Another in my line of overwork blogs... (I decided to at least blog about my woes, because I miss blogging even though I've been tired and haven't been blogging. But I miss it, so here I go!)
We all know how important it is to plan what to eat, to eat at home as much as possible... for health, financial, and environmental reasons.
I'm a big fan of the book Your Money or Your Life. In that book, you are asked to calculate how much working costs you. Yep -- that's right -- how much money do you lose by going to work. For example, do you need different clothes? Do you spend money commuting? Do you buy/do things to relieve the stress you have from working? Do you buy convenience food because you're too tired to cook?
Of course we have to make adjustments in our lifestyles so that we can work. That can be a good thing. I'd probably not be a better person if I spent all day in my pajamas, comfy though that might be.
What's killing me this semester is food. And that's a shame, because I really like to cook.
Here's how it works:
I teach a night class two nights a week. The night in between, I spend a lot of time preparing my classes, and don't get to chill out. The night following my second night class, I spend a lot of time lying on the couch because I'm exhausted. Friday night I usually do some quick cooking or we go out because I've had a hard week and feel that I deserve it. Saturday and Sunday I cook.
Uh oh... what's my family eating? Um... I'm not totally sure. There's a lot of pasta and leftovers and fruit. It's not that bad, really, but there's not much left for lunch.
So, for lunch I've been eating cinnamon rolls and take-out. What the heck!? That's a recipe for disaster. Oh, and sometimes I eat nothing.
All work and no play makes grad green a grumpy girl.
What do you think your work expenses are? Do you eat differently on the days that you work? Better? Worse? How do you handle dinner?
Friday, October 3, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
TGITh ... I am overworked
Whenever we make a big money decision in my house, my husband and I think about our priorities. When we were going to buy a house, we decided to wait because our priorities are 1) a good education for our children, 2)being able to walk to things, and 3) having enough money to do fun stuff. We decided not to get stuck in a house that was in not quite the area that we wanted because 1) the schools weren't as good as we wanted, 2) the stores, etc. weren't as close as we wanted and 3) we were going to get locked into a high fixed expense that was not quite comfortable for us economically.
This semester I failed to consider my priorities and now I have 3 jobs. I thought that the extra money would be great to save for a bigger down payment on a house, but now that I am actually doing the jobs, I don't think it's worth it.
What are my priorities?
Money for a downpayment? Or everything else?
Because that's what's happened. With 3 jobs in 3 different schools, I teach a total of 7 different levels. On some days of the week I teach from 8 am to 10 pm, with only a few hours to come home and do the homework/dinner routine with my family. The other day, I had to leave for work with my daughter sobbing in the driveway. That is NOT what I wanted.
So, I've been thinking about this a lot. I gave up one of my jobs, effective mid-October. Just thinking about that makes me feel better. I've realized that this semester I've been living for the weekend. On Sunday night, I start to get really stressed out and sort of nauseous and that feeling doesn't go away until Thursday afternoon (my teaching load is relatively light on Fridays).
Clearly, I need to work less. The extra money just isn't worth it. My priority is to have a relaxed lifestyle, to be able to spend enjoyable time with my family, and to actually see my friends. If you can't do those things, you're probably working too much... just like me.
This semester I failed to consider my priorities and now I have 3 jobs. I thought that the extra money would be great to save for a bigger down payment on a house, but now that I am actually doing the jobs, I don't think it's worth it.
What are my priorities?
Money for a downpayment? Or everything else?
Because that's what's happened. With 3 jobs in 3 different schools, I teach a total of 7 different levels. On some days of the week I teach from 8 am to 10 pm, with only a few hours to come home and do the homework/dinner routine with my family. The other day, I had to leave for work with my daughter sobbing in the driveway. That is NOT what I wanted.
So, I've been thinking about this a lot. I gave up one of my jobs, effective mid-October. Just thinking about that makes me feel better. I've realized that this semester I've been living for the weekend. On Sunday night, I start to get really stressed out and sort of nauseous and that feeling doesn't go away until Thursday afternoon (my teaching load is relatively light on Fridays).
Clearly, I need to work less. The extra money just isn't worth it. My priority is to have a relaxed lifestyle, to be able to spend enjoyable time with my family, and to actually see my friends. If you can't do those things, you're probably working too much... just like me.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A bathtub full of water...
Over the weekend, I blogged about filling the bathtub with water in preparation for a hurricane. I talked with a friend, and she agreed that she used to do the same thing and we both wondered why nobody seemed to do that anymore.
I figure it's germaphobia. If people are going around drinking bottled water when there's no problem, they're not going to want to drink water out of the bathtub. If they are constantly using antibacterial soap, bathtub water is a big stretch. I checked the web.
NOAA's hurricane flyer advises filling the bathtub. BUT it says that you should not drink the water. Ready.gov also advises filling the tub (for sanitary purposes). So... what about drinking water? Okay, I admit that drinking water from the bathtub is not particularly appealing. I would definitely be sure to clean the tub first. But several sites advise filling large containers of water, presumably for drinking. NOAA recommends a gallon of water per day.
With all the government emphasis lately on disaster planning, it doesn't seem like many people are prepared for disaster. Why are people in non-devestated areas running out of food after just a few days? How long could you eat out of your pantry? (Granted... without being able to cook because the electricity and maybe the gas are out).
Austin is hosting almost 2000 evacuees from the hurricane, so we hear about the problems all the time. Many people have lost their homes and have nothing to go back to. But I don't understand some of the problems in the western areas of Houston. Losing electricity shouldn't cause total chaos. We shouldn't have to pass out MREs after just a few days (Again, I am NOT talking about the people who lost their homes.)
Before the hurricane, my dad went to the store and bought some bread and peanut butter and gatorade to tide him over. He came to stay with me during the storm, but he went back the day after to check on the house and was without electricity for 3 days. He ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches, but he had food.
This whole situation shows that people are not taking disaster planning seriously. Everybody should have some sort of stockpile of food. Maybe not enough for a year (I'm not that hardcore), but at least enough for a week. And some way to cook it, if it needs cooking. We should think about water, too. If a hurricane is coming, fill large containers with water. Fill the bathtub. It could take FEMA a while to arrive. It could be useful to know how to purify water or how to build a fire, or to own a camp stove. We shouldn't have to be out in the streets begging for stuff.
Finally, another note on the water....
My husband is from Central America. The area in which his family lives is notorious for water shortages. When I say shortage, I mean that at certain times of the year, they can be without running water for a week or more. When the water comes down the pipe, people fill up large (clean) trashcans, water bottles, and a giant sink that is used for washing. With careful use, this will last until the water comes again. When I visited his family, I used a bowl dipped in a trash can full of water to "shower". Babies were bathed in small bathtubs filled from the giant sink. Dishes are washed carefully -- rinse them all first, soap them, rinse again. There is no water wasted. His family is a normal family. They do not live in poverty, but they have learned how to deal with an almost constant "disaster". We could learn from some of these techniques.
I figure it's germaphobia. If people are going around drinking bottled water when there's no problem, they're not going to want to drink water out of the bathtub. If they are constantly using antibacterial soap, bathtub water is a big stretch. I checked the web.
NOAA's hurricane flyer advises filling the bathtub. BUT it says that you should not drink the water. Ready.gov also advises filling the tub (for sanitary purposes). So... what about drinking water? Okay, I admit that drinking water from the bathtub is not particularly appealing. I would definitely be sure to clean the tub first. But several sites advise filling large containers of water, presumably for drinking. NOAA recommends a gallon of water per day.
With all the government emphasis lately on disaster planning, it doesn't seem like many people are prepared for disaster. Why are people in non-devestated areas running out of food after just a few days? How long could you eat out of your pantry? (Granted... without being able to cook because the electricity and maybe the gas are out).
Austin is hosting almost 2000 evacuees from the hurricane, so we hear about the problems all the time. Many people have lost their homes and have nothing to go back to. But I don't understand some of the problems in the western areas of Houston. Losing electricity shouldn't cause total chaos. We shouldn't have to pass out MREs after just a few days (Again, I am NOT talking about the people who lost their homes.)
Before the hurricane, my dad went to the store and bought some bread and peanut butter and gatorade to tide him over. He came to stay with me during the storm, but he went back the day after to check on the house and was without electricity for 3 days. He ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches, but he had food.
This whole situation shows that people are not taking disaster planning seriously. Everybody should have some sort of stockpile of food. Maybe not enough for a year (I'm not that hardcore), but at least enough for a week. And some way to cook it, if it needs cooking. We should think about water, too. If a hurricane is coming, fill large containers with water. Fill the bathtub. It could take FEMA a while to arrive. It could be useful to know how to purify water or how to build a fire, or to own a camp stove. We shouldn't have to be out in the streets begging for stuff.
Finally, another note on the water....
My husband is from Central America. The area in which his family lives is notorious for water shortages. When I say shortage, I mean that at certain times of the year, they can be without running water for a week or more. When the water comes down the pipe, people fill up large (clean) trashcans, water bottles, and a giant sink that is used for washing. With careful use, this will last until the water comes again. When I visited his family, I used a bowl dipped in a trash can full of water to "shower". Babies were bathed in small bathtubs filled from the giant sink. Dishes are washed carefully -- rinse them all first, soap them, rinse again. There is no water wasted. His family is a normal family. They do not live in poverty, but they have learned how to deal with an almost constant "disaster". We could learn from some of these techniques.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Cashews -- What the Heck are They?
My husband tells me that when he was growing up he used to love to eat cashew fruit.
Huh.... I had never heard of a cashew fruit before.
Yep, he tells me. Each cashew fruit has one nut.
Wow... that explains why they're so expensive. I imagine a mountain of fruits thrown aside to make one can of cashews.
So what IS a cashew?
The cashew comes from a tree that is native to Brazil. The nut is not actually a nut, but a seed that dangles from the bottom of the cashew fruit, known as the cashew apple (or marañon). The fruit is sweet, but very delicate. It is commonly used to flavor aguas frescas (a refreshing fruit drink). In Brazil, the cashew fruit juice (caju) is very popular.
The nut (sorry, seed) is contained inside a hard double shell, which contains a resin with an irritant related to poison ivy. That would explain why my husband grew up eating the fruit more than the seed. He tells me that the shells are roasted so that the nuts will come out of the outer shell and so that the resin can be removed.
According to several sources, the nuts are cracked manually. Then they are graded, according to how white they are and as to how broken they are. After grading, they are roasted.
So... what brought all this on? I noticed that they started selling caju juice (from the cashew fruit!) at HEB. It's also a great example of how many of us don't know where our food comes from. It's amazing how labor-intensive cashew harvesting is, yet I can go to the store and buy a can of hundreds (!) of cashews for around 4.00.
picture from gigglemoose.com
My Evacuee & Hurricane preparation
My Evacuee:
My dad decided to leave Houston and stay with us. I'm glad. Reports are that the winds were up to 100 mph in Houston and that over 4 million people lost power. I'd much rather have my dad hanging out here with us, feeding the kids lollipops, than hanging out in a soggy house with no power. In the Rita evacuation, the trip from Houston to Austin took some people 12 hours (it should take 3). My dad was able to leave at 6 pm last night and got here by 9 pm. Austin is hosting over 20,000 evacuees in various shelters, and although it may not be luxurious, everything seems to be going smoothly and traffic has been fine.
So, phew...... But my older brother is in the storm's path and hunkering down as we speak (I love this media use of the word "hunker"... it cracks me up. Yes, we say it in Texas, but it's not an everyday expression). Hope everything is okay. Luckily, it seems that the storm has weakened.
Hurricane preparation:
When I was little (living in Houston), the general procedure if a big storm was coming was to fill your tub with water. I can't remember if we actually did this, but we knew that was what you should do in case of a water outage.
Now, the general procedure is to go to the store and buy dozens and dozens of plastic bottles of water. And people go to the store, find empty shelves, and freak out.
If a big storm is coming, why can't we fill some bottles with water for immediate use and fill the tub just in case? (Of course, this would only apply if you are "hunkering down" -- if you need to evacuate, you can't bring the tub with you).
My dad decided to leave Houston and stay with us. I'm glad. Reports are that the winds were up to 100 mph in Houston and that over 4 million people lost power. I'd much rather have my dad hanging out here with us, feeding the kids lollipops, than hanging out in a soggy house with no power. In the Rita evacuation, the trip from Houston to Austin took some people 12 hours (it should take 3). My dad was able to leave at 6 pm last night and got here by 9 pm. Austin is hosting over 20,000 evacuees in various shelters, and although it may not be luxurious, everything seems to be going smoothly and traffic has been fine.
So, phew...... But my older brother is in the storm's path and hunkering down as we speak (I love this media use of the word "hunker"... it cracks me up. Yes, we say it in Texas, but it's not an everyday expression). Hope everything is okay. Luckily, it seems that the storm has weakened.
Hurricane preparation:
When I was little (living in Houston), the general procedure if a big storm was coming was to fill your tub with water. I can't remember if we actually did this, but we knew that was what you should do in case of a water outage.
Now, the general procedure is to go to the store and buy dozens and dozens of plastic bottles of water. And people go to the store, find empty shelves, and freak out.
If a big storm is coming, why can't we fill some bottles with water for immediate use and fill the tub just in case? (Of course, this would only apply if you are "hunkering down" -- if you need to evacuate, you can't bring the tub with you).
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Things that are Awesome
I've made many changes over the past year or so. Some are hard, some are easy, some are easy to stick with, and others.... well.... others I have flaked out on. Here's what's awesome:
- maple syrup. 'nuff said. I realized that my brother (Gato Negro) has the real deal at his house. I asked him when he started buying it. He told me "when I started buying my own syrup". Take that gradgreen!
- sugar. Why was I using Splenda? I was obviously brainwashed by Weight Watchers.
- weight loss without lots of artificial foods
- giving stuff to Goodwill -- I now have a permanent Goodwill box in the closet.
- crayons (As you know, I have 3 little kids. Crayons are my favorite art supply. Why do markers even exist? Oh... to destroy my house... right...)
- homemade pizza -- I got a bread machine and it has been worth it for the pizza dough alone
- line drying clothes (this is C's department. Thank you!)
- Murphy's oil soap for cleaning wood furniture -- bye bye Pledge.
- cloth napkins
- hankies
- Craig's List
- cloth diapers (I've been a total failure with nighttime cloth diapers, but I am convinced that cloth diapers made my little one potty train at two years old ... a whole year earlier than my other two children)
- less/no TV -- we still use the TV to watch movies, but now we don't have any cable, which keeps us nice and commercial free :)
- ceiling fans -- since we have moved to a place with fans in every room, we are able to keep the AC set at a higher temperature and be very comfy.
- Wrap-n-mat to wrap sandwiches in for sack lunch. Very cute, creates its own placemat, and quite a conversation starter.
- CSA -- It just didn't seem worth it and the food was rotting.
- worm composting -- they freaked me out a little, and we killed them. Sorry wormies!
- going car free/ car light -- very very hard with three little kids. The basic problem here is that I can't spend long periods of time on public transportation because I have to get home and pick up/ take care of my children.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Convenience
With all the madness of back-to-school, and starting work full-force again, convenience has really been on my mind. For example:
Walking/biking to school
Why do so many parents drive their kids to school? My kids walk or bike with their dad every morning. The school is very close to our house and it would be ridiculous to drive. But there are other parents who live nearby who drop their kids off with a car. Why? I guess because it seems more convenient.
Maybe they are on the way to work and school is on the way. The problem here is that it's not just a quick drop-off. The traffic around the school is INSANE.
My kids don't walk by themselves because they're little, but older elementary school kids should be able to walk a quarter mile by themselves (I think) unless they have to cross a busy road. What I have noticed is that despite the insane traffic (slow, but lots of distracted drivers), there are only crossing guards right at the school. Our road is a little ways from the school, and although many kids walk up our road, there is no crossing guard.
