Thank you venerable Presidents Washington and Lincoln for being born so close on the calendar that the government consolidated the days into one federal holiday.
Thank you ARAG my wonderful employer who selected this day as a paid holiday.
I'd also like to thank the Norwalk school district for holding classes as scheduled today so this Mom could enjoy an actual day off to do whatever she pleases.
The fact that this day off involves vacuuming, laundry, repairing a hole in a shirt, grocery shopping and fixing dinner is okay. I will accomplish all of this and maybe more before I go to bed tonight with multiple hours of peace and quiet where no one will ask me a question, request food or bother me for anything at all.
I will start the day tomorrow refreshed, patient, feeling accomplished.
On the other hand, maybe I'll just lay in bed and watch tv in my pjs all day. Yeah, that sounds more like it.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Tonight, the second to last night of 2012, the girls are watching a movie upstairs, my husband is playing cards with friends, the dog is stretched out on the chair and I am half-watching tv, half-perusing the internet.
Last night, two of our nephews spent the night. They happily played with legos, ate pizza, colored, watched a movie, devoured pancakes, ran circles around the kitchen, ate lunch and went home. The younger of the two fell asleep in the car on the way back to his house. Just how we like them, full bellies and exhausted.
It has been a good year. We have welcomed a brother-in-law and four nieces to our ever-expanding family and said goodbye to a dear family friend after a painful - and thankfully - short battle with cancer.
We welcome 2013 without any negativity, with only good thoughts and plans, with happy, healthy hearts and a good balance for life.
Last night, two of our nephews spent the night. They happily played with legos, ate pizza, colored, watched a movie, devoured pancakes, ran circles around the kitchen, ate lunch and went home. The younger of the two fell asleep in the car on the way back to his house. Just how we like them, full bellies and exhausted.
It has been a good year. We have welcomed a brother-in-law and four nieces to our ever-expanding family and said goodbye to a dear family friend after a painful - and thankfully - short battle with cancer.
We welcome 2013 without any negativity, with only good thoughts and plans, with happy, healthy hearts and a good balance for life.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Our dear sweet darling seven year old has asked some hard questions lately.
Why do they bury people in clothes?
Because an open casket at a funeral would be really weird if the person that died was naked. (laugh) Funerals aren’t really so much for the person that had died as the people that are left behind. It helps people feel a little bit better about someone dying and having to bury someone they love if they know that the person is buried in a certain sweater that they really liked. It’s kind of the last picture in their minds they will have of the person that died. We talked about the high school girl in a nearby town that had been very sick. When she died, she was buried in her dance uniform and it probably helped the people that loved her know that she was buried wearing something that she really loved and was happy when she danced.
Why would someone spend thousands of dollars just to bury someone? ‘Cause in “Nanny McPhee” the dad puts dead people in clothes. (in the movie, the dad is a mortician)
Well, there are rules about where and how a person can be buried. Kind of like when you build a house, the basement has to be put in the ground in a certain way so that the dirt around it doesn’t have any problems and the basement is protected. Burying people is the same kind of idea. The state requires certain kinds of containers to protect the body and the dirt around it. Remember, that there are different ways to bury people. You can use a casket or you can cremate the body – which, remember is a really hot fire that turns the body (and the clothes) into ashes like a campfire. If you have someone cremated, you can bury the ashes and will have to follow some of the same rules as burying a casket. You can also put the ashes in a pretty box or vase and keep it in your house. Remember, at Rob & Teresa’s house they have a pretty container with the ashes of their dog that died and was cremated. “that’s kind of creepy” “yes, it is”
Is Santa real? ‘Cause my friends say that it’s just your parents buying stuff. (after the approximately 15th time she has asked this question in the last month and we’re waiting in the driveway because we can hear sirens in the distance of the fire truck that takes Santa around our little town – which we must have missed because we could hear but not see the fire truck)
Oh, honey. I know this isn’t what you want to hear - no Santa is not real. A very long time ago in Europe there was a man named Nicholas who gave things to people who were not able to buy them. It became a tradition that people surprised others with gifts that could not buy them for themselves. And that became a tradition of showing people how much you care about them by surprising them with a gift. Santa is an idea, it is a happy tradition of love and giving that was started a very long time ago, and when people moved from Europe to our country they brought the tradition along. It is a way for family and friends to give presents to the people they care about. It is a way to give to people charity where the people receiving might be embarrassed that they need help – and the people giving want to be able to show their love and how much they care about people. Remember when we bought the toy for my work? It’s going to a family that cannot afford to buy their children presents so we kind of got to be Santa for that family. It is also important to keep the tradition going and not spoil the surprise for other people. I named off some younger cousins and explained that it’s really nice to be surprised so to make sure and keep the tradition going – that it is a part of being a family.
Just when I think, why doesn’t Erik get some of these hard questions? She came up with “Where do babies come from, how do they get made, really?” for him in the car after school and he was trapped.
Erik handled this one with a rather scientific description and she seemed okay with the answer – for now. Hopefully that will hold her for awhile - who knows when she’ll want more information on the subject.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Raising daughters, raising Mom
How do you know if you are giving the right information? How do you know if your kind, sweet, smart, lovely pre-teen daughter is giving you the right information?
What do I wish that I had heard at her age from friends, family, teachers? What does she want to hear from me?
How do I know that she is making friends with the 'right' girls? How does she know?
This parenting thing is hard, and it's getting harder. The late night feedings and diaper changes were hard but this is new territory. When a baby wakes in the night, you go through the drill, is she: wet, dry, hungry, sick, lonely?
The pre-teen sobbies happen anytime day or night and it's a whole new drill, and the list of possibilities is much different, is she: upset, happy, sad, mad, frustrated, tired, hungry? What is the source, school, homework, rules, friends, enemies, family, the weather, the dog, her favorite shirt in the laundry, ipod needs charged, out of granola bars and chocolate yogurt again?!
When she was a baby, the routine was: new diaper, bottle, hum a song and rock-rock-rock-rock until you get the heavy, relaxed, sleepy baby feel. Now, it's a big hug, a kleenex, a drink and stand/sit there and listen as long as it takes to calm down and offer a few words of 'wisdom'.
The science fan in me loves this description of tears:
What do I wish that I had heard at her age from friends, family, teachers? What does she want to hear from me?
