Greetings from Duluth

Well, here we are in Duluth visiting my sis. We’re all about the out of doors this weekend. Saturday we went cross country skiing. It was Seth’s first time and he loved it. We learned that kids generally ski better without poles as it takes too much coordination. We also quickly learned that Seth’s favorite part was falling over. After just a couple tumbles we noticed him purposefully falling over, smiling all the time. I was torn between wanting him to learn how to ski and wanting him to thoroughly enjoy his first experience. Fun won out as I don’t want to scare him away with my ambitions. I think we’ll be looking for some used skis for him next winter. I had no idea he’d take to it so well.

On Sunday Steve and Ellie went snowboarding. A first for Steve. I stayed back with the kids on the condition that no whining about sore muscles afterwards would be allowed. So far so good. They had a blast.

This morning we’re planning on doing some snowshoeing or maybe more cross-country skiing. The snow is there for a reason. Get out and enjoy it.

Thanks Ellie!

Pumpkin Pie II

Who says you have to do it from scratch? Learning to bake for adults or children can be taken in baby steps. My son and I have decided to learn and I mean really learn how to make pumpkin pie. We’ve decided to take it in levels:

1. Purchased pie
2. Frozen crust, canned pie filling (not puree) & spray whipped cream
3. Frozen crust, canned pumpkin puree & cool whip
4. Refrigerated rolled pie crust, canned puree & true whipped cream
5. Crust from scratch, canned puree & spiced true whipped cream
6. Crust from scratch, fresh pumpkin & spiced true whipped cream

I’m starting these entries with pie #2 as no one needs to read about a purchased pie. The taste was pretty good and we barely had to do a thing. We just followed the recipe on the Libby’s can. Seth enjoyed shaking the can of condensed milk. I opened the cans & cracked the eggs so Seth could pour them all together. He gave it a stir and I convinced him to let me have a go “for good measure”. We popped it in the oven and the waiting began. I quickly realized our timing was off. I hadn’t read the bottom line stating it would need to cool on a wire rack for 3 hours after it comes out! This would be way after bed time and Seth was none too happy. Next time we’ll bake in the morning or afternoon to avoid this problem. The following day we set to work with the whipped cream. Seth really wanted a Santa face on the pie so we practiced on a plate. While that was a heck of a lot of fun he finally settled on a heart for Valentine’s Day.

Will we learn to make the perfect pumpkin pie by next Thanksgiving? Stay tuned for another exciting Pumpkin Pie installment soon!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Pile of tissue paper hearts

Despite all you naysayers, Valentine’s Day is what you make of it. Yes, it can be romantic, but it can simply be sweet as well. It’s a time to use pink and hearts to excess, which is so un-me. It is a time to let friends know you care. And it’s especially endearing to celebrate it with children.

As my oldest is now three I’m also creating future expectations with every holiday. My first goal is to avoid the commercial side of the spectrum and focus on simple homemade fun. My second is to not get carried away.

Last year we just put up hearts on the windows made out of construction paper decorated with crayon and glitter glue. This year I decided to go for home made Valentines. After several failed attempts we finally settled on our card design. I was inspired by this project noted by The Artful Parent, who in turn got it from the book Scribble Art by MaryAnn Kohls. We created faux stained glass out of wax paper, liquid starch and tissue paper hearts left over from one of the said failed projects. We then cut out sections and glued them onto cards I had precut & folded.

Making “stained glass”

Seth really enjoyed painting with the starch but didn’t have enough interest to create enough for both his cards and his baby sister’s so I finished up. Once dry I cut down the larger sheets to pieces a little smaller than our cards. Seth helped glue them to the cards; green for him, pink for Eleanor. He also colored, with green crayon of course, on the inside of each of his cards. I’m very happy with the results. So happy in fact, that I plan on doing the project again for actual window decorations similar to the one on The Artful Parent.

Ice

Golden Icicle by paul+photos=moody

Fortunately we’re starting to wind down the icy season but I’ve still been thinking a lot about how best to deal with ice removal.

