7 Years

Emma turned 7 on Sunday the 23rd. It makes me feel very old.

We decided to have a small party this year. We usually have tons of kids running around the back garden and their parents hanging around eating pizza and drinking beer. We've done that every year since she made her entrance into our lives, and while it's an awful lot of fun, I thought it was time for something a little different.

Places like Club Libby Lu and Chuck E. Cheese were out of the question, for obvious reasons. Emma and I had been to The Mad Potter before to make gifts for family and teachers, and I thought that would be a nice, calm place to have a little gathering.

We also decided that she was old enough to have a slumber party. I thought that inviting 4 girls over would be a good number, but it somehow got up-graded to 5 without me realizing. So, we were going to have 6 little 7-year-olds running around the house until late into the night. Hmmmmm...Chuck E. Cheese wasn't sounding quite so bad after all.

We met the gals at The Mad Potter on Saturday afternoon and they spent about an hour and a half or so choosing and painting their little ceramic creations. I think it took them more time to decide on what they wanted to paint than to actually do the painting itself. They had lots of fun, and worked hard on their pieces.


We took them home and they ran around the house and garden, chased poor little Rose, jumped on the trampoline, played in the tent, put glittery make up on, made a mess of Emma's room, played with walkie-talkies, and crushed cascarones on each other's heads. Fun fun fun.

There are more photos here if you're interested.

I made pizza, we had cake and ice cream, Emma opened her presents, and they settled down to watch Matilda. I can't think of a better film for a bunch of first grade girls to watch. They loved it!

Then, as luck would have it, I got one of my what I like to refer to as killer headaches. I'm not exactly sure what they are, but they leave me helpless, and often make me physically ill. Great timing huh? So, while I was laying in my dark bedroom trying not to die, Darrel took care of the girls for the rest of the evening. What a brave man.

They ran around for an hour or so playing with flashlights and scaring each other in the dark house. The screaming was great for my headache, but things could have been a lot worse, so I can't complain. Darrel said the last two finally fell asleep at about 11:00. We figured they'd all be really sleepy and wake up late. We know so little.

They were all up bright and early at 6:30. Pancakes were made and eaten, more running around the house and garden occurred, and then parents began to arrive. All the girls were gone by 10am, and there were no major injuries. That's what I call a successful sleep-over!

The rest of the day was just the three of us hanging out together. She opened the gifts that we bought her, we went to Maudie's for lunch, and then to the Main Event for the climbing wall. She had been there with Isabella H. before and had apparently done rather well, but this time, she just couldn't, or wouldn't, get up very far. I find that she's often a lot braver when Darrel and I aren't around. We played air hockey and then left.

We had a relaxing evening and she got to bed at a decent hour. I think she had a great birthday this year. Darrel and I sure had fun. Thank goodness we only have to do it once a year.

No More Sick Child

Huzzah!!! Emma is well again!

On Friday, a full week after it made it's first appearance, Emma's fever left her. Thank, well, thank every diety you can think of. She's still got a bit of a cough, and is still sleeping a little more than usual, but she's feeling much better.

Too much, actually. Missing a week of school and not seeing anyone under the age of, well, 37, put her in quite a state. She drove the husband and myself absolutely mad this weekend. Lots of wanting to play and tons of sassy back-talk. Lordy! It's all understandable, of course. If I had been in bed for that long, I would have been out of control too. She went back to school today, and hopefully, got it all out of her system. Our house should return to normal.

Without a refrigerator. The fridge we bought about a year ago decided it just didn't want to keep anything cool anymore, dammit! It had worked hard enough over the past year, and is on strike. The freezer is fine, but the fridge is room-temperature, which is lovely, isn't it? Thank goodness we spent the extra dough and bought the 3 year warranty, which is very unlike us. We're usually pretty cheap about stuff like that. Darrel called Fry's (where we made the purchase) and they said it might be 48 hours before someone could get out to the house. So, we've got a cooler full of melting ice and souring milk in the kitchen. But the frozen corn is good to go!

Gotta Love the Strep!

Emma is still sick. It's Wednesday, for Dog's sake!

I took her to the doctor on Monday, and we got a call yesterday afternoon that she has strep. She started her antibiotics last night. She slept well last night, but remained in bed this morning until 11:30-ish. She's still running a fever, but she's awake now at least. Poor baby. I don't think she's ever been this ill for this long. The doctor said that she could go back to school once she was on the medicine for 24 hours, which would mean tomorrow. But, seeing as they don't have school on Friday, I don't see the point in sending her back tomorrow. Certainly if she's still not 100%.

