yeah it's cold TODAY but we'll be back in the 60's by Saturday

Today: Rain or freezing rain likely before 11am, then rain, snow, and freezing rain likely between 11am and noon, then a chance of rain after noon. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly sunny, with a steady temperature around 36. Windy, with a northwest wind between 20 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Tonight: Clear, with a low around 29. Northwest wind between 15 and 20 mph becoming calm. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 56. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 30. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
Saturday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 62. Calm wind becoming east between 5 and 10 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. North northeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.
Sunday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 54. North wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 30. North wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 58. North wind around 10 mph becoming southeast.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 39.
Tuesday: Partly cloudy, with a high near 61.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.
Wednesday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 59.

I'm A Sidecar Searching For A Train

This shot is from the last voyage (until next August) of the River City Flyer.

The Abundant Green Bounty Of Finca Pura Vida

This is a shot of one of Finc Pura Vida's tables at the Sunset Valley Farmer's Market 2 weeks ago. On the other tables we had: Bok Choy ($2/bunch), Diakon Radish ($2/bunch), turnips ($2/bunch), Burgundy okra ($3/lb), green okra ($3/lb, Calafornia Wonder bell peppers ($4/lb), rendered organic lard ($3 sm jar, $5 large), Black Beauty eggplant ($3/lb), Rosa Bianca eggplant ($3/lb), French Breakfast radish ($2/bunch), Black plum tomatoes ($3/basket), Big Boy tomatoes($2/lb), Ayote squash ($1.50/lb), organic beef, organic pork, organic raw milk, organic chicken eggs ($3.50/dzn), organic fresh whole turkey ($4.50/lb), Lebanese cucumbers (sale $2/lb), and I think that's it. Of course everything is certified organic. Oh, the Arugula label got cut off of the picture (it's $6/lb) and all the greens are $2/bunch also. The herbs are $1/bunch!

Our Trip to Jalisco Mexico

Not really! We were at the Victorian Christmas On Sixth Street and we watched a presentation of traditional Mexican dances by a local dance school. We loved the dresses and want to get some of our own!

I have a secret 3rd child farmed out to another house

Guess which ones are mine!

Brugmansia

This is one of the plants in my sister's backyard. She has many Brugmansias, in both pink and orange. I've got lots of them rooted in my yard but they die back every winter so they don't get as big as hers do.

Jim Belushi is Everywhere!

From our viewing spot at the beginning of the Annual Chuy's Christmas Parade - 11th and San Jacinto.

fish out of water

OK so these homes are being built right off of 969/MLK BLVD) over in Far East Austin - East of 183/Ed Bleustein - Literally a mile from where I used to work on Nixon Lane. They SO don't match the giant mobile home park that is located directly across the railroad tracks from this place. That's actually how I noticed it - on our train trip yesterday. Totally neat homes and great concept but WRONG location - the folks that can afford these $200K+ homes are NOT going to be comfortable driving through Pecan Springs or the Loyola Lane neighborhoods to get home every day. GreenMangoRealEstate.com

Polly pocket recall !

Mattel recalls 4.4M magnetic play sets - Consumer News - MSNBC.com

no fair

when viewing my profile it says that I have only done 40 posts. Well I just counted them all and this post brings the total to 101.
Humph! as Giselle and Paul would say

Cranberries' health benefits are fact

Cranberries' health benefits are fact - CNN.com

Tamiflu May Be Linked to Risk for Self-Injury and Delirium

by Yael Waknine
Medscape Medical News 2006. © 2006 Medscape
November 14, 2006 — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Roche Laboratories Inc have notified healthcare professionals regarding safety labeling revisions for oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu capsules and suspension) that warn of the potential risk for neuropsychiatric events associated with its use.The warning was based on postmarketing reports (primarily from Japan) suggesting that patients with influenza receiving oseltamivir, particularly children, may be at increased risk for self-injury and delirium. Although the role of the drug remains unclear, patients receiving oseltamivir should be closely monitored for signs of abnormal behavior, according to an alert sent yesterday from MedWatch, the FDA's safety information and adverse event reporting program.Oseltamivir is indicated for the prophylaxis of influenza and treatment of uncomplicated acute illness in those who have been symptomatic for no longer than 2 days. It is approved for use in patients aged 1 year and older.Adverse events potentially related to use of oseltamivir should be reported to the FDA's MedWatch reporting program by phone at 1-800-FDA-1088, by fax at 1-800-FDA-0178, online at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch, or by mail to 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787.

Thanksgiving is on for Today

Giselle woke up with a temp of 98.8 so after she digests breakfast and passes the temperature test we are heading out to Whole Foods or Central Market to get the rest of our dinner ingredients for this evening. I'm psyched to share a bottle of the 2006 Beaujolais Nouveau, Georges Duboeuf of course, with Joe (and a glass each for the kids).

Ice Skating on the Roof returns

For the 2nd year, this time from yesterday until January 14!! Whole Foods Market : Stores : Austin

Can you say 'flu'?

