Just Say No

Over the last year Aaron and I worked really hard to not eat out. We cut out take out, stopped going out and as a bonus learned to eat left overs. It saved us a LOT of money and helped us trim down. I think this might be my first successful New Years resolution ever! Woo-hoo.

Today I came across this website www.notakeout.com which I would have loved to known about a year ago. It provides a simple, delicious recipe each day with a shopping lists to match. The best part though is the idea. I think the hardest part of making dinner is deciding what to do. I hate figuring that out.

Ironically, when I viewed the site recently the side bar ad on the site was for papa john's pizza. That made me laugh.

Now I'm starting to think about what resolution I should make for 2010. I feel a little worried about what to pick knowing that I might follow through with it.

I'm Not Dead

Recently I was talking to a friend and in passing mentioned I'd been out of the state for the last 3+ weeks. She was more than a little surprised, responding that she'd never known I was gone.

Now I'm fairly certain that should I slip and die in my apartment it will be a couple days before anyone finds my body. Good thing Reuben can open cupboards. I was thinking that maybe I should make him a little stash of easily accessible food so he'll be provided for, just in case. But then I realized he's got it covered and THAT is why he throws his food on the ground during every meal. He's creating his own handy stock pile. Just suck on a few spots of carpet and you've got yourself a full meal. Mmm.

The Great White Blight

Reuben and I stuck around DC just long enough to catch the blizzard of 09. The face Reuben is making is the face I'm making inside. I shoveled 550 feet of driveway to find out that my flight back to sunny SC was canceled. ARG!!! But I caught a flight the next day and am back where there is no threat of a white Christmas. Phew.

Thinking about where I'd like to be for Christmas, this year, if I could be anywhere I would like to be in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Change Conference. I've been really frustrated at the lack of coverage its receiving in the US. I couldn't find much more than terse or very general summaries from most of the major news outlets. I finally went to Democracy Now and felt like I got some meaty info. I enjoyed listening to this interview with Lumumba Stanislaus, chief negotiator for the G-77. The interviews with US lawmakers were also very interesting.

It's the last day but since negotiations are coming down to the last minute, just like a good basketball game, tuning in for the end can be the best part.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

I've always wanted to spend Christmas somewhere far far away. At the top of my list are Brazil, Italy, the Holy Land or Paris. I like the idea of bringing in the holiday with street parties and a midnight mass in a giant cathedral. But I wouldn't mind if I woke up somewhere calm and tropical like Hawaii or Indonesia.

This year it looks like I'll be home for Christmas which is just fine. But one day I hope I won't be.

Spare and Be Spared

I came across this poem the other day and really liked it.

Pity the sorrows of a poor old dog

Who wags his tail a-begging in his need;

Despise not even the sorrows of a frog,

God's creature too, and that's enough to plead;

Spare Puss who trusts us dozing on our hearth;

Spare bunny, once so frisky and so free;

Spare all the harmless creatures of the earth:

Spare and be spared - or who shall plead for thee?

-Christina Rossetti 1879

Hello Me

I watched part of the movie Coraline a couple weeks ago and found myself disturbed. Not because of the soul stealing monsters but because of the resemblence I bore to Coraline's frazzled, always distracted, freelancing parents. So since I haven't posted many pictures of myself recently, this should give you a good idea of what I look like on
A good day:

And on a bad day:

Thanks Geometry

So remember when you were in math class and you wondered how any of the lesson was going to be relevant to your daily life? Then your teacher assured you that geometry came in useful allll the time, but had a difficult time presenting hard evidence?

I had a great day on Saturday because I finally found a useful application for a little geometry when Aaron and I went on a Big Tree Hike. A park ranger lead us through the swamp to find Champion Trees. A champion tree is the biggest tree of a species. There is a National and a State champion list. Most of the champions we saw lived in the old growth forest and were anywhere from 16 - 20+ feet in diameter, easily over 140 feet tall and about 200 to 1,00 years old. Very Big trees.

This picture gives a pretty good sense of what we were walking through and around. You'll notice the smart folks - like the ranger and ten year old girl- wore waders, a much better choice than our sneakers.

The ranger showed us how to measure tree height from the ground. Enter geometry. You take a right angle, walk far enough back til the 45 degree angle lines up with the crown of the tree and the ground, then measure the distance to the base of the tree. That distance should be equal to the tree height. (The ground needs to be level for the measurement to be accurate) If you want to get a little tricky and use some trig, you can use other angles so you don't have to walk so much. If you want a more thorough explanation you can go here.

Here's a picture of the tree we measured. It took more than three pictures to capture the whole length.

We also learned about a group that's done a lot of great research on these old trees. They call themselves the Eastern Native Tree Society or ENTS (like in Tolkien) for short. That made us laugh.

While we considered taking Reuben on the 5 hour hike, we eventually decided against it and left him to play with his cousin. This is what we came back to. So a good time was had by all.

Family Time

During the holidays, sometimes it's hard to remember who is who when you finally get a chance to see everyone. That's why I was thrilled to find the absolutely wonderful "Family Overview" Video Podcast put out by the Peterson Field Guide to Birds. They also have Species Overviews as well.