Since she slept all morning, I was able to do a little work, which was good, since I'm missing the majority of the week. She is now laying on the fold-out couch with Rose, our wee-poodle and listening to a book-on-CD.

And that is probably the only good thing to come out of this illness. We pulled out our copy of The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events - Book the Second) read by the amazing Tim Curry, and stuck it in the CD player. It's the best thing ever. Much better than the film. This is Emma's third time through the whole thing in the past 2 days, and shows no sign of tiring of it. I highly recommend it, whether you have a child or not. It's just as entertaining for adults, perhaps more so.

Weekend-Schmeekend

I had great plans for the past weekend. Fun was to be had by all!

My folks were coming into town to celebrate Emma's birthday a little early, since they won't be here on the day. Grupo Fantasma was playing at Central Market on Saturday night, and we were all going to go. I've heard much about this group and have wanted to see them for a while. Central Market seemed the perfect venue: outside under the trees, good food, good beer and wine, and a playscape for the wee one.

Sunday, the husband's band Mundi was playing at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for their Spring Plant Sale. I love the Wildflower Center. Especially in the spring. My Dad loves plants, and there's the Little House with activities for Ms. Emma. All this, and we'd be supporting Darrel and enjoying the music at the same time. What could be better?

But alas, the weekend gods did not smile upon me or mi familia.

Firstly, Mom called Friday morning saying she wasn't feeling well. She still wanted to come, but thought she should warn us about the possibility of her getting us sick. Ha! I said. I laugh at your puny Edna germs. We have Austin immune sytems. Bring 'em on!

Upon arriving home after work, I found Emma laying on the couch looking pale. She had 102 fever. Ugh. So much for Austin immune systems. Several of her friends at school had been out too.

My folks came anyway. Emma had moments of feeling not too bad, mixed with moments of feeling like crap. Her fever went up and down like a bloody lift all weekend. Then, to put the icing on the shitty-weekend cake, my Dad fell ill. I felt like we should quarantine the house.

So, no Fantasma, no Wildflowers. I suppose there will be other near-perfect weekends.

As I sit here on Monday afternoon at home, Emma is still ill. I took the day off and took her to the doctor this morning. No ear infection, and her lungs are fine. She may have strep, and I'll know that tomorrow. Or, he said, it could just be a virus that causes a 4 to 5 day fever. Lovely. Dave at work's little one Ian had something eerily similar last month. So, something's going around. I would not have felt left out if it had skipped right over Emma.

If her fever continues past 5 days, the doctor said, it's time for blood work. I can't even think about that. What does that even mean? They take some blood and look for....what? Perhaps I don't want to know.

I hope she recovers soon. I feel so damn helpless. All I can do is give her tylenol, water, and juice and hope for the best. What a great Mom, huh?

Oops, Emma's awake. Gotta go.

Olympics and Horses

The Lee Olympics were on Friday March 31st this year. What fun, what fun. Each year the school gets all the kids together and they compete in events like the bean bag throw, the three legged race, and the older kids have the long jump and other track and field events. This is our second Lee Olympics, and they are just too much fun.

To see more photos, visit my Family Photos page.

Today, we went and visited Golden Vista Equestrian Center. Emma is going to be attending a 2 week day-camp here this summer. She has some friends who take riding lessons, and has always been interested in horses, though she's also been a bit afraid of them. We haven't been able to afford for her to take lessons every week, but thought we would be able to send her to a 2 week camp.



Golden Vista was having an open house today, so we went to check it out. It seems like a pretty nice place. I know nothing about this sort of thing, but we spoke with the lady in charge, and she seemed to know what she was talking about. They learn alot while they're at camp, and spend lots of time grooming, cleaning up after, and generally looking after their horse, in addition to riding it. We met some girls who had been going there for a few years, and they seemed amazingly comfortable with the horses and were great at putting Emma, and us, at ease.

There are more horse pics on my Family Photos page.

Curling - no, not your hair

My college friend James Arroyo moved to NYC several years ago. He loves it there. He's adapted to the size of the city and the weather rather well. However, I never expected this:

"Hey folks, I just got back from a curling club in Ardsley and have been tapped to join the Israeli curling team. Our goal is Vancouver in 2010(this isn't a joke). We went to a bonspiel (curling tourney) last week and joined the country club today."

