Benadryl Out, Xanax In

OK, so I mentioned earlier that Benadryl might be a good way to get Cayton to Sweden without annoying everyone on the flight over. Well, based on the results of our clinical trial, Benadryl is NOT the way to go, for Cayton at least. Here are the results of our highly scientific drug trials.

8:00 Administered Benadryl to test subject. Awaited results with utmost confidence.

8:30 Observed that test subject did not appear to be affected in any way.

9:00 Test subject appears to in fact be more energetic. Perhaps dosage was not correct.

9:05 Check dosage instructions and find to my dismay that is was correct.

9:15 Test subject is loudly protesting attempts to put her to bed

9:30 Test subject accepts offer of "Blankie & Teddy Bear". She may be ready for bed. The stuff is working!

9:35 Wait, she's going to bed about the same time as usual and with drugs. Stuff may not be working...

3:30 am Test subject is loudly yelling, "Mama!". Monitor amplifies the noise and jolts us out of bed.

3:35 Test subject joins us in our bed and sleeps soudly for an hour until she wakes up, climbs onto my stomach and falls asleep. Needless to say, Mama is NOT happy.

5:30 Test subject is again loudly yelling, "Mama, Daddy".

5:35 Daddy says sleepily, "No benadryl on the plane!" To which I grumble something best not related here. I guess this is what we get for experimenting on our kid. She showed that, as usual, she had other plans...

So, as far as I can tell, this highly touted baby "tranq" is not an option for us. I'm really upset about this as I assumed that it would help us keep the kid on a good sleep schedule and reduce her jet lag. Oh well, I guess we'll survive. I just hope that Stockholm is ready for Caytonius!

Party Like a Two Year Old

Cayton actually turned two a couple of weeks ago, but we didn't have the party until last Saturday because tax season unfortuneately trumps birthday celebrations. I am sure that Cayton will use this against me one day, but for now it's all the same to her.

We had such a great time with all of our friends and family there with us. I have to say, Cayton made quite a nice little haul of cash and prizes. Everyone was so generous and she was thrilled with all of her new books, puzzles and stuffed animals.

Check out some of the cute pics I caught from the party. There were a lot more, but you get the idea.

Evil genius that I am, I was sure to capture lots of pics of Cayton and the Leon boys having a tea party. I will be printing these photos and storing them in a super secret off site location so that I can bring them out in a few years and possibly publish them in the boys' Senior year books. Oh, the fun I'm going to have!!

Oh, I need to thank Jake for linking to my blog and I also need to give him acknowledgement. My profile pic and the pic of Jessica and me were taken by Jake. You can check out his photography at www.pbase.com/jakepratt. Take the time to eyeball his work. It's great. You can check out his blog using the link provided.

Making Cheese and Setting Booby Traps

I love, love new hobbies. Lately, it seems like the weirder the idea, the more likely I am to latch on to it. Besides the activities I've tried (or am currently trying...), I recently decided to try making cheese. Now, there is some history here, so it's not just one of those ideas that I jumped on out of the blue. Several times, after some drinks, I've lamented to my friends (sorry guys) that my life is too hectic and that I think it's time to move to the country, get some goats, and make cheese. My friend Jenny, who is at least as good at accumulating interests and hobbies as I am, got all over this idea. For my birthday, she bought me a goat cheese making kit. Well, bells started ringing and angels started singing; this was love at first sight. I just knew that I was on my way to becoming South Tulsa's cheese queen.

...sound of screeching brakes... That was a couple of weeks and several gallons of milk ago. Now, the cheese making book and the kit instructions say, "DO NOT USE ULTRA PASTEURIZED MILK!!!!" I think there were actually more exclamation points even. So, being a super rule follower, I headed to the store and bought milk right off of the shelf. It said, "pasteurized" right on the label. There was no "ultra" anywhere on that label. So, I got all of my cheese tools together and started in. I was so pumped (poor bastard).

Well, heated the milk, checked the temp, added the citric acid, checked the temp, added the rennet, checked the temp and waited for the curds to appear. I could see the milk getting thicker and I was well on my way to spending $50 to make mozzarella that I could have picked up for $4, but whatever. Well, the curds looked good to me, so I started scooping them out and pouring off the whey. From the directions in the kit, it seemed like this should be easier than it in fact actually was. I was optimistic though and thought that it would turn out fine. After another 30 minutes trying to coax my ricotta like curds into something resembling mozzarella, I washed it all down the sink while bitching and moaning like you wouldn't believe. I wasn't a bit ashamed until I remembered that my 2 year old was playing tupperware mine field at my feet (that's a favorite game of hers wherein she places tupperware in various positions on the kitchen floor so that I will trip, skid or otherwise injure myself along the path fromt he stove to the sink). She looked at me with a "whatever, I've heard it all before" look. Poor kid.

Not one to be put off a goal, I bought another gallon of milk from a different brand. It turned out equally terrible. So, I "borrowed" half a gallon of Cayton's milk and tried again. This time, I played mad scientist and poured double the rennet into the mix. This too failed. Now, I'm turning my would-be cheese making energy into going after the milk industry. I checked on this "ultra pasteurization" thing and it appears that in an attempt to seem "ultra healthy", milk producers heat the shiznit out of their milk to kill all microbes. Of course, they kill most of the nutrients in milk as well. Ridiculous. I mean, don't they know that I want to make some damn cheese in my kitchen just like everybody else??? Also, you can even find UP milk in foil boxes on a shelf far, far away from a refrigerator case. Now that is just... oh my gawd...

BOOBY TRAPs

My husband constantly teases (read:complains loudly)that I unwittingly booby trap the house to his eventual detriment. Now, if this is true, I believe that he should develop a sense of wariness so that he doesn't continually fall victim, but I guess his sense of self preservation is not as strong as his need to chew on me. ANYWAY... I really did get him good last night and it was completely and totally an accident.

I was making cupcakes and got down to the last bit of batter. I had just enough for four cupcakes. I spooned the batter into the four cupcake papers and then filled the empty cups with water. I heard that was the thing to do. So, I popped the cupcakes into the oven and headed upstairs to snuggle my baby girl. When the timer went off, I asked Blake to get the cakes out of the oven. He ran downstairs, cranked open the oven and then I heard, "Oh, shit!". It dawned on me immediately what had happened and I burst out laughing. I felt bad, but it was really funny. He plodded upstairs, his mouth full of cupcakes and said, "Thanks a lot for setting up the worst booby trap ever" I admit, that was a pretty good one.

From where I sit

There is a Jimmy Buffet song that I think about sometimes and it talks about his "window on the world". I like the image of a person sitting at their own little window watching the world opening up front of them. Every element of the vision in front of the viewer playing out in a way that is only meaningful to that particular observer. I imagine that everyone would look out their own window and what they'd see would make perfect sense. Then, if you happened to look out someone else's window, the whole picture would be twisted and confused. It would only work if it was meant for you.

My particular window on the world is pretty crazy even for me. Cayton is listening to her music, which is a CD of classical music with silly lyrics. She loves it and it's not too bad for me to listen to either. It's certainly better than a lot of the other options out there. She's wearing a pair of pajama bottoms over her jeans and occasionally she has on a pair of purple high heels. At the same time, she is working up a pretty good tantrum (as you can see from the pic above).

OK, this metaphor is too tough for me tonight. If I had some time and quiet to think about it, I would no doubt come up with something great. But, as it is, I just don't have anything left to throw out here. So, I think that I will just let it go...

But, on an up note, I am planning a trip to Stockholm! That's exciting at least!