the Green Wallet

Say it ain't so.

2010-03-17T10:30:00.002-04:00

It was recently brought to my attention that these exist. And have existed for almost as long as I've been alive.
(I know essentially it's a breakfast corndog. But why do corndogs exist? And with chocolate chips? Really?)

I told Micah about them. His response: "It's amazing the things people aren't scared of."

Amen.

Has it really been that long?

2010-03-15T13:19:00.002-04:00

I had one of those moments the other day. We'll call it a "senior moment." I walked into the grocery store and started perusing the apples just as the intro of a song I liked started playing on the radio. Then the DJ came on and said, "It's the Saturday night 90s where we bring back all your favorite songs from the 90s. If you have a request, give me a call and let me know . . . ." blah blah blah, you know the drill.

I stopped in my tracks. "Bring back"? We're to the point where we're bringing things back from the 90s? Really? I can't be that old. The 90s were practically . . . a decade ago. Wow. Funny how that happens. It's been 10+ years since I was riding around with my sister and her friends, music cranked up loud, singing along at the top of our lungs, driving by all the cute boys' houses every day after school.

It's good to be reminded of those times. Let's bring the 9os back more often. Make me feel young again. ;)

(I'm winking because I still think I'm pretty young . . . even if no one else does.)

Brad Needs Your Help!

2010-03-11T12:35:00.002-05:00

Hello everybody. Two weeks ago I wrote a post about a product development contest my company is running. Our good friend, and super creative and talented guy, Brad entered the contest and has made it to the final five. His idea is really great and I think he should win.
In the final round the winner is chosen from those five by the votes of our facebook fans. Brad is doing really well on his own, but if he is to win we need everybody to spread the word and go and vote for him (you only have to do it once).
Here are the super simple steps:

1. Go to the UncommonGoods facebook page.
2. If you are not a fan already then become one.
3. Click that you "Like" the Brainy Blocks post.
4. Blog, email, & tweet all of your friends and family to do the same.

That's it. The winner will be the person who gets the most "Likes."

Hey, I just had an idea. Just for kicks, let's make this a contest too. If Brad wins and we develop and sell his blocks then I will send a free set to the person who managed to get the most people to vote for him. Just leave a comment on this post when all is said and done letting us know how influential you were. Just remember, honesty is a virtue.

These things happen

2010-03-10T16:08:00.002-05:00

We spent the other night in the ER with Simon, learning about febrile seizures the hard way. Simon is fine now, a little lethargic, but I'm still kicking myself over it. He'd had a fever since the previous night. I gave him children's Tylenol once during the day but I hadn't been monitoring the fever very closely and I hadn't been consistent in giving him medicine. I keep thinking that if I'd done those things, we could have saved ourselves the drama of a 911 call, an ambulance ride, a wait in a crowded ER, the pain of finding out he was up to 105 degrees, and the embarrassment of thinking that if we had been more diligent, it might not have happened.

It's possible his temperature would have spiked anyway, that the Tylenol itself wouldn't have been very effective, that there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. The seizure was relatively harmless (for him if not for us); Simon is fine and he should have no lasting effects or be in any danger of suffering more seizures. But I can't stop thinking that it's so hard to know what to do sometimes. He'd had a fever a few weeks ago and we took him to the doctor -- he had a bit of an ear infection, but the doctor said he would be fine, that kids bounce back from these things quickly, and so I didn't think another comparable fever was a big deal. On top of that, I'm the kind of mom who is hesitant to give medicine too quickly or too frequently.

I'm trying to chalk it up to experience and hope that next time I'll be more prepared. I'm trying to tell myself that these things happen -- to anyone, to everyone. Still, I can't help but blame myself and wonder what would have happened if the seizure hadn't stepped in to wake me up to the seriousness of the situation.

Blegging for Peep Show prizes

2010-03-08T13:54:00.007-05:00

The Peep Show. And prizes. Last year we had prizes donated by various people and that seemed to work out pretty well. The winner got a logo designed by Micah, second prize got a scarf, and next time we're in Utah we'll be getting backflip lessons, I believe.

