Rule of three

* Keeping my kitchen clean makes me really happy. More happy than I could have realized during most of my life when I wasn't keeping it clean on a regular basis. However, knowing this, I should really make cleaning the kitchen more of a priority. Note to self: get on it.

* If you're the kind of a person who, at any given moment, can think of three things you need to do, three things you want to do, three things that would be really fun, and three things that you've been meaning to get to for a while, but haven't; then, seriously make a schedule. Otherwise you'll spend the whole day going around in circles.

* A friend of mine once told me that when she finds she's having trouble keeping her house clean, it's usually because she has too much stuff. While this is true, and even relevant in my case, I find that when I'm having trouble keeping my house clean, it's because I'm not in it enough. Something to keep in mind when I'm getting that kid-in-the-candystore feeling about the plethora of cool activities around here. On May 9, for example, there are a solid five mutually conflicting but very intriguing activities to choose from. Maybe I should just stay home.

Get your ballet clips, right here

Ooh, look! It's an ad for the San Francisco ballet.



I really like this particular piece, which was choreographed by a former dancer with the company. I love his choreography -- always clever and unexpected, and usually really funny to boot. See if you can see the dancers sliding. The first time I saw this move used in a ballet I could hear people gasping. I'm pretty sure they thought the dancers had lost their balance.

And now two clips of the male dancer I believe is the bes the company, Davit Karapetyan. I'm so glad I get to see him dance every year. Here he is in a piece from Don Quixote,



and check out the coda



These seem to be his only clips on You Tube. Too bad. We saw him dance today in the Balanchine ballet Jewels, and he was truly amazing. He has the most beautiful sense of line of any dancer in the company, and the grace in his arms and hands is really remarkable.

I have often remarked on the fact that my husband rarely gives me actual presents, as in "Here, honey, I got this for(your birthday, our anniversary, Valentine's day, whatever)" Sometimes when I see the cool presents other people get, I feel kind of wistful about it. Whenever I think about how generously he makes it possible for Maya and me to experience this wonderful dancing, though, I think I'm coming out way ahead.

We're all about the crafts

You can keep your fancy woodworking kits. My son, clever, clever child that he is, has managed to burn the word MOM onto a piece of wood using only a magnifying glass and the light from the sun. I'll treasure it forever, of course.

I sense a business opportunity here, jumping right on the eco-friendly bandwagon. Mail-order solar-powered wood-burning kits!

Globe lilies

Also known as Fairy Lanterns, or calochortus albus. Now beginning to bloom in Almaden Quicksilver Park. These are relatively late-blooming flowers, so their blossoms let you know the wildflower season will soon come to an end. Right now it's at it's peak. Several kinds of lupine, blue-eyed grass, poppies, sunflowers, and buttercups are making the meadows beautiful. This is definitely the time to be outdoors hiking, while the air is cool and soothing, the hills are green and leafy, and the flowers are at their best.

The best laid plans ....

Ziad is sick, and my plans have gone agley indeed. Ever since Thursday, when his first waking thought was "Can we reschedule the playdate we have planned?" life has been on hold. Passes to the ballet dress rehearsal? Adieu. I don't so much mind having missed it myself, but by the time I realized that there was no way for me to be comfortable leaving such a sick child, it was too late to find someone who could use them. Not that I didn't try. Reservation-only, docent-led wildflower hike on private land in Santa Cruz not normally open to the public? Oh, man, letting go of that one hurt. Ballet tickets tomorrow? Well, those, at least, I can exchange.

I'm not by any means bucking for martyr of the year award. Part of me is perfectly content to hunker down and mark time waiting for him to get better. Plus, really, how many moms could really enjoy themselves knowing their child was languishing on the sofa, coughing pathetically?

Thursday he spent dozing off in odd situations. Friday he seemed better, but all of a sudden I realized at four o'clock that the weekend was coming, he had a high fever, and medical help was going to be limited to emergency rooms if I didn't deal with the situation a little more proactively. I called the doctor's office, and after talking to the nurse I knuckled under and took his temperature, something I try to avoid doing because it usually scares the hell out of me. Guess what? 104. Damn. Actually, I guess I can pat myself on the back, because my guess ahead of time was 103. Do I know my kid or what? Anyway, a long conversation involving three or four calls ensued, because my children's tylenol had expired, so I wanted to give him some adult Tylenol instead. Except that had expired, too, and all I had was some Advil. Plus there was an involved discussion of why three tablets with 160 mg. of acetominophen are better than one with 500 (the difference is 20 mg if you don't feel like doing the math). Isn't one pill that you swallow better than three that you chew, especially if you are a picky eater who doesn't like fruit flavors? He ended up taking 400 mg of Advil, leaving him 80 mg short, but it seemed to do the job. He felt much better and left off his imitation of a wood-burning stove.

And yet, here he is today, coughing lethargically while his temperature steadily rises again. Good times.

I find myself accusing myself of being incredibly self-involved, because I tend to think of this medical situation in terms of how I feel about it. Can I handle my little boy having a high fever, or am I going to freak out and need to rush around doing stuff? I keep forgetting that he's old enough now for me to ask him how he feels and what he prefers. Does it hurt too much, does he feel like he needs medicine, or does he want to tough it out (always the preferred option in my book)? Can he be persuaded to drink enough fluids to help his body cool down? Does he understand that popsicles are better than tea for soothing his throat? Yes, yes he can and does. Good times.