There Has To Be A First Time To Call 911 For Your Children, Right?

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Laura

Back in November, I was making breakfast, Nik was getting ready for school, and the kids were playing in the bedroom.  At some point, Nik came out of the bathroom and asked me where they were.

“In the bedroom…oh, I guess Ellie must have closed the door.”

Scratch that, Ellie locked the door!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(This happened last summer too, while we were in England visiting my brother and his family. So sadly, we’re no strangers to the “my child is locked in a room” panic.)

Our doors are original to the house and our locks are actually levers that are pretty difficult to push.  Somehow, Ellie managed to lock it but there was no way she was going to be able to get it unlocked.  The door also doesn’t have a key so after trying all the tiny tools we had, we took the handle apart.  It was quickly becoming clear that we weren’t going to be able to get it open ourselves so I started calling supposedly-open-24-hours-a-day-on-call-for-emergencies locksmiths.  No one answered.

Meanwhile, Ellie is becoming increasingly upset and Mark consequently was getting upset too.  Ellie was alternating between crying and talking to us and by sticking my hand under the door, I could sort of keep them both calm.  Luckily, that particular door has a fairly large gap between the bottom of it and the floor so I could get my hand under easily.

With no locksmiths answering, it became clear what I needed to do.  So I swallowed my panic, and in my best “Rescue 911” imitation, called 911 to save my children.  The dispatcher was lovely and calm (just like on the TV show!) and a police officer was at our door, probably within 5 minutes.  The firemen were not far behind.  The policeman went through the whole process we had with taking the handle apart.  As he was doing that, Nik remembered that he had a pair of very-fine-tipped needle nose pliers and that’s what the policeman used to manipulate the lock mechanism to get it open.  Ironically, we had already figured all of that out and so could easily have done it ourselves if we’d remembered that we had those particular needle-nose pliers in time.

But that was OK.  They got the door open.  Ellie’s eyes were super wide when the door opened, I rushed in to swoop them up, tears in my eyes and my voice, and she saw a whole bunch of men in uniform in our hallway.

As the firemen were leaving, with their crowbar and other demolition tools in hand, I heard one of them say, “I guess we don’t get to bust up anything today!” 🙂  I was not about to let them break my gorgeous solid wood door!  We would have broken a window first.  Thankfully though, nothing had to be broken, no one got hurt, and we’re all fine.

That was the longest 20 minutes of my life.  Lord willing, I won’t have to go through that again any time soon.

And yes, Nik figured out how to disable the lock in our room!

034 (800x533)safe and sound and rescued! (picture taken just last week)

Posted in Ellie, Mark, parenting | 2 Comments

Recipe: Turkey Curry (Our Favorite Post-Thanksgiving Meal)

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Laura

This recipe for Turkey Curry is a standard at our house in the week following Thanksgiving.  The original recipe is called, “Turkey Curry in A Hurry,” and it is an exceedingly fast recipe to cook once you have all the ingredients prepped.  However, one of the ingredients is roasted root vegetables.  There’s no way I’ve found to roast root vegetables in a hurry!  I suppose if you also have those leftover from Thanksgiving, that would make it fast.  But I never do.  If you truly are in a hurry, you can substitute the roasted vegetables with others such as broccoli or cabbage.  However, I absolutely love the flavor of this when it has the root vegetables in it, particularly when the mix contains parsnips.  So I plan for the roasting of the vegetables in advance so that I have them ready for this.  The curry itself can be cooked in 15-20 minutes.  Make sure to start cooking the rice before you start the curry! 🙂

Turkey Curry (not so much in a hurry)
adapted over the years by Laura from Cook’s Illustrated

3 T olive oil 
1 medium onion, chopped
¼ C raisins 
1 T curry powder (depending on the strength of your curry and how hot you want it to be.  This much makes a mild curry for us.)
½ tsp salt

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until just shimmering. Add the onion, raisins, curry powder, and salt and cook until the onions are soft.

4 medium cloves of garlic, minced or through a garlic press
4 tsp grated fresh ginger

Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2 C cooked chickpeas 
2 C roasted root vegetables (such as parsnips, turnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes)
1 C  water 
2 C shredded cooked turkey

Stir in chickpeas, roasted vegetables, water, and turkey and cook until heated through.

plain whole milk yogurt
salt (to taste)
cooked rice (we like brown jasmine)

Serve over rice with yogurt drizzled on top (I like lots) and extra salt as needed.  Enjoy!

