halloweeny

this baby is a mummy for halloween, her mom dressed her up in white tights and a white onesy and a white hat and wrapped her in muslin pieces.  looks great with her big ol soft cast.

the interesting thing about living in the suburbs?  trick or treaters!  we’ve had more trick or treaters than I’ve ever had ever!  it’s fun.  they’re all wearing big coats over their costumes so you can barely tell what they are, solitos running around trying to get through as many houses as possible before it gets dark, little kids too scared to say anything, parents who make their kids say thank you, even one guy who put an offer on this house right after aaron and steph bought it (awkward).  only one michael jackson, a few witches, some star wars characters, bats and superheroes.  who knew halloween could be so entertaining?  trick or treaters never came to our house growing up, it was too out of the way.

books, 2008-2009

as I was in ecuador, I decided to keep track of all the books I read during my volunteer experience.  I’m not sure why.  because I like finishing things and making lists? so here is my list of the 98 books that I read in ecuador, august to august (that’s over 8 books a month, I had some slow patches where I didn’t read much). I didn’t leave anything out, no matter how embarrassing, and while some of them were really not good, some of them were really good and those I particularly enjoyed I’ve marked with an asterisk, in case you’re interested. some of them have stories behind them, like how the only reason I’d ever read a nicholas sparks is because melissa asked me too, she couldn’t believe I wouldn’t enjoy it (I didn’t). or how I’ve read everything stephenie meyer’s written, not cause I think they’re good books but because carolyn loves them so. or how I read the shack so elyse wouldn’t have to.  so if you’re really stumped as to why I’d ever read something you can ask.  and if you want to know what I thought of something in particular you can ask that too.

war by candlelight – david alarcon
eva luna – isabel allende
midnight in the garden of good and evil – john berendt
city of god – e.l. doctorow
how we are hungry – dave eggers
brief encounters with che guevara – ben fountain
diary – chuck palahniuk
a heartbreaking work of staggering genius – dave eggers *
i am america and so can you – stephen colbert
picasso’s war – russell martin
the red tent – anita diamant
grendel – john gardner
oh the glory of it all – sean wilsey
hotel sarajevo – jack kersh
the book of lights – chaim potok
the club dumas – arturo perez-reverte
barrel fever – david sedaris
naked – david sedaris
haunted – chuck palahniuk
the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime – mark hadden
falling man – don delillo
the last lecture – randy pausch
volunteer with the poor in peru – jeffrey d thielman and raymond a schroth, sj
a perfect friend – reynolds price
wind, sand and stars – antoine de saint-exupery *
the alchemist – paulo coelho
the wounded healer – henri nouwen
gilead – marilynne robinson
¡gracias! – henri nouwen *
the great train robbery – michael crichton
one big damn puzzler – john harding
the end of poverty – jeffery d sachs
no country for old men – cormic mccarthy *
a passage to india – e.m. forster
stranger than fiction – chuck palahniuk
the power and the glory – graham greene *
watership down – richard adams
quarantine – jim crace
breath, eyes, memory – edwidge danticat
my name is asher lev – chaim potok *
neverwhere – neil gaiman
confessions of an economic hitman – john perkins
miracles – terri blackstock
the wolves of willoughby chase – joan aiken
twilight – stephenie meyer
the vision of emma blau – ursula hegi
indecision – benjamin kunkel
traveling mercies – anne lamott *
the sunflower – simon wiesenthal
three to get married – fulton sheen
teachings on love – thich nhat hanh *
the 5 love languages – gary chapman
cry, the beloved country – alan paton
new moon – stephenie meyer
i know this much is true – wally lamb
eclipse – stephenie meyer
searching for and maintaining peace – fr. jacques philippe
the art of loving – erich fromm
shepherds of the night – jorge amado *
what is the what – dave eggers *
let your life speak – parker palmer *
no death, no fear – thich nhat hanh
here and now – henri nouwen *
breaking dawn – stephenie meyer
the storyteller’s daughter – saira shah
the dna of relationships – dr. gary smalley
chronicles vi – bob dylan
confessions – st augustine
permaculture (finding our own vines and fig trees) – carol coston, op
a tale of three kings – gene edwards
contemplation – james carroll
a sacred voice is calling – john neafsey *
life of the beloved – henri nouwen
the storm – kahlil gibran
dune messiah – frank herbert
confessions of a jane austen addict – laurie viera rigler
the walking tour – kathryn davis
the host – stephenie meyer
the wedding – nicholas sparks
a 7 day journey with thomas merton – esther de waal
the shack – wm paul young
reaching out – henri nouwen *
living a spirituality of action – joan mueller
under the fig tree – william breault, sj
the god of small things – arundhati roy
making sense of god – elizabeth a dreyer
gil’s all-fright diner – a lee martinez
thomas merton: a different drummer – robert j voight
heaven and earth – brother ramen
no man is an island – thomas merton
the princess bride – william goldman
the way of the disciple – erasmo leiva-merikakis *
dandelion wine – ray bradbury
blooming murder – jean hager
praying with therese of lisieux – joseph f schmidt, fsc
take this bread – sara miles
parables to live by – john and lynn samaan
the active live – parker palmer

