This hootenanny was a rousing success! It was a lot of fun. The spread of food was truly amazing and I am once again firmly devoted to the notion that potlucks are not meant to be organized. I only wish I have a photo of the food. Three long groaning tables of deliciousness. I was too nervous and fluttery at the beginning to sit down and properly enjoy a plate of food and oh how I regret it!!!
The music was wonderful as well. I was blessed with the presence of many of my musician friends who were very welcoming to the young musicians joining the circle. We played late into the night on the deck under the stars.
I have a few ideas on how I will structure things a little differently next year but I am very pleased with how it turned out.
Send me a little note at fiddlemama AT gmail DOT com (you know how to do it- trying to avoid the spamola) if you'd like to see some pictures.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Moon
Almost an entire moon has past me by since my last post and I really don't want to let that happen again. In the meantime, the yoga class I mentioned in my last post has ended and we joyfully signed up for the fall session which begins after Labor Day. We have been having a really wonderful and relaxed summer. This week especially has been nice. We had a lovely library and park play date with our dear friends who have been traveling (you know who you are) and we are all three so happy to see the three of them again. It has been really oppressively hot off and on and we've been coming up with inside activities. Liam got a mini pack of generic Play-Doh at a birthday party and we already had some great hand-me-down Play-Doh tools so that's been a particular favorite. One of these days I'll remember to google some easy, nontoxic, cheap homemade Play-Doh recipes but until then we'll be taking our chances with the free, disturbingly flourescent lumps of moldable fun.
We're hosting a hootenanny this weekend so I'm equal parts fussing and delighting at the thought. It will also be a potluck which should be easy but I've never hosted one for that many people so I am freaking out a little on the inside. I guess it's leaking a little to the outside also. I have the place booked and 10 gallon thermoses reserved for water, iced tea, and lemonade. I found compostable plates and forks and recyclable tumblers for people who don't have reusable picnicware. I have no idea what I'm making (eek!) but I had a very good tip to provide a couple of loaves of good bread, jam, butter, honey, and maybe a nut butter for picky eaters as well as ordering a couple of those big square cut cheese pizzas to fill in the gaps if we end up with 32 plates of chocolate chip cookies and a bowl of grapes.
Does anyone have any tips on how to go about making vast quantities of lemonade and iced tea? Or maybe I'm overthinking it a little- multiply regular recipe by awholelotmore and that's all it takes?
And then there's other tiny but nevertheless panic-inducing things like- do I rent serving spoons? Tablecloths? I'm just not going to begin to think about decorating. That is so not my area and I don't have the budget for it anyway. Am I wrong or is piles of food plus hours of awesome music a sufficient recipe for fun or does there in fact need to be crepe paper involved? We'll call it minimalist environmentally friendly decor, how's that? The place we rented is really cool.
Remember those books? Those books I've been promising to review? Well, my friends. It turns out that I'm not really much of a book reviewing kind of gal. I will give you the briefest of synopses though, since I know I've just kept you hanging, clicking and reclicking my blog address for weeks on end.
Okay, here we go.
1. Frugal Raw! by Mattye Lee Thompson. Awesome book. If you have any interest at all in raw foods, this is a great resource. She is very down to earth about the reality of financing a healthy diet and is a very creative cook. It turns out that I'm not too crazy about the e-book method of reading things because, although it has its considerable environmental benefits, it's kind of annoying for a girl who likes to splatter her cookbooks or at the very least, not have to remember to charge their batteries in order to bring them into the kitchen. I can't emphasize enough, though, what a really wonderful book this is.
2. Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano. I checked this out from the library and, while I thought there were some really good tips and resources among the pages, I kept cringing at the overall attitude that I picked up from the book. The bottom line as I read it seemed to be that you can go green and also be hip and shiny and perfect looking and scoff at the hippies with their dirty canvas bags. Lots of good information though and I definitely get the feeling that the author is a kind and caring individual but that perhaps the publishing bigwigs encouraged this "scorn and belittle the hippies" attitude.
