Caitlyn: one two three five six eleven twelve… one two three five six eleven twelve… (repeat, to the Sesame Street counting song tune) Ian: Good counting, Caitlyn. That’s a lot. Caitlyn: Trees. And birds. Ian: You’re counting trees and birds? Caitlyn: Yes. There’s a lot and a lot and a lot. Ian: Holy cow. Caitlyn: I’m not a holy cow, I’m a sea otter.
Sometimes Caitlyn likes to read (she turns the pages and makes up a story which may or may not have anything to do with the pictures she’s looking at) to me at bedtime, instead of the other way around. Last night, it was The Legend of Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching, complete with special appearances by Pooh, Cinderella, Christopher Robin, and several cats. Tonight, she opted just to sing along with her lullaby: “Rock-a-bye-baby cradle of leavesSing me lullaby of dweamsTuck clouds under my chinBlow that moon out – pfoo – please.” She’s not in tune or on …
We hosted the Christmas festivities this year, something we’ve never done before. Here’s what I learned: three pies is excessive for eight people calculate serving portions based on the weight of the chicken breasts, not on the number of chicken breasts if serving a large breakfast to the assembled masses, reduce the scale of dinner – don’t overstuff everyone twice hot spiced cider may have been more popular than wine at 4pm when menu planning, figure out not only how much of what ingredients to have, but also plan baking times so that you don’t end up with a completed …
From Papua New Guinea to the United States at the climate talks in Bali: “We ask for your leadership. We seek your leadership. But if for some reason you’re not willing to lead. Leave it to the rest of us. Please get out of the way.” NPR No kidding. Apparently the whole world wants to go one way and the US has to plunk itself down in the middle of the road and say no. Fortunately, there was a sufficient quantity of booing and hissing to get the US delegate to back down and for there to actually be an …
While waiting for a light to change, I noticed an Allstate Insurance billboard. Over a (rather weathered) picture of highway traffic, in large, un-missable letters: “MISTEAKS HAPPEN.” I spent the entire cycle of the light wondering if I was misremembering how to spell or if the designer of the billboard was being “subtly clever”. Not to go on some long rant about the collapse of decent society as we know it or anything, but does anyone else want to carry around a large red pen and fix all the various linguistic mistakes out there? Does no one know how to …
Finally! Someone has made a social networking site that I can get excited about! I’ve poked around at some of the social networking sites before, and I have a couple of profiles out there. I usually forget about them until one of the sites sends me an update email, “We’ve added wacky new features!” But, this one I’ll probably be on a lot. It’s the social networking site for obsessive readers (ie, me!): GoodReads. Find the books you’ve read, rate them, comment on them, find other people who like the same books you like, organize your books into any categories …