Dedicated to Stacy

Stacy, over at Moderate Means, is at it again, spreading more blogger love around. Her words are so kind, and affirming too--because I would love to feel like God could be using me to encourage women here in the blogsphere. It is something I naturally desire to do in real life--build up women in spirit, and be a practical help when there is opportunity. It is why I am part of the Soul Kitchen core team, which is the ministry for women at Vintage Faith. It is why I plan and host Old School Mondays for homeschool moms and their kids. And I think it is one reason why I blog. And comment on blogs!

So, thank you, Stacy, for making me feel for a moment like I am an instrument of Love.

I don't have a very big blogroll, so the bloggers I have on my sidebar are mostly either a) people who I have given an award to in the past, or b) people who are so professional in their blogging and have so many followers they would probably just sniff their nose in distain at my "nomination" (so I imagine), or c) people who don't even know I read their blogs, and who would probably not have the time or inclination to respond to such an award, because their lives are almost overwhelmingly full of much more important things.

But I am going to risk it anyway, offering some blogger love out to a few of the people in the last category, and giving a shout-out to some of the blogs on my sidebar under the heading "Blogs That Open My Eyes and Make My Day Look Much Easier":

Columbian Brewed

Not Just An Ordinary Life

Long Line of Leberts

All these blogs are written by people who daily live out their complete willingness to forgo the normal, comfortable, complacent, spiritually-flabby American life--instead asking God to use them as instruments of healing and grace in the lives of precious children. These people are adopting children who are "problematic" in the eyes of the world, who are disabled, or who have experienced trauma. I am so, so thankful that these people--these parents--exist, and are sharing their experiences through blogging. Their stories are so full of beauty and love and hope and forgiveness, and reading them I am continually challenged to rethink my own heart, my own values, my own attitudes. They encourage me to parent more purposefully, and make me appreciate my own children more. They give me tools for parenting, and also Truth for re-shaping my heart around what truly matters.

And then, a blog that could fall into the above category, except that the Mom blogger just seems so genuinely joyful and the family is so beautiful, that I am happy just looking at the pictures:

Building the Blocks.

I have always wanted to adopt from Haiti, and don't know that it will ever happen, esp. given our current home size and the fact that DH does not (yet? ; ) have the same dream--and since in the past it seemed like God firmly shut that door. But I have always wanted a family made up of all different hues, and admit I wish my family looked like this one.

So, Stacy, these are the blogs I am going to try to pass the award on to--in honor of your venturing into that world, hoping to foster children, sharing your family, your home, your love with children who need it all. I am thankful for you and will pray that God blesses you and your family mightily through fostering!

It's going around. . . a meme--and a GIVEAWAY!

For Susan, because I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading her responses. She got it from another blog, whose author got it from another one. . . and so the sharing of friendly trivialities goes. . . So, just in the spirit of fun--and more purging--I am going to make this post a giveaway too! The winner will receive two brand-new, unopened cassette tapes (yes, they still exist!) of The World Sings Goodnight (Parts 1 and 2). This is music I got as a prize at a baby shower before Smiley was born and which I could not wait to listen to--until I tucked it away and forgot about it until just now, when it seems a little moot. Maybe you know a baby or Mom who will enjoy this? To enter to win, please post a comment in which you share your own answers to one or more of the questions below!)

What color are your socks right now? Believe it or not, thick winter weight Smartwool socks (the ones on the far right). It has been barely 60 degrees in the house in the mornings here. Yes, I live in California. I'll explain in a separate post.

What are you listening to right now? The kids humming and chatting and sometimes arguing while they color.

What was the last thing you ate? Earl grey tea with milk and dark chocolate. (Hey, it was elevensies!)

Can you drive a stick? Yes, and when I do, it is our Subaru WRX, which is super zippy and has no carseats and so I feel like a racecar driver.

Last person you spoke to on the phone? My Dear Husband, calling from work hoping I could find something he had misplaced. One of my official titles around here is Finder of All Lost Things.

How old are you today? 38 years, I think, and I SO can't be bothered to calculate to be sure, let alone figure out the months and days like everyone else did. I'm quite happy with a nebulous age.

What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Sports? TV?

What is your favorite drink? A cup of really good tea, with milk--if it has something tasty on the side. (A cup of tea is not a cup of tea without something tasty on the side.)

Have you ever dyed your hair? In college I did a "dorm job" dying it a darker brown--and it looked pretty much the same as before, except all my hair's natural shine was dulled. I am way too much of a cheapskate to get my hair professionally dyed. If I ever did, I would have the under layer of hair royal blue.

Favorite food? Vegetarian Ethiopian food. Second place, vegetarian Thai food. Third place, anything I didn't have to cook myself.

What is the last movie you watched? Instant download of Rudy last night. Love me a feel-good, underdog, inspired-by-true-events, instantly available movie.

Favorite day of the year? The one on which my family enjoys each other all day long, no matter where we are or what we are doing.

How do you vent anger? When I am realllly mad, I go cry and vent to God.

What was your favorite toy as a child? My little rubber animals--most of them "erasers" shaped like animals that I chose from the prize box one of my elementary school teachers had for rewarding extra good behavior or performance. I think I might still have a couple of them tucked away. . .

Favorite Season? Fall. Esp. out here on Monterey Bay when it is the most gorgeous time of year.

Cherries or Blueberries? Allergic to cherries, so blueberries.

Living situation? Tiny decrepit house filled with too much stuff but just the right number of people.

When was the last time you cried? Last night. (Rudy. What can I say.)

What is on the floor of your closet right now? Tub of out-of-season clothes, basket of shoes, cardboard wrapping paper station, dust bunnies.

What are you most afraid of? Trivial answer--spiders like the one on the left in that photo, which was taken a couple of years ago in the Underbelly of the house, right next to my dryer. The spider's legspan was three inches. Look at how he completely dwarfs "Shelob," who at the time was my residential window sill spider. Spiders are not bad, and whenever we get into spider season, I remind myself that they are useful predators, and for every one spider there are hundreds of prey--meaning insects who will otherwise be invading my home. So I leave the spiders alone outside and under the house, except when we vacuum the Underbelly about twice a year. But this kind of spider has THRICE appeared INSIDE our house in the past year!!! I try not to let the children see my fear.

Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Um. . . how about a good BLT or barbeque pork sandwich instead? If I am eating meat, I go right for the bad stuff.

Favorite dog breed? The Good Old American Mutt. But I have been toying with the idea of a standard poodle for our next family dog, since they are supposed to be a good breed for people with allergies.

Favorite day of the week? Don't have one. Maybe Monday--it feels like a fresh start.

How many states have you lived in? 4. Illinois, Indiana, Colorado, California.

Diamonds or pearls? I wear both almost every day! (My favorite earrings are grey pearl drops--wearing them now!) London blue topaz, too--in my wedding band with the diamond.

