What A Card

2011 Book List

2012-01-01T16:44:00.003-05:00

While I was a little better than last year, I wasn't super committed to keeping a list of the books I read. I'm sure I forgot a few, but then, hey, they must have been forgettable books!

I've listed the books I'd recommend in bold, though just jump to the end of the post if you want the abbreviated version.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (Wow, I only saw this movie once, but it really burned itself into my head, to the point where the British-isms seemed odd in the book.)

Spell Bound (Women of Otherworld #12) by Kelley Armstrong (See that, my complaints about #11 didn't stop me from immediately buying book 12 in the series. Just like I'm sure to buy book 13. Because this book did the most annoying thing EVER--ended on a cliffhanger. This wasn't a book. It was half a book. And that's unforgivable. This series is made up of interconnected stand alone novels. That's the draw for me...the change in first person POV characters, the stories from different viewpoints. Getting half a book here was a real letdown.)

Waking the Witch (Women of Otherworld #11) by Kelley Armstrong (Another case of a long standing series--you know what you're in for. I like that Armstrong switch the protaganist in the series. This was the first from Savannah's POV. It wasn't bad, but I just haven't paid enough attention to earlier books in the series and felt a little lost about some of this. In fact, the big reveal at the end didn't make any sense to me as I'd totally forgotten that story line from an earlier book. Ah well...chalk it up to a quick read and a guilty pleasure.)

Hire Me, Hollywood! by Mark Scherzer and Keith Fenimore (A collection of interviews with people with different jobs in the movie/TV business. A nice variety of people interviewed/jobs represented, though to be honest, I have little knowledge or interest in the inner workings of hollywood. Readable, I expect more so if it's a subject you're interested in.)

Explosive Eighteen (Stephanie Plum #18) by Janet Evanovich (You don't read to book 18 in a series without knowing what you're going to get. And this is a lukewarm example, of well, the other 17 books in the series. I think it's time to end the whole Ranger/Joe triangle. It's making me really dislike Stephanie Plum, and that's one way to kick me right out of a book.)

2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake (William Gibson lent his name to this collection of tweets, blog posts, and short entries from the week or so following the earthquake in Japan. It was an interesting collection, apparently put together as a fundraiser though to be fair, I never heard of it until it showed up on the freebie list on my kindle. The entries were personal and the book ended up being a bit odd...it was kind of just like reading about an event on twitter or facebook. No depth, weird lack of context. But I really applaud the idea and efforts of all participants.)

Living Off the Grid by Dave Black (I downloaded this for free to my kindle, because hey, how could I not? A ebook about living off the grid? Ha! Of course I read it, though, and was surprised that a) it wasn't insane and preachy, and b) it didn't require you to have ten zillion dollars. I was a little amused at the author's obvious distaste for people who go off-grid for trendy reasons rather than true commitment.)

The Vampire's Warden (Undead in Brown County #1) by S. J. Wright (Again, a freebie or very inexpensive choice on my kindle. I read this two months ago, and I remember little more than the premise that a girl finds out she's a warden to vampires trapped on her family's land. I'm sure I'd remember more if I got the next book in the series, but I'm just not sure if I ever will.)

Reflections on Doctors: True-Life Stories from Nurses Who Know edited by Terry Ratner (Proof I'll try just about anything that is on the free kindle list. I don't know what to even say about this. Not bad, though I certainly wasn't the target audience so I'll cut it some slack on being a bit dull.)

Smokin' Seventeen (Stephanie Plum #17) by Janet Evanovich (Well, I'm nothing if not committed to a series. This was nothing special, but not terrible, either.)

Hit List (Anita Blake #20) by Laurell K. Hamilton (this is so much better than other recent books in the series. But I still wouldn't say it was good. This is *exactly* why I bought a kindle--so no one else has to know I read garbage like this.)

A Stingray Bit My Nipple!: True Stories from Real Travelers by Erik Torkells (Got this for free on amazon for my kindle. I got what I paid for. Okay, it wasn't bad, just not really funny. A few were, most were just...huh. Bathroom reading, if I've ever seen it.)

Rat Girl: A Memoir by Kristin Hersh (When I was in high school, I saw Throwing Muses open for REM. They were practically unlisten-to-able. So why, when I saw a memoir by the lead singer, was a drawn to buy it? Who knows! But it was good. Really enjoyable. In fact, because I enjoyed it so much, I'm going to nitpick and point out that Hersh had a super annoying habit of contracting verbs willy-nilly. The practice'll drive you crazy (and yes, that's exactly how she did it!)

A Dance with Dragons (A Song of Ice and Fire book 5) by George R. R. Martin (his most recent release. It was exciting to get back into the series and some was really awesome. The end was a little heartbreaking, and I hate to think it'll be another five years until the next installment.)

A Song of Ice and Fire books 1 - 4 by George R. R. Martin (I reread the first 4 books in the series before the most recent one came out. I love this series, but I'm starting to question if there will ever be a sucessful conclusion to the series. Four books might not sound that impressive to reread, unless you realize it's a total of 3,744 pages. This should count as 7 or 8 books!)

Inheritance (Inheritance #4) by Christopher Paolini. (I appreciate that he ended the series. It wasn't the best series I've ever read, but it wasn't the worst, either.)

On Writing by Stephen King (Now here is really great King. Part memoir, part writing manual. Both parts are great. And helpful. I read this and knew that a section of my novel that I love but keeps landing funny in my brain with each reread has to go. And I know why, too. So glad I read this one!)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Narrator is a boy with autism who lost his father in the Sept 11 attacks. Sad and interesting.)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling (Picked this up at a used book sale. Enjoyed it, but it mostly just made me miss the Harry Potter series and wish there would be more books in the series.)

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (It was okay YA fantasy, but I probably won't go looking for book 2)

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mean (Picked this up at a used book sale on a whim. Thought it would be far worse than it was--it was very readable! I guess this is a series...I just added the next book to my Amazon wish list. Not sure when/if it'll make it to the top of the list, but I did enjoy this book.)

Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver (Loved the ethical dilemma between a well-meaning and truly devoted adoptive mom and the Cherokee Nation. I though the end was a cop-out, though, with too many amazing coincidences)

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book 1) by Rick Riordan (Fun YA with a greek mythology twist. Not sure I'll run out and buy the next book in the series, but if I saw it at a used book sale, I'd certainly pick it up!)

Expecting Adam by Martha Beck (I thought this would be a book about raising a child with special needs. It went in a much different direction than I expected. And while I agreed whole-heartedly with some of the ideas, I just couldn't buy all the angel magic stuff. My loss, I'm sure.)

Spook by Mary Roach (I think Mary Roach must have an awesome time researching her books. And I'd like to have dinner with her. There are parts of this book--throwaway jokes and lines, that cracked me up. But this didn't live up to the awesomeness of Stiff. Still worth a read, though, for the good parts!)

Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin (One note, not much character development. Readable YA fantasy, but nothing I'd particularly recommend)

The Regulators by Richard Bachman (The companion piece to Desperation, which I read last year, I think. Pretty standard King--enjoyable but not amazing)

The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (His books seem to be a mix of kind of boring yet obsessively compelling to read. I guess in his case strong writing and storytelling make up for a lack of subject matter that I find really interesting. So I'd certainly recommend this, especially to anyone who thinks it sounds interesting)

My Blood Approves (My Blood Approves #1) by Amanda Hocking (I think I'm just plain ol' worn out of vampire novels. Not sure if I'll read the rest of this series or not...)

Hollowland (The Hollows #1) by Amanda Hocking (I'm a sucker for a good postapocalytic book. Again, editing was an issue, and writing wasn't quite as strong as I would hope. But, this was definitely my favorite of Hocking's books, and I look forward to the next in the series!)

Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse #11) by Charlaine Harris (I don't know, I'm not going to drop this series--I'm still enjoying it. But I didn't love the direction this book took. Hopefully the next book in the series will bounce back!)

Fat, Forty, Fired: One Man's Frank, Funny, and Inspiring Account of Losing His Job and Finding His Life by Nigel Marsh (Another free amazon kindle download. This was a mixed bag for me. Some parts were actually inspiring, and some parts were annoying. Worth reading, if you pick it up for free!)

Ascend (Trylle Trilogy #3) by Amanda Hocking (see comments below. I guess I'd give this series a firm 3, 3 and a half stars out of 5. Not too shabby!)

Torn (Trylle Trilogy #2) by Amanda Hocking (I don't know what else to say about this series. Enjoyable, and I'd certainly recommend to fans of the genre. But it was poorly edited and the writing could have used some tightening up. Take it for what you will...)

Switched (Trylle Trilogy #1) by Amanda Hocking (I downloaded this to my kindle on the advice of a friend. It was $0.99, so I figured why not? I enjoy YA fiction, I enjoy paranormal fiction, so this YA paranormal book was right up my alley. It was good enough that I picked up the rest of the series, plus a few others by Hocking.)

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (I've been attempting to read this book for over 10 years. I kept getting bored of it, or sick of it, and abandoning it. I finally finished it. And you know what? I thought it stunk. Obviously I'm in the minority, but I think I can trust my own tastes that if I put down a book more than 5 times, I really probably won't enjoy it.)

Admit One: My Life in Film by Emmett James (I nabbed this book for free from Amazon for my kindle. It was an okay memoir of a film obsessed wannabe actor. Some strengths, some weaknesses. Seeing as I paid nothin' for it, it was a good deal ;)

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua (This book is always going to hold a special place in my heart because it marks the first time I was hired to write a book review. I actually enjoyed the humor in this book, though I have no desire to parent my children like she did.)

Pale Demon (The Hollows #9) by Kim Harrison (Gotta love a road trip book! And I was ridiculously amused at the thought of a witch convention. Enjoyed this, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!)

Black Magic Sanction (The Hollows #8) by Kim Harrison (Again, a good showing in the series. Hooked me back in...I'd been a few books behind and caught back up just in time for the newest book to come out.)

White Witch, Black Curse (The Hollows #7) by Kim Harrison (This series lost me a little for a few books, but it's picking back up. Enjoyed this one!)

Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court's Ruling by Linda Geenhouse and Reva Siegel (Being born after the Roe v. Wade decision, I never experience an America where abortion was illegal. This book was very interesting in getting historical perspective about the debate. It was impressively comprehensive, giving voice to both sides of the debate.)

Don't Die, Dragonfly (The Seer #1) by Linda Joy Singleton (I picked this up for my kindle for free, I think. It was okay, though I read it a few months ago and never picked up the next book in the series. Maybe one day...I didn't dislike this, it just didn't capture me.)

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Of course I'd heard plenty about this book, and even knew the plot. I wouldn't say it disappointed exactly, but it wasn't great, either.)

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby (I'm not a huge Nick Hornby fan, and I've never really understood or been that interested in rabid sports fanatic. So I'm not sure why I picked up this memoir of Hornby's love of soccer. But, I ended up enjoying it, so I'm glad I did!)

Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong (I really enjoyed these short stories set in her Women of the Otherworld universe. In fact, I liked this more than some of her more recent novels in the series!)

Keeper of Dreams by Orson Scott Card (While I haven't been enjoying Card's novels recently, his short fiction is always solid. I'd read about half of the stories in this collection previously. I enjoyed the majority of stories in this collection.)

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank (I was surprised how much I enjoyed these interconnected short stories. Thought it was going to be just mindless chick lit, but instead I found it funny and engaging.)

Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore (Enjoyable! Moore is always a solid choice for me!)

Touching Darkness (Midnighters #3) by Scott Westerfeld (The end of the series, I think. Enjoyed the ending, but was only lukewarm about the series as a whole.)

Blue Noon (Midnighters #2) by Scott Westerfeld (Once again, okay, but not super duper. I wouldn't rave about this to friends, but I wouldn't steer them away, either.)

The Secret Hour (Midnighters #1) by Scott Westerfeld (Okay, but not great. The premise is there's a group of people born at exactly midnight who can "see" an extra hour each night and fight the evil that lives there. Certainly readable, but he's written better.)

The Stupidest Angel: A Hearthwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore (I always enjoy Moore's humor, and this was no exception. A quick, enjoyable read, even in the middle of a late May heat wave!)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy by Steig Larsson (Another reread for me. TK and I were watching the movie, and I fell asleep. Instead of finishing the movie, I just picked up the book.)

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (A friend was reading these for the first time, so of course I had to pick them up for a reread. So lovely!)

The Women by T.C. Boyle (A fictionalized telling of the life of Frank Lloyd Wright, told through the lives of his wives. I found the structure of the story distracting (told in reverse chronilogical order via the viewpoint of a minor character who wasn't present for the majority of events.)

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (As someone who really enjoys Bill Bryson book, and has periodically had visions of hiking the Appalacian Trail, I picked this up with relish. It was pretty good. Solid 4 star book.)

The Ear, The Eye and The Arm by Nancy Farmer (Eh. Okay, but characters weren't especially well-developed.)

The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle (A fictionalized account of Dr. Kinsey (the sexologist). This book was smutty! But in a good way :) What I mean is it didn't seem like a romance novel (it isn't one), but there was far more sex in it than, well, pretty much any other non-romance book I've ever read. Certainly not a book for the prudish, but an interesting novel about a man and woman in a situation outside their comfort zone).

The Child Thief by Brom (A retelling of the Peter Pan story. Dark fantasy/horror. Pretty good if that genre interests you, though I'd hesitate to universally recommend it as I just didn't find it super engaging. Really outstanding artwork, though. The drawings at the beginning of each chapter and the color plates in the middle of the book were outstanding!)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Interesting book about a German girl during WWII. It was narrated by Death, and came dangerously close to being ruined by the idea. Also, wasn't too keen on the overuse of nonsensical similes and descriptions. I mean, once in a while, it can be amazing (a "cardboard face" was one that I thought worked well), but it was distractingly overdone. But, I do have to say, overall it was a really terrific book. I wouldn't be nitpicking if I hadn't enjoyed it!)

Reaper by Rachel Vincent (This is a novella that was offered free on the kindle--apparently it's part of a series. This wasn't bad, but it also wasn't good enough to make me buy the other books in the series.)

Allies and Enemies: How the World Depends on Bacteria by Anne Maczulak (Interesting nonfiction. Covers a wide variety of bacteria-related topics. Sometimes the juxtaposition of topics is funny, like a section on bacteria and art discusses both the depiction of bacterial diseases in art, then moves right into how bacteria can degrade artwork. Learned a lot, written at a good level for an interested non-scientist.)

In summary:

Total books read in 2011: 70

Books I'd recommend: 32, so not quite hitting the 50% mark. And even of those, most I'd recommend only with reservations or qualifications for only folks who enjoy the genre.

Favorite books of the year: A total cheat since it also made my best-of last year, but The Hunger Games series stands up to a reread and was once again, just like last year, one of my absolute favorite reads of the year. Rat Girl by Kristin Hersh was also quite readable, and I'd recommend it widely. Stephen King's On Writing was fabulous, and just the advice I needed. I think it would be of interest to any writers or fans of King. And of course for fans of the genre, A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin is not to be missed. But if you're a fan, of course you haven't missed it...

Least favorite books of the year: Unlike previous years (ahem, ahem, I'm talking about you, Stephanie Meyer and Jodi Picoult!), there weren't any books that I was completely disgusted by. However, I was disappointed in most of the ongoing series I'm reading: Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, and Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. All had weak showings this year, which was a let down.

Comments for the year: I'm reading too many series that just aren't living up to the hype. And for the most part, free books on the kindle are free for a reason. You get what you pay for, and perhaps I should stop wasting my time reading lack-luster books.

All this begs the eternal question: what should I read next???

Gift wrap

2011-12-05T09:44:00.008-05:00

Oh, the things we come out of blog retirement for, right?

I just thought this was fun. I've been playing around with wrapping gifts with things from around the house. Found some fun ideas online, so I tried two with some gifts I needed to wrap. I'm sure I'll have plenty more practice time this December!

Here's a grocery bag for wrapping, with two different colors of yarn woven together. Easy peasy!

And this one I really loved! I used that old standby, newspaper, to wrap the gift. And then dressed it up with some bows made out of pages from magazines. I followed these directions, except I added a third 9" strip. They're a little time consuming...maybe 10 minutes to make each bow. But so pretty!

I guess I got a little carried away...the kids kept asking me to make more bows. They were picking pages for me to use!

Last year I experimented with using fabric to wrap gifts. I think it looks incredible, but ultimately decided that unless you're giving it to someone crafty who will reuse the fabric, it's too wasteful once you run out your scrap fabric pile. Not to mention too expensive to buy fabric to wrap every gift!

That's just fabric knotted around boxes. I just cut the fabric...didn't even finish any edges or anything!

Anyone have any eco-friendly, upcycled, or reusable gift wrapping ideas? 'Tis the season!

Another Awesome Kids' Book

2011-08-07T11:29:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure where we picked it up--I'm sure at a used book sale somewhere, but we have a Thomas the Tank Engine Book titled "The Sad Story of Henry".

It's unbelievable, and I think will hold the record for absolute most odd book. The story is about Henry, a train who gets a beautiful new paint job. So he hides in a tunnel so it won't get wet or dirty. They all try to coax him out to do his job, but he's having none of it. Passengers pushed and pulled, but couldn't move Henry. How do you think the book ends? You won't believe it. Seriously, just guess.

Okay, here's the actual text from the last page of the story:

"They took up the old rails, built a wall in front of him, and cut a new tunnel.

Now Henry can't get out, and he watches the trains rushing through the new tunnel. He is very sad because no one will ever see his lovely green paint with red stripes again.

But I think he deserved it, don't you?"

Really. I'm not making that up. Have you ever heard a worse story for children? I think the author needs to work on some serious anger management issues.

Where I've been, and Change the World Wednesdays

2011-06-15T17:29:00.005-04:00

I don't want to stop blogging...there are just other things I seem to be doing more. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm thinking I should be doing x, y, and z.

But, I definitely don't want to stop blogging. So, what have I been up to? Life. You know how it goes, three kids, running hither and yon, having fun.

I've started writing for my town's Patch site. A weekly cooking column about recipes using local food. So I've been LOVING that.

I've been getting more serious about editing my novel. I'm about half way through a serious read-through/edit, then I'm going to let TK read it so he can be my sounding board about some areas of weakness and areas of potential re-write. And I still have three alternate endings blocked out, so unless I'm planning a choose-you-own-adventure book, I'm going to have to make a decision.

N-man and B-man are finishing up kindergarten, which is exciting and unbelievable. Z-man is almost two, and is enjoying the terrible twos to their fullest. He's very advanced, not even waiting until he turns two. He also has a speech delay, just like big bros did, and we've started down the Early Intervention road again, which has its pros and cons. Tomorrow we have a follow-up ear check to decide if he should get tubes or not.

You see, life. Regular stuff that keeps me laughing and running and smiling.

So that's where I've been. Howdy, y'all!

__________________

Most of why I wanted to get back on my blog was to post about Change the World Wednesday. I've written about it many times before, and I'll just say again how much I love the weekly challenges to become a little more environmentally friendly and aware. Here's this week's challenge:

This week, make your coffee or tea at home. Getting coffee/tea out every day not only costs a lot but also generates a lot of waste. Make it at home instead. And don't forget ... both coffee grounds and tea leaves are great in the compost bin.

Or ...

If you don't drink these beverages or always drink them at home, choose one other food or beverage, which you typically buy at either a restaurant or grocery store, and make it yourself at home. And, of course, we'd like to hear all about it!

I wrote about how I broke the coffee habit back in November 2009. Wow, it's surprising that it's been so long! It's still going great. I'd say I get coffee out maybe once or twice a month now, instead of 4 or 5 times a week. Quite a change! And we're still using organic milk (I'd originally given up buying coffee out so we could afford organic milk).

I guess it's been a year and a half, but I hardly think of it anymore. There's very little draw to go out for coffee, unless I'm meeting someone or have really been running around all day without stop. And those are the times I don't feel guilty about treating myself :)

Want to play along? Head over to Reduce Footprints blog!

My new favorite way to make eggs

2011-04-28T14:50:00.002-04:00

We were playing a game with the kids (Quelf Jr--awesome game!) and one of the questions B-man pulled was to name a type of food you have no idea how to make.

He answered "eggs", which seemed to be a good answer as I'm not sure I've ever had him help me make eggs.

N-man looked at us like we were all crazy. "I know how to make eggs," he declared boldly. "Go buy a chicken."

There was a pause while all our brains had to catch up with his...

Never Let it Be Said I Don't Win Anything

2011-04-03T09:14:00.003-04:00

We went yesterday to a Green Living Fair, which was great--really informative about a whole slew of topics.

Anyway, while we were there we bought a few raffle tickets to support the organization. I didn't think much of it...just wanted to help out. Imagine my surprise when we got a phone call to say we'd won one of the prizes! I never win anything! The weekend away, the jewelry...what could it be?

The bacteria to add to your septic tank. Yes, that's right, I won poop-eating bacteria. I know, you all want to be me, right?

____________

Green tip: Styrofoam recycling is pretty rare in curbside recycling (anyone able to recycle styrofoam in their town?). But, look around to see if there are any styrofoam recyclers in your area. For example, in Eastern Massachusetts, ReFoamIt holds styrofoam recycling events. I'd been saving my styrofoam for about 9 months (we try not to buy things with styrofoam, but still, in 9 months we'd filled a few grocery bags).

Thank goodness this one is cleared up!

2011-04-01T13:38:00.004-04:00

N-man had a friend over for a play date yesterday. They were playing with lightsabers, and N-man said, "I'm Darth Vader! Who are you?" His friend replied, "Anakin!"

With great exasperation, N-man said, "You can't be Anakin. Anakin and Darth Vader are the same person. Oh, you be Obi Wan."

Could I be prouder? No.

[To explain, there's something weird going on with kids today. They all love Anakin. They think he's one of the good guys, and sadly he seems to be the most recognizable Star Wars character. This is completely unacceptable to me. First of all, Han Solo is the coolest Star Wars character. Duh! Second, no matter what he did in Episodes I - III, Anakin is still Darth Vader! Why is that so hard for these 5 year olds to grasp? Anyway, I'm raising my boys right.]

Kids will give you away every time

2011-03-31T13:55:00.003-04:00

Here's what came home in the kids' backpacks yesterday:

N-man did a writing/drawing assignment about pizza. He said his favorite pizza topping was blue cheese dressing. Yes, you read that right. For readers from my hometown of Buffalo, this might seem slightly eccentric but not totally insane. However, I'm sure to everyone else in the world, this seems completely crazy and kind of disgusting.

(It's not, though. It's super delicious! And my kids are SKINNY. I'd pour blue cheese dressing on all their food if they'd let me, if only it would help them gain some weight!)

Okay, embarrassing to think that N-man's teachers and friends now know his mom lets/encourages him to put salad dressing on his pizza. But it's kind of funny, too.

Then I opened B-man's backpack. He had an open-ended writing assignment where they could choose to write about anything in the world. Here's what he chose:

"My mom was cleaning up, then she said, "It's time to go." I said, "I didn't eat breakfast yet!"

Yeah, I don't remember this day. Now, it's true TK was out of town last week, and things got a little hairy, but I thought I had things under better control that I wasn't starving my children. As I just mentioned above, my kids are ridiculously skinny and I'm kind of psycho about making sure they eat at least five times each day. So I asked B-man what happened when he told me I hadn't given him breakfast, and he said that then I gave him breakfast. I was probably kidding when I said it was time to go to get B-man moving on eating. But now I'm tempted to send a note in to his teacher that says "Oh my gosh, of course I make sure B-man eats breakfast every day! I'd never forget to feed the kids!"

I guess I should just be happy that in B-man's writing, at least I get credit for cleaning, if not cooking! I know from working in elementary schools that kids will give away all the family secrets. It's a lot funnier when it's not my own kids, though :)

What a chicken!

2011-03-24T15:33:00.003-04:00

A few days ago, I told my husband that our CSA farm had just gotten some chickens. I mentioned it to let him know that I was going to be heading over there to buy some eggs.

But every time I mention chickens or eggs, my husband gets a crazy, fearful look in his eyes. I know why. He thinks that this time, I'm going to say I want to raise chickens in the backyard.

You know what? I kind of do. Shhh, don't tell TK. I'll break it to him gently. He's kind of a chicken. With three boys, our house is kind of a dude-fest. Maybe next spring I'll add a couple of chicks to the family.

But that's how old he is!

2011-02-25T08:42:00.002-05:00

TK got Z-man dressed this morning. When I saw Z-man, I said, "Wow, that shirt is really small!" The arms of the shirt were nearly up to his elbows and it was straining across his tummy. I mean, it was a REALLY small shirt.

"I know," said TK. "But I checked, and it's size 18 months."

I try not to ever complain when TK helps out with the kids, but sometimes I can't help teasing, and this is one of those times. I don't know if it's his overly literal engineering personality, but this is just so TK, to say, "Hmmm, it doesn't look like this shirt fits. However, clothing size=18m, child age=18m, therefore shirt must fit child."

He's so cute! I'm just so tickled!

N-man's sense of humor

2011-02-08T11:34:00.001-05:00

"Mom, mom, I just thought of the funniest joke!"

He could hardly contain himself, cracking up before he could even tell me.

"On Monday, juice fell out of my ears!"

More giggling.

"Do you get it? I said *ON* Monday. Like on top of Monday!"

Tons of laughing ensued.

