My Son, the Gourmand

Our kids love to pretend cook. Ever since Poet could walk, she'd bring us stuff from her little kitchen to "eat," be it "soup" or "noodles" or "milk" or whatnot. When Happy got big enough and learned enough words, he joined in, offering "beef stew" or "cold peas" or "hot dog sammiches." Which brings me to today's story.

After picking up the kids from daycare, Amy and I took them to one of our many local parks. Beneath the main playset is a little shelf which is reminiscent of a counter in a restaraunt, think McDonalds or Skyline or something along that order. When we go to this playground, the kids will invariably catch sight of this shelf and strike up a rousing game of "food service." Today, Happy emerged from behind the shelf to take my order:

Happy: Daddy! What can I make you?

Me: Hmmm... I think I'll have a hot dog sammich.

Happy: <turns to go> OK, I'll be right back!

Me: Oh, can I get some mustard on it?

Happy: Yeah! What kinda mustard do you want?

Yep, that's right. Happy was concerned about the kind of mustard I wanted. How many three year olds know more than plain ol' yellow mustard? Happy and Poet both know and enjoy yellow, spicy brown and dijon. They also know that I eat "hot" mustard at our local greasy wok. I might let them try it, then I might get offered hot mustard for my hot dog, too!

Homemade Butter

Since it was requested, here's how to make homemade butter:

The Ingredients:

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp kosher salt (or to taste)

The Equipment:

• Food processor or blender
• A largish bowl filled with ice water
• Something in which your butter will be stored

The Method:

Dump the cream and salt into your food processor or blender, and turn it on. Keep watch over it as it turns from cream to whipped cream, to stiff whipped cream. Eventually it'll start to fold in on itself and get slightly yellow. Hang tight, you're almost there! At some point, the liquid will begin to separate from the solids. You'll see a bunch of little globs (the butter) and a lot of liquid (buttermilk). Kill the power and let things settle for a minute, then drain off the buttermilk, mush all the solids into a ball and drop into the ice water. Knead with one hand for a few moments to get as much buttermilk out of the butter as you can. Then transfer your butter to the storage vessel of your choice.

Notes

See, it's simple, isn't it? It actually took me less time to make it than to type this all up. There are a few things you'll want to keep in mind. First, don't overwhip the butter. I did the first time and my butter ended up with a chunky, crumbly texture that didn't spread even when warmed to room temperature. If your butter comes together in a big solid ball while you're still whipping it in your food processor, it's overbeaten. You can still eat it, but the texture will be off. Second, the reason for the ice water bath is to remove buttermilk, which can cause your butter to go rancid when left out for a while at room temperature. I always refrigerate my butter and only get out what I'll need for a meal, and let it warm up for a few minutes before serving. Finally, the amount of salt you use is really up to you. I wrote 1 tsp into the recipe above because it seems reasonable. I like mine a little saltier, I actually use closer to 1-1/2 tsp or even 2. If I have my mom over, I'll use less, since salt and her don't really get along.

Oh, and one final note: homemade butter is just begging for additions. Try herbs or garlic. Yummmm...

Thank You, AEP!

We used 15% less electricity this billing period, compared to the previous. Your bill was 7% higher. Keep up the good work AEP, soon you'll be in the same class as Ohio American Water.

Crappy Kitchen Day

Inside of an hour today, I managed to burn a hole through the bottom of our flour container, and break our large food processor. I should go back to bed...

Trouble With Happy

Oooooooh boy, my son is going to be trouble. To wit:

Happy is starting his transition to the next daycare room up, for 3's and 4's (Poet's current class). Today we got a note from the teacher in Happy's old class. Evidently when Happy left, one little girl was very upset, saying that she wanted to go with Happy because he is her "best friend." Another little girl heard that and piped up, "no, he's my husband!" They then started yelling back and forth at each other, "HE'S MINE!" "NO, HE'S MINE!" They had to be separated.

Yikes.

Free Time

Lately, work hasn't been keeping me as busy as I'd like, so I've had time to do other things. Some things are less pleasant than others (like cleaning up the basement to turn into a play area, that wasn't a lot of fun). But the fun parts have been around trying new things in the kithcen. I've gotten back to baking bread again. In addition to baking bread from a book my sister got me for Christmas last year, I've found a great recipe for Italian bread which I've made twice and has been gone in under 24 hours both times. I've also started making fresh ricotta, which is so stupidly easy I can't believe I haven't done it before. And today, I made my first batch of homemade butter, which is even more stupidly easy. I think that the next item on my list of things to try making is mozzarella, which seems slightly more complicated, but well within my ability to not screw things up. Yay for free time!

This Makes My Blood Boil

A Facebook friend posted this link, and the story makes my blood boil. I'm not sure what can be done, but posting it for a wider audience can't hurt as a start. Boost the signal.

More Casserole-y Goodness

I love lasagna (well, I love my mom's lasagna, no other, including my own, measures up). However, I'm lazy. The big lasagna noodles are clunky to work with, and all the layers is just too much work. So what's a lasagna lovin' guy supposed to do? He cheats, of course. This recipe is pretty close to my lasagna, I just switch up the noodles.

Baked Ziti

The Ingredients:

• 8 oz ziti
• 1 lb ground sausage
• 1/2 c finely chopped onions
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 c tomato sauce
• 12 oz ricotta
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded

The Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the pasta as per directions on the box.

Brown the sausage over medium-high heat in a 12" frying pan. Once browned, add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are soft. Drain if necessary and return to the pan. Add the tomato sauce and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. Combine this mixture thoroughly with the pasta, set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, parmesan cheese and oregano.

Scoop about half of the pasta/sausage/sauce mixture into an 8x8" pan. Add the cheese mixture by the spoonful on top of the pasta and smooth out. Scoop the remaining pasta/sausage/sauce mixture on top, then top with mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake for an hour at 350 degrees, removing the foil for the last 15 minutes.

Serves 4-6

Notes:

I didn't actually use ziti for my baked ziti, since it was literally double the price of mostaccioli. Since it was roughly the same size and shape, I didn't figure it mattered. I used sweet italian sausage, because Amy isn't a big fan of spicy sausage. I also made my own ricotta, but I'll post about that the next time I make it. All in all, this turned out well. Happy had seconds! Come to think of it, he had seconds the last time I made a casserole, too. Hrm, I'm sensing a pattern...

What's for Dinner?

I haven't posted a recipe in a loooooong time, so here's one that I've been working on for a while. I think I've got it down pretty well now, so I've stopped fiddling. Let me know how it comes out if you give it a try.

Chicken Soup Casserole á la Bald Man Tom

The Ingredients

• 2 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced or cubed (around 2 cups)
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 oz frozen mirepoix mix (carrots, onions, celery)
• pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp flour
• 2-1/2 c milk
• 3-1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
• 2 tbsp poultry seasoning
• 1 tbsp garlic powder (not garlic salt!)
• 6 oz noodles, cooked
• water (for cooking the noodles)
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp poultry seasoning
• 1 tsp olive oil

The Method

Preheat the oven to 375.

Place a skillet over medium-high heat and melt the butter. When melted, add the mirepoix mix and a pinch of salt and cook until softened, about 5 min. Lower the heat to medium, then add the flour and stir, cooking about another 2 min. Lower the heat to low. Add the milk, bouillon, garlic powder and 2 tbsp poultry seasoning to the pan and stir constantly while it thickens. Add the noodles and chicken, stir to combine everything. Transfer the mixture to a 9x9 or 8x8 baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, 1 tbsp poultry seasoning and olive oil, then sprinkle over the casserole mixture. Bake for 45 minutes, let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 4

This goes over pretty well at our house. Happy even had seconds tonight!

