QUACK

Tour

2009-08-20T00:19:55Z

We took Wren to the Children's Hospital today for a tour to prepare for her surgery on Friday (robotic bilateral ureteral reimplantation). She's been very worried the past few days, compulsively reading the "Visit to the Sesame Street Hospital" book, being extra clingy etc.

The tour was great. A child life specialist (who we had met before during one of Wren's VCUG X-rays) took us to see the waiting, prep and recovery room. Wren got to put on a hospital gown over her clothes, and got a anesthesia mask, latex gloves, and surgical cap to take home to play with. In the pre-surgery waiting room they have plenty of toys, including toy cars to ride in. Kids can ride them right to the operating room, if that's what they want. Wren choose to ride in the car for most of the rest of the tour.

Next we checked out the rooms, activity room and kitchen in the general floor. There's no worry of Wren getting bored. By the end Wren was much happier, and less worried. Yay tour. They also gave her a stuffed puppy named Josh.

In other news, I have made homemade tomato soup, which is good and bad. Good, because it is easy and tastes very very good. Bad, because the commercial stuff will never be the same.

Snippet

2009-07-07T01:44:20Z

talking with the boo

"are you a baby?"
"no!"
"Are you a toddler?"
"no!"
"Are you a little girl?"
"no!"
"what are you?"
"trouble!"

Tomorrow

2009-06-26T01:32:36Z

You should listen to WCBU tomorrow

http://www.wcbufm.org/

too much to count

2009-06-07T01:56:08Z

I had my final week of 6 Sigma black belt training this week. Which meant I was kind of cranky out of energy - sorry everybody.

A few fun things still - we took Wren strawberry picking Wednesday along with gwyndlyn and kids. They all had a great time, although Miss R decided the tractor was too scary at the end.

We bought some rhubarb to go with our strawberries - a strawberry-rhubarb crisp should be out of the oven any minute.

Wednesday was also my birthday - I got super cool gifts this year. birchduck got me a worm compost bin complete with worms! Best Present Ever. gwyndlyn and norfacoflandra got me Making Mathematics with Needlework and a bluegrass CD. I have not had the energy to more than flip through the book, but it is full of neat stuff.

To top the week off today I took the 5 hour exam to be a CQE (Certified Quality Engineer) this morning. I'll know in a few weeks if I passed or not. Either way, I'll have my Thursdays free again.

Sunday

2009-05-04T01:18:34Z

Woke up at three to a hacking toddler, slept in the recliner until 7. Gave said toddler to her Baba, went back to bed. Dyed playsilks, blogged about it here. Went on a very long walk at Forest Park.

Tired, but happy.

Summer WomanSpirit 2009

2009-04-28T01:40:14Z

Hey all of you that are women-types. I am teaching a drop spinning workshop at the Summer WomanSpirit 2009 August 7-9, 2009 at the Ronora Lodge and Retreat Center in Watervliet, Michigan You should come

It should be really cool, not just because there will be spinning. birchduck, Boo and I are all going.

More Bread

2009-04-05T23:47:27Z

This weekend I made Rye bread. Two different kinds Buttermilk Rye Whole Wheat and Heavy Sour Rye

The Buttermilk rye is a pretty standard bread recipe. 1c rye flour, 1 c whole wheat, 1 c white flour. It has molasses to help make it darker and I used thyme in place of caraway.

The Sour Rye used a starter made the night before of onions, rye flour, yeast and water left to bubble away over night. I made it into baguettes and baked it in a steamy oven as reccommended.

The buttermilk is on the left, sour rye on the right.

The buttermilk had a moist fruity flavor, the sour rye was a lighter taste, more sourdough like

They were both fairly easy to make, and Very Good.

craft meme

2009-03-31T01:46:31Z

A while ago I posted >a href="http://leeduck.livejournal.com/101717.html">this meme</a>

draconisregena, gwyndlyn, iknowitsasong, stacyanne09, and cercey responded.

I made cercey this

stacyanne09 this

(of course it's for you)

and

draconisregena

I need a few addresses to actually send them.

They are all "quilling" the newest hobby to catch my eye. I've decided to throw caution to the wind and start all sorts of new things. Hopefully I'll be taking a class on wire knitting sometime in April.

