Finally, I made scott that chana bajhee I posted about a while back. Chic peas simmered with onions, tomatoes, curry powder, and tofu. delish! served with saffron rice.

Bee asked me today why I picked her up from school. I said "because I love you honey!" and then she said, "how come daddy dropped me off at school?"

no guesses yet? Ah. you all are killing me! Dont you want to know what kind of puppy scott is? (at least when I took the test for him, without his knowledge or consent)??!!

So, here is something interesting. Its beautiful and sunny here (but cold) and its pouring down snow in Kalamazoo. Scott and the girlies are driving home now, and they are going to tell me where the lake effect snow line is. Im curious how much past kalamazoo it goes and if its a gradual change in weather or a noticeable shift. Stay tuned... scott is providing on site coverage...

puppies

OK, coming up with a new topic everyday is harder than I thought it would be. My family is in kalamzoo, Im "working" trying to gain some sanity in my professional life, and all i can think about is how I havent blogged yet today. at least I did my 10 pushups. So I cheated and googled "ideas for what to write about in my blog." the strange things I found!

Well, so since it me and the doggies tonight, I thought I would put a post in honor of them (pilfered from the above mentioned google).

What kind of puppy are you? take the quiz... and if you guessed what I scored you win a prize. and you win an even bigger prize if you guess the kind of puppy that I scored when i pretended I was Scott. (I wonder if scott will score the same... LOL). OK updates tomorrow. for now, the quiz:

What Breed of Puppy Are You?

would you rather it be 15 degrees and sunny or 30 degrees and grey and cloudy?

breakin the law

I just read today that in the state of Michigan it is officially illegal for a woman to cut her hair without her husband's consent. Unless Scott reads this blog... Im gonna be a criminal. I promise to post before and after shots for your entertainment. I need to write the governor.

hip-hip-hurray

January 23... we went out for fish and chips last night. Honestly, I had this plan to make eggplant, tofu and chic peas. But Bee kept asking if we could have fishes and french fries. What could I do? She was such a good girl after school! I figure now that we broke our attempt to not go out to eat for all of january, its all over and now we can go out whenever we want! I guess it also broke our broccoli stream. no wonder I am feeling out of sorts today.

Today is wednesday so that means we get dessert (wed, fri and sat). I'm supposed to be working right now and instead Im dreaming about what my dessert is going to be. Coconut pudding? Chocolate icecream? donuts from krispie kreme? I just cant decide. Its all about priorities I guess.

and now. hip-hip-hurray. I ran 3 miles at PT today and my hip felt great. wooohoooo.

The Factor of Scary

I thought I'd elaborate a bit on my theory of weather forecasts.

Call me cynical, but weather reporting is all about fear. The more scared people are, the more they'll watch the local news and the less likely they'll be to do dangerous, scary things like, drive, walk, and go outside, all of which potentially remove them from their television. This idea was impressed on me in New York, where an inch of snow seems to send the news media into a tizzy.

In engineering, there is a concept of "factor of safety", where, if your bridge is expected to carry 100 cars at a time, you build it so it can carry 300 cars at a time, just to be safe. That would be a factor of safety of three.

I think in meteorology school, students are taught to use a factor of scary, with a nominal value of two.

living smartly

Scott has a theory, and that is, if the weather forecast says 3-6 inches, it really means, 1-3 inches. If it says 2-3 inches, its probably a dusting. Yesterday scott was proven right yet again! We were predicted to get 3 inches of snow, and we got about 1.5 inches to be exact. It was sort of freaky. This theory can be extended too. If they say a "dusting" of snow. Be prepared for microscopic flurries. If they say, rain changing into snow, prepare for just rain. The only time he is really off on this is when it is a coastal storm and the 3-6 inches turns into the storm of the century, but even then he seems to have a hunch when this is going to be the case (think of the birthday blizzard, 2003).

So I feel compelled to lay out a few of scott's theories, since, truth be told, when i follow them, Im actually finding myself doing pretty well.

Scott's first theory: Always get into the lane that is merging.
Review: Scott's second theory: run in the dark, run in the cold, but dont run in the dark and cold
Review: Scott's third theory: Always "half" the snow predictions.

I should probably take up the first theory tomorrow since I have developed treatises on second and third here already.

