The Big Salad

Running Away

2012-01-21T08:16:00.000-06:00

Running three miles doesn't sound like much, but it's pretty far for 10-year-old legs. These girls ran it strong, and they ran the whole way, never stopping to walk. Meap told me throughout the entire race that I was going too fast, but when we turned the corner and saw the finish line, she and her friend took off like they were on fire--it was all I could do to keep up.

While we ran I kept telling them how proud I was of them, but that doesn't even cover it--I was bursting. I hope they always try harder than they think they can and finish strong, and I hope they make themselves proud.

I think this one definitely felt some pride--this was a self-portrait on the way home. Way to go, Meap!

New Faces

2012-01-08T15:17:00.001-06:00

Number One and I got to pick out our new faces yesterday--we visited our favorite optician for new specs! She knew exactly what she wanted and had her new frames picked out in less than a minute. I had to try on just about every pair in the store before I found anything we could all agree on--and yes, those are ladies' frames.

On our way home we picked up Buffalo Wild Wings for late lunch/early dinner (linner?) and called GrandBob to come over and watch the Texans game. Obviously that's what made the Texans win, so now we have to eat wings during every playoff game, to help them win again. It's science.

(They are dubious of my scientific claims. But not so dubious that they'll turn down wings.)

What I Wore Today

2012-01-03T16:48:00.000-06:00

I love this new skirt from Forever 21! And I have managed to make it through the entire day wearing blue tights without anyone asking if my legs were cold or making a Smurfs reference. I'd call this a success.

A Day at the Park

2012-01-02T18:52:00.002-06:00

We took Sweet Tea to a dog park today. She wasn't wild about the slide.

Well, Thank Goodness THAT'S Over

2012-01-01T10:43:00.022-06:00

I've hardly been able to enjoy this holiday season. All I could think about is how glad I am that 2011 is ending; I just wanted to get through it and start a new year. I have no evidence that 2012 will be any better, but having that fresh page on the calendar is supposed to mean something.

But I can't let this past year go without commemorating the GOOD things that happened. So without further ado and in no particular order, here are eleven highlights from 2011:

1. Menchie's. This place makes our family smile, and it's a perfect, cheap, last-second treat.

2. Sweet Tea. All four of us are stupid about this dog, and she makes us smile even when the gas she passes leaves a deadly stench in her wake.

3. The painted churches in Schulenberg. When my parents came to visit for spring break we took a day trip here, and it was pretty much a perfect day.

4. Softball. Watching her play was fun for the whole family, and she liked it so much she's actually willing to do it again this year.

5. Enchanted Rock. Also pretty much a perfect day.

6. Corpus Christi. We spent a weekend here in early June; the weather was warm but not too hot, we had a great room at the Omni thanks to AMEX points, we had the rooftop pool nearly all to ourselves, and we spent just enough time at the beach.

7. Great Wolf Lodge. Who knew you could have that much fun on an inner tube?

8. SkyCoaster. Only two of us were brave enough to attempt it, but it really was fun for the whole family.

9. Visiting Nana. I only got to spend a very short time with her this year, but she was in great spirits. I love this lady.
10. Whale watching. Our whole 20th-anniversary trip to Montreal & Quebec City was fantastic, but the best part was the whale-watching tour. If I had a bucket list, this would have been on it.

11. Running 13.1 miles. I ran the Houston half marathon in January just after my 40th birthday and while I will never run another one, I am proud that I finished it in a decent time.

(I don't have a picture for this one, but it's just as well; although I feel like a graceful gazelle when I run, I actually look like a doofus.)

So. 2011 definitely could have been worse. Here's to a better 2012, one day at a time.

I am definitely down for some rock climbing

2011-03-26T10:03:00.012-06:00

We didn't do much for spring break this year, but at the end of the week we decided to spend a night in Fredericksburg and then visit Enchanted Rock. We found a tiny motel that had a room available, I made sandwiches for a picnic lunch, and off we went.

Some of us went up more quickly than others; I think by the time the girls and I reached the footpath, Batman was already at the top.

It was overcast but warm; really it was a perfect day to go scrambling around rocks.

We ate lunch on the other side of this pond, near the big tree.

Batman ran ahead of us on the trail and ended up climbing another rock called Turkey Peak. (I'm pretty sure he's part mountain goat.) We kept seeing glimpes of him as we walked on the trail; I told him it was a good thing he'd worn that yellow shirt, so he'd be easily found when the inevitable rescue helicopters came.

After a few hours we cleaned up a bit and headed into Fredericksburg, which is full of fun little shops and art galleries. On our way home we stopped in Austin to eat delicious hamburgers and spend quality time with the B's at Hopdoddy, and finally got home tired but happy. It was just about the perfect weekend, made even better by the fact that we didn't end up as an episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive."

The Next Willie Mays Hayes

2011-03-13T13:14:00.010-06:00

Meap had her first softball game Friday night:

On her first at bat, she got her first hit, stole her first base, and scored her first run.

I didn't get a picture of her touching home plate; I was too busy cheering!

She played outfield and shortstop during both games of her doubleheader, fielding two ground balls and looking more or less confident:

Who won or lost is really unimportant; the main thing is that they had fun and looked adorable! Better luck next time--(oops, did I give it away?)

I Want It All, and I Want It Now

2011-02-23T08:11:00.004-06:00

I've stopped shopping.

This is huge. I am a shopper. I love to shop. LOVE IT. I even worked for several years as a mystery shopper, being paid to shop, and it was the greatest job ever. My absolute favorite present is a gift card because it's two gifts in one--the gift of whatever I buy with it, and the gift of shopping. The thrill of the hunt, finding a bargain, the rush of bringing home something new and pretty--it's pretty much my favorite hobby.

But after Christmas and my birthday, after I actually had difficulty spending the money and gift cards I got as gifts, after we ran out of hangers in our closet, I realized that . . . I'm done. I just cannot justify buying one more thing, not clothes or purses or shoes or tights or workout gear . . . I don't need any more. So I've sworn off shopping for 2011.

(Okay, so I haven't STOPPED shopping; I've just hung it up for a year. But H&M's online store goes live in 2012 and let's face it: there is no way on earth I can say no to that.)

The first month was pretty easy. I unsubscribed from all the store email lists so I wouldn't be tempted by daily announcements of Big Sales. When I went to Target I avoided the women's clothing section altogether. I enjoyed wearing my new things from the big shopping spree I'd had right after Christmas. I shopped my own closet, putting together new combinations from things I hadn't worn in a while. But now, spring is on the way and I can't avoid seeing articles about Christian Siriano's new line at Target, or how flared jeans are in for spring, or that Nordstrom Rack just opened an online store. I do have three gift cards from my birthday that I'm saving for a rainy day, but let's face it: those won't last long in my hot little hands. Certainly not until December!

So I'm taking it one day at a time. Instead of taking advantage of The Limited's 40% off sale (they have a circle skirt like I've been wanting for months! on sale!) I'm posting here. Instead of cruising Old Navy's website to see if I can pick up some t-shirts for summer (great for layering!) I'm reading blogs about how to combine necklaces and bracelets to make new, chunky pieces. It'll get more difficult as the year goes on--turns out, it's a hard habit to break--but I've got to stop buying. It's no good for my budget, for my overstuffed closet, or for the example that I'm trying to set for my daughters.

Although, Number One is only half a shoe size away from mine. If she grows just a tiny bit, that would justify more shoes that we can SHARE! That would be a real bargain . . . right?

We're All Winners!

2011-02-08T12:52:00.004-06:00

Well. Who would have thought? A little over a week ago, I finished a half marathon--me, the nonathlete, the one always picked last for every PE team, the one who hates exercise. Go, me.

But this post isn't about the Triumph of It All. This is about Why I'm Not Doing It Again. Next year, when my co-workers try to persuade me to register, I shall read this post and remind myself, "Self, you do not want to do that again. Once was plenty."

The worst of it was the training. For me, short runs are fine; longer runs of 7 or 8 or 9 miles are awful. They're so tiring, it takes away half my day--and on busy weekends, I can't easily spare a half day. Then there's the guilt during the week when I miss a lunchtime run (or two) and the worry that I'll suffer for the lack of preparation . . . ugh. I'd rather just pull on my shoes and head out on a nice day for the fun of it, and feel good afterward instead of feeling like my hips are falling off (or wishing they would).

The start of the race was a pain--I was jostled and pushed and shoved and completely irritated by the end of the first mile. For a while I ran with my elbows out, half hoping to catch someone's teeth as they pushed past without so much as an "on your left."

The race itself went much faster than I'd expected. The previous weekend's 10-mile training slog felt soooo slooooww, and at the end of it I wondered how in the world I'd ever do another three miles on top of it. But during the race there was so much to see that time just slipped by. I saw GrandBob and the girls at mile 4--Special was up on his shoulders and I spotted them in plenty of time to cross to their side of the road and give out high fives. I knew I'd see them with Batman at mile 7, and that kept me trucking along for the next three miles. After mile 7 I REALLY needed a port-a-potty, and during the two miles that it took to find one I was afraid to walk. (I REALLLLYYY needed that port-a-potty.)

After my little break, I knew Batman and company would be at mile 10, and I was so anxious to see them that I only walked once, up a steep hill for about 30-40 seconds to give my hips a break. Batman was so shocked to see me at mile 10; I don't think he expected me to be as (relatively) fast as I was. Then before I knew it I was at mile 11, and when I looked at my watch and did the math and realized I could finish in under 2-1/2 hours, well--there was no stopping. There was also no speeding up; I tried that and immediately slowed back down to my regular pace. But when the finish line came into view, I grinned and gunned it and finished in 2 hours, 21 minutes and 14 seconds. Approximately.

And then I died. Well, not right away--I ate a banana and some trail mix and got my medal (not a half medal! a whole one!) and my t-shirt, and texted Batman and called GrandBob and found him and the girls; GrandBob took me home and I put on my most comfortable clothes and sat down, and THEN I died. My legs! My hips! My abs! My feet! Everything hurt and ached and there may have been some whining. It took a couple of days for the limping to go away.

I'm glad that I did it--so, so glad. For me, it was a huge accomplishment and one I never expected to even try. But I've done it, and I didn't embarrass myself, and now it's time to try something different. Perhaps competitive 5Ks. I think I can do well for my age group!

One-Way Ticket to Office Popularity

2010-12-16T12:58:00.003-06:00

Number One conned me into making Sparkly Snowballs for a little party she had today, and the recipe made enough for an army. So, rather than eating them all myself and getting fat, I brought them in for my co-workers so they could get fat instead. They are a huge hit, and I'm going to coast on this tide of goodwill until at least next week. Here's the recipe:

Prepare a white cake from a mix while at the same time trying to prepare dinner. Bake it while you eat. Let it cool completely while you clean up the dinner dishes, and crumble it into tiny crumbs. Add a tub of white frosting (recommended: Baker’s white frosting mix with a tsp of peppermint extract) and mix until all crumbs are coated. Freeze for one hour.

Remember at 10:00 that you have to make the balls before bed, and sigh loudly. Form mixture into 1” balls, put on wax paper and freeze overnight. Swear that you are never doing this again.

Melt 2 bags of white chocolate chips. Drop individual balls into the melted chocolate until covered; scoop out and place on wax paper. Have your assistants sprinkle them with sparkling sugar or white sprinkles before they harden. Realize your assistants haven’t washed their hands, and insist that they do so, and yes they have to use soap. Run out of white chocolate and fuss at yourself for being too cheap to buy a third bag. Roll the remaining uncovered cake balls in sprinkles. Store in the freezer until ready to serve. Makes about four dozen. Try not to eat more than six.

A Grand Day Out

2010-03-28T19:15:00.023-06:00

With Batman and his dad gone to Utah this weekend (with instructions to bring me back a sister-wife), the girls and I decided to do something fun ourselves. On Saturday we went down to the Kemah Boardwalk, which is on Galveston Bay and is as far from our house as you can get and still be in the Houston area.

After a Starbucks treat, we headed for the rides.

I was reminded of just how much I hate Ferris wheels.

The girls wanted so much to play a game on the midway, and after I carefully explained how the games are rigged so that few people will win and that they're much harder than they looked, Harper won two prizes in three tries.

Our favorite ride, the Wipeout, went round and round and up and down and frankly I'm a little dizzy just writing about it.

After a dinner at Joe's Crab Shack spent watching the boats come in and out of the bay, we headed home. Some of us were more alert than others.

Meap would like to go again next weekend, but I think we need to wait until Pop and Baba can go with us. Maybe Pop will take the girls on the Ferris wheel, because there is no WAY I'm going up in that thing again.

Meap

2010-03-02T20:52:00.004-06:00

Once the nipple chafing starts, it's a vicious circle

2010-02-10T20:42:00.007-06:00

Batman ran 80 miles on Saturday. Let me say that again: 80 MILES. And he ran it in less than 19 hours. NINETEEN HOURS OF RUNNING. I get bored after about five minutes; he ran longer than I'm awake each day.

