My cousin and his kid designed this cake for a Cub Scout cake auction.

Bodhi was born on Monday - isn't he adorable? (e:heidi,51217)



But there's something wrong with his lungs. Jill got out of the hospital today, but he was transferred to a larger regional medical center with a NICU a few hours after the c-section. At first they said he had pneumonia, then that he had fluid in his lungs from the c-section, and now they said something about emphysema. *worry worry*

It's passably okay when someone 70+ calls me "young lady." It's really not okay when the speaker is approximately the same age as I am. It's so dismissive both on age and gender grounds - I can't possibly be able to speak knowledgeably about the topic because I'm young! and a girl! grrrr.

I'm so stressed (again). I had a final paper due last week that I totally procrastinated on and I don't think I did very well because I didn't think through the issues sufficiently. Oh well, it's only 1 credit and doesn't really count for anything. A B is sufficient.

I have a final tomorrow at 6. I had a 12-hour day today, starting with the 440 client and ending at 8:15 in my oil & gas law class. I (politely, via email) called the prof out on being wrong on PA law about oil & gas severance and property taxes and he still couldn't admit he was wrong, and gave this convoluted answer about "in theory, PA has no property or severance tax on oil & gas" uh... there's not a huge difference between theory and reality on a statement like "we conclude that there is no authority for imposing a real estate tax on such [oil & gas] interests" IOGA-PA v. Fayette County (2002). The reality *is* that there's no tax on oil & gas in PA, unlike coal, limestone and other hard things underground that people want to dig up and burn or use. He described the final paper and gave the deadline. The deadline is really unworkable for me, given that I have to go out of town this week to deal with all my clients at home for quarterly tax filings, so I asked for an extension - the first time I've ever asked for an accommodation - and got turned down flat, even though he had said to contact him if there was going to be trouble with the deadline. wtf. it's okay to get sick right before the deadline, but not to be responsible about it and say that it's not workable in advance. I just love all the assumptions about "this is what *real* practice is like" and "it's about being disciplined". baloney. like he knows what -my- life is or will be like. i'm not a cookie-cutter 20-something with no fucking experience.

approximately April 17 I'll have a chance to breathe for one day before tackling the backlog of schoolwork that's accumulated during this out-of-control semester. I hope to be done with finals by May 14. and then i'm going to spend the summer dancing in the sun. or in the rain. or by bonfires. or in lafayette square.

I've been working on a baby blanket since January for Jill's third child Bodhi, who will be born April 5. I finished it in time for the baby shower that I was the slacker-host for. I'm really proud of it so I'm posting a rather extensive set of photos.

Crocheted with Lion Brand Yarn LB Collection Cotton Bamboo in Magnolia, Snapdragon and Chocolate Dahlia using my great-grandmother's size G hook. It took 25-30 hours. Please note, crocheting and reading law texts are incompatible activities. However, crochet and hot chocolate at Cafe Taza are highly compatible.

Early February.


Finished - detail




A's shoe box was too big.


One of the shower games was the most eco-friendly packaging. Since I was judge I couldn't win, but you know I totally did. The 100% compostable Sunchips bag is shiny on the inside. It was A's idea.


Squished it in a box I found at Uncle Dudley's so the Sunchips bag would fit around it.


All wrapped - I crocheted the rosette and string, too.


I didn't put a label or card on the box, and it was the first present Jill picked up to open, so she's asking who this is from.



"You made this??" In our six years of working together, I had never mentioned that I crochet. She was astounded.


She later said, "This is my dream blanket! I might have to hang it on the wall."


Some table decorations from the shower. Kelly and Jill had spent lots of time planning the shower and then Kelly's son Christopher (one of the triplets) ended up in the hospital with pneumonia for nearly two weeks so she couldn't even go. And since I'm a slacker and have no idea what to do for or at a baby shower, Jill ended up doing all the work. She's still a little grumpy at me, although the blanket helped win me some points.



All I really did for the shower was buy some bamboo plants in cute elephant pots at Wang's 99 Cent City on Sheridan. Honestly, who thinks it's a good idea to have a single, childfree late-thirties woman host a baby shower?

Nisha and I went for a little picture-taking walk at Big Pond, the former reservoir for the village of Morris Run. There was still ice on the pond. I used to ice skate there as a kid. An older man who lives in one of the two houses and one camp around the pond saw me taking pictures and came out to show me the photos he had recently gotten printed at Walmart. They included close ups of a yearling deer that comes right up to his back porch. I'm pretty sure his daughter used to baby sit me but I've forgotten their names. (gmap: )

The chopped off bushes are blueberry bushes - so yummy!


Nisha walked out on the ice, luckily she trotted right back up on the shore when I called her. It would have been really difficult to rescue her if she had fallen in.








Nisha was muddy up to her knees by the time we were done.


Part of the water treatment facilities.



(Yea for autostitch: www.autostitch.com - now for iphones!)

The creek below the reservoir - Morris Run.


This is a classic saltbox-style company house built for coal miners who owed their souls to the company store. Uncle Dudley lived here when I was a kid. My other aunt and my grandparents lived in saltbox houses just up the street. My family lived in the company office. When my brother was born, we needed another bedroom, so Dad took out the double brick wall (about 12" thick) between the big and little safes and made a bedroom for me. He put in a normal door, but there wasn't anywhere to put in a window because the outside wall was connected to the garage so I lived in a windowless safe.