Royal Hibernian Brown Loaf

2009-03-19T01:55:42Z

gwyndlyn was making an Irish-ish dinner for family dinner tonight. So I volunteered to make soda bread. However I decided that the Royal Hibernian Brown Loaf recipe (pg 131)sounded better than the "Irish Recipe

I didn't have enough butter in the house, so I used mostly lard. Soda bread needs no raising time, so it worked ok for a weeknight. I used up all the whole wheat flour in the house too. Must add to grocery list

The house smelled so good while it was baking. It was very hard not to try some right out of the oven. But we managed to wait until dinner.

It looked beautiful with a slashed top, but I forgot to take a picture. I thought it was fabulous, sweet and chewy with a salty crust. Very good with butter and jam.

J on the other hand said "this bread tastes awful"

More for us.

Potato Bread

2009-03-19T01:51:11Z

In the spirit of making time to do the things really enjoy in life I've decided to start making bread more often. I love to bake bread, but I often have trouble making time for it. It's not the actual time working with it, it's the elapsed time. A few years ago my mom gave me her copy of Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Bread.

A few weekends ago, I flipped through every page, ruled out the recipes I didn't have the ingredients for and narrowed it down to 15 or so recipes. birchduck helped me pick out Potato Bread (pg 402)

It has mashed potatoes in the dough, and uses the potato water as part of the liquid for extra starch.

The recipe suggested making one braided loaf and one round loaf, but I really like to braid bread, so I made two braids.

The bread had the characteristic moistness and crust texture that potato breads have and was super-delicious.
It took significantly longer to bake than the recipe called for, but that was my only complaint

That and just how much we ate....

This will get made again.

Next Royal Hibernian Brown Loaf

memes I like

2009-03-10T11:34:26Z

Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.

Mine from aneyah

1: Math: is the way I think.

2: String: I like it. A day that goes by without any playing with string is a sad one (see yesterday for example) Fiber arts are both a hobby and a significant part of my religious life.

3: Walking
My brain works best when I am walking. Especially for relationship-processing type stuff. It is also my favorite kind of date. Actually, maybe my second-favorite kind.

4: Baby: I don't have one anymore. Although maybe from the perspective of someone with older children it looks different. I have a little girl who is exploring the world with a vengeance, learning with every breath and growing into a fabulous person. I'm a sucker for little babies, but toddlers are my favorite age. So far.

5: geek: It seems to run in the family.

WomanSpirit Weekend

2009-02-23T02:28:42Z

I spent my weekend at the Winter WomanSpirit 2009 which was conveniently located in Peoria. I've wanted to go to the past few, but travel and baby were not working.

Friday I had plenty of hanging out time to knit and get to know people before things really started. There was a communal weaving project being led by the Peoria Hand weaver's Guild that I spent some time at. I happened to know about half of them - shocking I know. Now I really want a floor loom. It doesn't have to be very big...

The opening ceremony, like all of the weekend, had much communal singing and was very moving.
Saturday morning I had to drive back in the snow. There was more ritual, then morning workshops. I took one on sacred dance, which was awesome and inspiring. My afternoon workshop was on Compassionate Communication. Then birchduck brought the Boo for a mommy visit. I was really missing her by then, and she me, so it was very fun. She turned her charm up all the way and visited around. They departed, and I went to Universal Dances of Peace,which I love, and never make it over to Bloomington for.

All in all, a long weekend, lots of energy, lots of singing, lots of dancing. I'm brain fuzzed today, and still have a migraine (all week? excessive I think).

And, I knit 1 sock.

I plan on going to the one this summer.

leeduck @ 2009-02-16T19:59:00

2009-02-17T02:03:32Z

Dear Google reader,

I have been greatly enjoying our time together and all the procrastination opportunities you provide. And until now, the new blogs you have suggested have been interesting, not always worth my reading, but in general what I am interested in. However, anything that includes this phrase

"We all agree on the end goal - a reformed America who recognizes Christ as King and Savior. An America that rejoices in Liberty above Security - and all of that."

does not overlap with my interests. I'm not sure what in my blogroll led you to think it might. Was it the preponderance of gay, male, knitting blogs? The webcomics? All the other knitting blogs? Or just the fact we both live in Peoria?

yrs,

Leeduck

Consumerism

2009-02-06T22:21:52Z

I need this shirt

and this one too

But I have exceeded my monthly "buying shirts off the internet" quota..

Wait! It's February now!

Class

2009-02-06T01:41:31Z

I'm taking a prep class for the CQE. Different people teach each week. The guy tonight could not go more than 7 syllables without pausing. It was like listening to Captain Kirk talk about Quality Information Systems. Also, you know it's a bad things when not only are you daydreaming in class, you're daydreaming about work.

