Dodge A Wrench

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

2012-02-02T15:26:00.002-05:00

Since today is Thursday, and I don't teach on Fridays, I thought I should celebrate the end of another work week. Also, it's my half birthday, and that is clearly deserving of recognition, no? I mean, 35 1/2 is kind of a big deal! So I decided to make a pineapple upside down cake.

But, as you know, we don't do gluten or eggs in my house. And also, while I love to bake, I often find myself choking a little at the amount of sugar and butter (or oil) that many recipes call for. I mean, I like fat and sweet as much as the next person...especially fat...but man. There's gotta be balance, you know?

Anyway, I read a few pineapple upside down cake recipes, compared proportions in a half-assed way, and did the following.

1. Melted 2 T of salted butter in a 7x11 pan. Then added 4 T of brown sugar, and topped it all with pineapple chunks.

2. Mixed 2 T of salted with somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 c of granulated sugar. I beat them a little while, then added some vanilla, and some rum.

3. Added 1.5 cups of GF flour mix (for this kind of thing I use a blend of brown rice, potato and tapioca), 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, and somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 tsp xanthan gum. Mixed that all up with the butter, sugar etc.

4. It was not battery, not in the least.

5. So I used an idea from Smitten Kitchen and added pineapple juice til it looked battery. This did double duty actually, as I'd been planning to add some vinegar since the acidity, combined with the baking soda and baking powder, provides lift and fluffiness in egg free recipes. But pineapple juice is acidic too, and adds sweetness and pineapple flavor!

6. Then I spread the batter on the pineapple and put it in a 350 oven and cooked about 35 min.

Verdict: Yum! The amount of sugar was totally fine (maybe even more than needed). Next time I'm going to up the butter a bit, but over all, a success. I'd post a picture but, you know. We ate it.

Best Ever Leg of Lamb

2011-12-28T18:18:00.003-05:00

Seriously. Best ever. Also the easiest! You gotta know that I'd never choose ease over taste, so really the easiest is more of a bonus than an actual feature.

Here's what I do.

1. Remove leg of lamb (bone in/bone out, whole/half...whatever you've got) from the freezer.

2. Make a paste of crushed garlic, salt (kosher works great, but not necessary), pepper and rosemary (I use dried because that's all I've ever got).

3. Rub the paste on the lamb.

4. Put the lamb in your crock pot.

5. Mix 3 parts water with 1 part balsamic vinegar.

6. Pour this into the crock pot.

7. Turn crock pot on high.

8. Come back 5-6 hours later and eat the delicious lamb!

Child psychology

2011-12-24T19:54:00.002-05:00

Tonight Liel and I were listening to the Maccabeats sing Matisyahu's "Miracle".

She noticed that one of the lyrics was "look so down, look so puzzled" and told me that she knew that "puzzled" meant "confused" in the context of the song. We thought about other synonyms for confused and then I asked her if she knew what another one of the lyrics meant: "my strength comes not from man at all". She said she didn't, and I said, "I think he means that his strength comes from G-d". I glanced at her to see how she might react to this.

"Mommy", she said thoughtfully, "I don't think there is an opposite of bush".

"What??", I said. I was, um, puzzled. To say the least.

Liel nodded. "Unless it's NOT bush!"

Isn't that what *you* took away from that conversation?

Gluten free, egg free scones

2011-12-07T19:48:00.004-05:00

My kids love scones. I used to bake them regularly- in fact, I baked a batch when I was in heavy labor with my daughter, to try to distract myself. I had to pause every 2 min and grip the counter and breath deeply, but after she was born Robert, the midwives and I all enjoyed fresh scones!

Anyway, since we've become mostly gluten free I've stopped making scones. The recipes I've seen (and admittedly I didn't look too deeply) relied heavily on eggs or egg whites, which won't do for us. Every so often the kids would ask me to bake scones and I'd say no. Lately these requests have been more frequent, and I started thinking about recipes in a vague, back of my mind kind of way. Today I decided to try out the one that seemed most promising. So when the kids finished their school work I told them I was going to make scones, and Zion announced that that he was so happy he, "almost cried". Not that that translated into him wanting to help *make* scones. Liel came into the kitchen to help (and nearly broke my liquid measuring cup in the process) and Zion ran around the house playing imaginary football.

Here's what I did.

Preheat the oven to 400.

Mix the following dry ingredients in a bowl:

2 c gluten free flour (I used a blend of brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch)
1/4 c sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

blend in 5 T butter (vegan sub: coconut oil. I haven't tested this, but it would be my first try. I don't like that vegan margarine stuff. If you do use it, cut down on the salt). I use my hands for this, but you can use whatever method you prefer. If you're using unsalted butter (which I generally recommend for baking, but I didn't have much around this afternoon) you might up the salt a bit.

Then add raisins, or dried cranberries or whatever you want. About 1/2 a cup. We were out of raisins, forcing me to pick through trail mix Robert had made last weekend. Toss them in the flour to coat them lightly.

Next add 1 1/2 c milk (I used rice milk) mixed with 2T of plain yogurt. If you're vegan you can add another tablespoon of milk and a 1/2 tsp of a mild flavored vinegar. Mix that all in with the dry ingredients. It's a fairly wet dough, but should hold together enough for you to gently scoop it out and place lumps of it on a greased cookie sheet. I got 8 scones of out of this recipe, to give you a sense of the size I was making them. Then sprinkle them with a bit of sugar, and bake about 16 minutes. They'll only be slightly browned on the top, but they should be done. you can open one up to check and bake a little longer if you like.

That's it! Cool them on a rack. Two minutes is sufficient; even children can eat them at that point (if they are careful and very eager for scones).

I have to say, I'm really pleased with this recipe. Really pleased. They're delicious! And nearly identical to the gluten version I used to bake :)

Gluten free biscuits x2!

2011-08-23T12:57:00.002-04:00

Last night we had some friends over, and I wanted to make strawberry shortcake for dessert. I've made a GF shortcake before (as far as I'm concerned biscuit style shortcakes are the only proper shortcakes), and it was pretty good. But not really good, you know? So last night I wanted something different.

Now we have egg allergies in our house, and a lot of GF baking relies on eggs to provide the structure that gluten provides in traditional baking. Sometimes egg substitutes works, sometimes they don't. Hell, sometimes GF works, sometimes it doesn't. The combination of GF-EF = lots of trial and error.

So anyway, yesterday I read about a dozen GF shortbread recipes and finally combined what I'd read into my own thing. And it was good! It was so good that I told the kids I'd make them cheese biscuits for lunch today. Again, I created my own recipe, and again it was good! I think the yogurt might be part of the secret for these two...it helps leaven the dough and provides a bit of structure.

Biscuit recipe A (rolled biscuits)

1.5 cups of GF flour blend (I used a combination of brown rice (from Dakota Mills) flour, potato starch and tapioca starch)
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 T sugar
2 tsps Ener-g egg replacer powder
Mix all that stuff up (I used a food processor), then add:
4 T cold, unsalted butter
and blend until the butter is all worked in. Then add:
1/2 c milk (I used soy)
2 T vanilla yogurt (or plain if you don't want a sweet biscuit)

Blend into a dough, then pat out, cut into circles and bake at 350 for about 15 min :)

Biscuit recipe B (dropped biscuits)

1. 75 c GF flour blend (I used same as above)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp xanthan gum
Mix that all together. Then add:
4 T unsalted butter
1/3 c grated parmesan cheese
Blend until the butter is mixed in and then add:
2/3 c milk
1/3 c water
2 T plain yogurt
Blend until it forms a wet sticky dough. Fold in some grated cheese of whatever kind you have/like. I used colby jack. Then drop onto a greased baking sheet (you can make the biscuits whatever size you want! I made mine about 2") and bake at 400 for about 15-17 min. They're fluffy! And delicious.

Delicious

2011-08-10T18:54:00.003-04:00

Zion asked to have Vietnamese food for dinner tonight, so we drove out to Spring Valley to our favorite local Vietnamese place (called "The Vietnam Restaurant". Not exactly confidence inspiring, but it was all we could find when we moved up here, and it turs out it's pretty good!). We've been going there for 5 years, and the waitress even remembers that we don't want peanuts on anything, even when we're sucky parents and forget to say so when we order.

Tonight we ordered pho, 4 spring rolls, noodle salad with chicken, noodle salad with lemongrass grilled beef, and crispy chicken with sticky rice. And then we devoured it all. The children were particularly ravening. Picture a couple of small formica tables pushed together. They're loaded with food, and the kids at the table have plates in front of them piled high, and are reaching across to the furthest parts of the table to shove their spoons into pho, dip sticky rice into sauce, and crunch more chicken skin. We're a bit worried about how much food we'll go through when they're teenagers. They ate like we'd been starving them, and not at all like they'd had huge bowls of full fat yogurt with maple syrup and hour prior.

Liel gobbled up her lemongrass grilled beef and immediately asked me for more "brown chicken". "That's beef, sweetie", I said. "Finish the chicken you have on your plate, and then you can have more of the brown chicken. Er, beef". No wonder the poor kid can't tell which type of animal she's eating. Her own mother can't keep it straight from one sentence to the next!

When we left I put one of Robert's playlists on the iPod, and then accidentally bumped it, causing it skip ahead about 6 songs. As I flipped back trying to get to the right spot Robert wailed, "What are you doing?? You're skipping great songs!...What playlist is this anyway?" Mighty impressed with his own clever, he was. For once hitting red lights on the 30 minute drive home didn't seem to bother him at all.

Innocent

2011-08-05T18:48:00.002-04:00

I bet this post isn't about anything you might've guessed. Just thought I'd get that out of the way up front, so you could stop reading now if you want. No? OK then.

When I was seven years old Billy Joel's "Innocent Man" album came out. My parents must've liked it a lot, because I remember listening to it quite a bit, and neither my brother nor I was quite dexterous enough to use the record player yet. After a while it stopped being in regular rotation however, and eventually the album rarely crossed my mind.

Then about 6 weeks ago my brother called to tell me he'd sold his house, and that one of the offers on it (but not the buyer) was the guy who had designed the album cover for "Innocent Man". This one:

I said something like, "I haven't heard that album in years!" and my brother said he'd been listening to it a lot lately. A couple weeks later we were all in Akumal, and one night Kenny put the album on. We were all- my parents, cousins, brother, future SIL, me, Robert, and the kids- making dinner. Cooking, setting the table, blending margaritas; everyone was involved in the communal effort of delicious food and drink. And within seconds of the music starting, we were all singing, too. It was totally goofy, totally fun, and totally delightsome. If you have the opportunity I strongly suggest a family sing along to "Innocent Man" on the beach in Mexico with plenty of good food and drink. It is so choice.

The journey home

2011-07-21T21:31:00.003-04:00

This morning I had breakfast on the patio outside my bedroom door, about 20 feet from the Caribbean Sea. It was lovely-- sunny, clear, a light breeze. Tonight I am sitting 4 feet from my air conditioner in New York. It's 930pm and 92 degrees out. Since we've been away from home for nearly 3 weeks it was in the 90s in the house when we walked in an hour and a half ago. Thanks to the efforts of our big window a/c unit, it's now 87 in the coolest part of the house. Mmmmm.

After breakfast the car company arrived to take us to the airport in Cancun. My parents decided to come along, and asked the driver if he could drop them in Playa del Carmen so they could do some last minute shopping. Halfway there we decided (at my dad's brilliant suggestion) that he should drop them by the grilled chicken stand on the block where the combi's wait so we could get some chicken to take the airport for lunch. My sweet cousin had already warned us that a pizza at the Cancun airport cost him $32 on his trip home. So, for 100 pesos I got a whole grilled chicken, rice, pickled onions, salsa, 2 dozen fresh corn tortillas and some habeneros, and we were back in the road.

Airport security was a bit slow, but we were there super early, so it was no problem. I did succumb after 19 days without chocolate, and bought 1/2 lb of Milka and 4 Kindereggs at the duty free shop (I love buying Kindereggs whenever possible. So silly that they are banned here!). Then we made a lovely picnic on the floor of the airport eating chicken and rice and tortillas. The kids were covered in chicken grease (and orange juice), despite our best efforts there was rice on the floor, and we had but a single napkin between us. Robert pointedly reminded me that *I* was the one who had dismissively thrown away the half dozen wadded up old napkins I'd found in his work bag prior to the trip. And yes, I did wish we had those napkins then!

Upon arriving home (to the very hot house, see above) we found our garden in desperate need of water, but despite being on death's door the Black Brown Boar tomato plant had two ripe tomatoes! And they were delicious! I just hope we were able to save the plant. Anyway, I fed the kids some peas from the garden and a frozen waffle each (Liel's was literally still frozen-- for some unknown reason she claims to like them that way), and put them to bed. Then I ate spoonfuls of almond butter sprinkled with brown sugar, and some cinnamon bears. And yes, I do feel a bit queasy now.

