My Ipod Hates Me

My Ipod hates me. I've been taking my Ipod shuffle to work where I use it to listen to books. Yesterday I listened to seven hours of Sense and Sensibility. I was really getting into the story. I'm desperate to know how everything is going to play out. But this morning the little bugger refused to load up part 2. Malicious little machine.

Cranberry Juice

Ever since I got kidney stones (which are PURE AGONY) Aaron and I have kept a pretty well supplied stash of cranberry juice around the house. I like cranberries but I'm not a huge juice fan. It's always a little too sticky sweet for my taste.

Lo and behold, Aaron and I discovered pure, unsweetened cranberry juice at the store. I was really excited. I expected it to be tart but it's strong enough to make your hair curl. It tastes a little bit like cranberries and a whole lot like turpentine. I keep trying to water down with other beverages but that's had some disastrous results.

Turns out that if you add a drop or two to a cup of milk, the milk curdles. But it doesn't taste that bad, kind of like old yogurt. (My curiosity got the best of my so I had to try it.)

So if anyone wants a good third grade science experiment, I suggest cranberry juice. It's a great demonstration of what happens when you add an acid to a base. I'm sure it can also be employed as a pretty funny church object lesson, any ideas?

Screen Printing Kit

This week I'll be ordering a screen printing kit. I'm looking forward to making a few t-shirts. My first plan is a onsie for Eliza with a portrait of her namesake, maybe with the words But A Very Little Meat. I've got a few other ideas. I'm excited for it to come. So now you all know what to expect from me for Christmas this year.

Presidential Fitness

Illustration by John Cuneo


During a commercial break from the Duke Belmont game I flipped to C-Span. President Bush was encouraging me to get off my comfy couch and go work out for at least 30 minutes. You have to respect his fitness level. See this great article. He continued by speaking about the presidential fitness program. That brought back a lot of happy memories of elementary school glory and I started wondering if I would still be able to meet the standards I achieved handily much younger. So I decided to look it up. Here's what I found:

While I plan to verify my assumptions in the next day, I think I'm still in the game. The curl ups, sit and reach, and running I got, no problem. The pull up or push up option, I'm not so sure about. I'm still doing about 40 push ups every day but wimpy style so I'm not sure if I can do 25 right angle push ups. I'll have to try to work on that. (My wrist problems bring me down on that one.)
I noticed that according to the chart, we peak physically at 15 then the numbers start to descend again. What's up with that? If logic follows at this point I'm back to a ten year old level.

Anyway, I also found out when I was at the Presidential Fitness page that they've started a program for adult. If you do well enough you can get a medal from the president. You get points each day for the amount of time you work out and once you get 20,000 points you win! According to the website 20,000 points is about six weeks of running five miles every day. You can get the details here. Anyone want to go for bronze with me?

John Adams

Aaron and I are really loving HBO's John Adams. We staid up til 1:30AM watching it last night. I'm buying it when it comes out on DVD. It's fascinating. It makes me so excited for American Independence I'm considering getting something like this done.

Go Time

So Aaron and I are going to try to do the $150 for our food budget for the month of April. We're practicing by spending only 45 a week for the next two weeks. On Saturday, I spent $17 at C-ville market for produce (10 lbs of potatos, 10 lbs of apples, bananas, cabbage, cilantro and kale) and $27 at Kroger for everything else (milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, frozen vegetables, cereal etc).
So far, I've been amazed at how do able this is. It takes more planning but Aaron and I are eating the same meals and we've eliminated a lot of "waste." Since I know a lot of people are generally curious about what we eat day to day, due to our mixed household, I thought I'd share our recent menu.

Saturday: Poblano Cilantro Rice with canned vegetarian chili
Somebody bought poblano chilis about a week ago for chili relleno but I HATE chili relleno and I didn't want to let them go to waste so I tried this recipe for the first time. It was pretty good.

Sunday: White Bean Casserole
Great recipe for a day old baguette, you know the kind that's on the "Manager's special" This casserole is probably my favorite casserole we make. I love it and it has Kale. I love kale. I don't put the cheese on the toast, it makes it too cheesy for me. It's yummy and cheaper without it.