And so we're thinking of doing that again. We already have someone willing to donate a handmade felt crayon roll, so you can keep your crayons nice and organized while you doodle during sacrament meeting. I mean, your kids can keep their crayons nice and organized . . . . :)

We'll come up with something to donate as well. And we invite anyone else who is feeling crafty or generous to donate a prize. And we'll have as many prizes as there are donations. The winner of the Peep Show will get to pick first, second place picks second, and so on down the line. Good idea? Bad idea? I'm all ears.

Also, we're thinking of extending the deadline through Sunday, April 4th for the simple reason that sometimes General Conference is a good time to work on projects and a Peep Show might be a fun conference project. What do you think?

I'm such a good mom.

2010-03-08T10:36:00.000-05:00

This is the part when I start having to be careful about what I expose my child to. Because you never know what kind of fearsome beasts are lurking in your recent issue of The Friend.

Yes, The Friend. The church's magazine for children. You think you can just flip it open and read any story to your toddler and it'll be fine. But no. I learned this a few weeks ago as I was reading Simon the article by Pres. Uchtdorf -- "A Banner of Faithfulness." A lovely story. It's about John Rowe Moyle, a stonecutter who worked on the Salt Lake Temple. His leg gets broken by a cow. His leg is then amputated so he doesn't die. And then he carves himself a new leg from wood and eventually works up the strength to walk the 20+ miles to the Salt Lake Temple every week (and then back home on the weekend) where he carves the stone that says, "Holiness to the Lord The House of the Lord."It is a lovely story, one that I've heard often in my 26 years. But if you are 2 years old, you may not make it to the part about him getting better and accomplishing this amazing feat. You may be hung up on the "broken leg" and the "amputation" bit at the beginning. Which I only realized when I finished the story and asked Simon what he thought. He was staring wide-eyed at nothing, looking slightly horrified. Then he asked me to show him where it said "broken leg." And that is when I realized my mistake. We talked about it. I tried to explain that things like that can happen but bodies can heal. The next morning he wanted to look at his "new magazine" and he flipped straight to the broken leg story. We talked about it again. I summoned Charlie and Lola to help me via the episode "Charlie is Broken." He was clearly still troubled. It's been about 3 weeks and he still flips straight to that story and wants to read about the cow and the broken leg. (The amputation was more frightening at first, but he seems to have gotten over it.)

If you ask him about it now, though, he'll tell you that a man got his leg broken by a cow and then he got better and went and built the temple. So, all's well that ends well, right? And in the meantime I'll hope he doesn't develop bovine-phobia or some other such dreaded condition.

Milestones and such

2010-03-04T13:34:00.004-05:00

This is my 5 hundredth post.

Today is the 4th anniversary of my first blog post.

We are now announcing our 3rd annual Peep Show. Entries are due to me (heiseltea at gmail) or Micah (heiselt at gmail) by April 3rd. I'll re-post the rules and come up with prizes later this week. If I feel like it. Or remember.

Thing 2 is no longer screaming.

Which is good because if it had gone on for 1 minute longer, he might have lost his voice. Poor Thing. (And also poor Mom and and poor Dad, but mostly poor Thing.)

What we ate last week

2010-03-03T13:34:00.005-05:00

I know that some people dislike meal planning as much as I do, so I thought I would share the results of last week's plans just for kicks. Maybe it will be useful to share ideas/methods/recipes, etc.? Maybe? I don't know. Also, I did not remember to take pictures of everything we ate. Sorry. But please enjoy the pictures I did take.

First, how I plan. (Some of these may seem really obvious, but I know that it took me a while to figure things out -- and I'm still figuring things out -- so I am sharing them anyway.):

I like to try new recipes, so chances are about half of the meals I make on any given week are things we've never tried before.
If we have things left over from the last week (a half carton of sour cream, some spinach, some olives), I try to incorporate those into the next week's meals so they don't go bad.
I try to use a variety of everything: carbs (potatoes, rice, bread, pasta), proteins (beans, meat, cheese, eggs), veggies (tomatoes, broccoli, peas, carrots), soups, salads, Mexican, Italian, oven, stove, pressure cooker, rice cooker, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc.
I try to cull recipes from a variety of sources: our cookbooks, websites (some of my go-to sites are epicurious.com, allrecipes.com, the Pioneer Woman Cooks, and 101 Cookbooks), recipes from friends, etc.
I usually do not have many side dishes. Our family is small enough at this point that a main dish will feed us and usually produce leftovers for lunch. If the main dish isn't colorful or vegetable-y, I'll add a salad or a vegetable to keep us healthy. :)
We often have things come up and one of the planned meals won't get made, at which point it goes on the next week's list.
I don't really shop the sales or use coupons. Too much work. I would end up going to 7 different stores and I don't have a car . . . not worth it. If something is a good deal at the local store, of course I'll get it, but I usually don't see the sale items until I'm actually at the store, so I don't plan a meal around it until the next week.

