Lightning Round

I haven't picked up Ulysses in a month, but January was pretty fruitful for other books. It gets dark by 4:30, and is cold and rainy every weekend; plus I got a Kindle for Christmas!

Middlemarch: I am still plugging along, and still completely entranced by this novel. The story of "three love problems" is more than halfway done, I am currently enmeshed in the painful destruction of Rosamund and Lydgate. I still think this is the best English novel I have ever read.

Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith: I suppose there should be a qualifier that I have some hero worship going on with Ms. Smith, and I loved this book of rather ecletic essays even more than her novels. It doesn't hurt that the first essay is about Middlemarch, and in a later essay she states "Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the only t.v. show I have ever truly loved." My absolute favorite essay is a discussion of E.M. Forester and a celebration of a non-intellectual love of literature.

Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon. This is another collection of essays, many of which have been printed elsewhere. While Smith's essays jump through pop culture and academia, Chabon focuses on family and parenthood. I especially liked his defense of being an amateur; whether in parenthood or life.

Where Men Win Glory: The Pat Tilman Story by Jon Krakauer. I am listening to this book to and from work rather than reading it, but it still counts. Krakauer again uses his journalism skills to recreate a riveting, needless tragedy; the parallel stories of Pat Tilman and America's war on terror.

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. I am a complete sucker for tales of large, bohemian families, and was immediately drawn into the magical world of the Wellwoods that provides the framework for this novel. Unfortunately, the second half of the book is the horrible consequences of the Wellwoods and their liberal friends inability, or incapacity to protect their children. I still have a ways to go before I am done, but this is a very engrossing novel.

When Everything Changed by Gail Collins. As a feminist, I am always a little mystified by a reluctance to admit how much better the lives of almost all American women have gotten during the last forty years. This is a journalist's detailed history of exactly what has changed from 1960 to 2010 for women in America; it is very straightforward and fascinating read.

Books

One of the best things about my new job and being done with school is a little, tiny bit of free time and a little, tiny bit of space in my brain. With this new time, I have been reading a lot - and I am finding myself drawn to novels more than I have in the past. Some of these books will remain nameless, as I am not secure enough to wave the I love trashy books banner too high.

I do have two strong recommendations from the past couple of weeks. The first is Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. I am a huge fan of Eggers and highly recommended What is the What, his last book; his last two books are way more accessible than A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Zeitoun is the non-fiction novel story of Abdulraman Zeitoun, Syrian-American, Muslim, father of 4, upstanding citizen, and contractor in New Orleans, LA. This story follows his odyssey immediately before and after Katrina.

I also just read The Lovely Bones - Ariel had read it almost a year ago and told me that I should try it. I started it at 8:00 last night and drank enough coffee that I could stay up until 12:30 to finish it. Susie Salmon, the 14 year old nararrator of the story, is raped and murdered in the first few chapters, and spends the rest of the book observing her family from heaven. Her prose is sharp and clear, and I loved that her perspective on the story is suprising throughout. I felt the story sort of fell apart at the end, but overall very worthwhile.

I also think I am ready to start on the quest for my own personal reading Everest, Ulysses (Actually Ulysses might be K2, and Brothers Karamazov Everest, but never mind). I have gone through most of the other big, challenging novels, but am a little terrified of Ulysses. I read in her biography that Virginia Woolf had to try four times before she could get through page 35, and then thought it was the most amazing thing she had ever read.

Nutshell

We are starting to come out of the dregs of our grey winter, and I now am feeling enough enthusiasm to blog about life again, so our family has been up to this;

•  For Spring Break we went on a road trip to Moab, the Grand Canyon, Phoenix (to visit Rene and John!), Disneyland, Stockton (to visit the Traub cousins) and Ashland, OR. Even though we covered a lot quickly - even one 16 hour day - it was a complete blast. There were so many wonderful places we got to see - hiking the Bright Angel Trail and in Arches NP made me very excited for our upcoming hiking season. My kids are definitely tough! I was so thankful for the friends and family that let us stay - having our family is a little like an invasion, not a visit, but we enjoyed our visits so much. 
  
•  The girls have started their interferon treatments for Hep C - they will get a shot a week, medicine twice daily, and blood draws frequently (lucky I can do all of this at home)...but after a year they should be hep C free and their livers should last them a good long time. They are doing awesome, even though it is hard, especially for Shkuri, who hates needles. I am really grateful for good medical insurance, so we can afford the treatment, which runs to a mind numbing 10,000$/week for both girls. 
  
• Isaac and Shkuri both turned 8!
•   My sister has been diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome, which is a sort of a chronic, pre-leukemic disease. For now she is out of the hospital and living a pretty regular life (she is a single Mom, making it even tougher), but it has been very scary. We are not super close, but she is moving closer to my parents and I, so that we can be there if she needs us. 
  