How do I know that she is making friends with the 'right' girls? How does she know?
This parenting thing is hard, and it's getting harder. The late night feedings and diaper changes were hard but this is new territory. When a baby wakes in the night, you go through the drill, is she: wet, dry, hungry, sick, lonely?
The pre-teen sobbies happen anytime day or night and it's a whole new drill, and the list of possibilities is much different, is she: upset, happy, sad, mad, frustrated, tired, hungry? What is the source, school, homework, rules, friends, enemies, family, the weather, the dog, her favorite shirt in the laundry, ipod needs charged, out of granola bars and chocolate yogurt again?!
When she was a baby, the routine was: new diaper, bottle, hum a song and rock-rock-rock-rock until you get the heavy, relaxed, sleepy baby feel. Now, it's a big hug, a kleenex, a drink and stand/sit there and listen as long as it takes to calm down and offer a few words of 'wisdom'.
The science fan in me loves this description of tears:
“tears are [our] body’s release valve for stress, sadness, grief, anxiety, and frustration…they lubricate your eyes, remove irritants, reduce stress hormones, and they contain antibodies that fight pathogenic microbes.” Dr. Judith Orloff, Psychology Today
The Mom in me reads this description to say, that tears are necessary. Whether your baby is 11 days or 11 1/2 years, they need to let the tears flow.
I'm the first to admit that I'm just winging it here, not really sure what I'm doing or if I'm screwing it all up big-time. The secret of it all is that 'children thrive in spite of their mothers' (Thank you, Grandma Harkin). It's going to be okay if I just wing it, it's okay if I don't have all of the answers. The intent to be a good parent is there, and I try to not screw it up too much. The next 10 years or so are going to be hard on her, hard on me, somedays hard on anyone in earshot.
Friday, May 4, 2012
One of our favorite ways to have dinner as a family is to break out a large platter, fill it with fruit, veggies, cheese, meat, crackers or bread and place it on the ottoman (or outside on the front step). We sit on the floor and dig in, together, no plates, no forks, no tv, no music. Just enjoy the meal and company. I’m not sure if it’s the unorthodox dining method or the location but it makes for an exciting and chatty meal. Maybe it’s that we are all on the floor, at the same level. Katy labeled this event Fruity Friday, even if it’s on a Tuesday. Fruity Friday is typically completed by a rousing edition of “what is” – as in “what is your favorite animal?” “what is the best time of day?” and“what is your favorite color?” We go around the ottoman and usually end up giggling at the answers.
Katy is moving up to the big scary middle school this fall and for the month of May the 5th grade is having a practice run at 6th grade. They have padlocks on their lockers and move from class to class with different children for 4 class periods. With just 4 minutes to get from one class to the next they are carrying books with them and using a bell system for class dismissals. She thinks middle school is exciting and cannot wait to get there. It’s admittedly a little scary for me.
At nearly 7 years old, Miss Gretch has taken to a monkey. It’s a stuffed one that went through a bit of an identity crisis but eventually settled on the name Bananas. Saturday night a sleepy Gretchen came to my bed-side scared of a spidery dream. I told her to go back to bed and try to think about something else and got up to let the dog out. When I walked back upstairs she was in the hallway saying “it didn’t work” so I walked her to bed, tucked her in and explained that monkeys eat spiders and other kinds of bugs so Bananas would protect her. “Oh, okay,” she said dreamily, rolled to her side with Bananas snug under her arm and was suddenly sleeping with a faint smile on her little rosebud mouth.
Between the moments of frustration and repeated directions, of ‘what were you thinking’ and ‘how do you think that makes her feel’ are snapshots of our little family just being. I understand that the frustration and other things that are not fun are part of our family also, but it’s the little moments that I cherish. Sitting around the ottoman having dinner, chatter from the backseat about this friend and that, and quieting a bad dream with the assurance that everything would be alright.
These days are numbered. Gretchen will be 7 next month and Katy turns 11 in June. For years we have teasingly celebrated ‘only 12 more years and they’ll be out of the house!’ around their birthdays. It won’t be long and they’ll turn the table on it and start celebrating how many years until they get to move out.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Guidance
The girls and I had been playing cards last night, a marathon of Go Fish and Uno, and I sent them to get ready for bed at about 8:10. Katy sat back down on our bed and spilled her guts. She had forgotten to finish a project over the weekend, saw the teacher's reaction to another student who also did not finish the project, and was scared and embarrassed at the thought of receiving the same reaction in fron of the entire class. The next morning it would be her turn to describe her project and turn it in. She had not finished the hot list (which sounds like a reference page) and had yet to develop a game to go along with the research topic (turns out there is a software program that will build a crossword or word find puzzle if you enter in the questions and answers - who knew?).
Apparently, there was a substitute for most of last week for this particular teacher and the substitute did not instruct the class to work on the project. I asked about the teacher's reaction to the student who also did not finish the project and she described it through tears.
Part of me wanted to be the Momma Bear and say it wasn't fair, that expecting 10-11 year old children to keep track of the deadline for project during a weeklong absence of their teacher and to take the initiative to complete it outside of class was a bit much. I wanted to berate the teacher for leaving insufficient lesson plans for the substitute, who according to Katy told the students just read each day in this class. That surely if these children are expected to finish the project on their own that the substitute could have provided this message to the students and even supervised their work. I had to think of the bigger picture, that this was Katy's interpretation of what happened and not necessarily the whole truth.
It was time to take a step back, take a deep breath and get Katy to stop sobbing so that we could have a conversation. It went something like this.
It is true that it is your responsibility to finish your school work. You know what reaction the teacher had today to a student who had not completed the project and you can probably expect about the same reaction tomorrow. [it's okay, take a deep breath, have a kleenex and a drink of water]
Let's make a plan. How are you going to complete the project tomorrow?
She said that she could work on the project during recess and that if she talked to the band teacher that she could work on it instead of going to band. Okay, if you have not completed the project by the end of the school day, stay after school to finish it and send Dad a text message asking him to pick you up later. [no, no, I promise he won't be mad, I'll talk to him] This snowballed into Katy saying that she likes band and honor choir but maybe she shouldn't go to them so that she could have study hall instead.
