la gatica chiquita

First, some advice. When you get your next kitten, please give her a real name, because when she escapes from the house and climbs 60 feet up the tree in your backyard, you are going to feel like a real asshole standing at the bottom of the tree yelling, "Tiny Kitten."

Also, should the above scenario befall you or someone you know, do everyone a favor and refrain from dispensing the two most useless pieces of advice:

1) "Put a can of cat food or tuna at the bottom of the tree." If the cat can't figure out how to get down, aren't you really torturing the poor thing by putting a tasty treat way out of her reach? I mean, maybe if a fat guy got stuck up your tree, you could get him to scramble down for a plate of nachos and a beer, but cats don't seem to think that way.
2) "Call the fire department" They don't really do that, unless the volunteer fireman on duty happens to be the brother of the kid who ice skated over your daughter's fingers resulting in her getting eight stitches and a deformed fingernail, and even when they do do that, they are not very good at it.

You should also refrain from making the following statement: "You never see a cat skeleton up a tree." Because, while that may be true, it is not particularly helpful when someone is trying to figure out how to get their apparently-really-stupid-and-frightened-cat out of a tree. But if you do think the cat is dead and turning rapidly skeletal in the tree, try to do a little more investigating before you and your child break down in hysterics, sobbing things like "Tiny Kitten was too young to die," because it is highly likely that the cat is playing possum.

So, you ask, what SHOULD do if your cat gets stuck up a tree? Borrow your neighbor's 40-foot ladder and call my brother Andrew.

she's crafty, part II

Just a quick update about our Clark Park Flea Market adventures....with pictures. Despite some setbacks (kitten in a tree, road closures, no coffee), I managed to arrive at Clark Park unscathed. Andrew had MANY terrariums (awesome!) and Marianne had vintage clothes (killer demin jumpsuit! you should buy it!) AND some crafts (mustache pins! amazing potholders!) We set up camp, and then basically hung out for about 7 hours, with a rotating cast of visitors, and periodic rain. Our booth was definitely the most fun (I felt kind of bad for the lonely jewelry-seller next to us -- we were kind of obnoxious, as you can imagine.) All told, I made about $70. To my surprise, my wallpaper notecards were my most popular item, and my button rings, not so much. Thanks to everyone who helped/hung out/bought stuff. Etsy shop will be up by the end of this week, and fully stocked!

she's crafty

I have been crafting like a maniac in preparation for the Clark Park Flea Market, coming up this Saturday, where I will be sharing a table with Andrew (whimsical terrariums) and Marianne (cool vintage clothes). Once the Flea Market is over, I will unveil my new Etsy shop -- LucyEatsCake. But I know you are on the edge of your seat to see my wares, so here is a preview:





Vintage Button Rings (I inherited an amazing button collection from Aunt Jud.)






Serving Trays (that's vintage fabric, also from Aunt Jud, who rescued it before a museum sent it to the landfill. remind me to tell you about the time we all had to catalog the fabric collection. it was pretty hilarious.)


Bulletin Boards with Vintage Button Pushpins (that's vintage vinyl wallpaper, which I ordered from eBay -- isn't it spectacular? I probably have enough to wallpaper your whole house, so just let me know if you are interested.)

I have a selection of other items -- some button magnets, notecards with wallpaper -- I have been a little obsessed. If you're in Philly on Saturday, come visit us....and after that, go see my etsy shop! I just need to earn enough cash to support my craft habit!

a photo tour

I usually post new pictures on facebook, often with little (sometimes amusing!) captions....but since I am struggling for a blog post topic, and hate to disappoint readers who are thirsty for an update (welcome to the club, Barbie!), I thought I'd give a little tour of my recent days, with photo exhibits.

Exhibit A: My Fridge
I opened my fridge yesterday, and it just looked so bountiful and pleasing that I had to take a picture. Here are some things you can see: 1) large plastic container of pureed strawberries from last year's picking expedition, thawing out to be made into jam (more on that later); 2) a big container of MJP-style potato salad for our Memorial Day cookout with my dad, Jenny, and Peter; 3) bread & butter pickles from Trader Joe's, best served on my favorite sandwich - ham, cheddar, spicy dijon mustard, pickles, on TJ's Tuscan Pane, toasted panini-style; 4) organic brown eggs from Margit & Marianne's CSA; and 5) fresh cilantro and a cantaloupe from the new Asian produce stand at the corner of Philadelphia Pike and Beeson Ave (amazingly cheap, totally non-organic produce).

