A Whirlwind Vacation

We had a wonderful time in California.

In just four days, we managed to cover a lot of sites we hadn't done before (San Francisco Zoo, Monterey Aquarium, 17 Mile Drive, Jelly Belly Factory) as well as some sites most people probably never see (the towns of Geyserville and Healdsburg, CA). The wedding we attended was just beautiful, and BusyBee even got to dance on stage with the band. She called them "the stars" and was in total awe of their sequinned and fringed dresses. I think we have a future performer on our hands.

BusyBee also handled the flights reasonably well, which was such a relief. Travelling is so complicated these days, but we had done lots of prior discussions on going through security and being on the plane. The only difficult part was getting her to sleep on the flight out there, as we flew into the sun and the light made sleeping very difficult. She did much better when we had to wake her up early to leave, and then had time to sleep on the plane. Something to keep in mind on future trips.

BusyBee LOVED the little time we spent at the beach and in the pool. This is heavily influenced by "The Little Mermaid," but I hope it lasts longer than its place in the DVD rotation will. I can't express in words how much joy it gives me to see her loving something so much. I didn't even mind the three tons of sand she managed to get all over herself.

Now we are back home and enjoying the tail end of our kitchen renovation. It's starting to come together very nicely, and I'm a little shocked by it. Using real silverware again? Working appliances? It seems to good to be true after a year of living without it.

Eye Color and California Dreaming

The BusyBee woke up with pink eye on Friday. This was devastating news, as she couldn't go to school and be Shabbat Helper. DEVASTATING - I've never heard her wail like that. We got meds, and she is getting better, but slowly.

This led to a few interesting discussions with BusyBee announcing that her eyes are all better. Usually, she'd say that her eyes aren't pink anymore, but that they're blue again. Two issues here: I wouldn't really call her normal eye color blue, and that she can't in fact see her own eyes (without a mirror, that is). I think she really believes she can see them as clearly as she can see the television screen.

The amazing news is that I myself didn't contract the pink eye. I seem to get pink eye on an annual basis, usually when I'm so stressed out that my body needs to actually plague me with something to get me to slow down a bit. I was using Purell with such an intensity on Friday that I'm a little surprised I didn't damage my hands. But with California coming up and a grad school paper to write, I couldn't afford to get sidelined.

We leave for San Francisco in just two days!!! Haven't packed a thing yet, but I'm a pretty efficient packer. Pray that our flight can leave on time and not be cancelled due to weather...

An In Between Day

To quote a favorite poem from high school English class:

Today is very boring, it's a very boring day.

Well, not exactly. But it is an in between day. We spent the last few days with Mr. Bee's family for our Passover seder (and because BusyBee's school was closed). I am at work today, but have off tomorrow for Good Friday. Then I work just three days next week before we leave for a family wedding in California.

I had 374 new email messages when I got in today, after just 2.5 days away (and I did some deleting while away, too). I'm scared to see the total when I get back from four days away in California.

Tonight we are going to a Community Pesach dinner at our synagogue. It was a nice event last year, and I expect tonight will be as well.

Tomorrow BusyBee will be Shabbat Helper at her school. She is beyond excited to bring in her little flashlight, a Glinda doll from McDonald's, and an assortment of other small toys. Since it is still Pesach, we'll be bringing a box of matzah instead of a challah. I hope that is the only change to the routine, as BusyBee hates changes.

Back to work. Anyone know how to import a ticker list into Bloomberg?

An Egg Story

Passover is just days away, and today was the BusyBee's model seder at her nursery school/daycare program. BusyBee was SO excited for it. The only parental involvement required was the contribution of a small cooked potato, a piece of lettuce, and a hard boiled egg for each kid. No biggie, right?

Wrong.

We are in the middle of having our entire kitchen renovated, and have no means with which to boil an egg. Mr. Bee thought he'd determine some alternate means of boiled egg production, but after two eggs exploded in the microwave at 9:45 pm last night, the situation was getting dire.