The race was the Rocky Raccoon, a local ultra marathon. His goal was 100 miles in 24 hours. When he got to mile 80, his feet were blistered, his legs were in terrible pain, and he was shaking from the cold and exertion. He decided to stop, and although he wondered the next day if he'd made the right choice, seeing the open oozing blisters on his feet under the bandages helped convince him he'd stopped at just the right time. (I'm not posting the photo; you're welcome.)

I took the girls and two of their friends to the park to cheer him on, and one of his friends came out with his three kids. GrandBob stayed with Batman the entire time, bringing him water and supplies and acting as his biggest cheerleader. We are all so proud of him, not only for pushing his limits but also for raising nearly $2,000 for Charity:Water. The hope that money will bring to people in need of clean water is well worth every step he took on that 80-mile journey.

It's a very hearty soup

2009-12-04T18:44:00.002-06:00

Batman and the girls aren't big soup eaters, so I don't make it very often. But today Houston had it's first snow day of the year (of the past five years, actually) and I figured soup would be a perfect dinner for such a gray and snowy day.

I've had this recipe for a while but had never made it before. I made a few changes (don't I always? that's why my baked goods never turn out) and it was fantastic--Special had thirds, and I don't think that has EVER happened for any meal. If you try it, let me know what you think.

Mexican Holiday Soup

1 cup minced onion
2 tsp olive oil
1 Tbsp chili powder
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
2-3 cups cooked, shredded chicken*

*I used boneless, skinless thighs that I'd seasoned with salt, pepper and a little Cajun seasoning while cooking.

Saute the onion in oil until tender; add chili powder and garlic. Add remaining soup ingredients and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Dumplings:
2/3 cup masa harina or cornmeal (I used the masa harina; it's much finer than cornmeal)
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp hot water
2 tsp oil
1 tsp lime juice

Combine dumpling ingredients; dough will be soft and slightly dry. Roll 1 tsp into a ball--mash it a little with your hands so it sticks together--and add to soup. Repeat with remaining dough. This sounded time-consuming, but it only took two or three minutes.

Simmer for 3 - 5 minutes, until dumplings float. Add a little lime juice to the soup and serve as-is or with a little cheese on top, and maybe some fresh cilantro if you like cilantro, which I do NOT.

The original recipe called for a can of drained garbanzo beans instead of chicken, and half as many dumplings. We don't like garbanzo beans, and we all wanted more dumplings, so I doubled the measurements here.

I wouldn't even know where to begin

2009-11-09T19:23:00.011-06:00

Well, the last time I tried to upload pictures here, my computer crashed. Two repairs, one new computer, and two birthdays later, I'm ready to try this blog thing again.

First, pictures of Number One's eleventh birthday:

new Penguin shirt!

Her party was at Pizza Fusion, our favorite pizza place, so I made the cake to look like a pizza. You do not want to know how much red food coloring I had to use.

Most of her presents were from Justice, her favorite store. After she opened presents, the girls got to decorate their own "pizzas"--big sugar cookies in small pizza boxes.

Then Special turned eight:

GrandBob offered to buy her dinner anywhere she wanted. She chose Jason's Deli. As you can see here, she was wild about her new Barbie head! We had another family dinner on her actual birthday at her other choice, Chick-Fil-A, and she had a sleepover party that weekend with two friends.

Halloween: zombie cheerleader and "Pajama Girl"
(her superpower: making a lame costume awesome)

And to round it out, here's a shot of Sweet Tea and her best playmate:

You gotta have faith

2009-09-14T10:03:00.002-06:00

Last night Special was getting herself some ice cream for dessert. The carton was nearly empty, and as she scraped out the last bits she asked me, "You remember Jesus giving out the fish and bread?" (That, by the way, is her all-time favorite Bible story).

I said yes, I remembered. She said, "I hope God will do the same thing now and make some more ice cream in here." And then she commenced to praying. "Please, PLEASE, give me some more ice cream!"

Sadly, the ice cream did not multiply. "But wouldn't that have been funny?" she asked. I guess it never hurts to ask.

School's Out/Back to School

2009-08-17T19:56:00.006-06:00

I think I've said the word "school" about a thousand times in the past week. I finally finished my MBA last Wednesday (perhaps you heard the shouting?), and Batman and the girls started back to school today, so between final projects and exams and supply-shopping and backpack-packing, it's been a school-focused week.

Six years ago Batman and I took Number One to her first day of kindergarten and then had to pull over to the side of the road because we were both sobbing too hard to drive. Today she started middle school, and although it wasn't quite as damp a morning, I still felt quivery inside.

Both girls had a great day, were thrilled to see their friends again, and came home so excited about the new year. I'm happy that I'll be able to focus on them a little more now that I have some "free" time.

But you just want to see pictures, don't you? Here you go, the first day of sixth and second grade:

Vacation, all I ever wanted

2009-07-31T10:11:00.008-06:00

I really should be working, but it is Friday after all, and I've had two doughnuts (so far) plus an oatmeal breakfast cookie and two cups of tea, and my eyes no longer focus in the same direction. So it occured to me that I never posted vacation pictures here, and since this is supposed to be my family scrapbook because I'm so awful at making actual scrapbooks I needed to fix that immediately.

We spent a week in Flagstaff, Arizona, which was a nice little town and ended up being a great spot for day trips. The first full day we went to the Grand Canyon, which was huge and amazing and more than we could take in. On other days we went to Sedona (beautiful), we saw Indian ruins, and we hung out at the hotel pool, but the best day by far was the day we rented a boat and went out on Lake Powell. It was indescribably beautiful, and we would love more than anything to rent a houseboat and go back for a week. All together, it was the best vacation we've ever taken.

These pictures are from Batman's phone, and here is the link to my web album:

We almost named her Soda

2009-07-19T16:49:00.008-06:00

Last week, the girls spent eight days at "Camp Pop & Baba." On the weekend Batman, GrandBob and I picked up a small little bit of fluff in Fort Worth and then drove to Texarkana to get the girls and introduce them to Sweet Tea (named thusly because who doesn't love sweet tea?!). She is good at napping, is learning to go outside very well, and gets so excited to see each of us that we all feel we're her favorite. (But I know that she really likes me best.)

I think I've made a huge mistake

2009-07-01T08:14:00.002-06:00

Well, it wasn't that huge, but it was funny. Last night I made "Western Chicken", one of our favorite dishes. I pan-fried some chicken tenders, then took them out and made a sauce with sauteed onions, chicken broth, red wine vinegar and black pepper. I thought the broth looked a little cloudy but it had been in the fridge for a couple of weeks and I thought maybe I'd not shaken the carton very well. While we were eating, Batman said the sauce tasted awfully sweet, and I agreed but said maybe I'd not added enough vinegar.

When I was putting everything away after dinner, I decided to throw out the chicken broth, thinking maybe it was past it's prime. That's when I realized that it wasn't chicken broth. It was rice milk--VANILLA rice milk. No wonder it tasted sweet!

I'm making hot dogs, fries and frozen corn tonight--here's hoping I don't cook up that bag of Halloween candy from the freezer instead.

Mother's Day was super-fantastic!

2009-05-16T07:33:00.003-06:00

Mother's Day was a lovely day this year, sunny and warm, with few responsibilities. Well, okay, I had the same responsibilities as always, but I ignored most of them, because it was myyyyyy daaaaaay. My sweet little family gave me a new Bible--an archeological study Bible that I'd hinted at--a nice cover for it, a chocolate bar, and some mints from Chick-Fil-A. (Why the mints? I don't know, but I ate them anyway.)

We picked up lunch at Jason's Deli and took it over to my in-laws house, and had a nice, unhurried visit with them. The girls napped for most of the afternoon, and Batman and I planned our vacation (the Grand Canyon!). I spent the rest of the day reading ("Closing Time" by Joe Queenan, very dark but well-written). Of course I have no pictures of the day, but trust me when I say we all looked happy and beautiful.

Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are the two holidays that I think have the most pressure attached to them: store ads and the media are constantly offering "the perfect gift" and urging men to plan the "perfect" day, and the next day everyone wants to know what you got and how you celebrated and it's just not possible for reality to match expectation. That's why I LOVED this post by Manolo the Shoeblogger. He captures the typical Mother's Day in all it's reality--loving, precious, and the total opposite of a Kay Jewelry ad. Jayne Seymour may not have this type of Mother's Day, but the rest of us do. And it's perfect.

She refuses to wear the ribbon

2009-05-06T21:07:00.007-06:00

Every year the 5th grade has a science fair; it's a pretty big deal, sponsored by Exxon, and the kids work on it throughout the spring semester. After a lot of Googling and discussion, Number One decided to do hers on "what kitchen cleaner best kills raw chicken germs."

We did the experiment twice just to make sure our results were good, spent a lot of time on the research and notes, and we now know more than we ever wanted to know about salmonella. Batman came up with the title ("Eat More Chicken--Thoroughly Cooked") and called an acquaintance at Chick-Fil-A who provided lots of promotional materials for Number One to use on her display.

All her (our?) work paid off--she won second place in the "Life" category and got a shiny red ribbon!

It's currently hanging on her door, and I'm pretty sure it'll stay there until college. She's shown it to several visitors and possibly the yard guy as well. The only drawback to this whole project is that none of us have much of an appetite for chicken anymore. Let's just say that what grew in the petri dish, should stay in the petri dish.

(You're welcome for not posting THOSE pictures.)

No longer following the Way of the Rabbit

2009-04-12T21:10:00.009-06:00

Special no longer believes in the Easter Bunny.

A giant rabbit, hopping magically through people's walls? Simply too far-fetched.

Instead, she told me that it's all done by Santa Claus.

He gets bored in the spring, and so he dresses up like the Easter Bunny to deliver candy and eggs.

She's not too far off the mark, you know.

I also found one of the cat posing on velvet

2009-04-10T18:41:00.011-06:00

So I was in a reeeeaaallly boring meeting the other day (is there any other kind?) and started flipping through the pictures on my phone to pass the time. Apparently the small people in my house have been playing with it when I wasn't looking:

Self-portrait of the soon-to-be sixth grader. Graduation next month is going to kill me: "Local woman drowns in her own tears! Video at 11." Although if that one mom doesn't stop talking about how every event is the "last [Easter party, field trip, snack, etc.] they'll have as elementary students" I'm going to kill her first, and then I'll go to jail and won't even have to go to graduation. Mom, take pictures for me.

Note the cool circle decal in the background of the picture--they're all over the walls in their bathroom and look so cute, except for the three that are peeling off because "movable!" is a lie. I'm a huge fan of decals, because they look painted on without all the effort and fumes. The chandeliers on the wall in the living room fool everyone, and I'm about to order another one for the wall above the front door.

Back to the pictures:Self-portrait of The Whistler. She's got five missing teeth, all in the front, and has gotten quite rich off the Tooth Fairy.

Even the cat got into the act:

This one is titled "You Sicken Me; Now Get My Treats."

One of my co-workers took this one:

After I saw this I realized my forehead IS big enough for bangs! So I got my hair cut, and it looks totally different now: I've got all these layers hanging in my face all the time. (Name that Seinfeld episode!)

And because I've not posted a picture of Batman in a while, here he is in Lebanon last Christmas dressed in a record number of Penguin items (12, if I remember correctly):

Doesn't he look hip? Or maybe just obsessed? I swear he'd go to work for Penguin in a second if they had a store in Houston.

I'm so glad my boss got me an iPhone so I could be more productive! Wish I knew what we decided in that meeting, though.

Physically, physically, physically fit

2009-03-29T16:39:00.007-06:00

Every year the girls' school hosts a PE show, a chance for all the students to show off the skills they've learned. It's the biggest show of the year at the elementary campus, and this year's theme was the circus. Number One's class learned how to roller blade, and Special's class had a hula hoop war. I'm so proud of my girls and their mad skillz!

Note: because these show other kids from the school, they're password-protected, and the password is Batman's real name. Enjoy!

PE Show #1 March 26, 2009 on Vimeo.

PE Show #2 March 26, 2009 on Vimeo.

We are the champions, my friend

2009-02-21T20:16:00.005-06:00

The past few months have been so busy for us that we've barely had time to take a breath. Weeks slip past in a blur of work and school and responsibilities, and we rarely feel like we have time to do anything fun. But this weekend we deliberately put our work aside and decided to enjoy ourselves.

The high school boys' soccer team played in the state finals today in San Antonio, and Batman didn't want to miss it. I decided that work could take a backseat for an afternoon, and took most of yesterday off; the girls played hooky with me, Batman came home early, and we drove up in time for a quick dinner before last night's game.

Though we were in sight of a Chipotle and a restaurant advertising "Best Enchiladas--2008," we chose the place with a sign reading "Free Sopapillas!" The chips were greasy, the salsa was too spicy even for Batman, but the food was so good Batman and I inhaled it. And the sopapillas were both free and fresh--I'd not had sopapillas since Batman's grandfather Poppy took us to Pancho's some 19 years ago. They were just as yummy as I remembered.

The boys won their game Friday night which happened to be against their most bitter rivals, adding an extra measure of victory to the 1-0 finish. It was cold and windy, but was such an exciting game none of us cared!

