Another Awesome Kids' Book

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

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!

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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

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

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?

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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!

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

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!

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.