Jeff - 12, Skating Rink - 1

Today was just pretty darn wonderful. One of the highlights was Caitlin's gullibility. It started when Jeff complained that one of his ears was hurting near the outer ear. I asked Caitlin to get the flashlight to I could take a look. As I turned it on and directed it to Jeff's ear, he says to Caitlin "Look in the other ear and you'll see the light come out the other side." She shouted "COOL!" and peered in the opposite ear. Jeff and I were in stitches!

Then we went to the local gym that we finally decided to join. We get in the indoor pool and Caitlin's lips immediately turn blue. It was plenty warm for doing laps, but it was turning Caitlin into a popsicle. So, we took her and Gwen to KidSpace, the attended playroom for the kids. They wanted to play for a while but Jeff and I had not brought any gym clothes. We thought we were going to be swimming for a while. Since it was our first day there, we took ourselves on a little tour and ended up in the skating rink. Despite having NEVER skated before, Jeff was up for it. We rented skates in the most eye-searing color you can imagine, proof against skate-lifting I'm sure, and headed for the hard-wood. Jeff wibbled and wobbled and managed to make it around the rink at least a dozen times, only going down once. It was actually great fun. We had a blast.

That done, we took the kids home and washed up just in time for the babysitter to come over. We were having dinner with friends at a restaurant that hasn't made up its mind whether it want to be "India Delight" or "Royal Taj". Despite its indecision, it was fabulous food and I finally got to meet the man Jeff has been working with so much, John Conroy. He is clearly one of the smartest people out there, but he and his wife, Julie, were absolutely charming and easy to get to know. We had a wonderful time.

Now we've tucked the children in bed and I've got a lemon bread baking in the oven. Sadly, it isn't for me, but for the African-American Read-In volunteers who are donating their time to the girls school tomorrow. But I can enjoy the scent of it baking!

Look out Julia Child

Today has been a cooking day. First I made Ratatouille from Julia Child's recipe. I've made the recipe in the Moosewood cookbook and it doesn't come out nearly as good. Of course, Julia's recipe took 3 hours from start to finish, but wow, the TASTE! Jeff went crazy for it.

Then, I got to have dessert - homemade yogurt. I started it last night and the recipe was shockingly simple; just organic 2% milk and a litttle yogurt starter. I brought the milk to a boil, let it cool, stirred in the starter, poured into sterilized jelly jars. To keep it at the optimum temperature, I put the jars in a cooler wrapped up in kitchen towels and with a warmed up cherry pit pillow. I sealed up the cooler, went to bed, and hoped for the best. This morning I popped the still warm jars into the fridge. And after dinner tonight I topped the thick, creamy yogurt with fresh strawberries and a little agave nectar. It was really good. Feel free to stop by for a sample, there is plenty more!

Bon Appetite!

Smile Under Construction

Gwen finally got braces put on her upper front teeth. We are all looking forward to seeing her new improved smile. She is being a real trooper about the tender teeth and the dietary restrictions. In fact, I'm a little surprised she can eat anything at all given all the metal in her mouth right now. But, I think we are going to see a big payoff in the long run.

Music sample 1: Take 2

I THINK I got this music file to be downloadable. Click here:
Star of the County Down
and hope for the best.

Testing 1, 2, 3

As promised, I have been working on recording my harp music. I'm trying to provide a little sample here, but blogger won't let me publish a music file. It will however, let me publish a movie, so I had to pick an image, add the music, and save as a video file. So, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping this works.

Hmm. Not working so much.

Ok, I'll give this another shot after I get some sleep. Goodnight!

Wiggle news

Big news here at our house: Caitlin has her first loose tooth. And that girl is beyond excited. She is practically vibrating out of our dimension. She got to share the news with friends and teachers at school today and I am fairly certain that no one was missed. And now all of cyberspace knows the big news.

She's a dancer!

Due to scheduling issues, we enrolled Caitlin in a Lyrical dance class instead of ballet. This style of dance is very flowing and interpretive and emotional. Caitlin LOVES it. This is what she dances like when she is at home and music is playing. This just comes naturally to her. I can't wait till the spring recital, Caitlin is going to be in dance heaven. Music, dance, costumes, make-up, stage lights! Does it get any better?

Pictures - arranged or deranged?

