well it's snowing here in vt on this last day of march. sweet. just what we need...MORE snow. to add to the 4 inches we got last friday. ack.
actually, yesterday (sunday) was a beautiful day: sunny, clear skies and temps reaching to nearly 50 degrees (that's practically tropical weather up in these parts, y'all). we took advantage of the nice weather and took the jogger stroller out for a spin. weeeee!
aubrey has had a terrible barky cough for the past week, along with a stuffed-up nose. we took her to the doc on friday because we were getting concerned (wheezing, difficulty breathing...scary stuff). it turns out she has bronchiolitis, so we started giving her meds to help with that. over the weekend we didn't see a huge improvement, although the wheezing subsided. she was a little fussy, but we mostly attributed that to the fact that she has been under the weather and has been teething a lot lately.
unfortunately, now it turns out that she's developed an ear infection - she screamed bloody murder for most of the morning at daycare, so we called the doc who told us to bring her in again. as i type pete is off to the pharmacy to pick up her presciption for antibiotics. gaaaaa! poor boopers. bronchiolitis + teething + ear infection = miserable baby. i hope that as she gets older she is able to fend off these nasty viruses a little better. it seems like every other week she comes down with something.
Monday, March 31, 2008
peeps!
here are the easter peeps that i knit for aubrey. aren't they strangely adorable? i think they're a bit creepy, actually. their beady little eyes remind me of those of wallace & grommit's nemesis in "the wrong trousers."
Thursday, March 27, 2008
my new favorite food...
la dee da, it's thursday afternoon, i've had a long day at work and i'm quite ready to high-tail it outta here. it's "burger and a beer nite" at the tavern down the road and with dwindling provisions on hand at home, i'm happy to have someone else do the cooking. and especially happy that it involves locally raised beef and a microbrew.
but that's not what this post is really about.
what i really feel compelled to write about is my new favorite food discovery: greek yogurt. i've been aware of its existence for quite some time but - for some inexplicable reason - have never tried it.
see, i really want to like yogurt. it's good for you, and i am trying to be conscious of getting enough calcium these days. but the texture sometimes turns me off. i can't stand when yogurt has lumpy bumps in it, or watery reservoirs, or so much gooey fruit-on-the-bottom that the syrupy sweetness is overpowering and just plain gross. yes, i'm picky when it comes to yogurt. i confess!
which is why greek yogurt is so appealing: its texture is smooth and consistent, its flavor mild and unsweetened. and the best part: fage total makes a nonfat version that is just as thick, creamy and luscious as the low fat and full fat varieties. so you don't even have to feel guilty for eating it! (do i sound like a commercial or what?)
even more brilliant: i can make my own greek-style yogurt on the cheap. it's SO easy. you can either: (a) make a batch of your own yogurt and then strain it (place it in a fine-mesh collander lined with cheesecloth or coffee filters over a container to catch the liquid) for a few hours; or (b) buy a quart of pre-made organic yogurt and strain it. pete and i have been making our own yogurt for a while now but it always turns out a touch watery, so straining it will produce a much more palatable consistency.
side note: while aubrey loves maple yogurt or stonyfield farm's yo baby yogurt, she does NOT like unsweetened greek yogurt. she literally gak-ed after i gave it to her the other day. someday she'll come 'round, though....
but that's not what this post is really about.
what i really feel compelled to write about is my new favorite food discovery: greek yogurt. i've been aware of its existence for quite some time but - for some inexplicable reason - have never tried it.
see, i really want to like yogurt. it's good for you, and i am trying to be conscious of getting enough calcium these days. but the texture sometimes turns me off. i can't stand when yogurt has lumpy bumps in it, or watery reservoirs, or so much gooey fruit-on-the-bottom that the syrupy sweetness is overpowering and just plain gross. yes, i'm picky when it comes to yogurt. i confess!
which is why greek yogurt is so appealing: its texture is smooth and consistent, its flavor mild and unsweetened. and the best part: fage total makes a nonfat version that is just as thick, creamy and luscious as the low fat and full fat varieties. so you don't even have to feel guilty for eating it! (do i sound like a commercial or what?)
even more brilliant: i can make my own greek-style yogurt on the cheap. it's SO easy. you can either: (a) make a batch of your own yogurt and then strain it (place it in a fine-mesh collander lined with cheesecloth or coffee filters over a container to catch the liquid) for a few hours; or (b) buy a quart of pre-made organic yogurt and strain it. pete and i have been making our own yogurt for a while now but it always turns out a touch watery, so straining it will produce a much more palatable consistency.
side note: while aubrey loves maple yogurt or stonyfield farm's yo baby yogurt, she does NOT like unsweetened greek yogurt. she literally gak-ed after i gave it to her the other day. someday she'll come 'round, though....
