Click on the first photo in the series (at top left) and then click through the series by clicking the thumbnail shown to the right of each individual photo. That will take you to the next photo, and so on...
I'll post highlights from the trip here in the near future, but wanted to get the set up for those of you who requested it.
Time to get in shape after the long winter. Cold/flu season and lots of rain has wiped out my exercise routine. I feel sluggish, stiff & I'm 15 pounds over my pre-kid weight.
I need to get back on the Mummy Tummy routine. I need to start getting daily cardio. Time to start hiking 2x/week, swimming, yoga, biking, weights... all the things I like to do and need to do. Cannot fall victim to the insidious creep of a sedentary habit.
Two little kids are definitely a challenge to performing exercise on a regular basis. Sometimes even just going for a walk around the block can be a hassle. But I'll have to figure it out somehow. I can swim and do yoga on the weekends when Dan is home to take over parenting duties. It's fitting an hour of exercise into the day during the week that's a challenge. I already have every waking moment jam-packed full of work and kids and household chores. But this has to be fit in somewhere. I don't want it to get away from me. It has to be built into my schedule.
Also need to do better meal planning, and more food prep so I have snack options ready. Smaller portions for meals too. I wish that I could go vegetarian for a while, but Dan isn't into that. I guess I could do plant-based meals for me and cook a separate piece of meat for him and the kids.
This is all going to take a lot of planning and effort. Well, I guess I can take it day-by-day at first, just eat less and do some kind of exercise for an hour a day. Then slowly build on that.
Today I'm taking the kids and going for an hour bike ride, about 10 miles. Some hills, which are a real workout with 75 pounds of kids on back. I don't know what we're going to do tomorrow. Hike?
Time to rally my friends to join me too. It's always more effective if you have a date, with someone else expecting you to show up. So, are you ready to bike, hike, walk or ???? I'll join you for just about anything but running.
I have to say, at first I was cracking up at the cheese factor of this 1987 video, but the longer I watched it, the more I liked it. You GO, Rick Astley. You've got a great voice, snake hips, and that's one hell of a catchy pop song. It's not your fault those blonde chicks don't know how to dance.
Kids playing with the dollhouse on a rainy day. Julian decorates the house and Adrian undecorates it. All family members (mom, dad, two brothers) love to jump off the roof instead of using the ladder. Well, *sometimes* they use the ladder. But mostly not.
The next morning, it's still a nonstop downpour. Hmmm, what to do? We've played with playdough, rolled balls, played every Wii Sport, painted, drawn, worked in workbooks, taken baths, played cards, read books, played computer games, built train tracks...off to the Children's Discovery Museum, I guess.
15 things you should know about Obama's plan (but probably don't)
Well, here it is. Last week, President Obama unveiled his budget—his blueprint for America—and it's ambitious, amazing, and unapologetically progressive. As Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize-winning economist said, it will set America on a "fundamentally new course." 1
President Obama called his budget "a threat to the status quo," and trust me, the status quo noticed. Oil companies, big banks and insurance companies are already mobilizing to stop it. 2
Unfortunately, most folks don't realize how far-reaching and progressive the plan is—that's where we all come in.
Here are 15 really incredible things about Obama's plan. Check them out and then send them on to your friends and family so that millions of people will have the information they need to fight to make this vision a reality.
