So, the other day I heard about this movement called the $100 Christmas. No matter how large or small your family is, you pledge to spend only one hundred dollars this Christmas. The idea is to move away from such consumerism and to make the gifts you do give be truly meaningful. I loved it! Who needs yet another stuffed dog in our house? Is there anything my parents and grandparents really need? Not really. And, what a great way to help teach the girls about giving rather than receiving. I am ready to sign up for this movement!
Not Bill. While he loves the idea of not spending obscene amounts of money on everyone, he just cannot fathom the idea of limited quantity of gifts at Christmas. So, I am still working on him and ways to incorporate this idea into our holiday season. And I came upon Christmas Cards as a good start.
It all started out by looking for something to do with the girls. It was the weekend and they were getting bored and wanted to turn to the TV for entertainment. Suddenly I decided that we would make our own cards this holiday. We do it for Valentines Day, and everyone loves it, so why not another card giving holiday.
Now, I realize some people go way out and do stamping, color coordinating, scrapbooking, etc... But not us. I purchase cheap blank cards with envelopes, some foam shapes, and lots of glue and construction paper. The four of us sit at the kitchen table for an hour or so and get creative. I do not put any limits on what they can and cannot do. They are free to use whatever materials we have out. It is always interesting to see what a 4yr old creates with no guidance.
Lately Annika has been really into cutting. So, she cut her cards. And then stapled them together. You can't see what she drew on them, but they are stapled all nicely together. Some she stapled and then cut some more. Interesting technique; I think she lost sight of the end product. And I was very relieved when we ran out of staples. It only took about 3 cards and 30 staples to run out.
This year if you get a Christmas card from us (realize that I still have cards from the past three years that I have not mailed out. I am BAD about this process!!) don't be surprised if it is a little different. We're trying to make meaning, and not consume so much "stuff."
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
I'm Not A Vending Machine!!
What is it about kids that make them think Mom is a vending machine? Lauren gets off the buss and the first thing she says (literally) is, "I'm hungry!" Annika will be riding in the car and suddenly announce, "Hungry!" Like I have a little button on me that I push and food just spits out.
"Do you see any food with me?" I ask.
"But I'm hungry!"
Frustrated sigh from me, "I'm not a vending machine! You'll have to wait until I can fix a snack."
"Don't you have an apple"
"No."
"Yogurt?"
Trying not to sound as frustrated as I feel, I inform her, "No, I do not have any food with me."
"But you should. You should always have food with you!"
Again, "I'm not a vending machine; you should be OK for a short while." And why should I always have food with me??!! Good grief child, I fix you three meals a day and two healthy snacks; I spend a good deal of effort to balance veggies, whole grains, proteins and calcium products to ensure you have a healthy diet full of nutritious foods and not empty calories. Children in Africa literally are starving, while you eat 5-6 times A DAY! You are NOT hungry! Trust me.
Bill worries about them eating all the time. I assure him that 95% of the food they do eat is nutrient dense and not loaded with empty calories. But his doubt has ebbed into my brain, and now I doubt my own instincts. And, maybe Annika is eating a little more than she should. Maybe. So I visit the food pyramid web site and play a little game to see how many calories they have consumed.
Maybe they are hungry after all. Turns out my non-stop eating kids only eat about 1200-1400 calories a day, and they should be eating about 16000. Well, basically I trust them to know when they are hungry for food (not junk) and I offer them healthy, growing food when they are hungry.
But, geeeees, don't ask for food while I am driving in the car. I am not a vending machine!!
"Do you see any food with me?" I ask.
"But I'm hungry!"
Frustrated sigh from me, "I'm not a vending machine! You'll have to wait until I can fix a snack."
"Don't you have an apple"
"No."
"Yogurt?"
Trying not to sound as frustrated as I feel, I inform her, "No, I do not have any food with me."
"But you should. You should always have food with you!"
Again, "I'm not a vending machine; you should be OK for a short while." And why should I always have food with me??!! Good grief child, I fix you three meals a day and two healthy snacks; I spend a good deal of effort to balance veggies, whole grains, proteins and calcium products to ensure you have a healthy diet full of nutritious foods and not empty calories. Children in Africa literally are starving, while you eat 5-6 times A DAY! You are NOT hungry! Trust me.
