So here's what happened. Again.

Last time I wrote a post, I was living in Rhode Island. Since then, I have relocated to the Seattle area, along with my hubby & kids. As you may recall, we moved to Providence, RI in May of 2011, which was not so very long ago.

Two cross-country moves in fourteen months? Yes.

We moved to Providence because my hubby, Sam, who is a video game engineer, accepted a job with former up-and-coming MMO developer 38 Studios. It was a great opportunity for him to work on a project that, while maybe not groundbreaking in the genre, would have taken existing MMO conventions to new heights of gameplay and aesthetics. And it was a great opportunity for both of us to meet some really amazing people who we are going to be friends with for the rest of our lives. If nothing else, moving to Providence was worth it just for that.

Fast-forward to May 15th, 2012...one day before Sam's one year anniversary of joining the company. 38 Studios failed to make payroll and a few days later it came to light that the company had also defaulted on a loan payment to the RIEDC. A lot of drama and heartbreak and political mudslinging ensued, which has been reported on extensively, so I am not going to rehash all the details. Gamasutra did a good job of covering the drama from the employees' perspective, and you can read about it for yourself here if you are curious.

On June 15th, Sam was in California finishing his second week of interviews with game studios up and down the West Coast and I was home in Providence trying to get our house ready to put on the market, trying to find a way to cope with leaving the friends I had made over the previous year, and doing a horrible job at both.

On July 15th we had brunch with our best friends, said good-bye and then boarded a one-way flight to Seattle. We're now camping out at Sam's parents' house until our stuff gets delivered to our new place in Kirkland next week. The following week Sam will start his new job at Valve, and the kids and I will start the long and exhausting process of unpacking, settling in and making friends. Again.

Going from the first inkling that something was wrong to having picked up and fully relocated ourselves to the complete opposite end of the country in just two months is a lot to deal with. I wish I could get excited about being here, and I'm sure I will in a few more weeks, but for now my head is still spinning and my heart is still aching. Our best friend couple from 38 Studios are moving to Warsaw in September, which will put them very close to the opposite side of the planet and the opposite end of the day from us. My other best friend from Providence has lived there all her life and has no reason to go anywhere else, since she and her husband aren't connected with 38 Studios at all. We have a number of other dear friends among the ex-38 crowd who are also staying in Rhode Island or moving to the Boston area. We're also leaving behind some of our favorite cousins in northern New Jersey, who we were really happy to have reconnected with over the last year. The silver lining, of course, is that we now have a whole bunch of people to go visit in that corner of the country, but that doesn't begin to make up for the fact that we won't get to see any of them more than once a year for the foreseeable future.

Don't get me wrong, Seattle has a lot going for it: my in-laws are here, which is wonderful for many reasons, and our proximity to them means we will see more of the siblings and cousins who come visit regularly. My brother and his wife live in the area, which means we will see a lot more of them and we will also see more of my dad, who will be able to come for more frequent and longer visits. My best friends from college (who introduced me to Sam, incidentally) live in north Idaho, so we will be able to see a lot more of them than we have for the last few years. I have another good friend from college who visits the area several times a year and a friend from high school who now lives & teaches here. There are a number of ex-38ers moving to the area, some of whom we are pretty good friends with. And we are that much closer to all the people we miss in California, whom we will get to see a little more frequently now.

I'll post an update about how awesome everything is here once the dust settles and we get unpacked and organized. Meanwhile, to my friends and loved ones in New England, California, and all the far-flung corners of the world: know that I am thinking of you and wishing you were all closer.

Fan Fiction

The following is a Harry Potter fan fiction piece that my kids wrote together. Thing Two (a.k.a. Stella, age 4) dictated the text, Thing One (a.k.a. Mirah, age 8) wrote it down, and they both collaborated on the illustrations. I have no words for how awesome I think it is, but I'm their mom so of course I love it. Without further ado, for your amusement and edification, I present you with "Stella the Auror."

The End!

Almost...

There's also the teaser page that Thing One drew for the back cover:

Popsicles...they're not just for breakfast anymore.

My kids are on a popsicle kick. They love popsicles right now more than any other edible thing on the planet. It's the middle of February and, as I'm typing this, they are sitting at the table shivering, mouths covered in popsicle residue and chanting, "more pops! More Pops!! MORE!!! POPS!!!"

For those of you who don't know me that well, I should explain that I am kind of a nutrition nut. I had a terrible relationship with food as a kid and as a result my health (both physical and mental) was not all that it should have been when I was younger. And here I am giving my kids popsicles for breakfast?!

You betcha!

I should also mention that my kids are extremely picky eaters. I have been beating my head against the wall for six years trying to get my oldest to eat her veggies. Well, it turns out my kids will eat almost ANYTHING as long as it's in popsicle form. The shape, temperature and texture are what counts, as far as they are concerned.

