Surfing

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No not ocean surfing, web surfing. Being womped on my head with a longboard in 1993 (or was it 1994? details, details) pretty much ended my surfing career.

Anyway I'm surfing the web today and what I love about it, when I can do it this way, is how you end up in the most random places and have no idea how you got there. Usually my computer time is intense and short and not leisurely at all. But today I get a real sick day -- Jaden's at school all day so I can give my new antibiotics time to kick in -- and I even tired the dog sufficiently that he's passed out on the floor.

All of this is my rambling introduction to The Gallery of Annoying Web Signatures. Not all of them tickled me but this one did:

" design iS like tHe oXyGen tHat surrounds me "

maRc raNdomGuy
tHe innovator - pixel : industries
tHe uniter - creative : republic
pixel : industries
the art of visual communication

Rosenheimer Strasse 67
80797 munich
Germany | Europe | Earth One

thAnkS. raNdoM inTeRNal cApS arEn'T anNoyinG oR anYtHinG.
(Thanks to Chris Day for the submission.)

Chris Day's comments (in blue) is what cracked me up.

I am a sucker for good sarcasm.

Spicy Honey Chicken

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This morning I went to Cree's (our chiropractor) and flipped through a Cooking Light while I waited. Lucky for everyone because we now have a new recipe rave for dinner.

Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs

From Cooking Light, March 2007

Skinless, boneless thighs cook quickly and are more flavorful than white meat, so they need fewer ingredients. Serve with garlic-roasted potato wedges and tossed salad.

2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Cooking spray
6 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken to bowl; toss to coat. Place chicken on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil chicken 5 minutes on each side.

Combine honey and vinegar in a small bowl, stirring well. Remove chicken from oven; brush 1/4 cup honey mixture on chicken. Broil 1 minute. Remove chicken from oven and turn over. Brush chicken with remaining honey mixture. Broil 1 additional minute or until chicken is done.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 chicken thighs)

CALORIES 321 (31% from fat);
FAT 11g (sat 3g,mono 4.1g,poly 2.5g);
PROTEIN 28g;
CHOLESTEROL 99mg;
CALCIUM 21mg;
SODIUM 676mg;
FIBER 0.6g;
IRON 2.1mg;
CARBOHYDRATE 27.9g

I used a gallon-size ziploc bag to toss the spice rub onto the thighs instead of a bowl. Here it is coming out of the broiler at the end:



I served it with brown rice and spinach (sauteed in olive oil, garlic and salt). Here it is, the whole dinner plated:



I got a bouquet of orange-yellow gerbera daisies today at Trader Joe's too.



We topped the whole thing off with frosty Newcastles. Now it's time to collapse on the couch! Hooray -- I survived the Monday after the time change.

Minor Progress

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I've been whirling around, mostly sweeping and recycling magazines, but there is some minor progress to report.





Now I have a place to wrap presents!

I need to dust, clean the windowsills, (not to mention the windows themselves, eww), figure out what those cables are for (Jeff?), file receipts, continue the laundry train, wipe the kitchen table, swiffer the floors, plant my groundcover, rake leaves, get that oversized chair OUT of my bedroom and into the garage or storage,...

...I am going to stop making my list now. See what happens once I get started? Jeff must be soo happy he's not at home right now. I drive my boys crazy when I do my whirling dervish thing like this.

Angst

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I've been feeling wanting lately. Seems getting the new bed started this feeling. I got a new dress which started a longing for more new clothes. I got some capris at Old Navy yesterday, if only it was warm enough to actually wear them. I got the cutest sweater to go with them but I will return that. Between the dress and the capris and the start of Jaden's spring wardrobe, I am way over our monthly clothing budget.

I really want a laptop with Photoshop also. I got aggravated earlier this week wanting to update the look of my blog. Blogger is quite limiting actually. I really, really, really want to make a new banner for the top. I found this site that explains how to do it but I can't try any of it without pricey Photoshop.

I am also tired of sitting on this hard chair and working in the cluttered office. I guess I could work on the clutter and ease one portion of my discomfort, instead of blogging and complaining.

I also have four overdue birthday presents sitting here waiting to be wrapped and mailed. One from January, two from February and one from March. This is so bad. I hate being late with gifts especially when I have each person marked on my calendar, so it's not like I forgot.

I'm looking around and see that I have not one single clear surface on which to work.







Gosh look at this office! How can you work in here and NOT be cranky? It's contagious too -- just look at Jaden's desk.



And our behemoth bookcase and its surrounding clutter!



I need Peter Walsh in here stat. This is downright frightening. I don't need a laptop, I need a tornado to whip through here.

Through the Fire

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I have made it through the fire...the fire of last week's 104.9 fever. Definitely stole a week of my life, this last sinus infection/cold/evil virus whatever it is.

