Dreamy Monday

I love images like this. This one is not from my pack of Sweet Dreams cards. I had to put them away from sweet little Firecracker, and, well, I can't find them. *sigh*

This image was created by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, who also wrote fairy poems and stories.




Isn't it wonderful?

Voluntary Simplicity

This is so cool. A group of high school teens are voluntarily giving up one modern convenience each month this school year. Things like sugar, cell phones and non-consumables.

They're blogging it here. You can read news blurbs about them here, here and here.

Could you do this? What do you think they're learning?

I think they're awesome, and their teacher is amazing. Not only for thinking it up, but being the kind of inspiring person that could persuade a bunch of teenagers to go without sugar, eating out and their cell phones!!

Organic garden at the White House

Yup! Groovy, isn't it?

Ping

The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have especially fond memories of this book. I just felt like I was there, on the river.

Re-reading it this week brought to mind sadness at how quickly the planet can be changed by people. The Yangtze river way of life is quite different than it was 70 years ago when this book was written. (And perhaps Flack didn't have it exactly right; she's not Chinese, after all.) But certainly things have changed. In the 30 years since I became acquainted with the book, the Yangtze Valley has lost 140 villages, 1,600 factories and over 80,000 acres of growable land, and one species of dolphin to the Three Gorges Dam. That's unfathomable.

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What?.. Who?!

My Firecracker walked up to me the other day and said, "I don't want to be naked. I want to wear clothes."

I immediately thought, "who are you and what have you done with my child!?"

She proceeded to get a shirt out of her drawer (she actually remembered where they are) and wore it for several hours!

There's hope for all.

"Got Petroleum" indeed

I've always been kind of sensitive to chemicals and smells. The travel sickness that plagued me each summer as a kid was half motion sickness, half smells (airplane interior, hot car, gas fumes, exhaust, etc). But this last pregnancy kicked my body into full-on chemical sensitivity.

Fragrance is particularly bad on me. I've always had headache and stomach ache accompany most fragrances. The last few years I've added "fog brain" to my reaction. It stinks not being able to think, especially when that's my most especial talent! ;) But recently, I've also added ANGER to the mix.

One good whiff of cologne or perfume (church is the worst offender), and not only do my head and stomach hurt, and I can't think, but EVERYONE IS PISSING ME OFF AND BEING REALLY BIG FAT JERKS. For about 24 hours, I'm Mrs Hyde.

What does this have to do with petroleum? Well, most fragrances, as well as food coloring, flavoring, and preservatives are petroleum-derived. That's a pretty way of saying that we eat, breathe and rub into our skin chemically altered crude oil. It's a wonder more people don't react like I do. ;)

I also think that Firecracker owes some of her "spunk" to petroleum sensitivity. She adores flavored, colored food, but it does not adore her. Flavored chips, especially Funions, make her a wild animal.

I just rediscovered the Feingold Association. I always thought they were about gluten and casein free eating, but they also keep a list of petroleum-free "safe" foods, by brand and product. I tried to find out more about the list by poking around the internet, but there is nothing specific to be found. It turns out that they only release the "list" to members (it's about $90/year), and members agree not to discuss specifics with non-members. At first I was put off, but then I began to realize how much time and effort must go into researching these things. The best way to make sure that FA can continue to provide this information is to honor it by paying for it.

Some other resources I've been soaking up lately are:

Got Petroleum...in your food? blog
Grist: environmental news and commentary
Environmental Working Group (home of Skin Deep, the database on personal care ingredients)
Women's Voices for the Earth
Healthy Child Healthy World
Debra Lynn Dadd, author of Home Safe Home and extensive list of "green" products

Both Women's Voices and Healthy Child have a "green party" you can throw at home that highlight products and homemade recipes that are safer. I'm thinking about doing one or both of those.

Are you one of the blissfully ignorant and symptom-free, or a fellow sufferer, like me? :)

wiiFit Island

So my exercise routine of late has consisted of "running" around the wiiFit island 2 or 3 times, then doing several sun salutations and ab work, Shiva Rea style. That takes about 45 minutes.