Exhibit B: Strawberry Picking at Filasky's Produce
On Sunday, Lucy, Lindsay, Max and I headed down to Middletown, past every big box store and chain restaurant you can think of (Starbucks? check. Home Depot? check. Wal-Mart? check. Buffalo Wild Wings? mais bien sur.) until we reached the bucolic farmlands of Filasky's Produce. In about 45 minutes, we had each picked close to five pounds of sweet, juicy strawberries. If you've never done it, you really should. It's easy to do, and really becomes quite compelling - can you find THE perfect strawberry? After filling our buckets, which were deceptively roomy (5 lbs of strawberries is a lot), we headed to the produce stand to pay, and to buy the kids ice cream (it was almost 10 AM after all), and then headed back up north for Pajama Brunch at Buckley's. My blueberry pancakes were terrible, but everything else was good, and it was nice to hang out with the Lowry-Lebberns, an all-too-rare occurrence. I went home and set to work on berry preparation, while Richard kindly offered to go on a hunt for canning jars. You'll remember that in Exhibit A above, I referenced last year's berries.....So last year, I picked many pounds of strawberries in NJ, brought them home, cleaned them, pureed them, planning excitedly for fresh jam - while Richard went out looking for jars. Couldn't find them anywhere. Berries went into the freezer, where they have waited patiently for a year to be turned into delicious jammy goodness. So in some ways, canning jars are to Richard what Moby Dick was to Captain Ahab. And his quest this year was epic: SuperFresh, Happy Harry's, Dollar Store, Home Depot, KMart, Rite Aid, Christmas Tree Shop, and finally, Michael's, where you can buy Ball jars in the Wedding aisle (duh). Thanks to Richard, both this year's berries and last are now jam.

Exhibit C: LARPing in Clark Park
I don't know if you know this, but Richard is a bit of a geek. You know, he loves sci fi, played dungeons and dragons as a kid, reads comic books. And I know Geek is the New Cool, but still, some of geekdom is hard for me. Case in point: LARPing (translation for the uninitiated: Live Action Role Playing). This is where a group of people get together in public, often in costume, and act out battles with foam swords, often using various "magic" spells (have you seen the movie "Role Models"? That's LARPing.). On Saturday, we were in Clark Park with Margit and Marianne, enjoying a delicious ice cream cone from the Mister Softee truck, watching a very diverse group of people (black, white, asian, little kids, teenagers, adults, and even a couple of girls!) playing Capture the Flag, with foam swords. Lucy was entranced, and really wanted to play, but wasn't sure how. We watched for awhile, and it seemed like there were two teams, Headbands and No Headbands (we were very thankful it was not Shirts and Skins) who were each guarding a flag at a tree on opposite sides of the park. It looked like if you hit someone from the opposite team with your foam sword, they had to sit out for awhile, and could then rejoin the game after visiting their home tree. (I am sure there were many more intricacies that we were unable to ascertain just by watching from a bench.) Lucy kept saying she wanted to play, and we told her she could - she just needed to go grab a sword and start whacking people. Richard finally offered to walk her over to pick up a sword, and while he had it in his hand getting ready to offer it to Lucy, someone from the Headbands team instantly descended on him and gave him a whack. Margit, Marianne, and I almost died laughing. Richard and Lucy sparred for awhile, and then she joined the game and had a great time. (At one point, some of the game leaders called for a "Reality Check", which basically meant that the game stopped for a minute because something out of the ordinary had happened. Turned out someone was vomiting.) I just wish that the whole time Lucy was playing and having fun, I wasn't worried that she would turn into a weird kid whose only friends were people who LARPed. I insisted on calling it Capture the Flag with Foam Swords. I am a bad person.

Exhibit D: The Chickens Come for a Visit
Last weekend, Richard bought a nice pork roast at Trader Joe's that was really too big for the three of us, so we invited Andrew, Margit and Marianne over for dinner. Before we knew it, the guest list had grown to include roommates and boyfriends (which necessitated an additional pork purchase), and then there were some jokes about bringing all the dogs, and then, to Andrew, "Why don't you bring the chickens too?" So he did. In Andrew's West Philadelphia apartment that he shares with his very tolerant roommate Farris, Andrew is raising not only 1 dog, 3 stray cats (and a current litter of 4 kittens), 1 very mean turtle, and 1 stray adult chicken (Annie), but also 4 (or is it 5?) baby chicks (don't worry - the chicken coop is almost done!). The chicks came for a visit, and were delightful guests. As were all of the siblings, partners, and roommates - we love them all!

kirsten is writing this blog post

Has it happened to you yet? You're participating in some activity in your daily life, say cooking dinner or watching a movie, and you hear a third-person narration in your head....."Kirsten is cooking homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner," or "Kirsten is watching 'Frozen River' (Melissa Leo definitely deserved that Oscar nomination but man, is she looking rough)." It's like that movie where Will Farrell plays a writer who's disturbed by the voice of Emma Thompson narrating his life as he lives it -- but much more mundane.

