Before and After

See if you can detect the difference between these two pictures:

About 6 pounds! Yes, she stayed with us and here she is in her current, obese glory. She is a bather--constantly keeping her and everyone around her shiny clean. She is getting so she can't quite reach everywhere as well as she used to be able to...

Question of the day

Why does mucus, unlike every other liquid I know of, get thinner and runnier when it gets cold? You'd think it would be disadvantageous, evolutionarily-speaking, to have icicles hanging from your nose.

This crazy weather has had the advantage of allowing us to be home, guilt-free, for five nights in a row (that is, guilt-free because we aren't home because we are flaking out on anything). I do hope we get a window of nice weather tomorrow, though, because A is dying to see her drama club friends, and M has a special outing with Grandma planned (and loafers may be involved, so his excitement knows no bounds). If not, it will be a great opportunity to do our Christmas baking. So far, we're actually not especially stir crazy, but we do miss seeing our friends. If only you guys lived on our block!

Snow!

OK, OK, I guess they were right about the big storm after all. Who'd a thought? I do wish I would have picked up a gallon of milk last night, at least!

Quiz:

What is more fun than a snowy day?

Answer: A big outdoor fire on a snowy day!
Until you fall down and wind up with a gaping 3/4-inch jagged tear across the under side of your chin. M did that, not me. I'm sure he would have had stitches if I had felt safe driving, but the little band-aids seem to be holding it together. And, it didn't really bleed that much, given the size of the gash. Since M had been playing outside for a good couple of hours at that point I think it was kind of numb and maybe didn't have a ton of blood circulating at the surface? Anyway, he'll have a lovely scar to show off.

Check out this snowball--it was there for a full minute before I got this picture

Improvised Dinner

I went to New Seasons with a dinner idea in mind, only to be thwarted by the masses of people there--stocking up for the big storm, I guess. There were no regular-sized carts left *at all* and the meat counter was a solid mass of people. So we had dinner from the "pantry" tonight, that is, improvised with the materials at hand. If you are in a similar pinch, here are a couple of ideas...

Lemony rice:
Olive oil
1 c rice
2 c chicken broth
zest of 1 lemon (or 1/2 of a dried up lemon in the back of the crisper box plus a lime)
1 grated zucchini, which was getting on in life and needed to be used up
1 grated carrot
2-3 cloves garlic
Parmesan cheese (1/4 c?)
juice from aforementioned dried up 1/2 lemon, which was actually surprisingly juicy

Saute the rice in the olive oil until it starts to get a little brown. Add the zucchini, carrot, and garlic and stir around for a couple of minutes. Add the broth, bring to boil, then simmer like you normally cook rice (12 min or so?). When liquid is absorbed, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan and let sit for a couple of minutes. Very tasty. This is also great (even better, actually) with orzo rather than rice.

Broccoli with Pine Nuts:
Olive oil
Pine nuts (1/4 c? or walnuts or whatever nut you like that you have on hand)
4 c broccoli florets
2 cloves garlic
salt
2 T broth
2 T white wine (or substitute rice vinegar + a little sugar if you have no wine)
2 T Parmesan cheese.

Saute the pine nuts in the olive oil until beginning to brown. Add broccoli and garlic and stir around until the broccoli is nice and bright green. Add a little salt if you'd like (not too much because you'll be adding Parmesan later), and then the liquids, and steam for a few minutes until broccoli is done. Toss with Parmesan.

Add a smoothie and a little loaf of freshly baked no-knead bread (thanks for the idea, RedMolly, I'd cut this recipe out of the FoodDay months ago and never tried it). Voila! All stuff scrounged from the supplies on hand.

Memories

When I got on my bike today this great feeling came over me. It's Friday for me; I have strong healthy legs and it felt great to use my muscles pumping my bike; the cool air felt great on my cheeks. Suddenly, I was 8 years old, riding my fantastic bike with the polka-dotted banana seat, wearing my favorite purple shirt and a zip-up-the-front sweatshirt, feeling the cool fall air on my cheeks.

You know the great thing about a childhood free of major trauma or dysfunction? It is the deep well of great memories you have at your fingertips. The feeling you get when all is right with the world and you are just cruising around on your bike, enjoying being alive and well. The smells and sensations that can trigger these good memories, the feeling that you are strong and well and could run or ride your bike forever. The feeling of being in the middle of a big, loud, chaotic family gathering--that these are your people. That you have people.

