Post-Thanksgiving Wrap Up November 30, 2009

Howdy! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Around here, we had so much fun, I forgot to blog, but now Patrick’s making quizzes for tomorrow, and I am avoiding doing anything that might be mistaken for work.Here’s how our Thanksgiving went:

We both had Wednesday off–a great start to the long weekend (although if it’s five days off, can you call it a weekend?)! Sarah came, and Patrick and I went for a run in the foothills. Beautiful. Then happy hour with some friends. Seamus has really taken to restaurant high chairs, especially since they usually involve being bribed with cereal puffs and plastic keys.

Thursday, of course was Thanksgiving, and we did it up like vegetarians should, skipping the turkey and going straight to the delicious bread stuffing, twice baked potatoes, and sugar pies. We had pecan with brown rice syrup (so much healthier than Karo, hahaha), pumpkin (which was pumpkin and two kinds of squash mixed together), and apple. I made a West African yam and peanut stew, which was delicious. The recipe is in Vegan Fire and Spice by Robin Robertson–who incidentally is the genius author of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker which is where the stuffing recipe came from. Friend and crew showed up around 8:00 leading to raucously good times.

We all trekked to Trader Joe’s on Friday. Quick Quiz: What is the most empty place in America on the Friday after Thanksgiving? The grocery store. Three cashiers were so bored they practically bribed us to check out with them. When we went to Home Depot to get foam to put around the scary metal legs of the coffee table, our friends rearranged the furniture in the living room. It is awesome! Looks huge, and it’s much safer. Then we became uberdorks by learning to play Settlers of Catan on Friday evening. I LOVE THAT GAME! um. yeah. Big nerds. We played with some new friends who have the game, and who will become better friends by succumbing to my strategy next time we play.

Saturday was different. We drove to Santa Fe (as apparently, they only sell these in small town New Mexico), and I got some Vibram Five Fingers–the barefoot shoe. I’ve worn them the prescribed hour or two a day since, and I’m really looking forward to running in them. We got there (to Santa Fe, not the store), and I looked in my wallet, realized I’d forgotten my credit card, and told Patrick, “Oh, can you spot me on these?” He did a lot of moaning about how convenient that was but humored me. We walked Seamus all around the plaza and as we got back in the car, I noticed that I’d been rubbing a card, that had bumpy ridges on it, in my pocket. And, that’s right, it was my credit card. So I ended up treating us to delicious beers at Second Street Brewery.

We tried to watch Up last night but the first twenty minutes convinced me it was the WORST MOVIE EVER, and we didn’t finish it. SPOILER ALERT: Can it get worse than watching clouds turn into babies and then sitting crying in a doctor’s office? Why yes, it can. The evil corporate monsters invade. Aack. Instead we watched The Wire. Depressing, yes, but so much better.

This morning, Sarah was coming so we needed to get our run on. We went down to the Bosque on a great run Myrriah used to run with me. I had just finished warning Patrick about all the roots in the path (“Just be careful where you step”) when one of those roots jumped up and bit me. I fell, bringing back memories of the 10K I ran earlier this fall, where haha I fell around mile three. This may be my destiny. OR IT MAY BE WHY I NEED TO RUN BAREFOOT! Just sayin’.

Here are some things I didn’t do:

• Any school work.
• Shopping on Black Friday.
• Resisting food.
• Stress out about how quickly the semester is ending.

Things Seamus is doing:

• Eating anything and everything.
• Slapping high fives.
• Finding the dirtiest or most dangerous thing in the room to chew on.
• Taking all of his toys out of a basket.
• Sitting in his car seat blowing raspberries and taking off his socks.
• Pulling up on the wall and then forgetting how to get down.
• Making us laugh at least hourly.

