In remembrance (or gratitude)... our friends Allison & Leo

No, they did not pass on to the next life... well, actually they are moving into to their next life... new job, new state, new weather patterns. 

Our neighbors for over 6 years and definitely our best friends 'on the block' locked their door for good this afternoon. This remembrance isn't really a good bye, but a thank you. I feel compelled to write on the first night of their darkened windows down the street.

Here's to you, you Steelers kids:

It was fall of 2007 that we bought our new home

It wasn't long after, they made themselves known

It started at first with a hi here and there

And then moved to chillin' in the cheetah lair

Our dogs loved both of them

Even if the love wasn't always in kind

But it was truly quite awesome

Neighbor pet-sitters, what a find!

And though maybe illegal

Here in Charm City

We had so many fires

With conversation, oh so witty

We were also admirers 

Of the helicopter lights

And listeners of sirens 

In the middle of the night

They drank craft beer

Which we found was rad

So we could stop drinking

Beer that was bad

We both started our lives on Eden unwed

And now 6 years later

we've all moved ahead

We have locked in our vows

And said our I do's

D and I added some ginger to our house

Now we'll see what they brew:)

I had such a great friend 

To track down in the eve

After a long day with kids

A fabulous reprieve

Now off you go

To the land that's tanner

Leo's land of screenplays

And Allison can cure cancer!

So good luck to you guys

Way out west

We will miss you a bunch

We wish you the best

Last night, sitting on the curbside lounge

Burns Night and The Haggis

The Haggis

Our fellow friends Tony and Michelle hosted a Burns Night this weekend and it was quite the
culinary adventure. I had never heard of Burns Night before so to bring us all up to speed I did some Googling. Burns night (and the Burns supper) is a celebration of the life and poetry of Robert Burns. He died at the end of the 18th century, and apparently the Burns annual celebration began shortly thereafter and has continued to this day. He was Scottish and a Burns night consists of eating Haggis & Neeps (turnips), drinking Scotch Whisky, and reciting Burns' poetry- all of which we did!

This is just part of the lengthy Address to the Haggis that is recited prior to serving:

 His knife see rustic Labour dicht,
An' cut you up wi' ready slicht,
Trenching your gushing entrails bricht,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sicht,
Warm-reekin, rich!

But mark the Rustic, haggis fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread.
Clap in his wallie nieve a blade,
He'll mak it whistle;
An' legs an' arms, an' heads will sned,
Like taps o' thristle.

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinkin ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!

And then with a huge knife, the host slashes the haggis open. And of course many "toasts to the lassies".

What is Haggis? I had an idea but Wikipedia says it nicely: Haggis is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally encased in the animal's stomach and simmered for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a sausage casing rather than an actual stomach.

They special-ordered it from a place in New Jersey that makes the stuff. I was glad to hear that, since it was made in the US, there were no lungs in the mix (since that is illegal here). They did get a vegetarian one as well.

Now, for anyone that knows me, I really had no intention of eating the real Haggis. However, I wanted to write about it, so i had to try it. And I did. I filled my plate with a little real Haggis, some vegetarian Haggis, and neeps. The girls plates also consisted of the same. I took a bite. It was really quite wonderful! It's no surprise Dave liked it, but the girls snarfed it down as well! We even had seconds (and my second serving was significantly larger than the first).

I have to say I am pretty proud of myself for trying it:)

Slainte!!

More "Knock Off" Updates!

When we moved into our lovely abode we didn't have extra $$ to spend on making it pretty so we got thrifty and creative. We turned gleaming white walls into a variety of colors from gray and green  to yellow and even bright orange. But the true magic happened in the kitchen. White walls transformed into a grey; we painted the stark white laminate cabinets into bold red storage units, the equally stark white laminate counter top into a black faux granite (thanks to metallic paint and bubble wrap) masterpiece. We sealed it with 5 layers of poly-crylic, so it did pretty darn well withstanding water, heat, crusted on food, glass rings, soap scum, and the day to day battering.

