Quote of the Day

Sylvia, at the end of a long, drippy trail, in a happy voice 'Mama? Gravity helped me pee on the floor!'



Curse you, Newton!

Fifty Laps!

About a month ago, we decided that maybe we should join our local health club again. I looked into fees and programs and seemed that it would be pretty affordable for me and the kids. We were hoping maybe they would have a great December deal, but somehow they never offered one. So last night, I piled all the kids in the van, and drove up to the health club.

Hmmmm, that parking lot looks kind of empty.
Hmmmm, that building looks kinds of dark.
Hmmmm, this time of the day there really should be PEOPLE here.

All the kids got out, and a car drove by 'Hi! I am afraid that we are closed.'
Me 'Oh, too bad.'
'A town water main broke, and we don't have any water. Sorry about that.'



Oh well. I guess that's one of those things we can't argue with. So much for finally joining. My head light was still out too, which I had forgotten about till I drove out of the driveway in the dark. On Saturday, Tara and I had gotten a new bulb and said 'How hard can it be to change a head light?' I can report that Cees, Tara, and I now know exactly how hard it can be to change one on our van!

Today we tried again, and finally were able to join. Turns out that I can add all seven kids for a total of $29 for the YEAR. Not a bad deal at all!

Tonight, I got to get out to swim for the first time. I decided I should try to go for my ordinary 50 laps, never mind it is at least three years ago that I actually did swim that much. Happy to tell y'all that I still can do fifty laps quite easily. My biggest problem was the stupid goggles which I never got to work the way I wanted to. They were either hurting or leaking. It took me 38 minutes to swim the 50 laps, which is not a particularly good time, but I can work on improving that. For now I was happy to swim them at all.

After my laps, I spent a few minutes in the whirl pool to relax and then entered the sauna. There were two women talking in some weird Scandinavian language, maybe Danish. It was enjoyable to listen to them and try to make sense of them, while relaxing and soaking up the heat.

Tomorrow, I'll take the five youngest swimming. The older boys are more interested in cardiovascular workout and weights and will start later in the week.

I am happy we finally joined again. Now I just need to find the discipline to get myself back into shape.

Oh, and before we joined today, I got my head light fixed. One less thing to worry about!

Welsh Rarebits

Tara had been browsing our Moosewood cookbooks, and found a recipe for Welsh rarebits. I had no idea what the heck they were, but it sounded interesting, and not very hard to make. I did look up some of the origin, and wikipedia says:



The first recorded use of the term Welsh rabbit was in 1725, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, but the origin of the term is uncertain.[1] One theory is that 'Welsh rabbit' is an ironic name coined in the days when the Welsh were notoriously poor: only better-off people could afford butcher's meat, and while in England rabbit was the poor man's meat, in Wales the poor man's meat was cheese. Another theory is that the name was an intentional slur on the Welsh, since the dish contains no meat and so was considered inferior. Another theory is that because the word Welsh was at the time used by the English to describe anything inferior or anything foreign, the name alludes to the dish's Continental European origin.



Tara steamed some broccoli, cut some apples, toasted bread, and made cheese sauce. The kids were very excited that the sauce had BEER as one of the ingredients. We also added cayenne pepper and mustard. It was quite easy.



We assembled the ingredients and poured the cheese sauce.



Everyone who tried it, did enjoy it. Of course, there were some kids who were horrified with the idea of broccoli touching their lips, so they stayed far away from this meal.



Fun to try something like this. We will definitely eat this again.

Meanwhile...

While we were making our vegan sushi, other members of the family preferred to put on their snow clothes and disappear outdoors.



I mean, just imagine the horror if they accidentally had eaten some vegetables!



Sledding fun



Shoveling



And making snow caves



I am glad they are enjoying themselves in the snow, because it looks like it's going to go on till tomorrow morning. Lucky us...

Vegan Sushi

Today was the very first time ever to make our own sushi. As always, we had no idea what we were doing, but did it anyway. That's the best way to learn, right?



We had looked up the instructions in a Japanese cook book (thank you, J) and decided to start with the thin rolled ones with the seaweed on the outside. They looked easier than the thicker ones. We were wrong. Our first tries were less than perfect.



We opted to switch to the thicker ones, which turned out better for us. Now the sushi actually looked like sushi.



It didn't take long before we attracted volunteer taste testers.



We rolled, and we rolled, and we rolled, and we rolled, and ended up with two big plates full of sushi.



For filling, we used any combination of cucumber, match stick carrots, pickled sweet peppers, pickled gourd and musrooms, and avocado.



Next time, we want to make the ones with rice on the outside, but for today, we figured that the ones we made were good first accomplishment.



To accompany our sushi, we had home made ginger tea. I have been drinking it to help me fight the last remainders of a cold. Not sure whether it works, but it's an enjoyable drink and was amazingly simple to make.



Yes, this was a great snow storm activity.

White World

A Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 7 am EST Monday.

Snow will become heavy at times this morning into the afternoon. Sleet may mix with the snow at times... especially across Grafton and Carroll counties. Gusty winds will also result in blowing and drifting snow in the afternoon and evening hours.

Total snow and sleet accumulations are expected to range from 6 to 14 inches... with the highest amounts in Coos County and the lowest amounts in southern portions of Grafton and Carroll counties. The snow and sleet will taper off later tonight.

Driving will become difficult this morning... and deteriorate as the day wears on. If you have travel plans for today or tonight... consider postponing or canceling your trip.