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
holiday weekend
we're back from cape cod, where flowers were sprouting and grass was starting to turn green. aubrey had fun visiting with her grammie, poppy, aunties and uncles and great grandparents. here are a few pictures from easter morning. happy spring!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
new project
aren't these li'l chickees cute? i really want to make something to put in boopers' easter basket (which i am certain my mother will have crammed with goodies). since she can't eat candy, something cute and cuddly and handmade might be nice, right?
i found this pattern for handknit easter peeps and i figure it's just small enough and easy enough that i might be able to speedily finish at least one before sunday. plus i have heaps of leftover cotton yarn in spring colors to use up, and this pattern will work well with it (no squishy bouncy yarn, unfortunately).
so i'm planning to cast on tonite...after i pack up all of aubrey's gear for the weekend!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
four years...
yesterday was our dear cabot's fourth birthday. happy birthday little man! the above picture is not the most flattering, but it's the only one i have of him on my work computer, and it does demonstrate his obsessive love with that funny rubber blue toy. the way it works is you put treats in the center and it's supposed to be a challenge for dogs to get them out. but not for our dear cabot, no...he's got a fail-proof method for extracting his treats: he LICKS them out. yes, he will spend HOURS with his snout smooshed against the top of that blue toy, slurping those precious dog biscuits until (i think) they turn to mush and slither out like a dog biscuit milk shake.
the weird thing is...cabot will lick the blue toy for hours even if there are no treats inside. i've heard that labs are prone to obsessive compulsive behaviors involving licking, and it seems that likely cabot is afflicted with OCLD (obsessive compulsive licking disorder). there are worse things really...at least he doesn't eat his own poo.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
random
happy monday morning! my body is still an hour behind due to the time change so i'm a little tired this am. and totally not motivated to be in the office.
so i found this quiz that you can take in order to determine what european city suits your personality best. kind of silly but pretty fun...and since i have europe on the brain (see last post) i decided to take it. so guess what city i "belong" in????
amsterdam!
sweet. i'd live there in a second. (tho i can't figure out dutch for the life of me.)
the weekend flew by. the weather was dismal again, unfortunately. we got a lot of stuff done around the house, which was good. and we took aubrey swimming for the first time. she LOVED it! so much fun! she was so cute in her lil' sparkly bathing suit, too.
what else?
i finally downloaded some pictures from our camera so it's time to post some.
so i found this quiz that you can take in order to determine what european city suits your personality best. kind of silly but pretty fun...and since i have europe on the brain (see last post) i decided to take it. so guess what city i "belong" in????
amsterdam!
sweet. i'd live there in a second. (tho i can't figure out dutch for the life of me.)
the weekend flew by. the weather was dismal again, unfortunately. we got a lot of stuff done around the house, which was good. and we took aubrey swimming for the first time. she LOVED it! so much fun! she was so cute in her lil' sparkly bathing suit, too.
what else?
i finally downloaded some pictures from our camera so it's time to post some.
morning sunshine...
fun with containers
um, is that a dog toy you're munching on???
boopers loves the pool!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
spring fever!
for the past few days we have had miserable weather: snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, winds...the lot. rain on top of several feet of snow is not pretty. we have a small flood in our barn right now, which happens to be situated conveniently at the lowest point on our property. grrrr. today, thankfully, it is sunny and mild. melt snow, melt! i'm ready for warm weather and green grass and flowers!
this past weekend we bought seeds for our little garden in the back yard. i've been thinking a lot about gardening...i haven't had a decent garden in several years now, and i am so excited to grow flowers and vegetables this summer! so far we're planning to grow tomatoes, cukes, chard, beets, zucchini, salad greens, and peppers. i also want to plant some winter squash, basil, cilantro, and perhaps carrots, but there are lots of perennials in the existing garden and i'm not sure we'll have the room. gotta wait and see what comes up.
i've also been thinking a lot about cooking and traveling. pete and i haven't been on vacation in forever...our last vacation was in 2005 when we spent two weeks traveling around northern italy and switzerland. sigh. what a wonderful trip. i'd love to get away for a while, especially to europe.
which is why i am addicted to reading clotilde dusoulier's fabulous blog chocolate & zucchini. she is an excellent writer and her recipes are intriguing. as soon as i have a free moment, i plan to make her honey hazelnut cake. yum. i recently read her post recounting a weekend visit to brussels and was daydreaming about moules, frites, and belgian pralines for the rest of the afternoon. i've been to brussels before, but only briefly, and i wish that i had some pointers about where to go for fabulous eats. there are spectacular eateries all over brussels, and it's a bit overwhelming.
aubrey is at a good age to travel right now...if only we could scrape up the money and time to go. gotta work on that.
