Two Eyed Living

Exploring Moosewood

2010-06-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

So, here's the deal. I own probably 100 cookbooks and couldn't name 10 recipes I've used from them. I don't cook according to recipes. Truthfully, I'm down to about a half dozen cookbooks. I was recently annoyed with my cluttered up shelf and decided to give most of them away. I kept my Moosewood books and have vowed to make some of the recipes.

Tonight's effort was a sweet potato salad and curried tofu with chickpeas. The salad was for Alicia who doesn't like curry and the curry was for my husband who doesn't like sweet potatoes. Despite my attempts to please everyone, neither kid ate the entree or salad. Maybe next time.

Slow Food

2010-06-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

We sort of have a bet around here. The whole thing stems from my frequent ranting about the food we eat. The reality is I do well some of the time making sure we eat good food. Then, on my "off days", I take them through Burger King or order a pizza. Since feeding them is my self-appointed duty, I really have no grounds to rant when I buy or grow 100% of the food that comes in. The bet? I have bet them I can make good food taste good. All the time. (Or, close to it.)

I think they are imagining being served over and over the same dishes I prepare when I get on this kick. They also are a little unamused I'll be baking all of our bread products. O.K...a lot unamused.

You'd think, by now, they'd know not to bet me on anything. I'm too competetive and I WILL WIN!

Tell me this sour dough bread doesn't look delicious.

I made "Carribean Vegetable Stew" (Moosewood Cooks at Home) to go with it. As it was being gulped down, the discussion "define processed" had to occur. O.k...so I did use canned coconut milk. Rome wasn't built in a day. ;-)

An aside, this is perhaps the reason I've been invited to so many parties this spring. Not slow food at all, but aren't they pretty? I made this stuff for a pig roast we went to last night. One cake is lemon, the other chocolate. I used the last of last year's pesto on the pasta.

Title Change

2010-06-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

As I have decided my experiment is finished, I've also decided I need a title change.

I wanted something clever, but came up empty handed. Perhaps, I'm not a clever person.

I've landed on "Two Eyed Living". What does that mean, you ask?

I'm a reader. One of the most influential authors on the state of my life has been Parker Palmer. In his book (To Know As We Are Known), Palmer introduces us to the concept of "Wholesight"; an idea which merges the mind's eye and the heart's eye into one.

Only as we see whole can we and our world be whole.

So it goes, I find this idea fitting for where and who I am. It's "two eyed living" from here on out.

It's Over

2010-06-20T06:53:00.000-07:00

My year is almost over which leaves me with the question of what I should do now. The goal was to take back my own life. I gave myself a year to get that together. Without looking back, did I provide a hypothesis for this experiment? I don't think that I did.

In hindsight, I should have predicted I am the one completely in control of my own happiness and my life cannot be anything other than how I make it. Psyche 101, I know. There's a difference in knowing it and doing it, though. There's a huge difference in knowing it after you have done it.

I'm sure my year isn't completely up until mid July. However, on the day after one of the best days I've had in years, I'm going to call it all a success and move on from an experiment to practice.

A Little Bit of Gardening

2010-06-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Actually, a little bit of anything in the yard seems to take way more work than it appears to have taken. I'm still working on this little section of the backyard. Someday, we'll build a stone patio. In the meantime, something else will have to do.

The before (taken 5/12):

Where I am today:

The End or The Beginning?

2010-06-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

A picture story of the recent history of that sweater I was going to knit:

If you followed that, you've realized I knitted almost an entire sweater, decided I didn't like it, frogged the whole thing and started a new (and very different) sweater.

Crafty-ness continued...Girl Scouts is over for the year. As the co-leader, my entire responsibility was to buy the badges and assemble them to give out tonight. I could have just thrown them in bags, but, well...you know how I am.

On to the Silver Award (and 8th grade.)!

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

So, I have come to the end of my "Do whatever I want" weekend. I AM EXHAUSTED. I entertained twice in three days! That is a lot for me.

My darling husband cleaned off the screen porch for me. I should have taken a "before shot". It always looks bad at the end of winter (It's a catchall for everything; dirt, pollen, toys, tools, etc...), but this year was especially bad with the blizzards and such. I love this porch. I'm not sure if we bought the house for the yard or the porch, but it was for one or the other.

