Date Night

Date night is not something that Mr. O and I do regularly enough. I need to heed some of my own advice and make more time for me and the Mr.. Last night was "Parent's Night Out", sponsored by Wauwatosa Girls Soccer. (Team? We couldn't figure out if it was ALL of the Wauwatosa area high schools, or just Wauwatosa West.) Either way, it was a wonderful little "event" for the kids to learn some soccer moves with 90 minutes of planned soccer activities, pizza dinner with cookies and brownies for dessert, and then a movie. The fee was $25 for 3.5 hours and if you have more than one child it was only an additional $5 per child. Quite a steal by today's baby sitting prices. We don't have a teen aged babysitter, someone in the neighborhood on call for us, as many of the other families we know do. Part of it up until this point has been affordability, as well as our lack of regular social activities that require childcare. There are plenty of kids, and teenagers around, but we don't really know anyone. We do, however, have a pretty awesome Grandpa who 99.9% of the time we ask, is available for childcare, and that is better than any "kid" watching my kid, any day.

So, Mr. O and me finally went to this Italian restaurant that moved to our side of town several years ago, and we just never made it in there until now. It was delicious. I haven't been out for Italian food in years, and I ordered a traditional spaghetti with meat sauce and it was wonderful. A glass of wine, a nice appetizer, some quiet conversation without interruption and good company made for a really pleasant evening.

What was even more wonderful was being alone, in an adult setting with my husband. I forget how to dress up and hold adult conversation. Oh, you can laugh, but the ability to think about things other than whether or not the kid is safe, if she's eating, or warm enough, did I lock the door, did I remember to mail that check, we're all out of clean underwear, etc...the ability to discuss something aside from when it's OK to watch Sponge Bob Squarepants, or play video games slowly erodes over time if you don't keep yourself practiced in the social arts.

We had 3.5 hours to kill though...It wasn't quite the right timing for us to catch a movie, and I didn't dress appropriately for the dropping temperatures, otherwise we could have participated in the village "Art Walk". After we went for scoops of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, we meandered home, with over an hour before we had to pick up Sophia. It ended up where we were anxious about going to get her, because our desire to simply get back home, get into our own jammies and fall into the comfort of home was all we really wanted to do . Even when we ask Grandpa to babysit for us, we laugh at how early we find ourselves returning from our night out. With dinner and a movie, and no time limits, we typically will be back in the house within 3.5 hours, after stretching our minds toward what we could do with ourselves and the "free time". We're not big drinkers, so, the bar scene usually doesn't draw us in, there's not a lot of live music that appeals to me in the bars, so, again, that's not going to make us stay out. If anything, we would be more apt to have more fun, staying in and having Sophia shipped off for an overnight somewhere.

One could argue that we've become creatures of habit, or routine. In some part, this is true. When I think about my home, all that it holds, all the comfort and warmth it envelops my family in, the outside world has very little allure by comparison. I've been around the block, and my little city lot feels just right.

Royal Ride

How 'bout that royal wedding that took place today? It was difficult to avoid the media blitz, and yes, I watched portions of the ceremony on TV. It was quite a spectacle, with the crowds, and how many hundreds of horsemen were there in the procession? Just thinking about monarchy, and how old the traditions are is a little mind blowing, but the FASHION!! Wow, did you see those hats? What a wonderful display of fashion and propriety. I love, love an era when people "dressed". How fun to have an occasion to see people properly dressed, and to play with the fashion as we saw with the sculptural designs of the hats worn at the royal wedding.

While the wedding was droning on, and the new royal couple was being driven around, I was outside putting my new ride together. Actually, it's Sophia's new ride, but I'd like to think of this as our new "royal" ride. Sophia will be the train to my bicycle, and she can feel like a princess in her carriage as we tool around town on our tandem.

I'm hoping to get a basket, and then Sophia and me can cruise off to the store, or hop off to the park and carry our necessaries. I feel like this is going to be a much more fun alternative to this:

It sits too low to the ground for Sophia's size at this point, so, I'll sell it.

More exciting to me than the royal wedding, is that the sun is shining today. It's been fabulous enjoying the sun shining on me while I work outside. We haven't had a sunny day in well over a week, and it dramatically affects my mood, as well as my productivity. I'm thrilled that we finally have a nice, sunny day to brighten our attitudes.

This morning, the newly sprouted "swan necked squash" seed said "Hello".

I'm eager for Sophia to come home from school, and take the tandem trailer out for a spin. I think I'll take a trial run with it on my own, before I take her out. I don't own a helmet, but I make her wear one when ever she gets on her scooter or bike. I wonder, does this mean I have to go and get myself a helmet now? I suppose if I want her to practice what I preach, I should lead by example. 



So, while Prince William and Cathrine Middleton enjoy their wedding day, I'm off to enjoy my sunny afternoon bike ride.

Expect The Unexpected

I was prepared to write about how I was putting myself through some sort of initiation by yoga, because I stupidly purchased a "per calendar month" pass at the yoga studio, only I purchased it mid month, without REALLY looking at the calendar. It's a pretty big stretch to commit to 8 classes in 2 weeks time, with a 4 day trip out of town planned in there, and, as always, the unexpected. So, my punishment for lack of attention to detail is daily yoga until the end of the month.

