Freedom at War with Fear

Enemy, thy name is WASP!

I am so SICK of these damned vile creatures. I have referred to these stinging spawn of Satan here and here, but I may have even more prior posts about them.

Suffice it to say, they are no longer dropping out of the ceiling in the study (where we used to keep the computer, but we fled the study and now it's a storage room). Now they are in the BEDROOM. Where we ALL sleep. Where the kids take naps! It's not as bad as the study, but one is bad enough. Sometimes I see them in the upstairs hallway. Once in the upstairs bathroom.

Last night, Doug got stung while sleeping! No one has been stung before. I am so thankful that it wasn't one of the girls. Obviously, we're going to have to sleep somewhere else now. What kind of wasp is walking around at night anyway? I thought they slept.

I called the exterminator this morning. First of all, it seems really odd they are bothering us in March. Usually we stop seeing them in December or so, I believe.

I thought I could just have the ceiling fixed in the study, but obviously something more drastic needs to be done (and more expensive, I'm sure). At least replacing the windows in the attic. Hopefully, the exterminator can fix things and tell us what we need to do to prevent these wicked creatures from ever coming in the house again.

One almost misses the fire ants. Oh, our wasps don't actually look like this. They are darker. I have no idea what kind of wasp they are.

Bacon is Good. Pork Chops are Good.

After Family Fun Day yesterday, we ventured into the tiny Coffee Corner for a spot of lunch. Lunch was pretty much Meat all around. Doug and I had blue cheese hamburgers, Fiona had a hamburger, and Sophia had chicken fingers. So we're chowing down (oh yes, there were the requisite french fries, too) and Fiona announces that she thinks killing animals is wrong. Now, we've discussed this before, "this" meaning what meat is and what it used to be. So Doug says, do you want to stop eating meat then? He asks this very sincerely. It's okay to not want to eat meat (and okay to want to eat it, in my humble opinion). She looks at her hamburger a minute. She then resumes eating it.

After grocery stopping today, I made the impulse decision to get doughnuts to have after lunch. It is Sunday, after all. I buy doughnuts maybe twice a year, if that--not counting those cute tiny fresh doughnuts we get when we pick apples and at the fair. Oh, and I make them sometimes. So apart from all that. I got 6 doughnuts because 12 was just ridiculous (right?). I reported on what flavors I got (3 chocolate glazed--for Doug and the kids, 2 jelly filled---for whomever, and 1 Boston creme--that's mine). I said I just wanted one doughnut. Fiona proclaimed, "Not me! I want all I can get!" I worry a little.

Yesterday, on a whim, we journeyed to the Vermont Flower Show. Wow! It was like walking into a magical--rather dark--forest. Lots of bulbs in bloom, moss, bushes, trees, and even lilacs! The smell was heavenly. There was lots of stuff for sale (and "homemade apple pie!" as Fiona discovered...so nice to be able to read, isn't it?) and even a children's section. The model train layout was a big favorite with the girls and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science had a beautiful owl there that Fiona loved to gaze at.

We're having a Totoro revival around here. Totoro used to be a huge favorite of Fiona's at about age 2. Fiona still loves Totoro, but he's sort of an old well-worn love now. Sophia now adores Totoro. She will burst into the main Totoro song. Now we have technology in our car and we can listen to the whole soundtrack of Totoro at a touch. Fortunately, I like it, too.

No, Fiona's main love is either Cody (from The Rescuers Down Under) or unicorns. At Family Fun Day (Okay, is that not such a cheesy name? It hurts to write it out for some reason. But what else would one call it?) we managed to make our way into the face painting line (Fiona nearly changed her mind about it after we waited a while and it was finally nearly her turn, but I helped her out by saying she didn't have to get a--whatever she originally wanted...a rainbow perhaps?--but she could get a unicorn, and that completely changed things around). Fiona did indeed get a unicorn and Sophia sat still for a rainbow (she said "COLORS!" while making the sign for it). Sophia has been quite the canvas this weekend, because at playgroup the day before they inexplicably had face painting (not the usual play date offering) and she asked for a sun and a heart. Fiona and her unicorn and Sophia and her rainbow were gawked at by kids in the street and by kids at the flower show (who I overheard pestering their parents for a face painting, which I did not see at the show, uh, sorry about that!). Face painting seems to be very popular with kids. Normally we don't get one because whenever we go to places with such offerings, the line is incredibly long.

We don't really celebrate St. Patrick's day around here, but we seem to have both Irish Cream and Guinness in the house after our grocery trip. March is a good time of year for both. There are lots of great ways to cook with Guinness...Guinness is wonderful for sauces and baking and, of course, stew. I invarably drink it before I make it that far, though.

I Hate Daylight Savings

It's 3 weeks early this year, so Sunday morning we get to "spring ahead" one hour.

Hooray, more dark mornings! Losing an extra hour of sleep! What's not to like?

I think it's such a bother.

Restaurant Phoebe

My friend Alice and I had a lovely dinner, kvetching about the choice of schooling here, the dark cold winter, traveling with kids, the lot. We shared an appetizer of bruschetta: one eggplant with goat cheese, one oyster mushroom, and one tomato (You can probably tell I wasn't really paying attention, but they were all quite good). Alice had a pasta dish, something they were calling "panscotti"---a triangle ravioli filled with vegetables (I can't remember what, I didn't bring home a menu, and I didn't eat it). I had seared scallops with a potato leek cake and sauteed cabbage with this velvety vanilla sauce. We shared two desserts--something called "chocolate mousse creme brulee", which seemed to be a layer of vanilla custard, a layer of chocolate custard, and the really nicely done "brulee" crust. The other one was this disappointing apple crostata. The apple filling was nice, but the dough made up most of it and it was quite sandy and raw tasting. I couldn't even finish my portion of that. Oh well. I would go back, but I might go somewhere else for dessert. The service was warm and attentive...but not too attentive!

Today we're taking the kids to something in Montpelier called "Family Fun Day". Hopefully, it's not too chaotic.

There is a concern about flooding in Montpelier because of ice dams in the river (the Winooski) that runs through the city. There was a flood in 1992 that took everyone by surprise. The temperature is supposed to go up quite a bit this weekend (well, 40F) and there is a lot of snow.

One of the favorite play time activities lately is to play restaurant. Fiona asks me what I would like and she brings it out to me on a tray from the play kitchen. Sophia just starts bringing me random food items, but she will ask what I want to drink: "Juice?" (I say yes and drink it) "Water?" (repeat) "Juice?" She believes one should be well hydrated. Fiona will follow me around until I sign the check. She is the Chef and owner of the restaurant, and I am still her mother, but I don't live in the same state she does. Last time it was just that I was in Vermont and she was in New Hampshire. That's better than her being in Australia--she told me that I couldn't live there with her "because Australia is too scary".