Bill worries about them eating all the time. I assure him that 95% of the food they do eat is nutrient dense and not loaded with empty calories. But his doubt has ebbed into my brain, and now I doubt my own instincts. And, maybe Annika is eating a little more than she should. Maybe. So I visit the food pyramid web site and play a little game to see how many calories they have consumed.
Maybe they are hungry after all. Turns out my non-stop eating kids only eat about 1200-1400 calories a day, and they should be eating about 16000. Well, basically I trust them to know when they are hungry for food (not junk) and I offer them healthy, growing food when they are hungry.
But, geeeees, don't ask for food while I am driving in the car. I am not a vending machine!!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The Lovely Bones - my book review
Ramblings related to the Lovely Bones:
I really enjoyed the way the author used a dead person to tell a story. It was written in first person (my preference) but read like a third person story. Intriguing methodology. OK, I guess actually the "main character" (now deceased) was the narrator of the story. But the way she wrote this novel brought a very different feeling than simply a narrator.
That whole thing aside, I enjoyed the book. I loved the way the parents each dealt with their grief differently, and the effect of their grief and ways to deal with it had on their relationships with the rest of the family. Some of the mother's actions and feelings did feel contrived, but it is a story, so I didn't dwell on it. I read this book in a weeks time, maybe two. Which is good for me! Especially considering I was also reading three other books at that time too. (one for each bathroom, and one by the bed. Gotta cover all bases!!)
I really enjoyed the way the author used a dead person to tell a story. It was written in first person (my preference) but read like a third person story. Intriguing methodology. OK, I guess actually the "main character" (now deceased) was the narrator of the story. But the way she wrote this novel brought a very different feeling than simply a narrator.
That whole thing aside, I enjoyed the book. I loved the way the parents each dealt with their grief differently, and the effect of their grief and ways to deal with it had on their relationships with the rest of the family. Some of the mother's actions and feelings did feel contrived, but it is a story, so I didn't dwell on it. I read this book in a weeks time, maybe two. Which is good for me! Especially considering I was also reading three other books at that time too. (one for each bathroom, and one by the bed. Gotta cover all bases!!)
5:53 am
So, what time zone is this blog opperating under? I jut noticed that my most recent post is reported to have been published at 5:53 am. And in what universe would I be up and writing at that time??? It is 9:30 ish right now and I am still bleary-eyed! Those that know me know that I do not do mornings!!
5:53am indeed! HAR!
5:53am indeed! HAR!
Fruit Flies
I do not understand it, but for some reason our house is a gigantic fruit fly magnet. OK, we do consume a huge quantity of fruit, and I do tend to frequently have a bowl full of fruit out for little snackers to self-serve from. But normally you remove the fruit and the pesty flies remove themselves too. Not in our house!
Last week it got so bad that Bill actually took duct tape and tried to fashion some sort of fly trap! (It didn't work; the flies did not stick for long. But good effort!) So, our dear house is full of fruit flies. Annika likes to run around with a fly swatter and randomly swat anything and everything! Frustrated beyond belief, the other day I grabbed every possible offending item I could think of (my homemade bread (which they LOVE) candy, fruit, veggies, my kefir) and put it all in plastic bags. OK, now I have removed the offending items, those pesky critters should leave town, right? Nope.
Bill and I have been into wine lately, and we opened a new bottle. Neither one of us was impressed (I'm hard to impress, since I am only a minor fan of wines) so we corked it up and put it back on the counter. Wait, this is about fruit flies, not wine; why do I bring this up you ask? Well, those damn flies LOVED the wine! So I put a small amount in Bill's UGLY coffee cup (I really hate that stupid mug that he loves so much!) and set it in the microwave with the door open. Soon about 25 flies were in the microwave and on the mug. SLAM! I shut the door and turned on the microwave. Expecting to see popping and sizzling flies, I stood back and waited. 30 seconds, 45 seconds, one full minute, minute 30 seconds, two minutes .... finally I smelled burning smells, but saw flying and crawling flies! WOW! Those are hardy buggers! Turns out I sizzled the living daylights out of the wine - it was a crusty burnt little blob in the bottom of the glass - but half the fruit flies survived!
