I like writing these, mostly for me. It's always fun to look back and remember them.later on. So, first day!
Tyler spent most of the morning being a big jerk. We had to put him in time out a couple of times, but after lunch and a nap he calmed down. We picked him up from his nap and went right to the plane to go to Orlando!
Flight went really well, our plane had TVs on the back of the seats, so Tyler pretty much just watched TV the entire way. I got to watch Lucy. Fun movie, dumb premise. Casey slept on Jessie most of the way. Jessie didn't seem to mind.
When we landed, Tyler ran up and gave Grandma a big running hug. He's getting good at that.
We all got to the hotel and fell asleep. We set Tyler up with a long sofa mattress in the closet. He really liked having his own room.
The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. The place had 'magic pancakes'. It was a couple of robots that just sat there and would spit out a hot, fresh pancake every 20 seconds or so as needed. Tyler really liked the magic pancakes. I saw the thing break once at it just spit out one, huge pancake.
Our first stop on this, our mostly 'relaxing and hanging out with family' day, was just Downtown Disney. We took both the kids and Grammie and had to park a little far away from where the action was, but our first stop was the Lego store. We stayed there for like an hour. They had a thing in front where you could build your own Lego Car and race it down a ramp. Tyler was a huge fan. The rest of the time he spent inside at the place where you can make your own Minifigures. He made a few and we got them for him. He really liked having "lego guys' to play with. He would attach things to their feet and say they were Lord Business. You have to have seen the Lego Movie to get the Joke.
We went back home to meet Anne-Marie, Jessie's cousin, and their little one. He's one-and-a-bit, so he can walk but not talk, and he thought Tyler was the Bees Knees. When we had to put Tyler down for a nap, he cried because his friend was gone. Eventually, though, Shannon, Jessie's Sister, and her two older kids showed up. They played with the little cousin.
We all went out to a nearby park to take some pictures and let the kids play. Organizing that many young kids is always a challenge, but we managed. I haven't looked at the pictures yet, actually. I probably should. Anyway, the kids had a blast on the playground and got out a lot of energy. Then dinner!
We had reservations for Bucca Di Beppo, but as it turns out the place we were going was in a mall, and for those of you looking at a calendar, this was Black Friday. Fortunately, we gave ourselves plenty of leeway, and once we got past the traffic getting out of the place, parking wasn't that hard. We made it right on time. Good for us.
We were at the Pope Table, which is huge and round and has a couple of neat features. 1) A huge lazy Susan that all the food goes on so everyone can eat it. 2) The Pope's head in the middle (yes, the current one) 3) The top is arched so that the person directly across from you gets your voice funneled right into your ears. It's really odd, but neat. We ordered so goddamn much food you have no idea. We put a pretty good dent in it before we all got stuffed, and then jessie ordered dessert. She got a brownie sundae the size of Casey. Collectively we polished it off, but it took some work.
We were loud and laughed a lot, and since our table was special, we got featured on the 'intro tour' a few times. We started toasting people when they came around for the tour. We got a lot of smiles from the wait staff for that. Also I got to give our server a big tip, which felt nice.
Home and food comas for all. Anne-Marie drove home with her family, but Shannon and her family stayed in the hotel near us and joined us for a few Disney days.
-N
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Tyler Has No Room for Existential Crises
The weather perked up this weekend, and
since Monday was a day that daycare closed, Jess wanted to take
advantage of the nice timing to go camping. So we did! We went out
to Garner State Park, a few hours west of us, brought food, a tent,
and some sleeping bags, and just hung out for a while.
It was nice. I brought my hammock that
I got for Christmas and spent several nice naptimes in it. We also
did some hiking up the mountain (only sorta in quotes) in the park to
see what it had to offer. We came upon a cave that went down about
30 feet or so, and Tyler was initially pretty nervous because he
knows one thing and one thing only about caves: they have bears in
them. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that this cave had
'Zero Bears', but only after Daddy went down first to make sure it
was safe. I'm so brave.
S'mores were had, of course. Tyler
mostly liked the chocolate, the marshmallows are very messy, and
Tyler doesn't like to be a messy eater. I also did a mostly
successful experiment where you fill an Ice cream cone with
marshmallows and chocolate and strawberries and then heat it up in
the fire. Worked pretty well, but not better than S'mores, which, as
it turns out, you can also put strawberries into. Yum.
At one point we found a dead rabbit.
Tyler wanted to see it, and I let him look at it for a while, though
letting him know that dead things are not safe to be near. He wanted
to know why the rabbit was laying there, and I did my best to explain
death to an almost-three-year-old. I told him that a car probably
hit the rabbit and that sometimes there are hurts that don't get
better, and then the rabbit just goes away and doesn't come back. He
kept asking questions for a while (mostly about cars and safety...and
squashing) and then moved on. Later the rabbit was gone, probably
cleaned up by park staff. Tyler decided, with full authority, that
this meant the rabbit got better. There is no space in his brain
that is shaped like death, it just doesn't fit in there yet. Though
he keeps asking about the rabbit, so maybe it's getting formed.
Anyway, I got to cook breakfast sausage
and eat s'mores and feel justified in my calorie intake because I
then put Tyler in my backpack and hiked to the top of a nearby
mountain (with nice views), so it all mostly evened out. Tyler even
had a good day this morning, his first day back at school, which,
when compared to other 'first days back' we've had to go through, is
nearly miraculous. He doesn't wet himself as much either. He's
getting so big!
-N
Saturday, July 27, 2013
It's been a while, here's some thoughts
Tyler is right here on my lap watching me type. So I have to be a little careful about what I say about him. He is is really good kid and I love to give him kisses and he is very nice when he is patient and works hard.
Now he is slipping and falling off my lap, so I can tell you that as a 2 year old, he's kind of a jerk.
When you learn about what kids are going through in their 'Terrible twos', their behavior makes a lot of sense. They have essentially been living in a world that, as near as they can tell, they are in complete control of. When they want things, they get them, and any perturbations from this norm are probably just forgotten. A two year old, on the other hand, is slowly learning that he is an entity, and the world around him spins with its own rules, rules he is often not going to enjoy. It would bum me out, too.
I consider it my duty to frustrate Tyler at least once a day, if not many more. I figure denying him something he wants is just part of the process of teaching him things. I figure when he gets old and reads this, he'll probably be really frustrated with me, but tough noogies, kid. If I didn't teach you these things, you'd be completely insufferable, as opposed to the regularly insufferable that I'm sure you've achieved at whatever age you find this. It's part of the learning process. Deal.
Anyway, I figure that whatever I'm doing has to be working pretty well so far, because he's turning into a pretty great kid. He's super curious about things, fussy, but certainly not insufferably so, and is quickly becoming a candidate for those great one-liners they always got from 'kids say the darnedest things.' Lets try a few:
How old is daddy?: One
How old is mommy?: Two
How old is Tyler?: Four...um, Two!
Where does our food come from?: Ummm...the Pizza man!
That last one isn't true, by the way. We cook.
My recent favorite has been from last night. I was singing him a random song I had been listening to during the day. Obedear by Purity Ring. The chorus goes like this:
Oh, but dear the sky is low.
Gather up your harm and gods
with grateful arms.
Oh, but dear the sky is low...
Well as I was singing, he sits bolt upright from laying on my chest and says to me, with wide eyes: "Sky is low! We were on the plane with the clouds! Sky is low!" He had evidently just figured out how the clouds had been so close to the plane window. I did my best to explain how the plane goes up near the clouds, and he settled back down, but that's some pretty inspired science from a kid who was about to go to sleep.
Tyler is in the 'transition' classroom now, which is theoretically a transition between the 'day care' of the younger kids and the 'almost kindergarten' of the older classes. He seems to be fitting in pretty well, being a fan of running around, playing with sand, and sitting and reading books, some of the primary activities of his class. I've gotten to join a couple of times. I got to hang out in his classroom one morning and started reading him a book. Before too long I had gathered an impromptu circle of all the kids in the class and was reading to them about things that go.
I also got to visit for 'splash day', which has started up again during the heat of the summer. The difference between splash day for toddlers and two year olds is primarily that the two year olds don't want to stay on the splash pad. There is a big playground out there, one they don't often get to visit, and they have as much desire to explore as they do to get hosed down by the teachers. Though the hosing is also a pretty big draw.
I 'got' to travel last week, which Jessie always considers a vacation for me (and she's not entirely wrong) but Tyler is old enough to start missing people and telling us about it, which means that I got a couple of videos sent to me of Tyler saying he was sad because he misses his daddy, which breaks your heart right in two, let me tell you.
We got to spend the fourth of July in Florida with the Florida family, and Tyler thought the fireworks were pretty neat, though he did manage to burn himself on a sparkler. Does that sound familiar to any parents here? First son burning fingers on hot sparkler? Maybe it's genetic. Anyway, we at a lot of food (Tyler liked the beans) and also got to go to the Miami Zoo, which was pretty horrible. Oh, the zoo was fine, but it was really, really hot, and we couldn't get Tyler to take a nap while we were there, so he got pretty grumped up. He thought the giraffes and elephants were pretty neat, but we had to head home in the early afternoon because of excessive grumpitude. He napped on the way home and was much more personable after that.
We also spent a lot of time in Aunt Shannon's pool, where Tyler mostly just tried to kill himself over and over. He was better than he has been, and was a champion at shimmying along the wall, but he was still a little too squirmy for his own good while we were holding him. He was a big fan of sitting on floaty things and getting pushed around, as well as getting surprised by Johnny and William. Also enjoyed doing big daddy-assisted slam dunks in the floating basketball hoop. But since he was still not holding his breath or being safe, Jess signed him up for some basic swim lessons. It's not super-critical for us, because we don't have a pool, but it would be nice to let him learn more about holding his breath and being safe around water. It would at least make it easier to hold him.
I've been playing more video games recently. Which is odd, because for a while I wasn't playing them at all. I was practicing painting, or piano, or drawing, or something else 'productive'. It's become frustrating, though, to spend all my time on things that are essentially just practice. I'm not yet good enough at those things to have fun just sitting down and playing piano, or drawing, or something like that. Every once in a while I want to just have some fun. Ergo, video games.
I'm trying to loose weight. Well, that's not true. Not really. I've long held that the scale is not my best metric for monitoring my health, after I stared doing more exercise and lost size but gained weight, presumably in these massive guns of mine (kiss, kiss). Regardless, I measured at 236 at the end of the 4th of July vacation, and that is too much. I've started monitoring my food intake in an attempt to see where my weaknesses are, and so far I think I'm doing pretty good, with the monitoring, if not with the weight loss, that takes time. I don't think of it as a diet, though, those end. I'm trying to create a formula for selecting the things that I eat that will keep me healthy and satisfied over the long term. That's also called a 'diet', but it's the version of the word that botanists use. I like that one better. The main problem so far has been that I'm still pretty hungry a lot. If anyone has any suggestions for food that keeps you full with a low number of calories, I'm all ears. I'm eating a lot of tuna, though.
I mostly did this because I realized my favorite thing about the blog is going back and reading my old entries. So this is an entry that will, someday, be old, and I'll read it and enjoy it. Hopefully the rest of you do as well.
