Happy Belated B-Day to Alan

Amelia's birthday note to Daddy last week. :)

Where has this song been?!?

I was driving Shelley's car today and THIS song came on the radio. If I had heard this song a year ago, would I have been more or less likely to try to coin its title as a pseudonym for my husband? I don't know. But hearing it gave me a really good laugh. :)



And I liked watching this YouTube video. You gotta love closeups of early 80's cheesy mustaches, and thanks to MY jazzman, I'm an honest-to-goodness fan of a live band. Thank you, Carole King! (I can't wait to find out what Alan thinks of this...)

Happy Birthday, Alan!

Today Alan (and his twin sister, Becky) turned 40. I think he did most of his agonizing about it already. This afternoon he drove up to RVR with the girls after school and we all rode the triple zip line as a family. (He and I got our own, single rides first.) Each girl clipped in with one of us as we slid down the line. Hopefully I'll be able to upload the video of our "grownup" ride.

Then we celebrated "Alan style." We fed the kids first, put them to bed, ordered Chinese, and ate while watching "House Hunters International" on our laptop. Oh--and we ate some ice cream cake.

Now he's at a local restaurant with a few of his musician friends (and Sung) for a brew. I love giving people what they want! :)

Happy birthday to my husband--I look forward to more years of celebrating your birthday YOUR way, of making memories with these beautiful girls, and of going through life together sometimes with our feet on the ground, and sometimes flying through the air. :)

(Many thanks to John Zig--our girls' "other Uncle Johnnie"--and Matt Merson at RVR, along with interns Odessa and Jennifer, without whom the zip line ride would never have happened!)

Braggin' on Alan

Alan won a Maryland State Arts Council grant this year for World Music--which is pretty hip if you ask me. He submitted songs off his latest CD to win the grant, which you can listen to here.

And today? He got checks in the mail from ASCAP--paying him for a song he wrote for the movie "1408." It was pretty exciting, and then he noticed that the envelope the checks came in had our old address. So he called ASCAP, and it turns out they'd sent SEVERAL different royalty checks for that same movie to our old address. Hmmmm...they're going to see if those checks were ever cashed so that maybe he could actually reap the benefits of his labor. (By the way, we're not sure we'd encourage anyone to watch that movie, but we have reason to recommend its soundtrack.)

It's pretty cool to be married to someone who wins artistic grants and has his name on movie credits!

And while I'm braggin' on him, Alan pampered me on Valentine's Day--bought me new jammies and candles at Target and had the girls pick out a nice bathrobe at the thrift store (they were so cute giving it to me!) He ran me a bubble bath and made a pot of (slightly spiked) tea, and then I read my book in warm, bubbly, (slightly spiked) tranquility. :) So nice!

Knee Verdict

Well, a month after Alan's knee puffed up like a small pumpkin, we've found the reason, and it's not what we expected at all: Lyme Disease. Apparently it's not uncommon for Lyme to attack a single joint with swelling and pain like that--the orthopedist said he'd seen it plenty of times.

Alan feels good to have a diagnosis, and the fact that there's nothing structurally wrong with his knee has encouraged him to walk on it more and do more in spite of the fact that it still hurts a lot. He'll be starting physical therapy soon to regain the muscle he lost this past month. And he started the month-long round of strong anti-biotics yesterday.

Pray we'll be good at keeping tabs on the meds--we're really not "structured" people, and when a medication is as important as this is and has all these specifications ("don't lie down for at least 10 minutes after taking," "do not eat for at least one hour prior to taking and 2-3 hours after taking"), it's easy for loosey-goosey people like us to get all discombobulated.

Like last night, when he'd just waited the proper amount of time to take his meds and took it, I was opening our Christmas cards. My friend Melissa sends with her Christmas card a traditional Polish Christmas wafer called an opletek, which you eat with your family as a symbol of the forgiveness that Christ offered when he came. She included the traditional blessing, and being our naturally spontaneous selves, I said the blessing and Alan and I ate the wafer. Suddenly, Alan said, "I'm not supposed to eat!" Hopefully that paper-thin, mouth-sized piece of flour baked w/a little water did not mess with his nightly dosage.

This morning Alan took the girls to school for the first time in a month. It's the second time he's driven since this all started. Lyme Disease has offered some explanations for other things he'd been experiencing--headaches that just wouldn't go away (blamed on caffeine and dehydration) and general aches and fatigue (blamed on being the parent of young children.)

Thank you for your prayers--we won't turn you down if you continue to offer them on our behalf. Pray that Alan can keep the fears at bay (Lyme is such a strange and unknown disease still, with many, many different manifestations), and that I can be his supportive, loving, compassionate partner who puts the people ahead of the to-do list.

Knee Update

Unfortunately, we still don't know what's wrong with it. :( The MRI didn't show anything and the doctor was puzzled. It's pretty obvious something's wrong. So they drained it again and sent the fluids off to test for Gout. Then Alan had to go for blood work to rule out diseases like Lyme that can settle in joints.