Tomorrow I shall brave the heat and buy groceries!

Guayaberas

2011-07-18T21:58:00.006-04:00

Today we went down to Playa del Carmen to look for guayaberas for Robert, Zion, my dad, and my parent's friend, Jay. We'd been told that Playa, and specifically a department store called Milano, was the place to get these shirts.

Except that they didn't have a single guayabera at all. One of the guys working there helpfully suggested we try the open air shop across the street, which we did. No dice there either. So we wandered around somewhat aimlessly peering into shops, many of which featured mannequins with porn-star style boobs. They were the most bizarre mannequins I've ever seen, and seeing as how the category of mannequin is already pretty bizarre, that's saying something.

Anyway, we walked on, even stopping a nice local guy out for a walk with his wife and little kids to ask him where he got the guayabera HE was wearing. "Not here", he said, "In the Yucatan". That last bit was odd, since we were all in the Yucatan right then.

Eventually my parents found a shop selling the elusive shirts, and we bought one for all the guys. Zion looks freaking adorable in his! It's a bit big, but he outgrew the last one he had in about two days.

We did a bit more shopping (my dad cleverly suggested we buy some inhalers. We hadn't bought a new one since we'd had grad student insurance, and they were like $10 then. Now they are $50! so the 3 pack for $17 was most welcome), and then split up with my parents so we could get some food in the kids and catch a bus home. We found a great taco cart near a park, and ordered 8 tacos. The woman stared at me as if I'd ordered an entire roast ox for myself, instead of 8 tacos for 4 people. I carried on, and she made us 8 delicious barbacoa and rice tacos, which we sauced up at her homemade salsa bar. We ate them (and almost went back for more), the kids played on the playground equipment and we headed home. Home, where I had a nice pina colada that used up the last of our rum. Good thing we head home soon! And that there's plenty of gin.

Amusement

2011-07-17T22:30:00.004-04:00

Hey look! I haven't published a blog post in over a year. I blame Facebook, mostly. It's like blogging for lazy people. Really, really lazy people, who can't even be bothered to write a sentence or two every day.

Hmmm.

Anyway, the only slightly embarrassing truth of the matter is that I'm hella amused every time I happen to read back through my own blog. So I decided that even if I'm the primary person I'm entertaining it might be worth my while to attend to my own amusement from time to time.

So here I am.

Today I spent an unholy amount of time tinking my lace knitting. I made a mistake-- got off by one stitch-- and didn't notice for two rows. Now that might not be a big deal except that I'm knitting this huuuuuuge circular shawl and each row has over 700 stitches. It took me over an hour just to get back to my mistake. Remarkably I did not cry, throw things, or even curse (much). I'm pretty sure this is all attributable to the medicinal properties of the gin I've been drinking at our nightly cocktail hour. The gin, however, bears no responsibility for the knitting mistake. That was all Wall-E's fault.

Needy

2010-05-06T21:53:00.004-04:00

Fretting

2010-01-10T21:09:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been having trouble falling back asleep. The first time is no problem, but if something wakes me up at night (as it has the past two nights) man, I'm up for an hour or two. And why am I awake? Why, because I can't fall asleep for the worrying! Worrying about work I need to do, worrying that I should be pushing academics on the kids (night time does strange things to my brain), and worrying about Liel's social life. See, Liel didn't really make friends during her year in preschool. Now she's socially ready to (I think) but the only kid she sees most days is her brother. I'm mostly to blame for this- I suck about arranging playdates. But I'm not entirely to blame...part of the reason I suck is because I get shot down probably 75% of the time when I try to set one up for her. Mostly it isn't personal (I hope!) but I hear "oh, we're busy this week, let's try for next week..." an awful lot. So I feel like a bit of a bother, since next week is always busy when we get there too, you know? Get knocked back enough and it sure starts to SEEM like maybe that mom just doesn't like me and I should give up.

But in the night two nights ago I had a rather sad realization. Zion wants to have a birthday party this year (it will be his first friend party. We offered last year but he said no). And that's lovely, and he has a number of friends who he'll want to invite and who will want to come. But that also means Liel will want a friend party this year. And Liel has 1, maybe 2 friends. I'm not kidding you, my eyes teared up thinking about how that might make her feel, and how I've kind of failed her in this way because I'm not trying hard enough to find other little girls for her play with.

So, I got back up and sent out 4 emails asking if daughters wanted to play with Liel this week. I've heard back from one, saying her daughter is away visiting grandparents, but we did make an actual plan for the week after (of course this is the one girl I can count as Liel's friend with as much certainty as is possible when counting friends for 4 year olds).

This is the most pathetic blog post I've ever made.

PS- success! Heard back from another mama and Liel has a playdate this week. Perhaps less pathetic now.

Stuff I made this week

2010-01-05T20:55:00.002-05:00

I had a busy week, it turns out. Excuse some unflattering pictures of me- just focus on the awesome knits!

First I made this awesome circular shawl:

I took a day off part way thru the shawl to make these felted slippers.

When the shawl and slippers were done I made a dropped stitch cowl.

Then I made a hat.

Let's see the shawl again, shall we?

2 important notes

2010-01-02T17:24:00.003-05:00

1. I am close to finishing my first circular shawl! It will be 60" in diameter and I'm feeling rather pleased with myself. I was always afraid of the extra long rows as one neared the end of a circular shawl, and while 500+ stitch rows can be a bit monotonous they aren't so bad after all! I think I'll try a square shawl next.

2. I'm going to Kerri's tonight to watch Mamma Mia! with her, Sayantani, and Liv. We're going to snack and drink girlie drinks. Liv fears the movie will be too campy, but I think I've successfully pleased and guilted her into coming over, at leat for a little while. I'm super excited about my evening plans! I'm also a wee bit sad that I'm not going to be spending the evening knitting and hanging out with Robert, though. Cause I'm cool like that.

Speaking of whipped cream

2009-12-26T19:33:00.002-05:00

A few days ago Robert had a bake off. I would say it was against me, but it wasn't cause I didn't bake a single thing. No, it was his mom's butter cookie recipe (see below- it contains butter, but also margarine and/or lard) vs. Cook's Illustrated's.

The results aren't really the point here (but CI won, as I'd insisted it would. But I tried not to insist too loudly or too often cause I tend to be a kitchen control freak and then I feel vaguely guilty about it, esp when Robert is cooking and I'm backseat cooking and he gets all exasperated cause frankly I'm being a pain in the ass. Where was I?). The point is we now have a bunch of butter cookies in the freezer! And it occurred to me today that if I took one of those cookies, slathered it with raspberry jam and topped it off with a mountain of whipped cream I'd have a pretty freakin' tasty snack.

So now you know how I'm planning to spend my evening. That and knitting. Luckily I did some yoga with Liel a little earlier.

Top 10 Regulars

2009-12-25T19:49:00.002-05:00

Lately (OK, fine, for most of my life) I've been giving some thought to my favorite foods. Normally when I make a top 10 favorite foods list it encompasses foods that are so delicious they transport the eater to some glorious pleasure palace of gluttony. I probably spend too much time wondering which is my favorite of the 7 deadly sins, too- but that's another blog post.

Anyway, as I was happily compiling my list (again) the other day I stopped and wondered: how much did I like artichokes? Would I, for instance, like to eat them every day? So I started compiling a new list, a list of foods that are delicious and enduring. Foods that I could eat daily (or nearly that). Basically it's not so much a top 10 list as an only 10 list. If you could only eat 10 foods (excluding condiments, spices, and booze), what would be on your list? Here's mine.

1. Potatoes. I like 'em baked, mashed, fried, scalloped, fried...

2. Lobster. It just never gets old!

3. Berries. This one might be a bit of a cheat, but if it has -berry attached to it's name I'm counting it for #3. Yum.

4. Salad. Yes, again with the cheating bit. Eh.

5. Corn. Fresh, in corn tortillas, masa, cornbread...

6. Beans.

7. Cheese.

8. Squash.

9. Onions.

10. Whipped Cream.

Crap. Crap crap crappity crap. I want beef on this list! But I can't decide what to eliminate in favor of beef. Maybe lobster, but that sure would be disappointing. I adore lobster, and really think i could eat it daily. But it's not as multi-purpose as beef. Sigh. Well, anyway, you get the picture. Try your list, it's harder than it looks!

On noodles and preserved fish

2009-12-22T20:58:00.002-05:00

Today we headed down to Sunset Park to celebrate a belated Hanukkah with Kenn and Giselle. En route we stopped off at Russ and Daughters to get Kenn's gift- a selection of pickled and smoked fish! Bet you're jealous now. No, really! Put your tongue back in your mouth and swallow your drool.

If you must know I got him pickled herring with onions, pickled herring in cream sauce, pickled herring with mustard/dill sauce, pickled Icelandic Schmaltz, smoked/peppered mackerel and 2 whole smoked chubs. I love the name of those last fish so, so much. Here's a gratuitous picture of them, courtesy of Russ and Daughters.

Sadly, when I jumped out of the car to cross Houston and get to the store I dropped my hat (hand knit, of course) and didn't realize until we were in Brooklyn :( I'm really hoping that at least someone else will find and use my lovely hat, but I suspect it's just gone to trash. And I only wore it twice! I suppose the upside is that I can always make another. Fortunately I have enough of the same yarn left to duplicate it! The color was awesome with the pink streaks in my hair.

Anyway we had a great visit with the fam. K and G enjoyed their gifts (or at least pretended to enjoy them), and we loved ours! Framed photos of the kids, Lincoln logs, aleph-beit magnets (Liel could pick out lamed after I showed it to her ONCE) and, get this, The Cat in the Hat and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish IN YIDDISH. So, so awesome. I'm all about rescuing Yiddish from the jaws of extinction, and trying to keep it current. And, you know, learning it. I've wanted to learn for years, and even took a couple classes at our local Chabad. Sadly, I don't think I can learn Yiddish from two Dr. Seuss books, but hey, it's a start, right? Right.

Kenny had some fresh oysters that he got at a market near the South Street Seaport. What Kenny didn't have was an oyster/shellfish knife. But my brother is resourceful and determined. He opened them with a spatula! We squeezed some Meyer lemon juice on them, gave them a grind of pepper and mmmm. Delicious.

We also got noodles from LanZhou Noodles on 60th St and 8th Ave. Hand pulled noodles! The ones with duck were especially awesome. Kenny and Robert also picked up 30 dumplings from Family Dumpling on their way home, and those were g-o-n-e in record time. Sunset Park has its downsides for sure, but man, you can't argue with the food.

And the greens...

2009-12-21T18:47:00.002-05:00

I just have to pop back in and say that the kale I cooked tonight was some of the best damn kale I've ever had, ever. And we used to grow kale back in the day, in our community garden in Goleta. Good kale. The stuff tonight was unreal tho! I could've eaten at least four times as much. It was Red Russian Kale too, which is my favorite.

My semi-gluttonous longing for more kale made me long for a backyard farm yet again. One day. One day.

Roasted Garlic

2009-12-21T17:02:00.002-05:00

Right now I've got garlic roasting in my oven. Roasting garlic, as you probably know, turns it from sharp and spicy to soft and buttery. It's delicious on french bread, and even better with a little goat cheese. After I haul my ass off of the couch I'll saute some greens from our winter CSA, and voila! Rockin' winter dinner, which also happens to be healthy and reasonably eco-acceptable. That probably means I can count my day as a success, wouldn't you agree?

In homeschooling news, Robert sent me this NY Times article today. In short it says that our brains "get" math far earlier than previously thought, and reading (esp phonics) far later. It was kind of a duh moment for me, cause Zion and Liel have been patiently living this out for us for lo these 5 1/2 years, and yet, when I succumb to moments of fear with regard to our homeschooling/unschooling choices, it is always related to reading. Let me unpack that. Zion has been doing simple addition and subtraction in his head since he was about 18 months old. Liel also intuitively adds and subtracts (correctly, for the most part) with numbers from 1-10. Zion has a basic grasp of fractions and simple division. But, he can't read. Neither of them can. They both ADORE hearing stories (we've read The Hobbit 4 times this year alone), but haven't expressed much interest in learning to read themselves. And now many of my friends who's kids attend the local public school are delightedly reporting that their child is learning to read. (Actually, one of my dear friends was telling me the other day about how interested her kids, ages 5 and 7, are in opera. She took them to a shorter version of The Magic Flute recently and they were both on the edge of their seats, transfixed by what they were watching and hearing. Meanwhile, Zion's developmental news included the fact that he'd recently (and enthusiastically) begun picking his nose with both fingers at the same time.)

