Brief catch-up

Semester has gotten off to a very busy start. Last week, I gave 4 lectures, many of which I had to revamp considerably. Perhaps because of the craziness, I kept forgetting things: AC adaptor, adaptor for Mac laptop. And Friday, I used a new laptop for me, which decided to upgrade PowerPoint and restart the computer in the middle of my presentation.

Weekends have become more fun since we started going cross-country skiing. We bought a pulk (covered sled) so that the boys could join us in more comfort. Nikita has started to ski a little bit, using me and Igor (or Galina) for balance.

I finished Judith Jones's memoir, The Tenth Muse, which was very disappointing. Started out as a poor-little-rich girl story, got somewhat interesting because of the cooks she worked with (and I knew many of the stories already). I almost gave up halfway through the book, but was rewarded with stories of some very interesting people she met while summering in Vermont. I'm now desperate for good fiction, so have started The Feast of Love, which I read about through the Stuy memoir (see this link - amazingly, I've actually read most of the books listed).

Updates on my boys: Nikita is obsessed with drawing (mostly excavators and trains). I recently borrowed a picture book about Moon Pies, and now have to find these treats so that he can taste them. Vanya is hopefully getting out of his potty pause, which has lasted about a week. I can get him to pee in the sink if I run the water; he shrieks when I make him sit on the potty, but calms down if I give him a book or toy to play with (and if he actually needs to go). Igor has been tinkering endlessly with his bike, and constantly quotes from a recent Russian movie that satirizes provincial elections. Nikita quotes from it, too, but he's more interested in a scene that shows lots of motorcycles.

And Galina became an American citizen last Wednesday!