Basil Gelato

It's Ice Cream Sunday. Today, it was Basil Gelato. It was good and interesting. I got the recipe here.

Ingredients

2 cups basil leaves
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
¾ cup sugar
1 tbsp. lemon zest
¼ tsp. salt
6 egg yolks

Instructions

Combine basil, milk, cream, sugar, zest, salt, and yolks in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a 2-qt. saucepan and heat gently until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and pour through a fine strainer; chill in the refrigerator. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Serve garnished with fresh basil leaves.

Beet Ice Cream with Mascarpone, Orange Zest, and Poppy Seeds

We are starting a summer tradition called Ice Cream Sunday, featuring unique (and hopefully delicious) ice cream flavors.

This is what we (and by "we", I mean Vernon) made today. It is based on this recipe. It was really yummy.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups milk

4 tsp. cornstarch

1-1/4 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp. maple syrup

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Peel of 1 orange

3 tbsp. mascarpone cheese, softened

1/2 cup puréed roasted beets

2 tbsp. poppy seeds

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup milk and the cornstarch; set aside. In a 4-qt. saucepan, whisk together remaining milk and the cream, sugar, syrup, and salt; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add orange peel. Cook for 4 minutes; stir in milk/cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2 minutes.

2. Place mascarpone cheese in a bowl and pour in 1/4 cup hot milk mixture; whisk until smooth. Then whisk in remaining milk mixture; stir in beets. Pour mixture into a plastic bag; seal, and submerge in a bowl of ice water until chilled.

3. Remove orange peel. Pour mixture into an ice cream maker; process according to manufacturer's instructions, adding poppy seeds during the last minute of churning. Transfer ice cream to a storage container and freeze until set.

Most Popular Things People Search for and Find My Blog

Here is a list of the most popular things people search for and find my blog:

1) Some form of the name Goofy Mama (goofymama, goofy mama blog, goofy mama blogspot)
2) Chris Gaines
3) Lotus Birth
4) Walking Wings
5) Katy Perry Movie
6) Bristol Stool Chart
7) How to Jack Off

(So, now I know what I need to write more about if I want to get people's attention.)

And these are my most popular blog posts of all-time (half of them are recipes that have appeared on Foodgawker.com):

1) Greek Pastitsio
2) Stuff My Husband Has Put Into My Vagina
3) Macaroni and Cheese Pizza
4) Seven Layer Tortilla Pie
5) Sail My Vessel
6) Strawberry Chicken Salad
7) Chicken Chow Mein
8) The Katy Perry Movie
9) My Before and After Pictures
10) Coconut Oil is the Best Natural Lubricant Ever!

		(An enormous number of people have searched and found #2 just this week. Why? I don't know. Okay. Yes, I do.)

Brownies

Yesterday, our downstairs neighbor boy came up and told us he had some brownies for us. (They oftentimes send up treats for us to eat.) So we were all excited to eat these brownies, and we uncovered the plate, and all that was on it was a bunch of brown colored letter 'E's.

So disappointing (yet so very, very clever).

Happy April Fool's Day to us.

What I Should Conquer Next

Vern said to me, "Do you know what you should try to conquer next?"

I said, "Poker?"

"No."

"Rock Climbing?"

"No."

"Bowling?"

(These were all things I was thinking of mastering.)

"No."

"What then?"

"You should work on not punching someone in the face when they tickle you."

(I don't actually punch people in the face, but I do kind of make the motion like I'm going to punch them in the face. It's, like, a knee-jerk reaction that I just can't help. Apparently, I need to conquer that.)

Walnut Cake with Mascarpone Cream

I made this for Easter, because I couldn't find all of the ingredients for tiramisu (where the heck does one find ladyfingers anyway???). The original recipe came from here. It's supposed to be a coffee cake, but I didn't have coffee, so I just made it without.

Also, it should be noted, as seen in the photo, that I should have let the cake cool completely before frosting it. There is supposed to be a middle layer of frosting, but it all got smooshed in and absorbed into the cake.

Cake

• 1 cup walnuts (about 4 ounces), toasted, chopped, divided
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Coffee-mascarpone cream

• 4 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) mascarpone cheese*
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  3/4 cup (about 3 ounces) walnuts, toasted, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

Vern's Blog Posts

From approximately 2005 through 2007, Vern had a blog on MySpace. I was reading through some of his entries, and I thought I would post some of the highlights here, on occasion (like, on the occasion when I can't think of anything else to write about). Enjoy.