The four of us spent the night in our favorite hotel in San Antonio, the Menger Hotel. Our room overlooked the Alamo, and although it was too chilly to spend time in the gardens and we didn't see the chambermaid ghost that sometimes walks the halls, Number One did take all the lotions and shampoos, so I guess we still came out ahead. We ordered up room service for breakfast as a special treat--the girls' first room service experience--and Batman said their huevos rancheros were excellent. The girls had scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. I do not do large meals so early, and had my usual cereal bar. Special K chocolatey drizzle bars, I wish I could quit you.

This morning we headed to the Guinness Book of World Records Museum, and while I will admit that it was completely overpriced, we all enjoyed seeing the exhibits. We practically had the place to ourselves, and the girls took advantage of that by playing the drum exhibit over and over and over and over and over trying to beat the world record for most drum beats in a minute. Sadly, they were unsuccessful.

After a quick snack we headed to the soccer game, which we were told would be at Frank Matta Stadium. I put that information into my iPhone and it pulled up directions--only 12 minutes from our hotel, or so we thought. Google Maps apparently thought I'd typed Frank Matta Crack House, because we ended up in a VERY questionable neighborhood bordering an empty lot. "I don't think this is it," I said perceptively. We pulled into an Econolodge and asked for directions, but the man at the desk was no match for my Google skills--he was still trying to find it online while I pulled up Google on Safari, entered Frank Matta Stadium, and figured out we were supposed to be at Mata Memorial Stadium on the other side of town. I had the directions up before the poor guy even found the internet, I think. We will not discuss the fact that this Google business is what I should have done before we left our hotel.

At any rate, by the time we got to the game it was halftime and we were winning 4-0. We didn't score again but neither did they, and so our school is the proud owner of a lovely trophy and the title of state champs. The boys played extremely well, and it was so fun to watch their joy and excitement!

We stopped for a late lunch at The Cove, a little spot I'd found on the Food Network website as once featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." It was indeed a dive, but one featuring grass-fed beef and organic sweet potato fries. I had their "famous" fish tacos which were only okay, but Batman and Number One each had a burger, and they were FANTASTIC. Special had the chicken fingers and they must have been good--she ate every bite and refused to share. Batman had jalepeno-carrot cake for dessert and said it was terrific; I do not waste calories on desserts that don't contain chocolate, so I just took his word for it.

We've been home for a little while now, enough time to unpack and eat a light dinner, but we're already planning where to go for another fun mini-trip. Work and school and other responsibilities will always be pressing, but we can't let that get in the way of a little fun every now and then.

Link for Prayer

2009-02-19T12:23:00.003-06:00

We were recently introduced to a young couple in the southeast part of town who are really struggling right now, and need many prayers. The husband, Brad, has cancer and is under hospice care. They are praying desperately that God will heal him. Please add them to your prayer list:

http://www.thewims.blogspot.com/

We're all germophobes now

2009-02-09T20:27:00.002-06:00

Today's post is again written by Special. She was out sick almost all last week with the creeping crud that's been making its way around town, and it apparently affected her deeply:

"I was sick for 4 days. I was very sad. I had to do lots of work. I mist my frands. I saw them on Friday. When I came back it was Donuts with Dad [a special breakfast at school]. I din't eat it all. I was very happy to see my frands. And my teacher. I felt better. Lots of people were sick. My sister was being very nice to me. My mommy and my daddy were being very very very nice to me. I love them and they love me! I am so happy that I am at school!

"The End."

We're so glad that the little critter is back to normal! Fingers crossed that no one else catches it . . .

Punk'd

2009-01-31T09:25:00.006-06:00

When our doorbell rang at 2:00 this morning, it took me a minute to decide if I'd dreamed it or not. After I convinced myself that I'd really heard it, it took another minute for me to figure out that a burgler wouldn't have rung the doorbell. I realized it could be a neighbor needing help, and got up to check.

When I peeked out the front window, it took yet another minute for me to realize what had happened. It all looked so ghostly in the streetlights, and my brain couldn't figure out what I was seeing. By that time, the perps (or twerps?) were long gone.

My brain had woken up enough at that point to remember the sprinkler system, and I went to the garage to turn off the timer. I had no intention of cleaning it all up right away, and knew that the sprinklers would turn our TP wonderland into a soggy nightmare. I went back to bed chuckling, and dreamed of Charmin.

As we cleaned it up this morning I told Batman that really, it's cosmic payback. Who knows how many yards I rolled as a teenager--I lost count long ago--and cleaning up dry toilet paper on a sunny Saturday morning is a small price to pay in return.

But I don't want them to do it again.

Well, it's about time

2009-01-24T16:59:00.014-06:00

What have we been doing around here? Let me share, with a little help from Special. She's been keeping notes on my phone, and they're too good to keep to myself.

On December 18 Special was in a Christmas program at school:

"I had a program in December 18 2008. It was called A place in the Chrismas Choir. I was an elf. And There was 5 dogs. I hade Fun." (Yes, she spelled "choir" correctly.) (Genius!)

The next day, we got a sprinkling of the winter white stuff, and here's what she wrote: "It snowed at Texas, it was so cool." (It was cool indeed, unless you were driving in it.)

A few days later we left to go see Pop and Baba for Christmas. It was a long, long drive, but completely worth it. Special had this to say: "We want to Tenasse in 21.2008. At 11 O Clock we were thar. The next day we got to deckrate the Chrismas tree it was cool and are casins were thar we had fun." (Okay, the spelling there was not so great, but she got the Tennessee accent right anyway--we definitely had fun "thar.")

Christmas dinner with the casins, I mean cousins.

Number One had a big accomplishment last weekend: she ran a 3K! She finished in 25 minutes, and was quite proud of herself.

For my birthday last weekend we tried a new pizza place near our house called Pizza Fusion. They have soy cheese, so it's our new favorite--plus their breadsticks are little bites of heaven.

With bellies full of pizza and root beer

More pictures are posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/larfamily/Christmas2008#

And since I've started a new semester of school and work is still busy, expect Special to be taking over this blog completely any day now. In fact, let me see if she has anything else to add here:

"Jumpy is weird. He licks his but. He is only 4 years old. I am 7."

"What I lick is nobody's business but my own."

All she wants for Christmas

2008-12-12T09:56:00.003-06:00

She lotht her tooth in her thandwicth yethderday. Eating bagelth ith hard now.

It's the place to be

2008-11-25T08:03:00.006-06:00

(overheard at the downtown Greek festival last Saturday):

I don't like Greek festivals. I don't want to go.

You ordered them each a whole gyro?! They'll never be able to eat all that!

I don't like gyros. I want a hot dog.

Wow, I was wrong. They can eat a whole gyro. I was hoping for leftovers.

I had super fun! When can we go again?

That's a shame

2008-11-13T15:03:00.006-06:00

On Saturday we went to the school's Fun Fest, their yearly fundraiser for the junior and senior classes. Batman was scheduled for a turn in the dunking booth, and the girls and I along with their friend NeighborGirl visited as many booths as we could, smashing pumpkins and fishing for candy and taking a run through the maze. Batman not only got dunked but also "pied," which means "covered with shaving cream."

The girls all spent a lot of time (and tickets) at one booth in particular, trying to win a goldfish. They were all eventually successful, and after dropping NeighborGirl off at her house we went home and put both fish into a nice big vase. We then went out to dinner, and then on to Target where we bought goldfish food (among many other things--it was Target, after all).

Sadly, the little fishies didn't live long enough to be fed. When we returned, they were belly-up in the vase, staring blankly with their cold, dead eyes. We ceremoniously took them into the bathroom and sent them on their journey into the afterlife. RIP, George and Tiny Tim.

This is more fun than homework

2008-10-28T19:57:00.002-06:00

My friend Karla tagged me for this meme--take the 6th picture from the 6th file in your My Pictures folder and post it. So here it is, taken almost exactly two years ago: Number One hula hooping it up in the driveway.

She's outgrown those pants and shoes, the sleeves on her sweater are allllmost too short, and the hat got lost last summer; we've replaced all the landscaping in this picture (mostly because the neighbor's cat killed it all) (he has since disappeared) (although not by my hand) (but I did think about it).

Happy Tuesday, and may your hips never lie.

Special birthday

2008-10-26T18:38:00.013-06:00

My baby is seven years old now. We still treat her like a baby (and she still acts like one sometimes), and I can hardly believe she's so grown up. Her birthday was last Wednesday, and as an added bonus that marked the third anniversary of our move to Houston. It doesn't seem like it's been that long, but time flies when you're falling over with fatigue.

(How telling is it that the only page I tore out of Lucky this month was not an outfit I had to have, or a picture of the latest shoe trend, but an article called "New Secrets to Disguising Exhaustion." I can't decide which I want more for Christmas: Guitar Hero, or an $80 Laura Mercier eye serum.) (The Botox will have to wait until my spring bonus check.)

ANYhoo, here are pictures of the happy birthday girl. This was taken at school, clutching her birthday breakfast:

Here she is on her birthday call from Pop and Baba:

After opening her gift from Pop and Baba, I'm not sure which of them was more excited about the Easy Bake Oven:
And here she is at her party on Saturday, blowing out the candles on her musical note cake:

This was after we took her and three of her friends to see High School Musical 3, and obviously after the gift-opening--see the tissue explosion in the background?! She had a very happy birthday, and I hope this year goes by slowly for us all--I want to savor seven as long as I can.

It means whatever the heck you want it to mean

2008-10-08T18:41:00.003-06:00

Scene: the backseat of my car

Number One (singing): "Konnichiha, konnichiha, konnichiha, konnichiha! Konnichiha, konnichiha, konnichiha, konnichiha! Mommy, what does konnichiha mean?"

Special: "It means shut your pie hole."

This just in

2008-10-02T10:21:00.000-06:00

According to one of Batman's ninth grade students, "God has been around for, like, ever."

Zen and the art of Ford Focus maintenance

2008-10-01T19:19:00.008-06:00

Here's a little-known fact about me: I like to fix things. Toilets, pipes, tree removal, whatever: I hate paying other people to do things I think I'm perfectly capable of doing. Now, I may NOT be capable of doing them, but I at least want to try.

My left tail light went out the other day. No biggie; I can change a light bulb. Unfortunately, the part that the light bulb plugged into had melted out of shape, and the nice man at the auto parts store had to break it to remove it. Long story short, I had to strip the existing wires and crimp in a replacement piece.

So this is what I did after work today (note the liberal use of electrical tape):

Ta da! It works!

I want to send a big shout-out to Pop, because if it weren't for him I'd be much less likely to know my way around those needle-nosed pliers. Also, madd propz to Ken at O'Reilly Auto Parts for selling me the $3 part instead of trying to convince me I needed a new $150 tail light. Thanks for not patronizing the little lady. And last but not least, thanks to my husband Batman for coming outside and congratulating me on my successful repair, even if he did refuse to join my in my Victory Dance of Awesomeness in the driveway.

But he did compliment my Spaghetti of Awesomeness later, so it's all good.

How conveeeeenient

2008-09-16T10:15:00.003-06:00

So there was this tree in our backyard that was getting too big for the yard, and we'd decided to have it removed in the spring.

Thanks, Ike!

One of our neighbors brought over his chain saw and chopped it up into pieces, and now it looks like this:

There's a matching pile on the other side of the driveway. It took nearly 4 hours to get it all hauled from back yard to curb and rake up the rest of the debris, but our backyard looks great now!

We still have no power, but our water heater is gas so we have plenty of hot water. I cannot tell you what a difference that makes--after Hurricane Charley, the combination of no electricity, hot weather and cold showers made us very cranky. Now its almost like a vacation! I'm a little tired of peanut butter--I think it's coming out of my pores--but I'm at work today and the deli downstairs is open for lunch, so hopefully a nice turkey sandwich will make it all better.

Batman and the girls are out of school at least until Thursday. They called me a little while ago from Starbucks, where they were enjoying hot chocolate and the nice weather. Leave it to Batman to find an open Starbucks in our hurricane-ravaged town!

Face Time!

2008-09-10T19:39:00.004-06:00

I didn't have enough to do, so I joined Facebook. Will you be my friend? If you do, you can get fascinating updates into what I'm doing at any given time, like this:

Lar is: pretending that Hurricane Ike does not exist.

Lar is: going to get extra water and batteries anyway.

Lar is: about to watch Project Runway.

Lar is: going to fold laundry while I watch it.

Lar is: still pretending there's no hurricane.

Lar is: going to eat the rest of the ice cream (tonight) in case the power goes out (Saturday).

Lar is: getting off work at noon tomorrow and all day Friday, because of this theoretical non-existent hurricane.

Lar is: still pretending.

Lar is: deep in denial.

Playing catch-up

2008-09-01T10:20:00.008-06:00

So much has happened in the last two weeks! School started for all of us, Number One had a birthday . . . well, it was just those two things really, but it's been very hectic.

School is going well for the girls. Special has the same teacher as last year (and they adore each other), and Number One has the nicest, kindest teacher ever--I want to pick him up and squeeze him, but he's about a foot taller than me. Both girls enjoy school, although Special is a little bored with first grade. I think she really hoped they'd get into calculus or algebra this year--all this counting business is beneath her.