A few years in, I decided I couldn't deal with the gray anymore, despite it being a fabulous compliment to the red cabinets, so we changed it to a yellow tone with some texture. While it definitely warmed the
room up, now I was looking at the red cabinets and thinking they didn't match anymore with the new wall color. I spent the next several years looking and envisioning replacing them with dark wood grain cabinets. So since I still was not interested in spending the money to replace the cabinets I thought, huh, I can fake this! So after having our red beauties for almost 6 years I painted them again.. this time to mimic an ebony wood grain. It worked well enough I think. I like it.

So now of course, we have these dark faux wood cabinets, and a dark faux granite counter. Too much darkness. We thought, well, we should probably just go buy a new counter top- we deserve it right? Well it came down to a new counter or our children's preschool education. And I don't think there is really a debate on that one; if there was we should be interrogated as parents.

What happens next? Why not repaint the countertop? Six years ago
I sanded, primed, sanded, primed, painted, sanded, painted, sanded, faux finished (with the bubble wrap), then polyed-sanded-polyed-sanded-poly-sanded and so forth; the whole thing was a week long process (pre kids mind you). Did I want to do that again, no. What I did not know six years ago is there is a product called Rustoleum Countertop Transformations. The extent of my excitement upon learning of this product was frankly ridiculous. Suffice it to say, $100 later, and a sand, prime/ paint (in one step), decorative chip, and seal twice we were done with our new counter in approximately a weekend (with kids even!). It looks pretty good I must say.

Next project, DIY backsplash (hopefully not 6 years from now).

PS. I know the red looked good (or I like to think so) but this new transformation will go further in resale or at least in a rental... so for anyone out there that might think we went backwards on this (mom:))... here's hoping for the best (esp. when we get my backsplash in!)

Gobblers and Pittsboogers

(I am not purposefully calling our Pittsburgh family/ friends inappropriate names, please see below:))
So first things first, I apparently have not done my parental duty (or at least read enough books on the topic to spur conversation) with the girls to have taught them what a turkey is, by name anyway. They still call them Gobbles or Gobblers. But, it's cute, at least for now, so I'm sold. In addition, I have not exactly had the serious conversation about what being thankful is, and what we should be thankful for, hence the turkey posters they made at school. Once again, cute, and albeit true, I wouldn't have minded "mommy" up there or, you know, "i'm thankful for the precious time I have as a child and don't have to worry about much more than if I'm getting cake and what kind of frosting it may have etc."

I on the other hand can indeed be thankful for many many things in general, but I will focus on this weekend for now. From the gracious couple (who had never met us) that invited us into their home for Thanksgiving, the highway angels that opened the gates to a very quick drive to Pittsburgh on Friday (4 hours, which is what it was supposed to take, and it even included 2 stops), Dave's Aunt and Uncle who bravely let us set up camp, or you could say circus, in their home for a few days, to my neighbor Allison (in Baltimore, but is from Pitt and just happened to be in town the same time) who created a great bar-hopping itinerary for us when I snuck out on Saturday night. I was thankful for my husband who slept on the side of the bed closest to where our kids were sleeping (so he was the default getter-upper in the middle of the night), and thankful for his cousin Caroline who not only offered to bring (both) the girls to the bathroom for a #2 adventure (that ended with very vocal proclamations of "I went POOP in the potty!") but also purchased us some fabulous macaroons from her bakery (which unfortunately are not being shared with our offspring- sorry Caroline, we just can't do it, they are too good...the macaroons I mean). I am thankful for Aunt Terry who greeted us with great food, wine, and conversation. I am thankful for Uncle Steve who invited the hubs to Bud's basement bar two days in a row, so 1) I could get some good girls gossip in with the ladies and 2) could 'sneak' out the second night for a slice of Pitts nightlife. I am not so thankful for our drive back (7.5 hours, including same 2 stops) but am thankful for the peace in the back two car seats (relative peace anyway) considering the circumstances.

