Weekend Doings

It's been a pretty nice weekend. On Friday Henry and I met our friends Jim, Griffin and Campbell (Campbell's twin, Duncan, stayed home in NJ with his mom) at the Children's museum. Jim had gotten into town with the kids the night before and was headed to his brother's house later. We were delighted to spend some time with them while his brother's family was all still at work. Henry loved showing his friends around the museum. They hit all the hot spots. Campbell was my best friend for a while in the baby nursery, though. I could tell she was wanting to head that way- and the boys needed to run a bit, so Campbell and I nurtured our nurturing sides. I couldn't tear her away!
After all the excitement we all headed over to meet Pete for lunch. We were very sad not to see Cara but hear that she and Duncan were having some pleasant one-on-one time, which is so hard to come by!
I got the added treat of having Pete come home early from work. Unfortunately it was due to needing to meet a plumber at home....but we don't need to dwell on such dismal topics here. We went shopping that evening for some new shrubbery! Here's a sort-of before shot of our front garden.
Here it is after Pete put the new shrubbery in yesterday. We got 4 clethora (summer sweet? I'd never heard of it) and 6 little bitsy boxwoods. Now we need some window boxes and in the spring we'll plant some flowers.
Here's how Henry looks right now. Thursday night we went to Johnny Rockets, and he's been wearing his paper hat every time we've been in the car since then. We were in Deerfield earlier to use the laundry facilities (Ah! Just like the olden days!) due to our plumbing insecurities and on the way home he fell asleep with the hat on. So cute.
And here's a little something that makes me smile. I usually ask my mom not to bring me any stuff- but somehow she read my mind that I needed a trivet, and this appeared on my table the next time she was in town. It just makes me smile every time I walk past it! And I'm thankful that it was probably purchased at Crowded Closet and not Kohl's or some other over-consumptive place.

Can't Really Catch Up

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed...there's just always something to be done! I can't quite say that blogging has been dead last on my list, there have jut been so many things on my list that the bottom 300 or so aren't making the cut. (For example, I'm getting very nervous that there will be no place to put the baby's crib when the baby comes along- and that's no where near the bottom of the list!)Really, right now, I should be out in the yard enjoying the nice weather with Henry. So I'll make this a brief catch-up. You can fill in the holes and details yourselves.
Here's Henry with a big turtle at the Children's Museum.
Happy Three Months Old to Eleanor Ruby! She loves her Uncle Pete! (Sadly, no one ever seems to want to take photos when I'm holding her.)
This picture is here to represent my feelings of sadness at not living in Iowa City (where I could visit the Java House much more often). It just seemed really hard this time. But my husband is pretty cute.
Here's Henry with the guitar he keeps at Grammie's house.
We went to see Andrew Bird at the Englert. He had a See and Say on stage.
We've had a skunk in the yard. I spotted the little stinker out there at about 2AM a few nights ago. He's apparently trying to dig to China. This was the best shot I could get of him. Can you tell he's there?
On Tuesday nights I have prenatal pilates class. This week Pete took Henry to the indoor pool in the same facility. I peeked down on them when I got out of class. They were having a blast, and Henry slept great that night- even though he's had a hacking cough every other night of the week.
Um. Oops. This morning was picture day at school. Henry and I did not leave ourselves enough time to eat breakfast, or wash the coffee mugs before dashing out the door, trying to look decent for photos. I needed something in my baby belly, though. And I figured some milk and a piece of breakfast bread was better than nothing for Henry. I'll try composting the cup as Sandy suggested. You can see I was in such a rush that I didn't even decline the sleeve....as I always do! You can also see a little lipstick on the cup. I wore that for the photos. Later Henry said "what's on you?" when I figured out what he was actually asking, and I told him it was lipstick, he asked "does it hurt?" Shows how often I wear lipstick.
And a little treat I'm allowing my pregnant self to have. Dark chocolate M&Ms in designer Fall colors!!!
Now I'm going outside! Tonight's test: season premiere of The Office with no working television....no, even the antennae Pete tried to hook up didn't let us see the networks. It will be hard for me to wait until it's up on itunes to check it out. Alas.

Seriously?

Today I accompanied a friend on a shopping excursion. We were looking for a formal dress, and found many, many gaudy and strange frocks. We finally had a bit of luck in Bloomingdale's with a long, classic black dress with a small amount of sparkly-ness around the under-bust area. Anyway- at one point she needed to take an important call on her cell phone. Fortunately we were in the Nordstrom's shoe department at the time. I did find many shoes I would like to own, but resisted. And then I found some things that just made me stop, stare, and think to myself "seriously?!?!" So I took photos of them.