So, this is what we ate last week:

Monday: Poached Chicken Breast with Peanut Sauce and Noodles from The Everything Thai Cookbook. I made this two weeks ago and had a ton of sauce leftover. The second time around I fried the chicken instead of poaching it and I served it with broccoli instead of snow peas like it calls for in the recipe. Sorry, no picture. It didn't look that great anyway. But it tasted good.

Tuesday: Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup with muffins. I made this soup several weeks ago and we froze the leftovers. At Micah's request, I made some lemon-poppy seed muffins to go with it.

Wednesday: Cheese and Potato Layer Bake from SuperCookery Potatoes and Vegetables cookbook. I was looking for a way to use a leek I had leftover from a previous week and decided on this. It was a lot easier and tastier than I expected. Don't ask me why I made it when I didn't expect it to taste very good.

Thursday: Olive Cheese Bread and salad (which I threw together at the last minute -- arugula, grape tomatoes, feta, salmon from a can, and capers). We've had this before as well, only without the salad. It is very tasty, but note that it contains 1. butter 2. mayonnaise 3. cheese. The only way I can feel good about it is if it is served along side lots and lots of leafy greens. :) I used some of our homemade bread instead of a store-bought loaf.

Friday: Spinach and Feta Pita Bake. This is a new recipe. I wanted to try making pitas with the bread dough we use and came across this when looking for a way to serve them. I really wish I had remembered to take a picture because it looked -- and was -- super tasty, but I didn't. Sigh.

Saturday: We ended up being invited to a friends' house, so I didn't have to cook and our Saturday meal became our Sunday meal.

Sunday: Pancakes. I was in the mood for pancakes after reading several posts about Fat Tuesday and pancake traditions on various blogs. I wanted something a little bit healthier than our normal breakfast pancakes. These are topped with frozen blueberries that I heated up and added a wee bit of sugar to.

And that is that. Feel free to share anything you feel like sharing. Tips, tricks, favorite meals, food aversions. The grossest thing you ever ate. The grossest thing you ever made. Confessions from the middle school cafeteria. You know, whatever.

Drowning in a Sea of Words (and Pictures)

2010-02-26T14:18:00.004-05:00

The title of my last post and the previous snow day post are from the book Snow by Uri Shulevitz. It is one of Simon's (many) favorites. The first time it snowed this season, he stood with Micah on our front steps and said, "I am a boy and you are a dog." In reference to the line in the book, "'It's snowing,' said boy with dog." We still get a kick out of that, as you can imagine.I love that Simon loves reading so much. I love it when he makes references to things that we've read, or when he pretends to be a character from a book. I love sharing stories that I grew up with and I love finding new treasures that we both enjoy. It's so exciting to me. Some of my favorite memories are of going to the library, checking out the 21 books that were the maximum number we could have out at a time, and then sitting on the couch with my mom while she read them to us and I'm so happy that Simon seems to get the same joy out of such things.

I thought I'd share some of the books we're loving these days, for your own enjoyment. And if you have any to recommend, please do so in the comments.
First, A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno. I remember my librarian reading this to us when I was in elementary school, then playing the weather-telling game at recess for days afterward. I used it in a Primary activity last week and the kids loved it. They could have kicked their shoes off for hours. I highly recommend it.

Quick as a Cricket by Don and Audrey Wood. I'm a huge fan of the Woods. This one is perfect for Simon's level, as is Piggies. I remember loving Heckedy Peg back in the day, but I think it may be a bit too much for Simon right now. (Remind me to tell you about how I freaked him out about broken legs and amputations during FHE the other week . . . I'm such a good mom.) Simon also loves The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear.
Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel. As well as the other Frog and Toad books. Of course. I was a little nervous that he wouldn't be able to stay with me through all of the stories in the book, but he really enjoyed them.

