Baby 2

Thoughts on my second pregnancy ...

1. It's WAY better to NOT be surprised by that second blue line. Makes for a much less emotional first trimester. I can focus most of my energy on managing my tired body rather than my going-crazy mind.

2. 1st trimester yuckiness is much better managed by real food, including lots of raw milk, instead of lots of packaged food simply because it's quick and easy to cook. I definitely feel better this time around.

3. But, that could also be because NOT working is WAY better than working during pregnancy. Not that I'm not working. I'm taking care of the Bean every day and usually subbing one day/week as well. But still, naps are important. Very important. And now I get one almost every day.

4. Like all one-kid moms say, I can't imagine loving another child as much as I love Riley, but I'm so excited to meet him or her (hopefully there's just one). If they're half as interesting as the one dancing down the hall with toilet paper right now, I'll be a crazy lucky mama.

5. I feel like there's something about the second that's going to transport me into a whole other level of being a mom. It's still pretty easy to balance being a mom of one pretty easy kidlet with other things I enjoy. I still get predictable breaks during the day. I'm not outnumbered. But with another one, I think parenthood will feel like a bigger, more consuming part of my life. I will be MOTHER. Ryan will leave to teach in September and I'll be at home all day with a 6 week old and 2 year old. And that kind of mothering I am unprepared for, and honestly a bit frightened by.

Summer Pics

This girl loves music

Trip to the South Getty


Rahm family vacation at St. Helens


We got a water bug!

Finally back at home, enjoying the wood floors

Lovin' the back yard sun

Back at the beach, Yachats

This girl's a beach baby!



First day of rain ... she loved it!

Eat fat, be thin

Holy canoli it's been 20 days since I've posted. The transition to being a stay-at-home-mama while the hubby goes back to school has added a bit of chaos to our schedule. As has starting another blog, which I'm super excited about and a bit overwhelmed by. But I had to post a quick link to this Register Guard article. Yea for Linda Prout! I'm glad the word is getting out!

Summer pics are coming soon! Stay tuned!

Day 3

It's Day 3 of my new stay-at-home motherhood. It has not been without internal conflict. While I am truly happy with my decision, I also miss my teaching job. But here's a few beautiful things I would have missed were I at school - Riley laying her head on my slipper for a little snuggle when she got tired because the fabric feels like her sleeping blanket. Her putting tennis balls under the couch because she thought it was hilarious when I put my head to the ground to look for them. Her tickling my feet when she wanted attention. These lovely little things make me quickly forget about my 6th graders, who, while amazing people, are much less adorable then my little 14-month-old. It's been a gift to be with her so much lately. Love her!

Budding Poet?

Check out this 3-year-old reciting Billy Collin's poem Litany. Guess I better start replacing a little Eric Carlisle and Dr. Seuss with Frost, cummings, and Collins :)

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B: scramble, bran muffins, coffee
L: quinoa chicken salad w/tomatoes & cilantro
D: chicken/black bean/zucchini quesadillas w/creme fraiche & chips
Prep: pick up Azure order, bake bread

Tuesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover quesadillas
D: quiche, toast
Prep: make quiche crust

Wednesday
B: leftover quiche, toast, coffee
L: BLTs, carrots
D: sauteed lamb w/rice, salad
Prep: soak porridge grains

Thursday
B: porridge w/cinnamon, almonds, and dates, coffee
L: leftover lamb, salad
D: date night (picnic in the park?)
Prep: start quinoa sprouts (am)

Friday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: chicken salad
D: salmon, corn, salad

Saturday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: Indian takeout
D: dinner out w/friends
Prep: menu and food shopping for next week's beach trip (farmer's market!)

Sunday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftover Indian
D: tuna melt w/carrots
Prep: food prep for beach trip

11:30-11:50

11:30 Riley wakes up from her nap. We hear the little cooing noises we enjoy so much.
11:35 We go in to get her and realize that, for the first time, she's taken off her own diaper. Unfortunately, she also pooped ... after she took the diaper off. She has poop all over her hands. There is poop all over her sheets.
11:35-11:40 We try delicately to take off her dress and walk her (one of us holding her and one holding her arms to keep her hands away from her face) to the bathtub.
11:40 We realize the lightbulb in our bathroom had burnt out. Ryan had to bring in a lamp.
11:40-11:50 We realize most of the poop is pretty dry. Did our daughter take her whole nap with poop on her hands? I guess so. We try to figure out how to wash her off without filling the whole bathtub with poopy water and without getting poop all over ourselves.
11:50 Our child is, once again, poop-free and happy. I guess we'll have to make sure she always sleeps in bloomers from now on.

