New Stuff

I am loving some new websites I've visited.

This one Jessi led me to - it's really very cute and great for the 8-15yos who are getting a lot of info and not a lot of facts.

This one is from the Smithsonian, and you can build a panda habitat, among other activities!

This one, from PBS.COM is amazing, and the pictures are so beautiful my kids will hang out w/me and watch the vids for 30+min w/out fighting, fidgiting, or fooling around!

The EWG is an amazing group that has produced more DATA than anyone else (in a readable and manageable format). Their site is chock-a-full of info for the every day person, scientist, shopper and large scale purchaser. This page is wonderful for me, I use it at least once a week before I make purchases!

I'm sure there are many more, that should be enough if you are just browsing around with some time on your hands (who has more time than that?!).

Something Fun

Your fairy is called Gossamer Moontree

She is the moon goddess's messenger.

She lives in spiderwebbed wonderlands and insect grottos.

She is only seen when the first leaves fall from the trees.

She wears tiny black spiders on her dresses. She has beautiful blue butterfly wings.

Get your free fairy name here!

and my Elvish self is Lúthien Felagund from this site.

And a Hobbit name generator here! I'm Rosie-Posie Bunce of Brockenborings. Nice to meet ya!

Question: why doesn't blogger have smilies we can use?

Mother's Day weekend update

I want to start with this, because it's so wonderful. There are a lot of these kind of links around, this one uses some reggae music, which is always so empowering lol! It's about 6 min, so if that's too long for you right now, feel free to skip it for the moment. I'll leave the linkee up for you. ;-)



Next on to congratulations to my friends Heidi and Martin and Iris, for their impending move to Sweden!! They are taking a leap of faith in many ways, but pictures of their adventure (including their new home!) are so enticing, I can certainly see how they'd flee our flailing economy, poor political arena, and lagging health care system to go catch babies and explore in Sweden! CONGRATULATIONS!! I'm starting a savings account to come visit, guys!

And now on to JAC and his progress. Well, I haven't posted much because there isn't much to post. The surgery was Friday, and it went as well as could be expected, said the Dr. who did the surgery (Czajka - pronounced CHAI-KA). There was a lot of blood and tissue he had to flush from the wound site, and he had to snip a bit more of the muscle to get a clean attachment, but no other complications, which is VERY good. JAC was in pretty good spirits, and we got home w/out too much fuss. On the drive home we stopped and got his prescriptions (Lortab), which was a good move. They'd told us he would have the femeral nerve block on for about 18-24 hrs., but by 9pm (just about 12 hrs.) he was feeling the leg, and by midnight was writhing in pain (even with the Lortab!). I gave him some at 12 and more at 3am, and then more at 7am. He made it through the night w/out much sleep (actually we neither of us slept much - and Ori woke up 3x as well, once with a fully wet pull up that wet the bed, so a changing of the sheets was happening at about 4am), and slept away much of Sat. I took the kids out as much as I could, checking in on him every 2-3 hrs.

One of our stops was to the new Eagle Elementary (our new home school), which had O's new obsession - a bouncy bounce! The school looks ... nice, I suppose. It's as industrial and school-like as any school I've ever been in. It does have a nice music room (tho who knows when that'll get nixxed from the curriculum?), and one big cafeterium with a stage. The classrooms are ok, the little kids ones (K-2) will all have bathrooms inside the class, and the older ones (3-5) have hallway bathrooms. They are painting the halls a kind of avocado green and a light brown color (one on one wall, the other on the other wall), and alternated those colors for the classrooms, so they are either green or brown. There is a big backyard area, where the playground will go - and there's still lots of running around room, too! So all in all a good experience. NOT, however, convincing me that it's better than Montessori. ;-)

On Sunday Beca and I went to Choices and donated 10" apiece to Locks of Love. I have yet to upload pictures, those shall come. Rebecca looks absolutely adorable in her new bob. My cut is typical for me, and I like it. Choices gives free haircuts if you donate through them (they don't get any kickback, but they do get to accrue total hair collected and they get some kind of recognition for that), and they gave us both cute cuts. They did sell me on the curl maximizer (roll your eyes, I did!).

Before:

After:

Me After:


Sunday, Mother's Day, JAC was still unable to leave the bed for more than a bathroom visit. Overall he's not taking the Lortab (after puking up Sunday morning - a nice 5am wake-up call for me!), though I am not sure that's a better plan. He isn't eating much, a bit of soup or cereal every day is about all, but he's drinking water and tea, so I won't push too hard. No food, no lortab, though. I was hoping today he'd be able to make it down stairs... in fact it's nearly 8am now, and time to go check on him. The clinic has already called and asked me to get him up on those crutches and given me the go-ahead to saran wrap his leg so he can take a bath. He's a teency bit smelly!

