New Year

Here's hoping to have left 2008 in the dust. It has been clawing away at us and we feel pretty banged up, the last blow coming just a week before Christmas, courtesy of the IRS. Thanks a lot. We'll see how the recovery goes. Now if only there aren't surprise twins or something...whew.

On the bright side, we went to FL to visit friends and relatives, and thankfully made it home without mishap. Whirl wind trip for sure, but sun every day and wonderful warm temps! It helped to ease the winter doldrums for a while, helped by some quality time with soul mates. I'm grateful to be home, ready to cleanse our house of all the holiday mess and clutter and start fresh. My Dh might deny my attempts, in that I brought home a stash of fabric to add to my collection and need to get some things under control, but I'm working on it, I promise!

Leon has enjoyed all the fun new toys, gravitating towards the ones that make noise right now. I'm learning more and more that Christmas is really about the giver. I may have specific ideas about the toys I want our children playing with, but communicating that is difficult and leaves me feeling alone and misunderstood. (Not to mention coming across like an a-hole.) *sigh* So I will let the plastic stay, for a little bit. (And be very grateful for those who had ears to hear, or at least to care.) When the enamor wears off they will quietly disappear. I just hope that I can gently help people to think about what they are buying and supporting. Why should children and underpaid workers make toys for our rich American lifestyles? It is easy to choose one quality toy that is sustainably made (ie, true cost is reflected, workers paid fairly, trees harvested with long term in mind) verses several plastic toys that won't last, are more than likely made in China, and will end up polluting our lives in a landfill somewhere. I'm so tired of all the crap! And I become more convinced that natural and classic toys stimulate the imagination instead of being limited and manipulating the child, in a sense.

Ok, now I'm rambling on a tangent and not making any sense. Humm.

Anyway, for this year I would like to reduce our trash output, prepare to use cloth diapers on our next child, and put up a clothesline. (The last is a goal from 2 years ago, grrr.) I also need to focus on our food budget because things are going to get tighter than they have been already, and I want to be better at planning a menu. And then the garden this year too - we need to take full advantage of planting early and storing food as it's harvested. We did better last year, but this will be a challenge with a new baby in the mix. Whew!

Oh, just thought of something else. I want to make tempeh more regularly and also yogurt. I can't continue to pay $4 a quart! And fresh bread too. There is a great no-knead recipe here, at Mother Earth News. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-12-01/Easy-No-Knead-Dutch-Oven-Crusty-Bread.aspx  It soaks itself and is very easy, as long as you have pots that will go in the oven and can remember to start it a day ahead! I have doubled it with no problem as well.

Alrighty, over and out....



Sweet Boy, no longer a baby but still my baby,
cuddled up to me, eyes dazed as you nurse.
These times are fewer and further between.
I cherish every one
as you lay curled on my lap,
almost too big, but not quite.
Your baby sister? kicks, and
soon she will join us, but for now
we have this time.