Weeklies

Clean steps

I have not really been keeping up with my daily improvement posting (or doing), but today I cleaned the front steps. I forgot to take a "before" picture, but here is "during" and "after." Better, no?



And I baked a pair of awesome challahs, and made hummus from dry beans. This sort of thing is actually quite easy when you have the option of working at home for a day; they both take a lot of time but not a lot of attention. Wholesome foods that Jordan will enthusiastically eat are few and far between, but hummus, cashews, and broccoli are a go. I think a person could live on those.

Aaron loves to read

Hamburger Helper

I was not about to eat Hamburger Helper, anyway, but now that I have looked at the ingredients (because of a conversation with a friend) I am even more specifically turned off. First of all, there are 27 or more of them, depending how you count. Corn is behind much of what's there: not only the obvious (corn starch) but also things like maltodextrin (a thickener) and dextrose (a sugar). There's MSG, and two other chemical flavor enhancers that work only in the presence of MSG (disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate), and BHA which is a petrochemical, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil which is the source of trans fats. None of this surprises me. But here is the thing that I learned which I had not known: The hydrolyzed soy protein, which sounds unexceptional to me (just soy, right?), is created by boiling the soy in a strong acid (sulfuric or hydrochloric), then neutralizing it with a base. The process creates MSG, among other things, thus providing a way to incorporate MSG without having to show it in the ingredient list. What am I eating? Oh, right: I don't eat Hamburger Helper.

Except that I do. The veggie sausages that my kids both love have many of the same ingredients as the #@!! Hamburger Helper. Again with the corn and soy chemical derivatives, the hydrolyzed protein, and the flavor enhancers that only work in combination with MSG. This time the MSG is not in the ingredient list, only hidden in the hydrolysis process -- but you know it's there, because without it the disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate wouldn't perform their function. Morningstar Farms is owned by Kellogg. We have been wolfing this stuff down daily for years, lulled by the cute natural-foods-theme packaging and the innocent Nutrition Facts, but it's all marketing. There's nothing natural about it.

I can't exactly be snobby about the one and still eat the other, now can I?

Nodedim weekly

Art show

Jordan and Aaron's school does an art show every year, and it's a big event. Every class does both individual artworks and a group project. Aaron's class painted mirrors: small framed ones for each child, and then a big wall mirror that they set on the floor for a group painting session.



The teachers document the artworks with photos of the kids as they do the art, and detailed observations of how each child engaged with the project. In Aaron's case the observations included things like how confidently he jumped into the painting, what colors he chose, what he said while he did it, the fact that he very intentionally mixed the colors before painting them, which hand he used, and what kind of motions he employed with the brush. Lauren, one of his teachers, said "They really show their personalities in everything they do."



Jordan's class made sock puppets and a puppet theater in which they acted plays. Jordan's puppet is the crazy blue one - you can see that how he is working on writing his name. Someone's dad came in one day and videotaped the play that the kids put on, and once that is edited, we'll all get a CD.





I was very impressed with the other pre-K class's project, too: They each chose one color for their work, which included paint, found objects, collage, whatever. Their group project was a rainbow. The hallway hung with their works could have been a gallery. The closeup is the one that Jordan's friend Itamar made, with the artwork, a photo of Itamar, a record of how Itamar described the work and the choices he made in creating it, and a letter to Itamar from his teachers saying what they saw in the work and in him.





Even the littlest babies did a project. This one had hand prints in plaster, and painted cloth. The babies worked with the paint bottles as much as the paint, so the teachers felt that the bottles were a part of the resulting work. The documentation describes how one child "created unique works of art by throwing painted objects on the floor. We photographed these 'canvases' before wiping them clean."



Another class of young children made these amazing sculpture trees.

Whole Foods is cheaper

I invested an extra hour in my weekend grocery shopping today to do some research.  Armed with a pretty typical grocery list for our family, I went first to Safeway, figuring I'd get the Safeway brand organic products and save us a little money.  Big organic is big organic, seems like.  So I went, and I got what looked reasonable, and I wrote down the prices on my grocery list.  Next I went to PCC, which is a natural foods co-op around here, thinking I would get everything else on my list.  I couldn't do it.  The prices on some of the shelved goods almost made me choke.  And I didn't know what the labeling on the meat meant about its origins.  I asked someone and they weren't very informative.  So I couldn't buy everything there, but I bought some things and wrote down the prices.  Higher than Safeway, predictably.

