one interview

It looks like I got one interview, and maybe no others, but I won't need any others if I get the job that I want! I am not really surprised, as the other places I applied to (there were only a few) had more specific needs listed in their job ads and I wasn't able to completely tailor my application to them. I think the interview will be fun, but I am starting to get nervous about it. I have been reading posts from around the web, but most seem to be about biomedical or related fields. In particular I'm not sure what exactly to put into my research plan talk, the answer to which seems to be very field and department-type specific. (This is a great collection of TT job search/interview advice: http://scientopia.org/blogs/drbecca/tt-job-search-advice-aggregator/)

Meanwhile, ELP can put a lot of 2 word combinations together, and rarely will tie 3 words together. She has about 35 words total, I think, but she thinks she has much more. She is really into her doll. She likes to put a blanket on it and give it a bottle. It makes me feel bad that LP didn't have many dolls. We got tons of toys as presents so didn't buy him much else, but I wonder if he needed more dolls. Instead of dolls, he treats his dinosaurs, stuffed animals, or cars as babies. Sometimes he is the daddy and sometimes he is the mommy. So I suppose that's good for his imagination. He hasn't done it recently, but he was really interested in learning to wrap them the right way (as though swaddling them, but he didn't have the dexterity to get the blanket/towel tight). He also stopped nursing his 'babies'; I don't know if it's because ELP doesn't nurse much anymore or because he moved to preschool and some of the other kids tell him that there are some things girls do and others that boys do. The kids and I had snow days this week, and I had them alone most of the time because TE couldn't get back from his business trip. We had tons of fun, although it was frustrating given that I need to get a lot of work done before my job talk.

Other interesting things since last post: I've had a cough the majority of the time. It was pretty bad for a month and a half, but for the last couple of weeks I only cough after I exercise, and I think it'll be gone completely by my interview. I think I had pertussis, but I was never tested for it since after the first few weeks they can't do a whole lot for it anyway. We had a great Christmas despite my coughing and associated ear infection. We (mainly TE, I've been using weekend naptimes to prepare for my interview) finally finished the new seats on the tandem, and they are really nice and comfortable. He expanded the cargo rack, which is really helpful coming back with ridiculous sized groceries from Costco, and finally I can pedal a bit without coughing so hard that I might fall off. I am going to start riding to work again for the first time in 2 months on Monday--send good thoughts that I don't spend the whole day coughing afterwards! TE is obsessed with bike lights and has started wiring up his own LEDs with 555 timers and such to get them to flash how he likes it, which is neat. I have fun helping him with his wiring diagrams and soldering small pieces, but the level of lighting on his bike is getting silly, and he is brighter than a car now. People have told him to turn his lights down, but other people almost run into him still as though they don't see him.

everyone's still growing up

LP is really a preschooler now and learns more things at school and tells me about it later, sometimes more coherently than others. Last week the teacher wrote a note on his paper that they had cut apples in half to see the star of seeds, then used them as stamps to make art. I had just gotten to his room and read this paper when he saw me, got really excited, and yelled "Mommy, in the core, there's a STAR!". He didn't think to mention apples first, of course . . . so without her little hints, I would've been totally lost, especially since it's anyone's guess whether he says 'core' and 'star' versus 'tore' and 'tar'.

ELP is a toddler and can almost run for real. I think she is helped by the fact that LP holds her hand to walk/run her around, so if she can't keep her feet moving, she gets dragged on the floor (which she thinks is funny anyway). Oddly, ELP seems to be learning individual words and full sentences at the same rate. She says "dog", "woof", "duck", "quack", "mine", "daddy" (which also means mommy), her version of LP's name, "down", "up", "more", "no" (which also sometimes means yes), "uh-oh", "milk", "bottle" (which is a sippy cup), and "ball" regularly, and has said several other specialty words a few times. But she can also say "I wanna push the button", despite probably not knowing what "push" and "button" mean separately, and some other phrases like that. I think she tries to memorize phrases that LP says. Also she seems to be able to put "I want" together with another word generally.

TE got a proposal funded and has been doing well at work. He has some responsibility over other people's proposals but doesn't feel prepared for that. I think he is learning fast, though.

Meanwhile, I am just finishing up my faculty application package. I think it looks good, but the proof is in the interview getting. Meanwhile I am trying to finish writing up my first postdoc paper, which will be really nice in a pretty high-impact place (if it gets accepted), but it is hard to start from scratch and write about something new, especially because I am trying very hard to keep every sentence as short and informative as possible.

