5 years ago

What a day this was, 5 years ago! February 28 was such a good day for a referral, because it's such a unique date! Click here to read the referral page, or refer to March of 2006 (to the right under Archives) to get the full story of that special day!

success!

Last night, I heated a half gallon of organic 1% milk to a boil, cooled it to 110 degrees, added 1/4 cup dry milk powder, 1 cup starter yogurt (I used my plain Greek yogurt) and set the 3 mason jars to rest overnight (I used the method my absolute favorite blogger of all time uses). This morning it had set up beautifully (The kids and I were so excited!) and I put it in the fridge to chill. Tonight we mixed in fruit (just blended frozen berries) and the kids added honey to his taste. They all liked it, but Ted really loved it and asked me to make some for snack this week (it's his week to bring snack), which is the ultimate compliment. Hooray hooray! It was so easy and it worked! Next time I'm going to do a full gallon rather than half a gallon, since they go through about a quart in one sitting.

Next up on my list: homemade bagels! They don't sound too hard, just a bit cumbersome with the boil then bake method. Still, I'll give it a try!

Food Goals

I'm reading The Locavore's Handbook by Leda Meredith and am feeling that annual spring excitement. Choosing seeds, planting and watering, frequenting the Farmer's Market (no CSA for us this year), the sun oven .... these last days of February have given us such a tease of spring weather that it's impossible not to day dream about the upcoming season! In the spirit of spring renewal and excitement, I'm going to try (sorry Yoda) to make our standard food choices more sustainable. This means trying (I'm so giving myself an out here if this bombs, can you tell?!) to make the following switches from store-bought to homemade or locally sourced:

• make my own yogurt with local milk, sweetening it with local honey and flavoring it with either farm or homemade jam (YES! I AM GOING TO CAN THIS SUMMER! I AM! FINALLY!)
• either learn how to cook bagels or buy from a local bagel store (Big Daddy's or Moe's are possibilities) that hopefully sources local wheat (available at my King's, so if I can figure out how to cook them myself, all the better!)
• Can tomatoes. Lots of them.
  
• Purchase locally grown, organic carrots, bell peppers, berries, apples and beans (my family's daily fare)
• Renew my commitment to Justin's Nut Butters and stop buying Nutella, even though their version doesn't' taste the same. Perhaps if my kids take a break from Nutella, they will eventually come to love it. They already love their peanut and almond butter, so we at least have a foot in the door.)

I love Spring, but I almost love February even more because of all the dreaming (and none of the do-ing) it allows. Happy almost Spring!

a short but busy week

This week we had 3 days of school. Monday was President's Day and Friday is Teacher Work Day, and also an optional conference day. We are conferencing with Ted's teacher to talk about why he says he is bored in class. I suspect there is a bit of third-grade-itis going on, since he has the world's most incredible 2/3 teacher, if I do say so myself.

I spent last weekend in Evergreen with the lovely women of my chavurah. Friday we fixed dinner at the cozy cabin and chatted into the night. Saturday we all slept in, enjoyed amazing pancakes and fruit salad, played some games, did more chatting and went to a fancy spa followed by dinner. Sunday we went into town to pick up some presents for our kiddos and returned home to this sight in the front yard. Amazing. It was such a restful, pleasant weekend of reconnection with women I have known for almost 9 years.
I returned home to a dinner guest, which set the tone for the rest of the week somehow - rush rush rush.

Monday there was no school, but I had scheduled the boys' dentist appointments (Ted had one cavity, the other two none, though Sam will surely need gum grafts and braces in his future. Lucky him.) I also had Sam evaluated by my friend the literacy specialist, who agrees with me that he may be a bit behind, but his writing more than makes up for it, and that he will probably be just fine - no apparent learning disability. Hooray! It's always nice to have another opinion and I value hers. She was so impressed with how diligent he was with the words she was asking him to spell. Her favorite was material, spelled "mateereeyal." Rock star. He would never be able to "read" that word, but it sure doesn't stop him from writing it. She noted how completely his demeanor changed when they moved from "reading" to "writing," from tense and nervous to completely relaxed.

Tuesday and Wednesday I subbed in Ted's class, for the wonderful para. I love being in his class though I cringe when he says less-than-erudite comments and wish he wouldn't have to re-write his work 3 times. *sigh*

Today was a catch-up day with friends! I met with Lisa to go over Sam's report at 8, chatted with her til 10, met another friend and chatted with her til 11, at which point I tried to leave the coffee shop (Ozo) but ran into another friend! An hour later, I finally made it home to walk Ole.

