I don’t often check my stats page, but I do always notice that I get a bunch of traffic due to posts on Ethiopian Idol and the date in Ethiopia. Here’s the official Ethiopian Idol site.
If you are one of these people, I have another blog in which I babble on about my son adopted from Ethiopia: Meet Dawit.
For the creepo who found my site through searching “smell little girls”…ewwww. Go away.
It’s nice when your birthday falls on a Sunday, it turns into more of a birthday weekend. Went out to dinner Friday with John, dinner and margaritas with friends Saturday night, and a day picking blueberries and hanging out with the family today. My mantel is covered with sweet birthday cards and some beautiful flowers from a neighbor.
Been doing lots of lazy, fun summertime stuff–kiddie pool, slip-n-slide, day trips to the Cape and Block Island, and lots of playdates.
Our town is great for picking up cast-offs on the curb…today we found an old oak barrel that will translate nicely into a planter on our deck:
Also started pressing flowers and collecting containers for some fall/winter craft projects. Never too early to start planning…
I’m sorting through some ideas about what to do with this blog. I’m going to clean house a bit and change the feel and theme. More to come.
New additions in the blogroll:
Colin McEnroe: To Wit
There are so many more. Someday, really, I’ll get organized.
I am still considering how I will work out the two-blog issue. I am certainly more dedicated to my family blog: Meet Dawit. I’m always feeling guilty about this neglected blog after putting several years into it. We’ll just see how that works out.
Here is an emotionally hard-to-read blog by the family of a woman with PPCM:
I am a lucky survivor of PPCM. I hope the same for this new mom.
Heart valve grown from stem cells.
Heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub, who led the team, said doctors could be using artificially grown heart components in transplants within three years.
His researchers at Harefield hospital managed to grow tissue that works in the same way as human heart valves.
Sir Magdi told the Guardian newspaper a whole heart could be produced from stem cells within 10 years.
This is so exciting!
These are by far my favorite SCD-compliant cookies. Pecan Shortbread cookies from Lucy’s Cookbook.
I made special pizza for Lily today, too.
I thought I had exhausted most possibilities for cooking on this diet, until I got Kendall Conrad’s new book. I even made tortillas!
Now, if only you could see my kitchen. The one that I do this endless cooking in. To start with, it’s ugly. Blue toile and stripes. And that old white linoleum that will never ever look clean again–it’s aged to a sickly yellow. Add to it the fact that it’s not very functional (when you open the dishwasher, you can’t reach the sink or onlycounter-space), and it can make for grumpy cooking.
I do have plans to try a couple of new recipes this week, though. And seeing my photo of the cookies makes me want more…
Lily’s valentines for her teachers. Inside are glass heart magnets she made.
Here are the butterfly valentines for her classmates:
She has remarkable patience for a 6-year old. And she’s crafty!
Lily had a whole bunch of marbles, and she decided to create her own container for them. She struggled with scissors, tape, cardboard, and glue to create a box-like structure with a base and cover before declaring “I need help! This keeps falling apart!”
Daddy comes to the rescue, bringing his capentry skills to the table. “OK, let’s see what we’ve got here. Show me your bottom.”
Lily backed up to him and dropped her pants.
(She still doesn’t understand why we laughed and laughed)
RDC 2007
Great show this year again…the program was upbeat and informative, very well done. It was a packed tent in Bryant Park, lots of famous people (I don’t recognize the celebrities who come to see the show, I only know they are famous because the crew of E! surrounds them in the front row). The women in the show I did recognize because their names were on the screen behind them. Lauren Hutton, Katharine McPhee, Kim Catrall, Mae Jamieson, Marlie Matlin, many more. Above is Miss Universe.
Also, there was no missing Laura Bush, there was a lot of hoopla and photo opps when she arrived. Lookie here! It’s me in the AP photo of Laura Bush attending the festivities! My big head is right behind the woman to the right of the first lady.
She was seated just a couple of seats in front of me. Her head is the one closest to the runway in this photo. I managed to resist the urge to tap her on the shoulder and question her spouse’s actions in any way.
I had a great seat, these (and above) are a couple of my photos:
After the show, I lunched with the real ladies in red, WomenHeart. We have some exciting plans going forward, and we are pleased with how the Red Dress Campaign is getting the word out.
Click here to see all the dresses and a video of the runway show.
gaiagal 