-N
Now he is slipping and falling off my lap, so I can tell you that as a 2 year old, he's kind of a jerk.
When you learn about what kids are going through in their 'Terrible twos', their behavior makes a lot of sense. They have essentially been living in a world that, as near as they can tell, they are in complete control of. When they want things, they get them, and any perturbations from this norm are probably just forgotten. A two year old, on the other hand, is slowly learning that he is an entity, and the world around him spins with its own rules, rules he is often not going to enjoy. It would bum me out, too.
I consider it my duty to frustrate Tyler at least once a day, if not many more. I figure denying him something he wants is just part of the process of teaching him things. I figure when he gets old and reads this, he'll probably be really frustrated with me, but tough noogies, kid. If I didn't teach you these things, you'd be completely insufferable, as opposed to the regularly insufferable that I'm sure you've achieved at whatever age you find this. It's part of the learning process. Deal.
Anyway, I figure that whatever I'm doing has to be working pretty well so far, because he's turning into a pretty great kid. He's super curious about things, fussy, but certainly not insufferably so, and is quickly becoming a candidate for those great one-liners they always got from 'kids say the darnedest things.' Lets try a few:
How old is daddy?: One
How old is mommy?: Two
How old is Tyler?: Four...um, Two!
Where does our food come from?: Ummm...the Pizza man!
That last one isn't true, by the way. We cook.
My recent favorite has been from last night. I was singing him a random song I had been listening to during the day. Obedear by Purity Ring. The chorus goes like this:
Oh, but dear the sky is low.
Gather up your harm and gods
with grateful arms.
Oh, but dear the sky is low...
Well as I was singing, he sits bolt upright from laying on my chest and says to me, with wide eyes: "Sky is low! We were on the plane with the clouds! Sky is low!" He had evidently just figured out how the clouds had been so close to the plane window. I did my best to explain how the plane goes up near the clouds, and he settled back down, but that's some pretty inspired science from a kid who was about to go to sleep.
Tyler is in the 'transition' classroom now, which is theoretically a transition between the 'day care' of the younger kids and the 'almost kindergarten' of the older classes. He seems to be fitting in pretty well, being a fan of running around, playing with sand, and sitting and reading books, some of the primary activities of his class. I've gotten to join a couple of times. I got to hang out in his classroom one morning and started reading him a book. Before too long I had gathered an impromptu circle of all the kids in the class and was reading to them about things that go.
I also got to visit for 'splash day', which has started up again during the heat of the summer. The difference between splash day for toddlers and two year olds is primarily that the two year olds don't want to stay on the splash pad. There is a big playground out there, one they don't often get to visit, and they have as much desire to explore as they do to get hosed down by the teachers. Though the hosing is also a pretty big draw.
I 'got' to travel last week, which Jessie always considers a vacation for me (and she's not entirely wrong) but Tyler is old enough to start missing people and telling us about it, which means that I got a couple of videos sent to me of Tyler saying he was sad because he misses his daddy, which breaks your heart right in two, let me tell you.
We got to spend the fourth of July in Florida with the Florida family, and Tyler thought the fireworks were pretty neat, though he did manage to burn himself on a sparkler. Does that sound familiar to any parents here? First son burning fingers on hot sparkler? Maybe it's genetic. Anyway, we at a lot of food (Tyler liked the beans) and also got to go to the Miami Zoo, which was pretty horrible. Oh, the zoo was fine, but it was really, really hot, and we couldn't get Tyler to take a nap while we were there, so he got pretty grumped up. He thought the giraffes and elephants were pretty neat, but we had to head home in the early afternoon because of excessive grumpitude. He napped on the way home and was much more personable after that.
We also spent a lot of time in Aunt Shannon's pool, where Tyler mostly just tried to kill himself over and over. He was better than he has been, and was a champion at shimmying along the wall, but he was still a little too squirmy for his own good while we were holding him. He was a big fan of sitting on floaty things and getting pushed around, as well as getting surprised by Johnny and William. Also enjoyed doing big daddy-assisted slam dunks in the floating basketball hoop. But since he was still not holding his breath or being safe, Jess signed him up for some basic swim lessons. It's not super-critical for us, because we don't have a pool, but it would be nice to let him learn more about holding his breath and being safe around water. It would at least make it easier to hold him.
I've been playing more video games recently. Which is odd, because for a while I wasn't playing them at all. I was practicing painting, or piano, or drawing, or something else 'productive'. It's become frustrating, though, to spend all my time on things that are essentially just practice. I'm not yet good enough at those things to have fun just sitting down and playing piano, or drawing, or something like that. Every once in a while I want to just have some fun. Ergo, video games.
I'm trying to loose weight. Well, that's not true. Not really. I've long held that the scale is not my best metric for monitoring my health, after I stared doing more exercise and lost size but gained weight, presumably in these massive guns of mine (kiss, kiss). Regardless, I measured at 236 at the end of the 4th of July vacation, and that is too much. I've started monitoring my food intake in an attempt to see where my weaknesses are, and so far I think I'm doing pretty good, with the monitoring, if not with the weight loss, that takes time. I don't think of it as a diet, though, those end. I'm trying to create a formula for selecting the things that I eat that will keep me healthy and satisfied over the long term. That's also called a 'diet', but it's the version of the word that botanists use. I like that one better. The main problem so far has been that I'm still pretty hungry a lot. If anyone has any suggestions for food that keeps you full with a low number of calories, I'm all ears. I'm eating a lot of tuna, though.
I mostly did this because I realized my favorite thing about the blog is going back and reading my old entries. So this is an entry that will, someday, be old, and I'll read it and enjoy it. Hopefully the rest of you do as well.
-N
Thursday, March 7, 2013
I want to Master Cakes
I don't think I've really ever baked a cake from scratch.
I'm sure I could. The mechanics aren't that different that other things that I have baked. But I haven't ever taken the time. Now that I have this super fancy kitchenaid that my big brother got me, I feel compelled to bake ambitious things. Matt and I were brainstorming "things that should be baked" one night, and he started riffing on cakes. Carrot Cake. Yellow Cake. Princess Cake. And all with the niave confidence that they will be easy and totally worth the effort.
Now would be a great time for someone to chime in in case this is actually false.
And then I got the crazy idea (I'm having a lot of these lately), that when I recruit people to take part in my 30 for my 30th project with group volunteer things, I should pretend it's my birthday party and offer cake. I was specifically imagining that I've talked my friends into some trail maintenance which turned about to be a terrible idea, and everyone is brutally exhausted and frustrated, and then I whip out a carrot cake and suddenly everyone is glad they are helping! That could work, right?
As Nana says, if you don't hear about it again, don't ask!
I'm sure I could. The mechanics aren't that different that other things that I have baked. But I haven't ever taken the time. Now that I have this super fancy kitchenaid that my big brother got me, I feel compelled to bake ambitious things. Matt and I were brainstorming "things that should be baked" one night, and he started riffing on cakes. Carrot Cake. Yellow Cake. Princess Cake. And all with the niave confidence that they will be easy and totally worth the effort.
Now would be a great time for someone to chime in in case this is actually false.
And then I got the crazy idea (I'm having a lot of these lately), that when I recruit people to take part in my 30 for my 30th project with group volunteer things, I should pretend it's my birthday party and offer cake. I was specifically imagining that I've talked my friends into some trail maintenance which turned about to be a terrible idea, and everyone is brutally exhausted and frustrated, and then I whip out a carrot cake and suddenly everyone is glad they are helping! That could work, right?
As Nana says, if you don't hear about it again, don't ask!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Dad was here!
Living in WA is great. Other people want to come here too, so you get to see them sometimes. It's ideal.
Dad came down for some CEUs, and although we didn't get to hang around a lot (something about work still to do at the house- who is excited for THAT to be done??), we grabbed some extra hugs and had the fanciest steak house dinner I've ever had. I enjoyed the pants off my salmon, and all the sides where amazing. Lobster Mashed potatoes? Those big roasty mushrooms? Creamed Spinach, that really should have been called creamed bacon with some leaves in it? Oh yeah- we were living large. WE had so much food that we actually got a box for the SPARE bread pudding. Yes, you read that correctly, Dad couldn't finish his bread pudding, so now I will. Sometimes I worry my family must think I am starving/sub-par in the kitchen. I will work on dissuading you all of this when I feel at leisure to commit myself to some time in there. In the meantime, yes, I will eat ALL the leftovers.
And that was really nice, because otherwise it was a kinda bad week. I got a parking ticket at my internship, and we had a legal issue at work that required me to stay late. Ahem. And work Saturday. And I still didn't get a job offer for my dream job. So it was really nice to see my Dad and talk to him about MRI data and hear about the updates to his retirement schedule (just another year or 2, people!) and get some extra hugs.
Dad came down for some CEUs, and although we didn't get to hang around a lot (something about work still to do at the house- who is excited for THAT to be done??), we grabbed some extra hugs and had the fanciest steak house dinner I've ever had. I enjoyed the pants off my salmon, and all the sides where amazing. Lobster Mashed potatoes? Those big roasty mushrooms? Creamed Spinach, that really should have been called creamed bacon with some leaves in it? Oh yeah- we were living large. WE had so much food that we actually got a box for the SPARE bread pudding. Yes, you read that correctly, Dad couldn't finish his bread pudding, so now I will. Sometimes I worry my family must think I am starving/sub-par in the kitchen. I will work on dissuading you all of this when I feel at leisure to commit myself to some time in there. In the meantime, yes, I will eat ALL the leftovers.
And that was really nice, because otherwise it was a kinda bad week. I got a parking ticket at my internship, and we had a legal issue at work that required me to stay late. Ahem. And work Saturday. And I still didn't get a job offer for my dream job. So it was really nice to see my Dad and talk to him about MRI data and hear about the updates to his retirement schedule (just another year or 2, people!) and get some extra hugs.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Update from Slush-town
By the time we slogged through all of last week (snow storm, canceled meetings, sick AGAIN, stuck at home- oh, and not a lot of calls about getting me a job), I as feeling kinda down. I am must too restless to feel like 5 days at home seeing no one but Matt and Shaoshu is a life well lived (they are lovely boys, but don't I have more to offer?). Fortunately, some other friends who were also camping out at home called us over on Friday for a dinner of Raclette. If you haven't had it, meet a french person and beg them to show you how it is done- basically, you grill up some Raclette cheese, melt it over potatoes and eat with gently sauteed veggies, potatoes and fancy meats. And since we were fortunate to be hosted by an actual French person, all of the above were succulent and delish- despite the fact that they hadn't left their home in almost a week. They also let us thaw out in their hot tub over looking Lake Washington, and you must know sitting in a hot tub while it is snowing is one of life's great pleasures.
Matt has been helping me identify entry level jobs that I could pick up to keep me from feeling so isolated until a professional opportunity opens up. This kinda feels like admitting defeat, and is double heart breaking when I can't get calls back for these positions either. Ugh. However, I told some friends I was apply for entry level jobs (Cat Foster Care Coordinator!), and they've sent along info for slightly better jobs where they might be able to put in a good word. And the job boards are finally starting to open up with more biology jobs. Cross your fingers for me.
