Iron Chef Tomato!

Thursday Amanda came to visit us and stayed until Friday (yesterday). She agreed to be a judge in our Iron Chef contest. Erik went to the store and brought home: TOMATOS!

I had one hour to create as many dishes as I could. It took me half an hour just to think of a dessert with tomatos but not only did I pull it off, Erik said he would have given me extra points for originality because he thought it was so original! We had a fun time and Amanda liked it too!! I made:

1. Tomato and carrot salad with balsamic vinegrette dressing
2. Tomato, mozarella, parmesan, pepperoni and basil mini wraps
3. Beef quesadillas with tomato and tomatillo salsa
4. Crab, cream cheese and dill stuffed tomatos
5. Tomato, grape, craisin, and honey sweet rice

Erik and Amanda rated the Tomato wraps very high. They were really good and Amanda gave taste a full 10 points (the highest!). Prior to tasting, I thought the crab, cream cheese and dill stuffed tomatos would be my piece de resistance however the dill flavor was not strong enough. They were very good though. Fresh dill would have made all the difference. The tomato sweet rice was a big success as well. I put grape tomatos, grapes, craisins, and walnuts in rice. Then I mixed cream cheese and honey to make a sweet dressing. It was actually a good, sweet dessert with tomatos. We all noted that the sweet dressing brought out a sweetness in the tomatos that you don't normally taste. Erik's rating: 15.4, Gina's rating: 16.2, Amanda's rating: 15.8

Amanda and Jenna made bread. I've included a picture. Jenna likes cooking with Amanda as much as Mommy! The bread was excellent and we had a fun - food filled time :).

Today I got 65 on Quiddler and the max is 63 so not that great. I didn't know SUQ was a word!

Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas in New York with Erik's parents. Oddly enough, Jenna's favorite part about Christmas at their house was the many trains and train sets Erik's dad has. Here is a video of her after she put Woody in a train around the Christmas tree. ChooChoo Woody!
We went to church Christmas Eve and when we got home took some pictures of our family as well as sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and had birthday cake. Jenna tried to blow out the candles but only managed to say "candles hot".
I've uploaded pics of us as well as the nicely decorated table. We had a wonderful time. Jenna read many books and played with several dolls while there. She also discovered the color "silver" and has used it properly :).

Even though Jenna has had a difficult time smiling in these pictures. She had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

We played the Quiddler card game and I lost miserably (Erik won!). However I won at Trivial pursuit (beating Erik) and Union Pacific which was wonderful! Today I got a miserable 67 on Quiddler as I lost the Q (15 points!!).

Iron Chef Cooper: Bay Scallops!

Today we had another edition of Iron Chef Cooper. This time it was a battle of Bay Scallops! Erik brought home 3lbs of bay scallops (without my knowledge!) and I had 1 hour to create a variety of dishes (no recipes mind you!) with the scallops. This dish was a surprise to me. He has surprised me twice with different ingredients.

Here are the dishes I made:

1. Blackened scallop and orange salad
2. Spicy pimento and scallop spread
3. White wine and garlic scallop topped pasta
4. Parmesan encrusted basil scallop bake
5. Ricotta, orange, and scallop mini pie

So yes, I did create a dessert with scallops :). Erik and I both rated low on taste the white wine and garlic scallop topped pasta while we both rated very high the spicy pimento and scallop spread as well as the parmesan encrusted basil scallop bake. We also enjoyed the ricotta, orange, and scallop mini pie. We rated that high on originality. I boiled the scallops and put them in the food processor then mixed them with the ricotta with some sugar and orange peel then made a pie crust and put that in the pie crust. Erik was surprised I made a dessert with scallops but it was actually pretty good.
Erik's ratings came to 14.4 and mine were 16. The total is 30.4 which was higher than the prosciutto challenge (29.25). Of course, that was my first time!
I couldn't have a blog post without including brag pictures about Jenna. Here she is with her favorite toy, Woody, and her gushy ball. She has orange and purple gushy balls and we got her another one for Christmas. She loves these toys for some reason.

We also captured a video here of her saying "Dada big strong man". So cute!

Got 77 on Quiddler today and the max was 75. I tried to make only words about food in lieu of my iron chef today but when I got a "qu" that didn't work so well.

Mommy's Footsteps

Jenna put mommy's shoes on today and was walking around with them saying Mama shoes, Jenna pretty. See it here
I also have a picture too!

These boots were made for walking, and that's just what they'll do - one of these days these boots are going to walk all over you!

In other news:

1. Erik and I got this new game called Caylus. We really like it!! It's a board game that takes 3 hours :) but it has a lot of cool strategy in it. Basically you are trying to build in a castle and gain royal favors and build buildings to earn the most points. There's a lot more to it but I don't have a chance to write it.
2. I have a 99.17% in my VB.NET class! yea :) I hope I do well on the final exam.
3. Jenna has been saying "Happy Jeezy" (Happy Birthday Jesus) then Happy Mizzy, then Happy Dada but not Happy Mama. Apparently my birthday is not important.
4. I miss Erik so much. He's been in Boston all week and he comes back tonight - I can't wait!!!
5. I can't wait for Christmas! It is my favorite time of year.
6. 68 points on Quiddler today :)

Christmas party

On Sunday we had a Christmas party with friends. It was a potluck and we had a gift exchange. I made ham and some yummy desserts and cookies and everyone else brought delicious side dishes. It was a wonderful time! We got a $10 gift certificate to Kroger and the movie Cars. So the gift exchange was nice for us too!! Here is a picture. Jenna was so wound up with all the kids there that she couldn't sit still! She was bouncing off the walls - she slept good that night :).

