Happy Halloween!!

I hope everyone had a fun, safe Halloween filled with many trick-or-treaters.

Pumpkin Party

Tonight Aesha and Dario had us and other clerks and couples over for a pumpkin party. They bought a whole bunch of pumpkins, provided the tarp, carving tool, and cider. Here are the results :)

Tammy and Steve made the wolves; Jacque carved the traditional jack-o-lantern (this was her first pumpkin carving); John and I made the pirate; Henry and Rebecca created the moon and stars; Dario (the lawyer fisherman) created the fish; Aesha carved the spiderweb METICULOUSLY; Tiffany made a lantern. We had a great time!

Almost An Arizona Sunset

Tonight there was a beautiful sunset. Here are the pictures from our backyard.

Iron Chef and Wikipedia

When did Wikipedia start being a valid resource?!

I was watching Iron Chef tonight and started wondering (why I'd never thought of this before, I don't know) when do the Iron Chefs tell their sous chefs what to do? I mean, there's no discussion-- it's just cut shots and everyone's doing something without directions. So... I poked around and found this information on Wikipedia.

A theme ingredient (referred to as the "secret ingredient") is revealed, and the cooking begins. On occasion, the theme ingredient is actually a 'theme meal;' for example, eggs, bacon, potatoes, etc. are revealed and thus the "secret ingredient" is breakfast. Unlike Iron Chef, where chefs had roughly 5 minutes to discuss their strategy before the battle begins, the revelation of the theme ingredient occurs 45 minutes before the start of the battle. However, this segment is not shown on television, and it is a common assumption that the battle starts immediately after the secret ingredient is revealed.

...

Several of the secrets to how the show is taped were revealed in an episode of Unwrapped entitled "Food Network Unwrapped 2." It was stated that the chefs find out what the secret ingredient is about 15 minutes before the battle begins because the opening sequence is recorded many times. It is only the final taping of this sequence where the words "Allez cuisine!" are said and the battle begins. Moreover, at the end of the one-hour battle, the chefs must still prepare 4 plates of each of their 5 dishes for the judges and the Chairman. This is done during a 45-minute period after the battle ends and before tasting begins. They consider this to be part of the competition, and it is timed, but it is not recorded or shown to the viewers. The plates which the audience sees prepared during the one-hour battle are the plates used to obtain close-up footage of the dish for use in the final episode. Usually, on taping days, two different battles will be taped, one beginning at about 10 a.m. and the second at about 4 p.m. A Food Network crew has about 90 minutes between each show to clean the set and prepare for the second show.

Chefs provide the producers with shopping lists for each of the possible secret ingredients. Consequently, they can surmise what the secret ingredient will be just before it is officially revealed, based on which of their items were purchased.




...hmmm... very interesting!

Skippyjon Jones- Lost in Space

My favorite children's book is Skippyjon Jones. It's about a siames cat who thinks he's a chihuahua. It's mostly a story about imagination. I've loved reading it to my students at all grade levels (even the 8th graders that it was funny).

There's a sequel called Skippyjon Jones: Lost in Space and one of my students got it for me at the book fair. I can't wait to read it with the students.

Gecko Feet

No snow yet, but it was a bit icy yesterday morning. The snow tires worked great. We'll see if they do equally well in the snow... it feels like driving with little sticky gecko feet on your tires-- they really hold the road. We'll see...

Animal Shelter Votes

This came from a co-worker, but is a great opportunity to support local pets...

Hi! I'm writing to tell you about The All-Star Animal Rescue Site $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge - together with Petfinder, starting September 20, 2010. The Animal Rescue Site is awarding $100,000 in grants to eligible Petfinder.com member rescue organizations to help animals. The grand prize is a $10,000 grant, and there are many other prizes! Visit www.theanimalrescuesite.com to vote every day and learn more. You don't have to register, and voting is free. Support your favorite shelter and vote today! Thank you!


Go to the right side and click on the tab that says "Shelter Challenge."

Scared Scriptless Preview Night

Last night John and I went to see Scared Scriptless. They asked John to come see them in action (although we'd seen them once before--my very first weekend in Alaska), and they provided us the tickets to do so. This was their HA HA Halloween Part 2 act. It was very funny. First, they all dressed up in costumes... including 2 teletubbys (of which I refused to believe one was named Dipsy--John was right), the Artist (formerly known as Prince), a ref, a general... you get the idea. There were a couple games I hadn't seen previously that were all really fun.

