from a reporter beloved by me & Sinda

Eleanor Beardsley reports for NPR from France, this time about school lunches.

getaway, part two

Friday night we ate and drank at Osteria Marco.

i love the lamps, and the green wallpaper in the loo.

more resting, then Saturday night we met up with Kris' friend Liz and ate & drank at The Ninth Door.

devils on horseback

cafe and postres

We rode the free shuttle back to the hotel.

Kris & Liz got all caught up on high school gossip

Sunday morning we ate Mother's Day Brunch at Rioja.

St. Germain cocktail complete with house-made grapefruit bitters and grapefruit gelee. Deee-lish!



and then it was time to go back to the airport. Now I'm verklempt, so talk amongst yourselves. Topic: Mother's Day getaway 2010. We're thinking a warm beach in a nation knee-deep in avocados.

Oh yeah, we also went to the Hammond Candy Factory to buy peppermint pillows, elected not to attend the Chocolate extravaganza, but did see Baby Mama. Fun!

Now go wish Sinda a belated Happy Birthday!

Did you know blogger will only let you use up to 200 characters worth of labels? annoying.

I'll be away this long weekend, in Downtown Denver with the 2 best friends a girl could have. Sinda & Kris are flying in tonight so we can recreate our lost weekend 3! years ago, this time without IKEA, but with the Prana Store in Boulder. Also, this time we can ALL drink, because no one has a bun in the oven. That we know of.
Loopy, I'll do my best, but you know how she is.

Try not to be too jealous, ya'll.

to answer Sinda's question

Jenn said that Clomicalm (the drug recommended by Oivey) might do wonders for her but that it would have to be used in conjunction with training/rehab. So we have an appointment with a Vet on Monday (the soonest they could see us) and yesterday I bought the Cesar Millan book " Cesar's Way". I started reading it last night and have already starting making adjustments to my behavior to try to help her be calm. Jenn said it might be helpful for us to Netflix his show, and that watching it would also help the kids understand what our goals are, and how they can help us achieve them. He works with alot of very anxious dogs, and since Emma obviously has severe separation anxiety, we could probably benefit from incorporating some of his techniques. She also stressed how much exercise Emma needs, and exercise is a big part of Cesar's philosophy, too. She actually said to me "Maybe you should start jogging!" which is a laugh for anyone who knows me in person. I told her I'm pretty bad at it, but yesterday while I was walking Emma, I tried a little bit of running. She was a very good running companion! While walking, she really wants to be in the lead position. She doesn't tug on the leash but she walks a pace ahead of me. When I broke into a run, however, she fell back so that she was right beside me. Nice! Now I just have to get in good enough shape so that I can run for more than one minute at a time. And yes, I'm planning on taking her to Obedience classes so I can teach her to heel, etc.

Jenn also said that the anti-barking shock collars are not too cruel, as you can control the strength of the shock and make it mild for more sensitive dogs like Emma. She also said the Citronella one might work just as well for her, and may be a good place to start.

So I'm feeling better about the Emma situation. I think I am going to have to start getting up earlier, though, so I can take her for a walk/jog first thing in the morning. Which will kind of suck, but I guess we will both be healthier for it.

cue the Theremin

Apparently I'm controlling Sinda with my mind. And our kids have some kind of weird psychic connection, too. We have entered Bizarro World. I have no idea what the currency is here.

Day 29

Today is a Red Letter Day. For the first time ever, my kids woke up before me and didn't feel compelled to immediately come in and make sure I was awake, too. Sometimes they (Sugarbear) wake me to tell me they just had to go pee, or they (Sugarbear) are hungry, or they (Sugarbear) want to "sleep" in my bed. Last week, they (Junebug) woke me up on Monday morning to remind me that we didn't need to wake up early because Guess What? No school! But today I awoke to a wonderful and wholly different scenario. I heard them talking, but their voices were coming from the living room. When I walked in, I found this:


They were snuggled up on the couch, and Junebug was reading to the Bear. I don't know how long they'd been up. Long enough to finish the book, anyway. They were just going over the pictures again by the time I stumbled in. This book was a gift from Sinda. For a long time Junebug was afraid to read it because the idea of a bunny almost getting eaten by a wolf was just too much. But she has now conquered that fear and this book is back in rotation.

