Videos!

Now that I just figured out how to add videos here (through YouTube) this will become much more fun! I can share stuff like this (she didn't know I was recording it). We watched her from the kitchen window and it was I adorable I teared up. A perfect example of my Future Self telling me how much I already know I'll miss this.

And last week's piano recital! Over The Rainbow with a little bobble in the beginning but nice recovery (that's the hard part). By the way she hates piano but too bad so sad, this is something we are insisting on. Her piano teacher is awesome and knows Anna hates it too and navigates around it! Anna asks how long she has to continue piano lessons and we say "until you're really good". You'd think that would motivate her to practice?!

I raked a path through the leaves a few weeks ago for a little obstacle course :)

And this was a few weeks ago at her winter school fair (hers is the hamster ball in the back). We had visitors that weekend who were there with us: Nana, grandpa Ray, Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw all came to town!!!!

Life is good, now I'm going to be video happy!!!

Catching up a bit

It's tougher and tougher for me to keep up with the blog these days because I do these entries from my phone and it's a lot to type on a tiny iPhone screen! I don't do these on the computer because that means having time to sit down and plan and thoughtfully process my entries. Plus my phone has all the cool pictures on it to include here, like these:
















Anna's single riding lesson we purchased from Groupon (January). Anna loved the lesson but hated the jeans :) She would love to take regular lessons but finances don't allow it this year ($165/month!). We'll keep it in mind, though!

And this blog doesn't let me insert movies directly. I'd have to post them to YouTube and then link. The extra steps are too much for me these days! Her life in iPhone photos and movies are all pretty much on Facebook.

Here's a test video to prove me wrong maybe? I can't tell as I write this!

Some high level thoughts of lately. Anna's definitely has her "only child" habits/tendencies but she is such a great kid! She's growing out of the meltdown phase when we say no which has been awesome (though she still has her moments!).

She's understanding practicality of everyday things like not needing to spend money on certain things or cleaning up after herself as she goes to help keep the house tidy, or brushing her teeth now while she's in the bathroom instead of remembering to so it later...little things like that (including, Daddy while you're in there can you get me a cup of water?). She is trying to be mindful of eating healthy and notices when we do too.

She's still a picky eater but has started to venture out a little (she finally tried, and loved, the soft tacos from our fave Mexican restaurant instead of her 3-year long streak of cheeseburger!).

We still have these guys who blend in with the household nicely and put up with Anna's constant attempts at forced cuddles:







Cats aren't much interested in selfies.

We also still have the hamster Buttercup who is happy enough being left alone in her cage everyday, but tolerates the madness when she's out and can run a mean hamster ball path through the house.

And after 4 fish in 3 years we are done! Those things were more upkeep than the cats!

Anna's going to be 7 in just 7 short weeks. She's got ideas for her party, all girls, at the house again, decorating T-shirts and putting on makeup or something. Pretty sweet.





She's growing out of her clothes so quickly it's insane. I've heard about this with kids! :)

We love this little girl so much! I am so grateful for the last 7 years.

Halloween 2013

The witch, mid evil dude in a robe, and mermaid girl :) Horrible rainy day dried up in time for trick or treating! Anna's alternative to a rain out was to just stay home and hide candy all over the house for her to find. :)

We did that after we got home anyway. It was a Thursday night this year and the night before her endoscopy to try to figure out what's been causing all of the horrible stomach and esophagus problems since August. She seemed to have gotten over it with the help of Prevacid in September after having refused food for awhile due to a feeling like she was choking on her food. She had gotten down to a liquid diet only and dropped from 61 to 55lbs in just weeks. Prevacid got her back to eating again and them a few weeks after the Prevacid was done it all started up again. So she'd gotten back to sharing our queen sizes bed in Oct and was scheduled for an endoscopy the morning after Halloween. And since this meant no food or drink after midnight, she was in candy heaven till we finally made her go to sleep around 10:30.














































Her reward after the endoscopy was lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in the galleria, right next to the ice skating rink...which led to her first time on skates! The child loved it! She held on to us mostly (and mostly she prefers steady Paul on this one since I was just learning too!) and fell a few times but wanted more!

