Newsletter again (hopefully regular)
[I started this on New Year's day, but it took a while to get out.]
Dear Everyone,
Happy New Year! I've been really bad about these newsletters lately, and one of my New Year's resolutions is to be better about it. (Ideally getting one out each week, even if it's just a paragraph long.) So here's the low-down on what's been going on lately.
We spent Thanksgiving down with my family in Texas. We spent a solid week there and had loads of fun. Temperatures were in the 70s and 80s (as opposed to the 30s and 40s we were used to in Ithaca), and we even had Thanksgiving dinner outside. We also got to try out Whirlyball, which is the sport you get when you combine bumper cars, basketball, and jai-alai. (No, I don't know who came up with it, but I suspect intoxicants were involved. It's surprisingly fun, though.) All of my immediate family was there, and it was great getting everyone together again. Youngest even had fun with her cousin Parker (~6 weeks younger than her but twice as adventurous), who had the grace to not use her as a jungle gym this time around.
The month since then has been busy, but not as much as previous Christmas seasons have been. I think we had less commitments (holiday parties, etc) and got our shopping done early, which really helped. Great kudos go to Kogarashi, who hand-made many gifts (usually with her sewing machine). We only made one small trip, up to Cobleskill (~2.5 hours distant) to visit to Kogarashi's grandparents for the annual family Christmas party. Other than that we've stayed around here and just relaxed.
Christmas eve we had the missionaries over for teriyaki chicken, then did our traditional family Christmas program once they'd left. There's not too many elements to our tradition yet, mostly reading Luke 2 and 3 Nephi 1, and playing some games. We tried to decorate our gingerbread house (made for the first time this year out of real gingerbread, a goal I've had for quite a while), but the royal icing was a bit too thin so we just got it assembled and saved the actual decorating for the next day once the icing had set.
Christmas morning was nice and relaxing, especially since the girls actually let us sleep in until 8:00. (They haven't figured out yet that you can actually get up early on Christmas. I have no intention of informing them otherwise.) Probably the most fun reaction was from Eldest, whose present from Santa was a sticker mosaic kit she's been wanting for several months. I won't bore you with lists of presents; suffice it to say that the favorite present I received was a lame from my sister-in-law (lame = “lahm” = a tool for scoring bread before you bake it; I already used it once and it made the most beautiful cuts I've ever seen), and the favorite present I gave is the custom fused-glass chessboard to Kogarashi.
Hmm...that's probably a good point to digress into my glass work lately. I think I previously mentioned that I'd started some stained glass classes at a local studio back in September. The fee got me 6 Saturday sessions of instruction and work time, though they don't have to be contiguous. (Great for fitting them around a busy schedule.) I've used 4 of them so far, and assembled one complete window and most of another one. I can finish the latter up on my own, so I'm going to use the last two sessions to learn about fused glass, where you take the glass and heat it up so it fuses into one solid piece, possibly then forming it into a mold. I've fallen in love with the hobby, and have even started assembling the tools I need to do it at home. (Unfortunately, glassworking is a much more expensive hobby than baking, so it'll take a while to get everything.) The goal is to eventually turn it into a self-sustaining hobby by selling small pieces online-much like Kogarashi does with her artwork-though that's probably several months, if not years, off. Anyway, the chessboard is going to be one of my fused glass projects, and I wanted to make it as a gift to Kogarashi to thank her for letting me go off for 5-6 hours on Saturdays to learn a new hobby. The gift is basically an IOU, since I haven't yet made it, but that also let her choose the color scheme and design. She collects chess sets and has even made one set (and plans on more), so this was a chance to get her a nice-looking board that exactly fits something she wants.
New Year's Eve was also pretty relaxing for us. We made a bunch of unhealthy-but-delicious snacks (another family tradition :), then got to work on a puzzle we'd picked up just for this purpose. Eldest helped a little bit, then joined Middlest for a movie while Kogarashi and I finished it up. It took a while, but we actually got all 1000 pieces put together before going to bed (though it was significantly after midnight). Now it's morning and everyone's slept in until 9 or 10 (including Youngest, who didn't even stay up late. Much better than her 5 AM wake-up yesterday). Today's set to be a relaxing day around the house, then back to work and school tomorrow.
Incidentally, work is going really well for me. I now have exactly one year at this job, and I really enjoy it. I've learned a ton, I work with excellent people, and my boss is very pleased with my progress and results so far. I just had a review paper accepted and am about to write up an actual research paper, so things are proceeding great. (A scientist's output is basically measured by the papers they publish, both in number and quality. It's not the best metric but it's basically how things go, so the more and better papers I get out, the better.) I'm going to start applying for permanent positions this summer, though I expect it to be more of a trial run than to actually land something. (Though if I do and it feels right, I certainly won't object.) Basically, I want to break the ice and start making connections so that the following summer, when I really start applying in earnest, I'll already have some experience behind me.