One solution might be to walk the kids to the point at which it would be safe for them to walk on their own (and where they meet the surge of other kids and start to ignore their parents anyway).
But then I thought about my youngest child......
I drop her off at day care every morning and I don't have time to walk her to the school (which is within walking distance) and walk back home to get my scooter. So, I have ended up driving her to day care 2 days out of the week and then driving to work from there. And I have found that I like listening to NPR in the car on the way to work. It's the only time in the whole week that I get to hear the news without interruption.
So, here I am.... I can either:
Grrr....
I don't think I'm the only one facing these kinds of decisions.
What's interesting is that she HATES riding in the car and shrieks like a banshee, so in the afternoon I come home, leave the scooter or car, and then walk or ride my bike to pick her up.
Maybe when it's not in the 90s I'll be in a better position to ride my bike to work, but right now I'm a little daunted by the 4 or 5 mile hilly ride.... (Any thoughts on electric bikes to assist on the hills and not get to work a sweaty blob?)
Walking/biking to school
Why do so many parents drive their kids to school? My kids walk or bike with their dad every morning. The school is very close to our house and it would be ridiculous to drive. But there are other parents who live nearby who drop their kids off with a car. Why? I guess because it seems more convenient.
Maybe they are on the way to work and school is on the way. The problem here is that it's not just a quick drop-off. The traffic around the school is INSANE.
My kids don't walk by themselves because they're little, but older elementary school kids should be able to walk a quarter mile by themselves (I think) unless they have to cross a busy road. What I have noticed is that despite the insane traffic (slow, but lots of distracted drivers), there are only crossing guards right at the school. Our road is a little ways from the school, and although many kids walk up our road, there is no crossing guard.
One solution might be to walk the kids to the point at which it would be safe for them to walk on their own (and where they meet the surge of other kids and start to ignore their parents anyway).
But then I thought about my youngest child......
I drop her off at day care every morning and I don't have time to walk her to the school (which is within walking distance) and walk back home to get my scooter. So, I have ended up driving her to day care 2 days out of the week and then driving to work from there. And I have found that I like listening to NPR in the car on the way to work. It's the only time in the whole week that I get to hear the news without interruption.
So, here I am.... I can either:
- Walk her to daycare, drop her off, walk back, scoot to work (total of about 45 minutes, no NPR, but good exercise) OR
- Drive her to daycare and continue on to work (total of about 25 minutes with NPR and killing the environment).
Grrr....
I don't think I'm the only one facing these kinds of decisions.
What's interesting is that she HATES riding in the car and shrieks like a banshee, so in the afternoon I come home, leave the scooter or car, and then walk or ride my bike to pick her up.
Maybe when it's not in the 90s I'll be in a better position to ride my bike to work, but right now I'm a little daunted by the 4 or 5 mile hilly ride.... (Any thoughts on electric bikes to assist on the hills and not get to work a sweaty blob?)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
More on the Water Heater
I'm super tired, so I'm going to keep it short.
Last night I wanted a really hot bath. I'm the only hot water lover in the family, so we've been keeping the water heater at a pretty low temperature. So, just for the bath, I turned it up. About 30 minutes later, I had a very hot bath. It was great. Then, I turned the water heater down.
I realized that there is a "vacation" setting on our water heater. Now I'm wondering if maybe we should keep it on vacation and just turn it up about an hour before bath time. What do you think?
Last night I wanted a really hot bath. I'm the only hot water lover in the family, so we've been keeping the water heater at a pretty low temperature. So, just for the bath, I turned it up. About 30 minutes later, I had a very hot bath. It was great. Then, I turned the water heater down.
I realized that there is a "vacation" setting on our water heater. Now I'm wondering if maybe we should keep it on vacation and just turn it up about an hour before bath time. What do you think?
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Maple Syrup
A while ago I bought my first ever bottle of real maple syrup. It just ran out. So..... I went and bought another bottle. I am officially converted. Real maple syrup is awesome and the stuff I grew up on freaks me out. I can't believe I didn't realize that I was slurping down maple flavored high fructose corn syrup.
Real maple syrup, on the other hand, comes from trees. There are no other ingredients. Pretty cool. I bought 8 oz. for about 5.50. It came in a glass bottle. The same company sells 16 oz. in a cute plastic bottle for around 15.00. Now, I'm not a math genius (actually, I'm pretty good at math, but still...not a genius) but clearly the 8 oz. in glass is a better deal. Tricky evil marketers.
The syrup is grade A. I wondered what that meant, so I looked it up here. Apparently there are no differences in quality of syrup. It is graded accorded to the "robustness" of the maple flavor, as follows:
Grade A light amber: delicate maple flavor
Grade A medium amber: mild maple flavor
Grade A dark ": robust maple flav.
Grade B: strong robust maple flavor
Commercial: very strong maple flavor
Organic maple syrup costs a lot more. Since maple syrup is already pretty pricey for me, I wondered, "what is organic syrup?" Isn't all syrup organic? According to the people at tropical traditions, there IS a difference. There are 3 main points:
Organic maple forests are not sprayed with pesticides.
No formaldehyde is used in tree tapping.
The number of taps per tree is limited, ensuring the health of the forests.
It can take up to 40 years for a tree to get big enough to tap. I wonder if the forests have been organic that whole time....
Real maple syrup, on the other hand, comes from trees. There are no other ingredients. Pretty cool. I bought 8 oz. for about 5.50. It came in a glass bottle. The same company sells 16 oz. in a cute plastic bottle for around 15.00. Now, I'm not a math genius (actually, I'm pretty good at math, but still...not a genius) but clearly the 8 oz. in glass is a better deal. Tricky evil marketers.
The syrup is grade A. I wondered what that meant, so I looked it up here. Apparently there are no differences in quality of syrup. It is graded accorded to the "robustness" of the maple flavor, as follows:
Grade A light amber: delicate maple flavor
Grade A medium amber: mild maple flavor
Grade A dark ": robust maple flav.
Grade B: strong robust maple flavor
Commercial: very strong maple flavor
Organic maple syrup costs a lot more. Since maple syrup is already pretty pricey for me, I wondered, "what is organic syrup?" Isn't all syrup organic? According to the people at tropical traditions, there IS a difference. There are 3 main points:
Organic maple forests are not sprayed with pesticides.
No formaldehyde is used in tree tapping.
The number of taps per tree is limited, ensuring the health of the forests.
It can take up to 40 years for a tree to get big enough to tap. I wonder if the forests have been organic that whole time....
Monday, September 1, 2008
You get what you pay for
Usually. Except for the case of used clothes, in which case you get pre-worn-in clothing at a great price.
But, if you're going to buy new, it's worthwhile to buy something that is well-made. I am a big fan of places that have good return policies. For example, the first year that my son needed a backpack, I bought a cheapie at Walmart (back when I went there from time to time...). It blew out before the year was over. I have vowed never to buy a non-LLBean backpack again.
Why is LL Bean so awesome?
They have a lifetime guarantee. So, if 20 years down the line, the zipper on your backpack stops working, LL Bean will replace it, without giving you any grief. You don't even have to save the receipt. I love it.
If you buy hiking boots and 7 years later, the soles dry out and fall off (hypothetically), send 'em back, and get new boots.
They have great customer service and great quality.
If you decide to sell your used clothes, they also have great resale value on e-bay. (Google LL Bean raincoat and see what happens)
Land's End and REI have similar policies, and given that all 3 of these companies sell outerwear and outdoor gear that could get rough use, it's a good idea that IF you're going to buy something new, you might as well buy ONE thing new instead of four or five over the years.
A friend also informed me that Sears has a program called Kidvantage, in which they will replace worn-out kids' clothes. Good to know.
But, if you're going to buy new, it's worthwhile to buy something that is well-made. I am a big fan of places that have good return policies. For example, the first year that my son needed a backpack, I bought a cheapie at Walmart (back when I went there from time to time...). It blew out before the year was over. I have vowed never to buy a non-LLBean backpack again.
Why is LL Bean so awesome?
They have a lifetime guarantee. So, if 20 years down the line, the zipper on your backpack stops working, LL Bean will replace it, without giving you any grief. You don't even have to save the receipt. I love it.
If you buy hiking boots and 7 years later, the soles dry out and fall off (hypothetically), send 'em back, and get new boots.
They have great customer service and great quality.
If you decide to sell your used clothes, they also have great resale value on e-bay. (Google LL Bean raincoat and see what happens)
Land's End and REI have similar policies, and given that all 3 of these companies sell outerwear and outdoor gear that could get rough use, it's a good idea that IF you're going to buy something new, you might as well buy ONE thing new instead of four or five over the years.
A friend also informed me that Sears has a program called Kidvantage, in which they will replace worn-out kids' clothes. Good to know.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Killing Trees
I'm a teacher. This semester, I'm teaching all kinds of classes. I try to minimize my use of paper. I always print on both sides of the paper; I use scratch paper to print out my lesson plans and things that students won't see, or I fold it and make it into a little coloring book for my kids.
But teaching is paper intensive. Another option is to use overheads. But then I wonder -- is it better to make an overhead, that will save about 100 pages of paper over its lifetime, or is the overhead worse? I guess paper can be reused and composted or recycled, and the plastic in the overhead will never go away, so I'm guessing that a copy is better.
I generally make my students share copies, if possible. For example, if I want them to read a poem in pairs, I give one copy per pair. Then, I often make them turn it back in and I save it for the next semester.
Many schools are now using ELMO, or another document camera. With this technology, the teacher can project a paper or picture (or anything, really) onto a screen without making an overhead. I imagine that it uses a lot of energy.
What do you think?
Overhead or copies for the class?
Elmo or copies?
Overhead or Elmo?
Slates for each child?
But teaching is paper intensive. Another option is to use overheads. But then I wonder -- is it better to make an overhead, that will save about 100 pages of paper over its lifetime, or is the overhead worse? I guess paper can be reused and composted or recycled, and the plastic in the overhead will never go away, so I'm guessing that a copy is better.
I generally make my students share copies, if possible. For example, if I want them to read a poem in pairs, I give one copy per pair. Then, I often make them turn it back in and I save it for the next semester.
Many schools are now using ELMO, or another document camera. With this technology, the teacher can project a paper or picture (or anything, really) onto a screen without making an overhead. I imagine that it uses a lot of energy.
What do you think?
Overhead or copies for the class?
Elmo or copies?
Overhead or Elmo?
Slates for each child?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Back to School
I'm a little brain dead with all the back to school stuff -- 3 kids starting various levels of school/preschool this week, and I'm starting back too, after an all-too-short vacation. Remind me not to teach double summer school again. (I'm serious. Remind me!)
This year we've decided to pack the kids' lunches. There are a variety of reasons.
1. I think that the school lunch is kind of pricey, considering what it is. (Today's lunch was hot dog with chili; tomorrow, a chicken burger.) It's not really food that I want to encourage my kids to eat, and it costs $2.10 per kid, per day -- so a grand total of $21/week for my two school-age kids.
2. I have been to lunch, and the kids throw away a lot of food. I think that's wrong. I would rather send them with food that I know they'll eat.
3. Everything in the school lunch is disposable, including the tray.
4. The kids use a spork to eat their school lunch. I'm not sure why the district can't just give the kids a fork or a spoon. Using a spork seems to just encourage silverware problems -- I think kids need to learn how to use forks. Of course, the stupid spork is packaged in plastic with a napkin. So much waste.
But, there are some common problems with sending lunch from home.
1. Keeping things the right temperature.
2. Having the right container.
3. Many people still send lots of disposable stuff.
4. Keeping cost down -- you might end up spending MORE on a lunch from home.
As far as temperature is concerned, I bought a nifty thermal container from Land's End (2 for around $15), and it is great for sending pasta or macaroni and cheese or whatever your kid likes. I also have some plastic containers with screw on lids to send stuff like sliced fruit, applesauce, etc. Currently, my kids are going with water bottles that I fill with ice in the morning (and a little water), so they have cool water during the day. But, the pressure has been on to buy the chocolate milk at school. I am fine with chocolate milk, but I think school milk is pretty gross and I don't want to pay .65 for it (high, right?) I'd rather buy organic chocolate milk and freeze 1/2 of it in some sort of a container and then fill the other 1/2 with milk so it will still be cool at lunch time. I really don't want to buy a juice box because it just creates too much trash.
With all these containers, the lunch box can get pretty full (and my kids have big lunch boxes). We have a couple of wrap-a-mats which we can wrap around pretzels, dried fruit, or whatever. They are basically pieces of cloth lined with plastic that velcro together. You can check them out at reusablebags.com. We have been pretty happy with ours, and they get frequent (positive) comments, but the price has gone WAY up recently (more than double), so I'm not sure that I would buy them again.
This year we've decided to pack the kids' lunches. There are a variety of reasons.
1. I think that the school lunch is kind of pricey, considering what it is. (Today's lunch was hot dog with chili; tomorrow, a chicken burger.) It's not really food that I want to encourage my kids to eat, and it costs $2.10 per kid, per day -- so a grand total of $21/week for my two school-age kids.
2. I have been to lunch, and the kids throw away a lot of food. I think that's wrong. I would rather send them with food that I know they'll eat.
3. Everything in the school lunch is disposable, including the tray.
4. The kids use a spork to eat their school lunch. I'm not sure why the district can't just give the kids a fork or a spoon. Using a spork seems to just encourage silverware problems -- I think kids need to learn how to use forks. Of course, the stupid spork is packaged in plastic with a napkin. So much waste.
But, there are some common problems with sending lunch from home.
1. Keeping things the right temperature.
2. Having the right container.
3. Many people still send lots of disposable stuff.
4. Keeping cost down -- you might end up spending MORE on a lunch from home.
As far as temperature is concerned, I bought a nifty thermal container from Land's End (2 for around $15), and it is great for sending pasta or macaroni and cheese or whatever your kid likes. I also have some plastic containers with screw on lids to send stuff like sliced fruit, applesauce, etc. Currently, my kids are going with water bottles that I fill with ice in the morning (and a little water), so they have cool water during the day. But, the pressure has been on to buy the chocolate milk at school. I am fine with chocolate milk, but I think school milk is pretty gross and I don't want to pay .65 for it (high, right?) I'd rather buy organic chocolate milk and freeze 1/2 of it in some sort of a container and then fill the other 1/2 with milk so it will still be cool at lunch time. I really don't want to buy a juice box because it just creates too much trash.
With all these containers, the lunch box can get pretty full (and my kids have big lunch boxes). We have a couple of wrap-a-mats which we can wrap around pretzels, dried fruit, or whatever. They are basically pieces of cloth lined with plastic that velcro together. You can check them out at reusablebags.com. We have been pretty happy with ours, and they get frequent (positive) comments, but the price has gone WAY up recently (more than double), so I'm not sure that I would buy them again.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Pigs are Flying
I meant to post this before I left, but here it is now:
Rick Perry (governor of Texas) petitioned the EPA for a waiver on the amount of ethanol in gasoline (9 billion gallons are required in 2009).
His argument was that it was hard on feed lots (boo on them!) because it was pushing up the price of corn. Well, it's not just hard on feed lots, but on anything else that involves corn, including tortillas. The high price of corn has driven up the price of tortillas in Mexico, a staple food, especially among the poor, who get 40% of their protein from tortillas.
Turning corn into ethanol is also bad for the environment, as it only produces 1.3 times as much energy as is used to grow the corn, turn it into ethanol, and transport it (which must be done by truck). In the meantime, huge amounts of chemicals are used to produce the corn (pesticides, fertilizers) and instead of growing a food crop, we are devoting more and more land to growing... fuel. That's messed up.