This week should be better, in particular because all my meetings from last week were rescheduled for this week, and I had stuff scheduled for this week, too. Should have plenty of excuses to leave the house, and that does a lot for my mindset. On that note, if anyone has and WA related errand they need run, just let me know! I'd be glad to nip out and check the local price of apples or put some cotlets in the mail for you! Any excuse to leave the house.
The worst of the snow is gone now, although we still have some giant icy piles in our front yard. I did use the time to put button holes in my shower curtain and get it hung, as well as start making some bags for my own use. That means I got my sewing machine up and going! And the cat has discovered his innate fondness for chasing bobbins! I need to find a better way to store things like threads and other tempting rolly-polly items, but I am pleased to say I've got a start.
Matt has been helping me identify entry level jobs that I could pick up to keep me from feeling so isolated until a professional opportunity opens up. This kinda feels like admitting defeat, and is double heart breaking when I can't get calls back for these positions either. Ugh. However, I told some friends I was apply for entry level jobs (Cat Foster Care Coordinator!), and they've sent along info for slightly better jobs where they might be able to put in a good word. And the job boards are finally starting to open up with more biology jobs. Cross your fingers for me.
This week should be better, in particular because all my meetings from last week were rescheduled for this week, and I had stuff scheduled for this week, too. Should have plenty of excuses to leave the house, and that does a lot for my mindset. On that note, if anyone has and WA related errand they need run, just let me know! I'd be glad to nip out and check the local price of apples or put some cotlets in the mail for you! Any excuse to leave the house.
The worst of the snow is gone now, although we still have some giant icy piles in our front yard. I did use the time to put button holes in my shower curtain and get it hung, as well as start making some bags for my own use. That means I got my sewing machine up and going! And the cat has discovered his innate fondness for chasing bobbins! I need to find a better way to store things like threads and other tempting rolly-polly items, but I am pleased to say I've got a start.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thanksgiving survivors
Happy Thanksgiving, All!
We were very exited to be close enough to drive up to my mother-in-law's for a weekend of fun and eating. See, moving home is great, because you can get together and plan a big meal to share with you family in person, and then get together AGAIN and share it. How cool! Right? I mean, that was kinda how it turned out. Thanksgiving Eve, as it were, I started feeling not awesome- achey, sleepy, sore throat. By the time Matt came home I was reduced to shivers on the couch under a pile of blankets. In a brief moment of clear-minded-ness brought on by Tylenol, I remember 'Hey sometimes people don't like it when you bring them germs as hostess gifts.' I tried to explain this to Matt, but I am pretty sure my pathetic muttering came off as much more "Please take me to your mom's, she'll take care of me."
In the morning Matt confirmed, that yes, his saintly mother would still take us and all the germs we could carry for Thanksgiving AND put our entire, ambitious feast on the table. Whadda Woman! Picture this, I moved directly from the couch to the car, took a long nap in the car and arrived in slippers, sweats and a fleece blanket thrown over my head. I gave a big hug Betty, who made me a cup of tea, which I immediately took to bed. At some point, Matt poked his head in to ask how you make sausage cornbread stuffing. I believe my exact recipe was "Sausage, Cornbread and more butter." I woke up once thinking I might be energetic and asked "Are we having mashed potatoes?" and then went back to bed. I don't know that I felt so terrible, but being awake and suffering just didn't seem in the cards. During one of my brief peroids of awakefulness, Matt did say that he was feeling achey, maybe from his workout. This is a literary device called forshadowing. After a couple more naps and mugs of tea, dinner happened!
And let me just brag on this spread, because I optimistically committed us to it and then didn't lift a finger to get it on the table. I thought surely, the two remaining chefs would decide chard AND Brussels sprouts is overkill, or that maybe a waldorf salad was redundant considering we had like 4 other vegetable dishes on the table- but no. No pan was spared in the making of our Thanksgiving feast, which should come as no surprise given our turn-outs in the past. The centerpiece was of course a beautiful, herbed and brined turkey. Together, they made an amazing sausage and cornbread (that Betty baked fresh) stuffing, as well as Brussels sprouts with sopressetta, creamed chard, mashed potatoes and parsnips and a green casserole which I managed to muff up by giving him crunchy onions that expired 2 years ago (uh, yeah, we moved with that....). There was also a heavenly sweet potatoe dish, an heirloom quality orange-cranberry relish and a divine pumpkin cheesecake. AND a waldorf salad, which while I supposed Bety didn't grow the nuts, everything else in it was home grown AND my-mother-in-law's-best-recipe Deviled Eggs and a crazy good gravy to drown everything in. It was amazing. It took like and hour to move it all on to the table, and then on to each of our plates. And now is a good time to clarify, that yes, it was just the three of us eating. We of course ate ourselves silly, and then retired the feast to the fridge until we could consider cheesecake. I believe I had another nap. And about the time I got up to eating cheesecake, Matt said that, no, he didn't want any, he would just go to bed. Which I thought was weird- especially when I tasted how good the cheesecake was! By my bed time, my throat was just feeling bruised from swelling and I was tired, but Matt had mumbled a goodbye, and then curled up on the bed, fully clothed and passed out. Uh-oh.
He spent the rest of the night tossing and turning and feeling awful. He woke up in the morning sort of confused about it, like he often is about when his body does not respond as directed. After some discussion, we concluded that maybe you don't only need to take medicine when you are SICK, if you use a narrow definition of SICK that requires hospitalization, maybe sometimes you can take some medicine when you don't feel good. Having some aleve in him made it easier to get him interested in drinking juice, but unfortunately, his interest in food was completely off. Betty and I went for a brief sprint around town for "black friday" shopping- we went to the gallery, and her friend's gallery and the grocery store for more lemons for my lemon honey tea. I got some beautiful cards, and then was in sore need of a nap. I cannot exaggerate the amount I slept this weekend. Matt and I barely saw each other we were sleeping so much. This is partly due to illness, but I think also a cry for help in the form of blackout curtains for our bedroom. By today, we both felt with it enough to pack our own things out to the car and stay awake for the long (2 hours) drive home. Matt took a shower, put on all his warm clothes and came to sit on the couch with me. Then the cat yurped, and after he recovered his dignity, he came to be the cherry on top of our sick family sundae.
As objectively bad as most of that sounds, it was actually a really nice weekend. I mean, if you have to be sick, it is so much nicer to be around people who want to take care of you and can make tea without batting an eye. I'm thoroughly convinced our health was buoyed up by a full array of hearty and nourishing foods, prepared lovingly by my (blessedly un-infected) mother-in-law. And if we left too many germs behind, I will totally rush back to concrete to make the tea and prime the DVDs.
We were very exited to be close enough to drive up to my mother-in-law's for a weekend of fun and eating. See, moving home is great, because you can get together and plan a big meal to share with you family in person, and then get together AGAIN and share it. How cool! Right? I mean, that was kinda how it turned out. Thanksgiving Eve, as it were, I started feeling not awesome- achey, sleepy, sore throat. By the time Matt came home I was reduced to shivers on the couch under a pile of blankets. In a brief moment of clear-minded-ness brought on by Tylenol, I remember 'Hey sometimes people don't like it when you bring them germs as hostess gifts.' I tried to explain this to Matt, but I am pretty sure my pathetic muttering came off as much more "Please take me to your mom's, she'll take care of me."
In the morning Matt confirmed, that yes, his saintly mother would still take us and all the germs we could carry for Thanksgiving AND put our entire, ambitious feast on the table. Whadda Woman! Picture this, I moved directly from the couch to the car, took a long nap in the car and arrived in slippers, sweats and a fleece blanket thrown over my head. I gave a big hug Betty, who made me a cup of tea, which I immediately took to bed. At some point, Matt poked his head in to ask how you make sausage cornbread stuffing. I believe my exact recipe was "Sausage, Cornbread and more butter." I woke up once thinking I might be energetic and asked "Are we having mashed potatoes?" and then went back to bed. I don't know that I felt so terrible, but being awake and suffering just didn't seem in the cards. During one of my brief peroids of awakefulness, Matt did say that he was feeling achey, maybe from his workout. This is a literary device called forshadowing. After a couple more naps and mugs of tea, dinner happened!
And let me just brag on this spread, because I optimistically committed us to it and then didn't lift a finger to get it on the table. I thought surely, the two remaining chefs would decide chard AND Brussels sprouts is overkill, or that maybe a waldorf salad was redundant considering we had like 4 other vegetable dishes on the table- but no. No pan was spared in the making of our Thanksgiving feast, which should come as no surprise given our turn-outs in the past. The centerpiece was of course a beautiful, herbed and brined turkey. Together, they made an amazing sausage and cornbread (that Betty baked fresh) stuffing, as well as Brussels sprouts with sopressetta, creamed chard, mashed potatoes and parsnips and a green casserole which I managed to muff up by giving him crunchy onions that expired 2 years ago (uh, yeah, we moved with that....). There was also a heavenly sweet potatoe dish, an heirloom quality orange-cranberry relish and a divine pumpkin cheesecake. AND a waldorf salad, which while I supposed Bety didn't grow the nuts, everything else in it was home grown AND my-mother-in-law's-best-recipe Deviled Eggs and a crazy good gravy to drown everything in. It was amazing. It took like and hour to move it all on to the table, and then on to each of our plates. And now is a good time to clarify, that yes, it was just the three of us eating. We of course ate ourselves silly, and then retired the feast to the fridge until we could consider cheesecake. I believe I had another nap. And about the time I got up to eating cheesecake, Matt said that, no, he didn't want any, he would just go to bed. Which I thought was weird- especially when I tasted how good the cheesecake was! By my bed time, my throat was just feeling bruised from swelling and I was tired, but Matt had mumbled a goodbye, and then curled up on the bed, fully clothed and passed out. Uh-oh.
He spent the rest of the night tossing and turning and feeling awful. He woke up in the morning sort of confused about it, like he often is about when his body does not respond as directed. After some discussion, we concluded that maybe you don't only need to take medicine when you are SICK, if you use a narrow definition of SICK that requires hospitalization, maybe sometimes you can take some medicine when you don't feel good. Having some aleve in him made it easier to get him interested in drinking juice, but unfortunately, his interest in food was completely off. Betty and I went for a brief sprint around town for "black friday" shopping- we went to the gallery, and her friend's gallery and the grocery store for more lemons for my lemon honey tea. I got some beautiful cards, and then was in sore need of a nap. I cannot exaggerate the amount I slept this weekend. Matt and I barely saw each other we were sleeping so much. This is partly due to illness, but I think also a cry for help in the form of blackout curtains for our bedroom. By today, we both felt with it enough to pack our own things out to the car and stay awake for the long (2 hours) drive home. Matt took a shower, put on all his warm clothes and came to sit on the couch with me. Then the cat yurped, and after he recovered his dignity, he came to be the cherry on top of our sick family sundae.
