Tippy Toes and Tantrums

BlogHer: As Seen Through My Crappy iPhone Camera

When I see blurry photos on blogs, I always wonder if the author realized the photo was blurry or if s/he thought it was still good enough to tell the story anyway. I wouldn't do such a thing, I'd tell myself...that is until now. The iPhone was no match for BlogHer, but there was no way I was going to lug around my nice SLR in addition to the other stuff I had to carry. And even if I had my Canon in hand, I'm no Carla Duharte-Razura, who is incredibly talented in many ways (including bracelet procurement, but that is another story).

Yahoo! bought me this drink. The real cherry on top is that they also bought my trip.

Nuzzles from the Michelin Man.

The Wiener Mobile! The license plate reads "Big Bun." A sense of humor is a must if you're in the wiener business.

Carson, shirtless after Cat worked her magic.

Paula Deen, after much delay.

Tim Gunn, near the most phallic ad at a women's conference. Stick it and forget it, alright.

Ironically, not one thing is in focus in this picture from the Shutter Sisters party.

More blur from the awesome CheeseburgHer party.

My thoughts on BlogHer will follow, once I am able to locate them.

Scenes from BlogHer

Internet access at BlogHer is spotty at best - really not ideal for a blogging conference - forcing me to blog by phone.

The photos: Vegas Buddha, Silicon Valley Moms Group party, Mrs. Potato Head, who looks somewhat like my Aunt Carmella.

P.S. My feet ache.

Chicago Bound

I've packed up and am heading to BlogHer for five child-free days of bliss. The irony is that I'll miss the kids like mad, even though I've been counting down to this break for weeks...okay, months.

Tomorrow I'll be driving and talking with Ford about what women want in a car. Oh yeah, what do women want? Following Kevin's dream, I cannot wait for cars to be computer driven and I hope we hear about some steps toward that tomorrow. I'd also like a child-silencing device, kind of like a limo privacy partition, but invisible, so the kids don't realize I'm using it.

After that it will be a lot of parties punctuated by a few blogging sessions. Pictures - hopefully in focus - will follow. I'm not bringing my "real" camera due to the weight and am therefore relying on my iPhone, which is far from ideal, but much more convenient.

Much, much thanks to Yahoo! for helping (a lot) to make this happen for me.

A Quick + Dirty Compact Mirror Tutorial for Hand Press Users

When I sat down to make my first compact mirror using my 2 1/4" button maker hand press, I very quickly realized I didn't have directions...or a clue. I was able to figure it out after an internet search, but all directions were geared toward bench press button makers, which have some key differences. I took a few pictures as I worked (it was morning, please forgive the darkness) in case someone is stuck in the same position.

(These are all using my Badge-a-Minit 2 1/4" hand press - directions for other models may vary. I bought my supplies from buybuttonparts.com because their prices and service are excellent.)

The first steps are the same as making a button - follow those directions to do the picture side of the mirror.

After flipping the assembly rings so that the image is downward (normally the step when the pin backing would be added) first add the shim, bent at an angle no more than 45 degrees. My first two attempts fell apart because I was bending the shim a little too much. I found that closer to 35-40 degrees worked best.

Add the mirror, reflective side up, then place the ring on top, resting gently on the mirror.

Close up as you normally would,

and crimp. Don't hold back. I haven't broken a mirror yet, keeping my luck intact.

The final product:

Bambi's Dark Side: A Backyard Farm Set Back

Hoof prints following the first attack

We got home before dark from a family night out and as I opened our sliding glass door to let some cool air in, I noticed a tomato cage standing askew. I figured one of the kids bumped into it, but then I could see that wasn't the only thing wrong. I stood outside with my mouth agape, soon joined by Clover, who was also speechless. Kevin came out to see what had us immobilized and after looking around at the damage, he asked, "Do you think, now that they know about us, they'll be back?" His comment snapped me out of it because we weren't robbed  - well not in a truly bad way - we had our garden ransacked and stripped by two deer. The loss was big, but let's keep things in perspective.

All of the huge green tomatoes were gone, as were the leaves, the strawberry plants and a hydrangea plant. Left behind were sad looking upright green sticks, bare of any leaves or fruit. The strawberry plants were gone entirely.

We live on a somewhat rural hill where we naturally have to deal with wildlife. I never knew why my neighbors tried to fight this by building high wire type fences around their yards or "camps," as a neighbor bluntly put it. It took me a minute to realize what type of camp she meant. But then for five years we never had a problem with deer. Due to fences and retaining walls, our front yard is closed off to them, and while the backyard is open, usually they only mosey down close to the house in August when it's really hot and food has become more sparse. Even then they only eat long parts of the lawn, kind of helping us out.

The other day two deer lounged in the shade of our backyard. So fun! I thought. One was right on the other side of the window, only about three feet away from where I stood. They spent a few hours sleeping and relaxing before going off. Never once did they wander down to the lower level near our deck. There's a huge kiddie pool next to the vegetable bed anyway, not leaving any room to really walk around on the lower level. I didn't think to check the vegetables, but then it was too late anyway.

