Musings & Mutterings: March 2008

Monday, March 31, 2008

The Weekend, in list format

In honor of the end of March, and the list-writing challenge that I did for a while, here are a few to finish us out for the 31st.

New Foods Penguin has Eaten in the Past 2 Weeks

bacon (She's no longer a vegetarian! And what a great first meat! *grin*)
roasted asparagus with balsamic browned butter
penne noodles with pesto

Verses Pumpkin has Made up to "Down by the Bay"
Did you ever see...

a moose eating a duck?
a [Penguin] eating a rhinoceros?
a potty people eating a Kiki? (Yeah, I don't know what a "potty people" is either, but Kiki's her favorite stuffed bear.)

(Yeah, she doesn't really get the rhyming thing... just that they're supposed to be funny and odd.)

Yummies to which we introduced Sewing Bee (formerly Turtle) and Mr. Turtle (Pumpkin's godparents and Mr. Kluges's best man)

Yummies to which Sewing Bee and Mr. Turtle introduced us

Ways in Which Baby Boy Turtle (age 5 months) Resembles a Little Old Man

the shape of his face
his very, very, very light colored and scant hair
He's toothless
...and incontinent.

Ways in Which Pumpkin and Little Girl Turtle (4 months her elder) had to be THE SAME

wearing matching sweatshirts to the local children's museum
when I loosely braided Pumpkin's hair before bedtime, LGT needed a sleeping braid put in her much, much shorter hair, too.
had to have coordinating plates, cups, silverware and bunny crazy straws (LGT's set was purple, Pumpkin's was pink.)
matching footie pjs
apparent mentality sometimes, aka "You're playing with that toy? Well then, I need it, too!"
To their parents' amazement and joy, both took naps Sunday afternoon, at the same time the two babies did... so we grown-ups played us some Settlers of Catan

So a fun time was had by all, and we were thrilled they came out to visit. Hooray!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Thoughts I've Had Today

La, la, la, cleaning the house... You know, it's funny how frantically everybody cleans up their house before visitors and then is all like, oh, it's always this clean... Or at least I think everybody else does that, too...

Are we food snobs if we've got four different kinds of olive oil in our cupboard?

You'd think between the slots of the radiator would be too hot for spiders...

I wish the mailman wouldn't have seen me in my pajamas yesterday.

.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

We're back

Hullo. We're back. We had a lovely time with our families, and enjoyed the fact that we're close enough now to drive there (a long drive, but still, just a drive) rather than have to do a transatlantic flight. The girls were quite good on the 6 1/2 hr drives to and fro, with Penguin napping twice during each, and Pumpkin even napping on the return. And between all the toys, books, CDs, and DVDs I packed, they were kept fairly busy and entertained over the miles, although I think Penguin's toes were her favorite amusement.

Today was unpacking and laundry. Lots of laundry, but hey, what do I care? I've got a lovely washer and dryer in the basement of my very own. After all those months of the laundromat, I don't take them for granted, especially upon returning from a trip!

While we were gone, lots and lots of the snow melted here at the House of 42 Doors. It was even nice enough today that I got out the double stroller and we walked to the grocery store to get milk and such. Pumpkin enjoyed running most of the way there in her wellie boots while Penguin was just thrilled to be out and about and watching the scenery. Me? I loved being able to get exercise and things done at the same time. As I figured (and didn't work too hard to prevent), I've put back on a few of the pounds I'd lost. The grandparents just make such good food! Plus I have to admit to eating a few chocolates and jelly beans, too.

But now the dishes are calling for me to come and do them, and of course there is still much putting away to do of all those toys, books, CDs, DVDs, snacks, and other car "stuff," so I should be off. Just wanted to let y'all know we've returned.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Yeah, I'm done

Alright, since we're going to be traveling and away from home for 5 days, and because the weekend after we return the Turtle family will be visiting us (Yay!), and I'll have laundry, unpacking, grocery shopping, etc. to do in the couple of days in between, I'm officially declaring myself done with doing lists for March. I'd missed the first day, so it's not like I would have had a perfect month anyway. But it was pretty fun.

So, in case I don't say it later, Happy Easter to you all!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

To do before leaving tomorrow morning for 5 days away

ARgh!