1. Makes a $634 billion down payment on fixing health care that will go a long way toward paying for a more efficient, more affordable health care system that covers every single American. 3
2. Reduces taxes for 95% of working Americans. And if your family makes less than $250,000, your taxes won't go up one dime. 4
3. Invests more than $100 billion in clean energy technology, creating millions of green jobs that can never be outsourced. 5
4. Brings our troops home from Iraq on a firm timetable, finally bringing the war to a close—and freeing up almost ten billion dollars a month for domestic priorities. 6
5. Reverses growing income inequality. The plan lets the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire and focuses on strengthening the middle class. 7
6. Closes multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for big oil companies. 8
7. Increases grants to help families pay for college—the largest increase ever. 9
8. Halves the deficit by 2013. President Obama inherited a legacy of huge deficits and an economy in shambles, but his plan brings the deficit under control as soon as the economy begins to recover. 10
9. Dramatically increases funding for the SEC and the CFTC—the agencies that police Wall Street. 11
10. Tells it straight. For years, budgets have used accounting tricks to hide the real costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, and too many other programs. Obama's budget gets rid of the smokescreens and lays out what America's priorities are, what they cost, and how we're going to pay for them. 12
11. Stops unnecessary government subsidies to big banks, health insurance companies and big agribusinesses. 13,14,15
12. Expands access to early childhood education and improves schools by investing in programs that make sure every child has a qualified, strong teacher. 16
13. Negotiates for better prescription drug prices using Medicaid's tremendous bargaining power. 17
14. Expands access to family planning for low-income women. 18
15. Caps the pollution that causes global warming, and makes polluters pay to support clean energy innovation.19
Did you know that I was on the Most Ridiculous Spanish TV Show Ever?
When I was living in Madrid in 1992-1993 my roommates and I saw an ad for a new TV show, "Goles Son Amores", and we immediately reviled it as the worst of the WORST of Spanish TV. Get this...it was a variety show, and not like that's not bad enough, it was a variety show revolving around soccer. But not very informative, rather it used futbol as a loose theme around which to parade a series of dancing girls in states of tacky undress, costumed clowns, extremely bad jokes, a near-naked Brazilian samba troupe (because you know, samba > Brazil > soccer...see the connection?) and showcase the toothy skills of the host Manolo Escobar (a tiny yet bombastic singer from the 1960s, see him singing one of his hits, "Viva Espana" below), and his blonde sidekick Loreto Valverde, about 30 years his junior. Occasionally they would actually interview a player or coach, but mostly it was like "The Donny and Marie Show", except with a goofy Spanish cast of characters, and a whole lot of half-naked girls gratuitously scattered about.
Don't you love the over-the-top evening/stripper-wear combined with belted, acid-washed mom jeans? That is a hot look. So 1992.
Here is another short clip, with a rabid group of soccer fans cheering their team, the toothy Manolo looking on in apparent disbelief at their fervor. He was quite an odd choice for host of this program, since he didn't really seem to care about soccer too much.
Anyway, I had seen the ads for this new show and had been making fun of it for a while. Cut to the biggest disco in Madrid, Pacha, which, unbelievably, is still around. I was there with my friend Andres, and at one point a wiry, average-looking guy approached me and asked me if I was interested in being on TV. Since I had been hit on about a hundred times already that evening, I assumed that this was just another come on, and I blew him off. Before he left, he put a card in my hand. "If you change your mind, here is my card." I put it into my coat pocket, and there it stayed.
Months passed and my boyfriend Andrew arrived from the States. He was looking for work as a fashion photographer, so he was going around to modeling agencies. We were at an agency one day, and the street name sounded familiar. I pulled the card out of my pocket, and the street was the same, the address was nearby. I figured that since I was already almost there, and had time to kill, I might as well check it out.
It turned out to be an agency, which was promising. I was surprised to find out that this guy had been for real, and started to get a little excited. "I have this card from one of your scouts. Can you tell me what openings you have?"
The receptionist said she would check. She went back into the offices and I waited in the front. When she came back a few minutes later, I was all ears. "Yes?"
"We have openings right now for someone like you in a new television program."
"What is the program?"
"It's called 'Goles Son Amores'."
That took more than a few seconds to sink in. The program that I had been reviling as the stupidest possible thing on television, out of an astoundingly bad pool of candidates...THAT was the show that wanted to hire me?
Well, whatever. I got over it and decided that the experience was just too rich to pass up, so I went to the audition, and, being blonde, female, young and pretty, I got the job right away. Not sure what I would have to have done to NOT get the job.
