Happy New Year everybody! (As of midnight, that is!)

What a WEIRD YEAR.  That’s pretty much all I can say about that!

Like the little graphic on the right with the champagne bottle? I’m a little excited because that is pretty much the first graphic I’ve done completely from scratch. It’s a little rough around the edges but the fact that I got it done in a couple hours and no photoshop training let’s me be a little proud of it! Yay!

Here’s a toast- to you, my friends, family, and strangers/lurkers: To a fabulous year ahead!

Just had to post the trailer for a movie Misty introduced me to last night-

This movie is just incredible, a modern musical of sorts based in Dublin, very moving.

Enjoy…

 Many of you have seen the official trailers (see them below if not!): Lost is to return for its fourth season on January 31st! Interestingly, it will not be on Mondays evenings as previously leeked, but instead on Thursdays at 9pm. This is a prime spot for ABC, one usually taken by shows like Grey’s Anatomy.

(An aside: If you haven’t yet seen this little “Lost in roughly 8 minutes” thing, check it out! What a CONCISE recap!)

So what’s behind Lost’s movement? Most likely the writer’s strike, oddly enough. Since eight episodes were completed before the onset of the strike, (and ABC hits like Grey’s, Ugly Betty, Brother’s & Sister’s and Desperate Housewives have no new programming at this point), the network decided to bump the Lost epi’s into a prime viewing spot and give it a little more promotion. Supposedly, they figured 8 new episodes is better than none at all (can I get a WOOT-WOOT!). I’m crossing my fingers that the strike will end in enough time to get the other 8 episodes shot for a consecutive 16 episode season… am I being idealistic? But you, my friend, might be a man of science, and I; a woman of faith.

It’s been a long, hard wait for season 4 of Lost, let me tell you. My last Lost episode was May 23rd, having just move to Portland in time to catch the finale with my Hubby. Last week our season 3 dvd’s arrived, so we’ve rewatched the episodes and the bonus features, though have yet to listen to the commentary’s which have a few more season 3 “easter eggs”. Check them out here.

The “Lost; Missing Pieces” have provided a little scratch for my itch (yeah, just enough to make me realize just how bad that itch is!) and now I can’t wait until the next season’s premier, not 36 days away! This is the home stretch, ya’ll- so dig in deep and pull out that extra “umph” for the final inning, got it?

Don’t forget, you can follow the links in this post and also check out the latest spoilers if you just can’t hold your horses. If all else fails, join a dynamic Lost message board. The island will understand.

For those who haven’t yet seen it: Lost Season 4 Trailer

Yesterday, fam and I did Christmas Eve service and then strolling Peacock Lane. Cookie making pics from the other day are also included in the slideshow, as is a picture of Christmas morning- Lil’ E with his amazing stocking full of apples, oranges, cranberries and a maple candy cane, lol! Oh, and his breakfast of “Christmas” yogurt.

I made beignets this morning, our traditional holiday breakfast. We all exchanged one gift this year, while Lil’ E also opened some gifts from his Nana Betsy and Papa Rene. It was actually quite nice to avoid all Christmas shopping this year and have a simple Christmas. Last night, our big Christmas Eve dinner was Thai food (which we will likely re-heat and serve alongside Pasteles for Christmas dinner- a real Puerto Rican abomination, no doubt!)

later addition: I’ve mustered up some cooking gusto and decided pasteles just won’t go with leftover Thai. So I’m making some potato wedges and a salad, along with a desert of apple/delicata squash/sweet potato casserole topped with brown sugar and granola over vanilla ice cream. WHY OH WHY doesn’t Portland have green pigeon peas, or gandules, so I can make a traditional puerto rican holiday meal, I have no idea. So a  “whatever’s around” Christmas dinner will have to do! (Hey, integration is groovy.)

After slideshow, enjoy Lil’ E first “How To” video- a natural born podcaster!

I’ve got a lot more videos from this week but can’t find the USB chord to hook up my digital camcorder, so that clip will have to be a little late for Christmas, but oh well!

later addition: AND OH MY GOSH!!!! My FIRST sighting of legitimate snow ya’ll!!! On Christmas Day! How perfecto! This is the most lovely snow, coupled with NON freezing temps (its only 37 degrees outside). Check it out! I’ll upload videos later…

Oh, the things you might find if you read your friend’s bulletin posts in MySpace…

It was too funny to not post here. I am Pisces and Hubby is Aries. I have crossed out the one’s I think are all wrong and made bold those which are, imho, true dat.