Monday: Quorn Mushroom nuggets, mashed potatoes, green beans and a big glass of milk with some green food coloring
The Quorn mushroom nuggets were my splurge at the grocery store (they were on sale for $3.39) and my celebration of St Patty's day. Ask Aaron, they're really really yummy to carnivores too.

And here's the recipes we have planned for the rest of the week:
Tuesday: Perogies, apple cider cabbage, and Fage yogurt
Wed: Spaghetti
Thursday: quesidillas with fresh salsa and home made bean dip
Friday: Polenta Pizza -Get a cake pan, put a layer of cooked polenta down, then tomato sauce, cheese and veggies and cook it in the oven til everything melts together.

Sufjan Casmir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens

I really love this song. Thought some of you might enjoy it too. I couldn't find an audio file, just the video so wa-la.

Charles Harper

I'm sick again with a sinus infection that you-know-who brought back from the law school. And get this, Aaron told me that the law school sent out an email warning that MUMPs has broken out. Mumps! Yuck.

So I'm taking it easy on the couch tonight and searching through the lovely work of Charles Harper. The man is a brilliant illustrator and wonderfully inspiring. I'm sorry to say that he died this last June at the age of 85. His work is gorgeous. He has this amazing way of simplifying and stylizing really complex nature scenes. I love how clean and beautiful his designs are. (The man makes zooplakton look dreamy!! How amazing is that?) His work from fifty years ago still looks fresh to me. I've put up a few pictures here so you can see what you think.



I'm drooling over his books. I really really want Charles Harper: An Illustrated Life but since it's $100 used I'm probably going to just have to dream. Still $100 is better than the $2,000 The Giant Golden Book of Life: An Introduction to the Science of Life, which he illustrated in the 50s, is now selling for. (If you are of a certain age you might want to check your closets for that one.) And happily Flickr has a group dedicated to him so if you want to see more for free you can go here. I was trying to think of what I would have to do to be willing to reward myself with a 100 dollar book.

I've been toying with the idea of attempting to spend only $150 on groceries for the month like Lindsey did, in Brooklyn(!!!). (If can be done in NY, it can be done anywhere!) She managed to make some pretty tasty sounding meals on that budget. Check it out here. I tried to get Aaron on board with the experiment but he was more than hesitant. I think his words were "terrible idea." Aaron and I do like good food and making food together is a way to spend time together so I sometimes lump our entertainment and food budget together. Still, I love a challenge. When I was at school I was living on ten bucks a week for food. Now I'm thinking if I could manage to keep the $150 food budget in April, I could use the savings to buy the Harper book. Man can not live by bread alone, right? Now I'm trying to think of what reward could be good enough motivation to persuade Aaron to join in. Any ideas?

Aaron's Hero

Aaron was a bit like this when we first started dating. Ask him about his Australian accent. If you're lucky you might even get a demonstration. I have to admit, I did my best to kill it -I didn't like the feeling of dating the Crocodile Hunter-Aaron did his best to preserve it. I think it was the pivotal struggle of our early relationship. You can judge for yourself who won.

Diary of A Wimpy Kid

If you have a second, check out Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. The book follows the rather wimpy Greg Heffley through the pain and glory of fifth, sixth, and seventh grade. If you are about my age you probably have enough distance from those painful junior high memories to really laugh. Check it out here.

RS-P-E-C-T

So a couple of months ago I was sitting in church and I thought, I can't be in relief society any more. I need a new calling. I REALLY NEED a new calling. I need a calling that will get me out of RS. A week or two later I was called to Nursery and I was sooo happy.

Don't get me wrong, the relief society in my ward is top notch. They're fun and caring and sensitive and everything else a RS is supposed to be. But I had sensed earlier that I was "wanted" back in nursery. On top of that I had started feeling uncomfortable in RS. RS sometimes feels like a RA-RA, We're all Moms! sort of scene. And I would walk away from the RS lesson repeating to myself: my life is not worthless, my life is not worthless, even if I have no children and am very clearly a" woman who does NOT know," a woman "without faith" (women of faith have children) I am not a bad person. I'm a good person. I like myself. Aaron likes me. I like God. I'm pretty sure He likes me. Zero population is the answer my friend, without the rest of us are doomed. (Just kidding about that last one. He he. ) I started getting really sick of feeling that way every Sunday. So hurray for nursery and two year olds who like Moms but don't really care if you are one.

