I'm still here

Work and spending time with people have taken priority over blogging.

I'm stressed out in the back of my brain all the time. I think this stuff with my grandpa and my family is taking a toll. I've chipped two teeth, which unfortunately appears to be a new stress outlet. But other than that stress, life is great. Grandpa, incidentally, is frustrated by his situation but is physically recouperating quite well. His rehab docs are very impressed with his progress. Grandma was in the hospital too, for a bowel obstruction. They are finally both out and in a nursing home rehab-type facility. My relatives have been working hard, spending lots and lots of time and days and nights at the hospital with them. They couldn't come to Thanksgiving, and we're all trying to figure out what is going to happen when it's time for them to "go home," since Grandpa isn't really going to be able to care for the two of them in their house anymore. We are blessed with a big, strong, close family, but this is still a pretty stressful time.

Thanksgiving was 100% great. I had Thursday's meal with Ben's family and Friday with mine. Great food all around. I made 4 pies and a cobbler. (2 pumpkin mascarpone, 2 apple cherry streusel, 1 Door County cherry.) At my house we were all a little sad that Grandma and Grandpa weren't there, but everyone was so glad to be together and feeling festive that we got along better than ever and had a really nice time. It was one of the best Thanksgivings I can remember. Being home was rejuvenating. Visiting Grandma and Grandpa in the hospital was good.

We missed Adeline while we were gone. She's still great. We are in love with her. I'm trying not to turn into a crazy cat lady but we've only had her for a month and I still think she is, as they say, the cat's meow. You are welcome to come and play with her any time. She loves to play with her sparkly balls and fleece cat charmer toy. Also, paper bags and towels on the floor. She loves to hang out and watch everything we do. She likes to snuggle up with us at night, occasionally interrupted by polite requests to wake up and play with the toys she has brought onto the bed.

Ben and I had a great anniversary way back when. We dressed up fancy, and since it was an unseasonably warm night, biked from restaurant to restaurant. We went to Mirai for a cocktail and sushi appetizer, then to Green Zebra for classy vegetarian entrees, desserts at Hot Chocolate and a nightcap at the Charleston. We're all happy together.

I've been working a lot which is good for my pocketbook. I did two parties the weekend before Turkeyday, and got my biggest tip ever! It involved multiple twenty dollar bills.

I've been asked to join the group piano faculty at work. I'm very excited to be heading in the direction of more teaching. Hooray!

Our hit single came out on the internets! Check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y8WJHK/ref=dm_dp_adp27/102-8834769-3274544

Thus ends the reading.

putt-putt-putt... sputtterrrrrr

I'm running out of gas. The past several days have been jam packed with activity and emotions. There are more details than I'd really like to go into, but here's the rundown:

Mom was in Chicago with her co-teachers for the National Early Childhood Convention. The hotel screwed up their reservation and they pitched a fit until they could offer them something reasonable. Which ended up being the "Astor Suite" on the 33rd floor. 2 bathrooms. A dining room. A bar. 3 doors to the room. Great views. Big fancy TV. Ridiculous bedroom. It was amazing. On Thursday night I came bearing gifts of wine and beer, and we ordered pizza and were silly. Super fun.

The next day my Grandpa had a stroke. I first got the news just before teaching a WW class, and at that point things were looking very serious. It was the hardest class I've taught. But afterwards we learned that the situation was not quite as dire. My mom, aunt Debbie and I all happened to be in Chicago, and they decided to stay through the convention before traveling to Milwaukee. I decided to join them and drove up with my mom on Saturday afternoon.

Friday afternoon I went to one workshop with Mom and Debbie at McCormick Place, which is nuts. Though it was was fun to go to the workshop. Mom stayed at my place that night. She met Adeline and fell right in love with her. Of course. We had dinner at Artopolis.

Saturday morning I played a birthday party while Mom baked banana bread with my old black bananas, and then we drove up to Milwaukee. It was great spending so much time with her; we had some deep conversations and I feel better about my place in our family now. Living in Chicago when the rest of my very close family is together in Milwaukee is not actually so easy, but I think now both of us have a better idea of how to relate to each other in this situation. I was very glad to be coming home to be with the family.

We ate banana bread with our family and then drove out to the hospital to see Grandpa. He seemed okay when we got there, just very tired and weak, with the left side of his face drooping. Lots of family members were there. The people in the next room complained about the noise. When the sun went down though, Grandpa started acting very strange and confused, demanding that we give him the bottle of pills he could see while there was actually no bottle of pills there. His confusion and nonsense made me very upset and I lost control of my tears. Nothing scares me more than losing control of the brain, and to see my super-smart, capable grandpa acting so absurd was terrible. Later we found out that he was spiking a fever due to a urinary infection, so that partly explained his hallucinations. But at the time it was very freaky. We ate dinner at the hospital with Betsy and the Konkols.

Bradley was in The Nerd at Tosa East that night, and since Grandpa couldn't go I was able to use his ticket. They had constructed a sort of black-box feel, with the set and entire audience right on the stage. Being on the stage at Tosa East again stirred up all kinds of different emotions. During the play I snuck out with Grandma to take her to the bathroom, because I knew where the backstage rooms were. It was so bizarre, helping my grandma with her bad knees and fuzzy perception up flights and flights of stairs, backstage in my old high school theater where I had been so often, so long ago. Bradley was great in the play, but unfortunately the main thing I left with was anger after the director came to greet me and Jesse, and talk to us about Bradley's performance and our past performances, and totally blew off Julia and Leslie. He likes to put on exciting, impressive shows that are popular in the community, but his focus on the theater's impression in the community overshadows his concern for his students' feelings and opportunities. His rudeness broke my heart, and I really felt for Julia amidst the trials and tribulations and bullshit of high school. She is brave and strong and hanging in there, and I give her so much credit.

