Introducing the Tadpole!

So, if the title change for the blog and then the picture didn't give it away-- Here's the big announcement-

Craig and I are expecting a new family member-- sometime in early March. I am about 8 weeks pregnant and got my first picture of the Tadpole this morning. I have scanned it in here in all its grainy glory to share with the world.

For those confused by the picture, the baby is the grayish blob inside the blackish blob-- its kinda got a line going through it, that is from the measurements the doc did today-- and is only a part of the computer processing. I am happy to report that the Tadpole is currently about 13.9 mm long (for those not into metric-- thats somewhere around a 1/2 inch) -- and that puts them right on schedule as far as growth and all that.

We also got to "see" the babies heartbeat. Granted it was only about 3 pixels on the little screen-- but they were flickering like crazy-- Apparently the flickering worked out to 150 beats/minute which is I am told just dandy and right where it should be.

So all seems well with the Tadpole! Craig and I are thrilled, both sets of parents and siblings are excited and well... things are pretty darn great!

So I will apologize for the lapse in posting, but I have been feeling kinda lousy (whoever named it "morning" sickness should be hung up by their ears from the rafters -- its more like all day any-- anytime-- don't even think about eating that sickness) Also, posting about normal day-to-day stuff while I knew this seemed kinda weird, but I wasn't ready to share yet. I wanted some more reassurance that everything was going well. And while there are no guarantees-- everything today looked just as it should-- so we decided it was time to spill. (Plus my Mom wants the pictures!) We actually found out we were expecting the same day I got my new station wagon-- so I've been sitting on this secret for a little while now. So please excuse my bad blogger-ness over the last few weeks, I will try and be better-- and they promise that I will soon regain control over my own stomach so that should help too!

New Favorite line of all time

Without spoiling a single tidbit of the book, I have a new favorite line.

"She is nuttier than squirrel poo"

I got the book just after 1 am... finished same day about 6:45 am. Made Craig drive home from the store and all so I could read. :::: sigh::: No more new Potter books. But I did enjoy it!

Hope you are enjoying it too. I will discuss plot stuff on here someday when I think more people will have already finished.

Post #101

I have again been a lousy blogger this last week... my only excuse is well... I'll share next week maybe, but really its pretty much that I am house sitting for a coworker and have no internet at night-- also, her being away means I have to deal with all the nonsense in the lab that comes up. (Where is the _____? Can I mix Acid and Chlorine?? etc)

I ran out at lunch today to get to borders and get my wristband for the big event. The Grand Hallows Ball tonight. I am in the second batch of people to get my book, which means I should definitely have it before 1 am!!!! YAY! OK, so no sleep for me tonight until I finish. And if you are confused as to what I am referring to-- well, you must be blind, deaf, and have buried your head in the sand for the last few weeks because tonight of course is the big release for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I can't wait... only 8 hours and 10 minutes left!!!!!!!!!

So tomorrow when I have slept some, and recovered a bit. I will reenter the world-- hopefully not mourning the loss of Harry (please please please let harry, hermione, and ron at least live... oh, and Hagrid... and well, all the weasleys (except percy-0-- he's dispensable)-- and well... yeah... I hope no one really like gets killed, but I know JK Rowling is going to kill off someone important.)

In related news, Craig and his Dad have been working on my kitchen floor this past week-- so I will hopefully come home soon to a nice finished kitchen!!! I'll share some pics as soon as the floor is done.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the movie!)

So last night Craig decided he would take me on a date (crazy boy that one) to see the latest edition in the HP movie series. We got to the local movies early (about 30 minutes before the show) even though we had bought tickets earlier in the day to be sure we got a seat-- and I am glad we did. The place was PACKED-- jam packed. The movie finally begins-- and other than questioning how some people were raised (the 30+ woman behind me with the dry crackly feet who thought the head rest of the seat in front of her was the place to put her nasty feet-- the 17 year olds behind me who giggled and chatted and looked at their glaringly bright cell phones every 2 minutes etc) most of the audience was pretty good. (and thankfully QUIET!)

The movie got going, and not 20 minutes in, the film starts to skip-- the bottom half of the picture was on the top half of the screen and all-- it was just unpleasant to watch. Eventually someone in the audience (after ~3-5) minutes of this got up and went to find an employee to fix it, they did and then 45 minutes later it happened AGAIN. Same result-- a person on an end eventually went out and asked for it to be fixed. The film also went blurry a few times and the sound level was poorly managed. After the movie let out, I went to find the manager. I was pretty displeased that for the crazy price of movie tickets, they could not have someone to WATCH the projectors to be sure they worked. I know when Grammam worked at the movies when I was little and we used to "help" that someone was usually up there to keep an eye on it all. So I explained to the manager that this was unreasonable and I was unhappy with the theater. She tried to get out of it for about 2 seconds and then asked if we wanted a refund. Well yes, thank you I would-- but I would rather have not had my movie repeatedly disrupted! She gave us back the money we had paid for the tickets and we left the theater. Craig's comment on the whole thing "I should take you out more often, you're a cheap date!".


Now, on to my thoughts on the movie itself--
I enjoyed it, I found it better than Prisoner of Azkaban on details-- and a good bit more accurate on plot than the goblet of fire movies-- so that was a nice surprise. I was disappointed in the scenes selected to be cut from the film-- some of my favorite parts of the book were missing. As always-- the movie did not explain everything as fully as the book-- and took a few other liberties-- but I think the general plot was pretty close to the book. I was sad to see the fight scene clipped at the end-- but I understand not everyone wants to sit through a 6 hour HP movie like I would (crazy folks out there apparently some of them have LIVES!?!?!) Umbridge is delightfully evil and bureaucratic-- and very very pink. Really a scream. Kreacher gets cut out a lot, which is kinda sad-- he was funny in the book.

So overall-- I would give the movie a 3/5 on accuracy to the book, but I would rate it a 4 or maybe a 4.5 out of 5 in terms of fun and enjoyable movie. So go on, go see HP#5-- its fun, exciting and a little spooky.

HP #5 Movie Tonight!

Tonight, traditional wings night will be cancelled as Craig and I head to the movies to catch one of the most awaited summer films-- EVER.

Thats right, the next edition of the HP sequence came out today (and I was asleep! at midnight) so we are off to see it this evening. I can't wait! I have decided that I probably shouldn't dress up as well... the cape and hat might be a little toasty considering the heatwave we are in the middle of. BUT-- I AM SUPER SUPER EXCITED! Plus... LESS than 10 days til Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows comes out... what a great July!!!


Other than that, a slow and somewhat blah day at work--- so I will keep trudging through the afternoon with the happy evening to look forward to.

Oh-- and a good recipe! We had Grilled Pacific Pork Kebabs with Pineapple Rice last night-- pretty tasty, quick, and even made Craig do the cooking! (that's my kind of meal!) This recipe was from Everyday foods. I have been a fan of this magazine for a few months now-- since Claud sent me a subscription. The recipes I have tried have all been pretty good-- and pretty easy-- I would recommend checking this magazine, or at least the website out! (even though it is by nutty martha stewart)

La Torta Final!

(Ok, so that's the last cake)

Our last cake decorating class was this past week. I finally got the pictures today and thought I would share. This is one more example of the everpresent buttermilk cake-- though this time flavored with a little orange blossom water and then soaked with a mandarin orange syrup. This cake was filled with mandarin orange (clementinas in spanish) and frosted with a normal buttercream. We then covered it with fondant and did the fondant drape in the colors of the flag of Spain and then I made a little gumpaste flower to stick on the top. Tada! the last cake for class... so now I just need to get a few cake jobs to make some money with all I have learned!

Ratatouille--

Go see this now. Seriously, leave the computer running, hop in the car and get to the theater now. This movie was GREAT! (plus, with the sweltering heat-- the movies are a perfect place to be!) Craig and I both loved it. The animation is amazing, the plot is funny and its an all around fun movie. At least five times during the movie I thought to myself-- that's not animated, it CAN'T be!

So the only lingering complaint is that I don't know what Ratatouille is or how to make it??!!?! They never got to that part. (well, I know its a "peasant dish" and has zucchini in it?)

New item added to my wish list... my own "Little Chef".

Way to go MOM!