This morning, Sophia was still sound asleep when I went into her room shortly before 7am. 7 is the scheduled wake up time to get her acclimated to being awake, dressed, settled, and by 7:30am, we're downstairs and on to eating breakfast. By 7:30am, it's my turn to get into the bathroom and get myself thrown together. Well, when I went in to wake her, she was groggy, and crabbed at me that I woke her. Usually my girl is up, cheerful, happy to greet the day, but not this morning. She laid in bed for a long time and then even said that her tummy felt upset and that she didn't want to go to school. She usually is excited and wants to get to school. As a matter of fact, yesterday she was singing "Today's a wonderful day. Everything is going right; today is a wonderful day!". When she told me she didn't feel so good and she wouldn't get out of bed to spend a little time with her papa, I knew she wasn't fibbing. I told her she could lay in bed until 7:15 and then she should try to get dressed, and come down for breakfast. She did, and then she had to go potty, and sure enough, she's got big diarreah. Boooo. So, while I'm getting dressed, and thinking that she's actually doing fine, and will be heading to school, she comes upstairs and gives me the news that she feels pretty yucky and had "big diarreah".

Guess who's not going to yoga? Yeah, that'd be me. I'm working on rolling with the punches, and accepting that life doesn't always follow my schedule. Time to slow it down to a crawl and take care of my girl and her tummy ache.

Napping, or Meditation?

So, I went back to that Wednesday morning, hot hatha yoga flow class today and it was much better than my previous experience in that I could focus, and found my center. I was able to be present with each pose, and the slipping and massive, drenching sweat wasn't nearly as bothersome as the previous session. I got very deeply into many of the forward folds, and I think that it actually may have corrected the pinched nerve I gave myself last time.

When I stepped out of class, it was raining pretty hard, and I had chosen not to bring an umbrella. It's been a long time since I walked 3.5 blocks in the rain, but I have to say, it was pretty nice after being in an 82 degree room for an hour and 20 minutes, working the whole body.

After I got home I realized I was really hungry and that the fruit smoothie I had for breakfast had worn off about half way into the yoga class. When I opened the refrigerator, I saw my jar of sprouted quinoa and knew exactly what I wanted to have for my mid morning snack/lunch.

Sprouted quinoa salad.

I typically always mince up some parsley in this, and that is truly what makes it, but today, no parsley.

To make sprouted quinoa salad, you have to first sprout some organic quinoa. It's a snap and only takes a couple days. To learn how to do this, click here: How to sprout quinoa Once, my jar of quinoa has sprouted, I take my entire batch, toss it into a bowl, and combine with crumbled feta cheese, finely sliced scallions, today I added chopped radishes, chopped tomato, and as stated above, the key really IS minced parsley. Over all of this I drizzle Newman's Own Light Italian dressing. Add freshly grated black pepper, salt to taste, maybe a squeeze of lemon juice and some extra virgin olive oil.

Quinoa is a highly nutritious grain, high in protein, iron, manganese, and apparently the magnesium helps with migraines, and is fantastic with peri and post menopausal women in protecting their cardiovascular health.

After I ate my delicious salad, I decided it would be best to take really hot soak with some Epsom salts. I find this to be very therapeutic whenever I over exert my muscles. So, I took a really hot soak, and contemplated the day's blog entry, and my list of this week's "to dos". By the time I got out of the bath, I was absolutely wiped out; exhausted. I got out of the tub, and put on a robe, and attempted to bounce back from the effects of the hot yoga and the hot bath. It didn't take me too long to realise it was a futile battle, and I NEEDED to lay down. Now, I'm not a nap taker. As a matter of fact, naps, while alluring initially, tend to make me much more tired, and much more out of it than before I lay down. There was no keeping my eyelids open. So, I lay down, and closed my eyes, and it felt sooo relaxing. It felt like savasana.

Savasana or Shavasana (pronounced shah-VAH-sah-nah)^[1] (Sanskrit: शवासन; IAST: śavāsana) is a Hatha Yoga asana known in English as Corpse Pose,^[2] and often used to begin and conclude a yoga session.

I laid there and thought how similar it was to savasana. I let my mind free, and eventually, it stilled. I lay in what felt like a state of meditation for a long time before I actually fell soundly, and deeply asleep. It was so warm, and so deep, and sound, that when I woke, I felt disoriented and slightly upset. I looked at the clock and it was time to get dressed and pick Sophia up from her after school program.

I am not sure that I'll ever really allow myself to become a nap person, but when I am beat, I know it. Today I found a source of restful peace in my nap and surely it will give my muscles the repair they need to get back into the yoga studio tomorrow.

