They Might Be...Grown Up

Last night Paul and I went to see They Might Be Giants at the House of Blues downtown. We hadn't seen them in concert in probably 10 years or more, and I'd lost track of some of the off-path things they'd been doing, including their last few albums. I've loved them since high school, but was expecting to feel a little out of place in it all these days.





But it turns out the concert was much needed, more than I'd expected. They've grown up (they're in their early 50's) and have families. They still sound the same, so talented, and they played so many of the old favorites. In the middle of it all, I realized how much my "worries" of today are SO MUCH DIFFERENT than my worries of the day of Birdhouse In Your Soul 20 years ago. They're different in a way that I'd have hoped (the astronaut process,the mom thing, that Paul and I are still together, and so much more).










And I just stepped out of the concert feeling lighter overall, like a reminder to stop taking myself so seriously and just let go a little.
I think the business of the last few
weeks has had me holding on very tightly, trying to control as much as possible in getting it all done. Wow, talk about noisy!!!! And unsustainable. I usually try to catch myself and stop it when it happens...but sometimes it takes an outside source :)


I love music. And keeping up with TMBG all these years evokes probably the same feeling as other bands do in folks from previous generations too. It's an indicator we are all growing up.

And this is how it goes...it sure is a different time than 20 years ago, but it's a sign that music is timeless and I'm so thankful for that. This must be how our parents must feel, and Anna someday you'll get it too!




So grateful for TMBG!

What have I been doing?

Been busier than ever, which is what I asked for so that I forget about sitting by the phone waiting for the astronaut selection office to call me back to be one of the final 50 they call back for the second round of interviews. They've already called back 3 week's worth of the 5 weeks of interviewees. There are only the last two weeks in April to be called, which will happen sometime in March. My thoughts are these: I really want to be in the final week, which is what I've said from the beginning. This means a long wait for the call back. I think I did great on my first interview round and totally warrant a call back!!! But who knows what they're thinking, and I know that if I don't get a call back it would sting for a few days but wouldn't be devastating or anything. Fortunately I'm pretty self-confident these days in my capabilities as a professional and a mom so I still know I'm pretty bad ass and if I'm not called back it's because I just don't fit the current profile of hat they're looking for. So I would feel a loss but would bounce back shortly and keep pressing forward in my regular job. BUT DANG I REALLY WANT A SHOT AT THE NEXT ROUND! Two people (of us 10) in my first interview round have been called back. They are awesome women and think they both deserve to be in the next round too! So go them! I've also learned that some people actually get interviewed year after year, it's almost normal to them. So even if this is all I get this year, I'm still optimistic for the next round!


In the meantime, in the last few weeks I've traveled to NASA HQ to give a presentation on ISS Science
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT70DZIIvyU&feature=youtube_gdata_player


The next week I went to Phoenix for more ISS science talk, including one specific to neuroscience, which challenged me a bit to get creative on since I don't normally single out a discipline. But it worked!
I made it home just in time to chaperone Anna's school field trip to the zoo the next day (I was fighting a sinus infection and bed bugs, yes BED BUGS, in Phoenix) but had fun on that cold field trip!




Rebecca and me: The chaperones




She was so excited about the bus ride!! First time on a school bus!!




















They're wearing matching pants, LOL!!
















That Thursday rolled right into Friday: Field Day at her school. This was Paul's area!! He was able to spend all morning cheering on Anna and et friends through sack races and egg carries and stuff, and then he volunteered all afternoon for the older kids. That's totally his area!

I don't have pictures of that but he was having fun :)







Friday rolled right into birthday party Saturday....



The next week was all about a special film crew from a certain network here at NASA to interview a few of us about being moms. It was me, a few flight directors, and a few astronauts, but I'm not sure I'm supposed to share much until it airs in May so for now, it was fun and covered a few days at work!