And Mr. Man retrieved my disk from the computer. All is right with my little corner of the 'Verse.

Day 20

Well, I feel almost prepared for the holiday. The house is tidy enough so I'm not worried about it, except for last minute vacuuming and such. Most of the Thanksgiving supplies have been laid in, though I still need to pick up the bird at Vitamin Cottage today or tomorrow. That name Vitamin Cottage still makes me laugh. It is comparable to Sun Harvest and resides in a strip mall, so there's no real cottage anywhere near it. I've tried to get things done early so
a) I don't freak out later and
b) the weather won't be a factor. We are expecting some snow tonight and tomorrow and I'd rather be at home for it.

As much as I am looking forward to having the big meal here, in our new home which we love, I still teared up a little yesterday just thinking about the annual gathering at Sin & Jesse's house. That event holds so many warm memories for me that I can't bear to think about missing it. (Plus, they always have plenty of alcohol, which we will forgo this year in deference to my BIL's sober status). Please know that I will be calling you later for advice on cooking the bird.

The best thing about being responsible for the holiday meal: NO sugar or marshmallows on the sweet potatoes!! Sweet potatoes that I can actually eat without needing to vomit! Also: no canned green beans wrapped with raw bacon and then cooked in the oven until the beans have almost disintegrated and the bacon is still somehow nearly raw. Instead, real small french green beans, crisp and fresh and delicious. Mashed sweet potatoes with butter, salt, pepper and that is all! I'll try to post once a day (some photos of the food?) to comply with the BloMo rules while still not outing myself as a blogger to my in-laws. Wish me luck!

day 4

Thanks for showing me this, Sinda. It is fun!

Day 3

1. I was just looking over the post titled "Take Two" when I noticed that one of the rabbits is named Pepper. That seems a little cruel, to name an animal after a spice one might sprinkle on the animal right before you cook it.

2. Sinda, in comments, referred to The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, specifically the drummer/daughter who's fashion sense reminds her of Junebug. Or the other way around-ish.

3. Has anyone else experienced any problems with Blogger lately? Perhaps the demands of BloMo are too much for it. Compounding my frustrations are the intermittent interruptions in our internet service.

4. And then there's this:

Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas

5. Thanks to my Mom, I'm shopping for a new stove. Yippee!

for Sinda, because I can't stand the nagging anymore, dammit!

The Inside of Our House.
Here is the front door.

When you walk in through the front door, to your left you see that there are stairs leading down to the Family Room:

And to your right, stairs up to the Living Room:

Someday, these walls will be covered with pictures (still in boxes) and large furniture.

The downstairs has a powder room, but no powder:

Back upstairs we have a dining room which is really an extention of the Living Room. I know, it looks really dark. But I swear it isn't. The light coming in from the sliding glass doors is wonderful.

Here is the kitchen. See the stainless fridge? Surprisingly, magnets don't stick to the front. We must use tape. Lyra inexplicably snaps to attention.

Proceeding down the hall, you can see the girls' room, with no pictures hanging up. Someday...
Also, I'm listing these in a weird order, so put down your pencils and stop drawing those floor plans right now. I mean it. They are gonna be all wrong.

This is as tidy as it gets.

And we have the grown-up bedroom, with it's own humidifier & bathroom. Hi there!

The big, steamy, Clive Owen shower.

Back in the hallway, you'll find the other bathroom, small but perfectly sufficient for 2 young kids and any guests. Beware the pocket door, my son, the latch that pretends to lock, but doesn't. Beware the curious girls and shun the frumious bandercat, who may wander in and attack the shower curtain. Which is gorgeous, btw.

See?:

Here we have Lyra with 2 framed prints of shots from the "&" book, these ones done by me & Ked. Thanks for these, Andrea & Shane!

Yes, I've left out the other bedroom/computer room because it is unbelievably messy right now. That's right, the room where I sit typing at This. Very. Moment. However, come Thanksgiving week, it will be neat, tidy, and hospitable for our guests. Hi Mom!

That's pretty much it. Most boring post evah.

Remember "today's link"??