This one is from January 21, 2007:

I (and by extension, the whole family) was listening to a cd today while making whole wheat pancakes when Allison asked who was singing the song that was playing. I told her that it was Jet.
To which she inquired, "From the 80's?"
To which I responded, "No, I believe that would be The Jets."
To which she said something about seeing them live when she was in Girl Scouts.
End Scene.


And this one from October 3, 2006:

And what's all the fuss about Grey's Anatomy? Allison flipped to it during Supernatural's commercial breaks last week. Is it supposed to be a comedy or a drama or what? I couldn't tell, and it didn't seem to do either one very well. All I can say is that it's no Scrubs.  

Ocean's 10th Birthday

My lovely daughter, Ocean, turned ten yesterday. Here is what we did:

Happy 36th Birthday (to me)

I have a secret to tell you: I always feel a little bit weird on my birthday. You all know how I really like to celebrate my birthday and everything, but part of me just wants to curl up inside myself and sit there for the day. I just get really reflective on my birthday (I mean, much more so than my usual level of reflectiveness). And I just feel... weird. I don't know how else to describe it. And I get that feeling every year.

I feel kind of quiet and within myself, like how I am when I'm in labor. Maybe I'm feeling like I'm getting ready to give birth to a new year for myself (if that makes any sense). I don't know.

I used to have problems with my birthday living up to my expectations. (You know, because I take my birthday so seriously and I love it so much that I just want everything to go so perfectly.) But, over the past several years, I've taken control of my birthday and I organize it so that it meets my expectations (and if it doesn't, then I am the only one to blame).

The formula looks basically like this:

1) Go out alone for a couple of hours and enjoy my free birthday drink from Caribou Coffee (a spicy hot chocolate).
2) Go rollerskating with my family.
3) Have Vernon make me a cake.

It's a winning formula and a wonderful tradition. (See here, here, and here.)

But I'm trying to let go of my expectations altogether. I'm working on it, anyway. Like, when I was opening presents today, Ezra wanted to hand out the presents as he chose, but Ocean wanted to save her present for one of the last ones, which made him upset so he went pouting off to his room. So, instead of getting upset and yelling, "Knock it off, Ezra. It's my birthday," I let go of expectations, and just thought that in my head. And eventually he came out of his room and stopped pouting, and all was well.

So, anyway, here is my birthday:

After a breakfast of blueberry walnut pancakes, my solo trip to Caribou, and then a family trip to church, I opened up my presents. I got this card from Ocean:

Then we ate my birthday cake for lunch:

It was an ice cream cake with brownie layers and a cream cheese frosting:

This is us on our way to the rollerskating rink:

And this is us at the rollerskating rink. I look like Slouchy McSloucherton here:

I had a Groupon and it included a free pizza from the rollerskating place (Cheap Skate in Coon Rapids, MN), so here Peace is eating the pizza:

And this is me and Vernon. He is making that face on purpose (don't ask me why):

And this is just an extraneous picture, featuring my bangs, because I know you are all interested in that:

So, yeah, I am kind of inside myself most of the day. But there are moments, like when I am rollerskating around the rink, holding Peace's hand, and Mumford and Sons "I Will Wait" is playing, and Ocean and Vern are practicing rollerskating backwards in the center of the rink, and Ezra is racing around on his rollerblades and has gotten quite good... there are moments like these when the world will stop and I'll notice it all and think about how amazingly awesome it is to be here, in my life.

It's a good place to be.

Placenta and Nuchal Cord Charts!

 You know how I like to do those charts (See: Charts!, More Charts!, and Another Chart!)? Well, here are some more:

And a more general look at that:

And then this one:

How Do I Feel About My Bangs?

How do I feel about getting bangs, you ask?

Well, I'm not sure.

I think my expectations were a bit unrealistic.

Looking back on it now, I'm pretty sure that I went into it with the expectation that having bangs would make me into a more beautiful person. But, instead, I look more or less the same. I still look like me. Except I have bangs now.

And I'm not any more beautiful.

I Got Bangs!

It happened. I did it. I really did.

(I suppose I could have posed for a better picture. Those are my pajamas you're seeing.)

I Love Thomas Merton

So, there is this Catholic Trappist monk who was also kind of into Buddhism and interfaith understanding who I really love. His name is Thomas Merton.

