I made soup today. It was enough days past Thanksgiving that the leftover phase was over and I was faced with a ham bone with a good bit of meat still on it that I wanted to take advantage of. I took my son to the store so that we could round off my soup recipe with a few ingredients I was missing. We got back and my daughter helped me make the ham and vegetable soup I've been making ever since my mother taught me how to when I was small. The soup simmered on the stove for some hours and then everyone had soup for dinner.
I wonder how many other Americans were making soup today? I wonder what calendar day of the year has the highest incidence of soup making in homes. I'm sure I could look this up, but there goes the sense of wonder, right? Maybe I will when I finish this blog post.
My reasoning in thinking today may well be one of the highest soup-making days of the year is because Thanksgiving leftovers make excellent soup to start. It's been enough days of eating the leftovers in their originally-served form to make many people tired of them and it's cold (or it commonly is this time of year.)
I love soup. I think I'll be eating my soup for at least a week. I like this soup so much that I don't mind at all. The only thing I don't like about this soup is I like it so much I overeat because I have too many bowls. It is possible to gain weight eating soup, trust me on this.
The Big Boy Update: Although I didn't look up details about my "soup day" thought on the internet, I do go to a browser many times each day for various things. Of late my son has been asking what, "<thing one> and <thing two> make." Most of the time I can answer him because I know what seven and four make as well as what twelve and three and three and three make. Sometimes he asks tough ones though. He's been on a color combination kick lately and I wasn't really sure what pink and orange made so I went to a higher authority: the internet. I told him, "ah, it makes salmon or coral, depending on how much of each color is added."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: We got our Christmas tree today. It's not decorated yet, but it's up in our basement. My daughter came in from playing outside before dinner, walked over to the tree, hugged it and said, "I wuv you."
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Saturday, November 29, 2014
The Search Engine Resume Skill
Do you remember when search engines were just getting traction back in the early 1990's? It was an exciting time because we suddenly had the ability as end users make a request for specific content and have suggestions returned to us. If you asked your question correctly, you could get meaningful results. If you didn't ask your question specifically enough you would get garbage—or quite possibly porn—links instead.
I remember honing my search engine skills. I knew all about the "-parameter" option that would help eliminate undesirable results. For instance, if I wanted to search for a bikini top for my Jeep, I might enter, "bikini top jeep -ladies -model -nude."
Back in the nineties, knowing how to properly specify a search engine string was a skill not everyone had. Back then, not everyone could sift through the internet via a search engine and get useful results the first, second or even third time. I helped out enough people that I felt like I could add, "proficient at searching the internet" on my resume at one point.
Today, the search engine battle is largely over. A few major companies have won market share and they did so by providing an excellent product. Today, you don't have to be experienced. You can just type into that top little area some words describing what you want to look for and you're going to get some good results. You don't even have to go to a search engine to do so. You can type straight into the URL field and your browser will forward the request on to your preferred (or default) search engine.
The Big Boy Update: Blather. My son was washing his hands using a lot of soap. My mother told him to lather his hands. He told her he was getting a lot of "blather" and he was going to help his sister get her hands blathered too.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Pocus pocus! My daughter and son had a magic wand today that they were using to perform all sorts of magic with. Mostly the magic was to turn people into frogs and then back into people. My daughter didn't quite get the "hocus pocus" phrase though. She insisted on calling out, "pocus focus!" as she waved the wand in our direction and exclaimed we were now frogs.
I remember honing my search engine skills. I knew all about the "-parameter" option that would help eliminate undesirable results. For instance, if I wanted to search for a bikini top for my Jeep, I might enter, "bikini top jeep -ladies -model -nude."
Back in the nineties, knowing how to properly specify a search engine string was a skill not everyone had. Back then, not everyone could sift through the internet via a search engine and get useful results the first, second or even third time. I helped out enough people that I felt like I could add, "proficient at searching the internet" on my resume at one point.
Today, the search engine battle is largely over. A few major companies have won market share and they did so by providing an excellent product. Today, you don't have to be experienced. You can just type into that top little area some words describing what you want to look for and you're going to get some good results. You don't even have to go to a search engine to do so. You can type straight into the URL field and your browser will forward the request on to your preferred (or default) search engine.