I remember one Thanksgiving gathering at my Grandma and Grandpa's house when I was probably 6 or 7. My older cousin Jenny got a call from her then boyfriend (and future husband), and the tiny house was packed with people and so loud I couldn't imagine how she could hear what he was saying. Her face lit up with surprise when someone said "Steve's on the phone!", and with a big smile on her face she took the phone and crawled under the kitchen table. She was under the table, laying down with her feet propped up on a chair, relaxed and happy as could be, smiling and laughing and talking to her boyfriend. This is the first inkling I had that maybe it is a nice thing to have a boyfriend. Not that I wanted one, but maybe it would be nice, one day. These images are so sweet, and what a wonderful gift to have these kinds of memories waiting in the wings, to be brought back by some momentary smell or sight or sound.

A (Brief) Glimpse of the Promised Land

So I've been jogging (I call it running, but let's be realistic, it is jogging at best) 2-3 times per week for a few months. I had big plans and a 4-day-per-week running schedule figured out, but I haven't quite been able to make that happen. Needless to say, my aerobic capacity is improving at quite a slow pace, and I still can't even always make it 2 miles before having to stop and walk.

Back before kids I used to run a lot, and was in the lovely state where I looked forward to running, and was bummed out if I had to miss a day. I even had many pretty exuberant moments running through Forest Park. I can't say I'm feeling especially exuberant when I'm running (jogging) these days. In fact, I'm pretty miserable the whole time.

BUT. Today I was jogging and busy thinking about something at work and I suddenly realized that I had passed my 2-mile marker and I was actually feeling pretty good! Of course, within about 10 steps I was gasping for air and dragging myself miserably along and had to stop and walk, but still! It felt good for a minute! It will feel good again. I'm within striking distance of enjoying jogging, I just know it. With Christmas vacation coming up, maybe I can make some faster progress and get to that point where I don't have to talk myself into it every time.

Score!

Today we had our holiday event at work, which is always lots of fun, the highlights of which are the silent and oral auctions. As I was perusing the Star Wars video tapes, ceramic knick knacks, rooster clocks, and John Grisham novels, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a K'nex set with no bids on it. I think K'nex are pretty cool, but my determination to get those K'nex went far beyond "pretty cool." Let me back up to two Christmases ago.

I bought 3 packs of K'nex that covered 3 or 6 of the basic machines (I forget if there were one or two machines per pack). It was a teacher pack that included physics lessons for later elementry grades, and this was going to be the kids' big joint gift, plus it was going to be our science curriculum for a little while. The box arrived and I managed to sneak it in the house without anyone seeing it. I opened up the box and pulled out and fondled the K'nex boxes, aquiver with anticipation about how much fun they were going to be. Then I carefully hid the box. Carefully, as in really well hidden. Not as in, taking great care to remember where I hid it. To this day, $60 worth of K'nex are hidden somewhere in this house. I'm thinking of them as my retirement plan, now that my 401k has mostly disappeared: by the time I find them they'll be collectors items--pristine condition, original packaging, never opened!

So I bid on the K'nex at the auction, and then as the end of the auction drew near I used every obnoxious silent auction tactic I could think of to make sure I got those K'nex. I hovered over the sheet and badmouthed K'nex, I told everyone my sob story as proof of how I deserve to win those K'nex, and if someone actually made it through my gauntlet and bid on them, I outbid them again as soon as they were out of sight. And yes, I did actually win the K'nex. Now, having spent $71 on K'nex, there is a 1/2-way built K'nex roller coaster sitting in the front room. Take that, K'nex gods!

Nice Try

Darn! Ever since my blog entry about all the wonderful music we've been playing around here, I haven't been able to talk anyone at my house into playing music with me. I'm going to have to start borrowing random people off the street to play music with me. Good thing my quartet is coming over this weekend. Unfortunately we're reading through Beethoven Op. 59 No. 2, which I'm sure none of us but our diligent 2nd violinist has practiced, so it may be a little hard on the ears. Perhaps not as inspiring to the other members of my household as I might hope.

Oh well, those crazy kids of mine will come around. They'll be begging me to get out my cello any day, I just know it.