crazedparent

Excuse me while I talk baseball: Say hello to Darren Ford...

When I snapped this photo of Darren Ford during SF Giants spring training, I labeled it the "quintessential baseball pose." 

It remains one of my favorite photos. One hand on hip. Other hand leaning on bat. Pensive. Confident. Classic. The aura of something special.

Back in March, Darren Ford was still in the minors. He got called up to the bigs last night. He landed in the Bay Area earlier this evening and arrived at the ball park during the second inning of the SF Giants/Colorado Rockies game.

 Tim Lincecum finally, finally found some sort of groove with nine strikeouts. The game was tied at 1-1.

Darren Ford entered the game as a pinch runner in the eighth inning. You know, after landing from a long flight and meeting his teammates in the second inning of a fairly important game.

And he scored the game-winning run. In his first Major League appearance.

Something special indeed.

*The new typepad features are causing photo format problems. Still trying to figure it all out.

Weekend colors...

Seeing these giant dahlias from our local farmers' market always, always makes me smile. Looking forward to picking a few up this weekend and adding their splashes of color to our home.

Luna Loves: A new leash and collar...

But I think I love it more.

When summer arrives, Luna Lovegood's routine goes into a slight tailspin. Her morning walk is later and shorter. Her days of quiet naps are disrupted by two loud, active boys who love to spoil her with cuddles. Even when she doesn't want them.

But she's still her sweet self. And she looks ever-so-lovely prancing around in a new collar. And she has a spring in her step during walks with the matching leash. (Not really, but she does have a spring in her step. All the time.)

I always want to pick out a hot pink pattern. And then I remind myself that the husband and I split dog walking duty. So I picked out a handsome light blue leash and collar with a leaf print. It's called "Leafy" from the Green Market collection by Up Country Inc.

I adore summer and I'm sad to see it coming to an end. But those cool blue and green colors on Luna's collar and leash remind me how much I love fall. (And fall cooking!)

Par-tay: Owl & Library-themed baby shower...

I co-hosted a baby shower for Mrs. Geek at casa crazedparent a few weeks ago and the crafty inspiration it inspired filled my very empty bottle of creativity. But seeing Mrs. Geek smile all afternoon? It was impossible not to feel the magic of her excitement. We can't wait for that little baby of hers to arrive.

 One of the co-hosts and I were staring at my chalkboard pondering what we should write. Q. watched us, dragged a dining room chair over to the board and proceeded to draw his welcome message. It's an owl with the word "Baby." My heart did a little flip.

Decorating and game inspiration came from the blog, Pink Tea, and her owl/library-themed baby shower. The boys' added their contributions by picking out their favorite books for display: Good Night Gorilla; The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane; How to Speak Politely and Why; Wabi Sabi; The Cat in the Hat; Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride; and Spot Goes on a Picnic.

My decorating goal was to only include items that the expectant parents could use in their nursery. I didn't have enough time to make more owl plushies so I just used their front sides to add color to the mantle. They are slowly progressing to the plushie stage. (One down!)

I participated in a Red Velvet Art summer craft camp (sorry, camp site is password protected for participants only!) and one project focused on button-based embroidery. Lucky me because one of the projects included an owl! In a truly geeked-out fashion, I stitched this one during a car ride to a SF Giants game. My husband insisted I not bring it into the stadium, lest I end up on camera crafting during a baseball game. No stich 'n pitch!

See that little felt mural in the corner? I did that too. The plan is to have it framed. The inspiration for the Geek Owl Family came from this little fella. (I thought I took a full photo but will have to ask Mrs. Geek to do that for me!) Also? Baby belly! And pretty mama with the glowing smile!

Because the shower was in the afternoon, our food spread was on the lighter side. We had tea sandwiches and wraps catered from a local cafe that I adore. A co-host gal handled the fruit salad and I made the cupcakes. (Book: Ruby's Beauty Shop). Drinks included cucumber water, homemade lemonade and two agua frescas: cantaloupe and strawberry.

Back to the cupcakes. Nom nom. The most popular batch? Bakerella's s'more cupcakes. The look complicated and time consuming but they are so easy to make and incredibly delicious.

Also? A batch of banana cupcakes with honey cinnamon frosting, a la Martha Stewart. The owl cupcake toppers were purchased on Etsy via Tracy Ann Digital Art.

And last but not least, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Holy yum.

Things I love: A perfect zester...

The casa crazedparent limoncello factory is in full swing. We've received many requests from family and friends to refill the bottles we gave them at Christmas time. Since our lemon trees continue to be bountiful, we said YES! Plus, our personal stash is out. Heh.

When I first made limoncello last year, I used a thin microplaner to zest the lemons. It was easy enough to get the zest from 15 lemons. But could it be any easier?

Um, yes.

I picked up a Zyliss zester for eight bucks last week at Sur La Table. Eight was taking a cooking class and that entitled me to a 10 percent discount. (I went a little crazy. The store was having an amazing sale and I looooove cooking supplies.)

