A learning experience...for everyone!

The kids and I went for a walk today. The purpose for the walk was to bring some recycling to the bins, which happen to be on the other side of the apartment community. The Woodchip Playground is over there as well.

I feel I must complain about the recycling our apartment community does. They don't take all the things. You can bring plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, glass bottles. I think that's it. If you have tin cans or glass jars, you are on your own. Would it hurt to have two more bins and then FREAKING TAKE ALL THE THINGS???? I'm not throwing that stuff away, but it's annoying to store it up in my apartment or car until we can get to a recycling drop off in town. The joys of apartment living, right? From what I have heard, we're lucky our community recycles at all.

That was not the learning experience though. We've already learned about that.

On the way home, we passed under some oak trees. They are dropping acorns right now. Acorns are kind of fun to look at, so I stopped and said, "Hey, look at these." I explained that acorns are seeds and new trees will grow from them if the conditions are right (and if squirrels don't eat them all). Then we started talking about growing our own oak trees, which led to us gathering up a handful of acorns to bring home. I'm no master gardener, so I offered to look up how to grow oak trees from acorns. It can't be that hard, right? They're just seeds. I sprout seeds all the time. Usually you just soak the seeds, then plant them when they sprout (or eat the sprouts, om nom nom nom).

Well, oak trees, you are much more complicated than I thought. Apparently, acorn seeds need to lie in dormancy for 1000 hours. I am not making that up. I read it on the Internets. The site I found suggested putting the acorns in a plastic baggie filled with peat moss and letting them sit in the fridge all winter. Really? Isn't that going to get moldy?

It doesn't matter because once Reese realized that these oak trees weren't going to grow for months and months, she was easily swayed by the suggestion that we should grow something else. Crisis averted, and I don't have to have a bag of dirt in my fridge all winter. I think that's a win for everyone.

But now we know how the whole acorn thing works. And most of our stuff got recycled. I'd call that a good morning.

Don't Be Scared!

It looks like MEAT, doesn't it??


Don't worry, it's totally not. This was our dinner last night, bean burgers, which were served on homemade rolls, with oven fries and steamed broccoli on the side.

Mmmmmm. The bean burger recipe is a modified version of the Black Bean Burger in Veganomicon. I'll let you google it if you think you might enjoy a meatless burger. I tell you, I think the key to veggie burgers that actually stick together is wheat gluten. I would call this recipe flexible, too. I used pinto beans and regular white onions. I do like a recipe that still works with some substitutions. I have a pretty decently stocked pantry, but sometimes you use the red onions for something else because you forgot that you bought them for Black Bean Burgers. I'm not saying I did that. I'm just sayin'.

Tonight was Breakfast for Dinner, which is kind of boring. I served individual hash browns, tofu scramble, and toast. And then oatmeal for the kids who complained about the tofu scramble. I didn't take any pictures. You all know what tofu scramble looks like, right?

I'd like to brag and hype up my dinner for National Vegetarian Day, which is THIS FRIDAY, but I haven't decided what to cook. My menu plan for this week seems to have ended today. This needs to be remedied. Perhaps Friday would be a good day for seitan? Or for a really easy meal you can make with stuff you have in your pantry? I'm torn. I want to show the ease of vegetarian eating, but I also feel like celebrating with fancy food. We shall see what happens.

It's Tuesday! Let's have a Round Up!

All right. I am sucking at blogging about our dinners. October is going to be a real challenge for me!! Last night we just had leftovers (aka Clean Out the Fridge Night), and the day before that I made vegetable pot pie.

October 1st, which happens to be this Friday, is World Vegetarian Day. Who's going veg with me? One day, people. I think everyone can do one meatless day. And if you're feeling really saucy, why not go veg for the entire month of October? Or just do meatless dinners? I'll help you by sharing what we're eating, point you to some other helpful blogs, and share some recipes and cookbooks I enjoy. Yay veg!!!

Over the weekend we didn't do a whole lot. I escaped the house on Friday night to have some coffee with friends. Saturday the children and I attended a fun festival at a friend's church. They had fake tattoos there, it was awesome. Then we went to the grocery store. I don't remember what we did on Sunday.

Monday was our homeschool group day. Families gathered together to share what we learned about the country of the month, Argentina. I made squash and black bean empanadas to share, but they were so good that I really wanted to eat them all myself. Reese talked about how people in Argentina have Christmas in the summer, she was pretty impressed that the seasons are opposite ours.

And today? We're staying at home, and I'm secretly glad. Some weeks I feel like we're on the go sooooooo much. The kids and I were able to enjoy a game of Candyland today. We didn't have to rush to finish our school-y stuff. I'll actually have time to get caught up in the kitchen or sew something. Maybe we'll get the bikes out or take a walk to a playground. I do like going places, but staying at home is nice too.

The only bad thing about staying home is the fighting. Ugh. Encouraging my children to get along with each other is definitely a work in progress. I'm reading Siblings Without Rivalry, hoping it will give me some ideas and insights. We shall see, and in the meantime, we just do the best we can. And I try not to yell and lose my temper too often.

Anyhoo, we have a couple literacy games that we want to play and a sequencing activity that uses the book Two Bad Ants. Have a great Tuesday, all!

Let's Be Real Today

Please consider taking a few minutes to read THIS

Plesae be gentle with yourself today, and I'll try to do the same. Big hugs, all.

Oh man

I think blogging our meals every night in October is going to be a challenge. But. I really want to do it, to show what regular (hahahahaha) people who eat a veg diet have for dinner. It's also fun to show off my funky thrift store dishes.

So here we have Tuesday night's dinner: Snobby Joes from Veganomicon, pita bread, baked kale, and apple slices. It was a pretty good dinner. I didn't care much for sloppy joes growing up, but now I like them. The pitas were made by me, and these had some awesome pockets.