Before I sign off, I thought I'd mention that I got to watch Juno last night, and I LOVED it! I love the characters - the disgruntled but loving father, the slightly nutty and anxious adoptive mom, the wonderfully quirky 16 yo girl, and her gangly guitar playing boyfriend. And yk what, all the supporting actors were wonderful too! His mom, the ultrasound tech, the step mom, they were all perfectly cast and wonderfully acted. The story line was fun, heavy but not too heavy, and full of learning curves for everyone! Well done, Juno crew and cast!

I hope all you moms had a fabulous day - or at least a better day than mine (which was still better than JAC's!). Prayers to mother earth...

Gratutious pic of my gorgeous babies:

Tearing it up

JAC tore the major muscle group (quadricep) from the meniscus. He will go in on Friday to have it repaired. The repair is outpatient, about 2 hrs. of surgery. They will go in, slice down the torn edge of the soft tissue so that they have a clean edge for healing purposes, take some thick (1:1,000,000) thread and sew the end into some holes that they will drill through his meniscus. After 6 hrs. in the orthopedics chamber today, we have all the pictures they could possibly want for now, plus some x-rays that seemed extraneous (and rather painful). Tomorrow he goes in for pre-op tests, and hopefully we'll find out what time on Friday he'll go into OR. Since Beca has no school anyway, it's not a big deal when, but earlier would be better, as hopefully she has a game to get to at 6pm. If she goes, I can drop her off at Theresa's, to be picked up by Peg, and she can sleep over at Mackenna's. Then JAC, O and I will have a quiet night, and she'll have fun with Mac. She was very torn up about his surgery, his injury, etc. Hopefully by Sat. he'll be feeling better enough to be on his own for a few hrs. so I can take O and go to B's Saturday game. If not, well, I'll work it out...

On a better note, Beca got a single, a double, and scored a run today at her game! YAY BECA!!!

Gimping along

The third person on our block is now on crutches. First it was the girl from the quiet family with no name (I'm sure they have a name, perhaps it's glitterwings...we can call them glitterwings, since we don't know their name). They are a middle aged couple w/kids (how many, unknown from here) grown and in college (both). Their college age daughter is now home, and on crutches. She's looking at 8 weeks in a cast plus months of physio. Even after speaking with her, I have no idea what their name is or what their family consists of. They seem nice.

One of the Shumanite boys (Jeremy? Josh?) is on crutches, broke his ... something in his leg. or foot. He's getting rides (since the bus is a nightmare on crutches, this I know from personal experience) from his older sister, who I'm sure is thrilled to do this for him. She's actually totally a sweetie, and a good scout at heart, so I'm sure she isn't going to complain at all. And if it's the older boy, he's also in HS, so not much of a change for her in terms of timing. I'm going to guess he'll be out through the end of June, as well.

And now for victim #3. JAC. He jumped off a boat yesterday in Long Island, thinking the shore was firm, and it weren't, and he was wrenched forward and then back, and his knee was back up on the boat still. It's swollen to the size of a goodly pumpkin, and he's grunting and moaning quite a lot. And he's completely spastic on crutches (you'd think this guy never used crutches before, but he's had several surgeries and injuries requiring them, so he's really got no excuses).

Overall he's being a good sport. He's off the pain meds so far, though probably later today he'll need one to nap (while I get O out of the house for a few hrs. to Ilana's). Hopefully this is NOT a 8 week adventure in lameitude. I'm going to shoot for 10 days with LOTS of arnica.

Falling behind...

I will NOT feel guilty, but I have been hoping to update more often, especially because we are trying SO MANY wonderful new recipes for us! Big into frittatas lately, tonight I made one with zucchini, tomato, spinach, onion, garlic, potato and topped it in the oven with Parmesan and Romano cheeses (both very low in lactose). The kids each ate 1/4th of a 10" skillet! So did I, so did JAC, and voila - gone in an instant. I also made delicioso currant scones today, and choc. chip multi-grain flax muffins yesterday. Those turned out kinda dry - I might add applesauce next time to lighten/moisten them up.

Lunches have been varried and fun! I can't WAIT to get the bento stuff - should be coming any moment!!! (Still waiting for my Miazaki films, too, drat it.) It's been really fun putting stuff together for her - and seeing what goes lol! She said the matzah was stale today (though it was from a new box), but she licked clean the sesame butter and honey I slathered on there. Yesterday everything went, but that's a no-brainer. I popped in a generous serving of the baked eggplant ziti I made for the bbq at the Nugents on Sunday, and she gobbled it right up. Wednesdays and Thursdays are a bit harder - the good leftovers are gone, and we've already used up a lot of the snack stuff I have. I won't get to the HFS until Thursday day, which is sort of useless in terms of lunches for her because she gets pizza on Fridays. So onward we struggle, looking for variety and something to liven up her days, nutritious and edible, and not too weird. I still have yet to get into making the rice balls, but sometime soon ... maybe on Friday since we're going over to the new (not new, but newly not dead) mall to meet Lori and Brige for a coffee and a walk about. Kinda lame, but there's Starbucks, bookstore, playspace, and a bunch of options for Brige who has to find a Holy Communion gift for a girl.