Okay, one thing at a time. You have to be honest and up front with this teacher. Tell her that you have not completed the project and explain your plan to complete it today. If she has the same reaction to you as it sounds like she did to another student, remain calm and agree with her that yes, it was ultimately your responsibility to complete the project.
Then she asked what if she cries and everyone sees her. [broke my heart a little so I had to get gross for perspective] Well, you are going to walk into the classroom and talk to the teacher right away. It's not like you are going to stand up in front of everyone and vomit, you aren't going to have explosive diarrhea or something nasty like that. [she laughs through her tears and gives me a 'oh Mom that's just gross'] Yeah, see, it could be a lot worse.
You are going to cry, big deal. You are worried about how this is all going to work out and it's okay to let emotion out by crying. Then I got to her level and quoted Taylor Swift (genius on my part!). How does the song go? "You'll do greater things in your life than date a boy on the football team." Honey, you are going to screw up so much bigger in your life than not finishing a project on time. You are going to run into things with your first car [she laughs], you are going to screw up big time at some point in your life. Let's learn the lesson and move on.
The class starts at 10:30, I'll be watching the clock and hoping that it goes well.
Apparently, there was a substitute for most of last week for this particular teacher and the substitute did not instruct the class to work on the project. I asked about the teacher's reaction to the student who also did not finish the project and she described it through tears.
Part of me wanted to be the Momma Bear and say it wasn't fair, that expecting 10-11 year old children to keep track of the deadline for project during a weeklong absence of their teacher and to take the initiative to complete it outside of class was a bit much. I wanted to berate the teacher for leaving insufficient lesson plans for the substitute, who according to Katy told the students just read each day in this class. That surely if these children are expected to finish the project on their own that the substitute could have provided this message to the students and even supervised their work. I had to think of the bigger picture, that this was Katy's interpretation of what happened and not necessarily the whole truth.
It was time to take a step back, take a deep breath and get Katy to stop sobbing so that we could have a conversation. It went something like this.
It is true that it is your responsibility to finish your school work. You know what reaction the teacher had today to a student who had not completed the project and you can probably expect about the same reaction tomorrow. [it's okay, take a deep breath, have a kleenex and a drink of water]
Let's make a plan. How are you going to complete the project tomorrow?
She said that she could work on the project during recess and that if she talked to the band teacher that she could work on it instead of going to band. Okay, if you have not completed the project by the end of the school day, stay after school to finish it and send Dad a text message asking him to pick you up later. [no, no, I promise he won't be mad, I'll talk to him] This snowballed into Katy saying that she likes band and honor choir but maybe she shouldn't go to them so that she could have study hall instead.
Okay, one thing at a time. You have to be honest and up front with this teacher. Tell her that you have not completed the project and explain your plan to complete it today. If she has the same reaction to you as it sounds like she did to another student, remain calm and agree with her that yes, it was ultimately your responsibility to complete the project.
Then she asked what if she cries and everyone sees her. [broke my heart a little so I had to get gross for perspective] Well, you are going to walk into the classroom and talk to the teacher right away. It's not like you are going to stand up in front of everyone and vomit, you aren't going to have explosive diarrhea or something nasty like that. [she laughs through her tears and gives me a 'oh Mom that's just gross'] Yeah, see, it could be a lot worse.
You are going to cry, big deal. You are worried about how this is all going to work out and it's okay to let emotion out by crying. Then I got to her level and quoted Taylor Swift (genius on my part!). How does the song go? "You'll do greater things in your life than date a boy on the football team." Honey, you are going to screw up so much bigger in your life than not finishing a project on time. You are going to run into things with your first car [she laughs], you are going to screw up big time at some point in your life. Let's learn the lesson and move on.
The class starts at 10:30, I'll be watching the clock and hoping that it goes well.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
A good flyover
Within the first few days after we moved to Colorado Springs there was a welcome home parade for the 4th Infantry Division, including my husband's unit, the Brigade Reconnaissance Team - later the 2nd Brigade of the 9th Calvary. It was an emotional time for us, our little family of three had just reunited after being apart for a year. We were adjusting to being together in a new place where it was just us for the first time, we knew no one.
This was not a parade of marching bands and little league teams. It was a parade of proud and exhausted soldiers marching in their newly issued boots. Rows and rows of uniforms interspersed with equipment - up-armored Humvees and Bradley fighting vehicles. No music, no candy, just a steady stomp and cheering crowd.
Colorado Springs is home to the Army base Fort Carson, and also home to the Air Force Academy, Peterson and Schreiver Air Force bases. When there is a welcome home parade, they bring out every piece of aircraft that was used during that tour of duty for a flyover. Imagine the giant C130, Chinook helicoptors, etc. flying low and fast overhead. There are few tall buildings in Colorado Springs, no one wants to impede the view of Pikes Peak, and so the aircraft fly in low, shaking the ground. The soldiers are stoic and unnerved by the flyover.
I'm sitting on the curb with our three year old daughter standing between my knees, taking it all in, looking for Daddy. She sits down when the aircraft start to come through, unsure of the noise. The C130 soars overhead, seemingly 100 feet above our heads. I can feel the rumble in my feet, pride for my husband, pride for the soldiers he walks with, pride and camaraderie for the families surrounding me. We all made it through this rough year-long tour together. I bury my tear-filled eyes in my daughter's soft, straight hair. To this day a good flyover gives me chills and my eyes well up with tears.
Our hometown July 4th parade this year had a flyover by a two jets from the local Air National Guard unit. Instantly filled with the old feeling of pride in the few seconds it takes for them to fly over I feel like something needs to be said - all I can muster is "I love a good flyover".
This was not a parade of marching bands and little league teams. It was a parade of proud and exhausted soldiers marching in their newly issued boots. Rows and rows of uniforms interspersed with equipment - up-armored Humvees and Bradley fighting vehicles. No music, no candy, just a steady stomp and cheering crowd.
Colorado Springs is home to the Army base Fort Carson, and also home to the Air Force Academy, Peterson and Schreiver Air Force bases. When there is a welcome home parade, they bring out every piece of aircraft that was used during that tour of duty for a flyover. Imagine the giant C130, Chinook helicoptors, etc. flying low and fast overhead. There are few tall buildings in Colorado Springs, no one wants to impede the view of Pikes Peak, and so the aircraft fly in low, shaking the ground. The soldiers are stoic and unnerved by the flyover.
