Adventures in Living!

Science is a pizza cake!

Kira's fifth-grade teacher is a relatively new teacher -- Kira had her as a student teacher two years ago -- and one of the great things about new teachers is their enthusiasm and creativity. Kira's class has done quite a few projects in all subject areas, and the most recent was for science. They have been studying animal and plant cells, comparing and contrasting them, learning the names and functions of the various pieces and parts. Last week, Kira brought home a project assignment to choose either an animal or plant cell and make an edible model.

Woot! Food! Right up our alley! Kira chose an animal cell, and we brainstormed for a few days on what we could make. Cake? Cookies? A big quesadilla?

How about a pizza? YES!

The crust formed the cell membrane, with pesto and mozzarella as the cytoplasm. I suggested big slices of ham for vacuoles, but Kira deferred to pepperoni, king of all pizza meats. Black olive halves made good mitochondria, and some leftover bacon was cut with a biscuit cutter to make the nucleus. I had suggested my personal favorite, strips of banana peppers, as the chromosomes, but I was vetoed. Chunks of cheddar cheese melted into the perfect representations of genetic material.

I had made calzones earlier in the week, so I had a piece of leftover dough. Kira did all the shaping and topping, and we baked it on my pizza stone. The whole thing fit into my round cake carrier, after a bit of crust trimming, and she proudly carried it to school.

I was a bit concerned when she brought the project home on the bus with her that afternoon, because usually, projects stay at school for a week or so. I guess the edibility factor weighed heavily in favor of a quick grading and a speedy return home. She got 100% on it, and ate it for lunch the next day.

Watch Me Create!

I've got a new post up on the collaborative Watch Me Create blog that I write for. Check it out!

Lent

Today is the second day of Lent, the 40 days prior to Easter. Lent stopped having special significance for me long ago, when Catholicism was more family history than actual daily living. I don't recall ever giving something up for Lent, and until fairly recently, my joke was that I'd given up Catholicism for Lent one year, and well...

I have friends for whom Catholicism is more than just a religious term, both of them having converted to it as adults. My own family is Catholic, some more so than others. I can't say I consider myself Catholic. I certainly am not, in the eyes of the Church's fairly strict doctrine. But I believe in God, and I believe in Heaven. I do not believe in an angry God, or that I need a priest to communicate successfully with God. If I want to talk to God, or confess my sins to Him, then I do.

I used to think of the Bible as great literature, but not as the word of God. The inherent hypocrisy in some religious doctrine repels me, as does a constant harping on giving of money to the church.

Recently, though, we have made more of an effort to go to church. Our littlest ones are happily attending our local church's preschool, and the people had been so welcoming and so friendly that we decided to go to the church ourselves. It's a wonderful place, with many wonderful people, and a pastor whom I enjoy very much. Not a Catholic church, but a Methodist one. I very much like the practical application of the Bible to daily life, the not-so-zealous view of religion, and the abundance of music as a way to praise God. It seems to be a good fit. We're even thinking about having the two little ones christened.

I've enjoyed hearing the word of God more in the last year than I think I ever had in my whole almost-40 years. And I find myself wondering what that means. Is it a shift in my own personal belief system, or is it a desperate reach for something to hold on to in the face of my own mortality? Am I in need of comfort? Grace? Divine intervention?

I don't know.

I find myself these days thinking about Lent, and what it means. A period of suffering before a rebirth. A time of contemplation. A walk in the dark toward the brilliant sunshine of spring.

I don't think I will be giving anything up for Lent this year, but instead I think I might try adding something. A daily scripture reading, or a daily time of meditation, something to bring me peace, to let me really have faith.

"....for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen..."

I blame Facebook

Lately, I have been having a lot of really vivid dreams. This is noteworthy because for the last year or so, having a dream I could recall, much less having it be vivid, has been something of a rarity. As dreams go, they aren't horror stories or anything, but some of them have definitely given me pause in the morning.

