Jeff's brother, Scott, visited us a week later. We had a great time showing him around our new hometown, and the kids adore him. We used his visit as an excuse to check out a Pasadena gastropub that I've had my eye on. It's the first time I've ever had a "beer flight," but definitely not the last. Did I mention that Jeff and I are going across the pond in a few months? We're going to visit our expat friends, Lor & Audrey, in London and meet the child they've created. We're also going to use this opportunity to spend a few days in Dublin. I'm not sure what Jeff wants to do in there, but my reason for going can be summed up in one word: Guinness.
Back when we made an offer on this house, I noticed that the next door neighbor had a decal on her car for Oh My Bakery. "Sweet! The next door neighbor is a pastry chef," I thought. Up to this point, she's been a one-woman show. However, she just landed a big gig with Disney studios, who wants her to make vegan desserts for their commissary. I'm over the moon that she's asked me to help her out, and I'm having a great time geeking out on food science and helping her develop some yummy vegan recipes.
Big changes are in store for Levi. Glendale Unified just completed his assessment for special ed services. Up to this point, they simply carried over the same speech and occupational therapy services that he qualified for in San Carlos. However, I requested a new assessment when they started pushing me to register him for Kindergarten next fall when I honestly don't feel he's ready. It turns out I should have requested this assessment a long time ago. Although they're not qualified to make a formal diagnosis, they feel that Levi's "autistic-like" behavior qualifies him for their special ed preschool. He'll start there after spring break in a couple weeks, and then we'll revisit his Kindergarten readiness at the end of the school year in mid-June. In the meantime, I'm trying to get an appointment with the regional center to follow up on the autism thing. The possibility of Levi being autistic doesn't necessarily scare me, but if they're going to apply that label to him I want it to be an accurate one. What makes me most nervous is the state budget and whether there's sufficient funding for the special ed that Levi needs.
The latest saga is that we've all been hit with the latest round of flu/cold/whatever since last Wednesday. Levi appears to be on the road to recovery, but Ruby's still snotty and cranky and feverish. In fact, I got this photo of her because she said, "I want you to take a picture of my snotty face and big heart shirt."
Here's a Roo photo. He's really enjoying the haircut.
Finally, the reason for this post's title. Last weekend, I joined some friends and co-workers of Jeff's to slaughter a pig, of all things. We went to a place called TLC Ranch (yep, as in Tastes Like Chicken) that organically raises pigs and chicken. I've been a carnivore my entire life, and my meat of choice is pork (bacon, to be more exact). I figured that if I couldn't stomach the pig slaughter, then I had no business putting it in my mouth. Now that there's been some time for things to sink in, I'm really glad I did it. I'm not eager to kill and butcher a pig again anytime soon, but now I truly appreciate where my meat comes from. I'm definitely going to feed my family less meat from now on, if only because I'm committed to buying meat that's been sustainably raised and humanely processed. Feedlots are evil. Bad for the earth, bad for the animals, and bad for the humans that eat those animals. Here's a picture of our unsuspecting 7-month old pig. He was kind of cute, but apparently he was no good for breeding because he didn't have "smooth testicles." Life is cruel when you're not at the top of the food chain, ain't it?
