Well, That Didn't Take Long...

Shortly after this picture was taken on Wednesday morning, Daphne got sick. She has been in school a total of three days. I knew she was going to start getting sick more often once she started school, but I wasn't expecting it to happen quite THIS early. Oh well. After a couple of rough days, she seems to be past the worst of it and is getting better. Just a cold, I think. But nothing can throw off a groove more than a sick kid. I was kicking some butt on my To Do list, but any and all productivity has come to a screeching halt. I am hoping that she'll actually sleep for a little while this afternoon so I can try to get back on track. Or at least get a shower.

The picture, as I said, was taken on Wednesday morning at the Heritage Farm Museum in nearby Sterling. I decided that Wednesday would be Mommy and Daphne field trip day so we could hang out and have some quality time. Last week, she said, "Mom, you never play with me. All you do is cook dinner." And while that's not completely true, and I do play with her - a lot - I reckoned there must be some reason behind her thinking. And so, the field trip. The farm museum was fun. I was counting on there being at least one or two school groups there, but it turned out we had the entire place to ourselves. Daphne got to work in an old-timey shop, milk a fake cow, and ride pretend racehorses. Totally worth the three bucks for admission (I was free - I had a coupon!).

After the museum, we had a fun lunch at Friendly's. I spied a watermelon ice cream cake in their freezer and was tempted, but passed. Next time. Overall, a fun day, and I think Daphne enjoyed it.

A few hours after we got home, the sniffles kicked in and Daphne quickly went from perky to pitiful. I haven't had much sleep the last two nights. I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday.

OK, I'm off to see if Daphne has finished her lunch so we can get naptime going.

Have a good weekend, everyone. And if you are in Texas, please go to the Fair and enjoy it on my behalf. I can't tell you how sad I am that I'm missing it this year.

Ketchup

Well, it's been continued non-stop action here at the LRHS HQ. There is no way I can blog it all, so here is a quick catch-up list of the highlights:

• Two weekends ago, we took a short family road trip to Hershey, PA, and spent the day at a really great amusement park called Dutch Wonderland (thanks to my friend Anne for the tickets!). We all had a great time, and I highly recommend it to families with young kids. There are lots of great toddler rides, and the park is small enough to not be a beating to walk around. There are lots of pictures on Flickr, so head on over if you want to see what it's like. Best thing: I finally got to go on a Fun Slide.
• Daphne started school, and I have been making the most of my three hour blocks of me-time. Or trying to, anyway. Once I get myself organized, things will really be good. I might even get going on Christmas soon! Daphne loves school. Today, the teacher told me she is a really good listener. Hmmm. We'll see what happens when the novelty wears off. Best thing: school makes Daphne really tired, so naptime is a piece of cake.
• This past weekend, we went to Long Island for my nephew's birthday/baptism. We had a great time. Daphne had fun playing outside with her cousins, and I had fun eating the southern style food that was in abundance. Holy smoke, that brisket was good! (Get it? Smoke? Heehee). Best thing: we found out that we are going to soon have a new neice or nephew, so we are very excited about that. On the way home, we drove sorta through Brooklyn, but there was no time to mosey around, so I vowed that I'd be back. I want to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.
• Meanwhile, the wheels are in motion for my parents' and Jeff's (and Albert's!) arrival in Northern Virginia. They'll be getting here early next week, which is very exciting, especially since it's all happening much sooner than we thought it would. Hooray for family! And free babysitters!
• I am continuing to knit when I can. I have so many projects queued up right now that I'll never get to them all, but I am going to try. I have a lot of stash yarn that I need to use. Fabric too. So, I'm planning a couple of sewing projects now that I have these blocks of time. I have decided it's time to conquer my fear of zippers. I'll let you know how it goes.

Phew. OK, I think that's all the major stuff. I will try not to be such a blog slacker in the future. Time to go check "blog a blog" off my to do list. See ya!

First Day

Today was Daphne's first day of preschool (pictures on Flickr). If you want to know whether or not she was excited this morning, press the "play" arrow. She is in the "Morning Three's" with Miss Heidi. I already love Miss Heidi. She is very softspoken and gentle like Mister Rogers. Today there was play doh time , story time, arts and crafts, free play, playground time, and a couple of songs. Daphne found her cubby and the potty. Kev and I got to stay in the classroom today, but Daphne will go by herself on Thursday. I don't think she will even notice that we aren't there. She is going to love school. And I am going to make the most of my three hours without my sidekick. But I will miss her.

