The fridge looks like chaos because of all the leftovers (still good!) shoved in there but I found only one sinfully wasted produce. It’s a gross one.It was shoved in the way,way back . The 6 yo would be pissed if he knew since last week he wanted a salad with cucumbers and I told him we have no cucumbers. Obviously,we did.Also, I discovered this on the table this morning. We peeled it for the toddler yesterday and he didn’t finish it and I forgot about it.My bad.If you were a food waster this week, go share your shame at Food Waste Friday.

15 Current Fun Facts About My Kids 

1. Sir Snugglemuffin blows his own nose (properly!) and it’s the cutest thing ever.
2. Teen Twin #1 (aka Thing 1) likes to quote Bjork in regards to sexuality: “I think everyone’s bisexual to some degree or another; it’s just a question of whether or not you choose to recognize it and embrace it. Personally, I think choosing between men and women is like choosing between cake and ice cream. You’d be daft not to try both when there are so many different flavors.” Yes. I’m proud.
3. Sir Snugglemuffin doesn’t really talk yet. He’ll be 2 in May ,so I’m not super worried . He says dog & duck ,which sound the same and one day he said Doctor very clearly. Yes, he was referring to THE Doctor and not the one you go see when you’re sick.
4. Speaking of The Doctor, Pookie’s birthday is next week and she says she’d like a Sonic Screwdriver. Again, I’m proud.
5. Loki has had zero interest in reading until just now (1st grade) and I’m amazed at how fast he’s learned to read. Just like that *snaps fingers*,it seems.
6. Both of my teen girls have the best sense of humor ever. Witty,sarcastic and quirky.
7. Teen Twin #2 (aka Thing 2) was voted Best Big Sister by Loki recently. It’s true…she’s always willing to spend time with her younger sibs,even if they are really annoying sometimes.
8. Pookie’s birthday party theme: Sweeny Todd. Yes, we’ll have a meat pie for dinner,too. She’s truly an individual and I love that.
9. I smelled something garlicky the other day and turned around to see Sir Snugglemuffin eating a whole clove of garlic. He is SO not a picky eater.
10. Loki on the other hand…PB & J,spaghetti (but no other kind of pasta) and grilled cheese sandwiches.That’s what he’ll eat. Oh…and salad.
11. Thing 1 got a perfect 100 on her English mid-term. Woot.
12. Thing 2 says she won’t have babies when she grows up but she wants to adopt a bunch. I love that at 15 she’s already considering ways to make motherhood socially & environmentally conscientious, even if it’s not in her immediate future.
13. I picked up Loki from school yesterday and he says,”I want a baby sister.” Cute but no frickin’ way.
14. Sir Snugglemuffin is the best birth control ever. As soon as we even mention the word “sex” or anything to do with it, he wakes up.
15. Pookie…she loves pomegranates.

I decided to make today that day here on this here blog. Last week I got a really nice email from someone who has read my blog for a long time but I had no idea because they never commented!  Coincidentally, this followed a conversation with another blogger and a few readers about why people don’t leave comments. It turns out, people are shy about leaving comments for the same reason I’m socially-awkward and have a hard time meeting new people: they don’t want to sound like a dork and say the “wrong” thing.

Well, that’s just one reason but it seems to be the main one. But I promise you…. there is nothing you can say that would make you sound like a dork to me. Nuh-uh. I have the dorkiness bit covered for you.

I’ve been blogging for almost 11 years now. ELEVEN! I started my first blog just after the birth of my Pookie, who will be 11 in just 5 days. It’s a convenient way to mark the occasion in my mind, even if I don’t know the exact date since that first blog has long since been deleted.  I’ve always loved getting comments…. not for the ego-feeding reasons some people like to get them. I genuinely like to hear what people are thinking . I love when people share their own experiences and stories . I like the input and the commiseration, the food for thought . Or just if someone want s to say,”Hey!”. That’s cool,too.

This blog gets a lot of hits so I know ya’ll are out there reading. So today…. step out of those creepy shadows (they might be Vashta Nerada )and say “Hi”. Tell me something about yourself…. even if it’s just your favorite color or where you’re from! Go.Now. Do it! Before the shadows eat you!

