A few pics

Yay, a smile. What a cutie. And those cheeks!

My crawling-backwards baby. Actually, I think she has taken two or three crawls forward in recent days, but she doesn't care for it one bit.

The look on her face is so Evelyn. A bit dazed. Not smiling. Trying to figure out why grandma is flashing this weird silver box at her. Note the DVD disaray in the background. Our new favorite game is to pull everything off shelves. Hooray!

Thank you to Carol for taking these pictures. Jon and I have been slacking with the documenting of Evelyn's cuteness.

There's a doins a-happenin.

Oh my, the last week has been filled with work-related madness. Not on my end, but in Jon's world. To make a long story short, Jon's tattoo shop was closed on Wednesday due to in-fighting between the two owners. One was stealing from the shop, the other had his head in the sand, and the whole thing came to a head last week. NOT GOOD. Jon and the other artists got their stuff out before the police confiscated all the keys and told everyone to leave pending a legal determination of who is entitled to operate the shop. Both owners are on the lease, but the one in charge of that location (the thief) hadn't paid the rent in May. Or the phone bill, or cable bill, etc. It isn't good. Jon has known something was amiss for a while, although he didn't know the extent of the one man's thievery, so he has basically been keeping the shop afloat for months. But no amount of work could keep things from falling apart.

While Jon was initially hoping the owners would get things resolved quickly--any legal battle would clearly side against the stupid thief--he is now less optimistic. The thief-owner got the shop's landlord to let him into the shop and he took all the equipment. Chairs, phones, sterilizing machine, display cases, etc. It's all gone. So now Jon doesn't think the shop is going to reopen. Ever. He found a temporary place to tattoo until he can find something more permanent, but it isn't ideal. But he has an idea for what would be ideal...

Opening his own shop.

So now we are pursuing that idea. He found two great locations, but we quickly learned about Denver zoning laws and realized neither would work for varying reasons. A third location is just too big. He is meeting with a commercial real estate person who recently helped a friend find a commercial rental space. He has a name for his shop. He has a marketing plan. He has three other artists who have committed to working for him. He has leads on financing, although not the cash-in-hand yet. He is meeting with his brother, who has an MBA, to develop an official business plan. He already has an accountant who works with small businesses. He has the drive and the know-how and the contacts and...well, I really think he can do it. It is a terrifying proposition. I mean, opening a small business in this economic climate? Scary. Difficult. But it also could be really great.

Nothing is set in stone. Nothing is certain. But Jon is actively pursuing the idea of opening his own business, his own tattoo shop, by Memorial Day 2010.

(I would tell you all the name of his future tattoo shop, but he doesn't want to blast it out to the internet world until he buys the domain name and registers the business name in Colorado. It's pretty good, though.)

Update

In case you were wondering, the Root Beer Cake was amazing. Just a hint of something different in the background flavors of a typical chocolate cake. But...oh man...it's tasty. Must. Resist. Eating. The Whole Thing.

Want the recipe? Of course you do! I highly recommend making this cake tonight. The frosting is particularly yummy.

Root Beer Float Cake
from Joy The Baker

2 cups root beer (don’t use diet)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Preheat even to 325 degrees F. Spray the inside of a 10-inch Bundt pan (or 9"x13" rectangular pan) with nonstick cooking spray, or butter generously and dust with flour, knocking out the excess.

In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Add sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a small bowl whisk the eggs until just beaten. Then whisk into the cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy. You can give it a quick whisk if you like, but don’t over beat the batter or it could cause the cake to be tough. Don’t worry, the batter is very loose.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and cook for 35-45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely then loosen edges with a butter knife and turn out onto a cake plate.

Chocolate Root Beer Frosting

2 ounces 60% cocoa, melted
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt (you may want to use less… but the salt really enhances the flavors)
1/4 cup root beer
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using an electric hand mixer, beat softened butter and cocoa powder. Once combined add the melted chocolate, salt, powdered sugar and root beer. Beat together until smooth. Spread on top of cooled cake. Slice and serve with vanilla ice cream.

(This frosting makes enough to cover a bundt cake or rectangular cake, but probably not enough to frost the insides and outsides of a multi-layer cake. Just double up if that's what you want.)

Walk before you crawl

Evelyn is still not crawling. At least not forward. She can get from a sitting position onto her hands and knees, but the she just pushes herself backward. Hasn't figured out that whole knees-push-forward thing quite yet. But soon! I can feel it!

She can scoot around pretty well, too, getting to where she wants to go after a while. Her recent mischief includes pulling the kitchen trashcan over and getting the disc out of the Wii and trying to eat it. You will leave her alone in a room for a few minutes and she is definitely not in the same place as when you left. I know she wants to move because she loves WALKING! That's right. Not unaided walking, but walking nonetheless. She can pull herself up and cruise along the ottomans or other furniture pieces. She loves--LOVES--to hold on to someones hands and just walk around. (My poor back...I need to be 6 inches shorter for this activity.) She knows exactly where she wants to go, and she walks right to it. Her balance is the issue, but not her determination. She can almost stand for a second by herself. Maybe she will be a late crawler and early walker.

Evelyn is just such a great baby. We are working on the "waking every night to eat" situation and finding some good solutions. No naps after 3pm (when we can help it) and eating a bottle before the bath with a little top-off after the bath. She is definitely getting more stubborn and demanding, not entirely unexpected given her mother's temperament. I wish I had some pictures to post because she is just so stinkin' adorable.

We have been going to the YMCA on a pretty regular basis and Evelyn has been going to the short-term daycare. She does pretty well for about 45 minutes, and then she gets cranky. But she hasn't had an all-out "you're not my parents...wait...where are my parents?!!" fit yet, so that is good. I know the first time that happens I'm going to have a hard time leaving her. But it feels good to be exercising again. I have a little weight-lifting routing the trainer set up for me and it kicks my booty. I am weak. But not for long!

