S is for Scorpio

Ice Cream and Turkeys and Sloths, Oh My!

2012-01-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

The second leg of our trip has brought us inland to the town of St. Elena which is up against the Monte Verde Cloudforest Reserve (oh, and also the St. Elena Reserve). The road here was...bumpy, and narrow, but mostly bumpy. Like cobblestones for miles and miles. Our driver was experienced and did his best. I can't count how many times we said "gosh, I'm glad we didn't try to drive this ourselves". As we got closer to town we noticed the wind had really picked up. Our driver told us it's always really windy in December.

The town of St. Elena is quite a bit bigger than we expected and the house we rented was very nice with a great view.

Main Room

Front Porch -designed so you can enjoy the hammock sheltered from the wind.

View from Front Porch - All the way out to the Nicoya Peninsula (about 55 miles)

Side Porch

Unfortunately the awesome house is about a half hour walk from the town. A very hilly, very windy walk to town. For those who have been to the cabin in Jenner, think the hill up to the house over and over again for about a mile. So we've been walking off all the guacamole and chips we've been eating. Or at least that's what I am telling myself. That reminds me, I should go make some more guacamole...
Our first day was filled with exploring the grounds - a small farm with chickens, turkeys and a couple horses. "Bitey" horses my mom calls them. Even buying carrots just for them at the market ended with them charging, and her throwing the carrots at their heads and running.

The path to the hiking trail... this is about as far as we got on that hiking trail.

One of many sets of chickens, all complete with a loud rooster.
The kind of roosters that wake up at 3:30am and make you hungry for fried chicken.
THOSE KIND OF ROOSTERS.

Resident Turkey - always willing to show his stuff

We eventually made plans to visit the St. Elena Reserve for a day, where there was something for everyone. Grandma Linda and Nancy and M walked the hanging bridges while Grandpa Donny, BZ and I tried our hands at some zip lining.

Hanging Bridges

As for the zip lining, there were 13 platforms linked together - BZ took video of most of them. Here is his video of the longest and highest, the only one we had to do in tandem.

Just finishing zip lining - Safety first!

After meeting up again we visited the hummingbird and butterfly gardens.

Purple Throated Mountain-gem Hummingbird

Violet Sabrewing Hummingbird

P.S. I love my new camera.

Green Crowned Brilliant Hummingbird

Blue Morpho Butterfly

Some other butterfly... I can't remember all the names, OK?!

Viceroy (Monarch Lookalike) Chrysalis

The next couple days kinda blurred together, that wonderful section of vacation where you can't exactly remember what you did, but you are sure it was fun, and relaxing. I know we went to the cheese factory, which was pretty blah except that there was ice cream too. So I guess it wasn't totally bust. Oh, and we obviously ate a lot... I'm reminded of that because most of my pictures were taken while we were waiting to eat, eating, or sitting around because we were too full.

It was right about the time that we started lamenting that we really weren't seeing much wildlife and made reservations for a night hike that everything started popping up.

Baby Howler Monkey

Blue Crested Mot Mot.
Who's got the Mot's? The answer is Costa Rica.

Walking home from dinner, the night before the night hike, we saw not only one, but two different three toed sloths hanging from power lines above the street. We also saw one in a tree, swinging wildly in the wind. They were like slow, furry ghosts with bear faces. I wish I could have gotten pics but I wasn't planning on needing a camera while walking home in the dark.
It made us realize that we really had seen most things we'd see on a night hike, but we went the next night anyways. Our house was not far from the private reserve used for the night hikes, so of course we walked. It turned out that we were glad we did (oh, except my mom..) because BZ spotted this on our walk:

A Boa Constrictor... on our walk. Just hanging out like he's no big deal.

A BOA CONSTRICTOR. 4 or 5 feet of BOA CONSTRICTOR.

Mother was not pleased...

So we were pretty much done with the night hike before it even started, but with our guide we did manage to see an awesome tarantula, some leaf cutter ants, many agouti, a sleeping toucan and a kinkaju from afar. I didn't get any pics of the aforementioned animals because it was too dark, but I managed to snap this before we went into the forest.

One of many sunsets enjoyed so far

Let's see... besides crazy animal spottings....oh wait! I almost forgot!

We changed hotels for our last night in St. Elena and found ourselves on the other side of the town with a fresh view. OF MORE ANIMALS.

Within a couple hours of being at the new place we had a visit from a Coati that tried to come in our open front door:

Ok, I think that is the official end of crazy animal spottings- enough with fauna, let's do flora. We were also able to visit a small private orchid garden. They showed us a ton of orchids, mostly natives to the cloud forest which tend to be miniature.

Our last night in St. Elena was New Years Eve and we celebrated by going out to a popular local pizzeria. The food was good, the company better. A great way to end the year.

There is internet at the Beach? Who knew?!

2011-12-28T16:06:00.000-08:00

Hola everyone! I'd like to finish this year up right with actually getting to post things a little closer to when they actually happened. I remind myself about this all the time, because I am still working on a post about last, last summer... the summer of 2010. Yep. 2010. And it's almost 2012. But I digress... onto actual current events. That was the point right? Right.
Ok. So we're finishing this year with a long planned vacation to Costa Rica. After practically 24 hours of travel we arrived in the capital and were whisked off to Samara Beach, on the pacific coast.

It's quiet here (except for occasional celebratory x-mas fireworks) and very relaxing.

We've rented the pool house at a lodge that is jungly with hints of Disneyland's Swiss Family Robinson Tree - Quite treacherous in the dark, but cool and relaxing, complete with howler monkeys and iguanas, oh and Canadians.

It seems like everyone here is Canadian. I guess I'd come to Samara if I was from a place that snowed. Heck, we're from Northern California and we came here.

Christmas eve was pretty low key around here, we barbecued chicken (pollo!) and stopped by a carnival that was setting up in town. Real Churros cannot be passed up!
The carnival really got busy on Christmas day though, with the bumper cars going and karaoke.

If there is anything scarier than carnival rides at home, it's carnival rides in central america. But M had her eye on one ride, passing up offers of cotton candy, churros and ice cream just to have the chance.

We're suckers.

Tomorrow we move further inland, to the cloud forest. We'll see what new adventures await us there!

P.S. -Gratuitous Photos of Monkey See, Other Monkey Do.

Our treasure find of the day - a mustache shaped shell

The big 5! (Birthday that is)

2011-12-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

Because it was such a hit, we decided to do M's birthday at Fliptastic again. We invited all her daycare friends and a couple from school. It was quite a turn out. M probably had an even better time than last year and was much more into the activities.

M running the obstacle course

Max jumping into "the pit"

Kaitlyn's big jump

Everyone in the pit (it was obviously the pits)

We finished it all up with some pizza and cupcakes, and of course presents!

Another good end to another good year!

Halloween 2011 - part 2...uh late?

2011-12-26T17:39:00.000-08:00

We had a great time trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood this year! Uh... oh yeah, I should really post something about how we bought a new house, conned all our family into helping us fix it up and then moved, shouldn't I? FIRST THINGS FIRST - There are costumes involved here so I'm going to roll with it.
M got to dress up as a princess (her choice) and although I didn't make her dress, I did make her princess hat. I'm sorry, but in my version of princess, there is a cone shaped hat. None of this tiara business!

(Sorry for the bad photos- hadn't gotten my new camera yet!)

M had a really good time answering the door for the other kids and then going out herself. We met all kinds of neighbor kids - exactly the type of thing we moved to this neighborhood for! It was a very satisfying Halloween!

Halloween 2011 - part 1

2011-11-07T16:03:00.000-08:00

This year we thought we would try something new.. and old, but in a new way.
We traveled out to our local pumpkin patch the Friday, and again on the Sunday before Halloween. On Friday evening it was too late to really enjoy much except the sunset, but we made the most of it.

M made it all the way to the top of the tall hay pyramid all by herself!

On Sunday morning, the prospects for activities were much better and we had Grandpa R.L. with us too!

We had talked about maybe attempting the pony rides but decided to play it by ear because we've attempted such activities in the past and let's just say... it didn't go well.

This time, at the mere sight of the pony rides, M was all excited. We were still tentative because she was totally ok last time too, until the realization that ponies are in fact much bigger and snorty in real life than in books and pictures.

So as we walked up and eyed the situation we were ready to distract with "It's ok! Let's go jump in the bounce house and leave this nibbley-lipped hairy warhorse of a pony behind, along with all the related terror!"

But.. the freak out never happened, and she got to ride a real horse, not just a pony, and then immediately wanted to do it again.

We obliged. Because we could. Because there was no screaming in bloody panic like last time.

This time it was all about capturing the moment for the ages.. and the internet.

There were also other fun things, like the aforementioned bounce house (you don't bluff with that), and some pumpkin eating pigs.

Nitro the pig... powered by pumpkins.

It was a much more successful trip than times before..

I'll post about the actual Halloween day next!

Rewind... Nevada City Classic

2011-11-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

Like many topics, I've been meaning to post about this since summer!

It's been a long time goal of our BZ to not only ride in the Nevada City Classic, but to finish - and this was his year! By riding his butt off, he was able to upgrade from a category 3 to a 2, which means he is able to ride with a lot of big names.

The race is held on Father's day every year and this year we made a day of it!

M made friends with the other race orphans

She watched closely to try and see her daddy.

BZ was able to finish with out crashing! Here is a little snapshot of the race.

It's nearly impossible to see BZ - he's like a flash!

After the race we all had a nice picnic in the park - it was reported to be a perfect father's day!

2011-10-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

This weekend, between home improvement and baby showers, I was finally able to take my dad to the roller derby. This time the bout was in a sports complex in the industrial section of a small town, a venue I had never been to before
On the way there, my father said "Doesn't it feel like we're going to a fight club?". I think that pretty much describes the back alley feeling of the whole thing.
The place turned out to be ok but I did wish that there had been cotton candy available at the snack bar. There is just no substitute for that. As an adult I feel that it is my right to have cotton candy at every chance, and roller derby should be one of those chances.

Starting the first Jam - waiting for the whistle.
Deis Irea and Alethal Weapon as Jammers

Anyways, I lost a buck to my dad betting which team would win. I picked the team with my favorite jammer -Quick Fire. I like her because she is very quick, but also because she's small but can take some pretty hard hits.
However, dad's team also had a star jammer, La Lucha. She is undeniably fast and can squeeze through the pack like she is covered in butter. I'm pretty sure that is exactly how my dad likes to envision her. Best of all, she is quite a showman (show-woman?) on the rink and fun to watch.

