DE - FENSE

Christmas was yesterday and it was very chill and pleasant. On Christmas Eve we went to Monster Park to check out the 49ers get beat by the Cardinals. Chris is actually a Cardinals fan and it was a little tricky being their fan in 49er Land. Those Niner fans are ANNOYING (can we say, Ghetto?)! This one guy behind us had no concept of consideration. He actually told, no, shouted at people to sit down if they were making their way to the stairs during a play. If I wasn't a passive aggressive person I would have told him to simmer down. Don't worry, we moved to a less verbally aggressive area. I just don't know why people feel the need to shout "DEFENSE", "OFFENSE", "BLOCK HIM, DUMMY!", when there are people hired to coach those millionaires running around on the field. My favorite moment with that problematic Niner's fan was when the main ref-guy had to check the monitor for a questionable play. The guy behind me went on and on about how it was a waste of time (mainly because it was a play against the success of the 49ers) and that the ref was a moron. I wanted so badly to turn around and say obnoxiously, "I love it because it builds anticipation." Chris and I silently high-fived each other every time the Cardinals scored or the ball was intercepted in their favor. Go Cardinals! Clearly, the better team won, but we would have been happy either way.

More Coffee at Christmas

Hello Everyone -
'Tis the season to think about Christ's birth and eat baked goods shaped like green Christmas trees. Right now I'm on break from grad school - time to blog! It's 1:30pm, I'm still in my PJ's and robe. You can say I'm in my own little domestic world right now. A world that does not really look at the time or worry about appearance. I just put on a second pot of coffee (I hope heaven's like this) and maybe I'll have the cat sit on my lap.
A few minutes ago I finished baking my homemade-from-scratch banana bread:

Christy's Banana Bread

Objective: To learn the sequence it takes to successfully bake bread from scratch.
To eat something banana-y.
Materials Needed: Listed ingredients, a large glass, plastic, or metal bowl for mixing, large spatula, oven set at 350 degrees F, oven Mitts, and a cup of coffee for encouragement.

Makes 1 loaf

Recipe:
2/3 over-ripe banana's (the spotted black ones you don't want to eat)
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder (carefully read the labels - there is a difference between soda and powder)
1/4 teaspoon salt (or just shake some in)
1 stick of butter melted (it's just easier melted)
1 1/2 tablespoon milk
*Optional: 1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix wet then dry ingredients. Mix until most of the lumps are gone. Pour into baking loaf pan. Bake for about 50 minutes.

So, while I prepared the bread I was listening to two of my favorite CD's right now:
"Rocking the Suburbs" by Ben Folds (shout out to Jenna for burning me a copy yesterday while we had our knitting party where I learned how to knit around with circular needles!).
AND our (the Chris's) newest musical flavor: Theivery Corp. Super awesome, jazzy CD. A little cheesy at first, but after you make yourself listen to the whole thing, then you'll see why we think it's pretty dope.

Are You My Mother?

Maybe I have lost control of some of my basic characteristics since I have been a full time student or something. I have not been thinking critically about things and doing slap 'n' dash jobs of others. Case in point: My moldy toothbrush. How does one toothbrush get moldy? I clean the handle twice a day after I use the utensil. The mold not only lives in the toothbrush holder now, but in the crevices of the rubber handle. I just noticed this new feature a few days ago when it must have been developing for at least a week. How did that happen? Or more so, how did I let this happen? Well, I thought leaving my ritualistically device out in the open would air it out, but I guess mold is more prevalent in SF and this proves it. Instead of dipping the brush in some antiseptic, I opt for simply buying a new one. A new one that will most likely get moldy in my damp SF apartment as well.
Another situation made me wonder where my thought process has been lately. Chris and I were are Barnes & Noble and I was wandering around the book shelves a little drunk. We spend a good half hour picking out what we wanted; for myself a historical book on Marie Antoinette and Running with Scissors. Chris was saving his money for another time. When we reached the register I made my purchase, which went well eventhough my capabilities were a touch compromised. I noticed there where books with specially made tags. One had "BOY, AGE 5," another "GIRL, AGE 7" and so on. Putting two and two together my mind figured out that there might be a charity activity going on. I questioned the very patient young clerk about the books and indeed he said that these books could be bought and then they were put aside to be taken to orphans in local orphanages. Awesome, I thought, and I asked Chris if we could splurge on a book and he agreed. So I leapt at the chance to buy one of the books for a boy of five years. Are You My Mother? was a favorite of mine growing up, but I did not realize my ironic mistake until Chris and I were driving home. A young boy will be crying himself to sleep on Christmas because of my lack of forethought. Thinking optimistically, maybe he won't and he will love the book and cherish it as his caretakers will look on, shaking their heads disapprovingly. How could they give and orphan a book entitled, Are You My Mother? -a book about a baby bird who temporarily loses his mother, but then happily is reunited with her once again. Well, maybe one day that young boy will find his mother or a mother, who knows.
--- Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Christmas shopping!