In other news - I made it through my first race in THIRTY ONE (yes, 31) years. The last race was a 1 mile race at the Larchmont Temple Picnic in 1977. I was 10 and came in ... somewhere in the middle. This was a 5k for Darfur, and I ran a bit, mostly fast walked it, and came in ... somewhere in the middle. !!! I was shooting for 37 min., but then I forgot to change my shoes before we left and had to do it in my craptastic mocs, which I am SURE added 3 min or more to my time. ;) Since then I've gotten up at 6:30ish to do 40+ min. walks with Zami, and I am LOVING it. The down side is that when I get up, Ori gets up. He's been a major crankpot (yesterday was his worst day EVER - I think he cried for over an hour total crying time, in about 6 different meltdowns throughout the day). Tonight B and J are at a Softball game (hit it outta the park, girl!) and I got O to bed after a bath by 7:09. I'm really hoping that his getting up early means he will go to bed early...though how this will happen when she is home and he wants to be part of the action I really do not know. Tonight was nice and quiet, and he had all the stuffies on his bed (Fred the Frog, Honey the Bear, Zippy the doll, the naked boy with no name, Peter Rabbit, and DW). I may not be able to find him later! He's probably got himself wrapped up in all the blankies, pillows and stuffies, but he's been asleep for a loooong time (it's 7:45 now).

Speaking of which, nearly time for the girl to return. I shall endeavor to tidy the kitchen and make her a snack of chips and salsa. I find that when they eat early (before 5) they are much much happier, but they do need a snack around 8 (she does, anyway).

Loads of photies, recently, but not enough time to play with them, so nothing to update there.

The Business of Bento

Since B has been vegetarian, it's been challenging (in mostly positive ways) to make her lunches and dinners that she likes, will eat, and will keep her blood pumping (physically). She's normally such a good eater, and tbh I didn't realize how often I'd come to rely on meat as a snack/main course! This has been a real eye opener. Now more than ever I am sending her in to school with a lunch box packed full of ziplocks, miniature plastic containers, and other such paraphernalia to make sure that there is at least something that the child likes! Past lunches have included (portions on the small side, remember):

1 whole fruit or fruit cup
1/2 pita stuffed with raw spinach, hummus and grated rice cheese
1 chocolate milk
1 water
1 baggie of chips or other snack food
1 oatmeal bar.

Pretty much everything is organic (organic water? is that hyperbole or an oxymoron?), and the portions help keep things balanced - there's more pita than stuff inside the pita, there's more stuff inside the pita than anything with sugar, and there's more stuff that is in it's most natural state than processed stuff (the oatmeal bars are really simple, ground flax seed, honey, frozen fruit (cut up), banana, optional carob chips. I chop up the first bunch in a food processor, and then roll it in the oatmeal. I chill it, cut them, and that's it! The kids dig them!). The chips, chocolate milk, and pita are processed/store made, but overall it's a pretty healthy lunch for her. It'll be nice to add other things.

Other kinds of stuff: sandwiches with lettuce, hummus and cheese, all kinds of soups (minestrone being a real fave), tacquitos, mac and cheese with rehydrated sun dried tomatoes, apple theme stuff (apple sauce, apple rings, apple butter on a bagel or bread, etc.) and various salads - salmon/tuna, cuke/tomato/feta, tomato/mozz, there's endless varieties. I do make fruit salads, because her expander/braces make biting into hard fruits dangerous (and potentially very expensive!).

These have all been fine, and since she will eat fish, it's not scaring me that she isn't getting the calcium or whatever it is we're supposed to be worried about with vegetarians (iron?), she eats an incredibly varied diet. But I was starting to get thin on IDEAS! So I went surfing the blog waves, and found some great blogs (this one is the best, by far, but many others had creative, fun, and wonderfully healthy ideas)! Most of them use the bento boxes, though I think it's entirely possible to make them cute and fun and varied with small disposable Glad plastic bins, too. Just for fun, and to try it out, I ordered a couple of Totoro Bentos from JList. It's going to take a few weeks for them to get here, but I'm looking forward to changing things up a bit. They are pricy little things! IT's quite the business, making little boxes to take lunch to school. I guess it always was, I just wasn't paying it much attention. :D

My time...