I didn't go to Madrid to be on a cheesy TV show. I had gone to Madrid to study at the Universidad de Madrid through a San Francisco State University exchange program. Unfortunately, when I arrived I found myself with a group of whiny, obnoxious 17-18 year olds (I was a sage 22 year old)who complained about everything...the food, the people, the language, the culture. I was looking forward to the end of orientation, so that I could rid myself of my fellow ugly Americans and go to real classes with Spaniards at the University.
Orientation ended and I went to my first day of school. Horror when I entered class and found myself with exactly the same group of people! What? I went to complain to the director of the program and found that I would not be in standard university classes at all, instead, my classes would all be with members of the group that I had come over with, and not integrated at all. You would think that I would have figured that out somewhere along the way, but I didn't.
I asked the director for a full refund of my university and program fees, and set out finding a place to live. Along with two of my fellow program compatriots, I found a dark yet decent and fairly inexpensive apartment in Moncloa and we moved in. OK, now what? I was there to become fluent in Spanish and become part of the culture, so I set about doing that, and it was in that frame of mind that I took the job on "Goles Son Amores"
Surprisingly, I was the only foreigner among the "azafatas", which technically means "stewardess", but is also used as the term for pretty girls hired to promote products. Telecinco TV5 was the station running "Goles", and it was known for having scads of girls in the background of every program, no matter how irrelevant they were. So I was one of 20 girls on the show representing the 20 Spanish soccer teams in La Liga, the professional soccer league. My team was going to be Cadiz, one of the bottom-ranked. Sigh.
Our job was to come out at the beginning of every show and serve as a line of eye candy behind the host Manolo Escobar and his two hostesses, Loreto Valverde and Inma Brunton. We 20 girls were not sufficient though. There was also Cacao, a Brazilian samba troupe, and another group of half-naked dancers called...Mamachicha, I think.
Every Monday I took the Metro to the Telecinco studios outside of Madrid and stayed there all day for about USD$60. Sometimes Manolo would throw a fit and the "stars" would have to do a million takes, and then it really got to be a very long day indeed. We chicas would wait for our call in a tiny closet-sized windowless room, every single last one of the girls chain-smoking the entire time, so that the room was completely fogged with thick, choking blue cigarette smoke. I shudder to think of how many years I lost off my lifespan sitting in there for sometimes as little as $6 per hour.
As I mentioned, my team (Cadiz) was ranked at the bottom of all the teams in La Liga. As they would announce the teams one-by-one, the girl representing that team would run out into the spotlight and do something to act out how her team had done that week, while the announcer gave a quick summary of wins/losses.
Since my team always lost, I usually had to run out and do a pantomime of crying and being sad, wringing my fists into my eye sockets and flinging the back of my hand across my forehead in mock agony. Occasionally the producers would ask me to do a particular kind of dance, which would have been fine if I had known what any of them were, but a tarantella? Beats me. So I would just snap my fingers and do a mock flamenco kind of thing. Nobody complained, so I guess my blondeness made up for the fact that I really had no clue what the hell I was supposed to be doing out there.
Or maybe it was my outfit, which was a tight-fitting Cadiz jersey on top, tiny little Dolphin running shorts on bottom, knee-length tube socks (!) and cleats. Oh, plus a ton of garish stage makeup and poofy teased sky-high 80's hair. Stunning, right?
I would often forget that I was supposed to be *performing* on camera. Manolo would be bantering with Loreto and Inma, all with us girls arrayed in a semicircle behind them. The camera would often pan behind, down the line of pretty girls, all of them smiling brilliantly at the camera and posing perfectly, except for ME staring goggle-eyed at at the presenters with not a scrap of smile on my face. I would totally forget that the camera was there, and that I was actually part of the show and expected to smile and pose etc. at all times onstage.