PISCES – THE SEX ADDICT
(2/19-3/20)
EXTREMELY adorable. Intelligent. Loves to joke. Very Good sense of humor. Energetic. Predict future. BEST kisser. Always get what they want. Very Attractive. Easy going. RARE Find. GOOD when found. Loves being in long relationship. Talkative. Romantic. Caring. NOT one to mess with!!!

ARIES- THE PLAYER
(3/21-4/19)
Nice. Love is one of a kind. Great listeners Very Good in bed… Lover not a fighter, but will still knock you out. Trustworthy. Always happy. Loud. Talkative. Outgoing VERY FORGIVING. Loves to make out. Has a beautiful smile. Generous. Strong. THE MOST IRRESISTIBLE.

Not sure what happened to my Aries hubby- his was like 70% way off!

My conclusion: what a load of bull honkey…

Today Lil’ E and I walked to the library to return some books, and while weaving our way through the neighborhood, he said, “Look, mama, it’s baby Jesus!”

“Where?”, I challenged, sure he didn’t know what he meant.

My gaze followed his pointed finger, and sure enough, there was a nativity scene etched in a holiday flag on some one’s porch.

I don’t want to over-spiritualize the fact that my 2 1/2 year old pointed this out, yet I felt in some small way like he was reminding me. He has the heart of a child, one that picks up on special new concepts with incredible clarity. I could be cynical and roll my eyes that I’ve indoctrinated my toddler with the image of a curly haired, blond baby laying on hay as being JESUS, or that baby JESUS is now right there in line with all the other holiday idols he points out on our walks- Santa Claus, Snowman, so on. But I’d rather focus (believe?) that the true message of Christmas has penetrated his impressionable mind, and even that somewhere inside where he is eternal connected with the idea of this baby he hears about when we sing, “Away in a Manger” at bedtime lately.

“Nativity” Poem by Li-Young Lee

In the dark, a child might ask, What is the world?
just to hear his sister
promise, An unfinished wing of heaven,
just to hear his brother say,
A house inside a house,
but most of all to hear his mother answer,
One more song, then you go to sleep.

How could anyone in that bed guess
the question finds its beginning
in the answer long growing
inside the one who asked, that restless boy,
the night’s darling?

Later, a man lying awake,
he might ask it again,
just to hear the silence
charge him, This night
arching over your sleepless wondering,

this night, the near ground,
every reaching-out-to overreaches,

just to remind himself
out of what little earth and duration,
out of what immense good-bye,

each must make a safe place of his heart,
before so strange and wild a guest
as God approaches.

To continue your spiritual reflection, listen.

Dear Diary,

8:45am: I woke up later than I wanted to, for I had to be at work by 10 am which is like SO early for a WAHM to be decently dressed and walking 1/2 mile to pick up the #4 to downtown, ready to pull off my first ever Podcasting experience. It was all the windows fault. There was too much light coming in last night and I couldn’t sleep. So I did what all of us po’ folk do- I grab the nearest blanket I could live without and stuffed it up around the top of the mini-blinds so as to create makeshift drapes. That was about midnight or so, I suppose. So in the morning, when I normally get up by at least 7:30, it was nice and dark and quiet (just so happens Lil’ E ALSO slept in … thankyoujesus.)

9:15am: Catch the #6 instead so I can make a stop at the Starbucks for a quick po’ folk 8 oz. coffee, then catch the MAX from the convention center into downtown. Wait for the MAX for what felt like forever, coffee already cold, and a few sightings of snowflakes. It was a very rainy day and I was cute dumb enough to wear little gray ballet looking slip-ons. Real good, Viv, real good.

9:59am: Arrive to the office with one minute to spare, having bounded through the rain and puddles downtown with my purse and digital camcorder on my shoulders and my laptop case trailing behind me on wheels. Office is still dark and locked up- I’ve beat the boss! Dang I’m good.

10:20am: Call my boss. Realize I missed the e-mail that he wasn’t going to be in until after 11am.

10:45am: Finally get my STUPID VISTA OPERATING SYSTEM to connect to the unsecured network of the ground floor’s coffee shop to plug in to work and enjoy some HOT tea while I wait.

