Wednesday, December 8, 2010
New Cafe´Post
Just wrote a post on my Cafe´blog about weaning. I really need to post to that blog at least once a week! Especially if I am going to be freelancing.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
First freelance assignment: DONE
I turned in my article to Portland Family Magazine on Tuesday. It was kind of stressful. I had everything ready and prepped, emailed the article and it didn't get sent! It took an hour of me trying to figure out if there was something wrong with my gmail account, or something wrong on their end. Turned out, the editor had moved on, and the publisher was supposed have those emails forwarded to her. But it did not work. So she sent a email out to all the freelancers letting them know to send their stories directly to her email…*wipes brow*. I was actually more concerned about Gabe needing some attention while I was in the midst of all that…fortunately, he was okay.
The article will be in the January issue. I'll let you all know if it can accessed online, too.
In other news, I think most of you know that we are having another baby! We had our ultrasound yesterday and we're having another boy. We were kind of hoping for a girl, but you just get what you get when it comes to babies. He moved around a lot, opening his mouth, stretching, and gave the "hang loose" sign with his hand! Maybe this means he will be ultra laid back? Who knows.
I'm 18 weeks and right now he is breech, which concerned me. But the midwife said that at this stage they have plenty of time to turn. She outlined the steps they take if the baby is still breech at 37 weeks, but stressed for me not to worry about it because most babies end up turning by that time. I actually saw another midwife at the practice because mine was off that day. She was really nice. Their policy is for people to see all 7 midwives, just in case your regular one is not available at the time of delivery, so that you are not faced with a total stranger.
So, that's about it for now. Hope everyone is having a good week.
The article will be in the January issue. I'll let you all know if it can accessed online, too.
In other news, I think most of you know that we are having another baby! We had our ultrasound yesterday and we're having another boy. We were kind of hoping for a girl, but you just get what you get when it comes to babies. He moved around a lot, opening his mouth, stretching, and gave the "hang loose" sign with his hand! Maybe this means he will be ultra laid back? Who knows.
I'm 18 weeks and right now he is breech, which concerned me. But the midwife said that at this stage they have plenty of time to turn. She outlined the steps they take if the baby is still breech at 37 weeks, but stressed for me not to worry about it because most babies end up turning by that time. I actually saw another midwife at the practice because mine was off that day. She was really nice. Their policy is for people to see all 7 midwives, just in case your regular one is not available at the time of delivery, so that you are not faced with a total stranger.
So, that's about it for now. Hope everyone is having a good week.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Busy first November weekend
Gabe had a full weekend. There was the play date that I mentioned in the last post, a birthday party on Saturday and another play date on Sunday. Whew!
The party on Saturday was for a two brothers, 3 years and 1 year. Their mom is Nigerian/white and their dad is Indian. The party was a place called Pump it up, where they have inflatable slides for kids 6 and under. Gabe wasn't too sure about these weird inflatable contraptions at first, but warmed up a little when Craig and I got in with him. When it was time for pizza, Gabe did really well sitting at the little kids table eating. I just watched him from a distance. Gabe and another little girl from our mom's group, who is half black, half Hispanic, really favor one another. Like they could be brother and sister. She is about 1.5 years old and don't you know she starts feeding Gabe his drink? And he accepts it like he is the King, and then she starts rubbing his ear, and he's like, no that's going overboard. It was so funny. Craig and I and her parents got a big laugh out of that.
Yesterday we went over to our friends Steve and Amy to have a play date with their son Silas who is the same age as Gabe (we met them in our pregnancy class). I made some chocolate flax muffins that I brought over, and they ordered pizza from Pizza Fino that had caramelized onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and fontina cheese and Gabe actually ate it, mushrooms, onions and all! We were surprised. He didn't eat my muffins though. Hmph. However, Silas loved them, but he eats almost anything, lol.
Other news: I got a freelance assignment for a local family magazine last week. I sent them a query about writing an article on black moms and breastfeeding. Some recent studies have come out this year, so it's a fairly current topic (we have the lowest rates of BF out of all ethnicities).
