| nixy | | iam.a.yellow.fucking.butterfly
12,239
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under the
oregon sun 
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| A book about daddies caught Simon's eye and I bought it for him.
It came with 2 cards and 2 envelopes, for writing a letter to your daddy. I told Simon we could do it together, but he wanted to do it all himself.
He wrote in the cards, put them in the envelopes, sealed them, addressed the envelopes, then hid them.
I found the envelopes in a window frame, address-side down. Simon said he put them there because he thought maybe it would be easier for his dad to find them if they were by the window.
TO DADDY FROM YOUR KID I  YOU SO MUCH -- I got a little sad, of course. But I didn't open the envelope. It seemed private, but mostly I didn't want to mess it up.
Simon told me he wasn't going to use the other one because the handwriting wasn't as neat as the other. Today as I carried it over to my filing cabinet to add it to my Simon art file, I noticed that it was sealed with little bits of removable tape. So I opened it. On the letter paper was a drawing and a joke he's texted his grandmother. It was sweet, it was to his Daddy, and suddenly I wanted to see what was inside the other envelope.
I'm glad I was alone, because I couldn't help crying when I read this one. 'I'm so sorry I never got to see you.'
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| iunyper - what was the trial for?
nixy - meth
iunyper - ah.
nixy - the defendant was driving a car with a backpack full of meth that clearly belonged to the passenger
and my fellow jurors decided that
because "but the prosecutor SAID" was a valid argument
iunyper - god.
nixy - that he would be convicted of possession and sale of large amounts of controlled substances
i was told "well now you're just arguing semantics"
iunyper - god.
nixy - about "INTENT" and "KNOWLEDGE" and "REASONABLE DOUBT"
iunyper - that's horrible.
nixy - yes
iunyper - this may be a reason i never want to do jury duty.
the whole "agreement" thing --
did you have to concede or do you get to vote differently?
nixy - yes
i would never have conceded
it was 10-2, which is the minimum necessary
iunyper - that's really dumb. sorry.
nixy - yeah
at least i did my civic duty, right?
iunyper - yeah. your civic duty is to put up with a bunch of dumbasses.
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| Again, again. I seem to only write here when I'm drinking. The evidence suggests that I don't drink very often. I certainly don't write here very often.
I made myself a hot toddy about 2 hours ago and just finished it. Here are the contents:
Whiskey
Hot Water
Key Lime Juice
Cinnamon Powder
7 Cloves
A Generous Dollop of Honey
It was quite good when it was still hot, and also when it was warm. Less so when it was cold, but I finished it anyway.
I can't seem to sign into Facebook, and it seems like it might have been a day or so since it worked properly. Just me?
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| Time for the annual Parent-Teacher conference paper! | |
| This narrative is an opportunity to share our observations and interpretations about Simon during his time at school.
Simon brings such a kind presence to the Ladybug classroom. He is always one of the first to offer his help to a classmate struggling to write words or letters and with tasks in the classroom for the teachers. Simon, being one of our oldest, is able to help guide children through the routine of the day by modeling what needs to be done. We can always count on Simon to be respectful and kind to teachers and peers. He seems to have the innate ability to converse, debate, compromise, and interact with every individual he encounters at school. Simon has the ability to make up games to play and jump into games in progress alongside peers with ease. Simon expresses his theories of the world not only verbally, but with a variety of artistic media. He shows his confidence in his opinions when he thinks they are right, but is able to take other opinions under consideration. When in conflict, Simon is able to express his feelings to peers and is usually able to give the "why" to the feelings.
While at school, we notice that Simon's interests consist of representing his thoughts through writing and drawing. We will often see him sitting at the table attempting to create something new. He also seems to enjoy creating a variety of paper airplanes, boats, masks, and hats. While outside, he will often ask if he can bring paper, tape, and a stapler outside to have a paper airplane or hat shop (it becomes very popular, children will often ask to join him). As the study into the world of characters continues, we notice Simon's increasing interest in clay animation not only in the creating of clay characters, but with ideas for scenery backgrounds (he will often offer advice to peers as they are creating their representations). Simon seems to enjoy riding bikes, climbing on the climbing bars, manipulating sand with many tools, and running with classmates. Simon also seems to be comfortable being the quiet observer while on the playground and in the classroom.
It has been such a joy to get to know Simon this year and we look forward to watching and supporting the growth in his knowledge of the world while in the Ladybyg classroom.
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| I'm housebound with 2 4-year-olds. They're constructing things with fingerpainting paper and red yarn and masking tape and the scissors of which we now have two pair because of the fights. I'm constructing facebook updates and considering googling "last minute gifts to make at home with things you already have" because the gift-accumulation which I put off until the week before xmas has been almost totally limited by the weather during this past week.
Now, of course, when I'd have to trudge through a 30-year-high of snow in order to get past a bus that is no longer running to another farther bus that is running on a seriously delayed schedule with aforementioned 4-year-olds in alternate "but I want you to hold me!" tow, I do regret not braving the merely frigid cold and slippery sidewalks on my kid-free lunch breaks back in the days when the buses ran on a predictable schedule, on the streets upon which they typically do run.
And I wonder if I've spent long enough not updating here that I've lost enough readers to make me comfortable writing again. Probably not!
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| I like to look for jeans in the hoochie stores. You know the ones I mean. Those are my favorite.
Well, those plus Levis.
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| Here are food things that I/we/Don don't buy at the grocery store because we make/can/pick/freeze them instead:
canned beans
yogurt
jam
bread
apple sauce
canned tomatoes/tomato sauce
frozen corn
frozen berries
frozen waffles
Here are things we don't buy at the grocery store because we get them delivered to our house from a local farm:
milk (in reusable glass jars!)
eggs
butter
Here are things we don't buy at the grocery store because we buy them at the farmers' market:
most fruits
most vegetables
Most of what we do still buy at the grocery store is either a refillable bulk item like oatmeal/raisins/maple syrup or ice cream and beer. And sometimes Pringles.
I'm pretty sure that on top of any obvious health and taste benefits we are saving not only money but time.
I was inspired to write this when I saw an article this morning about taking care of your health by "read[ing] the label on the box" and I had to struggle to think of any applicable labels, since they don't have to put a list of ingredients on "broccoli" or "butter" or the beans that I seasoned myself. None of our food has high fructose corn syrup in it, but more than that, Pringles and ice cream aside, none of it has anything in it other than real actual food. No dyes or preservatives or food stabilizers or regular-fructose corn syrup or gelatin or whatever all that crap is. Including processed soy fake meats, so if anyone can tell me how to make a "whole foods" breakfast sausage or crunchy salty snack, please tell me how in the comments because I sort of miss those!
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| Hey, I said, wouldn't it be rad if we could get Steve Novick to liveblog the Smith/Merkley election?
If you could get him to do that that would be fricken' awesome, said my editor-in-chief.
I found a way to contact him and made my proposal via the computer. Then he called me. Me! Steve Novick, who you probably haven't heard of if you don't live in Oregon, but who is the absolute coolest guy ever to have a shot at being a Senator -- google him if you don't believe me -- told me that I made his day and then made mine by agreeing to do it.
So, hi, I am so rad. So's my job.
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| And then... I stopped having any discretionary time at all.
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| I'm moving TOMORROW. MORNING.
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