Menu Plan Wednesday?

Some plan is better than no plan, right? Our summer schedule has messed with my meal plans, and being out of our house for 2 weeks really got us out of the habit. So here's me trying to get back on track.

Wednesday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: chicken/cheese/tomato paninis, salad
D: quinoa/chicken salad, carrots, hummus
Prep: start sourdough mother again, start wheat berry sprouts

Thursday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover quinoa salad, carrots, hummus
D: quiche, toast
Prep: make quiche crust, feed sourdough, rinse sprouts, defrost steak

Friday
B: leftover quiche, toast, coffee
L: tomato/cheese/basil paninis, salad
D: dinner at neighbors
Prep: dry sprouts, make ice cream for dinner dessert, feed sourdough

Saturday
B: leftover quiche, toast, coffee
L: black bean/corn/zucchini quesadillas
D: steak, salad w/beets & chevre
Prep: feed sourdough

Sunday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: salad w/leftover steak
D: anniversary dinner out
Prep: bake bread, make next week's meal plan

To moms, for laughs

To other moms - You have to check this out. What's your favorite? Mine's a tie between the Hands Baby Pillow and the Plush Pee and Poo. Seriously???

Home at Last

We crazily decided to combine refinishing our wood floors with some wall painting, staining and finishing new baseboards, and 2 family vacations (St. Helens with my family and K Falls with his family). I'm quite tired of living out of a suitcase (though it probably wouldn't be as bad if I had cute suitcases like those in the picture!). So after 18 days out of our house, we're finally back home. Not moved in, but home.

3 things I've learned from our temporary homelessness:

1. Though we've lived wonderful years as a wandering couple in temporary homes, it's much harder and less enjoyable with a baby. Our mound of luggage seriously triples when we have her: portable crib, stroller, baby pack, diapers, diaper pail, special gentle detergent for the diapers, butt paste & other baby toiletries, portable high chair, extra blankets, fan for her to sleep, monitors ... and the list goes on. It feels seriously ridiculous.

2. My kitchen is better organized than anyone else's kitchen. I'm saying this a bit tongue in cheek, but I have decided that every kitchen is organized around its cook. My mom's kitchen is organized around her cooking style, and mother-in-law's around hers. And neither of them cook like I do. There is no maple syrup or sucanat, much less a dehydrator and lids to sprout wheat berries and quinoa (oh yeah, there's no quinoa either). And there's certainly no room in our trunk for those things. I'm really not knocking my family because their homes reflect their lives, as they should. Sleeping in someone else's bed and using someone else's bathroom is hard enough, but I've realized that cooking in someone else's kitchen is the hardest for me.

3. We really need check-in time at night, really. We've gotten in the habit of sitting on the couch and chatting after she goes to bed. It's just not the same with family around. Enough said, yeah?

Jam Day

There's nothing better than homemade Oregon strawberry & raspberry jam. We couldn't keep Riley away from the raspberries! We had just taught her the sign for 'more' and I'd say she used it about 50 times while pointing up to the countertop upon which she knew the raspberries sat. Between Riley and Ryan, I did just as much shooing as I did stirring!

I started with some beautiful berries from the Farmers' Market.

And 2 each of canning pots and jam-making pots.

And with my mom's help made 27 jars of beautiful jam.

We've already lathered it on homemade sourdough (on top of a thick layer of butter, of course). Oh yummmmmmmmm.

1st Birthday. 1st Steps.

After the first few tentative steps, this girl went kamikaze on us. No matter how many face plants she did, she rolled over with a giggle and held up her arms to be lifted up for another try.

Eventually, she did figure out that she would balance better if she didn't lean forward so much. But by then the camera was away and we were just enjoying her happy squeals.