My Mom ran her 5th? 6th? Triathalon this morning in somewhere godforsaken wisconsin they are referring to as "Chicagoland" Beyond the fact that at 50 she is going way faster than and far more dedicated than I am at 25-- its really cool because she's doing GREAT. Seriously, how many people do you know who can swim for 1/2 mile, bike 12 miles, and run 3.1 miles-- nonetheless finish it all in one morning! Mom's time this year was 2 hours 19 minutes and 12 seconds--- pretty darn impressive.

So way to go Mom (and Dad, her coach, cheerleader, driver, and equipment manager!) we are both super proud of you. (and envious of your great committment to fitness and yourself!)


FYI-- these triathalons are run by Danskin and the Susan G Komen Foundation--- they are exclusively for women, and have special oppurtunities for survivors of cancer. They are not run super-competetively-- it is the pride in accomplishment that seems to be the driving force. If you are at all interested, check out more information here!

Ratatouille?

So as if my days are not yet full enough of rodents-- my plan for tonight is to go see the new disney-pixar film

I will try and get a review on here soon. I have heard good things about it, and the clips I saw looked both funny and cute. And well, a mouse who can cook is way way way more cute and exciting than a mouse with a boob job-- well, at least for most people!

Outside of that, I've got some catch up work to do around the house (eg... clean the kitchen and the bathroom!), Craig's got to get the lawn mowed before Murphy gets swallowed by some sort of prehistoric mutant grass, and we've got to get to work on digging out the cellar and the nursery. Stay tuned for more hopefully this weekend.

Tuesday again!

Its tuesday again, and wonderefully I finished work at 1:30pm and WENT HOME!! Yay an early nap! I was up at the crack of dawn (thanks evil noisy neighbors-- will vent on that later) but at least I got my cake baked for class tonight-- so it could be worse!

The weekend visit to my parents was nice-- I got to work at the basket party for the firehouse and Craig got to haul gravel and help reframe the garage. So it was busy and all that, but a nice visit overall. I even finally dropped off my VERY late mother's and father's day presents-- so that was good too. We then hurried home to meet Craig's parents and return the weener-mutt YAY! They hung out for dinner (homemade fajitas-- want the recipe?) and then headed home the next morning.
So we are now down to our normal contingent of pets-- and no poo or puke to be found!

Temporary control of the house has been regained!

A few quick notes

1) We're heading to my parents out in the boonies of western PA for the weekend. Murphy will be run ragged up and down the hill and generally be as happy as a dog can be-- plus he'll get spoiled rotten by my grammam and her never ending peanut-butter bone supply-- he likes visits to my parents. We are taking the weener along--which should be interesting. Tiki is staying here with Kim to check on her... she will also be spoiled rotten.

2) The new car is still behaving wonderfully-- and we are heading out there to show it off!

3) Monday will be a great day cause the weener is GOING HOME!! Jane and Roy are back from Ireland this weekend and will be retreiving her on Monday... YAY!!! That's good for the weener to be back on her normal life and good for me cause there will be no more poo piles or dog fights during the night while I try and sleep.

4) Fourth of July means a day off work! And we have free hersheypark tickets that expire on the 4th--- so we may take an extra day off to do that next week too... should make for a very quick work week.

5) The new microscope is super-duper, and I can work it better than my boss, and he was THRILLED with the results I took yesterday and showed him this morning... so making me look good at work is always a nice bonus-- I think he's convinced to start writing this paper so I can get it out!!!!! (and FINALLY have a first author paper)

I've been slacking

Yes, I have been slacking on the blog. Its mainly the result of the incredibly cool new imaging system that we got in our lab. I have spent more than 8 hours being trained on it-- and the rest of my time playing on it since yesterday morning. It is the neatest thing. It is a microscope that is completely automated... touch a button on the touch screen abd VOILA! your picture. It takes BEAUTIFUL pictures of my glow in the dark mouse boobs! Also, it will take movies! It is a spiffy piece of technology with more buttons, knobs, and adjusters than I know what to do with yet... I will be hiding in the dark a few more days-- and then I promise, I will share some cool pics and be a good blogger and post more again.

Random Science Tuesday (yup, its that time again)

Fake Sugar can give you very REAL cancer-- well, at least if you are a rat.
"Italian researchers published a new study last week that showed aspartame -- widely used in soft drinks -- might cause leukemia, lymphoma and breast cancer in rats."

"The CSPI said the Acceptable Daily Intake of aspartame in the United States is 50 mg per kilogram of body weight, equivalent to a 50-pound (20 kg) child drinking 2.5 cans of diet soda a day, or a 150-pound (68 kilogram) adult drinking about 7.5 cans a day.
The Italian researchers found a cancer risk at the very highest doses -- double the U.S. Acceptable Daily Intake."

So watch out for the aspartame-- don't panic, but start phasing it out.


Cool new lab grown skin grafts actually work!
"To have an off-the-shelf skin replacement product that can be used in large numbers of patients will revolutionize the treatment of burned and skin damaged patients,"
Check it out here!


Darwin would be Sad: Galapagos Tortises Are in Danger (and so are the iguanas, birds, and other various unique creatures)
"The United Nations on Tuesday declared Ecuador's Galapagos islands in danger as booming tourism and immigration threaten giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies unique to the archipelago."

Here's hoping they can get that under control-- cause a trip to the Galapagos is still VERY high on my list of dream trips... (right up there with back to Spain with Craig in tow, and Italy, and Ancient ruins in Greece)

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My new car! Isn't she pretty.

All in all, a great day yesterday!! We got the Blazer traded in... and miraculously-- it started, and the AC worked and the 4-wheel drive worked when the appraiser was trying it out... and well, I guess the time we spent washing and waxing it on Sunday paid off-- cause they traded it for more than I was hoping for!!!! Yay!

So now the subaru is my car, and it runs nicely and the AC works, and it has a CD player and doesn't seem to drink near as much gas as the Blazer--- so I am overall pretty excited.

Plus it fit my basic car shopping requirements-- It doesn't guzzle gas, has modern safety equipment (eg- air bags and ABS) it would hold a 100lb golden retreiver (Murphy) and will hold a car seat. And as a bonus is has All Wheel drive-- so I am very happy with what I got-- oh and it only cost one arm and part of a leg-- so that was a nice bonus!!!!

Super great day yesterday-- topped off with yummy grilled hot dogs on the spiffy grill-- and even with the good hot dog buns for toasting-- the new england style ones. They toast so much better than the plain ones. YAY!

Introducing my (hopefully) new car!

You can check it out at this site! Assuming I can get the blazer in on Monday to work the trade out, things are all set... well, in this case-- even if they blazer doesn't get traded in, I think we can swing it. I did a pretty darn good job negotiating the price (I am definitely not paying what it is listed at)-- so I am excited!

and its Red!!!

This after test driving every other car in the known universe that was 4 door with a hatchback. Craig is thrilled cause its a subaru like his, and I am excited about the whole 26-32MpG. YAY... and did I mention its Red?!?! And I get a CD player, and I get AC and unlike the blazer lately-- it should start, and its All-wheel drive, and well... I am just really very excited to have a new car!

Stay tuned on Monday for even more excitement!

Weekend ahead

Another week almost over and I can't wait for my weekend. This upcoming week looks to be obnoxiously busy, but between then and now I have 2 whole days off... with no weddings, parties, appointments, or committments. The plan for this weekend-- a little cooking, a little cleaning, and maybe some shopping for a "new" car.

I've been looking around online and now I need to go try out some cars and see what I like. Should be fun-- with the Blazer I never had any choice, it was just presented to me as a take or leave it-- which don't get me wrong, I loved that car-- I just am looking forward to picking something out myself. I am kinda thinking I might like a "hatchback" style this time-- it will offer me some of the things I liked about my blazer-- while being smaller and better gas mileage. We'll have to wait and see what I find.

me and my big mouth

Well, this afternoon, I got myself in trouble. I am participating in a mentoring course this summer and today's topic was DIVERSITY. Ah yes, if there was a topic more likely to cause me to vent my political and personal views it would have to be firearms or taxes. Its a close tie for all three.

Anyway, academia, bastion of far leftist thought that it is, may not have been the smartest place for me to expound on my beleifs. I think I am more worried because the head of my department heard my statements-- and I am pretty sure now thinks I am a member of the KKK. Honestly, nothing could be farther from the truth. I do not ever judge people on the color of their skin, only on the work that they do, the way they treat others, and the honesty in their hearts. Stating this got me into trouble. I take my philosophy to be against afirmative action.