Two tiny tomatoes survived the attack along with herbs, green beans and zucchini. I thought about how to better protect the vegetables next year and then our garden was hit again. This time the blackberries were stripped, most of the zucchini was taken and one tomato cage was knocked again in a failed attempt to get to the last two tomatoes. This is the payback I get for buying thornless blackberries. Kevin's worried the deer will come onto the deck next for the flowers we have there. I'm wondering if the pool actually attracted them, possibly for a drink.

For now, anytime the dog barks, I'm running to the windows like we're on terror alert level red. The fight is on for those last two tomatoes.

Really, Really TGIF

This week was long and it was hot, which makes a tough week feel harder than it should have been. Now I'm counting down the minutes until the kids are in bed and I can watch the sunset from the (much cooler than our hot house) front deck with a beer in my hand.

We stopped to visit the sheep (and out of frame goat) this morning at summer school. I tried to take a picture of Rocket and the sheep standing about a foot apart, checking each other out, when the sheep let out a loud "BBBBAAAA!" Rocket jumped and ran behind my legs. That's Rocket's head in the bottom of the photo.

Rocket quickly asked to go check on the little chicks, safely inside the classroom.

Weekly Special

Do you ever look at a receipt after returning home from shopping and see an item you cannot remember purchasing? That happened to me yesterday.

We're traditionalists here, the classic style crack is really the best.

Reconsidering Sleep Away Camp

I misread a subject line on an email from the mother's club: "Seeking afternoon family." My initial thought was "It's come to this? I'd prefer a morning family myself." First, what did I mean that "it's come to this," as if this is the next step beyond surrogacy, kind of a twist on nanny sharing. Second, am I this dumb that I cannot read "family seeking afternoon nanny." Am I mildly dyslexic? I've always wondered.

The kids were gone this past weekend and while Kevin and I enjoyed a lovely Sunday morning brunch complete with oj and espresso, he said, "This is nice. We should put the kids up for adoption," which I hesitate to write or repeat because it sounds like I'm baiting the universe. If something horrible were to happen to them, someone would comment, "Well, you did say you wanted them put up for adoption, so it's not like you deserved them anyway..." I love them and want them near me, I just want the whining and neediness dialed down a little. Also, reading the Sunday New York Times on the day it comes out shouldn't be a rare treat. I wanted to take a picture of myself holding up the issue - much like a standard hostage photo - to prove I read the paper on the proper day. I still have the unread April 26 edition on my sewing table, as if I'm creating a time capsule. Last week I finished a New Yorker from August 2008, further evidence that having kids puts a serious damper on free time to read anything beyond How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?

Another sign that the kids were gone: I opened the refrigerator only once this weekend - to put away a strawberry shortcake from Bakesale Betty. Going to restaurants that don't have crayons was really nice.

The Only Thing Sliding is Bedtime

Summer lawn mowers - the white dots are goats

Right before summer break, I make an annual trip to a local teacher's supply store to stock up on craft supplies, wide lined paper, pencil grips and other tools to get us through the summer. As I paid, a display of summer bridge books caught my eye and I almost went to go pick one up, but then I thought that Clover's only six, so there's not a lot of pertinent information that I need to worry about her losing over the summer, especially since she spends every spare moment with her nose buried in a book.

After seeing the books, I started hearing or reading about the feared summer slide almost everywhere I went and consequently my fear grew with the more I read until I finally stopped to think about it. Clover loves to read and write, so that's safe, math could be a worry, but she's been playing math games online that help. I could only think of one area of concern: Spanish. Of course this is the hardest place to help her as my two years in high school don't make me exactly fluent or even conversationally capable. (But I can make sure food doesn't contain cheese, which comes in handy when you're in Spain with your lactose intolerant husband. Also the cashiers speak to me in Spanish at the Latino market and I take that as a huge compliment to mean that I look bilingual even if the cashiers are really just playing the odds since most people shopping there speak Spanish.)

Clover's in a summer Spanish class, but she isn't thrilled about it. In the Spring, I gave her the catalog of summer classes offered at her school and she picked a few like organic gardening, an animals class, and how to put together a newspaper. She ignored Spanish, but I didn't. About a week ago she asked, inadvertently using the casual voice of the annoying boss from Office Space,  "Ummm, who signed me up for Spanish?" I responded with "me," and she said, "Ummm, yeaaahhh. I don't remember picking Spanish out." "You didn't. I did." "Oookkaay, see I didn't want Spanish." "It was non negotiable." She concluded with a long, pained sigh and walked out of the room with her shoulder slumped.

Crisis averted for this year, but I assume the problem gets bigger as the kids get older and learn more complicated information during the school year that they don't want to practice during the summer. Clover has a little quirk that I hope she doesn't outgrow for a long time: she loves workbooks. When those chunky workbooks show up a few times a year at Costco, I always buy one or two (her grade and the grade ahead) and I buy more from Amazon when needed. She thinks they're a fun way to spend an afternoon and I'm not about to point out the super nerdiness of it all.