I finally got around to hanging all my framed family pictures back on the hallway ways after painting the walls over a year ago. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to be a little more organized this time around, rather than hanging them up all willy-nilly. I hung them arranged by frame style, in neat rows and columns. Then I stepped back and looked at it. It looked totally deranged, like it had been decorated by Adrian Monk, completely OCD. And I realized that there is such as thing as too orderly. I fixed it. I rearranged the pictures in a rather haphazard manner and viola, it looked better. At least, it didn't look like a cry for pharmaceutical intervention. So, come see my hallway. Don't bring a ruler.

Oh, now for something completely different, my co-worker/supervisor, Beth awarded me the "Best Comment of 2009" selected from all the comments entered into our versioning system for the following entry:

Fixed unterminated string in vendor.css file that made IE fuss and produced a bizarre telefonica/leapdrive frankinstein-style hybrid. Not pretty.

I do love my job. I wonder if the award comes with a cookie?

New Year's Resolutions: Item 1 - check

I finally finished it. My first knitted sweater! The photo isn't the greatest, but you can sort of tell that it has cables in the front and a belt of the same yarn. The yarn itself is really cool, it is a silk wool blend from a Maryland farm. It is really soft.

Now, I've got to get to work on my next project - recording a harp CD. I'll keep you posted!

Scooter Girls

When the weather is too cold to play outside, where do you scooter? Everywhere! The girls have been having a blast with their scooters. They zip around the house at a speed Gwen describes as "wicked fast." Watch your toes!

In other news, Caitlin took her first Lyrical dance class today and it is a perfect fit. She loves it. Lyrical dance is basically exactly what she does when she has music and a little open space. She was born to dance. Both Gwen & Caitlin took their first Kids Yoga class today. Caitlin loved it and Gwen didn't completely hate it as much as she thought she would. I guess that is the best I can hope for.

We wrapped up our day with a Uno tournment in front of a nice blazing fire in the fireplace. As much as I hate the cold weather, I could get used to quiet Saturdays like this. Life is good.

Little yoginis

I signed Gwen and Caitlin up for a kid's yoga class. Caitlin can't wait. She is ready to go. Check out her downward dog:

I'm not sure what this one is called, but it looks fun. Gwen hasn't quite worked up any enthusiasm for the idea, but I hope she likes it.

Amazing Chore Chart

I have been seeking a good way of getting the girls to remember all the things they should do in the morning without me nagging them. Or worse, as we are headed out the door, having this conversation:

"Everybody ready?"

"Yep!"

"Wait, your hair doesn't look brushed, did you brush it?"

"No."

"But, you said you were ready, you were playing around just a second ago."

"You didn't tell me I had to brush my hair."

"You have to brush your hair everyday. All of it. Not just the front part."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"Yes you did. We had this conversation yesterday."

"Oh, I forgot."

This represents conversations I have actually had with my children. Only, sometimes it isn't hair brushing, it is putting clothes in the hamper not on the floor, brushing teeth, putting on socks, etc, etc.

Enter the wonderful folks at Doug & Melissa Toys. They made this magnetic chore chart pictured above. There is a list for chores and little smiley face magnets that you can put by the chore once you have completed it. The girls LOVE it. They were actually excited about doing their chores today. I didn't have to remind anyone once! I did have to take a moment and admire the work of art that was the completed chore chart, but I am so happy about that. I love the chore chart. I may even write fan mail to the manufacturer. Thank you, Doug, Melissa, you are my heroes.

New Year's Resolutions

1. Finish knitting my first sweater. (Almost done.) And no new yarn till my other works in progress are done.

2. Eat more ethically. That means reducing the amount of plastic my food is wrapped in, buying locally and fair-trade whenever possible, finishing leftovers instead of letting them spoil.

3. Exercise. 2009 was the year of not exercising very much. I resolve to turn that around, maybe even rejoin a martial arts program.

4. Record my harp playing. I bought that fancy, smancy harp mike last year and failed to do anything with it. This is the year!

5. No more Starbucks. I was just a little bit addicted. I will still get lattes, but I will have to go out of my way to get them from locally owned businesses.

6. Do the garden right this year. No more planting seeds, ignoring them and then hoping for the best. No more tomato plants raging completely out of control. No sir! I'm going to keep that garden military-style ship shape.

7. Learn to make applesauce and can tomatoes. Well, I'll need to do something with all those apples and tomatoes.

OK, wish me luck!