 |
Then one day they were gone.
 |
Mary Ann hung maps in their place.
 |
Where did the bookcases go? For now, all I'll say is that they're in a better place. I'll post details some other time.
10 April 2009
In the Beginning
There were bookcases on the wall.
Then one day they were gone.
Mary Ann hung maps in their place.
Where did the bookcases go? For now, all I'll say is that they're in a better place. I'll post details some other time.
Then one day they were gone.
Mary Ann hung maps in their place.
Where did the bookcases go? For now, all I'll say is that they're in a better place. I'll post details some other time.
08 April 2009
07 April 2009
A touch Self-congratulatory
Look what turned up in my inbox today:
I wonder why they sent me this. Is it an effort to retain me? If it is, why would they want to? In ten years I've clicked on a banner add . . . well, never.
Oh, and cell phones are still unnecessary and annoying (unless we're talking about my cell phone).
 |
I wonder why they sent me this. Is it an effort to retain me? If it is, why would they want to? In ten years I've clicked on a banner add . . . well, never.
Oh, and cell phones are still unnecessary and annoying (unless we're talking about my cell phone).
Bagless
At the end of 2007 I decided that I was going to have a bagless new year--meaning that I was not going to accept plastic shopping bags at all . . . ever. I already had all kinds of great reusable bags, and I made up my mind that I was going to use them.
I can't say I was 100% during 2008, but I came pretty close. Shopping at Aldi helps. They don't just hand bags out there. You want a bag, you buy it. Most other places give you funny looks if you don't want their bags, but they usually comply.
There are some bags that work their way into my life despite my efforts. Like these:
They show up in my front lawn every few days, a newspaper curled up inside each one. Never mind that we don't subscribe to any papers . . .
I've been saving the bags. There's got to be something useful that I can do with them, and I think I've found something I want to try . . . someday, when I have time for it. Check out this video.
Looks neat, doesn't it?
I can't say I was 100% during 2008, but I came pretty close. Shopping at Aldi helps. They don't just hand bags out there. You want a bag, you buy it. Most other places give you funny looks if you don't want their bags, but they usually comply.
There are some bags that work their way into my life despite my efforts. Like these:
 |
They show up in my front lawn every few days, a newspaper curled up inside each one. Never mind that we don't subscribe to any papers . . .
I've been saving the bags. There's got to be something useful that I can do with them, and I think I've found something I want to try . . . someday, when I have time for it. Check out this video.
Looks neat, doesn't it?
06 April 2009
A good Wagon
I'm a little bit in love with my garden wagon. Here's a picture of the kids enjoying a ride in it last year at the girls' birthday party.
The kids couldn't get enough. My dad (and most of the other grown-ups in attendance) pulled the kids on ride after ride, snaking their way all over the back yard.
These days, you're not as likely to find my wagon full of children. No. But you would very likely find it full of stuff like this:
Over the past month I've gathered enough rocks from my yard to fill this wagon several times over. I've been moving them from inconvenient places to a kind of staging ground where they will wait for me to put them to a use that won't result in more yard work. Anyway, I'm so glad to have this wagon, because it does save me a lot of time and effort.
At the egg hunt on Saturday, we saw a wagon very much like our own. But it wasn't full of garden scraps. It was full of kid stuff, and it was yellow.
Ah versatility. Now I think I love it just a little bit more.
 |
The kids couldn't get enough. My dad (and most of the other grown-ups in attendance) pulled the kids on ride after ride, snaking their way all over the back yard.
These days, you're not as likely to find my wagon full of children. No. But you would very likely find it full of stuff like this:
 |
Over the past month I've gathered enough rocks from my yard to fill this wagon several times over. I've been moving them from inconvenient places to a kind of staging ground where they will wait for me to put them to a use that won't result in more yard work. Anyway, I'm so glad to have this wagon, because it does save me a lot of time and effort.
At the egg hunt on Saturday, we saw a wagon very much like our own. But it wasn't full of garden scraps. It was full of kid stuff, and it was yellow.
 |
Ah versatility. Now I think I love it just a little bit more.
05 April 2009
At Jilly's
The other day one of the blogs I follow linked to Jilly's Cupcake Bar. I was curious. So I clicked over to their site, and so can you, if you want.
