We've had a busy last 24 hours. Last night we went to Petco to see if they had some sort of small insect to feed to Venus, as she was looking a little pale. Turns out that Petco not only has tiny crickets available for 6 cents each, they also had two 8 month old dwarf hamsters. So we brought them home, crickets and hamsters alike. That's right, we have survived for many years with no pets in our house and in just over a week have become refuge to a meat eating plant and two hamsters.

The girls think they are awesome, they stayed up way too late last night getting acquainted. They are tiny, not more than about 2 inches long with white bellies and grey and tan backs. I'll have to post a picture at some point. We came up with Dasha and Mika, good Russian names. They are sisters, we couldn't ask one to leave the other behind.

Today we went over to Pa's parents' house so he could paint the living room ceiling. They ordered in for everyone from Mustard's, the favorite rib joint of the Faust fam. I had cavatelli. :) After the yummy dinner, followed by cupcakes, Gretchen was still hungry. She went out to the refrigerator and brought me a jar of sauerkraut, insisting that she was still hungry. I sent her to her father.

After some discussion and explanation that sauerkraut is a bit sour, Gretch had her very own sample. She ate every last bit, made some sour faces and said "I love that sauer-crap!"

Turns out that we were spot on several years back when we chose a good German name for our little blond.

Introducing Venus

Recently, I took a business trip to Arizona. In my absence, my darling daughters sweet-talked their Dad into a new pet.

I really can't complain much, she is housebroken, really seems to enjoy her cage and eats bugs. No costly vet bills, and I'll never have to poop-scoop or brush her teeth. I wonder if the bright pink color on the inside of her mouth is an indicator that she's good with children -- any thoughts?

As parents, we both encourage our girls to be involved in any age-appropriate scientific process. Thus, have researched and discussed Venus' digestive enzymes and how the tiny 'hairs' on the inside of her mouth must be triggered twice before it will snap shut.

Last summer it was nature hikes, rocket building and lift-off (complete with a lesson in elementary physics), tadpoles and we routinely discuss household science. I'm excited to find what will peak their interest in 2009.

By the way, the new background is dedicated to my very Irish Mom.

I am having trouble concentrating. On anything.

I keep daydreaming about what the new perennials I put in last fall will look like this spring, what sort of crafty project I can dream up, changing window treatments in the bedrooms, putting in a mini-garden, fixing the fence, flipping through the three cooking magazines that came in the mail last week (how to make a perfect biscuit!). Basically anything that has nothing to do with work or homework.

Work has been taken over by a research fairy - which makes it slow and boring. If anyone is looking for a real snoozer, try state insurance regulations and California case law. I yawned just typing about it. Homework is just as bad this semester. After working as a paralegal for the last 5 years, I'm working on gaining my paralegal certificate. In concept, it shouldn't be too bad - about 10 community college classes. I have been taking one night class at a time but silly me took last semester off and decided to take two classes this semester. Ugh. What was I thinking?

So rather than pulling out my homework or the stack of work that I brought home (and haven't touched yet as of 1pm on Sunday), I am dreaming up some sort of metal frame that I could potentially put together intending to keep my dahlias from dragging on the ground. If I make enough, I could even use it for pepper and tomato plants. Ooh, and I have a soldering iron and other supplies in the basement, I would just need some fairly thick wire and some sort of plan. I bet Hobby Lobby has something that would work...

Thankfully, they are closed today so I can avoid that distraction for awhile and force myself to work or draw up a design for a frame. Oh, wait, the dryer just stopped and I would much rather fold laundry than read California case law or work on a design. Not really, but clean socks for the girls overrules everything else on my list at the moment. If only this were a three day weekend so that I could procrastinate and fail to concentrate for just one more day.

My New Favorite Book

Santa was kind enough to bring my new favorite childrens' book to Gretchen last year. Olivia is a lovely little pig with big ideas and and a very pretty wardrobe.

My favorite line is towards the end. When her mother tucks her in at night and says, "You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway," Olivia so sweetly responds, "I love you anyway too." Anyone with a preschooler (or really, any energetic child) would appreciate this book. With the limited text, it is fun to as Gretchie what she thinks is happening in the picture.

The biggest laugh from Gretchie comes on the page where Olivia tries on all of her clothes, and one pair of pantyhose.

Two art lessons are included -- a small frame of beautiful Degas ballerinas and a photo of a Jackson Pollack which Olivia states she could recreate. When she tries it out by splattering the wall at home, the next page shows Olivia sitting on the bottom step with just two words. "Time out." I think this one will become a classic at our house.

A little downhill sledding

We have a little bit of a hill in our backyard. It's not fun to mow but is good for other things like rolling down on your side, running down in a sundress a la Laura Ingalls, and sledding. Very slow sledding. Here are some pictures of the fun we had this morning. The fun was followed by shoveling the driveway and hot cocoa, of course.

Erik, showing the girls how it's done.

Taking my turn.

The girls wanted to race. Gretchie won.

Crash landing so as to avoid the swingset.

Gretchen, all smiles.

The hard part.

Quilt

Here's a photo of the baby quilt that I made for the daughter of one of Erik's good friends from the Army. I was a little late getting to her - she was born April 1st of last year -significantly under estimated the time it would take to hand stitch. It's hard to see in the picture but there are little butterflies and paisley shapes that are outlined in stitches. The larger rectangles that look blank in the picture are stitched with flowers and a big butterfly.

It was fun to have Katie hold up the quilt for the picture - I've probably held up a dozen or more for my Mom to take pictures of her quilts.

Snacking Strange

Our Gretchie loves fruit, vegetables and meat. No complaints at all about her eating habits. Compare that to Katie who still to this day prefers plain pasta and ham to anything else.

Tonight for a snack Katie had applesauce and Gretchie requested mushrooms. If that wasn't odd enough, she wanted them sauteed in butter.

I'm sure that I may have some odd snacking habits but sauteed mushrooms takes the cake.

New Recipes

So I tried a couple new recipes for Christmas.

I found a one for Candy Cane cookies in the Nov. 29th issue of Family Circle. They are prettily decorated in the picture accompanying the recipe, mine ended up with a stripe of royal icing down the middle. Royal icing, I've found, tastes much better after the cookies have been frosted and it 'sets' for a good week or so. The cookies themselves were pretty simple, just butter cookies and with the royal icing; perfect with a cup of coffee or hot tea.

The second recipe I tried was from the Pioneer Woman; olive cheese bread. Seriously, if you are a fan of olives, cheese and Italian bread, meander yourself over to her website and use her Recipe Finder to get the recipe - since I made it, the green onions were omitted. I only used half of a loaf (since it was a new recipe and you just never know), using the other half loaf for plain old garlic bread. I did find that the baking time needed extended quite a bit and never did 'brown' but likely would had I used the broiler for a couple minutes. The olive cheese bread was really good and completely disappeared over at my parents' house. I went back for a second piece and was bummed to find the cutting board bare.

The only other things I made were tried and true: chocolate pie with graham cracker crust, almond bark pretzels and peppermint bark.