Another major milestone is that Youngest is now a true toddler, walking around everywhere and making it evident she has her own agenda. She's sort-of talking, but has a pretty good grasp of some basic baby sign language we taught her. And every once in a while she really surprises us with what she knows to do. Like yesterday, when completely without prompting she toddled over to the sink, grabbed a washcloth, and toddled back to wipe up a bit of milk she'd spilled that Kogarashi and I weren't even aware of.
Other news is that Eldest's birthday was last week and she has her party this Friday, and we're going to start looking into preschool for Middlest to start next year. We don't have anything major in the immediate horizon, so for now I'll let you go and leave y'all with a bunch of pictures.
BirthdayCookies - Eldest's family birthday party, where she asked for giant chocolate cookies instead of cake. (This part was just before bed, which is why the girls are in Pjs)
ChristmasMorning - Middlest and Youngest playing with some of their Christmas goodies
ChristmasSnow - We got about an inch of snow for Christmas, so we headed out to play in it. The second is a good shot of mid-snowball-fight.
CookieDecorating - For my dates with Eldest and Middlest this month, we did cookie decorating while Kogarashi took the other girls out on errands. Middlest and I made a tree out of a bunch of stars, while Eldest and I made a bunch of little trees. (Middlest's photo was actually taken afterward, after a bath)
GingerbreadHouse - This is our gingerbread house, made of actual gingerbread. It's very tasty (we used the recipe from Joy of Cooking), and we're still eating it in bits a week later. (It's actually still soft, which I wouldn't have expected.)
StainedGlass - My two projects so far. The window with the bread is still unfinished (hence all the sharpee numbering still on it), though I was able to do some more yesterday at the studio where I had better quality tools and was able to smooth out the solder lines a lot better. I'll send another photo once it's complete and I can get some good shots of light coming from the other side. (Being stained glass, it doesn't really come alive unless there's a light source behind it.)
Triceratops - We went to the ScienceCenter for Eldest's birthday again, and these are some good shots of Eldest and Youngest on the ridable triceratops skull. (Middlest was feeling really tired and so was just lying on the ground nearby.)
And that's it. Everyone take care, and good luck with your resolutions.
Dear Everyone,
Happy New Year! I've been really bad about these newsletters lately, and one of my New Year's resolutions is to be better about it. (Ideally getting one out each week, even if it's just a paragraph long.) So here's the low-down on what's been going on lately.
We spent Thanksgiving down with my family in Texas. We spent a solid week there and had loads of fun. Temperatures were in the 70s and 80s (as opposed to the 30s and 40s we were used to in Ithaca), and we even had Thanksgiving dinner outside. We also got to try out Whirlyball, which is the sport you get when you combine bumper cars, basketball, and jai-alai. (No, I don't know who came up with it, but I suspect intoxicants were involved. It's surprisingly fun, though.) All of my immediate family was there, and it was great getting everyone together again. Youngest even had fun with her cousin Parker (~6 weeks younger than her but twice as adventurous), who had the grace to not use her as a jungle gym this time around.
The month since then has been busy, but not as much as previous Christmas seasons have been. I think we had less commitments (holiday parties, etc) and got our shopping done early, which really helped. Great kudos go to Kogarashi, who hand-made many gifts (usually with her sewing machine). We only made one small trip, up to Cobleskill (~2.5 hours distant) to visit to Kogarashi's grandparents for the annual family Christmas party. Other than that we've stayed around here and just relaxed.
Christmas eve we had the missionaries over for teriyaki chicken, then did our traditional family Christmas program once they'd left. There's not too many elements to our tradition yet, mostly reading Luke 2 and 3 Nephi 1, and playing some games. We tried to decorate our gingerbread house (made for the first time this year out of real gingerbread, a goal I've had for quite a while), but the royal icing was a bit too thin so we just got it assembled and saved the actual decorating for the next day once the icing had set.
Christmas morning was nice and relaxing, especially since the girls actually let us sleep in until 8:00. (They haven't figured out yet that you can actually get up early on Christmas. I have no intention of informing them otherwise.) Probably the most fun reaction was from Eldest, whose present from Santa was a sticker mosaic kit she's been wanting for several months. I won't bore you with lists of presents; suffice it to say that the favorite present I received was a lame from my sister-in-law (lame = “lahm” = a tool for scoring bread before you bake it; I already used it once and it made the most beautiful cuts I've ever seen), and the favorite present I gave is the custom fused-glass chessboard to Kogarashi.
