Been awhile...

and the tone might change a bit. Right now I'm sitting here while Mike and the kids are over having dinner with friends. I'm going out tonight to help other friends celebrate. I'm not really feeling like celebrating right now.

While I know this is my decision, and I feel it's the right one, and most days I really am okay, tonight I am not. I am worried about finding a job, going to school, finishing my homework this weekend, getting my car fixed...and on and on and on.

Right when I am fitting in, as the mom in a family, knowing other families, ones that include a husband, wife, kids....I go and become single again. I don't think I know any other single women, moms or not. The few unmarried ones have boyfriends...well, the one unmarried one. What'll I do with my free time on weeks I don't have the kids? I see a lot of movies in my future.

Hearing Mike talk about the things he's starting to look forward to solidify my decision, and my feeling that both of us will find bigger happiness apart than together becomes more concrete. I worry so much about how Kaia will react, but I know I need to show my kids that following what's in your heart is the only way to find happiness in this world. Mistakes will be made, and money might not always follow, but if you're following your dreams, you can't go wrong.

I must be true to myself in order to be true to those I love.

Everything you want to know about the kinds of friends I choose, this will tell you....

I asked one of my best friends, John, for his recipe for Green Bean Casserole for Thanksgiving this year. Instead of emailing me the recipe, which would be WAY too easy, he posted a blog about it. Here it is, in its entirety:

Enjoy

My friend Della wanted me to tell her my green bean casserole recipe and since I don't cook by recipe, I decided to do a virtual walk through of how I make green bean casserole.

First, try to figure out how many cans of green beans you will need. And yes, they have to be canned green beans. Frozen or fresh won't work for a number of reasons. I think a can of green beans will feed 2 people. I also smoke crack.

Next, go to the store and get green beans, durkee french fried onions in a can (usually near the green beans), milk, butter, check and see if they have any new beers, go through the international foods section to look for new ideas, check and see what new kinds of Ice Creams Dryers, Ben & Jerry's, and the rest have come up with. I like to browse around a lot when shopping. Don't forget to check the lottery totals when you check out, because what's a buck for a chance at anything over 100 million bucks? DO NOT look at any scratch tickets if they have them. Those things are freaking evil. So enticing and playful looking, but all they do is take your money and don't clean up afterwards, kind of like Bush/Cheney. Man, I hope that McCain can help clean up the Republican party. They should first perform an exorcism, which will hopefully get rid of Karl Rove and his acolytes. If the exorcism doesn't work, and big can of raid might just do the trick.

But, as usual, I digress...

Now that you have the ingredients (plus some lottery scratch tickets because GOD DAMMIT those marketing people for the lottery are good), let's get a cooking. First, if you are a woman, you need to start by taking off your clothes, put on an apron, take a very revealing picture, and then email it to me. Once you have that VERY IMPORTANT step completed, I'll email you the rest of this recipe.

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I wasn't kidding...

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All right, I was kidding.

I am in my head making a green bean casserole for 4-6 people, with hopefully some leftovers. First I take 3-4 tablespoons of better and melt it in a 12 inch or so skillet on medium heat. Once the butter starts to darken a bit, add in enough flour to make a wet paste of flour and butter. In my imaginary reconstruction, that is a couple of tablespoons of flour. The amounts aren't a big deal, the consistency of it is, and we are going for really wet paste. Now crank up the heat to medium high, and with a whisk, whisk it often to keep it from burning and or forming lumps.

This by the way is a roux, and is a basis for a lot of things, the most important is white sauce which is what we are making here for the green bean casserole.

Once you cook the roux to a golden/toasty/beige-ish brown, crank up the heat again to high for a minute, then start pouring in milk. I don't know if it matters what kind of milk you put in, but I'm guessing that like most things, the higher the fat content, the better the taste. I use skim because that's all we get and it still tastes good.

Anywho, this part is kind of tricky. You don't want the pan to cool down too much, so pour in a cup or two of milk then whisk everything around for 30-60 seconds. At first the roux will immediately soak up the milk and turn into a hard paste. Never fear my friends, it is not a radical religious extremist trap, it is the correct and natural process in transforming the roux into a white sauce. So pour in some milk, whisk for a bit, wait for things to heat back up, then repeat. Do this until you have a thin sauce. I kind of look for a consistency of malt-o-meal/cream of wheat. And like those two fine breakfast products, the sauce will set thicker as it cools.

