Previous Weeklies

Cuisine

Lebanese food is flavorful and fresh. I've only enjoyed it from a joint in Ridgewood, NJ, but it's almost worth the drive from Eureka.

Cloth Diaper Website
The world of cloth diapers is an overwhelming and intimidating one at first with all the options and acronyms. This website sorts it all out for you. If you still need someone to hold your hand through it all, give me a jingle.

Narrator
Jim Dale has won numerous awards for his narration of audiobooks. Click on his picture for a complete list of books he has narrated.

Book

The China Study is not perfect, but very interesting. From the product description, "This exhaustive presentation of the findings from the China Study conclusively demonstrates the link between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer."

Movie
Winged Migration is a beautiful film although accomplished by some questionable means. Just sit back, watch and enjoy it.

Nick made this Walnut bookshelf for me Christmas 2006. He always refers to it as "Kimber's bookshelf." It has so many books in and on it now that you can't fully appreciate its beauty.

Arcata Bay Oyster Festival

"More than 70% of the fresh oysters consumed in California are grown in 450 acres of Arcata Bay. June is a peak month for oyster harvests in Humboldt County. These oysters are are farmed in environmentally friendly bags tethered to posts in the Arcata Bay (no harmful dredging of the bay is necessary for their harvest).
Try them roasted, barbecued, fried, on the half shell or on pizza, secret sauces and with wild abandon. With imagination and flair, one can eat away the entire day. The coals glow hot from early morning 'til the last oyster has been shucked.
Crowds throughout the day top 15,000, keeping local food vendors more than busy."
http://www.oysterfestival.net/

We tried oysters from two different vendors prepared with BBQ sauce, garlic butter and chili lime. The chili lime oyster was the best, but the roasted corn was my favorite.

The oyster calling contest.

Rex dancing to the local bands.

Capture my heart

Yesterday Rex's hand got caught in a mouse trap.
Today he handed me a dead fly.
Awesome.

Previous Weeklies

Bookstore

Better World Books sells new and used books, has free shipping within the U.S. ($3 worldwide), ships every order carbon neutral with offsets, funds literacy initiatives worldwide and more. "We believe that literacy gives people water to drink, imparts knowledge to eliminate disease, and develops self-esteem that enables people to make their mark on the world."

Vegetable

Sweet potatoes are amazing. They are delicious raw, steamed, roasted and mashed. Try using them as a base in burritos or casseroles.

RadioPandora is a free Internet radio service that plays what you want to hear.

Book

The Oompa-Loompas are merciless creatures. This book is worth reading for their lyrics.

BBC TV Adaptation
This three disc mini-series is so good, you'll want to watch it straight through. Great story, direction, acting, and music.

How to line dry

Laundry is my chore of choice. We keep dirty articles in big, green Army laundry bags that hang on the back of the bedroom door. We have a remarkable machine that cleans our clothes for us and then I like to hang them on the line.
Something about the deck,
the clotheslines,
the fresh, wet clothes,
the clothespins worn with use,
and the air.
Whether sunny and warm or overcast and windy, my mind is crisp and awake while arranging clothes and diapers in the sun. I scheme, narrate, plot, daydream and contemplate. Even with Rex trying to eat dirt from the planters or shredding plants, I find the time the most relaxing of the day.
Drying on the line is simple, but it took me a few tries to get it that way.
The Line

Scout your premises for the most spacious area you have, preferably with sun during parts of the day. Run a rope back and forth, fastening on either side.

The Drying

When the clothes come out of the washing machine, drape them over the line. If it's windy, secure with a clothespin or two. Depending on the weather, your clothes can be dry within minutes or out all day and still damp. Just throw them in the dryer for a minute.

The sun is also great for bleaching, but we'll save that for another day!

Cashed

A hearty thank you to everyone who shared their rodent stories, they were disgusting! It was difficult to pick a winner because each story was great in its own right.

Robyn showered with rats the size of large cats.
Susan climbed out of a window while eight months pregnant and Bus beat a bat with a shovel.
Lisa and Peter had a bat attack them on their wedding night.
Ashley baked a mouse.
My dad opened a wall and found a rats nest and carcass.
Emily had a complete infestation of spiders.
Nick was sitting on a toilet at work and a mouse fell out of the ceiling and died on the floor by his foot.

The grand prize goes to... Susan! I couldn't stop laughing while I read her story. Congratulations! Your box of goodies is on its way.

Previous Weeklies

Project
This is taking more than one week, but I'm trying to get a web page up. This is part of the elusive announcement that I've been putting off. I checked this book from the library and it's very good. It has 24 sections that each take one hour to complete. Now I just need 24 extra hours.

Shoes

I've been looking for a perfect pair of plain moccasin-type shoes for about four years. When I saw Crystal wearing these, I knew my search was over. Christmas gift mom?

Blog

I started reading this blog before I knew what blogs were. I've always had an interest in baby names, but didn't know how to channel it into a hobby. I'm not active in the discussions, because they are so repetitive, but this blog has put me in touch with other name enthusiasts. It has nothing to do with babies and everything to do with the names they are given.

Book

Although the subject matter was dry, this book was so well written that I enjoyed it all the way through. I especially liked the subtle irony.

Movie

Swing Time is the best movie that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers did together. The plot, acting, dancing and music are all enjoyable. "The Way You Look Tonight" won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936 and was Fred Astaire's most successful record.

Sequoia Park

Thanks to Crystal for so generously taking pictures of our family yesterday morning.




While taking pictures at Sequoia Park, Nick told a story of climbing "really tall" trees in his childhood. HA!

Road and road and road trip

The wheres and whens of our summer trip are generally worked out.