11:45am – 3:00pm: Podcasting 101.

3:00pm: Dismissed from work but its pouring. Sit down at the coffee shop once again and have my lunch- I’m told the “Stinky Hippie” is a soy chai latte. “Ah, that’s a wholesome po’ folk lunch”, I think. I order. I taste. Nope, this is a soy latte. No Chai. (You know, if you can’t get a drink right, how about try NOT naming it things like, oh I don’t know, STINKY HIPPIE, when all it is is a soy chai. Might that clear up some confusion? Just a thought.) But I am really a-okay with soy latte’s so I drink anyway. I forget about my problem of espresso on an empty stomach. (And no, I’m not referring to the BM’s… that is not to say this isn’t also a problem, but for now I simply mean the shaky hands and queasy stomach feeling.)

3:45pm: Waiting for MAX again. Once on, I must decide which way to turn my nose… to my right is a man in black leather with a long gray beard who smells something awful of cigarette’s, while periodically laughing at himself for no reason in particularly. To my left: a fairly normal looking, just-over-the-hill-aged man who must have a cat hoarding problem; he smells like PAH-IS! Naturally, I pick the powerfully odored urine man with the slightly less creepy disposition.

4:00pm: Getting more nauseous from the urine smell and praying I don’t pass out completely. Some one has got to guard my purse, digital camcorder and laptop.

4:15pm: Home again, home again, clickity clack.

5:00pm: We needs diapers, eggs and yogurt. What does a car-less family do in such circumstances? Layer up, walk the mile to the grocery store. Dark outside? Raining? Cold? Minor insignificant details. We are tough cookies, yes we are.

6:00pm: Eating a po’ man’s dinner for a family of 3 with no time to prepare a meal: Cheesy bread – $2.99 (an actual pizza is too expensive). Family dinner? Priceless.

6:45pm: Lil’ E to bed. I tried to think of something witty for this one but I’m at a loss.

7:30pm: Yoga night!

8:30pm: Ouch! The Scorpion. I point out to the yoga instructor, “this is the type of stuff they do on the magazine covers”; Little ol’ noobie Vivian cannot do this. But try, little engine, try. Does any one know about this stuff? Why is it that from this position on I have had some crazy lower back feelings of an almost maternal nature? Some powerful mothering feelings, almost like some deep seated tension from carrying a belly with a hyper-extended back for 9.5 months. Who knows.

9:30pm: My new hobby of skyping (and I’ll have to blog about that another time!) with my best friend for several hours, where I get to practice all of my comedic lines to blog about later. If they fly on her, they are in.

12:00am: Shower. Lay down in bed. The whole room is a-quiver with Hubby’s snoring- his body a 215 pound subwoofer.

12:20am: Up again. Grab some rice milk and cookie dough and start blogging.

12:30am: Dang this cookie dough is da bomb diggity. And 70% organic ingredients too!

Yep, that’s right ya’ll: Organic Fat. Only the best fat for this ass.

(Chat-practiced that line too. Might copyright it, whatcha think?)

For the record, no, this is not my typical diet!

So far, I have by and large worked full-time hours without childcare aside from my husband. I have attempted the day or two a week with a friend thing and had some luck, though the option was very affordable, it was not perfect.

While Lil’ E was between 14 months to about 2 years old I found it fairly do-able to work from home AND be his full-time care-giver. If certain projects demanded more attention (cleaning up databases, editing videos) I would do those after bedtime. Other things, like conference calls, event planning tasks, document creation and design, or writing gigs were all managed through out the daytime hours with my typically flexible toddler who played well by himself.

What happened in the last 4 or 5 months was unexpected (though I suppose, given all the information out there about child development, I should have been more prepared!). Lil’ E turned into a pre- preschooler. He is constantly learning new things and begging for my attention as his playmate. Nursing and cuddling and a few outings a week don’t cut it for a budding (and, imho, brilliant ) older toddler. And working from home means relatively fewer playdates and art classes as a non-working stay-at-home mom might be able to schedule into her day.

For me, part-time childcare for my older toddler/almost pre-schooler has been on the table and off the table for a couple of months. Given our new situation, (Hubby looking for work that could be M-F day job, my new part-time gig requires face-to-face time about 4 hours a week, so on), it looks as though the option will be back on the table until further notice!