But I still had shopping to do so I went to Whole Foods.  They had everything on my list.  When I asked the butcher about the difference between the "grass-fed" and "range-fed" labels I got a clear response -- and a passionate speech about how the labeling is being corrupted by Wal-Mart, that I am right to ask, and that I should know that Whole Foods and Oregon Tilth were the ones that created "organics" as a concept and that USDA labeling is not as trustworthy as their independent standards.  Whew!  This is all what I expected, and was even willing to pay extra for. 

But you know what?  I DIDN'T.  Whole Foods was not only cheaper for equivalent products than PCC, it was cheaper than Safeway.  I was dumbfounded.  But I had the numbers.  I talked to the cashier about it when I checked out, and she said, "Well, Safeway specializes in different products."  Right.  I think they specialize in high-fructose corn syrup.  For what I want to buy, which is whole foods, organic and local when I can, I should shop at Whole Foods.

(Clearly a person could spend an enormous amount of money at Whole Foods, on those gorgeous prepared foods.  Those are basically restaurant prices, which I think is quite fair for what they are.  Also on beautiful French cheeses or gourmet salsa or what have you.  But because I'm willing to make a lot from scratch, I avoid many of those things.)

I'm also spending a fixed amount every week at the farmer's market.  It's expensive, but it's something I want to support, and it's educational, also.  It makes me realize how alarmingly non-seasonal my grocery list is.

Eating food

Food is on my mind in a big way.  I read The Omnivore's Dilemma avidly and then spent a month in supermarket paralysis, in doubt about everything, not knowing what to eat.  Then In Defense of Food came in at the library, and whew, okay, I get it now.   Food.  "Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants."  Investigating edible items in my household, I found very little that was not food, but there were some disturbing exceptions.  The supermarket-brand graham crackers, for example, contain "interesterified soybean oil."  What science experiment am I unwittingly participating in by eating that (or feeding it to my one-year-old)?  Turns out "interesterification" is the latest substitute for partial hydrogenation -- another process that makes soy oil solid at room temperature.  Uh... no thank you.  There were some other oddities, including L-cysteine in the frozen pizza.  Food-grade cysteine is made from either human hair or duck feathers, and acts as a dough softener.  I'd rather have hard dough.

I'm having a good time spending a predetermined amount at the farmer's market every week, and am starting to think how we could get economical access to healthier animal products, in particular.  We're thinking of buying a pastured cow and keeping it in the freezer for the year.  A physics professor colleague of mine at Evergreen is also an organic farmer who has livestock - maybe we can get one from her.

I was happy to see the pro-whole-foods editorial in the SF Chronicle, and I am totally delighted that the Obamas are planting a garden at the White House - just like Pollan suggested!  Maybe something is really happening.

Weeklies

Boys' room

Well, it's working - I didn't do any improvements on Friday or Sunday, and I felt guilty because I couldn't blog about it. That's the intended effect of the blogging. (On me.)

On Saturday, however, it was all house all the time. In the morning we went to IKEA, which is a major undertaking, but we got enough loot to justify the trip, mostly kid stuff. Jordan chose a rug for their bedroom. It's quite eye-popping. He has a lot to say about the designs: he sees a crocodile, trucks with extra big wheels, and many other things. Aaron then sees them too. It's very entertaining, and you can't say it doesn't liven up the place.

We also hung mobiles and the wolf picture. Jordan loves that wolf; he says he watches over him at night and keeps him safe.

As if that weren't enough for a Saturday, I also emptied out pretty much every box in the basement. wow! Unfortunately, Dale was unable to buy the basement shelving that he went out to Target for, so a certain amount of that box stuff is just sort of organized on the floor. But it was still quite an accomplishment. Today's improvement was to empty two boxes in the bedroom. We are very nearly out of boxes.

Now that we know what all we have and have had a chance to think about how we want to use the space, it's time to buy some furniture. On the main level we need a buffet & hutch for the kitchen, a dresser, a loveseat, shelves for the boys' room, and a bathroom cabinet. There may also be smaller things like lamps and endtables. And, amazing as it seems, it won't be long until we need a second twin bed for Aaron. We have decided that regretfully, we can't get a bunk bed until Aaron is a more responsible climber.

The upstairs will need furniture too, but we don't have a clear vision for those rooms yet.