The key to Clover's love of workbooks and reading is that it isn't required. I love that her school doesn't have homework in the early years and they certainly don't have summer work either. Without anything required of her, workbooks and reading are simply fun. Clover likes Spanish class, especially the activities like cooking and pinata making, even if she doesn't always want to acknowledge it. She announced after school the other day that she was going to make us empanadas for dinner. Que? However, the only thing that makes her sour about Spanish is that I'm making her do it. To her, it's forced upon her, so inherently less fun.

Until ineffective, during summer breaks we will continue to use our school year approach of striving to make learning fun and engaging.  Now if I can only make potty training fun, then Rocket will be on his way.

The Best (Okay, Only) Kiwi Lunch I've Ever Had

After two and a half days of the flu and eating nothing but a handful of Saltines and a little Sprite, I was finally better. While pretty much any solid food would have been welcomed once the flu had passed, I was treated to an amazing lunch at Calafia, one of my favorite restaurants, that was so good it may never be replicated. Since the lunch, I've found myself daydreaming about kiwi popsicles and bee pollen smoothies. It was that good. And because Rocket was at home with nonnie, I was free to relax and enjoy the first three hour lunch I've had since becoming a mom. It was heaven.

The lunch was courtesy of Zespri, a collective of New Zealand kiwi growers, which is sponsoring a recipe contest (more on that below), therefore the menu was kiwi-centric. A friend giggled when I told her I went to a kiwi-centric lunch, but not only was it excellent, I realized kiwis can do much more than be peeled, sliced and eaten straight. Soon after I learned that peeling and slicing for wussies and there's such a thing as a spife (the spoon-knife cousin of the spork) and kiwis can quickly be cut in half and then cut into easy to scoop out chunks, making it portable food.

After the smoothie, Calafia Owner/Chef Charlie Ayers (commonly known as the Google Chef from his former gig), served kiwi gazpacho with lump crab meat and vanilla salt, Lomi Lomi salmon with kiwi salsa on won ton chips, crispy chicken breast (a Calafia standard) with kiwi honey mustard relish, a kiwi popsicle and a vanilla tapioca parfait with kiwi and banana. Everything was delicious and light. He also made up a kid's sandwich using golden kiwi, almond butter, honey and thinly sliced strawberries, so we could see it. I'm not a big fan of nuts, so I had to trust that it was sweet tasting, regardless it did look pretty.

The gold kiwi (right) has more of an egg shape than the rounder green.

The gold kiwi was new to me and most of the U.S. It's predominantly in Asian markets - apparently overall Asians eat more fruit and are more adventurous in the fruit they try - and should not be difficult to find in the Bay Area, at least until late July when the supply is expected to run out. It's sweeter than green and as long as the gold kiwi doesn't feel overly soft, it's good to eat.

Lunch discussion focused on how best to get kids to eat a packed lunch. Clover eats the same thing for lunch every day - a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into a circle shape - while Rocket likes a variety of foods. One tip is to aim for a (positive) visual impact when the kid opens the lunch box that makes the kid want to eat. We also got some small, but helpful advice like preheat a thermos with boiling water, then dump out the water and add the soup, noodles or whatever to the thermos. The pre-heated thermos will keep warmer whatever it is holding. However, when adding warm food to other containers, let the food cool a little before putting on the lid. If the lid is put on too soon, condensation forms, but it also makes it harder for the lid to be opened up later.

Charlie said that mostly vegetarian food was served at Google, helping to avoid the post-lunch crash and burn. Instead, he said the vegetarian diet gave Google workers an afternoon boost.

In between courses, Laptop Lunches gave us a peak at their new products unveiled this month. I always say that Crocs should sponsor Clover's school because all of the kids own at least one pair, but a close second for a ubiquitous product would be Laptop Lunches. So many of the kids have them, but not us as Clover's single circular sandwich doesn't quite work with a bento-style lunch box. However the new configurations actually have a much larger compartment that could hold the sandwich. I'm also considering it for Rocket because that kid loves a variety, plus they have a space-themed (okay, it's an alien) cover that makes me want to get it for him even more.

The big kiwi test was later that night when I cut a bunch of green and gold kiwis up as part of our dinner. Kevin thought it tasted close to a banana (it's high in potassium, maybe that has something to do with the taste similarities?), very picky Clover surprised us all by saying she liked it and asking for seconds, while Rocket, our football player in training, grabbed the plate and scooped up every last slice with his two hands...then after shoving them into his mouth, he asked me to cut more. The kiwis were a hit.

The Zespri recipe contest is for the best original kiwi recipe for a kid's packed lunch item. It could be a snack, entree, dessert...anything that uses a green and/or gold kiwi and can go into a lunch box. Six semi finalists will get a copy of Food 2.0 (I have it and it's awesome) and one of those people will win a $2500 grand prize. (See kiwiforlunch.com for more details on rules and how to enter.) For inspiration, here's the super simple and yummy popsicle recipe:

Charlie Ayers' Kiwi Popsicle
12 green kiwi *or* 12 gold kiwi
1 cup agave syrup
1 cup water

peel kiwi and puree with one cup water
add agave syrup
freeze for four hours