I had a little egg pan, someone made it out of cast iron

A few years ago my momma sent me a cast iron egg pan, which comes preseasoned and my mom also did some seasoning for me. Maybe about a year ago one of my roommates somehow managed to coat it in rust. Boo. So, I stripped it with a brillo pad and then reseasoned it with a couple of coats of vegetable oil, like the internet said. When I cook I use butter and then when I'm done I wipe all the extra gunk and oil and stuff out. so, it stays nice and not rusted now, but it gets sticky and gross, and gross. and there's still a spot on it that isn't black, but isn't rusted? I dunno what's up with that.

So, now I am following these instructions for stripping (but not the reseasoning instructions), and I'mma use these instructions for reseasoning with food-grade flaxseed oil.

Here is cast iron before anything! it is shiny but really that is sticky and gross and I don't want that.

see the part that is lighter? Hopefully that bit will go away.

I scrubbed it pretty well with an SOS pad, because I do not want to work with oven cleaner or lye like that site says, but I am going to do the rest of it. so, it got scrubbed, and then put in a 200 degree oven for a while to dry out really well.

Here it is in its vinegar bath:


It is supposed to be 50% vinegar and 50% water but I ran out of vinegar, so it is one extra cup of water. it is probably now 40/60. So, I'll leave it until I get back from work, and maybe turn it over and let it soak some more, and then scrub the rusty bits off, and then proceed to the next step, which I believe involves baking soda or stronger base to counteract acid of vinegar.

The woman who wrote the blog that I linked to up there got her cast iron all the way down to the grey. I clearly did not, it is very much still black except in that patch, and on the bottom, where it's grey. I may do another round of intense brillo scrubbing after the vinegar soaking, and then go from there, we'll see how effective the vinegar bath is.

Having some photo upload issues, I'll try and work on it.

November 11!

Apparently I am only interested in taking photos every other day!

This was my snack:


Animal crackers and apple juice. So tasty!

November 9!

This is the best egg I poached today! I know it's not flipped over on itself like it's supposed to be, but it's nice and roundish! And then it jumped off of the spoon on to the floor, and it was so hot when I picked it up (duh) that it jumped from my hand into the garbage disposal as I tried to rinse it.

Jerk egg.

Pretty, though, right?

Things For Which I am Eternally Grateful, episode IV

The bus driver who honked at the other cars to get them to stop while Bear and I were crossing the street today, so that we did not get hit when it was our turn to cross

That Baby Bear holds my hand EVERY TIME when we cross the street, 99% of the time without fighting

The sound a cow makes

Fresh peaches from the market

Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything, given to me by my sister, for whom I am also eternally grateful

The DC Public Library website, which has recently become much more user-friendly. Also the librarians there, who are abnormally and sometimes unsettlingly friendly and helpful, and

Otter Pops.

Recipe for a delicious snack

Here is a recipe for the snack I made after I was done eating my ditalini pasta with homemade pesto!

Recipe for plum-peach-vanilla yogurt:

Step 1: take out the vanilla yogurt from the fridge that you bought a while ago but you've been too bored by to eat. Pour some of this into a bowl!

Step 2: take out the plum-peach jam that your mommy made from the cupboard and packed in your suitcase the last time you went home, pry open the jar. Spoon a generous amount of this delicion into the yogurt bowl.

Step 3: MIX INGREDIENTS

Step 4: ENJOY

Pairs well with toast coated with a moderately thick layer of plum-peach jam. Also pairs decently with a glass of water and various vitamins and supplements.

What to Expect

I've been reading a lot of toddler books lately, which has been really helpful in understanding how my various kids operate. I don't think I mentioned it, but around the time of my last blog post (I'm delinquent, I know), I looked at BiebzBear and told him "You're not eating any more baby food when I'm here," and he hasn't. It makes things a little more difficult, of course, because damn, those pouches are super convenient when he gets hungry and we're out. Also, it's basically his only source of vegetables and fruits. So, that's a thing we're working on together. We've been trying lots of new things when we go out, which is great. Last week we had a ham-and-scallion scone, and also a peach smoothie, and a little bit of turkey sammich.