He Crawls and Pulls-Up: We’ll be rearranging the furniture this weekend November 23, 2009

In case you didn’t get it from the title, Seamus is entering new realms of mobility. He’s been crawling for a month, but now, he’s gotten much better, faster, and more determined–in that, a little think like a coffee table shouldn’t stand between him and my shoes (omg, he loves to chew on my shoes, that I keep leaving in the living room). When he bonks his head on the wrought iron decorative legs of the coffee table, crying ensues. And that happens at least once a day.

Furthermore, he pulls to a stand on anything and everything now. Including, yes, the coffee table, where instead of clearing the top of it, he bumps his head on the underside. Do you see the problem? This coffee table needs serious reconsideration. As does our entire living room. It is a DEATH TRAP! 

A couple of weeks ago looking at all the gadgets for childproofing, I thought, “Oh we don’t need any of that. We don’t have dangerous drawers or cabinets.” Nope, we have a dangerous coffee table. And broom, because that’s what he went for when he crawled into the kitchen for the first time this morning.

We now have a tentative plan for rearranging furniture in the living room this weekend, with hopefully the help of some delightful houseguests, who have no idea they’re about to work. Big heavy couch, coffee table, entertainment stand, and urn lamp to be moved.

Lucky for me to have Patrick. A long time ago, a roommate said that he has tendencies toward rearranging furniture. And I’m excited for our houseguest who tends to rearrange furniture when she’s bored in the middle of the day, to the consternation of those living with her.

And countdown to pies: Pumpkin of course, but bourbon pumpkin cheesecake, or pecan with brown rice syrup?

Chicana/o Literature Syllabus November 22, 2009

I confess. I love writing a syllabus. There’s just so much possibility in one. Before all the stress of the semester are the good, positive thought vibes being sent out into the universe for good students who care about what they are studying and if they aren’t interested now, will be after sitting though some of my lectures.

I thought about this one for a long time. It’s my area, so teach by theme? chronologically? what’s good? I settled on chronologically backwards because I want the class to tackle The Squatter and the Don, and as it’s a large Victorian style novel, I didn’t want to hit them with it right off the bat. It seemed unconventional when I first landed upon the idea, but now I think it’s probably something others would probably consider. It’s really a trick for my students. I want them to be interested in the material that’s more accessible and “fun” before we strike out on why it’s that way.

Other texts on the list:

• Black Widow’s Wardrobe
• Mother Tongue
• Pocho
• The Adventures of Don Chipote

There are also poems, editorials, a short play, testimonios, films, and short stories. I’m really excited to teach this class. I need 13 students for it to make…

Speakerphone Snafu November 21, 2009

Sorry I’ve been gone. It’s been a very busy couple of weeks with Patrick’s mom, Patrick’s step-mom, Patrick’s trip, and my mom. Meanwhile, Seamus, after going back to sleep at night like a champ, has decided that’s for suckers and he’s going to be up all night! Ahhh. But funny story…

A good friend (Z) called to find out if we’d be home for Thanksgiving and said she and her boyfriend (Y) might make it to us. I was so excited I just had to tell her some fun stories. Then she said, “I’m driving and the radiation from a phone is worse in the car, so I need to go.” I said, “OK, but one more quick thing I was thinking about you the other day. B (another friend that Z loosely knows) and I were talking about romance and I told her that Y had read [a certain book series about vampires that shall not be named] and that he’d turned off all romantic.” Dead silence…and then “Um, Leigh, you’re on speakerphone and that’s really embarrassing.” Oops. He was in the car too. So much for worrying about radiation!

I have lots more to blog about and will be doing it soon.

Work Failure November 13, 2009

This week has been not very productive. Yet teaching has gone really well, with students responding to the reading with lively discussion involving students that never ever speak otherwise. I wrote one and a half encyclopedia entries. Read a book. But there’s been a lot of upheaval in schedules, etc. which caused work to move to a lower place in line.