Food Porn

So, here's the deal: I was a pesco-vegetarian for 21 years, and I was a pesco-vegetarian for the first three years of my marriage, until my daughter was three. She is a picky eater and it's frustrating and often times very disappointing. Food is very important to me. I love food. I love growing it, coming up with recipes, talking about it, preparing it, cooking it, entertaining with it.....yup, me and food have a bit of a passionate love affair. At any rate, I was having problems digesting processed soy, and the plant estrogen's were scaring me for my own health and my growing daughter's health. So, I opted to start eating meat again. Wow. It was a decision that was an internal battle, and I sat with it for a long time. I mulled it over, and I felt that the health benefits of eating low fat animal protein, for me and my family, outweighed the need to stick to my vegetarian values. I still value vegetarianism, I try to eat organically, live as lightly as I can in my current environment and community. I strive to always improve, and to eat animals that have been treated humanly. I'm not always eating organic meats, but where I can, I do buy it.

Now that I am a carnivore, I get teased by people who know and love me, that I eat quite a bit of meat for someone who hadn't eaten a bite of it in 20 years. On that note, I want to talk about pork. Pork is divine.

Pork tenderloin is the easiest "go to" meal in town. I usually get a gallon zip lock bag, but now that I say it, I could just as easily do it all in a washable casserole dish. My usual method is to put the meat into the zip lock bag, throw in Jane's Mixed Up Krazy Salt, olive oil, garlic granules, and minced fresh rosemary (that's my favorite), or whatever herb you like, or no herbs at all. You can let that marinade for up to 6 hours (I've had to leave it over night and it was excellent) and then grill it, or pan sear and roast it. It's so easy, every one loves it, and it pairs well with so many things.

Another fabulous way to do and eat pork, is ribs. Oh, MY, such a decadent, unhealthy, delicious contrast to the very lean, healthy choice of the pork tenderloin. I try to reserve it for either special occasions, such as having guests over, or for the rare, every once in a while thing with family. The thing I LOVE about the way I prepare my ribs is that I first do a dry rub.

Rub for Pork Ribs

1Tbls. Paprika

1Tbls. Garlic Powder (or granules)

1Tbls. Cumin

1Tbls. Old Bay Seasoning

(Optional 1Tblsp. Chili Powder)

Rub all over ribs and let marinade in the refrigerator for several hours, longer the better.

Brown your ribs in a roaster, or cast iron skillet. Add enough beer to cover the ribs, cover with foil and braise the meat slowly at 325-350 degrees for about an hour.

Finish on a hot grill, bones pointing down, put Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce over ONLY the top of the rib, (the meaty side) Put the lid on and let them get good and smokey for a few minutes, maybe 5 -8 minutes?

I have to say that I am absolutely in love with my pork ribs recipe. Serve them with potato salad, or as in this case where I braised boneless pork ribs, and serve it with mashed potatoes, corn and a Memphis style cole slaw. (Not to crazy about that slaw recipe, so, I'm not sharing it.)

Jerome said they were from a mutant boneless pig and that they were as big as shoes. They were amazing if I don't say so myself. That spice rub and braising them slow, in a 325 oven, in that good ole Wisconsin made beer is something special. (New Glarus beer, but I can't remember the flavor) Try the ribs; you won't be disappointed.

Smokey, flavorful goodness.

Yesterday's post may not have been in my top "best" list, however, what I was doing while limply presenting that entry, was pretty delectable. Are you ready to see that bird? Ooh, I have to say that chicken was food porn for me. I pulled it out of the oven and made a little whimpering noise. It smelled amazing.

See that fresh rosemary tucked under that skin on those breasts?? Ooh, yeah. And the skin was golden brown. Oh, I'm growing that rosemary in my living room, thank you very much. Mmm, hm!!

Come closer, my sweet....smell the aroma.

Chicken is another fabulous meat item to roast, or grill with beer. Ah, beer. Lovely, delicious beer. It really makes meat pop. I've yet to actually shove a can of beer up a bird's behind, but I'm not against it for one minute. If we'd purchased canned beer, you bet this bird would have been given the treatment with a can of beer. The way I LOVE to do this is to treat it as I did for this oven roasted bird: rub it all over with olive oil, sprinkle it with that all purpose Jane's Mixed Up Krazy Salt, season it however you like. Since this is going to be grilled, don't stuff the bird with onions or garlic because it would just take way too long to cook. I take my indirect grilling baskets and fill them with charcoal and fire them up. When the coals are good and hot, seperate the coal baskets and push them against the sides of the grill bowl. Place an aluminum roasting pan in between the coal baskets and fill half way with beer. I think it usually takes two beers. Then place the bird directly above the roasting pan on the grill grate and put the lid on. I try to maintain a temperature of 350-425 degrees and leave it in there for an hour to an hour and a half. At about an hour, you'll want to check the coals and see if you need to add some more to maintain the temperature. Give this method a try and I think you'll agree that it's some of the best chicken you'll ever taste.

Let's get those grills out and start cooking!!!!

I also promise to include vegetarian food porn sporadically throughout the summer. 

The Chicken's Cooking

I'm roasting a whole chicken, and while I was dressing it, rubbing it with oil, salting it, seasoning it, stuffing it with vidalia onions, and slipping fresh rosemary under the skin, I remembered that I had completely dodged the blog. I hope to get one post of some sort in every day that I am not away on some other life adventure, for which I plan to let people know ahead of time, and after my return, will most certainly blog about it. At any rate, I totally wanted to blow it off. I'd rather just kick it with Mr. O, who surprised us by coming home early; but then I walked into the kitchen to check the bird. There he was.....the tortoise.