Put the clothes I've chosen for Penguin and Pumpkin in a suitcase
Finish choosing and packing my clothes
in the am, pack the frig snacks
pack the pack-n-play
finish charging the DVD for the car
choose DVDs and CDs and pack them
finish choosing toys for the car and pack them
go to swimming lessons
refinance for a lower rate (that's this afternoon)
take out the garbages 'cuz I don't want fermenting diapers in the house. Peee-eeeew!
put away dishes
wash dishes & put them away
make sure I've got the Easter baskets & stuff.. adn that they stay hidden
make sure we've got refills for the pottette (travel potty, just in case)
pack up the diaper stuff for Penguin
load up teh car so I know where everything is and I can reach what I need while we're moving
remember things like phones, chargers, a book, etc.
not go crazy

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Email Broken

Ok, just wanted to let our friends and family know that our email is currently ka-blooey, so if you sent us anything recently, we didn't get it. Which sucks. But hopefully it will be fixed soon. So if you need to get a hold of us, you should probably call.

Thanks!

The Cookbooks on the Shelves Behind My Desk Where I am Typing This Very Post

(I think the title explains it very nicely.)

(Well, except it kind of makes it sound like I'm possibly typing this on the shelves myself, but you know what I mean.)

(Also, can you tell I'm running out of ideas for this list-a-day-in-March business?)

Essentials of Cooking
Low Fat Bold Flavors
Classic Vegetarian Recipes
Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2002
Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking
Williams-Sonoma Roasting
Almost Vegetarian
Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day
Italian Farmhouse Cookbook
The Six O'Clock Scramble
How to Grill
The Ballymaloe Bread Book
Joy of Cooking
Food to Live By
Buca di Beppo: Into the Sauce
50 Ways to Feed Your Lover
Waffles
Sweet Times
The 15-Minute Vegetarian Gourmet

Plus a bunch of Cooking Light magazines and small cookbooklets like "Meatless Main Dishes" and "Fast and Healthy" and "Quick Soups," many of which we use fairly often, and we've got some herb books that include some recipes, too.

And if you'd like to sneak a peek at some other people's cookbooks, head over to Recipeeps 4 Us, where listing three without looking is the Wednesday Fun question. Not that I'm shamelessly promoting it or anything... That's why this is small. ;)

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Tons of Tights

We were the very fortunate recipients of another package from TNGreatAunt yesterday, but the day was busy, so I waited and we opened it today. Along with a lot of fun Easter stuff and other goodies, there were tights. Lots and lots of tights for Pumpkin. Which is great, because it's hard to find cute, thick-ish tights that don't cost an arm and, well, a leg. And since our old house is definitely NOT energy-efficient or well-insulated, we keep the heat lowish, so it's nice to have tights for layering under pants, too, in cool weather.

Now, I can't say for sure if I'm going to get them all, because they're either washed and put away already (and Pumpkin's asleep) or else I think I've got a few pairs still in the dryer, but here's my list for today:

plain black
black with blue flowers
blue with a snowflake and stripes
blue with multicolor dots
brown with multicolor dots
white with snowflakes
white with small pink dots (in small and large sizes so Penguin can match her big sister!)
white with small pink and green dots
pink with darker pink flowers
bright multicolor stripes
lavender with three hearts
purple zebra stripes
black and pink stripes with flowers

Yay, tights!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Things I miss about living in Ireland (in no particular order)
(But more may be added later as I think of them)

our friends, especially Pumpkin's best buddy A.
the bacon
seeing stone ruins just everywhere
being an exotic vacation get-away for friends and family
living within walking distance to Blarney Castle
the cozy pubs
the smell of peat
the many, many rainbows
not shoveling snow
Clonakilty black pudding
the green
the fabulous and fun St. Patrick's Day parade in Cork
being able to walk to the store and/or library and/or butcher's pretty much any day
visiting all kinds of castles and such
the English Market in Cork with its wonderful cheeses and olives
watching Dora the Explorer in Irish (Yay for TG4!) (That'd be "tee gee cah-her" to you.)

