Welcome to Heidi's blog......Tales of life in Portland with my baby, Hank.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Portland Showcase of Wine and Cheese

This past Friday my sister, Emily, and I attended our fifth Portland Showcase of Wine and Cheese at the Convention Center.  We started going because we love wine and cheese (but to be honest, mostly wine).  The first year was so much fun that we've made it a tradition to go every year.  It's a benefit for the Boy's and Girl's Club, which is an awesome non-profit organization.  A few of our nieces and nephews have needed their local Boy's and Girl's Club. 

Each year there are tons of wine vendors, and there's also plenty of cheese and other yummy food.  Some of the Boy's and Girl's Club volunteers even pour the wine.  There's a big silent auction, which is fun to browse even if you don't bid.  There's also a live auction, although we've never paid any attention to that.  I highly recommend going, it's well worth the $40.
Em at one of the silent auction tables.

Here we are on the balcony during the 5 minutes it didn't rain, what an amazing city view!

Self-portrait, in between trying to find the shortest wine line.

 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Dogs....You know I love em!

I remember my good friend, Jane, saying that if we ever had a kid we'd get rid of our dogs.  Of course I said, 'No way, we'd never do that!'.  She came back with "Well, at least the most annoying one".  Well she knew more than I, she was a new mother at the time.  We haven't gotten rid of one, but I wish we could daily.  The biggest problem is that two of our little darlings like to pee on new things, and lately that's been baby stuff.  We've discovered they've been peeing on all sorts of things: new stuff for Hank (even before he was born), Christmas presents (two years in a row), and most recently the new rug in for Hank's room. 

I've been pretty frustrated with the dogs, and pretty much ok with getting rid of at least one of them (Iggy), who I think is the main problem - he starts peeing on stuff and Pugsley has to pee over it.  The doggy diapers (our attempt at a solution) have been a huge burden, especially when you already have a kid in diapers, and they're not really a solution. 

So we had a bit of a fight a couple weeks ago and Julian thought he'd teach me a lesson by throwing all the dogs outside without their collars.  Of course they didn't stick around, and we both ended up running around the neighborhood trying to find them while I was trying to bake a cake for our friend's baby shower.  He did eventually find them, and I was actually relieved and agreed not to bring up giving them away again. 

But I have to admit I think about it every day - which is the most annoying one I'd give away?  I don't know, every day a different one would earn that honor.  The other morning I stepped on a dried turd on Hank's rug (I didn't see the other piles in the dark).  Tonight I took them up to our bedroom (where they're crates are) the other two ran into Hank's room!  So I ended up having to crawl around on my hands and knees in the dark (Hank is asleep) to make sure no one peed or poohed on the carpet.  I guess they're hoping they become our babies again....I hope they do some day.  In the mean time I'll work on my patience, because I'm going to need it.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

President's Day Cooking Triathlon

I had last Monday off because it was President's Day (bank holiday).  So I spent the day with my little guy, and got a bunch of cooking done.  First I made granola bars.  These are Julian's current favorite, at least partly because they're different than the breads I make a lot.  They are so good, and you can mix them up depending on what you like, and what you have.

Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats (quick oats, etc.)     3/4 cup add-in's (I did coconut &
3/4 cup brown sugar                                  chocolate chips)            
1/2 cup wheat germ                             3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon                                 1/2 cup honey
1 cup flour                                           1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil                           2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 pyrex.  In a large bowl mix the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, mix-in's, and salt.  Make a well in the center and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla.  Mix well, then spread into the pyrex.  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the bars begin to turn golden brown.  Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars (don't wait to cut until they're completely cooled off, it'll be hard).



Next I made our lunches, couscous with apricots, scallions and almonds.  This is as simple as it sounds - I made 3 cups of couscous (3 cups boiling water to 3 cups coucous with 2 boullion cubes), fluffed it up and added a few tablespoones of olive oil, the diced up apricots (approx 1 cup), scallions (1 bunch) and almonds (1/2 cup or so).  I also added some black pepper & red pepper flakes.  Lots of variations, depending on what you like.


Last I made dinner for that night, a lemon and asparagus risotto.  This is just 1.5 cups of arborio rice, 7 cups of vegetable stock, 1 bunch of asparagus, 1 lemon (zest of peel, and juice), pepper, and some cheese (I used some pamesan and Italian blend).

 


Monday, February 20, 2012

Day care reviews: Joyful Noise, YMCA, Kindercare, Belmont Academy, CCLC and Grandma's Place

We've been looking for a day care to get Hank into as of June because my sister, Anne, who's currently watching him, is going to have another baby in August.  Touring day cares takes a lot of time, so now that I've done the work I thought I'd share my thoughts with you.....in case you're looking for day care some day too, or are just curious.

All of the day cares have a 1 employee to 4 kids ratio, and all tuition rates are for full-time (5 days/week) infants.  Tuition decreases as the child ages, beginning with a lower toddler rate (about 2 years old).

Joyful Noise/Citykids 1120 SW 5th Ave.

This was the first day care I toured.  I was very impressed, and they were the only NAEYC accredited center (a very difficult accreditation to get).  The downside is it's hard to get into, partly due to their accreditation, but also because it's available to City of Portland employees first, general public second.  As such it's 75% City employee kids that go here.  The menu looked the best of all the centers, and they have a small outside play area.  I really liked this place, if you can wait, or think ahead and get your kid on the waiting list way before they're born!  The wait is currently 1 year-18 months.  Tuition is $1,136/mo.

