a whole bunch of randomness

1. Eleanor is sporting her first tooth. It appeared a few days ago. I'm a lazy blogger. The drooling she has been doing for months, making us think teeth were immenent, continues unabated.

2. Aunt Flo returned the same day. Coincidence?

3. I might actually like beans. As previously blogged, I had progressed from loathing to mild dislike of beans. Last night I had the Beans and Greens at Pino's and I think I fell in love. Granted, everything is good if you put enough garlic on it, but this dish was lovely. I can't wait to go back and have it again. (The "Italian Fries" are also worth checking out. Pino's neighbor, Point Brugge, is known for their fries. These are tasty rivals. Must eat more of both to make a final decision.)

4. Pino's could turn out to be our favorite place. We put both kids in the double stroller and walked there last night. It's family friendly, nearby, and the food is great. I like Point Brugge a lot but it's a little more spendy and I'm slightly less inclined to take the kids. One negative on Pino's....the rather surly person who seated us noted that none of the straps on the high chairs work. She seemed to hope we would go away after hearing that news. Fortunately, our waitress liked the kids and did not seem the least bit bothered by them. There were three other tables with kids, all of them louder than mine.

5. Putting kids in the double stroller last night required hats and a blanket for Eleanor. It's fall and this pleases me beyond measure. Nothing makes me happier than a crisp fall day. It's all downhill from fall (winter is okay, spring is icky, and I really don't like summer) so I will enjoy it for as long as it lasts, which is never quite long enough. This year it took forever to arrive.

6. Fall is the time of pumpkins and such. I picked up a few when I went to lend a little moral support to Tara yesterday as she exhibited her amazing cards for the first time. The greenhouse had the cutest little mini pumpkins, no bigger than about 4 inches in diameter. Irresistible. We kind of ignored Halloween last year. It was raining and we closed on the new house that afternoon. This year, I'm really excited, more so than any other year in Pittsburgh. We have great neighbors with kids and will do the trick or treat thing as a group. We also expect to have a great crowd of kids showing up at our house. The only bad thing is that one of the adults goes with the kids and the other stays home to distribute the candy. I want to do both! With the official trick or treat hours of 5:30 - 7:30pm, perhaps we can switch roles at the halfway point.

7. More fall fun....planting bulbs! When I saw the neighborhood last spring I realized I have a lot of catching up to do in the tulip department. After a solid week of serious bonding with the White Flower Farm website, I bought a good assortment of pinks and whites, with a mix of early, middle, and late bloomers. Now I just have to get them into the ground in an optimal configuration. This is going to involve measuring and graph paper and pencils (and erasers!). The last time I did that, a few weeks ago when I planted the hosta bed in the backyard, I put the new plants in backwards. No, the roots were not pointing up, but I had four varieties, three plants each, and mapped out little triangle configurations for the planting. Then proceeded to put them in with the triangles pointing in the wrong direction. I dug them up and did it right a few hours later, but what a gardening moron I am. I probably should not be trusted with tulip bulbs, but the squirrels will probably eat half of them anyway.