But, I made it and was rewarded with a wonderful sunny day with Jaden yesterday. I got him some new spring clothes, and me a little spring dress. We got the car washed (ahhh) and went to Jack Fisher Park.





I really enjoy this park every time we go. It is a lot more manageable than Oak Meadow at Vasona. And yet we don't go there as much as we do the Curtner Park (officially called Lincoln Glen). So it's a nice change of pace.

Jaden is really maturing. I have a really, really good feeling about FOUR. I think it's going to be an amazing year with him. He came up to me yesterday and munched on a chip, then ran off. Then he ran right back and said, "Mama, I just want to let you know I'm going up that hill. But I'll be back!"

I was so amazed and proud of him. It is the first time he's done something like that -- you know, impulse control. I really praised him for that multiple times after and later at dinner in front of Jeff. It seems like a little thing but it is not. It was a huge developmental milestone in my eyes.



I love the noodle so much!

The Vikings

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I have not been very playful lately but this weekend I thought of something that I wanted to do with Jaden. He has these Vikings and a ship and I asked him about one's name and he said they didn't have names. So I Google'd a list of common Viking names and we were off!

Master Grim, the leader


Sigfus


Gunnlaug


Gudrek


Bergfinn


Annund (L) and Volund (R)


After the big naming ceremony, they had circle time and sang "We are the Vikings" to the tune of Laurie Berkner's We Are the Dinosaurs.



(Okay I made that part up, they didn't actually sing).

Then Master Grim called the group forth to battle!



RAH!

Who says totally structured play is wrong anyway? I say my form of highly structured play is better than no play at all. ;)

P.S. Yes, Gudrek and Bergfinn are twin brothers (sisters?).

My Mother's Casserole

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Tonight I made the EASIEST dinner of my entire life. No hyperbole here either. I got the recipe from this library book:



It's called "Everybody's Mother's Pork Chop Casserole."

Seeing how I didn't have a mother, I am not surprised I only learned about her casserole today.

But I digress.

The recipe:

Preheat your oven to 350.

Get a casserole dish and some pork chops.
I used two bone-in chops from Whole Foods, $6.89.

Open a can of cream of mushroom soup and spread some so it covers the entire bottom of your dish. Put salt & pepper on both sides of your chops. Put them in the dish.

Spoon the rest of the soup over your chops. I added just a smidge of milk to the can and mixed it up before I spooned it over the top.

Um. Bake it. 25 minutes later, turn the chops and redistribute the soup.
Um. Bake it for another 25 minutes.

Serve it to your sweety with rice pilaf (3 for $5 at Safeway this week) and be amazed when he raves over this dinner. Feel proud. Feel even prouder if you made a salad to go with it.

Batteries

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After a terrible evening, and another night of no sleep (4 hours of solid sleep, 2 hours of tossing and turning before that and an hour of broken sleep after) -- I thought I caught a break when Jeff offered to take Jaden to school this morning. It was his first day back after being home sick for a week. Ah...I could feel my tension slipping away as I envisioned a long hot shower in a quiet house, a piping hot cup of coffee and maybe, dare I dream & do, steal 20 minutes from work and do YOGA.

My grand plans were squelched when Jaden went into uncooperative mode. I shouldn't have been surprised really, when he gets out of one routine, it's hard to shift him to the new routine; i.e., getting dressed and off to school. Unfortunately we're the kind of parents who don't make idle threats and so when we said he had one more chance to listen to Daddy and get dressed or Daddy couldn't take him to school, and Jaden didn't listen -- well there went my beautiful morning.

And you know, being a mom, I was okay because I could see that Jaden was sad to go back to school after being home with me all week. I felt sympathetic and even could relate. Even though I'm exhausted, we do really bond and get used to being together all the livelong day.

But then! Then! In the car, I asked him to turn off his video game because I needed to explain something to him. He was very cooperative. I wanted to make an impression on him and I explained in my best 3 y.o. terms how Daddy offering to take him to school was like giving Mommy a big present: the present of time. And when he didn't cooperate, it was like he took my present away from me and I felt sad.

He made a sad face, didn't say much other than "OH" and turned his game right back on.

Well now! Now I'm really upset. I said, "I am more important than your video game Jaden. Your video game will always be there, it will always turn on!"

After a pause, Jaden said, "Mamaa, my video game is more powerful than you are. It has batteries."

Well goddamn if that isn't true!

I actually started crying then, not that it would take much. But no, I do not run on batteries.

The things that would have recharged me today after a long, crummy week were the things I lost because he is three and can't see beyond himself and how can we expect him to really? I mean really. If you're not totally self-centered when you are three, then you really never have a chance. Because once you have kids, you definitely lose ALL chance of being self-centered.

Jaden finally conceded this: "I'm sorry you can't be plugged in Mama."