Exhibit A: I'm not sure I can describe the hideousness that is this pair of boots. Um....they started with some sort of harlot-y black lace and then dandied them up with little, absurdly placed, gold bows. Ew. They make me cringe. Ick! Ick! I can't look away!!
Exhibit B: A clear strap with a sequined ladybug and a shiny piece of foliage which looks like it's sprouting out from between your toes. Lovely.
Exhibit C: Okay, these I almost kind of get. I'm drawn to the pastel sequined fish.
Piece de resistance: The silver boot. Seriously? The more I look at them, the more I feel like I have to have them. I'm not sure, but they might be exhibiting some type of hypnotizing effect on me. They are clearly hideous. And yet, they sort of make me want to put on an Uhuru dress and stomp around on a starship.

Coffee cup update: Today was the first time I've drank from a paper cup since the beginning of August. I had a couple of slip-ups on our Minnesota vacation, when Pete went out for coffee and I asked him to grab one for me. After those two times I remembered to send my cup with him. Over a month paper-cup free. I think that's pretty good. And it hasn't been hard at all. Of course, now I have to start the count over again.

Nothing new.

I don't have any new photos, but I did find this....it's some photos I had started to post and then never did. So, it'll be new for y'all.
A few weeks back Mom was in town and she and Henry scrubbed our bathroom shutters. They now sparkle like something white and sparkly.
And I cleaned out my linen closet.
And Uncle Tom came to visit and hogged up a bunch of good Eleanor time. I guess that's okay...he does live in Utah, afterall.
And we celebrated Mary's birthday with dinner in the city. It was a Persian restaurant, which sadly is not getting much business these days, since they had a little food poisoning incident at Taste of Chicago. We found it to be delicious! The service was excellent and they just kept bringing us food! Pars Cove is the name.
And we met Liz and Van for a game at Wrigley- only, it wasn't the Cubs playing. It was the Chicago Fire Dept. vs. the Chicago Police Dept. Otherwise known as The Bravest vs. The Finest. Really. They had uniforms and everything. We even saw a homerun.
It was a great way to experience the park. Pretty much empty and totally family friendly. Plus, proceeds go to charities. I just happened to hear about it on the radio this year, but I guess they've been doing this for 7 years or something. Previously they had played at Sox park. We'll try to catch the game again next year!
That's it. Nothing new. Maybe I'll take a vote, via the comments. What should I post about? do you care about what I'm reading? How the lack of t.v. and/or paper cup usage is going? What Henry's working on in school? My awkwardness with cleaning ladies, and thusly why I generally avoid having anyone else clean my house? The disaster I know is to come when I attempt to make applesauce and/or apple butter? Something totally other?

Blanca

Henry just started throwing the Spanish at us with no warning today.



"Miss Susan said she didn't want to see any blanca."

Everything but relaxing...

Our weekend was filled with adventure....here's a sampling of some of the things we did over the last two days:
Yesterday we had lunch with Henry's friend Jonah (and his parents) and then went to a 'touch-a-truck' event. This photo is not great, but I included it for those of you (named Amber) who like to see how huge I am.
Regardless of what Rob tries to teach us, we still refer to many trucks as "diggers". Here's Henry with an especially impressive scoop.
Here are Henry and Jonah waiting in line for the Bobcat.
After touch-a-truck we went to Deerfield to watch the Hawks play Iowa State. We were disappointed in the outcome. That's all that needs to be said about that.
Henry was out cold when we got home, so I attacked the kitchen cupboard I've been meaning to get to. This is an almost "before" picture (I forgot to take it until I had already emptied the top shelf):
And here's how it looks after some merciless purging of expired food, and new shelf-papering:
Hooray! I love it that I can see everything that's on my shelves. It helps me to not over-buy.

Today we took a drive out into the boonies to pick some apples and buy some honey.
Henry had the perfect outfit for the job.
When we got home he helped make the apple pies in some little tins that Mom found us at Crowded Closet (I assume).
Other things I did today: grocery store, made a roast and baked bread. Pete: trimmed the bushes and did other general outside stuff. Henry: vacuumed the patio.
Sadly, we overbooked ourselves. The pie was still too hot to eat after dinner and the bread didn't even go into the oven until we were done eating. The upshot is that we'll have fresh bread for sandwiches tomorrow and pie for breakfast.
And now I think I'll go to bed.