It's the curse of the Facebook status update.

I have really noticed it this week, for some reason. In my mind, I'll sort of stop what I'm doing and think about whether or not my current activity would make a compelling status update. Because the status update really is an art form, I think. I am a fan of a pithy, amusing update -- one that makes me think fondly of the updater, and admire his or her clever turn of phrase. A mini book or movie review can offer nice insight into what you're interested in, and can spark some good discussion. A little mystery can be fun too, as long as it is not taken too far, or for too long. I also like a link -- if it is funny or interesting or food-related. I really dislike the complaints -- I actually de-friended one person whose more-than-daily updates ran the very narrow gamut of "Stacy (not her real name) sprained her ankle" (followed by at least 20 pictures of her swollen ankle) to "Stacy has a cold" or "Stacy is sad." I understand that sometimes you feel crummy and want some cyber support, but hey -- just try to make it interesting, and don't overdo it. (On the other hand, I have another FB friend whose exotic travel-related updates usually make me roll my eyes -- so maybe don't overdo it on the interesting either.)

I enjoyed doing status update haikus a couple of weeks ago -- I thought it gave the "form" some nice structure, and added an element of craft. (I am still considering starting a new haiku blog -- something along the lines of Haiku My Life - your life story in 17 syllables -- could be fun, right?)

But 95% of the internal status updates that zip through my brain do not pass muster, and I think with good reason. Do you really care that I ate a lean pocket and an english muffin for dinner (I did -- so sad) or that I need to trim my toenails but I can't find the toenail clippers (also true)? I will pledge to try to keep my updates interesting if you will. And let me know -- what are your key status update dos & don'ts?

kick ass at life

Ally blogged about it here, I bought it here, and I am blogging it here. So meta.

ps -- look at my craft area. isn't it cute?

la gripe porcina

On Wednesday, during the peak of panic about Swine Flu, my mother emailed me, worried about Lucy, and recommended that I call Dr. Borin (aka The Good Doctor) to make sure that he had flu supplies on hand. On Thursday, Richard did one better, calling the Cardiac Center at Nemours to see if there were any special precautions we should take, in light of her heart stuff -- the answer was a resounding "No" -- and that if Lucy did display any signs of flu, to visit the pediatrician.

Lo and behold, at 5:30 Friday morning, Lucy came into our bedroom complaining of headache and sore throat. Now Lucy is the queen of the late night and early morning stomach ache...but she rarely varies her symptoms. I groggily instructed her to climb into bed with me (Richard was already up, getting ready to head to Dover for Quality Examiner Training), and as soon as she curled up next to me, I could tell she had a fever. Miraculously, I was able to find both the children's Tylenol and the thermometer, so I dosed her up, and took her temp -- about 101. Lucy and I are dedicated viewers of the Today Show, so we were on Swine Flu overload this past week -- and while it seems like the cases in the US have been mild, all I could think was that Lucy was going to be Delaware's Elementary School Patient Zero, and bring the Brandywine School District to its knees. And poor Lucy herself was convinced that she had the Swine Flu -- I had to talk her down.

We called Dr. Borin's on-call service (Nemours), and after an interminable wait (during which, I am sure, hundreds of other nervous parents were running Swine Flu scenarios with the service), we finally spoke to a Triage Technician (they are no longer called nurses, I noticed -- I am sure technicians are cheaper). The Triage Tech had all sorts of info about Lucy at her fingertips, and given Lucy's history, recommended that we head to the ER. This put me in a quandary -- the Nemours Cardiac Center had told us NOT to go to the ER, but the Nemours On-Call Service told us that we should. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed, and we decided to wait until Borin's office opened at 8 for our next set of instructions. So Lucy and I got up for our morning dose of the Today Show (Swine Flu confirmed in Delaware! Joe Biden tells people not to use public transportation! No Doubt to perform in the 8:30 half hour!) and Richard headed to Dover.