P.S. Thanks, TNGreatAunt for the matching shirts and other St. Paddy's Day stuff!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Brief and similar

Here's the very short list of things I want to happen this afternoon:

nap
have Penguin nap
have Pumpkin either nap or have a nice, quiet "quiet time"

*yawn* The "not going in at night" is going ok, but she's a stubborn girl with good lungs, so we could all use a tad more shut-eye to make up for the 3am-4am stretch of yelling. But I don't think (*knock on wood*) that it'll take too many more nights.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

The "Let's Pretend It's NOT Winter" Meme

I swiped this meme/list from Mary P. over at It's Not All Mary Poppins.
Think spring, people!

1. If you could go anywhere in the world RIGHT NOW, where would you go?
Probably back to Ireland for a quick visit. Provided that it was instantaneous travel so that I could easily bring Pumpkin back so we could visit her best friend and I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle and agony of preparing for and undertaking a long transatlantic flight. If I had to pick someplace new, the Great Wall of China is on my "to visit before I die" list.

2. What’s your favourite tropical drink?
Mai Tais! And a big shout out to the GAW girls!

3. What’s your favourite (non-winter) activity?
Sitting outside on a warm summer evening, reading a book and enjoying a nice wheat beer (or even a raspberry wheat beer - yum!)

4. What’s your favourite article of summer clothing?
Sandals. Definitely.

5. What’s your favourite food cooked on the BBQ?
Good, real meat hot dogs cooked until they're almost burnt

6. You’re on the beach…what do you have on your feet?
If it's at all rocky or mucky, water sandals. I have wimpy feet.

7. Canoe, motor boat or white water raft? (Or write your own)
All are fun - it's rather mood-dependent, I think.

8. Do you prefer to swim in a pool, a lake or the ocean?
I'm not a great swimmer, and I HATE when lakes get green and gunky, and I HATE the smell of rotting fish/seaweed that you can get at low tide at the ocean, so I vote for nice, clean, cold, ogliotropic Lake Superior!

9. Favourite flavour of ice cream?
I think I just answered that yesterday... Ok, cut and paste...

Mmmmm... What isn't? I'd have to say I'm really, really fond of Mr. Kluges's homemade coffee ice cream, but regular mint chocolate chip and anything pistachio are good, too.

10. What do you look forward to most about summer in general?
I used to look forward to the break/vacation from school. Now I'm looking forward to being able to open the windows, to not constantly wear a sweater in the house, to being able to just go outside without having to bundle myself and the girls up in coats, snowpants, snowsuits, hats, scarves, mittens, boots...

Happy Ides of March

Kids are so fun...

(Please forgive the very loud "Go!" at the beginning. The camera takes a bit of lead time, and Pumpkin is known for rushing her lines... That was "Et tu, Brutus? Aaarrrrrrgh!" in case you missed it.)

P.S. To give credit where it's due, it was Mr. Kluges's idea. He started coaching her a week or so ago when he was watching the girls and I was out shopping.

Friday, March 14, 2008

I don't know the real name of this meme...

This meme/list comes from AllKnowingJen over at The Bus of Love. Thanks, AKJ, for letting me not have to think too hard tonight!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Nope, but one of the reasons my parents picked my name was that it was short and would be easy for me to learn to spell in kindergarten.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Um, it's been maybe a week? I think I last cried in frustration/tiredness one night when Penguin Just.Would.NOT.SLEEP! And it's very possible I will tonight, because I am DONE getting up multiple times with her every night and tonight's the night I'm calling it quits and letting her yell until she fall asleep. Because she can, she needs to learn how to do it eventually, and the problem will not fix itself, much as I'd wish.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Not really. In fact, I'm sometimes a bit embarrassed by it. It's very messy, but that's because my thoughts are going too fast for my fingers to keep up. And if it's just for me, I often leave off the ends of words or use some of my own made-up short-hand. Which means that if Mr. Kluges is going to do the grocery shopping, he has to read through the list and make sure he knows what it says before he leaves or he ends up calling me from the store...

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Bacon.

What? It's on sandwiches! BLTs, club sandwiches, bacon cheeseburgers...

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
Yes, and all you regular readers are fairly well acquainted with Pumpkin and Penguin by now.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Most of the time, but sometimes I'd get annoyed at me. Also, long stretches of time would go by because I'm not good at remembering to call/email/write.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Not with the girls because they wouldn't get it, but yeah, otherwise I do.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS ?
Yup.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Yes, I'd give it a try, if I could convince myself to actually leap. I think I'd rather try sky-diving or hang-gliding though.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
I'm not real big on cereal these days. But in college, in my four years of eating at food service, I got to like mixing Cocoa Puffs and Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch...