I had three whole, uninterrupted, very blissful hours at Borders this weekend. It was the one in MSG, or maybe it's Penn Plaza, but anyway, it was FABULOUS. I looked through LOADS of books I'd had my eye on, eliminated many that look great online but book in hand, not so fabulous. ;P And I just enjoyed enjoyed enjoyed the time OFF. The chaperoning of the girls was tiring, though uneventful. We left Hastings with 9 girls, and ended up in the village with 9 girls. YAY! B had a good time at the sleepover, which is great, and I think Liana had a good birthday overall, which is what it's all about! It was really great to have some me time in it all - including sleeping blissfully alone and having a shower just as long as I felt like being in there, not shutting it off mid-shampoo to answer to the cries of MOOOOOOOOM! Wonderful...

And then there is this little ditty, which I've kind of been ignoring.

1. What was your biggest challenge this past week?
2. What was your biggest accomplishment this past week?
3. What was the most exciting thing that happened in your life this past week?
4. What one thing made you the happiest this past week?

the week isn't over, so perhaps I'll go mid-week to mid-week...not sure that makes a bit of difference.

1. My biggest challenges this week include remembering to take my new liver toner pills from Dr. Masterson (which took me a week to pick up), to stay motivated about exercise at least 4 days a week, and to just pass up the junk. My weak spot all week - dark chocolate covered raisins.

2. Biggest accomplishment...hmmm...not losing any of the girls was very good. Getting the SU meeting organized w/T and led through was good too. Taking Beca and Orin to the new preschool - good. Not spending too much $ in NYC - VERY good. I don't think that counts as an accomplishment though. Perhaps my biggest accomplishment was doing my treasure map this week. It felt GREAT! Still waiting for the glitter glue to dry. :D

3. The most exciting thing? I guess having some time to myself in NYC was it - can't say I used it super efficiently, but it was great to be in the most exciting city in the WORLD!

4. What made me the happiest? The times that Ori made it to the loo before unleashing the river in his pants, VERY happy. Seeing Beca navigate the wild and wiley waters of pre-adolescence both in school and amongst her Westchester peers - VERY happy! Practicing pop flies with B was fun too! It was a rather happy week all in all!

Not allowed to tell...

At the library the other day, I found The Period Book, which I gotta say was really cool. I looked through it a lot, and I think I'll get it for Beca soon. What I'm not supposed to tell is *related* to that...maybe I'll try to do this using a TWEENER (I am getting a belly laugh thinking how appropriate that term is!) from our Cranium game...

it's bigger than a tube top, smaller than a corset.
it's bigger than a nipple ring, smaller than a titsling.
it's bigger than ... have you guessed?

Did I mention it is for B, who is almost 10? And she wouldn't shop for it, even though I found it at The Limited Too, which is Tween shop CENTRAL. So she also got some cami's and new leggings and two new cool shirts. :D My little girl is REALLY growing up - I can see it in the changes in her bone structure in her face, the words, the attitude, the body, the activities. Last night she had a birthday party that went till almost 9pm, and today we drive down to Westchester for Liana's 10th birthday. Jeckyl and Hyde's, then a sleepover in Manhattan. Good grief... I'm only grateful that Beca has basically NO competitive bone in her body.

Prank???

This is VERY funny! Thanks for sharing it, world! I am so thrilled that some teency bit of progress has been made in Zimbabwe - it's certainly not going to solve their financial and social problems, it's not going to build them factories, clean up their rivers, find them new buses or build them new clinics and schools - it's not going to provide the over 3 million AIDS and HIV clients with drugs that are not available there yet. But it IS progress! And for that, I am eternally grateful...

Waiting...

