conuly

Playing a word game yesterday

2012-11-27T03:23:44Z

The point of which was to guess a word the meaning of which was being doled out in one word clues. You try not to guess on the first clue.

So our team had decided on "boat" for our word, and to start off I said "orange", thinking of the Ferry, of course.

Cue the excited nieces, simultaneously:

An orange!

Sadly... no.

Incidentally, I'm pushing to get a tree this year. It seems like we never have one! I finally suggested that if a tree doesn't happen we can just paint Ana green and have her stand in the corner with her arms out. She's okay with this, but warned us that we may not see our presents again. Gulp.

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We dyed our eggs with foodstuffs this year.

2012-04-08T21:54:46Z

Jenn took a picture! I'll post it when she mails it to me.

Grape juice came out grayish, which the girls loved, so that's sorta a win. The house reeked.

Red onion skins and yellow onion skins came out in two different shades of deep brown, but Ana threw a tantrum as they boiled and I overdid the eggs.

Turmeric came out a gorgeous yellow.

Paprika came out a light orange brown.

Cabbage DID come out blue - after we took the eggs out. I kept wondering why they weren't blueing, apparently they needed to sit a bit.

Beets came out red, but we seem to have lost them? That's a bit worrying.

Spinach didn't come out. What can I do for green next year?

And we didn't do coffee or tea because I got bored.

I'd meant to do that fancy thing where you tie them up in pantyhose with grass and flowers to leave an imprint, but we didn't HAVE any used pantyhose and could only get them at exorbitant prices, so this year I'll keep an eye out for sales and stock up for the next few months.

Still, I didn't do anything as crazy as this. You have GOT to check that out!

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I have learned something new.

2011-11-26T19:34:15Z

1. I don't actually like Jerusalem Artichokes. Blech.

2. Jerusalem Artichokes cause gastrointestinal distress in some people. Like me. Add that to sinus congestion (read: massive dizziness), two sick children, and the hiccups (seriously?) and it was a bit of a letdown for Thanksgiving. AND THEN ANA ATE ALL THE LAST OF THE ICE CREAM!

However, the actual dinner prep went well. Jennifer complained that it's hardly "special" when I routinely cook two or three sides per dinner, but the advantage of that is that I have it all down to an art by now, and am not panicking as I try to time everything correctly. (Plus, it means we get to have lots of vegetables at every meal. Veggies make it healthy!)

I also learned that Jenn liked my twice baked sweet potatoes much more than I did, but it wasn't very high quality blue cheese. (I should've warned her before her second one, though, that they're something like 500 calories each. Not that counting calories is what we all do, but you should know before you chow down on 1000 of them in one sitting, right?)

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Ana's birthday was the 15th.

2011-05-18T14:50:40Z

Now she's 8! Yay! She does her homework without fighting, and lo it only takes about 10 minutes a day instead of ages and ages! (I kept telling her!) She takes out the garbage sometimes! She climbs on everything, but that's not new. (I've given that woman with the post about how climbing on things must be a "boy" thing too much headspace. Here we are after Ana's party, getting ready to go, and I watch six little girls flipping upside down on the bike racks, racing down the sidewalk, doing bridges and cartwheels on the sidewalk, and I don't know what that woman was smoking. Seriously.)

So, Ana's party was at Construction Kids. They learned how to effectively hammer, and they made little wooden cars for themselves. IT WAS AWESOME. Ana's cake (chocolate with raspberry jelly, same as every year) got a little squished, but I'd very sensibly decided to frost it AT THE PARTY, so that was all right. And we went out to eat afterwards, so that worked out as well.

Construction Kids is literally across the street from the train at Prospect Park. You can NOT miss it. I didn't realize the park was so close, I ought to go with the girls sometime in the summer, or on a half day. (Do we have any more of those this year? Yes, twice next month. LOLWTF? June 7th and 13th? Who decides this stuff?)

I grew up in Brooklyn. Well, I say that, we moved when I was ten, but you know what I mean. I entered the building Construction Kids is in and I was immediately struck with the thought that I'd been in that exact same building before. I doubt I have, but you know how it is, all the older buildings in an area will tend to be built to the same plan. In this case, the same wide staircase, tiled wall, big radiator in the entrance, and hexagon tiles on the floor.