Cold and Snowy Day in Central OH

One of the great things about living in the Central Ohio area is the Columbus Zoo. This is our second year with a family subscription, and I can say that it is easily the best money we spend each year. The zoo itself is awesome, one of the best in the country, but for those inclement days when you just have got to get the family out of the house before complete insanity sets in, there's an aquarium and manatee rehabilitation center. During the winter, both are nearly deserted, so there's plenty of room for the family to wander and explore.

Today, we got to the manatees at feeding time. Poet and Happy were more interested in the diver than the manatees. Especially Happy, since the diver who was anchoring the lettuce was a young woman. Sigh. He's going to be trouble...

Three Items

Item the first: my kids asked for mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. OK, that's not quite true, I offered them rice, noodles or mashed potatoes, and they chose mashed potatoes. This is significant because until a month ago, neither would touch a potato if it wasn't julienned and deep fried. Color me happy, that means we can re-introduce potatoes to the menu.

Item the second: my parents got me one of these for Christmas. I've used it pretty extensively for the last week, and I think I like it. This is my first ceramic knife, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It's nice and sharp, and the handle on this one is a nice fit for my oversized hand. It's a little light for my preference, but I'm getting used to it. I have to use a little more force to get through things like potatoes and carrots, but that might just be that I'm used to using an 8" blade. Anyhow, I like it well enough that I'm half tempted to get a larger ceramic knife for my knife block.

Item the third: we gave Poet and Happy their first introduction to Star Wars tonight. They didn't watch much, just enough to see C3PO and R2D2, which they know from a t-shirt Happy had over the summer. They were completely rapt during their few minutes with one of my favorite movies. I'm eagerly anticipating them getting a little older so we can watch it and the rest of the series all the way through.

A Brief Moment of Happy-ness

Life with Happy has been less than happy for the last few months. His "two" started pretty mild, but picked up around 2-1/2 and has intensified into a pretty attitudinal start to "three". There's mischievous taunting of Poet, punctuated by a lot of "NO!!!" shouted at Mommy and Daddy, all wrapped around lots of crying when he doesn't get his way.

But through all that, there are some small glimmers of the wonderful little boy who normally inhabits our house. For instance, today we were driving home from visiting Amy's folks. While flitting through one of a dozen small towns on our back-roads trip, Happy woke from his nap:

• Happy: DADDY, DADDY!!! (because sometimes shouting "DADDY" only once isn't enough to wake everyone in the car)
Me, while adjusting the rear view mirror so I could see him: Yeah buddy?
• Happy, smiling that sweet, beautiful smile that will someday get him in a WHOLE LOT of trouble: I love you very much!

He's never said that to me before, and certainly never unbidden. Made me want to grab him out of his seat and give him a big hug and kiss right there. Of course by night's end, he'd done something that again made me want to leave him with Grandma for a few years, but there, in that moment, he was my wonderful Happy boy again.

Merry Christmas, After All

Following yesterday's adventure, I got a phone call from the mechanic this morning. The initial guess from the shop was that I'd destroyed my car's clutch, which was the repair that was to have cost $1300. As luck would have it, it wasn't the clutch, but the CV shaft which bought the big one. And happily, the estimated cost for this repair is more in the $400 neigborhood.

Cue MAJOR sigh of relief :)

Blended Family

You may or may not know this, but ours is a blended family. That's right: Amy's car is automatic, mine is manual. Hers is a little bigger and more family-friendly, so we usually take it when we go places as a family. Since I work from home, mine doesn't get driven all that much.

Having a blended family does occasionally cause problems. Most often, the problems stem from me remembering which car I'm currently driving. I'll often try to downshift in Amy's car when I'm turning a corner, or I forget to put the car in park before shutting off the engine, which a) makes Amy nuts and b) causes the doors to remain locked (her car has this fancy feature that unlocks the doors when the car is shifted into park, but it only works, for whatever reason, if the engine is on). Once in a while, I'll forget that I'm driving my own car, and after putting on the parking brake I'll simply take my foot off the clutch, stalling the car. Today, I did a little worse than stall the car, I blew out my clutch. As I was backing into the drive today, I noticed the neighbors trash cans in the drive, so I wanted to be sporting and move them rather than run them over. When I took my foot off the clutch, instead of the usual lurch and then silence, there was a very loud WHA-BAAM! and the engine kept running. When I put the car into gear and tried driving, the engine revved, but the car didn't move.

Whoops...

So, Merry Christmas, Mr. Mechanic, as you are the beneficiary of my estimated $1300 repair.

Question For the Masses

Can someone please explain to me why everyone is in such a lather about Yuengling? I bought some of their lager today. I can't say I think it's all that exceptional. Yes, it's better than the mass produced swill that's out there, but I'd much prefer Great Lakes Brewery Dortmunder Gold. Heck, I think Sam Adams is better. What am I missing?

Family Time

We participated in a family tradition today: we took the kids bowling for the very first time. I know that many of you may scoff about bowling, but I have many fond memories of bowling while growing up. My first league was an adult/junior league in which I bowled with my dad, and I bowled in leagues nearly every year through high school. It's a big part of my family. So today, we introduced Poet and Happy. They were very excited and really had a blast. As a bonus, they behaved well enough that we want to do it again!

Thoughts in Space

(I know, I know... this poor blog has been neglected.)

Just a small post but one that I have been thinking about all day. This morning during our wake up snuggle Happy was babbling and kept mentioning we were on a space ship. Where he came up with that I don't know but it was fun pretending with him. It also made me think of the cartoon I saw earlier this week. The shuttle program is ending and there goes my boy's dream of space ships. I am sad that he (or his sister) will not get to experience the joy and pride of remembering a shuttle launch. I could go on but it is bedtime and this a just a random post.

What? Is this really a post to TftC?

Yes, we're still here. Yes, it's been a very long time.

Some of you may know that I recently had a birthday. Those who do probably know that I don't usually feel inclined to celebrate such an event, but honestly, since I have such an awesome wife, I didn't mind this year. What did she do this year that was so cool? Here, lemme show you what she got me:

That's right. She got me a towel. For my 42nd birthday. Now I have no need to panic, and I'll always know where my towel is.

I love my geeky wife :)

Grumpedy Grumpedy

Today was rainy-ish, cold-ish and very, very blah here in central OH, and, not wanting to have the kids running around outside, we took the younguns to a local mall which has an indoor play area. We got there before all the stores opened so it wasn't too crowded, but the bad behavior of the other kids more than made up for it. Poet and Happy and a lot of little kids kept getting knocked around the play area, cut in front of, and shoved off whatever they were climbing by kids bigger than they were. Now, Amy and I followed our kids around to make sure that they played nice, waited their turns and were gentle with kids smaller than themselves. Where the heck were the parents of these bigger kids? Obviously not worried about what they were doing or how they were behaving, that's for sure. If my kids behaved the way these bigger kids did, they'd have been scolded, put in time out, and or taken home. Am I just being over sensitive because it was my kids this happened to? Or should I have some expectation that parents teach their kids how to behave appropriately and play nice?

Grocery Shopping In Central Ohio

I found something unusual at our local grocery store tonight:

Now, where would you find something like this in a grocery store?

Wonder what the message is here?

Bare Butt!

... well, actually, it's "bear butt." Or maybe "bare bear butt." You get the idea :)

We spent much of the day at the Columbus Zoo. We have passes this year, and have really putting them to good use. The polar bears are this years "hot new exhibit," with viewing above ground and from a new underwater area. We'd been there twice before and both times the bears just lolled around on rocks out of the water. When we got there today, one of the workers had just thrown several toys in the water, and the bears jumped in and were swimming around playing. It was very, very cool.

