This weekend

It's been a pretty lazy/fun weekend. Friday night Jamie was at Starbucks studying when we had a huge storm and the power went out briefly here and there. He said he is a math hero because he used his cell phone light to continue studying. Claudia and I watched The Soup after the littles were in bed and then Jamie came home and we gave Flight of the Conchords a whirl, but weren't too thrilled with it. We'll give it another chance, though.

Jamie spent most of Saturday studying. I think he did nine hours of practice tests. Claudia and I spent most of the day watching the DNC discussing the mess they've made of the Florida and Michigan delegate situation and making refrigerator magnets! The little girls mostly played outside but they spent a lot of time creating magnets, too.


Last night Claudia went to see a movie with a friend and I took the littles swimming.




I made a seriously unhealthy dinner last night--homemade corn dogs and french fries. We hardly ever buy hotdogs and I actually cringe when I see the children eating them because they're SO bad, but you know what? Those corn dogs were DIVINE.


Today we're skipping church because I want to watch the morning news shows. I'm hoping the McClellan thing comes up (I so think he shouldn't profit from that book) and I want to hear what's said about Florida and Michigan.

Random Cool Stuff

The LA Times reports on Guerrilla Gardeners. "Stealth growers seed or plant on land that doesn't belong to them. The result? Plants that beautify or yield crops in otherwise neglected or vacant spaces." Making seed bombs:


Reusable shopping bags at Baggu.


Love the jewelry at My Sunset Road When did I become a jewelry person?


The BBC reported today that an uncontacted indigenous tribe was spotted on the Brazilian/Peruvian border.



Sculpture in Taipei made of logs and created with a chainsaw.

Talking about an Evolution

Ok, so, Social Justice Chair. My friend, Jennifer, told me I'll have to wear Birkenstocks now. I'll do a lot to make the world a better place, but I'm not wearing ugly shoes. If Jamie says anything about me wearing crocs, you're not to believe him!

And don't you think I need a new way to sign off on Social Justice emails? There's the standard

Peace and Love--

Susanne

but it's already taken. Jamie suggested Crust is Risen but no. Too religious/blasphemous. The pagans say "Blessed Be" so I could go all Beatles and do

Let it be--

Susanne

but a lot of people are completely lacking in senses of humor.

or maybe

Peace, Love and Che!

Susanne

Too communistic? Jamie thought so. He has this weird thing about communists. I keep telling him my grandfather was a communist so he should keep a civil tongue in his head, but no. He's very judgey about the communists.

Sunshine and rainbows? Too unicorny.

Ok, I'm super exhausted to the point that I'm getting silly, so I'm going to bed. Email signature suggestions welcome. Seriously. I need one.

Peace, Love and Bobby Sherman--

Susanne

Miscellaneous

OMGosh, so busy but it's all good stuff!

Jamie ended up staying home from church this weekend to study. And it was just as well he didn't go to church because the senior high class he was going to talk to about the pride parade were in church so the seniors could graduate out of the program. Such amazing kids come out of this church! It's a good place for our kids.

Jordan and I started planting our container garden last night. This year we're doing tomatoes, serranos, jalapenos, bell peppers, lettuce, and cucumbers.

We're busy planning our trip to Texas that will happen this July. I'm so excited! We're going to spend our days eating Texmex and German food, visiting various historical things because that's what you do (we'll definitely hit the very boring Alamo just because Jamie and Sammy have to see it) and I want to make it down to Galveston so the kids can swim in the ocean. Jellyfish, here we come!

The girlies are out of school next Friday and they are definitely counting the days. Jamie's studying like mad and his test is Tuesday, June 3. It's definite that I'm going to be the social justice chairperson for our church so I'm very excited about that. It's a year-long commitment and it's really going to be a growth experience for me because in addition to running meetings and planning events, I'm going to be doing some public speaking and I have to write a social justice article every two weeks for the church newsletter. And we're marching in the pride parade on June 14th and that's all coming together nicely. Oh, and Beverly and Walter are visiting on the 15th!

Ok, so if you're in Texas or vicinity, we want to see you this July! Local friends and family, expect tomatoes, etc. and everyone, the kids are making crafts so expect a box of potholders, bracelets, magnets, etc. coming your way! And one lucky household might just get a special prize in their Box O' Crafts--a beagle!!

another poster

And here's another poster I'm working on.

The Weekend

A comment from Jamie's friend, Vince, this weekend reminded me that I had a disabled Facebook account. I re-activated it and searched on my highschool just to kill time (not that I have any, actually). I grew up in a very small town and it is *so* weird to see the apparent children of my former classmates at exactly the same age that I remember their parents.

I've been asked to be the chair of our social justice committee at church so that might be happening, pending board approval. I'm very excited about it, so fingers crossed! So in addition to implementing plans for organizing the church for the upcoming pride parade, which is a huge amount of work, I've been kicking some ideas around for social justice posters to try to get people involved. These are just rough drafts.





