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Showing posts from February, 2009

Bands On, Five Seconds Off

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Yesterday Maddie got braces on her top teeth. After getting her appliance, she said this wasn't too bad. By dinner, she was singing a different tune! She chose pink and green glow in the dark bands for her first six weeks -- very pretty for braces. And tonight, she competed in another meet and we finally brought a camera. She came in first in her heat and took five seconds off her 50 yard freestyle time. She and Rob couldn't hear them announce her the winner of her heat, and from this angle he couldn't even tell who came in first, but Sebi and Joss and I saw that she was way out in front. I think she's actually more excited about the braces. They make me feel so old , all of a sudden, and I realize that there is this huge, lanky thing with orthodonture walking around the house. I am informed that her brother calls Maddie the Metal Mouth Missile, which was certainly apt tonight.

From Rob: Why MA Tops All of the Other Hot Women who Appear in the Films I Teach

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I would like to compose a post-Academy award tribute to my own Leading Lady.  The category? Hottest Woman Appearing in a Film I Teach.  A Countdown of the contenstants: 5. Irma Vepp, Les Vampires (France 1922).  On my on-line course evaluations for my "Crime and Aesthetics in French and German Cinema" course, several students reminisced fondly about how I had referred to criminal mastermind Irma Vepp as "Naughty and Bouncy."  Several Times.  In front of the class.  Even though it caused a situation at my yearly review, I stand by my evaluation.  All crimes should be committed in that nasty suit.   4. Hildegard Knef, THe Murderers are Among Us (Germany 1946).  Oh, Yeah.  Love in the rubble.  No one works a head-scarf like this smoldering and damaged Trummerfrau.  And, afgter running around with cute ash-smudges on her nose and saving her man from committing murder, she pulls it together and shows up in the last scene as a proto-1950's bouffant-coiffed domestic go

Blue and Gold Cake Contest

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Have we mentioned that Rob is now the Cubmaster? It was something of a shock, but it has been great for getting the boys excited about scouting (and let's face facts: Rob and I are lukewarm at best on a paramilitary, homophobic, psuedo-Hitler Youth organization, so our boys were destined to embrace it wholeheartedly from the start). One of the first arguments that Rob ever won with his parents was over scouting. They had moved into a neighborhood with no other kids his age, and so his eagle project would have been almost entirely solo (with some help from his younger brother). He proposed that instead of getting his eagle, he work towards becoming a Sterling Scholar in foreign languages at OHS. His parents finally agreed, and he did make Sterling Scholar at OHS, and went on to become the statewide foreign language Sterling Scholar. So my husband is one merit badge and an eagle project shy of his eagle, which just so happens (Freudianly?) to be exactly the same as my brother, Mr. T

Presidents' Day Weekend

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Aside from the show on Friday night, it seemed like I spent most of the weekend trying to get Fluffy to sleep in a strange bed. I know it wasn't true, because we also went out to breakfast, had fried chicken sandwiches from Blue-haired Betty's, visited my grandmother, shopped for Easter dresses, went to Trader Joe's, watched "Ghosttown" and "Kit Kitteredge" and "Mamma Mia", attended church, and visited with friends. The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was gre en and rainy and made us miss living in California terribly. It has been white and brown here and we're ready for a change. Grandpa and Fluffy read a book. Among several thing I forgot to pack for the trip were toys for him. He made it through the weekend with two books and a small lion. Grandma and Joss played a lot. He pulled up on everything and learned to climb their stairs. I wish I had the picture of him sitting on the yoga ball. He was pretty tickled with that. He also lo

Wicked Good Weekend

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Grandma and Grandpa Shumway surprised Maddie and I with Wicked tickets in San Francisco, and flights out there for Presidents' Day weekend. Joss, by virtue of his age and size, got to come along too. We flew out on Friday the 13th, and it wasn't until we were in the car that I realized I'd never really traveled alone with kids before. But the combination of Maddie and Joss was good, and we had no trouble, and got to the theatre in plenty of time to buy souvenirs and get settled before the show. I'd tried to read the book before going, but the further I read, the more awful I thought the show would be. I gave up halfway through, and I think the unsung hero is the woman who adapted the book for stage (a true genius). They used the concept and characters' names, and that was about it. Maddie and I enjoyed it thoroughly right up to the applause, where the girl standing in front of me jumped up out of her seat. And not for the lead, either -- she was giving a standing

Joss is Zero and Three Quarters!

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Joss gets to share his three quarter birthday with Abe Lincoln. Here is what the boy does right now: He is in constant motion from the moment he wakes up until he finally drops to sleep. He wants to crawl all over everything, pull up on everything, unplug everything, and stick everything in his mouth. He's particularly fixated on the night lights that change color (which the Professor has always detested -- he's been known to wake from a dead sleep in the middle of the night and stumble cursing out to the hall to rip one out of the socket). Joss is starting to stand alone for a moment, and he's just beginning to cruise along furniture at the right height. His favorite toy is a set of stacking rings from his wise Aunt Betsy. He loves to dump them off, smack them together, and hit them on the floor. Joss still loves bath time every night with his nighttime wash in the jetted tub, and always has his hooded frog towel ready afterward (from John and Clarissa). He is staying pat

Now Here's Something We Hope You'll Really Like!

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Today the kids had the day off. Since it was raining and I wasn't up to taking the gaggle of them somewhere, we had friends over. We made valentines and played Wii and listened to the Wicked soundtrack, and then I promised the girls that we could make cheese. Jeff and Saydi gave us a cheesemaking kit and I'd tried it twice before. Here, for the benefit of anyone else trying to make 30 min. mozarella, is what we did. You dissolve the rennet in 1/4 cup of water. Separately dissolve 1 1/2 tsp in a cup of water. Pour one gallon of milk (pasteurized but not ultra pasteurized) into a stainless steel pan and stir in the citric acid. Heat to 90 degrees, then take off the heat and stir in the rennet. I let it sit about 8 minutes (instead of 5). Then you have to slice the curds, which is what the girls are doing here. Called something else if you are a schoolage boy. Stir slowly until curds reach 105 degrees. It turns back into this watery mess. Then I departed from the directions.

Grandpa Leo

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Leo B Nelson was my maternal grandfather, and passed away last Sunday night at his home. He was born February 15, 1920, and died just shy of his 89th birthday on January 25th, 2009. He has an obituary posted here , and we just had a wonderful funeral service for him on Saturday, but I thought I'd put down some of my memories of him here. In no particular order, here are the things I remember about Grandpa: He was famous for big pancake breakfasts. They were the most memorable meals on our visits to them in Portland, with Grandpa flipping them on the griddle and scurrying around their kitchen. I remember him making them in Tilden park for our Memorial Day picnics too. Uncle Marshall reported at the funeral that he had mastered this meal and had passed on the family secret to Marshall's branch of the family, so I was tickled that he was willing to share it with Maddie when she asked him. Not least because I make some truly atrocious pancakes. Here's to improvement! He also m