Today's visit was prompted by the appearance of a little hispanic cartoon girl, who both of the kids love. There was a breakfast meetup, which we skipped, several "drive through the zoo on a golf cart" tours, and several scheduled photo ops where the kids could get their picture taken with the little adventurer. We managed to get in on the last photo op of the day, and, lo and behold, our kids actually didn't freak out, and managed to stand still long enough for us to take a few pictures. They even got to give her a hug and high five. Good times were had by all.

What's the Bald Man Been Up To?

You might have noticed that I really don't talk much about work online. I just think that things can get a little... weird. Well, today, I'm going to go ahead and ignore that, because what I've been working on has been so cool, I really want to share.

I work for a small company called Brand Thunder. We make customized themes for the Firefox and Internet Explorer web browsers. Recently, we completed a project that will not only change the way we create our Firefox themes, it also provides benefits to people who use and develop Personas for Firefox. Original Personas have one background image which is anchored top-right in the browser and cannot repeat. With Personas Interactive, a Persona designer can use multiple images which can be anchored left, right or center, and can be repeated. I think that this creates more interesting experiences for you, the users. With original Personas, designers were required to submit their Personas to Mozilla to be hosted so that persona previewing could be enabled. With Personas Interactive, anyone can host a Personas gallery and grant permission for sites to allow persona previewing, which gives the designer more flexibility, and you the users more places to go to find personas (once this catches on). There's more but you can read more about it at the Personas Interactive website, or on the blog of our Firefox developer here, here, here and here. It's pretty heady stuff, mostly aimed at personas developers, but if you're interested in how it's done and want to give it a go yourself, have a read. If all you want to do is see examples of how things work, I have a very small gallery put together over at my Personas site. Fair warning, I'm no artist, seeing what I've done may make your eyes bleed.

I hope you give our stuff a try. Another fair warning: Brand Thunder's primary revenue source is via our search partners, Bing and Ask. When you install Personas Interactive, Bing Search will be set as the default search engine. Please give Bing a try. It'll help feed the kids...

Give Us This Day...

Lately, our family has been on a bread kick. Amy found this recipe online and it has been a huge hit around here (the actual recipe is a good way down the page, past the whole part about how the author's four-year-old makes the bread). I'd encourage you to give it a try as is. If you're less of a "rustic" type and more of a "make me a gosh-darned sammich" type like me, try the following:

No Knead Bread Recipe - Perfect for Sammiches

Adapted from this recipe, you can read about all the different adaptations her recipe went through to get to where hers currently sits.

Ingredients

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 3/4 Tbsp kosher salt (or 1 tsp table salt)
• 1-1/2 cups warm water
• butter

The Hardware

• the largest mixing bowl you can find
• a silicone spoon or spatula
• plastic wrap
• bread loaf pan
• cooling rack

The Method

1. Mix all the ingredients in the large mixing bowl. Get as much of the flour incorporated as you can. The dough won't look all smooth like you've probably seen on TV, but that's perfectly OK.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, stuff in a warm dry place for 12-24 hours.
3. Dust a work surface lightly with flour, turn out the dough onto the work surface, and turn the dough over on itself a few times. You're not kneading, just some gentle folding. Don't overdo it.
4. Liberally butter the inside of a bread loaf pan, then dump the dough into the pan. I like to press the dough into the pan to get it more evenly distributed. Let the dough sit for 2 hours.
5. Preheat your oven to 350. Bake the dough for 50-55 minutes.
6. After pulling from the oven, remove the bread from the loaf pan and place on a cooling rack. While still rocket hot, smear butter over the top (yummmm)
7. VERY IMPORTANT Allow the bread to cool for at least an hour, or you may end up killing your bread. No, it won't be easy. Maybe you should go for a drive or something, because the yummy smell will drive you bonkers
8. Slice, butter up, and consume. Or slice, make yourself a gosh-darned sammich, and comsume. Whatever. Just eat it. It's good!

I hope you all enjoy as much as we have.

10 on Tuesday

Hi, Long time no post! A quick recap of life from the couch:

1) Thanks mom for the spontaneous offer to watch the kids overnight. It was a wonderful break and chance to recharge and get some stuff done around the house.

2) Happy's favorite color- blue. I think he likes to say the word.

3) Part of our weekend projects- a "big girl" bed for Poet. She is very proud.

4) Poet's tear duct tubes were removed this morning. Every thing looks fine.

5) Happy is a passionate eater- 5 Q-tips were needed to clean the tomato sauce out of his ear.

6) Our garden this year consists of 2 tomato plants hanging from a topsy turvy ... do they really work?

7) Happy is 18 months this week- where has the time gone?

8) Home grown strawberries- yummy

9) Kona and Sid went for their yearly vet check last week. It is hard to believe they are turning 6 this year.

10) Lost is over- what else is there to watch?

First (?) Sign * I'm Getting Old

Got new glasses on Friday, these were different. Because, you see, I got my first pair of bifocals. Now, I knew it was only a matter of time before I ended up with bifocals, as both of my parents wear them (actually, I think one or the other are technically farther up the multi-focal range). And over the last six months or so, I started to notice that I had to hold things I was reading farther away than I previously did.

All in all, the bifocals aren't too bad. I can see much more clearly near and at distance. I was warned about distortion at the sides of my vision, but so far I haven't seen any. After the first few minutes of "woogyvision," my eyes settled in and I haven't had any problems.

* no, going bald isn't a sign of getting old...

Something You Probably Didn't Know About Amy

My lovely wife is ambiwoobieous *. That is, she can use the woobie (that's the TV remote, for those of you not in the know) with either hand.

I'm so proud.

If you or anyone you know uses ambiwoobieous, you owe me a nickel :P

From the Mouth of a Child

When she was much smaller, Poet really loved her board books, particularly the "peek-a-boo" type. Problem was, she was very hard on them, and would tear off the flaps. Amy solved the problem the same way that any good red-blooded American would: she used duct tape. When Happy got old enough for the "peek-a-boo" board books, he was similarly hard on the flaps. One evening, probably seven or eight months ago, Amy was fixing a book when Poet wandered in. The exchange went something like this:

"Whatcha doing, Mommy?"
"Fixing Happy's book"
"Ooooh...." <long pause> "What's that?" <pointing to the roll of tape>
"Tape"
"Ooooh...."

Little did we know how much of an impact that conversation would have on her.

Back in March, we went to one of our favorite local parks. It's got a pair of baby swings, which the kids love, a pair of big swings, to which Poet is transitioning, and a twin slide, down which the kids race. When we got to the big swings, we saw that someone had wrapped the chains all around the crossbar and the seats were all cattywampus, so we couldn't use them that day.

"What happened?" Poet wanted to know.
"They're broke, Poet."
"Ooooh, broke. Fix it?"
"Well, I can't but someone will soon."
"Ooooh. With tape?"
<boggle/> "Sure, Poet, with tape."
"OK!"

A week or so passed by before we returned to the park again, and the swings had been fixed, a fact which hadn't escaped Poet's notice.

"THEY FIXED IT!"
"Why yes, Poet, they did!"
"WITH TAPE!"
"Yes, Poet, with tape."

Now every time we go to the park, Poet points out to us that they fixed the swings. With tape.

She's so adorable... :)

How Much Does My Wife Rock?

She got me tickets for opening day for my favorite baseball team. That's how much she rocks!

Thanks, Sweetie :)

with sauce?

I know this blog is turning into a story of the kids, but sometimes they are just too cute not share.

