I was directed to Pandora last night and it is a fantastic website. You enter the names of artists or songs that you like and it builds a radio station that plays similar types of music. You can indicate whether or not you like the song it has selected and it will adjust future selections accordingly. I’ve discovered some cool new music already that I may have never heard about otherwise, it has also played many of my favorite songs that I haven’t heard in a while. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Shhhhhh!!! August 11, 2008
Just practicing because starting next week, pending final approval by the board, I will start working in an elementary school library. YAY!!! I have wanted to work in a library for a very long time and this is basically my geeky dream job. I can’t wait for school to start. I think it was when I gushed about my love of the Dewey Decimal System they knew they had found the right person for the job.
Cleveland Adventure, Part 2 August 11, 2008
Well after our hike and castle exploration was rained out we decided to do a little shopping . We hit a bike store where I promptly fell in love with this. And no, it didn’t cost THAT much at the store. I stopped dreaming about a blue and brown bike and we he headed for lunch.
After lunch the skies had cleared up considerably and we decided to visit the Arboretum. In all of the years that I lived in the Cleveland area I never once visited the Arboretum there. It turns out it that is a very nice place with many hiking trails lots of activities and areas to explore. We hiked for a little more than 2 miles and took a tour in an electric tram car. With so much to see there we were only able to see a fraction of what the facility has to offer.
Waterfall in the Butterfly Garden @ Holden Arboretum
Pine Reflections
The Butterfly Garden was in full bloom.
More flowers
Carson hiking map and walking stick in hand
A large part of my day was spent trying to get a decent bee picture.
Trying...
and trying once again.
We finally capped the day with an 8.2 mile bike along the Maple Highlands trail starting in Chardon, OH. It was fun, I thought I would die around the 3 mile mark but I pushed through and actually enjoyed the last half of the ride.
Cleveland Adventure, Part 1 August 7, 2008
Last Tuesday, the kids and I kissed Matt good-bye, packed up the car, and headed for Ohio. We got into my parent’s house at 8:30 and we were all exhausted. Believe me when I tell you the backseat of a VW Jetta does not have nearly enough space for two siblings who like to bicker on a 7 hour drive. I really should install some sort of shield between the two of them.
After a good night’s rest we planned a day of fun and exploring with my mom. In the morning we headed off to Squire’s Castle, which is a cool old building that was originally meant to be the gatehouse of a large estate that was never built. The castle is now a part of the Cleveland Metroparks and visitors are free to wander about the rooms while the park is open. In high school, I went to Squire’s Castle many times to take pictures for photography class and now I was back almost 20 years later taking more pictures as I rediscover my photography hobby.
We planned on visiting the castle and then taking a long hike around the grounds but the weather had other plans. As soon as we got there it started pouring. We hung out in the castle for a while and waited out the rain. Once it seemed to clear up a bit we heading off on one of the paths. Five minutes into the hike and halfway up a large hill the skies opened up once again and we got drenched as we tried to make our way back as quickly as possible to the castle and cover. I did manage to take some pictures between the raindrops. Next time I’m in Cleveland I want to get back to Squire’s Castle under much better conditions.
Carson
Riley
Side view of Squire's Castle
Squire's Castle
This wasn't intentional, but I like the effect.
The rest of the stories and pictures are still to come.
I Need to Play Catch Up August 6, 2008
We were gone most of last week in Cleveland. I had a great time but now I’m back and attempting to get the kids ready to start school in 2 weeks. Summer has gone by so quickly. I can’t believe it is almost over.
I need to get back into blogging. I have so much to write about I’m sure that I will end up forgetting most of it. I also have many pictures left to post from the past few weeks.
Today I need to focus on getting caught up on laundry and cleaning the house. I injured my hand again last night and I’m fairly certain it may be broken AGAIN. It’s swollen and it hurts like hell, I’m going to give it a few days to see if starts to feel better or worse. I really need to be more careful when I’m letting Reese out and make sure there are no bunnies in the yard before opening the door. I’m tired of getting my hand slammed into the track of the sliding glass door.
