Eclipsed

I watched the moon turn red behind the earth's shadow last night. Stayed up until 3:40 am. First solstice lunar eclipse since... 1638 or so. Not like it's much different than any other lunar eclipse, but still cool.

I promised the kids I'd wake them up. They groaned when I whispered to them that it was 3:20 am. They plodded downstairs, looked up, grunted, and went back to bed. Sigh.

Beep beep.

The sound of the boy's cell phone, beeping in his own voice, alerting him that he has a new text waiting.

Beep beep.

All day long, every day. My son is suddenly popular.

The girl got a cell phone this year for Chanukah too. Remembering when the boy got his. We just turned on his texting this year.

And now the girl has a boy that "wants to go out with her". I'm not sure to do with this information. She is ten, and she's my baby. I'm not sure she knows what to do with this information either.

Drafting menu

FFL draft was yesterday. We hosted again this year. Almost every family was there - fun. I LOVED everything on our menu. All my faves.

1. Salsa (of course), guacamole and chips
2. packaged white bean dip and chiptole bean dip with pretzel chips and carrots (the only thing I didn't make!)
3. fresh ricotta bruscetta with honey and tomatoes
4. beef nachos with cheese and tomatoes
5. bobby's corn salad with tomatoes, onions, blue cheese and basil dressing
6. RIBS with the best rub and sauce ever (have to remember to cook longer!!)
7. thai beef salad - yum
8. vietnamese summer rolls with shrimp and pork - yum
9. burgers with homemade pickles, hot dogs
10. corn on the cob
11. pear brie and chicken paninis - yum
12. shrimp and pork dumplings with two different dipping sauces
13. s'mores candy

somehow the camera was set to black and white but still looks good ... will post photos eventually

Apps for the phone I don't have.

Bought a droid. Yay!
Finally! I'm completely last on technology. The funny part is that people think I'm a techie. People ask me techie questions. People look to me as a tech reference. Not sure why. They are way ahead of me.

Now I'm waiting weeks for my new toy to arrive, as it's on backorder. Because as usual, I'm last.

So in the meantime, I'm looking for which apps I should load onto the thing, once I get it. I was going to write up a list of them, but so many others have already done that, so we'll go with everyone else's lists. The one benefit of being last.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/201244/verizons_droid_x_12_apps_to_get_you_started.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/181630/verizons_droid_10_apps_to_get_you_started.html
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/best-droid-apps/
http://101bestandroidapps.com/
http://www.wirelessandmobilenews.com/2010/01/top-ten-best-coolest-free-apps-for-android-an-droid-review-of-reviews.html

Real job, schmeal job

10-yo-daughter: Mom, why did you choose an office job?

Me: What do you mean?

10-yo-daughter: Well, you could have picked anything. Like a fireman or a teacher.

Me: You're right, but I chose something I went to school for... subjects I was interested in. And that led me to an office job.

10-yo-daughter: But an office job is not a REAL job.

Me: Why not?

10-yo-daughter: Because no kid says, "When I grow up, I want to work behind a desk in an office."

Me: I guess they don't.

10-yo-daughter: They all want to be something, like a doctor or an artist or a policeman. Didn't you want to BE something when you were a kid?

Sigh.

Fresh water for all

We have a water cooler in our house. Love it... love the instant availability of super-cold and super-hot water, anytime. Tap water around here is actually pretty good, but we still like the taste of the bottled water better. 

My question is: if you have a similar situation, with two huge jugs of water showing up on your doorstep every other week or so, would you use that water to fill the dog bowl? I mean, seriously? The husband claims, "If it's good enough for us, then it's good enough for the dog, too." I think he means, "If the tap water is not good enough for us, then it's not good enough for the dog, either." I respectfully disagree. Granted, the dog is a senior citizen and is pretty picky, but I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't mind the tap water over the bottled. I don't hear her howling, "Deer Park, that's good water!"

Gunning for the beard

The husband didn't always have a beard. The first appearance came when I was pregnant with the boy. It gradually grew in over the months, and the husband enjoyed taking off the time from shaving. I'm not really sure what made him give up on razors. I never was a fan of the scratchy, prickly facial hair - It didn't look bad at all, but it's thick and rough, and it's never been my thing. The husband seemed to like it, so I tolerated it. Only because...

The husband promised he'd shave it while I was in the hospital. And so he did. It actually became entertainment while I was in labor. In between contractions, he went into the bathroom and shaved off a little more. He came out of the bathroom each time, and it made me laugh. It was fun, and eventually I had my clean-shaven husband back.

A couple of years later, I became pregnant with the girl. And... the beard gradually came back. I hadn't missed it. I started looking forward to the hospital shaving session again. But the way things go, I ended up going in for a scheduled c-section. No labor. No time to shave. No shaving session. Flash-forward ten-and-a-half years, and: the beard is still around. We just celebrated the boy's bar mitzvah, and the beard was in every photo.

Early on, after the girl was born, the husband and I made a bet. I had never lost the baby weight. The deal is: If I make it back down to my wedding weight, the beard gets shaved. I have never really been able to do it though. Until now. I'm headed in the right direction, anyway.

Looks like I'm losing a pound a month, or so. Slow but sure wins the race. I hope. At this rate, I may be at the wedding weight long before the girl's bat mitzvah. Works for me! The husband may very well be looking very different at that party. Looking forward to it!

Cooking for strangers

Well, not really strangers... just people I haven't seen in 25 years. Heading to a 4th of July BBQ. Happy Independence!

