Foraging

Silly me, all anxious to use my new mushroomy words and I screwed it up.

I went to a FORAY and went FORAGING for mushrooms. Not Foraying. But it did sound so cool.

Actually who knows, I think that's correct, but I'm too lazy to actually look it up.

Foraying

So about six weeks ago we went on this gorgeous hike with the kids. On the way down I started noticing that there were mushrooms everywhere. Big ones, teeny ones, purple ones, red ones. Suddenly the thought occurred - how much fun would it be if I knew which ones to eat? I had just read a couple books that mentioned wild mushroom collecting in Europe & how they are eaten so often over there and I started dreaming of going out with the kids someday, treasure hunting & bringing home a wild feast. (for free!)

After the hike I sort of forgot about it until I saw a story in the paper about a mushroom show. I went, brought some mushrooms from my yard which were identified as edible "blewitts" and was hooked. (we won't discuss what happened when I tried to cook my blewitts for dinner one night and kyle realized I'd picked them from the yard where Roxxy roams. And yes, pees. But really, I am positive they weren't peed on. That's my delusion and I'm sticking to it.)

Now I am an official member of a mushroomers club, the one that put on the show. I attended my first meeting on thursday and well... I won't get into that either, except that a really really nice man spent 40 minutes talking about fungus that eat nemotodes. And showed at least 30 pictures (magnified) of mushroom mycellium catching them which basically was a bunch of fuzzy lines & shapes that were about as fascinating as a pile of my hair on the bathroom floor. I chose to leave before the follow-up 20 minute video presentation of a veritable slaughter of nematodes by angry mushrooms.

Almost put off, but not quite, I showed up this morning for my first mushroom foray with the club. Everything I had read says that you MUST go with experts for your first few mushroom hunts so that they can help you identify things. Just relying on book descriptions isn't the best way to do it. We had fun, although I didn't really get to see any of the ones I am hoping to find. (chanterelles, boletes & hedgehogs)

Now, you might expect that this mushrooming group would be a bunch of hippies & really funky people with lots of dreads, colorful clothing and body odor. You would be wrong. For some reason, I am drawn to hobbies that are predominated by people over the age of 50. At least 2/3 of the people there had gray hair and of the 25 or so who showed up ONE girl was within 10 years of my age. (My neighborhood gardening club is the same way - its me and a bunch of people 20-30 years older than me) Everyone was quite dignified but kind of geeky as they gleefully examined & discussed all the mushrooms. I fit right in.

Probably some of the people are grown old hippies, but the ones I talked to included a master bee keeper who is going to Rawanda to help with bee polination stuff and an ex-chef of a very esteemed anacortes restaurant who was cooking a bunch of the edible mushrooms we found on a propane burner. (she even had a european accent!) Then there was the lady who was at least 65 who was identifying all the mushrooms for us by their latin names. (there are over 1,000 mushrooms in the NW alone by the way)

Anyways, I am excited, mushrooms are fun, tasty and I surprised myself by loving the people who were into it.

Questions

Saben has hit that most delightful stage where he asks a zillion questions every day. Except they're not even real questions, its like he just can't stop talking. For instance, he just watched a truck pull into a driveway, open the garage & close it across the street. (his other obsession is garage doors, ever since we got our new one installed). So now the truck is sitting there and here is the string I had to answer:

Will the garage go up?
Will it go down again?
Where did he go?
Is he in the house?
Is he in the bathroom?
Is he in the truck?
Where is he?
Is he in the garage?
Will it go up again?
Will he come back out?
Where did he go?
Where is the man?
Is he in the truck?

And so forth. Notice the repitition of the same question over & over. Notice that I said "I don't know" and "Saben, I don't know where he went" about 20 times in 3 minutes. He asks questions about things he already knows too.

Mommy, did we throw rocks in the lake?
Did I throw rocks in the lake?
Did you throw rocks in the lake?
Did the rock splash?
And so on.

It is driving me bonkers. He is also just sponging up attention, he doesn't let me do things like say, write in my blog, anymore. Actually right now he finally left to go play with train tracks and I am going to go join him. Oh no wait, he is back, kicking the computer. Is that a hint?

