Pocket Aces

LOST tonight!!

(Wow. What is UP with that 10 foot tall mouse? And why is he singing "Take On Me"? Riley was fascinated, but smart enough to not get too close to the rodent.)

So. Chuck E. Cheese last night. Birthday party. Kids had fun - both of them! See?

The highlight of the night was when Mason decided to walk to me - only because her daddy was nowhere in sight. Had he been near, she would have been significantly less interested in me.

But hey! LOST is back tonight. For the first time in FOREVER. In case you hadn't heard. What will you be doing tonight? Because me? I'll be watching LOST. If you wanted to know. I'm so excited, full sentences escape me. Because LOST is back.

Otherwise today, I think I'll try to take more pictures. Get back on the horse, you know. Because I'm seriously rusty. But only for a little while, because then there's LOST. If the kids don't go to bed on time, they will simply be chained in their rooms with some bowls of water. Because of LOST.

It's almost as exciting as a ten foot rodent!

Old Photo Tuesday

I have nothing fun, or relevant, or even stupid to write about today. So I'll start a new category - old pictures of me. I should state for the record that there are only about 5 pictures of my early childhood, but enough unfortunate ones from my teen years to keep us all rolling on the ground for some time to come. But we're not going to go there yet, mostly because I'd like everyone to think I'm as cute as a button for as long as possible. The shine will definitely wear off that one, I know, much like it has off of me. Enough, already! Post the damn picture! Ok, ok...

Awww. look at me. I think I was about 4, which would make this 1978 or so.

Fear not, lest you get tired of looking at me, for I will also be digging into Marc's archives. That's when things will get FUN.

Cooking: A, Food Photography: C-

Oh my God, steady yourself against a wall or something... I am going to post a picture that was taken mere hours ago. Behold, for I have discovered that it is NOT excessively difficult to walk down a flight of stairs holding a CF card. Like, you just hold the card in one hand, and the banister in the other. Then it's step, step, step, all the way till you reach the bottom. Don't forget to put the card in the reader, now! Ok, almost there... don't get hung up on what to name the new folder when we are SO CLOSE... now, just click "acquire all files" and OMG! I did it! Wait, those pictures kind of suck... but I've gotten this far, so they are getting posted, dammit!

Ok, dinner last night... deeeelicious. I did a stellar job, if I may say so myself, with my Rosemary and Lemon Pepper Crusted Pork Tenderloin, and Green Bean Salad with French-Mustardy-VInaigrette, and Acini de Pepe pasta with some creamy lemony sauce with bacon and parsley that I totally made up. The pork rub and the pasta sauce were bastardized from Rachael Ray (as I tend to bastardize most of her work) while the green beans from Jamie Oliver were pretty spot on the way the were. I was VERY pleased that the only thing to come out of a box in this meal was the dried pasta - and let's face it, I am not about to start making my own pasta. The rub and the sauces were all hand mixed, or whisked, or shaken in a mason jar. I really don't know why I don't do this more often - it's really not that hard. It's irritating that I need a damn TV chef to inspire me, but I guess whatever it takes, yes?

And there's the final product. Tasted better than it looks in this photo, I promise. I really wonder how people take such nice photos of their food. Be warned, I will continue to post my mediocre photos of my excellent food until I get this right.

I'm not dead yet!

The plague, it hath gotten me. After a week of pretending like I am not sick, today was the day to just be sick already. In the hopes that the plague will be happy to be acknowledged, and can now go about attacking another house. Do you think it works that way? I'm holding out hope.

In other news... nope, no other news. I actually made dinner - a really good dinner, even - and took a few pictures of it. Marc said, "I can't believe I have to wait to eat my dinner so you can take some damn pictures of it!".  He is the most supportive person EVER. (Ok, generally he is supportive when he is not hungry.)  Hey, maybe I'll post those pictures I took! Wouldn't that be revolutionary?! The thing is, I often find myself downstairs at the computer realizing I left the CF card upstairs in the camera, or I'll be upstairs wanting to take a picture of something cute the kids are doing, and I realize I left the CF card down in the computer. Can't win on this one, it seems.

Well, I must go deflate my head now.

Laaaazy weekend.

