Preschool update

Everything went great. I was told that Lola did great and then got the rest of my information directly from Lola. Here is what I gathered:

• She played outside - TWICE!


• She played in the tubes outside.


• They read a story about butterflies and a fence.


• They sang songs - including Twinkle.


• A boy told her not to touch his toaster.


• She had chips and cheese for snack and pizza for lunch. She sat with Noah and he is cute.


• She was a little sad because she wanted me (mom) to come there.


• They did not make the caterpillars as she was told when she got there. She also did not cut nor staple.


• She played with a boat-moving thing.


• Some girls tried to pick her up in the bathroom. And a girl put her finger through a stall door - not sure about this.

Anyway, it sounded like all went well. I will update you all after Thursday.

First Day

Lola headed off to her first day of preschool this morning. She was a brave, excited little girl. I cried when I got home. Like Marc commented, soon Sid will be off to college.



And Sid playing:

Radar report

Seems like more and more posts around here are just dumping of "what's on my mind" lately. Here's another one. Just too much bobbing around in my head not to post some stuff, but too crazybusy to wax poetic about anything much.

• Heard a blurb on NPR this morning following the recent Starbucks annual shareholders' meeting. Not particularly interested in the business/finance angles, but for coffee buffs like me, sounds like some interesting things ahead. This press release gives a pretty good rundown, but I'm particularly interested in the Clover brewing system. The quote from the CEO on the radio was along the lines of "I was in this (non Starbucks) coffee shop and they're serving coffee for $7 a cup. And there's a line. I'm not happy." So he bought them out.
  


• In the finance department, we just wrapped up our refinance of the house. Bottom line: by my estimates, we'll save $150,000 by refinancing to a 20-year 4.75% loan. And it'll only cost us $9 more each month. I'm also going to open a 529 account for each of the kids, and Lola signed up for preschool today, so come FY2008-2009, I'll have them start taking out some pre-tax dollars from my paycheck for that. Savings all around!


• I need to start brewing more. It's a hobby I have a passion for, I can save money by brewing my own beer, and, well, it's good beer. But dang, hops are getting expensive. Tina and Bart's baby shower is this weekend, and I'll be serving a homebrewed pale ale.


• March madness is here, so that, of course, means the annual library pool is on. Wish me luck!

Well, I guess that actually wasn't much to say. Just felt like I had a lot on my mind. Happy birthday Pop!

P.S. This is funny.

Just a quickie

• Sid is starting to crawl. Mostly in reverse, but he is on his way. Other new moves are clapping and shaking his head from side to side - as in "no, no."


• Just received a new bag from www.trixerdesigns.com. Fun bags. They are made well and look great! Thsnks, Chrisite! (and Maggie, for being related to Christie!)


• I love the weather. It was great to see it get in the high 60's. If we get a vote, I'd like to avoid any further snow.


• Looking forward to a trip to Michigan in May.


• Garage sale season has officially started for me. Lola, Deej and I went last weekend. They are few and far between, but they are there!


• I love Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat. It makes me want to drink too much beer. Good thing it is a bit pricier than Marc wants to spend.


• I'm ready for an addition to the family. I mean a dog!! Are you kidding? Lola and Sid are going to be the only offspring from Marc and I. We love them, they are perfect, and they are just enough. The only addition should be a dog. Cina's lonely.

Linkdump mostly

I've been meaning to post here but lack of anything particularly interesting or time to post has hindered me. So without further delay, I present today's Marc mind- and link-dump, gathered from my usual ponderings and roamings about the web:

• Morgan splurged and bought me this shirt. Love it.


• Probably due in part to my new subscription to Kiplinger's Personal Finance, I'm looking into 529 plans for both Lola and Sid.


• The site is unresponsive at the moment, but I thought this recent post from Cory Farley especially good. Episodes like this continue to make me embarrassed to be an American.


• Having significantly upgraded our coffee with the burr grinder and french press, now this item has me pondering whether or not to take the next step....


• It's looking like a good time to be a barfly in downtown Reno. As I told Rayna, I like the *idea* of a nice selection of drinking establishments more than I actually patronize them.


• How awesome would this be for Burning Man?


• Maggie sent this. Can't decide how funny I think it is.

Well, I think that's all I've got on my mind for now. Time to shave my head, wait for Morgan and Lola to come home from yard sales (it must be spring), and get pumped up for sushi lunch.

blah, blah, blah

Sometimes I feel that I just go on and on about mindless crap that no one cares about. Then again, I think that I avoid blogging about stuff that is great because I don't have enough to say. Anywho, here are some random thoughts that I have had lately:

- We went and saw Hair last Friday. It is being put on by TMCC theater group. It was FABULOUS!!! I love a great musical. Still waiting to see my favorite: West Side Story. Even better would be if I could sing and audition. I wonder if one voice lesson would help? My mom used to cover my mouth in church.

-Just watched La Vie en Rose. Great movie. Love Edith Piaf. Saw her grave at Pere-Lachaise in 2002. I checked out some footage of Edith Piaf on You Tube. Marion Cotillard did an excellent job! She portrayed her so wonderfully!

-Found another Cooks Illustrated cookbook at work (to buy)! I love these cookbooks. They simplify and get the perfect recipe!

-Spring is coming. Yea! Nicer weather and longer days. Don't forget to set your clocks on Sunday.