The tide has been turning against ethanol for a while (note some of my sources, which are a year old). It just doesn't make sense, and isn't really a viable solution to our dependence on fossil fuel. We can't possibly grow enough corn to not have to rely on imported oil, and making ethanol from corn is not helping the environment. So.... doesn't help the environment, doesn't help the economy (here or in the rest of the world), doesn't solve the oil problem. Why require it?
So, when Rick Perry asked for a waiver from the EPA, I actually agreed with him. And then the EPA turned him down.
Clearly, pigs are flying. I'm siding with Rick Perry and against the EPA.
OMG.
Rick Perry (governor of Texas) petitioned the EPA for a waiver on the amount of ethanol in gasoline (9 billion gallons are required in 2009).
His argument was that it was hard on feed lots (boo on them!) because it was pushing up the price of corn. Well, it's not just hard on feed lots, but on anything else that involves corn, including tortillas. The high price of corn has driven up the price of tortillas in Mexico, a staple food, especially among the poor, who get 40% of their protein from tortillas.
Turning corn into ethanol is also bad for the environment, as it only produces 1.3 times as much energy as is used to grow the corn, turn it into ethanol, and transport it (which must be done by truck). In the meantime, huge amounts of chemicals are used to produce the corn (pesticides, fertilizers) and instead of growing a food crop, we are devoting more and more land to growing... fuel. That's messed up.
The tide has been turning against ethanol for a while (note some of my sources, which are a year old). It just doesn't make sense, and isn't really a viable solution to our dependence on fossil fuel. We can't possibly grow enough corn to not have to rely on imported oil, and making ethanol from corn is not helping the environment. So.... doesn't help the environment, doesn't help the economy (here or in the rest of the world), doesn't solve the oil problem. Why require it?
So, when Rick Perry asked for a waiver from the EPA, I actually agreed with him. And then the EPA turned him down.
Clearly, pigs are flying. I'm siding with Rick Perry and against the EPA.
OMG.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Importing Recycling
I know that you've been wondering where I've been. I've been a slacker. No... not, really. I moved, and then I went on a family trip to Mexico. But now... I'm back! (yeah!)
I've done a lot of traveling in Latin America, but since I had kids.... not so much. When I went to Isla Mujeres (a little island close to Cancun) this last week, I realized that I hadn't been to Mexico in at least six years. That's pretty crazy, considering that I love to travel and live in Texas.
I'm not sure what the water situation is in Isla, but I have been sick enough when traveling that I was really paranoid about drinking the water. So, for a week, we drank bottled water (boo... hiss!) I could not find it in anything but plastic bottles. Luckily, our hotel had a water cooler that we used to fill up the bottles, but between the water and some juices, I ended up with quite a plastic bottle collection. I couldn't find anywhere to recycle them (or anything, for that matter). So, I ended up importing the empties (most of them, I'm not a saint... I did throw some away) for recycling in the US.
In my previous travels, it was much easier to get a glass bottle (especially for juice and sodas), and the glass bottles were always returnable. Almost every glass bottle that our group used (many many beer bottles, as we were testing all the Mexican beers for an important research project) was non-returnable. Why? Why would they make a specifically non-returnable bottle?
I'm pretty used to this, because in Texas we don't have deposit bottles, but I thought that it was common in Latin America. When I have traveled around, you were frequently not allowed to take the bottle with you if you got a drink, or it was poured into a plastic bag so you could take it "to go". (I know... plastic bag = evil, but returnable bottle = good).
What's going on? Is this common throughout Mexico? Is it because of US influence? Are returnable bottles going out of style? Or is it just because I was in a tourist area?
I've done a lot of traveling in Latin America, but since I had kids.... not so much. When I went to Isla Mujeres (a little island close to Cancun) this last week, I realized that I hadn't been to Mexico in at least six years. That's pretty crazy, considering that I love to travel and live in Texas.
I'm not sure what the water situation is in Isla, but I have been sick enough when traveling that I was really paranoid about drinking the water. So, for a week, we drank bottled water (boo... hiss!) I could not find it in anything but plastic bottles. Luckily, our hotel had a water cooler that we used to fill up the bottles, but between the water and some juices, I ended up with quite a plastic bottle collection. I couldn't find anywhere to recycle them (or anything, for that matter). So, I ended up importing the empties (most of them, I'm not a saint... I did throw some away) for recycling in the US.
In my previous travels, it was much easier to get a glass bottle (especially for juice and sodas), and the glass bottles were always returnable. Almost every glass bottle that our group used (many many beer bottles, as we were testing all the Mexican beers for an important research project) was non-returnable. Why? Why would they make a specifically non-returnable bottle?
I'm pretty used to this, because in Texas we don't have deposit bottles, but I thought that it was common in Latin America. When I have traveled around, you were frequently not allowed to take the bottle with you if you got a drink, or it was poured into a plastic bag so you could take it "to go". (I know... plastic bag = evil, but returnable bottle = good).
What's going on? Is this common throughout Mexico? Is it because of US influence? Are returnable bottles going out of style? Or is it just because I was in a tourist area?
Monday, August 11, 2008
Save Money on Gas
Pretty much every time I ride my scooter, someone makes a comment about how much I must be saving on gas. True. We've figured out that it gets between 75-80 mpg. Pretty awesome. Today I had to fill up the tank (around 4 dollars) and it was very fun to be right next to a Suburban at the pump. :)
But this post is about natural gas. In our new place, the water heater runs on natural gas. We also have gas cooking. At our old place, we had on-site maintenance (yeah!) but no access to the water heater. Here, any maintenance requires a written request, which for some reason has been very difficult to turn in.... I just can't seem to make myself get three kids into the car to bring a piece of paper over to the management company. I could fax it, but I don't want to unpack the fax. I could probably e-mail it.... anyway. I haven't done it.
What does this have to do with saving gas? Our water heater is broken, and we can't have hot water until it's fixed. Thus, we're saving a bunch of money :)
It's actually not too bad. We only really use hot water in the shower (and then, it's only 3 out of the 5 of us), but it's so stinking hot that it's not a TOTAL necessity.
I looked at the water heater, and it's rated very low on efficiency. It's exciting to see that I can turn the temperature down (I wasn't allowed to in the old place). According to the Department of Energy, each 10 degree temperature reduction saves 3-5% in energy. When we do get it fixed, I plan to buy it an insulating blanket. (This should save another 5-9%, although installation is apparently more complicated on gas water heaters.) We are also considering turning off the water heater for most of the day, but I would like to do calculations to see how much gas this really saves. Does anybody know if turning off the water heater for 20 hours or so saves gas? Or does all the difference get used up in heating the tank of cold water? How long does it take to warm up?
This site says that it's worthwhile to turn the water heater off when leaving town. It also says you can use a timer for an electric water heater. How about gas? If you go out to the garage and manually turn it on and off, will that work?
But this post is about natural gas. In our new place, the water heater runs on natural gas. We also have gas cooking. At our old place, we had on-site maintenance (yeah!) but no access to the water heater. Here, any maintenance requires a written request, which for some reason has been very difficult to turn in.... I just can't seem to make myself get three kids into the car to bring a piece of paper over to the management company. I could fax it, but I don't want to unpack the fax. I could probably e-mail it.... anyway. I haven't done it.
What does this have to do with saving gas? Our water heater is broken, and we can't have hot water until it's fixed. Thus, we're saving a bunch of money :)
It's actually not too bad. We only really use hot water in the shower (and then, it's only 3 out of the 5 of us), but it's so stinking hot that it's not a TOTAL necessity.
I looked at the water heater, and it's rated very low on efficiency. It's exciting to see that I can turn the temperature down (I wasn't allowed to in the old place). According to the Department of Energy, each 10 degree temperature reduction saves 3-5% in energy. When we do get it fixed, I plan to buy it an insulating blanket. (This should save another 5-9%, although installation is apparently more complicated on gas water heaters.) We are also considering turning off the water heater for most of the day, but I would like to do calculations to see how much gas this really saves. Does anybody know if turning off the water heater for 20 hours or so saves gas? Or does all the difference get used up in heating the tank of cold water? How long does it take to warm up?
This site says that it's worthwhile to turn the water heater off when leaving town. It also says you can use a timer for an electric water heater. How about gas? If you go out to the garage and manually turn it on and off, will that work?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Blinded by the Light -- How bright does the bathroom need to be?
We just moved to a bigger place with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. We checked out the energy bill from the previous tenants, and it was a shocking 200 dollars (!). Immediately, C went into action to make sure that we do not continue that trend.
Now, this sounds kind of dumb to me because changing light bulbs just seems so obvious and non-exciting. But, if you look at lists of green things to do, changing to CFL bulbs is always at or near the top. At our old place, we had no choice because the lights were those long tube lights found in schools, but all of our lamps were CFL powered. Now, we had many more lights to deal with, all using regular light bulbs.
C went around changing as many light bulbs as he could (we had a small stockpile of CFLs that we had bought on sale), but when he ran out of CFLs, he just started taking light bulbs out. The light in the girl's room has four lightbulbs -- they were 4 regular light bulbs -- now we have one CFL.
Savings?
We replaced 4 60-watt bulbs with one bulb that uses 13 watts = 227 watt savings.
Each bathroom had 3 regular bulbs -- now they each have 1 CFL. Honestly, 3 was pretty blinding. I don't know if I want to see that well in the bathroom.
Savings?
6 60-watt bulbs (360) for 2 13-watt bulbs (26) = 334 watt savings.
In one bedroom and 2 bathrooms, that's a 561 watt savings, and we only used 3 bulbs!
The City of Austin offers coupons for packages of CFL (I think it's good at Home Depot). I wasn't going to Home Depot, so I bought a package of 10 at Costco for 13.99. Well worth it.
Some people complain about the light that CFLs give off. It doesn't bother me, but if you don't car for it, you might try the following:
Now, this sounds kind of dumb to me because changing light bulbs just seems so obvious and non-exciting. But, if you look at lists of green things to do, changing to CFL bulbs is always at or near the top. At our old place, we had no choice because the lights were those long tube lights found in schools, but all of our lamps were CFL powered. Now, we had many more lights to deal with, all using regular light bulbs.
C went around changing as many light bulbs as he could (we had a small stockpile of CFLs that we had bought on sale), but when he ran out of CFLs, he just started taking light bulbs out. The light in the girl's room has four lightbulbs -- they were 4 regular light bulbs -- now we have one CFL.
Savings?
We replaced 4 60-watt bulbs with one bulb that uses 13 watts = 227 watt savings.
Each bathroom had 3 regular bulbs -- now they each have 1 CFL. Honestly, 3 was pretty blinding. I don't know if I want to see that well in the bathroom.
Savings?
6 60-watt bulbs (360) for 2 13-watt bulbs (26) = 334 watt savings.
In one bedroom and 2 bathrooms, that's a 561 watt savings, and we only used 3 bulbs!
The City of Austin offers coupons for packages of CFL (I think it's good at Home Depot). I wasn't going to Home Depot, so I bought a package of 10 at Costco for 13.99. Well worth it.
Some people complain about the light that CFLs give off. It doesn't bother me, but if you don't car for it, you might try the following:
- Buy a CFL that gives off white light (these are different from the regular CFLs)
- Consider how many light bulbs you really need. Do you need 3 bulbs over the bathroom mirror? Maybe it won't be so annoying if there's only one.
- Use a nice lampshade.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The worms are dead
I've spent the last week either packing, moving, cleaning, or unpacking. I'm exhausted. But I love my new place!
On the last day in the old place, I came home to a horrible smell. Horrible. Totally shocking and disgusting. Blech. I knew that it was coming from the worms. So, I opened them up. It was bad. Even stinkier. Slimy. Gross. Gross. Gross.
Worm maintenance has been mostly C's department, but I could tell they were too wet. I drained off quite a bit of "tea", added a bunch of dry fiber, and waited for C to come home to further assess the situation.
They were almost all dead.
We ended up throwing all the stinking mass of worms and slime and uneaten food into the dumpster. It is some consolation that what we threw away is still way less than what we put into the worm factory. The worms did a great job for months converting our food waste into worm movement and more worms.
We let them down.
What have I learned?
You have to pay attention to the directions (duh). Put dry fiber (paper, etc.) AND food.
Worms can die.
If they die, you will need to move.
So, will I try again? I'm not sure. There are a lot of deer where we live and the neighbors put salad scraps out in the yard for the deer.
Btw, the deer are SOOOO cute. There are baby deer and mommy deer and daddy deer with antlers. We see them every night. (Can you tell my kids love the deer?)
On the last day in the old place, I came home to a horrible smell. Horrible. Totally shocking and disgusting. Blech. I knew that it was coming from the worms. So, I opened them up. It was bad. Even stinkier. Slimy. Gross. Gross. Gross.
Worm maintenance has been mostly C's department, but I could tell they were too wet. I drained off quite a bit of "tea", added a bunch of dry fiber, and waited for C to come home to further assess the situation.
They were almost all dead.
We ended up throwing all the stinking mass of worms and slime and uneaten food into the dumpster. It is some consolation that what we threw away is still way less than what we put into the worm factory. The worms did a great job for months converting our food waste into worm movement and more worms.
We let them down.
What have I learned?
You have to pay attention to the directions (duh). Put dry fiber (paper, etc.) AND food.
Worms can die.
If they die, you will need to move.
So, will I try again? I'm not sure. There are a lot of deer where we live and the neighbors put salad scraps out in the yard for the deer.
Btw, the deer are SOOOO cute. There are baby deer and mommy deer and daddy deer with antlers. We see them every night. (Can you tell my kids love the deer?)
Monday, July 28, 2008
Classroom Manners
This is not a post about being green. It's just a post about being polite.
I teach at a major university and at a community college. In both places, most of my students are wonderful. I really do love teaching. But, in both places, the classroom atmosphere suffers because of some basic impoliteness on the part of a few students. I like to think that maybe they don't know how to behave. Here's some things that students have done:
I have had to get really strict about excuses that I will accept, and I always start the semester with a talk about cell phones, etc... but the cell phone problem in particular just seems to get worse (perhaps because more people have cell phones). I think the problem is that I don't want to call out adults for misbehavior. It feels ridiculous. Some of my students are older than me. I shouldn't have to tell them not to curse in class.
Any thoughts?
I teach at a major university and at a community college. In both places, most of my students are wonderful. I really do love teaching. But, in both places, the classroom atmosphere suffers because of some basic impoliteness on the part of a few students. I like to think that maybe they don't know how to behave. Here's some things that students have done:
- forget to turn the cell phone off. Phone rings in class.
- A couple of students have answered the phone in class!
- Texting. Huge problem.
- Doing crossword puzzles in between exercises.
- Insisting on an explanation in the middle of a lesson (the explanation is coming -- my lesson is building up to it)
- Cursing "Oh shit" when I ask a question and they don't know the answer.
- Pounding on the desk and saying the F word during an exam/quiz.
- Calling out the answers to a listening exercise during a quiz.
- lying -- totally ridiculous lies because of missed classes.
- Assuming that I will give a make-up exam on my own time, regardless of the fact that the syllabus explicitly states that there are no make-up exams.
- Doing homework during class.
I have had to get really strict about excuses that I will accept, and I always start the semester with a talk about cell phones, etc... but the cell phone problem in particular just seems to get worse (perhaps because more people have cell phones). I think the problem is that I don't want to call out adults for misbehavior. It feels ridiculous. Some of my students are older than me. I shouldn't have to tell them not to curse in class.
Any thoughts?
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Water and Wine (or Grape Juice!)
Water
Why?
Why does Whole Foods sell bottled water? Why is it prominently displayed?
Oh yeah... money.