The next morning Erik left for Boston at 4:30am. Jenna and I miss him!! Yesterday Jenna played in the sink for 45 minutes with Mama duck, Dada duck, baby duck and Woody (picture included). For some reason, Woody must be present at every meal and lately baby duck has needed to be there as well. I guess our family isn't good enough.


Today she got her flu shot and didn't cry at all! I was about to cry but she didn't even act like anything was wrong after they shoved the needle in her leg. So I gave her a sucker :).

I've noticed that she makes me laugh out loud with her goofy antics and her innocence. Here are some things I laughed about yesterday:

• After playing in the water for 45 mintues Jenna's fingers were wrinkly. This must have been the first time she's noticed this happens in water because she kept wanting me to kiss them and dry them off.
• Jenna put hair bows on her hot wheels cars
• Every night since Erik put new doors on the fireplace (a few weeks ago) when I ask Jenna what she wants to pray for at night she says "fireyplace new doors". So we pray for the fireplace. Last night I said, "do you want to pray for Dada"? After awhile she thought about it and said "mama pray dada". Then a few seconds later "pray trash can". So praying for Dada was only slightly more important than praying for the trash can.

Today I only got 80 points on Quiddler. I was left with letters even though I made two 5 point words :(.

Build-a-Bunny

On Tuesday, Jen, Rachel, Jenna and I went to Build-a-Bear to build bears for Jenna and Rachel. When we walked past the rows of unstuffed animals I asked Jenna which bear she wanted. She looked at a fluffy white bunny and said "bunny!". I said, do you want a bear or a bunny. She said bunny! She loved it! She picked out a heart for her bunny and kissed it. Then we picked out an outfit for her bunny. Jen noted that our stuffed animals didn't have underwear on - we didn't want a Britney Spears situation. So we put underwear on our animals. Here's a picture!

Lately Jenna has loved it when Mommy sings to her. In fact, she will say "diffent song, tinkle tar". Translated from toddler speak is "please sing a different song mommy, I would like to hear Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". So then I sing that song for her. Another of her favorites is "yi yo yi yo" Which is "Old McDonald had a farm....eieio!".

I've decided I'd like to finish a few books before the end of the year (that's just a few weeks away!). I don't want to bite off more than I can chew, but here is my list:

1. Dark Tower book 7 by Stephen King - this series is AMAZING! I'm on Song of Susannah now which is book 6
2. The King in the Window - a book recommended by David. Sounds like something I'll like!
3. Squire's Tale series (I'm on book 3). A funny young adult series about King Arthur written by a minister.

I'll come up with a list for next year too. I have lofty goals of books I want to read :)

So far I've made the following Christmas cookies/candy:

1. M&M cookies
2. Mint crinkles
3. Cutouts
4. peanut butter cups
5. german chocolate fudge
6. peanut butter fudge
7. Snow cap brownies

I still want to make:

1. Nut bars
2. cranberry pistachio bark
3. pumpkin roll
4. chocolate truffle tart with raspberry whip cream

I love making fun desserts for Christmastime - Erik hates decorating Christmas cookies but he always has to (I'm a mean wife!!).

Today I got 78 on Quiddler. Yesterday one of the words was KEF. I thought that was only a word in the Dark Tower series - I guess it is a real word. I'll set my watch and warrant on it!

Iron Chef Cooper

Battle Iron Chef Cooper begins! Today Erik went to the store and bought a secret ingredient so we could duplicate iron chef (my favorite show on the food channel). I didn't compete against anyone but it was still fun! Erik brought home the secret ingredient: prosciutto (I did not guess that at all!!) and I had 1 hour to make a few different dishes with it.
I made:

1. Prosciutto apple salad in balsamic vinagrette dressing
2. Green beans amadine with prosciutto
3. Prosciutto, tomato, basil, and parmesan pasta
4. Cranberry orange glazed prosciutto

Then Erik and I tasted the dishes and rated them separately in a spreadsheet I created. The ratings were: taste (10pts), plating (5pts), and originality(5pts). Erik's scores were 7, 3.75, and 3.5 respectively and mine were 7.75, 3.75, and 3.5 respectively. He loved the salad but didn't like the cranberry orange glazed prosciutto (said it was too sweet).

This was such a success and Erik is going to do this again for me. I'm so excited! I've included a picture of me with the 4 dishes.

I also must include an obligatory cute video of Jenna. Click here to see Jenna playing with her car. In the middle of the video she even says "Dada take picture of Jenna". Then she gets in the car and says "beep beep". How adorable!!

Got 79 on quiddler today and made the word "laze". I didn't think "laze" was a word! Oh well :)

Starring - Daddy's Hat!

For some reason Daddy's hat entertained Jenna for a long time yesterday. See video here. She put it on her favorite doll - Woody as well as her own head. Then when the hat was boring, she chased Scruffles. We didn't get a really good chase scene (believe me, there are some where Scruffles runs in terror), but here is a funny one. You can see Scruffles appealing to us for help :).

I'm so excited that Christmas is coming. Next week will be devoted to Christmas cookies and candy. This year Jenna will be able to help but Erik still won't be able to get out of decorating Christmas cookies! No matter how hard he tries - he will be forced.

We watched the Da Vinci Code last night. It was actually good and followed the book remarkably well. It is a good fiction story :).

Lately Jenna has had 10-15 minute meltdowns in which she is completely inconsolable. These will be set off by something completely ordinary. For example, she spilled her bowl of corn flakes (dry - no milk) and started screaming. Dada and I tried to hold her and comfort her but to no avail. She was so upset about this. She wasn't mad at us or throwing a tantrum, she just had a meltdown. The meltdowns I prefer are the triple chocolate kind from Applebees (that was Missy's joke - I thought it was hilarious!).

Today in Quiddler I was left with J, B, D, Y, C. What words can I make with that?? I made by and lost the rest. I couldn't think of any others. So it was a pitiful Quiddler day!