Little Party

When the party starts at 3:30, and everyone else has been at work all day, and they have families and it's a major Jewish holiday, I guess it's not so bad when the house clears out by 6:00. We had a good time, though. Here's Henry doing a little quiet coloring amidst the chaos.
Here's a view of everyone crowding in the kitchen area. No matter how small the kitchen is, it always seems to become the center of a party! I guess I forgot to tell them I was taking the photo.
Here's a cute photo of Dan, Mary Lynn and Colleen. I think Dan's hiding his beer. It's not as if I share the blog with students!
Here's Jill, Kerri, Kristy and Cari. In the kitchen!
And here is the aftermath....all the food they left behind. Also take note of the bottles of wine and margarita mix on the counter...I can't drink this stuff y'all!
I will be taking leftover treats to the lounge on Monday. Wish all you faraway friends were here so I could call you over for a post-party to clean up the remainders!

Couldn't make it up...

Henry: "Mom. Her name is Auntie R."
Me: "Hm? On the radio?"
Henry: "Yeah. Auntie R."
Me: thinking hard....thinking hard.... "Oh! NPR!"

From now on if you hear me say I heard something from Auntie R. you'll know what I"m talking about.

Beautification

Yesterday was my first of a few precious Wednesdays, that I will have before the baby comes, where I wasn't working but Henry was at school. I used my time to do some beautification. Here's a plain ugly wall between our kitchen/laundry area and the bathroom. And here it is now, as a display space for Henry's artwork. The top left piece, and bottom right piece are examples of what he's been bringing home from school. The top right piece is a picture of Liz and Van (Liz is orange, Van is pink).
And here I don't have a before photo, but you can trust me that the Hoosier cabinet was a dusty, cluttered mess. Now it's much more useful with my dry goods there. And I'm happy to have my colorful bowls out where I can see them.
My yellow cookbook bookshelf was also a mess, but I needed to clean it off so that Henry could have some space for his 'food' to go with the 'new' kitchen toy Mom found for him.
Tomorrow I'm having some friends from school over for general, casual cameraderie. I guess Henry and I will have to deal with this mess some time before then:
Lest you think I'm getting lazy on these days 'off'- I did also do three loads of laundry, updated my classroom website and made lasagna for dinner. Then I picked Henry up early so we could play a little bit. He made the garlic bread for dinner.

Go Hawks!

Here are a few photos from last weekend's game at Soldier Field. The Hawks beat the Huskies, even though their perfomance wasn't always impressive. In this photo Pete and I are trying to look cute while Mom tries to make sure that the people behind us don't spill more beer on our heads.
Here I am outside before the game. This photo does no justice to the swarm of black and gold that overtook Chicago. Do you see any red shirts? Neither do I.
This is a weird picture, but it captures Henry's continued joy at spending time with his cousin...who knows how to dress for game day.
Hawks play again tonight at 7PM against Syracuse. It's a t.v. game, but it looks like we wouldn't be able to get it here anyway. Yes, that is a maternity Iowa shirt....I'll be wearing it a lot this fall.

Cookies and Combinatorics

Well, my dad wins the cookies. Unfortunately, I'm not able to copy his solution and put it into my blog...I'm not sure what he used to create the spreadsheet, but it won't copy for me.
Sorry Anonymous, but what I really was looking for was not three groups of seven or seven groups of three....math hasn't ever been my strongest subject, but I do know that 21 is divisible by 3 and 7. What I need is 9 groups of 2 and 1 group of 3, where the groups are always different and the 'third wheel' is not always the same person. I also wanted each person to have at least one pairing with each other person at some point.
In solving the problem, Dad earned himself a bonus by introducing me to a new word - "combinatorics" (in which he took at least two classes in college) and he also made me feel better by assuring me that this truly is a complex problem.
This is a picture of a couple of the many pages I filled with numbers in trying to solve the problem myself. I kept thinking I had it all figured out and then something would go terribly wrong and the headache would start to creep in...
So, thanks Dad! And thanks to any other minds out there that were trying to help with the problem. If you're still interested, I'll see if I can find a way to post the final results, when I actually make the lists for the kids.

A Problem

Here's a mathematical problem that I need someone to solve. I've been trying to find a way to easily pair students in my class. We were just assigned a new student, which means we now have 21, which makes the problem much more of a challenge. What I want to be able to do is to say to the class "get with your A partner" and they all know who to pair up with. Obviously there will always be a threesome. I want each student to be paired once with each other student. So, what I envision is that each child has a list on their desk that lists A through T (or 1 through 20) with the name of their partner or partners. I do not want the same person to always be part of the threesome, either.
Can you do it? I'll bake and/or send cookies to the person who can figure it out first.
For the sake of confidentiality I will only list the first few letters of the students' names...

A
An
B
Br
D
Da
E
H
J
Ju
K
Ka
Kay
Ke
L
M
N
S
T
V
W