2009 February Archive at LauraCatoe.com

Monthly Archive for February, 2009

Nocturnal

This weekend we roll on into March. That means in less than six months, I’m gonna have a baby on my hands. Whoa, where is the time going? Oh, right, it’s passing in a no-kitchen-cold-winter-preggo-gross blur.

I’ve mulled on baby “needs.” Do we need a swing? We didn’t get one with Ben because the Wilborns let us use theirs – Elizabeth was not a swing girl. This time around, however, Wilborn 2.2 is arriving in July, so they might be using their swing. (Unless W2.2 is like big sis and not a swinger.)

Ooo, perhaps we could get the swing that would match our high chair? What, it’s $175? Um, no thank you. Maybe Jacob will have outgrown the Abercrombies swing by August…

Do we need a new diaper bag? No? But it has polka dots!

The baby item I am most seriously considering is another carrier. We loved carrying Ben in the Baby Bjorn; our only complaint was that he outgrew it too soon. But since Ben, I’ve read that the Bjorn isn’t the best of carriers in that it doesn’t support the kid’s hips nor the parent’s back very well.

Right now, I’m most drawn to the BabyHawk. I like that I can pick my fabric. Yeah, that’s an artist thing. I searched for “babyhawk” on Flickr and indeed many post pics of them. As I scrolled through, I recognized a set of bangs.*

“Hey, she does those momversations things with dooce.”

It was the mom from “Girls Gone Child.” I checked out her site, and I loved the post where she talked about dreaming of her daughter.

I had a feeling you were in there the moment I peed on the pregnancy test. Even when you were only a bundle of cells I dreamt I had a daughter and she was running and laughing and blonde and you.

“I think its a girl,” I said to your father. “I had a dream.”

And Hal laughed because I’m always having dreams and there are always “signs” and I’m always talking about good omens and I shrugged and said “just watch. It’s a girl and she’s going to have blonde hair like in my dream.”

It was so sweet, I teared up. And then I thought “gah, I wish my pregnancy-induced dreams were about the kid.”

Because right now, my dreams are in fact more vivid, but they’re dumb and the stupid things always wake me up. I dreamt we had another bat in the house. I dreamt of two characters from a movie we watched; they were entering the stairs in a parking garage and there was Great Meaning to whether they chose to go up or down. I dreamt I took Ben to the Jack’s at Noccalula Falls and left Kris and my purse at home.

The only good part of all these nocturnal wakings is that while I lie there, I have begun to pray. Usually it goes like this: Yawn. Well, I have pregnancy to thank for being awake at 3am. Who else do I know that’s pregnant? Lord, bless April and Tabitha and Raygen and Patti and R. Taylor’s wife and Molly and…

Or Well, that was a weird dream. Who else has weird dreams? Lord, bless Jaimie and West and the Finlaysons in Brazil…

Maybe it goes like this: Huh, if I was stranded at the Noccalula Jacks’ because I couldn’t pay, who would I call? The Noojins would be close by. Lord, bless the Noojins…

I figure it’s better than lying there thinking about what sort of baby stuff I’d buy if I didn’t owe so much on the MasterCard.

*I would love to try bangs like that, but with the way my hair falls, I have to settle for side-swept bangs.

LBC

on 27Feb09

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Pancake Day ‘09

Eric posted some photos he shot at Pancake Day on Flickr. (Including the one above.)

This was Ben’s second Pancake Day, and he enjoyed it even more than the first. He especially liked the organ music. He clapped after many of the songs and played sticky finger piano on the table.

The organ music is something I always forget to mention when telling newcomers about Pancake Day. I tell them they should go at least once to experience the absurdity that is an auditorium full of people eating pancakes. The organ music is truly the icing on the– well, in this case maybe the syrup– on the ‘cake. How do I always forget it?

When at Pancake Day, before sitting down to consume with the crowd, you always see somebody you know. This year, we arrived in the parking lot at the same time as Faith Abercrombie. We walked in with her to meet her parents waiting for her.

Zach and Kristie were already seated, so we waved to them.

“Look! There’s Eric!”

“Look! There’s Chris!”

Chris informed me it was far too early for this as I hip-bumped him in time to the organ music.

We saw several Mullers, as well, both as volunteers and pancake-consumers. Kris spotted Mark Thompson, Wizard Magician Loan Officer and I saw the publisher of the Times.

Next year, Catoe 2.2 will be about six months old for the big day. Maybe big enough to nosh on a little pancake him/herself.