Happy Giving!

This Thanksgiving holiday was absolutely wonderful - maybe the best ever! Why...because Erik and I appreciated our time together and treated it like gold or chocolate (whichever is more valuable to you - I'm with the chocolate). We left Jenna with my parents from Thursday through Sunday. We did miss her and on Sunday I couldn't wait to see her, but those few days to ourselves were precious! We went to J.Alexanders and ate a fancy dinner, went to see Casino Royale (great movie!), spent 2 hours in half price books, went out for coffee at Cup O Joe, played EverQuest, and just sat around and relaxed. It was wonderful!!!

Of course, my family showered Jenna with attention and gifts. Some of the gifts she received were a Jenna-size table and chairs, a big toy car she can ride in, a sit and spin, lots of clothes and crayons, a vacuum cleaner, and even a gift card from Max and Ermas! She loves all her new toys and gifts. Here is a picture of her sitting on one of her chairs. She kept moving from chair to chair. She loves them!

Erik and I received great gifts too. My mom got me a bird feeder and Erik hung it up outside our deck. It should drive Scruffles crazy!!

I used all my letters today in Quiddler and got a score of 71 AND got to make the word "laugh". Such a happy day to end a happy weekend!!

Friends?

Still friends despite the Ohio State - Michigan rivalry. Can you believe it? Nicole and I even went to Kroger together (decked out in our sweatshirts) and no one looked at us funny. Now we just have to get Mclaine (her new baby girl) to wear a Buckeye cheerleader outfit like Jenna... *smile*

Yesterday I went to an OSU basketball game with my Dad. We had a good time and the Buckeyes won 82-60. So it was a good Buckeye weekend overall! Then Mom and Dad and Jenna and I went to Scramblers today for breakfast. I ate so much that I only ate a banana for lunch. Jenna however still ate lunch. How can she fit so much food into that little body?

We put up the tree today and Jenna and Scruffles were very "hepful". She loved the beads we string on the tree as well as the snowflake ornaments. We'll see how long the tree lasts. It has survived Scruffles before but not a toddler. She can do some damage!

(warning - I am going to rant) I received an email from a student today with the following contents:

MS COOPER, CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME! I can not get to my worksheets. I need help. I have to catch up. I can not fail this class. I so loss. I can not get to my email or anything.

It was from an email address something like "chichi9787@yahoo.com". Now first of all: who are you? what specific problems do you have? and what course are you taking? I receive 2-3 emails like this every semester. Do people have any knowledge of business communications?? I prefer a subject such as: Hello Ms. Cooper or Hello Gina even Hello goddess divine
then tell me what your specific problem is and especially your name for goodness sakes! What is the world coming to :).

Today in Quiddler I got -28 points since I lost half my cards. There just weren't enough vowels!!

We won!

We won the Michigan game and what a game that was! It was exciting from start to finish. We all went to Nicole's house to watch the game. They are big Michigan fans and were wearing blue and yellow. Of course we were all sporting our scarlet and gray. Nicole and I took a picture together of us - I'll post it later :). For now, on to more important things - our kitchen! I've uploaded a picture of our newly painted, stenciled kitchen complete with our new linoleum. In case you can't see (and actually do care) the design is a series of squares within squares with red, gold and green colors. We are going with a harvest fall type color scheme so this floor fits nicely. Erik painted the stencils on the walls - it looks so nice!!

Today I tried to get a video of Jenna telling us that she prays to God and Jesus and that Jesus is in her heart. However in the video the cat made a noise which distracted her. Distractions are terrible things with toddlers. Her attention span is surprisingly short. Check it out here.

Tomorrow night I'm going to a basketball game with my dad. It should be a fun father-daughter outing. We are going to see OSU play the San Francisco Dons. I hope we win :). Then it will be Thanksgiving! Yum!! Lots of food and fun and family! We are exchanging gifts at Thanksgiving with my side of the family. We have a secret santa gift exchange but since we're all so nosy it's not very secret. This Thanksgiving will be especially fun since we will be leaving Jenna with my parents and we will have the weekend to ourselves!!! I have so many plans of fun activities to do but Erik wants to paint Jenna's room and workout. AAAH! This is supposed to be a vacation - can someone please explain to him about fun??

Today I got 83 points on Quiddler and had to use QAT - what a great word!

Go Bucks - Beat Michigan

We are eagerly anticipating the game tomorrow. Jenna will be decked out in her OSU cheerleader out fit and and Erik and I will be donning our scarlet and gray as well. Rumors of cops being flown in and riots surround the festivities. My students were wearing Scarlet and Gray today also. I'm so excited for tomorrow! We're skipping church to watch the game - heathens!!

I tried to take a few videos of Jenna today but as soon as I get the camera out she wouldn't perform. Before we eat we tell her that we are going to pray. She says "pray God Jezzy". Then we say "where is Jesus?" and she says "book, heart". She knows Jesus is in the book (her Bible) and her heart - how cute!!

Today we were reading a book and I asked her to turn the pages. She waited and said "pease". She was waiting for me to say please!!! I usually want her to say please so she was mimicing me. I guess I need to have manners too.

I saw The Prestige Tuesday night and highly recommend it. The acting was excellent and the storyline was great. There was also a twist at the end (several actually) that I didn't pick up on. I'm glad I went to see that movie - it was fun.

71 on Quiddler today: feu is a word?? wonder what it means...

