Can you imagine walking by and overhearing this?

Yesterday afternoon Lance came into the front yard where the kids and I were playing. He called out to kids,

"Hey you guys which one of you pooped in the tub"

to which I immediately replied,

"Oh sorry Lance, that was me"

WHAAAT!!!! His look was incredulous

I quickly explained,

"Oh dear that's not what I meant. It wasn't me, it was Anders, but I know about it, Anders and I have talked about it, and I was going to clean it up I just was mentally preparing myself so I did a few other tasks first, then I forgot about it..."

Then later, as one of our dinner guests was heading to the bathroom, he looked at me with wide eyes and said in a hushed worried tone - "did you get to the bathroom yet?" I was happy to inform him that there was no longer a gigantic poop in the middle of the bathtub.

Better late than never.

Trust

Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We would like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability -- and that it may take a very long time. Above all, trust in the slow work of God, our loving vine-dresser

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

true

"The constant challenge to domestic life, because it is full of repetition and familiarity, is to assume it isn't also extraordinary." lance odegard

Hand pies -- update

Can't remember if I have shared this link before...

I modify the crust a bit (half whole wheat flour in the crust -- no one complains about this)

And have actually never made them with rhubarb -- since you need sugar to offset it's crazy tartness. For filling I have been mixing chopped apples and raspberries or blueberries, then cooking them till they are soft, adding a bit (2 tbsp for a medium size pot) of cornstarch (mixed into some juice that I removed from the pot and then added back in to avoid lumps) and also some cinnamon (1 tsp).

Delicious.

I made some to bring to our neighborhood bbq... and in all honesty I feel a little like a 1950's housewife bringing something to a potluck - hoping my dish will be the one talked about and people wanting to find out who brought it... I think in our neighborhood whole-wheat all fruit mini-pies might just bring that result... Not that praise is the reason I chose to make them, I just wanted there to be a dessert I could eat there!!

thought you'd appreciate that peak into my mind. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Update:

Well perhaps my hopes were a little overzealous... or I just didn't hear the people who were raving about my dessert. BUT, I think, judging by what was on the dessert table when I left, that my pies came in second to Solly's Cinnamon buns. Which is pretty good considering our local bagel shop makes the BEST cinnamon buns. I happily walked home with the empty tray and Eva walked sadly beside me, wishing there had been no neighborhood bbq so that the pies wouldn't be all gone. I reminded her that she had chosen cake and jello and that I would make more. And I asked her if she really would rather have had another pie instead of enjoying a hot dog, getting a balloon crown, playing with new and old friends, having her face painted, and getting to sit in a real fire-truck. She said yes. Apparently the grief of that moment was enough to cloud over all the joy of the last two hours. I guess if I wanted words of affirmation about my pies, I certainly got them from her!!

Interesting Article

I just read this article on breastfeeding in developing countries. It was both hopeful and sad. Hopeful that a free and accessible solution to many infant deaths exists and sad that there are patterns of thought that exist - like a baby needs water on a hot day - or that colostrum isn't advantageous to a baby, causing mothers to give their under six month old babies water that is often contaminated or delay nursing a couple of days after birth. Check it out for yourself:

New York Times

Rainy day fun

the garden

not quite, but almost

tonight Elijah asked if I would include an "anxious trap door" in my made up story. I know he meant ancient, but it was so cute I didn't want to correct him.

There is also a book about the zoo and the lion was "too fierce" and Elijah always said he was "too nervous" because he knew the word nervous, but the word fierce. I like imagining the nervous lion.

I love when my kids get the words almost right.

Birthday Party

Here are a few photos from yesterday's party. We had a great time at a nearby park - friends, family, bubbles, food, baloons (accompanied by tears when the birthday kids lost theirs), sand, cake and lots of love.

You can see what Anders thinks of the Medical Health Officer's sign...

11:46pm

I just finished decorating Elijah and Eva's cakes for their birthday party tomorrow. My hands are shaking and I am a little lightheaded (pretty sure I was holding my breath as I worked). Very tired, but very happy. I'm so pleased with the cakes (but too tired to upload pics for you now!) Elijah asked for Larry Boy (from Veggietales) and Eva asked for a princess cake. I haven't a clue where to store them out of reach until the party. I'll think of something. Now to clean up the worst of the kitchen and off to bed!

ghetto giddy

So we finally planted the ghetto garden today. It has been quite wet here. Raining for a couple days then the sun peeks out and then back to rain. It was "supposed" to rain today, but it didn't (in fact I got a little sunburn). So the kids and I turned over the soil in our pots and pools and added some manure and other nutritious stuff for our plants.

It was a little bit of a gong show with dirt flying in all directions...and water too. Just before I got sprayed by the hose I heard Elijah say to Anders, "hey I have an idea". I was a mixture of patient and frustrated as we worked together. But we did have a good time and in the end we have planted:

green beans (our favorite from last year)

nasturtiums (these attract aphids like crazy, which is gross, but I've heard it protects other plants)

sugar pumpkins

zucchini

cucumbers (pickling and long)

green hubbard squash (maybe this year I will begin to like squash?)

a tiny bit of lettuce (since I was so late in planting, I also bought a small planter of lettuce from the farmers' market, it's 5 inches high)

I misplaced the carrot seeds, so when those turn up I will plant them too. Carrots did so well in our big blue half barrel last year.

I skipped swiss chard - it grew badly last year, not sure if I planted it too close together (classic me, wanting to get the most for my space - backfire) or what.

I also didn't plant beets, they were difficult to grow too.

I think if I had endless pots and dirt I might have given a couple of last years' "fails" a second chance.

I also got some plants at a plant sale (happy mother's day to me) including:

4 heirloom tomato plants

kale

garlic chives

chocolate mint

oregano

parsley

savory

and to brighten up the ghetto a bit I moved a clump of daisies from the too-shady-for-daisies-front-garden to a pot in the back. I used to prefer flowers to veggies... and then swung all the way in the other direction. Now a mix is lovely.

Though I still dream of the day (will it come?) when I can have a garden in the ground and not pots, I am very grateful for the ghetto garden and the joy it is to tend plants and watch them grow. I've got a couple small callouses on my hands from the work today, and it feels good.

Photos to come when I get it all organized and in place.

hope you are well and that you are experiencing the joy of something growing from nothing!

aimee