The Big Boy Update: Blather. My son was washing his hands using a lot of soap. My mother told him to lather his hands. He told her he was getting a lot of "blather" and he was going to help his sister get her hands blathered too.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Pocus pocus! My daughter and son had a magic wand today that they were using to perform all sorts of magic with. Mostly the magic was to turn people into frogs and then back into people. My daughter didn't quite get the "hocus pocus" phrase though. She insisted on calling out, "pocus focus!" as she waved the wand in our direction and exclaimed we were now frogs.
Friday, November 28, 2014
The Bed Rail Mystery
We had a set of bed rails we used for the children when we travelled over the last year or so. There were multiple locations we'd visited that had twin beds we could put them on to prevent any roll-off falls my children might have had. But as we packed for this trip I noticed they weren't in the usual spot so a hunt ensued.
My mother and father had kept them the last two trips at their mountain house so we assumed they were there but when I called, they said they had looked and didn't see them. We looked in the children's storage area and the attic and no luck finding them at home. My husband and I are pretty organized and these bedrails aren't that small so it was a bit unexpected that they were missing.
We decided at that point that the children were old enough to not need bed rails (due in part because of the missing bed rails.) So we headed to the mountains and hoped for the best.
In their bedroom in the mountains we stuck a large throw pillow against the corner area of the night stand at each bed and put the children to bed at night per usual. And no one has fallen out yet. I came in one time to find my son lying sideways on the bed with his head dangling over the edge so I rearranged him. Other than that, I think they've graduated from bed rails.
The Big Boy Update: My son has been saying lots of things lately that are so very toddler-appropriate. Here are a few of them: My father-in-law was out in the snow for a long time with my son (who never seems to get cold.) His mittens were wet all through after climbing several trees so my son had finally had enough. He said to Grandpa, "let's go inside, my hands are freezie." After drying off, we got ready to go out to eat. I asked my son which shirt he wanted to wear. He pointed to the basic blue shirt with the horizontal yellow stripes on it and told me, "that's my electricity shirt. I want to wear that one." He's called that same shirt his electricity shirt before, so he must know what he's talking about. Then, as we were leaving the restaurant from dinner tonight, my mother pointed out the first-quarter moon, showing only the right side of the moon visible to the children. My son said, "where is the other half?"
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter decided to read some books to Mimi today. She read not one, not two, but four books to her. She read every page too saying things like, "beh dah bluh deh" and other non-word syllables. My mother said if there had been more time, she would have gladly read more books to her.
My mother and father had kept them the last two trips at their mountain house so we assumed they were there but when I called, they said they had looked and didn't see them. We looked in the children's storage area and the attic and no luck finding them at home. My husband and I are pretty organized and these bedrails aren't that small so it was a bit unexpected that they were missing.
We decided at that point that the children were old enough to not need bed rails (due in part because of the missing bed rails.) So we headed to the mountains and hoped for the best.
In their bedroom in the mountains we stuck a large throw pillow against the corner area of the night stand at each bed and put the children to bed at night per usual. And no one has fallen out yet. I came in one time to find my son lying sideways on the bed with his head dangling over the edge so I rearranged him. Other than that, I think they've graduated from bed rails.
The Big Boy Update: My son has been saying lots of things lately that are so very toddler-appropriate. Here are a few of them: My father-in-law was out in the snow for a long time with my son (who never seems to get cold.) His mittens were wet all through after climbing several trees so my son had finally had enough. He said to Grandpa, "let's go inside, my hands are freezie." After drying off, we got ready to go out to eat. I asked my son which shirt he wanted to wear. He pointed to the basic blue shirt with the horizontal yellow stripes on it and told me, "that's my electricity shirt. I want to wear that one." He's called that same shirt his electricity shirt before, so he must know what he's talking about. Then, as we were leaving the restaurant from dinner tonight, my mother pointed out the first-quarter moon, showing only the right side of the moon visible to the children. My son said, "where is the other half?"