AA judges people first on the color of their skin, not on WHO they are and WHAT they can do. I never want to be judged on different standards than people around me-- not based on my height, weight, ethnicity, family background-- anything. I have NEVER claimed special treatment based on those things (ok, other than a step ladder)-- and I never will. I want to know I am worthy of what I acheive. I think this basic right to know you are due what you acheive and that it was not handed to you unevenly is proper for every person.

I understand that sometimes AA gives people chances they would never have gotten without it, and that sometimes people succeed due to these chances. But I also have seen people use AA to get away with doing less work, use it as an excuse to try less, and use it to get a position and then be unqualified for that position. I think these are all invalid uses for the AA policy. I would much prefer a gender/race blind application process for colleges and jobs. Let the best candidate get the spot end of discussion. All this regulation of what percentage of any student body or office needs to be of each certain ethnicity is frankly ridiculous.

Diversity should be fostered not forced. Diversity takes many forms-- I have friends of different religions, races, politics, upbringing, sexual orientations,money status and who knows what else. I didn't pick them because they were black or lesbian or whatever. I picked them becuase they make good friends.

Why can't academia rely on its oh so touted "colorblindness" to develop diverse student bodies? Why do they have to rely on laws and altered standards??

ok, enough venting. Here's hoping I don't get signed up for sensitivity training or something now. I am not ashamed of how I feel about this stuff... but by now I should have enough self preservation instinct to not spout off in front of professors I know are way way way way far left of me. (Craig by the way, thinks I should have gone further with explaining why AA is not a good plan)

Is it real? Should I believe it???

Someone posted online what the ending to HP#7 is. Is it real? (having read it, I hope not) Granted the person who posted this one says they are doing this to convince people not to read it because the Pope told them that this book is leading young people to paganism--- but still.... I have to wonder if someone somehow really has gotten the ending.

Would you read it if you knew where the ending was?

Can't wait for the book (and the movie)

Woohoo...

WOOHOOO! Look what was in my email box when I got back from seminar!!!
After 2 years with no raises, no cost of living increases, no hope of it ever getting better.... we get a whole extra $500/year. Not wonderful... and not what the keep promising us. But a heck of a lot better than nothing!

"Dear Students,
I am pleased to inform you that graduate student stipends for all full-time PhD students at the COM will be raised 2% for the 2007-2008 academic year to $21,187.
Consistent with the principles established in the past, this stipend will be paid over 12 months as follows:

Fall 2007 - ½ time graduate assistant - grade 16 - $1764.00 per month August through December
Spring 2008 - ½ time graduate assistant - grade 16 - $1764.00 per month January through May
Summer 2008 - wage payroll as graduate lecturer/graduate researcher -$1773.50 per month in June and July

Please remember that your summer wages are subject to tax witholding, so the amount of your summer checks may be slightly less than $1773.50 depending on your personal situation; please budget accordingly.
Dr. Verderame"

(this last part about the taxes pisses me off to no end-- it was changed to be like this under the table with no chance to complain-- just last year)

wussy cake instructor

And one quick vent... our cake class was cancelled last night-- because it RAINED. Yes that's right... 1 20-minute thunderstorm and our teacher cancelled class. OF course, she didn't do this until 6pm... when we were already on our way to get there. So we (and 2 other people from our class of 5) ended up a Micheal's only to be informed we'd driven out there for NOTHING. GRRRRR.

So class is pushed back one week now. Next week will be lesson 3... and then into July to finish the course.

And now to go bake off some wings! Its Wing night... tonight's flavors
Store bought chile-lime
Semi-Homemade honey BBQ
Jesse's Hot as she can figure out how to make them Hot Wings
Sweet and Spicy Ginger Soy Wings (new trial recipe)
YUM!

Science Tuesday!

Your Salad is Tommorrow's Dirty Fork: Turning plants into plastic
"Chemists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., have come up with a way to efficiently and cleanly turn such naturally occurring sugars into plastics, making Tupperware from trees a real possibility."

Your smoking is hurting the kiddos: AKA... no duh, I have been telling people this since I was 5... AKA Why doesn't my Father-in-Law quit already?!?!
" Babies with at least one parent who smokes have five times as much cotinine, a nicotine byproduct, in their urine than infants whose parents are non-smokers, UK researchers report."

Back when I was your age, Pluto was a Planet; Pluto falls even farther behind Eris
"The decision was a dark day for Pluto lovers. Still, they held out hope that the icy world would remain the heavyweight of the Kuiper belt"


That's it from the random roundup of today's amusing science news. Hope everyone feels a little smarter from their reading, or at least can win a random bet or something.

Bits and pieces

It seems Craig has managed to pick up my cold. So hopefully he's not sick for too long. I am finally feeling better after going to bed at 7 last night-- yep, you read that right. I slept from 7pm until 7am... and finally feel almost human. Now if I could only stop coughing like a 70 year old chain smoker I'd be back to normal. Winnie had another day with no messes-- YAY! She does have the most painful ear splitting bark though--- ugh, I sure hope she doesn't do that all day while we're at work. 5 barks is enough to make me want to try and chop out her vocal cords.. I can only imagine what the neighbors think after a day of that noise.





I've got a long and hectic procedure at work today, so I am hoping to be out of here by 5. The one thing I can say about this procedure is that when it is done I have TON of data. So its nice to show the boss that I can be productive-- it just makes for an unpleasant work day. Keep your fingers crossed that it works!


Here is one pic of a previous run of this experiment. The procedure takes mouse boobs (yes, the techinical term) and turns them into a soup of single mouse boob cells. Then I can run those cells through a machine called a flow cytometer that lines them all up single file and looks at them. It looks at them for what they have on their outsides--- (that is, are the tags I stuck on there)-- I can then see how many cells that have a certain tag (A) also have other tags (B, C, etc)-- then I can quantify how many cells are A+B vs B+C, vs A+C--- which tells me something about the kind of cells that make up the mouse boob. The big problem for me is that I put a LOT of cells in, but only the ones circled in the picture are the ones that matter. So it takes me a long long time to get enough of the important cells--- oh yeah... and it takes me 6+ months to get a mouse with the right combo of genes to be old enough for the experiment--- so there is a lot riding on it working right--- cause if it doesn't I have to start over with breeding more mice-- YUCK!









Other than a big science day, we have cake class tonight--- no actual cake this week, just working with fondant and gumpaste-- we're learning carnations, "fantasy flowers" and daisies. Should be a quick and easy class. I'll try and get some pics up tomorrow for everyone to see.






Also-- if you have any recommendations for an affordable reliable car-- 4 door, decent gas mileage (ok, so anything will be better than the blazer was), has a radio, good safety record, would hypothetically hold a car seat and associated progeny related crap, that doesn't look awful-- please, let me know.
The blazer is dead (may she rest in peace) and I need to find a new car. I figure I am going to have the new one for a bunch of years, so practicality is important. All suggestions of models or makes are welcome!

The dog days of summer

A very happy, very wet, very tired Murphy!

After snoozing the morning away on Saturday and a quick lunch at Moe's with Kim. Craig and I headed over to Shelley and Erin's with the Murphinator and some movies. We hung out in the pool for the afternoon to beat the heat (did I mention I kinda hate summer)-- and then grilled up some hot dogs and kielbasa and watched some movies. (Pursuit of Happyness-- very good, I enjoyed-- wholeheartedly recommend and Open Season-- kinda blah... except for the last 25 minutes where the animals attack-- brassiere clad deer antlers being used to slingshot toasting forks with flaming marshmallows-- maybe a kids movie? not a great plot-- some funny moments)

Murph LOVED swimming, and though we left behind enough fur in the pool to build at least 3 more dogs-- he had a great time swimming with their lab Nick. We had to eventually lift the murph out of the pool and make him rest-- he would have swum himself into exhaustion. He was a very very very happy dog.

