Doctor Who + Neil Gaiman = Best Nerd Moment

I'm excited! Neil Gaiman wrote one of the episodes for this coming season!

Next Alan Turing?

Today I got onto my computer to discover when I wasn't looking, Liam had gotten into my control panel, account settings, and turned on the guest account. The result was that he could log onto my computer whenever he wanted. Damn it.

Tea party

For Alana birthday, we gave her a tea and dish set. It's great because it's reasonably priced, made of recycled plastic milk cartons, and the best thing: it's dishwasher-able! The kids insisted on eating lunch with them. I had to pour the "tea" but the kids loved the tiny cups.

Liam is starting to love cameras. He used to run away before, but now he always is wanting his picture taken.

See what two years can do

Happy birthday sweet girl!

My day yesterday

Midnight to 3:00 am MDT -Trying desperately to get to sleep, knowing that if I don't, I'll have a fun next 24 hours.

4:30 - Alarm goes off. Drag myself out of bed, decide that make up is overrated and get dressed. Start driving to the airport.

5:30 - Get to airport, park, take shuttle in, by pass the huge check in line and congratulate myself on having the foresight to check in online the night before.

6:40 - Plane takes off.

7:30 am PDT - Land in Seattle. Check in at car rental, hop onto shuttle, pick up car.

8:00 - Fight through Seattle traffic up to Shoreline. arrive at a house, spend the next hour walking around the neighbourhood.

10:00 - Real Estate agent finally shows up sans keys. Wait for another 20 minutes for the owner's friend to show up with said key. Walk around the house.

11:30 - Pay deposit, work out paperwork. We have a house!

12:30 - Hang out with my brother, his wife, and their daughter. Go to a random food truck in Fremont named Marinate, a fusion of Korean and American fast food. I had a Kalbi taco, Kulai (?) beef slider, and kim chi quesadilla. Stop in some quirky artisan chocolate store/factory and get Justin a present (mmmmmm, red chile chocolate bar).

4:45 - Leave for airport, figuring I've given myself enough time to try to find my way back to the car rental place. Fight through Seattle traffic. Get off at the right exit, going the wrong way, try to get off and fix it, fighting through more traffic in Renton, make the same mistake and keep heading to Kent, get off, finally turn around after 20 minutes, drive like a manic back to Renton (which in Washington meaning going 65 mph). Drop off the car, hop on the shuttle, RUN into the airport and through security and to the gate. And make it just in time for boarding.

7:10 - Plane takes off.

10:00 pm MDT - Land in Salt Lake, feeling tired and very, very, very airsick. Get back to the car and try not to drive too badly home.

11:00 - Crash into bed after having the weirdest day trip in my life.

Am spending the day in a bathrobe and letting the kids watch Ponyo ad nauseum. Maybe in poor taste after the tsunami in Japan, but I think it's a cute movie.

What I want for my birthday

Consolation

We were supposed to be in Seattle this weekend to see and sign the papers on a rental house that we really liked, but the landlord decided to rent it to someone else. Argh. So as a consolation to myself, we got tickets to the Young Dubliners who were playing Saturday at the Depot downtown. We went for sushi at a local restaurant named Tokyo. Good, but way too Americanized. The show was really fun other than the fact that we had to stand for the whole thing. The opener was a local Irish band named Swagger, who were actually pretty good.

I know the Young Dubliners play fast normally, but it seemed on Saturday, they were on superspeed. All the songs, including the few ballads, were really high tempoed. Anyway, here is my favourite song of theirs, a cover of an children's song named "I'll Tell Me Ma."

Alana asleep in strange places

I'm so glad that we spent all that money on those expensive cribs:

Justin checked on Alana when she was supposed to be taking a nap. He panicked when he couldn't find her at first. She's in the bottom shelf of the changing table.

The kids broke the face on a dresser drawer, so Justin took it out so he could glue it back on. This is what I found today.

Last week the kids took to sleeping on the floor. That's Alana on the right and Liam on the left. You can also see where we tied receiving blankets to the sides of the crib to stop Alana from sharpening her teeth on them.

So far, I've caught Alana asleep on the stairs, in the jumper, on top of the changing table, on the shelf of the changing table, on the floor of the nursery numerous times, in the high chair, under the dresser, on the floor of the family room, and on top of a "Tigger" jungle gym in the study. Anywhere but her bed.

Grasshopper Cheesecake

From the Lion House Baking with my own adaptions:

Crust:

1/3 c butter

1/4 c sugar

1 1/4 c crushed graham crackers

4.5 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 c heavy cream.

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Melt butter; stir in sugar.

2. Add in crushed graham crackers, mix until evenly moist.

3. Press into 10" spring form pan or 4-4" mini spring pans. Bake for 4-5 until edges are light brown (do not over-brown). Remove. 

4. Meanwhile, melt chocolate and cream together in microwave in 20 second intervals until smooth and shiney. Spread over crust. Set aside.

Filling:

3-8 oz packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c sour cream

1 tsp peppermint extract

green food colouring (optional)

4 eggs

5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides. Beat in sugar and sour cream.

6. Add peppermint extract and food colouring. Beat until colouring is evenly spread.

7. Beat in eggs, adding one at a time and waiting until well mixed. Filling should be smooth and creamy.

8. Pour mixture onto crust. Place in middle of oven over a pan of water on bottom rack. Bake for 1 hr for 10" pan and 45 minutes for 4" pans.

9. Turn off oven, prop door open, and let cake(s) cool slowly for an hour. Remove and chill. Can be topped with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, crushed candy canes, chopped nuts, etc.

For Brooke (before Friday)

The second Doctor played the recorder though, not the flute.

From: Technabob