A Little Bit of Everything

2010-05-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of hobbies and I think today might have been "Do Whatever I Want Day".

My "she doesn't know she's an enabler" friend linked me to this blog the other day. Of course, we all know it's not possible for me to see something like this pastry and not want to make it. Mine didn't turn out as pretty as hers (I didn't have a dowel and the handle on my potato masher wasn't cutting it.), but they were delicious nonetheless.

Then, I wanted to build an obelisk. Now, first, we all must understand I am "math challenged". Factor in I'm not that patient with power tools and it's a recipe for "fun". I found a pattern on-line. I'm not linking it, because I decided it was flawed. The tops of the legs were supposed to be cut on 10 degree angles. After some mild irritation with the whole thing (because it wasn't working out), I decided they should be cut at 15 degrees. Patterns are just suggestions anyway, right? I'm happy with it.

The garden is still "in progress". I feel like I may have to pull/dig up grass forever to get it the way I want it. But, stuff is growing. Sweet potatoes were planted today. I hadn't planned on growing those, but the kids wanted them. Anything for the kids, right?

Then, I let the chickens "free-range" for awhile. Look who's getting feathers! These girls are 13 days old. I'm down to five. One died in the night a week ago.

Back to those berries... You know, they don't hang around very long. Ended up with 7 pints of jam and 5 quarts in the freezer.

8 minutes until midnight...go to bed or go sew something? Hmmmm...

Freedom!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

As of 9:30 this morning, I am free from homework! I don't know what I was thinking signing up for 3 grad. classes when I knew I'd only have about 6 weeks to get them done. (Oh, yeah...I was thinking "salary lane change".) It was a lot of work and the last two weeks have been much of nothing except for studying. I am done! I am done! I am done! They were postmarked on the last allowable done and all of that is out of here and on its way there! I AM FREE!

I did manage to take the kids strawberry picking a couple of days ago. I wanted to get out there before the rain came (and it did come). Rain is not particulary good for strawberries once they have ripened. It's a "bumper crop year" in Maryland; big, juicy, bright berries.

And, now I have time to have lunch company. I love entertaining for lunch.

Dessert!

Friday

2010-05-28T17:24:00.001-07:00

The perfect dinner for an exhausted me...cinnamon toast and tea.

Spring!

2010-05-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

O.K. So I suck at updating regularly. (Sorry, grandma.) School will be out soon, so I should have an easier time of fitting everything in.

Spring is always busy around here.

The new girls...Lola, Essie, Margery, Florance, Helen and Irene:

Major cuteness alert!

The whole flock. Henny and Penny are about 5-6 weeks old. Chickens grow fast!

I posted about a zillion pictures of my flowers on Facebook. If you want to see them, go look there. :-)

In the meantime, my new favorite flower: foxglove! I planted the seeds two winters ago and nursed them under lights. Patience wins, because they are beautiful!!!

Catching Up

2010-03-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'm behind. As always. Strangely, I'm o.k. with that.

We just celebrated our 17th anniversary.

Doesn't this look good? I made one of Ryan's favorite meals; chicken cordon bleu.

And, I bought the most yummy yarn ever with my birthday money. It's llama and silk and somehow is going to become a sweater (I'm still a little doubtful about how that is actually going to work out.). It took me three months to choose this yarn. That's way longer than it took me to choose a husband. I wonder if the sweater will still be hanging on in 17 years?

Still Snowing...

2010-02-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

Well, now we know. This is what another foot or so (It's hard to figure out how much has fallen this round since the wind is blowing it around so much.)looks like. Now, the only thing to wonder about is "When will it stop?".

Meanwhile, the kids continue to be in rare form of getting along. The snow has brought the best out in them.

Hunkered Down for Round #2

2010-02-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

In the last few days, we've received a little over 40" of snow. It's been real. It's been fun. It's been real fun. Ryan has shoveled and shoveled and shoveled.

As we settle in for the night (around real food...we are tired of eating junk food) with plans for a quiet evening watching American Idol and knitting, we can't help but wonder what tomorrow will look like. The forecast is for 1-2 more feet of snow! I'm not sure the D.C. area has ever received 60ish inches of snow in a week before. Perhaps, we'll look back at these pictures (from today) and say "That wasn't that much snow after all.".

