Photo Phest

Here's our group picture from the land of The Mouse:


I'm on the right.

I got to Costco today and got those old slides made into prints, and got them on a disk as well, so here are some of those as well. It was an odd collection of pictures, not all from the same time. The way I look in these pictures is pretty much what I think I'm supposed to look like. Not that I think I should always look young, but I don't think I even look like the same person anymore.

I was the maid of honor at my sister's (first) wedding. I was 17.



Here I am in my parents' living room with my college boyfriend. Seriously. I dated this schlep for three years. I was surprised to see him on a couple of these slides, since I thought I had gotten rid of all pictures of him somewhere around 1975.


(I have those chairs in my living room, btw, but I refused to take the mirror.)

Here's a classic picture of my mother, the way we all really remember her:



Finally, here I am in the rocking chair with the baby twins. Did I post another shot of this recently? It seems I did, but I don't remember. His head, btw, is about the same size now. (He's 31.)




watching TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #2110
READING: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Okay, So ...

so I didn't post again yesterday. I've been sleeping strangely, even for me, and I was sooo tired.

Did I mention the other day that when I saw Dr. Resnick he said to continue my current routine for another three months, and the best way to get the *ahem* stuff through airport security was by packing it in my luggage. (This is a flat box which contains a foil pouch which holds your basic week's worth of little pre-filled enema bottles on a plastic tray.) Uh ... right. I did not reveal to him, as I have to you, that I am packed packed packed, am not re-packing again, and anyway, there's no room in there for that. Or in my carry-on, for that matter. So I will be using that extra back-sack. Will they confiscate my *ahem* items? We'll see. If they do, I'll either get the prescription filled in Florida, or do without. It won't kill me. But I don't expect a problem at security, although there may be a laugh or two. And yes, my carry-on is fully packed now, too, all except my wallet and the my phone and charger.

Not much today, except a long nap, which left me feeling achy and headachy. The arthritis is very annoying, and I don't yet have a reasonable plan of attack for it. There may be none. It's at its worst when I first wake up, although it did keep me awake for a few hours last night. It's my arms that hurt, mostly my elbows, and hands. Something else to deal with.

I had found some slides in among my mother's pictures. We were never slide takers or showers, so I don't know who took these, but I want to scan them, too, and boy, that is not easy these days. I tried a whole variety of approaches last night, and finally one that worked, a little -- I used my phone as a light box and took pictures with my camera in macro mode -- and then today, a coupon came, of all things, and it turns out they do it at Costco. So I'll go there one day after my trip. Some of these are pictures from my sister's wedding. There's one of me in a rocking chair with my sister's baby twins on my lap, which is something I did nearly every day after school for their first year or two, stop there on my way home and rock them and sing to them to give my sister a break. (My father would come by and take over so I could go home and make dinner. I was just married, remember.) And I think there's a picture or two of my college boyfriend. That should be interesting, because I ripped all his pictures out of my college photo album long, long ago. Not that I don't remember what he looked like -- think Joe Dirt, but not blond, mullet not quite that long -- but I'm sure my kids will get a chuckle out of it. As will you.





watching THE GOLDEN GIRLS :: ENTRY #2102
READING: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

Saturday

We had a nice visit from R today. We went out for lunch and then she and K did some shopping. As for me ...

It has taken me literally years, but I finally got from Wonderful Niece the big box of all my mother's pictures and mementos and things. I knew that I would find the picture I wanted for those Disney World trinkets, even though I used another picture and made them already. But the picture I wanted was in there, and so today, I made us each a refrigerator magnet from this picture:


The shrinky-dink, of course, is darker and smaller. I believe this is the only photograph ever taken of the four of us cousins together, although I could be wrong; I just haven't ever seen any others. I am the little one in the front. This was taken when my mother and sister and I visited their family in California when I was seven.

I'm watching one of those awful TV shows about beauty pageants and little girls (and boys, in this one), and I think all these parents should have their children removed from their custody. This is a bizarre form of child abuse; I can't imagine these children grow up with psyches intact, unscarred.

