It's Nothin' But Norman this weekend!

Whew, if there is a festival or event in the state over the next three days, chances are it is here in Norman!  This is always a festival-y time of year, but this weekend might just take the cake.  Luckily, the weather is semi-cooperating.  As in, it's not cold or raining.  It IS astoundingly windy, but I guess we shouldn't complain too much.  Truly, there is so much going on this weekend that I'm just going to link you to the Norman Convention and Visitor's Bureau rather than add individual links.  Pardon my laziness!
It just so happened that my sweet hubby took Thursday and Friday off this week, so we get to start our weekend early.  Yesterday was golfing with the boys, but today he's ours!  We hit the May Fair Arts Festival at opening day, opening hour, and it's a good thing we did because the place was packed by the time we left!  The wind, as I said, was a bit much after a while but we still hit all the necessaries.  We played on an amazing seesaw hand built by the nicest old man ever.  We made art in the kid's art area, my daughter chose her colors for a tie-dye shirt ($5 people, you can't beat that), and we ooohhhhed and ahhhhed over the art.  This is such a fun and free-ish event.  Yes, you do have to pay for some of the kid's art projects, but the cost is minimal and they have such a good time.  I think their favorite part (besides the tie dye) was choosing their rock.  Let me explain: one of the jewelry booths had a bin of beautiful polished stones and they were $.25 each.  The kids loved digging through and choosing their "perfect" stone.  Um, totally worth 1/2 a dollar!

Tomorrow I hope to hit the 89er Day Parade and maybe the Norman Music Festival.  We  haven't been to either before but I hear they are great events.  There is also the Spring Art Market at the Jacobson House (an amazing place by the way).  They are going to have Indian tacos (practically an Oklahoma fair staple) and gourd dancing.  I don't know what the heck gourd dancing is but I love watching Native American dancing.  Brings tears to my eyes for a variety of reasons.  Mainly because motherhood has made me an emotional basket case, but that's for another post!
So, I'm hoping to get out and enjoy my town this weekend in all its glory.  And hopefully end up with happy and excited kids, or maybe exhausted and over-stimulated kids.  I guess we'll just wait and see!

Book Review: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

Like Allen's previous three novels, this one is set in small-town North Carolina and features strong-willed women puzzling over family secrets.  If this novel could be summed up in one word, it would be sisterhood.  The bonds of friendship between the women in this book serve as the catalyst for the entire plot, and the follow the characters from generation to generation.  

Willa Jackson is tethered to her home town by an impossible sense of duty.  Her family was once the "royalty" of the small logging village but that ended when Willa's grandmother was a teenager.  Miserable in the shadow of her family's failure but unable to leave her aging grandmother, Willa stays incognito on the "tourist" side of town, where locals rarely go.  

Paxton Osgood is the girl everyone loves to hate.  Beautiful, rich, successful.  But behind the veneer, she is trapped: living in her parents' home, living her parents' life, in love with a man whom she suspects can never truly love her back.  

Willa and Paxton's grandmothers were best friends, but Willa and Paxton are virtual strangers.  This all changes the night Paxton's thin facade crumbles, and Willa finds herself rescuing Paxton from a dangerous situation.  As the women start to trust one another more, they uncover long buried secrets, secrets that tie them together and that their grandmothers had hoped would stay buried.

This book has a great and engaging story, with that trademark Allen hint of mysticism.  Although I thought that it started out a little more slow than her other books (usually they hook me from the first page), I still enjoyed it immensely and it became much more of a page-turner as the plot line unfolded.  Highly recommended, and I am already anticipating her next great story!



Rainy Days and Mondays....

We have been going like crazy lately.  It seems like every day there are multiple activities.  I feel blessed to have a full life, but sometimes it is easy to forget to slow down and have a "free range" day. 

Today it is cold, damp, and grey in Oklahoma.  I'm thinking it is a perfect movie day!  So far, we have watched Shrek 3, lunched, and napped (which is a miracle for my daughter..God bless dark days).  After nap, I have big plans...Toy Story 3!  I'm not sure why today is thirds day but I'll go with it.  Maybe we'll just go ahead and get our jammies on.  Wait, better wait until at least 4 for that one!  I don't even have to cook dinner tonight thanks to the wonder of Easter leftovers. 

Whew, I did not realize how welcome a day of nothing was until it actually arrived.  My daughter has had some intense behavior problems lately and I am suddenly wondering if our cram-packed schedule has something to do with it.  Man, I hope so 'cuz after this I'm pretty much out of options!  I think we have all reached the end of our patience and deserve a day off.  So, the next time it rains, put on those jammies or sweats, get the remote, and have a day of rest!

