The End of the Grand Experiment

Hats off to all of you who made it through the grand experiment of NaBloPoMo.

While I will, after this post, have the "required" 30 posts for the month of November...sadly...I did not manage to post every day. I don't think multiple posts count for NaBloPoMo.

I did enjoy the exercise. I miss writing. Even if it's just simple journaling for myself. I also discovered I am much more of a "mommy blogger" than I intended to be. But right now, I am using this space to save everyday stories...and Maia is my everyday story. I will be fun one day to print (perhaps, if we still do that sort of thing) and Bind (how retro) these Maia memories and give them to her. I love to hear stories about myself from back before I can remember. I hope she will too.

I also hope to keep some of this writing momentum going. I realized I don't have to write a novel for each post. I don't even have to have something interesting to say. I just need to be able to find the one point from my day that the rest of my day turned on. The quick distillation of gathered daylight hours. A story to remember a day by.

Because there might be a time when these days are the ones "before I can remember" and I think that would be a great loss.

Keep writing.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year (?)

Why is it that the holidays, which in my minds eye is a time to come together and share with loved ones near and far, bring out the worst in families?

Why do I sometimes feel like our budding branch of the family tree is the most rational and reasonable?

Why do some people feel the need to act slighted when they have never stated a desire to be met?

And why do those same people expect those around them to be mind readers?

Please forgive my obtuse rant. I hate family drama...and I may have innocently, accidently, started some.

And this is the kind of stress that makes getting together so hard. The kind of imagined problem that only hurts those we love. The kind that hurts MY nearest and dearest, and for that, I will be upset.

Looks like we're getting the fuzzy end of the candy cane--and it's not even December yet.

But We're Not the Only Ones

I just did a quick *flickr* search for "crying" and "Santa".

Yeah. OK. So I didn't know this picture thing was such a thing.

Now I don't feel like an evil Mom. I just feel like I'm in with the "in" crowd.

And She's Scarred for Life

I took Maia for her Christmas photos with her play group friends today. It was so much fun! The kids did great, all things considered and the photos turned out really cute. I have three that I am going to frame and hang in Maia's room of the kids and a sheet of sweet Maia faces to give to family for Christmas.

We were having such a good time we decided to keep the momentum going by having the kids take pictures with Santa. After all, they were already dressed and looking nice. The mall wasn't crowded. It was early afternoon, after lunch and we planned on bribing them with cookies.

Mommy M and Mommy R were comparing childhood notes about pictures with Santa. I have no notes to compare. I think I might have one from when I was very young, but my parents just didn't do that sort of thing. Mommy N and Mommy R both have a series of bawling-on-Santa's-lap photos which they cherish...of course in the pictures their brothers are the ones crying while they beam...nevertheless they want those same sweet memories for their children.

I am game of course. Pictures of crying babies? Why not. Maia had done so well with the photographs in the studio, and she's a very open and friendly baby. I thought it would be no problem to have a Santa photo.

We arrive and step right up. No waiting. Miss A and Mommy N go first....and Miss A starts to cry even before she hits Santa's lap...lip trembling and tears welling. She starts bawling as soon as her mom lets go and stretches out her arms..."No, no, no..." Mommy R and I are holding back chuckles while Mommy N gets Miss A to aim her wails at the cameras. Click click. All done and the tears dry as soon as she's off the jolly old elf's lap.

Up next...Maia the wonder kid. She manages to say "Hi" but isn't so sure about the whole situation and begins to moan and groan as I get her on the lap. I let go and she loses it...a full face wail of scrunching misery. No arms...but her face says it all. Now Mommy N and Mommy R are looking on and laughing...and I'm trying to cheer Miss Maia up. Nope, not having it. Click. Click. We get one of her with her face up, as scrunched as it is. I pick her up and all is forgiven...at least by Maia. Santa, on the other hand, is beginning to look concerned.

Master D is next and Mommy R assures us we're in for more of the same. But then something happens...Master D remains stoic throughout the entire process. Not a tear. Not a cry. This from the young man who normally hides if you look at him funny. He was simply resigned to his fate...and I think Mommy R was almost disappointed.

Santa was glad for the break. He gave us some funny looks as we chuckled over and purchased our crying baby pictures. He really was a sweet man...I think the three of us are most definitely getting coal in our stockings this year.

