Planting the flag

We took the flag down from the shopping center and we planted it in the Victory Garden
~ Barbara Kingsolver

I was catching up on podcasts of The Splendid Table today. One of the topics was the end of their year long locavore project. After listening to the inspiring snippets from the participants, there was an interview with Barbara Kingsolver. She was discussing the hard times our country has come through before when she made the comment above.

While we are still in the depths of winter here, the spring planting season is truly just around the corner. Let us all plant that flag in the Victory Garden this year.

Local and sustainable over cheap. Consume fewer goods with a willingness to pay a fair price for the goods that are consumed. Buy direct; buy local. Get back to basics.

Television as a right?

Why should the US government fund the purchase of television converter boxes?

This has been bothering me since I first heard about the coupon program.

There are people who cannot financially afford the converter box, who do not have cable or digital televisions and who rely on the television for news and public information. This is the angle from which the vouchers were first explained to me, and I can kind of understand it from this perspective.

However, it seems like the vast majority of the people who are getting these vouchers are not in this category.

These coupons were not intended to covert every single analog television in this country to digital.

The bigger issue to me is why is television considered a right and public safety issue (for the reasons mentioned above) when health insurance is not?

Our priorities as a nation are screwed up.

Things we never grow out of

When we were kids, my siblings and I drove our mother nuts with one of our habits. She would go grocery shopping, and we three would spend the next two days eating all of the good cereals for breakfasts and every snack. You know, the ones that were expensive and chock full of sugar. Peanut Butter Crunch and Super Sugar Crisp (or should I say Super Golden Crisp nowadays?) were huge favorites.

Since mom went grocery shopping every other week, devouring all the good cereal quickly meant our breakfast choices mostly consisted of Cheerios* or cornflakes until she went grocery shopping again. Being kids, we even had the nerve to complain about the lack of good cereal, even though if we had not gorged ourselves on it, it could have lasted a week.

I realized last night, that I still do this. I rarely eat cereal. I prefer a bagel, scrambled eggs with spinach or yougurt with granola for breakfast. However, if I buy good cereal, I always eat a bowl or two within the next day. Now, my definition of good cereal has changed a little. These days, good cereal means Raisin Nut Bran or Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds. I picked up a big of box of the former yesterday at a great price, so come late evening, guess what I was snacking on?

Yum.

*Mom had a weakness for Honey Nut Cheerios. This would explain my lifelong love of that cereal. Honey Nut Cheerios are second only to eating Frosted Cheerios with fresh blueberries, and it is a close second.

What if?

What if every adult and teen in the United States gave just four hours a month to volunteering in 2009?

What if we gave our time to any service organization on a consistent basis? Any type of volunteering - community service groups, eduction, health care, elderly services, youth programs, environmental programs, social services programs, anything.

Four hours a month. That is one hour a week playing cards with lonely elders at the nursing home. One Saturday morning a month spent gathering donated food for the food pantry. One afternoon a month volunteering in the reading program at the local school or pulling invasive plants along the bike trail. One meeting and action item for a community development committee.

Can you imagine the impact on your nation, your state, your community?

Could you donate just four hours a month to helping our society? Four hours on a bi-weekly basis? Four hours a week?

I am up for the challenge. How about you?

Sounds of Snow

I find it interesting that one can guage warm it is in winter just by the sound of the snow

Warm days mean snow that squelches wetly underfoot. It squishes and compacts as we walk along.

Snow gets squeakier as the mercury drops. When the temperature is in the teens, our boots squeak merrily as we walk downtown to do our errands.

Today, it was eighteen below zero as I walked to work. The snow was crisp and reminded me of styrofoam as I walked quickly through the frigid elements.

I do hope the squelchy, slushy sounds come back quickly.

In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago.
~ Christina Rossetti

Foods I can live without

Reading the Homesick Texan's blog today got me thinking about foods that I wish I liked. She was writing about grapefruit, and how she only likes it sweeten.

Grapefruit is one of those foods I wish I liked. Growing up, I was often the one who would prepare a grapefruit for my father. I'd cut it in half, use the special knife to section it and run around the sides. I enjoyed the ritual of it, and I loved the smell. The taste though? Bleh. Not for me. I still do not like grapefruit, though the smell is still wonderful.