Not unlike so many other weekends, really. Yesterday was pure freedom - Riley was at school all day, and Marc's mom kept Mason all day since I had an appointment. It's so rare for me to be without a child anymore - Riley goes off 3 days, but I always have Mason. I felt so free yesterday when I got home from the doctor without Mason - I ignored the dishes in the sink, lost the bra, put on pajama pants, warm socks and a hoodie, grabbed a Coke and came down and spent around 4 blissful uninterrupted hours in my office (such as it is). I was able to devote all that time to completing an assignment for the Photoshop class I'm taking from Jessica Sprague, and other time wasters like catching up on favorite blogs. Oh, and I FINALLY set up a space heater by my desk so I can stop fearing frostbite when I come down here to The Great Frozen Basement. Good times. Here's what I made:

(The class is geared toward digital scrapbooking, as seen in the layout above, but I'm taking it mostly to learn more about how Photoshop works and all the different things it can do. Since my foray into banner designing, it's fun to learn about things I can make in Photoshop that aren't necessarily photo edits. Digital scrapbooking is pretty cool, and I can see the appeal... shop for supplies from your computer, no mess to clean up, and such. That said, I'll never go completely digital... I like paper and paper supplies too much. And while the designers do some pretty amazing things, you can totally tell that torn paper up above isn't real. And that will always bother me a bit. Ok, enough about scrapbooking.)

Oh, and the day just got better! We had our babysitter through the evening, so we got to hit Cheesecake Factory (gotta love such a well-engineered dining experience... my mojito tastes the exact same every time I order it!) before seeing Cloverfield. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say that if you liked "Blair Witch", you'll love this. I was thoroughly entertained during the movie, but didn't love it enough that I'll ever need to see it again. Still, the "thoroughly entertained" is about the pinnacle for me, so it was definitely a winning situation, even though I liked it more than Marc did.

And much of today was spent cleaning the basement - it was just so exciting, I can't even put it into words. So I'll just let you imagine all the scintillating details. While pondering the merits of digital vs. traditional scrapbooking, perhaps? God, I hope I didn't just kill someone with the coolness that is my life.

Milestones.

My baby girl took her first steps today - into daddy's arms (of course). Much cheering ensued and she was deservedly proud of herself. Riley was unimpressed. He's like, "What? I've been doing that for TWENTY whole months now. I'll clap when she says 'chicken nuggets and chocolate milk'." She'll probably say that next week.

And then my baby boy, in all his 34 months, had never caught a ball. Until tonight, when he did it many times in a row. Much cheering ensued for that as well, and of course it was Mason's turn to be unimpressed.

I love how, at this stage of their development, something that they couldn't do suddenly becomes something that they've totally mastered. Like, tomorrow we'll be working on cartwheels, and next week it's Organic Chemistry, right?

I guess right now we'll just focus on three little steps.

Too good for the sidebar.

This may have made me cry a little, but don't tell anyone. Ok?

Here I go, with pictures of food.

This is a typical breakfast for Mason - oatmeal with strawberries or bananas mixed in. Lately I'm enjoying feeding her from my favorite pretty Anthropologie bowls. I think I might have to buy some more of those. Oh, and that's an adorable mini spoon from Ikea.  Couldn't you just squeeze it? (Just kidding. Do not attempt to squeeze my spoons. It's not like they're real silver, or anything.)

So, here's my venture into food photography. I need to work on my styling, I think. 

What else would we do on the coldest day of the year?

Other than that, of course.

No, no... we buy a convertible.  Because we are craaaazy like that.

But not crazy enough to drive home with the top down. It's like 40 below outside, or something. In fact, I need to go put on some socks now. On a cold night like this, I might even wear them to bed.

Riley's on the phone.

"Hello? Hello. How are you? Ok. How are you? I'm fine. Ok. Airplane! Helicopter. Chicken nuggets, chocolate milk. Spell airplane. B, M, R, A. Ok? Ok. Hello. How are you? Mommy. Daddy. Baby. Car! Truck! Choo-choo! Airplane! Spell Riley. R, I, A, B, C... ::breaks into alphabet song::: Chicken nuggets. Chocolate milk. Ok. Bye bye."