2010 Book List

2011-01-02T13:19:00.010-05:00

As anyone who looks at my number of posts in 2010 can tell, I was a pretty inconsistent blogger this past year. As a result, I kept forgetting to get online to keep a list of what books I read. Ugh...I hate that I did that as I've really enjoyed having a list of what I've read each year. Just glancing at the lists brings up so many memories of what I was doing while I was reading the book, or ideas I had, or things I felt.

Anyway, I'm sure I've forgotten to list many of the books I've read this year, but by culling through the piles around the house, I've hopefully listed many of them here. As always, my recommended books are in bold.

Budding Prospects by TC Boyle (I generally like books by Boyle, and this was no exception. It's about some down-on-their-luck pot growers. Got a little slow in the middle, but still enjoyed it. Not his best, though.)
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Not at all what I expected, though I guess I didn't know anything about the book except that it was pretty popular. This is a dystopian novel along the lines of Brave New World or the like. Very highly recommended!)
Frostbitten (Women of the Otherworld #10) by Kelley Armstrong (Enjoyable. Don't know what to say 10 books into a series...not like I'm going to convince anyone to go pick up this book unless they've read the first nine...)
Living with the Dead (Women of the Otherworld #9) by Kelley Armstrong (I'm still enjoying this series, though this particular one seemed a little unfocused, and from too many different POVs.)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Obviously a reread for like the 25 time or something. Love this book...it was what I chose to read first on my new kindle (which I'm very much enjoying!)
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (Swoon! I love Margaret Atwood! Another wonderful story that tells some of the background leading up to Oryx and Crake. I read this book months ago, and am still thinking about it.)
Parallel Play by Tim Page (I picked this up because it's a memoir of a man who wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome until he was an adult. It's not really about Asperger's or autism per se, but of course it colors all his experiences of his childhood (and life). An interesting read.)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (for all the wading through thrillers at library book sales, sometimes you stumble upon a perfect condition hard cover book you've been wanting to read for ages. Like this one. Enjoyed it quite a bit!)
Busting Vega$ by Ben Mezrich (a non-fiction story, by the same author who wrote Bringing Down the House. There's something about his writing style that absolutely cracks me up. I don't know...overly filled with similes, a forced "thriller" tone, a "my dad is trying to act cool" vibe. I'm not sure what it is, but it doesn't really bother me--it actually makes me enjoy the books more. Silly, I know.)
The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen (I read a ton of thrillers in 2010, because I got many of my books this year at library used book sales where thrillers are so easy to find. This one was...terrible. The premise is a plain woman is attacked/injured and gets plastic surgery as a result and becomes super beautiful. The actual story is even worse than you'd guess given that premise. I know, hard to believe, right?)
Bag of Bones by Stephen King (and here's where I remembered why I can't read too much King. I've read far more of his books this year than in previous years, and I remember now that when you read a lot of King, it all starts to blend together and seem hack-y and silly. I think I am placing myself on a two-King-books-per-year diet).
Desperation by Stephen King (pretty good, classic-type King).
The Tenth Justice by Brad Meltzer (Never let it be said that I don't give an author a fair shake. While this was better than The Zero Game, I think I just have to face facts that 1) I'm not especially fond of thrillers, and 2) I'm even less fond of legal thrillers. On the upside, I gave this to my mother-in-law for a yankee swap of used books, and she said this was by far the more popular of all the books there!)
The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer (In contrast to Stieg Larsson's books, this was all I don't like about thrillers. Boring, unbelievable, and disappointing.)
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson (Fun. Some loose ends...I was sorry to discover the author has died and those loose ends will never be tied up.)
The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson (Also enjoyable. Liked the whole series.)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (A strong thriller. Slow start, but once it got going, I couldn't put it down. Rarely am I tempted to reread a thriller, but I put this series on the shelf for a future reread.)
I Feel Bad About my Neck by Nora Ephron (Collection of short humorous memoir type essays. Some were super, super funny. Some I couldn't relate to at all. Overall, though, it was a fun read.)
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King (Collection of related short stories. I loved the first story in the book...the rest couldn't quite live up to the start.)
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Book 3 of The Hunger Games trilogy. Surprisingly dark for a YA series, but so great. Probably the best books I've read this year.)
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Book 2 of The Hunger Games trilogy. Less of a stand-alone book than the first, but as part of the trilogy, this was really quite wonderful).
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Love, love, love! A must read for, well, everybody :)
The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory (Well, since I so enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl, I picked up this book. Which stunk. Badly. Boring, story wasn't engaging, though still a fairly quick read. I don't know if I'd pick up any other books by Gregory.)
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (Picked this up at a library book sale, and enjoyed it far more than I expected. Quite engaging, really enjoyed it!)
Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hope by Jonathan Kozol (His books are such a combination of wonderful and so difficult. Even this one, supposedly a more optimistic book, left me angry about the state of education in America.)
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson (I seem to enjoy Bill Bryson's writing. This autobiography of his formative years was pretty hilarious at times and I really enjoyed it. Unlike many autobiographies, I liked that this was a story of his pretty average, run of the mill childhood. His writing and way with a story is what made this so engaging rather than any insanity in his life.)
Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs (I got this at a used book sale, which is why I started a series on book 7. I'm not much for mysteries, but I do enjoy the show Bones. This book wasn't terrible, but it's not making me run out and buy the first 6 books in the series, either.)
So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson (Part memoir of a year in the life of the author, part reading list (of the books she read that year). What did I learn from reading this? That I probably would never be friends with the author, but the book was good enough for me to finish anyway).
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler (an interesting fantasy novel that posits an unhappy 21st century woman being transported back to Jane Austen's England. Not great, but good enough for a quick read.)
Going Solo by Roald Dahl (Surprisingly interesting and very readable autobiography, primarily dealing with Mr. Dahl's time as a member of the RAF during WWII)
Countryside, Garden & Table: A New England Seasonal Diary by Martha Adams Rubin (A must-read for New England locavores. The book was slightly uneven, but still well worth a read and ahead of its time (published in 1993, long before I'd even heard a peep about eating locally!)
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel (Enjoyed this very much. Some very funny parts!)
I Rant, Therefore I Am by Dennis Miller (Impossible to read this without hearing his voice. Some wonderful moments of true humor. Some already too dated. Got it for a buck at a used book sale and it was worth all 100 cents ;)
Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel (I wish the author the best, but this was a depressing read about depression.)
Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich (Still enjoying this series, though this entry wasn't a standout)
The Second Opinion by Michael Palmer (TK picked this up when he was stranded at an airport. It's about what you'd expect of an airport book--fast paced, plenty of suspense, not amazing but good enough to hold your interest while waiting for a plane.)
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (I really enjoy genetics so I was interested in the book from the get go. Finally, something that overcame the curse of Oprah's Book Club--I liked it despite Oprah's vote of approval!)
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Meh. Certainly no Secret Life of Bees. Yuck.)
A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (Okay. Not quite as depressing as a book about would-be suicides would suggest.)
The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland (Interesting, but ultimately a letdown. Worth reading once, though)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (reread for me. Love love love this book!)
Our America by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman (Great 1st person account of life in the projects of Chicago. Somewhat out of date; based on NPR interviews from the early 90's, but still quite compelling.)
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Interesting. Not super super great, but enjoyable.)
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (read the book since I love the movie. Turns out I didn't love the book. My advice, and I feel heretical for suggesting it: stick to the movie!)
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters (I didn't really like Pride and Prejudices and Zombies so I was hesitant to read this. But I found this at a used book sale for a buck so gave it a try. I'm glad I did...very enjoyable!)
Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (LOVED this! Best fantasy I've read in ages! Beautifully done :)
Bullet by Laurell K. Hamilton
Flirt by Laurell K. Hamilton (waste of time. I hate myself for reading these.)
A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris (I'm really enjoying this series. In fact, I reread the entire series when the most recent book came out. This is a collection of short stories...some were pretty uneven. Not highly recommended...stick to the novels!)
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant (This was sometimes a bit slow, and circled around a bit. Some parts were really great and interesting, some didn't go much of anywhere. Still engaging, though. Kind of a mixed bag, though overall, I enjoyed it.)

Totals for the year:
53 books read (okay, that's ridiculously low. I have to think of what books I've left off this list as I know I read far more than a book a week.)

23 books that I would recommend

Favorites of the year: The Hunger Games trilogy, Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, and Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. I'd highly recommend the first two to everyone, and the third to fantasy fans!

Least favorites: There were no books this year I hated so much it made me angry, though The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory was pretty appalling. The Ugly Duckling by Iris Johansen is another one I feel guilty about re-donating to the library where some other unsuspecting reader may stumble upon it.

Looking back, I feel like I wasted too much time in 2010 reading thrillers and other books I wasn't excited about. I think that's why I can't recall so many of the books I read this year: they were forgettable. I did read a number of really wonderful books, though, some of which were a complete surprise how awesome they were. In 2011, though, I think I'd like to focus a little more on reading books that appeal to me rather than just because it happens to be sitting around.

On that note, any recommendations for me?

Wrapping with fabric

2011-01-02T08:10:00.006-05:00

In an effort to reduce paper waste, I decided this winter to try wrapping presents with fabric (called furoshiki).

Here's a picture of my mom's birthday present:

I also wrapped all the teacher gifts for N-man and B-man's teachers/specialists:

I wrapped a number more, but these turned out the best, probably because of perfectly easy box shape of these gifts.

What's my final call?

Pros:

Pretty! Don't these just look so special and interesting?
Surprisingly easy! There are plenty of sites online that give directions. I especially liked this one. You can even find youtube videos.
No paper waste. Fabric can be easily reused.

Cons:

Fabric is far more expensive than gift wrap.
I bought some flannel fabric because 1) it was half-off and 2) it had super-cute kid-friendly designs. I can use it, but it's not nearly as easy as the thin, silkier fabrics. You'll notice none of the pictures here are with flannel wraps!
While fabric can be easily reused for crafts (or for wrapping future presents), you never know if the person who receives the gift will end up reusing it, or if it'll just end up in the trash like wrapping paper would have.

So I guess in the end I'm still kind of up in the air about this one. What do you think?

NaNoWriMo, I miss you!

2010-11-02T11:15:00.003-04:00

Do you see how I'm not apologizing for my lackluster posting schedule? Come on, 1 post a month? Geez, even if I don't post again in November, I've now officially doubled my monthly posting. You're welcome.

Anyway, it's November. It's National Novel Writing Month. I love NaNoWriMo. I've done it twice now, and loved both experiences.

I'm not doing NaNo this month.

I'm kind of sad about that, though truthfully, with little Z-man still not sleeping through the night, and still not quite up to entertaining himself, I don't think it would be much fun to try to force in time to write a novel.

Plus, I have two novels from past years that I could work on.

What is it about writing novels that the goal, the expectation seems to be that you're writing for others, to publish and to share? If I spent a month writing a journal, I don't think I'd feel the same pressure to rewrite and let others read. Though oddly, here I am, sitting on two novels I'm not sure I want to share, but I write on a blog, essentially self-publishing a journal for all to see. Is it weird that I consider my fiction writing more personal than my blogging???

Anyway, anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? If so, what are you doing reading my blog? Get back to work!

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Green tip for the day: Use both sides of paper, including things like shopping lists. Just cross out the stuff you already bought and start a new list underneath it or on the other side.

Great Books

2010-11-01T10:35:00.004-04:00

There are also books full of great writing that don't have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story, Bobby. Don't be like the book-snobs who won't do that. Read sometimes for the words--the language. Don't be like the play-it-safers who won't do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.

That quote is from Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King. I'm not sure why I stopped reading Stephen King. Sometime in college, I just kind of moved on. Recently, though, I've picked up a few of his books at library book sales, and I'm having a bit of a Stephen King renaissance. Anyway, I stumbled across that quote and it got me thinking. I try to read broadly, but I tend to fall in the "read for the story" group. I can forgive, or ignore, bad writing for the most part, but bad story--forget it!

It's so personal, what makes that combination of great story and great writing. Here's my (I'm sure partial) list of some of the books I've read that were really a combination of outstanding prose and terrific storytelling:

Margaret Atwood is a wonderful writer...I'd say pretty much all her books are examples of great writing. But her stories that really resonate with me, that I truly love, are The Blind Assassin and The Handmaid's Tale.

Kurt Vonnegut is the only other writer I've read who was so consistently strong in his writing. Cat's Cradle is outstanding, and Blue Beard is my other favorite by Vonnegut.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon was another perfect book for me--great writing, great story. After I read that, I got every other book by Chabon. While I enjoyed many of the others, unfortunately none resonated with me the way Kavalier and Clay did. Oddly, I was just reading I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron, which contains an essay titled "On Rapture". It opens with the lines:

I've just surfaced from spending several days in a state of rapture--with a book. I loved this book. I loved every second of it. I was transported into its world. I was reminded of all sorts of things in my own life. I was in anguish over the fate of its characters. I felt alive, and engaged, and positively brilliant, bursting with ideas, brimming with memories of other books I've loved.

She's talking about The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and it was like she had peeked into my brain to write that.

Since it was a Stephen King quote that got me thinking of this, I'll throw in a Stephen King novel. When I read King, it's really usually a case where I'm reading for story. But, I think he is an author who is not given his due--he's not just a hack. Some of his books also have incredible writing (if you like a long drawn out, overly descriptive type of writing. Which I happen to. Drives TK crazy, though.) I'll put The Stand on my list. Really great story, great plotting, great writing.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Geez, I love that book. Perfect combination of good writing and great story. I've been pretty disappointed with Card's more recently published works, but I'll always love him for writing Ender's Game.

Well, I've run out of time and want to get this posted. The list could never really be done...I can always keep thinking of more, so here it is in its unfinished glory.

What are your examples of those amazing books that pair up wonderful writing and wonderful story?

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Green tip of the day: Use your library! Buy used books, and donate your books you don't want to keep. I like to donate books to my library, because I know they'll sell them to raise money that goes right back into the library.

That said, I still buy a number of new books--hey, I also think it's important to support authors :)

The Hunger Games

2010-10-08T11:43:00.003-04:00

About a month ago, I finally got around to reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I don't know what I was waiting for. YA book? Check. Dystopian novel? Check. You've just described my two very favorite classifications for books. I think I was just so disgusted by the Twilight series that I lost all faith that any other popular YA books would be any good.

But I'd heard so much about The Hunger Games, and then there I was, walking through Target one day when I'd just finished my last new book in the house, and happened to see The Hunger Games on an endcap. So I picked it up. And I'm glad I did.

The writing in the book is okay...a bit rocky at times, but it's really the story that grabs hold and pulls you along.

I was a little annoyed. A few times, I've read books and said "I could have written this." This was one of those books. Both novels I've written have been near-future dystopians. Both could have been YA novels. So as I'm reading, I kept kicking myself, saying "this could have been *my* book". But here's the thing: even if I had had this idea, I would have dismissed it as too derivative. The idea of the book kind of riffs off Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, with a healthy dose of Stephen King's The Long Walk and The Running Man and throws in a touch of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. I would have tossed out the idea in a minute.

So as an aspiring writer, I learned some very important lessons: 1) write a good story, and it really doesn't matter if it's derivative. I enjoyed all the stories I mentioned above. It should be no surprise that I liked this so much. 2) At least for readers like me, a strong engaging story is more important than perfect prose. That's very heartening as I struggle with writing "perfectly", though I find that I enjoy writing much more when I just let go and let the story flow rather than worrying about how well it's actually written.

Also, this trilogy has reignited my hope for YA fiction. I mean, so many people being in love with the Twilight series made me seriously worry for the future ;)

So if you haven't read it yet, get out there and get a copy of The Hunger Games. I really enjoyed the story--it's dark, bleak, and just the right hint of hope without being cloying or fake.

If you have read it, leave a comment and let me know what you thought.

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Green tip for the day: If you have kids and like to go out to eat, carry some crayons in your purse. Then turn down the crayons they give your kids--if you leave them, they just get thrown away! We only take new crayons when our old crayons get too broken or lost and we need new ones to replenish my purse-supply.

But he doesn't like my cooking???

2010-09-25T06:58:00.003-04:00

Well, I hate to call it out in public, but we're working with our little B-man about a very gross problem: nose picking. I'd love to hear if anyone has a solution to that gem. But, this isn't a vent about nose picking. Instead, it's a funny story. About nose picking.

Yay for mommy blogs!

So, the other day, I caught B-man picking his nose again. I told him to stop, and like always, he asked why.

With a distinct tone of frustration in my voice, I said, "First, it's disgusting."

He stopped me and said with that same tone of frustration, "Mom, first, it's delicious."

Yeah, now we're working on not eating our boogers...

Snack bags and garden pickings

2010-09-06T06:30:00.000-04:00

N-man and B-man start Kindergarten tomorrow. I'm finding it hard to believe, though I suspect that's normal.

Our district only has half day kindergarten, so I don't need to worry about lunches. But they do need to have a snack every day. I asked what they wanted for their snack the first day, and they chose strawberries and blueberries (N-man) and cottage cheese (B-man). Weirdos! Anyway, since both of those need an ice pack to stay cool, I decided to make the kids a reusable snack tote, something I had in mind for a while anyway.

Here it is. A pocket for an ice pack, a place to hold a fork or spoon, and room for a small reusable container. It was pretty easy to make, and if I actually knew how to use my sewing machine, I'm sure it would have been far quicker.

Here they are all folded up. I let the kids choose their fabrics/thread, so while it might not have been exactly the colors I would have put together, they're happy with it. B-man chose the stars, N-man chose the dots. The only other thing I might do is sew a quick napkin from the remaining fabrics. Probably not by tomorrow, though...we have plenty of cloth napkins that I can just stick inside.

I've written about zero-waste lunches before. I'd really like to try to continue to pack snacks that don't have any packaging. I also have a couple reusable sandwich bags that I bought, and I think I'll try to sew a few more in different sizes. Those are good for holding snacks like crackers or goldfish. I just needed something that could also hold an ice pack so I can pack cold snacks, too.

(If anyone is curious to make one, the big square is 14" and the pocket is 8.5" by 5.5", though your sizes would be dependent upon the size of your ice pack.)

______________________

At the beginning of the summer, I posted about our raised bed garden. It's done okay...I've been plagued with horn worms (did a number on the tomatoes, though I managed to rescue a few of the plants), deer, I think (bye bye beans, bye bye many ripening tomatoes), and drought (um, that's my own fault for not watering...lost a few bean plants that the deer had missed, and my only squash plant).

But we've still been getting stuff. Earlier in the year, the lettuce and swiss chard did great...I was able to make a couple meals with those before the weather started getting too hot. We've been getting a few tomatoes here, a couple fairy tale eggplant there, a handful of lima beans, an onion or two; nothing overwhelming, and never enough to make a side dish alone but stuff I've thrown in with other veggies from our CSA. Yesterday, though, I picked the rest of the onions and carrots, plus we had a few more cherry tomatoes. Not the biggest haul on earth, but a pretty respectable one day harvest.

Yum! While I didn't get great harvests this year, I learned a lot. Once the tomatoes are done, I think I'm going to clean out the bed, plant a few squares of garlic this fall, and then plant some permanent squares of asparagus and rhubarb in the spring, for future years. And hopefully add another box (or two, or three!) to plant more veggies next year! Maybe I can even add some kind of fencing to keep out the deer. At the very least, I'll try some kind of deer-deterrent (besides our awesome neighbor across the street who yells at the deer every time she sees them munching on our garden :).

How did your gardens grow this year?

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Green tip for the day: Of course I'm putting in another plug for zero-waste lunches and snacks.

What are your tips (or favorite products) for zero-waste lunches and snacks? I'm a fan of the little reusable glad or ziploc containers you can get at the grocery store. Perfect size for little guys! And, inexpensive so if they get lost at school, I don't have to worry. I looked at some metal containers, and the small sizes were upwards of $10 a piece! They're nice, but I think I'd worry my 5 year olds might misplace them.

Chocolate Chip Math and Terracycle

2010-08-18T10:57:00.006-04:00

N-man and B-man can be so different. B-man is in love with all things math. Today, I gave him 7 chocolate chips. He immediately counts them, then picks one up to eat and says, "7-1=6". He eats the next after saying, "6-1=5". And he keeps going.

N-man looks at B-man, looks at his own chocolate chips, then says, "Seven minus one equals YUM!" and tosses a chip in his mouth.

They were both right...

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Green tip for the day:

Look for a local Terracycle drop off point. There are many different things that can be dropped off, depending on what "brigades" your local group has signed up for. For example, our terracycle group in town collects juice pouches, chip bags, used pens/markers, empty glue bottles, cereal liners, and a variety of other non-recyclable items.

Many schools organize terracycle brigades as they receive a couple cents for each piece of garbage collected so it's a good fundraiser as well as an opportunity to keep trash out of landfills. You don't need to have a kid in school, though. Call your local school and find out where the drop-off points are...there may be some in locations besides the school, such as the library or a local coffee shop. Or you may be able to bring your donations to the school office even if you don't have a child in the school.

The only thing I'm not too sure if I like is that I wonder if the terracycle brigades encourage people to buy more single-use products, since the packaging is collected and raises money for their school or other charitable organization. For example, do you think people are more likely to give their kids juice pouches rather than water or juice in a reusable container if they know they can upcycle their used pouches? What do you think?

Do you drop things off for a terracycle collection? If so, what are your favorite things to terracycle? I love the used marker and cereal bag collections, as those are things we definitely buy and used to have to toss in the trash.

The Most Regal Planet

2010-07-21T08:38:00.002-04:00

For their birthday, we got N-man and B-man a book about planets. B-man is doing a great job reading--he can recognize the names of all the planets in our solar system.

Except "Uranus", which he keeps reading as "Your Highness". I just can't stop giggling. Now he's calling it "Your Highness" on purpose. I love this kid!

He's always a surprise!

2010-06-22T08:03:00.005-04:00

TK and I have been married 13 years, and together almost 18 years. But sometimes, he's still a mystery to me.

TK is an engineer, and well, for good reason engineers are not known for their fashion sense. To be honest, TK isn't bad--he irons his clothes, he tries to make sure they match, he dresses generally appropriately. He work attire is casual to business casual, so most days he's in khakis and a collared shirt. But this week he has a big presentation. He asked for my help to pick clothes.

He'd pulled out a tie and said that was what he wanted to wear. I reminded him last time he had a presentation that we'd determined he didn't have any shirts that would look good with the tie. His answer: "well that was in the winter. One of my short-sleeved shirts might work with it."

I was literally speechless for a good minute. Then I said, "You can't wear a tie with a short-sleeved shirt."

"Why not?" he asked. "It's hot out. What do you think people wear?"

"Long sleeved shirts."

"No," he insisted. I was forced to inform him that short-sleeved buttondown shirts are pretty geeky, but I let it go because 1) it's cute-geeky, and he pulls it off, and 2) it's pretty appropriate in engineering circles, or at least the engineering circles he runs in. But a short-sleeved buttondown with a tie was just too geeky. I couldn't let it go.

He wouldn't believe me. Convinced he was right, he said, "I'm checking online."

I wasn't worried one bit. Five minutes later he came back and said, "Okay, I'm convinced."

And he let me pick out a nice long sleeved shirt and tie.

I'm not super fashionable, but I could run a service for engineers to keep them at the engineering-geek level of attire rather than letting them flounder into the total-geek realm.

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Green tip for the day: Speaking of fashion, keep "green" in mind when shopping for clothes. Some ideas:

Buy clothes to last. Don't buy new clothes every season, even if you can afford it.
Look for eco-friendly and/or organic materials.
Pass your used clothes along: to friends or family, to a consignment store, to a charity, via freecycle or craigslist.
How crafty are you? Turn damaged or stained clothes into something new. Or just use them as rags.
Consider buying used clothes from a consignment store or place like Goodwill.

Any clothing-related green tips to share?

Change the World Wednesday: Food Budget

2010-06-08T15:56:00.003-04:00

Every week I intent to write a Change The World Wednesday post, but you see how infrequently I post so it's just not getting written. I have a few hours left in Tuesday...we'll see if we get it done this week!

Though it's a bit ironic that this week I'm *not* participating...

The challenge this week was:

This week, spend no more than $25 per person on food. This includes anything which is consumed ... spices, oil, fast food items, soda, etc. Make smart choices and stretch that food dollar as far as it can go. In addition to budgeting your food dollar, please write about how it went. We'd like to know what worked, what didn't and your strategy for staying within the budget.

I'm not opposed to living on a budget. I already do! But I don't like trying to drastically slash my food budget. Good food: food that's good for you and good for the environment, tends to be more expensive than traditional food. It's a very sad commentary that it can be far cheaper to get processed food-stuff than fresh meats and vegetables, but there you go. What are some of the reasons I can't spend only $25 per week on food? Organic milk is twice as expensive as regular. Unbleached flour is more than bleached. Fair trade organic bananas and coffee are more expensive than traditional. Grass-fed, organic meats are at least twice as expensive as factory-farmed meat. Those are just a few of the items that I'm not willing to bend on, that would bust our $25/person food budget.

I hate that farmers can't make a living wage...there's so much pressure on the price of food! I think we should recognize the value of fresh, healthy food that is grown/prepared in an environmentally-friendly way--and I think it's worth paying a fair price for it.