That's the hard part of the green bean casserole. The biggest thing I have had to learn over the years with making it is "don't be a pussy with the heat". Most mistakes are made by not heating the pan enough at the end, or not keeping everything nice and hot, or not browning the roux sufficiently.

Now you have some room timing wise for how you put this together and what not. I usually layer in some green beans, then white sauce, then Durkee fried onions. Do that again, and if you are near the top of the pan stop just before you put the last layer of fried onions. You want to put that last layer of fried onion on right before you heat it up to serve. So, if you are doing this the next day, you would pop the casserole in the fridge till the next day. Then pop it out again when you are ready to heat it up, put on the fired onions, and throw it in the oven forceful so the casserole knows who exactly is boss. Then cook it (covered if possible, but it's not that big of a deal) at any temperature above 300 degrees, but less than 600 degrees. Keep checking it until it is warm in the center. If you were cooking it covered, uncover it and finish it off until the fried onions on top start to brown a bit.

And there you go, green bean casserole. So, some variations are to crisp up some bacon in the skillet and use the bacon grease instead of butter for the roux. This tastes good, but is really heavy. And I find that my taste buds overload on bacon pretty fast nowadays.

Another variation that I haven't tried, but I think would be awesome is to brown some onion in butter before you add the flour to the roux. That way you would get some more infusion of onion into the casserole and that can't be a bad thing right? I'm totally doing that this year.

See every year I have two dishes to make for Thanksgiving. Green bean casserole and pecan pie. Well, the last two years I've made Macadamia nut pie which is pecan pie with macadamia nuts instead of pecans.

Oh! I thought of another dish for my restaurant that I'll never open. Spaghetti and meat balls. I'll probably do something like ziti and meat balls, but you get the idea. I got a menu going now.

(John wanted me to add that if you feel inclined to send pictures in thanks for the recipe, please send them here: jadler23@msn.com. And yes, he's serious. and kidding. but serious.)

Hours of Fun

Mike and I taught Kaia how to play Monopoly today. Mike and Kaia played while I occasionally coached Kaia. We have the .com Special Edition, so instead of streets there are internet businesses like Yahoo! and such. Oh...not all of them are internet based, I guess...the railroads are replaced with Communications...something...Sprint, Nokia, AT&T, and ...one other one...

Anyway. It was a LONG game, but Kaia had fun - and she won! She did have help, but she played well. The hotels - I mean, the offices - you see below are hers, and the one right before Free Parking is the one that helped her win. Mike landed on it and didn't have the $950 to pay her rent, so he went bankrupt (almost all of his properties were already mortgaged).

Adventures In Cooking

Kaia and I started a blog together! We'll both be posting in it, and it'll detail our adventures while I'm teaching Kaia how to cook. We are cooking dinners together on Saturday nights, and whenever we get a chance (hard with Ben when Mike's not home!)

The first recipe will be made tomorrow night, when we attempt home made tortillas for our burritos! Posts will include recipes, pictures, and a little bit from each of us about the experience and meal. We're both really excited to both be cooking together, and writing about it together! Stop by and tell us what you think!

www.cookingwithkaia.blogspot.com

Buddha In June

I wanted to explain my new header, because I love what's in it but it's not completely clear what IS in it.

This is a Buddha garden that Kaia made in school. This is the Buddha sitting under a tree. (I think he gained enlightenment here? showing my lack of knowledge...)

Kaia learned about Buddha a couple weeks ago, and had a surprisingly clear memory of what they taught. I can't remember all of it, but parts of her explanation go as such:

"Buddha was a prince, and he was rich, but he hated to see so much suffering so he gave up all of his possessions."

"He sat under a tree like this (shows lotus position, or a 6 year old's idea of it) and was very still"

She actually remembered a lot more than that, but sadly, I do not.

Down With Consumerism! and such....