What is your favorite flower? Wild chicory. Then come Blue Hydrangea and Love in a Mist (pictured).

Did you get an H1N1 vaccine? No. Don't EVEN get me started.

And since that last question seemed like an odd one to end on, I'm adding two more:

What are you most thankful for at this moment? Every minute = another chance to parent the way I want to, with grace. That and organic dark chocolate with orange.

What is one goal you hope to meet today? To vacuum behind the dresser.

Allrighty sister friends and readers! Please join in the fun and post a comment--I'll randomly select a winner next Monday!

Where the Broken Are Swift and the Weak are Strong

Clearly I spent too much time on the computer yesterday. Because I also stumbled upon another blog, completely different than the one I quoted yesterday. There are not many entries, but it sounds like the author is working on a book. Which, if it is anything like his blog, I will look forward to reading.

Here is the entry that just about made me weep: Where the Broken Are Swift and the Weak are Strong.


I hear religious minded people say all the time, with good intentions, “God will never place a burden on you that you cannot carry.”

Really?

My experience is that God will place a burden on you so heavy that you cannot carry it...alone. He will break your strong back and crush your independent will. He will buckle your stubborn legs until you fall flat underneath the crushing weight of your load. And there on the ground, flat on your face you will find written on the pavement of your pain, “My grace is sufficient for you, My power is made perfect in your weakness.”

When Jake was small, he could not walk very well at all. He wore braces on his legs to help keep him steady, but still ended up more on his face than on his feet. He ran like a newborn colt looking as if every step might be his last. Jake's favorite mode of transportation has always been on the back or the shoulders of his dad.

Whether at the mall or on a neighborhood stroll, up the stairs or down the stairs, when Jake had exhausted all of his strength and began to get unstable, I would pick him up off the ground, lift him high in the air and place him on my shoulders. He would always squeal with a kind of victorious joy at his new powerful position.

I think this is what the apostle Paul meant when he said in 2 Corinthians 12:10 "When I am weak, then I am strong." Paul knew better than any of us that falling and failing always resulted in God picking him off the ground and placing him high upon the strongest shoulders in the universe.

The physical and mental demands of raising a special needs child may never get easier and the emotional load may never cease to take everything you have on any given day. But remember, God plans it that way in order to bring you to a place of true strength. High on the shoulders of our heavenly Father is a vantage point of fortitude where the broken are swift and the weak are strong.

will wonders never cease: gettin' political for a minute

I am not very much of a political person. This is mainly because I believe the government in America is made up of mostly good people who get strangely sidetracked from what should be their goals as our leaders, and for the most part are not completely to be trusted. Whether Republican or Democrat or Libertarian or whatever--I do not think there is no person in government who is immune from being warped by politics and pressure from everyone who wants them to do something or be something for whatever adgenda.

Got that?

(And now you know the other reason why I will generally not write about politics in this blog--because it requires lucid, carefully-reasoned and well-supported writing, with which I cannot usually be bothered. Especially for politicians.)

So I often have strong opinions about Presidential candidates, until they invariably do something that saddens or embarasses me, usually because they are trying to pander to everyone and forget they are running for President of the United States and not Most Liked of the Class of 2008. But the state of our nation's memory and attention span, unfortunately, mean we are usually voting as if for the latter, and the candidates know it. Requiring presidential candidates to pander to the Saturday Night Live crowd is an offense to their station. Whatever happened to dignity, people?

ANYWAY I am going to veer into unfamiliar territory, just because I stumbled upon the most seemingly incongruous political blog, written by some gay Chicagoans who are actively campaigning for Sarah Palin in 2012. Seriously. And what they write is biased and yet fair, provocative and yet heartfelt. They are staunchly pro-American and sometimes sound like rednecks, but celebrate the good ol' US of A in their own uniquely American way:

If you chose to peruse their writing, there is a lot of thought-worthy stuff there. I personally just got sucked into it (during the kids' quiet time this afternoon) because of my immediate fascination with young, gay, anti-Obama, pro-Hilary, pro-Bush, pro-Cheney blog writers. As you can imagine, the writing is refreshingly un-PC and often quite NSFW (Mom, that means Not always Safe For being read by Women like your mother ; )

But I have a feeling I will be bookmarking this site. I am curious what they will be saying as we get closer to the next election. And I have to admit, it was intriquing to hear the same things my uber Christian Conservative family members rant about coming from the mouths of young, politically active and seemingly astute gay men. Their explanations of liberal media conspiracies are believable. And their writing is honest and from the heart:

The other thing on our minds today is the reaction, and in some cases furor, that’s erupted since we offered our sincere thanks to George and Laura Bush for their basic human decency this last week. While we’ve gotten thousands of comments here on this site and emails from people out there who support our thanks to the former President, we’ve gotten some of the vilest and most chilling hate mail we’ve ever received over this post.

During the 2008 primaries, Dr. Utopia’s supporters threw rocks through one of our windows that had Hillary for President posters in them. The rocks, of course, had “Obama ’08″ stickers on them. When we wore our Hillary buttons out, which was every day from February 2007 through June 7, 2008, Dr. Utopia’s “Hope and Change Gang” spat at us, called us RAAACISTS for not supporting him, pushed us, and tried to rip the buttons off our coats.

In the General Election, when we became DeMcCrats for McCain, the Left ratcheted up the hatred for us. Now, Dr. Utopia’s supporters started throwing punches. In Boystown, we almost got punched in the face in line waiting to get into Sidetracks a few times because Dr. Utopia’s followers didn’t like that we had on McCain tee shirts. Just before the election last year, we actually got punched in the face and attacked when we were crossing the street, minding our own business, and overheard a group of Dr. Utopia supporters making fun of Sarah Palin, calling her baby Trig “a retarded troll”, and using every vile, misogynistic pejorative they love to toss casually out at women against Palin (a woman, in truth, they knew nothing about…except that the Utopia campaign wanted her destroyed). They engaged us and said, “Yah, don’t you just hate her…don’t you just think that bitch should be raped and her baby should be dumped in the river” and more vile things than we can recount. We stood up for Palin, asked them how talk like this fits into the whole Hope and Change agenda, and received a punch to the face for it.

We’ve continued to take lumps from the Left ever since. Our friends repeatedly tell us to stop speaking out against Dr. Utopia because we live in Chicago and so many of his thugs are here. They tell us to stop going after ACORN, to stop telling people the SEIU should be disbanded, to stop exposing the fraud and corruption in this City, to stop speaking out about Utopia-sponsored waste like the 2016 Olympics bid, etc. By doing all of this, we have lost a lot of work, especially freelance jobs for the City. Many people who used to employ us for various projects will no longer return our calls, because they are Obots and don’t want to do business with people who aren’t drinking the Kool-Aid. This has caused great changes to our lifestyle and forced us to live and work on much reduced budgets, with far fewer friends in Chicago than we had in 2007 before any of the primaries and the general election.

