On the Domestic Front

Yesterday we went to Corvallis to visit my folks on my Dad's birthday. The night before I made a chocolate mousse, and we brought it down in our faboulus Denby Storm Ramkins. Although I poured all the chocolate into the custard instead of the other way around, the mousse came out okay, if a bit less creamy.

I took a series of unfortunate photos of Arthur and my Grandmother (she was having a bad hair day), but I did get a good shot of him in the Corvallis waterfront park area. Arthur is going through some crazy sort of growth spurt or something -- his sleep schedule has been all over. He really likes Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and pesters us all day to watch it. Right now we're limiting his video viewing to no more than fifteen minutes at a time and we try to only watch videos once a day. That doesn't stop him from yelling out "Itty Bam Bam!" all the time; usually when he sees a car or when I'm surrounded by people who wonder where my infant learned how to swear. I prefer it when he says, "Chootchie," which is his request for the Baron and Baroness's song and dance routine.

Earlier in the week it had been up in the mid fifties, but yesterday and today have been a bit cooler and windier. Yesterday, I took off the awning over the dining room window. I did have one of those "stupid houseowner moments" where I was unscrewing the top screws of the awning while the ladder I was standing on was leaning up against the awning -- note to self: yes you really should leave the top two corner screws in place. Luckily, I escaped with only skinned knuckles when the awning (and the ladder and me) slipped. The result was worth it, though -- our dining room area is now flooded with light. Before, that area was like a cave; now I think we'll only have to use the dining area light on cloudy days or at night. I can feel my seasonal depression lifting already.

Mark and I have plans for the back yard, too. I think we're going to rip out a bunch of the uglier and ill-placed shrubs. I'm going to move the herbs (and their attendant bees) away from the patio area and to the sides of the yard. We have to figure out something for the patio, too; right now it's sort of like a landing strip with a tin roof over it. I want to figure out some elegant shade on the west side for when it's too sunny in the summer time and some storage benches so it doesn't look like a toy store delivery truck crashed in our back yard.

Still no word from Writers of the Future. Any day, now.