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter decided to read some books to Mimi today. She read not one, not two, but four books to her. She read every page too saying things like, "beh dah bluh deh" and other non-word syllables. My mother said if there had been more time, she would have gladly read more books to her.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
In the Absence of Cooking...
...we had a delightful Thanksgiving. We're at the mountains visiting my parents. My in-laws are here as well and today at noon, dressed in our holiday best, we went to my parent's country club for a Thanksgiving meal. Not one of us cooked. No one had to clean. It was so nice.
We got dressed to go with: my son had on a green vest and my daughter had on a green sequined dress. They looked much more dressy than they normally do. We decided to take pictures. My father set up a camera on a tripod with the timer set and every was called into the big room.
Unfortunately, family photo was mostly a failure due to a tantrum my son was throwing. He had started the tantrum some time before and was getting more and more upset as he wasn't getting his way—which was random and mostly irrational.
We got to the country club and my son still wasn't able to compose himself, so he and I stood outside until he finally calmed down (or got cold enough in the snowy weather). After that, he was a model child for the remainder of the time.
We met the club manager and many of the people working for the day's holiday service. I thanked them all for working on Thanksgiving as I got food from the buffet. They were all so friendly and happy—it must be a nice place to work for.
They had a magician coming around the the tables doing magic for the children. My children loved the foam balls he made appear and disappear in their hands.
The food...oh dear, it was good. There were so many things I wanted to eat that there just wasn't room for. I ate more than I should have, but I'm not sorry one bit.
We came back and my mother-in-law an I made cookies, some of us played Scrabble and there was an adventure had in the snow by the children and some of the grandparents.
It's been a good day.
The Big Boy Update: Where are the handlers? We were watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning and my mother-in-law was explaining to my son about the handlers and how they held on to the large inflatables and walked them through the parade. We kept looking for a view of them, but usually the cameras were focused on the inflatable itself. At one point my son got very close to the television and looked like he was looking for something at the base of the table it was set on. As we were telling him to move back, we suddenly realized he was trying to look into and below the bottom of the television to see the handlers who were out of frame.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Stair stepping. I noticed my daughter has gotten big enough now to take stairs like adults do: one step at a time. She's taller at three-years-old than her brother was and can take the stair steps with ease.
We got dressed to go with: my son had on a green vest and my daughter had on a green sequined dress. They looked much more dressy than they normally do. We decided to take pictures. My father set up a camera on a tripod with the timer set and every was called into the big room.
Unfortunately, family photo was mostly a failure due to a tantrum my son was throwing. He had started the tantrum some time before and was getting more and more upset as he wasn't getting his way—which was random and mostly irrational.
We got to the country club and my son still wasn't able to compose himself, so he and I stood outside until he finally calmed down (or got cold enough in the snowy weather). After that, he was a model child for the remainder of the time.
We met the club manager and many of the people working for the day's holiday service. I thanked them all for working on Thanksgiving as I got food from the buffet. They were all so friendly and happy—it must be a nice place to work for.
They had a magician coming around the the tables doing magic for the children. My children loved the foam balls he made appear and disappear in their hands.
The food...oh dear, it was good. There were so many things I wanted to eat that there just wasn't room for. I ate more than I should have, but I'm not sorry one bit.
We came back and my mother-in-law an I made cookies, some of us played Scrabble and there was an adventure had in the snow by the children and some of the grandparents.
It's been a good day.
The Big Boy Update: Where are the handlers? We were watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning and my mother-in-law was explaining to my son about the handlers and how they held on to the large inflatables and walked them through the parade. We kept looking for a view of them, but usually the cameras were focused on the inflatable itself. At one point my son got very close to the television and looked like he was looking for something at the base of the table it was set on. As we were telling him to move back, we suddenly realized he was trying to look into and below the bottom of the television to see the handlers who were out of frame.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Stair stepping. I noticed my daughter has gotten big enough now to take stairs like adults do: one step at a time. She's taller at three-years-old than her brother was and can take the stair steps with ease.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
The Difference of a Day
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We'll be celebrating with both my parents and my in-laws and I'm looking forward to the time we'll all share together. Today we arrived at my parent's mountain him and my in-laws are arriving shortly. My mother was playing with the children out in the snow so my husband and I decided to go do some quick shopping before the holiday got into full swing.