The sleep thing is more of an issue than ever. He's been taking bottles of just water to go down for the past month or so, but getting him to go to sleep is almost impossible some days. Even if he is 150% exhausted (like he was on Wednesday, when we went to the Postal Museum, and then took the metro back, and then I got him out of the stroller and he walked the mile from the metro station home), if he knows his mom is home, he stands there in the middle of the crib crying and throwing out his blanket and screaming and falling asleep standing up and then crying more. For hours. And yet, on Tuesdays, when his mom isn't home, he lies down in the crib, and falls asleep within ten minutes. This past week on the screaming days, I gave up after an hour each day, dragged him to sit with me in the rocking chair to look at books, and he was asleep in three minutes. And I have to stay there with him until he falls asleep, because that's what his parents want, even though he screams whether I'm in the room or not.

So:
Crib not comfortable enough?
Hears his mom, who seems to pick the best time for her to noisily prepare her lunch in the kitchen right when I am putting him down, and knows if he cries long enough she'll come in?
Should have been sleep trained and doesn't know how to comfort himself?
Running around is too exciting and now he thinks he doesn't need to nap anymore?
Going down for a nap just a little too late and missing the "window of opportunity?"
All of the above?

Despite the massive battles that are naptime, Bear has become a complete angel all other times, especially when he is well-rested after a nap (SURPRISE). We've been eating outside at Peregrine once a week for a while, which has been great for getting him to try new foods. The other day when we were leaving Safeway, I unbuckled his stroller belt and asked if he wanted to walk home. and he trotted along calmly next to me and held my hand when he felt like it, and of course when we crossed the street, and didn't run in traffic and didn't dawdle all that much at all.

A couple weeks ago when we were getting ready to go out to the playground, I told him that I couldn't carry him up the stairs to go out the front door, because I had to carry the stroller and the stroller is very heavy. So, I would take the stroller up the stairs and then come back and help him walk. I got to the top of the stairs and Bear was halfway up behind me, and since then he's been doing the stairs himself, both up and down. Then the other day, we were leaving for a walk at the same time his mom was leaving for errands, and she said "We've been working on not carrying him up the stairs." and I said, "Oh. Huh. He's been doing the stairs for weeks." and then of course he refused to walk up them because he KNEW since he mom was there she'd carry him, which she eventually did.

I read this book recently called the No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers, which by the way is a huge bunch of bullshit, I feel, but the author mentioned that scientists say that most babies have the ability to put themselves to sleep by six months of age. She then said that since the majority of parents put their children to sleep up until the school years, it is perfectly normal and okay. She also said that kids all learn to walk and talk at different ages, so it's normal for kids to learn to put themselves to sleep at different ages. Two things with which I have major problems:

1) Most kids learn to walk around one year, give or take a few months. Most kids have a certain number of words and speaking skills by around their second birthday. Pediatricians use these milestones as indicators of healthy growth and development. So saying that a 5 year old in kindergarten that doesn't know how to put herself to sleep is just "falling in the normal spectrum of development, just like walking and talking" is not the same.

2) It's absolute nonsense to compare sleeping to walking and talking, if you're also saying that it's normal for parents to be putting their child to sleep long after pediatricians agree the child has the ability to put itself to sleep. Once a baby can walk, do the parents prevent him from walking? Once a toddler has the ability to talk, do the parents tell her she is not allowed to talk? It's not likely. So, once a child has the ability to put itself to sleep, why not let it?! I find it terribly frustrating.

Citations forthcoming. I let Bear's mom borrow the book and I have to get it back from her so I can return it to the library. Some of the stuff is really interesting, like the idea of making a bedtime chart, or a bedtime story with your child as the main character ("First Susie brushes her teeth! Then she gets her jammies on. Then she reads a story with Daddy, and then she gets in bed, closes her eyes, and goes to sleep until morning."), but not necessarily applicable to the younger toddler. But, a whole lot of her logic is complete garbage.

Anyway, this is all just a fancy way of saying I think that kids should be given the treatment that corresponds with their age, treatment that includes respecting autonomy, and also having certain expectations about actions (cleaning up toys, feeding self, walking instead of carrying). Having Bear an average of 4 times a week now and working really hard on those things has really helped him be better behaved and happier, and I'm much less frustrated, too. Easy for me to do all these things, I get to go home at the end of a day to a house filled with sharp table corners, gate-free stairs, and under-sink cabinets that are full of chemicals and have no locks on the doors.

a treatise on toddler sleep and helicopter parenting

It is May! Today I ate a banana. I learned that it is sad to ruin your fancy $4 delicious latte by accidentally dumping way too much sugar in it. I find the smell of carrot juice borderline revolting.