•   School ends the week of June 22nd - for all of us! Shkuri and Isaac finish 2nd, Hamda finishes 1st, Elias graduates preschool, and I complete my 22nd year of college! I still have to pass my boards, but I am beyond excited about finishing school..and I have two great jobs lined up.  I will work about 20 hours a week with an M.D. who has a holistic medicine practice in town and about 5 hours a week at two jails in Grays Harbor County seeing inmates. I am terrified, because I have a lot to learn, but I am looking forward to learning it. 
  

Oh Blah De, Oh Blah Doe

Yesterday was Ariel's Grandfathers Funeral. Elmer C. Biggerstaff was 89 when he died; he was a navy WWII Veteran who had fought in Sicily and Guadalacanal. He loved baseball. He was married to Ariel's Grandmother for over 60 years and was survived by his 2 sons, 7 grandchildren, and 8 great grandchildren. His death was about as good of a death as anyone could ask for; he said good bye to all of his family and died at home. He is going to be missed.

Ariel took these wonderful photos of the kids before the funeral. The kids had all seen him  before he died and had lots of questions.  I was glad I could tell the kids that Great Pa is in heaven now. Sometimes it is nice to just believe in the simple answers rather than think too hard about the big questions. 

 These pictures are a great reminder how wonderful it is to know my kids. The absolutely wear me out, but they are just awesome people. With being so busy, this is a time in my life when it is good to be reminded that life is now - and it is worth appreciating. Right now I am home after a full day of clinicals and I am tired - but it was a really good day. I got home in time for us all to eat dinner together, and we got through homework and piano practice in one piece, and now all we have left to do is read some Harry Potter and go to bed. 

Rats

In a study of the effects on stress, Robert Sapolsky showed the rats who received electric shocks develop ulcers from the stress. If the rats had a companion rat to bite after their electric shock, however, their stress was reduced and they would not develop ulcers. 

 I think Ariel would prefer if I stick with watching the Daily Show. 

1/09

 Today I am actually enjoying a Sunday where my (daily) to do list is completed. I went to a yoga class and walked the dog. I spent time reading with all the kids, and supervised piano practice. I tried another recipe in my quest for perfect curry noodles (todays from Mark Bittman, is not the winner). I paid the bills. I studied and even read three chapters from A Prayer for Owen Meany. Now it is just a matter of sitting around and playing our new Carmen San Diego game with the kids. I know I only have another 6 hours or so to enjoy it, but it sure feels great to be home and relaxed for a bit.

  I have approximately 20 weeks/450 hours to go before I come close to completing my Masters - I still have to pass boards, but the most intensive work will be done. Ariel and I are both finding ourselves working too much, and it is hard - although we definitely feel grateful that we have work to do. I am going to work hard to finish my clinicals before school ends at the end of June, and am prepared to take some leave from work if I have to.  We are planning a road trip to the Grand Canyon for Spring Break, and I am hoping that I can take Isaac for a long weekend to either D.C. or NYC when school ends. 

 One of the most exciting things that has gone on is a job has practically fell into my lap. About two months ago a friend sent me an email about a local  M.D. who has a micropractice (which means he has no support staff, but takes up to 45 minutes with each patient) and practices Functional Medicine (i.e. naturopathic/alternative)  that was looking for an NP to expand his client base. I decided to send him my resume, thinking I would never hear from him. He rather informally interviewed me, and as it stands, he is going to use some of my clinical hours to train me to do functional medicine and has plans to hire me when I am all done.  His particular type of practice is so much more appealing than the 15 minutes in and out standard practice, and I am allowed to set my own hours. The only thing that makes it less than perfect is  lack of complete health coverage. I can't quite believe such an amazing opportunity has just fallen in my lap -if it works out, I will be 7/7 for being hired at every job I have ever applied for. 

Too close for comfort??

  In the past week, I have read two newspaper articles and listened to one radio story about grandparents living in/near their children and grandchildren. The article in the NY times mentioned that Barack Obama's MIL was going to be moving to the White House with them. Our families situation is even a little more extreme; we added on a MIL apartment to our house for my parents, and bought the house next door for Ariel's parents. 

  While I have frequent thoughts of moving away from Olympia, I have almost no desire to leave our little family unit. There are days when we are a little close for comfort - and I know there are days when our parents get a little annoyed with a herd of children running through their house, but I can't imagine a much better way to bring up kids. 

  I certainly can't imagine being able to juggle four young kids with work and school without the help of the Grandmas. Monday and Tuesday the kids go to Grandma Ruth's after school, while Wednesday and Thursday is Grandma Mariettas. I hope that the Grandparents feel they are getting as much from the arrangement as we do. 

 Tonight for movie night we watched Anne of Green Gables...I had forgotten how much I loved the story.  It was so much fun to watch it together as a family. I remember how big a crush I had on Gilbert, and now he looks like such a little kid, sigh.