So sometimes I question my educational choices for the kids- at least, I question them emotionally, since intellectually I feel very comfortable with what we're doing and where we are.

But after reading the Times article I'm shifting gears a bit. Trying to worry less about reading and play more games with math. Run with the kid's cognitive development and all.

And take the garlic out of the oven before it burns. Burnt garlic probably isn't that good for growing brains.

PS. Robert is on the phone with his mom getting her sugar cookie recipe. "We don't have margarine to mix in with the butter though", he said. "What else could we use? No, we don't have lard, either".

Yarrrrrrrrrn

2009-08-11T10:09:00.002-04:00

Do you knit? Or know someone who knits? If so, check out this amazing give-away! I am digging on both the prize and the concept- need something to really help me return to blogging, and a contest on my blog would surely help! Perhaps a little back to school something- stay tuned! :)

Watch that boy

2009-07-14T13:29:00.004-04:00

Yesterday Zion had a friend over to play. A girl friend. He was very solicitous of her- when they went outside to play he offered to bring her snack out for her in case she got hungry. When they were swinging on the deck chairs he offered to get her shoes so she wouldn't get splinters. And then he suggested that she could sit on his lap in the chair. She did.

I was cracking up listening to all of this, but I was also amazed by Zion's apparently instinctual ability to turn on the charm. Cause let me tell you, he does not behave that way with his sister, nor with his boy friends. He only trots that stuff out for the girls. And he must do it well, cause not only was E pleased yesterday- the mothers of girls in his preschool class have told us that "all the girls love him", his teachers, if you recall, referred to his "harem", and G's mom reported that G said, "All the girls at Zion's new school will look at him and go [insert sound that is a cross between a swooing Ooooo and the screaming of Beatles fans]!"

I hear a lot of people talking about needing to watch out for their pretty daughters when they become teenagers. Without engaging the cultural double standards that lead to a great deal of that fear I'd just like to say...I think I may have to watch out for my son! He definitely likes the girlies.

Pie revolution

2009-07-11T10:10:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Kenny came up to hang out and have a belated birthday meal with us. At his request I made a fresh (uncooked- at least the fruit part!) blueberry pie. And it was SO GOOD! He and I immediately started brainstorming other summer fruit pies that could be made this way (3/4's of the fruit is left raw, 1/4 is cooked into a glaze, pie is open topped). Strawberry, peach, apricot, boysen/black/raspberry, sweet cherries...strawberries with a rhubarb glaze...yummmmm. I can't wait til our next open air bake sale so I can buy some other fruits to experiment with! Eating the tests will be so very very delicious...

Here's a pic of yesterday's pie after we'd eaten some of it :)

A very tiny picture. Blame Kenny's iphone!

Farmer's Market and Real Estate

2009-07-09T12:34:00.003-04:00

You've all heard me rant about the local farmer's market. Last year we had two whole farmers there. This year? Down to one! Holy crap. We're up to 3 bakeries however. Perhaps they should rename it the Open Air Bake Sale. That'd be more accurate, any way.

However, despite the total suckassity of the farmer's market, we've realized we LIKE living in New York. We like our friends, our town, our social life...and nearly everything else aside from the long winter and the aforementioned market. So we're taking a deep breath and looking at buying a house (well, to be perfectly honest we've already done that. As you'll see). The downturn in the real estate market has def been our friend, though we're wishing it would get a bit more friendly, if you take my meaning. Still not a lot around here that one could conceivably buy on a single professor's income- at least not without doing a lot of work. And since neither of us are overly handy that would = more money for us. Which we don't have. Vicious circle.

We did put one offer in on a house here. The house was great- but it was across the street from the thruway. When we came to our senses with regard to that (and the life-long damaged lungs it would give our children) we withdrew our offer. At least we realized it before we'd bought the damn thing, right? Talk about decisions you'd live to regret.

So now we're just waiting to find out if the housing market LIKE-likes us or not. Cause the farmer's market clearly doesn't...

Shrieky- McShriekerson

2009-07-08T16:28:00.002-04:00

So, Liel has started doing this "zero-to-shrieking" thing. It's really annoying (and painful on the ears). One moment she and her brother are playing, more or less happily. The next? He's displeased her in some way (usually deserved- he grabbed a toy out of her hand, for example), and she's making sounds usually associated with a boiling tea kettle. Or dog whistles.

If we ignore it (yeah, we're working on more hands off parenting. no, it's not lazy at all, why do you ask?), one of two things happens. Usually Zion makes a teeny attempt to pacify her, and usually that works. She instantly returns to her sunny, smiling self. Sometimes, however, if Zion is annoyed himself, or tired, or sick, he continues on his destructive course, and Liel continues on hers. At this point Robert or I feel obliged to stop knitting/reading/eating/drinking/talking, put on our Stern Parent Voice and demand that they explain what's been going on. After this, the cycle is free to repeat itself.

Parenting small children can really give one an appreciation for a cyclical view of history.

Huh?

2009-07-06T21:35:00.002-04:00

It's come to my attention that people actually read this blog. From time to time ;) So for you, oh best beloved, I will post. Now and then.

Look! I finished a sweater! If you're not on Facebook, you might not know that. Or have seen it (*cough*mom*cough*).

I finished a *different* sweater today. No pics yet tho. I'll post them here tomorrow, most likely. Rest assured, is very cute.

Also, Facebook may be becoming sentient. I've now heard two reports of it suggesting friends for people who they actually KNOW but have no friends, workplaces, or schools in common with. Watch your back, yo.

Potterwatch, over and out.

Am I missing something??

2009-04-22T13:58:00.002-04:00

This morning a friend of mine posted an article on Facebook from NPR titled "Good for you, good for the earth" and it advocates eating more vegetable and less meat/animal products. In fact, the author recommends eating vegan before 6pm, an approach he calls "VB6".

And that's all fine and good. I am totally on board with eating fewer animal products- better for us, better for the earth.

The author helpfully includes 4 recipes at the end of the article. But here's the kicker- 3 of the 4 contain meat or other animal products. And the 4th is BREAD, something that's fairly easy to come by in a vegan form. Um, hello? NPR? Anyone home?? Your article advocating vegan eating doesn't actually contain vegan recipes in any meaningful sense. Way to confuse people who may not be clear on exactly what "vegan" is, and way to flat out not help folks who may be interested in incorporating more vegan dishes into their meals, but don't know where to start.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Germs

2009-04-21T12:50:00.002-04:00

I've been really fucking sick, which has sucked. I'm on the mend though...today I was able to make sweet potato biscuits with Liel while Zion was at school. And I only sneezed like 50 times while making them! (Don't worry, I didn't sneeze IN the biscuits.) They turned out pretty well too- esp with jam on them. Which, I know, kinda defeats the purpose of making something with added health benefits like sweet potato biscuits. But...well, I like them that way :P

Ugh. Still a bit sick for blogging apparently. *sneeze*

Sheep to Shawl

2009-04-19T19:53:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we went to Sleepy Hollow with some friends so we could check out the "Sheep to Shawl" festival. It was...well, it was like Rhinebeck, if Rhinebeck were very small and had very little to see and hardly anyone there. There was one yarn vendor, a demonstration on dying yarn with plants, a sheep shearing exhibition, some spinning wheels (2), carding and a sheep dog show that was actually with ducks and MC'd by a very, VERY chatty dog handler. Holy crap, I thought he'd never stop talking and make with the animal herding.

Then we had yummy Chinese food in Tarrytown. All in all a nice day!

Liel and I watching the wool carding.

Zion and M trying a little carding themselves.

Liel ran around (when she wasn't whining).

And Zion was impressed by the cows :)

First Tooth

2009-04-08T16:46:00.002-04:00

Yep, Zion is a big boy now!!

I'll have candy all the time...

2009-04-06T21:00:00.003-04:00

I just made the most amazing marshmallows ever. EVER! In the history of the world. I don't know what I did wrong last time, but these ones don't smell icky. They smell like vanilla heaven! Vanilla heaven rolled in toasted coconut. I was like a 2 year old licking the bowl and the beater and the spatula after I put them in the pan to cool- marshmallow fluff on my hands and face.

Tomorrow: Lemon marshmallows!

And Becka, these are nothing, nothing like the ones in the store. Though you might not like them anyway cause they aren't crunchy?

Hooray for me!

I want candy...

2009-04-05T14:27:00.002-04:00

I made the mistake of browsing Foodzie and Etsy yesterday, looking at candy and pickles (not at the same time!). Now I am in lust for marshmallows! My friend Julie chastised me for even thinking about buying marshmallows that someone else had made- didn't I know how easy and delicious it was to make my own??

Um, yes. Kind of. I've made marshmallows once before. I hear they were pretty good too. But I could barely stand to eat them and when I did, I wished I hadn't. Turns out that hot gelatin smells rank. Really, really nasty. And even though the smell fades I could still smell it on my marshmallows- or at least I thought I could. So, that pretty much sucked.

But I'm nothing if not easy to shame into DIY-ness. So now I find myself childless on a Sunday afternoon (Robert took them hiking) and contemplating the creation of marshmallows. Again. Luckily (??) I'm fresh out of corn syrup and probably low on gelatin (I'm so lazy that I haven't gotten to the kitchen to look yet. Yet.), so I'll either have to wait or walk to the (overpriced) store in the village.

Food

2009-03-31T20:35:00.002-04:00

I've been on a bit of an eating marathon the past two days. Anything that is tasty and not nailed down is ending up in my tummy. I need something like this to slow me down!

Sometimes, I heart NY

2009-03-30T12:49:00.003-04:00

Every so often New York does something that I just love. Yesterday was one of those experiences. Our friend Ethan DJs with actual records at Heather's Bar in Manhattan on Sunday evenings every couple of months. We've known about this for nearly a year, but hadn't been able to attend one until yesterday. And it was really the perfect one for us to start with as he was playing swing and big band music :)

The bar is in the East Village, one of the hipper (and therefore more expensive- though certainly not at the top of that list) neighborhoods in Manhattan. It is also kinda grungy because, let's face it, while NY has cleaned up a lot in the past decade it's still a pretty filthy city. So we're walking to the bar and it's gray and cold and there's trash all around and some boarded up windows and graffiti and also commerce and college kids.

Speaking of kids, did I mention that we had ours with us? Cause that is what is cool about 78rpm Sundays and Heather's as far as I'm concerned- it's a family (and family friendly) place. When we got there Ethan and Amanda were setting up and their 3 year old son was racing up and down in the bar and climbing on the bar stools. Our kids joined right in (except the climbing part. They aren't climbers). Soon HeatherTheOwner arrived with her nephew (nearly 4) and the next time I blinked we'd been joined by a 1 year old and a 2 year old. More little kids and babies arrived as the event progressed. The kids danced, played outside on the sidewalk (under the watchful eye of at least one parent), got Shirley Temples and orange juice at the bar (Dre, the bartender, introduced Zion and Liel to the joy of OJ with a splash of cranberry juice an a slice of lime), and painted pictures at a table right in the middle of things. When they (and we) got hungry we ordered arepas from a nearby restaurant and they were delivered to the bar. Z and L snarfed those right up, lemme tell ya! Towards the end of the evening our friend Vanessa stopped by (thanks to some prodding on my part- she apparently had a pukey evening on 5" heels the night before and wasn't sure she felt up to an outing at a drinking establishment. But, about 5 minutes after arriving she was at the bar ordering a soothing soothing Guiness so clearly it all worked out). So chalk one up for "I heart NY".

Robert and Vanessa.

Ethan and Amanda.

Liel and M playing in the bar.

Zion playing on the sidewalk (friends not pictured, lol).

Me with the kids, looking awesome. Sigh! :)

Soothing

2009-03-29T12:14:00.002-04:00

This morning Liel jumped up and down and all around me. I asked her if she was practicing her dancing (we're going to a swing event this evening DJ'd by a friend of ours in Manhattan), and she said, "No! I am hopping around because I am so happy that you are my mommy!"

I felt a lot better after that :) (And the really yummy artisan-ish Earl Gray tea I got from my awesome Bitchcake swap partner didn't hurt, either.)

Now if I could just do something about the gray today... and yeah, I know that yesterdray was gorgeous and sunny. I didn't say I'd totally finished whining you know ;)

It burns

2009-03-28T18:57:00.003-04:00

I'm burned out. I'm tired. I'm emotionally drained. I know it'll come back, but right now I do NOT have much parenting mojo. I want to be away.

It burns.

My Juno

2009-03-22T15:37:00.003-04:00

I finished my Juno Regina stole! In fact, I finished it about a week ago. But then I had to block it (that's getting it wet and pinning it out flat to dry. Knitted lace does not look pretty until it has been blocked!). And get Robert to take pictures. He's really not a sufficiently enthusiastic photographer of my knitting. I know its kind of lame to complain since he DOES take pictures for me, but really- he clearly dislikes the task. Perhaps if I modeled it nude? Except for the knitted garment? But then I wouldn't want to post the pics on Ravelry or my blog. So I guess I'll have to stick with unenthusiastic :)

And with that, here's Juno!