Okay, that's out of the way.

Tonight is my last night with Dave Jr, which is sad, but also great, because I am so tired of traipsing all the way across town for an hour for what usually ends up being $50 and then traipsing all the way back for an hour. Instead I am going to have Biebzbear all day Wednesdays from now on, in addition to all day Mondays and Tuesdays, and every other Sunday night, and the occasional date night. So really I am making more money and not going insane.

I am coming to understand Bear's parents, and therefore Bear, a little better. So, Bear still takes a bottle to go down for sleeping times, and is not putting himself to sleep. So, I have been giving him his bottle in the glider, and then putting him in his crib awake but drowsy, and then rubbing his back 'til he falls asleep for at least 5 months, and lately he's started actively trying to keep himself awake by wiggling his feet, even if his eyes are slamming shut like nobody's business. It took him until 9:30pm to go to sleep last Tuesday evening, so I kind of casually asked Bear's mom if they have a plan to teach him how to sleep on his own. She agreed that they need to do something differently, because he has been giving them trouble, too, both for naps and night time.

Sunday night they told me, "so we're not really spending much time rocking him after he finishes his bottle..." and then explained that they are giving him not 8oz that I have been giving him, but 16oz of whole milk, while in the glider, and then burping him, then standing up and rocking him in their arms until he falls asleep, then putting him in his crib, at which point he wakes up a little, so they rub his back until he falls back asleep. Yes, they are burping an 18-month-old. I understand that burping is totally a bonding thing, sure! go ahead, burp your baby as long as you want! but I genuinely believe that this is the parents not wanting their baby to grow up, and so unconsciously pretending that he isn't. He's not a baby anymore, he's a toddler. yes, he still wears a diaper, and he's not talking yet, but the dude is almost three feet tall, and is already 30+ pounds.

I don't want to tell his parents that they're doing anything wrong, because, well, they're not. they should raise Bear however they see fit, and if that means giving him a bottle and rubbing his back until he falls asleep on the night of his senior prom, go ahead (ohhh I'm a bitch). I'm worried that they don't realize that he doesn't need these things, like bottles and baby food, and that they don't realize that everyone's lives would be happier without those things. I'm not going to be the one to sleep train him, that is not my place or my job, and it's going to have to be his parents doing it anyway.

But I have started doing things that will hopefully make it easier when his parents are ready. Instead of giving him 8oz of whole milk to go down for his nap, I cut 2oz of whole milk with 6oz of water, which he has been drinking 3oz of (probably because he thinks it's disgusting) and then going to sleep just fine. My goal is to get him eventually to straight water in a bottle, then move to a sippy cup. We've been doing a routine of the same four books before every naptime, and I've been working on telling him "It's time to go to sleep now," which I know he understands.

People keep telling me "oh you're going to be the best mom ever because you know so much." Yes, I read parenting blogs and books and all that, and when it comes to things like sleep training, I will understand generally how to do it and when to do it and why to do it better than someone who has had no experience with babies ever. But I am afraid of putting FutureSpawn into a little box of "you have to be sleep trained by x month" and "you will not receive bottles after y week because this is what I read in a book and also my experience with z baby" and I don't think that's right either. Since I have never been an amateur parent (I joke that I am a professional parent), I think it is probably very difficult to find the perfect balance of advice vs trial and error. So, FutureSpawn, I'm sorry, but I'll try my best.

Schnappi schnappi schnapp.

I've introduced BiebzBear to Schnappi, which we have been watching 4+ times a day. he has been so whiny lately to go outside but because he likes to throw himself off of stairs and other tall things, trips outside are still kind of stressful for me, so I try to manage them accordingly.