I finally got through to Borin's office at around 8:15 AM, and they told me that they could see Lucy at 9:30, but that I needed to call the office from the parking lot and someone would come out to the car with a mask for her to wear as a precaution. The good news about the 9:30 appt. was that Lucy and I were able to watch No Doubt perform on the Today Show summer stage -- they rocked, and Gwen looked adorable, as always. (During the commercial break between songs I bought us tickets for their show at the Tweeter in June. Wanna come? Lawn seats were only $10!) Then Richard called me to tell me he was having psychosomatic flu symptoms, and was going to come home, not wanting to infect the other loyal state employees pursuing their Quality Examiners Certification with psychosomatic flu.

We headed to Borin's at 9:30, and Richard met us in the parking lot with Lucy's mask, which she donned without complaint (the poor thing looked like Michael Jackson on a trip to the mall), and we headed straight back to an exam room. After another long wait, we were seen by Dr. Goldberg, who was perfectly nice, but was most decidedly NOT Dr. Borin (I am not sure she was actually old enough to have a driver's license, let alone prescriptive authority). She said that Lucy's symptoms were not really indicative of flu, but could be strep, so she did a rapid strep test. The strep test was negative, so Dr. Goldberg wrote us a scrip for a flu test, just in case.....

Headed to Nemours, with Lucy in her mask, and were sent straight back to the lab. Lucy was whisked into the lab hallway to wait for someone from Respiratory to come do the flu test. While we waited, a teenager in a mask joined us in the hall -- I got the impression that the lab was doing a pretty brisk trade in flu tests. (While we waited, Richard visited the Cardiac Center to let them know Lucy was in the hospital lab getting a flu test, and they thanked him for his call the day before which had prompted them to establish a Swine Flu protocol....yay Richard!) The flu test itself was pretty straightforward -- the tech squirted saline up Lucy's nose, and then sucked the saline and some boogers (her word) up with a tiny catheter. Took all of 30 seconds, and we were on our way, with results promised within a few hours.

Lucy and I went home to hang out and wait, while Richard shopped for popsicles and other important provisions (like a cheesesteak for me for lunch). Dr. Goldberg called mid-afternoon to let us know that Lucy did NOT have the flu. Lucy and I were so relieved that we each took a long nap (mine 2 hours, hers 3).

So that was our brush with the Swine Flu. It is now Sunday, and Lucy is still feverish (and a little obsessed with taking her own temperature -- you'd think she was charting her basal temp for her fertility chart). Other symptoms are minimal -- a slight sore throat, and general malaise. Hopefully, she will be back to normal by tomorrow. We're having homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight, so that should help.

Happy Peep-ster!

Check out these awesome Peep dioramas! Who wants to enter the contest with me next year?

love love love...

...the fabric from this designer. Particularly the Garden Party line. can't find stuff like this at Joann Fabrics, that's for sure. but, in defense of Joann's, no one provides rude, terrible service quite as well as they do.

Mom 2.0 and Roberto

I may be mom 2.0, starting a Facebook fan page for Lucy, but I do monitor her blog and email accounts (she's only 9!). Today, imagine my delight to find that Lucy had a marriage proposal waiting for her in her spam box, from Roberto. Marrying her off now would save so many headaches later! And Roberto has a way with words:

Reply back if interested in my proposal
of a marital life abroad with me in Paris,
in your actual life, only

Roberto (France)

I have no idea how Roberto came to be emailing Lucy - but you should check out his blog (especially all you single ladies) - it's kind of amazing. Here is one of my favorite parts:

If you're really ready to live your life
with me, i should advise you to take a stagecoach
in direction to Paris, in the case you live in the same
continent, cause planes are expensive.

(what? a stagecoach?)

Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom to see Roberto's pictures -- you won't be sorry. But be forewarned:

Replies started with infantile negativism &
inconsistent clownish mockery will be zapped
& automatically filtered as well (this is a warning
for immature & aimless time killers).

look at these pretty pictures

The intersection of the art and science of everyday objects. Beautiful.

more lovely

It is not every day that the author of one of your favorite books offers to call you and sing you a lullaby...but if they do, you should take them up on it. Here's the story. On Wednesday, Amy Krouse Rosenthal (see my related posts here and here) used her Facebook status to offer up a lullaby-by-phone. We messaged back and forth, I gave her my number, and last night at around 10:45 she called me. We chit-chatted briefly, and then she offered me a choice of 2 songs -- "Love is a Song that You Sing in Your Heart" or "Shalom." I chose the former, and settled back for the lullaby (feeling only slightly awkward -- I did offer Amy the chance NOT to sing, but she insisted that a promise is a promise). So Amy sang. And lovely was beckoned.....

please visit...