I'm sitting on the curb with our three year old daughter standing between my knees, taking it all in, looking for Daddy. She sits down when the aircraft start to come through, unsure of the noise. The C130 soars overhead, seemingly 100 feet above our heads. I can feel the rumble in my feet, pride for my husband, pride for the soldiers he walks with, pride and camaraderie for the families surrounding me. We all made it through this rough year-long tour together. I bury my tear-filled eyes in my daughter's soft, straight hair. To this day a good flyover gives me chills and my eyes well up with tears.
Our hometown July 4th parade this year had a flyover by a two jets from the local Air National Guard unit. Instantly filled with the old feeling of pride in the few seconds it takes for them to fly over I feel like something needs to be said - all I can muster is "I love a good flyover".
Friday, April 15, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
I am feeling terribly unproductive lately. Seems to be a really awful spell of it. I sit here at the laptop and look for something in my favorites only to see that I have a couple crafty pattern websites saved that I have bought fabric for but am unmotivated to work on. I also have Shutterfly waiting for me to finish a photo book about our vacation last summer as well as figure out how to share pictures. There are two half-read books on my night table - noticing a pattern yet? I blame Etsy.com and too few hours in the day. I could get a lot more done in day if there were just a few more hours to search Etsy for insipiration and still manage to get the boring stuff done.
High points of the day: menu drawn up for the week, grocery shopping all by myself, laundry folded and put away thank you darling daughters, a $4 bouquet of flowers arranged quite prettily and some peace and quiet as the before mentioned darling daughters play nicely upstairs. [emphasis added on the best parts]
High points of the day: menu drawn up for the week, grocery shopping all by myself, laundry folded and put away thank you darling daughters, a $4 bouquet of flowers arranged quite prettily and some peace and quiet as the before mentioned darling daughters play nicely upstairs. [emphasis added on the best parts]
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day of it all. The business of being an adult is at the same time a welcome routine and a burden. The balance constantly changing – home, family, work, friends. Many relationships to manage and never enough time in the day. And then there’s you.
Keep a little time for you. Write, journal, doodle, daydream. It’s true that your children grow older every day but so do you. Today is the only January 18, 2011 you’ll ever have in your whole entire life. Are you going to spend it giving away every minute to someone else or are you going to take one or two – even 15 just for you. Brew a cup of tea, listen to a favorite song, re-read a favorite passage from a book, lay down on the living room floor put your feet up on the couch and stretch your arms out to the sides, find a quiet spot. It’s not selfish to take a break and re-charge yourself. Come back ready to rock, or at least muddle through, the rest of the day.
Keep a little time for you. Write, journal, doodle, daydream. It’s true that your children grow older every day but so do you. Today is the only January 18, 2011 you’ll ever have in your whole entire life. Are you going to spend it giving away every minute to someone else or are you going to take one or two – even 15 just for you. Brew a cup of tea, listen to a favorite song, re-read a favorite passage from a book, lay down on the living room floor put your feet up on the couch and stretch your arms out to the sides, find a quiet spot. It’s not selfish to take a break and re-charge yourself. Come back ready to rock, or at least muddle through, the rest of the day.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
This Christmas season I find myself humbled by the grace and strength of others. Members of my extended family and community have suffered great loss this year. By all appearances, they are doing okay, making plans, attending events, going to work and functioning each day. Maybe that is the trick, to focus on anything except how miserable and heartbroken you really are. There are many individuals that I think of daily, hoping that they may find peace.
Our immediate King/Faust family has had a decent year. There have been difficult days but all in all we are doing well. I am a fan of lists, and here is one more to end the year.
Things to be thankful for this Christmas season.
Our family is close; in distance (for the most part) and heart.
We are all relatively healthy.
Our homes are warm and safe.
There is ample food in our cupboards.
Good friends; they bring such spirit to our lives.
What I am most thankful for is our little family of four. The days and nights that we worry and work hard to provide and create a good home for our children appear to be paying off. Throughout this year we as parents have benefitted from their love and laughter, their kindness towards others and overall goodness.
This Christmas season, I hope that you are able to make your own list of things to be thankful for. May your list bring you comfort and joy.
Our immediate King/Faust family has had a decent year. There have been difficult days but all in all we are doing well. I am a fan of lists, and here is one more to end the year.
Things to be thankful for this Christmas season.
Our family is close; in distance (for the most part) and heart.
We are all relatively healthy.
Our homes are warm and safe.
There is ample food in our cupboards.
Good friends; they bring such spirit to our lives.
What I am most thankful for is our little family of four. The days and nights that we worry and work hard to provide and create a good home for our children appear to be paying off. Throughout this year we as parents have benefitted from their love and laughter, their kindness towards others and overall goodness.
This Christmas season, I hope that you are able to make your own list of things to be thankful for. May your list bring you comfort and joy.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
My thoughts drift, as they often do, and this morning I was struck by the sun shining through the skywalk window sparkling on the dust. It was so pretty until I started to sneeze and realized that it was dust, not heaven-sent sprinklings of patience and time. What a violent burst to my bubble.
I have written about a sprinkle jar before – the sight of sparkly cinnamon-sugar falling out of a jar melting into butter on warm wheat toast correlating to the warm fuzziness of a happy, worry-free childhood.
Of course, it’s the romanticized version of the sight, the movie set slow motion scene with perfect lighting – I do not recall sunlight pouring into the kitchen and straight into the tiny pieces of cinnamon and sugar as they dissolve into the butter. I recall sitting down with my toast at the table to read the comics and attempt the crossword, plopping down for Saturday morning cartoons or in front of the crackling fire. It’s the relaxation, the minute or two to take a deep breath and just be.
It’s been a long fall adjusting to new grades at school, home improvement projects that seem to have a mind of their own, irregular work schedules, and the stress of balancing work, school, home and parenting. Finding balance is hard – especially because I have trouble balancing myself, have been known to trip over my own feet, fall off of sidewalks and cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.
There is an old corporate training program about work-life balance with an exercise where you imagine that you are juggling glass balls and that each ball represents a part of your life – work, home, etc. You are supposed to imagine what would happen if you dropped a ball while juggling and that ball broke beyond repair. Juggling requires balance (which I lack) so I preferred to imagine that all of my glass balls were safely tucked away in my pockets where they were not at risk of crashing.