The gym is kicking me soundly in the butt. Three weeks ago I went to a zumba class for the first time, and while I almost died in the first five minutes (seriously I looked at the clock and assumed 30 minutes had passed, but it had been FIVE minutes), I loved the teacher and was psyched to come back the following week. But then there was a substitute teacher! who sucked and I don't like his style at all, and he said that the regular teacher would be back but then she hasn't been back, the sub was there yesterday. boo. Anyway also my gym offers 15-minute ab classes every 45 minutes during peak hours, and on Tuesday I was all, "oh I'll do that it's only 15 minutes it can't be so bad." but then it was actually really really REALLY difficult. I still haven't been able to get my abs to relax, but at least they weren't in pain for the first 18 hours or so. But I got it in my head that even though I was still feeling the burn from Tuesday evening's ab class, I'd go to zumba at noon on Wednesday. The class taught by the sub is maybe a third of the workout that the regular teacher provides, so, I figured I would be fine.

I have never ever been able to say "I hurt in places I didn't even know I had" until now. My obliques light on fire every time I move any part of my body. What I can clearly identify as my teres major and lats are all "um don't do that" when I think about lifting my arms. I could barely sleep at all last night, because every time I would get stiff and have to move, which was more often than normal, the fire pain woke me up. it did not occur to me to take advil until this morning, somehow. so, I guess I learned my lesson about underestimating my gym and overestimating how much my body can do.

Last night I was craving Mongolian grill more than almost anything in the world, and so I went to the new place on my street. It was fine but it was $12 and NOT unlimited and didn't have water chestnuts.

omg I just sneezed and I think I've blown away the analgesic effects completely because everything is on fire again

Yebben Ate Nine

April! I joined a gym yesterday, that is a new thing! And then I promptly left my ID there. Cat bath karma, curse you!

Then I was almost 30 minutes late to Bee's house this morning, about which I feel terrible. Traffic sucks. Bee and I made Play-doh cupcakes, which left me craving real cupcakes all day.

In the cupcake vein, on Wednesday Dave Jr got to have a bit of cupcake for dessert, and then when he was finished he promptly asked for more pineapple, which he had been eating before his cupcake. I suggested that he have more "mac-cheese" as well, which he accepted. He's a good boy.

I am somehow getting more attached to the Baby Biebz, which I suppose is not surprising, considering I spend the vast majority of my time with him every month, and he seems to be growing less and less annoying. I really do spend a lot of time with him, three times as much time as my next closest family. Though Stellina's dad is starting a 6-week trial next Monday, so I will also be spending a bunch of time with them! I am super excited.

I ran into Stellina and Space Monkey and their mom today on my way home, and they all seem to be doing well. the tiny peanut is still very tiny, and Stellina is getting closer and closer to being completely potty-trained (when did she turn into a little girl!!? also, I am surprised at how proud I am of her for potty-training), and loves loves loves school.

Tomorrow morning I have the 3 horsechildren of the apocalypse, starting at 8:30am, gahhh. I haven't seen them since Christmas, so it will be fun to see them again, but I'm sure also stressful. Zannah has a soccer game so we'll all get to traipse over there. Speaking of growing up, she turns NINE in August. Prince Phillip will be six next month. SIX! and he doesn't even pronounce it "yix" anymore! Though I do sometimes, just for fun. I grew accustomed to his strange language and some words I particularly enjoyed. Yuper, obviously, I say that a lot, instead of super. Bootiwool (beautiful) is another good one. And yix and yebben instead of six and seven are good ones too.

I could write an entire post just on how funny it is to hear kids count when they are first learning their numbers. Big likes to count "one two six!" and for a while Stellina thought that fourteen was the biggest number there was, so whenever she wanted as much as possible of something (ie grapes, crackers) she asked for fourteen.

Last night I had a dream that the baby lions and the baby gorillas had escaped from the zoo and were running around near the freeway by the airport. I thought it was dumb of the zoo to put a tree near the fence that had branches hanging over, so that the gorillas could just climb out on a limb and drop onto the other side of the fence. I think the baby lions dug under the fence? They were running around like maniacs, and one ran me over. It was not as traumatizing as I expected.

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum*

It is spring! My handsome man cat is allowed outside now, with adult supervision. Today and yesterday he spent a bunch of time fiercely hunting stalks of grass and then triumphantly devoured his prey. He then helped me select some excellent pieces to harvest and bring inside for his sister, and creepily watched her while she nommed them all gone.

Yesterday I made these tasty puffs! They are very dense and there is quite a bit of shortening in them, but they are super yummy. I fully intend to mess with the recipe to make them lighter and less full-of-shortening.