Once I start...

2009-03-18T12:42:00.002-04:00

I can't stop! More pictures. Of Zion as a newborn,

of the shoes we bought this weekend at the Fluevog sale,

and of me and Liel on the train.

Baby Big Boy part 2

2009-03-18T12:35:00.003-04:00

Now with pictures! At Rika's request :)

Here's my boy on the day of his birth:

And 2 days old, relaxing.

And here his was yesterday, handing out his special birthday snack at preschool:

Dressed up in his new armor:

And from this weekend, pushing his sister in the swings:

Baby Big Boy

2009-03-17T19:27:00.003-04:00

Yep. Today is my babybigboy's birthday. Zion is 5! He's in bed now (playing) but he told us that he had "a very happy day". This morning he got a Thing action figure (that's one of the Fantastic Four for you non-comic book fans), then went to school. Robert came at snack time with banana bread that I'd baked this morning (Liel and I were supposed to go too but Liel's cold was rather nasty so we decided not to expose Zion's entire class) and stayed to play and read a story to the class at storytime.

After school Zion's friend Johnny came over and they played for nearly 3 1/2 solid hours. What's extra awesome about Zion + Johnny is that they play SO well together- no supervision or intervention needed. And they have tons of fun.

When Johnny left Zion opened the rest of gifts, all of which were hits. And then, finally, it was the moment he's been waiting for...well, for a long time. We sat down together and watched Star Wars. We told him he could watch it when he turned 5, and he's been eagerly anticipating it, especially as his birthday approached. I'm not sure how much of it he got, but it was probably a fair bit since he's a bright kid and I narrated some of the less clear parts to him. I know it's incredibly geeky, but sitting snuggled up with my kids (yes, Liel got to watch it at age 3. There are benefits to being the younger sibling sometimes, what can I say?) as they heard the Star Wars music and saw the words scrolling across the screen for the first time (I read them aloud for them)? SO AWESOME. Loved it.

We had hamburgers (Zion's choice) for dinner, which I felt was appropriate since that was the first food I ate after his birth 5 years ago. His birth feels like it has been more present in my mind this year than in others. I'm not sure why- the nice round number 5? Or maybe because he's really such a person now. A person who understands and looks forward to his birthday. A person who, when he heard Obi-Wan's disembodied voice for the first time after his run in with Darth Vader's lightsaber, said, "that's his spirit talking". A person who was willing to share some of his brand new Star Wars figures with his little sister. A person who, in short, is just really bright and sweet (mostly. but you know, we're none of us perfect...) and fun to be around. 5 years ago I was exhausted and wobbly and bleeding and amazed at the baby I had grown, and now...now he watches Star Wars and tells me his birthday cake is beautiful and complains about brushing his teeth. 5 years ago he changed my world, and now I am amazed, daily, at the boy I've grown and love.

PS- here a description of Zion by one of his friends. "Well, first of all he is 5. He likes to fight so I'll get us some swords. He likes to wrestle so we can wrestle down the hill, but you'll have to catch us at the bottom. He is fun. I'll introduce you to him."

Oh weekend my weekend

2009-03-13T21:51:00.002-04:00

First an update on Liel. I talked to one of her teachers about helping Liel learn to join other kid's games. She was very receptive and reassuring because, frankly, she's awesome. And I arranged a playdate! Kind of more with my friend (the mama) then Liel's (the son) but hey. And Liel was pleased when I told her Nicholas was coming over after school. As if that weren't enough, she was actually playing with other kids on the playground when I got to school for pickup! So, that was all pretty good. I know she'll learn. This is just a first for us cause Zion's learning to play issue was about learning to compromise- he'd rather have played by himself than change his game AT ALL. Different kids different challenges, I know :)

On Sunday we're having a birthday party for Zion. He wasn't interested in having a friend party (this was the first year we'd offered and he'd never asked) because he's really really excited about watching Star Wars on his birthday. He thought having a party might get in the way of his One True Goal, you see. But, he did want to see Aunt Giselle and Uncle Kenny so they're coming up for blueberry grunt and whatever else my big boy thinks would be tasty.

I didn't have any particular plans for tomorrow. Until my friend Julie told me about the NYC Fluevog sale. It's a one weekend sale, and they're digging out all the leftover vintage fluevogs from storage and selling them cheap. Resistance was futile. Bright and early tomorrow morning Robert and the kids and I are headed down to Manhattan for shoes, gelato and candy. Probably lunch, too. I'm meeting a knitting friend at the shoe store and we're going to see a couple other friends too.

Speaking of knitting, I'm on the 6th chart of Juno! Realllly hoping I can finish this weekend...

Social anxiety

2009-03-12T19:37:00.002-04:00

I don't really have social anxiety :) But I am feeling kind of socially awkward tonight so you get to be the lucky recipients of my stressed out typing!

Liel is the 2nd youngest kid in her preschool class (the youngest is a week younger than she, the oldest nearly a year older). Her teachers told us that her interactive play skills are lagging behind her classmates, though they are not inappropriate for her age (cause, again, she's so much younger than many/most of them). But the thing is...Liel can and does play interactively. At home. With Zion. But at school she is shy. So shy. And it doesn't help that her tentative early attempts to play with her classmates were, in some cases, met with preschool hostilty. Nothing personal, I'm sure, but it was very upsetting for her.

So, she likes school. Or rather she likes parts of it. She loves the crafts, and painting, and playing with the puzzles (by herself) and building with blocks (by herself) and running around on the playground (by herself). But aside from a handful of days when she's had successful social interactions with her classmates any mention of "friends" or "playing with friends" causes her to go quiet and snuffle on Fluffy.

Tonight she told me, in a sad little voice, that she wasn't going to play with anyone at school tomorrow. I asked her if that was because she was having trouble figuring out how to join in her friends games and she eventually admitted that that was (at least part) of the problem. I was trying to spin it in a way where no one is to blame, see? Anyway, I asked her if she'd like her teachers to help her with that and she said yes. I'm really hoping they can- there are 16 or 17 3-4 year olds in her class and even with 3 adults that's a lot to keep track of.

And Robert pointed out that we should be more proactive here too, because although Liel has been at her preschool for 6 months now she has never had anyone over to play- nor has anyone asked her to come over. Bad mama and daddy. She's more comfortable at home and I think it would help her learn to play with kids at school if she could play with them at home first. And, I must admit, part of me feels a little rejected- for both of us. How come no one wants to set up playdates with us? (Yes, yes, I know I haven't set any up either! But I didn't say it was rational :))

If I try to stay calm about it I know that it took Zion a while to start playing with his classmates at school, too, and to have them over to play and vice versa. Our preschool starts at age 2, but we choose to start our kids at 3, so there is an existing social structure among kids AND parents that we have to negotiate. It took a while in Zion's class, too. Damn Northeasterners. As my friend K says, "In California people will meet you and be like, 'I love you! Let's be best friends. But if you screw with me, I'll hate you forever. But I don't think you will cause you are so sweet!' and in New York people meet you and go, 'You're gonna screw me, aren't you??' and then, a year later, 'Well, I still think you're gonna screw me. But...have a sandwhich.' and finally, "I guess you're not going to screw me. So...we can be friends'." I takes a while.

But it doesn't make me feel better right now. I don't want Liel to feel sad.

YAWN

2009-03-05T19:17:00.003-05:00

Kids are in bed. Ah, silence.

It has been an odd week at our house, and will continue to be a bit off kilter for a few more days. On Tuesday night I went out with a friend after the kids were in bed, so R and I didn't hang out that night. On Wednesdays he teaches late so I'm always on my own with the kids- that part was normal. But again, R and I didn't get to hang out. Today R is having dinner with an old friend in Manhattan so...it was just me and the kids again. And R and I won't get to hang out. Tomorrow it's our turn to be helping in Liel's classroom...which really means it's my turn. That's not a crack at Robert at all, but Liel would probably freak the fuck out if he went instead of me. She's in a bit of a mommy phase (tho it does seem to be letting up a bit). Soooo again we won't see each other (and classroom participation days come about once a month for us with 2 kids in the school. So not that often, yk?).

Sunday Robert is giving a talk at a church in Dutchess county, so he'll be gone a chunk of the day. And I'm pretty sure that Monday night is the monthly board meeting for the preschool. Man, I'm tired just thinking about it! And yes, I know I am a total wuss, especially compared to single parents.

Anyway. Sara, my friend Jill got the hat, sorry! Buzz me if you want to talk knitting tho, OK?

There was more. But I forget.

Hats

2009-03-04T16:01:00.001-05:00

I haz hat for someone locally! Anyone want a gray-ish purple super soft wool hat? Fresh off the needles, just isn't what I was wanting when I started knitting :) Let me know if I actually knit it for you!

Contest results!

2009-03-02T15:15:00.002-05:00

I've added it all up boys and girls, and the results for Contest 09 are in! There were a lucky 13 entries that actually had correct responses.

VAL- 9 correct (or mostly correct) answers!
BECKA- 9 correct (or mostly correct)!

We have a tie! Bec and Val, pls let me know if you prefer the mittens or hat. If you both want the same thing I'll do a random drawing :)

ROBERT - 8 correct

SKYE- 5 correct

DEIRDRE and ROBIN- 4 correct

MEL and SARA- 2 correct

STACIE and MARCIA- 1 correct

And I think that's everyone :) Thanks for playing! And be sure to tune in next year for another (hopefully more frequently updated :P) installment of Blog Contest!

And you may say to yourself: this is not my beautiful wife!

2009-02-28T21:35:00.002-05:00

Man, I really fell down on the contest this year, right? Well, one more try before the month is out!

I've been majorly stressing over this whole Japan thing. And I think, think that we aren't going to go after all. It doesn't feel FUN! It feels like work and stress. So, fuck that. We can go when it's fun. In the meantime, California awaits. Just gotta figure out our housing situation there. Know anyone who wants to swap for a month in the Hudson Valley?

Speaking of the Hudson Valley- I appreciated having a proper winter this year, but I'm realllly ready for spring now. Cold is good for wearing stuff I've knit, but it's also, well, cold. My poor body wants to put on a little extra layer of fat for protection! And frankly, I think chocolate wants me too also. Why else would it be so tempting and delicious?

Finally, I'm working on a new tattoo plan. I'm excited, but I'd be over the moon if I felt really good about the artist. I want Karen in Texas to do it, but, well, she's in Texas. Talked to a guy here about it today and he seems nice enough, but the promised phone call from the appointment maker hasn't materialized. There are some artists I'd be thrilled with in Manhattan, but I'm going to need 3-4 sessions to complete this baby and I know I won't want to haul my ass down there. What's a girl to do?

Don't know what a sliderule is for

2009-02-22T14:54:00.004-05:00

I sold a lot of yarn this week- 7 skeins! Think that's not a lot? Well it takes me approximately 6 hours to create 1 skein. So that's a whole week's worth of work, and I've been scrambling to put more stuff up in my shop. Not that I'm complaining...I'm thrilled that people like and buy my handspun yarn!

Yesterday we went to Harlem with a friend and had chicken and waffles. YUM. Seriously, why don't we go more often? It was all of a 40 min trip. And I really like fried chicken. Or nearly anything fried, really. We also ordered some fresh lemonade, which the kids enthusiastically guzzled. After his second sip Zion cheerfully announced that, "Lemonade is fucking delicious!". Our (childless) friend said it was the cutest thing she'd ever heard.

We also had a fun time keeping a watchful eye on our bank this week. They misplaced a check I deposited at the beginning of the month, and that took a few phone calls and trips to the bank to resolve. Happily it is resolved now, according to the letter they mailed me. The banker says the money will show up in my account on Monday, so I'll reserve final judgment until then. That'll teach me to go to human teller instead of an ATM.

Streets are uneven, when you're down

2009-02-18T21:14:00.002-05:00

Don't worry, I'm not actually down :) Well, maybe just a little, because the kids have been sick. Again. I can't wait for spring!! Poor Zion has such a bad cough...he was lucky to go 2 minutes without coughing today, and I wish I were exaggerating. Exhausting for him, me, and Liel. I made him a cough syrup out of apple cider vinegar, honey, water, cayenne, and ginger. At first he complained about it burning his throat (it does a bit- I tried it first) but when it became apparent that it actually gave him a few minutes of rest from the coughing he started telling me how much he liked, "the spicy cough medicine".

So anyway, as you probably guessed we didn't do much today. I skeined some yarn, spun some yarn, read some stories, made some soup. I talked to Leslie, and discovered both kids had fallen asleep, a clear indicator of their health. We didn't even get any good mail! Though yesterday's haul (including the roving I'm currently spinning) ought to have made up for that. How quickly I forget the mail of yesterday...