WTF? Curling? That sport on ice with brooms? HUH? Israeli team? Olympics? What the hell are you talking about?

That was pretty much the text of my e-mail reply to James. Somehow, this Latino, Longhorn lovin', recovering Catholic from Austin, TX is going to be a member of the Israeli Olympic curling team. Sometimes life makes no sense.

And, apparently they're making a documentary about their team. The trailer is on-line, if you're interested. It takes a while to load, but I thought it was well worth it.

Enjoy.

Mundi News

Just in case you don't know, my husband Darrel is a musician and has a band called Mundi. (They used to be called The Mundi Ensemble, but dropped the The and the Ensemble. Don't ask me why, cuz he never told me.) They play Renaissance Folk Rock. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it does sound really good. And at least he doesn't play thrash metal!

In the Austin Chronicle's 2005-2006 Music Awards, they were in 5th place for Best Instrumental Band. A very respectable showing, I think. Yay Mundi!

Also, the band is going on a 2 week tour of Spain this summer. How cool is that? Darrel found someone in Spain who books musical acts into small towns, etc. and he liked Mundi. I was skeptical (don't tell D) that it would actually happen, but apparently, it's going to! The Spanish fella has dates and everything all lined up for them. Very exciting. It'd be more exciting if I was going to, but maybe next year.

So, buy the Mundi CD, come to Mundi shows, and generally support them so that they can buy their plane tickets! Please!!! They really wanna go!

Oh, and they're making a CD with a Tibetan Buddhist Monk who lives in California. How eclectic! I live with quite the creative one don't I? Lucky gal!

SXSW

SXSW was last week. If you're in Austin, this is not news to you. If you're in the music business, it's not news to you either.

I haven't gone to any SXSW events since wrist bands were, say $25.00. Considering they were selling this year for $150.00, that means it's been at least 10-15 years. Lordy, that makes me feel pretty damn old.

This year, thanks to my addiction to KEXP, I was interested in SXSW for the first time in a long time. However, paying over $100 for a wrist band was not an option. Luckily, there were plenty of free shows during the week. I had no idea.

KEXP was in town broadcasting live Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from the Austin City Limits studios, which is conveniently located about a block from my office. They called for volunteers, and I answered. I hung out there on Wednesday for about 3 1/2 hours giving out free stuff, directing people into the studio and to the bathrooms, talking to people and enjoying music. I got to meet DJs Cheryl Waters and Kevin Cole, and they were amazingly nice. I saw Editors and tapes 'n tapes. Both bands were fabulous. Great station, great people, great music, great time.

I went to a free house party on Thursday with Carrie. There was free beer, dogs and children in the Maplewood neighborhood in East Austin that afternoon. How much do I love Austin? I wanted very badly to see Rocky Votolato, as I love his album Makers. I was not disappointed. He said he was not well, but you could have fooled me. He sounded wonderful. The Long Winters were next, and though I didn't know much about them, I thought they were great too. I'll be grabbing their CD once I get a chance.

After that, I called Robin and asked if she wanted to go to the free Town Lake show. She was luckily game (thanks Robin!) and we headed out there. I caught the end of the Blackalicious set. I wish I had seen more. They were amazing! I held out through Spoon, who were great as well. By that time, I was feeling my age, and headed home. Reports are that Echo and the Bunnymen put on a great show, and I guess I should have stayed. Oh well.

Friday we went to the Jane party downtown and a new place called the Beauty Bar. More free drinks and free food. Carrie, Robin, Shanna, Dana and I ate, drank, and did lots of people watching. We saw some of Film School (good) What Made Milwaukee Famous (very good) and Of Montreal (also very good and super entertaining). I wanted to stay around for Nada Surf, but Darrel and Emma were home from their spring break camping trip, I was tired and a bit tipsy, and decided I should be responsible and go home. As I drove past Club Deville, I heard Clap Your Hands Say Yeah who were playing yet another free show (well $2.00) there. Dang, if I had been younger, and had no responsibilities!

And so ended 2006 SXSW for Angela. I had a great time and can't wait until next year.

Stitching is Sublime

Emma and I have been doing some embroidery lately. Well, she's been supervising, and I've been stitching. Our two pieces are finally finished, I think.


To see some close up shots, go here.

Pledge KEXP Now!!!

