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Peanut Butter Fingers

January 24th, 2008 · family, food

Dave’s mom passed along the recipe. It was one of Dave’s childhood favorites. And boy, were they good!

Peanut Butter Fingers
Edith Wall (Lived across the street from Grandma Harmer)

1/2 c. margarine, softened
1/3 c. + 2 t. sugar
1/2 c. + 1 T. brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 t. baking soda
1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1 c. oats

Topping
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 tub chocolate frosting
Combine margarine, sugars, egg, vanilla, and peanut butter. Combine dry ingredients, and add to wet.

Spread into greased 9×13″ pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Let sit a couple of minutes then spread with an additional 1/2 c. peanut butter.

Cool, and frost with chocolate frosting.

But wait. . .

Whats this?

Dave?

Are you? . . . Cooking?

Its true. Dave insisted that he make these all by himself. I wasn’t even permitted in the kitchen. He claims that he hates to cook, but the handful of times he is caught in the kitchen he always manages to come out with something really yummy. Maybe if I ask nicely he’ll make his rice pudding or his chicken enchiladas later this week. Please, Dave. Pretty Please.

Thanks Beckie for the yummy recipe.

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Little Artist

January 23rd, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget

Lately, Bridget has really been interested in all kinds of art projects. She loves to draw (pens, pencils, crayons, markers, highlighters) and she LOVES to paint (watercolors, acrylic). I recently purchased some foam stickers for her – which she has really gotten in to.

We’ve also tried child scissors and glue sticks lately. She gets the concept, I think. But I think it will take a few more tries before she’ll be making a collage.

Here is one of her latest creations:

Last Year (2007), we tried all kinds of crazy art-related things.

We made crayons by melting some old broken ones.

We did some leaf rubbing’s with our funky new crayons.

We even made stamps out of potatoes. I apologize to all those who feel that this is a waste of perfectly good food. Truth be told it goes against all of my training at the Adele Dale Young Child Development Lab. I am sorry I am disappointing you. I believe that all children should experience potato stamps at some point in their lives. My daughter loved it.

So much in fact, that we tried it again just the other day.

Yes, I need to get tempra paint, instead of using the acrylic. Its on the list.

Trapped indoors during the dead of winter is a great time to experiment with art projects. Bridget has been interested in stamping lately (with my return address stamp), so maybe we’ll get some stamps and try that next. Or finger painting, not that paint doesn’t end up all over her fingers anyway. I’m open to other suggestions as well. If you have an idea, leave me a comment. The more the merrier.

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Wiimote and Desktop Virtual Reality

January 22nd, 2008 · techno geeks

I have a new hero. His name is Johnny Chung Lee. Johnny Lee is a Ph.D. Graduate Student at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. This guy is a genius.

Lee has come up with several innovative uses for Nintendo’s Wiimote, the device input for the Wii gaming console that utilizes gyroscopic sensor inputs and infrared/blue-tooth communication. My favorite article/video that he put together is called “Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote.” The video speaks for itself. Seriously cool stuff.

Check out some of the projects he has done: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/.

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Fuf-uff

January 21st, 2008 · bridget

I don’t know that I spelled it correctly.

I’m sure if I ask Bridget how to spell it, she might say something along the lines of “H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Micky Mouse,” which is how she claims just about everything is spelled.

How Fuf-uff is spelled, though, is not really so much the topic of this post. Who and what Fuf-uff is and represents is the topic I am trying to realize.

Fuf-uff is Bridget’s imaginary friend.

We’re not altogether certain what kind of a person or thing Fuf-uff is, as Fuf-uff has been described as both a stuffed animal and a person just like Bridget. She has responded at times that Fuf-uff is a boy, and other times that Fuf-uff is a girl. We do know, however, that Fuf-uff is about 6 inches shorter than Bridget as Bridget looks down slightly to address Fuf-uff. This also may mean that Fuf-uff was sitting on the floor, though.

We first heard of Fuf-uff about two weeks ago as Bridget would mention on her way up to her room that she was going to go play with Fuf-uff. Each time, she would be playing with a different toy. It hadn’t dawned on us at that point that Fuf-uff wasn’t a toy at all. This went on for a number of days.

One night, Tina and I had put Bridget down for the night and closed her door (closing her door is a form of punishment for doing something wrong or just generally manifesting two-year old behavior; she likes her door open). After about 5 minutes or so, Bridget started screaming. I rushed into her bedroom to a shaking and sobbing child. When I asked her what was wrong, she replied that Fuf-uff was scaring her. Suddenly, I began to regret all of the sci-fi movies I had seen previously that illustrated a young child that is terrorized by some creature while their parents disregard and ignore the whole thing. I started to get scared, too. (See ST:TNG:122 – “Imaginary Friend” (Stardate: 45832.1))

The next day, Bridget was playing inside and Tina asked Bridget about Fuf-uff. Bridget replied that Fuf-uff was out on the sidewalk in front of the house taking a nap. Later that day, Bridget was happily playing in her room with Fuf-uff. Fuf-uff regularly visits the Bridget’s Kitchen restaurant and plays with Bridget and her toys.