'Poo Free

After reading this blog post ... and this one ... and this one ... and after realizing that this might better for my child and if I'm going to put it on her head I should really try it myself ... I decided to try going 'poo free. TRY. I was really hoping it would work for her but dubious and I would convert. I love the lather of shampoo. And the smell. And I knew that baking soda and water and apple cider vinegar would give me neither. At least not the smell I was wanting. And, honestly, vainly, I didn't want to deal with the greasy hair transition. But, amazingly (because I tend to have greasy hair), I didn't have to. My hair's fine. No grease. No transition. Weird. What did I notice? Clean hair. Softer hair. A little more body. And (this is the only negative) a faint scent of apple cider vinegar. Boo. According to my husband, apple cider vinegar is one of the worst smells in the world. His hell would smell like apple cider vinegar. So that's a problem for us. But then, just before writing this, I read this blog post. Not only do I like her "Simple Method" idea, because the soda mixture in a bottle would be more accessible than mine in the cup, but I like the idea of adding a cinnamon stick and maybe some essential oil to the rinse. Some friends had already suggested essential oil so that was on my grocery list anyway, but a cinnamon/something woody combination sounds kinda nice. I can't do vanilla, too sweet. I suppose I'll decide when I'm looking at all my choices :-) Update to follow soon.

Menu Plan Monday

The last few weeks have been a bit disorganized in the kitchen. With the end of school, a mini vacation, and the beginning of summer and our mad attempt at sorting everything for a garage sale this weekend, my menus have been forgotten ... resulting in less time in the kitchen (which I have, surprisingly, enjoyed), more money spent on groceries (boo), and a little more laissez-faire approach to mealtimes (which, for the most part, has been pleasant). But we're back to it this week. More routine is needed. And less money spent is always good. I've even got some wheat berry sprouts and a new sourdough mother starter on my counter again. It's nice to be home :)

Monday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftover curry chicken salad, apple
D: moroccan lamb sausage, corn on the cob, salad
Prep: tend wheat sprouts, feed sourdough, start yogurt @4, soak/sprout beans

Tuesday - Strawberry Jam Day!
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: tuna melts, veggies w/hummus
D: black bean/zucchini quesadilla w/tomatoes & creme fraiche
Prep: make strawberry jam, apple sauce, granola (what an afternoon in the kitchen!), dry sprouts, feed sourdough

Wednesday
B: quiche, toast, coffee
L: leftover quesadilla fixings
D: pizza, salad
Prep: make quiche crust & pizza crust, feed sourdough

Thursday
B: leftover quiche, toast, coffee
L: leftover pizza, salad
D: date night
Prep: start defrosting ground beef for Saturday, make bread

Friday
B: leftover quiche
L: tuna melts, carrots
D: dinner @ the coast
Prep: bake cupcakes for Sat park party, start quinoa sprouts

Saturday - Garage Sale Day!
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftovers picnic
D: bday dinner w/fam-burgers, chips, potato salad, fruit, homemade ice cream
Prep: prep stuff for park party & dinner during garage sale

Sunday
B: Turkish poached eggs w/homemade bread, coffee
L: roast chicken, salad, bread
D: quinoa/chicken salad, veggies

Feels good :-)

Check out other MPM menus here.

Melodies

Last weekend we got a great gift. A friend loaned us their cabin outside Sisters, Oregon. It was lovely and peaceful, probably the most relaxing vacation we've been on since Riley was born. So refreshing.
There was a piano in the corner of the main room, and Riley was soon pointing us over there regularly. Many of you know that we have a piano, but a combination of business and laziness has caused it to be buried underneath books, papers, computer disks, and many other less important things. Plus it's in our study, which Riley rarely visits. And thus, she has only played our piano a handful of times. So this was a treat.
She loved touching the keys lightly, then pounding them and squealing. She'd catch our eyes with a twinkle in her own as she made her own little melodies. For a musical mama and papa, it was pretty heart-warming to watch out little Bean make her own little music. We chimed in with some on-the-spot lyrics, which, as you can probably guess, Ryan is pretty good at (good=entertaining). Soon I was both singing and laughing. Fun moments.

Waiting for Dad

Our windows are perfect height for Riley. She loves standing there to watch cars, birds, walkers, dogs, trees sway in the breeze, and her dad come home from work.

Jewelry Board

In this month's Real Simple, there's a section on organizing according to your personality. By personality, they mean "right brained" vs. "left brained" people. On almost every right brain/left brain test I've taken, I come down pretty much right in the middle. That would explain why I'm in almost constant conflict between wanting to check things off on my list and wanting to just sit down and relax make something. Last weekend the right side won and I made something. (The idea, let's connect this back to the beginning, was from Real Simple. An idea for a right-brainer, in fact.)
I started with a frame, $2.75 from Goodwill.