On her birthday (she's TEN!), Number One took brownies to share with her class, and that weekend GrandBob took us to Logan's ("it's a roadhouse", she said) to celebrate. GrandMom & GrandBob gave her a gift card, and I think it was the most exciting of all her gifts. She kept saying, "I got a debit card!"

I took her shopping yesterday to spend it, and it was so fun to watch her choose what she wanted. When I was ten, my dad described me as being at that age where I'd tear my pantyhose going down the slide at McDonald's, and that's exactly where Number One is. She bought herself a new purse, wallet and shirt at Justice, then got some new toys for her Build-A-Bear collection at the mall, and was equally excited about all of it. She's so precious, and I can't believe she's TEN.

Last Saturday we had a party for her at Laser Quest, and I think I might have had more fun than anyone. It had been far too long since I'd played laser tag! We invited our next door neighbor, a little girl from church, and two of Number One's friends from school, and it was one of our best parties ever. I think I want to have MY birthday at Laser Quest next year!

Number One had requested a Camp Rock cake, and it turned out . . . not bad. The lake was a little runny, and I should have done the "Camp Rock" sign in white gel icing instead of red, but the girls thought it was great so that's all that mattered. I thought later I should have built a little cabin out of pretzel sticks and put it in the far corner, but at least it won't end up on Cake Wrecks.

Today is Labor Day, and so I'm laboring--trying to get to all those things I've not had time to do lately, like filing and bill-paying and cleaning the kitchen and laundry. I'm not sure how this can be considered a day off, but at least I didn't have to drive to the office!

What's the deal with fart jokes?

2008-08-12T13:44:00.001-06:00

Special came up with a new joke yesterday:

Q. Why did the elephant run away from the rabbit?
A. Because the rabbit farted!

That was the funniest thing I've heard all week.

These pinenuts are making me thirsty

2008-08-04T13:53:00.010-06:00

Yesterday Batman and I celebrated 17 years of marital bliss. And the fact that he didn't die the night before.

We had planned to go out to dinner Saturday night at this restaurant, then go out for dessert here. When we arrived at the restaurant, we told the waiter that Batman is "deathly allergic to pinenuts," and asked him to make sure our food didn't contain them. He forgot. Long story short, Batman ended up in the emergency room, the waiter lost his job, and the manager has to foot the hospital bill.

It's rare in life that we get a do-over, but Sunday night we went out for a do-over! We skipped the meal--had our traditional Sunday-night family pizza night instead--but after dinner we dropped the kids off at GrandMom & GrandBob's and headed for Chocolata. We each ordered a crepe; mine had Nutella and strawberries and Batman's had bananas, strawberries and a dessert wine sauce.

Here's what his looked like:
And here's mine:

Happy anniversary, Batman! Let's have a less eventful celebration next time, okay?

In other news, Special lost her first tooth at day camp last week. The days before the loss had been filled with much drama and weeping and moaning over the looseness! And the wiggling! And the sheer awfulness of teeth in general! So we were all greatly relieved when she pulled the thing out.

And speaking of toothlessness, I have to show this picture of Batman and I at a redneck-themed birthday party last weekend:

I found that top at Wal-Mart--it says "True Love" and has a heart with a knife through it. I thought it was the perfect redneck top, and I'm not sure what it says about me that I plan on wearing it again with a denim jacket. I will not, however, layer it over a red bra like I did here, nor pair it with a denim mini-skirt and 4" heels. In true redneck fashion, Batman left the tags on his Miller High Life hat and returned it to the store the next day. We had lots of fun at the party, and I even got Batman to dance a little. Very little. (rim shot)

I think we've had all the excitement we need for a while now. Here's hoping that my next post will be about how boring life is!

A rare serious moment

2008-08-01T07:34:00.005-06:00

I haven't posted an update on Number One's tummy troubles in a while, and thought I would let everyone know how she's doing. She had been symptom-free for several months, and then in June she suddenly started having problems again. Last month they put her on a steroid, and yesterday they added a second steroid. She sees her doctor in two weeks, and hopefully by then she'll be all cleared up, but I've been hoping that for weeks now.

Please pray that we can find ALL her trigger foods. We know that dairy hurts her, and we avoid things like broccoli and cabbage and nuts, but obviously something started this in June and we just don't know what. And please pray that we can get her off the steroid soon--we just don't want her to get all puffed up like she did last summer, and long-term steroid use isn't good for anyone.

I started thinking yesterday, spurred by a post on another blog, about how it's easy to get angry with God when your child or another loved one is suffering. But God didn't do this to Number One; it's just part of life, and bad things happen in life to EVERYONE. It would be so easy to say, well, God isn't answering our prayers to heal her, He must not care. But that would be ignoring how He has given me a job with fantastic health insurance--something we didn't have until very recently. He has also provided the money to pay for her care beyond what the insurance covers. He has provided a school for Number One where they care about her, where the teachers and students look out for her. We live in a place with one of the best pediatric GI specialists in the country, and he knows Number One by name and responds to each and every one of my phone calls. We are blessed, is what I'm saying, even in this.

Shortly after Batman and I lost our jobs in Florida, I read a quote by Dana Reeve, wife of Christopher Reeve, who at that time had just been diagnosed with lung cancer. She said (and I've lost the quote, so I'm paraphrasing): "You can't stop bad things from happening. But what matters in life is how you respond to those things." I found that immensely encouraging; that is how Batman and I tried to live after being so shattered by our own situation, and that is how we try to live now. We want people to see how we respond to our circumstances--good and bad--and be encouraged. We're not perfect, and we never will be, but God's grace will fill in all our gaps, and hopefully others will see Him reflected, however imperfectly, in us.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming: Anyone watch Project Runway last night? Did you hate the winning dress as much as I did?

Hello, and welcome to Moviefone

2008-07-26T09:14:00.003-06:00

Batman and I have been watching a lot of movies lately, both at the theater and through Netflix. Just in the last month we've seen:

Juno (quirky, we both liked it)
27 Dresses (a good rental)
August Rush (I liked the last five minutes)
Batman Begins (AWESOME.)
The Dark Knight (I LOVED it, Batman ironically enough was unimpressed)
The Holiday (a "romantic" "comedy;" I hated it, Batman loved it, and I'm not sure what that says about us as a couple)

But the best of them all was the one we watched last night, called "Lars and the Real Girl." It's about a lonely man who buys a (*ahem*) "love doll" over the internet, just for companionship. He treats her like a real girl, and the whole town does the same. It was such a sweet, touching, funny movie, and quite clean despite its PG-13 rating. I highly recommend it; Batman and I both loved it.

The next thing on our Netflix queue is a DVD of episodes of "The Muppet Show," which I think the girls will love. Batman is excited to see the new X Files movie, and so on our anniversary next weekend we'll go for a nice dinner, and then on to a theater so he can see Mulder and Scully and I can watch "The Dark Knight" again. Compromise: the foundation of a healthy relationship!

Spring, Baseball, Football, and Winter

2008-07-06T18:06:00.010-06:00

This July 4th weekend was kid-filled, with cousins popping up all over the place. The 2 Busy B's came in from Austin on Friday and got to spend a little time with Special and Number One.

On Saturday, Batman and I drove the girls up to Texarkana where Pop and Baba met us to take them on to Tennessee for the week. They had the Arkansas cousins with them, and the kids were so anxious to get going they quickly abandoned the playground where we met, hopped in the van and put on their seatbeats!

I think Pop and Baba are going to have their hands full.

Sunday brought more time with Big B and little b; we went to lunch together and then I got to babysit while their dad and Batman played Ultimate Frisbee. Big B gave me a golf lesson (his advice: "Hit it hard!"). Here he is showing me how to putt into the "hole" we fashioned:

Then we set up blocks and knocked them down again:

And Big B was delighted to sit on Uncle Batman's motorcycle:

The rest of this weekend's photos (including some lovely portraits of the cat) are here.

B and I had a great conversation at lunch. After we ordered, we were discussing what vegetables he liked (that list was very small). I told him that I make spinach cakes that the girls really like, and he said, "My mommy makes brown cake." I do love those spinach cakes, but I think I'd like the brown cake more, too.

Later I asked him (referring to the sporting events on the restaurant's TV screens) if he liked tennis or baseball better. He answered, "I like all the seasons." I suspect the boy might have watched ESPN a time or two with his dad, what do you think?

I so enjoyed seeing all my nephews and my niece; they're such sweet little ones and I wish I could hug on them more often, but then it probably wouldn't be as special.

Speaking of Special, I miss her and Number One already. Is it Friday yet?

I'm busy, busy, frightfully busy

2008-06-24T19:37:00.002-06:00

Batman and the girls have had quite a busy month enjoying their summer break. So far they've seen a play ("When You Give a Mouse a Cookie"), been swimming, gone to lunch with GrandBob several times, handed out breakfast to day workers waiting for jobs, gone to the Fine Arts museum, visited a vintage car show, rode the elevator to the top of the Chase Tower (the highest skyscraper in the city), played laser tag, came to eat lunch (Bosnian food!) with me, and taken a long (hot) hike. We saw "Kung Fu Panda" as a family on the IMAX screen, and I think Batman has one more surprise planned before he goes back to work next week.

What have I been doing? Working, that's what. The last class I took (which THANKFULLY ended last week) kicked my behind with papers and research and more papers. My job has had me working very long hours and weekends and I'm pooped. I've declared this week to be "no work at home" week, and so far it's been very relaxing. I forgot for a little while what it was like to have free time in the evenings!

Batman and I watched a show on the Food Network yesterday (am too lazy to look up her name, it's the skinny Italian chick with the big head), and saw a recipe that I tried tonight. It was a huge success, and I've been instructed to make it again every night forever. The recipe is here.

And now I must go. After all these weeks of Extreme Busyness, I've got a lot of TV-watching to catch up on!

Like the summer of George, but with fewer broken bones

2008-05-31T07:39:00.005-06:00

Well, I didn't win the Wii, so it's back on my Christmas list. Also on my list? iTunes gift cards--I've gotten a bit obsessed with my new Mother's Day iPod. Kim had a cool idea on her blog, asking readers to list the first five songs on their iPods, so now I have a bunch of new songs to try. Too early to be thinking of Christmas lists, you say? Oh ho ho, I say, shop now and relax in December. I myself am 25% done, but will freely admit that Christmas shopping is the ONLY area in my life in which I am ahead.

And why am I so behind? Perhaps it's because I've spent the last two weeks here:

This picture was taken about 6:45 Thursday night while everyone else was getting dinner in the other room (fajitas, in case you're wondering, and they were pretty good). Nine of us worked elbow-to-elbow testing our new software in this little, hot room for two weeks, and even though we stayed until 9:30 last night (ON A FRIDAY) we're still not done. Blergh.

But enough about me! We've had a big week in our house: Special graduated from kindergarten (sniff) and Pop and Baba were here for the big occasion.

What a cutie-patootie!

Batman and the girls are all out of school now, and I think they have big plans for the summer, although the majority of those plans revolve around swimming and riding bikes. That still sounds better than my plan for the summer, which mostly involves developing carpel tunnel syndrome.

But! Today is Saturday! And I don't have to work until after lunch! So we're off to the pool. Happy weekend, everyone!

You gotta want it

2008-05-16T10:59:00.003-06:00

Three Kid Circus is running a contest to give away a Wii console and Wii Fit balance board. I REALLY WANT A WII and Batman won't buy me one, so I'm taking up her challenge to write my most embarrassing fitness story.

I've known for years that I needed to get into shape, not so much lose weight as redistribute it, you know? Tone up a bit, be able to walk up more than two flights of stairs without getting winded, go running with Batman without him forcing me to schedule an appointment with a cardiologist afterward. Problem is, I've always HATED exercise. LOATHED it. DREADED it.

In an effort to find a fitness program I'd actually stick with, we have bought a ridiculous number of exercise-at-home gadgets and videos, although not quite as many as this. We've had a treadmill, an exercise bike, weights, Pilates DVDs, Tae Bo videos, a jogging stroller, and jump ropes, and that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are a lot more items that ended up in one garage sale or another that I have blocked out of my mind.

Shortly before we left Florida, I started running. Okay, I can't call it running--it was jogging, and not very fast at that. But I did it several times a week, and by the time we bought our house in Texas I was up to three miles, four times a week. Moving messed up my schedule though--I had a longer commute, and was just busier than before--and I fell out of the habit. Until earlier this year, I was barely running once a week.

But recently, I joined a gym. It's right across the street from my office; I go on my lunch hour almost every day, and if I can't go at lunch I go on my way home. There's another one in the same chain near our house, and I go at least once every weekend. Which brings me to the embarrassing part:

I like it.

That's right, after years of whining and procrastinating and complaining, I Like Exercising. I'm enjoying working out. I like the elliptical machine. I like the weight machines. My lovely family gave me an iPod for Mother's Day, and I love listening to it while I sweat for thirty minutes every day. I'm not so wild about the locker room--it always smells vaguely of Nair--but I feel great and strong and fit.

There is one other embarrassing bit. I always see one or more of my coworkers at the gym, usually one of the (male) project managers, and I can tell you there is nothing like having a sweaty, drippy coworker leaning on your machine talking about software requirements while you do leg lifts and hope they can’t see down your shorts . . .

