I'm so not a morning person, but this morning, I made a good pretense of it. I dropped Katrina off at Melissa's, and was at Rancho, stretched and ready to run, before 8am. I took this self-time to commemorate the moment just before hitting the trails at 7:55am. I ran the PG&E route again, enveloped in fog the whole way until the very top when the sun broke through. I'm sure it was a personal reward from the heavens to me. On the way back, I detoured back onto the lower third of the PG&E trail in the reverse direction. I thought for sure I'd set a personal record for feet climbed, but checking Rancho Runner, another route climbs just a little bit more. Rats. In any case, it was a good last hurrah, and early -- I was done running by 10am. I don't know how I'll keep in shape to do this sort of running once I start work. Tomorrow!
Once again, my children were all thrilled and in great moods when I picked them up. I'm very happy about that, but it still perturbs me a bit. Am I really that boring to be around?! I guess so!
Julian gave me a big hug in the parking lot and said, "I had SUCH a good time, Mommy!" Once again, he was full of new little songs and gestures and stories and sayings. He seemed so proud when he talked about "my class," and he was very happily playing outside with other kids when I picked him up. Any concerns I have are alleviated, he's blooming there.
Katrina too was in fabulous form when I picked her up, full of silly cackling sounds and games and trying to grab things and throw them to impress people. Melissa had to wake her up almost four hours into an afternoon nap! No wonder she was in such a good mood.
Gabriel, ironically, is the only one who's so-so on the whole after-school care thing. He does great, he's always happily engaged in something when I pick him up, but I feel the guiltiest about him. It makes me even more certain that what I need in a job is flexibility and self-direction. This one isn't it, but maybe it's my foot back into the door of the working world, and I can start to find my way to that job independence I want.
At least I got a little more appliance-decision-making done. I've decided the two features I must have in convection wall ovens are 1) knobs; and 2) pull-out racks on rollers. These apparently simple things push the choices right into the high-end. So I twisted some high-end knobs today and was mortified by some of the things I found. The $3000 Viking's knobs have this awful spring-tweaking sound, and the knob bounces back a bit when you set it to a temperature. The $2800 GE Monogram's knob works much better, but it's so small that it's hard to tell if you set it to 325 or 350. The much more reasonably priced Kenmore Pro's knob felt great, but the position that sets the temperature is at 12 o'clock (hard to see for short people) and is identified by a teeny tiny little black mark that will scratch off in a matter of months. My best bet so far is the GE Monogram, but part of me is wondering if I'll ask myself in 10 years why I didn't spend another $1000 and get the perfect Thermador oven.
Why is any of this important? Because the specific appliances you choose can have a pretty big effect on kitchen design, and nailing down the kitchen design will be a huge step in getting this remodel going. I'm pretty sure, for instance, that I want two ovens, and that a double oven is the way to do it. That affects where to put it, the electrical layout, other appliances, such as now a microwave needs another place. Choosing the specific appliance is less important, but it can still matter if it's a weird size, or if you want to match styles of appliances. I'm told you're supposed to do that. Happily, the kitchen designer I'll probably use is a calm, patient sort and will deal with me picking appliances based on knob feel instead of the finish (a white fridge with a stainless-steel dishwasher?!).
Anyway...back to what really matters:
Katrina loves being tossed into the air, so I tried to take a little video of me throwing her up as high as I can (which isn't very high). Her laughing sounds a lot like crying, but believe me, she was all smiles, and loved this.
Just like her older older brother. It occurred to me that of my mom's five grandchildren, Katrina and Gabriel are similar, and Aidan and Julian are similar, and Remi....she's her own deal, that one! None of them are nearly as crafty, always probing to see what new things she can do, new ways of making the world hers. Aidan and Julian are sweetie-pies, sensitive and imaginative and observant. Katrina and Gabriel...bulldozers, little forces of nature.
Not just my running will give way to my rejoining the workforce -- this blog will too. Let's see if I learn to keep it short. I might have to for lack of material -- it's not nearly as much fun reporting on childcare provider's reports!
11/6/07
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