Doing My Part

All this recent talk about green being the new black has made me want to put in my two-cent's worth about some of the useful methods I've found to lessen my own carbon footprint in order to help protect our environment:

1. Bathe yourself less. Ponytails were invented for day #3 of the hair-do. And when you know that the amount of hot water and soap you're saving is really making a difference, you might even push yourself to day#4.

2. Re-use ziploc bags. It's common knowledge that plastic is terrible for the environment--both to make and to dispose of--so wash, rinse, and reuse, baby. And only some foods absorb a soapy taste from your efforts, but you'll get used to it.

3. Mop your floor and clean your toilet as little as possible. Cleaning chemicals like bleach and ammonia wreak havoc on the environment and on water treatment systems, so I find that abstinence is always the best practice.

4. Avoid wiping food from your children's faces. Not only is this an emotionally discouraging habit since the food will only inevitably reappear just a short while later on their cute little mugs, but it causes you to waste water waiting for it to get warm enough to make for a comfortable wipe, or you're sending unnecessary "wipe-ies" and paper towels in the trash contributing to our landfill problems. Just wait until they fall asleep that night and most of it will rub off on their sheets by morning. And while I'm on the subject of children, I also suggest waiting as long as possible for a diaper change as well. See landfill problems for a reference. If you wait until just before it leaks out onto their clothes, then you're good. None of this change-as-soon-as-they're-slightly-wet stuff.

5. Re-use facial tissues as long as is possible. In fact, try leaving it in your pocket overnight because it's bound to dry out enough to be good for the next day again. I've been known to find perfectly good and dried out tissues from even the year before when pulling out my parka each winter season. It's always an economical and pleasant surprise.

6. Don't ever throw away un-eaten food left on dinner plates. All combined, that's a perfectly good meal waiting for you to pack in your reusable plastic container for your husband's lunch at work tomorrow.

7. Never let your husband pamper you with fresh flowers. Flowers grown in greenhouses might as well have a skull and crossbones warning label on them considering how extraordinarily wasteful they are when it comes to the amount of energy, fertilizer, and oil they take to get from seed to vase. And besides, they only die. (Kudos to my husband for coming up with this one all by himself.)

8. Allow your son and his little friends to go alfresco on your outdoor compost pile. It's the absolute best way to boost the much-needed nitrate levels in composting chemisty. And then it contributes to your being able to achieve suggestion #3, because we all know what little boys are capable of doing to your toilet and bathroom floor.

9. Re-gift whenever possible. It's an excellent method of recycling and lightening the load when it comes to the amount of stuff we all have. And your child's school teacher will surely never know that the Christmas ornament she received from your son was the same one you got from your Visiting Teachers just days before. It's a win-win situation.

And last but not least:

10. Stop buying toys for your kids. They are perfectly happy to play with cardboard boxes and sofa cushions.....that is, when they aren't pestering eachother instead.

One more day

Currently Olivia is asleep upstairs in my bed next to an already well-used "throw-up bowl," and when I went to check on Isabel in her bed I was met with a horrible smell only to find that she's sleeping soundly....but covered in vomit. I guess that it will be at least one more day before I can catch up on writing about our really great trip to Utah. For now I'm just crossing my fingers that I don't get a phone call from Max's school telling me that he's in the nurse's office.

Date with Max

When in New York over the holiday break, Max and I got to spend a morning in the MoMA with our good friends, Ann and Sam. It was our best date ever. We've been to lots of museums as a family, but maybe because this was the first time where we were out to museum as "equals," or maybe it's becuase he has an art class at school where he's studied some of these pieces and their artists (and there's nothing like an adult-who's-not-your-parent telling you to appreciate something), he was really connecting with the art in a way I'd never seen him do before. He (and I!) was thrilled about how much of the collection he could recognize.

A few of the highlights:

In the special exhibit about Seurat when I was explaining Pointillism and we were examining the technique and the artwork, he came to a particularly impressive piece and exclaimed, "Whoever painted this painting is really good!"

Taking notes to share with his art teacher at school what he had seen and felt.

