The true yogi says "woof woof"

I think there is something innately wise about children.

They find enjoyment in such little things.  Spinning.  Flowers growing.  Empty boxes.  Running in circles.  Barking like a dog.  (Ok, maybe that one is just my kid.)  Recently, something that has been amusing me is watching my daughter get into yoga poses, without ever learning yoga.  Right now she's obsessed with being upside down.  She's on her head on the couch, or dangling, head first, off the chair.  I've seen both kids in Downward facing dog and child's play.  I remember doing those as a child too...they just felt good to do.

I guess maybe I find it amazing that people pay so much money to do yoga, and kids do it all for free.  If only life could remain so simple.


Maybe I should start doing yoga...

My own nature gets me in trouble...

Today we went for a short hike at Pixley Falls State Park.  It was a lovely little trail- a little more "rustic" than the trail at Moss Lake in the Adirondacks.  There was lots of little bridges, and the entire second part of the trail is by the water.  It was a good time.

This is deeper than it looks...

At some point in the hike, we came to a little waterfall.  It was only like 5 feet, and it was something I thought I could easily climb.  As I climbed the first rock, my foot just slipped on a small patch of moss, and down I came.  At first I landed on my bottom in some water, but in a surprised reaction, I went to stand up immediately, causing me to slip more, and I went right into the water.  There was a second of panic, followed my a mental reminder that the water was not deep, nor was the current something that could carry me a way.  So I swim the 2 feet back over to John and the kids, and laugh.  And laugh.  And laugh.  It's funny, I deserved it for disturbing nature, and for being so impetuous.

So there I am, soaked, and laughing hysterically and pretty embarrassed.  John and the kids finish up eating some snacks, we pack up and finish the hike.  I'm pretty miserable being so wet, and I realized during the hike that I'm going to have figure out how to ride in the car wet.  I don't have a spare set of clothes with me.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I don't have anything in the car, so I face the prospect of an hour drive in wet clothes.  Luckily when we got to the car, we found two spring jackets.  So I go behind some trees, strip my top off, tie the jacket around me like a halter top.  It's long enough that I can strip my shorts off, wrapping the second jacket around my bottom.  This is how I ride in the car- wrapped in a Blue and Gold Sabres jacket, and a Blue Buffalo Bills jacket over a wet bra, and wet underwear.

As we drive home through Boonville (yes, that is the town's real name), we stop at McDonald's Drive-thru for lunch.  I make John ask the McDonald's cashier if there are any Target, Kmart or Walmart in the vicinity.  There is.  So I ask John to drive to Walmart, and go inside and buy me some clothes.  I tell him to pick up some sort of slip on dress, and what size to get.  I make him park far back in the parking lot, away from any cars and people.  As he runs in, I realize that it was my perfect luck that today would be the day someone was taking pictures for Peopleofwalmart.com and if spotted, I would be the unwitting model.

Luckily, our tale has a happy ending.  John came out with a dress, which I quickly tossed on.  Dry clothes never felt so good!  And my lesson is learned.  Sort of.  The lesson is always have a towel and a spare set of clothes in your car.

Decor Diva?

Well, it's been approximately 60+ days since we signed the contract to buy our little house in Herkimer.  We have the commitment letter, the sellers are eager to get this done, and we ourselves are more than eager to move in.  What's holding it all up?  The lawyers.  Those kind and gentle breed of men and women, who so kindly have had all our paperwork for nearly 3 weeks now.  Does anyone wonder why the general sentiment is "Kill all the lawyers?"  (I don't condone killing them, but maybe sending them to an island inhabited with hungry dinosaurs...)

So in the mean time, I plan and I make.  My "current" project was some cute little cork boards for the kids rooms.  They aren't perfect, but I think they will look really nice once they are attached to the walls, and strewn with pictures for the kids to look at.

Basically just took some corkboard, some fabric, and some hot glue.  Yes, I burned my finger at some point.  Used a little ribbon (Lilia's has some cute Tinker Bell dangle-y ribbon on the bottom), some thumbtacks, and voila!  Cute covered corkboards.

Color schemes are picked out for Lilia's room, and an idea is running in my head for Liam , although, being so young and not really having any definitive likes, makes it a tad harder to settle on anything permanent at this point.  But as of today, it's looking more like it'll be a blue and gold theme to match the blue Sesame Street curtains we used for Lilia's toddler room.  That way when he gets older, if he happens to like any teams that use the Blue and Gold colors, it can get converted pretty easily.  And if he happens to like any other team, well...then he's out of the family.  ;)

So we continue to wait.  Hopefully not much longer now.

For the love of coffee and cookies

I love coffee, although I love flavored creamer in my coffee more.  And I drink that coffee so slowly, it's not even funny.  This is a problem, because I don't like to do anything until my coffee is finished.  But sometimes, it takes me two hours to drink my Tim Horton's travel mug of coffee.  Sometimes, I pour it, and don't even take that first sip until a half hour after it's poured; instead, I just hold the warm mug in my hands.

Delicious, and we'll pretend nutritious

I made these cookies yesterday.  Although mine were m&m flavored, and not chocolate chip flavored.  Nutella M&M cookies.  Delicious.  I followed the recipe pretty precisely, but I'll re-post it here:


Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temp.
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup plain M&M's.  If I make them again, I'd use either a half cup of mini M&M's, or a whole cup of plain ones.  It was just a little too sparse.)