The most common way to do this is with salt, aka sodium chloride. It does an effective job and is readily available. However, it has many downsides:

• It dries out the soil and interferes with plants ability to take up water, thereby, making the area only desirable to invasive weeds.
• Ingestion by children is also a risk. Although I’d like to think my 3 yr old son wouldn’t eat any, I’ve seen him take a big mouthful of snow right by the street. We then had a good talk about yellow snow but I think the concept of salt may be too complex at this age.
• Another huge downside is salts effects on animals. If a dog gets salt stuck between the pads of their paws it can actually burn. I remember my German Shepard limping and even laying down when the irritation would become too much.
• For those of us who live near water, such as the Mississippi, the salt is washed to the sewers in the spring which in essence poisons the river as it is not filtered before dumping into the waterway.
• Salt can also damage your walkways by aiding to the cycle of freeze and thaw.

I won’t even get my thoughts on road salt but we should think twice before adding our own imprint to these issues.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my own solution to this problem and thought I would share my findings with you. The first thing I suggest is trying to keep your walkways clear of snow. This allows what moisture is there to dry during the warmer hours of the day. I know it’s tempting this time of year to let the snow sit as it will melt soon but you risk pooling melt water that freezes by morning. I need to work on this more as I can be quite lazy at times. If keeping the walkway clear doesn’t do the trick, here are a couple more options:

• Course sand – it doesn’t melt the ice but it does provide traction and has a minimal impact on the surrounding area.
• Use a salt free agent, such as calcium magnesium acetate or Safe Paw, and chip away with an ice breaker (looks like a flattened hoe/also used as a lawn edger). Don’t go overboard, simply use the compound to loosen the ice and make your work easier. Too much of a good thing…

Now I just need to get that leak in my gutter over the front porch steps fixed!

 

Winter Inspiration

Here’s a little more to inspire your garden plan to include structural highlights in the winter. I just learned how to use fd flickr toys. Way fun! Click here to see links back to the original photographers. I still have a lot to learn about flickr toys as I’m pretty sure there’s a way to make mosaics where you can click on the individual photographs to locate the photographer’s flickr photostream. Anyone know?

The good & the bad

Our Chinese lanterns blowing in the wind

The weekend was filled with activities. Some I could have done with out, others I will cherish.

• Eleanor and I both have colds, boo.
• Temperatures plummeted below zero so we elected not to stand outside and watch a live dragon dance, instead watching a few on YouTube like this and this. Truly amazing.
• Seth & I made Chinese lanterns, which Seth insisted must be hung outside.
• Attempts at home made valentines produced less than stellar results. Seth insisted that he didn’t know how to draw valentines and couldn’t even be persuaded to scribble in red. I never push art so I dropped it for now.
• I tried a technique for valentines involving painting paper with vinegar, laying down tissue paper hearts which are removed after drying. Supposedly they will leave the tissue paper color behind. Mine did not.
• We then moved on to painting. I tried to mix up some 30+ year old powdered tempera. I had a devil of a time getting the powder & water to mix even after adding dish soap. Worse yet, when the paint dried the color just flaked off on the ground. Pooh. Is it because the powder was so old or am I doing something wrong. Any suggestions?
• We did get to the Riverview for our Choo Choo Bob’s movie event. My favorite clip was a short involving model trains & dinosaurs. The place was packed full of preschoolers & their parents. The best part was during a shot of a man walking down a railroad when a 2 or 3 year old from the audience shouted out – “Look, it’s Johny Cash!” Sure enough, it was.
• I also got in quite a bit of knitting, finishing off a dress for my daughter. Or so I thought. Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit over her head!!!!! There are two astonishing things about this: 1) I did this same thing with a sweater for my son and 2) I tried it on her just a couple weeks ago and it fit then. Apparently her head grew! Argh!!

Cubes of Love

Beets, broccoli & pumpkin

The variety of commercial baby food is extremely limited not to mention costly. The grey tinted mush looks incredibly unappetizing and the packaging is wasteful. The most variety I have seen comes in the form of fruits and desserts. Can you believe some of those little jars have added sugar? And what baby really needs to be started on peach cobbler or vanilla custard at 8 months old?

Don’t get me wrong, commercial baby food has its place. I’ve bought plenty. I don’t always have the time to cook and the little sealed containers travel well. All I ask is that you consider two things:

1. Look at the label. A fruit mix may sound yummy, and your baby may gobble it up, but is it full of sugar?
2. Consider making your own. It’s not hard. Make a little extra of whatever vegetable you’re having with dinner or steam a large pot of a fruit or veggie of your choice. Puree with a stick blender, food processor or standard blender and freeze in ice cube trays. Bag up once frozen and keep for up to a month or so.