In an added bonus... adding some Murphy kibble to the weeners diet seems to have helped! no messes on friday night, saturday at all, or sunday!!! woohoo. (she was eating out of his bowl anyways.. so we just went with it)

Craig and I at the Reception

Congrats Mike and Leah! Well, the wedding went off without a snag. After keeping the groom busy and calm on Friday night-- and making him go to bed-- and doing my best to convince him to eat on Saturday morning, I was there from noon on to run errands, get blood out of the best man's collar (hooray for the tide pen!), fluff skirts, retie corsets, calm nerves, repeat instructions, alter the bride's gown so it wouldn't fall off and distribute tissues. My days as a wedding planner were fun--- but EXHAUSTING! I have no idea how Kim did it all-- and did a WAY better job then I ever could have. This cameraphone pic is from midway through the reception-- we finally got a chance to relax and enjoy!

Craig, Kim, and I stayed til the very end (1AM!!!) to pack up gifts and clean up the hall. Craig and I were THANKED by the newlyweds by name in their toast.. which was incredibly sweet (and utterly unnecessary)-- we were happy to help out and glad to be able to wish them well on their big day.

I was given a centerpiece to take home, and as long as Tiki stays out of it-- it should last for a few days-- and it is certainly very pretty. I will work on getting a pic of it on here.

At the rehearsal

Just a quick cellphone snap shot of Mike and Leah at their rehearsal. The church was lovely-- a church in the round with all sides in stained glass. Beautiful! Particularly with the afternoon sun shining through-- everything was in colors.

FYI-- the muttley

FYI... the Weenie is on thawed pre cooked meals that MIL sent with her. They look like brown rice with ground beef, peas and carrots. I am worried that they may be contaminated, and continuing to feed her them may be the problem-- she's been getting sicker the longer she has been on these "baggies" of food.

The internet has lots of ideas-- I may try some chicken (no fat) with some plain oatmeal (a different grain)-- so hopefully tomorrow I can try that. The vet sites I have been reading suggest having her off food and water for 12 hours to try and clear everything up--- so we may end up trying that too. She's still gobbling down food and water without pausing to breathe--- so maybe giving her stomach a chance to settle for a little will help. (At least, I sure hope so....)

Keep your fingers crossed.

FINALLY! A post that won't mention poo.... (well, I won't mention it after the title)

I have been given "permission" to start writing my first paper in grad school. This paper will be on the stuff that I took to the meeting in Colorado in March and a little bit more. I am finding it very very very hard though to start writing it. Writing anything with my boss is a challenge for me. We have VERY distinct writing styles and neither of our styles suits the others at all. My drafts do not come back with editing on them, they come back with the same thing rewritten in my bosses words. This has been extremely frustrating for me over the past few years and I am not looking forward to the debates that will have to happen on this paper. I want to feel like my paper is MY paper- and I know that my boss is the "expert"-- but outside of the atrocious grammar I display on my blog-- I know how to write. If there is one thing St. Tim's teaches its girls-- it is how to write well. My writing is more clear and much more simple than my boss's. It gets the same points across, but in a much more reader friendly manner. I do not oversimplify things-- rather he tends to over complicate them with obtuse vocabulary and odd sentence structures. I really want to get this paper written and published by the fall-- I am just hesitant to start what I know will be an unpleasant couple of months to get it done. I need the authorship to get myself a job when I am finished with grad school, and getting this paper out would be a huge help with that as I will be first author.

So really, I am just procrastinating on starting this paper til I haul in these last trailing bits of data that should be finished next week or so-- and then I have to knuckle down and get it written. I have figures worked out for the most part-- and I like doing that part and I am good at it! Its just this writing that is the big road block. Keep your fingers crossed that my boss recognizes that this is MY turn to write a paper-- and he has help EDIT it not rewrite it. That will be best for everyone's sanity.

(Photo is a sneak peek of part of one of my figures-- one mouse boob! in green!)

not strep.. well, I think?

So Nyquil did the trick last night and I was actually able to sleep. YAY! That helped a lot. Today I feel better, not great-- but better, so I think probably not strep.

Last night I met Leah's mom and got my translating duties figured out, then went for pizza "Old world style" The sauce was over the cheese... odd, but tasty. Craig and I met Mike and Leah's family and hung out for awhile. Then we tied 130 little multi colored bows on their programs. So, I have paid back the time she helped me tie bows on all my programs.

Tonight is rehearsal and rehearsal dinner-- yay food!

mini-doglet crapped 4 times last night in our bedroom doorway. and then vomited huge piles on the rug... what do I do with her?!?!?! The food she is getting is obviously not agreeing with her, but its what we were told to feed her. Any suggestions for gentle on puppy stomach meals? Cause a few more days of this... and well... I'm either going to super-glue her back end shut or she's going to have to be an outdoor dog. (ok, I'm only venting, but really... something has got to change)

Strep? and other ramblings

So I think I may have Strep Throat... ugh. I don't like this. My throat hurts-- keep me awake all night kinda hurt, but no fever. So do I try and get a doc appt or just muddle on?!?! Is this just some little viral thing that will pass or am I going to suffer if I don't go get some antibiotics now.

Oh yeah.. and this morning, my car started smoking. Yuck. I really need to get a new car. and soon. I hate to say goodbye to the blazer, but it barely runs anymore-- its just not reliable. I need something that I KNOW will start-- and gets some better gas mileage too. Time to start looking more seriously for a new (to me) car. Not an expense I am looking forward to at all.

Work is ok, we're getting a new imaging system in today that could make my life a LOT easier-- that is, if it works. I have to go demo it at 1pm. Keep your fingers crossed. Green glowing mice are good!

In other news-- Winnie is a moron. After her long walk this morning, she came inside and immediately crapped on the rug. Then turned around and ATE it?!?! WTF? This dog has serious issues.

Another day of science

Random Science Headlines of the Day--

Genetically Modified Food-- Really, It IS good for you.
New genes mean less pesticides and better nutrition. (so take that Euro-hippies)

Rest of the World says "No DUH!" to inbreeding polygamists.
If you marry your cousin, your kids will have problems.

What Doesn't Kill You, Makes You Stronger" (and by YOU I mean the E. coli)
Antibacterial Soaps and cleaners good for Bacteria, bad for people. C'mon folks, all were doing is breeding super-germs. (Multidrug resistant strains anyone???) Feel free to use alcohol containing sanitizers, but save the antibacterials for when they are REALLY needed.

Goodbye Mr. Wizard. You'll be missed.

Sad Pirate Happy Pirate

Just two quick bits of evidence that I am married to a nut! (ok, a loveable nut, but a nut all the same. )

He then wore said paper pirate hat ALL THE WAY HOME. At least he didn't sing "Yo, Ho, Yo Ho a pirate's life for me" the entire way!

Irish Cake

Here is the Irish cake.


On a review of the Guinness cake-- VERY GOOD. Not overly sweet. Nicely moist. Dense enough to take icing, just be careful of cut surfaces as it makes a LOT of crumbs. This cake domed a fair amount when I baked it, so it required some leveling. I am not sure if that is a me specific problem or a problem due to the recipe, so be warned.

I filled and frosted it with an Irish Cream/Cream Cheese Butter Cream. No more of that nasty crisco icing we had to use before. Other than getting mildly buzzed by evaporating alcohol fumes while whipping the icing, it really doesn't have too much of an alcohol taste to it. (Much.... can I serve this to my intern? He's only 19... of course, when I mentioned what kind of cake it was his response was "Cool, an Irish Car Bomb in a cake" so I have a feeling I am not the one doing the corrupting here!)

There are some lumps and bumps in the fondant on this one-- we were using the base cake to demo different techniques and then just did this as the way to leave it finally-- so it had stuff "glued" on and then pulled off which left it less than perfect under there. This one is pretty simple as class this week was to cover a cake in fondant-- we didn't learn any flowers or anything else, so its a basic cake.

Guinness Cake

Tonight is Cake class 2---

the Guinness Cake recipe

THIS RECIPE MAKES A TON!!!!! (seriously, 1lb butter, 4 cups EACH flour and sugar)

So due to PA's archaic liquor laws-- we were not able to buy beer on Sunday, and you have to buy a case (or pay almost as much to get just a 6-pack)-- we are now the proud owners of a case of Guinness, Craig sees this as no hardship... and the bottles are funny-- they have widgits to get them to foam correctly.

Stay tuned this evening or tomorrow for pics of the finished "Irish" cake.

