The Un-Remodel

I have been hatching a plan in my head for a few months now for improving my kitchen and dining rooms. While much of this 1920's house has been modernized or re-modeled, the kitchen has remained a cobbled together mess. Stove, tiny; oven, no temperature gauge, requiring a great deal of guesswork in baking; frig, over-sized, inefficient, and falling to pieces. First the frig's pan for catching defrost water fell off, and we would hear it peeing on the floor in the middle of dinner. Next, the interior light shorted out, and recently, the door stopped closing automatically, meaning that it was often left slightly ajar, making it even more of an energy guzzler.

While thinking about a replacement frig which would not dwarf the small kitchen, I got the idea of using some somewhat useless space in the dining room to house the frig, thus opening up a spot for a kitchen cart to provide much-needed storage and counter space next to the stove. By moving the dining table to the opposite corner of the room (and eventually adding a bench for more seating), and relocating my small secretary desk to the living room, I opened up a corner for the new, smaller frig. Amazingly, a frig ordered at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday was delivered at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday. The delivery people were wonderful (thank you, Lowe's) and there was no charge to haul away the old frig despite the fact that it was at least an hour's work for them to maneuver it through the narrow doorways, out the door and down the steps. Given that the new frig cost not little more than I might have had to pay someone to remove and dispose of the old one, I was extremely pleased with this service.

As I was unable to budge the frig on my own, and it had possibly never been moved for cleaning, I was expecting to see a very disgusting floor underneath. It was more nasty than I could have dreamed of, and apparently the most recent paint job occurred after the frig installation and without any movement of said frig.It was quite a workout washing the walls, behind the stove and of course peeling up the layers of nastiness on the floor. The kitchen cart is due to arrive in January but so far the new frig location is working out and the smaller size is forcing me to be more discerning when it comes to my jars and bottles. Anyone with a PCC across the street does not need a very large frig.

A little more about me . . .

We did an early Christmas today, in part because of our travels plans, and in part to enjoy the time off before we leave with new things to do rather than frenzied anticipation.

Adelaide's gifts to us included some fabulous pirate telescopes crafted this morning at 5:45 a.m. (after an hour of telling her it was the middle of the night, I gave up and told her that she could be up if she stayed in her room with the door closed) and several lovely and touching school projects enclosed in this envelope:My favorite gift was a book Adelaide wrote about herself. I loved every page, but I will edit myself and just show you some highlights.Not sure I agree that she has a flat-top, but her hair is about this long:
My favorite page:

When we laughed at the 50 grandmas and 30 grandpas, she explained that she wasn't sure exactly but she knew there were lots of them. And really, she's just off by a factor of ten, as she has 5 grandmas and 3 grandpas. And hers are all worth 10 regular ones, so in fact she got it exactly right.

Holiday Wish List, Revised

To: Santa
From: Adelaide's Mom
re: update to "Dear Santa" letter posted 12-10-09

Santa, excuse the last-minute email, but there have been some additions to the "Holiday Wish List" per Adelaide, who has now been given another format to express her desires and those she feels the rest of the family may possess. For the visual learner, we have the following:
That would be candy for the girl (represented by, but not limited to, the classic m&m), a sword for the boy, a cat for the dog owner, and chicken for the dog (represented by, but not limited to, the drumstick). As this cartoon family does not exactly match our nuclear family, perhaps we can merely ignore the bottom half of the drawing?

I leave the matter in your capable hands, Mr. Claus. Thank you.

Silk Nog, Holy Nog

Can I just tell you one thing I love about this time of year? Egg nog. Really, can you get more decadent than egg nog? Okay, having lived with a roommate in college whose mother created baked goods with such combinations as M&M fudge marshmallow pecan brownie caramel coconut peanut butter squares (or something along those lines), and having a childhood which included a dessert consisting entirely of whipped cream, oreos, butter mints and tiny marshmallows, I am familiar with decadence. Cheesecake? Yes. Cheese croissant? Definitely. Chocolate mousse, mm-hmm. But perhaps because these items are available year-round (and many just a short walk across the street from 7 am to 11 pm), I find it necessary to resist them, as I wish to button my pants on the first try. Egg nog, on the other hand, just magically appears sometime around or after Thanksgiving, and then by the time I am getting a bit sick of it, makes its merry way out of the refrigerated section by New Year's at the latest.