Running around the wiiFit island is kinda fun. First of all, the miis that come with the game, and the ones we created to look like our family, run with you, or stand on the side lines and cheer you on. That's pretty cool.



Secondly, you can change the route you run by following the various dogs. While you're running along, a dog will pass you, and if you speed up, you can pass your guide and follow the dog. One route takes you through the town, another ends up on the beach, and another ends up in the volcano's caldera. Is that cool, or what?

Chicken Little

Have any of you had to deal with panic and anxiety? It sucks. But one of the really frustrating things is that being constantly awash with fear, worry and terror should make one more empathetic to the feelings of others; but, ironically, being awash with fear, worry and terror makes you paralyzed and incapable of empathizing. Until you find whatever it is that helps you deal. If you ever do.

I have had many things help me over the years; in fact it's rarely one thing that does the trick.

Chicken Little.... was a chicken. Scaredy-cat, a wuss, whatever. And I've been thinking about that fable, and a modern day moral. Fear is so unproductive, so counter-productive. It's no fun, it's a downer. It taints decisions and perceptions, and it sucks the joy right out of life, even when it should be easy to be happy.

I preferred the Chicken Little story I linked to over some of the others, because Chicken Little does not get eaten by the fox; rather, the fox is chased away by the King's dogs. How nice for Chicken Little. She lives another day!

But then I got to thinking about that umbrella. She kept her sanity by virtue of carrying that umbrella, even if it wasn't raining.... Hm, still seems neurotic to me.

I have finally came to a place where not wanting to be afraid was more powerful than the actual fear itself. Fear is one thing. Fear of fear is what most anxiety is actually about. It's so abstract and subjective and never based on what's *actually* happening - that's where its power comes from. It's irrational and cannot be reasoned with, so it always thinks it wins.

I've just read parts of a book called Overcoming the Fear of Fear, by Margo Watt (et al) on googlebooks. (It's only a partial preview, meaning there are chunks of the book "missing" but it still gives a good feel for the book's message.) There's all kinds of interesting research mentioned in the beginning about "anxiety sensitivity," which, boy howdy, I have had all my life, and didn't even know it until I was in my 30's.

The ultimate goal for Chicken Little is hopefully to learn to live without the umbrella. It's nice to use the umbrella for a while (be it therapy, meds, whatever), to get out of the completely and totally miserable neurotic state of "the sky is falling, the sky is falling!!" But relying on the umbrella would get just as old. Weaning is OK. Gentle and slow is alright. But I'm shooting for leaving the umbrella on the coat rack, unless it's really going to rain.

Autism

And now for something completely different.

And not Monty Python related, either. Recently, I became aware that there are many autistics who vehemently oppose the intent and efforts of Autism Speaks. This surpises me in two ways:

1) that an advocacy organization could be hated by the population is supposedly serves, and
2) I hear pain and anger. I don't know why, but I was surprised to hear phrases like "leading advocacy organization that does not support the needs of the people it claims to represent," "sensationalistic descriptions of autism that frighten and misinform the general public," "they spend much of their funds to research prenatal testing that would prevent more autistic people like me from being born." The pain and anger is not directed towards being autistic, but towards others' reactions to autism.

The vibe I got from the posts I read was similar to the deaf community that resents the perception that deafness needs to be fixed.

Certainly there are many functioning autistic people who contribute to society in unique and wonderful ways. But do we *not* try to prevent autism, which can also be terribly debilitating, not only for the person who has it, but for their entire family?

Absolutely, services could be better. That's the understatement of the century. Services, funding and public understanding for autism are the pits.

I'll have to ask my brother if he would rather be autistic, nor not autistic. Never thought to wonder that before....

This is how I cook

Everything I do, Firecracker does. I can't keep her down. If I remove her little chair, she'll stand on the wheat bucket. If I remove the bucket, it's the wheat mill. If I moved that (which I'm not, it's way too heavy!), she'd bring a chair from two rooms away.

So she cooks with me. She understands "hot." She's a fairly decent stirrer. And she pours like there's no tomorrow.