At the collection of Campbell's Soup Cans by Andy Warhol there was a particularly large crowd gathered around listening to a museum employee explaining the pieces. Being only six years old and not aware of crowd etiquette (and too quick for his mom to stop him) Max worked his way to the front of the crowd. When the docent opened her lecture up for questions, Max immediatly raised his hand and asked why in the "Onion" soup can picture did it say "Made with Beef Broth" and none of the rest of them did? There were a few polite chuckles in the crowd, and I'm sure that people were thinking something like, only a child would ask something so silly or so obviously not a part of how this collection should be examined. And I was mentally preparing myself to have to tell him that it was very brave of him to ask a question and then come up with a real answer to satisfy him since he surely wasn't going to get one right then. But I could have kissed the docent for her answer. Instead of laughing him off, she replied that this was a very important observation because often people look at these cans as a whole and think that it's just a bunch of cans, identical and assembly line-like in their creation and that they get the gist of what they should see. Surely what makes this a really interesting piece and a striking statement about pop culture is that it is "the collection" of cans, but that it's easy to forget that each can is an interesting and unique piece of art on it's own. And she thanked him for reminding her about such a good insight.


"Hey, this is in our family room!"


"Could I really paint this myself?"

"Can I have one of these for my bedroom?"

"Hey, Grandma Smith has this at her house!"

Thanks for the tickets, Ann--we loved it! Let's do it again next time!

Another good idea....of someone else's

This is a big thanks to good friends whose ideas come through when you need something in a pinch. So thanks, Emily S. for another good idea about making pinecone birdfeeders with kids. I did this with Olivia's little preschool group this morning, except with minibagels instead of pinecones .....again, planning in a pinch. And in addition to making the birdfeeders we had a little lesson on birds and learned some they can identify locally. The kids had a really fun time, and I am sure that I looked very cool to the other kids' moms. And, of course, that was my point. They just need never know that the ideas were not my own. Shhhhhh.

Who doesn't love buying a late Christmas present for yourself? I had read about this new cookbook from Alice Waters, so when I saw it at Costco for $21 I had to get one. So far, I love it. Not only is it a beautiful publication, I love that it way more accessible than the two Chez Panisse cookbooks I have, so I may actually use this one more than twice. I also love that it is being sold at Costco, which tells me that maybe--just maybe--her philosophy about food is becoming somewhat mainstream. And I love that it made me feel inspired again about buying vegetables.

While I'm at it, I think that I'll post a list of the cookbooks that I would have a hard time living without. I risk sounding like I'm something special when it comes to cooking. Not so. In fact, I have a food odessey of my own that may rival Ruth Reichl's as told in Tender at the Bone. What....garlic doesn't come in a powder? It's just that I've come to love cooking with fresh and whole foods and these are some of the tools (along with fabulous neighbors that shared a love for the Berkeley food markets with me) that have helped me get there:

This is my go-to for a no-fail, good, basic recipe. I totally trust every single thing written in this book. It is from the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine, which, by the way, if you aren't already subscribed to, you'd better ask for one for Valentine's Day because you won't regret it.

I love Ina Garten! What more do I say. I've made almost every single dish in this book and not only are they pretty darn simple, they always turn out exactly as elegant as she promises and are always amazingly delicious. And I'm not the only one! And the fact that lots of the recipes are accompanied by full page glossy photos of beautiful food ususally helps inspire me too. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend just gave me her latest book "Cooking at Home" and I'm really excited about it too.

Another go-to book full of trustworthy basics and old standards. Need to know a good whitesauce or quiche recipe? Looking for the 101 on vinaigrettes? Do you think that you don't like eggplant parmesan? Seriously, the eggplant parmesan has become a standard around here....it makes me feel like I need never order it again from an Italian restaurant because it couldn't possibly be better.

Ok, that's probably the top tier. I've got lots of 2nd tier favorites and then plenty of friends whose recipes I pilfer for my own. I'm always open for more suggestions, however. Happy Cooking.

Back on the Horse

You know it's January when I've exercised three times in one week.

