The Full Catastrophe » stuff we like

Strawberry Cream Cheese Insanity

Anna — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:50:46 +0000

I learned a lot about cake making with this baby. Only time will tell if I try a three layer cake again. I certainly will need a stand mixer if I do it again.

Our Kids Are Cute

Anna — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:04:32 +0000

Clever title, eh? Well, Laurel and Oscar are cute. So there!

Oscar’s drawing skills are coming together all of a sudden. He is for the first time thinking about what he wants to create, vs just scribbling. Here’s something he created at school last week.

He had his teacher copy down the following description of his piece: “This is a sea animal that lives in the sea. If you touch the brown things you will get poisoned and sick. And if you touch the black or red ones they will make more of the sea creatures.”

Oscar also enjoys creating books. Leave a comment with this post and I’ll send a random commenter a copy of his latest book “Super Flower and Attack of the Talking Apples” on Friday, March 27th.

Laurel is loving her weekly music class. I cut together some fun moments to share with you here:

Just for Fun

Anna — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:04:35 +0000

We borrowed a few episodes of The Muppet Show from the library. Don’t you love it when your kids enjoy the same stuff that you did back when you were little?

Five Down, 95 To Go

Anna — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:06:34 +0000

Thanks many of you for your warm reception to my 100th post. I’ve been tackling some of the easy stuff on my 100 things list. Since things are pretty quiet around here these days I thought I may as well give The Full Catastrophe an update:

15. Learn to cut my kids’ and husband’s hair – I trimmed Laurel’s bangs the other day

20. Figure out why people wear tshirts that say “College” – Thanks to Damon for giving me the lowdown on this phenomenon.

37. Buy only original art – I’ve purchased some pieces from Carrie’s illustration blog. You should, too!

63. Try a new restaurant once a month – We’ve hit up two places that are new to us this month. Sicilian Thing Pizza is great for quick cheap eats. The Studio Diner was surprisingly fresh & tasty for a diner. It is dangerously close to our gym, tempting us to undo all of our hard work with its fries and milkshakes.

74. Buy a rolling pin – Brian’s mom has promised to give me one of hers. Thanks, Vicki!

This blog seems naked without pictures of OJD & LTD, no? Let me fix that…
“No hair in my eyes!”

For my dad, here’s Oscar’s favorite part of his recent Saturdays.

Proud To Be An American Breakfast

Anna — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 16:29:27 +0000

Brian and Oscar ventured out this morning to bring back doughnuts. Such fine young men, right? Here’s my favorite buttermilk bar from Mary’s Donuts paired with a patriotic fruit salad. I love a good buttermilk bar for the contrast of the soft and tangy cake inside against the crunchy crust of super sweet glaze.

Brian got an apple fritter. Look at the size of this thing!

(Note from Brian: for any of you out there concerned about my health, I did NOT eat the entire thing)

My Keeping Quilt

Anna — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:17:47 +0000

A while back I wrote briefly about my family tree on this post along with a photo of Laurel wearing a babushka. Our friend, Lydia, left a comment on that post mentioning a children’s book called “The Keeping Quilt” that I finally read for the first time. It is indeed an amazing book that felt especially poignant to me. My mom’s mom had a stroke recently (and is recovering well, thankfully) and it is my mom’s mom’s family that has the Hungarian heritage. Moses Herschkovitz and his son Emmanuel were born in Hungary and lived in Vienna, Austria where Emmanuel served as a rabbi. They immigrated to the US in the late 1880’s and settled in Denver where they operated the city’s only Jewish bakery. Emmanuel’s son, David, was my great grandfather.

In “The Keeping Quilt” younger generations possess a family quilt which is incorporated in the weddings, births, and other significant moments in their family history. I don’t have any keepsakes from the Herschkovitz’s, but I am so glad that do have my mom & grandma. Here’s a picture of my own Keeping Quilt. made by my mom to celebrate my marriage to Brian.

Another Balboa Park Treasure

Anna — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:49:16 +0000

We are trying to spend our Friday afternoons doing fun stuff for the kids this summer. Last week we went to the beach and today we went to Balboa Park for the zoo and for a ride on the Miniature Railroad Train. It is a simple and sweet ride around some landscaped grounds of the park. We always wave to people walking by like we’re royalty or something. Towards the end of the ride the track takes the train through a tunnel, which both of the kids adore. It was Laurel’s first ride on the train today…I can’t tell you how many times Oscar has ridden.

In honor of our afternoon adventure, Laurel and I read “Carl’s Afternoon in the Park” before her bedtime just now. The illustrations are based on spots in Balboa Park and the story even includes a ride on the train. It is a very sweet book, even sweeter because of our love for Balboa Park.

Brian on Lifehacker

Anna — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:49:13 +0000

I was planning on blogging about yesterday’s good stuff* until Brian got himself posted on Lifehacker today! Earlier this week he submitted photos of his home office on Lifehacker’s “Featured Workspace” series and wouldn’t you know it, he’s been featured. More than 11,000 people have read this post already–he’s got his 15 minutes of fame we reckon! The shed-office is entirely his design and creation and he’s done a great job turning 120 square feet into a comfortable place to get work done. It is amazing to see his fellow webizens compliment his effort.

* Yesterday’s Good Stuff
1. I got a triple word score on a Scrabble bingo
2. Oscar decided that we was tired and went to his bed for a nap all by himself

Tearful Reunions

Anna — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:01:53 +0000

Last night Brian and I watched a bit of the PBS documentary “Carrier” about the people who worked on the naval aircraft carrier Nimitz during a deployment to the Persian Gulf. All of the people featured in their interviews are genuinely likable. The footage of life on the ship and its operations (esp. the jets) is compelling. I also enjoyed the soundtrack. So, obviously we recommend you check this out–I believe it is out on DVD. The episode that we watched was about these people reuniting with their families after several months apart and we just ate it up. The tears were flowing on the screen and on our sofa. The most emotional story for us was about the air traffic controller who was going through a divorce and her ex was trying to prevent her three kids from meeting the ship when it arrived in Hawaii. The producers really stretched out this drama with lots of scenes of her crying and Brian kept saying stuff like “They’ve gotta let her see her kids” and “If I ever see that a-hole dad I’m gonna punch him in the face” — yeah, Brian was threatening violence. Crazy, I know! Fortunately for everyone, the kids did get to see their mom in Hawaii and we were blubbering messes in our living room watching it all.

In San Diego we often encounter members of the military and their families and hear about the separations and moves and other hardships they endure for their involvement. It is such a sacrifice, especially for those who have kids (it is hard enough raising kids with two parents in the house all the time, I can’t imagine a long separation). Despite the fact that I am upset that our military is waging war in Iraq, I believe that our country needs the armed services and am grateful that so many are making these sacrifices for our country.

Here are some pictures of my favorite member of the military, Lieutenant Noelle Murphy of the US Navy. We were able to meet her after a long deployment she completed on the USS Howard back in 2004. I’m pregnant with Oscar in the second picture.

Picture Book

Brian — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:50:57 +0000

For Laurel’s birthday I had a picture book made of photos from her first year of life. I used a company called Blurb and was really happy with the result. They provide a cool program called BookSmart that makes it really easy to import pictures and author your book. You can then upload your book to Blurb and order either soft or hard cover versions of your creation.

As long as you purchase at least one copy of your book Blurb will allow you to sell copies of it to anyone who is interested. A couple of the grandma’s expressed interest in getting a copy of Laurel’s book — click on the link below to place an order. Use can also use the “Book Preview” link to download a PDF preview of the first few pages. Enjoy!

Laurel – Year One

By Brian DeHamer

Book Preview