Tomorrow there is no school, just the conference, but Paul and I are headed to the fancy-shmancy Flagstaff House restaurant for an evening with his company. We haven't been there since Sam was a baby, so I'm excited! Must get to bed. Last night was a late night due to rehearsal plus Sam was up at 2am freaking out. I still enjoy those infrequent 2am snuggles, I do admit it, but it does make for a long day. Here is Sam in his new frames (after breaking them ice skating a few weeks ago).

the little strainer that saved the kitchen

I went into Ellie's on Wednesday in search of a larger compost bin for our kitchen. With my newfound love of salads, our small container wasn't cutting it. Ellie's is a local, all-green supply store for eco-friendly products. I first heard about them 4 years ago while planning Ted's zero-waste 5th birthday party. Since then, we've purchased bamboo sporks, compostable cups and the like from them for the kids' birthday parties. I knew they would have an assortment of compost bins and I found one I liked and snatched it up. I also saw this cute little colander in apple green. I had to have it. Now, I am not normally so impulsive, especially about kitchen things. I am constantly weeding out excess gadgets from our drawers. But there was something about this cute, happy little guy that got me. It was 65 degrees out. I came home and opened the windows, slid the screen door into place at the back door and enjoyed the warm breeze and streaming sun. And I cleaned. Spring cleaning in February? I attacked every room of the house tossing "cwap" and putting things in their rightful places. I cleaned the stove into a shocking sparkle that caused Paul to think I had hired a house cleaner! All because of this little cutie! I haven't done the floors, and it's cold today, but my house is a little bit cheerier, and that makes me happy. Thanks, Preserve, for a totally cute product that inspired a kitchen!

DSL for my parents!

My parents finally have DSL, high speed internet access! They are having lots of trouble with the computer but at least they can browse the web easily now! I'm going to try to update the blog more regularly now that it won't take them an hour to load the page!

Happy Valentine's Day! Paul, in our old dating tradition, baked me a brownie. The words are new this year. I love it! He is such a great guy!

I've had an exciting few days. A few weeks ago, on an audition website I frequent, I found an audition call for Wizard of Oz, with a decent stipend to boot. I auditioned last Saturday hoping for Glinda (small role, not a lot of rehearsal time, some singing) and instead find myself in the running for the Wicked Witch. I should find out sometime this week if I got the part. We even had to dance at callbacks on Monday night. Flashbacks from high school - oy veh! I've also subbed a lot and have a bunch on the calendar for next week. It's going to make a decent paycheck!

Tonight Sam started reading a Ricky Ricotta book. He has trouble with 1-2 words on each page, so it's a stretch for him, but for the first time EVER, he is incredibly excited to read to me. He's so enthusiastic that it's impossible not to get into the mood right with him. Hooray! The State of Colorado requires all students not reading at grade level to go on an ILP (an Individualized Literacy Program), which is something I pushed for Ted and they wouldn't put him on one because "first grade is too early." Yet they put Sam on it, because he is at an "8" and should be at a "10." I'm not objecting, because I think extra literacy is awesome and can't hurt (especially the way Horizons is doing it, where Sam basically just meets with his teacher and 3 other kiddos on a daily basis to work on rules and phonics). Ted was put on an ILP in 2nd grade and was triple-dipped (as Julie, his teacher, puts it) and he caught right up and is a great reader now. I'm glad Sam is getting the extra help, though I was not worried about him. Hooray for Ricky Ricotta. That means Captain Underpants isn't far behind! Oh no!

Ted was the only child to remember my birthday with a card (the other two scrambled to make one of their own as soon as they realized, but since I was on my cleanse, I hadn't made a big deal of my birthday this year). I love it and will probably frame it. Apparently he asked to make it during a free write time at school and Julie let him, then was so touched by his choice of work! He can be a sweetie. Tonight he asked me to cut his curly locks off at the base of his neck. I know mullets aren't the rage, but I would have let them be; I love his curls! Luckily he is keeping the "peyes" (as we jokingly call them) in anticipation of his Immigration project in May (he wants to recreate my dad's German Jewish ancestors immigrating to New York. They came much earlier than Ellis Island, so not sure how we're going to do it, but I'm sure more will be revealed about this very exciting project).


And sweet Fuffles, enjoying the sunshine. She is such a great cat!

Goals for 2011

I spent some time on SimpleMom.net, a favorite site of mine, before the new year, but never got around to posting my goals for 2011. Two of them are going to be true challenges. Can you guess which two?

1. Parent with love and intent.
2. Take time for Yoga and Running.
3. Be productive! Get the household chores done while the kids are at school.
4. Maintain the Mediterranean diet!
5. Schedule Date Night once a month.
6. Keep to the budget.
   

Answer: Numbers 1 & 5 will be the toughest, I expect. Interesting that those two are the two that require interaction with the people I love most in the world. It is far easier to work alone. Perhaps that is why schools do all that group work these days, to better equip the younger generation to work together.

A quiet day? No. But a nice one.

UPDATE: No school tomorrow either. Oy.

Our neighbor is a lawyer and spent the day in Denver - the state courts closed but not the federal government, so she was strapped for childcare. Her 3 boys came over (which was nothing new - our kids are always back and forth) and spent the morning here. Rather than yell at them all morning, I encouraged games, coloring, wii and computer games. We all had lunch together at noon and their mom was home by 1. Now it is very quiet. The 6 kids + Paul devoured the 2nd batch of pumpkin scones so I think I'll be baking these daily for a while. At least it warmed the house! Cabbage soup is bubbling in the crockpot. High of 2 degrees today. Brrr.