First Day of School: 2013 Edition

Teagan has started 3rd grade.

Zach is in Kindergarten.

Whew!

Zach has a huge advantage in having a big sister who has already been ruling this school for 2 years.  Starting at this public school was a hard transition for our little girl.  The first few weeks were heart breaking when we would drop her off at the Y program.  Zach has a huge benefit of a bilt in playmate.  Even if she doesn't stay with him the entire time - she at least gets him started.  Yesterday, as I watched them walk away from me to go play a game, she put her arm around his shoulders and my heart melted.  And when I came to pick them up, they were playing separate from each other but each in a group of friends.

Zach knows at least 5 kids in Kindergarten and possibly in the Y before/after care program thanks to meeting them at camp over the summer - including a little boy he says is his bestie.

Teagan has kids in her class that she really likes and she is super excited about her teacher.

Zach says his teacher is even nicer than Ms. Sally (impossible!!) because their homework is only going to be FUN.

Teagan started the school year with a stack of text books and a real student planner on her desk.  This school thing gets REAL this year.

Zach likes the behavior color system.  If he has 10 green days, he gets treasure box.  If he has a super duper great day and gets on purple, he gets treasure box that day.  He had green yesterday and I know he's eager to figure out how to be super duper so he gets purple.

Teagan shared all the class rules with me - well, 5 of them.  And they are good rules that cross over to home rules, too.  My favorite is Rule #5 - Keep your teacher happy!

Zach liked that he had lots of outside playt ime between school and the Y program.

Teagan liked her hair - we had braided it while wet the night before to get the crimped curl look.  (Note to self: find out if the still make crimping irons.)

It's going to be a big year.  They seem to be happy and excited... and so am I!

@IndyStateFair Get Animated!

One of my absolute favorite things at the Indiana State Fair this year is the special exhibit in the Grand Hall - Get Animated.

This exhibit focuses on animation of all kinds - from Disney to video games to the old Saturday morning cartoons.  And there is so much to DO in this exhibit!  I went once by myself, once with just Jeff, and twice with the kids.

There was gorgeous concept art and tribute art...

My kids had some fun with the statues and such...

There was a nice collection of old stuff... I was glad Teagan knew that the record player played music and the typewriter was for typing.  She didn't know the names of the items but knew their purpose.

And then there was the drawing area - where you could learn to draw different characters.  We never got to attend "Animated University."  But we did snap the series of pics on the wall for "how to draw Mickey."

 

 And my kids were fascinated by the video games - even though they didn't actually play any of them.

And I loved the gift shop.  I could have easily spent my entire State Fair budget in that little shop.  One of the best buys, though, was a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  We finished reading the first Harry Potter this summer so finding the beans was really exciting.  I made the kids wait until the train ride home to open them up... they searched the guide on the back and tried tutti fruiti (loved it) and then grass (liked it)...

Teagan was pretty anxious...

But also very eager...

Grass didn't taste gross so...

So let's try earwax!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Bottom line - if you have any bit of nerd in you when it comes to all things animated... get to the Indiana State Fair and check out this exhibit.  There are still some great offers to make it a little easier on the wallet to go to the Fair (and then spend that savings at the Get Animated gift shop) -

Thursday, August 15AAA Day - FREE admission for AAA members with valid AAA membership card! One valid AAA card per person.

Friday, August 16$5 Friday with Foodie Fair Specials - $5 Admission with printed voucher presented at Gate - Download your Voucher HERE. Concessionaires will offer Foodie Fair Specials & the Midway Survival Wristband Special!

@DigINDIANA - Aug 25 (Giveaway!!)

2 years ago, I was invited to attend a brand new event called Dig IN - A Taste of Indiana ("Indiana's Farm to Fork Celebration").  I love food.  I love local food.  So it was certainly up my alley!

This year, I am thrilled to have been invited to be an Indiana Family of Farmers Ambassador for the event!