So, I emailed the query letter to them thinking it would be a few weeks before I'd hear one way or another because it says on their site that it could be like six weeks. So I was really surprised to not only hear from them the next day, but an expression of interest in the story and acceptance of the pitch. I'm, like wow! Also, I expected them to pay a certain amount in my mind, which was rather low and it turns out they are able to pay a little more than I thought. Now, don't get it twisted; that amount is still NOT a lot, but just more than I expected.
So I have until the end of the month to do interviews and write and submit the story. Fortunately, I started a little bit of legwork before sending off the query, so I am not scrambling for to do stuff: I will be interviewing a lady who blogs about black women and breastfeeding, a local lactation consultant I will be meeting with this week, two local moms (one older with grown kids who breastfed and one younger who is currently breastfeeding) to interview, and I will insert a little bit about my own experience.
It feels really good to have an assignment and to actually be getting paid for it. If all goes well, I'd like to write for them regularly (dependent on me having good ideas for stories, that is; they could also like me well enough to give me assignments) for a year and then I'd like to branch out and try writing for larger magazines, which means higher pay. It is all very slow going, patience is key. We'll see how it goes!
The party on Saturday was for a two brothers, 3 years and 1 year. Their mom is Nigerian/white and their dad is Indian. The party was a place called Pump it up, where they have inflatable slides for kids 6 and under. Gabe wasn't too sure about these weird inflatable contraptions at first, but warmed up a little when Craig and I got in with him. When it was time for pizza, Gabe did really well sitting at the little kids table eating. I just watched him from a distance. Gabe and another little girl from our mom's group, who is half black, half Hispanic, really favor one another. Like they could be brother and sister. She is about 1.5 years old and don't you know she starts feeding Gabe his drink? And he accepts it like he is the King, and then she starts rubbing his ear, and he's like, no that's going overboard. It was so funny. Craig and I and her parents got a big laugh out of that.
Yesterday we went over to our friends Steve and Amy to have a play date with their son Silas who is the same age as Gabe (we met them in our pregnancy class). I made some chocolate flax muffins that I brought over, and they ordered pizza from Pizza Fino that had caramelized onions, mushrooms, mozzarella and fontina cheese and Gabe actually ate it, mushrooms, onions and all! We were surprised. He didn't eat my muffins though. Hmph. However, Silas loved them, but he eats almost anything, lol.
Other news: I got a freelance assignment for a local family magazine last week. I sent them a query about writing an article on black moms and breastfeeding. Some recent studies have come out this year, so it's a fairly current topic (we have the lowest rates of BF out of all ethnicities).
So, I emailed the query letter to them thinking it would be a few weeks before I'd hear one way or another because it says on their site that it could be like six weeks. So I was really surprised to not only hear from them the next day, but an expression of interest in the story and acceptance of the pitch. I'm, like wow! Also, I expected them to pay a certain amount in my mind, which was rather low and it turns out they are able to pay a little more than I thought. Now, don't get it twisted; that amount is still NOT a lot, but just more than I expected.
So I have until the end of the month to do interviews and write and submit the story. Fortunately, I started a little bit of legwork before sending off the query, so I am not scrambling for to do stuff: I will be interviewing a lady who blogs about black women and breastfeeding, a local lactation consultant I will be meeting with this week, two local moms (one older with grown kids who breastfed and one younger who is currently breastfeeding) to interview, and I will insert a little bit about my own experience.
It feels really good to have an assignment and to actually be getting paid for it. If all goes well, I'd like to write for them regularly (dependent on me having good ideas for stories, that is; they could also like me well enough to give me assignments) for a year and then I'd like to branch out and try writing for larger magazines, which means higher pay. It is all very slow going, patience is key. We'll see how it goes!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Multi-Cultural Mamas
Gabe had a great time today at a play date. There were five moms there, including the hostess, and 7 kiddos. What I realized after I left was the diversity of everyone: I'm black (as you all know, lol), the hostess is biracial (black/white, her husband is Indian), the other 3 moms were white, Hispanic (her husband is black) and Indian. It was cool to have all the moms from different ethnicities and backgrounds (in fact, the Indian mom is Catholic, not Hindu, while the hostess' hubby is a practicing Hindu).
