Groundhogs, Squash and Minimal Hairs

The weirdest thing happened this week: Monday didn't happen. I'm not exactly sure how Monday managed to sneak off, but it some how got totally skipped! All day, yesterday, I kept filling things out to be dated 2/2/09 and was so excited to tell Jay "Happy Groundhog Day" when he got home from work and then when I finally did, he informed me of my erroneous thinking. Weird.
I've never understood Groundhog Day. It's definitely one of the weirder things we have pre-printed in our calendars. I'm especially fuzzy on how it makes sense that shadow = more winter. To me, shadow = sunny = not cold. Am I missing something? And, can anyone ever remember a time when the groundhog didn't see his shadow? (it is a he, right?) Did anyone's family actually celebrate? I'm thinking about starting some kind of absurd family tradition, to go with this absurd holiday. (I mean, we don't even get off work/school. What kind of holiday is that?)


Yesterday The Frog got his first taste of "real" food - squash! I had steamed and pureed some from my parents' garden, and it's been patiently waiting in my freezer for this moment. More patiently than I have. The Frog is quite a champ. I just mixed it in with the same amount of rice he's been eating and he downed the whole thing!! (well, except for the bits that ended up decorating his outfit, bumbo, the table, and my clothes) He's so funny- it takes forever to give it to him because he grabs the spoon as soon as I stick it in his mouth and then gnaws on it for awhile, until I can sneak it away. And then as soon as I get my spoon back, he starts sucking on his bib and the food that resides there.


He's very independent. When I wipe off his face, he likes to grab the washcloth and suck on it. I love this picture, though, because it looks like he's wiping off :)


But the climax, for me, is the end of my continual whining. I've been complaining about how much I want to chop off my hair, ever since it started its post-preggo falling out stage, and I finally got up the nerve to remedy that today. Here's a little before and after :D

Goodbye Jan

Where did January go? With all the bread-making, pod-cast listening, baby-raising, grain eating and washer searching, time just flew! Did I mention our washer died before planned? Oh well, we got a great deal on a used Maytag front-loader and I can't believe how much quieter it is! It even has a cool light that turns on when you open the door! I feel so fancified.

The Frog is, of course, just as cute as ever, and we've tried to get him to sit in his little high chair when we feed him, as opposed to him sitting in my lap where I can't get a very good view of where all the food is ending up (unless, of course, it goes on my pants... and then I don't have to see because I can feel it well enough) Oh, and I finally got a shot of him where you can really see his teeth. He smiles at himself in the mirror a lot, so I used it to help me out :)


Sneaking the grains into all my meals has turned out not to be as hard as I was expecting... Lately I've just been cooking cracked wheat for breakfast and then adding the extras to my chili that night, or teff in the morning goes in mac 'n cheese at night, or oatmeal in the morning goes into spaghetti sauce that night... you get the picture. I've almost become bored because it's so easy to sneak in. The other day I added quinoa to our mashed potatoes. mmm.

So, I've been looking for another way to eat my grains and have recently been turned on to sprouting. I sprouted my first batch of wheat this week, and I'm amazed at how EASY it is. Apparently sprouting is some kind of super-version of the grain it comes from (some times it makes them 3 or 4 times more nutritious!) , and I'm excited to try it out on other things too. Probably I'll do chic peas next. To read about the wonderfulness that is sprouting and the how-tos, check this out. I just did it in an old mason jar with a piece of cheese-cloth (can also use old nylons) covering the end. Then it just sits on the counter-top, so I don't forget about it. Couldn't be easier!

The Parrot

Finally! After all my attempts at capturing cuteness on video, I finally got some things entertaining enough to share. I promised myself I wouldn't turn into one of those people who suggests every house-guest watch the ultrasound video or display the thousands of pictures taken and host home-video parties which only contain my family, trying to be cute...

but this really is cute :)

I did it!

Mission whole wheat bread: accomplished.


Jay said it's as good as my mom's (HUGE compliment. trust me) and I catch him snacking on it often. Jay is not a snacker. Big smiles from me :D

Next task, perfect pizza dough.

It's A Mad Gradlib

I love madlibs.
Mostly because I'm a lib...

but anyway, this one's awesome :) To bad I didn't know about it in grad school.