Not going to relief society has lifted some of the pressure, but I still have a feeling of uneasiness. I feel like I keep hearing talks that have a "with us or against us" tone towards motherhood. In some ways I can understand the mom cheering: It validates a very difficult time of life which involves a lot of self-sacrifice and gets VERY little recognition. If you are a mom you can go to church and get some R-E-S-P-E-C-T in the Aretha Franklin sort of way.

But it hurts to hear that I am a woman without faith. It feels like a slap in the face. I always thought I was faithful. Am I not faithful? Are my present efforts in my life and work worthless? What is it with all the comparing? I feel like I respect mothers, but I don't feel like I don't get much respect back. I get more curious questioning: so when are you...

People seem to very casually toss out that everything we do in this earth life except kids is worthless. But doesn't intelligence rise with us, when we die? Don't we treasure the work of women? What if Austen never wrote her novels? Emily Dickinson never wrote her poetry, Marie Curie never did her research, or Eliza R Snow never wrote her hymns? Where would we be without In Our Lovely Deseret??

What if ALL women everywhere did not work outside the home. If they filled no positions in government. They were not health care providers or teachers or professors or scientists or authors or artists or business women or hair dressers or astronauts. Wouldn't that be a sad world? Would our daughters believe us when we tell them they can be anything, do anything, if all of us fill a single occupation? I mean, I know having children doesn't mean you automatically stop working outside the home, have as many kids as is humanly possible, and become a domestic goddess but that seems to be the cultural expectation. Is that expectation righteous or assumed? Didn't Christ tell Martha that Mary chose the better part by not taking up the domestic act?

These are very real questions for me. They aren't meant to be rhetorical. Particularly that question about what the world would be like without In Our Lovely Deseret, very important to think about. I'd love to hear opinions.

Saturday's Child

Monday's child is fair of face.
Tuesday's child is full of grace.
Wednesday's child is full of woe.
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving.
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Here's a fun little nursery rhyme that supposedly tells your fortune. Aaron and I were both born on a Saturday, so we'll be working hard for our living. What are you?

Spring is coming!

Last night, I was walking home around sunset and I caught sight of a little bat fluttering at the edge of a small clearing. Seeing him warmed my heart. I love how bats dip and spin in midair, how they consume massive amounts of irritating insects like mosquitos, how you can occasionally hear their tiny squeaks if you listen carefully, and how they're curious and will occasionally dive close to you to check you out. Best of all it means spring is on its way!
While some bats consume tons of terrible bugs, others do a large amount of pollinating. Native plants depend on bats, which is why it's so terrible that the bat populations are facing a threat similar to the honey bee's. (The North American honey bee populations have been cut in half. Read more here.)

Whole colonies of bats are dying, their muzzles covered in a deadly white fungus. Poor bats. Poor plants that will die without bats. Poor North America. But you can help. Go here.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

This poem has been in my head a lot lately. I often think of it when I'm trying to make a decision. The poem always reminds me that there are so many ways to live and even when we set a path, we'll look back and doubt and wonder at the "road's not taken" but that doubting isn't bad, it's a struggle that can bring more life.

Easter Basket Exchange

My Cousin-in-law, Kari, aka Disco Mom is organizing a Mother's Easter Basket Exchange. She created it with the idea that some of us might be tired of making our own Easter cheer or feel left out when all the kids get their baskets delivered. Here is her explanation:

1. You do not have to be a Mom. You do not even have to be married, female or Christian. The exchange is so named because Moms in general get the shaft on Easter baskets and every other holiday they work so hard to make special for others. But anyone that meets #2 can participate.
2. I have to know you personally or through a reputable source (like you're a friend/relative of my friend/relative.) Even though it's a public blog and I sometimes get comments from strangers, no total strangers in the exchange. Include in your post how I'm supposed to know you.

So I'm assuming I'm a reputable enough source to refer you. I think it's going to be a good time. I know for a fact that Kari takes her chocolate very seriously so you should be in for a wonderful basket delivered to your door. If you want in go here. Let her know soon because the deadline to sign up is the 5th.

I was hesitant about joining in because Aaron got me hooked on the Easter Bilby. But Kari assured me that she was open to all varieties of celebration. It just doesn't feel like Easter anymore without a bilby or two around. Here for fun are a few chocolate Easter Bilbies for you to enjoy. Aren't they cute?