Gorgeously Green

Trying to become even "greener" is my current obsession and this is my new bible.

I picked it up when I was going through COSTCO and it caught my eye. After all of a thirty second glance through it, I figured it looked pretty good. (With the two little ones, I don't have a chance to slow down and peruse slowly anymore)

It is fabulous! It has tons of ideas in it for going "green". Or at least "greener" than you might already be.

- She talks about makeup, face and hair products and what you probably are putting on your body now and some healthier options.
- She has a business name for a toothbrush company that will recycle your old toothbrush and turn it into patio furniture.
- She has home recipes for an alpha hydroxy masque and scented bath salts.
- She has all kinds of listings of companies that sell organic EVERYTHING. I'm talking t-shirts to shoes to makeup to sheets. So if you are so inclined to purchase organic linen something, you have a good source for it.
- She has ideas for your home as well that are simple and totally "do-able".

So, if you have been thinking of ways that you could go "greener", I highly recommend this book.

I can't afford all of her suggestions for lotions, potions and clothing - but she has good ideas, companies, and reasons behind why you should look further into this. I especially found her encouragement of thrift store and consignment shopping refreshing and finanacially appealing.

With everything costing more, the constant scare of poisioning from things made in China (food as well) and new studies encouraging people to go organic - trying to go as organic as you can just makes good sense.

Fashionista

Tonight myself, Katya and the two little ones finally made an appearance at one of the local trunk shows.

What is a trunk show? It is a gathering of small local stores / manufacturers of goods and they bring a sampling of their wares to peddle at discounted prices. (I had to learn what that meant after I moved here too)

My neighbor, Maya, makes fabulous handmade leather purses and she invites me to all of her trunk shows and I haven't been able to make any until now. Katya was so excited because some of her favorite little shops had a rack of clothes they were trying to get rid of cheap.

Let me just say this....Alexis is a natural born shopper. She LOVED every minute of being in there. At one point she had on some galoshes, a tutu, Katya's hat, some bracelets and was walking around with her new umbrella. I was SOOOO bummed I didn't have a camera with me.

Logan however, HATES shopping. He lasted all of five minutes before he started fussing.

We did pick up a few things that were too cheap to pass up: an umbrella for Alexis, some rain boots for Logan to grow into, a tutu for Alexis (she wouldn't take it off), an umbrella for Katya (the rainclouds on it have fangs) and a shirt with little pigs on it for Katya.

When we got home Alexis promptly put on Logan's rain boots again, pulled on a different hat and started prancing around the house in her new tutu and was carrying her umbrella. This time I had a camera! Enjoy!!

Random Quote Meme

I was reading a post by The Little Things and she put out there a very interesting tag. I thought I would play along.

The tag is to complete a meme wherein the blogger picks out five quotes that resonate with you. She pointed toward this site, but I assume that any quotes will do. I had a hard time just picking five:

1. If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate. (Elbert Hubbard)

2. Those who face that which is actually before them, unburdened by the past, undistracted by the future, these are they who live, who make the best use of their lives; these are those who have found the secret of contentment. (Alban Goodier)

3. Treat the other man's faith gently; it is all he has to believe with. His mind was created for his own thoughts, not yours or mine. (Henry S. Haskins)

4. Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a different way to stand. (Oprah Winfrey)

5. The important thing is not to stop questioning. (Albert Einstein)

If you so wish to tag yourself, please let me know so I can read your quotes!

What I Actually Got

Ok, my desires were simple. Very practical and not too spendy. Nothing over the top.

But I forget, I am married to Bob. He overly inspects every aspect of all appliances from the hinges to the seals to the quality of the inside baskets. He also has definate opinions on how things look and he didn't want to buy anything that looked remotely cheap.

What I ended up with (as well as sticker shock):

A new Maytag freezer on the bottom fridge. It's stainless, in case you haven't noticed. Which means that now all the appliances must be replaced to match. Oh my.

and

A Bosch duel fuel slide-in oven. Also in stainless. Don't even ask what it cost.

They should all be here about June 4th and we will see how the install goes since I believe our cabinet is too short for the new fridge. Keep your fingers crossed that everything fits. I'm sure glad that Bob has lots of work right now.

New Appliances

It's that time - I am in need of some new appliances. To be more specific, a new fridge and stove.

I had to leave my beloved new stove with my townhome when I sold it, so I have been working with the ancient things that were in this house when I moved in. Yulk. But in the interest of saving $$$ (since the rest of the remodel took what I had) I have been making do.