Ham is another of those foods. It is served at most of my family holiday celebrations, and I really do not like it. A little on a sandwich or in a risotto is good, but just a slab of ham on my plate will leave me nibbling the protein and reaching for another helping of cheesy potatoes.

I do not like ginger. Yes, I know it is more of a flavoring, not really a food you just eat, but I do not like dishes made with more than a touch of ginger. Gingersnaps, great. Gingered stir fry or curry? No.

Canned pears disgust me. I cannot stand the graininess of them. I grew up thinking I hated pears, but as a grown up I discovered that I just hate canned ones. Perfectly ripe fresh pears are satiny and wonderful though. Now that I think about it, this applies to canned fruit in general. Home canned peaches are an exception, along with pineapple.

Plums. Just do not care for them. Every year I buy them thinking I will like them this year, and every year I foist them off on the unsuspecting children.

Beer. Dis-gust-ing. Betrays my German heritage, I know. Hate the stuff. Every single one I have ever tried.

Green olives. Liverwurst. Canned peas. Grocery store cakes. Green grapes. Smoked cheeses.

I guess if anyone is thinking of treating me to a food gift, you now have a heads up to avoid these.

Sing it with me "Summer Lovin' happens so fast"

Luis popped the movie Grease in recently, which was rather ironic since it was the topic of discussion for a few minutes last week with a group of women I know.

I love the movie. I do not even know how many times I have watched it. I love to sing along with the songs, even the cheesy ones. It is such a fun movie.

When women discuss Grease, there tend to be two things that come up. Most of us love it. Many of us also comment on the fact that Sandy had to change to get her man, and was that really the right message to give women? This came up last week with the group of women again.

I was thinking about that today. Sandy was portrayed as a goody-goody, and Danny was obviously the bad boy. But really, what happened in the summer that we know nothing about? How goody-goody can Sandy be and still date a bad boy all summer? How bad can Danny be if he fell for Sandy? I think that during that summer, away from the restraining influence of friends, both let their real selves out to play.

It seems to me that Sandy has a wild streak in her that she was afraid to let out. Many young women have a hard time casting aside the "daddy's little girl" sweetness and light image to become who they are. It is only as we as women grow and mature that we gain the confidence to let the world see us as we really are.

I think Danny has the heart of gold and desire to do the right thing that he hid behind teenage bravado. Many young men want to be cool and tough, even though deep down they are earnest, good guys. Men have even more societal encouragement to hide their soft sides.

Danny made an effort to let his other side show. He tries to take Sandy out to the soda shop, takes her to the dance, earns the letterman sweater and does the good guy thing in doses, even though his teenage immaturity and desires win out often.

Throughout the entire movie, Sandy stands on her pedestal and lets him come to her. He makes the efforts and does all of the changing. Finally, at the end, she throws away society's restraints and makes an effort to meet him in the middle. She grows up and takes control of who she is. It is her choice to perm her hair, slash on the red lipstick and don the hot pants.

Like many young people, Danny and Sandy have many facets. I bet Sandy does not reject the sweater sets entirely and still enjoys going out on a sweet date to the malt shop. I bet Danny likes to drive fast, but still wants to carefully cherish the woman he loves.

Is the message in Grease that we as women should change to make our men happy or is it that young men and women should embrace who they really are?

I obviously have spent far too much time today analyzing the movie, eh?

The Long Road Home

We went to visit my father yesterday. He lives way too far away. It is a 1 hour 45 minute drive from his home to ours. It is doable to go back and forth in one day, but not necessarily fun with kids.

Coming home, Luis pulled out the GPS unit and decided to see how it sent us home. He does this sometimes, even when we know how to get where we are going. He likes to see the different route. It seems like the Garmin will send us a different way every time even though we usually keep it programmed for shortest driving time.

We ended up coming a convoluted back way, through Highland and who knows where. We did see some lovely sights. There was a huge rock outcropping jutting out of the earth at an angle that looked like it would fall right on the road if a tree had not been holding it up. There were oxbow creeks meandering and a couple of springs bubbling. There was even hillbilly heaven, a bright pink creation of what looked like two single wide mobile homes put together surrounded by bright pink lawn accents, a bright pink garage and bright pink storage shed. Did I mention it was bright pink? Think Pepto even brighter.

