samantha blog

My new favorite!
Scram eggs, bacon, cheese, avocado. And a really killer salsa!! I saw someone else eating one and had to try it. Nice change from pancakes.

And dad, you’re getting the leftovers.

well, it is friday night, which makes me realize that i have been putting off my report on LAST weekend for an entire week.

we had quite the weekend last weekend. friday night, of course, was tv night for samantha. in the mean time, i was trying to replace some broken parts on our new bike rack (thule sent me replacements for free). that turned out to be quite a bit trickier than i expected because the parts didn’t come with instructions and if i wanted to go bike riding in the morning i had to get it done. so there we were, mom and i, at 11pm in the cold garage banging and twisting, banging and twisting, and so on. you know i’m still talking about the bike rack, right?

saturday morning started with daddy-daughter time. samantha and i stopped and had doughnuts and then went for a bike ride at a new park that was very close by, right in san marcos. the park is called discovery lake and there’s actually a small lake with a totally flat bike path around it. there is a playground too but unfortunately it is for tiny kids. still i think we’ll be spending more time there since it is so close. very popular, too. when we arrived the parking lot was full and many cars were parking on the street. the lake has a small dock with ducks so next time we’ll bring some stale bread to feed them.

saturday afternoon we dropped samantha off at megan’s for a sleep over. i think this is her first sleep over. apparently samantha and megan were just so excited they were bouncing off the walls all afternoon. and get this, auntie mandy served them green eggs and ham for dinner (although samantha skipped the ham). they were even having so much fun playing they said they would rather keep playing than watch a movie on tv!

meanwhile, mom and i got to spend some quality time together for the first time in ages. we started off by seeing avatar in 3d, which is a pretty amazing film with some really amazing eye candy even if the story is a lot like dances with wolves in space. then we had our absolutely outrageous dinner. and i just mean the check. seriously, the food and the service at addison were outstanding but if you care even a little about value it is hard to justify paying as much as we did for dinner. (addison took the prize for “our most expensive dinner ever”).

that wasn’t all the fun we had planned for the weekend either. we went over to megan’s on sunday morning (i forgot to ask if mandy served dinner for breakfast) and all six of us piled into mandy’s car for a trip downtown. we didn’t tell the girls where we were going, although i started to give the girls clues (much to mom’s annoyance). “we’ve been there before”, “it is cold there”, etc. samantha guessed “disney on ice” pretty quickly, smart girl. as we drove up to the sports arena, samantha saw the sign and knew she was right. it was the “disney on ice: worlds of fantasy” show, featuring cars, little mermaid, lion king, and tinkerbell. it was megan’s first time at disney on ice. the cars part of the show was pretty lame but we all enjoyed the other parts. i particularly enjoyed the lion king number, which had very good costumes of the animals. and of course the girls loved the ariel and tinkerbell numbers. and the huge box of popcorn they shared.

we had lunch at chili’s because it was right next to the arena before heading home and saying goodbye and thank you to megan’s family.

i can’t for the life of me remember what we did on sunday afternoon after we got home. probably fell right asleep.

An amuse bouche before every course (even one before being presented with the check)...

Being personally escorted to the bathroom every time...

A new napkin every time we sat down...

Real towels in the bathroom, not paper towels...

Different breads throughout the evening...

They had the valet pull our car while we were signing the bill...

And a tiny box of salted caramels as we were being escorted to the door...

A very nice dinner at Addison, a new French restaurant in Carmel Del Mar...

More about this quilt. I purchased it on Ebay in 2003 for $87. The top was pieced all by hand - by hand!! I cannot fathom how long it would have taken to create. The lady I bought it from had this to say:

We found this wonderful piece in the “antique” section of an indoor flea market in Mexico MO. I don’t know anything about it other than that! I was drawn to it because of the fabric colors and the appearance of what appeared to be a “pattern” (as opposed to a simple patchwork) on the part I could see. I checked the internet sites to see if I could find the pattern name, but didn’t have any luck. When we made a trip back to Kansas City, I picked up my “quilt book” I found at a garage sale. It has the text in both English and Japanese! I found the “almost” this pattern in that book. The difference is that the “Chimney Sweep” in the book did NOT have the “staggered” or “offset” patches.

A mystery is the word “Leroy” written twice on it, in pencil. Was the family name Leroy? Or was the quilt intended for a son or nephew named Leroy? We will never know. I added a pieced border of dark purple, dark green, and medium green; the batting; and backing ($2.88/yd at Walmart!). I will try washing it now and I hope it doesn’t run - those old fabric dyes were not very stable - and I hope the seams don’t come apart! More about my crazy Ebay quilt habit here: http://www.fratkin.com/teri/vintage-quilts/ and here: http://www.fratkin.com/teri/quilting/. I may pick up where I left off on the “8 pointed star quilt.” Quilting is the perfect hobby for the obsessive compulsive...

But Samantha loves her new quilt and she’ll be sleeping under it tonight!

Tastes like strawberry!!!