Here is a quote from him, in his especially awesome book, "New Seeds of Contemplation":

"A saint is capable of loving created things and enjoying the use of them and dealing with them in a perfectly simple, natural manner, making no formal references to God, drawing no attention to his own piety, and acting without any artificial rigidity at all. His gentleness and his sweetness are not pressed through his pores by the crushing restraint of a spiritual strait-jacket. They come from his direct docility to the light of truth and to the will of God. Hence a saint is capable of talking about the world without any explicit reference to God, in such a way that his statement gives greater glory to God and arouses a greater love of God than the observations of someone less holy, who has to strain himself to make an arbitrary connection between creatures and God through the medium of hackneyed analogies and metaphors that are so feeble that they make you think something is the matter with religion." 

I just love him really a lot. That is all.

Montessori Schools

I was talking to this lady from church about education the other day. Her kids went to a Montessori elementary school (J.J. Hill Montessori in St Paul, for those of you wondering), and she was wondering how they would transition to a regular school setting when they entered junior high. So, when he entered junior high (Ramsey Junior High in St Paul, for those of you keeping track), she asked him how he was transitioning. And he said, "It's easy. The teachers do all the work for you."

And then we were talking about how our church school (St Mark's in St Paul, for those of you still playing along) wanted to increase their enrollment (they're goal is 50 new students in kindergarten for the new school year, but it's been said that they would be happy getting half of that), and I suggested that they should make it a Montessori school because parents today (at least all of my friends) love Montessori and people are willing to pay for a Montessori education. I know I, personally, would rather pay for my kids to have a Montessori education over a Catholic one (which is what I actually do... but we get a HUGE scholarship.). I just don't see much difference (aside from being able to talk about God in school) between the Catholic school model and a regular school. (Vern used to be an elementary teacher and has taught in a couple of Catholic schools.)

Maria Montessori (the founder behind this whole thing) was a devout Catholic, but there is only one Catholic Montessori elementary school in the Twin Cities area, and that is way up in Blaine.

Maybe I should suggest that to the school board or something. Now, if only I were that type of person...

Retro Vernon (and This Is 36)

Yesterday, Vern and I stopped at this store called Retro Wanderlust in Hopkins, MN during our "Vernon and Allison Date Day", and I requested that he try on some shirts:

Then we went to the movie "This is 40" at the cheap theater in Hopkins, and it was weirdly, kind of embarrassingly, similar to our lives. As in, we had similar faults as the characters in the movie. Vernon said something about that, and I said, "It just means we are similar to Judd Apatow, and that makes us cool."

There is this one scene in the movie where the couple is having a nice, peaceful moment, and she says to him, "Why do we fight? It makes no sense at all?" And he says, "When we get in a fight, look in my eyes. Let’s remember this moment right now and know that we never have to fight."

And Vernon and I have had almost the exact same conversation, word for word. (Except, I went so far as to suggest a code word that would remind us not to fight and remember the peaceful time.)

Anyway, so then we were at church today, and (some of) the kids were being kind of frustrating, and Vern leans over to me and says, "This is 36."

And I say, "Am I 36? I'm not 36, am I?"

And we both thought it over for a bit and came to the conclusion that I was 35 (not quite 36). And so I said, "This is 35... when you can't even remember your own age anymore."

Ah... good times.

Warm Bodies

I've been staring at my MOVIES tab, wondering why the heck I still have a MOVIES tab.

And then it occurred to me... I should write about movies again! (It was one of my New Year's resolutions, remember?)

So, I will.

And I will start with Warm Bodies. Which was awesome. So much fun. But also tenderhearted and meaningful. I laughed. I cried.

Vern said, "That was really well done."

Remember Rob Corddry, from The Daily Show? He was in it. But that doesn't really have anything to do with anything because his role wasn't really that big, but I was kind of excited to see him. Same goes for Dave Franco (James Franco's brother). He is always delightful. I've enjoyed watching him in the 21 Jump Street movie and on Scrubs.

Yeah, so Warm Bodies is about this zombie boy who, in the most unconventional way possible, falls in love with a human girl. And some other interesting stuff happens, and then it's over and you are delighted for having watched such an enjoyable little movie.

(Aren't I good at these movie reviews? It's a wonder I didn't do them more often.)

Our Annual Valentine's Day Picture

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

We do a picture like this every year. Click this link to see years' past. (And last year's.) Oh, how the kids have changed.

Snowmen

Good snowman making weather today.

Thank You.

