Cooking, the Rachel Way

Note: I am not Rachael Ray. She spells her name funny. I'm also not spunky. At least I hope I'm not. I've been going for surly lately.

Anyhow, I've recently found myself cooking. A lot of cooking. More cooking than I had done in the past ... life.  For myself, I used to manage a few pb&j's and some Cheerios as well as some raw fruits and vegetables.  I can't let the kids eat like me.  I really don't want to have to fight them for the last of the grape jelly or whatever. 

So, I've been experimenting because regular ol' food still seems a little tame to me.  Thus far we've made Purple Chicken (there is a whole ceremony associated with this dish), Pizza Pot Stickers (a tasty culture clash), Vegan Batter Chicken (no, not made with real Vegans, the batter has no egg or milk) and the dish pictured here: Eyeball Pancakes.  I'm still working out the artistic side of the eyes, but the actual pancake bit I have down pat.  This first set was too Green Eggs and Ham for me, but I have plans for tomorrow's experiment.

Lest you think all my dishes turn out perfect, I will admit that the Super-Sour-Pucker-Up-Million-Lemon Cake was an utter disaster.  SS PUMmeL is something I won't live down for a long while.  I have inherited my mother and father's sour-loving taste buds.  I discovered this trait is recessive.  I traumatized Gary's and my children's sour taste buds and the poor things won't come out of hiding while I'm in the kitchen..

Life Goes On

It's been four months since Theo left.

The kids have asked many questions, but unfortunately all I can say is that I don't understand behavior, that I think it was incredibly wrong to leave, and that I could never imagine leaving them, not in a million years. It's not comforting or satisfying that all I can say to them is that I don't know or understand. I've told them that when I know something, I'll tell them. For right now, we're all in the dark.

That being said, the kids are holding up. I'm holding up. Life is different now, but it goes on. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has called and offered help, moral support, babysitting, advice and more. Here are some smiling faces to reassure those of you worried about the lack of posts.

Missing Person: Theo Petersen

We've filed a Missing Person report on my husband. If you've seen Theo Petersen please contact Det Jason Weaver with any information 303-660-7588 jweaver@dcsheriff.net Missing Person Case 10-68523.

You can also see Theo's profiles, picture and related information at: LinkedIn Public Profile, Web Development with Apache and Perl, and Good Reads. He was driving a white '94 Saturn station wagon with Colorado plates the letters are GBL, but the numbers I'm not sure of, maybe 683. He said that he was driving to Indianapolis, but no one has verified that he arrived there.

Since his last communication on June 30th, he hasn't contacted his work and his family haven't heard from him either. Various details of his departure have worried us about his safety and well-being. We are in the midst of a divorce, so he could be under a significant amount of stress. As of this writing, I have not located either his passport or mine. The police have not called me with any information.

Nosey Mantis

We've come up with a gazillion silly captions for this photo. I found the baby mantis while pulling thistles, but that wasn't quite cool enough that the boys wanted to assist me with weeding.

As we were releasing her I took a few obligatory photos and then was inspired to place her on Rowan's nose. Dunno why. I think I just wanted something different than the demonstration of scale using my finger tip.

Machine Glasses

Jasmine just got into a low-vision examine through Children's Hospital and Anchor Center. These are great for the full battery of exams -- also an extra expert opinion for the insurance company. Eye doctor visits are the best, Jasmine loves them. The "machine glasses" are extra fun.

Endless Tatas

The title of this blog entry should pick up a number of confused porn surfers.

In actuality, this is a dry-erase picture by Jasmine. She's becoming quite the white board artist. She's also fascinated by adults, actually by women. "Grown ups have breasts," she tells me. I respond, "Yes, women have breasts." Then she says, "When I am a grown up I will have breasts, and drink Diet Coke and I can sit in the passion seat [sic she means 'front passenger seat']." "Okay, honey."

Currently, all women that are drawn must have two round circles on their chests to indicate their breasts. I think she'll start demanding the addition of Diet Coke cans in their hands as well. In this drawing, the breasts look like drawings my 5th grade male classmates used to draw (minus the center dots to indicate [naughty giggle] nipples. I think they look like an infinity sign. Breasts Forever!

Kai has just begun taking the bus to school becuase his new school much further away than our local school. That school as far northwest of our house as Rowan's is southeast -- a 30-minute drive between the two. Anyhow, Kai's first day riding the bus in, we all gathered around the door as the bus pulled up. Jasmine starts shouting, "Bye! Good-bye! Zài jiàn! Adios! Bye bus, thanks for taking Kai away!" We knew what she meant, but it certainly was funny.