Wish me luck!

Hilariosity

Now that LP can talk so much, he says ridiculous and hilarious things all the time. One morning I told him "I like you" and he replied, "I just like daddy". Right now I'm trying to explain to him that if he holds someone down and puts stickers on their eyes, those stickers will be hers and he can't have them back. Just one of several reasons not to hold people down and put things on their eyes.

Meanwhile, ELP thinks his antics are fun. She is walking a lot and likes to say 'ba' a lot, and she says it for balloon, ball, and a few other things that she apparently thinks she is pronouncing in different ways. She got her first tooth finally, but still sucks on her middle two fingers. Something she thinks is funny is to drop food on the floor, and then shake her head 'no', because she knows that's what we're going to do. Of course, now we try not to shake our heads when we say no, but it's hard to remember.

at least he can change himself

Well, potty training is still not going well, but yesterday I told LP to go change his diaper, and he went to the changing area, took off his shoes, shorts, and pull-up diaper, got a new diaper out, and came to me to help him get his feet through the holes. It was strange. He has new princess pull-ups with Belle on the front, which he is fairly excited about. He is really getting good at talking and climbing and understanding everything. The other day he was slurping loudly from a sippy cup, and TE said "is there a big wall of water coming towards us?" LP looked around for a big wall of water, and I said that daddy was only joking. LP sat for a moment, pointed, and said "there's a big wall of water coming!" Then he chucked, looked at me, and said "I was joking too".

ELP is moving forward too. She just started to act like a real interactive person, and points at stuff asking what it is all the time. She can say "mo" for more and "da" for dog. When she sees a dog she starts giggling and screaming because she really likes them. She is very balanced, and can stand up, squat, and stand up again, clapping and waving her arms, without needing to touch the wall or the floor. But she won't take a step yet!

I went to a conference 2 weeks ago, and my mom came to help TE care for the kids. I saved up milk for MONTHS beforehand, giving her 3.5 oz instead of 4 at daycare in the afternoons, giving her milk that had been left out a bit longer than it should have been, and mainly trying to pump a bit extra all the time, which is time consuming and doesn't always work. Then when I was gone, she went on a bottle strike hardly drank any milk, preferring water and juice in a cup! At least she saved me from buying dry ice and overnighting a bunch of milk across the country.

The next week we went on vacation and to TE's brother's wedding. It was awesome, but the vacation seemed really short. I want another one--I need to make the motor work on my bike, and finish writing some papers, and I don't have any time during the week, and hardly any on the weekend!

growing babies

ELP learned to crawl this week! Still no teeth, though. She can crawl to toys across the room, and two days ago found a guitar of LP's. It is shiny and red with multiple types of buttons to make noise or play songs--very much the catch for a baby. She started pressing buttons and bopping her head to the music. Little did she know that this noise was destined to attract LP, who suddenly realized he needed to play with the guitar. He started to take it, saying 'can I have that please' but not waiting for any sort of response, and I let him since it is his toy, but I reminded him of the rule: if you take something from ELP, you have to give her something else to play with. So he takes one of the most attractive toys in the house, with music and multiple things to poke at, and gives her a stick from a tinker toy set. Not even multiple connected pieces, just one of the sticks. She just looked at it--I think she knew it was a raw deal.

LP is also moving along--he is trying to learn to use the potty. The last couple of weeks, when I picked him up at daycare most days he told me that he used the potty twice, then the teacher would tell me he actually didn't use the potty. I finally realized, he's not lying to say he's used the potty _today_, but keeping a running lifetime total of how many times he's used the potty, and he just wants to keep reminding me of it! On Wednesday he developed a new potty strategy. Apparently his thinking went like this: people keep telling me not to pee in my diaper, but I don't want/know how to pee in the potty, and besides it interrupts my playtime . . . so I'll not pee at all!! He was very successful with this strategy during the day, but as those of you who are potty trained already know, it was doomed to failure. When he fell asleep he forgot about his plan, and I had to change his diaper 3 times during the night (they don't just hold an infinite amount of liquid!)

