Waking Up - August 2006

Waking Up - August 2006
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

I know most of you have already seen some of these pics, but I had to use the flickr toy mosaic maker to put them all together. It makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Fried

Well, the Great State Fair of Texas starts in 10 days, so I'm sure everybody's wondering what they're gonna fry this year. Here's the list, from Bigtex.com:

New Food Items Honored with Big Tex Choice Awards

Best Taste Texas Fried Cookie Dough – Fresh cookie dough, made from scratch with pecans, chocolate chips and coconut, lightly battered and deep fried. Dough comes out the fryer warm and gooey, just like oven baked! Topped with chocolate syrup or whipped cream. Location: Nimitz Drive near the Embarcadero.

Most Creative Deep Fried Latte – A delicately fried, light puff pastry, with a hint of coffee, is topped with cappuccino ice cream, sweet syrup, whipped cream and instant coffee sprinkles. Location: Nimitz Drive.

Honorable Mention Fernie's Fried Chili Frito Burrito – A flour tortilla, dipped in chicken broth for extra flavor, is loaded up with a heaping spoonful of spicy Texas chili & smashed Chili Cheese Fritos and deep fried until golden. Served hot & spicy with a choice of toppings. Location: Dock Restaurant inside the Embarcadero Building.

B.W.'s Original Fried Banana Pudding -- Chilled, specially-made banana pudding is ladled into a grilled tortilla and fried to a crisp golden brown. It's dusted with powdered sugar while warm, then surrounded by a cloud of whipped topping. Location: Tower Building.

Zesty Fried Guacamole Bites – Creamy avocado mixed with cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses and salsa is dipped in a zesty batter and fried to perfection. Served with ranch dressings or salsa. Location: Midway in the Thrill Zone.

Country Fried Peach Cobbler-on-a-Stick -- Made-from-scratch peach cobbler is cooked thick with dumplings, rolled into a thin pastry dough and quick fried to a golden brown. It's topped off with brown sugar, cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg. Location: Tower Building .

Mama’s Fried Sweet Potato Pie – A generous portion of third-generation-recipe sweet potato pie filling is spread on a soft flour tortilla and lightly fried to a crisp. Served plain or with a light sprinkle of cinnamon and powdered sugar. Location: Cotton Bowl Plaza & Midway

I wonder if they'll ever try Fried Beer.

Train Station Ice Cream

Train Station Ice Cream
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

I never thought it was possible,, but I think there is someone in this family who likes ice cream even more than I do.

Happiest Happy Monday Ever

I have been in a lot of happy places, and will likely be in many more, but this was the happiest place of all, and it was actually on a Monday. Look at that little baby! Where did she go? It seems like she has turned into a big kid overnight. Now she walks and talks and plays with real toys and isn't a baby at all. But she still makes me happy every day. Happy Monday little Peanut.

About the Post Below

There is a cool thing called ANIMOTO where you can turn your photos into a more interesting slideshow than you can on flickr or whatever. Thirty second videos are free, and you have to pay for longer ones, but I got a free one from being on the mailing list for the great PHOTOJOJO. So, I turned our vacation pictures into a slideshow featuring music by Kev. Feel free to watch it if you want. I warn you, it's long. But it's pretty groovy, so you may want to check out a few seconds of it to get the idea of what ANIMOTO can do with your pictures.

Animoto is Fun

Wildlife!

Today I was driving past the woods by the lake, and I saw a coyote! It was so cool! (And, yes, I DO know what a coyote is).

Flashback Friday

Back to School - Early 1970s. I'm guessing there is a Peanut Butter sandwich with the crust cut off, and possibly a Hostess snack cake in that lunch bag.

Mo' Pie

My friend Emily is an award-winning pie-maker. Last night, she made a practice pie for this year's upcoming State Fair, and we were lucky enough to get a sample slice. Mmm-mmm. As you can see in the video, Daphne likes pie (and also spaghetti, which is all over her face). After she finished her pie, she set her sights on mine. Emily, if Daphne is the judge this year, I think you're gonna win. (Wummy = Yummy).

