Anyone need a laugh?

Some of you may know that I am a big fan of Joss Whedon's (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) Firefly. So when Sarah told me about his latest online creation I had to check it out. Billed as a supervillain musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog clocks in at only 40 minutes and stars Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion (just seen in Waitress, Tallacksen women). Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Christmas Time!

For the past few years, getting a Christmas tree needed to be one person job and that meant going to Home Depot to pick one out. Luckily, Amberly and Orion volunteered to help me this year, so we headed out to Hann's Tree farm on Monday. It was pretty cold, but very fun to go out and cut my tree down myself this year.
Everything went incredibly easily - beautiful tree found quickly, cut down without any injuries, and even hauled to the car and tied on without any help from Amberly or me.



The apartment now smells great and the tree looks fabulous after 5 strings of lights and almost all of my ornaments. And... Molly has admired the tree without attacking any part of it.

Out with the old, in with the new

Say hello to the newest addition to the family.  She's an '06 Hyundai Elantra with close to 44,000 miles on her.  The Celica, aka Cecelia, aka the "bubbly" car, went into the shop last weeek and it was determined that she needed a new front exhaust pipe and soon would need new CV axles.  As I've driven around for the past week, I've become less self-conscious about sounding like a Harley.  I decided to stop putting money into her and instead put it toward a new car.  After much help from Doug's online subscription to Consumer Reports (Thanks Doug!), I decided that the Elantra was my top choice for a car - both reliable and affordable.   I luckily found one locally from a private seller and finished all of  the paperwork today.  I'm still working on getting the license plates off the old car and on to the new.  I'm afraid that that is requiring a recharge of my drill's battery.  It's like Grandpa T. screwed the screws in!  I think I am most excited about having a working air-conditioner in the summer.

D.C. on the 4th of July!

So what do you do if someone asks, "Hey, want to go to D.C. for the 4th?"  You say, "Of course!"

Well, that was my response at least.  A friend that I work with was thinking of going with her family and asked if I wanted to tag along.  We were able to keep the expenses down as her husband works for Northwest.  We flew in on the 4th and back on the 6th.  It was a quick trip, but a great time!

Meet Amberly, Daniel and Orion (the little guy).  We got into Arlington around 3 and made our way to our hotel.  Gotta love the Doubletree and their warm chocolate chip cookies that are always available at the desk!  After a rain shower passed through, we made our way to the Mall and headed over to the Capitol to sit on the lawn and listen to "A Capitol Fourth", the concert that is broadcast every year on PBS.  Near the end of the concert, the fireworks started at the other end of the Mall and we were able to see them with Washington monument on the foreground and the National Symphony playing in the background.

The next day we spent quite a bit of time at the National History Museum and wandered through some outdoor sculpture gardens.

At night we went on a Twilight Tour of all of the monuments.  Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln,FDR, Vietnam, Korea, Nurse's, as well as a quick stop at the White House and the Marine Corps monument at Arlington National Cemetery.  I won't post pictures as you all know what all of those look like.

A leisurely breakfast the next day and back to Madison.  Oh, wait.  Check out the view from out hotel window.  Yep, that's the Pentagon.

Last weekend I enjoyed a fabulous trip to San Fran. My friend Sarah has been out there with her husband for a couple of years and I was finally able to get out there. Two friends from the Twin Cities also flew out and we had a great girls' weekend!

After meeting Rachel (left) and Tina (middle) at the airport on Friday, we met Sarah(right) in the Mission district and had a picnic in a park.  We couldn't figure out what all of the other people in the park do to allow them to be able to spend a Friday afternoon in the park.

This is the view from Sarah and Zack's apartment window.  It's a little fogy, but in the distance is the bay and beyond that, Marin county.

On Saturday, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge into Marin county and went hiking on some great hilly trails...

as well as in John Muir Woods, which is a beautiful redwood forest.

On Sunday, Sarah got up early in order to procure tickets to a new exhibition at the de Young Museum.  Outside the museum, the Crucible (Department of Fire Works) their "fire truck" parked in order to provide fire for the glass and metal workers working there.
The Dale Chihuly exhibition showed off some of the amazing pieces that he and his studio have created over the years.  These are a couple of bowls.

Unfortunately, I didn't get sense of scale in this picture.  The green globe on the floor to the right is between 3 and 4 feet in diameter.

Once again, no scale.  The tall pieces are 8 to 10 feet tall.
It was great to see the city with someone who really knows it.  We walked a lot around Sarah's part of the city and she also drove us around some of the neat neighborhoods that are super hilly. We ate a ton of great food and got to experience a very unique (read scary) cab driver.  I can't wait to go back!

Summer Time

Although I always dream of having a garden someday, right now, living in a studio apartment limits me somewhat in what I am able to grow. In the past, I've stuck to just herbs, but this year I've branched out a little. One of the great things about container gardening is no weeding!

The first strawberry of the season

Ahh, the ubiquitous basil.  I've got two varieties in the pot, but I can't tell them apart by sight anymore, only taste.

The first tom of the season

The Daily Grind

So I know a lot of you have seen Woods Hollow, but you can't get a real feel of what I do all day every day without being there when kids are present. I thought I'd show some pics to give you a better feel of what a typical day is like for me. Even though the following pics are primarily of a few kids, we really do have 8 in the group.  Some just do more interesting things!  Enjoy.



We've had lots of fun with the little kitchen set in the room, not least of all, closing our friends in the refrigerator!

Some days it is REALLY hard to make it to nap time.  Usually, only Joey falls asleep at the table, but this day, it was both of the boys.

Now that all of the kids are walking, we love to go for walks near Woods Hollow.  This is one of the easier walks as the kids are somewhat contained by the woods.  Walks on the sidewalk and near the road are a bit more nerve-wracking.

Getting messy in some way is a part of almost everyday.  This day, we decided to go all out and do floor painting.  Sophia really like walking on the painting, but it was so slippery that she ended up sliding all over the place.  With a little help, it turned into more of a skating activity than a falling-on-her-face activity.

Once again, sleeping.  Our days are super busy and the kids get worn out.  Nap time brings some much needed rejuvenation time for both kids and teachers.

Sophia was very proud of the interesting way she figured out to stack the books on the bookshelf.

Kitty Cat

Ok, I have FINALLY gotten a picture up of the new kitty. David tied up my phone until I got a picture up. Everyone, meet Molly. Molly, meet everyone. She is still the best behaved cat and is finally feeling better, I think (after being spayed, having a hernia repaired and having to suffer through 2 medications and eye ointment to take care of an upper respiratory infection). She likes to play with the mouse that Callie left behind and she was chasing nothing all over my bed and the apartment tonight. She seems to be able to see things that I can't see.

Molly has been a great addition to my life!

your life in six words

I don't know if any of you are able to or do listen to To the Best of Our Knowledge on NPR, but they had an episode all about language today. One part discussed website and book that came from the the idea of Earnest Hemmingway's six word book,"For sale:baby shoes, never worn." So if you need to waste a little time, check out smithmag.net to read some six word memoirs. How would you sum up your life in six words? Right now mine might be: Still wondering where this is leading.