Moving + I feel like I'm falling for fall

Did I mention that we're moving?

Moving. Moving brings out, ummmmm... qualities. Probably not anybody's best qualities. At least, not anyone in my family's best qualities. There are a lot of awesome things about moving, though. The most awesome thing will be when it is done.

My time management skills are not that great, but they are evolving. They kind of have to.

I am trying to embrace my inner decorator. She is hiding under a shabby chair in the corner of my brain, but I am trying to coax her out. I am also leaning on super-smart, creative, and supportive friends who will help me pick paint colors and moldings and also remind me that it will all be over soon enough, except for the part that will probably be a work in progress for years to come, but that will be much more bearable once we're living in the new house. I think.

Anneliese is 8 months old, sort of crawling but only backwards, and sort of sitting up (both of my girls have taken a while to master this). She has the most hilarious giggle fits. She has two teeth and one on the way. She has serious separation anxiety, which is tough on both of us at times, but we'll get through it.

Nora is 4 years old, sort of sassy in a new and frustrating way, but still so kindhearted and loving that it makes my heart explode. She is reading paragraphs. She didn't want to write a single letter until she started her new school a couple of months ago, but now she is writing all kinds of stuff, which is especially neat since they didn't teach her that stuff at school, she just saw some of the other kids writing and decided she wanted to give it a shot. These days, when Nora gets angry, she is very dramatic. It's sort of hilarious, but I try not to let on that I think so. The other day she intercepted the American Girls catalog and she wants one of everything, but don't we all?

As always, the pose was her idea...

Tomorrow we hope to

• stop by the bank
• visit Sandy Springs Farmer's Market to pick up our meat CSA share and some veggies
• go to some builder's supply store that is supposedly cheaper than Lowe's or Ace (we'll see)
• pick up some moving boxes from a Freecycler (I hope!)
• work on the house while Nora watches movies and I wear Anneliese on my back (ummm, maybe!)
• attend the Candler Park Fall Festival (really doubt it but I can dream)

 Jason at the Candler Park Fall Fest his first fall in Atlanta, 2002

Happy fall weekend to you!

Rage against your animal friends.

I mentioned in a previous post that Nora enjoys stories about a made-up squirrel named Charles Squirrel. He's seriously like a member of our family. She has to have at least one Charles Squirrel story every night before bed, if not more. Usually Jason tells the story, but sometimes I do and sometimes Nora does. Charles Squirrel exists in the plane of semi-real, which is something I think is unique to kids Nora's age. I think on some level she knows the stories are just stories, but at the same time, she feels really warms towards the idea of a friendly, bumbling squirrel that lives in our back yard. We're moving soon, and she was really anxious about Charles until we told her he would move to the tree at our new house.

So this morning.

We have a mama cat and three kittens living under our porch. Real, actual cats, who are eating the real, actual good I bought them. I would like to get them some veterinary care, but so far I haven't been able to get close enough to even pet one of them.

This morning I looked out the window and saw a squirrel eating out of the cat food dish. When we were leaving for school, I said, "Nora, this morning I saw Charles Squirrel eating the cat food. For real!" (I for real saw a squirrel, and his name is Charles if I want him to be.)

Nora: Oh, no! I want to tell him not to do that.

Me: Okay.

Nora: (angrily and at the top of her lungs) CHARLES SQUIRREL, STOP EATING THE CAT FOOD! DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!"

 

Me: Wow, you were really loud. You sounded mad at Charles!

 

Nora: Well, Mom. I kind of was mad at him.

I hope after Charles's verbal smackdown, he still wants to come with us to the new house.

Menu Plan Monday Oct 4

I am way beyond tired, but menu planning is one of those things I have to find time to do, no matter how little time I have. If I don't make time for this, chaos ensues.

I have a few other blog posts cooking in my head right now that I hope I'll get to soon. Too bad cooking in my head doesn't equal typed and ready to post.

Some weeks I like to find most of my recipes on the internet. This week I curled up in bed with a bunch of my favorite cookbooks (and a few I had borrowed from the library) and found all of my recipes from books.

Without further adeiu:

Monday/Tues: Sliced, broiled ham with curried skillet cauliflower and collards (recipes from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (Better Homes & Gardens Plaid))

Weds/Thurs: Slow Cooker Sausage, White Bean, and Kale Soup (from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook)

Fri: BBQ burgers (with our grassfed beef!), recipe from  Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (Better Homes & Gardens Plaid); Basic Skillet Black Beans (Moosewood Restaurant New Classics)

Saturday: Huevos Rancheros (The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, Heavy-Duty Revised Edition)

Sunday: Italian Stuffed Portabellos (Moosewood Restaurant New Classics)

All of the above sounds very yummy. I like cooking, but I like picking out recipes even more. I would like it better if someone else would cook the recipes for me, like the world was a giant restaurant.

Once again, got the format from Orgjunkie.com. :) I am not an organizing junkie myself, but I'm trying to learn from those who are.

Menu Plan Monday Sept 20

I've temporarily sworn off Facebook and Twitter with the idea of increasing my productivity. I think it's working, but I can cut my internet apron strings completely. I find myself wasting time in other places, like blogs!

