A few years ago I purchased a little digital camcorder from someone over eBay. I did a little research, and the unit I selected was "good enough" and was something that I could afford at the time. I really wanted to see how often we used a camcorder before dumping a lot of money into one. Turned out this was a good move, since I rarely use it. Turns out I am not a moviemaker. There are a few recordings of the kids' school concerts, which we did burn off to DVD's. But really, who wants to watch those things if they don't have to? Yeah, me neither...
Stinky's birthday is coming up, and one of the things he requested was a camcorder. When I told him we already had one, he was surprised! (That should tell you how often we use it, since he totally forgot about it.) I asked him why he wanted one, and it turns out he likes the LEGO stop motion movies on YouTube and thought it would be fun to make one of his own. He has done some movie-making before - both at school and at SEP.
Monday, September 22
Sunday, September 21
Tuesday, September 16
Mow
Remember when mowing the lawn was fun?? Yeah... I know it's hard. But it was a little easier to remember, watching Scott teach Boo the other night.
Going up hill is a little hard for her, but she got it. What a tough little cookie!!
Going up hill is a little hard for her, but she got it. What a tough little cookie!!
Tuesday, September 9
Coldfusion
Coldfusion is a web server technology from Adobe (via Macromedia, via Allaire). I have developed web applications using Coldfusion for about ten years. I know absolutely nothing about cold fusion (note the very important space), the scientific field.
New servers are a good thing. It's like a blank canvas for an artist, and very exciting to geeks. They can also be very frustrating - much like I imagine the artistic process to be.
Especially when the server runs a flavor of Linux.
I've had a server like this for a while now, and it was finally time to do something with it. In case you don't know, Linux doesn't really come with instructions. You have to find them yourself, on the web.
New servers are a good thing. It's like a blank canvas for an artist, and very exciting to geeks. They can also be very frustrating - much like I imagine the artistic process to be.
Especially when the server runs a flavor of Linux.
I've had a server like this for a while now, and it was finally time to do something with it. In case you don't know, Linux doesn't really come with instructions. You have to find them yourself, on the web.
Sunday, September 7
Zip
This is me, riding the zipline at the Mount Hood Adventure Park (aka Skibowl during summer):
Scott and I did pretty much everything that was open. (Yes, I bungee jumped - twice - and have the pictures to prove it!) The kids each got to pick one "premium" activity. QP also bungee jumped! Boo rode the zipline (she wanted to bungee but didn't meet the minimum weight requirement). Stinky went rock climbing. The kids flipped round and round on bungee trampolines. We all raced down the alpine slide overandoverandover, slid down the tubing hill, and more. We had a blast! More photos here...
Scott and I did pretty much everything that was open. (Yes, I bungee jumped - twice - and have the pictures to prove it!) The kids each got to pick one "premium" activity. QP also bungee jumped! Boo rode the zipline (she wanted to bungee but didn't meet the minimum weight requirement). Stinky went rock climbing. The kids flipped round and round on bungee trampolines. We all raced down the alpine slide overandoverandover, slid down the tubing hill, and more. We had a blast! More photos here...
Saturday, September 6
Drive
Finally. I know...
Surely you have been on the edge of your seats after reading this post, and then this one. Heh... or you could have just gone over to Missy's blog and read her account of our drive home from Baker City.
Was it really all that bad? No... actually I think it was worse. Basically, we spent all day in this:
Surely you have been on the edge of your seats after reading this post, and then this one. Heh... or you could have just gone over to Missy's blog and read her account of our drive home from Baker City.
Was it really all that bad? No... actually I think it was worse. Basically, we spent all day in this:
Thursday, September 4
Jenga
Stinky beat me at Jenga last night.
It's getting harder and harder to find games where I get to win.
Checkers, chess, backgammon, Risk, Loot... he wins them all. He can solve a messed up Rubik's Cube in a matter of minutes, while I still pop the corners off and reattach them in the proper configuration. He even beat me when we went bowling the other day... and he didn't have gutter bumpers! Now add Jenga to that list as well.
The category where I still have him beat? Word nerd games. You know... Scrabble, Balderdash, and the like. But he's starting to creep up on me there too. When does life turn around, and kids have to start letting the parents win every once in a while?
But he still needs me for things like food. Lucky for me he thinks I'm a halfway decent cook, or I might just be totally worthless. (Oh yeah, I can feel the teen-ager-nesss now!) He does like to help, but can't quite do it all on his own. And every once in a while I score a home run hit with a new recipe. Like last night's dinner...
Chicken Fricassee
adapted from Epicurious
Ingredients
chicken pieces with skin and bone (I used 4 breasts and 4 thighs)
salt & pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 Turkish bay leaf
3/4 cup sherry (cooking) wine
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup vegetable stock (I used homemade)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese
Rinse chicken with cold water and pat dry. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in a large pan until hot but not smoking. Add two chicken breasts to pan, skin side down. Cook for five minutes or until skin is slightly browned and crisp. Turn over and cook another five minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken. (Don't try to cram too much into your pan. I cooked 2 chicken breasts or 4 thighs per batch.)
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil from pan. Add shallots, garlic, and bay leaf to pan and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened. Add sherry and bring to a boil. Stir in cream, stock, crushed red pepper, cardamom, and Worchestershire. Add chicken so that every piece is at least slightly submerged and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. (I put in the bigger breast pieces first, then arranged them to accomodate the thighs.) Remove chicken from pan and keep warm, loosely covered. Boil sauce until thickened slightly, about 2 minutes. Discard bay leaf, then stir in lemon juice, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with salad and crusty bread, with sauce poured over chicken. The sauce is AMAZING for bread-dipping. Yummm! And the chicken turns out amazingly tender and flavorful with just a little "kick" from the red pepper. Everyone loved this meal, and I'm adding it to our regular rotation.
