Liam's one still moment today

Doesn't he look like such a little man?

Not funny

The Spleeness and I were at a "government and virtual worlds" conference on Thursday and Friday last week. I'll spare you the details, but I will say that most government agencies are struggling to figure out how they might make use of social media and technology, much less virtual worlds. We have a ways to go.

The conference was held at the National Defense University, and the military was heavily represented. It gave me a certain amount of insight into military culture. For example, this USAF guy (photo by Spleen) started his talk about a "future learning ecosystem" with a nonsequitor joke:

There's some argument about who is man's best friend. But I think it's pretty clear-cut. You take your dog and you take your wife, and you take them out into the garage and lock them in the trunk of your car. When you come back in an hour, who's glad to see you?

Another friend at the conference thought he was just uncomfortable with public speaking and told a dumb joke, one that the predominantly male crowd thought was at least funny enough to laugh politely at. Whatever the reason, I stopped listening to what he had to say and assumed he was clearly too old and obtuse to offer anything useful.

Asshole.

Sick day: Round 2 with Teh Barfs

Advertising win

This weekend I took the kids to fly kites near the lake at Buddy Attick park. It was a gorgeous day, and the kids had a blast running around and trying to get their kites up in the air, at least until a rabid tree attacked and ate Thea's kite. I had planned for this, though, by buying a 2-pack of kites before we went to the park. Or so I thought. Here's the package with the kites:

One full-sized kite, and one of these:

Huh. Well alright then.

At the roller derby: Scare Force One vs. The Cherry Blossom Bombshells

My husband and I got a rare date alone, together, without the kids (!!), on Saturday. We took in the DC Rollergirls and had a blast. Next bout is May 9th, and I think I'm going to take the kids. 

How to roast a leg of lamb perfectly

I generally have trouble cooking meats. It may be because I was a vegetarian for 15 years, right up until I got pregnant with my daughter and had wicked morning sickness that seemed to abate after a turkey sandwich one day. I still try to limit my meat consumption for a variety of reasons, but the Greek in me wants lamb for Easter. Here is my mother's recipe for a perfectly roasted leg of lamb:

Ingredients:
leg of lamb
10-15 cloves of garlic
rosemary sprigs, fresh if possible
anchovies
lemon or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
   
2. Trim about half the fat off the leg of lamb. You want some on, but not as much as usually gets left on it.
3. With a sharp paring knife, poke about 20 holes evenly throughout the meat. Stuff the holes with slivers of garlic, rosemary, and anchovies. [Anchovies aren't part of my mother's recipe, but I saw it on a cooking show the other day and wanted to make a note to try it. The last time I made lamb, I forgot this step entirely. The lamb was still good, but definitely not as good.]
4. Rub the meat down with lemon juice [which I never have on-hand, so I used red wine vinegar], then with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
5. Put the lamb in a roasting pan, preferably on a rack.
   
   Here's where the recipe gets a little tricky.
   
   
6. When you smell the lamb roasting, turn the oven down.
   * If it has been 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 325 degrees.
   * If it has been 20 minutes, turn the oven down to 350 degrees.
   This is because oven temperature tends to vary, and it's hard to say by how much.
   
7. Roast the lamb for another hour and 15 minutes, or until the meat is pulling away from the bone.
8. Let it rest for at least a half hour before carving.
   

IMPORTANT: It might not look done when you take it out of the oven. If the meat is pulling away from the bone, take it out, anyway. Don't overcook the meat. It should be well done in places but still fairly rare in others. This animal gave its sad, short life for your dinner. DO NOT RUIN IT BY OVERCOOKING.

What's Easter without a giant bunny?

After a year's hiatus, the Easter Bunny made a return appearance to our annual egg hunt.

Like two years ago, Aaron is in the suit.



His glasses fogged up and he was essentially blinded. I led him out the back door, around the house to the front yard, so the kids wouldn't know where he came from. My friend Mike (who, by the way, writes great movie reviews on his blog) took the pictures, and I love this one, because it looks a little like I'm about to be mugged by a furry.



Some kids, like Thea, kept their distance.



You can't blame them. Aaron is over 6 feet tall, and the bunny ears make him a giant.



But after a while, most of the kids warmed up to him.



Liam wanted to show him everything in his basket.



After Aaron went inside and took off the costume, I got a glimpse of his face. He looked haunted. What a good sport!

If you're going down the rabbit hole, it helps to have some cupcakes. Don, Susan, and I made them the night before, and got maybe a little too into making them.



The easter eggs on green frosting-grass are half a small donut, covered in icing and flower sprinkles. They didn't quite turn out like I had hoped, but they gave me ideas for next year.

Please forgive the graphic nature of this post

Liam has thrown up seven times today since 3 a.m. Thea woke up around 4:30 a.m., so I kept her home as well, though mostly because Todd was too exhausted to get her ready for school before his class. (And on a test day! Ugh.)

I made her promise to help, not hinder, my efforts to care for her brother. So far, she's been great. For example, here's the picture she just drew of him barfing:

Getting ready to work in the garden