3. Heaven on Earth; A Handbook for Parents of Young Children by Sharifa Oppenheimer. Happy sigh. This was a lovely book. I checked it out from the library and I'll definitely be buying it as soon as I can scrape the pennies together. It comes from the Waldorf tradition and is rich in suggestions, routines, and ideas. I love this book and plan to buy it as a gift for my 'new mama' friends along with Amanda Blake Soule's gorgeous book The Creative Family.
4. Mommy Teach Me by Barbara Curtis Okay, internet. I'm ready to say it out loud. I'm not planning to send my kids to preschool. *Gasp* Whaaat? FiddleMama- wasn't one of your most beloved occupations that of preschool teacher? Yes, yes, it was indeed. But here's the facts. There are very few preschool programs in our area that aren't merely daycare. I am not belittling daycare. My oldest went to daycare because I believed it to be my only option at the time. But I have the luxury of having my children home with me so I'm not in need of a daycare program. The programs here that are true preschools are either too expensive, too far away (gas? gulp!), or too inflexible in their schedule. What was I talking about? Right, the book. I am definitely buying this book too because Ms. Curtis is a mother of 12 and former Montessori teacher with loads of practical and gentle ideas for providing learning experiences for young children. But what about socialization? That's what extracurricular classes, play dates, and siblings are for!
Hey- the next time I see you here, remind me to tell you about this wacky thing we're doing for the month of August that involves not spending any money other than for bills and groceries. 6 days down!
We're hosting a hootenanny this weekend so I'm equal parts fussing and delighting at the thought. It will also be a potluck which should be easy but I've never hosted one for that many people so I am freaking out a little on the inside. I guess it's leaking a little to the outside also. I have the place booked and 10 gallon thermoses reserved for water, iced tea, and lemonade. I found compostable plates and forks and recyclable tumblers for people who don't have reusable picnicware. I have no idea what I'm making (eek!) but I had a very good tip to provide a couple of loaves of good bread, jam, butter, honey, and maybe a nut butter for picky eaters as well as ordering a couple of those big square cut cheese pizzas to fill in the gaps if we end up with 32 plates of chocolate chip cookies and a bowl of grapes.
Does anyone have any tips on how to go about making vast quantities of lemonade and iced tea? Or maybe I'm overthinking it a little- multiply regular recipe by awholelotmore and that's all it takes?
And then there's other tiny but nevertheless panic-inducing things like- do I rent serving spoons? Tablecloths? I'm just not going to begin to think about decorating. That is so not my area and I don't have the budget for it anyway. Am I wrong or is piles of food plus hours of awesome music a sufficient recipe for fun or does there in fact need to be crepe paper involved? We'll call it minimalist environmentally friendly decor, how's that? The place we rented is really cool.
Remember those books? Those books I've been promising to review? Well, my friends. It turns out that I'm not really much of a book reviewing kind of gal. I will give you the briefest of synopses though, since I know I've just kept you hanging, clicking and reclicking my blog address for weeks on end.
Okay, here we go.
1. Frugal Raw! by Mattye Lee Thompson. Awesome book. If you have any interest at all in raw foods, this is a great resource. She is very down to earth about the reality of financing a healthy diet and is a very creative cook. It turns out that I'm not too crazy about the e-book method of reading things because, although it has its considerable environmental benefits, it's kind of annoying for a girl who likes to splatter her cookbooks or at the very least, not have to remember to charge their batteries in order to bring them into the kitchen. I can't emphasize enough, though, what a really wonderful book this is.
2. Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano. I checked this out from the library and, while I thought there were some really good tips and resources among the pages, I kept cringing at the overall attitude that I picked up from the book. The bottom line as I read it seemed to be that you can go green and also be hip and shiny and perfect looking and scoff at the hippies with their dirty canvas bags. Lots of good information though and I definitely get the feeling that the author is a kind and caring individual but that perhaps the publishing bigwigs encouraged this "scorn and belittle the hippies" attitude.
