Happy Birthday, Kathy!

Today is your day!

Happy birthday, Kathy! I hope you're having a wonderful day and a wonderful week.

Elimination Communication

Elimination communication (EC) is something I first heard about not too long ago. Monday I checked a book out from our library because I wanted to know more. It's "The Diaper Free Baby" by Christine Gross-Loh. The general idea is that babies are born with the instinct not to soil themselves and we can learn to communicate with them about their toileting needs, like reading their hunger cues.

EC involves observing your baby's body language and patterns, cueing your baby (holding your baby in a certain position and making a certain sound that she associates with peeing or pooping), and changing her as soon as possible after a miss so she doesn't get used to sitting in a wet or dirty diaper. Some people start EC at birth, while many start at around three to eight months.

If EC sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to read this book and read it now. I enjoyed it and it made a lot of sense. I only wish I'd heard about this when Jesse was younger. He just turned 2, so it's a little late to start EC (at least as described in the book). I'm planning to try a modified version tomorrow. I was telling hubby about EC the other night when he interrupted me and said "Before you go any further, we're not having another baby just so you can try this." I laughed and told him that's not why I want another one!

What a Week!

I'm sooo tired. I've been really busy this week. Monday I took the kids to my parents' house. My sister and brother-in-law were visiting from California so we spent a couple of nights with them. My other sister and her daughter spent Monday night there, too. We were planning to go to the zoo Tuesday, but 4 out of 9 of us were sick so we just hung around the house. We got home late Wednesday night.

Thursday was full of the usual post-trip chores like unpacking and washing clothes, as well as menu planning and grocery shopping for Jesse's birthday party. I bought groceries to feed close to 20 people. My refrigerator was so full I wondered whether I'd be able to close the door. I also did some cleaning.

Friday I cooked. I made 2 batches of bread, fruit dip, veggie/cracker dip, strawberry salad, 2 cakes, and icing. I put together a fruit platter and a veggie platter. I cut and stacked the cakes to make a dump truck. Yes, a dump truck. My little birthday boy loves cars and trucks and his dump truck is his favorite. I also embroidered a dump truck on a t-shirt for him.

This morning I made another batch of bread, deviled eggs, cheesy bean dip, and ice cream. (Ok, hubby kept the ice cream maker iced and salted.) We then had a great party with wonderful family and friends. It was a nice way to end this crazy week.


I had to include a picture of the dump truck cake. I worked hard on this! I needed a little more time to make it nicer, but it's not too bad. Jesse liked it! I can't believe my baby is 2.

Green Period, Revisited

Ladies, this is mostly a reminder prompted by the fact that it's about time to hit the pool, lake, or beach. If you didn't read my earlier post about reusable menstrual products, you can read it here. It's an overview of what's out there. I mentioned some of the advantages of reusable products (less waste in landfills, no risk of TSS, money savings), but I thought of another last week. I somehow neglected to mention "wicking" in my other post. When you wear a tampon, any moisture present outside your body wicks up the removal string. Chlorine-laden pool water, for example. A menstrual cup doesn't absorb, so there's no wicking. Just another thing to recommend the Diva Cup (or other brand of your choice).

Please see my other post for links to more information, or just search the internet.

Am I a Sacking Snob?

This evening I ran into town for groceries at two different stores. I'm a little particular, some might say neurotic, about the way my stuff is sacked. I've had sackers put large cans of pineapple juice on top of my bananas. If I'd wanted bruised bananas, I'd have gotten the black ones to begin with. I also like to keep refrigerated items together, especially when it's 80 or 90 degrees outside. I figure the cold stuff will stay cold longer if it's all huddled together. Also, when I get home I let the toilet paper and soap loiter in the trunk until I get the milk and butter safely stowed in the fridge. It's easier to do this if it's not mingled with non-refrigerated items. I rarely have too few shopping bags (I always take reusable ones), but just in case I were to have a shortage, I place those items on the belt last that are easiest to carry without a bag, like milk or bags of potatoes.