Hoochie Mama

2008-05-07T09:06:00.005-06:00

Last night as we watched "American Idol," contestant Syesha took the stage in a low-cut gown that showed off a great deal of her *ahem* assets. Special, who was sitting beside me in the recliner, said, "Mommy! I see something!"

She leaned in and whispered, "BOSOMS!"

While I laughed she heckled the TV: "She's dressed so unappropriate! Put some clothes on, lady!"

Do you think she'll worry about what's "unappropriate" to wear when she's 16? Yeah--I doubt it, too.

P.S. Was it just me, or was last night the most boring "American Idol" ever? The song choices were awful, David A. bores me to tears, Jason has just quit trying, and I just can't stand Syesha's dull impersonations of divas. Bleh.

P.P.S. I've signed up to do Book Binge in May but so far all I've read is the new issue of Lucky magazine. Does that count?

It looks tasty

2008-04-30T18:46:00.003-06:00

Special says it "tastes like yak." I think it's delicious, even though to me it looks like boiled ground beef. Batman thinks it's wonderful, even though he says it looks like fake vomit. What is it?

Homemade tapioca pudding with chocolate chips melted in, or as it's now called in our house, "yak pudding."

We also have two solariums

2008-04-20T14:43:00.009-06:00

After living in our house for a year and a half, we thought it was high time we put some furniture into the living room. After a lot of shopping and not finding what we liked, we decided to turn it into a music room--a place where Number One can practice her violin and where all of us can practice the piano. Much thanks to Target and Craigslist, the proud sponsors of this room.

Here's a shot of the room in use (she really is practicing, not just posing):

We also bought a new (to us) entertainment center, since ours was a good ten or twelve years old and quite wobbly. It holds all our stuff and then some:

It's two pieces; the shelf portion sits on top of the base, and it's the single heaviest thing I've ever helped lift. Batman and I gave the girls an impromptu physics lesson when we levered the shelves up using the big ottoman, and I bit my tongue to avoid giving them a vocabulary lesson as well!

The only thing I'm sad about is that we no longer need any furniture--we're officially fully furnished. So, if you need to go furniture shopping, invite me along and I'll live vicariously through you . . .

SEVEN!!!!

2008-04-17T08:41:00.002-06:00

My sis-in-law Kim tagged me for this meme: 7 random things about myself. Here goes:

1. I am a huge Seinfeld fan. I know—you’re shocked.

2. I hate washing dishes by hand, and would rather load and unload the dishwasher twice in one day if it means I don’t have to hand-wash a single dish. Yes, I know that takes more time. I don’t care.

3. I recently started going to the gym on my lunch hour, and I always use the same elliptical machine so I can watch “Ellen” while I work out.

4. I love making to-do lists, and will write things down that I’ve already done just so I can cross them off. I also make grocery lists, Target lists, lists of things to pack on vacation, and when we lived in Florida I kept a list of things to take to the pool and the beach so I wouldn’t forget anything important, like towels.

5. I currently own 36 pairs of shoes. Still, I could really use a pair of black sandals. And a pair of brown sandals. Maybe some red flats.

6. The girls get impatient with me when I want to look at shoes.

7. I am thoroughly addicted to Special K "chocolatey drizzle" breakfast bars in . I eat at least two per day and would eat more, but that would just mean more time on the elliptical and “Ellen” only lasts an hour.

That was fun! Okay, I tag Karla, Daddy, Greg, DL and Erin. Go! And check back with me this weekend--we finally put real furniture in our living room and I have pictures.

For my Schmoopie

2008-04-11T11:14:00.002-06:00

I'm not the most demonstrative person when it comes to Public Displays of Affection, but after reading this list I can't help declaring my love for Batman in what is possibly the most romantic line ever:

I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

And that's the truth.
Love,
me

(Close runner-up for most romantic line: "You wore me down.")

Serious Stuff

2008-04-03T12:27:00.002-06:00

One of the bloggers I sometimes read is requesting prayers for her friends--Brian, Katie, and their little girl Emily. Emily, who is only sixteen months old, has just been diagnosed with a very aggressive, very rare tumor.

The blog is here, with updates here and there. Go read about Emily, and pray for her and for her family. They must be so frightened, but they believe in the power of prayer. Go pray that God will heal little Emily, and that He will use the internet's silly, silly blogs to show the world His might and goodness.

I'm pretty sure we saw the Smog Strangler

2008-03-24T19:37:00.003-06:00

So we just got back from HOLLYWOOOOD! Sorry, can't say that without channeling Randy Jackson (yo, dawg). We had a great trip to California--the scenery was amazing, Batman finished his marathon on Catalina Island, Joshua Tree was even better than I'd expected, and Los Angeles was prettier than I remembered. We had a great time visiting with Pop and Baba, and we saw not one but TWO Penguin stores--almost a spiritual place for Batman, and the manager thought it was adorable that both girls were wearing their Penguin shirts. Batman and I went to see "Wicked," which I highly recommend--it was fantastic--and the girls' favorite part of the trip was playing video games at the mini golf place in Anaheim.

And now, I have pictures! None of them are of movie stars, but they do include some of my very favorite people.

Sadly, none of us were discovered while in La-La Land, so now we're back to the daily grind. But we're glad to be back. There's no place like home, you know.

(Seriously, you have to go see "Wicked" when it comes to town. It was fabulous!)

Special: she's a little paranormal

2008-03-05T07:58:00.002-06:00

On Monday, Special stayed with Grandmom for the day, as she was too sick to go to school. Last night at dinner, she told us this story:

"I asked Grandmom a bunch of times when GrandBob would be home. I said, 'Grandmom, when will GrandBob be back? When will GrandBob be back?' Then one time, I walked in her room, and before I even said anything she said, 'He'll be here in a little while!' How did she know what I was going to say?!"

Either they're psychic friends, or Grandmom has a talent for understanding six-year-olds.

Maybe I should have just rented the movie

2008-02-20T19:25:00.003-06:00

My dear friend Karla tagged me for this book meme:

Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.
Open the book to page 123.
Find the 5th sentence.
Post the next 3 sentences.

So here goes: the book closest at hand is the one I just finished, Atonement by Ian McEwan. The movie came out a couple of weeks ago, and I heard such good things about the book I thought I'd get it from the library. It's . . . not a cheery read, and I hesitate to recommend it since the entire plot revolves around the misunderstandings brought about by the utterance of a really vulgar word, but it was extremely well-written and had the twists and turns that I love in a good story. Here's the selected passage:

"It came down to this: go in now and face her anger and disgust, give an explanation which would not be accepted, and most likely be turned away--unbearable humiliation; or go home now without a word, leaving the impression that the letter was what he intended, be tortured all night and for days to come by brooding, knowing nothing of her reaction--even more unbearable. And spineless. He went over it again and it looked the same."

Feel free to copy this meme for yourself; let me know if you do, because I'm interested to know what you're reading! Maybe your choice is cleaner than mine, but we should just be glad my marketing book was on the other side of the room.

This is just embarrassing

2008-02-12T20:27:00.002-06:00

Oh, not embarrassing for me! No, I meant it's embarrassing for the poor souls immortalized here. So sincere in their zeal, so earnest in their poses . . . I hope they at least sold some records.

This group is honest; they're drug addicts, and they're not afraid to admit it. I might have come up with a better name ("The Strung-Out Singers," perhaps). (Or, "The Crack Choir.") But Doris wants you to know SHE isn't a drug addict! No, she just sings with them. She's never touched drugs! Don't lump her in! (How about "Marijuana Madrigals"?)

"Confessions of a Teen-Age Girl," by Evangelist Jay Snell. Do I really need to add to this?

WHY ARE THERE FOUR OF THEM? This one really bothers me. PLEASE EXPLAIN.

Aaaaaand, I've found my new exercise routine. Who WOULDN'T want to aerobicize to the melodic sounds of the Mighty Clouds of Joy?

**I found these gems at http://purgatorio1.com/. Enjoy.

Does this mean I have to buy an SUV?

2008-02-10T19:39:00.000-06:00

As I hauled soccer balls and uniforms to my car after Special's first soccer team meeting (Coach Batman couldn't make it), Number One asked, "Does this mean you're a soccer mom?"

Guess so. Does that mean I have to wear high-waisted jeans and drive a Suburban?

Number One deemed herself "Soccer Sister," and made sure she brought extra water for her little sis. She also brought along her soccer-playing Groovy Girl doll for good luck.

Special had her first game Saturday, and we think they won--hard to know when we don't keep score--but Special scored two goals! Pretty good for a kid who'd never played before. Most of Batman's coaching involved yelling things like, "Kick it toward the goal, not toward your parents!" and "Go the other way! The other way!" One little boy is already well-versed in the professional soccer tradition of crying over minor injuries, and another little fellow on the other team tried to start a fight, but other than that it was a great game.

I'm saving this photo for NBC to use during the Summer Olympics of 2022.

She probably thinks this blog is about her

2008-01-30T21:20:00.000-06:00

Driving home tonight, Special was telling me why she didn't want to be in next week's PE show. They've worked out little routines for all the grades, and apparently her team is not up to par. She said, "Jason* is too talkie-ish. Allison can't do anything and she's SO SLOW. Chris is mean, and Emma does whatever he says. And me? PERFECT."

She did not appreciate my hoots of laughter.

*Names changed to protect the slow, mean and talkie-ish.

We have a deal: Arby's no more than once a month

2008-01-19T20:35:00.001-06:00

I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with myself today. I'm usually good about getting things organized for the week by Sunday night--I plan out all my clothes for the week, make sure laundry's done, and bag up snacks and cookies for lunches--because it makes the mornings go much smoother. But today I took it a step further and actually COOKED for the week! Well, maybe not full meals--I'm not a psycho--but I browned two pounds of ground beef, cooked and shredded a chicken, and made hamburger patties and meatballs, then stuck it all in the freezer. I've got a roast for tomorrow (planning leftovers for Monday) and went so far as to chop the carrots to put in the crockpot with the roast!

I enjoy cooking, but when I come home from work the last thing I want is to start a meal from scratch; it just feels completely overwhelming. We've been eating out more and more, and this past week was the worst. This may be the first and last time I ever do this cooking-ahead thing, but I'm hoping it helps during the week.

Unless, of course, I forget to set anything out to thaw. Then one of us will be making that 6:30 run to Chick-Fil-A once again . . .

Office Space

2008-01-14T12:49:00.000-06:00

We moved to our new offices today, and I feel like Kramer in that Seinfeld episode where he has a girlfriend downtown and calls it a long-distance relationship. "It's a whole different world downtown-- different Gap, different Tower Records." My stuff is the same, but my furniture and surroundings are completely different. And there aren't any plates in the kitchen! How are we supposed to eat without plates? You know, we're living in a society! We're supposed to act in a civilized way.

My commute wasn't as bad as I expected--exactly one hour from home to work and I took the girls to school on the way. Of course, we left the house at 6:38 am, which is quite the ungodly hour and confusing for Special, who wanted to know why it was still dark out. We may sleep an extra five or ten minutes tomorrow.

In other news, I had a lovely birthday even though it was marked by washing everything we own. I think I did nine loads of laundry yesterday. Batman was afraid the washer was going to break down if I did one more load, but I think it would be more likely that *I* would break down. Lucky for me I have two excellent laundry-folders in the house. Batman is not one of them; he cleans toilets but doesn't fold clothes, and I don't particularly want to trade.

My excellent in-laws took us out to dinner Saturday night at McCormick and Schmick's, a nice seafood/steak restaurant in the Galleria area. One of my co-workers is married to the executive chef there, and he treated us very well--our menus even said "Happy Birthday" on them! The food was excellent; the girls scarfed down the fried calimari even after we told them what it was. Our entrees were delicious, but there was a schmear of pesto on my plate, which unfortunately we didn't realize until *after* Batman had an allergic reaction--those pine nuts get him every time. It was mild, though, and by the time we got home he was able to eat his apple pie.

Thanks to everyone for the cards and emails and good wishes--I *did* have a good birthday, and this year is shaping up well so far. I made myself a chocolate cake yesterday, and the neighbors brought over a lemon pie, and I got two new pairs of shoes and the Seinfeld season 9 DVDs; you can't ask for much more than that when you turn 37.

And then I died. The End.

2008-01-11T08:28:00.000-06:00

Guess what the school sent home for my birthday?

**weep**

Chriiistmaaaas

2007-12-26T19:35:00.000-06:00

It's Boxing Day, and for our family, that means "The day you box up all your old toys to make room for your new ones." It may not be as fun as Christmas Day, but it's a lot more productive.

We had a great Christmas; we spent some time in Galveston with Batman's family, and celebrated Christmas morning in our home, just the four of us. Santa was nice to the girls, although he forgot to leave chocolates this year (doh!). We gave each of the girls a Penguin shirt, and I wish I'd had a video camera trained on Special when she opened hers, but this pretty much sums up her reaction:

She was without speech. The girls also got soft, fluffy robes on Christmas Eve, which they needed Christmas morning since our heat went out during the night! Luckily our heat and air guy works on Boxing Day, and we are now toasty warm. Santa delivered some Webkinz, and apparently he gave them to ALL the boys and girls because the website was down most of the morning!

