Monday, April 28, 2008

sweething: Cousins

Cousins are among my favorites. Not close enough for really big (read: sibling) rivalries, but still much closer than any other non family member could be. First cousins, second cousins, third cousins twice removed.... faux cousins, and the (not really) cuz's, all are family just the same. Cousins are built in friends, always good for a laugh and a great story; and yet also there to silently and quietly support your through the rougher times.

These young cousins are destined for a lifetime of crazy happy memories.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Dirty Little Feet

Wednesday after picking G up from preschool I took the wee ones over to my friend Kat's house for the evening. Kat has an amazing backyard and while she and I had tea, and then wine (as the evening progressed of course) the children took advantage of the warm spring day to wander through the grass with barefoot little toes. After a good long session of playing and climbing and eating pizza and chasing the dog, all four of them clamored into the hammock and lazily swung together as the sun went down. It was one of those golden afternoons that as slow and sweet as honey. One that I will savor for a long time to come.

Oy with the Matzah Already!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Pumpkin Carob Chip Muffins

Pumpkin rocks. It is healthy, cheap and can make anything better. Pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins... I love it all.

On this day (early March), I made pumpkin muffins for the kids and decided that sprinkling a little bit of chocolaty goodness on top would make them just that much better. We were out of chocolate chips, but did have some carob ships handy. Mister & G didn't like the carob, but Little Guy and I... we are big fans.

Recipe


wow!

I love this commercial.

Be sure to turn off the music on the sidebar first.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Eww! It's Nature! Get it off of me!

So yesterday I was working on keeping my New Year's Valentine's Day Ides of March Passover resolution of living a healthier life by attempting to get up and moving more often. I had about 30 minutes before Little Guy needed to got to his SportTykes class and so I decided to take him on a little 1.5 mile nature hike (in his stroller). Oh the fun we had! We saw squirrel and chipmunks, quacked at the ducks and chased the butterflies. Then, while Little Guy was in class I ran jogged walked the bleachers while discussing the Hills with my BFF on the phone concentrating very hard on the movements of each muscle. A few sit ups and leg lifts and I broke a sweat.

Now, I really don't like to sweat. I avoid it at all costs. I am not a big fan of bodily secretions in general. So for me, this was a momentous.

Fast Forward to the evening dishes. I am chatting on the phone to me BFF (again) and working through the never ending pile of dishes in the sink when I feel something strange at the base of my hairline. I reach up to scratch and what to I find??? A tick!! Blech! Yuk! Gross! Blech!

Now, I have never had a tick on my person before. Apparently in Florida, where I grew up and spent all the outside-nature-loving hours that were allotted in my life, they aren't around so much. So, I take this tick as Nature's way of saying "Get out of here! We like you as you are! Stay inside, you aren't wanted! You spent enough time outside when you were a kid!" Quite the affirmation Nature made for me.

Thanks for your support nature. I will heed your warnings. Mall walking for me from now on.

Monday, April 21, 2008

fields of love

Who doesn't like to wake up and look around only to notice they are surrounded by an abundance of tiny little glistening hearts growing straight out of the earth on their own accord. If I could have the entire lawn covered in clover, it would be a dream come true. What's not to love?







Friday, April 18, 2008

Touched by the {hair} Angel

My friend Li's brother Jonny is a god. A god of hair styling and I shall worship him always. He came to my house on Monday and performed miracles. See for yourself:


You would think that the one time I have my hair actually done I would've put makeup on for my picture. But no. Oh well, I kinda dig my freckles and chappy lips. And I actually like the beginnings of the wrinkles around my eyes.



Gotta love that smirk. I know it well.

Jonny, thank you so much. You are one of those people who blows into people's lives for a minute and leaves them feeling sparkly for a year. You were born to shimmer. Have a great Pesach and best of luck with your new place on the beach.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Off to the races!

So last weekend was the Atlanta Steeplechase...a horse racing event that reminded me of something the Life & Death Brigade would attend. We were invited by a lady that Mister met while he was at a work function. Her company, PSI, had a corporate tent with a catered lunch for all its invitees to enjoy. It was a family event, so we took the wee ones. They were fairly well-behaved. G was darling as always, and although Little Guy is just adorable, he did have his two year old I-Don't-Want-To-Hold-Your-Hand-I-Would-Rather-Lie-Here-On-The-Ground-And-Scream moments. Oh the joys of Oddler-hood.

We did have very much fun in spite of a few meltdowns. There were pig and Jack Russel Terrier races; a petting zoo/farm; camel & pony rides; a hayride; lots of mud & of course, the main event HORSE RACING! I had never seen a horse race in person before... I'd seen greyhounds and NASCARs, but not horses... though I do think horses are most like a combination of NASCARs and greyhounds...powerful machine-like animals with driver. An experience to remember.

