Computer Theft

Or at least, that's what it feels like.  Back in the day--that is, back in the time of the academic school year--I had the computer all to myself in the evenings.  The kids would be in bed asleep, my husband would be working on his own laptop on the couch, and I would be happily typing away.  Those were the good ol' days.

Then came summer break.

In the past, I used to long for my husband to work less; he always seemed to be doing so much more than the other professors I knew.  And now that I have my wish, I long for him to be working again in the evenings so that I can have my computer time back.  It's great getting to see him more during the day, but I'm in internal despair in the evenings as I sit on the couch watching him play computer games.  It should be me, sitting there in front of that screen, a mouse click away from writing a blog, checking my email, or browsing the new children's clothing sales....

Suddenly, a lot more is getting done in the evenings.  I find myself trying to fill that computerless space with laundry or dishes.  I supposed the house is all that much better for it.  I can't say the same for my attitude.  Sometimes I sit on the couch, five feet behind him, and glare into the back of his head, wishing I could secretly form thoughts in his mind like, "oh, hmmm, I will stop playing computer games now and let my lovely wife use the computer since she's been busy taking care of kids all day...."  Or, perhaps a compromise, "I think I will go get my laptop from my office so that both my darling wife and I can use a computer simultaneously in the evenings....."

Judging from the results of these attempts, I am clearly not capable of this kind of telepathy.  And so I merely find more chores to do or simply fall asleep on the couch.  The latter is really not that bad, since I'm exhausted anyway.  But I'd really rather be goofing around on the computer than sleeping.

I still have over a month, though, until summer break is over.  In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to get used to my computerless evenings.  I suppose I can spend this time relishing the increased cleanliness of my home.  Besides, by the time I get the computer time back, there will also be another new baby in the house.  Who knows what the state of my computer availability or house cleanliness will be at that point anyway.  All to shambles I presume.

Cool Treats!

Any woman who has ever given birth knows that pregnancy can be tough.  Any woman who has ever been in her third trimester in the middle of summer knows that the heat doesn't make anything easier.  

And then enters: frozen treats!

Mmmmmm, how a cool treat can change the mood.  I learned with my first pregnancy that there are lots of things that you can freeze including doughnuts, chocolate, and (my absolute favorite) grapes.  A good friend of mine offered up this information to me and I have never forgotten it.  I still love to get grapes in the summer, wash them, dry them, and put them in a bag in the freezer for later.  They are just about the best frozen treat out there.  And perfectly bite size!

But, aside from frozen grapes, there are also popsicles.  And I decided that this year, we'd have fun making some of our own.  We started out with a watermelon, pureed it, and then added a little apple juice.  The apple juice and watermelon separated and created a super cool effect on the pops.  Check out the picture above!  The top orange part is the juice, while the bottom pink is the watermelon.  The process was ridiculously simple and I encourage you all to try!  Make some healthy homemade popsicles this summer--you can enjoy the process as much as the product!!

Step 1: Puree fruit

Step 2: Add anything else you'd like (more fruit, juice, sugar, etc.); blend again if needed.

Step 3: Freeze

Step 4: Eat and enjoy!!

Our Pet Spider

Nursery Web Spider with its prey (a moth in its mouth)

Or at least, we think it's a nursery web spider!

I know I've posted before on this blog about finding large spiders in our basement.  I've also written about the difficulty of the decisions to be made when my husband catches one: do I tell him to get rid of it, or do we keep it around to kill the other bugs downstairs?  And when considering "other bugs," I would think of these being primarily other smaller spiders, or, centipedes.  I do hate centipedes so much more than spiders.

Thus far, my decision has always been to get rid of the large spider and suffer whatever the consequences may be.

And now the question is raised once more, this time with the biggest spider yet.  And the question seems to be lingering.  As I struggle to decide, my husband is happily catching daily prey for this hairy arachnid and watching it feast.  I must say, the longer we have it, the less monstrous it seems.  I'm truly unsure: do we keep it and put it back in the basement--hoping that, yes, it was the limiting factor to the centipede population this season, or, do we set it free far, far from our home to feast on other large insects in the neighborhood?  I suppose I am more unsure this time because I have actually seen what it eats.  And yes, I believe it is very possible that this spider, on its own, could have been capturing every centipede in our basement and chowing down on all of their many, many legs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Oh, the dilemmas.  And so it comes to you, my dear readers, to offer me some insight.  I thought it might be helpful to me to see what you thought you might do in my situation....

**this was a free polling website and seems to have a nice spam ad at the top (something like "congratulations!" etc.--please make sure you don't click on it and ruin your computer somehow. :) )

What Should I Do With The Spider?
	Take it back to the basement.
	Take it far, far, far away.
	Kill it.
	Other. (Do tell!)
pollcode.com free polls

But before you vote, perhaps your curiosity of the spiders eating habits is a bit peaked?  Here are two videos showing you its carnivorous prowess.  Perhaps they will  sway you one way or the other...