LBC

on 25Feb09

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Commiserating with one of the greats

An excerpt from The Raven, the Peter Beagle newsletter (which I signed up for when he came to speak at the Gadsden Public Library – Go, GPL!):

My mother Rebecca died in June of 2006, at the age of 100. I was the eldest of her two sons. From December 2001 through February 2004 I was her live-in caretaker, and when she finally had to move into an assisted-care facility I visited her for several hours every day that I wasn’t out of town on unavoidable business. Her eyesight was essentially gone by then, which was disheartening, as books and reading had been a life-long joy: so every visit I would read out loud to her, just as she had read out loud to me when I was a little boy, thus instilling my own deep love of words. We went though quite a few books together; and — this surprised me — at the time of her death one of the sharpest pains I felt was because we would never get to finish the book we were halfway through reading.

My daughter Victoria, who is in all ways wiser than I am, told me that I should read the remaining chapters out loud anyway, and trust that Rebbie was listening.

So I did. But when I returned to writing — contracts are contracts, after all, and I had stories to get back to — there was nothing there.

It’s not that I didn’t write, mind you. But the words weren’t any good, and my ideas worse than unfocused.

Somewhere in the middle of this authorial purgatory I realized that however far away my mother might have been over the years, and however many editors and readers might have seen what I wrote before she did, in my head, in my heart, she was always the first. That from early childhood on I had written everything knowing that she would, sooner or later, read it.

And now she was gone.

Beagle’s inspiration came back and he has a book of short fiction coming out next month. But this reminded me so much of how I felt after my mom died.

When I kept a sketchbook, I would take it with me on laundry visits to my parents’ house and show my mom. It was never the same once she was gone.

I also used to write poems, and I’m not sure if I’ve written a single one since she’s been gone.

LBC

on 24Feb09

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So help me Noggin

We watch a lot of the Noggin channel at the Catoe house. Ben loves him some Dora and Diego and the Backyardigans and the Wonder Pets and Yo Gabba Gabba and Jack’s Big Music Show… you get the idea.

Noggin is awesome because there are no commercials. The shows, however, are still only 20 minutes long because they were made for stations that do run commercials. So between every show, we see the Noggin mascots, Moose A. Moose and Zee, who sing songs and do puzzles and such. They’re great.

But what’s also great is there’s a song, too. It may be a song from one of the shows that feature musicians, like Yo Gabba Gabba, or it may be from one of the shows where the characters sing and dance, like the Backyardigans.

But sometimes it’s a song like this one, only available on a DVD, which makes me sad because I’d like to put it on a mix cd for Ben.

ETA: Originally this post said other stuff. And then I came back later in the day because I found the YouTube video of one of the songs I mentioned. Only, whereas I meant to add the video, I actually replaced a few of the paragraphs with it. I noticed this morning that the post no longer made any sense. Oops.

Note: Comments turned off because spammers LOVE this post.

LBC

on 20Feb09

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Fortuitous, I hope

When I came home on Tuesday to see how the first coat of polyurethane did on the floor, I was so bummed. It’s much darker than I anticipated. When I look at the individual squares, I think that’s not bad. But when I look at the whole room, I think oh, it’s so dark.

I hope this will be one of those situations where when the whole kitchen is complete, I will realize that this is color the floor needed to be. A fortuitous happenstance.

I have two of those to share. One: last night I wanted a good homemade soup. Something broth-based with noodles and vegetables. I could think of nowhere to get something like that, so instead I asked Kris to take me to Pruett’s. While we were there, one of his clients spotted him. She hasn’t had her hair done since Christmas and just kept forgetting to call and book an appointment. She made one today.

This afternoon, I got an e-mail telling me I had a message in my Facebook inbox. I went ahead and replied to it, even though I was at work, and forgot and left the window open. I was working in another program and heard the tell-tale beep that someone sent me a chat message on Facebook. Aw, crap, I thought.

Turns out it was Liz’s mom (in Brazil!) needing Liz to check her Facebook. So I called Liz and said “hey, I got a message for you from your mom.” There was a silent pause on her end, perhaps the gears turning as she wondered how in the world I had a message from her mom who is in Brazil.

“She needs you to check your Facebook.”

Fortuitous, I tell ya.

LBC

on 19Feb09

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Out in the open

Hooray for friends (Kristie) who will let you borrow their maternity wardrobe. Let us participate in revisionist history and pretend that I didn’t start wearing maternity clothes until I hit the second trimester (which actually begins this Saturday). The maternity wear is still a bit loose, but it is such a relief to no longer be bound by buttons at the waist.

We broke down and told my grandmothers yesterday. They took the news really well and both are hoping for a girl. We shall see if they continue this way.

On the way to Mama Juanita’s for dinner last night, Kris told Ben that his “Gra’dad and Patsy” would be there. Ben’s response was “up, up, water tower.”

“No,” I told him. “We aren’t going up to the water tower. They are meeting us at Jack and Juanita’s house.”

“Waneenah. House.”

“Yes.”

A moment goes by.

“Up, up, water tower?”