We went down to the shops and got a parking space in the front row. As I walked into stores I was greeted with enthusiastic sales people, eager to help me—even if I didn't want any help. We had a pressing need to go shopping (we had forgotten something) and I was necessarily wary of the pre-Black Friday prices. But what I found surprised me.
I was told by sales people in store after store that everything in the store was fifty-percent off. They had to get their sale signs up before tomorrow; they had to mark down items before the early Black Friday sales started. So, everything was already on sale. I got through the entire outlet mall in record time, finding several things I didn't even know I needed ("needed" being completely subjective.)
These same stores will be mobbed after Thanksgiving tomorrow. It will be hard to find help, because everyone will be busy ringing up the lines of customers. I think I'm going to shop on Wednesday before Thanksgiving from now on. What a difference a day makes.
The Big Boy Update: My son was playing out in the snow with a spiderman toy, talking to himself when I heard him say: "this is Spiderman's invention. He gave it to me when I was Peter Pan."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said today, "oh no, my tutu came off!" I said to her, "I think you mean 'tattoo.'"
We went down to the shops and got a parking space in the front row. As I walked into stores I was greeted with enthusiastic sales people, eager to help me—even if I didn't want any help. We had a pressing need to go shopping (we had forgotten something) and I was necessarily wary of the pre-Black Friday prices. But what I found surprised me.
I was told by sales people in store after store that everything in the store was fifty-percent off. They had to get their sale signs up before tomorrow; they had to mark down items before the early Black Friday sales started. So, everything was already on sale. I got through the entire outlet mall in record time, finding several things I didn't even know I needed ("needed" being completely subjective.)
These same stores will be mobbed after Thanksgiving tomorrow. It will be hard to find help, because everyone will be busy ringing up the lines of customers. I think I'm going to shop on Wednesday before Thanksgiving from now on. What a difference a day makes.
The Big Boy Update: My son was playing out in the snow with a spiderman toy, talking to himself when I heard him say: "this is Spiderman's invention. He gave it to me when I was Peter Pan."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said today, "oh no, my tutu came off!" I said to her, "I think you mean 'tattoo.'"
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
The Under-appreciated Cleaner
My children were eating dinner at the two bar seats beside the kitchen sink tonight. They were lollygagging. They were dawdling. They were fidgeting. And most of all, they weren't eating their dinners. I didn't mind if they didn't eat their dinner, because they could eat a larger breakfast in the morning. (This is what happens when you don't like or want what's been served to you.)
It was then that I had it explained to me that they would really like cookies. That would be just the thing. I explained that once they had eaten all their broccoli and rice, they would be eligible for a cookie. They became suddenly interested in their food. They started eating. And as it always goes with rice, they started spilling things on the floor.
I knew they did this. I didn't think it was all that bad in the past. They got done, ate their cookies and headed off somewhere. That's when I saw the mess. The big mess. The rice all over the floor and the cookie crumbs on the chair. And how did they get the rice to fall that far away from their chairs? That's when I realized we were missing our cleaner.
Our dog is visiting my in-laws. My dog loves my mother-in-law. I knew the dog cleaned up any droppings, but I didn't have a true appreciation for the scope of the job until tonight when I was on my hands and knees, wiping up rice and cookie crumbs.
The Big Boy Update: We had our school's Thanksgiving celebration in the classrooms today. My son's class all went around and said one thing they were thankful for. My son said, "I'm thankful for daddy coming to my class."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter can completely wash her hair on her own. She lies back and gets her hair wet in the tub, squirts shampoo on her hair, rubs all around making a nice lather and then rinses it off. Sometimes she washes her hair two or three times.
Fitness Update: Five miles. It was unseasonably warm weather this morning which made for a fun run.
