Indoors and Outdoors

Environmental Educator David Soule is coming to Webster in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I won't be able to hear him speak, due to other plans, but I have been motivated to take a look at some of his writings. I recommend reading his essay Beyond Ecophobia, which takes a look at what most schools are doing around environmental education and whether it's actually effective. I think his arguments make a lot of sense and he and Richard Louv (Last Child In the Woods) have been making me think about our lack of connection to our natural world and how I can make sure Nora has more time in it. Interestingly, their writings are bringing me closer to Waldorf education, despite some of my concerns about it. And I am ever more wishful that we could afford to send Nora to an Reggio Emilio school, but that is sort of out the question right now. Actually, I wish every child could to to an Reggio school, but unfortunately, no one is asking me about education policy (at least no one who has power to change education policy). In some ways, Nora, thanks to my parents and extended family, gets much more time in nature than many children do, but I also think that her parents are not always the best models for appreciating the out of doors. Mainly because Jason and I are much more likely to go read a book than we are to go on a hike. While I think reading books are a great idea, I sort of wish we were a little, teensy, bit more outdoorsy than we are. I'm not suggesting we suddenly decide to take up kayaking any time soon, but maybe we'll take Nora on her first camping trip this spring.

Oh No!

Something terrible happened today. These came in the mail. Readers you decide, which of these is the worst? Vote in the poll over on the right.





At least one of us is happy.

Molasses

The Solstice, Nora's birthday, Christmas and New Years has come and gone. I've been on vacation and while I've been having a good time, I don't feel like I've really gotten anything accomplished. Family was visited, cookies made, presents wrapped, there was good cheer. I read and enjoyed both of the Sarah Vowell books I gave my father (Assassination Vacation and The Wordy Shipmates). But I'm due back at work on Monday and I still haven't unpacked anything since we moved in, other than the basics we took out that first week. There's people I should have called, thank you notes I should have written, projects I wanted to at least begin, and now its the new year, and while that should hold promise, all it really seems to hold is the prospect of time moving ever more swiftly.

Unproductive

I've been a very unproductive blogger in the last couple of weeks, which is sad since I was really on a roll in September. I'm still making Nora's lunch (although Jason did it last Friday) and I do usually photograph it, but of course I never have the camera when I feel like blogging, so there's not pictures for this post.

I've been cooking quite a bit lately. Last week I tested several of the Veganomican recipes, with success. The caramel apple cupcakes with penuche icing were a big hit at a potluck that I brought them to (and Nora and Jason liked them as well). I discovered penuche is indeed like fudge and it hardens up very quickly so I needed to re-melt it midway through icing the cakes. That same evening I made the Inside-out Samosas (samosa filled twice baked potatoes). I'll be making them again for Jason and I, but Nora opted out - she has a thing about potatoes. Ditto on the vegan "scalloped" potatoes. Jason and I liked them quite a bit, although I think I was too heavy handed with the nutritional yeast. Nora wouldn't touch them, but she did eat about a 1/2 a cup of sauerkraut. She is probably the only 2 year old in the world who won't touch mashed potatoes but will eat sauerkraut. She also like the roasted carrots and Polish sausage that rounded out that meal. All that was missing was a green salad, and we would have had a Sunday dinner, but I hate making salad. And I finally got around to trying Sarah E-Y's wheat bread recipe the week before last. I will definitely be making it again, it was terrific! I passed it on to Mom and she made it into some wonderful buns with raisins in them with Nora. So Sarah, if you are reading, thanks! and you might try adding raisins to a batch if you haven't already.

The weekend before last, we drove the Great River Road on the search for apples. It was a beautiful day, and we made a stop in Grafton at the Rotten Apple so that Jason could check out their fabled beer selection. The beer was good, the cider was good and the food was good. I'm sure we'll be back. Then we stopped at Pere Marquette and Nora played with the giant chess board while Jason attempted to coach her toward Chess Greatness. We should have hiked about some and looked for wildlife, but the heat and our heavy lunch kept us inside. Nora enjoyed the chainsaw sculpture of Illinois wildlife (eagles, raccoons, squirrel, and rabbits) and re-arranged the fuzzy rabbits in the deer diorama inside the lodge, so we sort of saw some animals. Then we headed up toward Hardin and I detoured off toward Jerseyville to stop at Ringhausen Orchards. Unfortunately Nora fell asleep, so there are no glorious pictures of her among pumpkins, atop hay bales, or holding shiny red apples, and actually the Ringhausen Orchard we went to (there are several) wasn't really that type of place. But the apples were great, I got Crispins, Jonathan's, and Honey Crisps. I ate the last one today for lunch, so I'm hoping Mom and Dad pick up some on their trip this weekend. On the way back to the main road, I saw a snake slither into the cornfield, so that sort of met our "see wildlife" goal of the trip.

This weekend we weren't much better about getting out into nature. Fortunately, the Grand Marshall takes Nora out to Powder Valley quite a bit, or else I'd worry that she is danger of developing a nature deficit disorder. Jason and I are lacking in our intake of fresh air, and I'm hoping we'll make it happen this weekend.

