I have favorite things, too

I'm on "vacation" this week from teaching. I used the quotes because I have papers to grade, class work to prep, and lots of typical mommy stuff to do this week, not to mention the job of cooking for Thanksgiving, getting our Christmas tree up, and organizing our holiday card photo... so I'm not in the classroom this week, but I'm not sitting around with nothing to do, either.

With that said, I arranged my day around watching Oprah's Favorite Things Episode last night. Sigh. I was disappointed.

I liked that she scaled back her efforts (i.e. smaller audience) and that she chose military wives--a group of hard working, self-sacrificing women in which to bestow her loot. And, for the most part, I liked the gifts, but I just didn't get into the way it all unfolded. The usual excitement/emotion was somehow missing from the event and I wound up feeling mad that I didn't watch The Next Iron Chef Redemption instead. EVEN WORSE... I had a brief moment where I wish I would have graded papers(4-6 page essays on education and Plato's Allegory of the Cave). YIKES!

Oprah's been doing this since 1997... did you know that? I just googled it because for the longest time, I had myself convinced that my mom came up with idea of gifting "favorite things" at the holidays. I know-- crazy. But the women of my family have been trading tea towels, Yankee candles, and the best-ever, comfy, fuzzy socks for such a long time that I thought, maybe, we were first to think of it.

My dad has always said, "There's no such thing as an original idea." For that, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that "favorite things" was not a family tradition ripped off by Oprah, but instead, an idea we flat out stole from her.

We started in 2002. And so, in my family, as with last night's Oprah show, we've lost the excitement and emotion for it. After all, in our price range, there are only so many candles, and kitchen gadgets, and puzzle books, and best-ever, comfy, fuzzy socks.Let's not even open the can of worms that is the economy, the jobs report, forseeable tax hikes, my dad's retirement... all that stuff that makes responsible adults feel guilty about buying anything these days. I'm not sure about the fate of "favorite things" this year.

But if I had a magic pocketbook...one that was bottomless with $5 and $10 and let me buy all the little gadgets and do dads for my sister-in-law, and my aunts, and my mom, here is my list of favorite things:

1. The Chocoveda Chakra Box of Chocolates

2. Zella "Live in" Legging

3. lululemon atletica Y Tank

4. Super Cute Mini Stainless Steel Travel mug

5. Heifer International: A Flock of Chicks

6. Popcorn: from our own store (website is still being constructed)

7.

It's SO easy being green...

Here's the recipe for my favorite GREEN SMOOTHIE
1 cup fresh, organic spinich
I section (about 5 inches) of English cucumber
1 avocado (skin and pit ommitted)
Juice from 2 small green apples and 1 medium pear

I juice the fruit in my Breville juicer. I whizz the vegetables and fruit juice in the Magic Bullet. Sometimes I add crushed ice to ensure the smoothie is super cold. This is a very tasty smoothy, but making it REALLY cold with the addition of the ice makes it feel like more of a treat.

Another variation (although less sweet) would be to elimated the avocado and substitute freshly brewed, unsweetened green tea in place of the fruit juice.

Cutting back on dairy products has been the hardest, but this VERY BERRY SMOOTHIE doesn't miss yogurt or milk. It uses Almond Milk as it's base which gives the drink a much richer flavor than milk and makes it less tangy than the greek yogurt I had been using.

Here's all you need:
1 cup Almond Milk (unsweetend vanilla)
1 cup frozen berry mix

For the berries, I use organic produce that I've bought in bulk and frozen. In the winter, when I run out of my own stuff, I buy an organic medley of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries from Whole Foods.

I whiz these two in the Magic Bullet and have a delicious smoothie in less than a minute!

Also, try this really delicious variation:

1 cup Almond Milk (unsweetened vanilla)
1 frozen banana
1 cup of blueberries
1 mango, diced

The kids and I were drinking these every morning with breakfast (OR as breakfast!!) but lately we've switched to preferring this refreshing beverage in the afternoon as something light, yet tasty that won't spoil dinner.

Switching from packaged stuff felt difficult at first, but once I committed to spending 5 extra minutes on fresh stuff... well, it's been easy being green and clean.

Story of my life...

It seems as if I'm always doing this--standing in the kitchen, looking through a cookbook, trying to figure out what's for dinner.

My mom tells a similar story about the stress of the infamous question, "What's for dinner?" In some ways her telling of it is a boast that she not only worked 8-4, five days a week, but that she also cooked a full, homemade meal, worthy of sitting down at the dining room table, following every one of those long days at the office.

I think it was 1976 when she "went back to work"--the year that both my brother and I were in school all day, the family was low on cash, and my dad had a flexible enough schedule as a professor at a university that she could work full time even though we only had one car.