This morning however, I found a good majority of my food in the fridge frozen. I told Bob that I was buying a new fridge and for once, he didn't object at all. It is a pretty good time for me to go and buy one since everything is on sale for Memorial Day weekend. So, this morning I loaded up the kids and hit Lowes and Home Depot to see what they have got.

My requirements:

- freezer on the bottom
- bottom freezer must be a pull out drawer
- white (little kids + stainless = unhappy mom)
- ice maker in the freezer

Not too specific. When I started looking this morning I saw everything with water and ice dispensers in the door and french doors on the top and freezer on the bottom. And the price range was HUGE! When I got home I did some measuring to see what space I had to work with and starting thinking if I really wanted an ice/water dispenser on the front. Not really. It is a mess when we visit my sister in law's house and I wouldn't want to lose the interior fridge room either. I was surprised how much money I will be saving by eliminating that. I'm talking $900. Wow. I admit that it is a nice thing to have, but maybe when the little ones are older I will step up for it.

I'm looking at this one right now:

Then when I was looking around Home Depot I noticed that all Maytag appliances are on sale (plus a Home Depot gift card + a Maytag rebate) this weekend soooooooooooooooooooooooo I figured it would be financially appropriate to look at a new stove! Again, not too extravagant but much nicer than what I have got.

I'm thinking about this one: This is so exciting!! I know it sounds totally lame - but I feel like I am in the kitchen at least three hours a day, so it would be such a treat to work with new appliances that don't require major scrubbers to clean (and still look dirty).

National Junior Honor Society

Tuesday night was a last minute little ceremony honoring the 8th graders that completed the requirements for being in the National Junior Honor Society.

Each child was to perform 12 hours of community service, keep their grades above 3.5 for all three years of middle school (Katya kept hers at a strong 4.0), attend meetings twice a month and continue with good citizenship in school.

It was so nice to see the school recognize and honor those kids that have worked so hard academically to succeed. It is tough to continue motivating kids to maintain good grades when it seems that society pressures everyone to be stupid.

The ceremony was about an hour long and it was very nice to sit and listen to how wonderful my child is (in case I didn't know that, but it is always nice to hear) and what hard work it took for them to get there. The kids got all dressed up and they were each given a beautiful red rose as well as a certificate.

I didn't get any pictures because my camera was either wigging out (the zoom wasn't cooperating), the lighting was off (the windows were behind their backs) and I couldn't get Katya to stand still long enough to take any.

It seems these last few weeks of school are all about Katya. Having her finish out Campfire for the year, closing out her middle school events, starting to prepare for high school sports, middle school graduation, her East Coast trip... we have been so busy!

Stay tuned for some more exciting tales of this transition time from Middle Schooler to High Schooler.

High School???

I can't believe that as of this September, I will be the parent of a high schooler.

How is that possible? I remember high school all too well. The cliques, the jocks, the losers, the geeks, the techies, the brainiacks, the horrid food, the teachers I loved, the teachers I hated, lots of sports, the push to stay fashionable, the push to stay thin, school dances, first dates, prom ....all that pressure!

Last night was our first orientation-type meeting at the high school. It was mostly a big push by the high school to get kids involved in sports and clubs so they take ownership of their high school years and enjoy them. I admit, doing cross-country and track were some of my best high school memories. I am all for kids getting involved.

But come on!! This means that in four years my little girl will be heading out into the world to attend college all by herself. I am so not ready for this!

This December she will get her learners permit to drive. DRIVE!!! God help all the other drivers in Bend.

Sixteen is just around the corner and that means - DATING!!!

Where did the years go? All I did was blink and she went from being the cute little girl with the big brown eyes and stubborn streak to this tall, beautiful, smart young woman who is heading into some of the most memorable years of her life.

Oh yeah, she is the class of 2012. That floored me most of all for some reason.

What Happened to Spring?

This year is the most bizarre weather - ever!

We have had a wonderful winter with tons of snow. The temps stayed pretty low so the cross country skiing was good for a really long time (Bob took the babies about three weeks ago). Katya got two snow days from school (one was from me because I wasn't driving her in that snowstorm to school when they started two hours late that day) so she felt it was a good winter.

But then winter wouldn't go away.

We had a brief spell of 70 degree weather when the tulips started to come up through the ground. Then it started snowing again. And it was in the 20's at night. We even busted a pipe because we figured we had to turn our sprinklers on before our grass got any drier. Didn't see the temps dropping that low that fast. And didn't think Katya would have to wear all of her Under Armor and take a blanket to all of her track meets so she wouldn't freeze.

