Easter party

Today was the Easter egg hunt and party at school. We had a great time hunting eggs and snacking/playing at the party.

Make: Girl Scout Cookies

This article (click here) shares how to make Thin Mints and Samoas. Stumbling onto this article is most fortuitous because I didn't encounter any Girl Scouts this year and missed my annual Thin Mint fix.

Weekend update

Spring is really here, and we had a wonderful weekend. I had an unusual Friday to myself because Skip had a quick overnight trip Friday morning and did not return until Saturday at lunchtime. The girls went to school Friday morning, and then spent the afternoon with their grandparents. I had a productive morning of errands Friday morning, and then met a friend for lunch. I finished the afternoon with some shopping and then spent the evening with the girls.

Saturday, the girls were whisked away by their grandmother for breakfast and some play time. I picked Skip up from the airport, and we had a declicious Thai lunch. Skip had gotten up at 3:30am Saturday morning to make his flight so we had a low key Saturday afternoon.

Sunday, we celebrated Poppa's birthday with a birthday lunch after church. We enjoyed the pretty flowers:



The girls had a good time playing:



And, finally, CAKE!

Chalkboard paint

I don't know why exactly, but I find this (click here) so disturbing. Maybe it's the thought of chalk dust or 20 fingernails (the fingers of two 3 year olds) down the side of the fridge...

See what I mean? You just heard it in your mind, didn't you?

Nature and new friends

So we have a couple of bird feeders in the back yard -- four to be exact and if one insists on counting (like Skip does). "No more bird feeders," he said just this morning. Anyway, we enjoy watching the birds, and the girls love to help refill the feeders. We are pet-less for the first time in a long, long time, and the simple act of feeding the birds is fun for the girls.

A couple of months ago, we met a new family friend. A male cat has appeared. While I am certain it belongs to a neighbor a street over or something, he spends hours each day around our home and the homes of our immediate neighbors. He is brown and white, and therefore, we have named him "Charlie Brown". Charlie Brown is a prime example of the food chain, and he was first drawn to our neighbor's large juniper bed, probably because the mice created a winter hide-out there.

Yesterday, we came home after lunch and observed Charlie Brown chasing a chipmunk down our sidewalk. He was scampering after that thing so fast! Luckily, Charlie looked up for a second, giving the chipmunk a chance to escape.

An hour or so later, I looked out our laundry window and saw this:



We are really enjoying Charlie's visits, but I cannot condone (or facilitate) this behavior. We cannot simply move the feeders to the trees because we have friendly squirrels who treat them like an all-you-can-eat buffet (although now that I think about it, I don't think I have seen a single squirrel since Charlie discovered the feeders). Also, Charlie strikes me as the type of cat who would climb a tree for a good meal. Our bird feeding may end in the immediate future, but it is clearly for their own good.

Cleaning Manual

This cool blogger addressed cleaning on her blog today. I most likely do not have anything new or unusual to add, but I do have a secret weapon for the occasional cleaning challenge or curve ball.



My secret weapon is the Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook (click here). Because her strategies can often be ambitious, I previewed this book via my local library before purchasing. It actually has useful, practical information that can be put into practice with relative ease. I checked the book out on two separate occasions and finally made the purchase a couple of months after it was published. The topics range from room to room of any home, covering all of the basics.

Inspiration

*From the smart people at Kind Over Matter.

Blue skies

Today we ventured out in the rain to perform our "big shop" for various food provisions, and we never completely recovered from the experience. After the rains, being cramped inside and trying to shake the shopping experience, we're ready for better weather tomorrow.

Yesterday, we enjoyed some time outdoors:

An oldie but goodie

The bubble machine resurfaced yesterday to make its spring debut:

Hector projector

On the days when the girls do not attend official preschool, we have school at home. After we finished up today, the girls were finishing up some activities, and the school supply basket was on the counter. I was busy working on some other things, but in the periphery I noticed some unusual movement from Lauren. Knowing that I needed to check out some of the suspicious activity (e.g., why would she be taking the stool from the bathroom to the kitchen?), I went into the kitchen and saw that she had used the stool to climb up and rifle through the supply basket. When she saw me, she made eye contact and said, "What do you think you're doing? What are you doing up there? Hmmm? What are you doing in that basket?"