Sunday I slept through church, and then we spent more time at the hospital. Grandpa was much better. Improving by leaps and bounds. His doctors, nurses and physical therapists were amazed by his progress. He was working on a crossword puzzle with us, making witty jokes, joining in conversation with his visitors. He even walked down the hall with a walker. We'll have to see how much he improves, but he was starting to be more like himself. There are going to be some changes in the way our family works. It is overwhelming. But we are very lucky to have so many family members who take care of each other.

I ate with Julia and then drove home to Chicago, just in time for the Songbook volume 4 CD release concert. We recorded a track for the album, but unfortunately our track will only be available as an "internet extra." This is an unfair bummer for lots of reasons, but mostly because nobody told us and we had to find out through the rumor mill. Lots of teachers' tracks got the boot in favor of more famous ringers. The part that frustrates me is that 9 out of 20 tracks that are on the hard copy of the CD are not even in the songbook. Still, check us out come November 20! We'll also be on iTunes. It's a good track. The concert was a ton of fun, after I finally drove all the way back from Milwaukee and changed into my dress and drove to the school and hopped up on stage to swing Oh Susannah for a good crowd, and then I had the most delicous PBR ever. The other performers were all really good, and I love variety-show type performances with lots of different kinds of people doing their thing. And then I went to O'Hare to pick up Ben from the airport. He was in New York all this time.

Bodies respond to stress in different ways. On Sunday night I chipped my front bottom tooth. Get it together, body. I'll not have this weakness.

I'm working tonight instead of tomorrow night; it's going to be Ben and my 8 year anniversary and we're going out for fancy times. Thank goodness I'll have the day off.

Happy Homecoming

Check out this great picture that my friend Erin took:



Awwwwwwwwwww!

I love this coffee

I'm at Swim Cafe, sipping coffee, M Ward is playing, it's a sunny cold day.

[sip] "Ahhhhhhhh."


I'm enjoying this morning off after a lot of extra work lately. My voice is grateful for the break too; I did a Halloween/birthday party last Wednesday, then my 4 classes on Friday, 3 hour Hidden Cove gig with the band on Friday night, Saturday subbed 3 classes, Sunday birthday party, Monday 3 classes. Whew. That's a lot of sangin'. Otherwise, it's been a pretty good mix of fun stuff and staying home cozy with the cat. Halloween we ended up biking to the California Clipper for a late-night nip. Thursday we rented a great movie called The Lives of Others, which won best foreign film last year. Friday I came home after my gig and had tea with Adeline. She did not have any tea, but did enjoy a tuna-flavored treat.

Saturday night after work I ran some errands, and found a great Timbuk2-knockoff messenger bag for $25!! I knew I had found a really good deal when the girl at the register said, "It's funny, these bags are pretty nice for such a cheap price, so everyone who works here bought one." Sweet! Feeling all bikey with my new bag, Ben and I biked to Kuma's Corner for big burgers and heavy metal, and then came home to change and get fancied up for the Homecoming Dance. As part of the OTS's 50th anniversary celebration, we had a big party on Saturday night in the style of a dance from the year we began. Everyone got all gussied up in vintage clothes, bought corsages and took photos and voted for the king and queen. Aren't they cute? It was very old towney, and a lot of fun. Ben slicked his hair and wore his skinny tie, and I wore my red strapless dress and teased my hair out all big. We looked great, if I do say so myself.

The next morning Miki, who runs the cafe at the school, hosted a big brunch at his house. He and his wife and three girls live in a sunny second floor apartment on Lincoln, and it was full of sunshine and plants and people and food and music. There was a variety of people there, of all ages and backgrounds, and we stuffed ourselves with egg dishes and pastries and mimosas and sausages and good times. I loved it. It felt like a big family event. That afternoon I played a birthday party, which was another family event, and afterwards drove up to Milwaukee with Ben for Grandpa George and Roberta's birthday party. It was a day of feasting and family celebrations. I hadn't seen my family since Door County, except for my sister who had visited right before Labor Day. It was good to see them. Driving between Milwaukee and Chicago isn't too bad when you can plan to avoid the traffic, and while we spent about as much time in the car as at the party, we were both glad we had made the trip. Mom will be here later this week for the early childhood convention. I'm excited to see her and glad that she'll get to meet Adeline!!

Meredith came over yesterday afternoon to meet her (Adeline, not Mom), and she fell in love. We played with her all afternoon and wore her right out, and she slept straight through the night, between Ben's feet on the bed.

[sip] "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

I'm off to get a free flu shot (Thanks, Chicago!), go to yoga and bike up to Wrigleyville to return an inferior bag I purchased earlier. My biking enthusiasm is back lately, which is good, because the cold weather can tempt me into being a lazy blob on the couch. Which makes me grumpy and depressed. I have to remember that as soon as I'm biking, I love it, and am always glad I did. That's how I feel about doing most things. The force of inertia is strong in this one; a Lindsay at rest tends to stay at rest, but a Lindsay in motion tends to stay in motion. And a Lindsay in motion is a happy Lindsay. On that note, I'm so glad I made it out of the house this morning! These errands seemed so difficult while I was home in my pajamas, but now I feel like I have tons of time and energy to do them. Yay productivity!