Because of my idiosyncrasy and my skepticism of the intelligence of some cashiers, I have a habit of placing my purchases on the conveyor belt in the order in which I want them bagged. I always leave eggs and produce for the end so they aren't crushed by heavier items, unless I anticipate a bag shortage (as mentioned previously), in which case the milk and potatoes are banished to the end of the line. I put all the refrigerated/frozen stuff together. I group things like soap, toilet paper, and tooth paste. This usually works well. The typical cashier scans the item closest to hand, bags it, then repeats. However, tonight I did not have the typical cashier. In fact, I had two atypical cashiers.

I spent some time in the parking lot of the first store rearranging my purchases because the cashier had desegregated my cold items and bath products. One bag held butter, tooth paste, and soap. Another held butter, cream, and apples. While I loaded my groceries from the second store I noticed the sacker had bagged my 3 gallons of milk (which were at the end of the line!) and put all my produce in one bag - lettuce, tomatoes, two avocadoes, bananas, two containers of strawberries, and two containers of raspberries.

Maybe next time I'll separate my purchases with bags so the cashier can fill up the first bag until she gets to the second one. Then she can fill up the second until she gets to the third, and so on. To be fair, I should mention that some sackers are excellent. If only I could tell by looking at them...

Tofu, Anyone?

Last week I was perusing the grocery store when I came across some organic tofu that was 50% off. I had never tried tofu. I didn't even know where to look for tofu until that day. Since I love a bargain and I've heard it's good for you, I decided to get some. I got home and thought "What do I do with it?"

I poked around the internet and found a few recipes that looked good. The lasagne sounded really good, but I'll have to pick up a few ingredients before I try it. I decided to try a grilled tofu sandwich and a tofu stir-fry.

For the tofu sandwich (this was NOT gluten-free), I placed two slices of bread on a cookie sheet. I spread a little mayo on each piece. I then put tomato slices on one piece and tofu slices on the other. I sprinkled a little sea salt on the tomatoes and a little garlic powder on the tofu. Under the broiler it went. It was pretty good, although I couldn't taste the tofu. Is that good or bad? The garlic and tomatoes made a nice combination. It might be good with a little Parmesan cheese.

For the stir-fry (gluten-free), I kinda cheated and used a bag of Asian-style frozen vegetables from the grocery store. I sliced the tofu into cubes. Then I heated some olive oil, sauteed the veggies, again with sea salt and garlic powder, then sauteed the tofu. It was ok, but nothing outstanding. I could taste the tofu a little more, but it's pretty bland.

Do you have some good tofu recipes you're willing to share?

Junk Food in Disguise

I like to feed my family home-cooked meals and give my kids healthy snacks. Yes, we like to have our cake (or brownies, cookies, ice cream, pie, etc.) and eat it, too, but we don't make a daily ritual of it. Since I'm home with the kids all day it's easier for me to dish up from-scratch meals than if I had a paying job, but sometimes we find ourselves having oatmeal or scrambled eggs and toast for supper.

There are times when the kids have eaten all the grapes and cottage cheese and we've had apples for 4 days straight and I'm looking around for something for them to snack on. I can always find raisins in the pantry, but most people like a little variety - my kids are no different - so I keep an eye out for non perishable snacks.

I don't think all parents buy junk food on purpose. Sure, there are parents who don't care. But some people just don't think about checking the label. I wasn't raised to read the ingredients. It's a habit I've gotten into over the years. There are times you have to give a product more than a cursory glance to know exactly what you're getting. I happen to have 2 packages of "fruit snacks" marketed for preschoolers. They were given to us and have been sitting in the pantry for a while.

A glance at the first shows "Fruit Snacks. Made with REAL FRUIT." Looks good, right? Here are the ingredients: juice from concentrates, corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, fruit puree, gelatin, citric acid, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavor, ascorbic acid, coconut oil, sodium citrate, carnauba wax, tocopherol acetate, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1, vitamin A. There are 15 g of sugar in one serving. The second says "Juice treats. Naturally flavored." The first two ingredients are corn syrup and sugar and there are 17 g of sugar in one serving. Why would I give these to my children?

So in addition to raisins, I've been trying to keep other dried fruits on hand: things like dates, papayas, apricots, and pineapple. I've also found fruit leathers. I like these kinds of snacks because you can store them for an extended amount of time in the pantry (stock up when they're on sale) and they're easy to throw in a bag before you head out the door.