That evening when I was reading the post-procedure paperwork there was express caution about letting her do any kind of physical activity that day that would challenge her balance due to the anesthesia effects. Well ice skating would have been the worst choice now wouldn't it? Haaaaa! She was fine!

Good thing there's a rink here by the house!

Her endoscopy was normal and so was her biopsies. I was conflicted bc I was sure they would find something given all her pain but no. I'm gratefully that whatever it is wasn't causing damage but felt like how could you fight something you couldn't even diagnose?! He GI specialist is awesome though and doubled her Prevacid dose. Also gave her an antihistamine for stomach cramps in case it's a food allergy (we only take it occasionally). I've put her on a probiotic and this mix seems to have made a difference! She's back in her own bed (miss her but we appreciate a good night's rest without a tiny hand in our face or kicks to our kidneys).

Look at this kid. She's so big. Love her so much.

The furlough: "The Other Things and The Hard Things"

Well, I'm back at work as of October 17! I'd stopped blogging in between because mainly I got busy, simply put. As it turns out no matter what I do, even in forced "time out" there's something to be done. Anna, if you're reading this in the future, this one's a long post. But it says a lot about your mom so hopefully you're interested.

The TedXHouston Talk: 
The first thing was to recreate my TedX Houston talk, scheduled for Oct 12. Sometime in July, someone had "nominated" me to give a TedX Houston talk. These are short presentations on something that's supposed to be creative, informative, and entertaining. I had seen just maybe two or three in general, and knew they were something much different than the usual technical talks I give. They even had to interview me to see if I was worthy!! What the Hell, people? Who would nominate me and just what were they looking for?? As it turned out they were looking for a fun talk on space station science. Oh! I could do that. Just had to create a different set of "Ted Audience" type of charts and keep it to under 12 minutes.

I was well on my way to doing that, when the furlough hit. NASA told us we couldn't do ANY kind of outreach pertaining to our NASA jobs during this period, even if it was volunteer. The theme of this year's TedX Houston day was "The Other Things." Ironically, this comes from JFK's speech: we will go to the moon and do these other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. I say ironically because here we were, furloughed, and I was restricted to present anything to do with my affiliation with space. And now this was hard. Here I was, a person with no identity, really. What could I possibly talk about and who would care? One of the TedX Houston curators called me to talk about it. So he asked me, "What's your other thing?" Great. I didn't have an answer. Nobody in the Ted audience would really care about my adventures in motherhood, or my interests in archaeology or teaching. WHAT DO YOU MEAN OTHER THING? Oh for God's sake, does this mean I HAVE NOTHING IMPORTANT TO OFFER TO ANYONE outside of NASA?

Lord knows I lack creativity, but I had to pull something out on the spot on the phone. So I did, and they liked it, and I had to create a whole new set of charts the week before the presentation. And I had to practice, practice, practice. Add some drama, humor, and keep it under 12 minutes. The day of the event was super fun, and I brought my neighbor/friend, RM with me because she is super fun and I knew she'd really enjoy the day. We were treated so nicely and enjoyed the other presentations and meeting people. I got to know Don Pettit (astronaut) beyond my interactions with him at work (he too was a speaker), and really just gained so much from the day. I talked about "The Other Things Of Science" and I got to meet the person who had nominated me afterwards. She had heard my space station science presentation in the past and that's why she nominated me. I was relieved to hear she was so pumped up by the talk I'd just given, and understood the circumstances.  Turns out I pulled it off. The mantra "fake it till you make it" really works. Afterwards, plenty of folks came up to connect with me and wanted to keep in touch for other opportunities. People were freaking high-fiving me in the parking lot and saying "thank you" for my presentation. REALLY? I even went to the after-party social by myself, which turned out to be really fun (anyone who knows me realizes how big a deal his is for me). Going out there without my NASA identity, with a completely different topic, and people responding to it so positively, pushed the boundaries for me even further than what I'd learned about mself from my astronaut interviews in January. Since Paul and Anna were out of town, the next day I simply slept in (approximately 7:30am!), ate crap food, and watched TV/read The War of Art in my PJ's all day just to recover.