Love Your Mother...Earth

Today, in addition to being Good Friday, it is Earth Day.  I don't know why, but it makes sense to me that they share time.  While reflecting on the cross and w hat it means to be a Christian, we can consider the ways in which we can be good stewards of this planet that God so lovingly made for us.  Of course, times are busy and money is tight and the baby needs changing and life is banging on your door, so here are my "lazy mama's" tips for some greener living!

Recycle: yep, it's a no brainer if your city has curbside pickup.  I read once that in our progressive town curbside recycling participation is about 30%.  That's craziness!  You're paying for it anyway, you may as well use it.  I just wish they'd take the cardboard, why not the cardboard, Norman?

Reusable grocery bags:  Another no brainer for me really.  I hated having an entire cabinet filled with plastic bags.  Yes, you can use them for a few things, but not in the massive quantities in which they seem to enter the house.  For about $.99 you can get a good quality reusable bag at just about any grocery store and most stores (Target, Aldi, sometimes Homeland) will give you a small credit for bringing your own bag.  I toss mine on the delicate cycle of the laundry every so often so they don't get yucky. 

Farmers' Markets:  yes, I can't say it enough, I LOVE the farmers' market.  There is something about giving my children cash to hand over to the people who actually grew the food that I find so nostalgic and satisfying.  Some of the food there is a bit more expensive, but some of it is way cheaper.  Plus, cute kiddos are almost always offered free samples!  I can't tell you how many times I have convinced my daughter to eat something completely different by saying "But this is the vegetable YOU picked out at the farmers' market."  Ours has the added bonus of an amazing demonstration garden, also with some edibles, and amazing gardeners to answer questions, give tours, or offer a cold drink of water on a hot day.  It's a beautiful thing, truly. 

Along the "buy local" lines, I also shop at the Oklahoma Food Co-Op.  In all honesty, the food is significantly more expensive.  I don't buy everything from this site, but I do get all of my ground beef here.  Watch Food, Inc. or do even a quick Google search on ground beef and you'll quickly see why.  Really, I just want to feed my family food that is what it says it is, and is made in a reasonably humane and careful way.   Also, at least one farmer always has a sell on beef and you get a discount if you buy in bulk, like 10 lbs or more.

Cloth diapering: Yes, it seems pretty radical and is not for everyone!  I tried it with my daughter and it just wasn't happening.  She was cranky, I was cranky, it just wasn't worth it.  But I gave it another shot with my son and has been a great experience.  He no longer has the terrible diaper rash that he used to and frankly, I think he looks adorable in the fun colors FuzziBunz makes.  Yes, there are nights when I think "I do not want to wash a load of friggin' diapers!"  So then we use disposables the next day.  I'm not too picky about it.  But overall, it hasn't been much different.  It's not like I'm scrubbing them on the porch, they go in the laundry and come out clean just like everything else.  Of course, it helps that my son has little rock hard poops that can easily be rolled into the toilet.  I probably wouldn't be as happy about the whole process if I had to actually scrub the dang things.  Okay, I'll stop talking about poop now.  It's surprising how much time poop can occupy in the brain of a mother of two, for one reason or another.  Okay, now I'm done!

Finally, I'm trying to grow some veggies again this year.  Usually, this does not work out great for me but I keep trying.  There is some virtue in that sort of optimism, right?  Since we no longer have a dog, I am attempting tomatoes and cucumbers in the back yard.  For some reason I have pretty good success with bell peppers in my front flower bed.  I suspect that the neighbors think it's weird but I'm okay with that! 

So that's it, easy and cheap green tips!  Enjoy Earth Day, Easter, and this beautiful time of year.

Dyeing eggs with toddlers, the good times just keep comin'

Holy controlled chaos, every year I think it will be better!  This year wasn't actually soooo bad, but I do learn a little bit each time. 
Semi-crunchy mommy that I am, I decided this year to try making some dyes from berries.

Luckily, my crunchiness goes only so far and I had a kit of Paws too!  The berry dye worked okay, but the colors were not nearly as bright and it took a lot longer.  My daughter did had great fun though squeezing the berries to get all of their juice out!  If you're interested, I sort of followed the same rules as the Paws tablets.  I tossed a couple of tablespoons of vinegar on them, then added hot water.  Why hot, you say?  I don't know, it sounded like a good idea at the time!

So, I boiled the eggs, then burned my fingers getting them out.  Note to self, don't use your large pasta pot to cook the eggs if you plan on making spaghetti for dinner within the hour.

Then, it was time for the fizzy, bubbly dyes!