The Sweet...Elusive...Taste of Liberty

Tonight I'm going with a friend to Restaurant Phoebe. I am so looking forward to it. Doug is graciously going to watch the girls, feed them, put them to bed (I know, he's the DAD, so of course he would, but it's a lot for one person to do. Trust me.)

I don't know if that is the actual menu on the web page, or only a sample. I suspect that isn't the exact menu. I will report back later on what we actually eat, of course.

Ellen Aim blogged about this heavenly sounding ice cream. She has eaten this, if you read her post. She lives in Texas. I live in VERMONT, home of Ben and Jerry's. So why can I not find this freaking ice cream? Every time I go to Shaw's, our regular main grocery store, which otherwise I find quite satisfactory--although it is no Whole Foods or Trader Joe's and definitely not a Central Market --I check the frozen food isle, only to be thwarted again and again! I have actually bought way more ice cream than I usually do this way. I suspect a conspiracy. After my date tonight, I am going to try a different (smaller) grocery store in my quest for the Colbert pint.

If we had broadcast TV--well, I suppose we'd have to have cable, too--I would be a dedicated viewer of the Colbert report and the Daily Show.

I Ask for So Little. Just Fear Me, Love Me, Do as I Say and I Will be Your Slave.

Doug got me this cookbook, which was sort of an impulse buy on my part. I had seen it earlier and pawed it affectionately. Later, I said, "If you ever wanted to buy book for me, buy me this". Being nice and subtle keeps our marriage strong.

Anyway, it's cute nifty little book. It does use rather a lot of half and half and cream and milk chocolate bars...it is definitely not a low fat book (although there are a couple of token soy milk recipes in there...which I have less than zero interest in). There is one simple recipe in there (well, not that any of them are *difficult* recipes, but this one is nice and elegant) of just milk chocolate and darjeeling tea. That's it. Okay, you can add milk or sugar, but I can't see how you would taste anything with more milk or more sugar. If you know me at all, you know I drink tea like (more than) water. It honestly never occured to me to add my eating chocolate to it. I forsee Earl Grey with orange dark chocolate in my future. I don't really drink a lot of hot chocolate, but I do love it, especially after being outside in the snow.

Which leads me to snowshoes! We took advantage of a big sale and bought the kids snowshoes. I would have done it much earlier this year but there was... no snow. Fiona took to it quickly (she told me she had some practice at school on a friend's) and Sophia even took a few steps in them. We had a nice little walk, but for most of it Fiona whined and whined about how tired she was and how long the trail was. I think we spent maybe half an hour outside. It was on the warm side that day as well. I am not sure if this means we don't go outside enough or what.

So addition to the copious ever-present whining on the 5 year old end, we have mounting tantrums that only seem to be increasing with intensity on the Sophia (2 years old) end. If she isn't screaming, Fiona is whining. If this were summer, we'd just go outside and run and swim it off. It is a lot harder right now because it's cold and there is frankly too much snow to go in the backyard. We sometimes go on the porch or driveway, but it's not quite the same. And nobody listens! Honestly, in a moment of exasperation with Sophia, I lamented, "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" (Do you speak German?--probably misspelled). For some reason, that got a laugh. Sometimes neither of them seems to understand English. Maybe I am drinking too much wine. Or Godiva liqueur.

Housewife

Doug and I have been watching movies in the evening after the kids go to bed. Lately, we've been watching Full Metal Alchemist, a nice little bit of anime. We (I) like to watch the movie (and they are speaking English) with subtitles. I like to do this because it's pretty quiet and I want to make sure I hear all the words (it's quiet because we don't want to wake up the girls). With this show, what the characters are saying and what the subtitles say aren't always exactly the same. Usually, it's pretty much the same thing, said a different way, or close enough.

Last night, we saw one episode where this one woman character walks into this room full of tough guys. One guy says to her, "who the hell are you?" She says "I'm pissed!". The subtitle, however, says, "I'm a housewife!"

I have this friend, who is also a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM), who never refers to herself as a "housewife": she says she did not marry a house. This is true.

I never know what to write as my occupation on the tax returns. I think I have been mostly writing "Mother". I really want to come up with some sort of smart ass job title, but I am never creative enough.

Godiva liqueur

Smooth, chocolatey and very easy to drink. I'll be back...later.

In My Day,

We had ONE week-long school vacation after the Christmas holiday and it was spring break. These kids--these crazy New England kids--have a "winter break" to go along with the spring one with an additional two days off the following week to accommodate "town meeting" day. Winter break is this week. That is why we've been busy bees all morning long all week long. I, as their personal secretary, tried to assemble playdates throughout the vacation. Today's play date is a bust as we all got snowed in.

I should be outside now with them with those colored ice cubes I mentioned, but, well, um, it's cold out there! I'm cold sitting here in front of the computer! I am totally weak. I also made peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies yesterday, so mock me all you want as I sit here eating them (I did share with them and they are also watching Totoro, so not only are they not getting some healthy outdoor time, they are eating cookies filled with sugar and chocolate.). Good times.

Fiona has been reading (yes, reading out loud!) to Sophia more and more and I finally got a picture of that happening. Fiona has also been leaving several notes, letters and postcards for Sophia and I that say either: "I love you Mom. Love, Fiona" or "I love Sophia. Love, Fiona" with a picture of two people holding hands (one is big, one is small).

That Thing You Do

That white stuff is back. The birdhouse we had hanging from the apple tree fell a while back and was sitting nicely on the snow, which had a hard icy surface at the time. Now it is lost. There isn't even a mound to show where it was.

My goal today is to try to keep the kitchen table clean. Ok, the kitchen table right now is this round catering-type table we got a while ago when Doug was making Chinese food feasts for the Chinese New Year. Now it's our dining room table, except it's in the kitchen because our dining room is now a play room. I have totally lost count how many times I have cleaned this thing today and it's only 12:20 PM. First there was the initial cleaning, because I didn't make the kitchen spic and span the night before. Bite me. Then there was the post-breakfast clean-up (cereal and yogurt-and-granola). Then the post-second breakfast clean-up. Then the cookie clean up (we made snickerdoodles!). Then the birdhouse painting clean-up. Then the lunch clean-up (first lunch, yogurt-and-granola...the second will be pizza). Right now, the table is covered in playdough. Itty bitty tiny pieces of bright pink playdough are everywhere. Sophia keeps trying it, but actually spits it out. It's quite salty, you know?

Right, so the snow is back and the snow cave is long gone and buried. I guess it's time to make a new one. I made lots of colored ice thingys in different plastic containers so they can play with them outside (I did this a few weeks ago, actually, ahem). Maybe we'll do that this afternoon, b/c I can't do arts and crafts all day. I can happily read for an hour this afternoon and then...