I reached my goal for my documentary a couple of days ago (with 33 days to go in the campaign). Wow.

It's a weird, kind of embarrassing, and kind of humiliating thing for me to do (asking for money), so I probably won't write much more about the campaign from here on out.

But I do want to say this:

It has also been a powerful and humbling experience for me. It almost brings tears to my eyes every time I see a new donation has come in. Whether it is from people I know really well, people I hardly know, or people I don't know at all... it is an equally powerful and humbling experience. Friends have donated, fellow birth people, filmmakers, and other names that I can't even place.

A total of 39 people so far.

Thank you.

A friend of mine was telling me how she thought it was funny how I had the same perk (an on-screen credit) for any amount given. I told her it was because I had nothing else to give. But I was thinking about it some more, and it's not just that. It's more that every single one of the donations means a great deal to me. Like, maybe one person's $5 is another person's $50, you know? The intention behind it is the same: somebody is giving money in love and support of me or my project.

And that means a lot.

Thank you.

As a good friend of mine told me when I was crying about this at playgroup one day (long story, don't ask): "It's okay to ask for things."

And so it is.

Thank you.

Netflix Recap

Our month of free Netflix streaming has come to an end. Here is a recap.

Movies Vern and I watched together:


Drive - Ryan Gosling. Boring.
Take This Waltz - Michelle Williams and Seth Rogan. Really enjoyed the beauty of it.
Young Adult - Charlize Theron. It was alright.
Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale - Funny.

The Queen of Versailles - Interesting documentary.

Mr. Universe - Another funny Jim Gaffigan special.
Bernie - I watched this one because I saw that Jack Black got nominated for a Golden Globe for it. It's about real-life events, but made to look like a documentary, with actors playing the parts of the real people.

Merton: A Film Biography - I love this guy, Thomas Merton.

Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - documentary about Conan's tour after he got fired from the Tonight Show. Conan is rather biting at times.
Everything Must Go - we only watched part of this, because we fell asleep. It was alright.


Movies I watched on my own:

Melancholia - Kirsten Dunst. Didn't know what to think about it.
Three Magic Words - Cheesey.

Afterlife - Not that interesting.
I'm Reed Fish - Alexis Bledel and Jay Baruchel star, which is why I wanted to watch it, but it was rather bland and not that interesting.
Spork - kind of like Napoleon Dynamite, if Napoleon Dynamite were a 14-year-old hermaphrodite girl. Cute.
Happy - a documentary about being happy.
The Future - For some reason, I've always wanted to see a movie by Miranda July. I had heard about her somewhere, and made a mental note to watch one of her movies sometime. This was a quirky and good little movie.
Tiny Furniture - I watched this because I saw that it starred Lena Dunham, that 26-year-old behind the HBO series Girls. It was good. Nothing groundbreaking, but a fairly solid independent flick.
The Human Experience - Documentary. Just ended up watching part of it. Okay.
American Mystic - Documentary. Just watched part of this one as well. Not that good.
 

Movies Vernon watched on his own:

For Greater Glory - some kind-of religious movie about a Mexican war.
Pearl Jam Twenty - a documentary about Pearl Jam. Vernon loves Pearl Jam.


Overall, didn't really, really enjoy all that much of it. The only one that I really, really liked was Take This Waltz, but I wouldn't even recommend that one to everyone because it is kind of different and I can see it not being everyone's cup of tea.

So, now, back to our regular scheduled programming... (The Office, Supernatural, Shark Tank, etc)

The Farmer Dell

I grew up in this little town (population 741) in the northwestern corner of Minnesota called Argyle. My parents owned and operated a restaurant and lounge there called the Farmer Dell. They opened it the year that I was born (1977) and sold it 21 years later.

I grew up in that restaurant, looking for fallen change on the bar floor when I went there with my dad in the morning hours. Eating maraschino cherries. Discovering the joys of Shirley Temple's and Roy Roger's. Telling my mom to bring home a bacon cheeseburger with alphabet fries when she came home. Working there as a waitress when I was a teenager. All of that.

The couple that owned it after my parents ran it for the next 14 years. Then they sold it to someone else, last year, I think, and these people spent a lot of money remodeling the place and renamed it the Harvest Bar & Grill (but I'm pretty sure everyone continued to call it the Farmer Dell, or just the "Dell" for short).

But now it's closed.

And that's kind of sad.