Kindergarten

In case you didn't know this already, we have decided that Jordan will go to kindergarten this fall.  This is not a given - some parents, especially parents of midsummer boys, elect to wait a year.  Some kids Jordan's age are reading and writing a lot more than he does.  Other kids, though, are less far along, and some kids have never been to school at all.  At the basics of school, Jordan is a pro:  getting along with others, self-care, engaging in a lesson of whatever kind, adapting to a new daily routine.  His teachers feel he is more than ready, so we're going ahead.

Another decision we made a long time ago is that he'll go to public school.  There are wonderful private schools around here - we're at one of them right now, and they will soon offer kindergarten.  But the public schools near us are darn good as public schools go and there's a lot to be said for public school.  We'll take it.

In the Seattle school system, we get some say in the kindergarten assignment.  Parents make a ranked list, and the school district juggles priorities including sibling placement and proximity to come out with the final word.  In order to learn about the schools we have a month-long flurry of school tours.  That's this month.  It's quite the topic of conversation among the preschool set as you can imagine.   We ourselves are basically choosing between two schools:  Wedgwood Elementary, which is one block from us (obviously a major attraction), and Thornton Creek Elementary, which is about three-quarters of a mile away but is an alternative school with a project-based expeditionary learning program.  I have colleagues with kids there and they like it very well.  But one block is one block, and probably means all the kids on our street go there, so we wanted to take that seriously as well.

We have now visited both schools and Thornton Creek is the clear winner.  That place has vision.  The first six weeks of school, for example, are deliberately structured to build the relationships that serve as the basis for productive collaborations the rest of the year.  At Wedgwood they said the first couple months are all about learning where to hang up your backpack and how to line up after recess.  I don't doubt that they do that at Thornton Creek too, but what a difference in tone!  Thornton Creek's principal was terrific -- well-spoken, very inspiring, very involved in all aspects of the program, and from what I hear a very strong advocate for the nonstandard choices that an alternative school has to negotiate with the school district.  He's been there for 14 years as principal and 12 years as a teacher before that.  Wedgwood's principal just finished her first year, and she seemed pretty ordinary.  At Thornton Creek, the halls were full of kid art, there were none of those commercial educational posters that I hate with kids in a wheelbarrow saying "Cooperation gets us all moving!", and the art class was making book covers for books they had written themselves.  

At Wedgwood, I happened to catch a class in the middle of an activity that was just comically bad except that it could be my own kid in there.  Kids had their textbooks on one side and their workbooks on the other, copying information from one to the other; then a whole class discussion with "Mara, what countries border Egypt?  Libya and Sudan?  Does anyone have a different answer?  Israel, that's correct Dylan.  Sarah, what is the area of Egypt?  What are the units?  Good, thank you."  Hello?  What about the area of Egypt?  Is it BIG?  "Ben, what is the unit of currency?  Pounds, that's right.  Don't worry about the exchange rate, that changes every day so we don't need to know it."  Whaat?  The exchange rate is the thing that tells you how that other currency relates to the one that you use!  I agree, the number itself is not important, but neither are any of those other numbers.  I stood there and just sagged.  I know, it's public school and there most certainly will be a class like that in Jordan's future.  I just hope he gets how stupid it is, and thinks it's a stupid class rather than that all formal learning is stupid.

Now comes the strategizing.  After putting Thornton Creek first, what schools should we list so as NOT to be admitted to those others?  sigh.

Easy entertaining

Nicole came over for dinner with Theo and Zoe (Andy is traveling), and it was so easy.  I think it's because the dining room is not in the kitchen, and the major playroom is not the living room (which is not the dining room or the kitchen).  We had sandwiches on homemade rolls, and smoothies, and cookies made of leftover hamentaschen dough.  It was downright relaxing... and that's with four kids five and under!  Then when it's all over, there is our marvelous dishwasher to clean it up.  We're having people over again tomorrow.  Why not?

Nicole asked Jordan what his favorite thing is about the new house, and he said "My bedroom.  Because I share it with Aaron."  Awwww.

Today's home improvement was to organize the kids' stored clothes.  There is now one bin for each size between Jordan and Aaron, plus a small collection of things that are still too big for Jordan, and an outgoing bag of stuff that Aaron has outgrown.

Jaguar

Yesterday's improvement was to get all the kitchen stuff out of boxes and onto those basement shelves - the stuff that you don't need every day but is still (probably?) worth having, like pitchers and baking pans and the wok.  Today's improvement was to put all the bathroom stuff in the bathroom closet and get everything else out.  