We had to turn down two social engagements today, too! I don't think we've ever even been OFFERED two social engagements on the same day since we've lived here. Wait- does that make us sound like social lepers?

Why don't we do it in the road?

2009-02-16T20:33:00.003-05:00

Pop culture trash bitch-fest here. WHY oh why does the Bachelor (the TV show, not the guy) insist on playing "craaaaaazy person!" kinda music when anyone with New Age spiritual beliefs starts talking about them? Why? Is it SO hard to show a little tolerance? Or, barring that (cause I like to make fun of others as much as the next girl), is it so hard to give everyone crap? Cause when someone announces that s/he is a virgin saving him/herself for marriage (yes, there have been both genders of this type on the show), or when someone's dad starts quoting the Bible and explaining how Jesus is the only way the producers do not play the "I'm a crazy whack-job!" music. No, thier beliefs are treated with respect. But when a bachelorette explains her use of positive visualization, or a mom talks about past lives all bets are off.

Phew, glad I got that out of my system ;) And yes, for the record, I was raised New Age, lmao.

Just me and my horsie and a quart of beer

2009-02-15T16:23:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's was tricksy, no? Most of you know the song....it's by the Counting Crows. Yesterday's- not today's, lol. Today's I made easier ;)

Since yesterday I've finished the Twilight series (unless she publishes more of course. And I expect she will). I read #4 today and all you FB users will have to forgive my bragging again, but I read it at 125 pages an hour! That's fast, even for me. I thought I averaged about 100 pages an hour. Now I'll want to keep better track. Cause I'm a dork like that.

Anyway, I don't want to say too much about Twilight since I know some of you have read any/all but are planning to. So there. I am glad to have that crack out of my hair tho ;) Now I can go back to my normal addictions, like spinning and knitting. So much more productive! I have a thing at the end, instead of a headful of someone else's stories :P

Oh and wanna hear something else odd? Zion appears to have independently invented the idea of a cloaking device for spaceships. We've never read or shown him anything with this idea in it and he suggested it to Robert today. Kinda dorky, but cool.

We just look a lot better in blue light

2009-02-14T19:15:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all did something happy and pleasing today :)

I spent the morning reading the 3rd Twilight book. So far the first is def my favorite...but, they all have that enjoyable, anguished teen love thing going on that most of us can related to. If your teen love was unbelievably gorgeous, superhumanly strong, and wickedly dangerous, that is. Rawr.

After my bout of self indulgence I took the kids to a Valentine's Day party at our friends house so Robert could get a well deserved rest and do some work. That paper he's giving in Japan isn't writing itself, you know ;) The party was fabulous, loud, sweet, had plenty of wine available, and nearly all my favorite people in town were there so it was a good time. One friend, who travels often with her children (ages 6 and 4 years) assured me that the 14 hour flight to Tokyo would be "no problem". Her kids have rather different personalities than mine, but I did feel somewhat hopeful after talking to her. Shortly afterwards I mentioned the trip to another friend. He looked slightly horrified and said, "That flight is gonna be hell". How can you argue with a father of 4?

Speaking of hell (it's loosely related, trust me!), Zion has been forming "best friend" bonds among his various toys and action figures lately. This morning he showed Robert two Lego knights who are, apparently, best friends. "See, this one follows this other one around a lot", Zion explained. "Kind of like a pet. Or a demon".

She'll only come out at night

2009-02-12T21:18:00.002-05:00

For those 8 of you who aren't on Facebook, here's my news for the day: I'm reading the Twilight series. Holy shit, that's some good, clean, mindless fun. At least, the first book was. The second is a little too mystery-ish for me. That, and not enough tortured vampire lust. Makes me wonder how I've lived all this time without some tortured vampire lust of my own. Am I missing out on something? The books clearly point to "yes".

Which brings me to interesting fact #2 (c'mon, you know my love affair with vampire lust books is interesting!): apparently most men do not believe a woman when told that they are attractive. However, a far greater percentage- perhaps even a majority, my memory is weak (but I bet Robert will correct me in the comments :P)- will believe a woman when told that they are dangerous. Dangerous, vampires, lust...it all adds up, methinks. Deliciously, I might add.

The good people of the world are washing their cars

2009-02-11T10:20:00.003-05:00

So, no more book clues, I think, yesterday's didn't work out so well :) Back to music! It's in the post title, as usual.

This morning as I was getting ready to walk the kids to school Zion came in and said, "Mommy, Liel drew on the wall."

I came skidding out into the hall, and yes, he was correct- purple crayon on the wall. "Liel", I said, "Is it OK to draw on the wall?"

"I didn't!", she howled. "Zion did." This, I knew, was about as likely as pigs flying. Zion has little interest in crayons or markers and has some of that first-born rule lovingness in him.

"Liel", I said. "Is it OK to draw on the wall?"

Liel threw herself on the floor. "Zion drew on the wall!", she wailed.

"She also drew on your bookshelf", Zion interjected helpfully. "But, that's OK because the bookshelf is dark".

"What?!" Rushed over to book shelf. Yes indeed, one shelf with a large patch of blue crayon, another with a small area of black crayon, and a third with a dash of green marker. "That isn't OK, either! Crayons and markers are for paper, not walls, or furniture, or clothes."

"Zion did it!", Liel shrieked.

"Liel", I tried again, "I know that you are sorry and wishing you hadn't drawn on the wall and the bookshelf, but that doesn't mean that Zion did it. Now, is it OK to draw on the wall?"

It's a wonder we made it to school on time.

Isn't it pretty to think so?

2009-02-10T09:59:00.002-05:00

Good morning! Today's clue (hopefully today's FIRST clue, but I'm learning not to make these kinds of promises) is in the post title BUT! I have a hint for you: this is from a BOOK, not a song.

Last night was the monthly board meeting for the nursery school co-op to which we belong. I'm feeling fretful about the board next year as 7 of the 10 board members will be leaving. And thus far no one has stepped up to replace them! I mean, I know we have some months yet, but geez. Nerve wracking. I seem to be more anxious about this than anyone else, so hopefully their zen is correct (and will rub off on me). In the meantime I suppose I should start accosting other parents in the halls and insisting that they tell me which position I can count on them to fill. After all, some of the positions are more labor intensive than others! Yup. This sounds like a good strategy to me.

After Zion is done with school today we're going out to buy Valentine making supplies. And yes, I realize we are rather behind on this, especially since we have so much far-flung family who surely deserve Valentines. And they will get them, just several days after the holiday has past. I like to think that will make my children's creations all the more special, cause I'm good at finding the positive spin like that.

I walk through her hills cause she knows who I am

2009-02-08T19:48:00.002-05:00

Today was a total tease as far as weather goes. We've been promised this warm up. It was going to be in the 50s! Robert tells me it was in the 60s in Chicago yesterday! And it was sunny here. So this afternoon we took the kids outside to walk to the park. We got as far as next door before we realized we didn't have Fluffy. Robert ran back to get him while the kids and I continued up the block. 4 houses further on and the wind was so biting that Zion announced he was cold, and wanted to go back for his down coat (he had on a wool sweater and a windproof, fleece lined jacket). So we went back just as Robert came out with fluffy and we all put more clothes on.

But it was STILL freezing. And yes, I know I'm a total wuss about cold. But the wind! So we just went to the track up the block and visited the flock of Canadian geese who were browsing around for bugs there. That was fun until I noticed that that there was goose shit everywhere. After that it was pretty gross, and cold. Did I mention cold? Then Liel dropped Fluffy and since the whole field was apparently nothing but one big goose toilet he fell in goose poop. Much to our surprise she immediately agreed to my suggestion that he should be washed and Robert shooed my off home with Fluffy in hand before Liel could change her mind. I was delighted. I got to be warm AND wash Fluffy, who had really been needing it for a while.

She was surprisingly patient during Fluffy's wash/dry time. Normally she spends the whole time he's in the wash asking when he will be done and moping around the door to the downstairs. Today she played with play-doh (she made footprints in the play-doh with every toy she could find) and we read poetry. Around dinner time she got a bit antsy, but not too badly. And after dinner it was wicked cute to watch her rush downstairs and come bounding up squealing, "Fluffy jumped into my arms!"

How bizarre

2009-02-07T08:17:00.002-05:00

I thought you all loved me. *Sniffle* and now no one except Val (who clearly DOES love me...kisses to Val!) is playing my game? *sigh*

OK, got that out of my system :) Sorry I forgot to post another entry yesterday! It was a day full of small business. First off it was our turn in Zion's classroom, as I bitched about on Thursday. It was really fun being in his classroom (it always is) but it eats up the entire morning, yk? Then I had to run to Target for my meds, which I narrowly managed to get since it turns out that the entire pharmacy shuts down for lunch. Who knew?? By then it was 2pm and my fundamental laziness kicked in. So we decided to go to the new burger joint in town (the Nyack Burger Hop! Such a nostalgic name! LOL) for dinner. It was good...but slow. But, it's new, so I imagine and hope it will speed up. Also annoying: no pickles. Who gives me burgers with no pickles (and, I was told there would be pickles! Feeling a little like Milton now... :P)?? Of course, they would've paled compared to Erica's so I probably shouldn't complain.

All of this reminds me: I need to order meat from Alan! Oh Alan, how we love you and your tasty, tasty cows....

Bow down before the one you serve

2009-02-05T20:54:00.003-05:00

Late tonight! My boy is sick- ear infection, I think. He was really sick mostly while Robert was at work. At bedtime he was feeling a little better so we'll see if school is in the cards tomorrow or not. Annoyingly someone (me) will have to go to school tomorrow whether or not Zion does cause it's our participation day. I gotta tell you, as much as I love the fact that our nursery school HAS mandatory parent participation, it's kinda wearing on me a bit this year with 2 kids at the school. Seems like I'm in there ever other week. And it's going to be that often if we go to Japan cause I'll have to swap our May and June days for days in April and March. Meh. At least when we homeschool I won't have to actually GO anywhere to participate.

Also, to clarify: you don't have to be the first person to post the correct answer. If you know, post! You'll get credit :)

PS I really really want one of these bags from Bayan Hippo. I'm just sayin'. Really. A lot.

It might not be that bad, you were the best I ever had

2009-02-04T16:49:00.003-05:00

Did I say I'd post in the mornings? Cause I must have meant afternoons :P

Robin asked about lifelines yesterday and I did allow them last year. So I'll allow them again this year! Only rule is that you must TALK to your lifeline- no emailing/iming/texting, k?

This morning while the kids were at school I did a little work on my newest lace project- the Juno Regina Stole from knitty. Ganked pic:

I'm knitting mine in a gorgeous green yarn (Wollmeise in Farn for you yarnies out there), and loving it, tho I have QUITE a long way to go yet. Speaking of lace, here's a pic of the shawl I asked for yarn opinions on last month! Sorry the pics are kinda crappy- I don't have one of me wearing it yet. I'm enjoying lace knitting more than I have in the past- in part because I'm knitting in fingering weight yarn (as opposed to laceweight) and in part because I've figured out which patterns are most likely to drive me batshit crazy, and I avoid them.

Wow that picture really leaves a lot to be desired. I'll try to get an action shot this weekend!

Oh Lord, Won't You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz

2009-02-03T15:04:00.003-05:00

There's your clue for the day, kids :)

Actually, I don't really care about Mercedes. What I *would* like are some tickets to Japan! After 24 hours it's become clear that going without the kids isn't going to happen. I just don't want to leave them, and it's not clear we could actually get anyone to stay with them for a week anyway. So it's either Robert going to Japan alone, or all of us. If we all go we'll probably try to roll it into our already-planned trip to CA in June. I hope y'all like reading my angst filled musings on this subject cause I can assure that you will see them a lot until this whole thing is resolved ;)

In other news Liel has recently dubbed herself "Fluffy's mommy". In addition to being adorable she's also carrying on a family tradition; her Aunt Giselle titled herself, "Dolly mama" when she was a wee lass. Only this apparently came out "Dodgey mama" in her baby voice, and she insisted upon being addressed that way. That's one of those things that makes you feel all warm and cozy, isn't it? On the way to Trader Joe's today Liel informed me that, "there are TWO mommies in our family", because she is Fluffy's mommy. Then she rattled off an extended narrative about Fluffy's mommy and her exploits, but I didn't catch much of it over the noise of the car. I'm sure it was terribly cute.

I'm big in Japan

2009-02-02T16:11:00.003-05:00

The title of this post is entry #2, which catches us up contest-wise (good thing I didn't forget the month for longer!).

I forgot to note that aside from today answers will need to be in before I post a new entry. I'll generally do this in the morning.