If all those tests come back negative, we'll meet with the doctor to talk about an exploratory arthroscopic surgery to look for a tear in a spot the MRI somehow missed. Until then, it's just about doing the daily thing.

I give Alan a lot of credit. He has a really good attitude. He's not worrying or whining. He's been propping himself up in the kitchen to wash dishes, cook some meals, and make some lunches. On Wednesday evening, I had the last class of a continuing education course, and I fretted about Alan having to "do it all" at home with the girls. But he was amazing. He said they spent the whole evening hilariously creating "Elf Yourself" dances on the computer using different pictures of themselves, family members, and friends. They loved it.

Here's the family version of "Elf Yourself." Apparently, the girls insisted on "pretty" pictures of themselves. So what's up with Mommy???

Get ready to cringe!

I begin with an apology for the accompanying picture. I will also say right now that, while I do slack off shaving in the colder months, these are ALAN'S legs.

"What did he DO?!?" you ask. The best metaphor is this: imagine getting a tiny tear in your jeans, hardly noticeable. You wear the jeans for months, maybe years with that small tear or frayed spot. Then, one day, doing nothing out of the ordinary, you bend over to tie your shoe and the whole backside of your pants rips apart.

That's probably what happened to his knee. He's in a lot of pain, and in the past week has been to Patient First, an orthopedist, and has had an MRI. The orthopedist will read the MRI on Tuesday to give us the full scoop: how big the tear is, where exactly it is, and what kind of surgery (and when) to expect.

Until then? Well, let's just say Alan will be doing all his holiday shopping on line from the comfort of our living room couch. :) We've had some good laughs in spite of it, and when my in-laws heard what happened they jumped in their car and came to our rescue on Tuesday. We'd planned on hosting the Blackmans for Thanksgiving, and their help in cooking, cleaning, child care, and good, old-fashioned common sense (my mother-in-law encouraged me more than once to strike things from the "to do" list to save my sanity--and she was right!), made that possible. Alan had a gig Wednesday night, which he was able to do w/me as the chauffeur and roadie, and it was actually a nice, relaxing evening which my in-laws made possible.

So now I'm going to go to bed (after I've looked at that knee again and said "eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!" one more time!)

Confessions of a Plagiarist (OR: Death of a Nickname)

Every now and then I get a hearty belly laugh out of reading a blog by a city journalist who met a cowboy in a bar, got married, and now lives in the middle of nowhere homeschooling four kids on a ranch. (No mystery her appeal to me!) She's hilarious and has great recipes. You can find her here.

Anyway, she always calls her husband, "Marlboro Man," and I got this great idea that I would call MY husband something cool, too, so I spent a few of my own posts calling Alan "Jazzman." I thought I was clever and funny, which only made me write more words for the six of you to wade through as you looked for cute pictures and anecdotes about my kids.

Problem is, I never actually asked Alan if I could call him "Jazzman," and since he is one of the six people who reads the blog, I probably should have done so simply out of respect for his position as a shareholder, not to mention his role in creating and maintaining the lives of the two little people we started the blog in the first place to share.

"Jazzman" might conjure up in your minds a misleading idea of what Alan's music sounds like. Most of the artists you find in the "Jazz" section of Barnes & Noble make Alan wince. (Chris Botti, Nora Jones, Harry Conick, Jr., and--worst of all--Kenny G, to name a few.) If you want to hear music that Alan finds inspirational, just go to the website of the record label, ECM, and take a listen to pretty much anyone there.

The best way, of course, to find out what Alan's music is like is to listen to it. I think his website is really cool, as is his music. And, I think it is really interesting being married to someone whose circles of people include Icelandic musicians, NYC artists, and that many of them log time as our house guests.

So, that is why Alan is back to being Alan and I am back to failing to be concise as I record these snippets of life so that I don't forget them. I just have to remember to put it on a thumb drive now and then! (And thanks for keeping up with us here--it's nice to have you paging through our photo album together!)

"Baby Brain"

That's what Alan calls what has happened to him in the years since having children. This morning's example: he poured cereal into his coffee mug.

Date Night with Jazzman

It's been way too long since Alan and I went out! Last night we drove to Frederick to hear Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman and it was SO FUN. I got to thinking about what it's like being married to a jazz musician, and all the things I probably NEVER would have learned had I not married Alan--my Jazzman. In fact, last night I started calling him "Jazzman," and I think I'll just keep referring to him as that.

The concert was AWESOME. We were in the 2nd row--close enough to see that Josh Redman had missed the bottom button of his shirt and Brad Mehldau just might bite his nails. We saw "jazz face" up close and personal (a facial expression used by jazz musicians when totally engulfed in the moment and was, in Brad's case, a mixture between regretting the shrimp salad and awaking too early to too much light.) Josh is a sax player, which doesn't lend itself to jazz face, but rather jazz BODY. His were similar movements to the ones I make when I have to pee really badly and still have to wait for the restroom. (And I wonder where my girls get it!!!) Of course, he looks VERY COOL doing this. I do not.

