How do you like your granola?

all mixed up with plain yogurt, a big dollop of pumpkin puree (!) and some craisins on top, please.
"Yum yum, Max. Say yum yum."
"Delicious!" said Max.
~Max's First Word by Rosemary Wells

*snort*

Within the past month or so I've had several women say variations of the same comment to me:

"wow, your kid is so independent/well-behaved/tough/precocious, and you are so laid back and still have time to DO things, I thought you'd have him attached to you 24/7 until he was 18 and I thought he'd be a whiny brat who got away with everything! I mean, you do all those crunchy and christian things, I wasn't sure we were even going to be able to be friends, but you're not half bad!"

Ok, so they weren't quite that blunt, but that's very definitely what they meant, and all I could do was snort (hopefully just in my head and not out loud) . I mean, what do you say to that? "yeah...I did what I thought was best for our family, and it's working out pretty well so far, thanks" hehe.

ps: not really a rant, but that was the closest label I could come up with.
pss: oh, you want a picture or else this post isn't even worth looking at? well, don't twist my arm, I've got them right here. Random, but that's what you get when I'm only on the computer about an hour a day.

1)apart from chasing flies/cat/dog with his very own fly swatter, this is one of the boy's favorite pastimes. He's actually doing this as we speak, except from inside the dog's crate. with the door shut. I maintain that HE is the one who did the shutting. "hah ya dooah? eh. ah?! mm-hmm. GOOOAA!"
2)hello pretty volunteer squash. mmmm...3)Unfortunately, as soon as I took this pic, he/she disappeared, and our yard is still covered in flies. Maybe I could buy a whole family of praying mantises?
one more ps: anyone want to bug me for a secondhand goodness post or a crafty post? I'm tired of all the hockey on this here blog ;-)

Name This

Hockey update

Hey sports fans!
I just got back from Arcireale where the Sigonella Sun Devils handed out an impressive beating to the Catania Flames. Led by stellar goal tending from yours truly, Sig pulled out to an impressive seven goal lead after the second period. I then decided to let one of our other guys play a little net minder and I skated out. Apparently I forgot how to skate. Anyway, the 'ol Sun Devils still managed to win by 7 or 8, but who's counting?

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I forgot the camera.

lunch with dad

Quesadillas, woohoo!!
As always, start with good ingredients. Mmmmm, tastes like chicken
The taste tester approves.
Now onto the skillet
That's a pretty good quesadilla

Sorry for the bad spanish.

remember the roses?

The one in the left corner that was planted mainly in cement finally bloomed this summer. One or two of the other bushes bloomed last summer, but were rudely de-dirted so many times that I'm not sure they'll make it. so sad. At least this one's a trooper :)

Bonus

Patrick "Roy"-sdorp*
I just realized that I named my child after a professional athlete and got away with it.
I don't think the missus will go for naming the next boy Michael Richter W.
* Patrick Roy is french and therefore his last name is pronounced Wa

Final Score

Ok, here it is:
B&E -2
Dadw -2
E.G. -2
Momw -0
LilB -0

Now the awards,
MomW gets the award for originality.
LilB picks up the most concise answer award
B&E and DadW split the first place points prize.
Mrs G. takes the Bob Barker award for guessing closest to the price of the equipment without going over. In case you were wondering it was in the neighborhood of $1400. Hurray MWR!!

Prizes that have no monetary value:
First place:
a picture of $5000! Yay!

Second prize:
A broken hockey puck, to be hand deliverd when I visit in February.

Enjoy your prizes!!

look, I made something

So I keep asking my mother to knit things for me, specifically diaper related. Knowing my mother, I had a feeling her compliance would come with an expiration date and sure enough, my last package from her contained, among other wonderful goodies, several pairs of knitting needles and some fisherman's wool. I did some googling and found the pattern that required the least amount of knowledge and said "can be completed in about 2 hours." HA. Three days and a cherry kool-aid bath later, I present my first ever finished knitting project, a newborn sized soaker for the fat of stomach and skinny of leg. And no, this is not a strange way of announcing that I'm pregnant again. In case you wondered.

"not bad for a first try....." is about the best we could come up with for a reaction in this household ("Kinda ridiculous" is about the worst, so far). I've got some wool that has been coffee-dyed (rather poorly, but still) drying for my next project, a soaker that (hopefully) will fit the boy right now. It'll look great over his training undies that someone is going to send me in the mail because they don't carry them here at the NEX. hint hint.

Your tax dollars at work, er.. play.

Christmas came early for the Sigonella in-line hockey team. Our local MWR has seen fit to use of a large portion of their budget on new goalie equipment. As you may already know, that's me. woo hoo! Look at all this cool stuff:


Free points if anyone knows what any of these items are called. Points will get you some cool prize. Prizes will be selected by me and will more than likely have no monetary value whatsoever. The wife says bonus points awarded if you know how many of your tax dollars was spent on said/pictured equipment.










will I model it for you? Of course.

So I am huge now and goal tending should get a lot easier. Look for future posts about the Sigonella team pummeling Catania and other Italian and European teams in the near future (of course led by some stellar goal tending from yours truly.)






Patrick approves wholeheartedly. he would also like you to see how big the stinkin' bag is that they gave me to lug all this stuff around in.



