My phone is acting stupid again, though a few weeks ago I finally updated my OS, in hopes that would resolve all of its freezing issues. It is even worse now. And of course because I am not the account holder at AT&T, I am not authorized to do anything on the phone with them. NOTHING. but having the account holder call will do no good, because how is he supposed to know what's wrong with my phone? Stupid stupid.

Here is a photo of the baby lions at the zoo.



*"Don't let the bastards grind you down," from Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale

Whatever the Mess You Are

Yesterday I did not get quite as many things done from my list as I would have liked! This is what I accomplished :

+ put shoes away! this only took me three days! wooo

+ check Mint.com, which is still suffering from lack of communication with Bank of America, which is making me very very sad. A week without my Mint.com account is leaving me with frantic energy that is generally targeted toward obsessive budgeting and financial planning, and presently seems to be channeling toward making to-do lists every second possible. Not a bad thing, but it's making the lists seem to never end.

+ make awesome playlists for quiet focus time and energy focus time. This included buying too much/never enough trashy pop music on iTunes yesterday, and also rediscovering how much really awesome classical music I have.

+ look up dance class schedules for LP'oh11. it turns out there is also ballet at my neighborhood studio on Saturday and Sunday!

+ catch up on Teen Mom 2 and 9ine. I am currently obsessed with teen pregnancy and parenting. I could not possibly begin to explain why. TM2 has this trainwreck aspect with some of the moms, but some of the stories are seem so incredibly genuine that I often find myself being really moved by the end of the episode. Also, trashy TV! So great.

+ Buy plane tickets to home for May. This is one of the reasons I wish that Mint would resume communication with Bank of America, so I can figure out how that $877.60 is going to affect my monthly budgets. Booooo. Yay for a trip home!

So now I have to rearrange the to-do list and probably start a new one, because this crazy budgeting energy needs to go somewhere.

Yesterday I stopped at 7Eleven on the way back from the bank and left with three Cadbury creme eggs! SPRING.

Flamingos in Siberia

Here is a really excellent story about flamingos in Siberia: locals mystified.

One time Baby Biebz and I were sitting in the kitchen playing with Tupperware, and I was bored, so I got out my phone and opened my music player, and played that stupid terrible fantastic Train song, Hey Soul Sister, which, as I suspected might happen, Biebz loooved. Yes I have that song on my phone, it just happens to be a really great song to wake up to in the morning. Shut up. Anyway, I did the same thing the next time we did Tupperware time, because it's hilarious to see Biebzbear dancing.

So now, every time the little dude sees my phone, he starts dancing, which I figure is a cue that he wants to hear that stupid song. And then when I play it, he immediately runs to the kitchen and brings me Tupperware. Have I classically conditioned him!? I think when he wakes up from his nap this afternoon, I will try playing a different song on the phone, and see if he does the Tupperware thing. I have some pretty excellent Neko Case on my phone, it's just not as conducive to adorable babydancing as the stupid excellent Train song.

Speaking of my phone and Baby Bieber Bear, I took some pretty excellent photographs last night of him chowing down on delicious black beans from the tasty Salvadoran place at Eastern Market. They're pretty much the only grown-up food he will eat, besides muffins. Anyway, he was funny with food all over his face. Alas, I believe in internet-anonymity for children who are not mine, and honestly if I had children I would believe in internet-anonymity for them as well, so I will not post these excellent photographs! SUCKS TO BE YOU, INTERNET.

Yesterday I didn't do any of the things that I said I would do except take my vitamins! I did that. I did not put shoes away or make my bed, because I got distracted by the internet and went to bed an hour early, which was pretty great. Today I will try harder! because today is a different day than yesterday.

I have a combination of Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" and Jamie Foxx's "Blame It feat. T-Pain" stuck in my head. The former because of a friend's G-Chat status, the latter because I am in the process of downloading trashy pop music for motivation. I do not think these two would make a very good mash-up.

No Space Monkey yet! soon, soon, a Space Monkey will come.

Come By Here

February sucked. March is doing okay, I guess. For a few days I was completely insane, crying at the drop of a hat and wanting to break things. Then I had a tiny mini-vacation day where I got to eat sushi, and frozen yogurt with mochi, and a nummy pastry, and I got my nails did, and I have been mostly better since then. Also, it turns out that getting manicures is awkward, and considering I messed mine up in 4 places within fifteen minutes, I don't believe I am built for it. This is fine. It was pretty effective in getting my hands to stop shaking post-doctor appointment.