Heat

If you are at all interested in cooking, especially Italian cooking, I would highly reccomend the book "Heat" by Bill Buford. The author spent a year apprenticing in Mario Batali's NY restaurant & Italy and writes about the experience. However, if you think Mario Batali is a cuddly lovable guy and want to keep thinking that as you watch him on Iron Chef, then don't read it. The most amazing part of the book for me was that Mario Batali & one other person actually consumed a whole case of wine (12 bottles) in one evening. That blows my mind.

But the best parts were when the author went to Italy to apprentice. That's definitely something I've always dreamed of and I am glad I had this hit of reality to know what it would actually be like and how many thousands of foreigners come to Italy each year to do that. They even have a special visa to allow you in the country to work for Italian restaurants for free. So many professional chefs are there working for free, its actually quite difficult to get positions.

I have been immersed in gourmet cooking books lately, between "Heat" and "The Man who Ate Everything" by Jeffrey Steingarten. (Who is a judge on Iron Chef. Notice a trend here? His book is great too.)

It really makes me want to cook, which of course I have little time for. But the other day I grabbed a container of baby artichokes and followed the recipe to make "baby artichoke saute" as a sauce for ravioli and it was absolutely disgusting. Sigh. So much for my culinary adventure. Stubbornly, I still want to try the marinated baby artichoke recipe, I just didn't have the 2 cups of champagne vinegar the recipe called for the other day.

Fuzz Buzz

SPONGEBOB B&E
On Oct. 27, a caller in Sehome
neighborhood reported SpongeBob
Squarepants was trying to break into
their home through the back door.
Bellingham Police responded and discovered
SpongeBob thought he was
going to a costume party at a friend’s
home nearby. Police say SpongeBob
had soaked up too much alcohol.


A-HOLE ASSAULTS
On Sept. 22, a 45-year-old man entered
Bellingham Public Library and
began yelling and cursing at staff.
Asked to leave the premises, the man
kicked the door on his way out, causing
about $2,000 damage to the glass,
according to police. As he left,
a 60-year-old woman followed
him out, scolding
him. He punched her on the
arm, which she had raised
to protect herself from his
wild blows. A 71-year-old
man went to her aid and was
kicked in the leg for his troubles.
Eventually the seniors and
other bystanders tackled the 45-
year-old and held him on the ground
until police arrived.

Reprinted for your delight from http://www.cascadiaweekly.com/

Ps. Its not delightful that old people got hit & kicked, it is awesome that they had the guts to stand up to him.

Hot Date

Kyle took me to the Oyster Bar on Tuesday, our first night out without kids since Annika has been born. These pictures do not even begin to do it justice. We arrived just barely before sunset and had an awesome cozy table right by the window to watch the sun go down over the water. It is so nice inside with a fireplace & the view is so gorgeous. (except for the oil refinery)

And I ate my first raw oysters! I had one BBQ'd oyster a couple months ago and wasn't that excited about it. But I've been reading this book about a guy who is eating & raving about tripe and all sorts of weird things and for some reason it has made me feel more adventurous. We'll see how long it lasts, but for the record, the oysters were delicious. Very tender & not slimy or chewy at all. I just didn't like the juice (seawater) in the shell at all, Kyle made me try it. blech.

Kyle's tenderloin with roquefort melted over top was scrumptious and my Bouillabasse was pretty good. I think I'd order something different next time, but overall the meal was fabulous. And my husband is the sweetest thing ever.

Forever I have been super paranoid about leaving the kids alone in the car, even for just a minute or two. I hate returning carts when I have to go too far from the car & I almost never left Saben in the car in our driveway. Kyle & I have had arguments about this even, because he will leave them in there & I freak out.

But the other day I was blown, the kids were grumpy and I had to return a pair of pants to Buffalo Exchange because it was the last day (5th) I could do so. I just happened to get a spot right outside the store and after carefully weighing my options (heavy, crying baby & running escaping toddler or... peace) I decided that I could just duck in really quick & exchange the pants & watch the kids through the window. I was literally only 15 feet from the car, but it is the first time EVER I have gone inside a building while they were still in the car.