de Young or Grad Ditch Day

Hello and welcome to Chris to the second power! I thought I would share my adventure with you. My friend Beth was driving to the City for a fieldtrip with her Spanish club students. So I emailed my professor to see if I could ditch out on class Wednesday and tag along. :) It was very fun. And, yes, indeed I'm in school again (fun and torture at the same time) getting two credentials. One in Special Ed and the other is a regular multiple subject.
So, we all went to the Chicano Exhibit at the de Young Museum. Very interesting. You have to go if you can. It was funny - Most of the paintings were from Cheech Marin's private collection. But the thing was these pieces are HUGE. He must have a big living room or something. Another cool thing was that these students spoke Spanish so I got some pracitce. We also took the Muni into Union Square and did a little shopping - that was fun hanging out with Beth. Oh, her husband came, too! Luke! The two pictures are of Beth and I and Chris next to the Naked Roman Soldier. Chris also took a pic of the soldiers "peepee," but I thought that would be a little much to post. Maybe he'll post it many ways. :)

Smally's Second Life

Here is the great and fearless (or stupid) kitty cat, Smalls.

Today she stayed out all day and didn't come in to eat.

We were worried and thought that it wasn't like Smally not to want some treats.

By the end of the day we called for her and walked around that block looking.

We even made LOST CAT posters and printed them out.

Just then, Mr. Chris thought to hop the fence and look in the abanboned house next door.

Sure enough, she came limping out and didn't even want to be held.

At least she's safe at home now and resting up, Poor Kitty.

My Raccoon Visitor

Here is our friendly nieghborhood raccoon at my side window (that, as you see, looks out to a fence about 10 inches away).

It was a Tuesday night and I was with my Stitch 'N Bitch friends in the living room when I heard some scratching at the back door. Smally was outside, so I thought it was her wanting to get inside, but there was no little cat waiting. Again I heard the scratching and flicked the lights on and saw Mr. Raccoon staring at me in the window.
I have never seen a raccoon that up close before and touched the window with my fingers. He placed his little raccoon hand on mine - too cute!

Merry Christmas

Christmas is not far off...

Enduring the CSET

First of all, test taking requires skill and I do not think it is the best way to assess one’s academic ability and knowledge, let alone their professional demeanor. I want to be an elementary school teacher. I feel I am smart enough (hello, I have a college degree – those do not grow on trees!), I also have the intuition and patience it takes to commandeer mass amounts of students at one time. From talking to different people, that is not innate to most adult, college educated individuals. Most people find other people’s kids annoying and would rather lose an arm then be stuck with 30 of them for 6 hours a day.
So why take these review tests? I mean, you should have had a grasp of general education when you graduated high school. Not only do I want to teach, and have to take the tests, (the CBEST as well!) I have to pay fees for each of them! What craziness! My family already paid my tuition and I graduated with honors – wasn’t that enough? The CSET cost over $200! It’s like I’m paying to be tortured by snobby Academics. Someone is making money off the fact that California needs teachers and taking it from poor grad-school hopefuls, like myself.
Okay – enough of being on my prissy soap box. This morning started at 6am. I made sure to have eggs and coffee and a shower. I was out the door with plenty of time to get to SFSU dressed in the recommended layers and soft-soled shoes. I go by SFSU’s exit on the 280 south everyday on my commute to work, but today I chose to follow NES’s driving directions. BAD IDEA! So I stayed on the 101 south and never found the 19 Avenue Exit and ended up in Burlingame! I was beyond mortified. I needed to be there at 7:30am on the dot. So I get off at one exit and could not find the 280 north only the 280 south. On the freeway still going south and agitated I call Chris, who wakes up to talk to me, now in tears. The next exit leads me to magically find North and I get to the campus right at 7:30! So I am running to the parking ticket machine to pay for my spot and one machine spits out my fiver, but, thank the LORD, the other machine takes it just fine.
Off to the races – now I am running around SFSU trying to find the HH building on my printed out map. When I get there there is no evidence of the CSET taking place. Looking at my test ticket thingy I totally misread the building and now running for building HSS.
Praise God, they let me in and I think the only people annoyed was everyone taking the test. I am usually one of those organized early birds looking down on the late, messed up life, kind of people. J Today I was a messed up person, but I got there and took the test!
The test in and of itself was complete “bollocks” (or “waste of time” for children under the age of 18 – my husband is polluting my vocabulary with British swear words!). I think I understood most of the questions. But the last written answer on Subtest II totally threw me and I thought the chart was not clearly marked. At first I wrote the NES test correctors a piece of my angered mind as my answer! And then after I calmed down while taking Subtest III, I had plenty of time to go back, erase my original “answear” and give the problem a shot. I hope they give credit for intelligent almost-the-right answers because I had forgotten the formula for probability. Bummer. But I was glad I could erase my previous written tirade about their ridiculous test and give it an intelligent try
Man, I hope the five hours of headache inducing test taking gains me a career in teaching other people’s kids.