I had never even heard of The DIAPER Act until this past week. It’s a shame it’s not been put out there more so more people can advocate & push for it. The DIAPER Act would provide diapers to families who qualify for a childcare subsidy. It’s very supportive of cloth diapering, allowing for laundering expenses if necessarily. Rush Limbaugh of course has criticized the legislation as “Pampering the Poor” but he’s a dumbass so let’s ignore him (or yell at him, if it makes you feel better). Jennifer Labit has some great blog posts about needy families and diapering. If you’ve ever had to choose between food and diapers, you can tell your story.

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It was only a matter of time before breastfeeding has an Occupy movement. Occupy Breastfeeding!

We are standing together to stand up to Corporate Formula Companies and their unethical marketing practices which only serve to undermine the success of breastfeeding mothers and babies. We are the 99% who do not wish to be manipulated and lied to by Corporations whose only agenda is to make a profit. 

We are standing together to stand up for the right for mothers to breastfeed their children in public. We are the 99% who do not want to have to hide in a dirty bathroom to feed our babies.

We are standing together to take back the discourse on the breastfeeding vs. formula feeding debate. We are the 99% who are fed up with trying to work within a framework that is designed to make breastfeeding mothers feel alienated.

It is time we define the outcome of the future! The time is NOW. We are in this together. We are the 99%.

Occupy on, ladies (and gents).

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[from  New Moon Girls  facebook wall]

If Wonder Woman was a Disney Princess? That would be awesome. I think I was fortunate that my girls never cared about the Disney Princesses. Of course, I didn’t exactly steer them in that direction but I also didn’t prohibit them from watching those movies. They just didn’t  have any natural interest in them.My 3 girls are pre-teen and teens now. When they talk about favorite female characters from Disney movies, they favor Mulan and Jane from Tarzan. That’s pretty much it.

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So, she convinces him that he needs to get rid of some, which is like  convincing one of those crazy ladies on “Hoarders” that they do not need 500 Christmas trees in one room. And then the little monster…you know what he does? EXACTLY what MY kid does – he dumps all the toys that are boxed up ready to go to that happy Toyland in the sky so that he can play with the goddamn box! Time and time again, this happens to me. It makes me wonder why we even buy toys. Why not just bring home boxes?

Great illustrations, by the way.

Worse than stepping on legos,though, are K’nex.They are not construction toys to stimulate creativity and innovative thinking.  They’re  little pronged daggers designed to hit certain reflexology points on the bottoms of parents’ feet,rendering them disabled and helpless.

See?

So, of course, last week I bought Loki some more K’nex. It was a serious Thrift Whore Score. I found them in a big plastic bag at the thrift shop, marked $3.50. But wait! It was Frugal Friday and if it has a yellow tag, it’s half-price and a yellow tag it did have! $1.25. It makes my heart sing.

It was a good score. I plan on saving them for his birthday. Besides boxes, K’nex are one of his most played with toys. He will LOVE having more to create with. He wants to be an engineer someday, you know.

I know…. thrifted birthday presents. You should see some of the looks I get when I openly admit I give my kids presents that I found at a yard sale or even a free pile. it’s ok. Most of the time, they don’t even know where they came from and they don’t care.

This past summer, I hit the motherlode of Transformers & action figures at a yard sale. Loki…he’s big into Transformers and all that sort of stuff. I paid $3 for the box of Transformers and $2 for a giant Ziploc full of Star Wars figures, toy soldiers,ninjas and various other action figure -type toys. I saved them for Christmas, along with a few other things here and there I’d picked up free or thrifty-cheap.

On Christmas morning ,he had a ton of unwrapping to do. You know what his comment was that morning? “All of my favorite dreams have come true!”. True story.

I didn’t hear about The ZERO Dollar Experiment until after Christmas…and I would have failed anyway because I spent $5, not zero  but the principle is more or less the same.  We can’t afford a lot and because of our own personal ethics, we don’t actually want to buy anything new. We reduce waste while doing something that’s economically practical for us. When new-to-us toys come into the house, we purge the old ones and offer them to someone on freecycle or craigslist, or sometimes through an agency in our county.

