Daniel X: Watch the Skies - MomReview

James Patterson, the New York Times bestselling author and the father of an eleven-year-old son, has a new book- Daniel X: Watch the Skies- a second novel to the young adult series, Daniel X.

Sadly, I am not nearly as excited about this book as I was about Maximum Ride.

This book had a fun story in there somewhere. Nice aliens and slimy goo to blow up, a little romance and a "kid" hero. The problem is, I wasn't fooled. I wonder if kids will be.

Just adding "iPod" and "Netflix" and "laptop" into a story doesn't make it cool. I kept waiting for Daniel to say "Stay in School!" and "Don't do drugs!" so the cliche would be complete. He was super polite to Judy's parents, so they just loved him. He had to altar the minds of all the kids in class so they would read a book, and after that all they wanted to do was read and read some more. To be good you have to read and study. The TVs, cell phones and electronics nearly doomed the entire human race, and are therefore bad. It really got to be a little too much lecture and not enough fun.

The setup of the book was a bright spot. Short chapters makes for a very easy read. Each of the chapters is action-packed, and definitely page-turners. Terrific format for those who don't read all that much, lots of accomplishment.

I have to say, after reading the Maximum Ride series and being so enthralled and excited about the books and the characters, I was really looking forward to reading his new "boy" version, but was very dissappointed.

Doesn't mean I won't read it to my son in a couple of years when he's 8, however. I'm more than happy to see whether or not he'll be fooled.

until next time...
happy reading!

Is that an Indian Sloppy Joe?

My desire to make and eat anything "Indian" continues un-abated. Last Sunday I decided to try another of Vij's curries - this time the Ground Beef Curry.

The recipe calls for "Indian Sugar". Being a caucasion gal from Ohio, I had no idea what that was. Oddly though, I was introduced to it recently so when I rediscovered the recipe I was excited because I already had some in the pantry (and now need to get more!). My son had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this Spring and a friend of mine noted that there was an Indian Grocery Store on the other side of the strip mall (fun times). She'd gotten a huge bag of Jaggery and shared. What a TREAT! Turns out, not only is it fun to cook with and DELICIOUS... It is also:
Jaggery, being a wholesome sugar, without doubt is rich in the vitally important mineral salts: 2.8 grams per 100 grams, that is to say 28 grams per kilogram, while only 300 milligrams per kilogram is found in refined sugar.
Magnesium strengthens the nervous system & potassium is vital to conserve the acid balance in the cells and combats acids and acetone. Jaggery is very rich in iron, which, a composite of hemoglobin prevents anemia.
Which is nice, right?

It was really easy to make. The recipe called for an amazing (I thought) amount of salt, but after adding the Jaggery, balanced very nicely.

The heavy cream completely counteracted the "healthy" spin I put on the dish by using ground turkey instead of ground beef, but it was SO pretty.


The meal was served with store-bought Naan, a salad from the garden and a Newcastle just to make it really feel like a sloppy joe.
The next day, SM had one for lunch on a hamburger bun.
Perhaps this IS the start of Curry Sunday.

until next time!

Newest Obsession: Food Blogs

Lately I've been reading blogs alot more often than writing (as if that weren't already obvious).
Like the title says - I think I'm kind of wandering around trying to decide what it is that I want to do when I grow up. 'Course at this point, it's what I want to do when my kiddos grow up - since that's when I'll really start having some time for myself again (at least that's the theory I'm working on...).
My little iGoogle page is kind of the barometer of where my life is, all the baby/mom blogs started to give way to craft/garden blogs and those are starting to give way to food blogs (with the standard tech/geek blogs always remaining as they are the constant in my life). Food writing is fun to read for so many reasons, but the best reason is that food is fantastic - to make - to eat - to look at - to smell - to read about - well, you get the idea.
In the tradition of blogs, one leads to another, leads to another, until suddenly I have 12 food blogs that I'm reading and mixing and matching and enjoying.
This was a really long setup - but all of these blogs led me back to what a friend introduced us to a couple of years ago: GRILLED PIZZA!
Yep - totally crazy - but I actually even think it was Martha Stewart who was the initial inspiration for these.

