>I dont know why but this morning I woke up thinking about two things: Koompa’s upcoming centurian party and foie gras. Now Koompa turns 100 this summer (doggie years), and truth be told, we have always though that Koompa has taught us alot about life. If you were sitting in a huge cement covered parking lot, and there was 1 square inch of grass, Koompa would find it and roll in it. She knows how to make her own happiness. Honestly, scott and I often say, when we get stuck in a touch situation, WWKD? What would koompa do? Like right now, case in point: Koompa is lying down on the sleeping bag in sideroom near me, sleeping. Last night I made some pudding for dessert (yummy coconut pudding by the way), I had the empty pan in my hand (after pouring the contents into serving dishes), I looked at the pan and wondered, should wash it right away? Lick it out? Well, I put it on the floor in front of koompa, and she licked it out. In fact, she licked it so well, it looked like I didnt even need to wash it. But back to her party. Its only 6 months away and I havent even gotten the invite list yet. WWKD?

Now onto foie gras. I admit I have been stewing over the amount of corn in my diet as it comes in all shapes and sizes. (several chapters of the omnivores dilemma is devoted to just this topic). I was trying to figure out how much corn I had yesterday. At first glance, none. I didnt actually eat any corn kernals. But then I realized, there is corn starch in the pudding. For breakfast I had an english muffin with peanut butter. Safe? No. I just looked at the ingrediants of the english muffins (Thomas’ by the way) and there it is: high fructose corn syrup. For lunch I had hummus and a kiwi, and that was pretty good. snack, an apple, some dark chocolate, and a bit of frankie’s granola bar. Yep, you guessed it again. Corn syrup in the granola bar. We had huevo rancheros for supper last night. We had flour tortillas not corn, so we’re good there… but I ask, were the chickens who made the eggs fed corn mash? probably. And that brings me to why I probably dreamed about foie gras. To get the liver of the duck or goose fatty enough, force feeding of the animal takes place from 12−18 days before slaughter. The duck or goose is typically fed a controlled amount of corn mash through a tube placed in the animal’s esophagus. (thanks wikipedia).

>Here is Scott’s motto of the morning: “I will run outside in the dark. I will run outside in the cold. But I wont run outside in the dark and cold”. Well, its 6am here in mid-Michigan and its 7 degrees out. Where is scott? Not outside running. He is sitting on the couch next to me sipping his coffee expounding on the benefits of the cold michigan winters. I do have to say though that yesterday, while cold, was brilliantly sunny, meaning I lost our bet. I bet it wasnt going to be sunny for an entire day during the month of January. I guess I dont mind losing that bet, but now I have to make the coffee everyday for the rest of the month.

Here is a question: How many days in a row can you eat broccoli and not get sick of it? I will report back on that one. I do love my broccoli and my poor family has been subjected to it everyday this week. Frankie and I are still munching it. Bee decided that it wasnt worth dessert (we have this rule where she has to take a decent sized bite out of her vegetables to get dessert). Scott is still eating it… but scott is a good man and will eat most things I put in front of him, including variations on tofu.

>Marky and Koompa were hanging out in the kitchen while we were making supper last night. (We had salmon so I think they especially were interested in our food). Frankie, who was helping out in the kitchen, opened the cupboard door and took out a can of beans and brought it over to marky, and set it down before her, just like we do with their bowls of dog food. Then she said, Food Marky! Eat! Then she went back over to the cupboard, and pulled out a can of stewed tomatoes and did the same thing for Koompa. Poor doggies. They just looked up at me, hoping I might either open the cans or replace them with fish. Frankie was so proud of herself though.

Yesterday Bee said she wanted to go back to New York because she wanted to eat pizza. Im glad to see that she has that town figured out. We were there for three days and had pizza three times. Four if you count the airport.

This morning it is 13 degrees out (-10C) but who is complaining? It is going up to 23 after all. Its suppoed to be the warmest day of the week. Sitting inside, with a cup of coffee, the snow and ice crystals do look very pretty. We finally have our winter wonderland!