3. Heaven on Earth; A Handbook for Parents of Young Children by Sharifa Oppenheimer. Happy sigh. This was a lovely book. I checked it out from the library and I'll definitely be buying it as soon as I can scrape the pennies together. It comes from the Waldorf tradition and is rich in suggestions, routines, and ideas. I love this book and plan to buy it as a gift for my 'new mama' friends along with Amanda Blake Soule's gorgeous book The Creative Family.
4. Mommy Teach Me by Barbara Curtis Okay, internet. I'm ready to say it out loud. I'm not planning to send my kids to preschool. *Gasp* Whaaat? FiddleMama- wasn't one of your most beloved occupations that of preschool teacher? Yes, yes, it was indeed. But here's the facts. There are very few preschool programs in our area that aren't merely daycare. I am not belittling daycare. My oldest went to daycare because I believed it to be my only option at the time. But I have the luxury of having my children home with me so I'm not in need of a daycare program. The programs here that are true preschools are either too expensive, too far away (gas? gulp!), or too inflexible in their schedule. What was I talking about? Right, the book. I am definitely buying this book too because Ms. Curtis is a mother of 12 and former Montessori teacher with loads of practical and gentle ideas for providing learning experiences for young children. But what about socialization? That's what extracurricular classes, play dates, and siblings are for!
Hey- the next time I see you here, remind me to tell you about this wacky thing we're doing for the month of August that involves not spending any money other than for bills and groceries. 6 days down!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Yoga
No, I haven't rustled up those book reviews yet, but I have a few minutes while they're both sleeping and I don't want to forget what happened this morning because it was pure joy. Liam and Atticus and I attended our first day of yoga together. Well, it wasn't my first yoga class (although it has been a while...too long, in fact!) and it wasn't really theirs either since we went to the introductory free class when it was being offered a few weeks ago but that time we had Yossie with us so I wasn't at all sure how it was going to go today with one mama and two squirrelly boys.
It was delightful! They both did their fair share of wiggling off in opposite directions and extremely loud stage whispering (or in Atticus' case, loud babbling) while the teacher was talking but all things considered, I think it went really really well and I can see us continuing indefinitely. Liam calls it you-ga. "Remember you-ga, Mama? I stretched with the kids!"
"Inhale, exhale, life is grand!"
It was delightful! They both did their fair share of wiggling off in opposite directions and extremely loud stage whispering (or in Atticus' case, loud babbling) while the teacher was talking but all things considered, I think it went really really well and I can see us continuing indefinitely. Liam calls it you-ga. "Remember you-ga, Mama? I stretched with the kids!"
"Inhale, exhale, life is grand!"
Sunday, July 6, 2008
¿Dónde?
Where in the world is FiddleMama?
Mostly I've been scrambling after my kiddos. Atticus is a very active and determined little guy who is thisclose to walking and I'm finding it a lot more difficult to get to the computer these days.
There's been plenty of swimming, napping, strolling, and family time this summer.
Our community is really coming together to support the flood survivors. We were thankfully unaffected but we know several people who are suffering.
I have three books that I want to review sometime in the next week or so: Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano, Heaven on Earth; A Handbook for Parents of Young Children by Sharifa Oppenheimer, and...arg...I can't find the other one at the moment. It's about homeschooling your preschooler and it's written by a former Montessori teacher and mother of...wait for it...TWELVE! She automatically has my respect just based on those credentials but I also really like what she has to say about educating young children.
So that's what I have up my sleeve. I'm still here! Don't you (duh dut du dum) forget about me. Don't don't don't don't....
Mostly I've been scrambling after my kiddos. Atticus is a very active and determined little guy who is thisclose to walking and I'm finding it a lot more difficult to get to the computer these days.
There's been plenty of swimming, napping, strolling, and family time this summer.
Our community is really coming together to support the flood survivors. We were thankfully unaffected but we know several people who are suffering.
I have three books that I want to review sometime in the next week or so: Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano, Heaven on Earth; A Handbook for Parents of Young Children by Sharifa Oppenheimer, and...arg...I can't find the other one at the moment. It's about homeschooling your preschooler and it's written by a former Montessori teacher and mother of...wait for it...TWELVE! She automatically has my respect just based on those credentials but I also really like what she has to say about educating young children.
