Little Sister, Facebook, and Home Alone

I love my family. And today, I am loving them all just a little bit more.

My mother and my mother-in-law, along with my husband's grandmother, drove over to our place to see the daughter in her first ever play. She was one of 83 Munchkins in Byron's production of "The Wizard of Oz." The boy joined us, and was excited to see all the grandmas, which says alot for the boy and the grandmas!

During intermission, a woman struck up a conversation with the boy. He happily talked to her for a bit, and then I heard him say "my little sister is in the play." It was music to my ears!

You see, technically, they are half siblings, and there was a time when they made that distinction. But, as he enters his 2nd year of living with us during the school year and his mother in the summer, our sense of "family" feels stronger every day.

On Saturday, he asked if we would consider getting him a "real phone" rather than the pay as you go that he currently has. He had some good points, and we asked him to check out the pricing of some family plans. Later I saw on Facebook that he posted that his "parental units" are considering getting him a real cell phone. Yes, he referred to me as his "parental unit!" Okay, that may not be all that touching to some, but it totally melted my heart.

We had a guest coming for dinner yesterday. I needed to run to the store, so I asked the boy if he would watch the daughter while I ran uptown. He agreed, and both kids were told to stay inside until I got home in 20 minutes. When I arrived, the kids and the guest (who had arrived a bit early) were all sitting at the table talking. We had a lovely visit, a delicious dinner (local potato and local, organic and biodynamic leek soup) and then the guest, husband and daughter went to the theater. The boy said he had to tell me something. He related that when I left, he went downstairs and the daughter was upstairs. All of a sudden, he heard a man saying, "are you home alone?" to the daughter. He grabbed a baseball bat and came running up the stairs to save his sister! Then, he saw that it was the expected guest, so he put the bat down and they all sat down to talk. But he was prepared to protect her.

I love my family, and the four of us are really becoming a family.


ps. I've talked to the daughter about the fact that even though she knew the guest, she should not have answered the door. She can never answer the door when Mommy and Daddy are gone. She should always let the babysitter or brother answer the door.

Fast food -- Slow food

One of my favorite books is Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle. In one chapter, she talks about the convenience of home canned tomatoes. It's a fair amount of work in late August, but pulling out a mason jar of locally grown tomatoes in the midst of a busy winter day sure makes dinner time quick and simple. That idea has stuck with me. What is convenience?

While our family tries to eat healthy (Oberweis Milk, organic produce, whole grains, etc.) I also enjoy a fast food burger sometimes. In fact, our local Burger King has $1 Double Cheeseburgers right now, which are my favorite. I have to fight off not pulling in every time I drive past! But, eating healthy and eating local is very important to me. I enjoy fixing dinner for my family and lunch for whichever neighborhood kids are over at the time. But I don't want to spend all day in the kitchen. I want the convenience of fast food with the ethics of slow food!

But, how to do it? Some of it is pretty easy. On Thursdays when we get our share in from Angelic Organics, I clean and prep the vegetables. This makes them easy to grab for quick snacks, plus they are in my mind as I plan our meals for the week.

I'm trying to also keep a few quick and simple recipes ready to go on the days when time has gotten away from me. Recipes that can include whatever local, seasonal ingredients that I have on hand. Last week, I had organic strawberries,Phil's eggs, some tomatoes and cucumbers in olive oil, and summer squash. So, I threw together an easy quiche, a salad and the strawberries. It took about 10 minutes to put together, and then 45 minutes to bake. The perfect amount of time to enjoy a glass of wine while I read! The quiche is perfect because it's so forgiving and you can add whatever you want. Include meat if you have it, or make it vegetarian. You can also double the recipe to make 2, and then you have an easy breakfast ready to go.


The easy quiche recipe is from an old friend of my mom's. I've changed it up, but basically it's:

4 eggs, 1/2 cup of Bisquick, 1 cup of milk, 1 onion, 1/2 cup of cheese. Mix together.
Add whatever seasonal ingredients you want. I added summer squash.
Season with salt and pepper.
Pour into an oiled quiche pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Slice and serve.