Anyway, it was nice to notice and appreciate differences.
Anyway, it was nice to notice and appreciate differences.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Lee Farms
Wednesday, I took Gabe to Lee Farms in Tualatin, Ore. We went with two moms I know that live in Northeast Portland. Gabe looked at baby chickens, a goat (although he didn't really like the goats walking up to him) ran around a pumpkin patch, and towards the end of the trip we got some apple cider donuts. These donuts are sooooo good, and they apparently make them all year around. I didn't get any apple cider (which they make fresh) but Craig wants to go back and get some.
We're still dealing with house stuff. We are a little bit closer to solving our drainage problems. Without getting into boring details, we need to divert the water that gets into our downspouts after the rain and the discharge line connected to our sump pump to another source other than the drywall. In fact, it may not even be going into a drywall, but a trench. Ugh, it is all very convoluted.
Last week, Gabe and I also went to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory with a mom's group I am a member of. One of the little girls there, who is Hispanic, is very cute and looks exactly like a girl version of Gabe. I thought it was funny, because I have always felt Gabe looked kind of looked Hispanic.
We're still dealing with house stuff. We are a little bit closer to solving our drainage problems. Without getting into boring details, we need to divert the water that gets into our downspouts after the rain and the discharge line connected to our sump pump to another source other than the drywall. In fact, it may not even be going into a drywall, but a trench. Ugh, it is all very convoluted.
Last week, Gabe and I also went to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory with a mom's group I am a member of. One of the little girls there, who is Hispanic, is very cute and looks exactly like a girl version of Gabe. I thought it was funny, because I have always felt Gabe looked kind of looked Hispanic.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Summer/Fall Update
It has been a pretty hectic two months! First off, we bought a house and closed on September 9 and moved in September 24. It's a 4 bedroom in Beaverton and it was built in 1992. It is in pretty good shape, but needs a few things done to it:
1) There are two skylights that need replacing because the previous owners did not repair them right per our home inspection report.
2) One toilet that is running (but that isn't majorly complicated to fix, if it is indeed just running).
3) There is a sump pump in our crawlspace that apparently needs to be there because water gets in there during hard rains. We suspect that the house is situated lower than the houses around us and gravity pulls the rain towards us, thus the need for a sump pump. The last time it rained hard, the pump was doing its thing, but we heard it working almost constantly for about 2 days. So Craig went down there, however it was dry as can be (the previous owners replaced it after out home inspector found it was not working; it's pretty loud after a hard rain, but broken pump somehow escaped their notice).
4) The kitchen and bathrooms need updating, but everything works fine. Except for the kitchen faucet, which leaks (our home warranty is putting in a new one when the part comes in) and the fridge is OLD and probably on its last leg, but the warranty will also take of that if it kicks the bucket.
5) The outlet for the clothes dryer was 3-prong, but our dryer plug is 4-prong, so we had to buy a 3-prong outlet to put on the dryer. Changing the outlet is very expensive, but that is something that we need to do at some point in the future.
6) There are a few other things I don't have the patience to get into. The former owners, who shall remain nameless, just didn't really take care of the place very well. They did a few things before they put the house on the market and several items outlined after the inspection. But there were a lot of things they dropped the ball on (like mickey mousing electrical outlets) and not because they were broke. They had the money to buy a boat, which sat in the driveway. That's why I don't feel sorry for them. And the husband is supposed to be an electrical engineer for Intel; he must have graduated at the bottom of his class.
Anyway, other than all that (and more) generally the house is in good shape. We want to buy a dining room table for the dining room, since the table we already have was placed in the eat-in kitchen. And we have a separate living room and family room, so our living room furniture and television we have is in the family room (which is situated off to the side of the kitchen), so we have to buy furniture for the living room. So currently, the living room is empty and the dining room is Gabe's play area for the moment.