Today I started my new part-time job on top of the three-quarter time hours I put in for Wiley. I’m very excited about all of the potential this new position has for me and what new paths it might lead down. I also believe it will provide me with more grounding in the telecommuting world, with more off-site skills that are often sought after in telecommuting salaried job ads. And as I mentioned, the need for me to be in the office doing some “assisting” hands on is a factor.

Today I also had my first “tour” of a local preschool I’ve had my eyes on. Though quite pricey, this preschool seemed top-notch. The facilities are fantastic: clean, inviting, and even “green”! The rooms are decked out in “natural” elements, only unfinished wooden structures, including tables and chairs made of irregular, beautiful wood pieces and gorgeous drift wood or “trees” and linens as decor. It is obvious that the elements of the rooms were probably expensive, as “green” and eco-friendly things like that tend to be. All toys were either hand-carved wooden pieces or soft fabric. Additionally, the meals served are always with organic fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and when used, meats. And check this out- they use cloth diapers from the first diaper change to the last, and then hand them back to you in regular ones (if that’s what they come in). They have three likewise environmentally friendly playgrounds that are just the cutest things ever.  And lastly, one of the major factors in me checking out this school, is the Spanish language program. Every teacher must speak Spanish to the children quite a bit during the day and it is taught alongside English. I know teaching children a second language in the formative years when their language development is most active is highly advised, and since Ethan is half Hispanic, I really want to foster the Spanish language in his life. (I took four years of Spanish, including two years of Intermediate Spanish in college, for the record- and because I don’t use it day to day, you would never know!)

So here I sit, with the waiting list application in hand. It is a big step for me to consider taking my son anywhere but home for his care, education, so on. But even while we were touring, he was ecstatic about the toys and playing with the other kids who were there, and was so sad to leave what he called “MY preschool!” I know that by putting him in preschool two full days a week, I would be able to knock out enough work to ensure that the other three days of the week I could spend more quality time with him. And I know that spending the time with other loving adults and other children his age (who all move up each year together- including the teachers!) would be an invaluable enrichment to his life right now.

So…

I will be turning in my waiting list form this week and praying that something will open up in the weeks following whenever Hubby begins working full-time again (to coincide with the income!) If we end up planning a second child in the next couple of years, I will be as determined to stay home full-time with them until they are about Lil’ E’s age as well, (at which time I assume I’ll have him in either full-time or part-time kindergarten, or whatever grade he might be in).

Unless of course Hubby is making six-figures by then, in which case I’ll homeschool and write a book in my spare time! Ha!

I’m finally getting around to all the widgetizing I had done on my previous design (who remembers these days?):

And though some might come and go (like the countdown to christmas!), I want to point out one I find particularly nifty. The “Swiki Search” in the sidebar I customized to find related information to those looking for support or resources for working from home. Try typing in “telecommuting jobs” and you will see what I mean. I found some new things, including Pajama Mama and all of her telecommuting success secrets! (Through her site I also found author of “I Love My Life: A Mom’s guide to Working At Home” Kristi Tamsevicius’ website, which is a bit inundated with ads BUT because I really enjoyed her book when I first ventured into working from home with my little Lil’ E!)

I hope it’s helpful for any one interested!

I enjoyed reading this article; though it was about staffing firms, it had some good points (that were a bit like, “THAT’S what I’ve been trying to SAY!”)

I’m very interested in this because I feel for all the experienced and intelligent mother’s (and father’s!) forced to struggle with the decision to work outside the home and see their children a couple of hours a day, when the possibilities of working from home should be more readily available and therefore no or only part-time childcare might be the only thing necessary to “get the best of both worlds”.

As I’ve voiced before, working from home while also the sole-caregiver of infant(s) and/or toddler(s) is quite a juggle and has bits of guilt all its own. However, if NOT working is NOT an option (and for most of us, it isn’t, am I right?) then home-based businesses, freelancing, or teleworking and telecommuting have got to continue expanding so as to include all kinds of workers and job categories.

If I have to become some sort of activist about this, then so help me, I will!:)

And I swear, if I am ever in the role of hiring and/or making executive decisions about this type of thing for my own or any other company, I will be homeshoring all over the place, lol!