I need to organize all my Christmas photos from my phone, Ben's camera, and Jenn's camera to share with you guys.

In the meantime, here's a video Ben made today!  He got a time lapse camera for his birthday and we put it to use immediately to spy on our son.  Jack is so floppy while he's falling asleep!  This butt in the air posture has been a favorite of his for a long time.  This morning nap was about an hour long.  The camera was set to take a picture every 30 20 seconds.

Lunch at home. Quite nice.

Sometimes I look at the mess of needles and feel mighty proud of my skillz. 

This tangle will be a hat, mark my words. With scoured locks I spun from a corridale. 

(Even if I can handle it, this is the dumbest way to start a hat.  I hope the rest of the pattern isn't so poorly planned.)

I have so little spare time and so much I want to do!  Even with a three day weekend I'm anxious every minute for all the fun things I want to squeeze in.  Tonight I had to pick between knitting my Sothia scarf, knitting a Thorpe hat, creating a desert terrarium with my newly gathered supplies, finishing choreography for Be Our Guest, or finishing Ready Player One, our latest book club pick. 

We went to dinner with friends where Jack was disastrous.  I swear his restaurant manners have deteriorated since Christmas  - I'm look at YOU Grandmas and Grandpas to blame for this!  After dinner I gave him a quick bath, tucked him in bed, then joined my friends in another round of Qwirkle.  (Once I start posting links it's hard to stop).

After that I spent a surprising amount of time tinkering with my blog design because my old one has become so outdated and broken.  Consider this a work in progress.  Then I knit and watched the end of a Stephen Fry in America episode.  Boy, does he hate Miami. 

It's now way past my bedtime.  So I'll leave with a photo that I absolutely love and I'm thinking of using as my new blog banner.  

Can you tell which are the factory eggs and which are backyard hen eggs?

need re-washing before use in my house.

A portrait taken by Ben today. Like a jailbird with his harmonica. I can't believe Ben didn't stage this.

This is fun! I finished this hat in a week. I improvised the fair isle. I had to re-knit it three times before finding a pattern that would fit this yarn. But I really like the simple snowflake in the edge. This hat is super warm too. We're having a warm, windy spell in Denver now, so I look forward to chilly days to put this hat to the test.

The special thing about this hat is I made it from home-spun yarn! The gray was the first skein I ever spun, using a drop spindle. The ivory was the first yarn I spun on my wheel, made double ply. Both are natural colors from corridale sheep. My coworkers were suitably perplexed/impressed (perpressed? implexed?) that I made this.

I'm on call tonight, my last shift of the week.  I hope I don't go in.  My folks are on their way to visit for the weekend and I'd really like to have a relaxing dinner with them.  They should be implexed by his recent growth spurt.

I've hit a choreography style writer's block.  Gaston is a rousing, mug-clinking dance number.  There's a bit of music that has me dumbfounded.  I should just glaze over it and go by counts instead of awkward music writing, but I just can't put moves to paper.  I hope a little procrastination forces me ahead - I have to teach it next week!  The good news is Amanda found a classroom with mirrors that we can use for rehearsal.  The kids have so little body awareness.  Using mirrors should boost there form immensely.

Grandparents make different choices than parents.

This is me for most of the week.  Sunday night I was writing at a desk and stretched back, like I have before thousands of times.  But, for whatever fluke reason, this time a nerve in my neck was pinched.  I had sharp neck pain, muscle spasms down my upper back and under my shoulder blade, and transient right arm numbness.  Hoping it would go away after a night's rest I went to work Monday morning.  But it only got worse.  I left midday and went straight to my doctor.  She provided a note to excuse work, an Aleve regimen, and prescriptions for Vicodin and Soma (a muscle relaxant). 

Luckily I already had three days off mid-week, so I really only missed one afternoon of work.  Since then I have been on my back in the basement with an electric heating pad.  I had to miss dance rehearsal Tuesday, although Amanda video chatted me from the stage so I could give some pointers.  Yesterday Ben drove me up to Bailey so I could teach.  It was hard for me not to demonstrate full-out, but the kids really stepped up and learned quickly. 

Jack has been super cuddly.  Ben has been a dear taking care of me.  I can't really complain about the rest.  As illnesses go this one has a fun treatment.  My netflix and DVR queues are empty now.  I drove to a staff meeting today and experienced only aches rather than full on pain.  I hope I'm healed enough that finishing my two shifts Friday and Saturday won't be too strenuous. 

Sorry, boring post, I'm sure.  But I felt like documenting it.  Here's some photos from Sunday, where I spun some yarn before the injury started acting up.

And here are photos of me playing with Jack at the Tattered Cover, courtesy of Amanda.  I haven't synced my phone for photos from my folk's visit yet.  It was really fun to see them.  We ate well, did a lot of shopping, and Jack was showered with attention. 



I better lay back down.

Jack likes to put keys in things to see if they will fit. When he started on the ottoman tonight Ben gave him an Allen wrench. After just a few minutes of work Jack had a very loose screw. Thanks Ben. Can't wait for the poang to collapse on me tomorrow. :-)

PS I'm doing a lot better. No narcs for a couple days and just a little ache at work. Driving is the worst.

PPS a rare early shift end with no call attached! We are off to Jose O'Sheas for dinner!

Despite the blizzard outside I made it to my salon. Some things are worth fighting for ;-)

Jack woke up crying this morning. He's had a cold all week. I don't know if it was bad dreams or a stuffy head or what. After some cuddling together in bed while petting Molly he recovered. (Not enough cuddling for me, but I'll take what I can get!) We had reheated chocolate chip pancakes and he laughed out loud at Kipper, his new favorite show, before I left.

Last night I had the pleasure of going straight from work to open spinning night at Fancy Tiger. It was actually pretty fun! I was overly proud of myself for socializing with other adults- and strangers, no less! We didn't talk about dialysis or babies and it was wonderful. We oooed and awed over Em's angora bunny pictures and Dan's silk and baby camel blend roving ($50/oz!). We discussed the burgeoning possum fiber industry and environmental motivations. (Where I suggested that possum fiber needs a better sounding name, like angora for rabbits, if it wants to sell. I nominated "posoma."). Beers were offered and much yarn was spun. I drastically improved my drafting technique just by watching others.

I'm indebted to Ben for letting me be out at work and play all day while he wiped noses and cooked a delicious chili dinner. Tonight I give him my blessing to go to the One-Up bar with friends, or whatever they decide to do. I also look forward to aunt Amanda babysitting tomorrow night so we can see The Artist. We just don't date enough. Does anyone have teenagers they can recommend? I'd gladly accept phone numbers.

Ps: this blog title is a Parks and Rec quote. So is "I do want that. Please do that for me." That had Ben and me in stitches last night.

It's still snowing! Ben is out with friends. Jack is in bed. I'm in the basement. It looks like this:

Can we all be healthy for just a little bit? Please?

Right as my back was healing Jack began producing copious volumes of snot. He's at the end of it, and really has been a trooper so we can't complain. But now at the end of that, Ben has a lower back injury! Yesterday I came home to him wincing in pain as he walked. Today when he texted that it was worse I immediately called our local rescue child care hero, April. She whisked Jack away to a fun day playing with her kids. Ben got plenty of rest and is looking better.  I got home early and was able to take care of him in the afternoon. 

Now I notice that I've been dry coughing all afternoon and my throat is a bit sore. I felt that way a few days ago. I hope it's just a super mild version of what Jack had, and that it won't get any worse. Still. PLEASE. CAN WE STOP BEING ILL PRETTY PLEASE??

Ben taped me reading Jack his book, "My Mother is Mine." Jack is great at his animal sounds and actions with it. Plus I've been trying to record his kitty sound FOREVER! It's my favorite noise he makes.

PS, I say "Mommy" in place of "Mother" in the book, hoping that it will be simpler for Jack to learn. Still doesn't say "mama." Still bothers me. I know, some day I will want him to stop saying mom. But I'm still wishing.

This is not a low grade version of what Jack had.  This is sick.  Very sick.  Sick, as in I have been out of bed for only 3 hours since 6pm Wednesday night.  Fevers, chest-rattling coughs, congestion, diarrhea, various migraines, and a touch of vomiting sick.  And it doesn't help that I fell in the parking lot at work on Tuesday, so my left hip is super sore and stiff. 

I'm trying to eat a banana now while Ben puts Jack to bed. I'm trying to mentally separate day from night so I'm not in a total mess when I have to return to work (Saturday).  I'm so sick, I haven't even wanted to watch Downton Abby yet.   I REALLY hope we don't pass this around the house too.

Feeling much better. Had to work Saturday and Sunday but I survived. Slept till 11 today (after working until 2am). Had lunch at cafe rio and enjoyed my food for the first time in a week. Bought jack a new car seat. Cleaned, shopped, fought off the urge to nap, and generally tried to catch up with the pace of healthy living.

This photo came to me while at work courtesy of Ben with the note "Needs a cup holder." I love it.

Watch out for those dangerous kicks!

Today is my birthday; I must say good-bye to my 20s. 

I treated myself to a 5 day break from work and it's been mighty nice.  I have tomorrow off, so I get to stay out late at trivia tonight.  My folks have been visiting this weekend.  We saw Lord of the Dance on Saturday and have done much shopping and eating of delicious things.  Today I'm keeping it relaxed.  I slept in, said good-bye to parents and played with Jack while eating a chocolate croissant and hot chocolate in my pajamas.  During morning nap I knit and watched Black Books on netflix.  We had lunch at Garbanzo's and went to Cherry Creek mall where I got a new dress from Anthropologie.  Now Jack is trying to take an afternoon nap (not very well so far) and I see more knitting ahead of me.  Maybe more photos to come, but I'm enjoying being lazy.  That's what birthdays are for, right?

I've had supplies to make a terrarium for over a month. Finally built one last night. I love it! I'm nursing back some faltering cactuses, then I'll build another one to hang on my wall in the old fishbowl.

Choo choo!

Look at my gorgeous and talented sister-in-law on TV!

Jack assumes a judgmental pose to watch the show.

I knit a balaclava. Ben thinks it is scary.

What starts with "H" and ensures you are always a bridesmaid, never a bride?
Hepatitis C?

(Real answer: Halitosis)

I'm in the den knitting (an epic shawl) and watching the latest episode of QI, while Jack takes his morning nap and Ben takes a final exam.

For Valentine's Day Ben set our DVR PC to bounce a signal around the world, ending so that it looks like I'm a UK citizen.  This allows me to use the iPlayer, sort of like their Hulu.  I can instantly watch shows from the BBC (Sherlock, QI, Doctor Who) and ITV (Downton Abbey).  Marrying a nerd has great perks.  <3

I'm at the library with Jack. We've never been here, just for baby time in a separate room. They have a nice kids area that he is happily exploring. We are teaching him colors. He likes coloring now. We have to encourage him to keep it on paper only. Bubbles are also a big hit. He is starting to attempt words. In the last week he has said bubbles, tractor, color, and popsicle. Still no mommy. But he said "Ni Da" = night dad as we went to bed last night. He just might talk eventually.

(Whoops! sorry I hit the publish key well before this was ready)

Friday we had the pleasure of going out on another real date.  I'm trying to work more of these "date nights" thingyboos into our life.  They are fun and good for the whole family.  Mavi graciously watched Jack while us old parents had a night out!

Jack at lunch that day, not knowing we we be ditching him in a few hours.  Bwahahahaaa.

Listening to an old-fangled CD at the library.

This is just to show the jewelry tree I bought at Target.  I love it unreasonably.  Jack has been kept away thus far.
Behold my boots!
Ben bought me Frye boots for my birthday.  I KNOW.  I called them my Pirates of Penzance boots, because, well, isn't it obvious?  They can be worn folded down, how I prefer them, or flipped up for Cat-like Tread high kicking.

My whole date outfit.  I'm pleased I can pull off the skinny jeans and boots thing still.  I keep trying to get a serious diet and exercise routine going.  But it keeps getting interrupted by sickness or travel or holidays.  Says everyone, right?
For dinner we ate at Simm's Steakhouse.  It was 5280 Restaurant week so we picked a place we ordinarily wouldn't afford to eat at.  They served amazing tenderloins without asking how we wanted them cooked.  They came out super rare, but we gobbled them down with relish.  They had tasty side dishes, I stole these photos from their website. 
We also had salad, a squash ravioli dish, and bread pudding dessert. 