So that's what I have up my sleeve. I'm still here! Don't you (duh dut du dum) forget about me. Don't don't don't don't....
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Flood
Please pray for Iowa and all the surrounding areas affected by this flood. It is absolutely devastating for our community. We live on a bit of a hill so our home might make it but we fled to my in-law's because it was getting increasingly more difficult to get in and out. It took us twice as long to get here because many of the highways and main roads were closed but I'm glad we got out while we still could. We don't know when we'll return, hopefully by the end of next week. The water is still coming, it's supposed to crest on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Some perspective for you.
I'm grateful that we're not in the thick of it watching the waters rise around us but it's really hard not knowing what's going on. I just watched some footage on youtube of someone canoeing into their home and I realized it was a friend from where I used to work. They are the third family that I personally know who has lost their home and I know there are many more that I haven't yet heard about. Not to mention that the worst is still to come.
Some perspective for you.
I'm grateful that we're not in the thick of it watching the waters rise around us but it's really hard not knowing what's going on. I just watched some footage on youtube of someone canoeing into their home and I realized it was a friend from where I used to work. They are the third family that I personally know who has lost their home and I know there are many more that I haven't yet heard about. Not to mention that the worst is still to come.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Awake
I've been spoiled for the last three years or so what with nursing and being pregnant, Yossie just lets me sleep in as long as possible. This has been great for me in some ways, very healing. I've been getting up just in time to get myself put together before he goes to work. The last week or so, I've been getting up at 6 and getting a few things done before everyone is bustling about. Man does that ever make a difference in my day! I think I need to adopt this routine, however reluctant I might be to committing to it.
What time do you get up in the morning? Will you tell me about your morning routine?
What time do you get up in the morning? Will you tell me about your morning routine?
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Avoidance
I have been studiously avoiding updating my blog. I can't even exactly put my finger on why I'm doing this. Part of me is wondering if maybe I'm done with the blogging and I can't face putting it out of its misery so I'm starving the poor dear to death. Every time I think about being done with it, though, that doesn't seem like the answer either. It's just really difficult right now to find the time.
When we were expecting Atticus and Liam was just newly walking, many people tempered their congratulations with a wry "you're gonna have your hands full!" I would smile and think to myself "I'll show you." For a while, I really felt like I was managing to 'show them', whatever that means. Having two didn't seem all that much harder or different than having one. Yossie didn't have that experience. He felt the impact of Two immediately and I was perplexed by his reaction. Now I am truly feeling it though. It is hard. It's wonderful and amazing also, please don't get me wrong. But it's exhausting and difficult too.
I'm not going to abandon the blog. It's been a great tool for me and I've met some really cool people through it as well. I just need to be realistic about what I can handle right now.
In the food department, (are there other departments? I'm not sure.) a few things have changed and many have stayed the same. We love our green smoothies. We eat a lot of raw fruits and veggies. Maybe there are some lower middle class families who can afford to buy all organic food in this economy ($3.83/gallon as of yesterday), but I have to excuse us from that list for the time being. I've been lucking out with the bananas lately. I can find organic, fair trade bananas for 49 cents a pound at the co-op in the 'over ripe' box if I manage to hit upon the right day to shop there. It seems to be a different day each week so it's unpredictable but some weeks I manage it. Otherwise they're more than twice as much money. I've been going to Aldi for some of our food and that has helped some. I don't mind buying the thick-skinned fruits there since I'm just going to peel them anyway. I also bought a bag of Red Delicious apples there. Normally apples are something I reserve to come out of the organic fund but these I planned to turn them into applesauce so I just washed them well, cut them up and stewed them, then slipped off the peel and blended them in the Vitamix. I added a banana also for sweetness. It's not the most beautiful applesauce you've ever seen, kind of a brown sugar color, but Atticus likes it and that was kind of the whole idea anyway. Other Aldi purchases: avocados, blue corn tortilla chips, watermelon, cans of beans, trail mix for Yossie, a bag of Yukon gold potatoes (we do still love our hash browns on occasion), and some frozen vegetables. The savings is undeniable. You do sacrifice taste and probably some health as well when you buy produce that isn't organic.