Knitting

2010-02-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to knit every night before I go to bed. Some nights, I'm too tired and make more mistakes than it's worth. Some nights, I make good progress. What I have discovered is that I love making socks. I just love how you have a plain old tube of knitting and next thing you know, there is a heel. It really is rather clever and kudos to whoever was smart enough to figure out how that works.

There are mistakes, but they are my first pair. The next pair will be perfect. Maybe. I'm a little annoyed the striping isn't the same, but I'll live. They fit perfectly.

I also made a hat. It was supposed to be for me, but turns out Alicia really loves it. So, it's hers.

Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns

2010-02-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

Ingredients

1 Cup Water
1 Egg
2 Tbsp Butter
3 1/4 Cups Flour
1/4 Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp yeast

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for approximately 7-10 minutes until dough is elastic. Place dough in an oiled glass bowl, cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise until double. (Approximately 1.5 hours)

Once Dough has risen, punch down and roll out to 10"x15" rectangle. Spread dough with softened butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Starting from a long side, roll dough into a log. Pinch edges together to seal. Cut into 1" pieces.

In a small bowl, mix 1/3 melted butter, 1/2 packed brown sugar, 1 Tbsp honey, 2/3 cup of pecan halves and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. Spread in the bottom of a greased 9"x13" pan. Arrange cut dough in pan. Allow to rise until double.
(Approximately 1 hour)

Bake at 350 degrees for 22-27 minutes until golden brown. Immediately invert pan onto a heat proof tray. Let pan remain a minute so caramel can drizzle over rolls. Makes 15 rolls.

Blizzard 2010

2010-02-06T19:35:00.001-08:00

Still digging out...

A Boy and His First Trophy

2010-01-29T20:47:00.000-08:00

Guess who won the "Bears" level championship and 4th overall for the Pack at the Pinewood Derby race.

37

2010-01-25T15:15:00.000-08:00

Today is the big day! I'm 37. The kids are so excited. (Umm...woo hoo?) Alicia made me a cake while I was at work.

The birthday person always gets their favorite meal and nobody else is allowed to complain. I actually have many favorite meals (surprise!)so I picked the one that usually gets the most complaints...(Smart, huh?)...curried red lentils, fruit salad with greek yogurt and honey and enough naan (drenched in melted butter and freshly pressed and roasted garlic!)to feed a small village.

What kind of birthday happens without cards and presents? Jac made me a "pen garden" for my classroom and Alicia drew me a picture of my favorite bird-the flamingo.

A Little Lesson On "GUAGE"

2010-01-24T20:23:00.001-08:00

Check it before you get 5 inches into an adult sized sweater. UGH. I just spent the last 30 minutes pulling and winding yarn back into balls.

Bed Hog

2010-01-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

So, a little over a month ago, we had one dog and one dog bed. Then, Thanksgiving came and we ended up bringing home a cat who promptly stole the dog's bed. The dog is terrified of the cat and just let her have it without a fight. We felt bad for the dog who needed a warm space to sleep (other than my bed!)and bought two new, identical beds for the animals to use inside and then put the old bed outside (on the screen porch) for when the dog is out. In theory, there should have been a bed available for every animal, right?

Just Because

2010-01-02T21:16:00.000-08:00

My Gram keeps checking my blog to see a picture of our Christmas Eve trifle. I didn't think about posting it before, but here it is now.

New yarn always eases the pain.

2009-12-29T20:53:00.000-08:00

My first sock was almost finished. I was to the toe and was going to finish it up yesterday. But, as I stared at it and compared it to the pattern, I realized I had made an error. Not a huge error, but one that affected the pattern enough for me to realize it. The long and short of it is I frogged the whole sock. The error was after the instep, but once I started pulling...well...I should have taken a picture of it, because two weeks of knitting (Yes, I'm slow.) has returned to being a ball of yarn. I'm a little hellbent on getting at least one sock done before I go back to school. For the past 24 hours, I've been knitting, knitting, knitting...

Sweet

2009-12-22T18:26:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Things #2

2009-12-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

Isn't this a beauty? Ryan's grandma Ras did a lot of ceramics (as in "competition level") before she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. When we were married, we inherited a small, green tree. Later, she gave us this larger white tree with the red birds.

White Christmas?

