Hiding?

All over the house I'll find a toy or something of Henry's in a random spot. I don't know what he's doing. Is he hiding, tidying, rearranging, sorting? Whatever he's doing, it's his game. He runs from the living room to the kitchen, to the bathroom and back, opening and closing cupboards. Here are a few of the things I've found.

A dirty play shovel in my hair/makeup basket

His comb in the pots and pans

Crayons in the cereal cupboard

And his little picture in frame is found all over.

I've moved it to the center of the kitchen table where he can't reach it. For some reason he doesn't like his picture sitting out. I find it under a chair, in the night stand, in a basket, wherever. Maybe he's modest?

I might have a heart attack

But it was so delicious.

For the past two days I have eaten the leftovers from a meal over which Todd said, "This reminds me of something my dad [Bub] would make."

I don't know if I've ever been more complimented. You see, one of Bub's talents is making good food. Really good. So good that I was embarrassed to have him eat in our Wymount apartment when Mim was out of town. Not that he couldn't have made his own really good meal, but we didn't want him to be alone. Also, I reveal that one of my biggest fears about getting married was that I could not cook a good meal for my husband or family. Still I am not a very good cook but I am improving.

So when I made something that reminded Todd of something his dad would make, I was truly flattered. And it was easy and quick. The recipe was found by listening to a radio show that Ruth Reichl was a guest on. Ruth is the Editor in Chief of Gourmet magazine. She has also been a restaurant critic and has written many books about food. As a busy woman, she was asked what kind of meal she makes for her family when she doesn't have much time. She gave the recipe for: Spaghetti Carbonara.

This is the recipe.

- 1 pound spaghetti
- 1/4 to 1/2 pound thickly sliced good quality bacon (we added a little left over sausage, too)
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 large eggs
- Black pepper
- 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese, plus extra for the table

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. When it is boiling, throw the spaghetti in. Most dried spaghetti takes 9 to 10 minutes to cook,and you can make the sauce in that time.

Cut the bacon crosswise into pieces about 1/2 inch wide. Put them in a skillet and cook for 2 minutes, until fat begins to render. Add the whole cloves of garlic and cook another 5 minutes, until the edges of the bacon just begin to get crisp. Do not overcook; if they get too crisp they won't meld with the pasta. Meanwhile, break the eggs into the bowl you will serve the pasta in, and beat them with a fork. Add some grindings of pepper.

Remove the garlic from the bacon pan. If it looks like too much to you, discard some, but you're going to toss the bacon with most of its fat into the pasta. When it is cooked, drain the pasta and immediately throw it into the beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly. The heat of the spaghetti will cook the eggs and turn them into a sauce. Add the bacon with its fat, toss again, add cheese and serve.

Serves 3.

Pasta, eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese--my arteries may be clogged now, but I can say it was (most likely) worth it. If not only for the delicious meal but also for Todd's great compliment. Oh, by the way, thanks Todd for listening to the radio and helping me make dinner. Couldn't have done it without you. It was great.

(Ruth Reichl's book found at http://www.ruthreichl.com/)

The Reading Corner

In Henry's room he has a little reading corner. He uses my body pillow as his little couch and he loves it. He will grab a book and plop down on the pillow and read, or pretend to read. Part of his bedtime routine is to run around his exersaucer and play, getting all of his excess energy out, if there is any, and then to cool down he reads, and we read to him. Bedtime is one of my most favorite times of the day usually because he's so happy. Todd and I are together, and we give him undivided attention. It's fun. Here's Henry "reading" to us.

For: Mim

Blow kisses!!

Rain

These were taken a few weeks ago when it was a bit warmer. You wouldn't catch me out splashing in the rain anymore. The weather has turned.

I've heard "freezing rain" is common in IL. Rain that freezes to your window an inch thick. Rain that creates sheets of ice over the roads. Rain that's not fun to be in. I'm bracing for it.

But this was fun rain.

A Lego Creation

The fruit of some quality father-son time.

No need to fear, Magic Eraser is here

We are now in this stage.
And thanks to Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean, it's no big deal.
Just a harmless chemical-filled white sponge, a little bit of water, and a few scrubs and voila!

P.S. The ants are gone, and P90X is not for sissies. I repeat, NOT, for sissies.

Ants

For the past two days I have been competing for my kitchen with ants. When I first noticed them I was a bit offended. "Ah, I keep my kitchen clean. So clean that I don't even like a full fridge because I feel like it's too cluttered. Why are these ants here?!" Three days ago it started raining and didn't stop for two days straight. I think that's the reason these . . . ants have invaded. I want them to go away. They drive me nuts!