It was the last restaurant remaining in Argyle (the other restaurant, The Cafe, has closed as well). And it was a good restaurant. I will miss the relish trays, and garlic toast, and blue cheese dressing, and beer cheese soup, and mud pie, and deep fried shrimp, and all the rest of it.

I haven't eaten there in a long time, but I still like to know that it's there, you know?

Kind of like Argyle in general. A little town that is on its way to dying. I don't want to live there, but I still want it to exist, you know?

Friday Finds

1. This facebook post from my sister:

Dear Mrs. Obama,

My two active kids are not getting enough to fill them up during the school lunch hour, and they are famished by the end of the day thanks to your new food guidelines. Okay, 13% of children are overweight, but what about the 87% who are not? Give them the fuel they need to make it through a typical day. I think we're also forgetting that (studies show) students who are hungry have lower school performance and concentration levels because of it.

Sincerely, 

Mom of kids who are eating more junk food now than ever before because of the crap they now eat after school in order to get full!

Speaking of Michelle Obama, did you all see that she got bangs? Just look at her, always showing me up. Always.

Oh, and then there is this video to go along with what my sister was saying:



2. This article on dieting by Margaret Cho.

3. Which is a much better philosophy on dieting than Giuliana Ransic has.

4. I was looking at a list of the World's Oldest People, and I found it interesting that 60% of the World's Oldest Living People are from the United States. I mean, why is that? There are a lot of other countries (and industrialized countries) in the world. Why the U.S.?

That is all.

I Need Help.

I am kind of scared, you guys.

I just set up an Indiegogo campaign for that documentary I've been talking about, and now I'm all atwitter about it.

I guess this is kind of like a Great Perhaps kind of moment for me. I am on the threshold of actually doing something kind of big, and it's kind of a big deal, and I'm kind of nervous about it.

Ahhh!!!

I spent about 2 hours today talking to the camera, trying not to look like a moron, and I'm pretty sure that I did not succeed.

So, yeah, anyway, if you would like to donate (please do!), click this link below:

http://www.indiegogo.com/midwifedocumentary

Or click on the button on the sidebar.

Or share the link.

Or something.

(Yikes.)

The Red Hat Society

Okay, so you all remember my mom, right?

She's kind of a weird, crazy lady (see pictures below):

Anyway, she is an active member in this nationwide old lady craze called The Red Hat Society. (Click here to see their very informative and detailed website.) This group started in 1997 when a lady gave her friend a red hat for her 50th birthday and a poem with the lines,

"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me."

So, basically, this is a group of old ladies going around saying, "We don't give a frick about what people think of us anymore and we're going to wear our red hats!" So, they go around wearing their red hats and purple outfits and just not caring what people think anymore.

At first, I kind of rolled my eyes at this whole concept. Especially when my mom goes around decorating her guest bedroom (which we have to stay in) with Red Hat Society theme:

But now, I've come to appreciate it, in certain respects. For, I am at a point in my life where I am saying, "I don't give a frick about what people think of me anymore."

Granted, I'm not going to go about wearing a stupid red hat or making theme rooms on the matter... but it is a nice concept, and one that we should embrace whether or not we are 50, 35, or 20.

Screw the world. Who cares what anyone else thinks? Where your red hats, ladies. Do what you want to do. Enjoy your life. Don't listen to societal norms that tell you NOT to wear red hats with purple outfits. Do what my mom does and put together weird "Alternatives to the Christmas Sweater" parties and Halloween costumes that say you're "Miss Conduct".

Or, go rollerskating with a group of friends, even if you're 35 years old. Or play laser tag. Or go snow tubing.

I tell you, this Grown Up Fun Times thing that I started is like the new, cooler version of the Red Hat Society for the next generation. (Much, much cooler.)



But it has the same message:

Have fun.
Stop Caring What People Think.
Do What You Want To Do.
Form Community.

What's not to love? So, my mom can have her Red Hats. I can have my Fun Times. And I'll try not to make fun of her too much because we are probably very much alike.

The Purpose of Art

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls." - Pablo Picasso

Doing New Things

You know how when you're growing up, you're always experiencing things for the first time? Like, learning how to walk, going to school for the first time, falling in love, getting your first job, getting married, having kids. All of that.

When we get older, we might fall into the habit of living our lives (basically) for our children, and sometimes we forget to do things of interest for our own selves. New things.

Like, kids are always taking some sort of a class or another (swimming lessons, choir practice, drama, soccer, piano, etc). Why don't adults do that?

When was the last time you ever took a class?