I am wondering what the possibilities are that the elections in Zim will, even remotely, allay the misery of the people who live in the most splendid of places, where the spray from the falls wets your face, and the verdant bush tickles your calves. I wonder whether there is a hope for Zimbo's, in and outside of Zim. And I wonder whether there is any reason left, anyTHING left, for Mugabe to continue on as President. Perhaps he is ready to leave office and let some other sorry bugger pick up the pieces of the lives of the 12 million people who are broke, starving, under or unemployed, who suffer from malaria and AIDS and TB and dysentery. There is so little left, and yet what there is, is HOPE. There are roads that men trod every single day, rain, heat, and chill, looking for a job, some job, a stray bill in a gutter, a chance for a life outside the misery. There are suburban houses that women approach, wary and hungry and just a bit delirious, looking for a job washing clothes or cooking or scrubbing toilets. There are back alleys where children pick through the cans, looking for a scrap to eat, a wearable sweater, shoes with laces. Is there a possiblility? Of COURSE there is! Of COURSE there is a real and vibrant chance for recovery, for generosity of spirit, for jobs and production and new crops to bring the country to a place of reasonable peace and prosperity - not full of HDTV's or cell phone towers, but a place where there is less death, less hardship and wretchedness. Where children go to school with shoes and books, and daddy's come home on the bus with a packet of milk for dinner and mama has been stirring the mealie meal sadza and the aroma of boiled meat and carrots mixes with squash... where the mountain mist lifts and the greens, dark and deep and light, take away your breath. And the tea you sip is grown on the farm next door, and the tobacco floors are loud and smelly and full of slapping and clapping. Where the line for the mill is longer than the line for food handouts. Where the village chiefs are more worried about equipment and stray goats than about how to keep their people alive another day, another week. I believe in the beautiful people, the strong lean Matabele, the solid, cerebral Shona, the incredibly resourceful, dogged,and steadfast muzungu who have lived and farmed, fled to and fled from this most marvelous of landscapes. I believe that they can do things for themselves, that they can learn and grow and build and pullulate prosperity, sing abundance, and find gratification in their world. And I know somehow, some day, I will see a happier time there. God bless, and may the results be those you want, shamwari yangu.




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Holding off

I held off sharing this for a long time - its a little bit risquee, perhaps more than a little. I refrained from showing it to my daughter (and the 3yo as well). But the instant laughter it brings me is worth putting it up. With no more delay for you needing a lift ...



I hope you laughed! Perhaps some graceful soul will translate the announcer for the rest of us...

Ketchup on my lifeburger, please

So like a burger, my life can be. Squished between layers of fattening bread, is the meat of me, and in between are the nutritious bits, the spicy onion, the fibrous lettuce, the juicy tomato. Never quite enough of those, but enough for a nibble and a taste. :D

Some catch up of photos, first.

Icicles by the house, March 2008

Deer Tracks Albany Pine Bush trails

Cara on her 5th brithday. She's our neighbor!

Purple carrot we used in our Carrot Flower soup. It was SO yummy!

MBOY - outgoing.

Ori's new Hoodie!


This is how my kids sleep on weekends...geesh!

Beca blowing her first egg - she's tried before, this is the first time it WORKED! She was so proud. We painted an even dozen, and they were well received by the easter bunny.


International Pillow Fight Day

What's he looking for on Easter morning?


Egg hunt

Last time as a yellow belt! Congrats on passing you Blue belt test, Beca

A viking worthy of the horns.

I am working on some relatively serious healing issues, journaling, supplements, and chiro regularly. I'd love to find an acupressurist/puncturist nearby, but not really sure we can afford the cost at the moment...we took a big tax hit this year. Bummer. Gone are the days o a nice fat refund check...until next year! :D

Zami is doing really well, his meds have evened out his legs tremendously, and no nipping of little hands attempting to remove an ear or elongate his tail. All good!

JAC spent a couple weeks traveling this month, which means one thing...SPRING! We found tiny shoots in the garden today (hopefully daffodil), and will continue on yard clean up (didn't really accomplish much today), hopefully the spring -> summer lawn care is easy - still getting up the leaves from the end of winter is the hardest part, because they are all soaked and sticky and oopy and hard to rake.

Ooooh, I found a neat little warehouse place near Railroad St. in Albany, it has a ton of local organic homemade handmade vendors on the weekends, including a wine maker, a bakery/cafe, teas - including one absolutely delish one I tried called chocolate chai and another that was a Japanese green tea with flower blossoms...omgus was it AMAZING. What a great find! I also picked up a small jar of SUPER hot chili powder (not sauce) for JAC - hopefully it's hot enough for him to want to go check out the others (they make about a dozen different kinds, this one is called Chilihead. Can you hear me laughing!?

To make a children's garden, or not to make a children's garden, this is the question. It's been YEARS of not having a garden in this house - the land is SO hard to till, the voles and moles rip everything to shreds, the deer eat everything worth eating... it's all kind of a nightmare! But maybe a tiny plot just for ori to put in some carrots and beca some tomatoes? Hmmm...

Well, there's more, including all the delicious vegetarian dinners I've been making (tonight is a Chili with cornbread baked on top from Everyday Vegan), as Beca is now an ovo-lacto-pisco-vegetarian. It's been amazing learning new dishes, has really broadened my use of spinach and beans a TON, and I'm enjoying her confidence and enjoyment in the vegetarian world... but it's time I got back to laundry and dinner. :D Because these good juicy bits, well there's never quite enough of them...

YES WE CAN!

The Yes We Can Song
by will.i.am

Let's all come together like America is supposed to...
Like Japan did after Hiroshima...

that was less than 65 years ago...
and look at Japan now...

they did it together...
they did it...