This is my favorite picture from the past week.
Happy Birthday to Me July 27, 2008
36. I can’t pretend anymore, I’m getting old.
We had a fun day. Matt, the kids and I drove up to Geneva, did some shopping, strolled around an art fair and hung out for a while at the Fabyan Forest Preserve. We hit Moe’s Mexican Grill on the way home and I plan to take the rest of the night easy, maybe watch a movie.
I took a lot of pictures today but am too tired to worry about going through them all right now. I’ll hopefully get some posted tomorrow.
The kids and I are heading out to Cleveland this week to spend some time at my parent’s house. I have some fun things planned and I’m looking forward to the trip.
Dear Mr. Ice Cream Man July 18, 2008
When I order two kid’s sized cones and 1 medium cone in the drive-thru, it is safe to assume that the medium cone is for me! Do not hand me that cone first because it is nearly impossible to pass two cones to the backseat while holding on to my ice cream cone. Hand me the little cones and then the larger cone, it would make life so much easier. Thanks ever so.
Chicken Enchiladas & Corn Cake July 17, 2008
For dinner last night I pulled the extra Chicken Enchilada pan out of the deep freeze. I covered it with aluminum foil and cooked it in the oven at 375º for about an hour. I removed the foil for the last 15 minutes. It tasted exactly the same as when cooked fresh. I will never just make one pan of the chicken enchiladas again, this made for such a tasty, easy supper.
As a side dish I made corn cake, we went to Don Pablo’s Mexican Restaurant while in Minneapolis and it made me crave corn cake. It’s a simple recipe and the kids loved it!
CORN CAKE
1 stick softened unsalted butter
4 ears worth of corn removed from the cob (you could also use frozen corn),
1/3 cup Mexican corn flour
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
pinch of kosher salt
2-3 grinds of black pepper
1/2 tsp baking powder
Combine butter, corn flour and water and add in the corn. In another bowl mix together the remaining ingredients. Add this mixture to the corn mixture and pour resulting batter into a loaf pan. Bake at 400º for 60 minutes, keep loaf pan covered with foil for first 45 minutes of baking. Remove from oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Scoop out and enjoy.
I Need a Vaction July 17, 2008
from my vacation. We got back on Tuesday night from our whirlwind Minnesota & Wisconsin vacation. It was a lot of time in the car so I need a few days to recharge my battery and get things done at home. I spent yesterday catching up on laundry and today will likely involve much of the same.
I took many, many pictures while on the trip and I will be posting some over the next few days. The kids really loved Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America. It’s a very nice park and they have done a wonderful job fitting a lot of rides into a relatively small area. Carson and Riley stuck mostly to the kiddie rides but certainly got use out of their all day passes. I’m pretty sure that Carson would have stayed on the Bumper Cars all day long if we had let him. Riley’s favorite, by far, was the log ride. She was nervous at first but loved it and wanted to get right back on after the first time through. I’ve never seen her so excited about a ride before.
The only problem occurred on the Ghost Blaster ride. Carson was in the car ahead of me and Riley and the operator spaced out the cars so that we were never in the same room. Well, some rooms were dark and it frightened Carson. At the end of the ride he was upset and scared. I felt terrible, we never considered that the ride might be dark and scary to him by himself. We had gone on a similar ride at Disney World which he loved. That ride had a Buzz Lightyear theme and this one was ghost themed and a bit darker. Lesson learned, I assumed we would be right by him the entire time. Now I know to ask and not send him alone in the future. I’m sure if I had been in the car with him he would have enjoyed the ride and not been scared at all. Being alone really elevated the fear. Luckily, the Lego store was nearby and the trauma was quickly forgotten.
Storm Clouds July 11, 2008
Last night when I got home from getting my hair done the sky looked quite menacing. The sky was even cooler when I first got home, but changed completely in the time it took me to get inside to get my camera. These pictures are all completely unedited, I was trying to capture the true color and cloud formations.
Storm Clouds - July 10 - Illinois