As objectively bad as most of that sounds, it was actually a really nice weekend. I mean, if you have to be sick, it is so much nicer to be around people who want to take care of you and can make tea without batting an eye. I'm thoroughly convinced our health was buoyed up by a full array of hearty and nourishing foods, prepared lovingly by my (blessedly un-infected) mother-in-law. And if we left too many germs behind, I will totally rush back to concrete to make the tea and prime the DVDs.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Clever title!
Halloween happened last weekend. For the most part, it really just passed Tyler by. We could have gone out and used him to get some candy for me and Jess to eat, but the same could be said for our credit cards, and MasterCard doesn't get fussy when it stays up past it's bedtime.
Most of Halloween takes place after Tyler went to sleep. We stayed up with him for a little while, saw some neighbors and some kids in costume, then Tyler got sleepy and we brought him in, changed him out of his adorable T-Rex costume, put him in Pjs, and then stayed up for a while longer until enough kids had come by to drain our candy stockpile down to a manageable level, then turned out the lights and went to sleep.
I've been wanting to put on another 'invite the neighbors over to meet each other' party for a while now, and Jess and I traditionally kick the event off by printing out fliers at the beginning of the week announcing the get-together, which then forces us to make sure the event actually happens. We just put out some chips and grilled up some hot dogs and sausages, which are great, because when you buy too many of them you can just throw them in the freezer and use them yourself over the next several months. Clever and convenient. Anyway, we met a few more neighbors, introduced ourselves, and shared some food and some neighborhood news. Nothing too dramatic.
Tyler has started to hit the age where he doesn't like strangers. We heard about it from the day care which let us know that at one point, when both of his regular teachers were out for a break, Tyler got kinda fussy and worried. He was okay when a familiar face came back. I did an experiment with him this weekend, letting a neighbor hold him for a while to see what he would do. He lasted about 15 seconds before he got an adorably cute frowny-face and lurched back to daddy. And even that wasn't quite enough. He needed some mommy cuddles before he really calmed down. But it was really cute, I assure you. So be warned, people who have taken care of Tyler before, he may not be as excited to see you next time. It's not personal, it's just childhood development.
Xmas is coming! Jess and I have made our plans and purchased our tickets, burning all my frequent flier miles in the process (and saving lots of $$$). It will be our first time Traveling, or flying, with Tyler. Best of luck to us! Hopefully he behaves himself on the plane, and hopefully we don't get sexually assaulted by airport security. I wish that was a joke.
This is the 700th post on this blog. Woohoo!
-N
Most of Halloween takes place after Tyler went to sleep. We stayed up with him for a little while, saw some neighbors and some kids in costume, then Tyler got sleepy and we brought him in, changed him out of his adorable T-Rex costume, put him in Pjs, and then stayed up for a while longer until enough kids had come by to drain our candy stockpile down to a manageable level, then turned out the lights and went to sleep.
I've been wanting to put on another 'invite the neighbors over to meet each other' party for a while now, and Jess and I traditionally kick the event off by printing out fliers at the beginning of the week announcing the get-together, which then forces us to make sure the event actually happens. We just put out some chips and grilled up some hot dogs and sausages, which are great, because when you buy too many of them you can just throw them in the freezer and use them yourself over the next several months. Clever and convenient. Anyway, we met a few more neighbors, introduced ourselves, and shared some food and some neighborhood news. Nothing too dramatic.
Tyler has started to hit the age where he doesn't like strangers. We heard about it from the day care which let us know that at one point, when both of his regular teachers were out for a break, Tyler got kinda fussy and worried. He was okay when a familiar face came back. I did an experiment with him this weekend, letting a neighbor hold him for a while to see what he would do. He lasted about 15 seconds before he got an adorably cute frowny-face and lurched back to daddy. And even that wasn't quite enough. He needed some mommy cuddles before he really calmed down. But it was really cute, I assure you. So be warned, people who have taken care of Tyler before, he may not be as excited to see you next time. It's not personal, it's just childhood development.
Xmas is coming! Jess and I have made our plans and purchased our tickets, burning all my frequent flier miles in the process (and saving lots of $$$). It will be our first time Traveling, or flying, with Tyler. Best of luck to us! Hopefully he behaves himself on the plane, and hopefully we don't get sexually assaulted by airport security. I wish that was a joke.
This is the 700th post on this blog. Woohoo!
-N
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Can I talk about my baby some more?
He is really cute. He's having a bit of a rough time at the moment, but you'd never know if you didn't know how smiley and energetic he normally is. And what his normal body temperature feels like. He's got a fever, and the sniffles, so I'm going to chalk this one up to 'he has a cold' unless further evidence presents itself. He acts like I act when I'm sick and no one is around. I make that 'groany' sound and roll around in the bed, unable to get comfortable and feeling sorry for myself. I toughen up when other people are around. Tyler has no such qualms.
It's been a mostly boring weekend for us. Yesterday Jess took some mommy time and went of to roller derby and then got a massage. I took care of the baby. He's started eating applesauce, his favorite, so far. He's also gone through green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots without incident. Sometime we're going to start him on 'multi-grain cereal' (read: it has some wheat in it) but we may hold off for a little bit. He's actually mostly gone through the 'stage 2' baby food cereals (I think stage 1 is just formula) and we should be starting him on the next level of stuff: chunky things that he has to learn to mash a bit between his cute little baby gums before swallowing. It's a step. After that, we can start giving him food to eat on his own with his increasingly-well-developed little pincher grip.
And speaking of chewing, I've started brushing Tyler's teeth at night. It's mostly just to get it worked into the routine, at this point, but we have a cute little brush and I scrape it against his teeth a few times while Jess changes his diapers. He was a little startled the first time, but quickly decided he likes it. It's not a bad way to get some smiles out of him.
As for crawling, Tyler is getting more and more distance under his belt as his confidence grows. He can definitely see a thing that he wants and go get that thing, which must be immensely freeing for him. He's thinking about pulling himself to standing, but he doesn't quite have the muscles yet, and he occasionally flips and rolls and spooks himself something fierce in the attempt. You just have to hold him and smile at him and let him know that everything is okay, and before too long he'll be convinced.
Today we went out to the mall. Not for anything in particular, just to look at things and walk around with Tyler. There's lots of colors to see and people to stare at, and mommy and daddy can get some smoothies and pretzels. I considered buying Tyler his first video game system, but the point behind that little trick is to buy an old, cheap one and a million games for it. Turns out old Nintendo consoles have dipped past 'cheap' and are back up into 'collectable', or at least that's what my local 'old video game console' stores want me to think. I'll see if Ebay can't prove them wrong sometime later. Either that or Tyler gets a free upgrade to a cheap Playstation or PS2. No rush, though. I don't think his pincer grip is good enough to work video game buttons quite yet.
I think I'm allergic to mold. I've had watery (though not red) eyes and a stuffy nose for the past few days, and the allergy forecast has been high for 'mold' the past few days. Also my throat hurts. That might be unrelated. And I've been achy and tired, but only for a few days after I got the flu shot last week. I'm just saying, there are symptoms, okay?
I'm working on the Ticom Geomatics theme song in my spare time. It's hokey and simple which makes it easy to work on, but hard to get motivated by.
I'm going to to serve up dinner. Ta.
-N
It's been a mostly boring weekend for us. Yesterday Jess took some mommy time and went of to roller derby and then got a massage. I took care of the baby. He's started eating applesauce, his favorite, so far. He's also gone through green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots without incident. Sometime we're going to start him on 'multi-grain cereal' (read: it has some wheat in it) but we may hold off for a little bit. He's actually mostly gone through the 'stage 2' baby food cereals (I think stage 1 is just formula) and we should be starting him on the next level of stuff: chunky things that he has to learn to mash a bit between his cute little baby gums before swallowing. It's a step. After that, we can start giving him food to eat on his own with his increasingly-well-developed little pincher grip.
And speaking of chewing, I've started brushing Tyler's teeth at night. It's mostly just to get it worked into the routine, at this point, but we have a cute little brush and I scrape it against his teeth a few times while Jess changes his diapers. He was a little startled the first time, but quickly decided he likes it. It's not a bad way to get some smiles out of him.
As for crawling, Tyler is getting more and more distance under his belt as his confidence grows. He can definitely see a thing that he wants and go get that thing, which must be immensely freeing for him. He's thinking about pulling himself to standing, but he doesn't quite have the muscles yet, and he occasionally flips and rolls and spooks himself something fierce in the attempt. You just have to hold him and smile at him and let him know that everything is okay, and before too long he'll be convinced.
Today we went out to the mall. Not for anything in particular, just to look at things and walk around with Tyler. There's lots of colors to see and people to stare at, and mommy and daddy can get some smoothies and pretzels. I considered buying Tyler his first video game system, but the point behind that little trick is to buy an old, cheap one and a million games for it. Turns out old Nintendo consoles have dipped past 'cheap' and are back up into 'collectable', or at least that's what my local 'old video game console' stores want me to think. I'll see if Ebay can't prove them wrong sometime later. Either that or Tyler gets a free upgrade to a cheap Playstation or PS2. No rush, though. I don't think his pincer grip is good enough to work video game buttons quite yet.
I think I'm allergic to mold. I've had watery (though not red) eyes and a stuffy nose for the past few days, and the allergy forecast has been high for 'mold' the past few days. Also my throat hurts. That might be unrelated. And I've been achy and tired, but only for a few days after I got the flu shot last week. I'm just saying, there are symptoms, okay?
I'm working on the Ticom Geomatics theme song in my spare time. It's hokey and simple which makes it easy to work on, but hard to get motivated by.
I'm going to to serve up dinner. Ta.
-N
Friday, September 23, 2011
The Case of the Amazing Baby
We've had a few wow moments with Tyler over the past few weeks. For starters, he's started doing crazy stuff when he's on his stomach. He's been able to lift his head for a while, and he's been getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth a lot, which is a pretty normal thing for babies getting ready for crawling, but he's started to get up on all fours and then get up his toes. And then sort of flail his feet around so he's sort of half almost crawling and kinda walking on his toes except his hands never move. He's clearly excited to get moving, but he hasn't yet figured out that the hands need to be involved. Regardless, he's getting a heck of an upper-body workout. More and more of that baby budge is starting to turn into baby muscle!
He's starting to work on his little 'pincer motion' too, where he uses his finger and thumb for delicate tasks. It's clearly a work in progress, but he likes looking at fiddly things and he gets really focused and quiet and goes to work. The thumb and finger still have some coordination to work out between the two but it's really fascinating to watch him work. I caught a glimpse of my future son while he was working with a cute, concentrated face. For some reason I could see a shadow of how he's going to look when he's older. I got a bit of a chill.
We went swimming today, too. Well...it's still not that much swimming, truth be told. He has more fun in the tub. The pool is so new and strange that he spends most of his time, near as I can tell, just trying to figure out where the heck he is. We got some splashy time out of him, but the water was pretty cold, and it isn't a really good idea to keep him out in the sun much, even though we do make him wear a hat and a shirt. Delicate baby skin, you know.
Oh, and I got to take him swimming because I got to stay home today. I took a day off because Aunt Sandlin and Uncle Matt are visiting this week. Tyler has gotten a lot of Aunt time, especially around his cheek area. Matt has gotten to hold him and feed him a few times, too. They're going to spoil that kid rotten, I'm sure.