Koompa's extramural activities

Well, koomps has been barking like a mad dog as of late, mainly at night, more specifically around 3 or 4am. Scott and I have been taking turns going down stairs to quiet her down so that she doesnt wake up the entire family! At first we thought it was the back porch light our back neighbors leave on at night, which is rather bright. Then we thought it was the snow, especially the newly fallen white snow reflecting the bright porch light. But this morning, we have a new working theory with some pretty good evidence. Sitting on our deck, paws up, facing our sliding door was a rabbit. Koomps and the rabbit were having a stare - bark down. I mean it was right up there next to the door. Im not sure if it wanted to come inside to get away from the cold and snow or if it was just teasing Koompa from the other side of the glass. Well, considering I couldnt get Koompa to quiet down, I just opened the sliding door and let her out. Let the games begin! Seriously, if koompa wasn't a 13 year old arthritic dog, I might not have done that, but I figured the rabbit was probably pretty safe.

100 days of broccoli

Frankie works really hard. One of her favorite tasks is to open the cupboard, take out the cans and boxes of food and distribute them about the house. Then redistribute them. And on and on. Usually every few days or so we make a sweep of the house looking for odd cans and boxes so we can bring them back to the kitchen...

So Im really here to update you on our cooking adventures. Its Jan 21 and we still have not been out to eat. I believe this is a new record. Anyhow, last night i had this great idea I would make a new recipe for a coconut milk chicken curry sweet and sour kind of soup. Then we would have some oatmeal bread on the side. So the soup didnt seem too hard to make, just a little long and drawn out. Diced some onions, sautee with olive oil. Add some salt, cumin, red pepper paste. then add some diced granny smith apples and a potatoe, and sautee some more. then add water and chopped up chicken, simmer. then at the end add a can of light coconut milk and a squirt of lemon. So we got to the end and then for the life of me I could not find the coconut milk. It was one of those cans I remember Frankie moving around the house. So I looked and looked. Then scott looked and looked. Nothing. So the soup was almost done, so we couldn't start anything new. I really didnt want to go to the store, and didnt want scott to leave either (eventhough he volunteered). and it didnt taste right with out it. So, I got this great idea I would just add some regular milk and throw in some shredded coconut to give it a coconut milk taste. All I'm going to say right now is thank god I made some broccoli on the side so that we had something decent to eat for supper. Which brings me to my next thought. We have a kids book about 100 days of school, and Scott was reading it to frankie yesterday afternoon, and started to change the story to 100 days of broccoli. You think I might get a clue.

jan 20

the girls and I just went for a walk. we took the three mile route down around the fire station and up and over the bridge. the bridge is one of those metal bridges that snags around, up and over a busy street. We got the top of the bridge just fine, but when we got to the other side to go down the whole bridge was ice covered. Im not sure why the other side wasnt as ice covered. maybe this side is in the shawdows more and gets less sun. anyhow, I just held tight to the jog stroller and got into a skiers pose and down the bridge we went. the only scary part was trying to stop at the turn around so we didnt crash too hard into the fence. the girls laughed and thought it was a blast. I dunno about that. I think we'll do a different route tomorrow.

Today we are going to have a pre-birthday party for scott. he doesnt know it yet. the girls and I figure 40 is a big one so we need several practice events. I havent decided if we will make a pumpkin pie, a chocolate cake or bread pudding. I should try to make creme brulee, but I dont have any butane for our tourch. Last time i tried to torch it over our gas stove, lets just say it was a huge disaster.

all morning long franks keeps saying Bees OK! Bees OK!

the dogs already ate. don't let them fool you.

Whew. got my post in. I will try harder tomorrow.

WWKD?

I dont know why but this morning I woke up thinking about two things: Koompa's upcoming centurian party and foie gras. Now Koompa turns 100 this summer (doggie years), and truth be told, we have always though that Koompa has taught us alot about life. If you were sitting in a huge cement covered parking lot, and there was 1 square inch of grass, Koompa would find it and roll in it. She knows how to make her own happiness. Honestly, scott and I often say, when we get stuck in a touch situation, WWKD? What would koompa do? Like right now, case in point: Koompa is lying down on the sleeping bag in sideroom near me, sleeping. Last night I made some pudding for dessert (yummy coconut pudding by the way), I had the empty pan in my hand (after pouring the contents into serving dishes), I looked at the pan and wondered, should wash it right away? Lick it out? Well, I put it on the floor in front of koompa, and she licked it out. In fact, she licked it so well, it looked like I didnt even need to wash it. But back to her party. Its only 6 months away and I havent even gotten the invite list yet. WWKD?