The World May Never Know...

The guys/gals at John's office didn't save me a piece! Boo. I'll never know how that chocolate-ginger combination worked.

In other news:

I've just about completed my Christmas Excel spreadsheet. With this powerful tool in hand I will be able to shop until I drop and get 'er done within the next week or so. In case you were wondering how crazy I got with the spreadsheet. Well. Columns with the name of the recipient, followed by gift, where to purchase, if it has been purchased, budget/price. If only I were as organized about everything else.

I'm also planning Christmas treats in the form of baked goods, candy and jelly. Another spreadsheet waiting to be be created.

Tomorrow Maia and I, along with her friends Miss A and Master D, are going for Christmas pictures. We've not had professional pictures of all three kids done, so I'm very excited about the prospect...and nervous to see how Maia takes to it.

As Master D's mom said when I asked about lunch afterward: "Lunch? Yes. We're going to need a drink after this!" Wish us all the best of luck. Especially the photographer.

The Results

This is what I did in my last cake decorating class tonight:



Under that frosting is my Midnight Cake with ginger. For added ginger flair I frosted with a gingered cream cheese frosting. Mmmm...cream cheese. Funny thing about making frosting today. I had to rush this whole cake because we didn't get home until later in the day yesterday. We came home from Maia's music class and I needed to make my frostings. I also needed to put Maia down for a nap. Frosting needs my mixer and my 1,0000 watt motor keeps Maia awake. What to do?

I made frosting on the back porch with my hand held mixer. Not the best job I've ever done, but the location was the most unusual I've ever made cream cheese frosting. It was kind of nice to not have to clean up powdered sugar from every counter surface after the project, though.

I also manged a double batch of stiff decorator icing on the back porch with the hand-held mixer. And look what I did with that icing:



ROSES! And dots. And shells.

A closer look at my very first roses:



Roses are hard. And I was the slowest to catch on to them in our class. Mine are not so pretty...I didn't put the "practice rose" my friend/instructor made for me on my cake because it would have put my attempts to shame. But I know the
basic idea now and maybe with a little more practice I'll have flowers that look more rose-like and less cabbage-rose-like in the future.

I do like my dots. And note the masculine colors. John gets to take this into work tomorrow. And I thought pink would be a bit precious for the engineers.

I just hope they save me a little slice.

Back to Basics

I am a lover of cakes. Not so much eating them, although I do enjoy that, but baking them. I'd rather bake you a fantastic cake for some wonderful reason than just make one for myself. This is why I loved being a pastry grunt. I got to bake fantastic cakes for lots of "you" for many wonderful occasions.

And I didn't have to eat them. Although that part is OK too.

For this cake decorating class I've been looking at all kinds of fun cake recipes because it gives me a chance to do what I love. Today is kind of rushed. I need a cake this evening. One that is frosted and ready to decorate. I didn't bake last night. I still have to buy ingredients to make my frosting. I have a daughter who has her music class later on this morning. I needed to bake a cake fast.

All the "fun" recipes I've been wanting to do take too much time to get done in just under an hour. Some include ingredients I don't have on hand after being away for a week. Feeling frustrated, I looked back into my pastry past and pulled out a great chocolate cake recipe. The batter comes together in just over five minutes--about the time it takes to boil the water for the first step--bakes up in about 25-30 minutes and goes great with anything frosting wise. It also freezes well and can be baked into sheets to be cut for tiny cakes. Simple, versatile, and delicious.

The originator of the recipe is lost to me. I picked it up from my second pastry chef and I have since passed it along to the bakery I worked for. I've used it for all kinds of fun cakes and today I added crystallized ginger chips for an exotic flair. I'll frost with cream cheese and decorate with roses tonight.

And I'm going to share the "home cook" version with you. The ingredients are given in weights, because I had to scale the amounts down from an industrial-sized recipe. So bust out your kitchen scale and get baking next time company calls...

Midnight Cake
Makes two 8" round cakes.