The other girls were all Spanish, and rarely took any notice of me, dismissing me as a foreigner. One day in the cafeteria I was listening to the conversation around me and I absent-mindedly squeezed a slice of lemon into my glass of water. All conversation stopped and heads swiveled. Apparently that was an utterly strange thing to them...squeezing a lemon, into WATER! Personally I didn't find it so strange, but it simply was not done. Who would do a thing like that?
Their concept of California was hilarious. "Oh, I have a friend who lives in California, do you know her? Maria Jesus Fernandez?"
And this: "Since you are from California, you must have acted in a lot of movies and TV shows. What famous people do you know?"
I had to explain delicately that things were a bit different in California, and usually they had *auditions*. Most people who tried out for a role on TV or in a movie actually had some acting experience, and weren't just chatted up in a disco as their sole qualification. You usually didn't get hired just for showing up.
Then I tried to explain that San Francisco wasn't really like Hollywood, and the film industry wasn't so big there, but I lost their attention at that point and they went back to ignoring me. Which hey, I don't blame them...what a boring answer. I should have just made up a few crazy stories to entertain them and boost my status, but I was quite the serious bluestocking and stuck to the hard, cold, facts.
Here's Manolo singing one of his early hits, a patriotic number from 1973 called "Y Viva Espana":
I love Spain and all, but who are all those non-Spanish elves in the background marching around? Couldn't they find a torero or two? Love Manolo's sideburns though.
This is my personal favorite Manolo song, it's catchy and he's hot in this video from 1969, the year of my birth. Those ultra-mobile eyebrows, the way he points it out to you, and shouts out the words? Drama!
In case you don't speak Spanish, the song lyrics translate loosely to "Dude, Where's My Car?" This video was later extended and re-made as a movie starring Ashton Kutcher. Kidding, kidding.
"Goles Son Amores" was filmed in 1992-1993, so even back then he was about 20 years off his prime. Not that he was so bad-looking as a strapping young man, and what a set of pipes! Even as an old man, the dude could definitely belt it out with the best of them.
The big climax of "Goles Son Amores" came when Manolo sang the theme song, "Goles Son Amores". The clapping! Take a listen, press the play button below:
The lyrics are, of course, intelligent and complex.
Y es que goles son amores,
un programa de televisión.
Y es goles son amores
espectáculo y diversión.
Y es goles son amores
Telecinco marcará el mejor.
Y es que goles son amores
vive el fútbol pero con humor.
(Goals are loves,
a television program (this is the best line, isn't it?).
Goals are loves,
entertainment and fun.
Goals are loves,
Telecinco will make the best.
Goals are loves,
soccer, but with humor.)
Y si el martes duele la derrota
para el miércoles ya estás mejor.
En el jueves vuelve la esperanza
para el viernes te ves campeón.
Llega el sábado estás preparado
y si el domingo vuelves a perder
vente el lunes a nuestro programa
fuera penas y diviertete!
(And if defeat hurts on Tuesday,
for Wednesday's you'll be better.
On Thursday, hope returns,
Friday you are a champion.
When Saturday arrives, you are ready,
and if Sunday you lose again...
come on Monday to our program,
no more pain, have fun!)
Y es que goles son amores
un programa de televisión.
Y es goles son amores
espectáculo y diversión.
Y es que goles son amores
Telecinco marcará el mejor.
Y es que goles son amores
vive el fútbol pero con humor.
(Goals are loves,
a television program (this is the best line, isn't it?).
Goals are loves,
entertainment and fun.
Goals are loves,
Telecinco will make the best.
Goals are loves,
soccer, but with humor.)
Deep!
After a year of this nonsense, I was fed up with sticking around Madrid just to show up at Telecinco every Monday and lose lung tissue and brain cells for only $60. I wanted to go travel around, so I did. I quit my "Goles" gig. Enough was enough. My friend Carlos Perrino did manage to record my last appearance, but I doubt he still has that video. Would be a treat to watch, just for the comic value.