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES BEFORE YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Usually - unless my hands are full with Penguin. Of course, a lot of my shoes are zip or slip-on.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
No, but I wish I was. Not the kind of wishing where I'm going to go buy a weight bench, just the idle kind.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Mmmmm... What isn't? I'd have to say I'm really, really fond of Mr. Kluges's homemade coffee ice cream, but regular mint chocolate chip and anything pistachio are good, too.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their expression - do they seem friendly or mean or welcoming or grumpy or whatever.

15. RED OR PINK?
Was so very definitely pink when I was younger, then red, now I do like both. However, I've got more red clothes than pink.

16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Oh, I have to pick just one? Well, then, uh, my modesty. ;)

17. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
blue jeans, but no shoes currently

18. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Pusher's Harira (Moroccan Chicken, Chickpea and Lentil Soup) from Recipeeps 4 Us with homemade bread dipped in garlic olive oil and the to-die-for balsamic vinegar

19. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Penguin's screams through the baby monitor. We're going to break her of her nighttime waking up and snacking habits. Because I'm absolutely, completely, and utterly tired of being woken up 4-6 times in the night, every night, by a child who no longer NEEDS to eat, but is just used to it. And since I've decided it ends now, tonight, I can't go in, because intermittent reinforcement will cause the behavior to last a lot, lot longer.

(So I might be doing more posting tonight to distract myself if I'm in danger of going in. Because that'll just teach her that if she cried long enough, we'll give in. She needs to learn that if it's nighttime, that's it, she needs to fall asleep because we're NOT coming in. Now, I just have to repeat that to myself about a million times as I hear her crying... *sigh* Maybe I should just turn off the monitor for a while.)

20. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Oooh, I'd love to be that gorgeous and sparkly metallic silver... but I'd probably be some shade of greeny blue... or blue-green... or teal... or turquoise... or something.

21. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Lavender, popcorn, chocolate (mmmm), fresh spring air, clean laundry

23. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Mr. Kluges

24. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS?
Yes, I think she's cool.

25. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Suspenseful is good; gory is bad. But happy endings are always good.

26. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The Illusionist

27. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
dark brown

28. SUMMER OR WINTER?
I agree with AKJ - fall.

29. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Oh, some deep, rich, moist chocolate truffle cake type thing, with real whipped cream and strong coffee on the side

30. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
No mouse pad, just the desk

31. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?
We watched Lost, but it was through the ABC website because we can't get that channel over the air.

32. FAVORITE SOUND?
No crying? Please?

Um, the woosh of the waves on the North Shore of Lake Superior, the cry of the morning dove, Pumpkin's giggles and Penguin's chortles, the laugh Mr. Kluges does when he's surprised by something funny, favorite songs from my teen years playing over a store's sound system so that I keep accidentally finding myself singing along (fortunately quietly)

33. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
You know, I don't/haven't listened to either very much.

34. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
New Zealand

35. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I've got a lot of minor talents more than one major special talent, I guess. And apparently one of those minor talents is answering short questions with long, long answers.

Look out, 9th grade

Saw this over at Tomato Nation and thought I'd see how much I remembered. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Go, play, and exercise some long-unused neurons; it's Friday after all!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Treadmill-y

Some days lately, I've felt rather "treadmill-y." Like all I do is an endless round of diaper changes, food planning, food prep, laundry, tidying, cleaning, child chasing and trying to put stuff away. Over and over and over again with little if any forward progress (and occasional bouts of backward anti-progress!).

So today my list is some things I actually got accomplished today and this past week, in ADDITION to the treadmill of general household and child management. Because even if they're little steps sometimes, I gotta celebrate forward momentum!