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Mama, He’s Climbing!!

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Laura

About a month ago, Mark really started climbing in earnest.  He especially loves it when I forget to put the nursing stool up because then he can get up into the recliner.  One morning, a couple weeks ago, I heard Ellie yelling, “Mama, he’s climbing!”  To which I replied, “OK, sweetie, I’m just going to finish this [whatever I was doing in the kitchen.]”  She repeated herself, but with a bit of panic in her voice.  So I stopped working and went into our office to find this:

074 (533x800)Yep, I’d call that climbing.  It’s a good thing Ellie is on safety patrol.

He loves looking out the window so I guess he saw his golden opportunity!  And yes, I did put the camera down and rescue him! 🙂

Here’s the slighter safer way that Mark and Ellie like to look out the window these days:

076 (800x534)

Posted in Ellie, Mark | 1 Comment

Dear Uncle Eric and Nana,

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Laura

Look familiar?

060 (533x800) (For those not in my immediate family, this post will make a lot more sense once you know that we have a famous picture in our family of my brother Eric, as a baby, climbing into the refrigerator, wearing only a diaper.  Eric even turned it into an oil painting in a high school art class.  Mark is always trying to get into the fridge like this, now that he’s pulling up everywhere and I finally managed to get a picture of it!)

Posted in family, Mark | 1 Comment

And So, I Must Confess, I Took Ellie Black Friday Shopping Today (but we were home by 7:00!)

Posted on November 29, 2013 by Laura

This morning, my plan was to get up at 5:25, sneak out of the house, buy my year’s supply of flannel for baby blankets at Joann Fabrics, stop by Home Depot for $.99 poinsettias, and be home by 7:00.  I do this pretty much every year and always go by myself.  It’s the only Black Friday shopping we do.  Conveniently, they’re at opposite ends of one big parking lot and are only about a 7-ish minute drive from our house.  (And yes, that means I have to resist shopping at Joann all the time.)

This morning, however, Ellie woke up just as I was about to get out of bed, asking to use the toilet.  So I helped her and then she said she was hungry.  I told her that she could have some granola but that she’d have to eat it by herself because Nik and Mark were still sleeping and I would have to leave right away.  She, of course, just about lost it right then and there so to keep her quiet, I told her she could come with me.  We put a sweatshirt over her pajamas, rushed out to the car, and were on our way.

She kept saying, “Why?  Why is it dark?  Why?  Why do we have to wait outside?”  I could tell she thought I was crazy for leaving the house so early.  Truthfully, it is crazy.  But that’s what I do for $1.74/yard flannel.  And even with Ellie with me, we were still home by 7:15, just in time for breakfast!

Here’s Ellie’s experience, in her own words (with more than a little prompting from me)!

Posted in Ellie, sewing | 1 Comment

Recipe: Cranbrosia, A Thanksgiving Tradition

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Laura

We make this every Thanksgiving in my family.  It’s my mother’s mother’s recipe and it’s OH so good.  Don’t let anyone tell you it belongs on the dessert table.  It is most assuredly a side dish! 🙂  And I know, all my extended family out there, it’s supposed to have chunks of bananas in it.  But I’ve never liked them so I leave them out.  Feel free to add them if you want.  Also, skip to the bottom of the recipe for links to our other favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

009 (800x533)Isn’t it beautiful?

Cranbrosia
from the kitchen of my Granny

makes a 9×13 pan (this is easily halved or 3/4’d so I have the smaller amounts in parentheses below, which I usually do if we’re not having many people at our Thanksgiving dinner.  It also keeps well in the fridge for a few days and thankfully, should be made in advance to have time to chill.)

 1 little can (1/2 can or ¾ can) mandarin oranges
1 15-oz can (1/2 can or ¾ can) pineapple chunks
Drain oranges and pineapple together and save 3/4 C (1/4 C + 2 T or ½ C+1 T) juice.

2 C (1 C or 1 ½ C) fresh cranberries, ground up
1 C (1/2 C or ¾ C) sugar
Combine cranberries and sugar and let them sit for a few minutes.