Now onto foie gras. I admit I have been stewing over the amount of corn in my diet as it comes in all shapes and sizes. (several chapters of the omnivores dilemma is devoted to just this topic). I was trying to figure out how much corn I had yesterday. At first glance, none. I didnt actually eat any corn kernals. But then I realized, there is corn starch in the pudding. For breakfast I had an english muffin with peanut butter. Safe? No. I just looked at the ingrediants of the english muffins (Thomas' by the way) and there it is: high fructose corn syrup. For lunch I had hummus and a kiwi, and that was pretty good. snack, an apple, some dark chocolate, and a bit of frankie's granola bar. Yep, you guessed it again. Corn syrup in the granola bar. We had huevo rancheros for supper last night. We had flour tortillas not corn, so we're good there... but I ask, were the chickens who made the eggs fed corn mash? probably. And that brings me to why I probably dreamed about foie gras. To get the liver of the duck or goose fatty enough, force feeding of the animal takes place from 12−18 days before slaughter. The duck or goose is typically fed a controlled amount of corn mash through a tube placed in the animal's esophagus. (thanks wikipedia).

Dark and Cold....Do you know where Scott is?

Here is Scott's motto of the morning: "I will run outside in the dark. I will run outside in the cold. But I wont run outside in the dark and cold". Well, its 6am here in mid-Michigan and its 7 degrees out. Where is scott? Not outside running. He is sitting on the couch next to me sipping his coffee expounding on the benefits of the cold michigan winters. I do have to say though that yesterday, while cold, was brilliantly sunny, meaning I lost our bet. I bet it wasnt going to be sunny for an entire day during the month of January. I guess I dont mind losing that bet, but now I have to make the coffee everyday for the rest of the month.

Here is a question: How many days in a row can you eat broccoli and not get sick of it? I will report back on that one. I do love my broccoli and my poor family has been subjected to it everyday this week. Frankie and I are still munching it. Bee decided that it wasnt worth dessert (we have this rule where she has to take a decent sized bite out of her vegetables to get dessert). Scott is still eating it... but scott is a good man and will eat most things I put in front of him, including variations on tofu.

It's the thought that counts???

Marky and Koompa were hanging out in the kitchen while we were making supper last night. (We had salmon so I think they especially were interested in our food). Frankie, who was helping out in the kitchen, opened the cupboard door and took out a can of beans and brought it over to marky, and set it down before her, just like we do with their bowls of dog food. Then she said, Food Marky! Eat! Then she went back over to the cupboard, and pulled out a can of stewed tomatoes and did the same thing for Koompa. Poor doggies. They just looked up at me, hoping I might either open the cans or replace them with fish. Frankie was so proud of herself though.

Yesterday Bee said she wanted to go back to New York because she wanted to eat pizza. Im glad to see that she has that town figured out. We were there for three days and had pizza three times. Four if you count the airport.

This morning it is 13 degrees out (-10C) but who is complaining? It is going up to 23 after all. Its suppoed to be the warmest day of the week. Sitting inside, with a cup of coffee, the snow and ice crystals do look very pretty. We finally have our winter wonderland!

We forgot our camera in NYC at a friends house. But when we get it back we will post some pics of our trip.

Frankie for President!

We had a very good time in NYC... but were pretty much stranded at LaGuardia airport all day sunday. the flight right before ours left on time... But the in bound plane we were supposed to take to Detroit was diverteted to Newark airport due to the weather, so obviously our flight was cancelled. We were put on another flight standby that was cancelled, and finally got on a flight that left around 7pm. But the girls were just awesome at the airport. The funniest thing was that Frankie kept walking around the waiting area, going up to everyone and either waving to them and saying hi, or sticking her hand out to give them "five." She must have done this at least a hundred times. One guy said, Im voting for this little one for president. that is our franks! I think she was keeping spirits up as there were many stressed out travelers wondering when they would get home. Bee was cute on the airplane because when the fligt attendant came by to serve drinks, she asked our row what we wanted, and Bee said, May I have some bubbly water please? (she wanted the la croix seltzer). The flight attendant got a funny look on her face because I dont think she knew what Bee was asking for.

Its icing here today and public schools are closed anyway for MLK day. On NPR this morning they had an interesting report on how MLK began to take a stand on the vietnam war, and the problems that created for him in his relationship to folks in the administration who supported civil rights activities. They played part of his Vietnam speech (A time to break silence), which was delivered exactly one year before he was assassinated, and which I had not heard before... but two quotes struck me:

"This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation's self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers."

"And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond to compassion my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. I think of them too because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries....Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy's point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition."