Check out this amazing list of restaurants, chefs, and the farms working to provide the protein:

Dig IN, A Taste of Indiana 2013 RESTAURANTS, CHEFS and DISHES noted, as available (subject to change)

·         18 on the Square, Joseph Martin: Duck Gyro, Grilled Flat Bread, Relished Summer Vegetables, Daredevil Sauce (Protein provided by Maple Leaf Farms)

·         Black Market, Micah Frank: Indiana Berry Shrub

·         Brad Gates Catering, Brad Gates: Grilled Duck Breast & Poached Peach Salad

·         Cerulean, Chase Hinton and Caleb France: Duck, Fennel, Sorrel, Cherries, Chilies

·         Chef JJ's Back Yard, Chef JJ Boston: Curried Pork and Lamb (Protein from Paul Russell’s Farm and Gunthrop Farms)

·         Circle City Soups, Roger Hawkins, Indiana Gazpacho

·         Circle City Sweets, Cindy Hawkins: Honey-Shagbark Granola with Yogurt

·         Courses Restaurant, Joseph Davey: Albondigas (Protein from Keegan Poe’s Farm)

·         Craig Baker, Craig Baker: Pork Country Style Torchon, House Pickled Seasonal Veg Salad, "Bloody Mary," and Micro Herbs (Protein from Birkeys)

·         Delicia, Ricardo Martinez: Spicy Beet Salad

·         Fermenti Artisan, Mark Cox: Smoked Bison Shoulder and Curtido (Protein from Bison World)

·         Goose the Market, Chris Eley: Meat on a Stick (Protein from Donnie Brewer’s Farm)

·         Indiana Downs, Greg Schiesser (Protein from Dallas & Meggie Foster’s Farm)

·         Joseph Decuis, Aaron Butts: Mini Wagyu Burgers with Spicy Tomato Jam and Bleu Cheese Mousse (Protein provided by Joseph Decuis Farm)

·         Just Rennie's Cookie Company, Chef Doug & Marla Rennie: Just Rennie’s Gourmet Cookies

·         JW Marriott Indianapolis, Brendon Cheney: Indiana Pig: The Adventure Begins (Protein from Chris & Jent Campbell’s Farm)

·         Kelly Ford, Jeff Ford: Duck Confit Egg Roll/Spring Roll with Pork Belly & Jalapeno "Duck" Sauce (Protein from Maple Leaf Farms)

·         Lemleys’ Catering, Alexa Lemley: Chicken on a Grit Cake (Protein from Tyson)

·         Meridian Restaurant and Bar, Layton Roberts: Faux Noodle (Protein from Matt Gibson’s Farm)

·         Mesh on Mass, Mark Henrichs: Compressed Watermelon Salad

·         Napolese, Tyler Herald: Focaccia Caprese Sandwich

·         Northside Social, Nicole Oprisu: Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Protein from Tyner Pond)

·         One World Catering, Corbin Morwick: Moroccan Lamb Meatballs (Protein from Keegan Poe’s Farm)

·         R bistro, Regina Mehallick: Beans & Beef (Protein from Fischer Farms)

·         Scratchtruck, Matt Kornmeyer: Bourbon Braised Brisket with Peach Bourbon Glaze (Protein from Fischer Farms)

·         Severin Bar, Vincent Russo: Pulled Pork Sliders with Bourbon/Watermelon Slaw

·         Spice Box, Nitin Naidu: Goat Channa (Protein from Gunthrop Farms)

·         The Chef's Academy, Anthony G Hanslits: Lamb Reuben + Napa Cabbage Slaw + Minted Mustard (Protein from Keegan Poe’s Farm)

·         The Indigo Duck, Karen Hewett: Rabbit Sloppy Joe’s (Protein from Meat the Rabbit)

·         The Loft Restaurant, Brandon Canfield: Grass-fed Beef

·         The Oceanaire Seafood Room, Courtney Loyd (Protein from RDM Shrimp)

·         Valley Kitchen & Bar, Cory Muro: Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps(Protein from Gunthrop Farms)

·         Zest! Exciting Food Creations + Twist Lounge, Valerie Vanderpool: Elloté Salad with Cornmeal-Crusted Perch (Protein from Bell Aquaaculture)

 Here is what I can tell you about Dig IN - the food is incredible, you try things you'd never normally try, the chefs like to get creative, the food is as local as possible, the beer and wine is locally crafted.  And this year, there will be more emphasis on the farmers.  That's where all the yummy starts!! 

Here is YOUR chance to win TWO TICKETS to this event!!  It is from noon - 5:00 on Sunday, Aug 25 at White River State Park in downtown Indianapolis.  Winner will be drawn on Thursday, Aug 15. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hey, Baby, Tell Me What You Want

My blogging seems to be very hit or miss these days.  Mostly due to... writer's block, honestly.

So I got to thinking - why do you people even read my blog?  What is it that you like?  What do you want more of?

So here is your chance - tell me what you like, don't like, want more of.  Tell me if you need a follow up on something I've written about before.  Ask questions that you've just been dying to know.

Leave a comment or send me an email (you can use that handy little form over to the right).  Message me on Facebook.  Tweet me.  Whatever.