1 C (1/2 C or ¾ C) coconut
Add drained fruit and coconut to the cranberries.

2 envelopes (1 envelope or 1 ½ envelopes) unflavored gelatin
Soften the gelatin in reserved juice.  Place over medium heat, stirring constantly, until just dissolved.  Stir into cranberry mixture.

1 C (1/2 C or ¾ C) sour cream
1 C (1/2 C or ¾ C) whipping cream
Whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form and fold it into mixture along with sour cream.  Pour into a 9×13 pan or a 2 quart mold or individual serving dishes. Chill overnight.

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Some other favorite Thanksgiving treats

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“Mama! Where’s the Bible?”

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Laura

“I need it for the party!!”

001 (800x533)

I take no credit for this idea!  She’s the one who invited Mark to a party on the bed and then read him Bible stories! 🙂

Posted in Ellie, Mark | 1 Comment

KIOS: Eating, Part 17: Why Seasonal Eating Will Make You Happier

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Laura

Cross-posted as:  KIOS: Parenting, Part 15: Why Seasonal Eating Will Help Your Child Abstain from Sexual Activity

This post is part of my series, “Kickin’ It Old Skool: Why and How We Are Old-Fashioned” or KIOS for short.  If you’re new to the series, please read my disclaimer before continuing on.  I’m keeping a table of contents to this series here so you can see what I’ve already written about and what more there is to come.

I just finished reading Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending.  The book has five main principles, which, if followed, will help you spend your way to greater happiness.*

One principle is, “Treat yourself.”  If you make something a treat, it’s much more likely to make you happy than if you allow yourself to have it all the time.  For example, if you love lattes, it’s better to buy regular coffee four days a week but allow yourself to have a latte on Fridays.  You’ll enjoy that latte much more than if you’d been drinking them all week.

As I was reading this, I realized that this means that Nik and I (and our kids) are probably much happier eating seasonally than if we just bought whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it.

Because we don’t eat asparagus year-round, we are THRILLED when it appears on Ed’s table at the farmers’ market.  It makes me happy enough to blog about it!  Then we start eating it every week and near the end of the season, it’s become so commonplace that sometimes I don’t even buy it.  Blah, blah, blah, who cares about asparagus?

The same thing happens with tomatoes, sweet corn, zucchini, and plenty of other summer produce.  We’re so happy to start eating it but then it stops being a treat and pretty soon, we don’t even miss it when it’s gone.

Apples are available almost year-round and true to the “make it a treat” principle, I enjoy apples but never get excited about them.  Why should I?  I can have them whenever I want.  Cherries, plums, peaches on the other hand?  We’re thrilled when they start arriving in our fruit CSA.  We talk about them, dream about them, eagerly anticipate them.

We certainly didn’t start out eating seasonally to make ourselves happier but it’s a nice side effect!  It’s one more motivating factor to help us keep eating this way.

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

In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver writes that it is fairly ridiculous of us as parents to expect our children to delay sexual activity when all their other desires are met instantly.  If they don’t have any practice in delaying any other kind of gratification, why should we expect them to say no to sexual desires?  She wonders if by eating seasonally (i.e. practicing delayed gratification), our children might also get some practice for delaying other desires, even sexual ones, resulting in healthier sexual experiences and perhaps, less teen pregnancies.  (Or something like that.  I haven’t been successful in tracking down the exact quote in my book.  So I’m writing from memory here, having read the book five years ago.)

I may be misquoting her a bit here but I think the idea is a valid and interesting one.  Sometimes Ellie asks me for cherries (her absolute favorite fruit) and I tell her, “Not now, sweetie.  We have to wait until June when they come back into season!”

I hope that this discipline of waiting will serve her well in other areas of her life, including difficult decisions she will have to make as she matures.

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

So there you have it – eating seasonally will make you happier and help your kids say no!

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

So how would I put these principles into play if I lived in a place where I couldn’t get anything locally?  I wrote a full blog post about how I would get food if I lived where not much food was available locally.  But related to this concept, I’d choose somewhere close to me that did have seasons (i.e Washington state if I lived in Alaska) and eat according to their seasons.  So I’d only eat strawberries if they were in season in Washington, even if I wasn’t eating local strawberries.  Imperfect yes, but would still contribute to happiness and internal discipline!