wounded wing

this baby had surgery on tuesday to remove a big mancha from her arm, it went well but everyone especially her mom was nervous because it’s surgery and she’s a baby.  the sad part is she has bruises all over because they couldn’t find a vein for the iv because this baby is super chubby.

now she has a big dressing, covered by an ace bandage, covered by an immobilizing soft cast from her shoulder to her wrist.  when she waves her arm around she looks like a birdy with a broken wing.  I told her mom that I think that should be her halloween costume, cause it’d be super cute and really sad all at the same time, just as is her waving this club of an arm around.  she gets velcro toys stuck to it and it’s super funny.  only problem is, now she’s impossible to dress because as soon as you take off the immobilizing cast she pulls off the ace bandage and tries to play (this baby is the squirmiest baby ever, she also has a tendency now to smack you in the face with her huge right arm).  she may not be decent for the next two weeks.

infant potty training

the other day, this baby had a doctor’s appt, and in the waiting room her parents read an article about potty training your infant and how effective it is, helpful for potty training in the future and saving money on diapers.

we’re trying it out.

this technique does not involve so much training the baby, but training the baby’s caregivers (me, and her mom) to run the baby to the toilet whenever we think maybe she needs to go, quickly ripping off the pants and diaper, perching her on the edge of the seat and making a pssssss sound.  this baby thinks it’s hilarious.  pictures are not allowed.

sounds ridiculous, is ridiculous, BUT we’ve had multiple poos in the potty like a big girl, which is much more enjoyable than a poopy diaper.  with the diaper she rolls around and sticks her feet and hands and clothes in it and it takes multiple wipes to clean up and usually needs a new outfit afterwards, but with the potty it’s fairly clean!  she can wear the same clothes again!  only one little wipe needed, even can put on the same clean diaper!  think of the money saved on diapers and laundry and wipes.  we, the people who spend time cleaning up this baby’s smelly poo, think that potty training an infant, while may end up to be worthless later in life, is for now entertaining and at least some of the time, clean.

gluten-free baking

one of the skills I picked up in ecuador, while it is not an ecuadorian dish, is making a nice flourless chocolate cake.  steph’s mom has a gluten thing so she asked me if I could make one, so I did today.

differences in making one in the US vs Ecuador?  here, you can choose your oven temp, plus there’s a spring form pan to use, fancy.  and steph has a kitchenaid so I don’t have to beat my eggs by hand.  however, being cheap and not planning ahead, the ingredients are the same.  I still don’t really follow a recipe though, as with most things it’s a technique not really an exact science.

so use about six eggs, and beat with a fair amount of sugar until super fluffy.  I use about a cup, but recipes call for more and you could use less if you want, it depends on what kind of chocolate you’re using.  then, melt 2 or 3 sticks of butter and either baking chocolate or cocoa.  the amount of butter you use depends on whether or not you have baking chocolate.   I usually use cocoa because it’s what I have, there’s no baking chocolate in Duran.  use a lot of chocolate.  it’s important.  fold the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, you want it to be a dark brown color, if it’s not, add more chocolate.  then pour into a buttered floured springform pan (I’d parchment paper the bottom ideally), cover the outside of the pan with tin foil, put the springform into a casserole dish or something bigger and then pour hot water into the casserole outside the springform.  put into the oven, and bake until done, a toothpick will not come out clean but not be gooey, so use your best judgement.  let it cool before you take it out of the pan (or just be very careful, cause it is tasty right away).

that’s how I do it, it’s pretty simple and I don’t have an exact recipe. we served a small slice (a big slice will give you a stomachache)  with some left over strawberry pink stuff from saturday’s party, and it was very good.  the very light strawberry stuff complimented very well the very dense chocolate cake.  also, it looked great.