2009-12-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

The great snowstorm of 2009. The cat with no name stole Pippi's nice, warm bed while poor Pippi was checking out the action outside.
Meanwhile, I did nothing more than work on my first real sock while being fully aware the house is a disaster and I haven't finished knitting the kids' stockings. That said, look at my progress! You have no idea how amused I am the yarn makes stripes. Then, the heel...turning heels is about the coolest thing ever.

My One, Lone, Handmade Gift

2009-12-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

Fortunately, for the status of my handmade gift-making, we are in the middle of a blizzard (Which is a funny concept if you have lived in Alaska prior to living in Maryland-where we live now.)and stuck in the house. Perhaps, progress will be made this weekend.
These are some wool, fingerless mitts for someone special on my list. Wrapped and in the mail. I hope they are well received.

My Favorite Things #1

2009-12-19T08:23:00.001-08:00

My Grandpa sent these to me for Christmas. I already know this will be my favorite gift even though Christmas hasn't even arrived yet.
"Missy, I bought these bowls in 1946 in the fall in Ottumwa (Iowa). I paid $1.00 down and 25 cents a week until they were paid for. I made the money on Saturdays carrying out ashes and refilling the buckets with coal and getting them on the back porches. I gave them to mom (My great Grandma) for Christmas. Love, Grandpa."
Seriously, there is no way anyone could top this gift.

Happy St. Nick's Day!

2009-12-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

Following tradition, the kids always put their shoes out for St. Nick. He usually remembers to stop by to drop off a treat.
I was trying to get a nice picture of our tree. The kids decorated it this year and did a pretty good job, I think.
This is one of my favorite ornaments. Our friend Stephanie had attached it to a gift (16 years ago!) and I always think of her when I see it.

SNOW!

2009-12-05T11:37:00.000-08:00

The promise of today will be many trips outside to enjoy the miracle of the first snow.

The Countdown Begins

2009-12-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

I think my kids look forward to their Advent Calendars more than they do to Christmas morning. Usually, I buy the paper calendars that come with cheap chocolates. This year, they were surprised. Jacob loves Legos more than probably anything and the same goes for Alicia and Penguins. The tradition is they leave their letters to Santa out before they go to bed on the 30th. When they wake up on the 1st, the letters are gone and calendars have been delivered.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was spent in Richmond this year. (We alternate parents each year. This year, it was Ryan's parents' turn.)

I love a good feast!
How many people does it take to carve a turkey?
Hi!

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

The real question is: "Will they survive the trip to Richmond?".

Knitting

2009-11-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

This new hobby has severely upset the balance in the rest of the areas of my life. I think I'm addicted.

Since the end of October...

I made Ryan a hat. He wears it even though there are plenty of mistakes. Is that love or what? I used alpaca yarn for it considering he doesn't have hair and didn't want anything itchy. Oh, wait. I think he didn't really want a hat.

Project #2 is the beginnings of the ambitious dream (for me!) of knitting everyone a Christmas stocking. Our current stockings don't match. Ryan and I both have our childhood stockings and then the kids have matching stockings. My favorite part of Christmas morning is the stockings and I really want us all to have matching this year. This one is actually finished with the exception of a couple details. It was interesting figuring out how to turn the heel. I hope I can figure it out again three more times.

Project #3 was supposed to be a pair of owl themed fingerless gloves for Alicia. I used the suggested yarn and the right sized needles. I measured the guage and that was fine. However, the (almost) finished product is huge. I guess the pattern writer has huge hands? At any rate, it gave me good practice making some stitches I hadn't previously done and now I know how to make a thumb. So, all is well.

Project #3 (Attempt #2)- I'm using much smaller needles and a little less bulky of a yarn to try the fingerless glove pattern again. These will not be for Alicia. The yarn was screaming someone else's name out to me, so they will be a Christmas gift. If I have enough yarn, I'd like to make a matching hat.

Busy

2009-11-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

So, I'm already falling behind on the blog that supposedly held the purpose of documenting me having it all together and getting everything I wanted to do done (on that list was the blog, ha!). I'm back. I haven't forgotten it. Fall is a busy time and getting everything together has been a challenge. Still, I feel I've been productive.

For the first fall in ages, I've had time to sew and be crafty. I'm teaching myself how to knit.

I made the boy some pajamas (to support his dad's favorite team and keep warm at the same time!). My boy is a Ravens fan which is turning out to be a much better choice then his dad's team. :-)

Who wants to wear a boring old lanyard when they can have something cute and girly?