And finally, The Pigeon books by Mo Willems. We've been able to get Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, and The Pigeon Wants a Puppy at our local library, but there are several more. I'll let Simon read this one to you himself. It's fun.

"All snowflakes know is snow snow and snow."

2010-02-26T13:37:00.005-05:00

It's been snowing for two days here. How did I not know this storm was coming? Yesterday we stayed in -- tossed bean bags, made muffins, learned to roll over, you know, that kind of stuff, and today I decided I was tired of watching all the fun from the window so we bundled up and headed out.
It's beautiful beautiful beautiful out there. Sure, you can hardly get around, but it's white and fluffy and fun to drag your feet through. Provided you are wearing boots. And three pairs of pants.

Win fame, fortune, and even a trip to visit us!

2010-02-23T19:40:00.006-05:00

We launched a contest at work called YouGoods and it is potentially really cool. The gist is that you can submit any product ideas you have. We will choose the best ideas and then post them on our facebook page for voting. The winner will then win two round trip tickets to sunny NYC, a hotel stay & $500 in cash. They will also meet with our merchant team to discuss the details of producing and selling their product.

The PR girl at work told me to post this on our blog because, though we have received many entries, the overall quality of submissions is not all that high. This means that if any of you have a great idea you have a good chance of winning a trip to visit us, some monies, and the chance to make a lot more monies if the product goes into production.

If you are interested in this, I highly recommend giving it a try. The deadline is March 15th. Your entries will be much stronger than most if you include photos, sketches, etc. The ideas don't have to be 100% complete, but the more thought out and executed the better. If you have any questions on ownership rights or such please ask in the comments section. Also, here are the rules. Good luck.

p.s. I should note that the airfare is sponsored by JetBlue, so you can only fly from an airport that they go to. This means any of you Hawaiians will need to make it partway on your own. Sorry.

Simon's New Chore (he wishes)

2010-02-20T22:25:00.004-05:00

Simon is pretty excited about our new vacuum. He thinks it is his because it is about his size. Ha! I don't know that I'm ready to share my toy with an almost 3-year-old, but I appreciate his enthusiasm. Let's hope it lasts until he can actually use the thing.

"Boogers! Boogers, Mom. Boogers!"

2010-02-15T12:51:00.003-05:00

These are the words I heard most this weekend. Hands down. During his "nap," Simon requested a kleenex in this manner every 10 minutes or less until we all got tired of the charade and naptime ended without the sleeping bit. Kleenexes piled up in various parts of the house as Micah and I tried to conserve them and Simon wandered aimlessly from place to place.We had "big" plans for Friday, which consisted of ordering a pizza and watching the Olympic opening ceremonies. Simon fell asleep long before the ceremonies even started. And then we discovered he had a fever. The cough rattled through his door and woke all of us up some time during the weekend. (Well, maybe not Oliver.)

Saturday's plans were canceled. Of course, all we were going to do was watch some of our friends' kids while they went on their hot Valentine's Day date, but still.And on Sunday I related the fun of our weekend to my family several times (since only a few were available to skype at any given time). "Boogers! Boogers, Mom. Boogers!" By the time I was laughing about it with the last round of skypers (my youngest brother, my older sister, her husband), and telling the newlyweds about the joys of childrearing, I realized something about having (and loving) kids (which Becca and Jon will have to find out on their own, I'm sure): It is very rarely warm and fuzzy. It is, however, very often cold and slimy. Which makes it not necessarily fun, but does make it funny.

One way of showing love is to wipe a snotty nose every 10 minutes. Another way is to ask for your nose to be wiped every 10 minutes.

"Boogers! Boogers, Mom. Boogers!" = "I love you."

A step-by-step guide to perfect person-drawing.

2010-02-13T17:33:00.001-05:00

Simon would like to demonstrate the proper method of drawing a person. He has ample experience in this artistic field, as demonstrated by the three (3) figures depicted above. (One is partially hidden by his arm.) We have digitally documented the process for your benefit and included captioning for ease of replication.

"Snowflakes don't listen to radio. Snowflakes don't watch television."