At 8x the normal speed.

The first section is at 1/4x the speed, then played again at 4x the normal speed.

Jumping on the Bandwagon: Artisan bread in five minutes a day

I love bread.  When I want comfort food, I can rarely think of anything better than some delicious bread with warm butter smoothed over it...mmmmmmm.  My mother-in-law obviously knows me well because for my birthday she bought me a cookbook titled Healthy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I'd heard of the "artisan bread in five minutes a day" concept and was intrigued.  I never got the book, though, out of shear fear of having to learn something new.  Now that I had a book in hand, given as a gift, I felt I had no choice but to at least try it.

I was right, there was certainly learning involved.  I spent half an hour or more just reading the first chapter one day trying to distinguish the key features of this newfangled bread-baking technique.  I've made quite a few yeast breads in my time and was feeling pretty confident that I understood the basics.  Now I had to throw out all that knowledge and replace it with new methods.  Eek!  It was like being back in school again trying to desperately pay attention to the teacher so I would know how to do everything right.

Finally after much worry, and some new purchases, I was ready.  I had to buy some things I generally didn't have on hand, like unbleached flour and vital wheat gluten, but they certainly didn't break the bank.  On mixing day, I did everything according to the instructions and hoped.  I fought my desire to make the dough a smooth and elastic consistency.  I reminded myself again and again NOT to knead it at any point in time and to touch it at little as possible.  Today, I got to see how well I followed the directions....

DELICIOUS!  Absolutely delicious.  The whole family loved it and gobbled up every crumb.  I made a small loaf since I was unsure of the whole thing, but I know tomorrow I'll be baking more and I will make at least double.  The dough was quite wet when I mixed it yesterday, but I left it because of my fear of adding too much flour.  Today I decided that it was WAY too sticky and I definitely should have added a little bit more.  I could barely form it today (or cut lines in the dough as instructed), and even after being baked it still had a little stick to it.  Lesson learned for the next batch.

Here are some pictures of the process:

Day 1

Day 2

The finished product was like nothing I had ever made before.  The crust was tough, just like you want in an artisan bread, and the inside looked like that beautiful combination of bubbles and crumb--a loaf worth paying money for at the store.

I'm so thankful to have gotten the push to try artisan bread in five minutes a day.  I can't wait to keep practicing.  And I know my family will appreciate all of the yummy bread I to bring to the table.  Having said that, here are a couple of my thoughts after trying it for the first time....

Traditional method vs. Five-minutes-a-day

- It was in the 80s today and that's already pretty hot for a woman who's 7 months pregnant.  The fact that I had to bake the bread at 450 degrees did not put me in a particularly cheery mood.  The kitchen was hot, hot, hot.

-On top of that, whenever my oven is over 400 degrees, the smoke alarm (that was tormentingly put just outside my small kitchen by my landlord) goes off.  It's very, very loud.  And always makes me very, very irritated.  Grrr.

-Like I said before, for my first try, I wasn't quite sure what the consistency was supposed to be.  I found it extremely hard to handle (and the writers pushed hard against adding more flour once made).  I feel a little like I'm an old dog learning a new trick.... I think it's going to take a little time to get it just right.

-Also, because this dough doesn't work like a traditional dough, it was very hard for me to tell what size it would be once it was done baking.  Again, I imagine this is something that I will learn over time.  I hadn't intended to make quite such a small loaf today, but, oh well.  Now I know for next time.

-And lastly, on a good note, WOW!  This bread takes so much less active time than traditional dough.  It makes me feel like it might truly be possible to have healthy, delicious, homemade bread in our house more often than just once a month.  What a thought!

Now it's time for you to try. :-)  (Or, if you've already tried it out, tell me what you think!!!)

My son, the friendly neighbor

First of all, let me apologize for going so long without a post.  Something strange was happening to Blogger every time I tried to log on last week.  Not able to log in=not able to post.  Very sad indeed.  So, here at last is the post that was supposed to be for last week!

My son is three and a half.  He's about average three-year-old height with big eyes and chubby cheeks.  He recently got a summer hair cut which displays well the cowlick that sits at the tip of his forehead.  And while he's a handful, he's often smiling.  Especially at neighbors.

The weather has been great lately, and so we've been taking advantage of it by spending time outside.  Sometimes, though, when I'm busy with indoor tasks, my son hangs out on the porch enjoying the weather.  I tell him that when I'm not out there with him, he must stay on the porch.  This never prevents him from having conversations with people across the street, though.  I'll hear him yelling to the neighbor, "Eleanore, Eleanore!  Hi, Eleanore!!  What are you doing over there?  I'm just sitting here!  Hi, Eleanore!  How are you, Eleanore?!"

It is a little embarrassing that my son can probably be heard a block down yelling to the neighbors.  But, hey, I love that he enjoys chatting with the community and letting them know we care about them.  I'm not sure how I feel, though, when he talks with people that are complete strangers to me.  I suppose to him, there's no difference between one person or another when they're walking by our house.  They're all "neighbors," right?