Sorted the Shutterfly order I received last week
Finished 5 (FIVE!) thank yous from Christmas, with the pictures to include
Got them mailed off from the post office (extra weight and all, you know)
Made bread a few times (on my to-do list: post my review of "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" because it rocks. Thanks, Gramma Yori!)
Today I made croutons for our salad for this evening with some of that homemade bread. (easy, yummy, and I don't have to remember to keep croutons on hand)
Prepped one swimming lessons bag; still need to do the other for tonight
Took a picture of Penguin on the fancy new quilted baby blanket we received yesterday from our former neighbor
Helped shovel off the concrete slab in the corner between the office and the sunroom outside so it doesn't melt into the basement (In fact, I did pretty much all of it and just left some tough ice for Mr. Kluges to take care of. Go, me!)
Hung up the Easter egg decorations Pumpkin and I have made over the last week and a half.
Called the local school district about the 4 year old preschool option they do here
Called the video place because they'd left a message we had an overdue video but we hadn't rented any since December. Turns out it was the person who had our old number, so that's cleared up.

Oh, hmm... it now smells like I need to go take care of a "treadmill" activity. Come here, stinky Penguin!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Things Mr. Kluges Found...

...in a box yesterday.
Apparently it should have been labeled

"Important Parts and Things to Not Misplace or Hide up in the Attic"

The wheels for the drawers for the desk upon which this computer sits
The nuts and bolts for the firewood stand which is sitting disassembled in the garage
The closing documents from our old house (Yeah, rather important, huh?)
The new belt for the vacuum cleaner (We've been using the shop-vac as a temporary measure until we found/bought a new belt.)

(You know, maybe it's just me, but this list thing? Is making me appear to be a completely clueless slob. Please do not call Social Services - my children are being cared for and the house is not a hazardous place for them to live due to clutter. Really.)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Messy Mantle Mutterings

You know how some flat surfaces, like, say the dining room table, tend to collect STUFF? You know, the mail or something you need handy but want out of the reach of children and/or pets? Well, my list for today is

Things on the Fireplace Mantle

(that make it look messy)

Pumpkin's frog bank
Penguin's medicine
the regular video camera
2 Valentine's Day cards
a small double picture frame that is supposed to be at Mr. Kluges's work but desperately needs new pictures
a framed certificate of achievement that's mine that my mom brought last time she visited (not like on display - it's just sitting there flat, waiting to find a real home)
the pictures of Pumpkin's baptism she brought along, too
a Christmas card with money in it (yay!)
a receipt from Kohl's
a chunk of peat in a baggie
a letter (as in mail, not an alphabet toy)
a ruler
a red ornament dealie
a green zipper pull from a sleeping bag that needs reattachment
some double-stick tape
a circular bee sticker off a Burt's Bees baby powder
a framed picture of Pumpkin (laying flat) that also needs updating and is also from Mr. Kluges's work desk
the mantle clock (Yes! Something that's actually supposed to be there!)
two sage green sort-of-pyramidal candles (sort of supposed to be there - I'm not sure if I like them there yet or not)
a single very small bootie that is now intended for the dolls
an empty baggie

Yeah, so now I'm going to go try to tidy away at least a few of those things 'cuz it looks like crap! *sigh* Another day, more tidying.

Fortunately, we have lots of carrots

In this guest post from Mr. Kluges, he shares a conversation he and Pumpkin had on Saturday night, before we went to a home builders/improvement/remodelling show on Sunday.

K: Ok, honey, you need to get to bed early today. You're sick and tomorrow is going to be a busy day. We're going to talk to people tomorrow who can fix our house.

P: Why?

K: Well, sweetie, our roof and our gutters need to be replaced.

P: Why?

K: They leak and they are letting water into parts of the house. We don't want that. If the wood in the house gets wet, it can get all eaten up.

P: What eats the wood?

K: If wood gets wet, then mold can grow on it.

P: How does the mold eat the wood?

K: One small piece of mold floats in the air until it lands on a wet piece of wood, then it says, "Yummy, wet wood. I'm going to make more mold." So then it eats the wood and makes baby mold. The baby mold grows up and sees wet wood and says the same thing, so it makes more mold, until finally the mold has eaten all the wood. But we're going to talk to some people tomorrow who can fix our house and keep the mold from eating the wood in the house.

P: Why?

K: Well, if we get the house fixed now it will be a lot cheaper than if we fix it later. It will be a lot more expensive to fix it later, and Daddy doesn't like it when things are expensive.

P: Why is it expensive?