Hmm...that's probably a good point to digress into my glass work lately. I think I previously mentioned that I'd started some stained glass classes at a local studio back in September. The fee got me 6 Saturday sessions of instruction and work time, though they don't have to be contiguous. (Great for fitting them around a busy schedule.) I've used 4 of them so far, and assembled one complete window and most of another one. I can finish the latter up on my own, so I'm going to use the last two sessions to learn about fused glass, where you take the glass and heat it up so it fuses into one solid piece, possibly then forming it into a mold. I've fallen in love with the hobby, and have even started assembling the tools I need to do it at home. (Unfortunately, glassworking is a much more expensive hobby than baking, so it'll take a while to get everything.) The goal is to eventually turn it into a self-sustaining hobby by selling small pieces online-much like Kogarashi does with her artwork-though that's probably several months, if not years, off. Anyway, the chessboard is going to be one of my fused glass projects, and I wanted to make it as a gift to Kogarashi to thank her for letting me go off for 5-6 hours on Saturdays to learn a new hobby. The gift is basically an IOU, since I haven't yet made it, but that also let her choose the color scheme and design. She collects chess sets and has even made one set (and plans on more), so this was a chance to get her a nice-looking board that exactly fits something she wants.
New Year's Eve was also pretty relaxing for us. We made a bunch of unhealthy-but-delicious snacks (another family tradition :), then got to work on a puzzle we'd picked up just for this purpose. Eldest helped a little bit, then joined Middlest for a movie while Kogarashi and I finished it up. It took a while, but we actually got all 1000 pieces put together before going to bed (though it was significantly after midnight). Now it's morning and everyone's slept in until 9 or 10 (including Youngest, who didn't even stay up late. Much better than her 5 AM wake-up yesterday). Today's set to be a relaxing day around the house, then back to work and school tomorrow.
Incidentally, work is going really well for me. I now have exactly one year at this job, and I really enjoy it. I've learned a ton, I work with excellent people, and my boss is very pleased with my progress and results so far. I just had a review paper accepted and am about to write up an actual research paper, so things are proceeding great. (A scientist's output is basically measured by the papers they publish, both in number and quality. It's not the best metric but it's basically how things go, so the more and better papers I get out, the better.) I'm going to start applying for permanent positions this summer, though I expect it to be more of a trial run than to actually land something. (Though if I do and it feels right, I certainly won't object.) Basically, I want to break the ice and start making connections so that the following summer, when I really start applying in earnest, I'll already have some experience behind me.
Another major milestone is that Youngest is now a true toddler, walking around everywhere and making it evident she has her own agenda. She's sort-of talking, but has a pretty good grasp of some basic baby sign language we taught her. And every once in a while she really surprises us with what she knows to do. Like yesterday, when completely without prompting she toddled over to the sink, grabbed a washcloth, and toddled back to wipe up a bit of milk she'd spilled that Kogarashi and I weren't even aware of.
Other news is that Eldest's birthday was last week and she has her party this Friday, and we're going to start looking into preschool for Middlest to start next year. We don't have anything major in the immediate horizon, so for now I'll let you go and leave y'all with a bunch of pictures.
BirthdayCookies - Eldest's family birthday party, where she asked for giant chocolate cookies instead of cake. (This part was just before bed, which is why the girls are in Pjs)
ChristmasMorning - Middlest and Youngest playing with some of their Christmas goodies
ChristmasSnow - We got about an inch of snow for Christmas, so we headed out to play in it. The second is a good shot of mid-snowball-fight.
CookieDecorating - For my dates with Eldest and Middlest this month, we did cookie decorating while Kogarashi took the other girls out on errands. Middlest and I made a tree out of a bunch of stars, while Eldest and I made a bunch of little trees. (Middlest's photo was actually taken afterward, after a bath)
GingerbreadHouse - This is our gingerbread house, made of actual gingerbread. It's very tasty (we used the recipe from Joy of Cooking), and we're still eating it in bits a week later. (It's actually still soft, which I wouldn't have expected.)
StainedGlass - My two projects so far. The window with the bread is still unfinished (hence all the sharpee numbering still on it), though I was able to do some more yesterday at the studio where I had better quality tools and was able to smooth out the solder lines a lot better. I'll send another photo once it's complete and I can get some good shots of light coming from the other side. (Being stained glass, it doesn't really come alive unless there's a light source behind it.)
Triceratops - We went to the ScienceCenter for Eldest's birthday again, and these are some good shots of Eldest and Youngest on the ridable triceratops skull. (Middlest was feeling really tired and so was just lying on the ground nearby.)
And that's it. Everyone take care, and good luck with your resolutions.