Ingredients

10 1/4 oz. Sugar
2 oz Cocoa Powder (NOT Dutch Process)
1 1/2 cups Boiling Water

1/2 cup Vegetable oil
2 large Eggs

9 1/2 oz. AP Flour
1/4 oz. Baking Soda

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour two 8" round cake pans. Begin water boiling while measuring out the rest of the ingredients. Note: I usually prep the oil and eggs together in a measuring cup, and whisk the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl. This makes it really easy to put the batter together.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar and cocoa powder. Pour hot water over mixture and blend. Whisk in the oil and eggs. Sift the flour and baking soda over the wet mixture, then whisk. Batter will be very wet and look lumpy. That's OK.

Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes until cake is set, puffy and a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn out of pan and let cool completely before filling, frosting, or otherwise finishing off the cake.

Enjoy!

Ah Well, Blew this Month Off

I tried.

I really, really, tried.

But there should be some forgiveness for me because slow Internet is physically painful for me.

The thought of the dial tone. The choppy connection. Typing on a computer that wasn't mine. All of these things lead to very serious barriers to entry when one thinks about blogging. Especially after a long day of cooking, laughing, shopping, eating, reading and playing with the baby.

Mea culpa. I'll do better next year.

But I'll bravely post forward for the few remaining days of NaBloPoMo November.

We're back home safe and sound and well, well, maybe not so well, rested (there are many reasons to NOT sleep in the same room, let alone bed, as your child that I am painfully reminded of whenever we travel with her). Had lovely pizza for dinner with our cat-sitting neighbors. I now need to check up on e-mails and plan Christmas presents.

Let the madness begin!

Posting From the iPhone...

...because I can.

John tells me I need to perfect my finger-slide typing, but I like the hunt and peck method.

Fun day with the family. I got my Thanksgiving shopping done. It has been decided that I will make two desserts plus cranberry sauce as my contrabution to dinner. Yum, I say. If you're wondering what desserts...wonder no more: chocolate pecan pie and chocolate cranberry torte. Too much chocolate? Never. At least not with this crowd.

Tomorrow we head into Boise for some shopping and dining. It's like going to SF only cleaner. And less water. I like Boise so I'm excited.

So maybe I do need to perfect my finger slide, so that's all for now...but man do I love this phone.

And We're Off...At Some Point

Thanksgiving is being spent with John's family this year. We have an every-other winter holiday every-other year schedule going on. This schedule was started before John and I had our own family and it mainly concerns splitting time in the airplane. John's co-owner and he worked out a year to year schedule that covers who gets the plane when. It's almost as elaborate as a custody agreement.

This year is our year to have the plane for Thanksgiving...

I began this post first thing this morning in my living room. I am now at the kitchen counter of my in-laws house in Idaho.

Going by small plane has a special set of restrictions. Most often weather related. Sometimes weight related. But, usually it's the weather. We don't go as high as a commercial flight, so clouds and wind are very real stopping factors for us. Add in the seasonal joys of ice and rain and you have to be flexible with your travel plans. I packed yesterday. I packed for a week. All three of us in our large suitcase. I was planning on being able to go whenever we could. The flight is about 3.5 hours...the drive? 14. We really wanted to be able to take the plane.

Yesterday, John and sister Ari-belle replaced a wonky generator in the airplane. It took about 5 good hours of work. Then and oil change needed to be done. John didn't have a filter...so there was some more work that needed to be completed before we could away. But in checking the weather last night, it looked as though a fairly bad front was on the move over the mountain ranges we would have to cross. It didn't look like we would be able to get going until Tuesday.

We woke up this morning and looked at the weather again. Nope. Didn't look like good flying weather. We were fogged in on our end with rain over here and nice cold, icy, clouds in between.

So we did what any normal kids would do. We talked about driving and then headed to breakfast. As we were finishing up pancakes and omelets at our favorite breakfast joint, John whips out the iPhone (ed. note: I love the iPhone. I want one someday. But for now I am content to bask in the glory of my husband's.) and again checks the weather. And what do you know? A nice six hour window of smooth, albeit windy, flying has opened up for us. We scramble for the house, gather up the last of our things and hit the road to the airport. John finishes up the work on the plane, all looks good and we strap in.

The flight was better than John had expected. Fairly smooth until the last 40 minutes or so. Maia did great, we have a couple of cute pictures of her "flying" the plane that I'll post later on. She played a bit and mostly napped. She hated her headphones so I let her keep them off, but she had her ear plugs in and her headband on, so she was still protected from the engine noise.