You’re setting your child up for a lifetime relationship with food. Do you want them resentfully choking down salads and ordering hamburgers at a Middle Eastern deli or craving broccoli and lapping up Vietnamese noodle soup? Lastly, remember, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Babies sometimes need as many as a dozen or more taste tests before they’re willing to accept a new flavor. Your little one may never like parsnips no matter how many times you try, or they may surprise you and take to them on the 5th try like it’s the best thing since sliced bread! Although Seth ate just about anything put in front of him, we’ve found that Eleanor needs a more gentle introduction. We often mix a little in some rice or barley infant cereal, increasing each time until she gets use to the flavor. It’s done the trick every time.

Want more detailed how-to information, suggested fruits and veggies to try or baby food cookbooks to aid your efforts? Leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do.

Chinese New Years

Ni hao! (Hello)

Thursday is the Chinese New Year. Although I’m not Chinese I like to celebrate other cultures, exposing myself and my children to them when I can. I plan to start off the day giving each of my children a dollar in a red envelope; a traditional token from parents & grandparents. Seth is planning on wearing this cute outfit my friend, Nga brought him back from Vietnam.

I then plan to do a little origami from the origami-a-day calendar my sis, Shannon gave me for Christmas. I adore this calendar. It’s an excellent way to start my day. I keep it on my desk at work and each day there is a new little creation sitting next to it. I’m hoping to conclude the day by taking the family out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

Take a moment today to do a little origami in celebration of Chinese New Years. Although true origami paper is fun to work with, any paper will do. Even a sheet cut out of an old magazine works. The more detailed the design, the thinner the paper you’ll want. Try one of these simple designs with any paper you’ve got lying around:

• A banger (noise maker)
• A crane
• A masu box made from a Post-it note
• A ring made out of a dollar bill

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Into the Wild

Kathryn & I went to the Riverview theater on Saturday evening to see Into the Wild. First I must mention that the theater was packed! And I mean packed! Although this has happened to me several times before at this theater it always surprises me; in a good way. The Riverview plays movies that have already been out for some time and therefore only costs a few bucks to get in. They have excellent popcorn, excellent service and now excellent new cushy seats. I was taken aback when I was served popcorn by a neighbor’s son. As evidenced by his height and demeanor he is no longer the 10 year old swinging a shovel at his brother on top of the dirt pile I used to have in the side yard. How time flies!

Steve is in the middle of reading Into the Wild, so he stayed home with the kids. I highly recommend the movie. It was poignant, beautifully shot and well acted. I was impressed. I’m by no means a movie critic but I do love movies. I had heard good things about Into the Wild, but had imagined an extremist story. Although going off into the Alaskan wilderness on your own is extreme, I was still able to connect with the movie on several levels. Go see it or wait for the DVD release in March, but just don’t miss it.

After the movie we headed over to the Riverview Cafe. I enjoyed a cinnamon steamer and Kathryn had a chai. We settled into a couch in the back for some good conversation. It’s nice to catch up with friends. Although I missed saying goodnight to the kids, it was really good to have a night out without them as well. Thanks Steve!

Orchids

Ghost orchid photo by NC Orchid

Orchids have always fascinated me. They’re exotic, beautiful, complex and the flowers last longer than most other house plants. I’ve grown up with a lot of exposure to gardening and house plants. My parents even owned a plant store called The Potted Jungle. Great name, eh? However, orchids were never part of this, at least that I can remember. I’ve always pictured orchids as delicate and assumed they took a lot of work. I have no idea to what degree, if any, this is true.

Orchid named for Jason Fischer

So in a recent email I received, I was excited to hear that Jason Makoto Fischer from Orchids Limited will be doing a free presentation to the Longfellow Garden Club on February 13th at 7pm. Apparently Jason has been working with orchids since he was 5! Lucky man. He will also have orchids for sale. (I assume this is how they got him to do the free presentation.) I have no idea how much they will cost but do know that you should bring something to protect the plant from the cold if you think you might purchase one. The Longfellow Garden Club welcomes any interested parties regardless of where they live. The group will be meeting at the Epworth Church on the corner of 32nd and 37th Ave S in Minneapolis. I plan on attending this talk. Anyone interested in joining me?