You may have noticed the little sign at the top of my page. I've been reading Crunchy Chicken's site for a few months now (click on Challenge Box to reach her site). I didn't join her Freeze Yer Buns challenge because I absolutely HATE to be cold, as those who know me know full well. (Though I have been making an effort to keep my thermostat down. It hasn't been above 70 the whole time since we moved at the beginning of January, and before that I used to keep it between 70 and 75)

But this is a challenge I need to join. I don't feel I've been going crazy, but I have bought quite a bit in the last few months. Most of it was and is needed, but I haven't been paying as close attention to my purchases and I should be. So this will help me do that. Here are the parts that are going to be hard, and how I'll (hopefully) solve them:

Clothes for Ben. He is growing out of all of his long sleeved stuff, but it isn't warm enough outside yet for short sleeves. However, one of the rules is that I can buy used if I really feel a need for something. So I will be going to Goodwill in the next few days to see what I can find. If I don't find anything, I'll look up other second hand stores in the area.

Various Kitchen Things I Still Want. Cloth napkins, Pyrex storage containers, new utensils. All of these things are on my mental list of things I really want, and actually will be useful. And yes, I am a snob, and don't want to buy these things at Goodwill. I realize that is illogical. I'm okay with that. So. Solution? Well, first, I do plan on getting these things. I am using this challenge primarily to force myself to start paying attention, and to start the habit of really noticing what I am buying. I know it may be cheating to simply wait until May to buy some of these things, but in that time I will be learning more about myself. Cloth napkins: we still have several rolls of paper towels, which isn't ideal, but will do. I actually will check Goodwill for cloth napkins, but I'm doubtful I will find something I want. Pyrex: I have plenty of glass jars that we've been using, and it will give me a month to see how few Pyrex containers we can get away with. I have one drawer set aside for them, and refuse to use more. New utensils. I am not being indulgent in wanting new utensils. The ones I have were cheap 7 years ago when we bought them. The handles fall off the useful ends constantly. But they still work, and will last another month, for sure.

Other than that, I think I can do it. Along with my new effort to spend around $100 a week on groceries, it should really help me get a grip on our finances for April, which is one of MY main goals for this challenge, though I realize it's supposed to be for other consumer-ish reasons. Along that line, it will help me too, for if I see anything during April that I want, I will know that if I REALLY want it, I will remember it in May. If the more likely event happens, and I forget all about it, it was severely unnecessary.

Wish me luck. And join me, if you wish! It's only a month, you can do it!

Just a Simple Wish

In an almost perfect world here is how my day would go. (in a perfect world, we'd have magic, so chores wouldn't need to be done.)


6am: Wake up cheerful and rested. Head to fitness center. Son remains blissfully asleep.

6:45: Come home, wake up daughter. Kiss husband on his way out the door, after handing him his lunch that I made the night before. Make one cup of coffee, which is a vice I do not wish to give up.

6:45-7: At some point during this time, son wakes up. I eat breakfast at table with daughter. She then begins to get ready for school. Bring son into bathroom and take quick yet invigorating shower.

7:15: Dress son in adorable, inexpensive and organic outfit (it's my dream world people, so organic isn't expensive!) Dress self in simple yet flattering, inexpensive, organic outfit.

7:30: Unload dishwasher (loaded and started the night before). Start a load of laundry. Pick up any clutter that wasn't gotten to the day before (my almost perfect world allows for a little imperfection).

8:00: Take daughter's lunch, made the night before, out of refrigerator. Gather clean and shining children. Take daughter to school.

8:15: Drop daughter off at school. Run any errands that need done- grocery shopping, etc.

9:30 or so: Go home and put son down for nap. Continue with laundry. Vacuum. Do any household chores that need done.

11:15 or so: Son wakes up from nap. Play with son, maybe go for a short walk. Eat lunch.

12:15: Go to pick up daughter from school. Stay with her while she plays on playground with friends. Chat with other parents.

1:30pm: Go home. Prepare snack for children and self.

afternoon spent with children, playing, etc. Son has another nap at some point. Possibly go to fun event.

4:30: Start delicious dinner which was planned ahead of time.

5:20: Welcome husband home with a kiss. Serve dinner.