So a brief recap of our Thanksgiving weekend extravaganza:

• We spent Thanksgiving Day at a friend of a friend. They lived in a beautiful historic home in Mount Vernon and had a 4 year old that the girls had a great time 'chillin' with
• We left for Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon to spend some time with Dave's fam. The girls didn't miss a beat from the last time we were there in September, they made themselves right at home!
• Terry brought all 4 of us to the Science Center where we hung out and played, fixed stuff at the space station, played with robots, and looked at a mini-Pittsburgh with working trains, and rivers, and boats, and houses who's lights came on when it got 'dark' every 10 minutes or so to simulate evening- it was very impressive and I wanted to go in and 'play' with it as much as my kids
• I was able to hang out with my neighbor in Charm City who is from Pittsburgh and was back for Thanksgiving. We went a few different places in South Side, the first equipping me with a variety of toys including a glowing fish, plastic dinosaurs, and a candy necklace (and no, it was not a rave)
• We had a great french toast breakfast on Sunday and hit the road (after several hours of 'pretending we are going to leave')
• We actually did leave finally and got stuck in massive turnpike traffic, but hey it gave us time to digest our weekend, along with lots of random road snacks

Watching the robot

A view of the train exhibit

So now we are back. I am extending my weekend as long as I can; tomorrow begins a long two weeks for me before our next journey to the land of saints and minny apples.

PS. As for the Pittsboogers, we tried to 'amp' up the weekend a bit prior to departure so we talked about going to Pittsburgh etc... so of course when they heard that term they turned it into a new thing, they are 3, need I say more?

Right on Target..."I'm just saying"

Dear Baltimore City,

I hope you are doing well. Well, actually I know you still have plenty of issues, but I must say, the new addition that arrived this October is quite exciting. And I am thankful that the powers-that-be approved this new corporate taxpayer.

To step back a minute, I made the big trek over here from the Midwest a little over 7 years ago and have lived in Baltimore City the entire time. First it was Fells Point, then Butchers Hill, now upper Fells / Washington Hill. A lot has happened in my life since I arrived, from new jobs and a new house, to a husband and now two kids.  So Baltimore City… you have been good to me. In addition to these huge life events, there are of course the small things that we city kids love such as running down the street to get takeout, meandering over to the corner bar, or  hopping across the street for just about anything from butter to diapers. This has been great; this is why people live in the city, right? So here’s the thing. I either have to go to a CVS, Rite Aid, Safeway, Whole Foods, or (as it happens in my hood) Family Dollar, to get said toiletries, household gear, etc. And they are either priced for convenience or just not an enjoyable shopping/ purchasing experience overall. But really, it is so much more expensive to purchase these items here, in the city. Aren’t we paying enough property taxes?? Sheesh. As for the cost, sure, you can find sales and cut coupons, but really… we all live in row homes… many of us don’t have the space to stockpile, so when we need toilet paper, we need toilet paper, and we are not waiting for the sale, or for the trip to the ‘burbs’.

So I have been making my treks to the “burbs” every few months to get my fix on decent and reasonably priced items. Basically, I am making the trek to Target. When I grew up in the Twin Cities (Minnesota), even though I always pretty much lived in the “city”, I was always in close proximity to a Target. I grew up going to Target and I will never appreciate Wal-Mart in the same way (despite those rollbacks). Now sure, Target is a chain and many of us city people like to say that we shop the mom & pop stores; just like we also chat about the Farmers Market and all the local things we purchase, while secretly we all frequent these “havens of the purse pinchers”. So I’m coming right out and saying it:

I can't believe how excited I am about the Canton Target opening, not to mention ALL the other stores that will be over there (um, Old Navy, Michaels, and it goes on). This is seriously exciting after the YEARS of having to drive and drive to get underwear, shampoo, detergent, really, you name it, at a reasonable price. WHOOPEEEEE!!

I was so anxious for our first date; I was so happy that construction was not delayed and I was able to grab my red cart on schedule. Oh the joy of driving not 30 minutes but 5, and then meandering through the dollar bins, grabbing several things I didn’t need (think autumn colored dish scrubbers, and black cat socks). I then marveled at the stacks of crew neck shirts and sweaters along with aisles of necessary (and probably unnecessary) goods for my offspring.

