The Doings Report

I suppose my primary activity in the past couple of weeks has been stewing, in a good way, about what comes next. Whatever that is, I would like to choose it instead of being steered into it, so I've been doing some assessment of my inclinations, my options, our family budget, and so on. I have no firm conclusions to report, except that I will be quite content if the default path of returning to contracting is where I end up. My fantasy ideal is probably a series of shorter-term contracts with breaks in between. My pipe-dream ideal is these contracts would pay as well as full-time work. Hey, a girl can dream!

In and around these contemplations, I have been reading, writing fiction, watching NCIS reruns, playing Rock Band, learning the intricacies of facebook, and hanging out with my peeps.

Frank's days are all about music, music, music. He has been playing a lot, on various instruments, and sometimes walks around the house singing along to the songs on his MP3 player. It's very fun to be thus entertained, although I am already pretty tired of our talent show selection. He also likes to fantasy shop for amps and instruments on eBay and other sites. This causes me mild stress, because I would of course like him to be able to buy all the toys he wants. But this has long been a difference between us: fantasy shopping does not make him feel deprived and anxious as it does me.

In addition to MJ's guitar practice time, she has had some visits with Grandma and various cousins, is writing in about five different notebooks and her journal, and is still immersed in the works of select poets. She's also been working some, babysitting, and, with some of her earnings, dragged invited Chloe to the mall and a showing of Coraline.

Last week, MJ had a consult with an orthodontist. She is later to do this than many kids, first because she didn't want braces at the usual age and then because certain events and her parents' inertia caused delay. But it seems like the planets have aligned now. Doc says she needs moderate correction, and that it will be closer to a two-year treatment than the three-year span some people face.

Chloe is feeling some frustration with school, although (or perhaps partly because) the work continues to pose no difficulty. Fortunately, she's on mid-winter break right now (a five-day weekend) and is very much enjoying the reprieve from getting up at 6:30. In her much-treasured free time, she has been spending lots of time in her "bat cave" (her room). I'm not entirely sure how she spends her time in there, except that we hear occasional gales of laughter.

Our hibernation month continues, although we have perhaps been less isolated than Frank and I might have chosen. The kids don't share our desire for quiet time, so we've had some visitors and helped with some social outings in the spirit of compromise. They've made some similar concessions, and it seems to be working out pretty well. We're enjoying it while we can: we already have some plans for March and April, and in May, things get downright busy again and will continue so through the summer.