Imminent Space Monkey is still Imminent, getting more and more so every day. Stellina went through a week where she was terrified of baby brudder and didn't want to see her mom, but now she is back to checking brudder's room every night before bed to make sure everything is in order. Due date isn't until the 18th, but I guess babby could come anytime between now and then. New Babbies! They are so great.

BiebzBear is either growing out of his annoying-as-hell stage, or I am getting more tolerant, and I think it is both. I have been reading lots of parenting books which I think is helping with my ability to understand why he does the annoying shit that he does, and/or to change things so he doesn't do them. I spend most of my time with him, now, usually 20-25 hours a week.

I seem to have picked up a church gig now at a small Methodist congregation in Arlington. It is fine. They pay me decently for minimum-impact work, though they have a 10:30am Sunday service - 9:30 call time is so early! Hymns and simple anthems are fine but I desperately miss singing in Latin and I miss singing early music and I miss singing anything challenging. The choir members are mostly older folks, with two other paid youngsters like me, and everyone is really friendly and nice. But Methodists are weird, and also this church is in the middle of nowhere. If I could find a Catholic or Episcopal church that was easier to get to and wanted to pay me to sing for them in a slightly more professional choir, I would miss my friendly little Methodists, but I would be less bored. In rehearsal yesterday we started working on a simple Thomas Tallis piece, which made me miss early music in a way I never thought I would.

Speaking of church, I am planning to do a Lent project. I seem to do okay when I have projects to accomplish, with little steps and an end-date, and not so well when I have a giant amorphous "do this until you are done with it" assignment. So I am going to try to exercise every day from Ash Wednesday to Easter, I guess with Sundays off?, in some manner or another. I am hoping it will help with my general lethargy and low energy/motivation levels, since it really couldn't get much worse. However, because I believe that running is for chumps, I am tasked with coming up with better ideas for exercise. I am thinking lots of dance classes and bicycle (impending warmer weather = a huge plus for bicycle), and maybe I'll find a yoga class even though I do not like yoga, or do a trial membership at a gym or something. Also, I hate running not only because it sucks and it's for chumps only, but also I can never get my iPod headphones to stay in my ears just while I'm walking, let alone running. What is the solution to this! Are there excellent running headphones out there that anyone knows? Also are there good exercise ideas?

Anyway, Lenten Project Oh-Eleven. I don't know if it will work and maybe it won't, but I will try. I am bored and I can never get anything done. I feel like I am always trying to play catch-up with myself. I can never make any positive progress because my room is never clean, and I can never clean my room because I have too many things to do, and I can't do those things because I am at work or sleeping.

When I first started watching Stellina I used to marvel at how Stellina's mom kept her house so impeccably clean with a such little kid. It didn't take long for me to realize that her secret, I guess, is that she never lets herself get behind in the stuff she has to do. StellinaMom keeps their days so regimented that everything always gets done when it needs to get done: laundry, dishes, wiping down all non-porous surfaces, putting away toys. Stellina's up at 6:30 or 7, lunch is at 12, nap is from 1 to 3, dinner is at 6:30, bathtime at 7:15, in bed at 8. Scheduling gets harder, of course, now that Stellina is the Queen of Stalling. Stall-ina, haha, get it. She also refuses to use toothpaste, what's up with that!? She and I discussed why, and she said, "Because it's too blue." A likely story.

Back to always playing catch-up. Every task I ever have always seems just a tiny bit out of hand. Too much laundry, too many shoes to put away, too much floor to sweep. It's so much easier to get in the bed and stay there for three hours, until it's time to find food and then get back in bed for the nighttime sleeping. I almost wish for a fresh start but I think that would require moving, and not only does moving REALLY suck, it never quite seems to be a fresh start, because I'm always running out of packing/moving time, so I put everything in boxes as quickly as possible. Then on the other side I'm just unpacking boxes of crap that I don't know what to do with, and then I still have the same piles of crap that I had in my old residence. I think what I need is two days where I can mega-dose with speed, I mean... caffeine? and do all my cleaning that I could ever possibly need to do, and everything else I've been avoiding, and then a mini-vacation, and then I can manage to have a mini-fresh start and be happy. And I can do my best to channel StellinaMom and never get behind in small, daily tasks.