That said, I do have a few tips for saving money on food:

Eat vegetarian/vegan. Meat is pricey, and I believe for health reasons should only be eaten in moderation anyway.
Shop your local farmers' markets rather than large grocery stores. Sometimes, though certainly not always, you can get better prices since there's no middle-man. Also, it's almost always tastier!
Shop sales/specials to stock up. For example, the other day our local grocery store was running a special on bags of peaches for $3 (probably 15 or so peaches)--only problem was, they were RIPE, and had to be used asap. We had some for lunch, then I pureed the rest for baby food and to make peach ice cream.
Eat what's in season. It's always cheaper than when it's out of season!
Find a you-pick place. We picked strawberries today and got 4 quarts for $10.30. At the store, I've seen local strawberries priced between $5.99 and $7.99 for a single quart! Special bonus: it's fun, especially for kids.
Prepare your own foods. Don't rely on prepared foods or eating out. Probably healthier that way, too, besides saving you money!
Don't waste food. Eat leftovers; don't let food go bad before you eat it.

Even with all those tips, though, I'm not even close to $25 per person per week. For a family of 2 adults, 2 preschoolers, and 1 baby, I'm spending closer to $200 per week for food, and that doesn't count my husband's lunches at work. I could certainly do better than that, but I'd never be able to get it down to $25 per person on a consistent basis. Sure, I could do it for a week by eating from our freezer and cabinet stores, but I couldn't keep it up.

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I also wanted to comment on a Change the World Wednesday challenge from a few weeks ago:

This week, give up single-serving foods. No single-serving containers of yogurt, pudding or jello. No single-serving snacks or drinks. Eliminate individually wrapped slices of cheese and fruit cups. Basically, if a container holds only one serving ... don't buy it.

I definitely try to do this on a regular basis, but what I wanted to talk about is baby food. Baby food: always in single serving containers! You end up with a zillion little glass jars or plastic containers. Ugh! I wanted to put out a suggestion to make your own baby food. It's pretty easy. I just steam the fruit or veggie, then blend it up with a stick blender. Pretty fast, easy, and nice that I can control what goes in. I freeze it in ice cube trays, then store it in a freezer bag: far less packaging than the jars of baby food! Plus, it's so much less expensive. The other day I bought 2 organic turkey thighs. It made 14 servings and cost $3.72. If I'd bought it jarred, it would have been more like $10! And don't even get me going about when I get a REALLY great deal, like that bag of peaches for $3!

Anyone looking to make their own baby food, Wholesome Baby Food is a great resource!

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Every Wednesday, there's a new challenge. Head on over to Reduce Footprints where you can help change the world, one small step at a time!

Fear Factor

2010-06-05T19:48:00.002-04:00

N-man and B-man have this thing where if we have m&m's, they both always want to make sure they get red ones. They don't care about any other color...they just want red. I figured it was their favorite because they both love the color pink. (As an aside, B-man now calls pink "light red"...I don't know if that's his attempt to make it more boy-friendly??)

Today I asked them: why red m&m's?

The answer surprised me, and reminded me that they're like little sponges, absorbing every little thing I tell them: "because red dye is made from mushed up bugs!"

Yes, I told them about carmine. I thought it was a fun gross-out fear factor thing. Now they avidly pursue red foods so they can be eating insects.

Yum.

Our garden

2010-06-05T08:29:00.006-04:00

I posted about our garden over on our local eating blog. Head over there if you want the whole story, but here, I'll leave you with a few pictures:

Zippy Zip

2010-05-26T15:11:00.002-04:00

I went out last night to a mother of twins meeting. Since I was on a rare outing without the kids, I took TK's car, leaving him with the van in case he needed to take the kids anywhere.

I've been driving the van so long, his little sedan felt so small and sleek and zippy. Until I drove for a few minutes and remembered it was a 10 year old Civic. No pickup. Not particularly sleek. Not at all zippy.

It's a sad, sad day where I realized my van is the zippy car in the house...

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Green tip for the day:

Did you know dryer lint can be composted? I didn't. Now I do! Sure, it's not a huge contributor to the volume of garbage in our house, but every little bit helps!

The "Surprise"

2010-04-27T05:30:00.003-04:00

Yesterday N-man and B-man didn't have anything to bring home from school. The teacher explained that they were working on a special secret project that they'd bring home later.

We made it to the car before the kids told me it was a Mother's Day present. I told them that was great, but they shouldn't tell me what it is.

By the time we walked in the door, N-man wanted me to guess which table he sat at to work on it. I know which teacher was helping him!

By lunch time, it was still on N-man's mind. He wanted to keep the secret, but wanted to let me in on it as well. B-man, while more staunch in his desire to not tell, had no problem with N-man giving hints.

"Mommy, guess what we made today," N-man said.

"I don't want to ruin the surprise. You don't have to tell me."

"Just guess," N-man said.

"Okay. A drawing."

"Nope. Guess again."

"A painting."

"No. I'll give you a hint. It's what this is in." He pointed to a large fake flower arrangement in a vase.

"A vase?" I guessed.

"No. It's a flower pot," N-man revealed.

"You weren't supposed to tell!" said B-man.

"It's okay, I didn't hear," I lied.

"IT'S A FLOWER POT," N-man yelled.

I got a case of the giggles then.

I guess the surprise is that he lasted a full hour before telling me!

Who's There?

2010-04-24T13:00:00.001-04:00

This is a small sampling of last night's dinner conversation:

Nate: Knock knock

TK: Who's there?

Nate: Banana

TK: Banana who?

Nate: [long pause, then confusedly] Uh, you do that banana joke.

Then, after the "orange you glad I didn't say banana" joke had been told, it was Ben's turn.

Ben: Knock knock

TK: Who's there?

Ben: Lamp

TK: Lamp who?

Ben: Knock knock

TK: Who's there?

Ben: Lamp

TK: Lamp who?

Ben: Knock knock

TK: Who's there?

Ben: Light bulb

TK: Light bulb who?

Ben: Light bulb you glad I didn't say lamp!

I'm a Twit

2010-04-23T20:16:00.002-04:00

I finally took the plunge and set up a twitter account. It's linked over in the sidebar. I'm not really sure what I'm doing...I've never really followed any twitterers. Hee. Twitterers.

Anyway, I realized that half the time I end up not posting on my blog because I don't want it to devolve into one line posts of something funny my kids say. But that's the perfect thing to use twitter for! So there is the impetus behind "My Boys Said It". It's just going to be things my boys have said.

Now I'll feel free to use my blog for all the tons of deep and important things that I'd like to discuss. (Coming tomorrow: knock knock jokes!)

Poor Neglected Blog!

2010-04-21T07:56:00.003-04:00

Oops, I did it again. I forgot to post. Yikes!

Well, it's not like I forgot. It's just every time I think of something to write, I'm not near the computer. The only time I really get uninterrupted computer time is when I'm up in the middle of the night feeding Z-man. And no one wants to read my incoherent 3 am ramblings.

Yesterday I jotted down some crazy notes every time a "oh, I could blog that idea" popped in my head.

Then I lost the paper.

Turns out "Organize my life" should probably be at the top of any list I write.

Luckily for you, I remember a few things. Also luckily for you, I forgot many. Turns out, it's a good thing I don't have a computer ready to record my every thought.

Here goes:

We were driving home from Long Island yesterday, and left during morning rush hour. Luckily, we could drive in the HOV lane. You know what the hardest part of driving in the HOV lane is? Not pointing and laughing at all the shmoes who aren't in the HOV lane.

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Much later in the drive, I was reading my list to TK. I said to him, "you know what's the hardest thing about driving in the HOV lane?" He answered, "Not laughing at the people in the lane next to you." There's a reason why I married him.

Then we both said, "I didn't want to mention it at the time because I didn't want to jinx the HOV lane." Everyone who commuted on the LIE yesterday can thank us that there wasn't an accident in the HOV lane.

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N-man randomly said, "Mom, do you know what's in an alien sandwich?" I thought it was the beginning of a joke. "No, what?" I asked. "Dead aliens," he replied, with a DUH tone in his voice. I'm still not sure if that was a joke or if just like a chicken sandwich is made from dead chicken, he was just generalizing that an alien sandwich would of course be made of dead alien.

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Why are pizza and bagels so much better in NY? Seriously, how hard can it be to make good pizza and bagels? Why hasn't any other place figured it out? I guess it's like Buffalo and chicken wings. Awesome wings in Buffalo, but I wouldn't even bother getting them anywhere else. Are there other regional foods like this, that are only perfected in one area?

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Well that was random. I probably should have saved up all those awesome ideas for separate blog posts. *sniff sniff* Do I smell sarcasm?

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Green tip for the day: Plant an herb garden. Tomorrow's Earth Day...the perfect day to plant something. Even if you have a black thumb--most herbs grow easily with little TLC required. Even if you have no room--herbs grow great in pots, indoors or outdoors.

Fresh herbs are so lovely to use. And think of all the packaging you can save...at least by us, I can only find small quantities of herbs in plastic clam shells.

Here's a quickie favorite way to use up herbs when you've got a lot: soften some butter, then mix in a bunch of your favorite herbs. Then use it on crackers, bread, pasta, for sauteeing veggies, over corn. Put the herbed butter in small containers and freeze it and you can have herbed butter all year long!

If you've already got an herb garden (or have one planned), what's in it?

Another twin moment

2010-03-22T19:07:00.003-04:00

We were just playing a guessing game with letters. It was N-man's turn. He said, "I'm thinking of something that starts with the letter N."

We all made a few wrong guesses, then N-man gave a further clue: "It's something you celebrate at night."

B-man yelled out almost immediately, "Halloween!"

"Yes!" Nate said.

We did let both kids know that Halloween starts with an H. I wonder what they think Hanukkah starts with...

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A still-not-well well update: We had our well repaired today, so the first step is done. A water sample has been taken, and results will be ready in 1 or 2 days, depending on how backed up the lab is. If by some miracle it's bacteria-free, we can start using the water. If, as is probably the case, it's contaminated, they'll have to put in chemicals to kill the bacteria. That takes 24 hours, plus a while to clear all the chemicals out. Either way, we're in the home stretch and should have usable water by the end of the week, or the beginning of next week at the latest.

I love clean water. I miss clean water. I think next time we chose a charity to donate to, it's going to be for a clean water fund or well fund. This has been pretty eye opening. I knew it would be inconvenient to live without running water, but I didn't know quite how inconvenient it would be.

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Green tip for the day: Be thankful for your water, and think of a way you can conserve water today! I'd love to hear your water conservation tips in the comments. It can be as simple as "turn off the faucets while brushing teeth" or the like!

Well...

2010-03-17T06:09:00.003-04:00

When we moved, we went from city water to well water. Something neither TK nor I were super excited about, but most of the towns we were looking in, that was the only option. Neither of us had well water growing up, so we've been slowly learning about wells since we moved.

We're about to get a crash course.

I'm sure it's not news to anyone to hear there's been lots of flooding throughout New England this past weekend. Half of my friends' facebook status updates have been about flooded basements. While our sump pump has been running CONSTANTLY, and we spent 24 hours with our backup sump pump kicking in (and ringing the backup alarm nonstop), our basement managed to stay dry. Yay!

Then yesterday afternoon I noticed our tap water was coming in slightly discolored. It got worse the more I ran the water trying to clear it. TK changed the water filter...no help there. Parts of our yard are flooded, including the area around our well. While the well is capped, we suspect the well might have flooded. Which means the well might be contaminated. Which means we can't use the water.

TK's taking the day off today. We're going to try to find a hardware store that still has a pump in stock so we can try to pump out the yard near the well. We're going to call the well service company. We're going to get our water tested.

I started researching on google, and I had to stop. It was as bad as relying on Dr. Google when I have a runny nose. I have no idea how bad this is, but I saw on one of the first hits that it can take MONTHS to get the well back to usable condition. I'm trying not to freak out. As I started out saying, we know pretty much nothing about wells, so I'm not even trying to diagnose this one ourselves. Hopefully we'll get okay news about all this...

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So, I already miss running water. No shower today, have to brush teeth with bottled water, can't drink tap water (my main beverage of choice), can't do dishes, can't run laundry. Still can flush the toilet, though, so I guess that's the one good thing since we technically still do have running water.

You'd think, for one minute, "Oh, can't use the water! What a great chance to learn some really great water conservation techniques." Well, you might think that for a minute while you were desperately searching for the upside.

Here, so far, are all of the horrifying anti-green results of the unusable water:

had to buy gallons of water to use for things like tooth brushing, drinking, washing, and cooking. Me, buying bottled water! Ugh!
had to buy disposable diapers since I can't do laundry for the cloth diapers (yes, if this is a long term problem, I'll have to find a laundromat. Since I have to do diaper laundry every other day, this will be a HUGE drag).
bought purell to disinfect hands.
I suspect we'll be eating out more as it's a pain to cook (not to mention, can't wash dishes with this water). I am making corned beef and cabbage tonight, though. Can't keep this Irish-American gal down! I've got it in the slow cooker with Guinness instead of water :)
I'm going to have to go out and buy disposable plates, cups, and silverware. Ick, I hate paper plates. I hate paper cups. I hate plastic forks. But again with the "can't do dishes", we're quickly going to run out of real plates, cups, and dishes.
I'm going to have to go back to paper napkins and paper towels, because of the "no laundry" thing.

Hopefully, we'll find out today if we can at least boil water to use it. My problem now is that besides the worry of the water being unsafe, it's also very dirty. I mean, I can boil it to kill any germs, but that doesn't get rid of the dirt so I still can't use it. Can I? I certainly can't drink it! But even if we could use boiled water to wash dishes, that would be a huge help. Hopefully we'll be able to get a professional out today to service the well and give us some information about all this. And hopefully, the news will be better than I fear. I tend to overworry about things. Fingers crossed that this is one of those times.

For now, I'm trying to cut myself a break about how eco-unfriendly I'm having to be now, and focusing on making the best choices available given the situation. Time to test out the recycled unbleached paper products!
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Anyone know anything about wells? Anyone ever deal with a contaminated well?

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In the "whoa, irony" department, last week's Change the World Wednesday was about using less water, letting the tap only run a trickle. I'd been trying that out this week, until all this happened. It's amazing how much water you can waste just by letting the tap run full speed! So that was a good, easy tip last week to just run it a trickle. Of course now I'm alternating between running the taps full out trying to get the water to clear and keeping them totally turned off...

This week's challenge is:

This week, make use of returnable/reusable containers at the market. If your store takes back bottles (or any other containers), return them. If bulk shopping is available, reuse the bag/container for your next purchase. If you buy veggies and use the store's produce bags, keep the bags and reuse them on your next trip.

I try not to buy drinks that come in returnable containers as they're normally soda and/or single-serving drinks, so I don't often use the store's bottle return. None of our local grocery stores have a bulk section (an annoyance for another post), so I don't get to use any reusable bulk containers.

Veggies and fruit I've written about before. A lot of times, you don't even need a bag at all. I do carry plastic produce bags in my purse to reuse. I also recently got a couple reusable mesh produce bags, which I think is ultimately the way I'll go. Oddly, though, I'm having trouble remembering to bring them with me. I have to get a workable plan in place. I don't know how I can remember my reusable grocery bags and forget the produce bags, but somehow I manage!

I've finally discovered my superpower

2010-03-08T08:02:00.000-05:00

I was with the kids, brushing teeth before bedtime. N-man once again cracked me up with his random randomness. I love how his mind works! Here's the conversation we had:

N-man, out of nowhere and completely unrelated to anything we'd been talking about: Mommy, you've got MAGIC in you!

Me: Oh boy! Thanks! What kind of magic?

N-man: Silliness!

Very astute, my fine fellow!

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Green tip for the day: Rhonda had left a comment the other day on my post about shampoo asking about conditioner. I don't use much conditioner, but have been experimenting with using diluted apple cider vinegar as a conditioner. It works surprisingly well...my hair ends up really soft. I'm not a big fan of the smell, though. The smell does rinse out...I don't smell it all day. The jury's still out for me on the vinegar-as-conditioner thing.

Does anyone have any suggestions for environmentally-friendly conditioner?

Antibiotics rule! Antibacterials don't.

2010-03-06T11:21:00.005-05:00

N-man and B-man came down with strep throat this week, and scarlet fever.

No surprise, a few days later, I was at the doctor. Strep throat for me too. Wow, that hurts!

Anyway, we're all on antibiotics. The boys are much, much better, and I'm well on my way. How awesome are antibiotics? You hear "scarlet fever" and think of some wicked terrible disease. Turns out it's quite easily treatable and no big deal as long as you get on antibiotics. Who knew?

This got me thinking about one of my pet peeves: the overuse of antibacterial products. I think people are starting to understand why it's dangerous to overuse antibiotics. But what I can't understand is why supermarkets (and to a lesser degree, toy stores) are filled with antibacterial products. Unless someone in the house is immune-compromised, why does anyone need it? Just like with antibiotics, antibacterial products can create resistant strains of bacteria. Here's a good article from the CDC.

It seems to me that companies who sell antibacterial products are really being irresponsible, relying on fear-mongering and misinformation.

Not to mention, triclosan, one of the most commonly used antibacterials, pollutes the water supply and may have potentially dangerous health consequences (check this for more info).

What do you think of things like antibacterial soap or products impregnated with antibacterials? Do you use them in your house? If so, are you aware of the risks? My theory is that most people who buy them think it's a good thing that will protect their family and don't realize they are contributing to the rise of "superbugs", polluting the environment, and potentially contributing to health problems. Now there would be some good truth in advertising: "buy our antibacterial soap! It probably won't help you, but it will screw up the world!"

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Green tip for the day: Unless there's an extremely compelling reason (i.e., an immune compromised family member), just say no to Microban products and cleaners containing antibacterials.

As always, do your own research and/or talk to your doctor if you have any concerns. The internet is filled with nutjobs making wild claims about the dangers of this or that. I tried to include links that contained actual scientific research rather than someone just screaming "antibacterials will kill us alllllllll!" I am not a scientist. However, I do find the research compelling enough that we don't use antibacterial products. Says the person who has a house full of strep throat :)

Hey, who's in charge of updating this thing?

2010-02-27T07:15:00.003-05:00

Oh! I guess it's me! Kind of fell down on the job there, didn't I?

Things have been...normal. The sleep deprivation was kicking my butt, and just when I thought I couldn't possibly take it any more, Z-man started sleeping through the night. Sometimes. Five nights so far, out of the last seven. Hey, I'll take it. It was enough to make me feel human again instead of zombie.

We went to New Jersey for my nephew's bar mitzvah. I can hardly believe I have a nephew that old! It was very nice.

Plus, every time we go to New Jersey, it reminds me how much I love Massachusetts. No offense, New Jersey! You just...aren't my cup of tea, let's say. It was nice to get a reminder about how lucky we are to live in the perfect place for us. I hope everyone in New Jersey feels like they live in the perfect place, too.

Our computer died. I'm limping along now on a SLOW mini we got free from the cable company when we signed a 2 year contract. I'm really glad we have it as I don't know what I'd do totally cut off from the internet, but I really miss a grown-up computer.

So that's it. We'll see if I can get posts up more frequently!

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Bonus funny from N-man, that my facebook friends already saw in my status update: Out of nowhere he said the other day, "I have more ideas than my brain has space." I know how you feel, buddy!

And here's a bonus funny from B-man, that my facebook friends haven't seen yet: yesterday B-man called out to me from the bathroom, "Mommy!" I was worried something was wrong, so I hurried it. He held up his hand and said excitedly, "my thumb is shorter than my pinkie!" Okey dokey!

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Green tip for the day: Consider switching to a shampoo bar. Great on so many levels: no plastic container, smaller so it's easier to ship, no weird chemicals get added to the water supply (or your hair). I've been using Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint bar. It's less harsh than regular shampoo so it did take a few weeks for me to step up to using it full-time. I started out switching between regular shampoo and the bar every other day, then every 2 days, then shampoo only once a week. TK and I have both been using the bar full-time since January 1. I think my hair looks much better and healthier as a bonus. Plus, the bar is much cheaper than shampoo in the long run. I paid $5.99 for it, which is a bit more than I'd pay for a bottle of shampoo. But, we got this bar at the end of November, and it's only about half done. I'd have already used 2 bottles of shampoo by now! Store the bar in a closed travel soap dish so that it stays dry and lasts longer.

It was hard for me to find a shampoo bar. I finally located this one at Whole Foods. Let me know if anyone knows of any other stores that carry them! (Of course you can always find them online, too).

Well, I guess if you have a good excuse...

2010-02-08T14:28:00.003-05:00

I just reminded N-man he needed to clear his lunch dishes from the table. His response, very upbeat and happy, "Sure Mommy! I just need to save the world first!"

Then he ran away with a dun dun DA sound effect.

I wonder if Superman ever has to clear the table!

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We started baby Z-man on rice cereal this past weekend. Both big boys love to help feed him. Today all four of us needed baths after feeding Z-man! I remember solid foods being messy with the twins, but adding 2 four-year-olds into the mix ups the mess dramatically.

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Green tip for the day: As we're coming up on Valentine's Day, I'm going to go with my own little pet peeve: flowers. Aside from any environmental issues, let me be the first to admit that I've never really understood the desire to celebrate happy occasions by watching something beautiful die. I've always thought flowers were at worst rather depressing and at best a waste of money. But to each their own...I've even bought flowers in the past for people who I know would enjoy them.

In the past few years, though, I've been hearing more and more about the flower industry. They are heavy users of fertilizers and pesticides. They're flown in daily from around the world--not a lot of local flowers available in Boston in February! Basically, they're not very eco-friendly. Coincidentally, there's an article up about flowers on the Green Lifestyle blog today, too, so pop on over for more in depth info. I guess I'm not the only one with Valentine's Day on the brain!

But what if you really want flowers? Here are some alternate suggestions:

Get a potted plant, preferably locally-grown. At least a potted plant will live and be enjoyed for a long time, instead of just a week or so for cut flowers.
Give a gift certificate to a local nursery to buy flowers to plant in the garden come spring.
Build or buy a window box to fill with flowers in the spring.
Give a kitchen garden of pots of favorite herbs.
Give flower or vegetable seeds.
Give a framed photograph of flowers.
Turn pages of magazines, tissue paper, or other scrap paper into paper flowers. There are tons of instructions available online, and it would be a fun activity to do with kids.
Some CSAs offer flower shares, where you can pick flowers all summer long at a farm. Investigate to see if you can find one nearby. (Note: I don't know of any locally that you can purchase without being a member of the regular CSA. But it never hurts to ask!)
If you absolutely feel like Valentine's Day can't possibly be complete without cut flowers, look around for some eco-friendly flower options. You can find organic flowers, fair-trade flowers, and/or VeriFlora certified flowers.

And before I get labeled the grinch who stole Valentine's day, let me leave you with a really funny quote from the 30 Rock season 4 green week episode. If you don't watch 30 Rock, well, let me assure you it's hilarious. And here's just a little taste of why:

Jack: I love the earth. I have these blossoms flown in every morning from Sri Lanka on a private jet. That's the definition of green. And yet they force us to do more... more sacrifices. Why? For the children. What have children ever done for us?
Kenneth: Well, they make our shoes and wallets.

A dose of optimism

2010-02-04T15:16:00.003-05:00

Today Z-man was once again not-napping*, and I said to the big boys, "Wow, Z-man really isn't good at napping!"

B-man answered, "but he sure is good at smiling!"

And you know what? He is. How lucky am I that at least Z-man skips his naps so he can coo, smile, giggle, and be generally adorable?

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* Okay, I'm three kids deep now, and I think I can decisively say that my worst parenting skill is getting infants to sleep. Oh, I can do it: car trips, rocking, nursing, walking around holding them. But 2 out of 3 of my kids totally lack the ability to nap in a crib. If it wasn't for N-man, who was the world's greatest napper, I'd have a total complex. As it is, at least I'm not batting zero.

How long until Z-man is old enough not to need a nap? I can't wait!

Stove/oven/microwave-free food prep

2010-02-02T14:20:00.005-05:00

This week's Change the World Wednesday challenge over at Reduce Footprints was spurred by a green tip from my blog! Pretty neat, huh? Thanks, Small Footprints! Anyway, the challenge this week was:

This week, "plan an oven- and stove-free day, and no cheating and going out to eat! Have sandwiches, cut up fruit, veggies with dip, leftovers from a previous dinner that you can heat in the microwave**. Plan ahead and make a pasta salad you can eat cold for a few days. Have hummus, feta cheese, and spinach on a pita or wrap. There are tons of healthy, delicious meals you can have without having to turn on the stove! As an added plus, many of the meals are quick and easy to prepare!"

**I'd like to bump up What A Card's challenge ... how about including microwave-free, as well.

I thought I'd give some quick background on where this challenge came from. A few months ago, I filled out an online survey on National Grid's site about electricity usage. After you're done, it comes back with a ton of suggestions for conserving energy. Many were fairly obvious, and things I already do, like using a programmable thermostat. Some things were "we can't afford to do that" or "we're saving money to do that" items. But some were things I never thought of. Two of the recommendations were: "Cut weekly oven use in half by baking multiple dishes at the same time: potential savings per year of 292 lbs of CO2" and "Use the microwave instead of the oven: potential savings per year of 1752 lbs of CO2".

I cook a lot. I'm a stay at home mom, and I cook with my kids. Sometimes I'll make three hot meals a day. For dinner, I often have the oven *and* stove going. I love to cook, and I'm still going to do it, but this has made me more aware of my electricity usage related to food. I've been making an effort to reduce my oven and stove usage when possible. For example, I've found that instead of grilled cheese on the stove (which probably takes about 10 minutes), I can make open-faced toasted cheese sandwiches in the toaster oven (about 1 minute). So, this not only saves electricity, it also saves time, not to mention is healthier since it's not cooked in butter. I know that's not a no-electricity meal, but I've been looking for opportunities like this to reduce electricity usage.