After dinner we went to the 1 Up Bar in the city.  It's similar to the Barcade that we went to in Williamsburg, but this one was much cooler.  Crowded though.  I wanted to stay long enough for Ben to set a high score on a game.  He only needed 50 cents to blast away the previous score on 1942.


Expensive night out, but very fun.  It was a nice splurge with my birthday money.  (In addition to the spinning wheel bobbins that I just received.  Plying is so much easier!) (The splurge date hurt a little after having to buy new tires the next day, but I'm still glad we did it.)  I intend to do more of these "date night" thingies.

He sizes up any two sticks and gives you the smaller one. He also insists on pulling it off a scabbard on his back before attacking.

While I work on my sothia shawl, Jack constructs and deconstructs a train track.

A great repository for leftover bits from other recipes.  I make it a little different each time.  Makes great lunch leftovers.  I'm always blown away that Jack will eat it.  I do a little dance every time he eats green things!

Spinach Pie (Adapted from a recipe from Betty Mason)
I make this all in my food processor.  This is more of a narrative than a standard recipe. 

With the grater blade on, shred 1 cup cheddar cheese in the food processor.  Switch to the regular blade to blend with one cup flour and 1/2 cup butter (I was out today and used shortening).  Add seasoning - salt, Old Bay, dry mustard, whatever you have.  Drizzle in water while pulsing until the dough clumps together.  Press it into a pie pan and set aside.

With the same dirty food processor bowl and blade, chop up 1/2 of an onion.  Add 10 ounces chopped spinach that you already thawed from frozen and squeezed out the excess water.  Add any other vegetables you want - today it was the remains of a jar of roasted red peppers.  Pulse a few times.  Add one cup milk and three eggs, pulse that a few times.  Add your choice of seasoning and any other chopped bits you like, usually meat or cheese.  I love feta and ham.  Today it was leftover lil' smokies from Edward's Meats and some cubes of aged British sharp cheddar.  Just be careful not to over blend at this point because you don't want to pulverize these last tasty add-ons. 

Pour the filling into the prepared crust, even out the liquidy and solid bits (it tends to clump in the middle with milk around the edges).  Bake at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.  It will puff and get firm.  I like to aim for the point right before browning.  Let it cool quite a bit before serving. 

My parents are on a grand European adventure and Ben's parents moved to Maine this year.  This post is a festival of grandchild love.  I fully expect them to be the only ones who watch all of the videos.

After work on Monday I put Fruit Ninja on my Fire.  Jack seems to be confused about Kinect control versus other devices.  Or he just prefers to flap maniacally.

Amanda brought us chocolate cake with Sherlock on Saturday.  We had leftovers the next night and Jack eagerly showed off his new word: cakecakecakecakecake....Here he is after getting what he wanted.

Lately he has been reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  He has been asking for cookies - by word!, for the last couple days.  Ben promised him some and tonight we delivered.  Clearly I did not think through Jack's task level thoroughly enough.  I don't know why I picture him like a skilled four year old sometimes.  But he had a lot of fun and cookies were made.


While they baked he actually brought the book over to me (I was acting as oven sentry so he doesn't burn himself).  Isn't it funny how easily kids learn words for dessert?


Enjoying his results immensely.

I spent all of today and half of yesterday up in Bailey for final rehearsals with the high schoolers. I have some crappy iphone photos to show for it. Hopefully I can post some nicer ones after the production next week. The kids are . . . getting there. This is always a difficult time when they are juggling costumes and sets. I wish they had more basic drama skills, like keeping your face to the audience and vocal projection. Maybe if Amanda has another 5 years with them.

My lunch and notes.  (Later I added carrot sticks, so you know, I stayed healthy).

Gaston Song

Human Again

The Mob Song

Stayed up too late finishing this because it felt too early to go to bed.

Today I went up to Bailey to watch the first official performance of Beauty and the Beast.  They did an in-school show for the middle schoolers.  It's amazing the leap in performance these kids take from dress rehearsal to actual show.  Something about doing it for an audience brings them to life.

The assistant director made this trailer for the show.  It's footage from the Friday all day rehearsal, before sets and costumes were finished.  But I hope you'll enjoy seeing a little of it.  Maybe I'll have actual performance footage I can share later.

With another blurry mobile photo from the back row!

These kids are killing me with their adorableness.

I got off work an hour early and went straight to the school. It took 1 hr 20 min, but I'm really glad I was able to see tonight instead of tomorrow. Ill go saturday too. There's a buzz about opening and closing night. The kids are improving their performance each night. The audience was wonderfully receptive with hearty laughs in (mostly) right places. (why do they when dead gaston is carried away? They do every time and we don't know why.)

I'm having to fight hard not to tweak and fix and write notes for the cast. I want to redo the whole first half of Be Our Guest. Why does my brain wait until show time to create fantastic solutions for the sloppy parts?

It was funny I came straight to the show in my scrubs. I attended to a re-fractured toe and a minor head injury. There was a sprained ankle earlier this week. I worry something truly bad will happen. I hope amanda has a school first aid kit somewhere. Makes me want an old-fashioned doctor's bag to keep in my car.

I'm looking forward to my day off tomorrow. I didn't see Jack at all today :-( When this is done I have a list of fun things for us: picnic at the park, swim at the rec center, create a recipe for soft lemon cookies, blow bubbles on the porch, generally give Ben more personal time. . .

Good night!

(It's a Spaced reference)

Beauty and the Beast is officially over!  My parents came to town just to see the show and I'm so proud they saw it.  I'm also tremendously proud of these kids.  I heard over and over that this was the best show the school had done, and I can at least agree that it's the best of our three.

I took over 350 photos.  I edited and cropped many tonight, but alas it is quite late.  Here's a favorite from the Gaston number (I love our Beast/Prince joining in, incognito in his beard, on the left):

The obligatory directors getting accolades on stage (but we're always touched that they do this):
 The whole cast after the audience petered out:

And the reason I do these shows:
v

I put my photos from Beauty and the Beast on a flickr set after trimming and cropping them. Below are some of my very favorites. (PS Ben's camera rocks! These were all taken from the last row with no flash. Color me impressed.)

Jack was a trooper.  The show went until 9 pm, we didn't leave until 9:30.  He stayed in his grandparents' arms happily, and I'm told was quite enthralled by the show.  I saw him tell them whenever a character was wearing a hat.

Back at home, we had a quiet Sunday.  Church meetings in the morning, then Jack took a long nap while we knit or did homework.  I'm re-watching Firefly on Blu-Ray. 

We had sandwiches and soup for dinner because it's so easy.  Jack is a BIG fan of tomato soup.

You know my Big Soft Ginger cookies?  The ones I'm famous for?  The ones I make several times a year?  I came up with a new version.  Introducing Big Soft Lemon cookies!


I have never altered a recipe this radically.  It was scary, but a total success!  I love lemon and with today being the first day of Spring, ginger and molasses have no place in this kitchen. 

I basically followed the tried and true recipe with a couple substitutions:
--Lemon zest and lemon oil in place of all the spices
--A combination of corn syrup and honey in place of the molasses

You could do all corn syrup or honey (or even maple syrup) according to the internet.  I left out lemon juice, which is often a part of lemon recipes.  I was afraid the acidity would alter the cookie's texture.  I hate how most lemon cookies are either crunchy or cake-like.  These are true cookies.  Like Ben said, we'll see how they hold up tomorrow.  That's the key strength to the original BSG.  If they are good (and not all eaten!) maybe I can take a better picture of them in natural daylight and submit it to allrecipes.

Big Soft Lemon Cookies

Ingredients (with my typical alterations for high altitude)

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Scant 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• Grated zest of one lemon
• 1 egg
• ¼ tsp lemon oil
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup/honey combination
• ¼ cup turbinado or demera sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon zest, egg, and lemon oil.  Add in the water and corn syrup/honey. Gradually stir the flour, salt, and baking powder. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the turbinado/demera sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 11 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Lemon cookies verdict:  Just as soft on days 2 and 3.  I think I have a winner here!

How I love quiet days where the seasons are changing.  It's been a rough week of call for me.  I worked 10 hours Monday (4 of which with a demented patient who repeated called me stupid, disrespectful, incompetent, etc etc).  Then I was called out from 8 pm to 2 am.  Yesterday they made my shift a day call, but called me in at 7 am.  I was home by 4 pm and didn't have to go back after that, luckily.  This weekend I'm on call again, Saturday 6 am to Monday 6 am.  Fingers crossed that it doesn't get too crazy.

But all that's behind me now because I'm home with my family and my craft room and my kitchen!  I have lemon cookies on the counter and lilies and pussy willows from my mom.  There's a yeasty smell in the air from a batch of Charlotte's Famous French Bread rising in my oven.  Friends are coming over tonight to watch Sherlock and enjoy a potluck dinner.  I have 7 skeins of home-spun yarn setting their twists on racks in the sunshine.  I'm blocking a rainbow beanie hat that I made this week for Ben using yarn I spun.  I knit a swatch of yarn to gauge a spring-time,  light weight sweater for Jack.  Jack is napping, perfectly on schedule.  He still takes 2 naps a day, usually 1-2 hours each!  It gives us lots of quiet, adult time to work on projects.  We have plans to see Hunger Games as a date tomorrow afternoon while Jack plays at his friend's house.  Today I need to take him to the library, and maybe to Sunflower for their blackberry sale. 

Happy Spring!

Here's my Hunger Games braid. :-) We saw the movie yesterday. Very faithful to the book although they had to skim too much! Ben and I think they nailed the Capital culture best of all.
I got to come home early today since I'm on call. I hope there's not too much going on this weekend. I like to sleep and knit an awful lot.

First some knitting project:

A rainbow beanie for Ben from yarn that I spun.

A giant simple cardigan using pencil roving.


A lightweight sweater for Jack I made on the machine.  It would be done if I hadn't run out of yarn.  Might not finish it by Easter now.


Here are some old photos I found on my phone from the last month.



Kipper, of course.

Going down the slide by himself.


Here's my take on Miranda's Company Cake that we shared with the missionaries.  Jack chanted cakecakecakecakecake all night.

Today is my mom's birthday, yay!  Since she is queen of spoiling her presents, Jack and I surprised her with a weekend visit.  My dad was in on the secret, so we didn't mess up their weekend too much. 

What follows are photos of gratuitous spoilage.  You might want to avert your eyes.  

 Kipper.  On the Big Screen.  In a kid chair.  A bowl of watermelon.

Recognize the car set, Andy?  

 Banana chocolate pops are dessert #2 of this meal.  Then a walk to the neighborhood playground.



Jack wasn't the only one spoiled.  (This was apparently "just lying around the office."  And everyone "has one but you, so you might as well take it.")



Dad prepared for the weekend with finger-paints!  Jack was hesitant to get messy at the start, but after a while he was able to enjoy it.




I have to document the moment of great sadness.  At one point Jack decided to get off his chair at the dinner table and face-planted into the tiled floor.  It took a good half hour of mothering and grandmothering to calm him down.  This was earlier in the day, before finger painting.  I got him to smile for a picture, showing us his chipped tooth.  Poor guy.  Good thing he has his first dentist visit Wednesday.  Here is a before and after comparison. 

(PS Mom, he let us brush his teeth tonight with his "choo choo" toothpaste and penguin toothbrush.  He also gobbled down dinner without trouble and was upset there was no more watermelon.  Don't worry, Ben picked up a watermelon already.)


Even with his fall, it was a super fun weekend!  If anything, it was too short.  But I have a shift tomorrow I have to work and my folks have to go back to their busy lives too.  Thank you for letting up crash your house this weekend!  

Jack had his first dentist visit. He did awesome; they were so gentle and kind, and Jack didn't so much as whimper.   The chipped tooth will be fine, we just need to monitor it.

That's the age when Jack called me Mama. Heart = melted.

 Jack's first egg hunt. I had to show him what to do.  He caught on fast, though Amanda and I had to give heavy hints for finding the eggs.

I'm posting my altered recipe so I can easily look it up.  My last batch didn't have the nooks and crannies I'd hoped for, maybe too little rise?  But it was still delicious sandwich bread and Ben remarked that he wished I had made two loaves!  Still, this is the recipe for a single loaf (the original recipe makes four), although I rounded up the quantities where math wasn't clean.

1 1/2 cups very warm water
2 teaspoons yeast (see original recipe note)
1/2 tablespoon salt
3/4 tablespoon sugar
2 3/4 cups water

I follow the instructions as written, but find I have to add a little extra water to make the dough as sticky as it is in her pictures.

