Scenes from the Sidewalk

HF went on a hunting venture with a local friend and fellow Granite Stater, Scott, and they met up with "Uncle Dan" Dibiase from Pasadena. (He and Rebecca had a new baby girl, Elsie, in early December but we haven't even met her yet... Dying to.) On the way home the Landcruiser began acting up, prompting an all-day-Saturday investigation in what was ailing it. HF seems to have fixed it - prevailed against his fear that it was a transmission problem.

On the same day, the starter went on the Scherreis' van, leaving Chuck out front with an arsenal of tools and HF's ramps. Automotive woes on the street...! Photo evidence of the afternoon, which amused me...

(Happily, Kim finished her chemotherapy in early December and now has a much more manageable course of herceptin treatments (once every three weeks) for the spring. She's doing much better, though still very tired, and her hair is even growing back!)

Leaving no child inside...

In theory, this is the Pray Creek West motto (though the realities of life with napping babies and a 1000 sq foot yard sometimes make this a challenge in our current locale):

A few recent photos depicting the essence of this... Field, leaves, and stream.

Addicted to Alouette

In September we cut off our TV cable. We so enjoyed a quiet, television-free week in Maine after Labor Day without it - the nights feeling longer and the peace feeling fuller - that we decided to go cold turkey. We get Netflix, rent movies, and watch TV on our laptop now when the viewing urge strikes us. It's been a good change for us. HF and I have been reading books aloud together by the fire, even. (Currently Folks, This Ain't Normal by his favorite, Joel Sallatin.) Great addition to our evenings.

One effect has been that the kids more frequently rent DVD's at the library, and a slightly wider range. This month they got their hands on the old Tom & Jerry, which they adore. This episode with a rendition of the old French song Alouette has been a special favorite. The tune is addictive, and we all sing it continually now. We can't get it out of our heads. Suddenly we're newbie francophiles, all.

This led us to look up the song and its meaning. Turns out its about plucking body parts off a dead skylark. Who knew?!

Paper doll pals

A sweet four-year old lives at our house who adores paper dolls, and I mean ADORES. She asks to make them nearly dearly, carries them around once made, talks to them, and has strong feelings about their attire. The funny part is that she prefers directing others in creation to actually decorating them herself. She's happy to do the embellishments, but really her interest is project managing the fashion component.

Here's a darling chain Roo and I created together this morning to her delight (mostly me, but completely at her direction) while her dad and brother were out hunting:

Just juicing

Last summer two other girls and I decided to meet once a month to discuss and provide accountability for our writing endeavors. Both are freelance to part-time writers who publish relatively frequently as part of their "profession;" I am the only one of the three coming to writing from an entirely different field. It's been a fun, interesting, and fruitful enterprise for all three of us, and the accountability in an otherwise individualized enterprise is great. My mothering blog's new look and name is one result of my involvement. Another is my increased involvement (and professionalism) through LinkedIn which has helped with two new consulting relationships in the past few months.

One of the girls, Kate, is a contributing blogger to Mommies With Style and often has the opportunity to do product reviews as part of that gig. In December she advised the other two of us that she was reviewing high-end juicers, and ten were being given away through the blog. A few of my friends are regular and enthusiastic juicers, and HF and I were interested in trying it out.

So good news for us: we won one. And have joined the ranks of the daily juicers out there. Quite an education! Every morning HF mans the machine, the kids assist, and I get to imbibe the product with the rest of the gang. At this point we're pretty hooked.

New Year's crawler

The mouse's New Year resolution is to become the best human dustmop ever. She's been crawling quite proficiently now for about 2 weeks. Look out world! (And mom.)