oh yeah, aubrey is on the mend...no more fever, but she still has a runny nose and awful cough. we're gettin' there.
this past weekend we bought seeds for our little garden in the back yard. i've been thinking a lot about gardening...i haven't had a decent garden in several years now, and i am so excited to grow flowers and vegetables this summer! so far we're planning to grow tomatoes, cukes, chard, beets, zucchini, salad greens, and peppers. i also want to plant some winter squash, basil, cilantro, and perhaps carrots, but there are lots of perennials in the existing garden and i'm not sure we'll have the room. gotta wait and see what comes up.
i've also been thinking a lot about cooking and traveling. pete and i haven't been on vacation in forever...our last vacation was in 2005 when we spent two weeks traveling around northern italy and switzerland. sigh. what a wonderful trip. i'd love to get away for a while, especially to europe.
which is why i am addicted to reading clotilde dusoulier's fabulous blog chocolate & zucchini. she is an excellent writer and her recipes are intriguing. as soon as i have a free moment, i plan to make her honey hazelnut cake. yum. i recently read her post recounting a weekend visit to brussels and was daydreaming about moules, frites, and belgian pralines for the rest of the afternoon. i've been to brussels before, but only briefly, and i wish that i had some pointers about where to go for fabulous eats. there are spectacular eateries all over brussels, and it's a bit overwhelming.
aubrey is at a good age to travel right now...if only we could scrape up the money and time to go. gotta work on that.
oh yeah, aubrey is on the mend...no more fever, but she still has a runny nose and awful cough. we're gettin' there.
Monday, March 3, 2008
STILL sicky...
where did the weekend go? i can't believe it's monday already. i need another sunday.
with the first day of march came 5 inches of fresh new snow, adding to the already towering mounds of white stuff enveloping our little house. once the storm moved on through, it turned out to be a beautiful weekend...if aubrey wasn't so sick, we would have taken advantage of the perfect winter weather for some outdoor fun, but unfortunately, miss a. is STILL feeling crummy. fever all weekend and an unpleasant cough accompanied by a never-ending stream of green snoogies. she is not a happy camper, although she is being a good sport. thank goodness for infant tylenol and motrin.
saturday am we put on our snow boots and trekked over to the village school to participate in town meeting, which proceeded pretty much as i expected it would. there were about 100 people in attendance and we made it through the agenda relatively quickly. i found it amazing that the school budget (usually a contentious issue considering that our little elementary school has a population of 40 kids and every year someone questions whether we should close the school and send our kids to school in the neighboring town) passed with little commotion (i'm not complaining about that) yet the small line items in the budget (ex: should the town contribute $150 towards an organization that sponsors service projects for kids?) were the subject of considerable back-and-forth quibbling. oh well. it was an experience for sure. boopers came with us, and was quite happy to hang out in our new and much loved ergobaby carrier. tuesday is the actual voting day and surprisingly, vermont's little presidential primary election might actually mean something this year. should be interesting to watch the results come in!
so i've been slacking on posting pictures lately, owing greatly to the fact that our camera is pretty much dead. not to fear! a new one has been ordered, and i anticipate much picture snapping in the future! more pictures = more interesting blog.
ok, back to pumping....
with the first day of march came 5 inches of fresh new snow, adding to the already towering mounds of white stuff enveloping our little house. once the storm moved on through, it turned out to be a beautiful weekend...if aubrey wasn't so sick, we would have taken advantage of the perfect winter weather for some outdoor fun, but unfortunately, miss a. is STILL feeling crummy. fever all weekend and an unpleasant cough accompanied by a never-ending stream of green snoogies. she is not a happy camper, although she is being a good sport. thank goodness for infant tylenol and motrin.
saturday am we put on our snow boots and trekked over to the village school to participate in town meeting, which proceeded pretty much as i expected it would. there were about 100 people in attendance and we made it through the agenda relatively quickly. i found it amazing that the school budget (usually a contentious issue considering that our little elementary school has a population of 40 kids and every year someone questions whether we should close the school and send our kids to school in the neighboring town) passed with little commotion (i'm not complaining about that) yet the small line items in the budget (ex: should the town contribute $150 towards an organization that sponsors service projects for kids?) were the subject of considerable back-and-forth quibbling. oh well. it was an experience for sure. boopers came with us, and was quite happy to hang out in our new and much loved ergobaby carrier. tuesday is the actual voting day and surprisingly, vermont's little presidential primary election might actually mean something this year. should be interesting to watch the results come in!
so i've been slacking on posting pictures lately, owing greatly to the fact that our camera is pretty much dead. not to fear! a new one has been ordered, and i anticipate much picture snapping in the future! more pictures = more interesting blog.
ok, back to pumping....
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