Dad and La Lucha

What really brought his team to victory was their defense- a really strong and talented pack. Dad picked it out during practice.
We're going back next month... maybe I'll bring my own cotton candy this time.

Keeping Our Cool

2011-09-04T10:33:00.000-07:00

Oh, and we've been swimming a lot.

The goggles are a new thing... and ridiculous.
Ridiculously funny.

Let's start with Preschool

2011-09-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while... and there is lots to blog about....but I have to start somewhere.
M started Preschool this week and it's gone really well. She gets to take a bus to and from her school and I can work in her classroom a day a week, which is super fun.
Mornings are a little rough, not because she doesn't want to get up but because she CANNOT WAIT for the bus to come get her. On the second day of school, the first thing she said to me when she woke up was "Is the bus here?!". It quickly turned into tears and we had to reach a compromise.

This is the compromise.. after she gets dressed, she can sit and longingly look for the bus out the window.

Mostly she watches the kids walking to the school near our house, but it buys us 5-10 minutes of non-tear filled time in the morning. I think it's a good deal for all involved, especially Chubby (the bear).

Two Faced

2011-06-05T01:49:00.000-07:00

We've been practicing our happy and sad faces, and just like a 4 year old, Maryn was able to produce both with in seconds of each other.

For the Record

2011-06-03T01:47:00.000-07:00

A friend reminded me to record some of the fun times.... so this is for daddy (at the Mt Hood stage race) and for all the grandparents, and for anyone else out there who needs a reminder to come visit.

Spring is in the air...

2011-04-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like a spring breeze...

and running your fingers through your hair and finding leaves.

Spring and I have a complicated relationship.

Llama Drama!

2011-03-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

At one of the campuses I work at we have large groups of oak trees and generally forested areas. Recently maintenance has been bringing in sheep and goats on the weekends for vegetation control. Everyone praised the idea saying that it was the "green" thing to do. I find that statement funny since we're renting sheep and goats to get rid of the green... but whatever.
I'm in favor of the idea because GOATS! We're a decidedly pro-goat household even though we have no real reason to be. We're never owned goats, used goats, or been closer to them than at the state fair. But we certainly enjoy the idea of them, their babies are super cute, their milk makes great cheese and since we appreciate them from afar, we think they are nifty.

Back to the college... I teach a class on Fridays and Saturdays when there are few, if any, other classes on campus. While driving on campus I came upon the sheep and goats munching away in a movable gated area. The way they were situated put them right up against the parking lot I wanted to park in and I smiled at them as I parked and unloaded my books to go to class.
Later, when I came back to the car I noticed that they had really eaten down all the tall grass and taken all the new growth off the underbrush. I could see a handler setting up fences to make a new pen for them to move into, one that would bring them right up against my car. The animals knew what to do, starting to crowd the fence leading into the new area and I saw he had a couple of llamas with the other animals.
As he got closer I said "I see you have llamas too.. are those for the high brush?".
He opened the new pen and the llamas came through first. He said "No, those are gaurd llamas".
I laughed out loud, "Ha! Guard llamas! Funny!" because, of course he was kidding.
The llamas were getting pretty close to my end of the pen now.
"No," he said, yelling over the sounds of the herd coming through."Really! Guard llamas!"
I heard the warning in his voice as the first llama started getting very close, making a low throaty sound.
"Really! How long are you going to be here? You should probably get in your car!" He yelled as the llama finally reached me.
I jumped in my car quickly but my window was rolled down a little and I was faced with a llama staring at me, chewing and getting ready to spit.
"You should go now!" I heard the man say.
I pulled out and watched the llamas following me around the perimeter of the lot..always putting themselves between me and the rest of the animals.
So..I'd never heard of guard llamas... but after googling it, I guess it's a thing. They use them a lot in Canada and wherever they need to protect sheep from coyotes.

I guess they're pretty good at protecting sheep from chemistry teachers too.

Stuffed with everything good

2011-03-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

This last winter, with a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, I bought myself a beautiful french cookbook by Dori Greenspan.

I had heard an interview with the author, but when I got to the bookstore I couldn't remember the title of the cookbook...

I did however remember the author because her name is Dori...

which is the name of Meeshmellow's Parent's pug - a sweet, round, little sausage of a dog.

While listening the radio interview I kept imagining the author's voice coming from a little pug dog in a beret, talking about pumpkins and bacon, licking her little chops...

It's the kind of image that sticks with you, and the reason I was able to find the book.

Since it was winter, and sugar pumpkins were available I tried "Pumpkin stuffed with everything good".

Boy is it.

The recipe calls for bread, cheese, bacon, garlic, and heavy cream. Oh, and a pumpkin to hold it in.

I followed the instructions but substituted 2% milk for the cream with great results.

It smells so good cooking, it's hard to let it finish.

Since then I have made it a couple times as a casserole with butternut squash as a base. So good... a new fall/winter tradition!

Pay back is a female dog.

2011-02-22T13:09:00.000-08:00

We have two dogs...

an older black lab, Beta, who is sensible, quiet and well behaved

and a younger pointer, Friday, who is... none of those things.

Since the very beginning of their time together, the Friday has always sat on Beta. We're not talking about a "snuggle so close she's almost sitting on Beta" type of thing. We're talking about sitting like a normal dog, front feet on the ground, but with her rear end squarely on Beta's back/head/side/rear. Like a 70lb dog sitting on a 80lb dog shaped bench.

This taken when Friday was just a pup, so take this pic and add 40lbs to her.

Everyone comments on it, we always thought Friday would grow out of it, or that Beta would stop putting up with it when Friday got too heavy. But it just kept going on. Now when it happens, Beta just growns and gives us a look that we can only interpret to mean "Wasn't I a good dog? Things were perfect before this Thing came. Why is this happening?"

Now she has a reason to be happy:

Oh, how the tables have turned

I guess now it's Friday's turn to look at us and say:

"Things were perfect before this Thing came. Why is this happening?

Easter in January

2011-02-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

It's about time! Our new chickens started laying eggs in January. Mary, who is an Ameraucana breed lays green shelled eggs (just as we hoped). Ameraucana chickens look a little different, with fluffy neck feathers and a short, hookish beak. To me they look a little hawk like.

Not our Mary, but looks just like her!

Our other new chicken, Shirley, is a Barred Rock and lays brown eggs.

Again, not Shirley, but a splitting image!

Our Shirley is always fluffy so she looks really fat all the time. She is such a good chicken, really personable and doesn't mind being held or petted. She is very aggressive about food, so if you have some she is your best friend!

Of course there was excessive documentation of the first eggs!

Both a little smaller than "jumbo"eggs, but decent size for first eggs!

As usual, the yolk is proportionally bigger that store bought eggs.

Hard to see here, but after we hard boiled the green shelled eggs, the inside of the shell is a light blue.

Easter will be interesting this year... what will the green eggs look like when we color them?

Maybe we won't color them at all!

It's a Jungle in Here!

2011-01-09T23:01:00.000-08:00

I've made the most of the winter break by enlisting my craftastic mother to help finish a project I've been dreaming about for a long time now... a vine covered tent for M! Originally it was supposed to be a hanging tent with a pad as a base, but Grandma Nancy thought it would be great over her bed. Such a good idea!

We've had most of the materials, but just hadn't gotten the time or energy to actually complete it. It was a lot of fun and quite a challenge, but so worth it. It was great working with my mom and "winging it". I commented that it was more like sculpting than sewing! My mom said, "At least you come up with interesting projects..", like somehow that was better than wanting help with a project that has, you know, like patterns and stuff.

Then we really had some fun by cutting out a bazillion leaves and making vines and some flowers

When we finally set it up, Miss M wanted to

get in right away and close it up.

The view from the inside:

Perfect for imagining you're camping in the jungle!

Day at the Museum

2011-01-08T23:00:00.000-08:00

Just before Chirstmas, Ms. Alicia and I enjoyed a whole day at the De Young Museum in San Fransisco. We were able to get tickets for the visiting impressionist exhibit where we saw actual Van Goghs!
We also went to the Legion of Honor which was showing a very interesting exhibit called Japanesque. Most of the exhibit was a ton of beautiful woodblock prints but there was also a portion where they showed how different colors were laid on top of each other with the woodblocks.
Thank you A, for a great lunch, great talk and great day!

Christmas Traditions

2010-12-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to start a christmas tradition with Maryn for a couple years now, and Meeshmellow offered to help make it happen this year.

Everyday we get to open a little present! We can only fit about 10 at a time across the mantle, but it's been a hit so far! Thanks Meeshmellow!

A new interest

2010-12-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

Some one has been getting interested in dressing up lately...

A misunderstanding

2010-11-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

This was M's first year trick-or-treating.... and we kept it small, only a few houses of people we knew.

M played Tinkerbell (or Stinkerbell as we call her) very well.. .fickle, demanding and cute.

This is her look of : "HEY! There's CANDY in here! MOM! CANDY in this thing!"
We did have a couple of issues though..
First.. you aren't supposed to eat all the candy as you get it. According to M, it is better to shove it all in your mouth than allow it to touch the bottom of the pail. The only thing that slowed her down was those pesky wrappers.
Second... you aren't supposed to go IN the houses after the people answer.

"GEEZ WOMAN...You mean I have to eat all this candy OUTSIDE? whatever...next thing you'll tell me is that I have to take these wings off before I go to bed...."

2010-11-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

After finding my long lost, beloved calculator, I sent this email to BZ..

"fell asleep with work stuff on the bed... woke up with the calculator smooshed into my face... had to take M to school before the key marks on my face went away"

His response?

"Can I post that on facebook?"

And he did... I can't even remember how many people asked me about it this weekend.

What's in a name?

2010-11-01T16:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend the hubby, our friend Josh and I stopped by the coffee shop. The gals working there at the time had never seen me come in with anyone, so they had never met the hubby. In taking our order, the conversation went like this:

Them "Your usual, Anne?"
Me: "Yep"
Them "And.. Mr. Anne? What would you like?"

The hubby got a kick out of it.... I'm going to start referring to him as my arm candy from now on.

A word from our sponsers

2010-08-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

This garage sale find brought to you by Feminism Weekly.

Spare Minutes

2010-08-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

I've found myself with a few spare minutes... er HOURS in the airport so I thought I'd use the time wisely and start updating a few things. But of course, with limited resources (dirty laundry, leftover corn nuts, laptop) I am limited to writing about recent events.
I'll start with our recent trip to Salt Lake City...
We (Brian, M, Brian's dad and I) jumped on up to SLC to attend a conference and were lucky enough to get to see some family. Our cousin Michelle of outdoor stove fame, her husband and daughter wisked us away on our last night in town and took us up to Red Butte Gardens. As we drove out to the gardens we could see a thunderstorm gathering, but Michelle had packed a great picnic and after days of fast food and buffets we weren't willing to give it up.
We gathered up some tables with umbrellas and ate while it rained around us. The rain turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it kept us all close, eating and talking and then cleared up to a beautiful rainbow just as we were finishing.

