Three random

Three unconnected things:

1. Sat, May 1: The girl can dribble a basketball-sized ball twenty times in a row with her left hand, and also twenty times with her left. She could do more, but after twenty she catches the ball. I don't know if this is average for a 5 1/2 year old's development, or advanced -- but **I'm** impressed. Maybe she can be a professional basketball player, and support us in our dotage.

2. Sunday, May 2: On the way home from church, The Girl and I stopped off at a garage sale/moving sale. The guy was about my parents' age (60s?), and used to do woodworking. I bought a wooden drawer, a bunch of wheels and castors, and several cans of spray paint, wood stain, varnish, and etc. Sticker price probably added up to $30; he sold it to me for ten bucks. Also, he has a **way** sturdy old woodturning lathe (looked 1950s), and a case (rack?) of lathe tools. No price on the lathe tools, but he had $1,700 (IIRC) on the lathe.

We talked about woodworking a bit (he stopped doing woodturning because of his back; I told him I'd done a little woodturning with my grandpa -- not a lot, but enough to know I liked it, and had the ability to do it). I told him that if he ended up not selling the lathe and tools, and didn't have any other place to get rid of it, that I would pay him **waaay** less than what it was worth (i.e. a few hundred bucks), but find a **very** good home for it (ME!!!). Told him that I'm currently only working part-time, due to watching the kids -- so I can't afford to pay him what it's worth.

We'll see if anything comes of it.

3. Monday, May 3 and Tues, May 4: Trying a new technique for getting stuff done. For the last year or so, I've been staying up 'til midnight, 1am, and sometimes 2am -- then "sleeping in" in the morning. Problem is, the kids wake up around 6:30am or 7am, so I keep getting woke up. Gah.

The new technique is to do an hour or two in the evening, but try to get to bed around 11am-11:30am. Then I get up around 6am: even though the kids are up, The Lady wrangles them, so I can get stuff done for an hour or two in the morning.

So far, the new technique is **kinda** working. Yesterday morning it worked pretty well; this morning, B2 came out looking for me around 7am, so I only got less than an hour in.

I'm also trying to squeeze in a few hours during the day, at the kitchen table, while the boys play. Some days it works; some days (when they're uncooperative, or when I have errands to do), it doesn't.

Minor gripe: A bit annoying that at my age (40) and educational level (post-B.A.), I'm still doing "piecework" labor: paid by the hour; if I'm sick, or it's a three-day weekend or holiday and I don't want to work, then I don't get paid. Plus, trying to watch the kids, do a bit of housework (admittedly, not much!), and still have to try to clock up the hours in the off-hours.


--GG