tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141660632024-03-06T23:58:49.568-05:00My terrene realityAnd we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.
-Friedrich NietzscheKanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.comBlogger431125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-821794510099419402012-09-03T19:59:00.000-05:002012-09-03T19:59:14.503-05:00Nothing gold can stayWhen my husband and I bought the house that we currently live in - which, incidentally, is the ONLY house either of us have ever bought - we also purchased an Amana refrigerator. Being young, naive, and mostly not-wealthy-at-all, it was a simple vanilla, no-frills refrigerator with the freezer on the top, and no automatic ice maker, no cold water, or no fancy anything. I selected it to be in Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-44027848289214046812012-08-15T17:57:00.002-05:002012-08-15T17:57:51.356-05:00PossibilityOnce upon a time in my past life, I was in grad school. This was a really happy time for me. There have been other, happier, more life-changing events since then of course, like - oh, say, getting married and creating two fabulous humans and watching them grow. Little things like that. Even so, if a magic genie gave me the chance to return to just one time of my life - I just might pick my grad Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-72827515925803843332012-08-10T18:56:00.001-05:002012-08-11T14:45:26.269-05:00A ReturnIn case anyone is wondering, I have not written in my blog for almost exactly
a year. This has been intentional (as opposed to just
forgetting about it, I suppose?). In a quick recap of this last year,
including why I have not been blogging - life sucked. It actually sucked a lot, as implied by the larger print. Things are better now, so no worries, please. But basically,
yeah, last year was Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-24713242434082425492011-10-09T19:02:00.002-05:002011-10-09T19:41:18.357-05:00The PauseThis post may make it WAY into the realm of TMI for more than a few. But it is what is is. It's what is going on in my life and it is what I want to write about. So any skittish or cowardly readers who don't want to think about or discuss THE PAUSE may exit now.For the last 4 months or so, I have been more than mildly worried that I have been losing my mind. Seriously. No, really - seriously. Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-85916343693699346202011-10-04T21:02:00.003-05:002011-10-04T21:52:46.608-05:00warts and allWarts make you think of witches, I bet. When I was little, I had a line of warts that would come and go on my forearm. I was absolutely horrified by them (as any good preteen would be). More recently, I've had a series of plantar warts that don't so much horrify me as piss me off. They're highly painful, inconvenient, and gross. The latest one is on my big toe, if anyone cares."Warts and All": Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-68533344123526035012011-09-30T06:49:00.009-05:002011-09-30T09:01:12.528-05:00Falling apart, redux, redux, redux, etc.For the last five months or so, my family and close friends have been listening to me complain about how busy and overwhelmed I am (and they have been very patient about it, I must add). The story goes: I burst into tears at random times. I have trouble breathing sometimes (literally and figuratively). There is NO MORE SPACE left on any of the little squares in my calendar planner. I have to Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-91469526465244259442011-05-15T12:18:00.004-05:002011-05-15T13:00:02.882-05:00what to do with fresh produce: 1We got our first CSA haul last Tuesday. My goal this year is to not let ANY of the wonderful CSA bounty go to waste, nor to let any of our bountiful garden output go to waste. I'm being optimistic about our garden. Last year was so pitiful it wasn't at all difficult to use it all since we got a handful total. This year is going to be awesome though. So to inspire myself and have a place to Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-91354586258924116652011-04-12T21:29:00.006-05:002011-04-15T07:46:05.715-05:00"it is what it is."Subtitle : Jen invokes the privilege to engage in indulgent navel-gazing"It is what it is."My husband says this phrase a lot. I get incredibly irritated every time. I told him it sounds awfully condescending to me. Why not just say, "I am mature enough to view this problem that is making you curl into a fetal position and sob as the simple event it is, all contentedly set in its proper place in Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-78304310039783866142011-04-10T17:06:00.004-05:002011-04-10T18:58:21.926-05:00My second inaugural postI miss blogging. It's been 1.5 years since my last blog post and I think that hiatus has been long enough. Part of the reason I stopped blogging is because it was simply easier to communicate in sound-bites on Facebook, and I didn't feel the need to sit down and take the time to think things through on a broader scale with enough depth to create a blog post. I think I've had enough of that Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-40307144836253105702009-11-02T16:46:00.002-05:002009-11-02T17:24:09.379-05:00some random weirdnessNovember is NaBloPoMo, which translates into National Blog Posting Month. Someone has decided to form a national movement to encourage daily blog posting for one month a year. Why? No idea. I'm certain there is some advertising revenue in there somewhere for somebody.In any case, while I don't get particularly excited about made-up movements like this, I suppose it's a good excuse to try to post Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-31078583950497810362009-11-01T19:45:00.003-05:002009-11-02T07:10:53.627-05:00in which she pops her head up to say hello...November. WTF?At the beginning of every autumn, I tell myself that this is the year I am going to go slow and revel in the change of seasons and enjoy every second of the cooling temps, the fires in the fireplace, the start of a new school year. I'm going to go slow enough to track the incremental changes in leaf color on the trees in my years and I'm going to feel the aura of autumn in every Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-85041259915785346352009-10-15T09:40:00.009-05:002009-10-15T11:26:08.429-05:00blog action dayToday is "Blog Action Day", and the topic is Climate Change, so my good friend Holly has encouraged me to use this as an excuse to start posting on my blog again.Most of you reading already know I'm an atmospheric scientist, so this topic is near and dear to my heart. I spend a lot of time hanging out at blogs of so-called "global warming deniers" or "skeptics" to