Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

My new favorite Mac N Cheese!

I loved the Southwestern spices in the mac and cheese. The mild chile in it was really great and lent a whole new flavor component. I loved it so… (via Scotto B. on Yelp)

The interior of Oya is a deliciously crisp white. For the duration of my lunch I nearly forgot I was in DC (then I opened the door to exit and was blasted with heat that could’ve been the breath of… (via Scotto B. on Yelp)

A couple of our friends LOVE TenPenh so my favorite Washingtonian and I joined them for lunch on Friday. The host was a charmer, though the woman who sat us was decidedly not (unless you find… (via Scotto B. on Yelp)

Yesterday, I forgot to mention that I received Martian coasters, filler colors of icehouse stashes, and other ordered loot. I’m looking forward to playing them with BHK at our earliest convenience.

Awoke early – about 6:45 on a Saturday. EM was up at about 6:30, I think.

Read in bed:

• Olivia – classic. Olivia would be Eloise, if Eloise were a pig. She is good at singing 40 very loud songs and is very good at wearing people out. And scaring the living daylights out of her little brother, Ian, particularly when he copies her every move. She is also quite skilled at reproducing Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm #30” on the walls at home. When her mother tucks her in at night and says, “You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway,” Olivia precociously pronounces, “I love you anyway too.”
• Ain’t gonna Paint No more – pretty spiffy, good rhythm, color and song.
• 93 in my family Now *that*’s a fun kids book. Reads well, stuff to look at on every page, terribly cute, and gives a message that’s neat, too. Plus, a carsick hamster named Ed. We need more like this one.
• Where Have The Unicorns Gone? – Lovely Art, poorly written – it just doesn’t flow.

BHK was tuckered out, and fell back asleep about midway through Olivia, so Em and I got up after reading and made necklaces with wooden beads and string from Em’s kit – very pretty stuff.

Played some simple stacking and lining up games with dominoes and red & blue icehouse pyramids with Em while BHK slept – may have developed the seed of a new game! Stacking Pyramids on top of a domino board to collect points. Needs a little work, but if I can teach the basics to a 4-year-old and it’s challenging to me, there could be a fun concept waiting to burst out.

Once BHK woke up, we all got cleaned up and headed out to take care of TM’s kitties (see picture in yesterday’s post ).

After many kitty snuggles, we all went to the marine museum to see the otters and the stingrays – it was also a Cradle of the Invasion day – folks dressed in garb of 1812, WWII, and modern style, showing how Marines in wartime lived and worked in the area. pretty neat. Apparently, in the 30s-40s, Tropical chocolate was mixed with paraffin wax so it wouldn’t melt… the K rations had basically a chocolate candle to eat along with government supplied cigarettes. Lots of items about amphibious warfare that didn’t interest Em too much, but I’d like to go back next time and spend a little while talking to the folks and getting some perspectives on things. My Grandfather on my mom’s side was a Marine during WWII, and he never really talked too much about it, short of taking me to the VFW and hanging out with other vets. (That’s where I got my first Shirley Temple.)

[edit – I forgot that we went to the amish market, and saw ducks and geese and chickens and goats and puppies and horses, and amish folks, and bought gingerbread and blueberry jam, and lemon meringue pie for Larry, and shoo-fly pie for us, and peppers to stuff with yum! – Sakes, we were busy]

Getting close to Lunch, so we headed off to Burt’s [Edit – dang, why do I always call it Fred’s?] for veggie burgers (em got popcorn shrimp) – good stuff, but I suspect the kids meal had more food than our veggie burger platter! We got puzzle place mats and crayons so we could color while we waited for our food.

Went to Aardvarks to pick up Early American Chrononauts (and ice cream – Play-doh is still my favorite… vanilla ice cream dyed bright yellow with red and blue chunks of sugar cookie dough mixed in. ) I suspect that I like Early American more than standard Chrononauts.

Chris and Larry’s for Dinner – Hot Dogs on the Grill, beans, slaw, and all sorts of yum. BHK had to duck out and tend to Tina’s Kitties again while Chris, Larry, Em and I hung out and chitty-chatted. Emily was very well behaved, and barely persnickety or bossy at all. She played very nicely with Tigger for hours.

Quote of the night was by Em – “I would never hurt beautiful Uncle Scott!”

Full and happy we all came home and crashed out.

Before I bail: a meme from Tarpo –

THE RULES:

1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song. Or your favorite kind of sandwich. Something random.
Whatever you like.