6:00: Put away left over dinner, clean kitchen, start dishwasher.

6:30: Spend some time with family.

6:45: Give children baths. Daughter then gets ready for bed.

7:15: Read with kids. Husband then sings with kids. Put both kids to bed.

7:30: Make lunches for husband and daughter for next day. Finish cleaning kitchen if not done.

7:45: Spend time with husband. Spend some time alone.

9:00: Go to sleep. Sleep all night. Begin again.



See? I don't ask for much. Just a regular schedule that I can follow each day. I just need the energy to actually do it, and the co-operation of my son. oh yes, obviously several times during the day I'd be feeding him. I realize however that that can't be scheduled.

whoops, son is awake. I will post later how I plan to slowly start putting this plan into action!

Yay Me!

I did it! Well, the first step anyway. sort of.

I planned dinners for the next 7 days, then made up a list. I wrote a few days ago that I am giving myself $100 a week for groceries. I'm not going to add it up as I go, but if I have extra after shopping, then I can go to the store again that week.

So we headed out to Trader Joe's this morning, clutching the list in my hand.

I did get a few extras- blueberries, babybel cheeses, and something else I can't remember. Also, I forgot pears, pineapple, and tomatoes, so need to go tonight and only get those three things.

and my total? $104!! I'm excited. This just might work.

gotta go, Ben's mad.

In Which I Make Yet Another Plan

Did you notice my list on the left?! It's not in it's own post so that I'll remember to actually DO it! I got the idea from Zoot and took a few of the ideas from her list and others I read. Most of them I thought up on my own. Here is what it is....

The Mission:Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days? Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year's resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Start Date: March 5th, 2007
End Date: December 1st, 2010

1001 days
143 weeks
33 months

Anyone who wants to join me (with or without blogging about it), I'd love to see your lists! I'll be blogging about each task after it's finished.

In Which I Share Some Awesome News

While looking up Trader Joe's, I came across a farm in the area that does CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscriptions. This article from eatthestate.org says it best (if you don't' feel like reading the whole article, read the words in red for a quick summary):

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Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a growing movement

which provides people with the means to regain control over the

origin and handling of their food. It simplifies the long chain of

events that brings food from our modern agricultural system to

the consumer--events that decrease the food's nutritional value,

contaminate it with chemicals, and pad the pockets of middlemen.
Based on the principle that the consumer and the farmer should

know each other, CSA has been practiced in Europe and Japan

for 30 years and came to the U.S. in 1985. There are an estimated

400 to 600 CSA farms across the U.S. People become a part of a

CSA project by paying in advance to support a farm for a season.

In return, the shareholders receive one share of whatever the

farm has ready to harvest each week of a 20 week growing season.
Farmers agree to meet the production goals to the best of their

ability and the members agree to pay the costs of production,

regardless of the actual harvest. The advantage to the consumer

is that the CSA farm provides you with high quality, super-fresh

organic produce which is impossible to find in the supermarket.

CSA also gives non-farmers a chance to get more involved in

producing and distributing their own food. Farms sponsor tours,

workdays, and harvest festivals to bring shareholders out to the

farm. CSA farms also often ask shareholders to help deliver shares,

sponsor drop-off sites, manage shareholder lists, write newsletters, etc.

Shareholders learn how a farm works, discover the relationship

between growing food and the environment, and see the true

costs of food production. By sharing the risks as well as the

benefits and responsibilities, interdependence between the

consumer and the farmer is restored. CSA farmers are freed

from the time constraints of marketing their produce, because

they already have a guaranteed distribution network.
Typically, a farmer takes out loans at the beginning of the

growing season to purchase seed, fertilizer, herbicides and

pesticides, and to pay crop insurance premiums in case a crop f

ails. A high proportion of a farmer's earnings goes to pay

interest on debt. On a CSA farm there is no need for any of this.

The farmer gets money up front from the shareholders, allowing

the farmer to focus on raising crops. In addition, small farming

methods (such as companion planting) eliminates the need for

pesticides, herbicides, and highly specialized heavy equipment.