Anyway, as I said, that's where we went for her party, they also offer a summer camp, and it was well worth it. (And a bonus, most party places have one size of party, 15 kids. This place has two, so if you only want 8 kids you only have to invite 8 kids and you get a discount.)

Also, Happy Birthday Ana! Eight is great!

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In more cheerful news....

2011-04-24T13:33:54Z

Happy Easter :)

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Hey, wait, is it Passover?

2011-04-19T11:24:23Z

Happy Passover, everybody!

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And some more backlogged articles

2010-12-28T17:26:10Z

Choreographing a Snowplow Ballet, to Mixed Reviews (Again)

( Read more... )

A Variety of Ways Not to Have Christmas

( Read more... )

A Tug of War, With Strings of Lights

( Read more... )

Necessity Pushes Pakistani Women Into Jobs and Peril

( Read more... )

How Not to Wreck a Nonstick Pan

( Read more... )

Bundle Up, It’s Global Warming

( Read more... )

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Happy Solstice everybody :)

2010-12-21T16:42:15Z

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember

"We are nearer to spring
Than we were in September!"
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

Thank you, Oliver Herford.

And of course, those of you on the *other* side of the world, enjoy it - the quicker we move towards spring, you're moving the other way!

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We had St. Nicholas Day a little late.

2010-12-20T05:36:23Z

Because we suck, mostly.

But we did have it, and it was good, and everybody was happy.

Not long after St. Nicholas Day Evangeline came home and told me a story. She said "Today my teacher told us something that I know isn't true. She was just pretending. Mrs. Dulligan said she was home with her husband, I forgot his name, maybe Mr. Dulligan? Yeah, that's his name, they were home and she said she heard a noise outside, and she looked outside and she saw a reindeer! With a red nose! And I know she really didn't. I think she just said that so that the other kids who think Santa is real would think it was fun. That's silly! Reindeers ("Reindeer, sweetie, not reindeers") reindeer don't live here, and definitely not Rudolph."

Of course, if you don't remember previous years you might wonder about why we bother with St. Nicholas Day if the nieces Know About Santa, and that's because it's fun. The night they put out their shoes-with-celery we went to the store. And as we were there Ana said "Can we get some of that pomegranate juice? Mommy really likes it, and she'll be really surprised to find some in her shoe tomorrow."

That's magic, right there. You can keep your Santa is Real, and you can do whatever you like to maintain the ~~lie~~ illusion for yourself. If you want to make "snowy" footprints on your carpet or if you want to tromp around on the roof at night ringing bells, be my guest. (And please use all appropriate safety precautions, thanks.) I will take the simple magic of "Let's surprise Mommy by getting her something she likes" over that any day of the week.

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I had a bunch of articles...

2010-12-15T04:25:00Z

But then I carelessly shut down my computer and forgot to save my tabs. I've been morose ever since :(

Anyway, here's something - would you like a chocolate cockroach for Christmas? (Well, it'd be sure to please everybody's favorite atheist god of evolution, we all know how he likes beetles!)

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Oh look. Another article on the TSA.

2010-12-02T06:30:24Z

I can barely keep track of all of these anymore.

Also, happy Hanukkah, and happy birthday Jenn :)

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Articles of doom!

2010-11-28T20:22:17Z

The Thanksgiving Wars? Just Say No
A holiday to recall our origins as immigrants
From powwows and sweat lodge ceremonies to church services, American Indians recognize Thanksgiving holiday in different ways. (Don't read the comments!
Having children abroad? Your country may not want them

The 9 most subversive children's books ever written. I must say, I don't agree with their analysis.

Backlash feared as some in GOP push social issues

Here's a very cute video of dolphins goofing around in front of a mirror

In a far corner of Greenland, hope is fading with the language and sea ice

TSA gets revenge on women who knows her rights, makes her miss her plane (Now with LJ commentary!)
And exactly how at-risk are we?

Africa is urbanizing.

So, here's this teen who wanted to blow up a tree-lighting ceremony. Don't read the comments. Note he didn't go after a plane - and why would he? There are so MANY options, and we can't defend against all of them. Useless to try. (You should also note that he failed. The system worked, and without strip-searching anybody.)
A fire has been set at his mosque. *sigh*

Lesbian cadet who quit seeks return to West Point

A bit on the unintended consequences of Prohibition
And a little more

And lastly, not an article, but pretty upsetting regardless: Woman on spectrum reports abuse- her credibility called into question...