It was then that I had it explained to me that they would really like cookies. That would be just the thing. I explained that once they had eaten all their broccoli and rice, they would be eligible for a cookie. They became suddenly interested in their food. They started eating. And as it always goes with rice, they started spilling things on the floor.
I knew they did this. I didn't think it was all that bad in the past. They got done, ate their cookies and headed off somewhere. That's when I saw the mess. The big mess. The rice all over the floor and the cookie crumbs on the chair. And how did they get the rice to fall that far away from their chairs? That's when I realized we were missing our cleaner.
Our dog is visiting my in-laws. My dog loves my mother-in-law. I knew the dog cleaned up any droppings, but I didn't have a true appreciation for the scope of the job until tonight when I was on my hands and knees, wiping up rice and cookie crumbs.
The Big Boy Update: We had our school's Thanksgiving celebration in the classrooms today. My son's class all went around and said one thing they were thankful for. My son said, "I'm thankful for daddy coming to my class."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter can completely wash her hair on her own. She lies back and gets her hair wet in the tub, squirts shampoo on her hair, rubs all around making a nice lather and then rinses it off. Sometimes she washes her hair two or three times.
Fitness Update: Five miles. It was unseasonably warm weather this morning which made for a fun run.
Monday, November 24, 2014
The Sandwich Crust Consideration
We have to be careful as parents. Children want to push and test and see what they can and can't do. They're all about boundaries. Or at least they are at three-years-old. I have a strong suspicion they will continue to be all about boundaries until they're grown and out of the house—and I wouldn't be surprised if they still tried to push boundaries even then.
If you give a child one jelly bean will they be happy? Yes, they probably will be. But I would bet a large sum of money that that child will ask for a second jelly bean. I'd put even odds that the child would ask for a second jelly bean even before finishing the first jelly bean. They might even ask for a second jelly bean before you've placed the first jelly bean in their hand.
You have to make a decision in your mind about what you're willing to do and what you're not willing to do and you have to, must do, and without fail, follow your plan. Unless, that is, if you want your cute little children to become whining, yelling, screaming, tantrum machines. They're going to do this anyway, but it's how often they do it and to what degree they will go until they realize they're not going to win and give in that you're working on.
If you set a precedent that they can get another jelly bean if they're persistent enough and wear you down with asking, begging and pleading, I can assure you you will get a lot more of the asking, begging and pleading in the future.
Have you been out to a restaurant and seen a child get ready to throw a fit and then the parent says no in a serious but emphatic voice and then seen that child accept the decision and move on to something else and not be upset by it? Have you seen a child throw a tantrum in a restaurant and watch as the parents give in to whatever the child wants just so he or she will quiet down and not be an embarrassment? I expect my children do to the former, not the latter.
Point in fact, my children are still learning and we are dealing with a lot of the second scenario right now. My husband doesn't like our children to make loud noises and disturb other tables around him and I agree, it is rude and inconsiderate. So, we end up hauling our children outside until they calm down. (And by children, I am mostly referring to my son, who is very strong-willed and opinionated.)
But we are not giving up. We don't plan on giving up. Today my son picked up his hotdog and was horrified that there was black char on part of it. He declared it yucky and I was afraid he was going to throw it on the floor (which would have been the end of his meal, no matter how hungry he was.) He was upset and started making this annoying wailing noise he makes when he desperately needs to ingest some calories. My husband took the hot dog and was about to get the black off when I realized we were at a precedence-setting junction.
I said something and my husband agreed saying, "yes, it's like cutting the crusts off a sandwich." So he handed the hot dog back to my son, telling him if he didn't like the black part, he didn't have to eat it and we could give it to his sister. My son ate the hot dot. He stopped complaining about the black char. Undesirable precedence setting event avoided.
I liked my husband's analogy of the crustless sandwich situation. The crust doesn't taste that much different than the bulk of the bread, but if you start off cutting off the crusts, you may well find yourself cutting off the crusts for a long, long time to come.
