Clairi-splunking and Clairi-sprawl

Before we get to discussing Claire's new sports, I thought that I would share a nostalgic photo of her playing in the sink. It seems that there is a genetic affinity for the porcelain protection of the bathroom.



I remember my dad throwing out the question a few years ago: Why do kamikazi pilots wear helmets? Though I haven't found the answer to that question yet, I have found a kindred-kamikazi spirit in our family. Claire has taken to crawling toward the nearest precipice and going over the edge head-first, usually with Sam or me grabbing at her legs. We call it Clairi-splunking.


While we worry about Clairi-splunking and avoid leaving the little one alone on the bed or couch, we are all for Claire's other sport-of-interest: Clairi-sprawling. This sport does not get its name from the physical action of sprawling. Rather, it derives its meaning from the term "urban sprawl," which implies a sort of de-centering of something that used to be concentrated in one place. Clairi-sprawling has been documented over the last couple of days:

Stage one involved a heightened interest in areas of storage, such as the bookcase or diaper bag (as seen above).

Stage two began when Claire realized that books are actually removable. She really thought that was a neat idea.


Turns out that other things are removable as well.


Actually, just about anything can be taken out and strewn about the floor.


Stage three occurred when Claire's OCD kicked in and she decided that EVERYTHING must go. She is very thorough.

I, Chicken

In the last little while Sammy and I have been working out ways to be thrifty as well as eat really well. I mean "well" in a couple of ways. Well, in that the food is healthy and fresh, and well in that it tastes great.

Here is the tip of the week: Use your crock pot to save money on chicken.

I went to the thrift store a few months ago and bought a crock pot for $5.00, so I know that any and every family can afford one. Even if you buy one brand new, you shouldn't have to spend more than $30.00, usually $20.00.

So why would using a crock pot save you money on chicken? Well, its not like you can walk into the meat department, point at the crock pot in your cart, and then walk away with 20% off. Instead, cooking your chicken in the crock pot allows you to buy more meat with the bone-in, which usually means a bigger discount. For example, $1.89 per pound is a good sale price for boneless chicken breasts. Compare that with $0.99 per pound, which is a typical sale price when you buy a whole chicken or other bone-in cuts. A couple of weeks ago I even got some for $0.59 per pound (a whole chicken for $2.50--which fed us for almost a week).

The main reason that most of us despise bone-in meat is the time that it takes to cut the meat off the the bone. This is where the crock pot comes in: all you need to do is throw the chicken into the crock pot--skin and all--and the meat will fall off of the bones when it is done cooking.

My mom came up with the perfect crock pot recipe, which makes for yummy, inexpensive food. This is an amazingly simple and foolproof recipe (even my dad could do it).

Step 1: Put the chicken into the crockpot

Step 2: Pour in some salsa (one cup, two cups. It just depends on how strong you want the flavor to be)

Step 3: Put on the lid and turn the crock pot on (Put the crock pot on either "high" or "low" depending on how fast you want it to cook. "High" will cook in a couple of hours and "low" takes 4-6).

Once the chicken is done remember that it will be pretty hot. I use two forks to scrape all of the meat off of the meat, or you can just wait until it cools down.

Possible uses for Salsa Chicken: Super nachos, burritos, sandwiches, enchiladas, taco salad, breakfast burritos, tortilla soup, adobe chicken chowder (email me or leave a comment if you want the recipe), and any other southwest recipe that you can think of.

Plug Into the Sun

A special instruction section of the student newspaper at USU just published a "How To Make a Solar Phone Charger" recipe. I am going to try my hand at it in the near future. If successful, I will no longer need to plug my phone into the ole outlet to get charged. Here is the recipe:

Items Needed:

1 Altoids tin case
2 Mini solar panels (3V 20mA each)
1 Solder (3 inches)
1 Small heat shrink tubing (4 inches)
1 large heat shrink tubing (4 inches)
1 Roll double sided tape (3 inches)
1 Ounce Flux
1 Soldering iron
1 Heat gun
1 Wire stripper
1 Cell phone charger

Step 1:
Take the two solar power panels and cut all four wires to about 1 inch in length. Cut one-fourth inch of plastic off of the tip of each wire with the wire stripper so copper wires are exposed. This exposed wire is called a lead.
Cut the small heat shrink tubing into four equal pieces, 1 inch each. Slide the small heat shrink tubing onto both black wires.