Jack says it's a dog! I love that he identifies his pictures without suggestion from us.

Isn't every rainy day a good day? Yesterday I ended up working 16.5 hours without a real break. Blech. But when I came home friends there with pizza. We watched old Movie Saturdays and reminisced about how skinny and naive we were.

I had a good sleep in, then Ben went for a run. After lunch-where Jack actually ate some spinach!- we went swimming. The rec center pool is great for kids and I've been dreaming of taking Jack for a while. He was over the moon! They have a toddler friendly area; gentle slope down to just 2 feet deep, water fountains that bubble gently up over the surface, buckets that fill and dump from above, sprayers, and a mini slide down a frog's mouth. Jack played joyously until we dragged him out with blue and chattering lips.

Later we dropped him off with a sitter so Ben and I could eat out. I stuffed myself with spinach salad and pork scaloppine drenched in Gorgonzola cream sauce. Abrusci's never disappoints. I picked up Jack and Ben went to see a scary movie.

Now I'm curling up with some luxurious knitting and a fresh disk of The West Wing while rain softly falls. Doesn't get much better than this.

Jack started it all with a seeping nose. Two days later Ben and I woke up feeling crappy. It's been 5 days of high tissue use now. I had to be on call all weekend. Glad that's over. We're too hot and lazy to take Jack to a park today, so I bundled up some toys and found a shady patch in a drainage ditch nearby. Tonight we are going out for pizza. It's a new place to us, where they are hosting a special geeks who drink quiz all about the works of Joss Whedon. Ben will stay for the quiz, I'll go home and resume knitting and sleeping.

What a sight to come home to!

PS: there's a plane overhead. Jack wanted you to know.

Sorry I've been busy lately. A lot of work and a lot of fun stuff at home. But mostly work.  Right now I should be at work, doing a fourth shift this week.  But Jack woke up in vomit with a fever (he had a fever last night too).  So I'm sticking around for a while to help Ben.  We got juice and crackers and gave him a bath.  I'll probably go into work a little later this morning.  Right now he's watching Curious George and trying to get some banana down.  He did well with his apple juice and Kipper earlier this morning.  His fever went away too.  Tylenol is awesome.

So here are some pictures from the fun times I had last week! 

 We weaned Jack off his pacifier last week.  Went cold turkey 8 days ago.  It breaks our hearts that he still cries when we put him down.  He used to be such a happy sleeper!  It's like he mourns his pacifier every time he goes to sleep.  I wish he could understand why we are doing it, instead he probably thinks we are being mean.

Off tangent now, but my point was this: to celebrate his first night without his pacifier we baked together the next day.  He LOVES baking with me.  I set him up with a bowl, cups, spoons, some flour, and sprinkles.  I made pizza dough and cookies.  Those cookies didn't last very long :-)  The pizza was really good too.  Ben raved.  I made a pepperoni and roasted pepper pizza, and a veggie pizza with the peppers, asparagus, and feta cheese.

The yarn shop by my house had a little fleece festival.  We took Jack down to meet some lambs, goats, and alpacas!  He was scared at first but eventually fed them grass and got his fingers nibbled.  He's into sheep, likes to say Baaa (probably because one of his shows is Shaun the Sheep).  It was fun letting him hear Baaa in real life! 




I went on a spinning spree after this.  I even took my wheel to craft night at Fancy Tiger earlier this week.  Mavi came with which was good because I'm horrible at small talk and meeting new people.  I'm teaching her to knit and she's doing very well.

Last weekend I went to Sipping and Painting in the Highlands.  It's one of those wine and painting places that are popping up all over Denver.  I, of course, had a caffeine-free diet Coke, because I'm a wild thing like that.  The painting was really fun!  Amanda, Brian, Mavi, and Angela came with me.  I like how different they call came out.  My only complaint is that the time went too fast!  I love that they ask zero clean up from us.  That might have been the best part.


So that: lots of knitting and West Wing, taking Jack to playgrounds, and going to work has constituted most of my time lately.

Yup, they needed me. I had to go to the ICU for a patient with aspirin overdose. I hear that Jack woke after an hour with a fever again. Ben's got it all under control now. :-)

Today started with a short day at work.  I had one smooth treatment in the morning, then some training seminars through the early afternoon.  I got home right after Jack woke up from his nap.  We ate navel oranges on the patio then walked to the park to chase robins.

Jack had been playing with my watch and dropped it somewhere in the park.  A little later Ben took Jem for another walk.  She used her beagle powers and found it easily in some tall grass.

Back at the house I grilled up the rib eye steak Ben had picked up at Edward's Meats today.   It turned out PERFECT.    I transformed leftover hot dog buns into garlic bread and served up artichokes.
Mmmm.

Then the pager went off.

 I told them I needed 15 minutes to enjoy my steak and then I hurried back to the city to change out a clotted CRRT system.  Oh, so you gave him platelets and a plasma transfusion and his dialysis lines clotted?  Just like that?  Yeah, that's probably because you gave him platelets and plasma.  Now most of the platelets are sitting in the trash-can.  Seriously docs, let's think this through! 

But it was a quickie call back and early in the evening, so I was eager to do it.  Because we alternate with a partner I'm #2 for having to go back in now.   I made it home in time to give Jack a bath and put him to bed.
Barely 2 years old and practicing his lady killer look.  This kid is great.

My folks came to say hello this weekend! Jack is emulating Grandpa in form and style (from behind you could see the matching elbow pads).

As you saw, my parents came to visit this weekend. They will be gone for Jack's birthday so he got to open some early presents. Then he opened our presents from Mothers' Day, because that's what moms do. My mom made this adorable apron for Jack to wear while baking. I love it! We put it to work and it did a great job.

This is the amazing breakfast Ben cooked for me (and everyone).  Thick cinnamon chip bread from Great Harvest, spread with Icelandic butter, bacon from Whole Foods, perfectly cooked (as close as you can get from a store to a) farm eggs with oregano, and a side of OJ and chocolate milk. 
 Jack bought me this grapefruit sugar scrub.  Seriously!  Ben was at the mall and he ran into the store and grabbed it off the shelf all on his own!  Hiding underneath is a Coldwater Creek Spa gift card for an "ultimate massage."  Ben really spoils me on Mothers' Day. 

Then in my new tradition of Mother's Day portraits, I made Amanda and Mom pose with me.  We put Andy and Jenn on facetime too!
Here are my pictures with Jack.  It wasn't easier than last year getting a good one.

 Jack is making a sartorial statement I imagine is unique to toddlers.  If we are going "out" then he simply can't go without donning:


1.  Blue straw fedora: usually worn sideways but always smashed down flat against his head.  Sort of a theatrical 20th century street urchin.


2.  Kipper: a stuffed animal based on his favorite TV show of the same name.  My Dad jumped through some hoops to get this imported from Amazon UK, since it is a British show and they don't sell merchandise here.  An early birthday gift.  It came with Pig and Tiger too, but Kipper is preferred.  Jack is smitten and Ben is terrified that we will lose it.

3.  Plastic duck bill necklace: Ben purchased on a whim for 33 cents in the post-Easter clearance bin.  Jack can blow it to make a duck sound.  He certainly likes to quack it, but lately only quacks on request. 
 No, he just likes to wear it.




So these three things must be before we can walk out the door.

Whether taking a car trip.  Or shopping at Target.  Or frolicking at the playground.  Or any other excursion you can think of. 

 Surprise!  Ben and I have been on the Atkins diet for a week.  I have been journal writing along the way but wanted to wait to post until I had stuck to it for a while and had some progress.  So I'll post those entries now. 

Thursday May 17
I'm keeping a journal of my dieting experience.  I hadn't posted it yet because it's kind of embaressing to admit you are dieting, and using a 10 year old semi-fad diet too!  This is mostly a record for me to see how far I've come and measure my success.

Here's the gist:  Induction stage of Atkins is a two week long diet to"kick start your body into a fat-burning machine!"  Basically you super restrict carbs to force your body into a ketogenic state, so it starts burning fat for fuel instead of expecting carbohydrate deliveries.

Key point:  Net carbs = total carbohydrates - fiber
Induction = net carbs/day.  Subsequent stages allow more daily net carbs.

I weigh 162 pounds (varying from 158 to 164 over the past 3 months).  Before Jack I consistently weighed 158, but was chubbier than I liked.  At the end of college I weighed about 146.  At the end of high school I was around 132.

I think a safe, reasonable goal for me is 150.  12 pounds.  It's not too much, really.  According to the Atkins plan I could start at an easier stage, limiting my net carbs to 30 or even 50 a day.  But I'm
going to start with 20 per day for three reasons.

One: I want to do the diet right.  I have failed at other attempts to self regulate.  I hope to have more success by following a strict regimen to the letter.

 Reason two: Won't I lose faster if I start at the hardest level?  All the better for me (see birthday cake, above).  I don't plan to be low carb for life (tsk tsk says Dr. Atkins).  I hope to do some power
losing and then go back to my steady maintenance with a better awareness of carb intake (hopefully making better choices along the way).

Reason three:  Ben is doing the diet with me.  Lying bed one night I was moaning about how fat I felt.  He said he wanted to lose weight too and his doctor had actually recommended the Atkins diet. So we teamed up!  I'm going to stay on the low carb path as long as Ben does.  Possibly at a more lenient level.  But I want to be supportive for him.

Day 1
I'm excited!  I had planned to do a "test day" by counting my carbs and seeing how low I could go without strictly dieting.  I had half a slice of toast with eggs for breakfast.  11 carbs, yikes!  We talked
about how hard it will be to diet on Jack's birthday (I MUST bake a real cake!) and with family visiting.  Later that morning Ben and I decided to plunge in.  We will always find excuses not to start. Today is no worse than any other day!

Enthusiasm has made it easier than it will be later.  I spent much time reading Atkins materials and recipes.  I bought low carb foods to stock our pantry.  I bought an app to keep track of my intake.  Again, the diet change feels . . .weird.  I already miss sugar.  I didn'trealize just how badly sugar is EVERYWHERE.

Day 2
I had eggs, sausage, and bacon for breakfast and it didn't sit well. I've eaten cheerios or frosted mini-wheats before every work shift for over three years.  My body is expecting that carb load and it's
rejecting what I gave it instead.  I felt slightly nauseated.

Then I felt hungry all morning.  Maybe I didn't eat enough at breakfast, but I couldn't stand the thought of eating more meat. Sadly, fruit is out of the question during this stage of the diet. Vegetables don't appeal to me before 11 am.  I snacked on beef jerky and cocoa powder covered almonds.  They tasted so incredibly sweet! My sweetness sensitivity must have dropped a lot.  Technically almonds are not a part of this diet stage.  But I don't have much to lose so I'll give myself little allowances. They are only 2 carbs.

I notice my caloric intake has dramatically dropped.  I estimate normal for me is 2500-2800.  The past two days it's under 1600.  I guess that's good for dieting.  It's probably partly due to the carb elimination because those foods are so high in calories too.  Also the queasiness.  I need to work on eating more volume.  But it's hard to keep the limit down and keep the calories up!

Ben and I were both exhausted tonight.  Hard to say whether I felt bad because of Atkins or because of my crappy day at work or because I'm catching Jack's cold.

Day 3
Dreamed about counting carbs last night.

I weight 161 this morning.  Down a whole pound already!  It's probably mostly bloat -loss, but it still encourages me.  I actually feel trimmer too.

(PS a big componant of Atkins is water intake.  You need a minimum of 8 x 8 oz glasses water per day.  I've been drinking 10-12 per day.)

Ben and I both feel better today.  His headache is gone.  I definitely have Jack's cold but it's mild.  After some Dayquil I feel pretty good.  The breakfast sat better in my stomach and I ate an extra
sausage link.  I'm not so snacky this morning, although I did eat my cocoa almonds and some string cheese.

We ordered buffalo wings for dinner.  I wanted to "eat out" so I could feel more normal about our habits.  (we eat out far too often.  Maybe 30-40% of lunches and dinners?). The wings were good and I liked the celery.  But I missed have fries on the side and a giant diet coke.  This caffeine free coke is not as good.  Caffeine is supposed to cause insulin spikes so Atkins says to quit it during the diet.

Day 4
I lost 2 pounds!  I'll be super impressed if this continues.

Right after I woke I was called into work.  I ate a giant plate of scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon.  My stomach was pretty happy with that.  Quite the change.