My family has been eating well.

I love this black bean and corn salad. I could eat it alone and call it dinner.

Football food.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Why am I still surprised after 11 years we can live so close to D.C. and still have this in the backyard?

And, we've celebrated.

Settling in for Fall

2009-10-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

As much as fall is my second least favorite season (next to winter), there are some comforts I can count on:

Baking with the kids

Preparing warm things for the cold to come (I'm trying to teach myself how to knit. This will eventually be a scarf for Alicia.)

And the shift from loud and outside to quiet and inside.

There's a reason why I'm fat.

2009-10-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

I cook too much.

We made ravioli today. Originally, I had planned on chocolate ravioli and then decided that was out after I read it was going to take 3 hours and 35 minutes. The plan went to fettucine. But, we happened upon a farm market near Sugarloaf Mountain (The park is closed this weekend, by the way)that had all kinds of beautiful squash. I ended inspired and decided we should make squash ravioli. You have no idea how delicious it was.

(By the way, I detest black nail polish.)

The filling was browned sage butter mixed with a puree of sweet dumpling and carnival squash. After it was boiled, It needed a perfect little sauce of additional browned sage butter, grated parmesan and fresh chives from my garden.

I decided if we are going to eat pasta drenched in sage butter, we might as well grill a steak to go with it.

For the record, the whole event took about 3 hours. Clearly, I like squash more than chocolate.

Autumnal Cooking

2009-09-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

The bad news is I am not making as much progress in getting stuff done as I'd like to be making.

The good news is I must have made some progress, because I am typically stressed out by now with trying to figure out how to juggle work and everything else I want to do.

Oh, I also decided to write a book. Nonfiction. I'll be querying agents in a month or so. How exciting is that?

Who doesn't love autumn? O.K...really, it's the saddest time of year. I much prefer spring. But, I do love the colors and flavors of fall cooking. The Mr. loves meatloaf. I love roasted butternut squash. The kids love stir fried green beans. Win, win, win for everyone.

Before

After

The Perfect End

2009-09-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

The perfect end to any day is a homemade bowl of soup with a fresh loaf of crusty bread. And, the brie? Well...we were trying something new.

Acorn Hunting

2009-09-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

Some years ago, I took the kids to the park near our house and we found huge acorns. I should have collected some then, but didn't. I've always said we would go back to get some, but we have never been able to find acorns that large again. We came close today.

Handmade Holidays

2009-09-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. Every year, around this time, I start thinking about what we are going to do about the holidays. Our "people to gift" list used to be a mile long. Over the years, we have pruned it significantly and that has helped with the cost and stress of the holidays. However, there are still plenty of people we will need gifts for. I would like to have a "handmade Christmas" this year. It is doubtful I can find an idea for everyone, but I've got enough ideas now to carry me through most of the list.

My focus for the remainder of September is going to be pajamas and stocking stuffers. It's a tradition in our house that the kids get to open one gift on Christmas Eve (it's always pajamas). The stockings are my favorite part of Christmas morning.

Basil Day

2009-09-06T09:56:00.001-07:00

I love basil. I grew some from seed and got a little carried away with the amount I thought I needed.

We made pesto. A lot of pesto.

Jac is kind of in the doghouse and owes me some money. I gave him the job of picking off all the basil leaves. He stopped after two large bowl fulls. There's still a ton of it out there on the table and still growing in the garden.

The girl gathered the ingredients.

A very large bowl of pesto!

Yes, she's in middle school. How did you know?

Ready for the freezer.

The Kids Want to Know

2009-09-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

Who looks more like a gnome? Jacob, Alicia or Pippi?

Fried Green Tomatoes

2009-09-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

For some reason, my tomatoes haven't been ripening. For about two weeks, we had more than we could use. After that, we've averaged only a tomato a week. I think it's too cold.

I'd never had fried green tomatoes and decided to see what the fuss was all about. Turns out, I've been missing out all my life.

It feels like October.

2009-09-01T18:52:00.001-07:00

So, it was 48 degrees when I woke up this morning. I was hanging out clothes (under the flood lights), in the dark, and sort of freezing. Then, I notice the neighbor looking over at me and smoking a cigarrette. Really, who smokes in their backyard at 5 in the morning? So weird.

Fast forward through the working (and not allowed to post pics on the internet) part of my day...