The big Christmas gift this year was a toy kitchen. One of the favorite games is having the kids make us some "food" to eat. They enjoy running from their kitchen (in the kitchen) to the living room where we usually sitting.

No matter what we ask for the immediate response from Poet is - with sauce? Heaven forbid if you say no!

Tonight we had:
ravioli, with sauce,
apple pie, with sauce,
soup, with sauce,
bread, with sauce.

It is fun trying to come up with items to add sauce too. Any suggestions?

Taking after Daddy

Poet and Happy, being toddlers, often get distracted by whatever shiny thing happens to cross their field of vision. When this happens, it's really hard to get them to focus on whatever it is that I want them to do. I'll raise my voice to try to get their attention, and sometimes I even have to grab them and physically turn them and/or pull them toward me, and even sometimes that doesn't work. Those of you who have parented toddlers know what I mean, I'm sure.

Tonight at the end of bath time, Amy was trying to prompt Happy that it was time to get it out, but he ignored her, contentedly playing with whatever bath toy had attracted his attention. She tried several times to get his attention, to no avail. Then, completely unprompted, Poet grabs his chin and shouted, "Look at me! LOOK! AT! ME!" Yeah. That'd be something I do and say on a regular basis. Everyone (including Amy and me) collapsed in giggles, but Happy continued playing, so at least I know he wasn't playing favorites...

The Obsession

Need a gift for a 1 or 2 year old?
This book gets a lot of love in our house.











(The only con- it is a paper book - not a board book)

Quote of the day

Over an hour into "nap" time today and the laughing and yelling and sometimes crying is still going on. We finally admit defeat- no nap today. We go into the kids room and ask- Why aren't you napping? Poet responds- " I don't know how".

Tech Company Without the Geeks

Working for a tech company, one should reasonably expect to be surrounded by some small amount of geekdom. Today at work, a few of us were talking about a particularly troublesome project, and I said, "Look, it's not like it's Kobayashi Maru or anything." My co-workers looked at me like I'd grown a second navel in my right cheek. Neither of them had any idea what I was talking about. A couple of hours later, the boss came in and I asked him, "If I said the phrase 'Kobayashi Maru' to you, you'd know what I'm talking about, right?" Nope.

Sigh...

My Personal Insomnia Cure

Meet Bear. He lives in a big, blue house with his friends. Bear is Poet's current fave in the realm of DVD watching. Every night after dinner, she marches into the living room, points at the TV, cocks her head like a sad little puppy, and says "Bear?" Only you know it isn't a question, no sirree, it's a demand. Well, more like a threat: Play Bear for me, or you won't know a moment's peace for the rest of the night. But I digress. This post isn't about Poet, it's about Bear, and his effect on me.

Our routine, once Bear has been demanded, is for me to sit in my seat and start the DVD, then Poet jumps up in my lap while Happy dances in front of the TV. I recline the chair, I hit the play button on the remote... and I'm out. I have no idea why, but for whatever reason, I conk within two minutes of the video starting. No, it's not the chair, or the position, because I sit in the chair often, and even frequently recline. It's Bear. He's magic, I tell you. I've slept through an entire three episode event before, even with Poet getting bored and jumping down, and the kids playing noisily nearby. It's kinda weird, but it's almost worth me buying a TV/DVD combo for the bedroom and putting the darned thing on continual play overnight. Almost, but I don't think Amy would approve...

Thankful

There are moments in our days that sneak in our hearts for us to hold tight. Tonight was one of those moments. I never thought I would hear singing in our houses. We did not know what the cleft or the repair would do to Poet' speech let alone her ability to sing. Well she has been on a singing kick for the last few days- Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman (or Mailman), " Here come the Geese" Ring Around the Rosie, and " What's in the Mail today?" just to name a few.

I love that she sings with passion and dancing, I love that she sings duets with Daddy, I love that she sings to make her brother happy, I love that she sings.

You Know You're Getting Old...

Being a man of a certain age, my annual physicals now include a very... uncomfortable... routine: prostate exam. My first one was yesterday. Yay. I'll not repeat the details here, as this is a family-oriented blog, but I'm certain that a quick perusal of your search engine would give you that information, in the unlikely event that you've been living under a rock. Now, I'm not saying that the experience was even remotely enjoyable. Not at all. However, I will say that it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd thought it would be. In fact, it's not even the worst medical experience I've had in the last five years. That'd have to go to the tube incident from a few years ago. As opposed to the tube, this procedure was over and done in a matter of seconds. So, here's the PSA for all you men of a certain age out there: just suck it up and get it done. A few seconds of discomfort is a small price to pay for early detection of a potential problem.

Thank you, and God bless America.

The End of an Era

Today, I've lost a friend. I met this friend way back in 1997 when I moved into a house with long-time friend, Cooper, and now-friend, Xabu. I think he was there right when we moved in, because neither Cooper nor Xabu takes credit for bringing him in. He was there with us, mostly hanging out in the kitchen, all the way until I bought my house in NE OH, and followed me to my new place. So devoted a friend, he even came with me to Central OH when I moved here six years ago. He has seen me find the love of my life, get married, and become the father of two beautiful young kids. But today, my friend ran out on me, and I have to say, I'm somewhat sad. It'll be very, very hard to replace you...

Anyone know where I can find a restaurant supply store in the Central OH area? I need another gigantic roll of plastic wrap...

I Apologize In Advance...

... to anyone who clicks on this link.

Stats

Before I forget or lose the little scraps of paper is a better name for this post.

We had two birthday's in the last few weeks- that means the all important trip to the pediatrician for a check up.

Poet turned two at the end of November.
She weighs in at 26 lbs. 4 oz. and is 35.5 inches tall. If the old wives tale is true I see a basketball scholarship in her future! Wow 5'11"

Happy turned one last week (wow that was a fast year!)
He weighs a respectable 22lbs. 6 oz 5oth percentile
He is 30.25 inches tall 65th percentile
His head circumference is 18.5 inches - 75th percentile.

Everyone is doing fine the doctor is happy with how they are developing.

Job (hopefully well) Done

For those of you whose eyes gloss over when the talking turns to a technical, here's an executive summary for non-nerds:

Today was my last day at my now-former company. This was a tough two weeks, and I unfortunately got done very little of what I set out to do.

Non-nerds can stop here, if you wish, as the rest of this post will describe the last two weeks of my employment. You have been warned...

I gave notice of leaving the company on Friday, Nov 6. I had planned to spend the next two weeks cleaning up (and in many cases writing) varying documentation for which I'm responsible, so that those who have to pick up where I left off could make a smooth transistion. As my main job involved testing our application, I figured on fleshing out as much of the testing plan that is rattling around in my head as possible. That plan lasted until Monday when I got to work and found that I had no internet connection. You see, one of the other hats that I have been wearing is IT Brigade member, so I set to work figuring out what went wrong. It didn't take long. Our domain controller, which for varying and sundry reasons did not have a backup, had died over the weekend. Domain logins, DNS, DHCP, all gone. And since the domain controller had died a rather permanent death, recovery wasn't going to be easy, especially since none of us IT Brigade folks actually have any idea how any of those things mentioned above really work.

First thing was first, try to restore some semblance of connectivity, at least within the office. We had no spare hardware anywhere, other than a 32-bit Ubuntu box which was designated to be a new firewall. We really would have liked to have installed a Windows server, since that had been what we'd used before, but we only had available licenses for a 64-bit server, so for the time being, we did the best with what we had. My coworker and I managed, through a lot of trial and error, to get DHCP and DNS mostly working by the end of the day, but we still had no way of getting people logged into our network. We spent part of Tuesday trying to figure out how to turn our new DHCP/DNS server into a domain controller, but ended up going out and purchasing a new 64-bit box anyway (what a bargain, managed to get a low-end system for under $300). Got the domain controller set up by the end of Tuesday using our 64-bit server license, then spent Wednesday through Friday moving DNS/DHCP over to the Windows server and trying to configure the Ubuntu box to be our firewall and VPN server. By Monday, we had most everything mostly working. Then came Tuesday.

