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Showing posts from March, 2012

Gearing Up For Spring Crew

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This weekend starts the official race season for RIT crew. Last weekend Cam and his "four" raced in a scrimmage against the University of Rochester and won by, according to Cam, "less than a second." Here's the news release from RIT's website. They didn't exactly win by "less than a second," but still did really well. The kids were really pumped. On Saturday we head to RIT for a race against St. Lawrence University, and on Sunday they face off against Hobart. Since we're local I emailed the coach and asked if he would like us to bring bagels for the team. He was very appreciative so we're all set for bagels for 50 for Sunday that we will try to get there between 7 and 7:30am (you do the math: early morning bagel pickup before heading to Geneva, a 45 minute ride).  We're happy to help. I'm so glad that Cam is really enjoying crew. It's very exciting for the mother of a boy who was never an athlete to know that he is r

Random Thoughts for a Lazy Sunday Morning

Feeling compelled to write a blog update...not much exciting going on...here are some updates. You may find them exciting, you may find them mundane. I'm thinking "mundane"to "mildly interesting": We saw The Hunger Games yesterday and really liked it. I felt is was well cast but obviously not long enough to include all the details that would have made it a richer story. Also about yesterday: I spent just a 1/2 hour at home between the hours of  8:30 and 9:30pm. I don't like those kind of days. We are definitely in the "no nap zone" lately. Tonight the fifth season of Mad Men starts, which I am very much looking forward to. Some friends are coming over to watch the season premiere so as I head out to go shopping in a little while I want to think of some mid-sixties era snacks to make. Any suggestions? The amazing weather that graced us last weekend lasted through most of the week, and now we're back to more seasonable cool/cold and rainy

"Got Milk?" NO!

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Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies About a month ago we finally took Annalisse to a pediatric gastroenterologist for different issues she has been having - no need to go into it here at the risk of embarrassing a 16-year old...let's just say her condition caused awkward social situations and intestinal discomfort. After a couple of years of trying different ways to resolve her "issues" by using OTC medications and eliminating trigger foods from her diets, the specialist concluded that she is classically lactose intolerant . While we had half-heartedly limited dairy from her diet, it was time to get serious and really eliminate dairy from her diet. While not as difficult a condition to manage as, say, gluten intolerance, it's still a tricky one. Of course there are the obvious culprits: milk, cheese, butter. But lactose hides in a lot of stuff you wouldn't expect like bread, jarred spaghetti sauce, and salad dressing. So now I am becoming vigilant about rea

Early Spring Gift

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Although not technically spring until Tuesday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM SHIAO), we have been given the gift of very mild, warm weather, sunshine and a thunderstorm or two over the last week. Being consistent with our snow-free winter (which, as you may remember, makes me extremely suspicious that we may pay for it with a crappy, cold, rainy summer), this spring has been amazing and we were blessed with 70 degree temps and sun all weekend. On a mission. Fairport came alive! Neighbors were out doing yard work (Mark was definitely on a mission to clear out the beds before the bees get here), we went for lots of walks, we opened the screens to the windows, we broke out the shorts and t-shirts, and got out the porch furniture (more on that in a minute). A really cool thing about today was that we took a walk on the canal path and came across a HUGE snapping turtle. He was crusty with mid and looked like he had just emerged from an underground hiding place, and I have no idea where he was g

That's Showbiz

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This week Annalisse auditioned for this year's non-dancing, non-singing play, Harvey .  (Last weekend the singers and the dancers put on an the excellent show " Guys and Dolls "-  the kids in Fairport did such a great job!!). If you'll remember last year she had one of the leads (as Martha Brewer) in FHS's  Arsenic and Old Lace. This year, she had a pretty strong start with her monologue on Tuesday, but was very upset with what she considered a very bad callback audition today. We just checked online and she got the part of "Miss Johnson" in the play. On the one hand: Hurray! She got a part! On the other hand: It's a very small part indeed. So, needless to say, she's disappointed after her grand debut last year. It reminds me of the days she was chosen to be a "freakin' woodsperson" in Into the Woods , or a "locker talker" (one of the kids who stands around talking near the lockers in the background) in one of her

"May The Odds Ever Be In Your Favor!"