I decided to cook one of my favorite dinners; polenta stuffed peppers and mesquite grilled chicken. So delicious. I don't really follow recipes. Polenta is pretty much failproof.

Polenta Stuffed Peppers

Saute 1 onion and 3 cloves of garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add whatever herbs you like and 4 cups of broth. Bring to a boil. Slowly stir in 1 cup of polenta (Course ground, corn grits; I buy it in the Hispanic section of the grocery.). Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until thickened (5-7 minutes). Add some parmesan or other kind of cheese if you like. Spoon into hollowed out, red, bell peppers. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

My morning glories are nice enough to wait to bloom until I come home. They are more like evening glories.

The First Day of School

2009-09-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

The real test of this experiment is on. School has started. I started a week ago and the kids started yesterday. It's easy to "have it all" when I'm on vacation. It's a whole other story once I'm working. So far, though, so good. (Even if I fell asleep ridiculously early last night and didn't manage to post the first day of school pictures on the first day of school.)

I was not planning on having my picture taken, but Ryan insisted. He caught me at the last minute as I was getting in the car. Notice it was still dark outside.

Alicia was next. She doesn't leave until 7 a.m. Actually, it would be more accurate to say she gets to stay home until 7 a.m. for one more day. On Thursday, my 7th grader (How did that happen already?) is going to take a class at the high school and will have to leave even earlier.

Next up was Jacob. He apparently didn't want his picture taken and only agreed to one. That's pretty typical for him.

As tired as I was, I managed to make one of their favorite dinners; steak on the grill and vegetable fried rice.

Crock Pot Thursday

2009-08-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

Actually, according to my menu, Crock Pot Thursday wasn't supposed to happen until Friday. I just realized we were supposed to be eating lentil stew. Even so, we enjoyed the concept so much, I think we'll just institute it every Thursday. And, believe me when I tell you our pot roast, mashed potatos and gravy and steamed brocolli was much more palatable than some take-out pizza we'd normally be eating by this time of the week.

What happened when the t.v. went out?

2009-08-26T18:16:00.001-07:00

The kids turned into lions.

The dining room table got lost.

The girl baked a cherry upside-down-cake (from scratch, I might add!). She's going to post the recipe on her blog, so you will have to wait for it.

How to cure the "I wants".

2009-08-23T09:41:00.000-07:00

Despite it wasn't my intention, I've raised a couple of kids who suffer from the "I wants". It isn't that they want a lot, but they suffer greatly from wanting a house full of junk food. While the girl continuously asks if we can buy this or that during our entire visit to the grocery store, the boy secretly throws things in the cart in such a manner I don't usually notice them until we are at the checkout. Occasionally, he has managed to get items through the checkout and I don't notice them until we are already home. This skill, of his, speaks volumes. I'm famed for being uber-observant.

I've started giving each child $1.50 each week for whatever grocery items they want. Doing so has achieved a few objectives. 1. They are suddenly aware of how much junk food costs. 2. They get what they want (sort of). 3. They don't bother me at the store. I figure a little junk in moderation won't hurt.

The girl has discovered coupons. She spends hours cutting them out, looking through the ads, making lists and waiting on next week's coupons.

Menu Week of August 23

2009-08-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

Last week, I made a beautiful menu and then couldn't figure out how to post it on a separate page here. This week, I'll do it a little more primitively.

Breakfast Selections
*Served with your choice of skim milk, orange juice, coffee, hot cocoa or hot tea
Sunday-Alicia's Almost Famous Blueberry Muffins
Monday-Cereal of your choosing served with sliced bananas
Tuesday-Eggs scrambled served with toast and Mom's peach jam
Wednesday-Cereal of your choosing served with a bowl of local blueberries
Thursday-Vanilla yogurt parfait made with assorted fruits and topped with granola
Friday-Oatmeal served with vanilla yogurt, strawberries and toasted almonds
Saturday-Cereal of your choosing served with sliced peaches
Lunch Selections
*Served with water
Sunday-Leftovers of your choosing
Monday-Soup of your choosing (canned) served with grilled cheese sandwich
Tuesday-Peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich served with carrots and ranch dip
Wednesday-Macaroni and cheese served with steamed vegetable of the day
Thursday-Chicken noodle soup served with saltines and sliced apples
Friday-Tuna salad on a fresh baked roll served with a side of carrots and a pickle
Saturday-Leftovers of your choosing