1. Bobbing for Oxygen-- they come up with a scenario (in this case the security line at an airport) and 2 people interact while the 3rd person bobs for an apple. In theory, the apple bobber isn't supposed to come up for air until they have an apple... There would have been dead bodies. (And these were seriously committed--head under water--bobbers... it was particularly funny because it was a clear plastic container--so you could see them.) Once they had retrieved an apple, then they joined the other 2 and 1 of then headed down to bob for apples... so, the original bobber continued the scene dripping wet. Very funny.

2. Objection-- one random person steps forward and begins talking about a pre-chosen subject (in this case political ads)... whenever anyone wants to jump in, they yell "objection" and then give an objection. There are 3 audience judges... if they give mostly thumbs up (good objection), then the objector jumps in and begins their soliloquy on the subject, while the original speaker sits down. If they give mostly thumbs down (lame objection), then the objector steps back and the original speaker continues. For example, someone began "Christine O'Donnell of Delaware literally got on TV..." and someone else objected with, "Objection-- How do you figuratively go on TV?" It's very fast and very funny.

I'm so excited that John was chosen. I think it will be lots of fun to see him up there... and I think he'll really enjoy it :)

Studded Tires

We got our studded tires today. We've gone back and forth-- studless winter tires (the Blizzak) or the studded tires... and everyone has different advice... "you definitely need studs" or "All Season tires are fine" or "Blizzaks will do just as well". Finally, the consensus was that the Zonys needed studs. Then, back and forth between vendors... finally the closest store decided to price match the place a bit further away.

So, we got them. They're weird. Tires with thick, but not super thick, tread and these little metal bolts. They make a sound like you're driving on gravel all the time. They're legal from Sept 15th until May 1st, which gives you an idea of how long winter lasts-- BOO. At any rate, apparently tire stores get swamped after the first major snow-- so, it's a game to get them as late as possible, but before the first real snow. (You don't want them very early, because they reduce your gas mileage a fair bit.)

The main reason we had to get special tires is that Anchorage doesn't salt its roads... this is apparently for many reasons-- it's too cold to be effective, it's environmentally unsound, it lures moose to the roads, and it's expensive. Consequently, we're all studded up ;)

ADN Moose Sightings

John's picture made it into the ADN online gallery :)

Alaska Supreme Court-- Hello Justice Winfree

Apparently Justice Winfree, one of the Alaska Supreme Court Justices, has a Google query that alerts him whenever anything about the Court is posted online... this means, he's seen my blog!! How crazy, huh? So, I'm sure he'll come across this too ;) Justice Winfree is so joyful and has a great sense of humor. His wife also seems very warm. We're looking forward to visiting them in November when we're up in Fairbanks for the UAF hockey game.

Battle of the Books

I got wrangled into doing Battle of the Books for 3rd and 4th graders at our school. The students are responsible for reading at least 12 of 15 books. Of course, I haven't yet read any of them, but I started today with "Who is Walt Disney?" I'll let you know if these new books in the intermediate grade realm are any good ;)

Balto and the Great Race By Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat By Lynne Jonell
Henry Huggins By Beverly Cleary
Honus and Me By Dan Gutman
Little Wolf's Book of Badness By Ian Whybrow
Magic Pretzel By Daniel Pinkwater
Marco? Polo By Jon Scieszka
Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth? By Louis Sachar
Maze of Bones By Rick Riordan
Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little By Peggy Gifford
Shipwreck on the Pirate Islands By Geronimo Stilton
Sticky Burr: Adventures in Burrwood Forest By John Lechner
Uncle Pirate By Douglas Rees
Who Was Walt Disney? By Whitney Stewart
Word Eater By Mary Amato

Loss

The sixteen year old daughter of John's justice passed away suddenly this past Saturday. The magnitude of this loss for their family is almost incomprehensible. Our thoughts are with them.

Beauty and the Beast :)

I was eying the Beauty and the Beast DVD/Blue-Ray disc. I decided to skip it... not really something I "needed"... but then I came home tonight and John got it for me. It was there on my chair!! Woo hoo :) What a lovely surprise!! We're watching it and singing along.

Church Bulletin Funnies

These were sent to me today... they're just silly, but sometimes real life (of course someone might have made this up, but let's pretend no) is at least as funny as fiction...

