Cheap things I can get at Trader Joe's

1. I would like a gummi vitamin for adults.
2. For some reason, I thought my 20-year high school reunion was next
year. I've got plenty of time. It's not until 2010.
3. Dog pressed against me on my left; Girl's feet on my right.
4. It would be nice if China wasn't on a 13-hour time difference.
5. Is a vacation to Chicago stupid since we live in Chicago?

1. Sunday night jitters, as Pedro calls them, except that this is end-of-Winter-Break jitters.
2. Luckily, all my classes are in the Computer Lab tomorrow! This was a great (unplanned) plan!
3. There is something in my ear (water? wax?) that is making noises every time I swallow.
4. Melonhead has her nose tucked under her tail/butt. Is that sanitary?
5. Here's hoping the Computer Lab is working tomorrow. I don't have a back-up plan, and my to-do list is a brazilian pages long.

Almond cake from a can

while pedro is away

• we will eat Mexican food
• I will spoil the Girl Goblin
• we will have a clean house
• we will eat out!
• we will miss him

CCTV rings in the new year

A reminder for more bokeh

Instead of regular e-cards

My default party food is a black bean and corn salad. It travels really well and gets better the longer it sits.
- can black beans, rinsed- can corn, drained- one red pepper diced- a couple of tomatos diced- half a red onion diced- juice and zest of a lime (or lemon if you don’t have a lime)- one tbsp hot sauce- something green for garnish (cilantro by preference but flat leaf parsley works too)
That’s it. Throw all the ingredients together and stir.
— http://ask.metafilter.com/107171/Have-food-Will-travel

Day 4 began with a trip to one of the many urgent care centers in central Florida (is this a central Florida thing? we don’t have nearly the same amount of them in Chicago). Stitches out by a doctor with shaking hands (and a VERY brave daughter), and then off to Disney Boardwalk for another mediocre park lunch of pulled pork sandwiches and cheeseburgers.

Day 4 ended with a trip to Celebration, Florida to see how the Disneyites live. They live with fake snow (bubbles) every hour until December 31, apparently.

Above average sushi with incredibly slow service for dinner.

Day 3 lunch: mediocre Irish pub in Downtown Disney where Pedro left his credit card. Guess what we’re doing tomorrow!
Day 3 dinner: Cityfish for good oyster po boy and seafood pasta and clam chowder. OK conch chowder and seafood nachos.
Day spent at Downtown Disney riding merry-go-rounds and trains.
Evening at one of the many outlet malls in Orlando.

Downtown Disney was very cold.
Universal CityWalk was very small.

Day 1 lunch/dinner: Pollo Tropical
Day 2 brunch: Chan’s dimsum
Day 2 dinner: Tabla Indian restaurant
Margaritas @ Margaritaville’s take-out window

International Drive is apparently the Street of Crap, says Pedro.

1. I just did the first of two loads of laundry. In it were three pairs of (Pedro’s) sweatpants, three (of Pedro’s) t-shirts, a ton of underwear and socks and (my) tights. We are, apparently, pretty casual these days.
2. I took inventory as I was in the basement laundry room: two 40-lb. bags of dog food, two cases of Shin Ramyun (20 packages each), two cases of instant udon. This is high cuisine!
3. In t-minus six days, we leave for Orlando. Why Orlando? We are not going to Disneyworld, nor are we going for its culinary inspirations (are there any?). We are going because it will be warmer than Chicago. It will, right?
4. Sosie has worn a little Beibei backpack all day. She has to wear her jacket over it. She wore it through her gym class. She has not taken it off. Hopefully it is not full of bricks.
5. A fellow mom told me she got angry at her husband this morning for feeding their toddler son Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I told her it was a good thing I was not married to her because Sosie got 1.5 bowls of ice cream for breakfast.

1. Please don’t yell at your children in front of other people — especially when the other people are your children’s teachers, and you are at a parent-teacher conference, and your child starts to cry, and the teacher is embarrassed. At least stop yelling when the teacher starts to talk about solutions to the problem at hand — otherwise she will think you just want to yell and you don’t want a solution.
2. The former has made me come downstairs for another drink. These days it’s Old Overholt.
3. I am also binging on store-bought seven-layer dip and tortilla chips. This is stress eating and drinking.
4. Sosie loves Dumbo.
5. This is now on the recipe list: Crispy Crepes with Apple, Brie, and Prosciutto.

1. History. Today. Amazing.
2. When Sosie is older, she will not even understand why this was a momentous occasion, and that is fine. It will be a different world.
3. I understand that Obama is not a Christ-like figure, and he will not heal us of leprosy, but geez: a brown person in the White House? With a brown family? With a weird name?Amazing. Amazing. I can’t stop tearing up.
4. We had frozen xiao long bao to celebrate tonight.
5. Juan-Boy woke us up in the middle of the night for kisses and to say that Sosie would also be president someday. It must have been a big night for Juan-Boy to show emotion like that.

1. My life is such now that I can only discuss shows on Noggin. Likes: Lazytown, Wonder Pets, Blue’s Clues, Yo Gabba Gabba, Jack’s Music Show. Dislikes: Wow Wow Wubbzy, Dora.
2. Are people just normally nice and cordial? Don’t they find that boring? I am starting to think that maybe I am too grumpy and sarcastic for the general public.
3. Likewise: Is it weird that Sosie prefers to interact with dogs over her peers? Are we raising a weird kid?
4. Braised short ribs needs to be on the menu soon.
5. And some Tom Kha Gai soup.

1. I was having my students categorize their Chinese vocab words by parts of speech (fascinating!) today, and we were talking about (the lack of) grammar instruction in English classes, and one of them said, “English has always been about how you feel about books.” I told him I would write that down.
2. Is it Chinese to be pushy? Or are other Chinese people pushy because I am also Chinese? This is a work- and life-related question.
3. Sosie will not put on clothes. I blame this on Juan-Boy.
4. I am eating tortilla chips and whitefish dip with wine-from-a-box for dinner for the second night in a row. I blame this on Juan-Boy too.
5. The end of the quarter is Friday, and for this, I am happy I switched departments. I will not grade another essay until my students are in fourth-year Chinese

1. Last night I dreamt that someone was trying to install a scantron machine in our hallway bathroom. I actually got up and went out into the hallway to stop him.
2. Sosie did not sleep in this morning. Maybe she does not understand that it is the weekend.
3. Falafel sounds good today. And soup.
4. We are going to take Sosie to a Halloween party this afternoon to show her that other kids wear costumes and they do not melt. They survive.
5. Darn that Juan-Boy. His slow motion may have cost us a trip to Vegas.