Most of what I have been remembering about my dreams of late has had to do with high school. It's very bizarre. I haven't seen most high school friends in twenty years or so, and now most of them are popping up in my dreams. Most of the storylines involve myself and people I know doing things in Miami -- like memories of events that haven't really happened. Most of it is just pictures, rather than actual 'stories', but still. For example, things I remember include images of a group of friends going to a movie at Bakery Center....or driving around Miami in the night, being silly like teenagers....or at a party at some nonspecific location....you know, like teenagers. Except in my dreams, none of us are teens. And occasionally I remember things that did actually happen, like a couple of us serving as volunteers at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, or working the information booth at the Dade County Youth Fair.

I blame Facebook.

But, I also thank Facebook, because without it, I never would have reconnected with friends and people I grew up with. So, I'm grateful for that. It's been really cool to see how people have changed (or not changed) and how their lives have unfolded. It's odd, though, to have people show up in my subconcious that I haven't talked face-to-face with in two decades.

Yikes. Loud noises from the playroom. I guess that's all the musing time I have for this morning.

I know

If you're reading this blog with any regularity-- ha! -- you've probably noticed it keeps looking different. I'm not satisfied with my page theme, and although I have many choices, I haven't made up my mind which one I like best. I know I want somethng fairly simple, with some color, but a background that helps my photos stand out and isn't too cluttered. I like the three-column layout, because, like in my life, I have too much stuff to show and I don't want most of it off the screen.

Anyway, this is the latest incarnation. So far, I like it best. We'll see how long that lasts.

This was the weekend that was.
Friday had it's own special suckage, in part because Travis took an entire day off work to be here for the FiOS installers and they never showed....something about a screwup and cancelling our appointment....AAARRRGH! I think we are all suffering from cabin fever, and even the week of beautiful weather we had last week didn't go far enough toward improving the moods around here. It's really been Drama-Central.

I have been just...struggling. I'm happy to be home with the kids, and I'm glad for the limited work I am doing, but sometimes I just feel like there is nothing in the well to draw on anymore. Yeah, I have it way easier and way better than other people so I should just shut my squeak-hole, but some days, I don't even want to get up in the morning.

Some days, ugh, I just can't face another day of Noah hanging on me, or Wren getting absolutely-freaking- hysterical every time you tell her no to something, or Kira's pre-teen dramafest.

O! The woe! *faints*

The worst part about it is these days will not last, not at all. I feel like I blinked and Kira was ten. Travis and I have been married for six years this year. It seems like yesterday that Kira was starting kindergarten, or we were bringing Wren home from the hospital, or I was pregnant with Noah. And I will miss these days when they are gone, I know it. On great days -- hell, even on fairly decent days -- Noah and Wren are heart-burstingly precious, and Kira is a jewel of a girl, all talent and smarts and laughter. I don't want to wish all that away. There's nothing so wonderful as holding your child in your lap, or snuggling your toddler on your shoulder, or doing a craft project with your daughter.
 
I feel like I should be better at brushing off the crummy days and crappy things that happen from time to time. Wren won't always be so precocious and cute, nor will Noah always want me so much. And Kira....some day she won't even want to be seen with me, let alone want to hang out. She's already started down that road.

Maybe I need a vacation. (HA!)

How could I want a vacation from something this cute!? I mean, talk about Cute Overload!
Srsly.

I think I need something to feed my mind. Solo trips to the bookstore or craft shop are nice, but not always enough to replenish the well of my soul. I'm considering takng an art class, maybe drawing, or even painting. I took both basic drawing and water color painting in college, and while I discovered I could, in fact, draw, I kinda sucked at the painting. Got a B as a final grade, but I think that was a sympathy grade.  Lord knows I don't need any more hobbies, but I do want to learn something new, test my creative skills and try something different. I don't want to take an academic class, and good GOD, I don't want to learn another damn thing about Medicare rules and regs right now. I swear, the people who came up with that program were smoking some serious shit in the back halls of the Capitol building.

But I digress.

So, yeah, an art class. Or something. I don't want to wait til summer, so I'm hoping I can find something affordable at one of our many local art schools and studios.

It doesn't help me solve the problem of what I want to do when I grow up, but it will be fun. Right now, I should probably take myself to bed.