I am not going ANYWHERE today. Tara and I have decided that this will be the perfect day to learn how to make vegan sushi. We have been wanting to do that for a while, but life always interferes. Last night, we got all the ingredients we need. Today, we'll make our first attempt. How hard can it be? (Thinks back to all the other times she has said that and found out :p)

Cees had to work today, but they canceled. Too bad, he didn't listen to the messages on our phone BEFORE they made it over to McDonalds... On the other hand, now he got a great and healthy early morning workout by helping to dig out the car ^^



Time to start the sushi rice. Maybe I'll even get some go studying in today! I can hope, right?

Gearing Up for Nor'Easter

How do you spell that anyway?

After an almost snowless December last year, Mother Nature is making sure that we won't have any of that this year. We will have a white Christmas for sure. We had a weekend snow storm, a Thursday snow storm, and now another doozy coming our way.

Luckily, I did most of my grocery shopping yesterday. So I don't have to fight with people who need milk and bread RIGHT now. Last night, I did make another quick store trip last night for cat litter though, because nothing spells misery as being stuck in a snow storm without kitty litter.

Today I already cleaned two litter boxes, and will spend time cleaning bunny cage and refilling bird feeders. Because the squirrels managed to empty one of those feeders:



I still don't know how the heck they did that, but they were very happy about their accomplishment but they sent me a thank-you card, and told me it was so much easier to eat those seeds on the ground instead of in the air.



Last night I got pulled over AGAIN for a head light that was out. Yes, happened two weeks ago too. I had it replaced the next day, and felt all good about it. One of my friends said 'You might want to keep an eye on your other head light, they often go out around the same time.' I said 'Oh good idea', but really thought 'Yeah, whatever.' I mean, what are the chances of both going out around the same time?

I can add a data point in favor of her statement now :p



The police officer did a double take when he looked at the passenger seat. 'That is not a gun, is it?' I could reassure him 'No, don't worry, it is just a big wooden sword.' Not sure whether that reassured him, or made him eye me a bit more warily.

Today will be quiet day at home, getting ready for the storm. At least we have a blooming amaryllis, to give some colour to our white world.

First Checkup

Today, the kittens had their very first checkup.



We put the kennel out yesterday, to have them get used to it before we actually needed to take them. They all checked it out, and then fell asleep inside it.



They did well in the car and at the vet. They got weighed and checked, and they were declared healthy. Darkness is the smallest, and he has a heart murmur, but she didn't sound too worried about that. Heck, Tara and me have one too, so I guess he fits well in our family.



They got their first shots, protecting against distemper. They also got dewormed and we got something against fleas. Sylvia was very interested in the whole process, but made sure to observe it from the safety of my lap. The kittens just hoped someone would leave the door open, so that they could escape from this boring room. They did fine with their shots though.

I think it was a good first vet visit for them.

This afternoon, it started snowing yet again. I looked at it, and made sure to get to go club fast. I figured if I had to be stuck somewhere, I'd rather be stuck at go club than at home ^^

Wasn't too bad, maybe 2 or 3 inches altogether, but I wasn't going to take any chances about missing go club :p

Contact Lenses and Immature Teens

Yet another milestone.

Tim had his very first ever appointment to get contact lenses. He found out that it is not necessarily easy to stick something on your eye ball, which I remember from when I got contact lenses. We will go back in a few weeks to try again, because this did not quite work out. They will give him different lenses to try.



In the meantime, he is supposed to practice keeping his eye open and touching it.

To celebrate this milestone, I took Cees and Tim out for supper in our local Irish pub. It always is a good place to be, and they have excellent food. Their chocolate strawberry torte was to die for. Their tea still has room for improvement though, but what can you expect from the Irish anyway tea-wise?

Cees and Tim were very grownup and mature, and did a contest to see who could put more sugar in their coke and NOT throw up over the table. When we ran out of the little packets of sugar, Cees was not ready to admit defeat, and added two Splenda, six Equal, and four Sweet-n-Low. He was a bit disappointed when we ran out.

But!

A bath room visit gave him the perfect excuse to steal sugar from other people's tables. Or maybe he found it in the bath room. I was careful not to ask. I don't think I wanted to know. In my universe, he crawled underneath tables and reached up a sneaky hand to get a bunch of packages without people noticing. That's what all 16yo's do , right?

In case you were counting, he ended up with 19 packets of sweetener in his coke, turning it into disgusting liquid sugar. In his opinion, it was a nectar from the gods. In my opinion, it was syrupy chemicals.

It is nice to take teenagers out for supper and get more mature behaviour than when I take the little ones out. Or do I?

2018 update: Tim never was able to tolerate the contact lenses, so ended up wearing glasses after all. I am glad we tried it though, he would always have wondered whether he could have. I think now that he is in his twenties he might be able to tolerate contacts easier, but he has zero interest in them, which makes it a moot point anyway.
Cees ended up enlisting in the army for four years so he could go to college, so there is hope for you parents of immature teens. This will pass :D

2019 update: Cees is in college still and we have only two immature teens left :D

Name Calling

Erik to Sylvia 'You are a poopy ass!'
Sylvia 'MAMA!!!!!!!!!!! He is calling me a poopy ass!'
Me 'So what? See what happens when you call me a poopy ass.'
Syvla 'Mama! You are a poopy ass!'
Me, with a pleasant smile 'Well, thank you!'
Sylvia, annoyed at me for modeling correct behaviour instead of getting Erik into trouble 'Well! You appreciate it, but I don't!'



The use of 'appreciate' cracked me up, she had a hard time pronouncing it, but was very determined that that was the word to use in this situation.