Sorority dinner was fun. My student was funny, entertaining, and obliging. There was another teacher there that I knew who ended up sitting at the table with me. Funniest moment, all the girls at the table I was sitting at cleaned their plates and started looking around for dessert (a delicious apple pie with lots of apples and ice cream). One of them laughed and said, “We’re known as the sorority who eats. We love our desserts.” And they all cleaned their dessert plates too without feeling self-conscious about it. Overall it was nice to be reminded that students are people and have interesting lives that they don’t always talk about in offices or class. I think it’s important for professors to have meals with students sometimes. At Lewis & Clark, it made a real difference in the campus community.

What was I doing if I wasn’t working very hard this week, you ask? I ran two days, and if I get some new shoes, I might run again today. I’m seriously starting to think about that barefoot running; it’s supposed to strengthen arches and prevent injury. I talked to Amanda and am so glad because she’s always exactly what I need to hear. I loaded music on my iPod shuffle and pitched a fit when I realized that I’m missing some of my Bruce Springsteen that I NEED.

I have to take Seamus to the pediatrician today for 6 month shots. I’m simultaneously dreading and looking forward to it. Dreading because, really, who wants to watch a kid get shots? Looking forward because our pediatrician is rad. He comes in and says, “Wow! He looks great! You all are doing such a great job!” It’s like parenting cheerleading.

Veterans Day Awesomeness November 11, 2009

Today is going to be a great day! Patrick has today off (thanks Veterans), and his mom is here and they are going to Tent Rocks which is a beautiful place, and if you’ve never been there, we’ll take you the next time you visit. However, I am not going today! And they’re taking Seamus, so I get to do whatever I want.

First, I got up late, but sort of early, because it was late for Patrick, but early for me to get to be at school. I was at school before Sarah usually even arrives at the house. I get to ease into my day, in which I’m going to submit my ACLS / Mellon fellowship application and finish the encyclopedia entry on Fabiola Cabeza de Baca.

I’m going to do a two a day today too. In that Christine and I are going to run at Copper and then Sheri and I are going to run the Bosque. In between though, I’m going to go to a presentation on a professional persona in the academy. Hmm, I think I’m going to go in my running clothes, but I will have showered, so that’s ok, right? And they always have brownies, walnut brownies.

This running gig means that I will get to have copious amounts of sushi tonight. Yes, we have a babysitter tonight so that we can all go out for dinner and Seamus can be where he likes it best, at home. Really, there’s so much more to do there. Crawl around, look for wayward shoes that people have carelessly left about and chew on them, or alternatively look for wheels, either on a stroller or  a suitcase and chew on them. (What is it with the chewing on gross things from outside?) Or engage in some standing action. Take a bath. Home isn’t sounding so bad, huh?

In other news, my hair has developed a very bizarre cowlick that makes ponytails–my primary method of hairstlying–look strange. Grr.

Motivation: Small Projects, Big Tasks November 9, 2009

I used to make excuses for slumps. For instance, if I didn’t want to do work after lunch, I’d say I needed some time to digest my food. And long long ago, I decided to punt (almost) everything after 3:00. But my favorite excuse for laziness is, “I crossed everything off my to do list!” Certainly didn’t do that today, but I feel like I did because this morning was very productive.

So all last week and the week before, when I was trying to finish a draft of chapter five, I was really productive, but it didnt’ feel that way because my to do list wasn’t budging. Chapter Five loomed up there at the top. This week my to do list is full of smaller projects, see?

• Encyclopedia Entries: Gonzalez and Cabeza de Baca
• Send reminder emails
• Mellon Chapter and proposal
• Write Activist Proposal Assignment
• Grade WS exams
• Read Mother Tongue (Again)

So you see, there are many small projects to dispense with and now, when I could be reading, I’m thinking, I’ve got so much time to goof off for a little bit. But deadlines do make for faster work, and after last week, and the pages and pages of progress, I get a little break.

This does remind me of the talk I gave a few weeks ago and reminds me that, for me and probably for you as well, work is cyclical. There are crazy weeks and easier weeks. I do like that for the most part, I get to choose what those weeks are. What’s your week like? Big projects on the horizon? Or lots of little tasks to cross off?