So the next day Bill had a glass of wine again. The remaining flies were all over his glass and the cork of the bottle. Bill reached his limit, and made the sacrifice of the remaining wine. Off went the cork, and in went the remaining fruit flies! By the next morning we had a little sludge of wine and carcasses in our bottle.
And now we are free of those pesky fruit flies.
The moral here? If you get fruit flies, buy a cheep bottle of wine, have a glass or two, and give the rest to the flies! If you like you can buy a good bottle or two, drink it up, and then you wont care if you have flies or not! BTW, I tried it with beer, and it doesn't seem to work quite as well. They must be of french heritage, not german.
Last week it got so bad that Bill actually took duct tape and tried to fashion some sort of fly trap! (It didn't work; the flies did not stick for long. But good effort!) So, our dear house is full of fruit flies. Annika likes to run around with a fly swatter and randomly swat anything and everything! Frustrated beyond belief, the other day I grabbed every possible offending item I could think of (my homemade bread (which they LOVE) candy, fruit, veggies, my kefir) and put it all in plastic bags. OK, now I have removed the offending items, those pesky critters should leave town, right? Nope.
Bill and I have been into wine lately, and we opened a new bottle. Neither one of us was impressed (I'm hard to impress, since I am only a minor fan of wines) so we corked it up and put it back on the counter. Wait, this is about fruit flies, not wine; why do I bring this up you ask? Well, those damn flies LOVED the wine! So I put a small amount in Bill's UGLY coffee cup (I really hate that stupid mug that he loves so much!) and set it in the microwave with the door open. Soon about 25 flies were in the microwave and on the mug. SLAM! I shut the door and turned on the microwave. Expecting to see popping and sizzling flies, I stood back and waited. 30 seconds, 45 seconds, one full minute, minute 30 seconds, two minutes .... finally I smelled burning smells, but saw flying and crawling flies! WOW! Those are hardy buggers! Turns out I sizzled the living daylights out of the wine - it was a crusty burnt little blob in the bottom of the glass - but half the fruit flies survived!
So the next day Bill had a glass of wine again. The remaining flies were all over his glass and the cork of the bottle. Bill reached his limit, and made the sacrifice of the remaining wine. Off went the cork, and in went the remaining fruit flies! By the next morning we had a little sludge of wine and carcasses in our bottle.
And now we are free of those pesky fruit flies.
The moral here? If you get fruit flies, buy a cheep bottle of wine, have a glass or two, and give the rest to the flies! If you like you can buy a good bottle or two, drink it up, and then you wont care if you have flies or not! BTW, I tried it with beer, and it doesn't seem to work quite as well. They must be of french heritage, not german.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Time Alone
Ahhhhh! Annika is off at preschool, Lauren is at school, Bill is at work, and I am home with no other committments! I finished off a load of laundry and now I am set to play at my computer. Notice I called it my computer - well I guess it is the family's, as the girls would say - to emphasise that it has to be shared - but I monopolize it! I have "given" the one downstairs to Bill :) so he can play Age of Empires. (insert sound effect here, trumpets blowing a small charge doo-do-dooo) So this little dude (referring to the computer) and his oh-so-wonderful high speed internet is my little connection to the real world. Who'd a thought that I would be so into a silly little box and screen. But, like I said, it is my connection with the rest of the world, and my creative outlet.
Well, time is almost up & I need to gather up my library books. Annika and I are going off to the library today. I actually do not have much to look for there. What an oddity! My love affair with paperback swap has supplied me with more than enough books to last well into the winter months! I believe that I have exhausted their solar system books for Annika. Maybe I should get a few easy reader books for Lauren now - the early chapter books are perfect for her veracious appite.
Well, I'll finish with a photo of a good memory. Bill and the girls at Grand Haven during the Kite Festivle. Excuse the finger in the photo ....
Its all about me, now.
I just couldnt have all the focus be on my family, husband and kids! I just had to shout out for MEEEE!
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