Tyler has been, as reported, working on Carrots this week. He's getting better, but he's still not a huge fan. Those first few bites are still really rough. We balance it out with some rice or oats, nice and familiar, and eventually he gets into the swing of things. It's way messier, though. We've got peas and sweet potatoes to try next. I imagine it will be much the same story as the carrots. Huge mess, scrunchy face, really cute.
As for me, I've been playing some video games in my spare time, but I think I need to get back into the studio to make some more music. There's a few more songs from Actraiser I'd like to cover, and someone made the excellent suggestion of writing a theme song for our work. I'm thinking of making it a little bit like the old Mickey Mouse Club theme. Very upbeat and saccharine. That could be a fun project.
Jess and I are both slacking on exercise a bit. Jess has a better excuse in that her normal Derby stuff has been interrupted by places loosing their rink time and other valid excuses. I was sick last week, but I missed Judo this week because Sandlin and Jessie told Tyler to be cute so I could stay home. He did, and so I did too. And I ended up making Ice cream too. Came out great, especially with strawberries. Yum.
Sandlin has been spoiling us with food. She made us Carnitas yesterday with so many fixins you'd think we were at a restaurant. Jess says she likes Sandlin's cooking better now. So I'll just have to make sure I fix that quite promptly...somehow. There were Kebabs, too. I grilled them with some corn that came out very well. She's also made us some chicken stock that she also turned into Chicken and Orzo soup, and Chilli, and a few other things too. She's a machine in the kitchen. She bought us some smoked salt that seems really good, but you have to store it extra-tight or it makes the whole pantry smell like a BBQ.
Jess gets back from work soon and then we're going to get some burgers with friends of Sandlin's that live in Austin. More people to meet! Oh, that reminds me. Some neighbors around the corner are either moving in or moving out. Either way, we'll probably have some new neighbors to meet quite soon.
-N
He's starting to work on his little 'pincer motion' too, where he uses his finger and thumb for delicate tasks. It's clearly a work in progress, but he likes looking at fiddly things and he gets really focused and quiet and goes to work. The thumb and finger still have some coordination to work out between the two but it's really fascinating to watch him work. I caught a glimpse of my future son while he was working with a cute, concentrated face. For some reason I could see a shadow of how he's going to look when he's older. I got a bit of a chill.
We went swimming today, too. Well...it's still not that much swimming, truth be told. He has more fun in the tub. The pool is so new and strange that he spends most of his time, near as I can tell, just trying to figure out where the heck he is. We got some splashy time out of him, but the water was pretty cold, and it isn't a really good idea to keep him out in the sun much, even though we do make him wear a hat and a shirt. Delicate baby skin, you know.
Oh, and I got to take him swimming because I got to stay home today. I took a day off because Aunt Sandlin and Uncle Matt are visiting this week. Tyler has gotten a lot of Aunt time, especially around his cheek area. Matt has gotten to hold him and feed him a few times, too. They're going to spoil that kid rotten, I'm sure.
Tyler has been, as reported, working on Carrots this week. He's getting better, but he's still not a huge fan. Those first few bites are still really rough. We balance it out with some rice or oats, nice and familiar, and eventually he gets into the swing of things. It's way messier, though. We've got peas and sweet potatoes to try next. I imagine it will be much the same story as the carrots. Huge mess, scrunchy face, really cute.
As for me, I've been playing some video games in my spare time, but I think I need to get back into the studio to make some more music. There's a few more songs from Actraiser I'd like to cover, and someone made the excellent suggestion of writing a theme song for our work. I'm thinking of making it a little bit like the old Mickey Mouse Club theme. Very upbeat and saccharine. That could be a fun project.
Jess and I are both slacking on exercise a bit. Jess has a better excuse in that her normal Derby stuff has been interrupted by places loosing their rink time and other valid excuses. I was sick last week, but I missed Judo this week because Sandlin and Jessie told Tyler to be cute so I could stay home. He did, and so I did too. And I ended up making Ice cream too. Came out great, especially with strawberries. Yum.
Sandlin has been spoiling us with food. She made us Carnitas yesterday with so many fixins you'd think we were at a restaurant. Jess says she likes Sandlin's cooking better now. So I'll just have to make sure I fix that quite promptly...somehow. There were Kebabs, too. I grilled them with some corn that came out very well. She's also made us some chicken stock that she also turned into Chicken and Orzo soup, and Chilli, and a few other things too. She's a machine in the kitchen. She bought us some smoked salt that seems really good, but you have to store it extra-tight or it makes the whole pantry smell like a BBQ.
Jess gets back from work soon and then we're going to get some burgers with friends of Sandlin's that live in Austin. More people to meet! Oh, that reminds me. Some neighbors around the corner are either moving in or moving out. Either way, we'll probably have some new neighbors to meet quite soon.
-N
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Tyler with Other People
We're sitting here on Saturday at the other end of Tyler's first nearly-full week at Day Care, and things are going pretty well. He's picked up a case of the sniffles and his temperature was up at 100.2 last night, just barely below the technical definition of 'fever', but this morning his fever is gone though he continues to have a runny nose. You're supposed to use the bulb squeezer to help keep his nose clear, but he hates that thing. It takes two of us to use it, one just to hold his head still, and he gets really fussy after we use it on him. He recovers quickly, though.
So I finished my festival of cooking last weekend and everything came out great. It turns out six grilled pizzas may have been slightly too much for Jess and I to eat, but the leftovers were nice, if not quite as nice as leftover oven pizza. I'm sure if we did the ingredient list for the pizzas we'd be stunned at how much the cost, especially the 'Alton Brown Recommended' pizza of Dates, Prosciutto Ham, fresh Mozzarella and Thyme, all ingredients purchased at Whole Foods. Heh. Anyway, that one came out great, the Margarita Pizza was delicious, and I made up a 'Spicy Salmon' pizza that involved Smoked salmon (Locks) Sriracha, and then Cream Cheese after it came out of the oven. A delight, especially for breakfast the next day.
The Fudge was also a hit, and much of it has already been given away at work. We did save some for ourselves, but knowing how much sugar is in that thing makes me want to eat it sparingly. I need to try more of that Avocado Ice Cream. I keep forgetting we have it.
Anyway, Tyler at day care has been getting better and better. Jess was worried earlier in the week as he didn't seem to be having as good a time, and was in a quiet mood when we got home. Dad fixed that quickly enough with nuzzles, games, and other distractions (I'm good at that sort of stuff), but Jess was still worried. That all changed, though, the next day when Tyler had a much better day and the day care actually called Jessie to let her know that Tyler was doing well. We picked him up in a smiling mood and he was much happier that evening. He's been pretty cheerful most every day ever since.
I was taking a shower on Thursday when Jess yelled at me from the bed. “I want Katsu Curry!” So we tracked down a place that did Katsu Curry for dinner and went there after work on Friday with Tyler. As always, he was a perfect gentleman, and Jess and I had some really great food. I order ridiculous sushi rolls and some Katsu Don (also great), Jess got her Katsu Curry and then we had some Mochi Ice cream and some Tempura Ice Cream for dessert. It was all pretty fantastic, especially as Tyler just sat and stared and occasionally made cute cooing noises at us the whole time. Also of note, we were surrounded by hot chicks at all the nearby tables. Jess kept saying that they were all attracted to a stable father taking care of his baby. I can't say I disagree.
Tyler has also started playing with one of the toys Great-Nana Preecs got him while she was here, a sled with a whole bunch of blocks in it. One of his favorite games is to sit with the sled in front of him and just pull blocks out and drop them on the ground, occasionally keeping a hand on one and stuffing it in his mouth and scraping his bottom teeth against it over and over. He's definitely better at coordination.
And because we keep getting asked, we are doing fine, wildfire-wise. There have been a couple of scattered fires in our 'neighborhood' that have been quickly contained, and the really big fire that everyone keeps talking about is outside of a city that is just southeast of Austin, and we're northwest, so if our house gets threatened by these wildfires it will have to have gone through the entirety of Austin to get to us, and I'm sure you'll see that on CNN.
This weekend we're inviting Dan and Amy, yes, the ones from Juneau, over for Fondue and baby talk. We have a big pile of things Tyler doesn't fit into anymore that we are planning to give away. Other than that, I'm mostly planning to write this blog and then go get lunch, because I am *hungry*.
-N
So I finished my festival of cooking last weekend and everything came out great. It turns out six grilled pizzas may have been slightly too much for Jess and I to eat, but the leftovers were nice, if not quite as nice as leftover oven pizza. I'm sure if we did the ingredient list for the pizzas we'd be stunned at how much the cost, especially the 'Alton Brown Recommended' pizza of Dates, Prosciutto Ham, fresh Mozzarella and Thyme, all ingredients purchased at Whole Foods. Heh. Anyway, that one came out great, the Margarita Pizza was delicious, and I made up a 'Spicy Salmon' pizza that involved Smoked salmon (Locks) Sriracha, and then Cream Cheese after it came out of the oven. A delight, especially for breakfast the next day.
The Fudge was also a hit, and much of it has already been given away at work. We did save some for ourselves, but knowing how much sugar is in that thing makes me want to eat it sparingly. I need to try more of that Avocado Ice Cream. I keep forgetting we have it.
Anyway, Tyler at day care has been getting better and better. Jess was worried earlier in the week as he didn't seem to be having as good a time, and was in a quiet mood when we got home. Dad fixed that quickly enough with nuzzles, games, and other distractions (I'm good at that sort of stuff), but Jess was still worried. That all changed, though, the next day when Tyler had a much better day and the day care actually called Jessie to let her know that Tyler was doing well. We picked him up in a smiling mood and he was much happier that evening. He's been pretty cheerful most every day ever since.
I was taking a shower on Thursday when Jess yelled at me from the bed. “I want Katsu Curry!” So we tracked down a place that did Katsu Curry for dinner and went there after work on Friday with Tyler. As always, he was a perfect gentleman, and Jess and I had some really great food. I order ridiculous sushi rolls and some Katsu Don (also great), Jess got her Katsu Curry and then we had some Mochi Ice cream and some Tempura Ice Cream for dessert. It was all pretty fantastic, especially as Tyler just sat and stared and occasionally made cute cooing noises at us the whole time. Also of note, we were surrounded by hot chicks at all the nearby tables. Jess kept saying that they were all attracted to a stable father taking care of his baby. I can't say I disagree.
Tyler has also started playing with one of the toys Great-Nana Preecs got him while she was here, a sled with a whole bunch of blocks in it. One of his favorite games is to sit with the sled in front of him and just pull blocks out and drop them on the ground, occasionally keeping a hand on one and stuffing it in his mouth and scraping his bottom teeth against it over and over. He's definitely better at coordination.
And because we keep getting asked, we are doing fine, wildfire-wise. There have been a couple of scattered fires in our 'neighborhood' that have been quickly contained, and the really big fire that everyone keeps talking about is outside of a city that is just southeast of Austin, and we're northwest, so if our house gets threatened by these wildfires it will have to have gone through the entirety of Austin to get to us, and I'm sure you'll see that on CNN.