Directions

1. Mix together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.
2. Cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.
3. Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chocolate chips.
4. Chill for at least 1 hour.
5. Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 for about 11 minutes until the edges look set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then carefully remove to cooling racks.

I found that I needed to cook my cookies for 12 minutes, and then still do the 5 minute cooling on the baking sheet.  They were perfect- chewy yet slightly crisp.  The flavor was really interesting.  It was chocolaty and slightly salty, with a hint of cinnamon.  I had more than one person describe them as a Chocolate Ginger Snap, although there is no ginger in them.

It made 27 cookies, and there are only five left.  I've eaten four.  This just shows what a hit they were in this house!

Mini Me

Sometimes, it's really weird having a mini-me running around in the world.  It's amazing, yet slightly scary how alike we can be.

I'm a huge water baby.  I could spend hours at time in a pool if I could.  We've discovered this summer that Lilia is the same way.  Once she got used to wearing her water wings, whenever we've gone swimming in a pool, she just plays and swims for hours.  When we finally got out for the last time, it was serious "end of the world" reaction on her part.

I hate being woke up from a nap.   If I get woke up, it takes like 20 minutes for me to function.  In the meantime, watch out!  I'll bite your head off for breathing.  (I admit it.)  Lilia is the same way.  See, she goes down for a nap around 1, and lately, she doesn't go to sleep right away.  She'll play in her room for an hour or two; reading and playing with her toys.  So sometimes it's 3 or 4 before she actually naps. So 5 o'clock comes around, and it's almost dinner time, and we don't want her sleeping too late or else she'll be wide awake around bedtime.  But when we wake up...it's literally like waking a sleeping bear.  Today she sat at the dinner table, whimpering and looking like someone cast Zombie on her.  We couldn't help but giggle at the level of cranky.

I was being a huge pest while watering my container garden today.  I started chasing John around  the yard with the hose a little, laughing hysterically.  Lilia found this to be absolutely hysterical as well.  There are quite a few parallels in our sense of humor.  (Maybe this means I never grew up?)  Both Lilia and I seem to have a weakness for funny cat videos.  She cracks up when we watch them,  and I don't think she'd ever get tired of watching them (Oh thank ye wise LOLCats.)

Take this cat for example.  I showed it to Lilia, and she first squealed incredibly loud.  Then she laughed.  Then she proceeded to make up a funny story about the cat, and how he was meowing very loudly, and it was really funny.  Now she's demanding that I stop typing, and find some more funny cats.

I could probably go on and on about how alike her personality is to my own.  She's definitely a very emotionally driven child, which is pretty much how I'd describe myself.  And while this can be a challenge at times (Let's just say tantrums are a lot of fun.  Except not.)  it's also pretty cool to see myself reflected in someone I think is so awesome.

How I almost died. I think...

Since we love blowing stuff up on the fourth of July, this is a fitting story.

First you should know, I'm deathly afraid of electricity. I've been electrocuted on more than one occasion. When I was little I was trying to plug something into the wall, and my finger was touching a prong. ZAP.

Then when I was 13, my idiot step father, left some wires hanging out of a wall above the kitchen sink. I was washing dishes, a knife hit the wire. ZAP. Felt like someone came up from behind me and just physically grabbed me and slammed me against a wall. NO JOKE.

When it comes to stoves, I've had zaps a few times while using either an electric stove or a hot pot. These aren't fun either, although for the most part, they weren't as bad as the previously mentioned incidents.

Yesterday, I was boiling water. Just simply, boiling water. I filled the pot. I put it on the stove. I put the burner on high. I turned my back to peel potatoes. I peeled 2 1/2, when suddenly, all at once, I see this bright pinkish flash, and hear a ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP POP! sound. I turn my head, see water and metal bits all over the stove, water rushing out the bottom of the pan, steam and sizzling sounds. I'm TERRIFIED.

The knob was plastic, so I figured it was ok to turn the stove off. I turn it off, shaking and just stare at everything. NO CLUE what happened. I look at the pot and there's a hole in it. I look at the burner, there's a hole in that. I put everything down, and just stare for a few more minutes, and then go find my husband, napping safe and sound.

I incoherently try to tell him what happened. I leave him, go turn off the breaker, and then go back up, trying to make myself coherent. He doesn't understand until he actually comes down and sees the carnage.

This is the coil on the burner.  Now clue what really happened, other than maybe it wore out, and faulted.  I had used that same burner earlier in the day, and didn't notice anything funny about it.

This is the pot.  It was a solid pot- I think it was also a pressure cooker.

I can't help but wonder what would've happen if I had been closer, or if I had been stirring the pot.  Would I have been electrocuted?

I know there are dangers with gas as well, but you know, I'm seriously considering installing a gas stove when we get into the new house.

I am laughing about it now, but man...I was scared when it happened.

Dork update

What I'm watching:


Otaku goodness.

What I'm listening to:


I couldn't resist any longer. I'm a sucker for cheesy dance music, and Lady Gaga's songs are way to catchy.

What I'm playing:


I'm honestly not playing anything really. I pick this up every now and then, but I'm waiting for a new PSP (since the kids broke the old one...) and for Persona 3, PSP version, to come out in July.

What I'm reading:


I just finished reading this one. There were a few parts I didn't care for, but overall, I did enjoy the book. I guess it's asking too much to repeat the absolute genius of the original Kushiel series, but I will say this was quite good.

That's all I have at the moment. I feel like my life is on hold while we wait for all the pieces of buying a home come together. It's quite frustrating.