I LOVE cooking for other people. I am not always good at it, mostly because of my lack of attention span at just the right moment: I often burn things or otherwise ruin them. But I still try. I should cook fun things for my own fam, but I just don't bother when it's "just us". I need to have a party (or go to someone else's party) for the excuse. I think I'm pissing off my friend who is hosting this BBQ; she may be afraid I'm showing her up.

Here's everything that the husband and I have been preparing this long holiday weekend, whether for the July 4th reunion, or for local friends.

Baby arugala salad with warm pancetta vinaigrette and spiced pine nuts. Recipe credit to the cooking class I took my mom to last week for her (early) bday.

The nuts are accidentally too spicy. I like them that way (they have a great kick) but I hope others don't have an issue.

Scallops with candied fennel and vanilla-citrus reduction. Recipe credit to one of my favorite places in the entire world that I am glad to have been to once.

I know, I know. You're thinking: WTF? This is a 4th of July BBQ, not a gourmet meal. Where are the hot dogs and burgers and ribs and corn and potato salads and watermelon? Yeah, I'll leave that to my friend the hostess. Don't worry about her, though: she holds her ground. She'll be making her own assortment of kick-ass food in addition to the standard picnic fare.

You are probably still confused, wondering how I'll serve this at a BBQ. I haven't quite figured that out yet, but it likely will involve tasting spoons. Meh.

Honey-tomato bruschetta with fresh ricotta (yes I made the ricotta too)

Another pause from the menu to say one quick note: OMG, don't ever buy ricotta from the store again!!!! Seriously. Easy to make and yummy. And I didn't even have lemons to curdle the milk, so I used a lime instead. Yum!

Kobe sliders with pesto on potato rolls. The husband made up this combo - he's also making alfredo sauce for it as an alternative choice.

The alfredo sauce on Kobe burgers was NOT my idea. Neither was the pesto - but it was pretty good on the test sliders. 

Dill pickles.

Yeah, just pickles. Don't laugh. Homemade pickles are GREAT! And go well on the sliders (without the alfredo sauce, anyway!!)

Mini pulled pork sandwiches on homemade potato rolls.

"Mini" only because I screwed up and made them too small, figuring they would actually rise more than they did. The rolls were intended for the kobe burgers but I'm not going to make a whole nother batch in a larger size.

I think that is it. Everything else is boring. Can't wait to eat it all.

Lesson: Never buy ricotta cheese again. Duh.

What the heck is a clap-out and why don't we have one?

Just saw someone on Facebook post photos of their daughter's "clap-out" at elementary school. Excuse me? What's a clap-out? I imagined all the kids walking out of elementary school and everyone clapping on their way out.

So I Googled it, and I was right. The oldest grade parades out of school on their last day and everyone applauds. I read about moms breaking down at their kids' clap-out. I read about moms THINKING about their kids' clap-out and breaking down. And I suddenly got emotional too.

I cannot believe that we are done with elementary school. Yeah yeah, I only have two kids, but it's gone by so fast. There's no graduation in our school district... no pomp and circumstance, no caps and gowns, no moving up day to the middle school for outgoing fourth graders last week. I suddenly found myself desperately wanting a clap-out, to celebrate my beautiful daughter's accomplishments. I love graduations. I'd cry even if it was the graduation of people I didn't know.

Of course, I'm still proud of the girl. She has a great head on her shoulders. She's confident, smart, funny and a loyal friend. To me, and to her brother, to the husband, to her friends and to everyone. My graduation gift to her? I will regret this for the next, um, forever, but it was her very own Facebook account. A mistake? Probably. I have panic attacks about it constantly. But she's thrilled: It makes her feel grown up for some reason, and she earned it. I'm so happy for her.

But I'll be pissed if I find out that the school district starts doing clap-outs for the fourth graders next year.

An uphill battle

Lost 20 lbs so far!
Yeah!
That was purely from diet change.
Now, I've plateaued.
Have to start going to the gym regularly.
Sigh.
The question is, join the ultra-hip, very popular gym in town, with the state-of-the-art equipment, plethora of group classes, pool, personal trainers, weigh-ins, people from town that I don't want watching me, crazy-high initiation fee, and ridiculous monthly fee,
or,
Use the gym at work, which is conveniently just beneath my office, with people I work with that I don't want watching me, no initiation fee, and free.
Which am I more likely to keep up?
I won three personal training sessions at the really nice gym, and have been going every week. Now it's over. Have to figure out what to do.

A rite of passage

Took the boy to the school district art show at the high school today. Art from all grades were featured. The boy is taking art as an elective and as a "cycle" class this quarter, so he had some work featured there. Some really impressive stuff from kids in town!

We then went food shopping. I was thrilled that the boy was really chatty. I was taken by surprise when he asked me to buy all of the following:

1. Toothpaste
2. Mouthwash
3. Tooth whitening pre-rinse
4. Razors
5. Shaving cream

Sniff. The first razor. OK OK maybe not as significant as the first tooth or the first shoes or the first steps. But!! My baby boy needs a shave!!!

What else not to do on a spring day.

Would you believe I spent ANOTHER beautiful spring day indoors? Getting re-certified for CPR, in preparation for the girl's camping trip in a few weeks. My luck: it will pour the whole camping weekend.

What not to do on a spring day.

Not sure how this happened, but I'm spending this beautiful first day of spring upgrading all of our computers to use different virus software (since our provider will stop offering the previous software in a few weeks), and also upgrading all of my 100+ blogs (because blogger will stop offering FTP in a few weeks). Blech to both... taking up the whole day.