So, here are some ideas I've had of meals to prepare without electricity:

Breakfast
Cereal
Fresh fruit
Granola bars
Yogurt
Baked goods that you cook the night before while you're already using the oven for dinner. For example, muffins, sweet breads, scones, etc.

Lunch
Sandwiches
Wraps
Fresh fruit
Raw veggies and dip
Salad
Cold pasta salad
Cole slaw
Cheese and crackers

Dinner
Same stuff as lunch

Here's what I made for dinner:

There's baba ganoush, ful medammes, and pita bread that we got at the farmers' market from Samira's Homemade. (As an aside for any locals reading this, that baba ganoush was the best packaged baba ganoush I've ever had!). I made a garbanzo bean salad on the side: 1 can of garbanzo beans, rinsed, a handful of diced tomatoes, juice and zest from half a lemon, and salt to taste (I used Borsari seasoned salt). It's best to let it marinate in the fridge overnight. We also had a simple salad of things we picked up at the farmers' market: spinach, arugula, grape tomatoes, with a few croutons and my favorite dressing, Cindy's Kitchen Wild Maine Blueberry. It was all delightful!

So what do you think, do you have any other meal ideas that don't require cooking?

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Green tip for the day: I'll leave you with another weird one from the National Grid recommendations: substitute buffalo for beef once per month for a potential yearly savings of 91 lbs of CO2. We don't eat much beef, and what we do eat I can source locally. I don't believe there's any local (to Massachusetts) buffalo, so I kind of wonder if the transportation would offset any CO2 reduction. But, I thought this was an interesting one, and I've heard buffalo is healthier than beef anyway, so I'll probably try swapping it from time to time.

Oh, and I guess a second tip is to check out the website for your electric or gas provider and see if they offer any energy-reduction tips. I found these pretty useful!

Reusable Cups

2010-01-26T11:41:00.004-05:00

Once again, I'm participating in Reduce Footprints' Change the World Wednesday challenge. This past week's challenge was:

This week only use reusable mugs/glasses. Yep ... for seven whole days, refuse anything that isn't reusable. Bring your own mug to your favorite coffee shop ... haul your own glass to the soda dispenser at the corner convenience store ... carry your own mug/glass to fast-food restaurants. If a drink comes in something that will be tossed out ... either don't buy it or use your own vessel.

Oh, I thought for sure I had this one in the (reusable) bag! We rarely eat a fast food restaurants. I gave up going out for coffee a few months ago (read about how I broke the habit here). My biggest problem is that most restaurants serve kid's drinks in plastic cups that get thrown away after one use. But I've long been taking those cups home to recycle or reuse, and try to bring them back if we're going to the same restaurant. I also got some good ideas here.

Then my husband and I decided to take the kids to Moe's for dinner one night this week. It was a special treat...we all like their Mexican food, and it's fast enough that the baby usually doesn't get upset and we can make it home in time for bedtime. I even brought the kids' cups from last time we were there. But Moe's is a fast food restaurant. The cups for adults are disposable. As a nursing mom, I'm thirsty CONSTANTLY. Skipping a drink just wasn't an option. So I got one. Challenge--FAIL.

Oh well, part of why I like these challenges is that they open my eyes and make me think about things. What did I learn this week? I'm a nursing mom, and it's irresponsible to go out without a drink. I have a reusable water bottle, and I need to be better about bringing it with me where ever I go. That way I won't be stuck somewhere, thirsty, needing to stop to buy a drink. Not only will this help me reduce the amount of garbage I generate, it will also help me save money so I'm not tempted to buy a drink whenever I get thirsty.

New England, You're My Home

2010-01-26T07:17:00.004-05:00

Jules, one of my co-writers at How Does Your Garden Grow recently turned me on to a blog that gathers together New England bloggers. All my fellow New England bloggers, you might want to check out the new button on my sidebar!

Anyway, today they're celebrating their 1 year anniversary (can you say "late to the party"? Oh well, I'm only a year late), and people are blogging about why New England is special to them.

I'm a transplant to the area. I grew up in Buffalo, a lovely place, but after college, I wanted to get out an explore a little. TK, my then boyfriend, now husband, was accepted to grad school in Georgia, so we decided to move to Atlanta. Georgia is also a lovely place, but after a year or so, it was clear that neither of us wanted to spend our lives there. I desperately missed winter; I complained bitterly about the unreasonable heat. I didn't find Atlanta to be pretty. The architecture was heavy on the 70's concrete and 90's McMansions, nothing like the surprising beauty of Buffalo architecture. There was no beautiful fall season where all the leaves were riotously colorful. Don't get me wrong--we lived there for 5 years, and enjoyed a lot of things about the area. But when TK graduated, I especially knew I wanted to move elsewhere. And I campaigned for the East Coast, DC or further north, where we could have some winter, and be closer to our families. Luckily, his favorite job offer was from a company in the Boston area. So in 2001, we were Boston-bound.

Pretty much as soon as we got here, I knew we were home. It just felt...right. We've got Boston, a great city, near enough to visit when we feel the need to explore an urban center. There are four BEAUTIFUL seasons: winter! Snow, snow, snow! Is there anything more beautiful than the clean white coating on the ground after a storm? And the trees when they're covered in snow! The cold air that feels so lovely to breathe...really wakes you up! I missed winter so much in Atlanta. Sure, by February or March I'm ready for spring--who isn't? But I'll never willingly give up winter again. Spring and summer are also beautiful here. We usually have a couple of days here and there of "too hot", but most days are temperate and comfortable. I don't have to hide inside all summer like I did in Atlanta! And autumn...what is there to say? Everyone knows there's nowhere more beautiful for fall leaves. Absolutely breathtaking!

And the Bah-ston accent--wicked hilarious! It makes me smile every time I hear it. Though I probably shouldn't talk about accents. I don't know what's wrong with my voice, but I've spent my whole life, including growing up in Buffalo, being asked where my accent was from. Just the other day someone asked me if I was from Wisconsin!

Ice cream stands all over the place--you've got to trust an area with a zillion ice cream stands. Believe me, I've lived in in other places, and you just don't have quite the plethora of ice cream choices.

Tons of museums, historical sites, parks: the greater Boston area is a fun place to explore, both for kids and adults. Beautiful beaches, touristy towns like Salem and Rockport that are so fun.

We've been here almost 9 years. A few months ago, we moved out to the boonies. We're kind of on the border now between the Boston 'burbs and Central Mass (or at least a lot closer to central Mass than we were before!) It's a whole new area for us to explore, and has more of that "small New England town" feel to the area. We still love the area--it's definitely home for us!

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I should also add, as I'm getting some new New England area visitors, that I write for a group blog focused on all the wonderful local food choices in New England. It's primarily a recipe site, so head on over to How Does Your Garden Grow if you're looking for some yummy in season recipes. We're always looking for new writers, so if you live in New England, have a passion for eating locally produced and grown foods and are interested in adding to the site, leave me a comment!

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I'm also editing to add a related green tip for the day: consider a local vacation next time you're looking to get away. Even better, consider a staycation as that will save even more gas and you won't have the need to stay in a hotel. No matter where you live, or how long you've lived there, I'm sure there are new places to discover and old favorites to revisit within an hour or two of your home!

Bejeweled Bl-addiction

2010-01-23T19:41:00.003-05:00

I play a fair amount of Bejeweled Blitz on facebook. I'm not that good, but with 1 minute games and two kids who like to watch me play, I'd say I get in 5 or 10 games most days.

Well, they're coming out with new features, and I'm finding it SUPER addicting. I mean, I'll play the entire 30 minutes I'm feeding Zach! I'm still not very good, but I've been playing so much, I "see" games in my head as I'm trying to fall asleep.

TK and I had just turned out the lights last night, and I said to him, "Oh no! I just made a mistake on the bejeweled blitz game I'm playing in my head!"

He burst out laughing. He's color-blind, and therefore really can't play Bejeweled Blitz so he doesn't understand the addiction. The only thing I could think to compare it to was tetris. Back in the day, he'd play tetris endlessly so I reminded him how you'd see boards of that in your head after you'd played for a while.

His response, "Yeah, I know what you mean. But I never make mistakes in the boards I play in my head!"

So what's your vote? Is it weird that even in my head, I'm not a great bejeweled blitz player? Or are you still hung up on how weird it is that I'm playing bejeweled in my head as I try to fall asleep?

Fess up...are you a bejeweled blitz fan?

__________________

Green tip for the day:

Use the backs of envelopes you receive to write your shopping lists, or whatever else you need scratch paper for. I've tried to minimize our junk mail and change as many bills as possible to paperless, but it still seems like we get at least one envelope a day. Rather than just recycling them, I figure I can get one more use as a shopping list, or a list of meal ideas for the week, or just as drawing paper for the kids.

SOLE food

2010-01-19T16:45:00.005-05:00

This week I'm participating once again in Reduce Footprints' Change the World Wednesday. The challenge this past week was:

This week, for seven whole days, read food labels and refuse to buy anything containing the following:

Hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils
High fructose corn syrup
Artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or preservatives
Bleached or bromated flour
Any ingredients that you aren't familiar with and/or can't pronounce

Following "food rules" has become somewhat trendy, thanks largely to Michael Pollan in my opinion. I'm still a fan of his "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants." advice. The Change the World Wednesday challenge rules this week really fall under the "eat food, not too much, mostly plants" umbrella, which I've been trying to do anyway as it just seems like a logical way to eat.

Anyway, this week's challenge is one I think is really important. Thanks, if we're being perfectly honest here, to my son's food allergies, I've become an avid label reader. (Yay, food allergies! See, it's not all bad. In my experience, people with food allergies in the family tend to eat more deliberately, and often healthier. I know our transition to a healthier diet was spurred in a large part by B-man's allergies!)

I think everyone should spend at least a week reading food labels. It can be an eye opening experience! Find out what those weird ingredients are, what they're made of, how they're manufactured.

While I love this week's challenge, I think those rules are covered by trying to eat SOLE food, which has been my aim. SOLE stands for Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical. No, there's no way to eat a 100% SOLE diet, or at least, no way for ME to do it. I'm sure someone could! But I'm all about the babysteps, so I try to hit at least one of those 4 points as often as I can. If you eat SOLE food, you're pretty much guaranteed to be following the rules of this week's challenge.

So what do those things mean? Here's some brief points:

Sustainable: food that is grown in a sustainable manner. For example, not a monoculture that saps the soil, not reliant on chemical fertilizers. Basically, farmed and produced in a manner that isn't actively destroying the planet. This is harder than you'd think.

Organic: The most well-known and defined of all the points, so I'm not going into much detail. However, I will say it's the least important to me. Many small farms can't afford organic certification. Both CSA's I've belonged to grow food organically but do not have organic certification. I'm also not completely opposed to IPM practices and buy quite a bit of locally grown IPM produce in the summer.

Local: Again, pretty well-known, and certainly well-discussed here and on the local New England blog I write for. I love there to be a relationship between me and a farmer; to actually see where my food is being produced. And even when that's not possible, a local food choice saves food-miles--the distance food is shipped. Eating locally also means eating in season, and let's be honest: in season food just tastes better. So really, that's no hardship. But, I'll never be a full-time locavore. I like coffee, and lemons, and chocolate. Bananas and avocado. Unless we move to Florida or Southern California, which we won't, I'm never going to be 100% local.

Ethical: This is what I actually think is the most important point, and at least for me, the most overlooked. How is our food produced? Are the workers subjected to dangerous conditions in slaughterhouses? Are they paid a living wage? Are the farmers applying excessive fertilizer that is running off into the ocean? Are the animals being treated humanely (even if you're not a big animal-rights activist, it's hard to ignore this after having seen Food, Inc.)? Do the fishing practices destroy the ocean floor? Are the rain forests being destroyed to clear land for the product you're buying? These are just a few of the ethical considerations raised. By trying to adhere to the S, O, and L, you eliminate many of these issues, but certainly not all.

Anyway, I don't have any answers. Just things I've been thinking about. And don't think for one second I'm claiming to be perfect, or passing judgment on those who can't or don't eat this way. I don't want to be hypocritical, but I've had to stop using my inability to commit 100% as an excuse. No, I'm not prepared, either time-wise or money-wise or food-choice-wise to eat a totally SOLE diet. However, this is another one of my small steps. Even one SOLE ingredient a meal is a good start. And I've found that as I become more cognizant of these issues, and try new types of food and new sources of food, it becomes easier and easier. My cupboards and refrigerator become stocked with better choices, and my repertoire of meals expands to include many in season, local choices.

Thank, Small Footprints, for another interesting, thought-provoking challenge!

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Green tip for the day: plan an oven- and stove-free day, and no cheating and going out to eat! Have sandwiches, cut up fruit, veggies with dip, leftovers from a previous dinner that you can heat in the microwave. Plan ahead and make a pasta salad you can eat cold for a few days. Have hummus, feta cheese, and spinach on a pita or wrap. There are tons of healthy, delicious meals you can have without having to turn on the stove! As an added plus, many of the meals are quick and easy to prepare! Have an idea for an energy-saving, no-stove/oven meal? Leave a comment!

Just like those 9 legged octopii

2010-01-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

I wouldn't say I'm a particularly big crazy magnet. I've got enough crazy all on my own, thank you very much! But being out with twins does seem to attract a particular kind of crazy.

I was out with all three kids at the supermarket yesterday. It wasn't going great, though mostly in a "everyone is acting nutty but at least not grumpy" kind of way. We had to take a rather extended potty break in the middle of shopping, and when we got out of the bathroom, there was a guy standing there, I'm guessing waiting for his wife who was the poor unfortunate person trapped in the bathroom with my nutty kids talking loudly about their potty-filling abilities.

"They twins?" he asked.

"Yep," I answered, trying to keep the kids moving. And failing miserably as all the Christmas clearance was in a bin right outside the bathroom.

"Have you heard about the octomom?"

"Yes," I answered. I'm in no mood to chat as we've been at the grocery store for approximately 2 days already, but I'm trying not to be rude. It is interesting, though. I think queries about octomom now exceed queries about Jon and Kate plus 8. Are other twin moms finding that as well?

"What'd she have? NINE kids at the same time?" he asked.

"Something like that," I answered in disbelief, wondering to myself why he thought she was called the OCTomom.

He talked more about that, right over my kids who were pointing out every santa hat and glittery thing they could find in the bin.

Then, out of no where, he busts out with some insane political stuff, about how Obama is ruining our country. Seriously, it went on and on. I wanted to ask, "You live in MASSACHUSETTS! Do you pull this crap just hoping to rile the liberals?" But I was finding him so hilarious that I was having trouble not laughing. So I gathered up the kids and hurried on our way, finding this crazy-encounter a little more amusing than just a normal run-of-the-mill, unremarkable nut. Thanks, strange man. Your mixed up, ill-informed insanity actually brightened my day.

Sometimes it's fun to be a crazy-magnet!

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Green tip for the day: I'll go with something grocery related since my post was about grocery shopping. Figure out a way that works for you so you don't forget your reusable bags. There are some models that fit in your purse so you'll always have them with you.

Here's what works for me: After I unpack my bags, I put them right in front of the door. Next time I go out, I put the bags on the front seat of my car. It looks a little messy, and of course I have to move them when TK and I are both in the car, but I always see them there and rarely forget to bring them in to the store!

Just keep an eye on your bagger or you might end up with this:

Why yes, that is all my groceries packed into about 10 plastic bags, that were then shoved into my reusable bags. I was distracted at the checkout by my kids, and didn't notice until I was taking my bags out of my cart to load into the car.

I figure the guy who packed them either didn't notice until the end that I had reusable bags, or really, really hates the environment.

I hope this never happens to me again, though I must admit, I found it somewhat hilarious to open up my reusable bags and just keep finding more and more plastic bags. It's like an environmentalist's nightmare! Luckily, I know where the local recycling drop off is for plastic bags :)

You'll never guess...

2010-01-07T20:29:00.003-05:00

At preschool, each kid has a day when they're the "superstar". On their superstar day, they get to take home the mystery bag, which we then fill with an item that starts with the letter of the week. Then the kid comes up with three clues about the item, and the class has to guess what it is the next day. It's a pretty fun thing they do!

So, yesterday N-man was the superstar. Tonight we went around the house looking for something that starts with the letter J, and he finally chose a jingle stick, one of those musical instruments with jingle bells attached to it. These are the clues he wanted me to write down:

It's a rocket
It has socks on it

I explained to him that we couldn't use those as clues since they weren't true. He answered, "Well, I don't want anyone to guess what's in the mystery bag." Hmm, I guess that's one way to keep people from guessing!

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B-man was the superstar on Monday, so he looked for a J item earlier this week. He comes back with a...DREIDEL. I tell him that it starts with a D, not a J. "No, you're *really* WRONG, Mommy! It's not DAY-del, it's JAH-raydel!" I feel bad, but I couldn't stop laughing. If you say it out loud, dreidel does kind of sound like JAHraydel. He wouldn't believe me, though. I finally looked it up on wikipedia for him, which luckily has a picture of the exact same dreidel he found. "Oh," was all he said, when he discovered dreidel doesn't start with a J.

For the record, he finally settled on a stuffed jaguar for mystery bag item.

I had a lot of fun with the mystery bag this week!
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Green tip for the day: whenever I throw something in the garbage or recycling bin, I take a second to think about if I really needed that item. I ask myself things like:

Could I have done without it? (Like the classic bottled water example when you can drink from the tap)
Is there an alternative that can be reused? (This is why I switched to cloth napkins and cloth towels, so we weren't throwing away so many paper napkins/towels)
Is there an alternative that uses less packaging (i.e., less to be thrown away or recycled)? (Such as buying larger bulk containers instead of individual packages)
Is there a way I can repurpose the item I'm throwing away? (I've been saving large yogurt containers and other similar sized plastic containers to start seedlings this spring. We also use them in the bath to rinse hair)
Is it possible that even if my town doesn't recycle the item, I can look around online to find a different way to recycle? (Such as dropping off used CFL bulbs at the hardware store, or finding a drop-off place for a used laptop battery)
Can the item possibly be donated/freecycled/or otherwise continue to be used? (I freecycled 11 mismatched coffee mugs, and got a TON of responses for them. I try to keep in mind that just because I don't want something doesn't mean it's trash!)

Some things I decide really are trash, and I really did need them and will continue using them. For example, I haven't found a convenient, affordable source of milk in glass bottles. So we have a lot of milk containers in our recycling bins. We still have at least 2 bags of trash each week, and 2 or 3 bins of recycling every two weeks. I'm trying to cut back on that, but the reality is that it will never be zero. I just like to make sure I'm being cognizant of our household trash/recycling!

Food Inc update

2010-01-06T19:37:00.002-05:00

In the past, TK has more endured than appreciated my efforts to change the way we eat. While he was generally supportive, there's been some eye-rolling and some comments that perhaps I was falling victim to propaganda. When he found out I snuck Food, Inc. to the top of our Netflix queue, he wasn't exactly overjoyed, though he did agree to watch it with me.

The next day, he came home from work and I asked what he'd had for lunch (there's an awesome cafeteria where he works). He had eggplant parmesan. Yum, I said. One of the other choices was pot roast, he admitted. That sounds even better than eggplant, I said. Yeah, but I kind of felt like I needed to eat vegetarian, he answered.

The Omnivore's Dilemma is now on his nightstand. He brought leftover bean soup for lunch today. I'm honestly shocked. I'd kind of resigned myself that he would never be really on board with trying to eat local and/or organic food. I'm pretty excited that he's becoming more aware of the problems with the food system.

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Green tip for the day: Can I recommend Food, Inc. again? Anyone who has seen it, I'd love to hear your opinion!

2010, I'm ready for ya!

2010-01-04T17:20:00.003-05:00

Good thing, as it's 4 days in already.

Okay, I wasn't going to do a "resolutions" list. Resolutions are on the outs, aren't they? So let's call these 2010 goals, though we all know it's just semantics. These are really resolutions in goal-flavored clothing. But what the hey.

First goal for 2010: Lose the baby weight! I've got about 10 lbs to get to pre-pregnancy weight, and, if we're being honest here, about another 10 to 15 lbs to go beyond that. But I'll just be happy with fitting in my pre-pregnancy clothes. I got EA Sports Active for the wii for Hanukkah, and just did day 1 today. Don't know how frequently I'll have time to do it...I'm sure not every day, but hopefully at least a few times a week. I know, indistinct, poorly-defined goals are doomed to fail, but with three kiddos, saying "I'll do it M,W,F" is doomed to fail, too.

Second goal for 2010: Figure out if we're saying "two thousand ten" or "twenty ten". Can we get a consensus, people?

Third goal for 2010: Continue taking babysteps toward a greener lifestyle. Lots of ideas here...they'll be popping up in my green tips at the end of my blog entries!

Fourth goal for 2010: Continue doing fun things with the family, remembering to really appreciate it and be thankful.

Fifth goal for 2010: I was going to say "blog more often", but it's already 4 days into the new year and this is my first entry. Still, I think I can do better than the 5 or so posts a month I've been averaging. A huge THANK YOU to those of you who have stuck around through my relative silence. And a promise here to be better about commenting, as I've slacked on that, too.

Sixth goal for 2010: Make an effort to get to know people out this way. It's amazing we've been here almost 5 months...I need to break out of my shell! Step one I think will be joining a local mom's club.

So, that's all I can think of now, though I know there's a lot of other things if I spent more time thinking. But have to work on actually getting these blog posts up, right? Otherwise how will I work on Goal 5?

Have any goals of your own for 2010? Have any ideas for me?

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Green tip of the day: Watch Food, Inc. Seriously. If you have Netflix, you can even stream it to your computer instead of waiting for it to come in the mail. I think it's important for people to be at least aware of the issue surrounding food in America, and then make their own decisions. Before I read The Omnivore's Dilemma (I'd also highly recommend to read this, but Food, Inc. covers a lot of the same ground, and somehow it's more powerful, at least for me, to see it rather than read about it), I didn't even know about many of the problems. I think Food, Inc. is a great place for people to start.

If you've seen Food, Inc., what did you think?

2009 Reading List

2009-12-31T10:13:00.005-05:00

Here it is, my 2009 reading list. I've put the books I'd recommend in bold, though some with reservations that I mention in my brief review. Jump to the end of the post if you just want to see my summary for the year!

December

13 Things That Don't Make Sense by Michael Brooks (This book examines 13 areas where science doesn't yet have answers, such as life, death, placebos, dark matter, and homeopathy. The book starts slow, which is a shame as it becomes much more interesting. Some of it really made me think and challenged assumptions I had, or opened my eyes to things I never thought about. I recommend it with reservations as it is really a science book, spending a lot of time discussing different studies. I did find it a bit of a slog at times, but still worth reading.)
Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham (I must admit I didn't have great hopes for this one. It's set in the universe of the Fables comics, and is about Peter Piper and the Pied Piper and Bo Peep. It turned out to be really engaging! The ending was a bit rushed in my opinion, but otherwise, it was great! I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed Wicked...you don't have to have read the Fables graphic novels. For the record, I thought Wicked was better than this, but Peter and Max was better than any of the other books by Maguire.)
Fables: Homelands (Fables, Volume 6) by Bill Willingham (I'm really enjoying this comic book series, though since having the boys I've only been reading it in graphic novel form, and I'm kind of behind. This volume opened with a so-so story about Jack going to Hollywood. However, the main part of the volume collected the story of Boy Blue fighting his way back to the homelands. Awesome story!)
The Hedge Knight (graphic novel) by George R. R. Martin (This is the graphic novel version of a short story I'd read many years ago in a Legends anthology. A Song of Ice and Fire is probably my favorite in-progress fantasy series, so it's no surprise I love this story set in the same world. I thought this worked very well as a graphic novel...thoroughly enjoyable! Now I just can't wait for the next novel in the series!)
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (I read this since I loved A Short History of Nearly Everything. This book was about Bryson traveling around England after living there for 20 years, right before moving back to America. I didn't find it that engaging. Some of the prose was wonderful, but in general, I found the book kind of whiny. But if you want to read endless descriptions of how bad architecture ruined England, knock yourself out)
Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K. Hamilton (yet another book I'm embarrassed to admit I've read...)
Evolution by Stephen Baxter (Wow, this is a book I should have abandoned. BORING! DEPRESSING! Yikes. May just have snuck in under the wire for "worst book I've read in 2009".)

November

Vegetable Gardening for Dummies by Charlie Nardozzi (I haven't tried to use any of this advice yet, so I can't really comment on how useful it is. But the book was clearly written...just the right level for a vegetable gardening dummy like me! I recommend with the reservation that I haven't tried to use any of the information in this book yet.)
A Model World and Other Stories by Michael Chabon (This was just okay. I love Kavalier and Clay so much that I think I have too high expectations. These stories were kind of blah. Trying to hard to be "literature" if you ask me! Not totally a waste of time, just nothing I'd recommend or reread.)
Fool by Christopher Moore (Very funny story told from the POV of King Lear's jester. Definitely up there with my favorite books by Moore!)

