What we've been up to

Since recovering from the Awful Lung Funk of 2010, we've been busy exploring this area. Here are some of the things we've done:
-Visited ArtFest, listened to live music, then ran across campus in a torrential downpour. We (especially Doodle) are loving the frequent, warm summer rains and the break from humidity that they bring.
-Went to People's Choice festival in Boalsburg, watched bellydance, and talked to the performers and an instructor. I'm hoping to start taking classes with them soon.
-Went exploring out at Black Moshannon State Park. Post coming soon.
-Explored Bear Meadows Natural Area for some blueberry picking, then drove down to a bouldering area for J to explore. I sat and read in the car with napping kids, then we all played in the stream and harassed small crawdads. It was great. That post is also coming soon.

This past Thursday we had to be out of the apt all day because the painters were coming to spiffy up the place before it's rented out Aug.1st. To stay busy all day we:
-hiked around at Millbrook Marsh (mymillbrookmarsh.org) for a couple of hours followed by
-little coffee shop/café for a break from the heat, followed by
-the community pool! For three hours! (note to self: if I even CONSIDER going to the pool later in the day, have J apply sunblock to my back before he leaves for work. Otherwise there's no way I'll get sunblock on my back, and I'll burn. again. OR I can take J's advice and find the sexiest lifeguard on duty and ask for sunblock application help. while holding my adorable baby. right.)

In other news, Roo took 17 steps in a row on Saturday! 17!!! Yes, we have video (finally). Yes, we know where the cord to connect the video camera to the computer is. It's in a box, of course. (which box? Umm, not sure. As soon as we know, video will be posted.)

Still on the to do list:
-find more of the parks in town, go to a park playgroup (now that I'm on some mailing lists and know when playgroups are happening)
-make it to the downtown S.C. farmer's market one of these days.
-much more exploring of natural areas
-minor league baseball! (Single A short season, just like the Spokane Indians.) Here in town! And they have beer!
-chocolate-covered bacon at Herwig's Austrian Restaurant downtown. Must. try.
-head to some bars in town. Bee Labbers coming to PennState soon beware! I'm planning to get my first S.C. bar experience with y'all!

Ooh, great idea!

I'm so curious to see what this newest little person will look like... time to go make some Punnett squares?

Doodle & breakfast

Miss Doodle is quite the amusing, entertaining, awesome little person. This morning she insisted on having hot chocolate for breakfast. When I refused she started crying and whining, even asking Papa in hopes he'd say something different. After a few offers of waffles, oatmeal or applesauce she wandered into the kitchen to figure out her own breakfast.

She proceeded to grab an ear of corn from a bag of farmer's market produce we hadn't yet put away. She turned and told me, "I eat corn for breakfast." She then walked to the garbage can, where she husked the ear of corn completely. I turned in time to see her take a bite of the raw corn, followed by an "Mmmmm" of satisfaction.

She then brought it to me, saying "you cook corn. It's ok, I only ate one bite."

While I cooked her corn she ate a waffle for breakfast.

The Dollar Store Dilemma...

...or, questions that arise when trying to be an ethical consumer (well, as ethical as possible).

J and I tend to put a fair amount of thought into our purchasing habits. We try not to buy cheap, expendable items when a well made, long lasting alternative is available. We consider the packaging, the manufacturing process, and how much we really need/want a given item. We avoid shopping at stores which treat their employees poorly (*cough*Walmart*cough*). We try to buy local, or at least American-made when possible. I've even stopped buying fabric at JoAnn Fabrics, where it's nearly all made in China, and switched over to a local quilting fabric store where the prices are a little higher but the fabrics are American made. I buy less, but feel better knowing more about the source of the fabrics I do buy. We try to buy from companies with good reputations for employee care, environmental concern and overall social consciousness. In short, we think a lot about where we shop, what we buy, and why. (Which makes for long, drawn-out discussions about the merits and drawbacks of gasoline companies. Anyone have insight on which gas companies are the least awful?)

So what is one to do when it comes to simple, cheap, expendable items like stickers? Doodle has started to show an interest in potty learning (primarily because her good buddy A is working on it right now). I suggested she could get a sticker when she uses the potty, as a fun little "hooray!" reward. But where to buy stickers? High quality, expensive ($4+ for 1-2 sheets), American-made stickers can be purchased at one of the big box craft stores in town. Cheaper ($2-3 for 2 sheets), run of the mill made in China stickers can be found at the grocery store down the street. The same cheap, made in China stickers can probably be found at the dollar store for $1. What do I do?

