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| Most of this journal is open, but I'm in the middle of an issue that I'm keeping friendlocked right now. For that reason, I'm not adding new friends unless I know them already from elsewhere. I hope this is a temporary thing so I can get back to adding people soon. It's nothing personal at all, just me being overly cautious. So feel free to friend me, but if I don't friend back, don't assume it's anything against you...I'll add you when I can. | ||||||
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Blatherings
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November 4th, 2009
May 6th, 2008
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| 1) Kids say the darndest things part 1: the other day Corran was reading to Peo and reindeer were mentioned, so she said they need an umbrella. 2) Kids say the darndest things part 2: today Corran and I were discussing financial matters related to that friendlocked issue (matters largely outside of our control due to the current economic climate) and Peo started acting out to get attention. When we asked her what was wrong, she said, "Mummy and Daddy need more money." Gahhh, that didn't make us feel bad, MUCH. 3) ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nightxade sent Peo a very early birthday gift of a Spirograph! How awesome is that?! Peo can sort of control the wheels against the gears a bit, but more importantly, she just thinks it's awesome to draw through a hole in plastic. :) I LOVED my Spirograph as a kid. I actually spent hours and hours figuring out how many rotations a given setting required to return to the beginning, how different holes made different loops, etc.Peo asked, "Who gave this to me?" and we told her Ivy did, to which she said, "I say thank you to her!" :) 4) Wanna know how horrible parents we are? We've let Peo watch The Daily Show and Colbert Report since she was born. A few weeks ago, TDS had a bit about a congressional committee meeting in Second Life, and the Colbert after it featured a Democralypse animation involving bad things happening to a donkey. If we asked her right now - and boy, we're not, because we're trying to get her to forget - Peo would still ask confused questions about the dolphin with the boobies, the caterpillar who ate the lady, and then give us the big-sad-eye look as she asks, "What happened to the donkey? He fell in half and got all burned up!" Oiiiiiiiiii. 30 years from now she'll be describing these images from the depths of her psyche to some shrink and neither of them will know what it all means... So we stopped letting her watch those shows. Instead, we let her watch Food Network Challenge cake competitions with us. She spends the entire show running around saying, "Move your cake to the judging taaaaaable!" We are so warping her. Poor kid. But seriously...it's that or I'm gonna strangle a Fraggle. My kid does an eerily good Mokie voice... | ||||||
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May 4th, 2008
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| 1) Cool new tool for NPR fans: if you're going to be driving outside of your regular listening area, the NPR website now has a Road Trip function on the Stations page where you can type in where you're starting from and where you're going, and it'll list all of the NPR stations along the way, including where it's best to change to them. 2) I have a new recipe to share that I'm calling... EMERGENCY CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BALLS We've been ever-so-slowly going through Peo's chocolate and candy stash, comprising of Halloween, Valentine's, and Easter goodies. We don't give her candy and chocolate often, so it was only a couple of weeks ago that I got around to giving her the last Reese's peanut butter cup from Halloween. Tonight I gave her a mix of Halloween and Valentine's goodies, but she demanded more peanut butter chocolate (clearly there was a mixup at the lab, since Corran and I agree that peanut butter and chocolate is a vile and disgusting combination). Well, we didn't have any. Peo had a meltdown. So SUPER MUMMY came to the rescue with the following ultra-fast recipe that Peo has given her drooling seal of approval: Ingredients: Peanut Butter (the emulsified kind, this won't work with the fairly runny 100% peanuts stuff...I used Skippy Super Chunk because that's what I had on hand) Semi-Sweet chocolate chips A bit of AP flour Directions: Make very small balls of peanut butter, dusting with flour so it doesn't stick to your hands. I made them about a half inch-ish. Put the balls in the freezer on a plate while you do the next step. Put enough chocolate chips in the bowl so you'll have enough to coat the number of PB balls you made (I made four, and a handful of chips was more than enough). Slowly and carefully melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in short bursts, removing frequently to stir thoroughly. Do NOT overheat! Stop when the chips are almost but not quite melted, then mix to finish melting. Only heat again if they stay lumpy. Bring PB balls out of the freezer. Dip/roll in the chocolate and put back on the plate. Put back in the freezer for about 5 minutes until chocolate hardens. You might need to use a spatula to pop them off of the plate, and the underside might still be gooey, in which case, pop them back in the freezer for a minute or two. Serve as desired. Note that these aren't tempered, so will quite likely show a chocolate "bloom" or haze after the chocolate has has a chance to really set up. But they're EMERGENCY food for a screaming kid...if you want them for a nice party, you should temper the chocolate. PS...yes...these probably qualify as a variation of chocolate salty balls for my fellow South Park fans. :D | ||||||
| comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment |
April 30th, 2008
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| I'm sorting through our giant pile of baby clothes so I can pull out everything that is too small for Peo but is being kept for future kid(s), and give anything that we hardly used or didn't like (ie the leopard print stuff that got donated to us) to Goodwill (which, incidentally, Peo calls the "ghostie store" and if you look at their logo, you'll sorta see why). The stuff we're keeping is getting vacu-sucked into a space bag for airtight preservation. ( blast from the past piccies behind the cut ) I didn't dare let Peo see any of this stuff, because she'd demand to wear it now and be heartbroken when it doesn't fit. But I did put the teeeeeeeeeeeeny socks on my fingers to go show Corran to make him squishy too. Our baby has grown up so fast! Tomorrow she'll be off to college! WAHHHHHH! | ||||||||
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April 26th, 2008
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| As inspired by a thread on Ravelry, I'm designing a knitted toy boat. I've done one prototype but I think it needs more work. Here's a pic: http://flickr.com/photos/14836165@N07/2 I think the hull is slightly too small and while Corran agrees that it's okay to have a toy boat's mast in the centre, he thinks it would look better as a more "realistic" boat with the mast off-centre. I think the size is good for a little kid (I didn't measure it, but guesstimating, it's about 6-7" long from the widest points), but later I'm thinking of doing a much bigger, more elaborate one. So…comments? What is it missing, what needs to be changed, etc? Ravelry members can share their thoughts on the thread directly: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/knit | ||||||
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April 24th, 2008
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| Peo has her life plan worked out. She tells it like this: "First I be a big girl, then a lady, then a mummy, then a daddy." Sometimes I bother to tell her that she'd have to be a boy to be a daddy, but mostly I just tell her that in order to turn into a big girl, she has to start pooping in the potty. As a result, now when she sits on the potty, she shouts, "This is turning me into a big girl and a lady and a mummy and a daddy!" While straining. And sometimes also explaining to us that caterpillars turn into butterflies and polliwogs turn into frogs...again, while straining. These are the conversations of my days. :D | ||||||
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April 23rd, 2008
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| I am going through a week and a half's worth of email in my Mailwasher program because yes, I haven't even downloaded mail in that long. I am drowning... Anyway, boo-frickety-hoo, one of the umpteen essay-selling websites that bug me constantly to link to them on my essay writing tutorial pages are withdrawing my link from their site since I haven't responded to them. My tears fall like rain. But I couldn't help notice this amusing piece of garbage in the description they wanted me to include with a link to their site (I've put name of company in instead of their actual name because I refuse to give them any business):
Not only are those selling essays to students disgusting in the extreme, but those who don't even know how to use an apostrophe...gahhhhhh...TEH STOOOOPID IT BURRRRNNNZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! | ||||
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April 21st, 2008
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| Corran is still working on his job search with some potentially good interviews coming up soon. We're inviting comments about the following cities: Palo Alto CA (or general Bay area) Austin TX San Diego CA We'd like to hear pros and cons, as brutally honest as possible. In particular we'd like to know about family-friendliness of the areas, especially for small kids, including quality of schools, libraries, museums, etc. We'd like to know about relative child-raising costs too (obviously everything in Palo Alto is expensive, especially homes...we don't need to be told that, but we mean things like taking the kid(s) out for an activity or a craft glass or gymnastics or whatever). We'd also like to know what people think of the climate...we can read weather info on Wikipedia but we'd love opinions on whether something is an overheated hell-hole or too soggy to stand, stuff like that. We'd definitely like to know about political flavour of the area...is it swamped with bible-thumping, pro-war maniacs or is it pleasantly diverse, multi-racial, gay-friendly, etc? We don't really need to know about pubs, nightlife, rock bands, etc. We don't do that stuff. And if any of my crafty friends are reading, I'd like to know about relative availability of supplies and friendly crafting groups. | ||||
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| Recycle That Computer Hidden in Your Closet And good news for us in Las Vegas, a rare treat...one actual place that properly collects and disposes: http://www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.htm See http://www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.htm | ||||||
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| What we did today: ( 3 large pics behind cut ) | ||||||
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April 19th, 2008
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| I'm going to try to catch up on photos over the next week, although if life events intervene I may suddenly have to put it off for some time. Here are November's photos and movies, 37 photos and links to 5 movies behind the cut. ( Read more... ) | ||||||
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| Momsrising.org petition regarding BPA in baby bottles There have been a bunch of stories in the news in the last week or so regarding this issue but I'm too swamped to sort through them and post them right now. No response from the letter I sent to Avent yet. | ||||||
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April 13th, 2008
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| Today Peo announced that she was growing very big. We agreed. Then she said, "I'm about to turn into a big girl." I said, "Okay." She said, "One, two, three...now I am big!" I said, "Yay!" She said, "Not a little girl anymore!" Corran and I failed to contain our laughter, which actually amused Peo, but we assured her that yes, she's a very big girl. So this evening we let our newly big girl (we measured her today...34.75" or 88cm tall) do some "cooking". She helped mix some instant pudding, and after it set we ate it and thanked her for cooking us such a nice desert. | ||||||
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| It's 8% humidity outside. We don't know what it is inside, but it's less because as of last night we finally gave in and put on the air conditioning since it's going over 30C today (and we've got too much in our pantry that will be ruined at that temperature, and no, it won't all fit in the fridge). Anyway, it's very, very dry. I blew bubbles for Peo while she ate lunch because she was angsty. Corran and I marvelled at how the bubbles didn't pop; they collapsed into soap flakes. Yes, it's that dry...bubbles behave like quantum singularities. Meep. | ||||||
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April 10th, 2008
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| Four new free patterns for tiny toys that fit inside 2.25" plastic Easter eggs: http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/k Four new FOs in the gallery: Where's My Cow Patch for the 2008 Pratchgan: http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/k Orange Wig: http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/k Easter Eggs: http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/k Mini Easter Egg Toys: http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/k And so far six people have bought my Knitted Alphabet pattern...yay! | ||||||||
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April 9th, 2008
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| This is how much of a craft commie I seem to be...I just had a horrible night filled with nightmares that everyone who bought the knitting pattern I just started selling all were furious, saying it was awful, that the instructions were terrible, the patterns didn't turn out as pictured at all, and that the whole thing was a disaster. I'm pretty sure that happened because as I went to bed - noticing the third sale (and there's a fourth this morning) - I had a sudden feeling of, "Who the hell am I to ask for money for a pattern? EEEK!" Intellectually I know that I'm someone who has provided lots of free patterns, not all of which are perfect since many of them came along as part of my personal learning process, but some of which are extremely popular. I know that I worked really, really hard to put this stuff together, including proofreading and getting Corran to proofread it as well (which isn't as good as test knitting but I needed to get it done to be first to market). I know that lots of people sell patterns all the time and some will be better than mine and some will be worse. Heck, I've signed pattern books out of the library that had terrible instructions and almost unreadable patterns due to fancy fonts on dark backgrounds, etc. And if it was an office job or manual labour, I'd have no problem asking for money. A significant part of why I give away/sell patterns versus selling knitted works is because I refuse to sell stuff at a price that pays me less than minimum wage to create, which would make anything I knit far too expensive for anyone to buy. But with the pattern, I've discovered that deep down in my heart, I'm a craft commie, and I feel horribly guilty about charging money for it. Not that I'm going stop charging...I'm going to keep up the capitalist facade and keep my guilty commie conscious to LiveJournal whining. :) | ||||||||
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April 8th, 2008
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| As I was working over the past week or so, I accumulated a pile of interesting stories and even three memes (I was trying to keep awake during pattern upload attempts). Here are the goodies I've found that may interest some of you: 1) The most recent issue of Consumer Reports has an article about bisphenol A describing how industry-funded studies saying it is safe are trumping government-funded studies that may indicate otherwise. This links in with my previous post about the chemical and subsequent letter to Avent. 2) 91% + 87% + 88% = FAILED, New math tests overwhelm large percentage of Clark County high school students
The link has some sample test questions. I looked at them half asleep on allergy medication and got the three I bothered to read (the first one and the last two...I skipped multi-step computational because I don't do computation before breakfast) and got them pretty quickly, especially since there are some severely STUPID choices in the answers (hello, 2 pairs of sides means four sides and then you don't have a triangle any more...for pity's sake Peo knows a triangle has three sides...after reading this article we asked her, "Does a triangle have four sides?" and she laughed as she said, "Noooooo!"). The article says educators are surprised. Well, a former math professor sitting behind me here certainly isn't. The majority of students he taught in the UNLV honours program were woefully undereducated. Know who his best students were? The self-directed homeschooled kids. Yup, if we stay in town, it's homeschooling for us. 3) I've seen two other fun articles recently about how craptastic Nevada is for raising kids. Buying A Home: The 10 Best States for Babies (free registration might be required) came out of a 4-month study on states based on categories such as access to pediatrics and other health care issues, childcare issues, pro-parent legislation, etc. California is number 1. Nevada is number 49. Kids Are Falling in the Wellness Gap
That one ranked Nevada at 43. Whoooppeeeeee... 4) Peter Sagal of NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me goes off about the gender stupidity in the recent Horton movie. A very amusing piece. For the record, Horton Hears a Who was my favourite Dr. Seuss story as a kid. Everything I've seen about this movie is making me want to run and hide. 5) A fun list of some of the best April Fools jokes from this year. By far, my favourite is the Super Pii Pii Brothers. But that could just be because I'm in the middle of toilet-training a toddler. 6) And then some memes...one about nerds, two about Discworld... ( Read more... ) | ||||||
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| We just finally got around to going to the store Peo won a $100 gift card for in an art contest a few months ago. Didn't use the whole card yet, but we got her a periodic table poster (she likes the letters, numbers, and colours...calls it an "ABC 123 poster!"), an abacus, and a set of plastic tile puzzle pieces and matching picture cards (she played with something similar at the museum in November...pics of that to come as soon as I get around to doing November's pics). Now all we need to do is get around to getting the Tom Lehrer album with the periodic table song. :D | ||||||
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| I've been quiet lately for two significant reasons: 1) The company Corran worked for is in receivership, so he is currently unemployed and looking for a new job. We're not panicked or anything because it was a long time in coming, but it's making us quite busy around here. I had been keeping it quiet for various reasons, but in theory the company was supposed to have moved us to San Francisco by March. Clearly, that is not happening at this point. But we don't know where Corran's job search will take us, so stay tuned for more on that. And if anyone knows of a specific job opportunity for someone with a PhD in mathematics, a long teaching record, and recent industry experience in data visualization and self-organizing maps, feel free to let us know. We're willing to relocate to most parts of Canada or New Zealand, some European countries (especially UK), the Sydney area of Australia (and okay maybe Melbourne too, but really, if I'm moving down there it's mainly to be close to Corran's family in Sydney), and most blue US states. Red states are right out. And I mean blue from the last election, not any trends for the upcoming one. Or I guess we'd stay in Vegas since we've got friends here. 2) I have been busting my butt to finish knitting my 3D alphabet, type up all the patterns including instructions on the techniques used, etc., and put it all together as my very first for-sale pattern. I got wind that someone else was suddenly trying to beat me to it, so I put everything else aside to get there first, and I did! Yay! I knit through the flu and actually fell asleep while knitting twice. I suppose it's a testament to the ease of the pattern that I kept knitting successfully while sleeping! It is available as a PDF download for US$12. That's 27 patterns (because Pi is in there as a bonus letter) plus a full description of the system with full-colour instructional photos, so the cost is only 44 cents per pattern. This page on my site has all of the information on how to order, plus it now houses the individual letter photos (which are no longer clogging up the gallery): http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/k It is sold through Ravelry but you DO NOT have to be a Ravelry member to purchase it. However, Ravelry members can access the pattern for queuing and/or purchasing here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib And for the record, this doesn't mean I'll stop giving away free patterns. The bulk of my patterns will always be free, and in fact I'll be posting another one in the next couple of weeks. I thought it might be nice to occasionally earn a bit of money to keep up my knitting supplies so I can continue to give more away in the future. :) PS, someone bought it before I even got that info posted. Yay! I'm the breadwinner now, haha! :D | ||||||
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March 31st, 2008
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| We are in the middle of very intense, important stuff around here. I will not be reading nor responding to email, posts, etc. for the next few days. Nobody should expect a response from me on any subject. All will be made clear in a few days. | ||||
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Blatherings
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