The other day, we had a bit of an urgent childcare need. My mother-in-law Connie usually sits a six-month-old relative during the day, so she agreed to bring her over to our house so she could sit Riley, too.
That afternoon, I called to check if Connie needed anything, and during our conversation she stopped and said, "Riley, I don't think that's a ( Read more... )

We had a cookie-decorating contest at work, and I took third prize!

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A recent XKCD is awfully familiar.
Coming home and starting dinner and then eating an hour or more later doesn't work out for us, so I've dusted off the ol' slow cooker for our most recent efforts to cook more. My secret (aaaah, I just told the whole Internet!) to a hearty stew is a can or two of Italian recipe stewed tomatoes, and I found a recipe ( Read more... )

Christmas Eve morning, Joellen headed downstairs with wee Riley for the usual morning routine. On the couch was a snoozing body in a bulky hooded jacket.
Now, we've recently had a death in the family, and we have a bereaved relative staying with us. So Joellen doesn't panic. She concludes we're unexpectedly (but not unwillingly) hosting a young ( Read more... )

Our new fridge has a water dispenser on the front.
We have a toddler in the house.
Yeah.

Bacon or beer can?

I love discovering that the best way to cook something is the simplest. I contributed turkey and cranberry sauce to the Thanksgiving feast with my wife's family this year. I had some glitches with the turkey (I should make turkey a few times through the year to practice it), but my cranberry sauce was definitely successful. I used this recipe, and ( Read more... )

I enjoyed Small Worlds. It's short, and I recommend leaving its music on for the duration.
Samarost is like playing a game within a piece of art. Lovely, engaging, weird.

The Wii has some innovative controls, and one of the nice ones is the balance board. But I can't help thinking that game designers are really missing the boat.
Nearly all of the Wii games that employ the balance board (as the primary or optional control) are sports or exercise themed. As a fat gamer, I'm really not that interested in sports and ( Read more... )