#70 - Steamroller magic

I was in Sacramento yesterday to attend the Mannheim Steamroller concert at Arco Arena. I've never seen Mannheim Steamroller before, but I grew up listening to their Christmas music (as well as their regular music, such as the Fresh Aire recordings). The concert was wonderful - we all enjoyed it, even my stepfather who wasn't necessarily looking forward to it. (I saw him tapping his foot more than once.) Our seats were fantastic, right up front, and the music was just as it should be... Christmasy! I loved the village and scale-size train they had set up in the back of the arena. Spending the evening with some of my loved ones (unfortunately, not the little guy or my wonderful hubby) was a special treat mid-week. Let the season begin!

#69 - Language translator

I've been thinking about how strange it is to have so many languages on the same planet. I mean, when Adam and Eve came to the garden of Eden, there was only one language. Somewhere along the line different languages became necessary. And now, many people only speak one language. Today I played with an Internet-based language translator to see how different languages really are from one another. I asked it to translate the phrase "I try to do one new thing every day." and here's what I got:

Intento hacer una nueva cosa cada día. (English to Spanish)
J'essaye de faire une nouvelle chose chaque jour. (English to French)
Ich versuche, eine neue Sache jeden Tag zu tun. (English to German)
Eu tento fazer uma coisa nova cada dia. (English to Portuguese)
Provo a fare una nuova cosa ogni giorno. (English to Italian)
Я пытаюсь сделать одну новую вещь каждый день. (English to Russian)
Προσπαθώ να κάνω ένα νέο πράγμα κάθε ημέρα. (English to Greek)
私は毎日1 つの新しい事をすることを試みる。(English to Japanese)
나는 매일 1개의 새로운 일을 한것을 해본다. (English to Korean)
我設法做一件新事每天。(English to traditional Chinese)

None of these seem particularly similar to me, though the Spanish and Portuguese have a few words in common. No wonder people across the globe don't get along - we can't even communicate very well.

#68 - Mexican food, ole!

Tonight we made chicken enchiladas for dinner. I didn't actually help a whole lot with the preparation, save for letting TLG pour stuff in the blender and supervising him while he turned it on (and off and on and off and... you get the idea). The recipe was borrowed from a friend and it tasted delicious. In our ongoing quest to find quick, easy dinners that aren't the same 8-10 things we normally eat, this one ranked pretty high, though the prep time was longer than we expected somehow. Still - yum!

#67 - Good clean fun

The little guy (TLG) and I played with colored soap paints tonight in the tub. We have noticed how much TLG loves to color and do art-related stuff, so I bought these soap paints in red, blue and green to play with. I was trying to save them for an upcoming holiday, but they were just so darn cute I brought them out early. TLG really liked them, especially when I brought in a hand-held mirror so he could see his own face. I had fun seeing how he would embrace a new creative way to play, and we took tons of cute photos in the process.

#66 - A "dressing" party

(Sorry for the multiple posts today - I've been doing plenty of new things but have been so busy, today's my first time to post!)

We had chicken nuggets for dinner, with barbeque sauce. When we were just about done, I noticed the expiration date on the sauce had passed. This prompted me to look at the other bottle of barbeque sauce in the fridge, and lo and behold, it was also expired. (If you have a weak stomach, better stop reading now.) So then I started looking at all the bottles of salad dressing and other condiments. EEK! We had one good bottle each of ketchup, mayo, mustard and salad dressing. All of the others were past their prime! Ewwww! What else could we do but have a "dressing" party where we emptied them all in the sink? I checked the bottles and took the lids off, TLG did the primary pouring, and my hubby did the rinsing. It was absolutely disgusting, and TLG loved every minute of it. All the different colors of sauces mixed together in the sink, plus a bunch of water everywhere? It's a two-year-old's dream come true!

#65 - Jingle Bells

Last night we all dressed up and the whole family (even the little guy) went to see the local Philharmonic's Christmas concert. Grandma came with us and we all had a great time! The concert also included performances by a handbell choir, some tap and ballet dancers, and some Russian acrobats... so there was plenty for TLG to watch. And when he started to get fidgety, it was time to color a little bit, which worked out fine. The best part for TLG was the giant balloons that fell from the ceiling at the end - we took two home and have been playing with them all day. If the Philharmonic continues with this Christmas tradition, we may have to make it a tradition for our family too, since we all enjoyed it.

#64 - Their fate is in my hands

At work on Friday, I got to sort through and rank some job applications I received as chairperson of the search committee for a new position being created. I've never been chairperson of a committee like this before. I have served on similar committees, but somehow that felt more collaborative somehow. Seeing all these people interested in the new position made me excited at the prospect of finding the right candidate, and I wanted to read everything slowly so I wouldn't miss any pieces to the puzzle. I can't wait to hear what the other committee members think and meet some of these folks in person. It's very exciting to have this under way.