October

The Killing of Worlds (Succession #2) by Scott Westerfeld (Great conclusion to the story. Things started to become a little unbelievable that Zai's warship just kept surviving, but I was willing to suspend disbelief. Great series!)
The Risen Empire (Succession #1) by Scott Westerfeld (I wish that I could have read Westerfeld when I was in middle school. I've enjoyed pretty much all his books, and this was no exception. This is the kind of Sci-fi I usually don't like: set in outer space, in the distant future, with war as a main storyline, but I still loved this. This very well may be my favorite series by Westerfeld!)
Have You Found Her: A Memoir by Janice Erlbaum (This book tells the story of when the author volunteered at the homeless shelter where she had previously lived. She meets a young woman and becomes very attached and tries to help her improve her situation. The writing was pretty good, but I found myself not really liking any of the characters. And the end didn't really wrap it all up...darn that "true story" getting in the way--a novel would never have left me hanging!)
Couplehood by Paul Reiser (I forgot to bring a book to my inlaws, so was glad when I saw this on their book shelf. I had read Parenthood a few years back, and found it to be an amusing diversion. Unfortunately, I didn't find Couplehood nearly as funny. Not terrible, but I wouldn't recommend it).

September

Baby 411 by Denise Fields and Ari Brown (The only baby book I'm rereading so far. I love this book for practical, general baby advice written in an engaging manner. My favorite of all the baby-advice books, of which I read approximately 1 zillion before B-man and N-man were born!)
Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon (Hmmm, hitting a slump with some of my favorite authors. Chabon made an interesting choice here to cash in all his 50 cent words. It was interesting stylistically, but sometimes was overly stilted (plus way too many words I had to look up! And I consider my vocabulary fairly robust!). The actual plot was fairly engaging, he just lost me with the style choices. So I'm giving this one a mixed review.)
You Suck by Christopher Moore (Didn't love this one, but when I mentioned it to a friend, she pointed out that it's a sequel to a book I haven't read. Oops! And since my biggest complaint was that it seemed to pick up mid-story, without adequate character development, perhaps the main problem is with me not reading Bloodsucking Fiends first. They should really put some kind of note somewhere on the cover that tells you it's a sequel! Even after I knew, I scoured the whole book...front cover, back cover, inner flaps, title page, etc, and couldn't find any mention that it's a sequel!)
So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld (I really enjoy his books for the most part, and this was no exception. For a change, this wasn't a dystopian story. It was set in the present, and dealt with consumerism and how things are deemed "cool". Really enjoyed this!)

August

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (I've read this book a million times already and will probably read it a million more. I just love it! It was my "relax" book at the hospital when I was there having lil' Z-Man. One of my very favorite books ever!)
My Custom Van by Michael Ian Black (a collection of very short humor essays. Some were laugh-out-loud funny (i.e., "Hey David Sedaris--Why Don't You Just Go Ahead and Suck It", "When I Finally Get Around to Building My Robot, This is What It Will be Like", and the title story to name a few), but others fell flat. As a whole, the book was slightly uneven, but still worth a read.)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith (The idea is hilarious; I appreciate that. Some parts were really cleverly done. Overall, though, I thimk the story would have been improved if he stayed more true to the characters.)
Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman by Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden, and Stephen R. Bissette (First, I think this book is primarly aimed at people who are far bigger Gaiman fans than me. I mean, I love his work, but don't have a ton of interest in minutia of his life/work. Having said that, there were some really interesting parts of this book, and some I just skimmed. While I'm not sure I would have read this if all my other books hadn't been packed, I'm glad I spotted it on the "new non-fiction" shelf at the library!)
Fluke, Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore. (I LOVED this one! A great mix of sci-fi and environmentalism, with plenty of unexpected twists and turns. Awesome!)
Tomorrowland: 10 Stories About the Future, edited by Michael Cart (I have a soft spot for books about the future written 10+ years ago, and some of my favorite children's/YA authors are represented in this volume. I found a few stories great, especially The Last Dog by Katherine Paterson. Some stories were forgettable, and a few were "I wish I could forget them". So a somewhat uneven collection, but still worth reading in my opinion since it is YA and not a big time investment!)
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (I loved this book...not sure why it took me so many years to pick it up! Perfect blend of fun/interesting/thought-provoking in an easy-to-read bundle.)

July

Harry Potter, books 1-7 by J. K. Rowling (We've packed most of our books, and I'm not buying anything new until after we move, so I grabbed these to reread. They're still great! I read book 7 right before the boys were born, so I thought it was fitting to reread the series right before this new baby is due!)
Olive Ktteridge: A novel in stories by Elizabeth Strout (Outstanding! Truly loved this. Found the connect short story structure to work very well here.)
Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood (This is a non-fiction book. Normally, I'm SOOO in love with her writing, and I must say I wasn't so struck with the prose here. But, it was still an interesting book, and I loved the last chapter that dealt with a lot of environmental issues of debt. Not what I expected, but interesting!)
Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich (Not great literature, but I'm still really enjoying this series! I don't care that it's formulaic. I still find it fun!)
Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk (I enjoyed this more than some of his other more recent books, but the ending was pretty disgusting, and the rest of the book wasn't *that* great. Too much shock, not enough greatness to make it worthwhile.)
Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake #17. Not horrid, but I'm not sure why I can't just give this series up.)

June

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut (a reread for me. Enjoyable book, though not my absolute favorite by him. Still a good book by Vonnegut is better than a great book by most other authors!)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Amazing! Loved this novel! It was so incredibly structured, and the story unfolded so beautifully. I was the teeniest, tiniest bit disappointed in the end (felt it was a bit of a quickie neat wrap-up), but it's still one of the best books I've read this year!)
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow (Some parts of this were amazing, some were boring. Overall, though, it made me think and is there really any higher praise? Reviewed by me here on The Book Nook.)
The Shaktra (Alosha book 3) by Christopher Pike (The best of the series, and the most annoying as it didn't finish the story! It was published a few years ago, and the next book still hasn't come out. Annoying!)
The Yanti (Alosha book 2) by Christopher Pike (Better than the first book in the series. I started getting more into the story in this novel.)
Alosha by Christopher Pike (Alosha book 1) (Not bad. YA about a girl who discovers creatures from a hidden world. Characters were somewhat unlikable, but the story was good).
Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books by Aaron Lansky (A non-fiction book about preserving Yiddish books. Not quite as "Amazing" as the title claims, but still interesting).
Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore (Very good. Not quite as wonderful as Lamb, but still entertaining.)
Moon Called (Mercedes Thompson book 1) by Patricia Briggs (A book about werewolves. Again, not the most shining example of prose, but a fun light quick read. I'll definitely look for the other books in the series. Recommended only for fans of the genre).
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black (I've been woefully behind in reading YA fiction recently, so I spent some time in the YA section of the used book store and this is what I walked out with. I'm not going to claim it was incredible, but it was a quick read and enjoyable throughout. Not great, but good enough that I'd keep my eyes out for other books by this author!)

May

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire (I loved Wicked. Let me just get that out of the way. But I've been disappointed by every other one of his books I've read. This was no exception...not terrible, but still disappointing. Not great, many slow sections, annoying unfinished ending. Eh.)
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (Well, it was no Omnivore's Dilemma, but interesting nonetheless. I'm glad I read it, but I think my expectations were too high.)
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (the 9th volume in the Southern Vampire series. Better than the last book, but still not quite as strong as the earlier books. I felt like this was a bit of a "clean up" book, getting rid of extraneous characters and plot points. We'll see where book 10 goes!)
What is the What by Dave Eggers (very interesting novel based on the true story of one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. Touching and truthful.)
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Loved, loved, loved! Reviewed on The Book Nook by me here)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore (Loved it! Funny, well-written, engaging, amusing! Here's my review on The Book Nook.)
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon (Hmm, I'm admittedly in love with Chabon, but I must say that this was my least favorite of his books. Still readable, but not WOW like some of his others.)
Other People's Weddings by Noah Hawley (Wow, terrible editing in this novel...so many typos! That aside, it was an okay book. I don't feel it really captured the voice of a woman, but what do I know? It was a quick enough read. Not terrible.)

April

Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs edited by John Bowe, Marisa Bowe, and Sabin Streeter (Very interesting. Some of the interviews were depressing, some were uplifting. The only thing I would have liked was some kind of summing up or conclusion to the book. I wrote a review on the Book Nook.)
The Host by Stephanie Meyer (I've publicly criticized the Twilight series quite frequently, so let me give credit where credit is due: The Host is surprisingly readable and enjoyable. It isn't my favorite book ever, but I really enjoyed it!)
The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde (I don't know why, but I find this series kind of annoying. While I loved his Thursday Next series, this one is lackluster).
Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich (Okay, so it's probably more "based on a true story" than actual non-fiction. And it had some of the most ridiculously and unintentionally hilariously bad metaphors. But still a very interesting read, despite (and sometimes because of) those weaknesses.)
Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan (Not her best, but certainly not bad. Slightly slow read, though, but I'm glad I read it.)
Talk Talk by T. C. Boyle (kind of dull for a thriller, but not terrible. He uses language wonderfully, which is all that saves this book for me. The book just wasn't great, though. The most lovingly crafted, engaging character was the "villian", while the "good guys" were pretty annoying. Maybe that was the intent, but I just didn't love it.)

March

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (I started this book a few times and couldn't get into it because I was so turned off by the narrator, Amir. However, after about 80 pages, I was hooked and so enjoyed the rest of the novel! Very glad I finally got through the beginning!)
An Ice Cold Grave (Harper Connelly Mystery, Book 3) by Charlaine Harris. (I wasn't crazy about the turn this book took with Harper's love life. But it wasn't terrible. However, as with some other series, I'm already feeling the "why does everything go wrong with her life" feeling. I'll check out the next book, but might drop this series eventually.)
Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly Mystery, Book 2) by Charlaine Harris. (I am enjoying this series so far, about a woman who was struck by lightening and can now sense dead bodies. However, I'm just not finding Harper as engaging as Sookie. I'm not sure if it's fair to compare an author's series, but what can I do?)
Grave Sight (Harper Connelly Mystery, Book 1) by Charlaine Harris. (I've loved Harris's other series, Southern Vampires, so I picked these up. This was pretty good, though not quite as great as the other series.)
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (I didn't dislike this book, but I did find it slow. I didn't feel very captured by any of the characters or the story, so it was never pressing for me to pick it up. I'm glad I read it, though, but honestly didn't love it.)
The Alienist by Caleb Carr (A murder mystery set in the late 1800's. Very interesting and entertaining. I'd definitely recommend!)
The Bitch in the House: 26 Women Tell the Truth About Sex, Solitude, Work, Motherhood, and Marriage, ed. by Cathi Hanauer (There were a few really interesting essays, and a number of okay ones, and too many far too annoying/whiny/obnoxious ones. I'd pass on this book.)
Personal Demon (Women of Otherworld, Book 8) by Kelley Armstrong (Another enjoyable installment in the series. This one focused on an undercover half-demon. There were some good twists and it was fun through and through).

February

Sister of the Dead (Noble Dead Book 3) by Barb Hendee and J. C. Hendee (Okay. Enjoyable, but just somehow not totally grabbing me)
Thief of Lives (Noble Dead Book 2) by Barb Hendee and J. C. Hendee (Pretty good series so far, though I'm not exactly compelled to read it. I'll continue to keep an eye out at used bookstores, though).
Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats by Steve Ettlinger (Not terrible, but kind of a slog to get through.)
Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston (What a disappointment! Just a standard sci-fi-ish medical thriller. The writing was lackluster, the plot far less intriguing than the original short story. Eh).
No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong (Women of Otherworld book 7. This is one of my favorites to date. I really enjoyed Jaime as the narrator. She's a fake TV spiritualist and real necromancer. Kind of dippy and fun.)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson (This book ping-ponged between totally awesome and snooze-inducing boring. Way, way, WAY too long. Far too much philosophy and talking for my taste. If you're going to read something by Stephenson, try Cryptonomicon, one of the greatest books ever, or even Snow Crash for more silly fun sci-fi. This was just eh. I reviewed it on the Book Nook.)
Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (Okay. I reviewed on the Book Nook site. Two-dimensional characters, a disappointing lack of plot beyond "Emma gets a guy", very little redeeming about this book. And yet surprisingly readable. In my opinion, this is a true guilty pleasure book. Read it fast and don't think too much about it and you'll like it just fine! I'd recommend skipping it, though.)
Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. Mackinnon (I found it an odd combination of interesting and off-putting. Loved the eat local stuff: some of the challenges, the successes, the stories, the failures. But there were odd sections where they interspersed things about their own failing relationship. It ranged from boring to disturbing to unlikable. So in the end, I'm lukewarm about this one.)

January

The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer (A thriller. It held my attention and had an interesting premise (a search for the "book" of lies, related to the Mark of Cain). The end, as with the end of most thriller, was vaguely disappointing, and some of the characters felt forced or poorly developed, but overall, it was very readable.)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate (Season 8, Volume 3. I'm totally loving this. Love, love, love. I have to pull out my Buffy DVDs. This did have one major plot twist that took me by surprise, and I'm not sure yet what I think, but I still LOVED it! Boy, I'm geeking out hard this year with the books I'm reading!)
The Tent by Margaret Atwood (She is simply the most beautiful writer, and this collection of short stories is a perfect example of why. Each story is a little gem, only a page or two long, but so full. Stunning!)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You (Season 8, Volume 2. Again, quite enjoyable, though I wish it was on TV rather than a graphic novel!)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home (Season 8, Volume 1. I'm a huge Buffy fan, and I love graphic novels. I don't know what took me so long to read this! It was good, though it made me sad there was no Season 8 on TV.)
Shakespeare's Kitchen by Lore Segal (I'm of two minds about this book. Some was wonderful, most...wasn't. 1st: it's a series of interconnected short stories. But it reads more like a lazy author who couldn't connect a full novel. In the intro, she explains that it's more like real life, but no. It's not. It's a cop out, and the explanation sounds like an apology. It's an interesting premise, about how Ilka, the main character, builds a new life in a new town. As someone who has relocated, it is an interesting experience. But I just didn't love this one.)
Broken by Kelley Armstrong (Book 6 in the Women of Otherworld series. This went back to the narrator from books 1 and 2, Elena, the only female werewolf. In this book, she's pregnant and in danger from Jack the Ripper, who arrived via a time portal. Kind of a stretch, and my least favorite so far of the series. But still readable.)
Haunted by Kelley Armstrong (Book 5 in the Women of Otherworld series. Okay, I was very thrown by the narrator, Eve, who is a witch who has been dead for the entire series. This is about her afterlife! But once I accepted the premise and went with it, I really enjoyed it.)
Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong (Book 4 in the Women of Otherworld series. Very good. This book was narrated by the witch Paige, same as book 3. This is probably my favorite in the series so far.)
Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong (Book 3 in the Women of Otherworld series. I'm really enjoying this series. I was a bit hesitant about this one...she changes the 1st person narrator to another minor character from the second book. But I got used to it, and enjoyed the story!)
World War Z by Max Brooks (Okay. I have this thing about novels with footnotes...it's a NOVEL. You've written it BADLY if it needs footnotes! But it kind of made sense in the structure of this book (told as vignettes of many different people's experiences). All in all, it was okay. Not my favorite post-apocalyptic book. Heck, not even my favorite zombie apocalypse book. But okay.)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illustrations by Dave McKean (Great! Really enjoyable YA book!)

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In summary, total books read this year: 89
Total number of books I enjoyed and would recommend: 48. A little more than half. Not too shabby.

Favorite books of the year: The Tent by Margaret Atwood, Lamb by Christopher Moore, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, and Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.

Least favorite, avoid at all costs, books I read this year: Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston (and if you know just how huge an Orson Scott Card fan I am, you'll know how much it pains me to say this!) and Evolution by Stephen Baxter.

Most exciting authors I've just started reading this year: Christopher Moore and Kelley Armstrong (okay, fine, I read the first two novels in her series last December, but I'm still counting it as 2009 since that's when I read the bulk of her work). How did I miss them before?

Like last year, I was struck once again by just how much non-fiction I read. Two of my four favorite books this year were non-fiction, and there were many others I really enjoyed. I think I may have to start listing non-fiction, especially science or math based, as one of my favorite genres!

So, what were your favorite or least favorite books of 2009? Post a link to your own "year in review" if you keep a book list!

And of course, my eternal request: any books to recommend to me? Happy 2009, happy 2010!

Have yourself a very geeky Christmas

2009-12-21T09:27:00.003-05:00

N-man was looking at the ornaments on our tree and said, "Mommy! This is DARK Vader!"

I told him, "Yep, but it's DARTH Vader. He's a bad guy."

N-man's answer, "I know that Mommy. I've known that since before I was born."

Proof that geekiness is part nature, part nurture.

________

So, N-man calls Darth Vader "Dark Vader", which makes me giggle. But even funnier is that B-man call Yoda "Yoga". I can't wait until they're old enough to watch Star Wars!

________

Green tip for the day: Add one more vegetarian meal to your week. Veggies are generally better for the environment than meat: use fewer resources to produce, create less waste, etc. This is especially true if you choose local and/or organic vegetables. Alternately, if you have a really committed carnivore in the house, start moving toward meals where meat is used sparingly. For example, I make bean and chicken quesadillas that only use 1 chicken breast for the whole family. Or a homemade pasta sauce that uses about 1/4 lb of ground meat. Or pumpkin waffles with one slice of bacon each on the side.

As an added plus, this is another green tip that should save you some money!

Cookies! Cookies! Cookies!

2009-12-14T10:56:00.004-05:00

I made a cookie tray for TK's work holiday party. I tried a lot of new recipes this year...it was awesome to use my new stand mixer. I'm in love :)

If anyone is interested, I posted the recipes over on See MoMmy Cook. The brown sugar-brown butter shorties especially stand out as a new favorite for me! For anyone who likes to cook, See MoMmy Cook is a recipe blog put together by a couple of parents of twins from my local twins club to share our go-to recipes. I've been getting a lot of new meal ideas there!

So what cookies have you made this year?

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Green tip for the day: Turn off the heat dry setting on the dishwasher. It only takes me an extra minute or two to run a dish towel along the tops of the glasses before I unload the dishwasher.

A grand year

2009-12-07T12:55:00.005-05:00

So, today it's my birthday. I'm one of those people who are pretty neutral about birthdays--I certainly don't dread them, and I've never understood people who get depressed that it's their birthday. But I don't need a huge celebration, either. It is a good time to reflect, though, and my 34th year was a pretty good one:
* A few weeks after my birthday last year, I found out I was pregnant
*Lil' baby Z-man was born this summer
*We moved into our forever-home (or at least our "we have no plans to move out of home")

Add in the incredible N-man and B-man, and the amazing TK, and 34 treated me pretty well!

This year also marked an interesting milestone for TK and me. We started dating when I was 17 years old, so I've now officially been with him for more than half my life. That's kind of crazy! I'm so lucky to have met my perfect match.

TK and the boys got me a stand mixer for my birthday. Yippee! I've wanted one for years and I'm really excited. So if any of you have any nut-free cookie recipes you'd like to share, bring them on! Or any other recipes I can use my stand mixer for. I'm just in a holiday cookie making mood :)

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Green tip for the day: Use a travel container for your soap in the shower. Make sure you dump all the water out before you put the top back on and the soap will dry out between showers. Your soap will last MUCH longer this way, and therefore you won't need to buy as much soap.

In general, I'm a fan of bar soap over liquid soap since liquid soap comes in plastic bottles. But it's getting easier and easier to find natural, plant-based soap, both bars and liquids. I'm a big fan of the Method liquid soap, which is much easier for potty-training-kids to use to wash their hands well than a bar soap would be. I like Method since it's affordable, easy to find in regular grocery stores, and the refills are also relatively easy to find as well (I get them at Bed Bath and Beyond). Anyone have a favorite eco-friendly bar soap to recommend? I'm still searching...

What they're thankful for

2009-12-04T14:00:00.004-05:00

We just got from preschool a cute project the kids did before Thanksgiving. They made handprint turkeys, and the teacher asked each of them what they're thankful for. Here's what my kiddos said:

B-man: Mommy lets me make lunch and breakfast and dinner, too!

Isn't that sweet? It sounds like I have him working as a short-order cook! Really, I think it is sweet. Frequent readers of my blog know I spend a lot of time cooking with the kids (mwah ha ha!!), so it's heartening to see that B-man is growing to love cooking just like me!

N-man: Winter! Make snowman! I can put a nose in it! Throw snowballs and sometiems I get it in my face, in my eye so I can't see!

Yes, the teacher really did transcribe it with all those exclamation points. I'm sure that's exactly how N-man said it. He loves winter, again, just like mommy. Though he really does get pissed if any snow gets in his face. Yikes! Sledding is right out with him.

On a related note, at the beginning of the school year, the teachers helped the kids make a class book about families. One of the questions was "Why do you love your family?" Here are their answers:

B-man: cuddling and TV

Hmmm, really? TV? Ah well...

N-man: because mommy is soft and daddy has lots of hair.

Hee!

These kids crack me up!

______________________

Okay, another green tip. Here are some green tips about laundry, starting slow and working your way up. As always, take what works for you, make your own small steps...

1) Watch out for the packaging of the detergent. Ditch the plastic bottles, or at the very least buy the largest size you can instead of lots of little plastic bottles.

2) Choose eco-friendly, plant based detergent. Currently, I'm using the Trader Joe's powdered laundry detergent. It comes in a big box, that even with 3 kids (and diaper laundry!) seems to last forever. The smell isn't weird like some of the perfume/dye free detergents tend to have, and it adequately cleans clothes. I'm not 100% in love with it, though, and may shop around a bit more once this box runs out. Besides being environmentally-friendly, the TJ's detergent is actually LESS expensive than what I was paying for All before I made the switch. Now that's a win!

3) Set your washer to use cold water. Sure, sometimes the boys' clothes don't get perfectly stain-free, but who cares? Those become play shirts, and really, pretty much all they do is play so those clothes are just fine to jump in leaf piles and paint and run around. For the most part, our laundry comes out stain-free even using cold water. My only exception is the sanitize cycle I use for diapers...no way am I washing those in cold water :)

4) Ditch the dryer sheets. Oh yeah, I'm going there even though it's coming into static-season. Besides being bad for the environment, there are some compelling claims that they're bad for your health. I know they're an asthma-trigger for me! If you must, get eco-friendly dryer sheets, or google around for other static reducing techniques. My best advice: wear a lot of cotton (doesn't get as staticky in my experience), and don't over-dry clothes.

5) Consider upgrading to a high efficiency front loader washer. It uses far less water than a top loader. If you're paying for water, it will eventually pay for itself in water savings. It also spins more of the water out of the clothes, so you're using less energy to dry them. You only need to use half as much detergent as a top loader, so that's another savings. A front loader dryer is less important, though I love the sensor-dry feature on ours that turns off the dryer as soon as it senses the clothes are dry. Sometimes it takes only 30 minutes to dry a load! But if I had to pick just one, I'd definitely go with the washer.

6) Don't use a dryer at all--hang clothes to dry. I haven't been able to commit to this...it's really a lot more work. We don't have a good spot indoors to dry clothes, our basement is very damp, and it's too cold out now to do it outside. But I'm just throwing it out there. It sure would be more eco-friendly. Maybe I'll give it a go this coming summer. If anyone has successfully ditched the dryer, let me know how you find it!

So what other laundry tips do you have to share?

He's got my sense of humor

2009-11-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

Here's the joke B-man told me today:

B-man: Knock knock
Me: Who's there?
B-man: Knock knock
Me: Who's there?
B-man: NO! You say, knock knock who.
Me: Oh. Knock Knock who?
B-man: Knock Knock
Me: Knock knock who?
B-man: NO NO NO! That's the joke! I just say knock knock.

Then he laughed for ten minutes.

Yep, definitely my sense of humor.

________________

Green tip: ditch the veggie bags. I find I don't really need them as I buy veggies on a need-to-use basis for the most part so I'm not really buying huge quantities of the same thing. Do I really need a bag for 2 lemons or a rubber banded bunch of asparagus? And for those times when I do need a bag (loose berries, anyone??), I throw it in my purse when I'm done with it to reuse next time I need a vegetable bag at the grocery store.

How I finally broke the coffee habit

2009-11-24T11:45:00.000-05:00

So, over the past few years I've developed this bad habit: going out for coffee. It seems so innocuous at first, a good cheap pick-me-up treat. But here's why it was bothering me:
1) It's expensive. Sure, it's just a few bucks here and there, but it adds up, especially if I'd go three or four times a week.

2) It's not healthy seeing as I'd get sugary drinks or add a thousand sugars to regular coffee. Too many empty calories wasn't doing anything to help me drop the baby weight.

3) It's bad for the environment. Idling in drive-thrus, forgetting reusable cups, using straws and coffee stirrers and individual packets of sugar.

I knew all this, but I was still having trouble breaking the habit of going out for coffee. So I linked it to something else I wanted to do: switch to organic milk. As anyone who reads my blog knows, I'm a big fan of organic and locally grown food. However, I'm a bigger fan of not living beyond our means. In other cases, I've been able to make choices. For example, humanely raised meat is far more expensive than regular meat, so I control costs by eating a lot less meat. I buy in-season fruits and veggies, which tend to be less expensive than out-of-season. But we drink a lot of milk. Switching to organic milk adds about $40-$50 a month to our grocery bill. I love milk, the kids love milk, and I use a lot of milk for cooking and baking. Cutting back on our milk consumption wasn't really a valid option for us.

So I linked the two in my head (and budget!). Cutting out all the coffee stops easily freed up an extra $50 a month. I've been doing it for almost two months now, so I think it'll stick. I feel good...we switched to organic milk, I broke the out-for-coffee habit, and I kept our budget in line! Win-win-win!

And I should admit, it's not that I'll NEVER get coffee out again. I mean, I still pop out occasionally with a friend, or grab a coffee with TK on a weekend while we're out and about. But now it's a special treat, something I do once every couple weeks rather than nearly every day.