Thanks to the lovely Mindy Johnson, I was introduced to KEXP, a fantastic Seattle public radio station. I don't know how I had lived without it for so long. They play a wonderful variety of music. I had lost interest in most music several years ago, probably having something to do with becoming a mom and being married to a musician. I felt there was little time or money to spend on new music and that I got enough at home. Then KEXP dropped into my life and I'm all excited about music again. So excited that when I heard they were coming to Austin for SXSW and broadcasting from the Austin City Limits studios two blocks from my office, I volunteered to help. I can't wait!

If you haven't checked them out, you should. John in the Morning's show, which conveniently airs from 8am - noon CST, is my favorite and gets me through even the roughest Mondays.

They're having the pledge drive now, and if you can spare some change, please consider it. These people work hard. I've e-mailed into the station, and have gotten a response back within, like, 15 minutes! From a DJ who was currently on air! How insane is that? And who else would play Matthew Sweet, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Willie Nelson, and The The all in the same hour?

So, that was my plug for KEXP. Now go listen and give some cash, dammit.

Central Market

I met Darrel and Emma at Central Market after work for dinner. We hadn't been there in a while. Emma loves the playscape. I had an odd Cesar salad. Every 5th bite tasted a bit strange. I kept eating it, cuz the other 4 bites were too tasty to stop. So far, I'm not ill or dead, so I'm sure it wasn't a big deal.

They changed their menu about, what, 6 months ago or so. I preferred the old one. The took off the kids macaroni and cheese. Are they insane? That was the best thing on the menu. Emma loved it! I loved it! You can still buy it in the store, all ready to pop in the microwave and heat up, but for some reason, no longer in the cafe. Makes no sense.

We ate, Emma played, and then we fed the ducks. And the turtles and the fish. Those minnows are mad. There were lots of red winged black birds perched on the reeds around the little lake. We used to have them hanging around our backyard a couple of years ago, but I haven't seen them in a while. They're all at Central Market, apparently.

Emma and I came home and watched Shrek. A thoroughly entertaining movie, I must admit. Darrel is out at a lecture being given by a Tibetan Monk who he is making a CD with tomorrow evening. Darrel will also be away most of the weekend at a Buddhist retreat. He's not really a Buddhist, but I suppose he's closer to that than to anything else.

I just re-read this, and good god it's boring. Central Market, ducks, Shrek?? Wow! If you're still reading this, you must have a life that's even duller than mine. That's a shame.

Math

Emma is 6 and will be 7 in April. This puts her in the first grade at the fabulous Lee Elementary here in central Austin. She loves school. She is not a genius, but she is pretty smart and tries really hard. First grade is alot different than kindergarten, and we all initially had a difficult time adjusting. Gone is the focus on social skills and comments from teachers like "She is such a helpful child." "She gets along well with everyone." It is now time to get down to the business of learning, dang it!

All of that is well and good. The issue with Emma is that she is a little too tough on herself at times. She gets frustrated very easily with things she cannot do perfectly. She has also started comparing herself with her friends at school. Last night, through tears she said, "But all my other friends can do it." This was in reference to a practice math quiz that we were working on. I tell her that doesn't matter. I tell her that she will do it, maybe just not right now. I tell her that I love her. I try to tell her everything a good parent should during moments like these. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to help. She feels no better, and I feel helpless and useless. So what now?

These moments have been occurring at various times since this school year began. She's not the kind of kid to be ahead of the curve-to catch onto things before everyone else. But, she does eventually get it. And when she does, she nails it. She just needs to ease up on herself.

How do you explain that to a 6 year old?

First Post - EVER!

OK, so I've succumbed to the temptation and have started a blog. Lord, what has happened to me? Have I become so vain that I think people will want to know what is going on in my life? Who would care but those who live in my little house? Sometimes even that's a stretch.

I suppose I can consider this my first diary. A diary that anyone with an internet connection could read. So, I'll try to keep it clean.

So what's up with the name? Well, I was trying to think of something creative, witty and relevant to me. I an neither creative or witty, so I was left with few options. We are, however, big fans of Roald Dahl, and have an audio tape version of The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me read by Hugh Laurie that is brilliant. So, why not?

We are my wonderful husband Darrel and my beautiful daughter Emma. Photos to come soon, promise.

There will be more to come, but for now, I must turn off this machine and spend some quality time with the husband.

Ta.