So, I've scanned over 130 pictures and things since yesterday, and I'm taking a little break today. There was some amazing stuff in the box, including my birth announcement, a card announcing the engagement of my father's parents, and that grandmother's original passport (in Russian), which I had never seen before. No idea where that came from, but it was accompanied by notes in my mother's handwriting from when she had it translated once. Oh, and I'll leave you with this. It was a note also in my mother's handwriting; it looked like a rough draft of a letter she then re-wrote and sent, but I don't know to whom. There's no date on it. I'm using the real name in the letter because I probably have it wrong anyway, since my mother's handwriting is nearly undecipherable. Here's the transcription:

To whom it may concern:
During the 15 years that I have known Jeanette Kenn, I have never heard her say anything that might tend to identify her with Soviet Russia or Communistic sentiments.
I am strongly opposed to the dictatorship of Communistic Russia and all that it stands for. I would never want to associate with any persons who are disloyal to the U.S. and the [to] the best of my knowledge, Jeanette Kenn is a loyal American, who believes in the American way of life.
[Signed]

So I'm thinking early fifties, which means this was probably a friend from high school she was writing a reference for. Never saw this before either.




watching TODDLERS AND TIARAS :: ENTRY #2098
READING: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

Still Scanning

I was at the Sibs' today, and mentioned that there are few old pictures I can't find and did she have them; she handed over a little ziploc bag with about a dozen pictures in it, including one of the ones I wanted. I don't know why she had this odd assortment handy, but there it was. Anyway, I won't share them all now, maybe one here and there, but here's one for today:




It's not a good picture of any of these people, but it's a good picture. This was 1978. Wonderful Niece was a wee thing, and she's on the lap of my Grandma Ida, so, her great-grandmother, who died in 1979. Flanked, of course, by the Sibs and Shirl. Four generations of the general group of us.

I've learned the hard way that I still can't have caffeine; my blood work came back to the doctor showing that I'm dehydrated -- I'm really not -- because caffeine will try to do that to you. Bummer. Resnick looked at me over the tops of his glasses and was kind enough not to say "What kind of idiot are you?" So I'm pushing fluids like crazy, no more caffeine, and more blood work on Friday. Goody.

I'm going into school for a couple of hours tomorrow morning, joy. I'll let you know if I make it out alive.


WATCHING TWO AND A HALF MEN :: ENTRY #1842
SUMMER BOOK #7: My Life in France by Julia Child

Be Afraid.

Not that I haven't had a whole summer to do projects, but yesterday I mentioned to K that I had been looking for a particular picture and couldn't find it on my computer, and she said "It's in one of the albums." I found it right away, and then realized that I had never scanned in a whole lot of pictures that were in the albums I kept years ago. Run now, while you have the chance.

I scanned in very many, so this is only a sample, but these are all good ones. Also, after looking over the albums, I felt compelled to prove to you that I really did have a magical-looking child. (But they're not all of her.) Here goes.
It's not a well-lit picture, but if you want to know what I really look like, this is it. If I could go back and look forever like any particular time in my life, it would be this. Look at that flat tummy! This was about 1978, standing on the shores of Squam Lake in New Hampshire.




Is that a whole lot of baby, or what? This was probably the last time I was actually able to hold both of them at once. Look at that head on the left! When they were born, he looked huge and she looked like a little scrawn, but in fact, they were both over five pounds, and only a half pound different from each other. 1978 as well.


I couldn't resist another picture of my special good guy, the one who's getting married in a few weeks. Look at that punim! He was very intently watching the Memorial Day Parade. 1982.



A strange one, but a favorite; I made it my wallpaper after I scanned it yesterday. In March 1982, a week after R's first birthday, my father had a heart attack. As a result, he took up exercise for the first time since V-E day. One lovely summer day, I took baby R to the park near our house, and took pictures of her on the swings and so on, and at one point, I turned around and saw Jack walking his laps around the pond. He didn't know we were there and we didn't know he's be there, either. 1982.



She had the biggest eyes in the world. This was about a month before her second birthday, so, R, 1983.




This is the picture I was originally looking for. I had taken her for a haircut and said to the stylist "Not too short!" and she cut off a hank of hair over the kid's ear and said "What did you say?" Not that it didn't look good on her. She still keeps her hair short. Summer 1983, in the ILs' backyard.




I ask you, is that a face? From around the same time.




I've posted a variety of pictures of Jack and Shirl, but mostly when they were old. Here they are with R, age 2, so, 1983. Her hair is starting to grow back a bit.