I have found something that kills them immediately, though: Windex. I spray them, wipe them up and toss them out. But it's not a long-term solution. The pest control guys are coming Tuesday so I've just got keep them under control until then. I do my best to keep all crumbs and spills cleaned up. Henry's a good watchman, too. He has seen my distaste for them and so as soon as he sees them he comes running to me and points to the kitchen talking gibberish. I know he has found an ant.

Todd's been a big help, too. Today he has cleared the kitchen floor of ants twice. He laughs when I say, "Ewww. There are just so many!" To me, seeing about 100 ants a day in my kitchen is a lot, but in Todd's fatherly way he says something like,

"When I was in India we had trails of ants all over. I would wake up in the morning and my peanut-butter jar would be perfectly cleaned out! You know how we can't even scrape our peanut-butter jar clean? Well, they did. That's how many we had."

And that makes me feel so much better.

I stay calm though. This situation reminds me of a book I used to read as a kid. It's about a duck that made a hole in his wall trying to find an ant, with no luck he continued to tear down his house, pipe by pipe and wall by wall, and eventually ended up sitting on a pile of rubble as the ant walks away unscathed. Well, I sure don't want that to happen. So I keep cool. But, it sparked my curiosity, what ever happened to that book? What was it called?

I could not remember but with Todd's Internet skills he helped me find it it online and low and behold it's called, "Henry's Awful Mistake". Henry's the duck. We then fell upon other books by Robert M.Quackenbush such as, "Henry's Important Date", "Henry Babysits", and "Henry Goes West". I was completely surprised by the coincidence and even a little happy that the trouble with the ants brought me to these books.

Am I Crazy?

Sunday night I got a call from my friend, Cherry.

"Hey, have you heard of P90X?"

I laugh. "Yeah."

"Well, would you want to be my partner in it?"

Thinking. "How can I tell her no? Should I try it for a few days?"

Well after some talk I tell her that I would be her partner. We would be meeting every morning--6 days a week at 6 am for 1 hour. Um, am I crazy? I haven't done an exercise program, ever.

Today was the second day. Ouch. I'm sore. But I'm sore in a good way. I can still move, but it hurts a little. I'm thinking that I might just stick it out for a while. Ninety days? Is that right? I might be able to do this! Then again, it's only the second day.

Yesterday Cherry and I did it with two guys, and we did the regular version, the version where one is trying to build the upper body. Now on a feminine frame (that's what I'm hoping to keep) a large upper body's not very pretty. I was thinking this was my out. After like 10 sets of pull ups and 10 sets of push ups I was kaput. (I didn't know kaput was a real word until now--I thought it was kind of like an onomatopoeia. Thanks, dictionary.reference.com.)

Today, however, we decided to do the "lean" version and this definitely fits more with my type of exercise. It's focused more on cardio and strength for "lean-ers". Today was cardio and we did different sets of exercise like kick-boxing, yoga, and stretching. It actually was really fun! My favorite part was the exercise where you have one foot in front, you crouch down in a lunge and kind of punch in front of you. Your feet are pivoting as you punch so your whole body is into it. It was as rigorous as a full-out sprint, but I didn't hurt my knees at all! My knees are my Achilles; if you know what I mean.

So, on to day three. Wish me luck. I actually haven't felt this good in a long time. A long time.

New Toys

This weekend Henry got a magnetic alphabet for the fridge and a Lego set. He LOVES his new toys. Here's a bunch of videos showing him play. The fun thing about him nowadays is that he's kind of a singer! He just starts singing as he plays. It's so funny.

We sing the alphabet song to him frequently, and he has definitely picked up on it. I think this is his attempt at singing the song. He doesn't really know the letters yet, but he's got the gist of the song!

My favorite part of this video is just in the beginning when he's talking to me. He sure knows what he's saying. I don't. The funny thing is how easily distracted he is. You'll see at the end.

He's so into his new Legos. Todd's pretty proud. The Lego set came with a Lego man and we named him Amigo. The only sad part is that Henry is not quite strong or coordinated enough yet to put them together all by himself. He gets frustrated and starts grunting until we help him.

I love technology

This weekend is General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Most, well probably all of you, are Mormon so I'm sure you're all aware of that fact, but I thought I'd inform you anyway. We listen to the prophet, apostles and other general leaders of the Church talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ and our role in building His kingdom on the earth today.
Anyway, the way "I love technology" and my talk of General Conference (GC) connect is this:

Growing up in Utah I was able to watch GC in the comforts of my home in live time. It was a definite luxury when members outside of UT would have to sit in a church and watch it via satellite (and that can be long when it's 8 hours over 2 days) and members outside of America would have to read it in the Ensign/Liahona weeks after the conference. Later the internet made it a lot easier for many families to see conference in live time on their laptops at home, but things have become even better.

Todd and I have been able to connect our laptop to the TV and watch conference on our TV as it is happening, in our own house, and it is actually a really great picture and sound! And for this I love technology.