My Dad Makes Me Super Cool

You know, when you are an introvert, it's great to have parents who are the life of the party...b/c then attention is deflected off of you personally, and when approached, you have a semblance of cool b/c the life of the party is your mom or dad...

(clearly, my definition of cool is perhaps limited, but i am what i am)

One thing that made me super cool (in my own eyes) as a kid is that my dad is the original voice on the Speak & Spell (hereafter referred to as the SNS). Yes. My dad is awesome.  He has also done other notable and awesome things in his life, all of which I am very proud.

Apparently, I'm not the only one that thinks so.

I got an email from Beloved Father warning me that I would be contacted by the intrepid reporter from something or other (still not clear on what it's for, but clearly important nonetheless).  I was happy to oblige - I'm getting interviewed! Yay! Some of my dad's celebrity is trickling down to me, and I'm reaping the benefits of stuff I did not do! People care what I think!

Anyway. This piece is about how he is the voice on the SNS, and how awesome that is, and so intrepid reporter wanted my views on what it was like growing up playing with the SNS, and subsequently, the joy my own children experience knowing their very own Paka is robotically speaking at them through a toy.

So I got the call today, and answered her questions.  The following is clearly not an exact transcript, and will contain many of my thoughts as actual conversation b/c frankly it makes it more interesting.

I give you

---- My Moment In the Sun ----

starring: Intrepid Reporter (IR) as the...um...intrepid reporter...don't know why I've gotten so stuck on that phrase
           Me as myself


setting: my car in the parking lot at the mall b/c the IR called me later than she said she would


-----
IR: Hi! I'm so excited to talk to you about your dad!

Me: Yes....me too.

IR: So. Tell me all about what it was like playing with the SNS as a kid knowing it was your dad's voice!

Me: Um...it was great.

IR: Did you ever spell funny words like "fart" to hear your dad say them back to you?!!

Me: *crickets chirping - who the heck knows what i spelled on a SNS when I was 5* haha. I guess I probably did. I don't really remember that.  It was a very long time ago.

IR: Did you know that the SNS is featured in the something-or-other museum?!!! What do you think about your dad being in a museum?!!!

Me: Um... cool.

IR: So you have kids?!!! Do they like to play with the SNS?!!!

Me: Yes. yes they do. they think it's awesome. you know (beginning to pull things out o' the rear here) my dad has always thought education to be important, and being on the SNS is clearly another way that he shows that...

IR: How do you feel knowing that your dad is helping kids and has helped kids learn to read?!!!

Me: Cool. Feel free to make me sound smarter than I am (I actually said that at one point)  You know, as I mentioned, education and reading is really important to him. He even volunteered with disadvantaged youth at my school when I was a kid. He's awesome.

IR: Great!
*end scene*

So many things can come of this. I can come off sounding like an adoring daughter who admires her father's love of education and philanthropy...or a big tool...either way, he comes out a winner.

*and clearly, the IR was a very nice girl, and any nuance of character that may have come across in the retelling is purely of my own imagination to make the story more interesting*


Love you Dad!

Crock Pot Sort-of-Chili

So we had all that leftover brisket...it was divided, bagged, and frozen.

Now what to do with all that...

Tonight I made a sort of chili. I think it turned out very tasty, so I'm going to share my method with you. Also, I'm bored and have nothing more meaningful to say. It's been a long day. One of "those" days.

(and since it's Gymnastics Tuesday, I had to do a crock pot meal that would be ready to go when we got home)

and...remember how i froze the whole tomatoes? (b/c how could you forget such exciting information) - i put a bag of about 5 frozen tomatoes in the fridge yesterday to thaw...and like the web site i consulted, they did indeed peel easily when thawed - there was only a piece that didn't want to come off, and luckily i served myself that piece of tomato skin tonight, so all in all not too bad.

so here we go:

*peel and quarter about 5 large tomatoes - dump into crock pot

*chop cooked brisket - dump into crock pot

*finely chop 1 yellow onion - dump into crock pot

*grate on a microplane 2 cloves of garlic - dump into crock pot

*pour in some beef stock (i had some organic beef stock that i had got on clearance at target of all                  places)

"how much should i pour in?"

enough.