Growing the Grocery Station:
Phone calls, emails, onsite visits, website updgraes for searchability, anything I could do to pump up the business, I did it. I whined to Paul.  I was encouraged by the book, the War of Art, which identified anything you do out of creativity that takes you from a lower plane to a higher plane faces Resistance. So I did the "hard things". I talked to people. I answered emails and voice mails. I went to a freaking "Business After Hours" social event put on by the Chamber of Commerce, which I joined back in September. Again, this was HARD. I showed up by myself, and chatted it up with other community businesses over free booze and food. People approached me, asked about my business, and responded positively, and took it seriously. They were intrigued. I followed along. They had ideas for me and people they wanted me to meet. They had advice, and they too hated these social networking things. The small business entrepreneurs told me it was hard ( I mean I kinda knew that from living with Paul, but really realized it is a widely-known fact among small business owners). They had put themselves out there, invested time, heart, and money, to make it work. FULL TIME, I might add. The perspective for me was huge because I had invested way less money and time, and here I had been, crying over why my business wasn't bringing in the big bucks like I'd originally intended! And I really liked these people. These guys made a huge impact on me for the one hour I could spend there, before having to rush downtown to the TedX speaker's reception that evening (dear God ANOTHER social event. Back to back, same evening. The ultimate test. Part 1: me being the small business creator. Part 2: me being the out-of-work-NASA-scientist-wait-what-should-we-call-you-again???). I picked up Don Pettit for the drive downtown for the social, and the conversation was super fun. He asked about how my astronaut interview week had gone, and we talked all about it. Something I never thought I'd talk about with many astronauts at all. We talked science, engineering, and politics. Don is a science superstar and astronaut. The universe was continuously pushing me to have intimidating conversations during this furlough, and so I did. Fake it till you make it.

The time I invested in the Grocery Station actually had an impact. I did see a number of new orders increase, and new inquiries. 

Stay At Home Mom:
After 3 weeks of coming off of Prevacid with high hopes at the end of September, and Anna eating completely normally again, the reflux hit Anna hard again during the weeks I was home. I was able to focus on treatments for her, research specialists, talk to the school nurse, write ntes to the teacher, stay up at night with her to keep her comfortable, eat lunch with her at school, and give her way more attention than I could have if I had been working at NASA. At one point I thought I might strangle everyone, since Anna's school actually had off half a day on a Thursday, all day on a Friday, and Paul was busy all weekend. Love that child, but by Sunday evening I was ready for school to start again and holding back on being a raging lunatic mom. I kept the carpool going as normal, so I never slept in, although it was great not having to put on makeup or really get dressed before I had to head out the door. I slowed down to really read her school work with focus. I even actually read our mail. I didn't really clean out closets or organize stuff like I'd have liked to. I exercised some, but not as much as I could have. I didn't try new recipes. I just worked on the Grocery Station all day (and caught up on my CEU's for my EMT license that are due in Jan).

Man how noisy is my life when working full time? Pretty noisy. That's really one fast-paced career.

I did get out of the house with a fellow furlough coworker, and we watched the 3D version of the movie GRAVITY. Dear God, I had no idea what I was in for. And again, for so many reasons, it was a perfect furlough movie. But I am way too old for this kind of drama. It was really great, but hard to watch. It was an on-screen isolating movie about the worst possible things that could happen to an astronaut in space. Right out there: potentially every astronaut's worst fear (and this astronaut-wanna-be's) played out by Hollywood for the average movie-goer to watch. It probably had many different meanings for the average movie-goer than it did for us in the business of space. Regardless, in the end, it was a huge metaphor for rebirth. For Awakening. For facing the biggest fears and just saying, well what the Hell, let's do this . Don't think the message, particularly in its space theme, was lost on me. 

