Rain, Wind, and the Zoo

Yesterday was quite the day for freak weather.  A line of thunderstorms swept through with 60 MPH winds.   Day turned to night and the rain blew horizontally.  I felt like we were IN Kansas or anywhere else in the midwest.  

Today, the rains sluggishly cleared out of the valley.  Making for a damp, yet fun, 3rd grade field trip to the Oregon Zoo.  

Things I learned today: 

1.  Bats switch to hang upright when they have to pee.  Also it is easy to tell males from females when bats empty their bladders.  

2. Most animals like to present their nether regions to visitors.  Maybe to pay us back for caging them and letting people stare, point, and invade their privacy?

3. The penguin house still smells, and it's still difficult to get a good photo through plexiglass.

4. My daughter's favorite animals are still zebras (she is finished with preschool for the year and tagged along on the fieldtrip)

5. And finally, my son's best friend is a pretty good kid.  I foresee many playdates this summer!

Where am I?

I know  a handful of people take time out of their day to read my blog.  Thank you, you know who you are, even if I may not.  I haven't posted much lately because, well, it's just been the normal crazy around here and nothing blogworthy.  There are only so many times you can write..."took the kids to school, came home and cleaned bathrooms."  

I had intended to post projects, both knitting and other, when I have them finished.  Truth be told,  I haven't knit for 2 months due to a sore elbow.  I have spun, but nothing finished and showoffable (is that even a word?)  Heck, I'm not even at my desk much anymore.  Glorious 90 degree spring days in Oregon just BEG for me to be out of doors until it gets too dark to see.  

So know that I am still here, still doing the day to day tasks of a busy/crazy/exhausted/adhd mom.....And I'll post about finished projects again soon, well sooner or later.  

 

Sun Day

Sunny 75 degrees + me time + atlasquest.com + 14 found letterboxes = one heck of a great day.  

Disneyland in April

April is a great month to see the mouse. We took the kids out of school and headed south to California. Despite the swine flu fears and dry rough hands from constant washing, we had a blast! The boys' kindergarten teacher (and good friend of mine) is living in California for two years while her husband is in medical school. They have an annual pass and met up with us for one of our days in the park. Her little girl and our Little Miss are almost the same age. After a few minutes they were holding hands, running around the park, and having a great time. New BFFs! 

Next time remind me to spend the extra money and fly to California. 17 hours each way, over 1850 miles is a long long trip! Especially with my brother along for the ride, though it was good to have his help with the kids and the driving. The car was packed to the brim!

Waiting for Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Little Miss HATED it when the show started

New BFFs

Pluto in Toon Town

One of the Letters in CALIFORNIA (in front of California Adventure)

Toon Town Driving

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Main Street USA

Waiting for the raft to Pirate's Lair

Martha Can Kick My.....

I don't know what issue or what year this chocolate filled egg recipe was published in Martha Stewart Living. It caught my eye, was duly clipped and in a binder on my cookbook shelf. It calls for tempered chocolate (ha) and a ganache filling (yum). Over several years I have tried to make the backwoods version using chocolate chips (cheap) and various fillings (also cheap). I wish I had documented my glorious fails with photos, but alas there are none.

This year I was bound and determined to succeed. I still didn't have the quality chocolate to attempt the tempering process, nor did I even have the patience or knowledge of how to temper chocolate. Heck, I can't get my kids to behave, how was I going to get the chocolate to do so?

So I got chocolate candy coating, bit my tongue, bought white, antibiotic laden, cage raised eggs, and began.

Martha used lovely shell blue. Not for me, I scavenged the kid's egg coloring kit for bright colors. I have no clue how her team of minions managed to make such perfect holes on the large ends of the eggs. Mine have a few wiggles.

The results aren't bad. Now I don't have them displayed on a delicate delft blue Wedgewood plate, but bear with me. Once they harden and are turned over, the effect should be just fine.



Martha, take that!


Now my other dessert for the Springtime resembles a radioactive refugee from another planet, but please forgive me. My 5 year old picked the colors and supervised the entire decorating process. Each color frosting had to be tasted and approved.




Hoppy Spring Everyone!

Getting Loopy!

Remember all the yarns set out in rows in my kitchen?  

Well in a little over a week, they'll be part of the stuff for sale at The Loopy Ewe.  Can you feel my excitement?  Just a little?  I hope it sells well, it's like letting kids go out into the world, I want them to be happy and successful in life!

40 is the new 30, right?

I have a couple of years to go, ok, maybe just under 2 years, until I'm 40.  Luckily, I married an older man.  Jeff turned 40 this week and today we had a small party complete with cake and ice cream (minus the gag gifts thank goodness!)

I happened upon this cake pan at Goodwill for a whopping $3 and it seemed to be a good choice for the occasion.  The kids loved it as well, they've been playing Mario games on the DS and Wii.  

So all went well, including the surprise of a visit from his Mom for the weekend!