Living Room
Dining area. Gabe standing there like
he can move objects with his mind, lol.
Family Room
Family Room
Kitchen
Eat-in Kitchen area
The backyard is nice and roomy, but not too big. We have arborvitae (a type of evergreen) trees, two plum trees (one is Japanese, I think), an apple tree, four blueberry bushes, and about 5 or 6 rose bushes. I saw the blueberry bushes giving fruit at the end of the summer, so I know they are cool and apparently don't need much care at this point. The fruit trees need pruning once a year and the evergreens don't really need any pruning, just watering at the proper times. So I am looking forward to getting some fruit for jams, pies/tarts, and just eating. The only thing I am concerned about as far as the plum trees is the mess they will create, when the fruit drops if not picked in time. But that is not real problem; I am hoping that they actually produce fruit and hopefully those previous owners didn't screw up the trees (I am very resentful towards them, in case you haven't noticed).
Plum tree
Other plum tree
Blueberry bushes
Rose bushes (I pruned the first one, have to
get to the others).
Backyard, getting rid of these flowers and will
change this to a vegetable garden soon.
Backyard, apple tree in the corner, arborvitae
on the right.
Craig says, "Homeowning is for people that don't like money."
Anyway, that is our update for now! Hope all y'all are doing well!
1) There are two skylights that need replacing because the previous owners did not repair them right per our home inspection report.
2) One toilet that is running (but that isn't majorly complicated to fix, if it is indeed just running).
3) There is a sump pump in our crawlspace that apparently needs to be there because water gets in there during hard rains. We suspect that the house is situated lower than the houses around us and gravity pulls the rain towards us, thus the need for a sump pump. The last time it rained hard, the pump was doing its thing, but we heard it working almost constantly for about 2 days. So Craig went down there, however it was dry as can be (the previous owners replaced it after out home inspector found it was not working; it's pretty loud after a hard rain, but broken pump somehow escaped their notice).
4) The kitchen and bathrooms need updating, but everything works fine. Except for the kitchen faucet, which leaks (our home warranty is putting in a new one when the part comes in) and the fridge is OLD and probably on its last leg, but the warranty will also take of that if it kicks the bucket.
5) The outlet for the clothes dryer was 3-prong, but our dryer plug is 4-prong, so we had to buy a 3-prong outlet to put on the dryer. Changing the outlet is very expensive, but that is something that we need to do at some point in the future.
6) There are a few other things I don't have the patience to get into. The former owners, who shall remain nameless, just didn't really take care of the place very well. They did a few things before they put the house on the market and several items outlined after the inspection. But there were a lot of things they dropped the ball on (like mickey mousing electrical outlets) and not because they were broke. They had the money to buy a boat, which sat in the driveway. That's why I don't feel sorry for them. And the husband is supposed to be an electrical engineer for Intel; he must have graduated at the bottom of his class.
Anyway, other than all that (and more) generally the house is in good shape. We want to buy a dining room table for the dining room, since the table we already have was placed in the eat-in kitchen. And we have a separate living room and family room, so our living room furniture and television we have is in the family room (which is situated off to the side of the kitchen), so we have to buy furniture for the living room. So currently, the living room is empty and the dining room is Gabe's play area for the moment.
Living Room
Dining area. Gabe standing there like
he can move objects with his mind, lol.
Family Room
Family Room
Kitchen
Eat-in Kitchen area
The backyard is nice and roomy, but not too big. We have arborvitae (a type of evergreen) trees, two plum trees (one is Japanese, I think), an apple tree, four blueberry bushes, and about 5 or 6 rose bushes. I saw the blueberry bushes giving fruit at the end of the summer, so I know they are cool and apparently don't need much care at this point. The fruit trees need pruning once a year and the evergreens don't really need any pruning, just watering at the proper times. So I am looking forward to getting some fruit for jams, pies/tarts, and just eating. The only thing I am concerned about as far as the plum trees is the mess they will create, when the fruit drops if not picked in time. But that is not real problem; I am hoping that they actually produce fruit and hopefully those previous owners didn't screw up the trees (I am very resentful towards them, in case you haven't noticed).