Just before lunch on Tuesday, people started complaining that they were losing their internet connections again. We spent the rest of the day Tuesday poking and prodding everything with absolutely no success, and were finally successful in getting permission to bring in outside help. Wednesday was spent with the consultant we brought in, and by the end of the day, we'd gotten our network talking to itself again, and everyone once again connected to the outside world. Thursday and today were spent tweaking things so that the VPN worked, and the servers which need to be externally accessible still were.

So, all those tests and other documentation that needed to be written? Not so much. I was able to do a little verbal and demo-style knowledge transfer, so not everything is lost. But the coworker that is taking over for me is smart. Way smart. Smarter than I've ever been, even when I was smart. I think he'll do OK. And he has my number, just in case.

Here's hoping that the new job has no networking responsibilities for me...

Sassed!

Somewhere along the line, Poet is picking up quite an attitude. Consider this conversation last night:

BMT: Poet, time to sit in your seat and eat your dinner...
Poet: What-EVER!!!

She sounded just like a teenager...

Now, I know I didn't teach her that. I might have to have a chat with her daycare teachers...

Reason #3429 why we love our kids

Amy and I live in a fairly small house, so to conserve space, Poet and Happy share a bedroom. This has its ups and downs, but has so far worked out pretty well. Particularly well for the kids at nap time.

Often when we put the kids down for a nap or for the night, they'll jabber at each other for a while before drifting off. This afternoon, the amount of jabbering was off the charts. There was the usual babbling, there was Poet shouting "NO!" followed by giggles, there was some loud banging, but very little sleeping going on. When we finally went to get them two hours after we put them down, we weren't sure what we'd find, but were completely surprised by what we saw.

• Both kids had both removed their pants and a sock, which were on the floor next to the loveys they'd tossed.
• Poet had also removed her diaper and peed all over her bed.
• Both kids were dancing in their cribs, laughing and jabbering.

When asked if they'd had fun, Poet looked at us, smiled and said "yep!"

Normally we try not to laugh when the kids do something that they really shouldn't but ends up being really funny, but we completely failed. Maybe next weekend, we'll set up a video camera to record the action :)

Per Pap's Request

As requested by Pap...

Moving along...

After over three and a half years with my current place of employment, I'll be moving on starting December 1. The metaphorical "pastures" aren't necessarily any greener (every job has its good and bad), just different. The new position will be with another startup, which will make three out of the five jobs I've held. I'll be working with a few ex-AOLers, which will be pretty exciting. The position I'm moving on to is a contract position rather than full-time salaried, which has its benefits and drawbacks. Oh, and one big plus is that this will be a "work from home, all the time" position. W00t!

So, in summary, I wish my soon-to-be-former company the best. I still believe in the people and the product. And I eagerly look forward to settling in with the new company. Hopefully it'll be a long and profitable partnership for all involved.

This post is brought to you by the number 4

The Count says four!

4 walkers in the house (ah ah ah)!

Way to go little man!

Ahhh- vacation

Thanks to the Grandparents, Baldman and I got to spend Columbus Day weekend on vacation! We got to sleep in (aka 8am! ) and do a little geocaching at the state park. Fun times and a much needed recharging weekend.

You Know You're Tired When...

You make it to work and notice that you're shirt is inside out...

... and you're wearing a polo :P

WHERE IS MY ROYALTY CHECK?!

Longtime readers of our ramblings would note that several years ago, Amy and I went to the Ohio State Fair, and I commented on the available food, and dreamed up new creations. Well, it looks like someone down in Texas has stolen one of my ideas! Somebody needs to give credit where credit is due!

9 Month Update

I thought Amy would have posted this, but it looks like I get the honor this time :)

I took Happy in for his 9 month checkup. His stats:

• Length: 28.5 in (60th percentile)
• Weight: 21.5 lbs (65th percentile)
• Head circumference: 18.25 in (75th percentile)

He hit quite a growth spurt from his last visit, didn't he? He had two shots this time, one for polio, the other for the flu. He didn't even flinch until it was over. He kinda looked at me with a "what the heck was THAT" look, then went back to his regular happy self.

Size

So here is a new one for the household. Both kids were wearing the same size clothes today! It was a bit chilly so instead of shorts, I pulled out the stack jeans to see what would fit. Both the 21 month old girl and the almost 9 month old boy were wearing size 12 month jeans.

Additional Vocabulary

Poet learned a new word this week: "hair." So, to reinforce, we ask her where her hair is, and she'll pick up a few strands. We'll ask her where Mommy's hair is, she'll reach over and grab a few strands. We'll ask her where Daddy's hair is, she'll reach over... then smile and shake her head.

She's so cute :)

1 year ago

Time moves so fast. It was one year ago (Aug 6) that the Bambina had her cleft repaired. We are SO thankful that everything seems just fine (check up next month).

Before:

We have tried the last few weeks to get an "after" shot but she is a busy girl.

This the best "after" shot:


She is busy drinking out of a sippy cup or using a straw something you can't do with a cleft.

She is busy saying all kinds of things she couldn't if her cleft was not repaired- shoe, no, Pap, Momma, Dada, purple, cup, more, Uh-Oh, Tags, bubble and many more! Try and say the words and feel the pressure on the roof of your mouth.

She is busy listening to all kinds of music . Kids with clefts typically have problems with their ears and possible hear loss. She is a big fan of Davy Jones and Barenakes Ladies.

She is busy being a big sister, our baby girl, and the queen of the peg board puzzle.
We are thankful for your amazing recovery little girl....

Tom the Plumber

Just an update to yesterday's adventures, I went to a local mega-hardware chain at lunch and asked a seemingly knowledgable gentleman about my problem. He pointed me to a kit that ran under $4 that he said would solve my problem. I got home after work, and found that I was missing one piece and a washer to connect my new trap to the existing drain. Undaunted, I removed the piece from my old pipe and used a judicious amount of silicone caulk in place of the missing part. Installation took about 30 minutes, and now we have a fully functional bathroom sink again. Yay, me!

The Handyman (not...)

Some time ago, Amy asked me to clean the aerator on our bathroom faucet. I mumbled a "yes, dear" and promptly forgot about it until it randomly popped into my head this afternoon. Not wanting to forget again, I grabbed a wrench to dislodge it (it was pretty coated in lime). Unfortunately, I turned a little too hard, and broke the faucet. So, out to the hardware store to purchase a new faucet, which comes with a stopper piece for the drain. The faucet went in without a hitch, but while trying to remove the plumbing to install the new stopper, the drain pipe snapped in half from years of corrosion. Fun! Of course, this happened at 9P tonight, no hardware stores open in our area. So, tomorrow, I head out to pick up my drain fixing supplies. Whee!!!

Surprise, surprise...

Sometimes, life is full of surprises. Ever since Amy moved into our house back in 2002, there's been a bare spot in our front yard. Not being much in the way of a landscaper, I've pretty much ignored it, but today, since we were already doing outdoor chores, I decided to see if I could figure out what was happening. Our neighbors used to have a huge bare spot in their back yard, and when they dug the spot up they found a huge, 4'x8' piece of plywood, probably left over from when the development was.... ummmm.... developed back in the late '60s and early 70's. I figured our story would be much the same, so I pulled out the spade and started digging. I immediately hit something very, very solid, and heard a sound like metal on rock. I moved out a bit to try to find the edge, figuring I just found a large rock slab. Imagine my surprise when I peeled back the turf and found this:

Yeah, that looks an awful lot like one of the previous owners decided to remove a flagpole, but didn't want to go to the trouble of doing it properly. So, this previous owner just hacked off the flagpole as close to the concrete block as possible and filled over it. Clever! Not.