So. Be. It.

The hatred spewed at us for merely thanking George W. Bush and his wife Laura for being good Americans proves to us how mentally ill the Leftists really are. We’re half-tempted to start publishing the emails we’re getting that tell us that people hope we get AIDS for supporting anyone but Dr. Utopia. AIDS. They hope we get AIDS.

When you want to push a gay man’s buttons, there are three levels of hate you can toss at him to unhinge the guy (trust us on this):

(1) Tell him he’s losing his hair (especially if he’s not)

(2) Tell him he’s fat (especially if he’s not)

(3) Tell him he looks sick, or that you hope he’s got AIDS (which will, in many cases, cause the guy to be sick to his stomach with worry for the next six months)

No matter how toughened you are, especially after enduring relentless hate mail, rocks through windows, and punches to the face for the last two years from these lunatics, on some level the fresh “Two Minute Hate” against us does have an impact. It’s sure as hell not going to make us suddenly support our current fey, apologetic, socialist president. It’s certainly not going to bring us over to the Left. If anything, this garbage just forces us further away from the Democrat Party, which is unrecognizable to us at this point, and is truly a hate-fueled-socialism-engine completely taken over by the radical Left.

You said something nice about a former President…so we hope you get AIDS, faggots.

Do you see what they do here? They have an automatic attack word prepped for whomever they want to go after. If it’s women, they’ll call them c**** or bitches or whores. If it’s gay men who aren’t falling in line, the words faggot and sissy are lobbed readily, followed by hopes they’ll get AIDS and die. If it’s someone white who is not blindly following White House directives, well that person is a RAAACIST.

It is the same damn thing every time with the Left.

And you know what? We’ve gotten hate mail from Republicans in the past. Do you know what’s interesting? Republicans, and people in the religious Right, have never, NOT ONCE, told us they wished we’d get AIDS. NOT ONCE. They’ve disagreed with us. They’ve told us we are bad people for not agreeing with them. They’ve intelligently taken apart whatever we’ve said, point by point, line by line, to correct us as they saw fit. But they’ve never wished death on us. They’ve never even name-called us. They may have quoted Scripture and said how much they “disagreed with our lifestyles”, but they didn’t even tell us we were going to Hell, Fred Phelps-styled. At worst, the really religious people — the ones the LGBTQ community paints as such terrible hate mongers out to get all of us in Boystown — just say things like “We hope you repent before you are Judged by the Creator” and things like that.

It is night and day when compared to what the Left dishes out.

And it is startling to see that.

We’re still processing it, as we’re getting a huge uptick in emails and comments here, but it’s worth a full essay of its own in the days ahead. We’re honestly floored by this, and see a silver lining in it that we now have a collection of emperical evidence of what the Left can dish up when they’re on SOMEONE’S marching orders to come after you (with many IP addresses shared amongst multiple posting IDs and email accounts…IPs that originate in Chicago…where, coincidentally we’re sure, the DNC is now headquartered).

Interesting stuff.

We’re not going to change how we think or what we say for anyone.

If we see good in something George Bush or Dick Cheney does, we’re going to thank them for it. If we’d see something good in what Dr. Utopia and his wife do, we’ll thank them for that too. So far, this has not happened. If it does, they will be thanked. We’re sure that will blow minds too, but we’re centrists around here…which means we’re not culture warriors under anyone’s flag but our own, who just want to see America go forwards to strength and prosperity, not be dragged down into socialist malaise with a radical at the helm who still, to this day, refuses to put his damn hand over his heart during the national anthem.

Ahem.

By the way, I'm Independent.

Amazing Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ok, your foodies, and you frugal chefs, here is one for you!

Last night we were out of salad dressing and so I had to whip one up from scratch. This one sounded promising--and was THE BEST SALAD DRESSING I have eaten in maybe forever. Oh, it is good. And SO SO easy! And SO frugal--this must have cost something like 30 cents to make! And green too, since making my own dressing will save on packaging. Awesome all around!

And best of all, in my mind, it showed me that a simple salad can be amazingly good, with the right dressing. Because I was cleaning out the fridge last night and all I had for the salad was red leaf lettuce, red cabbage, and carrot. That seemed really boring until I added the dressing! But then the flavor woke up my mouth and I realized I had ripe avocado and added that too--Mmmmmmm!

Please someone try it and let me know what you think!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Whisk together:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3-5 cloves raw garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons finely grated Parmesean cheese

Gradually add:
1 cup olive oil (I used extra virgin)

Salt and pepper to taste (I only did pepper, since the cheese is naturally salty)

lament for a long favorite thing, now leaving me

Here is what I just posted on freecycle:

(And I don't normally blog on freecycle posts, or for that matter IN freecycle posts, but this one warranted it)


This one is sooooooo hard to give up. But it is time. So, here is the story:

The summer before my freshman year of high school, I worked as a babysitter to earn extra cash. I was the queen of babysitters--sometimes I would go from one job in the morning to one job in the afternoon to another job in the evening! And even though I was paid pittance (anyone else remember when one dollar an hour per child sat was considered good money?!), my hard work slowly added up, and at the end of the summer I had $300 to spend. And yes, I said spend--for I loved fashion but our family did not have enough money for me to get fancy label clothes like all the "cool" kids in jr. high. (Ah, youth.) So with my parents' blessing, I took the bus with my older sister up to Woodfield Mall, outside of Chicago. This was shopping heaven for a girl still new to that whole world. I spent my money carefully, chosing to get a few choice items rather than a whole bunch of stuff. I still remember them all! But the absolute best piece was a buttery soft, brown suede skirt from Banana Republic. Fitted waist, fully lined, falling just above the knee. It cost me $150--half of my earnings. Oh, but it was worth it--so beautiful to feel, to see. One of the most gorgeous pieces of leather I have ever felt--a skirt not made for a 14 year old girl, but a professional woman. Ahhhhhhhh.

Where was I? Oh, right. Fast forward 25 years (and four children!) and--surprise, surprise--the skirt no longer fits. I saved it for so long thinking one of my three daughters might like it someday, since it is so gorgeous and fairly timeless in style. Alas, the perpetually damp conditions here in Aptos has taken its toll on the leather, and I know I will not be able to save it any longer for a possible someday. It needs to be used and loved by somebody NOW before it is too late.

The skirt smells musty, and has lighter-colored spots everywhere. **I do not know if they will come out when professionally cleaned and brushed, but I have a feeling they will. But I cannot spend the $ to find out.

Is there anyone out there who can use this skirt? It is a size 4, and believe it or not, made in the USA! Ah, the good old days. . . I don't care if you even want to repurpose it--I just don't want it to end up on the floor at the Bargin Barn. I want this--a trophy of my youth--used and maybe even loved.