Over the past couple of weeks, more than once I've looked out the window to see my son chatting with a  young adult that I have never seen before.  We live very close to a college campus, so presumably these are students of the college, though I don't really know for sure.  All I know is that my son is a social butterfly who can't let someone pass by without a little chat.  I've seen him, yelling to people across the street, "Hello there!!  Hi!!  Who are you?  What's your name?!"  And at least twice now, I have seen these people stop, look at my child, and proceed to cross the road merely to answer his question.  Yes, I am being completely honest.

Just yesterday a young woman was walking a dog on the other side of the street and my son called out to her.  Next thing I know, from my watch inside, I see her cross the road and come into my front yard.  My son was just exuberant.  He kept a conversation going with her for at least a good ten minutes before I heard her say, "You better get back inside before your mom gets worried."  To which he replied, "Oh, okay.  I like your shirt, though."  Ah, a three-year-old with a diversion plan!  He already knows that talking about a girl's clothes with keep the conversation going longer.  Where does he learn this stuff, anyway?

I'm torn between the feelings of humor and concern when I see these encounters take place.  I'm terrified that something might happen to my son in presenting himself to strangers in this way.  Yet, on the other hand, his excitement and ability to converse with these adults makes me smile like nothing else.  I sure don't know any other three-year-olds who are so welcoming and loquacious!  It's such a delight watching my son, the friendly neighbor.  I wonder if he'll still be like this when he's older!

Garage Sailing

Where I grew up, garage sales were a once-in-a-while kind of thing.  Both for the person holding the sale and for the one dropping by.  Generally, the people we knew had enough space to keep all the junk they wanted, in whatever barn they wanted, for as long as they wanted.  And besides, if you had the desire to get rid of your stuff, you could always give it away to a friend, take it to the dump, or give it to Goodwill.

Where I live now, garage sales are a way of life in the Spring and Summer months.  Ads are put in the weekly papers and some sellers even list specifics of what they are selling.  Those organized garage sale-goers make a plan ahead of time about which sales to stop at first and in which order.  And of course, one must always arrive early--right when the sale starts, or even before.

I've started to think of it as not just garage sale-ing but garage sail-ing.  Though I've never been sailing, it seems like one of those activities that would warrant an early wake-up.  And then, of course, the boat/sail preparation... and then the actual time, the "adventure" if you will, of the sailing.  Going from place to place driven by the wind--or, the best bargain as it were.

I have seen people as excited about garage sales as a person could be about a sailboat.  Having not grown up in such a culture, there are times the idea of it all sets me to laughter.  And there are other times that I can't help but get caught up in all the adventure.  Going from house to house looking for something great, something great AND cheap.  Oh how marvelous!

But, garage sale-ing for me is about the same as sailing.  I'm not sure I truly have the umph to get out there and do it--too much time, energy, and, well, money.  Even at a bargain, spending any money at all is more than staying home and NOT spending money.  Though, there are times I can be persuaded to do it.  Especially when I'm looking for something in particular and the thought of getting it at a bargain outweighs my laziness to go garage sale hunting for it.  

Usually, though, I'm content to stay home and listen to the stories of garage sale adventure from the professionals.  I'd much rather hear about the tales of getting a brand new dress, with the tags on, for $5 (haggled down from $8) than go through the trouble of finding that deal myself.  I have a good imagination; I can live vicariously through their deals.  It's good enough for me.

The Logic of a Man

Oh my...how differently we think, men and women....

We have been trying to get our three-year-old out of diapers at night the last week or so.  This entails keeping him in underwear for bedtime and then making sure he goes to the bathroom as often as needed before he <<finally>> falls asleep.  My husband has also been waking our son to take him to the bathroom around midnight, when we're going to bed ourselves.

Last night I was exhausted and headed to be earlier than my husband.  I was fast asleep when he came to take our son to the bathroom, and so I was unavailable to take part in the decision-making.  This fact is important only because there were decisions to be made.  Our son had already peed in his bed.

Now, if I had been awake, my own logical response would have been to change the sheets.  We have two sets for that very reason.  Take one off, replace it with another, and then put the sleepy child back where he belongs.

Of course, I was not awake, and so my husband was left to do the responding.  His own logical mind had another solution: just put the boy on a dry spot on the bed.  This, however, was difficult, since most of the bed was wet with pee.  The top portion, where ones head usually lays, was dry.  So, he placed my son vertically on the bed, curled up, since he obviously was too large to stretch out on such a small space.

In the morning, I wondered if our son was in bed at all.  I only saw a bunch of sheets stuffed by the wall at the top of the bed; the rest of the bed was completely empty.  Where on Earth was our child?  No, my husband assured me, our son was not missing. He was merely on the dry spot of the bed.

Right.  And to him that made sense.