While both of those projects were highly worthwhile, I think Jordan is more photogenic.  Here he is getting ready to go to school on Tuesday, which was Purim.  Kind of the Jewish Mardi Gras.  I did the face painting - not bad, for a first attempt.  I got a great book.  I was hoping to do Aaron too, but there was no way.  Aaron says that himself sometimes -- "No way!"  He also says "Oh, yeah," with the most hilarious intonation, and many more spontaneous multi-word sentences.  His vocabulary is beyond counting at this point.  "Where Daddy go?  Where he go?  Potty!" - and he discovers Dale in the bathroom.  In response to "What did you do at school today, honey?" I got "Aaron paint!"  True, too.  He walks a toy turtle on the wall and says "He climb!  Turtle climb!"  His pronunciation is charmingly idiosyncratic - my current favorite is "Cacayaya" for "crocodile" - but we understand him.

The bread baking continues - the bread is awesome and the system is completely sustainable.  Maybe next I'll work on a whole-grain version.

Basement shelving

Today's improvement is the assembly of basement shelving. Just putting them together was enough for now.

We also decided on a conceptual scheme: Kid stuff on the west side of the basement, grownup stuff on the east side. This helps. It's easy to stand around amidst this and not know where to begin.

Dale has already begun by setting up his drum set, which gave him great joy.


The empty boxes are accumulating. And you know what? Now we have nothing to save them for. Isn't that wonderful?

Bread

Here's another daily project of mine: Bread. I have learned that you can make a big batch of really wet bread dough and just let it sit in the fridge for up to two weeks. You don't knead it or anything; you just stir it up with a spoon. When you want bread, you scoop out a blob, shape it, let it sit out in the kitchen for two hours, and bake it for half an hour. If you want something immediately, you can just roll it out and bake it right then and there for five minutes - voila, fresh pita bread. (I served that with hot dogs when Kari and Danny and the boys had lunch here yesterday.) Either way is completely fantastic. Dale could hardly believe I had made it myself. Details at http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com, or buy their book. (I've been getting by with the website so far.)


(We ate the other loaf already.) The first time I tried it, I made the bread the way they recommended, with a steaming cup of water in the oven to make a crispy, crackling crust. My San Francisco bread-loving soul was in heaven, but the children, who adored the bread, couldn't gnaw the crust. So this time I went without steam and got something much softer.

I would love to be able to stop buying supermarket bread. Not only is most of it lousy and full of pointless food-science ingredients, it is stupidly expensive. Five bucks a loaf for the bad stuff. This delectable food is wholesome and cheap.

While the daily bread rested in the kitchen, Jordan turned the Slattons' former pea trellis into a tipi. (Tipea?) He was totally thrilled by this activity. And now we have a use for all those ratty blankets, which were furniture padding during both moves.

Make Something Better

I seem to have been lacking a sense of blogging purpose, since I haven't been doing much of it. But I have a daily goal, which is to Make Something Better in the house, and it seems like a particularly good project for photo-documentation. The rules are, it has to be something beyond just keeping up with the daily business -- something that makes a lasting improvement. It doesn't have to be a big thing or take a long time. Two days ago, for example, I hung up the family calendar.


You'd be surprised how hard it can be to get such a simple thing done. I kept wanting to do it when the kids weren't around, but once they were in bed, I didn't want bang a nail in.

Today we cleaned out the carport. The Slattons (the former owners) used it for chopping wood and storing stuff. We use it to park one of the cars. So we cleared out the wood chips, scraps of boards and plywood, random recyclables that had piled up, that sort of stuff, and swept.


Yesterday, we finished installing the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. This was a two-evening project. You wouldn't know to look at it (I hope), but these things are really complicated, at least for rubes like us. Find the studs, realize you have to saw off the end of the handrail to give the gate room to swing, almost saw through a screw in the process, try not to ding the wall while sawing at most two inches away from it, pray that the handrail doesn't split halfway through. (It didn't.) Arrange for all the parts to be level and square while compensating for the moulding. Wonder whether Jordan will be able to open it, and whether that is desirable. (He can.) Wonder whether Aaron will swng from it. (He does.)


We are hoping that the gate will give us a little more freedom from monitoring Aaron all the time. There's still plenty for him to get into, but this removes at least one major way for him to break his neck.