I don’t know what the long term lessons in how we live are for our children. For all I know, they may grow-up to want every single thing they own to be brand spankin’ new, theirs and theirs alone. I doubt it though. They seem to get the message that a thing is just a thing and the only value it has it whatever it means to you personally.

I wish *I* could have things like this on MY headboard

Beautiful photo of pregnant body art from Kim Brennan of www.facebook.com/HasinaMehndiandBodyArt . Gorgeous,no? When I see pictures of body art like this, it ALMOST makes me want to be pregnant again. Ok, not really, I guess. I just wish I had done something as fabulous with my baby bump.

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Propaganda Parenting: Don’t  Look, Listen or Speak…Be A Sheep [from Birth Without Fear ] - An excellent post about how certain elements use fear to control how we parent and expect us not to think for ourselves on issues such as vaccines, co-sleeping,feeding and childbirth. My feelings about this issue has always been, if someone makes money off of whatever topic is at hand, be wary of what’s being told to you.  The bottom line is this:  Educating ourselves and making informed choices, not fear induced choices, is important.  Maybe even more importantly, we as parents have the power to change things.

Like when the CDC recommends women stop breastfeeding to boost vaccines. Say what? I’ll keep breastfeeding,thanks.

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Mother dilutes formula.  Infant nearly dies.

This is actually an old news article but it demonstrates the problems with forcing formula feeding on poverty-stricken people. Maybe forcing isn’t the right word…”strongly encouraging”. I know from other mothers who have WIC programs in other parts of the country, formula is pushed,breastfeeding is discouraged. If the woman qualifies for WIC, she’s not financially secure enough to be relying on a feeding method that requires she uses money to get it. In other countries where the formula companies (Nestle) push their propaganda at new mothers, the issue is doubly problematic – not only will they not be able to afford it and end up diluting to make it stretch (and ultimately run out anyway) but the formula is made with unsafe water and can kill the baby. WIC made a statement when this happened w/ this particular child, saying that the program is not designed to meet all the dietary needs of recipients. True but if the mother has the ability to breastfeed, then she’ll have her babies needs met already and it’s the WIC programs job to educate and inform. Things like this make me glad I don’t live in an ass-backward state that can’t see this as the common sense manner to save their state money and help pull their impoverished out of the cycle.

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GORGEOUS breastfeeding photos from a Ukranian photo exhibit featuring breastfeeding. [from offbeatmama.com ]

More here…annnnd also some more fetishy-milk pics here. If women dressed in leather expressing breastmilk bother you, just don’t click there.

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Whatever Happened to Women & Children First? [ from progressive parenting ]- This post covers all the bases about basically how strange it is that breastfeeding isn’t more normalized in our society, the twisted ways people view it and how we need to change that mindset beginning with the young ones.

I remember a couple of years ago, my Thing 1 and Thing 2 were telling me about a movie they watched in 7th grade science class. The subject of the film was earth sustainability and at some point in the film, it talked about sustainable food choices and showed a woman breastfeeding. There were students in the class who actually yelled out “EWWW,grosssssss!” and other acted embarrassed. My girls and another classmate who had a young nursling sibling at home were the only ones in the class not freaked out by the image of a baby nursing.The science teacher stopped the movie and spent the rest of the class educating the class about breastmilk and breastfeeding. That teacher rocked, by the way.

I’m all for showing breastfeeding as the norm to children. There are some people who say by introducing and “parading” breastfeeding around in front of children, it’s just another form of “brainwashing propaganda”.  I call bullshit. No one makes a dime off of encouraging breastfeeding (well, with the exception of lactation Consultants but it’s not like they’re getting filthy rich) and the end result is society benefits, so…yeah…bring back breastfeeding to Sesame Street.

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This helped me breathe easier this week… and as a Facebook reader commented, it can apply to fatherhood,too.

1. Hybrid Animal-Babies

I just finished Jeff Lemire’s  Sweet Tooth Vol 3: Animal Armies. As I mentioned before with the previous issues, I can’t help but think about having animal-babies . Now that’s even more true. I think about sweet little fuzzy Bunny-Babies or little Pig-Babies with their sweet little corkscrew tails and adorable little snouts. Diapering might be a challenge but there is no obstacle mother’s love can’t overcome. Then I think about  Feral Dog-Babies who eat their mothers and Gator-Babies and the desire fades quite a bit.