- Christian won Project Runway!! If I could only sew! I can already hear my name being said by Tim Gunn and Michael Kors. Fabulous reality TV. I also watch The Biggest Loser. So great to see people take control of their lives. I am not a big Brittany fan since Bernie had to go home this week.

-Hilary? Does she have a chance? Big win in Texas. I am still in favor of Obama.

-Kelly Ricciardi cut Lola's hair. Lola got her first "official" hair cut.







-Sid is getting so big!



and he is starting to sleep through the night:)

-and Lola.....



-and both of them.......

Food and stuff

Meant to write this yesterday, ran out of time.

I was recently feeling all boo-hoo for us, that there seem to be a spate of interesting, delicious, new restaurants (and actually, some not new at all, that I continually drive past thinking "We have to try that place some time" but never think about when we ponder where we should go for dinner) that we hear great things about but don't go to, either feeling handicapped by kids, disposable income, or whatever reason. Finally, we got to try the lunch spot that everyone seems to love, Süp. Very delicious, as expected. A bit chaotic, felt a little pretentious, but in the end, the food was great and that's what matters.

Also on our list of places we simply must try sometime: Zagol, El Pescador, and La Fuente.

I also failed to mention here, our little beer tasting get-together here last weekend. Turi did a fine job of describing and documenting, so I'll defer to his already-posted review. He didn't mention the fabulous edibles that Morgan (and with a tiny bit of help from me) came up with to complement the beer - Arrogant Bastard chili (amazingly delicious), Sam Adams Brown Ale bread, Old Rasputin bread, and Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout mocha freezes for dessert.

Speaking of eating, we had dinner at Jack's last night. Good time visiting with their little one who's a week younger than Sid. In doing so, I remembered some photos I've been meaning to post, a series of sorts:









Happy weekend, everyone.

Upgrade time!

As opposed to update time, whereupon I actually post some new content, this time it's all about the tech. Wordpress, Gallery2, all plugins. Everything around here has the newest, best version of its respective software as of a few days ago. Cool new feature: you can now send any photos from the photo gallery as an e-card. Sweet! And RSS feeds there as well for you readers that do RSS feeds.

And I guess, as long as I'm here, I can post something more. We have collectively upgraded our coffee-drinking experience around the Tiar house. Or at least we will once Amazon delivers the goods. We'll be the proud owners of a larger-capacity French press and a hotshot burr grinder here in a few more days. The anticipation is so thick I can hardly stand it. (And, wow, hot-damn...when I grabbed the link to the French press, I see the price doubled sometime after we ordered it. Must have been a mistake, they're $40 everywhere, we paid $20. WE ROCK!)

James Taylor

Lola picked out a DVD (okay, I did) at the library. Sing Yourself Silly is so much fun. First, we stumbled across Ladybug Picnic. My mom sings this to the kids, finally found it on You Tube and Lola wouldn't stop asking to see it. Even Sid starts to yell when it comes on. I think it is also how Lola started using the mouse pad on the laptop. I came home from work one day to find Lola sitting on the side of the rocking chair, saying,"watch this Momma," and then Ladybug Picnic blasting so loud that I wasn't surprised when she loudly said, "What!?!?" when I asked what she was doing and why it was so loud. By the way, Gigi is sitting right there in the rocking chair. Apparently this had been going on a while. Marc said it was on when he came home at 1 and I don't get home until after 4:30pm. Yikes.

Back to the DVD. There is a wonderful song Jelly Man Kelly done by James Taylor. I love it. It is catchy, cute and there are all these kids that sing a long with him. He wrote it off of a poem that his daughter wrote in school. And he is hot in a 70's rock star kind of way. So one morning, Lola and I are enjoying a little James when I notice that he has these pretty long yucky nails. "Really?" I think to myself. So I rewind and have Marc look. I was kinda put off. They are pretty long and thick. I am not one that should judge fingernails, as I have been a biter since second grade when I observed Erin Wheelock doing this very thing. I have never been able to quit despite my mother's numerous attempts with hot sauce, rubber-bands, and continuous swatting. But long nails on men are just gross. I like them clipped and short. Heck, I wouldn't even frown upon some bitten down nails. But not James Taylor. This guy has long nails.

So this morning I decided to do a little research to see if anyone else had noticed. I found this quote by James himself: "My style of playing is evolved around hymns ... mostly I think hymns and Woody Guthrie. A few Christmas carols. But it's the thumb. I use the thumb (emphasizes the word 'thumb') (L) and the hands that are attached to my arms ... the thumb and these three fingers. For a while there I was breaking fingernails regularly and I had these artificial nails put on. But some of you may do that I don't know. Do any of you use those nails? Well, they're interesting. It's hard to get them to believe you. You say what you want just play the guitar (L). But there's something inherently evil about them. It is epoxying something to your fingertips. You have power." Transcript of James Taylor Workshop At A&R Studios - circa 1976 or 1977

Huh. I never would have thought. Then again, I have never played a guitar. This explains it all. Love him - long nails and all!!

I'm that old?

I was watching the Teen Tournament on Jeopardy the other night. The category was Really Old Movies. Two of the questions were, "What is E.T.?" and "What is Goonies?" I do realize this was a "teen" game, but am I "really old?"