The Big Boy Update: My son used a urinal today. I don't go into the men's room with him so I didn't know if he'd ever done so before. My husband said he's done it once before, and that today was an easy one for him because the urinal went all the way down to the floor.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah. My children have two "friends" they include in their games together sometimes. These two friends aren't full imaginary friends, but references to people they want to invite places or bring a meal to or perform some sort of medical experiments on. Their names come up all the time. My son corrected my pronunciation today so at least I know I've got their names correct now: Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah (not related to the Lady Ga Ga I'm fairly certain.)
Fitness Update: It may well be that our trainer is trying to get us to pre-burn off all the calories we'll be eating on Thanksgiving. It was a tough day at the gym. My neighbor, Uncle Jonathan and I also signed up for another Marathon that's in March of next year. This one isn't on pavement, which makes me actually interested in doing it. We've been looking at training schedules today and it looks like we're going to need to get serious about training in less than a month.
If you give a child one jelly bean will they be happy? Yes, they probably will be. But I would bet a large sum of money that that child will ask for a second jelly bean. I'd put even odds that the child would ask for a second jelly bean even before finishing the first jelly bean. They might even ask for a second jelly bean before you've placed the first jelly bean in their hand.
You have to make a decision in your mind about what you're willing to do and what you're not willing to do and you have to, must do, and without fail, follow your plan. Unless, that is, if you want your cute little children to become whining, yelling, screaming, tantrum machines. They're going to do this anyway, but it's how often they do it and to what degree they will go until they realize they're not going to win and give in that you're working on.
If you set a precedent that they can get another jelly bean if they're persistent enough and wear you down with asking, begging and pleading, I can assure you you will get a lot more of the asking, begging and pleading in the future.
Have you been out to a restaurant and seen a child get ready to throw a fit and then the parent says no in a serious but emphatic voice and then seen that child accept the decision and move on to something else and not be upset by it? Have you seen a child throw a tantrum in a restaurant and watch as the parents give in to whatever the child wants just so he or she will quiet down and not be an embarrassment? I expect my children do to the former, not the latter.
Point in fact, my children are still learning and we are dealing with a lot of the second scenario right now. My husband doesn't like our children to make loud noises and disturb other tables around him and I agree, it is rude and inconsiderate. So, we end up hauling our children outside until they calm down. (And by children, I am mostly referring to my son, who is very strong-willed and opinionated.)
But we are not giving up. We don't plan on giving up. Today my son picked up his hotdog and was horrified that there was black char on part of it. He declared it yucky and I was afraid he was going to throw it on the floor (which would have been the end of his meal, no matter how hungry he was.) He was upset and started making this annoying wailing noise he makes when he desperately needs to ingest some calories. My husband took the hot dog and was about to get the black off when I realized we were at a precedence-setting junction.
I said something and my husband agreed saying, "yes, it's like cutting the crusts off a sandwich." So he handed the hot dog back to my son, telling him if he didn't like the black part, he didn't have to eat it and we could give it to his sister. My son ate the hot dot. He stopped complaining about the black char. Undesirable precedence setting event avoided.
I liked my husband's analogy of the crustless sandwich situation. The crust doesn't taste that much different than the bulk of the bread, but if you start off cutting off the crusts, you may well find yourself cutting off the crusts for a long, long time to come.
The Big Boy Update: My son used a urinal today. I don't go into the men's room with him so I didn't know if he'd ever done so before. My husband said he's done it once before, and that today was an easy one for him because the urinal went all the way down to the floor.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah. My children have two "friends" they include in their games together sometimes. These two friends aren't full imaginary friends, but references to people they want to invite places or bring a meal to or perform some sort of medical experiments on. Their names come up all the time. My son corrected my pronunciation today so at least I know I've got their names correct now: Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah (not related to the Lady Ga Ga I'm fairly certain.)
Fitness Update: It may well be that our trainer is trying to get us to pre-burn off all the calories we'll be eating on Thanksgiving. It was a tough day at the gym. My neighbor, Uncle Jonathan and I also signed up for another Marathon that's in March of next year. This one isn't on pavement, which makes me actually interested in doing it. We've been looking at training schedules today and it looks like we're going to need to get serious about training in less than a month.
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