All in all: Wheels up to wheels down took us 2 hours and 55 minutes. In the car we would have barely left California in that amount of time.

So we are here and ready to relax. It'll be nice to have a week to spend with John's folks. We don't get up here enough. If we had more flying days like today...we would get out more often. We had a very lucky break, and I for one am very glad for it.

Posts will most likely be kind of slim...surprise surprise...while here. The folks are kind of in the boondocks and only have *gasp* DIAL UP INTERNET. With a wire and everything. I will continue to NaBloPoMo.

And I'll tell you all about my pie. Well, my future Thanksgiving pie, that is.

Left Something Out...

More words I forgot about last night:

Up--pronounced "Up-ie" very cute and very important
All Done--not quite clear, but she does the sign and says the sylabals
Hot!--she holds her hands up like I do when she says this. She also says it about almost every piece of food I put in front of her.
Water--She just started this again. Right now. Holding an empty glass and asking for "Waa waa water" along with the sign for water which she gave up, I thought, after learnng the more generic "drink" sign.

An Open Letter to A.A.

(Not Alcoholics Annoyomus)

Dear Ambrosia,

You recently made you blog private. While I respect your wish to keep your daily life and happenings to your friends, I would kindly ask to be included among them. While I am very lax in the comment department (in a bar situation I am a listener, a watcher, a voyer, if I may) I do check in daily to see how you are doing.

Creepy? Maybe. But your life has become a part of mine. And this is the magical power of blogging on the open plain of the Internet.

I rejoiced in you marriage. I love your tales of Bawb and the cats and the dog. I was thrilled to hear about the house. I like the recaps of the weekends with your friends and family. Even if I have never met you. And I probably never will.

There are pieces of you that remind me of myself. There are pieces of you that remind me of my sister and pieces that remind me of my friends here. Mostly, I kind of like the idea of knowing someone from their writings and personal musings.

Of course, I would understand if this humble request is denied. We don't know each other...and perhaps somethings are to personal to share with a wide audience. You will always be welcomed here. Just drop me a line to let me know how you are.

It's funny. How one can miss someone they have yet to meet. But I do.

I'll post my e-mail in the comments if you are willing to grant my request.

Most respectfully yours,

~valerie

aka: domestic_valerie

Maia's New Word--Or, The Beginning of the End

John was amazed by how vocal Maia has become in the past week. In a way, it's kind of good to not see her...then you realize how fast she changes. But, when you're gone you don't get to see the changes happening...so it's a catch 22 kind of situation.

Maia's greatest discovery this week? She now knows "no". She knows how to use it, and she really knows what it meas when I say it--as it pertains to me not letting her do what she wants. As evidenced by her screaming fits.

She'll tell me "no" and mean it. It began innocently enough. She was eating cereal. Like this:



(Do you like my new camera? Early birthday present from the BEST HUSBAND EVER.)

She was getting frustrated as she neared the end of the bowl and couldn't scoop the nice clumps of granola out. I tried to help her by pushing the cereal onto her spoon with my own. She looks at me. Opens her mouth and out comes, "No" in the sweetest little voice. I tried again, thinking it was a fluke. This time it's "Mama, NO". OK. I get it, little one. You have discovered the power of "No".

So all week it's been "no" this and "no" that. Every question is met by "no" first off. Then she might reconsider your offer. Or I have to override her authority. I'm hoping she tires of the novelty soon, but somehow, I fear we're in for a lot more of the word.

That little lesson in toddler speak got me to wondering how many words she does know well enough to use. Feel free to skip the list, this is really more for myself than anyone else.

Maia's words:

Mama
Dada
Cheese--pronounced "chee"
Please--pronounced kind of like "peas"
Hi!
Bye!
Night-Night--pronounced "ni ni"
Kitty
Cat
Maia--Daddy taught her this
Miles--Because they play together and it's so close to her name. She won't say Ava or David just yet...we're working on it.
Auntie--Sometimes with a name, Nat for Natalie or Ariee for Arielle
Balloon--pronounced "bpoon" This is an all-purpose word. She uses it for any round object in the air. She uses it for "Moon" and she used it this afternoon while pointing at the oranges hanging form our tree.
Cracker
Eat
No--of course, although she has no word for "Yes". Which kind of disturbs me. We're working on it.
Go
Shoes
Baby--who she pushes in her stroller. Or points to on my shirt today.