And now I must inform you all that Henry, our 1994 blue Honda Civic...is gone. All 200 million miles and rust. He had a cracked windshield and a back-out light out and...just a lot of freaking miles. I think we could have gotten a year or two more out of him, actually, but. We bought that car soon after we got engaged. Now Doug is the proud owner and driver of Harold, a blue 2007 Honda Civic...in other words, the same car I have, but in blue. Henry has been through so much with us. It's sort of odd that he's just gone now. I know, it's a car, but what a great car he was. He drove from Texas to Florida, from Florida to North Carolina, from NC to Vermont...and then from Vermont to Texas and back again! Plus all those working communter miles (we only had one car between us until we moved into the current purple house). I used to think nothing of driving an hour to work (nor Doug for that matter). He even got bumped off a Texas highway by a moving company truck (Mayflower)---minimal damage to him and none to us. Thank you, Henry!

Hen of the Wood, Again

We made it to Hen of the Wood last night, which I've referred to here and here before. We were not disappointed. The entrance way, the pathway of which was, of course, brimming with the piles of snow that we now have everywhere, had candles set into the snow. Candles make snow look even more cool, by the way. Nice touch.

We ordered some bottle of wine that was a complete unknown to us and I didn't write it down. I think Morton was the vineyard and it was a blend. I hate it when I don't write stuff down. I'm out of the habit since we go out so rarely like this now. Doug started with the crispy oysters and they were delightful. Thin crispy batter and tender oyster with a nice lemony sauce. I had the hen of the wood mushroom. I figured I had to. See, they had the pork belly again (which I talked about earlier). It was really hard to resist the pork belly. I am glad I did, though. The flavor and texture of the hen of the wood mushroom was incredible. Now, I am only very recently a consumer of the mushroom. Moving to Vermont has really helped me to appreciate the mushroom. For one thing, there is just so much more out there in mushroom-land beyond the white button. Here is such a case. Perhaps next time I would get the pork belly and the hen of the wood mushroom. The flavor and texture were both extremely satisfying. Rich, complex, herbal, and balanced. I love mushrooms now, but this may be the one time I wanted to lick my bowl. The mushroom is cultivated locally.

Doug and I both had the venison with chestnut spaetzle and red wine braised cabbage. Perfectly cooked, gratifying to eat, and so nice in the middle of February. I am a softie for spaetzle, though, I have to admit, and that is what made me decide. I was torn between this and the roasted pumpkin risotto.

For dessert we had coffee (With caffeine! How luxurious!) and Meyer lemon creme brulee with blood orange granita and a biscotti (Cherry and almond? Damn, I need to write things down!). We inhaled this, but I have to come out of the Meyer lemon closet here. I don't get it. I have bought Meyer lemons and have tried them in other restaurants but I don't really see the appeal. I understand they are supposed to be more floral and subtle than the "regular" lemon. I find them just slightly bitter and faintly lemony. I don't see the excitement. I proposed to Doug that maybe you have to be in California to really appreciate them. Perhaps they just don't travel well. Aside from the un-lemony, slightly bitter custard (which, again, not a hardship here in terms of eating it), the consistency of the custard, the thin bitter crackle of the brulee crust, the flavor and consistency of the bitter orange granita, the length of the biscotti (How I love a long biscotti! Sure, it's not all about length---it's really flavor that counts, but a long biscotti is a beautiful sight) were all spot on.

The girls enjoyed Sobo's company and the evening was a success. Hooray!

The Snow Cave

The missing grill after a night of more snow and wind.



The Snow Cave, one view.



Snow Cave with inhabitant, second view. It's not done yet, actually. The side isn't finished and I need more food coloring and spray bottles. They love the homemade snow spray. It's sort of toddler/preschool graffiti, I admit, but oh so fun.

The doctor's office was closed because they had no heat (!), however, the practice has other pediatricians at the hospital. The nurse on the phone said we could come in any time, but after hearing her symptoms, just called in a prescription to the pharmacy down the street, who filled it as soon as they opened and got the message (at 9 AM). The nurse said she could go to school tomorrow (barring new symptoms) and even tonight she looks and feels much better. Hooray!

Oh For Frack's Sake

Now Fiona has pink eye. She'll probably miss not only Valentine's Day at school tomorrow, but the school's art show, which is also tomorrow (and the parents can even come into the school---gasp!). I am so bummed about this. Hopefully, she won't be. Those things are tomorrow, though, so if we can see the doctor this morning and score antibiotic drops right away...just maybe it will work out. I will play it safe, though. Pink eye is so contagious (and I hope we don't all get it now). Today's school was cancelled...I think just to keep people off the streets so they can finish plowing. It's also supposed to be hella cold today.

It's Still Snowing

The compost bin is on the left (the lump of snow) and our trash bin is on the right. I can see them from my kitchen window and that served as a gauge for how much snow we got today...at least on that side of the house. Below that is Sweety Tweety and Pippi! At long last!



Our side porch. Darn flash and snow. It was sort of dark, so I didn't turn off the flash. I was also getting really wet from the snow. Brrr.



Fiona's birdhouse.



Doug shoveling the snow off of our front porch. This is not going to sound very feminist of me, but hooray for husbands! We got more snow on that side of the house. It was amazingly deep--he said over two feet.



The view down our driveway from the garage.



The grill in the backyard.

When it Snows,

We're the really dark purple part. The 12 inches or more area.

The schools closed yesterday in anticipation of today.

If you go to weather.com, it seems that our heavy snow warning has turned into a blizzard warning. Snow accumulation of a foot or more. I guess you know it's bad when the grocery store actually has lines. This would be more exciting in a fun way if Doug didn't have to go to work today.

I guess we won't be going out for dinner tonight! Hopefully on Saturday. Sobo leaves next Tuesday and I have no idea what we're going to do without her. Hopefully, we won't be sending her back with a cold or flu!

Yesterday, Doug and I visited the public school, and you know what? It was really cute. It was very safe. It seems like a really creative, fun environment. We liked the principal. I don't know what I was expecting, but we were really happy with what we saw.

Quote

So The Lord of the Dance song comes on via the ol' iPod (hooked up through an old boombox) and Fiona asks to dance with me (I'm cooking at the moment). I say sure. She starts flitting around the room very gracefully and I say, "you dance so well". To which she replies, "Yes, especially with long hair".

Tonight is pinto bean soup and lemon bars. The bars are from The Village Baker's Wife and I used to make them all the time at a previous job. They are divine.

Tomorrow we're playing hooky from school to go meet a friend at the Monshire Museum of Science. It will probably be necessary to go to King Arthur Flour as well. Ah, well. I do what I must.

Sigh

No date tonight. Doug is sick as well as Fiona. So far Sobo and I are well. I hate winter.

If You're Going to Spew, Spew Into This.

I have a deep sense of foreboading.

Sophia barfed Tuesday night and Wednesday night. She is fine now. She was sick last week with some cold---very congested, total hell for a 2 year old and her parents.

Fiona just spewed all over the bed. Poor thing is sleeping now. Incidentally, most of it went in the Barf Bowl--a yellow bowl which I and both my sisters spent our childhoods spewing into. Quaint, no?

I have a date tomorrow night with Doug at Hen of the Wood (which I've reviewed in an earlier post). I guess we will see. I am washing the hands like a crazed woman.