More Stuff

I love Pyrex...especially this "Friendship" pattern. If anyone ever wants to get me a present, you can get me a piece of friendship pyrex. There is a ton on Ebay and Etsy. (And it's not expensive at all!) How could you possibly be sad if you were using these to cook with or eat from? I think I am going to make myself a t-shirt of this to wear on bad days.

Recent internet browsing led me to the Tamra Davis Cooking Show. It is an on-line show with little 5-10 minute episodes featuring Tamra Davis who is extra cool because she is the wife of Mike D from the Beastie Boys, but would be cool anyway. I recommend the ravioli episode if you have kids and are looking for something to do with them. I am going to try it. I will have to find a different filling though. I can't do ricotta. Anyway, check it out...it's really cool. And if you want to get me a little something to go with my pyrex gift, you can get the Tamra Davis cookbook featured on her web site.

When we go to Long Island, I am hoping to get a chance to spend some time in Brooklyn. There is a pizza place I want to go to, but I can't remember what it's called. I will find out. But mostly, I want to go to Moomah and SpaceCraft. Then I want to copy everything about them and open something like it here, in the empty space for lease in downtown Leesburg, so that when the time comes for me to go back to work, I can actually like my job. I will need someone to handle the "business" part of it for me. Anyone? I have never been to Brooklyn, but I am kind of obsessed with it. I wish Daphne was old enough to go up there with me on a NYC field trip. Someday, I am going to make that happen.

OK. Lunch time. Back to the real world. The one with frozen mini corndogs and TJ's applesauce.

Update: The pizza place in Brooklyn is Grimaldi's, and I'll be damned if I didn't just find out they have a location in Dallas, in the West Village, about 8 minutes from my old house.

09-09-09

This is Mickey. He was the latest guest at Daphne's Bug Jug Motel. He stayed overnight, and then we set him free. During his stay, he ate three giant basil leaves, a couple of sage leaves, and some oregano. I had no idea just how much caterpillars poop! I wasn't too sad to see him go. I hope he is enjoying the yard somewhere with Ocornio.

I haven't blogged in a long time! The last several days have been pretty busy. There was First Friday, playing outside, getting a sitter and going out with Kev, school shopping for Daphne, picnics in the back yard, grilling in the rain, and various other Labor Day weekend activities. Fall is off to an action-packed start, and won't be slowing down any time soon. School starts next week, and we have mini-trips to Hershey and Long Island in the near future, plus the big Indiana trip coming soon. Then there's Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, plus my parents and Jeff's big move to Virginia. Jeff will be here to start his new job in less than three weeks! Whew.

I just re-read that paragraph, and now I'm too exhausted to continue blogging. Coming soon: more stuff.

PS: I totally want Beatles Rock Band.

Ocornio, Mohair, a Hike, and Stromboli

The other day, this cricket was on the wall in the playroom. I was going to dustbuster him, but Daphne screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" and saved his cricket life. She put him in her bug-jug to observe him eating a mushroom (the internet said crickets like fungi) before setting him free on the patio to find his mommy and daddy. She decided to name him Ocornio, which is amusingly similar to Cornholio. The kid must have a little Garland in her somewhere. I hope Ocornio enjoyed his mushroom and found his cricket family.

Sunday morning, Daphne and Kev went on a "nature walk." This got off to a "rocky" start, when she had a seven minute screaming and crying fit on the street because Kev told her she couldn't pick up every pebble between our house and the trail. After that, all was well and they had a great time. The weather is nice now, especially in the mornings and evenings, so it's fun to go outside.

Meanwhile, I have started a knitting project with super skinny mohair yarn. A new challenge, reading glasses required. I can only work on it when I am wide awake and can completely focus, because if I mess up, it's not going to be easy to fix. I think it will be pretty, but itchy, when it's all done. I am switching off between that project and a hat for Kev, which is using a much less fussy yarn and can be done while watching TV without having to pay too much attention.

Last night I made stromboli, which I learned at the beach from Kevin's sister. Thanks, Kim! It was delicious. I wish I would have made two. We ate it on the porch, which made it extra tasty.

It is really starting to feel like fall. This morning it was 55 degrees. That means it's almost time for pie, soup, homemade bread, and my trip to Indiana for the Harvest Homecoming. Yes.