Shortly thereafter, the program was canceled. RIP, Goles.
Now you know more than you ever wanted to know about my TV career. Short but sweet. Well....short.
I made this soup, bread and punch for our New Year's Day party and they were big hits. Along with the leftover ham, you should be set for a few days if you make a batch of soup and a batch of bread, and both recipes are super-easy, though not fast. Start soaking your beans the night before for a meal the next day.
If you make a full batch of the champagne punch for yourself, you will be too drunk to care about eating, but try it for your next adult get-together.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STEWED BLACK-EYED PEAS WITH HAM
Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 8 hr 0 min
Cook Time: 55 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 6 to 8 servings
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 cups roughly chopped ham pieces (I buy one of those big uncured spiral cut hams at Trader Joe's, use 2 cups for this and make sandwiches on buttered bread with avocado with the rest, or just eat it straight. Mmmm, ham....)
1 pound dried black-eyed peas, soaked in cold water overnight and rinsed well (if you use a slow cooker you don't have to presoak - see below)
1 quart low-sodium chicken stock
1 cup cold water
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
(1/2 package of Trader Joe's precooked bacon, cut with scissors into little strips)
In a medium stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and country ham. Add the black-eyed peas, chicken stock, and 1 cup cold water. Bring the liquid up to a boil, partially cover and reduce to a simmer. Simmer the peas for about 25 minutes, uncover and cook an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until the peas are tender. Season the peas with salt and pepper as needed.
Alternatively, you can throw everything into a slow cooker and let it go on low for 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours.
If you got the bacon, you can throw that in right before serving. If you put it in too far ahead of time it gets a little too soft.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPEEDY NO-KNEAD NYT BREAD
3 cups bread flour
1 packet ( 1/4 ounce) instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Oil as needed. (Spray Olive Oil from Trader Joe's is the easiest)
1. Combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy. Cover bowl with a plate or with a larger bowl placed upside down on top. Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Lightly oil a work surface and place dough on it; fold it over on itself once or twice. Clean your original bowl, oil it, and put the dough back in for about 45 minutes to rise again.
3. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6-to-8-quart heavy covered pot or dutch oven (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats.
When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Dump the dough from the oiled bowl directly into the hot pot. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.
4. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 10 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Yield: 1 big loaf. You can easily double this recipe, just make sure that you use a bigger bowl to mix it in and let it rise. You can use the same amount of yeast, just double the flour and salt.
When you go to do the second rising, split the dough into two equal pieces and put each in its own oiled bowl. Bake one, and then when it is done, plop the second one into the already-hot bread-baking pot.
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup superfine sugar
1 cup vodka
1/2 cup limoncello
2 teaspoons vermouth
1 (750 ml) bottle chilled dry Champagne or sparkling wine
Ice
Lemon twists, for garnish
Combine the lemon juice, sugar, vodka, Limoncello, and vermouth in a large nonreactive bowl and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, 1 to 2 hours. Add the Champagne and stir to combine.
Serve over ice in highball glasses, garnished with lemon twists.
It was actually last Saturday (our wedding date was 1/3/03), but we celebrated today at our local seafood bar with oysters on the half shell, ahi tuna, calamari, baked oysters asiago, lemon drops, gin and tonics, and a glass of excellent pinot grigio. Good times!
Dan asked me on Friday night, "Do you know what tomorrow is?"
I responded, "Of course, it's the day before our anniversary!" and that's when the endless ribbing began. Because hello...our anniversary was the next day.
I remembered that it was the 3rd, but for some reason I got confused and thought that the 3rd was Sunday. Anyway, Dan has been teasing me ever since. But I DID NOT FORGET OUR ANNIVERSARY. I just got confused about days, that's all. OK?
Anyway, we had a great time on the actual day, (which we spent playing, chatting, eating and drinking over at Jeff and Susanne's house), and at our official celebration.
Still need to take our rings in for their annual polishing. Platinum gets scratched up so easily.