Step 2:
Using a toothpick, paint leads with flux on a red wire from one solar panel and a black wire from the other solar panel. Put those two leads together and solder, using the piece of solder and the soldering iron.

Step 3:
Slide small heat shrink tubing over the leads that were just soldered together. Heat the tubing with heat gun just enough for it to shrink.

Step 4:
Cut off the wire from your old charger to about 2.5 feet and strip off 2.5 inches of outer plastic from the loose end. Cut one-fourth inch off of each of the inside wires to make leads. Slide the full length of the large heat shrink tubing onto this main wire for later use in Step 6.

Step 5:
On the main wire, slide a piece of small heat shrink tubing onto the red wire. Flux all loose leads of main wire as well as the solar panels with the toothpick. Solder red leads from main wire and solar panels together.
Repeat with black wires. Slide heat shrink tubings over these soldered leads and use heat gun to shrink.

Step 6:
Test the charger by connecting it to a phone with the solar panel under bright light.

Step 7:
On the main wire, slide large heat shrink tubing over the two soldered leads which connect to the solar panels. Use the heat gun to shrink the tubing.

Step 8:
On the back of the solar panels, cover the two brass rivets with double-sided tape, so they don't make contact with the Altoids tin. Tape the two solar panels on the inside lid of the tin. Tuck the main wire into the case and close. Plug end into a phone, place in the sun and charge.

Source: http://www.2pointhome.com

Exhibit A

I have discovered that Sundays are pretty good days to run baby experiments. Now, to be clear, I am not saying that Sundays are good for running experiments on babies. Those are best left for other days of the week, preferably during a leap year.

Today's experiment centers around an infants newly acquired ability to crawl.

Quesiton: What types of objects will entice an infant to crawl towards them?

Hypothesis: Babies like to meddle with and hopefully cause harm to any electronic device within range. Devices equipped with an lcd screen are especially susceptible to infant obsession. Also, interest in an object usually correlates to the amount of money required to replace that object.

Method: I won't give away any secrets, but I found a device that meets all of the above criteria. Using that object as bait, Claire was allowed free-crawl-reign to go wherever she wished.



Grandparents may take this as a warning that their homes are no longer safe against the roaming CJ.

Learning to Chase a Baby

January has been a month of learning here in Logan.


I have learned myself (with Claire's encouragement) how to type with one hand.
I have learned about Hemispheric and Transnational Studies.
Claire learned how to roll-tumble-fall-squirm her way around.

Stuffed animals learned to hide under the couch.
Huggies Corporation learned the limits of their diapers' capacity.
We learned what it means to have a three-onesie day.
Claire learned how much of her hand fits into her mouth.

Sam learned how to sleep and babysit at the same time.
Claire learned that she doesn't need a strap for yoga.

We learned how to dampen the noise when Claire gets fussy.

Sam learned not to leave her water bottle on the floor.
Sam learned not to leave books next to the water bottle on the floor.

Mike learned that his beard can make Claire laugh.
Mike learned that his beard can give Claire a rash.
Claire learned to eat rice cereal.
Sam learned that Logan is cold.
Claire learned how to coordinate.

Mike learned to tolerate squealing.

Merry Christmas Eve

We have been chilling at Sam's parent's house this last week. The American Society of Pediatrics says that children should not start watching TV until age two. But Sam and I want to start Claire off early. Claire's cheeks are chubby just like Sammy's were.

Sam is really pretty.

Claire actually wore her beany for the whole day! She usually manages to squirm out of it.

My two photogenic females.

Claire Bear

To protect Claire from the on-coming cold of Logan winters, Sam's mom got her this bear outfit. Its like a body-shaped blanket that has ears sewn on top.
If you look close at her leg then you can see where the real leg is and how the bear-leg bends straight up, as if her knee hinged the wrong way. Claire reminds me of the little brother in The Christmas Story who could barely move. If you look near the tongue area then you can see Claire sampling the fleece.
She must have liked it!

Claire's new favorite toy is a Pooh Bear rattle slashie mini blanket. This is an actual picture of actual events. Not a parent photo-shoot-setup (like the Claire Bear pics).

Sam cut her hair a bit shorter. Claire was getting a bit too good at grabbing chunks of hair and using them as leverage to sit up (I like to call her "Magneticlaire"). Sammy looks amazing.