Earlier this week it felt as if everything was off balance, that the glass balls were about to dig themselves out of my pockets and crash to the floor. I took a few minutes at work for just me, opened up a new Word doc and made a list of everything that was so hard that day. The last thing on the list was ‘refill sprinkle jar’. I took a deep breath, stood up and stretched and just let the worry go. I could do nothing about a lot of the stress so just let it be rather than let it bother me.
At home that night I made cookies with my daughters. A batch of snickerdoodles that failed so miserably I could only describe them as a cookbook type-o. I made a second batch of always successful chocolate chip cookies, half for a company Thanksgiving luncheon today, and half for a co-worker with four children whose husband suffered a massive heart attack earlier this week.
Sprinkle jar, refilled.
I have written about a sprinkle jar before – the sight of sparkly cinnamon-sugar falling out of a jar melting into butter on warm wheat toast correlating to the warm fuzziness of a happy, worry-free childhood.
Of course, it’s the romanticized version of the sight, the movie set slow motion scene with perfect lighting – I do not recall sunlight pouring into the kitchen and straight into the tiny pieces of cinnamon and sugar as they dissolve into the butter. I recall sitting down with my toast at the table to read the comics and attempt the crossword, plopping down for Saturday morning cartoons or in front of the crackling fire. It’s the relaxation, the minute or two to take a deep breath and just be.
It’s been a long fall adjusting to new grades at school, home improvement projects that seem to have a mind of their own, irregular work schedules, and the stress of balancing work, school, home and parenting. Finding balance is hard – especially because I have trouble balancing myself, have been known to trip over my own feet, fall off of sidewalks and cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.
There is an old corporate training program about work-life balance with an exercise where you imagine that you are juggling glass balls and that each ball represents a part of your life – work, home, etc. You are supposed to imagine what would happen if you dropped a ball while juggling and that ball broke beyond repair. Juggling requires balance (which I lack) so I preferred to imagine that all of my glass balls were safely tucked away in my pockets where they were not at risk of crashing.
Earlier this week it felt as if everything was off balance, that the glass balls were about to dig themselves out of my pockets and crash to the floor. I took a few minutes at work for just me, opened up a new Word doc and made a list of everything that was so hard that day. The last thing on the list was ‘refill sprinkle jar’. I took a deep breath, stood up and stretched and just let the worry go. I could do nothing about a lot of the stress so just let it be rather than let it bother me.
At home that night I made cookies with my daughters. A batch of snickerdoodles that failed so miserably I could only describe them as a cookbook type-o. I made a second batch of always successful chocolate chip cookies, half for a company Thanksgiving luncheon today, and half for a co-worker with four children whose husband suffered a massive heart attack earlier this week.
Sprinkle jar, refilled.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
A very good tomato soup
A few weeks ago I was on the couch at home snuggling a sleeping, sickly Gretchen and watching the Today Show. Martha Stewart was part of a segment on how to make quick and easy food at home rather than ordering take out. Martha said that a good replacement for pizza delivery is tomato soup and a toasted baguette slice with fresh mozzarella. Meredith Viera quickly put Martha in her place by informing her that while the soup and side were delicious, they were no substitute for pizza. The look on Martha’s face was quite amusing.
Here is the tomato soup recipe, I really liked it and took it over to my in-laws and they really liked it. Gretchen is the only one that will eat tomato soup with me so I cut the recipe in half and post the half recipe here.
Tomato Soup
1 T. olive oil
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes (optional, but they did add a nice kick)
½ c. onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
14 ounce diced tomatoes and the juice
1 ¼ c. chicken broth (could use vegetable broth)
Heat the oil and red pepper flakes over medium-high heat in a medium sauce pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring once in awhile. Pulse the tomatoes in a blender or food processor 3-4 times. Add tomatoes and broth to the sauce pan and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes. Allow soup to cool* then pour back into the blender or food processor to blend until mostly smooth or whatever consistency you prefer.
*A word to the wise, blending hot liquid is not a good idea unless you do it in small batches, about 1 cup at a time, and hold the lid on with a towel. If you choose to dump all the hot soup right into your blender, go ahead and turn it on and watch as the lid blows off and coats your entire kitchen in tomato soup.
The red pepper flakes add a nice spicy flavor and if you have non-spicy eaters, just leave it out and add hot sauce to your own bowl. The soup would work quite nicely with a toppings bar – small pieces of fresh mozzarella and basil, variety of crackers, croutons, good bread, cooked shrimp, or even partially cooked veggies.
Here is the tomato soup recipe, I really liked it and took it over to my in-laws and they really liked it. Gretchen is the only one that will eat tomato soup with me so I cut the recipe in half and post the half recipe here.
Tomato Soup
1 T. olive oil
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes (optional, but they did add a nice kick)
½ c. onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
14 ounce diced tomatoes and the juice
1 ¼ c. chicken broth (could use vegetable broth)
Heat the oil and red pepper flakes over medium-high heat in a medium sauce pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring once in awhile. Pulse the tomatoes in a blender or food processor 3-4 times. Add tomatoes and broth to the sauce pan and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes. Allow soup to cool* then pour back into the blender or food processor to blend until mostly smooth or whatever consistency you prefer.
*A word to the wise, blending hot liquid is not a good idea unless you do it in small batches, about 1 cup at a time, and hold the lid on with a towel. If you choose to dump all the hot soup right into your blender, go ahead and turn it on and watch as the lid blows off and coats your entire kitchen in tomato soup.
The red pepper flakes add a nice spicy flavor and if you have non-spicy eaters, just leave it out and add hot sauce to your own bowl. The soup would work quite nicely with a toppings bar – small pieces of fresh mozzarella and basil, variety of crackers, croutons, good bread, cooked shrimp, or even partially cooked veggies.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Oh yes, he did.
The dog ate Katie's homework.
Her class just finished studying pioneers, including a field trip to Living History Farms. To finish up the unit, she needed to complete a final project. A list of suggestions was sent home and she chose diorama.