Notice how the seasonings are all to the side of the stove top that she can't reach? She'd have a pinch or handful of every spice in every pan on the stove if I let her! The pepper grinder is by far her favorite bottle. She loves to grind it, but even more, she likes to unscrew the little ball on top, remove the lid and pour whole peppercorns into soup. When I'm not looking. She's very good at that.
I wish I had a picture of her crouching on the kitchen table where we keep the Bosch. She climbs up there like a little chimpanzee, knows how to gently turn the knob on and off, lifts the lid to add ingredients, or just watches it whir.

Know what she's doing? She's mastering her world. She's an unstoppable force of nature, and someday she'll be an awesome cook.

Gardening as Peaceful Sedition

Farmer George Plants a Nation by Peggy Thomas

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I love how sometimes "cluster reading" several books at the same time seems so serendipitous. While reading this book, I was also reading Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich, where in she describes gardening as "peaceful sedition." Well, isn't that was George Washington was doing as he "planted less and less tobacco so he did not have to ship it to England. Instead he grew more and more wheat to sell to other colonists.... Soon Mount Vernon was like a little village." (p. 12)

And I'm also re-reading Food Not Lawns which is allll about gardening as peaceful sedition. Why do I romanticize the idea of rebellion? It just seems to fun!

But on the other hand, sometimes a little "civil disobedience" is called for. Isn't that what the Revolutionary War was all about!?

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"Plenty" review

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Interesting story, written by 2 freelance writers, interspersed with great essays on the history of food. Some favorite quotes:

A study in the UK showed that the amount of time people now spend driving to the supermarket, looking for parking, and wandering the lengthy aisles in search of a frozen pizza or pre-mixed salad is nearly equal to that spent preparing food from scratch 20 years ago.

Despite eating more than ever before, our culture may be the only one in human history to value food to little. From the African scrublands to the Australian deserts, nomads who collected food daily and never stored it considered sharing food to be the ultimate form of wealth. Among traditional Northwest people, a “poor” person was someone who never troubled to catch his own salmon, but was instead content to eat food produced b others. 158-62

Today is it more efficient for the UK to maintain the $330 million trade from New Zealand for apples, onions, dairy and sheep rather than to produce it in the UK. 221

I had expected the 100- mile experiment to be a platform to think about many things, among them a long list of bummers from climate change to the failure of whole generations to learn how to recognize edible mushrooms. What I could see around the table now was a less tangible consideration: a sense of adventure…. We need to find new ways to live into the future. We can start anytime; we can live them here and now. 222


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"Green This!" reviews

Green This! Volume 1: Greening Your Cleaning by Deirdre Imus

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
With this last pregnancy, my "mild" chemical sensitivity was kicked up to "totally annoying." I can't be around perfume, bleach, bathroom and kitchen cleaners, etc. Nor can I use anti-persperant, but that's another story. This book talks about how dangerous all those cleaners are, not just for people who are bothered by them, but for all people, especially our young children. She gives practical suggestions, which are few, because you really don't need all that much to keep a clean house. And yes, she is married to Don Imus.

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Greening Your Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Green This! Series by Deirdre Imus

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Just flipped through this highly anticipated follow-up to Greening Your Cleaning. Already highly disappointed. She's actually suggesting that organic baby formula in a glass baby bottle might be safer and superior to "contaminated" breastmilk. Then she refers mothers who might still choose the frightening avenue of breastfeeding in today's polluted world to La Leche League. If she had read anything about toxins and breastmilk by LLL, she would have learned that even mothers with serious concerns about pollutants in their breastmilk are better off breastfeeding!

I don't know if I have faith in anything else in the book, but I'll read it anyway.

*****************

Deirdre knows her chemicals and environmental toxins, but I would not say she practices natural living or natural parenting. That surprised me for some reason.