I'd rather buy American, but don't feel like scrapbooky, archival quality stickers are really necessary for potty rewards. Plus we're grad students, so it feels ridiculously frivilous to spend $4+ on some stickers that will be promptly forgotten or discarded. So that leaves made in China, where the work conditions are unknown, and the same goes for environmental concerns (plus the darn stickers came all the way from China. Talk about a carbon footprint!). Do I buy them at the local grocery store for a markup, or go to the Dollar Store?

I know many people have no qualms about the Dollar Store. Maybe I'm just silly or overthinking things. But to me it feels like shopping there is further supporting the exploitation of cheap labor and lax environmental policies for the production of crappy, disposable goods. It makes me feel all icky inside. So I haven't shopped at one in quite a while. BUT back to my question: if the very same stickers are available at the local grocery store and at the Dollar Store, and we're a pair of far-from-rich grad students, what do we do? Do we support the Dollar Store (thereby supporting unfair labor practices abroad) by shopping there, but get a good price on some stickers for Doodle? Or do we support the local grocery store by paying more for the same stickers, and pat ourselves on the back for only kinda supporting cheap labor practices in China?

Or do we bag the sticker idea all together and, being the hippies we are, give her handmade clover-headbands from the front yard instead?

Really, what do you think? I want to know. What would you do?

Lazy

Because I'm feeling lazy, here are some Doodle pictures. One of these days I'll get around to taking a belly pic of me (yes, it's starting to show) and posting it. But in the meantime, Doodle cuteness will have to tide you over.

The tree-climber. It was getting dark and she still didn't want to come down.

Tractors are a big hit in this neighborhood. They came and removed our big piles of tree branches from the street. One guy even let us climb up in the backhoe and sit in it! Doodle was thrilled.

Doodle and I went to the zoo on Monday. She loved the geese, ducks, coyotes, ducks, turtles, ducks... it was fun.

Darn cute.

Life...

From ThisIsIndexed.com.

What we've been up to

Here's a pile of cute Doodle pictures from the past few weeks.


Little bellydancer eating chocolate. Stripey girl dancing to her singing birthday card. Yes, her b-day was in December. She *loves* singing cards.


Yesterday J climbed this tree in our backyard to hack off some dead branches. Doodle insisted on joining him. I'd better get used to this - she's only going to climb higher from here on.


Play hard, sleep hard.


She may be cute, but she's still fierce. Beware!

Daydreaming of summer

Found on Flickr here.

Pumpkin pie

Last night we were puttering around after watching a cheesy movie (the Great Race, in case you're wondering). We asked Doodle what she wanted to do. She replied, "pie!" We asked what kind, and she replied, "punkupunkum" which we interpreted to mean pumpkin. J and I both agreed that a pie sounded delicious, so we dashed to the kitchen and started throwing things together. Twenty minutes later we had a fully-assembled pie. Hooray for teamwork! Pie completed (and a couple slices eaten) before bedtime. We rock.

The pie was delicious. So why do I feel bad that, as of noon today, the pie is gone?

Needed something to make me chuckle...

from xkcd.com

Nicest buns around!

If I ever go to Saskatchewan, I have to go to the town of Watrous. And while I'm there, I MUST get a shirt from this place. A logo like that, plus "we have the nicest buns around!" plus my last name?! I must find an excuse to go there. Anyone up for a road trip to Saskatchewan?

Bullet points

Highlights from this past weekend, and the near future:

• Voter registration before the fireworks went really well. People were nice and receptive.
• The older democrat demographic *LOVES* Doodle. We brought her to a potluck, where she entertained the masses by running around, dancing, spinning in circles and climbing on the couches. They adore her.
• Lewiston parade: super. Doodle got to pet some horses, and had fun sitting on the float.
• Hyrum parade: hot and not so super. We were both ready to be done at that point. A friend said she saw us looking tired and bored on the float. Oops!
• The Cruise-In: noxious gas fumes, mostly. We only saw some of the cars. My favorite was a silver rocketship-like car that resembled the Ambiguously Gay Duo's phallomobile.
  
• The duet choreography is DONE! Now we just need to practice it and polish it before the show in two weeks.
  
• My Mom is coming to town for the show (see above). I'm really excited. She has never seen me dance.
  
• We're now chicken sitting for J's advisor. The flock is 20 hens, 1 obnoxious and territorial rooster, and a baby chick. The chick is an indoor bird right now, and follows us around in the house. If she (the chick) loses sight of humans, she'll start cheeping loudly until she can find someone. Really cute. Doodle loves playing with the chick. Hopefully we'll get some pics this week.
• Because the darn rooster woke us up at 5:45 this morning, Doodle is napping right now. This is only problematic because the city crew is outside oiling and graveling our street, and there is all sorts of cool heavy machinery out there. It's right outside our front door, and she's missing it! Oh well. Better to have a rested Doodle.