Headquarters actions, budgets, astronaut training, Flight Readiness Review presentation. new packages, oh man the week was swamped. It was as if all challenging things about my career was thrown at me in a span of about 10 business days. On top of it was a really cute class song presentation nana and I attended last week too, all about the animals at the zoo they saw last week :)












That Thursday rolled into Friday, where half a day's work got done on more HQ actions and the rodeo:




The sinus infection is improving after a few weeks, and tonight is the They Might Be Giants convert at the House of Blues (just me and Paul!).
And we've once again signed up for the MS150 and once again are woefully behind in training. So tomorrow morning will be our first sorry training ride, likely in the rain.
I've lost progress in exercising these past few weeks but it's back on this week!
I've asked to keep busy, and so it worked. Next week is spring break; Anna wants to go to the NASA camp and I will be buckling down harder at work to finish catching up and get ahead while everyone else is out! :)
Whew!

Birthday Party for 6

We had Anna's 6th birthday party at the house last weekend, March 2. I think there were about 11 kids, which thankfully ended up being 5 less than had replied! She had a blast...

Her request was a magician. Had to say it wasn't a bad idea! Affordable and kept the kids entertained for a good 45 min. He even had live bunnies and birds! The great Professor Hughdini, LOL:



















Completely awesome cake by Amanda Floyd!




Keeping them busy when the magician was not here!











The Aftermath!










Playing with the new easy bake oven from daddy with M after the party. They wanted to bake with it but had eaten too much cake to want to eat their result :)

The day ended with M sleeping over (yay!) and some exhausted kiddos and parents. Nana got Anna a new iPod for her birthday, so M and A spent the next day making Barbie videos with it. Pretty hilarious footage! I got her the rainbow care bear and she loaded up in lots of girlie gifts! Which reminds me I am painfully delinquent in Thank You cards...

When she was a screaming baby I told myself that one day it will all be more normal, like when she's 5 or 6...and never thought past that. So 6 is all I can take!!

5 was great :) What an awesome little girl she's become. We are so proud of her and love her tons. 5 was marked with a blast of smarts and a relapse to a very long whiney phase related to the word NO but she seems to be growing out of that thankfully. She's growing into the know-it-all phase which has always annoyed me in other people's kids but I knew would come for us :) So I roll with it because it sure beats whiney!

She's tons of fun, a real trooper. Riding with no training wheels, mastering her scooter, reading, writing, drawing, dancing,making friends and fighting with them...

This year is already cruising, having us look at summer camps and the fall already. Yikes how time flies! This is how it goes.

Happy birthday, 6

This is what 6 looks like, rodeo-style...





She was dying to get a hat just so she could pose like this (like cow girls do, you know!).

Today was early release for the schools so we headed to the rodeo with nana early to ride the rides, eat junk, watch the rodeo, and sit through Anna's first concert, Tim McGraw (ok her first was really Gwen Stefani when she was like 8 weeks old). Fun!!!













Asleep with fries in her hand...classic eat to stay awake tactic failed her!







Daddy's birthday photobomb!


We had her party last weekend...that will come in the next post.

Whew, good night!

Last day of 5!

Anna's class valentine party

Cuteness!

Apology letter?

Anna and Paul had a super massive meltdown event in Walgreen's yesterday. Stupid aisles full of pink and red plush dolls and candy and flowers for valentines day is a nightmare for parents with young children. Normally she's pretty good but she lost major control yesterday from what I heard.

When they got home she proceeded to write daddy a letter. Paul assumed it was an apology but she is more like her mother that way:

Monkey!

This freaks me out in an irrational way :) It's just a playground!

What a week in this house!

We did NOT run the Houston Half Marathon. The others on our team ditched because of flu and weather, and when Paul and I woke up the morning of the Houston Half, we thought it best to ditch too. Cold and rainy wouldn't usually deter us, but given that this week would be my astronaut selection interview week, now wasn't the time to go injuring myself. Turns out it was a good decision, knowing now what I do about how that interview week went, and also when I talked to people who did run it, they confirmed sideways sheets of rain, people zig zagging in and out of pot holes and puddles, running into each other. I could take a few hours of a challenge like that but not at the risk of showing up for the interview process with an injury!

So this week started really with Anna's first piano recital on Sunday :) She did great, and we are SO PROUD OF HER! She played Merrily We Roll Along (to the tune of Mary Had A Little Lamb) and got up in front of the crowd all by herself to play. LOVE HER!


This week she also participated in Gifted and Talented testing. The selection board for GT meets at the end of Feb to decide if she's made it. Fingers crossed! GT would give her many more opportunities to different class choices as she grows...