Unfortunately because of how far the hospital is from my house and some delays on their end for another procedure, I won't be done here until 4:30 pm.  Glad I ate extra eggs.  I had an Atkins chocolate shake (weird after taste) and some almonds I smuggled in my bag.  Gonna be hard to drink all this water but not pee for 5 hours.

I ended up working all through the middle of the day.  I'm glad I had my atkins shake, beef jerky, string cheese, and almonds to sneak. They were surprising satisfying.

At home Ben made a big chopped salad and it was delicious.  I made a smoothie for Jack and it was so awkward to not taste-test it.  I'll be a little teaspoon of it would be a couple carbs though, so I
refrained.  He seemed to enjoy it without my taste approval.  After he went to bed we watched Thor.  I wanted a movie snack.  I found our low carb tortillas (3 grams per half tortilla) and broiled them with olive oil to make crackers.  We ate them with a spinach cheese dip for a total of 4 grams.  The chips were not good, I would easily reject them in my normal lifestyle.  But there's something about a dry crunch with dip.  Celery and other veggies just can't replace it

Day 5, Monday May 21


I'm so glad I didn't have to go back to work last night.  I had a page at 1:50 am that just needed some discussion on the phone.  Ben made me fried eggs this morning, alongside my usual bacon and sausage.

I lost more weight - down to 158.5.  I've never been lower in the past two years except for when I'm sick.  To celebrate I'm taking Jack to Target to buy some new exercise clothes.  I get to do Zumba today!
I'm excited to dance without the usual carb-water bloat I carried.

Zumba was awesome!  I had great energy and a lot of fun.  I hope I burned some real fat.  I worry about how much my weight loss so far is just do to water weight.   Earlier today I bought some new exercise clothes as a treat, for sticking with the diet so far.  They were comfortable and looked good (it helps to take classes with women over 50).

I went to trivia in our neighborhood at Teller's Taproom. When I walked in the door I had the sudden urge to order something even though I already had a full dinner.  After all, you really need to order something at a bar, it's like rent on the table, even if I was only staying for a couple rounds of trivia.

I had a coke zero (first caffeine since the diet, and an hour before bedtime) and a fried artichoke.  It was delicious.  I later discovered an artichoke has 7 net carbs.  Yowza!  That put me way over my limit for the day.  But for the moment I enjoying being in a restaurant with friends and enjoying myself.  I helped nail the 90s Billboard Music round then went home.  A three minute drive home.  I'm going to like having trivia here.

Day 6
A long day at work.  13 hours and I didn't get a lunch break until 4:15 pm because we are short staffed.  That's 10 hours without a rest.  I ate my snacks at my desk while working.  String cheese.  Atkins shake.  Mini cauliflower salad.  Almonds.  Lots of water.  When I finally got down to the hospital cafeteria the salad bar was incredibly limp and depressing.  But it was my only choice, aside from the leftover bacon-cheese-jalapenos in my lunch bag.  The lettuce was wilted, the cucumbers turning mushy, the egg and chicken were most certainly partially fake and possibly injected with dextrose and who knows what.  I'll stick the Adventist hospital salad bars from now on. I packed a big lunch for tomorrow where I'll be working the same shift, some place.

At home I made a sandwich wrap with low carb tortilla.  While eating it I realized consuming a whole tortilla, while only 6 grams of carbs, is probably not kosher for induction week.  When I tallied up my
dinner I went over the daily limit again.  Feeling pretty bummed out. Also, Ben is having a harder time on the diet without me around to help make meals.  The rest of my week will be rough.  Two more shifts and then I have a long stretch off of work for Jack's birthday.

End of Week 1
A much better shift at work today.  Amazing what good staffing can do.  I'll just touch on some things I noted while posting all those other entries.
--I'm not tired anymore.  I'm actually energized.  I used to feel a big slump after my lunch break but now my energy stays up and alert, even after crazy yesterday.  I do feel more dizzy and weak if I can't eat right when I want to.
--I don't feel that restricted in my food options.  I have no true cravings.  I've figured out what foods are ok and what aren't.  I'm enjoying the vegetables.  I have my shakes and gold coke, my almonds and cheeses, and those are doing me ok for now. 
--Eating out just isn't an option with this diet so I feel resigned to make my own food.  You have to be creative, but it's such a limited source of material I can usually settle on a meal instead of endlessly waffling.  
--I've talked to people about the diet and everyone who tried it had good success with it.  That's encouraging.  
--I'm having a weird post-cold sore throat.  Although Jack's contagion never fully blossomed in me, I can't shake a scratchy throat for a couple days. His nose is drying up.  I hope he can go longer than two weeks this time.

Today I stuck to the 20 gram limit.  I hope that will pay off on the scale tomorrow.  Ben and I talked about reaching the end of one week and how we feel about long term plans.  We both are feeling wellWe both want to stop induction at 2 weeks.  I'm going to move up to the next phase (fruits and nuts are ok and carbs are 30 a day).  Ben is going to maintain a low carb diet while nixing junk food.  No fried potatoes, he said, and a lot less sweets.  Kind of a Pollan diet.  He'll do periodic weight and carb counting, but not be to as finicky as we have been.  We both like the idea of doing the induction whenever we get back from a vacation.  That way we can enjoy ourselves, but then kickstart back into healthy habits when we get home. 

Here's a couple dinners we had.  Tossed salad: butter lettuce, parsley, red pepper, and boiled egg with italian dressing.  Hot wings and dip, jalapeno bacon cream cheese wraps, and roasted cauliflower salad.  

Ben Here: I took a video of the phenomenon

I worked 6 shifts in the last 7 days. They were all rough too. Glad to be done with that and have a 4 day weekend. I'm at the salon for a cut and color, long overdue.

Atkins is going well. My weight loss stalled, but after a long stressful day yesterday I'm down to 157, 5 pounds down. Still not craving breads or sweets. I like it. But I'm starting to plan Jack's birthday cake. I need to browse recipes and baking aisles.

 Another delicious low-carb dinner:  Cajun blackened steaks, aged cheddar, and mixed salad with blue cheese dressing.
 I had a request for post salon pictures.  Just more red and a trim.  What do you think of the prescription sunglasses I got from Zenni Optical online?  Stylish?  Or comically small?  It was a gamble ordering online, but I'm happy to have good vision in the sun now.  Oh, and did you notice this?
Yeah, I got a purple extension.  Because why not?

We had a busy morning.  First brunch with Mavi and Brian at Breakfast on the Edge.  We ate on the breezy patio and watched water skiers on Sloan's Lake.  Also lots of impressive motorcycles down Sheridan (impressive to Jack).  His gear came off for the meal, like a gentleman. 




 Then we all went to Echter's nursery.  Mavi had a mission, but the rest of us bought plants too.  Must be Memorial Day weekend, right?  I went kind of crazy with the succulents.  It gave me a good reason to re-pot the others I've had sitting at home, and sweep up the back patio.  Jack wanted to help, and now I'm researching how to clean stuffed toys.  Kipper is prematurely graying. 


Here's Jack while we wait for Ben and Brian in Edward's Meats.  Too much running around and sunshine I guess :-)

Ben has already started teaching Jack to use a controller. They are playing "Hydro Thunder."

Another Atkins salad, and a sneaky smoothie for Jack.

Look who's here!

I think Jack must have had a splendid day.  I'm not feeling up to writing much, so here's a picture dump of a two year old's birthday.  (PS, Ben put some of his on Flickr, and you should watch the video of Jack finding presents here).

I called in to work at 8 am to see if my ICU treatment was a go.  It was not.  So I'm on day call (hellooo callback pay!).  Ben packed up Jack to Bailey.  His parents are staying in the condo so they will play with Jack while Ben does homework up there.  I'm left with a clean house and no agenda.  How nice! 

Jack's birthday was really really fun.  What wasn't pictured was all the times his grandparents took him out for walks to the park while Ben and I stayed home.  Also I went to Zumba.  It was so good.  It really feels good to exercise again.  It totally wipes me out, but not as bad as at first.  What DID wipe me out yesterday was eating a small steak salad at 11:30 for lunch, going to Zumba for an hour, then frosting Jack's cake.  Like usual I taste-tested the frosting and licked up any spills on my fingers.  I think I sent myself in a little hyperglycemic episode.  I laid down for a while and drank a lot of water.  When I felt a little better I came downstairs and Jack obliged me with cuddling and Yo Gabba Gabba. 

But I felt better by dinnertime and we had a tasty meal, followed by cake, ice cream, berries and cream.  Brian poked fun at my diet slice of cake.

One more day of Atkins to go.  Ben and I agree that although we indulged yesterday, we ate a LOT less than we normally would have.  No afternoon ice cream, no buns with our sausages, no lemonade, no doritos, no potato salad, no potato chips, and very small cake portions.  I went from an all time low (since 2007) of 155.5 pounds yesterday up to 157.5 today.  But Ben lost another pound over the same night.  And I'm the one who exercised.  Go figure.

Well, I'm gonna go set up my spinning machine and enjoy the quiet.

Before spinning I had to update my ravelry page.  I finished this scarf over the weekend.  The yarn was brought back from Germany by Mom, it's inspired by Van Gogh's La Cafe Terrace a Nuit.  It's hard to take photos with a big camera in one hand!

2 year visit shot quickly forgotten.

Amanda coordinated the whole family's calendars for a weekend in Grand Junction. It was much fun, as expected. Ben stayed home for some well-deserved bachelor time. I took Jack for his third consecutive week getting Grandparented ("spoiled").

Except for some carsickness from him on the way over, it was a great time. And now my car is fitted for such accidents should they happen again. Lots of pool and good food. I relaxed my carb counting. I paid for it in bloat afterwards, but the weight seems to be falling off as I go back to the diet. We also saw MIB III and yes, Brian, it was funny. It made the 90s feel like a long time ago. Boy, I'm getting old.

Pictures!

All packed up, right?  Here was my car-entertainment and snack set-up.

Jack in the back not feeling too hot.  Notice the outfit change. 

Made it to GJ!  Jack (now in outfit #4) feeling much better and adding a third puppy to his menagerie.  Also, this gorgeous scarf Mom knit using the yarn I spun for her Mother's Day gift.  Didn't it turn out fantastic?!


Loading up on berries for the weekend.  We had to make a second trip after he ate them all in 24 hours.  Mmm, baked brie by Amanda.  TOTALLY worth the crackers.

Playing in the backyard, including the pool!  We swam all three days that we were there.  Jack takes to the water like a fish.

Goofing off with the dogs and toddler early in the morning.

Dad makes biscuits and sausage gravy while Andy and Jenn serenade.

Main Street for shopping and to play in their splash pad.  Jack had fun, even though it was a little rough for him. 

Right in the head!


While we saw the movie Jack napped and made cookies.


More pool, this time with dogs!  Jack thought Lucy was HILARIOUS.


Bedtime with my mom, then up and at 'em the next morning.  Styrofoam coolers make super building blocks.

Love these glasses.  I regret that he's added them to his "gear," making getting out the door all the more complicated.  But they are so adorable!  Dad came out in a twin outfit.





Back home we had to go!  Jack nodded off here at the first stoplight on my way out of town.  On the right he is eating french fries, giving me surly looks.  Not happy to be in the car but abated with Finding Nemo on the Kindle hanging off the front seat and salty, crispy snacks we usually withhold.  I was just happy we didn't have to make any extra clean-up stops.

So happy to be home!  Jack whipped out Blues Clues (Boo Coo!  Or, "beaucoup" as we joked) with his two puppies.  We love visiting and can't wait to get in the pool again.

Another busy busy day.  Today was shift 3 of 5 this week.  It was interesting because I had two apheresis treatments.  And a coworker did a third at another hospital!  We go weeks, and sometimes months without doing any, so this is very unusual.

Meanwhile, Ben captured this video.  We are so happy Jack is getting better at playing with other kids.  I took him to the Cherry Creek play place and he didn't hit a single kid the whole hour.  He even waited his turn to go up and down the slide.  Ben tells me these two did this cookie routine over and over.  Not just side-by-side playing either, I'd call this playing TOGETHER!

I feel like I've been working non-stop for the last couple weeks.  My paychecks indicate that yeah, I pretty much have been working all the time.  When I'm home we scrounge up dinner, play with Jack, and complain about how hot it is.  Also, I knit a lot.  Oh, and I installed a new stereo in Ben's car, a late Father's Day gift.  Now I have bluetooth envy. 

