Warning: Read only if you have a strong stomach

I am too annoyed to write anything today because I have so many stories backlogged and waiting for the corresponding pictures to go along, but I cannot find the cord to download the pictures from my camera to flickr. Therefore, I do not want to write anything about the great tigers we saw, the crazy wedding in Louisiana, and the massive growth of Bronwen. So I will write a little about our night last night as I have no pictures and after you hear about it you will be glad that that is the case.

Last night Piper decided to throw up all night long, and never once make it to the bathroom. These are the nights that all parents must experience, but are just so heart breaking, tiring and disgusting, you end up feeling very much like the lone pioneer, enduring the first blizzard after settling down on what used to be a beautiful and peaceful, warm patch of land, but now threatens to kill you.

She kept complaining of a sore belly and I just knew that vomit was going to be involved. So Dan went to bed but I stayed up and played Snood while waiting for the puke to arrive. Sure enough it was the loud splashing of liquid squirting all over the hallway that alerted me to Piper’s sickness. I woke Dan and together we cleaned her up, I cleaned the hall and bathroom and then did laundry and went to bed. Later, more splashing in front of the upstairs steps, and then the bed had to be stripped and remade, and then again the hallway. By this morning she was sleeping peacefully and hopefully was able to keep some water down.

Now my stomach is kind of hurting, but I may just be the disgusting description above that I just reread. Sorry about that…

Books and Looks

Never judge a book by its cover, but can you judge a person by their books? This morning I had a humbling event. I was walking into work, my snazzy heel clicking satisfyingly along the pavement, when I ran into a woman who works for us on the fifth floor. I have spoken with her briefly before (she smokes so it is usually as I am walking by her out of the front door), but I don’t know her name and I have no idea what she does for us. My impression of her, totally based on her exterior, is that she is a nice lady, friendly, maybe a little passive, maybe shy. Not the smartest or highest educated, but not stupid; generally nice. We walked together to the elevator stopped to wait. One of the elevators is broken so it too awhile. I glanced over to her and she was holding a massive book. I looked closer and read the title. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy.

“What a great book,” I said, “What do you think?”

“Oh, I have wanted to read this for awhile. It is a new translation and it is incredible. I am really enjoying it.”

The fact that I was so surprised that this woman would be reading and enjoying this book made me feel really bad. I had seen her as someone who wasn’t sophisticated or smart enough to enjoy, let alone understand, Russian literature. Then again, just because she likes Anna Karenina doesn’t mean she is a super genius. So, no more judging people by their looks, but I will still have to look at their books.

Bonnaroo: Take One

This past Monday I was in a tizzy. We had gotten home from Louisiana at 1:30am in the morning (see that story below) and the house was a mess and we had two days to get everything ready to go to Bonnaroo. We had to shop for camping supplies, get someone to watch the cats, shop for booze, shop for food, get a list from Kym and Jared about what they wanted us to pick up for them as they were flying in, get the baby ready and packed, clean the house, and somewhere in there go to work, get and oil change and find some time to have Piper over. For anyone who knows me well knows that this sort of challenge brings out the stressed, out yet totally anally organize freak side of Ellie. First things first, make a file and label it Bonnaroo. Then start filling the file: tickets, day by day break down of tasks, shopping lists divided by store, lists printed from the web site, hand written notes of last minute things I remember on the drive home, hour by hour schedule of the day we leave ensuring that all things are packed and ready, packing lists divided by person, it goes on and on.

So Monday afternoon, I was in a tizzy. I had my file but I was having a really hard time getting in touch with Kym. I had read some backlog emails saying she was in NY for a wedding, but didn’t she have her cell phone? Didn’t she have one minute to call me back? I mean we have two days to go!? Finally, on the drive to daycare on Monday afternoon, she answered the phone.

“Kym, hey sorry to bother you, but we don’t have that much time and I won’t keep you long, but how much do you guys want to spend on the food?”

“Well, I was planning on calling you when I got back home on Tuesday, but we can talk now” she said happily but with a hint of bewilderment, “when are you planning on shopping, tonight?”

“Yeah, I want to get everything together tonight so that tomorrow we only have to pack and then we can leave straight after work on Wednesday. I think we will drive to Knoxville on Wednesday night and then drive to Manchester on Thursday morning so we can get to the camp site early.”

“But the festival is not this week, it’s next week.”

“What?”

“It’s next week,” Kym started laughing hysterically, “I thought you we an organized person and really on top of things and that you just wanted to get the shopping done early, I was wondering why you kept calling me, freaking out. You have a whole other week, silly!”

“I am such an idiot…”

So, now I am not in such a tizzy anymore. I still have all the lists, which should be especially helpful in getting everything done on time and done right, but now I just have another week to do it. And deep down in my heart I know, I really would have driven to Tennessee last night if no one had said anything.