And some sale fabric from Joann's, $1.50.

And some Glazier's Points from TrueValue Hardware, $1something I think.

And some leftover cork board from another project.

And a messy dresser.

With an especially messy jewelry section.

And I ended with this!

And a much nicer dresser space :)

First, I removed the picture and fixed the cork board to the glass using mounting tape. Then, I covered the cork board with the fabric, taping it to the back of the glass using packing tape (there's probably a better way to do this step, but this way worked for me. Last, because the back of the picture had been nailed into the frame, I used the Glazier's Points to secure the glass back into the frame. And voila! Not so bad for about $5 and an hour of my Saturday.

Menu Plan Monday

Or rather, Menu Plan (Late) Monday ... but it's better than not at all. That was last week.

Monday
B: eggs, toast
L: chicken curry salad
D: pizza, salad

Tuesday
B: baked oatmeal w/yogurt & apple sauce
L: chicken curry salad
D: quiche, toast
Prep: make granola

Wednesday
B: baked oatmeal
L: quiche, toast
D: burgers, salad, fries
Prep: make bread

Thursday
B: baked oatmeal
L: quiche, toast
D: date night, picnic?
Prep: shopping list for trip to Sisters, start prep

Friday
B: scramble, toast
L: sandwich, salad
D: bbq @ friends
Prep: prep food for trip

Trip food will be planned ... later :-)

Redonkulous

If you've read Freakonomics: The Hidden Side of Everything (and liked it, I guess), then you'll enjoy his blog to. Being a logophiliac (is that a real word or did I just make it up by combining a couple roots?), I enjoyed this post and thought I'd pass it along.
Redonkulous huh?

Good writing ...

"Good writing is an experiment in meaning that works. The experiment that works is a product of many experiments that fail. The failure is essential, because through trying, failing, trying, failing, we discover what we have to say." Donald Murray

I hate the failure part. I hate working and reworking for hours only to discover I don't like what I've written any better than I did a cup of coffee and a pot of tea ago. But this is one of the gifts of writing, one of the gifts of art, that we are forced to deal with ourselves as we do it. It's not brute strength, it's not sheer determination, it's not luck (though those are certainly involved at times). It's looking inside and seeing what's really there and working with it until we find something authentic. That thing, that true thing, may come out in the form of a poem or a story that takes place in another world. ("Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth." Camus.) But the truth that is finally revealed, that we finally figure out how to tell, that we finally craft into art, is truly part of us. And that is why the failure is so important, because that's the only way to the truth.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: brunch w/fam
D: chicken coconut soup
Prep: soak oats for baked oatmeal, make apple sauce, make pesto for Fri

Tuesday
B: baked oatmeal w/yogurt, apple sauce, coffee
L: leftover coconut chicken soup
D: chicken/veggies/rice w/peanut sauce
Prep: get roast out

Wednesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover Tu dinner
D:chicken/black bean/zucchini quesadillas w/creme fraiche, chips
Prep: soak roast, sprout quinoa for Fri meal, make chicken salad

Thursday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: chicken salad
D: date night, picnic out?
Prep: sprout quinoa for Sat meal, soak roast

Friday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: chicken salad
D: roast, pesto quinoa, bread
Prep: make chicken salad w/leftovers (save some for Sun curry), make baba ganouj

Saturday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: w/Joe & Hailey, beef/broccoli quinoa salad (kind of like this), flatbread w/baba ganouj
D: quiche, toast
Prep: make quiche crust

Sunday
B: leftover quiche
L: Turkish poached eggs w/homemade bread
D: chicken curry w/rice, creme fraiche, flatbread

See more menus at Menu Plan Monday hosted by orgjunkie.com.

Quinoa

Doesn't this recipe look good? Quinoa is quickly becoming one of my favorite foods. And then I read this interesting article, which made it even more appealing. I think I'll have to try the quinoa pudding!

And who knew this is what the plant looked like!


Any quinoa recipes to share?