The pay's not great, but the benefits are priceless.

Wednesday morning started early for me. The alarm rang at 4:30 am. I already had my clothes set out, ready to go. I tried to be as quiet as possible, so the rest of the family could sleep.

By 5:00 am I had my cappuccino, peanut butter and jelly sandwich and 2 kashi bars in the car and ready to go.

My morning commute takes about an hour. I watch the sun come up, enjoy the river view, navigate the construction in Rockford and finally turn down a bumpy country road. This morning, I was greeted by a beautiful deer and a lone turkey.

I arrived at work by 6 am, pulled on my rubber boots, winter coat and gardening gloves and joined the rest of the crew in the barn.

There were about 14 of us, waiting to hear what the day would hold. We were assigned harvesting kale first, and then red and white turnips. It was my first time for both, so I worked with a more seasoned harvester. We knifed through the kale, tossing aside yellowed leaves. And we talked. Turns out, my partner spent some time in Urbana also. In fact, she worked as an aide in the High School with Autism students. We knew some of the same students, and enjoyed some of the same places in Urbana...especially my beloved Common Ground Food Coop.

After our 20 minute breakfast break (quickly downing one kashi bar and one pbj) we headed out to harvest the turnips. It was a blast. The turnips practically jumped into our arms! They sit just barely covered in their beds, ripe for the pickin. We were told to harvest 16 crates and it took us about 10 minutes to do that. It felt good to pull, pack, load, pull, pack, load, pull, pack, load. Quick, immediate gratification.

Then, the washing. Oh, so that's why the harvest is so quick. It takes forever to clean the darn things! First, unload the crates (that we just packed) onto the tables. Then, look for aphids. A few patches were really infested, but most we free of the little bugs. Next, pull off yellowed or unsightly leaves. Finally, pack them back into the crates.

Step 2: to the water table. Unpack the crates and place the turnips into the water basin for a quick soak. Then, Mary puts them through the wringer. Literally. She puts them through a brush apparatus that really cleans them up, then they fall into an even bigger tub of water where we pulled them out and, you guessed it, packed them into the crates.

Sound repetitious? Yeah, it was a bit. My legs got a little tired standing on the concrete floor. But, it was also very peaceful. At times, the wind was really cold so I pulled up my hood. In the midst of all that activity, I was alone with my thoughts. Off to one side, 2 young women were sharing jokes, silly jokes. But I also heard one talking about leaving on Tuesday for San Francisco where she'll be working at a women's shelter. The other spent a year in Norway working on a farm. Interesting people.

I also spent time talking with our young intern from Sweden. Interesting kid. Has been in Waldorf schools his whole life. The other intern is from a Chicago suburb, studying geography at SIU. Our conversation touched on the organic farming movement, where lingonnberries grow, raw foods, whole foods, and finding balance in life.

By 1pm, I was in the car heading home. Tired, dirty and hungry. But invigorated, purified and filled.

Father's Day, Part 2

So, on Father's Day proper we set off for Lowden Park to finally hike up to the Laredo Taft statue of the Eternal Indian (popularly known as Blackhawk) that stands on the bluff overlooking the Rock River. It's a short distance from our home, but we've only seen it from across the river. Today, finally, we'd walk up and see it. It was a hot, humid day. The paths were a bit muddy from a recent shower. But, we walked down to the river using the approximately 175 stairs leading down. Once down, the daughter decided that she'd rather hike up using one of the trails. I was really not all that excited about hiking through the muddy paths, but the husband was all for it. So, off the two went. The daughter chattered the whole way back up. Some particularly wonderful quotes that the husband shared with me (and all his facebook friends) are:

"I've always wanted to live a life of adventure. Now I know what that is all about."

"I'll take the shortcut. In deciding between the long-cut and the shortcut, I think it's always better to take the shortcut."

"Is that poison ivy? I would rather not go through poison ivy to attain my goals."

A Father's Day to Remember...