When was the last time you did something that interested you, just for the sake of doing it?

Most of us don't set out to live our lives vicariously through our children, but sometimes it happens anyway, because it is so easy to fall into.

I've been aware of these thoughts and have tried to keep on top of them over the years. I've taken classes. I've started this thing called Grown Up Fun Times to help keep me doing fun and interesting things that I may have forgotten about over the years. I've started going to a Book Club (which was a new thing for me). And learning new hobbies, like drawing Manga.

Or teaching myself how to juggle. Or doing community theater. Or learning ventriloquism (although that didn't really amount to anything other than learning how to say some stupid statement about a ghost). Or doing art shows. Or playing poker. Or any of that. My point is... do new things. Don't let yourself become bored. Or complacent. Or not fun.
That is all.

Dumb Pictures

So, when I dug up those old pictures of Vernon, I found a couple of other pictures as well.

There is this one, from my photography class. Apparently, the conversation with Vern must have gone something like this:

Allison: Take off your shirt and sit on this stairwell. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I'm an artist!

Vernon (rolls eyes): Whatever.

And then there's this one, of my mom, somewhere in Chicago. Again, the conversation:

Allison: Stand with your leg up against the wall, Mom. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I'm an artist.

I don't know what the hell I was thinking.

And then, I found our engagement pictures, taken at the JCPenney Portrait Studios (where I was working at the time). They're kind of dumb. Look at us, just standing there, looking all stupid.

Why is it that we do such dumb things in any time that isn't the present?

What Ocean Thinks of Our Family

Ocean is doing this "All About Me" project for school, and this is what she wrote about her family:

My little sister Peace, who is three, is nice and likes to play. My brother Ezra is seven. He can be nice and he likes sports. My dad is a nice person and a very good Catholic. My mom is nice and has a lot of friends.

Yep. That pretty much sums it up.


Netflix Update:
Drive - Not very good. Or, as Vern put it, "One of the worst movies I've ever seen." There was this song used in the movie that was the stupidest song I've ever heard, and it seemed so cheesey within the context of the movie. Ryan Gosling stars.
Melancholia - I don't know what to think of this movie. I don't.

Old Pictures of Vern

You know how I did that photo shoot of Vern for his birthday? And I thought I would do those more often because I want to capture what he looks like, from year to year, growing older (just like I do for my kids). I think that all of us adults should do this for each other, because won't it be fun to look back on who we were when we were 25, 35, 45 years old? (Not to mention that our kids might find it interesting as well.)

The last time I REALLY did this with Vern was 12 years ago, when we lived in Wheaton, IL, and I was studying photography at a local community college. I took a bunch of pictures of him for my classes.

Here are some of them:

This is what Vern looked like when he was 23 years old. And that is kind of nice to remember.

So, take pictures of yourselves now, grown ups, because it's going to be fun to look back on when you're 80.

Thoughts for the New Year...

Most people make these things called New Year's Resolutions at the beginning of every New Year. Well, every year I do mine on January 10, just to be different. (I'm making this up. I'm just doing this now because I never got around to doing it at the beginning of the year.)

Without further ado, here are my resolutions:

• Foster Relationships
• See More Movies in the Theater - going to movies has been something I always enjoyed, and I have gotten out of the habit of doing it since having children. The Oscar nominations came out today, and I find myself not even being that excited about them. I don't want my excitement to die, so I need to cultivate it. 
• Avoid Being Dogmatic - about nutrition plans, workout regimens, belief systems, parenting philosophies, etc. Also, avoid being dogmatic about being non-dogmatic  
• Work on My Eyebrow Plan
• Be Authentic

I also made a resolution for Vernon for the New Year: Make More Decisions. You may think that you can't make resolutions for another person. But you can (whether or not they will listen to you is another story). Vernon has always been really bad at making decisions, and he will ask me for input in making the arbitrary decisions in his life... like, what do I care whether he takes his coat off in church or not? I told Vern about my resolution for him, and how it was for me too, because it would help me let go of controlling everything. And he said, "But then you're just controlling what decisions you want me to make or not." Touche, Vernon, touche. So, I said, "Well, then let's just have you make ALL the decisions. I won't even change underwear without getting your input first."

So, we'll see how that goes. Let me know if you want me to make a resolution for you (if you know me in real life). Just write something in the comments of the facebook link or something.