Then I see things like this and I squeal,”Oh,my god…a Turtle-Baby! How fucking CUTE! I want one.” Someone mistakenly thought I wanted a pattern to make the turtle outfit.no,no…I want a Turtle-Baby.

Look! I Want a Dumpster Baby could get an Owl-Baby!

They’re for sale in Suzy’s Craft Shoppe.

2. Sherlock

I loveloveloved the BBC’s Sherlock series. All 3 episodes. When I was done watching the whole first “season”, I gave an outraged cry of,”Really?? Only 3? You Brits are wonky.” Really,I did. I really loved the guy who played Sherlock and for the longest time ,I couldn’t remember his name so I just kept calling him Benedict Cucumber. It’s typically what I do when i can’t remember someone’s name…I substitute a food. David Boreanz was David Bananas for the longest time, and still is in my head.

Thing #2 passed along this vid from one of her fave You Tube peoples,  crabstickz . This parody of Sherlock was hilarious and spot on.

Bonus points for the bear in the drawing wearing as “Bring back Firefly” T-shirt.

3. Occupy Gardens

I’ve been seeing a multitude of posts from the gardening front about an Occupy Garden movement. The idea is one I can wholeheartedly embrace . There needs to be a food revolution and gardening can be the force behind it.  There are few subjects I get as emotional about as the power of gardening. This guy…this Roger Doiron… he gets it.

4. R.I.P. Etta James

One of my favorite ladies ever.

5. “Hey,Girl” – The Garden Series

The genius and fabulous Kiss My Aster! made a “Hey,Girl…” garden-themed series. This is my fave:

Everyone knows or at least can imagine that financial instability can cause a lot of stress but lack of food security, while obviously it goes hand in hand, can make people loopy-crazy levels of stressed. The adults snap at each other, even though they’re in  it together. They blame themselves,each other,the system,The Man, society,the whole dumb world. We try to protect our kids from all of it because it’s scary as hell to us adults – the kids don’t need to be freaked the fuck out ,too.

John Cheese has much of it right in this The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor. If you’ve been reading this here blog, you know I’m trying hard to make sure that #5: You Develop A Taste For Shitty Food  does not happen to my kids. You also know that I very strongly believe that poverty does not necessarily HAVE to equal crappy eating habits. Even though a bag of oranges looks like gold at the end of the month and we sort of had to buy disgusting processed American cheese slices once because it’s cheaper. 4 out of 6 of my kids think it tastes “wrong” so maybe I’ve been doing something right.

As positive as I am that there are ways to make the healthy eating happen when living on food stamps, let me step outside my white,small town bubble and give myself a reality check. It is possible but not without a lot  of changes and support systems put in place to make it happen. The way things are now, the poor just get sicker and fatter and continue to be blamed for their own dietary issues, even though it’s a trap they’ve been set up to fall in. Along with those “Stupid Habits” , it isn’t just money poor people spend like crazy when they have it…it’s food, too. It’s feast or famine…when there IS food available, you eat it and you eat it till it’s gone. Also, that stress I mentioned earlier? It doesn’t help.

On an assistance related note, I ended up applying for Medicaid to try to get help getting my teeth fixed. Since I applied, even more of my front tooth (what was left of it) broke, so I’m front-toothless. It doesn’t matter,anyway. I was denied. Because I said when I applied that I had a past medical bill  (my ER visit from when I had mastitis), they wanted me to prove that I lived where I do now then, even though it was only in September. Proof of this would be a utility bill from September, in my name. none of the utilities are in my name sooo….. yeah. I told the medicaid worker, “Ok, forget about the past bill then.” She says they can’t because I already told them about it when I applied.

Anyway, the word is that in our area, Medicaid isn’t going to help much with my dental so let’s just hope I stay otherwise healthy.In the meantime, I’m self-conscious as hell about my teeth, avoiding talking to people who don’t love me if I can help it. Not that Sir Snugglemuffin is a bit older, it’s time for me to consider getting one of those job things but realistically, I’m not going to bother trying since my chances of being hired for anything worthwhile is slim with missing front teeth.