What a great idea! We saw that the Phantom Regiment (a world class Drum and Bugle Corp from Rockford) was going to be performing last night. We both love the pageantry of Marching Bands and Drum and Bugle Corps, though we disagree on our rating of his Beloved Illini Marching Band.

So, we set off for a nice evening out. Now, we were in the midst of severe thunderstorm warnings, but we've had them for days, and have barely had any rain. The storms just keep missing us.

So, over to the Boylan High School to pick up the tickets. Sky is still clear.
Grab a quick dinner at a Chinese Buffet. Sky is clouding up but the storm will pass. Right?
Enter the parking lot. The rain begins.
And then, it starts "bucketing down" as Neil Gaiman would say.
It buckets and buckets. Lightening, thunder, the whole works.

But, it's still about an hour until the show starts. All around us in the parking lot, folks are just cozying up in their cars to wait out the storm. I have my book. he dozes, and the girl chatters and climbs and colors and chatters. They man in the car beside us flosses his teeth. To each his own.

Bucket after bucket after bucket after bucket.

We look at each other. "maybe we should have eaten dinner first and then purchased the tickets, " he says. Yeah, hindsight is 20/20.

We brought rain ponchos with us. But, this is beyond rain ponchos.

The girl is getting restless, he is getting irritated. I'm enjoying my book.

And then, he becomes the husband and father that I love so much. He turns to the girl and says, "I'll race you around the car!" Her eyes light up. And they are out the door only to return in about 10 second drenched. Giggling, laughing, and in a world all their own.

Only you, man of my dreams, could have done it. The tickets weren't refunded, we went home wet and disappointed. And yet, you made it a night to remember. A night of laughter and play.

It's been this way all of our life together. We've faced real and profound sadness along the way...family tragedies, profound disappointments, sudden and surprising loss of job. Right now we're saddled with 2 mortgages as our home in Urbana sits on the market.

And yet, it's been the best years of my life. And you've made it so, we've made it so. We have been fully present for all that life has offered us. We have been fully alive for the sorrow and joy, for the laughter and all the tears.

I love you with all my heart, all my life, all that I have.

I thought it was 2009!

We try to live an eco-conscious life. We recycle, compost, purchase locally, use CFL's, etc. If our home in Urbana ever sells, we'd love to replace our Honda with a Hybrid, or one of the little cars that gets really great gas mileage.

We've been interested in the Prius for a while. And, when the new commercial came out, I was intrigued with the way the "dancers" transform the scenery. I thought it was really cool.



But, the tag line? Man's wants and Nature's needs? Every time they say it, I can't believe it. Man's!? Are they really only selling this car to men? In our community in northern Illinois, I see many women driving the Prius. Are they not taking women's wants into consideration? Oh, wait, I get it. They (the men who wrote this ad) think that "man" refers to all of humanity.

Well, it doesn't. When you say "Man" I hear male, not female. And my 8 year old daughter also heard "man" meaning not her. She said, "how stupid! Don't they want women to buy their car also?"

So, Toyota, you just lost two customers. I'm thinking the Smart for 2 will be a better option for our family, since we have men's and women's wants to consider.

16 Things I Can't Live Without this Summer

I stole this idea from the blogger I love to hate...

1. Sleeping with the windows open on cool nights.

2. Laying in bed listening to the birds singing at 4:30 in the morning, knowing that I can go back to sleep for as long as I want.

3. Fresh, local, organic asparagus. (I love it so much I don't encourage my kids to even try it!)

4. Growing a garden.

5. Gardening with my daughter and husband.

6. Getting the neighbor kids interested in gardening.

7. Fixing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for all the neighborhood kids.

8. Our little town's Farmer's Market.

9. Our own garden tomatoes.

10. Making fresh salsa with our own home-grown ingredients.

11. Having a glass of wine on the deck, with old friends, or family, or new neighbors and friends.

12. Going to Turner Falls, OK!

13. Watching my daughter ride her bike.

14. Going to Weld Park.

15. Going to the Forest Preserve

16. Fresh, Local, Organic produce from Angelic Organics!