Church Bulletins! These sentences (with all the BLOOPERS) actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:
--------------------------
The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.'
The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
--------------------------
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale.
It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house.
Bring your husbands.
--------------------------
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.
Smile at someone who is hard to love.
Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you..
--------------------------
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
--------------------------
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
--------------------------
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?'
Come early and listen to our choir practice
--------------------------
Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
--------------------------
Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled.
Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
--------------------------
The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind.
They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
--------------------------
This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
--------------------------
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM.
Please use the back door.
-------------------------
The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM.
The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
-------------------------
Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church Please use large double door at the side entrance.
-------------------------
The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours

Settlers of Catan

My news isn't quite is big as John's, BUT... tonight we played Settlers of Catan with Steve and Tammy... and I WON!!! I've never won this game!!! HOORAY!!! I like winning!!

Scared Scriptless Cast Member Bunking Down with Us

Well, more accurately, the Scared Scriptless Cast Member is now half of us... but John is bunking down at our house ;) That's right... John is the newest member of Scared Scriptless!! That's our local improv group that you might remember me talking about in my post from the summer.

On Thursday John saw a sign for Scared Scriptless' open audition. He attended the first audition on Saturday. They called late last night while we were at the movie (we saw RED--very funny)... John wouldn't leave to take the call because he figured it was bad news (or maybe he just didn't want to miss the movie). I, of course, couldn't think straight until I knew the outcome. They'd left a message and invited him to a call back today. He went to the call back... John found out tonight that he's been invited to be a 3 month cast member... after that time, they'll reevaluate. SOOO exciting!

We're going to watch this weekend's show and he'll start practice on Sunday. Hooray! Congratulations, John!!

Coming to a theater near you...

The Sound of Music Sing Along Event!! How cool is that?? I know Erin is going to be all over this :) Plus, it's national... so you too can sing along for 3+ hours on a weeknight!! Honestly, though, John and I and some of the clerks are all going to the event on the 26th... We're preparing to Lonely Goat it up ;)

Updates--Mama Mia and Postcards

Mama Mia was a blast. The singing (and acting) wasn't as good as the Vegas performance, but the choreography was better. And the audience was *CRAZY*... must have been a lot of original ABBA fans reliving their youth... women doing the wave and wearing VERY short skirts and singing and clapping. It was fun to see people enjoying themselves :)

The performance did make me sad remembering hanging out with my own friends (and signing Fernando with Erin--even though it's not part of the show) and with my mom. Amanda, whose mom recently moved to Texas, and I both blubbered through "Slipping through my Fingers"... ugh... don't listen to it! Other than that, we really did enjoy ourselves.

**

Postcards-- If you emailed me your address, I sent your postcard early this week. But, I don't think anyone's received them yet. Let me know if yours arrived. URgggH!

Alaska Native Heritage Center

Today my students and I went to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. It was lots of fun... though it was off to a rocky start with slightly delayed chaperones and a permission slip drama. We got to see the different housing types of all 7 Alaskan tribal groups. The kids danced native dances. They also created bead and "ivory" and "claw" necklaces. Here's the face obscured picture I can share. Two thumbs up though!!

Happy Birthday Kyle

Okay... the last of my birthday tributes goes to my brother...



Happy Birthday Kyle!! We hope you have a wonderful day and many wonderful years to come. May all the best in life be yours.

With lots of love, Lindsey and John

Mamma Mia!

This Friday John and I are going to see it... Mamma Mia (the musical, obviously--not ABBA). We saw it in Las Vegas 2 years ago. I, of course, love ABBA and can't wait to see the play (and sing quietly along) this FRIDAY... awesomeness. Plus, John and I are going with a coworker of mine and her husband--so it should be a fun double date. Really looking forward to a fun evening!

Happy First Birthday Qiu Qiu!

Last year our friend Jue and her husband, Chunpeng, had their first child-- Isabelle. Her nickname is Qiu Qiu (pronounced a bit like the train sound Choo-Choo, but prettier).

Tracy, Jue, and Chunpeng are all from the same home"town" (of like 4 million people) and they became fast friends.

Tracy and I were lucky enough to, with help from Mom, throw Jue a baby shower. (See picture at left where Jue is picking the best play-dough baby.) Tracy and I were even at the hospital with them during labor and waiting just outside when Qiu Qiu was delivered. I've hardly seen this bundle, but am tickled by her easy laughter. (The picture is of her at 4 months old.)

At any rate...

Happy First Birthday Qiu Qiu! May it be the start of many wonderful birthdays to come. We love you, Izzy-Bee!