The Japan thing is really on my mind right now. Robert just had a paper accepted for a conference in Kobe in May. He's going to try to get funding from the college for his trip, and he asked me today if the kids and I wanted to come along and spend a week in Japan. The college will NOT pay for this (they probably won't even pay for R's entire trip; going to Japan is expensive).

The options, as I see them, are: 1. stay home with the kids 2. go to Japan with the kids 3. go to Japan without the kids. I'm not entirely satisfied with any of them, though for very different reasons. 1. isn't great because I love love love to travel and haven't been anywhere in ages. I'd be a little envious if Robert got to go to Japan without me. 2. isn't great because holy crap, it's expensive to fly 4 people to Japan! Plus I wonder how much the kids will really get out of such a trip. Is the money worth it? 3. isn't great because I don't want to be away from my kids for that long! And they only even have a babysitter maybe once a year, and have never spent a night away from both of us (actually, they've never spent a night away from me). I'm pretty sure Robert will veto this idea anyway, on the grounds that he isn't comfortable being so far away from our kids when they are so little.

What to do, what to do...

First

2009-02-02T10:24:00.004-05:00

Here it is! The first in the contest. Please don't look at other people's comments until after you've posted yours, OK?

Wait, what?! aka, the Rulebook

2009-02-02T09:58:00.003-05:00

As I was sitting here just now a little voice in my head (oh come on, I know you have them too!) said, "Oh crap, it's February!". So then I said, "Oh crap!" too. I missed a whole contest day! So, to make up for it, I'm going to post two entries or whatever they are today. OK?

So, here's the deal for this year's February contest. We all need a little something in February, right? Up here in cold land its....cold. And will be cold for this month, and next month, too. But we are tired of the cold! I know those of you in warmer climates don't suffer this particular horror, but I love you anyway. Enter: The February Dodge a Wrench Contest! Each day I will post something for you to guess at. It could be song lyrics, a movie quote, a work of art...you get the idea. If you know what the thing in question is, post the answer (or as much information as you can) in a comment. Please, for the love of whatever it is that you love, do not Google to find the answer. I might not be able to tell (or CAN I??), but it's bad karma, yo. Play honest.

Ideally I'd like to see song title/movie title/artwork title and artist/actor in the answer. If you only know part of the answer, go ahead and post that...I do give partial credit. At the end of the month I go through and tally up who got the most right answers and that person gets...a prize! Her choice of the hat or fingerless mitts I posted last month. If a boy happens to win (and I'm downing on boys, it's just that 95% of my loyal readers are girls), I will do something else for him- knit him a manly hat, most likely. The second place winner will get whatever the first place winner doesn't choose.

Good? Good. First entry coming up!

Juvenile

2009-01-28T16:35:00.003-05:00

The street that runs parallel to ours is called Sickle Avenue. There are some really pretty houses on it (prettier than our street), but every time I try to even imagine living in one of them (since around here imagining is all I can do!) I run up against the name of the street. Sickle? Like, sick? Sickle cell anemia? Not pleasant images, even if the tool with the same name isn't half bad. And I hear that houses on streets with less appealing names tend to sit on the market longer, and sell for less money than their counterparts with more poetic monikers.

Anyway...this article from the New York times combines my love of juvenile humor and odd place names. Enjoy!

Contest's a-comin'- Part 2!

2009-01-23T20:38:00.003-05:00

Another prize spoiler! I still don't have the contest nailed down, but fresh off the needles I offer another prize for you darlings:

Fingerless gloves are a staple in my wardrobe (just ask Robert how many pairs I have!). They are cute, useful, and keep my hands surprisingly warm. I hope you love them, too!

Weird genetics

2009-01-22T19:30:00.002-05:00

When I was a little kid I used to make up songs quite a bit (at least, if the cassette tape evidence is to be trusted). They were not lyrical or musical masterpieces; just sing-songy accounts of the details of my preschool life. A verse that sticks out in my mind (thanks to the aforementioned cassette tapes) went: "I'm a little girl/I drink water/From a bottle/Every, every second day".

I should be up for a grammy, right?

Anyway, Liel has started doing the very same thing. Pretty odd. Hilarious, too. Yesterday I overheard her singing: "Oy-Boy did something mean/To his sister/And his mother and father/Told him not to".

Sometimes, he listens

2009-01-21T19:47:00.002-05:00

Nearly every night as we sit down to dinner Robert says, "Thank you for making dinner, sweetheart". I love it, and really appreciate that he takes the time to acknowledge my cooking every day. It's amazing.

The kids, in contrast, tend to sit down and say, "Can I have ketchup?", or "What is this? I don't liiiike it!". The answer to the first question is generally yes, and the second tends to get a reply of, "Yes, you do actually, but it doesn't matter because that's what's for dinner so you need to eat it anyway".

As of today we are back in the semester schedule which means Robert is not home for dinner or bedtime on Wednesday nights. When I brought dinner out tonight Zion said, "Mmmm, yummy. Thank you for making dinner, mommy!" I almost fell over with delight, but showered him with kisses instead.

This mortal coil

2009-01-19T18:31:00.003-05:00

We try to strike a matter of fact tone when discussing death (animal/meat or human) with the kids. After all, we reason, death is a normal part of life, and nothing that needs to be scarier or sadder than it already is.

Tonight Zion overheard Robert and I discussing someone who was somewhat recently deceased. "Daddy?", he said, "When are you going to die?"

This isn't the first time he's asked such a question and I answered like I always do (even though the question wasn't directed at me. Notice that? Never miss a chance to give your opinion!). "Not for a long while, sweetie", I said. "Most men in this country live into their 70's, and Daddy is only in his 30's. So he's probably got 40 years or so, and that's quite a long time, especially in terms of your life reference".

"When will Ajax die?", Zion asked.

"Pretty soon", Robert said. I looked at him funny- Ajax is 5 years old.

"Not that soon", I pointed out.

"Yeah, in about 10 years", R agreed. I guess we have a different perception of time. Mine's right, of course.

Zion stared at us thoughtfully. "After Ajax dies", he said, and I mentally flipped through the list of possible endings to this sentence- can we get a rabbit? a dog? another cat? But no..."can we keep him? As a decoration?"

Robert and I struggled not to laugh, which lasted about a millisecond before we burst out snorting.

"Um, what kind of decoration?", I asked. "Were you envisioning his whole body or just his head?"

"Just his head", Zion said.

"Well", said Robert, "If you really want to do that when Ajax dies maybe we'll talk to a taxidermist. That's a person who takes dead animals and turns them into..."

"Decorations", I said, helpfully.

"Yeah.", said Robert.

Zion seemed satisfied. And we moved on. When Robert and I relived the hilarity later on we discovered that while I had envisioned Ajax's head mounted like a trophy Robert had envisioned it stuffed and...just loose, like a ball. That Zion might toss to one of his friends, who would catch it not realizing what it was. Kid comes by it naturally, I guess.

Planning ahead

2009-01-15T09:36:00.002-05:00

One of Zion's best friends is a girl at his preschool, G. He and G play really well together and G has recently told both her mom and Zion that she plans to marry Zion. Robert and I are all for this (when the kids are in their 20s of course!), cause we adore G and her family.

This morning when Zion was getting ready for school I had to send him back to put a sweater on because it's 15 degrees out and even the 2 block walk is chilly then you know? He came out with the pirate sweater I knit for him last year, complaining that it was too small and didn't belong in his drawer. He asked Liel if she wanted it, and she complained that she didn't like orange (the kids got up at 6am today, can you tell? I can!). I told her it was fine, she didn't have to take the sweater; we could send it to someone else. Then, as I stared at the sweater (the first one I knit for Zion!) I got a little nostalgic and said, "Actually Zion, maybe we'll keep this one and your kids can have it some day".

Zion looked at the sweater appraisingly. "Yes", he said, "G and I might want this for our children".

I looked at Robert, who was behind Zion and totally cracking up. Mistake! Then I found it harder not to smile. "OK, good", I said.

Zion took the sweater over to Robert. "Mommy thinks we should keep this so G and I can give it to our children", he explained, "and I think that sounds about right."

G-d willing!!

Gender play

2009-01-10T14:43:00.002-05:00

Without going into too much controversy I think we can all agree that boys and girls are different, right? The nature of this difference...or perhaps the nurture...remains up for grabs, but it's still there, the difference.

Robert and Zion began reading some of R's old X-Men comic books a couple months ago. Zion was entranced and they read most days. For Hanukkah we bought several X-Man action figures, including his most dearly beloved, Wolverine.

Liel was interested in the X-Men comic books too, but being 3 her attention span is shorter and she stuck around for far shorter periods of reading time than her brother. Still, she developed a fondness for certain X-Men as well, most notably Phoenix/Jean Gray. So we bought her a Phoenix action figure for Hanukkah.

As the weeks have gone by a very distinct difference in Zion and Liel's play with the X-Men toys has developed. Zion plays with them more or less the way you might expect. Wolverine fights people, snickts his claws, brawls, kills, and usually defeats evil. Zion also liks to mix things up by playing bad guys and they behave in a nearly indentical manner (he also gives them powers they don't actually posses in the Marvel canon, annoying the crap out of his father who plays these games with him daily). Liel's Phoenix does some fighting too, but mostly? She is a social creature. She has parties (and not just Phoenix, either...today Liel had a tea party for the Hulk and Colasses), lives with people, sleeps, gets up, eats breakfast. Liel is so interested in the relationships that Phoenix forms that she now owns Cyclops (Phoenix's boyfriend/husband in the comic books) as well. When we play make believe games involving family members as X-Men (Zion is Wolverine, naturally. Liel is Phoenix. Robert is Colasses (Zion chose this) and I am Storm) Zion likes us to hunt bad guys and fight. Liel will sidle up to me and say, "Hello! I'm Phoenix! What's your name?".

To which I reply, "I'm Storm!", and make some suggestion of what we might do (always enthusiastically accepted and rarely acted upon. Mostly she likes to repeat this introduction).

Today I said, "Hi Phoenix! I'm Storm. Do you have any super powers?"

"Huh!", said Liel, in her little piping voice. "I can crush people with my mind! Do you have an extra bed I can use?"

Contest's a-comin'

2009-01-10T13:53:00.002-05:00

I'm going to do another contest this February! I haven't decided on the details yet...might be a 90's song lyrics event, or quotes from movies, or trivia about books, or a "name that piece of art" deal. Or a combination!

But I finished at least one of the prizes for the contest this morning!

Food laws

2009-01-04T18:21:00.002-05:00

I made chicken fried steak for dinner tonight. Liel (much like my brother) has always been a huge carnivore. She plowed right into her steak.

As dinner was winding down she said, "Mommy, we can still eat meat, even though it is delicious!"

A 2 cup day

2009-01-03T13:33:00.002-05:00

Pretty much every morning I have a cup of tea. I can't have it right when I wake up (meds) and I can function without it, but I like having it. I'd have more, but I fear caffeine addiction. When the post-apocalyptic future comes those withdrawls would hurt!

Some days, though, I just need more caffeine. Today is one of those days (and for no good reason, I might add. Slept a usual amount, nothing too tiring or stressful going on...), and my second cup of tea is brewing on the counter right now. I always hesitate a bit before I make a second cup. Am I going down a path I'd best avoid?

As I was standing in the kitchen having these thoughts a few minutes ago I suddenly realized how totally lame they are. I mean, seriously, give me a fucking break. Or stop my descent into lameness. Both would actually be best, don't you think? Here I am, 32 years old and fretting about whether or not two cups of tea in a day is too much caffeine. Man, my substance/health questions used to be so much cooler. Edgier. Next thing you know I'll be afeared of spicy food, or "allergic" to vegetables.

I think the first step is to drink more wine. Robert will be pleased (if I actually manage it, that is. Did I mention that I tend to get sleepy after a glass of wine? Unless I keep up a good pace of drinking, I'll be passed out on the couch in no time)!

Jebus, man. 2 cups of tea?? I reckon I could get my ass kicked for worrying about something like that.

What a girl needs

2009-01-02T16:17:00.001-05:00

Robert is playing some game with the kids that involves them pretending to be in eggs and him hatching them.

Suddenly, from their room, I heard Liel shouting, "Diamonds! Give me diamonds, daddy! DIAMONDS!"

One last post for 2008

2008-12-31T22:24:00.003-05:00

It snowed today! We were forecast rain last I checked (aka last Robert checked and I asked him), so this was quite a bit better and more exciting. Zion can get his own snow clothes on, and pretty quickly, too. It rocks, and was especially awesome today as he wanted to go outside every time Robert shoveled the driveway, and I didn't have to do a thing. Life is good.

Which is really the point of this post. Life here is good, and I am thankful. Sending energy and prayers to G-d and the universe for a peaceful, happy, healthy 2009 for all of us.