I am not a straight-up egg nog drinker, not a spiked holiday drink sipper, or even a grande extra hot no-whip egg nog latte guzzler. I am a soy latte with a splash of nog, a chai tea sweetened with nog, an afternoon decaf with nog instead of half-and-half fan. And, while the real stuff is excellent in these capacities, let me just give a shout-out to what is normally my least-favorite brand of soy milk, Silk. I am not a fan of their soy milk in general but this time of year they have Silk Nog, which basically is the sugar and flavor of egg nog without the arterial plaque. I don't know how it would be straight up (but then again, if you like straight-up egg nog you and I probably don't overlap on this issue anyway), but as a hot beverage holiday cheer booster it rocks.

Must sign off now and put the water on for tea.

www.northpole.net

Dear Mr. Claus,

Now that my five year-old is literate, I fear that you are going to disappoint this year. I actually pretty much gave up your identity last year in the hopes that this year we could transition to the "tradition" of Santa (nod, nod, wink, wink, "Santa" is coming tomorrow). But the five year-old is insistent that she not be a part of any stocking-stuffer purchases for her Dad, because it is Santa's job. Okay, fine, I won't be a grinch and I am glad my kid is not the Kindergarten Christmas spoiler, but then again unless you are checking blogs for wish lists and doing some online shopping, the following will not be under the tree on Christmas morning:That would be "a candy canes [sic] and a clarinet and a dog and a sword."

I can handle the candy canes, but let me make it clear that my Christmas list includes the absence of any additional living creatures, noise-making items and weapons in our household.

Thank you for your attention in this matter, Mr. Claus.

Sincerely,

Christine

Candy Fever

Last night was gingerbread house night for the Kindergarten classes at school. The kids had a lot of fun creating their sugary castles, and showed remarkable restraint in not eating the construction materials. It is a strange kind of torture to be allowed to handle all sorts of fabulous treats but not eat them, and of course then you have the finished product to drool over for weeks afterward. Adelaide's creation is living on top of the refrigerator for now, with the excuse being that the cats might try to get it, and the reality being that a certain candy-deprived child cannot be alone with such temptation at a height easily reached. My guess is that even on the frig some of the landscaping and trim may go missing . . .

Morning is Broken

It was probably inevitable that today would be a bad day. Despite successfully falling asleep at 9 p.m. last night in order to attempt to get well from a bad cold, I was awoken at 10 by the rattling back door, and remained awake, snuffling and shuffling for 4 hours. So the 6 am start was more harsh than usual.