Earlier this week, we had to go meet with our 10 year old’s Principal and Guidance Counselor ( longer than I want to get into right now story). The day after, she was called up to the counselor’s office to “chat” so ,as the counselor said, she could get to know her better. Somehow the conversation led into, “Are Mom & Dad happy together?” Do they fight a lot?”.  Pookie said it was all very awkward and she really didn’t understand what it had to do with anything. I can’t help but wonder if they noticed my teeth and suspected abuse. It kills me to think anyone would assume something  like that about my dearest.

So,yeah…on that cheery note, shall I discuss food we ate this week?

Mmmm….bibimbap. I made this on Monday for brunch when all the kids were home from school. The best thing about this dish was that I made it using all the leftover odds and ends in the fridge… a few carrots,half a container of mushrooms, a little bit of spinach left in a bag,a cuke and a can of bean sprouts all thrown over what was left in the end of a bag of rice. I noticed I still have a little leftover in the fridge…mostly rice and a few sprouts. Fed many with leftovers to spare. Win.

This was my favorite meal this week, mostly because it was almost all free. It’s salmon with jalapeno and ponzu sauce and honey-gingered carrots. The salmon was wild caught locally by a friend who shared his lake-bounty and the jalapenos were from a friend’s garden this past summer. I had them in the freezer. The carrots were given to us by MIL. The only thing purchased was the ponzu sauce.Bottled,Kikkoman…somewhere around $3.

Chicken vindaloo with sweet potatoes and cauliflower. Leftover sweet potatoes thrown in, half a head of cauliflower… chicken on sale.

There was also pasta one night this week and pizza another. …

Sweet Tooth is a comic series by Jeff Lemire. People (and by people, I mean reviewers) like to call this “Mad Max meets Bambi” or “Mad Max with antlers”.  It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where all babies born are an animal-human hybrid. The series focuses on one such child named Sweet Tooth by the  enigmatic bounty hunter/badass/savior Jeppard, an ex-hockey player whose mission in this new world unfolds throughout.  I’ve finished #1 & 2…waiting on #3 from the library and already plotting on how I will get my hands on #4, which is not set to be released until January 31st (so therefore, probably won’t be at my library right away).

It’s a good,riveting series with a cool twist on what seems sometimes a little overdone in comics & other media these days.

Is it wrong that I find myself thinking about having animal-babies now? Mostly, just thinking ,why would that be such a bad thing? How bad would it be to have a Bunny Baby? Wouldn’t that just make the baby extra snuggly and cute? No?

Actually, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy…it was a fail. I LOVE Cormac McCarthy …that wasn’t it at all. The writing is incredible…the story is fascinating but…

The dead babies. Goddamn Comrac McCarthy and his dead babies. I just couldn’t do it. Not now. Not when all that’s already in my head is fluffy little bunny-human babies,especially.

So, I picked up the newest Chuck Pahalaniuk….ok,whoa….I can never spell that guy’s last name right. Palahniuk. 

It must be the month for me to read books that are “If such and such met so and so and it was written by blah blah”.  The nice thing is, I’m about half way done with it and when talking to those around me, I’ve described it as “The Lovely Bones in hell with a touch of Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret and The Breakfast Club”. And then I read that Chuck himself has described the novel as “if The Shawshank Redemption had a baby by The Lovely Bones and it was raised by Judy Blume.”^[4] and “it’s kind of like The Breakfast Club set in Hell.” It just made me feel like I got something right.

Here’s a teaser for Teaser Tuesday:

At bedtime, we are not reading any of the things above. Instead, we’re (the boy,not me) are fixated on :

Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean

Is it just me or is the “I love my red shoes…” song sound a lot like The Waitresses, “I know What Boys Like”. ? It does and now you know, that’s how I’ll be singing it. Even if the kid looks at me like “Wtf,Mom?”.

Also,this:

The most fun part of this book is finding the hidden things in the pictures.

A taste: (with most of the usual facebookery and email stuff  excluded)

Saturday, December 17th,2011