She asked me those questions -- in a serious tone.

Maybe I'm just that predictable, or maybe she has adopted projection at a very early age.

Cake!

I don't have a tremendous reputation when it comes to baking. I used to work within walking distance of two exceptional bakeries, and used to lend them my patronage for any and all special occasion. We have intended to hone our confectionary skills, but those bakeries were sooo convenient.

Back in 2007, we picked up the Anniversary Bundt Cake Pan at Williams Sonoma and intended to try it out at our next dinner or gathering. This weekend I ran across the pan, still in the box.



While the box was on the counter, Skip noticed a recipe on the back of the box and commented that we should try it. Hmmm. Actually open the box?

Look! A bundt pan! So shiny!



After a good deal of mixing in separate bowls and mixing with the electric mixer, we had this:



I am always skeptical about removal, but look at those clean lines! (Don't ask about the other side.)



We also made the ganache, and I wish I had photographed the finished product. Imagine the picture on the box, only ganache that is applied less uniformly.

It was delicious.

Here's the recipe.

Heels

The "heels" come out each day with a declaration of "I'm gon' wear my HEELS!"

Book club

The first rule of book club is don't talk about book club.

This week was spring break in our jurisdiction. Do you know what happens during spring break? Our preschool closes. Instead, we have been working on some educational activities every day after our daily dose of Sesame Street. Today, however, we had some "free reading" time. Here's how it looked:

Birthdays and cake

Earlier this week we celebrated Grammy's birthday. It was a milestone birthday, although which milestone will not be discussed here. The girls have really gotten into celebrating birthdays so we took things a step further and made the cake ourselves. They loved making the cake and especially liked putting the candles in place.

Inspiration

*From the smart people at Kind Over Matter.

Appliances and gadgets

I am totally loving this article in the New York Times. I definitely love technology more than appliances, but I found this interesting nonetheless.

Key points:

1) Less is more on soap. Who knew? I am completely in the if-one-dryer-sheet-is-good-five-is-better camp.

2) Pre-rinsing is not necessary. I knew it! I KNEW IT! I love that the article points out that pre-rinsing for the dishwasher actually impedes performance. LOVE IT!

Scenes from a mall

Late Saturday afternoon we headed to the mall to run some errands, and we stayed long enough to have an early dinner. It has been a while since we were at the mall on a Saturday night, and the people watching did not disappoint.

The most intriguing person of interest was an older gentleman who was performing various karate moves close to one of the seating areas. We were seated so that the girls could see a fountain, restaurants and lights. To our right, some serious zen-master karate was on display, and Lauren could not let that pass without comment. She was discreet at first, saying, "He's DANCING!!!" Lauren, of course, cannot simply make a comment and move on. After saying it 20-30 times and not getting the reinforcement she wanted (I suppose she expected us to start chanting/clapping the statement over and over), she spoke much more loudly (and it's not as if she started off with a whisper) and pointed.

All of which, I'm sure, help him achieve a tranquil, zen existence.

Inspiration

*Quotation cards from the smart people at Kind Over Matter.

Lovelies

Girl power

About a month ago we noticed that Gracie seemed to be confused as to whether or not she is a boy or a girl. We traced this back to Lauren and quickly discovered that Lauren had told Gracie that she was a boy. As in, "I'm a girl, and you're a boy."

Or, as I overhead on the monitor one night when Lauren was correcting Gracie, "Uh-huh, no, uh-huh, you're a BOY, Gracie."

