Board Certified Specialist

I did it! I managed to pass my board certification in gerontological nutrition. I will now be RD, CSG. I have more respect for parents who go back to school after children. I found it really hard to make time to study. A board certification completes all of my continuing education for 5 years. Yippee!

First Day of Spring

Happy first day of spring, although it does not seem like it with all this rain. Today also happens to be the holiday of Purim. Every Purim I make hamantaschen which are one of my favorite cookies. I always make poppy seed-raisin filling and this year I tried fig filling too, both were great.

Our Trip to the LA Zoo

I took Jacob to the LA Zoo on February 21st since it was a school holiday. I just didn't expect that half of LA would have the same idea.

I let Jacob be in charge and decide where he wanted to go, so we headed off for the giraffes first. Of course they had to be the farthest exhibit from the entrance.

This black bear looks more like a rug than an animal.

Jacob said his favorite animal was the rhinoceros, even without the horn. We talked about why his horn was gone but he knew already from Bindi the Jungle Girl.

I don't even remember what animal this was but it looks interesting.

The new elephant exhibit was one of the reasons that we went. The elephants were shy or something because we didn't see them much. I kind of understand why PETA was upset with the captivity of elephants it does seem small for 4 grown elephants.

Jacob would not consent to pictures on this trip but he agreed to take mine.

I didn't even remember that the zoo had an aviary but we saw some great birds.

Who doesn't love a flamingo.

The zebras were my favorites and they were pretty active too. I hope you enjoyed seeing our little trip to the zoo.

Happy Valentine's Day

Today was filled with sweet surprises. Jacob won citizen of the week for his class and of course I did not have a camera.

Dad sent all the girls roses this year. How sweet, thanks Dad!

Cookies for the school bake sale.

Cran-Orange Streusel Muffins from Taste of Home magazine. Thanks Debra.


Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake from Cooking Light.

We celebrated our Valentine's Day on Sunday in which I baked all these goodies and we made a fancy meal. Life is good. Hope you all had wonderful day.

The Ant Farm

Jacob received this Uncle Milton ant farm for his birthday and I finally had the courage to order the ants. I thought I was going to receive ant eggs or something but a tube of angry ants in an envelope arrived on Friday.

What we have here are Western Harvester worker ants also know as bearded ants.

The tube of ants came with a caution to "never handle or touch ants directly as they bite or sting to defend themselves". As soon as Jacob heard this he did not want anything to do with the project. But luckily additional instructions said to refrigerate the ants for 15 minutes to "calm them down". We successfully got the ants into the habitat without any trouble. Additional reading revealed that my ants would be very hungry and thirsty and I should drop a little food and water into the habitat. You mean I have to feed these things! Considering what I usually do to an ant, feeding and watering it is not on the top of my list. Luckily Jacob has volunteered for this job.

Construction Final

This is a picture of the plastic room that the crew built to keep all the dust out while they put in our new sliding glass door. It was very successful.

Before shots.

Our new sliding glass door that slides like butter. We are enjoying all the extra light.

The painted block wall and patio furniture moved in. We are still deciding on whether to buy new or keep our existing set.

Now we need to do landscaping, ah the fun continues. At least we got our project finished before summer.

My Little Musician

Jacob is currently taking a keyboarding class after school on Thursdays. We are hoping that at least one of our pianos gets some use. Will keep you posted on his progress.