Three!

My curly girl is three years old, so it's fitting that she's having three birthday celebrations to mark the occasion: One was last week when we visited my parents and aunt and uncle; one was this past weekend with five of her little friends at Chuck E. Cheese's (a huge success!); and one is tonight, with a friend and her daughter who couldn't make it to her party. We're going out for ice cream, which is as much a treat for Mama and Papa as it is for her :)

Azucen@ awoke to a dollhouse to play with. Several months ago I got a new-in-the-box wood dollhouse and furniture at a consignment sale for $20, and last night I put it all together. She also had a birthday haircut today. It's much shorter than the one a few months ago, so that her papa can comb through it in the mornings now that I'll be going to work early. (It takes a long time to get a comb through all those curls, and John is wary enough as it is about doing her hair each day!)

Her language is evolving so much that sometimes I can't believe she's putting so many new words together. Toddlers are amazing. My favorite word - it makes me laugh every time she says it - is "me belp", which is her way of saying "myself". It is always part of the phrase "all me belp" ("all myself"). And since everyone besides her is "ella", the words "herself", "himself", and "itself" all translate to "ella belp". Example: "Me want to go upstairs all me belp" or "Ella want to eat pizza all ella belp?" or (with terror in her voice in public restrooms) "The toilet flush all ella belp!"

As she turns three, she is solid muscle and very coordinated; she really enjoys playing in water, kicking and throwing balls, running, and dancing. She loves baby dolls, bouncy balls, stickers, and her entourage of invisible friends (Geb-Gyeh, Numma, Azucena, Emmy the Snake, Puppy, and Ladybug). Potty training is not exactly her highest priority, which is fine but I'm a bit nervous that she won't be able to join her three-year-old preschool class in the fall (all kids in the three-year-old class have to be potty trained).

Some parents say the time flies by, but I don't find that to be the case yet. A whole lot has happened over the last three years. I can't wait to see how she changes and develops as she moves into her fourth year on this planet.

Blog Note

Hey guys - Comment moderation is back on the blog for awhile. I have allowed a particular commenter to leave five or six comments because I do not delete comments or ban people just for having a different opinion. However, he is no longer welcome here because he is simply using this space to post his own political opinions while failing to respond to anything I comment in response. Despite what he claims, he is not interested in engaging in debate, but rather in creating straw man arguments based on what he THINKS I believe (often guessing completely incorrectly). It's not my responsibility to educate this guy... And even if I wanted to try, he has no interest in learning in the first place.

Anyone who disagrees with something I've written is free to leave a comment saying so. All I ask is that you actually read what I write in response and answer thoughtfully instead of just regurgitatating some silly "outrage" manufactured by Fox News.

Vintage Treasures

I've been having SO much fun at estate sales and thrift shops the last month or two. I'm finding lots of fun stuff, a bit of which I'm keeping for myself, but most of which I'm putting in my Etsy vintage shop. Seriously, nothing gets my blood pumping the way the thought of a treasure hunt does! Being enamored with mid-century modern design, I was thrilled to find a 1950s modern chair and teak buffet a couple weeks ago. They were marked $80 and $185, respectively, and I asked the woman in charge if she would make a deal if I bought both. She said, "How about $135?" and I was surprised she would come down $50 on the buffet the first day of the sale. Then she added, "... for both", and I said, "Sold!" Half price!

Yesterday I got a great deal on some EXCELLENT 50s barkcloth in an abstract pattern that matches the rest of my living room perfectly, so I'll be recovering the cushions of the chair in that (the fabric currently on the cushions is original but not in good shape). The pulls on the buffet are black metal and curve downward (yes, I decided to use it as a dresser!).

Miscellany

• I've been having the craziest dreams this week. The night before last, I dreamed that I was back in college and part of a three-person water dancing (?) team, and we were a huge success, but then everyone in the stands started making fun of cellulite on my butt. I was annoyed because thought they were out of line (an oddly logical reaction). Then last night, I dreamed that Hyacinth Bucket and I crashed Jimmy Fallon's wedding. (P.S. Is Jimmy Fallon cute or what?)
  
• Azucen@ is now sleeping in her toddler bed. She never once tried to climb out of her crib, but she is about to turn three, so I figured it was time. She makes quite a mess in her room now that she's no longer confined at nap time and first thing in the morning. We've got to find a new place for the wipes so that she doesn't use them all "changing the diapers" of her stuffed animals.

• Azucen@ has also recently been promoted to CEO of Tantrum International. I've heard that three can be worse than two... Yippee!
• We're going to see my parents again this week - That makes four times since we got back to the States in January. It is so much better seeing them every six weeks instead of every six months!
  