I decided to post it here too because it shows you all how brutal I am being in my decluttering these days. Also, because it demonstrates the early manifestations of what I was saying in my last post about inherently (thanks, Mom!) expensive taste--what other 14yrd old would spend half of her hard-earned babysitting money on one piece of amazing quality, rather than a handful of "awesome" outfits from The Limited? (This was 1985, remember.)

And lastly, I am posting this in the faint hopes that one of you, my virtual village, will want it. Because I would love to send it to you, if you do, no charge. Do you know of any crafty people who re-purpose leather? Let them know about this offer too. I just *can't* *stand* waste, and throwing this out seems like a phenomenal waste. . .

So, let me know!

The Story of the New Faucet

OK, so it takes me forever to finish any story here in this blog these days! So it has been two weeks now (longer?) since we got our new faucet, but I still want to tell you about how we got it, since it is very cool. And kinda frugal and green, too!

So if you remember, we have been without a working bathroom sink for over a year and a half. Any bathroom sink, I should note. There are many reasons why it has taken this long for us to take care of this problem--for the sake of my marriage, I will focus here on the logistical and aesthetic ones. ; ) At first, DH and I could not agree on the bathroom plan, and where to install the new sink--and since the bathroom is so tiny, where the sink would go determined what kind of faucet we would buy (either wall-mount or deck mount). But then, even after we agreed on The Plan (more on that later!) and knew what style of faucet we would need, it was hard to settle on one. We had even decided the finish we wanted, so in theory it should have been easy to find a faucet, given the plethora of faucets available on the world wide web. We wanted something like our kitchen faucet, which we love (made by the awesome Chicago Faucets, but unfortunately they stopped making their residential line just a year or two ago--bummer): a solid brass construction, brushed nickel finish, widespread or single-hole deck mount faucet, preferrably made at least somewhat in America.

We ended up with this:

image from homeportfolio.com

Which is nothing like what we had so clearly decided we wanted. Ain't life great like that?

So here's how it happened. A month ago, after we had finalized The Plan and I was scouring the web one last time, hoping to finalize the faucet decision, I thought how ridiculous it was that I had been looking at faucets for over a year and had never seen one I really liked. There were plenty that were OK looking, but none that met our specifications and fulfilled our desires. Ironically, some of the styles I liked best were from no-name made in China companies, but we had decided to stick with products we believed were well made, from reputable companies. And even those companies typically don't forge their own faucets, just sometimes assemble and plate them here in the US. To get a faucet that is not junk--which, be warned, pretty much ALL the big-box store faucets are--we were going to be spending around $400-600. So when I thought about spending that much money on something that might still be forged in China, and that was style-wise just OK, I was dissatisfied.

Then I stumbled upon the blog of a kitchen designer, and saw THIS faucet, and FELL INSTANTLY IN LOVE:



Oh, yeah, baby! Solid forged construction, single-hole deck mount. Rustic nickel finish that would look amazing with our soapstone counters (like we have in our kitchen). Kinda vintage, kinda steampunk, definitely awesome. Best of all, hand-made right here in California, by Sonoma Forge!

And, when I immediately went to the company website, $1,600.00.

Naturally. Those of you who know me well can attest that I have very expensive tastes. I remember clearly the moment I realized my eye for quality/beauty was a true gift/curse: Mom and I at the Ye Old Renaissance Faire in Larkspur, Colorado when we lived out in the Springs. She was looking at a display of Celtic brooches, asking my opinion. The ones she showed me were all lovely, and in the $30 range. My eyes ranged to a different brooch, which I thought was even more lovely: "How about this one, Mom?" Turned it over, and saw the $90 price tag. That was the moment I realized it was not just coincidence--that this was indicative of something at the core of who I am.

I hope you all realize I am not saying this with a sense of pride, of puffery. No, more like a sigh, a roll of the eyes, and a wry smile. Because it is not easy having expensive tastes.

At least God gave me a mate with possibly even more expensive tastes than mine. For better or for worse.

ANYWAY, I was so bummed that the one faucet I actually liked was, like, a bazillion dollars. In fact, DH and I liked several of the faucets Sonoma Forge makes, but they are all the same price. But then I had a little revelation: Craigslist. I have never used it, but people with gorgeously restored vintage houses featured in This Old House magazine often brag about the amazing house parts they find through it, and at amazing deals. So I looked at the Bay Area Craigslist, and lo and behold, there was a Sonoma Forge faucet listed, although not the one we had wanted. It was the wrong finish, the wrong mounting configuration, the wrong look.

And it was $250.

At that point, I no longer cared if it was the one we had wanted. I liked it. DH liked it. And to spend HALF of what we had planned on spending to get something SO much closer to our desires/values than anything else we had seen in all our searching--we just threw The Old Plan out the window and made The New Plan, which would work around the faucet.

I contacted the guy on Craigslist, and learned the faucet had been installed and used for 2 months before the homeowners decided it did not work with their sink, and so had it taken out and something else installed instead. So that's why this faucet was so cheap--it was used (barely!) and languishing in un-love on the Sonoma Forge back shelves. They are not allowed to sell used faucets. But this guy named Chris just recently started working with them, buying stuff from them at a pittance and listing it on Craigslist.

He also had this:

The one on the left, in the same finish as the faucet. This one brand new in the box, never used. Sonoma Forge sells this exact shower for $4,500.00. Chris was offering it for $1,700.

DH said we should get it. I did not argue. But I did talk those prices down via email with Chris, so that we got BOTH the faucet AND the shower for $1,700. Whaa-hoo!!

And then when we drove up to Petaluma to meet him and get our new faucet/shower, he said he could possibly get other, matching parts we might need (like the sink drainspout) at similarly good deals and mail them to us. So now we have our own, personal pusher for all things Sonoma Forge.

And now you know the rest of the story.

(Frugal) Idea for the Day: Re-using baking soda

Every now and then I get an idea for being just a little bit "greener" or for simplifying life, or for saving one fraction of a penny. Sometimes when I am actually practicing one of these ideas, I think to myself, "I should blog about this."


So, here is idea #1! You lucky people. And warning--this is pretty much a "well, duh!" kind of idea. But hey, every idea is new to someone sometime.


Pretty much everybody knows baking soda is a great, natural and even plastic free (in the cardboard boxes, that is--I have seen plastic bags of it at Costco. Hssssss.) agent for cleaning. You can use it for all KINDS of things--I particularly enjoy it for cleaning my stove top and kitchen sink. But that is not the point of this post. I am trying to learn how to be a better steward of the Earth, and make wise choices about its resources. So anytime I can get multiple uses out of any one thing, I am very happy.

