So thankful for

1. Transient weather days of November golden sun, 10 minutes of snow flurries, the gentle forest wind.
2. Hot tea on my lunchtime forest walk.
3. Sounds: a kingfisher being chased and the echoing, melancholy bursts of train whistles.
4. Creating a vision: adding touches of comfort to our home.
5. Reading more Tolkein (or rather, reading it over again): from ethereal Bombadil to scary wights. Those feelings of delight and fright from a book completely capture me and pull me in.
6. A tired and dozy husband falling asleep while rubbing my feet - now that's dedication what a lovely man *sigh*...

don't stick out your tongue!

I have a six year old who can be rather rambunctious sometimes. He's more physical than verbal. And sometimes he's a pill. He'll stick out his tongue and point, then silently laugh at a person.

This doesn't happen all the time, but I found it happening tonight, at teeth-brushing. After saying I didn't like the way I felt when he did that, I decided to not let myself get emotional over it. So, I sat down right there on the bathroom floor and closed my eyes. Almost meditating, with a peaceful smile on my face. When he noticed I was closing off my sense of vision, pulling away from reacting to his actions, he stopped and tapped me and told me what he wanted.

Hallelujah! Staying calm and straightforward is working more and more often with these lads.

current podcast list

I've dumped some dead wood, clearing away some podcasts that were too depressing to listen to or just too raunchy. The Nerdist had an awesome interview with Sir Patrick Stewart; but mostly their interviews are too dumb for me, relying on so much swearing and jokes where they crack each other up or their sound is just bad/not recorded very well.

So here are my new favorites:
Here's the thing with Alec Baldwin (really... only once every two weeks?)
After the Jump from Design*Sponge (technically I haven't been able to listen to this yet, but I can't imagine it would be anything short of delicious)
WTF with Marc Maron - only the ones without too much swearing or listening to a guest reminiscing on their drug histories (man, does that ever get old FAST)and I skip through his dialogues at the beginning (yawn)
Guest DJ Project - via KCRW One of my favorite podcasts
Good Food - via KCRW
The Dinner Party
The Treatment - via KCRW
Pop Culture Happy Hour - sometimes they can go on and sound full of themselves. but my fave part is when they talk about "What Makes You Happy"
Science Friday
99% Invisible

I also like:
Only a Game
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me
But if I don't get to them that week, I feel like they're easy to delete and start with the new week of show.

Honestly, KCRW is the place to find whatever interests a gal. KEXP has amazing podcasts of past performances, if you want to try out a band, be they up and coming or proven to rock.

food schedule ponderings - and a food book

And I'm making a list of how often I should make certain foods: meals, snacks, staples. More later. But, it's actually looking realistic!

My year old is begging me to make homemade eggnog. (Hubby recently purchased 5 records for $1, one of them is Elmo and Patsy's 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer' and the kids play it over and over again on their record player! Hence the eggnog reference.) I've told him this might have to be store bought (we have a local dairy that makes a yummy full fat eggnog) rather than made. And, as it's seasonal, he'll have to get excited about waiting. I try to explain the concept of anticipation, but he's not buying it.

I have this book on order from our local library system:
Make the bread, buy the butter / Jennifer Reese
Mum said Dad's hijacked the book and zipping through it, so she's hoping to read it soon too. Perhaps by the time the library gets it to me, we'll be able to have a Food Book Club phone conference to discuss it!

weekly podcasts i can't live without

The best show in the universe that SHOULD also be a podcase (so I could listen to it over and over again): American Routes : Tulane University

TED Talks
RadioLab : WNYC
GardenFork Radio
Good Food : KCRW
Science Friday : NPR
Guest DJ Project: KCRW
Le Show (Harry Shearer) : KCRW
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me : NPR