This weekend we're inviting Dan and Amy, yes, the ones from Juneau, over for Fondue and baby talk. We have a big pile of things Tyler doesn't fit into anymore that we are planning to give away. Other than that, I'm mostly planning to write this blog and then go get lunch, because I am *hungry*.
-N
Monday, August 22, 2011
Hungry!
Yesterday was Tyler's first shot at solid foods. Yes, we recorded it. As is traditional, we started him with 'rice cereal.' I used to think that this meant Rice Crispies, or something, and the way that all the books talked about how it was supposed to 'thicken the milk' was seriously confusing until I found the stuff that they're really talking about. It's just a rice powder, reminds me of cream of wheat, actually. Yes, I tried some first. Tastes like cardboard.
The first bite was great. Jess put it in his mouth and he just got this really confused look on his face. It took him a few tries to figure out how 'swallowing' worked, but after several more spoonfulls he seemed to get the hang of it. He got so excited he would get a mouthful of cereal and then raspberry it all over the table. Super cute, though, so we let him pass. I got to feed him some, and so did Mom/Grandma/Nana Preecs. He was very excited about the whole prospect, and occasionally chomped on the spoon with a little bit too much enthusiasm, getting it a leeeeetle bit too far back in his mouth. He also wanted to be in control of the spoon which, let's face it, is even more complicated than a bottle, and he's still only mediocre at holding that in place.
I also finally got a look at his first tooth. I've been feeling it for a while, but it's hard to really get a good look in his mouth when there's so much tongue and lip action going on. But it's definitely there. A little white spot on his bottom gums, on his right side, I think. Considering how grumpy babies can get when they're teething, he's been abnormally great. He still sleeps through the night, barring the occasional unintentional belly flip or other wake-up event. He usually goes to sleep right afterwords, though.
Our neighbors with the slightly older baby came over yesterday. He hasn't had much contact with people outside of the family, and we're trying to get him acclimatized to us so he can hang out and we can babysit him. He did a little better last time than the first time we tried, he did a lot more crawling around and exploring. Also, it's cute to see what Tyler might look like at that age. Much more control, and many more teeth.
-N
The first bite was great. Jess put it in his mouth and he just got this really confused look on his face. It took him a few tries to figure out how 'swallowing' worked, but after several more spoonfulls he seemed to get the hang of it. He got so excited he would get a mouthful of cereal and then raspberry it all over the table. Super cute, though, so we let him pass. I got to feed him some, and so did Mom/Grandma/Nana Preecs. He was very excited about the whole prospect, and occasionally chomped on the spoon with a little bit too much enthusiasm, getting it a leeeeetle bit too far back in his mouth. He also wanted to be in control of the spoon which, let's face it, is even more complicated than a bottle, and he's still only mediocre at holding that in place.
I also finally got a look at his first tooth. I've been feeling it for a while, but it's hard to really get a good look in his mouth when there's so much tongue and lip action going on. But it's definitely there. A little white spot on his bottom gums, on his right side, I think. Considering how grumpy babies can get when they're teething, he's been abnormally great. He still sleeps through the night, barring the occasional unintentional belly flip or other wake-up event. He usually goes to sleep right afterwords, though.
Our neighbors with the slightly older baby came over yesterday. He hasn't had much contact with people outside of the family, and we're trying to get him acclimatized to us so he can hang out and we can babysit him. He did a little better last time than the first time we tried, he did a lot more crawling around and exploring. Also, it's cute to see what Tyler might look like at that age. Much more control, and many more teeth.
-N
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Again: no baby...
...Though I’m looking forward to the time when I’m allowed to start phone conversations with something other than ‘no, not yet.’ Progress, of a sort, is being made. We were out having Mexican food and Jess felt a few contractions. Nothing harmonically stable, in the vein of actual labor, but it’s a step. I’m convinced, of course, that it was because she tried my spicy fish. Tyler doesn’t feel like coming out: what is there out here to offer him? But then, mom tries spicy fish and suddenly Tyler isn’t resting as comfortably anymore. Hmm...
Last-minute tasks continue to get knocked off the ‘to do’ list. I tend to forget that even after Tyler shows up I will have time to do things...just less of it. Still, whatever motivates, yes? We went shopping at Costco Wednesday, thinking this time about shopping like people with an empty freezer. We didn’t go totally bonkers. As nice as some of the deals are, they don’t *all* freeze, and some weren’t actually that great of a deal. We actually wrote down some numbers for comparison to what we’d get at our regular supermarket. Boring? Perhaps, but *numbers*. Also, I’ve become slightly paranoid about money ever since we learned about the termites.
So we’ve moved some food into our freezer, freeing up a BUNCH of space, and with the rest of my free time this afternoon I did some ‘gardening’. Not much, mind, just a little maintenance. I trimmed up the (hugely overgrown) rose bush and a few others, got some weeds out of our flower beds, did some raking, and planted some more buffalo grass on some bald spots on the lawn. We also make a stop by the local plant-store on the way home from Mexican food, picked up some compost and a few plants, both flowering and a few herbal. I’ve now got some rosemary, cilantro (never seem to have it when I want it), basil, thyme, and lavender, just for fun. Herb garden ahoy!
I am slightly perturbed that the lawn people decided, instead of actually mowing our lawn and hauling off the clippings, to just push our fall leaves off to the sides and under trees where there is little grass to begin with. I guess it might compost eventually, but that’s not good lawn care. My white whine knows no bounds!
I do my best to talk about things besides babies, but man, am I excited to be a dad.
-N
Last-minute tasks continue to get knocked off the ‘to do’ list. I tend to forget that even after Tyler shows up I will have time to do things...just less of it. Still, whatever motivates, yes? We went shopping at Costco Wednesday, thinking this time about shopping like people with an empty freezer. We didn’t go totally bonkers. As nice as some of the deals are, they don’t *all* freeze, and some weren’t actually that great of a deal. We actually wrote down some numbers for comparison to what we’d get at our regular supermarket. Boring? Perhaps, but *numbers*. Also, I’ve become slightly paranoid about money ever since we learned about the termites.
So we’ve moved some food into our freezer, freeing up a BUNCH of space, and with the rest of my free time this afternoon I did some ‘gardening’. Not much, mind, just a little maintenance. I trimmed up the (hugely overgrown) rose bush and a few others, got some weeds out of our flower beds, did some raking, and planted some more buffalo grass on some bald spots on the lawn. We also make a stop by the local plant-store on the way home from Mexican food, picked up some compost and a few plants, both flowering and a few herbal. I’ve now got some rosemary, cilantro (never seem to have it when I want it), basil, thyme, and lavender, just for fun. Herb garden ahoy!
I am slightly perturbed that the lawn people decided, instead of actually mowing our lawn and hauling off the clippings, to just push our fall leaves off to the sides and under trees where there is little grass to begin with. I guess it might compost eventually, but that’s not good lawn care. My white whine knows no bounds!
I do my best to talk about things besides babies, but man, am I excited to be a dad.
-N
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Baby Pictures: Mark 2
We went to the doctor again last week and they did an (optional, but requested by us) ultrasound to screen for some birth defects, all of which came back negative, so yay on that. And as a bonus, we got some more pictures, take a look.
This ultrasound was much more interesting than the last one. The baby was twice as big as last time: about 2.5 inches from head to tail, and really moving. We could see it do BIG kicks, with its legs coming way down and its hands and body moving all over. Really neat looking.
Like I said, the tests, both blood and ultrasound, dropped our changes of down syndrome and trisomate something something *significantly*, so that's good to know.
You can see a lot more details in these pictures. I can even pretend I can see the face, until I remember that I'm looking at a cross section and those aren't cheeks, they're teeth. Tiny baby teeth! So cute!
So you see that stuff in front of the baby face? Looks like a line of something? Those are fingers, in cross-section. I think I can count five, can you?
Things I'm worried about this week:
1) Being a Good Dad
2) Not hating being a Dad
3) Organizing the House
4) Labor
5) Feeding the baby
And one more bonus picture. I call this one: "Sorry Ladies, I'm already Taken."
-N
This ultrasound was much more interesting than the last one. The baby was twice as big as last time: about 2.5 inches from head to tail, and really moving. We could see it do BIG kicks, with its legs coming way down and its hands and body moving all over. Really neat looking.
Like I said, the tests, both blood and ultrasound, dropped our changes of down syndrome and trisomate something something *significantly*, so that's good to know.
You can see a lot more details in these pictures. I can even pretend I can see the face, until I remember that I'm looking at a cross section and those aren't cheeks, they're teeth. Tiny baby teeth! So cute!
So you see that stuff in front of the baby face? Looks like a line of something? Those are fingers, in cross-section. I think I can count five, can you?
Things I'm worried about this week:
1) Being a Good Dad
2) Not hating being a Dad
3) Organizing the House
4) Labor
5) Feeding the baby
And one more bonus picture. I call this one: "Sorry Ladies, I'm already Taken."
-N
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The Old Man and the Concert
This weekend I turn 30. That’s years, people. It feels...pretty much the same as 29 did. Plus it’ll be convenient shorthand for me to remember about how old our first kid is. My age minus 30, about. No specific festivities, but we do tend to spread celebration around, so I get a birthday in stages over the course of about a week, which is nice for me.
Thursday was sort of my ‘Birthday at Work (observed)’ day because Jess made me cupcakes the day before. Cupcakes are the way to go when there’s just two of you for the cake-based celebration. There’s no way for two people to eat an *entire* cake, and so you either have to stuff yourself with cake for days (tempting, but I’m trying to keep slim) or bring leftover cake to work, which is always nice, but cupcakes are pre-measured for your convenience, and very easy to distribute since we got our cupcake carrier. So I gave away cupcakes at work and got a lot of ‘happy birthdays’ for our trouble. I also ate several of them myself. Cupcakes are delicious.
Jess then organized a ‘Nerf fight’ for me. I’ve been buying and distributing Nerf guns around the office for a few years now, and there’s now enough of them that we can get a pretty good firefight going if we all show up at the same time. Jess ambushed me in my office and I retaliated with my ridiculous Nerf Machine Gun. Fun was had by all. Then my officemate got me a couple more nerf guns the next day. They’re clear! I’m hoping to get to home depot this weekend to buy some LEDs so I can make a *glowing Nerf gun*. I think home depot sells random electronic components. Where else would I go. Radio shack? Have you seen that place recently?
Friday, also ‘for my birthday’ but realistically just because the timing worked out, I got to see Rodrigo y Gabriella in concert. A blast! The wait was pretty rough, unfortunately. We got there at 7 and there was an opening act at 8:30, the concert proper didn’t start until 9:30, which is a lot of time to stand on your feet. My long-suffering wife decided to just go hang out in the back where she could sit, but I stayed up pretty close to the action for the whole concert. They were a blast to listen to. I’m not sure how they mic the guitars but every time they gave their instruments a smack it resounded through the subwoofers for a serious kick. They did a bunch of songs I’ve heard from their albums, though they tended to have neat variations in the performance. High energy and lots of fun, though I think I’ve burned Jessie out on concerts for a while. Between the close quarters, tired legs, big crowds, and smoke, tobacco and...otherwise, she was pretty worn out at the end of the night.