I turned to say something to the cashier and imagine my horror when I turned around and there were THREE policemen looking in the window of the suburban! I ran out immediately, apologizing of course, feeling like an awful mom. One guy goes "Well we heard the baby crying...." and I wanted to say "yah, that's what they tend to do, especially in the car. You try and get anything done without having your baby cry."

Luckily they didn't yell, lecture or even really say anything, but I still felt pretty stupid and couldn't believe my bad luck.

Halloween

Halloween 2007 memories

1. The scary house - there is a lady up the street who goes all out (I'm sure you know the type) on Halloween decorations. Saben made it up the front walk and seemed to love it, but by the time we had activated the smoke machine, the cackling mummy and the spider had lowered as she opened the door, he was wide eyed and frozen. He didn't break down into tears until we turned to leave and the "hidden mummy" opened and cackled at him for the 6th time. He's talked about the "scary house" every day since. Whoops.

2. Molasses boy - I have never seen Saben move so slowly as we went from store to store trick or treating downtown. It was driving me crazy, I really thought he'd be faster this year, I know he can move faster, but I guess there is a lot to look at. He was just as slow at night too when we went door to door. Not taking a nap might have had something to do with it, but still....

3. Too much candy - for some reason, every single year, I buy way too much candy to hand out to kids and then get all crazy trying to get as much as we can downtown. I don't know why, but when I see everyone handing out free candy, my inner child kicks in and I go nuts. Candy! For free! So I drag poor molasses boy all over downtown when really a couple blocks would have been fine and then we get home and have 3 trick or treaters so we're left with lots and lots of candy. Next year I PROMISE to let Saben go at his own pace and not try to hit every single store as quick as we can. I don't even like candy!!!! That is the funny thing. I would gladly throw it all away today.

4. Crafty mama - I made that railroad crossing shirt! All by myself! Ok, I had some advice from the original Crafty Mama , but I tackled the intimidating craft store all by myself, ironed on the letters & the fabric "X" and even handstitched the whole thing so it wouldn't fray in the wash. Now Saben can wear the shirt all year and hopefully it will last...

Happy Halloween!

This weekend was wonderful, Kyle watched the kids Saturday morning and I got to escape for a couple hours for bookclub. It was marvelous. Then we were off to a small hike & the beach with some friends. In the afternoon I took annika to the library with me while Saben napped & found some new fun books to read. I can't believe what a difference it makes to have something interesting to do while I am nursing. It lifted my spirits immediately. We made a great dinner and Annika even went to bed by 9:30 pm which is early these days.

Kyle brought Annika to me for feeding at 2am both mornings when she woke up, which is such a luxury. Usually I don't make him get up because he has such a hard time going back to sleep. Then at 9:00am I put Annika down on her bed with a pacifier...and she slept 3 hours! I got to dig in the garden all morning and was sooooo happy. We placed a bunch of boulders that have been sitting around for a month and I moved some plants around to new homes. Things were already getting too crowded out there so I thinned things out a bit.

Then this afternoon Annika fell asleep nursing & napped again for another 1.5 hours! I got the kitchen cleaned and even took a shower! Miracles for sure, who knows what goes on with her. Well she's yelping now (she literally sort of sounds like a seal) so I better go rescue her from her exersaucer.

This whole week should be great, my mom is taking Saben for a couple days, then Halloween... yipee!

Annika regressed yet again in her sleep habits this week. Back to no napping. 3 hours trying to get her to GO TO SLEEP. Waking up after 10 minutes 3 times in a row. 11pm bedtimes & 2am wakings. (or 8pm bedtime & 10:00 pm wakings) Which is not bad unless your infant has been sleeping from at least 9pm to to 5am for 6 weeks. Its the sudden changes that really get you. You spend hours trying to figure out...WHY?? What did I do that suddenly changed everything?

She was doing so incredibly awesome last week, even napping better than ever before. I remember starting to feel like just maybe I was going to get a little bit of my life back. That was what made it especially hard, feeling like we were back at the beginning again after making so much progress.

When I write it down it doesn't seem so bad, but in the moment I get pretty frustrated. I look forward so much to naptimes & bedtimes and when neither one happens in the same day...for four days in a row....its disappointing to say the least.