Netflix Update:
No update today. We caught up on a new episode of Shark Tank. But I did want to talk a little bit more about Take This Waltz... some other things I forgot to mention were that it also stars Sarah Silverman, it has a good soundtrack, and it features this great shower prank which I went on to use on Vernon. Hilarious.

Bangs!

Okay, so I found an old picture from 2005, the last time I got bangs (and I didn't like them, almost cried, and started growing them back immediately).

Here is the picture:

But now I look at the bangs in this picture, and I kind of like them.


Netflix update:
Take This Waltz - A really good flick. Not sure how I missed knowing about it before noticing it on Netflix. It came out in 2011 and stars Michelle Williams and Seth Rogan. I like these actors, and I am usually on top of seeing any movie starring a Freaks and Geeks alum. But, anyway, this movie was amazing, and I'm still thinking about it. It is written and directed by Sarah Polley, who is a beautiful woman two years younger than me. She started out as an actress (I remember her from the movie Go) and has gone on to make some amazing films. Like this one. The visuals are amazing. The whole film is so colorful and vibrant and visually appealing. (I'm still kind of obsessing about the color scheme used in the house, and how to go about re-creating that in my life). The opening scene itself was a work of art. So, yeah, see this movie. A wonderful character study on life and marriage.

Food Challenge Results

So, Vern tried to eat the "Meat Your Maker" on Sunday:

But, he did not do it:

Netflix Update:
Young Adult - Stars Charlize Theron, written by Diablo Cody (of Juno fame), set in Minnesota. A solid independent film, but ultimately, left feeling somewhat unsatisfied. 
Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale - another comedy special by Jim Gaffigan. 
Three Magic Words - A cheesey, not very well done movie, kind of like The Secret. 
Afterlife - A 60 minute look at the afterlife.

On Being Authentic

I was thinking about how I have come full circle with a lot of things in my life.

Like, with things like healthy eating. Going from being so dogmatic about it, to being more relaxed... to now being at an in between place where I can sit back and actually think about how I want it to be.

Same for with drinking.

Or spending money.

I've kind of gone through a process with all of these things, and I'm now at a point where I'm like, "Where do I want to be in regards to ________ in my life?" And I can come at it from a different, broader, more open perspective than I was before.

Take going out to eat, for instance. I want to really look at something like that and I want to determine what *I* think about it? Do I choose to go somewhere because it's what I can afford? Do I not like a restaurant because it's "too mainstream"? Am I being influenced by what my friends like and what other people think in making my decisions? Am I being influenced by my upbringing, and trying to be better than everything I deem as too small-town? Etc.

I just want to authentically determine what it is that *I* like and want out of life. It's all part of the process of self-discovery, I guess, and now that I feel that I've gone full circle through a lot of these things, I am finally able to make those discoveries.

Take that Portlandia-esque "Simpsons" episode that recently aired. Crunchiness, hipsters... everything just becomes a caricature unto itself, and it becomes laughable.

Or that picture of a hipster that I posted once, where it said: "Likes mainstream. Because hating mainstream is too mainstream."

Which got me to thinking... how much of this stuff do I gravitate to because I value it, or am I doing things just because I like to be alternative. To be different.

As I said in my blog post about those freaking owls, "Mostly, I tend to like things that are different (and unique), because I like to be different (and unique). But that seems like a rather poor reason to like (or not like) something, and, as I said before, it has become a modality unto itself."

I want to like things and want things authentically, and I think I am able to do more so now that I have come full circle. Even if those things end up being the exact same things I've liked in the beginning. That is not the point. The point is that the process was important in the reasoning behind all of it.


“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” - St. Catherine of Siena

Netflix and a Food Challenge

Even though Vern swore off food challenges since his last excursion, he might attempt to eat this with a buddy tomorrow:

It is called "Meat Your Maker" and it's from a restaurant called Burger Jone's.  

LEVEL ONE: A bun, grilled with cheese and bacon. It supports a 7 oz. cheeseburger, chicken fried bacon, chili cheese dog-burger, 7 oz. cheeseburger, and chicken-fried bacon. 

LEVEL TWO: Grilled cheese with bacon, a 7 oz. cheeseburger, chicken fried bacon, chili cheese dog-burger, 7 oz. cheeseburger, and chicken-fried bacon. 

LEVEL THREE: Grilled cheese with bacon, a fried egg, cooked to order, topped with onion rings and garnished – no, crowned – with Faribault Creamery cheese curds. 

Calories: Approximately 10,000.