The Wolverine Story

(as requested by K.)

Ok, here is a story that I am going to tell you before Kev gets a chance to tell you. I am sure his version would make me look much dumber than my version. So here goes:

The other night, we were discussing badgers. I do not know why. Anyway, I told Kev that I didn't think I'd recognize a badger if I saw one, and he said they looked sort of like wolverines. That's weird, I thought, and I told Kev I thought wolverines were like mini wolves.

Now. Let's stop right there a second. You see, "mini" was a poor choice of words on my part. When I said mini-wolves, Kev erupted in Laughter At My Expense (LAME). He began to talk between chuckles about "wolves in 1/3 scale" and so forth. What I meant when I said that though, was that I thought wolverines were members of the wolf family, but slightly smaller. I did NOT mean tiny mouse-sized wolves.

Let me tell you how I very logically arrived at the idea that wolverines were mini - scratch that - small wolves. I have never experienced a wolverine in real life, nor at a zoo, nor in any children's literature nor animated film. At no time, did anyone sit me down and say, "Tara, THIS is a woverine." So I had very little to base my assumption on besides the wolverine's name alone.

Hmmm. Wolverine. Has the "wolve-" right at the beginning. OK. Next. Sounds kinda like the word "figurine." What is a figurine? A small figure. Next. There are sports teams called wolverines, so they are probably fierce creatures. Like wolves. And finally, the guy in the X-Men movie looks WAY more like a wolf-man than a badger.

It never occurred to me that a wolverine might NOT be part of the wolf family, so I never bothered to look it up.

I guarentee that if someone told Kev that there was an animal called a "pantherine," he would think it was a smaller kind of panther.

Kev was also quite shocked and amused to learn that I have gone my whole 39 years without knowing the difference between a shotgun and a rifle. Why on earth would I need to know a thing like that?

So, make fun of me if you will. I don't care. Live and learn, I say. At least I know that Chicken of the Sea is a tuna fish.

Spiced Chai Latte

Because Fall is coming.

Give-Up Poll for Wednesday

Best Beatle
	John
	Paul
	George
	Ringo
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Poll participation is on a steady decline. I will try to think of something more interesting next week.

How to be Cute while Giving Mommy a Headache

Daphne likes to play the instruments in our house. Right now, she especially seems to like the noisy ones like the drums and the trumpet. I am hoping she will eventually gravitate toward the nice quiet ukulele or mandolin, but only time will tell. Please enjoy this short drumming video. It only lasts about 20 seconds. But in real life, I got to listen to it for about ten minutes. I fear we will eventually have to build on a soundproof room.

Satchmo

Satchmo
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

Mommy's Little Rocker

We like the Kinks in our family.

Daphne had to go get a shot today. She was pretty good. I think it's always worse for me than it is for her.

Poll is coming eventually.....

Top Five Tuesday

Here is a top five list for you.

Top Five Birds I have Seen in Real Life:

1. Painted Bunting
2. Bald Eagle
3. Osprey
4. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
5. (Common) Loon

Good Book

I just finished reading this book. You can find out more about it here. If you are looking for a really good book to read that won't take very long, this might just be the book for you. It only took me two days, even with having to watch Daphne. It is funny and sad and happy, and has time travel, which i thought would be hokey, but wasn't. If you read this, let me know what you think. Kev liked it too. (And if you're not careful, you just might learn something before you're through. Hey hey hey!)

Happy Monday for Sept 10

This happy place is the grounds of the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York. I am not in the picture because I took the picture. I am pretty sure this was taken the first time I went to NY with Kev to visit his family. It was November, and we missed the peak of the fall colors, but it was still pretty. We took Kev's dogs to the Vanderbilt for a walk, and as you can see, they had a great time running around and rolling in the leaves. That's nothing, though. You should see them in the snow!

It is supposed to cool down here quite a bit this week. All things considered, this summer wasn't too bad, but I am still ready for fall. To celebrate, we are having chicken soup with dumplings this week. And I'm considering an apple pie.

