day between semesters

I had today off and got to spend some time alone in the house for most of day. Then I met Topher downtown and we went to Palace for Crabby Hour ($3.00 Dungeness Crab Legs, etc) and we finally saw Invictus. It was a very well made and inspiring film...

Invitcus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:I am the captain of my soul.

William Ernest Henley

Happy New Year!

We went to SAM for free and got a discount on Happy Hour with our new membership! Thanks!

And had a wonderful New Years Night together....

Happy Holidays!

--------> X-mas List <--------

okay, some folks wanted me to come up with an x-mas list, and I put it of for a long time, but here it is:

•the new iPod Nano, the one with the video camera built in!
•some new soccer shorts and/or new soccer socks, mine are getting a little beat up
•renew my subscription to Saveur
•a Seattle Art Museum membership for H. and I
•Books! like Soccernomics, or good cookbooks, or comic books, or a decent world atlas.
•Cds and DVDs are good too, i especially like TV shows on dvd
•we could also use new RAM for our computer and I need a dresser for the bedroom, but those things are kind of impossible to get as gifts.

(and of course season tickets to the Sounders would be greatly appreciated.)

Merry Solstice!

kimchi and beyond

I love kimchi. I started eating it regularly in the Marshall Islands, my favorite kind was sold in a bag and had pickled garlic in it. I know, really no surprise if you know me at all. I was intrigued when my Yoga Journal magazine had a recipe for quick kimchi. Kimchi is really good for you, especially in the cold and flu season, it has vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, calcium and lactic acid (to name just a few of the health benefits). I feel very lucky to be married to someone who will try anything! So, we decided to make kimchi at home! It is delicious! And so easy to make...

Then my mom came to visit! We went to Bainbridge, see top photo and here she is at Matador Happy Hour by the fire. We mostly laid low, hung out and took it easy...

Then today we finally got to make a recipe I have been wanting to try, Kimchi Quesadillas!!! They were so good! Surprisingly good, actually....I recommend this recipe! Cheers!

blogging is for the birds...

Sorry parents, we have been spending a lot less time on the computer lately. We have been reading, books, comics and magazines, that is...and doing other things not on the apple. It has been good for music and listening to NPR. I have the day off and was glad to hear this story, perfect for Veteran's Day. More sometime...

oh my goodness!

meet Sprocket!

jets to brazil

I am sitting on the couch with a heating pad on my back trying to watch Breakfast at Tiffanys. I have never seen it and so far, I am not sure what the big deal is. Though I noticed the "Jets to Brazil" poster in Holly's apartment. On Wednesday morning at 4 am I woke up in blinding pain. My back and neck spasming and tighter than something very very tight. Since then I have been sleeping or propped up on the couch, with a heating pad and on muscle relaxers. Yesterday I ventured out to get a massage, which I think helped, but the outside world was really too much for my condition.

I have had time to watch the first season of True Blood, the sixth season of Buffy, The Women remake and the original, Little Children and Breakfast at Tiffanys. I am feeling much better today, but I did actually move around the house this morning and worked a little on an iep that I need to finish by Tuesday, and now I am hurting, so it's back to the drugs, heating pad and couch. I was going to go to the shelter today to volunteer, but there is no way that was a good idea. I hope that I fully recovered by next weekend, so I can volunteer.

I can knit a little, but mostly I have seriously been doing a whole lot of nothing. I am pretty sure I can blame all this on a stupid basket that I was filling with work crap and it weighed a million pounds...it will be purely decorative from now on.

rain city

the rain is back. i hired some dude to come and detail my car today, after the sap storm attacked it last month, it was about time. now it is on and off pouring rain, i told him to wait until next weekend. hopefully it won't be raining this hard then. i don't have any plans this weekend. i have one iep to write, knitting to do and the sounders are playing today at 5. i am entertaining the idea of baking something...we'll see if that happens. rain seems like buffy weather.

yesterday after school i had an iep meeting and ended up staying later at work then i planned, talking to some co-workers. my classroom is coming together this year. i have been spending a lot of time getting trained, prepping and then reflecting on teaching science. right now we are learning about organisms and it is going well. it has been a little exhausting, but the results have already been good. it is s different way of teaching, compared to how we do math and reading, by front loading or an anticipatory set, so the students get to actually do their own investigations and observations without a lot of help from us.

to make a short story long...when i got home topher, who had friday off, had made a delicious salad and poured me a glass of wine. then we decided to go on a date to palace kitchen, where we had steamed clams and oysters on the half shell. then we went to see zombieland, which was entertaining, it had 2 of my favorite actors in it, woody harrelson and bill murray and of course zombies!!!

Legos!