Things I liked or agreed with:

wooden toys rather than plastic for babies

the difference between sunblock (zinc or titanium dioxide) and sunscreen (chemically absorbs UV rays)

natural pet care ideas

she has a website called dienviro.com which will consult for free with you about the safety of your kids' school facilities and playground

eat organically when possible

avoid household cleaners, carpeting, petroleum products when possible

always ask questions about ingredients and procedures

advocate for change in your community


What I didn't agree with:

she recommends soy milk over dairy, even organic dairy, citing that even "clean" milk may have too much estrogen in it. Soy is arguably less healthy than dairy. And she doesn't even mention raw milk.

she tells pregnant moms to choose a "green hospital" for her birth, talks about midwives and doulas, and doesn't even mention the option of home! Can't get much "greener" than a homebirth! lol

in the same vein, she talks about green cribs and baby bedding, and doesn't mention co-sleeping as a lifestyle choice.

she chose "green" disposable diapers to cloth because services tend to use "heavy duty toxins" to clean their diapers, and washing them herself was overwhelming.

she spends a lot of time talking about the ins and outs of safe vaccinating, and does not mention or give credence to the option of not vaccinating.... ?

oh, and colic is supposed to get better if you stop eating broccoli! what an old wives' tale!

NO INDEX. That's a huge thing for me. 'Nuff said.

And since you made it this far, I might as well mention something that only began to bother me after I became disillusioned with this book. Her first book, when it was first published, said on the front, "the bestselling Green This! Series." That's some confident marketing, to claim a book is part of a bestselling series when the first book is brand new!

There is a lot of good information in this book, but you have to practice what she preaches and ask yourself lots of questions to decide what you take and what you leave behind.

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"buried in Treasure" review

Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding by David F. Tolin

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
So far, so good. I can say that because I'm not a hoarder! And the better news is that I'm finally getting some insight as to why I can't stay on top of clutter.

***************

I found the first part (the why) better than the how-to. There are any number of how-to organize books out there with better and worse instructions on how to go through your things and sort them.

The why of clutter is much more interesting, and a neglected discussion. I found for me, the qualities that contribute to clutter are: over-active ambitions (I think I can accomplish more than I really have time/energy for), inappropriate emotional attachment to items (write about it, figure it out, then chuck it or treat the item with respect), and plain old ADD. I semi-seriously wondered over the years of I could have ADD, but now I'm sure of it. I don't intent to "seek treatment" for it, but to know that's why I function the way I do is so enlightening! I can be more realistic with myself and gentler, too.

This book would be really helpful for loved ones of "hoarders" or "cluttery people." It is compassionately written and has several side-bars for family members and friends. Overall a really good book.


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Is your garden worth anything?

Over the years, I've had mixed success with gardening. My failures mostly involve forgetting to water, and letting the weeds get out of control, but once, there were the deer that ate my broccoli to the ground.

I've spent money on seedlings and seed that did not mature into food for the plate. I've even let that discourage me. But I've never thought about actual harvest in terms of monetary value. I mean, I probably wouldn't have bought as many tomatoes as we get from a few plants, so can I say I "saved" that much money by growing it?

Last year was by far the most productive year, probably because a dear friend brought over a steam canner and jars, AND her kids helped clean off the pear and apple trees, and I actually preserved food for the first time. Salsa, red and green, pears, and apple pie filling. It totally whet my appetite for more canning. I'm planning on doubling the amount of tomato plants, because we use a lot of canned tomatoes from the store.

I'd like to double the amount of green beans we grew (a 6' row rather than a 3' row), for fresh eating, not canning. Sauteed with garlic and butter, tender crisp... mmm.

I might even wrangle the kids into cleaning up the strawberry bed, which admittedly is an extension of the lawn now, with a couple dozen strawberry survivors.

And broccoli. Don't let the inevitability of bugs discourage you. I've never used pesticides in my garden, and eaten plenty of broccoli anyway. I learned from a friend to soak the broccoli in salt water for a few minutes and the bugs come right on out. How's that for organic? I don't mind sharing a little bit of my garden with the bugs, but I don't want to eat them. ewww

This article I just read has made me even more excited for this year's garden. What's a Home Garden Worth? gives the answer for one Maine family: $2149.15.

I know, that's a lot of money! They calculated that the average family garden, after expenses, would yield about $1.50 a square foot. Definitely food for thought. But I love these closing words:

Instead of saying "Honey, I'm going out to the garden to turn the compost pile", perhaps we should say "Honey, I'm going outside to do a 'green job' and work on our 'organic stimulus package.'”