So here is how I get more than one use out of baking soda! First, I start with a fresh box for cooking. After that box has been open a while in the pantry, I swap it out for a new one. The older box gets its top opened almost all the way, and is placed in the fridge or freezer to absorb odors. When the box is no longer working at that job (about 3 months max, and it probably works best to stir the baking soda if you ever think about it) I then empty the contents into a glass screw-lid jar I keep in the cleaning cupboard--labeled "Baking soda, for cleaning." This is the jar I go to when I want to scour something, or to neutralize a stinky outdoor trash can before pick-up day (just dump it on, liberally!). The Arm & Hammer website also says you can "recycle" your used baking soda by rinsing it down the drains--supposedly it helps keep your pipes cleaner, so in theory they won't get clogged, although A&H is quick to say they do not recommend trying to unclog pipes with it.

And oh, here is one more green--frugal--plastic free use for baking soda: use a cotton ball or powder puff to apply under your arms for a natural deodorant. Seriously, try it! I like it so much better than the old stuff--here comes a little TMI--since before after shaving under my arms my skin would be too sensitive for deodorant after the shower. The baking soda does not irritate, so I can be smooth AND fresh at the same time! Niiiiiiiice.

There you go! Many more ideas of this caliber to come. . . ; )

Could your marriage pass the test?!

I just came across this New York Times article about the interview/scrutiny process for couples who are suspected of marrying just to get a green card for one of the partners. To give readers an idea of what the test is like, they give some sample questions:

Your Wedding

• On the day of your wedding, where did you wake up? What about your spouse?

• Where was your wedding?

• How did you get to the wedding? What about your spouse?

• Who was present at your wedding?

• What did you do after the wedding? Where did you go?


Home and Money

• How many floors are in the house/apartment building where you live?

• How much is your current rent/mortgage payment?

• How many televisions do you have in your house/apartment?

• If you are standing at and facing your kitchen sink, where is the microwave oven?

• Is your microwave stationary or does it have a revolving plate?

• Are you paid weekly, every two weeks, twice a month or monthly? What about your spouse?

• How much money did you receive in your last paycheck/deposit? What about your spouse?

How You Met

• Where did you and your spouse first meet? When was it?

• Who first spoke to whom?

• Why were you there? What about your spouse?

• Was your spouse with any other people there? Who?

• When did you move in together?

• Do you have any tattoos? Where? What do they look like? What about your spouse?

Into the Bedroom

• If you are lying in bed, which side does your spouse sleep on?

• Do you have carpet in your bedroom? What color is it?

• How is your bedroom closet split up?

• Where do you keep your clean underwear? What about your spouse?

• What color is your toothbrush? What about your spouse’s?

• Do you and your spouse use birth control? What kind?

• What was the last movie you went out to see together?

Family, Friends and More

• How many brothers/sisters does your spouse have? What are their names?

• Do you have an answering machine at home? Whose voice is on the message?

• What did you do last night after work?

• What is the name of your spouse’s manager at work?

• Who is your best friend? What about your spouse?

• What day is trash picked up at your house?

I laughed when I could not answer the first question correctly! Where DID DH spend the night before we got married?! We eloped, and while I was in a hotel room with Susan, I think he stayed with friends (not very close ones), who never knew what we were up to. I will have to ask him when he gets home. ; )

Most of the others I knew easily. But it will be fun to see what DH answers when I show him the quiz later tonight. You never know what your spouse will remember or not (i.e. what he considers important enough to take note of).

But thinking about the quiz brought to mind a fun memory, from way back in Colorado, B.C. (Before Children) when he and I went with a bunch of other young married couples on a winter weekend retreat. The first night, we played The Newlywed Game, and it was a lot of fun, as the wife would be sequestered in another room while her husband was asked questions about their dating and marriage life, and then she would be brought in and asked the same questions. When it was our turn, one of the questions I was asked was, "Of all the dates you two had before you got married, which one was the best?" And without thinking, I replied "All of them." Everyone laughed and groaned in disbelief--DH had moments before given the exact same answer. : )

No more dinner posts, but how about some plastic?

The other morning when I got on my blog as usual, scrolling down the blogs listed on my sidebar to see who had a new posting for me to read with my breakast, I noticed I had THREE new "followers." Huh, I thought. Wonder where they came from? Then I saw the post over at Moderate Means, and had my answer. : )

So, you newbies, welcome!

And I have bad news.

This is not an amazing food blog, if that is what you were expecting from Stacy's send-up. In fact, I WAS chronicling my dinners for a while there, to keep myself accountable to actually cook them. But just this past week I realized a) the plan had accomplished its goal, and I WAS cooking every night, and b) blogging my dinners was taking all my blogging time! So, I am not going to blog about food for at least a while. But I will write about it if a) I lapse back into bad dinner habits, or b) I come up with something post-worthy.

And last night the "no eating out" challenge was officially over, as I suggested to DH we order pizza, when I had been planning on making pizza from scratch and then completely forgot to start the dough in time, and had nothing I could whip up in a hurry. Whoops!

And it was really yummy. And, hey, at least we used a coupon, so we got one medium mushroom pizza for free with our decadent, full-price extra-large ricotta, pesto, tomato and artichoke heart pizza. Mmmmmmm. And we were supporting local business, so there!

Boy, I am good at the rationalization!

OK, enough about food. There are, as always, WAY too many things I would like to write about--including the full, amazing story of our new faucet!--and too little blogging time. I know, I know, you are hanging onto the edges of your seats. But I have not been able to write much in this blog this week because I have another, more pressing writing gig at the moment (imagine fanfare): Plastic in Our World

You see, we have been studying plastic as a homeschool project, and the more we learn, the more I really want to share it with others. I am NOT anti-plastic. The guy who made the documentary "Addicted to Plastic" said it well; let's not demonize plastic, but instead treat it as the amazingly versatile, valuable product that it is. It comes down to being wise in our understanding and use of it. We should not be making it just to throw away (as in all single-use applications, like disposable dinnerware). Some plastics are not as safe as we would like to think, and should not be used in some of the ways we routinely use them. And if everybody just made one small change in how we use plastic unwisely, it would add up big time.

So I am inviting anyone who is interested to join us in our learning! I set up the lessons for a two-week unit, and am adding a new lesson every day, but anyone interested can start it whenever they want, and do it as quickly or slowly as they want. The lessons are short, and they do not require any special materials. They can be done with kids of all ages, or you can just read them yourself for the sake of the information.

In fact, I would appreciate it if you, my faithful readers, did at least skim the pages to glean what you can. It seriously only takes a few minutes for each one--but you will be amazed at what you can learn in a few minutes, stuff that is fascinating and really important. What I have learned so far is already having a huge positive impact on our family! And applying what I am learning makes me feel like a better mom, and a better steward of the earth. And it may sound silly, but by creating these little lessons, I feel like I am doing my part to Make the World A Better Place for Us All!

So, there you go!