Why does my happiness depend on how clean my living space is?!

week 1

Many things to do before my sister comes to visit! Things include make/eat soup, keep BiebzBear alive, ride bicycle, go to doctor, clean house, make delicion plans, and magically make the weather into warm spring. which it is today! And I am not outside, of course.

Baby Bieber has been asleep for an hour and a half, which is excellent, but at 15 months, 33 inches, and 31 pounds, he is still not putting himself to sleep. It doesn't even really work to let him cry it out in his crib, because he either hasn't figured out that he needs to lie down to go to sleep, or he has figured out that if he stands up long enough someone will come in and probably pick him up (uh... latter). So, he stands in the corner and cries until he nods off, but then because he's standing he wakes himself up and starts screaming again.

I don't quite know how to tell his parents "your child should probably be putting himself to sleep by now, especially because he is way too big to hold and rock/bounce while trying to get him to fall asleep," because no one wants to be told by a 20-something how to raise his/her child, especially when that 20-something doesn't necessarily know what she's talking about. But I am pretty sure that 15 month olds should be putting themselves to sleep. I'm also pretty sure that the extinction method, letting him cry it out, will not ever work. I think that if parents are going to do that it has to be done and finished before the baby can pull up in the crib, which is usually around 10 months or so?

It drives me crazy that he doesn't put himself to sleep. The only other baby I know that wasn't putting himself to sleep at 15 months was Captain Bananio, and he is 2 and a half and STILL doesn't put himself to sleep (however, at 2.5, CB still doesn't weigh as much as BB does right now). I hope it is not a lost cause.
Here is what Lance Armstrong has to say on the matter. What!

The end of New Things November.

Well, since I kind of sucked at finishing the month of New Things, here are some more new things happened recently.

I went to a Harris Teeter! I had never been to a Harris Teeter before. It is fancy. I haven't been to the brand new HT by my house, which I imagine is fancy x3. They have delicious bread there.

I decided to buy a new dress, that is great, it is a great dress, and possibly these shoes too, and I can do this because,

It looks like I am picking up a third full day of babbysits, with a babby I had about a year and a half ago for a couple of months. But now he is 20 months old, and has an 8 week old sister. So... that will be a LOT of work, but will be at least 500 extra a month, hopefully a little more, because two kids under two is going to be totally nuts.

Anyway because of that and because of the extra moneys I am making this month singing in church etc., I will be able to afford new dress, and some other stuff, and also be able to pay off my entire credit card in a month instead of the year I had budgeted, and then I will also be able to pay my loan faster! HAPPY WINTER, ME.

I'm watching this week's SNL, Paul McCartney is the musical guest. His guitarist looks like a weird blond Steven Tyler.

I think I'm too afraid to see this movie.

RIP Orange and Blue. Thanks for the tasty noms.

A few new things about Stellina:
New Baby Brudder Space Monkey is at 27 weeks now, which means he weighs two pounds, I guess? He is due in about 12 weeks, which of course is when their dad has just been assigned a two week trial. Stellina is moving into her new big girl bed when they get back from Mekik (Mexico), and her new big girl bed has these sheets, which Stellina picked out herself, and are insanely cute. Baby girl has a sense of humor these days; when she was taking a bath the other day she kept calling the mirror the bathtub, and the bathtub a mirror, and thought she was insanely hilarious for it, which she was. She also really hates toothpaste.

I'm thinking of a 2011 blog project, because I like having projects. It would be a weekly thing, so there would be 52 of them, but I don't know what. My cousin writes about albums every week on his BookFace. I like the Dark Days project of cooking. I like the doing new things, and I like the learning new things. Suggestions?

New Things November-ish: Saturday the 34th of November

Some awesome New Things today! I went to IHOP.

AND IT WAS AWESOME.

LET ME TELL YOU.

It was extreem awesome. But there was a 45 minute wait, so first we had bloody marys and that was even more awesome!

(I have been to IHOP before, just not the brand new one in DC, so ... this is kind of a New Thing.)