The zester is sheer perfection. I couldn't believe how fast I was able to fill a bowl with consistently gorgeous, thin, fragrant ringlets of zest.

It's almost time to add simple syrup. And then we'll let it sit. And sit. And sit.

Yum.

A wise owl party...

I'm throwing a baby shower this weekend along with two other lovely gals for my bestest, oldest friend, Mrs. Geek. Oldest meaning we hugged on the first day of high school and never let go. (And she went with me to my very first Rick Springfield concert. Seriously? True friendship.)

We're using a library theme, with lots of books as decor. But at some point in the party planning process, someone mentioned adding owls into the mix. I think it was after I shared a link to an owls and books baby shower post from Pink Tea. We all cheered (online) in agreement.

Owls are sweet and scholarly, silly and serious. The perfect symbol for the expectant parents we're going to shower with love and good vibes.

I found some online inspiration for party planning, and then the crafty bug kicked me in my arse while yelling, "It's time to get your creative groove on, sister."

So many ideas.

 

So many fingers burned.

I can't share it all yet; I will after this weekend.

But I couldn't resist showing off the owl plushie I made yesterday. The boys are battling for ownership. I came up with the idea while sitting in a gym watching Q's in his gymnastics class and since I've been carrying around my sewing bag with me, I started right there in the gym. It's that easy.

And guess what? Maybe I'll even have a downloadable pattern out of it. Woot! Hoot!

A Giant milestone...

Date night was planned. The babysitter was locked and loaded. The kids were bouncing off the walls with excitement because she was coming over. It was going to be a magical moment. A baseball game without the kids. One where we could sit and actually watch the game while slowly sipping our beers and taking in the scenery.

And then the boys found out Mom and Dad were leaving them with a babysitter so they could watch the Giants take on the Marlins.  The sincere shock and outrage they displayed when learning this information was humorous and annoying. I was especially impressed with the hiding of tears at the thought of not being able to witness the smooth windup of Marlins pitcher and NL ace Josh Johnson.

Eight looked me square in the eyes: "You're JOKING, right? This is a JOKE."

Oh yes he did.

The babysitter was called off and the boys exchanged their cheers because they had just turned date night into family night.

Here's how family night baseball games usually go for us: We arrive at the ball park, take in some batting practice, grab dinner, watch two innings while listening to our kids whine that it's time to walk around/ride the cable car/play on the slide/eat dessert. We stall them until at least the third inning and take our ball park stroll. Sometimes I sit and watch the game while the husband goes with the boys. Or vice versa. But mostly, we all go and finally return to our seats right when it's time for the seventh inning stretch. We need no stretching. We're all stretched out. We go home at the bottom of the eighth because the kids are tired and we usually miss an amazing play. Like Buster Posey's first MLB at bat (which I had to listen to in the car).

I was prepared for the same routine at last night's game.

Only holy cow, my kids decided to throw me a crazy change up.

After we sat down with our dinner, the boys made it through all nine innings. NINE INNINGS! And only one request for a walk -- to buy dessert.

No slides. No games. Just baseball.

I almost cried.

Photo Essay: I shattered my iPhone...and it still works*

*My options are to repair the screen for $199 or upgrade to the newest iPhone**...for $199.
**The iPhone 4 is on back order for about two weeks. Let's home my beaten-up version lasts that long.

Dispatch from the test kitchen: My kid made dinner.

All by himself.

Well, almost. I boiled the lasagna because i didn't want him to burn himself with scalding hot water.

Both of my boys love to cook and bake. Nol's been asking if he can cook "on his own" for quite some time and I've always been hesitant to let him loose in the kitchen.

My mom reminded me that she let me bake on my own when I was five years old. She'd supervise, but she let me read the recipe, gather the ingredients, and even put a pan in the lower of our double oven. 

For the past few weeks, I've been giving Nol a "Cooking Challenge." I pick the meal and he makes the dish almost all by himself. I stay with him in the kitchen teaching him techniques (e.g., how to thinly slice a vegetable or safely use a sharp knife) or pointing out where ingredients are located if he doesn't know. I assist in chopping and mixing only when he asks for help. I always handle things like draining pasta from a boiling cauldron or removing dishes from a hot oven. And we work on the salad together.

A few meals he's made:

• Veggie Pad Thai with eggplant and zucchini (via Everyday Food)
• Papardelle with Basil Pesto
• Homemade tomato sauce (via Mad Hungry)
• BLTs with creamed spinach (latter via Mad Hungry)
• Salad dressing (basic balsamic vinaigrette, his own recipe)
• Zucchini Moons (via Pretend Soup cookbook)
• Homemade chocolate pudding (via Mad Hungry)

And then there was last night's dish, Summer Lasagna from Everyday Food. For this meal, I taught him about presentation and how to properly plate a dish. He said, "I don't care about that. I just want to eat." So we did. It looked fabulous; it tasted even better.

Quin loves to watch the prep but mostly, he just wants to make dessert.

*The lighting is awful in our dining room due to the yellow/gold color of our walls. Makes photographing food in here difficult.

Photo Essay: Patience.