First Day

Nora's first day of preschool was yesterday. Here are the obligatory first day photos. Notice Nora's lack of smile. In fact she seems almost put out. Actually she seemed to enjoy preschool, even if she wasn't intially enthusiastic. Jason went with her for this first day and stayed for a while with her. Then he left. Then he came back, then he left, and then he came back and then he left, and then he came back again when it was time for her to go home. Jason has gotten to know the staff at WCCC very well. I get to go with her on Friday. I'm sure the staff will come to believe we are the most clingy parents ever. Jason and I think they are amazing because they actually got Nora to nap on her first day.

In her backpack is her lunch box, a change of clothes, and Meowy Boom-D-aye who got to go to preschool too.
Here's photo's of Nora's lunch. I made salami and soy cream cheese roll ups, peas, and added some fruit gummies and alphabet cookies (they spelled NORA)
Here it's packed with her juice box, ice pack and a small snack box of raisins. And I added a note to her on top from me (I was inspired by Bob and Sarah's wall of notes that have been included in Zelda's lunch forever).

While I'm sure I'll never inspire the artistic and creative bento box creations of Japanese moms, I am inspired by them and I hope that I can keep up the pace of packing lunches for Nora, me and also Jason this fall. Here's Nora's lunch box (which she informed me was "kinda too heavy"). It's actually smaller than a typical school lunch bag and it unzips into a place mat. And it's a dog, so Nora can ask her new favorite question: "Where's the Woof?"

Menu Planning

One of my informal New Year's Resolutions involves doing better menu planning to avoid the all to common refrigerator rot that occurs when I buy things that I think look great, but have no real plan for using. This has been helped by a wonderful template that I found on one of the craftblogs I drool over- maybe one day I'll finally take up crochet.



Anywho, this menu planning is also helping Jason come up with ideas for Nora's lunch - or will if he actually uses it. I've used it to create a mix and match list of Nora mains, sides, desserts and snacks of things that we usually have around the house -and I hope this will make a substantial dent in our overstuffed pantry as well (a problem similar to refrigerator rot, but not as terminal).

It is also assisting in two other goals - test kitchening my way though Vegan w/ a Vengeance, and Veginomicon and taking my lunch to work more often. This weekend, I made a modified version of one of her red beans and rice recipes (I didn't have any seitan, a vegan staple I've yet to experiment with) and the hot glazed tempeh, which has turned out to be quite addictive. The added benefit - it requires 1/4 cup of hot sauce! Yes! I've cleared out a less used condiment from the fridge, but don't rejoice too fast- Jason has unfortunately already replaced with not one but two varieties of Tabasco -he is of the people of the sauce. Luckily I liked it so much, that I plan to make to make this many more times. I also made a pea soup (not an Isa recipe) and the gingerbread cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I am trying very hard not to eat these all away from Nora, so I'll be making them again. Let's hope I can stick to the menu planner for at least 5 meals this week.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I feel like I should be doing some sort of countdown list of the good and bad of 2007, or posting my resolutions for this next year, but really I haven't had the blogging spirit for awhile. This December, I was awash in Christmas spirit for the first time in years, and it resulted in actually doing not one but two advent calendars with Nora which was really fun and I'm happy we did it, although it did result in a let down for her when they were all over. I also minimally decorated (owl tree, stockings, a few bowls of holiday decorative things, and wreath on door) which is more than I've done for several years as well - although not all of my family appreciated my efforts. But then we all got sick and crabby and Christmas sort of faded away as did New Years. Jason did make a resolution, and that was to use up all these bottles of lotion we have laying around the house this year, but that was sort of the extent of it. I know Tree and PD have a very extensive goal setting session over the new year, so maybe they will post an instruction manual for the rest of us.

Now I'm back at work and after two absolutely freezing days (it was 52 degrees INSIDE my office), I'm sort of thinking about what needs to be done this year, which for work is quite substantial, and so I'm somehow not so much thinking about my world outside of work.

I guess I have thought about goals Nora-wise. So, in order to make me a better parent and keep me on task, here they are: 1. night weening in the next month or as soon as everyone is no longer sick (this is really more about me and my need for sleep than better parenting), 2. cooking more healthfully for her (and us) 3. keeping a better schedule, especially sleep schedule since the past two weeks of her night waking has been killing us 4. (which is related to 3) much less TV. We used to be better about this, but during the month of illnesses that was December, Nora (and I) spent way too much time in front of the TV and it is disturbing to me both how much she asks for it and how much she knows about the characters on that magical screen. I'm also disturbed that I actually looked at new TV's for us since I was shopping for a new DVD player (ours is dying) and that I even ordered my vouchers for the converter boxes for the changeover in 2009, despite the fact that I've got a lot of other things to do which should be priorities. I need to get back to watching only what I really want to watch and not just whatever is on and limiting Nora to watching TV only when I really need to get something else done and not on just to keep her from whining about it or just because I don't feel like playing with her right then or because I want to play on-line. I guess my rant on TV is getting a little off topic here, so I'll try to move on. 5. Play with Nora more and especially, get outside more. This is a fun one, so there is no excuse for me dodging it!

That's it for my '08 goals. What does '08 hold for you?