"We can't?...

Are you serious..?..

WE CAN!!!

Yes we can...
A United "America"
Democrats, Republicans and Independents together...
Building a new America

We can do it...
"TOGETHER"

Thank you for reading and listening...
will.i.am

Thoughts from today

Interesting things from today...(yesterday excluded because of a bloody nose - that gets me outta pretty much everything).

Today I wasn't invisible! Two people made incorrect turns on the round about circle, but neither tried to kill US, so I suppose it's forgiveable. Someday people in this town will know how to drive on the circle... I gotta say, they didn't make this an easy one! Two lanes, some of which are forced to exit, others forced to continue around, and in some cases, cars that have just entered in the outside lane can go straight through, but the inside lane cars have the option to exit, cutting straight into the outside lane people. All quite ugly (and the fault of the design/building company, not the lame drivers). I did call and complain, but as I said, no one tried to drive into us today, so it's all good. :D

People signaled today. Really, like the fella coming down 85 towards me, he signaled that he was turning into the supermarket, so I just toodled right on down 85 without slowing down for him. YAY!

People waited. Like really, they waited! It's unheard of around here for people to get to a 4-way stop and actually WAIT. It's more of a game of dare - whomever is willing to inch their way up past their corner furthest, and then ZOOM across the intersection fastest gets to go. Today, people waited. :D

And Lisa posted this on DF today, which really cracked me up. What a hoot!

From the Stuff White People Like website:

* #87 Outdoor Performance Clothes
* #86 Shorts
* #85 The Wire
* #84 T-Shirts
* #83 Bad Memories of High School
* #82 Hating Corporations
* #81 Graduate School
* #80 The Idea of Soccer
* #79 Modern Furniture
* #78 Multilingual Children
* #77 Musical Comedy
* #76 Bottles of Water
* #75 Threatening to Move to Canada
* #74 Oscar Parties
* #73 Gentrification
* #72 Study Abroad
* #71 Being the only white person around
* #70 Difficult Breakups
* #69 Mos Def
* #68 Michel Gondry
* #67 Standing Still at Concerts
* #66 Divorce
* #65 Co-Ed Sports
* #64 Recycling
* #63 Expensive Sandwiches
* #62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
* #61 Bicycles
* #60 Toyota Prius
* #59 Natural Medicine
* #58 Japan
* #57 Juno
* #56 Lawyers
* #55 Apologies
* #54 Kitchen Gadgets
* #53 Dogs
* #52 Sarah Silverman
* #51 Living by the Water
* #50 Irony
* #49 Vintage
* #48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops
* #47 Arts Degrees
* #46 The Sunday New York Times
* #45 Asian Fusion Food
* #44 Public Radio
* #43 Plays
* #42 Sushi
* #41 Indie Music
* #40 Apple Products
* #39 Netflix
* #38 Arrested Development
* #37 Renovations
* #36 Breakfast Places
* #35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
* #34 Architecture
* #33 Marijuana
* #32 Vegan/Vegetarianism
* #31 Snowboarding
* #30 Wrigley Field
* #29 80s Night
* #28 Not having a TV
* #27 Marathons
* #26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)
* #25 David Sedaris
* #24 Wine
* #23 Microbreweries
* #22 Having Two Last Names
* #21 Writers Workshops
* #20 Being an expert on YOUR culture
* #19 Traveling
* #18 Awareness
* #17 Hating their Parents
* #16 Gifted Children
* #15 Yoga
* #14 Having Black Friends
* #13 Tea
* #12 Non-Profit Organizations
* #11 Asian Girls
* #10 Wes Anderson Movies
* #9 Making you feel bad about not going outside
* #8 Barack Obama
* #7 Diversity
* #6 Organic Food
* #5 Farmer’s Markets
* #4 Assists
* #3 Film Festivals
* #2 Religions their parents don’t belong to
* #1 Coffee

Although I feel like it isn't good for the world to separate us all out, and it isn't better for anyone to say that something is FOR white people (EVER), I gotta say the writing is FUNNY and I did enjoy it, overall.

All in all, I laughed and felt visable today - so I'll call it a good day and move forward.