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

*It’s an interesting book: an easy quick read with easily understandable principles. It was nice to see that Nik and I are doing many things right, in terms of how we spend our money relative to personal happiness. It also has solidified our resolve to not have a TV and that it’s better for us to spend our money on travel (experiences) rather than stuff through out the year.

Posted in KIOS | 3 Comments

All Done With Canning and Freezing For The Year! Hooray! (and some numbers for you)

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Laura

This week saw one last big push (making applesauce) and now I think I’m done.  I’ve been asked a couple times about how much food we preserve for the winter and how I know how much to preserve.  I just organized my freezers and shelves (thanks to Mark’s abnormally/heavenly long nap this morning) and inventoried everything.  Here’s our grand total.  For your planning purposes, this is for a family of four: two adults, one three-year-old, and one 10-month-old who is already a voracious eater! 🙂

Vegetables, Frozen:

  • tomatoes (15-oz bags): 28
  • sweet corn, off the cob (quart bags): 20
  • long-neck squash (like pumpkin), puree (2.5 C bags): 21 (ten leftover from last year)
  • zucchini, shredded (2 C bags): 15 (10 left from last year)
  • jalapenos, diced (quart bags): 3
  • poblano peppers, sliced (quart bag): 1
  • banana peppers, diced (quart bag): 1
  • pesto (in “cookies“, quart bags): 2
  • yellow wax beans (quart): 2
  • broccoli (gallon bags): 6 plus 2 not completely full

Fruit, Frozen:

  • blueberries (gallon bags): 2 (plus one already used up)
  • strawberries (quart bags): 2 (plus one already used up)

Fruit, Canned:

  • peaches, sliced (pint jars): 56
  • applesauce (quart jars): 32

030 (800x533)peaches, fresh from their hot water bath

Extras:

  • strawberry jam (pint): 13
  • nutmeg plum jam:  12 (1/2 pint), 3 (pint)
  • peach syrup: 2 (1/2 pint, canned), 5 (pint, frozen)
  • apple butter: 8 (pint, canned), 2 (partial pints, frozen)
  • sweet garlic dill pickles (pint): 19
  • curried pickles (pint): 16
  • dill pickles (pint): 1 (as a special gift for a friend – we’re addicted to sweet pickles!)

How do I know how much to “put away” for winter?  This is my sixth preserving season and by now I have a pretty good feel for how much our family is going to eat through the winter.  The first couple years was complete trial and error for us.  I kept good records of how much we had preserved (including how we preserved it and what size bags/jars we froze/canned everything in) and tracked how much was left at the end of the winter.  I also noted if we ran out too soon of something.  In both situations, I adjusted accordingly the following year.  As both Ellie and Mark start to eat more, I know we’ll have to start freezing and canning more.

Looking at this list gives me a really nice sense of accomplishment, actually.  It helps me realize that I’ve spent far more time doing this over the past four months than I’ve given myself credit for.  So I’ll just put a few more points into my productive column, thank you very much! 🙂

For now, I’m just glad that it’s over!  Time to start sewing for Handmade Christmas 2013!

P.S. I’ve made myself a list of other questions that I often get asked about this stuff (like “how do you have time to do this?” and “where do you get your produce?”)  I’ll try to answer those in a [not-too-far-in-the] future post.

Posted in cooking | 4 Comments

October Sewing: The Second Baby Blanket Club

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Laura

I have four friends who all are having (or had) their second baby.  So, I did a bit of an assembly line to welcome those four little babies into the world.

036 (800x533) for Katie and Baby M (the only boy in the bunch)

037 (800x533)for Joanna and baby L

035 (800x533)for Christie and Baby E

034 (800x533) for Jonita and Baby H 

Every baby deserves his or her own blanket, right? 🙂033 (800x533)

And because I never get to share any pictures of who I make these blankets for, here’s a picture of Joanna with Baby L still in utero along with her husband Vic and their older daughter, Z.  We took turns taking pictures of each other at our photo shoot in September.  It turns out that it’s a good thing we took those pictures when we did because baby L surprised us all and came a little early! 🙂

VJ1

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