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It is with great impatience that we are anticipating the coming of "The Hunger Games" movie, which will be out next Friday (March 23). The Hunger Games trilogy was the best set of books I've read in a very long time - it's a story that really stays with you, and I still think of them often almost three months after finishing them. (Real or not real?) Ironically, when the book the first book in the triology ( The Hunger Games ) landed on the list as the January's selection for this season's bookclub, I was a little annoyed. In the past we've read apocalyptic, end-of-the-world, gloom-and-doom type gems, and I wasn't in the mood to spend my precious free time pushing through a story that would ultimately be littered with death and despair.  But, the day after Christmas I took the $25 Barnes & Noble gift card Mark had given me and headed out to buy January's selection. To my surprise and delight,  I was totally hooked from page one. The story

Prom Mom - Part II

"The dress has been secured and is hanging safely in the closet. I repeat: the dress has been secured..." Everyone can sleep better tonight; Annalisse found her prom dress. I did some pre-shopping at the mall last night and found two possible dresses that I though she would like, so we went there first thing this morning and she liked both, but liked the second of the two a little better than the first. With some great discounts at Lord &Taylor BUD DA BING! BUD DA BOOM! - we were out of there quickly. We did go to a couple other stores and tried a few dresses on just to be sure, but she came back to the original selection and is very happy with it. It's a little more sophisticated than what I would have preferred, but it's not too bad and it does look cute on her. Having inherited her mother's gift (curse?) of shortness, of course we need to get it altered and it will probably need quite a bit taken off the bottom. For now the dress is "under wraps.&

Prom Mom

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Things are whipping up in the Baker household as the search for a prom dress is kicking into high gear. Now, I must admit all this girly stuff is a little foreign to me, always having been a bit of a tomboy (and never having attended a prom myself). Let's just say Annalisse likes the bling. I have no idea where she gets it from. Plans to attend the prom are moving ahead despite the fact that there is no date (boy) in sight. That's okay, though. I'm glad she's planning to go with friends since it is such a rite of passage - says me, the girl who never went to the prom. Sometimes Annalisse is a real foreign creature to me! So, now she is spending time fretting about the elusive prom dress. They all seem so fancy and overwhelming, both in design (quite bejeweled) and size (miles of material and ruffles on a little 5' teenager). I just can't see her little frame in one of these gargantuan, big bosomed, guady, bright creations!! Not to mention the price. On S

By The Skin of His...

Whew...as a follow up to the last post Cam's last grade came in for the 2nd quarter and he got 1 A, 2 Bs and a C = 3.0. We're very happy with that. As far as we know he's in North Carolina. They left at midnight last night (before which, it turns out, he went skiing for the first time this year. I can picture it now; he probably wore shorts, no winter coat [just his North Face jacket] and no helmet [maybe he did wear a helmet, I don't know for sure]). Oh well, as I always tell everyone, it's a mother's job to worry. I hope he has a great time this week and bonds with his crew buddies!

Just Us Four

Tonight we're having a delicious dinner at home (Grandma Pat's Christmas gift of bacon-wrapped filet mignon and other good stuff) before taking Annalisse to work and Cam back to RIT to get ready for his long trip to North Carolina for a week of training for crew. They leave by bus at midnight tonight amid all the storms in in the Mid- and Southeast. Cam is between terms and I'm anxiously awaiting his grades for this quarter as he indicates school is very tough. We get the sense he's struggling a bit academically but, of course, he doesn't say much. So far, though, he has an "A" in his computer science course, but it's the biology and calculus that are were a real challenge. We'll see. Anyway, I'm taking a moment to enjoy a nice dinner with all at home before we scatter to the four winds again.