What you see in this glass is not an illusion.

He's coming to LIFE!! (Just like the tag said....watch it hatch)

Yes, this is the hatching of a real, live, Chinese made, Dollar Tree hatching tortoise!! I was WAY more excited to get it in the water than Sophia was, and the hatching part WAS the coolest.

And, 24 hours later, you have a really wrinkly tortoise, who, supposedly will continue to grow, and yeah, looking at this picture, I think he is.

Who? You lookin' at ME??

I'm thinking I'll always remember this as the reptilian Easter; a day filled with dinosaur and tortoise eggs. I don't think I'd find it nearly as strange if I were "mom" to a boy. Or, then again, maybe I would. 

So, while this post is better late than never, the timer is telling me to go turn my chicken, and put the stuffing on the fire. There's always more tomorrow...

Hippity, Hoppity

Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity,
Easter's on its way


Bringin' ev'ry girl and boy
A basketful of Easter joy
Things to make your Easter
Bright and gay


He's got jelly beans for Tommy
Colored eggs for sister Sue
There's an orchid for your mommy
And an Easter bonnet too. Oh!


Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Happy Easter Day


Here comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Look at him hop and listen to him say,


"Try to do the things you should"
Maybe if you're extra good
He'll roll lots of Easter eggs your way


You'll wake up on Easter morning
And you'll know that he was there
When you find those choc'late bunnies
That he's hiding ev'rywhere,
Oh!


Here' comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppity
Happy Easter Day.
As can be expected, Easter morning is filled with laughter, hunting for eggs, much chocolate, and a couple experiments with "just add water and watch 'em grow" items. So, with thoughts of Peter Cottontail, marshmallow Peeps (we don't like them here), chocolate bunnies, and colored eggs dancing in our heads, we prepare for a day of travel, food, laughter and fellowship.

May everyone rejoice in the renewal of Spring, celebrate what's important, and embrace those you love, near and far.

Traditional Conspiracy

Yesterday was one of those really nice, productive, family days. After I built the square foot garden bed, I had promised Sophia that we would dye Easter eggs. Strange traditions we have around Easter. Christ rose from the dead, here, have a vibrantly colored, hard boiled egg. Yay. More chocolate, please. I suppose traditionally Easter time was the end of a period of fasting, and it comes at a time to usher in spring, and eggs are symbolic of renewal, etc....I find our Easter traditions to be very strange, and have a tough time explaining that the Bunny just comes in to hide the eggs for us, and brings the basket of toys and candy. I, uh, yeah, I don't even know what to say about it. I'm going to continue the conspiracy, as my parents did before me, and their parents before them.

She's having the time of her life coloring these eggs, but she was flying through them faster than I could say "Wait for me. I am going to make myself an egg salad sandwich".

Which was REALLY damn good. Again, another shameless, unpaid plug for Hormel Real Bacon crumbles. Just a teaspoon in the egg salad and it went from good, to DAMN good. Not vegetarian friendly....if you want a DAMN good vegetarian addition for egg salad, I recommend sunflower seeds. Salted sunflower seeds in egg salad is divine. Thanks to Beans and Barley for that brilliant idea.

Apparently we're at the age where the goofy "smile" is what we get whenever the camera comes out. So, she explained to me in great detail how the Easter Bunny was coming and he'd take our dyed eggs and  hide them all over the house for her to find. I just nodded, "uh, huh, uh, huh."

So, while I'm supervising the egg coloring, and eating that bitchin' sandwich, the doorbell rings and it's the postwoman, with a package for Sophia. That's always exciting. Who doesn't like to get an unexpected box in the mail? I know I like presents. Anyway it was a lovely Easter care package from her Grandma Joyce in Chicago.

She's really excited. The wrapping paper has glitter on it! Way to go Gramma!

Even though she is an ace with reading, she wanted me to read the card to her. It was very sweet.

And then she saw what was in the package and it was sealed as "THE BEST present EVER". (They all are...but Zoobles are the newest craze and she LOVES them)

Sticking with tradition, a holiday would not be a holiday in my family without a pair of new socks. Yeah, I said it, we get new socks for every holiday....damn near. That's how we like it.

And in keeping the best for last, I have to admit that I go a little over board with the Easter Bunny and we conspire to bring FAR too much chocolate and candy into the house, and it's all under the guise that it's for the kid, but in fact, I've already eaten way more than I'll ever admit to. So, because I tend to lose my mind and end up with a whole lotta stuff and Sophia's baskets end up looking like the epitome of gluttony and consumptive excess, I went to the Dollar Tree for a lot of it, and Aldi for a couple other things. So, anyone in the know will tell you that most, well, ALL the stuff at the Dollar Tree is made in China. (Not that there's anything wrong with China) So, one has to ask the question: In China is it the Easter-Saurus instead of the Easter Bunny?

Sophia thinks that these are the coolest things EVER. I bought it for the dye...it was a dollar. It was there. I didn't read the package.....

