Building Cathedrals:

Juris Mater has said she's hotsteppin'

Posted by B-Mama at 9:16 PM | 5 comments Links to this post  

In light of the upcoming race, it seemed appropriate to post my current workout routine in the hopes that it will become the next great fitness empire. My husband played golf with the husband of "Mrs. Buns of Steel" and claims his golf game would improve if I could create a similar empire and he could retire and play golf all the time. I won't make it up from Texas for race day (or will I?!?), which is probably a good thing since I am at least as competitive at Juris Mater and would be killing myself secretly doing two-a-days before and after the kids were asleep just to smoke the other builders in the race.

My workout is entitled: A Trip to Costco.

The warm-up: Gather all belongings pertinent to such an outing, including, but not limited to water bottles, snacks, blankets, cars, books, baby carrier, purse, list, cart cover, coupons, sunglasses, extra clothes, diapers, towels and a tent, because you never know what will happen.

With all items assembled, it's time to step it up a notch. Carry all aforementioned items to the car along with ~20 pound baby/car seat combo. Strap other two boys into car seats. Good, we're already working up a sweat.

Use the 20 minute drive to Costco to get in the zone. Listen to some pump up music at a high volume.

When you arrive at Costco, the baby will unexpectedly wake-up and refuse to make the transfer to the baby carrier without eating. That's ok. You can stretch and do calisthenics as you climb over the seats to remove baby from his seat and feed him while sitting on the floor of the car...also great for you abs as you try to balance to not fall over.

Baby, suitably tired, goes into baby carrier. Proceed to weight training as you lift 40 pound and 30 pound toddlers into cart.

Run from the parking lot to the entrance. Since you parked far away from the door so no one would see you feeding the babe on the floor of your car, you've got a long way to go while wearing the baby and pushing 70 pounds.

Flash Costco card, then hand it to your 3 year old. He will proceed to drop it at least four times, not maliciously mind you, but because he is distracted by searching for the free samples.

Work on your agility as you dart off course to pick up said samples.

Need some strength training? That's on deck as your husband has requested Gatorade. No need to worry about the rookie mistake of bending from the waist to pick up heavy things...the baby strapped to your chest forces you to squat, using the correct muscles.

Proceed through your shopping list at breakneck speed for fear that the baby will wake up any minute, trying hard not to take anybody out with your careening cart. The wild look in your eyes will make the slower carts cower in the center book section.

Ah, but this is all indoors, you may say. How will my lungs be ready to exercise outside? Take a few laps around the refrigerated produce section, because they rearranged it AGAIN and you can't find the spinach.

Head for the check out line. You will definitely be breathing hard at this point.

Head for the finish line, which is a good thing because the baby is stirring...the person waiting to highlight your receipt just may hand you a medal today...but WAIT! Emergency u-turn. The photo counter was still closed when you began, so you have to turn around to get your on-line ordered photos, straining every last muscle against the forward momentum of the cart + boys + food. The receipt highlighter mercifully lets you take a shortcut through the gate when she realizes the problem.

Finally head back to the parking lot, get in one more round of weight lifting in as you unload the boys and costco items. Baby wakes up on cue. Stretch well while bending to put 3 boys back into their car seats, then collapse into the front seat.

Good thing you remembered to gather all the water bottles during the warm-up. Drink some water and, realizing you didn't pack yourself a snack, eat half of the boys' before handing it back to them.

Crank up the a/c. Congratulations. You just completed your workout regimen AND got your shopping done.

Posted by texas mommy at 3:39 PM | 13 comments Links to this post  
Labels: exercise

Anyone have a good recipe for homemade egg nog? I have a bit of an aversion to thick drinks, so I don't drink the stuff myself. Mr. Red, however, starts thinking about egg nog in October and one of his few cooking adventures involved an attempt at homemade egg nog. The taste was good, but it turned out very lumpy. He has requested tips and a new recipe. Your advice is most appreciated.

Posted by Right Said Red at 6:25 PM | 4 comments Links to this post  
Labels: Food, Recipe

Last weekend was an intense educational experience for our family. We spent the weekend in western Pennsylvania visiting the sustainable “beyond organic” farm of an old law school friend.
The paths of lawyers and farmers usually only cross at an upscale, yuppie farmers market. Fortunately for us, we were blessed to have known our farmer friend before he became a farmer’s market supplier.