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Two more Ana-cdotes from Thanksgiving

2010-11-27T17:22:43Z

1. While the rest of us were all having a, uh, lively discussion (and let me just say that we didn't have any real fights at ALL and my mother didn't storm out even ONCE) Ana burst in to chastise us:

"I'm the only one trying to have a real Thanksgiving! You guys don't even care! It's about being thankful, not about everybody FIGHTING and YELLING at each other!"

Yes. I LOL'd.

2. Later in the evening, upset at being asked to do something, she went "I have to do EVERYthing around here, and I'm just the MAID, you don't do ANYthing!"

What was she asked to do? She was asked to get a cup of water. For herself. Because she'd said she was thirsty and nobody else felt like getting it for her.

I laughed for a good two minutes over that, much to her consternation.

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And here we have some articles!

2010-11-24T15:44:02Z

(Quite a lot of them have to do with the TSA situation, I'll try to group them together.)

Placards, kilts part of plans for scanner protests
Oversecured America
AP Exclusive: Color-coded terror alerts may end
Schneir on Security's recent update about it all
And an LJ link
An update from the ACLU saying the TSA isn't training its scanners
Why Cavity Bombs Would Make the TSA Irrelevant
TSA chief: Resisting scanners just means delays
For the First Time, the TSA Meets Resistance
TSA Chief: US Will Never Ease Screening Policy
You, apparently, can't just say "Screw it, I don't need to fly today"
Shirtless 8-Year-Old Boy Gets TSA Pat Down
A Pat's Papers article on flying dead bodies
And he happens to think the TSA blog is "actually sort of fun"

Whew! That's a lot!

Bizarre squidworm discovered

Behavior change causes changes in beliefs, not vice versa

On turkeys. Hey, could I raise my own heritage turkey for the holiday next year? You *can* keep poultry in the city if they aren't noisy. And we already have wild or feral turkeys in Staten Island, among other places.

On stuffing your turkey with White Castle burgers.

Coyotes have been released in Chicago to help keep down the rodent population. I suppose that's not very much different than encouraging peregrine* falcons in NYC.

*Peregrine means wandering, of course, and is related to the word pilgrim in the obvious way.

A fluffy little article on Yiddish.
And for that matter, you can check out a nifty language map to see where Yiddish is spoken in the US!

It's time to sign up for SantaThing. This also makes a good gift. However, I will get you nothing in return, so bear that in mind.

University Kicks Student With Down Syndrome Out Of Classroom; Other Students Protest And Are Ignored

On tattoos to improve/monitor your health

Our Disappearing Apples

On taxes

Some graphs on race and the death penalty

Obama, S. Korea leader agree to hold joint military exercise. If somebody manages to start the Korean war up again, I'll be very irked. I'm already irked, frankly, because I see the likelihood of this.

Allergic Teen Seeks High School Perfume Ban

Conservatives at odds with Vatican over condoms

Children Born 'Late Pre-Term' More Prone to Low IQ
Minnesota is using paperwork to deter induced labor

The use of braces for younger kids is increasing

And one from Motortrend.com that's... just well-worth reading for the fun of it.

And FINALLY (I think) one on a school which banned... wait for it... wait for it...

PENCILS!

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So, Ana has Thanksgiving homework.

2010-11-23T17:34:40Z

She's supposed to research the first Thanksgiving and write two pages on it. Internet research is OK, in fact, they gave her three sites to start from. They misspelled "Plymouth", btw. There's no "i" in it, no matter what you think. (In fact, they may have put it down as "Plimoth", but I can't check.)

Naturally, I'm a little... doubtful about the... well, about the perspective and the accuracy of the information. And, secure in the knowledge that the teachers will (probably) not read what is handed in (seriously, would *you* want to read 23 homework assignments? I'd just check that they filled out two pages and give it a sticker), I'd like to, well, be a little better. No reason to teach the nieces lies! (Unlike that stupid, stupid, STUPID syllable work Ana's doing. No, sweetie, I don't care *what* your teacher told you, in English we don't typically end syllables on a consonant unless not doing so would force us to start the next consonant with an illegal cluster. No, it has nothing to do with whether or not the vowel is short. But, you know, slightly more important than that.)