There were three encores and I wanted every one. I hooted, whistled, clapped, and cheered, and I am happy to say I was never an embarrassment to Jazzman. That is because I did it all at the right TIME. I could tell that there were some folks in the front row (likely high-level patrons of The Weinberg Center who go to ALL the concerts), who were taken aback by the fact that people were making all this noise in the MIDDLE of the songs. But to their credit, they got used to it and seemed to enjoy themselves, right along with the older man playing air piano and the lady eating M&Ms out of her purse.

What fun. A nice drive w/conversation, quick dinner at a hip restaurant (I ate WELL--more later about some of my healthy habit resolutions), and basically a really enjoyable evening relishing some of the things that make life really interesting as the wife of Jazzman.

A Winter Retreat

Last month Alan planned a wonderful few days away for us at the Hillbrook Inn, a fabulous B&B in WV. Taking advantage of a January special, we enjoyed quiet times at our own fireplace, hiking around historic Harper's Ferry, and something truly special--uninterrupted hours of one another's company. Thank you to all whose hands & hearts held our girls while we enjoyed this wonderful time away!

Artistic Christmas to you!

After three years of service, our camera got accidentally swiped onto a tile floor and was no more. We got a new one, and Alan had some fun using the different settings. I think he got some neat shots. I love the one he took standing on a chair under the doorway between our living and dining rooms where two rows of Christmas cards are draped. Years ago my friend LuraLynn gave us coffees for Christmas and put star-shaped tags on each with a hand-written note. Those (and lots of other unique gift-tags) have become favorite tree ornaments over the years. Of course, the girls are our favorite works of art, no matter what season or camera!

And, for the record. All these decorations are still up.

Sharing Hardship

Alan has a music colleague who lives a few hours south of us in VA. He and his wife had their daughter between Evelyn and Amelia, and yesterday little Charlotte passed away as a result of a brain tumor that just wouldn't quit. While I've read many of their very honest posts, I think the one that will stick with me is the one from Christmas Day when they put their Christmas 2008 and Christmas 2009 posts next to one another.

Roger and Rachel have started a foundation in their daughter's name, and there's a link to it on their blog.

"May the God of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance." (II Thess.3:16)

Fall Fun

For once I'll let the videos speak entirely for themselves. :)

And he COOKS, too!

I came home from work Monday and Evelyn ran up saying, "Daddy made TORTILLAS!" I walked into the kitchen and he was sauteing a bunch of vegetables to go with the filet strips he'd already cooked for our fajita dinner. Crazy thing was, I doubted for a second that he'd made homemade tortillas because the kitchen was so CLEAN. But out of respect for all the scrubbing I'd done on Friday, he'd already done away with his mess. What a guy! The dinner was fabulous.

And speaking of the clean house, walking back into that clutter-free, sparkling place upon returning from Deep Creek, it honestly looked like one of us had moved out. We have our countertops back! :) Not that it will stay that way, but it's nice to have those moments, and nice to have a husband that helps with it and cooks such great dinners!

Deep Creek pictures to come...

Holy Pickerel!

Jon sent these from Deep Creek, where the Bissets are enjoying the traditional weekend in the woods. As I understand it Alan has caught the biggest fish thus far--woohoo--and my nephew Aidan is the CUTEST fisherman.

I'm home w/the girls who are emerging from some cold or flu, and before you feel sorry for me I have LOVED this day. We played dollhouse forever (inspired by 2 bags of hand-me-down dollhouse toys from Diana, Liv, and Maddie), and I have CLEANED this house almost from top to bottom. My wrist is sore from scrubbing floors and I wore an actual hole in one knee of my pants. The place smells like vinegar and Murphy's oil soap. It is wonderful. Tomorrow if the girls are still fever-free we'll head out to Deep Creek. If they've got fevers again, Alan will drive, too, and meet us in the middle. Then he'll drive home w/the girls and I'll finish out the weekend playing games, eating fresh fish, and playing kazoos with a really great group of people.

Daddy plays the Kennedy Center!

Just when we thought our days of me accompanying Alan to his gigs are over, he gets a 6 p.m. gig at the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage with a local Manhattan Tranfer-style vocal group, and we load up the girls and head to D.C. for a family outing!

The girls and I had some time to kill during the rehearsal and sound check, so we wandered the enormous halls (to the constant refrain of, "Ma'am, please don't let the children run." I think they were bored and had had very few serious infractions or incidents with which to deal lately. You can see for yourself how crowded it was and what a danger they must have presented. Can you imagine being 2 or 3 and NOT wanting to run in those cavernous hallways?) and visited the lovely fountains outside.

Even though I've been to the Kennedy Center on a number of occasions, it was a total coincidence that the girls' dresses matched the decor.

Golden Gate Park

This park starts at the ocean with this windmill...



















...winds its way into the city for 3 miles of glorious woods, lakes, waterfalls, museums, and gardens...






.....and even has some bison!

One of the original Rodin castings of...

The Thinker, is at the Palace of the Legion of Honour in Lincoln Park.

























So is a really cool golf course........ :)

the ocean, the golden gate bridge, etc.