It has been a good 6 years so far. Lots of hard work making and raising two little boys, but we are happy and more in love than ever. Life is good!
Here's a new meme that I got from Steph. Feel free to use it on your own site if you like.
I've bolded all the things that I've done personally...66 out of 100. This makes me think that I should create a list of all the things I'd like to do that I haven't done yet.
1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band (yes, I played the tuba my freshman year of high school) 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland (yep, my grandmother lives in Anaheim) 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo (sure, plenty of times, not sure if it needs to be formally in a band or anything)
11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning (yes, from bad oysters in North Beach...it was HORRIBLE)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise (not on a cruise ship, but on our family sailboat, yes)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (hmm, been to England, Scotland, France and Germany, but not Norway) 35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (yep, French and Spanish)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing (zero desire to do this) 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa (Morocco)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (today!)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (not yet, but I have major plans to learn Krav Maga at some point)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (yep, I'm B+)
65. Gone sky diving (no desire to)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (still have Blueberry Bear, the only stuffed animal I ever cared about, who was actually my Mom's bear when she was a girl)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (yes, at age 16, for selling hats and pocketing some of the profits. Bad girl!)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (nope, couldn't get past all the sex and violence!)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (and also almost took someone's life, once upon a time...but he really deserved it)
90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous (but not very impressive)
92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day
I have been slacking on the blogging lately, because honestly? It's a whole lot easier to just update my Twitter status than it is to sit down and hammer out coherent thoughts at length.
Plus my hands and wrists are BEAT UP from all these years of working at a computer, so I'm trying to limit my keyboard time. Just ordered a new keyboard last week, so hopefully I can update my poor ergonomics and sit at a decent workstation setup again. Laptops are very convenient, but they are MURDER on your body. If the keyboard is low enough to not inflict damage on your wrists, then you will have to look down to see your screen and kill your neck as a result. Move the screen up to the perfect viewing height and now your typing fingers are up by your chin. It's impossible to work safely on a laptop for any length of time. Guaranteed to destroy your body eventually.
I am recovering from the Christmas holidays. Already took down the tree, it was shedding needles like mad and Adrian finally pulled it over. Goodbye! I was feeling guilty about not putting up the Christmas lights outside this year, but hey, it sure does work out in the long run! No need to take them down now. Hooray!
This year Julian got a totally sweet bike for Christmas, which is what he wanted. There was some drama first though, before the happy ending.
I went to our fave local bike shop and had this Electra Mini-Rod all picked out (except no training wheels):
but then the bike shop dude on duty said, "Hey, for a 5 year old you should get the Rat Rod instead."
It looked big, but I didn't have Julian there with me (the surprise element, you know), so I wasn't sure. I figured the bike dude would know. Except he doesn't know that I have a very petite *almost* 5 year old, and that makes quite a difference.
The Rat Rod was super cool-looking, so I snapped it up and put it in the car, thrilled that I had such a great present for Julian. Then I found a really nice drum set for Adrian, the kind that you can sit at and play, with a foot pedal and cymbals and everything. And I was done! Two big presents, that was all I planned on doing, because last year I got a bunch of little presents for the kids and half of them broke within a month and the other half morphed into the Least Interesting Items Ever to my kids within the same time frame. Waste of money and resources.
Best quote from Christmas Eve came from Dan, who wins the award for "Unclear on the Concept". We had just gotten back from a lovely dinner at Firat and Martina's house with lots of wine and food, and put the kids to bed. I asked Dan to bring in the bike and the drum set from their secret hiding location in his office so that we could set it up under the tree and he said (drum roll please)......
"Oh, I'm too tired to bring that stuff in here tonight. Can't we just do it tomorrow morning?"
GONG! Sorry, Jewish guy. You need to go back to remedial Christmas 101.
I set him straight on the whole "finding presents under the tree, not waiting for late-rising Dad to bring them inside after he has a cup of coffee first", and he brought the stuff in.