Also

Dear Telemarketer who just called. Once the phone connects, I can hear your profanity laced comments to your coworker. No thanks.

A meme that I like

2009-01-19T03:37:01Z

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well. We all can make stuff!

January

2009-01-13T01:16:05Z

I hennaed my hair again last night. Wow is it faster with short hair. This was the last of the frozen henna from gwyndlyn and my big henna extravaganza last February. I've been very impressed with how well it has held up to multiple freezings. I need to order more now however. Boo really wants to participate in the henna-ing. Maybe she can have some body art this summer. Maybe not.

It snowed again today. Any other year that would have made me happy, but this year I just want spring to come. I'm ready for some light and warm (but not too warm).

leeduck @ 2009-01-11T20:32:00

2009-01-12T02:38:54Z

Between Boo, birchduck, work, and the world, there's a lot going on, which means not a lot of posting from me.

I got a new backpack for our ever evolving vacation this year. Current incarnation looks like a train ride out to Seattle, hiking in the Olympic Peninsula and maybe a visit to Vancouver. Whatever it is, it will have hiking. I've wanted this backpack since the summer, and I got it free through the "reward points" from my credit card.

It's an Osprey Talon 11 size s/m I'd like it even if it wasn't orange with talons on it. It is the right length for me, which means it's far too short for Birch.

gwyndlyn and I went to a dyeing workshop last weekend. I won't go in to too much detail here, because I will elsewhere, but here's an example.

weekend update

2008-12-16T12:51:00Z

I had a busy but good weekend. Saturday I drove out to West Jersey and went to the Bishop Fiber Guild meeting. I got mildly harassed for not bringing Boo, caught up with friends, and get elected treasurer for next year.

It's not my fault, they used my weaknesses against me. "Is there anyone who's good with Excel?"

I also got a bunch of finishing work done on gifts.

I left early to go to Sushigawa with some friends from work. I am newish to the sushiworld, but my "order-at-random" technique worked well, and I had a good time chatting with more friends. Then I went home and rescued Birch from The Toddler so she could get ready for her evening exam.

Sunday we went for a long long walk after church. taking advantage of the warm weather.

PIctures of us

2008-12-14T14:33:48Z

You can see a few pictures from our photo session last week at

http://maloryrebekahphotography.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-just-got-this-session-from-last.html

Birthday Cake and more Knitting

2008-12-06T18:33:10Z

Another gift finished. Details as usual are on the knitting blog and ravelry.

Wren and I made a birthday cake for the Eldest R, who will be 12 soon.

The cake is Chocolate Eclipse from Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Food.

The directions have this line "Pour on the boiling water. It will look terrible, and you will not believe you are actually doing this, but try to persevere." This is very reassuring. Here is before the boiling water.

And after

Pretty crummy looking. Here's what it looks like after baking.

Tune in next time to see if it tastes as good as it smells and looks.

Helper girl

December already

2008-12-04T04:13:21Z

I don't do well with December. ::sigh::

However, we had a fabulous dinner tonight of ham, waffles and strawberry sauce. My only regret is that I didn't double the waffle recipe.

Also, I finished some things today, and that makes me happy.

A baby hat for the Boo's daycare teacher who is due today. If I'm lucky and she isn't she'll be there tomorrow to give this too.

And a pair of socks. One more gift down.

Bits of life

2008-11-23T23:15:51Z

At Boo's birthday party there were 5 children including year. J1 is 5, J2 is 3, R is almost 2 and Boo of course is 1.

Javid commented that all the children were prime, and I noticed that we almost had Fibonacci children. At work later over IM we decided that R could be the quantum 1/2 child and complete the sequence.

As part of my job I teach classes. Fridays class included some gentlemen from Joliet. I'm not sure of their origin, but English was clearly not the first language. At one point one of them asked me if I was Kim. "No, I'm Lee, she (the other instructor) is Kim." "They're both Korean names, I get confused"

Now, I suppose they both are, but I've never thought of it that way.

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-12T04:40:41Z

The Boodle is one today!

cut cause pictures are easier than writing

I started the day about 65 pounds heavier than I am now

She started out cute, but not good for much

Not long after she started developing a personality,

And has been more and more trouble ever since

I could go on for hours about how funny and charming and smart she is, but I should go to bed. We love you Wrengirl

My hair

2008-11-12T04:15:21Z

Under the cut

In my eyes

And not

And in honor of the Boodle's birthday, I'm wearing my maternity sweater.