Here's a plethora of Jack photos.  Not pictured, the snotty nose and coughs that have plagued him for the last three days.

In the middle of all that work busy-ness (business?) our BFFs came back to visit.  Hello Walkers!!!!



They are in the middle of another life upheaval, moving from Idaho to Oregon.  I am very sad that Colorado did not make the cut.  But it was so much fun to see them for a couple days. 

We ate out at some local favorites.  I cannot believe there is no barbeque in Pocatello!  We saw Moonrise Kingdom at my favorite theater (using VIP leather loveseats with complimentary popcorn and soda). I still love Wes Anderson, btw.   I got to play a couple rounds of trivia at our new haunt, Teller's Taproom, before bedtime. 

Miranda and I made not one, but TWO trips to Fancy Tiger.  Both trips were over two hours long.  It was heaven.  The first time I took photos of everything that I seriously considered buying.  Look how much money I saved! 


The second trip I spent $60 on luxury yarns.  I had worked long hours the day before, and long hours all week that prevented me from playing with my friends. My inner voice said "Treat yo self!" and so I did.  How I love Anzula and Madelinetosh yarn. 

Oh, and let me say thank you to 3G streaming Netflix on phones, that allow little girls to watch My Little Pony for an hour while their moms shop for crafts.


Sigh.  We really miss you guys.  I wish there were more lunches like this:

Maybe someday.  Good luck on your move!

How to Make Yarn 

This is an overview of the process of making yarn.   It's intended to show the whole journey that fiber takes over various devices and stages.   It's not a detailed description of technique.

I learned to spin on a drop spindle in a class. Later I was generously given a spinning wheel, which I learned to use with trial and error, entirely self taught.  I'm so happy with how this project turned out.  I took nice pictures along the way to share my love of this old fashioned craft. 

 Start with roving.

(This isn't even the beginning.  Shearing sheep is the beginning.  I'm skipping that step, along with cleaning, scouring, combing, blending, and dying the wool.)

This is a blend of merino wool and other fibers (I lost the tag.  Silk? Alpaca?  I'm not sure, but it's lusciously soft).  This came from an etsy seller.  Browsing for roving on etsy is one of my favorite things to do on the internet.

Roving is combed fibers that are ready to spin.  Pick an end, split into smaller strips if you prefer (I left it fat, making for longer color changes).  Start spinning. 


And keep spinning for hours.

 Marvel at the gorgeous colors. 

Marvel at how thinly you can spin after the hours of practice you have put in. 

Hopefully you already decided whether to make single or double ply yarn.  If it will be double ply, then hopefully you put some extra twist in the fiber.  That way you can twist two strands together in the opposite direction, and hopefully achieve a balanced yarn.  That's a lot of hope.  In other words, plan ahead or you'll be frustrated.

This is where my wheel comes in handy.  It has a built in "kate," the diagonal rack holding my bobbins.  I can easily pull the yarn off those bobbins while plying it onto the center bobbin which is being spun by the wheel.

I don't think I'm very good at plying.  I've read some techniques, but my fingers just don't do it well.  Perhaps an intermediate level spinning class would help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.  Perhaps I just need to do it slower with more patience.  Plying is not my favorite part of the process. 

Single spun yarn on the right bobbin, plyed yarn on the left bobbin. 

Take the double ply yarn off the bobbin by winding it onto a "niddy noddy." This is a wooden stick with two perpendicular rods at the ends that you wind yarn around.  You can also use a chair's back, but the niddy noddy is more compact and even.

Look how balanced my yarn is!  It lays loosely on my lap like string.  It's thrilling to get such plain, string-like results!

I had a single bobbin leftover.  I heard that you can ply onto itself using a center-pull ball.  So I wound it on a niddy noddy and then made a ball.

I love these even, green strings.   They are fun to thrum.  (Poor Ben had to endure me saying "Look! Look!" several times.  You know you married right when he unwavering applauds your string making.)
I didn't like how that skein turned out (it's the greener one you will see later) because the colors overlapped more and the twist didn't stay very well.  However, doing it shows the amount of twist I was talking about earlier.

Over-twisted single ply:

Now evened out by re-twisting in a double ply:

After coiling on the niddy noddy you can twist the hank onto itself.  These knotted hanks are how yarn is often sold in stores. 

But I hadn't "set the twist" yet.  The yarn gets a quick soak in warm water.  I added a wool wash from Fancy Tiger because it smells good. 

Gently drain the water and squeeze the hanks.  You want to be very careful not to agitate the yarn or it will start to felt (that is, shrink and tighten up on itself).  Roll the hanks up in a towel

and press to get out the excess water.
Hang for a couple days to dry out. 

When dry, you can wind these hanks into center pull balls.  Yarn stores will offer to do this for you when you buy hanks from them.  For some reason, the workers in yarn stores take FOREVER to wind yarn.  I have my own swift and winder to do this at home.

I can't believe I forgot to photograph that part!  Here's what it would have looked like:
 (Thanks for the cameo, Miranda!)

So here are my three skeins of homespun yarn, ready to be knit!

I chose to make the Trixie Cowl pattern.  I needed a complimentary yarn.  I found a dark purple alpaca and silk blend from Blue Sky Alpacas that worked nicely with my own yarn.

After knitting the scarf it needs to be "blocked."  This will set the form and even out stitching.  Another soak in the sink.

And another squeeze in a towel.

This pattern has you block the piece flat before joining in a loop.  Be careful not to be too distracted by Colin Firth's smoldering portrayal of Mr. Darcy, or you might join the wrong ends together.  That will make you angry and have to spend a lot of time un-picking that rueful kitchener stitch.

Then you are finished!  Wait for daylight and take some final pictures.  Don't include your head if you slept in, have frizzy hair, and no make-up.  Do include your kid because he's cute 24/7.





Finally, update your Ravelry page.  Here's my Ravelry page for the finished scarf. 

Final step: go to etsy and browse for roving ;-)

Ben and I couldn't remember what we did for the fourth last year.  Apparently this.  So that we capture memories, as much as they are, I'll post about today.

After an unrestful night of tossing and turning in bed I got up at 5 to go to work.  I had one patient in the main room, where I simultaneously did all the machine and equipment maintenance.  Then they added a second patient for me, this one in the ICU.  Before that I had a nice, relaxed lunch (salad with ham and boiled egg) and talked to Ben, who had Jack at the Tilly's house for a little party.  I'm told Jack ate 6 watermelon slices, three brownies, and handfuls of goldfish crackers.  He's been losing weight from this cold so frankly I'm thrilled about all that food!  He and Wolfie also had fun throwing poppers and splashing in a puddle.

I left work around 6:45, just shy of a 13 hour day.  It's nice to get 50% extra pay for working today.  This was my drive home on the bottom of C-470 facing west. 

Hey, where are the mountains?  

Rounding the loop just past Kipling, even up close I could barely see the foothills.   It's been hazy all week because of the fires here.  But today was the worst by far.  Ironically, I hear it's from winds bringing the smoke to Denver from a fire in Laramie. 

At home I played in the basement with the guys.  Ben is proud that Jack can play video games at a younger age than he did himself.  When I got home Jack had just cleared the second level of Angry Birds on his own, earning three stars.  He tried Fruit Ninja next.  We've been trying to teach him that not all video games, and not all consoles, work by flapping your arms. 



Fireworks are pretty much banned across the state because of the wildfires.  There are a couple displays, but I'm sure they are packed to the gills with people because of how few there will be.  We were never big fans of fireworks because 1) they are late at night.  Unless the 5th is a non-work day we'd rather sleep, and 2) crowds. But I kept Jack up a little past bedtime to watch the Capitol fireworks in DC.  His response was very meh.  Instead he licked his dinosaur like an ice cream cone, sending Ben into fits of giggles.  This went on for a while. 


And that was our Independence Day!

My proudest moment this week: Jack ate all his dinner tray. 4 squares, 4 food groups: string cheese, two servings of ham, three servings of strawberries, and three servings of sweet potato. I'm so happy he ate some protein and vegetable!

My folks are visiting! We are enjoying a very NIJ dinner (not in Junction) at Euclid Hall.

It was a perfect day to go to the zoo.  Cool, cloudy, and not too crowded.  We had a great time with the new elephant exhibit.

He thought the gibbons swinging around were the best.  Penguins were a close second place.

While Jack took a nap we dashed back downtown for the arts festival.  It started off another perfect day for walking. Cool and cloudy.  But the thunder started its warning.

Hmm, looks like it's really raining.  We should stay in this booth for a bit.  

 Whoa!  Shoot, I can't keep my feet dry in this.  I think it's up around my toes.  Water bottles and flip flops start floating past us. 
 Uhh, this is really bad.  The guys across the street just lost a few two by fours to the torrents.  It's pounding.  A loading dolly just floated past us in the gutter!

 Ahh, the rains abated after quite a while. We were up to our ankles in the tent.  We ventured down the middle of the street where the water was more shallow.  Then at a junction we hopped up to the sidewalk. 
 And we were so proud we remembered the umbrellas today.  Fat lot of good they did us!  But then we said "oh, screw it!" We're already soaked, let's see if any booths are opening back up. 

Best spent in a chilled basement, with chilled cherries, SYTYCD, Chipotle, Coke Zero, and knitting.

I'm missing Amanda and Miranda. It's a show even better with friends.

Not really :-)  But I'm so happy to see they finally used a picture from open spin night last winter.  I'm on the far right (straight from work, in my scrubs).  Here's the page it's on. I thought it was hilarious we all had chunky vintage glasses too.  I should really try to catch the next spin night.

While Amanda is adventuring across the globe, she asked that I post more on my blog to appease her homesickness (which is mild, I'm sure).  I explained that I haven't been having a great time with work lately, so I haven't been in the mood.  But I guess I can conjure up some at home stuff to write about for my dear sister.

Jack is getting more confident and careless while running around.  We had some scrapes this week.

I'm trying to get him away from the TV more often.  They get addicted so soon!  We went to story time at the library yesterday and today.  I can see his little brain figuring out the routines and games involved.  He's so shy, but already getting braver about participating.  He's also better about not hitting other kids. 

I must be knitting too much.  I've had constant pain in my hands and forearms for over a week.  I try to take frequent breaks, stretching and resting my arms.  It's no fun not being able to knit for hours like I want to!  Those on Ravelry can see I have a lot of projects in the works.  This is the first summer where I haven't wanted to slow down my knitting. 

Today I'm making an effort not to knit at all and to minimize iPhone use, in case all that finger and thumb work is contributing too.  Sewing is not my best craft anymore.  I'm out of practice and impatient.  I know!  You would think knitting takes more patience.  But it takes so much more effort to set up a piece by sewing than knitting does.  You can pick up needles and yarn, start or stopping willy-nilly.  But sewing involves lots of space, planning, prepping, thread, pins, measuring, and cursing at the pattern because the marks NEVER line up for me.

I've had this great jersey stripe fabric for a while with a top from Burda in mind.  It came out a little boxy, but I think it will look nice with skinny jeans.  (I did iron it after taking these pictures.)
I didn't bother to hem anything, so all the edges are raw.  The jersey won't fray.  This was a simple project.  It took longer to sign in to buy the pdf, print, and tape it together than it did to cut and sew the actual shirt. 

So that's life this week!   Oh, did you know you can buy bags of ice at McDonald's for $1?  I send Ben to fetch once every couple days.  I like to have a giant cup of ice water with me all day long. 

Happy birthday Dad!  I hope we see you on Facetime tonight.

A great end to a long two weeks. I'm not even on call tonight. Freedom!!

Ben eating kippers at the deli.

Ben and I like to really cut loose after Jack goes to sleep.

Yup, it's like party central in here.  Hopped up on Coke Zero and Chipotle, making yarn and playing a Batman video game.  We are positively RECKLESS!

Three years of nursing plus one year of clinicals, and I got my first dirty needle stick last night.

It happened after working for 14.5 hours. I was cleaning up an apheresis treatment set-up. I had taken over the treatment from another nurse. He used a needle at a junction where I prefer to use a stopcock. He also used a needle without a safety device. Grrr.

I slipped while trying to detach it for disposal in the sharps bin. A little poke can generate a lot of hubbub and paperwork. They did a rapid HIV on te patient that came back negative. This morning I had blood draw at my occupational health clinic. My manager has been very helpful and supportive in figuring out all the paperwork. The patient had a hepatitis panel drawn earlier this month which was also negative, but they redrew for protocol.