The weather was nice in Galveston, and we enjoyed spending time with family. I wish we could see the out-of-towners more often! Cousin B was thrilled with the beach house and called it "GrandBob's new house!" I'm afraid he'll be bitterly disappointed the next time he visits and has to stay at the 'old' house--no sand or sea there.

We were thrilled to see Uncle D from Colorado--he moved from Florida shortly before we did, and we'd not seen him since. The little cousins had never met him, but they took right to him:

If you haven't already, check out my post at Parents.com. And now I gotta go; the Christmas tree is on fire.

I'm out there, and I'm loving every minute of it

2007-12-26T16:00:00.000-06:00

We had a great Christmas, and I'll put pictures up tonight, but I wanted to post this quickly: I've got an articled published at Parents.com! One of the bloggers there requested "baby stories" to fill in her blog while she's out having a baby of her own, and they were kind enough to choose mine as one of their posts. You can find it here, and be sure to check back in with Bree in a few weeks to find out how she and her new baby daughter are doing.

It's beginning to look a lot like . . . well, you know

2007-12-06T19:56:00.000-06:00

So . . . how've you been? I can't believe I've not posted in a month, but there was this little holiday with all the eating, and there's another smallish holiday coming up soon with lots of presents and wrapping and eating and card-sending, and I had a research paper to do, and blah blah excuse excuse busy busy blah.

Pardon me for a moment while I brag that I'm 95% finished with my Christmas shopping. And it's all wrapped, too. So why is it that I still have more to do than I can say grace over?!

Anyhoo, here are two signs that Christmas is near. First, a Webkinz family Christmas portrait:

and Number One's school Christmas concert:

And finally, one sign that winter is nigh:

New boots, perfect for those frigid 50-degree days here in Texas!

Getting to know me, getting to know all about me . . .

2007-11-08T20:43:00.000-06:00

My 'big' brother sent me an email with the following questionaire, and rather than forward it on to ten of my closest friends, I thought I'd post it here. By doing this, of course, I'm risking having a piano fall on my head or something equally dire, the fate of all those who break chain letters, but it's a chance I'm willing to take.

Of course, I'd love it if you would copy the list, paste in your own answers, and email it to me, or post it in your own blog! Tag, you're it.

So! Here it is, 36 things you may or may not know about me:

1. What is your occupation? project accountant for a marine contractor

2. What color are your kitchen walls? beige-y tan

3. What did you last watch on TV? a PBS special on Carol Burnett (what? I love her!)

4. What is the last thing that you ate? Jason's Deli baked potato

5. Can you drive a stick shift? I’ve never even tried

6. What Crayon color would you be? if you go by the color palette in my closet, either brown or black

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? my mother-in-law

8. Favorite Halloween costume ever? Cinderella (played by me) with her ugly step-sisters (played by Batman and a boy in the youth group)

9. How old are you today? 36

10. Favorite Halloween candy? Tootsie Rolls

11. What is your favorite board game? Monopoly, except I stink so bad that even Special can beat me

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? once; I really need to start doing it regularly (too many gray hairs to pluck) but am too cheap

13. Pets? a fat, lazy, mean cat named Jumpy

14. Favorite food? You mean besides all of it? anything chocolate

15. Last movie you watched? Little Miss Sunshine

16. Favorite Day of the year? Christmas

17. What do you recycle? glass, plastic, paper, metal

18. What was your favorite toy as a child? the Barbie head where you could style her hair

19. What is your favorite hobby? reading

20. First kiss and when? Richie Bostick when I was 16 and working at Arby’s (DORK!)

21. Cherry or Blueberry? If we’re talking pie, I’d rather have lemon, lime or chocolate; if we’re talking muffins, blueberry.

22. Did you go to the prom? Our school had a banquet and I went both years, once with a friend and once with a date; I went to the public school prom when I was a senior.

23. Last book you read? A Lifetime of Secrets, by Frank Warren (one of the PostSecret series); am currently in the middle of The Cigarette Century which I’m reading as research for a school paper

24. Next home remodeling project? new faucets for the master bath

25. When was the last time you cried? in church on Sunday

26. Favorite smell? bread baking

27. What inspires you? music

28. What are you afraid of? Being strangled--I can't stand for anyone's hands to come anywhere close to my neck. Interestingly, however, I love to wear turtlenecks.

29. Hamburger, cheeseburger or veggie burger? hamburger

30. Favorite car? my gas-guzzling Ford Explorer (the taupe one; we’ve had three)

31. Favorite dog breed? The kind that doesn’t bark, jump on people, or require being walked (am cat person)

32. Number of keys on your key ring? 3: my house, in-laws' house, and my car

33. How many years at your current job? almost 2

34. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

35. How many states have you lived in? 5 – Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida, & Texas

36. Favorite teacher of all time? Miss Joy, 2nd grade

People cheering . . . cheerleaders?

2007-11-05T21:46:00.001-06:00

Special cheered at her first football game Friday night! We almost didn't make it due to a complete meltdown over the "hideousness" of the uniform ("It's too BIG! It's DISGUSTING! It makes me look SO FAT!!"), but she pulled it together in time to put on a great show. Here's my little cheer-tator in all her glory:
Go Cougars!

Little Miss Candy Bar

2007-10-31T21:25:00.001-06:00

It's 10:30 and I'm crashing from my sugar high (yes, I did have leftover candy, why do you ask?) so here are scenes from Halloween 2007:

It was a good, old-fashioned night of trick-or-treating. Two pretty fairies, two bags full of candy, time spent with nice neighbors. And leftover Tootsie Rolls. Mmmmm, Tootsie Rolls . . .

They gave her $182 in cash

2007-10-22T20:13:00.000-06:00

Six years ago today, Special arrived into this world two weeks early, screaming her fool head off. She hasn't stopped screaming since. But at least now, most of her screams are joyful ones.

They still hurt my ears. But I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Our family celebrates "birth week," a way of spreading out the birthday joy just a little bit, and Special's started yesterday with lunch at her favorite restaurant, Jason's Deli, with GrandBob & GrandMom:

(It wasn't really $182. But I imagine we'll be taking a trip to Build-a-Bear in the very near future.)

Then today she had cookie cake at school:

then soy cheese pizza, a visit from Aunt M and presents tonight at dinner:

(with her new Webkinz, a gift from Pop & Baba)

It's been a great birthday, although she said this morning she doesn't feel six.

I can't believe she's six, either. Happy birthday, Sweet Chicken!

See all the birthday photos here.

(Also, if you're looking for a Christmas gift for that special someone, may I recommend this book? It's guaranteed to be hilarious, and all proceeds go to Compassion.)

At least I didn't call him "Suze"

2007-10-18T17:37:00.000-06:00

So there's this new guy at work. I'm not sure of his actual title; he's not in my department but I've had to work with him over the last two days in relation to our new software implementation. He reminds me a great deal of Edgar, a co-worker I once had. Edgar made me want to staple his head to his desk. New Guy should possibly keep an eye out for my Swingline.

Yesterday I was assigned to help New Guy and his counterpart, New Gal, in reconciling some reports in the new software. We'd been talking about their use of the software all morning. Near the end of our meeting, I was listing the types of reports they'd need to run out of the new software and New Guy asked, "So do we need to install New Software on our computer, then?"

Me: (*blink, blink*) "Yes, that would be helpful!"

Later that afternoon, New Guy asked someone else what they meant by saying, "It is what it is." I had a flashback to the Clinton years and said that depended on what his definition of "is" is.

Today I provided New Guy and New Gal with detailed instructions on how to run the reports. The first part of the instructions was to run a list of all open projects and note the project numbers, as that information would be needed for the reports.

New Gal had no trouble.

New Guy emailed me (and this is a direct quote): "Ugh. These directions are confusing. What did you mean by 'make a note?' I tried [long and complicated process of copying and pasting screen shots] but it didn't work."

Me: (*blink blink*, share email with co-worker, wipe away tears of laughter) "I meant literally make a note. You'll need that information later."

But here's the best part: for two days, I've been calling him Bob. I knew his first initial was B, and his name in the email contact list is shown as Robert.

He goes by Bill.

But I think I'll just call him New Edgar.

Those are ladies' frames

2007-10-07T21:13:00.000-06:00

Poor thing . . . she never had a chance. All of her grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles except one wear glasses, and now she's joined our little club. She only has to wear them for reading, computer and tv time, but she thinks the world is a much clearer place:

In memoriam

2007-09-23T21:32:00.000-06:00

I've just finished a novel, a brilliant book that should be required reading for history classes. Irene Nemirovsky, a Russian Jew living in France and famous for her writing, began in 1941 to write a novel about the war and the occupation of France. She never finished it, as she was taken to a concentration camp in 1942 and died there soon after.

Her daughters saved the manuscript, and Suite Francaise has been recently published complete with the author's notes and a heartbreaking collection of letters written by Irene herself and then by her husband who was frantically trying to find and save her. The book itself is a picture of the daily cost of war and enemy occupation.

It is not light reading, but I highly recommend it. It brings history to life from the perspective of an eyewitness, and forces the reader to consider the story of just one of the many innocents lost in that war, innocents whose stories are not recorded but who were nevertheless real, and loved, and mourned.

It's chocolate, it's bacon--it's delicious!

2007-09-15T19:56:00.000-06:00

My affinity for chocolate is well-known; some would say it's more of an addiction or an obsession. Milk, dark, with caramel, coconut, nuts of all kinds, crispies, in cheap candy bars or expensive specialty truffles--I love it all. I've dipped apples in it, spread it on toast, mixed it in banana bread, and poured it over angel food cake.

But near to chocolate in terms of delicious goodness is bacon--lovely, crispy bacon. Oh, we've flirted with turkey bacon, trying to save our poor arteries, but we've always come back to the nice fatty real stuff. The first time I ever cooked applewood bacon I was so smitten I called my mother and told her that diet or no diet, she HAD to try this stuff--the smell alone had me singing. And the flavor--oh, the sweet, smoky flavor--was like manna from heaven.

Tonight, when Batman told me what he'd bought at Whole Foods, I was first shocked, then a little grossed out, and then somewhat intrigued. He'd found a premium chocolate bar, the Vosges brand, with bits of applewood smoked bacon in it. Chocolate and bacon? I've heard of chocolate and wasabi, chocolate and chilies, even chocolate-covered bugs, but this? I was hesitant.

We sat down, divided it up between the four of us, sniffed it, and then dove in. And lo, it was good. I'd expected it to taste like a chocolate-dipped piece of bacon, but it wasn't like that at all. I could just barely pick up the scent of bacon before biting into it. The smooth milk chocolate had a crunch and a salty flavor, not unlike eating a chocolate-covered pretzel. The bacon taste didn't really appear until after swallowing, and then it was just a hint.

It was a lovely treat. Just one more reason to love chocolate. And bacon. Mmmm, bacon.

Now we can check porn, and stock quotes*

2007-09-11T19:22:00.000-06:00

So tonight I logged onto my online classroom to check out the ongoing discussions. In one thread, a classmate had posted regarding his coworkers and how they were somewhat resistant to change. He said he was one of the few employees around the age of 21, and everyone else was over 30. I know! So ancient!

Anyway, he said he'd recently showed them how they could use their software in a way that would cut the time for one process in half, and how some of them didn't even know all the things that Windows could do. I felt about 80 years old.

I gently reminded him that technology has changed very rapidly in the past few years, and for those fresh out of college web conferencing and instant messaging are old hat, but for many of us in the workforce, those are new and unused technologies. Then I started thinking: when I graduated from college, faxing was still relatively new, email was something only programming majors knew about, DOS was king, and the people who invented Facebook were only toddlers.

Okay, now I feel 90. It's dark out; I think I should go to bed.

*Note: I never check porn, and only rarely check stock quotes. But "porn quotes" is one of my favorite Seinfeld lines.

Aak! I'm famous! And now Google-able!

2007-08-30T07:18:00.000-06:00

I submitted something here; go check it out!

In other news, my class starts today. I'm officially a student again. The last time I was a student, I did my papers on a typewriter. Oh, and also, I didn't have kids or a full-time job.

But at least I'm famous now. Book and movie offers can't be far behind.

Remember to memorize pages 39 to 110 for tomorrow's lesson.

2007-08-23T19:31:00.000-06:00

Today was the first day of school! The satisfying feel of a new crayon in your hand, the rustle of new uniforms, the scent of the teachers' raw panic: the start of a new school year brings back so many memories. Like the memories of taking Number One to her first day of kindergarten four years ago and having to pull over to the side of the road afterwards to sob uncontrollably.

Luckily, taking Special to her own first day of school was not quite so traumatic. She was thrilled to be starting kindergarten, and her first words to me at the end of the day were, "I loved it!"

Number One had a great day herself on her first day of fourth grade. She allowed me to take one picture in her classroom, and then she was ready for me to go:

We met at Ben & Jerry's at the end of the day for our traditional First Day of School Ben & Jerry's Extravaganza:

I would buy her Lemonade Sorbet every day of her life just to see that smile!

More pictures from today are here.

Go Wildcats!