Coming up:

I’m going to a sorority dinner tonight as a professor of a student. Reminds me that L & C was like a big club where profs came and ate in the cafeteria if you invited them.

I’m also going to go for a run with Christine here in an hour. Here’s hoping I can, because while I keep losing weight from the breastfeeding, I’m not in great shape.

And next week, Seamus will see all three of his grandmothers within 24 hours. Yes, we will have visitors. He won’t know the difference, but it may not happen again for a while!

Moving November 9, 2009

Before you get too excited, I’m NOT moving. Yet anyway.

But today, I got to spend some time with my friend who did move. Usually I’m the one who moves away first, and that’s hard. It’s different when your friends move first. Myrriah taught me to run. And she did it well enough that I’ve kept running even though she isn’t here. We did a triathlon together last fall, she was there when I got hit by that car, and she still kept riding her bike with me after I put her life in danger. It was great to see her. I miss my workout partner, but more than that I miss saying something to Myrriah like, “I taught Cuco last night” and she knows what that means and the right questions to ask about it.

In the last couple of years a few friends have moved and our lives have sort of metaphorically moved as well. For instance, with Seamus, our ability to spontaneously go to a 10:30 burlesque show has been curtailed. Because I like to travel though, I don’t foresee it being too big of a problem. So when we do move, we’ll look forward to visits from our friends. And Myrriah, we’re coming to San Antone in a few short months!

Phoning it in November 4, 2009

Dear Students,

I’m sorry for sneezing all over you last night. I’m coming down with (or just a victim of ongoing) a sinus infection or some such. Seamus is a little snorfully too.

I’m also sorry for googling “teaching Bartleby” in search of discussion questions for last night’s reading. Luckily someone had thought of this before and created some very good questions. I borrowed them, but you answered them enthusiastically and well. It also accidentally fit in with the discussion of American Romanticism we were having.

Thank you also, student, for bringing in a copy of a movie Bartleby and admittedly B-movie comedy of not so epic proportions. I did enjoy putting in the DVD, selecting a random scene, and it being the one that I couldn’t find in the reading earlier. Clever.

But  you’ll be glad to know that the lively discussions of noncanonical work will be back on Thursday when we discuss “Tennessee’s Partner” and “Cuco Goes to a Party.” It won’t be the first time we talk about homoeroticism, and it won’t be the last.

Meanwhile, keep up the good work.

Best,

Leigh

Advieh Soup and Halloween November 2, 2009

What a great weekend! We had ample opportunity to spend time with other babies, eat delicious soups that friends had made, and make our own soups.

Highlights:

• G’s bubbling witches brew
• G’s delicious posole
• Watching X look startled and turn quickly to J when encountering another Spanish speaker
• J’s delicious vegetarian chile with homemade bread
• J’s killer green tea/adzuki bean desert
• Looking at N in all of her different costumes, including one matching one to Seamus
• C’s graveyard with the skeleton
• Going to four grocery stores
• Seamus’s delight in crawling after an empty water bottle

When Sarah came in this morning, I said, “He crawls but only after that water bottle and the computer cord, which he’s not allowed to chew on.” Wouldn’t you know he chose that moment to crawl toward a person! Sarah…not me.

Advieh Soup

If you’ve been exposed to this Persian spice, I’m sure you’re a devotee. But we can’t find it here, so peeked around and found some different recipes and lo, here is our first shot at this soup. Pretty good.

Potatoes, browned slightly in skillet

Can of Diced Tomatoes

Onion, Garlic, Celery, Carrot all Sauteed together

1 teaspoon each of ground cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg

Salt

Put it all in the slow cooker, with a cup or so of water for 7-8 hours on low. The measurements are not precise because I don’t knw how big your slow cooker is. Use your judgement as far as filling it up.