Now I want the FLIP too. I didn’t know what you were talking about yesterday when you called me so I googled it.

Crap.

Thought I’d admonish you publicly

(adding it to my Amazon wish list for next year)

The oddest thing happens when I knit — I just completely zone out.  Jonathan could be talking to me, the kids could be (and often are) screaming and I’m just in my little warm happy place working on row after row.  It’s wonderful for me and I’m sure entirely annoying for my family.

So last night, after Madeline’s 1st wakeup (but before her 2nd, 3rd and 4th wakeup…ugh!), I was sitting on the couch working on a pair of slippers for myself.  Yes, I know I just bought slippers for Christmas, but these are really more like socks.  These are some of the thoughts that raced through my head while working on them:

• Boy do I hate laundry.  It’s a good thing that Jonathan does 95% of the laundry and I just have to fold it and put it away.
• You know what’s worse than folding laundry?  Folding socks.  I swear it’s the bane of my existance.  I put it off until absolutly last in the folding process, and still then a big pile of widowed and orpaned socks sit on our couch for a week while i work up the nerve to fold them.  Adding to my frustrations are kids socks, that never seem to have a mate.  The basket of orphans on Claire’s dresser is overflowing with lonely souls and I can’t find two friggin socks to match (and fit) Madeline most mornings.
• Hey, I can make socks.  Or at least I think I can.  Maybe if I spend hours making a pair of socks they won’t get lost in the washer.
• Then again, if I make socks, they’ll be made out of wool, so they can’t go in the washer.
• Is it even sanitary to have socks that you can’t wash in the washer

<interruption….Madeline crying>   Anne goes back to knitting and hopes that Jonathan who is upstairs reading will take care of it

• Why is that kid crying so much….we switched to soy milk, she’s getting regular naps, the molars are mostly through, at least on one side
• I wonder how many days its been since I’ve slept through the night.  Well maybe a better question is how many days since I had two consecutive nights sleeps
• Did Claire cry this much?

<the screams are unavoidable.  I pack up my knitting, get a bottle and head upstairs>

Lying in bed…

• Maybe i should go downstairs and knit a while longer

This my friends is why knitting is becoming a beyond obsession for me.

When I worked at Sprint Corporate Security in Kansas City, we had a whole group of Security Geeks that basically got to hack for a living. A bunch of them left Sprint and went to work for Alternative Technology and spend their life breaking into companies computer systems and physical locations for a living.

Fast forward about 4 years and I’m on a conference call with our rep from Alternative telling me we need to sell their services and Chris Nickerson, the guy I worked with at Sprint, got on the phone. I guess the info security world is pretty small!

Chris came to talk at our Network Security Revolution in September and in his presentation mentioned his show, Tiger Team. It debued on Christmas Day on Court TV. I HIGHLY recommend that you DVR it next time it is on. It’ll give you a really big wakeup call about how you are very vulnerable….if three guys can break into some of the most secured locations in the country, imagine how easily some amateur could break into your home/office, etc using blended threats of social engineering, network tools and physical force.

Check it out!  No wonder I’m so paranoid!

To the new Watson blog. “Watson”, for our last name. “Highland” for my single malt preferences. (Just kidding!)

Did you notice?

Look up.

What does that URL say?

Oh right…

http://www.watsonhighlands.com

You know that you’re a total geek when you get your spouse a URL for Christmas.   It’s just that well, www.watsonhighlands.com became available and we had to answer too many quetsions about http://blog.duckiebaby.com.
So there you have it.  We are officially www.watsonhighlands.com!  Update your RSS feeds…or else!

I realized recently that I write more on this blog about the adorable things that Claire does and says. I think it’s because her three year old brain comes up with so many freaking adorably cute ideas and hilarious declarations, but Madeline is hilarious and adorable as well in her own right.

So this post is dedicated to Madeline….my adorable 1 year old, who is built like a Humvee and thinks everything should go her way. No really, I mean it, that’s one of the most wonderful things about her personality…she is very determined and knows what she wants! Of course this can be annoying at times since she’s not yet using words to explain “Yes mommy, I would like something to drink”…she just points and wails at the bottle.