"Healthy at 100" review

Healthy at 100: The Scientifically Proven Secrets of the World's Healthiest and Longest-Lived Peoples by John Robbins

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Enjoyable reading, solid research, good end-notes, great book.

I like how he put Weston Price in perspective. Either people revere him or discredit him. Robbins acknowledges that he made great observations, but had rather limited exposure to the peoples he visited, so it's not completely solid "science." Dr Price's suggestions are great ideas, but should be balanced with other great ideas. Use what works for you.

The chapter that blew me away was "Breaking Free from the Cultural Trance, or the real news on this planet." The real news is that love makes all the difference. His information on wealth distribution, what that tells you about a culture's values, and the effects on health were staggering to me. Of course, it makes sense now.

"The larger the gap between rich and poor, the less health will prevail." p. 265

What that means is that in a culture where the rich are *much* richer than the poor, that means that having wealth is a more valued trait than sharing wealth. It also means that the rich hold onto their wealth (generally speaking, I mean we all know of at least one generous rich person), which means that the poor have to work all that harder for the very basics (or give up and try to subsist on welfare), which means they have very little time for relationships (and then all the evils that occur from fragile or falling apart families will follow), which means that health suffers greatly.

No matter how "wealthy" or "poor" a nation, the greater the gap between rich and poor, the poorer health is in general. The smaller the gap between rich and poor, the better the health generally: for rich and poor. Huge implications. (Do I sound like a socialist? I don't think government has the duty to "fix" this; after all, it's a reflection on the people and their values, so government's not gonna change that. It's what we teach and value in our homes that filters up to results like this.)

Bhutan, which admittedly has its problems, has actually instituted Gross National Happiness as a measure of national prosperity, rather than Gross Domestic Product. Revolutionary! It may sound fru-fru, idealistic and a little hippy-ish, but it means healthier people. Happiness and love really do make a considerable difference.

A funny image just came to mind. Once science begins to acknowledge the effects of love, can you image a roomful of scientists trying to decide how to "control" for "love" in a study on health? They'll try it, I'm sure.

I won't go on right now. Terrific book.


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"How to Make Books" review

How to Make Books: Fold, Cut & Stitch Your Way to a One-of-a-Kind Book by Esther K. Smith

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Terrific layout, clean design.... But no new stuff. Unless the idea of using linoleum as cover board is "new." I was expecting more and exciting beyond Japanese stab-binding, accordion and dos-se-do. I was hoping for stuff like this and this, and this. Well, maybe not that last one. But isn't that music terrific!?

I felt that the material in this book was already available in books like Cover To Cover: Creative Techniques For Making Beautiful Books, Journals & Albums, Handmade Books And Cards, Making Books That Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist, And Turn: Books for Kids to Make, and More Making Books by Hand: Exploring Miniature Books, Alternative Structures, and Found Objects, which are all available at my library. The fresh design and layout of the material made for an enjoyable read, but I don't know if I'd buy it.

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Dreamy Monday

Dream-travelers, there is no path,
paths are made by dreaming.
- Antonio Machado

The Vault is... backpedalling

You see, I started this blog to accompany the etsy store where I listed some of the fabric and patterns and such that my mom gave me a few months back. I guess I'm not an entrepreneur at heart... I just started playing with the blog and having so much fun. Widgets, html, links, uploading pictures, oh my!

In the meantime, NOT ONE NIBBLE at the etsy shop. :)

That ginormous tub of sewing goodness is still parked underneath the dining table, and it needs to move. So, any of you who live near-by, consider yourself invited to stop by and rummage through. Then the rest is going to the local thrift. Where it will find loving homes. I absolutely love finding great scores at the local thrift. Most of my family's wardrobe, including shoes, is bought there. It's the best kind of recycling there is.

So, "giving" is part of my motivation, in terms of giving to others. But more so, "giving" in terms of "getting it out of HERE" is the greater motivation. I'm a pack-rat, and I'm trying to find the balance between "keep everything that might *ever* have a good use" and "chuck it - throw it all." That's a hard place to find, but "giving" is undeniably part of the equation. So I'm practicing giving.

Come on over.

the science behind sweets

I'm researching the periodic table for a class I teach and ran across this gem, or should I say "morsel" of goodness.