I wish they made one for all my human relations. I guess I'll need to make that one myself for the soon to be horde of Cummings cousins. I feel a great need to familiarize Reuben with all of his relatives so we can avoid any diamond patterns in the family tree.

Love the Land You're In

We started the day getting food ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Here Reuben is helping prep the brussel sprouts. Nothing makes 1 year olds happier than some yummy brussel sprouts.

Then we went to the swamp. Again. The waters receded enough for us to try a new trail.

Reuben decided he wanted to do a lot of the walking Himself.

It's hard to show how gigantic the old growth trees are. Here are some acorns from a grand old Oak. They were dropping all over the place with ominously loud thumps. It made us wish we brought helmets.

Here's Reuben stuffing one of the giant acorns in his mouth.

Reuben pointing out birds.

Several times Reuben decided to start trailblazing.

We did our best to retrieve him before he ran into too many snakes and gators.
We had a great time and built up a good appetite for our Thanksgiving meal. I'm grateful to live so close to such a wonderful park. And this is my new favorite picture.

The close up.

The Origin of Origin

Today is the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin which makes me want to bake a cake and have a little party. Which makes me think, I should celebrate the birthdays of all my favorite books.

But since it is The Origin of Species it'd probably be more appropriate to dig around the leaves and mud and give a little reverence to all the wonderfully complex and under appreciated lives duking it out around us. Reuben helped me out and made sure we took this moment a few times on the walk we went on earlier today.

The thing I really love about Charles Darwin is that he was a man who was able to appreciate the glory of the smallest and lowliest of organisms. He marveled at beetles. He was fascinated by worms and snails. He spent 8 years devoted slavishly to barnacles. Barnacles. The creatures who sit on rocks. Then they die. How can such dull little organisms capture anyone's attention?

That's the wonderful thing about Darwin, he's a good writer, and he's willing to explain why a creature that spends it's whole life sitting on a rock, basically doing it's best to be a rock is a miracle.

Because Darwin, in his genius, was able to notice that the mortal existence of a barnacle and a human being fall under the same universal laws, are subject to the same forces, and consequently their lives are fundamentally relevant to one another.

And that is the miracle of modern biology, it's interconnectedness. Everything relates and matters to one another and that is what Darwin recognized and taught the world.

If you'd like to learn more about Darwin you can go here or here or here or here.

And just in case you don't want to follow any of the links, here's an excerpt from the NPR story that I really enjoyed:

Darwin sent a copy of his book to one of the leading members of the Church of England, the Rev. Charles Kingsley.

Kingsley wrote back to Darwin: "It's just as noble a conception of God to think that he created animals and plants that then evolved, that were capable of self-development, as it is to think that God has to constantly create new forms and fill in the gaps that he's left in his own creation." Clearly pleased with this comment, Darwin included it in future editions of On the Origins of Species.

The God I believe in is BIG on development so Darwin's description on how the Earth works, works for me.

Swamp Thing

It's rained a lot lately. So when Saturday dawned clear and beautiful we had to get out. Reuben, Aaron, my Dad and I spent the afternoon wandering through Congaree National Park. Because of all the rain the flood plain was thoroughly flooded. We had hoped to get off the boardwalk but the trail we wanted to try was underwater. Guess we'll just have to go back :)

Catch Up

I found this site that offers a 100 audiobooks "That You Should Have Read Already." It's all the classics our English teachers assigned or should have assigned. I don't know how I've never read The Life of PT Barnum. I guess my English teachers thought books like Wuthering Heights would be more enlightening than the tale of a man who could make a mermaid. Alas! the state of modern education...

Am I Missing Something?

I was wandering around the internet when I came across the Most Expensive Site. To state the obvious it catalogs the most expensive items in the world. Things like cars, toothbrushes, trash cans, coffee, chickens, etc. Everything is ridiculous but I found myself particularly puzzled by the description of the Happy Hacking Keyboard HP Japan, PFU Ltd. which is coated with Urushi Lacquer using a brush "made from the hair of virgins."

This piqued my professional curiosity. I do a fair amount of painting and maybe I'm missing out. Do brushes made of virgin hair perform better than non-virgin hair brushes? If they do, I hope the horse whose hair makes up the next brush I buy has a sad lonely life.

Everything I Ever Wanted

For years now I've wanted to grow my own garden. I've sprouted seeds hoping Aaron and I would find our way to a yard, even a small yard only to watch my seedlings wither and die without the land they need to thrive. Apartment living is hard on plants.

AND for years I've wanted to figure out something useful to do with plastic drink bottles. I try to save them, use them as cups for as long as possible but they eventually grow to an unmanageable number and start to fill every cupboard til I'm forced to cull them.

SO imagine my delight in finding a solution to both problems: A DIY Hydroponic Window Garden made of plastic water bottles and some PVC piping. I really want to build my own. Maybe over the Christmas break?