So! Who has a better website to direct me to, one that has a more accurate and complete picture up?

(Actually, what really upset me about the syllable homework is that it's all busywork. Giving children a list of 40 words and telling them to mark them up is one thing, but when each word is marked in the exact same way I can't figure out what, if anything, they're supposed to be learning.)

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Happy Halloween :)

2010-11-01T03:49:05Z

We had a pretty uninspiring haul this year - mostly because I cut trick-or-treating short so Evangeline could do her Star Student poster. Even so, though, it's all sucky candy! (On the other hand, we finally got boo'd this morning. Twice, in fact. Here I'd pretty much given up hope of anybody reciprocating, and instead we get outshone! I know exactly who did it, of course. Theoretically this is all a "you don't know who got you!" sorta thing, but in actuality I've taken to going up to people and warning them in advance. In extreme cases, I actually hand off the bags directly to the parent outside of school! (The one day I tried this whole "secret drop" thing with extra supplies I got caught every single time. It's amazing that anybody at all will listen to you when you're prowling around their porch, waving your arm, and screaming "NO! GO AWAY!" in a whisper.) Well, so long as the children are taken in, that's what matters, right?)

But you know, it was an early day for everybody! I know it's a weekend, but coming around at 3pm? Everybody off the streets by 7? We ran out of glow-sticks. I wasn't giving out candy this year, so I estimated we'd need somewhere around 110 of the things based upon historical trends. I got 150 because they're in packs of 50, and we ran out. (Well, we had ten left when I went inside. I just left them on the bottom step of the porch and assumed anybody coming along could figure it out for themselves.)

I saw somebody I knew from middle school*, who asked me "you still read a book a week?" Please. Vile calumny! I never read a book a week! I read a book a day, and I did back then too!

*In and of itself, nothing remarkable. This happens to me just about every time I drop by the supermarket. Nobody ever leaves this neighborhood. Except this guy, who did leave, went all the way to Virginia, and apparently decided that the thing to do was bring his kids back specifically to trick-or-treat in the Land of the Stairs.

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A few quick links

2010-10-31T15:04:28Z

One on tubeless toilet paper

One on sending leftover Halloween candy to the troops. Of course, it seems odd to Support Our Troops by giving them cavities, but I suppose they get free dental, don't they?

And finally - what percentage of people are making more than $250k a year?

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Halloween links

2010-10-31T04:54:13Z

One on candy corn. This is actually part of a series.

In Classroom, Halloween Becomes Harvest Fest

Yet Another article on the hypersexualization of children's costumes. Girl's costumes, that is. Boys are all violent, gory, or violent AND gory.

Something else to do the day after - candy experiments!

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Re-Narrating Columbus Day

2010-10-12T03:11:44Z

This has been linked around a bit today.

We observed Columbus Day by finishing Ana's homework (her teacher doesn't know it's late because I simultaneously forgot about it and, in a bid to be helpful, tossed the wrong folders into the bags. D'oh! This is why they're supposed to pack their OWN bags!) where she's supposed to fill out "The five W's" on a book - WHAT happens, WHO is there, WHY does it happen, WHERE and WHEN does it happen? This is so not the right order, but that pales compared to the fact that she's supposed to write in little boxes that don't have lines to write on. She needs the lines still!

At any rate, the book Ana picked actually happened to be A Coyote Columbus Story, which... *giggles*

It's a pretty good book.

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Articles!

2010-08-14T16:13:44Z

(Wow, it's like all I ever do anymore!)

So Pretzel Crisps has changed their icky ads to... MORE icky ads. This is a pity, because their pretzels actually taste pretty good.

Here's some information on actual shelf life (compared to use-by dates)

One on the media and 11 year old girls using the pill (most likely for medical reasons)

Another editorial on the NOT-A-MOSQUE that would NOT be at the WTC site. (Also, an interesting version of the twenty zillion words for snow myth.)

On using superheroes to teach philosophy

Apparently, orangutans will mime to communicate. Cool!

And here's aNOTHER editorial on the non-mosque. One of the comments goes "Why here, when there isn't a big Muslim population here?" Well, I don't know if many Muslims live in Lower Manhattan, but a lot of them work there. I have another article coming for a later post about two mosques in the area that have to regularly turn away worshippers due to lack of room. That kinda indicates to me that they need a new place to pray.