XOXO

The difference between you and me

2008-12-30T14:54:00.003-05:00

This morning when I got up Robert was eating breakfast. Toast, with small slices of something white on top. He came and sat next to me while he ate and it was immediately apparent what the white slices were: raw garlic. I pointed out that he was going to be smelling very pungent for a while and he mumbled something about wanting garlic bread.

"But you don't make garlic bread with big slices of garlic!", I pointed out. "If you want garlic toast you rub the clove on the bread". (That's what my Jewish grandmother did. And great-grandmother. And mother. So I'm sticking to it! Even if I am a little surprised, in retrospect that my mom would feed us (and we would eat) rye toast with garlic rubbed on it for breakfast.)

"It wasn't that good", Robert admitted. "The garlic was really sharp".

"So why did you eat it?? After a bite of that I would've just brushed the garlic off". Sometimes I'm so reasonable it's amazing.

Robert looked a little shifty eyed. You that look people get when they can't answer a perfectly logical question? Yeah. "Well, um, it's good for my prostate?", he offered. "You wouldn't want me to get prostate cancer would you? You know I never go to the doctor..."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, because going to the doctor prevents prostate cancer. You know, you still didn't need to eat all that sharp raw garlic".

Robert ate a candy cane. Then he smelled like peppermint. And garlic.

Color-ish

2008-12-29T21:07:00.002-05:00

My Rav girls are doing a lace knit-a-long (KAL) starting in January. January 2- March 2 we are doing triangular shawls, and February 2- April 2 rectangular stoles. All the pics below are ganked (ie totally not mine).

For the triangles I'm doing Icarus, which looks like this:

So here's the Very Important Question: should I do it in Wollmeise in Sonne?

Or Wollmeise in Gewitterhimmel?

My magic wand

2008-12-25T21:53:00.002-05:00

Kenn and Giselle are here tonight (en route to Montreal), so the kids got their Hanukkah gifts from them a few hours ago. One of Liel's gifts was a magic wand, like this (she's sleeping with hers so I can't show you the actual piece).

I know it's small, but you get the idea, right? OK, so after dinner the kids were running around in the living room playing with their new toys. Liel was nearly naked (for once it was my doing- we'd had spaghetti and meatballs and she had had chocolate milk. And did I mention she was wearing a white shirt? It was a disaster waiting to happen, I tell you. A laundry disaster), clad only in a pair of Tinkerbelle undies. I glanced over at their play when I heard Liel announce, "I'm going to put my magic wand in my pocket!"

What pocket? I wondered.

Liel stuffed the wand in her Tinkerbelle shorts. It poked out, pointing up at the ceiling while she continued to play, and her aunt, uncle, grandmother and I laughed so hard we cried (her father was washing dishes and missed the whole thing and her grandfather was very absorbed in his quinoa and red sauce right then).

More yarnz

2008-12-22T21:14:00.004-05:00

Someday you may get tired of seeing the yarns I've spun. And I trust that, should that sad day ever come, you will keep it to yourself :)

So, here's the second yarn off my wheel! It is Corriedale (that's the breed of sheep), and 120 yards. I call this yarn "Blue Steel". Heh.

I turned it into this!

Third yarn off the wheel- I really got the hang of drafting while spinning on this one. Falkland wool, 160 yards.

Fourth yarn, completed this weekend. Blue-faced Leicester, 170 yards.

I've been fairly stressed lately (hence the lack of blogging) and spinning has been incredibly relaxing and full of awesome. I think the stress stuff is on the decline so with a little luck I'll get back in the blogging saddle, if for no other reason than to show of my ~~babies~~ ~~yarn~~ kids. Or something.

Scent

2008-12-16T16:19:00.002-05:00

Just a bit of pimping for my favorite perfumer! Right now Possets is having a "Buy something get a free bottle" sale. HOLY CRAP! Free bottles of perfume. And Fabienne's work is gorgeous, too. Run right over! Sale goes til January 1, so I guess you don't have to run, but man. Don't miss it.

(For the record I am not affiliated with Possets in any way, other than being a fangirl. High Tea, Texas, and Churpz are my scent staples.)

Mole

2008-12-16T15:33:00.002-05:00

Zion is currently behind the couch pretending that he is a mole and that space is his mole-hole. As he often does when playing this game, he asked me if I were hungry.

"No, thank you", I replied. Past experience has taught me that he doesn't always like me to say yes to this question.

Not today, however. "No mommy", he says, "this is just pretend".

"Ok. Yes, I am hungry!"

"Would you like apple, or grape, or raspberry, or lemon?", he asks.

"Um...lemon.", I say. I wasn't really paying much attention, to be honest. Then the word "raspberry" pops up in my mind and I say, "No, raspberry. Please".

"Not raspberry", says the mole.

"Fine. What do you think I should have?"

"No, no mama. You should choose what you want".

"OK, lemon." I try again.

"No mommy, I think you should have apple. It's smaller". A little hand popped out from behind the couch, proffering a red Mr. Potato-head nose for me to nibble.

Yes, it's all about choosing what I want, you see ;) (and you'll notice that apple wasn't even on the original list. How can I be expected to choose correctly if I'm not even offered all the choices??)

In case you were wondering

2008-12-13T20:18:00.003-05:00

I'm relatively certain that there is at least one person out there wondering what I might like this season of gimme (and possibly as many as 4 people...directly under me). For all of you(s), I present my current wishlist of awesome.

1. Princess Unicorn! I think it might be the only way to get "My horn can pierce the sky!" out of my head. Plus it's princesses. And unicorns. FTW!

2. Spinning fiber, for Cupcake (that's the name I'm test driving for my spinning wheel). Right now I'm digging on the color combos at Laughingratstudio on Etsy- especially Iris, Flowerbox, Orchid, and Pacific. Or other spinning fibers in similar colors? Just no cotton, please. Or pure bamboo. Oh, I really like the pencil roving at Crown Mountain Farms, too!

3. How about a niddy noddy?

4. Needles for lace. Sizes 6 and 4, please.

5. Fake colored hair. I like pink, and blue,and aqua. Been wanting these for ages.

My horn can pierce the sky!!
xoxo

Melodrama

2008-12-11T08:28:00.003-05:00

Zion and Liel are fighting over a plastic Spiderman head with a suction cup on the back. It belongs to Zion (it came with his toothbrush), but our rules about sharing dictate this toy is one that she may play with as long as she didn't, you know, snatch it out of his hand or something.

Zion wailed and threw himself backwards. "Li-EL!", he howled, "I neeeed that! I will DIE if you play with it! Did you know that, Liel? You will kill me if you play with my Spiderman!"

Liel looked over at him curiously. "Are you dead, Zion?"

Yarnz, I makez them!

2008-12-06T12:35:00.003-05:00

It's the first yarn off my wheel!!! I'm on to yarn #2 now...it's a blue/white/gray/black roving.

Newark

2008-12-05T14:07:00.002-05:00

Today I got to go to Newark, NJ. The drive from my house to there isn't very pretty- lots of um, urban grittiness. And while the sun was shining in NY, it was gray and bleak in NJ. Robert said that it looked like an Edward Hopper painting, which was fairly apt.

While driving through Newark I saw at least 6 billboards (sadly I didn't start counting right away) with a picture of a man in a jailhouse jumper and handcuffs. The "get tough" caption read: "Buy a gun for someone who can't, buy yourself 10 years in jail". The subcaption (apparently that's not a word, but I think it should be so there!) advised readers not to "Lie for the other guy".

Yeah. I think that pretty much sums up what I had to say.

Stalking

2008-12-04T13:48:00.002-05:00

The end of the semester is here, and I am happy. I need to write my exams, give my exams, grade my exams, calculate final grades for everyone and by December 15 I should be done, done, done. 11 days, baby! My only regret is that I didn't wear my corset to class this semester. Maybe next fall...

Anyway, it appears I've started stalking yarn (cause, you know, it moves so fast. No, really. It does! With help from crazy people, like me). Wollmeise is having an update tonight and I'm kind of giddy about it. Not giddy enough to stay up all night waiting for it (that's what I have my dear sweet Ravelry friends for!), but still. And Posh is updating her shop on Sunday! Will I get yarn from both of these? Probably not. But I'm excited anyway, which clearly indicates the depths to which I've sunk. Thank G-d I have my Rav girls and Leslie to keep me company down here.

In unrelated news I just ate a ton of deep fried turkey with veganaise. One of my students brought it to me in class today and it was soooo delicious...the perfect lunch. Vegetableless, true, but so full of fat and protein! I can only imagine how much turkey I might've eaten straight out of the frier with it's crispy crispy skin...

My wheel- I loves it

2008-12-03T11:36:00.004-05:00

That's right folks...I am now the proud owner of a spinning wheel! It's an Ashford Traditional, double treadle, single drive, scotch tensioning. I love, love, love it. It still needs a name tho- I'm working on it.

Here it is, in it's beautiful beautifulness. My spinning still leaves something to be desired, but it will come. And it looks pretty in the picture at least.

Things remembered

2008-11-29T14:38:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time, a very long time ago now, I was watching the Anamaniacs and saw Pinky and the Brain perform a song called "Brain Stem". Even though I could only remember one line ("Hippocampus/neural node/Brain stem! Brain stem!") the song stuck in my head. And stuck in my head. And stuck in my head. And now, probably a decade later, it still pops into my mind from time to time, indicating that it is taking up increasingly valuable brain space. However! A few days ago I realized that the video was surely available on youtube, and it was. Enjoy!

Thankful

2008-11-28T21:27:00.003-05:00

I've kind of fallen down on the whole blogging thing lately...tonight, Becka sweetly pointed out that she was over the "Jump to Conclusions Mat" post, and probably everyone else was, too. So I got off my tired, lazy bum and made this post. Just for you. All of you.

Kenn and Giselle came up yesterday. They discovered a new way of getting to our house, and I must say I like it. I like it so well I'm considering asking my parents to get here the same way when they are out in December. Stay tuned for that. Anyway, we cooked the usual Thanksgiving foods, ate them with great delight, and then went to Craig, Vivienne and Valentina's house for dessert and drinks. Other friends were there too: Abby and Asi with Gari and Eli, and Naomi and Dave with Agatha. The kids played and played and the grown ups ate and drank (Zion ate, too- 3 pieces of pie! Child sized pieces, but still. The boy is just not a big sweets eater, and 98% of the time doesn't even finish dessert). It was all very wonderful.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. First up: Uncle Kenny dancing the turkey! This is a Thanksgiving tradition in our family. Before the turkey is put into the oven it dances, and sings a little song about how much it looks forward to being roasted and eaten. I think it started because my mom sometimes used to dance whole chickens before roasting them, and as adults Kenny and I were delighted to discover that we both do that, too. Zion has always loved watching the chicken dance and we just naturally fell into it with the turkey. Now it is one of the most anticipated traditions of the holiday (really).

Zion, enjoying the leg of the turkey. Someday he and Kenny might have to fight over these.

And Liel, with a mouthful of food, not wanting to smile.

It's a "jump to conclusions" mat!

2008-11-13T13:09:00.002-05:00

OK, not really. You got me. But damn, I love "Office Space"!

Just now Liel and I were looking at the birthday card the Tolls sent her, which has a picture of a dog on the front, and says "celebrate like someone forgot to lock the gate" on the inside. I read the words to Liel and she closed the card and looked at the front again.

"There's a dog on it", she said thoughtfully, "and his people forgot to lock the gate".

We have neither a dog nor a gate (or even a fence), so I was surprised she seemed to get the joke. "That's right", I said,"and what's the dog going to do?"

"Run around!", she said enthusiastically. So I guess she got the joke after all! Clearly I need to give the girl more credit.

Yesterday afternoon Zion was asking about our Dia de los Muertos alter, which we notably forgot to set up this year. "Who do we love that is dead?", he asked.

"Well," I said, "My grandpa, G.G.'s husband. He died when I was a little girl. And my great-grandpa, up there in that picture. You're named after him. And grandpa's brother- Uncle Kenny is named after him".

"How did Grampa's brother die?", Zion asked.

"In a motorcycle accident", I said.

"What happened with the motorcycle?", Zion wanted to know.

"I'm not sure", I said. "It was a long time ago, before I was born and I don't remember. If you want to know we can ask Grampa".

"But...will that make Grampa sad?", Zion wondered.

"It's very nice that you are concerned about Grampa", I said, "but I don't think it will make him sad".

"Because I would not want to make Grampa sad", said Zion.

And here I was, typing up this heartwarming story about how Zion is developing empathy and I hear crying downstairs. Zion and his friend J were fighting bad guys and Zion swung something too near to J and caught him on the side of the face. You win some you lose some, I guess...