2007-08-21T20:49:00.000-06:00

We had a BIG weekend--Number One turned nine yesterday, and we've been celebrating since Friday! We started off by watching the premiere of High School Musical 2 (not as good as the original but still had some very catchy tunes) on Friday night. Saturday morning we had Cinnabon for breakfast, and spent the day getting ready for the big birthday party that night. Number One and her friends had so much fun watching HSM 2 (again--they'd all watched it Friday night also), doing crafts, eating chicken nuggets and carrots and watching Number One open her presents. I was pretty proud of how her cake turned out--notice how I photographed it so you can't tell it's the Leaning Tower of Cake:

On Sunday, we ate out with GrandMom, GrandBob and Aunt M after church at Olive Garden; I took the girls swimming in the afternoon. On Monday morning, Number One woke up to find that her room had had an Extreme Room Makeover:

She absolutely loved it, and it looks wonderful--so girly but more sophisticated than what she had before. We've ordered a Nancy Drew movie poster to go above her bed, and she's really excited about that, too. (If you want to see more birthday pictures, email me and I'll send you a link to my web album--I don't want to post the other kids' pictures here without permission.)

School starts Thursday--sniff, sniff--I can't believe I have a 4th grader and a kindergartener! Special would have started school a month ago if she could have; she's definitely ready. Let's pray that I don't completely embarrass myself on Thursday--I'll save my sobbing for the office, where I can shut my door.

Toodles!

I got a meeting with the Bobs in a couple of minutes

2007-08-14T21:08:00.000-06:00

So here’s how my past month has been: work work meeting meeting meeting work meeting meeting work work work meeting home swim cook eat clean storytime work. I've had six meetings so far this week--and it's only Tuesday.

My company is implementing a new software system that will affect everything we do, and I’m the division lead on that project which requires many meetings and a lot of extra work. We’re acquiring a new company, and if all goes as planned by year-end we’ll have moved to their office building and I’ll most likely have a new boss, a new job title, new responsibilities, and a longer commute. Batman starts school Thursday, the girls start school in nine days, and I start school in two weeks. Batman and I are looking for a new church home. Number One has a digestive condition that requires daily monitoring and weekly calls to the doctor. We’ve been planning her birthday party, which is next weekend. And Special is apparently training for a career in men’s clubs, judging by her latest dance moves.

BUT. I like my job a lot, in spite of all the meetings. Our new offices are in a great area with lots of shopping and lunch places nearby and I can still take the freeway all the way there. The girls are very excited about starting school, as am I (Batman is . . . not excited about in-service but will be happy to see his students again). We have narrowed our church choices down to two and think we can be happy either place. Number One’s doctor is excellent and is very proactive in treating her condition. And Special does provide for a lot of laughs, even if many of them are behind her back.

So, I’ll keep churning out my TPS reports and blogging when I can. Always look on the bright side of life . . .

And I’ll use my Crock Pot a lot, like for this recipe I’ve posted here.

And I’ll keep in mind that it could be worse. I mean, at least my name isn’t Michael Bolton.

Wuv, true wuv

2007-08-05T07:27:00.000-06:00

The other night at dinner, Special was pestering us to let her have a root beer float for dessert. Batman told her tht if she didn’t finish her dinner she’d never be allowed to have a root beer float again—he’d tell her husband that she couldn't have them because of how she acted when she was five.

As we laughed, Special informed him that she’s never getting married. She said she doesn’t like to kiss in public, she doesn’t want to have a baby because it hurts, and she doesn’t want to cook. Number One piped up and said, “The reason you don’t want to get married is so you don’t have to buy things for your husband!”

Hee! Just think of the number of shoes I’ve sacrificed on the altar of marital bliss! But then I compare this:

to this:
And I have to admit that the sacrifice was worth it. Happy 16th anniversary, Batman!!

PS You owe me a pair of Manolos.

Excrutiating Minutiae

2007-07-29T19:55:00.000-06:00

So . . . not much going on these days. I had a headache yesterday. Number One threw up in my car last night. We went bowling last night with friends and I came in dead last . . . and one of our players was three years old. (I'm totally using the bumpers next time.) We had lunch today at a fabulous Persian restaurant and ate so much that I skipped dinner. I finally cleaned up my office and got rid of all (well, most) of the paper stacks. The most fun part of the last week was this:

The famous 2 B's came to visit! Batman and the girls got to play with them much more than I did (stupid job!) but I did get to smooch on them a little bit. Brooklyn doesn't mind so much, but I have to sneak up on Barrett. I would have taken a picture of him, too, but my camera's shutter isn't fast enough.

All right, enough rambling. There's a new recipe up here. I'm going to eat some ice cream and go to bed.

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Salvation

2007-07-20T20:05:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I'm feeling a little naked after that last post--time to don my Cloak of Cynicism! And here's the perfect outlet:

http://crummychurchsigns.blogspot.com/

Here's a sample of its hilariousness:

In other news, I'm now posting to a cooking blog that my sweet sister-in-law invited me to join. You can find us at http://www.dishandspoonrecipes.blogspot.com/.

PS: I should note that I actually have three sweet sisters-in-law and zero non-sweet sisters-in-law; Kim is the one who invited me to join her cooking blog. Wow, syntax is important!

PPS: Can anyone show me how to link to a website using regular words and not the URL? I can do it in emails and in Word documents, but I can't get Blogger to do it. Anyone? Bueller?

I like Christian rock. It's very positive.

2007-07-18T20:29:00.000-06:00

Have you ever heard of Hillsong United? Even if you've not heard their name, you've definitely heard their music; they wrote "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" and "Shout to the Lord" among many, many other popular contemporary Christian songs.

They gave a free concert at Lakewood Church last Sunday night, and the four of us went with a couple of friends. Not knowing much about them, we assumed there would be plenty of seating--after all, Lakewood meets where the Rockets used to play, in a 16,000-seat arena. Ha! By the time we got there, even all the standing-room spots were taken and we had to sit in the overflow area and watch the whole thing on TV screens! It was still great, though, and I think it was about as close to heaven as we can get here on earth: thousands of people focused on praising God, not debating Bible versions or arguing about the appropriateness of praise teams, just lifting their voices and hands and hearts in pure worship. It was awesome, and awe-inspiring.

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, and hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord."
--Psalm 40:1-3

If you know me in real life, you know how true this verse is in my life. God indeed has lifted us out of a very dark place and has given us a firm place to stand--right in the palm of his hand, where we always were and where we always will be. We have a new song of praise to him for the wonderful, amazing things he's done in our life over the past 21 months.

Jesus, Lover Of My Soul
by Hillsong United
album: Shout To The Lord (1998)

Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Jesus, I will never let you go
You’ve taken me from the miry clay
You've set my feet upon the Rock, and now i know
I love you, I need you,
Though my world may fall, I’ll never let you go
My Saviour, my closest friend,
I will worship you until the very end.

I'm back, baby, I'm back!

2007-07-10T18:56:00.000-06:00

Okay, so we've been back for a week and a half now. But I'm just now catching up to myself!

Our vacation was so great--we got to see family and so many of our old friends; the kids had a wonderful time at "Camp Baba" with my parents and nephews, and Batman and I really enjoyed DC.

We stopped first in Memphis, where we went to church with two of our oldest (not that old!) friends, Dan & Karla, and their sweet angel of a daughter Ainsley. She and the girls really hit it off, while the adults tried to cram ten years of catching up into one lunch. Hopefully it won't be another ten years before we see them again!

After lunch we spent some time at Starbucks with my friend and former boss Sandy and her husband Rick. It was so great to see Sandy again and to get to know Rick; they're a great couple and Batman and I both wished we could have had more time to spend with them!

We spent a few days in Lebanon visiting with my brother and his family; my grandparents were there as well, and I'm sure they enjoyed seeing all their great-grandchildren in one place. We had our annual family portrait photo done. Have you seen that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond? Ours wasn't that bad.

When Batman and I got to DC, the first thing we did was go shopping. The second thing we did was go eat. We did a lot of both over the week we were gone, in addition to a LOT of walking. Batman walks faster than I do (especially with my six blisters! Stupid cute shoes!) and this was my typical view:

See Batman racing along in the foreground? I also saw a lot of this:

We did some of the touristy stuff, but the best thing was going to the Library of Congress and watching a Coke commercial that Batman's great-uncle Glenn filmed back in 1965. He was a test pilot on the F-104 Starfighter, and after watching his commercial we went to the Air and Space Museum and saw his plane! Well, it wasn't HIS plane, but one just like it.

We spent the last night of our trip in Baltimore (their motto is, "Public Transportation: Only for the Very Brave") (or possibly, "Spend All Your Vacation Dollars on Cabs!") and saw an Orioles/Yankees game at Camden Yards. It was hot--sweat-in-your-underwear hot. I wondered as I melted, why was I so miserable? I live in one of the hottest cities in the US, and I was sweating like a hog. Then I realized that here, we have sense enough not to sit in the heat--we air-condition everything, including our ballparks! Sadly, not only was Camden Yards not air-conditioned, neither was our hotel. Visit Baltimore: We Love to See You Sweat!

When we got back to Nashville, it was SO great to see the girls again! We had brought them presents from the International Spy Museum (which we highly recommend) (unlike Baltimore) and enjoyed hearing about all the fun they'd had with Pop and Baba. The day after we got back, we got to see two of our favorite people, Tim and Marian, and had a great lunch with them at Wolfgang Puck's. Everytime we see them, it's like we only saw them the day before--we pick up right where we left off.

After lunch the girls and I met our three best friends from Florida, Tammy, Bree and Audrey. They live in Kentucky now and came down to Nashville to see us while we were in town. We've missed them terribly since we moved, and it was such a treat to see them! The girls were a little slow to warm up at first, but once we hit the Build-A-Bear workshop they started giggling and playing like best friends again. They also made lists of everything they want there--I think Number One filled up three sheets of paper.

We decided to spend an extra day relaxing with my parents--Batman and I felt that we'd hardly spent any time with them ourselves! We shopped and talked and ate the best chocolate pie I've ever put in my mouth. It is the best pie in the world, and it's found at the Sunset Restaurant in Lebanon, Tennessee. Take your next vacation there, you won't regret it (like you would if you went to Baltimore).

Everything about our vacation was wonderful--the food, the relaxation, the sights, and spending time as a family. Even Baltimore had a Hard Rock Cafe and a Filene's Basement. But the best part by far was seeing our family and friends. We love you all!!!

See all our vacation pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/larfamily/Vacation2007

Our LOL Cat

2007-06-15T18:21:00.001-06:00

Batman and the girls built a fort this week, and the girls have been sleeping in it every night. Jumpy really liked it too!

We're headed out on vacation, and I'm pretty sure I'll get to see *almost* my entire readership while we're gone! I'm looking forward to seeing all of you!! In place of blog posts for the next two weeks, here's something even better: LOL Cats! http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Educating for Eternity

2007-06-13T05:14:00.000-06:00

Big news in our house: I've been accepted into Harding University's MBA program! My company is paying for my degree (have I mentioned how much I love my job?) and I'll start online classes in the fall. I should finish in two years.

How am I going to work full time, raise two children, spend time with Batman, keep up my active TV-watching schedule, AND go to school, you ask? I don't have the faintest idea. I'm just going to take it one day at a time, like I do everything else. And probably make lots of to-do lists.

I'm really excited about this chance--I never saw myself as a Career Woman but since that's where I've ended up, I'm going to make the most of it.

I may have to cut back on the TV-watching. But that's why God created DVR, right?

What do they do with the stumps?

2007-06-08T07:26:00.000-06:00

Okay, this had me laughing all the way to work: at Panera Bread, they actually sell muffin tops! I don't think the teenage boy at the counter understood why I couldn't stop giggling.

School's Out for Summer

2007-05-29T17:06:00.000-06:00

School's out! Obviously Batman and the girls are excited, but now I get to sleep an extra few minutes each morning, so I'm pretty happy, too.

San Antonio was fun--Sunday was rainy, but we still got to enjoy what we wanted to see. We visited the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, which was . . . not worth what we paid for it, but we fed the animals and took lots of pictures. Batman told the girls that one deer-like animal was called a "testicle," so we had lots of giggles from hearing Special yell, "There's more testicles, Daddy!" We're like evil twelve-year-olds.

We stayed in an old, historic hotel right next door to the Alamo, the Menger Hotel, which I'd highly recommend. I'd also recommend parking elsewhere, because it cost a small fortune there. But it was historic parking, at least. Their courtyard and pool area were really gorgeous, and we wished we'd had more time to enjoy them, but there was No Time! For we had to get to SeaWorld! Which was worth every penny! Especially since I saved 20% of our pennies by flashing my Southwest Airlines frequent flyer card.

That's Number One next to the ROLLER COASTER that she rode! So brave!

SeaWorld was great fun: the weather was perfect, partly cloudy with no rain at all, hot but not stiflingly so, some breezes; there was plenty to do but not so much that we feel like we have to go back another time; and best of all, it was not crowded in the least. I was surprised, it being Memorial Day, but there were no lines the whole day. And we got to see Shamu, which was the best part and a nice way to end the day.

Note: this is not the real Shamu.