So, if you were the Easter Bunny, would YOU want to hide a passel of dinosaur eggs? Can anyone tell me what the hell dinosaurs have to do with spring time, bunnies, chicks and Easter??

We don't have much planned for today, but I told Sophia I'd make a big breakfast, since we're picking up an old tradition and dusting it off for Easter Sunday. For the first time in several years, more than I can remember, we'll be gathering for an Easter meal at my aunt's house. We won't be at home to linger after our dinosaur hunt, and have a late breakfast together on Sunday, so I figured we'd do it today.

I'm really looking forward to spending some more time with my cousin and her brand new baby girl, and having the entire clan together. It's been a long time since we've all spent Easter together and in the years that have passed, we've grown a bit. The dining room table leaves are added, and the card tables shoved at the end for the kids. We've moved on to create new traditions with our own families, but none of us have forgotten the old ones we've shared with each other, as we pass along the Bunny conspiracy from generation to generation.

Sophia can't wait for the Easter Bunny to come tonight, and I can't wait to see her light up tomorrow morning.

Happy Easter!

Early Morning Power Tools

A little Joe Cocker, a power drill, some caffeine and a fruit smoothie in hand, I got to building a square foot garden box at 7:30AM. I'm a morning person. I rise quite early, find a little bit of quiet and time to myself, to get inspired, to write, or, in this case, to build. There's nothing quite so satisfying as getting fired up about a project and following through with it to completion. I love to construct little things.

This isn't some major project, and I have to say, everyone should be doing it on some scale. Square foot gardening is a fantastic, space saving, economical (eventually) way to grow a lot of food. This method of gardening could feed under privileged people with no actual "dirt" to dig, as you can put a frame on cement and grown whatever crop you desire. Yes, yes it's true. All one needs is 6 inches of "Mel's Mix" (a recipe for a very well balanced soil mix) and a frame to hold the soil in. One 4X4X4X4 bed can grow 16 square feet of crops. That's 16 different crops if you desire. I realize there are a lot of skeptics out there, and I was one of them, but after seeing the results on year one, I am blown away by it. I think if I were to have followed the EXACT proportions in the soil mix, I would have had even better results and I'm talking about a garden that doesn't get a full day of sun. If I get a full 6 hours on all the crops, I'd be surprised. (I will be rectifying a bit of this light issue VERY soon....watch for a post about chain saws and tree trimmers)

I'm a bit aggravated that I paid $20 for cedar, and another $7 for corner braces, the rest of the materials I had on hand, but for $27 I have this (which is not a full sized 16sq. ft. bed, but a 9sq. ft. bed):

Here is the sum total of my work, finished by 9am, after feeding Sophia and getting her to finish homework, as well. The initial investment from my starting my first square foot garden last year, included a bundle of wood lathe, which I made this 9 square foot grid with. 

A person would think "eh, what the hell am I going to do with an entire bundle of wood lathe, I'll skip it, who needs to have all that around just to construct reusable grids for my garden.....well, here's ONE example of the many uses that you can come up with around the house:

BAD ASS handles for BAD ASS balloon tennis rackets. Provides hours of fun for family and friends of all ages. I guarantee it!

Here's why I'm aggravated at the cost of my new melon and squash bed:

ABC Distributing

This bed is nice looking, right? It's a 16sq. ft bed, and it's wood, and has nice decorative touches to it. I LIKE it. Guess how much? Just go to the site and see for yourself! I'd do it in a heart beat. You could get three of them for the cost of what I paid for ONE of my stupid plastic beds. This is a winner deal in my opinion.

If this post has sparked an interest in square foot gardening, please visit this fantastic site: Square Foot Gardening

If you want to get started on one right away, don't hesitate, buy the book (it will become your gardening bible): The Book 

There will be many, many more posts on gardening, square foot gardening, my disasters and successes. With gardening will come discourse on composting too. Square foot gardening uses compost for each and every square, ideally each time you harvest and remove a "crop" from a square, you add a scoop of compost. Now, in my second year, I have a good deal of compost cooking away in my composter, and feel that I've greatly reduced my impact on the environment. I won't get preachy about it, because I'm far from a "good" environmentalist, but I DO think that every little bit helps. I feel deep joy and gratitude for my little plot of land, my little back yard, shaded by trees. I can show my daughter how to grow food, to be a bit more self sustaining, and teach her how the life cycle works. It makes my job as stay at home mom (the new lingo for house wife) all that much more rewarding. 

Procrastination or Prioritizing?

I have 30 minutes to try and squeeze in the blog post for today, and in the mean time, I'm waiting for 19, white chicken eggs to come to a boil. I added a splash of vinegar and a healthy, three fingered pinch of salt, just to throw in all the "wives tales" (tips?) about boiling the perfect egg. Hopefully they don't come out with green yolks and they peel easily. Easter is just two days away now, and tomorrow's big activity will be decorating the Easter eggs. I've pushed Sophia off on this project for three days now, so, I figured it was time to at least have the eggs on hand and ready for dying.