My favorite word? That would be broccoli. She pronounces it "braw-coo". She can pick broccoli out of a mixed vegetable dish. She points and says "Brawcoo! Brawcoo!" Then she eats the tops off the stalks and smiles.

I'm sure there are more words. Like tonight she said "Cow" for the first time while making the sign for cow. But the list are words she is now using on a regular basis and really knows what they mean.

I also know that she understands much more than she can speak back right now. This morning I was getting dressed and had my shirt drawer open. Maia was there and I jokingly asked her "What should Mama wear today?" the joke was on me, I picked a shirt out and began to put it on when she looked at me, said "No" and handed me another shirt to put on. The shirt she wanted me to wear. So I changed shirts. I have to learn to not ask for help if I don't really want it. ;)

Sick Again?

I think all this blogging is taking it's toll. I am sick once again. This time the cold has settled firmly in the throat and upper chest. Hack. Hack. Sore throat.

No fair.

John comes home tonight to a sick wife and a baby who is becoming feverish. What a fun weekend we'll have!

Two Reasons Why...

...I love having a girl!

One...two...PIGTAILS!

Maia was in a compliant mood this morning so I got to do her hair. It doesn't happen often. I usually don't care to struggle with her getting-long-but-still-wispy hair.

But, OK, tell me that's not cute. I dare you.

BUSTED!

Aii-yah. I fell asleep on the couch last night and woke up after midnight. So now I have missed a day of NaBloPoMo-ing.

I plead lots of things: A baby day---always busy. Waiting to see if my drop-ship food order was going to arrive in time for me to pick it up. Nope. Running off to Oakland to help my sister with her car, then wait with my dad's wife while he was in surgery. Long wait. But he's just fine. Catch dinner with said sister. Go home. Put very tired baby to sleep and pass out on the couch.

I'm tired. Like I usually am. And my cold is back. Whaa-whaa whaaa.

So maybe if I post twice today, you'll forgive me. Maybe I'll post a picture of my incredible daughter (who just woke up) and you'll forget all about missing a day.

She is just that cute.

Worst Cake Ever

You know, there was a time not long ago I was paid to frost cakes. I think the key there was that I didn't make the frosting. Unless it was ganache. I make a mean ganache. And the cakes had things like nuts or chocolate sprinkles on the sides so I only had to get the tops real smooth.

Not tonight.

I haven't made a worse looking cake in, oh, years. Since before I discovered the joys of an offset spatula. I was embarrassed to bring it with me. What happened? A rush to get it done, is what happened. A perfect storm of a too-powerful mixer and a hurried, harried cook. Yup. I over beat it and it turned to mush. Like melted bubble gum. Stretchy and sticky and gloopy instead of a perfect cloud of soft and shiny buttercream. It was nightmarish.

I tried fixing it. It made it worse. I took it to class and smoothed icing over the top to kind of contain it. Not so pretty. I "tore" a big section of frosting off. Please don't laugh.

And now I see that my beautiful "decorator" icing is bleeding into my awful buttercream. Because the buttercream didn't set up. Eegads. I'm only sharing this so you *might* see an improvement next week.

So. lesson learned: for this class at least "decorator icing" (made with shortening not butter) is going to be the key. And don't try new recipes when in a rush. Bake and frost the day before. Really do.

Next week: Red Velvet Cupcakes with cute flowers and maybe a clown! Scary that...

And just in case you were wondering, the awful looking frosting tastes divine, and the pretty stuff isn't bad. It's made with organic palm-oil shortening. No trans fats. Smooth and creamy and solid...so maybe there is actual hope for next week.

30 Minutes to Midnight

Whew! Almost missed a day...couldn't let that happen now could we?

Our day:

Woke up. Hung out. Folded diapers (finally). Fed the Maia, napped the Maia. Planned a cake. Bought missing ingredients for said cake. Will frost and decorate cake tomorrow in class and post pictures. Read my book.

Decided to make the men stop staring at computer screens.

Jumped in the car and drove to San Francisco. Stopped at In'N'Out. Felt slightly guilty about feeding Maia fast food while she was strapped into her car seat. Now she is truly an American.

