the grill is out

yes, it was 6 degrees with wind chill today. but there was a breath of warmth earlier this week, and DH dared to break out the grill and try a new technique. best recipes recommended slicing the beef into 1.5 inch cubes and butterflying them, to maximize marination surface area yet enable even cooking when squeezed back into the cubes. good in theory, but my execution of equally sized cubes was poor. still, a lovely presentation and great veggies.

i love staycations. especially when it means i get meals cooked for me :)

leggo my legos

the first community college course that DH takes: "Intro to Lego Engineering." You sign up for it, they send you an awesome "mindstorm" lego kit with 1000+ pieces, and you login to a website to find your projects. It begins with a 90 page PDF file full of scientific theory to please the engineering-minded adult - starting from the Pythagorean Theorem and figuring out the smallest size cube you can make with legos, to the physics of building gear boxes, functioning steering wheels and engines.

the first project, since E was intrigued and interfering with actual progress otherwise, was a tractor trailer that DH invented.

the first course project was a chainsaw. turn the crank and the gears all move!

one of the next projects was a guy who pedals a bike across a "high wire" (i'll have you know that "high wire" is made from a scrap of the finest alpaca you've ever seen)

other projects included a gun turret, a "moth man," and a cool trike bike. E is intrigued - i'm not sure we're going to be able to return to duplos.