Wednesday started my astronaut selection interview period. Wednesday through Friday saw lots of tests (they were actually really fun and introspective), a butt-kicking group workout with the astronaut strength and conditioning trainers (cross-fit style!), and a selection board 1 hour interview at a table of around 15 people (astros and non-astros) asking me about myself. Mine was the second-to-last interview of the entire week, and I'm not sure what those listening to me thought, but I sure as heck had a blast! I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be, and it was conversational, thoughtful, and friendly. I can't imagine what it must be like for them to have to hear the life stories of 120 interviewees like this, but hopefully mine wasn't too painful :) While I don't have any real edge-of-seat thrilling llife stories, I do have some fun ones and have enjoyed getting to where I am today. They asked some great "what-if" questions, and I think I did just fine! How fine I did remains to be seen, though! They will call back 50 of us 120 to go through more extensive interviews and medical exams, and narrow down to the last 9-15 who will finally be selected to enter the astronaut office (they'll be called "astronaut candidates" for the first two years of their training before graduating to "astronauts". So technically we are interviewing to be "astronaut candidates").
 One thing's for sure, I can bet there's not many other jobs where the competing interviewees are so helpful to each other! The other 9 folks in our group really did their best to cheer each other on, as well as calm each other down. They ranged from test pilots to engineers, and we also had an educator. All were so really cool, and hope to see them in the next round!

Soo for now it's back to reality, keeping busy at work as usual until hopefully I get a call to the next round. No matter what happens, I am so darned happy to have had the chance and had a super great experience. Having no regrets, doing my best, and having a great overall experience is the best feeling in the world!

Meanwhile, Anna-Marie was surprised at school with the Ward Good Character award for her class for the 9-week period! I couldn't make it (it was on Friday during my interview week!), but my mom and Paul attended and said she was so surprised :) It was hard for me to keep it a secret! We get to display the Good Character sign in our front yard for awhile. She had a few whiney months in the fall where I thought I might pull my hair out. But she's been coming out of that phase (thank GAWD) and growing up so fast. She knows she's growing up, too, and she's proud of all of it!


Also her reading ability has gone off the charts. I can't believe what I hear when she reads to us, and it's so fun to watch this develop. She even catches on when Paul and I try to hide things from her through the typical spelling approach. Busted. Dang.

She's catching on to science big time right now, and loves to watch magic tricks. In fact she has a magic kit on the way in the mail right now so she can practice. She wants a magician at her birthday party :) She's also started taking up dance class again (DARN IT!) and she loves it. Can't hold her back from that, the force is strong with this one :) But she will have to cut out gymnastics. Gymnastics, piano, and dance is too crazy on the schedule (and cost!). She is too young for that and really needs to appreciate balance and decision making.

...And Paul's clinic is booming through the roof! Life is good!

Interview week is here!

Tomorrow is day 1 of my astronaut interview week! I met the other 9 people who are in the selections with me this week and they're awesome!

This day sure came quickly! Let's go!

She's riding without training wheels!

Lovely! What a big girl :) And check out the boots she learned to tie on.

Love notes

I often leave little love notes in Anna's lunch box. Last night my empty lunch box was in the backseat on the ride home along side her, an when I went to make my lunch this morning I found this:








She had left me a love note in my lunch box! She must have worked on it on the drive home and slipped it in there quietly :) I had no clue. TOO SWEET!

Milestone: Anna tied her shoes!

Anna finally achieved tying her own shoes on Dec 31, 2012 :) Way to end the new year! She was wearing some big sparkly funky boot-tennis shoes my mom bought her that day :) I wish I'd taken a picture to post but I was too busy being all proud and stuff! Will get one tonight!

Jan 16: An anniversary

January 16, 8am, will mark exactly 12 years of my employment here at NASA JSC.

Jan 16 was cold and rainy, and I remember getting soaked to the bone in my blue dress shirt and black pants. I didn't have an umbrella, because we never needed one in Colorado! I've carried one with me now for the past 12 years.

I would have never ever foreseen that day that in exactly 12 years, at 8am I'd be sitting in orientation for my first day of astronaut selection interviews. Jan 16-18 is right around the corner now :) I'm ready, and I'll also have my umbrella ;)