Today was spent thinking about the blog and the larger post(s) I have in mind on composting, gardening (square foot gardening specifically), juicing, and running many errands FOR the garden. I went and got a second reed screen, and heavy duty fence stakes to create a more permanent screen separation between my patio and our neighbor's yard. I also purchased 3, 10 foot lengths of electrical conduit to replace what needed repair on my trellis's for the square foot garden, etc...There was a lot on the list. When I got back, I told myself that I should sit down and write today's post in the blog, but I decided that my time would be better served by cutting the conduit, and while I was at it, why not just finish the trellis's and install them, which lead to putting up the chicken wire, to fence out the rabbits....which, maybe, if I'm lucky, the fox has moved off of our property. Oh, the fox? I didn't mention that before. Yeah, we have a fox who's hunting in the neighborhood. He's lovely, but it is a bit unnerving to see fox tracks in the freshly planted garden, or the rabbit feet left behind after his meal.

Here he is:

Not the best photographs from inside my kitchen, through the window, after having RUN through the house to make sure he didn't run off without my sneaking in some photos.

So, today's post is not what I had intended, I am short on time. I think I made the right choice, to prioritize things that needed doing on a bright, sunny, warm spring day. Tomorrow, they say it's going to rain, and I have Sophia home with me all day, so, I would hope that I accomplished some things that will put me ahead of the game. (Or maybe I just pushed off the writing I have to do)

Every Mama Needs a (Get Away) Road Trip

I-94 between Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the "Twin Cities", Minnesota.

I believe that all mothers, stay at home or otherwise, eventually NEED to get away. It's vital to being a good parent. I'm not getting into whether or not father's have the same need, as I'm sure they do. I can only speak from the perspective of a mother, who most definitely gets to the miniscule, bitter end of her very frayed rope. I need to have time away from the house, from the family, from the responsibilities of day to day life. I need to get in the car and drive....I'm very fortunate to have a vehicle that I find very fun to drive, and I can open the sun roof, and crank SiriusXM Radio. 

I had my moment of escape in mind the minute that I heard my cousin had delivered her baby girl. I began mentally plotting my visit and how I would get time away, where I would stay, whether or not I would splurge and get myself a hotel room and so on. It's luxurious to travel in the mind. I love to look at the calendar and discover dates that would work, and picture what the drive will be like. The rush that comes over me every time I exit the city, off on some new adventure always feels new. It doesn't matter to me if I'm going on a brief drive to visit my Mother in Illinois, or a longer drive to Minneapolis, or other places "up north". The thrill of driving off, heading out, escaping the norm is always relaxing, and exhilarating all at once. I especially love rushing off to catch a plane, but, that isn't in my near future so far as I know.

Driving allows me to time to truly think and sort out dusty stories, or shake off old ghosts that I wasn't even aware were lurking in darker recesses of my mind. The passing miles can stretch as blankly in the windshield as a plain sheet of paper, daring me to question, teasing me to play with the ideas and notions that often times are pushed to the background, shoved to the corner, and swept under the rug to make room for the more immediate and pressing tasks of packed lunch boxes, daily readers, back packs and rain boots, the "what's for dinner, mom?s" and the occasional butt wipe.

I think it's of vital importance for women who mother to get away. Get away for at least 24 hours and let yourself do nothing. It doesn't have to cost a lot, and it doesn't have to be very far from home, but find time to get away from the demands of the home, and work, and get back to YOU. The moments of solitude, to be quiet with yourself, are so fulfilling, so recharging, that I honestly think it's necessary for personal health. If you think that you can't afford it, do like I did and ask a friend if it would be alright if you could stay with them over night. That way you can get some alone time in getting there, and spend some quality girl's time with your friend in one trip. Being away from the ever present pressures of daily responsibility, even for brief periods, will leave one feeling more capable, more relaxed, refreshed, and might even bring new perspective to old situations.

Beautiful, spring flowers on the bedside table never hurt any one's attitude...

The view as I sipped my morning coffee made up for the cold, grey weather outside.

I spent a lovely day with great friends, who treated me to a visit to Minnehaha Falls. It's quite impressive, and the ice cream at Sea Salt was delightful. I highly recommend a visit to this park if you're ever in the Minneapolis area. Quite the nice tourist attraction, as well as recreational park.

http://gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/minnehaha.shtml

Brand new baby cousin toes, good enough to eat. They look like little marshmallow peeps.

Even while it hails, and threatens to snow, the crocus's and daffodils are pushing through the cold ground, and giving us their full display. Spring is shaping up to be a wonderful time of renewal, and I couldn't have felt it so strongly without a shift in perspective. I think every mama should take a road trip and see where the journey takes her.

Til Wednesday

Tomorrow I'm heading out of town, to take a much needed break. I plan to bring the computer, but, there is a very strong possibility that there will be no new posts to the Opinionative until next Wednesday. Please stay tuned for the next post.....I'm sure I'll have news of my adventures.

Thank you all who've been reading, and I hope you enjoy it enough to pass it along to others.

See you next week!

It's The Little Things

When there are small children in a household, a person finds out very quickly that there is a huge potential for waste. Waste of food, waste of materials, waste of "disposable" products. As a concerned mother, I started to get very upset about the number of straws we were blowing through in a month. I envisioned plastic straws floating in the water ways, and stuck in bird's beaks or talons, rolling around years after the last sip was drawn through it. So, I set out on a hunt for reusable straws. There is a remarkable selection of reusable straws, ranging from stainless steel to glass, flexible food safe straws, and rigid plastic.