And since my children (especially my son) will eat pizza more than anything and LOVE to help roll out the dough, we celebrated the 20th sunny-day-in-seattle-in-a-row by grillin' up some 'za! The kid-caveat here is that they don't always like the burned parts of grilled food, and they didn't get to build the pizza themselves since the grill is hot-ish but it was still a pretty huge success.

My treat was that I got to fill up my pizza with whatever I wanted! I used up all my farmer's market treats (in Seattle, the Spring Farmer's Markets are a little slim pickins). Here's what we did:

Roll out your pizza dough (either pre-made or bought) into round-ish shapes and let it rest for a little while.
Heat up the grill so it's REALLY hot.
Grab a pizza peel/non-edged cookie sheet and sprinkle some corn meal or similarly-textured flour (semolina) on top and load up the dough.
Slide the dough onto the grill and close it. Give it a couple minutes to puff up a bit and get brown, then flip it and let the 2nd side do the same.
Then TURN OFF THE GRILL! (otherwise... burn marks)
Dress your pizza time!
Our kids: prefer just tomato sauce and cheese.
Hubby: tomato sauce, cheese and any cured meat - preferably Salumi
Mine: olive oil base, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, gruyere and bleu cheese. I think if I could have fit more on, I would have!

I think we'll be grilling lots of pizza this summer.

I'll keep reading food blogs for ideas, and maybe even find a few more to pass along.

until next time...
yum

Cool Kid Stuff (part 1 of many)

The other thing I do way too much of, is read a bunch of blogs. Some have really cool kid stuff, some have crafty stuff, some have techie stuff.
Here's some cool kid stuff.

This is one of the coolest plates I've seen in a while. A bit pricey, but it's "made from hotel-quality, food-safe, high-fire ceramics" so there's less mom-guilt involved.
super fun...

inspiration

I was talking to a girlfriend yesterday about how I'm "friending" a few writers lately and the old dream of being a writer was bubbling up a little bit. She has a similar writing bug and we both talked of our blogs, how we enjoyed writing, even for bits at a time, and how neither of us have touched our blogs in months. In my case, it's been nearly a year!
I think sometimes it's easy to fall into a rut, it's easy to get too busy, and it's hard to come up with material deemed good enough to write about. I've decided to take some of the pressure off. I'm hoping to just post about things I'd like to remember, or enjoyed reading, or just made me stop and think. I have plenty of things like this, but I'm going to try to stick to one a day (or so).
Today, is the word "Remission". A friend of ours was surprised with a large tumor in his colon - actually he wasn't all that surprised, what was surprising was that it took so long to be discovered even after spending time in the hospital and being diagnosed with diverticulitis. Months after that hospital stay, he was still feeling ill and a coke-can-sized tumor was found and removed from his body. They also found cancer spots on his liver, which meant he had Stage IV cancer (Stage IV cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body.).
His prognosis was pretty grim, and considering he was a pretty healthy-living 44-yr old with two young sons, this was a big shock.
He had no intention of giving up or giving in.
He went on an all juice diet (read more, and more), started running/training for a marathon, went through two rounds of chemo (with one more to go) and is now hearing the word "Remission" as his current diagnosis.
Amazing, inspiring, heart-warming, stunning, and a million more words I don't have the vocabulary to write down.
I'm honored to know this person, and inspired to do things that matter, that make me happy, and that keep me close to the people I hope to keep close to me, in times of happiness, sadness and everything in between.
until next time...

girl's night

I know - I've talked about being busy before. And I wasn't kidding, or exaggerating then. But it just has NOT slowed down!
I'm sure it's because we're pretty social beings. We like hanging out with friends and watching all the kids play together and have fun. We (SM & I) also like trying to find time to just hang out together, try to have a conversation, remember why we like each other and put each other through the ringer every day. Then there's "Girl's Night" (or Boy's Night when they finally get around to scheduling it). Those are too few and far between, and too short every time. What is it about having children that has suddenly made being with my girlfriends so important?! It's really amazing. I mean, if I had my choice, I'd still choose to spend time with SM - it's impossible to get good quality time with him so it's definitely first choice. But considering that it's quite a bit easier to just ask him to babysit than try to coordinate babysitter/grandparent's/Parent'sNightOut - the girl's nights are easier and F.U.N.
A group of us went to see Sex and the City last Friday - along with nearly every other female in the city - and it was great. I think the reason it resonated so well with me was because I (and my girls) am THE target market. We're all mid/late thirties, all love the city (yes, I still wish we'd been able to make the NYC move a few years ago...) and all have "issues"/"baggage" whatever... and being with your girlfriends really helps. They listen, they b*tch and moan, they get catty whenever it's required, they offer great shoulders to laugh or cry on.
It's night's like those that make me wish for more girl's nights, and movie's like those that make me happy to have the SM that I have.
I'm pretty sure this is like the millionth blog entry about how great girl's night is since SATC opened, but since I'm a recent "convert" to the whole concept - so I'm adding to the madness.
And can I just say - SJP was MADE to play that role. She IS Carrie, even if she really isn't.
I hope they make more.
I like girl's night.