Then, my "sick day" to recover continues:
6:45 a.m., take child's temperature (normal).
7 a.m., feed child.
7:15 a.m., prepare child's lunch.
7:30 a.m., get child ready for school. (aka listen to moans and cries about the torture devices known as pants, socks, and coats).
7:45 a.m., drive child to school, and work (unpaid) for 30 minutes to take care of things that cannot wait while I am sick.
8:30 a.m., drop crying child at kindergarten.
8:45 a.m., fill out paperwork to use one of my ever-dwindling sick days.
9:00 a.m., drive home.
9:15 a.m., settle onto couch with hot tea and english muffin.
9:30 a.m., answer work emails.
9:45 a.m., close eyes.
10:00 a.m., answer phone and speak to school secretary about child with fever of 99.9 in nurse's office.
10:01 a.m., call doctor's office to make appointment for relapsing child to be seen by doctor, per printed information provided by school nurse on original fever day.
10:06 a.m., learn that child is not welcome at doctor's office because according to said office, child has "picked up a new virus which should be treated at home unless child appears to stop breathing or spikes a high fever which does not respond to fever-reducing medication."
10:07 a.m., drive to school to pick up child. make cell phone call to mother in order to cry and moan about the unfairness of life and stress of being sick and having sick child.
10:18 a.m., retrieve child from school nurse's office. Note significant lack of signs and symptoms of illness in said child.
10:20 a.m., drive child home in silence while engaging in lengthy internal debate about what to do with said child upon re-entry to the household.
10:35 a.m., take child's temperature. Normal.
10:40 a.m., retreat to bathroom and turn on hot water faucet to the maximum.
10:42 a.m., respond to child's statement of hunger by unzipping child's backpack, removing child's lunchbox and shoving it in direction of child. return to bathroom.
10:50 a.m., decide attitude adjustment is only hope for survival. Throw out concerns that child is learning she can leave school at will and assume child feels like self (aka crap). Give child medicine for headache, a bevy of beverages and instruct child to rest (aka tell child "yes, you can watch PBS kids).Proceed to kitchen. Make buttermilk mashed potatoes and 600 cups of tea. Compose blog entry in head. Set internal timer until bedtime in head.

Flu-Buster

In an attempt to fight off the house full of flu germs, I am downing massive amounts of tea, and washing hands and wiping surfaces constantly. I've been doing some weekend cooking while housebound and have lots of healthy items on hand. Today's lunch: 4 kinds of greens, grilled tofu, and roasted yams and sweet potatoes. Plus a high-dose vitamin C.For the sick one, apple juice popsicles for breakfast, honey english muffins for munching while zoning out to PBS Kids, and a fried egg for lunch. Looks like we're on the mend (I hope!).

Flying School

The day after Halloween we had unseasonably warm weather. We took advantage of the opportunity to spend some time out on the back deck, I with my book and Adelaide with her tent, pencil and paper and legions of stuffed animals. She bustled around setting up a school for the animals, and after they had all spent some time in the tent together they were ready to begin the real work of the day, learning to fly. I'm not sure if it was merely the presence of the clothesline and clothespins, or some internal inspiration, but those animals were destined to be airborne. The vision:A helping hand for take-off:And they're off!As the head teacher and founder of the school, Adelaide realized she needed to recruit some volunteers, so she created a sign-in sheet:
I was recruited, and in addition to documenting the flight, I was asked to teach reading to the friends who were grounded for various issues:Adelaide assisted students in dressing the part:A good time was had by all.

Dinner Conversation

A: Mom, I worship Grace.

C: Oh?

A: Yeah. And Gracie and Kaitlin worship me.

C: That's nice.

A: And Vanessa worships her mom.

C: Mm.

A: Mom, do you know what worship means?

C: Yes, I do.

A: What does it mean?

C: Well, it's when you think something is really, really great. Like it's the best thing ever.

A: Oh. (to her dinner) I worship you, cheese.

Winter Fare

Today's lunch was a combination of some leftovers from the week and some fresh veg from the store. The leftovers were brown rice, 3 bean chili with yams, quinoa and soy chorizo, and tomato soup. The fresh veg was rainbow swiss chard and dark kale. Warm and comforting. And yes, best served with a side of beano.

Reading with Uncle Dave

Uncle Dave came for a visit on Friday and Adelaide read some of her readers to him.

Veteran's Day

Today the kids performed at an all-school assembly to honor our nation's veterans.

Update to Smile Update

A self-made Bat

In what is becoming a tradition in the family, Adelaide once again made her own Halloween costume. This year she made sketches prior to the cutting of the fabric: and I did help with a bit of cutting and sewing, but she had the idea, created most of the components and executed the construction. I didn't get a good shot of the back, which had her cape with a bat drawn on, but here is a quick look at the front. Tonight's version included bat face paint and some head pieces, as well.
Happy Halloween!

