Zeitgeist

Bridget sent this to me today. DOESN'T IT LOOK LIKE FUN? I love it.

2009 will always be, to me, the Year of the Beyonce Video and Zombies. Something about that song (also zombies and vampires) really struck a chord with the American public. Why?

Right now I am adding to my Life List: "Dance 'Single Ladies' with a large group of girlfriends". As adolescents, we used to have Friday Nighters (which are all girls' parties or sleepovers) and learn dances (prom scene from She's All That, anyone? Check it out now, funk show brother ...). And even if we are laties (ladies in their eighties) before we get to do it again, there will be more dance parties. Luke is gonna love my be-spider veined legs in tights six decades from now. :)

Last weekend

Last weekend the Wagners visited us! We went on a walk,

visited Mozilla,

and dressed Scott up for church.

Thanks for the tiny tie, cousin!

It was tons of fun.

Coops and Co ops

Luke and I are really into the idea of having a few (like 3) chickens in our backyard. No roosters, just hens, to lay fresh eggs and be funny and teach Scott things about where food comes from and how to treat animals. We look at chicken coop designs sometimes and I think Luke would be more than happy to build one. Our little yard, amazingly, meets the city's requirements for having up to 4 hens (20 feet from the neighbor's building or their written permission) but our landlord still has a no pet policy -- like, no vertebrates of any kind -- so no chickens just yet.

City chickens and city "farming" in general is gaining popularity and I love it. I hear a lot about square foot gardening and most of our neighbors have tomato plants and squash hanging from their balconies or green been vines growing out of their few feet of dirt. It's really gorgeous and fun. We moved in too late to plant annuals this year, but we have herbs, the lemon tree, and so much mint you can't believe it. I'm all about making our yard PRODUCE. This winter I'm planning to plant strawberries ('cause, ya know, it NEVER FREEZES here in paradise!) and next spring tomatoes, maybe rhubarb, and chamomile flowers. And maybe berries. And squash.

Our crop of chocolate babies is coming in nicely!

My other wish-turned-project lately is to start a parents' babysitting co op. Mom was in a neighborhood co op when we were kids and I remember it being very fun. It saves money and builds community, which are two big goals on our unwritten family mission plan. Are any of you in one? Have been in one? Have tips ... ?

Making brownies (and explaining the chocolate face in the earlier picture).

Spaghetti Carbonara

Quick and easy and good. I heard the editor of Gourmet describe it as "bacon and eggs, Italian style" in an interview last week.

Spaghetti
1 or 2 eggs, depending on amount of pasta
1 or 2 strips of bacon per person (I use turkey bacon)
Parmesan cheese
If you have it:
parsley, red pepper flakes, garlic glove

Boil water and add pasta. While it's boiling, fry the bacon (not very crisp), with the garlic clove to add a little flavor. Cut it up in thin strips. Whisk eggs up. When the pasta's done, drain it and quickly add the eggs; they'll cook on the hot noodles. Add bacon, cheese, and spices.

Blue Suede Baby Shoes

They are supposed to be his holiday shoes, but his feet are getting really big really fast. Happy week after Columbus Day? I mean, that's a holiday, so they're still holiday shoes.

Little lace up boots on chubby legs: irresistible.

Also, my very cool friend and high school classmate Alison Gregory is in a contest for a walk-on part in Mad Men. Watch her interpretation of Joan Holloway and vote for her here. Doesn't she have a great haircut?? I don't know why she hates supermarket checkout girls so much. H.E.B. must not have treated her nicely.

So, today Luke had to work but I didn't (because it was a childcare holiday). I played with Scotty all day, didn't make dinner so instead bought Taco Bell, and fed half of Luke's burrito to the baby because he finally got an appetite. I told Luke he should give me a demerit. (I give myself demerits for bad 1950s housewife behavior, like if I leave the clothes in the community washer too long.) He gave me his beer instead.

Yay! Being married is fun!

Hi!

Hi, I'm Jenn. I used to blog here, but for the past umpteen days I have not. Instead, I've been:

• Baking multiple batches of soft pretzels and trying with little to moderate success not to eat all of them before Luke gets home
• Making layered jello, which is pretty but, like, insanely time consuming and really only worth it for a Rainbow Brite party or Pride parade
• Doing much planning and very little training for the 5 mile, 8 am Turkey Trot in Golden Gate Park that Karen, Scott, and I are running(/strollering) on Thanksgiving morning
• WASHING CLOTHES which is unusual for me. It's a chore I tend to avoid, even though I like it.
• Laughing at Scott as he continues to turn small objects into "cell phones"

And now, to fold clean laundry! Whipee!

26 is the new 80

I spent 25 years in great health. Now, though, I am rapidly deteriorating. This last month, I have:

• had a doc ultrasound my abdomen to check for cysts he thought he felt
• had another doc take a biopsy for suspected skin cancer, which turned out to just be weird skin
• bumped my pinkie finger and had it swell up so much I can't straighten it, make a fist, wear my wedding band on the finger next to it, or disguise the black and blue on my palm
• had 2 cavities filled and am HAVING A TOOTH PULLED at 2 pm because my bone has grown into the tooth and is filling it up

THANK YOU LUKE AND MOZILLA for your excellent, excellent health insurance.

And thank you God that none of these are actual big issues. (c: