I checked out the book Deceptively Delicious from the library to get some ideas about using vegetables more creatively. I have the whole side-dish vegetable thing down, but I was hoping to get some ideas for substituting pureed vegetables in other dishes (especially since I've been making so many purees anyway).

Instead, Deceptively Delicious offers classically unhealthy food with purees thrown in where they won't be noticed. I mean, come on. When half the recipes start with "trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread," I'm pretty sure the healthy-eating goal is out the window. The whole idea is to get your kids to eat better food, but this woman not only glorifies lying to them about what's in the food, but also completely fails to teach even reasonable eating habits. A 1/4 cup of cauliflower puree tossed into mozzarella sticks does not a healthy meal make!

Suffice to say that this one's going back to the library pretty quickly. Color me disappointed.

Noah and I had just finished nursing when Chris walked into our bedroom.  Noah, who had previously been pretty complacent (he's had a very sleepy, spit-uppy day), was just kind of staring into space, not doing much, until Chris came in.  When Noah heard Chris' voice, he got this big smile on his face! Then Chris actually walked around so that Noah could see him, and Noah smiled even bigger! It was the cutest daddy-recognition moment I've seen so far! 

Noah is doing well these days and Chris and I are finally adjusting to being parents.  We have a little bit of a routine, though I never realized how signficant organization can be to keeping the house running smoothly.   Noah requires more laundry,  more feedings, and more diaper changes than I ever thought possible.  Plus, sleep is at a precious premium, so getting it all done requires a schedule and vigilance.  Luckily Noah is a good sleeper when it comes to noises around the house, and that's been a pretty awesome blessing. 

I barely have time to check e-mail and use the computer (certainly far less than I had before), but I'm starting to get into a routine with that as well.  I usually save all my techie business for the evenings, but it gets second shrift to laundry and dinner.  I mean, afterall, sometimes I don't even get a shower until mid-afternoon.  

It's pretty neat being a parent too, even if it is a lot of work.  It's also great to NOT be pregnant anymore! The swelling in my feet finally started to go down, for the first time in weeks!! I might even be able to wear real shoes by tomorrow! Plus, I can also wear my engagement ring for the first time in months, though my wedding band is still a little too tight for comfort.  The weight loss has also been astounding, even though I still have a little pregnant belly.  

Following a debate in the First Continental Congress, John Adams goes to find Ben Franklin at the tavern.   John has just lost his  opposition to a proposal that the colonies will offer an olive branch to the king before fighting the British troops advancing on Boston and Concord.  John is mad at Ben because Ben voted in favor of the resolution.  This bit followed:

John Adams:  "Do you not believe in saying what you think?"
Ben Franklin: " Neh. I'm very much against it.  Thinking out loud is responsible for very much of man's misery."

That's just great!  And not out of keeping with Ben Franklin's character, either, or at least not what I can recall from reading him in my high school literature classes.  (Which, btw, made me feel pretty well-educated!) 

Having been forced to read about this time period all the time in school, it's rewarding to see HBO's portrayal.  It's also a lot of fun to actually remember some of that reading, even though at the time, the reading itself wasn't that brilliant. 

Sometimes, I sit down to read the internet, and I'm done in 2 minutes.  But other times, I start reminiscing on the days when I'd stay up all night programming  or, I'll be honest, cutting and pasting design elements out of someone else's style sheets.   (Ok, fine, really I'm just reminiscing about college and glossing over all the crap parts, like being forced to stay up all night to write worthless code just to prove that I understood object oriented programming.  Blech.)

Anyway, the other day, I found the CSS Zen Garden.  It's basically an HTML template of words, no tables, and you have to use CSS to lay out the page.  I was amused for hours.   Granted, part of the goal - laying out pages without nesting tables - seems more than a little silly to me.  The other part, though - gaining control over the look and feel of the page independently of its content - was really appealing.  I guess the two are more or less intertwined, but I still see a distinction.  You can check out all the designs here.  Be careful though - it'll tempt you to fire up dreamweaver and photoshop and start to "play" around yourself.  Then many hours will wash by and you won't have much to show for it. At least, probably not something you'd show to other people!

MovieOS, in 5 parts. 

Having learned my lesson once, this space will be pretty bare.