As I read through the menu I began to notice a trend. Most of Jilly's cupcakes are filled with delicious, ooey-gooey goodness. I've included a few descriptions from their menu. How about this:
"Red velvet cake infused with chocolate syrup and stuffed with caramel praline filling, topped with cream cheese icing, cinnamon caramel buttercream, toasted pecans and a pecan praline"
or this:
"Madagascar vanilla cake infused with lemon and honey syrup, stuffed with a honey lemon curd and topped with lemon cream cheese, toasted almonds, lemon candy dust, a sugar bee and a white chocolate and lemon honeycomb bark"
That reads like the stuff of special occasions, doesn't it? Well, today was special enough. After all, it isn't every day that we pick Matthew up from the airport. On the way home, we dropped in for a cupcake.
The cupcakes at Jilly's are huge. The girls split one (filled with strawberry cheesecake topped with strawberry buttercream and white chocolate shavings), and half was more than enough. In the pictures you can see that the girls are eating with a kind of modified chop-stick that we brought with us. It worked better than you might imagine. I had to share my pictures of their attempt.
We got four more cupcakes to go. We'll share them with my parents when we go over for dinner tonight. I can't wait to hear what they have to say about these!
As for me, I'm a fan. You can bet I'll be happy to go back for more.
As I read through the menu I began to notice a trend. Most of Jilly's cupcakes are filled with delicious, ooey-gooey goodness. I've included a few descriptions from their menu. How about this:
"Red velvet cake infused with chocolate syrup and stuffed with caramel praline filling, topped with cream cheese icing, cinnamon caramel buttercream, toasted pecans and a pecan praline"
or this:
"Madagascar vanilla cake infused with lemon and honey syrup, stuffed with a honey lemon curd and topped with lemon cream cheese, toasted almonds, lemon candy dust, a sugar bee and a white chocolate and lemon honeycomb bark"
That reads like the stuff of special occasions, doesn't it? Well, today was special enough. After all, it isn't every day that we pick Matthew up from the airport. On the way home, we dropped in for a cupcake.
 |
The cupcakes at Jilly's are huge. The girls split one (filled with strawberry cheesecake topped with strawberry buttercream and white chocolate shavings), and half was more than enough. In the pictures you can see that the girls are eating with a kind of modified chop-stick that we brought with us. It worked better than you might imagine. I had to share my pictures of their attempt.
We got four more cupcakes to go. We'll share them with my parents when we go over for dinner tonight. I can't wait to hear what they have to say about these!
As for me, I'm a fan. You can bet I'll be happy to go back for more.
04 April 2009
The Hunt
Months ago (in January, I think) we reserved places for our kids in the Botanical Garden's egg hunt. It took place earlier today. Now, as all of you know, you can't hunt eggs without a basket to put them in. We have baskets, but oddly (and for me it is odd) I couldn't remember where they were. The girls and I made a kind of game of finding them, and eventually they turned up . . . in a tub full of Easter stuff.
So we got it all out andmade a mess decorated.
We were ready in a flash, and off we went.
The kids look reasonably happy in these pictures, and if totally-impatient-for-egg-hunting is the same as happy, well then, sure they were.
After the hunt, the girls climbed into a canoe for a little while. It was a great place to have snacks.
In the bottom right corner you can see their egg-hunt haul. This is the second year in a row that we've come away with a stuffed animal.
While we were there we ran into two kids from the girls' karate school, and we also met up with my cousin and her family.
Somehow, on the way out, the Spink Gallery caught the girls' attention.
I think we all had a great time.
So we got it all out and
 |
We were ready in a flash, and off we went.
 |
 |
The kids look reasonably happy in these pictures, and if totally-impatient-for-egg-hunting is the same as happy, well then, sure they were.
After the hunt, the girls climbed into a canoe for a little while. It was a great place to have snacks.
 |
In the bottom right corner you can see their egg-hunt haul. This is the second year in a row that we've come away with a stuffed animal.
While we were there we ran into two kids from the girls' karate school, and we also met up with my cousin and her family.
Somehow, on the way out, the Spink Gallery caught the girls' attention.
 |
I think we all had a great time.
03 April 2009
Good for Karate
Normally, I'd be making dinner right now. But Matthew has left town, the girls are both in time out at the same time and I'm stewing at the computer. So why would I make dinner?
Just as I began to wonder how on earth I was going to make it through the rest of the day, I remembered:
Karate.
The girls normally go on Saturday, but because they've got plans tomorrow, we arranged for them to attend a class tonight. Good thing I remembered--good for me, good for the kids, good for Karate.
Just as I began to wonder how on earth I was going to make it through the rest of the day, I remembered:
Karate.