Katie takes classes in the summer from a certain retired teacher that resembles ET when sitting at her kidney bean shaped table. The big project she worked on for summer classes was on her favorite vacation - given that she's technically been on two vacations, she didn't have much to choose from. Katie made a shoebox diorama about our family vacation to Minnesota in 2009. We went kayaking in Lake Minnetonka and Katie took a bunch of pictures of the lake houses, boats, lily pads and sand. The pictures turned out to be perfect for covering the shoebox, she made a dock, added a boat and called it done. The diorama turned out to be really cute and I was thankful that she did not include any pictures of my hyperventilating. While kayaking looks like fun, I have this thing about not being able to touch the bottom of a body of water.
So, when Katie chose diorama for her final pioneer project she was really excited. She dug a shoebox out of the basement and looked around for a small box to craft a covered wagon. Turns out that a Jiffy corn muffin mix box is not only the perfect size for a mini-covered wagon, when we emptied out the package to make cornbread, we found that the inside white paper packaging was a perfect covering for the wagon. Katie covered the wagon with construction paper and we rubber banded the packaging paper to a large can of diced tomatoes to round out the shape.
The rounding out turned out beautifully and made for cute little covered wagon. We called it a night with homework, saying that we'll add wheels and a background tomorrow. That was Wednesday, the project was due on Friday. The next morning we went through our usual morning routine, Katie met the bus, I dropped Gretchen at school and headed to work. Erik had been working ridiculous hours for a few weeks and got home at about 8:30 in the morning. He called me at work to report that in the 45 minutes Rommel had been left alone in the house he had torn apart and eaten part of the covered wagon. Apparently the corn muffin smell was more than he could take and the only option was destruction. That's what we get for naming him after a genius of strategic warfare, he's always got something up his sleeve.
A replacement box of Jiffy corn muffin mix later, the second diorama turned out quite nicely and made it school in one piece.
Her class just finished studying pioneers, including a field trip to Living History Farms. To finish up the unit, she needed to complete a final project. A list of suggestions was sent home and she chose diorama.
Katie takes classes in the summer from a certain retired teacher that resembles ET when sitting at her kidney bean shaped table. The big project she worked on for summer classes was on her favorite vacation - given that she's technically been on two vacations, she didn't have much to choose from. Katie made a shoebox diorama about our family vacation to Minnesota in 2009. We went kayaking in Lake Minnetonka and Katie took a bunch of pictures of the lake houses, boats, lily pads and sand. The pictures turned out to be perfect for covering the shoebox, she made a dock, added a boat and called it done. The diorama turned out to be really cute and I was thankful that she did not include any pictures of my hyperventilating. While kayaking looks like fun, I have this thing about not being able to touch the bottom of a body of water.
So, when Katie chose diorama for her final pioneer project she was really excited. She dug a shoebox out of the basement and looked around for a small box to craft a covered wagon. Turns out that a Jiffy corn muffin mix box is not only the perfect size for a mini-covered wagon, when we emptied out the package to make cornbread, we found that the inside white paper packaging was a perfect covering for the wagon. Katie covered the wagon with construction paper and we rubber banded the packaging paper to a large can of diced tomatoes to round out the shape.
The rounding out turned out beautifully and made for cute little covered wagon. We called it a night with homework, saying that we'll add wheels and a background tomorrow. That was Wednesday, the project was due on Friday. The next morning we went through our usual morning routine, Katie met the bus, I dropped Gretchen at school and headed to work. Erik had been working ridiculous hours for a few weeks and got home at about 8:30 in the morning. He called me at work to report that in the 45 minutes Rommel had been left alone in the house he had torn apart and eaten part of the covered wagon. Apparently the corn muffin smell was more than he could take and the only option was destruction. That's what we get for naming him after a genius of strategic warfare, he's always got something up his sleeve.
A replacement box of Jiffy corn muffin mix later, the second diorama turned out quite nicely and made it school in one piece.
Monday, October 11, 2010
October = baseball. I love the wild card play off games, the league championship series. The sold out crowds are electric, you can hear it in the constant chants, cheers, fans standing up the entire game. The announcer booth chatter is reserved excitement. It doesn't matter who plays, though it is more fun when the Cardinals or Yankees are playing.
Things to look forward to over the next couple of months...
My sister and her family coming to town
A new nephew due any day now!
Pumpkin patch with the girls
DaVinci dinner date with my honey
Voting (don't forget!)
Things to look forward to over the next couple of months...
My sister and her family coming to town
A new nephew due any day now!
Pumpkin patch with the girls
DaVinci dinner date with my honey
Voting (don't forget!)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Over the course of 2010 I have gradually become more of a Locavore. My spell check says that is not a real word, I beg to differ. The term describes a person that eats locally grown food and such, likely a word rooted in some sort of hippy-liberal-vegan source. I kid, of course, who knows who thought that one up and I am the exact opposite as a boring-middle of the road-omnivore.
This has been a gradual process and yet one that is logical to me – it would have to be logical and economical or it just wouldn’t work. I love the Downtown Farmer’s Market for the locally grown produce, meat, bread and cheese. I love the produce section of Hy-Vee on Fleur Drive, they are pros at marketing what is locally or regionally grown. It’s not a political stance, I’m not going to hop up on a soapbox and proclaim it to the world, it just makes sense to me – kind of a ‘how did it take me so long to realize that buying local food is a such good thing’.
There really is no excuse for not buying locally available in-season vegetables. They are going to be fresher and taste better, buying them is supporting area growers and farmers and it is fun to talk to the vendor about how to cook the vegetables that they grow. Our girls love to go to the Farmer’s Market and pick out fruit and vegetables and I am happy to give in.
I’ll give you an example of something that I buy locally – I doubt that I will ever go back to store bought chicken. There are two vendors that I know of at the Farmer’s Market that have whole frozen chickens for sale. One is Fox Hollow Farms and the other is the one that I buy from and the name escapes me. They are expensive and they are delicious. If I spend $10 on a chicken, roast it, pull the meat and spread it out over 4 meals - the cooked meat freezes nicely – it is absolutely worth it. I prefer to roast the chicken whole but it could be cut up if you know how to do that. I do not know how and am perfectly happy with roasted chicken.
