What-What?! Week of March 1st

Last week was crazy, while this week was just a grind.  It hit Wednesday, and I was ready for it to be the weekend.

I spent most of my time at work this week reading drivel from sexist, racist, homophobic websites (usually any two, but some had all three!).  It has been a huge reminder of how repugnant people can be.

I have also read many conspiracy theories this week, but thankfully the people who frequent those websites seem to be far less offensive.  Sometimes quite strange, but probably harmless.

I still have it way, way, way better than the people who work as internet content reviewers.

Anyway, on to happier things.

Took my daughter to her second Girl Scouts meeting.  She had an excellent time, though it was a bit disorganized.  This is a new troop, though, and no one has ever been a troop leader before.  So, yeah.  It'll get better, I'm sure.  They learned the pledge, and the law, and some songs.

Yesterday, I took the two big kids to Lowe's to do the Build and Grow project.  For various reasons, we've missed the last two, so it'd been a while.  They both seem to have improved their hammering skills a lot, and did a lot more without help this time.

A Visual History of United States Spacesuits via Imgur

I saw this through Reddit, and it is a fascinating read.  All the facts that I checked seemed to be right on, so it's pretty accurate, too.  It was interesting to see how the boots changed over time; sometimes looking like plain old leather boots (that first one!), sometimes looking suitably astronautical.

There's also some interesting discussion and links on the Reddit thread here, though watch out, as Reddit can be vulgar.

What-What?! Week of January 11th

Peter had to work this week.  It was lonely (due to a typo, this almost said 'lovely' -- oops!).  But making money and paying bills are good, so I guess that's okay.

Food wise, this week has been excellent.  Thursday, I made chicken and dumplings, based on The Pioneer Woman's recipe.  If anything from that recipe, the addition of corn flour to the biscuits is a unique touch that is worth doing.  I added masa to a recipe Bisquick biscuits, 'cause I don't look down on cheating. :P  If it's cold where you live, make this.  It is so, so good.

After that, on Saturday, the husband and I made a German-themed dinner of spatzle and schnitzel (no recipe for that, sorry).  This time, rather than making it "off the board" as is traditional, I used a flat cheese grater, which I pushed the batter through with a heat-proof spatula.  This made my spatzle much more consistent in size, and was much easier to do.

I started teaching Saffron how to cross stitch early this week, and she completed her first little motif:

She did most of the stitching herself, though I had to pull out sections sometimes for her to re-do (one time, there was a HUGE knot).  This next week, I think she's going to start on a cat one.

A picture of it in progress:

 

My project isn't finished yet.  I have to go to the store and buy supplies, since I've apparently lost stuff during the move.

The stages of making German helmets. (Introduction section)

For a somber read, I suggest looking through the WWI photos over at The Atlantic.  There are a lot of pictures there, including many showing somewhat unusual content, like animal hospitals, horse gas masks, and the soldiers from Middle East theater.  Some of the historical commentary is a bit untrue (like the sheer ridiculousness of Austria-Hungary's demands to Serbia), but for the most part it is very good.  Keep in mind, though, these are photos of war, and can be graphic in nature.

What-What?! Week of December 14th

Today, we're celebrating Corwin's birthday!  Kid is very nearly five years old.  We're going to take the kids to the local Bullwinkle's to play games and ride the bumper cars.  Since the boy's birthday falls in the middle of the week, we thought it would be better to celebrate it now.  I'm putting together a Lego-themed cake for him.  I'll make sure to post pictures next week of the festivities. :)

Otherwise, my kids are in full on "Christmas is coming!!!" mode.  The other day, I took Corwin to Target, and they had this one decoration of Santa holding his list of children.  Corey stopped and gasped "The list, Mommy, the list!", then started looking for his own name.  It was adorable.

Last weekend the husband and I took the kids to a Christmas tree farm down in Snohomish.  The drive was very nice, and the first time I've seen real farmland in the six months we've lived here.  The big fields felt very homey.

We had intended to buy a little Christmas tree and put it on the dining table, but the farm didn't have any available.  After a quick punt, the husband and I decided to get a full-sized tree.  Then we went to the store to buy a Christmas tree stand (hur-hur).  The tree is partly decorated, though the kids and I are slowly filling it up with homemade ornaments.  It only took me 6 days to find the tree skirt (why wasn't it with the other Christmas stuff?  No one knows).

Van Vogt Family Farm

While we drove down to Snohomish, we saw a bunch of these barns that had rounded roofs.  I don't recall ever seeing anything like it in California, but there were a lot in this style.  On the fifteen minute drive, I counted five, and that was only after passing one or two.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of them (and came back to town a different route), but I did do some looking as to the historical significance.

Thayer Barn -- Built in 1930's from the Sears & Roebuck barn catalog.

According to History Colorado, this type of roof is called a gothic or round- roof.  This type of barn is designed to optimize the amount of hay that could be stored, and is nationally a pretty unusual design.  Most of the information I could find on this type of barn is, oddly enough, from a Colorado website, but from what I can tell, the same truths apply here.  These barns were generally built with sidewalls pre-WWII, and without sidewalls after.  Every single one that I saw had brick sidewalls and wood roofs, which dates them all back to 1945 or earlier.

There's a nonprofit, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, that works with the government and landowners to preserve these historical barns (and other buildings, too).  They have a ton of pictures on their website, and some pretty interesting info, too.

(Photos from preservewashington.org)

What-What?! Week of February 23rd

I haven't had work this week, which means I've gotten the time to work on other things, like reading, crochet, writing, cooking, and decluttering.  The husband and I have worked pretty hard to get a lot of things listed on eBay, which will hopefully empty out our house a bit over the next few weeks.  Unfortunately, my wrist has slowly started hurting again, which has put a bit of a damper on certain things, like crochet and playing on the computer.

 

News: An Archeologist's Dream:  Exploring Camp Asylum via The State

This is really interesting; a civil war POW camp is set to be developed upon in South Carolina, so a team of archeologists are doing a last-minute excavation to uncover whatever is left behind.  The article linked above tells a pretty good story of how the camp came to be, and on the development of the dig, while this Yahoo! News article talks about what the archeologists are doing right now.  Definitely a good read if you're interested in history.  There are lots of pictures, too, so be sure to take a look.

Cooking:  Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies

I wanted cookies.  But not just any cookies.  What I really wanted was some of my mom's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but there was no way I was going to call her and beg, so I had to make some myself.  I actually hate making regular cookies, because there's switching pans in and out of the oven, cooling racks, and just a lot more dishes to wash than I can be bothered with.  That's why these are bar cookies.  One bowl, one pan, forever and ever, amen.  These are fantastically delicious.  The slight banana taste goes well with the oats and chocolate chips, like a really mild banana bread.

Ingredients
1 stick Butter
1 large ripe Banana
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Sugar
Egg

1 heaping tablespoon Baking Powder
1 cup Oats (rolled or instant)
1 cup Flour
1/4 cup Wheat Germ
1 cup Chocolate Chips
Pinch of Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper (or wax paper).  Cream the butter and sugars together, then mix in the banana and egg.  Add dry ingredients, and mix until just incorporated.  Spread onto the prepared pan, and bake for 15-17 minutes.  Let cool, then try not to eat it all while cutting.  Makes about 24.

Don't forget to check out my husband's blog; we got a big box set of miniatures this week, which I'm looking forward to painting.

(img via thestate.com)