We got home before midnight and got to wake up early, though, to head out to the Velloway again, a paved loop in southern Austin that’s only open to bikers and skaters. Jess hung out and exercised with her derby girls while I rode around on my bike. 13 miles for me, 7 for Jess. Not bad for the start of the weekend. We stopped at a place called Moonies that we’d been meaning to try out. They’re up by us and they do a *great* hamburger and really good chicken burger, too. They may have displaced Hutts as my second favorite hamburger spot in Austin. They’re certainly closer to the house. I could walk if I want to.
Later, for my birthday again, heh, I’m going to head out to McCormick and Shmicks. I get fish on my birthday. Then we’re going to stop at Whole Foods and check out some of those pastries that always look so pretty in the display cases.
-N
Thursday was sort of my ‘Birthday at Work (observed)’ day because Jess made me cupcakes the day before. Cupcakes are the way to go when there’s just two of you for the cake-based celebration. There’s no way for two people to eat an *entire* cake, and so you either have to stuff yourself with cake for days (tempting, but I’m trying to keep slim) or bring leftover cake to work, which is always nice, but cupcakes are pre-measured for your convenience, and very easy to distribute since we got our cupcake carrier. So I gave away cupcakes at work and got a lot of ‘happy birthdays’ for our trouble. I also ate several of them myself. Cupcakes are delicious.
Jess then organized a ‘Nerf fight’ for me. I’ve been buying and distributing Nerf guns around the office for a few years now, and there’s now enough of them that we can get a pretty good firefight going if we all show up at the same time. Jess ambushed me in my office and I retaliated with my ridiculous Nerf Machine Gun. Fun was had by all. Then my officemate got me a couple more nerf guns the next day. They’re clear! I’m hoping to get to home depot this weekend to buy some LEDs so I can make a *glowing Nerf gun*. I think home depot sells random electronic components. Where else would I go. Radio shack? Have you seen that place recently?
Friday, also ‘for my birthday’ but realistically just because the timing worked out, I got to see Rodrigo y Gabriella in concert. A blast! The wait was pretty rough, unfortunately. We got there at 7 and there was an opening act at 8:30, the concert proper didn’t start until 9:30, which is a lot of time to stand on your feet. My long-suffering wife decided to just go hang out in the back where she could sit, but I stayed up pretty close to the action for the whole concert. They were a blast to listen to. I’m not sure how they mic the guitars but every time they gave their instruments a smack it resounded through the subwoofers for a serious kick. They did a bunch of songs I’ve heard from their albums, though they tended to have neat variations in the performance. High energy and lots of fun, though I think I’ve burned Jessie out on concerts for a while. Between the close quarters, tired legs, big crowds, and smoke, tobacco and...otherwise, she was pretty worn out at the end of the night.
We got home before midnight and got to wake up early, though, to head out to the Velloway again, a paved loop in southern Austin that’s only open to bikers and skaters. Jess hung out and exercised with her derby girls while I rode around on my bike. 13 miles for me, 7 for Jess. Not bad for the start of the weekend. We stopped at a place called Moonies that we’d been meaning to try out. They’re up by us and they do a *great* hamburger and really good chicken burger, too. They may have displaced Hutts as my second favorite hamburger spot in Austin. They’re certainly closer to the house. I could walk if I want to.
Later, for my birthday again, heh, I’m going to head out to McCormick and Shmicks. I get fish on my birthday. Then we’re going to stop at Whole Foods and check out some of those pastries that always look so pretty in the display cases.
-N
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Pre-parental planning particulars
Our gradual march towards being *proper* parents and not just theoretical ones continues. Not a whole lot to report, fortunately. At this point it’s all ‘no news is good news’. The really exciting doctors appointments don’t happen for a while, and the ultrasound will be noisy and blob-looking as the baby continues to grow, but Jess is moving on into the second trimester, which is ‘turbo-baby-grow’ time, so we should have some cool looking belly pictures before too long.
Feeding my pregnant wife continues to be a challenge. Never one to back down from food she enjoys, Jess’s size of eyes/size of stomach problem has only gotten worse. When there’s food she wants, she wants it! And it’s often become my job to reel her in or, just as often, not get any food for myself so that when Jess discovers that she can’t eat like a 17-year-old anymore, I can clean up her food. Also, when Jess is hungry but doesn’t feel like eating anything, it’s my job to go through all the different kinds of food I can think of until I stumble upon something that makes her go ‘ooooh’.
We’ve started thinking about the stuff we’ll need for when baby actually shows up, but the critical stuff is on a pretty short list, and it’s more the stuff that we don’t know about yet that concerns me. I know things like breast pumps and diaper creams exist, and clearly there’s a right and wrong way to use them, but I don’t even know what they’re *for* yet. There’s time to learn, though. We’ve signed up for a ‘baby birth 101’ class for next month, and then we can start looking at ‘baby raising 102’. I am generally comforted by the fact that babies only really need four things: Food, sleep, diapers, and love. Five if you count the car seat, which they won’t let you take the baby home without. Everything else is a bonus, though clearly bonuses like ‘having something to carry your baby in’ are pretty high up on the list.
I’m sure other stuff has happened: I made some bread, and we’ve been telling people at work and our friends that we’re going to be parents; their reactions ranging from the traditional congratulations to ‘say goodbye to sleep.’ But next to baby-related stuff, nothing else I’m working on seems as involving.
Oh, except for music, I made another song. You can listen to it by clicking HERE. Tell me what you think, eh?
-N
Feeding my pregnant wife continues to be a challenge. Never one to back down from food she enjoys, Jess’s size of eyes/size of stomach problem has only gotten worse. When there’s food she wants, she wants it! And it’s often become my job to reel her in or, just as often, not get any food for myself so that when Jess discovers that she can’t eat like a 17-year-old anymore, I can clean up her food. Also, when Jess is hungry but doesn’t feel like eating anything, it’s my job to go through all the different kinds of food I can think of until I stumble upon something that makes her go ‘ooooh’.
We’ve started thinking about the stuff we’ll need for when baby actually shows up, but the critical stuff is on a pretty short list, and it’s more the stuff that we don’t know about yet that concerns me. I know things like breast pumps and diaper creams exist, and clearly there’s a right and wrong way to use them, but I don’t even know what they’re *for* yet. There’s time to learn, though. We’ve signed up for a ‘baby birth 101’ class for next month, and then we can start looking at ‘baby raising 102’. I am generally comforted by the fact that babies only really need four things: Food, sleep, diapers, and love. Five if you count the car seat, which they won’t let you take the baby home without. Everything else is a bonus, though clearly bonuses like ‘having something to carry your baby in’ are pretty high up on the list.
I’m sure other stuff has happened: I made some bread, and we’ve been telling people at work and our friends that we’re going to be parents; their reactions ranging from the traditional congratulations to ‘say goodbye to sleep.’ But next to baby-related stuff, nothing else I’m working on seems as involving.
Oh, except for music, I made another song. You can listen to it by clicking HERE. Tell me what you think, eh?
-N
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Data Entry
As it turns out, a large part of my job is data entry, which, when you're working in a non-profit who often has to prove that it's doing well, can be a very important task. Being the youngest person in my department by about 30 years, easily, I am the most computer literate person, which I feel is saying something because I've never thought of myself as much of a Noel.
But now I'm actually kind of excited about it, because I have my own little project to work on. As you may or may not know, I work at a food pantry. If people qualify, they are able to come in to St Francis House once a month and take a certain amount of food according to how many people are in their household. We have the food split up into the food pyramid...basically, sort of. We have sweets, grains, vegetables, fruits, and proteins. It is sort of loose sometimes, depending on what kind of donations we receive that day/week/month.
The last few months we've had record amounts of people coming in(over 100 a day, and that's families, not individual people), and we seem to be going through food really quickly. There is talk about trying to switch up the way we do things, and make people's amount of food based on weight, instead of category. So now it's my job to go through 6 months worth of data and look at each day and average the weight for each family size, then I have to see if there would be an issue of changing the system, and then decide how much weight each family would conceivably get.
So needless to say I can only do data entry for so many hours in a day (i.e. why I'm blogging), but I like looking at the information and seeing averages already.
I can already foresee some issues with making the food distribution weight oriented. For instance, every once in a while we get meat, and some one could easily just take all the meat that their weight allows, and then there wouldn't be enough for everyone else. I may recommend weight by category. But I'm working backwards from August, and I've only gotten to June, so I have some more work to get through.
This job also seems to make me think about food a lot, which may or may not be a good thing. I have become more aware of what kinds of foods are hard for people to get, and what is more important to a diet. Fresh is also really hard to come around. I love the idea of being organic and locally grown, but there's just no way it's possible with prices the way they are, especially in a place like Alaska in the winter.
Other than that, just chugging along at work, learning more every day. Talked to mom the other day about possibly going back to school for a masters in Program Management. The more I think about it, the more appealing it gets, especially because AmeriCorps will give me a little money to go back to school. We'll see, depends on what is available after my year of service. For now though, I think I'll enjoy the fact that I don't have homework to finish up on Sunday nights.
But now I'm actually kind of excited about it, because I have my own little project to work on. As you may or may not know, I work at a food pantry. If people qualify, they are able to come in to St Francis House once a month and take a certain amount of food according to how many people are in their household. We have the food split up into the food pyramid...basically, sort of. We have sweets, grains, vegetables, fruits, and proteins. It is sort of loose sometimes, depending on what kind of donations we receive that day/week/month.
The last few months we've had record amounts of people coming in(over 100 a day, and that's families, not individual people), and we seem to be going through food really quickly. There is talk about trying to switch up the way we do things, and make people's amount of food based on weight, instead of category. So now it's my job to go through 6 months worth of data and look at each day and average the weight for each family size, then I have to see if there would be an issue of changing the system, and then decide how much weight each family would conceivably get.
So needless to say I can only do data entry for so many hours in a day (i.e. why I'm blogging), but I like looking at the information and seeing averages already.
I can already foresee some issues with making the food distribution weight oriented. For instance, every once in a while we get meat, and some one could easily just take all the meat that their weight allows, and then there wouldn't be enough for everyone else. I may recommend weight by category. But I'm working backwards from August, and I've only gotten to June, so I have some more work to get through.
This job also seems to make me think about food a lot, which may or may not be a good thing. I have become more aware of what kinds of foods are hard for people to get, and what is more important to a diet. Fresh is also really hard to come around. I love the idea of being organic and locally grown, but there's just no way it's possible with prices the way they are, especially in a place like Alaska in the winter.
Other than that, just chugging along at work, learning more every day. Talked to mom the other day about possibly going back to school for a masters in Program Management. The more I think about it, the more appealing it gets, especially because AmeriCorps will give me a little money to go back to school. We'll see, depends on what is available after my year of service. For now though, I think I'll enjoy the fact that I don't have homework to finish up on Sunday nights.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Tiny stories from the weekend
Nothing *largely* exciting happened recently, so I present to you a series of small little vignettes from a very nice weekend.