K: It's expensive because not many people know how to fix Daddy's gutters. They are different from most other people's gutters, so the people that can fix them cost a little bit more money.

(Pause as she considers this)

K: You see, honey, it's kind of like the law of supply and demand.** There aren't many people who want to work on Daddy's kind of gutters, and the people who can fix Daddy's gutters can also work on other things. So the supply is low, but my need is high. That makes it expensive.

(She's quiet and still considering.)

K: Ok, honey, it's like this. What's your favorite food?

P: Carrots!

K: Great. What if you and me and Mommy all wanted a carrot, but we only had one carrot in the house?

P: We would die!

**Yeah, I laughed when Mr. Kluges was relating this to me. Sure, I'm all about exposing her to big concepts and all (see "east" conversation), but the law of supply and demand? Yeah, 3, even 3 1/2 might be a tad bit young for that one!

Monday, March 10, 2008

How Big is Penguin?

Soooooo big!

2008 List of Resolutions Update and Review

It's now March and I'm looking for list-y things to do. Now, I could just keep copying AllKnowingJen, but, since we have so many readers in common, I thought I'd try to think for myself, at least for today. Not saying there won't be significant further copying of ideas as the month progresses... ('Cuz she rocks, and is smart and stuff, you know.)

So here's my list of 2008 Resolutions so I can review them, update you all on my progress, and further reinforce their important to myself with this public revisiting of them.

1. To reach an appropriate weight according to my Body Mass Index.
Well, based on my a-couple-times-a-week weigh-ins, I've lost about 3 or 4 pounds, depending on the day and all. Apparently either I or my scale have a fair amount of daily variation. While it'd be nice to be farther along, at least I'm heading in the right direction. Also, the couple-times-a-week weigh-ins help me stay honest and notice trends. Like, the "I love cream in my coffee and will have some every day" upward trend. Because it was followed by the "Black coffee is good, too, and I'll save cream for the weekends" recovery trend. :)

2. To get Penguin sleeping in her own bed.
Argh. Not so good yet. I know it's habit, not hunger that's getting her up in the night, but at bleary-eyed 1 am or 3 am or more often, it's so much easier to just bring her to bed and nurse her than to ride it out. However, based on reading about it over at Mary P's It's Not All Mary Poppins, as well as other sources, I checked out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and once I'm through that, I'm coming up with a plan and sticking to it. (Also, by then she should be done being sick, so we won't be contending with that, too.) I'm only about 60 pages in so far, but I wish I would have read this one months ago!

3. To get Pumpkin more independent with the potty.
She's doing swell. I need to remember to just let her have more time instead of rushing her through the post-potty steps and let her do it all herself instead of jumping in and helping because it's faster. Fortunately, she can just barely reach the taps at the bathroom sink. Unfortunately, she can't reach the toilet paper without having to hop off the potty first. So sometimes there's still a little help involved.

4. To unpack/look through every box before we've been in the house a year.
Again, progress is being made, if not as quickly as I'd like. Mr. Kluges has been doing better in getting us through this resolution than I have been; in fact, I think he's emptied several boxes just this week. I have, however, looked through and labeled a few recently (that had been sort-of-repacked in the move to the House of 42 Doors) because we don't have a good place for the stuff in them, but at least I now know what it is.

5.To read at least 4 nonfiction books this year.
As I mentioned before, I started with The Omnivore's Dilemma and proceeded to Siblings Without Rivalry. Based on Pusher's recommendation (and thank you all who gave suggestions - I may be trying a few more of them), I've gotten The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the English Oxford Dictionary from the library, but haven't cracked it open yet. Instead, I opted for Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child first to help with #2 above.

So there we go - where I'm at and where I still need to go for all these. For most, it's slow but steady progress, which is hard to notice unless reviewed periodically, so yay for the gradual progress on #1, 3 & 4. I'll keep going on #2, which has had the least progress so far, but I'm doing prep work, I guess. Extra yay for #5, which I'm more than half-way to completion!

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Daylight Savings Time Clock List

Ah, Daylight Savings Time. Besides the fact that I think it's kind of silly that the "alternate" time - Daylight Savings - is now more than half the year, and therefore, more standard than standard time, it's always a fun game to play "Did I Change Every Clock?"

