October 27, 2016

The Advent of Halloween

October 27, 2016

As I have bemoaned, the house renovation has taken over more of my life that I would like. Work obligations have pushed many renovation chores onto the weekends, and the poor Vachette has been dragged to all of them. So, we took her to a craft store and told her she could buy any Halloween decoration she wanted. The fact everything Halloween related was on sale made this Mommy feel extra generous.

And what fun we had! Even this bah humbug of a mother. Seriously, who knew there was such a thing as Halloween bouquets. The Vachette and I really delighted in making our house “spooky”.

Of course, no Halloween home would be complete without jack o’lanterns. We had a little pumpkin carving party with our tenants this past weekend. A merry Halloween to you all!

October 12, 2016

Seasonal Bucket Lists, a lesson in wishful thinking

October 12, 2016

When we came home from our Europe trip with a good six weeks before the start of the school year, I thought about making a bucket list of local activities, fun that could only be done in the summer. Beaches to explore, playgrounds to check out; boat rides, lighthouses, amusement parks, etc. But then the renovation happened, and with it, all good intentions got demolished like the hideous floors and the layers of dated wall paper. No matter, I thought. We had a fantastic time on our mega-trip. I’ll plan a bucket list for fall, when the renovation dust will be close to settling, and we’ll have our new household routine done to science.

Wishful thinking. Three weeks into the new season, the peak season for life in New England, and I have no bucket list. We did get the Vachette out apple-picking, a family fall tradition, so that has to count for something. And September was so warm that the trees are reacting as slowly as I am when it comes to making the most of the season.

I asked the Vachette if she would like to do anything fall-related this weekend. Her response: rake up leaves! Unfortunately, there aren’t that many leaves on the ground to rake up yet, but Halloween is nineteen days away, so maybe we are better off focusing on costumes and jack o’lanterns, and maybe we can up our Halloween house decorating game this year. Maybe that’s a better use of my time than brainstorming a fall bucket list that would be easier to achieve next year, when I won’t have to run to tile stores on my weekends.

May 11, 2016

A Mom Dream Come True

May 11, 2016

When I was pregnant with the Vachette, I joined a prenatal yoga class where I met some amazing women. They formed a moms group and regularly got together both before and after our babies were born. Missing out on this group is one of many things that haunted me when we moved to San Francisco. I found another moms group, and the women were lovely, their babies adorable, but I could never quite shake the longing I had to be a part of the Zurich group.

Shortly after we first moved to Boston, Mr. Mad Cow and I bought a membership to the Museum of Science. The Vachette loved going to the museum, and we went frequently. I sometimes saw groups of moms and kids together and I felt a similar longing. I envisioned alternate realities where I went on similar outings with the yoga women I had met in Zurich. I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but I still wished I had an awesome group of moms to go to the science museum with the Vachette and me.

Socially, I have been very blessed in Boston. In addition to my childhood best friend (she was also my maid of honor, so to Greeks, that means she’s family), I have met so many wonderful mothers*. I am so grateful for their collective friendship. They enrich my life, and their children enrich the Vachette’s life. The Vachette and I were both thrilled when one of them suggested going to the science museum together this week. However, I did not realize the full meaning of this outing until the Vachette and I got there. That is to say, one of my mom dreams was actually going to happen in real life, not just in conjured up alternate realities.

So, thank you, J and A, for making my mom dream come true. The Vachette and I had the most wonderful afternoon at the science museum with you and your children. And more importantly, thank you for being a part of our lives.

(I apologize for the less than stellar photos. My phone does not have a good camera.)

*I’ve also made non-mom friends, but they don’t really fit into mom groups and the feelings I’ve had about them.

April 27, 2016

Astonish Me, the latest book to jump the queue

April 27, 2016

I have a problem. I am a book addict. It’s not just books though. You can see all sorts of reading material strewn throughout the house: sections of the Sunday paper, New Yorker magazines. And of course, several books, both fiction and non-fiction, that are already in progress. No wonder I have issues keeping clutter at bay.

It’s not that I have reading ADD; I usually finish every book I start*. I just love to read. Library e-books sometimes help keep my word appetite in check. The local library network is phenomenal, but I’m not the only one who thinks that, so when it comes to reserving the digital version of a book, I often have to wait six months before it’s my turn. And then, by the time I get the email notification it’s finally my turn to borrow book X, I have often long forgotten about the book at hand.

Such was the case with Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead, though the book’s appearance in my life is more serendipitous. Yesterday, I took the Vachette to the Robbins Library. After picking out a bunch of books in the children’s section, she asked me if we could go see the big globe and find the spot where her daddy was (who currently is on a work trip.) So we went to the adult fiction (as in, not-written-for-children, not porn) — she ran and I walked — lo and behold, guess what hardcover was on display, and thus, available to check out: ASTONISH ME!

So I did. And what a pleasure it is to read. Now my challenge will be not reading really late every night during Mr. Mad Cow’s absence. Solo parenting is hard. But it’s ever harder when you’ve stayed up too late the night before no matter how good the book is.

* Since becoming a mother, I am more vicious about not finishing every book I start. If the author hasn’t hooked me in the first hundred pages, then I often give up on a book. There are just so many books and so little time.

March 17, 2016

On Not Having a Television

March 17, 2016

The Mad Cow household currently does not have a television. Nor do we have plans to get one. Before you roll your eye, let me explain. Our lack of television has more to do with the actual apparatus itself rather than any self-righteous lifestyle choice.

The whole business came about by accident. When Mr. MC and I first moved in together way back when, we bought a television. It was one of those old school clunkers, the kind that are rarely seen these days. We got rid of it when we moved to Zurich, because there is no point shipping a television across the ocean when one could easily be had on the other side.

We didn’t think too much about what our lives would be like once we got to Switzerland, but we knew that financially things would be very different and we would need to budget accordingly. Phd students in Switzerland may get paid triple what they get in the US, but the cost of living in Zurich is rather steep, so, by Swiss standards, we were poor. With that in mind, when we were looking for our first apartment and came across a 28 square meter studio available, we happily went for it. Who need proper rooms and an oven when you have all of Europe at your feet? Especially in light of the money saved on rent? So we made do with less. Less furniture, less appliances, less meals out. However, thanks to Mr. MC’s field of study, we had no shortage of computers and, by default, started using them for all movie and television-watching.

Our lack of television had another financial advantage: we didn’t have to pay the Billag, aka the Swiss Media tax. Everyone who has a television in Switzerland is supposed to pay the Billag,. Such TV taxes are actually very common throughout Europe; they cut down on the amount of commercial interruptions. Neither Mr. MC nor I had problem with the idea of the Billag, but as we had little interest in Swiss programming, living TV set free became another way to funnel more money into our travels. And thus, we became a TV-free household. Again, I want to clarify, we still enjoyed plenty of visual media. We just did it on other devices that could serve more than one purpose.

Several moves and more spacious homes later, we still don’t have a television. What can I say? We got so used to making do without, we just don’t see the need to have another appliance in the house. Especially in a computer scientist’s multi-laptop household.