Formal Declaration of War

It is so declared, by an act of two-man Congress that our small private nation, hence referred to as our home, is in a state of open warfare. There are no funds specifically allocated toward the war at this time, but approval for monetary contribution may be made at any future time.

As of today's date, May 31 2008, a warm and sunny spring day in the neighborhood, we are at war against the following factions: all dandelions, Morning Glory, crabgrass, clover, and yellow flowers of unknown origins, located within the borders of our home area.

Be advised, we have been authorized to use all lethal means of combat within the aforementioned parcel, and will do so. War will be waged on an individual and discriminatory basis (as it usually is), so as not to harm neighbors or friendly greenery.

In Alan's words : "So let it be written, so let it be done!"

We spent some quality time in the garden this morning, and will probably need to spend some more within the next couple of days. Big thanks to my fabulous mother-in-law for bringing starts from her own beautiful garden. She also provided the plants above a couple of years ago, and they are now flourishing and spreading almost as fast as the weeds (see above)! Hopefully our new starts will take off so well once my husband gets a hold of them!

No big thanks to the stupid neighbors who don't take care of their yards. There is one house on our street (I think there is always at least one) that is unoccupied, has been unoccupied mostly since it was built, and therefore has no landscaping or yard care. I'm guessing this house is the source of 98% of our dandelions and at least 65% of our morning glory, not to mention the various unidentified annoyances. At the moment, as you can see above, these weeds, regardless from whence they came, are being attacked as much as I can stand to be in the garden.

I hate gardening almost as much as I hate the weeds. But alas, my immediate neighbors all have cute yards and I wouldn't want to be the one who messes that up for them.

Summer Break Only Happens in Adolescence

I recently posted a Friday Five that included my five favorite things about summer. My least favorite thing about summer is this: adults don't get time off. When I was in school, I don't know if I properly valued the three months of down time. I don't think I really grasped how precious it was until I worked at the bank. The first summer there, I remember being so tempted by the promising view out the large, conspicuously placed and angled drive up window. I was working while all these other people were stopping by and then entering the wide world, with its endless sunshine and bright blue sky. I was stuck inside for the first time in my life, and it was hard to handle.



This year won't be much different in terms of summer vacations for us. Alan doesn't have a whole lot of seniority at the fire department yet, and so most of the summer off-time falls to people who have school aged children and trailers to take them camping in. We have a couple of things planned-- at least one camping trip over a four-day break in July, and our anniversary celebration in August (top secret for now...are we betting I can keep it secret that long? Let's not. At least he hasn't guessed yet, and he says he has no idea)--but nothing like I wish were possible. So this Friday, I give you the top five places I would like to go on summer vacation.



1. Hawaii . I'm not picky where in Hawaii. Our trip there was one of the best trips ever.

2. Highway 1 . The Pacific Northwest holds great appeal, and is the only car trip I would do.

3. Antigua. Wanted to go there. Had a baby instead. Love him, but still want to go.

4. Sonoma Valley, CA. We went there last year, and could still take another trip without doing all there is to do. It was FANTASTIC and beautiful and a hundred other things.


5. Canada. Anywhere in the country, out of the heat, and I've heard it is all so beautiful.



This is the view from our hotel room in Maui, HI, circa 2005

Renovation complete!

So I finally had the courage to change my layout (with some handholding and a lot of encouragement from Nicol via IM-- thank you, man). Sorry if you thought you had the wrong website! Let me know what you think.

Cool Dude Confusion

When Mason was small, I wanted to get him in the habit of using sunglasses to protect his eyes. As a baby, he didn't care about the fun designs on his sunglasses. He just wanted them off his face. So I started putting them on him and telling him "You look like such a cool dude with those on!" He could get behind this, and wasn't so eager to take them off. Over time, he started calling all glasses--my eyeglasses included--"cool dudes".

Well, fastforward to a year and a half later. We were watching his alphabet, and sunglasses are listed under the letter "S". Last night at bedtime, he noticed the different name and couldn't decide what to call them. Amid parental chuckling, he settled on "Sun cool dudes."



I know I've already posted this picture, but it's too cute not to share again. These are the beloved, soon-to-be-retired Thomas The Tank Engine "cool dudes". If anyone has seen these anywhere, let me know. (Mason cracked one of the lenses and I can't find a replacement pair in any of my usual haunts, including the place I purchased them originally. I try not to spend more than $5 due to the short lifespan these things have in his capable, slightly destructive hands.)

Ode to kitchen utensils, part one

If there's one thing in my kitchen I would sleep with under my pillow, it's my Pampered Chef Mix 'N Scraper. When I recently hosted a Lia Sophia party, my mom (and lovely snack-prep assistant.. all right, she was basically the head chef) asked for a scraper. I presented the aforelinked tool, and she was skeptical that it could double as a serving spoon. I would dare to say she now undersands my love for such a fantastic, multi-tasking gift.

I bought it because of the boast that it was melt-proof. After planning a baby shower, where we played a rather nasty game, it became apparent that I need melt-proof or fire retarded kitchen tools. The nasty game was that one (please tell me someone else has done this) where you melt candy bars and put them in diapers, then ask (force) your beloved guests to smell, look, and guess what the candy bar was formerly known as. Well, after an hour of the microwave/stir/repeat program, many of my plastic scrapers were melted. I believe a good portion of my co-conspirators were as well. The other plastic scrapers from the marriage gift set had been sent one by one to the fiery depths of the dishwasher heating element in a rather epic (messy) end. Suffice it to say, since I use these nearly every day, I was on the lookout for something that could withstand the test of me.

This scraper fit the bill quite nicely. It stirs in a hot pan, keeps things from sticking to pans and bowls, and works decently as a frosting/icing spreader on short notice.

After three years of surviving in my kitchen, this scraper is more than just a scraper. It's part of the family, and the second in a long line of products we love. Some day, I will have the whole lovely set. In the meantime, I will loudly recommend this to anyone who is listening (and even some people who probably aren't).

What makes your kitchen life easier?

Golf is a four lettered word for a reason

I don't know if I ever really mentioned it here, but on our pre-anniversary vacation last year, Alan and I accidentally stumbled across a joint hobby-- golf.

For me, it had never been a hobby. I was pretty neutral on the subject of golf before then. I only became enthusiastic about it when it was one of few options when a fellow traveler was feeling too icky to go out. The two husbands involved took me out to show me the golfing ropes, and it actually went fairly well.

That has been almost a year ago. Alan has since purchased me a set of golf clubs for Christmas, and golf lessons for my upcoming birthday. In the last year, I have two actual golf games (on the par three course with geese running around, no less) under my belt, during which Alan kindly did not keep track of my score.

In light of both budgetary and weather constraints, we have also played Tiger Woods Golf '08 on both computer and (more recently) the Wii. Alan argues it will teach me what clubs to use for what kind of shots. This would probably be true if I ever bothered to set the game up with the same clubs I carry. But at the very least, it works well for an impromptu, post-baby-bedtime date night.

We rented the Wii game before we purchased it, and played it for the first time tonight. It is actually pretty fun. It would be more fun if I could remember to keep my elbows straight. I would recommend purchasing it (it will be money well-spent for us).

It's a pretty fun game if you can ignore the cheesy character reactions to the success or failure of the shots, but make sure you secure the wrist strap. I don't care if that makes me sound like a geek, but the controllers are expensive and you might be tempted to throw them when the game won't let you out of the tutorial before you successfully bank your ball right. I certainly was. Tiger Woods Golf was just as irritating as regular golf. The exception was that I had two eagles on our nine-hole game. Since I won't be getting one of those in real life any time soon, I took the opportunity to enjoy the video game glory.