Finally after several years of on-and-off working on this quilt, I’m down to the binding. I always self bind my quilts by folding over the backing. I’m told self binding is not as strong as sewing on a separate piece but I am way too lazy for that - to cut strips on the bias, join them, fold, iron, and sew on...once the top and borders are done (the artistic & fun part), the rest has to finish pretty quick or I end up putting it down out of sheer boredom.

Sam is very interested in this quilt, more so than I thought she would be. So it will go one her bed. It is a scrap quilt so its colorful but its not especially girly - and I have at least 2 “girly” quilts for her currently in progress (yes - UFOs - “Un Finished Objects”).

It’s got a polyester batting inside; it has a nice little fluff to it. Traditional cotton batt is just too flat for me, I think it makes the quilt feel too cardboardy and flat, and isn’t snuggly.

I’ll post more pix of this “Leroy” quilt, and its story, in a while.

Actually what I really want to make next is another Storm at Sea. It’s a very difficult pattern with lots of sharp angles. It is absolutely murder to try to maintain a square block. But it is a very beautiful pattern. This is one pattern that calls for paper piecing. http://bunchofbloomers.com/quilt_stormatsea.shtml

biking with dad.

Note to self, don’t arrive after 930am

Portugese sausage was peppery not spicy. This place is not cheap ($10 for eggs/pancakes) but I love the light coming in the big windows and the great service.

46 degrees at 9:30am.

imagine my surprise when i went to the olympics website and saw this:

the binocs have had good staying power. sam really enjoyed them on the cruise, and only dropped them a few times.

we believe there are some mice still in the garage, but apparently only the smart ones are left, because the traps have all been licked 100% clean of their peanut butter but they have not been set off. we are not seeing new scat sign. perhaps they are gone? perhaps wishful thinking. my hairdresser recommends a mouse trap that electrocutes them via a 9V battery. he says definitely dont use the glue traps, because it takes the mice too long to die.

in more olympics news, tonight, we booked our bus tickets for the olympic mountain events in vancouver. you can’t drive to the venues, you have to take a bus and you have to reserve a specific time. the aerials competition will be a tough day. the event doesnt start til 7:30pm. it ends at 8:30pm. then there’s a 30min walk back to the bus in the cold and the dark. then an hour ride back to vancouver, then another hour ride back to the hotel. plus all the interstitial transit times. plus dinner. with 2 6 years olds - i am contemplating just skipping this event. will it be worth it??

ever so slightly better is the bobsleigh event. it could take up to 3 hours each way on the bus (this event is actually in whistler proper), and there is again a 30min walk from the dropoff to the venue. we have to be at the pickup location in vancouver 30 minutes prior to the pickup time of 7:30am. did i mention we are staying an hour south of vancouver? with 2 6-yr olds?

i forgot how much walking there is at the olympics at the mountain venues. it was the same way in salt lake city. most mtn venues just dont have room to stage a bunch of busses. in whistler there is a gondola that can take us part of the way from the bus stop to the venue.

we are probably going to buy a new camera with super zoom since allyn’s big SLR may not be allowed in, and my canon point and shoot is on its last legs.

oh yeah, and outside food is not allowed in the venues. so i guess sam is going to have to stand at the gate and eat her pbj.

i am also thinking these girls better learn to go shi shi in the bushes...just in case there isnt a potty every 50 feet.

i am in the “reality has hit me” phase of trip planning....i’m sure i will feel more positive later...the good news is we will be going with our very good friends from seattle so that will be a blast!! and help the girls cope much better.

Just now very very strong winds on 15N-78W flyover - literally could not see road ahead in v heavy rain - like driving under a waterfall - had to look out the side window to see where the lane was - think I just drove thru a forming tornado!! I could see individual gusts like invisible hands were pushing the water around in the air - spooky. Flyover (convex not concave mind you) got temporarily flooded. Lightning right overhead too!! I felt totally exposed on the bridge. The cars ahead of me stopped on the flyover - I told them (as if they could hear me) “get off this bridge before we get hit by lightning, or overturned in the wind!!”

93 MPH GUST 1230 PM MEASURED BY LIFEGUARDS AT NEWPORT
BEACH PIER. ALSO MEASURED GUSTS TO 72 AND 73 MPH.

PROBABLE TORNADO IN HUNTINGTON BEACH. BOATS UPLIFTED AND
DAMAGED IN THE HB HARBOR. DAMAGE TO BUILDING IN AREAS.
CAR FLIPPED 16400 PCH.

http://twitpic.com/yw1wt

http://tweetphoto.com/9101670

Back from my haircut. Lights just flickered. Hope the power doesnt go
out...

now the tornado warning is for san diego:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN DIEGO HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SOUTH CENTRAL SAN DIEGO COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA...
THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...SAN DIEGO...NATIONAL CITY...LEMON
GROVE...LA MESA...IMPERIAL BEACH...EL CAJON...CORONADO...CHULA
VISTA...