However, for all the sights, it was not the best route to take with people prone to car sickness. The loveliest roads in this area are the curviest and hilliest. Thankfully, the contents of everyone's stomachs stayed in place, but Isabella and I were feeling ill by the time we pulled into Monroe.

It also took fifteen minutes longer than our normal route. When chosing shortest driving time routes, Garmin seems to forget that cars cannot take those corners at 55 miles an hour. We have noticed this before. I had to tease Luis that his short way got us all sick and still took longer.

Nice drive, but I think I will stick to the straight highway until the kids are older.

Randomness

New Year's Randomness for my sister who is complaining that she needs something new to read while she eats her Wheaties:

~ I have not actually had Wheaties in years. Do they still make them? I am pretty sure I have typed this exact same sentence before, and yet I still have not checked.

~ We joined the modern age last month with a programmable thermostat. I am curious to see if it has any impact on our astronomical heating bills. We may keep our house at 62, but it is old and costs a mint to heat. We lowered the temperature to 58 between 11 pm and 7 am, which had Luis complaining at first, but he seems okay with it now. No one has complained or even mentioned the mid day drop to 60. We are almost always home, but with the sun coming in most days and our activity level, I thought dropping it to 60 from about 11 am until 3 pm would work.

~ I have been thinking about my bread post recently, and it was really snobby of me. I was feeling inundated with people who were making the no knead breads; it seemed like it was everywhere right then. I have eaten it, and it tastes fine. However, I enjoy making the artisan sourdoughs and other breads. I like to work with the dough a bit. That is my choice though. If someone does not enjoy making the breads, but likes good bread, the no knead and 5 minutes a day methods are great alternatives. I retract that post, and my apologies to anyone who makes them.

~ I have been wondering lately why I do not eat pickles more. Not kosher dills and that kind, but pickles as a vegetable on the plate. They taste good, the crunch is nice this time of year, but I never think to put them out with dinner. Pickles were something we pretty much only put on hamburgers as a kid.* That and the occasional pickled beets at my grandmothers. I should pickle more things and serve them more often.

~ I just used the words I have in the beginning of two thirds of my first entries. Must use other words.

~ We took down the holiday tree today, and it is so nice to have the open space again. I think that every year. The tree is pretty, but I like to be able to see out the window and have the room back.

~ Vincent has learned how to dial my cell phone number from the home cell phone. When I was at work for four hours the other day, he called me 12 times during the first three hours. He also called Luis at least once that I know of. Yes, I discussed appropriate telephone use with him, and hopefully it has been nipped in the bud. It is cute the way he ends every conversation with a *mwah* kiss though. He forgot with one call, and he immediately called back to kiss me and hang up.

~ I get the very fun job of taking a sensory child clothes shopping soon. Isabella received many, many clothes for the holidays. She has grown, so only two pair of pants and one shirt fit and did not feel "funny". We get exchange a pile that is two feet high. I think I will leave the other three at my in laws to a) make it easier for me, and b) give her some special one on one time.

~ I went grocery shopping on New Years Eve day, just to pick up a few things.** I never knew the store was such a madhouse that day. Many of the checkout lines were open, and the lines were still four carts deep. I was thankful that I was taking advantage of the kids being home with the neighbor girl who was babysitting while I was at work. It cost me an extra $2 for the extra time the shopping took, but it was the best $2 I have ever spent. I am starting to wonder if I should hire her every time I go grocery shopping. It would make the process much more fun.

~ I still think of The Daily Digress every time I do a footnote. Annie, you and footnotes are permanently linked in my head. If you have not read The Daily Digress, you should do so. She writes much more often than I do, and she is a hoot.

Okay, little sister, I hope you had an enjoyable read. I will try to get back on the ball and blog more often.


*Well, except for my freak of a brother who would put them on his bizarre ketchup and mayo sandwiches, but that was just weird.

**I am the only one who will go in for one five dollar item and spend $75? Never fails.