Tracy has seen Qiu Qiu much more recently than I have and had these pictures and stories to share--She was most interested in the stairs in our place, and with Jue’s help, she can go up and down one stair each step. Pretty impressive. (You can see in one of the pictures)

Her second favorite item is Taro, but Taro was too scared to play. Qiuqiu poked Taro’s face, which taro took pretty well; and then she tried to put her tiny finger into Taro’s mouth (very brave idea), but was stopped in the process. Qiuqiu loves animals, and there is a story where she friendlily “kicked” Jue’s friend’s cat. Given the chance, I think she’ll dominate Taro too.

The third item that she enjoyed a lot was the combination of “Kyle + Kyle’s cell phone”. Smarter than Taro, when Kyle hid his cell phone behind his back, Qiuqiu was able to tell where it was and insisted on getting it from Kyle. Inexperienced with this situation (usually Taro needs further instructions to find something hidden behind our backs), Kyle let Qiuqiu play with his cell. She actually started to text something and would only take a break when the cartoon on TV has more intriguing moments.

Before obtaining the cell phone, Qiuqiu actually climbed on top of Mount. Kyle. (Kyle was lying on the floor, I guess it was at least a Hill. Kyle to her) Kyle was a little surprised but cooperated through the 30 second climbing process.

Qiuqiu crawls very fast, and when having something in her hands (Jue says it may be a balance thing), she can actually walk 7 or 8 steps. So if not being watched, she can move to the other side of our living room really fast. Oh, another funny thing, she doesn’t speak much yet but masters a magic word “Mama”, especially when she wants something, despite the specific items she wants.

She is also a very smart girl. She has a lot of tricks, such as mimicking the motorcycle, “welcoming” dance and fake sneezing. You’ll have to see it for yourself during thanksgiving.

Apartment Pics

We had to take some apartment pictures for the listing of our house. I thought you all might like to see some of where we live :)

Moose Sightings Gallery

You don't get this in Arizona...

The Anchorage Daily News, our local newspaper, has a gallery of patrons' pictures of moose.

Perhaps the Arizona Republic wants to have a scorpion sightings gallery??

Your Address

Except for Mom and Kerry, Dad and Margo, and Mina and Dodd, I don't have anyone's address up here with me in the great white north. (I think my Rolodex is in a box at home.)

However, I have some postcards that I'd really like to send. So, if you could email me your address, I'd really appreciate it and will return the favor with a cool postcard made with a picture either John, my mom, or I took.

Concertante

Justice Fabe had extra tickets for a performance by the chamber music group Concertante. John and I went and really enjoyed ourselves. Before intermission they played 3 movements by Elgar and then 3 ragtime movements. We quite enjoyed that, but the post-intermission Chopin was a bit bland and, frankly, soporific.

A Rhino in the Driveway

Imagine driving home... and there, in your neighbor's driveway is a rhinoceros. Wouldn't that be CRAZY?

Well, that's about how shocking it is to look over and see a giant moose in your neighbor's front yard. Today we drove home from Costco. We were parking when TA DA-- I saw the moose. I was speechless. I grabbed John's arm and it took a couple seconds for me to gather my words and my wits. THERE was a MOOSE in the neighbor's FRONT YARD. CRAZINESS!! Anyway, John bravely exited the vehicle and caught these pictures. I took the one from the house... [below] so you can see how close it was. So nuts!!

Very Alaska cool!

Sesame Street: Smell Like A Monster

Silly Old Spice... (Plus, this guy went to A.S.U. and used to be a Sun Devil Football Player.)



A spoof ON the Old Spice commercials to teach kids the word "on".

Anaheim Peppers

In our produce box, we ordered anaheim peppers. These relatively mild peppers are made quite mild when you take out the seeds.

Today I cut off the base and top of the peppers, sliced them in half, and removed the seeds. I cut them into about 3 inch by 1 inch pieces. I then folded all of them into a large piece of foil and baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. They came out tender and a little smokey. I added a teaspoon-ish of goat cheese (ours had herbs) on each. They were delicious. They tasted like gourmet jalapeno poppers. Yummmm!

On this note, our school is collecting recipes for a charity cookbook. If anyone is interested in contributing a recipe, comment away! If you want to buy a cookbook (I don't know how much yet), do let me know ;)

Tammy and Steve's Blog

Our best Anchorage friends, Tammy and Steve, have their own Alaska blog--with much nicer pictures. If you want to see, you can go to: http://www.moosespotting.blogspot.com/

"There's a Bad Move on the Right"

John and I have had many giggles over the years about the many misheard lyrics.