Dinner Selections
*Served with your choice of water, skim milk, vegetable juice or hot tea
Sunday-Avocado and Swiss burgers served with deviled eggs, baked beans and watermelon balls
Monday-Spaghetti with a mushroom marinara sauce served with steamed snow peas
Tuesday-Curried skillet of white bratwurst, fried potatoes and chickpeas served with a raw beet salad
Wednesday-Beef taco served with a side of black beans and a tossed salad
Thursday-Lentil stew served with a side of cucumbers and fresh baked bread with honey butter
Friday- Pot roast with potatoes, carrots and onions served with fresh baked bread
Saturday-Grilled ribs with sides of baked beans, steamed asparagus and a fruit salad

Real Food

2009-08-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

As a follow-up to the subject of eating at home, I feel the need to make the distinction between real food vs. the other kind of food. The goal of eating at home does not mean buying the same (as I would get at a restaurant) processed junk at the grocery store and heating it up in my own oven. My goal of eating at home has two objectives; the first to save money and the second to feed my family better. Pre-packaged frozen meals and other conveniences do not meet that second objective. Real food is defined (by me) as food in it's most natural state (frequently termed "whole food").

Admittedly, I have a ways to go when it comes to meeting the real food requirement. And, I do have to acknowledge that while my family will eat many things most families do not (or will not), they are not yet totally accustomed to a diet based completely on whole foods. I hope, over time, to make significant progress towards transitioning my family more towards a whole foods diet.

Towards all objectives (saving money, eating better, transitioning to whole foods), I have determined we will be making only minimal trips to the grocery (for fresh milk and produce) while we eat out of our freezer and pantry. As I restock, it will be with choices I feel better about.

If I could figure out how to post my menu (in webpage format), you would see that Tuesday night is "fritatta night" at our house. For those who don't know, a fritatta is sort of like a giant omelette and is a great idea for using up bits and pieces of things. Ours are always different depending on what we have that needs used up. Last night's was filled with a little ham, some red onion, a couple leeks and an old potato or two. I had a handful of mozzarella that I scattered across the top.

I'm not sure the correct method for cooking, but I find it easiest to saute whatever I'm putting in it and then putting those things in a baking dish. I whisk 8-12 eggs with a little milk and black pepper and then pour over the top. Bake at 350 until set.

This is a very easy and adaptable meal. Last night, I served roasted beets and watermelon chunks alongside it for a delicious and satisfying dinner. The icing on the cake is (due to seasonal produce and scraps of food I already had and that would have likely been thrown out after some time) the entire meal cost less than $6 for a family of 4 and there were leftovers for today's lunch.

The Wish List #2 Frugality

2009-08-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

We were 25 years old when we bought our house. I remember thinking we were so much more mature than other 25 year olds we knew. By that age, we had both served six years in the Air Force and had both obtained our Bachelor's degrees. We had successfully transitioned to civilian life and were debt free. For the most part, in our first years of marriage (We were so young!), we managed to support ourselves, pay for two college educations and put down a payment on our new house. Yes, I was feeling confident about our abilities.

Eleven years, the responsibilities of home ownership, a couple of kids and a Master's Degree later, we are no longer debt free. I used to be somewhat vague regarding that truth, but since we are on a new journey, I might as well be upfront. We have accumulated a significant amount of debt. Most of it can be attributed to my Master's Degree, but still...we owe it. It owns us. The knowledge we will need to pay for college, for our first child, in a few short years, is adding to the anxiety. How are we going to do that if we haven't even finished paying for mine?

We have developed some goals:
1. Establish an emergency fund. We don't have one. We do save a good portion of our income monthly, but it is inaccessible in 401K and other retirement accounts.

2. Pay off all our debts. This is going to take some serious time and commitment. We are committing to put 1/3 of my salary towards debt until we are debt free.

3. Save up enough money to pay for our daughter's (and then our son's) college without having to go further into debt.

It is quite daunting to understand my paycheck for the next ten years will likely be spent (in its entirety) on the above three things.

The big question is "How?" We are working on that. Again, I will admit we are completely caught up in a lifestyle of convenience, eating out, frivolous spending, etc... We still need to come up with a plan on how to achieve all of the above in the time we have allotted for it (and still save for retirement).