Therefore, my list for today is the clocks I've remembered to change thus far, in no particular order.

on stove
on microwave
on coffeemaker
on kitchen CD/clock radio
in Blazer
my bedroom clock
clock on fireplace mantle
programmable thermostat
cordless phones (tied together, so only had to change one)
Pumpkin's clock
both of the wireless thermometer dealies
guest room clock

Still need to do:

VCR
flying cat in airplane clock in Pumpkin's room that needs a battery, too.
whatever other ones I've forgotten

Have fun changing your clocks, if you're one of the lucky ones who are trying to readjust to the new time!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Countries I've Visited

Here's an alphabetical list of the countries I've visited. I think it's thorough, but I'll add more if I remember them....

Belgium
Canada (Well, only sort of. We paddled over to that side of the river and I touched some plants when we were kayaking by Lake Superior on a Girls' Adventure Weekend.)
Czech Republic
England
France
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Mexico
New Zealand
United States

Friday, March 07, 2008

Jobs I've Had

Here's an alphabetical list of jobs I've had. If/when I remember other ones, I'll add 'em in. I've been paid to do all of the following:

4H summer assistant
actor (This one's a stretch, but out there somewhere is a computer program used to train health care appointment schedulers, and I'm on it pretending to have just found out I'm pregnant. Told you it was a stretch!)
babysitter
bean bar rider
boss of a crew of fellow teens who were helping with clean-up after an area tornado
child care center director
costume designer (Ok, I only got paid to do it for one show, but it still totally counts!)
fast food worker (Wendy's)
general farm laborer
minigolf attendant
office temp
preschool teacher at a child care center
resident advisor (RA)
rock picker
summer residence hall director
teacher, 1st-3rd grade multiage
teacher, 2nd grade
teacher, kindergarten-1st grade multiage
tutor

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Zombie Survival chances a bit poor

Yeah, following AKJ's lead again on this one. But, you know, it's zombies!

37%

However, I'm going to turn this into my list for the day, too. Somehow...

Minuses for surviving a zombie attack

I'm usually home alone with a 10-month old and a 3 1/2 year old and no car. And they'd have to be really slow zombies for me to outrun them with a double stroller. I think I'd have to be worried about fortifying the House of 42 Doors more than escaping! Maybe Mr. Kluges would make his way across town and rescue us.
I don't think I've ever fired a gun, and we don't own any. Which is fine in general, but not great in case of a zombie invasion.
We don't own any baseball bats, either.

Pluses for surviving a zombie attack

The girls and I could head up to the walk up attic to hide out until reinforcement came or the zombies gave up. We'd only have one door to have to barricade, and there's lots of room up there.
I could probably throw the cement asbestos roof tiles at the zombies on the ground. *shrug* Heck, we need to reroof anyway.
I've got lots of canned goods, dried milk, and a camping stove. Also, big glass beer brewing carboys I could use to hold water.
I'd remember the can opener. :)
Even though we don't have any guns, we've got a few daggers around, plus Mr. Kluges wooden Tai Chi sword (hm, probably not too helpful) and my very blunt but well-balanced belly dance sword (also not too helpful. Maybe these are only tiny little pluses.) Maybe the two big chef's knives would be better.
Oh! Mr. Kluges's wood-splitting maul! Take that, zombies!
I've seen a few zombie movies.
We own Zombies!, an absolutely fun game, especially if you get down low and look across the board filled with little plastic zombie figures. Hee!
I would be absolutely ruthless in defense of my young.

You know, that list was a LOT more fun that the last few I've done. But now I know that as I go about the rest of my day, that I'm going to be looking at everything in the house with "Hmmm... how could that help us survive a zombie apocalypse?" crossing my mind. *grin*

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Meatless Mission Chili List

Ok, grumpy day what with still-sick Penguin being fussy and meaning a long night for us. So my list will do the double duty of being my list for the day, and helping me review the recipe I'm about to make. Here are the ingredients in our Meatless Mission Chili for supper tonight.

oil
garlic
green pepper
celery
onion
carrot
zucchini
can tomatoes
can kidney beans
tomato sauce
water
chili powder
hot pepper sauce (hm, think I might be out)
basil
oregano
probably cheese to garnish
most likely bread or cornbread as a side

Ok, time to go get it started. I've got dress rehearsal tonight for our whole-town-park-and-rec's dance recitals this weekend, so that is a time stressor I need to consider.