Eureka > SLC > St. Louis > Nauvoo > Buffalo > Vermont > NYC > Philadelphia > Harrisburg > Columbus/Cinncinatti > Wisconsin > Minneapolis > Rapid City > Yellowstone > Boise > Utah County > Lake Powell > St. George > Utah County > Bigfork, MT > Eureka

We are still working on the who's.

We have wonderful friends who are taking us in west of Buffalo, but we're in the market for new friends. Drop me a line if you want to be East Coast friends. Or if you know any enjoyable East Coast friends. I'm thinking of joining a mommy group in Vermont so that Rex and I have something to do while Nick is at the International Preservation Trades Workshop.

Thanks to the generous friends and family we will be imposing upon this summer, we can't wait to see you, your homes and your cities.

Oh, and email me if you have any excellent restaurant recommendations. We have plans for Pho Grand in St. Louis, Anderson's Custard in Buffalo, Mark's Pizzeria in Palmyra, Gopher Ice Cream in Stamford, CT and the Lebanese place in Ridgewood, NJ. Besides that it will be a lot of sandwiches, fruit and veg.

Only a few more days to cash in your rodent stories!

Summer games

This is Emily. Emily likes to ask "why?" and race with Rex using his walking toys.

In honor of the change in season, let's make the ultimate list of outdoor and night games.

Duck Duck Goose
Simon Says
Red Rover
Races
Charades
Jump Rope
Freeze
Peek-a-boo
Red Light, Green Light
Hopscotch
Mother May I
Kick the Can
Capture the Flag
Follow the Leader
Hide-and-Seek
Leap Frog
London Bridge

Ring Around the Rosies
King of the Mountain
Tug-of-War
Hot Potato
Fruit Basket
Love Your Neighbor
Baby, If You Love Me
Dodge Ball
Musical Chairs
Keep Away
Sardines
Four Square
Tag
•Freeze
•Partner
•Tunnel
•TV Tag

Here's my start, what do you have to add?

Who Likes You?

During recess while in the Fourth grade, I sat upon a grassy hill and watched the kids interacting on the playground.
I observed the teasing and childish flirting and when the bell rang, I entered the classroom with a smirk on my face.
At the first opportunity I cornered Lisa, a girl I had been watching.

"You like Mike."
"How did you know?!"
"I could just tell, it's easy. I can tell who everybody likes."

And from this I started my first business using my overdeveloped powers of observation. Scrawled on a bright purple folder was my company name:

WHO LIKES YOU?

My business plan was simple. Lisa collected customers for me, the customer would give me a bit of information and I would watch his or her interactions for a few days. Eventually I would report who, if anyone, had a crush on him or her. Luckily, in those days, you didn't have to have a websiteandFacebookandMySpaceandbeinvolvedineveryapplicableforum. Times were simple, you could conduct a business from a bright purple folder in your Trapper Keeper.

It was a brilliant plan; except for one thing...
I'm pretty sure my fees were popularity points.
I should have taken the cash.

Caught in the act

As a child I thought these would chop my fingers off and I've always given them a wide berth. I wasn't cautious enough with this, however:

Last week while making bread, this beast caught the index finger on my right hand. When it happened I didn't dare look at my hand, but I thought my innards were oozing out through my finger. It turned out to be bread dough. It's been healing well, but Nick is convinced I broke it.
Don't forget to make us laugh, make us cry or gross us out with your rodent stories.

The Face

Don't cross this child.

Clogged drain

Before using Drain-o, Liquid Plumber, or a baking soda/vinegar/boiling water concoction, do a little dirty work. Take off the drain cover and use needlenose pliers, tweezers, and/or a crochet hook (the one you bought to teach yourself how to crochet, but haven't yet) to fish the junk out. Gag a little, take a shower to wash the jibblies off and watch the water drain nicely.
Nothing in a residential drain could compare to the horrors I witnessed while doing this. Those gobs of soapy hair still haunt my darker dreams.

Kinetic Sculpture Race 2008

The 2008 Kinetic Grand Championship was wild. It was our second year attending and it is something you have to experience to understand, but here is a synopsis. And here are the rules. My favorite is 9.01.

Cash in your rodents

The third floor of The Brothers Building was our beloved home for about a year. Just around the time Rex was born we started to have a mouse problem. We could hear it in the wall and it started leaving goodies in corners. Nick ignored the problem.

One early morning, when Rex was days old, I was in the kitchen making toast while Nick and Rex slept on. I felt a little something on my foot and looked down to see a mouse run over my foot. I screamed and Nick came flying out of bed. Poor guy, he thought little Rex had stopped breathing. Rex slept on and Nick ignored the problem.

About a week later Nick finally saw the perpetrator for himself and decided it was time to take action. I walked in to find him perched on a stool, holding a string attached to a tube with peanut butter in it. What a handy husband, trying to catch the mouse.

Your turn to entertain me! Share your own rodent stories in the comments section and the author of my favorite story will get a box of handmade goodies.

Share as many stories as you have. The favorite will be chosen and announced on June 23, 2008, in honor of Carter's eighth birthday.

All in good time

Next week.
Next week.
Next week.
Announcements will be made.
Questions will be answered.
Lives will be changed.

Bare

The average high temperature for May in Eureka is 60F. The record high was 84F until May 15, 2008. It was 88F!


We took the babes to College Cove Beach, the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. The massive rocks appear as sentinels on either side, forming the cove. The sand and Redwood driftwood create an auditorium effect, with the tame waves as the stage. Opposite the water there is a steep incline of land, thickly covered with trees.
College Cove is an official or unofficial nude beach, so the kids fit right in. The top picture is Mylie in some sort of yoga pose. Rex had the time of his little life. He kept crawling right into the icy water. I'm not exaggerating, it was glacial.
Thanks to Crystal for the fun and the pictures!

As luck would have it, yes,

we live 20 minutes from...