Afterward we walked around the gardens. The Herb Garden:

M had a great time with Johanna and her boyfriend. The Children's Garden was great - it included giant lizards, a snake made out of a twisty tunnel of vines and of course all kinds of plants to touch and smell. It was truly beautiful after the little bit of rain.

Cousin Michelle, being the awesomely cool cousin she's always been, brought Miss M a couple of treats. These included a couple a painted wooden fish. Let me narrate some photos for you to give a sense of one of the current favorite conversations:

Miss M: "Mama. MAMA. Pish Kiss."

I am supposed to kiss the fish. The "Pish" kissing does not commence fast enough.

Miss M: "PISH KISSSSSSS"
The end of the conversation varies, but it is usually something like this...


Your pish kisses are substandard. If this is the best you can do, I'm outta here.

We were happy to see family that we'd like to see more of, happy to spend time with Papa Z and happy to be on our way home!

Not sure what this means....

2010-07-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

Today my students gave presentations on thier research projects. It is usually a good day in class because the projects are interesting and spark a lot of discussion. One of the projects was about the use of high fructose corn syrup. This picture was used in the presentation:

nataliedee.com
The picture was sited as coming from babble.com, but I instantly knew that was wrong. I knew that was wrong because I know it's a Natalie Dee cartoon. Of course I do. It's from 2006. I mean hellooooo... who wouldn't know that? Oh... right.. most.other.people.
So I'm not sure what this means.... but evidently I'm a better referece checker due to my religious daily viewing of online cartoons. Uh, go me?

Hair Update

2010-07-24T00:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's been awhile.. but I'm going to try to catch up on a few things that have happened in the last few...er, months? Geez... we are behind!

Well, I'm doing this a little backward because I'm starting with this morning. Something happened that inspired me to announce it to the blogosphere.

Let me make it a little more clear in case you didn't see it at first glance:

This was one epic case of bed hair.... it was a sight to be held. From past data, we can see that the situation is only getting worse. I'm thinking she's destined to be a hair model for that Hair Battle Spectacular t.v. show...

Now that I have you distracted with the 8th wonder of the world...I'll work on my other posts!

Bribery.... Lloyd House Style

2010-06-09T23:27:00.000-07:00

I'm sure every parent has those moments when they find themselves saying or doing something they said they would never do.

Tonight I started laughing in the middle of saying .."Now Maryn, after you eat ONE bite of ice cream, you can have a piece of candy."

That's right. I was attempting to get my daughter
to eat ICE CREAM*... by BRIBING her with CANDY*.

Half way through the sentence I realized how ridiculous I sounded.

BZ started laughing at the same time and said "Wouldn't it be wonderful if she learned how bribery worked from this?! That would be awesome!"

Truth be told... we've been working on this bribery thing for a while, just trying to get her to understand the cause and effect, and that by doing something we want, she'll get something she wants.

It's been a bust until tonight, when a little light went off.
It's almost like you could see her thinking..
"A bite of ice cream for a piece of candy... doesn't seem so bad."
Followed shortly by "Yeah... I've got them trained... finally."

So, a real banner night in the Lloyd house, if do I say so myself.

*ice cream = nonfat frozen yogurt
*candy = chocolate chips

The Cutest Thing (So Far)

2010-04-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

I was pushing M in her swing yesterday when she pointed to a knot in the tree...

and said "belly button?...Tree belly button?"

A new discovery!

2010-03-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

....that's right... Ranch Dressing. Or as Miss M calls it: "Sauce".

Until recently, our only success had been to "dip, dip!" stuff in the Sauce, then lick it off.

But tonight there was a more! After making Sauce soup out of some lettuce she was willing to actually eat the greens without spitting them out. That soon became cramming the leaves in her mouth

... then.... a little choking.

When I saw her gagging I told her to spit the lettuce out, which she is normally really good about. This time she just looked up at me, shook her head "no" and then swallowed the mouthful.

I am totally not above putting Sauce on everything.

Peas....with Sauce...

Carrots....with Sauce...

Chips.... Con Salsa!

California Style Snow Day

2010-02-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

I've been reading about all the snow on the east coast and being snowed in and yada yada. It seems pretty hard to deal with and a lot of trouble.
I'd like to show what a California snow day looks like.
First, you plan to leave the house at 8am, but because you can't find mittens or snow boot for everyone, and then there is the need for coffee, you really leave at like 9.
(Not one of us actually had mittens, snowboots AND a hat, at best each had two out of three. I ended up wearing gardening galoshes, BZ was wearing gardening gloves instead of mittens. M was the best prepared. )
Anyways, you drive a little bit under blue skies and then get to the snow park. No, east-coasters, we can't just go into our backyards, we have special places for snow. This is California.
Then you walk a few minutes and ta-da! You are ready for snow type activities. M had never seen snow before, and I think only one of our dogs had, so it was pretty thrilling for most of our group.

Our snow type activities included:
1)Throwing Snow balls.

2) "Dog Skiing"

3) Sliding down the snow on our jackets, because, YES, it was so warm that we had to take our jackets off, and NO, we don't own a sled, this is California. We own gardening galoshes, not sleds. Uhum.. this activity was not recorded. Let me distract you with:

After a good hour of icy fun, we decided to head home. We stopped for lunch on the way, and made it back for nap time.

Snow Day in California Recap: Coffee, Drive, Fun, Mild Sunburn, Lunch, Drive, Nap. The end.

The Three Mustketeers... or Chickens. Whatever.

2010-02-16T23:29:00.000-08:00

We're happy to announce that Mo has moved up in the world... she is now allowed outside by the other Chix and can roam without fear. She is still bald on the top, but at least she seems part of the flock.

She's also started pulling her weight!

(From left to right: Wyandotte, Leghorn, Polish)

Her eggs are a very pale tan and a little smaller than the others. Three chickens, three different colors and sizes; it's funny how that works out. The Chix have been a lot of fun lately, especially for Miss M who loves to give them treats. It's a good thing they're laying well because someone..I'm not naming any names (MO AND DOTTY!) have gotten into the garden in the last couple of days and partially decimated the lettuce and onions. I threatened with yells of "You're just fattening yourselves up to be dinner!", but they just kicked dirt in my general direction. Until I turned the hose on them. That taught them....for like 10 minutes. Whatever. EGGS.

Going down with me.

2010-02-14T17:58:00.000-08:00

Mom. I know I asked for the madelein pan for my birthday, and that you just joined a new gym. Those things don't matter right now.

If I'm going to pack on the pounds, you're going down with me. See you tomorrow morning, cookies in hand.

Lunar New Year Already?!

2010-02-13T23:00:00.000-08:00

So it's the lunar new year this weekend and it's my inspiration to actually post something about our New Year's weekend at the cabin.
I'll start by saying there was no gas running at the cabin so we were sans hot water. That did not stop us from having a killer time. We brought our big outdoor stove to boil water for baths and food and overall it worked pretty well. Everyone got a warm bath each day, which, thinking about it.... is cleaner that we get when we have running hot water at the cabin. Interesting.

B&A were gracious enough to make two dinners, abalone and nabe, which are both among my favorites. Only Brad can look pirate-y while cooking nabe.

We bundled up M every morning and took her to Armstrong Grove.

Alicia and I were able to get a little video of M walking on the trail. We had just taught her how to put her hands in her pockets and she was walking in a funny, very determined way, hamming it up like usual.

After a long day of general rambunctiousness, M was ready to snuggle and be entertained.

It was another great New Year's weekend at the cabin, a tradition we always look forward to!

New and Improved!

2010-01-05T22:45:00.000-08:00

A quick little note - now you can post a comment without registering and passwords and whatnot.
Happy New Year!

Oh, and did I mention........

2009-12-24T00:15:00.000-08:00

M has started pre-school! She took a liking to it right away, I mean they had baby dolls and a play kitchen, what is not to like?!

On her first day she had a the tough realization that, unlike she previously believed, it was not always her turn. By the second day she had more patience, and now she's willing to wait without wailing.

She loves her classroom, circle time and singing songs. It is great to have her come home with new words and skills. And! She gets to ride the bus to her daycare after school! It is a big 'ol yellow school bus with special harnesses on the bench seats to keep little ones strapped in. M also loves this part of the day, especially since the kids at daycare wait for her outside at the curb. Don't worry, I'll get pictures!

Egg Watch Continued: A new Era.

2009-11-18T11:14:00.001-08:00

When last we left our faithful chickens, the score looked something like this:
Now it looks something like this:

That's Right! Not only has our faithful Dotty started laying, but she's actually starting to catch up. And! We've added a third chicken to "that thing we've got going on". She's an adoptee from the Redding Clan and she's..... really funny.

(No.... she's the one on the left..)

Her breed is white crested black polish, which is a very docile breed. This means she makes a really good pet but she's also always the lowest on the pecking order. She was getting picked on in her old flock, and she's still getting picked on here but to a lesser extent. Her feathers that had been pecked away are starting to fill in again. Her name is Mo, M and I call her "Me-Mo".
We think she's pretty cool, and she's the perfect addition to our Victory Farm.
(Victory over what, you ask?... Egglessness! We are victorious over Egglessness I say!)

The Key Words Were: OH NO!

2009-11-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

As thanksgiving approaches, I'd like to start off with why I am thankful for my husband.
Yeah, blah, blah, he's a good dad, strikingly good looking and funny. Whatever. Let's get to the real reasons and to the story:

A couple of weeks ago, we are loading M in the car to go downtown. Everything is fine, we drive through our neighborhood and then got onto the freeway. Suddenly we hear something on the roof of the car.
Did something hit it?
Is something rolling across the roof?
I couldn't even describe what it sounded like before, poof, it stopped. Nothing.
Mr. Zimny looks at me, I can see him thinking.
"Do you have your keys? Did you leave them on the roof?"
Mama Pajama! He just knew.
Yes, I totally left my keys on the roof and while they couldn't fall off during the 19 bazillion turns we took on surface streets, they decided to fly off just as we merge on to the freeway.
Wait. It gets better.