Since I had to take some time tonight to write our meal plan anyway, I thought I would share it here. I was inspired by the blogger at OrgJunkie. She lists her meals every week and encourages others to do the same. She provides pretty banners and everything. Whee!

I only have a few days planned. My parents are visiting next weekend and I'm not sure if I'll have time to cook. Plus, I'm that hostess--the one who usually ends up going out to eat several times over the course of the visit and never has enough bread to make toast for breakfast. For shame. We're not really toast eaters.

I was looking for recipes that were quick, easy, and nutritious. I wanted at least one crockpot recipe that would, I hope, last two nights in a row, since I have La Leche League on Tuesday night and a consignment sale pre-sale another night. We're always on a budget, and this week the only meat we have to work with is ground beef because that's what we have left from our CSA.

Monday: Taco Salad
Tuesday/Weds: Crockpot Quinoa Casserole
Thurs: Black Bean Salad with Jicama
Fri: Chili (from my America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, which I love because all the recipes have been tested a bunch of times and are basically fool-proof, and I find the depth of flavor in the seasoning to be very yummy)

Jason made the taco salad on Sunday night, so it should be all set to eat for dinner Monday. I should probably pick up the ingredients for corn bread to serve with the chili. I'm also planning to make applesauce and banana bread this week, the banana bread for my church's upcoming centennial celebration.

I enjoy cooking, but I'm not an experimental cook. It's just not my thing. But I do get a kick out of cookbooks and food blogs, and while there's never enough time to make everything yummy in this world, I get to make a lot of it.

The beginning of something beautiful

I mentioned the Dekalb Library in a recent post. Because I've been using it so much, I thought I would give it a little more love. There is a branch just a few blocks away from Nora's new preschool, and I have been going there often to use their wifi and check out books. Right now I am reading The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live. Tonight's dinner came from Joy of Cooking: All About Vegetarian. (I am trying out a new program where I link to Amazon in the blog and if you click over and buy, I get credit. But really, if you want to look at those books you could go to the library, like I've been doing!)

I have always been a library girl. I have fond memories of the Pensacola branch libraries that stretch back to when I was about Nora's age. My mom and grandmother took me to storytime at the tiny little Northeast Pensacola branch, which was then located in Belvedere Plaza, approximately where Firehouse Subs is located now. When I got a little older, my mom would sometimes drop me off at the Cordova branch (pre-Tryon) to browse while she did her shopping. One time she forgot to pick me up. Oops! When I was older, rebellious teenaged me went to the community college library to escape whatever was bothering me. I liked to look up literary criticism of my favorite contemporary novels and I liked to read decades-old magazines via microfiche. When I think about this now, I think, "See, even before widespread access to the internet, a dork will find a way."

September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. My library system held a contest for locals to design new library cards. Here are the winners. Aren't they cute?

In honor of NLCSUM (I don't know if they're really using that acronym) and because she's four and it's about time, I took Nora to get her own library card. We were in downtown Decatur for the Decatur Book Festival and Nora was sporting pajamas, which she wore in the Llama Llama Red Pajama parade earlier that morning.

If you live in DeKalb County, you can get one of the fancy new cards, too. It only costs $1 for the upgrade.

Happy reading!

One Man's Trash

I've never been much of a thrift store shopper. Over the years I've had several friends who have made thrifting into an enjoyable and sometimes even profitable hobby. I find myself in thrift stores once or twice a year, and one of two things usually happens. Either I'm all over the store, marveling at the bargains and buying up things I think I might use one day (which then take up residence in my small house indefinitely until I donate those items back to Goodwill or another charity) or I get overwhelmed by all the random stuff, convince myself I don't need anything, and buy nothing.

The thing is, thrift stores could be a great resource for my family if I just shop carefully. Buying things I don't need is a problem for me everywhere I shop. It's probably even more harmful at a place like Target where everything is full price. So I have started a list of things that I specifically want to look for at thrift stores. For example, I'd really like a hanging fruit basket. That's the kind of thing I would probably buy on an impulse for Target or Amazon Prime (which is horribly enabling of impulse shopping and designed to be that way, I'm sure). But right now I have some extra time in the mornings because I live too far away from Nora's school to go home. I'm going to look for that fruit basket at Good Will, Last Chance Thrift store, etc. I bet one will turn up soon enough!

In the meantime, I did make one impulse purchase at GoodWill that I think will turn out to be a great one. I found a Kitchenaid stand mixer for $17! I saw it sitting on the shelf and my heart skipped a beat. This model runs $250-$300 in stores. As I plugged it in to make sure it worked, other shoppers crowded around, poised to buy the mixer if I decided to pass it up. It works, but I'm pretty sure the motor needs servicing. I figure even if it needs a rather expensive repair, it will be a great bargain because they cost so much full price. I have been frustrated with my stand mixer for a while and fantasizing about a Kitchenaid, but I wasn't planning on getting one because we didn't gave the money and even if we did, I'm not sure I bake enough to justify the purchase. I'm pretty thrilled with this purchase, and now the hunt is on to find accessories. Mama needs a (inexpensive) dough hook. I'd say this mixer is, as they say, a thrift score.