My little chef

Yesterday Jenna and I headed up to Cleveland to see Missy for her birthday. Of course today, Jenna has been saying "Happy Missy" all day - how cute. Amanda and my mom were also there and we went to Famous Dave's to eat. The five of us ordered the All American Sampler which feeds 4-5 (actually about 7!!). There were ribs, an entire chicken, pulled pork, corn on the cob, corn bread, baked beans, cole slaw and french fries. We took home two boxes of left overs. Jenna even loved the pulled pork. After lunch, we headed to Toys R Us where my mom and sisters spent tons of money on Jenna! My mom bought her this apron and chef's hat. She loves to cook with mama and always says she is being "hepful" (hepful to Jenna = not helpful to Mama but very cute). She helped me bake pumpkin bread today and wore her new apron. She loved it!!

In very exciting news for me - my paper was accepted to the CISSE 2006 conference in Vermont. Yea!! I do not have to attend but will present my paper via a webex. I'm so excited that it was accepted. The final manuscript is due the 24th so I had better get on the ball.

Today I made cheese and corn souffle for dinner. It only has 217 calories and is low fat as well. I thought it would be a great light dinner for Sunday night. Well Erik told me I should never make it again and couldn't even eat the amount I scooped on his plate. This was probably the worst cooking failure since potato pancakes several years ago. I didn't think it was THAT bad but then again - I like broccoli :).

Today I got 93 on Quiddler but it wouldn't let me play the word ORZO. Orzo is a word! It is a pasta that looks like rice. I make it all the time!!

Haircut

We gave Jenna her first haircut! Here is a picture of her with her bangs shorter. She didn't complain while we were cutting her hair. It is crazy curly!! At least now it won't be in her eyes and she'll be able to see.

My new semester is going well, and I've learned a good deal about VB.NET from my online class. I'm really enjoying this course. The courses I'm teaching are also going well and I've been researching podcasting them. I was hoping to start this semester but it looks like it will have to be later.

Today we took Jenna to vote. She didn't actually vote but had fun at the polls. I've had the election results up and refreshing on my computer. We'll see how things turn out.

Scruff had his teeth cleaned on Monday. He was pretty dazed when we picked him up and they even had to extract one of his teeth. I guess he needs to do a better job of brushing *smile*.

In a much smaller election we will be voting on trustees for our Homeowners Association on Thursday. I am not running. In fact, I quit my two year term 1 year early. I'm so glad too - there are too many angry neighbors (generally about stupid things like fences). I'm hoping there are some normal people in my neighborhood but I'm not sure. If we ever move it will be out in the country without a homeowners association!

I got 72 today in Quiddler and they wouldn't let me use "mux". That is a word!!!

Michigan awaits...

Jenna and Lidoli (Nicholas) love to read. I've uploaded a picture of me reading a story to Jenna, Nicholas and Scruff. They all seem very interested in it :). Jenna has been less interested in reading lately and more interested in playing and pushing things around the house (the push toy, her shopping cart, mommy and cat). See the video here.

The Buckeyes are on their way to becoming National Champions again! Yea! Go Bucks!! Jenna gets in the spirit too. Every Saturday she wears her Buckeye cheerleader outfit and so does Rachel. Jenna and Rachel are in the same class at church. I took a picture of the two last year in their cheerleader outfits as well. I can't wait for the Michigan game. It should be exciting and somewhat scary. I plan on making buckeyes and I don't think we'll go to church that Saturday night. Church may in fact, be cancelled *smile*.

My sister's birthday is the 11th and we plan on going to visit her and have lunch. We will wine and dine her. Well maybe not wine, and I guess not dine either as dining implies some sort of fancy restaurant. She isn't 30 yet....










In other news:

1. Tonight is Trick or Treat!!! I'll be sure to upload pictures of Jenna with her bucket of goodies. It's raining :(. But nothing is going to stop us!!
2. We are so excited since we sold our other house! Yea!! It had been rented the past 4 years and it is nice to have it sold now. Now we only have 1 mortgage :).
3. I am a glutton for punishment and am taking VB.NET through Keller. Yes - I know I haven't finished my PhD yet....
4. Guys gaming night is Friday. Erik is going to have his friends over to shoot each other in a virtual environment. I'll be teaching or they would get shot by me!
5. Today I got 83 points on Quiddler. There were about 30 N's though. NU apparently counts as a word :).

select * from class where mood = fun

My students - I love them! In BIS240 this session, one group decided to make t-shirts with SQL sayings on them.

Here is a picture of me (and my SQL shirt) with them. Don't we look great in our geeky shirts? We had a fun class!!

This is finals week for me and I'm swamped with work. Not only grading finals from this week (and projects and assignments) but getting ready for next semester which starts on Monday! And my online course!

Halloween is Tuesday and we are looking forward to taking bug trick or treating. We took her to Boo at the Zoo last Friday and had a good time. We went with the Jen and Jeff Wahl who have a daughter close to bug's age named Rachel. Rachel is dressed as a duck and Jenna is dressed as snow white. Here are some pictures:

Boo at the Zoo was fun even though the candy was lame (tootsie rolls, gum, etc). Hopefully she'll get better candy on Tuesday when we take her out trick or treating. It should be a fun time :).

Today was a profitable quiddler day. 62 points and I got to make the word "sty". Who doesn't like the word sty?

Pizzie

Yesterday for dinner we ate pizza from Donatos. Erik surprised me by bringing home the new Donatos Ciabatta pizza. It was good. The funnier thing was Jenna's response. She loves pizzie. Watch the video here. Pizzie was num num.

Erik bought another computer. This brings the number of computers in our house up to 8. Seems like a reasonable number of computers! Now Jenna can watch slideshow pictures of herself on any computer.

On Saturday the three of us went to Kael's birthday party. He turned three and although the birthday party was during the OSU game, Erik tagged along. The party was at a jungle gym so the kids were running all around and bouncing on trampolines. I have uploaded some pictures of Jenna enjoying the trampoline and some of the other jungle gym toys.

