MommyCoddle

ONE Simple Question : No. 8

It's been getting harder and harder to find willing souls to help with chores around here. But I don't blame them--it's cold, the wind is whipping, it requires dressing in multiple layers, finding hats, mittens, scarves, boots...coming back with runny noses, purple hands and chapped chins.

But there's one little soul, rain or shine, freezing temperatures or mild ones, who's always anxious to come along. Her boots go on before the pajamas come off, and she knows the routine--cats first, throw down food to the chickens, shut the shed doors, walk to the coop and let the chickens out for their dash across the yard to their grain by the garden shed. She also knows how to keep warm--one mittened hand pulled inside her coat the other hand in mine and shoved into my coat pocket. She makes for great company.

On the nights when I find myself alone--doing the evening lock-in by myself, a warm cup of tea in my hands makes for good company, too. But not as good as Elizabeth, of course.  

  

As for my simple question...I'm looking for some ideas. Christmas day breakfast is on my brain. I'm looking for a good recipe for something I can make the night before--either in the crockpot, or something to put in the oven Christmas morning. Something simple, something yummy. 

Specifically, I'd love to find a recipe for baked french toast. I've heard "rumors" of one with thick-sliced bread, apples, cinnamon--something prepared the night before, refrigerated and baked the next morning. I'd love to find a recipe for something like that. Otherwise--I'm open to inspiration. I want Christmas morning to be relaxing but special. I don't want to be standing over the stove flipping pancakes, but rather savoring the morning with my family. But I still want something yummy for the ten minutes I can get my children to gather around the table. 

Recipes? Ideas? Traditions? I want to hear them. I'd like to upgrade from fried eggs and boxed cereal for this special morning....

ONE simple question, no. 7

Sometimes it's hard to be five. Especially when your older sister is off gallivanting and swimming and having who knows what kind of fun with a friend, and you're stuck at home with your boring old mom, and your little sister who repeats everything you say and fights you for the tree swing.

This is when the mantra begins, "What can I do that's FUN?!?"

If you asked my mother, I'm sure she'd back me up on the fact that I tended to be the perpetually bored child. Especially on Sundays. But my boredom, if I recall correctly, usually led to good things like puttering down at the stream or walking around the house with a tape recorder--reading the newspaper and writing my own radio ads--many of which involved a flushing of the toilet and lots of hushed giggling in the background.

I believe boredom is a good thing for children to experience. Because it often leads to amazing bouts of creativity.

However, it only seems like karma that Mary would be asking me the same question I'm sure I hounded my mom with for many, many years and many, many lazy Sunday afternoons.

Yesterday, I saved the day with painting en plein air. It did the trick and got us through a tough patch of boredom until Dan got home from work and Emma returned from her playdate. (only to drown her sister in stories of how much fun she had. Thanks, Em.)

But I believe it is good for a parent to have a boredom busting arsenal.

So here's my simple question for today:

How do you answer the "What can I do for fun?" question? What activities are in your boredom busting arsenal? What ideas do you throw out to your children in hopes that they'll latch on to one? Between all of you creative mamas, I think it will be a great resource for all of us to share our ideas.

Here's to a boredom-induced, creative summer!

ONE simple question, no. 6

This weather has me all confused. This morning as I put on jeans and a pair of long sleeves, I actually thought about starting a small fire in the woodstove and wondered where my knitting bag was. What?! It's June 18th! Hardly time to be thinking about sticky, hot wool and kindling for the woodstove.

But before I know it, I'll be dripping in sweat, swearing at our lack of air-conditioning and feeling faint at the idea of turning on a stove or standing over a bubbling pot.

Over the past few months I've become quite attached to the idea of preparing dinner ahead of time--whether it be in the slow cooker, or my lovely red dutch oven, a Christmas gift from my mother. Nothing makes me feel more organized and in control of my afternoons than having dinner slowly cooking away, with just a few last-minute preps to get dinner on the table. Some of my least-glamorous parenting moments come in that wacky hour or so before Dan gets home from work, and I'm scrambling to get dinner on the table.

So in the spirit of  keeping the temperatures low in the kitchen, and freeing up more time to enjoy the perks of summer, I'd love it if you'd share your favorite go-to "make ahead" meal. It can be a slow-cooker recipe. A dutch oven recipe. A freeze ahead of time, bake later recipe. Anything to keep the temperatures low and savor the summer, which seems to be slipping through my fingers. (Sandy, I hope you'll share some of the recipes you sent me in your email!)

ONE simple question, no. 5

I can't believe I'm actually saying this out loud. But last month, I actually considered whether it was time to break my more than ten year relationship with my Martha Stewart Living magazine. I have to admit, I feel a loyalty to this magazine. It was my first dabbling into grown-up things. While my friends in college were reading Glamour, I was thumbing through Martha Stewart and dreaming of the days when I'd own my own home and be cooking more than ramen noodles. While Martha is the tail end of many a joke, I appreciate her desire to carry on the tradition of many time-honored homemaking skills.

But....the magazine is expensive. I rarely find myself doing more than thumbing through, looking at pictures. I don't find myself making any of the recipes. And save for a putting a "good thing" into practice here and there, it's little more than the same dreamy eye-candy that it was for me in college.  But I'm not sure if I can let it go. Long relationships are hard to break.

So this got me thinking about magazine subscriptions. The ones I have, the ones I'm thinking of trying. The ones I'm ready to let go of. Though it may be a somewhat scary exercise to actually 'fess up to the magazines that come to my mailbox, here's a list of what I get, with commentary, of course.