But here's what I really don't get. The Whole Foods downtown has water for FREE -- and ice -- and paper cups. If you're eating there, and you didn't bring your own drink, or buy a drink in a glass bottle, you don't need to pay for water. But if you look around, lots of people have paid for water.
I think that drinking bottled water is a habit. You buy lunch, you want a drink. Everybody buys something -- a Coke, a juice, whatever.... you buy a water. It's easy to temporarily forget about the environmental impact of the water. That's when it's good to be frugal as well as green. The frugal person is thinking about two things -- the environment, and the fact that he/she doesn't want to pay for something that should be free = more likely to not buy the water.
If you live in Austin and go to WF and get thirsty -- there's free water. It's not prominently displayed, but it's totally free. (And icy!)
Green Church
The Catholic church has added new social sins, including hurting the environment. At the time, I wondered if the church would be changing its ways. A friend reports that at her local parish, they switched to ceramic cups for coffee. Yeah!
Yesterday I attended a Protestant service that included communion. At a Catholic mass, each person sips wine from a communal chalice. At the service I attended yesterday, tiny plastic (non-recyclable!) cups with tiny sips of grape juice were passed out. It seemed like a lot of waste.
Is this typical for Protestant services? I've been to other services, and plastic cups were always involved, but that may just be coincidence. Are there Protestant churches that serve grape juice in some other way? I guess that it is to reduce transmission of germs. When I go to church, I don't receive the wine part of communion if I'm sick, because of the communal chalice.
P.S. Please don't take this as some sort of Protestant vs. Catholic debate. I'm just noticing a difference that I had not noticed before.
Why?
Why does Whole Foods sell bottled water? Why is it prominently displayed?
Oh yeah... money.
But here's what I really don't get. The Whole Foods downtown has water for FREE -- and ice -- and paper cups. If you're eating there, and you didn't bring your own drink, or buy a drink in a glass bottle, you don't need to pay for water. But if you look around, lots of people have paid for water.
I think that drinking bottled water is a habit. You buy lunch, you want a drink. Everybody buys something -- a Coke, a juice, whatever.... you buy a water. It's easy to temporarily forget about the environmental impact of the water. That's when it's good to be frugal as well as green. The frugal person is thinking about two things -- the environment, and the fact that he/she doesn't want to pay for something that should be free = more likely to not buy the water.
If you live in Austin and go to WF and get thirsty -- there's free water. It's not prominently displayed, but it's totally free. (And icy!)
Green Church
The Catholic church has added new social sins, including hurting the environment. At the time, I wondered if the church would be changing its ways. A friend reports that at her local parish, they switched to ceramic cups for coffee. Yeah!
Yesterday I attended a Protestant service that included communion. At a Catholic mass, each person sips wine from a communal chalice. At the service I attended yesterday, tiny plastic (non-recyclable!) cups with tiny sips of grape juice were passed out. It seemed like a lot of waste.
Is this typical for Protestant services? I've been to other services, and plastic cups were always involved, but that may just be coincidence. Are there Protestant churches that serve grape juice in some other way? I guess that it is to reduce transmission of germs. When I go to church, I don't receive the wine part of communion if I'm sick, because of the communal chalice.
P.S. Please don't take this as some sort of Protestant vs. Catholic debate. I'm just noticing a difference that I had not noticed before.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Apocalyptic TV
I've been compulsively watching Jericho, a TV series that my dad lent to me. Even on the tiny TV, it's pretty good. As much as I hate TV, when I come back from work, it's nice to just blob out... and then I end up thinking "wow... TV.... genius invention." Not regular programming, so much, because I hate the commercials. But DVD series are really addictive.
Jericho depicts a small town in Kansas after a series of nuclear bombs wipes out most of the major cities in the US. I like the characters, and I pretty much like the story line, but it makes you think... The citizens of Jericho are forced to live, with no prior warning, with no power (after a while), a very limited supply of gas (limited to what they had at the time the bombs went off, so far), and a limited food supply. Pretty soon they come to rely almost completely on food from the farms surrounding the city. (This does present a logical problem because of the fallout, but it is explained in the case of the corn, which was in the husks, making it safe (hmmmm...)).
As far-fetched as parts of the plot-line seem, it does make me think about our preparedness for disaster. Many consider peak oil to be a coming disaster. Are you preparing? Are you prepared? Have you even thought about it?
Watching this show, I see that their being in a rural area is a help because 1) there are fewer people to feed and 2) they have livestock and farmland to provide food.
When I think about my own life, I see that living in a city is a great and sustainable choice as long as everything is functioning smoothly. If, for some reason, supplies were to stop coming in, there would be a big problem. I used to live in Houston and the stores would totally empty out of bottled water if a hurricane was anywhere near the Gulf of Mexico. And that was in Houston! We lived an hour from the coast.
It also makes me think about what I would be willing to do. For example, there is a scene in the show in which a man stumbles into town dying of radiation poisoning. One man refuses to help him without protective clothing. Two others pick him up and carry him to the hospital. Unless the person was a member of my own family, I think that I'd at least put on some gloves or something. Then, I started feeling selfish for thinking that... How far are you willing to go to help someone that you don't know? (The scene took place in a pharmacy, so I'm pretty sure there were some gloves on the shelf. It seems pretty dumb not to have at least put SOMETHING on). Will you do more for a family member than you would for a stranger?
Jericho depicts a small town in Kansas after a series of nuclear bombs wipes out most of the major cities in the US. I like the characters, and I pretty much like the story line, but it makes you think... The citizens of Jericho are forced to live, with no prior warning, with no power (after a while), a very limited supply of gas (limited to what they had at the time the bombs went off, so far), and a limited food supply. Pretty soon they come to rely almost completely on food from the farms surrounding the city. (This does present a logical problem because of the fallout, but it is explained in the case of the corn, which was in the husks, making it safe (hmmmm...)).
As far-fetched as parts of the plot-line seem, it does make me think about our preparedness for disaster. Many consider peak oil to be a coming disaster. Are you preparing? Are you prepared? Have you even thought about it?
Watching this show, I see that their being in a rural area is a help because 1) there are fewer people to feed and 2) they have livestock and farmland to provide food.
When I think about my own life, I see that living in a city is a great and sustainable choice as long as everything is functioning smoothly. If, for some reason, supplies were to stop coming in, there would be a big problem. I used to live in Houston and the stores would totally empty out of bottled water if a hurricane was anywhere near the Gulf of Mexico. And that was in Houston! We lived an hour from the coast.
It also makes me think about what I would be willing to do. For example, there is a scene in the show in which a man stumbles into town dying of radiation poisoning. One man refuses to help him without protective clothing. Two others pick him up and carry him to the hospital. Unless the person was a member of my own family, I think that I'd at least put on some gloves or something. Then, I started feeling selfish for thinking that... How far are you willing to go to help someone that you don't know? (The scene took place in a pharmacy, so I'm pretty sure there were some gloves on the shelf. It seems pretty dumb not to have at least put SOMETHING on). Will you do more for a family member than you would for a stranger?
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Gradual Change
Sometimes when I look around the blogosphere, it seems like everyone is so hard-core green. I try, but it can be really hard with 3 kids. Then, I look around the rest of society, and see that I'm actually doing okay. It's important to realize that becoming green is not an overnight process. After all, Green as a Thistle made a change a day for a year. Burbanmom is also all about gradual change.
How gradual can change be? Pretty darn gradual. Let's look at my diaper situation:
I have 3 children. I attempted cloth diapers with my firstborn, but was overwhelmed and didn't know what I was doing and gave up. I didn't try cloth diapers again until my youngest child was one. So.... three years of disposable diapers. Then, I decided that I would give cloth diapers a try. Here's what made the difference: it wasn't an all or nothing deal. C and I decided that we would try to use cloth diapers as much as possible, but we were open to using disposables when traveling, at night, etc... We ended up using cloth diapers about 90% of the time because we were able to make the change gradually, without too much stress, over the course of a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, we never really found a satisfactory night-time solution. After many many tries, I gave up, stopped washing all the sheets and blankets everyday, and opted for one disposable diaper a night instead. Not perfect, but it worked for us.
What helped with the diaper situation too was that it was a pretty low-risk investment. Cloth diapers have great resale value. I bought most of mine used and then resold them for almost the same price that I paid. Craig's List is a great way to buy cloth diapers. Some people are freaked out by buying used diapers. I don't really understand why many of these same people would use a diaper service -- it's the same thing. And in the end, they're all washed and clean.
Gradual change can also be a great way to win over other family members. For example, say you decide that you want to start eating less meat as a family. We never ate a lot of meat, but I would make spaghetti sauce with ground beef. My husband grew up eating lots of meat, so I was afraid he wouldn't be into veggie crumbles. So, I made the sauce the same way, but substituted in about 1/3 veggie crumbles. Nobody complained. I upped it to about 1/2. Nobody complained. Then, I decided to actually consult my husband, and he told me that he really liked the veggie crumbles and didn't need the meat. Maybe you'll never give up the meat, but you might be able to buy a little less grass-fed meat for the same price you were spending on corn-fed... you can make up the difference with veggie crumbles, or you can just stick with using a little less. It's worth a try.
Sometimes you might make a change and decide that it's not working out. But I think that the biggest step is being willing to try in the first place.
What are some gradual changes you could make?
How gradual can change be? Pretty darn gradual. Let's look at my diaper situation:
I have 3 children. I attempted cloth diapers with my firstborn, but was overwhelmed and didn't know what I was doing and gave up. I didn't try cloth diapers again until my youngest child was one. So.... three years of disposable diapers. Then, I decided that I would give cloth diapers a try. Here's what made the difference: it wasn't an all or nothing deal. C and I decided that we would try to use cloth diapers as much as possible, but we were open to using disposables when traveling, at night, etc... We ended up using cloth diapers about 90% of the time because we were able to make the change gradually, without too much stress, over the course of a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, we never really found a satisfactory night-time solution. After many many tries, I gave up, stopped washing all the sheets and blankets everyday, and opted for one disposable diaper a night instead. Not perfect, but it worked for us.
What helped with the diaper situation too was that it was a pretty low-risk investment. Cloth diapers have great resale value. I bought most of mine used and then resold them for almost the same price that I paid. Craig's List is a great way to buy cloth diapers. Some people are freaked out by buying used diapers. I don't really understand why many of these same people would use a diaper service -- it's the same thing. And in the end, they're all washed and clean.
Gradual change can also be a great way to win over other family members. For example, say you decide that you want to start eating less meat as a family. We never ate a lot of meat, but I would make spaghetti sauce with ground beef. My husband grew up eating lots of meat, so I was afraid he wouldn't be into veggie crumbles. So, I made the sauce the same way, but substituted in about 1/3 veggie crumbles. Nobody complained. I upped it to about 1/2. Nobody complained. Then, I decided to actually consult my husband, and he told me that he really liked the veggie crumbles and didn't need the meat. Maybe you'll never give up the meat, but you might be able to buy a little less grass-fed meat for the same price you were spending on corn-fed... you can make up the difference with veggie crumbles, or you can just stick with using a little less. It's worth a try.
Sometimes you might make a change and decide that it's not working out. But I think that the biggest step is being willing to try in the first place.
What are some gradual changes you could make?
- handkerchiefs -- buy one. Give it a try. It's nice. If you think it might be gross and germy, maybe don't use it when you have a cold. After a while, you might change your mind.
- cloth diapers -- go for two or three a day at first. Give cloth wipes a try while you're at it.
- used toys -- next time you buy a toy, buy used. I bet the kids don't care, which will make it more likely to happen in the future. Better yet, explain to the kids why you're doing it.
- library -- instead of buying the next book you want, at least check to see if it's at the library.
- non-stick pans -- hide all your non-stick pans. Buy a cast-iron skillet. Give it a try for a week. (Season it first!) If you hate it, you can dig out your pans again.
- buying freeze -- if you're a serious shopper, stop buying stuff for a week. If you need something, try to borrow it instead of buying it. It's only a week! It might not be as hard as you think it is.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Pile of Stuff
I was looking through my labels on the blog and noticed that most of them have only one posting that goes with them. They are probably feeling lonely, so I thought I'd add on to one of the lonely ones. It's funny that now they're in a big list, because I was just labeling haphazardly and now I feel like there should be some method to my madness....
So, we're moving soon, and I've started packing. We still have a couple of weeks left here, so I've been boxing up non-essentials. What I've realized is that we have a LOT of non-essentials. For example, one day, my daughter and I boxed up 3 boxes of toys, and the other 2 kids didn't even notice. It has also made their room easier to clean. Today, I boxed up two boxes of serving plates. What the heck?! I left several out to send to Goodwill, but still.... it's a lot of giant bowls, platter, etc. I do use them from time to time, but never all at once, and I had no idea I had accumulated so many.
Now, I have no problem with having stuff, but I just think that if we're going to pay for a big enough apartment/house to store it, and appropriate containers, and have to pick it up, and dust it (I hear some people do this)... that it should be useful.
I was guilty of giving pretty terrible gifts to kids before I was a parent, and even now, if the kid is over 6, I don't really know what to give them, but I know what the under 6 crowd needs:
From packing so far I can see that kids tend to accumulate a lot of stuff. We don't even buy them toys, and they still have tons of stuff. What doesn't last/isn't worth it?
So, we're moving soon, and I've started packing. We still have a couple of weeks left here, so I've been boxing up non-essentials. What I've realized is that we have a LOT of non-essentials. For example, one day, my daughter and I boxed up 3 boxes of toys, and the other 2 kids didn't even notice. It has also made their room easier to clean. Today, I boxed up two boxes of serving plates. What the heck?! I left several out to send to Goodwill, but still.... it's a lot of giant bowls, platter, etc. I do use them from time to time, but never all at once, and I had no idea I had accumulated so many.
Now, I have no problem with having stuff, but I just think that if we're going to pay for a big enough apartment/house to store it, and appropriate containers, and have to pick it up, and dust it (I hear some people do this)... that it should be useful.
I was guilty of giving pretty terrible gifts to kids before I was a parent, and even now, if the kid is over 6, I don't really know what to give them, but I know what the under 6 crowd needs:
- puzzles
- art supplies - I prefer scissors, glue, crayons... not the twist-up crayons because they're a HUGE waste. The kids like markers but I don't really because they always dry up. But, if they get markers, I always get washable markers.
- playdoh -- it would be even better to make a kid playdoh and put it in a reusable container. The yellow plastic containers the playdoh comes in are not recyclable (or at least I have not found a marking on them)
- playdoh toys -- can never have enough
- Barbies and Barbie clothes. My daughters love Barbie. But here's a secret. They don't care if she comes in a box. In fact, if she comes in a bag from the Thrift store, it's even better because she is easier to get out and play with. At Savers or other thrift stores you can often find bags of Barbie clothes. Heaven!
- dress-up clothes -- I never had a dress-up box growing up, but now I see how awesome it is. This is a very popular activity when kids come over. Costumes are super cheap at Goodwill.
- books -- kids who are of the losing teeth age will love One Morning in Maine. Who Has a Bellybutton and I'm a Big Brother/Sister are great books for kids who will soon have younger siblings. Find a book that you loved as a child, and dedicate it to your favorite child.
- bicycles, scooters, tricycles -- beware the Rock n Ride, as it falls apart. (I have seen MANY broken specimens around my apartment complex)
- baby doll -- the ideal would be a cloth doll with a couple of changes of clothes and a bag or bed to put him/her in.
- LEGOS and/or K'nex. These are totally awesome. Easy to find used.
- Little People -- but stick with classic structures, like the house, farm, zoo. The amusement park is VERY annoying.
- Power Rangers or other action figures -- ours all come from garage sales. These are very expensive new.
- Toy dinosaurs
From packing so far I can see that kids tend to accumulate a lot of stuff. We don't even buy them toys, and they still have tons of stuff. What doesn't last/isn't worth it?