Keep in mind, I have keys from multiple institutions on that key chain. Multiple Institutions that will require Multiple Re-keying for Multiple Buildings which I assume requires Multiple Large Fees from the person that lost their keys.
But I don't mention this in the car. It's too overwhelming. I just sit there.
But not Mr. Zimny... Mr. Zimny decides to find them.
Find them on the freeway. The freeway with 3 lanes of speeding cars.

He does a couple of loops of the section of freeway where we heard them fall. I had given up before we even started. But he is sees them, a tiny handful of keys on a mile stretch of highway. They are between the two lanes furthest from us and he pulls over.

I remember saying something about being careful and he stepped out and waited for traffic to clear. I didn't think it would. I turned to M in the backseat and said "This is where daddy gets pummeled doing something for mommy because she is an idiot."

Then, like magic, there were no cars in any of the 3 lanes and Mr. Zimny jogged across and picked them up.

Let's just say they're not the same.

Every key was bent, some where crumpled. They had been run over many times. My electronic opener was a shell of it's former self. Literally.
But they were all there. Mr. Zimny was also all there.
When we got home, he helped me straighten the salvageable ones and didn't mention it again.
Reasons #112 thru 115 why I am thankful for my husband: He knows and accepts and my faults, he is brave, determined and resourceful.
It doesn't hurt that he is strikingly good looking though.

Egg watch 2009

2009-11-13T23:27:00.001-08:00

One day (about a week or so after the chix moved into the Chalet) The Leghorn started making a ton of noise. All of a sudden, in a "there is a cat trying to eat me" kind of tone.
I could hear her from the inside the kitchen, and walked out to make sure everything was ok.

What I found was an egg. A real egg.
I was egg-static.
It was egg-citing.
I was egg-normously relieved.
We're coming closer to egg-rarian living.
Com'on... bear with me here.
I've been waiting along time for these jokes.
The wait has been egg-scruciating.

Anyways, of course we started with the testing.
We compared our leghorn egg to a store bought egg and also to El Machinist's egg (from a Rhode Island Red).
Our Data:

Our's is a little smaller than both...
but it's her first egg in a long time....
On the inside:
You can see that ours had the darkest yellow yolk and also the highest yolk to egg white ratio. Hopefully they will keep getting bigger.
After the eggs kept coming, we started keeping a tally and this is what we are up to:
Ms. Egghorn is currently on about a 27 hour cycle, so every couple of days she skips the day. As the day time gets shorter, she will slow down more. Maybe when the weather gets warmer we'll be able to share!

Just Wrong.

2009-11-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

Location, Location, Location

2009-11-04T12:03:00.001-08:00

I just realized that the only difference between "pajamas" and "gym clothes" is your location. If you are in bed, they are "pajamas". If you're at the gym they are "gym clothes". The main difference is the presence of shoes. This brings new possibilities to my life.

Also, is it wrong that I am wearing my new heart monitor at the coffee shop? Mr. Zimny bought one for me, and my first thought was: "huh, I could use this to see how much coffee raises my heart rate."

I guess I could use it at the gym too.
Again, it comes down to location.

Ham In Sheep's Pajamas.

2009-10-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

Long ago, a friend from China gave M a pair of pjs ..... she recently found them in her dresser drawer.... and promptly turned in a ham.
When I put them on her, she ran her hands down her chest and proclaimed "pitty!"....which in M speak means "pretty". I could only agree.

End of summer update.#2

2009-10-12T23:57:00.000-07:00

Oh, and thanks to El Machinist, the chickens have moved into new digs:

We call it the "Chicken Palace"... or the "Chick Chalet"...it's a place by many names.

It took a bit of maneuvering to get them to use the house part the first night, but now they put themselves to bed by 6:30pm.

Let me put that in perspective for you. THEY SLEEP 10 TO 12 FREAKING HOURS A DAY IN A BRAND NEW HOUSE AND THEY STILL DON'T LAY FREAKING EGGS.

Stay tuned for Egg watch 2009.

End of summer update.#1

2009-10-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention a couple of things from this summer...

First, thanks to cousin Michelle, we've taken canning to whole new level:
That is right - Canning outside! Cousin Michelle gave us an awesome outdoor stove which practically begged me to use it for canning. Let's review the pros and cons.

In conclusion, canning outside is here to stay.

Public Service Announcement #19

2009-10-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

Remember kids : "Narcolepsy isn't sleepolepsy." It's a fact.

Proportions

2009-09-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

Let's talk proportions here. I just read that "40 is the new 25".
If that is true then I'm not even drinking age yet.
That is going to make Halloween less interesting this year.

Joys of Parenting

2009-09-17T00:47:00.000-07:00

We're scoping out ideas for M's Halloween costume this year... this the email I get from Mr. Zimny

"Keep in mind that we are running out of chances to dress her up as something ridiculous looking. She will eventually have an opinion on what costume she wants."

He is a great dad.

I'm Confused* (#116)

2009-08-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

Why is it that the muffin top is the best part of the muffin
....and yet on people the "muffin top" is not so fantastic.

Upon further investigation,
it appears that muffin tops (the good kind)
can cause muffin tops (the not so good kind).
Doesn't that violate some law of physics?

*This post brought to you by blueberry streusel muffins

That's Miss Egghorn to you.

2009-08-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

For 36.5 hours we were the skeptical adoptees of a pretty but small chicken that flew into a friend's yard.....
it took the chicken 36 hours to start crowing.
It took Mr. Zimny 0.5 hours to find it a new home.
During that 36 hours, our hen, Ms. Leghorn laid an egg. The first egg!
There was much documentation:

As you can see, it was a bit smaller than a store bought egg, but that didn't stop us from cookin' it up:

Since then I have been working under the "if you cook it, they will come" theory that states that if I cook things that require eggs, the chickens will start producing eggs.
FYI: Things that use a lot of eggs are 1) fattening 2) super yummy 3) starting to accumulate in the kitchen.

A whole new world.....

2009-08-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

We are presently living a world of false alarms, as Miss M announces every 5 minutes that she has to use the potty. However, there has been some successes, as documented here:

On the 5th we started keeping a record, only marking when there was announcement of the need for the potty, then actual follow through with use of the potty.

It looks like it will be a long road ahead, but we like where this road is leading!

Sow-er

2009-08-12T22:55:00.000-07:00

This week Miss M has been spending a lot of time in the bathroom (more on that later). She has noticed that our dog, Beta sleeps in the shower (she pronounces it sow-er) to stay cool on hot days. She is now a little obsessed with getting in the shower with Beta. Of course Beta promptly leaves whenever Miss M enters the shower, but this does not stop her from standing in the shower demanding that Beta (or Friday) get in the shower with her.

This week, after a long conversation of:
M: "Mama, sow-er!"
Me: "Yes, I see the shower"
M: "Bait-a! Sower!"
Me: "Beta is in the bedroom, sorry"
M: "Mama, sow-er!"
.....on and on,
I left her in the bathroom hoping she would give up and come find me. But all I kept hearing was "Mama, sow-er!", followed by her pounding on the door in frustration. After a few minutes I went in to try a new method of distraction (ie: "M, I think Elmo is on!") and found this:

Is it wrong that I waited until after I had taken pictures to let her out?

Hierarchy

2009-07-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

With Mr. Zimny gone, I consider it no small feat to have cooked a real meal for Miss M and I....and I would like to document it.
My plate:
And Maryn's:

As you can see, everything right and good. A quick look a the details...
Welcome to the Utensil Hierarchy (click to enlarge):
It's a handy thing to print and keep in your wallet in case you ever have dinner at the Lloyd house.

Basking in the Sun

2009-06-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month the three of us (+ 2 dogs) took a long weekend up on the coast. It was just what we needed. Mr. Zimny got to do some really hard bike rides and M and I got to spend some time in just hanging out - mostly on the deck.

Miss M needed to run some energy out....

When the deck got old we drove out to Armstrong woods. One morning we came across a tiny blind mouse-y thing, which was cool because we could get really close to it and it didn't run away. Since then I've learned it was a vole. So a vole is a blind mole and not a vampire mole as originally thought. You learn something new everyday!

Miss M learned that "beach" really just means sand buffet. We're going back soon!

Monsta!

2009-06-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

I am the pudding monsta! Give me your pudding or I will eat your arm!

New Trick

2009-06-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

Maryn's picked up a new trick....

We're hoping for a one and three at some point, but whatever.

Chicken updates.

2009-06-12T16:08:00.001-07:00

Update: Chickens still alive, Friday still insanely interested.
If it's been a while since you've seen them, here is a little montage of their progress so far:
Gobbling aphids off some greens:

Learning to perch:

Their awkward (feathers filling in) stage:

Now they live outside. This was partially due to the fact that they were getting too big for their inside box and the weather has been so mild, but mostly it is due to the fact that they were so freaking smelly that they had to go outside. Like NOW.

They've been doing pretty well and we've been trying to give them more time outside the cage. They aren't very adventurous and keep within a few feet of where you set them. They love hunting for bugs and eat greens ravenously, even grass. They are as yet unnammed, but we called them The Dot (Wyandotte) and The Leghorn. The Dot is definitely the leader and the more strong willed. She acts like the sky is falling everytime you pick her up, while The Leghorn is very mild mannered and friendly. Miss M likes to try and water them with the watering can and tries to feed them popsicles. They are not too keen on any of that, but the good thing is that they are quick enough to stay out of her way!

Garden Sucess!

2009-06-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yay!
I've never been able to grow carrots before, and originally thought this year was another total bust. I took the carrots pretty seriously this season, amending the soil with washed sand and peat moss, everything I had read about. I also planted some radishes near the carrots, which made nice greens, but never any radishes. I figured the carrots were doing the same thing, sprouting nice healthy tall greens but not actually producing anything under the soil. So I decided just to dig them up and put the containers away. When I dug them up, lo and behold, I found carrots! My first real carrots!
Look at them so orange and tender!

Let's look at them with some perspective.

That's right. The longest was roughly 1.5 inches long. Like a barbie carrot. I guess not a total bust, but seriously?! It's like they are just teasing me.

The start of updates....

2009-06-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

So, long time no blog, huh? Yeah. Well, as usual, I'd love to say that there is a good reason for the lack of updates, but there isn't. I've been reminded several times that I have a backlog and it's gotten to the point where there have been offers of babysitting in hopes that I would use the time wisely and UPDATE THE FREAKING BLOG. Ok... here it goes.

Think back a couple of months... back to say, easter. This was Miss M's first easter complete with an easter egg hunt so of course it was a well attended event. All the major sacramento players (grandpartents) were there, and Meeshmellow and Sir Buffington were also good enough to play along.
For the couple of weeks prior, we had been practicing egg hunting with Miss M, so she was pretty much a pro by the big day. (We didn't want her to freeze under the watchful gaze of all her spectators.)
Meeshmellow and I hid a couple dozen plastic eggs that had been dutifully filled with popcorn and other non-candy snacks. When I handed her the basket, I was pretty sure she would look and find a couple and then give up.... but oh, no.

