Running to Stand Still

A 5-mile hike through mountains (I'm thinking of a couple different ones I've done this summer in the Sierras and one in Yellowstone):
I can do this without a problem. OK, I'm tired the next day. But that's about it.

Today it was all I could do to run a half-mile without stopping. Allergies, asthma, something is kicking my butt.

I admit that I haven't run very regularly this summer. Periodically, but nothing consistent. Maybe that's it. Then I think, no, I've done softball. Luci, Scout and I have gone walking or hiking about every other day all summer with only a few exceptions. Maybe I just suck at running. This is incredibly likely.

In my younger days, I hated running. As hard as I tried in high school P.E. classes I could never run a mile in less than 9:30 - and even that was pushing it. I didn't start to like running until I was in college and had joined Hapkido. I would run in the evenings and let out every ounce of excess energy and stress I had built up during the day. It was wonderful. Especially during the spring and summer when the jasmine was in bloom.

I bring this up because I've decided to run a 5K (3 miles). I've been wanting to do this for awhile. I'm not sure why. Perhaps my college roomate, who's now a nationally-ranked triathlete, inspired me. I've never felt like an athlete. It wasn't until martial arts that I even considered myself an active, quasi-athletic person. And maybe it's the absence of regular martial training that's driving me. I'm not sure.

I want to do it to prove to myself that I can. That's all.

Obviously I'm starting off small, but that's OK with me. But since the one I'm looking at is in Sacramento I figure I have the advantage of training at altitude, right?

All I know is that after today I have a lot of work to do. Ouch, my lungs hurt already.

Ebbs & Flows

Life gets old
Love makes it new
-Greg Brown

I had the most wonderful date Friday night. My favorite man took me out to dinner and a concert. I got clam chowder and crab legs - magnifico! (Have I mentioned my undying love of seafood? I can learn all I want about collapsing fisheries, but you offer me sushi and I can't refuse).

After which I got to see one of my favorite folk singers, Greg Brown.

But the best part was getting to sit on a chair nested into my hubbie's arm and just relax. That's not something we've had a lot lately. And, man, did it feel good.

We do this. One is stressed, the other does as many little things as they can to help make life easier. But we get so busy trying to help each other that we forget, well, each other.

It comes and goes. Cheesy, but it is like tides. We drift, we reconnect, we drift, we reconnect . . . But Greg Brown is wonderful at commenting on the complex yet mundane things like relationships, grandmas, and fishing.

And in the midst of that hour and a half of Greg Brown's blues guitar and deep bass voice I not only remembered that feeling of ebb and flow between Mike & I, I felt it.

Half-Baked: Our First Adventures in Baking

Let me set the stage:

It's 5:00 p.m. Enter the Bean, BORED. Bean has been entertaining herself while The Giant, lately known as Mom-eeee, bakes desserts for a birthday party Saturday.

Mom-ee goes to the drawer to get a measuring spoon, and a moment later here comes Bean with another measuring spoon, eager to help.

So, against her better judgement, The Giant let her . . . (at this point you're probably thinking, "Oh boy, I wouldn't want to have to clean up that mess. But I would have liked to see it.")



Shockingly it was not the flour-fest you might expect. The Giant measured, the Bean poured. While Mom-ee stirred, the Bean stood on her step-stool and watched.

And when they were finished, the Bean naturally got to lick the spoon. Which she of course shared with the Dog.

Ship of Fools, or How To Be a Parent in the Age of Baby First TV

Inspiration for this post: Bug walked up purposefully and turned off the TV, then began bouncing up and down in front of the stereo. When I said no and turned the TV back on she turned it off again.

My sister-in-law and I had a discussion about using the TV as a babysitter. We are both fairly liberal, intelligent women and teachers who want our kids to grow up smart, literate and able to think for themselves. But there are times, like our recent vacation, when we both set the kids firmly on the couch and turn on the Muppets hoping for 15-20 minutes of kid-grasping-the-leg-and-screaming free time to breathe and fix lunch. The rationale: anything that keeps mom sane can't be all bad.

Being a mom is not always easy and there comes a time when you realize that all the idealist daydreams you have about how you want to raise your kid TV-free, eating all organic food, and never owning a Barbie are about as realistic as them never peeing on the floor. But you try. You have to. After all, getting the carpets cleaned isn't cheap.

Awhile ago, I got a telemarketing call from an organization called Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. They asked me about the forthcoming Shrek 3, and if I would be willing to support them in their goal to decrease the commercial attention being given the movie through McDonald's and cereal companies. But before they got to the punch line they wanted to ask certain question about whether I thought certain ads on TV were too numerous or influential.