Sun in the City

Hello Everyone! Happy spring time - I thought it would never get here. The spring brought many events, such as the fact that I got my butt in gear and applied to SFSU's Graduate school. I hope to get my multiple subject/special education teaching credentials together in one program! I get excited just writing about. We have decided to stay in San Francisco at the apartment we first rented. Chris still does not like that place too much - too many moths.
Also, Grandma Boots suffered a large stroke in her left frontal lobe and is now temporarily in a healthcare facility. Plans are in the works to find her a more familiar home to receive 24 hour care - maybe even in Mom's house!
May 6th was my birthday and we had a little party in Grandma's room and I think my favorite part was watching Grandma sing "Happy Birthday" to me! You have to understand that her speaking ability has greatly diminished even before this stroke. She cannot put whole sentences together and she was able to sing that whole song. This picture was taken this last Thanksgiving hosted in her Carmel home. We love you Gramma!
What does 26 supposed to feel like - well a lot like 25, I guess. No big thang except it is "my" day for a day. Chris did very well at spoiling me and I went out with Mom and Mike as well.
Talking about "birth" days - Lara had her baby, yay! Little baby Harper is doing just fine and was born weighing 8lbs. 4ozs. Visit their website for some awesome pics and videos!

Big Brudda

I'm sorry, but I cannot take credit for the title because it comes from homestarrunner.com and the Strongbad email about "Lil' Brudda." Let me know if you find the exact email that it's on.
About "brudda's" - I have one and he's pretty cool, so before I forget again or life gets in the way; here is his personal blog. Mike is the best ol' brudda around! He is an animator and a pretty good one. Here is his production blog for Time and Time Again, his latest and greatest project! Yay!

Mike is cool and Mike is great
When dinner is made he's never late
He likes his latte's and his capachinos, too
When it comes to makin' coffee's he ain't be no FOO!
Love you Micheal!

Isn't Work Fun?

Hello Everyone! Here is Mr. Chris hard at work. I (Christy) have this week off and it has been less than fun. My car's in the shop again (play those violins darn-it!), and I have this funky flu thing, but other than that I'm just bored. I know it's childish to be bored, but I can't do a whole lot without tranportation and living in the suburbs.
On to other positive things: Chris wears goggles - can you see the lines on his face in this picture?
Also, I have a few favorite things to share. Number #1 is Cute Overload. A blog devoted to all things adorable. This has been recommended to me by Brother Mike. And even guy approved. I stick to showing Mr. Chris the pictures of the cats and kittens exclusively.
For your laugh-out-loud reading enjoyment I highly recommend David Sedaris' many memoirs. My favorite so far is Me Talk Pretty One Day.
For those SNL fans or just people who like funny music, please check this rap link out - The Chronic (What?) cles of Narnia!
About our Christmas trip to Cambridge - it rocked. We had a shopping day in London, and adventure in Wales (Did you know they have this crazy language? It was like visiting another country with all their signs in another language.) We also got some good Mum time in and some relaxation. On Christmas day we sent some time with the family and played hours of video games with the nieces and nephews (I wanted to type cousins because all my cousins are their age.).

A new Malone family member!

We're very happy to announce that there is finally going to be a new member of the Malone family! Drumroll... It's Smally! Christy very bravely asked our neighbours if we could adopt their cat and they agreed!