Our Craptacular Neighbors

Yesterday evening, our lovely White Trash, Jerry Springer fodder, bum with multiple baby daddies and a prepubescent boyfriend all living in the same house neighbor decided to entertain. By entertain, I mean she invited over a bundle of men and their ridiculous motorcycles. I appreciate a good bike... one of my gal friends from HS rides regularly-- so its not the bikes that bother me. These were funny looking though-- I guess some sort of defective combination of a big wheel kids bike with a grown-up motor cycle... but hey they had NEON! Woohoo.. that just screams class doesn't it?? What my big problem is was it was 10 pm (and then 10:30 and then 11:30) when they decided that a fun activity is to sit on the bikes in the street and rev them up loudly, over and over and over. Needless to say, adult beverages were involved in this event. Also, these morons parked up the whole street so there was no where for me (carrying the load of groceries) nor anyone else to park. They thought this was quite funny and would laugh as residents drove slowly down the street looking to park. They also participated in high speed drag racing up and down the block from 5-9pm-- not so good in a small quiet suburban neighborhood.

Sometime after 10, I went across the street to ask them to cool it with the reving engines, as it was getting pretty late. I got mocked. And one of them complained that Craig while mowing the lawn got grass clippings on his bike. I laughed and said there was no way I was going to complain-- my husband mowed the lawn -- as far as I cared, that was good.

So the moron troupe continued their noisy revelry into the night-- keeping the future Jerry Springer kiddo stars out and shreiking as the adults kept drinking and hollering. Seriously, what is wrong with people. This was a MONDAY night. Not a weekend-- not a holiday. Not that any of those excuses rude neighbors and their trashy guests-- but seriously-- 30 people drinking and motorcycling and shouting at 11 at night on a Monday?!?! There is just no reason.

Any one have any ideas on how to deal with this. They are just awful neighbors. I don't want to start a war with them, but I don't think I should have to deal with their carrying-on all the time.

Tempting as it is to just sit on the porch with a shotgun and pick them off for the betterment of the human gene pool-- I am pretty sure that is illegal... and immoral. So any realistic solutions are more than welcome. Meanwhile, I will pay a damn sight more attention to the neighborhood before we buy our next home-- and keep praying that those three rental properties across the street get sold out from under them to nice normal families.

Oh, and NEVER NEVER NEVER will I let my (hypothetical) kids play in those peoples houses or be unattended while they are around. They're just BAD BAD BAD news.

On a side note-- not all our neighbors are awful, its really just the 3 rentals across the street from us-- and one more up the block a little ways. Most of our neighbors are young families, who work hard, and try and keep their properties up-- but a few bad apples... well, you know the story.

Visitors!!!

Amazingly, I have had visitors from 4 continents!?!?! According to google analytics-- I have gotten visitors from all over the US-- some I can account for for people I know-- others have been referred in from other places I can only guess. Even cooler are that people from South America, Canada, Australia, England and France have stopped by. Woohoo... I feel famous. OK, so this is still only a home for my random ramblings, but its neat that someone out there is reading.

Anyway, to all my visitors-- Please feel free to comment, leave a message, 0r whatever-- I'd love to know who out there is reading this.

To Kiki- thanks for being brave and commenting-- nice to meet a reader!
Friends and family-- hope you are enjoying these silly messages and a chance to catch glimpses of Craig and my life in the pics I post.

Weekend in Review and plans for the week

This weekend was largely spent catching up on laundry--- the oh so exciting life of newlyweds. Woohoo. We did go see Pirates 3 :return of random sword wielding squid yesterday. Craig enjoyed it, I found it loud... and very random. But, if you like random fish creatures fighting against colonial British forces and pirates, this may be the movie for you! (ok, and Keith Richards makes a brief and to me comical cameo) Swashbuckling fun-- but at least it was a couple hours in air conditioning!!!
More exciting was that we then went to dinner at Passage to India in Harrisburg. Delicious as always-- and even better when we had a buy one dinner get one free coupon! (for once hubby's need to save every piece of junk mail we get worked out for the better!!) I had some sort of lamb -- lamb Rogun Josh or something like that. It was quite tasty-- not too spicy-- just nicely flavored. And as a bonus, there were enough for leftovers-- I just have to make up some rice-- that's the kind of dinner I can handle any night-- even when it is 90 in my kitchen.

Today we got some laundry done, I got my veggies transplanted outside (heres hoping they survive), polyurethaned the outdoor sink and the new front door step, and got the guest room cleaned out for this coming weekend's guest. Not too bad a day-- the good thing about laundry folding is that it is the ideal fit for chick flicks! Today-- Circle of Friends, Dance with Me --Vanessa Williams AND Chayanne! ;-)-- and When Harry Met Sally-- one of my all time favorites ever. So it was a nice afternoon. Craig is locked down in the dungeon working on his homework for his online course. I guess that's what I get for encouraging him to go back to school and get his Master's finished up. Two of us in grad school... what was I thinking?!?!?!

This week looks to be a full one. Monday has my semi-monthly or whenever we remember to schedule it rotating dinner with two of my friends from grad school, Tuesday brings cake class -- stay tuned. The first cake we're doing this time is "Ireland"-- Should be pretty good. (and yes, I will share recipes) Wednesday is wings night here again. Thursday Craig and I have dinner at our friends who are getting married this weekend to meet their parents who we'll be helping get around while they are here, then Friday rehearsal/dinner with the to-be-wed Mike and Leah, and finally Saturday is their wedding. Should all be fun, but some Sunday I will definitely be looking forward to a NAP!

Stay tuned- I should get some decent pics to share this week. If nothing else, I have a pic of Craig in a pirate hat that is BEGGING to be shared!

so far so good!

So day one of crate training the poo machine I declare a success!

I got home from work, let her out of the crate-- took her for a walk immediately-- she went OUTDOORS-- no mess in the crate nothing! sooo yay!

Then we come back in-- she happily wanders around-- gets a drink and then goes to lay down and sleep-- IN HER BOX. I didn't do anything-- I came back in the room and she had settled her self down in there and fallen asleep! YAYAYAYAY!!! Since I have been home she has wandered in and out of the crate quite happily as long as I just leave the door open--- she comes when I call and then sometimes just goes back in the crate on her own--- there may be hope for the little monster after all! She seems to get that the crate is HER den and is comfy there. Lets hope this continues---
No poo on my floor!!!!!!
Yay!
I will have to get a pic up here of her chilling in the crate-- she seems very at peace there.

Final Cake Course

We had class one of the last cake decorating course last night-- Fondant and Gumpaste-- we dutifully picked up the tools and I packed all the items required for class this week and headed off-- but class was USELESS this week.
This week's topic-- tinting fondand and covering cakes with fondant-- I had that mastered 7 months ago-- BOOOOOO.

So I am hoping next week will be better-- if nothing else, Craig and I have picked a theme for the 2 cakes this course-- countries. So stay tuned for the current plan of one Ireland cake and one Spain cake-- this should be interesting.

(oh... and we may get in trouble... cause-- well, I can lay fondant better than the teacher-- sooo... well, I may have had to help fix her demo cake-- so... should be an interesting course)

The poo-machine crapped in the house AGAIN. So she's in the Murph's crate while we are not home. She needs to learn that she can't poo where she sleeps-- and she needs to have a small sleeping area for awhile to enforce that. (Not that murphy's crate is small by any definition)Hopefully we can get the mutt trained before too too long-- cause ugh... 4 year old neurotic midget dogs are not my thing-- and my patience is strechted VERY thin with her. Craig got Murphy trained, so hopefully he can work a miracle on this little monster.

Katie and James are Married!

Katie, my roomate from the first year of grad school got married this Saturday in Maryland. Craig, Kim and I were invited to see the big day and we carpooled down. They had a short outdoor ceremony in the early afternoon (whew... it was HOT out!) and then a lovely (air conditioned) reception. The cake was tasty! (no scary buttercream or tasteless fondant-- it was frosted in whipped cream!) It was a nice day and they happy couple well, looked very happy! Congrats to Katie and James!


Here is one quick picture of Craig and I from the reception-- Craig was enjoying the "Moby's"-- a special rum drink recipe from Katie's family-- so he had a pretty good time!

The remainder of this weekend was spent hiding in our room-- the only air conditioned room in the place-- amazingly, you can now see the floor-- we dug out all the boxes and bins of stuff and sorted out winter clothing that could be stored away in the attic or cellar for the next few months and now you can actually WALK in our room--without tripping! The plan is to allow the Murph and the poo-machine in the room tonight so they can enjoy the AC as well. I think for Tiki's well being... she'll be just as happy to stay out of there and have the run of the house in peace!