The girls normally go on Saturday, but because they've got plans tomorrow, we arranged for them to attend a class tonight. Good thing I remembered--good for me, good for the kids, good for Karate.
02 April 2009
Goodbye Nanna
Matthew's grandmother died today. Here she is in a picture taken in 1950.
The baby in her arms is Matthew's dad. There will be a memorial service this weekend, and we're going to try to get Matthew there.
.jpg) |
The baby in her arms is Matthew's dad. There will be a memorial service this weekend, and we're going to try to get Matthew there.
Papilio polyxenes Fabricius, 1775
Also known as Black Swallowtail. Back on the day it snowed, just outside our mudroom, this popped out of its chrysalis:
It took me a while to find a way to identify it, but I did.
Check out this link. If you have a butterfly of unknown name on your hands, you can input whatever information you have (a hundred details about the wing shape or the coloring), and it will give you a short list of butterfly species that match. When I put in my information (nothing more than what can be observed in the picture), the site narrowed the 1198 species they cover to just 16. I compared their pictures of these 16 to my picture to figure out which one hatched out back.
I was able to find the proper name for it and where it lives and a lot of other stuff, most of which can be read here. I think I consulted the same source last fall, and learned that the caterpillars in our yard were going to become Monarch Butterflies . . .
 |
It took me a while to find a way to identify it, but I did.
Check out this link. If you have a butterfly of unknown name on your hands, you can input whatever information you have (a hundred details about the wing shape or the coloring), and it will give you a short list of butterfly species that match. When I put in my information (nothing more than what can be observed in the picture), the site narrowed the 1198 species they cover to just 16. I compared their pictures of these 16 to my picture to figure out which one hatched out back.
I was able to find the proper name for it and where it lives and a lot of other stuff, most of which can be read here. I think I consulted the same source last fall, and learned that the caterpillars in our yard were going to become Monarch Butterflies . . .
01 April 2009
I'm NOT kidding (even if it is 1 April)
This what I served my family for dinner last night.
Those are Zucchini boats stuffed with tomato, onion, & potato, topped with Parmesan.
Star and Dandelion refused point blank to eat them. So I went back to the kitchen. 15 minutes later I plopped one chunk of these down in front of them.
You can have it, I said, after you eat the zucchini.
And you know what, they did eat the zucchini. Fudge, the original miracle worker.
recipe approximations:
Zucchini Boats
Heat the oven to 400, put a large cookie sheet in there to preheat. Cut three or four zucchini lengthwise after cutting off the end. Scoop out the insides with a melon-baller or spoon. You can use this for another recipe, so stash it for later. season the zucchini with salt and pepper and a bit of oil. Also peel and cut up three potatoes (1/2 inch cubes). Put these in a bowl, pour a bit of oil on the (1 t?) and some oregano and garlic powder and toss with spoons to coat. When the oven is hot put the zucchini on the heated cookie sheet skin up, dump the potatoes around them. 10 minutes later, take the zucchini out. and another 10 minutes later take the potatoes out.
While the zucchini and potatoes bake, heat a little oil in a skillet. While it is heating, chop a medium onion as finely as you dare. Cook it in the hot oil until softened and glassy looking--about 5 mintues. While that is cooking, chop up a few tomatoes or open up a can of petit diced ones. Add the tomato to the softened onion. Season with basil, salt, whatever suits your taste.
Add the roasted potato to this mix, check again for seasoning and adjust if you need to. Fill the zucchini boats. top with a few pinches of parmesan and microwave for a minute to melt the cheese. Served 4 at my house (two adults and two kids).
Fudge
Search through the house until you find 16 oz. of semi-sweet or bitter chocolate. Start some water boiling on the stove in a sauce pan or the bottom of a double boiler. If it isn't already in small pieces, break/chop chocolate up. In a heat-proof bowl or the top half of a double boiler, toss with 1/2 t. baking soda and a bit of salt. Heat until melted, and then mix with a can of sweetened condensed milk. When thoroughly combined add in nuts or marshmallows if desired. pour into an 8x8 pan lined with foil and refrigerate to set. Cut into 1.5 inch chunks to serve.
 |
Those are Zucchini boats stuffed with tomato, onion, & potato, topped with Parmesan.
Star and Dandelion refused point blank to eat them. So I went back to the kitchen. 15 minutes later I plopped one chunk of these down in front of them.
 |
You can have it, I said, after you eat the zucchini.
