Sayonara 2008

The boy is ready for the New Year. We thought we'd have a fun New Year's Eve-eve in NYC. Of course, when in Times Square with an 8 year old, you are obligated to buy this kind of thing, even if you consider yourself a local. We also had fun watching the ball take a test run:

Happy New Year wherever you are and remember, it's got to get better - there are babies waiting to be born (shout-out to Dana & Debbie & Luca & Baby New Year, as well as the Satran Family) new friends to be made (that would be YOU Nicole), new opportunities to be had (can we get a huzzah for full-time employment WITHIN your field for BOTH adults in the household?), and above all, life to live.

I wouldn't have it any other way -

The Omnivore's 100

I saw this on a blog I read and thought it would be fun to list :-) I'm such a sucker for lists!

The rules:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Score: Them-3 , Me -0

It's been a while, and I know there's an awful lot of updating needed, but here are today's gems:

Griffin: "mumble, mumble, abaho"
Me "What did you say?"
Daniel "He said 'abaho'"
Me: "Griffin, what does that mean in Spanish?"
Griffin: "down"
Me: "Very good! Now how do you say "I want to get down" in Spanish?"
Griffin: " 'Please?' "

That's what you get for trying to egg on a 3 year old.

Also, to explain the title, my left hand is fearing for its safety right now. Last week I thought I broke my left foot after smashing it into the metal safety gate at the top of the stairs (just a bad sprain, thankyouverymuch). Last night I was noticing that now my right foot is feeling funny and noticed that two of my middle toes are doing something wonky - to be revisited when health insurance becomes effective Sept 1. And today, while running a reluctant 3 year old to the bathroom in Kohls (which proved to be futile, as said child pooped his pants 3 hours later in the Asian bistro), I wacked my free hand against a metal display rack and now my right thumb has an unusual lump and I can't bend it. Again, hopefully this can wait until the health insurance kicks in.

So, I get home, bathe my 2 filthy offspring and read them a book, as all nice mothers do. Aforementioned 3 year old menace doesn't approve of my second selection (Diary of a Worm) and lets me know it by clocking me in the face with the first selection (In the Night Kitchen aka "look - he's nakey!")

So, if you are keeping score, you know I am not bringing home the gold anytime soon...

Just in case you were wondering...

Daniel found this under the sofa cushions while looking for the remote. How can you punish something this funny?

Daylight Savings is Costing Me...

TIME - um, maybe not
MONEY - true, I did have extra time to shop today
SLEEP - that's it!

Thank goodness this madness begins on a weekend, because I seriously needed some extra sleep this morning!! I've been trying all day to get my schedule on this phony-baloney time change and all I can say is that tomorrow had better go smoother than today!

Griffin went down for his nap around 1:20, but in all fairness, he was on time for his 12:30 nap - I think - I'm so tired I forget if we spring forward or back. It could also be the cruel and lasting trickery of my stepfather Al, who wickedly convinced a co-worker who was responsible for resetting clocks throughout the office that we "sping back" and "fall forward". Needless to say, no one was on time that Monday...

But what I really DON'T like about having Daylight Savings so early is that I am cheated. Now I will think spring is just around the corner and feel like I have to buy all sorts of things like capri pants and jellybeans and garden tools - oh wait, I DO need the jellybeans! Turns out, while they were at it with Daylight Savings, the person in charge of Easter pulled a fast one on me too!

This is going to be the longest winter ever...

Summertime...

is here - and I've done diddley-squat.
Have I planned any activities for my wards?
Have I done anything to ensure chaos does not reign now that camp is over?
...
Isn't there something like a three strikes rule in parenting?
What I really desire is for someone to entertain ME!
I want to be my kids for just one day.

I'll get up and whine for waffles or sausages or say "MILK MILK MILK MILK" over and over in a monotone until I get what I want. (Dear Griffin, I do appreciate that you say "tank yoo mommy" when you finally do get what you want, but do you really need to torture me along the way? Love, Mommy)
Then I'll run away, as fast as my legs will carry me and leave my mess behind. Maybe I'll use the couch as a napkin, but then again, the rug is just fine too.

I'll make someone play my shows over and over, and then jump on top of them when they have the NERVE to try to read a magazine or the newspaper with the arm I am not laying on top of. Then, when they think I'm finally watching, I will start playing with something else, preferably with small, choke able pieces! Yeah!

I will whine "when can I get something?" whenever I get within 100 yards of an insitution of consumerism. If my adult DARES look at an item of clothing, I will shriek "NO NO NO!" or else dive under the clothing racks, ripping down a good quantity of merchandise with me - and totally ignoring that it's happened.

I will refuse to nap, even though I am irrational and rubbing my eyes...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'll eat 2 bites of my meticulously (ah, who am I kidding - microwaved) dinner and say "can I have dessert?"

Then I will insist on "GLUE" for my art projects and ask over and over "can I go on the computer?" until the adults cave in. Then I'll play the loudest, most advertising filled games on the internet, surely loaded with all sorts of malicious programs (and we wonder why the computer makes so many weird noises these days). I'll also attempt to answer registration questions that I can't really read, and will spell inventively when answering.

Finally, I can be carried up to my bed, and man, the heck with bladder control! Just slap that diaper on and I'll be laying in my cage, living the good life. Or, if I am more like Griffin, trying to stall with 4 or 5 books, then "WATER WATER WATER WATER" and "BINKYBINKYBINKYBINKY" until I get both of those.

What a day - it's 8:30 PM, and the day is done. I'm so glad I am getting 10 hours of sleep! It allows me to bound out of bed, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to great the day at 6:30 AM!! Rise and shine for another FUN DAY!!

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!!!!!!!

Be glad your name is not Tom Riddle...

Real Harry Potter weathers Pottermania

Wed Aug 1, 10:14 AM ET

Sometimes it's a hassle being Harry Potter.

Especially when you're a 78-year-old man who happens to share the name of a certain fictional boy wizard who is famous the world over.

Each time a new Harry Potter book or movie comes out, Bradenton resident Harry Potter starts getting phone calls from children, interview requests from the TV networks and autograph requests.

"The kids want to know if I'm Harry Potter," he said with a chuckle. "I tell them I've been Harry Potter for darn near 80 years!"

The real Harry Potter said he hasn't had time to read any of the J.K. Rowling books or see the five hit movies. But late night crank calls aside, the retired Defense Department employee from Zaleski, Ohio, gets his mileage out of Pottermania.

"When Harry talks to the kids, they'll ask about the owl and he'll say, 'Oh, he came by and brought the mail,'" said his wife, Jan. "Then, when they're done, the mothers come on and say thank you for talking to the kids. He gets a big kick out of it."

But meeting a real Harry Potter can be a little puzzling for the kids.

"They look at you, give you the once-over," he said, laughing. "They can't relate the one in the book to the one they see here. I guess I could buy me a pair of Harry Potter glasses."

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