In the Company of Vegetables

Well, it's happened. Rebecca, aged 9yrs. 9mos. (almost) has declared herself a vegetarian. I gotta say, it's not surprising - I actually only hope for her sake that she can STAY a vegetarian after the first bacon and pancake breakfast that JAC makes... that's likely to be the breaking point. She did eat chicken noodle soup the other day, too - though it was the craptastic Lipton stuff in an envelope, so the actual amount of chicken in there is so small it's hardly worth noting. Anyway, she'd been doing great so far! She ate a wonderful black bean soup I made today (as long as it's pureed, she'll eat pretty much anything lol!), and tried the hot egg salad (which was awful) too. She had totally veg. lunches M and Tu this week, and tomorrow and Thursday I have some good stuff planned. Dinner tomorrow will be fish, since she is willing to eat fish. Free range only, of course. :D

We've been doing a LOT of company visits recently - you know, there's this amazing thing about company. They invite us back. Interesting part, is although I don't like going, and sometimes flake (though I send the others), I do actually mind if we aren't re-invited. Not a lot, mind you, just a little chuffed off feeling. Well, in some cases it's taken 2 yrs. to get back together with some people, and in other cases, we were never invited back to their place. Not sure if we have bad breath (collectively?) or if there really are rude people out there. Anyway, we had Nieves and Dennis over with the kids as well as Mindy and Jason 2 weekends ago - a big vegetarian FEAST was made, enjoyed and devoured by all. This weekend we are having Tim and Megan over, that will be FUN and then the weekend after Michou and Ed and the kids. So it's busy, and fun, and I am enjoying making interesting new dishes. For sure the 2 best cookbooks I have are the Celebration of Wellness and Full of Beans (courtesy of Tasha :D ) which is sponsored (of course!) by the Ontario Coloured Bean Growers Association. Can you see me laughing!!!

In other news, we have our new iMac! It's really brilliant, and we've got a couple new games to go with it (I decided to get them because almost none of our old ones work on the new Intel processor Mac, so I got them when I returned iWork, after being told I'd be able to use the Office program I installed on the MacBook, but now I can't FIND the discs for that ... still looking), and the kids are totally digging it. We did get KidPix, and both of them like that. Not as wonderful as Ori's drawing today, which was very creative and fun! He said it's a picture of himself, and he has a head and neck, eyes and nose, body (with spine haha!), arms and legs. The legs are made from green painter's tape, and there are a couple of colors in the drawing too. I was VERY impressed! I will try to scan it into the new puter and get it on here - not that anyone ELSE will think he's a Picaso in the making!

Life is busy and good otherwise - all healthy and feeling like we can handle the world. Beca passed her Blue Belt test this week, and I started rewrites on the short story I hope to enter into a competition later this spring. I'm nearly finished with the hoodie I am making for Ori, and all in all it looks like a first attempt, but pretty and soft and maybe he'll wear it. :D

Florida Fun

A huge catchup is required here (for my own records, more than anything), but I did just upload photos, so now is as good a time as any to get those up and fill everyone in on how wonderful the trip was!

We left around 2ish from Beca's school, she was so thrilled to get picked up, and ready to GO! We made it as far as Baltimore (and could have made it further, but it seemed fortutious to stop early and spread out the drive so that we hit Jaxonville as early on Monday morning as we could). The hotel was ok, and we hit DC first thing in the AM, stayed at the memorials through lunch, and then drove down to the Carolinas. :D



First view of the Capitol Building. :D




Kids flying along the Potomac.




At the Lincoln Memorial, looking at the Washington Memorial.




Beca as close to the White House as we could possibly get. Which wasn't very close.

The next day we dropped in on Savannah. WOW! I really enjoyed this city. Beca and I went to Juliette Gordon Lowe's home, which was very cool (and for those wondering, she is the founder of the Girl Scouts (Guides) in the USA). Here are some shots from this cool city.










We only saw a little of Savannah, but it was time to hit the trail. We made it down to the Florida border that night, and drove into Orlando Monday morning, just as planned. :D Can't say that things have gone absolutely to ideal, getting the car broken into wasn't exactly in the plan, but it was, overall, an easy and not complicated trip.

Orlando the next day was all about getting the RV. It was pretty straight forward, no glitches. USAA was terrific, getting the insurance fax in immediately and everything worked perfectly after that. It took quite a bit of fiddley road work to find and get into Fort Wilderness, only because we were total newbies. Once checked in, we got a GREAT site, and had no issues. We watched the movie at the campfire that night, even Ori stayed awake for it and enjoyed it.

I'll refrain from the checking in photos. ;-)

We had our lunch date with Winnie the Pooh and friends the next day, which was really a fun highlight. It was cool to meet the gang, but honestly, the Crystal Palace Buffet was AMAZING!!! Smoked salmon, glazed duck, salads that were vegan, vegetarian, some had cheese, some were loaded with protein, pasta, it was incredible! The kids had their own buffet, just in case the 30 feet of buffet wasn't enough! Because of our dairy issues, a chef came and escorted me along the buffet (all three, actually, the kids, the main buffet, and the dessert buffet), going through all the ingredients and what was safe. When we discussed dessert, I asked if he could scrounge something up for Ori, because all the desserts at the bar were dairy based. He found us some raspberry sorbet that was GONE in no time!