To my nieces Emily and Sarah: there might even be an award-winning science fair experiment for next year hiding in those pages and links. Not that you two need any help winning science project awards! : )

And to everyone: please feel free to pass this info around to anyone you see fit! I am thinking some elementary teachers might enjoy using some of it in their classrooms, as a starting point for building their own unit. I am NOT saying this is the best unit on plastic ever--I am learning as I go! But it is a case of a little bit of knowledge is better than none. : )

So, thanks for coming around, all of you readers. I appreciate you being part of my world.

i'm FAMOUS!!!!

and laughing.

and feelin' the love!

the horribly pathetic bunglings of last Sunday (and then some)

This past weekend was just too funny of a counterpart to our last weekend and my last post.

Saturday was ok--got lots of yard work done, but DH and I were for some inexplicable reason just. . . off in our relating with one another. It was weird, esp. since Friday night we had a really nice interpersonal date night. But for some reason all day Sat. it was like anything we said to one another came out wrong.

Sunday morning started out fine, but went downhill pretty much as soon as we got to church. We were attending the 11 am service, and I had not gotten a chance to eat a snack before we left (breakfast was at 7:30, and that just does not last!), and I was getting shaky--so before we left the house I grabbed my stainless steel travel mug, in anticipation of a chai from the Abbey coffeelounge. But when they handed me my drink--I could not find the lid in my purse. I figured it must have fallen out in the car. Bummer. So as we walked into the service, I was trying to decide what to do--a completely full, open, hot beverage is a recipe for disaster. And Sunny and Merry had been invited to read scripture during the service, so they would be sitting with me--dramatically increasing the elbow bump factor. DH was volunteering in one of the children's classrooms that morning, so I was the only parent to be with the girls in the service. But the chai was too hot to drink down (my burned tongue attested) and we needed to get in so the girls would be ready for whenever they would be called up to read. . . So against my own better judgment, I took the mug inside the service and tried to give it a sheltered spot under my seat.

Ha. Of course you all have figured out what happened. Right after the "mingle." You know, the turn-and-say-hello-to-someone-near-you part, during which I met a lovely lady named Maggie and a lovely young Asian couple named Esther and Lester (I am not making that up), all sitting in the row behind me. Maggie-I-Just-Met tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out the deluge of foamy liquid washing the carpet under my and Sunny's seat. Well, those of you who attend church are doubtlessly horrified. In my own defense, I would like to point out that since the Abbey is part of the church, it is common for people to bring drinks in, and the church does not discourage it. And the carpet is dark red, and really old, and already stained all over. (Not in a gross way, but in a well-used gothic mosh-pit way, which suits our style of church ; ) But still, this is hugely embarrassing, and have I mentioned that because of the girls reading Scripture any moment now we are sitting in the left-hand front row? I did not want to make a scene, so I just whispered reassurance to the caring Maggie, Esther and Lester, that I would clean it up later.

But a moment later I realized the friend sitting next to me had quietly gone to the bathroom and brought back a wad of paper towels, and Maggie and Esther and Lester were helping mop up the mess! Hello mortification!

So now I am trying to help them, "discretely," of course knocking over the mug again in my flustered bent-over-double moppings and dumping out whatever had been leftover from the first spill. Have I mentioned that the service was in progress through all this? I tried to keep a calm facade, and got the paper towels strewn over the big wet puddle under my and Sunny's chairs, and sat quietly mashing down the paper towels with my feet while trying to listen to the speaker.

Have I mentioned I got the chai because I was completely low-blood sugar and shaky and did not think I would make it through the service without nourishment? And that chai is a treat I only allow myself to have a few times a month these days, so witnessing it nourish the carpet was not only appalling but a huge bummer?

OK, enough about the Chai Incident. The girls did a great job saying their Scripture from memory, and while Maggie slipped out before the end of the service, at least I got to apologize to Esther and Lester and try to explain that I am not normally a complete idiot. And, fittingly, the closing idea of the sermon--which was on the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control--was that I can't. But God can.

Which I so well illustrated that morning.

After church we went to a church cookout, a "thank you" event for those who volunteer with the children's ministry, so the food was provided. Mexican food, to build your own burritos. Mmmmmmm. We were at a park with playground, and had a nice time. And there was enough food left over that we were sent home with enough for dinner too! Whoo-hoo!

But DH decided to take the long way home, driving from Santa Cruz to our village along the shore, something we do fairly often and enjoy. But we forgot that this is the first official weekend of summer, and we were crawling in traffic past the Boardwalk*, and then again later in Capitola, at which point I looked at the clock and realized we had taken over an hour to get that far--a trip which would have been 15 minutes on the highway. Sigh. But hey, the kids were content (Smiley sleeping, and Sunny reading Shel Silverstein aloud to her sisters. the. whole. time.) and it was fun watching the surfers on the water and enjoying the brisk ocean breeze.

Until a moment later when a lady backed into our mini-van.

And as I slipped back on my sandals (I had been lounging in the front seat with my bare feet up on the dash through our leisurely drive) to go look at the damage with DH, I stuck my hand into a huge mound of dog shit that had, unbeknownst to me, caught a ride in front of the wedge heel of my sandal. (I don't routinely use crass language but, well, sometimes you just have to call it like it is.)

Savor the moment with me.

Luckily I found some baby wipes and did the best job I could. And once I managed to get shoed and out of the car, the lady and DH (with the help of the Capitola parking police officer whom the lady had been trying to hurriedly avoid when she hit us) had worked out that the damage was not enough to warrant involving the insurance company, and the lady gave us a token $50 just by way of an apology. Really, the dent was almost not noticeable, and is certainly not worth repairing, so I guess we just made fifty bucks for our trouble.

So . . . whoo-hoo?

The most amazing thing about the whole day, though, was that none of these things put me in a bad mood. I mean, some days I get grumpy for almost no reason at all, and here all these bad things were happening, and we would just sigh and say "oh well!" and cheerily move on. To the next disaster.

Still, there was plenty of good in the day, ending with me not having to make dinner when we finally got home (from church!) at 5 p.m.

I think the rest of the evening was fine. Or at least it was pretty much a blur by then. Monday the wreckage continued (figuratively and literally) when the girls all woke up crabby and fighting, and then Smiley pulled one of my new glasses (which we bought just two weeks ago to replace the plastic we had been using daily, and which I absolutely love) off the kitchen table and smashed it. And he got his first ever spank from mommy. Sigh.

Don't worry--yesterday ended up being not a horrible day and not a great day, just a normal day with little bits of horrible and great sprinkled throughout. But I am really glad for the sermon on Sunday and those fruits of the Spirit that are still fresh in my mind. And the idea that I can't do them on my own, but that God's Spirit can and will do them through me, if I allow Him to, even when I am a bumbling mess!

'Cause I got the mess part down.


*Rebecca, Mina and Susan, if you read this post--check out the link and know I am totally thinking of you. ; )

The Wonderfully Exciting Adventures of Last Monday

So I have barely had time to blog about dinners, let alone the other more interesting and fun things that have happened recently. I should at this moment be be a) cleaning, b) doing yardwork, c) getting Smiley down for his nap, d) making a snack for my family who have been busy doing yardwork for a while. But I am going to take my only chance of a quiet, peaceful house all day and see if I can finish this post I started a week ago!