No marketing expense, no hassle, no middlemen and the

opportunity to focus on what the farmer does best: grow food.
While spending money for vegetables that are not even planted

yet may be difficult for some, membership is generally a

bargain in the long run. CSA saves shareholders 30% to 50%

over purchasing organic food in a supermarket. Each week

during the harvest season, members receive an interesting

variety of the freshest possible produce. Since most CSA

farms use organic growing techniques, members' concerns

over chemical residues is alleviated. In all operations, pest

control, tillage, and fertilization are viewed according to their

effect on the environment. The land is treated with the respect it deserves.

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The farm I am interested in doing this through is organic, so no pesticides are used. Also, they have eggs and chickens available for purchase from free range humanely treated chickens, which is awesome. We are starting with the summer share program, which will be $27 a week (paid ahead of time) for a small share of veggies and fruit. Here is an example vegetable share:

1 head Cauliflower

1 pound Green Beans

1 pound Tomatoes

1 bunch Carrots

1 bunch Sweet Onions

& Choice of 4 Items:

Cucumbers, Peppers, Basil, Summer Squash, Dill, Lettuce, Beets, Swiss Chard, Radicchio, Purslane, Squash Blossoms

That's a WEEK'S share. That alone is worth the $17 that is the veggie portion of the cost.

BUT!!! and this is totally exciting to me, subscribers get FREE cut flowers(!!!!) each week, UNLIMITED U-pick peas and beans, and a free pumpkin in October! SO TOTALLY worth less than twenty dollars a week. Going directly to the farm means we get to substitute items if we wish, can buy fresh eggs, and see where our food is coming from! This is important to me, that Kaia sees the whole cycle, and gains an appreciation for fresh, healthy food.

Another benefit, though not a direct one to us, is that we are supporting a local farm. This means less environmental damage, which as you know, I am working toward. Buying local, in season food means you aren't supporting genetic engineering, and (this is direct) your food TASTES BETTER. It gets to you faster, MUCH fresher, and is grown and harvested in it's natural cycle. Also, you aren't paying for shipping the food across several states, which costs money, time, and pollution! ok, stepping off my soapbox.

I am totally excited about this, can you tell?

In Which I Show Off My New Sling (Kind of)

So I've been trying to figure out what kind of baby carrier I wanted to get. The Snugli which I adored throughout Kaia's babyhood was simply not working for Ben. I looked at the Moby Wrap, and the Baby Hawk Mei Tai, and then found the Slingling. (Feel free to look up any of these if you want to see what they are. I don't have time to link to them.) I was this close to getting a Baby Hawk Mei Tai, when I decided to get a Slingling. Why, specifically, I don't know, but I did. We ordered one for Mike in his size too. Today I got them, and tried mine on. I so far really like it! It frees up my hands, and unlike the Mei Tai, if Ben falls asleep, I can finagle him sideways and he can just sleep in there while I continue to work. When he's a bit older, he can be on my back in it, and right now he can be on my hip or front. It distributes the weight much better than the Snugli does. I can't wait to try it out while we are out and about!

My head is cut off at the top because Kaia took the picture and doesn't yet know how to turn the camera. I do have my hands on him in the picture, but they don't need to be. He's quite secure in there without holding him!

Now you are asking yourself, where's the picture? Well, I just noticed it showed an unflattering view of my stomach, so need to retake one. Please check back at another time. Thanks!

Ugli!

Kaia has been asking for an UgliFruit every time we go to the store, so I decided it was time to try one....

This is actually one of the prettier specimens.

Peeling it was hard, I needed a knife to start me out... but after the first cut, the peel came off really easily, revealing quite a pretty little citrus!

Kaia insisted I be in some of the pictures, so here I am showing off the peeled fruit in all it's unassuming glory.

and it's sampled! Conclusion?