Yoga for Babies

Upside-Down
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

Daphne has been working on her Downward Facing Dog pose. I wish I could do that!

Flashback Friday : Sick

Today, Daphne and I are both sick. I look pretty much like the picture above, only bigger and holding a sock monkey instead of a Teddy bear. Below is Daphne resting in her car. We don't feel good. Kevin is nice. He made us breakfast pie for dinner last night.

Fun with Letters

Here's the Peanut in her new groovy poncho, which is actually a baby blanket knitted by our friend Cheryl. LOVE the orange...it goes so well with her hair.

Yesterday, I got Daphne some magnetic letters. If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you will see on the fridge behind her that Kev had fun spelling some of her favorite words.

(meatmo = meatball)

And More Fun with Letters

Waste more time here, where you can use people's flickr photos of letters to spell stuff like:



or



or



(Ok, the "bologna" thing looked funnier when it was all on one line)
(That last one's for Fooie)

The Genius of Flickr

Stick Figures in Peril. A hilarious flickr group. Check it out for good timewasting fun.

One Last Thing about Snack Cakes

"Drake's was finally sold in 1998 to Interstate Bakeries Corporation, which by then had bought ITT/CBC, thus taking ownership of Hostess and Wonder. This time, the resultant monopoly was not overturned, and as other companies such as Little Debbie had expanded a great deal, it was not as much of a monopoly as it would have been before. Now, in the New York City area, Drake's and Hostess operations have combined, sharing the same trucks, delivery routes, and store racks. Some Hostess cakes such as Twinkies and Ding Dongs (whose name is permanently restored) in the northeast are now even produced at the Drake bakery and bear a kosher certification symbol in those areas."

From wikipedia, thanks to Marty for the link. I think the DingDongs I bought in Texas were slightly different, based on differences in the nutrition labels on the backs of the boxes.

Time for Another Wednesday Poll

Which of these guys do you think is coolest?
	G I Joe
	Six Million Dollar Man
	Han Solo
	Captain Kirk
	James Bond
Free polls from Pollhost.com

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I just finished doing something I've been waiting to do for a long time. Daphne sat on my lap, and we watched her first ever episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. She is normally very squirmy, but she didn't move a muscle for the whole 30 minutes. Mister Rogers must just radiate some kind of calm. It made me so happy to be sitting there watching Mister Rogers with my baby that I almost cried. Thanks Mister Rogers. We miss you.

I know it's Wednesday, but I haven't thought of a poll yet. Later today or tomorrow for sure.

Guaranteed: No Snack Cake Talk in this Post

Top Five Tuesday's Top Five Favorite Old Blues Guys:

1. Skip James
2. Mississippi John Hurt
3. John Lee Hooker
4. Robert Johnson
5. Muddy Waters

The Results are In!!! A Dramatic Finish!

The LRHS Labor Day Ring Ding Ding Dong Duel is now over, but not without some controversy. Before I give away the results, I will tell you that last night, we had to go to two different 7-11s and one grocery store before we finally found some Ding Dongs. It was quite a big production. It's all for you, the readers of this blog.


Here are some pictures of the event as it was happening. It took us a few minutes to get serious, but once we did, it was all business. Kev prepared the snack cakes while I blindfolded myself. Then, I took several alternating bites of each cake, judging them on a scale of 1 to 5 in the areas of chocolaty coating, cake, creamy filling, and overall taste. I have to say, there wasn't a whole helluva lot of difference, however one cake had a slightly tastier chocolaty coating, and more creamy filling, which was a definite plus in my book. So, when the scores were added up, Cake B edged out Cake A by a score of 16.5 to 14. I also guessed that Cake B was the Ding Dong. Now, here is where the controversy occurred. After the scores were calculated, we revealed the labels that Kev had placed under each plate. This indicated that Cake B was indeed the Ding Dong, and therefore Ding Dong was the winner. BUT, Kev then claimed to have mislabeled the plates! Now, I have known Kev for a long time, and I don't think he would try to cheat just to have RingDings declared the winner. The only way to tell for sure was to cut open another of each snack cake to reveal which one indeed had more cream filling. After much investigation, I think Kev is telling the truth, and RingDings DID actually win.