2010-02-11T19:39:00.002-05:00

It snowed all day yesterday. I was pretty excited about it. Schools had been preemptively closed, friends were running to the store on Tuesday to stock up on goods because they were sure they'd be snowed in for a week, and I was looking forward to being warm and toasty while the flakes flew outside. Sadly, our apartment isn't that warm and it didn't snow as much as I hoped. But on the plus side, several of Micah's co-workers worked from home to avoid the storm, so his boss bought lunch for those who braved the 3 inches to come in. (Free lunch! Hooray!) And I popped popcorn and watched Ratatouille with Simon for the 786th time. (Favorite quote: "You're the one gettin' fancy with the spices!" Micah and I can't cook together without one of us saying it.)

I also used some of the time to learn to use Manual mode on my camera. Here are a few photos (which I subsequently tinkered with in Photoshop -- is that cheating?) from the endeavor.
(I think the world would be a better place if everyone wore red long-johns, don't you?)

False Advertising

2010-02-11T13:56:00.002-05:00

Do not be deceived, this book is not actually about the Man in the Iron Mask. Which is a pity because he was the most compelling character. I finally finished reading it last night. I started it when Simon -- yes, Simon -- was born, but lost interest, probably because I was reading it in the middle of the night when I woke up to feed him. So I gave it another go when Oliver was born, and -- surprise! -- had a hard time staying interested. Again. Possibly because of the same 3 am feeding issue. But I finished it. Mostly so I could say I've read it and be done.

I'm sad that I had such a hard time with it. The Count of Monte Cristo, also by Dumas, is one of my all-time favorites so I expected great things from this. I blame my failure to really enjoy it on several things:

1. The cover. I'm not judging it, but I certainly was influenced by it. The cover of our copy is the same as pictured above. I think we got it at a garage sale. I felt like I was reading a trashy airplane novel rather than a classic. Something about the green glow and the typeface cheapened it for me.

2. As previously mentioned: what the heck happened to the man in the iron mask?!?! How could Dumas just abandon him after all the trouble he caused?

3. I've never read The Three Musketeers and I had a hard time connecting with the musketeers. A shame because the book is *actually* about the drama of their demise.

And 4. I was reading it in the middle of the night. And sometimes falling asleep half-way through a sentence. Which, I think, meant I had a hard time keeping track of what was going on. I couldn't figure out why Fouquet was on the king's bad side after he rescued him from the Bastille (ah, yes, the embezzlement issue! Of course!). And I never really caught on to who Colbert actually was. I probably should have taken the time to go back and read through it more carefully, but, like I said, I had a hard time focusing.

I'm just glad I can say I've read it now, set it aside, and move on.

Captain Underpants

2010-02-09T15:05:00.004-05:00

I don't know if I would say he is "trained," but he hasn't had an accident in several days and we have braved public transportation without the crutch of a diaper a couple of times.

If I were the type of mother who posted pictures of my mostly nekkid child, I would post a picture of Simon in his fancy-schmancy underpants, but I'm not that kind of mother, so you'll just have to imagine the cuteness of such a thing.

Trust me. It's really cute.

I am not a pioneer.

2010-02-06T23:35:00.003-05:00

It was a bit cold -- in the low 20s -- tonight when Micah and I picked the boys up from being babysat at our friends' house. Our friends don't live particularly close to us, and there isn't a really good way to get there from our place. It's two buses or two trains and a decent walk no matter which route you take. Micah was wearing Oliver in the bjorn, with his coat zipped up around him, and I was carrying Simon. We walked to the bus stop, looked at the time table and realized we'd have to wait at least 45 minutes for the next bus, so we decided to keep walking to the closest train station. It snowed a little bit last night, nothing too bad, and the sidewalks were pretty clear. At times we walked into gusts of wind, but they were always short-lived. Simon kept telling us he was hungry and asking for food, despite having eaten quite a bit before we left and having polished off a bag of goldfish cracker crumbs (I don't blame him for confusing "hungry" with "tired" -- I still do it all the time). We turned a corner and started walking up a small hill, and I looked over at Oliver. His nose was red and his drool was bubbling out of his mouth. I felt bad that he must be so cold and we still had a few blocks to walk before we got to the station. And then the thought, "At least you're not walking across the Plains," popped into my head.