That's all for now folks!

Some important news,

Well, not important to most but these guys care. It seems the New York Yankees (aka Evil Empire) have been eliminated from playoff contention. Ha Ha!

GO SOX!! Now the pictorial:

ah, the agony of defeat
















depressed fans








Better luck next year!






GO SOX!!!

Haircut time!!

This is our model:
his name is Chuck, he is a heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting championship.

In case you are a Californite and think you may recognize him, he is from San Louis Obispo and I think he may do some of his training there.
Any way here are the progress pictures:

The unsuspecting victim.













The first cut

































Look he's enjoying himself.










Concentration is key.

















The finished product. Not bad for a first timer.

oh man

did you see this? Does anyone know any further details? Let's pray for everyone involved, from the rescuers, to the families, to area residents.

la acqua naturale

This is my new chore. I get to water the dog every day! Can you tell how excited I am?It's a big job, first I have to make sure it's the right temperature.
Then I have to taste it to see if she will like it.Sometimes I need to taste it again just to be sure.The kitty always tries to take a drink too, so usually I try to distract her
She likes me a lot. but sometimes she likes to go away too. It's very dissappointing. But mommy still loves me, especially when I give her kisses! Maybe next time I'll tell you about the other thing I get to do every day ;-)

Here's some pics of the volcano activity. I don't know who took them but they are pretty small so I assume they were taken with a cell phone. Not too bad though.



Pretty cool huh?

are those cobwebs in the corner?

I've been a lazy blogger lately. If you're an of-age female and I haven't already told you, feel free to ask why, I'm a wellspring (ha) of unabashed TMI. Guys, you REALLY don't want to know. Trust me on this.

At any rate, mr. waaz is going to be away most of this month and there is plenty of fodder in my head and in the camera, so I should be able to muster up the oomph to put together some interesting minutiae for your perusal. eventually. Oh, and the following pic has absolutely nothing to do with anything in this post. It is a tad cute though, no? We've been doing a lot of outdoor activities now that it is cooler; as a result my compost is turned, the garden is happy, the back yard on its way to being level, the bike is mostly clean, and the boy has only gone through 2 diapers in the past 2 days (again with the TMI, I know). Today I am finishing the hem on a pillowcase skirt, folding laundry, playing with the borrowed snap press, and perhaps cleaning bathrooms. What's on your to-do list?

so this is what I bought my guitar for its birthday. I figured you probably: a: didn't read the comment, or b: didn't really get it from the descriptions, or c: everybody loves pictures.

here's the stand.
























a close up of the carving in the middle













Look the wood matches!








Look how much my guitar likes it's present.

what is it

with us and cats?? StupidCat/Psycho Kitty/Albacore used to suck on mr. waaz's dirty black boot socks (never the clean ones and rarely the white ankle socks), knead the floor, and purr like mad with an "interrupt-me-and-bad-things-will-happen" look on his face. Then Temporary began sucking on his own belly to the extent that the ONE time we let him "have at it," he left a wet spot of drool on the couch. I thought we were going to be ok with Cosmo, 10 weeks old (or so) and no sucking. Then the dog had to go and get in a fight--ok, had to try to make friends with a protective pit bull--and now every time I go outside and leave the animals to wallow in the misery that no human interaction brings, I return to--you guessed it--Cosmo trying to suck on the dog's jowly neck, kneading her leg and purring, eyes glazed over and ears cocked for the first sound of the screen door. Weird, I tell ya.

Wordless Wednesday: the view from here

CLICK HERE

ps: explanation in the comments.

new way to create a playlist:

1) Let your iTunes music library play at random.
2) Add a new playlist to the sidebar while the music plays.
3) Pay attention to your resident toddler, who is probably nearby, throwing remotes jingle balls and toy mice at for the kitty and laughing hysterically at the ensuing chase. Or perhaps he's busy unrolling toilet paper or maybe even emptying the junk drawer into the trash can, item by item. Certainly not playing with his very own toys.
4) When said toddler begins head-banging and shaking his butt the SECOND the song starts, drag that song into your brand new playlist and then dance maniacally gracefully around the room with him. Be sure to stop and wonder why it is that a 13 month old can move in time to the music and you certainly cannot. If he stops what he's doing, comes to wherever you are, grins, and then begins jiggling so hard he almost falls on his behind, put it at the top of the list. If it's just kind of waving in motion to the music, put it at the bottom.
5) If your consultant just gives you a funny look, skip to the next song. If he runs away crying, the song probably doesn't belong in your library at all, so delete it.
6) Once you have a good number of songs, or once your toddler falls asleep in the middle of the floor, exhausted from all the hilarity, post your playlist so the entire world can sing along.

My short list from this morning:
"Clinch Mountain Backstep" Doerfel Family Bluegrass Band
"I Got a Robe" Gospel Action Songs
"How Sweet It Is" James Taylor
"Praise You In This Storm" Casting Crowns
"These Words" Natasha Bedingfield
"Get Rhythm" Johnny Cash
"Amazing Grace" Selah
"Big Fish" FFH
"Stuck in the Middle With You" Steve Miller Band
"Wurlitzer Prize" Norah Jones (with Willie Nelson)