61

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Yesterday my dad would have turned 61, oh but he died in 1998 at 52.

I missed him very much all day and only today could I mention it.

I went to Whole Foods and wanted to buy two dozen tulips for 19.99. Then I thought, how about three cala lillies for 7.99. Then I thought, no flower is going to bring him back so just forget it. It's just old spending habits rearing their ugly heads.

I didn't even listen to Bob Dylan once all day, that seems the very least I could do.

What a pitiful daughter I am.

Living in a Web 2.0 World

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I moved into a Web 2.0 world recently, only I am really ill-prepared. I find myself trying to understand things like Browser Wars and Second Life and I don't even have a ticket for it! And I am married to a cutting-edge Web 2.0 engineer!

I need to go back to school and trade in my English degree for something more current.

At least I know how to make a link by heart now instead of going to my little stickie for the code.

You type: _____ (without spaces by the brackets).

So there!!!

(Update: Actually I have not memorized the code at all. I either forgot my quote or bracket in every single link in this post. Sigh.)

Sacrilege

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Something today greatly upset me. It was a true story of a cat being "put down" by its owners because he eliminated in the house.

I don't feel like detailing the entire story but one part that I will never understand is that they told their little girls that Jesus wanted a kitty and their kitty was so special that he was chosen.

Sacrilege.

I found out that in their state, killing an animal is not illegal unless inhumane methods are used. I have no way of finding out the method so all I could do was speak up that I thought it was terribly wrong what they did to their poor cat.

Here's to you little innocent kitty, and I have a special connection to your name but I do not feel like sharing it here for some reason.

I am so sorry you had to die.

The Secret

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Okay, I got the buzz on this dvd from Jamie who got the buzz from Jenni and then of course I saw it on Oprah.

Well let me tell you about The Secret.

The Secret is I cried for one night about the lousy punk kids with no parental supervision and no moral compass who thrashed my car window on Friday evening while I was out back raking leaves with my feverish kid.



I cried because when I discovered this mess, I was headed to IKEA with my husband's blessing to look for a new bed frame for the new mattress were going to get with the balance of our tax refund.

Well I heard the glass shatter --



-- and with it my dreams of a pain-free sleeping existence.

We'll be buying a new car window instead.

But here's the Secret at work. After a mere one night of wallowing, I woke up and embraced the following perspective:

AT LEAST we have the money to repair the window. That is something to be grateful for...and I am. I am really trying to focus on that one solitary perspective because otherwise, the whole situation sucks big fat you know what!

(Okay so I haven't completely forgiven the rats which is another huge part of the Secret).

Jackson, 6 months

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The beasty boy continues to grow.



As of Jan. 10, he was 45 lbs.
I'm guessing he's close to 52 lbs. now.

Even Papa, Jackson's most loyal fan to date, said today, "He is a handful."

This is the kind of dog who needs to:

a) live on a farm, or
b) live with people who do nothing but train dogs all day long.

i.e. DOG TRAINERS, i.e. NOT TIRED, WORN OUT PARENTS OF LITTLE (human) BOYS.

Kitchen Utensil Challenge

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I saw Peter Walsh from TLC's Clean Sweep on Oprah recently. I am a huge fan of the show and have applied many of his tips to the house in the past several years.

On Oprah he gave a suggestion that I hadn't seen before and I plan to try it. Do you want to take the challenge with me?

The Kitchen Utensil Challenge:

Take a cardboard box and put all your utensils inside.

(I have utensils in three drawers plus two utensil caddies on the counter.)

For one month, as you use a utensil from the box, put it back away in a drawer or caddy.

Whatever you didn't use at the end of the month, donate!

I love these kinds of tricks because I know I'm holding on to too much stuff and in a small house, it becomes a real problem.

Now what to do with that bread machine? The classic "We might want to make our own bread even though we haven't made a single loaf since we lived in Venice."

Dear Keds...

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Last summer I got a new pair of Keds. I was so excited that I blogged about them.

Well the snap on my left shoe does not work at all now. The shoes are unwearable. They are useless. I take one step and they unsnap. I didn't even wear them very much once fall/winter kicked in so I really only got one summer of use out of them.

I am really disappointed. We are on one income in an extremely high cost of living area (Silicon Valley) so I don't get to buy new shoes very often. I am a long-time Keds customer since 1985. This is the first time I have ever been upset with Keds.

I guess I will stick to laces since snaps obviously don't work for more than three months.

Sadly,
Jessica Nichols

Firefox is Foxy

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Jeff updated my browser a few nights ago and it is more rocksome than ever. He told me it would reopen all my open tabs. Sounds good, I said. Thanks.

Yeah until I quit Firefox when I was trying to quit Mail and saw this feature in action! It is a million times better in action than theoretically. I got all my tabs back with zero effort.

Now that's what I call computing.