Watching the Politics:
The more I read on the Congressional battles, the more I realized most Americans were feeling the same way I was. Appalled by leaders on both sides calling this a "fight" or a "battle to be won." ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'll spare my feelings on this, but I still place the blame on the Tea Party Crazies, and the inability for Speaker Boehner to get his party in line. It was refreshing to watch some GOP leaders come out and say that very thing as well. One day when Boehner is out of office, I'd like to see a solid interview with him where he tells the truth on why he let so much BS happen under his watch. It's frightening to see such small-minded government-haters get such a voice. They DO NOT represent even 1/10th of the American public and they'd rather burn down everything this country stands for with their anti-government messages of hate and destruction. Yet look, they collect a government paycheck! Shameful. I wonder if any one of them had a family member that was waiting to get in on an experimental cancer treatment protocol in these last 17 days, but couldn't because those FDA workers were at home wasting their talents? Probably not. It scares me that there are really people in this country who feel that life has treated them so unfairly that the government is such an easy outlet for them to focus their hate on. And most of them have been on the very social programs they are lobbying against. Never mind the good things that the Executive branch does for their lives everyday. Freaking COWARDS. And now that I'm back at work, this particular interview sums up my feelings. So thankful for the Daily Show during this embarrassing time for our nation: Jason Jones's fantastically edgy interview

Getting the Call Back To Work:
When I got the call to return to work immediately, my first reaction was, "But I have appointments and work to do!" But not long after that, my thoughts turned to my NASA teams, and the fact that I really wanted to be there with them when the doors opened again. And so we'll pick up where we left off at least until January when Congress will fight about the budget again. 

Back at my office, I have new perspective that will actually benefit me at NASA.Turns out I am creative after all. I mean I've heard somewhere that EVERYONE is, but I was pretty sure I wasn't. The furlough was a period of growth outside of my comfort zone. Thank God I had the wisdom to recognize that and work with it, and I'm definitely taking it with me back to my day job. I hope other federal employees can take something back with them as they come back to work too.

This weekend I head to my high school reunion, right into the heart of extreme conservatism and Tea party fanatics. Where there's no middle ground for moderates like me. Where as a federal employee, I'm a topic of discussion given the latest political happenings. Usually I'm pretty tolerant of ignorant fools and their misguided political commentary and stupid comments pass. But at this point, it's going to take a lot more booze than the 3 freebies they're issuing at the door to prevent me from punching some idiot in the throat over a simple political statement I am going to disagree with. Maybe there's more room for growth there for me too?


JFK's Moon Speech given at Rice University 9/12/62:

President Pitzer, Mr. Vice President, Governor, Congressman Thomas, Senator Wiley, and Congressman Miller, Mr. Webb, Mr. Bell, scientists, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen: I appreciate your president having made me an honorary visiting professor, and I will assure you that my first lecture will be very brief.
I am delighted to be here and I'm particularly delighted to be here on this occasion.
We meet at a college noted for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength, and we stand in need of all three, for we meet in an hour of change and challenge, in a decade of hope and fear, in an age of both knowledge and ignorance. The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds.

Despite the striking fact that most of the scientists that the world has ever known are alive and working today, despite the fact that this Nation's own scientific manpower is doubling every 12 years in a rate of growth more than three times that of our population as a whole, despite that, the vast stretches of the unknown and the unanswered and the unfinished still far outstrip our collective comprehension.