Went on walk about in Aquatic Park. Saw oil-covered birds. Felt bad about said birds. Checked out the ships at Hyde Pier. Loved the steam ferry.

Took Maia to the slightly inappropriate Buena Vista Cafe to celebrate 55 years of Irish Coffee. We were joined by a family with a six-year-old in tow who used the excuse "We're Irish!" to cover for the fact that they were essentially taking a child to a bar. As were we. As we have before. Hey, if they serve food, and they do, it's legal. Regardless of whether or not we buy any. Our response to them was "Hey, he's not the youngest here!" So they joined us and the adults had more Irish Coffees and the kids sipped milk.

As an aside...Maia has been to several places just this side of inappropriate. All over Europe. Smokey cafes while sleeping in the stroller. Momma having a beer with lunch. And Alaska. Juneau was the best. Saw dust. Fire retardant. Two rounds of beer. A story for another time.

Dinner after drinks. Tried a touristy place that turned out to be nice. Good food. Nice wine. Jazz trio that Maia enjoyed.

Ghirardelli square for ice cream sundae dessert.

Home again!

Lunch with my mom tomorrow. Seeing John off for the week. I'll be batchin' it. So that means I will be posting for sure...so John can keep up with the news.

Lazy Day...Scratchy Throat

Worst night of sleep in a long time. I hate the drippy nose just getting a cold feeling. I woke up just about every hour just feeling bad. Hot. Then cold. Then dry and scratchy. Plus, I had weirdly intense dreams. Not a good night for sleep.

So we took it easy today. Nice and easy. John's dad is in town for a visit so we began the day with a breakfast trip to The Cats for Southern Lovin'. Then the boys geeked out at the Apple store and I bought Christmas pj's for Maia (not at the Apple store...but down the street). So cute! And on sale!

The guys took me and the little Miss home where the girls had lunch and then napped for a couple of hours. The boys went off to do more boy stuff.

Got up. Puttered around. Built a block fortress for Maia to knock down. It's funny. When I was little, I HATED for my brother to come and knock my block towers down. I used to get so mad at him. Now I build towers for maximum knock-down-age. She makes this really funny "squee" when she knocks things down. Somehow, it's the best sound in the world.

Out for dinner. And now, as a group of adults, we are all sitting in the living room with a laptop apiece not speaking. Very valley.

John is going to update me to "Leopard" so I think I will have some tea for my scratchy throat and actually read a book. Maybe under the covers in some yummy pj's. Listen to the patter of rain and go to sleep early. A nice way to cap of a nice lazy day.

Well, That was Awkward

Well, as Tori Amos would say: "Caught a Light Sneeze"...I suppose that's one of the pitfalls of motherhood. Maia has a snotty nose, and I have the cold as well. Yuck. So that's my excuse for a short post.

Let me share a story of my day with you:

I went and did errands. That's what I do. You know, grocery store and the like. I stopped by Walgreen's Drugstore ti pick up some pregnancy tests. And No. I am not pregnant as my Aunt Flow made very clear with her arrival later on in my day. But, I am trying to get pregnant...and I get kind of obsessive about having pregnancy tests around. I was out. So I needed to get some. Because if my dear auntie hadn't shown up, well. This would have been the weekend to test.

I have Maia in hand. I pop in to the store and find my isle. Ever buy a pregnancy test? They have a kind of weird isle of "Sex" in every drugstore. You'll find "feminine products" next to the condoms and the "personal lubricant". If you're in a big drugstore it will be called the "Family Planning" isle.

I don't care. I just need the tests. I wander down the usually empty isle and there is a man standing right where I need to be. I'm not sure if he's buying condoms or personal lubricant...but he stops dead when he sees me.

We kind of pretend that the other doesn't exist. He just stands there as I decide if I need two tests or three. I decide on two...and take leave of the isle. As I turn to go, I hear my shopping companion begin to breathe again. And that was that.

A Shout-Out to my (blog) Friend

If you think simply putting a few lines on your blog every day this month is a challenge, like I do, then you really need to check out one of my favorite bloggers to see what "crazy" means. Or should I say "Manic"?