She rode with a friend who lived nearby. Each day, she was picked up at 7:30 am and dropped off at 4:30 pm. And according to my mom, each day, just as her high-heeled foot would extend from the open car door and touch the curb, my brother, sitting patiently on the cement front steps, would say, "Mom, what's for dinner?" She claims he looked pitiful and forlorn as if he hadn't eaten all day. He claims he hated broccoli and kidney beans and was merely ensuring he'd have a stress-free meal.

Which ever is true is no longer the point of the story. For me, as a working mom with school-aged kids, the story is more about how one woman "did it all". How she, exhausted after a full day of work outside the home, kicked off her heels, and went to work again in her own kitchen. It's about how one woman, despite the shifting cultural paradigms from the role of the stay-at-home/housewife to that of the working mom with the latchkey kids, successfully merged the two sets of values-- making it look easy and making it look as if every other mom was doing this, too.

There are times when I'm tired or when I just don't feel like cooking. There are times when I contemplate calling out for pizza, but because of my mom and all those hot meals, served promptly at 5:45pm, I think better of it and keep flipping the pages of my cookbook until I find the perfect thing for tonight.

New food is never easy...

It's been two years since my abdominal surgery and almost three years since I've taken any medication. And although that milestone in itself makes me feel good, the real reason for my energy and clarity is the natural path of whole foods, exercise, and meditation that resulted from the frustrations I had with medication, doctors, and the idea of other surgeries.

My diet has been mostly vegetables, limited dairy, and limited gluton for quite sometime. But the kids and Eric... well, it's been "healthy" but not nearly as strict and "mindful" of nutrients as mine... until recently.

When Andrew started getting stomach aches and gut-wrenching cramps similar to my experiences of several years ago, I couldn't fathom the idea of him following in my footsteps by undergoing the same tests, taking the same medications, or god forbid, someday, needing surgery. Now, the whole family eats what I eat and endures the lectures (which I fondly refer to as "re-education") of the dangers and evils of processed foods and sugar. They ride with me to Whole Foods, an hour and a half away in Lincoln Park, and they patiently endure the times I'm unavailable, meditating in my closet.

Andrew is on board because he knows that he won't get a stomach ache when he follows my diet. But Adrienne? She misses the sweets and most importantly, she misses french fries and chicken nuggets, corn dogs, and Quaker granola bars. She sometimes wishes I would just buy her one package of Oreo's or just one small bag of Doritos.

Notorious for communicating through notes, Adrienne left this on the kitchen counter. New food and new habits are never easy....

Gratitude and Relief

Earlier today, I thought for sure that Adrienne's gymnastics meet (intra squad event at the high school tonight) would surely be the "awesome" thing for today. And for that reason, I took two cameras, hoping to get a good shot of her.

But as great as Adrienne performed, Andrew went missing for three hours which totally overshadowed everything and made for a dramatic evening in a way I wasn't anticipating.

It was around 5:15pm when I received a text from him... He was at Saint Paul, his former school, visiting friends by attending a girls' volleyball game. The game had started and he'd already connected with the parent that had agreed to bring him home. His next text, a few minutes later, asked if he stay out after the game by going over to this friend's house. I said no. I asked him to text me when the game ended and then again when he got into the house (Eric was working and I was sitting in the stands at the gymnastics meet). No response.

Forty five minutes passed with no texts, no answering his cell phone or our house phone. And no response from the parent who agreed to drive him home. Initially, I wasn't worried. I thought he probably made it home and just forgot to let me know.

But when a Saint Paul parent arrived at the meet, having previously been at the Volleyball game, and did not recall seeing Andrew... well, I got worried. And when that same parent said Andrew's ride had gone to Pizza Hut with the team and Andrew for sure wasn't with them because she'd just come from there, I became stricken with panic. What had happened?

In the meantime, Eric finished his last patient and sent a text wondering if I was still at the gymnastics meet. I briefed him on Andrew's trip to the volleyball game, the break in communication, and the Saint Paul parent not recalling his attendance at the game or his presence at Pizza Hut. Eric drove home to check the house and drove to Saint Paul, all to no avail...No Andrew.

I felt sick, like the whole gym was spinning. It was possible Andrew's phone was dead and he couldn't call me or text me, but the information about Pizza Hut clouded the scenario. Why didn't he go with who he said he was going to go with? And if he did end up with another friend, why hadn't he made it home yet? The volleyball game had now been over for more than an hour now.

I pulled Adrienne from the meet and drove home to stategize with Eric about where to begin looking and to discuss at what point we call the police if we can't find him.