...Lucy's new blog (so far, it's a little less racy than the old one).

i want to make these

from photojojo, by way of designsponge. isn't this a clever way to display photos? (and by the way, my photo jars might have as many gays in them as the photo jars in this picture....)

creative envy

This is exactly the kind of project that gives me creative envy....quirky, mixed-media, used to tell a compelling story. While I do have a creative side (and a craft table!), I definitely don't consider myself to be artistic in a paint-y or draw-y way, and my overly active left-brain (and my half-assed-ness) often gets in my way.

a blog post for lucy

Since Lucy has ceased blogging (she actually asked me awhile ago if she could shut her old blog down because it is embarrassing...imagine...to be nine and have all of your eight-year-old thoughts on the internet...the horror! maybe I should scan and post my sixth grade diary where I spend pages writing Kevin Bacon's name in various handwriting styles)....I thought I would share this great poem she wrote at school as part of a biography project.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick was strong
Frederick was smart
Frederick was a slave
Frederick decided he needed to be, needed to be free
So off he went on a mysterious ship
To embark on a trip to the north, to the north
And once he was there he lived as a free man
A free man
Once he was there he lived as a free man.

LBJO, 2/19/09

platanos, puerto rican style

I was perusing Mark Bittman's Bitten blog, which is one of my new favorites, and found a recipe for Platanos Maduros (sauteed ripe plantains), which gave me a craving for a slightly different take on this tropical banana cousin. During my senior year in college, and the summer after I graduated, I worked at an afterschool/summer camp program at a local public school in Hartford, CT, with a student body that was 75% Puerto Rican. Whenever we would have a picnic or potluck, someone was bound to bring Puerto Rican-style platanos, which are double-fried unripe platains (known as tostones in other places). I instantly fell in love, and had one of the Puerto Rican staff members teach me how to make them. It's been years since I've made them, and the only part I could remember had something to do with smashing the slices in the plaintain peel, so I had to google a reminder recipe (please click this link so you can see the majesty of the platano). I will definitely be picking up unripe plantains the next time I see them, along with some adobo seasoning, and maybe some queso fresco, so I can fry up a batch. Muy delicioso!

StoryCorps

One of the best things we did when we were in New York last weekend was to record a story at the StoryCorps booth in Lower Manhattan (if you don't know about StoryCorps, you should read about it here). I was the interviewer and Richard was the storyteller, and we talked about Lucy's heart defect. The StoryCorps facilitator did a fantastic job at putting us at ease, and in spite of the microphone, and the small audience (Lucy and the facilitator), it felt like Richard and I were just having a private conversation. It was a really cool experience -- I recommend doing it. If you are so inclined, feel free to listen.



And since we are on the subject of heart defects, here are a some related links if you want to learn more:
The Congenital Heart Information Network (a great source of information and support)
Nemours Cardiac Center (Lucy's wonderful hospital)
Make-a-Wish (Lucy had a wish granted because of her heart defect, and it was awesome)

hipster much?

Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by kjerstieb

Mike Sebba gave Lucy these awesome glasses (with no glass) which Lucy wore around Brooklyn and the West Village all day. She was happy as a clam, and managed to look both ridiculous and amazing at the same time. She finally took them off to go to sleep, but I think it is safe to say you will be seeing them a lot in the weeks to come. Thanks Mike -- I mean it!

you say it's your birthday

Today's blog post is dedicated to Richard, because it is his birthday. And not just any birthday, mind you, but his 40th. In honor of this special day, I am posting some fun facts about Richard that you might not have known (and some that you probably do).

1. He is from Nuneaton, a small town near Coventry, in the middle of England. Nuneaton was a fabric mill town, and Richard's grandfather served in WWII in Egyptian cotton mills. Nuneaton was also the home to famous British author George Eliot, who was a lady. A lady named George -- imagine that..... As a side note, Nuneaton is about as far away from the ocean as you can get in England, yet Richard's mother is an avid supporter of the Bristish Lifeboating Association. That has always amused me.