In the interest of peace I did rid myself of a few pairs of shoes this weekend as well-- Craig seems to beleive that two laundry baskets full is too many--- he fails to understand how I can NEED 5 different pairs of black sandals (the casual pair, the super high heel strappy ones, the semi-casual dress pair, the flip flops, the comfy but still dressy pair etc...) So I discarded a few pairs that were well past their prime-- including my FAVORITE sandals of all time-- these are the ones my mom called the "spartacus" sandals-- brown leather, criss-crossed straps, flat soles-- I wore these things to death-- across Europe, through college, they went with anything and were so very comfortable-- my dad had given them a second life with a few rivets 3 years ago-- and I had nursed them through last summer with glue and tacks-- but the time has come to say goodbye---and so this afternoon-- I tossed them in the trash--- of course-- this means I have to go get some new ones right?!?!?!

Craig is hiding in the cellar working on his HW for his online class-- its cool there and it means I get sole control over the TV! (so with a choice of 5 channels-- there's not too much to argue over-- but still!)

This week cake class starts up again on Tuesday and I've got my first full week with Undergrad Guy--- so it should be a busy week. I think I have one more fitting to go to with a friend for her wedding dress and I have to put together a wedding emergency kit to take to her wedding on June 16th--- its my turn to play "Kim" for a change and deal with all the nonsense that pops up so she doesn't have to worry-- Hrm... I should make sure the guest room isn't too bad either as we are keeping the groom the night before the wedding.

Big news over at my SIL's blog-- she's got all her paperwork to Vietnam and is #1 on the waiting list for a little girl--- looks like our new niece will be here before too long!

And as for my future SIL-- she's a trooper-- she survived her first entire weekend at my parents this weekend! And my Mom only had wonderful things to say-- about her and about her pup who came to visit too! So apparently the nuttiness that is my family hasn't completely scared her off-- and we are thrilled that she'll be one of us!

This week so far.

Monday brought a picnic at Shelley and Erin's-- yay! I made pierogie bake *yum*-- not fancy, but so tasty-- with a stick of butter how could it not be! We had lots of grilled food, got to swim (that was a great treat on a hot day) and I played croquet. Over all a very nice day.

Tuesday was back to work-- then Roy brought up the poo machine winnie and returned murph to us. The cat is terrified and has spent the last 2 days hiding in a cardboard box in a room closed off with a baby gate-- poor thing. shes's miserable. Winnie has poo'd in the house 2x so far and peed all over a rug--- luckily, she was confined outside of bedrooms and the large oriental rugs, so it was only on a throw rug and could be washed-- still--- she is not on my good list right now. She better straighten up and behave-- and quickly. She's getting walked as much as we can with work schedules--- she's going to have to adapt and quick-- or I will be a very very very unhappy girl.

Wednesday brought my summer internship kid to the lab. His name is Will. He just finished his sophomore year at Temple and will be working with me this summer (til early August) so we'll see how that all goes. Then it was wings night-- this week I tried wings from scratch-- some deep fried then coated with a franks hot sauce/butter/steak sauce blend and some baked in a honey-soy-citrus glaze I made up-- both turned out pretty well I must say! We played Wii! I may be addicted-- its a video game that doesn't make you play like a video game-- if the character on the screen sword fights, you move the controller like a sword-- tennis, like a tennis racket, hula hoop... well.. you put it on your hips and hula away. it is very very very amusing-- and thankfully, much simpler than the traditional style games-- very little time to learn--and great to play in a group! All in all a fun evening.

Today-- well, the report on today will have to wait til its over... but so far so good.

Keeping busy til Craig gets home...

Tiki is a funny cat-- I mean, how often do you see a kitten pant. Thank Kim for the spiffy Cat toy/fishing rod thingy! I now have one VERY VERY VERY tired kitten!


And one more view--- She's just too cute not to share.

ok... I admit it...

ok, I admit it, I miss him. And I am slightly annoyed that he won't answer the cell so I know when they'll be home.

Also, TV sucks on a Sunday afternoon-- there is NOTHING to watch. So here I sit... well, at least I got a little photo editing done.

Time to round up some lunch.

Post #60!

Wow... this is my 60th post. Cool. Hope someone is still reading and at least mildly amused. I need to remind myself of this... and its a great song-- and a great message-- so here it is--
Turn up your volume and Enjoy! (FYI, Ecclesiastes 3:-1-7(?))

All by myself...

For the first time in 6 months I have the house to MYSELF! Craig is gone camping for a bachelor party in Indiana for the weekend. I was a good wife and sent him with cookies for the drive... but now I am enjoying the peace and quiet.

Last night I ordered in the pizza I wanted (spinach alfredo with chicken and tomatoes) and then went to see Shrek 3 (cute, but not as good as the last 2).

This morning I slept in til 11! yes, that's right 11--- I got to enjoy saturday morning cartoons and then went back to sleep woohoo! I only got up at 11 to see who was knocking on the door. It was they neighbor lady. She backed into Craig's car. She says she only scratched the paint and they will fix it. I have to go check that out. UGH. not fun, but theres nothing to be done about it til Craig gets home and decides what he wants to do.

As for the rest of today-- relaxing and vegging out and maybe a little shopping later. We'll see.

Happy weekend one and all.

The Weekend

We were out in Jersey for the weekend at Craig's parents-- I went shopping, wandered Wegmans (I love that place) and baked a cake. Craig dug out old fence posts and replaced them in concrete, rewired a lamp post, and replaced a toilet-- so guess who had a more relaxing weekend?! (Ok, so I did help with the toilet)
Wegman's is sooooo cool, I wish there were one closer. We keep hearing promises, but they never materialize. They have EVERYTHING. I got the yummy aged primadonna cheese we got hooked on while dating and taking trips to the reading terminal market (another wonderful place for food), the cotija cheese I need to make Craig the chilaquiles he got addicted to for breakfast in Puerto Vallarta, green Thai curry paste, lemongrass, mirin, rose and orange blossom waters, and these super tiny red skin and white potatoes-- they are going to be yummy. Oh! And the very best thing--- Digestive cookies! I love those things, my madre in Spain had them out almost every morning at breakfast-- sooooo good. And I can never find them anywhere-- and they had them, both the plain ones and the chocolate covered ones. YAY!!!!

On Sunday evening we grilled dinner in... I took care of the baked potatoes (somehow everyone thinks mine are really good-- I don't do anything much special to them-- I just put some olive oil, salt and pepper on the outside-- though this time I used "Crazy Jane's Mixed up Salt" and then bake them for a while)-- made some bacon for them, sauteed up some mushrooms and then made a little foil packet of smushed garlic and olive oil and threw that on the grill while Roy cooked the steaks-- the garlic turned out very yummy that way. I also made that coconut cake that I make all too often now and filled it with some whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Yum... a good dinner-- but it made for us getting a late start to get home.

We left Murph there to get him a vet visit and groomed (he was starting to stink!) and Jane and Roy will bring him back next Monday or Tuesday. Tiki really misses her buddy... she just wanders looking for him. Oh well, is she in for a shock when he gets back-- winnie's coming with him to stay for a month--- poor kitten won't know what hit her!

That's it for the weekend. Not too big. Yesterday was Bachelor Season Finale-- I had correctly predicted the winner-- so that was super exciting and we had a nice girl's night watching the finale.
Today its back to work-- gotta get some data--- want to graduate before I am 50.

You might be a grad student if...

you have ever brought a scholarly article to a bar. (guilty... so sad, but true- I feel bad for the folks who came to wing-night with there significant others who are not in science-- 2 hours of discussion of Northern Blotting techniques- not so much fun for them)
you have ever discussed academic matters at a sporting event.
you find the bibliographies of books more interesting than the actual text. you have accepted guilt as an inherent feature of relaxation.
you reflexively start analyzing those greek letters before you realize that it's a sorority sweatshirt, not an equation.
you find yourself explaining to children that you are in "20th grade". (actually for those keeping track-- I'm just wrapping up 20th grade, so soon it will be 21st grade-- its sad... I have spent 5 times more years in school than out)
you've ever brought books with you on vacation and actually studied.