Seriously people, I have a simple solution. Don't buy your kids sugary commercial cereal. Don't dine at McDonald's once a week. And, though it's tough (no sarcasm, I'm gulity of this one too), turn off the TV. Some people are fine with these things, and that's their choice. And maybe they need an advocacy group. But the idea of disputing what toy comes with your Happy Meal seems a little ridiculous to me. It seems to me that the best way to ensure a commercial free childhood for your kid is to avoid commercials by turning off the TV and buying the Dora and Elmo-encrusted crap in the stores as seldom as possible. But maybe it's not as easy as all that. Maybe, only having a 1 1/2 year old, I'm sheltered. I haven't yet expereinced the "I want what my friends have" stage yet.

But I have to admit that the thought of my kid owning a Bratz doll or singing a Brittney Spears song to me at the age of 5 scares the living shit out of me, so I checked it out further. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood describes themselves as a "national coalition of health care professionals, educators, advocacy groups and concerned parents who counter the harmful effects of marketing to children through action, advocacy, education, research, and collaboration." And it seems like a descent organization. On the website they cite news articles that discuss the effects of Baby Einstein videos, companies that want to market cell phones and computers for 3-5 year olds, slutty clothing targeted at tweens, and the adverse effects of alcoholic energy drinks.

This is, in truth, what sparked this rant. There are the two waring impulses within me as I filter through the sea of junk that is parenting. There are so many parenting methods, so much advice, and so much commercialization that come with this. Steering the ship of parenting between the sharp rocks of Elmo and Happy Meals and the sand bars of BabyFirstTV and the latest Pixar film, it's hard to decipher who's full of it and who has your best interests in mind anymore. Combine that with the winds of breast-feeding in public and moms being competative in the workplace and the fight just to steer straight is enough to make you want to jump ship. Part of me wants to shelter The Bug from fast food, Bratz dolls, and mean kids in school. Another part of me knows that you can't shelter your kids from everything. They need to know how to sift through all the crap that is pop culture without being overwhelmed by it all. But deciding who has your best interests in mind and who's just trying to sell you something is a hell of a lot harder once they start asking for "Sesa" & "Eh-nie" every morning.

OK, I'm procrastinating

You Should Learn Swedish

Fantastisk! You're laid back about learning a language - and about life in general. Peaceful, beautiful Sweden is ideal for you... And you won't even have to speak perfect Swedish to get around!

What Language Should You Learn?

Since we keep thinking about living abroad I figured this would be a good thing to find out. Sweden, who knew?
Isn't procrastination fun??

Though Tea is my favorite...

You Are a Cappuccino

You're fun, outgoing, and you love to try anything new. However, you tend to have strong opinions on what you like. You are a total girly girly at heart - and prefer your coffee with good conversation. You're the type that seems complex to outsiders, but in reality, you are easy to please

What Kind of Coffee Girl Are You?

I couldn't resist. The caffine delivery system of choice seems to define people. Makes me wonder about the Mountain-Dew-aholics I knew in grad school.


And, I fully admit I love my coffee with conversation, but girly-girl?! WTF? I'll admit I may have some tendencies, but seriously, have these people seen the way I dress most days?

The Trip: Part I, Bear Lake

I will preface this by saying that this is going to be the first of many posts. So much happened on our trip the low down is going to have to come in several installments. I will also add that anyone who wants pictures (digital or otherwise) can either email me or leave a note in the comments section (see the link at the bottom of the post).



Alright, here it goes. As anyone who is familiar with the Atamian family knows, Bear Lake is pretty epic. We started this one with the southern Calif. contingent (G-pa, G-ma, and our niece JD, and nephew JR) driving 8 hours from Orange county to settle in with us in our little house for the better part of a week. Mike's dad exhibits many of the same manic, work-a-holic tendencies as his son (go figure!). This is a double-edged sword that I, at least, love and dread at the same time. It's exhausting, invigorating, maddening and satisfying at the same time. You often wonder if they've found some sort of naturally-occuring stimulant that gives them this inhuman-like energy to help family, complete around-the-house projects, cook, clean, and arrange social activities (our inter-family theory is that it's an OCD, ADHD, and Budweiser cocktail). And, don't misunderstand me, this is not an insult since it applies to my husband as much as my father-in-law, both of whom I love very much. But let me give you a small example.