No man can fully grasp how far and how fast we have come, but condense, if you will, the 50,000 years of man's recorded history in a time span of but a half-century. Stated in these terms, we know very little about the first 40 years, except at the end of them advanced man had learned to use the skins of animals to cover them. Then about 10 years ago, under this standard, man emerged from his caves to construct other kinds of shelter. Only five years ago man learned to write and use a cart with wheels. Christianity began less than two years ago. The printing press came this year, and then less than two months ago, during this whole 50-year span of human history, the steam engine provided a new source of power. Newton explored the meaning of gravity. Last month electric lights and telephones and automobiles and airplanes became available. Only last week did we develop penicillin and television and nuclear power, and now if America's new spacecraft succeeds in reaching Venus, we will have literally reached the stars before midnight tonight.

This is a breathtaking pace, and such a pace cannot help but create new ills as it dispels old, new ignorance, new problems, new dangers. Surely the opening vistas of space promise high costs and hardships, as well as high reward.

So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this state of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space.
William Bradford, speaking in 1630 of the founding of the Plymouth Bay Colony, said that all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and both must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.

If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space.

Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. 

Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say that we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.

There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. 

It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency. 

In the last 24 hours we have seen facilities now being created for the greatest and most complex exploration in man's history. We have felt the ground shake and the air shattered by the testing of a Saturn C-1 booster rocket, many times as powerful as the Atlas which launched John Glenn, generating power equivalent to 10,000 automobiles with their accelerators on the floor. We have seen the site where five F-1 rocket engines, each one as powerful as all eight engines of the Saturn combined, will be clustered together to make the advanced Saturn missile, assembled in a new building to be built at Cape Canaveral as tall as a 48 story structure, as wide as a city block, and as long as two lengths of this field. 

Within these last 19 months at least 45 satellites have circled the earth. Some 40 of them were made in the United States of America and they were far more sophisticated and supplied far more knowledge to the people of the world than those of the Soviet Union.
The Mariner spacecraft now on its way to Venus is the most intricate instrument in the history of space science. The accuracy of that shot is comparable to firing a missile from Cape Canaveral and dropping it in this stadium between the 40-yard lines.
Transit satellites are helping our ships at sea to steer a safer course. Tiros satellites have given us unprecedented warnings of hurricanes and storms, and will do the same for forest fires and icebergs. 

We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public. 

To be sure, we are behind, and will be behind for some time in manned flight. But we do not intend to stay behind, and in this decade, we shall make up and move ahead.
The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school. Technical institutions, such as Rice, will reap the harvest of these gains.
And finally, the space effort itself, while still in its infancy, has already created a great number of new companies, and tens of thousands of new jobs. Space and related industries are generating new demands in investment and skilled personnel, and this city and this state, and this region, will share greatly in this growth. What was once the furthest outpost on the old frontier of the West will be the furthest outpost on the new frontier of science and space. Houston, your city of Houston, with its Manned Spacecraft Center, will become the heart of a large scientific and engineering community. During the next 5 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration expects to double the number of scientists and engineers in this area, to increase its outlays for salaries and expenses to $60 million a year; to invest some $200 million in plant and laboratory facilities; and to direct or contract for new space efforts over $1 billion from this center in this city.

To be sure, all this costs us all a good deal of money. This year's space budget is three times what it was in January 1961, and it is greater than the space budget of the previous eight years combined. That budget now stands at $5,400 million a year--a staggering sum, though somewhat less than we pay for cigarettes and cigars every year. Space expenditures will soon rise some more, from 40 cents per person per week to more than 50 cents a week for every man, woman and child in the United States, for we have given this program a high national priority--even though I realize that this is in some measure an act of faith and vision, for we do not now know what benefits await us. But if I were to say, my fellow citizens, that we shall send to the moon, 240,000 miles away from the control station in Houston, a giant rocket more than 300 feet tall, the length of this football field, made of new metal alloys, some of which have not yet been invented, capable of standing heat and stresses several times more than have ever been experienced, fitted together with a precision better than the finest watch, carrying all the equipment needed for propulsion, guidance, control, communications, food and survival, on an untried mission, to an unknown celestial body, and then return it safely to earth, re-entering the atmosphere at speeds of over 25,000 miles per hour, causing heat about half that of the temperature of the sun--almost as hot as it is here today--and do all this, and do it right, and do it first before this decade is out--then we must be bold.
I'm the one who is doing all the work, so we just want you to stay cool for a minute. [laughter]

However, I think we're going to do it, and I think that we must pay what needs to be paid. I don't think we ought to waste any money, but I think we ought to do the job. And this will be done in the decade of the Sixties. It may be done while some of you are still here at school at this college and university. It will be done during the terms of office of some of the people who sit here on this platform. But it will be done. And it will be done before the end of this decade.

