Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Baffling Dinner Event

Tonight at dinner we had some cucumber slices. After Penelope finished eating her dinner we offered her some cucumber slices (slightly under the guise of 'treats'). She took one a little reluctantly and had a bite. She then took two others and had bites.

We finished dinner off with some homemade caramel cookies. Afterward we were cleaning up and I saw that there was one cucumber slice left. Penelope was still in her chair so I said "Penelope, would you like this cucumber slice?" She said no and so I popped it in my mouth. This is where the baffling event occurred. She looked up at me, got teary-eyed, starting crying, and said 'Penelope that one' pointing to my mouth.

Yup she was crying because I ate the last cucumber slice and she wanted it! We partially assuaged the hurt feelings by giving her one that she didn't finish at dinner. It still wasn't enough so we told her that we could go to the store to get another cucumber tomorrow. That helped cheer her up.

And this from the girl who still won't really eat any vegetables that aren't in the pureed form. Crazy...

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Thank You Pollution Mask

If you've been around northern Utah lately you've noticed the air looks like this:



It's an old photo but it's actually a little worse than that. When the air looks like that the air quality forecast looks like this:



Kind of bad when they say that "healthy individuals" shouldn't go outside.

This year I decided to buy a pollution mask. Knowing that I'd be biking through the winter I knew I'd face quite a few days with less than stellar air quality. Concerned for the health of lungs I took the plunge. At the start of the winter a lot of people kind of mocked me and made fun of me. Now that they see the air as bad as it is they are kind of eating their words.

Pollution mask you say? What kind of pollution mask? Is it a gas mask? Does it look like it came from WWI? Well no it doesn't. It likes like a modified neoprene ski mask from the 80's. Check it out:



It's the Respro Techno Mask from www.gotpollution.com. This thing is money. I've worn it everyday this winter while bike commuting. The past two weeks when the air has been wicked bad this thing has been well worth the money. It fully works and I don't feel the effects of exercising outside. It may look a little cheesy to some but I don't care. I highly recommend it everyone.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Ancestors

Over the last couple of years I'll get the urge to do family history or at least read up on family. It usually lasts about a day and nothing comes of it. Last year when my grandmother passed away I realized that outside of my lifetime I knew absolutely nothing about her or my grandfather. I got the urge again to learn more but never did anything about it.

The last couple of weeks I've had the urge again and this time I'm actually going to do something about it. We've recently been given the stories of Jessica's grandfather's ancestors who first came from Europe to America. It's been very interesting to read and learn about these people's stories.

Yesterday I learned that my late-grandmother and grandfather have a lot of family history documents, journals, and letters. I'm very excited to learn about my ancestors and to learn where I came from and more about my family.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Pzookies at the Millers

For Christmas my brother Zach gave me a Pzookie kit. It came with two cast iron pans, a recipe book, and mix for one set of Pzookies. Tonight Jessica and I finally made the first batch. Here's what they looked like before they went in the oven:



Here's what they looked like after they cooked and were 'fixed up' (we only had enough ice cream for one, haha):



And about five minutes later:



Yum.

Big thanks to Zach, this present rules. Tomorrow morning I think I'll try making Omelets in them.

If you want to come over and eat some Pzookies, just let me know, we'll have you over. And if you're like my friend Maxfield and you don't like warm desserts, I'll put yours in the freezer.