Here's a quick grouping of things to put together for dinner, though I don't think of it as a recipe as it involves already prepared things. One of my favorite mostly prepared things to buy at the store is spaghetti sauce. I think they do a good job with jarred spaghetti sauce, and I use it as-is on spaghetti sometimes. Anyway, this is a bit like a poor man's ravioli: Make some (half a box for 2 adults is how we measure here) medium size pasta such as shells or rotini, drain, and mix it with a container (the smaller container, 1 cup I think) of ricotta. Put spaghetti sauce on top. It's good!

usually I don't crack up so much when LP is sad

This one was just too funny; LP was whining and generally being difficult, and then he asked for a cookie. (His way of asking is to say "I want one piece of cookie" because he knows we will say he can only get one cookie or one piece of candy, so he thinks stating this ahead of time will improve his odds.) TE said something like "we can't reward him for this", and I agreed, so I said no. He started crying and whining more. Eventually I tried to explain it this way: "But you're so sad right now--if I give you a cookie you won't really appreciate it anyway". LP's shoulders stopped heaving and he stopped crying. He tried to reduce the whine in his voice and slowly said, with his bottom lip still pouting, "Now I'm happy". I really just had to laugh--it was too much for me!

Here's one of our favorite ridiculously quick meals, which can be made from things which are always in my pantry and do not go bad: veggie chili

(if you don't like beans, you probably won't be making veggie chili, but I bet it would be good with TVP or tofu or a bunch of chopped bell peppers (which you would add with the onions) but it wouldn't be the same thing at all)

Put some oil in the bottom of a medium large pot, put the burner on medium high or so, and add maybe a third of a bag of frozen chopped onions. (if you have time, fresh onions are better) Add a couple of tablespoons of cumin powder, some coriander powder if you like it, and ground black pepper. If you will use unsalted canned goods, you could also add some salt. Once the onions are mostly cooked, add 2 small or 1 large can of diced tomatoes and 1 can of beans--I use black beans, great northern beans (for a double recipe a mix of both is great) or sometimes pinto beans.

Side note: I don't buy beans that have added things (except salt, water, and EDTA) such as sugar which kidney beans generally have. Perhaps it keeps them better somehow to add a bit of sugar, but it pisses me off. Also, I get pretty mad at the grocery looking for plain diced tomatoes--I won't detail all the various crap I've seen added to canned diced tomatoes at the grocery, much of which is great stuff, but I need to add it myself or else I'd have 10 different cans of diced tomatoes at home depending on what I was going to use them in, and more importantly I wouldn't be in charge of what gets added.

You can drain the beans if you want a slightly thicker chili or if you don't like the bean juice/water. I don't usually bother. Add some oregano--a teaspoon or two. Add a dried powdered garlic--maybe a couple teaspoons. Obviously if you have time, a couple cloves of fresh minced garlic is significantly better and I would add it once the onions have cooked a bit but before adding watery stuff. Finally, add some heat with ground chili powder (not premade "chili powder" to make chili with, which generally has far too much chili and salt in relation to cumin besides not being a real ingredient in my opinion since it's a mix of several ingredients) or you could use hot sauce. Stir that around (don't forget to taste and adjust spices) and wait for it to get really hot. You could keep simmering it for 10 or 20 minutes to distribute the flavors a bit, if you have time.

To make it a meal, serve with a ridiculous amount of shredded cheese and/or plain yogurt, which we use in our house instead of sour cream. Sometimes we make it with cornbread as well, but in that case you have to actually cook stuff instead of just putting some stuff in a big pot, so even though cornbread is easy, the preparation time goes way up.

bike fixed!

I'm starting to feel like we live here for real. We're having friends over next weekend (planning to make Cooks Illustrated's Chicago-style pizza recipe for them--we tried it earlier and it is not perfect but pretty good, this time I might leave out the cornmeal). I just got my bike up and running--a few pieces were taken apart for moving. The derailleur is working better than it was before the move, and I didn't even adjust it! So that went well, and now it has tire sealant to hopefully avoid the terrain-specific flats people get here. I didn't have the proper tool to unscrew the valve core, so I used a cuticle scissors--just the right size to get in there, but not quite the right shape of course--luckily they weren't too tight! Later on TE's suggestion I found that a really little screwdriver could fit too, though it couldn't pinch down obviously, it worked a bit better.

I am going to start a series of quick recipes or things I mix together and then eat that aren't really "recipes" per se. My cooking philosophy is to do things really fast, but also to use only things I consider pure/real ingredients, which I define based on essentially no obvious metrics to include things like packaged mayo and mustard but not the canned diced tomatoes with basil or other things in them (the canned tomatoes in the pantry here contain only pure tomatoes and salt--except for the jarred pasta sauce, but using that isn't really cooking).

So here's the first in the series:

What to put on breaded fish if you don't have tartar sauce:

mix some mayo with lemon juice and dried dill (or you could use another dried herb)

it's good!