We’re trying to reduce our energy consumption.  The first step was to teach the kids to turn off lights as they leave their rooms.  As you can imagine, Liam is excessively zealous (”Hey, I’m still in here!”),  Evan means well but rarely remembers, and Cara can’t generally reach any light switches.  But it’s a start.

The local power company came in today to install new thermostats in the house.  It’s a pilot program we volunteered for.  We get two new  programmable thermostats, which can even be controlled via a private web site (all the geeks out there say “sweet!”).  The power company gets to bump up our thermostat setting temporarily in order to prevent brownouts during the worst summer peak demand times.  Everybody wins!

I just ordered compact fluorescent (CFL) spotlights for the recessed lighting in the kitchen and dining room.  I also just managed to connect the house server to the powerline controls, so that the smart switches I’ve been installing around the house can start acting smart.  Both together ought to be a winning energy-saving combination.

I also just bought a battery-powered (rather than gasoline) lawn trimmer.  I hope to soon power the battery charger with solar panels.  Near-future plans involve putting all of our battery charging needs on solar.  Medium-future includes more panels and an AC inverter to run some lower draw devices.  Who knows, maybe full-blown grid-intertie is a possibility.

We’ve got a long way to go before I feel like we’re approaching “greenness,” but every little bit helps.  Now I’m gonna knock off this typing thing and go help plant the new vegetable garden.

A combination of difficulties (of various kinds) has prevented me from uploading new pictures in months. Since Christmas, in fact. I have felt really bad about it, which any procrastinator knows has not helped motivate me to catch up. I apologize to those of you who don’t see the kids any other way – I’m sure it’s been disappointing to visit here and not find new pictures. But Spring is in the air, and with my birthday always comes renewed energy and determination to get things done. So I’ve finally uploaded the Christmas, 2007 album. Over the next week I will work on getting the last four months of pictures up for everyone to see. Enjoy!

Everybody who has eaten my cornbread wants to know what I do, so here it is:

Start with a box of Trader Joe’s cornbread mix. The box calls for 1 egg, 1/2 cup oil, and 3/4 cup milk. I change this to 1/4 cup egg whites (you could also use vegan egg substitute), 1/4 cup oil (I use organic canola), and 1 can cream style corn. This eliminates the cholesterol and the dairy, and cuts down the fat significantly. The result is sweet and moist and really… well, corny.

Brian and I were playing Cranium WOW this evening with friends. To win the game we drew a card in the Word Worm category which read:

“To win the Mindmeld, two or more players on your team must match at least one answer with a teammate. Each player on your team secretly writes down three words that come to mind when thinking of the topic below: Saturday Morning Cartoons”

After about ten seconds, Brian and I revealed our tablets, which both read:

SMURFS, TRANSFORMERS, GI JOE

Children of the 80s indeed.

Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn. Get it. Read it. I need a discussion/support group!

Ten years ago today Carolee and I were married.  Insanity!

Happy anniversary, hon!

Now my favorite parenting expert is available to everyone! Dr. Rene Hackney, of Parenting Playgroups (commonly referred to as Cara’s “art class”), has videotaped bits of her parenting lectures for MonkeySee.com. My favorite set of clips so far is about “contribution,” which we value highly in our household. Do a search for “Rene Hackney” to see her other topics, such as potty training, separation anxiety, and types of praise. More are coming shortly, I’m told. I don’t know what I would have done without her parenting advice over the years, so I’m so glad to be able to share it with everyone else!

Liam’s birthday was last Wednesday, and he finally turned SEVEN! He’s been telling everyone he was “six and eleven twelfths” for the last month, while I’ve been saying “almost seven.” He’s now over four feet tall (he’s grown almost two inches since Lori was born)! It’s hard to believe, but I guess that’s what happens when you keep feeding them.

We’ve been celebrating all week with friends and family, including a TaeKwonDo party at TopKick. Liam asked his friends to bring donations for Toys For Tots instead of gifts for himself (it wasn’t his idea, but he embraced it enthusiastically), and everyone was SOOoooo generous! Yesterday we dropped off a grocery cart FULL of toys and books so that other kids might be as happy as Liam is this time of year! He continues to grow into the intelligent, responsible, loving person we’ve always known he would. Keep it up, Liam, and Happy Birthday!

My sister Amy just had her second daughter! Amelia Marie Lang was born at 6:29 this morning. She weighed almost 10 pounds! They plan to call her “Mia” for short. There are more details and pix at their website.

Welcome to the world, Mia!

Evan and I both tested for our next taekwondo belts today. Evan got his “Tiger Red” belt, the highest belt in the children’s program at our dojang. Note:  Evan would, at this point in a live conversation, solemnly inform you that he also received a medal. Next he’ll jump straight to testing for his gold belt, the tenth level (”gup”) along a 12 level path to black belt (count down from twelve to one). It’s always fun to watch the younger kids in class, there’s always so much well-directed enthusiasm.

After Evan’s test I tested for my green stripe (seventh gup). And I was surprised and oddly encouraged to discover that for the first time the instructors were actually failing a few of the students. I have had a number of minor beefs with our dojang in the year we’ve been going. However, the only significant issue that has consistently bothered me is my perception that the instructors often wave students along to a higher belt than their ability really supports. Today there were some tears from a few of the more disappointed students (and a really unfortunate and unnecessary post-test moment where a 12 year old girl’s dad chastised her in front of one of the instructors for “also slacking off at home”). But somehow I felt like my weekly efforts are suddenly more… valid. I feel like it actually means something to get that cursed back hook kick down cold, because my progression towards black belt suddenly depends upon more than simply attending the requisite number of classes.

Is that mean and curmudgeonly to leap straight to the silver lining within an emotionally-vulnerable pre-teen girl’s mortal embarrassment? Yes, I think it is. I’m a bad, bad man.

But I’ve got a mean back hook kick to show for it.