I always feel so guilty complaining because I always think of others who have ridiculously difficult babies. The ones who wake every hour all night long, scream constantly or have some high maintenance illness. I have none of those things and seriously question maintaining my sanity if I did.

Yes, Annika has some definite tough tendencies between nursing issues & the sleep problems, but nothing outrageous. I decided this week though that I am done feeling guilty - it is a tough job sometimes and its ok to admit that as long as you don't lose perspective.

And I'm not sure why, but nothing makes me feel better than occasionally hearing another mom admit that it is or was tough for her too. That everyone's not all super moms who never get tired and cranky. So maybe this post will encourage someone else in the same way.

Thoughts

In bed last night, I was thinking about how everybody keeps a different part of their lives private. We all have something about ourselves that we don't talk about easily, but it fascinates me how different this thing is for everyone.

Blogs especially illuminate this because you may think you know all about someone based on their blog, only to find out they were struggling with something that they never wanted to share on their blog. Or there's a part of themselves they are more uncomfortable talking about.

It reminds me of a quote by Thomas Friedman I loved when he was talking about the middle east

"After the kidnappings began in Beirut, I aquired a healthy respect for how little I had really penetrated the place. I gained an equally healthy respect for the notion that the real story is often found not in the noise but in the silence - and that is why it is so often missed."

No real point to this (I'm not looking for everyone to start guessing my hidden secrets!), just what I was mulling over this morning while drinking my latte and the "coffee" that Saben keeps bringing me in his stacking cups.

Our Life

6:30 am - Annika awakes and I bring her to bed to nurse, fall back asleep after 30 minutes or so
7:30 - Saben wakes up, Kyle gets up with him
8:00 - Kyle goes to work & I get up, hopefully Annika is still asleep in bed
8:00 - 9:30 Eat breakfast, play with Saben (one on one time), clean kitchen, get Saben dressed, shower, general tidying, etc
9:30 - 10:15 Annika wakes up, get her dressed & nurse her again
10:15 Go to playgroup, library time, mops, gym time or children's museum, or run errands, depending on the day. Annika takes a 20-45 minute nap in the carseat or baby bjorn.
12:00 Nurse Annika again & try to get her to nap.
1:00 Eat lunch with Saben (sometimes nursing & lunch are reversed if Annika can handle it)
2:00 Get Saben down for his nap
2:30 - 4:30 Naptime!! (Ideally...but VERY often Annika is awake by 3pm or I'm still trying to get her to sleep & finally give up) get dinner prepped, clean house, do laundry, make phone calls, check email & maybe relax for a tiny bit.
4:30 Nurse Annika again, play with her (one on one time)
5:30 Start cooking dinner
6:00 Kyle home, eat dinner
7:00 Get Annika ready for bed & nurse her again while Kyle does the dishes & plays with Saben. 7:45 Kyle get Saben ready for bed, I'm still nursing Annika (She likes to nurse an hour for the last two feedings of the day)
8:00 Ideally, both kids are in bed for the night. Realistically Saben often isn't done till 8:30 or later, Annika often takes two hours to get down (9pm)
9pm Head out to the hot tub & relax in peace & quiet .... unless the college kids are having a party
9:30 Watch a movie or Seinfeld
10:30 Go to bed

So I spend 3-5 hours a day just nursing Annika, which is normal, but still takes a lot of time! I squeeze all personal hygeine, daily activities (dishes & endless tidying) and weekly chores (laundry, bills, cleaning, blogging, relaxing, gardening) into 3 1/2 hours a day maximum. (sometimes more like 1 1/2 hours)

Don't think I posted this because there is anything particularly interesting or astonishing about our schedule, I just wanted it for posterity and so that any blog stalkers would know where to find us during the day.

Annika Turnovers

Annika just turned tummy to back for the first time ever- five times in a row! Apparently its pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Maybe she would have done it sooner if mommy hadn't been avoiding tummy time because last time (and several times previously) it made her vomit all over her pretty little playmat.

Today

Most joyful moment: Waking up with Annika snuggled against my side (I must admit - sort of in my armpit), sleeping soundly

Annoyed moment: The way buses are "allowed" to just pull out in front of you as long as they think you have time to stop. This was an empty bus pulling out of a parking lot, not a full one at a bus stop. I had to brake relatively hard. Why don't buses have to wait their turn like everyone else?