I heard part of this story yesterday, and it made me want to know more and, at the same time, fear the implications of what I would learn. Have a listen. It features real primordial ooze which exists in our oceans today. Bonus: the end of the hour is devoted to an interview with Gabriel Byrne. He's famous in my circle of friends not because of The Usual Suspects or Miller's Crossing, but because, during a heated bout of the name game, Sinda & Jesse's friend Jessica was giving clues to Jesse's Mom and said "He's that Irish actor who is just so hot that you want to fuck him!". I think Lynn's response was along the lines of "That isn't a very helpful clue." or something like that. I think that was one of the last times we got to play the name game before everyone starting having babies and we went on hiatus for a long time.

In other news, the Lomographic Corporation New York office tells me to expect some 20 rolls of Agfa Precisa (slide film for cross-processing) in the mail soon. Very exciting, if true. Since Agfa doesn't make film anymore, and that Precisa is my new! favorite! product! ever!, this is good news. Seriously, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I would buy as much of that stock as I could get my hands on. God, I hope they shipped the right thing to me this time. Last time I ordered from them, instead of film, I received a supersampler ordered by a different Lisa who lives in Chicago. Not what I wanted. So keep your fingers crossed for me!

Here is what Precisa does, in my leetle Lomo:





You see why I love it?

Crappy Easter! another memo from the Complaint Dept.

This is the e-mail I opened up this morning from Dr. Jenn:

Hello,

Are you guys going to be in town this weekend? I have been meaning to ask, but would you like to come over for Easter dinner? (its almost a tradition!) I promise I will make lamb.... It will be chilly, but the wine will keep us warm. Let me know. I hope you can make it!

--Jenn

I had to reply in the negative, of course, because we currently reside at Virus Central Receiving Station, slot 4, box WTF?

Mr. Man & I are both sick with horrible fluish colds. He has had more feverish chills than I, but maybe those symptoms just haven't arrived at my body yet. Also, Junebug has a fever of unknown origin. So we have heroically placed ourselves in quarantine. You guys don't even know how good that lamb and wine will be at Dr. Jenn's house. Seriously. Plus our kids & their kids love each other so much that we hardly even notice there are 4 kids in the house when we get together. It is parfeck.

Thursday evening we did get to attend Sinda's Passover gathering, (finally! after sitting in traffic for almost an hour & a half with 2 fighting kids in the car), which was unsurprisingly wonderful. I had called from the car because I was worried we were holding up the party. She was reassuring on the phone, and even met me at my car with a glass of Prosecco when we finally arrived. How great is that? Over the years, she has learned that the best way to deal with my high-maintenance ways is to sedate me with alcohol. It's a good solution that works for both of us. The meal was lovely (yummy lamb, squidgy potatoes, everything was yummy!) and it was great to see my "for real" family again. It had been a long time since we'd all been together. I still owe Mosey a birthday gift.

We kept the kids up too late that night considering that Junebug had school the next day. I would have just let her stay home but her class had a field trip planned, with which I had volunteered to help, and she was excited about it. So we were a bit bleery in the morning, but carried on anyway. When I get the film back from the field trip, I'll post some photos.

Oh, and the temperature here is currently 38 degrees F. Has the world gone mad??
Today I've been thinking about this:



I saw it on a t-shirt in a Cafepress store.

This post is kinda scattered, like my brain. But I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday weekend full of bunnies, real or chocolate.

Googlism

Sinda reminded me about this. Because I'm so demure, I've edited out the pornographic bits. Apparently, Lisa is a popular name for porn characters.


lisa is set to go wild in zambia

lisa is king of the world

lisa is a loser

lisa is adyktively versatile

lisa is true

lisa is a 76 year old lady who lives alone in sheltered accommodation and prior to this hospital admission was able to care for herself

lisa is kept in the warden's office

lisa is similar to a dynamic link library*

lisa is bored and needs to kill time

lisa is hung in napoleon bonapart's bedroom in the tuileries

lisa is an outspoken adversary of the left and radical feminism and a proponent of modern conservative principles

lisa is not an unmixed blessing for a work of art

*This one is spot on.

What does your name bring up?

the daily link

is so poorly named. Daily? heheh. Well, I like the name, and it sounds much less lazy than "the weekly link", and less clunky than "the semi-whenever-I-feel-like-it link".

Anyway, today's link comes to us from Sinda.

Is it rude that I rarely tell you what you might see upon clicking? I just love surprising people.
I'm so bad at it in real life. I'm one of those people who explains and backtracks about my choice of gift even while you are still opening the package.