And I am delighted that this university is playing a part in putting a man on the moon as part of a great national effort of the United States of America.
Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."
Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

Thank you.
John F. Kennedy - September 12, 1962

Furlough Day 4

By the end of day 3, I had a reporter from KHOU 11 and a cameraman in our house to do an interview about the Grocery Station as an alternative to the furlough. Finding a silver lining! I had emailed 3 tv news stations with my story and KHOU was at my house within 3 hours of my email! They did a great job and I hope it brings in business!

http://www.khou.com/news/local/NASA-scientist-finds-new-purpose-during-furlough-226398141.html

Anna enjoyed being on TV too and we had to watch it over and over again :)

Day 4:
-exercised
-Worked with Google Ads for improved searching for The grocery station.
-Played with Anna
-Had a "furlough lunch" with coworkers and their kids at our place today. It was super great to catch up and the kids all had fun playing (they were off of school today!). Ate too much pizza.
-More emails for the grocery station
-Anna and I went to see Cloudy With Meatballs 2 with a gift card we had and it was such a smart and creative movie! And Visually it was amazing!!! I could see it again!
-More play with Anna, this time play dough.

Good night!

Who needs the government?

It's almost as if Mother Nature knows this is all bill shit too:


http://m.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/03/1243847/-FEMA-Scrambles-to-Recall-Workers-Sent-Home-By-GOP-Shutdown-To-Protect-Against-Hurricane

What I've been doing while Furloughed

Time off with NO PAY, in case you missed it! And let me be CLEAR: I blame the nut job tea party for being just small enough to represent the nut job extremist Americans who voted for them, but just big enough to divide an otherwise-somewhat-credible Republican party to the point that their own leader is too chicken to stand up for what he knows is right. To be clear, the American Health Care act is a LAW, held up in court. Holding up passing the budget because you don't like the LAW is blatent abuse of power and is destroying this country. This is almost laughable if it weren't so devastating. I blame the Republican House of Representatives and I blame the Speaker of the House for his crybaby lack of spine. No I don't blame the Senate Democrats and I don't blame Obama. Those who are blaming the President certainly don't understand how the system works, they likely vote with the extreme obstructionist right, and are part of the problem. Simply blaming Obama is a real cop out based on clulessness. What's even more hurtful is seeing some of my friends and family on Facebook continually "liking" Tea Party hate messages. It shows up in my Facebook feed, whether you know it or not, and it is like a continuous punch in the stomach that serves as a reminder that people don't even know what they're really "liking". Propagating hate, fear, and obstruction is not a way to run the governmnet. One so-called-friend even "liked" a statement that said, "So the government has stopped working, how is that different than any other day?" I work hard to represent NASA, our government, and love my country. And those who can laugh and propagate crap like this will unfortunately have their day, come October 17 if these loonies in Congress fail to raise the deficit ceiling. Bankrupcy for all, and  not just federal employees will be directly affected!