*put in some cumin and chili powder. i don't how much. enough. smell it. taste it...don't add too much, b/c you can always go back and add more

*i also snuck in one of my frozen shredded yellow squash servings - you couldn't even notice it

*a little salt (b/c i used the organic stuff, which wasn't salty...if you use bouillion, don't add extra salt)

i cooked it on low all day - like 10 hours - occasionally i stirred it to break down the tomatoes more...at one point, i tasted the broth and added a little more cumin

towards the time for me to leave for gymnastics, i made a slurry with the broth and cornstarch, and stirred it in.

tonight, this "chili" was served over rice and garnished with cheese and cilantro.   i think steve added some red pepper to make his spicy

there is a lot left over, and i will be using the homemade corn tortillas procured from our produce stand to make an enchilada casserole for dinner tomorrow. 

this turned out very delicious. (now i'll pat myself on the back)

Leftovers

How many times have I made crock pot roast with potatoes...and then not liked the leftovers...

too many to count...

my burst of inspiration today was to make a beef pot pie with the leftovers..instead of the cream gravy, i went with a beef stock gravy...chopped up the leftover potatoes, very finely diced the remaining roast, and added some frozen peas... super easy (and super messy for making the pie crusts...can't seem to do it without getting flour everywhere, but whatever)

hopefully super tasty! hooray! this makes me feel (a)dumb for not thinking of doing it before and (b)like a homemaker goddess extraordinaire for thinking of doing it. haha

Deep Thoughts

I don't have a whole lot o' deep thoughts these days, and most of the ones I do focus on elder care.  If you want to know my deep thoughts on this, let me know, and I'll include you in the loop.

Flu Shot

I got my flu shot today (b/c of grandmother)...weee.  I don't normally have a problem with needles/shots/taking blood...it's unpleasant, but whatever.

Right before the pharmacist stuck me with the needle, I had a moment of "eww, don't want to do this"...immediately followed by "wait a minute, i just endured a tattoo, what am i thinking?"

haha.

barely even noticed when she stuck me with the needle.

in other news, i survived day 4 post-tattoo...otherwise known as "Itchy because it's healing" day. that was fun.

Exercise

It was me and the old folks today at the rec center. I did 4 miles on the recumbent bike (on level 1, so don't be too impressed), but I'm happy to report that my ankle is not bothering me post-workout, so I think that may be my machine of choice for now.

Still planning on walking W to school about 2 mornings a week, but that's not a fast pace or anything....

Having a tattoo on the stomach is great motivation not to gain weight. ha!

The only tv I could see in the room was set to HLN. ugh. ugh. ugh. A former beauty queen type doing an interview on the new Footloose. weee.

I'm thinking maybe a show or something on the iphone to watch while I pedal to nowhere... I've got music, but then I just feel like I'm staring into space...

Still wishing I could run...

Remembering

Yesterday was an intense day for radio. I normally listen to NPR when I'm driving, and they had an all-day thing about 9-11.  Just driving from my house to Target (about 7 minutes) brought tears to my eyes listening to people's stories about that day, and the loss they experienced.

Whew.

I remember being in my office at school, and one of my students (still remember her name) came in to say that something was going on. I forget how she said it, but basically I didn't believe her. Over the course of the day, I suppose I learned more online (didn't really talk to other teachers b/c I was off in my own wing, and no tv, just internet)...but it was that evening driving for over an hour to go to orchestra practice and listening to the radio and learning about what was going on and then again on the drive home, late at night, hearing more about what had happened.

It seemed far away and surreal, but it was also very scary, and I remember feeling very alone.

The Tattoo Experience

I don't want to be all "oh my Lord it hurt so bad" and ruin business for tattoo artists out there..but still...oh my Lord it hurt so bad.