I recently learned about the Iowa Food Cooperative http://iowafood.org/shop/. It completely fascinates me. A lot of the same vendors are at the Downtown Farmer’s Market so I see no reason to join the coop when I can wander around the Farmer’s Market to shop and people watch at the same time. :-)
This has been a gradual process and yet one that is logical to me – it would have to be logical and economical or it just wouldn’t work. I love the Downtown Farmer’s Market for the locally grown produce, meat, bread and cheese. I love the produce section of Hy-Vee on Fleur Drive, they are pros at marketing what is locally or regionally grown. It’s not a political stance, I’m not going to hop up on a soapbox and proclaim it to the world, it just makes sense to me – kind of a ‘how did it take me so long to realize that buying local food is a such good thing’.
There really is no excuse for not buying locally available in-season vegetables. They are going to be fresher and taste better, buying them is supporting area growers and farmers and it is fun to talk to the vendor about how to cook the vegetables that they grow. Our girls love to go to the Farmer’s Market and pick out fruit and vegetables and I am happy to give in.
I’ll give you an example of something that I buy locally – I doubt that I will ever go back to store bought chicken. There are two vendors that I know of at the Farmer’s Market that have whole frozen chickens for sale. One is Fox Hollow Farms and the other is the one that I buy from and the name escapes me. They are expensive and they are delicious. If I spend $10 on a chicken, roast it, pull the meat and spread it out over 4 meals - the cooked meat freezes nicely – it is absolutely worth it. I prefer to roast the chicken whole but it could be cut up if you know how to do that. I do not know how and am perfectly happy with roasted chicken.
I recently learned about the Iowa Food Cooperative http://iowafood.org/shop/. It completely fascinates me. A lot of the same vendors are at the Downtown Farmer’s Market so I see no reason to join the coop when I can wander around the Farmer’s Market to shop and people watch at the same time. :-)
Friday, September 10, 2010
It's official, school has started. Yes, school started 3 weeks ago, but the germs have just now arrived. Hundreds of children sharing one building, one lunch room, they are bound to share germs. Round one has started with sniffly noses and coughs but so far no fevers. Colds make for a long week and on this Friday night Erik is working so the girls and I will be snuggling in for dinner and a movie and what I hope is an early bedtime.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
First Day of School
Ah, the first day of school. Katie, Gretchen, Erik and I were all excited for school to start, albeit for different reasons. The girls were ready to meet their teachers, see their friends and meet new ones and while they each admitted to being nervous, they couldn't wait to go. Erik and I were ready for them to be back in the routine of the school year.
Both girls were up by 6:30 this morning, before I even had a chance to shake their little shoulders. Katie rode the bus today from one side of Norwalk to the other to and we all stood in the garage/driveway waiting for the bus. I dropped off Gretchen at school, returned to my car and breathed a sigh of relief and stopped at Starbucks for a back to school treat.
Our big Kindergartener. No, she was not instructed to pose, she just did. It was chilly so her favorite sundress made friends with her favorite zip-up hooded sweatshirt. Gretchen had a great first day and said that she only cried once, when she bit her finger during lunch. She did not cry to her teacher about her bit finger, she found our neighbor, Donna the lunch lady instead.
Our big fourth grader. Once again, she was not instructed to pose, she just did, she always does. Just one of the many awesome things about Katie, she's always camera-ready. Katie had an awesome day and went on and on about how huge everything was at school - the lunchroom, the library, her locker. She went to bed saying that she couldn't wait to go back!
Both girls were up by 6:30 this morning, before I even had a chance to shake their little shoulders. Katie rode the bus today from one side of Norwalk to the other to and we all stood in the garage/driveway waiting for the bus. I dropped off Gretchen at school, returned to my car and breathed a sigh of relief and stopped at Starbucks for a back to school treat.
Our big Kindergartener. No, she was not instructed to pose, she just did. It was chilly so her favorite sundress made friends with her favorite zip-up hooded sweatshirt. Gretchen had a great first day and said that she only cried once, when she bit her finger during lunch. She did not cry to her teacher about her bit finger, she found our neighbor, Donna the lunch lady instead.
Our big fourth grader. Once again, she was not instructed to pose, she just did, she always does. Just one of the many awesome things about Katie, she's always camera-ready. Katie had an awesome day and went on and on about how huge everything was at school - the lunchroom, the library, her locker. She went to bed saying that she couldn't wait to go back!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Recently, it dawned on me that some of my favorite restaurant meals are really quite easy to make at home. Example #1, Chicken Fried Rice. Make sure to have a timer on hand, I use the microwave above the stove. The recipe goes together pretty fast once all of the ingredients are lined up so at that point I kick everyone out of the kitchen until it’s time to wash their hands and set the table.
Just wait, those of you with younger children than mine, one day the clouds will open, the heavens will shine down on you and angels will sing when your children are old enough to set and clear the table, then rinse plates and load the dishwasher. It is truly a glorious moment in motherhood.
The original recipe was found on the website www.tastykitchen.com, and was called Garlic Fried Rice. I made the recipe and included all 6 cloves of garlic - yes, 6. My skin smelled like garlic the next day and as much as we loved the recipe, some changes were definitley in order! Feel free to add or substitute your favorite veggies, whatever you like. I'm making this for dinner tonight!
Chicken Fried Rice
serves 4-6
6 T. butter, divided
2 cloves minced garlic
1 t. lemon juice
3 cups cooked rice, chilled (that's 1 1/2 cups before you cook it!)
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. carrots, chopped, more to taste
1/2 c. other vegetable, chopped, more to taste
1 pre-cooked chicken breast, chopped into small pieces
2 eggs, beaten
2 T. soy sauce, more to taste
2 green onions, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
Melt 2 T. of butter, add the minced garlic and lemon juice and set aside to let the flavors combine. Cook the rice as directed on the package and set aside or in the fridge to cool.
Chop the onion, carrots and other vegetable, chicken and place each ingredient in it's own bowl so it's easy to drop into the pan. The original recipe called for 1 cup of frozen peas and carrots which I never have on hand, tonight I'm using fresh carrots and broccoli so will steam them in the microwave until they are about half-cooked. Also, I like to pre-cook a couple chicken breasts and freeze them so they are ready for dinners like this - or bbq chicken pizza, or chicken salad, etc. You could easily substitute leftover roast, pork chop, ham, shrimp, whatever meat you have on hand, or use no meat and increase your vegetable amount. Finally, beat the eggs in a small bowl. Line up everything within reach of the stove, this goes together quickly.
