Morning rituals

Now that Abigael is sleeping in her "big girl" bed, she likes to wake up at ungodly early hours. This morning she beat my alarm clock and was up just before 5:00 am. Thankfully we've just about trained her to stay in her room and play quietly until we can at least clear the fog enough to get up with her. This morning she did well and stayed in her room, but kept herself occupied by singing and talking very loudly. After a few minutes she began to call out for mama, daddy and milk. I got up, poured a sippy cup for her and took it in. She sweetly looked up at me from her bed, grinned and said "Tank you, Mama." I tucked her back in and asked her to please rest a while longer so her Daddy could sleep. "OK, Mama." I shut her door behind me and went to take my morning shower. Ten minutes later I headed down the hallway toward the kitchen for the all-important first cup of coffee. Just as I passed Abigael's bedroom door, I heard her doorknob click behind me. I slowly turned around and saw a hand, holding her sippy cup, emerging from the door frame. The hand paused for just a second and then dropped the cup to the floor. The tiny hand pulled back into her room and the door closed behind it. I stood there for a few seconds just dumbfounded. Between the giggles I fought to hold back, all I could think was " What is this? Room service?" I don't think I've ever felt more like a maid in my own home.
Well, at least she stayed in her room and I had some peace and quiet for a little while longer...

Is it Art or History?

The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) is currently expanded its facilities to include the Olympic Sculpture Park. It's located down on the waterfront bordered by Western Avenue, Broad Street, and Elliott Bay. I used to go this way to work so I could take Hwy 99 instead of I-5, but have avoided the area both since I started working in Kent and construction started on the Park. Well, this morning on a whim (i.e. I was running late and wanted to avoid the Denny disaster getting to I-5), I decided to take this route. There is now a huge pedestrian bridge over the Western and large banks of earth on either side of the road. The park is scheduled to open in January, so I wasn't expecting to see any installations yet. However, while waiting for the light to turn green this morning I looked up and saw this:

(Sorry for the crappy quality. I snapped this from the car with my cameraphone.)

I had to look at this for a few seconds and reach way back to realize what this was. A giant Typewriter Eraser! When I got to work, I did a couple of searches and found that it must be this piece by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. It was probably donated by Paul Allen. When I saw this piece silhouetted by the morning light, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I absolutely love it, but will anyone under 30 even know what this is?

This is definitely one of the things I love about living in Seattle. You never know what you're going to see around the next corner.

Random music post

Driving into work this morning, I was grooving to a particularly good set of tunes on the local "Classic Rock" radio station (i.e. oldies with guitar riffs. How sad that Queen is now relegated to that category). The next song to come up was “Centerfold” by The J. Giles Band and I was instantly time warped back to 1981. When I was eight or nine, the local roller skate rink had a special time on Saturday mornings for the younger kids to skate. For a couple of hours, you could fine tune your skills without having to worry about being run over by the know-it-alls. My mom would take me and for a little while I was cool, making the circle several hundred times and singing along with the music blaring from the speakers. Anyway, today as a 33 year old mother, I turned up my car stereo a little more and sang aloud again...“my blood runs cold...my memory has just been sold...” It crosses my mind, was a song about a guy fantasizing about what was under fuzzy sweaters and buying adult magazines really appropriate music for eight-year-olds? I guess the music kids listen to today really may not be so bad after all.


(Note: As I searched for the links to put in the post, I came across the album listing for the band. I had forgotten they had done such classics as "Freeze Frame" and "Love Stinks." Awesome.)

Appalachian State News....sort of

I was checking my lastest feeds in Bloglines and came across this post on the Appalachian Alumni office blog maintained by Rob.

Mountaineer Madness at midnight
The 2006-07 Appalachian basketball season gets underway Friday night with the fourth-annual Mountaineer Madness. A special guest host will be on-hand that night - 16-time world champion Ric Flair:

Flair will help host the event as he joins the ASU faithful in ushering in the 2006-07 men’s and women’s hoops seasons.

The evening begins with volleyball taking on SoCon rival Davidson at 8 p.m. on the Holmes Center floor.

The madness continues at 10:30 p.m. as Mountaineer Madness begins. The ASU men’s and women’s basketball teams will be signing autographs and posing for pictures as fans enter the Holmes Center.

Admission is free. The men’s basketball schedule begins November 13. The women’s basketball team begins play November 11.

With regard to the volleyball team, it is currently in second-place in the SoCon and boasts the league’s player of the week, Dianna Thomas.

RIC FLAIR!! How cool is that!!! And I bet Rob is probably going to get to meet him...Well, at least take pictures to share, OK?
WOOOOOOO!

(I'm jealous...)

MIA

Sorry I've been away for so long. It's been a crazy, rough summer and I've been trying to keep my mind focused on work and family. Not as easy as it sounds when your hormones and brain chemistry decide to go on strike.
Things are starting to even out all around, so I'm going to try to get back in the habit of posting. Until then, if you haven't already, check out Track Daddy for some more recent news.

Love to everyone!