Farmer Dave was an old law school classmate of Mr. Red. Despite a stellar first year performance, Dave decided that law school wasn’t for him. Instead, Dave and his beautiful wife Mandy took a big risk - a risk many of us crunchy folks talk about taking, but few ever actually take. Dave and Mandy packed their bags, moved in with Mandy’s parents, and started working towards owning their own sustainable farm.

In the Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan spends some time on Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm. At one point, Salatin lets Pollan know that part of the problem with modern farming is that all the A students have left the farms for higher paying prestigious jobs. Salatin laments that most of today’s farmers are C students. In his book, Pollan clearly illustrates that good, local, sustainable farming takes brains. And like Salatin, Farmer Dave has the brains.

So what happens when an A student goes back to the land for a living?

We arrived on Saturday afternoon to Dave’s home atop a scenic hill in the country. Dave built the house himself. It is designed to be tremendously energy efficient, and includes a row of windows on the south side of the house. These windows provide heat for their well-insulated home. Inside these windows Dave grows herbs and other plants.

In the field, Dave grows a variety of crops. But Dave focuses the bulk of his energy on raising organic chickens and turkeys. The chickens we saw were beautiful little creatures. My daughter Gianna went right into the chicken pen and picked up a chicken.

Dave moves the pens daily so that the chicken poop can fertilize different parts of the field for his crops. Dave also raises some egg-laying chickens. The turkeys are kept in a larger, fenced area but, like the chicken pens, Dave regularly moves the fencing. During our tour of the turkey pen we first met “our turkey.”

Before the visit, Dave joked that instead of just buying our Thanksgiving Turkey from him, Mr. Red should butcher our turkey. Mr. Red nervously agreed. Dave then took us and our Thanksgiving turkey (and five other turkeys) over to his butchering station (shown below).

It’s a clever open-air station very similar to the Polyface arrangement described in Omnivore’s Dilemma. I won’t describe it in detail, but it’s a very respectful and simple butchering process. Mr. Red made the fatal cut to the throat and I helped with the gutting. I’ve written before about organic living and the importance of being “close” to our food. This was a whole new level of closeness.

It was a really incredible experience to take such responsibility for one’s meat-eating. Mr. Red described it as a “spiritual experience.” We even blessed the bird. And bless him we should. He is a wonderful creature, made by God and worthy of respect. It’s wonderful to see a farmer whose work incorporates those values.

The butchering and cleanup took the rest of the daylight. The next day, we briefly visited the farm of Mandy’s parents (Farmer Dave’s in-laws). The kids fed their pigs, pet their beautiful horses, and jumped in the back of a pickup truck to watch the farm dog chase around a large herd of cattle. What more could a kid ask for?

Dave and his family are doing a great thing. Their farming not only uses the land, but nourishes it. The problems of factory farming may seem overwhelming, but to a little plot of land atop a hill in Western PA, Farmer Dave is making a difference.

So the next time your local, beyond organic farmer wants an extra dollar per pound for his meat, remember Farmer Dave, and remember that your extra dollar is going to support something more than just a tasty chicken.

Posted by Right Said Red at 12:01 AM | 16 comments Links to this post  
Labels: environment, Food, Health

There has been some talk on our blog recently about household chores, and I thought that I would share a recent revelation that I have had about what works for me when it comes to doing housework. As I said in one of my comments, I grew up with a mother who did a great job keeping our home clean and tidy, while at the same time making it a warm and welcoming place for our family. I always knew that my mother was great at all things related to keeping a home - cooking, cleaning, organization, you name it and she was (and still is) as good as it gets! However, my mother also felt that we children should not have any household chores aside from keeping our own rooms tidy and picking up after ourselves around the house. Her reasoning was that we were busy enough already with schoolwork and outside activities, and that we would have plenty of housework of our own when we became wives and mothers ourselves. Yes, mom, that's definitely true :) But I wish that I had gotten the chance to learn these household skills from the master herself, because now I feel as if I am having to teach myself how to clean, cook, and organize a home! 

Posted by Kat at 10:28 AM | 9 comments Links to this post  

We are all trying hard not to get sucked into the commercialism of Christmas that has been surrounding us since August, but it bears mentioning that Advent is just around the corner and we as mothers have a unique opportunity to establish special family traditions that orient ourselves and our children towards the cradle on Christmas Day.

