Dive Right In

Kim had her birthday party a couple of weeks ago, and I have been too lazy to post anything about it till now. We went bowling and all had a great time. This year she requested a "swimming pool" cake with her diving from a "3 meter" board. No, the board is not to scale.

Gotta Have Soul

Last night I took a risk and introduced our daughter to a type of fish she has never tasted - sole. It was a pretty safe bet as she likes salmon, lobster tail and cod. She even tolerates cod in lutefisk form. The difference is that I used a little Parmesan cheese in the coating before baking it, so I was a little unsure of what the end result would be. She had two pieces at dinner and another two for an evening snack. I guess she liked it. Now she is asking for scallops.

It's not delivery - It's homemade!

Our daughter wanted a pizza for dinner, but knew we could not order one because the weather was lousy and delivery was not an option. She didn't even want to deal with driving a mile down the hill to the Mountainaire Tavern to pick one up. She was quite upset until I pointed out that we could make one. She even helped. And what a help she was.

A Very Good Day

It would seem that I have been stressing over clearing the roof of snow and the driveway of ice before the next storm hits given the ever shortening window of opportunity. The stress increased during the past couple of days because I knew our daughter wanted to spend today skiing, causing me to miss a day to accomplish the tasks. This was despite my knowing that if I went to the slopes, the remaining snow on the roof, and ice in the driveway would cease to matter. How a ten year-old came to be so smart is beyond me. When one is cruising down a snow covered slope with their child on a windless sunny day, the roof and driveway don't matter. Wait--it gets better! I decided the driveway is such a lost cause I should not stress over it, and Kim got tired early so I was able to get on the roof before sunset and spent 30 minutes to remove the remaining snow from the roof. It gets even better. While I was schussing away the Vikings (one of my 3 faves) killed/embarrassed/trounced/decimated, etc. the Cowbows (a team I refuse to acknowledge as more than slime mold) 43-3. This was icing on the cake - or better yet, the chocolate ruffles/shards on the "pain in the ass cake."

How To Flip Lefse

Kim demonstrates how to flip lefse. That kid has some Norskie in her - and from both Mom's and Dad's side of the family. It sure shows.

Geologic Reproduction

Our daughter had a tooth pulled today, and it was HUGE. Patty commented that she now has a crater in her mouth to which Kim replied "The Grand Canyon had a baby!" I'd post a pic of the tooth, but that would just be gross. Even for me.

Dive Right In

My daughter had her first dive meet yesterday, and can't wait for the next one. She has been diving for only 4-1/2 months so she has a lot to feel good about. I wonder what she will be doing in another 5 months.

The Little Young Lady From Carlsbad

One of our daughter's favorite things at LEGOLAND was the cars that kids get to drive. There is a course set up not unlike the courses we had during driver's ed classes in the seventies. The difference is that someone dumped money into this one so there are actual curbs and traffic lights. That and the kids cars are battery operated and go slow. Anyway here she is a few moments before getting her laminated driver's license.

Seeing is Believing

During our trip to LEGOLAND we we impressed with the displays made out of legos. I fund some of the attention to detail particularly fascinating; not only were the people in the stands good, but the side of the Capitol had an added element that many would overlook.

The Port-a-Potties! With people waiting to use them!

Row, row, row your boat.

I have frequently wondered about the logic of heading to "the lake" for the day. I have always thought that being confined to a shadeless expanse of blazing sun was a form of torture reserved for international terrorists. I am not talking about fishing. Spending the day fishing makes sense to me, but just hanging out at the lake has often baffled me, so when one of our daughter's friends decided to have his birthday party at Lake Mary complete with canoes and kayaks, I feigned enthusiasm, dreading baking under the 95 degree sun for 3 hours. Besides, I had not paddled a canoe in over 20 years. Anyway, Saturday we headed off to the lake for a day baking in the sun for three hours. The result: After 5 (3 was not enough) hours paddling canoes and kayaks in the sun I have concluded I WANT A CANOE, I WANT A KAYAK, I WANT A TRAILER OR RACK TO HAUL SAID TOYS TO THE LAKE. I WANT A CANOE OR KAYAK. I WANT A KAYAK OR CANOE. I WANT BOTH! I WANT BOTH NOW! I am also pissed off that nobody ever told me that a day at the lake is fun. Nobody told me that one simply ignores the heat and sun. (is this enough sarcasm?) Maybe somebody could profess that there is logic in heading to "the lake" for the day.

Aging Dog And New Trick

This evening, our daughter became bored and wound up putting on her inline skates, heading off to the road with Patty and practicing skating. I took the hint and put mine on as well. The idea of strapping wheels on ones feet never made sense to me as I am more of a metal blade on a boot guy, but I have a pair of "eBay special" inline skates for just such an occasion. The problem is that my inline skates have no brakes, thus I need to do a power slide to stop. Err, learn how to power slide to stop. Err, learn to power slide on asphalt to stop. Err learn to power slide on asphalt on a slight downhill grade in the dark to stop. Oh, what the heck, I'll just spin and change directions, or coast until the downhill becomes level. I'll learn the power slide some other day.

Adaptation

A few months ago, my wife's work schedule changed from 7:00 AM-4:00 PM M-F (which matched mine) to some random permutation of starting at 6:00 or 7:00 to 2:00, 3:00 or 4:00. This had potential to cause strife in our daughter's life as she loves to have Mommy drop us off on the way to her work and we ride bicycles the last mile to her school. Our daughter believed this work schedule means we can only do this on occasion. She was quite upset until I mentioned on the 6:00 days I can drive us to the same parking lot where we get dropped off on the 7:00 days. This is just what we started doing and all is happy. I get more riding and exercise too. The big problem might come in August when the parking pass expires and I am reluctant to purchase a new one due to a nearly 50% increase in the price. While I understand the reluctance of having taxpayers pay for my parking pass, I have issue with paying to park where I work, considering there is no public transit where we live. Also a parking pass does not guarantee I will have a parking spot. The other point is that I can do the street parking thing and be closer to work than the campus parking lots I normally use but, this would not work for the ride to our daughter's school. Hmmmm. Maybe I should just buy the cheap pass for the dirt boondocks lot that sucks for where I work, but is good for the ride to Ms. K's school. I can always do a pro-rate upgrade in November when the snow starts to fly, the temperature drops and darkness rules the early morn.

