Bellydance show May 15th

There's a bellydance show coming up next week here in Logan. Details are below. Tickets are $10 at the door, or $8 in advance. If you know you want tickets, let me know and I can get you the cheaper ones. But I need to know soon!

The Details:
Friday, May 15, 2009. Show starts at 7:30pm.
Location: USU Taggart Student Center Auditorium, Logan.
Tickets are $10.00 at the door, or $8 from me.
You can also purchase tickets at the Indian Oven in advance (I don't know if these are $8 or $10).

Join us for an evening of fun with the Shimmering Sands. Watch various Utah talent shimmy across the stage. Look for performances by Shazadi, Saffron (my troupe), Shimmering Sands Students and other great Utah talent. Plus special guest of the evening, Stephanie!

If you need more information, check out the Shimmering Sands School of Belly Dance website: shimmeringsandsbellydance.com

Quiet

The house is quiet. J and Doodle have taken of to east-central UT for a couple days of camping, playing on boulders, and papa-daughter bonding time. I'm home, working on my thesis. I know they'll be fine, but at the same time I'm really anxious being stuck here, unable to do anything if they need me. *deep breath* It will be fine. I know it will. They will have a blast.

So I sit and write. The only non-thesis things I will allow myself to work on while they are gone are: making food, doing dishes, and getting the mower working if I can. Everything else - the cleaning, laundry, sewing, gardening, puttering - all that will have to wait. I must use my time efficiently and get a lot done.

If you see me on Facebook or Twitter or posting another blog entry here, please gently remind me to get back to work. Thanks.

Lazy

Because I'm feeling lazy, here are some Doodle pictures. One of these days I'll get around to taking a belly pic of me (yes, it's starting to show) and posting it. But in the meantime, Doodle cuteness will have to tide you over.

The tree-climber. It was getting dark and she still didn't want to come down.

Tractors are a big hit in this neighborhood. They came and removed our big piles of tree branches from the street. One guy even let us climb up in the backhoe and sit in it! Doodle was thrilled.

Doodle and I went to the zoo on Monday. She loved the geese, ducks, coyotes, ducks, turtles, ducks... it was fun.

Darn cute.

Bigwigs

In preparing a chapter of my thesis for publication, The Advisor and I got to wondering if Astragalus, the genus of my study plant, is the largest genus of flowering plant. It has 2000+ species in it, sometimes as high as 2500 species depending on who you ask. So he emailed a colleague who emailed some colleagues... you get the idea. Yesterday The Advisor received an email from PETER RAVEN saying that he's not sure if Astragalus is The Biggest Genus, but that it's certainly in the top five largest genera, and that he'd consult with some colleagues and get back to us.

Peter Raven, for those who don't know, is a Botanical Bigwig. He wrote the General Botany book that I learned botany from. He has an award named after him. He's a big deal. And he's talking with colleagues about a question that directly applies to my thesis?! ACK!

This is both really cool and overwhelming... I feel out of my league. Peter Raven is thinking about my thesis! (kind of)

Miss Independent

Doodle is becoming quite the independent little person. Twice this weekend she reminded me just how much she's doing on her own.

Saturday we were at the Pride gathering at Willow Park. She wanted to play on the playground equipment, so for a while J or I stood nearby and watched while she navigated the stairs, slides, etc. After a few times back and forth between the picnic tables and the playground, she just took off by herself without any insistence that a parent follow.

So we stood and watched.

She climbed the stairs to the big slide. She slid. She ran around. She watched bigger kids do bigger kid things. She climbed the stairs again. She even tried climbing a ladder (this is when J went to spot her - it was a little high and she has less practice at ladders than at stairs). She did fine at all of it. The big kids were nice and patient while she slowly made her way to the top of the slide stairs. And she had fun. I didn't need to be there. In fact, she played for probably 15 minutes before even looking for J or myself.

It was eye-opening for me. She didn't NEED me. And she was perfectly fine and safe without a hovering mom to remind her to watch out for the next kid to come down the slide or to go around the kids on swings. She KNOWS that stuff. I should just let her be more often.

Come Sunday Doodle and I were playing in the front yard, running around and digging up weeds in the flowerbed. She asked for help climbing the little tree in our yard, so I helped her get up on the low branches. She swung around and got herself situated, sitting nice and stable between a few branches.

She turned to me and ordered "Go garden," pointing at the flowerbeds.
I looked at her, confused. "What, Doodle?"
"Go garden. No help."

She didn't want me hovering, spotting her and staying close just in case. She was fine, and told me as much. So I agreed, and went about 12 feet away where I continued weeding while she happily sat in the tree, picking at buds and watching the world. She didn't need me.

She doesn't always need me anymore. I'm still getting used to that idea.

Darn cute Easter bunny

Pride Festival

Hey Cache Valley-ians! This weekend is Cache Valley’s very own pride festival. Come on down to Willow Park in Logan on Saturday (April 18th) from 12:00-4:00pm to celebrate and support the GLBTQA community. We'll be there!

Photo from Flickr.