until next time...
cheers ladies

coolest. kid. sofa. ever.

Quick post - but this is one to share.
These are possibly the coolest kid sofas ever! They have all sorts of color combos and styles - all to look like old cars.
They're expensive, but not "Pottery Barn Kids" expensive. ;o)
If you get one - let me know.
until next time...
let's hope they make an adult version!

we have a master bath... how cool!

I thought our kitchen remodel was amazing (and it is) but the master bath totally rocks.
I wonder how long until I take a hammer to that wall (in between our bedroom and bathroom)!

short post... it's friday
until next time...
thanks dad
:o)

what a mariners weekend!

We had tickets for BOTH the Friday Night AND Sunday Mariners games this weekend (and yes, those were the 2 of 3 against the A's that they lost) and what a fun time we had!

 

We picked the kids up from school and headed down to Pioneer Square to park in my garage. Once we got there, however, we realized 2nd & James is actually a pretty far walk for a 2 & 4year old, so when we spotted the pedicabs we decided to hop on and enjoy the ride.

Roxie enjoyed hanging out and playing with her new necklace from Morgan & Mikes.

 We were all pretty bundled up, it was a night-game and although it started out sunny, it was super cold by the time we left - @ the end of the 6th.

 By Sunday's game, it was much nicer outside and we arrived in plenty of time for the kids to get their Felix Hernandez jerseys... woo hoo!
I've decided to let go of the fact that we missed the Ichiro bobblehead. It's just a bobblehead after all, and we had a blast.


Add in a birthday party on Saturday morning, hanging out and dinner with my folks on Saturday night and had friends over for brunch Sunday morning and that equals one BUSY WEEKEND!

It was great and filled with family time.

so until next time...
rest at the office during the week for big weekends at home
:O)

some days I just wanna buy EVERYTHING

It all started this morning when I was glancing through yesterday's mail and found an IKEA ad mailer. It was for kitchens, so of course, even though we already have a brand-new IKEA remodeled kitchen, I found a BUNCH OF STUFF I "NEED"! (I even had to go back and make myself add those "" around NEED... it's a sickness!)
Then I hop online to work and take a gander at all my standard RSS feeds.
More "NEED"s:
First set thanks to Cool Mom Picks

Hoodie Animal Towels

Sweeeeet Tattoo shirts that come with tattoos!

Most creative way yet to collect your child's art (which we now have a TON of and our oldest isn't even 5 yet!).

And don't even get me started about all their amazing picks for Mother's Day - too bad only the Moms read the blog!



Then I move on to droolicious where I find:
EXCELLENT new FLOR tiles coming available... just in time for our 2nd floor remodel.

And the diaper caddy to end all diaper changing tables!
I know my kids are getting old enough to be out of diapers soon - but for some reason I NEED that diaper caddy. We haven't even had a changing table in the house for more than 6 months - they generally become useless once your little worm starts to wiggle...

Anyway
I'm sure if I read any of the "spam" I get emailed to me everyday I'll find a million other things to buy - and I better stay FAR away from Angie's blog since she's my new fashion guru goddess and I'm powerless to her commands.
*sigh*
I guess I'll just have to work instead...

until next time...
happy friday!

the babe is 2

Yesterday Roxie turned 2 years old. I keep wondering if that's why I've been so weepy and pensive lately, it's hard to tell. It's really amazing to me that she's already 2. I really feel like (and I was just talking to a girlfriend about this today whose son is nearly 1) it was just a moment ago that we were dealing with the "aftermath" of her birth and the absolute JOLT we encountered with the addition of another child.
Having two children is incredibly difficult and BUSY. Thank goodness you get more than double the return!
Amazing what a couple years can do...