So, all drama aside, I hearby declare Ring Dings the official winner of the LRHS Labor Day Ring Ding Ding Dong Duel, and I am just happy that I never have to type that again. Congratualtions to the good people of Drake's for having the superior snack cake with the better creamy filling to cake ratio. And thanks to Kev for participating in my silliness.

Happy Monday

This was taken at Kerrville State Park in 2003. You can see how happy I am having a camp-out breakfast of french toast, sausage, OJ, and coffee. Food always tastes better when it's cooked and eaten outside for some reason. Also, you can tell by the jacket that it was a delightfully cool morning in the Texas Hill Country. I am ready to go camping soon.

This morning, Kev is cooking up some cornmeal mush for our Labor Day breakfast. Mmmm.

Then it will be time to prepare the snack cakes.

September at Last.

Spent the afternoon yesterday out in the country having chicken tacos with good friends. It was actually nice enough to play outside.







Yesterday's breakfast: Cheerios with subbysubs, coffee in my duck mug, and a Drake's Coffee Cake. How can you beat that?





Coming tomorrow: The Great LRHS Labor Day Ring Ding Ding Dong Duel.

Shout Out to the New York Crew

Press PLAY, and crank up your volume....Happy Labor Day from the Peanut...she had a great time on vacation!

They're Here!

Today when I got home, there was a package on the table from the good people of Drake's Cakes. Inside, were the RingDings and Coffee Cakes we ordered, as well as a sample two-pack of what I think are called Yodels, and five decks of Lotto Cards, which are cards you can use to choose your lotto numbers. Please let me know if you would like a deck of these lotto cards, and I will send them to you. I don't think we need five. Anyway, now I just need to go get some DingDongs, and I'll be all set for the LRHS Labor Day Ring Ding Ding Dong Duel. I don't know about taste, but Drake's wins for logo...I love the baker's-hat wearing duck.

Kev was excited about the Coffee Cakes. We'll probably be eating one for breakfast tomorrow. A nice way to celebrate August being over.

It has been a little rough around here for the last few days. We are trying to get Daphne to drink milk from a cup, and she doesn't want to do it. I took away all her bottles, and she will sometimes drink milk from a cup if we let her use a straw. But mostly, she just wants juice. I don't see what the big deal is. Why do I have to take her bottle away? She loves her bottle. And it was about the only thing left that made me feel like she is at least sorta still a baby. I don't know if this is harder for me or for her. It makes me sad.

At least I still have babytalk. She calls strawberries "subby-subs" and it is the cutest dang thing I've ever heard. It will be a sad day when she learns to say strawberries the right way. Blogger has a new video uploading thing, so I am trying to upload a video of Daphne saying subby-sub. That way, I can watch it when I feel sad because I can't give her a bottle anymore. But this upload is taking forever. You can watch it too, if it ever finishes...

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

Me and Baby LarryFeathers, probably December 1972 or January 1973.

Wednesday is Poll Day

Please see the post below before taking this week's poll.

A Pre-Ring Ding Ding Dong Duel Poll
	I am strictly a Drake's Cake consumer
	Give me Hostess every time
	They are both pretty much the same
	I don't care for snack cakes
Free polls from Pollhost.com

The Great Snack Cake Debate

VS.