Lately she’s become very verbal! Some of her more adorable words are

• OWEEEE (when she drops something)
• UPPPY (when she wants you to pick up the thing she’s dropped)
• HI! (over and over again)
• Mommy & Daddy
• Here — handing us whatever she has in her hand
• UPPY!  (after she’s dropped whatever she had in her hand)
• Sissy
• Kiss (usually she wants you to kiss her stuffed giraffe gigi, not her)
• Apple
• Done
• DUCK! (and she points to any bird that she sees and oddly, miss Ashley at Day Care)

More to come…especially after I pick them up from their Christmas party…oye.  I’m sure Madeline had a MELTDOWN when Santa arrived.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COOKIE!

1. Mads running away from Anne giggling and drinking her bottle, while Anne chases her with a dripping comb trying to tame her hair.
2. Claire telling me “Get her out of there, she’s yucky” when I respond to her panic that “The witch is coming!” with “I ate the witch.”
3. Mads holding up her giraffe to be kissed (ewwww…crusty) and then holding it tightly to herself and saying “Awwwwwwww.”
4. Mads attemping to yank out a plug on the side of the doctor’s exam table…over…and over…and over…and over…and giggling about it.
5. Claire asking when Dr. Quinn was coming into the exam room to doctor her.
6. Mads heading down the hall towards the doctors’ offices, and one of the doctors saying to me, “Wow, she’s busy.” My reply: “Yes, we call her ‘the ant.’”
7. Claire asking me for “my honey” in the evening to keep her cough from getting too bad. (Seems to work well.)

Just some observations…

Try it - it’s incredible.

——————————————-

The Ingredients

Chicken Marinade:
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground red pepper
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 piece ginger, minced (1/2-inch long) or 1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes

Sauce:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno chile, minced
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

The Method

Mariande:

1. Combine yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, red pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, salt and ginger in a zip lock plastic bag - shake and let sit for 15 - 30 mins.
2. Stir in chicken, marinate in refrigerator 1 hour or more.
3. Thread chicken onto skewers and grill (charcoal, gas grill, grill pan, broiler)until done.

Sauce:

1. Melt butter in a large, deep skillet over medium heat, add garlic and jalapeno; cook 1 minute.
2. Stir in coriander, cumin, paprika, garam masala and salt.
3. Stir in tomato sauce, simmer 15 minutes, stir in cream; simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
4. Add grilled chicken to sauce and simmer until chicken is heated.
5. Serve over basmati rice or naan (or roti, or chapati, or tortilla, or other flatbread).

Most people know other people like the title person (or, if you read this blog regularly, and know me, then you know that I am the title person), who asks incomprehensible questions.

For instance, I was at a law / philosophy / theology conference last Saturday, and I had a question for the presenter (who had just presented a paper on natural law, but never mind that), which I raised my hand and asked during the Q&A session at the end.

The question went something like this:

I suppose this is a question which any one or all three of you could answer. It seems to me that the individuals in question, Maritain, John Ryan, or (whomever the third guy was), but especially Maritain, seem to make a leap from the interior forum to the external forum with relative ease, but never seem to justify that move. That is to say, we are commanded as Christians to go and convert the nations, summarily said, and these individuals seem to make philosophical arguments without reference to that point. Does my question make sense? [Though, I doubt at the time the question was even that coherent.]

At which point there is a silence as the presenters (all of whom are very competent, learned, and intelligent types) try and figure out: (1) What exactly was it that I asked; (2) Did it make any sense?; and (3) What?

Now, to me as an ADHD person, that question(s) made perfect sense, inside my head, and all the responder had really to do was be inside and know what I meant. The answer was, of course, inadequate, but I knew better than to ask another 30-second rambling question of inordinate length and unfortunate verbiage.

Now, since we ADHD types will not stop asking questions, will the rest of you please develop psychic abilities so we can get some reasonable responses?

Thank you.

A good laugh for today

Will it Blend? That is the question!

My coworker shared this with me this morning and I’ve been giggling like a teenager all morning!

Watch the glow stick video too!

I put Claire to bed last night, and the Witch conversation came up. It went like this, for me:

Daddy: Goodnight, Claire!

Claire: Daddy, the Witch is coming.

Daddy: No, she’s not. I ate the Witch.

Claire: Daddy, that’s yucky, get her out of there.

Daddy: Sorry - she was too slow, and got eaten by Daddy.

Claire: Night night Daddy.

A wise girl, that one. When stories are read, prayers are said, and witches are consumed, there’s not much more to a night but to go to sleep.

–Jonathan

Over at The White Hall Craigs, “Deam” explains that the recent blizzard makes her feel “like a little kid, giddy with the excitement and the beauty and the expectation that snow brings with it.”

