Jam on toast

Last week Ira woke up and wanted to play guitar. Who could deny a request like that? We set him up at the table with this tiny guitar and let him shred while I put together some french toast.

He's been a bit obsessive about music these last couple of weeks. His favorite bands of the moment are Black Sabbath and Fleetwood Mac. I don't even understand, but I like to encourage his taste in music wherever it leads him. I don't want him indebted by years of therapy because mommy didn't like Black Sabbath. There's a lot of air drumming/guitar playing going on in the house, which is adorable. We keep asking him if he really wants to learn guitar or drums by taking some lessons. He keeps declining, so I don't think he's ready yet. As I've come to learn, it's usually best to let him take the lead on hobbies and interests. Ira loves to do what Ira loves to do.

In other news I made a Pinterest. I am still not totally sure I'm doing it right, but I'll continue to limp my effort along until I can decide whether to keep it up. My sense of style gets cast by the wayside whenever I have more than a handful of things to think about, so maybe this is a good place to collect all the pretty things I come across on these internets and hope that one day I too can be as stylish. It can be sort of discouraging as much as it inspires, in that the Pinterest machine automatically finds friends for you to follow. Lots of people I know have been at this much longer and so they have much more interesting and much prettier pins than I do. There, I've already lost at Pinterest and now I'm depressed. These are reasons that remind me why I love and hate Real Simple Magazine and TED Talks. They can both inspire me to be a better me, but I never want to put any effort into achieving those organizational and intellectual ideals. This is the sound of sad trumpets. I think the HTML for that is &sadtrumpets; Try it out on Facebook.

What else? Does anyone ever use Flickr anymore? I think I'm getting tired of managing so many social/sharing accounts. Total first-world fatigue! I rarely update it. Stand back because I'm going to fire off my excuse cannon (patent pending). First, Ira pretty much dodges the camera every time I take it out. He hates it! And I hate that he hates it. That face is so precious and I want to remember it at every age/day/mood/expression for all of time, or until I die. I wish I knew how I could get him into it. Second, Flickr is kind of rife with creeps these days. I try to remember to log in at least once a day so that I can block the creepers that favorite my pregnancy pictures. I'm embarrassed to admit that it only just this very second occurred to me to make those photos of my basketball-shaped belly and cankles limited to friends and family only. Third? I just forget to update it much. What? It's a legitimate excuse. So is, "sorry, I just flaked." I have used that before.

I feel pressured to end this one on a positive note. Here's some happy news: Neon family summer vacation planning is in full effect. Dear friends and white sandy beaches. Cannot wait! I will bring you home a dolphin.

Look at this yawning dog!

Snakes, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

What happened to my sweet little baby? One evening last week, I came home from work and picked Ira up. I put him on my hip and asked him to tell me about his day.

His response: "Poop, poop, fart, fart, poop, poop, fart, fart, poop, poop, fart, fart."

Okay, back down you go. He's going to grow out of this phase eventually, right? Until then I'll just have to savor the early mornings, when Ira is the cuddliest, clingiest monkey. Skinny little arms and legs wrapped all around me. I wrap my housecoat around us both, remembering when he was still so small and we didn't go anywhere without him strapped to my body in some kind of baby holder as if we were still one person.

Hello? Yes, this is Ira.

This picture is from the day we made graham cracker houses (I didn't have the energy for gingerbread). Ira and I got sick on frosting and Sno-Caps. But you know what we found? The reception on this graham cracker phone is fantastic. Four bars everywhere!!!




This kid gets the dual holiday treatment. Here's one from the second night of Hanukkah. I'm not an I love chocolate person, but I have a real affinity for cheap milk-chocolate like this gelt.

General sense of blerginess

If I were a computer, I think I'd need to be restarted in safe mode. There's some serious malware that is making me feel super lame. I'm trying to get through it. Here are some pictures taken with my phone from the last few weeks.


We did our Black Friday nature walk. I love the American River Parkway around late November. In previous years it's been a lovely stark grey moonwalk, with the gorgeous lines of bare branches all around. This year there was still so much green! And some dead salmon. That part was kind of gross, but we had a nice walk anyway.



I am trying to take better care of myself. Here's the day where I got an X-Ray because I am pretty sure I have a stress fracture on this leg. From what? Oh, just jogging. OVER A YEAR AGO. The X-Ray didn't show anything significant (though they rarely do for these kinds of stress fractures), so my doctor ordered a two-phase nuclear bone scan. Sounds fancy, right? Costs about as much as you think it does too: about eleventy millions dollars. I don't part with that kind of cash easily, so I'm getting a second opinion. Hopefully someone can just put me in a walking boot and advise me on some new running shoes and inserts. And in case you're like "what the heck are you doing walking around on a broken leg for a year?" Just remember that I experienced a terribly painful childbirth and it's my right to bring that up whenever I want sympathy. I kid, but also kind of not.




This guy. Man, I love this guy. Everything about him is pretty cool except for when it's not.




When it's not pretty cool, I bust the drink out when he goes to bed. This one here is Rampage IPA. I've had it a few times before and thought it was a positively delightful California IPA, being fragrant and crisp with a lingering grapefruit rind taste. This last bottle I got though was super malty and kind of weird. I drank it anyway.




From the department of useful things. You can bend up a card and use it as a smart phone stand. If you're like me and have so many first world problems, you might one day find yourself saying "ugh! I'm just so tired of holding this phone while I watch a movie on it!"




Leon took me to this awesome vegan soul food place and we ate all of this and more. If this plate of food was a pleasant eBay transaction, I would rate it: A++ Would eat again.





I found a killer recipe in Rick Bayless's Authentic Mexican for aceglas guisadas. I had never heard of it, but when I read the recipe, I practically ate the page. It's potatoes, chard, tomatoes, onion and jalapeno stewed down in broth. It came out so great. I stuffed it in these enchiladas and we ate like kings for three days.

There. That about catches us up.