hectic

Friends, this week is going to be a doozy.  I'm hoping to keep up, but I might not.

 I have a pretty darn fancy dress to tell you about (also make) and Duke has been so darn adorable this past week(ish) spouting off new words left and right I'll be needing to effuse over that at some point but I don't know if that point will be a part of this week.  

What I'm saying is, I'm gonna try friends but I can't promise anything too spectacular.

See you tomorrow. (maybe) 

Fit

Duke has spent most of his life on clothes too big. He is a spring baby with a winter baby for an older brother. All of my baby boy clothes are a season off in size. We're really getting into trouble now because while Enz was a tiny boy to start out with, he beefed up quite a bit right after his first birthday.

Duke is only weeks away from eighteen months and I'm still waiting for the beef up there.

 In other words: Dukes winter clothes are extra huge. Even huger than we've become used to. He's rocking rolled waist bands and bunched sleeves like they're going out of style.

 At the beginning if the summer after I got out all the too large clothes I had for him to wear in through the months of stifling heat I decided to get him a thing or two in his actual size. This ensemble became my favorite.

 

It's so refreshing to see him proportioned correctly, without his drawers slipping down and sleeves to his elbows. This outfit gets extra points for the shorts being short enough to show off his squishy little knees. Dear me I'll miss those shorts in a few weeks when things get too chilly for them.

 

I sorted through the 2T box today. I couldn't keep the smile off my face unfolding the T-shirts that swathed my Enzo through his second year. Passing down clothed is so much more than economical. I'm so looking forward to dressing Duke in all those dear clothes. I mean, if he ever gets big enough to fit a 2T

 

wheat

I've mentioned a time or two my effort to eschew processed foods from my family's diet/my kitchen. It's a hard thing to do. I've taken the first few steps, I'm looking around trying to figure out what the next one is.

 Since we all start out differently in this food dance I thought I'd share what my first step was in case someone else has paused on the dance floor, keeping time while surveying the other dancers trying to figure out what to do next.

 I wanted to start cooking with whole wheat. Specifically freshly ground whole wheat. I tried in the past to make the switch using whole wheat flour from the store and that was a dismal failure. Everything I made came out awful and brick-like.

 I had since acquired a wheat grinder and I knew freshly ground flour would make all the difference but it was such a lot of work. I'd have to get out the grinder, dig out the wheat from whatever dark hidey hole I had it stored in, grind the wheat, put it back in it's hidey hole, do my baking (hopefully I'd ground enough or I'd have to get that wheat out again) empty any left over flour out of the grinder, decide where to store that flour and then clean, pack up and put away the grinder.

As you might imagine, I ended up using white flour most of the time. The whole grinding ordeal was just too much. Until...

 I had one of those mad strokes of genius one day. "Why am I keeping all this white flour on the counter in this easily accessible jar if I don't even want to use it?"I asked myself, "And why is my wheat packed away for long-term storage if the goal is to make it a part of my everyday baking?"

 These were the thoughts that led me reform the contents of my counter top storage jars. Before I had white flour, sugar and white rice in the jars. Now I have Wheat, rolled oats(need a refill on that one) and brown rice.

 

Behind the jars is my wheat grinder. I decided that if I was planning to use it daily (and I was) emptying, dusting and boxing for storage between uses would be ridiculous. I'd have to give it a home on the counter If I ever wanted to make it happen.

After making that storage change I find that when occasionally I decide to use some white flour I end up talking myself out of it because getting it out of long term storage is such a lot of work.  Meanwhile, I grind my wheat cup for cup as needed when making cookies, crackers, biscuits, muffins, pancakes and so on and so forth.  I substitute freshly ground whole wheat flour into all my old standby white flour recipes without a problem.  

Squash

Was anybody wondering how that harvest party went?

Well I'l just go ahead and tell you it was lovely and not Halloweeny at all.

 The only possibly Halloween related thing was that I had the Pinata filled with glow sticks. Glow Sticks aren't really a Halloween thing per se, it's just that when I planned the party it was going to be a few days before Halloween and I thought the glow sticks might come in handy for trick or treating. They wouldn't have though, those kids cracked 'em as soon as they laid hands on 'em they'd have been all burnt out long before trick or treating happened.

I went back and forth a bit on harvesty pinata ideas and finally settled on a squash. It turned out to be a cute fat little crook-necked thing. I rather liked it.

 

I wanted to do a pinata from the start. I have a hazy memory of going with my mother to help in the class party of one of my older siblings. I also remember that she made a pinata for a party at some point. I don't know if the noisy classroom scene I have in my head is the party the pinata went to but the two live side by side in my psyche so, it might have been.

 Anyway, that memory jumble suggested to me that a pinata was the thing to do. That being said. I wasn't about to bring a bat and a blindfold into the kindergarten classroom and turn folks loose. I drew on this memory and we tossed that squash around the circle in a game of hot potato.

 The pinata made it around the circle a whole bunch of times. It was almost time for the kids to line up for the end of the day and I was getting worried that I'd put on one too many layers of paper mache so I told them that they were certainly welcome to take a minute to abuse the pinata when it was their turn. Of course the longer you spend with it in your hands the more likely you'll be to get out when the music stops. It went about half way around the circle with each kid giving it a whap on the floor before passing it. Then it got to the aggressive little princess of the group. She bashed that thing without stopping until it cracked. Then every one got their glow sticks and all was well.

All was well except for how I wanted to get that girl out but she was so busy pounding the squash that she didn't notice when the strains of "Hoedown" ceased so she just carried on with the task at hand in spite of being "out." I should've targeted her earlier.

Live and learn.

Political

The kindergarten program at out school seems to be sending political messages.

 

Sure, it's missing a "t" but that really just makes it more subtle. The question is, which side are they on?

On one hand they've included a regular character named Mit(t) but nobody in the whole series is called Barack. On the other hand, Mit(t) is a monkey.

Something to think about.

 Anyway, whichever side you fall on, I hope you remembered to vote today.

Runnin shoes

The other morning I set out with my stroller. Moo was on her bike pedaling happily down the street ahead of me. "Hmm," I thought. "My foot feels cold, but only in that one little spot." Can you guess what the problem was?

I guess I now know the life expectancy of a pair of vibram five fingers. I guess I'm also in the market for a new pair of shoes.

 I have loved running in my vibrams. It took some time, a lot of short runs and some majorly sore calves to get used to them but I'll never go back to a conventional shoe.

 All the sore feet, aching ankles, shins, knees etc that I used to experience in conjunction with running are no more. In the past it would take me a mile of jogging tentatively on touchy legs before I could settle in and enjoy my run. I haven't had a single running related joint ache since I changed shoes.

 That said, vibrams tend to be a bit on the chilly side, and since I run with a stroller I can't scan ahead for rocks in my path as well as I otherwise could. I stepped on a doozy during the run before I discovered the hole. That hurt a lot and I'm pretty sure it's responsible for the puncture wound to my shoe.  All the crushed granite used in landscaping around here is killer when it gets strewn onto the pavement.

 I'm looking at Altra's this time. Hoping that the zero drop and wider toe box will let me keep my barefoot form while being a little warmer for the winter months plus giving me some extra protection against rocks.

Punkephant

Zizza's orthodontist's office had a pumpkin decorating contest. It went without saying that she wanted to enter.