Last Monday we just had the most fun, family 0riented day of adventure. We drove up to Marin county, CA which is just north of San Francisco Bay. We visited a couple of historical sites notable in California history (homeschool--check!), stopped in Novato for a quite delicious lunch at the Moylan's Brewery (one of DH's favorite brewers, so it was a treat for him to sample a few on tap), and then drove home over the Golden Gate Bridge and down scenic Highway 1 along the ocean, which we had never done before. This list of places does not at all describe the magic of the day. Some of my favorite things:

--Sunny and Merry going on their own little jungle adventure, hiking a quarter of a mile down a dry creek bed (while the rest of us kept an eye on their progress from above on the bank)

--Friendly critters everywhere: little lizards scurrying in the brush, and a mouse, and a deer (his shadow framed in the brush like a tableau, before our approach sent him bounding over the meadow), and horses and dogs to pet.

--The kids all being so good all day, even when hiking around in the hot sun instead of eating lunch. And when we finally got to the restaurant--in the middle of naptime--Smiley was amazingly good, so sweet, and devouring whatever food I offered him. Is there anything cuter than a baby gorging himself on roasted vegetables? The garlic fries (and I mean with chunks of real roasted garlic!) were his favorite, though. : )

--Sunny noticed there was an enormous rainbow halo around the sun! I don't recall ever seeing one before, and it made the day seem all the more magical.

But the thing that truly made my heart sing that whole day was also the whole reason we drove all the way up there to begin with :

image from homeportfolio.com

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lavatory faucet! (Please insert your own "oooooohs" and "ahhhhhs" here!)

For any of you who have not been reading for long: this is a huge deal, as we have been living without any bathroom faucet for about a year and a half. It is a long story, which you are welcome to read the beginnings about here if you are so inclined--the rest of the story will come in my next post!

So, until then,

YAHOO!!!

All in all, one of my favorite days so far this year. : )

Dinner Friday and Musings

Ok, ok, I realize you are all probably getting bored with my menu posts. So feel free to skip them! Just knowing I have to say what I made is really helpful at the moment, like I wrote in my last post, so I am going to keep doing it for about another week--hopefully that will be enough to get me in good habits!

Tonight's menu:
Tomato spaghetti soup (onion and carrot sauted in olive oil in big pot, then add plenty of water, cover, and bring to boil. Toss in whole wheat spaghetti, broken into approx. 1 inch pieces, 1 28 oz can Trader Joe's marinara, 2 cans drained and rinsed garbanzo beans. Stir occassionally and simmer until done. When turn off heat, toss in bunch of kale, torn into small pieces.

To the girls' bowls I added frozen peas, to cool the soup quickly (and they think it is more yummy, so hey!)

AND I made a SALAD! The last of the romaine, torn and mixed with equal parts fresh tomato, chopped avocado, cucumber. Drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, a dash of salt and plenty of pepper, mixed well.

Served with crusty white artesian bread and butter. (I always splurge on organic butter--did you know the toxins and bad stuff gets stored in fat? So I figure we can buy fat free milk non-organic for me and DH, but we buy organic any dairy with fat, like the 2% milk for the kids. Ok, I guess not all our fatty dairy--organic cheese is just too darn expensive. But luckily the butter we can get at Costco so it is more reasonable.)

I have been processing some of your helpful comments, dear readers, about planning meals in advance. And I realized that I just don't work that way. If there is a specific recipe I want to make, then I make a shopping list with those ingredients and plan on making that meal during the week. But in general I like to go to the store, buy the basics, look for what is on sale for variety, and then just whip up meals from what I have on hand. I realize most people do not like to cook like this. But it seems so much easier to me than working out all the logistics of menu preparation a week at a time! (or even two weeks!)

It is also much harder to plan menus when I shop at FOUR different stores for my grocceries, and try to only visit them when I am already in the area (and they are spread out from our village to Santa Cruz--think I'll blog about why I do this in a later post), and don't like to go with all the kids. . . which means I groccery shop as little as possible!

I also like cooking what I am in the mood for, and you realize as vegetarians I don't have to plan ahead to thaw meat, so typically I really am able to whip up whatever sounds good, as long as I give myself at least a good hour for cooking the stuff that takes longer, like making brown rice or cornbread. I DO have to think ahead to soak and cook dry beans, which is something I need to make part of the routine of the week--like Sun. night always soaking beans and then cooking them for Mon. dinner. And I really want to be making my own bread and yogurt and some healthy breakfast items like muffins to keep in the freezer. . . so ideally I will be thinking and planning ahead as a lifestyle to keep such good things on hand.

But I don't think I will ever do that for dinners!

So thank you for your comments--it is always good to consider why we do what we do, and if our methods/habits are holding us back. In my case, I enjoy the challenge and variety I get from cooking with what I have.

And if you are ever trying to make dinners out of your freezer/pantry for a week, I am your woman! ; ) Just email me for inspiration!

Accountability makes the difference

Wednesday
Shera's Simple and Savory Black Bean Soup!

Was fabulous. My only complaint--and I much say I was complaining very loudly--was that I used all the black beans I had in the house (3 cans) and it only made enough to barely feed me and the kids. But the soup was so yummy that I would not have minded having lots of leftovers--so clearly this is a dish I will make from dry beans next time!

Served with sour cream on top, and corn tortilla chips on the side. (Just so you know, we actually do not eat a lot of chips around here! But twice now I have bought them at Costco and the bags are just so huge that we end up eating them almost frantically before they get stale--think I will go back to the smaller bags, even if they are a little more expensive, esp. our favorites: no salt added organic blue corn chips from Trader Joe's! Much better to eat the good stuff and just not eat so much of it.)

For "dessert" made another smoothie: using up the leftover frozen peaches and home canned cherries, blended with ice.

Oh, and a few more thoughts about the soup:
--since I am trying to add more raw into my diet, I wonder how it would taste if the salsa was not cooked, esp. when I am already paying extra for the fresh salsa.
--the salsa was delicious, and had a predominant fresh cilantro flavor. So if I make my own "salsa" for this recipe, I think I will dice fresh tomato and onion and add fresh cilantro at the end--I noticed the lovely cilantro flavor was greatly reduced by the cooking too.
--I used veggie broth, but use "Better Than Bullion" brand, which is more flavorful and others, and has less salt and no msg.
--SO I think next time I will try cooking the beans in broth, and then adding the salsa fresh and pureeing half of the beans/salsa and adding it back to the pot, and just warming through, to preserve more fresh nutrients. . .