I'm certain nothing will come of this. She's clean, I'm vaccinated, yada yada. But boy does it suck to get a needlestick. You can't help but feel super stressed.

I can't wait for this summer to end.

I had a staffer meeting this morning that took me away from church. I gave a presentation and it went really well.

When I got home Ben was babysitting Wolfie. Our friends had watched Jack last night so we could get dinner and a movie. Now they are seeing a matinee while we watch their kid. It's so nice to have a couple we can trade with.

Now that I was home we had enough hand to wrangle dog and toddlers out to the park. We are learning important lessons about hitting the ground and not t people

Can you imagine his excitement?

 Today is our tenth anniversary!  Crazy. 

We plan to really celebrate in about a month, after Ben graduates.  We are taking a trip to San Francisco with a stopover in GJ to drop Jack off with the grands (or "grampkees" as he says).  It will be our first trip away from our little guy.  As much as we love him, I'm looking forward to being solo for a long weekend. 

So I didn't plan for our anniversary this week.  That's how I ended up working today, and it's the first of 3 shifts in a row (4.5 total for the week).  We got each other silly gifts in the morning.  Ben made sure to include daffodils and tin, the assigned gifts for tens year.

Tonight Ben picked up Fat Sully's pizza, our new favorite.  The guy gave us a free salad to celebrate!  We ate it while watching Seinfeld.  I was in the mood for some retro TV. 

 I love you, Ben!

I'm having a bad morning and it's only 9 am. So I made a good breakfast to try to fix it.

We were all hit with a bad cold last week. Still recovering too.

Out of no where Jack started pointing out backpacks to us and calling them by name.   He's always been enamored with the body part "back," pronouncing it "baugh-ck" with much reverence while patting his.

I hardly ever buy Jack toys or clothes, but couldn't resist getting him his own. He picked out the puppy from the adorable Skip Hop line of animal designs.

It tickles me so to see my little guy trucking around in it. Especially because he gets off balance by the addition of one book. :-)

I also can't resist encouraging his verbal skills by these indulgences.  He seems to be on the slow end of normal.  Not delayed, consistently making progress, but behind most other two year olds we meet.  I kept waffling on whether to call Early Intervention for an evaluation, but he continued to make small steps on his own.  Looking back now I see that his vocabulary has vastly expanded this summer.  He's more willing to try to mimic a word when we break it down for him and it's not uncommon for him to say a two word phrase (with a little help). 

He said his first spontaneous sentence a few weeks ago.  We were at a playground all alone for an hour.  Some kids showed up and started climbing the tower-- HIS tower.  Jack stamped his foot and said "No! Play! Out!"  I was at once filled with pride that he spoke multiple linked words and disappointment that he didn't want to share.  Being a parent often gives me this strange mix of conflicting emotions. 

Still no purposeful "Mommy" since I posted he finally said it.  Once in a while he calls me "Bobby," but not often.  I theorize that he knows it's wrong so he doesn't call me anything most of the time.  Don't know why he can babble M-sounds but uses a B in words ("Bine!" is one such frequently used fervent and loud statement.)

A couple weeks ago we took Jack to Tiny Town, Colorado!  He was sick in that indestructible, two-year-old way that they drip snot and cough but are still hyper and demand entertainment.  That night I got sick, in the thirty-year-old way that I drip snot and cough but want nothing more than to hole up in the basement with Tylenol, a box of tissues, and season five of The West Wing for three days straight.  I even called in sick to work - I have to be REALLY worn out to do that.  I think I've only done that twice before in three years.  Then Ben got sick and I continued to have little energy and had to work for a whole week while Jack continued to ping around the house, a typical ball of chaos and fun-seeking boy-mass.  Jack watched a lot of Dinosaur Train that week. 

All of that is to excuse this very delayed post about Tiny Town.  Jack LOVED it.  Did not want to leave.  Wanted to ride the choo-choo all day.  You should have seen the reverence with which he gave the conductor his ticket for punching.  Oh, but you can! For I am posting pictures and video finally. (Credits to Amanda and Ben)

Ben and I went back on strict Atkins this week.  We stopped the "induction" phase with a 20 carb limit after two weeks and gradually worked back up to normal.  We stopped counting, but we were still eating less crap than before.  Then I started sneaking more goldfish crackers from Jack's stash and more spoonfuls of peanut butter with chocolate chips.  So I proposed we go back on a stint of low carb to recalibrate and slim a little before our vacation next week.  I'm only limiting to 30 carbs a day - dramatically easier than 20 but still takes a lot of effort and planning.

In three days I have pushed through my previous plateau.  Remember, I started at 162 pounds and got down to 155.  I maintained 155.5-157 all summer since then.  Today I was down to 153!  I'm so psyched.  I can't believe I've lost almost ten pounds this summer.  **Update 8/24: I hit 152.  I can't believe it!**

I'm still getting to Zumba class when I possible.  My favorite teacher has moved around, so now I go to the Golden Community Center for her.  Today it was closed for renovations. :-( I had Jack with me, planning to do child care during my class.  So I took him over the hill to a playground, figuring he could at least get some wiggles out before going home.

Lo and behold, Zumba was in the park!  Kris had a free class there because she's so awesome :-)  (She's in the pink tank top, bossing people around.) 

At first Jack was like:
Aw shucks.  Mommy is dancing instead of catering to my every whim and applauding every little move I make.  

And then Jack was like:



So good times were had all around.  I let him have half hour of playground time afterwards, then let him splash in all the puddles on the way back to the car, so I think that makes up for it.

PS: It's really hard to dance on uneven ground and videotape a toddler.  Thank goodness for Youtube's auto shake-remover. 
PPS: Yes, he is dancing to a song about mixed drinks, and my teacher says "I dare you to take your shirt off" to the group.  You should know Jack and I also dance zumba at home and are both closeted fans of Pitbull.

To grandparents house we'll go!

We'll drop off the boy

And get on a plane

That's bound for San Francisco-oh!

We have a quick layover in Phoenix, with a switch to a bigger plane. Walking up the jet-way was as much desert heat that I care to experience (sorry Kristin). Onward to chilly, foggy beaches!!

We are still sitting at the gate in Phoenix. Low clouds in SF are causing air traffic to only allow one plane to land at a time. So we are waiting for the go ahead to depart. 2 hours so far, 1-2 more they think. But they just put out boxes of water, "take as many as you want." Total win! At least we have nothing to hurry to get to. Just a garlicky dinner and a soft bed.

3 hour flight delay, then an "incident with the BART police" stopped us between our destination and the subway stop before it. Eventually te train backed up to Powell and we were able to get off just one stop early. Our hotel is super nice with a city view!

Now I must attend to my rumbling tummy. Good night!

A bowl of roasted garlic.

Our first pedi can experience. Our late plane kind of screwed out plan to have bus passes this morning. When Ben pointed out it was already 11 as we left the farmers market, and we weren't able to board a fully packed trolley We decided it was worth it to be biked along the pier. City pass and muni pass in hand now, we are ready to explore.

Daily homemade noodles-Ben is in heaven.

On our way out of the Japantown mall I had to backtrack to the booth selling mochi ice cream. Yes, I was stuffed from snacking all day and our dinner reservations are in just four hours. But I've always wanted to try mochi ice cream! It did not disappoint. I wonder if it's sold anywhere in Denver.

We go shopping deep in the city, where we find a unicorn ($4000), I get netted by a booby-trap at the pirate supply store, we pass a man shopping while completely naked, and we sit in a three chair movie theater with a fish tank in place of a screen.

In a change from our usual Ghiradelli's visit, we had Bi Rite ice cream after dinner. The lines were long but moved fast. I has mint chip and balsamic strawberry. Ben had white chocolate raspberry and honey lavender. We thought it was quite good. Flavorful and creamy. On a US World and Report survey Bi Rite is #3 and Sweet Action is #7. But I prefer Sweet Action for its flavor variety and ample seating.

Mmm, hot chocolate, chocolate croissant and Ben's un-clammified sourdough bread leftovers. If there was any doubt, you now see that the summer dieting also took a vacation.

The De Young museum in Golden Gate park. I was very disappointed that the Nureyev costume exhibit wasn't open yet--and the textiles wing was closed to prepare for it! Bummer. But the American paintings were a nice collection. "hey, it's us at night at home." Ben said regarding the spinner painting. :-). The observation tower was also really cool.

We crossed the park to the Academy of Sciences next. We skimmed through, doing the rainforest dome and the aquarium. I sent fish and butterfly texts to Jack (via mom). The baby ostriches were super cute- they darted around just like they do in Joust.

A quick walk toward our train yielded a table at Chow, a local favorite with a few places around the city. We got a pleasant patio table. Ben ordered a Boston Cooler, which was a ginger ale float with candied almonds. Then I found a farmers market in Sunset, right next to the trolley stop.

We came off the island voyage thoroughly wind blown. I wanted to squeeze in the MOMA or a yarn shop, but the MUNI buses thwarted us. They've been terrible this weekend. In 2.25 days we were passed by 8 buses for being too full, and 2 buses we were on didn't make it to our destinations, despite correct schedule matching on our end.

So both other places closed and we made it back to the hotel just in time to change for dinner.

Once refreshed we said "F the F train" and took a cab to the theater district.

The Grand Cafe is attached to the hotel Monaco in their ballroom. Apparently it was one of the few art deco ballrooms to survive the 1906 earthquake. It was beautiful and the food delicious-French contemporary.

Fried squash blossoms stuffed with goat cheese with fennel and lemon.

Black kale salad and watermelon/ heirloom tomato gazpacho.

Seafood cassoulet and marrow and fig flatbread.

We took a cable car from union square to Ghirardelli square. No SF trip would be complete without those, right? Then we skipped the long line for a cable car back in favor of a taxi (only 30 cents more plus tip--totally worth it). I finishes my ice cream on my fluffy bed and then we quickly collapsed into a wake-less sleep.

We are both very sore this morning and trudging through the crowds to get back to our little boy. It sounds like he is having an absolute blast with the grands. I'm writing this from my plane home, they just closed cabin doors so I will sign off now!

We have wonderful news! Before his diploma was even printed Ben landed an amazing job with Zing Studios. We are so excited and thrilled with it. He has two weeks to find a nanny for Jack. That's a challenge in itself, but we will take that one step at a time.

Wow, child care problem solved! Thanks to SitterCity we found a girl we are very excited to hire. Actually, we found FOUR girls who we were excited about, but had to nit-pick to narrow it down to one.  I can't believe how quickly we got ourselves a nanny.  Ben posted our ad on Friday night.  We had 9 applicants by Monday morning.  We interviewed four of the best Monday and today.  Tonight we made her an offer and she said yes on the phone.  We're just waiting for her reply to our emailed, formal job offer before we sadly tell the other girls they didn't get the job.  I HIGHLY recommend SitterCity if you need sitters.  It costs to join but it's completely worth it.

Work has been trampling me down hard since our vacation ended.

 I tried to have fun tonight.   There was this:

(sorry for the vertical frame)

and then this:

But then I got some work info that put me back in a funk.   My actual job is pretty good.  When I'm there with a patient, doing my thing, I think: what a great nursing gig I have.  But the call stress and the hours and the drama and the regulations and all the other crap is getting harder and harder to bear. What's wrong with this summer?  So many people I've talked to are depressed too.  When will it get better?

We wanted to do something fun this weekend, and Ben found the Forney museum. They have antique trains, cars, bikes, carriages, and all sorts of strange things. Jack seemed to think it was really cool, and I was surprised at how interesting the museum was.

Discovering a cool museum in our own town made us feel like tourists in our own city.  We decided on a restaurant in LoDo near the ballpark called Biker Jim's Dogs.  Of course Ben chose an exotic dog made of rattlesnake and pheasant topped with cactus and a Malaysian jam.  I chose a much more boring all beef dog, Jim's Classic style with cream cheese and grilled onions.  Their baked beans were really good, and probably the best fried mac and cheese I've ever ordered.  I was really excited to see a Boylan's soda fountain too. 

After lunch we walked a few blocks to Sakura Square.  On the way we saw a strange group bicycle:
And some funny street art:

I also found some goodies:

I wonder if these will be any good.  The one I tried in San Francisco came out of a box too.  Next week we have plans to visit Boulder.  I have my sights set on Smooch.  Their mochi ice cream looks heavenly and I can't wait to try several. 