Christmas morning came and Julian was all over it. "Mommy! There's a bike next to the tree! It's for ME! And a drum set for Adrian!"
I rolled out of bed, made sure that everyone went potty first (no puddles of excitement on Xmas morn, please) and then we set out to investigate. Julian was in awe of his bike, but D'OH! He could not get on or off of it by himself. I'd call that a major safety hazard. He could pedal OK, with the seat at its lowest possible level, but couldn't straddle the bar. UGH.
He was a real trooper though, and wasn't too disappointed. Also, it was raining cats and dogs outside and gusting enough to blow the bamboo in our front yard almost completely horizontal. So not much of a bike riding day. Still...it would have been nice to have the RIGHT SIZE BIKE, and I was kicking myself for just going with the flow and not sticking with my original choice.
We unpacked Adrian's drum set and it was a big hit, except that the freakin' FOOT PEDAL for the bass drum was missing from the box. I was envisioning going back to ToysRUS and explaining to a brain-dead customer service person about how the foot pedal was missing, and asking for *just* the foot pedal, and trying to wrangle that, and I was not pleased at the notion. Luckily, Adrian totally did not care. But I was bummed.
At this point Dan came out and started playing with the kids and their defective/dangerously oversized toys, and he noticed something that I did not....a puddle of rank liquid DOGSHIT right in the middle of our white, fluffy, wool rug. The ONLY rug in the living room, I might add, and a small one at that. Our dog has lived with us for over five years now, with not one single accident in the house, but when he *does* decide to blow liquid mud indoors in the middle of the night? He chooses the single spot where it is guaranteed to be the most difficult and disgusting to clean.
So then I spent about 45 minutes gagging and dry-heaving while spraying poo pudding out of the carpet and dousing it with enzyme treatment. Foul utterly foul. Thanks for *that* Christmas gift, you lousy beast. Yeah, your tummy was upset, whatever. NEXT TIME CHOOSE THE HARDWOOD FLOOR, IT'S EVERYWHERE. What a dick maneuver, crapping on that white rug. Asshole!
We had a lovely Christmas Day feast with my cousins Anni and Hana, Firat and Martina and their daughter Claire.
A big ole crab feed with mussels and fresh-baked bread and stuff. The crab was not nearly as good as it has been in the past, so I was kind of pissed about that, because hello, it's XMAS and it's supposed to be THE BEST EVER, but oh well. The company was good.
The next day we went to the bike shop to exchange the bike, but they were closed. Major upset for Julian. Sorry kid. So we went to ToysRUS to get the missing foot pedal for Adrian's drum. I was really dreading that whole procedure, as I mentioned. When we walked in I had a bright idea and went over to the music section. There in the middle of the aisle, as fate would have it, was a thrashed, opened drum set box. I reached inside, fished around, and found the missing foot pedal. Hooray!
I tucked that under my arm, and since I felt a little bad for not going through the usual channels, I went and bought a Wii Sports game attachment set and a rechargeable battery set for our Wiimotes. Then I left. Hooray!
The next day the bike shop was open, and I exchanged Julian's bike for the appropriately-sized Mini-Rod. He immediately hopped on it as soon as we got home, and he has barely gotten off it since. I have it all tricked out with a bell and super-bright lights on both front and back (for when he's riding at dusk). He LOVES it.
So in spite of a slight delay in fulfillment, we managed to have a merry Christmas after all. The bike gets ridden almost every day, the drum set gets played almost every day, the kids are thrilled, and that's wonderful. We did not clutter the house up with junk. We got to spend the day with family and friends (although we *sorely* missed my mom, but here's to next year!). We didn't have to work too hard. We played a lot. Too bad for the carpet, but overall...a resounding success!
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Time to get in shape after the long winter. Cold/flu season and lots of rain has wiped out my exercise routine. I feel sluggish, stiff & I'm 15 pounds over my pre-kid weight.