After he'd restained our deck, taken us out to dinner, mowed the lawn, and played UNO with Mike, me, JD, and JR every night until past 10 p.m., he decided we should take the kids downtown to the Truckee river so they could play at the Whitewater park. Now, there is a theory to Dad's madness, since our trip dowtown consisted of Dad & Mom sitting in camp chairs while the rest of us repeatedly entered the rapids, floating the river or zooming Luci around in the water to her continued delight (insert mental picture of her signing "More, more").



And this is all before the 10-hour drive to Bear Lake. I smile just thinking about it. Everyone gives Mike and I a hard time about being so active, always on the go, and trying to fit so much into our schedules. . . I guess you do what makes you happy. So, as stressful as large family gatherings can be to an only-child like myself, the incessant activity at least keeps me smiling (and shaking my head at the craziness of it all). In the seven days we were at Bear Lake we rented a boat and innertube for the day, went whitewater rafting, wandered around the Raspberry Festival, played in the pool, sat around reading our books and watching the Muppets & Veggie Tales (over & over & over), and of course played the requisite game of UNO every night.




The pool was by far the funniest thing to watch Luci do. Her Aunt Pris brought foam floaties, and after watching her cousin Sarah in the spa, Luci was off. I couldn't turn my back for a second or she'd be off toward the spa saying "bat, bat" (we told her that the spa was warm like her bath). By the end of the week she would crawl out of the spa and then turn around and try to jump back in (to avert disaster I had to teach her to sit down first and then slide in). Watching her walk around on the spa's step and then step off and kick around in the deeper water without any hesitation at all I could think was "Alright, we've gotten past step 1. She's not afraid of the water. Good. But, shit I think I would do well to panic here and get this kid into swim lessons before she starts jumping into every body of water she sees, with or without her floaties on." I know I wanted a strong, independent, and confident child but aren't we pushing things a bit here?




At the end of the week we were all tired (and seriously bummed about not being able to see Little Shop of Horrors the Pickleville Playhouse), but all agreed that we'd had a lot of fun. Sarah and Luci dancing together after dinner in Jackson, playing, and hugging had to be one of the highlights (and best camera opportunities). But I think the one that topped even that was teaching my niece and nephew to whitewater raft and pointing out the bald eagle flying over us while we paddled.

Coming soon to a blog near you...

* Family trip to Bear Lake, Utah
* Lots of driving
* Crystal and Mike in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons (wolves, and bison, and bears, oh my!)
* Mike presenting at the AOU conference in Laramie, WY
* More driving
* Mr. Giant singing Sesame Street and "Handsome Moose" songs even though he's been away from the Bean for almost 2 weeks

Stay tuned!

A Sampling of Summer

It seems no one blogs very much during summer. At least in our case, we're so busy enjoying the weather and getting outside, reading good books, BBQing with friends, going to weddings, and visiting family that blogging ceases to become a priority.

However, in the process I do manage to snap a couple entertaining photos. So I thought I'd share as way of an update.

In June I found the Bean (or Bug, as she's beginning to be known) a great pair of sunglasses that she fell in love with. I didn't know how much she liked them until one morning about a week later. Mike and I were sitting on the couch waking up to Luci's morning requisite, Sesame Street. We heard a noise and turned to see the Bean walking out of the kitchen toward the TV, sunglasses on, drinking away.

My grandparents, affectionately deemed Nana and Papa, have spent quite a bit of time at our house since Luci was born. In late June they came up for about 10 days and Nana introduced Luci to the world of stickers. That went over with a bang. The Bean has the motor skills of a kid twice her age (which makes life infintely harder and easier all at the same time) and after only an hour she was pulling stickers off the paper on her own and sticking them on, well, everything! Herself, the dog, Nana, me, the table, the paper.

Reno has been HOT this summer. My repeated catchphrase is that "I moved out of the Central Valley for a reason!" It has been in the 100s and smoky from all the Sierra wildfires. We're used to 90s at most, and a nice wind that comes every afternoon between 3 and 4 p.m. With this as the norm, fans pretty much do the trick so we only turn on the AC maybe half a dozen times during the summer. One day it the 100 degree weather caught up with us before we realized it. I was miserable, Luci was cranky, and even the dog looked wilted. So as I was making dinner I gave up. I put the baby gate across the kitchen entrance, brought out her tub, and we had water play in the kitchen. I highly recommend it as a way of distracting the kid when you're trying to make dinner during the summer. And in the desert heat, water is not a huge issue to clean up afterwards.

Also, I should mention that Mike and I are going to be vacationing in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton area in August so if anybody has any suggestions or recomendations be sure to toss them our way.

Danelions & berries

With thanks to Tracy, who took these pictures.