It was so fun to play in Denver today!  I learned some cool things (did you know Denver had three cable car lines in the 1880s?  We saw a cable car at the museum from Denver), and it reminded me that there's a lot to explore in our own town still.  It's even possible to sight see with a toddler.  (Jack was angelic for the outing, even putting his hands in pockets while wandering the museum.  He only needed occasional reminders to behave.)  Now if you'll excuse me, I have a mochi ball calling my name.

 Jack loves to help me bake.  Today I was making pizza for dinner, so I invited him to help assemble the pies.  What a helper!  He stretched, squashed, rolled, and smushed the dough.  He spread the sauce and licked the spoon.  He sprinkled cheese and herbs.  He placed pepperoni perfectly.  The only problem was when we were done he cried because he wanted to make more!  Don't get between this boy and an apron. 



Accidental sideways camera by Ben.  But I like it, it's kind of artsy.

The safety glasses came for this project.  Ben was at Lowes and they were having a free kids project.  Jack was a little wary and close to his naptime, but the store let him take home all this gear for free!  Today Ben and Jack built the truck:

Oh, this is fantastic. Ben's steaming UK set up is working wonderfully. I love watching this show on its proper schedule. It's even fun watching the british "adverts."

This mom thing is pretty nice.

We come home after long hours to a happy, rested, entertained boy.

 The house is tidy, the floors are cleared.   Jack's play area is even organized.

The lasagna we left is cooked and cooling on counter.

The dog is walked and content.

Oh, and dishes are done.

It's much, much better than a daycare would have been.

PLUS! All of that happened while Jack works through ANOTHER cold. (I blame this one on the flu shot he got Friday.)

Need I remind you that a daycare would not have taken him today, necessitating one of us missing work?

So much better with a nanny.

I have not found a source in Denver for fresh mochi.  So I made my own!

 I'll consider this attempt and experiment.  The results will not convert anyone to loving mochi.  But I think I can improve upon it.

I used a combination of these two recipes. 

• Boil 1 cup water with 1/4 cup sugar
• Add 3 drops red food coloring (which was too much, see below)
• Dump in 1 cup mochiko flour
• Stir like crazy
• Dump onto prepared cutting board (potato starch all over it)
• Tear off pieces, pinch around filling, roll in starch

It took minutes to make!  So easy, so tempting to try again already. 

I used canned An (sweetened red bean paste) and froze it to make portioning and wrapping easier.  Apparently Jack will eat spoonful after spoonful of An.  Weirdo. 

However, I'm glad I waited until nap time to make this.  The dough is warm-to-hot and you have to work fast.  Also, with no baking step, it's extra important that no dirty little hands get in the dough. 

I got the ingredients at Viet-Hoa, an Asian grocery store on Alameda.  

Next time:

• Less food coloring. 1-2 drops is plenty.
• Flavor the dough.  I wonder how they make strawberry in the bakery?
• Figure out the best filling to wrap ratio.
• Vary the filling.  Chocolate? Nutella? Fruit? Maybe use these instructions with pistachios?

This may be the only vegetable he eats today. Does it count when the "bread" has equal amounts of sugar?

Seriously.  Fall is the best. (That last one is Jack discovering Reese's Pieces).

We had a blast this weekend with my parents visiting for Amanda's birthday.  We picked pumpkins on a farm, ate lots of delicious food, and shopped till Jack dropped.  But I haven't uploaded photos yet.

I wanted to pop on the blog though.  Just an update on how Jack is doing, which is great!  For a slow talker, he is really blossoming now.  Tons of verbs and nouns, some pronouns even, and he is dappling in conjugation.  He will imitate any word you give him.  He makes three word sentences.  He knows his numbers and letters.  I hate to say it, but I think TV taught him to read letters.  Out of no where he started to name them. Then I watched some Super Why! with him after Paige finally translated for me.  I kept hearing him ask for "Shoop Aye!" Now it's "Shooper Why!" Anyway, that show is all about letters and making words, so I guess that's where he picked them up.  Now I have him read letters to me everywhere we see them.  Again, I have some video but it's not up yet.

He knows ALL the animals.  Seriously.  He knows the colors.  He follows two step commands.  He can wash his hands all by himself (water on, rinse, soap, rinse, water off, towel dry, hang towel, light off, door shut).  He can balance on one foot.  He can turn on tablets and select the next episode he wants when one finishes (and I already told him it was the last one, the little stinker).  He still can't jump with two feet off the ground.  He swallows his toothpaste.  He helps put his clothes on but can't do it by himself yet.  But boy, have the last few months been crazy for growth!  Two and four months is very different than two. 

I started a sticker chart to help him be more responsible.  We hope to work towards potty training soon, and this is a preliminary step to that.

I posted this today and explained it to him.  Now I hear him wander over there and read off the pictures "toys...eat....POOP!"

This is what it looks like right before you get a snowball in your face.

Here is Jack on Sunday, pointing out the pumpkins.  (I love that the sweater I made is fitting for two seasons).

Today we invited Brian over to carve!  They were really cold inside from the snow fall last week. 

Jack has been talking about rockets a lot this month, so that's what I made for his costume this year.

I struggled with the attached wings and booster rocket rig.  I should have attached the rocket pack directly to the shirt so the straps didn't pull up his shirt all day.  By the end of the night I clipped the wings off so the straps could fit backpack style.  That would have been a good fix too.  Oh well, live and learn. 

Pictures were tricky because he looks down when walking through leaves.  Also he has a cold:
So his energy was low all day.  But we got a few good shots :-)


Ben dressed as the Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time.  I was a plain old witch. 




After some launches, Jack wanted to play hide and seek.  We played one round, then got ready to trick-or-treat.

The boys took a break to ride the kiddie Merry Go Round

 And to watch a spooky railroad set.

This image captures the moment Jack realized Wolfie was EATING a piece of bucket candy.
 (I love Amanda's Formal Complaint costume)

Doesn't this image sum it up?  Suckers in mouth, Wolfie checking out his friend's bucket.

Once the suckers came out, it was hard to keep the boys focused on the task of acquiring more.  They are a "live for the moment" type of creature.  

Luckily we were almost done.

 Our pumpkins at home.

I took Jack out to a few friendly neighbors on our block.  We ran into the Larsons!  April did an amazing job on all their costumes. 


Still zooming.

Brian's house was super spooky, as expected.  Organ music, strobe lights, a fog machine, and lots of decorations.  A great way to end the night. 

Here's what we ate today that didn't come out of a bucket.  Pumpkin pancakes with Jack O' Lantern faces for breakfast. 

 The Fancy Tiger blog showed me that there was a new pie shop in Denver.  What what? I immediately called Brian and invoked him on an exploration excursion. 


 Jack and I shared a banana cream pie while Brian ordered a breakfast burrito pie slice.  The review from Jack in the above image is pretty much my reaction too.  I bought a savory beef pie to eat later. 

It was a super long, fun day.  Jack was a real trooper, considering his cold.  By the time we got to Chipotle for their $2 burrito-if-you-are-in-costume deal, he was wearing out.
After dinner and neighborhood trick-or-treating I curled up with him under a quilt and we watched It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  He thought Snoopy was hilarious.  A good teeth brushing, and then I tucked him in bed.  I could hear him over the monitor recounting the night as he fell asleep, "Rocket....candy....pumpkin...rocket...."  That pretty much sums it up.

Boy, it's nice to be home with my family.  Ben and Jack still have colds, but I still enjoy their company.  I don't know how I missed the cold, considering Jack gave me two sneezes in my face at point blank range, and I give him kisses all over every night.  Luck of the draw.

After the fun of Halloween we didn't do much.  I knocked a few major items off my To Do list.  I printed some photos.  I planned meals and bought groceries.  I gave Jack a long overdue haircut.  It did not go well.  Here's a screen shot my folks took when we were done.  I had a movie on the iPad, grandparents on the iPhone, and a lollipop for both hands, but he still cried like I was torturing him.  But the biggest check-off on my list was cleaning out my dryer according to these instructions.  I pulled fistfuls of lint out the vent.  My bathrooms may still be filthy, but my dryer vents are gorgeous!

Last night Amanda came over and we worked on Christmas ornaments, as she posted.  It was cozy, quiet work, but really fun.  I might even call her to do it again today.  Maybe while Jack naps, so we can claim the TV to watch QI.

I have come to accept the fact that I'm the Safeco Insurance Lady.  Better just embrace it.

Work is so busy lately!  I already have 31 hours this week and I have two shifts still.  I can't wait to be done with it and take a vacation.  Not only do I have Thanksgiving off, but I took off the whole next week (well, through the next Saturday at least).  It's going to be GLORIOUS!

Not only has there been a lot of work, but mostly it's apheresis!  We maybe get a patient every 1-2 months, who will get 5-10 treatments over their 1-2 week stay.  The last two weeks we have FIVE apheresis patients.  Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia Purpura, Multiple Sclerosis, Cold Agglutinin, Antibody-Mediated Kidney Transplant Rejection/FSGS, and one guy with CIDP who I didn't even get a chance to treat because I was booked up with the others.  The Cold Agglutinin case was totally crazy in terms of how I had to run the treatment, and ended sadly (not in any way my fault, you just can't win them all).  You can ask me about it later. 

This is just to say that I'm still here, working and playing as usual.  When I get an hour or two at home I spend it knitting furiously, playing with Jack, or cleaning the house.  Not much time for blogging and not much to say really.  Life as usual.

I laughed that we were all piled on the couch with our tablets. Ben said, "what's wrong with it? We are reading and playing games all together, just using our modern technology." he has a point :-)

A song before nap.

We are back from a wonderfully relaxing Thanksgiving in GJ.  I was sorting photos to post, but when I started to upload google said I was out of storage space!  You'll have to wait until I sort that out to get the photos up.

I still haven't decided how to handle the new photo limit on Google.  Start paying to store in google?  Renew my flickr account and only post links from there? Delete the first 5 years of my blog after backing it up again?  I don't like any of those options. 

So anyway, it's been a splendid week off of work for me.  In a stroke of genius I requested off the week after Thanksgiving as well as the holiday itself.  It has been so restorative to avoid work completely.  Vacations are nice, but it's good to be home and just be home.  I cut off all my email connections so they don't pop up with work-related messages.  I haven't worn blueberry scrubs in 9 days.  It's bliss. 

Tomorrow I go back but just for one shift + call.  Then I have Sunday and Monday off.  I can handle that.  Next week is heavier, with T, Th, Fr, Sat, and Sun shifts, with call every day too.  But I'll be ready.  Plus that will be my last weekend to work until January.  Hurrah! 

I was all set to decorate for Christmas when we got back from Grand Junction.  But first thing Monday morning I got a call that we were getting our cement patio replaced.  Right now.  30 seconds later workers were in my backyard.  I had to run out there in the freezing sleet in my pajamas and slippers to clear off our patio furniture, bringing all the dirt and cobwebs they had accumulated into the house.  Ugh.  I mean, it's nice to get a new patio but a little warning would have been appreciated!  So all week I've been waiting for it to dry so I can move the patio stuff back out.  I had to put some things in the basement, right where our Christmas tree was going to go.  Ben just called and found out it will be cleared this afternoon.  Thank goodness!  I'm embarrassed at how inconvenienced I feel being forced to use our front door to walk ALL THE WAY around the building to the visitor parking like.  My gosh, it sucks.  Good thing the weather has been nice all week or I would be REALLY annoyed. 

Jack and I have had lots of play time this week.  Crafts, playgrounds, practicing chores, and Christmas shopping.  The big news is that I started potty training!  He had sporadic practice before using the big toilet with a little kid seat on top of it.  On Monday I was coaxing him to pee and he went #2 too!  I was thrilled!  This kid is so ready.  So I invested in a froggy potty (the cheapest one at Target), some pull-ups, and flushable wipes.  I'm pleased to say we have great progress.  He still wears a regular diaper for naps and bedtime.   He doesn't stay dry on his own yet either.  But he will sit on the potty when I ask him and every time he can produce something.  The reward system of little chocolate chips or M&Ms is working beautifully.  "Peepee Treat! Peepee Treat!  Poop Cookie!" He completely understands the system.  I'm not using any particular method and don't even have a goal.  We'll just keep at it and let him set his own learning pace for now. 

