The State of the Union

As any regular readers of Knitters-Knitters knows, my blogging this fall has been erratic.  Sketchy.  At times light and surfacy, and at other times through-the-looking-glass of what felt like an insurmountable grief.  It felt like whenever other people spoke to me of their dead fathers, they'd tear up.  At the time I interpreted this to mean, "They are still back there.  There's no getting through, around or over this.  I'm going to stay in this time loop forever, like that movie Ground Hog Day.  Like that one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Geordi and Data had to leave all sorts of clues for themselves to discover in order to break the cycle of repeating the same loop of time over and over again.  Like that Slowly I turn Vaudeville sketch.  You get the idea. 

What I didn't see is that these people cried because they were not still back there.  They'd been reminded, sure, but prior to that moment they'd been living their lives.  They'd been performing sigmoidoscopies, taking disabled children to the toilet, teaching piano lessons and figuring out how to make a chicken with extra-crispy skin.

Today I went back in time and looked at my archives to find out how I used to blog.  The first thing I realized was that by blogging more frequently, I had my finger on the pulse of what happened around here on a daily basis, and was more able to share it with you without everything seeming like it would take too long to explain.

We'll start with Olive: Olive is stable.  She is doing well on her medication.  She likes school again, but has figured out that if she is parted from her favorite aide, a few good hair pulls and gleeful attempts at mayhem will return Sue to her side.  Frustrating, but as her old speech therapist Stalwart Cate used to say, "Preference is a cognitive skill."  Olive understands more English (and Polish) now and it's been a long time since we've seen an inconsolable melt-down.

We've recently celebrated her one-year Beata-versary.  Boy, that went fast.  For Halloween, Beata took Olive trick-or-treating in her apartment building.  It was perfect for Olive: trick or treating on the street has always overwhelmed her, and in the past she'd go to two or three houses and then end up staying with me handing out candy.  This year she returned home with a giant bucket of candy.  She warbled and chortled long into the night about her experience.  As you can see, she dressed as a princess and Beata was the queen.

Dana's costume is, I think, self-explanatory.

Agatha dressed as the girl from The Ring, though she was quick to point out that she's the girl from the Japanese version of the film, and not the American one.

About a week ago I saw a Taco Bell ad and had an uncontrollable craving for a Taco Supreme.  Actually, two of them.  LB obliged.  About halfway through the second taco it occurred to me that food was interesting again.  Food is good.  Some foods taste better than others.  Food has a taste.

What else have I noticed?  That Robert Pattinson sure thinks a lot of himself. 

I saw him on the Today show, followed by an appearance on Live! with Kelly and Michael, followed the next day by the Ellen Degeneris Show.  In each instance, he looked unshowered, unshaven, and with a greasy forehead.  Is he a naturally sloppy person, or is it just that he can't be bothered?  Perhaps he's trying to make the point hat he doesn't have to be bothered?  Sabina tells me he was always this way, but somehow, I hadn't noticed. 

Well, now I see it and I'm annoyed.  And given what I've found via websearch, he is well aware of his hygeine issue and discusses it often.  I say if you have time to talk about it, you've time to shower.  I've switched to Team Jacob now, and yes, I know that's pointless now that Bella is a vampire. 

It just feels good to be ticked off at a celebrity again.

Comments

[--G.]

Dana went trick-or-treating as a law professor from the University of Chicago?

[Tamara]

:-) So glad! (And laughing at --G's comment.)

[CrazyMomTats!]

So VERY glad things are better. Food is supposed to taste good. Life is supposed to taste good. And better living through chemistry can be a big help.

Dana looks splendid.

[Didi]

Agatha looks terrifying! (For the record, I saw both versions, and although usually I agree that the original is best, in this case I preferred the U.S. one. Which makes me a philistine or something, probably.)

Your last line cracked me up.

Oh, and I want Taco Bell now. Thanks a lot.

[kmkat]

Let me make a wild guess: Dana went as President Obama. Excellent. I bet he got way more candy than the kid dressed as that other guy.

[The Coffee Lady]

We watched the first Twilight film with Eldest to celebrate the birthday that meant she was old enough to watch it: we probably ruined it by carping the entire film through. The man is just eyebrows on a stick.