After some frantic text messages after 11 pm, we secured a possible egg from my best friend. Said egg was to be exchanged (and no, not for directions to a rave, for the 90210 fans out there) before we left for daycare this morning. Said egg was, unfortunately, a bad egg and did not boil correctly.

Last minute dash to our wonderful neighbors. They came to our rescue and boiled a perfect egg for the BusyBee and we made it to daycare just a little later than usual. Phew.

It all sounds insane - it's just an egg, she's only three years old, blah, blah, blah - but the BusyBee is a temperamental kid. If her egg was in any way different to anyone else's, it would be a tragedy for her. I would hear about it for many months to come.

It's hard to believe Passover is just days away (and that our kitchen is still not done). Next year (boiled eggs) in the new kitchen!

What I've been up to

I've been living up to my Blog name lately and keeping very busy.

I just started a new job. I'm still with the same firm, but a new group. A better position and definitely more interesting, but also more challenging. For the first time in my career, I don't have "daily" tasks. It's strange to come in and not really know how I'll be spending my days. Even at my first job, I had a fairly good idea of what I'd be doing, since I had an exhaustive job description. That position evolved over time, but I was there for nearly six years and definitely knew the rhythm. Now, I have no idea what will be coming next. Very exciting for me.

The BusyBee and I took a trip to Cleveland, Ohio, to visit my parents for a long weekend. It was so much easier travelling with her now that she's potty-trained and our diaper and bottle days are long behind us. We had a good trip - lots of DVDs, two really nice playgrounds, and lots of presents for the BusyBee. We missed Mr. Bee though; BusyBee couldn't get her words out fast enough to tell him everything. Thanks for having us, Mom and Dad.

Weekends

We seem to have a few weekend patterns that dominate, and this one has been a shul & shop weekend. Yesterday, we took the BusyBee to Tot Shabbat at our synagogue in the morning, then hit the mall later in the afternoon.

The Natick Mall has been undergoing a major expansion effort for over a year now, and it's due to wrap up this fall. The StrideRite at the mall seems to have the best shoe selection of the local StrideRite's we've tried. They're all very chaotic and under-staffed, but at least when we go to the Natick store we usually leave with shoes in hand. No point in surviving the chaos otherwise.

We also attended a birthday party for a nursery-school classmate of BusyBee's this morning. A fun time had by all. We began the three-year-old circuit in October, and BusyBee's birthday party was in January. I think we'll be going to a bunch in April. I love seeing all of the kids interact with each other, and how they grow up into these little people.

By the way, I love the BusyBee nickname. Since she was born, I've used her name in conjunction with various words beginning with the letter B. Belle, Bear, and of course, Bee, have been in constant rotation, so BusyBee seemed a natural fit. I'm not sure what to do for my husband though. I don't think any man likes to be described as little, and Mr. Bee just isn't very exciting. Suggestions are welcome.

It's About Time

Hello, and welcome to The Life of LilMisBusy.

I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time now, and I'm excited to begin.

LilMisBusy was my AOL Instant Messenger screenname, taken from the "Little Miss" series of books. I'm hoping to find a picture of Little Miss Busy to add here at some point. In college, my closest friends gave me a copy of the book, which described a very scheduled person who isn't very good at relaxing. Needless to say, I could relate.

I am 29 years old and live in the suburbs of Boston with my husband and daughter. I work full-time and am almost done with a part-time master's program as well. I'm not sure yet how many details I want to reveal here. I could link to my husband's blog and you could find many of those more personal details. But I think I want to save this place to write a bit and get some ideas out, yet not necessarily make it easy to find.

While I have a lot in my life for which to be very thankful, it hasn't come that easily. I think having this space to chronicle some of these experiences will be cathartic for me. I can't promise that posts will actually revolve around a theme, or that they'll fit neatly into labels. But I hope that if you chose to read along, that at least you'll find it worthy of your time.

Here's to a new beginning.