- train tracks -- I think this is a Christmas fantasy. You want the image of the train going around the track on Christmas morning. The reality is a derailed train, lost/drained batteries, and tracks EVERYWHERE.
- stickers -- made by the Devil.
- Beauty or make-up kits for really little girls -- end up everywhere.
- Mr. Potato Head -- I want to love him, but I hate him. His little arms and nose, etc. are all over the house.
- Lite Brite -- die, lite brite, die! Not for the under 6 crowd unless you have a very patient mother.
- Color Wonder stuff by Crayola -- the idea is great -- the markers/paints only work on the special paper. BUT, you have to have a parent willing to buy more special paper.
- Candy Land if the child is under 5 (maybe even 6)-- I think the game says 3 and up. Right!
- Most card games -- far easier to just use a deck of cards and teach the child how to play War (after kindergarten, so they know numbers)
- mobile -- it's so cute, but it takes a while before the baby can look at it because their head is all flopped to the side, and pretty soon you have to take it down because the baby is able to pull on it. Not something I'd buy new. But, again, very cute.
- Any tape/Cd/whatever that purports to teach your child another language. It's a lovely idea, but your child needs interaction to learn a second language. Ralph's World is a great children's CD, and your kid can learn to count in Roman Numerals.
- glitter -- Grrr...
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Car Free Week
Wow... we have been car-free for a week. Granted, this was forced upon us. Still, it's nice to know that we can pretty much get around without a car. There have been some problems, however.
Timing is a bit of a problem. For me to get to work, I need to either ride the scooter or take the bus/bike. Either way, it's between 30-45 minutes. Even in a car, it takes about 30 minutes because of traffic. If I ride the scooter, I get to work stressed out, extremely hot, and gritty. The bus is better, but timing is a bit of an issue. Also, it takes C some time to get home from work. About 15 minutes, and considering traffic, it might actually take him longer to drive than to ride his bike home. The problem is that for my sanity, I need to leave home before he gets home. This week we finally fixed up some nice babysitting which gives us a comfortable margin of error. Is it worth the money? Definitely. I may not be saving any money by not using the car, but I needed a little bit of time before work and C needed a little time after work, so that we weren't always flying to/from home.
Groceries. I'm finding this is a big problem. I just REFUSE to buy all my groceries at Expensive Mart. I could take all the kids to the HEB in the bus (at least a 1/2 mile walk each way plus the bus ride, or 2 buses... painful), but I just can't. I'm not that strong. I'd rather eat pasta every day.
Our refrigerator is looking pretty bare. We're out of fruit. We're out of vegetables. The only reason we have milk is that we bought it at Expensive Mart. There's just not that much to eat anymore. Pasta with jarred sauce, sprinkled with cheese. A different shape of pasta.... some eggs.
What do you think? Is it even possible to take all the kids to the store? My plan is to go to the store as soon as we get the car back.
Timing is a bit of a problem. For me to get to work, I need to either ride the scooter or take the bus/bike. Either way, it's between 30-45 minutes. Even in a car, it takes about 30 minutes because of traffic. If I ride the scooter, I get to work stressed out, extremely hot, and gritty. The bus is better, but timing is a bit of an issue. Also, it takes C some time to get home from work. About 15 minutes, and considering traffic, it might actually take him longer to drive than to ride his bike home. The problem is that for my sanity, I need to leave home before he gets home. This week we finally fixed up some nice babysitting which gives us a comfortable margin of error. Is it worth the money? Definitely. I may not be saving any money by not using the car, but I needed a little bit of time before work and C needed a little time after work, so that we weren't always flying to/from home.
Groceries. I'm finding this is a big problem. I just REFUSE to buy all my groceries at Expensive Mart. I could take all the kids to the HEB in the bus (at least a 1/2 mile walk each way plus the bus ride, or 2 buses... painful), but I just can't. I'm not that strong. I'd rather eat pasta every day.
Our refrigerator is looking pretty bare. We're out of fruit. We're out of vegetables. The only reason we have milk is that we bought it at Expensive Mart. There's just not that much to eat anymore. Pasta with jarred sauce, sprinkled with cheese. A different shape of pasta.... some eggs.
What do you think? Is it even possible to take all the kids to the store? My plan is to go to the store as soon as we get the car back.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Bus/Bike to Work -- I did it!
I just got back from work and I feel totally triumphant -- I bus/biked to work and back home. This is a pretty big deal for me because last week I rode the scooter, but because of the scary traffic, I feared for my life. It also took me about 30-35 minutes each way. Blah.
Today, it took about 45 minutes each way. I rode about 1/2 mile on the way there (between bus stops) and about 3 miles on the way back. So, about 10 minutes more than by scooter. The nice thing, however, was that I was able to spend about 20-25 minutes of that time grading. Productive time. So nice, and so desperately needed now that I am home with the kids all day and teaching at night.
Something I am trying to figure out... how do I go to the grocery store to get the massive amounts of food that we need... with the kids? It just seems SOOO painful without the car.
Austin update: There is a new bike pathway -- the Lance Armstrong Bikeway. It is really nice. It is open from Lamar at Cesar Chavez all the way to Austin High. It is a nice way to stay out of the traffic. It feels so civilized and is faster than riding on the trail. It's also great at night, because you don't have to worry about traffic not seeing you and you don't have to worry about obstacles in the road.
I do have a problem with this bikeway, though, in that it runs parallel to a bike trail. I think there's a lot of other things they could have spent the money on to make cycling nicer in Austin. When it is complete, however, it will connect all the way to the east side of town, which is sorely needed.
Additional update: If you are interested in bike commuting and have a job downtown, Lance Armstrong's new bike shop Mellow Johnny's has showers and a coffee shop. It's right by the farmer's market. It's worth checking out. (I have only looked in the window -- I haven't checked out the facilities.)
Today, it took about 45 minutes each way. I rode about 1/2 mile on the way there (between bus stops) and about 3 miles on the way back. So, about 10 minutes more than by scooter. The nice thing, however, was that I was able to spend about 20-25 minutes of that time grading. Productive time. So nice, and so desperately needed now that I am home with the kids all day and teaching at night.
Something I am trying to figure out... how do I go to the grocery store to get the massive amounts of food that we need... with the kids? It just seems SOOO painful without the car.
Austin update: There is a new bike pathway -- the Lance Armstrong Bikeway. It is really nice. It is open from Lamar at Cesar Chavez all the way to Austin High. It is a nice way to stay out of the traffic. It feels so civilized and is faster than riding on the trail. It's also great at night, because you don't have to worry about traffic not seeing you and you don't have to worry about obstacles in the road.
I do have a problem with this bikeway, though, in that it runs parallel to a bike trail. I think there's a lot of other things they could have spent the money on to make cycling nicer in Austin. When it is complete, however, it will connect all the way to the east side of town, which is sorely needed.
Additional update: If you are interested in bike commuting and have a job downtown, Lance Armstrong's new bike shop Mellow Johnny's has showers and a coffee shop. It's right by the farmer's market. It's worth checking out. (I have only looked in the window -- I haven't checked out the facilities.)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
5 Car Free Days
My car broke down on Tuesday. C went to "rescue" it and bring it to the shop. We have been car-less for 5 days. And it has been nice. It's been no problem.
How did I get to work?
I rode my scooter. If I had someone to watch the little one, I would have ridden the bus or bike/bussed because I'm a little scared to ride my scooter to work because of the traffic. I'm trying to address that problem for next week.
How did C get to work?
He rode his bike.
How did we get the kids to camp? (The two big ones had camp this week)
J rode his bike and N rode the trail-a-bike behind C's bike.
How did I take E to the park?
On the bike with the trailer. It was fun :)
How did we get groceries?
We only had to pick up a few things. We did it on the bike to the Expensive Mart down the street.
C and I had a date night. What did we do?
My MIL took the bus to our house to watch the kids. We rode our bikes to the springs and then downtown to have a nice dinner. We rode about 6 miles total, which helped cancel out the cake I had for dessert :)
We dropped my MIL off at work at 5 am. How did that work?
Normally, we would have driven her. Instead, she rode on the back of the scooter with my husband. They both wore helmets. It was so cute.
Speaking of, my MIL is the best. She's been car-free her WHOLE LIFE. That's right. She doesn't drive. She doesn't own a car. She doesn't even have a driver's license. Sometimes this is a big pain, but usually it is not a problem. Which is kind of surprising considering that she does not really live within easy walking distance of many things. She can walk to the bank and.... that's about it. If she wants to go to the grocery store, she asks someone to take her. If she goes in early to work, (5 am! No bus runs that early) she either calls a cab or gets a ride with a co-worker. For just about everything else, she takes the bus.
My MIL is in her late 50s, so if she can do it, other people can do it. She's in great shape, probably from all the walking to and from the bus stop. She owns her own house on a very moderate income, and I'm pretty sure that if she had the expense of owning and maintaining a car, affording a house would not be a possibility. Plus, she avoids a lot of danger. About 6 or 7 years ago, her kids (C included) tried to teach her to drive. This resulted in 2 accidents: crashing through the garage door and totaling the washer and dryer, and side-swiping an 18 wheeler. I love her, but we're all probably better off with her not driving.
An added advantage to not driving? If you live in Austin (and this probably is true for other places too) you can have the Transportation Fee on your electric bill removed if you don't own a car. Pretty cool.
How did I get to work?
I rode my scooter. If I had someone to watch the little one, I would have ridden the bus or bike/bussed because I'm a little scared to ride my scooter to work because of the traffic. I'm trying to address that problem for next week.
How did C get to work?
He rode his bike.
How did we get the kids to camp? (The two big ones had camp this week)
J rode his bike and N rode the trail-a-bike behind C's bike.
How did I take E to the park?
On the bike with the trailer. It was fun :)
How did we get groceries?
We only had to pick up a few things. We did it on the bike to the Expensive Mart down the street.
C and I had a date night. What did we do?
My MIL took the bus to our house to watch the kids. We rode our bikes to the springs and then downtown to have a nice dinner. We rode about 6 miles total, which helped cancel out the cake I had for dessert :)
We dropped my MIL off at work at 5 am. How did that work?
Normally, we would have driven her. Instead, she rode on the back of the scooter with my husband. They both wore helmets. It was so cute.
Speaking of, my MIL is the best. She's been car-free her WHOLE LIFE. That's right. She doesn't drive. She doesn't own a car. She doesn't even have a driver's license. Sometimes this is a big pain, but usually it is not a problem. Which is kind of surprising considering that she does not really live within easy walking distance of many things. She can walk to the bank and.... that's about it. If she wants to go to the grocery store, she asks someone to take her. If she goes in early to work, (5 am! No bus runs that early) she either calls a cab or gets a ride with a co-worker. For just about everything else, she takes the bus.
My MIL is in her late 50s, so if she can do it, other people can do it. She's in great shape, probably from all the walking to and from the bus stop. She owns her own house on a very moderate income, and I'm pretty sure that if she had the expense of owning and maintaining a car, affording a house would not be a possibility. Plus, she avoids a lot of danger. About 6 or 7 years ago, her kids (C included) tried to teach her to drive. This resulted in 2 accidents: crashing through the garage door and totaling the washer and dryer, and side-swiping an 18 wheeler. I love her, but we're all probably better off with her not driving.
An added advantage to not driving? If you live in Austin (and this probably is true for other places too) you can have the Transportation Fee on your electric bill removed if you don't own a car. Pretty cool.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Be prepared!
Maybe because I was never a scout, I seem to be having trouble learning this lesson: Be Prepared.
I drove the little one to the Children's Museum today. Why? Because it was hot and the trailer was hooked up to a wimpy bike. It's actually a pleasant bike ride, so I really should have ridden the bike. Alternatively, I could have taken the bus, but that (of course) would have required some planning.
So what happened? I drove E to the museum, and the car broke down. I had to push it into a safe place and C had to rescue it after work. What a pain. And I ended up taking the bus home anyway (which was very pleasant).
So now the car's broken, and it will be a few days (at least) until it's fixed. Time to experiment with being car-free.
I scooted to work this evening. Blech! The traffic is awful, and it's much worse sitting in the humidity and heat, breathing in exhaust than sitting fresh in my car listening to NPR. It threatened rain, but did not rain after all, although I was prepared with a big rain coat and a change of clothes. I'd feel much safer taking the bus. I checked out the schedule and it might be doable.
I drove the little one to the Children's Museum today. Why? Because it was hot and the trailer was hooked up to a wimpy bike. It's actually a pleasant bike ride, so I really should have ridden the bike. Alternatively, I could have taken the bus, but that (of course) would have required some planning.
So what happened? I drove E to the museum, and the car broke down. I had to push it into a safe place and C had to rescue it after work. What a pain. And I ended up taking the bus home anyway (which was very pleasant).
So now the car's broken, and it will be a few days (at least) until it's fixed. Time to experiment with being car-free.
I scooted to work this evening. Blech! The traffic is awful, and it's much worse sitting in the humidity and heat, breathing in exhaust than sitting fresh in my car listening to NPR. It threatened rain, but did not rain after all, although I was prepared with a big rain coat and a change of clothes. I'd feel much safer taking the bus. I checked out the schedule and it might be doable.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Bike Commuting
C is so happy. He is finally a bike commuter. He can ride his bike to work with no problem and gets VIP parking at the bike rack. There are just a few kinks that need to be worked out:
For example, this morning, I had to be at work at 8:30. Camp drop-off was at 8. I might be able to ride to work in 30 minutes, but it would really be pushing it. If E had been at home, I would have had to find a sitter at 7:40 in the morning (don't currently have one that early). I ended up riding the scooter to work.
But wait! I said I rode the trail-a-bike. Then I rode the scooter? What's going on? Ah... the complication. So that we could bring the kids on bike, I rode the bike to their camp, then rode the scooter to work. A total pain. In the afternoon, C picked up the kids on bike. (This was actually even more complicated, but every time I write out the whole routine, it sounds too confusing. Let's just leave it at that... C rode his bike, the kids rode their bike, I rode my bike/scooted, and then drove in the afternoon. BLAH!)
There is a trade-off. More biking means more babysitting. I don't use much babysitting right now, so a little extra here and there really makes a difference. I hate to ask someone who's doing me a favor to wake up super early.
Once again, it seems that it all comes down to planning:
- weather -- it poured rain today. Luckily, that was on the way home.
- flats -- C seems to be prone to flats. Last time he got a flat, he had to walk home 3 miles in the middle of the night. Not so good. He had everything he needed to change the flat except for a pump.
- sweat -- C said he was really sweaty when he first got to work. However, he had to race to work because he was helping me drop off the kids at camp. A more relaxed pace = less sweat.
For example, this morning, I had to be at work at 8:30. Camp drop-off was at 8. I might be able to ride to work in 30 minutes, but it would really be pushing it. If E had been at home, I would have had to find a sitter at 7:40 in the morning (don't currently have one that early). I ended up riding the scooter to work.
But wait! I said I rode the trail-a-bike. Then I rode the scooter? What's going on? Ah... the complication. So that we could bring the kids on bike, I rode the bike to their camp, then rode the scooter to work. A total pain. In the afternoon, C picked up the kids on bike. (This was actually even more complicated, but every time I write out the whole routine, it sounds too confusing. Let's just leave it at that... C rode his bike, the kids rode their bike, I rode my bike/scooted, and then drove in the afternoon. BLAH!)
There is a trade-off. More biking means more babysitting. I don't use much babysitting right now, so a little extra here and there really makes a difference. I hate to ask someone who's doing me a favor to wake up super early.
Once again, it seems that it all comes down to planning:
- Plan extra time into your morning and you can ride to work.
- Plan to have the necessary supplies to fix a flat.
