Halloween 2009

Ava the bee and Natasha

"Let me get this straight: I dress like this and people give me candy? That it hilarious!"

Saturday sushi

We hit a new sushi spot in Seattle's Columbia City neighborhood called Wabi Sabi. Affordable, filling and delicious.

Ava loved her edamame, miso soup and the kid's bento box. It had teriyaki chicken, rice and a small seaweed and cucumber salad.

Watching her sip out a glass without spilling, eating the pre-opened edemame and happily sipping her soup with little assistance or fanfare, Jason said, "Man, I don't think I could do that until I was about four."

Still, he nearly choked when she appeared on the verge of maneuvering a piece of chicken into her mouth with the chopsticks. Yeah, she's pretty good, but not THAT adept. We set her up with a fork and she was good to go, with more food in her mouth than on the table by meal's end.

I know it's just standard kid development, but it's very nice to be at a point where we're able to go out for a meal and she's pretty self-regulating.

Also, it's not like one description I read in pre-kid days that said good practice for going out with a kid was to take a wild goat to a store and pay for everything it ate or damaged. Thankfully, our goat is pretty civilized and rarely damages anything.

Noticing an equine theme

We hit the Lakeside School rummage sale today and I made the mistake of inadvertently strolling down an aisle chock-a-block with stuffed animals. Hence our latest equine acquisition "Duke."

I just shipped a giant box of baby clothes to a sister-in-law, so I think I'm within my self-imposed stricture of "If you buy something, something has to go." Giddy up.

Letters and emails and faxes, oh my! Behind the "Letters to the President"

Those who love letters and communication might be as intrigued as I was by this cool video from the White House about the 10 letters President Obama reads from the public every day to stay in touch with America's issues and concerns.

According to the site: "Letters to the President" is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the process of how those ten letters make it to the President's desk from among the tens of thousands of letters, faxes, and e-mails that flood the White House each day.

The video has several neat factoids, such as, each week, the president receives about:

• 65,000 letters
• 100,000 emails
• 1,000 faxes
• and 2,500-3,500 calls per day

Video runs 5:54 - http://www.whitehouse.gov/video/Inside-the-White-House-Letters-to-the-President/

Major project complete, rest ahead

Just over 48 hours after it was proposed, a big
media event I was tasked with organizing has taken place.

I worked the phonea and wrote many, many documents and e-mails to coordinate w/a cast of thousands behind the scenes to make it happen: reps from our county including two councilmembers, three cities, one govt. entity, attorneys and others.

In the end, the rain held off and it was a success! Lots of TV and radio coverage, great video and audio (why yes, driver of the loud, beeping backhoe/sandbag mover, it would be nice if you paused for six minutes while they speak. Thanks much!).
I'll be celebrating with a large, hot beverage as I head home to focus solely on my daughter instead of dividing my attention between her and my Blackberry for the first night this week. I know: the glamour overwhelms, doesn't it? ;-)
Sent from my Nokia phone

Heaven: thy name is quiche

Disappointed by yet another over-priced, under-flavored, flaccid slice of quiche at a coffee shop, I set out tonight to make my own low-cost, tasty version for breakfast tomorrow.

This one has sauteed mushrooms, onions and shredded zucchini layered with diced cooked breakfast sausage, sliced grape tomatoes and grated gruyere cheese. And a partridge in a pear tree. Ha! Kidding on that last part.

It's pretty hearty but I need protein, iron and calcium these days. And instead of half and half and five eggs as called for in the recipe I used as a basis for it, I used whole milk and three eggs, so it's not a total heart bomb, but I'll see how it turns out when I cut a slice in the morning.

Update: it was all meaty, cheesy, protein- and veggie-filled perfection and just what I was hoping for.

Park playtime

We're enjoying the mild fall weather at a local park that's been taken over by a local bilingual preschool class. Ava is fascinated by all the kids but doesn't want to get too close. Kinda like seeing wildebeest on safari.