If he tries this, it will be his fourth attempt at a food challenge. (Click here for pictures from the other ones.)

In other news, we signed up for a free month of unlimited steaming of Netflix. So, basically every night this month I'm going to be watching a movie (in order to get my money's worth).

Last night we watched The Queen of Versailles, which was a documentary I had been wanting to see for awhile because it got excellent reviews in Entertainment Weekly. It was about an uber-rich couple building the biggest house in America. But then when the economy went downhill, so did their dreams of owning this 90,000 square foot house. It was really interesting and the wife was rather likable.

The night before that we watched Jim Gaffigan's Mr. Universe comedy special. He had a really funny bit about homebirth (he's had four).

Friday Finds

Just one find for this week. This one is from the 100 Days of Rejection Therapy blog. The premise of the blog is that he is "aiming to have one rejection per day by making crazy requests. His goal is to desensitize myself from the pain of rejection and overcome my fear."

So, he'll make these requests that are so crazy they will elicit a rejection. Requests like asking to be a live model at Abercrombie and Fitch, sending something to Santa via FedEx, asking for the #1 spot in Best Buy's line on Thanksgiving, requesting a burger refill, asking to play soccer in someone else's backyard, offering to deliver a pizza at Domino's, etc.

Well, this one request that he made to Krispy Kreme had a really sweet and heartwarming result. It was during their peak hours, and he went in there and requested donuts connected and colored like the Olympic rings.

Take a look:

Car and Other Updates

We sold our car a couple days after listing it, in case anyone was wondering. Got $350 for it. I just thought I should update everyone on that.

Here are some other things I will update you on:

1) I'm still thinking about getting bangs. Why do I keep thinking about getting bangs? Will these thoughts keep bugging me until I actually go ahead and get bangs (and then possibly regret it), or will they somehow magically go away on their own? (I think I may need to get the bangs.)

Here are some reasons why I keep thinking about getting bangs:

Zooey Deschanel:

And Jenny (from Jenny & Tyler):

I just keep looking at these girls with their cute little bangs, and I just can't stop thinking, "I want bangs!"

And yes, this was me when I was 13 and had bangs, but just shut up about that. I can do my hair a lot better than that now.

2) Vern and I watched "21 Jump Street" (the movie) last night, and it was really funny. Vern was laughing really hard during a fair amount of scenes in the movie, and I said, "I haven't heard you laugh this loud in a long time." And he said, "We must not watch a lot of funny movies."

And that's true. We don't.

3) I think I'm finally at a point in my life where I feel very well balanced in having enough alone time, enough time just with Vernon, enough time with the kids (that one isn't very hard to do), and enough social time. So, kudos to me on that.

Naked Pictures

I show my kids nude pictures on the internet sometimes, because I think they're beautiful. We look at them, and talk about different body shapes, and the beauty of the pictures and stuff like that.

I was showing Vern this one site that I had shown the kids, where this Minneapolis based photographer took these beautiful nude portraits of women in their own homes. And I was showing Vern how beautiful these pictures were, and he was like, "You showed these to the kids?" And I was like, "Yeah, I show them stuff like this all the time."

("All the time" is actually an overstatement, with me just trying to be cute. I had only shown the kids one other artist before this... Spencer Tunick, who is famous for taking pictures of large groups of naked people. His stuff is really cool.)

So, I explained to Vern how I thought it was important for a kids to grow up seeing what a wide variety of normal women's bodies look like (because that seemed like a meaningful and important answer to give, when, in truth, my intention was just to show the kids something that I thought was neat). And he was like, "Okay."

More Pictures from Christmas

Here are some more pictures from Christmas at my Mom's that I haven't gotten around to posting yet.

This is my sister and my niece:

This my mom eating the remainder of the pink squirrel out of an ice cream bucket:

This is my mom and this outfit that she made and wore to her "Alternative to a Christmas Sweater Party" that she threw for some of her friends:

This is my daughter, Peace, when I put some of my mom's curlers in her hair:

This is Peace wearing my mom's "Alternative to the Christmas Sweater Party" outfit:

This is Peace and Vern swimming at the hotel (because my mom got a night at a hotel for cheap in a silent auction, and that is where my sister and her family stayed because my family always wakes her up too early when she stays at my mom's with us):

This is what Vern and I look like in our swimsuits:

These three have the longest tongues in our family (or of anybody else I know). They pose for a picture like this every once in awhile:

That's it. Happy New Year!