She was very thorough! She kept going until her basket was full, and then some. After every egg was accounted for she started opening them up, finding all the yummy goodies and... wait for it... feeding them to the dogs.

Besides giving the dogs snacks she occupied herself trying to kiss Pebbles, who wised up pretty quick:

At least the finding part was a success!

Rebellion

2009-05-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

I doubt that I am what anyone would call..... rebellious.
But lately I've found it oddly entertaining to sit in the coffee shop with my little laptop, sipping my overpriced frilly coffee, grading papers with my little red pen, acting all teacher-y ... but secretly I'm listening to gangsta rap very loudly on my headphones.
Caffine and Jay-Z is my new breakfast of champions.

That "Thing" we've got going

2009-04-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Recently, when I mentioned to someone that we had added chickens to the family, they said "well, that makes sense, considering the whole thing you've got going on."
It left me kind of wondering, what does she mean by thing?
Did she mean the circus we've started that combines dancing chickens with a fork yielding toddler? No?

Did she mean the research lab that examines how long you can survive on popcorn alone and if the duration is the same for chickens? No?
So I'm not exactly sure what she meant, but I bet it's cool.
And by cool I mean totally sweet.

Bird is the word

2009-04-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Now Everybody's heard about the word, bird, bird, bird, bird is the word.
It's official, we've made a couple of additions to our family. After multiple chick crisisies (or is that crisis's...crisisi...what is the plural for crisis? Answer: If you are having more than one crisis at a time, you are to busy to care about correct plurals. The end.)... ok, after a series of crisisies....M, Grandma Nancy, Kathy and I were able to finally procure 2 chicks.
At the store there were all kinds of breeds but most breeds only had roosters left. We still had a few choices though, and after consulting Mr. Zimny via phone, we chose a Silver Lace Wyandotte and a Danish Brown Leghorn.
When they are grown, they will hopefully look like these:

(Silver lace Wyandotte) (Danish Brown Leghorn)

But right now, they just look like this:

See the resemblance?

The dogs didn't notice them until we pointed them out and Miss M just wants to kiss them (and poke at their eyes). Mostly they just peep around do chicken stuff like peck at things. They are as yet unnamed. Suggestions have been made, and right now it stands between the Omlet and Over-easy camp and the Terry Hatcher and Deborah Winger camp, although I like BZ's Captian Cluckles..... we'll see.

Spring Break 2009

2009-04-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

Miss M and I spent last week at the cabin with Grandpa R.L. and great-grandpa Porter. The whole week was nice and relaxing, filled with rain, popcorn, fires, and long walks.
M liked all the attention and getting hauled around town on grandpa R.L.'s shoulders. We also took a couple of morning walks in Armstrong woods. M got to hear a real cow moo for the first time and made friends with all the town cats. She also fell a couple of times and got a goose egg and a shiner... but um, er, did I mention that she got to eat her weight in popcorn and that she met some cats? 'Cause she did, and it was way cute and way more important than those bruises....really, it was.

We went to the beach where M got to try out her sandcastle skills. Let's just say she is much better at the "take a whack at the tower and then stomp on it when it falls over" skill than she is at the "build a tower" skill. We were able to see Grandpa R.L. surfing and he tried to explain some techniques to M.

It was a great week and something that we all decided should happen more often. But

On second thought.

2009-03-23T22:55:00.000-07:00

I took some cute video of M playing outside during our most recent warm spell. My plan was to post it here on the web, so that all the whole human race could witness her extremely wonderful ridiculously cute-ness......but, um, let's just say that said baby is, er...sans pants... in the video, and this seems like one of those situations that you thought would be ok, but then you totally weren't accounting for the weirdos. So instead of splashin' her cute junk all over the net, I'll invite you to email me if you'd like to see it. I recommend that you do so... there is dancing involved. 'Nuff said.

Is there anything better?

2009-03-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Is there possibly anything better than easter themed circus peanuts? The answer is yes, a baby who likes eating easter themed circus peanuts.
The only problem is trying to get her to take bites, as opposed to just trying to stuff the whole thing in. We might have to make another trip to the store.....

Girlz night out.

2009-02-15T00:22:00.001-08:00

We're not big on V-day around here (and Mr. Zimny was gone anyways) so Miss M and I decided to have a little girls night out.
We ended up eating a dinner of hot wings at Hooters with two lesbians because "no one should be alone on Valentine's Day, especially a SINGLE MOTHER".
Seriously. A direct quote.
Just that part of the story alone deserves a post,
but it's not really going to get one.
After dinner we went home, got into pajamas and moved straight
to the hard core eating of peanut butter cups in bed.
Miss M was nice (read:sleepy) enough to let me paint her toes, although she wasn't willing to reciprocate. We'll work on that for next time.

Voices of the past.

2009-02-08T22:06:00.000-08:00

We've all been there... Attempting a tricky maneuver and heard a parent's voice whispering words of advice in your mind.
I consider myself lucky to have two dads. I do not consider myself lucky to have two dads voices in my head while I am trying to build things. It's almost as if they are trying to talk over each other.

Dad Voice 1: "Measure twice cut once."
Dad Voice 2: "Use the right tool for the job."
Dad Voice 1: "Think it through before you start."
Dad Voice 2: " I agree, but make sure you have the right tools."
Dad Voice 1: " He's right, anything worth doing is worth doing right."

All I wanted was a shelf and thanks to a childhood filled with construction based lessons, I now have one.
As you can see, it's a perfect one, exactly level.
Who knew that it could be achieved with the help(ha!) of this:
While I have many things to credit my fathers for, I think it's the mothers of the world who taught me how to do those things while simultaneously feeding a toddler cheezits and keeping her away from the array of "right tools for the job" I had on hand.
Also, I realized that I always hear dad voices giving advice in my head, but as far as my mom goes, I just see her giving me "the look". That pretty much sums up my childhood.
So thanks to my mothers and fathers for all the lessons learned. I think I might go and put up another shelf now, 'cause you know, "practice makes perfect."

Don't ask.

2009-01-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

Ahhh....Sugar Free Werther's... so innocent, so....quietly devious.
Maybe you shouldn't ask why Mr. Zimny was scouring the package,
only to announce "I knew it!" when he saw this:
But then, maybe you should.

It takes Real Genius

2009-01-20T23:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how other families watch movies, but in our house it looks something like this:
We're watching Real Genius, which is a movie that involves nerds, lasers and practical jokes (I know, awesome, right?!). We come to the end, where they make the laser pop the popcorn and fill the bad guy's house.
If you haven't seen the movie, here is the clip.

Anyways.... Mr. Zimny comments that it would probably cost a lot to fill that house with popcorn. And being who we are, we were off, calculators flying, to figure out what it would cost to fill said house.
We first made some assumptions, the house is roughly 2000 sqft, with 9 ft ceilings, and all estimations were based on yellow corn and not the white stuff. (Mr. Zimny only allows the yellow in our house because it pops up bigger).
Using the volume of the newly named Captain Cornditioner (previously named the Whirley Pop), the volume of corn per bag and current prices at our grocery store, we have calculated that it would cost approximately $12222.58 to fill such a house with popcorn. Considering significant figures ('cause we do in this house), we'll call it 13 grand. Lesson learned: if you already have a coordinate quided super laser, it'll only cost you 13K more to pull off this prank. Um.... anyone have 13K I can borrow? I've got everything else I need, and a target.

Some might say that watching a movie is a sedentary activity, but in our house it can bring you to this:

Yes, that is totally us weighing how much popcorn it takes to fill Captain Cornditioner.

Yes, of course we have a gram/lb scale in our kitchen. What nerdy family doesn't?!

Yes, we measure our popcorn in a cup we got while drinking at a luau in Hawaii like 5 years ago. Like that's the weird part or something.

And YES! I did tare the cup before adding the corn. Jeez.

Vacation

2009-01-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

After putting it off time and time again, we finally made it to our "big" vacation this holiday season! We took the little one all the way to .... Mexico. Ok, so it wasn't Morocco or Chile or something but it was vacation in a warm place with all of us together. And it was nice.
I've never been to Mexico, so to me it was new and exciting in kind of low key way.

Not knowing what to expect out of Miss M, we decided that we would plan for the worst and booked an all inclusive resort for the first couple of days. That turned out to be a very good decision. Miss M did not do well with her schedule being thrown to the wind, having to sit confined to seats for multiple hours and the heat. After arriving and remembering that hey! this place has a pool! and sand! and ice cream! we got on a rotating schedule. Wake, eat, swim, eat, nap, swim, eat, eat ice cream, bedtime. I'm sure there was another eat in there.

The ice cream was a hit.

We also figured out that we needed to tire the little one out in the morning so that when we needed her to be calm (eating times, bus rides, etc) we had a fighting chance. (Yeah, I know, Duh!, give us a break, we're new at this.)
After we overcame that hurdle, the vacation started to seem a little more like vacation. Our only problem was that we had to keep the pool out of eyesight or Miss M would become very demanding that we !get in! it! now! swimming! yay!
Miss M realized that unless she was shrieking, everyone seemed to love her. She learned to strut her stuff a bit:

So our first few days were spent in Cancun, in the hotel zone. Our resort was touted as a family oriented place, which it was, just sprinkled with a few people who didn't actually read the description before coming. So the population ended up being a weird mix of 90% very sunburned American and french Canadian families and 10% tanned, ripped people looking to score with other tanned ripped people. Let's just say the people watching from the kiddie pool was very entertaining.
After the second or so day at the resort, when we realized we were making up stuff to do to kill time before we could justify eating again, we started longing for some culture and sight seeing. We settled for a bus trip to the walmart, and then bought our bus tickets to travel inland to Valladolid.

The travel inland was a bit rough, but we finally found our hotel and checked in. The town of Valladolid is quaint with nice brick streets and a town square with a nice church right across the street. Oh. and some very quaint jack hammers and heavy machinery breaking up all the streets to repave them. Uhum. Ok, so there were a lot of huge trucks and tractors doing crazy demolition, it's true. But the construction caused all traffic to essentially stop on the streets that were still functioning, which made it really easy to get around town on foot. And all the noise stopped before dinner, about the time we would be getting in from our outings, so really it wasn't bad.

We had a small but awesome hotel, directly across the street from the town square. It had a lot of character and a nice restaurant, which was candle lit at night.