Smile Update

Little Bunny Fu Fu

Tonight's supper (pasta with tomato sauce and cheese not pictured), inspired by our brainstorming ideas for "Fun Friday" snacks. We are making healthy homemade food, mostly fruits and veggies but also some baked goods and things like hummus, sushi, etc. for a weekly snack and food exploration for the kindergarten class.

Good Times

Oh, how I loved this when I first saw it! Oh, how lovely it is to view yet again, and envision Mr. Bush on his ranch . .

Storytime by Adelaide

Retirement Plan

Well, this blog has officially made its first revenue, though I'm not quite ready to quit my day job. I suppose I would have more time for posting, but really the transition back to school for the whole household has been all-consuming and has left me with plenty to post about, but no energy to do so.

But, back to the big, big profits. Earlier this year I experimented with ads on the blog, mainly as part of my own education to see what kinds of advertisers would show up based on my postings. I took them down after a short trial. Then I looked into the Juicebox Jungle widget (can currently be seen on my sidebar). I haven't done a lot of posting about them, but have been keeping my eye on their website to see if it has anything of interest. Really, for parenting videos, I tend to go to momversation.com, which is a site where blog-writing moms have a virtual video discussion of a topic a couple of times a week. But the latest Juicebox Jungle gig is that they've hooked up with Paper Culture eco-friendly service which addresses and mails your cards for you (birth announcements, invites etc.). The link I posted has a 30% discount for you, my many loyal readers. The sidebar links to ecards, which I have yet to check out. Since I tend to be rather lame with the mailing of birthday cards in a timely manner I am a frequent user of the ecard, and am always looking for a new source since many of the freebies are less than impressive.

In case you're worried that I'm selling out and going big-time, I'm keeping any ad-related posting to a minimum. Again, just an experiment. And so far, drum roll please, the big payout? Twenty-five cents.

Pizza with Tempeh, Peppers and Mushrooms

I must admit that I have never been a big fan of tempeh. In the rueben, yes, delicious. In most anything else, not so yummy. But as with tofu I was fairly certain the preparation is key, and, heady with the success of my rueben, I decided to venture out into another dish. There was also a component of laziness built into this scenario, in which tempeh was already in the frig and other potential protein sources to top the pizza were still at the store.

So, I sauteed the tempeh with yellow pepper, garlic, and a bunch of seasonings. It browned nicely but still looked somewhat uncooked, so I decided to look at the packaging for guidance. No instructions there, but the recipe they included had you steaming the block of tempeh for 15 minutes, which made me think perhaps further cooking was needed. So I added some water and veggie broth to the skillet, brought it to a boil and then lowered the heat and let it bubble for 10 or 15 minutes to cook off the liquid. Needed a little more oil at this point to saute the mushrooms, tossed in some olives and tomato sauce and spread the whole deal on the crust. Topped with some mozzarella and a little parm and baked it up. Turns out, when seasoned well and fully cooked, I like tempeh!

Seattle: Liberals as long as we don't have to pay for anything

Maybe it's the fact that I'm facing my 13th year in the public schools with no contract in place and a best-case scenario involving almost breaking even to last year's salary. Maybe it's the fact that I have voted for 17 years to improve funding for public transportation and schools, only to see voter-approved bills shot down in the state legislature. Did you know that even though you likely voted like I did to keep class sizes lower (and lower is not low, just slightly more reasonable) and to let teachers have a cost of living adjustment (which for many years we did not, which means that every year we take a pay cut equal to the inflation rate plus the increase in health care costs), those were both slashed by your elected state representatives? So we will have up to 28 kids in a first grade class? And 24 kindergarteners with a teacher and no teacher assistant?