An article at toddlerstoday.com says, “Typically, a child will create a companion for himself starting at age 2, but children as young as 18 months will begin to pretend, using a block as a cookie or miming drinking from a cup (Kelly, Wendy. Living Next Door to Batman).” We had noticed the earlier signs of Bridget letting the 24″ Santa decoration drink from her sippy cup during Christmas of last year (Bridget was 13 months old). We also have a three-foot-tall “time-out” boy doll that regularly gets drug around the house. I’m sure we have done other things to encourage a make-believe world, such as giving her a play kitchen and constantly teaching her how to “pretend” to eat the food. The mysticism of Santa Clause or perhaps even the picture Bridget has on her dresser of Del Parson’s “Christ in Red Robe” might be encouraging her to pretend to physically interact with somebody that she hasn’t physically met.

Whatever the reason, we were shocked as our little Bridget welcomed Fuf-uff into our household.

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Surface

January 20th, 2008 · random, techno geeks

Have you heard about Microsoft’s “Surface” computer?

If not, watch this (Even if you have, watch it):

Now that you know. Watch this:

Dave’s friend, Jared, found the video on YouTube a few days ago. The parody is great.

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Oreo Bon-Bons

January 18th, 2008 · food

Really Easy. Really Good. Really Rich.


**Picture shows a Mint Oreo Bon Bon dipped in white chocolate.

Oreo Bon-Bons

1 package of Oreo cookies
1 8oz package Neufchâtel* cream cheese, softened
Chocolate for dipping

Crush the cookies into small to fine crumbs. Stir into softened cream cheese until evenly distributed. Roll into small (1/2″ to 3/4″) balls and place on wax paper.
Melt chocolate. Dip the cookie balls and return them to the wax paper to cool. Allow the chocolate to harden around them and enjoy!

*Neufchâtel (or 1/3 less fat variety) is easier to work with because its softer, but any cream cheese will work.

Alterations: Use mint flavored Oreo cookies for a different flavor. Also try different types and flavors of dipping chocolates.

I’ve wanted to try these with the Peanut Butter Creme Oreo Cookies and milk chocolate. I imagine they would be particularly well liked by those peanut butter and chocolate fans. But I’ve yet to try them that way. If anyone does try it, let me know what you think.

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Improv Everywhere

January 17th, 2008 · random

A few days ago I was watching some videos on CNN.com, and came across some clips of people riding the subway in Boston without pants. (Watch it). Apparently this was the first year it had happened in Boston, but it started in New York City seven years ago. From the video I learned that it was an annual event meant to cause chaos and joy. When asked, participants were to claim that they forgot their pants, they were hot, or pretend like they didn’t notice that they weren’t wearing any. They were also instructed to pretend that they didn’t know any of the other pant-less riders. There were over 200 participants in Boston, the video said.

I didn’t think much of it until a friend of mine asked if I’d heard that it was happening on Trax in Salt Lake City. I hadn’t. I was somewhat surprised, but not entirely shocked. Then, he sent me this link: http://www.improveverywhere.com – its the website of the comedy group that started the whole thing.

They had videos from mission “No Pants 2k8,” as they call it. As well as a bunch of images, video, and information about other missions they have done.

I got sucked in.

I watched way too many videos. Spent way too much time on their site. And started to realize how the college pranks I participated in paled in comparison to these. Some of my favorites were the Romantic Comedy Cab, the Hypnotist, and the Slo-mo Home Depot. Several others were great too: The Moebius, Look Up More, the birthday party for a stranger, and the fake U2 concert.

They’ve done several that required choreographed dancing by participants (Megastore for example). It got me thinking about something I’ve always wanted to try and pull off (since High School theater, and my time working in Macey’s grocery store). If you are familiar with Musicals, you’ll know that its pretty common place for entire groups of people to suddenly stop what they are doing and break into song/dance mode. Everyone just happens to know that steps. And when its over everyone just goes about their business like nothing happened. Well, that is something I’ve always wanted to see happen in a grocery store. When the designated plays (over the store’s speaker system) everyone stops shopping and begins dancing with canned food, shopping carts, etc. When its over they all just resume shopping. I think it would be great to have a couple of people in each isle at the store. And obviously it would be handy to have an inside man with access to the sound system (or at least a list of songs that will be playing). Anyway, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to pull anything off on that scale, but maybe I’ll see the grocery store musical on their site sooner or later.