The motivation for this was likely something as small as trying to claim ultimate control over all the pink toys, leaving behind anything non-pink for Gracie because, after all, she is a boy -- or, as Gracie pronounces it, "a BOYYYY-YEEEEE," you know, like BOWIE knife.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and Gracie is up to speed. When asked now whether she is a boy or a girl, she will emphatically say, "A girrrrrrrrrrrrllll!!!"

A moment of play

Compatibility

After posting the last entry, I looked at Skip's laptop screen to see that he is watching President Carter's "Crisis of Confidence" speech on YouTube.

Opportunity cost (the one that got away)

Of all the things the Internet has brought us, I would rank eBay in the top five. Actually, it would be in my top three. I am an avid fan and a frequent bidder. Most of the girls' clothing has been purchased from eBay, and I pick up a lot of things for myself from auctions, too. Due to scads of experience, I have become a very proficient bidder. Unless the price is exorbitant and I bow out, I win auctions. I used to bid with 30 seconds remaining on the clock, but now I wait until about 10 seconds for the intial bid. I usually confirm the bid with five seconds remaining.

I am an auction sniper.

Last week, I went to the dentist. My appointment was at 11:00am. However, an auction (see above pic) I was watching was scheduled to end at 12:02pm. I had a 15 minute wait, meaning that I wasn't actually in the chair until 11:20. My dentist was replacing an older filling. There would be topical numbing, shots and drilling. I was concerned about my auction.

While my gums were numbing from the topical salve, I remembered that I had intended to remove my phone from my purse and place it in my pocket so that I could consult eBay, but I failed to do so. My purse was in a chair across the room. I waited until the dental assistant left the room. I tried to make a lunge for it, but was totally caught by the dental assistant who mistakenly thought I was reaching for a tissue. She provided me with a tissue, and I tried to devise another opportunity to make a move.

Ten minutes or so passed. By then, various preparations were being made for the procedure. Why does everything in the dentist's office look so ominous? I wanted my dentist to be sharp, to be vested in the procedure, to perform her best work. Unfortunately, I doubted that my furiously monitoring an eBay auction would be the best way to "meet her halfway" in our dentist-patient partnership. The bar needed to be raised high, and it seemed that bidding would work against that.

After the procedure, I grabbed my purse, accessed the eBay app, and saw that the aunction had ended. It was 12:07pm -- five minutes too late.

Home office

I have a couple of surfaces that I used to use as office space. I have a really nice computer armoire, an apartment-warming gift from my mom approximately nine years or so ago, and I have a desk in Skip's office. (Ok, technically, the desk in Skip's office is his old desk, but I used to sit there when I had conference calls, etc., for my old job.) My desk, the armoire, is currently located in an alcove of the playroom, and it is somewhat barricaded off to keep the girls from tearing it apart. Skip is very territorial about his office (he refers to it as his "bunker"). Since he spends HOURS and HOURS and HOURS there each week, I respect the boundaries.

I used to work from home a lot when I was employed. But, since my work is more of the home office variety now (read: non-paying), I have staked out a couple of alternate locations. There's the obvious, of course... the kitchen table. What it lacks in originality it more than makes up with light (it has views through a casement door and a double window), making it an attractive location.

Sometimes when I have a sitter (otherwise known as our sainted mothers) and am hiding in the master bedroom/bath area to get ready and make a smooth exit, I get more original, and use the bed as a surface and the bedside steps as a stool:



We are going to be making some much-needed changes soon (soundproofing for Skip's office, and a safe spot for my desk upstairs), but I am enjoying the roving ability for now.

What's not to love?

How do you not love an organization that crafts this:



in honor of Vivaldi?

Frenemies

I have spoken many times of my love for both Apple and Google. Continuing to watch the mounting tension between the two makes me increasingly uncomfortable.

When I read articles like this and this, it makes me want to say, "Y'all, please don't fight."

Happy reading

Today is Read Across America day -- a tribute to Dr. Seuss, whose birthday is today. So... grab a book and read. Gracie will be reading "The Cat in the Hat," Lauren will be reading "The Tooth Book," and I'll be catching up on some magazines.