So, I get to figure out how to remove a huge hunk of concrete from the front yard. The upside is that I think I might get to learn how to use a jackhammer :)

She Knows Her No's

Following hot on the heels of our break from "no" comes its return. But with a twist. To wit, the following conversation in the car between Poet and me (keep in mind that all the names I asked her to say, she's said before when she's been in a more agreeable mood):

BMT: Poet, can you say "Dada?"
Poet: No!
BMT: Poet, can you say "Mama?"
Poet: No!
BMT: Poet, can you say "Happy?"
Poet: No!
BMT: Poet, can you say "Poet?"
Poet: NO!
BMT: Poet, can you say "no?"
<looong pause> Poet: <grins, giggles and shakes her head>

Ah, joy :)

Yes

A blog moment happened tonight- Tom asked the girl a question and she shook her head -YES! After several months of 'no" and "noooooo" and "no (with finger pointing)" and "NO!" It was a nice change of pace!

Snickerdoodles

Today I stayed home with the little girl. Yesterday, she had a fever and was sent home from daycare. She has to be symptom free for 24 hours to go back, so it was a stay at home day. She wasn't on her "A game" today but still fine and no fever.

It was a nice day we played and organized the closet and all the socks, but the best part of the day was our first adventure into baking. We made some snickerdoodles. She had a lot of fun pouring everything into the bowl and helped with the stirring. The best part was getting to roll the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar! I think we have the makings of a great baker in the family. Yum!

Tradition

So 7 years ago today I met a guy for dinner. Afterwards we went for ice cream and a walk around the neighborhood. It was a walk that changed our lives.

Today we continued the tradition of ice cream and a walk... Thanks Julie and Mike for coming down to watch the kids.

Another 1/2 birthday

The little man celebrated his 1/2 birthday last week. That means he had a trip to the pediatrician this morning... No shots as he is running a fever and bit under the weather. Keep him in your prayers that this fever breaks soon!

The Stats:
Weight: 18lbs 10 oz. 60th percentile
Height: 26 inches 25th percentile
Head Circumference: 17 inches - 25 percentile.

1/2 birthday

Our little girl turned 18 months today. We went out and celebrated with a trip to Greaters. She shared a scoop of Blueberry Pie ice cream with Daddy. She went to the pediatrician last week for her well check visit and vaccine shot. She is getting to be a "big girl" 23lbs. 12 oz (40th percentile) and 32.25 inches tall ( 70th percentile).

It was also a nice "birthday" surprise because we got a box in mail today from Mr. & Mrs. Redbeard. Lots and lots of clothes! THANK YOU! The sizing should work out for late summer clothes and into fall /winter and maybe a few for next spring.

Demolition Day

Today was a very special day for Amy and me. We took the day off work, sent the kids to daycare, and watched as the property next door was completely razed.

When Amy moved in back in 2002, we thought the neighboring property was just unkempt. Yeah, it was somewhat junky, but the neighbor was quiet. But, we soon found out that the neighbor had no interest in maintaining the property, and the house was rapidly falling apart. The guy actually lived there until about two years ago, then we'd only see him once a week when he came to get his mail. In the meantime, efforts were under way to seize the property and raze it. Turns out that blighted properties in our state are reasonably easy pickings for cities, but smaller communities like ours (we live in a township) had a much more difficult time. But with patience, attitudes and laws were changed, and our township took control of the property in March. It took a little while to get everything settled, but finally, everything fell into place, and today we hung out with about 40-50 neighbors and watched gleefully as the eyesore was leveled.

We took a number of pictures and put them up on Photobucket. No password is required for the gallery, so head on over and enjoy. We took some video, but it'll take me some time to go through it and put something together. Hopefully soon.

UPDATE 5/22: Added four new pictures of the empty lot. It really is much improved!

Rolling!

We have movement in the household. The boy has figured out how to roll back to belly and belly to back all in a few days. He has been a busy little man. Watch out sister, your toys are no longer safe!

I'm So Ashamed...

I have to turn in my Geek Card. My parents saw the new Star Trek movie before I did. You know what this means, of course. I'll need to atone for my geek failings by:

• getting Star Trek uniforms for the whole family
• getting phasers and tricorders for the whole family
• making the whole family go to work/daycare for a week in uniform/with props

Oh, and, of course, going to see the movie...

Two things

Two little kids equals two milestones this week.

The girl has figured out how to get up into the La-Z-Boy chair. She moves her little stool to the front of the "big chair" and uses it to climb up. She is so proud of herself.

The boy has discovered his toes! You can hear him babble- "WOW these are fun"!

Perfect Day

Amy surprised me this weekend by arranging for her family to watch Poet and Happy overnight Saturday, giving us the opportunity to have some "Tom and Amy"time, which we've both sorely missed. We went to a local winery (Perennial Vineyards), did some caching, explored the shops at the Amish Door and had dinner at the Amish Door restaurant before spending a relaxing and quiet evening and night at the Inn. I could not have asked for a more perfect day. Thanks Jane, Ed and Julie for sitting the kids. Thanks, Sweetie, for putting everything together :)

Little Man

I took the boy to the pediatrician today for his 4 month check up. Poor little guy got 4 shots! You could see the whole thought process in his eyes:

Shot 1: Ow- that hurt
Shot 2: I said OW- that hurt!
Shot 3: STOP it!
Shot 4: Ok, I am not happy and I am gonna cry for a good 5 min at the top of my lungs!

Now for the all important stats:
Height: 23.25 inches - 5th percentile (our little man)
Weight: 15lbs 4oz. - 55th percentile
Head Circumference: 16.5 - 50th percentile

Our Contribution to Stimulating the Economy

Behold the newest member of our family, Amy's sparkly new 2009 Saturn Aura. We had been considering buying a car for a while, at least since we knew Happy would be joining us, if not before. We wanted something big enough for two car seats, one of which would have to be rear facing, but small enough that we'd feel comfortable driving it. Oh, well, and it had to be pretty safe. Since we both rather like Saturns to begin with, we started there. You might remember that we very nearly bought a Vue before Happy came along, but came to our senses. Thank goodness! The rear seat of the Aura has MUCH more room than the Vue, which surprised us considerably. Happy's seat can easily fit, rear facing, without the passenger seat being uncomfortably close to the dash. As an added bonus, there's enough room that Poet currently can't kick the back of the driver's seat. Factor in that the Aura has ABS standard, plus front and side airbags, plus has a ginormous trunk, plus gets better gas mileage than the Vue PLUS costs less, well, it's a pretty good fit for us. Factor in that we ended up with about 17.5% in varying discounts that might not have been available in another few days, we went ahead and bought it. I think the only thing at this point that we don't like is that we'll have to fuel the car from the passenger side, which will be a big learning curve for both of us.

My favorite feature (dunno if it's standard in all Auras or if it just happened to be installed in the one we bought from the lot) is called "tap shift". All the cars I've ever owned have had a manual transmission, but Amy perfers automatic. Since this is Amy's car, it's automatic. But with the tap shift feature, the transmission has a "Manual" setting which allows me to control the transmission, well, manually. It's not anywhere near as fun as driving a car with a real manual transmission, and it definitely has its quirks, but it's a hoot, nonetheless.