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I'm thinking of including related or unrelated "green tips" at the end of my posts from time to time. Who knows if I'll keep it up or not, but it's just something that I've been thinking of. As I've mentioned numerous times before, I'm a fan of small steps. I make little changes, because it's relatively easy and eventually, enough little changes add up to big changes. Anyway, feel free to use 'em or not...I'm pretty non-judgmental about it all. What works for me and my family might not work for y'all. I'm just getting them out there! And please, share the green tips that have worked for your family, too!

Okay, here's my first tip: when we make coffee at home, there's usually some left in the pot. Instead of just dumping it down the drain, we've started freezing it into ice cubes. Then I can use them to make DELICIOUS homemade frappuccinos! Just add some coffee ice cubes, milk (or half and half if you're feeling wild), and a few teaspoons of sugar to a blender, and blend until the ice is well-crushed. To make it extra special, drizzle some chocolate syrup down the sides of a clear glass, then pour in the frappuccino. Looks pretty, tastes yummy! You could also use the cubes to cool down hot coffee without watering it down. I bet it would also make an interesting Baileys or Kahlua on the coffee-rocks :) I can't verify that until I've weaned Z-man, but you better believe I'm going to be trying it next fall!

See, pretty painless, right? Just finding a use for a common leftover in our house and getting into the habit of being aware of food waste. Plus, making these coffee frappuccinos once every week or two keeps me from missing my coffees out too much!

Of dragons and dreams

2009-11-17T08:11:00.003-05:00

The big boys and I were sitting around, playing with a "magic wand", pretending to turn each other into things. N-man said, "I don't need a magic wand. I don't want to be anything but what I am. And I'm a dragon."

He said it with such confidence and matter-of-factness. He's totally happy to be himself, which today happens to be a dragon.

___________

This reminds me of the very first time I got on the internet (I mean the kind of internet kids today would find recognizable). It was 1995 or early 1996. That school year TK and I lived a thousand miles away from each other while he was in his first year of grad school and I was finishing up my senior year of college.

Let's be clear...I'd used the internet before that. Email was already a favored form of communication, and TK and I kept our phone bills down by chatting online. I'd browsed around text-based discussion groups, joining conversations on a whole slew of insane (and inane) topics. My roommate in college was actually one of the very early trolls, posting inflammatory comments and reveling in the attention it brought. And yes, in real life she was just like you'd expect from someone who trolls, though that's a story for a different day.

I'm talking about my first time browsing websites. It was a much different web back then. Many websites were cobbled together by techies and geeks with various degrees of proficiency. The results were often intentionally, or better yet unintentionally, hilarious. I went down to visit TK, and while he had class, I played around on his computer, taking advantage of the ethernet connection in his dorm room. In a very first glimpse of the time-suck the internet would become, I killed an hour and a half surfing the web.

One website I came across has stuck with me all this time. It was a loving tribute to dragons, put up by some guy who really, really liked dragons. The highlight of the page was a fairly long essay this person wrote about how awesome dragons are. The conclusion really sold it, though. I still remember it: "Do I want to be a dragon? Stupid question. Of course I do."

I love it. The way it completely misses the reason why it's a stupid question. Though to be honest, I suspect that if I ever met this guy, we'd get on great. And more and more often, I'm beginning to suspect this is how N-man is going to be. No, I don't mean a colossal dragon-loving nerd, but someone whose brain works a little off-kilter of everyone else's, but he remains blissfully unaware of it.

It's so amazing to watch the kids grow and develop their different personalities. B-man is also growing into an amazing little person, though in a completely different way. That'll have to be a topic for a different day if I ever hope to get this posted.

For now, though, I'm done feeding the baby and off to play with the big kids. For today, am I a dragon? Stupid question. Of course I am.

The parenting book of superlatives

2009-11-10T19:12:00.003-05:00

Forget an instruction manual, new parents should be given a book of superlatives to study up for when they have preschoolers!

Here's how my day goes:
Kiddo 1 or 2: "Mommy, what is the biggest animal?"
Me: "The Blue Whale".
Kiddo 1 or 2: "Mommy, what's the biggest animal that isn't in the ocean?"
Me: "An elephant"
Kiddo 1 or 2: "What about dinosaurs?"
Me: "Well, dinosaurs are extinct. There are none that live on Earth anymore. But the biggest dinosaur was the Argentinosaurus."
Kiddo 1 or 2: "Was it bigger than a blue whale?"
Me: "Nope! The blue whale is the biggest ever!"
Kiddo 1 or 2: "What's the biggest fish in the ocean?"
Me: "The Whale Shark"
Kiddo 1 or 2: "It eats tiny food!"
Me: "Yep!" [Don't think we haven't read a number of books about whale sharks!]
Kiddo 1 or 2: "What's the biggest bird?"
Me: "An Ostrich"
Kiddo 1 or 2: "No, no, I mean a bird that can *fly*!"
Me: "Google to the rescue!" [Appears to be some type of albatross, if we're not including extinct birds]

Seriously, I'm going to know the "biggest" of everything! And I'm sure soon they'll be asking "smallest", too. I think I need to bust out a nature section of a Guinness Book of World Records...

Unintentional Best New Insult

2009-11-09T19:16:00.002-05:00

Today N-man waved his magic wand and said to TK, "I turned you into a pink monkey ball".

Now, N-man was definitely thinking of a bouncy ball, but I don't care. This is my newest insult...you're a pink monkey ball! It works as an expletive, too: Pink Monkey Balls!

I'm ridiculously easily amused.

Dratted Time Change!

2009-11-02T11:11:00.003-05:00

N-man came into our bedroom at 5:30 this morning. He happily exclaimed, "It's MORNING!" I, who had just gotten into bed 15 minutes earlier after being up with Z-man for well over an hour replied grumpily, "No it's not. Go back to bed."

N-man went over to TK and said just as happily, "Daddy, It's MORNING. Mommy says it isn't but she's wrong. I see the sun."

Daylight savings time, I say, shaking my fist in the air.

Consumerism finally strikes

2009-10-30T06:56:00.001-04:00

I don't know how we did it, but N-man and B-man have never been big into the "I want it"'s. Besides the occasional whine of "MOOOOOOOOM!!!! I want a LOLLIPOP!" they rarely get the gimmies.

If I knew how we did it, I'm sure I could patent it. But I'm pretty sure we just got lucky with two kids who just don't have a big yen for material possessions.

Until now.

We got one of those catalogs filled with crazy junk. As an aside, one of the worst things about moving is getting back on the mailing lists for every catalog in existence. And this catalog was extra annoying because you can only call during the day to cancel it. So, I left it open sitting on the kitchen table to call the next day during business hours.

On the facing page was apparently the most enticing product ever. Here is the conversation that ensued when B-man saw it:

B-man: Mom! Look! There's a piggy bank shaped like pants!

Me: Oh yeah.

B-man: With a BUM hanging out!

Me: Oh yeah.

B-man: That is SO funny. You put money in the BUM!

[By now N-man has come over, too, and I realize that I'm not getting out of this conversation about a crazy plastic piggy bank that looks like someone's butt]

Me: Isn't that silly? And do you know what it does when you put the money in?

B-man and N-man: What?

Me: It TOOTS! Look, it say here "Drop some loot and hear me toot"

B-man and N-man: [dissolve into gales of laughter, punctuated by occasional exclamations of "It TOOTS!"]

B-man, with much seriousness: Mom, we *HAVE* to get this.

____________

For the record, I'm not getting them a farting piggy bank. I'm pretty sure we already got all the possible amusement out of this. But how funny is it that one of the first times B-man asks for a toy, this is what he chooses? I suspect there will be many fart jokes in our future!

An interview with N-man and B-man

2009-10-22T14:21:00.002-04:00

I grabbed this from a friend on Facebook. It would have been fun if I'd asked the kids the questions separately, but we were all hanging out while I was feeding Z-man, so I asked them together. Here are their answers to a variety of questions about me!

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
I love you (N-man) I can't think of anything (B-man)

2. What makes mommy happy?
Clean up (B-man) Not clean up! (N-man, with lots of giggles)

3. What makes mommy sad?
Not cleaning up (said in tandem!)

4. How does mommy make you laugh?
Saying silly words (B-man) Eating your thumb (??? N-man)

5. What was mommy like as a child?
I do NOT know! (B-man) My yellow blanket (N-man...he's talking about a blanket that was mine when I was little that is now his)

6. How old is mommy?
I do NOT know! (B-man) Me, either. You have to tell us (N-man) We still have to learn that (B-man). I'm 34 (Me) Wow, that's a lot (B-man). That's bigger than a giant (N-man)

7. How tall is mommy?
I do NOT know. We still have to learn that, Mommy! (B-man) 100 (N-man)

8. What is mommy's favorite thing to do?
Ooo! Play with us! (B-man) Getting hugs (N-man)

9. What does mommy do when you're not around?
Work and go to places (N-man) You are with Z-man (B-man)

10. If mommy becomes famous, what would it be for?
I don't know. (B-man) Kisses (N-man)

11. What is mommy really good at?
Playing Bejeweled Blitz (B-man) Feeding Baby Z-man (N-man)

12. What is mommy not very good at?
Reading books (N-man, with a laugh) You are good at that, mom! (B-man) Setting a movie up (N-man) Picking flowers (N-man...wow, who knew he had such a long list of things I can't do!) Raking the leaves (B-man) Daddy's MUCH better at raking the leaves! He doesn't have to stop to feed Z-man. (B-man)

13. What does mommy do for a job?
Go to a book club (B-man). Go to the library (N-man) (Wow...I'd love to get paid for either of those :)

14. What is mommy's favorite food?
A lot of stuff (B-man) Everything! (N-man) Not everything! Mommy doesn't like mustard! (B-man)

15. What makes you proud of mommy?
Because you make food, the stuff we like and that's good for us (B-man) When you do the stuff I want (N-man)

16. If mommy was a cartoon character, who would she be?
What's a cartoon character? (B-man) (I explained) I would not know. Would you? (B-man)

17. What do you and mommy do together?
Play games (B-man) Play (N-man)

18. How are you and your mommy the same?
You cook and I cook (N-man). I think N-man's talking about PLAY food! (B-man) Because we both like cuddling! (B-man)

19. How are you and your mommy different?
You cook and I DON'T cook (N-man). Well....because...you cook and I do not. (B-man)

20. How do you know your mommy loves you?
Because you say "I love you" (B-man). Because you do good stuff (N-man)

21. What does mommy like most about daddy?
I do NOT know. Why? (B-man) Me either (N-man)

22. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go?
Uhhhhhh....where ever her legs can go (B-man) Everywhere! (N-man)

Almost...

2009-10-16T08:59:00.002-04:00

Big kids at school.
Little guy asleep.
A nice cup of coffee,
and a cookie.

And a big pile of bills to pay.

So close to perfection...
and yet so far away.

Telling me the hard truths

2009-10-14T10:52:00.002-04:00

I was running around with B-man and N-man outside the other day, and they kept hiding behind trees and bushes. So I jokingly hid behind a lamp post and said, "You can't see me!"

B-man answered, "Mommy, you have to hide behind something MUCH bigger and wider!"

Thanks.

It must be morning!

2009-10-08T02:41:00.003-04:00

Okay, sleep experts. I appreciate your years of schooling and experience. However, you can't just randomly define "sleeping through the night" as 6 continuous hours of sleep*. I am happy Z-man is sleeping from 8:30 to 2:30 most nights. However, I don't think any rational person would call that "sleeping through the night". It's not morning now. It's nighttime still. I'm not sleeping through the night. I'm up in the middle of the night.

Which is fine. I mean, Z-man is only 6 weeks old. This is a-okay with me. Just don't patronize me and try to convince me that I'm now officially sleeping through the night.

*Note for non-parents or non-obsessive readers of sleep related books: I think I should clarify this. Every time you read something by one of these supposed infant sleep experts, you'll see all over the place something along the lines of "sleeping through the night is defined as 6 continuous hours of sleep". Which, I must admit, makes me sorely doubt the sanity of said authors, let alone the validity of their advice. Did you really think you could pass this off? Did you really think sleep deprived parents would somehow be convinced they were magically sleeping through the night just because you said so? I mean, I can make definitive statements, too. That doesn't make them true. Here, let me try:

A "good blog entry" is defined as this one.

Did I fool anyone into thinking this wasn't rambling and obviously the byproduct of someone who is not particularly well-rested since she is NOT, no matter what anyone says, sleeping through the night?

A Matter of Perspective

2009-09-26T17:12:00.003-04:00

N-man was moving very slowly, so I jokingly said to him, "You're being a gigantic slowpoke!"

He answered, "only when I'm close to you. When I'm far away, I'm a tiny slowpoke. But really, I'm always my own size."

For the record, we were talking about perspective when drawing recently. He just chose to expand it to slowpoke-ness.

Zero-Waste lunches

2009-09-25T19:30:00.004-04:00

Have you checked out the Reduce Footprints blog? Every Wednesday is "Change the World Wednesday". Though I don't often participate, I love the idea of it as I'm big into making small changes. It's too much to try to be "perfect" or to change everything about the way I live. It's too overwhelming to expect that, and then it's too easy to give up entirely. So I've been trying to make small changes to the way we live our lives, in the hopes that over time, it will add up to big changes.

Anyway, enough about why I love the idea of "Change the World Wednesday". Let's get on to this week's challenge:

This week we're all about kids ... after all, they will take the "green torch" and become environmental "Olympians". So this week, your challenge is to do an environmentally friendly activity with your kids (or grand kids or neighbor kids or nieces/nephews, cousins, etc). Get them involved. Need some ideas? Here you go:

Awesome Activities

Kaboose

Kids Links (Teaching Green)

Gardening for Kids

Once you've done the activity, we want to know about it ... so come back here and leave a comment (either with the activity or a link to a post) ... or if they did something fun during the summer like an Eco-Camp, tell us about that. We'd also be interested in little Eco-Stars ... kids who have taken it upon themselves to come up with green living ideas.

Or ...

If you don't have any accessible kids to have "green" fun with, then write an article about ways that we can get kids involved in an Eco-friendly lifestyle.

__________________

So that's the challenge for the week, and it dovetailed perfectly to something I was already working on with N-man and B-man: zero-waste lunches. Friday was their very first day that they were eating lunch at school. Working in schools in the past, it was kind of appalling to see the vast amount of garbage generated at lunch time. And I'm not talking about the food thrown out (that's a separate topic, though I did briefly sub at a school that had the kids compost all their compost-able food so it is possible!). I'm talking about the juice boxes, single-serve packets, water bottles, ziplock baggies, paper bags, aluminum foil, disposable silverware and napkins, etc, etc, etc. Kids' lunches just seem to generate huge amounts of trash, and most of it can't be recycled, or just plain doesn't get to a recycling bin.

That's where a zero-waste lunch comes in. The idea is to pack the lunch in reusable containers, with reusable silverware and napkins. If all goes well, the child shouldn't have anything to throw away after lunch (besides those pesky sandwich crusts!).

The boys and I brainstormed some ideas of things that would be good to include in the lunch, and things that wouldn't be good. That was a bigger hit for the boys...they were very good at listing things that come in single-serve packaging (i.e., nutrigrain bars, yogurt tubes, etc...things I get for treats but have been trying to wean myself off even in our own house!)

You can get official bento boxes, but I just used a regular lunch box with tupperware I had around the house. And the Rubbermaid Litterless Juice Boxes that some readers recommended last year are still going strong (love these!).

Here's what the boys had for their first school lunch:

Apple cider for a drink

Cream cheese and jelly sandwiches (cut into the shape of dinosaurs! I have a cool sandwich cutter that cuts one sandwich into two dinosaurs with only a little crust waste.)

Cut up strawberries and kiwi

A scoop of hummus and some bagel chips

And for dessert, a soybean butter and honey oatmeal ball. I (kind of) followed this recipe, but with some changes to make it nut-safe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup soybean butter
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips (if you're not dealing with allergies, I'd use mini-chips. I just can't find any nut-safe mini-chips. Though heck, if you're not dealing with allergies, I'd go to the original recipe and use peanut butter and nuts in these!)
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:

Mix soybean butter and honey until blended. Add all the other ingredients and stir until mixed and thoroughly coated.

Roll into balls (I made them from about 1 heaping tablespoon each). Freeze or refrigerate until firm.

N-man ate almost everything in his lunch! B-man didn't do quite as well, but said he liked everything.

__________

So here's why I like the idea of zero-waste lunches:

The obvious, of no trash for the kids at school
More economical in that I can buy large containers and apportion them into smaller servings.
The packaging from the products can be recycled at home, while there might not be recycling available at school (or the kids may forget to use it).
Buying large containers means less packaging than the single-serving packets.
Any leftover lunch comes home, and if appropriate, can become an afternoon snack so there's less food waste. B-man ate his leftover bagel chips and hummus yesterday after school!
Gets kids involved in reducing the amount of garbage they generate.
Opportunity to make healthier lunches by not relying on prepackaged individual serving (and often highly processed) "convenience" foods.

And as I said, this is a small step. There's always room for improvement...here are some future "small steps" I may try to take to make this idea even more effective.

I'm not sure what kind of non-plastic options there are for containers, but as the tupperware becomes lost or worn out, I'd prefer to replace it with something that isn't made of plastic.
Okay, my zero-waste lunch wasn't ZERO-waste, because I had to include a disposable napkin. I have fabric to make into cloth napkins...I just need to do it!
I could do a much better job making local choices for their lunches. For example, I got them strawberries and kiwi, their favorite fruits, as a special treat for their first school lunch. But come on! It's apple (and peach) season here. That would be a much better choice for future lunches this fall.
What other ideas do you have for me?

_______________

Overall, a very fun, and easy activity. As I said, this was my boys' first school lunch, so we're not in the habit of relying on convenience packaging. Hopefully it will remain just as easy to continue with zero (or very little) waste lunches!

Discrimination against new moms

2009-09-22T08:19:00.003-04:00

I love the new town we've moved to, but they are guilty of the most heinous act of discrimination against new moms. They don't allow drive-thrus. None. Really.

So that means if I'm out running errands and I want a cup of coffee, a doughnut, a bagel, an egg mcmuffin, a COFFEE, I have to park the car, get all three kids out, hike into the restaurant, order, hike back out to the car, now carrying food, too, strap all three kids back into their seat, then finally get going again. It turns what should be a 5 minute stop into a 20 minute expedition.

Too much work. So I skip it, then get grumpier as my blood sugar level (and caffeine level) get lower and lower.

I'd plan ahead and have food and coffee with me, except, you know, I lack the ability or energy to plan ahead. Severe sleep deprivation will do that to you. Plus, half the time my errand is to the grocery store because we're out of food anyway.

And the town has a perfect set up here. I'd organize a group of new moms to protest this obvious discrimination against the people who most need a drive-thru, except we're all too tired and need coffee...

She Giveth, He Taketh Away

2009-09-16T16:55:00.004-04:00

I took Z-man out grocery shopping yesterday, and the cashier was talking to me as she rung up my purchases. She asked if Z-man was my first, and when I told her he was my third, she looked shocked and said, "Wow, you look so young to have three!"

I'm not. I'm 34. But it was nice of her to say!

So I came home and told TK. He asked, "how old was she?" I told him she was a grandmother herself, so probably around 60. He said, "yeah, well you know how once you're older, you can't judge younger people's ages anymore."

Oh. I guess that was TK's way of saying that I *do* look my age. Good thing I'm not overly vain or worried about looking young!

One vs Two

2009-09-15T17:20:00.000-04:00

So, my regular readers probably know by now that I don't write much about twins. I mean, I write about *my* twins, but not about the general experience of having twins. I very much take the "making lasagna" view of having twins: if you're going to go to all the work of making a lasagna, you may as well make two trays. Sure, it's more work, but if you're already doing it anyway...

I've always said that I don't think having twins is *that* much more difficult than having a singleton. In fact, I think it's easier in some ways! But now I have a singleton as well, and can compare the two experiences. So here goes:

Pregnancy:

Twins: You get enormous much earlier, and end up completely gigantic, leading ob's (or at least Dr. Tact) to famously comment "you're HUGE!". Far more stretch marks. Entirely too many people feel the need to tell you horror stories that go something like, "my friend was pregnant with twins and then she lost them. Then she died. Then everyone in the whole town died. All because of her twin pregnancy." Seriously, folks, it's not a good idea to tell any pregnant lady horror stories, but it seems especially cruel to tell someone who already has a high-risk pregnancy.

Singleton: Far less sympathy/thinking you're a superstar. People treat you just like you're some normal pregnant woman! Getting comments from strangers that go something like, "You MUST be pregnant with twins" is far less amusing when you are in fact NOT pregnant with twins.

Advantage: Singleton. You know, so long as you don't end up having Braxton-Hicks contractions 9 zillion times a day for the last two months of your singleton pregnancy. And so long as you don't move 4 days before your due date. And so long as you're not kept busy chasing active 4 year old twins. Aw heck, let's call this one a draw.

Birth:

Twins: They give you the big room at the hospital. All kinds of special treatment and people cooing over your twins. They loaded us up with freebies when we left: 4 diaper bags filled with formula samples, bottles, diaper rash ointments, baby shampoos, tons of diapers, etc.

Singleton: They do NOT give you the big room. No freebies.

Advantage: Twins, by a long shot!

Going out in public post-birth:

Twins: Requires ridiculous amounts of planning. Creates a scene everywhere you go. People constantly stopping you to ask "are they twins?" Must use large twin stroller pretty much everywhere since it's not easy carrying two babies (let alone doing anything else like shopping at the same time!)

Singleton: Must constantly remind self to do any planning before going out, though have found that as long as we throw a few diapers, wipes and an extra outfit or two in a bag, we're golden for a whole day out. Still garners some attention, though not on such an epic scale as with twins.

Advantage: Singleton, all the way. Though I suspect a good portion of this is really "third child" rather than singleton. I'm sure if our singleton came first, we wouldn't be quite so cavalier about toting him around everywhere!

Stupid comments from the general public:

Twins: "Are they twins?" "God bless you" (okay, it's not the comment so much as the tone of "poor you" that normally accompanies this one!) "Better you than me!" "My grandmother's best friend's cousin's neighbor had twins" (or something equally insane...I don't need to know about every person you've ever met who had twins!) "Do you watch Jon and Kate plus Eight?" "Two boys? Too bad one wasn't a girl, then you'd be done" "Double trouble!" "Do twins run in your family?" Etc, etc, etc (Moms of twins, feel free to add your favorites! There are so many!)

Singleton: Almost none! People don't stop you nearly as often, and usually they just say something like "how cute" or "how old is he?"

Advantage: Singleton.

However, as a mom of three boys, I have some bonus stupid comments: "My three sons!" "Three boys? God bless you!" (Once again, it's the tone of "poor you" that is troubling). "You'll have to try again for the girl" "Too bad number three wasn't a girl" "My grandmother's best friend's cousin's neighbor had three boys, tried one more time for a girl, and had a fourth boy" (or something equally insane, though sometimes they'll switch it up and the person will finally get their coveted girl after x number of boys).

Okay, to be honest, thus far a singleton has been easier than twins. But, I suspect that has a lot more to do with us being experienced parents than one baby vs. two. So I'm still sticking by my belief that twins aren't *that* much more work than a singleton!

A Champion Worrier, plus a bonus Who's On First story

2009-09-07T19:15:00.003-04:00

B-man is, shall we say, able to imagine potential negative future events. I mean, I wouldn't call him a worry-wart. At least not to his face! Today reached epic proportions, though. Here is an actual conversation we had today.

B-man: We shouldn't go camping in Africa.

Me: Okay. [pause] Why not?

B-man: It would be silly. Elephants might come and step on your tent, and then you'd be squashed.

I should note that this came COMPLETELY out of nowhere. We were in no way, at any point in the recent past, discussing Africa, camping, or elephants, let alone the potential to be trampled to death by combining these three elements. B-man continued this conversation of death-via-camping-related-elephant-mishaps for another few minutes.

Then N-man joined the conversation. "We'd need a blow-upper." Long pause as we all stare blankly at him. "To unsquish everything the elephants stepped on."

Which leads me to believe those Tom and Jerry cartoons we let them watch a few weeks ago were probably a bad idea.

_________________

Now here's a bonus N-man story from earlier today.

TK was making lunch for the boys. "Do you want a pear?" he asked.

"YES!" N-man answered excitedly. He paused, then asked, "a pair of what?"

"No, not a PAIR," TK said. "A piece of fruit. You know, a pear."

"A pair of what kind of fruit?" N-man asked. This was throwing TK (and me, on the sidelines) for a loop since it's not like a pear is some exotic fruit they've never had before. In fact, pears are one of N-man's favorite fruits, and he picked it at the grocery store just yesterday.

TK took the pear out of the fridge and showed it to N-man, which did clear up the confusion. But sometimes I just have to wonder if N-man doesn't have a far more highly developed sense of humor than we give him credit for. I can imagine N-man going into his room and cracking up, saying "OOO boy! Did you see me fool mom and dad into thinking I didn't know what a PEAR is? Those dopes!"

Perhaps this explains why they are so impatient...

2009-09-02T11:51:00.004-04:00

Little Z-man was fussing as I was getting ready to feed him. B-man walked over and said, "Z-man, patience is a hurt-you".

VIRTUE, darlin'! Virtue! Though from your perspective, I'd guess being asked to be patient does sometimes seem to hurt you :)

It was kind of funny how B-man exactly matched my inflection. I guess I do tell them fairly frequently when they are being demanding that patience is a virtue...