And you know what, they did eat the zucchini. Fudge, the original miracle worker.
recipe approximations:
Zucchini Boats
Heat the oven to 400, put a large cookie sheet in there to preheat. Cut three or four zucchini lengthwise after cutting off the end. Scoop out the insides with a melon-baller or spoon. You can use this for another recipe, so stash it for later. season the zucchini with salt and pepper and a bit of oil. Also peel and cut up three potatoes (1/2 inch cubes). Put these in a bowl, pour a bit of oil on the (1 t?) and some oregano and garlic powder and toss with spoons to coat. When the oven is hot put the zucchini on the heated cookie sheet skin up, dump the potatoes around them. 10 minutes later, take the zucchini out. and another 10 minutes later take the potatoes out.
While the zucchini and potatoes bake, heat a little oil in a skillet. While it is heating, chop a medium onion as finely as you dare. Cook it in the hot oil until softened and glassy looking--about 5 mintues. While that is cooking, chop up a few tomatoes or open up a can of petit diced ones. Add the tomato to the softened onion. Season with basil, salt, whatever suits your taste.
Add the roasted potato to this mix, check again for seasoning and adjust if you need to. Fill the zucchini boats. top with a few pinches of parmesan and microwave for a minute to melt the cheese. Served 4 at my house (two adults and two kids).
Fudge
Search through the house until you find 16 oz. of semi-sweet or bitter chocolate. Start some water boiling on the stove in a sauce pan or the bottom of a double boiler. If it isn't already in small pieces, break/chop chocolate up. In a heat-proof bowl or the top half of a double boiler, toss with 1/2 t. baking soda and a bit of salt. Heat until melted, and then mix with a can of sweetened condensed milk. When thoroughly combined add in nuts or marshmallows if desired. pour into an 8x8 pan lined with foil and refrigerate to set. Cut into 1.5 inch chunks to serve.
31 March 2009
With Dolls
At about this time last year I decided (given the acquisition of #970) it was time to relieve my parents of my accumulated personal effects that (over the course of three decades) took hold in their basement. That collection included the dolls shown in the picture below. I bought them when I was a kid with money that was given to me or that I earned babysitting (that started when I was 11; back in the good old days). When my daughters saw the dolls they begged to have them and I relented.
They're not valuable, not even in sentimental terms. I guess that's why giving the dolls to two children aged nearly 5 and 3 years was ok. Given their ages, I knew their clothes would get lost, their faces would get painted, their hair would get cut, and (too soon for anybody's business) the girls would abandon them. Knowing this would happen, I took a picture of the kids with the dolls and promised myself that I would stay out of their way--it has been a full year since then.
Dandelion named her doll 'Theresa', Star chose the name 'Molly Polly'.
I was right about what would happen to the dolls. Theresa and Molly Polly have been put through the mill (more or less). I'm happy that the girls still play with them. When they do, something usually breaks.
And when it does, I tell the girls "Molly Polly needs surgery" or "Theresa needs therapy." Then down to the basement we go (that's the dolly ER) where the glue waits for us. In the past year both dolls have sustained numerous and serious injuries to their feet, ankles, and shins. Each time I've reconstructed them with care (although some pieces are lost forever). By now, those kinds of injuries have become run of the mill. They make Molly Polly's decapitation or the time she got scalped seem so much more exciting.
 |
They're not valuable, not even in sentimental terms. I guess that's why giving the dolls to two children aged nearly 5 and 3 years was ok. Given their ages, I knew their clothes would get lost, their faces would get painted, their hair would get cut, and (too soon for anybody's business) the girls would abandon them. Knowing this would happen, I took a picture of the kids with the dolls and promised myself that I would stay out of their way--it has been a full year since then.
Dandelion named her doll 'Theresa', Star chose the name 'Molly Polly'.
I was right about what would happen to the dolls. Theresa and Molly Polly have been put through the mill (more or less). I'm happy that the girls still play with them. When they do, something usually breaks.
 |
And when it does, I tell the girls "Molly Polly needs surgery" or "Theresa needs therapy." Then down to the basement we go (that's the dolly ER) where the glue waits for us. In the past year both dolls have sustained numerous and serious injuries to their feet, ankles, and shins. Each time I've reconstructed them with care (although some pieces are lost forever). By now, those kinds of injuries have become run of the mill. They make Molly Polly's decapitation or the time she got scalped seem so much more exciting.
30 March 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