So, the red 2009 Saturn Aura replaces Amy's red 2000 Saturn SL2, and joins my red 2002 Saturn SL1, which in replaced my old red 1992 Saturn SL 1.

Yay...

We've got conjunctivitis in the house again. Happy this time, can Poet be that far behind?

Yay...

An open letter to the lady in the blue SUV (aka a vent!)

Dear "Ms. I am SO important driving my SUV ":

I am in the lane you are merging into.. that means you have to yield. FYI- It is common courtesy to use a turn signal. Also the lines on the road - they have a purpose.- solid lines equals no crossing- wait for the dashes on the road. Finally, your middle finger looks fine... I am so glad you took the time to show it to me- wanna see mine?

Yours truly,
Amy

PS- AHHH I hate people who think they are above the rules of the road.

Pink Eye v2.0

Yep- The girl has pink eye again.
Yep- She got the pink eye all clear from the pediatrician on Friday
Yep- Children's Hospital Close to Home Urgent Care is open till 8:00pm on Sunday nights
Yep- The pink eye come with ear infection and upper respiratory infection
Yep- This is the 4 ear infection in 3 months
Yep- Tom rocks for spending the day at home with a sick 15 month old
Yep- She is still a trooper about getting drops in her eyes three times a day.
Yep- We need to add Lysol to the grocery list

Kick-@$$ Pork Chops

While Amy may not have cared much for my beef stew, my pork chops, based on this recipe is such a hit that it has been dubbed "Kick-@$$ Pork Chops".

The Players

The Hardware	9" cast iron skillet, well seasoned Meat tenderizer A flat, non-porous surface such as a plastic cutting board Tongs Whisk A piece of foil large enough to cover the skillet
The Ingredients	2 boneless pork loin chops, ~4-6 oz each, ~1/2 in thick kosher salt 1 tbsp flour, plus lots more for dusting and pounding 3 tbsp butter ~ 2 cups chicken broth

The Method

Preheat the oven to 350. Season the meat with a few pinches of salt and let stand about 5 minutes. Dust your work surface liberally with flour, put the pork loin chops on the dusted surface, liberally dust the other side of the pork with flour, then pound the bejeebers out of them with the meat tenderizer, adding more flour as needed and flipping once. Get them as flat as possible (I usually shoot for 1/4 inch or less), and in the process they'll gain a lot of surface area. I have a double-sided mallet, one flat and the other textured. I prefer to smack the chops with the textured side. Once the chops are sufficiently flattened, let rest a few minutes, while you put the skillet over high heat. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet and then brown both sides of one of the chops. Remove to a plate and repeat with the other chop. Remove the second one, reduce the heat to medium, then add the final tablespoon of butter to the pan. Once melted, whisk in a tablespoon of flour, continue whisking for about a minute. Whisk in the chicken stock and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Add both chops back into the pan, making sure they're both submerged in the gravy. Cover the pan with foil, then pop in the oven. Cook for 75-90 minutes. Serve with a side of mashed potatoes (garlic mashed, if you're so inclined).

Makes 2 servings.

15 months

Time is moving fast! Our little girl is 15 months old today. She went to the pediatrician yesterday for her check up/pink eye follow-up visit. (yeah- she had pink eye last week!)

Only one vaccine shot this month and she did very well... only cried for a minute.

The Stats:
weight: 21lbs. 13 oz. -30th percentile
height: 31.25 inches tall- 60th percentile

no head measurement but she is still our little bobble head :)

Cool Site For Today

I stumbled across the site, www.befunky.com, which has sucked up inordinate amounts of my evening tonight. Here's what it does:

Take a picture, such as this freakishly odd picture of some random bald guy I found lurking around my hard drive

Upload it to the BeFunky.com website, and start playing. There are a number of preset styles, most of which have several options, and those options can be customized to a greater or lesser extent. Here are several new images I created in just a few minutes.

How cool is that? Plus, if you do something you really, really like, you can email your family and friends, and if you really, really, really like it, you can order merchandise through their site with your creation.

Duck, Duck, Goose!

A cute little story to share and remember.

Teagan has an alphabet book. It is a favorite because it is a touch and feel book. The letter "D" is represented by two ducklings. When we read the book, I have gotten into the habit of patting both on the head and saying "duck, "duck" and patting her head and saying "goose". I thought it was silly and went onto letter "E". Over the weekend, we were playing the game- Where is your nose? or Where is your belly? Later, when we were reading her book, she automatically put her hands on her head when we got to "D". Hmmm went my memory- so I asked her- Where is your goose? Up went the hands right on her hair. If you ask her where is her head is she has no clue, but if you ask her where her goose is, she consistently goes to her head. It is SO cute. We will need to work on the correct word but for now she is so proud of what she knows that I don't want to break her heart.

Skillet Beef Stew

The last time I blogged about making chili, my good friend, Joann commented that my recipe would have sounded good, if she didn't loathe chili. I responded that I thought it'd be possible to make a few changes to the recipe and get a pretty passable beef stew. Well, I finally got around to taking my own advice and giving it a go.

Bald Man Tom's Skillet Beef Stew, Take One

The Players

The Pan	12" cast iron skillet, well seasoned
The Ingredients	1 lb. "stew beef" kosher salt vegetable oil 1 tbsp butter 3 oz onion, finely diced 2 clove garlic, run through the garlic press 4 oz carrots, cut into bite-sized pieces 8 oz red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces 1 bay leaf 1 tbsp sage 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1/2 celery stalk, split 2-1/2 c beef broth, plus 6 tbsp 6 tbsp flour

The Method

Season the meat with a few pinches of kosher salt 5-10 minutes before cooking begins. Keat the skillet over high heat. Coat the skillet thinly with oil, then sear the meat quickly on all sides. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Lower the heat to medium, melt the butter and sautee the onion for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and continue another minute, or until the onions are soft. Stir in the onions and carrots, cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally 5-7 minutes. Add the meat back to the pan with 2-1/2 cups of the broth, the celery and all the spices, mix and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Make a slurry with the flour and remaining broth, then add to the pan and give it a good stir. Cover the pan with foil, then place in a 350 degree oven for 75 minutes. Serve over noodles or rice.

Makes 4 servings.

Notes

I would have added more carrots, if I'd had them. The 4 oz listed was all I had. If you're interested in trying this with other veggies, add your root-type veggies with the carrots and potatoes, and things like beans and peas about 15-30 minutes before cooking is complete.

The Verdict

Not too bad, not too good. Amy didn't care for it much at all, there was something about the flavor that she found off-putting. I think it was probably the sage. I didn't find it overpowering, but I think her tastebuds are a little more sensitive than mine. For myself, I thought there was something missing, but I can't put my finger on it. I'm thinking that sage isn't the right herb for this job, but I'm not sure what I'd use with beef. I'll have to do some reading. Or, if any of you out there in interwebland have any ideas, I'm open to suggestion

Lessons Learned

Lessee:

• Beef broth just doesn't have a lot of taste. I've tried several different brands and styles, nothing really works for me. Maybe that's why I felt something was lacking. I might also consider a combo of broth and tomato juice.
• I think the 6 tbsp flour was too much. I'll cut that in half next time, but I'm worried that it'll be too thin.
• The beef didn't get nearly as tender as I'd expected. I'm going to blame the "beef for stewing" package I got from my local megamart. Next time I'll buy a hunk of chuck and break it down myself.
• I need more practice...

2 month old stats

We were back at the doctor's again today.. This time for the boy's 2nd month check up, oxygen level check and the girl's 10 day ear ache follow up. I am happy to report all is well.