- Plan to watch the weather -- it might rain while you're riding.
- Plan to have extra clothes at work, just in case!
- Really think about it when you sign kids up for activities that have drop-off times close to the time that you have to leave or return from work.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Independence from Box Cake!
Happy Fourth of July!
I discovered an amazing recipe for chocolate cake. Although it's not my #1 chocolate cake, it's pretty darn good, and you can't beat it for speed. With my 5 year old assistant, I was able to put this cake in the oven 7 minutes after getting out the recipe. It's crazy fast. It's also a beautiful thing because you don't need to use a bowl (and it's vegan).
Crazy Fast Chocolate Cake
Grease a 9x13 pan. Add the following dry ingredients, spreading them around:
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar (or a little less)
6 T. cocoa
1 teas. salt
2 teas. baking soda
Make 3 wells in the dry ingredients. (I don't know if this is necessary, but that's what the directions say). Add the following wet ingredients (one in each well):
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 T. red wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar, and it was fine)
2 teas. vanilla
Over the top of everything, pour:
2 c. water
Stir it up until just mixed. Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes. Frost with frosting that's not from a can!
I discovered an amazing recipe for chocolate cake. Although it's not my #1 chocolate cake, it's pretty darn good, and you can't beat it for speed. With my 5 year old assistant, I was able to put this cake in the oven 7 minutes after getting out the recipe. It's crazy fast. It's also a beautiful thing because you don't need to use a bowl (and it's vegan).
Crazy Fast Chocolate Cake
Grease a 9x13 pan. Add the following dry ingredients, spreading them around:
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar (or a little less)
6 T. cocoa
1 teas. salt
2 teas. baking soda
Make 3 wells in the dry ingredients. (I don't know if this is necessary, but that's what the directions say). Add the following wet ingredients (one in each well):
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 T. red wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar, and it was fine)
2 teas. vanilla
Over the top of everything, pour:
2 c. water
Stir it up until just mixed. Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes. Frost with frosting that's not from a can!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Can you go car-free or car-light?
I just finished reading How to Live Well Without Owning a Car by Chris Balish. It's a very inspiring book. I really like its realism -- the author does not want you to give up ever driving a car or riding in one, just owning one. He provides a nice worksheet to help you figure out how much you spend owning a car. I figured that our car expenses are a little over $250 a month. My friend, who just paid off her car, figured hers at over $300. We were both a little shocked.
Balish's main point seems to be that you can save a lot of money and have an even better life if you give up your car. You can have a rich social life, date car-free, and get in shape. I like his story of how he accidentally fell into living car-free. He has a chapter devoted to families that have two or three cars, and encourages them to become one-car families.
Now, I have to be realistic. I could give up my car, but my life would become a giant pain in the neck in many cases. I would probably need to rent a car about once a week to visit family or go camping. My car expenses would not be $250 if I really reduced my driving -- according to my calculations, if I only used the car for longer trips with heavy stuff, the cost of renting and the cost of owning would probably be about the same. So, for now, the car stays.
Balish says that if you can get to work without driving, you can probably go car-free. So, it's really important to consider where you work and where you live. If you are going to move, you need to be near your job (ideally) or near a transit stop. In some cases, it may be worthwhile to move closer to work or even to change your job so that you work closer to home.
Once you can get to work, other things can be taken care of without a car in most cases. Balish is a big fan of delivery services. Yes, the delivery van uses gas, but it's a lot more efficient than you driving around town. The delivery van probably has a route. I think this is good for ordering stuff off of the internet, but maybe not as good for something like grocery shopping.
For something like grocery shopping or a big trip to Costco, Balish recommends going with a friend (among other options). I have to admit that this is very appealing. Combine the social and the practical. Of course, you want your friend to live nearby and to already be going to the destination. It doesn't save any energy for your friend to drive across town to take you to the store. You might fear mooching off of your friends, but Balish recommends buying them a thank-you lunch or drink. Seems like a win-win situation.
I have a friend who lived car-free for a while, and she frequently had to get rides to go to social events or to go shopping, and I really don't think that anyone resented it. She was always very good company.
We will be moving pretty soon, and we have taken a lot of trouble to find a place that is close to the things we use on a regular basis (grocery store, library, post office, elementary school, etc.) and with good connections to our jobs. It is also a very pleasant, albeit longer, bike ride to work. It will be interesting to see how it goes. I am really hoping that we will be able to drastically reduce our car use.
P.S. I will be doing the calculations from my June Food Challenge and reporting back soon. My new challenge is not to do any month-long challenges (not of my own, anyway), because I'm pretty bad with follow-through.
P.P.S. Check out Arduous-- she's doing a month-long pseudo-Freegan challenge. I can't wait to see what happens. Go girl!
Balish's main point seems to be that you can save a lot of money and have an even better life if you give up your car. You can have a rich social life, date car-free, and get in shape. I like his story of how he accidentally fell into living car-free. He has a chapter devoted to families that have two or three cars, and encourages them to become one-car families.
Now, I have to be realistic. I could give up my car, but my life would become a giant pain in the neck in many cases. I would probably need to rent a car about once a week to visit family or go camping. My car expenses would not be $250 if I really reduced my driving -- according to my calculations, if I only used the car for longer trips with heavy stuff, the cost of renting and the cost of owning would probably be about the same. So, for now, the car stays.
Balish says that if you can get to work without driving, you can probably go car-free. So, it's really important to consider where you work and where you live. If you are going to move, you need to be near your job (ideally) or near a transit stop. In some cases, it may be worthwhile to move closer to work or even to change your job so that you work closer to home.
Once you can get to work, other things can be taken care of without a car in most cases. Balish is a big fan of delivery services. Yes, the delivery van uses gas, but it's a lot more efficient than you driving around town. The delivery van probably has a route. I think this is good for ordering stuff off of the internet, but maybe not as good for something like grocery shopping.
For something like grocery shopping or a big trip to Costco, Balish recommends going with a friend (among other options). I have to admit that this is very appealing. Combine the social and the practical. Of course, you want your friend to live nearby and to already be going to the destination. It doesn't save any energy for your friend to drive across town to take you to the store. You might fear mooching off of your friends, but Balish recommends buying them a thank-you lunch or drink. Seems like a win-win situation.
I have a friend who lived car-free for a while, and she frequently had to get rides to go to social events or to go shopping, and I really don't think that anyone resented it. She was always very good company.
We will be moving pretty soon, and we have taken a lot of trouble to find a place that is close to the things we use on a regular basis (grocery store, library, post office, elementary school, etc.) and with good connections to our jobs. It is also a very pleasant, albeit longer, bike ride to work. It will be interesting to see how it goes. I am really hoping that we will be able to drastically reduce our car use.
P.S. I will be doing the calculations from my June Food Challenge and reporting back soon. My new challenge is not to do any month-long challenges (not of my own, anyway), because I'm pretty bad with follow-through.
P.P.S. Check out Arduous-- she's doing a month-long pseudo-Freegan challenge. I can't wait to see what happens. Go girl!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wormapalooza -- level 2
We have added the next level to our worm farm. We weren't really sure when to do it, but it seemed like the first level was getting pretty full of worms, so we decided to spread the love.
A few days later, the worms have traveled into the 2nd layer of the farm. C lifted up the top layer and they were like spaghetti coming out of the holes of the box. Pretty gnarly.
We have had the worm farm for a while now, and I am still pretty pleased with it. It does not smell. At least, not a gross smell. It has a pleasant earth odor, but really only when you open it. The worms do a good job of eating the food scraps we put in. I also chop up receipts, pieces of boxes with food residue that I can't recycle, and school handouts that have been colored on (only the scribbly drawings, not the good ones). I haven't tried orange peels. Any advice on those?
A few days later, the worms have traveled into the 2nd layer of the farm. C lifted up the top layer and they were like spaghetti coming out of the holes of the box. Pretty gnarly.
We have had the worm farm for a while now, and I am still pretty pleased with it. It does not smell. At least, not a gross smell. It has a pleasant earth odor, but really only when you open it. The worms do a good job of eating the food scraps we put in. I also chop up receipts, pieces of boxes with food residue that I can't recycle, and school handouts that have been colored on (only the scribbly drawings, not the good ones). I haven't tried orange peels. Any advice on those?
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Vacation at Home
Have you changed your vacation plans because of high gas prices? Are you reluctant to fly because of the emissions? If so, fear not! You can vacation at home!
After a few expensive trips with little kids, we realized that we were flying across the country to do, in many cases, things that we could do at home. For example, we took two kids to Seattle. We walked around the city, went to the zoo on the bus, went to the farmer's market, visited the tower, drank lots of coffee, went to the farmer's market again, went to the park, Children's museum, went for a hike... you get the picture.
Now, I LOVED Seattle. Particularly considering that we went in August, and August in Austin is hell. But little kids don't really appreciate the wonder that is Seattle and maybe we could have saved ourselves a lot of money and some frustration by vacationing closer to home. A lot of it has to do with attitude. When you're on vacation, you're out to have fun and try the cool local stuff. You don't worry about paying bills and cleaning the house. You get to spend time together as a family, relatively free from other distractions. And if you want an ice cream, you get one.
For example, today we spent the day "vacationing" in Austin:
After breakfast at home, the kids and I rode bikes over to play mini-golf. This was an exciting first for my kids. Afterwards, we met C and the little one at the fountain park to run around in the fountain. We had a little snack while we were there, then headed over to the Children's museum. After the museum, we went out to lunch and even bought ice cream for dessert. We raced our bikes home and then collapsed. We'd spent the whole day out. The evening was dedicated to relaxing.
This would actually be a pretty good vacation day. We normally only eat one meal out when we go somewhere, because I don't have the patience or the money to take 3 kids out for all three meals, never mind the endless snacks.
You could be your own tour guide, and make a vacation plan for 2 or 3 days. Heck, you could even hire a housekeeper for a day... it's still less expensive than going to a hotel :)
When I'm on vacation, I like to mix it up. Do a little something cultural, a little something outdoorsy, and something indulgent. For example, each day you could do one thing from each of the following categories:
Cultural
Some vacation plans can't really be replaced, but if finances are tight, or you're really burnt out and need a weekend vacation, a well-planned vacation at home can be just the trick.
Do you have any other tips? Please share! (Can you tell I canceled a big vacation this summer?)
After a few expensive trips with little kids, we realized that we were flying across the country to do, in many cases, things that we could do at home. For example, we took two kids to Seattle. We walked around the city, went to the zoo on the bus, went to the farmer's market, visited the tower, drank lots of coffee, went to the farmer's market again, went to the park, Children's museum, went for a hike... you get the picture.
Now, I LOVED Seattle. Particularly considering that we went in August, and August in Austin is hell. But little kids don't really appreciate the wonder that is Seattle and maybe we could have saved ourselves a lot of money and some frustration by vacationing closer to home. A lot of it has to do with attitude. When you're on vacation, you're out to have fun and try the cool local stuff. You don't worry about paying bills and cleaning the house. You get to spend time together as a family, relatively free from other distractions. And if you want an ice cream, you get one.
For example, today we spent the day "vacationing" in Austin:
After breakfast at home, the kids and I rode bikes over to play mini-golf. This was an exciting first for my kids. Afterwards, we met C and the little one at the fountain park to run around in the fountain. We had a little snack while we were there, then headed over to the Children's museum. After the museum, we went out to lunch and even bought ice cream for dessert. We raced our bikes home and then collapsed. We'd spent the whole day out. The evening was dedicated to relaxing.
This would actually be a pretty good vacation day. We normally only eat one meal out when we go somewhere, because I don't have the patience or the money to take 3 kids out for all three meals, never mind the endless snacks.
You could be your own tour guide, and make a vacation plan for 2 or 3 days. Heck, you could even hire a housekeeper for a day... it's still less expensive than going to a hotel :)
When I'm on vacation, I like to mix it up. Do a little something cultural, a little something outdoorsy, and something indulgent. For example, each day you could do one thing from each of the following categories:
Cultural
- go to latest exhibition at the museum
- gallery hopping
- symphony
- live music of some other kind
- go dancing
- do some art/craft thing -- paint pottery, for example
- Sierra Club meeting
- movie
- go for a hike
- go for a bike ride
- fly on a zip line
- swim in a local swimming hole or springs
- go sailing or take a sailing lesson
- kayaking, or go out with friend on his/her boat :)
- camping (if it's not 100 degrees)
- rock climbing
- get a massage
- lay around and read a novel
- get an ice cream
- go somewhere amazing for dessert
- take a private dance lesson and finally learn to dip
- go to the farmer's market and don't worry about the price of berries
- feed the ducks
- zoo
- bake cookies
- go to the store and trawl for free samples of food (WF is great for this)
- climb a tree
- putt-putt golf
- bowling
- summer musical
- visit a friend with a new puppy or kittens
- tube the river
- run under the sprinkler/borrow the neighbor's slip n slide (if you're not in a drought)
- garden
Some vacation plans can't really be replaced, but if finances are tight, or you're really burnt out and need a weekend vacation, a well-planned vacation at home can be just the trick.
Do you have any other tips? Please share! (Can you tell I canceled a big vacation this summer?)
Friday, June 27, 2008
Mac and Cheese
A couple of years ago I was vegging out watching Alton Brown do a whole episode on how to make macaroni and cheese. I didn't write down the recipe, and I'm certainly not going to buy the expensive cheese he used, but I did learn how to make a mean mac and cheese.
I'm home with the little one today, and we wanted a quick lunch. Sliced fruit and mac and cheese. I grew up on Kraft, but it seems to be getting more and more expensive (around .80 a box.... seems extreme, considering what it is). I bought 3 boxes of the store brand on sale -- 3 for a dollar. Let me just say... BLECH!! (In case you're wondering, the store brand is from HEB. Their Hill Country Fare macaroni and cheese is punishment food).
Not wanting to toss the box or, God forbid, punish someone even less well-off than me, I decided to doctor up the Mac and cheese. Use the mac. Toss the gross "cheese sauce mix". Enter Alton with a simple bechamel sauce.
Usually this is the part of cooking shows where I start to laugh. Right... a "simple bechamel sauce". Has a French name -- can't be simple. Ah, but it is. And delicious.
Start with some butter and a little bit of flour. Melt the butter and stir in the flour, making a roux ( I think this is the correct spelling.)
Add some milk, stirring in between little pours. It will thicken as you stir. If it gets too thin, just stop adding milk, or sprinkle a LITTLE flour in. (Not too much, or it will get clumpy).
Add your favorite cheese, grated, or sliced thinly.
Alton and I like to put in some pepper and a little nutmeg. The nutmeg really makes the dish.
Pour this scrumdidilyicious cheese sauce over some macaroni. If you're feeling fancy, you can sprinkle additional cheese on top and pop it under the broiler for a minute or so. I don't usually (ever) feel fancy. This mac and cheese is delish on its own. The other beautiful thing about it is that I almost always have all the ingredients.
Bechamel sauce is one of those classic sauces that works for a lot of recipes. Want alfredo? Put in parmesan instead of cheddar. Use cream instead of milk if you want it to be creamier.
image from inmagine.com
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wear it Out!
In our society, we rarely wear things out anymore. When something has a problem, we tend to throw it away and get a new one. Or we upgrade. My parents got me a television during my first year of college and it's been my tv ever since. It was fine. It wasn't too big. It wasn't too small. It was made before there were DVDs, so I had to run the cable for the DVD player through the VCR. No need to upgrade. Maybe there was a resolution difference... I'm not sure. I don't really care about fine resolution or high definition or whatever....A couple of years ago, my daughter smashed in the power button. To turn the TV on, we had to stick our finger inside the little hole and press.... something. It worked fine. I got really used to it. A few months ago, the TV started shorting out. We could hit it on the side and it would work again. My 2 yo daughter got pretty good at this (a little Fonz... remember how he would hit the jukebox on Happy Days?) Finally, it stopped working. We actually wore the TV out.