Saturday morning Erik went to Chainsaws and Chili at the church. He did manly things like chop down trees while eating chili. Sounds scary to me. He was chopping down trees for a retreat center they plan on using in the future on currently undeveloped land. Jenna and I stayed home and baked bread. Much less scary. We have been passing around Amish bread at work and it is delicious when you put tons of chocolate chips in :).

The buckeyes are doing well this year. We are excited that they might win the National Championship. I'll have to get more pictures of Jenna in her OSU gear. She knows the word "buckeyes"! A true Ohioan :).

Today I got a pitiful score on Quiddler: 49 but who knew that feu was a word??

Gotcha and Tuck

Jenna has created games that she plays with both Erik and me. With Erik she plays "tuck". It's a game she made up where she leans over the couch, he tucks her head under then she somersaults off of the couch. With me, she has a game she coined "gotcha". She stands on a chair or the couch and jumps into my arms. The first time she did this I said "I gotcha!". So now, she says "gotcha" when she wants to play that game. And she'll play both for a LONG time!

Today Jenna finally let me put pigtails in her hair. She took them out after about half an hour but I quickly took a picture just to prove that she did let me put pigtails in her hair. This is a good shot of those dimples too!

I finally finished Wizard and Glass - the 4th book in SK's Dark Tower Series. I can't wait to read the next one. Now I know why he is such a popular author! What great character development and imagery - he is a master storyteller!

At Devry some of the faculty and staff have been passing around Amish bread starters. I made my first batch of Amish friendship bread and put chocolate chips in it. Yum!! However since it is cinnamon sugar chocolate chip, I dont' think it counts as bread. It probably counts more as dessert. So next time I will add raisins. That is somewhat healthy.

My friend Joy asked if I had compiled a list of favorite cheeses. I realized I had not. So here is my preliminary list of favorite cheeses:

1. Baby swiss
2. Parmesan and romano
3. Stilton with candied lemon peel
4. Smoked gouda
5. Guyere (I like the name too!)

This is a very preliminary list. Joy has prompted me to try different cheeses and rate them. Maybe after I do this, I can come up with a more complete list.

I also only got 70 points on Quiddler and made me realize I don't like C's. Not many words use them!

Bye Bye Mama

Jenna used to cry whenever I left for work. Sometimes it wasn't just crying but actually turned into screaming. I put a video up on youtube and copied the link here to show you that apparently she doesn't care that mommie leaves anymore. Here is another video of her on her rocking horse. She loves that thing!

Every day I wake up to read a new vocabulary word in my inbox. Today's word was theriac. The definition of this word was treacle. This does not help me. I must be vocabularily challenged because I have no idea what either word means.

My friend Nicole had her baby last night at 10:41pm. Her name is Mclaine Noel and she is beautiful. Jenna and I went to visit her today. Mclaine has brown hair which is very strange considering Nicole and Gregg have blonde hair and Kael (their 3 year old son) has red hair. So their family has a mixture of hair color.

Today the Quiddler score to beat was 95 but I got 81. Maybe I need to go through it again and get a better score :).

Renfest

On Saturday we went as a family to the Renaissance Festival all decked out in our medieval attire. Even Jenna was dressed up! We bought her a chain mail bracelet that she dropped (bye-bye) and lost forever.
She did like her wand and tiara. Everyone around us also commented on her cuteness as you can see from the picture. You can't see in the picture but Erik is wearing chain mail beneath his blue coat.

1. 

Jenna had a good time riding on a wooden merry go round. In the picture she doesn't look happy but that's because I wouldn't let her walk around and made her sit on my lap. She loved the Neigh Neighs (horses) though.
Jenna had an incredible time at Nanas and Papas while Mama and Dada were in Niagara Falls. She had her nails painted by Aunt Missy and now whenever she looks at her nails she says "Mizzie" and "pink". So cute!!

My mom took my favorite picture of her. She is smelling a rose and it is beautiful!

In other news:

1. I am reading Stephen King's Dark Tower Series and am in the middle of Wizard and Glass. This is such a good series and I can't stop reading it!! I just read my favorite line of any book ever (maybe I shouldn't say that just yet). Susan and Roland are in love and she says to him "If you love me then love me". To which he responds "Aye lady I will". Wow - I told Erik he has to say that to me but I'm not sure he'll comply.
2. I made baked alaska for the first time. It is cake, ice cream and meringe topping. You bake it for a few minutes at 425 which doesn't actually melt the ice cream. It was yummy.
3. Jenna has been obsessed with washing. She spent about an hour today washing her hands. I hope she doesn't have some form of OCD.
4. It's sunny and 70 outside - perfect weather!
5. I got 52 on Quiddler because I lost the CL but I made the words trashy and drool :)

Kumbaya

Last weekend we went camping with the Masts. It was Jenna's first time camping and sleeping in a tent. We all had a great time! It was hot during the day but cooled off significantly at night and was perfect camping weather. We made a fire, ate smores, played games by a lantern and had an excellent time! Until 3:30am when Jenna started screaming at the top of her lungs. We put her in the sleeping bag with us but didn't get her calmed down until 5am. She did end up going to sleep though and the rest of the night was uneventful.

She loved saying "tent" and "camp". We bought a three room tent with the side rooms big enough to hold a pack and play. So Jenna slept in one room with the pack and play and we slept in the other section. You could zip up the room also so she couldn't see us.

I've uploaded some pictures of our trip. It was great fun! This upcoming weekend Erik and I will celebrate our 9 year anniversary by going to Niagara Falls sans Jenna! She will be staying with my parents for the weekend while we sleep...I mean spend a fun fill weekend in Niagara Falls. I'm so excited for this trip and have been for a long time. It will be our first trip without Jenna and her first overnight trip away from us. I've been telling her all week that this is going to happen. Hopefully she'll remember.