New York City

Its been nice to be back, to see friends, eat good food, and feel the energy of the city. My only regret is that I cant go for a run in central park. Scott's going to do the loop tomorrow morning, so I asked him to do 2 loops, one for him and one for me. I will get a power walk in, but just not the same! This afternoon we visited our some of our best friends (bee's godfather) whose son turned 1 yesterday. we had good carribean food, and Bee and Mandy played together like they had never been apart. It was an adenture getting there, however. we used to just drive there (they live in new jersey). But since we are visiting, and dont have a car, we took the subway to times square, then the bus to NJ where our friends picked us up. We forgot our camera at our friends house this evening, so we have to wait till they send it to us before we can post any pictures from our trip. It was a bit drizzley here today, so not stops at the playground. We hear its supposed to snow in michigan tomorrow, which will be nice ... but hopefully it wont start till after we get home. Bee has done a good job flagging cabs for us. I guess being born in the city has some advantages. she is a real pro at it.

what a night!

We made it to our hotel in nyc at 1 am. Honestly it wasnt that bad, it just felt a little crazy. we left e. lansing at 7.30 for a 9.20 flight out of detroit because I had to teach last night. Thank goodness there was no real traffic. we got to the airport at about 8:55, and got to our gate as they were boarding (thank you to the trains inside of the airport!). The flights only supposed to be an hour but I swear we went all the way up to connecticut then back down to philly before coming in for a landing 2 hours later. Franks had a rough first hour. She has always done so well on the airplane, but she was tired the poor thing, and just wanted to cry. wail actually. scott was great just singing to her and bouncing her. finally she drank some milk and Im wondering if it helped pop her ears or maybe it just soothed her. anyhow she jazzed for the rest of the trip, laughing, singing and wanting to read, read, read. When the plane finally landed, Bee screamed WE MADE IT!! WE'RE IN NEW YORK CITY. It was hysterical, to us anyway. The awesome thing was even though we got settled into out hotel at 1am, i could walk a few blocks to the local pizzeria to bring back a few slices for us since neither scott nor i had supper. that is one thing I love about this place.... and yes you guessed it, its light out at 7am in the winter. woooohooooo!

rambling thoughts and pics

wow, our readership has doubled - thanks Kevin!

So onto the ramblings of the day. Yesterday after work we went to go get gas and Bee wanted to get the car washed. Was practically crying, begging to get the car washed, as she wanted to go through the car wash. Our car was pretty muddy so I thought what the heck. Then we got in line for the car wash and she starts to cry again because she is scared. Those car washes are pretty scarey. But still, I thought we were doing something fun and it turned into, well, something else.

Lets see. We need to find new recipes. We are trying not to go out to eat for all of January (except when we are in NYC this weekend). Partly to save money, partly to eat healthily, and partly I think just to see if we can really do it. and so far... Jan 11... we have succeeded. Whohooo as franks would say. Problem is we need some more variation in what we eat. I will report on some new recipes later this month. I did make spinach and feta cheese phyllo dough thingies for new years at scott's family's get together that we ate for the next two nights. So, while that was pretty good, its worn out its welcome. Ive been trying to have fun with sauce for pasta, since I swear we eat tht four times a week. I like eggplant and olives in sauce. that was pretty good. Im not much of a meat eater and so I really dont know how to cook it, but we made bbq chicken the other day which wasnt that bad. not great. scott ate it. nice guy. girlies wouldnt touch it. I have a couple of things of tofu in the fridge that Im going to use next week. One i will simmer with tomatoes and chic peas, onions and cilantro. yummy. the other i dunno. Im taking suggestions!

So here are a few pics.

The girls on new years and our 5 inch snowman:

holy cow!

we got a comment!! thanks Colleen. Now we have to post more since we have "readership."

OK, for the good news:
Bee's burst ear drum is now healed, and she passed her hearing exam!
Frankie's tear duct is healed, too. It didnt close back up, whcih was the only real concern, and she hasn't had crusty eye in 2 weeks now!

For the funny news:
Frankie has been taking her moon light and covering it up in the morning so the moon can go to sleep. I hope this doesnt hurt her later in life when she studies phases of the moon and learns that the moon is "awake" during the day sometimes.

I overheard Bee and Franks this morning as they were waking up, and Bee says to Frankie, Frankie are you cold honey? Can I pull the blanket over you? those girls are so funny. We should have put them in the same bed a long time ago!

That is about it. not much else to report.