Every time I mention snack cakes, which is more often than you might think, Kev and I get into a debate about which kind of snack cake is better: Drake's or Hostess. I've never even heard of these Drake's Cakes. So after reading Kev's comment on today's Top Five Tuesday Bonus Top Three about snack cakes, I did some research and found out that they only sell Drake's in the Northeastern US, which is where Kev is from. AHA! We only had Hostess in Indiana when I was a kid. So anyway, I thought it was in the best interest of the readers of this blog that I do a blind comparison taste test to see if Ring Dings really are better than Ding Dongs. This presented a problem, since Texas is Hostess-only territory, however, as usual, the internet saved the day. With a quick click of the mouse, I have just ordered a box of Ring Dings, and expect them to arrive in a couple of days. In the meantime, I will go down to 7-11 and get a 2-pack of Ding Dongs in preperation for the great LRHS Labor Day Ring Ding Ding Dong Duel. Results will of course be posted here. Perhaps there will even be photos. Feel free to engage in a friendly wager with your friends.

(While we were at it, we ordered some Drake's Coffee Cakes, which Kev raves about. Can't wait to try those. Thank you, Internet).

A Monkey's Life

Julie was asking how Ralph is adjusting to having a baby around the house. As many of you know, Ralph used to get quite a lot of attention. Things were a little rough for him at first I think. There he is, in the picture above, sitting alone in the corner holding the laundry bag, while all attention was focused on the Peanut and her cousin Katie. Things are better now, though. Ralph got to go on vacation with us. Below, he is enjoying some quiet time in one of the back porch rockers. And Daphne loves him. She calls him "Wowf." It's not so bad to be a monkey.

Top Five Tuesday

Top Five Reasons I wish I was still on Vacation:

1. I didn't have to drive for a whole week.
2. I didn't have to plan meals or cook them for a whole week.
3. It is hot here. It was not hot on vacation.
4. My house is a mess.
5. Pollution here is Level Red or Orange every day.

And because that Top Five list is so filled with negativity, here is a more positive bonus Top Three list:

Top Three Snack Cakes:

1. Hohos
2. Ding Dongs
3. Hostess Cupcakes

I never really cared for the Twinkie.

Happy Monday

One of my favorite happy places is the Zesto. It is an ice cream stand in New Albany, Indiana that we frequented during my childhood. In 2005, I took Ralph to the Zesto, and this October, I will be taking Daphne for her first Zesto experience. She will love it. She's a big fan of ice cream.

Already Better than Jackson Pollock

Yesterday, I bought some Crayola Mess-Free markers. This is Daphne's very first completely solo piece of artwork. Well, I wrote her name, but she did the rest. I am so proud. It is on the fridge.

Mess-free markers seem pretty cool. The fingerpaints are lame though.

Flashback Friday

This is me at my daisy table...I spent a lot of time there. If I could find one just like this for the Peanut, I would buy it in a heartbeat. In this picture, I'm filling out my Valentines for a school party. But I can also remember sitting there coloring or having snacks (hoho's!).

Standing on the Cloud

We just watched a really disturbing movie, so I am blogging to take my mind off it before I go to sleep. Here is a little vacation story for you.

The last morning we crossed over the mountain pass from Idaho into Jackson Hole, there was a cloud hovering just above the town, so that from the top of the pass, we were above the cloud. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. We stopped to take a few pictures, and then started the drive down.


Here we are just about to drive into the cloud. It's right in front of that truck.



And as soon as they got into it, the people in the truck rolled down their windows and stuck out their arms to touch the cloud. We did the same. Clouds are cold and wet. Touch one if you get a chance someday.

Wednesday is Poll Day

Tomorrow, I have to get up early and attend a long boring conference about medicare, so here is the Whaddayathink Wednesday poll in advance. I guess it's more of a hypothetical. I look forward to checking the results when I get home.

You have the opportunity to take your dream vacation for free, but you are handcuffed to Gilbert Gottfried (except in the restroom). Do you go?
	Yes
	No
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Now, when I say dream vacation, I mean DREAM vacation. For example, for me, this means an Antarctic Cruise and visiting the penguins. And as annoying as Gilbert Gottfried is, I couldn't pass up the penguins.

Post-Vacation Letdown

So, we've been home for a couple of days, and I am starting to feel normal again. Being on vacation is hard work. Especially with a toddler. But with all the extra hands around, I managed to get in some relaxing, and views like this made it all worth it. Not to mention the delightfully cool weather.

