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This is one of my work projects – Russia Wharf near the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Congress Street in Boston. It’s planned to be a 31-story office/residential tower. The project stalled for a while when one developer sold the property to another for just over $100M, but it appears to be moving forward again. I drove by last weekend and the existing historic buildings (c. 1900) have been demolished except for their facades, which will be incorporated into the new design. Without getting into a debate about historic vs. modern, whether Boston needs another residential/office tower, etc., isn’t it cool how they built the structure to support the facades?

And just wait until you see the new locksets!

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/maritime/rus.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_Wharf
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As some of you already know…I have a secret. I sleep around. Around the house, that is. I’ve slept in the guest room, in the kids’ beds, on the couch, and even on the floor. I rarely sleep in the master bedroom, because Ben and I are both magnetic and during the night the kids migrate to our bed and we end up a party of 5. If I start out in the guest room I usually end up with 1 or 2 kids but at least 1 ends up with Ben. I place the blame for this squarely on his shoulders. In Morocco, the kids sleep with the parents indefinitely. Under those circumstances, I don’t know how they ever have more kids! I mean really, where am I supposed to sleep? In the 2 square feet of blank space above Aliya’s head? Not to mention the fact that Norah has fallen out of bed about 10 times. Oh well…a family that sleeps together goes to the chiropractor together.
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A few cute sleeping pics of Adlani:
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For 6 months, I shuddered every time I looked at the April 14th entry on my calendar…”Blood Drive.” I have blood issues. I’m pretty sure it started when I was about 4 or 5 and my stepfather fell off a ladder with a storm window and just about cut his hand off. We were home alone and I remember him looking through the window in the front door, begging for me to let him in. I thought he was playing a game and so he ended up running in through the garage and up the stairs, splattering blood on the walls along the way. I remember him talking on the phone to the pre-911 emergency service and receiving instructions to remove his belt and wrap it around his arm. He went off in an ambulance and I stayed home with a neighbor.

When I was about 13 I fainted in the doctor’s office after the nurse who was drawing my blood said “oops”. I spent 2 days in the hospital after that episode, had a CAT scan, and narrowly missed a spinal tap. I also fainted at school after my finger got pinched between 2 desks and a blood blister appeared, and at the grocery store when the deli clerk cut her hand on the meat slicer.

Since then I have had 3 babies and lots of blood tests for thyroid levels, so I thought our office blood drive might be the perfect opportunity for me to conquer my fear among friends. I DID IT!! For any of you who are afraid to give blood, it was really no big deal. I didn’t look at my bag-o-blood, but I accidentally saw one of my coworkers’ and even that didn’t send me crashing to the floor. The most painful part of the whole thing was sitting in a broom closet answering questions about my health history and habits that might make me ineligible to give blood. It was all worth it though, when the nice lady asked me if I had ever had sex with anyone who was born or had lived in Africa. She was visibly startled when I answered, “At least twice a week since 1998.”

5 million people per year receive blood transfusions…your blood can save a life! Plus you get guilt-free cookies! Just do it!!!

http://www.givelife.org/
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For about a year, Norah has been battling eczema. It started out with a few little benign-looking spots here and there, and it has gotten a lot worse this winter. At the end of February she woke up with her legs beet-red like a bad sunburn and her chest and stomach covered with tiny red bumps. The next day her back and arms had the red bumps as well, and her legs were all blotchy. We tried so many products and nothing really helped. To identify the trigger we changed the type of pajamas she wore, the bath soap we used, and witheld certain foods. We weren’t able to get rid of it entirely, but a couple of weeks ago I found Aveeno Eczema Care lotion. IT WORKS!!! Now she has just a few small patches – very manageable. I highly recommend this lotion!!

A couple of weeks ago (Monday), Norah was showing signs of conjunctivitis (pink eye) so I took her to the doctor. He said she had allergies. The next day I found out that 3 other kids at her day care had conjunctivitis. The rule for day care is that the child has to have the magic eye ointment for 24 hours before they can return. I called the pediatrician and was told by the nurse that they would not prescribe the ointment for Norah. I told her that several of the other kids used the same pediatric practice and were able to get the ointment. Their answer was still NO! So Norah and I settled in at home for the duration. She still had it on Friday so I called the pediatrician and the answer was STILL NO!!! Luckily it cleared up over the weekend…unluckily (Is that a word?) I ended up with conjunctivitis. I haven’t had it since junior high and it SUCKS! BUT…I bought an over-the-counter remedy at Walgreens that really helps! It still sucks but at least it sucks a little bit less.

Speaking of eyes…I’ve somehow lost my bottle of Arbonne Eye Cream. This is the potion I used on one eye for two weeks to see if there was a difference. After the two week trial period there was an obvious difference between the treated and untreated eyes, and only one person chose the wrong eye in the unofficial test. I REALLY need to find it or shell out another $45, or I’ll have to live with one wrinkly eye and one less-wrinkly eye forever. Maybe it will turn up during the ongoing decluttering.