is going to be special for our little Peep. No new news in regard to the Peep. Everything seems to be fine. After feeling her moving a lot I went through a few days where she wasn’t kicking as much and of course that concerned worry-wart me. Fortunately I still have the BabyBeat and I can always pull it out and listen to her little heartbeat. I know that babies don’t always kick all the time at this point, but it was so nice and reassuring when I felt her and then to not feel her I really missed it. My next appointment with the OB and for another ultrasound is May 20th and our first Parenting Class is May 28th! We could use some positive thoughts in the job department though. I’m not going to say more than that at this time out of fear of jinxing ourselves, but we’d sure appreciate it. I’ll be sure to make any good news known as soon as we find out. I didn’t hear if anyone else was watching Frontier House? Michael and I found it extremely interesting. I know that I’ve never had romantic notions about living out on the frontier at a pioneer. I know that it was extremely hard and not romantic at all, but it was particularly fun (in a rather mean way) to watch this weathy, Malibu California family who wanted to participate in this project because it sounded “fun,” struggle with the reality of it. They did cheat a few times, but the dad always had an excuse. It cracked me up when he was complaining about not getting enough food and being malnourished, so they sent a doctor out to look at him and proclaim that he was healthier and more fit than when he started out. In fact, they said he was quite overweight to begin with and was in much better health and at a much more healthy weight now. I’m sure that wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Most interesting, however, was what the kids had to say when the experience was over. While they complained bitterly at the beginning, by the end they had really learned something and grown so much. One little boy said that what he learned most while he was out on the frontier was imagination. How wonderful is that? All the families agreed that they grew closer, except one couple separated afterwards, but it looked like they already had some issues which were just brought to the foreground by the stresses of the lifestyle. It was very interesting and I’d encourage anyone who comes across it on TV take some time and watch. The most telling scene for me was one in which one of the younger boys in the California family said that back in California he never saw his dad because he was always working and traveling and didn’t get home until after he was in bed and that was why he loved it out on the frontier because he had time with his dad and his dad taught him things like fishing. I think this is true in too many families and there is no wonder kids get into mischief, they are left completely on their own too much of the time. Kids want to spend time with their parents more than they want a lot of toys and a few of the kids made comments to that effect. I wish more people would listen to that. I know Michael and I took note. Hopefully we’ll be the kind of parents to make time for their kids and spend time with them. Well, we’ll never have a Malibu mansion to get lost in like that family so our chances are better already!
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