Thursday night Jamie and I made the most awesome Texmex! We pulled out our supply of masa and made corn tortillas, then we fried them to make chalupa shells. We made homemade refried beans and we already had salsa we'd made earlier in the week. OMG! So good. My mom's been having difficulty finding tamales at any of the restaurants they've gone to lately in Austin (which is very strange) so now she has an inkling of what I'm going through in Indiana, living like an animal.

Last night Jordan and I went to a party our friends D. & D. gave. We crafted some beaded things and it was really fun. I was totally in the bead zone. There were a bunch of interesting people there and D. is writing a book about the effects of global warming on humans so the conversation was both fascinating and depressing. :) Tomorrow we're going to church where I'm helping teach the lesson to some of the younger children (we're going to learn about what families look like) and Jamie's speaking to the Senior High class about the parade. After church we're going to a Memorial Day picnic and Monday we've been invited to another Memorial Day picnic, but I don't know if we'll go to that one.

Ok. 1 a.m.--time for bed! Oh, and for all readers back in civilization, we're paying almost $4 a gallon here. Not happy about it!

Weekend Photos

Sammy's giving a speech tomorrow at school (and she's written a very awesome speech!) and she had to dress up as Beatrix Potter so this is what we put together this weekend. I took the photo of her and then then olded it up a bit. She's going to take a couple of easels to school tomorrow to display this photo and a photo of Beatrix Potter.


This morning Claudia completed her Coming of Age year at church. The course was truly amazing and was designed to help youth and parents to start to separate as the children start to grow up (for real!) and the goal for the year was for the children to decide what they believe in. They were provided a lot of support and even assigned a mentor to help them along the way. This morning they all presented their faith statements to the congregation. This is Claudia's mentor introducing her and you can see Claudia standing off to the side.

She did an amazing job and we were so proud of her. And then impressed with her all over again when at the congregational meeting that followed church this morning a representative from the main UU organization spoke and said "as Claudia, one of our teenagers who spoke today, said" and then quoted part of Claudia's faith statement.

Jamie and Sammy in church.


Claudia and me in the car after church.


We took everyone out for icecream this afternoon to celebrate Claudia's COA completion.

Random Photos

Every time I turned around this afternoon, Sam and Jordan were hanging out in this one green chair we have in the living room.

Here they are doing homework.


Here they are just hanging out.



Here they are watching tv tonight before bed. They like to drag the chair about three feet away from the television.



Here's Claudia and Bobo drawing. She's always coming up with new names for him. This week she's calling him Trevovo, which is what "Oprah" calls "John Travolta" on SNL. She's also calling him Chumbly Wumbly.


Tonight just as we were about to watch the much anticipated Office season finale, there was a news break about Karl Rove possibly being arrested and Claudia was so funny. She started yelling, "OMG!! Which one do we watch?!? Which one do we watch!?!" We explained that Rove getting arrested was too good to be true, so we went with the Office.

And......the flip side

I think I have a cold and this makes me very not happy. Throat.....so scratchy!!!

We just found out *today* that we have to find a babysitter for the littles this Saturday afternoon when we attend a church thing with Claudia.

Tonight when I was rolling out tortillas, my shirt was riding up in the back and Claudia grabbed a marker and drew a "tatoo" on my lower back.

Claudia found what we think are baby wasps in her room so we have to inspect it very carefully before she can sleep in there again (so, tomorrow).

Jordan has a school project due on Friday in which we have to come up with the costume of a frontiersman for her to wear. No problem! Good thing I don't sew! And speaking of this project, my children are having to learn Indiana history and I can't even tell you what a waste of time I think this is. BIG WASTE OF TIME! I don't know why anyone would live here unless they absolutely had to (like us, for example!) and BLURG, who cares about Indiana history?

Ever since I saw this on SNL, I've had the words Hot Tranny Mess in my head and sometimes it's very difficult to not trot that out at work!

Wonderful World

Last summer I nailed a music box that plays Wonderful World on our front door jam. The wood it's nailed to amplifies the sound so when the music box key is turned you can hear the music all the way down the sidewalk. Every morning lately when I leave for work, Jordan very sweetly plays the music box so that I hear it on the way to the car.

Discovery magazine article: Tetris-like Game Lets Players Find Scientific Solutions.

Scientists hope the free, downloadable 3D puzzle game, similar to Tetris, may help speed research in developing a vaccine for HIV, creating chemicals that destroy harmful environmental contaminants, producing enzymes that break down cellulose into sugar that can then be turned into ethanol, and in solving problems that have vexed biochemists for years.

All of those solutions rely on a complicated field of science called protein folding. And the Foldit game offers new design solutions to this field.

"People are good at solving 3D puzzles," said Zoran Papovic, a computer scientist at the University of Washington who helped develop Foldit. "So why not let them figure them it out?"

