It’s summer. Summer means all quiet on the blog front. There’s a lot going on here, and yet there’s not that much. I’ve had a bit of freelance work coming in the past couple weeks with the promise of more. We’ll see – the person who promises it has a tendency to tell me about all the work or potential contracts coming up that don’t always come to fruition. She just likes to make sure they have me lined up, just in case. Honestly? I kinda don’t want to work, my heart isn’t in all the technology stuff anymore – well, that and there’s other things I’d rather be doing. But I also kind of want to, because it would mean a nice chunk of weekly or bi-weekly change with which I could do many, many things. Buy stuff for the house. Buy stuff at Anthropologie. Pay for yoga, groceries, etc. Buy presents for Mr Nikki. Granted, I can do all these things now, but it’d be nice to, say, buy something nice for Mr Nikki with NOT “his money.” You know what I mean. We really aren’t hurting for money, but it’s always nice to be able to save more. Or to splurge on $300 shoes without feeling guilty.
I’ve been trying to focus on preparing for the post partum Doula certification, but before I can even take the week long class, I have to read three books. (In order to be certified with DONA, that is.) Ok, so… summertime and having an 8 month old. Do you know how hard it is to read ONE book?) I’m motivated, though, because one of my neighbors is getting her childbirth education certification and she’d like to have me on her list of resources (as a pp Doula.)
I’ve been really busy helping other people find home birth midwives, also, which is actually really cool. I’ve become the go-to person among friends and people who know me. The mother-to-be of one of my friends wrote me asking if I knew of any resources in PA for home birth, because she was told they were hard to find. Well, they’re just kind of underground, but there are LOTS of them. I discovered that I have a lot of connections & resources and I sent her a looooong list of options. It made my day when she said she went from feeling hopeless & resigned to working within the hospital system, to “crying tears of joy” and feeling positive about finding someone who’d attend her home birth.
I’m also busy planning our “belated wedding reception” in October. (We’re going to visit my parents, take over my mom’s annual Fall Fest for the reception, then take off to Basque & Holland for a week.) My mom had been asking what I wanted at this reception thing, and originally, I’d had the attitude of, “Whatever. It’s mostly for Mr Nikki & my parents.” But the more I’ve been thinking about it, and the more I’ve been thinking about the major issues I have with my extended family, the more I’ve decided I DO care. I told Mr Nikki that I’ve decided this is going to be like my coming out party – errr, not in that way, but you know what I mean. Instead of arranging everything around what my father’s family will like and worrying about what they think, I’m doing it the way *I* want it, and creating something that represents who Mr Nikki & I are.
What does that mean? Well, for starters, it means no one is allowed to bring any of their own home made stuff (I’ve never been all that impressed with their Cool Whip concoctions and hello… COOL WHIP. YUCK.) It means my mother will not be making two versions of everything – one with normal ingredients and one with “no carb” pasta. Again, ew. It means that Mr Nikki & I will be going out the day before to buy lots of Spanish & Portuguese wines (in honor of our trip) and decadent, good quality, flavorful cheeses. I’m going to make some easy, quick appetizers with in season, local ingredients. My friend, J, will be making chili (she’s a serious cook & more hardcore about the organic/local thing than I am) with grassfed beef. She’ll be picking up the beef at the farm she goes to for all their meats & picking up some local cheese, as well. Her husband, who is a pastry chef, will be making cupcakes for us – including some with salted caramel icing. This, my friends, is going to be a foodie Fall Fest extraordinaire. I’m picking up coffee from our favorite roaster & coffee shop in said hometown, and Mr Nikki will pick out some good beers. No one is drinking Budweiser and Pabst that evening. M’kay? There will be no low fat, no carb, processed anything.
I realized that it A) won’t be only my Dad’s family there B) it ain’t for them and C) These people have never had any clue who I really am, nor do most of them care all that much and I’m kind of done trying to be part of it all again. It’s really important to me to have as many friends there as possible, to make the evening a celebration with people I like, so there you go.
And Nugget? Oh my god, Nugget. When did he turn into an actual person? As in, a little boy type of person? We have a couple of regular babysitters and a couple different girls came by when I had to use Mr Nikki’s companies subsidized care option. (It’s a sweet deal. $4/hr for in-home care. We get 100/hours per year.) Every single one has fallen madly in love with my little man and said that he’s their favorite kid to watch, because he’s so easy going, so happy and well behaved, so charming and so freakin’ cute. (So cute, in fact, that one of my favorite local artist, a woman who makes some kick ass kids’ clothing from recycled clothes, is using him as one of the kids in her next photo shoot!)