If you have 72 hours free to peruse their site, check it out. I’m not sure that I’d jump on the No Pants bandwagon, but all in all they’ve done some pretty funny stuff.

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Lucy likes Ice Cream

January 16th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, family

Really. She does. See.

Well, actually she doesn’t really have a choice.

She’s a pretty good sport about it though. Bridget loves to play with her. Sometimes Lucy actually gets dog treats served up on plastic plates instead of having to endure the pretend plastic food. She prefers that.

Lucy is actually napping on the foot of Bridget’s bed right now. Bridget requested that Lucy stay for nap time. Lucy didn’t complain. I’m going to go hook up the video camera and get a quick recording of it right now.

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Pumpkin Roll

January 15th, 2008 · food

I had some extra canned pumpkin from when I made the cheesecake, so I decided to try making a pumpkin roll.

A friend of mine sent me the link to a recipe blog, and I found the recipe for it there. I think I’ve seen the same (or at least a similar one) recipe on the label from Libby’s canned pumpkin before – but hadn’t really thought to try it.

It was a huge hit. And really not that hard to make. I’ve heard of similar being done with cake and softened ice cream. Maybe I’ll have to try something like that one of these days.

Pumpkin Roll

Cake:
Powdered sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Filling:
1 pkg. (8oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
6 Tbsp. butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Powdered sugar

For Cake: Preheat oven to 375. Grease 15×10-inch jelly roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 13-15 min. or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

For Filling: Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

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Potty Talk, Volume II

January 14th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, family

As a continuation of my first “Potty Talk” post. . .

Bridget has gotten to the point of heading to the bathroom to do her thing without even telling me that she needs to go. Even though its good to see her express some independence here, it makes me nervous and scared. She’s getting pretty good. BUT. . .

– What if she tries to empty the kid potty (it wouldn’t be the first time) and makes a mess? Hopefully she won’t try to clean it up with her bath towel. Ew!!
– Will she really wipe? Well? Will she use too much TP?
– Will she try to use the plunger? She’s gotten it out before.
– I know she can’t turn on the sink by herself. Will she still try to wash her hands? Will she give up? Or come and get me?

I probably need to loosen up a little bit. She needs to learn. . . but thinking about the potential answers to some of these questions makes me want to vomit.
I don’t think I’ll be able to trust her to use the bathroom by herself (and do it right) until she’s 35. Or at least 12. Or 3, or 4 maybe – if she’s lucky.

January 9, 2008
– She’s been accident free since last Friday (Jan. 4th)!!
– Her pull-up has been dry every morning, with one exception!!
– I taught her to wipe herself this morning. She seems to be catching on. I’m sure I’ll still have to help out for #2.
– She’s been napping in underwear.

. . . It has been nice having her be able to wipe herself. My hands are spared from excessive washing on occasion. . .

. . . She can use the big potty without a problem, but every now and then she still wants the little one. I’ve told her that she can use the little potty if she wants, but there will be no ‘potty treat’ for using that potty. Its worked pretty well. . .

January 12, 2008
– She woke up from her nap soaked and confused. Poor kid. I guess that technically ends the week long accident free streak, though she has stayed dry during waking hours.
– She’s had a couple of wet pull-ups in the mornings. The pediatrician told me that it is common for night training to take 6 months longer than daytime training. Guess I still have to buy Pull-ups.
– She has had a bit of diarrhea the last two days. Thankfully, she’s made it to the potty each time. Once I didn’t even know she was using the toilet until she came down half naked announcing she was done.

We went to the doctor the other day, and she used the bathroom while we were there. She came out announcing to all of the nurses that passed by, “I went potty in the potty.” She had this proud smirk on her face, that only got bigger with each person that expressed excitement on her behalf. Oh, the things you can get away with when you are two!

January 13, 2008
– Sunday #2 in underwear was a success. The nursery leaders brought her to me once during Relief Society to use the bathroom. She did, and miraculously went easily back to class.
– We went to a friends house for dinner. She asked to use the bathroom about a dozen times, but only went twice. I guess its better than accidents.

Speaking of things you can get away with when you are two:

Yes, that is her little friend, Josh. The picture was taken in mid-December on the first day we dared leave the house with Bridget in underwear. I was on edge the entire time we were away from home. Shortly after this she had an accident and ended up in a diaper again.

Bridget, when you are sixteen, and reading this. . . I am sorry to have embarrassed you. But, hey, today at 2 years old – its pretty darn cute.

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