Maebius Musing

So yesterday after work, I picked up Special-Ops agent: Doug (current status: Redbird, formerly Redfish, formerly Thomas the Train…) since the usual sitters were feeling rather under the weather. On the way home, I stopped by the Whitestown Ice Rink to check on times of public skates and such, since we had thought about going a few times and never got around to checking when it was open.

Well, let me tell you, walking in to the otherwise empty building at 10:30am was like going to Disneyland for the kid! Eyes: properly bugged. Heartrate: channelling chipmunk metabolisms there. Excitement level off the charts. We were to skate NOW! NOW he sez! Unfortunately, or luckily, the public skates are Tues&Thurs evenings from 7-9pm.

So after convincing him to wait and we’d go later in the day -if- he was cooperative in School, we left to go home and he had to call mom right away to ask her about skating in the evening. *grin* It was cute.

** time passes ** (He was very good at school, only when it was break time and he ran for the door to go skating, instead of taking a seat for the upcoming storytime.)

Note to others: Generally the misbehaving at school takes form of insisting his name is NOT Doug, or getting into minor skirmish with his arch-rival, the kid who likes to take the same toy he’s currently playing with and refusing to back down.
Evening comes, we head to the rink, and get laced up with the Uber-hawt rental skates. *chuckle* First 20 minutes or so consisted of Tammy and I holding his hands and the rest of his body suspended between us while we played out that scene from Bambi, and he flailed his legs around (Dancing, in his words). Then it seemed to click that walking was more useful and less tiring on the rapidly weakening parental arms.

After about the first hour, he was slowly shuffling around, with a few butt-bounces, but smiling and dedicated to getting from one “circle” to the other (picture the markings on a hockey rink, we had to stop at each dot and follow each line/arc/circle).

The only bad thing was a beautifully executed face-plant with the side of the rink when trying to go take a break in the penalty boxes since the “door” to the real seats was waaaaay over on the other side, and he didn’t want to skate that far. Incisors met lips in perfect alignment, and the hemoglobin reared it’s crimson self. *sigh* Not too bad though, but defintiely a solidly pierced upper lip.
But, once the crying settled down, and a cold cloth helped sop up the little bit of blood, the tyke was determined and adamant about getting back on the ice, after we suggested it were time to go home. (My ankles were killing me, and our arms were getting a bit worn from picking ourselves and Doug off the ice…yep, parents definitely need more practice skating!). So, we went back out and skated around for another good 25 minutes before finally leaving at 8:45, with Nate spending the final segment trying NOT to laugh too much at the huge lip and drunken-boxer expression on the little one’s face when he was smiling. By the end though, he was walking around pretty good and even “glided” an inch or two from time to time, before succumbing to the harsh seduction of Mistress Gravity.

It was a lot of fun, and I almost feel bad that the rink closes down for the summer next week. It’s also pretty amazing how kid’s brains really are quite adept “learning sponges”. The way he picked up the concept of walking on skates with a fairly frictionless surface under them made me thing that calculus was not too far off! Wish we could pick up new things that fast!

But alas, like all things, the evening came to a sobbing end far too early for Doug, who promptly fell asleep as we got home. But we will probably be coming back next year for the “learn to skate” program for 3-5 yr olds. Heck, with the lip looking like it did last night, and his unwillingness to quit in the face of further pain and chilly bottom, I just hope hockey’s not too soon in our sports future. *grin*

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Oh, and here’s a random bit of FUN pictures, shared by one of the AODA druids…feast your eyes on: The Rabbits of Disapproval!
http://www.birdchick.com/adventures/rabbit/index.html

Enjoy!

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Nothing huge to report lately, other than I’m still on the night-shift this week.

Tammy feels rather under the weather yesterday, after indulging in some corned beef and cabbage, which apparently set off her stomach and triggered a good bug.

I found This really nifty and unique and strangely addictice zen-like game while bored at work tonight. http://www.k2xl.com/games/boomshine/  You should really try it out and see what you think.  The last level is particularly tough, but still really pretty to watch play out.

In other news, in World of Warcraft I finally managed to get a chanracter to lvl 40 and had saved up enough gold to buy a mount! WooHoo! They rock, and really do help when just wandering about to different areas and zones, plus helping to avoid the majority of random battles when travelling, as you are faster than most things.