Someone told me about the whisk trick a couple of years ago.  I wish I remembered who, they deserve a medal.  You have to be a mechanical genius to work that stupid, flimsy wire loopy thing.  My husband loves it.  Whatever, give me the whisk any day!  Actually, most of the time I give up on all of it and use my fingers.  This year, we bought the "marble" Paws kit.  Turns out, it's pretty much the same stuff but with marbling instructions.  Still, it was a nice effect.  The only problem was, you need veg. oil for the marbling effect and all I had was extra virgin olive oil, which is about 600 times more expensive.  So, if you want to marble, get the right stuff! 

My husband also used a white crayon to draw designs and the kids' names on the eggs.  He gets pretty into these things (presentation man and all).  It was cute and the kids loved seeing things "magically" appear on their eggs.  My baby boy lost interest pretty early and roamed off to find something to "crash" but my daughter loved picking the colors (pink of course) and dictating to hubby what to draw on the eggs "I want the cow jumping over the moon Daddy."  No simple requests for that one!

Overall, the eggs came out great and with minimal mess.  Especially the marbled ones, they were by far my favorite.  So, here's my tips on egg dyeing with little ones:

1) It's a two person job, enlist a husband, grandma, or friend.  You will need someone keep the kids from eating the tablets or dyeing your dog pink.

2) Read the instructions and make sure you have everything you need (clearly this is the one that I struggle with).

3) Spread newspaper, or go outside, or spread newspaper outside.  I find it's also a good just-before-bath activity.

4) Don't worry about them being just so, kids have more fun when you're having fun.

So, that's all.  Happy Easter!!!

Girls' Day, With a Twist

Today, thanks to the wonders of my church's Mother's Day Out program, I get to spend the day with just my daughter doing girl things.  Sometimes we shop, sometimes we go to the amazing (free) art classes at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art , sometimes we get pedicures, you get the idea.  Today, we tried something a little different and unexpected. 

We had tacos.  From a truck.  On the side of the road.  Just me, my blond-haired, blue-eyed daughter, and about 10 Mexican men in jean and work boots, guzzling brightly colored sodas in large glass bottles and talking animatedly in their native language.  If it wasn't for the wind, it would have been glorious!  The food was great (a little spicy for a three-year-old), the atmosphere was authentic, and it was fun to just do something so out of the ordinary for us.  My daughter seemed to like it, until we got home and she still demanded her "regular" lunch.  Hmmm....we really are in a rut! 

Street food is just not something that you often see in suburban Oklahoma, but I'm interested to see that it's making huge headway.  There are a couple of other taco trucks in our town and Big Truck Tacos in Oklahoma City has a pretty evangelical following.  I haven't tried it but once people go there they seem practically possessed by the wonder of the place.  What the heck are they putting in those burritos???? 

Overall I'd say it was an experience worth having, and I'm thrilled to be giving my lunch money to an individual hand-making fresh food, rather than the corporate monolith that is your typical fast-food restaurant.  We will certainly try it again, although maybe on a less windy day!

Pushing the Envelope

I'm a schedule-keeper.  Pretty much anyone who knows me well could tell you exactly what my children and myself are doing based solely on the time and the day of the week.  Part of that is my natural personality type.  Another part is that my daughter was a difficult baby and I found that by doing the same things, the same way, at the same time I could avoid many meltdowns and conflicts.  Put her to bed at 6:45...problem.  Put her to bed at 7:30...problem.  Put her to bed at 7...no problem.  Unfortunately this isn't working as well as it once did but that's not really my point!
So, this past weekend my children both did things that were waaaayyyyy off of my schedule. 
My daughter went to a birthday party.  An hour before her "magic" bedtime.  In Dallas, an hour away from my sister's house and three hours away from mine (not including Saturday night traffic).  It was my older niece's party and she really wanted my daughter to attend.  She went, she partied, she drank pink lemonade, and came home with my mother in time for church the next morning.  Yes, she was slightly wild-eyed from the excitement and the lack of sleep, but she had a blast and has been talking about it ever since. 
The very same day my son went to a car show with my husband and my father.  My dad builds old cars as a hobby and car shows are for him, a pretty big deal.  And this was the biggest show of the year, like the Oscars for car guys.  My dad and husband listened patiently and slightly blankly as I repeated the need for a diaper bag, sunscreen, lovey, organic bunny snacks, being home by an appropriate nap time, etc.  I think they even hit at least half of those requests.  However, nap time consisted of the poor boy finally passing out on Daddy's shoulder for a while as my dad and husband continued their tour.  When asked if he had fun, my son yelled "YES!!!" and has been shouting "car show" repeatedly ever since. 
Neither of these situations were handled exactly the way that I would have.  But, they had fun, they had experiences that do not come around very often, and the best part....they got to do it all while I was blissfully at work!