Why God Never Received Tenure at any University
He had only one major publication.
It was in Hebrew.
It had no references.
It wasn't published in a refereed journal.
Some even doubt he wrote it himself.
It may be true that he created the world, but what has he done since then?
His cooperative efforts have been quite limited.
The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.
He never applied to the Ethics Board for permission to use human subjects.
When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up by drowning the subjects.
When subjects didn't behave as predicted, he deleted them from the sample .
He rarely came to class, just told students to read the Book.
Some say he had his son teach the class.
He expelled his first two students for learning.
Although there were only ten requirements, most students failed his tests.
His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountaintop.

Seminar Recap

My seminar and committee meetings yesterday went really well! I was nervous and talked too fast so I finished my 40ish minute presentation in just under 30 minutes-- but that was ok becuase my committee then decided that they would have my meeting right then. So instead of having to wait all afternoon-- it was over and done in just about an hour. The committee was happy with my progress and thought my presentation was great-- the only criticism I got was that I was talking too fast because I was nervous... so all in all good stuff there. My science and my explanations were plenty good. They said I should schedule my next one for the fall... so about 6 months-ish. I hope that means I am moving towards finishing-- the more often they want to see how you are progressing/wrapping up supposedly the better.

Yes, I am still alive.

I'm still here, just in survival mode until 4:30pm tomorrow. Then it will all be over. yippee.. but first I have to make it through til then. Seminar is at noon (til 1ish) then I am on a panel to convince younger grad students that it is all worth it and they can survive (HAHAHA... the irony) and then 3:30-4:30 is the meeting with the committee (insert scary music here) and then DONE. I may regain brain function by hrm.. maybe tuesday?

Keep your fingers crossed, sacrifice a toaster, pray whatever-- I will take any good karma that can come my way. (I really really don't like these things-- thank goodness they aren't too often)

Two quick meals

First up... I made Spinach Fettucini from scratch and it turned out quite well with a nice homemade alfredo sauce--- now if only the picture didn't look so lousy!

Last night I made the trout I had previously listed the recipe for. This time I mashed the capers a little with a mortar and pestle to break them up. I think that was a nice touch-- just lightly smash them so they split up a little. YUM. I could happily eat this trout every day! (Stupid pollution PCBs and Mercury--- oh well, to be cautious-- only one serving per week)

Thats it for cooking this week. Other than this I am working on the seminar of doom for Thursday and STILL trying to get that comforter to dry.

This Weekend~

On Friday, Craig and I went to Ellie's going away party. After a very rocky beginning 3 years earlier and an enlightening trip to Spain and France with 15 underclassmen, Ellie and I became friends and even roomates senior year and then a fabulous bridesmaid just a few months ago! I was very lucky that when I moved to Hershey, Ellie was working and living near by in Harrisburg- it gave a friend here from day one-- and one who knows great restaurants! Ellie has now recieved an absolutely amazing job offer-- but she has to move to Orlando--- so its time for her to move. Her going away party was at Appalachian Brew Company-- so Craig got some tasty beer (I had ale... ginger ale) and we snacked for a while and played some pool. Ellie had loads of guests, so we didn't get too much of a chance to talk-- so we're going out later this week for dinner so I can get all the news on her new job and home and all that! I am sad Ellie's leaving-- but she'll be back to visit (her parents live in Harrisburg) and she's said I can come visit her and Mickey anytime!

Saturday Craig and I drove up to Hazleton to visit Pappy. We went to the Park Diner(in Shenandoah?) for lunch-- the Park is somewhere if you drove by you would never never never ever go in. Its tiny and mismatched and kinda seedy looking -- its an old-time diner-- not in the cheesy recreate a diner that looks old-- it actually IS old. The food though is AMAZING. IT is run by a very nice couple and it has been in her family for years. They make the most wonderful rice pudding I have ever had-- and all the other food is pretty darn good too! When we go up to visit Pappy we usually eat there.

Sunday Craig did some more work on edging the gardens with brick and I washed out the comforter and hung it to dry (those things get VERY heavy when wet!) Other than that, I worked on the latest cake (the coconut cake recipe filled with vanilla pastry cream and fresh strawberries, topped with whipped cream for Kristin's (in my lab) birthday. I unfortunately do not have a picture of this cake-- we ate it too quickly! But I was told by my lab that this was their favorite of my cakes so far!

All I have to say is... blahhhhhhhh

Jumbo Buffet-- so good, so dangerous... too many options, have to eat them all. Time for the post-chinese buffet afternoon food-coma. At least its Friday. I may wake up in an hour.

There was peanut butter swirl ice cream-- if a force exists that would allow me to resist I would... but so good, so very good. mmmmmmm....

The end of an era

Nothing too exciting today to share, but I do have a couple of pictures from wings night last night.

We have decided that wings night at shakey's may be coming to an end after many years-- The prices go up... (ok, so 15cent wings is still phenomenal, but $1.50 for a little plastic cup of coors light is ridiculous) and now we can't even take home leftovers-- I mean, I can understand them not wanting you to order 50 wings and immediately pack them all up and leave-- but if the minimum order is 12 and I eat 6-- they now want me to throw the rest away?!?! That makes no sense at all. So here is a pic from one of the last wings nights and of Jackie's creative "container". Have no fear-- we are still getting together, we just figured we can get better beer and all for the same or less if we all kick in $5 a week and take turns having it at peoples houses. We'll all be better off for the lack of smoke and loud lousy music. So if you have any good wings recipes, let me know! (I only know what I remember from working at McCoy's-- deep fried drive-in goodness coated in "butter-like substance" mixed with Frank's red-hot.)

A timeline?

A couple people have asked me about a timeline for the whole "when will we see a grandbaby/niece/nephew/cute baby I can borrow/girl so I can get it dresses like this really cute one I saw at this store.../boy so he can use stored up clothing/little mathers" thing?

I can't give a really clear timeline, life doesn't work that way!-- so that's out.

I hope to have a clearer picture after next Thursday about how much longer I will be in school and doing lab work etc-- and from there I may develop more of a timeline-- but for now, what Craig and I have discussed is anything from this point on is good-- I have the health stuff cleared up and yes mom, I am on folic acid-- so that's all set. I think ideally we are figuring mid to late summer and then--- well, last time I checked its 9ish or so months til they're ready. This of course assumes that things go normally and work out from the beginning and that one is all up to God, not us. So I guess in happy fantasy land-- we'll have grown a family in the next year or so-- but who knows what tomorrow will bring. All that "the best laid plans of mice and men" stuff-- and I for one know plans don't turn out so well for most mice!

Low-fat Double Chocolate Brownies-- that don't suck!

'Light' Double Chocolate Brownies (adapted from Devin Alexander)

Ingredients
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (used good double strength vanilla)
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (yes, really... only 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used normal Hershey's, will try next time with special dark)
1.5 teaspoon instant coffee granules (Maxwell House)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (or a little more)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
cooking spray


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray an 8x8 inch pyrex pan with spray.
In a medium mixing bowl, using a sturdy whisk or spatula, mix the applesauce, vanilla, egg whites, coffee granules, and sugar until they are well combined/dissolved. (you can use the mixer here-- why make life more difficult)
Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
Stir the mixture until it is just combined and no lumps remain.
Pour it into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the chips evenly over the top.
Bake the brownies for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry (a few crumbs are okay).
WARNING-- Brownies will puff, a lot, a whole lot. Fill the pan kind of puff. When you pull them out of the oven, they will fall-- this is good. That's what makes them dense and moist.
Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and allow them to cool 5 minutes. (AT LEAST- will be very very very soft-- can seem almost liquid when you cut them)
Brownies will be very sticky-- I placed them on flattened paper cupcake cups and brought them to work that way. They stick to the plate pretty badly and you won't get them back off without a fight. (and then you have to eat the crumbs)
Cut into 12 equal brownies. Makes 12 (1 brownie) servings.

Each brownie has: only 88 calories, 2 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat, less than 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 133 mg sodium

Review--
These are pretty good-- they are not a "chewy" brownie-- but they have a great chocolate flavor. I was impressed with that. These will definitely satisfy a chocolate craving. All in all-- I would make these again for a moist chocolate dessert-- its almost a brownie, but just lacks a little bit of chewiness/crustiness-- but I am the person who likes the corner extra chewy brownie best of all. I would definitely recommend them when trying to be more cautious about what you eat-- and I might even make them if I weren't.