Ciao!

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Places I've Lived

To the best of my recollection, here are ALL the places I've called "home."

Evansville, WI (Thanks, Mom, for the emailed correction!)
The farmhouse we rented from my uncle, near my hometown
The farmhouse we bought from my paternal grandparents, near my hometown
"I" residence hall, 3-A
"I" residence hall, 3-B
little apartment near the railroad tracks, Benson
"I" residence hall, 4-A
"P" residence hall, RD apt.
"P" residence hall, first floor
Upper Hutt, New Zealand
little blue house, college town
"garden view" apt., GV, TC
back to my parents, but then they moved out (for a job in my hometown)
back to "garden view" apt.
footloose and fancy-free (aka no permanent address) around Ireland and Europe, but spending several many weeks near Kilkenny
apartment at the edge of St. Paul
our own first home!, R, TC
two weeks in an apartment, Cork City
rental house in Blarney
6 weeks in furnished rental apartment, FV
months in "Frogger" view rental house
House of 42 Doors

Monday, March 03, 2008

Green chases away the blues.

After posting this picture on Friday , I thought, "Hmmm, I need to shovel, but I guess those footprints up to the front door do help show how deep the snow is. Wait. [Mr. Kluges] uses the back door in the mornings. That means the footsteps were probably from the MAIL MAN! And that means A PACKAGE!!!! Probably/hopefully from [TNGreatAunt]!"

And I went and looked. And lo and behold there WAS a package tucked up right beside the door. And it WAS from TNGreatAunt. And we opened it, and it was good, and I was happy.

Since it was a fun St. Patrick's Day package (along with some welcome cozy clothes for the girls to help us get through this (hopefully last) cold spell), my list for today is...

Green Things that came in TNGreatAunt's Wonderful and Welcome Package

St. Patrick's Day window clings that were put up within 5 minutes of opening the box
matching "Kiss Me, I'm American" shirts for the girls
a (I'm pretty sure cross-stitched by TNGreatAunt herself) onesie for Penguin that says "Made in Ireland"
a light green and white sweater for Penguin
dark green sweatpants for Penguin
a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" bib
glittery, clover-shaped sunglasses for Pumpkin
St. Patrick's Day temporary tattoos, two of which are already adorning Pumpkin
several pairs of socks, including some green and purple argyle ones and some green and rainbow-y "Irish Girl" ones
a t-shirt for Pumpkin that says "The Leprechauns Made Me Do It!"

In addition, the box they came in was green and white, with St. Paddy's Day stickers all over it. Good fun!

So, thanks, TNGreatAunt! Your present was just the day-brightener we needed on a snowy day, the clothes are wonderful and look to fit very well (or maybe a tad big on a couple, but that's much better than too small), Pumpkin had a blast finding all the St. Patrick's Day stuff, Penguin loved ripping open her wrapped presents, and I'm looking forward to using my bath salts one day! Also, you helped me with a topic for one of my March list posts! Hooray and thank you!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Late to the List Party

I was over at AllKnowingJen's Bus of Love, and saw that she was pimping, uh, promoting the whole March list posting dealie at NaBloPoMo. So I figured I'd play, too, because it sounds like fun and all.

So here are 6 reasons I didn't begin on March 1st:

I didn't know about it.
Penguin's sick, and has been since about Tuesday, which means a very, very long night, and a tired me, especially since the long nights have been cumulative in impact.
I finally placed a Shutterfly order that includes pictures from Christmas... that were supposed to be included in the Christmas Thank Yous I haven't finished yet. Hmm, maybe I'll do a "To Do" list one of these days in March.
I was just impressed with myself for remembering to change the Quote of the Month at the bottom of Recipeeps4Us.
I was apparently not, however, remembering that I also need to change my goal at the bottom of this blog.
We were enjoying showing Mr. Kluges all the cool stuff that came in our lastest package from TNGreatAunt and all the cool clothes and St. Paddy's Day gear.

Ok, I'm calling 6 enough of a list to start, especially since it sounds like Mr. Kluges might need a hand with Penguin. More list action tomorrow! And yeah, if you've got a good idea for a list, lemme know!!!