Steve says it was 2 1/2 hours.  2 1/2 hours of needle-y torture.  I'm told after the fact by many people that the stomach/side/rib area of the body is one of the worst. Thanks! Good to know!

So he started in with the outline - which took the longest and hurt the worst.  I had come to terms with the fact that it would be uncomfortable and would sting, etc...  The night before, on LA Ink, there was this moron getting a stupid tattoo, and saying that it felt like dull hot razors slicing him to the bone.  We laughed, because, you know, he's a tool.

Well well well...turns out the tool and I share similar nerve endings... because that's exactly what most of the outline felt like. There were definitely parts of it that hurt more than others - the part more to my rib side hurt more than to my belly button side...and the parts actually on the rib bones hurt a lot too...

The rose part was particularly painful b/c of location - he mentioned "isn't she the kid that gives you a hard time?"

great. symbolism becoming reality.

the larger of the 2 birds hurt like hell...so i've decided it can symbolize my first miscarriage, which was much worse than my second one.

He was really good about letting me take little breaks as I needed them. I didn't cry. I didn't groan or scream.

I did however do a lot of toe-curling and grimacing.

Also, a lot of hand squeezing to Steve...like really serious "hey, don't dislocate my thumb" kind of squeezing.  In addition, Steve was warned to be ornery-free during the tattoo. At one point, he tried to be ornery, and there was a lot of arm flapping on my part, and a perhaps slightly hysterical tone to my voice until he cut it out. Post-tattoo, you can be assured we were back into normal ornery mode.

I think there's something about how you breathe through the pain - and I couldn't always get my breath synchronized going the right way. Sometimes that worked really well...but I think part of the reason why the outline was so painful for me was b/c he was working in longer strokes - so it was hard to focus on it...the black fill-in and the shading were shorter more localized strokes, so it was easier to focus on it. That's my theory anyway.

At one point, it was mentioned by those in attendance that I wouldn't remember the pain after the fact.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

I pointed out that I still remember what it felt like to have kidney stones..."but that's an internal pain"...ok...I remember what it felt like to have a catheter inserted with no drugs...and I remember what it felt like to have an amniocentesis...so...I'm guessing I can look back on this experience and remember the dull hot razor cutting to my bone feeling.

At another point, I exclaimed "I'm endorphin-less!"  You always hear (or I do anyway) about people who endure pain because the endorphins kick in, and they end up enjoying it. Nope. no endorphins here. nothing.

A lot of you have mentioned how "tough" I am...but most of you saying that are the ones that have had natural birth.  I'm sure your natural birth experience, however pleasant it might have been, was much worse than getting a tattoo ;)  The outcome is perhaps not the same, but definitely no comparison on the pain scale.

So I put my tattoo on the scale of less than kidney stones and greater than amniocentesis.

All seems to be healing nicely...

I Did It

Well. I did it. I now officially have my first and only tattoo. Whew. Getting the outline done was excruciating, and once that part was done the rest was "easier".

*picture on facebook*

The Freezer

We have a stand-up full size freezer in the garage. I love this thing. So much. It was a definite bonus when moving into our no-longer-new family situation.

For some reason, it is much easier to keep this freezer organized than the one in the house...which I just cleaned out...and found frozen veggies from a year ago....blech.

I like to buy yesterday's produce at our produce store - super super cheap -but also super super ripe. Which means I have to do something with it right away.