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover lentils w/sausage
D: black bean & zucchini quesadillas w/chips and homemade salsa
Prep: sprout quinoa

Tuesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover lentils
D: leftover quesadillas
Prep: make cookies for Walstroms

Wednesday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftover lentils or soup
D: sausage/white bean/kale soup
Prep: start defrosting steak, bake bread

Thursday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: chicken soup
D: steak, salad, break
Prep: sprout quinoa

Friday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: chicken soup
D: burgers, homemade fries, salad, bread
Prep: make quiche crust, soak oats for baked oatmeal, sprout lentils for lentil loaf

Saturday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: beef/broccoli/quinoa salad w/leftover roast
D: quiche, toast

Sunday
B: leftover quiche, coffee
L: beef/broccoli/quinoa salad leftovers
D: lentil loaf w/cucumber raita & hummus, carrots
Prep: make hummus

See more menu plans at Menu Plan Monday hosted by Orgjunkie.com!

Finger Foods

This morning, Riley decided that she wasn't going to eat the scrambled egg yolk with mushrooms and creme fraiche ... at least not with a spoon. But she was quite happy picking through the pile with her fingers, and actually managed to get most of it in her mouth. So ... scrambled eggs ... the new finger food?

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: salad, bread, cheese, tea
D: sourdough blueberry pancakes, milk
Prep: make granola, make creme fraiche, start lentil sprouts

Tuesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: black bean quesadilla w/creme fraiche & cilantro
D: quiche, toast
Prep: make quiche crust, start bean sprouts

Wednesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover quiche, toast
D: curried lentils w/sausage & sauteed chard
Prep: make bread

Thursday
B: leftover quiche, toast, coffee
L: leftover lentils & sausage
D: date night

Friday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover lentils
D: steak w/sauteed kale & balsamic sauce, potatoes, wine
Prep: start sprouting quinoa

Saturday
B: scramble, toast
L: tuna melt, carrots
D: sausage/white bean/kale soup
Prep: soak oats for baked oatmeal

Sunday
B: baked oatmeal w/apple sauce and yogurt, coffee
L: leftover soup, bread
D: roast chicken, quinoa/zucchini salad
Prep: make quinoa/chicken salad for lunches

See more menus at Menu Plan Monday hosted by Orgjunkie.com!

Cleaning & Poetry

I hate cleaning. Which I believe should be a given, but apparently it isn't. Some people like cleaning. I wish I were one of those people. But I do love having a clean house (not that you would know that if you've visited since Riley was born ... or before that, for that matter, but much more so now). Anyway, I'm a hot or cold girl, and if it can't be clean I don't really care if it's kinda clean, cause kinda clean isn't clean. Or tidy, actually. I care more about tidiness, which apparently isn't next to godliness, but I still like it better. If my living room is organized, I'm happy. If it's vacuumed and the windows are clean, I'm happier, but organized is usually good enough.

But today, cleaning was inspired. Not because I cleaned for an hour, but because I found this stuck in one of my old books part way through (I was sorting books to sell to Smiths so we can get a used Ergo, which I'm excited about). I love that. I forgot about it. Then I was reminded, sat to write this post, and smiled through the rest of cleaning dreaming about how I might fight for time to write tonight.

He ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.
He danced a long the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book. What liberty
A loosened spirit brings!

Emily Dickinson

Menu Plan Monday

I used to think it was a slight waste of time to create a menu for the whole week ... ahh, I have learned.

Monday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: weekend leftovers
D: chicken mushroom quinoa casserole, salad
Prep: prep sourdough mother

Tuesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover casserole
D: quiche, toast
Prep: bake bread

Wednesday
B: leftover quiche, coffee
L: leftover casserole
D: roast chicken, salad, bread
Prep: make chicken salad

Thursday
B: leftover quiche, coffee
L: chicken salad leftovers
D: date night

Friday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: chicken salad leftovers
D: homemade pizza, salad, wine
Prep: make pizza dough

Saturday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftover pizza
D: tuna melts, carrots

Sunday
B: sourdough blueberry pancakes, coffee
L: leftover pizza
D: curried lentils w/sausage & sauteed kale
Prep: make next week's meal plan

Apple Blossoms

We hung out in the back yard for a while today. She was quite taken with the apple blossoms.

But ultimately decided that the petals were not very tasty.

Gel

Finally got a good gel! Thanks to tips from this cook and this post!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B: granola, yogurt, coffee
L: leftover beef/broccoli/quinoa salad
D: vegetable curry w/naan & baba ganouj
Prep: feed sourdough, make cookie dough for Weds.