I digress. What I intended to rant about in this post was the fact that 53% of Seattle who voted this week decided they didn't want to put a 20 cent tax on grocery bags. Why would we want to generate money and help the environment at the same time? Bad idea, the majority of Seattle decided. Many of us bring our bags to the store already, so maybe they were annoyed by this measure for insulting them. Or maybe they don't, and adding 40 or 60 cents a week to their already high grocery bill was scary. But really, to me, it's just another case of not being willing to put your money where your mouth is, Seattle. You are perfectly happy to don your eco-friendly hemp baseball cap and roll out your Jade yoga mat knowing a tree was planted somewhere when you bought it, but when it comes to your money going out to intangibles like public education, infrastructure and transportation improvements, suddenly there's no extra cash in your wallet. I don't think Seattleites have their heads buried in the sand, but their wallets? Shoved down deep.

Fun at the Fair -- On a Stick!

During our recent trip to visit family in Wisconsin, we had an afternoon outing to the State Fair. I think it has been more than 20 years since my last Wisconsin State Fair, and while many things have stayed the same, there were some things I don't recall from my youth.

While I do recall eating plenty of delicious and not nutritious food at the fair, I don't recall the obsession with food served "on-a-stick." Within a few minutes of entering the fairgrounds I was drawn to this new phenomenon, and while I'm sure I irritated my family I made it a point to document the many culinary delights I found.

While there were plenty of nice diversions like this:there was also some time spent like this:in order that I might bring to you such tidbits as this:
Okay, I know, who hasn't seen hand-dipped cheese on a stick. And chocolate covered bananas actually pretty much have to be on a stick, and those I can remember from 20 years ago. But these sweet treats:
and these meaty bites:Don't recall having seen that before. Apparently I missed this year's signature item, the deep-fried, chocolate-covered bacon on-a-stick. As well as many, many others. For those of you lamenting having missed your chance at these delights, why not take the advice of the 2009 Wisconsin State Fair Snack Stick Champion, and "ask for us at your favorite gas station."

There may not have been many other vegetarians at this event, but Adelaide and I were drawn to one kindred soul:Now, if I could just get me some rodents "on-a-stick."

A tribute to Wisconsin

I must be missing Milwaukee as I have not been able to get Beans & Barley's tempeh reuben out of my head. I know, it doesn't really sound like something one would crave when not pregnant, but I guess you can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl.
I was hard-pressed to find Thousand Island dressing (and had I been able to, can't say as it would get used ever again) so I had to improvise with some vegan mayo and pickles, but other than that it was an easy stop at the PCC for supplies, a quick fry-up/toast-up and a lovely dinner. Hope you want to come by and have one soon, as I now have a 2-lb jar of organic sauerkraut taking up space in the frig!

Car Conversation - Five Year-Old Philosopher

Driving to Target:

A: Mom, is there any emergency chocolate? (The label I used once when I found a bar of dark chocolate in the armrest holder and shared it with her.)

C: No, I haven't gotten anymore. I should get some, huh?

A: Yeah.

long pause

A: Mom, do you think Emergency Chocolate makes you have more emergencies?

C: (stifling a chuckle) Well, yes, I think it might.

Home Again, Home Again

We've returned from a ten-day trip to see the grandparents in Milwaukee. Much fun was had by all, and highlights were documented and appear in this video:

Playing School

Adelaide woke up early this morning, as usual, but let me sleep while she got busy with her new school supplies. She wrote a list of rhyming words on her new paper by herself with the exception of waking me to ask how to spell "darnit" and its rhyming word "hornet."
After heading downstairs for breakfast we are back in the room waiting for the pool to open and playing school. The teacher set the student up with a writing assignment (write your name, draw a picture of yourself, and if you have time you can write more rhyming words and the alphabet) and then took a leisurely shower (we are obviously an alternative school).
The student finished the assignment and asked for more, so the teacher gave her a math worksheet. She completed the first 6 problems in no time (as in, the teacher was thinking she might have time to do something besides teaching for a minute, but no luck). So more problems were added, including some sudoku puzzles.Soon it will be time for recess, so student and teacher are getting their swimsuits on. Did I mention the school has a pool?