Unicorn Mother

It is common for me to be buckling Sophia in her carseat and then she will exclaim "Baby Unicorn!" She wants to take Baby Unicorn with her everywhere. Baby Unicorn has been wrapped up in a too-big purple fleece blanket until now. Sobo suggested the toy sling and Sophia has found it much easier to tote Baby Unicorn around. The previous blanket always had to be folded just right or Sophia would wail "Help! Help!" every 3.23 minutes. Hooray once again for the fabulous life-saving sling!

Baby Unicorn is a duplicate of one Fiona has. I bought it for her one Christmas--I think for her second one, actually. She was not impressed. It has lain in Toy Storage until her interest in unicorns came out with a view of The Last Unicorn (until very recently, sans the harpy scene and the Red Bull scenes). I brought it out when I found it again during a toy organizing binge and it is now a beloved toy. Since Sophia covets all of Fiona's "special things", Fiona bought a small one (they didn't have the bigger ones) for Sophia for Christmas. They are both purple--Fiona's favorite color at two was most definitely purple. We have many, many 2T size pieces of clothing in purple. Even Fiona's snow boots were purple. So not only do they have matching unicorn costumes (Fiona can barely put hers on now because she had a huge growth spurt---all of the sudden most of her pants are too short!), they also have matching unicorns.

Dandelion Hair

The trampoline (from Auntie Alex on Christmas)was a big hit. I love how it makes their hair round like mature dandelions. Note the unicorn. Sophia is very much a "mini-me" Fiona right now, down to the "HMPH!" while pouting and bending her arms while putting her hands on her hips. She is also quite clear in announcing, when she doesn't get her way, that, "It's not fair!". Having a 5 year old say this repeatedly is quite tiresome. Add a 2 year old saying it and one has to laugh (or scream into a pillow). Sophia is definitely a fast learner.

Fiona's Unicorn Birthday Party

This was the first present Fiona opened at the party. As soon as she opened it, she exclaimed, "I'm putting this on right now". She did. She tore off her clothes and put the costume on and resumed with the opening of the presents.

Where Do Unicorns Go?

Ideas for posts usually come to me in really inappropriate places: the bathroom, soothing a child at 2 a.m., driving to school. I say inappropriate because in these cases I can't exactly dash to the computer or even write something down (well, maybe in the bathroom case...).

Here is the unicorn cake. It was made from a cake mold I got at a party store (where I got unicorn plates, cups, balloons, party favors, etc). It was in a plastic pan, which I have never seen before. Apparently, as long as you don't go above 375F, it is fine. A friend reassured me that she had used one for her son's birthday. It worked. The pan was about 5 bucks. It says it isn't meant to last forever, but ours may as I doubt I will use it more than one more time, if that. It was fun to make, though! I usually make less colorful cakes. It held exactly one recipe for a two layer cake. There were two pieces left after the party, which Sophia and Fiona made quick work of, washed down with the punch I made (pineapple, limeade, pureed frozen raspberries, and seltzer water).

The mold actually had the unicorn wearing a harness. As you can see, I left that out. What unicorn would wear a harness? I gave her a star around her horn. I have to remember to always say "she" when refering to unicorns because Fiona will remind me--loudly--that all unicorns are girls. Apparently, there are no boy unicorns. I have asked why, but apparently, that is just the way things are. Baby unicorns just have two mommies.

Happy Birthday to the Cutest Groundhog

I apologize for the lack of posting around here, but hopefully, that is going to change. Let us blunder away through the rest of the winter! I have my eyes set on spring, months away (May). Well, maybe April. Spring is a real tease.

Fiona turned 5 on the second and we had a fabulous party on the Sunday after that. I have party pictures to load and hopefully receive from friends at the party. Fiona invited four friends and they all came. She had a wonderful time. I made a unicorn cake, made with copious amounts of colored buttercream and edible glitter. We had the trampoline up and balloons. Doug made a nice spread of food (cut up cheese, sandwich fixins, fruit) to which I added homemade foccacia and fruit punch (how I love punch).

Oh, I had a birthday the weekend before and now I am the grand age of 34. Hooray!

Mom (aka "Sobo") is here which is wonderful and such a big help--especially since Sophia has been sick for most of her visit so far (oh well). We found Sobo some snow boots and proper gloves even though it is late in the year for such things. It is so maddening and amusing to see summer shoes for sale when the high outside is 18 F. Fiona and I are trying to learn knitting from Sobo (or rather, "re-learn" in my case).

We've decided to not re-enroll Fiona into the Montessori school for next year. That's a post for another time. Hopefully, Doug and I will get to tour the public school tomorrow. If that is dismal, I am not sure what the next step is. I have heard good things about the Kindergarten teachers, though.

Happy New Year

Well, after a lovely vacation with both Doug and Fiona at home all week (and Doug home in the afternoons the week before), Doug is back to work and Fiona is back to school. Back to routine!

Sophia is walking around the house saying, "Na na? Na na?" (Fiona?) Her latest sayings are "Please sit down" and "Fe-na-na, come here" and "C'mon, Fe-na-na!"

Christmas was a good one at the purple house. I love the first moment when they come down the stairs and see the tinseled tree, the presents, the stockings. Fiona dug in for the first time this year, previously having us help her open the presents and then playing with each one. Presents took a long time. Sophia is like this right now (I think it was at least half an hour before she even opened one). Fiona opened everything very quickly, and then we let her "help" Sophia open the sister presents. We bought an inflatable trampoline with the help of auntie Alex and that is what Sophia was first drawn to, with a breathless "What's THAT?"



That is what they spent the entire day in, Sophia loving to sit in it while slowly brushing her new My Little Pony's hair. They both love these things. They were a gift from Sobo. They play with them together. I won't mention every present they got here, but everything is well loved. Everything is being played with. Oh, well, Fiona sort of tossed the bed sheets I bought for her to the side. She isn't sleeping in her bed again and the sheets didn't lure her back there. Apparently, she is a high thread count type of gal because her new pillowcase is "too scratchy".

We also had a lovely incident with the gingerbread house. We had moved it to the top of the wood stove (you can already see where I am going with this, can't you?) because we weren't using the oven at the time. The gingerbread house was on a plastic cutting board wrapped in foil. Well, since we were all home and cozy and not going anywhere, it was the perfect time to start a fire in the wood stove. I forget why the house was there...to have the dining room table free or perhaps that is when we turned the dining room into a play room (just for the winter) to accommodate this trampoline. We weren't seeing it anymore. It was right in front of our eyes, but we didn't see it. So a fire is started with the house sitting on top of the wood stove. To make it very clear, the wood stove gets really hot. You could cook things on it. It's nice to have in case the electricity goes out, too. The fire goes for a while and then I sit in front of it with the girls to do...something. I can't remember what. This happened a few weeks ago now. I look at it and then I see it. I say to Doug, hey, this isn't a good idea (that will be my official understatement for the year). The cutting board is already melting, so we get a piece of cardboard from an unwanted package (boy, that is a whole other post...we've been busy little bees) to put on the bottom to keep plastic from dripping everywhere. Doug whisks it outside. The house is still standing, but the stained glass windows are melting (not to mention the royal icing and candies). The house is filled with fumes. So I take the girls in the car out into the night for Christmas light gazing. Doug turns on all our fans and opens all the doors and windows (brrr!). When we come back, the house is fine and the stove is fine. Everything is fine.
Well, the cutting board is totally warped and the gingerbread house became food for the squirrels. We got off easy.