Apparently, you're legally required to have tons of bright lights and signage in Times Square. (Even the cops and the train station have neon lights.) I had no idea!

"What stimulus could mean if it included the formerly incarcerated"

On an article about prisons and voter representation. Fascinating and disturbing.

And finally, on the proposal to close schools in NYC for Muslim holidays. (Of course, IF we were to do this, we wouldn't have to cut school days. We could start the year earlier, or end it later. Or we could increase school HOURS somewhat to make up the lost instructional time. It needn't be in small increments, it could be one half-hour a week or something. There are so many options.)

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Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T21:03:06Z

If this is not your holiday, you can still be happy! Be happy every day this week for all I care : )

And wherever you are, take a moment to be kind to your web-footed friends, thanks. Man, that song used to confuse me so much. Here you are, watching TV, and a commercial comes on about a mattress or car sale (what patriotic holidays have to do with selling mattresses or cars, I don't know, but let's move on now) and in the background... Be Kind To Your Web-Footed Friends! It took me a L O N G time to figure out why they did that.

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Ah - it's summer!

2010-06-01T19:53:56Z

The mulberries are falling off the trees faster than we or the birds can eat 'em, the honeysuckle is blooming, and we've been meandering through the neighborhood on our way home every day stuffing ourselves silly with BOTH of them!

Funny thing about Ana. Last year she was very concerned and made me get Official Permission to pick mulberries, a silliness I obliged because she did have a point (not that anybody, ever, cares if you pick mulberries hanging outside their own yard), but neither she nor her sister has every been even remotely concerned that we just pick honeysuckle willy-nilly to munch on. I guess they think honeysuckles are kinda like dandelions? (Fact: They are. I actually know these neighbors personally and most of them are under the impression that "someday" they'll do something with their yards. In the meantime, they're not doing anything with it and don't care about the honeysuckle growing rampant. Nasty, invasive pest that it is. But it sure is yummy!)

Tomorrow I'll make the trip out to the raspberry patch I know of, see if those are ripe. If so, I'll pick some and bring them home. A lot cheaper than buying.

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So, yesterday we (me and the nieces) dyed our eggs.

2010-04-04T19:42:06Z

MY FINGERS ARE ALL BLUE! And today we (me) hid them and the nieces found them. I wrote down a list, just in case, but we didn't need it, they found all the eggs. (Good, because I can't figure out one of the locations on my list!)

Listening to them scream in delight every time they found an egg? I love it! (And Ana doesn't even LIKE eggs, but she loved finding them!) This time of year, I think Easter is my favorite holiday.

After we found the eggs (at one point, while digging through the toys, Evangeline accidentally tossed an egg to the floor. When she picked it up she stared at it in befuddlement. "WHY IS THIS ALL CRACKED???" Gee, I don't know, because you threw it on the floor?), I told them to take their favorite eggs down and show Nanen and Bonne-Maman.

Evangeline: Connie? Can I eat one of the eggs I don't like that much?
Me: Yes?
Evangeline: Okay, thanks.
Me: But GO DOWNSTAIRS FIRST, your mom and I are talking!

*a few minutes later*

Jenn: Guys, go downstairs!
Evangeline: But you said I could have an egg!
Us: Later!
Evangeline: But then WHY is Ana already peeling it?
Me: Ana? That's for later.
Ana: It is?
Jenn: Yes.
Ana: Well, it's a little late for that now, isn't it?

I love my nieces, I really really do. ♥

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A whole bunch of articles and editorials

2010-03-27T17:41:09Z

A Military Downgrading of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

( Read more... )

In Subway Ads on Abortion, a Pretense of Neutrality

( Read more... )

Playtime Is Over

( Read more... )

Playground’s Jail Theme Is Gone, but Perplexity Lingers

( Read more... )

Legal-Marijuana Advocates Focus on a New Green

( Read more... )

The Obama Seder Tradition

( Read more... )

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Articles!

2010-03-26T13:18:32Z

An editorial about bees and bee-pollinated crops

( Read more... )

An article about morals, sharing, and the world

( Read more... )

"Want to Use My Suit? Then Throw Me Something, Mister!"
Pictures

( Read more... )

Finding a possibly new (old) human species

( Read more... )

"The hidden histories that shape the way we live now" (I'm not going to hide this one behind a cut)

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