These next few weeks will be very busy for me as I'm auditing two courses at Wright State. I'm taking Algorithms for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Computation. Auditing means that I will not receive credit but I still attend class and do the work (if I so choose). That coupled with the three courses I am teaching and my research is making me busy. However I still have plenty of time to go camping and to Niagara Falls :).

Today I got 64 on Quiddler since I lost the D and R. Not a good showing today as the min score was 82.

Go Bucks!!

Go Bucks

On Saturday the OSU buckeyes started out the season winning their first game against Northern Illinois. Erik and my dad went to the game together while Jenna, Mom and I stayed home. Mom made pork and saurkraut, pig in the blanket, and masked potatos. I wish I could waft the smell of that cooking through the computer. I LOVE IT! Every time my mom makes it, Erik complains about the smell and tells me that some towns have outlawed cooking cabbage. To which my response is "so what - Powell hasn't outlawed it!" I also made buckeyes and we had our own little buckeye. Here are two pictures of Jenna wearing her OSU cheerleader outfit. The outfit is pink (clashes with OSU scarlet???) but still cute. When we say "OSU Go Bucks" to Jenna, she will raise her hands to indicate a touchdown. This is incredibly cute and I have included a picture.


Erik flew to Boston yesterday for work. He flew a little early so he could go to a Red Sox game. However he ended up being not so early as he had difficulty navigating through Boston. Erik has a great sense of direction. He managed to find his hotel and Fenway Park. If it were me I'd still be driving around those crazy streets. It was good he went to the game since the Red Sox won in the 10th inning! It was a good game. However Erik didn't call until 11:15pm. I was just about to call the hotel since I hadn't heard from him all day. I need to calm my anxious heart!!

Jenna and I went to Canton to see my parents yesterday. She was a total ham. She knows when she's cute and she flaunts it. What a stinker!!

This weekend we will take her camping for the first time. Just one night - Saturday - Sunday. We'll put her in the pack and play in a tent. Hopefully she'll sleep okay even though there will be outside noise. This will certainly be a test!!

53 was my score today. The best people got 103. They beat me by 50 pts!!

Erik doesn't look too happy that I've snapped a picture of him and Jenna eating potato chips. In New York we had a picnic and the only thing Jenna ate was potato chips. She loves them! She even likes salt and vinegar potato chips. Yuck!

Besides knowing and saying many words, Jenna also says animal sounds. She says bock bock for Chicken, baa baa for Sheep, NeeNee for horse, and woof woof for Dog. So very cute.

My mom is here now watching Jenna since I will be gone Tuesday and Wednesday and Erik is going to Indianapolis on Wed. She said we could go on a date tonight. I'm trying to decide whether to go to a movie or to go out for coffee. If we go to a movie then we'd get to see a movie :). However that would be several hours and it is finals week for me so I"m busy. We will see what we decide.

My mom also brought the scrapbook she is working on for Jenna. It is incredible. I'm so glad she is making this beautiful scrapbook - I would never be able to do something so nice.

On Friday Erik's paternal grandmother died. She lived in Maine and had lived there her whole life in a small town with railroad tracks running through her property (explains why Erik's dad loves trains!). Erik didn't go to the funeral as it was Saturday and was difficult to get a flight on such short notice.

Well I must be off as I need to put Jenna down for her nap. I got 78 today on Quiddler - no bonuses!

Jenna....not a jock

I was asked to compile a list of words that Jenna says. I thought about it for half an hour and came up with 50 words! After which she said 2 or 3 that I didn't have in the list. This was a good exercise as when I took her to the doctor for her 18 month checkup yesterday and he asked if she said at least 6 words, I could say 6 *10 words at least (not including signs!!). He said he knew she would be off the charts. Of course when we were talking about her physical development and he asked if she ran, jumped or skipped I said no. So she's smart but not good at sports? That's odd...her parents are nothing like that *smile*.
Some words Jenna says:
dress, poop, blanket, box (bok), ball, black, stroller (lolo), broccoli (bokee), trash (tratsch), cup, bib, bubbles (baba), Jenna, bread, cheese, light, bath, chip, elmo, dark, pink, pig, sweep (speep), pop, this, steps, door (doda), dirt, wheel, sock, mama, dada, nana, up, truck, cook, baby, black, bow, eyebrow (ibow), no, cake, beep, juice, duck, boink, fish, book, booboo, yogurt (ogurt)

Today I got 57 on Quiddler with no bonuses :(

New York and Lobsters

Erik, Jenna and I took a trip to New York to see Erik's parents and grandparents. We had a really good time there and Jenna was able to meet her great grandparents. She is still going through separation anxiety so she never wants to leave mommy and daddy's arms to be held by a grandparent, which is too bad as I'm sure they would have liked to hold her. She did very well on the plane and during the entire trip. She had a great time (as did we all!). Here is a picture of all the guys on the trip including Jenna (not a guy). I"ll post another one later of the ladies and maybe I'll include Erik in that one (not a lady).

In other news, I was reading about interesting animals and came across this picture on the web. It is a blue lobster. How neat is that? I love lobster and I love blue - really you can't go wrong with blue sea creatures right?

Erik said he wanted me to explain my reasoning for my favorite letters. So here goes:
1. G - the first letter of my name!
2. A - my blood type and my favorite grade!
3. C - for Cooper and chocolate and church - love them all!
4. K - the letter that makes my husband unique!
5. M - Monter - my maiden name!
6. J - Everyone who's name begins with a J is someone I like a lot!
7. Y - It's only sometimes a vowel. It's the most misunderstood letter of the alphabet. So I feel kind of sorry for it.

Today my pitiful quiddler score was 6!!! I lost 42 points since I ran out of vowels and lost the last 5 letters - ouch!