Funniest moment: Saben singing "twinkle twinkle little star (and moon)" with a wooden block pressed into his eye socket. Then he handed me one & said "Here's your pingle" and made me put it in my eye too. And sing with him. Apparently the moon was feeling pretty left out that it did not get it's own song, so Saben always adds "and moon" to "twinkle twinkle little star (and moon)".

Cutest Moment: Saben & Audrey talking on the phone. Saben discussed the fireplace he was building out of railroad tracks while Audrey simultaneously told him about her toothbrush and mommy's makeup. Adorable....

The elusive smile

A few pics where Annika isn't quite so shell shocked by the flash. Its so hard to take pictures where she is smiling!!

Saben - 2 1/2 years

I've realized lately that Saben does so many quirky, funny things that I don't even remember to record them all anymore. So here's a little list in honor of him turning 2 1/2 a couple weeks ago.

• Every time I put Saben to sleep, I lay in his bed and sing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Amazing Grace" (1, 2 & 3rd verses). Sometimes Saben sings along and that is my favorite thing ever. He knows all the words to all 3 verses of Amazing Grace that we sing, even if he is mostly off key.


• For a while now, Saben has liked to play this game where he says "I'm going to eat you" and then licks your face. He especially likes licking/sticking his mouth on our noses and he yells "gross!" before we even got a chance. He even grabs your face to hold it still while he does it.


• Saben always goes to sleep with a glass of ice water.


• Saben is madly, passionately in love with railroad crossings. (see below, it warranted a post of its own)


• This summer, Saben started chasing Roxxy around & around the table with his big metal truck. She ran because he would ram her with the truck if she didn't. Then he'd scream at her if she went onto the grass or too far away. It was so loud when he got the truck going that we had to make a rule that he couldn't chase her while we were still eating dinner.


• Saben is not to fond of insects. Lately he thinks everything is a bee & is going to bite him. We went to the park & saw dragonflies which he was terrified of. To try & calm him down I said "They won't bite you, they'll just kiss you!". So now he keeps telling everyone "The dragonflies kiss me!"


• When Saben is afraid, he covers his eyes with his arm.


• Saben's favorite meal is breakfast & he often eats two good sized bowls of cereal.
• Saben is a chatter box, more than most kids we know. He often talks about trains, but also very random things. When a visitor comes over and walks in the door, he will often "break the ice" by saying something like "There's the light!" or some other mundane observation.
• When Kyle tickles Saben they refer to it as "looking for crumb dumbs". Don't ask me, but Saben will point to his belly and say "There is a crumb dumb here" and then you have to tickle him there.

That's all I can think of right now....

Naps, etc.

It's taken Saben 1 hour to fall asleep for his afternoon nap two days in a row. He just talks & talks, sings, kicks his legs, etc. Could he be outgrowing his afternoon nap? Someone please shoot me.

I also officially HATE potty training. It almost grosses me out more than anything else, although being puked on is no picnic. Poop in a diaper is ok somehow, but when its rolling around in underwear, on the floor, on feet.... YUCK. I so desparately wish I'd done it before Annika was born.

Ok, lets see, something pleasant that I do enjoy.... how about right now when both kids are asleep at the same time? And any evening I manage to get them both in bed by 8:30pm?

No really, good things this week....Saben did pee in his potty twice on Wednesday, for the first time ever. (forward...) Then Thursday was pee on carpet & ball of poop day. (and back again....)

He also has no cavities, which we discovered after our 2nd early morning trip to the dentist. On the first trip we scrambled around but got lost and were 15 minutes late so they cancelled our appointment after we'd sat there 15 minutes. Sounds innocent enough, but carefully orchestrating nursing times to prevent screaming, scrambling frantically with your kids to get somewhere by 8:30am and then having it all be in vain is quite frustrating. Tears were certainly shed but I did refrain from tearing out my hair. (which is falling out quite well on its own, thank you pregnancy hormones)

I feel like such a wuss because it all adds up to grumpy momma, but seriously, millions of moms do this (two kids at once) all the time. In fact many deal with way more than I do. So what's the use complaining?