Examples:

• From Bad Moon Rising-- There's a bad move on the right
• From Secret Agent Man-- Secret Asian Man
• From Dido's song-- I won't poke my eyes out and surrender

...you get the idea...

Anyway, our friend Steve pointed out this website dedicated to misheard lyrics.

Verbosity

Hayden is a pretty quiet critter... she hardly ever barks. But, Kyle and Tracy's dog, Taro, is quite verbose... He tweets daily. You can find Taro's Site here. You can also see his cute picture here.

Buying?

Our landlord told us on Monday night that he is listing our house on the market. Apparently since we have pets, the showings will mostly be of the upstairs. But, it's still a bit frustrating and no fun. The buyer will still have to honor our lease... so, it's mostly the inconvenience.

So, anyone want to buy our duplex? You'd have great tenants!! ... and future clerks too. Eh? Eh?

Well, if you want to check out the house you can-- our listing.

Cute Pets

Practicing with my new camera... I got to capture our very cute critters :) Nelson and Hayden were ready for pics tonight!

Put a Fork in It

Tonight I cooked my first steaks. They were actually quite tasty. I used the time-honored family cooking tradition... when the juices rise to the top on the first side, flip it; when the juices rise again, it's done!

I also made potatoes (Yukon Gold grown locally) and used plain low-fat yogurt instead of sour cream, which worked really well surprisingly :)

Kinda Cool...

Today I was at a math training and they had us using Meeting Words. Meeting Words is a live text editor... It allows you to type with other simultaneously and update live... kind of like a group chat. We used it to answer reflection questions-- and we could all see our answers pop up. Very interesting.

Drew Barrymore

Yesterday John and I ate breakfast at Spenard Roadhouse. Toward the end of the meal, John noticed that Drew Barrymore was at the hostess stand. I couldn't see her, because she was behind a friend with really large hair. In a moment though, I was able to see her too. She is really small!... not just thin, but tiny. Anyway, we left her alone, aside from the occasional peek. She was still eating with 2 friends when we left. We didn't take her picture, but this is the picture online that was closest to what she looked like. She had on a Mexican parka and she had 7" roots... aside from that she looked just like what we pictured.

In answer to your question, this is an example of what I called a "Mexican parka"... probably more accurately a hoodie. It's a classic home-from-Rocky-Point gift.

Oktoberfest

This weekend was just a touch sad. It's Tempe's Oktoberfest... and, as almost all of you know, I "live" in the Polka Bridge Tent on the first Friday night of October. And so do most of you as the most trusted and awesome helpers in all of the valley. However, of all the years to miss, I'm thinking that current super hot temperatures make THIS the year to miss.

There are options for Oktoberfest here in Anchorage... some of which sound cool and some of which sound terrible. For instance, cool = Alyeska; terrible = Egan Center ($15 for the privilege of buying food and drink). We didn't attend any, though last week's Oktoberfest at Alyeska sounded awesome, as did the Humpy's (a reference to pink salmon) event. Still not home though and the Anchorage Oktoberfest mugs are CREEPY!! :(

Threet, Threet... Time to Fly the Nest

Oh my gosh!! This is not, as you already know, a sports blog. However, it's incumbent upon me as a Sun Devil to comment on Threet's performance as our quarterback.

STOP!!! Stop throwing interceptions. Stop throwing the ball away to avoid the sack (just throw it faster). It's so disheartening. I mean... he actually is not terrible, but the things that he goofs up... he REALLY goofs up.

Why We Don't Shoot Spit Balls

Apparently spit balls were an issue with the sub. So, today I explained to the kids why we don't make spit balls...This was mostly sufficient to get kids to chose not to play with spit balls (and yes, I separated germs and bacteria for effect).

I also told them about the perils of playing with straws (up the nose) and pen casing (ink in the mouth).

I predict a spit ball-less future for our class.

From Arkansas- The Social Network

John's co-clerk Steve entered a contest to see an advanced screening of the film- The Social Network, a.k.a. The Facebook Movie.

Steve won! The representative from the contest called and said, "Congratulations, you're our winner from Arkansas!" ...apparently our state abbreviation of AK was a bit confusing.

However, once it was clarified that he was the winner for Alaska (Steve swears he must have been the only person to have entered the contest), he found out that he got an advanced private screening for 50 of his friends.

So... last night we went to see The Social Network. It was very good. The script was based on a book which was based on court transcripts, so it was an interesting way to have pieced the story together and the filming was quite excellent. I very much enjoyed it.