* UNTIL 315 PM PST

* AT 226 PM PST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO BETWEEN
ESCONDIDO AND IMPERIAL BEACH. THE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING HAIL TO NEAR 1 INCH IN DIAMETER AND GUSTY WINDS TO NEAR 60
MPH. THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 30 MPH.

At 2:45, the map looked like this (see attached).

Oops, something just fell against the house - better go check it out.

Back now, it’s OK, I think the trash can fell against the gate.

The rain has died to down to nothing and the wind is down now. Must be
between fronts.

Dada just called, the power has been off at work for 45 mi, he’s going to go
get Sam and come home.

We got weather!!

[EDIS] tornado warning - nws san diego

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN DIEGO HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHEASTERN ORANGE COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA... THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF... SAN CLEMENTE... MISSION VIEJO... LAGUNA BEACH... NORTHWESTERN SAN DIEGO COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA... THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF...VISTA...OCEANSIDE...FALLBROOK... ENCINITAS...CARLSBAD... * UNTIL 230 PM PST * AT 150 PM PST... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO BETWEEN CARLSBAD AND FOUNTAIN VALLEY. THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 30 MPH

Today Sam and I finished her scrapbook of our China trip. It turned out well, here are a few pages. Sam really enjoyed putting it together with Mom. I see more scrapbooking in our future...

“The last Cutie? It will be my pleasure to eat it!” Says samantha.

We got tons of stuff done this weekend. Dad just finished cleaning out the dryer vent (again) that was spewing dryer lint at our neighbors.

We took down the holiday lights from the backyard.

Mom found the source of the pincer bugs that keep appearing in the house. Note to all: standing water is a Bad Thing. Getting rid of standing water from a full, 10 gallon bucket is even worse. Nuff said.

We installed the bike rack (thule 914 roadway) on the back of Mom’s car, and the top hinge promptly got crushed/broken. It still works but we can’t figure out how it got whacked such that a big piece of plastic is missing from one corner. It’s like someone came up and hit it with a big mallet...except it could only have happened when the rack was folded down, so it happened either in Coronado or in our front yard. Since there isn’t any plastic debris in our driveway, it must have happened in Coronado when we were out biking around...hmmm...

In happier news, Dad was so enamored of the mountain bike we rented this weekend (marin stinson) that he went online to see if we could buy it. In fact, we could, AND it was on sale this weekend at sport chalet for $299, which is at the low end of the market for mtn bikes, believe it or not. So we picked up one for Dad at the San Marcos Sports Chalet. After Mom rode it around the store a dozen times testing the gears, that is. Much to the amusement of the floor staff. She only ran into a display once. This bike was clearly so much better than the crummy one we got at Costco last August that Dad returned that old one to Costco...and they took it back! It was the wrong size anyways – too tall – and the seat spring was too stiff. This new Marin bike is like riding on air. So then we got Mom the same exact bike today at the Point Loma Sports Chalet. It got baptized today on the way home as the first of this week’s storms drenched us. So now we all have a bike we like. Next; accessories. You know, water bottle holders, little under-seat gear bags, cushier seats, portable air pumps, etc...

Mom is not feeling so hot so she may not go to work tomorrow. The cold/flu bugs going around this year seem to be focusing on her GI tract.

We watched Up this weekend. Great, great movie. Pixar never seems to hit a wrong note.

there was a 60’s-themed father-daughter dance at samantha’s school this week.

i was pretty excited about it, because i think it is the first “father-daughter” thing we have done. the kids were excited about it too: samantha said they talked about it all day.

we had a nice evening before the dance. i picked samantha up and we had dinner at panera. we rarely have dinner out lately when it is just the two of us. we used to eat out quite often when samantha was in gym class or swim class, since we’d eat out and then go right to class. these days, mom and samantha eat out at souplantation once a week, but when it is just the two of us we usually eat at home. so it was a nice change.

samantha has never been to a dance but she was able to describe in broad terms what it would be like. we arrived just as the dance was starting (but it was already pretty crowded). it was in the school multi-purpose room and the lights in the front half were off (over the “dance floor”) and there were large tie-dyed banners and spot lights and strobe lights on the stage and a dj playing 60’s music and disco. most people were wearing tie-dyed or 60’s clothing (some of the costumes were really great). there was a hula-hoop competition going on when we got there. they even had refreshments, cookies, ice cream, lemonade.

as we walked through the door, this was the moment at which, if you were watching this as a movie, you would have heard the “scratching record sound”. i think the actual dance didn’t meet at all with samantha’s expectations. i think she was horrified and mortified at the same time.

she said it was too loud and put her fingers over her ears for the first few minutes. she didn’t want to hula-hoop. she didn’t want to dance. she didn’t want me to hula-hoop either. she talked to her friends and had a couple of cookies at first but then didn’t even want to do that. she only wanted to go home.

i was hoping she might loosen up a little (funny to hear that phrase come out of my mouth, isn’t it?) and have some fun if she got used to it so we stayed for about 45 minutes but she wouldn’t budge. so we went home.

i can’t tell if she’s scarred for life but i wonder if this is one of the memories she’ll keep for the rest of her life.