Thankfully, our CSA boxes are here! We paid for them in April so it feels like free food now. This week we got lettuce, asparagus, spring garlic, bok choy, and a little spinach. We munched a few spinach leaves straight from the box and remarked how much more flavor comes from spinach fresh from the garden. There should be plenty more as the season unfolds.
In other news, my boys are getting so big! Atticus can say 'mama' and 'dada' and he can sign 'more' and 'milk'. Liam chatters all the live long day and is a very snuggly big brother with only minimal brother-squashing activities. I have been reading Amanda Blake Soule's incredibly beautiful and inspirational book "Creative Families" and I have a lot of ideas that I want to incorporate into my family. Kesa and I talked yesterday about doing a regular art adventure with our kiddos and I am really looking forward to that. I found this cool blog The Artful Parent to aid in that quest.
So, in the words of the resilient residents of Whoville, "we are here!" Even though some of the time we are tearing our hair out or falling asleep on the couch in the middle of a chapter.
When we were expecting Atticus and Liam was just newly walking, many people tempered their congratulations with a wry "you're gonna have your hands full!" I would smile and think to myself "I'll show you." For a while, I really felt like I was managing to 'show them', whatever that means. Having two didn't seem all that much harder or different than having one. Yossie didn't have that experience. He felt the impact of Two immediately and I was perplexed by his reaction. Now I am truly feeling it though. It is hard. It's wonderful and amazing also, please don't get me wrong. But it's exhausting and difficult too.
I'm not going to abandon the blog. It's been a great tool for me and I've met some really cool people through it as well. I just need to be realistic about what I can handle right now.
In the food department, (are there other departments? I'm not sure.) a few things have changed and many have stayed the same. We love our green smoothies. We eat a lot of raw fruits and veggies. Maybe there are some lower middle class families who can afford to buy all organic food in this economy ($3.83/gallon as of yesterday), but I have to excuse us from that list for the time being. I've been lucking out with the bananas lately. I can find organic, fair trade bananas for 49 cents a pound at the co-op in the 'over ripe' box if I manage to hit upon the right day to shop there. It seems to be a different day each week so it's unpredictable but some weeks I manage it. Otherwise they're more than twice as much money. I've been going to Aldi for some of our food and that has helped some. I don't mind buying the thick-skinned fruits there since I'm just going to peel them anyway. I also bought a bag of Red Delicious apples there. Normally apples are something I reserve to come out of the organic fund but these I planned to turn them into applesauce so I just washed them well, cut them up and stewed them, then slipped off the peel and blended them in the Vitamix. I added a banana also for sweetness. It's not the most beautiful applesauce you've ever seen, kind of a brown sugar color, but Atticus likes it and that was kind of the whole idea anyway. Other Aldi purchases: avocados, blue corn tortilla chips, watermelon, cans of beans, trail mix for Yossie, a bag of Yukon gold potatoes (we do still love our hash browns on occasion), and some frozen vegetables. The savings is undeniable. You do sacrifice taste and probably some health as well when you buy produce that isn't organic.
Thankfully, our CSA boxes are here! We paid for them in April so it feels like free food now. This week we got lettuce, asparagus, spring garlic, bok choy, and a little spinach. We munched a few spinach leaves straight from the box and remarked how much more flavor comes from spinach fresh from the garden. There should be plenty more as the season unfolds.
In other news, my boys are getting so big! Atticus can say 'mama' and 'dada' and he can sign 'more' and 'milk'. Liam chatters all the live long day and is a very snuggly big brother with only minimal brother-squashing activities. I have been reading Amanda Blake Soule's incredibly beautiful and inspirational book "Creative Families" and I have a lot of ideas that I want to incorporate into my family. Kesa and I talked yesterday about doing a regular art adventure with our kiddos and I am really looking forward to that. I found this cool blog The Artful Parent to aid in that quest.
So, in the words of the resilient residents of Whoville, "we are here!" Even though some of the time we are tearing our hair out or falling asleep on the couch in the middle of a chapter.
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