Lost in the web of videos...

Asperger's on youtube...

snippets

Conversation around the cooking pancakes: "I only used 1 tbsp of oil this time. I don't know how they will turn out." "Look, a pancake sandwich." "We need a different griddle." "What kind of griddle should we be using?" "I don't know, cast iron?" "Will that make you iron man?" "I'll look it up." "How are the pancakes?" "Good, why?" "I only used 1 tbsp of oil this time." "Cool."

Mark Bittman is another chef recommended in the Cooking the Real Age Way cookbook. He also has a great blog and a column in the NYTimes. And, while I was there, I grabbed some Michael Pollan.

And this is Adam Grosser on an idea for refridgeration.

last week here!*updated (next to last week here! =))

"Mom, in front of the camera" Every once in a while Trent will take a picture of me or the kids. He just really isn't into the blog thing. He is very proud of pictures he takes with his "cramera"! I am totally adding captions to all of these old posts, after the fact. I am trying to spread the pictures out enough to look right. I could have done this from the beginning, but, I'm lazy =). Jewel went too fast. She slid right off the end. Her favorite thing about the slide is not the going down. Just like her brothers, she wants to climb it. This was a rare day when she slid. OK, I think I got it. Slowly, slowly. She has also mastered the art of the "matter of fact" Waaah. It's very funny, just a little, calm, sound (exactly like waaa) to let me know she needs something or disagrees about the meal before her. I wish I could stop laughing when she does it. The spare wood swing finally gave out. I bet we can duct tape it! No, he's not playing Mobsters. But, they did learn about water, forces, waves, and sharing. This week kind of whizzed by. And, I don't really have any particular things to say about it. Except that I wouldn't know how to act if I actually had to focus on any one thing from start to finish without four million interruptions. If I actually sat down to work on the game and didn't have juice spilled and cereal faces and diaper butts to interrupt me. I mean, I might actually accomplish something. That would be so weird. Oh yes, and I wish I had a camera mounted in the van to capture the conversations and games that take place on our drives. Taylor taught Trevor to say, shamalama. It kept coming out, shamawama. And, so we tried to teach him the l sound. That was a hilarious conversation. Just remembering it makes me laugh. But, I can't film and drive, I guess I'm a bad mommy. Also, Trevor is becoming Captain Helpful, because he is always asking, "Can I give this to sister/brother, and this is mine, right? Good, that's right." And Jewel, today seemed to come into herself and is now fully aware of her ability to manipulate the system. I was washing the dishes (which is the kids fave time to need something) and she proceeded to throw a 20 minute tantrum trying to get me to pick her up. Just as she was calming down, Trevor approached me and she thought I might pick him up. So, she pushed herself between us and started the tantrum again. I just cracked up. She is getting smart, and Trent and me are in deep doo doo. Now, we just have to stay sane for 7 more days. Well, as sane as we currently are. The "hole" really isn't a hole and it isn't a serious problem so, panic averted. We have a lot to get done this weekend, so we can start the move. The realtor said the house will close on next Friday. Finally!! Well, so I guess I did have some specific things to say.

You knew I would post it...

Hilarious! Even worse that the jujitsu instructor of the school where Taylor spent his summer recently changed the name of his facility to a mixed martial arts school! We were laughing non stop.

one more time...

Silly little bean plant, don't you see the garden is gone; you can stop growing now. Spider and her sac! Very beautiful.

frequent posts and translating...

I know, I've been posting alot. Trent is working less than half days, so I have more time right now. It won't last. So, today I was playing around on mental magma, wednesday's post is fun to mess with. Then, the inspection happened. Now, I am thinking that some sentences translate their "funniest", if you just say what you really mean. For instance; in english; The inspector just found a big, leaky hole in our new house! Round trip from Korean it is; The inspection by attributes now just is in our new house and, dawning, seeks the hole which is easy. Funny, but, even funnier. What it really translates to is; Now you have to live with disappointed family, in house full of boxes, not toys. =) Here's one more; in english: I lost my debit card, again. In spanish; Perdí mi tarjeta de débito, otra vez. Through french; Ai perdu ma carte de déficit, une autre fois. Back to english; Lost my chart of deficit, another time. The true translation; Trent is going to make fun of you forever about this, and now you have to cook lunch! ha ha ha. No, seriously, I loose that damn card every 3 flippin months! I wish I could laugh about this.