Oh, and I had dinner on the table really early that day--we had been at the beach and then did some errands and they were all sunburnt (bad mommy!) and tired and Smiley did not get a nap, so I hustled that super quick soup and had them in bed by 7:30 and they were so tired they did not argue when I said no talking and went right to sleep!


Thursday
Made pasta--"wagon wheel" shaped--I mixed with organic canned diced tomato, sliced black olive, lots of parmesean, dried basil and oregano and pepper. Served with organic applesauce on the side. This meal was begging for a steamed green veggie or a salad on the side, but we had friends over late (like they came over at 4) and so I was rushing to make dinner--I think the kids were leaving the table at 8:45, and that is just not right.

Sigh.

BUT I SO did not feel like making dinner last night, and I have to admit I would not have cooked if it were not for knowing I would have to fess up here! (I probably would have fed the kids bread and cheese and raw veggies--even though that is what they had for lunch! And I hate repeating foods in one day--seems to scream "I'm a bad mommy and don't care!" even if the food itself is fairly healthy.) So, thank you for the accountability--it really does matter at this point.

As I served dinner last night, I was thinking you might like to hear one of my ideas for saving handwashing dishes: whenever we are having smoothies, applesauce, Great-grandma's home canned fruit, ice-cream, etc. for dessert, we just put the fruit into our kids' milk glasses after they finish the milk. Incentive for the kid to drink the milk, and you can rinse the cup or not,if what you are putting into it is compatible with a few drops of milk, and using the cup makes at least three fewer dishes to wash.

I personally don't like my applesauce or fruit getting mixed up with incompatible foods like tomato sauce and other things in my dinner bowl, so I prefer to use my cup!


Two more dinners down. Only about, oh, a million left to go. . . ; )

Actually, I could not resist just now trying to figure out approximately how many dinners I have left to cook, if DH lives until about 85, which is about the norm for his family life-span, and I found the number surprisingly heartening: 16, 425.

Hey, it's better than a million!!!

THIS is what I call Dinner!

Ok, my dear readers, FINALLY I have pulled off a quick meal that represents the way I really want to be feeding my family:

Hmmm. At a loss to find the right word to describe the main dish. More solid than scrambled egg, but not an omelette. . . not light enough to be a souffle, but done on the stove top so not what I would call a casserole. . . Ok, I guess you all can read what I did and then tell me what it was!

Cracked and whisked in a big bowl a whole bunch of eggs (didn't count, but probably around 9?) with some milk, and crumbled into it a last, lingering slice of crusty whole grain bread (one great way to use up that last slice of bread in the bag!) and let sit for a few minutes so the crumbs could soften. Meanwhile, sauted chopped garlic (like 4 cloves--we like garlic) in olive oil. Added egg mixture to garlic in pa, turned down heat, and put a lid on it. Added fresh kale torn in bits, fresh chopped tomato, a sprinkle of dried basil and pepper, mixed it in, and put lid back on. Cooked, stirring occassionally, until cooked through. Turned off heat and sprinkled liberally with crumbled feta.

Served with leftover bean salad and a big mug of smoothie I made in my new blender out of frozen strawberries and peaches and milk.

(Normally with an egg entree I would have served toasted garlic bread, but since the kids and I had toast for breakfast I didn't make it tonight--but DH had some crusty bread with his dinner.)

THIS is how I like to cook! Easy, one-pot meal full of protein and amazing flavor. Used a "super green" in the meal. Whipped up a healthy "dessert" that made the kids excited.

Now, this was not my ideal dinner. No significant raw foods, no homemade bread to accompany it, the tomatoes came in a plastic container, and the strawberries were not organic--and I could not even have any smoothie since I am highly allergic to peaches. My goals are to be ever moving towards better eating that is healthier for our bodies, our budget, our world. So my ideals involve local, organic food, food I make myself from scratch, food that is packaged minimally, sustainably.

But I am all about baby steps, and I am slowly figuring out how to buy foods according to my values/ideals--in the meantime, I am COOKING and THAT is ideal enough for now!

Linners

That's what we call it when we have missed lunch because of mid-day activities and so are starving at 3:00 and finish a huge, well-rounded meal around 4. Sometimes the kids are hungry again before bed, but then we just have buttered bread and milk before brushing teeth.

This past weekend we managed TWO days of "linners," which I guess is a huge dinner fail--but at the same time, it means we were out and about as a family having fun, so that is worth something, right? And the bonus is being done with dinner before 5!

The real danger of linners is getting lazy and not sticking to a good routine at home, like I did TODAY, so that even though there is no excuse for it, I don't make the kids lunch. Today it was because I let them sleep in after a long, hard day of outdoor adventure (which I can't wait to tell you about in another post!) and a late night. So then they wake up late, finish breakfast at 10:30, so are not hungry at lunchtime, and so I gave them a hearty snack after quiet time. Now I need to go make dinner before they are starving, and so we don't end up with another late night and perpetuate the bad cycle!

But I want to keep posting my dinners for a while, because it really is keeping me accountable, and I don't want to wait so long to post them, to keep it from being a big deal to write.

So, just for the record, our l/dinners this past weekend:

Saturday
Toasted cheese bread (crusty bread slices toasted in the oven with slices of cheddar or colby on top) with tomato and avocado. Served with homemade marinated Indian mixed bean salad, fresh pear, and cucumber. We ate dinner late because of being at a cookout all day, not even getting home until 6:30.

(I'm going to stop saying what we drink with meals because it is usually the same every time--water for lunch, milk for dinner)

Sunday
Got home from church late and wasting away (we go to the 11 am service, and then tend to hang around talking with friends and letting the kids run and scream in the gym for a while after), so around 3 pm ate a quick meal of frozen 3-cheese tortellini cooked and then mixed with marinara from a jar. Fancy! With a side of leftover bean salad. But then before bed the kids were saying they were really hungry, so I gave them all the edamame in the pod that they could eat--which they love, by the way!--with sliced cheddar and whole wheat sesame crackers and milk. (So technically, maybe that was dinner and I should not have told you about the lunch, but then you would think I was a horrible mother.)

Monday
Had an amazing adventure out and about, and ended up finishing our huge restaurant lunch at 4, so I had no intentions of making dinner when we got home around 7 pm. But the kids were hungry, so we gave them milk and whole grain bread.

In case you did not notice, I will point out that I had planned on making Shera's black bean soup yesterday--but had not expected I would not be making dinner. But since we are still eating the Indian bean salad (which has black, kidney and garbanzo beans in a mix of sesame oil/raw garlic/cumin/coriander/fresh lemon/pepper/green onion--mmmmm) from Saturday, which I made a huge bowl of for the cookout, I don't think I will make black bean soup. That's a lot of beans for one day. So, that recipe will have to wait for another day, and I'm now off to the kitchen to see what inspires me!

(My guess is something soupish. It's my weakness.)

I'll let you know tomorrow what I came up with today, but I AM GOING NOW TO COOK, and THAT is what matters!