6 Weeks

Not only does 2008 seem almost like a dream, but the last six weeks seem to have gone by with a blink! I'm almost mourning the loss of my newborn as Tea is becoming ever more a baby (rather than the curled up newborn). However, I can't mourn it too much because she is SUCH an amazing, sweet, smart, and beautiful BABY! She's already working on her hand-eye coordination. Of course, she doesn't necessarily know that's what she's doing, but I do. ;) It's so fun and special to see the progress she's making already... how they grow!

Ria, Tea, and I went to dance class this morning. Our normal cl ass is on Thursdays (we went this past Thursday, too). Kat comes along on Thursdays. Today was a makeup class for the first Thursday I should have taken my three princesses to dance all by myself. I didn't chicken out. All of us were, actually, at various stages of wellness from the cold we'd caught AT dance class! My Mom was there to hear the mother announce 'how sick' they'd been and that they were still not completely well. You can ask her if you don't believe me. Those kinds of inconsiderate parents REALLY BURN MY SHORTS, I'm tellin' you!!!!!!! ahwell What can you do?

Anyway. The teacher for this class was awesome! Her form was REALLY beautiful and "ballerina-like" for the whole of the class. I REALLY appreciated that because Ria is amazingly good at mimicking body postures, hand positions, and so forth. So, the fact that the teacher this morning, Amy, was holding herself like a ballerina was REALLY good for Ria. I wish we could switch classes, but this morning's group is a bit younger AND they don't do Tap. I don't think Ria would miss Tap, but I'd rather pay for a dance class that has two forms rather than one and tumbling (as the class this morning did).

After Dance
Mary Kay and Tim came over for another hair cutting lesson. So far this is Mary Kay's 3rd and Tim's second. Mary Kay came over with her Dad for a lesson/practice once without Tim. Mary Kay is doing REALLY well and will be cutting Tim's hair all on her own before too long. I'm so impressed. I don't think I picked up the whole process as quickly as she is (especially the clipper cut portion!).

The girls and Jessie went to our room while I worked with Mary Kay on Tim's hair. Jess and Tea fell asleep while Ria and Kat watched a movie. It was a free movie because Ria had only completed 2 chapters of her reading class and no other school stuff. So, after the movie and Daddy's departure she started on her Math. She completed Math and a letter (for writing class).

Mama's Feet Hurt
I was standing for the whole hair cutting lesson.

While Ria did school I started pie crusts (enough for 4 single crust pies). Still standing. I planned to make 2 pies and some meat dinner pies. Well, I DID make the 2 pies: ANOTHER pumpkin pie AND a sweet potato pie made the same way as the pumpkin. I wanted to try them side by side because Jess told me a while back that often the cans labeled as pumpkin are actually sweet potato. I wanted to see how they could get away with it. Well, I DID try them side-by-side and it's amazing that they can get away with it because, for most people, they taste amazingly similar! Of course, if you get a can and check the ingredients and it says it's pumpkin it is supposed to be (by law) pumpkin, but if you don't check the ingredients, you may be making a sweet potato pie after-all! :)

Interesting stuff I learn here in a Chef's home! ;) I teach him things, too. Just in case you were wondering. For instance, he used to end almost all of his sentences with prepositions. He doesn't do it nearly as often now! I do it more, though. (Couples...taking on one another's characteristics in the good AND bad.)

In addition to those 2 pies, I also made my own version of a pasty. I stood for all the prep for it. MAN it smelled soooo GOOD while it was baking!!!! ^_^ And the finished result was pretty wonderful, too, if I may say so of my own preparation! I'm pretty excited to try my experiment as a cold/cooler version of what I had (straight out of the oven).

Have you heard of pasties? Click the word to visit a History of the U.S. pasty.

By The Way
This is pretty random, but did you know that China has made a loophole through which it is able to sell some of its China-made goods and label them "made in 'USA'"? I know, I didn't think it could be. Jess told me China had named an area within its country "Usa (no periods after the letters) so that it could make things & stamp them "Made in USA." In looking around, it seems that the mark should be "Usa," but I'm not sure if it actually IS. Either way, as long as they don't insert periods after the letters, they're not lying. I DO think using "USA" is misleading. Even "Usa" is stretching the ethical limits, in my opninion!