2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.

5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

Mine were –

1) Where did you meet your girl? Livejournal, actually – Sixish years ago, at least, when I was dating someone else. I think that I traded up nicely.

2) Is Newt still a vicious man-eater? He can be pretty aggressive to some folks, and a love to others. He hasn’t seen any Newfs lately, but he still attacks most smokers with great vigor.

3) Recommend 3 fairly cheap 2 player, easy to learn, fun games that are outside the normal Milton Bradley/Hasbro line. Well, you already know about Fluxx and Carcassone, so I’ll toss out Treehouse at about $10, you can’t go too far wrong (see links above) (which is a gateway drug to other fun games, too) and Chrononauts, also linked above, a little bit more pricey at $20, (with both games the more the merrier, but two can play handily.)

4) Without sounding offensive and I hope you don’t take this in the wrong way at all.. Has anyone ever mentioned that there is more than a slight resemblance between my Ex Wife and your Current Wife? Short of this question, nobody has… From what I can recall of her face, I don’t really see the resemblance! Eyes, nose, facial shape, hair and skin all seem pretty different to me!

5) Suggest something for a future DoWhatIDo
How about a picture of a favorite item, like a toy or book?

1 year ago

– thread tracking, mallah/brain, sistine ceiling full view, 330 mpg car under $20k, hardest geometry problem in the world,

2 years ago – Delirium box, laundry good deed, matches, chain reaction game, Friday 5, autostitch pic, 200 e Broward pic

3 years ago – hr tag abandonment,Doug / tony memory trick, factoids about me, elevator breaks

4 years ago – Neverwhere, childhood memories circa ‘74-75ish – lunch and Tonka toys,linked to hulk’s blog, bro stuff, Elvis & his prosthetic limb factory

5 years ago – Spanish TV, broken links, new he-man cartoon, mark quits FMM before he’s caught stealing, puppy pictures and palm doodles.

6 years ago – Soylent Green Tea Ice Cream at the Frieze in Miami, after seeing Kiss of the Dragon with my bro, cavort, first exp w/ Samurai Jack, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

7 years ago – saw the hollow man, and played Everway, day before sleep study (via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)

Work is getting solid now – doing a lot of testing and validation of some programs going live. It’s fun – I’m getting a chance to flex some SQL muscle on queries that can range from simple to fairly complex.

After work, Chuck E Cheese with Em and BHK – We were there for a bit… had some pizza (not too bad, really!) played some skee-ball and other ticket-type redemption games. Scored 420 tickets, and made the obligatory reference to the prize-guy behind the counter… he laughed and happily doled out her loot… A Hello Kitty coin purse, some stickers, a little pink bracelet and a cinderella magnet. Not a bad haul for doing something that was fun anyway. BHK is pretty dang good at the ol’ Skee-Ball, while I’m a bit better at shooting hoops.

Hm, “Redemption Games” sounds like some sort of Tom Clancy book about a Chaplain in the Green Berets. File that for later tongue-in-cheekiness.

On our way home, we checked in with Tina’s Kitties – Keiki was happy to be a little love-muffin all over Em. Chai was affectionate, too, but not all up in her business (which is how Em likes her kitties.)

1 year ago – nifty clock, internal words, writing slowdown, eyes, mediocre bad guys, tv, milk pocky

2 years ago – Magda’s Bday, allergy shots, dreamt of killing my sister, PM memory, brown bag, meteor shower, bad breath detection, google homepage

3 years ago – construction, fay wray RIP, dan’s school blocks lj,alcohol, SPcharacter, aerial photos, UK Prozac pee taints water supply, LC’s scrapbook, CoH tempting battle cries, flower meme

4 years ago – Puzzle Pirates (with a cutie mermaid), Arabia-cam with Mom and Daughter(I met oneeyed and sedef as a result of sweet’s poochie’s booty-ticks.), vamp-game, Kings of Africa, lovely chat

5 years ago – man killed for playing the banjo, Trek happening a dud, but we discover heroclix, (already thinking customs), rorschach poll

6 years ago – 3 things poll, deracinate, cormorant, broken newt pic, 25 things to keep in mind, ja da, rate your risk (links now broken)

7 years ago – spent out, color quiz, looking forward to going to breakfast, Rowlf sings, Beaker sings
(via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)

(via Scotto’s Wall Scrawls)