In which my super cute and smart boy tries to say "W" and almost breaks my nose.

The "I Heart Your Blog" Award

I won an award! How cool is that? My very first award for my blog. I've always wanted one. Now I have one.

This was bestowed upon me by my friend and fellow blogger Anika. She has a few blogs that you should check out. One is Pasando - in which Anika shares her amazing photographs art. She also is quick to feature her favorite pieces from etsy and her favorite blogs / artists / stuff. Another one of her blogs is AcoLab. Acolab is a great site. She posts a theme and invites fellow bloggers/artists/regular folk to submit their interpretation of her theme in a medium of their choosing. I'm not certain, but I think it's open to anyone wishing to submit. I could be wrong, though. I'm proud to have submitted a few entries. I admit I'm behind in one, but I swear I'll get it to her. Plus, another one is due on Sunday. I better get crackin'.


To celebrate this wonderful award I'd like to follow in the footsteps of Anika and pass this award on to the authors of a few of the blogs I enjoy.

Here they are in no particular order

#1 - Maltese Kat. I used to work with the woman behind this blog. I've never seen her use her real name on her blog, so I won't use it here. Let's just call her Kat. I love reading Kat's blog. She muses about cool things she finds online or in stores. She posts her dream wardrobe via Ployvore.com. She writes beautifully about her heritage. One can certainly tell how much she loves and honors her culture - which is a great quality in the best of all humans. Through her blog she's inspired me to steal and modify a few projects of hers. She created 100 things in 1001 days. Following suit, I created 50.5 things in 500 days. (which is expired by the way. I need to go through the list and reevaluate). She also posted a recipe for yummy monkey bread. Totally white trash, but yummy, nonetheless.

#2 - One Hungry Chef. He's an American living and working in Australia. I don't know this guy. I stumbled upon him via this post in which One Hungry Chef created a BLT from scratch. I've blogged about him a couple of times before. You can read the posts here and here. His pictures, recipies, stories and observations are not only a joy to read, but are a literary mirapoix. I look forward to every one of his posts. I'm happy I found him. Besides the homemade BLT, my favorite posts of his is the one with the parsnip cake. The fact that he thinks Benjamin Franklin was a good guy doesn't hurt him, either.

#3 Pomegranate and Pumpkin. Like Maltese Kat, I used to work with the woman behind this blog; and like the person behind One Hungry Chef, she is also an American ex-pat living on an island far away from her hometown. In her blog she features her Little Miss, who is way too much cute for the internet. Oh my gosh, those cheeks.  She also writes about simple, homemade living; making hand-made toys, clothes, cooking from scratch. My favorite parts of her blog are "currently loving" and "create: list to make". Both comprise lists of websites featuring blogs and shopping sites reinforcing simple and creative living. Take a look at the link "color tiles". When I read this I sent the link to my dad and asked him to make me some tiles according to the website's directions. He did. I'm in the midst of completing them for my son to play with.

#4 Muni Diaries. I love San Francisco and I'm a regular rider of Muni. The site is a great mix of stories from fellow riders from lines around The City. One of my favorites is this one, in which a snooty-ish woman and a homeless man have words. So many different people ride Muni; different income levels, different levels of education, different destinations. Reading these stories brings everyone together. We're all Muni Riders.

#5 i live here: SF. I love this blog. There are a lot of people who live in San Francisco, and most of them hold a love for The City that just about everyone on the outside can't understand. Julie Michelle, the woman behind this project has a talent of showcasing the people of this diverse city. She lets the person featured tell their story while she takes amazing photographs of them. The photos seem to punctuate and underline the story the person tells. I had the honor and pleasure of being a part of this project. You can read / see it here.

I hope you will take a minute to search through these blogs and find things to interest you and make you smile.

Ew, Edward! Now I'm going to have that taste in my mouth for a week!

I told my coworker today about this weird meal my mom used to make us eat when we were kids. I remember not only liking it, but liking it a lot and being really happy when she made it. Today I can't imagine putting a spoonful of this in my mouth. It probably won't taste as yummy anymore and would need to be washed down with a bottle of Siracha.

Here's the recipe.