We've had quite a fun couple of days, and we haven't even had her party yet. (Note to self: Have the party BEFORE the big day rather than after... it's kind of a buzzkill this way...) We celebrated a couple other birthdays this past weekend though, so she really enjoyed that. What a blast. Her special flower balloons from Red Balloon C. again and LOVES them.

and that's what birthdays are alllllll about

until next time...
STOP GROWING!

illin like bob dillin

It's the classic story.
Mom gets busy, kids get busy, kids get sick, husband goes out of town, Mom gets S.I.C.K!
ugh
Luckily the kids are, so far, being pretty awesome. I think Milo fell asleep after I did, but he didn't complain about it too much, just required his light to be a little brighter than normal since he was scared of the dark. Couldn't have been the "Ben 10" comic he was reading while falling asleep, certainly not!
The little Diva is doing ok. She only woke up once and wasn't awake too long, and then slept through 'til 6am - which totally works for me (except when I'm sick - but beggars...).
Everything is ramping up it seems.
We're trying to catch up with friends because we just never see them enough. We even had my parents babysit overnight this weekend, but ended up staying home since I was sick and SM was getting ready to leave. So we're scheduling babysitters for the next couple of weekends - I'm still trying to take my Dad to see the Spiderwick Chronicles and hoping it's still in theaters - and visit with friends who are very fun, but don't have kids so they're not as easy to take to Red Robin ;o).
Plus we have Roxie's bday to plan, Milo's bday to plan, a 40th party to attend, a shower for Roxie's teacher to plan (and booties to knit)...
wahooo, no wonder time flies!
time for more cold meds
until next time...
c'mon spring, hurry up!

busy madness

I haven't had alot of time to post lately. We're busy with all sorts of things... Easter is early, and this weekend; March Madness is fully underway; we've started soccer and swimming for the kiddos; baseball season is starting in a week; we have our master suite remodel well underway; both of their birthdays are coming up; we're awaiting m's school assignment; we're both busy with work; we've completely changed the kids' room and sleeping quarters around to encourage the girl to sleep through the night...
ugh
this has all led to no posting
and this post is lame because all I did was regurgitate the list I already have constantly running through my brain
I'll try harder I promise
until next time...

looking good, feeling great

By now you know I'm a Mom. I have two children and work full-time. Our closest circle of friends have at least one child, if not two - not to mention all the families we're getting to know from our son's preschool class as we all go through the "kindergarten ordeal" together. This adds up to me being a very very busy gal, with a very busy family.
I've never had the greatest body image. After two children and genes of a NON-supermodel (read: normal woman) my self-image is not great. I'm solidly in my mid-thirties and still shop the sale racks at Old Navy and wonder why none of my clothes look good.
I've started taking Pilates classes in the evenings at a WONDERFUL studio in my neighborhood, which means it's easy to get to and a great workout = no excuses! Still, progress is slow because I just haven't found time to do anything else.
/whine
I have found salvation!
Friends introduced us and now I am proud to say I am both a friend and client of Angie's. I am also an AVID reader of her blog.
For Christmas SM presented me with her services and together we completely went through my entire closet and "cleansed it of all the badness". If there was anything that didn't look good - it 's gone, whether it was $5 or $500 (ok, you know what I mean) it is gone.
Then we shopped.
Hallelujah did we shop!
It has been a good looooong time since I've had a "good" shopping day. Granted, I don't have that much time any more either, so many things were returned because I didn't have time to try them on. The problem was, I just couldn't find things that fit me, so when I tried them on, whether at home or in the store, I tried on things that weren't right for my body, so they looked like crap, which meant I FELT like crap. SM and I recalled together the horror involved in shopping for/with me.
Somehow Angie made it all go away.
We shopped for an ENTIRE DAY and it was all fantastic! Nearly everything she put me in looked good, and if it didn't - it was "shame on the clothes" instead of "shame on me" and that, in and of itself, made it all worth every single penny.
Not to mention the fact, that for the past two days I have felt really good about how I look - and even look good too. ;o)
It's not an easy thing, on a limited budget, to splurge on seemingly frivolous things like "stylists". But for me, this "stylist" has helped me do SO many more things. I FEEL good, I LOOK good, I know what TO shop for and what NOT to shop for. I know how to find GOOD quality clothing without paying too much for it. Even better, I know how to find POOR quality clothing and not pay for it at all.
Priceless in so many ways.
thank you angie...

