Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Banana Bread

I made banana applesauce bread last night. I used olive oil because I didn't have any canola oil, and that turns out not to have been the best idea I've ever had :p And the bread is way too sweet.

And it tastes like bananas, which is a lose for me. I hate bananas.

But Elijah likes it, so I suppose it's a win.

Next time: Less sugar. No olive oil. Maybe no bananas, too :p

Monday, December 28, 2009

December 24, 2009 - ASL Interlude

Elijah is 16 months old now, and is figuring out sentences.

This morning at breakfast, he signed, "More helicopter."

I agree, Elijah. I agree.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Snow? How did THAT happen?

Dear Universe,

Look, I live in the South for a reason.

This is the opposite of that reason (see attached).

Sincerely,
Coyote





Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Lucky Bamboo, I Has It








55 stalks, to be precise.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Snippets & More

Elijah's got about 40 signs now. Tonight at Gymboree Open Gym, he was crawling into this platform space under another platform, laying down and signing 'bed' and saying 'ba'. He'd put his head down, signing 'bed' under his head, and talk about it. It was surprising, and very cute.

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From our friend BB, on the drink called Function: House Call:
"It's like having tea with Cthulhu! It's very sweet and genteel and nice, and then... it's /wrong/. And you know you shouldn't like these tastes, but part of me is going, 'It's so gooooood!'"

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I feel like I'm doing something right. My mom asked me what fabric softener I use because she liked the scent so much :)

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SpaceShots: The Week's Best Photos of Our Galaxy - This is pretty amazing. There are some great shots there that I'd love to have posters of.

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At a mall last week, a woman was trying to sell me powdered cocoa butter as a "Japanese sea salt and other awesome ingredients" skin cream. Then she had some sort of glue-like product she said was an exfolliant. She tried to sell that by rubbing it into my wrist, and asking, "Have you taken a shower today?" "Er... yes." "Are you sure?"

Excuse me? Am I sure I showered today? Do you honestly think being rude to customers will sell more product? Really? Is that what they taught you? I bet it's not. Try insulting someone else, lady. I'm moving on.

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I let my email overwhelm me. All the time. I'm subscribed to countless mailing lists because, well, in the gaming organization Brian and I are in, that's what you do. I'm on 20+ that are local to where we live and several more that are not) I'm also on some unrelated lists. And advertising lists for favourite places like L'Occitane and J Peterman. And Flylady stuff. And Daily Coyote. And Chorebuster, Max Barry, Mil Millington, Go Gratitude, Facebook, Saving Dinner, Gevalia, Meetup: NoVA Polamory, Amtrak, my bank, Thrillist.

Trying to keep up with it and completely failing, just letting myself be overwhelmed, keeps me from enjoying the things I really want to do with my computer time, like play mindless games or read my Google Reader subscriptions (and leave comments!) or read servants' manuals from the 1880s or keep up with friends. I really do appreciate the unexpected emails I get from people (hi Phil! <3 ). Please don't take my lack of response as lack of interest. I'm just flaky.

So something's got to give.

I'm going to prioritize, and then I'm going to keep up with the day's email and try every day to clear out a few of the 500 threads sitting in my inbox. I'm going to unsubscribe from a lot of those lists. And then I'm going to hope for a manageable amount of list-type email, and an increasing amount of personal email from friends. Because that's way more important.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Early morning.

It's 7:43am and Elijah and I are awake and we've had breakfast and seen Daddyface off to work, complete with a belly full of breakfast (ham and swiss on a baguette) and plenty of good-morning Frangelico-flavoured coffee and a travel mug of coffee to go and a lunch for today and snacks for the week.

Now if I were reading this elsewhere, I'd probably be rolling my eyes and thinking 'good god stop bragging'.

But oh well. If I have to be turned into a morning person (I got up at 6:53am... around then used to be when I'd go to BED), I might as well make the most of it, and do what I live to do these days: Take care of my boys.

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When Mama Kacy and I took the babyface to Gymboree on Friday, the teacher called, "Mommies and... and adults..." to parachute time. I was amused.

Elijah will move up to the next level class next month. I love going to Gymboree, I love seeing him with all the other kids. The younger ones remind me how far he's come, and the older ones remind me what I have to look forward to. It's pretty awesome.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Originality? What originality? None here.

It was you and me and the whole world right before us
I couldn’t wait to start
I saw you and dreams just like everyone before us
We thought we knew what we got

And then one day I thought it slipped away
And I looked to my hands to hold on
And then one day all my fear slipped away
And my hands did so much more

So maybe we won’t find easy
But, baby, we’ve found the good
No, maybe we won’t find easy
But, baby, we’ve found the good.


This is a song of Signing Time, and I was thinking all day about how I needed to write a post about how the last chorus became my theme song as of two days ago (even though my child isn't disabled).

And then when googling for the lyrics, I found out that Amalah already did that.

Well.

Well.

Okay, so I'm the least original blogger out there. Whatever. I'm gonna go back to learning ASL with my boy now :p

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Delayed post

We've had just an insane weekend. It was good. And then Sunday was chaotic. And then Monday was painful.

And Elijah and I miss Daddyface. He's off to training for work. But we have Mama Kacy! And that is good.

And in a few more hours, we will have Grandmere and Papaw J.

And I think I'll order some lucky bamboo now.

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The above was written yesterday.

Today, we had Gymboree and fussiness and headaches. But some laughs and some lotion and some sleep.

And it's sleep time now.

Goodnight.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

I want to write about the awesomeness of a house full of people I care about, and observing and celebrating the various relationships, but it is time to sleep.

Maybe tomorrow.

Night!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Snippets of Today

I want way too many of these: 12 Reinforced Nylon Bean Bags

So. This Friday, Mama Kacy and her crew + 1 are coming up for the weekend, because we have an event to go to on Saturday. They'll head back probably Sunday while she stays here to help take care of the babyface, because... B leaves on Sunday around 3am for Puerto Rico. Then on Tuesday, my parents get here.

This is all a little crazy for me.

However, I will continue to try to post to the blog. I felt good about posting every day this past month, even when the posts were pointless "Hi, I'm posting" posts. I'm hoping to keep it up.

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I should start a collection of index cards with writing prompts (for blogging, journaling, and actual writing), so I can shuffle them up and then draw a card or two.

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My working pantry as of today:
-10lbs red potatoes
-2gal milk
-1/2 gallon heavy cream
-6lbs frozen vegetables
-2lbs butter
-3lbs various cheeses
-3 dozen eggs
-4 chickens
-1 large beef roast
-smoked sausage
-3lbs carrots
-celery
-Ovaltine
-bagels
-yoghurt
-canned diced tomatoes

It's going to be a busy, busy weekend. And week.

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My house is relatively clean and orderly, and I am proud of that.

Let's see if I can keep it that way.

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Elijah tried to put his shorts on today. He pulled them onto his legs, then stood up and tried to pull them all the way up. They were backwards and he couldn't get them over his hips, but it's the first time he's tried that, so I was impressed :)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Bamboo elevators?

This page about elevators makes me happy. If I had a printer, I'd print it out and file it away.

BuyLuckyBamboo.com is amazing. How insane is it that had I the money, I would buy 500 4" stalks of lucky bamboo?

I think I'll have to content myself with much less :) But first I have to find some vases and such, ways of displaying them. I want plants in every room...