Oh great, N-man jut streaked by, completely nekkid. I suspect they're going to take advantage of these times when I'm tied to the breastfeeding chair! Of course, what they don't know is that this is so easy with one baby instead of two that before long, I'll probably be wandering around during feedings (and forcing children to wear clothing!)

I'm back!

2009-08-29T20:26:00.004-04:00

Did you miss me?

As suspected, I didn't have much computer time. But, I'm pleased to announce that not only did we move, baby 3 stayed safely inside through the move. Quite honestly, I'm shocked he wasn't born during all the flurry of activity that surrounds moving. But he kept on cooking, right up to my scheduled c-section this past Monday.

Oh yeah, that's the big news: Mr. Z-Man made his grand entrance on Monday! Everything went as planned, he's a big (8 lb!) healthy baby boy, and I'm recovering just fine, when I remember to take my pain medicine. Which I forgot today, and then was totally flummoxed by the fact that I was hurting. Duh! And I can't even blame it on pregnancy brain anymore...

That's it. My wonderful parents have been here all week, taking care of N-man and B-man (and TK and I!!). They're leaving tomorrow...I suspect it'll be a LOT more work starting then :) But it's all good. We're unpacking and getting used to the new little guy. The big boys are such great brothers...they seem to really like the Z-man.

I'll be back to my regularly scheduled totally random intermittent posting any day now. And looking forward to catching up with reading blogs, too! It was weird to be offline for so long!

37w6d

2009-08-16T06:43:00.003-04:00

Today I'm 37 weeks, 6 days pregnant. That's exactly how long I gestated the boys. I have two things to say for myself:

1) Damn, that's frickin' amazing that I didn't just camp out at the doctor's office and demand he remove those two children immediately. I've considered setting up camp already this time, and the only thing holding me back is the realization that I'm being a gigantic baby and to just suck it up because I only have half as many extra people inside me this time.

2) Thank goodness I made it this far. I would have been a little embarrassed if my now-OLD body couldn't make it at least as far with a singleton as it did with twins.

I'm actually getting worried that this little guy will make his appearance early. What were we thinking, moving 4 short days before the baby is due? How is this a good idea? Yes, I love our new house. Yes, in the long run it'll all be worth it. Yes, it doesn't even *really* matter if I have the baby now and miss all the move-related stuff. Well, that will make life much more interesting for TK (hmmm, honey? Do you mind handling two children, selling a house, buying a house, packing/moving/unpacking, a new baby and a wife in the hospital? That's not too much, is it?)

We're in the final crunch now, moving out of our current house in four days, moving into our new house in five days. We've done the vast majority of packing, and I use "we" very liberally, as I've done about five, maybe six boxes total. Mostly I sit on the couch having Braxton-hicks contractions while TK packs, packs, packs. Guess what's on the agenda today? Yep, more packing! (Though we should be mostly done by the end of today...microwaved food on paper plates or restaurants for the rest of the week as we only have the bare necessities out now!)

I'm not sure if I'll be updating my blog or not before the move/baby arrival. Funny to think that next time I blog, it might be from our new house and as a family of five! I should probably try to update, though, as I'm sure it will be hilarious to look back and see a record of the insanity :)

Another perfect summing up of the problem

2009-08-09T16:43:00.002-04:00

N-man, on why he had a pee-pee accident one inch away from the potty:

"Mommy, my pee-holder-inner just stopped working!"

An odd twin moment

2009-08-05T09:19:00.002-04:00

I've never seen much evidence of my boys being psychically linked. No crying when the other bumps his head, or completing each other's sentences.

But then we went to the doctor's office yesterday, and I learned you gotta watch out for these two!

Their doctor asked them, "what is your little brother going to be named?"

There was a pause, and then they both said in unison, with much certainty, "ZINK-O!"

We've never mentioned this name. They've never called the baby Zink-o before to me...they always just call him "Baby".

The doctor looked at me and said, "Really?" She did a great job keeping her voice neutral, with no sign of disapproval for what would obviously be a crazy name. But they'd clearly convinced her with their certainty, not to mention the fact that they BOTH said it at the same time.

I just couldn't stop laughing!

And for the record, while we're still struggling with a name, we did let the boys know there's zero chance of a little brother Zink-o.

Dragon Problems

2009-07-31T16:29:00.004-04:00

N-man, on blowing out the pretend candles on the pretend birthday cake he made out of legos for his pretend birthday: "Mommy! I can't blow out the candles! I'm a dragon, and I just blow out more fire!"

_______________

On a totally unrelated note, but also something hilarious that N-man does, if His food is too hot to eat, he tells me, "Mommy, blow on it! I need you to make my food warmer!"

So I say, "Okay, but I think you need me to make it cooler."

His answer: "No, I don't want it cool! I want my food warm."

We had this conversation many times, about food, and about when he's too hot. Finally, I came to understand that when he says he wants something "warmer", he doesn't mean add more heat. He means make it warm temperature, rather than hot. So to him, to cool something off from too hot is to make something warmer, in contrast to hotter or cooler or colder.

It actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If it doesn't break your brain. I love how his mind works. Clearly he's never heard anyone else ask for their food to be "warmer" when they mean "cooler". He's thought of this one all on his own!

Unfreecyclable

2009-07-31T09:01:00.002-04:00

So I'm still on the freecycling kick. It's so funny what goes and what doesn't. I listed 11 mis-matched mugs...got a ton of requests. But a rather nice glass bowl...completely ignored!

Anyway, after my post the other day about freecycling junk, I ran across a hilarious site: Item Not As Described. Basically, it's a site that collects listings where people try to give away things that are clearly garbage. Like our old grill! See, I should have posted it on freecycle, then I could have submitted my own post to the blog as a perfect example of someone trying to give away their trash!

Dr. Tact strikes again

2009-07-28T16:35:00.003-04:00

When I was pregnant with the boys, my OB earned the nickname of "Dr. Tact". I know Ms. Goddess in Progress met him, and has some wonderful stories of her own about how he completely lacks any tact at all!

Anyway, that actually doesn't bother me, so I stuck with him for this pregnancy. And I've been surprised that he's not been overly un-tactful this time around. I was wondering if he took some kind of "be polite to patients" class in the past 4 years.

Until today.

We were scheduling my appointment for next week, and I said, "The nurse told me I'd need to come in for a non-stress test."

His response: "Oh yeah, because you're SO old."

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

So this elderly mom refrained from punching him in the nose. See, age brings restraint, so it's not all bad!

One Man's Trash

2009-07-25T23:01:00.004-04:00

I'm a big fan of freecycle and donating used stuff to charities, and otherwise passing along functional items we no longer need instead of trashing them.

But sometimes we have something that is so beat up, so disgusting, that I'd be embarrassed to even offer it to someone for free. Basically, it's trash.

I thought we had a piece of trash the other day. It was a grill that the previous owners had annoyingly left when we bought our house. SEVEN years ago. It was beat up and disgusting when we moved in, and we've just had it sitting outside, partially under our deck (though not really protected from the elements) for the past seven years. Time hasn't improved it. It was rusty, and dirty, and all around gross. So we put it out for the trash this week.

Thirty minutes later, someone took it! Honestly, I was so glad. I'm glad that someone thinks they can find a use for it, and I hope they're able to fix it up, or repurpose it, or melt it down for scrap, or turn it into art, or whatever. I hope they don't leave it under their deck for the next seven years, like some kind of barbecue cicada.

So what's your view on attempting to freecycling things that you clearly think are trash? Do you think it's okay as long as you're VERY clear in your description? I mean, I'd hate to drag someone out to my house for the promise of a free grill, only to have them get here and find out it's the most disgusting, rusted out piece of unusable junk ever!

I think from now on I'll try to freecycle big items like this, even if I think it's junk. You just never know what someone else is looking for!

_____________

I should add that I rarely see things that sound really junky on our local freecycle. Though I do have to say that someone once listed opened and partially used cosmetics...I was pretty grossed out at the thought of using someone else's eye makeup and face creams! But sure enough, next time I got a freecycle update, it was listed as TAKEN. So who knows!

Preschool logic

2009-07-15T14:29:00.002-04:00

Here's a conversation I just had with B-man:

B-man was talking about how reindeer fly without any wings.

Me: But that's just pretend. (Yeah, I forgot about the whole Santa thing. It's July, sue me!)

B-man, after thinking about it: Well, I just don't see any other way Santa could get presents here if his reindeer didn't fly.

He said it with such certainty, sure that Mommy must be mistaken!

That Kind of Day

2009-07-11T08:11:00.004-04:00

I was having THAT kind of day yesterday. You know the one. Where nothing goes right, though luckily, nothing is terrible. Just kind of blah.

TK was out for the evening at band practice, so I knew I was on solo kid duty through bed time. We had a zillion issues with the lawyers/house sale (STILL unresolved), so I was trapped all day at home waiting on phone calls and dealing with things. By the time dinner rolled around, I decided we needed some fun, so I took the kids for a walk to the Au Bon Pain about 1/4 mile away.

We got there, ordered, sat down. Everything's fine. We're having fun. Both boys wanted to sit next to me, so we were cuddled all on one side of a booth. It was pretty cute, and I was starting to relax. We wait for a while, the buzzer goes off, and I go get the food. Or I should say the boys' food. Turns out they're out of the chicken rice bowl I ordered. Again. How come every time I go there they're out of what I want to eat? And why can't they tell me when I order, or at least before I've waited with the boys for 10 minutes? It's not like they're busy in the evenings. There were only 2 or 3 other customers in the whole place while we were there!

Fine. I get something different (which for the record ended up being delicious!) I ate about half of it, but by then the boys had finished their drinks and were both complaining they were thirsty. Okay, easy enough to solve. I went up to the counter, got some little glasses, and got them some water.

I get back to the booth, and ask B-man to scoot out so that I can get back in between them. He puts his little hands on the table to push himself up to standing and....the whole booth tips over!

On to B-man and N-man.

And all our food falls off onto the seat.

Can you believe the entire table fell over because of my tiny little B-man? He wasn't doing anything crazy at all...I can't believe the table doesn't get knocked over ten times a day!

I picked the table up, and both boys were crying but seemed to be without serious injury. Both of them were more concerned about their food than anything else! Luckily, they had mac and cheese, and amazingly, both cups landed right side up and didn't spill a bit. So I moved them over to another table and that, combined with the awesome cups of water with ICE (their favorite!) in it calmed the boys right down.

But the tragedy is that my meal, my substitute dinner that ended up being delicious and that I'd only gotten to eat half of, had entirely spilled out of the bowl, all over the seat and floor.

Don't worry, I salvaged the situation. I went up and bought myself a huge chocolate pastry. Do I know how to solve a problem or what?

Planning breakdown

2009-07-09T17:35:00.003-04:00

Me, in my mind: Oh, I have a good idea! I'll head to the farmstand after our CSA pickup!

Me, in my mind: I'd go to the farmstand first, but I need to buy perishables like milk and cheese. Better go to the CSA first.

Me, in my mind: It's kind of on the way home, anyway!

Me, in my mind: I'm always trying to find ways to combine errands to drive less, this'll be perfect!

_________

Me, in reality: Wow, the farm is really muddy.

Me, in reality: I don't know why I'm surprised. It's the first day in 10 weeks it hasn't rained.

Me, in reality: I even thought to bring their rain boots. I must have known it'd be muddy.

Me, in reality: Wow, the boys are getting really, really dirty. And wet.

N-man, in reality: Mommy, those kids just splashed through the puddle by me! I'm all covered in mud!

Me, in reality: Holy moly, he's got mud splashed EVERYWHERE on his body!

B-man, in reality: Mommy, my boot got stuck in the mud!

Me, in reality: And you stepped right in the puddle in only your sock, I see.

Me, in reality: I have to strip you guys before we get in the car.

Me, in reality: And I only have one extra outfit in the car.

Me, in reality: I can't go to the farmstand with naked kids, can I? It's really more like a small grocery store. Shoot, and their boots are really unwearable, since they got mud inside and out.

Me, in reality: Probably should have just gone to the farmstand this morning, huh.

Terrible taste in books

2009-07-08T17:06:00.003-04:00

I missed my last book group meeting, so I got no say in what book we're reading this month.

Olive Kitteridge. That's what they chose. It's an annoying choice, because it's ridiculously popular. There were nearly 400 holds on it at the library, but I gamely added my name to the long list.

Of course it hasn't come in yet. 400 other people want to read it first. So now it's just a few days before book group and I'm forced to, gasp, BUY a book that I'm not too keen on reading.

Lest anyone mistakenly think I have highbrow taste in books, let me dispel that misconception immediately: I saw on the cover that it won the Pulitzer Prize, and I was even more depressed. Yuck, I have to read something that won the Pulitzer? I'm *sure* not to like it!

Then comes the complete kiss of death for me: a quote from O Magazine on the front cover. Ugh. If there's one thing I can count on Oprah for, it's picking books I'll hate. I've come to really appreciate this about her, as someone with exactly the opposite taste as you is just as useful as someone with exactly the same taste.

I plunked down my $12 for the book, cringing the whole time.

And I started it with much reservation this afternoon, while the kids were watching The Backyardigans so I could FINALLY have some lunch at 2pm.

You know what? It's pretty good. Depressing as all get out so far, but not bad. I'm only about 30 pages in, but it's already captured me enough that I'm definitely looking forward to having time to read after the kids go to sleep tonight.

This is why I love a book group. I NEVER would have picked this book up. Sure, who knows what I'll ultimately think of this book, but I'm glad I'm giving it a go! And I'm glad I didn't get a vote this month, as I'm sure I would have picked something different. When I get involved, we end up with something like Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk, which is what we read last month. I'm pretty sure there was never any risk of that novel winning the Pulitzer!

If you're in a book group, are there any books like this, where you didn't want to read it and then was pleasantly surprised?

So THAT'S my problem with the giant burning ball of horror in the sky!

2009-07-05T14:55:00.003-04:00

I think I've avoided mentioning on my blog one of the many, many things that I know are crazy about me.

I don't like the sun.

I mean, I'm pro-sun in general. You know, life-giving energy and all. I don't want to build a giant underground complex or anything.

It's just, given a choice, I prefer overcast fall days to just about anything else. Grey, cloudy, 55 degrees is my idea of weather-perfection.

Anyone living in New England knows that this has been an ideal summer for me. How's the weather been? Cool. Rainy. WONDERFUL!

Though I must admit, I was feeling bad for the boys. Kids need summers to run around and play in the sandbox and go in the kiddie pool. We weren't getting to do any of that, so I'm glad the weather has finally improved.

We took them yesterday to a 4th of July carnival in a neighboring town (our lame town doesn't do anything for the Fourth!) Being a solar-phobic, I of course made sure we were all coated in sunscreen. And we were only out for about two and a half hours before my poor pregnant body just needed some air conditioning time to recoup.

We got home and you know what? I got a slight sunburn! I mean, not bad. In fact, it's already faded today to some new freckles on my arms. The stinging has subsided and the redness is gone. But still! I was hardly out very long! And I was wearing sunscreen! I wasn't in the water, and it wasn't so hot that I was sweating excessively. There was no reason my sunscreen should have given up the fight in less than 3 hours.

So I said to TK, "It's because the sunscreen is only SPF 30*".

He answered, "Really? I think it's because you almost entirely lack melanin in your skin."

Yeah, he's probably right.

________________

* Sunscreen issue of the day: We've been using Baby Lizard sunscreen. I love it! It's chemical- and fragrance-free, goes on smoothly and evenly, and doesn't leave you feeling sticky. My only issue is that it's only available as 30 SPF. Oh, it's pretty darn expensive, too, but I feel it's worth the added cost so I'm not going to complain about that.

But clearly, as yesterday proved, it's not quite as effective as I might desire. Does anyone have a sunscreen they love (preferably one not filled with chemicals)?

House update, again

2009-07-02T08:55:00.003-04:00

For once I finally have an update! Our house finally got an offer! We managed to talk them up to the lowest possible amount we could afford to accept. Are we awesome negotiators or what?

Today is the home inspection. Wish us luck! I'm a little worried that there'll be something that ruins the deal. It could all still fall apart!

Though we found out yesterday that ANOTHER couple wants to put in an offer on our house. Our agent had warned their agent that she thought an offer would be coming in, and they were just too late and we'd already signed the offer agreement with the first couple. But if this current offer falls apart for some reason, the other couple will probably put in an offer (of course, who knows if it'll be a good offer or not, but after so long of nothing it's kind of amazing!)

The only bad part of the current offer is that this couple wants to close while I'm scheduled to be in the hospital delivering baby boy #3. Really? That's crazy! Our agent said not to worry about it, that she'd talk to them today at the home inspection. But the reality is that we'll probably be closing and the new baby will be born right about at the same time. I'm just desperately trying to make sure it's not on the same day, though I guess what will be will be. There's only so much I can control! I was hoping we could wait until after the baby arrives to close, but this couple really wants to close before the end of August, so now we're trying to push up the closing so we can be moved before the baby comes. Who knows, though. I do have a scheduled delivery date, but I think we all know that just means I know the last possible day the baby will come...he could decide to make an early entrance, though! Once more, proof that I can't control everything. Not for lack of trying, though.

So that's it. My kind of update. We'll see if anything actually happens...

______________________

As a related question, has anyone ever had a lag between selling a house and buying a new house? Because in theory, we could close on our current house before the baby arrives, then close on the new house after the baby arrives. We'd have two options: move all our stuff out at closing, and have the moving company store it in their van while we live in an extended stay hotel*. Or, alternately, we could sell the house, then "rent" it back from the new owners for a week or two until we close on the new house.

*Actually, this would probably be if things really overlapped with us being in the hospital. In that case, my parents are already planning to be here, so we'd probably send them and the kids down to my grandparents' house about an hour away, and then TK and I would stay at the hospital the majority of the time, with a hotel for any time that didn't overlap with our hospital stay.

I'm hoping it won't come to this, but just wondering if anyone has ever done something like this where they couldn't get closing dates perfectly aligned. It's amazing house buy/sell transactions ever work out!

A Potty Post

2009-06-29T11:05:00.002-04:00

Yep, here it is, the ol' standard of a mommy blog. I'm feeling a little mommy-blogger-y today.

What I really need is advice. See, my boys have just started to pee standing up. Exciting, right? Ha, everyone with boys knows it's not exciting...it's messy!

So my question is: is it fair to require TK to wipe up the disaster of misses every night since it's his Y chromosomes that are causing this "pee standing up" mess? I feel like since *I* contributed the X chromosome, which everyone knows is the "pee neatly sitting down" chromosome, I should be excused from the endless cleaning of the 5 foot area surrounding the potty...

An Eat Local Challenge

2009-06-24T16:16:00.003-04:00

For anyone who browses my "favorite blogs" list on the right side bar, you may have stumbled upon the Reduce Footprints blog. I love this blog...I get lots of good ideas and learn new things all the time.

Every Wednesday, Small Footprints has a new weekly challenge. I missed the first two, and boy, I'm glad I didn't miss this one! Check out this week's challenge:

For one full day this week, eat only local foods. No tropical fruits from across the world ... no veggies that traveled hundreds of miles to get to your table ... only locally grown foods (this includes meats, dairy products, etc., if you eat them).

Cool, huh? Right up my alley! I wonder, though, how much fudging is fair for the boys. I don't think their morning Cheerios are local. I also haven't found good local sources of cooking oil (though I could just plan to use local bacon on my 100% local day and cook in the grease, or use butter, or, gasp, plan meals that don't need any sauteing), salt, or grains. I can probably do without those for a day, though it's the staples like these that keep me from ever attempting a more extensive local food challenge.

Anyone else want to play along? Head over to Reduce Footprints!

I'm going to cross post this on the How Does Your Garden Grow blog as well, I think, and see if I can get others to join in!

I knew all that cleaning was dangerous!

2009-06-22T08:11:00.003-04:00

So, N-man got another concussion yesterday. He slipped on the wet kitchen floor and banged his head. We were getting ready for showing the house...one hour notice. On Father's Day. Right at dinner time. Convenient, right? Sorry, homemade Father's Day dinner was canceled!

We headed out to dinner instead. N-man wasn't in a great mood since his fall, but didn't seem too bad when we left the house. We got to the restaurant, and he broke down crying and grumping. TK walked around outside with him (in the rain!), but he didn't calm down, so we got our meals packed to go, drove around until the people were out of our house, and were going to eat at home. We finally got the call from our agent that they were done. N-man was whimpering in the backseat by then. We pulled into the garage and ACK! He vomited EVERYWHERE in the van.

I ran inside, called the emergency pediatrician line, and got new clothes for N-man. TK got everything vomit-related out of the van and onto the floor of the garage. (This is on Father's Day, remember? Do we know how to celebrate, or what?) We got N-man in clean clothes, threw the boys into TK's non-vomited on car, and headed to the ER.

Which was packed.

Full of sick people. Have I mentioned I have a touch of hypochondria? And germophobia? And there were sick people all around? I'm getting skeeved out just thinking of it. Last time we went to the ER, it was almost empty, giving us lots of space to stay away from other sickies. Not this time!

We waited, and waited, and waited, and weren't even being seen by the triage nurse or the check-in people. N-man was getting sleepy, I was getting really nervous. Then N-man threw up all over the floor and started shrieking.

Tip for getting seen immediately in the ER: throw up all over the floor and start shrieking.

My poor little guy! We were put back in a room pretty speedily after that. It was still a pretty long wait to see a doctor, but at least we were comfortable and away from all the sick people. And N-man finally started perking up and acting more like himself. By the time the doctor saw him, he was doing much better, and it had been over 4 hours since his head injury (the amount of time they usually like to observe them after a head bump). So they made him eat an ice pop, and since he could keep that down, we were released at 10pm.

The ER doctor wasn't even sure it was a concussion. He said it might have been a very coincidental virus or stomach upset that just happened to hit at exactly the same time as the head bump. That sounds crazy to me, except that N-man had been saying his tummy hurt even before the head bump. (I try not to spend too much time talking about potty stuff on my blog, but N-man has many issues with constipation so complaints about tummy pain are reasonably common here, which is why it didn't register as possibly related to the vomiting). I still suspect it was a concussion since it was so similar to what happened last time, but luckily it was minor enough that we can't even be sure that's what happened.

This morning N-man seems fine. He's eating, running around, playing normally. I'm worn out by the whole thing.

Two more house showings today. Of course right at dinner time. I'm NOT washing the kitchen floor.

Yet another new blog

2009-06-15T10:57:00.003-04:00

A friend and I started a new blog about eating locally in New England. We're going to post recipes, and probably some reviews of local foods (mmm, yes, I'm planning to take advantage of this and try every local cheese I can find!), as well as other local food related stuff.

This should also keep some of my endless CSA stuff off this, my more personal blog.

Anyway, if it's of interest, stop by How Does Your Garden Grow and say hi, or just find some recipes. I'm in the process of moving my CSA recipes from last year over there so they'll all be in one place.

For all you New England readers, we're also looking for writers. If you're interested in contributing, either on a regular basis or just occasionally, shoot me an email at whatacardblog@gmail.com.

Fine moments in WhatACard parenting

2009-06-11T10:47:00.003-04:00

Good parenting: going to the store because you're out of milk and bread.

Great parenting: being out of milk and bread for over a day, and only going to the store when you realize you're also out of ice cream.

Good parenting: Dressing your kids in the morning.

Great parenting: Dressing your kids in shorts and t-shirts when it's only 53 degrees out. Then taking them to the grocery store before realizing it's freezing so they cling to your legs saying "I'm SOOOOOO cold, Mommy!"

Good parenting: Take the kids to visit the grandparents.

Great parenting: Take the kids to visit the grandparents because you're absolutely sick of cleaning up your own house and keeping it "open house ready".

Good parenting: Give boo-boo kisses

Great parenting: Having to give two consecutive kisses to two different children, both of whom ended up with a black eye. Special great parenting bonus: being secretly glad each child was responsible for his own black eye, so no one had to be punished.

Good parenting: Expose children to a variety of different music.

Great parenting: Wonder what your children are talking about when they want you to sing the rose song, until you finally realize they're talking about Poison's Every Rose Has Its Thorn. Special great parenting bonus: Have child ask later that same day what Red Hot Chili Pepper's Suck My Kiss is about.

Hope this helps my Mother of the Year application!

Extra stuff from the CSA

2009-06-09T08:55:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Ms. Sotorrific Twins asked a question about what you should do with stuff you get from a CSA that you don't want. I was going to just email her, but then I decided this could be part two of my CSA decision making series. Whoa, don't get me going, I might just post once every 6 months about CSAs!

The fact of the matter is, with many CSAs, you end up with vegetables you don't want. Some CSAs are structured where you get to choose what you want, but many just give you a box of whatever is ripe on the farm that week. So what do you do with the vegetables you don't like?

The first thing I'd suggest is TRY THEM! Search around for a different recipe that uses the vegetable in a way you've never tried. You're getting the most fresh of the vegetables...it hasn't been trucked across the country or sat in a warehouse for a week. You might be pleasantly surprised by a vegetable you thought you didn't like.