try to understand where they areKanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-86148983483150865972009-09-07T20:40:00.006-05:002009-09-07T21:35:09.264-05:00backWell I certainly took a hiatus. It was unplanned, actually. I apologize to all two of my dedicated followers. :-)Since July 17, the date of my last post, we've gone on vacation to Colorado. We went white-water rafting and hiking and soaked in the hot tub under the Rocky Mountain stars. What I remember most though, is that my daughter got sick with what I assumed was a stomach bug - she was Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-17109351219521503602009-07-17T05:18:00.002-05:002009-07-17T05:31:28.006-05:00morning haikupre-ground hazelnutbitter and mellow and smooththe hot bites my tonguemuted morning sunair so still it suffocatesthunderstorm loomingJillian Michaelswaits in the dvd; comeI sigh, I obeyKanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-11987744371543968822009-07-12T06:36:00.003-05:002009-07-12T07:53:37.859-05:00swimming against the currentIf you read the news, you've probably heard of the incident of the private swim club in Pennsylvania that told a mostly-minority daycamp that they were no longer going to be allowed to bring their kids there to swim this summer. One of the families that attends the daycamp just filed a lawsuit against the swim club for racial discrimination.[Funny aside. I read about the suit earlier and didn't Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-25761471463740037042009-07-05T14:00:00.002-05:002009-07-05T15:02:39.189-05:00another birthdayToday is my birthday, and look at what gift I received from Mother Nature.As of 2:45 this afternoon:Light Rain 65°FFeels Like65°F Updated Jul 5 02:45 p.m. ETI've got the air conditioning off and the windows open so I Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-88627921963805320482009-06-11T17:30:00.003-05:002009-06-11T18:19:45.291-05:00food food beautiful foodFarm share pick-up day:One of the original reasons we wanted to join a CSA this year was to support small local farms. Today, we received a dozen peaches from South Carolina. While this particular CSA does support several farms here in town, we've discovered she occasionally brings in peaches from South Carolina and apples from Pennsylvania. One look at the peaches and I was smitten. Local Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-74558512425252856792009-06-10T21:51:00.004-05:002009-06-10T22:08:44.237-05:00dreamweaverI've been dreaming again, finally. It's been a while. Suddenly, I've had very vivid dreams for the last few nights. Last night's was just silly, but dear neighbor M helped me figure it out.I was at a scientific conference and many of us were meeting at someone's house for dinner. All throughout the dinner, I kept spilling my drinks and knocking over my chairs. (feeling a little inadequate, ya Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-32350042274945217762009-06-08T20:38:00.006-05:002009-06-08T21:12:48.673-05:00Lucy! I'm Home!We have a new family member now. Lucy is an 8 week old diluted calico that we adopted from our local animal shelter. E (my 10 year old) has been orchestrating this move for months now. She is in little girl heaven. Her tiny kitten slept on the pillow beside her last night and woke her up by gently batting her cheek with her paw. She's been prancing around the house tonight, attacking unsuspectingKanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-15035360253484654442009-05-22T06:44:00.002-05:002009-05-22T07:02:00.672-05:00continuedI was surprised when I looked at the date of my last post. Apparently, I'm still losing days. So on that topic (my last post) here are my latest adventures in the story of my mind's demise:At the orthodontist yesterday (for Q) I was trying to make an appointment for E to be evaluated. They were getting some background information. "Who's her dentist?" All I could think of was "Dr. Payne." We've Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-61846997469476199042009-05-15T19:24:00.002-05:002009-05-15T20:22:54.644-05:00oy vayI fear I'm losing brain function. Really. Should you worry about me? Yes. I think maybe you should.First order, it seems I am able to complete much less in a much longer amount of time than ever before. Functionality is trending toward negative infinity. Today, for instance, was my day off. I had no requirements. This was my day to catch up. I had vague notions of a sparkling house and concrete Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-9730696999739584402009-05-06T18:11:00.004-05:002009-05-06T18:32:17.277-05:00slip sliding awayI lost April. I usually like April too, so it's sad that I lost it. At work today, a friend and I both tried to remember what had happened during April. It truly slipped by, unnoticed. And this got me thinking. We all remember how time was so much slower when we were kids. I would sob after Christmas was over because the wait for the next one seemed interminable. Forever. And in my defense, it Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-66040266312292916152009-05-06T17:53:00.003-05:002009-05-06T18:11:33.187-05:00taggedI was tagged by wakeupandsmellthecoffee. Thank you, Wakeup, for thinking of me. ;-)1. What are your current obsessions?Facebook. American Idol.2. Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often?Flannel pajamas. I find I am putting them on earlier and earlier every day. At least I haven't started to wear them to work. Yet.3. Last dream you had?The last one I remember is that my friends Jamie Kanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-73318084378156352852009-04-29T05:44:00.003-05:002009-04-29T05:54:03.294-05:00graffitiSomeone got let loose with colored sidewalk chalk on the NASA site Monday night. So I came into work Tuesday passing graffiti such as "SMILE!!" and "DANCE ACROSS THE ROAD!!" and "YUM YUM FOOD" (in front of the cafeteria) and "I LOVE NASA" in front of the mail box, all in pastels. As I walked up to my building, I passed up "SMILE, YOU'RE SAVING THE EARTH!!!" and "SCIENCE ROCKS!!"Very odd. PuzzlingKanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14166063.post-31594192010074108672009-04-25T07:42:00.006-05:002009-04-25T08:51:14.031-05:00a saturday morning......in which yours truly decides to finally create another blog post because there is an enormous mound (10 yards) of hardwood mulch sitting in the middle of her driveway. This is actually a very poor plan because the temperature is supposed to reach into the 90s later today so the more I put it off, the worse it's going to end up. And yet, here I sit composing.It's spring, and as much as I loveKanga Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06251832877719706249noreply@blogger.com8