vacation vs home

Isn't it funny? The strange feeling of vacation vs home. We just got back from a week's vacation - a day/night in Vancouver and then a few days in Whistler. On paper it sounded great, and even while we were there, it sounded just as good.
Then the sickies hit.
Roxie didn't just get sick - she really got sick. She had pink eye in BOTH eyes AND hand, foot & mouth (no - not mad cow - read about it)! So the beginning of the week was a bit tough.
Milo, in the meantime, was in three days of ski school. The first day he came out absolutely beaming. He was so excited to do it and had SUCH fun. I also think he was pretty proud of himself for doing it and that was pretty cool to see. By the third day, however, he was getting a bit sick and rundown since it was his 5th nap-free day in a row and he was staying up late because he and his friend were sharing a room and having fun doing it. By Thursday morning Milo had a fever and was looking baaaad.
We decided we'd had enough.
Vacation was hard hard work and we were heading home early.
But vacation is, after all, vacation, so we didn't go home too early. We left on Friday morning instead of Saturday morning, but somehow that extra day made all the difference in the world for us. We were all THRILLED to be going home.
Once home (after a very tough ride with M throwing up twice and R getting VERY restless by the end of the 7hours) we pretty much did a little jig! Everyone was happy and yelling and dancing and that even lasted through Saturday and into Sunday. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day on Saturday and we all went and played in the front yard and even did a little gardening together.
My point, and yes it's long in coming, is that it's such a strange thing to SO look forward to vacation, enjoy it for a couple days, and then start longing for home.
Maybe it's not so strange.
I guess if you have a happy home life and enjoy being there, it's only normal to want to be back, even when you're enjoying where you are.
It's also probably not so strange to wish to be back on vacation a few days after coming home - cuz life's just better when you're on vacation.
Maybe next time we'll just rent some sand and heat lamps and vacation in the guest bedroom.
until next time....
enjoy

SM Returns just in time for his valentines

 SM got home from Barcelona yesterday (after being gone since Saturday... NOW you know why I haven't been posting!) just in time to celebrate Valentine's Day with the kids. They had a great day at school, they both had parties and got some face paint. But the best part was that Daddy was waiting for them at home when we got there.
phew
 
We even got to have pizza for dinner and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
 And I even almost got a good night's sleep. almost....

what to write about? plenty!

How is it that we have so much to do and so much going on but I still don't have anything to write? I think it's just that we're plodding along too busy to really be able to make a note of the "fun" we might actually be having.
We actually had a great weekend. Friday night was "chill" night and had the fam hangin' in the basement watching a little Ninja Warrior*.
*beware, this show is totally addictive for all ages!
Saturday we went to the grand opening of a great new kids' shop near U-Village called "Le Petit Shoppe". We scored a super-cute rocking chair for the diva and a gently-used stokke high-chair that we've been searching for. Plus the kids got babycakes just for coming with us. Then we went and got books and lunch and headed home for a little family naptime before friends came over. Saturday night we had 4, YES FOUR, sleeping children while the adults drank and played poker in the basement. Best fun in quite a loooong time - plus we were all stuck singing the same song... "on the bed, on the floor, on a towel by the door...."
good times

Sunday we went for a family walk around the neighborhood so milo could get some time on his bike.
Then we watched one of the best SuperBowl games in a long time. And I'm not even a Giants fan.