Our wood stove is sort of like this, only it's in front of our fireplace and it's all black. We were very lucky! So, new rule. Nothing goes on the wood stove top. Unless we are desperate to cook stew in an ice storm or something. I thought I had pictures of Very Big Furry Grey Squirrel eating the gingerbread house like he couldn't believe his luck, but it must be on video.

Cutie Cutie Kokee revisited

The frog, remember? He's still with us. Fiona has added on to his name, and I am guessing at the spelling. The accent is on the first syllable.

He sings. No one told us they sing. We found out after Fiona abandoned her room again. She only slept in her room for a week (unrelated to CCK). Wait. We need more background here.

Doug got an iPod nano for me for our anniversary! I have named her Shiny. We all refer to her as Shiny. What Shiny mostly does is play stories for Fiona. I get them at librivox.org, which you should definitely discover right now, if you haven't already. She is really loving The Secret Garden and I feel like Cultured Mother. Doug also showed me these pillows that have a speaker in the middle and you can hook your iPod up to. The things they have these days. You can't hear it unless you are lying on the pillow. The first night we put her to bed with this, it did not work, but Doug also stayed with her. Now she goes by herself, and so far, after two nights, she falls asleep during the story.

However, after that first night, Doug asked me incredulously, "Did you hear the frog?" I think he asked me in the morning, so at first I attributed it to early morning delirium. He was totally serious, however. I was reassuring. It had to be the noise machine in the middle bedroom, which I use right now, playing "Summer Night". He was adamant it was not.

We brought the CCK downstairs to change his water. One night with the girls upstairs asleep, we were able to sit in front of the fire watching Kinky Boots. At the end of the movie, we sat a bit and then I heard the noise. Sort of like crickets. I went to check Kokee. He stopped. Doug joined me. We started talking, then the frog started chirping, too. I feel like I should call and ask about this. First, he eats his fellow frog and now he sings. Doug wonders if he is calling for a mate. Maybe he's just hungry.

Here is my Top 100 List of Movies

These are not necessarily "great" movies. My dad asked the three of us (sisters) for our lists of 100 movies that we could watch over and over--even if they were hard to admit to. I got stuck around 65 (I thought I might get to 50), but as I was the last person to finish I got to cheat and look at my dad's list and my two sisters where I could freely steal movie ideas and be inspired by them.

This is not a hard and fast list by any means and I reserve the right to substitute at will. I also lied. It is a list of 102 movies.

I now have fancy pictures like Ellen Aim, who has posted her list. Remember, these are not necessarily award winning movies. I mean, she has Pretty Woman on her list. I will say no more.



1. Watership Down

2. Bridget Jones's Diary

3. The Lord of the Rings Triology (I know, this is too easy, but I adore them)

4. Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946)

5. Beauty and the Beast (Disney—hey, I think with small children I am entitled to a Disney movie)

6. L.A. Confidential

7. Seven Samurai

8. The Seventh Seal



9. Big Night

10. Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

11. All About My Mother

12. Amelie

13. The Andromeda Strain

14. Miracle on 34th Street (do I need to say the original one?)

15. Babette's Feast

16. Pippi Longstocking movies (let's just call this one, shall we?)

17. The Lemondrop Kid (Although I never would have remembered this without seeing Dad's list! I can't wait to see it again)

18. Philadelphia

19. A Christmas Carol—I used to say the George C. Scott one was my favorite. I think it still is, but I just finished the Alistair Sim one, and that is also great. I also like Jean Luc in the role.

20. The Cane Mutiny

21. Brazil

22. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

23. Eat, Drink, Man, Woman



24. Tampopo

25. Totoro

26. La Cage Aux Folles

27. Labyrinth (oh, leave me be!)

28. The Last Temptation of Christ

29. Logan's Run

30. Firefly series (I would not have added this, but I see we are bending the rules a bit)

31. The Piano (oh, if I were rating this, this would be in my top 5)

32. Princess Mononoke

33. Nobody's Fool (what a great movie)

34. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the original one)

35. Ringu



36. The Secret of Roan Inish (another top 5)

37. Spirited Away

38. What's Eating Gilbert Grape (as Doug said, "who knew Leonardo DiCaprio could act?")

39. The Wizard of Oz

40. Yellow Submarine (yes, still).

41. The Wrath of Khan (Star Trek II)

42. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

43. The Secret Garden

44. The Flame Trees of Thika (ok, bending the rules again)

45. Orlando (I love this!)



46. Much Ado About Nothing (*hides*)

47. My Fair Lady

48. The Princess Bride

49. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

50. Halloween

51. Alien

52. Invasion of the Body Snatchers

53. Joy Luck Club

54. A Christmas Story

55. Holiday Inn

56. Cinema Paradiso

57. The Exorcist

58. Big

59. Bringing up Baby

60. Christmas in Conneticut

61. Casablanca

62. Airplane!

63. A Fish Called Wanda

64. Dead Poet's Society



65. the OLD Star Wars movies

66. Thelma and Louise

67. The Full Monty

68. Amityville Horror

69. Parenthood

70. The Time Machine (the 60s-70s version, I think…HG Wells)

71. Stand By Me

72. Out of Africa

73. War Games

74. Sneakers

75. Shallow Grave

76. Black Adder Series (NOT including season 1)

77. Romancing the Stone

78. Farewell my Concubine

79. Amadeus

80. Breakfast at Tiffany's

81. Kafka

82. The Shining

83. The Professional



84. They Live (even that drawn out fight scene—ha ha!)

85. The Fog

86. El Mariachi/Desperado

87. Oliver's Travels (I have to agree!)

88. Rear Window

89. This is Spinal Tap

90. To Kill a Mockingbird

91. Memento

92. Seven

93. Terminator

94. Die Hard

95. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (I'll include also The Life of Brian)

96. Blade Runner

97. Working Girl




98. Mr Smith Goes to Washington

99. Braveheart

100. City Slickers

101. Philadelphia Story

102. The Bishop's Wife

Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear...Every Time...You are Near?

Two things have happened recently in regards to Fiona. First, we went to her friend Max's birthday party; he is five now. She has been playing with Max since she was about 6 months old. I suppose it would be more accurate to say, she has been playing near Max since then and they gradually started playing together. Anywho.

A couple of days later, Max told his mom, Ame, the following (the words aren't going to be exact here; I am paraphrasing)...his party was at a barbeque restaurant that has a !!play area!!:

Max: At my party, Fiona and I played a racing game.