Tuesday
B: eggs, toast, coffee
L: leftover quinoa salad or curry
D: spaghetti, bread, salad:
Prep: bake bread, bake cookies, make granola

Wednesday
B: granola, yogurt, coffee
L: roast chicken, quinoa w/zucchini
D: potluck w/friends
Prep: make chicken salad & save chicken for casserole

Thursday
B: granola, yogurt, coffee
L: chicken salad, carrot sticks
D: date night
Prep: start soaking black beans

Friday
B: granola, yogurt, coffee
L: chicken salad, carrot sticks
D: chicken/mushroom casserole, salad
Prep: start soaking quinoa

Saturday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftover chicken casserole
D: big salad, bread, salami, cheese, wine
Prep: soak oats for baked oatmeal

Sunday
B: baked oatmeal w/yogurt & apple sauce, coffee
L: scramble, toast
D: black bean/zucchini quesadillas w/chips & guacamole

Check out other menus at orgjunkie.com!

First Lines

I know I should just write and come back to the first line later, but I usually sit there with my coffee or tea whispering various combinations of words until something feels good on my tongue. I need the momentum to begin. After all, first lines are of utmost importance. Can you identify these?

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.

"Where's papa going with that ax?," said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

Happy families are all unlike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too.

Mother died today. Or yesterday, I don't know.

It was a pleasure to burn.

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.

And of course ...
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

the Pill

My current assignment for the children's writing program is to write a nonfiction article, so I've been paying more attention to those kind of pieces lately. This one sparked some interest. The first medicine to be regularly given to people who weren't sick? I didn't know that. I wonder how many more we've created since then.

Menu Plan Monday

A fun, crazy weekend led to an abandoning of the menu, ergo the seeming repeats. But it did lead to a lovely new discovery, this mushroom casserole. We very much enjoyed it, though next time I would use less rice and more veggies. Will let you know how the next time goes.

Monday
B: granola, yogurt, coffee
L: leftover mushroom casserole
D: quiche, toast
Prep: bake bread, start quinoa sprouts, make quiche crust

Tuesday
B: leftover quiche, toast, coffee
L: leftover mushroom casserole
D: black bean & zucchini quesadillas with lime/cilantro sauce, chips

Wednesday
B: granola, yogurt, coffee
L: leftover quiche
D: roast chicken, beet salad
Prep: make chicken/quinoa salad, start defrosting steaks, make apple & carrot shortbread for bible study tomorrow

Thursday
B: granola, yogurt, coffee
L: chicken/quinoa salad
D: date night
Prep: start defrosting roast

Friday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: chicken/quinoa salad
D: steak, salad, bread, wine?
Prep: make granola

Saturday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: tuna melts
D: mushroom & barley patties w/cucumber raita, flatbread
Prep: soak oats for baked oatmeal, make apple sauce

Sunday
B: baked oatmeal w/yogurt & apple sauce
L: leftover mushroom patties
D: roast, potatoes, sauteed chard
Prep: make beef/broccoli/quinoa salad w/leftovers

Check out other menus at Menu Plan Monday hosted by orgjunkie.com!

Lady Madonna

Check out this Time article. Nothing new, but it's an interesting compilation of facts and stories.
I wonder what the connection is between the ideas in this article and the fact that women seem to have an easier time listening to their baby cry (during sleep training, for example) than their husbands do. Ideas?

Menu Plan Monday

There's too much to do this week to anticipate much time in the kitchen. A garden to start. A study that looks like a tornado tore through. Continued potty training (which really means training me ... but she's peed 3 times in her potty so I'm optimistic!). A husband with spring conferences (ergo less shared cooking and cleaning). And sun ... maybe sun for more walks? So, I'm trying to go basic this week, which I'm hoping will also help us save money. That's why the word "leftover" occurs 9 times in my meal plan. Yeah for toaster ovens!

Monday
B: eggs, toast
L: leftovers
D: orzo salad but with quinoa instead ... and a few other changes bc golly asparagus is spendy!
Prep: feed the mother (yup, she's back Jay!), make granola, dehydrate wheat berry sprouts

Tuesday
B: granola, yogurt
L: leftover orzo salad
D: Coconut Red Lentil Soup (didn't happen last week)
Prep: feed the mother, start quinoa sprouts

Wednesday
B: granola, yogurt
L: leftover lentil soup
D: roast chicken, baba ganouj, salad
Prep: feed the mother, start defrosting steaks, make quinoa salad w/leftover chicken, make baba ganouj, start sprouting black beans

Thursday
B: granola, yogurt
L: leftover lentil soup or quinoa salad
D: quiche
Prep: feed the mother, start white bean sprouts

Friday
B: leftover quiche
L: leftover quinoa salad
D: bbq steaks, salad
Prep: feed the mother, bake bread

Saturday
B: leftover quiche
L: leftover quinoa salad
D: black bean & zucchini quesadillas

Sunday
B: Turkish Poached Eggs
L: Indian takeout w/leftovers for lunch tomorrow
D: leftovers or tuna melts

Check out other menus at Menu Plan Monday at Orgjunkie.com!