Eragon

Tonight the girls and I watched Pride and Prejudice and ate scones, devonshire cream, tea, and popcorn balls. It was so fun! The defonshire cream wasn't sweet and I thought it wouldn't be good, but on the scones it was fabulous! I'm definitely going to make it again. The scones were not sweet either but together everything was delicious!
Christine made popcorn balls and they were yummy as well. I've never made popcorn balls but I should sometime - they are yummy.

A series I'm reading (more for young adult) is coming out as a movie in December. I'm so excited :). The book is titled Eragon and the author is Christopher Paolini (a 16 year old!!). I've included a picture so you can see. It's about a boy who finds a magic egg. The egg turns out to be the last dragon who hatches for him. It's a pretty neat book and there is a second one called Eldest. Fun reading :).

I've also grown to love a new website called Refdesk. Here is the link: http://www.refdesk.com/
I like the content and layout. I've included it as one of my 15 home pages - I love firefox!!
I got a miserable 52 on Quiddler today. Erik beat me by 20 points!

Crayons

When I came home from teaching Wednesday night, I saw this blue crayon on our kitchen wall. Erik said he didn't put it there and I've never seen Scruffles draw with crayons so it must have been bug. I have uploaded this picture as evidence. While looking around, we also saw blue crayon drawn on the refrigerator and pantry doors. Her first art :).

Sunday night I'm having my girlfriends over to drink tea, eat scones with devonshire cream, and watch Pride and Prejudice. It should be a jolly good time! Here is my recipe for devonshire cream:
3 oz cream cheese
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch salt
1 cup heavy cream.
Mix all together until stiff peaks form. This is relatively fattening, however I'm making cooking light's version of scones which is low fat. So it all cancels out :).

I created a myspace page just to be extra cool. It is located at www.myspace.com/trillianstales
(stealing the same name!). I have 4 friends on it - Yea! This means I am cool.

Time for bed! Jenna and I are making chocolate cookies tomorrow!
I got 80 on Quiddler today and Erik got 88 - much better than me - but I still got the 8 letter word last time :)

Rejection :(

I submitted a paper to IEEE Transactions on Education and was rejected. I suppose that is not surprising since getting into a journal of that prestige is so difficult (1 in 1000), but I was hoping nonetheless. I'm hoping it will be a conference worthy publication. We will have to see.

I created a myspace page. It seems fitting that I attempt to become cool with a myspace page. Here is my address: http://www.myspace.com/trillianstales
I used the same name just to be extra cool.

This morning was a whirlwind. The terror plot that was uncovered in Britain was scary. It amazes me that such crazies live to kill innocent people. In fact that is their goal. Why would anyone have such a goal? I would die for my faith but as a suicide bomber? That is crazy.

On a happier note, last week we discussed our life purposes in Bible study. From prayer and contemplation, I came up with 4 adjectives that describe the person I want to become and put them to my name:
Godcentered
Innocent
Nice
Appreciative

I want to be a thankful, godly, pure, blameless, and kind woman so I made this little acrostic to help me remember.

Today I got 97 on Quiddler with a max of 77. I made the word cornered which is a 20 point bonus for 8 letter word. Rock on!!

Home improvement with Daddy

Jenna bakes with mommy and helps daddy with home improvement projects. Erik changed the locks on our front door and Jenna helped. She carried around a screwdriver all day and pointed it everywhere. She had fun helping Daddy put new locks on our front door. Here is a picture of her helping Daddy with the lock.

I also got her a shopping cart from WalMart (sorry mom it was only $9). She LOVES the shopping cart. She tears all through the house with it and pretty much leaves skid marks in her wake.

Yesterday at church we sat in the cry room the entire time. Jenna didn't really want to go to the nursery and kept screaming at the top of her lungs. So we stayed in the cry room together as a family. After church we played games with Tim and Jen. yea! We played a new game called Tigris and Euphrates. It was created by one of our favorite game authors Reiner Knizia. He creates such fun games!
Erik and I are talking about buying some new games. Here is a list that we will buy, however we want to wait until next month since Tim and Jen got 4 new games recently:

1. Princes of Florence
2. Caylus
3. Through the Desert
4. Kill Dr. Lucky

Games are great! Speaking of games. I got 87 on Quiddler and made the word shying. That was a good word!

Daddy's Girl

Jenna is such a daddy's girl. She loves to crawl and jump on daddy. He also does Jenna push ups and it's quite a work out. Jenna went to a public pool for the first time on Thursday. She liked it at first but lost her footing and her face went underwater. After that, mommy had to hold her the whole time. It's been so hot - I was hoping she would like the water.

We also went to Der Dutchman in Plain City on Monday. That was fun! It was a buffet and although there was plenty of food to eat, Jenna had more fun watching the people than eating. We got there just in time to have both the breakfast and lunch buffets :).

On a more somber note, the war in the mideast has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I'm hoping America will strongly support Israel and that we can unite in Judeo-Christian values. An end to terrorism (while unlikely) would usher in a time of peace and that is what I am hoping for. Although I can imagine a superhero type person who would unify the middle east and bring a one world order as someone who might also be a Nicolae Carpathia type!
I'll keep praying for Israel.

In a lighter note, I got 69 on Quiddler today which was pitiful.

Salmonella and other musings

Salmonella certainly doesn't count as a musing. Jenna contracted salmonella last week and has been sick until yesterday. She had a fever of 104 and was completely listless. I was worried about her but I knew she would be okay. God has her in his hands. She is such a gift! The most likely cause of the salmonella is mommy. I gave her some raw cookie dough (for the first time!) last Monday. Jenna and I make cookies together all the time (probably once a week) and she loves it. I had not ever given her cookie dough because I was worried about giving her raw eggs. Apparently I wasn't worried in vain.

