3.31.2015

displaced

We're moving, and most of our furniture is in storage. Kiddo was granted snacktime and ran into the living room.

"I'm gonna sit on the COUCH! [Pause] I'm gonna sit on the floor."

3.30.2015

Denominated

Kiddo asks me to name things, and she always rejects my first suggestion.

A plastic gorilla:
Me: Silverback?
Her: No, that's not a good name.
Me: Muscles?
Her: Yes.

A spongy owl:
Me: Whoobert?
Her: No, that's not a good name.
Me: Wingifred?
Her: Yes.

The two princesses on the front of the off-brand pull-ups:
Me: Peas and Carrots?
Her: No, that's not a good name.
Me: Thelma and Louise?
Her: Yes.

Incidentally, Peas and Carrots actually stuck, so I get a story about Peas and Carrots's adventures nightly.

2.17.2015

Review: As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride


As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Charming, and exactly what you would expect.



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Review: Watchmen


Watchmen
Watchmen by Alan Moore

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I'm just plain bad at reading graphic novels (it's hard for me to see the text and the illustration at the same time), which hinders my enjoyment. I liked it all right, but I thought a lot of the parallelism was heavy-handed, and there are no likable characters. I like clarity and resolution in my fiction, so this just wasn't really for me.

On the pro- side: I'm told it's historically important as a comic book/graphic novel, and it did hold my attention. I wanted to know what would happen; but then when I did, I didn't care for what happened.

Also, preschoolers are pretty intrigued by books with naked blue guys in them.



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2.11.2015

Miss Mason Regrets

Me: We're not going to check that one out.
Her: Why?
Me: It's twaddle.
Her: I like twaddle.

1.15.2015

Fakir

Her: I can't feel my car seat.
Me: So you're saying you're just floating there?
Her: Yeah.
Me: When did you learn to levitate?
Her: Three months ago.

1.13.2015

kitchen stuff

Kiddo wanted strawberry cake with vanilla ice cream for her birthday. I used this recipe, which was one of the few I could find that didn't use flavorings or Jell-O. The strawberry flavor was subtle but good, and without food coloring, it wasn't really pink. I put vanilla in the whipping cream and stabilized it with gelatin.

Blackberry ice cream was good, but frozen seeds are pretty bad.

I made a chicken-posole stew that turned out well. What I did is below, but I would change a few things. Canned tomatoes in the beginning instead of salsa at the end. No cream. Brown the chicken and onions first. Use chicken broth. Maybe cook the chicken thighs whole and shred them; bone-in would have better flavor, but remove skin.

1 lb. fresh posole
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup chopped, roasted green chile
Water
1/4 cup cream
3/4 cup salsa

In a low slow-cooker, simmer posole in enough water to cover for an hour, until it has popped." Add chicken, onion, chile, more water if needed. Keep slow cooker on low for four more hours.

Add cream and salsa before serving. Garnish with more salsa, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, green onions, avocados.

1.09.2015

Shapes

Favorite sentence of the day:

Gwab dat purpoh twapezoid.

1.06.2015

Stop asking me that

Why not
Because
[offstage] WHY? WHY?!
Because... I can't answer that question.
OKAY.

Why did you say why
Because I was pretending to be you, and you say why a lot
Why do I say why
That's your developmental phase
Yeah

1.05.2015

Backfired

From the backseat at hour 16 (of 24) of our drive home from Grandma's:

"I'm being good! I gave [6-month-old] some of my cheese crackers."