This is a lovely stainless steel straw, but I don't like the opaque nature of this one. I want to see inside, and know if there are some creepy things growing in there.

This one is made of glass, which is awesome, really aesthetically nice, but I just can't see them lasting very long with a 6 year old.

At the end of the day, after a lot of research, I ended up buying this item, which included the cup AND straw, for $5.99 at Walgreens. Amazon sells it for $7.99 and you have to pay that pesky shipping. For us, I think that this is the best deal, since the price on a single glass straw is roughly $9.00, and the stainless steel straws range pretty wildly, but you can get a set of 4 on Amazon for $8.99.

I have to say it feels good to eliminate (at least drastically reduce) the amount of plastic drinking straws we're tossing into the land fill. So, my tip for today is The Eco Cold Drink Cup with reusable straw. It's served us very well with morning smoothies, iced coffees, lemonade or just plain ole ice water.

The Moment of Imbalance

This morning I found myself in a position I dread. It was a brief moment of chaos, blended with frustration as I looked at the calendar and realized that today is Sophia's "snack day" at school. We did not happen to have a group snack to feed 24 kids just lying around, and when I looked up at the clock and saw it was already 7:30am, I went into a frenzy trying to whip up the smoothies for Mr. O and me, get Sophia's breakfast on the table and rush out the door half assembled, to find a snack for her to bring to school. I had roughly 30 minutes to get to the grocery store, pick the snack, check out, get back, slap on my "face" and gather up all of Sophia's miscellaneous school things for her to head out the door. I feel very grateful to live in a neighborhood that has a very nice grocery store about 6 blocks away. I did in fact make it back in time, and get her to school with rainbow colored Goldfish crackers.

Needless to say, I was more than ready to get to the yoga studio and work it out; find the balance and get back to a centered, focused and productive day. (I mean, come on, I'm going out of town in two days, and have a lot I want to accomplish) As I walked over to the studio, I let my mind wander to the blog and what today's topic would be. I felt very scattered, and was finding it nearly impossible to gather my thoughts as they bounced from one thing to the next. As I opened the door to the studio, I pushed my mind toward the moment at hand, and focusing on where I was and why I was there. Now, this is a new studio to me, as I mentioned in a previous post, and as such, the instructors are all new to me as well. The instructor came in, and she introduced herself to me, and we did all the precursory signing in, chatting about my experience, and then she asked me if I minded doing the practice hot. I've worked at 82 degrees quite a bit in my previous practice, so, of course I said "no problem".

We begin the session with sun salutations and if you've ever practiced yoga at a variety of places, with a variety of people and instructors, you'll know that there are many, many variations on the traditional, hatha yoga sun salutation. Well, from the word go, she brought in poses I'd never heard of, and the heat came on fierce within the first 20 minutes or so. Eventually the imbalance I was feeling became incredibly intense. I felt like I'd never even stood in mountain pose before, much less been having an off again, on again love affair with yoga for 12 years. I found myself soaking wet with sweat, struggling to keep from slipping on my mat in downward dog, frustrated with the teacher coming over handing me towels to try and wipe my mat with (it was ineffectual, since the source of the wet was ME) and generally struggling to hold simple positions. I was even more out of sync than when I'd started and even as I was attempting to simply be aware of the feelings and let them go, I was finding myself stressing out inside. During a forward bend, the teacher approached me and put blocks under my hands while saying "don't be such a Pitta". (I found out recently that I am 99% Pitta.) I busted out laughing when she said it and replied, "but that's ALL that I am". "I can see it in your practice" she said.

This interaction has given me much to meditate on. I'm not quite sure how one stops being...

Ayurveda: [ah-yer-vey-duh, -vee-]
–noun

the ancient Hindu art of medicine and of prolonging life. 

 

(Yoga is an integral part of Ayurvedic medicine.)

 

"According to Ayurveda, the universe is created, formed, and organized by consciousness, which expresses itself through five great elements: space, air, fire, water, and earth. In the mind body system of a human being, these five elements refine themselves into three essential governing principles that Ayurveda calls doshas. It is through the doshas that the energy and information of the universe makes itself present in our bodies and our lives." - Deepak Chopra, Overcoming Addictions; The Spiritual Solution

 

So, the three doshas are:

 

Vata dosha which is the principle of movement: it governs circulation, the passage of food through the digestive tract, and even the movement of ideas and feelings through our thoughts.

 

Pitta dosha is associated with the element of fire and is often spoken of through metaphors of heat. Pitta is responsible for the conversion of food into energy through the process of digestion, and for the metabolism of air and water as well.

 

Kapha dosha is the principle of structure in the mind body system. It derives from the elements of earth and water and is said to be the heaviest of the doshas.

 

According to the assessment provided me, I am 99% Pitta, 70% Vata and 66% Kapha.