The kids loved meeting the characters. We discussed what we could ask each one, and they all answered the questions except Pooh (who maybe couldn't hear us?).

Tigger: Where's the bounciest spot in the Magic Kingdom? (we opened up the map and let him point)

Pooh: Is there a good hunny tree anywhere nearby? Same map, no pointing.

Piglet: Are the Haycorns any good at the buffet? YES!

Eyeore: If he loses his tail in the restaurant, will he let us help him find it? YES!



We got in just in time for the big Cinderella's Castle show (oh my, the SHOWS! Worth a fortune, those shows! The kids really enjoyed them!). This one was about how believing in something can make it happen. How totally LoA!




Me and Chef Ken going through the big buffets.




Tigger! Ok, Ori was a leeetle scared of Tigger, but he also was VERY into asking his question. So he overcame his fear of the big stripey dude, and asked away. What a brave little fellow. :D




Pooh. Kinda blah, but very smiley.



Awwwww....

Well, it'd be really easy to go on and on and on and on and ... about Disney. I can't say as the rides were that thrilling, but the shows were incredible, the campground was fun and perfect (clean, clean, CLEAN!). We rented a little golf cart one day, to do laundry and spend the morning chilling out just me and Ori while JAC and Beca went to MGM/Hollywood Studios, what a blast! You can go ANYWHERE in Fort Wilderness, and we went most everywhere! Well, in between loads of laundry, that is!

Here's the little blighter in the cart - he also decided at one point to explore the pedals on the floor of the cart. Smashed into the back of the van, luckily, and no damage to anyone or anything...but GEESH!





My favorite Park by FAR! Animal Kingdom had the best ride (Everest) other than Soarin, in all the land of Parkdom. There was a huge variety of food, activities, and we caught at least two big parades. BIG parades. Like 30 floats long and every Disney character imaginable (and a few new ones to us!).



Ori mooning the crowd in the Conservation Station.


Rafiki - a true friend. :D


Epcot! TOTALLY underrated (but I hear it is going to undergo some renos soon, so hopefully people will talk more about it. We ate in three countries, LOVED Soarin, and enjoyed the Nordic adventure too, though comparatively it was kinda lame, had a long line, and wasn't all that interesting to the adults. Ori loved it.



At Animal Kingdom, while waiting for our FastPass at Everest (which we all went on at least twice, and Beca went on 4 times!), we went and checked out the show at Nemo and Friends. Holy COW! What an amazing production! TOTALLY audience interactive, super high quality acting, the puppetry was awesome, the music wonderful, the sound quality superb, and overall, the show was a showstopper!

It was a really special visit, one we're sure to remember (and remind Orin of) for a loooong time.

And just a quick mention: we were the first family at the early evening show of the Hall of Presidents, which means they introduced us to the entire audience and we had to wave like the queen and giggle. It was fun - ok, so we didn't win dream fastpasses, but we did get to experience some of the fun of the Year of Wishes. Not that we'd ever wish to be Frist Family...or have people we don't know giggle right back at us lol!

So after we packed up from Disney, we meandered down I4 to I75 to Siesta Key. Ahhhh - once we found our campground, which by all accounts is SMALL (though it was MY idea to turn around when we were really 95% of the way there!) and got backed into the slot that we would call home for the next 5 days, it was all luxury. Sand, hammock, friends, beer, surf and excellent grub. :D It was SO fun! Heidi posted up some great photos, not sure if I'll figure out how to post them on here, but I've got some other ones I can share meanwhile. It really was a major chill out session for us all. :D














With Iris


My boys on the beach.

Our last full day on Siesta Key we decided to rent a power boat and cruise the intercoastal waterway. We went in search of dolphins, manatees, and beauty, and we sure got our share! We didn't see any manatees, I think they are all congregating around the southern waterways this time of year (or in kinda contained areas, like Crystal Springs, which are really touristy). But here's our dolphin who came and visited us! And some gratuitous shots from the boat. The other little gal is Olivia, and her folks are there too - Jodi and Dave. Really nice folks from Turtle Beach Campground that Beca made friends with first, and well, we all just gelled! It was a lot of fun! :D








What we affectionately termed Peepee Island. :D




Smashfaced Ori snoozed for the last little bit. He didn't take very many naps this trip (and made ALL his poopies in the potty! And nearly all his pees, too!), but when he crashed, it was HARD. :D

The ride home was FAST and uneventful. We did it in 2 days, with a short 8 hr day and a long 17 hr day. JAC was afraid of getting caught behind the storm and having crappy drivers (and roads) to contend with, so he blazed through the night and we pulled in late Thursday night. Over all too quickly, it was a fabulous vacation!