I'll admit that there are a few reasons why I've just never been one to exercise. First, I'm lazy and undisciplined. True story. I'd totally rather sleep for that extra 60 minutes in the morning than get up before the kids and force myself to do something that requires exertion. Even on the occasional times when I've actually chosen exercise over sleep and I'm so glad that I did and I know I feel better, I'll ususally choose sleeping the next morning. Second, I've been lucky in my body type as to not really ever have to worry about reaching or maintaining a certain pant size, (ok, except for that summer I ate my way through several major cities in Western Europe). Third, frankly, I just don't like it. I can't think of a time when I've been running that I am not wholly and entirely counting down until the last step when I am finished. Runner's high? Whatever. And the only times I've had a regular exercise regimen is when I've been in a partnership with someone else making sure that I was putting in the time. So I guess that in addition to being lazy, I'm a little codependent as well.

You could deduce that when it comes to exercise I pretty much detest it. Sometimes I feel badly for Adam that he didn't get a hiking, biking, skiing partner out of our marriage since I count the two times I ran a 10K next to natural childbirth in my list of top physical achievements.

In all fairness, however, I should also add that I've just never adopted a philosophy of exercise. There is a part of me that feels it's somewhat vain and selfish to spend the time (and, often times, the money) it takes for a regular work-out regime when I can't help but feel like I really should be doing something better--like teaching my daugher her alphabet, or taking up piano again, or cleaning some neglected part of the house, or spending Adam's hard-earned money on sale items on the Gap--even when I don't usually do any of those things either. I secretly take pride in telling people that I mow the lawn on our 3/4-acre myself instead of a YMCA membership, because it satisfies my personal philosophy that I can still get true exercise without having to "waste" my time and money on it like the rest of you. See, I work out the old-fashioned way, like God intended!

The only exception to this has been yoga. I first started practicing (as they say) yoga when Olivia was a baby and I started taking a regular and free yoga class with some of my neighbors in Berkeley. Here was my first real taste of the exhilaration involved in pushing your body harder and farther than it has ever physically and mentally gone and you're really hurting but still loving every moment of it--all at the same time. And that feeling, I admit, is a high. So this is what I've been missing out on! It made me feel strong and powerful and respectful of the body's physical abilities, but at the same time it was a challenging exercise in mental mastery. I finally realized that it must be this combination of the physcial and the mental that makes exercising so incredibly satisfying for so many people.

Then I moved, and despite my conversion to yoga and all my best intentions to keep practicing, my inner lazy and cheap took over and I haven't done anything since I was in the first trimester with Isabel. But here's a new year with new resolutions and new encouragement from my husband telling me that it's actually ok to spend money on fitness, and so I signed up for a class at our local community center. So far I'm pretty happy and our first session was great. Not that I'm any kind of expert, but let's just say that to me the "vibe" you get from an instructor in yoga is pretty important, and so far the vibe is good and the practice session was really nice (although I could have used a little longer in shavasana, but probably that's because it had been so darn long since I'd done anything before that I was a little pooped).

So it's a good start to January, and I'm hoping a good start for 2008.

The Art of Insincerity

Maybe it's all the political coverage that I've been watching and reading about this week, but it looks as though Isabel has picked up a few tips about how to woo a crowd using fake tears and fake smiles. Actually she's really perfected the fake tears these days, and I desparately tried to capture them on camera but was unsuccessful. So here's her fake smile. We had a lot of fun with it/her last night at dinner. I guess she's letting me know that she loved my cooking.

Something I like about Delaware

I realize that the title of this post makes it sound like I'm forcing myself to find something to like about living here, which is not (at least not any longer) the case. Actually, there are quite a few things that I would miss about Delaware if we had to move, but today I was reminded of how much I like having wildlife right outside my back door. I was outside collecting some pebbles from my back yard (take that ACMoore and your $5 price tag for a bag of rocks) for my first ever attempt at forcing some bulbs (paperwhites) when I heard this huge flock of Canadian geese flying nearby. They soon were passing overhead and I couldn't help but stop what I was doing and watch this enormous group of honking and flapping birds. I'm not enough of a writer to say anything more efusive than it was really cool. Maybe they were confused by the spectacular weather that we've had the past couple of days, because they, poor things, were actually flying North. Whatever the case, seeing these geese made me start thinking about this list of all the wildlife that we've seen in our own backyard and how fun it is to have that be part of our experience here (except possibly the insects):
deer
rabbits
groundhog
mice
snake (even in the garage!)
frogs
fireflies (come out in June--spectacular)
hawks
turkey vultures
woodpeckers
cardinals
squirrels (too many, frankly)
hummingbirds
red fox
fish (Someone's fishing cooler was surely raided and then deposited under our tree.)
bats
racoons
skunk
blue jays
robins
crows
cicadas
hornet-like insect that is huge and eats cicadas
plenty of other insects that I've never seen before and are mighty creepy
ladybugs (they come in the house in the winter...so strange)
japanese beetles