Oh yeah....

This is my favorite beer.  I haven't had one in FOREVER. And I had one tonight.

Ok, maybe it's been just a year, but still...

All of a sudden, I wish it were summer.

Spring is coming!

Here are some images from our house....

I love the light through the glass bottles on my windowsill.

Someday I will take a digital photography class and really learn how to take pictures.  These are my lame attempts at using the macro setting on my camera for something other than photographing beads and jewelry.

Ah, the construction guys are here, fixing our roof, finally, from the branch incident in December. I wondered what that pounding noise was.

Time to get in the shower.

Snow! (sort of...)

In the category of Blink-And-You'll-Miss-It, I give you "Snow, in Richmond"

The backyard....

And the front yard....

This was the height of the accumulation. Of course, in true Richmond style, it was turned to rain within two hours. Yuck.

When I got Wren up this morning, she was looking out the window and saying, "Mommy, it's snowing! It's snowing!" I didn't believe her, and I didn't even see the snow until I had come down stairs with her and looked out the front windows.

It made for a sloppy morning.

New Beginnings

So, this morning, we were knocking around the house, having eaten a metric ton of pink pancakes (heart-shaped, naturally), and trying to think of something fun to do. It was supposed to be cold and rainy and crappy, but instead it was not too cold and beautifully sunny.

Our usual Saturday errands did not need running, it was a bit too cold for the kids to play outside or at the park yet, and to early for the mall or the Children's Museum. Travis suggested we visit the Richmond SPCA. Hadn't been there for a while, it's a nice facility, and it would be fun for the kids to see the cats and dogs. Right.

I feel pretty strongly about not supporting puppy mills or unscrupulous breeders, and about finding homes for the millions of wonderful dogs and cats that are already in the world, so I have always gotten my pets from a shelter or adoption agency. We've obtained one of our cats and our previous dog from the Richmond SPCA, and I've been very pleased with what they do there. Of course, actually getting another dog was not necessarily on our list of things to accomplish today, but then, we are such undeniable suckers that we almost never plan to get another dog or cat, they just end up coming home with us.

Meet our new family member.....
We don't have a good name for him, yet, but he is definitely fitting in at our house. There was no way we could leave him at the shelter...he's the perfect size, has beautiful,  kind eyes, seems to really enjoy the little kids, and is calm and quiet (so far).

He has a sad story, though, and it's so heartbreaking that I knew we couldn't leave him. You see those dark markings on his foreleg? That is one of four brands on his body. He is marked "L-B" on both sides, on one hindquarter and on the shoulder. That's bad enough, but what's worse is his ears.  See his ear in the picture? That odd shape at the front is because he had been wearing an ear tag, and someone ripped it out. The other ear is split just about halfway up, but this ear is missing about a 3/4" wide chunk of flesh.

I swear, I hope karma comes and bitch-slaps the hell out of someone for doing this to this beautiful and sweet dog.

He is great with our little ones, and so happy to play with them! Noah is especially excited!

After a 'cat test', we went home for lunch, got Quinn, and then went to Petsmart for a collar and lead. Then, back to the SPCA for a 'dog meeting'.

That went extremely well.

"Can we go home now?"

Wren and Noah were ready.

At home, we let everyone play outside for a while. All parties thoroughly enjoyed that.
Doing what beagles do best!

Quinn showed him the neighborhood, and especially how to hang out and bark at the neighbor dogs.

I think he enjoyed it, and I think he likes his new home.
We're thinking the name 'Max' seems to suit him.

*************************************************************************
The kids are in bed now, and Quinn and Max are hanging out in the house. I don't think Max has ever been in a house before, and hopefully he is not peeing on everything we have. So far, so good. We're probably going to gate them in the kitchen for the night, just to be on the safe side.

Oh yeah....I also got three dozen roses from my wonderful husband.
I am so lucky.

Today has really been a fantastic day.  I am so blessed. I know we did a good thing today, adopting Max. We can give him a great home and lots of love and companionship, and he won't ever have to worry about hunting again.

I just feel really, really happy. Now for some hazelnut gelato and dark chocolate!