So my time has been split between activities above and casting the musical for Amanda's school.  Monday I taught them a 1 minute dance to Dirty Dancing's Time of Your Life.  Then I got to watch awkward teenagers (some questionably prepubescent still) try to roll their hips in various sexy ways.  Hilarious.  We got an incredible group of kids this year!  So many new male talent with good voices!  And lots of great, hard working girls too.  There were two days of auditions plus one day of call-backs, so I spent 4/5 afternoons up in Bailey this week.  Glad to skip the drive today and take advantage the quiet that Jack's nap allows.  Now I have to work on some actual choreography.

Monday I met up with Brian, Mavi, Jeff (back in the lower 48!), Katie, and Joe for good old trivia. 

"Congrats to Satisfaction Train for getting 93 points, the highest score at Teller's to date."

Yes, that would be our team.  Boo ya!  I had a few good answers that the others on our team didn't know.  What two cheese get their white rind from penicillin blooms? Brie and Camembert of course.  But I'm ashamed I knew which love interest from Twilight once voiced a Disney Channel cartoon (Taylor Lautner, obviously) and I remember the terrible name that Bella and Edward gave their "freak baby." (Renesmee).  I haven't even read Twilight, I SWEAR.  And I've read a lot of young adult fiction, I would fess up to that.  I guess it was worth knowing.

I decided to go with picture hosting from Flickr. It’s an extra step for me, and I had to renew my pro account to make everything visible again. But it seemed like the smoothest transition to keeping my blog. I have an extra step for posting photos now, but it’s the best I can do.

Anyway! Here is a link to the whole slew of photos I took over Thanksgiving break. Below you will see some of the best pictures, and a video bonus! Videos seem easier through flickr than youtube, I like that. Let me know if you have trouble seeing any of these so I can try to fix it.

UPDATE:  It seems the flickr video does not work in iOS (iphones, ipad).  Must be a flash program.  Sorry.   Also, Pro Tip: Don’t show your toddler a video of him blowing out lights right after he eats his advent calendar chocolate.  He WILL blow chocolatey spittle all over your computer screen.

[Video originally hosted on Flickr]

I had a request for video of Jack singing "Soft Kitty" from the Big Bang Theory. It really is a good lullaby.

Another request for video of Jack talking about dinosaurs.

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It’s like clockwork. We take Jack to nursery at church. Late that afternoon he develops a runny nose. The rest of the week is spent spreading toddler illness around various adults. Ben and I got mild versions. Jack got a little sicker and even threw up with the nanny yesterday.

Thus the nanny called in sick today. Thus Ben had to juggle working at home with a hyper AND sick kid who wouldn’t take a nap. Thus Jack got to watch a lot of TV.

Earlier this week I retired his booster seat at the dinner table. He’s tall enough, and was spending most of his time wiggling absentmindedly, with many near falls as he twisted around in the seat. Today I see that he put it to use as a TV watching chair. He loves sitting at the ottoman, but it’s always been an odd height for him-too low to stand, too high to sit. Problem solved!

This week would be kind of nice if we all weren't sick.  I got to leave work early yesterday and went straight to be with a head cold.  Then Ben woke up sick this morning and we all lazily grumped around the house.  I somehow managed to make it to Bailey to teach the kids a dance number.  On the way home the altitude change put such tremendous pressure in my head, I'm amazed I was able to drive.  I had to lay down for 30 minutes while waiting for the pain to subside.  Jack put up well with grouchy, tired parents today.  Good thing he likes to watch TV and play puzzles on tablets so much.

This cold is still festering in my sinuses.  Another day of wearing a mask for hours in the hospital.  Gah.  It makes my jaw hurt for no logical reason.  I clench up and can't stop.

Luckily!  We only had a half day of patients.  After running them and doing all the chores I skipped out the door at 1:30.  Now I could have gone straight home and reheated the pot roast for lunch.  But hey, I have a nanny already, what's the hurry?  Why don't I take Tommy's advice and Treat Yo Self?




 And once you don't that, you HAVE to do this. Am I right?



Ahh.  Warm food and a full belly.  Now some knitting and mindless TV while Jack naps.  Just what the doctor nurse ordered.

Ben asked what the "part II" was for in my last post.  I told him I had done a "Treat yo self" post before.  He did a search and the results were sad.  One post about buying yarn with Miranda in July.  The other was my salon visit in February.  Almost one year ago.  That erases my guilt.

Speaking of buying yarn, I'm going crazy knitting this year!  I have six projects on needles right now.  I won't post my Ravelry page, because there are Christmas surprises there.  But I need to tell you about my sock craze.

It started with my Steffi.  Steffi is my pen-pal in Germany.  We have been writing since I was in the third grade, about 1991.  Thanks to email we have been able to keep in touch over the years with minimal effort.  Isn't it incredible that my pen pal and I still write??  Anyway, she had her first baby this year; a beautiful girl named Sophie.  I sent her an Aden & Anais blanket and a bonnet made out of my new favorite yarn, Anzula Squishy.  It's a gorgeous blend of cashmere and merino wool with a touch of nylon - and it's machine washable!  Steffi loved it and sent a photo of it in action.  Oh how it tickles me to see this!  (Then I got a photo from my friend Miranda of Cedar wearing the other bonnet I made.  So many babies! So much cuteness!) In thanks she sent me a package with undies for Jack (perfect timing!) and hand knit socks made by her mother.



You guys.  Socks. Hand-knit.  By my German pen-pal's mother.  Does it get any more precious than that?

I always thought I would hate wearing/knitting socks.  Too hot, itchy, and bulky.  My lands, was I ever wrong.  It's like walking around with your feet gently swaddled in downy quilts.  Not too hot, not at all itchy, and so comforting.  Thus I decided I HAD to knit socks.

I spent a ton of time on Ravelry searching for a good pattern.  Then I had to stop and start the toe three times and the heel twice, because I wasn't satisfied with how it was going.  After all that experimentation the second sock is going super fast!  I even started to make Christmas stockings with a similar pattern. 

 Can't wait to wear them! 

Speaking of socks, it's another night of Hanukkah, and it's almost bed time for Jack.  We better open our socks now.  Good night!

Even though Ben finished his degree in August, and started work in September, we celebrated at his commencement on Saturday.  He was given the Lady Ada Lovelace award for "outstanding achievement in computer science or computer information systems."  Sort of a Best in Class award.  Ben will try to tell you that it's not a big deal, and that really he was the only student who bothered to apply.  But I don't believe him!  It's a major award, bring out the leg lamp!

My parents came up to attend his commencement and do some Christmas shopping and Jack time.  Here are some pictures from the ceremony, the whole set is on flickr here.

Having his award announced:



And receiving the award (taken from the jumbo screen, we were way in the back)

When they got to the roll call to hand out diplomas, they skipped ahead two pages! So I was totally unprepared when Ben's name was called.  I managed to get a few at least.


(those people standing up blocked my shot of him shaking hands)  





But the afterward pictures are what matter anyway :-) We are so proud of our graduate! 


I tried to have Jack wear the hat.  He wasn't up for funny hats after having to skip his nap.

Or maybe he was declaring his intent to skip college.  So my parents each got two bachelor degrees now?  Fools! Send me to trade school.  Bob the Builder is my hero.  I got my tools and my flannel - I'm ready!

Is Christmas really in one week?  Where did the time go?  I was sick all of last week and everything stopped: the wrapping, the baking, the potty training, the crafts, the house cleaning, all of it set aside while I struggled through work and rehearsals, never able to shake off the cold.

It was fun having my parents visit, but I felt like I was only half present.  I hope they enjoyed their time with Jack at least.  I did get to show them the Humble Pie Shop, and I got to see the Van Gogh exhibit with them, and of course Ben’s commencement.

After all that they (almost gleefully) took Jack so Amanda, Ben, Brian, and I could see the Hobbit.  We got Jersey Mike’s subs on the way to the theater and queued up for a good seat.  I haven’t waited behind ropes for a movie since Serenity.

It paid off, we got center, front row of the back section, with the bars that I love to use for foot rests.  Add a giant coke zero and bucket of popcorn and I was ready for the next three hours of high frame rate hobbits. 

Good movie.  Of course I have my quibbles.  And Brian is right, “Peter Jackson has lost all sense tone.”  And I still hate 3D.  But I still enjoyed it immensely.

Sunday I slept as much as possible.  Skipped church and tithing settlement.  Watched the Arisocats with my boys.  Toast for dinner.

Today I’m feeling better.  Just residual coughing and nose-blowing.  No head-pounding or debilitating fatigue.  I slipped back into our usual Monday routine.  I don’t know why I’ve had so many Mondays off at work, but it’s nice.

Jack woke and quietly played in his crib while I stole and extra thirty minutes of snoozing.  Then we got up and each had breakfast.  Sausage, eggs, and berries for me.  Sausage, berries, and toast for Jack.  Then we unloaded the dishwasher.  I started some laundry and vacuumed while he ate.  Then we made muffins.  Jack got a lot more excited to eat them when he saw that they look like cupcakes.
 Then it was time for dressing and brushing teeth, before head out for the library.  Story time is at 10:30 on Mondays.  We swap out new books for the week and read and sing songs.  Jack LOVES it.  There’s a solid routine that he can follow:


1) return old books
2) open the “frog box” to see the hint the librarians left about what the theme will be
3) Say hi to the real frog
4) browse new books
5) drink at the kids fountain
6) sit for story time, which includes:
  a: receiving magic from the wand
  b: open and shut hands song
  c: letter of the day and ABC song
  d: stories/dances alternating
  e: goodbye song
  f: more magic from the wand
7) get a stamp and sticker
8) Help check out new books

He’s getting so much better at group story time too.  At the start he would just sit quietly in my lap.  Wouldn’t join in anything, he only listened.  Now, well, not so shy:

He likes to say hi to all the kids and ask them questions.  He even started sitting up front, away from me last week.  Before and after the session he grooves to the music.


After story time we get groceries, gas the car, and go home for lunch.  Then play for an hour and it’s naptime! 

Routine is good.

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A coworker confirmed my suspicion that nannies are the WORST when it comes to spoiling kids.  Look at this last week.  Every day she gave him a present.  First a book.

Then a truck set.

 Then a KITCHEN PLAYSET.























He loves it and loves her.  She took him out to all his favorite places last week.  Even took him to see Santa!

The Culprit:


(The truth is, we love her.)

And it's only December 21.

I'm working the 24th and 25th.  We are having Christmas dinner with Ben's extended family.  Then Christmas with the Waterhouses.  Then Christmas with the Masons.  The festivities will go through January.  How much more can Jack take?  A lot, I think, and it's a good thing.  Because there's a lot more spoiling to come.

Today Jack and I made a "engine" (gingerbread) house for an "engine" (gingerbread) man.  The man was quickly eaten by a giant named Jack.  He also gobbled up more decorations than he put on the house.  So I enjoyed myself with the decorating.

I laughed to see that Ikea included diagrams for this kit, just like a bookcase.







He tired of helping with my toffee tile pattern and decided the make gumdrops sprout out of the roof instead.




For reasons I can't understand, he insisted on stuffing the chimney with candy.


Engine man meets his end.

My side:

Jack's side:

Finished!

After working through both Christmas Eve and Day, I was able to celebrate Christmas.  On the night of the 25th we went to Ben's family's get-together of aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It was so nice to be out with folk, eating turkey and gravy, and opening presents for the kids.  I was on call, but luckily nothing came up.

Bright and early the next morning we packed boy and dog and presents in the car to go over the river and through the woods.  My other siblings arrived later that evening, and family was finally all together.  We even had more snow falling.  It finally felt like Christmas Eve.

This morning we opened presents!  I'm typing on my new macbook and LOVING it.  My old laptop had been on life support for most of this year.  We were all thoroughly spoiled.  Jack ate a chocolate wrench for breakfast.  We spent the rest of the day fiddling with new devices, quietly entertained and enjoying each others company.

Jack received a splendid array of things good for boys - toys, books, toothbrush, candy, and clothes.  He went sledding both today and yesterday and LOVES it.  (Photos will be in another post.)  Ben and I gave him a camera for Christmas.  He went nuts with it!  Immediately starting snapping pictures of everyone and everything.  I'm going to keep his photos on my flickr account for sharing.  The only editing I did was deleting duplicates and super super blurry pictures.  Instead of reviewing the scattered few I took today, please enjoy Christmas from Jack's point of view!  The full set is here, but my favorites are below.

[Video originally hosted on Flickr]

[Video originally hosted on Flickr]

I really enjoy the new updated flickr app. Ben is rolling his eyes at me for using their auto-filters, but I don't care.  I like them!