I woke up last night at 2:40 am and said to myself "there is a hot child at my back!" 30 seconds later Giselle woke up to tell me that she hurt all over and was very thirsty. I took her temp with our temporal thermometer (which is very fragile and breaks easily - Joe has resottered the inner connections once already in the 9 months that we've owned it) and she had a fever of 101.5. I started her on Oscillococcinum and other homeopathics and she went back to sleep, albeit restlessly, for the rest of the night. All day she ran a steady 100 with a few blips up every so often and shortly before bed it was up to 102.3 - gave her some Infant Tylenol and some Vitamin C to bring it down. She and Paul took a long hot bath with some Kiss My Face bath wash and she went to bed all bundled up. Her temp was down to 100 even by the time I got Paul asleep at 9.
Needless to say, I didn't make it to the stores to finish my grocery shopping. Joe generously suggested that we could delay Thanksgiving until Friday, what a great idea!

But while sitting around all day I did manage to change the provider of all of our homeowner's insurance policies, thus saving us a few hundred dollars now and potentially saving us thousands of dollars if anything were to happen to the rental houses.

I would like to thank the makers of TiVo for making this sick day not as miserable as it could have been. And also our satellite provider DirecTV for providing us with the Disney Channel, the Family of Discovery Channels, and Noggin. And an extra special shout out to Joe who was the one to get us hooked up with all of this years ago, you are THE MAN!

TX homeschooler picked to be a Rhodes Scholar

Galveston native picked to be a Rhodes Scholar Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Pictures from the special Biscuit Brothers show

Save the Biscuits - Nov 3, 2006

Posting

So Suzanne complained to me about me needing to post more often because she checks every day and is bummed when there is nothing new posted. The funny thing is that I do the same thing - I check my blog every day and wonder why there is nothing new posted!

It's insane here currently - closing on one house in less than 2 weeks, maybe another by the end of the year, getting ready for Thanksgiving here not at a friend's house, getting school done every day, getting the green house up before it really frosts, getting 2 weeks of laundry washed AND put away, getting rid of a crib-full of clothes leftover from the homeschool clothes swap (Suzanne what size are the kids wearing?), cleaning up play-dough every morning in the playroom, getting the yard ready for winter, thinking about what the heck is going on for Christmas and how I'm going to shop for Giselle (the girl who wants EVERYTHING - well not really, just more Bitty Baby stuff, an American Girl (I say not till she's 8), more Polly Pockets, more My Tiny Pets, and a Yorkie puppy), getting all the last of the summer/fall produce frozen and put in the freezer, and did I mention closing on 2 houses?

But just as I was shutting down the kitchen for the night (oops I forgot to tend to the 2 sinks full of dishes from lunch - we had a visitor (Gayla got off of the farm for the day and dropped by for a visit) and I made spaghetti w/ a killer sauce - Giselle had 3 servings) Giselle & Paul came dancing out of the bedroom and proceeded to ballroom dance around the living room for 5 min. I got some on video. It was a nice end to a crazy day.

Oh, and the guy at the HEB checkout charged me for 2 books of stamps but only gave me one. I only asked for one so I didn't notice until I was checking the receipt 15 minutes ago that I paid for 2. They said to just come buy the Business Center and they'll give me the 2nd book.

We hit WalMart & HEB today but we still have to go to Bark N Purr tomorrow to get more dog food and to Wheatsville for our biweekly shopping there and maybe even to Whole Foods if Wheatsville doesn't have Turkey parts. Oh, and HEB to get my other stamps!

Chuy's Children Giving To Children Christmas Parade

It's next weekend. We're going, are you?
Chuy's Children Giving To Children Christmas Parade

Two From The Zoo

Giselle being eaten by a lion and Paul being eaten by a snake!

We're Trippin'

The kids and I are going to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston tomorrow to see the exhibit Best In Show: The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to Today. The drive should be fun, I think that we're going to stop off at the farm on the way there and back. My sister flew in another one of my sisters for the weekend just so that we could all hang out together - how nice is THAT!?! On Monday we are hoping to go the zoo, there's a slight chance of rain but we'll have our raincoats and umbrellas so that won't stop us. I hope that they have my favorite zoo animal!

Buy this too!

Get this too because Martha RULES!
Amazon.com: Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home: Books: Martha Stewart

Schoolhouse Rock! (Special 30th Anniversary Edition): DVD

Buy this today for your kids, unless you already own it! Amazon.com: Schoolhouse Rock! (Special 30th Anniversary Edition): DVD: Schoolhouse Rock

Halloween 2006

New-camera issues but it's us: Joe the candy giver, Natalie the trick-or-treat escort, Cinderella Giselle and Biscuit Brother Paul.

As we do every year, we carved pumpkins that were big enough for the kids to fit inside - one weighed 33 lbs the other weighed 31 lbs and they were both 47 inches around.

They ate all the candy they could last night and again this morning after breakfast then even before lunch they traded what was left for a stuffed dog and a pull-string powered truck. After dinner Giselle regretted her decision to trade in her candy so quickly for about 2 minutes - I had originally told them that we wouldn't do the trade until tonight but they insisted on doing it this morning.