We forgot our camera in NYC at a friends house. But when we get it back we will post some pics of our trip.

>We had a very good time in NYC… but were pretty much stranded at LaGuardia airport all day sunday. the flight right before ours left on time… But the in bound plane we were supposed to take to Detroit was diverteted to Newark airport due to the weather, so obviously our flight was cancelled. We were put on another flight standby that was cancelled, and finally got on a flight that left around 7pm. But the girls were just awesome at the airport. The funniest thing was that Frankie kept walking around the waiting area, going up to everyone and either waving to them and saying hi, or sticking her hand out to give them “five.” She must have done this at least a hundred times. One guy said, Im voting for this little one for president. that is our franks! I think she was keeping spirits up as there were many stressed out travelers wondering when they would get home. Bee was cute on the airplane because when the fligt attendant came by to serve drinks, she asked our row what we wanted, and Bee said, May I have some bubbly water please? (she wanted the la croix seltzer). The flight attendant got a funny look on her face because I dont think she knew what Bee was asking for.

Its icing here today and public schools are closed anyway for MLK day. On NPR this morning they had an interesting report on how MLK began to take a stand on the vietnam war, and the problems that created for him in his relationship to folks in the administration who supported civil rights activities. They played part of his Vietnam speech (A time to break silence), which was delivered exactly one year before he was assassinated, and which I had not heard before… but two quotes struck me:

“This I believe to be the privilege and the burden of all of us who deem ourselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than nationalism and which go beyond our nation’s self-defined goals and positions. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers.”

“And as I ponder the madness of Vietnam and search within myself for ways to understand and respond to compassion my mind goes constantly to the people of that peninsula. I speak now not of the soldiers of each side, not of the junta in Saigon, but simply of the people who have been living under the curse of war for almost three continuous decades now. I think of them too because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries….Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.”

>Its been nice to be back, to see friends, eat good food, and feel the energy of the city. My only regret is that I cant go for a run in central park. Scott’s going to do the loop tomorrow morning, so I asked him to do 2 loops, one for him and one for me. I will get a power walk in, but just not the same! This afternoon we visited our some of our best friends (bee’s godfather) whose son turned 1 yesterday. we had good carribean food, and Bee and Mandy played together like they had never been apart. It was an adenture getting there, however. we used to just drive there (they live in new jersey). But since we are visiting, and dont have a car, we took the subway to times square, then the bus to NJ where our friends picked us up. We forgot our camera at our friends house this evening, so we have to wait till they send it to us before we can post any pictures from our trip. It was a bit drizzley here today, so not stops at the playground. We hear its supposed to snow in michigan tomorrow, which will be nice … but hopefully it wont start till after we get home. Bee has done a good job flagging cabs for us. I guess being born in the city has some advantages. she is a real pro at it.

>We made it to our hotel in nyc at 1 am. Honestly it wasnt that bad, it just felt a little crazy. we left e. lansing at 7.30 for a 9.20 flight out of detroit because I had to teach last night. Thank goodness there was no real traffic. we got to the airport at about 8:55, and got to our gate as they were boarding (thank you to the trains inside of the airport!). The flights only supposed to be an hour but I swear we went all the way up to connecticut then back down to philly before coming in for a landing 2 hours later. Franks had a rough first hour. She has always done so well on the airplane, but she was tired the poor thing, and just wanted to cry. wail actually. scott was great just singing to her and bouncing her. finally she drank some milk and Im wondering if it helped pop her ears or maybe it just soothed her. anyhow she jazzed for the rest of the trip, laughing, singing and wanting to read, read, read. When the plane finally landed, Bee screamed WE MADE IT!! WE’RE IN NEW YORK CITY. It was hysterical, to us anyway. The awesome thing was even though we got settled into out hotel at 1am, i could walk a few blocks to the local pizzeria to bring back a few slices for us since neither scott nor i had supper. that is one thing I love about this place…. and yes you guessed it, its light out at 7am in the winter. woooohooooo!