Day 1 (Tuesday Oct 1)


-Went to work to shut it down. Tossed the stuff in the fridge, took home all my snacks, pictures, and just stuff that I otherwise might not see for who knows how long (and this could be long, folks). Set my out of office response to the mandated, "NASA is closed due to the government shutdown. I have been furloughed and am unable to respond until the government opens again." Or something like that. Identified the critical jobs of keeping the space station up and running, and who would be called in to support. I'm on no immediate list, so don't expect to be called in for anything unless this really drug out until the holidays. Ironically, some of my co-workers asked "what happens to our insurance benefits if this drags out and we're not paying as we would normally (it's usually deducted from our paychecks). Who the Hell knows? How ironic would this be if the very federal employee who has been furloughed due to the Republican House Reps shutting down the government over the AHA- would ultimately lose their benefits because they're not getting paid? OH the extra bitch slap!
-Canceled my 10am flight to, ironically, Washington DC that day. Fought with Hilton over getting them to cancel my reservation for that night, given that I should have given them 24 hours' notice. I gave them a lesson on sensitivity training and they canceled with no fees.
-Exchaged personal emails and cell phone numbers, and "Facebook Friended" with co-workers, because these people are also my friends, and frankly, we'll miss each other. They, too, have families and we all talk about that stuff over the cubicle walls.
-Began slightly mourning the loss of my NASA identity. Because it's more than a paycheck.
-Came home, ate lunch, and opened my laptop. Because now I actually have the time to expand The Grocery Station. Who knew? By the afternoon I had contacts and interested businesses to call back on Day 2. Now more than ever I will need this income. Time to work for it.
-Filled the hummingbird feeders. There's a cute little hummingbird right on the back patio that I can watch from my laptop at the table.
-Called AT&T who knocked $50/month off of my services just for the heck of it.
-Picked up Anna from Gardening club and brought her to dance class.


Day 2
-Why put on make up? Brought carpool kids to school as usual, came home and exercised (what? it's DAYLIGHT out and I'm exercising?). Vaccuumed (gasp!) and even showered.
-Emailed and called several more contacts for the Grocery Station. Created new grocery basket idea and updated my website.
-Had lunch with Anna at school
- More work on the Grocery Station
-Texted my aunt that we won't be making the baby shower in Louisiana this weekend (gotta save that gas money)
-Realized me life is really noisy normally
-Played tennis at the actual tennis courts with Anna
-Went to bed by 7:30 with Anna because it just seemed like a long day


Day 3
-Still no makeup. This means I can snuggle with Anna in her bed for a few minutes and wake her up (usually Paul's job as I'm getting ready for work)
-Met with the A/C guy to figure out why we have some airflow issues. Problem resolved.
-Wrote to Ted Cruz to tell him in an intelligent way that he is an idiot. Made note to self to write to the Representatives next. Because I totally have time.
-Lamented with the AC guy who sympathized that Ted Cruz makes Texas a bigger laughing stock than it already is. Glad he agreed. PLEASE TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO VOTE. Although he personally is not the only target of my displeasure.
- More Grocery Station phone calls and outreach
-Picked up Anna from bus stop (it's half a day today and she's off all day tomorrow! What the Hell is this about anyway?)
-Realized I have time to blog this crap right from my laptop while Anna's in front of the TV. For years I've been blogging from my phone because I haven't had time or energy to do it from the laptop. Look I'm even using color!

We are starting to recognize that this furlough will drag out a pretty long time. And this congress is not likely to pay us back. And there are people out there who think this is OK because it doesn't affect them. And this is the apathetic America we live in. Think about it, because of sequestration, a good number of federal employees have been furloughed FOR MONTHS already. And that's died out of the news and those of us unaffected go on spending our money and living our lives.

I'm glad I spent the week I did on Capitol Hill learning about processes and this congress. Not like that makes me super informed, but it makes me understand what's really going on up there in a way that's better than how most Americans get their news: biased CNN or FOX.

Lord help us!

Furloughed!

About to find out what it's like to be a stay at home mom :)

Nicely done, nut job tea party! And leaders can't even lead!

http://www.c-span.org/mobile/Events/Government-Shutdown-Begins-House-and-Senate-in-Session/10737441638/

Happy birthday to me!

38 is gr8! It was a quiet day at work on my birthday. I surprised Anna at her school for lunch, which was a great treat for us both :) And came home to gumbo and a pumpkin shaped cake. And a happy birthday drawing from Anna taped to the wall so i could see it as I walked in the door.

