I’m Beautiful Like Me.

The weeks have been crazy hectic. I have looking forward to Jugband Jubilee 2009 since last year! I finally got word last week about the date, but had already committed myself to the department for which I work’s annual picnic. Hell, I planned the thing! In any case, we decided to attend the picnic first and then head out to the Waterfront Park to the Jugband Jubilee. Last year, I took Joy and went with Penny and her girls. This year, Husband and Buddha joined us. It was an amazing time.

The crowd this year was much bigger!

 

 

 

 

The Cincinnati Dancing Pigs

Just today, they erected this memorial for Earl McDonald, a Jug Band Pioneer. His lovely granddaughter gave a short speech of thanks at tonight’s performance.

 

 

 

 

These fellows are a Japanese Jugband and this was their first American appearance. They were very fun, extremely entertaining and, of course, amazingly talented. They are the Old Southern Jug Blowers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course, I had the opportunity to play with my new camera!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joy was particularly photogenic today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buddha made a new friend (with a VERY fancy camera). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Louisville by day and by night….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School is still going pretty well. I’m enjoying my classes quite a lot and am only finding myself stressed about scheduling issues instead of the actual work. Come to think of it, it’s usually always about finding the time to study outside of class than getting to and from class and understanding the material! Why should this semester be any different?!

Husband and I took our extra school cash and moved last weekend. We paid our deposit and three months rent in a first floor apartment that is more than double the size of our last apartment. It’s so nice and roomy. There’s an enormous front porch, a basement, a little yard and it’s within walking distance to the Black Loop (where I catch the bus to school). The family is really enjoying it. I enjoy all the extra space, the boy loves having his own room and the girl is digging her monster-sized closet. Husband is giddy over the basement and garage. Whether or not he wants to admit it, I believe he is enjoying the challenges of living in a house that’s nearly a hundred years old.

Moving has been a huge stressor this week. We have managed to get 95% of our stuff out of the old apartment as well as the stuff we’d been storing at my mom’s (my books are home!!!) over the long weekend, but a lot of it is still packed in boxes throughout the house. I took Tuesday off from work in order to take care of getting the utilities switched over and the last big load moved but had to get back to school and work and the usual grind come Wednesday, so getting the new place in order is pretty much at a standstill. The most awesome part is that even with all of our stuff here, there is still so much room. Once I get everything out of boxes and into it’s rightful place, I can finally invite people over to have dinner, to watch football games, to entertain and not feel claustrophobic!

The new camera arrived on my birthday and it’s farkin’ fabulous. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed playing with it and I haven’t even begun to understand all the amazing things it can do. I will take some time in the (relatively near) future and read through the field guide that came with it so I can maximize it’s potential. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this one. Be well!

My beautiful kids, 8/31/2009

My first week back to school has been really wonderful. At least the school part. The part of not having all my books on hand, switching a class at the last minute, and home adjustments hasn’t been great. But the classes are awesome. I’m taking a basic Geography course, one that relates to humans (more social than scientific), Anthropology that deals in skeletal forensics (a lot of new terms to get familiar with!), American Lit (Reading! Critical thinking!) and Existential Philosophy (more critical thinking!).

Coupled with my new job at the school’s Department of Neurology is exciting. I’ve been working for the Chair and his secretary. I’m in absolute reverence of the Chair - he is a brilliant man that has had more publications than any other faculty member at the school. If I had to guess, it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of two to three hundred. The rest of the staff is really great, too. My boss is really cool and laid back. And I’m encouraged to study in my down time! Awesomeness.

Husband has had a little difficulty adjusting to me being gone a lot. But he’s been a good sport about it all. On Thursday, when I was gone all day working, I came home to a clean house and hot dinner. He’s so sweet. I’m lucky to have such an amazing support system with him.

The hardest part for me is finding time to study. Because I’ve had to tweak my sleeping schedule, I’m pretty tired by the time the kids are in bed and am falling asleep on my books! But I feel pretty good that I’ll figure it all out.

I haven’t enjoyed a weekend so much in a long time! I spent a good portion of yesterday crocheting myself a sleeve for my new HP Mini netbook. I also finished another pair of fingerless gloves and have another one ready to start. Busy, busy!

Tomorrow is my 32nd birthday. Besides the netbook, going back to college, Husband bought a camera for me! I expect it to arrive in the next day or two. I’m really excited about it, but it is a much nicer camera than I have ever used and I hope I can find the time to learn a little bit about it!

Until next time… hopefully it won’t be too long from now, but I’m obviously going to very busy!