Now keep in mind that my first visit was limited (as my children were in preschool for only a few hours), but I am envisioning my future jaunts down to the bull’s-eye, strolling around picking out razors, lotion, up and up brand zipper bags, and multi-colored socks. I can sip my coffee (from the obvious Starbucks), sift through clothes that I still think I can wear, find deals on cute bags from random designers; wander through the small appliance aisle, peruse a plenitude of dishware, explore miniature tents by Eddie Bauer, gaze at the (always too early, but still admired) Christmas tree displays. So despite my conflict of trying to minimize my big box store participation- Target has been around for me since I was, well, me, so I’m fessing up, I like my Target. And at risk of sounding like I was paid to write this, they fulfill their tagline in my life… I expect more (and get more) and really do pay less. Thanks B-city for letting the best of the boxes into our little charmed city life.

-Dani

Cardboard Dream House, Stage One

So I have been collecting cardboard and a variety of other recyclables (aka trash) for several months now with the idea that I was going to create a super awesome dollhouse for my kids. Naturally, and to no surprise, all this 'trash' has been hanging out in my house for quite some time, begging to hit the sidewalk on recycling day. So, I finally got started. And I must say, that its kind of fun, and that ultimately, this house will probably not just be played with by my children.

Just a portion of the Trash that I collected

Still missing wallpaper and flooring, but we made some classy furniture in the girls' fave colors. Couches/ beds are from the "Downy" box, table and chair are toilet paper rolls, egg crates, and random cardboard. Ottoman is a cigar case top.

Welcome to "SPA Ghetti" with shower and bubble bath ready to go! I also have a toilet from the top of a creamer container that I forgot to throw in for the pic. [Shower is obvious, bathtub is other half of pasta box, mirror is tin foil].

So I still have a ways to go, but the ladies have already had fun playing with these half-done rooms and helped me to pick out the wallpaper and made some cushions for for the couches. They stuffed cotton balls in the bathtub without realizing how great that is for a doll bubble bath!

Pigs, Ponies, and Poop!

One morning last week my neighbor Wynne came running over with the little boy she nannies and proclaimed- "Free petting zoo in downtown! It only lasts 2 hours, you wanna go??" Of course I was still in my PJs and still attempting to down my coffee (despite already being awake for several hours), but a free petting zoo just blocks from my house? I was in. However, in the mad rush to get out of the house, (considering it was already 30 minutes into the event) I still pondered the possibility that this 'petting zoo' may not be as cool as I was envisioning. I mean... it was in downtown Baltimore, maybe they just corralled up some stray kitties and street kitties (aka rats) and threw them in a gated area. Well, only one way to find out!

So we get there. And it was great! (So grateful:)) There was a little band, a station to paint pumpkins, the petting zoo, and even ponies! So we went to the petting zoo immediately (of course) and there was quite the variety considering we were stationed in a plaza a midst office buildings and homeless shelters. There were goats, a sheep, a few bunnies, a couple of handsome white geese, a pot belly pig (I think), chickens, a duck with a mohawk, some baby ducks, and an awesomely ugly turkey. Now occasionally when I go to these types of 'attractions' I worry about the animals etc.; but they actually all seemed very used to kids- and relatively happy unless there was some toddler chasing it around the pen (aka my second born). And even then, they just scooted away and the kid lost interest. There was even a calf named Bambo.

 Stella petting the bunny (finally after it had run from her for so long); and Lucy with the gobbler

So after we spent a fair amount of time co-mingling with all the farmer's friends we painted some pumpkins and then got in the (long) line for the pony rides. The girls (plus Wynne's little pal) all waited like champs for a solid 20+ minutes to get in the saddle. I wasn't sure how my little ladies would react, being that they have never ridden an animal (with the exception of Penny and their father:))- but they loved it! The pony's name was Snowball.

So the last exciting occurrence of this outing was the amount of pooping going on. The girls were very interested in all the different shapes and sizes of poop that was in the petting zoo (but still very quickly cleaned up I might add). In addition, the pig was all about everyone else's pooh which the ladies found hilarious... 'he's eating poop!'. Yes he was indeed. And it topped off the afternoon when Snowball had to stop a couple times while they were on board to lighten her load; and of course once again this was quite the topic of conversation. Well, just a life lesson (as we don't have the book)- everyone does poop indeed!)

So it was a great spontaneous afternoon! Thanks to friends in the know!!