Bring on fall!!

Today's stats

From the doc today: 55lbs and 48.5 inches tall.

She's lost 6lbs in the last month, and has gained an inch. The inch is mind-blowing. The weight loss is due to the swallowing thing.

A milestone!

Finally, Anna has stayed dry every night since mid August! She's now wearing "big girl undies" to bed and has had no accidents! She's of course excited because she was just starting to get apprehensive about friends and family knowing she wore pull-ups at overnight stays.

I guess it was finally her body's time. But let me just state right here that the body (and not the behavior) is responsible for the delay. No amount of water restriction and pottying before bedtime helped. We even carried her to the potty mid-sleep for awhile to see if that would help. We bought a urine monitor she was eager to try out (but then all
of us flaked out on that one when we realized how much sleep loss was headed our way with that), and then just suddenly I guess the Aldosterone just kicked in. We did our best to make it only as big a deal as she wanted to.

Hopefully it lasts!

She has also been struggling with some weird swallowing problems. In mid August she ate too much for dinner and threw up. Since that night she has complained of throat spasms and feeling of choking as she swallows. We got her on good old Prevacid for acid reflux, the first time in 5 years, which seems to have helped the spasms, but at one point a few weeks ago she was down to a liquid-only diet and had lost 4 pounds in 2 weeks. Right as we were preparing to walk out the door to another pedi appointment, she complained and gagged and threw up, and since her stomach was already empty, the only thing that came out was undigested hamburger meat and a large piece of onion!

She hadn't eaten that in awhile, and in fact, we wondered if it could have been some undigested food that maybe actually got stuck in her throat the night she puked a few weeks before!!

Seemed unreal but she swore that was what had been stuck in her throat when she saw it, and immediately she was able to eat more solid foods! The pedi was as stunned as we were when we got there a few minutes later. Could this have really been stuck in her esophagus?! Turns out, it happens.

Alas she's not eating everything again so there are still some issues. We have gotten smart about ways to get her nutrition in (the lack of diet variety has also led to bowel problems, which we are trying to maneuver around too), and we are setting up for a swallow test sometime soon to check for anymore obstruction since she still complains that some food makes her feel like she's choking. Just not nearly as bad, thankfully!

There's nothing more anxiety-producing than your kid not eating. I haven't had this kind of anxiety since she was a baby with reflux. Many old feelings have come back, the most important being a reminder that kids' parents are their biggest advocates. Whether it's "real" or not, it is real to her. So we are trying to get to the bottom of it. When in doubt about this "realness", Our pedi reminded me that she feels like God sits on the shoulders of parents. Only the parents know their kid best, and so when the parents tell her something's not right, she chases it down. I love her.

In the meantime I pray for guidance and patience and Anna prays for her throat to get better :)

Tooth #6 gone!

And haha I was home for this one. She pulled it herself 😁

First grade

Lovely and she likes her teacher! Sweetness!

Wicked!

The day I landed back in Houston from NYC, we headed downtown for a free night's stay at the Hyatt (frequent stay points!) and the next day attended the musical Wicked. We had dinner at the rotating restaurant called Spindletop, with views of the city:


The menu wasn't kid friendly so she filled up on bread and butter. Oh well, fancy dinner for Paul and I :)








And of course there was swimming to be had.


The next day, WICKED! She was so entranced we didn't hear a single peep out of her the entire show, other than her fear that it was over during intermission. She never wanted it to end! It is a pretty amazing show!! 💛💙💜💚











Autograph from the Wizard himself!




Another fun family summer weekend. We think this kid doesn't know how good she has it, so we will have to appropriately mix in some unexpected bearings or something.

Rock on! Matchbox Twenty

The Tues night after Wicked, Paul and I got to see the flawless talent of Matchbox Twenty at the Woodlands. Nice seats, thank you Paul!!

















Fun night with just my sweetie :)
And Paul. LMAO!