Ame: Oh?

Max: Fiona said that if I won, she would give me a kiss.

Ame: Oh? Did you win?

Max: Yeah (said very sweetly).

Ame: Did she give you a kiss?

Max: Yeeeah (same sweet tone, sort of shy and happy).

(Fiona told me she also gave Kira a kiss, too, as well.)

And a few days later, I hear from her friend Gryphon's (I love this name) mom. At his school, the kids made paper turkeys and wrote something they were thankful for on each of 5 feathers. He wrote his mom, his dad, his brother, his grandmother, and ...Fiona. It's fairly surprising because now that Fiona goes to school every morning, she doesn't get to play with him very often anymore. I can't even remember the last time she did. Surely not as long ago as last summer! Perhaps, though.

We Fear Change

Boy, Blogger really does want us to change to beta, as Ellen Aim points out in her blog...soon they'll start sending me emails about Beta...then who knows what. I guess the other version will cease to exist and we'll be forced to comply! Maybe that's when all the bugs will be gone.

I just actually have not ever had a problem with Blogger except not being able to get in at times.

So the documentary was good, funny at times, but mostly the kind of thing where it pisses you off. You KNOW all the information (well, most) in the documentary but seeing it all in one place and realizing, once again, that the USA is so far behind other industrailized nations in terms of health care, maternity/paternity leave, and equal pay and work rights for mothers (the documentary states that mothers make 60% of what men make for the same work...women without children make 90% of what men make---and here I thought it was closer to 100% now!) that one is totally dumbfounded.

If you are interested, here is more about the organization, MomsRising, behind the documentary. MomsRising is co-founded by a co-founder of MoveOn.org, Joan Blades.

We have more snow now! We didn't need to shovel the driveway this morning, though, so it's not a lot.

The Motherhood Manifesto

I get to see another movie tonight, only it's at the library and so far 18 other women are going. There will be food! Here's the blurb about it:

An engaging new documentary, The Motherhood Manifesto, presents moving personal stories combined with humorous animation, expert commentary and hilarious old film clips to tell the tale of what happens to working mothers and families in America.

The film illustrates how enlightened employers and public policy can make paid family leave, flexible working hours, part-time parity, universal healthcare, excellent childcare, after-school programs and realistic living wages a reality for American families. Featured people include:

• Dr. Deborah Richter, a Vermont doctor and advocate who has seen patients die because they didn’t have health insurance.

• Kiki Peppard, a Pennsylvania mother who has been battling discrimination against moms for the past decade.

• Selena Allen, who had to return to work four days after she gave birth prematurely.

• Sharon Dorsett, whose son’s illness bankrupted her family even though the Dorsett’s had health insurance.

• Jim Johnson, a conservative Republican businessman who found that flexible hours and family-friendly policies can increase a company’s profits and success.

• Joya Chavarin, who knows what California’s new paid family leave law means to mothers.

• Republican pollster Frank Luntz who says that “lack of free time” is the most important issue for women with children.

• Democratic Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, a former welfare mother who works tirelessly to help working mothers.

• Angenita Tanner, a childcare provider who takes in children from families too poor to afford childcare.

I'm excited!

We baked some ornaments (Sophia was a little confused at first and tried to eat one---it's just salt, flour, and water but not tasty). They are now painted and ready to hang. We have paper chains and cranberry/popcorn chains. The gingerbread house just needs candy and I will take a picture.

O Christmas Tree!

We bought a huge fluffy tree for $20. Get this. They also deliver for free. The only problem with that is, we aren't sure when they will deliver it. I think it's supposed to be this weekend, but it didn't come yesterday. The price was so great, that we also got a $15 wreath. Apparently we can write it off on our taxes (which I'm sure we won't, ha!) because we are buying them from the Northfield Ambulance Depot. I guess the trees are donated to them? I should find out.

We are in the process of making a gingerbread house from scratch. I have never made a gingerbread house, period. I have the walls and the roof made. I made stained glass windows. Today we have to glue it together and possibly decorate it, but I think that will probably happen later. The dough is tasty and light but it puffed up way too much. We're just going for fun here, but next time I'm going to try a different dough recipe. If I rolled it out any thinner, it would have fallen apart as it was also a very soft dough. I think I need a dough with fewer eggs. Fiona is very excited but she wants to eat all the candy decorations.

We had decided there would be no fires in the wood stove this year because we could just not find firewood and Sophia insists on getting behind the gate. But lo and behold! I found firewood and Doug stacked it all up (the only place to put a cord of wood or two is right in the driveway). Doug also bolted the gate to the wall, so Sophia is really blocked away from the wood stove. Now we have toasty fires. It's also nice to have in case the power every goes out. I hope we never have a nasty ice storm (as has happened here before, of course, but it was before our time here), but it's nice to be prepared. On that note, we need pantry supplies!

And on a last and even more exciting note, I finally ordered snowboots for Sophia. Now if it would only snow!

Media Surge

On a media related note, I actually got to see Casino Royale, the new Bond movie. I really enjoyed it, but this new Bond is rather, uh, buff. It's sort of odd. The movie also seemed a lot more violent. More action and less witty reparte. Not that there aren't some cute lines in the movie. And Daniel Craig is a good Bond. I think he's perfect for being "early Bond". Doug sent me out for time alone and it makes such a difference to get away for a few hours (that was a long movie!). I also got to stop off before the movie at the toy store and the book store. I need to get two very cool children's books for the girls (almost 5 years old and 2 years old). Any suggestions? We have a tradition where we leave a wrapped book on the edge of their bed for Christmas morning and we write a little something and the date on the inside. But it has to be a very cool, special book and I'm totally stumped this year.

I ended up getting Richard Dawkin's The Ancestor's Tale which is a look at evolution starting from the present and working back to the beginning. It is a really thick book. I just read The God Delusion and I was really impressed with it. I actually read it very slowly (I usually speed read through things--I can't seem to help myself) and could not put it down at the same time. His name was bugging me because it sounded so familiar and then I read that he wrote The Selfish Gene which I read when I was at UT Austin. Most book stores don't seem to have anything by Dr. Dawkins except the recent bestseller, so I was pleasantly surprised to see something different. It's not the book I would have picked out from a list, but it is something I do want to read. It's just going to take me a very long time.

God Damn It!

Fiona is sleeping in her own room now. I do not know how long this will last. I am dying now to paint her room and make it more her own...if only the farking wallpaper wasn't there! How I hate wallpaper.