Jess decided she wanted pizza this weekend, so pizza was made. By me. I make great pizza. All you readers have experienced it, I think. I made 7 personal-pizzas worth of dough, and we made a large version of our collective favorite, the Gorgonzola pizza, and two personal pizzas each. Jess kept hers traditional, with another blue cheese and a garlic and cheese pizza, her favorites. I tried some cooked sausage on one and made a taco pizza on the other with some leftover taco meat and spaghetti sauce and pizza cheese on one half, Mexican-blend cheese on the other. Both halves were delicious. It was all topped off by jalapenos I grew in the backyard. Not spicy, but definitely mine.
We got a hammock. Jess came back from derby practice to find me setting it up in the front yard. She had stopped off at a smoothie place and asked for a strawberry banana smoothie for her and ‘something tart’ for me, because she knows what I like. We set up the hammock on the front yard and tested it out by lying down, smoothies in hand, and rocking back and forth under the shade of OUR trees while Jess relaxed on my chest. “This,” I thought, “is why I went to college.”
Much of the rest of Sunday was spent *completely* idle. I spent most of Saturday evening (a bit of Sunday early morning) and most of Sunday playing a game of Civilization 4, an *incredibly* complex society-building strategy game that is heavy on the complexity and light on the explanation. Jess sat next to me running some numbers on refinancing our mortgage and playing game of her own. We topped off the evening with some Rock band, which doubles as exercise, for me.
-N
Jess decided she wanted pizza this weekend, so pizza was made. By me. I make great pizza. All you readers have experienced it, I think. I made 7 personal-pizzas worth of dough, and we made a large version of our collective favorite, the Gorgonzola pizza, and two personal pizzas each. Jess kept hers traditional, with another blue cheese and a garlic and cheese pizza, her favorites. I tried some cooked sausage on one and made a taco pizza on the other with some leftover taco meat and spaghetti sauce and pizza cheese on one half, Mexican-blend cheese on the other. Both halves were delicious. It was all topped off by jalapenos I grew in the backyard. Not spicy, but definitely mine.
We got a hammock. Jess came back from derby practice to find me setting it up in the front yard. She had stopped off at a smoothie place and asked for a strawberry banana smoothie for her and ‘something tart’ for me, because she knows what I like. We set up the hammock on the front yard and tested it out by lying down, smoothies in hand, and rocking back and forth under the shade of OUR trees while Jess relaxed on my chest. “This,” I thought, “is why I went to college.”
Much of the rest of Sunday was spent *completely* idle. I spent most of Saturday evening (a bit of Sunday early morning) and most of Sunday playing a game of Civilization 4, an *incredibly* complex society-building strategy game that is heavy on the complexity and light on the explanation. Jess sat next to me running some numbers on refinancing our mortgage and playing game of her own. We topped off the evening with some Rock band, which doubles as exercise, for me.
-N
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Weekend Report
I know it's early in the weekend yet, but you guys deserve some blog posting.
Happy birthday, of course, to all people whose births took place over the last week. We're glad to have you around. We've had some new happenings around here, too. Yesterday (friday night) we went out to a new Snow Cone shop being opened by a couple of girls at roller derby. We had a few: all quite good, so if any of you ever happen to be in the east side of Austin in search of cold treats, check out Ice Queens. They've got *flavor*. Jess met with a bunch of roller chicks and then skated around for exercise and to pass out fliers. And then she had some snow cone afterwards. I hung out with some of the girls I know from hockey, and then red my book for a while and wandered around the neighborhood a bit with my phone looking for interesting locales. I almost bought a Po' Boy at a shop across the street, but I'm trying to munch less. There was also a store that sold electronic music gear: synthesizers and the like. As if I need more gear.
Let me tell you something about hummingbirds. We've got our feeder up and full and we've been getting a pretty good run of little buzzers coming in and having their fill. They are, of course, very territorial, and we've been having a quite good time watching them swoop up, eat, and then get dive-bombed by one of their rivals. I couldn't quite tell you what kind they are, though I've been looking at backs and throats in an attempt to identify them. I tell you what, though. Nagano has been *enthralled*. Every once in a while he'll spot one and just stare with his huge eyes or make adorable little cackling sounds while pretending he is a vicious hunter.
Jess let me cook salmon for dinner, and it came out pretty good. We got some wild salmon from whole foods (I don't trust the farmed stuff they sell at the regular supermarket) and covered it with brown sugar. I also took a section for experiments: a little bit with BBQ sauce and a little with gingersnaps: inspired by an Alton Brown Ham Glaze recipe. The cooking went pretty well, though I did have some flameups and the board didn't smoke quite as much as I had hoped. I was pleased, however, that I'd saved a bunch of money by just going off to Lowes and buying my own darn cedar board and then cutting off a plank of the appropriate size. First use of my fancy battery-powered circular saw, too. Thanks dad!
Anyway, the food? Pretty spectacular, Jess ate some and seemed to enjoy herself. The Brown sugar went best, though it didn't quite caramelize and get all smokey like I had hoped. Practice practice, I suppose. The BBQ sauce was pretty bland and tasted like, well, bbq sauce and salmon. Which isn't bad, but the other flavors were better. The gingersnaps were actually pretty well received. Right off the grill they gave a nice crunch and good flavor. Unfortunately as leftovers the cookie crumbs got all soggy. Less good. I got to cook salmon, though. Hurrah!
I may come back later and post some random pictures, but our camera is currently on the fritz. Love to all!
-N
Happy birthday, of course, to all people whose births took place over the last week. We're glad to have you around. We've had some new happenings around here, too. Yesterday (friday night) we went out to a new Snow Cone shop being opened by a couple of girls at roller derby. We had a few: all quite good, so if any of you ever happen to be in the east side of Austin in search of cold treats, check out Ice Queens. They've got *flavor*. Jess met with a bunch of roller chicks and then skated around for exercise and to pass out fliers. And then she had some snow cone afterwards. I hung out with some of the girls I know from hockey, and then red my book for a while and wandered around the neighborhood a bit with my phone looking for interesting locales. I almost bought a Po' Boy at a shop across the street, but I'm trying to munch less. There was also a store that sold electronic music gear: synthesizers and the like. As if I need more gear.
Let me tell you something about hummingbirds. We've got our feeder up and full and we've been getting a pretty good run of little buzzers coming in and having their fill. They are, of course, very territorial, and we've been having a quite good time watching them swoop up, eat, and then get dive-bombed by one of their rivals. I couldn't quite tell you what kind they are, though I've been looking at backs and throats in an attempt to identify them. I tell you what, though. Nagano has been *enthralled*. Every once in a while he'll spot one and just stare with his huge eyes or make adorable little cackling sounds while pretending he is a vicious hunter.
Jess let me cook salmon for dinner, and it came out pretty good. We got some wild salmon from whole foods (I don't trust the farmed stuff they sell at the regular supermarket) and covered it with brown sugar. I also took a section for experiments: a little bit with BBQ sauce and a little with gingersnaps: inspired by an Alton Brown Ham Glaze recipe. The cooking went pretty well, though I did have some flameups and the board didn't smoke quite as much as I had hoped. I was pleased, however, that I'd saved a bunch of money by just going off to Lowes and buying my own darn cedar board and then cutting off a plank of the appropriate size. First use of my fancy battery-powered circular saw, too. Thanks dad!
Anyway, the food? Pretty spectacular, Jess ate some and seemed to enjoy herself. The Brown sugar went best, though it didn't quite caramelize and get all smokey like I had hoped. Practice practice, I suppose. The BBQ sauce was pretty bland and tasted like, well, bbq sauce and salmon. Which isn't bad, but the other flavors were better. The gingersnaps were actually pretty well received. Right off the grill they gave a nice crunch and good flavor. Unfortunately as leftovers the cookie crumbs got all soggy. Less good. I got to cook salmon, though. Hurrah!
I may come back later and post some random pictures, but our camera is currently on the fritz. Love to all!
-N
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Greek Food Festival
A quick search of the blog would suggest that I have never blogged about St. Nick's Greek Food Festival before, which is both a travesty and perhaps the reason we don't get more visitors in May. Just around the corner from my department is this big Greek Orthodox Church, St. Nicholas. Mom and Dad stopped there once for a luncheon during the ordination, but they completely missed the lines threading around the hall, out the building and up the street that are so essential to this Greek Food Festival.
Dad has told us stories of how Nana used to expose the family to culture by taking the kids to all the church dinners- the Swedish meatballs, an the Italian spaghetti and the horror of the pancit noodles that looked too much like worms. This church dinner is nothing like that. St. Nick's, being well endowed with Greek people, and Greek appreciating people, makes a once a year fund raising bonanza, opening their doors and kitchens for reasonably prized Greek food. There is a Gyro tent outside, tables full of pastries piled high with mountains of baklava and long buffets of Greek classics. This is where I developed my affection for tiropita- like spanikopita, it's a casserole made with layers of filo dough, but the filling is just cheese- not even diluted by creamy spinach like its near cousin. They've got Greek wine, and will even make you a baklava sundae. The festival is open all week, serving lunch and dinner- so you can imagine that I've been there 3 times already, brought home leftovers for Matt twice and am still keeping my options for tomorrow open.
St. Nick's is a great host, there are cheery church volunteers hefting industrial pans of moussaka and pastitio into the various make shift kitchens. The shockingly long lines move quickly, and before you know it, you've got a armload of loukamades (fried honey balls), souvlakia (lamb kababs) and dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves). The city is happy to turn out in force to support the event, not because there are so many lapsed orthodox folks, but because despite many Mediterranean restaurants, there is very limited truly Greek food in town. The only way for the kalamata deprived masses to get their fill is to visit one of the regions many Greek Orthodox food festivals, of which St. Nick's is the biggest and arguably best.
Dad has told us stories of how Nana used to expose the family to culture by taking the kids to all the church dinners- the Swedish meatballs, an the Italian spaghetti and the horror of the pancit noodles that looked too much like worms. This church dinner is nothing like that. St. Nick's, being well endowed with Greek people, and Greek appreciating people, makes a once a year fund raising bonanza, opening their doors and kitchens for reasonably prized Greek food. There is a Gyro tent outside, tables full of pastries piled high with mountains of baklava and long buffets of Greek classics. This is where I developed my affection for tiropita- like spanikopita, it's a casserole made with layers of filo dough, but the filling is just cheese- not even diluted by creamy spinach like its near cousin. They've got Greek wine, and will even make you a baklava sundae. The festival is open all week, serving lunch and dinner- so you can imagine that I've been there 3 times already, brought home leftovers for Matt twice and am still keeping my options for tomorrow open.
St. Nick's is a great host, there are cheery church volunteers hefting industrial pans of moussaka and pastitio into the various make shift kitchens. The shockingly long lines move quickly, and before you know it, you've got a armload of loukamades (fried honey balls), souvlakia (lamb kababs) and dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves). The city is happy to turn out in force to support the event, not because there are so many lapsed orthodox folks, but because despite many Mediterranean restaurants, there is very limited truly Greek food in town. The only way for the kalamata deprived masses to get their fill is to visit one of the regions many Greek Orthodox food festivals, of which St. Nick's is the biggest and arguably best.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)