Well there now... I guess I did have a little bit to write about.
Guess I'd better keep it up.
until next time...
hope it's not too long 'til then!

talking each other off the ledge

Our little family has been going through alot lately. The diva is having real sleep issues. Baby bear was really (and still is) a good sleeper so we're in uncharted territory. She has trouble shutting down at night so we have to stay in her room until she's totally asleep or she bolts upright, howling, ready to run out of her bed/room to find us. She's a little sick, so she's waking up pretty often throughout the night (every hour from 1am on) doing the same thing: bolting upright, howling, ready to run out of her bed/room unless we get there quickly enough. More often than not, I end up sleeping on the floor next to her from about 4:30am on when it's my night.
Then, of course, there's the kindergarten ordeal that we're in the middle of right now. Plus, with all the school tours and broken water heaters, we're barely putting in any time at work - which isn't necessarily appreciated by co-workers/managers. Stress levels are incredibly high and for some reason SM and I just HAVE to be devil's advocate to each other no matter what the topic.
Today, as we chatted on the phone reviewing our FOURTH SCHOOL TOUR!?!?!?!, he said it:
"Right now we just need to keep talking each other off the ledge."
That's what it's come to.
Not enjoying each other's company, discussing politics (or anything else that's not directly family-related) or playing with our children.
We have to constantly be talked off ledges.
*sigh*
until next time...
please children, sleep
please Seattle Schools, let my child get into a GOOD SCHOOL

you don't know what you've got...

'til it's GONE!
This week, our water heater broke.
And it didn't just break, it went down in flames.... literally. The dang old thing had a slow leak from the top of the VERY RUSTY tank. The leak eventually creeped its way into the electrical panel and with a spark and small fire, stopped working.
A funny side-story: The kids' bath on Tuesday night was a little tepid, so it was a fast one and SM went down to the basement afterwards to check out the heat issue. We're remodeling our house (new master suite... woohoo)so we figured that had something to do with it, and sure enough there was a blown fuse. So SM dutifully flipped the fuse and we all went to bed. The next morning we woke up and SM was first to shower. He came running out of the bathroom - dry and in a panic - "there's no hot water?!?!?!". We had a school tour and busy work days so we cleaned ourselves the best we could and decided to figure it out that night. After dinner SM went back down to the basement and sure enough, the fuse had blown again, so he flipped it and simultaneously sparked a stinky/scary electrical fire AND heard his 21-mo old daughter screaming bloody murder.
I've never seen a man run up the stairs so quickly.... really funny to me - quite the OPPOSITE for him.
Another very stinky/cranky/nutty day later, my wonderful father put in a new water tank and we were all taking hot showers/baths again by last night.
This morning was a normal morning. We got our showers and got dressed and by the time we were heading down for breakfast my dad arrived to continue work on the master and he said "you know, things are alot calmer this morning than yesterday". Funny - I'm pretty sure this is the #1 reason I don't camp. I psychologically and physiologically can't function without my shower. And it's obviously genetic cuz my kids can't either. ;o)

until next time....
appreciate your hot water - you'll really miss it when it's gone

kindergarten? really?!?!?

This weekend marks our official "start" to kindergarten shopping. Why do I have to go kindergarten shopping you ask? Well, it's because in Seattle the public schools seem to really be a hit or a total miss.
In our case, we live right across the street from a school where I'd hoped my children would go, but may not be welcome.
I grew up in Cincinnati, OH and went to public schools. They were very racially mixed (actually - there were really just 2 races: white & african american and not much else, but mixed between those 2 at least) and I really appreciated that and wanted the same for my children. That's part of why we live so close to the city and in the area we do.
So right now we have a possibly tough and confusing road ahead of us. If you read the article linked above you might better understand my "woes". I actually welcome a diverse student body, I feel like one of the best ways to help our children grow up color blind, is to put them in an environment that includes as many colors as possible. That at least gives them the opportunity to form their own opinions. The issue with Madrona K-8 is not that it's diverse, it's a little bit the test scores, but mostly it's the unwillingness to (or maybe inability) to account for ALL kids.
So fine, no biggie, we don't send the kids across the street.
Then where? In the central cluster the schools are completely polar. They're either really really good, or really really bad (keep in mind, this judgment is solely based on test scores - we don't start school tours until next week - and I'll update my opinions as we go). This weekend there is a kindergarten fair where we get to chat with all of these schools and next week we start touring.
I'm still trying to accept the fact that my baby bear is old enough to (almost) go to kindergarten!
This is a process that I'm dreading, but hopefully it won't be so bad. I think I've decided to just see how it goes for the next couple years, and if it all falls apart we'll either move or maybe save enough for private school.
*sigh*
until next time...
it really shouldn't be this hard