Also, yesterday we had a yummy meal made by Tom. Bowtie pasta, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and garlic, among other secret ingredients! Very yummy, and was great because it was something “different” for us and not jsut the usual pasta or soup we’ve been making lately due to uncreative cooking minds. Thanks Tom!!!

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First (well, not first, but …before) there was Corn Syrup being put in everything from toothpaste to Hot Dogs, to crackers! I mean really, adding sugar to something that helps clean teeth and prevent cavities?! But I digress.

Then they come up with sorbitol and other sugary substitutes, so the calorie-counters can bake their cakes and eat them too. No mentioning of the FDA’s suggestion that eating such can cause intestinal bloating and have a laxitive effect, since those sugar-alcohols are not absorbed well into the bloodstream (why they are calorie-free), and bind well with water to pass quickly “and harmlessly” through the gut. Same with Olestra, the no-fat substitute, which had much more prevelant and well-known Diarrhea effect.

What really got my ire up yesterday was the following bag of unholy evil that showed up in our fridge. Tammy went grocery shopping, and found a bag of apple slices in the clearance section for quite under the price of regular apples. Since our son loves apples and carrots as a snack, this was pretty much a no-brainer as a nice inexpensive item to help him eat after a recent bout of the stomach-bug.

(Insert: Tammy started with the illness, tossed lunch a few times, then Doug got it and was up most of the night sunday/monday, and ..as I type this, Nate is at work with a fever and making periodic runs to the restroom. NO FUN!)

Anyways, I tried one of these apple slices yesterday, and it tasted…off. Not sure what was different about it, otherthan it was a strangely sweet and almost fruity tart flavor, quite unlike regular “tart” apples like we get at the orchard each fall.

Only later, did I realize the horror that was in the bag. Mixed Berry flavored Apple slices! All natural, no artificial flavors! What…The…Heck?!

http://www.applesweets.com/Product/Flavored.cfm

Are we as a consumer culture so far removed from the very essence of eating real food, that we must now use “Natural flavors” to make apples taste different? Aren’t apples by themselves a yummy fruit snack?

I can almost, al-most, understand adding flavors to pre-processed foods like apple pies, or cobblers, or heck, even Apple Pop-Tarts. But what we have here is apple slices. Apparently raw apples sliced into convenient wedges, packaged up, and infused with berry (or caramel) flavor!?!

Forgive me for dying a little on the inside.

And needless to say, the apples are no longer taking up space in our fridge. I’ll live with wasting a few cents and buying other “whole” apples to slice up and put in a ziplock baggie for Doug’s snacks this week.

Sheesh!

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Nothing much to report lately, as I’ve been rather too tired and worn out to muse about stuff, or do much more than sleep and work the graveyard shift at work.

The stomach bug thingy seems to have passed for me and Tammy, though we tried to go eat some chinese food last night with our friend, and poor little Doug had another episode of “food coming out of my mouth” (as he so fearfully describes it).

Otherwise, we got out the planters, bought a good $40 worth of seeds, etc, and are all set this weekend to start the springtime ritual of planting. Doug’s really looking forward to it, as he was allowed to pick out 5 packets of any seed he wanted from the store. His choices included some Nasturtium, two kinds of corn (white and an unusual red-kernal corn), lettuce, white radishes, and a giant sunflower. He also now has his own 25-slot seed tray, small enough for him to use, but still big enough for plenty of differrent seeds.

In other more esoteric musings, made a mental note to research entymology of such words as the Muse (ie: the title of this blog), Amusing, and Music. Are they related in some way? If so, what does this portend for funny lyrical ponderings and the continued creative evolution of humanity?! Only the shadow knows!

-Off to bed, glad to be back on days next week.

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Not much new to muse about, other than the weather is slowly warming up and teasing us with hints and glimmerings of Spring. Yesterday the temps got up to arounf 50, and today’s much the same, though we are supposed to get frost again and lows of 20F again.

Yesterday, we broke out my old red flyer wagon and took Doug for a ride down the road and back. Daffodils starting to pop up, daylillies are peeking from the wet leaves and snowpiles along the road, and the trees are slowly starting to bud out.

Also, started a batch of experimental strawberry Mead. Wish me luck. Once it’s done, I should be able to sleep soundly, lost in the heady bliss of ambrosia…

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