I took almost 500 pictures. Have you ever tried to sort through 500 pictures? This batch goes mostly like this: mountain, mountain, mountain, Peanut, mountain, mountain, Peanut, Peanut by a mountain, Peanut, mountain, etc. So, I am trying to pick some of my favorites, and post a few each day on flickr. If you're interested, you can check them out by clicking on the flickr badge at the left, and then going to my photostream and clicking on the Vacation 07 set. I think there are only 29 on there right now. Much better than 500.

Wyoming/Idaho/Montana is pretty amazing. Idaho is flat flat flat, and then mountain. It looks like Napolean Dynamite. You can see for miles. Every day you can see the sun rise and set, you can see millions of stars, you can see storms move across the sky. There are no mosquitos. It is rarely too hot to sit outside. And I haven't even mentioned the wildlife yet. More on that later.

Anyway, I usually have pretty severe post-vacation letdown after a trip like this, because I come back home and have nothing to look forward to. This time it's not so bad. I have lots of birthday gifts that I haven't got to play with yet and a new issue of Craft Magazine to peruse. I'm going to Indiana in October and New York in November, and then it will be Christmas. Whew! No time for letdown now. I'll have to wait until January.

OK, check in tomorrow for some kind of poll. Gotta go for now.

Top Five Tuesday

Old Faithful
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

During our vacation, we visited Yellowstone National Park and went to Old Faithful. It was pretty cool to watch the geyser erupt, but there were thousands of tourists there and Daphne wasn't on her best behavior. After spending the better part of the morning in a carseat in the back of a minivan, she just wanted to be free, so we had to let her run. And run. And run. It wore us out. But she had a great time. Anyway, here is this week's vacation-related Top Five:

Top Five Cool but Super-Touristy Things I'm Glad I've Done

1. Rode the London Eye
2. Took a tour of Alcatraz
3. Went on a whale-watching cruise in Maine
4. Went to the top of the Trade Center in NYC
5. Rode the cog train to the top of Pike's Peak

Please comment if you have a favorite tourist spot.

Happy Monday

Here I am on a fence with the Peanut in Wyoming. Just got back yesterday. Lots of tales to tell.

Birthday Extravaganza (or 39 Ain't So Bad)

So, it's my birthday today. I'm 39 now. OK. I'll just have to find a way to deal with it.

Turning 39 is kind of a drag, but celebrating turning 39 was great. Daphne went to stay with my mom and dad, and Kevin and I went to dinner and to see a really cool show at the Granada. The first band was Little Jack Melody. Didn't like them much. Little Jack was a little koo-koo. He had a stand-up bass player that made a lot of stink-face, which was entertaining. You know what I'm talking about, right? It's when a musician gets real into what he's playing, and makes a wrinkly nose furrowed brow sort of face, like something smells really bad. It is most common during rock guitar solos, so seeing this stand-up bass guy doing it was funny. I wonder why stink face seems so prevelent among musicians versus other professionals. You never see a heart surgeon make stink face as he approaches a particularly delicate artery. Anyway, the next band was Guy Forsythe and the Hot Nut Riveters, which I may have not spelled correctly. They were really cool, and if you can see them, you should. Someone at the show must have had a video camera, because lo and behold, I found some footage from the show on YouTube. Here are a couple of clips:





The sound is not that great, and these are not the best songs of the night, but there is a little taste for you anyway. I think my favorite part of the show was when they played Summertime, featuring Guy on the musical saw. It was cool.

The headline act was the strange but very talented White Ghost Shivers. YouTube had a clip of them from last night too. It is long, and does not show the hilarity of the tall skinny guy (there on the left) dancing, and the sound quality is terrible. I'm sure you can find better video clips of the WGS if you want.



Anyway, it was a fun night out.

This blog is going to be taking a little break, and will return in about a week. Then, I will show you some pictures of my two new adopted babies, so stay tuned for that. Until then, have a nice break from the LRHS.