I must confess to you all that I went to Hellmart (ahem, Walmart) today. I hate Walmart, ok? I don't know where else to go for some things, however. It's fairly rural here. I really only went for Christmas lights for the porch (they were already out of the hanging blue and white ones! I had to get just white.). Anyway, one reason I hate these big stores (I know Target must not be much better, but I have to say I like it a lot more than Walmart. Alas, there is no Target in Vermont.) is that I walk in for one thing, and if I'm not careful, I walk out with a lot more. That is what I did today. Well, Hershey's Kisses have all these cool flavors all of a sudden. They appear to be seasonal. Then I saw the chocolate mint candy canes. I got Fiona new bed sheets for Christmas. I got an Elefun game I've been meaning to get for them. Some play dough for the stockings. Some holiday cupcake papers. Damn you, Walmart.

I'm eating wonderful turkey pot pie made by Douglas last night. He mixed the turkey with carrots, leeks and potatoes (All hail the mighty leek!) in a veloute sauce, then put the leftover stuffing on top of that and some of the leftover gravy on top of that. Then he made biscuits and put them on top of that. It's real comfort food.

I did a tea swap with some far away friends and I just got some Hazelnut Lipton. This person is in Canada (thank you, Chantal!) and I am wondering if there is any in the U.S. It's pretty good! I don't usually sweeten my tea (unless it's Chai), but I did submit to adding some chocolate syrup along with my milk to the tea. It's good without the chocolate, too, though. I love that the back is in French. Maybe I can get more next time we go to Montreal. Really, I should go to a grocery in Montreal anyway, just to compare.

Fiona has started saying "goddamnit" on a regular basis. We've told her it's okay to say at home, but not outside the house or when we have guests. This prompted a slew of "goddamnit"s so she could try it out (I suppose). We then told her we would appreciate it if she did not use the word gratuitously. Yes, she asked what that word meant. I've discovered that there are many, many words I have a very hard time actually defining. Unfortunately, Sophia is a little tape recorder. She says everything Fiona does. It is actually very cute but you just know it's going to pop out at a very inconvenient time.

It's time for some homemade butterscotch pudding.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was low key around here. I roasted at turkey at 450 for crispy skin (I could eat a sackful of crispy skin), made buttermilk mashed potatoes (good, but not as good as the usual hazelnut brown butter ones), whole wheat parker rolls (and for freak's sake--I forgot the salt! I did this once when Annie and Andrea were eating turkey day dinner with us and I made these beautiful challah rolls...that tasted like ass. So they look nice but you chew on them and think to yourself...what is off here? It's the salt. So I slathered butter on them and salted the top. It didn't really help.), creamed leeks (heavenly), gravy, and stuffing with bacon, apples, and dried cepes. I love stuffing. Oh, I also made some cranberry relish. Very cheerful, the dainty cranberry.

It was the first Thanksgiving in a while where we haven't had any friends visit. Fiona was sort of sad about this but we did some little crafts together for the table. When 2 PM came around, however (we ate early this year--I like this. It means we can eat dinner all afternoon and evening), Fiona decided on peanut butter and jelly after smelling the stuffing and tasting oh-so-faintly of the cranberry relish. Doug had made two pumpkin pies the night before. One we ate for breakfast that morning and the other we mostly ate on Friday. Apparently, Fiona also does not like pumpkin pie. Sophia does, but she fell asleep at her highchair at dinner time. Later, she gladly ate all the dishes of that dinner.

And on a completely unrelated note, I've decided we need a new couch. We have two very beautiful couches that came down to me through my Grandmother. Well, one is a love seat. They are both antiques, however, and not exactly durable. By durable I mean "meant for the hard wear that two young kids put on them". They both have wood trim and wood legs. One of the wood legs (the couch) is nearly broken off. It is heartbreaking. So the plan is to somehow move the couches into the storage room formerly known as the study (this is also known as the Wasp Room, if you have read my posts from last year). This room is collecting all sorts of things that aren't great to have out with the kids (ok, let's point fingers here--with SOPHIA. Although neither child is exactly gentle with the couches). I have dreams of something very cushy that you could sleep in, if you needed to. Something that will undoubtedly be covered with a spare bed sheet for a slipcover!

Catching Up

Ok, so let's see. I've spent the weekend trying not to cough up my respiratory system. Fiona also has a cough, but she's had it for 6 weeks now and we actually gave her antibiotics for it which did...nothing. Yes, she had it in Texas, but back then it was mostly at night. Now it's all the time. It's not really a bad cough and it's short in length, but it sure is persistent. I think we may have an allergy test done.

We have a new CAR! The Subaru (1999 Legacy) was turning into quite the money pit (I won't even list it all here because it is too depressing) so we just traded it in before we had to replace the clutch (and who knows what else). Not really wild about the Subaru dealership here, anyway. The HONDA dealership, however, is very reliable and seems honest. So we bought a 2007 (!OMG!) Civic. I call her Pippi (I called her Pippi before Fiona named the new parakeet Pippi in case you caught that). She's dark red. That's what was on the lot. It's an LX because now I am spoiled and I like the power locks and windows. I don't like that I can't do the windows when the car is off, though. There should be back-up for that. I still can't believe it--especially since we just paid off the fracking Subaru and now we'll have another car payment. It is really nice to have a reliable car, though. Our other car is a 1994 Honda Civic that Doug and I have had since before we were married (shh). He has 207,000 miles on him and we've never ever had serious problems with him (there was that one time he didn't start at all, but it was easily fixed--and I think it cost about $250). I am not even sure we've replaced the clutch...ever. I better ask to make sure. Oh, and the new car is an automatic. I usually insist on manual, but I don't feel so strongly about it now.

I will try to take pictures later. The inside looks a little like a starship to me. It's kind of odd. It didn't smell like new car. It didn't really have a smell. I'm sure it does now.

Fiona's new parakeet, Pippi, is green. Fiona is also starting a terrarium which is in the fridge for 8 weeks. I honestly had no idea there was a chilling period.

Sophia is really belting out the sentences. She adores Fiona more and more and now Fiona clearly likes to have her own time and space alone now and then. Not at night, however. They do play a lot together and they still put on those unicorn costumes or their fairy wings and fly. They use the play kitchen a lot. Fiona will bake and cook and Sophia goes inside the play kitchen under the sink and pops the sink out so it looks like half a person coming out of the sink. That is something I really need to get on film to post. She stays there the whole time. Oh,they also make pizza. Sometimes Sophia brings me something in an oven mitt for me to taste.

The Travel Tome

Whew, ok...where to start? We are back from Texas and we had a fabulous time! We went to see Corinthian and Ellen Aim get hitched. We all went in costume...there are great pictures on Ellen Aim's blog and Triana's (see the sidebar on right for the blogs). This picture is the lovely bride herself! My mom made the gorgeous dress.

I guess I will start at the beginning. We got up at the ungodly hour of 3:30 AM and trucked on down to Dartmouth Coach in Lebanon, NH. The bus was very clean, they showed good movies and I was impressed. I also discovered Sophia gets motion sickness on the bus. Good thing we are seasoned parents and had a change of clothing for her. Too bad I didn't have any for me. I also had Dramamine with us, but I thought I'd be using that for the plane. I should mention here that we were traveling with only carry on luggage and the huge Britax car seats. I mailed our costumes and clothing to my parents' house.