That's right Manic Mommy is interviewing various bloggers this month. Her questions are telling, thought provoking (if puke and boobs are what you like to think about), and very, very funny. Bonus YouTube videos included!

Leave a comment and you might be next. Just say "Domestic Valerie" sent me. ;)

Maia Moment of the Day: Snacks Please

Maia has been a grumpy girl for the past few days. Cranky, not eating, (well, that's kind of a matter of course with her) not wanting to play...generally not wanting to do much of anything except be a pill. A cute pill, but a pill none-the-less.

Today she woke up with a snotty nose. Great. Last winter we managed to squeak by with a minimum of illness. Looks like this year we're in for whatever bug happens by. This will be her second cold in as many months. I should be buying stock in McNeil-PPC, Inc. and Novartis.

Of course, not wanting to be upstaged any more than I have to be by Miss M, I have been feeling under the weather for the past couple of days as well. It's been cranky pants city around here. I feel for my poor husband.

I was beginning to fear that her cuteness was not going to be enough to get us through the rest of the week. But fear not! Cuteness prevails around here.

This evening as I was puttering around straightening the house and getting dinner started Maia decided she needed a snack. She knows where her snacks are kept...in the cabinet under our kitchen not-an-island island. She comes walking up to me holding a bag of Goldfish (whole grain, did you know they made those?? but the first ingredient is "smiles") and her snack trap. Because earlier in the day when she asked for crackers, that was what I had given her: goldfish in a snack trap. I guess she decided to give me all the tools to facilitate her snacking pleasure.

Word of the Day : Ball!

Maia is adding new words every day. This morning she woke up and her first word was "ball"...not her more usual "kitty" or "Hi". All day it was "Ball, ball, ball" broken only by the occasional "baby".

She has enough to talk about, we have four different balls to play with, and that only counts the larger ones.

I only wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Four Weeks...Three Cakes

A mommy friend of mine teaches the cake decorating classes at Michaels and my other mommy friend and I have decided to give it a whirl.

For all my "skills" behind the stove and in the oven, I am seriously lacking in the "make it pretty" department. I can not *gasp* make a frosting rose to save my life. I know many of you are rolling eyeballs in my general direction, but really, when you tell people you were in the pastry business they expect certain things. Like frosting roses.

Never mind the pie crust as light as air. The delicate scent of rosemary married in a perfect shortbread crusted lemon bar. The homemade cakes towering and covered in real sugared fruit. Cute cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (I can pipe...I'm not hopeless). No it's all about the frosting bling, in some circles.

Plus, I like pretty. What girl doesn't?

I also like excuses to buy new pastry equipment. And I might be able to pull off some pretty fantastic birthday cakes in the near future.

I'm pretty excited. I love piping bags. And my teacher friend is so much fun. It's been a long time since I took a class simply for pleasure.

I'll post pictures of my efforts here, so you can see what I'm up to. We do get to bake the cakes, so expect something more than a box from me. After all, as my husband would say, I have a reputation to uphold. ;) And he'll be eating the majority of my efforts.

Dibs!

I've found other bloggers I regularly read participating in this monster called National Blog Posting Month aka NaBloPoMo. The difference between others and myself, other than talent, is their ability to post real posts. I have resorted to two sentences and it's only November 4th.

Lord help us when I'm in Idaho for Thanksgiving. I'll have to deal with *shudder* DIAL UP INTERNET. I think that's the worst part about a visit to the northern climes for this girl from the heart of the Silly-Con Valley.

I thought I would take this "extra hour" (really, it's the same hour we lost in the spring) allotted to us by the political machinations of WWI and maybe write a complete story/thought. I'll try at least.

I mentioned that I had a busy day yesterday. In the morning John and I delivered a table and chairs to my sister Natalie, bought a safe from a "unique" woman, and had breakfast. I then went to a baby shower for a friend of mine who is due with her first in December. Then it was back to sister Natalie's apartment for her birthday party. This was the first she had hosted a birthday for herself in her own home...so it was a big deal. That also required a quick trip to buy a present because my original plans fell through.

It was also a "work" day for John. I was fast asleep when he was finally able to come to bed last night. It's been that kind of week(s) for him.