Underoos and the like

2008-11-11T13:38:00.003-05:00

I see I touched a happy collective memory nerve with my last post! I had Wonder Woman Underoos, too. Oh how I loved them! About 7 years ago I got it in my head that I needed grown up sized ones. I googled around and found nothing. So I actually emailed the company that makes Underoos and asked them if they were going to make adult sizes. Rather to my surprise I got a personal email back saying that yes, they were planning to make adult sizes in the near future. I checked for about 6 months and then forgot...until yesterday, when someone posted a link to these beauties. The total rad-ness nearly blinded me, and I'm glad it had the same effect on some of you!

I've also been swept off of my feet by bread. Bread?! Yeah, I know. I'm not one of those "eat my weight in bread" types...bread serves a purpose from time to time, but most days I don't eat any at all (and I bake a significant amount of the bread we eat in this house, too!). Anyway, someone recently shared a no-knead bread recipe with me and I just had to try it. Cause even though I let the kitchen-aid do most of my kneading I am apparently so lazy that even that small effort (turning on the machine??) was more than I really wanted to put in. So, I was intrigued, but slightly skeptical. I mean, if you could make good bread without kneading don't you think everyone would be doing it?

So, the night before last I mixed up the dough before bedtime (it sits at least 12 hours) figuring that at worst I'd have wasted 3 cups of flour. I baked it yesterday afternoon, and when we ate the bread last night I wasn't sure which I loved more: the bread, or me (for baking such amazing, delicious bread). I'm about to put a loaf in the oven right now, and will be back later with ~~p0rn~~ pictures.

FINALLY!!

2008-11-10T19:53:00.002-05:00

I have been waiting for these for YEARS. I must have them.

Just leave a comment or send me an email if you need my address ;) Hey, I'll even post pics on the blog!

For Stacie

2008-11-10T14:11:00.003-05:00

My dear friend Stacie tagged me in a game last week! But I'm so lame and slow that it's taken me this long to get around to it. Sorry, Stace!

I'm pretty sure that I'm supposed to list 6 irrelevant facts about myself and then try to get 6 of you to do the same. Hmm, shouldn't be too hard, right??

1. This one time, in Bali, I got a 4 handed massage (two masseurs, one me) and even though that was 7 years ago I still daydream about it. I am a massage piglet, so double the attention = rockstar.

2. Actually, I'm an attention piglet in general, come to think of it.

3. I play a live-on-teh-interwebz high end yarn swap game 1-2 times a week. It's probably the most grown up oriented social activity I do these days, and it's lots of fun.

4. I like my men manly. You know, the dangerous bad boy type who might get in a bar fight before roaring away on his motorcycle? Yeah, that one. As long as there was a good reason for the bar fight. Boys who use hair products (for example) are O-U-T. Oh, and so are boys (celebrities, I'm looking at you!) I've never met. Sorry, oh my thousands of fanboys!

5. Folding and putting away laundry was NOT on my mental to-do list today. Until I came home and saw it on my bed. The laundry is still on my bed (and I'm waging a tough mental battle against it), but it appears I'm going to have to do it at some point today, unless I want to sleep with laundry on my bed. And while I admit that my housekeeping is not really up to snuff, it's not far enough below snuff (whatever the hell that means) for me to do that.

6. I think I cook better when I cook with music and on and love front and center in my heart. Other things are probably better with music, too. Accordingly, I await the soundtrack to my life with minor impatience.

Leslie, Becka, Abby, Lilly, Mel and Robin, give it a whirl!

A day of days

2008-11-07T15:03:00.003-05:00

Because, my darling daughter, it was just 3 years ago this day that you came to be with us in this world. Like your brother you were born at home, but in your case home was on a different edge of the world, in Brooklyn. You were posterior and sunny side up, which made labor a little different, but right before you entered the world you turned and spun (I think it was the not-quite-born equivalent of a leap), entering the world in grace and beauty. The midwife who was attending us even commented on what a beautiful birth you had.

Sweetheart, I love you in, on, around and through all worlds. This morning you said, "Mama, when you were just a little, little girl you wanted to grow up and be my mommy!", which shows your precocious wisdom :)

Happy birthday and MANY happy returns of the day (G-d willing!) Liel!

Pinch me

2008-11-05T14:00:00.002-05:00

I think I'm dreaming. Last night I finally fell asleep around midnight and this morning I woke up at 530am. I couldn't fall back asleep. As soon as I was awake enough to read the clock my brain started in, "Did Obama really win?? What if the polls changed over night? Oh my G-d we actually elected him! Did we???". So I had to get up and check the polls again. And he still won. And I still feel like I'm in a dream.

The first presidential election I remember was the Carter/Regan race of 1980. I was 4 years old and remember being at school the next morning feeling sad. I didn't really know who Regan was, but I knew that my parents had voted for Carter and were disappointed and upset that Regan had been elected.

Zion is 4 1/2. Will he remember this election? Time will tell of course, but I think he will. We took both kids to vote yesterday, as we always do, and Zion asked questions about Obama and the presidential race. This morning when he woke up I told him that Obama had won and he came and sat on my lap an we talked about what that meant. I told him that our new president wouldn't take office until the beginning of the year, and that he would have a lot of work to do because our country wasn't in a very good place right now.

"What kind of things aren't good right now?", Zion asked. So I told him about the economy and the wars and the health care problems. He listened quietly and then said, "Yes. And the old president was not so good. He did not protect endangered animals".

So, I think he will remember. I hope he will remember. And if he does, I'm oh-so-glad that his first election memory will be more positive than mine! Either way I'm loving his interest in and engagement with our political process.

Today I am tired, but glowing.

Halloween

2008-11-01T10:15:00.005-04:00

We had a fun Halloween! Very low key. After nap/quiet time we carved pumpkins.

Then we went to Vivienne, Craig and Valentina's house so the kids could trick or treat together. Their neighborhood is more fun than ours in that respect- there were many houses with lots of decorations and a very Halloween-ish vibe. The kids were uber-cute and had lots of fun!

This morning I presided over the "mandatory allergy trade" wherein Liel gives Zion all her candy with peanuts and he gives her all his candy with eggs and any disparity therein is rectified. Now they've been at me all morning to let them eat candy. And I really do mean ALL morning...Liel ran into my room at 7am with her pumpkin bucket.

Twice in one day!!

2008-10-29T20:08:00.005-04:00

Check me out.

I haven't had much knitting time lately- or at least not as much as I would like. But I did finish these gloves on Monday and I LOVE them!

And, as a total non-sequiter:

Tonight I read the kids a story called Good Night, Gorilla about a Gorilla who lets many of the zoo animals out of their cages so they can all try to sleep in the zoo-keeper's bed. One of the animals is an armadillo and the armadillo is usually Zion's favorite. Tonight he told me that, "If a little chubby armadillo with a stubby little tail and stubby legs and a cute face wanted to sleep in my bed I would snuggle and snuggle him!"

Really, I've done a rather amazing job of passing on my love of chubby/plump/stubby things to my children, wouldn't you say??

Hanging in there

2008-10-29T14:10:00.003-04:00

Still here, more or less. Things have NOT slowed down for us. Our stream of visitors continues, works piles up, kids are...well, you know. Always there. Usually needing or wanting things. Being cute as hell, but taking up all the time in the world plus a few hours and leaving very little for anything else.

Robert's dad and his wife left this morning after a 3 1/2 day visit. Robert leaves at the crack of dawn Saturday for our annual professional conference (it's in Chicago this year), and I'll have the kids on my own for 3 days. He gets back on Monday, and my grandmother arrives on Tuesday. Next Friday is Liel's birthday and next Saturday we'll go down to Brooklyn to celebrate with Kenn and Giselle (and drop my grandmother off for a quick visit with them before she flies home).

I've finally (mostly) recovered from the horrible illness. At the height of it Zion accidentally whacked the crap out of my tooth with his head, giving me a tooth concussion which = my tooth still hurts a week later. Robert's cousin Eryn, who is in dental school tells me I should try not to use it and let the ligaments rest. Good advice, I'm sure, but I've managed to totally forget it until after I've torn off a huge hunk of french bread with my teeth and it starts hurting again. Maybe tomorrow will be my day!

We went thru the usual flip flops in terms of a Halloween costume for Zion this year. In the end he decided he'd like to be a ghost and I finally bought a white sheet for him yesterday. I cut out eyes, shortened it so he wouldn't trip and had a very happy boy. Today he is at a Halloween party dressed as...a ghost? No. Not a ghost. Dressed as some kind of Japanese style gangster in a double breasted suit with a sword. He looks awesome. Becka, it's the suit you sent! He loves it, and looks super sharp. I'll try to take a picture when he comes home.

We've had some beautiful fall weather so I'll leave you with some pictures from our walk to the park a couple days ago and a very weak promise to try to blog more!

Sick. Blah. Funny!

2008-10-22T13:33:00.003-04:00

It's true, I'm sick. Run down. Achey. Can't stop sneezing. And last night, as we were drifting off to sleep I had a coughing fit that ended with me spitting in the trashcan next to my bed.

"Damn, I'm charming", I gasped as I reached for my water.

Robert assured me that he had married me hoping that he would someday get to hear me coughing and spitting into a trashcan. I guess it was his lucky night (but not mine as I had that horrible sick sleep where you're hurting so much you're sure you won't sleep and then you wake up hurting and think you'll never get back to sleep and then...)!

Anyway, someone on Ravelry showed me Engrish.com today and it has brightened my otherwise snot-filled day. Here are some gems for you to enjoy!

You spin me right round...

2008-10-19T19:55:00.002-04:00

I need to edit my "About me" on the blog to reflect that I am now spinning yarn. And I looove it. I told Pete about it yesterday and stunned him into (temporary) silence. Then he said, "I think you've gone over the edge. Pretty soon you're going to be sitting cross-legged, on the floor- topless- with dreadlocks." I assured him that I was most certainly not going to be wandering around topless any time soon but I don't think I convinced him, somehow.

Anyway I actually don't have any pictures of my own fabulous yarn or spindles (I'm not spinning on a wheel but with a drop spindle). Now that I've realized this I'm feeling motivated to take pictures and share them with y'all...tomorrow. I promise! At least some time this week. And really, with the exam grading I'll be doing later in the week, tomorrow is certainly for the best. Yes.

Um, where was I? OH YEAH...spinning. Guess who has been really interested in my spinning, and begging to learn to spin? Zion! So tonight (after our big trip to Rhinebeck for the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival, which resulted in us coming home with 2 lbs of unspun roving to turn into yarn) I sat down with him and we started. I was a little apprehensive, cause I wasn't sure he'd have the fine motor skills to successfully spin and I didn't want to see him feeling frustrated or disappointed in himself or by an activity he had so many positive feelings about. But he did great! I split the wool into a thinnish piece for him and drafted it out just a bit for him. Then I hooked it up to the spindle and held the loose roving away from the spindle so it wouldn't get tangled up and away he went. He's watched me spin a fair bit so he had a good understanding of what he needed do be doing. He was essentially parking and drafting- spinning the spindle, the catching and holding it while he moved his fingers up the length of the roving allowing the twist to travel up, then pinching the wool to stop the twist travelling, spinning the spindle and starting the process again. He spent about 10 minutes spinning and I'd guess he spun about 5 yards of worsted weight yarn- and did so VERY evenly. Check it out:

And the yarn he spun!

I am so proud and impressed!

Goodnight, sweet prince

2008-10-12T20:17:00.002-04:00

Brian and Ysette came over today for one of our regular wine events (today's wine was Pinot Noir. We had one from Germany and one from California and they were both delicious!). At first Liel was very cautious around both of them, probably because she's a bit sick and hasn't seen them in a few months. Later she cheered up and ran around playing football and other games with Brian (and Robert and Zion) in the backyard. When they left she even gave Uncle Brian a hug goodbye. I was so pleased that I told Robert about it as we turned off the porch light.

"Liel even gave Brian a hug goodbye!", I said.

Robert smiled at Liel. "Did you?", he asked. "That's nice, sweetheart".

Liel beamed. "Huh, I did!", she confirmed. "And then I picked my nose".

It's all true, I'm afraid.

Phoenix Sweater

2008-10-11T20:10:00.002-04:00

Every year I knit the kids sweaters. Every year for the past two years, anyway! This year, after much debate, Zion decided he wanted a phoenix on his sweater. I spun the yarn for the phoenix myself! There was about an ounce of an alpaca/merino blend included with some roving I bought, which wasn't enough to do much with, but which was perfect for this little project. Anyway, I finished Zion's sweater tonight (and he's sleeping in it- how cute is that??).

Here is, not sure if I'm taking a picture yet.

And smiling!

And thanking me and telling me how much he loves his sweater (seriously, that's what he was doing. Charming to the max, that boy.).