I've heard of the ways people suffered as they crossed the Plains, of the cold and the scarcity of food. And it is true that at times I think I'm pretty hardcore, wearing my kids all over the place, carrying who knows how many pounds of laundry on my back in the rain and wind and snow. Sometimes I think we're relatively tough because we don't have a car and we do a lot of walking in all kinds of weather. But I always know that I'm not more than a few minutes away from warmth and food. I can tell my 2-year-old that he'll just have to wait until we get off the train and then we'll have dinner. And I don't go to bed at night hoping my baby doesn't freeze to death.

Micah and I are both descendants of pioneers, some of whom went through truly horrific experiences to get to where they were going. And right now I can't believe that I have taken pride in the "difficulties" of my life. I am grateful that I can do the things I do, grateful that sometimes it is a little bit hard and that I do it anyway, but even more grateful that my ancestors were as tough as they were so that I don't have to be.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it.

2010-02-05T10:56:00.000-05:00

Micah's version is slightly different, but I'm writing this, not him.

First, I have been making our bread for the better part of two years. I really liked the recipe I was using, and since I got it from one of my best friends I felt like it was important that I stick with it, if only for the illusion of some sort of added connection between the two of us. But then, over the past few months I started noticing that I was the only one eating the bread, and more often than not at least part of it would go bad before I could get to it. At about this time, I started hearing and reading about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day from other friends. I was interested, but if I was going to make the switch, I wanted Micah to be excited about it too. Because if I was going to be the only one to eat the bread anyway, I might as well make my special-friend bread and pretend that it meant something special that I was using the special-friend recipe.So I told Micah about it and he was kind of like, "Nyeh." So I didn't do anything about it. And then some friends offered to let us borrow their copy of the book and Micah was kind of like, "Nyeh." So I didn't do anything about it. And then Micah was looking for ideas of what to get me for Christmas and I suggested the book and he was kind of like, "Nyeh." And then I thought, well, I'll just try it and if it is easier and if it Micah eats it, then I'll make the switch. So a few days after Christmas I whipped up a batch of the basic "boule" dough and baked a loaf. And Micah raved about it. We ate three (admittedly small) loaves in three days. So we decided to borrow the book from our friends to see if it was worth getting. We had it in our possession for about 7 hours before Micah was like, "Let's just do it. Let's just get the book and the storage containers and the pizza stone and do it."

And I was like, "Huh."

ps We've been using this recipe (also in the book) to make granola for our breakfast and it is rather tasty. I roast it at 275 for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, just until it starts to brown and it turns out really delicious. Like I can't wait to get home from my run so I can eat some. That kind of delicious.

It is February and I am happy about it.

2010-02-04T22:25:00.000-05:00

Well, this is a weird feeling. I don't remember the last time things felt so normal around here, like we are actually doing what we are going to be doing for the next couple of years. I am not anxious about anything. I'm not overly excited about anything. I'm not bored or over-scheduled or trying to figure things out. I'm just being me. Running early in the morning, making breakfast, doing dishes, getting the boys dressed and out to go shopping or to the museum or institute or to do laundry, changing diapers, potty training, putting the boys down for naps, making dinner, trying to keep up with friends via e-mail and blogs and phone, planning Primary stuff, trying out new things (knitting, at the moment).You know. The usual.
In the back of my mind there are some things that I keep thinking about, but they are the unknowable things, things that I just have to be patient about and for the first time in . . . forever? I'm feeling fine with just waiting, just being. It is fun to speculate on how things will go, but I don't feel the need to obsess about how much longer we can live in New York and where we will end up when we leave, or what our family will be like in 10 years, or when I'm going to be able to start (really) writing again and what my career will be like when the kiddies aren't sapping my brain power 97% of the day.

I am content. And it's lovely.

Scenes from the Brown Couch

2010-02-04T08:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I got my flute out to play some Primary songs for the enjoyment of the little people, but soon turned to some of the songs I learned back when I took lessons. I was playing a particularly emotional song and was just reaching the climax when I turned around to look at Oliver, who was sitting on the couch. He looked like he was fighting back tears. One tear even ran down his chubby cheek. But he managed to regain his composure when I stopped playing. I can only assume it was the power of the music that was affecting him so, and not my extremely rusty flute-playing "abilities." He has a sensitive soul.And also. One day last week I got in the shower and left the door open, as I (almost) always do when I shower so I could peek out and make sure the boys weren't killing each other. I'd just shampooed my hair when I heard a thud and poked my head out to see what was going on. I thought Simon must have fallen, but one look at the couch tipped me off: Oliver was no longer sitting where I had left him. And then the crying started, and it was Oliver's little cry. I was already out of the shower, of course, and ran to pick Oliver up off the floor where Simon had lost the strength to carry him any more. Simon claimed he needed to show Oliver some "new animals" in his room. Ha. Oh well. It was the first time, but I'm sure it won't be the last that Oliver gets hurt as Simon tries to be a good Big Brother. I'm just a little surprised it took 3 months for something like that to happen.