She had her 18 month birthday on the 20th. Here is a picture of her with her white bear. I thought I'd get an action thought this time since she is moving a lot!

Today Mom, Missy, Panda, Bug and I all went to Molly's tea house. I've included a picture of a table there. Wow I loved it! It was so girly that I told Erik it was the equivalent of drinking Guiness while watching the buckeyes and eating a sub and cheezits. He understood. I think I'm going to bump this place up to #3 in the restaurant list. Current top 5 now is:

1. Cheesecake factory
2. J. Alexanders
3. Miss Mollys Tea house
4. Panera
5. Applebees

I've also bumped Applebees up as well. Sometime I'll update my web page with my new favorites. When I told Erik about my decision to put the movie Pride and Prejudice so high in my movie list, he wasn't sure I was a worthy wife anymore.

I got 95 points today on Quiddler even though it wouldn't let me use uzi. I thought that was a word!!

Contentment

Our Calm My Anxious Heart Bible study has kicked off and wow is it awesome! It truly is a journey to contentment. I think I'm content with my life until I examine my thoughts. I want this or that - I should really listen to Paul and learn the secret of contentment in all circumstances. Jesus Christ!!

Jenna has found contentment playing with bubbles in the sink. This is her new favorite activity introduced by Nana. Today we played in the sink for an hour. I had to pry her pruny hands from the sink to get her to stop playing in the water. Even so, we all had a good time.

I'm working on modifying my list of favorite movies. Certainly the Chronicles of Narnia is going in there as well as Pride and prejudice. I just need to organize my favorites. We watched King Kong last night which was pretty good, but it was 3 hours long. Of course, I'll sit through LOTR for 3 hours at a time.

We got a new projector as our old one had broken. We bought a Panasonic PT-AE900U projector. To test it we watched the balrog scene from the Fellowship of the Ring. When Jenna saw the balrog she started barking. She thought it was a dog!!! That was hilarious. She wasn't even scared of it. Well...maybe we'll go with Star Wars next. What will she think of Darth Vader? A horse? A cow??

I didn't do very well in Quiddler today. Only 65 because there was a Q but I had already used my A. Erik got 84 since he used his Q. Maybe next time I'll beat him!

Ode to Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today was the first day we let Jenna eat chocolate chip cookie dough. We've made cookies many times but I haven't let her eat the dough because of the raw eggs. We think she's probably old enough now. (we hope!).

I've attached a picture of us baking. Jenna helps quite a bit by playing with all the measuring spoons and eating brown sugar. It's quite helpful.

The weather here has been so beautiful. Erik and I have been taking walks around the neighborhood. Jenna loves it too!

Joel has inspired me to compose some prose! He wrote a short story on his blog so I've created a poem. It is called Ode to Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ode to Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Butter and sugar and chocolate so sweet
Flour and eggs, put in the mixer then beat
Keep eating the dough
Until your belly says no
Chocolate chip cookies what a wonderful treat!

Today I got 92 on Quiddler even though the max was 90. The past couple of days Erik and I have been tying on Quiddler. This is going to have to stop so I can win sometime!

31

Now I'm definitely past 30. I'm "in my 30s". The next big age is 40 for me. Wow - that just sounds really old. Of course, I still feel like a kid. This week has been really fun. For my birthday we went to Applebees and Jenna got mac and cheese and broccoli. It was good (better than normal mac and cheese) and she ate almost all of it. Then we went to Graeters. Graeters has wonderful ice cream. Even so, I'd still rate Handels above Graeters. Nevertheless, we went to Graeters for my birthday and I got a buckeye blitz sundae. I'm thinking it might have had a little less than 20000000 calories in it, but only slightly. It was yummy. Then I played Sim City all night. Erik bought me Sim City for my birthday and I'm an addict.
Speaking of addict, I went to the doctor about my constant nose stuffiness. He said I am addicted to zicam. Just because I use it every night and shake when I can't. That doesn't sound like an addict does it???
Jen, Nicole, Heather and I got all our kids together on Thursday for a playdate. Here is a picture of Jenna, Kael, Emma, and Avery in Jen's sandbox. Jenna loved it even though she isn't paying attention to the sand in the picture :). She liked it better when the other kids weren't "sharing" her sand.

In other news:

1. Jenna got a free book from the library by "reading" 6 hours. When she reads another 6 hours she gets an activity set
2. I've read a whole lot more than 6 hours and never got a free book for it
   
3. Or an activity set
4. School starts Wed for me and my online classes start tomorrow
5. I got 92 on Quiddler today - 7 above the max!
6. Jen got me the Quiddler card game for my birthday - Yea!
7. Raspberry mocha frappucino from Starbucks is ambrosia from heaven

Red, White, and BummBumms

BummBumms is Jenna's word for Blueberries. She had watermelon, cantaloupe (not really white but we'll go with it) and blueberries for lunch today. Her red, white and blue!
I LOVE the 4th of July!! The 4th of July is such a great holiday. Independence, freedom, cookouts, fireworks, summer, red, white, blue, and especially my birthday is the 5th!!
Jenna has a really cute outfit with stars and stripes and lately she's been pushing around this roller push toy so it was hard to pry it away from her for the picture. Here are two cute ones!

Today we went to the zoo and had a wonderful time looking at fishies. Since it was cooler and rainy today all the animals were out. We were able to see the new Asia Quest and even heard the lion roar!! I don't want to be near him when he gets mad!

So here is a list of my favorite holidays:

1. 4th of July
2. Christmas
3. Easter
4. Thanksgiving
   
5. Halloween
6. Valentine's Day
   
7. Labor Day
8. Veterans Day
9. Memorial Day
10. Martin Luther King Day

I only got 56 today on Quiddler because there was a Q and no U!!!