"It's weird." (She ate about a quarter of it)

My take on it was that they taste like a very bland orange. I don't think we'll be purchasing these again. But it was cool to try something new!

first project

Yesterday I went over to Natasha's so I could learn how to do wet felting, which can be used to make kids toys. We decided to start with a rattle, though she usually starts students out with a ball, since Ben is at the perfect age for a rattle. Here is our finished product, quite cool if I do say so myself! Ben LOVES it, it seems that wool is comfy to hold and gnaw on!

happy valentine's day to me, from my son

I had a great past week, but don't really have a bunch of time to write about it. I also have some sweet pictures, but will post them later. I wish, however, to just say the following:

Ben gives kisses. The open mouth, drool-filled style of kisses, of course, but kisses. I know they are kisses and not his usual put-his-mouth-on-anything-and attempt-to-eat-it because he doesn't attempt to eat your cheek. He just puts his mouth on it then pulls away. It's very, very, sweet. and wet. but that's ok with me.

Sunday Morning

Ben rolled over from his back to his front this morning! I didn't get to see, he did it in the bedroom with Mike...kinda nice, actually, that Mike got to see a first, since I will get to see most of them.

We have a couple plans today--going on a play date with someone from the moms' group, then to a birthday party for one of the girls in Kaia's class. Mike is staying here to get some down time and possibly to clean a bit.

Next week is very busy, more on that later!

okay, this is odd...

so all my life I have professed a HATRED of nuts...almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, eww! I get mad (not really) when people call peanuts "nuts" because, well, they AREN'T. They are legumes. So I can like them.

BUT. Recently, a friend of Kaia's gave her some hazelnuts (also called filberts). She asked me to buy some to put in her lunches, so, gagging, I did. She ate them all, we bought more. Repeat. Twice.

Then, tonight, she gave me a small handful....so sweetly did she hand them to me, with love, that I felt it would be mean to decline...so I held my breath and tossed them in my mouth, trying to chew quickly.

AND. I LOVE THEM!!! my god, hazelnuts, where have you been all my life?!! you tasty, scrumptious little things!!!

I have had way too many since that small handful. and I am certain I will need to buy more soon. Like tomorrow.

and how awesome is it that they are so good AND good for me too?!

very. that's how awesome. very very VERY.

update on valentine project!

This is for the mom who commented below, asking if I had gotten any ideas for homemade valentines yet--

I am taking my friend Tania's idea- she sent me an email instead of commenting on here.

My aunt brought over a bunch of scrapbook style paper for us to choose from and we are making bookmarks for the kids in her class. I will be posting pictures when we are done, but we are doing something pretty basic. There will be three hearts in a row, with the middle one the biggest. The middle one will say "Happy Valentine's Day". Then in the top and bottom hearts will be two more hearts, the top one will say "To: Various Child" the bottom one will say "From Kaia". Then we'll string a ribbon through the top and tie a knot!

I'm having Kaia do most of the work, though it's hard for me not to try to do it myself so that it's "neater". She is very proud of her crookedly cut out hearts, as she should be, and is really looking forward to handing them out. She is also doing all the writing. I am tracing the hearts for her to cut, cutting out the base of the bookmark, and tying on the ribbon. She is cutting, writing, and gluing. Like I said, I'll post pictures of the final product!

Thank you Aunt Carol, for the beautiful paper, and Tania, for the wonderful idea!
(and hey, Anonymous Waldorf Mom who wrote- let me know what you decided to do!)

In Which I Show A More Pathetic Side

On the sign up sheet table today was the festival/celebration list for Kaia's school. I idly glanced over it and saw this:

Valentine's Day- Please bring homemade valentines for everyone in the class. Give yourself two weeks to prepare.

ummm..... Hmm. I think (I am assuming they will give us a list soon?!) there are about 12 kids in her class. Which is better than my first thought, remembering that in her last class there were 25. So...12 homemade valentines. I can do that, I know I can. (well, Kaia and I can. Mostly Kaia, if I can keep my hands off) But does anyone have any cool ideas for us? For an All Natural, All The Time sort of valentine? (and how wrong is it that I did an Elmo reference that probably only Kathy will get for a subject in a school that promotes no TV watching? and, Kathy, you do get it right?! I'm not being too obscure?!) ANYWAY. Any ideas? I KNOW I shouldn't be worrying about what the other parents will think, but this is our first project that will be taken to school, and then home to each of the kids' houses...and I have NO IDEA what they expect from it. NO IDEA what the other kids' valentines will look like. So what I want is a valentine that I will be proud of, but doesn't scream "look how all natural and all Waldorf we can be!" cause I don't WANT to buy into the whole competitive bit...