Take a pound of ground beef out of the freezer and put it on the counter before you leave for work / school in the morning to thaw. The kind that comes in the long tube works best.
When you get home from work, turn on the electric skillet.
Brown the meat. Do Not drain the fat.
Add 1 can each of the following: Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cream of Cheese Soup, Cream of Celery Soup, Cooked, sliced potatoes (yes, you can buy cooked, sliced potatoes in a can)
Add a bag of frozen peas.
If the mixture is too watery, add a packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
Mix together until the whole mixture is paste-like
Serve and Enjoy with a big glass of milk and a Flintstone Vitamin.

Lotsa Helping Hands In a Pinch

There's a kid in The Girl's class who has cancer. We learned about it over a year ago, towards the end of the school year. All throughout the next school year, the school and the employer of the kid's dad banded together and formed a community. All throughout the school we took turns making meals, sending good wishes, planning fundraisers, etc. We received updates from the kid's family via a great website called Lotsa Helping Hands. By the end of the school year all was going well.
It all changed a few weeks ago. The kid is sick again. The family's time is once again spent at the hospital. Once again we are signing up to bring meals to the family so that there's one less worry, one less concern they have; what are we having for dinner and how do I find the time to make it?
Today is my family's turn. Before going to the grocery store to buy the necessary supplies, Hubby and I were discussing what we should make. I mentioned to Hubby that I hoped they liked our meals. I hope that when they see that it's my family's turn to bring a meal they say "oh yay, that one family is making the meal today." As soon as I said it I realized how selfish that sounded and felt like a big jerk. Here's this family who is in a challenging and not-fun-at-all situation and I'm hoping they like my meals the best. 
I guess what I really meant was that I want is for them to find some comfort in the food we bring for them. I don't know this family very well. I met the mom at a school function once. I can pick the dad out in a crowd, but I've never spoken to him, same goes for the kid's sibling. I only know who the kid is because this kid is in the same class as The Girl. I'm helping because it's the right thing to do. My family had a few meals brought over to our house when The Boy was born. It helped in unimaginable ways. It let us know we were cared about, we were being prayed for and there was still good in the world. I hope to give this family that same feeling. I imagine they are going to have long hard days in the coming months. I hope that at least they'll be able to say "Today wasn't the best day ever. At least dinner will be OK"

Today's menu
Frittata with red potatoes, bacon, onion, green beans
Green Salad with homemade vinaigrette
Angel Food cake
Strawberries macerated with balsamic vinegar and black pepper (sounds weird but really freakin' good)
Lemonade for the kids
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc for the adults

Would you just stand still for a moment?

Every few months my mom and dad bug me to send more pictures of the kids. It's no problem sending pictures of The Girl. She'll pose, ham it up, be silly, look beautiful; whatever you ask, she'll do, even if she doesn't want to.
I'd like to share with the world why I don't send them pictures of The Boy very often. It's not that I don't want to. It's that I can't. I can't get a picture of him, that is.

Here are some of the most recent pics of The Boy.

Here he is at the Golden Gate Bridge

At the San Francisco Zoo watching penguins

Looking under the curtain at Old Navy changing room

Trying to move a rack of clothing at Old Navy

all tuckered out from a day of avoiding being photographed

It's not for lack of trying. He just won't stay still long enough to capture him on film.

Hey Jamie Lee Curtis, why can't you be more like Jeff Goldblum?

I was in a conference room / lobby-type area. Jamie Lee Curtis and I were talking about crafting, mostly having to do with making beaded necklaces and using modge podge. I told her that over the last 25 years she and I had been running into each other every year or so, we always talk and we always talk about crafts and she always greets me, albeit warmly, like she's never met me before. I told her we were introduced by an old boyfriend of mine. I look up and the old boyfriend is sitting across the room sitting Indian-style (or criss-cross-applesauce, as the kids are taught to call it these days) in a big beat up chair. He's got ear buds in and he's pretending not to listen to our conversation. He finally looks up and tells her that I'm right. I look at her and tell her that the very least she could do is act more like Jeff Goldblum. He and I run into each other every 4 years or so and he always remembers me. He doesn't always remember my name but he always picks me out of the crowd and invites hubby and me to have dinner at his house, which in my dream is on Lower Great Highway.