This is all the list I can think of for now. I'll have the rest of the family contribute more if there's anything they can think of that I left out.

And, this makes me think of a funny story about the very large groundhog that has made its home in the bushes nextdoor. It is harmless enough and comes wandering over to our yard often. It has dug a huge hole in some bushes that separate our neighbor's yard from our own. One day last summer when Max and his friends were outside playing catch, the ball rolled under the bushes and down the hole. I wasn't aware of this until after Max came looking for a 3rd ball to play with. When I asked him what had happened to the first two balls they had, he explained that after the first one went down the hole they went and got another ball to send down the hole as a trade for the first one, since they liked that one better. Surprise, surprise, the groundhog wasn't interested in a trade.

Poor Subsequent Child

I remember when Max was an infant and I would dilligently fill in all the information in one of those fill-in-the-blank-paste-the-photo-in-place baby books (which is as close to it gets to scrapbooking for me) that Adam asked me if I was going to be able to keep this up when we had baby #2 and so on. Of course I would.

This morning I found that Olivia was busying herself with a preschool workbook that, by herself, she pulled out and found a pencil and was then filling out/tracing/writing all of the alphabet letters....and was already all the way up to letter "J"! Call it neglectful, forgetful, distracted, or just simply bad parenting, but now I'm starting to wonder about the time I've actually sat down to teach the poor girl anything specific. I'm afraid that she's had a lifetime of learning by gleaning. Sure, we read books and go to museums and draw pictures, but it's like I spent all my energy on teaching Max the details and then I just expected that the energy that it took to get him to a certain level must certainly be enough energy to have her reach the same point without any more effort involved on my part. Right? Haven't we done all this before? So the poor girl was writing out all of these letters in this workbook, and then when I asked her if she knew what letter it was, she didn't.

New Year's Resolution #1: Spend more time teaching Olivia.
New Year's Resolution #2: Fill in all the blanks in her Baby Book.

We're back! We had a fabulous Christmas vacation in NYC with Adam's family, but it put me on blogging sabbatical as the only internet access at the inlaw's place is AOL dial-up. Basically you don't get online unless you have a penknife in hand just incase your sanity can't handle it for long. So, I've a lot to catching up to do, but I told myself that I couldn't do the complete rundown until my house is back in order....and until I've figured out how to upload the pics off our new fancy camera. So I'll try and get the Christmas review out before Valentine's day, but I wouldn't cross my fingers about it at this point.

Basically, I'm here to say PLEASE, please, please don't take us off your Christmas card list next year even though we couldn't get it together enough to get a card out to much more than the Grandparents. It was a wonderful vacation-extension when on Wednesday instead of getting back to business around the house, I set the holiday and house clutter aside and let the kids fend for themselves while I spent the afternoon reading and enjoying the stack of cards from so many great friends and family that came while we were gone (in addition to all the cards we recieved before we left town, of course). I loved it...them...and this year, as always, I want to save every single one. I feel blessed and overwhelmed by the weath of friendship that our family enjoys from all of you. So, in response: Congratulations to the new babies that came in 2007 and the new babies expected in 2008. Your kids are all so adorable, smart, and funny, and they are growing too quickly (and how do you manage to get those good family photos with everyone all smiling at the same time?). I'm seriously impressed and inspired by the many projects, house re-do's, books read, callings, marathons, service, halloween costumes, children's music lessons, and vacations you are able to successfully accomplish. I want to be more like you. Really. And more than anything, I wish that we had more time (and more money!) in order to spend it with all of you. We wish you the best for 2008 and hope that our paths can cross again sometime soon.