Baked Kale (In case you want to try the deliciousness yourself)

You need: some kale (usually sold in bunches), olive oil, garlic salt, a greased cookie sheet, and an oven

Preheat oven to about 400 degrees. Wash and dry your kale. A salad spinner would work awesomely, but since I can't have nice things, I just shake it really good. Rip pieces of kale off the stem and spread out on the cookie sheet. Dab the pieces of kale with olive oil using some sort of pastry brush. Sprinkle with garlic salt (regular salt will work, but I think the world needs more garlic, don't you?). Bake for a time, like ten minutes or so, peeking in to check for browning edges. When the edges start browning, that's when I take the pan out.

Baked kale is crunchy and delicious. You might find it hard to share, I know I do.

Okay, last night's dinner was noodles and sauce because I was busy doing a colon prep for a colonoscopy. Lame.

Tonight I had the "I have no idea what to make" blues. So I turned to a handy vegetable loaf generator that I stumbled across called The Magical Loaf Studio

Basically you check off ingredients you have and the generator spits out a recipe. Careful, there are no promises that your creation will taste good. I've been lucky, and these loaf recipes usually go over pretty well. If you want the recipe for tonight's loaf, I can post it, but I think it's fun to make up your own. That's BBQ sauce on top. I'm sure you want to know if the kids liked this. They both said they did. Reese ate almost a whole piece, and Eli ate about three bites (pretty good for Eli, haha). We also had broccoli and apple slices. Apples are in season around here right now, and for some reason broccoli was reasonably priced too. I'll talk more about how our family eats with the seasons in October.

So there ya go! I'm really going to try to stay on top of this, I promise. Happy Eating!

Get Socialized!

I almost got into an Argument on the Internets the other day. Don't worry, I restrained myself. For one thing, the argument was on facebook and I get annoyed when people type a frickin' novel in a comment space (yeah, I do it too sometimes, and I annoy myself when I do it). Secondly, it was pretty obvious that I wasn't going to change the aggressive person's mind about anything. I have enough of my own stuff going on that I don't need to argue with strangers on facebook.

Anyway, the argument was about homeschooling. I know not everyone we come across or know supports our family's choice to homeschool. And you know what? That's okay. Everyone has a duty to do what is best for THEIR CHILD(REN). And how lucky are we that we can choose? I think I've said this before: I'm not against public school. I'm not against preschool. I just don't think that those options are right for every family. Am I glad options exist? Of course!

One argument that almost always comes up in favor of public school though really really bugs me. Socialization. If you keep your kids at home, HOW will they get socialized?? How will they learn to function in society??

Insert giant EYEROLL here.

We don't hide ourselves in a closet, people. In fact, none of the homeschooling families we know do that. We're out and about just about every day during the week, hanging out with friends, attending art classes, going on field trips, visiting the grocery store, the library, the post office. My children watch and participate in interactions with people of a variety of ages and backgrounds regularly. If they were in school? They would interact with a small number of adults, and a huge number of same age peers. Is that really real world socialization? What's more real world? A group of children from ages 3 to 12 negotiating a game on a playground or a group of 5 year olds sitting in desks?

I just see more value in the former group for our family at this time.

Yeah, I get a little touchy about the whole socialization thing. I should probably just worry about my own self and my own family instead of getting stressed out about what other people say. Especially strangers on the internet.

So with that, we'll go about our day. Today is Art Studio Day, which is always a good time. Before we head out the door, we're going to bust our butts and get our other work out of the way. Because we can. ;)

Tuesday Round Up!

It's been a busy few days, so here's what we've been up to, in no particular order:

Reese lost her first tooth! I should say, her front teeth were not loosened naturally. She and Eli were playing puppy, Reese had a rope between her teeth, and Eli pulled on it really hard. According to The Internets, her loosened teeth are not a concern right now because she's due to start loosing them anyway. How do I have a kid who is old enough to be loosing teeth???


I brewed my first batch of kombucha yesterday. It's pretty easy, and I hope it turns out okay. So far so good!

Here's the makings of one of our meals since I posted last. It's seitan stir fry. We eat a LOT of stir fry. It's quick, easy, and pretty healthy. I make my own stir fry sauce too. Om nom nom nom. When the cooking was finished, this stir fry also had green beans and broccoli, and was served over brown rice.

Reese and Eli got a surprise package from Great Grandma and Great Aunt Patti! Thank you!!! We love books, and the kids love to read.

So yeah. We didn't do too much over the weekend. On Saturday morning we went to a couple farmer's markets and also recycled. Recycling is a job here, definitely not as easy as it was in WI. There used to be recycling containers at the front garbage drop off, but some jerky jerks were just putting crap in the bins, so I thought they were removed. Then while driving to look at the car wash area, we found them again. But the apartment community doesn't take glass (??), so that means a trip to a recycling center. Not a huge deal, except that we've only been able to find one and it's way across town. Are we really saving the planet when we have to use a bunch of gas to recycle some glass? I don't know, but I feel better recycling. I suppose we were going over there anyway for the farmer's market.

The markets here are kind of lame, sad to say. I don't know if it's the season, but there aren't many fruits and vegetables. It's mostly crafty stuff, which, if I wasn't crafty, would be cool. Most of the offerings are things I can easily make myself. Reese did get some hair bows.

Sunday I took the kids to the pool. Yes, swimming in September. I never thought we'd be doing THAT. The water was chilly...it does cool way down here at night, but it's been in the upper 90s during the day. I am not complaining.

Well, I hope everyone has had a great start to their week. The kids and I are off to a La Leche League leaders meeting this morning, and since we already got half our homeschooling stuff done this morning, we don't have that much to do this afternoon.