Transition Time

For those of you who didn't read my news on Facebook: I did get the job :) I found out last week and am waiting on the official offer letter. I will be working in marketing at a non-profit organization for sick children. It's a wonderful cause and one I know will be inspiring.

Knowing we're going to have a second, steady income is a great feeling. Although my salary will be just about half of what it was in the for-profit world, it is still a steady salary... with benefits, which is one of the most crucial things. Knowing this extra money is coming is so freeing - I actually bought myself a pair of walking sandals to replace the ones that broke last week (which I'd bought just before leaving for Guatemala - They really held up!). And I was able to buy some nice things to send to Azucen@'s foster family, whose eldest daughter is expecting their first grandchild this month. The thrifty side of me will never disappear though; I bought Azucen@ a Gymboree shirt for 45 cents today at a thrift store :)

The guilt is already creeping in about going to work full-time, even though I know it's necessary for me to do so. I've been with Azucen@ all the time for over two years (except when she goes to preschool or a babysitter, but even preschool is over now for the summer). It's going to be a big transition for both of us.

My New Etsy Shop!

I opened a new Etsy shop today, called Virginia Jane after my two grandmothers. There are so many vintage and vintage-inspired things I've been wanting to get into, but my La Chapina shop is focused on a Latin American theme and I didn't want to dilute that.

Check it out and let me know what you think! :)



P.S. I got the second interview... It's a little over a week away!

Still Looking...

I'm still on the job hunt.

I had a first round interview last week and hope to hear back about a second round this week. The position is in Marketing and it's a great match for me, but because it's a non-profit, it pays half of what I made in my previous job, and $20k less than I even started out of grad school. Taking a job like that is not the best way to pay off our debt, but it has good benefits... and regardless, it's going to be a long time before my previous employer is hiring again.

I don't want to say too much about it here, but the organization is a really great cause and one I'd feel proud to work for. I've been thinking for a long time about getting into non-profit work, to know that my time was spent directly helping people instead of just doing my part to increase profit for shareholders.

The First of Many, I Imagine

Little kids say embarrassing things. When my brother was about three, he and my mom were walking into the grocery store as an elderly woman was walking out. "Why are you so OOOOOLD?" he asked the woman.

Friday night, John, Azucen@, and I we were out for our weekly dinner out. There was a married couple at the table next to us, and the man appeared quite a bit older than the woman. When Azucen@ looked over and saw the man had gotten up to go somewhere, she asked (loudly) "Donde esta ella's daddy? Donde esta ella's papa?" I hushed her, and she didn't say anything again until the man returned to the table.

"Alli esta ella's daddy!" she said, pointing this time. Ugh!

No Time to Lose*

Conversation between couples who have been together a long time can often tend toward the mundane: what the child/children (or dog) did that day, various household appointments and tasks, etc - and John and I are no exception. Since neither one of us is working outside the home, we don't even have any office gossip to share, and sometimes we start laughing about having nothing interesting to talk about.

But then sometimes, we surprise ourselves. Both Friday and Saturday night, spurred on by the continuing story on Lost (the best show on television), we spent dinner talking about time travel: various scientists' positions on whether it's possible backwards in addition to forwards, the theory of relativity, various examples of paradoxes that could occur in time travel, etc. They were the kind of conversations you think about the rest of the evening and even the next day.

Then after dinner last night, I went out bowling with some friends, and we were in a lane next to a large group of college boys. As they gave themselves obscene names on the scoreboard, drank beer, and generally showed off for each other, I thought to myself, "I love being married to a nerd."


* There's a Monty Python sketch in which this guy and his wife can't think of anything to say to each other anymore, so he goes to a shop to buy an interesting phrase to say to her. That phrase is "No time to lose."

Eww

Overheard on the playground this morning: A boy about five years old yelling, "I swear to God I'm gonna beat you down! I'm gonna freakin' beat you down!"

Nice. Can you imagine what he's going to be talking like by the time he's twelve?

Imagination

Yesterday Azucen@ was sitting on her potty seat that rests on the toilet. She leaned over, pulled a long strip of toilet paper over her shoulder, and placed it at her opposite hip. "Mi cinturon" [seatbelt], she said. I laughed so hard.

Busy Busy

I may not have found a "real" job yet, but it's amazing how busy I'm staying. I've applied for three more positions, all at non-profits doing fundraising or community outreach (all of which mention marketing experience in their descriptions), but have yet to hear back from them. I really love the idea of doing something that helps an underprivileged community.

In the meantime I'm keeping busy not just with my Etsy shop, but with selling CDs and records online. My parents have had a music business for 20 years and my dad brought me several big boxes of records and collectible (out of print, audiophile pressings, etc), for me to sell and keep a cut of the profits. So I have been ebay-ing like crazy over the last week. Every minute that Azucen@ is at preschool or asleep is like gold!