Ten Things I'm Digging Right Now.

I won't call it a top ten, because that might imply some kind of coherence or actual ranking. But here are ten things that are on my "yes!" list right now.

1) Contigo travel mugs. Is it possible to love a travel mug? After hating so many, I'm fonder of this one than I expected I would be. This mug uses "autoseal" technology that makes it truly spillproof. It's so spillproof that I can actually put my coffee in my purse and it doesn't spill. This is a vast improvement over previous spillproof mugs that I've managed to spill in the upright position. I loved mine especially during the early days of breastfeeding when I wanted to have a drink on hand when I was sitting on the couch feeding the baby, (sometimes water or tea, not coffee) but my 3 year old and/or my cat was constantly knocking my cup on the ground.

2) My new baby-sitting co-op. I had heard wonders told about such things as baby-sitting co-ops, but they're not that easy to come by. For the longest time I didn't know anybody nearby who would be interested, plus, some people had their own set-ups with regular baby-sitters, nannies, or in-laws. Finally, though, a group of us with similar needs banded together and decided to start swapping sitting. I've sat for other families a few times now, and every time, their kids were asleep and I just played on the computer or watched a movie. I earned credit I can use for a few hours of sitting at my house one day. It's a win-win situation!

3) Composting. During our gardening adventure this year, we probably learned more about composting than we did about growing stuff. I'm not sure why we never did this before. Actually, I know why--we didn't know much about it and it sounded "complicated." I'm here to report that composting is very easy and quite worthwhile. We converted a trashcan into a compost bin. We have reduced our waste big time and, in theory, have some really nice, rich dirt. We're about to start planning our fall garden, so I hope we'll be able to use some of it! But even if we don't, I've learned that making the dirt isn't the point. We were throwing stuff into landfills (in our trash bags) and there was a simple and easy way to get rid of it here at home.

4) The library. Duh, right? I've been an enthusiastic library user since I was Nora's age, and I have used our DeKalb Library quite a bit over the years. I'm just particularly loving it right now. Sometimes I forget that it's a great source for nonfiction books, like cookbooks or gardening manuals.

5) Twitter. Twitter had been around for a couple of years before I caved and joined, and I used it for many months or maybe a year before it really started making sense for me. I like it because it's easy to read on my chosen wireless device, whereas Facebook is kind of a pain. Facebook is better for catching up with old friends and looking at pictures. Twitter is pithy. It can be mundane, but despite it's reputation I don't think it's actually more mundane than Facebook often is. One of the reasons I enjoy it so much is that I often follow random links and end up reading thought-provoking articles that I wouldn't have otherwise stumbled upon. When I post on Twitter, I don't worry as much about other people reading/responding, probably because they usually don't. My thoughts just float out into the ether, with no burden of being particularly important.

6) Snoballs. This love has been facilitated by the fact that there have been new snoball businesses that have popped up in both Decatur and Pensacola. Snoballs are shaved ice with flavored syrup dumped on top. My favorite flavor is cotton candy. I can't escape the fact that these are pretty horrible for me, health-wise, which is one reason I'm glad that school is starting back and I can finally break my habit. I have heard rhetoric arguing that a snoball is a "healthy treat," but I'm not buying it.

7) Amazon MP3. Amazon has hundreds of free songs available for download every month. It's a great way to hear new music in all genres. It also has a massive rotating selection of $5 album downloads. I stopped buying physical CDs a couple of years because I don't have a good place to store the jewel cases and I found I was listening to my Ipod more than I was listening to actual CDs. I also love the monthly sampler from Paste Magazine, which features all of my favorite types of music, but my subscription is on hold right now.

8) Flip Burger Boutique. Burgers are obviously the trendiest restaurant fare of 2010 with localvore restaurants coming in a close second. A marrying of the two? All the better. Most people I know adore Farm Burger, which I have tried and liked, but is not at the top of my list (yet). Flip Burger Boutique also features a grassfed burger, but it's menu is a little more gimmicky. I happen to like gimmicky burgers and wacky dipping sauces for fries, so Flip is right up my alley. The fries are the closest to my personal ideal I've seen at any of the restaurants I've been to lately, also I also give fry props to Leon's Full Service for their fries and sauces. Our family is going to attempt to swear off restaurants for a while, so I wish the above burger boutiques a fond farewell...for now. I'm sure I will be back in your loving arms soon, but I hope to return weighing less and with more money in the bank.

9) Bray Family Farms. We finally signed up for that meat CSA we've been talking about for a while. Our first pick-up is later this week. Since I haven't tried their meat yet, this is premature adoration. However, I have faith that the food will be delicious, we will learn a lot, and we will be glad that we are greatly reducing our consumption of factory-farmed meat. So, whoo-hoo. Bring it on!

10) These folks.

My sweet, loving husband; my two effervescent girlies, and myself. That's right: I dig myself. Photo credit goes to my amazing friend Dara, who takes pictures of lots of interesting things on the Gulf Coast and everywhere else she goes.