Oh, and now I have egg yolks left over to make some lemon curd, yum.

A little bit of landscaping.

This weekend I did my best to procrastinante a little more and not work on my seminar-- ok, so I worked on it some... and I have a week yet.. so I will be ok.

On Saturday my friend Leah and I drove down to King of Prussia for the day. She'd never been and it seemed like a good way to spend the day-- so off we went. I managed to get a little bit of new makeup. I really like this bare minerals stuff-- it doesn't seem to set off my acne and it is pretty much idiot proof to put on, so a great combination for me! So I picked out a new eyeshadow ( a glittery green called "envy") and a new blush called glee. Yay. Meanwhile Craig and Mike (Leah's fiance) went to see Spiderman 3, they gave it pretty bad reviews. We all went to dinner at Romano's Macaroni Grill afterwards and they make really wonderful bread! We topped it off with a walk to Maggie Moo's -- YUM, seriously wonderful ice cream. I got carrot cake ice cream with teddy grahms mixed in- DELICIOUS!

Today we got a little bit of landscaping done-- so here are some pictures!

Craig pulled out the plastic edging I had in and built me a lovely brick-- this should keep the grass out of my flower beds and make it easier for him to mow right up next to them. Plus it looks great!

Here are some normal grape hyacinths I have planted.

And here are my mutant purple cauliflower hyacinths. I have no idea what happened. About 1/3 of my grape hyacinths came up looking like this! They still smell lovely and are a pretty color- they are just pretty weird looking!

This it the back of our garage (the side that faces our house). We planted the lilacs (the tall shrubs) and the burning bushes (the short shrubs) and a handful of white mums (the tiny shrubs in front of the bushes) last year. Today we added the trellis and a clematis to help conceal the ugly grey electrical conduit we had to have to get electricity in the garage. Here's hoping it works-- if nothing else though, I am thrilled that the $1.50 salvaged clearance lilacs from lowes are looking perfect!


This time we found a great tree in the clearance stash at Lowe's-- A Japanese Red Maple. We'd been looking for some sort of "small" decorative tree for the front yard, and there it was! We put it in much to the amusement of our old lady neighbors who thought it was very very funny to be planting a tree (I have no idea.. they are out on their porch all day, I think maybe they were laughing at Murphy trying to "help") So we now have a new tiny tree in our yard. Hopefully it makes it, but in the worst of cases, it was only $3-- so we can't complain too much! The grass is all brown patchy because we were patching the sod with parts we dug up. The Murph does a number on the grass-- I think he must pee straight hydrochloric acid or something. Anyway, we took advantage of the healthy grass we had to dig up to patch a bunch of bad spots in the yard.

That was our weekend, off to try out a new recipe. I will share if it is any good!

Grad Student Humor because I am beyond stressed.

Both of these pics are borrowed from phdcomics.com and are here simply to try and translate grad school to those of you not suffering through it. (its a bad week) Click on the pictures to get better resolution ones from the actual website.

I have my massive yearly meeting-- the committee meeting in less than 2 weeks... I know I have gotten work done in the past year since the last one, but that means nothing if they don't think so. These are the people who decide when I get to go free and how much longer I get to work at slave labor-- ugh and who take their delight in making grad students remember that we really don't know as much as we think we do. This is nerve-wracking. Plus I have to put together an hour long seminar that covers everything I have done that worked or not and what I am going to do next and then start the desperate pleading to let me out sooner rather than later... ugh. Not looking forward to the next 2 weeks. I have to give my first draft of the presentation for my lab meeting on Tuesday-- and I don't even have all the data collected yet (not my fault-- histology took too long to process the samples) blah... this is not fun and this is the point every year where I start wondering why the heck I thought grad school was a good idea anyways-- who in their right mind signs up for this?!?!?!

Ugh- just stressed and annoyed and thinking I should just go be a cake baker for a living.

This is what I am hungry for... sadly, not making this tonight.

This nukes really well-- so good. Left over rice is good for rice pudding or if you make the creamy coconut rice, then it is good with some sliced mango and a little bit of coconut cream drizzled in the rice.

Thai Basil Chicken

Adapted from this recipe.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups uncooked jasmine rice -- cook according to package directions-- you can add a little extra coconut milk to the rice while it cooks for creamier more tasty rice-- plus it will use up the leftovers from the can of coconut milk)

3/4 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce (yes, it looks and smells scary-- but its good in the recipe)
3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I go a little less-- I am a wuss on spicy)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced (I use a standard yellow one)
2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced (or more)
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1/2 inch strips (or little chunks or whatever)
1/2 lb white mushrooms, sliced
5 green onions, chopped (or more-- chop the white and a little green too-- thin chop)
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh basil leaves ( I never manage to get this much-- I would say I average 1/2 cup fresh basil tops)

DIRECTIONS
Bring rice and water to a boil in a pot.

Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the coconut milk, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes.
In a skillet or wok, heat the oil over medium-high heat.

Stir in the onion, ginger, and garlic, and cook until lightly browned.

Mix in chicken strips, and cook about 3 minutes, until browned.

Stir in the coconut milk sauce and sliced mushrooms.

Continue cooking until sauce is reduced be about 1/3 and mushrooms are tender.

Mix in green onions and basil, and cook until heated through.

Serve over the cooked rice.

I usually halve the chicken part-- and still make as much sauce-- I like sauce-y rice meals.

Bring on the Thin Mints! But not for Tiki and Murphy

No trans-fats in thin mints anymore!
Gobble down those Girl Scout cookies.... they no longer contain any trans-fats. Plus they are delicious! (mmm... thin mints-- I keep them in the freezer all the time-- yum)
You can read a little more here.

But-- keep them to yourself, your cat won't appreciate them anyway.

It turns out cats are not able to taste sweets.
"Whether as a result of this dietary choice or the cause of it, all cats—lions, tigers and British longhairs, oh my—lack 247 base pairs of the amino acids that make up the DNA of the Tas1r2 gene. As a result, it does not code for the proper protein, it does not merit the name gene (only pseudogene), and it does not permit cats to taste sweets. "They don't taste sweet the way we do," says Joe Brand, biochemist and associate director at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. "They're lucky. Cats really have bad teeth as it is.""


And no thin mints for the Murph-inator either... Even though he would love them-- this article gives me a good excuse not to share!

" Dogs and humans have similar tastes. Like us, they seek out sweets and have no problem indulging. But unlike humans, our canine companions experience dangerous effects from eating chocolate—it can poison them and in some cases is lethal. The hazard, however, is probably overblown, says Tim Hackett, a veterinarian at Colorado State University. Chocolate's danger to dogs depends on its quantity and quality. Large dogs can usually handle a small amount of chocolate whereas the same helping could cause problems for ... his pint-size kin. "



And based on this morning, house flies must not be sweet-- tiki spent the night chasing a big fly around the house "hunting". She finally had it this morning as a light snack-- it was pretty darn funny watching her--- one of these days I need to video her on the hunt!

Green light...

Well... I had my doc appt today (well, the nurse practitioner-- close enough) and I seem to be all set.

I was told not to drink (no duh) and to make sure I get enough protein (like eating meat has EVER been a hardship for me) and to start taking some sort of prenatal vitamin that has at least 1mg Folic acid-- easy enough. My BP and all that was in good order and she had no comments on the weight thing other than to be sure that I was eating healthy-- and I do alright with that, so yay!

Thankfully I am all up to date on the vaccine front-- no more shots for a bit. Though I will say, this last tetanus one was not as miserable as the last one... I was sore for 4 days, but really only annoyingly so for about 24 hrs-- a definite improvement. She asked if wanted the Gardasil-- but my insurance doesn't cover it (its over $300 for the shots) and I am a married woman in a monogamous relationship so its really not an issue. So she said I could do it if I strongly wanted it, but saw no real reason to recommend it-- so I will not be doing that. I think I want to watch a little longer on follow up studies before I sign up for that one. (We started the research for that vaccine right here over 20 years ago in the Gittlen Institute-- its actually the project the whole department was founded around!)

So she told me to come on in for the next round if I miss a period and wished me luck... so one more hurdle down! I still want to try and lose another 10ish pounds-- but I am halfway to my goal-- so all in all-- that doesn't look too bad either!