And some little factoids:

"Vertical Garden" and "Dr. Oz" bring a lot of search traffic.

The majority of my traffic is US based with a significant representation from Russia (weird).

Most search terms used to bring people to my blog are Eternal Lizdom and love.  I like that.

And here is a random animated image, created by Google +, of me and my kids goofing off.

@IndyStateFair - Day 1

I spent a half day at the Indiana State Fair as a guest of Indiana Family of Farmers.  I went without kids and was able to see a lot of stuff before heading in to the office for the afternoon.  It was a great way to whet my appetite for all the rest of the things I want to do at the Fair!!

We started the morning with breakfast at the Dairy Bar.  I had a bagel with cream cheese and chocolate milk.  I love chocolate milk from the Dairy Bar - it's some of the best stuff and I look forward to it all year.

What's really fun about this Indiana Family of Farmers event (I went last year, too) is that I get to rub elbows with some of my favorite bloggers and social media types. Like this guy - @BgKahuna (and his lovely wife @gotchababy and their fun kids).

We were free to go off and enjoy the Fair - as long as we promised to be at the new Glass Barn at 11:00 for a special live interview with a farmer.

I went next door to one of my favorite stops - the DuPont Food Pavilion.

First stop - seeing the cheese sculpture in progress.  I can't wait to see it all done when I go back.  The cool thing is that the cheese doesn't go to waste - it will be used for animal feed when the Fair is over.  And if you're there while it is being worked on, you can get a bite of cheese!

Next stop in the Pavilion was the market - it's stocked with locally made food products.  Last year, I discovered cheesey microwave popcorn from Preferred Popcorn (Palmyra, IN).  This year, I immediately bought 12 bags of it and will most likely buy more each time I go back to the Fair!  I made a recommendation to a fellow blogger (@saraelysecroft) and she has since confirmed the yumminess of this popcorn!

Next up, still in the Pavilion, I headed over to the Red Gold Cooking Stage to enjoy a cooking demo by @beyerbeware.  She talked about meat and marinades and I left hungry!

Thankfully, at a State Fair, there is no shortage of food options.  I went for one of my favorites - roasted corn on the cob.  I added cajun seasoning, mayo, and parmesan cheese to create elote.  So good!

Something unique to the Fair this year is the creation and presentation of The World's Largest Popcorn Ball.

One of my favorite parts of the Fair this year is a special exhibit called Get Animated.  If this exhibit doesn't bring nerds from far and wide to the Fair, I don't know what will.  GenCon is in town next week and every GenCon nerd should swing by the State Fair and check out this Get Animated exhibit, too!!  You can see Turbo and Kung Foo Panda (statues), check out information on how animation is created, take a drawing class, play with legos, video games, create your own animated short film, and shop in a fantastic gift shop (I call it the Nerd Store).

I ended my morning meeting back up with the group at the brand new Glass Barn.  I didn't have a chance to fully explore the Barn and am eager to check it out on a future visit (I have at least 3 more days planned).  I did get a gift from Indiana Family of Farmers - food coupons and a bag and a t-shirt.  And I found a, uh, model for the shirt...

Anway.

One of the cool things that I did get to experience at the Glass Barn was a live internet chat with an Indiana farmer!  She was in her pig barn and we were able to learn about her farm and the pigs and ask questions.  It was really cool!!

Jeff and I are planning a date this weekend to go to the Fair without the kids.  I want to check out my friend Amy's presentation on the Cooking Stage - and she won't be cooking!  And I want he and I to fully enjoy the Get Animated exhibit!  Then I am taking the kids on Monday - just me and my kids.  It is Kids Day on the Midway and the kids will each get a $15 wristband to go crazy riding rides.  The kid rides are in a separate Midway area this year and I think they're going to love it- it was a big new thing we did last year (we used to avoid the Midway completely).

On Tuesday, we hit the Fair again - and this time my friend Jennifer is coming along.  Over the course of Monday and Tuesday, we will make sure to see and do the following:

- Little Hands on the Farm
- High Dive Show
- Ice Skatnig Show
- Take pictures with giant tractors
- Visit the Dance Stage
- Eat corndogs and drink lemon shake ups
- Ride the tractor tram around the fairgrounds
- visit Goat Mountain
- play on the Playground in the FFA Pavilion and maybe play some free Putt Putt
- visit the animal barns

But the best thing about spending multiple days at the Fair is finding the unusual, the unexpected.  And I know we will have some fun times in the days that we are there!