It's getting harder and harder to find games where I get to win.
Checkers, chess, backgammon, Risk, Loot... he wins them all. He can solve a messed up Rubik's Cube in a matter of minutes, while I still pop the corners off and reattach them in the proper configuration. He even beat me when we went bowling the other day... and he didn't have gutter bumpers! Now add Jenga to that list as well.The category where I still have him beat? Word nerd games. You know... Scrabble, Balderdash, and the like. But he's starting to creep up on me there too. When does life turn around, and kids have to start letting the parents win every once in a while?
But he still needs me for things like food. Lucky for me he thinks I'm a halfway decent cook, or I might just be totally worthless. (Oh yeah, I can feel the teen-ager-nesss now!) He does like to help, but can't quite do it all on his own. And every once in a while I score a home run hit with a new recipe. Like last night's dinner...
Chicken Fricassee
adapted from Epicurious
Ingredients
chicken pieces with skin and bone (I used 4 breasts and 4 thighs)
salt & pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 Turkish bay leaf
3/4 cup sherry (cooking) wine
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup vegetable stock (I used homemade)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese
Rinse chicken with cold water and pat dry. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in a large pan until hot but not smoking. Add two chicken breasts to pan, skin side down. Cook for five minutes or until skin is slightly browned and crisp. Turn over and cook another five minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining pieces of chicken. (Don't try to cram too much into your pan. I cooked 2 chicken breasts or 4 thighs per batch.)
Pour off all but 2 tablespoons oil from pan. Add shallots, garlic, and bay leaf to pan and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until shallots are softened. Add sherry and bring to a boil. Stir in cream, stock, crushed red pepper, cardamom, and Worchestershire. Add chicken so that every piece is at least slightly submerged and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. (I put in the bigger breast pieces first, then arranged them to accomodate the thighs.) Remove chicken from pan and keep warm, loosely covered. Boil sauce until thickened slightly, about 2 minutes. Discard bay leaf, then stir in lemon juice, cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with salad and crusty bread, with sauce poured over chicken. The sauce is AMAZING for bread-dipping. Yummm! And the chicken turns out amazingly tender and flavorful with just a little "kick" from the red pepper. Everyone loved this meal, and I'm adding it to our regular rotation.
Tuesday, September 2
Elevensies
You know, kinda like lunch? Hot lunch, that is. Remember school food?
It's hard to remember all of those details on the first day of school. There are supplies to gather, forms to fill out, physicals to schedule, and lunch money to send.
That's right, my kids are school lunch junkies. We tried the healthy, home-packed lunch thing in the past and it just doesn't "happen". Either I have to pack it (and then deliver it to school when they forget it) or we have shelves and shelves of spoiled lunch goodies in the pantry and the fridge. So this year I threw my hands in the air at the start of the year. I am not even going to try. Back to school is stressful enough, right?
Anyways when I looked up lunch prices I found out something that put the final nail in the coffin of my healthy, home-packed lunch pipe dream. If your kid goes to a Bend-LaPine school then you can pay for meals online. Hooray!
Why? Because it always seems like in addition to forgetting that healthy, home-packed lunch the kids are always forgetting their lunch money too. Also, I can check their balances to see when they are running low and "guesstimate" how many times they have sneaked into school breakfast. (I say "guesstimate" because you can't see details yet, just the balance. But apparently this feature is "coming soon".) When they do remember that they are out of money in their little lunch accounts, I usually get around to dealing with it after they have gone to bed for the night. Which means I forget about it, too. In short, lunch money is one of those things that should be really easy, but for some reason it's not.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am still all about kids being independent and learning to take care of themselves. But in this case I'll grant the bye.
Two thumbs up to the BLP School District for this new service. And a big thanks from this busy, busy mom!
It's hard to remember all of those details on the first day of school. There are supplies to gather, forms to fill out, physicals to schedule, and lunch money to send.
That's right, my kids are school lunch junkies. We tried the healthy, home-packed lunch thing in the past and it just doesn't "happen". Either I have to pack it (and then deliver it to school when they forget it) or we have shelves and shelves of spoiled lunch goodies in the pantry and the fridge. So this year I threw my hands in the air at the start of the year. I am not even going to try. Back to school is stressful enough, right?
Anyways when I looked up lunch prices I found out something that put the final nail in the coffin of my healthy, home-packed lunch pipe dream. If your kid goes to a Bend-LaPine school then you can pay for meals online. Hooray!
Why? Because it always seems like in addition to forgetting that healthy, home-packed lunch the kids are always forgetting their lunch money too. Also, I can check their balances to see when they are running low and "guesstimate" how many times they have sneaked into school breakfast. (I say "guesstimate" because you can't see details yet, just the balance. But apparently this feature is "coming soon".) When they do remember that they are out of money in their little lunch accounts, I usually get around to dealing with it after they have gone to bed for the night. Which means I forget about it, too. In short, lunch money is one of those things that should be really easy, but for some reason it's not.
Now, don't get me wrong. I am still all about kids being independent and learning to take care of themselves. But in this case I'll grant the bye.
Two thumbs up to the BLP School District for this new service. And a big thanks from this busy, busy mom!
Skool
So... can you tell who is excited, and who isn't? Happy back-to-school!
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