Our first plan of action is to conquer the "eating out" problem. We are going to concentrate on trying to not eat out for a year (which sounds like an eternity!) But, the reality is an average family of four spends almost $3K a year eating out. That's a lot of money!

While unplanned, another opportunity for frugality presented itself. Our dryer broke. I replaced a fuse twice and it hobbled along for another month or two before the belt broke. I could fix that, but I decided "why?". I haven't figured it out exactly (but I could!), but it costs a lot to run a dryer load of clothes. I do several loads a week. Over a year, that is a lot of money! I have committed to hanging out all of our laundry for one year. At some point, I will do the math to figure out exactly what one load costs and then I will compare that with the data of our monthly useage to determine our actual savings. While this may seem extreme and pointless, I have to remember "It all adds up".

My grandma has a saying: "Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves". As kids, we found great amusement from that and it has been the source of some family jokes. However, one cannot deny the truth in it.

Since I wasn't in the habit of hanging out laundry, I needed an apron. I sewed it from some of my favorite fabrics and I love it!

The Wish List #1 Dinner for 9

2009-08-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

Of course, any reasonable person would be asking me what it is exactly I think I want or need. If you are my husband, adding to the confusion is the knowledge I often don't seem to know myself. Admittedly, a lot of what I actually want is defined in ambiguous terms (another contradiction considering ambiguity tops my list of pet peeves). In order to be concrete, I've made a list.

1. I would like our family to be more social. Instead of using all of our free time catching up on stuff we never seem to get caught up on, I'd like to spend more time relaxing as a family with other families. I could go on and on about why we don't seem to get around to doing something this simple, but you get the idea. Basically, I want to have people over more.

Earlier this month, I devoted an entire week (about 80 hours worth of time!) to cleaning, decluttering and painting. Our house had reached such a state of disorganization and chaos, the idea of having anyone over was an overwhelming thought. Our home is still not perfect (defined later on my list), but adequate progress has been made for me to feel comfortable inviting people over.

My standard summer "having people over dessert"; lemon bundt cake with a vanilla glaze, garnished with sprigs of chocolate mint and portulaca flowers.

Four Truths and an Experiment

2009-08-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

Truth #1. I suffer from (what some might term a disorder) having half of myself completely drawn to domestic tasks while the other half of myself knows it needs a career or some other kind of outside diversion for the sanctity of my mental health. In short, I need to do it all. Society constantly sends me messages I cannot have it all. "I can't do the things housewives do if I'm pursuing a career." "My family will need to eat out more if I'm working." "The financial gains of my employment will be minimal considering we will need to spend significantly more money for me to work." "My kids will not have access to the same things they would have access to if I were a stay at home mom." (Of course, that's o.k. By east coast standards, money reigns supreme. It would be fine to ignore the needs of my kids as long as I can buy them stuff.)

Truth #2. My selves are often in contradiction with each other. One self will take more time than its share and then my other self is left cheated and falls behind. The result is usually both selves feeling overwhelmed with the knowledge both are behind. Such has been the state of my life for the past few years.

Truth #3. Organization is always a goal I fall profoundly short of meeting.

Truth #4. The overwhelming and most important truth is my family's lifestyle has become everything I hate. When we moved to the east coast (from Anchorage, Alaska), I knew right away this lifestyle wasn't for us. Too fast...too much happening...impatience, entitlement...all of it the east coast way of life (as I perceive it with my personal comparisons,based on real experience, to the Pacific NW way of life). I HATE IT. In some dream world, we will retire to Seattle or back to Alaska when these kids are out. In reality, we may never get back there as our life will have become cemented here. The realization we have become what I hate is unsettling.

The purpose of this blog is to track our progress on a year long journey through an experiment of sorts with the ultimate question being "Is it possible to have everything I want for my family and myself in a society that says I can't?".

My assertation is that it is possible. But, at this point, our lives are so off track, I'm not entirely sure. Organization and having a clear-cut view of where I want to go are essential if the possibility exists.

The procedure for this experiment is fairly undefined as I don't really even know where to wholly begin. Instead of an actual procedure, I have determined some goals and will likely be determining more as time goes on. My anticipation is those goals will lead us to the path we would like to be on.

Due to the informality of this experiment and the fact knowing when we will have "arrived" is not able to be determined at this time, I have assigned the parameters of one year.