All posts by ihatehardware.

Public Speaking Success

A few weeks ago I went to see a public speaking coach, and today was my first presentation since starting meditation, yoga, and the other techniques she recommended.  I had high hopes that I would be able to speak comfortably, but I was still a bit apprehensive.

Today’s presentation was in Washington Depot, Connecticut, which is way out in western CT.  I was training 31 building inspectors, and it’s always hard to know what to expect with a group like that.  They typically have varying levels of experience and interest in what I’m there to talk about, and they had just had a big meatloaf lunch.  Keeping them awake was my main objective.

One of the recommendations from my coach was to connect with my audience as individuals, and think of it as a conversation, not a presentation.  This is supposed to remove the instinctual discomfort with the perception of not being part of a group.  So I went around to each table as they were finishing their meatloaf and explained that we would be playing a game and I needed them to think of a team name.  I’m pretty sure they thought I was an idiot.

Honestly, though, I have been teaching about building codes for at least 15 years, and learning about them for 20+.  When you take it one step further and narrow the code information down to just what pertains to doors, it’s really hard to get people excited about it.  I developed a Code Jeopardy game about 10 years ago, as an interactive way to.  Everyone who has taken the class has loved it, but I sensed that these guys would be a hard sell.

I didn’t let that stop me…I just acted enthusiastic and hoped that it would rub off on them.  It sort of broke the ice when one of the guys asked me for a place setting and a glass of water.  I wasn’t even wearing my apron!

So I just took a deep breath and jumped in.  I was a little nervous at first but I got over it.  This particular presentation is a little easier for me to feel comfortable with because it’s more informal and fun.  Long story short, they all stayed awake, they all learned something, and I think they were all pleasantly surprised (I was even asked to repeat the presentation for all of the Connecticut Building Officials at a separate meeting).  And I didn’t faint, die, or pee my pants.  Success.

Weekend In Review

About a week ago, I found out that my stepfather, Keith, was planning to come for a visit this weekend.  A few days later, Josh, Rachael, and my baby niece Duende asked if they could come too.  By the time they mentioned that their friend Vanessa was visiting a friend nearby, I honestly said, “Bring her along…one more won’t have any effect on the chaos.”

Visitors are welcome here, as long as they’re willing to go with the flow and help themselves.  Those are basically the only rules.  Oh, and they’re not allowed to judge me.  I will cook for them (or order take-out), find a bed, couch, or air mattress for them to sleep on, and I’ll even scrape the top layer of grime off of everything and hide the worst of the mess, but they have to be able to handle being part of the family for the duration of their stay.

Our weekend plans included two soccer games and a chili cook-off, so we dragged some of the visitors along too.  The soccer games were very chilly, but both were wins.  Aliya’s team has actually moved to first place in their division.  There’s one more game for each team next weekend and then it’s on to ice skating season.

The chili cook-off at the Linders’ house was a lot of fun, and Luscious Lana took the Chili Cup for 1st place.  The multi-generational soccer game turned into a dance party after dark, and the s’mores were a big hit.  Everyone was tired out and even I went to bed early.  I turned the clock back before I went to bed, so I was in bed shortly after 9 and slept until around 7 a.m.!  Today it was yoga class, a few hours of hanging out with the extended family, soccer practice for Aliya, and some work.   I’m hoping to make it another early night.

PartyLite

I had a candle party scheduled for tomorrow night but I made the decision yesterday to postpone it because it fell on PTO night and a bunch of people couldn’t make it.  The automated email postponing it wasn’t sent out until tonight, so hopefully none of you show up at my house tomorrow night.  If you do, I’ll be at PTO and Ben will entertain you.

The new date is November 18th so clear your schedules.  We had a GREAT time at the last PartyLite show…lots of good food, sangria, friends, and no pressure to buy candles.  Seriously, just come and hang out.  If you didn’t get an email about the date change, let me know and I’ll add you to the guest list or see if your email address is wrong.

Norah the Warrior

A woman who has a blog about Graves Disease interviewed me about our experience with Norah’s illness, and she published it on her blog today in a post called “Norah the Warrior.”  Check it out!