Most of the people Andrew mentioned would be at the volleyball game were girls. I didn't have any of those phone numbers on hand, other than the parent who agreed to drive him home and she still wasn't answering. As a result, I had to look for old school directories. Since we switched schools this year, all that information was moved to a drawer to make room for the current directories. I had a hard time finding what I needed. My hands shook, my focus divided between the task at hand and scenarios that might have come up at the game or after the game. I'd talked to the mom who agreed to bring him home. She didn't mention Pizza Hut at the time. My mind raced.

After two phone calls, I had no leads. Both calls were to houses that had a girl on the volleyball team last year, but not this year. Finally on my third call, I learned that Andrew did arrive at the gym and did leave with the parent he said he would leave with. And then one other phone call and I got this: The woman that agreed to drive Andrew is now divorced and her daughters were due to her ex-husband after the volleyball game.

Despite the fact that she told me over the phone that she would be happy to bring Andrew home, she took two of her daughters and Andrew to her ex-husband's house and then dropped her other daughter off at Pizza Hut. Why she didn't drop Andrew on her way to the ex-husband's house is puzzling (since we live right across the street from the school), but not surprising. I've had other oddball dealings with this same woman but thought that our close proximity to Saint Paul wouldn't possibly create the jaugernaut that she created tonight.

Then the doorbell rang. The ex-husband and Andrew stood in the shadows on the porch. Relief.

This probably reads as if there was just a lack of communication and a little misunderstaning. And in many ways that was true. However, there was also a time gap between when the volleyball game ended and when Andrew eventually showed up at the door that really had me envisioning CNN and CSI. Maybe I watch too many news shows, maybe I've become cyncial and distrustful of our society... But this situation was so unlike Andrew and so far fetched to create in my mind, that I couldn't help but think otherwise--worse things.

All the while Andrew was out of communication I couldn't stop thinking aobut how much he loves his phone!! He texts constantly!! He loves to call people to get or give the update. Not communicating was odd...

And so this was the downfall of our arrangement--so much texting and calling did land his phone into dead battery land. And he's just not old enough, not experienced enough, and not quite savy enough to know that when he was in limbo at the ex-husband's house, and finding that his phone was dead, that he should have asked to use the house phone.

One phone call is all it takes. He could have let me know what happened and I would have stayed at the meet, saved myself a double shot of adrenaline.

BUT... now he knows.

He saw the look on my face when I opened the door. It was 8:30pm--about the time he normally gets in the shower. From his eyes I could tell he didn't like what had happened either.

I felt relief and gratitude that he made it home. I also felt relief and gratitude that this happened now--in the sixth grade, and that it only took a few hours... hopefully, he'll file this away and remember to keep me posted next time. And if he doesn't... I'll be sure to remind him.

Love Tuesdays

This is Eric, aka, my husband. I don't write about him very often. I'm not sure why. I was that way in grad school. I wrote about my kids, but never about my husband. So why today?

Well... Eric is off work on Tuesdays. And... I have a meeting after classes every Tuesday which makes it impossible for me to pick up Andrew at school and nearly impossible for me to be home when Adrienne gets off the bus. So... Tuesdays have become Eric's day where he does those things. But... He also makes dinner AND takes Adrienne to gymnastics AND picks her up.

On Tuesdays, all I have to do is come home and put my feet up. I can read if I want, I can take a long shower with no interruptions, I can watch the Food Network or the Oprah Network without a heavy sigh or complaint, AND I can sit and just stare out the window if I so choose. Because...Eric ALSO cooks dinner on Tuesdays.

This afternoon, I came home to Ina Gartin's Ultimate Brownies, a Fall Maple cookie (of his own creation) AND Tyler Florence's Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread.

I would normally link the recipes to my post, but it's Tuesday... I do very little work on Tuesday. Tuesdays, because of Eric's willingness to step up to the plate, are always awesome!!!

My House Beautiful

I love Sundays. It's the only day of the week when I sleep in.

When I finally decide to roll out of bed, I make French Toast or Pancakes for Eric and the kids. Then...I spend the rest of the day preparing for the week: doing laundry, planning out meals, grocery shopping, putting away coats, toys, shoes...or whatever didn't get put back in its proper spot due to the busyness of the last six days.

When it's all done, I guess you could say, Sunday is my day to hit the re-set button.

As I type: Dinner's done. Laundry's done. Kitchen's clean. Backpacks are organized. And even my own preparation for class is complete. I'm ready to start a new week.

But best of all, the last of the new family room furniture arrived yesterday. We're still waiting for speakers to complete the upgrade on the TV (which will require installation), but the room, in terms of furniture is finally complete.

It's the most awesome feeling at the end of a long day of organizing, cleaning and cooking, to have a comfortable AND BEAUTIFUL place to sit down and prop my feet up.