Kid and Caboodle

I don’t know if I’m fighting a cold, or I’m just mentally drained from last week’s nonsense with my work ID (I got my original badge back on Friday — yay!) and other office drama, but I have not wanted to do anything resembling work this weekend. This weekend has been very abnormal anyway; A.J. did not attend his Saturday classes due to a prior commitment, and we had house guests.

I did manage to do a few loads of dirty dishes and bake a pan of vegan blueberry muffins that passed my carnivorous family’s taste test, though. I also filled two bags full of clothes A.J. has outgrown and did a little work advertising an upcoming happy hour for AAJA-D.C. So, I haven’t been entirely idle. But I definitely don’t feel as energetic as I usually am. Hopefully things will look up tomorrow, after a little extra sleep tonight.

The past few weeks have been unusually busy at work and at home, and I think it’s getting to me. I haven’t done any personal blogging for awhile, and I’m overdue in responding to e-mail messages, which is very unusual for me. Apparently my parents have noticed my social absence, too; last weekend they actually called to make sure I was ok — something they haven’t done in ages.

At least I was organized enough to send my brother a present in time for his birthday, and I did send him an e-mail message yesterday wishing him a good day, so I’m not completely behind. But I still haven’t gotten around to sending two of my godkids their Christmas gifts because I haven’t been able to get to the post office, nor have I responded to a stack of holiday letters. I have a bunch of photos I took during a visit to the zoo with friends several weeks ago that I still haven’t downloaded or e-mailed. In general, I’ve been neglecting a lot of social obligations, and I’m starting to feel very guilty.

I’m taking the day off Monday. That will make work pile up at the office, but I really need some time to think and get things back under control at home. I don’t want this chaos to continue; it’s stressful.

I’m enjoying a few hours of time to myself this morning because Chris volunteered to take A.J. to his Saturday classes in return for my packing away the Christmas ornaments. Deal! So, while Chris is braving the cold and driving around town, I’m lingering over breakfast before tackling the tree and other housework. Hopefully I’ll have enough spare time to finish off a few blog entries for work and another site, too.

Good husband!

Christmas dinner this afternoon consisted of:

• turkey (cooked by Chris’ mother, Dee, and stepdad, Mike)
  
• ham (from Giant, arranged by me)
  
• deviled eggs (made by Dee)
  
• bacon-wrapped scallops (from Giant, prepared by me)
  
• broccoli-cheese casserole (made by me)
  
• carrot-raisin salad (made by Dee)
  
• tossed green salad of spinach, bell peppers and cucumbers (assembled by me)
  
• fruit salad of blueberries, bananas, an apple, clementines, oranges and fruit cocktail in syrup (assembled by Dee)
  
• stuffing (made by me)
  
• gravy (made by Dee and Mike)
  
• cranberry sauce (removed from can by me)
  
• pumpkin-nut cake (made by Chris’ sister, Jennifer)
  
• leftover chocolate mousse birthday cake (from Costco)
  
• cookies (made by Jennifer)

We had 10 people at dinner: Chris, A.J., and I; my parents; Chris’ dad; Chris’ mom and stepdad; and Chris’ sister and her boyfriend. I had to ask my parents to bring a folding table and chairs so everyone could sit down for dinner, and we had to scramble to get enough plates and cutlery! I think this is the most I’ve ever hosted for Christmas, but I think it turned out well. The large amounts of alcohol at dinner didn’t hurt, either!

Looks like we’re not going anywhere for a while. We’ve gotten several inches of snow already, and the storm is expected to continue until this evening. This is the view of the cul-de-sac at 10:15 this morning:

View from the front porch

Since all of A.J.’s Saturday classes were cancelled today due to the weather, I had time to make moderately elaborate breakfasts for everyone this morning. Here is A.J.’s:

A.J.'s breakfast: sausage links, pancakes and blueberries

This is Chris’ breakfast:

Chris' breakfast: clementine segments, breakfast burritos and blueberries

A.J. is enjoying the unexpected break. He’s still in his pajamas at 10:30 in the morning, playing video games:

A.J. in the sunroom

As for me, I think I’ll have a cup of tea and read a book.

I’ve been spending much of the afternoon going through piles of paper throughout the house.  In doing so, I found the following list of tips from an office newsletter:

Successfully Managing the Work/Life Juggling Act

If you have a family, managing work and life can be challenging — and often unpredictable.

Consider the following tips to help you successfully manage the work/life juggling act:

• Make time for fun and relaxation. When you add more leisure to your life, you’ll become a healthier and more effective employee and parent.

• Build and use support systems. People with strong support systems tend to be healthier, happier and better able to tolerate stress.

• Forget perfection. While it’s admirable to put your best efforts into your work and parenting responsibilities, it’s simply impossible to be perfect at everything you do.

• Take care of yourself. It’s easy to focus on your responsibilities to your partner, children and employer and forget about taking care of yourself.

• Be happy. Studies show that happy individuals are successful across different areas, including marriage, friendship, income, work performance, and health.

I’m not exactly sure how one can will oneself to “be happy” — does this newsletter mean “try to think positive”? But otherwise, these tips seem pretty sound.

Hmm, wonder what else I’ll find as I continue decluttering the house ….

Tai Shan, the first panda born at the National Zoo to survive more than a few days, will finally be heading for China, NBC says.  I knew this day would come — the contract with China specifies that any cubs born to pandas China lends to other countries must be sent back to China — and in fact we’ve had Tai Shan for several years longer than originally planned.  But it still makes me a little sad to see him go.  As I have written before, I’ve always been fascinated by the little cub, probably because the trouble the National Zoo’s pandas have experienced conceiving and raising healthy cubs reminds me of my own history of infertility and pregnancy loss. But now, just as my own child is a healthy boy, so is Tai Shan. And, just as some day I will have to let my son leave my home and go his own way, so we must now say farewell to Tai Shan.

More about Tai Shan and the other pandas at the National Zoo

Rather than work on the computer while waiting for A.J. to get out of Chinese class yesterday, I decided instead to take a walk along a nearby trail. I found it very relaxing; maybe I’ll do it again next week if the weather is good.

More photos from my walk

Here is Randy Pausch’s last lecture, as posted by Carnegie Mellon University on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Just finished reading Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture. Wow.

More information: http://www.thelastlecture.com