On the nightstand...

On the nightstand... Actually, on a stack of boxes right now. We are setting aside the Winnie the Pooh adventures for a little while. They are actually an introduction for Taylor, because I mooched (bookmooch.com) The Tao of Pooh and The Te of Piglet. When we get to the village of Shinken we will start with those. So, what are we reading? (the point, actually) We are reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Meanwhile, I am stressing my neurons with the "additional resources" lists in the back of Collapse by Jared Diamond and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Mainly this is because they failed to get packed. Because they were both lost (I set them down and couldn't find them, until everything else got packed up, story of my life). I will leave this in the sidebar, but, I am posting it here for another blog list.

On the nightstand,

I love to follow the resources from books I like to learn more. I say "love to" because "have to" only makes sense to fellow nerds. I can't help myself really. I like my lists and once the book is read, I must make a list of books, authors, or websites from the back that seem interesting. This list is usually long. And, I made a big list while on vacation (from another fave source, my various magazines). Then, in the bored time waiting for the house, I made another list from a few books I am finishing up. I actually lost them both (typical) and found them again when I was packing. I am still reading Collapse by Jared Diamond, but a faster read was Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. So, I finished one of them and made a list, that made me jump ahead on the other and....Now there are two lists. I know, it's sad, and I have issues. But, so far, I've found some pretty neat things. And, here they are... This is a TED video with Dean Ornish. He is one of the recommended authors in Cooking the Real Age Way. They also recommend this site about soy, and I am constantly confused by the mixed information I hear about that. I have to admit that I have heard information that is in conflict with this site. I hope I will be able to post about it later; I have been gathering information. Some links are in the sidebar, but I haven't finished finding the studies cited. Some of the books with recipes they recommend look great, too. This is the restaurant Chez Panisse; the Vegetables cook book is recommended. Also, the Chez Panisse Cafe' Cookbook is listed in the resources from The Omnivore's Dilemma. The menu had interesting dishes. Obviously, I am not going to go there, so I hope I get the book soon. Another interesting little bit about the restaurant is the founder's extra project. I was very happy to hear this idea and there is even a link to PBS with a clip and more info. I have a long way to go.

Have some onion...

'Warcraft' Sequel Lets Gamers Play A Character Playing 'Warcraft'

various tidbits about what we're up to now...

These have gotten bigger. This is the banana tree now. These are some of the spiders we found Monday. There are two in the pic below. Finally, a few spiders have arrived. The swing is broken, so the groundcover grew where the playing usually leaves a mud pit.

The three yellow spots are bees, and above and to the left of the top bee is a wasp. I don't know what they were doing. There were four bees and a wasp all collected around a spot in the tree.

I always underestimate the amount of quinoa to purchase. We started using it in the pancake recipe that was, I think, the first thing I posted on this blog. It was the easiest baby step from "Poptarts" that were the staple of our rushing off to school mornings. OMFGSM! I blush admitting this. Now, we use quinoa in any recipe we think will work. Pizza crust, bread, cake, cupcakes, pancakes, even whole quinoa with veggies. At any rate, I love seeing the fridge full of organic, whole-grains. It makes me feel prepared. And, our seeds came in. These are some of the ones I hope to get in the ground quickly after the move. We will see, possibly I am being overambitious as I am prone to do. We are also working on passing on appliances in as environmentally sound a way as possible. I think that everything will end up being reused, repaired, or recycled. Also, I was reading an old post about throwing out plastic toys and I don't think that I properly expressed my sentiments. I don't intend, or haven't indiscriminatly begun replacing all plastic toys with new ones. I am using all things that we own until it is recalled, worn out, recycled, or passed on to a friend. But, I do intend to try to purchase things I do have to buy from local sources, and look for more things that are sustainably produced. I know to many this seems pretty obvious, but ... well, anyway there it is clarified.

a photographic commentary; "Dad's issues"

Keeping the kids "in line".

Educating the children.

Dating attire.

UMMMM!