I Want A Bath!

One of my very favorite things at the end of the day it to soak in a hot bath with bubbles or salts or most anything that smells good and read a good book or catch up on my magazines. I got into the habit when I was a residence hall director and that was the only place I could hide from my students! Since the surgery I can't take a bath for a week and I miss it. Now that my gallbladder is no more I am looking forward to enjoying my nightly soak with a glass of wine and not worrying what it will do to me. PDQ and Boobah like to intrude, I mean join me, but since the house didn't come with a big tub the three of us have outgrown that adventure.

I ventured out today--ice skating lessons, lunch at Panera, and a solo trip to the grocery store. PDQ did great at skating lessons today, she passed Basic 4 although her instructor suggested she take it over again to perfect a few things. She has my gracefulness and while she can technically do all the things she is supposed to do at times it is just not pretty! Poor kid. She did do a spin today and the look of unbridled joy on her face was priceless! Then there was her outfit, grandma got her these pants with embroidered ice skates, who wouldn't do a better job in those? Hopefully g-man and I can get her to the rink more to practice this winter. G-man is brave enough to get up on skates, me, not so much even before I broke my ankle, now no freaking way!

After the big morning of skating and lunch I came home and laid down, I was beat. Neither G-man nor I have slept for the last week and its making up both bitchy. I decided I was getting a nap one way or another. G-man took the girls out to the store to get hooch to stock the bar and I took a Percocet. Ahh, drug induced sleep. I feel asleep to Moving Up and woke up to Flip that house...hopefully so remodeling mojo sunk in while I snoozed. Pray that the nap doesn't mean I don't sleep tonight, if we don't sleep tonight things could get ugly!

Maven?

My friend Esmerelda told me she'd been reading social networking theory (yeah, she works in HR) and that I was officially a maven and a connector and since we have kidded that I am the maven.

Here is the reference from Wikipedia--Malcolm Gladwell used it in his book The Tipping Point (Little Brown, 2000) to describe those who are intense gatherers of information and impressions, and so are often the first to pick up on new or nascent trends. The popularity of the work of Safire and Gladwell has made the word particularly widely used in their particular contexts. Gladwell also suggests that mavens may act most effectively when in collaboration with connectors - i.e.: those charismatic people who have wide network of casual acquaintances by whom they are trusted, often a network that crosses many social boundaries and groups. Connectors can thus easily and widely distribute the advice or insight of a maven.

I am a gatherer of information, there is no doubt, Ilisten to everything and file it away, it comes back to me at the oddest times--so many times it is minutia but occasionally it is something important! At work people are amazed that I put all those hallway conversations, meetings and things I read together. I don't know that it puts me on the cutting edge of a trend but it does keep my employed. I also don't see myself as charismatic but I do spend a lot of time maintaining relationships so I can do my job, its how I can be effective. Its like a constant game trying to figure out what will get whom to do what needs to be done-the joy of responsibility without any specific authority.

So, that is where the name comes from and I kind of like it--scanning the environment and taking in al kinds of information and sharing it with others.

Startin' Something

It seems that everyone I know has a blog, I read them faithfully and keep up with friends from real life, my PIMs (psycho internet mommies) and other assorted people I feel like I know from reading their blogs. Why start now? This week I am at home recovering from having my gallbladder removed so I have WAY more time on my hands hands than usual. Anyway, all that time to both read what others have to say and think about what I might want to say have made me decide its time to begin a blog of my own. My husband does it, my friends read it, somehow I feel like I need equal time, or people need my perspective on our lives. Its an interesting transition coming out of the comments and actually being the instigator for a change.

I've spent most of the week in a drug induced haze, sitting in bed listening to the TV, knitting on my new looms (thanks esmerelda!) and playing mindless internet games. My parents came from Ohio to help out and friends have pitched in to take Princess Drama Queen (PDQ) to skating lessons to leave me with no one depending on me. Boobah has stalked my mother all over the house while she cleans everything that doesn't move. There was a time that would have really bothered me, why wasn't my own cleaning good enough for her? I am over it now--mom, feel free to clean away!

Here is Boobah's take on my surgery, as overheard this evening...Mama went to the hospital, the doctor gave her special medicine so she could go to sleep. He took out her gallbladder and then he sowed her back up and gave her booboos. Then she came home and we have to be very careful because she has owies. Not bad for a 3 year old. I'd been having pain for over a year but never bad enough to make me have anything done about it. In the back of my mind was our secretary who went in to have it done 5-6 years ago and ended up dying. I know there were other circumstances but still, enough to make me pause and think maybe it wasn't so bad. According to DH the surgeon said its a good thing I had it done, I had enough big stone that had it been an emergency situation they would have caused problems. In fact he sent me home with 3 of them in a specimen cup and lots of pictures. I assume that means I qualified as a teaching case and there will be medical students checking out my giant gallstones and my nice healthy looking liver.

So, welcome, thanks for reading and I'll look forward to hearing from you.