Crash Blossoms

2010-01-31T16:04:00.003-05:00

I'm a bit of a language nerd and I mastered in journalism, so imagine my delight when these two loves of mine collided this week in the "On Language" column that runs in the Times Magazine. Micah and I both laughed out loud as we read some of the hilarity that ensues when headline writers try to cut their words down to the bare minimum -- and beyond.
"Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge" is a good one, but we both just about busted a gut when we read that the "British Left Waffles on Falklands." And we were both scratching our heads for a minute trying to figure out what the headline writer meant to say when “Google Fans Phone Expectations by Scheduling Android Event” popped up in print.

Anyway, I know some of you share my love of a little ambiguity here and there, so I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy.

Image from the Times. Obviously.

Official Endorsement: Charlie and Lola

2010-01-30T14:05:00.001-05:00

For those who have small children and are not acquainted with Charlie and Lola, I invite you to make their acquaintance. Charlie is an awesome big brother, and Lola is . . . well, Lola is small and very funny. Simon has picked up some of their lingo (he's always talking about having a "streemly, streemly" -- extremely, extremely -- "happy birthday"), which we don't mind since they are some of the few children's characters we aren't annoyed by in the least. We can't make a trip to the library these days without looking for a Charlie and Lola book and I'm fine with letting Simon watch a few episodes of the show at a time on YouTube. They are fun to read, fun to watch, and they aren't really preachy or anything -- they are just kids being kids. I should rephrase that: they are just good kids being good kids.

Pie Bites

2010-01-29T21:27:00.004-05:00

Friday is the day Simon and I make a "special treat." Today I started out by throwing some flour, salt, and sugar in the food processor. Then I added some shortening and Simon turned it on. And then he added the butter and pulsed it a bit. And then I added the water and folded it all together.I rolled it out with our awesome bubble-gum pink silicone-coated rolling pin, during which time Simon completely lost interest. I thought he would love using the cookie cutter on it, but I was wrong. So I did it.
And I thought he would love spooning some blueberry preserves onto the circles, but I was wrong. So I did it. While he slept. Slacker. But it was probably for the best since it got a little messy when I was pressing them with a fork, and it would have been a complete disaster to let Simon help with the milk wash and the sprinkling of sugar.I was almost thinking it was a waste of time to come up with this project for "us" to do when it ended up just being me, but then dinner time rolled around and he took one look at this risotto I made (ack! it's green!) and said, "I don't like it." And then I said, "Well if you don't eat it, you can't have any pie bites," and so he choked it all down. It took him the better part of an hour to do it, but he managed. And I decided the pie bites were worth the risotto.

The end.

I'm feeling pretty hardcore today

2010-01-25T13:01:00.003-05:00

because I:

woke up early and went for a run in the rain.
did the laundry with the boys. in the rain.
did the grocery shopping. with the boys. in the rain.
before lunch.
The casualties included our Costco-sized wind-proof umbrella, which, it turns out, is actually not wind-proof -- and my record of never having given Simon a time-out in public. A mom's got to do what a mom's got to do. Unfortunately, the time out did not have the desired effect and we ended up carrying two baskets through the store anyway.

Simon couldn't stop laughing as I tried to turn our umbrella right side in and keep Oliver dry and out of the wind. At least one of us enjoyed the situation, although Oliver was a pretty good sport about being winded and rained on. I finally gave up on the umbrella and hurried us to the laundromat with it inside-out.

And then I sat on the couch and watched episodes of Chuck and Castle on hulu while folding the laundry. Thing 1 took a long nap in his room. Thing 2 took a short nap on my lap. As I finished folding, the clouds parted, the sun shone. And I shook my fist at it.