I do not love snow. I do not love cold. I don’t like “layering” and the interminable chill that settles into the Michiana area just makes me angry. Last year, it was too cold to snow at times, which I thought was a blessing in disguise, but when I figured out that this meant -30 degrees fahrenheit, I reconsidered. That blasted chill eventually resulted in everything freezing so solidly that the ice didn’t leave the end of our driveway until March, and then had to be hacked out - no “deicer” was getting into that glacier. If I hadn’t physically removed it, I am sure it would have been there for me to slip on during the Fourth of July, mocking me.

My parents, God bless them, told me that the Outer Banks (in N.C.), where I grew up, didn’t get “above 60″ during a week when we did not get “above 60″ as well. Of course, we didn’t get above 50, 40, and maybe 30, either.

Old man winter has a nasty bite here. Truly, the most positive thing about winter is its end, sometime in March (or April, or if God truly does have a bad sense of humor and I am in need of penance, May).

–Jonathan

Claire was in bed last night and I heard “MOMMMYYYYY” from upstairs and she sounded kinda upset, so I asked her what was wrong and this was our conversation:

Claire:   Mommy, I forgot to say prayers

Me:  Claire you don’t need me to say prayers honey

Claire:  Yes I do!  I don’t know all the words

Me:  Ok, let’s do it together

Claire:  Ok….”Angel of God my guardian deer, to whom gods love mommits me here…with liberty and justice for all, Amen”

Me:  What a nice Prayer Claire.

Claire: Mommy!!!!! The witch is coming and she’s green?

Me:  Claire, there’s no witch coming, I made your room an anti-witch zone.

Claire: Mommy, she’s coming and with her little dog too.

Me: (laughing) Go to sleep sweetie, I love you.

Claire: (grumbling) I love you too.

Not 5 minutes before I was telling my mom that Claire watched the Wizard of Oz on Thanksgiving and wasn’t scared at all. Ha!

Also, this morning I gave in and elfed us….I think this is better than being Simpsonized.

Madeline has tonsillitis, so I spent yesterday at home with her.  I have new appreciation for Stay at home moms.  The girl would not let me out of her sight yesterday — we got nothing done in the house other than taking blocks out of the shape sorter one by one and replacing them one by one.  But really, I had a wonderful day.

Finally, a song from Claire…her version of Baa Baa Black Sheep

Black Sheep White Sheep Habe you any wool?

Yes sir Yes sir tree bags full

One for the dister one for the Dave,

On for the little girl who lives in the hay

Black Sheep White Sheep Habe you any wool?

Yes sir Yes sir tree bags full.  (hysterical laughter) 

Have a fabulous Thursday

Back in November I won 4 season tickets to Notre Dame Women’s Basketball, and yesterday was the first game we’ve gone to this year. It might seem boring to you to go to a college women’s basketball game, but really they are a LOT of fun. The promotions department at Notre Dame does such a good job to make it appealing to the kids, and there are a LOT of families who come together. In our row alone there were about 6 kids under say 7 and a woman sitting in front of us with about a 3 month old baby (that she nursed the entire game…yay!)

At any rate, Claire and I went to the game together. This was not her first game, but the first this year and the first she really enjoyed! She was thrilled buy getting a box of popcorn and a little thing of Sprite (it was the ONLY choice that didn’t have caffiene in it), and she LOVED the band! I’m trying to teach her the victory clog dance….

Anyway, getting to the point….she kept yelling BEFENCE instead of Defence and muttering over and over and over again HERE COME THE IRISH. (Yes, I’m brainwashing her early). But the funniest thing was that she was enthralled with the Leprauchan. I got a total play by play of where he was the entire game, what he was doing and got questions about where he was going. However, I didn’t realize what she was talking about until about halfway through the game because she kept calling him GREEN GUY and I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about. Finally she pointed to him (squinting one eye) and said in an annoyed tone of voice, “Mommy…THAT’s the Little green guy in the hat and jacket jumping around down there”.

My little irish fan is so cute!

Finally…want to earn free money while Christmas shopping? I just got turned onto Ebates recently by a friend, and I’m telling you it’s awesome. They give you cash back when you shop online — it’s basically a giant affiliate network! They also keep a huge database of coupon codes as well. You can get up to $25 cash back for referring your friends to the site as well, which is why I’m mentioning it here. Anyway, please click here and sign up — it’s a free service to use!

Finally, welcome Maggie Kate and congratulations to Erika & Michael-John and the boys!