Wish You Were Here

Reuben turned 1 on Sunday. In the morning we had a family breakfast of egg biscuits and clementines and he got in some dancing with cousin Eliza.

After church we had a family supper. Amy and Eliza put up streamers and I made some bird mobiles in honor of Reuben's favorite baby toy which was attacked and dismembered by Battle.

Reuben enjoyed eating with his Grandpa.

Then we opened presents.

Reuben got a toy hammer from his Aunt Amy. After two days of having it, few things in our house have not been hammered.

Then it was Birthday cake time. I didn't get a picture of the candle which was okay because Reuben wasn't a big fan. We need to do some practice so he's ready for fireworks come New Years.

But he liked eating the cake. Reuben has a great sense of the road less traveled by. We put his cake in front of him fully expecting him to smear it all over but he picked up a spoon and daintily nibbled away. I don't even know where he got that spoon from. I didn't give it to him.

When we tried to encourage him to really dig in he gave us this look and kept a tight hold on his spoon.

Here's the after birthday cake happiness.

Toys!

As I've said before, I used to think I wasn't materialistic but then I realized nobody was marketing to me. When the market does throw a little attention my way, (thanks a lot green movement) I'm such a sucker.

I got a reminder of that today when I took Reuben shopping for his one year birthday on Sunday. I figured I'd take advantage of his short term memory function while it lasts.

We went to a local toy store and as soon as I pulled Reuben out of the car I was immediately tempted. Right next to the toy store was a comic shop. But I reminded myself that in 15 years I didn't want Reuben to look like the dweeb kid manning the counter (sorry, dweeb kid) so I stood firm and went into the toy store.

Ahh, such a magic wonderland. I let Reuben loose and he plopped himself down in front of the books and began merrily unshelving while chanting bhhk, bhk, bhk. I started to look at my options and there were sooo many tempting choices. I started having flashbacks to childhood fantasies of Toys R Us shopping sprees. I was getting ready to do some serious deshelving myself since it's his first birthday, all these toys will make him so smart, if he doesn't have such and such he'll never learn to stack, blah blah blah. And then I told myself to snap out of it.

I was grateful for the advice a friend had given me on keeping birthdays to 3 presents: something to read, something to play with and something to wear. That way you keep things special and don't end up with junk. Control the greed. Quality not quantity.

I decided to do the same but I adapted it to something to read, something to play with and a game. My family has a tradition of game playing. I was also using a set budget so I couldn't get anything too incredibly indulgent (dang it)

So here's what we ended up with:

Something to Read : Ten Button Book

Reuben has a thing for buttons. He mostly likes to eat them but he also enjoys pointing and pulling on them. They're a great distraction during church. I had hoped to find a book that could help keep him busy in sacrament and protect my blouse.

Bonus: Seems to promote counting skills.

Something to Play with: Green Toys Dump Truck

Aaron and I noticed we hadn't gotten around to giving Reuben anything with wheels. When we visited the Smithsonian Build Museums play room the kids were having a blast with these dump trucks. They're surprisingly light weight and just the right size to lean on, run like a maniac and smash into a friend.

Bonus: Made from recycled milk jugs. IF it ever dies, it can be recycled instead of thrown away.

Double Bonus: Can help store other toys

A Game : Melissa and Doug Farm Puzzle

Reuben's too young for most games so the closest thing to a game for him is probably a puzzle. I let him pick this one out for himself. I was tempted by some others that had shapes, the alphabet or numbers but I told myself to lighten up, he's just 1.

Bonus: Even if we loose the board, the individual puzzle pieces are solid enough to operate as toys themselves.

Double Bonus: Hurray for cool illustration.

Cheats

A four square ball.

I caved and also got him a four square ball with dinosaurs on it since he LOVES his cousin Eliza's bouncy ball covered in fairies. I'd been meaning to get him his own ball to prevent the fight that's been brewing. And he's got to start training for the family four square tournaments. Start practicing Grandpa, Reuben's coming for you!

A train whistle. I'm gonna regret this one. Aaron's already started blowing on it over and over and over again.

A magnifying glass. I don't remember buying this but it's on the receipt and was in the bag when I got home so I guess I did. I think I accidently set my stuff down on it. Oh well. It's cool.

That's what I ended up with but it took me a while. I would have liked to buy a LOT more. But I was proud of at least trying to stand firm.

Here are some of the other objects I found sorely tempting.

Food set- Reuben really likes to help out in the kitchen so this seems like a GREAT distraction for when we have to do some real dicing. There are few things as unnerving as trying to keep a kid on the counter while shielding them from the cutting board.

Haba blocks - Who doesn't want to rebuild the Roman coliseum, Mayan temple complex, Parthenon, etc etc.

A bike

Bath crayons

Peg board and hammer. As a kid I LOVED this toy.

A cash register calculator (Reuben REALLY liked it)

Audubon Bird with Real Bird call. Reuben has a titmouse already and it's a lot of fun.

A rocking tiger. Who wants to ride a horse when you can ride a tiger? Not that this would fit in the apartment.

Fallinwater Lego set - Too old for a one year old? That's okay. It was for me anyway.