The hotel also had a great view from the patio on our floor. At sunset, the birds in the park would go crazy in the trees and were really something to hear. You can see the top of the church in the background.

Our first outing was to Coba, a couple hour bus trip away. It's a set of ruins that are spread out on about 70 square km. Let's just say we didn't see everything there was to see, but we saw the major things.
For example, a huge pyramid. I took the liberty of circling Mr. Zimny for you there.

Looking at the picture now, it doesn't look quite as steep as it really is. I knew that was going to be the case, so I took a picture from near the bottom. I think it tells a clearer story.

We also took the time to see some wild life:

M:" Um, dad, don't look now, but there is a huge croc behind us. Hold me a little tighter."

Our second day was a previously unplanned trip to Chichen itza. Our original itinerary had us skipping it because it gets overrun with tourists. But we decided to go and get there as early as possible to avoid the crowds. For us that meant arriving around 9:30am, which we thought would probably be too late. But who knew that the tour buses were totally on Porter time and wouldn't arrive until noon?! There was almost no one there when we arrived, and as we were walking out the gates were flooded with tour buses coming in.
We were able to see all the sites and take pictures without having to avoid the tour groups, and Miss M had a bit of space to walk around.

All in all it was a very worthwhile but sweaty, hot day. We enjoyed some ice cream that evening and walked around town. We came across a barber shop and I tried to convince Mr. Zimny to get a hair cut, considering there were so many options.

We also enjoyed the town square, and Miss M look consulted our tour book.

The last thing we got to see was the town cenote. There are cenotes all over Mexico, some bigger than others. They are all basically a hole in the ground or cave that leads to water, supplied by an underground stream. The one in Valladolid is called Zaci Cenote and is just outside the middle of town. We stumbled upon it trying to find the town market. It's kind of a crazy thing to have inside a town.
From one side:

From the other:

You can see some of the stalactites hanging from the ceiling and some people swimming. Mr. Zimny was bummed he didn't wear his suit.
We were also able to make it to the outdoor market (on our third attempt). By this time, Miss M had grown used to traveling like a princess, and the response at the market did nothing to shake her outlook. Everyone with in a 6 foot radius smiled, pointed and tried to touch. If you were within that 6 foot radius, you were grouped in with Miss M and everyone was happy to see you. Outside that radius you were just another stupid tourist.

From Valladolid, we traveled back to Cancun, but now to the actual city part. We were still on the swim-as-much-as-possible schedule, so more pool time was a necessary.

Mr. Zimny took an outing to Isla Mujeres via ferry for some scuba diving and landed himself a nice pink sunburn. Sorry, no photographs of that were allowed. We finished up our time in Cancun watching lots of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, dreading the end of vacation while looking forward to being home.
All in all a successful vacation, although I'm not sure I'd call it exactly relaxing. On the flight back Mr. Zimny suggested that we plan a trip with grandparents next time. How about a family Christmas trip to a warm place in a couple years.... Morocco? Chile? We'll see!

Stalling

2009-01-14T17:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture to keep you distracted until I can write something about our recent vacation. Enjoy! We did.

He's gonna kill me.

2008-12-29T22:03:00.000-08:00

A recent quote from Josh:
"The problem with Europeans is that they are so European-y"
Miss you Josh.

Personal Goals

2008-12-23T00:02:00.001-08:00

We've been burned in the past when we've skipped the burping stage of giving Miss M a bottle and then putting her to sleep. By burned I mean we all woke up to screaming and baby puke.
But it can be really hard to get her to burp, and when it's late at night, and you're tired, it can be very frustrating when all that's standing between you and sleep is a burp.
Here is a quote from Mr. Zimny the other night:
" There is something really satisfying about a wet juicy burp right in your ear. If anything, those little ones are just teasing you."
It's a little interesting what qualifies as satisfying sometimes.

Costumer of the month at the Crack House

2008-12-22T23:17:00.000-08:00

In light of Meeshmellow's post, I've decided it's time to own up. This summer we were picked as customers of the month at the new Crack House in the neighborhood (starbucks). And I'm pretty sure that's not a good thing. It's ok though, because we don't use our real names.

I didn't really hit home until my mom stopped by the shop and the girls there recognized a picture of Miss M on her coffee mug, and asked her how she knew M. Oh, or last week when Meeshmellow stopped by there to pick up coffee for everyone and forgot my order. She just described M (screamy, but not in the mad way) to them and they knew what drink to make. So, er, I guess we qualify as regulars or something?

We've been a little snuggly lately, part II

2008-11-21T22:50:00.000-08:00

Just because we need to make dinner does not excuse anyone from snuggle time.

"You want me?! You'll have to come in here and get me."

We've been a little snuggly lately.

2008-11-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

M has been learning all kinds of new ways to get what she wants. First it was the "oh, look at me hug my baby sweetly." Then came the "oh, let me snuggle against you and totally disarm you until I can find something within reach to throw". Exhibit A:
You might not be able to tell, but secretly she is planning my undoing right there.

Then came the final blow of "you don't like what I am doing?! Let me kiss you! In fact, let me kiss the dog, and my baby, then you again...". Folks, we are in for some rough, although be it very cute roads.

Dinneyland!

2008-11-17T21:55:00.000-08:00

I have been instructed to update the blog more. Understood.
This last weekend was the long awaited trip to Disneyland. Handygram arranged a trip down to Anaheim to meet Alex and Gloria and for the adults of the house to go to disneyland! It seems a little wrong not to have taken little miss sassypants (aka Miss M) to disneyland, but we had all kinds of justifications (available upon request).

On Friday we drove down, stopping often for Miss M to run off some steam. We arranged to meet some friends from LA for dinner and had some great chinese food. We did stop along the way to pick up some late morning pea soup, and to take a picture.

On Sat morning, M went off with Handygram while the cousins, BZ, and I went into the park.
We had a great day, the lines were short and the weather was nice. Oh. Well except for the ash raining from the sky most of the day. The fires in SoCal provided a great cloud cover which kept the day from getting too hot, but also covered us in ash a couple times and made us all water-eyed.
It totally didn't keep us from riding all the good rides about a million times.
Our only difficulty was deciding the seating order on Splash mountain. Here is a diagram to illustrate the importance of seat placement in relation to how much you want to look like you peed your pants. (click to enlarge)

Now. Let's just say we went on this ride enough that there were some "discussions" and we all took turns being in the front. Let's also say that we tried some different poses for the pictures. This was the final ride of the day, we call this pose "bear":

Let me point out a few key things:
Again, let's also say that this was one of the less ridiculous poses we tried. The others were not exactly fit to print.....
Besides Splash Mountain, we also went on everything else....including the tea cups. We made the mistake of making it a competition, where the winning cup got a churro. The Busch girls prepared themselves:

And in the heat of the competition, Mr. Zimny gave himself this:

So he was awarded the churro.

At this time I would like to use this space to now show off the photogenic nature of the Busch family.

All in all, it was a great trip with great family! It makes us look forward to the holidays!

Speaking of Out of Control.......

2008-10-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Um.
So "they" never mentioned the fact
that when your dough finally starts to go sour,
there is a lot more gas produced...... a lot.
Go figure.
At least now we'll have sour dough bread at the apocalypse.

She got my hair part II (an update)

2008-10-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

So... I'm not sure what is funnier. The flock of seagulls hairdo, or the vest that is right out of the 80's.
Maybe it's the hairdo and the vest is like the icing?
Yeah- something like that, but it has only progressed a little from last time.
Either way, it's been confirmed - she got my hair.
She was good enough to pose for the side view, where the curly crazy back yet oddly straight front is clearly visible:
Oy. She looks so pleased. I'm not sure this bodes well for us.

The best weeks ever, part II.

2008-09-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah. So there was something else that happened last week too.

I turned in this:

Pssst.... it's my dissertation.
You know, that 150 page THING.
The last THING that was standing between me and my Ph.D.
Yeah, that.
It's a pretty boring read unless you are into structural dynamics of metal centered species. With my data analysis skillz, I've come up with a summary for you:

Although that graph was not included in the actual paper, I think it sums up things pretty well.
It is also directly related to this graph:

All in all it comes down to a simple exchange. I traded these three signatures:

for this one:

I don't mean to get all mathematical with proportions and junk, but when you think about it, what does it say about those three people?!
They spent years in their education, then more years doing research, getting grants, trying to save the world and whatever, and all three of their signatures combined are only worth one signature by a counselor.
A woman in an office with a little rubber finger-y thing who makes sure all my pages are numbered.
Don't get me wrong. She is a great woman.
A woman who rang a bell and announced to the entire (non interested) office that I was officially Dr. Porter and then shook my hand.
But still. It's three scientist to one her.
I think that's odd, yet totally makes sense in a way.
Maybe that is what my next paper will be about.....

Not even sure what to post first.

2008-09-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Ok. So it's been a couple weeks. A LOT HAS HAPPENED IN THOSE COUPLE OF WEEKS.

I'll start with the most amazing....

This was 2 weeks ago.....

And now this week:

We are a little ecstatic about the new developments, especially because they come with all kinds of fun new things. Like skinned knees, playing chasing games, the ability to wear dresses, and the realization that if you carry the ball, the dogs will come. It's been a good couple weeks.

Here is Miss M and her daddy:

To Handy-gram's House we go....

2008-08-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to be invited to the Cal/MSU game at Memorial Stadium in Berkley this weekend. I'd never been to a college football game, so it was a really fun experience for me. It also meant M's first real excursion to Grandma Linda's (Handygram's) house!
M can be a bit of a handful, but evidently she was no match for Handygram! They had a big day of walks, social calls, swimming and dogs. Here are a couple highlights:

We were really happy that it all worked out and that everyone had a good time. There is nothing like coming home with a bellyfull of hot dog to find your baby just nodding out in grammy's arms!

What happens when she spills her bubble juice.

2008-08-22T01:29:00.000-07:00

It's a little funny. I felt a little bad, but not bad enough to not put it on the internet.

The beginning of the end of life as we know it.

2008-08-22T01:14:00.000-07:00

It's happening. She just started doing it.

Now she can get almost anywhere. And she does.
This was actually a couple weeks ago, so more has happened, but I need to get video.