Now for the stats:
Weight: 12 lbs. 5 oz. -50th percentile
Height: 22.5 inches- 25th percentile
Head Circumference: 15.5 inches- 30th percentile

Happy Is Home

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers. Happy was released from the hospital around 11A this morning. The virus still has to run its course, but the doctors think that the worst is behind him.

Nicknames

You'll noticed that I've started referring to the kiddos by different nicknames. Bambina and Bambino are visually too close to each other, so I chose new nicks which are the meanings of their names. The Boy's name, literally, means "happy," The Girl's name means "little poet" or "beautiful."

So now you know...

... and knowing is half the battle! *

* Do I owe Hasbro money for saying that?

Update on Happy

We'd had high hopes that we'd be writing with news that Happy was safely back home, but that news will have to wait for another day. He's spending another night here at Childrens' hospital. From what we know, the only hurdle to his release is being disconnected from the oxygen. He needs to have it off for 6 hours and have his blood oxygen level remain above 90%. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened today. Maybe tomorrow. But, he's looking better, and as long as we suction the gunk out of his nose, he is able to keep down what he's eating, which is a marked improvement. Gonna have to find one of those industrial nose suckers, they really help!

Happy Thoughts for Happy

Looks like I posted about an hour too early last night. After I put the computer away, Amy tried to feed Happy, who subsequently blorphed the little he had taken, plus most of what he had taken his previous feeding. When we changed him, he hadn't wet, and we got thinking that he hadn't had one in "a while," mostly likely 5-6 hours. We took his temp, and it was between 99-100, so we called the pediatrician, who told us to take him to the ER at Childrens' Hospital. So, about 12:30A this morning, we got him checked out. The ER doctor told us that he likely just had a cold, to feed him less formula but more often, and to check in with urgent care this afternoon for more tests in case something else was going on. He spent most of the day sleeping until we went to urgent care, and only took about 5 oz of formula in the 10 hours we were home (he usually takes 4 oz in a feeding every 3 hours). The urgent care doctor took an x-ray and did a test for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). The x-ray was negative for pneumonia, but the RSV test came back positive, so she recommended that he be admitted to Childrens'. So, about 3P today, we checked him in. He's been officially diagnosed with BSV, bronchiolitis, and dehydration. He's on an IV to help with the dehydration, and Amy just called and told me he's on oxygen, as his blood oxygen levels had dropped. Hopefully, by tomorrow, the rehydration will have helped with his appetite and we can get everyone back home. We'll keep you informed...

Toxic House

Enter at your own risk...

We've had a pretty long run of bad health here lately. Poet has had a runny nose for... about two weeks now? Her nose gets very caked at times, and she just cries so badly when we try to clean her up. Amy got something nasty on Monday, I came down with a nasty cold on Tuesday, and Amy got the brunt of the same cold on Wednesday. While we've been recovering, Happy finally came down with it something last night. He's blorphed all over me twice, not the typical "spit-up" blorph, but the "soak-you-enough-to-change-your-shirt" kind. Ugh, poor kid...

Currently Serving as the Wallpaper on My Phone

Sorry about the poor quality, but I took it with my phone's camera, which sucks mightily. But, it's a darned cute picture :)

Stats

Asher went for his one month check up this morning. No shots today, they start next month. He was a good little boy and didn't cry that much, even with the cold stethoscope.

Weight: 10lbs 15oz.- 75th percentile
Head Circumference - 15 inches- 50th percentile
Height: 21.5 inches- 40th percentile

This would have been a great post...

So around 3am this morning I had a great post written in my head. Unfortunately between then and now I have forgotten most of what was in my head. It went something like this...

Our house is quiet... too quiet. So I begin my journey:

• Baby Boy now fed and sleeping, snoring slightly.
• Little Girl in her crib, sleeping with her "tags" blanket with in easy reach, snoring slightly
• Two spoiled cats sleeping at the end of the bed taking up majority of the leg room, both snoring
  
• Hubby sleeping but so still and not currently snoring. I give him a small nudge and he grunts and goes back to sleep.

It is 3am and all is well and my blessings have been counted.

The Oddest Question I've Been Asked This Year

"Do you eat butts?"

-- Amy, while holding up a mostly empty bag of bread

Happy 1 month Baby Boy!

It is hard to believe that it has been one month since our little family expanded to four. Asher is a good little boy.

A few things to remember:

• He enjoys his naps (knock on wood!)
• He is a good traveler- He traveled several hours in the car over the Christmas holiday.
  
• He doesn't like to burb... but will be miserable for 30-60 min after a bottle.
• He likes his bottle- he is currently taking 3-4 oz every 3-4 hours
• Yes, I know it is gas, but he has a heart-breaker smile.
• He loves a good snuggle.
  
• He looks like his dad.

Don't Blame Me...

... blame Amy :)

My lovely wife has gotten me hooked on Wordle.net, which is an odd little site that makes arty-ish images from text. I've wasted a lot of time over the last few days on this site. Here are three of my favorites:

This one is from a previous post from this blog. I was just looking for something with a fair amount of text.

This one was from a piece of Perl code I was working on. I think it came out pretty cool. Probably works better as art than as a computer program, come to think of it...

And finally this one is from the first few lines of a song that is currently infecting my brain. Don't blame me for that one, either, that was from Amy's friend, Amy :P

UPDATE: I couldn't resist one more. Because this is just way too wacky to keep to myself... :)

The Christmas Season

I think the Christmas season is finally here!

There is Christmas music on the radio stations 24/7, the stores have Valentine candy on the shelves, and the lines to see Santa are long. However the thing that confirmed it for me is that I finally saw "The Clapper" commercial. Yes, Virginia, Christmas is on it's way!

Thinking About...

This may sound like an odd thing, but other than the aforementioned diaper difficulties, I think the hardest thing to get used to with Bambino is feeding. It's a very, very different experience than feeding Bambina. The entire time we were at the hospital, she might struggle through 10-20 mls at each feeding, taking 45 min to an hour per feeding. Even after we got home, the most we ever got into her in a single sitting for the first two weeks was one ounce, most often around 20 mls, over an hour to an hour-and-a-half. Compare that to Bambino, who sucked down one ounce in his first feeding with Amy yesterday, and tonight, just 32 hours after birth, gulped down two entire ounces in less than 15 minutes. I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand, he's a frickin' tank! He just plows through his bottle, no nonsense style (well, as no nonsense as a day-old infant can be). It's comical, because we have to really pay attention to how fast he's going so he doesn't splort everywhere. On the other hand, it just really drives home how little Bambina had the first two weeks of her life. The poor child must have been so hungry, all the time, and so frustrated that she couldn't get what she needed. Makes me want to run home and give her a big squeeze every time I think about it.

This Is Gonna Take Some Practice

It took less than 24 hours for the boy to pee all over everything while I had his diaper off.

Helsel Family Expansion Report

Amy, Teagan and I are delighted to announce the birth of our fourth family member, Asher James. Asher was born on Wednesday, December 3 at 2:25PM. Asher weighs in at a respectable 7 lb 11 oz, and measures 20.5". Mommy and child are both doing well. Thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers

Three Things

Three things to post for tonight:

1. The Bambina can use a straw. That might not seem like a huge deal, until you remember that she was born with a cleft soft palate and was unable to create suction until she was eight months old. Needless to say, we're very, very happy!
2. Photos from her family birthday party have been posted to her photo gallery. There's video of her eating her cake, but I'm having trouble getting it uploaded.
3. We're heading to the hospital tomorrow for the imminent arrival of The Bambino. The C-section is scheduled for 1PM.

That'll do it. Watch this space tomorrow afternoon/evening for an important update!

UPDATE - Video is up.