SO. In short (HA!) I want an idea for valentines that would be something I would do normally (on a more creative day), that shows our own personalities (yet I'm asking YOU for suggestions, yes I am pathetic), that doesn't look too overly thought out or trying to hard to impress and that's CHEAP TO DO.

so, yeah. feel free to laugh at me, but then give me something, ok?

Trying to be a Social Animal.

Hello! I know I've been a bit lax in posting, it's amazing how busy I am even though I have nothing to do but raise kids.....

This morning the kids and I went to another Meetup (meetup.com is very cool) event for one of the groups for moms I joined. It was at one of their houses, and was a lot of fun. Kaia was the oldest, and Ben was the youngest! Most of the kids were 1-3 years old. Kaia was so sweet, having to put up with several little kids constantly taking whatever she was playing with. She got upset at first, but learned quickly to just move on to something else. The other moms did try to monitor it, but it was just something she was going to have to deal with, since she was so much older than they were, and they were many.

The women were really nice, but my real goal with these groups is to find one or two women that I really hit it off with. I don't like not having friends close by! Tania is busy with something I haven't posted about because she hasn't made it public knowledge yet, so she isn't able to come up to visit yet....though I plan to go to her SOON. Kathy of course is now even FARTHER away than she was....and Andrea is back "home". I wonder when this will be "home"? I am happy here, and doing well, but I am ready to be done with the transition period.

Maggie and Josh, the two people we visited last week, are coming next Saturday with their son Ben. I really like Maggie, and have cautious hopes. I've never moved somewhere (as an adult) where I didn't already have friends, and I am a bit lonely. My aunt and uncle live close, but they of course are very busy with their own things....have to remember to invite them over soon though!

Gotta get going, we are walking to the store for a couple things! It's bright and sunny out today!

Finally Back Online!

The move went well. Some setbacks and things not going completely to plan, but overall it went smoothly. The drive here was a bit harrowing (whoever is in control of the lines on the road, the Snoqualmie Pass needs your attention pronto.)

I meant to do this before, so that I could write a more detailed post about the move, but didn't, and now it is a bit of a blur. OH! Found an EXCELLENT Thai restaurant within WALKING distance of our apartment! Oh so yummy food, and Kaia found a new dish she likes—garlic prawns!

Kaia started her new school Monday, and LOVES it!! She is going from first grade, and having to sit at a desk most of the day doing paperwork, to kindergarten (she is in a Waldorf School, they do things a bit differently) where she is moving and singing and playing all day. Needless to say, she prefers this one! Her favorite part so far is playing in the woods behind the school climbing trees!

Mike is enjoying work, though feeling at loose ends a bit after the grueling timetable of full time school. He has decided to ride the bus to and from work each day, as it is MUCH cheaper than the parking pass, and takes about the same amount of time. He leaves at 6:45 to get to work an hour later, and leaves work at 4:30, taking the same amount of time to get home. This, for me, is one reason that I don’t want him to stay there forever. He likes the people he works with, and thinks that once they let him start coding, he’ll have a good time at work!

My schedule is this: I get up at 6:30 and make coffee for me and tea for Mike and feed Ben. If I can (meaning if Ben will play in his jumper!), I empty the dishwasher. I wake Kaia up at 7, and we eat breakfast together. Then we get dressed and ready to go. It’s been very easy going in the mornings and we have not been rushed or stressed. We leave here about 5 minutes to 8, and it takes about 20 minutes to get to her school. Then I come back home and do some chores, again if Ben lets me! At noon I leave to pick Kaia up, and we do any errands we need to do. Today we went to the library, a weekly habit we want to get into and Kaia got her own library card…she’s quite proud of it, it was hard for her to keep it in her pocket! She got two books and I got five….almost done with the first one already, and I only read while nursing Ben! We have a relaxing afternoon with some cleaning, some reading, some cuddling, and whatever else we want to do! I like it.

I love having Mike free to spend time with us at night. I love having Kaia go to this school. I love having just Ben in the mornings and Kaia home in the afternoons.

I am quite happy.