Addicted to the Blue Pony

2008-08-22T00:36:00.000-07:00

I've admitted it to most people, but I'll just lay it out here on the internet.
We had an incident with blueberries this summer.
By we, I mean me. By incident, I mean I couldn't stop eating them.
For days.
Exhibit A:

Now I'd love to say that I made a pie or something but I'd be lying.
I totally just sat on the couch and chowed down pounds (literally) of them.
I started to save the packages up to remind myself of the sheer volume I was consuming. Mr. Zimny calls them "carcasses".
I ate all the containers in the picture in 3 days. That's 2.5 lbs a day.
I'll put that into perspective for you.
IT'S TOO MANY.
I had to cut down, I started rationing.
But Safeway was happy to play my enabler by putting them on sale, so I was back on the blue pony for another week.
But I think I'm clean now.
Just don't bring any of those things over. I don't know how strong my will power is.

Judgement Day

2008-08-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

So.
I have Jury Duty today.
In a cup-half-full type of way there are two decent things about the situation.
First, the incredible venue for people watching. More on this later.
Second, FREAKING WIFI!
That's right. I'm sitting surrounded by strangers in the courthouse,
blogging about how weird said strangers are.

I have been here for an entire 44 minutes and have moved 3 times, trying to find the best balance between the woman who used the f word in the first 2 sentences in our conversation and the guy who looked at me like I was a hoodlum when I pulled out my laptop while simultaneously situating myself at the best vantage point for people watching but not sitting in the sun.

Note: There are 2 seats in the entire courthouse that fit these criteria.
The first one is right next to the star student of the class I just finished teaching, who also got called in for jury duty.
I think that is really weird so I am in the other spot.
Secretly blogging about the weirdness.
Plus, in a moment of supreme "Wha? What time is it? Crap, better get dressed.... do I keep on the sweat pants I wore for pajamas, or do I change into my "dress" sweat pants?",
I chose the latter.However, I am still sitting here amongst strangers in my sweats.
But who cares with all the f words and piercing looks being thrown around?
Right?! RIGHT?
Oh, well maybe the star student of my class who actually took the time to dress better than a street urchin.
Whatever.

So .... I gotta go. I'm trying to keep mobile in order to avoid being caught in an uncomfortable conversation. But I must say, I think that a woman just changed seats and moved away from me when she looked over and saw what I was doing. But that's ok because she sat down next to the f-word woman.
She'll come crawling back, you'll see.

A feBreeze blowing through Beta's Hair.

2008-07-24T01:05:00.000-07:00

It's 1:09am and I'm searching for fox urine on the web.
Just another night at the Lloyd house!
See... we've been having a problem. A skunk problem.
For once it isn't Friday's gas that's been keeping us up.
Even though we have two large (and gassy!) dogs, and we don't keep any food outside, our backyard is a little skunk highway complete with pile ups between 9 and 10 every night. When the dogs are out, they get sprayed during that time. When the dogs aren't out, the skunks spray anyways. I think they're just trying to prove a point.

So, what do you do when you've washed your 80 lb black dog and now she smells like a mix of skunk and wet dog and it's 11pm already?

That's right, you Febreeze your wet dog. And the other dog too, just to be safe.
Then you look on the web for skunk repellant, which, by the way, is crystals soaked in fox urine.
Yum. Better living through chemistry, right?!

While the daddy cat's away... the mice will play

2008-07-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

So... Mr. Zimny is out of town for the weekend.
Even if only for a short time, it is hard being a single parent.
Let's review the hardships:

I wanted to sleep in....and so did Miss M. She slept until 10am. Er... not so hard.
For breakfast we shared chocolate milk and funions.
Then we went to the pool, where Miss M charmed everyone and "swam" until she practically fell asleep in the pool.
By "swam" I mean kicked and splashed and laughed.

Ok... so the day part wasn't so bad.

Our evening consisted of dinner (me- hamburger and blueberries, her- Cheeto's, funions, milk and hamburger), then a trip to Ikea.
Considering that to M, trips to any store are just excuses to throw a temper tantrum, she was pretty well behaved but did insist on getting a soft serve cone on the way out.
Oh wait. That was me. I'm getting us confused.

She fell asleep on the way home, but as soon as we got home, there was no sleep to be had. But I was willing to be the tough mom and let her put herself to sleep in her crib.
An hour later I was done being tough mom. I couldn't hear any of dvds I'd rented over the crying, so I went and got her and let her lay in bed with me.
For a good hour she just laid next to me, snuggled up and watched Weeds episodes.
After that she insisted that we get some blueberries to eat.
Wait, I'm confusing us again.
But she did enjoy the blueberries in bed with me.

By the way. Do not trust your baby when she says that she didn't spit any blueberries into the bed.
She is lying.
Just like me, you'll wake up with a blueberry stuck to the back of your knee and have to change the sheets.

Anyways, she finally got all giggly like she always does when she is really tired and I let her fall asleep on top of me and then put her in her crib.
Fast forward 11 more Weeds episodes (I'll do the math for you... thats about 4 hours)
I fell asleep in my clothes, remote control in hand.
I always have a hard time sleeping with Mr. Zimny gone.

Ok, so in general the weekend wasn't really that hard. The next day wasn't so bad either. But by the end of the weekend, I was a bit spent. Miss M is a pretty happy kid, and in general fun to be with. But it's always hard to be totally dependent on someone else's schedule. Especially when that someone shrieks instead of talks, wants to be entertained all the time, gets poopy diapers and is bad about sharing blueberries.
Gosh, I think that is exactly what I have to look forward to when Mr. Zimny is 95 years old.

I've almost got it!

2008-07-14T23:38:00.001-07:00

Ahhh, the joys of having a small yet mobile child - who is oddly determined to retrieve the electric toothbrush she placed deep inside the cabinet.

Don't judge. I can totally explain why she had the electric toothbrush.

Explanation:
She likes the electric toothbrush
Mr. Zimny was gone
Playing with electric toothbrush = momentary reprieve from shrieking
Did you think it would be complicated?

Hmmm... although she was entertained for a good 10 minutes, I am pretty sure that isn't why the named them entertainment systems.

What's up girlfriend?

2008-07-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

"Whatcha doing?"
"Nuthin, just standin' around."

Maryn tells it like it is

2008-07-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

We know a lot of people have seen Miss M's "speeches", but we thought we'd put something up for those who haven't. Let's just say that she has a very strong opinion about something. We're not sure what her opinion is, or what it is about, but she is very certain of it. She gives mini lectures constantly, complete with wild arm gestures.
This is just a taste of one of her recent lectures. There is shrieking- so keep your volume low . I'll try to get a better one soon, but here is an example:

It's about time

2008-07-01T23:06:00.001-07:00

So.... it's been a while. We have some news.
First, we'd like to report that THE DISSERTATION IS WRITTEN.
That's right. Written, turned in for "editing". Haven't heard much back besides something like "you should change the colors on that figure". I'm taking that as a good sign.
Second, I've had the last couple weeks off, so we've been doing some fun things (see below).
Third, I've started my summer class. It's a lot of work but it keeps be off the streets and still allows time to take Miss M to the pool.

Which brings us to number four... Miss M LOVES THE POOL!!!!

When I turned in the dissertation and told el parental units, I got this response :
"good.....so maybe you can start updating the blog more, huh?!"
HINT HINT.

Anyhoo....

There have been some fun events to talk about also....
I'll start the updates with what we've been calling Jammin' 2008.
It all started with good intentions - some berry jam.
Guess what?! No berries at the farm.
So we picked some apricots and peaches instead, then picked up some strawberries at the stand on the way home. We honestly didn't think we'd have enough to make more than a couple batches of apricot jam and a batch of strawberry.
About 3 batches into the apricot jam, we realized that we'd barely made a dent, and had a long way to go. By the time we started thinking about the strawberries, we were trying to cut our losses. I won the bet for how much we'd end up making (it was over 100 jars). There were 4 of us. This was my share of the jam to take home:

Ok, so that is where the fun started.
Next up was the delayed Spring Fling.

I am happy to announce there are videos. You'll thank me for this.

First of all, it was great to have the gang back together. We were really sorry that some of the better halves weren't there, but life isn't perfect.
It gives us something to look forward to next time.
We had a great time playing "testicles" in the back yard, trying to ignore the heat.

After dinner and a few drinks (er, who are we kidding?!), we moved on to some video games. Not your Atari 2600 people! We're talking ROCK BAND action!!!!

We had 9 people, so three teams of 3 seemed reasonable. That is where the reasonable descisions stopped. We won't bore you with the details here, but the idea for this game is for each person in the "band" to hit the right note at the right time.

Brian's team was up first... Brian on guitar, Chris singing and Joey drumming.
They're trying to play In Bloom by Nirvana.

Next up was Brad's team.... with an added twist:

Brad had decided a costume change was in order.

Here is a little sampling of thier band playing Guns N Roses, Lisa on drums, Eric singing and Brad rockin' the guitar.

Then finally, it was time for the third team - The Mall Kittenz. Gabby on drums, Meeshmellow singing and me on the guitar. It's Roxanne by the Police if you can't tell.

So you can see how seriously we take ourselves. Mr. Zimny is mumbling something about how this violates the "what happens at the Fling stays at the Fling" rule.
With this last video, I'm flinging that rule out the window. This is Brad and Chris "boxing". Enjoy.

You know it's a good party when someone says: "why don't we do this more often?".

I'll try to keep the updates coming more frequently, and with less videos. Or more videos... we'll see how many complaints we get....

The older children in the house.

2008-05-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Picture this scene: Maryn is magically down
for a nap during dinnertime.

Did you get the chills too?
I said the baby was asleep during dinner! Meaning we ate a whole meal without having to defend our plates, cups, silverware from grasping baby hands.
Anyhoo.... she's asleep. We finish dinner and Mr. Zimny says that he thinks we should wake her up soon so that she will sleep tonight.
Sure I say.
At the designated time, I say that I'm going to go wake her up.
"Hey, you want to try to poke her and run out like we talked about so that she thinks she just woke up on her own?" He says.
To me there are about a hundred things that are funny about this statement, I'll highlight just a couple.
First of all is that fact that at a previous time, we'd actually talked about poking her and running away to see what she would do. She's notorious for being crabby when waking up. Would she sit up and look for the poker? Would she give up and go back to sleep? Could we get away fast enough? Do other parents talk about little tricks they can play on thier kids?
I'm not sure I want to know the answer to the last one.
The second thing is that Mr. Zimny considers this method reasonable enough to bring it up AGAIN. It is an actual option. The third thing isn't really about the statement itself.

The third thing is that we actually did it.

