Quick Hitters

I. Changing Clothes
Owen is at the age where he needs several changes of clothes per day. Old enough to walk around and get into all sorts of trouble, not old enough to realize that certain types of trouble will make you awfully upset immediately afterwards because it isn't terribly comfortable to be cold and wet. Old enough to be able to move a stool over and reach things he shouldn't, not old enough to get sent into timeout for the offense. (Really, it's our fault for leaving dirty dishes within his grasp.)
This morning he's already been through a set of pants, because he was ramming around the basement with James and I while I roasted coffee. He got into the husks, and very deliberately took individual handfuls over to the stairs and spread a fist of husks onto each individual step. By the time I finished whatever it was that I was occupied with (probably putting away something that was more dangerous/dirty) his pants were covered in basement grit and old coffee husks. It wasn't worth it to try to change him.
After lunch J made a "dessert" which is really just blended-up cherries, milk, and frozen bananas. I don't know how she does it, but it tastes just like ice cream. It's the best way to have fruit. Owen alternated between banging his fists insistently for more and then recoiling in shock at the cold headache and letting it dribble out of his mouth. And that was it for his sweatshirt.
Fortunately, I didn't have to reach far to find clean clothes for them. He and James had a 20 minute laundry battle this morning in which they dumped over the basket of clean whites and then threw garments at each other, laughing uproariously the entire time. I was just grateful that they weren't throwing the clean clothes I'd already folded.

II. Asking Nicely
The quality of a guest conductor can quickly make your week really good or really bad. After working on several operas with a certain conductor who was universally loathed by the orchestra, this week was a breath of fresh air. Here's the sort of feedback we'd get from Old Conductor: "No, no, no. It's mezzo-PIANO. It's too loud. It's just too loud." Or, "Orchestra, you're completely overpowering the singers. It's not a Beethoven symphony, it just has to be softer." Or, "NO!! Brass, what are you doing? I'm showing you light, you must play lighter!" Or, punctuating all of these comments, an angry expression and the open palm of his hand.
Here's what we got from New Conductor: "Orchestra, please make sure you listen to the stage at this moment for soprano line, and then it will be balanced." Or, "The choir may not be able to keep up with you, I regret that we'll need to accommodate them in this section." Or, "Don't worry about accompanying in this section, in this passage what the opera needs more than anything else in this section is a beautiful, full string sound!"
Guess which conductor got pats on the back and handshakes during the intermission?

III. DNI
The Monday Evening Wegmans run is becoming an institution. J teaches three students back-to-back, and the last one is an hour. The boys just can't quite make it through that last lesson without dropping a case of dominoes on the wood floor, asking to be held by the high school flute student, or holding a shouting contest. (Yes, all of those things have actually happened.) So for the last hour I load them up in the car and take them out to get whatever it is that we need from the grocery store for the week. This week it was mostly ingredients for Date Night In, which we're doing tonight. Except that I didn't really do particularly well. The Pittsford Wegmans, Mt. Wegmans itself, was out of pomegranate seeds, and they didn't have cocoa nibs either. (At least I don't think they did...I'm not sure that I'd recognize a cocoa nib if I saw one.) Highlight of the trip for the boys, though? The wine store was giving away free balloons, and they each got one to take home. (Owen hardly touched his dinner and was up way earlier than usual this morning because of balloon fascination.)

IV. Will I Get a 1099 For This?
True Story: I was offered a gig this morning that started at 4:30 this afternoon, and the compensation was a pancake dinner.
Turned out I was busy.