YMCA 601 SW 2nd

I did not like this place.  At all.  I didn't bother getting much info from them.  The center director forgot our appointment and seemed put out to give me a tour.  She was also really short with an employee that asked her a question while I was with her.  The employees were all older women, and my impression was they didn't really seem to enjoy their jobs.  Tuition is about $1,100 per month and there is a wait, although not as long as Citykids. 

Kindercare 1400 SW 5th

I liked this place.  I got a good feeling from it, and the employees (all of who were younger women) seemed to have a good bond with the kids.  Enrollment was small, which is a big plus, but I found out why - it's expensive!  They're the only ones to give a tuition schedule on a weekly basis.  I think that's because it doesn't sound quite so spendy that way.  $332/week - not too bad.  Right?  Wrong.  For 52 weeks of day care you'll pay $1,440 per month!  Yikes!  They do offer US Bank employees a 10% discount, and you only pay 1/2 tuition if your kid is out all week (vacation credit).  But this still puts Kindercare as the most expensive center I looked at.  Otherwise it seemed like a nice program and good facility.  They had a nice outside play area, but no inside gym.  The center was compartmentalized because it was an office building before it became a day care.

Belmont Academy 3841 SE Belmont

Belmont Academy brings to mind one word: "gross".  Ew.  I do not recommend it, and they couldn't pay me to put my kid here.  It was set up very strange - spread out in lots of old buildings.  It's also very open to the public, and right on 39th & Belmont, so surrounded by lots of walking traffic.  That scares me.  This place was dirty, and it really turned us off.  I'd decided I'd never consider this place within the first 5 minutes.  You do not take your shoes off in the infant area (I asked if I should, and was told, "oh, don't worry about it").  Everything was old and run down.  The toddler area was set up in a weird basement area that didn't even seem legal (I'm short and I could barely stand up straight down there).  Tuition is $955/month.

CCLC (Children's Creative Learning Center)  2215 SE Gladstone

This center was rather impressive.  They're owned by the same corporation that owns Kindercare, so it is a big corporate day care, but it doesn't feel like it.  This center is in a remote industrial area near the train tracks, behind the Fred Meyer corporate offices.  Each CCLC is tied to a big corporation, Freddy's in this case.  A big percentage of the Freddy employee's kids go here.  The center is set up like a school, with each age group in their own classroom.  The employees seem to like their jobs, and we were impressed that during nap time all of the kids were asleep at the same time.  The curriculum seem solid.  They did not provide field trips for the older kids.  There were a few nice outside play areas (no inside one).  We got a good feeling about this place.  Tuition is approx $1,100 per month.  They only provide full time day care, there are no part-time rates.

Grandma's Place @ Clark Family Center  2740 SE Powell 

I saved the best for last...the winner is: Grandma's Place!  We liked CCLC and Grandma's place the best overall.  But Grandma's Place won out.  The building is very new, so everything is clean and in good shape.  The day care is in the Catholic Charities building, but not affiliated with the Catholic church.  The employees really seemed to like their jobs, and to genuinely like the children.  The layout is very open, this is not a classroom setting.  That was probably the only semi-downside to me - it was a little noisy for this reason.  But I saw infants napping, so they seem to get used to it.  The menu looked tasty, and formula is included in the tuition.  They use sign language with the infants (with charts on the walls), this was a big plus.  They take the kids on field trips once they get older.  They have a Spanish language program for the older kids.  They also have a really nice indoor gym, which is pretty rare.  They are building an annex next door, which will be done this Spring, and it will provide an outside play area as well.  Tuition is $973/month.  Although it turned out to be one of the less expensive places, we made up our mind without any tuition consideration.  Also - this was the only place that the center director called me to see how the tour had gone.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Elsa's baby shower

Today was or good friend's, Hayley and Jamey's, baby shower.  Their little girl, Elsa, is due in just about a month.  Time flies (for those of use that aren't the pregnant ones).  The shower was wonderful, there was a really great turn out and a ton of wonderful gifts.  There were even 3 robot onesies, one of which was from us - doh!  At least they were all different! 

I helped with the shower by making the cake for Hayley and cupcakes for Jamey.  Hayley requested a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.  Jamey's favorite is banana cake, so I made my Aunt Joanne's banana cupcakes with whipped cream frosting.  I got the robot fondant cake topper off Etsy - it helped make the cake look a little less homemade.

The finished cake - Julian helped with the fondant polka dots.

My sister, Emily, helping frost the banana cupcakes.

All set up at Madison's on Hawthorne.

The cake and cupcakes - don't they look professional?

My sisters, Emily (left) and Anne (right) with Amanda (center)

Me and my little devlish guy.

Jamey and Hayley opening gifts.
Amanda put this mustache on Hank, he wants to be just like Daddy.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Tim and Teresa's Taxidermy Sanctuary

This week has been interesting.  We went to our friends' house (Tim and Teresa) on Sunday.  That was a good start to the week.  But Hank had been really cranky, and on Tuesday we found out he had thrush (basically a mouth yeast infection).  So I had to leave work early to spend hours going to the doctor and waiting for a presciption.  But he started feeling better pretty quickly so things were looking up.  Then today, on the way home my bus hit a car.  We all had to get off and wait for another bus....luckily it was dry out.

Back to Sunday....Tim and Teresa have a crazy place filled with lots of cool stuff.  Not just taxidermy, but that is kind of the main attraction.  This is my second post devoted to their collection.  If you like taxidermy at all you'd be very impressed.


Teresa and Tim with one of their newest pieces, which takes center stage in their living room.

Teresa loves to make hats for the critters.

This picture does not do this piece justice - it was huge!

These bride and groom squirrels are the bomb.



Here we are at dinner, Thai Thai on Belmont.