Do Not Let The Cheese Separate.

Our daughter wanted to help with dinner tonight. I mean insisted on helping; in particular she wanted to make the cheese sauce for the fettuccine. She said if I told her how she would make it. I told her what to do and she did it. She even made me leave the room (Mommy stayed to keep her out of danger.) I must have had her use too much flour (Wondra) because it turned out too thick. Her immediate response was "Oh, we'll just add a little more milk." A splash or two of moo juice and it was perfect. Smooth, velvety, and yummy. I was jealous. The first time I tried to make a cheese sauce it was yummy, but grainy and anything but smooth and velvety. She even added a little pepper and Tabasco sauce for flavor. Maybe the next lesson should be shrimp scampi?

Is There A Point Spread?

I am at a loss as to what to blog on tonight, so I just asked my daughter. She in turn asked mommy. Mommy said to blog about a mini furniture rearrangement in our house. We moved the small roll-top desk that was in the living room into our daughter's room and moved the cedar chest and small fish tank that was there into the living room. We hope this helps with making homework time homework time and not try to ignore the TV time. Will it work? The spirit of Jimmy The Greek is calculating the odds as I blog.

When Judges Lie And Suck Toes.

I planned on talking one of the science fair folks about the science fair "comparison issue" today when I was picking my daughter up for a dentist appointment, but Kim decided to just do the project she was going to do anyway. This is probably good since her past projects (involving comparisons) have done well. This is also a good thing because I didn't want to confront someone about something that is probably due to a nine-year-old's misunderstanding of the issue. I can just picture myself getting snotty and saying something like "I have a Master's degree in science and I know science so there!" with the nasal nerdish voice I have been blessed with. This would have been met with a "Well I'm a professional librarian and in charge of the judges, so there back!" Within minutes this would have moved to "Liar liar pants on fire." and "So so suck your toe all the way to Mexico." So it's a good thing Kim decided not to worry about it.

Comparing Apples to Rambutans, or Turnips Even.

Last night after getting Kim to bed, I started channel surfing and came across the Coyotes game. I was amazed to see the score at 5 to 3 in Phoenix's favor. Then I realized they were playing Detroit and was amazeder. Then I noticed there were 10 minutes left in the third - yup amazederer. I felt like an idiot for not finding the game earlier, but got over it quickly once the desert doggies scored again. Final score 6 - 3. The mangy mutts do not beat the Red Wings just any day, and for the second time in two days there was much happiness in Glendale, albeit different venues. In other news one of the science fair folks in charge of the judges told Kim today that "comparing things is not a science project." This leaves me wondering if comparing a "control" to an "experiment" group means it is not science. Needless to say this leaves our daughter very confused and frustrated. I think I need to find this person and ask her what she really meant. It might be that Kim needs to redesign her experiment to something that has no comparisons.

Dill or Sweet?

When we were picking our daughter up from her after school program today, one of the directors informed us that she and another girl called a boy a bad name. She apologized immediately and all was well - aside from the grounding we were sure would result. We were not told what the name was and figured we would get it out of her on the drive home. Once we were in the car, I asked what the name was. Nothing could ever prepare me for this answer: "Pickle Hater." Yes, it appears that one of her classmates does not like pickles. We have not devised a punishment, but I did ask what she would think if someone called her "Lutefisk Liker." "Wouldn't care." was the response. So what is the punishment for calling someone "Pickle Hater?"

How Many Snow Days??

Well it happened again. Both the public schools and NAU were closed today. This is the third day for the public schools and the second this week for the U. My daughter is taking the yard sale bit in stride and seems to have accepted the fact that it is unlikely that they will have it. As far as the U goes, the building I work in was closed this week for repairs, except for those who requested special permission to be there this week. The closure of the U trumps my permission, so I took the time off to stay with my daughter. Now we just need to see what happens tomorrow. My daughter gets out of school at 11:30 tomorrow, so even a two hour delay will mess that up. Oh, well. Snowbowl opens Saturday! Thanks storms.

Snow Daze

The public schools here decided to be smart and add a couple more snow days into the schedule. Let's see if they can blow through half of them in one week of December. Oddly enough my daughter was upset about the snow days. Not because she loves school, but because her had scheduled an indoor "yard sale" yesterday. That was changed to today. Today was changed to tomorrow. If we get another foot tonight, it will be changed to Friday. Maybe I should really test the fabric of the universe and order some lutefisk. Don't worry, it has been established that she hates lutefisk so much, the word "lutefisk" is a dirty word to her. Oh, don't you just love the emblem above?

Morning Wake Up Call

So after our daughter had the last five days off from school, and I had 5 days off from work (my wife had to settle for a simple weekend), we headed off to work and school in the pre dawn darkness. We were toolin' along the road toward the interstate when our daughter suddenly exclaimed ELK! ELK! ELK! Sure 'nuff a HUGE bull elk sauntered across the road some 20 yards in front of us. It was too dark to count points, but it was a big ol' boy. It served as a reminder that we do share our environment with wildlife and we must always be alert while driving. During my days of playing firefighter I saw what these animals do to even full size pick-up trucks, and it is impressive. What happens to the passengers is even more impressive. Seeing one of these beautiful and powerful animals is a great way to start the week.