At this point I ask myself is it wise to post this story on the internet. Hmmm.... well, maybe it's not, but whatever. I've already admitted that accidentally drenched my infant in an automated car wash.
Ok, so, this is different. I did it on purpose, but anything involving an poking an unsuspecting victim is hilarious to me, I can't help it.
So here we are. The scene:
Mr Zimny: "You won't be able to do it, you'll laugh."
This is soooo true. I would be hystarical with laughter just at the anticipation while moving in to poke. So I hide outside her room. Mr. Zimny sneaks up to her crib.
I can't help myself and burst in to laughter, trying my best to muffle it with my arm. In pantomime, he asks me if he should poke her in the head or the butt. And BECAUSE I AM A GOOD MOTHER I say he should poke her on the butt. I promply explode with snorty laughter as he reaches into the crib.
Nothing.
At all.
She doesn't even notice.
"Poke her harder!" I mime.
He does. Still nothing! It's like her butt is immune to wake up nudges.
Mr. Zimny says that he's gonna tickle her ear. To me, tickling the ear is about the only thing funnier than poking someone. I can now barely stand up because I am laughing so hard. Through tearing eyes, I see him lean over the crib again.
He leans back looking a bit deflated. He turns to me (hiding in the hall) and shrugs. "Nothing" he says.
Drastic times call for drastic measures people! Mr. Zimny decided to pull out his big guns - the wet willy without the wet. So, er, yeah, just sticking your finger in someones ear and wiggling it around.
He reaches down and gives her a little willy... and nothing?... wait... eee! run run! she noticed!
He races out into the hall. At this point, I am like a eye-watering ball of spasming blubber, uttering something between teheheheheheeh and spontaneous snorting. Wow, there is a picture for you. Yikes.
She sits up, we're watching from outside the door. She lays back down. We creep up to her crib to see if she's awake. Eeee! She sits up and catches us! No time to run! We're caught! She gives us a "What the....?" look. Then a big smile, like her parents didn't just totally wake her up by giving her a willy.
So this is what serves for entertainment in the Lloyd house on an average Tuesday... you're welcome to visit anytime. And because I AM A GOOD MOTHER, willys, wet or otherwise are complimentary

News Flash- Maryn knowns "In"

2008-05-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

This just "in": Maryn has mastered the skill "put in". This has thrilled both parents and Maryn alike. Onlookers commented "It's amazing what a kid can learn while being neglected on the paper strewn office floor while her mother furiously works on her dissertation". Scientist estimate that at this rate, Maryn will have taught herself to drive before her mother finishes her dissertation.

In other, related news, Maryn is extremely cute sporting pigtails:

Just in case we need Chevre after the apcolypse.

2008-04-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

So, you haven't heard from us lately. You might guess that the Lloyd house has been enjoying some outside time... but oh no.

You might guess that we've been busy because
there is this thing called a Dissertation.
And it's DUE.
Like YESTERDAY already.

Even with those options available, what we've (I've) really been doing is preparing for the apocalypse. Not that I actually think it's gonna happen anytime soon... but it's a good motivator.

Unlike that Dissertation.
The one DUE ALREADY. (See mom, I get it)

When you think of the apocalypse and how you could possibly survive, you might plan to store water, or canned food and batteries.
We say that is all well and good. But why would you want to survive without Chevre cheese?
Seriously people, is life without cheese worth living?!

A while ago Meeshmellow tried (and succeeded!) at making actual, real, good, goats milk cheese at home.

Now you might say "oh, well, she's meeshmellow (and a chemist), of course she can do it."
So I'll finish it up with a "She said it was easy!".
To me, easy means that it doesn't take more that $20, more than 5 ingredients, or more than half a days worth of work. Guess what.
Cheese totally meets those requirements. I know, awesome, right?!

So here is what apocalypse preparation looks like in our house:
1) You use Google to find and purchase 2 ingredients: Rennet and Starter Culture (bacteria). You can get the goats milk at the grocery store.
2) You set out the equipment: some measuring spoons, a big spoon, a thermometer and a pot.
3) You follow the recipe which means first you heat up the milk, add the bacteria and rennet. Stir.
4) You then let the "inocculated" milk sit overnight. At room temp. That part kinda creeps me out.
5) The next day, you see if it's coagulated enough, drain the whey off and then let it drain in some cloth for a while. By "a while" I mean "as long as you can wait before eating it". Here is the stuff that I just let drain in cloth:
It came out like this:

It was pretty dry, and stayed in big chunks like I wanted. So that was good.

I also pressed some of the wet cheese in a nifty difty cheese press. THAT I TOTALLY MADE IN EL MACHINE SHOP! I know, you TOTALLY want to see this press, don't you?!

Ok, yes, I just took a piece of tupperware and punched holes in it. BUT IT TOTALLY WORKED, AND I MADE A CHEESE PRESS BY MYSELF IN LIKE 30 SECONDS. We'll need cheese presses at the apocalypse people.

This cheese turned out like this:

So, it was dry and chunky just like I wanted it. But square.
And with herbs because I put them in before I pressed it.
All in all, the press was the better way to go, there was less tending needed.
Now all I need is A BIGGER PRESS.

6) After it's drained, you get to eat it. You can add some salt and whatever, but it's good anyway.
7) Do it all again so that you can be really good at it in time for the apocalypse.

I'll have to admit, this whole do-yummy-yourself thing was inspired by El Machinist, who can do almost anything and in a gourmet way. He got me all makin' bread and stuff. Which is why we have this as a resident in the fridge:

It is super easy to make bread for dinner and whatnot. But all I could think about when I was eating the bread was how good it would taste with goat cheese. Hence the recent goat cheese activity.

When I brought the first batch of Chevre to El Machinist, he asked me where I got the ingredients. When I said the net, he said something like "It's apocolypse cheese, we won't have the internet. How can you make your own starter culture?" This then spurned a whole lunch hour of looking up how to start cultures and derive rennet from livestock or plants. Which, according to El Machinist after he read the instructions is " eh, easy enough to do... ". So there you have it.

Goat Cheese = Easy and yummy
Apocalypse = survivable, as long as your only requirements are bread and goat cheese
Dissertation = Not Complete

It looks like she got my hair.

2008-03-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

I accept that I have my share of crazy hair moments. I generally call them morning time.
It seems that Miss M was blessed/cursed (take your pick) with crazy hair too, and oh, I have evidence.
Exhibit A: In the bath tub.

Now, I admit it, this is a bit staged.
But! The potential was there.
A lot of potential!

Exhibit B: The Dr. Emit Brown
(picture taken on a totally different day).
This is where the true potential of Miss M's crazy hair is realized.

She can attain all of the following
1) a blond afro
2) sleek, close to the head curls
3) 1/2 super wispy and straight, 1/2 kinda curly. We call this the Emit Brown hair style because it's kinda like the crazy doctor from Back to the Future, as seen here:

It's a crap shoot what she'll end up with every day.
She definitely got my hair.

The key is lots of bubbles....

2008-03-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

Miss M was graced with a daddy bath this weekend. Baths are usually mommy-baby time, but we decided to switch it up a little. Mr. Zimny got the bath running (with lots of Mr. Bubble!) while I got Miss M undressed and ready. I sat on the toilet and watched and talked to them while they played. After a few minutes Mr. Zimny asked me if I was ok... as in, was I ok not being in the bath. I took that as a clue that I should give them their time alone......
But not before I snapped this classic pick:

After the bath Mr. Zimny told me that there was an "issue" after most of the bubbles were gone. Miss M started trying to grab for "things" that weren't bath toys. While there were bubbles, she couldn't really see below the water, but as the bubbles popped she started noticing "things". As Mr. Zimny says "the key is lots of bubbles....".

IFC does not mix well with TIVO

2008-03-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

So we discovered that we get IFC (Independent Film Channel), which is about the quirkiest and fun channel on cable.

Here are the pros of IFC :

1) There aren't commercial breaks!
2) The movies are uncut. This might not seem like that big of a deal, but considering the kind of movies IFC tends to show, if the bad words were bleeped there wouldn't be any dialog. It would just be one long bleep.
3) The Whitest White Kids U'Know are on IFC. It's a show from the writers of Kids in the Hall. It is freaking funny - how can you not laugh at a rap song about dinosuars? I tried once. My head almost exploded.
4) You can see all the movies that major celebrities hope no one ever sees again. The movies they made before they cared about how much money they'd get. Before they had a career to ruin.

It also at least a couple cons.
1) You will get caught up watching crazy french movies that only show at 4am on the Independent Film Channel. I'm not sure there is any lower standard.
2) The is a lack of movies with romantic happy endings. If you are looking for the guy to end up with the cute girl instead of the nerdy guy, you're watching the wrong channel.
3) You can't watch ANY of these movies in front of your child. EVER. See pro #2.

So.... here we are. It's 12:04am on a Sunday.
We're watching a movie about strippers.
It's not a happy go lucky movie, if you know what I mean.

Here's a quote from Jennifer Tilly's character:
"I'm gonna have this kid! I'm gonna have this kid and
it's gonna grow up and sell drugs to your kid."

If you were to make a graph (and oh, I might!) of actors vs the number of their movies that are shown on IFC, Jennifer Tilly would be one of the highest scorers. It's just a guess.

You turn your head for a second.....

2008-03-05T22:39:00.000-08:00

And your baby turns into a pirate!

Maybe not.
But when I said "You turn your head for a second...." you totally thought I'd finish it up with a "your baby falls and gets a goose egg" or something...didn't you?
Or maybe you're an optimist... and you thought I'd follow it up with a "your baby takes her first step".
Huh... Maybe I underestimated you.
Anyways. We finally made it on The Morning Walk
that I promised Miss M. Oh, you know The Walk.
It's The Walk that I promised we'd take if they actually opened
the Crack Shop around the corner from our house.
And by Crack Shop, I mean Starbucks. It's the same thing.
I told Miss M that if it actually opened it would be a good excuse to take a walk in the morning. True to my word, we made the 14 minute trek this morning. After we de-pirated the baby hat.

Coming to a tub near you!

2008-03-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

Fat and Naked Baby....now with Bubble Beard.

Like a baby with a real facial hair, but more cute and less weird.

Baby Bites

2008-03-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

For anyone who has ever tried to feed Miss M, this might actually mean something. For those who haven't, you'll just have to trust that it is significant.

In one sitting...... a whole container of baby food in one meal. It was almost too good to be true, but it happened again at daycare the next day and at home the next night. We are on a 4 day eating spree right now!
Mr. Zimny and I theorized that there has been some experiment where our baby has been secretly switched with her opposite -a baby that now eats, but doesn't sleep. But it turned out that the not sleeping was a new TOOTH. It 's a TOOTH and not a tooth because it 's a big'n. It's a lower side tooth and looks like it really hurt. So now we have a baby that both sleeps and eats...
can you say happy family?! Miss M can't - she's got a mouth full of food!