And currently, I have no interest in learning how to can. It sounds like too much work, and I have no one to share in the joy with me on this one...maybe my kids can learn how to do it, and just do it themselves when they get older. "you girls did a great job this week with your attitude! guess what! you get to can!together! without mommy!"  i can just hear their cheers of delight...

today's bounty:
* lots o' tomatoes - i froze them whole, and will occasionally throw one in the crockpot i think.
* lots o' yellow squash - i grated ALL of it (don't feel too sorry, i used the food processor) and froze it in about 1 cup batches so i can use it in something...probably spaghetti sauce or try like a squash bread (which for some reason sounds so much grosser than zuchinni bread, which we all know is tasty, but we'll see)
* lots o' peaches - i pureed some and chopped others up. i can't find my ice cube trays anywhere, but the plan is to use this in my breakfast smoothies
* cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes -  not frozen, but if they get too ripe before we're done with them, i'll just puree them up and freeze them for my smoothies.

i also roasted 3 chkn breasts with skin and bones - i just used olive oil, coarse salt, pepper, and a little poultry seasoning - then after cooling, removed the meat into portions. hooray!

i still need to think of varied ideas for all that brisket we have left - 2 hunks are raw and frozen, to be used in the crockpot at some future date. still have lots that is already cooked and frozen... so far we have done tacos, sandwiches, and just a serving of meat (which we actually don't do that much b/c i like to stretch the meat as far as i can)...i'm thinking enchiladas and chili might be good ways to use it, but if you've got any other suggestions, i'm all eyes.

Walking

We live approximately .8 miles from the school. I've often thought how nice it would be to walk to school, but I've put it off b/c R is only 4, and she'd have to do the round trip.

How silly of me.

My 4 yr old has more energy than me (except when we have to go to the grocery store) - she was dancing, twirling, running, etc... both ways. Good grief.

We walked home yesterday from school - a little hot for all of us (not as much shade that time of day).

We walked to school this morning - very pleasant and cool, but it would be a gross understatement to say that I'm not a morning person. I did manage to drink some coffee before the walk, and then ate an organic pop tart (is that an oxymoron?) while walking.

I can see this becoming a thing. Probably not every day of the week - I really had to rush to get ready to go back to the school for W's violin lesson - and of course, R wanted to walk back. I told her no. I refrained from telling her she was crazy.

My ankle seems to be doing ok so far. No bumps appearing on my achilles... I still have the numbness/etc in the tarsal tunnel area, but I think that's to be expected.

I think I'll take a break this weekend :)

Another First

Wow, i'm really on a roll with all these firsts... sharing my opinions more openly, practicing for a fiddling contest....and...


*drumroll*


getting a tattoo.


aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh

So here's a picture of the artwork i'm getting (and let's assume that there's a copyright on this, since it was done by an artist, and it's not my work, etc) ... this will be done by ivan, our artist friend from church. he designed the above picture based on some things i said - which is awesome, b/c i knew what i wanted it to represent, but didn't have a visual of it.


and i'm showing you a picture of the artwork here b/c i'll be getting it on my stomach (or side-ish torso area), and the world doesn't need a photo of that... ;)


so obviously you have the representation of the two kids - how convenient that they are named after plants, and the rest, as written out by the artist is:


"The canopy is split in four representing the growth in each of your lives. The trunk splits into four but are joined as one representing the strength you have in each other and God. The tree and rose are joined because those girls will always be a part of each other. The birds are your miscarriages. Even though they are gone physically you will always feel them. Free spirits flying in heaven. They began nested in you."


in a week and 2 days people...holy moly! i'm a little skeeved about the pain part. i'm not known for my heroic efforts in the realm of physicality...i was starting to get a lot of anxiety about the pain...and then my beloved pointed out that we watch L.A. Ink, and the people getting tattoos aren't screaming and crying, they're carrying on conversations while getting "inked".


good point. i relaxed a bit after that. haha.


i'm really excited about this. if you had told me a year ago i'd be doing this, i would have laughed...oh how i would have laughed. and i won't say God told me to get a tattoo...but i did feel a stirring in my spirit that this was something i wanted to do. so there.


and i'm not out to convince anyone that it's religiously right or wrong to get a tattoo...but i did talk at length with christians that i trust and respect about the biblical-ness of getting one, and obviously we're all ok with it :)  but if you're not ok with it, then (a) don't get one for yourself and (b) i won't ever show mine to you (which i probably wouldn't anyway...since it's on my stomach..refer to above point about the world not needing to see that)


i'm very excited about this. hooray!