I guess he really digs that water next to dad and Patsy’s house.

LBC

on 17Feb09

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Fool’s Floor

So, how did we decide to do solid squares instead of a finish that would allow the wood grain to show through? Well, we picked up several sheets of black poster board to use as sample squares for the decision on how big to make the pattern (we went with 16” squares). When we trying them out, the solid black looked so good, we said, hey why not just paint them solid?

What product did we end up using? Benjamin Moore solid deck stain. This on advice from the Don at the Decorator Store. (Not “The Don of the Decorator Store,” but the guy named Don at the Decorator Store.) Don, by the way, thinks the floor is gonna look awesome. It’s always nice to get a vote of confidence from a complete stranger.

Next up will be a couple of coats of clear polyurethane, which I hope doesn’t change the color of the bare wood too much.

LBC

on 16Feb09

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Geek day

So I was a huge Buffy and Angel fan, right? And a Firefly/Serenity fan… and bought those X-Men comics that time because Joss wrote them…

What I’m sayin’ is, I am a Joss Whedon groupie. So much so that for the premiere of his new show (starring Eliza Dushku!) Dollhouse (airing tonight on FOX, 8pm!), I called up my fellow Joss-geeks* to come over and watch it and am packing Ben off to Dad and Patsy with the instructions “do not bring him home until after 9pm.”

Dollhouse is written on my calendar, just like weddings and pre-natal appointments.

Also on the geek front, I got to interview a bona fide swordsman today. Eric was there to take pictures and when Mr. Swordsman walked away, we both agreed that before we left the interview, we must geek out and take pictures of ourselves holding the swords. Photos that I am sure will appear on Eric’s Flickr in due time.

*I am not the excluding type. I’m usually all like “yeah, bring a friend!” But I only told four people. Only the devout who can quote Buffy at length and own the DVDs of the series. Anybody else might (gasp!) talk during the show or something. And we can’t have that.

LBC

on 13Feb09

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‘Remembories’

Kristie has joined the blogverse. She plans to use her blog as a way to keep track of Elias and Jacob stories. I think this is a great idea. I honestly mean to blog more about Ben and just don’t get around to it. I forget so many of his little accomplishments and sweet stories.

So let me see, what is Ben up to these days?

His new favorite book is But Not the Hippopotamus. (A new favorite means every time we read it, he will say “ree’ again” at least 2 or 3 times.) The final line of the book is “but not the armadillo.” Ben repeats this after me, and the only way possible to know that he’s saying “armadillo” is that he copies my inflection.

He does like to count, but I think he only understands the concept up to two. I often hear him say “three, four, five, six.” Not prefaced by one and two and not followed by seven or eight.

He likes to play with balls. He will hold one aloft, say “three, two, catch!” and then toss it up over his head. He doesn’t try to catch it; he just knows that’s what you say.

For breakfast, he eats a smaller version of Kris’ breakfast (a peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich on wheat bread). We call it a “daddy bite-bite.” He also likes cheese toast, Jell-O cups, any sort of fruit you offer him and cake. He lights up at the mention of cake.

We are very lax about potty training, but Ben has taken to the idea of telling us when he’s peed or pooped. So much so that it doesn’t even have to be true. “I pooped! I pee-peed!” Um, no ya didn’t.

He’s pretty good at distinguishing sounds. Over the weekend, my dad taught him that the big black birds are crows and what sound they make. He delighted in making crow sounds for the rest of the weekend. This morning, we were playing in the front yard and while several birds were chirping (what I’ve heard him refer to as “birdsong”), a crow squawked. He looked at me so excitedly. “Crow!”

Airplane sounds are another one he recognizes. We may be watching tv on the couch, but he can still hear them outside. He’ll sit forward expectantly. “Airplane!”

I guess, in summation, at nearly 23 months, Ben is our excited little echo box.

LBC

on 11Feb09

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That’s right, it says AP under my name

Since being hired by The Gadsden Times in March 2000, my job title has been Newsroom Graphic Artist. I made maps, charts, infoboxes, article illustrations, series logos and stuff like that for all of the reporters.

But my job has been evolving over the last few years. I’ve been doing a lot more page design and less graphics. Why? Because we have a lot less reporters than we used to.

This year, my job title is changing. I’m not sure what the new one will be called, but I’ll be writing more articles.

It’s not exactly new territory; I’ve written for the paper many times before. But all my previous writing has been few and far between. It’s going to be on a regular basis from now on.

Last week, I got to call Westbrook and interview Irene Elrod about God’s World Day and visit Regal Place to meet Hokie.

And the story I did about Jill Hamrick’s black wedding dress? Was picked up by the Associated Press and ran on a few news sites besides the Times. (AL.com, NBC 13 and Grand Forks Herald)