Today I am at work, but not working. Yesterday my computer was infected with some stupid virus that isn't all that damaging but really hard to get rid of. Fun. So my hard drive is being cleaned or rebuilt or something and it will take until at least this afternoon. I have a loaner laptop to use, but all I can do is check my email and surf the web. I think I will take a nice, long lunch and run some errands. Like buy the ingredients to make a root beer cake! How good does that sound? Yum!

One week meat free

So I'm finishing up my first week eating a vegetarian diet. It hasn't been hard, actually. But, to be fair, I have been sidelined with a nasty cold most of that week. I've been in bed most days, eating at home when I'm eating much at all, and cooking my own food. Much easier that way. I have had one slip-up: when ordering a baked potato with broccoli cheese soup, I forgot to ask for the potato without the bacon bits. Alas. I picked most off and chalked it up to a learning experience.

But I have been experimenting with some new recipes, most of which have turned out well.

• Barley Porridge with Roasted Apples and Honeyed Almonds -- Yum! The barley took FOREVER so I'd have to come up with a better system, but it was a delicious and filling breakfast. Jon didn't love it though so it might not be in the general rotation.
• Baked Tofu -- I realize this sounds gross, but it wasn't at all! The tofu was frozen and defrosted (which I read makes it have a more meaty texture) and then pressed to get the moisture out and then marinated in asian stuff (soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, etc). Baked in the oven until crispy on the edges and the moisture is gone. So it was good. Seriously.
• Stir-Fry with the baked tofu, egg, snow peas, regular peas, corn, scallions.
• Spanikopita -- Spinach and feta and lemon juice and herbs wrapped in phyllo dough and baked until crispy. Really good! And easy!
• Garlicky Green Beans -- I'm making this one tonight, so we'll see how it goes!

Trip to Utah

The trip began with a lot of worry. How would Evelyn do on the plane? Should we have purchased a second seat for her? How will she do without her own crib and sheets and room? My fears were unfounded, of course. I won't say our recent trip to Utah to visit family was without its bumps and headaches, but it was also delightful.


First to the airport, and through security, and to the gate, and onto the plane--no problems. Evelyn was really good on the plane, as long as we were entertaining her. She was playing for the first half hour and slept the second half hour. The biggest problem was that I had to pee something wicked and, of course, the urge struck as soon as I sat down with a baby on my lap, in the window seat, and with the seatbelt light on. My stress level was super high as Evie occasionally threw her favorite toy (the airplane safety card) against the seat in front of her all while trying not to pee on the seat. Ugh. But She was really good. A few cries, a few accidental kicks of the seat in front of us, but nothing terrible.

Here is Evie in the airport, before flying out of Denver.


We got off the plane and went to the Hertz rental counter. I was really tired and hungry and feeling the effects of the drammamine and extra-wiped from the plan ride with a busy baby. Then the rental counter person was training her counterpart and had to explain Every. Single. Step. It took forever, and they totally took advantage of my sleep-induced "whateverness" and upsold us from our midsized Hyundai Sonanta into an Infinity SX Crossover. STUPIDEST CAR EVER. Do not spend $55,000, or however much they cost, on this stupid car. Don't even rent this stupid car. It is high off the ground like an SUV, but the roof is low like a sportscar, so the inside is teeny tiny. It's all curves and tiny windows and, basically, you are driving an egg full of blindspots. Terrible car. But I digress...

We squeezed in a quick trip to see Alisa and have lunch with her kids (cute house! adorable kids! sorry it was so short!) and then headed to my dad's house up north.

My sisters were exploding out of their skin with excitement to meet Evelyn. It was so nice, but Evie was a little overwhelmed. Really the whole trip, she was out-of-sorts. A little crabby, a little tired, a little overwhelmed. But despite all that, she did well.


Here is Emma, age 4, playing with Evelyn.



Here is Olivia, age 8, trying to hold Evelyn on her lap. Evelyn wasn't too excited to be held by other people, but she did ok.



The big event of the weekend was Olivia's baptism. It was great to be visiting on such a special weekend. Here are some pics from that day.


Emma was posing by a tree, looking adorable.





Most of the weekend we just relaxed, played some Password (Emma stumped us all with "a fire-breathing dragon who can't add 2 plus 3 sitting on a rocking chair holding a baby." Just couldn't guess that one!), ate food, and drew pictures with crayons. I wish I could visit more because my sisters are getting so grown-up. I hope I can see them again this year, or that they can come visit, so they can see Evelyn more often.

Evelyn was so tired from her trip that she took many many naps in the two days after we arrived home and also slept through the night. Amazing!

Going Veggie

Today I embark upon a one-month trial of vegetarianism. I have been thinking about it for a while, reading about it a bit, talking to people about it, and the time is now. I knew I couldn't stick to it while visiting my dad last weekend, and I'm not sure I can stick to it when I visit my mom next month, but this middle month will be the test. I am excited and optimistic. I'm going lacto ovo, which means eating eggs and dairy but no meat, poultry or fish. I also won't be super-strict, grilling the waitstaff to find out if the chef used chicken stock in the mashed potatoes.

My reasons are three-fold: environmental, ethical and health-related. The latter category is really the only one I can measure so I'll keep a diary of my weight, energy level, and general feeling of wellness. Every book and website I've read says how great the person feels eating a plant-based diet, but of course they already drank the kool-aid and love being a vegetarian. You don't hear a lot from people who tried it, really tried it, and thought it sucked. So we'll see.

Today I had a delicious broccoli-cheese baked potato and a side salad for lunch. Not too shabby!