Mother Nature

After one of the most mother naturely mothers I know send me this article because my babe's sick right now, I got to thinking about the term Mother Nature and how we mothers really ought to be more in turn with how our bodies and our babies bodies naturally work.

Too often we think of nature as something separate from our bodies. Nature is the trees, grass, and beautiful flowers (which sometimes, contrary to logic, make us sick with allergies). But we are part of nature too and, along with the honey bee and the rose, we have been made with incredible, natural defense mechanisms that our body uses to protect itself. I'm just beginning to understand how often pharmaceutical medicines undermine these natural defense mechanisms. Fevers are good, even protective? What? I shouldn't just give her tylenol when she gets and over 101 degree fever like my pediatrician says? Hmmm. (Check out the article.)

We mothers, who have birthed bodies from our own, have quite a responsibility to care for those little bodies in ways that keep them whole. In The Unsettling of America, Wendell Berry notes that the world health belong to a family of words including heal, whole, wholesome, hale, hallow, and holy. I think that's pretty important to remember. I want to help her little body work in the most natural way possible, the way God made it to work. I want to better listen to Mother Nature, but oh there's so many other voices to filter out.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B: leftover baked oatmeal w/yogurt
L: tuna melt, carrots
D: quiche, toast
Prep: make quiche crust, start quinoa sprouts (3 meals worth), bake bread

Tuesday
B: leftover baked oatmeal w/yogurt
L: leftover quiche
D: pizza, salad

Wednesday
B: leftover quiche
L: leftover pizza, salad
D: roast chicken, quinoa w/zucchini
Prep: make granola, make quinoa chicken salad, start soaking the roast

Thursday
B: granola, yogurt
L: quinoa chicken salad
D: dinner at friends
Prep: make bread & dessert for tonight, start lentil sprouts & white bean sprouts

Friday
B: granola, yogurt
L: quinoa chicken salad
D: coconut curry soup, naan

Saturday
B: scramble, toast
L: tuna melt
D: roast w/potatoes, sauteed kale

Sunday
B: scramble, toast
L: leftover buffet
D: sausage/white bean/kale soup

Lasagna Gardening

We're tearing out the rhodies along our back fence this weekend to make way for a lasagna garden. No, not a garden that grows lasagna (though the tomatoes may end up in some!). So I'm sitting here with Territorial's seed magazine reading about vegetables I never new existed. Here are some of my favorites so far:

Red Noodes (beans)

Tigger Melons

Salad Blue Potatoes

And I think I'm going to try tomatoes in a basket this year. Harvesting would be much easier, I think. Anyone else tried this?

Menu Plan Monday

We got a side of beef from Knee Deep last week, so we're celebrating with some Friday night steaks. Ergo the logo.

Monday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: Moroccan Carrot soup leftovers
D: quiche, bread
Prep: make crust, granola, bread, start sprouting lentils

Tuesday
B: quiche leftovers
L: Moroccan Carrot soup leftovers
D: Coconut Chicken Soup, green apple salad

Wednesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: quiche leftovers
D: date night
Prep: start sprouting garbanzos, make honey cake for bible study, make rice

Thursday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: soup leftovers
D: Curried Lentils w/sausage & sauteed kale, cucumber raita
Prep: make apple sauce for book group

Friday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: lentil leftovers
D: steak, potatoes, salad, bread, wine?
Prep: make hummus, start sprouting quinoa, soak oats for baked oatmeal

Saturday
B: baked oatmeal, apple sauce, coffee
L: lentil leftovers
D: family potluck (don't know what we're bringing yet)

Sunday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: tuna melt, carrots w/hummus
D: roast chicken, quinoa w/sauteed zucchini
Prep: make curry chicken salad w/leftover chicken

Check out more menus at Menu Plan Monday hosted by Orgjunkie.com