 

"When in balance, Pitta types are affectionate, and a face glowing with warmth and happiness is characteristic of this dosha. It is only when stress, improper diet, or another destabilizing influence comes into play that the aggressive, critical side of Pitta's nature begins to assert itself." (Deepak Chopra)

 

So, as I continued on with the practice, sweat pouring into my eyes, and making my hands and feet slick, concentrating on my breath, concentrating on balancing my hips, concentrating on BEING in the pose, I realized I had to let go. Just let it go. Let go the notion that I can control each aspect, control how I'm going to react, let go of my fears of being judged by this new instructor who called me out by dosha. Clearly, I am, what I am.

 

For today, I choose to be present along side my imbalance. I'm holding it's hand, and we will slowly, consciously move forward in a state far from grace, but closer to center.

 

I'm right here, right now, in the writer's nook, in this moment of creativity.

Namaste

Black Bean Brownies, Breakfast Burritos, and Procrastination

A few weeks ago, I read a friend's post on Facebook approving a fresh batch of black bean brownies she had just made. My mind perked up when I read her post, because I had tried Rocco DiSpirito's recipe using artificial sweetener, and frankly found the brownies to taste of chemicals and have an "off" texture. I was less than impressed with Rocco's recipe, though many of his other recipes from his book "Now Eat This" are quite delicious. I simply do not like artificial sweetener. Period. It tastes terrible, and sugar is NOT the devil. Any how, I asked her for the recipe, and made the brownies. I'm not sure if it was a blessing or a curse to discover that they are chocolaty, hearty, satisfying cubes of sweet deliciousness. Since making the first batch, Mr. O and Sophia have decided that the house is not properly stocked without the black bean brownies, and we have to make a new batch as soon as the last brownie is eaten and the pan washed. Sophia loves her position as sous chef, and exerts her "authority" on the subject of brownies regularly. The wonderful thing about the black bean brownies is that they use absolutely no flour, the beans are the base of the recipe, which means a dessert with tons of fiber, protein, thiamine, iron, (tryptophan??) and they're low in calories. At roughly 126 calories for a slightly smaller square than I cut, you can't beat this healthy, tasty dessert.

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.
2. Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, sugar, and instant coffee in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Note: I tried this recipe omitting the 3tblsp. of oil, and replacing it with fat free, plain, Greek yogurt. They turned out nice, but slightly different than with the oil. This obviously reduces calories and fat by a bit, and lends to a nice chewy "crust" on the outside of the brownies. I also urge anyone who tries the recipe to reject your notions that this will have the texture of a colossal, full fat, chewy, double fudge brownie. It's actually got more the texture of a flour less chocolate cake, but none the less, they taste wonderful and really fix that chocolate craving, without busting the calorie bank.

On the subject of food, which by the way is of great interest to me, I want to discuss the tortilla. The tortilla is an essential staple in my home, and I don't know how I'd get by without them. I like all types for the most part, but really dislike the "low carb" bullshit ones. They're a bread product and I expect breads to be just like people; who they are, not a weak substitute of what we think they should be.

Tortillas can be filled with nearly any and every thing. One of my all time favorites is the handy breakfast burrito. This morning, my breakfast burrito consisted of two beaten eggs with real bacon crumbles (Hormel sells bags of cooked, pre-crumbled bacon...it's a winner) and goat's cheese, wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. It was delicious and healthy. If our cupboards weren't quite as bare as they are today, I'd have probably added some asparagus, or spinach....maybe even broccoli. The tortilla fuels the imagination. Anything you can think up will be made easy to eat and transport if you roll it up in a tortilla. I love the fact that with a little bit of cheese, and a tortilla, left overs seem to be tastier and more interesting. Out of sandwich bread? Remember the lowly, little tortilla and turn that sandwich into a wrap. Tortillas make fantastic, customized, low fat chips too. Cut those bad boys into triangles, spray with some cooking spray or olive oil and sprinkle with your seasoning blend of choice, bake at 350 degrees til crisp and golden. Dip in salsa and you're set. (It works the same with corn or flour, or wheat tortillas)

Now, getting to the heart of my matter today: I cannot get myself to stop procrastinating. I'm heading out of town this weekend, and leaving Mr. O in charge, which means I need to get my "ducks in a row" before I jump in the car and high tail it outta here. I can leave a lot of the yard work, as it's still very early in the season, but I can't ignore the pile of laundry, the hair balls and crumbs, the bare cupboards, and the ever present, daily, moment by moment needs of my daughter. Instead of facing these tasks, leaping on top of the mountain and chipping away at it, I am hiding in here, in the blog, looking out at the street, watching the birds, and generally day dreaming. Don't get me wrong; I love daydreaming and think that it's a vital piece in the creative process, but I'm day dreaming about vacations, and rest, sun, tropical drinks, and irresponsibility. If I keep putting off til tomorrow, what I can do today, I fear I'll end up with far more than I can accomplish in the time left. I don't even feel like I can properly prioritize what needs doing, because I only want to focus on me, and what I'm going to bring to Minneapolis, and when I'll be able to schedule my next hair cut appointment, etc...etc...Is it simply that I NEED to focus on myself, and it's to the point that I can no longer ignore myself, or, am I just lazy?