We Love @Avocado

Have you heard of Avocado?  I happened upon it by accident, I think.  Might have read about it in an article or something - I really don't recall.

Avocado is an app for your phone so that you can stay connected to your special someone when you're apart.  Or just because.

Here's what I like about it.

First of all, it's adorable.

Now the way the app works - it's basically like having a news feed but it's only for 2 people.  And no one else has access.

During the day, if I find myself thinking of my honey, I could send a text...  "How is your day?"  But he might think I'm trying to hint at something else.  He might be busy at that moment and my text is an interruption.

But if I send a virtual hug... he just knows that I was thinking about him and am sending him some affection.

 I can even send him kisses!

We also can share a calendar - we use Google for our family calendar.  But having a little personal calendar where we can schedule dates or whatever is nice.  There's also a place to keep lists and also load pictures.  And our shared profile lets us keep track of our anniversary and our birthdays.  Never forget a date!

So if you're looking for a fun way to stay connected to your sweetie... check out Avocado!

(Avocado doesn't know me and has nothing to do with this post - I just really, really like this app!)

My Senior Year: 20 Years Later

I don't think of myself as much of a worrier.  I don't get very anxious about much.  I consider myself an emotional person- but not someone who frets a lot.

But there is something coming up that I am feeling some anxiety about.

My 20 year high school reunion.

The cool thing is that the majority of the class is connected on Facebook and we are excitedly chatting about plans and seeing one another and people are flying in from all over the country to be there.

But in the back of my mind... I have my own personal elephant in the room.  And maybe no one else sees it.

I don't care that I'm not skinny like I was in high school.

I don't care that I'm not blond like I was in high school.

But as my long time readers know, my senior year was fraught with some personal drama.  Go read that post - it might be important to know that piece of my history.

I have no idea what my fellow classmates thought of me at the end of my senior year.  I was gone for most of the final quarter of school.  I was focused on surviving.

To be honest, I'm not even entirely sure people knew I was gone.  I had a small group of friends and they supported me during my hospitalization.

But when someone is put into a mental hospital, not too many people know how to respond or what to say or if they should even say anything.

So now I am this whole and healthy person.  I'm pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

But the person I was in the past left high school in a very fragile state.  And spent high school as a very broken person.

And to be fair, when my classmates are sharing some of their memories... I'm at a loss.  Not because I wasn't there.  But because my brain doesn't work quite the same way and I don't have a lot of those memories in storage.

It was a huge and painful and scary part of my life.

Part of me worries that my classmates remember me as that broken person who got put into the looney bin.

Part of me worries that my classmates don't even remember that I missed most of our last quarter of our senior year.

I will go and I will simply be myself because that is really all I can do - and it's what I'm good at and it's pretty much what I do all the time anyway.

And I remind myself that my classmates probably had their own things going on in their own lives that they were focused on.  I was completely focused on my own survival so I wouldn't have noticed someone else going through trauma.  And someone else going through trauma might not have even noticed me going through mine.

The reunion planners sent out a survey to everyone.  They asked the basic question - what have you been up to since graduation?  What a hard question to answer.  I answered with the standard "went to college, moved away, got married, had kids" type of answer.  I don't know that the reunion committee wanted my real answer...

"I continued in therapy after graduation.  In fact, I had to change my college plans to stay close to home and therapist and mental health resources so ended up at a very good local college instead of going away to Chicago as planned.  I stayed in the day program at the hospital for that summer after graduation and continued to see my therapist into my sophomore year of college.  I had wonderful friends who were very supportive of my craziness.  College was were I did truly "find myself" because I had finally confronted the demons of my past.  I have a failed first marriage because I thought I needed the safety net of a "normal life" and that meant husband and house in the 'burbs. But he was a porn addict and the marriage fell apart within a few years.  I focused on work and theatre - and soon met my true spouse, Jeff. We did theatre together. We got married. We got pregnant. We had a miscarriage.  I re-found my relationship with God. We got pregnant again and started our family.  And here we are.  Life is that "image" of normal - husband, 2 kids, a dog, living in the 'burbs.  But this time, I came upon it rather than trying to make it fit what I thought I wanted.  So life is good and full of love and friends and laughter - even amidst the stresses and let downs and life lessons."

Come October, I am going to step into a room of people that I haven't seen in 20 years (except for my friend Katy who now goes by Kathryn).  I am going to swallow my nervousness and just do my best to be my friendly, outgoing, loving self and not fall back into the me-I-used-to-be.

Thin, blond, and filled with trauma.

Not thin, not blond and filled with love and joy.