Then summer came. Temps in the 80's and 90's.

Where is spring? Where is the mild weather with the occasional rain? Wearing pants and a t-shirt but having to carry a jacket? My tulips finally bloomed (they held themselves in stasis for about a month because of the freeze) and then the hot weather burned their delicate petals.

If this is the kind of spring weather we are in for - summer is going to suck.

District Track Meet

Yesterday was the Central Oregon District Track meet at Mt. View High School. Katya qualified to run in two events (100 hurdles & 4 x 200 relay) and was listed as an alternate for the 200. She worked hard to get to this meet.

Of course, it had to be the hottest day of 2008 with the temps around 83 degrees. That is pretty hot weather for running in, especially since it hasn't gotten above 70 something yet.

They were in need of timers, so I spent all of my day sitting on a metal stand logging the times of people in lane 6 or just handing out sticks at the finish line. Not quite as much fun as visiting with Katya last year, but they needed me. And I got all the free bottled water I wanted.

Katya had a good time hanging in the shade under some easy ups that one fabulously awesome parent brought. She took some crazy pics with her friends, they all cheered on their school and alternated listening to each other's IPods and eating all the munchies that I brought.

Katya didn't place in the hurdles, which is a bummer - but she tried!

Katya opted not to run the 200 since her leg was hurting her from a bad wipe out during her Sunday hurdle practice. And it was darn hot.

However, Katya's 4 x 200 relay team easily took 1st place. I am pretty sure that means the group gets an invite to participate in the State Track Meet. When and where that is, I don't know yet.

We picked up the babies from Debbie K. at 6pm who had been nice enough to watch them all day for me. I don't know what I would do without her and Ginger both. Katya was falling asleep on her couch so I had to drag her home so she could take a bath and pour herself into bed.

Mother's Day

It is pretty funny, my idea of the perfect Mother's Day has evolved over the past 14 years.

When I was doing the working single Mom gig - all I wanted was to spend time with Katya. We'd just chill at home or go to the movies. I just wanted to spend as much time with her as I could because I was missing her all the time. But you do what you have to do and things work out. Katya and I are very close and Katya is brilliant so all that daycare didn't hurt her any.

Now that I am doing the stay at home mother gig - all I wanted for Mother's Day was some time AWAY from the kids. I got up early and fetched myself some pastries and coffee from the Village Baker (so I could get what I know I liked). So yummy and everyone enjoyed the selection that I brought home.

Then Bob got the kids all dressed (he did good 'cause they looked so CUTE) and he took them over to spend some time with his mother and his sister. Blessed silence! Katya went to work at the local soup kitchen to earn some more community service hours for school / Jr. Honor Society so I was at home all alone for the whole afternoon!

I read some of my book, I watched some of "Dead Like Me" on Netflix and spent a good hour chatting with my girlfriend. I didn't pick up toys or laundry - I just stepped over it all. I believe sloth is the proper term for my energy output for Sunday.

When Katya got back from the soup kitchen we went to lunch together before she headed out to her hurdle training at the middle school. About 7:30pm I was missing the babies and Bob and they pulled up right as Katya was dishing out the cheeseburger macaroni that she made me for dinner. I had told everyone no gifts, but the babies walked in with some flowers for me. They look lovely on the table even though Logan had "looked" a little too closely at some of the daisies and they are now laying face down since their stems have been broken. At least he can appreciate the beauty of them. Next we will work on him being able to control his exceedingly strong hands.

It was a lovely day and I woke up on Monday totally refreshed.

I sincerely hope that all you mother's out there had a great day and felt loved and appreciated.

Summer Plans

Man, oh man, nobody can plan their summer quite like a teenager.

I don’t remember having much downtime during my summer breaks because my mother was quite creative with our summer projects. Lots of detailed lists with supervision by my Grandparents. I didn’t have time to get into trouble.

With the plans that Katya is putting into place, she won’t have time either. The only downside is that she won’t be spending much time in San Diego visiting her father or anyone on my side of the family either. She wants to do the following:

- As many of the conditioning classes and open gyms for volleyball as she can get into to better her odds of making it onto the JV team
- Volunteer for three weeks at a local art studio with kids 6-8 years old. This will count towards her community service hours for high school.
- Go on the four day campout with her Campfire group
- Stay for a week at a Campfire resident camp (possibly)
- Attend as many open gyms for basketball as possible
- Do extra workouts to meet the fitness requirements for even trying out for the volleyball team. A vertical jump of 15 inches!
- Go to a few of her OVA (club volleyball) clinics

How will she get everything done? Who knows?