PSI provided a barbecue lunch...I had the chicken and it was very tasty. The children loved the chocolate chip cookies, and there was plenty of beer and hunch punch Belmont Breeze for everyone. It was a glorious day.



wow.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

sweething: Nature Babycare

I have gone back and forth with the issue of cloth vs. disposable diapers. I got a cloth diapering starter kit when Little Guy was born, but the laundering really was too much for me to keep up with. Next I tried Seventh Generation Chlorine-free diapers, which were decent, but I used more of them than I did traditional diapers because they just didn't seem as absorbent. Then I went to gdiapers, which are really fun little gadgets, but the flushing of the inserts grossed Mister out and clogged up the toilet on a regular basis.

As little guy got older, he started going through fewer and fewer diapers at a time, and I reverted back to traditional Huggies from Costco.

Last week, I decided to try out this website called diapers.com. I had a coupon code for $10 off of a $50 purchase, and free shipping to boot.Can't beat that. While surfing their site, I came across a brand of disposable diaper I had never heard of before... Nature Babycare. Nature Babycare diapers are 60% biodegradable (as opposed to traditional diapers which are made of 80% oil-based products) and completely compostable. Event the packaging is biodegradable. They are complete disposables and work just as well as my tried and true Huggies. NO messing with diaper covers or liners, and a severely reduced impact on the environment. Leave it to the Swedes to come up with all the cool eco-friendly yet super convenient stuff. Now his bum is in the Swedish, the Swedish (diapers).

Turns out, Nature Babycare products are also available at some Target stores!

Friday, April 11, 2008

And it was all Yellow....

Well, spring has sprung here in Georgia. It's fairly easy to tell. When you let your white dog outside and she comes back in a yellow dog.... you know spring is here.

The pollen counts are almost 4000 today. It might as well be measured in inches. Hopefully it will rain this evening and wash a good amount of it away. Then we'll have little rivers of gold along the streets.

Pollen is like airborne sugar sand. It gets in your eyes, your ears, your mouth. It tastes bitter and gritty. I'd like to keep the kids inside all day just to avoid the stuff, but that wouldn't be developmentally appropriate for them, so I brave the pollen anyway. Oh the sacrifices.



Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Cave Painting.

Do you ever feel like you are living in a cave? No, not because you keep your lights off most of the time to conserve energy (like the energy it takes for you to get up and turn them on), or because all of the rooms in your house are painted in dark earth tones(they were that way when you bought the place); but because all over your house, on the walls, the back of cabinet doors, under cushions, on the washing machine... you find stick figure drawings with tiny, wobbly print next to it?

Is this a 4 year old stage? We have stashed away her pens, markers, crayons. She has limited access to glue, paint and colored pencils. And yet she still finds a way to make her mark.


"How is this?" you ask. "How can she make these marks with no...mark-ers?" Well I'll tell you. She's a resourceful little imp.


Yes. Lip balm. She used lip balm. Aaargh!

She did clean it off though. Without prompting.


A note: As much as it irritates me that she draws all over everything, I do appreciate that all of her pictures are so full of love and happiness. This particular mural was of her, Little Guy, and the two boys across the road...and love.

sweething: Get Human!

Hate talking to those automated answering services? Me, too. It really chaps my @ss to call places and have to sit on hold with a computer for seventeen minutes while waiting for a real live person to FINALLY pick up. And sometimes, when you push 0 to short circuit the system, the thing just hangs upon you. Grrrr. Well here's the solution:

GetHuman.com

Just as its name suggests, this site provides callers with the best way to "get a human" when calling a company. Whether it's an insider's trick (like pressing *## for Western Union), just hitting 0, or doing nothing at all (they'll think you have a rotary phone), you'll be spending a lot more time getting your problem solved and a lot less time in automated purgatory. And with hundreds of companies listed — from AAA to Yahoo! — chances are you'll find the human you're looking for.
You'll also find Caller Tips and a Discussion Board on gethuman.com, so you can share your discoveries with (or ask for help from) other users and find the best way to locate the phone numbers you're looking for.

Next time you need to get in touch with a business, don't go through another button-pushing marathon — get a human


SWEET!!!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

It's a wrap!

Wow, have I been busy! I have finally finished editing the Hacker session, and am now back to working on getting my actual website completed! I don't really know why it has taken so long for the Hacker edits to complete... perhaps it had something to do with my bad chi when I get around computers that makes them run so. much. more. slowly. than they ought. So, now it is time for me to have a cocktail go to bed. Hope you all have a good rest, too.