I was taking pictures to go out with the Christmas cards, and she was being the super-model, striking a different pose after each camera snap. So, fall, 1983.



About six months later, spring 1984. Although she's average-sized now, she was a very petite child and very well-proportioned, so she always looked kind of like a whole person, just shrunk down to tiny. Really. I think I have made my point.



Together again for the first time. Summer, 1984, and all the players are in place now. Big sister R and little sister K, ready to go.

I finished one whole album, but I'm not quite ready to do the next one yet (or as K says, "the one with the really interesting pictures in it.") Another time, perhaps. If you've stuck with it this long, I appreciate your patience!


WATCHING E! :: ENTRY #1840
SUMMER BOOK #7: My Life in France by Julia Child

Not So Much

Feeling better? I don't know how many people asked me that this morning, not because I went home early on Thursday (how would they know) but because I was out on Friday. Well, it's nice to be noticed. Anyway, the only answer I could really give was Not so much, because I still feel pretty much like crap. The school nurse -- who asked me if I was feeling better when we both got there at 7 this morning -- said it's probably a virus. I guess. I don't know what the hell it is. The stomach pain, which comes and goes, is never terribly intense, but the nausea and body aches are pretty annoying. This better not be a kidney stone, I can tell you. There isn't much worse than that.

And that's enough of the sad-me-the-hypchondriac for today.

We had snow today, wet icky stuff that didn't stick, but it was pretty steady until early afternoon.

Oh, I forgot. The Disney picture came today.


I am on the right, of course. This is as photogenic as I get. I was much cuter before the brain surgery, not to mention the double-chin. In pictures, I mean. (That's the Other Chai on the left, who has that nickname, you may recall, because her real first name is the same as mine, and the Chum in the center. And let's remember that I am about five foot two, so there's nobody towering over anybody here, except the castle itself.)

What else can I tell you today? My thought processes are a little muddled; when I look back at my day at work I'm amazed that I accomplished anything at all, although I did some cataloging and some revision of the library website. I was very out of it, and glad that the afternoon's meeting was cancelled. So I've got tomorrow, and Wednesday is not only a half day, half of the half day is a pep rally, and I've requested an assignment to watch over the kids who choose study hall. Given the seniority angle here, I should get it; I'll know tomorrow morning. The last thing I need is to spend a couple hours outside at the football field the day before Thanksgiving.

Okay, I'm going to have some toast and tea and lie down again.

WATCHING LAW & ORDER :: ENTRY #1628

How the Grinch ...

I decided I had to start writing (at school) because I've been very busy all day and now it's only a half hour until I leave, so it's too late to start anything else, and I'm yawning too much to just read. I think if I could have the actual use of a secretary for a solid chunk of time tomorrow, I could get the rest of my purchase orders out, but even when she's here, she's not quite here. Which is not to say that she's not sharp, because she is. She's so sharp, in fact, that she can appear to be working while she's actually doing something else, and look quite busy at it. And it's not even that her something else isn't even school related, because her job is really two part-time jobs that equal full-time for her, and we're her second job, but she spends a bunch of time here doing her first job (which she's supposed to be doing some of at home, but I suspect is not, which is why she does it in the library.) Like anybody cares. Sorry.

So it's Halloween. I went into the faculty room for lunch and one of the guidance counselors who was there asked me in a snotty way "So, who are you supposed to be?" I was not snotty back, you'll be happy to know. I said in a kind of quiet way "I'm me," and let it go. Okay, I didn't let it go; I said "You know, I did that for a lot of years." And I did. I dressed up every year for Halloween, I was a judge at the senior costume party and I took copious photographs there every year, and so on. But I'm past that point. It's a funny thing here, that you can be up to your ears in school activities, and for a long time, and the second you stop, nobody remembers that you ever did it and they just think you're an old stick-in-the-mud. It's because of the turnover in staff from year to year, I guess. But it's strange. I'll have to see if I can find the picture somewhere of my doing a lesson one year for a physics class when I was dressed as Minnie Mouse. It was pretty funny.