But, there's probably no way you're going to like everything. Kohlrabi is my veggie I don't want anywhere near me...I tried it a few times last year, and never liked it. I'm not sure yet if I'll even bother taking it at this year's CSA pickups. Icky! So here some ideas of what to do with those extras:

Talk to your CSA about setting up a "trade table", where people leave things they don't want and take something they do want. I mean, you're probably never going to find the popular veggies on the trade table, but you may be able to swap out your kale for kohlrabi or something. The CSA I belonged to tried this one week last year, and unfortunately, at least when I was there, the "trade table" just became filled with kohlrabi. I guess I'm not the only one who isn't a fan! But in theory this might work.
Talk to your CSA about the possibility of organizing a donation to a local food pantry or hunger relief agency (if any can use fresh veggies). People can just leave whatever they get too much of, or don't want, and then a volunteer (probably you, if it's your idea!) can deliver it to the charity. Our CSA donates to hunger relief agencies, and I absolutely LOVE this about them, and it was one of the main reasons I chose them. If there's stuff in our pickup I don't want or know I won't be able to use, most times I just don't take it and know it'll go to good use.
Offer the vegetable(s) you don't want to someone else who is there picking up at the same time. One week last summer, a family with a child with soy allergies offered us their edamame. I love edamame, so was quite excited! That vegetable you hate may be a favorite of the person standing next to you.
Bring the vegetables home and offer them to friends/neighbors/coworkers/family. Someone will probably want it.
If all else fails, start composting. I mean, I would never take veggies with the intent of just throwing them on the compost pile, but if all else fails, and despite your best efforts you can't get rid of them and just can't eat them before they go bad, well at least with a compost bin/pile, it's not a complete and total waste.

One of the things I love about a CSA is getting to try all different veggies and getting a big variety. I think a traditional CSA works best for people who aren't overly picky about their vegetables. If you and your family are exceedingly picky, then a CSA that offers you choices of what to take would probably be the best bet for you. Or shopping the farmers' markets, where you have total control of selection and quantity.

What other suggestions do you have for using up those unwanted veggies?

So who else is CSA'ing this summer? Or farmers' market'ing? Yay, I love summer!

House update

2009-06-08T09:49:00.003-04:00

Well, I guess it's time for an update for where we are on the attempts to move. It's been pretty slow going, and boring, and annoying. Not great fodder for blog updates, though it takes up all my time so I don't have much else going on recently.

Oh boy, I've really talked you all into reading the rest of this post, haven't I? Do I know how to sell it, or what?? This blog post is just for anyone who's actually interested in our house search, or who has insomnia.

Okay, here's the deal: we found a house we love. It's out in one of the further-from-Boston suburbs, but it only adds two miles (or about 5-10 minutes) to TK's commute. How awesome is that? Pretty much all the houses we've been looking at add more like 30 minutes to TK's commute, which I was not looking forward to. Plus, it's a beautiful house, in a neighborhood, in a good school district. Just what we were looking for. It's not ridiculously large, but it has plenty of storage space and more than enough living space. Technically, it's not much bigger than our current house, but it's better laid out and has an attic for storage. It's a ranch, so the partially finished basement is also far larger than our current basement...more storage!! Have I mentioned storage yet? Yeah, that's because our current house has almost none. It's the one thing that drives me mad with our current house, so I was absolutely drooling at the thought of an attic and a basement, not to mention closets bigger than 2 feet wide! Mmmmm, closets!

But you haven't missed any exciting posts. We're still dealing with the biggest problem: our house hasn't sold.

Again on the plus side for this house we found: it's not at the top of our price range! That meant we had more wiggle room on what we sell our house for. So we took the plunge and slashed the price of our house. We slashed it low enough that I think it's a great bargain. It's hard to tell. I thought our house was pretty well priced before, but obviously if it's not selling, it's not good enough. Our problem is location: our house was certainly nicer than other houses in our town that were priced the same, but the location is on a busy street, so people were picking not-as-nice houses in better neighborhoods. Which I totally get. So we dropped our price, and now our house, in my opinion, is not only far nicer than the other similarly priced houses, but also in similar neighborhoods. But we'll see if anyone else agrees!

We put an offer in on the house we love. They accepted it, but with a kick-out clause. They're leaving the house on the market listed as "accepting backup offers". If they get a different offer, we have 48 hours to decide if we will match the closing date. Of course, if that happens and our house hasn't sold yet, we're out of luck since we can't afford to buy a new house before our existing house sells. So we need our house to sell fast, or we'll probably lose this house, hence the reasoning behind dropping our house price.

We went ahead and did a home inspection on the new house, despite the fact that it's far from a sure thing. We also have to go ahead with a P&S, which means paying a lawyer. So we've sunk a bit of cash into this house. It'll be a bummer if it falls through.

We had an open house yesterday for our current house, and FIFTEEN couples showed up! Usually we only get 2 or 3. So I suspect that people are noticing that the price is really good. Now one of those couples just needs to fall in love with our house. Someone has already scheduled to come back for a second look tomorrow.

It's just a waiting game, and while it's pretty stressful, it's not all that bad in the big picture. I mean, we don't *hate* our current house. We actually like it quite a bit, it just isn't perfect for us and we figured it'd be a good time to get that perfect-for-us house. I know how lucky we are for this to be our problem! And, I firmly believe things will work out for the best. If our house doesn't sell, it wasn't meant to be and we'll try again next year.

But if this house falls through, we're done for now and will take our house off the market. I'm worn out trying to keep a perfect house. TK has been working crazy hours, I'm tired from the pregnancy/chasing two crazy-busy kids who don't go back to preschool until September (honestly, I'm not sure which is the one wearing me out more!), and if we're going to stay in this house, we need to commit to it and get some stuff set up for the new baby.

So that's it. I know. Pretty boring. Don't say I didn't warn you! Here, I'll leave you with a few funny things:

We saw a house where they'd paved the ENTIRE backyard to put in a regulation size baseketball court. I mean, they paved it from corner to corner of their lot. Who paves their entire backyard??
We saw a house that was SOOO country. I expected a cowboy to jump out of the closet. They had posters up of country music stars. It was really weird. We've looked at tons and tons of house (probably at least 100, plus all the houses we looked at before we bought this house we're in now), and we've never seen anything like it!
We saw a house with a horse barn right next door. I want to get out into the country, but do you have any idea what it smells like RIGHT next door to a horse paddock? I do now. That house did NOT smell good!
We saw a house where the finished basement ceiling was less than 6' tall. Luckily TK and I are not that tall, but it was incredibly clausterphobic. In that same house, to get to the boiler/heating equip, you had to crawl through a section of the basement less than 3' tall. The homeowner had left a sign to watch your head. We decided against crawling through someone's gross basement, though not before making some Being-John-Malkovich-seventh-and-a-half-floor jokes.
Someone called up our agent and actually did make an offer on our house. For $110,000 LESS than our asking price. That is not a typo. Now I know house prices in the Boston area are high, but we're not selling a million dollar house where maybe, just maybe, you could see offering a hundred thousand dollars less. No, someone offered a ridiculously low amount. And they were serious. People suck, and that guy can bite me.

That's it for now. I'll try to update with something more interesting soon. Our CSA starts this week... ;)

Java chocolate chip cookies

2009-06-03T08:31:00.004-04:00

Me? A sweet tooth? You don't say!

I made cookies the other day. I figured I better post the recipe, 1) because they are awesome, and 2) because I made a number of changes to the recipe and if I don't write it down, I'll never be able to replicate these.

I started with a recipe from the December/January 09 Taste of Home magazine for Java Cream Drops. The recipe seemed kind of fussy (making two different doughs and pressing together for each cookie), plus, it contained walnuts. But come on! Coffee, chocolate, and chocolate chips? This was still worth trying! The recipe also contained a typo (it said "cream" in one spot instead of "flour"...TK took one look at the recipe and figured it out in a minute though it had me flummoxed while I was actually cooking), so I was having trouble figuring out the quantities needed and just had to wing it. So here it is. My adapted version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. instant coffee granules (I'd use more in the future...3 or 4 tablespoons. The coffee flavor is very mild)
1.5 Tbsp. half-and-half cream
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the coffee granules and cream. Stir well and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and coffee/cream mixture.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix. Gradually add to the creamed mixture, stirring well.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

These are good cooled, but hot out of the oven, I think this is my all-time favorite cookie. So make sure you plan to sample a few before they cool!

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So I feel like I should explain about my last post, given how many of you commented that you didn't immediately get why it was a rated R post. See, the thing is...I have a dirty, dirty mind. It's totally my mom's fault (really, she reads this and will probably be the first to admit it). Had she been there when I was reading the book, it wouldn't have been ten minutes of laughing, it would have been half an hour! I'm sure I've made my mom proud!

An unexpected insult from a children's book!

2009-06-01T08:33:00.004-04:00

I must start with a notice that this post is far naughtier than my usual offerings. You're intrigued now, aren't you? Well, don't say I didn't warn you about a rated R post!

So, this all starts with a book the boys just got as a hand-me-down from their cousin. It's called Mix and Match Villains. It's one of those book where each page is split into thirds and you can mix and match the pictures and words, creating new and often funny composite villains and nonsensical sentences.

B-man is especially diverted by this book, and since he's a touch OCD, he's intent on making his way through every possible combination. "Mommy, read this one!" "Mommy, read this one!" I hear this all day now. It was getting a little annoying, to tell the truth, until he presented me with the following:

I tried my best to keep a straight face, but I must say I lost my battle and laughed for about 10 minutes. And then decided I had to share it with you all. Have I mentioned I have the sense of humor of a 14 year old boy?

I'm sorry, give me a minute. I'm cracking up again. Just look at Alice...doesn't she look terribly insulted and embarrassed? She should be! But I think pink-flamingo-croquet-dude is pretty amused by mix-and-match Jafar/Frollo/The Queen of Hearts, at their shocking over-share here!

And *this* makes my Monday!

The oddest preschool sticker

2009-05-28T09:09:00.005-04:00

I was going through some of the boys art work from preschool. Nearly every day, they'd start out by coloring a picture. And when the picture was done, the teachers would put a sticker on the page.

Check out this sticker that I came across on their papers one day:

Really? REALLY??? What, was this from the "terrible events in history" sticker collection?

I don't know about my boys, but I think I'm fairly disturbed by an "exploding Columbia shuttle" sticker!

What do you think? Is this is the weirdest sticker you've seen?

At least it wasn't the Jonas Brothers!

2009-05-27T16:49:00.003-04:00

So, today I was listening to the radio in the car. A song I don't particularly like came on, so I switched the channel. You know what happened? B-man piped up from the back seat, "I like that song! Turn it back on!"

Oh my, am I losing radio control this early?

Also, I have mixed feelings about the song. See, it was Girls by the Beastie Boys. I like the Beastie Boys. I just don't like that song. Let's pretend for a minute that I really believe the lyrics are meant ironically instead of misogynistically...somehow I think that distinction, if my boys paid attention to the lyrics, would be lost on them. Also, is it just me, or is that music pretty darn annoying?

I'm left confused. Proud of B-man for liking the Beastie Boys, kind of annoyed with the song he chose...

Future extreme fighter? And inheriting a healthy fear of sea creatures

2009-05-22T08:48:00.002-04:00

This is transcript of a conversation that actually occurred:

N-man: Mommy, will you play a game with me?

Me: Sure. What do you want to play?

N-man: I know! You try to hit me, and I'll try to kick you.

Me, mouth hanging open: [Pause....]

N-man, with much excitement: That'd be a good game!

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Here's another actual conversation with little N-man:

N-man: Mommy, I was so happy when I lived in your tummy.

Me: Oh good.

N-man: You kept me safe.

Me: Yep!

N-man: From mosquitoes. And bees. And sting rays.

Me: [Pause....]

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The high cost of food allergies...no desserts for ME!

2009-05-19T09:48:00.005-04:00

This weekend, we ended up making dinner really early one night because the boys were hungry. Usually, by the time we finish dinner, there's just enough time for the boys' bath, clean-up, and bedtime. But we had tons of time that night. And I have a wicked bad sweet tooth.

You can see where this is going, right? Out for dessert!

Due to B-man's nut allergies, desserts are REALLY difficult. Almost everywhere we'd go, there are nuts used. Bakeries and ice cream stands are right out as there's way too much risk of cross-contamination. So I had to think outside the box. You know what finally occurred to me? McDonald's!

We rarely eat at Mickey D's. I'm really not a fan of their food. Well, except Egg McMuffins. Mmmm! But besides one time we stopped on a road trip a few years ago when there was nothing else around, and a few times through the drivethru for fries, the boys have never had any McDonalds.

They were so excited to go out for dessert! I had read the ingredient/allergen lists online ahead of time, and knew I could get the boys ice cream cones. We got the ice cream cones, and the boys were literally jumping up and down in excitement. We sat down, and gave them the ice cream cones. They both looked at them. Then N-man asked perplexedly, "How do I eat this?"

Oh my. My poor, poor children! Nearly 4 years old, and they don't know how to eat an ice cream cone. (In my defense, I haven't been quite so cruel. They have had ice cream cones maybe 2 or 3 other times, all at Grandma's house and not since last summer. They must have forgotten.)

We taught them how to eat ice cream cones. They loved it! I got to eat dessert, too. I mean, it was no Melting Pot chocolate fondue or Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, but I think I just have to accept that my days of desserts like that are over, at least when B-man is out with us.

So I guess I found what McDonald's is good for: adequate desserts out for my son with nut allergies.

Did you ever think you'd hear me singing any praises for McDonald's? I know, it surprised me, too!

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In an ironic twist of fate, I'm reading In Defense of Food at the moment. I believe going to McDonald's while reading this book was kind of like my endless yearnings for Twinkies while reading Twinkie, Deconstructed. Missing-the-point!

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I tried one of the new McCafe coffee drinks while I was at McDonald's. A cappucinno. It was NOT good. In fact, it was pretty disturbing. The "foam" on top stayed foamy. I don't know what it was made of, but I don't think it was foamed milk. There's no way foam shouldn't melt into the coffee by the time you get to the bottom of the cup! It totally grossed me out!

See, now this sounds more like me, right? A little bit of honest food snobbery? Hey, I calls 'em like I sees 'em!

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Where's your favorite place to go for dessert? Mmmm, chocolate!

How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Name

2009-05-15T16:11:00.003-04:00

TK and I are having trouble thinking of names we like for the new baby. While my brother and SIL had a list of about 15 names they're considering for their son, we can't even come up with one strong contender. It's a problem.

Ethan had been something that has kept popping up on my list of potentials. I've been leaning heavily toward it in the past few days. Until today.

I took the boys to the playground after lunch today. I went to a playground slightly further from our house because it's really a good playground: fully fenced in, relatively small so that I can keep an eye on both of them even when they run in opposite directions, yet still filled with enough fun stuff. Generally, it's worth the 10 or 15 minute car ride, even though there are probably four playgrounds that are closer.

Today, though, someone decided to have their kid's birthday party at the playground. It was an older kid turning 9...kind of old I thought for this pretty small playground! They had both of the tables taken up, so I couldn't sit down. They had all kinds of food kids were carrying around, so I had to be vigilant about no one smearing food on the equipment or getting near B-man with potentially fatal food...I don't know what has nuts in it. But the worst part was that the moms were TOTALLY ignoring their kids.

One kid was especially wild. He was pushing other kids, and throwing wood chips around. A lot. Some of the other kids were yelling about how the "boy in the yellow shirt" was being bad. The moms not part of the party were moving their kids out of the area. N-man strayed too close and got wood chips thrown in his face. Yes, I did tell this boy that it's NOT okay to throw wood chips, then I moved my boys as far away from this kid as was possible in the small playground.

Finally, I don't know what happened, but one of the other moms really yelled at this kid (I guess he'd called her son "stupid"). The mom FINALLY came over and was informed by this awesome mom that she needed to control her son. Probably what I should have done after N-man got wood chips in his face, but to be honest, I'd seen this kid running wild for over 10 minutes by then so I had my doubts about the parenting skills of his mother and the effectiveness of trying to get a mom who obviously didn't care to intervene. I mean, it's a really small playground... she had to have seen the non-stop antics her son was instigating.

So Bad Mom finally comes over. And what does it turn out her son's name is? Ethan. Of course. Ruined the name for me. Bad Mom sucks.

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To be clear, I don't think this was the kid's fault. Well, he was probably eight or nine, so he's certainly old enough to be expected to behave better than he was. However, this was certainly a case where the clueless mom is to blame. If your child has been terrorizing the playground for twenty minutes and other random kids are running around calling your son "the bad kid", it's time for you to step in and remind your child about proper playground behavior.

Yes, I did just get all high-and-mighty about parenting. Nice, huh? I think I'm only half mad at the bad parenting, and half mad at her ruining the only name I had on my name list!

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On a related note, here are recent suggestions from B-man to name the baby. I'm getting worried we might have to go with one of these!

Dinosaur
Baby Doll
B-man 2
Ginko (what they call their imaginary scape-goat who does all the bad things they "didn't" do.)
Chocolate Chip
Four Three Nine
And, in an example of how kids don't know when they're being mean, the name of the boy who cries every day at school (because we've been warning the boys that the new baby will probably cry quite a bit and not to be worried about it).

Best $35 I've spent...

2009-05-12T14:30:00.004-04:00

Before getting pregnant, I thought the Swiffer vacuum was an unnecessary expense. But, our ancient Dustbuster is giving up the ghost, plus it requires me to bend over. And, while I love our regular vacuum, it's just too heavy to be toting all around the house after every meal.

So I splurged this weekend on the Swiffer vacuum. It's light, and has a long handle so I can use it standing up.

Today it's fully charged. And the boys took turns vacuuming the kitchen. They did a great job! So not only did the kitchen get vacuumed (for a change!), I wasn't even the one who had to do it.

Don't you love it?

It's totally made my day!

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For the record, I'm not a paid swiffer-advertiser. Heck, I'm not a paid anything! This was just too exciting to keep to myself.

I'm still around

2009-05-11T09:50:00.004-04:00

Haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just busy. Or perhaps boring. Did I run out of things to say? GASP!

Anyone have any questions for me that they've been desperate to know the answers to? Like what are the weirdest things I've eaten this pregnancy? (If you ask my family/friends, they'll say rye toast with grape jam or matzo with sunflower butter, bananas, and chocolate syrup. However, I must admit I've eaten those things plenty of times without being pregnant.) Or, what's the most annoying question you get asked regularly as a mother of twins? (Do you watch Jon and Kate Plus Eight? NO!!!! I loathe that show! They're awful, and I saw Jon speak at the last Mother of Twins National Convention and he, excuse my language, came off as a total wanker. Despite that, though, I hope the current rumors about them aren't true...). Or, have I ever ridden a unicycle? (Yes, poorly. Mostly I fell off said unicycle). Or, what's the most recent odd ailment I've diagnosed myself as suffering from, thanks to the internet, boon to all hypochondriacs? (Mal de debarquement syndrome, to explain why I feel sick for days after flying, and to add to my fear that next time I fly, the awful feeling will last for the rest of my life instead of just a few unbearable days).

See, I'm full of randomness, and free to answer most any question!

So bring it on! (Number of Bring It On movies seen? Three. Number of Bring It On movies enjoyed? Embarrassed voice: Three.)

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I just finished Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. It was super, and I hope to get a review up on The Book Nook soon. Funny, enjoyable, and probably my favorite book I've read this year. The kind of book that's going to make me seek out all the other books Christopher Moore has written, so be prepared to be subjected to the likes of author-fandom you haven't seen since the days of my obsession with Michael Chabon's novels...

Many thanks to Alyssa for recommending this one. As an aside, have you checked out her (and her husband's) photography blog? The pictures are amazing, and it's really funny. They took pictures of B-man and N-man this January when we were visiting WNY, and they're my all-time favorite pics of the boys. Thanks again!
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A number of my favorite bloggers also seem to be on a hiatus, or at least posting less frequently. Is it something in the internet-air??

Odd angles and empty glasses

2009-05-05T16:54:00.004-04:00

We've been to see a lot of houses recently. (Not that we need to. Our house hasn't sold yet, or generated much interest. Ah well, we're lucky that if we don't sell, it's okay. We don't HAVE to sell, we just want to sell).

Anyway, in the process of looking at houses, we've seen a fair number that have obviously been staged, either "professionally", or by someone who read a few staging websites and thought they'd gotten the gist.

Here's my advice to stagers: Putting all the furniture at odd angles is not staging. We're not looking at mansions with big spaces. Having a table screw-jiggy in a rather small dining room is just not a good idea. Placing a couch at an angle blocking off 1/4 of a small family room is not a good idea.

Not to mention the fact that there are a number of left-brained folks who find all these non-right-angles incredibly distracting. Okay, fine, I'm talking about me. When I see these off-kilter rooms, I desperately want to straighten out all the furniture. It comes close to being a physical pain when I walk into a room and see it all out-of-whack.

Second piece of advice: empty martini glasses strewn about is not decorating, even if the glasses themselves are kind of pretty. All it does is make me worried that the boys will knock them over. And makes me wonder if James Bond is expected to visit.

Third piece of advice: setting your dining room table is just weird. Did we interrupt your dinner? It doesn't look homey, it looks like a fake photo-shoot set up.

That is all.

I realize that there are probably plenty of houses that have been well-staged that I don't even notice, and that it's only the badly staged houses that are cracking me up. I do have to say, though, that no staging is a vast improvement over bad staging! Of course, some houses, like the "velvet Elvis" house, could probably benefit from even terrible staging...

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Random unrelated thought: Thank you once again to those of you who gave me book recommendations. I've been starting to crack into the books you've recommended. I'll try to mention it, but if I forget, I'll always have brief reviews in my "books read" section on the right column. Some I may even review on The Book Nook...I have a review of Gig up there today! I also read Other People's Weddings by Noah Hawley, which I found to be a quick read, but didn't love. Anyway, I'm loving all these new books to try out, so thank you!

I thought it was supposed to be "parent hell"

2009-05-01T10:32:00.004-04:00

TK was out of town, so to make sure we had something to do, I decided to take the boys to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. By myself.

I wasn't sure if it was pure genius, or the worst idea ever. I mean, you hear all the stories of parents ripping on Chuck E. Cheese for being unbearable. I knew the boys would have fun, but would I lose my mind?

Oh my, it was so fun! Okay, that statement is based mainly on the fact that they have skee ball. I love skee ball. I haven't played skee ball in years.

No, I didn't just make my boys stand around and watch me play skee ball. I only played a couple games, and even in those games, I let them roll a few of the balls. Aren't I sweet? I have to go back with TK to distract the boys, though, so I can get in a few real games!

I told my mom that I was taking the boys to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. She responded, "didn't you go there for your brother and sister's birthday party?" Um, yes. When I was like 9. So technically, it wasn't my first time there. I recall it being dark, and filled with alleyways of video games. Lots of flashing lights and blip beep beep noises. I can see how that might be overwhelming to a parent. I was worried I'd lose my boys in the maze of games. Turns out, this place was really bright. Lots of windows, and very open feeling. In fact, that is one of my few complaints: there really weren't a ton of games. Hardly any of what you would consider to be traditional video games. I mean, with 3 year olds, who cares? They can't really play traditional games yet anyway. But I was surprised.

There was also a climbing/tube/slide area. B-man and N-man love those things, so they climbed right up. Unfortunately, while they had no trouble getting up, the "stairs" they climbed up were too big for them to climb back down. Both of them hate those tube-slides, so they had no other option but to climb back down. B-man started climbing down, and got worried when his feet wouldn't touch the level below. I assured him it was hardly any drop at all and he could just let go, so he did. It was only about a two inch drop, so it was fine.

N-man started climbing down, and got worried when his feet wouldn't touch the level below. I assured him it was hardly any drop at all and he could just let go, so he pulled his legs back up, yelled "NO!", and proceeded to begin crying, freaking out, and begging for Mommy.

I look around. No workers. No other parents. So I do what any good mom would do...send up my other son. "B-man," I say calmly, "can you go up and help your brother?" "Sure," he answers. And up he goes. He gets up to the top, and is completely undisturbed by his wailing brother. In fact, this sight somehow reminds him that he wanted to explore the tunnel system once again. He squeezed past N-man, while I call up, "B-man! B-man! Help your brother!" In vain.

N-man had really worked himself up by now, and was obviously scared. He was begging for me to come save him. I look at the openings. I look at my belly. I look at the openings again. Oh, what the heck. I'm only 23 weeks pregnant. I'll fit. And I did. I scaled that structure and rescued my baby boy. He calmed down as soon as I got up there, and acted real cool like nothing was wrong. "N0w help me down," he said calmly. So I did. We got out, and he asked to play air hockey, like nothing had happened. Okay. I went with it.

Overall, it was really fun. I mean, skee ball makes up for almost anything (like terrible pizza, or getting stuck in climbing structures). I'm definitely going back. I may even take the boys with me again.

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Okay, there was one thing that was terrible. I mean, completely horrid. The signing animatronics. I forgot how loathsome they are. And they kept playing the same 4 or 5 songs over and over again. There was one song that was completely make-me-want-to-pierce-my-eardrums unbearable. I came home and googled the lyrics, and it's "Year 3000" by the Jonas Brothers. I've heard of them (my niece is in LOVE with them!), but I'd never heard any of their songs before. If you don't know this song, please, follow my advice and DO NOT find it on you tube or something. Because this song has found the intersection of unbelievably terrible and completely catchy. So you hate it, and it gets stuck in your head replaying constantly, driving you INSANE. I mean, it's still going through my head. I can't get it out. I've even tried singing "America" from West Side Story, the other get-caught-permanently-in-your-head-song. I hate to say it, but in the "Year 3000" vs. "America" battle in my brain, "Year 3000" has decimated "America" for air-time.

I'm worried this will be playing in my mind for the rest of time. Does anyone know the cure for the Jonas Bros?