And now we're home again. Batman will be home with the girls until we leave on vacation in three weeks, and he came up with a great idea: together, he and the girls came up with about forty fun things to do, and he put each idea on a slip of paper and stuck them all in a jar. Each morning they'll pull out three slips and do whatever they say. They may go swimming, have lunch with someone, go to the park, pick up litter (or "glitter," as Number One used to say), or do some other adventure. Today they went to Whole Foods for lunch with GrandBob, played an hour of video games, and watched a movie after dinner.

My surprise adventures are more along the lines of, "Who just emailed me?" or "What did I lay out to thaw for dinner tonight?" But at least I get those few extra minutes of sleep each morning! Hey, I take my fun where I can get it . . .

Note: I was going to sprinkle more "School's Out" references throughout this post, and so I Googled the lyrics to make sure I had the words right. Sadly, the version currently stuck in my head is not the Alice Cooper classic, but the one from an episode of "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody," courtesy of the Disney channel. I think I just lost the only bit of rocker cred I ever had. So to get it back, here's a picture I took that makes Batman look like he's imitating Ozzy Osbourne at the Alamo:

And here are the rest of our weekend photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/larfamily/SanAntonioMay2007

I am such a huge whale fan

2007-05-22T16:58:00.000-06:00

**Note: I’m changing my references from initials to nicknames, which I think will make for easier reading. The kids’ nicknames were bestowed on them by their GrandBob. R’s nickname is a reference to his loathing of overhead lighting; I picked “Batman” because he really hates it when I call him” the Prince of Darkness.”

Plus, he is kind of my own personal superhero. Aww.

As you can see, we had some fun company this weekend! Pop and Baba came to visit, and we had a very nice, relaxing time with them. Unfortunately they had to stay at a hotel due to a LEAK in the girls’ bathroom wall . . . and I don’t want to talk about that.

But the girls had a great time staying in the hotel with them. Number One cleared out the free breakfast every morning; I think she was just trying to get their money’s worth! We swam a little, ate out a lot, watched Special in her gymnastics show, played multiple rounds of Uno, and had a lovely visit.

The gymnastics show was a hoot: thirty preschoolers marching around the gym showing off their “routines.” Everyone got a trophy at the end (cue Batman’s rant on participation trophies here) and we all felt very proud of ourselves. Then we went to Ben & Jerry’s, our favorite spot for any type of celebration! Number One got an ice cream sundae, and here’s Special trying a bite:

I had a cone of Chocolate Therapy, which I swear to be the best kind of therapy that exists. (No offense, G.) Special had the plain vanilla, as did Number One under all that other goop in her sundae, and I would really like to know where I went wrong as a mother that my children prefer plain vanilla ice cream. Honestly. Kids these days . . .

Sadly, Baba left yesterday and Pop has headed to the south side of town for a training course. We’ll see them again next month when we go up to Tennessee for a visit, and I’m pretty sure that we’ll have to drug the kids to get them to leave after their two-week stay at Camp Baba.

In the meantime, we’re planning a short trip to San Antonio this weekend! Batman (I’m really loving this nickname) will have a busy week full of graduations and graduation parties and finals and grading, but he’s free after Saturday night and we’re going to SeaWorld to celebrate! It’s no Ben & Jerry’s, but the kids will love it.

Let’s just hope their bathroom doesn’t turn into SeaWorld before then.

I'm in management training . . . anger management.

2007-05-19T07:35:00.001-06:00

I've been in software training all week. Did you know that you can get at least 74 words from the phrase "Project Billing?" Also, Sudoku puzzles just aren't as much fun when you have to furtively design them from scratch on a legal pad.

As further proof of the mind-numbing tediousness of the past five days, I offer you two haikus:

This discussion has
jumped the tracks, headed downhill,
and wiped out the town.

Whoever said that
there are no stupid questions,
never heard that one.

A Day at Lake Scranton

2007-05-13T16:26:00.000-06:00

The first swim of the summer is always the best! Our community pool opened a couple of weeks ago, but this is the first day we'd made it over there. It wasn't too crowded, and the girls had a wonderful time "diving" and splashing.

This is the first time we've ever lived in a neighborhood with a pool, and I really want to take advantage of it as often as possible. Now that the girls are a little older I don't have to be right beside them the entire time, and can enjoy a book while they play in the shallow end--which really encompasses most of the pool! Even S is tall enough to play in the 4-ft water, and she climbed out of her floaty to play volleyball for a while with H.

It was nice to have a relaxing weekend, because I think this week is going to kick my fanny just a little bit. I have meetings and software training all week, and have a major project due on top of that. Oh, and I have to get my regular work done as well! Ah, well--it's better than surfing the 'net all day. I think.

Happy Mother's Day to all my favorite moms!!

Blurgh

2007-05-10T19:50:00.000-06:00

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth--I've just been too busy for words. Literally! Ha!

H and I went with her Brownie troop to Johnson Space Center for a sleepover last weekend, which was . . . exhausting. And painful: I stubbed my toe in the dark and it's still black and blue. Had to wear flip-flops to work all week--so professional. But the girls had a blast (get it? Space center? blast? never mind) so it was all worth it.

Work has been ridikolus, meetings and training and more meetings and lots of reports to run and analyze. I used to have free time and be able to surf the internet for large chunks of time. Now they expect me to do actual work. Harumph.

H had her orchestra concert tonight, and I'll post pictures later. She did great! And she was definitely the most beautiful child on the stage. Of course, I'm biased. But she really was.

By the way, if you didn't get my post title or reference to Ridikolus, why aren't you watching "30 Rock?!" It's one of the two funniest shows on TV! Come on, all the cool kids are doing it.

Who doesn't love the pink(y) toe?

2007-04-29T17:19:00.000-06:00

Here's what I did Saturday night:

Sandal weather means that we need hot-pink "tony nails," as S used to say!

We had a quiet, peaceful weekend--or at least the girls and I did; R chaperoned prom on Friday night and I'd hardly call that quiet or peaceful. We spent some time playing outside, pulled some weeds and killed some ants, and I finished four loads of laundry plus put away two loads from last weekend.

I brought back several good-looking books from today's library run; hopefully I'll have some time this week to read at least one. Three of them are travel guides to Washington DC--we finally booked our vacation! In past weeks I've brought home guides to Spain, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, and Costa Rica, but in the end we decided DC sounded best. Trying to plan the other trips we considered was so stressful it was starting to seem less like a vacation and more like work! R has never been to DC, and while it's not the exotic vacation I thought we'd take this year, we're both very excited. Now maybe I can stop visiting Expedia and Travelocity and get some real work done.

I'm actually going to be really busy this week; I'm part of a team being trained in a software application called Oracle that we're implementing in our company. I have to sit through training four days this week and another four days two weeks from now, and there'll be a good bit of work to do after that to get it up and running. I'm excited about it, as geeky as that sounds! It's always nice to have plenty to do. Now if I can just figure out a way to do laundry from the office, my job will be perfect . . .

The More You Know

2007-04-24T19:48:00.000-06:00

I don’t have a lot of time to read, mostly on my lunch hour or on the weekends, but I manage to get through a book every week or so. I wish I could finish one every day—going to the library is one of my greatest pleasures, and when I get home I can’t help but start reading right away!

One book I picked up last week was "Sweet and Low" by Rich Cohen. His grandfather started the company that makes Sweet ‘N Low, and the book is one part documentary of the sweetener industry, one part company history, and two parts family drama. It wasn’t a book that I just couldn’t put down, but I did find it interesting and bored R later with some sweetener facts. (The amount of saccharine needed to give a rat cancer is equal to 10,000 packets a day for about 60 years!)

After finishing that I started Steve Martini’s "Double Tap." Martini writes legal thrillers, and I discovered in this book that he’s a Christian. I think I’ve read just about all of his books, and I’d recommend any of them—he’s an author you stay up past midnight to finish!

On my last library trip, I also picked up "The Devil’s Picnic," a journalist’s quest to try foods and substances that have been banned in some parts of the world such as poppy seeds, absinthe, and unpasteurized cheese. Some chapters were more entertaining than others, but the author’s rebellious attitude got a bit tiresome by the end. It did make me hungry for cheese, though. I got extra-adventurous and had some sharp cheddar.

Reading is FUNdamental!

Off to protect the town of Rock Ridge

2007-04-19T09:08:00.000-06:00

What is preschool for, but to take adorable pictures of your kids?! S had this taken a couple of weeks ago--doesn't she look like she's about to round up a posse and go out looking for some varmits?

The girls were awfully excited last night to see Sanjaya voted off "American Idol," and I lost a bet. R and the girls had predicted that he'd be the one to leave, but I thought for sure it would be Chris. I can't say I was too disappointed to see Sanjaya go--he was a terrible singer! But he did have a good attitude and a sense of humor--and some great hair.

Note: can you guess where I got the title of this post? Here's a hint: that cowgirl up there is no sidewindin bushwackin, hornswaglin, cracker croaker!

She Also Believes in the Hanukkah Armadillo

2007-04-11T18:41:00.000-06:00

Eeeaarrrly Sunday morning, H woke me up: “Mom, I want to go see what the Easter Bunny brought!”

Oops. The Easter Bunny had completely forgotten to visit, though (s)he had a drawerful of Easter goodies. (But none of that grass stuff. I hate cleaning that up.)

I stalled: “It’s really early—why don’t you go back to bed for a little while, and I’ll make sure he came.”

I grabbed a robe, stuffed the bag of goodies underneath, and snuck past her room into the kitchen where I dumped the stuff onto the bar. We’d even forgotten to set out their baskets, so I tiptoed back into H’s room.

“The Easter Bunny came, but we forgot to set out our baskets so he left everything on the bar. Give me your basket and I’ll get S’s too, and I’ll put the stuff in your baskets for you.”

Quietly, quietly I put the goodies in their baskets. Back to H’s room:

“I’ve got the camera ready, come see what the Easter Bunny brought!”

She never once questioned why I made her wait. The faith of a child: patient, solid, unbending. What does it do to a child’s faith when we let them believe so strongly in the Easter Bunny, Santa, the tooth fairy; and then even after they come to know the “truth” about those imaginary heroes, we still expect them to believe in an invisible God, a Savior they can’t see. Are we making a huge mistake? How do we convince little children, big children, teenagers, and adults that even though Santa is a myth, Jesus is real?

But, oh, that we all could have the faith of a child.

Their Goal: A Barren, Sterile Existence

2007-04-07T19:19:00.000-06:00

A few nights ago during dinner, S asked me out of the clear blue, "Mommy, how do babies get out of their mommies' tummies?"

Gulp. I carefully explained the process, trying not to make it sound scary, and noting that "the doctor can give the mommy medicine if it hurts." (amen and hallelujah)

At the end of my explanation, S said, "I am NEVER having a baby!"

Okay, so maybe it sounds scary no matter how you put it.

The next day, H told me that she wasn't ever going to get married. I asked why, and she screwed up her face and said, "The kissy-kissy!" Ha!

So I guess I've screwed myself out of grandchildren, what with all my anatomically-correct explanations and PDA in front of the children. Is it too early to start telling them about adoption and sperm donations?

I Can't Go Left

2007-04-07T18:53:00.000-06:00

L (driving through downtown): I wonder if I can go this way to get to . . . no . . . crap, now I'm going the wrong way.

H: Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you wonder, you end up going the wrong way? You should never follow your wonders.

Maybe I should let her drive.

12,000 BTU's: It's Gonna Be Like a Meat Locker in Here!

2007-03-29T08:09:00.000-06:00

So life is full of ups and downs, right? You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have the facts of life (the facts of life). But it’s a little frustrating to have those ups and downs packed into one evening.

We got home from work yesterday evening and the air conditioner was blowing out warm air. It was cooler outside than inside. I called the A/C guy, he was there in an hour, and discovered that ants had gotten into the unit outside and had completely mucked it up; two parts needed to be replaced. (Ants, lice, baby snakes—why are God’s smallest creatures all trying to kill me?)

So I’m trying to see the good in this; after all, we don’t (yet) need to replace the entire unit, and since we have an emergency fund, I was able to pay him with a check right then. A year ago, I would have had to borrow money from someone for a repair like that. (Hi, Daddy!) Still. Bleh.

But then, the good: I made spaghetti squash for the first time and it turned out quite lovely! If you’ve never cooked it before, try it—it tastes like regular squash only with a more delicate flavor. They’re about the size of a honeydew, with a bright yellow skin. One of them fed all four of us. You cut it in half, take out the pulp and seeds, bake it cut side down for an hour at 350 or microwave it in a pan of water for 10 minutes, then scrape out the insides and mix them with some butter and/or olive oil, a little sautéed garlic and onions, salt and pepper and some parmesan—ummmm. It was quite a hit.

And after that, sadness: my favorite contestant Chris Sligh was voted off American Idol. Poor Chris—your quick, droll wit could not hide your total lack of rhythm.

And then, disappointment: Lost aired its most answer-free episode in weeks. It was like it had been replaced by an episode of Matlock. But looking on the bright side, at least they didn’t show Locke—I haaaaaate that guy.

So, after all that, I went to bed at 11:30 and then overslept this morning and had trouble getting the girls out the door. But I still made it to work by 8:15 AND no one saw me come in late.

Always look on the bright side of life . . .