2. Richard went to college a couple of times in England, but it didn't stick. He was actually accepted to some library science programs, but for some reason pursued sociology and nursing. He had to come here to be a British Librarian.

3. After the non-sticking college experience(s), Richard went to Israel where he worked on both a kibbutz and a moshav (farm). He has some great stories about the farm -- shooting porcupines from the back of an ultralight plane, living with runaway convicts, etc.

4. When I first met Richard, I thought he was Jewish. Refer to # 3.

5. When I first met Richard, he had long hair in a pony tail (which he did not wash for a year, as an experiment), skinny legs that ended in Doc Marten boots, and all his belongings fit in a backpack. Needless to say, he was dreamy.

6. Richard did a six month internship at a huge homeless shelter in DC, and was much beloved by the residents and staff. When we got married in Cecil County, MD (hotbed of the KKK) at the shelter where we met, a van-ful of African-American homeless people drove up for our wedding, to mingle with the rural white homeless people. Good times.

7. Richard loves to read. Anything and everything. He is happiest with his nose in some kind of reading material. He approaches the Economist the same way I approach Entertainment Weekly. For some reason, he knows MUCH more about current events than I do. He was meant to be a librarian. But for some reason, he refuses to change his name to Giles.

8. Speaking of Giles, Richard loves Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV show and the comic books. He also loves most science fiction, the Blade trilogy, and the collected works of the incredible actress, Michelle Rodriguez. You may be surprised to learn that he played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons as a youth. But now is his time, since Geek is the new Cool.

9. Richard is kind of deaf, which makes going to bars and restaurants kind of a bummer for him. But he likes to hang out with people, and is quite chatty. He is really funny, especially to Andrew. It took him some time to get used to my crazy family, and he still refuses to play Pictionary with us, but he loves it when everyone is around.

10. Richard is a great dad. He loves Lucy to the moon and back. Lucy and I both get a little scared when he uses his stern dad voice, but that is a rare occurrence. Richard is also a great husband. He would do anything for me, which is pretty amazing. I think his favorite thing to do is just hang out with me and Lucy, especially if he can be covered in cats.

11. Richard loves cats. Dogs, not so much, but he walks them and takes them to the park, and sometimes I catch him snuggling with Butterstick.

12. Richard can play the piano, guitar, and pretty much any stringed instrument. For awhile (when we lived in Cecil County), he had a banjo. I wish he would play more.

13. Richard is artistic. I always teased him when he was in school because he was Mr. 4.0. Then he had to take a studio art class, which I thought would bring an end to his perfect GPA. Imagine my surprise when he started painting amazing works of art. Next time you are at our house, check out the painting of paper cranes that hangs in our living room. Richard painted it, and it is awesome.

14. Richad has a tattoo that says "sui generis", which is Latin for one-of-a-kind (who knew?). Once, when he was at the Wawa, the clerk asked him if it said "You so generous" -- so now it does, in our hearts.

15. There are many more fun facts I could share, but we are getting ready to go to NYC to celebrate his big day, so I will end by saying:
I glitter heart Richard, and wish him a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can't wait to see what he will be like at 50, 60, 70, 80....and more!

Love Love,
Me

2oo9 resolution update

Floss.

Went to the dentist yesterday (it had been 2 years -- how did that happen?), and not only do I have cavities that need to be filled, but I also have an abscess in a tooth that has already had a root canal and crown. I have known for awhile that something was going on in that general area of my mouth, but the issues I was having were gum-related -- and I couldn't imagine there could actually be anything in the tooth to be a problem. But there is. And it is called pus, I think. I am on antibiotics to clear up the infection, and have a consult with the endodontist next week. Now, the tooth itself has not been hurting -- until today. Thanks Amoxicillin.

Good news -- no mouth cancer. Bad news -- bad dental coverage.

2009

It's 2009 (which, as Margit pointed out, is the last year that you can make New Year's glasses with 2 0s for the eyes. now what?), and it is time to make resolutions, which I don't usually do. No one ever keeps them, do they? But, for blog's sake, here are a few:

1) blog more
2) facebook less
3) read more (I am avoiding a significant portion of the Strand's top 80, for sure)
4) watch TV less
5) do more arts & crafts
6) do fun things with the some of the 4,000+ pictures in my flickr account
7) play more games with Lucy
8) go on more dates with Richard
9) master some tasty new dishes
10) and of course, eat better and go to the gym

Happy New Year!
xoxo -- Kirsten