I do know that she has her heart set on getting as in shape as she possibly could be so she can make that volleyball team. She is committed!

At least she has her trusty bike that can take her to most of the places that she might want to go around town. I love the fact that Bend is bike friendly and small enough that I feel safe letting her go by herself. Most of her friends live close by and they all have bikes too. And it will be nice to not have her dependent on me driving her around town every darn day. Gas is too spendy! I’m getting a bike trailer attachment for my Chariot chassis and dusting off my own bike so I can hopefully reduce the number of times that I must fill up my gas tank. I almost passed out at how much it cost last time.

Two Wardrobes

Now that Spring is finally here after many, many, many false starts (snow off and on all darn April) - it is time to pull out the Spring/Summer wardrobe.

Ok, I am a native San Diegan. I had heard of people having a Summer and Winter wardrobe but didn't really fathom the concept of putting clothes away for months at a time. After all, my winter wardrobe consisted of the same sweatshirts, jackets and long sleeved shirts that I wore all year because I worked inside an air conditioned building. Granted, I did have a couple of nice sweaters that I would pull out when the weather dipped into the 50's but that was the extent of it.

We have a lot of clothes! It doesn't seem like we have that many clothes, but once you pull out the bins of capris and short sleeved t-shirts that you haven't seen in six months you realize that you are loaded down. Especially the babies. In order to make sure you have enough clothes for at least three clothing changes a day (accidents happen) you have quite a few clothes. It didn't really sink in until I was pulling out all of the short sleeved shirts, light cotton pants & capris, sundresses and shorts that I realized - my kids have clothes! Two drawers are for summer type clothing and two drawers are for winter type clothing. Plus one for just pajamas and swimsuits. Thank goodness for hand-me-downs.

Does this curtail the desire to go and pick up a new shirt at Costco? Nope. It just makes for one more shirt that will make it into the bin come October.

Roseola

As if the sickness gods were not mean enough to make our house a quarantine zone for the past four months - they had to get creative.

Logan just got diagnosed with Roseola. Just what is Roseola? Good question because I had no idea myself until I looked it up on the Internet. I love Google.

"A child with roseola typically develops a mild upper respiratory illness, followed by a high fever (often over 103° Fahrenheit, or 39.5° Celsius) for up to a week. During this time, the child may appear fussy or irritable and may have a decreased appetite and swollen lymph nodes (glands) in the neck.

The high fever often ends abruptly, and at about the same time a pinkish-red flat or raised rash appears on the child's trunk and spreads over the body. The rash's spots blanch (turn white) when you touch them, and individual spots may have a lighter "halo" around them. The rash usually spreads to the neck, face, arms, and legs."

That was basically Logan's symptoms in a nutshell. All last week he ran a really high fever for no reason and it hung around 102.5 - 103. Not much you can do for it except give them Motrin and try to make them comfy. Then on Sunday after he woke up from his nap he was covered head to toe with a red rash. Of course, the nurse advice line was closed, the urgent care clinic was closed and my only option was the Emergency room. Since he was happily crawling around the floor in the best mood he had all week, it obviously wasn't an emergency.

Luckily my neighbor is a nurse so we waited for her to come home and then asked her to come over to check him out. She looked him up and down and suggested Roseola and after a symptom verification via Google, she was right. Nothing to do except coat him with Caladryl (he is itchy), give him more Motrin (for the itches that bug him) and try to keep him happy.

Man, I hope Alexis doesn't get this!

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents.. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.'

The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.

Track & Field

It is track and field time again! Katya is really excited about the season this year and she is working really hard at improving her hurdling technique so she can hopefully do better than she did last year. She is also wearing her orthotics in her shoes so now her knees and hips don't hurt like they did last year.

She has had two track meets so far this season and there is one today in Madras (an hour away) that I will be missing due to distance + toddlers. I hate missing any of her games or meets, but sometimes that can't be helped. I'll make the one next week. High school track will be a challenge because the team will be going to places like Eugene, Klamath Falls and Salem. Yikes!

So far Katya is finishing in the top three for her heat regularly - which is awesome! Her 4 x 200 relay team just can't be beat at all this year and she will most likely be going to Districts in a couple of weeks for that event. At today's meet she is giving high jump another shot and she isn't sure if she wants to include the 200 as well. Four events during a meet is a lot.

I'll keep you posted.