Our flight didn't leave until 10:15 (and it takes about two and a half hours to get to Boston airport from Lebanon) but with rush hour Boston traffic and the increased "security" at airports, I thought it would be just enough time. Rush hour traffic did suck, but the security line went really quickly. I would also like to cheer for on-line check-in. I printed out boarding passes and since we had no luggage to check, we sailed right on the plane (after checking the stroller--a.k.a car seat transportation--at the gate). It's true, though, at security everyone takes their shoes off...even 2 year old Sophia who was wearing her little leather Robeez (just a sort of slipper/shoe, very comfortable, flexible, and hard for kids to take off--ha ha!). All jackets come off. Even Fiona's fleece layer. I totally forgot about my tiny Swiss army knife on my keychain and that went through undetected. Oh well. It's really small.

The plane ride was hell. Sophia and Fiona were next to each other in their car seats (for a variety of reasons, we decided not to check them with the stroller)(I am now reading through this and I want to clarify that I do indeed mean the car seats and not Sophia and Fiona). Since these seats put them higher up, Sophia's feet naturally came to the middle of the seat in front of her and she kept kicking the seat in front of her the whole time, despite our best efforts. Thankfully, that person was very understanding. The kids slept for the last hour of the plane ride. They actually were not interested in the DVD player. They were interested in all the wrapped dollar store treats I had in my carry on, however. That was a great idea and I also recommend that.

At the DFW airport, which is way too big for its own good, we took a bus to the car rental place. Let me just say Thrifty isn't that and look out for all sorts of stomach dropping fees. I also somehow rented a tank, and I blame myself (and my travel agent) for that. At least we felt very safe.

At last we were at my parents' house and Fiona was thrilled to be there. Sophia warmed up pretty quickly. I felt like I hadn't been in Denton in years. Oh wait! That's because it had been years! The rest of that day and Wednesday are a bit of a blur (I'm also finishing this entry about a month later, by the way). We went to the North Park Mall with Alex and got there way too early for the LUSH party. We had a pretty good time, though, and Alex introduced me to the heavenly evil of the Starbucks Pumpkin Latte. Thankfully, there is no Starbucks here (actually, there are at least 2 in Burlington, incredibly). We meet up with Triana and look at Christmas LUSH goodies. I was very good and bought nothing (mostly because Doug went on a bit of a spree for me when he was in Montreal a few weeks before!). However, despite my RSVP, LUSH did not have me down on the guest list, so while I did get my free goodie bag, I did not get one for Alex. That was really lame. Triana got on the list, but she called twice. I mean, how hard is it to take names down? Honestly. Sorry, Alex. I'm making you your own goodie bag.

Then the cake making! Triana and I had great fun in Ellen Aim's kitchen (They have a fabulous house that is very nicely painted. Alas, that I did not sample the legendary hot tub. Another day.). Ok, here is one of the cake:



Looking at this, I am pretty sure that this cake picture has been cropped to hide the part where the goddamn strawberries kept falling off because the buttercream was melting in the heat.

I screwed up the buttercream the first time. I did the "Neo-Classic Buttercream" from the Cake Bible, which is a wonderful recipe and, I thought, nearly foolproof. Nope. It's not. All that butter. All those eggs. The chocolate. I weep still. The second batch was divine. The chocolate dipped strawberries kept leaping to their demise during the wedding, however. Next time: either store the finished cake in the fridge until the last minute (a perilous task, however) or ice the cake at the last possible moment with many people watching you. I am used to people watching, so I should have done that. Oh well. I was otherwise pleased with the cake (a butter cake with lots of red food coloring, strawberry jam in one layer and raspberry in the other, and triple sec syrup) and I believe the bride, groom and guests were as well. Triana made these hilarious finger cookies (the recipe came from the eGullet forums) and the famous eyeball cake. I must show you more pictures.





The wedding itself was perfect. I loved reading Ellen Aim's and Corinthian's account of it (his blog can be found if you go to Ellen Aim's. I am too lazy to link.) Fiona was the flower girl (and I hope there are pictures of her somewhere!) and did an amazing job---not only was she the first to come out, but she had to walk out into a crowd of strangers, who were all wearing costumes! Doug and Sophia spent most of the wedding outside. I only cried a little during the vows. I think that is because I couldn't see Ellen Aim's face. They both did so well and the minister they got was really good. (I have to confess here that I totally blubbered through the vows at my own wedding. I cry at everything. I am utterly hopeless.) The barbequed boar was delicious as was the homemade pumpkin ale made by a friend of the newly wed couple. I was surprisingly not that hungry, however. That happened to me while I was working, too. At the end of the day working on the line, I would be happy with a bowl of rice. But I digress.

The happy couple went on their honeymoon (Dallas, then Austin) and Triana went home to Austin. We spent the rest of the trip with my parents and Alex and went trick or treating with Doug's brother Matt's family in Keller (near Ft. Worth). Fiona and Sophia have cousins there, Taylor, 13 and Sydney, 7. Fiona is completely smitten with Taylor. She wants to call and write him all the time. Every day. He is very sweet. Still, I've been curbing things a little so he doesn't get overwhelmed! At the first house we went to, Sophia went right in when they opened the door. That was rather alarming, but she wised up after that. Sophia and Fiona were both unicorns. Here's Sophia:



I forgot to mention the costumes we wore to the wedding! So the kids were unicorns and I was a genie (some thing I picked up at Jo-Ann's fabrics with a purple wig) and Doug wore his fabulous cape (that he made!) and Ren-fest style leggings and shirt with sexy boots. Here's a picture of me, Ellen Aim, and Alex. Alex is wearing the Lolita Gothic style. She looked amazing!



Oh, and dig those roses. So fragrant and the most amazing roses ever. The color was also amazing.

We did go to the Ft. Worth Zoo with Matt's family and Fiona got to feed and hold the parakeets (and by the way, we now have a second parakeet named Pippi---she and Sweety are getting along wonderfully!)


The trip home was uneventful. At the airport, they didn't board people with kids and other people who need assistance first (which I have never seen before). So that was interesting because we weren't even the only people using carseats on the plane--in fact, also Britax--and putting carseats on the plane with everyone else on board is not easy or enjoyable for anyone involved. Thank you, American Airlines. Oh, and they do feed you, but you have to pay four bucks for each snack tray. I did buy one on the way down to Texas even though I had more than plentiful snacks with us. I wanted the "meat stick". It's ok to laugh at this. Yes, I know what's in (or probably in) the "meat stick". I don't care. Rather, I do care, but I needed meat. Sophia slept for most of the plane ride. Fiona had her turn with motion sickness on the bus (no change of clothes this time! At least we were on the next to last leg of the journey). Our '94 Civic got a crack all the way across on our drive home.

It had been too long since our last visit and I am so thankful we were there for Ellen Aim's wedding. I think Fiona wants to live in Texas (I think she really just wants to be closer to our families!) Sigh, so do I!