Then I watched the most of a football game that I have ever watched! I watched a whole three quarters, before I had to leave for working times. It was great fun, except for the leaving. ALSO THE DUCKS WON... AGAIN. Woooo

Lastly, I let Stellina stay up WAY past her bedtime and watch an entire Sesame Street with me, because I was lonely, and I love her. We ate Honey Nut Cheerios together. We discussed her new big girl bed, which she is getting tomorrow, so that her old crib can be used for New Baby Space Monkey when he comes in March. We discussed her artwork on her brand new easel that she got for Hannukah, and we discussed how they learned about yelling in school yesterday (?!?!?), and we discussed how she had chicken for dinner, and we discussed how her haircut looks really fantastic. I've never been the cool babysitter and let kids stay up past bedtime, mostly because there is no point in letting kids under 2 stay up late, it only causes destruction and badness. Hopefully she will sleep late in the morning and give her mom and dad a break. Shhh.

Sunday is the last day of this past week, which I have lived through somehow. I don't know what happens tomorrow. Monday I have Baby Biebz from 9 to 5 and then the three horsechildren of the apocalypse (Zannah, Prince Philip, and Captain Bananio) from 6 until late???, and then the same thing again on Tuesday. So yes, I'll make bank between those two days. but I do not plan on being happy about it.

New Things November-ish: Friday the 33rd of November

Um, I ate some jalepeño chips today? I had never really done that before, and they were delicious.

A new thing I learned was how to make this: ñ!!!!!

New Things November-ish: Thursday the 32nd of November

I am in my fifth year in DC now (woah) and have never spent a significant amount of time at Gallery Place in Chinatown. I have been to the movie theater once and I have been to the bar once but I had never been to the fancy schmancy bowling alley there.

I have my thoughts about bowling, mostly that I hate doing it. I like hanging out at the bowling alley and drinking and eating and watching other people bowl, and I like saying "Fuck it, Dude, let's go bowling" all the time. I like giving other people high fives when they get strikes and spares and I like making fun of Capital R when he mixes his sports metaphors and says "I really need to strike out on this next frame." I think I don't like bowling for the same reason I don't like goldfish crackers; bowling and goldfish were both forced upon me too much as a child. I also really don't like when the idiot guys are like "oh yeah, that was a good one but next time you have to keep your angle straight and you have to pull the ball back just like this and you have to put spin blah blah I'm a douchebag who just likes women to think I know what I'm talking about." Also I am bad at bowling, and have no desire to improve.

I had a fun time, even though I had eaten too many pad thai (WAY TOO MANY) and my tummy hurt a lot. But it was because I got to watch instead of having to actually bowl, except for one frame, when one of the people we were with went away to get more drinks, but then a douchebag told me what I did wrong, and so I sat back down and resolved to never bowl again unless I change my mind, because I hate it, and I don't have to do something that I don't want to do.

Also even though it was fun, it was a bowling alley with a dress code, which I think is really stupid.

This has been my rant against bowling. ICE SKATING, LET'S DO THAT, BECAUSE I LIKE IT.

New Things November-ish: Wednesday the 1st (the 31st of November)

A lot of the new things involve new eating places, which is good, because there are so many eating places. Today Capital R and his friend (the one who says things that make me roll my eyes a LOT) and I went to a different pho place than the one that is in DC that we have been to before. It was tasty, and I lol'ed a lot at the two boys, and I also schooled them at eating all the pho.

And now I am superhero.

ALSO a new place! A new bike shop, which has the DUMBEST website for being a really awesome store. Both Capital R and his stupid/hilarious friend used to work there, so I got to meet all the people. S/H Friend introduced me as Capital R's "girl," which I don't know if that is correct or not, but that is a new thing. I have never been introduced as someone's "girl" before. I think I am no one's girl, except for maybe my momma's. In any case, all the people were really nice, and there were some INSANE bikes, really ridiculous stuff, and there is a guy working there who is apparently the God of Bikes, and he was kind of awkward, as I expect that the God of Bikes would be.

New Things November: Saturday the 27th

There are about a million bars on my street, and I have not been to quite a few of them. So last night we went to a Place Where I Had Never Been! I did not have their coffee I only had their whiskey and their live music and their dancing to their reggae(??!). There were a lot of white people there who couldn't dance so we spent a lot of time on the couch watching the white people.

Then we went to pie, and I ate pie, and it was all gone within a few steps of the pie store because I was the God of Pie, and I was unstoppable.