Isn't that sweet? ;) Found here.

what a sweetie

My 2 year old, Firecracker, has been watching "Enchanted" a lot lately. But she refers to it as "True Love's First Kiss." awwww

"less IS more" and it happens every day

This post and quote by Rachel Carson pretty much sum up my belief in the homeschooling way of life. Learning just happens. We can't really stop it! We've become so accustomed to tests and grades and passing and failing, that we forget that we are all learning everyday. A child really can learn everything she needs to know, and ALL THE SKILLS, without a formal education.

I really like this newish blog - go give her a visit!

"When Roger has visited me in Maine and we have walked in these woods I have made no conscious effort to name plants or animals nor to explain to him, but have just expressed my own pleasure in what we see, calling his attention to this or that but only as I would share discoveries with an older person. Later I have been amazed at the way names stick in his mind, for when I show color slides of my woods plants it is Roger who can identify them. "Oh, that's what Rachel likes--that's bunchberry!" Or, "That's Jumer {juniper} but you can't eat those green berries--they are for the squirrels." I am sure no amount of drill would have implanted the names so firmly as just going through the woods in the spirit of two friends on an expedition of exciting discovery."

-Excerpt from The Sense Of Wonder by Rachel Carson -- Words and pictures to help you keep alive your child's inborn sense of wonder, and renew your own delight in the mysteries of earth, sea and sky.

Validated

I stumbled upon this video whilst blog-hopping. What a gem! Our family has been plowing through the TV series Bones on Netflix, so we especially enjoyed this short movie, with TJ Thyne in it.

It's fun and funny, and at 15 minutes, not tooo long.

Enjoy!

Dreamy Monday

The wall is silence,
the grass is sleep,

Tall trees of peace their vigil keep,

And the Fairy of Dreams,

with moth-wings furled,

Sings soft her secrets
to the drowsy world.

- Ida Rentoul Outhwaite

Gentle parenting

One great thing I learned from La Leche League over the years is the idea that gentle parenting isn't just nicer, but it works better. These days there's all kinds of gentle parenting books and websites. Dr. Sears did a great thing when he coined the phrase "attachment parenting." Attachment does not lead to spoiling, as our parents' and grandparents' generations would have you believe. It leads to more secure and authentic relationships. Why do we think our kids are gonna do what we say or do if they don't trust us?

Anyway, I stumbled upon this list of respectful discipline ideas, and they really resonate with me.

Some of my current favorites:

1. Model the behavior you want. Show your child how you expect him to behave. If you want him to use please and thank you, make sure you use those words yourself. If you want him to handle his anger appropriately, make sure you are handling yours appropriately as well.
Um, I'm still working on this one, but it's a terrific commitment to make!

15. Notice your child doing things well. He needs to hear more positives than negatives, more about what he is doing right than doing wrong. "You worked on that project all morning--that's what I call perseverance." We don't have to get heavily into praise, just *notice* it, let them know what they are doing right so they can do it again.
There is a difference between noticing and praising. Some praise is nice, but just noticing is usually all we need - to be noticed.

17. Make confident statements. Show your child you are confident he can overcome a problem. "You are getting less and less afraid of bugs every day," or "You've forgotten your violin three times. Since you are a resourceful person, I know you can figure out a way to remember your violin in the future."
I've learned to do this all the time. Expressing confidence in your kids is so empowering, not only for them, but for me. Sometime, *I* need to remember that they are capable!

22. Use one word. Instead of a long lecture on neatness, just say "TOWEL!" when your child leaves his towel on the floor.
"CAT!!!" seems to come out of my mouth a lot these days...

3. Focus on solutions instead of blame. When your child spills milk, don't say, "You spilled milk!" say, "There is spilled milk. Here is a sponge to wipe it up," and let the child wipe it up. What I've seen is that kids are more than happy to make reparations if we allow them to, if we don't force them into defensiveness by blaming or shaming them.
"Here's a rag" also comes out of my mouth a lot these days. So much more effective than "You... grrrrrr!"

What do you think? Pansy parenting? ;) Does this sort of thing come naturally to you, or do you work at it?