I wasn't too sad about this. We don't really watch that much TV and I've noticed that it makes my kids grumpy. They fight about TV and they seem to get in a bad mood when they watch. Yep... even when they watch movies. I also noticed that when the semester's out, I tend to veg out in front of the TV, even though I think it's pretty evil. So, when the TV died, we decided to just let it die. A couple days later, the kids stopped asking about it.
Since the TV died, several people offered us spare TVs they had laying around. We finally took someone up on the offer, and got a small Sharp TV. It's the exact same model that I had before, but even smaller. I am going to put it on a little cart in the closet. It's nice not to have to watch everything on the computer, but I don't want a TV-centric life.
Pretty soon, with the HD thing, my TV will only work for movies anyways, so we might as well get used to it.
If you have kids, do you have a TV policy? Do you think that it makes them act differently when they watch a certain amount of TV? What about when they go over to friends' houses?
So.... what else have I worn out?
My sneakers. I'm so proud. I've now downgraded them to water shoes (for when I go tubing).
Speaking of TV and movies....
I have some burning questions about the Disney Princesses:
- Why does Cinderella lose everything at midnight except the glass slippers?
- Why do Sleeping Beauty's parents bring her back for a party on her 16th birthday? Didn't the curse say she would prick her finger on a spinning wheel on her birthday? Couldn't they have waited one more day? And shouldn't someone have been watching her more carefully on that day?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
June Food Challenge Update
Here's the short version:
I suck at this challenge and can NOT stop going to the grocery store.
I am having trouble keeping track of how much we spend because my husband has to keep running out for stuff (like milk, bread, emergency pizza, etc..) and we haven't always kept the receipt. I plan to do a monthly total using my credit card bill (don't worry! I pay it off every month).
But is it so bad to go to the grocery store ALL the time? Maybe not. The ExpensiveMart is down the street. Sure, it's expensive, but I don't buy very much there. The occasional gallon of milk or something small. WF is on the way home from work. I tend to drop by there frequently. Need some more gluten flour for the bread maker? WF. Need some lettuce? WF. Milk? WF. Yogurt? WF. The beauty of these stops is that for the things I buy, WF does not really cost that much. About the same and sometimes less than ExpensiveMart. And I get free samples as I walk around :) Because the things I don't need to buy are so expensive at WF, impulse purchases are kept to a minimum. $4 box of granola bars? Nope! $4/lb tomatoes? Nope! 9.99/lb olives? Yumm... nope!
Saturday I did a giant shopping trip and drove myself crazy. First, in a desperate attempt to give the farmer's market another shot, I hopped on my bike and rode downtown. I was there about 10 minutes before it opened. There were plenty of people. Some people were filming one of the stands. It seems like that is happening every time I go. I got some peaches ($5 for a small bag), lettuce ($5), squash, a red onion and supplementary tomatoes ($8 -- ouch!), and a bunch of chard ($2). Peaches were the only fruit available, and they were only being sold by one farmer, and they were selling out quickly. I now understand why I hadn't seen peaches at the farmer's market before.
Supposedly, our farmer's market is "award winning". I don't understand that. I am not really "wowed" by the selection, and certainly not by the prices. With the exception of the chard, the prices are the same at WF, and I do not have to get up early in the morning.
After the farmer's market, I stopped at WF for some bulk oil and gluten flour (love the bulk section). Then I came home, got the car, and went to HEB for a gigantic shopping trip with my daughter. We had to buy food for her birthday party, so we spent a LOT of money. I also felt ridiculous spending $4 for organic strawberries (the cheapest they have been all summer, and they were hard. Grrrr...) and then buying Oreos.
Maybe I'm a food hypocrite. Okay. I am. But I can NOT go on torturing myself in the grocery store. I am just going to buy what I can afford, avoid the dirty dozen when possible, eat very little meat, cook beans, make my own bread, and try to stick with actual food, rather than food products, the majority of the time. Saturday night we went on a picnic. We had homemade bread with tuna salad that I made at home, using green peppers from our garden, the freakin' expensive onion and lettuce from the farmer's market, and Hellmann's mayonnaise. I read the label and found out that Hellmann's has HFCS. What can I do? Am I going to make my own? No way. We had plums, chips and Oreos. It was delicious.
I suck at this challenge and can NOT stop going to the grocery store.
I am having trouble keeping track of how much we spend because my husband has to keep running out for stuff (like milk, bread, emergency pizza, etc..) and we haven't always kept the receipt. I plan to do a monthly total using my credit card bill (don't worry! I pay it off every month).
But is it so bad to go to the grocery store ALL the time? Maybe not. The ExpensiveMart is down the street. Sure, it's expensive, but I don't buy very much there. The occasional gallon of milk or something small. WF is on the way home from work. I tend to drop by there frequently. Need some more gluten flour for the bread maker? WF. Need some lettuce? WF. Milk? WF. Yogurt? WF. The beauty of these stops is that for the things I buy, WF does not really cost that much. About the same and sometimes less than ExpensiveMart. And I get free samples as I walk around :) Because the things I don't need to buy are so expensive at WF, impulse purchases are kept to a minimum. $4 box of granola bars? Nope! $4/lb tomatoes? Nope! 9.99/lb olives? Yumm... nope!
Saturday I did a giant shopping trip and drove myself crazy. First, in a desperate attempt to give the farmer's market another shot, I hopped on my bike and rode downtown. I was there about 10 minutes before it opened. There were plenty of people. Some people were filming one of the stands. It seems like that is happening every time I go. I got some peaches ($5 for a small bag), lettuce ($5), squash, a red onion and supplementary tomatoes ($8 -- ouch!), and a bunch of chard ($2). Peaches were the only fruit available, and they were only being sold by one farmer, and they were selling out quickly. I now understand why I hadn't seen peaches at the farmer's market before.
Supposedly, our farmer's market is "award winning". I don't understand that. I am not really "wowed" by the selection, and certainly not by the prices. With the exception of the chard, the prices are the same at WF, and I do not have to get up early in the morning.
After the farmer's market, I stopped at WF for some bulk oil and gluten flour (love the bulk section). Then I came home, got the car, and went to HEB for a gigantic shopping trip with my daughter. We had to buy food for her birthday party, so we spent a LOT of money. I also felt ridiculous spending $4 for organic strawberries (the cheapest they have been all summer, and they were hard. Grrrr...) and then buying Oreos.
Maybe I'm a food hypocrite. Okay. I am. But I can NOT go on torturing myself in the grocery store. I am just going to buy what I can afford, avoid the dirty dozen when possible, eat very little meat, cook beans, make my own bread, and try to stick with actual food, rather than food products, the majority of the time. Saturday night we went on a picnic. We had homemade bread with tuna salad that I made at home, using green peppers from our garden, the freakin' expensive onion and lettuce from the farmer's market, and Hellmann's mayonnaise. I read the label and found out that Hellmann's has HFCS. What can I do? Am I going to make my own? No way. We had plums, chips and Oreos. It was delicious.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Random Stuff -- the Good, the Bad, the Totally Insane
Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed the following things:
The good:
Lots of people seem to be using scooters and bicycles. Last year we were the only family I saw riding our bikes to the pool. This year, many people are going on bike (at least 10 bikes today).
Shoe repair: I re-soled a pair of shoes that I got at Goodwill. They are totally awesome. Shoe repair is a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, it is WAY expensive in the US. It cost $40 to have my shoes fixed. I have brought broken shoes with me to Latin America to have them repaired because it is a) usually done the same day and b) very reasonably priced. We need more affordable shoe repair.
Tomorrow is reusable bag day in Austin. Celebrate!
The bad:
HFCS is in everything. It's in my raspberry jam. Grrrrr.....
I am getting a complex about jam. My favorite flavors seem to be from fruits that are probably loaded with pesticides. The cheaper brands have HFCS. Pretty soon I'd like to try making my own jam to see how much it costs to make and how long it takes.
The Totally Insane:
Amy's, maker of the veggie frozen dinners, has a line of frozen bowls of oatmeal. Huh?
Whole Foods has its own lunchable in the prepared food section: in a transparent plastic shell shaped like a lunchbox, you get a organic juice box, a sandwich (wrapped in plastic), an applesauce (in plastic), and a bag of animal crackers (can't remember, probably organic).
Have they lost their minds? What is the message here?
The good:
Lots of people seem to be using scooters and bicycles. Last year we were the only family I saw riding our bikes to the pool. This year, many people are going on bike (at least 10 bikes today).
Shoe repair: I re-soled a pair of shoes that I got at Goodwill. They are totally awesome. Shoe repair is a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, it is WAY expensive in the US. It cost $40 to have my shoes fixed. I have brought broken shoes with me to Latin America to have them repaired because it is a) usually done the same day and b) very reasonably priced. We need more affordable shoe repair.
Tomorrow is reusable bag day in Austin. Celebrate!
The bad:
HFCS is in everything. It's in my raspberry jam. Grrrrr.....
I am getting a complex about jam. My favorite flavors seem to be from fruits that are probably loaded with pesticides. The cheaper brands have HFCS. Pretty soon I'd like to try making my own jam to see how much it costs to make and how long it takes.
The Totally Insane:
Amy's, maker of the veggie frozen dinners, has a line of frozen bowls of oatmeal. Huh?
Whole Foods has its own lunchable in the prepared food section: in a transparent plastic shell shaped like a lunchbox, you get a organic juice box, a sandwich (wrapped in plastic), an applesauce (in plastic), and a bag of animal crackers (can't remember, probably organic).
Have they lost their minds? What is the message here?
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Inherited Food
Three of my neighbors have moved away or left town on extended trips. They have brought over the food left in their refrigerators. Among other things, I have "inherited":
I like inheriting food. It's nice to get some extra, unexpected things. I don't complain that they're not organic -- after all, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's much better than throwing the food in the trash, and it has injected a little variety into our diet. The other day, we made milanesa for the first time (it's a breaded meat cutlet -- these were frozen, and you are supposed to fry them in a little oil).
So, don't be shy. If you can't drink up all your milk before you leave town, give it to your neighbor. He/she will probably be happy to take it, and might have been on the way to the store to get milk anyway.
- apples
- frozen fish
- 2 lbs. frozen baby shrimp
- a jar of green olives
- iceberg lettuce
- a bag of rolls
I like inheriting food. It's nice to get some extra, unexpected things. I don't complain that they're not organic -- after all, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's much better than throwing the food in the trash, and it has injected a little variety into our diet. The other day, we made milanesa for the first time (it's a breaded meat cutlet -- these were frozen, and you are supposed to fry them in a little oil).
So, don't be shy. If you can't drink up all your milk before you leave town, give it to your neighbor. He/she will probably be happy to take it, and might have been on the way to the store to get milk anyway.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Why I Buy What I Buy -- Part III -- Convenience Food
Last night I bought a frozen pizza. Actually, it was a "fresh" pizza made by the store, which I doctored up with my own toppings at home, but nonetheless.... bad GradGreen, bad!
It's made me think about the need for convenience food. Some people seem to live off of frozen dinners. Other people make frozen pizzas a part of their week -- every week. I prefer to make my own pizza, but last night was a desperate situation. We were on the way home with 3 very hungry little people after 2 hours at the pool. One of them was crying because she was so hungry. :(
Why didn't I have anything ready at home? Because we already ate it all. I normally have some cooked pasta, some rice, some cooked beans... and all I have to do is heat it up and add something else. But all that was gone. So, I cut up a pear, fed it to the howling masses, and popped in a frozen pizza. I could have made something else, but I was exhausted.
This is all the result of bad planning. Bad timing for the swimming lessons. Could have started pizza dough in the breadmaker before I left, etc. But, at the same time, I don't think a frozen pizza is the end of the world. Actually, there were a couple of pluses:
What is your desperation meal?
It's made me think about the need for convenience food. Some people seem to live off of frozen dinners. Other people make frozen pizzas a part of their week -- every week. I prefer to make my own pizza, but last night was a desperate situation. We were on the way home with 3 very hungry little people after 2 hours at the pool. One of them was crying because she was so hungry. :(
Why didn't I have anything ready at home? Because we already ate it all. I normally have some cooked pasta, some rice, some cooked beans... and all I have to do is heat it up and add something else. But all that was gone. So, I cut up a pear, fed it to the howling masses, and popped in a frozen pizza. I could have made something else, but I was exhausted.
This is all the result of bad planning. Bad timing for the swimming lessons. Could have started pizza dough in the breadmaker before I left, etc. But, at the same time, I don't think a frozen pizza is the end of the world. Actually, there were a couple of pluses:
- I like to put my toppings on at home. That way, everybody can have the kind of pizza that they want. We don't have to "pick" topping off, pay for stuff that somebody doesn't want, etc.
- Our other exhausted option was to go to a restaurant. We didn't. Thus, we saved money (I estimate about $20), gas, and sanity. 3 hungry kids in a restaurant is not a pretty sight.
What is your desperation meal?
Monday, June 9, 2008
Why I Buy What I Buy -- Part II -- Syrup
So, with the newfound awareness of the June Food Challenge, I have been looking over my grocery receipts and marking things that are not actual foods but food products. My goal is to really think about what I am buying and why I am buying it. I may not always be able to make the best choice because of financial constraints or other reasons, but I might be able to make some healthy and green changes.
Today's post is about syrup. Maple syrup. Actually, not maple syrup, but the product that I grew up believing was maple syrup. You know, Aunt Jemima. Or the Eggo butter flavored microwaveable syrup in the handy squeeze bottle. Or the Hill Country Fare Light Butter Flavored Syrup. Obviously, these products are not really maple syrup. Maple syrup comes from trees ... I've seen it on TV. I even had maple ice cream in Canada. It was served in a log cabin kind of store to remind us of.... trees.
The Hill country Fare brand (a cool 1.29 for the bottle) is a combination of sugar, sucrose, HFCS and various flavorings. You get light syrup by adding some water. Hmmmm.... We all know that HFCS is the devil (or at least a product made by the devil). What's the alternative?
Maple syrup. You know, the kind from trees. Why have I NEVER bought it before? I don't know. I'm not even sure how it will taste. I do know that it's expensive. The least expensive syrup I could find was 4.49 for a bottle that's about 1/2 the size of the HCF bottle I usually buy. It'd better be good. My friend tells me that it's wonderful and that I don't need nearly as much. I hope that's the case.
I think this is a good example of how we buy things out of habit, or because it's what our mothers always bought, or because it's the cheapest... or whatever. Every time we buy something we are voting with our wallets. I have been voting for artificially flavored high fructose corn syrup masquerading as syrup. I'm not even sure what the real thing tastes like. That is a little disturbing.
Green Weight Loss Update
I have kept real sugar in my coffee, but curtailed my pastry schnarfing. I have been weighing in once a week and tracking the food that I eat and I am happy to report that I have lost 8 pounds!! I am thrilled that I have been able to do this so far without resorting to any diet foods or Splenda. Instead, I have been eating lots and lots of vegetables :)
Today's post is about syrup. Maple syrup. Actually, not maple syrup, but the product that I grew up believing was maple syrup. You know, Aunt Jemima. Or the Eggo butter flavored microwaveable syrup in the handy squeeze bottle. Or the Hill Country Fare Light Butter Flavored Syrup. Obviously, these products are not really maple syrup. Maple syrup comes from trees ... I've seen it on TV. I even had maple ice cream in Canada. It was served in a log cabin kind of store to remind us of.... trees.
The Hill country Fare brand (a cool 1.29 for the bottle) is a combination of sugar, sucrose, HFCS and various flavorings. You get light syrup by adding some water. Hmmmm.... We all know that HFCS is the devil (or at least a product made by the devil). What's the alternative?