While we’re on the subject, Norah’s doing great.  Her incision is healing well and I don’t think she’ll have a very visible scar.  She hasn’t had any trouble with the medication, and although she’s back to her feisty, stubborn, independent self, she’s not that crazy-manic kid any more.

Last week I took her for her 4-year pediatrician’s appointment and she had grown 6 inches since her 3-year appointment.  She has also gained 4 pounds since the end of July when she was diagnosed.  Prior to that she was eating and eating but really skinny because of her racing metabolism.  With her thyroid levels under control her metabolism has stabilized and she has been able to gain some weight back.

She’s having labs done tomorrow and we have her 30-day post surgical follow-up Thursday.  We’ll be back with her endocrinologist at Children’s from now on.  I’ll miss the doctors at Yale, but Boston is a much shorter drive.  I was on the YNHH website the other day and I saw that Norah’s surgeon has been busy…one of his research projects is to grow heart valves for kids with heart defects.  He’s cool.

 

Happy Halloween!

I happened again. I got stuck.  Sometimes when I get “behind” on the blog and I haven’t had time to create posts about important events in our lives, I feel like I can’t post random little stuff until I catch up on the missing stuff, because then it will be out of chronological order.  And since I’m ALWAYS overwhelmed, I never catch up and then I don’t post anything until I snap out of it.  Well screw it.  I can’t catch up so I’m just going to override the perfectionist part of my brain and continue.

This is what happened today:

I went to yoga at the Y.  I didn’t think it would be too hard, but man, I had to come home and lay down afterward.  I broke a sweat during class and by the end I felt a little sick.  I recovered with some breakfast, but my arms are sore.  I really didn’t have any trouble staying “in the moment” during class because I was trying really hard not to fall down or let any inappropriate sounds escape.

This afternoon Aliya had soccer practice and it was the annual Parents vs. Players scrimmage.  The siblings got to play too and it was general chaos with 20+ players on the field, but the kids loved it.  I don’t think I’ve posted anything about Aliya’s soccer team here yet, but I’ve taken tons of photos of almost every game and they’re on Photobucket (if you’re so inclined, you can click here and you will see the links for each game on the left.).  Here’s one of Aliya trying to score on Ben at the Parents vs. Players game:

After soccer we came home to get ready for trick-or-treating.  Adlani asked if he could go out to the car to get his costume, and the next thing I knew…our neighbor was running in the front door carrying Adlani and yelling for ice.  She had found him with his finger shut in the car door, screaming bloody hell.  She was afraid to open the door and find his finger laying there, but bless her heart, she went for it and his fingers were still attached.  I don’t do well with blood but I caught a glimpse of his finger and it had a giant dent in it.  Seriously, his pinky was squished right down to the bone.  Future-Doctor Nikki came over to check it out, we put ice on it and gave him Tylenol, and about 20 minutes later he was good as new.  Ben said it was a good thing I hadn’t been the one to find him because I would have run back for my camera.  Sorry, no photo.

We went trick-or-treating around the hood with the Pearce Crew – it was very chilly but the kids had a blast.  I have no idea how I’m going to manage with all of this candy in the house.  I’m thinking about eating as much as I possibly can in one sitting until I throw up, in hopes that I will lose the urge to eat the rest of it.  Aliya was supposed to be a vampire but the fangs weren’t comfortable with her braces, so she paid Norah $3 to borrow her witch hat.  I think Norah was still a (hatless) witch, and Adlani was some sort of action figure guy.  We got his costume as a hand-me-down during the summer, and when I asked what he wanted to be for Halloween, he excitedly reminded me about the costume waiting for him in the Halloween bin (YES!).  When we were out making the rounds Aliya sang a song she had made up for Elizabeth and I…something about a certain candy bar being made of “butts and guts and camels’ nuts”…I asked what camels’ nuts were and she didn’t know.  They caught on pretty quickly that something was up because I was hysterical about the camels’ nuts.  I’m sure they’ll be asking around on the bus tomorrow to find out.  By the time we went around the block they were begging to go home, so we made one stop to see Norah’s teacher and Aliya’s soccer coach and headed home.  It’s past my bedtime so that’s all she wrote.