In a large, non-stick skillet melt 4 T. of butter over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add vegetables and the butter-garlic-lemon mix and cook for about 3 minutes. Add meat and cook for 1 minute. Push all ingredients over to one side of the skillet and on the empty side add the eggs. Salt and pepper the eggs and scramble them until just set. Then move the rest of the ingredients back over and stir the eggs into the mixture.
Add the cold rice and the soy sauce, stir to combine and cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds to nothing burns. Add green onions and stir, taste for seasonings and add more soy sauce, salt and pepper if needed.
Just wait, those of you with younger children than mine, one day the clouds will open, the heavens will shine down on you and angels will sing when your children are old enough to set and clear the table, then rinse plates and load the dishwasher. It is truly a glorious moment in motherhood.
The original recipe was found on the website www.tastykitchen.com, and was called Garlic Fried Rice. I made the recipe and included all 6 cloves of garlic - yes, 6. My skin smelled like garlic the next day and as much as we loved the recipe, some changes were definitley in order! Feel free to add or substitute your favorite veggies, whatever you like. I'm making this for dinner tonight!
Chicken Fried Rice
serves 4-6
6 T. butter, divided
2 cloves minced garlic
1 t. lemon juice
3 cups cooked rice, chilled (that's 1 1/2 cups before you cook it!)
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. carrots, chopped, more to taste
1/2 c. other vegetable, chopped, more to taste
1 pre-cooked chicken breast, chopped into small pieces
2 eggs, beaten
2 T. soy sauce, more to taste
2 green onions, chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
Melt 2 T. of butter, add the minced garlic and lemon juice and set aside to let the flavors combine. Cook the rice as directed on the package and set aside or in the fridge to cool.
Chop the onion, carrots and other vegetable, chicken and place each ingredient in it's own bowl so it's easy to drop into the pan. The original recipe called for 1 cup of frozen peas and carrots which I never have on hand, tonight I'm using fresh carrots and broccoli so will steam them in the microwave until they are about half-cooked. Also, I like to pre-cook a couple chicken breasts and freeze them so they are ready for dinners like this - or bbq chicken pizza, or chicken salad, etc. You could easily substitute leftover roast, pork chop, ham, shrimp, whatever meat you have on hand, or use no meat and increase your vegetable amount. Finally, beat the eggs in a small bowl. Line up everything within reach of the stove, this goes together quickly.
In a large, non-stick skillet melt 4 T. of butter over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add vegetables and the butter-garlic-lemon mix and cook for about 3 minutes. Add meat and cook for 1 minute. Push all ingredients over to one side of the skillet and on the empty side add the eggs. Salt and pepper the eggs and scramble them until just set. Then move the rest of the ingredients back over and stir the eggs into the mixture.
Add the cold rice and the soy sauce, stir to combine and cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds to nothing burns. Add green onions and stir, taste for seasonings and add more soy sauce, salt and pepper if needed.
Monday, July 5, 2010
We are learning lots on our trip to NYC, here are a few tidbits, I will probably have several more throughout the week.
- check the weather in advance, more than just the morning than you leave, you know, after you are all packed and ready to go, forecast was for low 80s until the morning we left when it quickly changed to 100s
- do not, I repeat do not, go into a restaurant that is not a well known chain and does not post it's prices outside the restaurant, prime example a $14 blt at Roxy Diner. Boo!
- do not believe the counter person at the Des Moines "International" Airport, Delta window, when they say, "hurry up, you'll miss your flight, I'll make sure your bag makes it". Ours made it alright, 14 hours after we did
- do think that just because you are the only two non-Caribbean or non-Hasidic Jews in the six block area, that you will get along just fine and only get random odd stares
- 100 degrees in NYC = 148 degree sidewalks
- eat at Dim Sum Go Go in Chinatown, be a little bit frightened, and come to terms with the fact that you are really bad at chopsticks when the waiter brings you a knife and fork
- waiters at Dim Sum Go Go believe that Chinese food in Iowa is served with potatoes and gravy
- residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant are more frightened that you are walking through your neighborhood than you are when you are while walking through their neighborhood - pushing the limits of your comfort zone can be good for your soul (so they say)
- walking from Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge and to your rented apartment at 14 Virginia Place, Brooklyn is a really long walk, through the before-mentioned Bed-Stuy neighborhood
- tourists are really easy to spot, they are looking up at the massive buildings instead of watching where they are going
- museums take up multiple city blocks and take 4 hours to get through the first floor and absolutely worth the steep price of admission
- there is really good NY cheesecake (Lansky's Deli on the upper west side) and really bad NY cheesecake (some pizza place on the upper east side where the pizza was really great)
- check the weather in advance, more than just the morning than you leave, you know, after you are all packed and ready to go, forecast was for low 80s until the morning we left when it quickly changed to 100s
- do not, I repeat do not, go into a restaurant that is not a well known chain and does not post it's prices outside the restaurant, prime example a $14 blt at Roxy Diner. Boo!
- do not believe the counter person at the Des Moines "International" Airport, Delta window, when they say, "hurry up, you'll miss your flight, I'll make sure your bag makes it". Ours made it alright, 14 hours after we did
- do think that just because you are the only two non-Caribbean or non-Hasidic Jews in the six block area, that you will get along just fine and only get random odd stares
- 100 degrees in NYC = 148 degree sidewalks
- eat at Dim Sum Go Go in Chinatown, be a little bit frightened, and come to terms with the fact that you are really bad at chopsticks when the waiter brings you a knife and fork
- waiters at Dim Sum Go Go believe that Chinese food in Iowa is served with potatoes and gravy
- residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant are more frightened that you are walking through your neighborhood than you are when you are while walking through their neighborhood - pushing the limits of your comfort zone can be good for your soul (so they say)
- walking from Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge and to your rented apartment at 14 Virginia Place, Brooklyn is a really long walk, through the before-mentioned Bed-Stuy neighborhood
- tourists are really easy to spot, they are looking up at the massive buildings instead of watching where they are going
- museums take up multiple city blocks and take 4 hours to get through the first floor and absolutely worth the steep price of admission
- there is really good NY cheesecake (Lansky's Deli on the upper west side) and really bad NY cheesecake (some pizza place on the upper east side where the pizza was really great)
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