Plum tree
Other plum tree
Blueberry bushes
Rose bushes (I pruned the first one, have to
get to the others).
Backyard, getting rid of these flowers and will
change this to a vegetable garden soon.
Backyard, apple tree in the corner, arborvitae
on the right.
Craig says, "Homeowning is for people that don't like money."
Anyway, that is our update for now! Hope all y'all are doing well!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Brewster Birthday Bonanza!
My birthday (July 27) starts a narrow succession of events in our family: our wedding anniversary on August 2, my mom's birthday on August 7 (one of Craig's cousins has the same birthday as my mom), Craig's birthday on August 11, and my brother's birthday on August 19 (and if my dad were living, his birthday was August 15!).
Just got tired reciting all that.
We didn't do anything special for our anniversary this year, just went out to family restaurant for dinner (a local joint called Sharis). My mom and brother are coming to visit this coming Sunday for a little over 2 weeks. Yay! Really excited about that. Gabe can have other people to pal around with and I get to see my mommy (and my brother, too, lol).
Craig got me some hair products I wanted to try for my birthday, from Qhemet Biologics. Can you all tell I am disturbingly into my hair?
But I can't wait to try them. I joked with Craig and on Facebook that they smell so good, I want to eat it! However, I mistakenly told Craig to order the 2 oz. Detangling Ghee instead of the 5 oz. The 2 oz will pretty much get used up in one detangling session! But that's ok, maybe I won't like how it performs, who knows. I can always get more.
I got Craig his birthday present early. It's a CD of a band whose music is out of print, The Producers. He has the cassette tape, which is useless. So now, he has the CD!
While my family is in town, we all (including Craig's mom, Deb) plan on going out to celebrate the birthdays. I was thinking of taking them to Philadelphia's, a Portland restaurant that makes cheesesteaks. And they are goooood, okay? Better than cheeseteaks in Philly.
Here is the daily pic of Gabe. He was eating some Honey Nut Cheerios while I was taking pics of the hair products. He has one molar that is almost completely emerged. Another is just slightly poking through and the other two have not surfaced. He has really been a trooper about it because I know at times they hurt a lot. So far, he has not had a lot of trouble sleeping at night, but naps are bit fitful. We can't wait until all the molars are done coming in.
Just got tired reciting all that.
We didn't do anything special for our anniversary this year, just went out to family restaurant for dinner (a local joint called Sharis). My mom and brother are coming to visit this coming Sunday for a little over 2 weeks. Yay! Really excited about that. Gabe can have other people to pal around with and I get to see my mommy (and my brother, too, lol).
Craig got me some hair products I wanted to try for my birthday, from Qhemet Biologics. Can you all tell I am disturbingly into my hair?
But I can't wait to try them. I joked with Craig and on Facebook that they smell so good, I want to eat it! However, I mistakenly told Craig to order the 2 oz. Detangling Ghee instead of the 5 oz. The 2 oz will pretty much get used up in one detangling session! But that's ok, maybe I won't like how it performs, who knows. I can always get more.
I got Craig his birthday present early. It's a CD of a band whose music is out of print, The Producers. He has the cassette tape, which is useless. So now, he has the CD!
While my family is in town, we all (including Craig's mom, Deb) plan on going out to celebrate the birthdays. I was thinking of taking them to Philadelphia's, a Portland restaurant that makes cheesesteaks. And they are goooood, okay? Better than cheeseteaks in Philly.
Here is the daily pic of Gabe. He was eating some Honey Nut Cheerios while I was taking pics of the hair products. He has one molar that is almost completely emerged. Another is just slightly poking through and the other two have not surfaced. He has really been a trooper about it because I know at times they hurt a lot. So far, he has not had a lot of trouble sleeping at night, but naps are bit fitful. We can't wait until all the molars are done coming in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)