Martha Stewart Living
Country Living (suddenly very appropriate after the move to this house)
Wondertime--(now automatically switched to Family Fun, which I give a 7 out of 10 stars.)
Time (one of those school fundraisers, I never find time to read it.)
National Geographic (courtesy of my grandmother, but we'll probably continue now, ourselves)
Every Day Food (love)

Ones I keep buying at the grocery store and wonder if I should just subscribe:

Mother Earth News
Bon Appetit (I'm really liking this one lately)
Cooking Light
Kiwi

Ones I recently let expire:

Body and Soul
Real Simple

The ones my kids get:

Your Big Backyard
National Geographic Kids (courtesy of my grandmother, we'll probably just stick with Big Backyard next year)

So here's my simple question:

What magazines do you subscribe to? Will you share your lists with me? Your favorites, the ones you're ready to let go of, the ones you are considering subscribing to?

I can't wait to hear your answers!! Though the last thing I (obviously) need is another magazine to grab my attention.

ONE simple question, no. 4

A few weeks ago sheri asked me to take part in her series on CafeMom's Home and Garden section called, "Nesting and Nurturing", she posed this question to me:

What does home mean to you?

I have to tell you, for as much as I blog about my home, raising a family, fixing up a house, teaching my children, it was such a nice exercise to sit down and actually put my thoughts about home into words.

You can read my response, as well as take a few peeks inside my home. I'd love for you to stop by.

Sheri will be continuing her series and asking the same question of other women around blogland. I've really loved reading a few of the previous responses, especially these from Rachel Saldana (of buttons magee), Kate Inglis (of sweet | salty ), Tracey Clark (of shutter sisters) , Elizabeth Fleming  (of Tethered).

I thought this afternoon, I'd ask the same question of all of you. It can be a few words, a few sentences, but I'd love to know, what does home mean to you?

ONE simple question no. 3

I have a lot I need to get done, which subsequently always seems to lead to some sort of procrastination. Tonight it took the form of blog-fussing and the creation of this little button. It's because I really love these simple questions I've been posing to all of you lately. The one of about the library and what methods you use to avoid fines and overdue charges was full of great ideas and advice. (as well as a few of you who commiserated with my "issues".) And I thought it was fascinating to read all of the different approaches to, and styles of family dinners.

Tonight, Dan was reading a bedtime story to the girls and I headed outside, just as it was getting dark, to lock the chickens in their coop. We've been trying to get out to them a little earlier these nights because we are getting a little suspicious that there might be some fox activity around here. Last night, we lost a whole nest of eggs that our one female guinea had been sitting on, and then, well....there's Rosie.

After I locked in the chickens, I took the long way home, walking around the back field with a trail of cats and dog bounding along behind me, listening to how deafening the peepers are getting, and straining to recognize the last few birds that were singing in the sycamore trees.

It was a much-needed time for me. I needed to get away for a few moments. Step back.

Tonight, as I often do, I was feeling the press of time on my shoulders. Feeling like our evening was slipping away too quickly. That by the time we were finished at the dinner table, I was already feeling like we were running late for bedtime and stories, and out of time for my planned baths for the girls.

During the work week, Dan gets home at 6:15, (on a good night) and we quickly sit down to dinner. Before we know it we're shuffling the girls upstairs for pajamas, tooth-brushing and stories. And sometimes, it all feels like it's happening too quickly.

So here's my (not so) simple question for all of you:  How do you slow down and savor your evening family time? How do you keep things from feeling rushed? Do you organize or plan your evenings to make more time for enjoying each other?

I really enjoy hearing from all of you and interacting with you through these questions. I hope you are enjoying hearing from each other and learning from each other, as much as I am.

another simple question

Since my last simple question was such a success, I have another one for you this evening:

What is your dinner style? Buffet? Family style? Serve yourself?

Let me explain....for me, the moments right before we sit down to a meal can be pure chaos. Kids are whining for dinner, Dan is walking in the door, I'm still counting out forks and napkins, and realizing I forgot to put out everyone's drinks.

And I'm notoriously guilty of calling everyone in for dinner way too early--so that they're champing at the bit, mulling around the kitchen, and I'm still running around getting things together. (In my defense, it seems like the days I wait until every detail is taken care of, "people" lolly-gag too long and end up sitting down  to a table full of cold food.)

I used to be a fan of the "buffet style" dinner, where I'd serve everything up from the stove and pass out plates to people sitting at the table. But sometimes, this gets a little crazy--the lack of counter space, the ones waiting for their plates to be fixed, hungry little ones digging in (and sometimes devouring) before we've even said grace, the getting up and down every time something is forgotten or someone needs more.

So lately, I've been bringing everything to the table and serving it up family style. It makes for a full table but it seems to make for less trips up and down and a smoother transition into dinner. I *think*.

But I'd love to hear your style.

How do you get everything on the table, get settled and enjoy a family meal?

one question

I'm going to put off the post I had planned to write this evening, with one simple (apparently in our family, not-so-simple) question:

What is your system for staying on top of (and not losing!) checked-out library materials?

Because seriously, I'm ready to put a ban on all library borrowing around here. If we don't get a system that works in place soon, they'll be dedicating a reading room in our honor.

I tried to create a little central gathering place for all the library materials to live--this nice little basket in the front hall. But darn if my kids don't want to read the library books! And carry them to secret nooks and crannies around the house; leaving my sweet little basket completely empty about two days after our library trip. Today I walked passed it, saw it empty, and tossed some mail in there, just so it wasn't so bare.

My no-nonsense husband says, "Well, they're in the house somewhere." True. I know they're not in the garden shed. I know they're not in the chicken coop. I know they're not on the front porch. They could be in the car. But obviously there is some black hole, perhaps under the girls' beds, that is swallowing up library books, and has a particular hunger for movies about baby deer and soccer tips from the 80s.