Maple syrup. You know, the kind from trees. Why have I NEVER bought it before? I don't know. I'm not even sure how it will taste. I do know that it's expensive. The least expensive syrup I could find was 4.49 for a bottle that's about 1/2 the size of the HCF bottle I usually buy. It'd better be good. My friend tells me that it's wonderful and that I don't need nearly as much. I hope that's the case.
I think this is a good example of how we buy things out of habit, or because it's what our mothers always bought, or because it's the cheapest... or whatever. Every time we buy something we are voting with our wallets. I have been voting for artificially flavored high fructose corn syrup masquerading as syrup. I'm not even sure what the real thing tastes like. That is a little disturbing.
Green Weight Loss Update
I have kept real sugar in my coffee, but curtailed my pastry schnarfing. I have been weighing in once a week and tracking the food that I eat and I am happy to report that I have lost 8 pounds!! I am thrilled that I have been able to do this so far without resorting to any diet foods or Splenda. Instead, I have been eating lots and lots of vegetables :)
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Why I Buy What I Buy -- Part I -- Sunscreen
I am a heavy consumer of sunscreen. I buy a tube almost every time I go to the grocery store. If it is on sale, I buy several tubes (or bottles, whatever). I am not picky about the brand, but I prefer baby brands because I use them on the kids, and I like high SPF. I know that supposedly anything over 30 (or 35?) doesn't really make a difference, but I like a nice 50.
So I've been kind of shocked to hear that sunscreen can be bad for you. Geez... is ANYTHING good for you? Sunscreen can do a good job of protecting you from the sun, but apparently some of the chemicals that do that job can be carcinogens. So, while you're trying to protect yourself and your family from cancer, you are exposing them to things that cause... cancer.
So, I looked up sunscreen on the Skin Deep database. This is an awesome resource from the friendly people at the Environmental Working Group. They have rated hundreds of sunscreens, based on how well they protect you from the sun (sun hazard) and their health risk (health hazard). Number 1 and 3 on the list were stick lotions by California Baby. Sounds good, so I priced it. At drugstore.com, the .5 oz stick was 12.99. Not so good. Maybe a lotion? The 2.9 oz lotion was (on sale!) 15.49. I'm sorry, but that's totally out of my range.
I couldn't find #2 Badger sunscreen. I decided to go down the list. #8 Mustela is listed at 13.99 for 1.6 ounces. I saw a huge bottle of Blue Lizard at the pool, so I checked it out. It's #17 on the list (the sensitive version) it's 9.19 for 3 oz. The baby version is #23 and the same price (9.19 for 3 oz. Ouch!) Would it pay to buy a gallon like they have at the pool?
1 gallon sunscreen = 128 oz. = 149.00 (with free shipping) = $1.16/oz.
3 oz. sunscreen at 9.19 (let's leave out shipping) = 3.06/oz.
9 oz. at 17.99 (Coolibar.com) = 2.00/oz
Buying a gallon is a HUGE savings.
But is my sunscreen so bad? I'm currently using Banana Boat Sport SPF 50. According to Skin Deep, it has an overall rating of 3 (moderate hazard). It has a 5 (moderate hazard) rating as a health hazard and a 2 (low) for sun hazard. I think it does a good job with the sun. We have been out in the sun a LOT lately, and have little tan to show for it.
Blue Lizard Baby has an overall rating of 1 (low hazard); 3 (health) and 0 (sun). That's pretty good. I also found a list of 10 reasons why Blue Lizard is the best sunscreen.
Sun protection is very important to me and my family. We have already had a close call with skin cancer that scared the #(%@ out of all of us.
I noticed at the pool today that 5 out of 23 kids (yep, I counted... I was trying to be scientific) were wearing swim shirts with UV protection. This seems to be a pretty new phenomenon, but they seemed comfy. The shirts are light so they don't get all soggy when wet, and they are close-fitting so that the kids can swim. Three dads were wearing similar shirts (no moms...) Maybe instead of shelling out 150 for a gallon of sunscreen we could invest in some shirts and use less lotion.
But a gallon? Is that really necessary? Well, we have 5 people in the family. If an adult should use 1 oz. of sunscreen (per application), I figure a child would use about 1/2 that. So, our family needs 3.5 oz. of sunscreen for every trip to the pool. I could use up a 2.9 oz. of California Baby (at 15.49 a pop) in one trip! That's just not going to happen. A gallon of Blue Lizard would last about 40 trips (maybe less, with touch-ups). It's also just one gigantic bottle instead of many smaller bottles and tubes (and we seem to be whipping through about 2 tubes/week now).
I've been noticing that with a lot of my purchases, there is a trade-off. There is a certain price that I am just not willing (or able) to pay. I'm not sure if I'm ready for a gallon of sunscreen, although it seems to make more and more sense the more I think about it. I'll check into the UV clothes and report back.
So I've been kind of shocked to hear that sunscreen can be bad for you. Geez... is ANYTHING good for you? Sunscreen can do a good job of protecting you from the sun, but apparently some of the chemicals that do that job can be carcinogens. So, while you're trying to protect yourself and your family from cancer, you are exposing them to things that cause... cancer.
So, I looked up sunscreen on the Skin Deep database. This is an awesome resource from the friendly people at the Environmental Working Group. They have rated hundreds of sunscreens, based on how well they protect you from the sun (sun hazard) and their health risk (health hazard). Number 1 and 3 on the list were stick lotions by California Baby. Sounds good, so I priced it. At drugstore.com, the .5 oz stick was 12.99. Not so good. Maybe a lotion? The 2.9 oz lotion was (on sale!) 15.49. I'm sorry, but that's totally out of my range.
I couldn't find #2 Badger sunscreen. I decided to go down the list. #8 Mustela is listed at 13.99 for 1.6 ounces. I saw a huge bottle of Blue Lizard at the pool, so I checked it out. It's #17 on the list (the sensitive version) it's 9.19 for 3 oz. The baby version is #23 and the same price (9.19 for 3 oz. Ouch!) Would it pay to buy a gallon like they have at the pool?
1 gallon sunscreen = 128 oz. = 149.00 (with free shipping) = $1.16/oz.
3 oz. sunscreen at 9.19 (let's leave out shipping) = 3.06/oz.
9 oz. at 17.99 (Coolibar.com) = 2.00/oz
Buying a gallon is a HUGE savings.
But is my sunscreen so bad? I'm currently using Banana Boat Sport SPF 50. According to Skin Deep, it has an overall rating of 3 (moderate hazard). It has a 5 (moderate hazard) rating as a health hazard and a 2 (low) for sun hazard. I think it does a good job with the sun. We have been out in the sun a LOT lately, and have little tan to show for it.
Blue Lizard Baby has an overall rating of 1 (low hazard); 3 (health) and 0 (sun). That's pretty good. I also found a list of 10 reasons why Blue Lizard is the best sunscreen.
Sun protection is very important to me and my family. We have already had a close call with skin cancer that scared the #(%@ out of all of us.
I noticed at the pool today that 5 out of 23 kids (yep, I counted... I was trying to be scientific) were wearing swim shirts with UV protection. This seems to be a pretty new phenomenon, but they seemed comfy. The shirts are light so they don't get all soggy when wet, and they are close-fitting so that the kids can swim. Three dads were wearing similar shirts (no moms...) Maybe instead of shelling out 150 for a gallon of sunscreen we could invest in some shirts and use less lotion.
But a gallon? Is that really necessary? Well, we have 5 people in the family. If an adult should use 1 oz. of sunscreen (per application), I figure a child would use about 1/2 that. So, our family needs 3.5 oz. of sunscreen for every trip to the pool. I could use up a 2.9 oz. of California Baby (at 15.49 a pop) in one trip! That's just not going to happen. A gallon of Blue Lizard would last about 40 trips (maybe less, with touch-ups). It's also just one gigantic bottle instead of many smaller bottles and tubes (and we seem to be whipping through about 2 tubes/week now).
I've been noticing that with a lot of my purchases, there is a trade-off. There is a certain price that I am just not willing (or able) to pay. I'm not sure if I'm ready for a gallon of sunscreen, although it seems to make more and more sense the more I think about it. I'll check into the UV clothes and report back.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
June Food challenge update
Let's call the first week of the June Food Challenge an observation week. Just like any study, it's important to observe what the natural state of things is before you make any radical changes.
I obviously have a grocery store obsession. I (or C) keep going to the grocery store! Last night, we had to get milk and more peaches. Today, a cantaloupe. I need to quit joking around and either:
a. accept that I go to the store frequently for fresh food, or
b. buy a LOT of fruit at HEB during my weekly shop.
This has been a kind of weird week because I did not go to HEB for a big grocery shop. My pantry was already pretty full of stuff, so I didn't want to make the trek. Then again, if I buy a lot of fresh fruit at the beginning of the week, it might start to go bad. Hmmmmmm
I obviously have a grocery store obsession. I (or C) keep going to the grocery store! Last night, we had to get milk and more peaches. Today, a cantaloupe. I need to quit joking around and either:
a. accept that I go to the store frequently for fresh food, or
b. buy a LOT of fruit at HEB during my weekly shop.
This has been a kind of weird week because I did not go to HEB for a big grocery shop. My pantry was already pretty full of stuff, so I didn't want to make the trek. Then again, if I buy a lot of fresh fruit at the beginning of the week, it might start to go bad. Hmmmmmm
The worms are getting it on!
Actually, that may not be a totally accurate title. The worms obviously have been getting it on. There is a scary amount of worms in my worm factory, so I have ramped up the feeding schedule. They seem happy. My daughter, E, is thrilled. She loves to feed the wormies. I think that she thinks they are pets.
They have started making worm "tea", which is not something you drink, but something that you can put on plants. Awesome.
They still freak me out, but I love them a little more every day. Many people wonder if they stink, but they don't at all. I keep them in the coat closet, so that's a good thing.
They have started making worm "tea", which is not something you drink, but something that you can put on plants. Awesome.
They still freak me out, but I love them a little more every day. Many people wonder if they stink, but they don't at all. I keep them in the coat closet, so that's a good thing.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Milk and Muffins
Already back to the store. I had to buy some milk for the little ones. I did hold off on buying muffin mix, though. I'll make my own instead. (My daughter has a summer birthday, so they will celebrate with muffins on the last day of school. So cute.)
I usually make my own baked goods. My mother always made cakes from scratch, and box cakes just taste fake to me. My only exception really is brownies -- maybe that can be an experiment soon -- they just taste so good from the box, that it's hard for me to believe that they'll be as good from scratch. Why do I have this idea about brownies? I don't know. I guess I'm just following what my mom did. Cakes from scratch, brownies from a box.
On one of the blogs I read recently, a tip to reduce grocery spending was to make something every day. I thought this was a great tip. You don't have to make every meal from scratch every day. Combine some leftovers, toss a salad, whatever. But the key is to make something. Yesterday, for example, I made bread (2 loaves, because the first loaf was so delicious that we decided we'd better get the bread machine cranking again). With the bread machine, this doesn't even really feel like making anything. It's more like pouring. Pour in water, flour, honey, oil, salt, yeast. Press button. 3 hours later..... voila!
Making something -- it seems so obvious -- but I like the fact that the tip is not "make everything", but just one thing. On Sunday I made beans. We'll have beans to eat all week (or maybe not, as my husband can eat beans 3 meals a day).
Anyway....I'm a cake snob. I'm a muffin snob too, to tell the truth, but I almost succumbed to total laziness. Almost. I don't understand why people will go to the trouble to buy a cake mix and mix in a few ingredients, but they just can't skip the box and mix in a couple more ingredients. I've timed myself. I can get a cake in the oven in about 8 minutes, from "Hmmm..... I think I'll make a cake" to cake in oven. Being a cake snob can be a little antisocial, especially if your friends know about your snobbery, and especially if you have kids. What do most kid birthdays have? Cupcakes from a box. People know that my favorite food is cake (bad, but SO SO good), so they must notice that I don't eat the box cupcakes. But! My friends are also quick to point out (and share) homemade cake because they know that I will appreciate it.
I shouldn't be such a snob about the cake, perhaps. The same behavior that I don't understand with cake is exactly what I do with brownies. Why can't I get over the box? Must .... get... over ... the box.
I also don't understand frosting in a can. Blech! My mother taught me how to make the best buttercream frosting ever; it's also ridiculously easy. Once you go scratch, you never go back.
Mom's buttercream frosting:
1 stick butter (can use vegan version for vegan frosting)
1/2 bag confectioner's sugar (or so...)
a little milk
a little vanilla
cocoa (for chocolate frosting)
Soften the butter, mix in as much confectioner's sugar as you can. Pour a LITTLE (like a tablespoon) of milk. Taste it. It's probably pretty buttery. Mix in more sugar, adding drops of milk as needed. Put in about a capful of vanilla (1/2 teas?). Mix in cocoa if you're making chocolate frosting.
This makes enough to frost a whole cake, but if it makes too much, it stores in the refrigerator for quite a while.
I usually make my own baked goods. My mother always made cakes from scratch, and box cakes just taste fake to me. My only exception really is brownies -- maybe that can be an experiment soon -- they just taste so good from the box, that it's hard for me to believe that they'll be as good from scratch. Why do I have this idea about brownies? I don't know. I guess I'm just following what my mom did. Cakes from scratch, brownies from a box.
On one of the blogs I read recently, a tip to reduce grocery spending was to make something every day. I thought this was a great tip. You don't have to make every meal from scratch every day. Combine some leftovers, toss a salad, whatever. But the key is to make something. Yesterday, for example, I made bread (2 loaves, because the first loaf was so delicious that we decided we'd better get the bread machine cranking again). With the bread machine, this doesn't even really feel like making anything. It's more like pouring. Pour in water, flour, honey, oil, salt, yeast. Press button. 3 hours later..... voila!
Making something -- it seems so obvious -- but I like the fact that the tip is not "make everything", but just one thing. On Sunday I made beans. We'll have beans to eat all week (or maybe not, as my husband can eat beans 3 meals a day).
Anyway....I'm a cake snob. I'm a muffin snob too, to tell the truth, but I almost succumbed to total laziness. Almost. I don't understand why people will go to the trouble to buy a cake mix and mix in a few ingredients, but they just can't skip the box and mix in a couple more ingredients. I've timed myself. I can get a cake in the oven in about 8 minutes, from "Hmmm..... I think I'll make a cake" to cake in oven. Being a cake snob can be a little antisocial, especially if your friends know about your snobbery, and especially if you have kids. What do most kid birthdays have? Cupcakes from a box. People know that my favorite food is cake (bad, but SO SO good), so they must notice that I don't eat the box cupcakes. But! My friends are also quick to point out (and share) homemade cake because they know that I will appreciate it.
I shouldn't be such a snob about the cake, perhaps. The same behavior that I don't understand with cake is exactly what I do with brownies. Why can't I get over the box? Must .... get... over ... the box.
I also don't understand frosting in a can. Blech! My mother taught me how to make the best buttercream frosting ever; it's also ridiculously easy. Once you go scratch, you never go back.
Mom's buttercream frosting:1 stick butter (can use vegan version for vegan frosting)
1/2 bag confectioner's sugar (or so...)
a little milk
a little vanilla
cocoa (for chocolate frosting)
Soften the butter, mix in as much confectioner's sugar as you can. Pour a LITTLE (like a tablespoon) of milk. Taste it. It's probably pretty buttery. Mix in more sugar, adding drops of milk as needed. Put in about a capful of vanilla (1/2 teas?). Mix in cocoa if you're making chocolate frosting.
This makes enough to frost a whole cake, but if it makes too much, it stores in the refrigerator for quite a while.
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