One more thing: michigan should be on central time. The sun does not get up till 8am. I mean I knew that was going to be the case when we moved here... but didnt quite digest it till now, when the sun doesnt rise for a good 3 hours AFTER we're up! So scott says "8 is the new 7". I say, michigan is an east coast wanna be.

winter is back

its cold here. high of 30s all week long. I guess we should be happy since we might actually get some snow, but still. Lets see what can we report about today? We went to the Spartan Dog match on sunday so the girls could see all the dogs. Frankie kept running up to any and every dog and sticking her face in theirs. She just loves animals. We started to feel guilty because our poor doggies were sitting at home all alone, so we bought them some 4-h homemade dog treats and came home. Marky smelled the other dogs on us and couldnt stop barking when we got home.

Bee has her ear check up today to see if her burst ear drum has healed. She told me this morning she can hear better from that ear, so Im going to guess that it is better. She is a very caring girlie. this morning when frankie was crying and I was going to get frankie some clean clothes, Bee kept patting frankie on the head saying, Its ok honey, mommy is just getting your clothes. very sweet.

zoo

we went to the zoo yesterday and were the only ones there (besides the animals, and one zoo keeper, so far as we could tell!). Being the only ones there was both fun and sort of creepy. Anyhow, I think the girls favorite part was either the puddles or the "farm yard." Frankie and Bee loved to feed the goats, who were definitely people trained, and loved the attention.

Besides that most of the other animals were sleeping. Well, that is not totally true, the peacocks were awake and followed us around. Maybe they wanted some food too? The water in the river by the zoo was so high it came up to the running path.

Raw cookie TOO!

What is really funny is just how much Frankie wants to be like Bee and how much Bee wants to be like Frankie. Frankie loves cookies, and so does Bee, but Bee loves cookie dough (as opposed to the baked product), and will ask for a "RAW cookie". She will say, may i have RAW cookie please? Not a BAKED one (and she does emphasize the raw). So, we're not to paranoid about the raw egg thing, so if its ok for her to eat a cookie, we'll let her have a raw one. Anyhow, when frankie asks for a cookie, we would give her a baked one. But she has caught on, and now all we hear all day long is raw cookie too, raw cookie too, raw cookie too! Its kind of cute. OK, send the food police or the parents police after us i guess... we probably shouldnt let our kids eat raw cookies.

tired...

we're all tired this morning. besides the fact we stayed up too late, Koompa woke us up too early by eating a bag of M&Ms in the bathroom. where the heck did she get em?

japanese toilets

Bee got up early this morning. too early. 5.30am. but in anycase she asked if she could the use the japanese potty. she hasnt used one of those since, well, japan. She talks about them at least once a week. So, this morning, it would be nice to show a few pictures our trip to Japan!!

Jan 2....

....and its going to be 42 degrees today with a 40% chance of snow showers. Bee wants to know if she can build a frosty. Lets see if any of the snow sticks. probably not at 42.

Its back to the old grind today. school and work. The semester ends here last week of april. But who is counting? We will post some fun pictures from Christmas and New Years on here sometime today, hopefully!

OK, with no offense to koomp and marky... just read a funny joke:
A veterinarian and a taxidermist went into business together. Their slogan: "Either way, you get your pet back."

Happy New Year!

Gotta love living in a student neighborhood. You know its been quiet all break, actually too quiet if you want our opinion. place felt kind of dead. Not last night! The students came out of the woodworks, or out of hibernation, out of something, because they were here. They rang in the new year on our street a few hours late, however, at 2am. That is when the bars close. Its nice to know they are back!

Yesterday the girls watched Dora and at the beginning of the episode, Boots fell down, scraped his knee and started to cry. And, was Frankie ever worried about Boots! She kept telling us, Boots is crying! Boots is crying! Dora got Boots a bandaid and he was happy after that, but Frankie was profoundly effected. Periodically throughout the day she would get a super concerned look on her face, and say Boots is crying! She continued to be so worried for him. She loves her Boots the Monkey.

Bee did a sort of a grown up kid puzzle yesterday, and really amazed us. Its a puzzle that has regular puzzle pieces and you have to figure it out by matching up colors and patterns. Last summer we bought her the puzzle at the bronx zoo right before we moved. its of an elephant standing partly in a puddle of water and also in some grass. SHe liked the puzzle last year but needed lots help putting the pieces together. Yesterday, we started off by getting all of the pieces that had water on them, and then we say something like whats on this piece (water and sand), and what is on the side of the piece (alot of sand!) do you see another piece that had a lot of sand on the side that would match it? She put the whole puzzle together that way, with out any other help. I mean there was one piece that had to fit to the elephants tail, and so there was one little tiny piece of elephant hair on the next piece of the puzzle and that was the clue she used to figure out what piece went there. It was really cute to see her fit the pieces together. She looked just like an engineer figuring it out! Must run in the family!