It is not too early to start planning a few ways to make the meaning of the season come alive for your little ones. We love St. Nicholas in the Incredible household and we have celebrated his feast for several years. He is the patron saint of children, among many other things. We will be out of town this year for the Feast of St. Nicholas (on Saturday, December 6th), so I have been planning how to keep our traditions going away from home. We enjoy teaching our children about the real Santa Claus and encouraging them to demonstrate brotherly love.

If you want to order cookie cutters or prayer cards, now is the time! The St. Nicholas Center is a veritable treasure trove of information, stories, games, coloring pages, supplies, and ideas for all ages. Take a few minutes to click around and pick an activity that you think will connect with your children.

As with most things in the Incredible house, food is a very important part of celebrating. There are great recipes for traditional spiced gingerbread cookies and ideas for decorating them. Even if you can't afford the neat cookie cutters, you can use a knife and a little icing to turn them into St. Nicholas.

Another great source of ideas are the archives at O Night Divine. Here are book suggestions, and here are other ideas for celebrating his feast day.

With MaryAlice's encouragement to get ready and think ahead to make this time of year less stressful, take a few minutes to put some St. Nicholas and Advent books on hold at your library and make sure you have the ingredients for gingerbread in your pantry as we begin to prepare for this special time of year!

Posted by texas mommy at 3:51 PM | 9 comments Links to this post  
Labels: Advent, Feast Days, Liturgical Year

As of today, we have been in Germany for two full months. We still don't have our furniture or our winter clothes, but regardless, it has been two months.

I have been reflecting a lot on the cultural differences between the United States and Europe - trying to walk that fine line between stereotyping and ignoring the subtleties. One lesson that I am working hard to teach myself is that just because something is foreign does not make it right. This may strike some of you as painfully obvious or basic, but for me it was not.

I think you know what I mean: the allure of the exotic, the drive to be "accepting of other cultures", the desire to blend in in a new culture. I didn't realize it at first, but these three factors were profoundly affecting me in our early days in Germany and, consequently, clouding my judgment.

The three big issues for me as an American mommy raising a family in Europe are: 1)family planning 2)fashion and 3)schooling.

#1 - Germans don't have more than two kids. It is a social taboo. People with three draw stares, I can't even imagine how they would gape at Mary Alice. It is nearly impossible to find any car that seats more than four people somewhat comfortably. I rationalized this at first -- cost of living is higher, gas is expensive, they have smaller homes and less land for their people. Ok, the bottom line is the same, there must be some aggressive unnatural birth control going on in this country for every family to look the same and a certain amount of sacrifice can make large families possible in any culture.
#2 - Germans dress to impress, but this comes with a price tag. They look good all the time, and their kids look great too. I am not talking high quality stuff, I am talking children's dresses with attached purses, toddler boys in leather coats. This resulted in a certain amount of covetousness on my part. I found myself urging my husband to indulge the family in new clothing even though our clothes are perfectly fine. These Euro-families make be at the peak of style, but quality, comfort and cleanliness should remain my key values in clothes selection.
#3 - The idea of sending my 4 yr. old daughter to German "pre-Kinder" was immensely appealing. I mean, after all, Germans invented Kindergarten. She would learn the language, I would meet other German mommies, it would help us assimilate all around. I toyed with this for weeks and weeks. I talked to mothers of preschoolers in English schools and German schools. While I talked, I continued my nascent homeschooling attempts, we took nature walks, we visited Daddy at the dining hall for lunch as a family. Then it hit me, wait a minute, just because those kids and parents and children are speaking a different language does not mean anything else will be different than in a typical North American pre-school. I would still be handing my young impressionable child over to strangers at a really young age, I would still be opening her up to the values of children and families which I do not condone. It would still be interrupting the routine of her younger brother and putting us all in the car for many hours a day instead of at home or out in the beautiful German town nearby. Done, no school, not yet.

In conclusion, I love Germany. This was the right decision for our family at this juncture. We are learning a lot about history and efficiency and courtesy. But our values are our values, no matter where in the world we may be and it is my job to safeguard that foundation for my children.

Posted by AWOL Mommy at 8:52 AM | 10 comments Links to this post