My immediate family was all in attendance last night, so we naturally fell into conversation about the holidays. Who is going to be where for what. My parents are divorced. My dad just remarried to the lovely woman he's been dating for about 5 years. She is also a divorcee with two almost grown children with other family obligations and, of course, my siblings all have different places to be on holidays. Holidays around here are carefully orchestrated productions. I have to keep a running tab years in advance of where my little family needs to be for Thanksgiving/Christmas. It's enough to make one a little less cheerful about the upcoming celebrations of friends and family. Bah-humbug, Holiday Season. I'm tired already, just working out the logistics.

I have, of course, already planned out where John, Maia and I need to be. We're in Idaho with his parents for Thanksgiving. We'll be home for Christmas and I am hosting a Christmas Day Open House. All my family and perhaps assorted friends can drop by anytime during that day and stay for a snack, a meal, and a movie. We'll be playing Christmas classics all day long. I'll have a nice spread. There will be presents under the tree. There will be joy all around. There will be no formal where-the-heck-will-everyone-sit dinner like the last time I tried to host Christmas. I'm looking forward to it.

So the festivities for this year have been sorted. Kind of. At least I know where I'll be.

I leave the party around 8:30 and my brother, Rick, offers to help Maia and I to the car. He says he'd like to speak to me about something. Alright. He has decided that he wants Halloween. Specifically, he wants Maia for Halloween. He wants that to be their special holiday. He loves Halloween and he was musing about how he missed Trick-or-Treating and dressing up. He would love to show Maia the ropes of going door to door and creating a special bond for the two of them over costumes and candy. I am blown away by this. A very sentimental gesture on the part of my usualy stoic brother. How could I resist? I'm loving dressing her up and parading her around...but I really like the handing out the candy part of the evening as well. I'm thinking about how cool a tradition it would be to go out with Uncle Rick on Halloween. I hope we do make it a tradition.

My hour is up. Maia is stirring in her bed and I'm thinking about making breakfast at home. Muffins sound good. I have to check the cupboard, though. Then it's shopping and dinner at dad's to look at honeymoon pictures and play with the wedding gifts. Family stuff. But now I have next Halloween to look forward to.

Have a good day, fellow NaBloPoMo'ers. Check you later.

Cheating!

OK...so today has been really busy and I am really tired. But to honor my month-long commitment I will post a cheatin' post.

Check out our fun Halloween! John has posted a video he edited for everyones pleasure and pictures of Maia in her Grandma made costume. I made the hair clips.

Here's the link:Halloween


We're hosting the video...have a cup of coffee while it downloads. And enjoy!

Recaps of the madness tomorrow!

Quick Tip #2:

Hair dye DOES NOT (especially after sitting all day) clean off easily from my crappy plastic counter tops. Comet (the real abrasive powder in a can) usually does the trick.

Quick Tip:

Hair dye cleans off of tile bathroom floors so much easier than it cleans off of linoleum floors. Just to let you know.

Maia Moment of the Day

It should be easy to blog for a month by picking an Official Maia Moment of the Day. Don't worry, I'll try and post about other things in my life. But you know, it's my life and Maia pretty much fills my day.

Today's moment is brought to you by the sign
"shoe".

Maia has become obsessed with shoes. It's no wonder. She's my daughter. At the height of my collection I owned close to 50 pairs. That may not sound like a lot of shoes to some of you, but I would forgo eating and any extra closet space for shoes. I love them. I still do, even if my collection has dwindled to under 20 pairs. I don't get out as much as I used to. But I digress.

So Maia fishes a single shoe from her basket of footwear and asks me to put it on for her. Asking consists of making the sign for "shoe" and thrusting her shoe and her foot in my direction. I oblige, but we have a conversation about how she only has one shoe, and she needs the other. I don't know where the other shoe is to be found. She has grabbed one from a pair we don't wear often, mostly because they're still a bit too big. She wanders off, happy in her lopsided shoeness. I figured she'd pull it off in a minute or two and that would be that.

A few minutes later Maia tracks me to the kitchen, matching shoe in hand and asks me to put that other one on her. I still don't know where she pulled it from. But she constantly amazes me at how much she understands.

If only "no" would begin to take on some meaning for her...

November Blog Fest

I am taking the challenge. I am committed to posting EVERY DAY this month. It's part of: http://nablopomo.ning.com/

Check it out, all you other random non-posters like me out there.