Dinner tonight was so very good! I made tortillas from a new recipe that I think I like better than the last new recipe, salsa and homemade refried beans. The resulting tacos were so m-fucking good! I think later this week I'm going to pull out my package of masa and the tortilla press and make some corn tortillas and then make tortilla chips. I haven't made corn tortillas in probably 20 years. IMO, cooking takes practice and if you don't use it you lose it so I'm practicing for our tamale party that should happen some time this summer.

I ran across this extremely interesting/alarming clip of a mountain hike on a trail built in 1901 in Southern Spain.



The kids are counting down to the last day of school, I think I mentioned I'm organizing our church for the upcoming Pride Parade and that's coming along quite nicely. Jamie's studying, studying, studying and his test is less than three weeks away.

Photos

Jordan practicing scales.


Another photo of irises.

Crazy Delicious

With the exception of not getting to see our mothers today, Mother's Day was a good one at our house. Claudia and Jordan got me thoughtful gifts, and both made me something, too. Jamie bought me a bunch of irises (which I love) and made a beautiful dinner (boiled shrimp, homemade cocktail sauce, homemade french fries, steamed broccoli and homemade chocolate chip cookies and strawberries for dessert.

Very cute outfit I found for Jordan at Target.


Candlestick forest constructed out of brass candlesticks I scored for free.


End table we got a total deal on this week.


This SNL video is pretty old, but I watched it again this week and now it's stuck in my head and I can't stop singing it.

Mr. Pibb + Red Vines = CRAZY DELICIOUS!

Operation Infinite Democracy

Operation Infinite Democracy is what Jamie dubbed this morning's mission: leave the house early enough to take the kids to vote for Barack Obama and get Claudia to the bus on time. And we made it!

I always take the kids to vote and I have photos of Claudia at the polls going back to when she was a baby. This time, however, Claudia put her foot down and refused to be in the photos. But that's ok. It's fine! (Heh--I'm thinking about photo shopping her in just to bug her). It was a great experience for them and they all three got an "I voted" sticker to wear to school today.

Baracking the Vote

Tonight we went to hear Barack Obama speak. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow because it's late, but here are some photos.

Figuring out where to go.


There was a lot of waiting around. Here are some waiting around photos.

The Weekend

Friday afternoon Jordan and Sammy took a pottery class at school and Friday night Claudia went to a band party. Jamie spent most of this weekend studying but he took a break Friday night to go see Iron Man and he said it was a fun movie.

Saturday night Jamie and I cooked a big dinner--fried chicken, mashed potatoes, homemade biscuits, green beans and Sam and Jordan made snickerdoodles for dessert.


The littles picked out poems to share with everyone at the table and we did our joys and concerns chalice lighting which we've gotten away from lately. So it was a really nice evening.

Today I took the girls to church and then all three kids went home with some friends of ours and spent the afternoon there playing in their creek and stalking wildlife and then Jamie and I went over this evening for dinner.

Taking Suburban Haus Frau to a Whole New Level

It's true. I've cooked my ass off this week. This is mainly an attempt at being frugal because we're saving for a few big things and it's healthier. And better. I'm like Adam on Northern Exposure--I want to eat what *I* cooked! Plus, it's pretty fun.

Tonight I made chocolate chip banana bread, blueberry bread and pumpkin bread. It's Jamie's turn to take breakfast to work tomorrow so he'll take one of each.


Earlier in the week I made a bastardized version of the granola from the Homesick Texan blog.

I make two versions, one we call the "OMG, MOM, you didn't put RAISINS in this, did you?!?!!!" version and "The Other One" which is sans raisins. The original recipe calls for currants, which I didn't include and I substituted sunflower seeds for the nuts because I'm allergic and I just don't get nuts. Which nuts do you put in? Why would anyone eat that? Ok, so you want to eat them, I can put them in, but which ones? It's hard to cook with something when you don't know what it tastes like, you know? All I know is that peanuts make one vomit and pecans make one's throat swell shut and walnuts make one's eyes swell shut. Not appetizing! Oh, and I add mini chocolate chips to make the kids try it.

And in the inbetween times I made a homemade chocolate cinnamon cake, homemade pizza crust, pizza sauce and shallot/balsamic dressing. Oh, and homemade granola bars which didn't turn out so I crumbled them up and voila! Granola recipe number three--The One No One Will Eat Because There's Too Much Granola In This House Now.

And, other than that, nothing new since yesterday. Lately, every time I'm driving in this Godforsaken Hellhole of a "city" I am composing a very ranty blog post about the people here and how bad they are at driving which I'm sure will bubble over the top and I'll be forced to type it up any day now. But for now I'll just say, it's not a personal insult to you if I change lanes in front of you and we don't have to wave at each other if you get in front of me or I get in front of you. We're on the freaking freeway--that's just how it works. People change lanes. There are no favors here, nor insults. GOD!!!

Anyway. Good night, sleep tight, pleasant dreams to you!