So here's what I do:

1) Get some sturdy reusable popsicle molds - I think the ones we have in the freezer right now came from Ikea, but you can find them lots of places. Do a web search for 'freezer pop mold' or 'popsicle mold' and you will find lots of information. If you can't find actual popsicle-shaped molds in the stores, ice-cube trays will work too.

2) Hit the local farmers' market - fresh, local, in-season fruits and veggies make the best-tasting popsicles. You can also find a wider variety of things at the farmers' market than you can at the supermarket, at least in Southern California. If you live somewhere with cold winters that limit the availability of fresh produce, you should be able to find packages of organic frozen berries, squash, carrots and the like at your local supermarket. And don't be afraid to experiment with things that don't sound popsicly...my kids love roasted pumpkin and butternut pops with cinnamon & ginger blended in, and they've unwittingly eaten greens, carrots, sweet potato and lots of other veggies blended in with apple or berry pops.

3) Round up some other ingredients - my kids like their popsicles creamy so I usually add yoghurt, peanut butter or sunflower seed butter to our popsicles for extra texture and protein. Other things you could add include cottage cheese, cream cheese, almond/cashew/macadamia/other nut butter, kefir, tofu or just about any other creamy, proteiny thing you want. Or feel free to skip that stuff if creamy pops don't appeal to you.

I don't add refined sugar to my pops because I prefer not to have to scrape my kids off the ceiling after they finish eating, but if I think a particular mix of ingredients would benefit from being a little sweeter I will add a squirt of agave nectar, which has a substantially lower glycemic index than sugar and therefore doesn't amp my kids up as much. You can also add supplements like flax meal, flax/borage/cod liver/other omega-rich oil, wheat germ, wheat grass and other stuff that you might want in your kids' (or your own!) diet but aren't that appetizing in their raw forms.

4) Get out the blender - mix all your ingredients thoroughly. If your mix is too thick, add a splash of milk, apple juice or other liquid to help soften it up. As a side note, my kids always like their pops better with a banana mixed in, regardless of what the other ingredients are.

5) Pour the mix into the pop molds - follow the directions on the packaging if you're using a set of molds designed for popsicles; if you're using ice-cube trays, just pour it into the compartments, wrap freezer-safe plastic wrap or aluminum foil over the top and insert toothpicks or wooden popsicle sticks through it. The wrap supports the sticks/toothpicks while the mix is freezing.

6) Pop them in your freezer and let them freeze for at least 4 hours, then...

Presto! Healthy frozen treats for everyone! For breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or snacks!

Oh, and if your kids are impatient and don't want to wait for their popsicles to freeze, you can always pour the mix in a glass, pop in a straw and call it a shake.

Priorities

Before I had kids, and occasionally in between having kids, I studied, performed and taught Raqs as-Sharqi...a.k.a. bellydance. It's a lot of fun and a great workout. In fact, it's really the only athletic pursuit I've ever stuck with for any length of time. Over the years it has also led me to explore a lot of other interesting things like henna art, drumming and two semesters of Arabic language study. Performing at restaurants, private parties, wedding receptions and other venues has given me the opportunity to work with and get to know the local Middle Eastern communities, which has been a great cultural education and further solidified my long-held conviction that under the thin outer layer of local custom and cultural protocol, people are all pretty much the same everywhere.

Anyway, I'm posting about this today to motivate myself to get my bootie out of the house so I can go shake it at dance class this afternoon. My friend Tina Enheduanna teaches in Laguna Hills on Sunday afternoons and one of my New Year's resolutions was to go take her class as often as possible. I was originally picturing "as often as possible" meaning every week. So far I've made it to three classes since 2010 began, which averages out to about every other week, which is still pretty good. I'd like to work my way up to every week but things keep coming up, like my house needing to be cleaned, being exhausted, some or all of my household being under the weather, events we want to take the kids to at the same time, etc., etc.

Once upon a time, I would have made it to dance class, troupe rehearsal or the dance workshop of the week come hell or high water. Most of my social circle was connected to the local dance community. Now my ability & willingness to go to class is conditional on not being needed at home, and I have lost touch with a lot of the lovely ladies with whom I used to dance. I miss them. A lot. And I miss dancing. And being in shape.

I know (or at least I hope) every parent goes through the same radical shift in perspective when their kids are born, but it still amazes me how complete the change in priorities can be. Being completely depended on by someone else for survival, it's easy to shove everything else to the back burner. As a species, we're adapted (or designed, if you prefer) to do this when necessary. Obviously it has worked out really well for us, seeing as we are the dominant species on the planet and everything. Fortunately, we're also a highly social species, which means that mommies don't have to do EVERYTHING for EVERYBODY ALL the time because other people can help. And it also means we need friends, like the ones I'm going to hang out with this afternoon at dance class.

So I guess my priorities for today are clear.

BTW, if you are in the South OC and are interested in bellydance classes, Tina is awesome. Check out her website. For those of you in the Costa Mesa/Newport area, check out Lilla Varese, another good friend and excellent dance teacher.