I Love My Neighborhood

I must say that this picture isn't exactly the quality camerawork I usually aim for, but it's tough getting a good shot of your friends while they eat. We had our favorite neighbors over tonight for dinner. I love our neighborhood. I love that these wonderful people live within 100 yards of our front door. I love that I can knock on Rikki's door pretty much any afternoon, be welcomed in, given a glass of Dr. Pepper or sweet tea, and just talk while our kids play on the floor. I love that we have watched Steve & Lisa's daughter grow from an infant into this wonderful little girl who enthralls our son. I love that we can all gather around a table and share life together. It doesn't matter that none of the food was ready at the same time, or that the table was some sad fold-up without a table cloth, or that my bathroom was dirty, or that I had cilantro butter on the front of my shirt. We enjoyed a beautiful day, we ate good food, we laughed. I feel truly blessed.

Sobbing

I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns today. I sobbed. If you're not familiar, it's a novel that focuses on the war-torn lives of two women in Afghanistan. It was heart-wrenching, eye-opening, enveloping. I highly recommend it--if you can handle that sort of thing. I'd love to know what you thought if you've read it.

Gas

If you're feeling a little grouchy about gas prices, you might want to read this:
http://www.slate.com/id/2191491/?GT1=38001
I thought it was a pretty refreshing way to look at the situation.

Kayaking

For our eighth wedding anniversary I convinced Will that we needed to try something new. So I signed us up for a kayak tour in Virginia Beach. So fun! As you can see, I had a little problem getting my kayak under the ridiculously low foot bridge, but I didn't fall in or knock myself out, so that's alright. Will managed to glide right under. I was quite envious. I'm pretty sure he even used the picture of my struggle to garner some laughs in a lecture today.

Risotto Rocks

For all of you Hell's Kitchen fans who fear that making risotto will result in an angry British man cursing loudly in your face, I'm here to say, it's not that scary. Will and I made Garden Risotto tonight for dinner, and it was yummy. Though I must warn you that it is quite time consuming. As I was on my 18th minute of constant stirring (about 25 total--I had to pass the baton to Will) I declared that I wasn't going to be making any more risotto. However, after tasting it, I had a change of heart. It was even healthy (I threw in a little extra parm...don't want to be a crazy health nut or anything). Oh, and I tackled chocolate souffles the other day, despite my fears (from watching Top Chef) that they would suck. Also very tasty. So don't let those crazy food shows scare you.

A Little Bit of Knowledge

Twice this past weekend I was around the bug that loves to appear in spring. You know the one, looks like a ginormous mosquito. So I decided to do a little research and learned that it is called a crane fly. I love wikipedia.

"In appearance crane flies seem long and gangly, with very long legs, and a long slender abdomen. The wings are often held out when at rest, making the large halteres (balancers) easily visible. Unlike mosquitos crane flies are weak and poor fliers with a tendency to "wobble" in unpredictable patterns during flight, and they can be caught without much effort. However, it is very easy to accidentally break off their delicate legs when catching them, even without direct contact. This may help them to evade the birds who pursue them as prey."

So be kind to our long-legged friends. They don't bite or suck your blood. If you see a mosquito however, be sure to kill it. Even if it's on your two year old son's head, and whacking it will make him cry.

Potty Training Addendum

In light of yesterday's post, I had to share Owen's funny comment of the day. A friend was watching him this morning who was unsure of his potty abilities, so she asked him, "Do you use the potty?" To which he replied, "That's my penis. It doesn't work."

Can't we all just wear diapers?

Potty training sucks. I have a two and a half year old boy who thinks so too. He dislikes it so much that he would rather wear a twenty pound diaper than pee in the potty. He'd rather go without Yogos and super cool Nemo stickers. He'd rather denounce being a "big boy" and pee all over the floor. I've tried it all: "feel cold" diapers, bribery (the aforementioned Yogos and stickers), nudity, playing in warm water, peeing on cheerios, videos. And then there's the latest idea--pouring warm water down his chest. I consider myself a pretty logical person. Normally, I would hear an idea like that and think, huh? Won't that just result in water going all over the bathroom floor? But I am so absolutely desperate that I didn't even think about things like cause and effect. I think I would have poured a bucket of orange juice on his head if I thought that would get him to pee in the toilet. But it didn't. It just got water all over the bathroom floor. So I'm resigning. We're all going to wear diapers from now on. Admit it. It would be nice to not have to stop what you're doing and just go. Think of how fast your car trips could be. See you in the diaper aisle.

Confession

I know that some of you are going to have trouble believing this, but I really think the world should know. It's nothing bad, or wrong. It's just me, and that's what this blog is about...

I'm a dork. It's not like I just realized this. No, I've known for quite a while. It was really solidified during my 3rd year of med school when one of the 4th year students I was working with made the obvious but rarely vocalized statement, "We wouldn't be here right now if we weren't dorks." Hmmm, so obvious it's almost earth shattering. I don't think my wife realized it though until the past couple years. Now there is little doubt. Here's why:

I spend time every day staring at, petting, testing, loving my aquarium. I scour the internet trying to learn more and find the most state-of-the-art equipment to take the box of water to the next level. I yearn for the acceptance of other reef-dorks. I've even posted my tank information on reef-dork forums for others to see and hopefully praise. (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1377099 )

I long for my little aquarium to be "tank-of-the-month" one day.

It's a sickness. I'm ashamed.

Know Your Trains

By the way, I forgot to give you my favorite quote from Owen today. We were playing with his new train this morning. It has an engine and two boxcars. He gave me one of the boxcars to move along the track, while he used the engine. As I moved my boxcar up the hill I said, "Chugga-chugga chugga-chugga, choo-choo!" Owen look at me as if I were a small, confused child, and said "No, no mommy. It doesn't have a choo-choo" while pointing at the engine's...I don't know what it's called...you know, the part where the steam comes out. I couldn't help but laugh. He was right, my boxcar should not be making a "choo-choo" sound. So I returned to pushing my little boxcar, this time humbly saying "chugga-chugga."

Good Times

Saturday was a fantastic day. I wasn't so sure that would be the case when Owen decided to wake up at 6:45 am (since he usually gets up around 8:00). However, I took the opportunity to head out to a huge neighborhood yard sale in Va Beach. Upon arriving I discovered the one and only thing I was hoping to find at the yard sale, for a stinking dollar. How awesome is that. Then Owen discovered that most houses had toys, so he proceeded to plop himself down in the midst at each new stop and stake claim. There is nothing like spending $4 and bringing home a box full of cool toys (all trucks, cars, and trains of course).

But the most exciting part of the day came Saturday night, when we took Owen to his first baseball game. Perfect weather, ice cream in little plastic baseball caps, Norfolk Tides in the lead...probably more exciting for Will and I than for Owen. But that's okay. He'll grow to love it if he has any of his daddy's genes. The funniest moment by far was when the guy behind us (and numerous others throughout the stadium) yelled "BOO!," and Owen decided that he needed to join in with a resounding "MOO!"