>wow, our readership has doubled – thanks Kevin!

So onto the ramblings of the day. Yesterday after work we went to go get gas and Bee wanted to get the car washed. Was practically crying, begging to get the car washed, as she wanted to go through the car wash. Our car was pretty muddy so I thought what the heck. Then we got in line for the car wash and she starts to cry again because she is scared. Those car washes are pretty scarey. But still, I thought we were doing something fun and it turned into, well, something else.

Lets see. We need to find new recipes. We are trying not to go out to eat for all of January (except when we are in NYC this weekend). Partly to save money, partly to eat healthily, and partly I think just to see if we can really do it. and so far… Jan 11… we have succeeded. Whohooo as franks would say. Problem is we need some more variation in what we eat. I will report on some new recipes later this month. I did make spinach and feta cheese phyllo dough thingies for new years at scott’s family’s get together that we ate for the next two nights. So, while that was pretty good, its worn out its welcome. Ive been trying to have fun with sauce for pasta, since I swear we eat tht four times a week. I like eggplant and olives in sauce. that was pretty good. Im not much of a meat eater and so I really dont know how to cook it, but we made bbq chicken the other day which wasnt that bad. not great. scott ate it. nice guy. girlies wouldnt touch it. I have a couple of things of tofu in the fridge that Im going to use next week. One i will simmer with tomatoes and chic peas, onions and cilantro. yummy. the other i dunno. Im taking suggestions!

So here are a few pics.

The girls on new years and our 5 inch snowman:

>we got a comment!! thanks Colleen. Now we have to post more since we have “readership.”

OK, for the good news:
Bee’s burst ear drum is now healed, and she passed her hearing exam!
Frankie’s tear duct is healed, too. It didnt close back up, whcih was the only real concern, and she hasn’t had crusty eye in 2 weeks now!

For the funny news:
Frankie has been taking her moon light and covering it up in the morning so the moon can go to sleep. I hope this doesnt hurt her later in life when she studies phases of the moon and learns that the moon is “awake” during the day sometimes.

I overheard Bee and Franks this morning as they were waking up, and Bee says to Frankie, Frankie are you cold honey? Can I pull the blanket over you? those girls are so funny. We should have put them in the same bed a long time ago!

That is about it. not much else to report.

One more thing: michigan should be on central time. The sun does not get up till 8am. I mean I knew that was going to be the case when we moved here… but didnt quite digest it till now, when the sun doesnt rise for a good 3 hours AFTER we’re up! So scott says “8 is the new 7”. I say, michigan is an east coast wanna be.

>its cold here. high of 30s all week long. I guess we should be happy since we might actually get some snow, but still. Lets see what can we report about today? We went to the Spartan Dog match on sunday so the girls could see all the dogs. Frankie kept running up to any and every dog and sticking her face in theirs. She just loves animals. We started to feel guilty because our poor doggies were sitting at home all alone, so we bought them some 4-h homemade dog treats and came home. Marky smelled the other dogs on us and couldnt stop barking when we got home.

Bee has her ear check up today to see if her burst ear drum has healed. She told me this morning she can hear better from that ear, so Im going to guess that it is better. She is a very caring girlie. this morning when frankie was crying and I was going to get frankie some clean clothes, Bee kept patting frankie on the head saying, Its ok honey, mommy is just getting your clothes. very sweet.

>we went to the zoo yesterday and were the only ones there (besides the animals, and one zoo keeper, so far as we could tell!). Being the only ones there was both fun and sort of creepy. Anyhow, I think the girls favorite part was either the puddles or the “farm yard.” Frankie and Bee loved to feed the goats, who were definitely people trained, and loved the attention.

Besides that most of the other animals were sleeping. Well, that is not totally true, the peacocks were awake and followed us around. Maybe they wanted some food too? The water in the river by the zoo was so high it came up to the running path.