I am something of a Scrooge -- or whatever you call a Halloween party-pooper -- when it comes to the trick or treaters. I have candy all ready to give out. But what happens is that these little bitty kids ring my bell, and by the time I get to the door, they've given up and left. I could sit in the living room with no TV or computer so that I could jump up and answer the door when it rings, but sometimes I don't get anyone for a half hour at a time, and it bothers me to be trying to do something in another room and have to stop it every few minutes. (Yes, it's Murphy's Law: If I wait at the front door, no one will ever ring the bell. If I leave the room, there will be a steady stream of tykes at my door.) K loves to answer the door for the kids -- or so she claims; she gets fed up with it, too -- but she has class tonight. Bummer. For me. Once it gets dark, though, I keep the porch light off and then no one comes. (Except I'll have to put the light back on at 8 tonight so K doesn't kill herself between the driveway and the front door.)

My newest little passion here is Burt's Bees stuff. I keep looking for lotions that don't feel icky and that I like the scent of, and I think this may be the place to find them. I even stopped at the Rite Aid this morning on my way to school and picked up a little sample set so that I have tiny sizes of things to take on the plane with me.

I stuck a little widget over there >>>> with various RSS feeds from Google Reader for some of the weird stuff I find when I obsess browse there every day. I didn't put everything I save because then you'll all have me put away, but I may in the future. Then you'll see what a real nutcase I am. Or maybe not. I save a lot of feeds that relate to various Bush articles and other conspiracy theories. And some other stuff, too. Check out the Creation of the World in Geek Terms, if you haven't already. It's cute.


Okay, so now I'm home and the Halloween crap has begun. Yes, first time the doorbell rang, the greedy little suckers were onto the next house before I got the door open. So that's one.

Second time, I start handing things out from the bowl. One kid reaches into the bowl for a second helping, so I said "No, I gave you one." Another kid gets a Starburst and says "Can I have a Hershey's, too?" No, I already gave you something. Jeez. Another kid, I give her a Hershey bar, because her little pumpkin looked pretty damn empty, and she looks up at me with puppy dog eyes and stands there, waiting for me to give her more. "Have a nice day," I said, and stepped back into the house and closed the door. I assume she's not still standing on the porch because the gaggle of parents on the sidewalk would have gotten her by now. (Oh, and these kids were gone too by the time I got to the door, but their parents were slower, and were still on the sidewalk when I opened the door and stood there with the bowl of candy, and they called the kids back. I hate Halloween.)

Just as an aside -- I'm not answering the doorbell anymore-- and by the way, the SCM said something about high blood pressure, and one of the semi-younger teachers who loves to hang out in the library (bless her) said "Oh, how can librarians have high blood pressure? It's so peaceful here." (Okay, she's a library lover, I get it.) I said, "Yeah, but my father wasn't a librarian." right? Because I got it from him? Okay.

Okay, I can't find my Minnie Mouse picture, which means I've never scanned it and it's somewhere deep in the picture trunk, but I came across these two, which I'm posting to show you that I have not always been the Halloween grinch. First, this is K, but I made this bunny costume for R's first Halloween -- it was very big -- and each of my kids got two years out of it, and it was borrowed by numerous others. (See? I do have some domestic skills.)



This one, though, was my ultimate. This was R's costume for her senior year in high school. It was her idea, and I think she'd been planning it for years. (Planning for me to make it, too.) And no, there was no Batman. That wasn't the point.



Okay, I'm off for more doorbell ignoring.

WATCHING NEWS :: ENTRY #1618

I Think I've Got It

This is more or less my first actual post on this site, for what that's worth. I think I've gotten everything moved over that I want, although I'm still working on getting the number of the entry up in a way that shows and doesn't look stupid. But I'll see how that looks in a minute.

Oh, I wanted to see how I could put a picture in here:

la de la de la de dah




So is that it? Are you seeing me with Grandma Ida?

In other news, I got up bright and early again this morning -- why do I keep waking up at 5 on the weekends? And I read my newspaper circulars and headed out to ... shh ... Target to get those things over which I obsess: Bounty towels, Charmin toilet paper, and liquid Tide. I get antsy if I think I don't have enough of any of those in the house. Especially the toilet paper. Ahem.

Okay, I've still got bugs to work out, and possibly another trip to Target later, if the girls want to go, since I went secretly without them this morning so I could stock up before the crowds cleaned them out. There are lots of people in the market for good toilet paper, you know.

watching I Love Lucy :: entry #001