New tooth

Yesterday Milo's first tooth poked through his little gums! wait, you think... how old is he? 14 months! He has definitely taken his time with this. :)
I got to see Anne Lamott last night with my book club and a couple of other friends, it was great- she's one funny lady. We got free tickets through Jefferson County Public Library (so did everyone else there). They host an author event every year, and it's such a great place to put money. I got to see Sue Monk Kidd two years ago with my mom, and I guess I just missed the whole event last year due to unprecedented other commitments.
I wanted to pass along these two gems that I found after being totally incensed by an ad in Wondertime. As you've read in the past, I like quite a bit about this mag, except for the advertising which borders on ridiculous. The last issue however, had a full page ad from the corn refiners association. Who They? Our friends responsible for High Fructose Corn Syrup or HFCS. Here's a couple of the video ads they're running to attempt to change the image of the aforementioned substance:
http://www.foodfacts.info/blog/labels/HFCS.html
And this blogpost that talks a bit about the issue differently:
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name=the_problem_with_corn_syrup
These are variations of what was in the magazine, directed specifically towards parents of young children. Look in the next 50 things you buy, and if you haven't searched before then you'll find it in just about everything except milk and eggs. Oh, they don't have ingredient lists. but maybe they should....

Rainy September brings square footage dreams

First off, apologies about the sideways pictures. They either get in there sideways, or they don't get in there. I can't change them when I'm selecting them, and I dont want to change the format if I want to print them... so sorry.
Yesterday, George set up our tent to camp in the backyard, and then it started raining. Hard. Rowan didn't care, he wanted to sleep out there, so they did. The benefit of the rain? That the constantly barking dogs in the neighborhood on any normal night were silent and dry INSIDE their houses.
Milo and I did our usual night visiting. He really wants to keep close tabs on us, so he makes sure we're still around when he should be sleeping.
I don't know what's gotten in to me, but I'm back sketching plans of our upstairs, thinking constantly about where we can get ourselves an extra hundred thousand, and wishing for construction to start any minute on our second floor. Oh, it must be rainy and getting cooler. Now for all the months when I feverishly wish for more than one room to be in.
Yes I know that makes me sound snotty and priveleged, considering how much we have, and how insanely lucky we are to be dry and well fed, and not evacuating our flooded home. All the rest of me is very embarassed, but I can't be completely zen about our little houseall of the time, can I? Whether I can or can't, I'm certainly NOT. Yet it serves us just fine. If only it were paid for and we didn't have a mortgage like the rest of the US. Then the whole freddy fanny fiasco wouldn't really creep me out.
And speaking of creeping me out, I just looked at the polls for the first time today, and McCain was ahead. This is the first day I did this, and the last, because I need at least the next fifty days to hope that something will be different in January when our current fearless leader gets the hell out of town.
Maybe you already saw this, but it's worth a view http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

school's in

Rowan and I are both back in school. I didn't take a picture of me like last year, but it was a different scene altogether. Today I had the syllabus and notes printed out before class, and zoomed there on my scooter.

Last year, I had a six-week-old, and I took the light rail and was pumping. I had no idea what to expect and I stacked my classes so I was gone for so long. I had my parents coming to help out, and no plan for when I'd get homework done. It was very stressful.

That was really hard. I'm very glad we're all a bit older and wiser, and that my little boys seem mostly unaffected by my craziness. This morning, thanks to not having homework (yet) and our babysitter Danielle, I was able to can the pear apricot butter I made, and actually do all of the dishes. For the first time (and hopefully only) One of my jars broke when I set it in the canner. It sounded like a little pop.

And then there was goop all over in the water, and I had to wash it all out and start the water boiling again.

G is doing a lot of traveling this month, so i'll have to be a bit more disciplined going to bed. it is so much easier for me to stay up late than get up early. But I'd better, because the boys like getting up all night long.

Must be harvest time

First, a picture of REAL food. Okay, I know it's an ugly picure, but it tasted like heaven. Believe me. This is a tomato grown from Monroe farms, smeared Seville-style on Bread from the Denver Bread company. drizzle with Olive oil. sprinkle with salt. Y-u-m.

So the tomatoes are in, and I got to go out to Monroe Farms and pick a couple of boxes to put up for the winter. When I got there, I realized they were also letting us pick green chiles, and then firing up the roaster to roast them. So of course, I picked a huge flat of those, then they were roasted and then sealed in a huge plastic bag to sweat and cool (I think this is the trick if you have some you're trying at home--let them sit sealed in the plastic bag until they are cool, then you can peel them easily).

Very satisfied with all this bounty, I returned home, to the work part!!! I was already canning apple sauce and apple butter because our next door neighbors' trees are busting this year and you can't beat the price or the commute!

We started up all the burners between cooking down the tomatoes for sauce [pizza night!] and peeling the whole tomatoes for use in many crock pot recipes. That, and all the canning stuff.... our house was roasting.

George and I are still trying to figure out how to be a canning family. It drives him crazy to have all these projects going on, all half finished of course. It takes over practically the whole house, and oh yeah, we still have two small children who demand most of our attention. :)

Between all of it, we put up about 15 quarts of tomatoes, 8 pints of sauce, and we've got all the tomatoes that weren't quite ripe yet and were set on the saw in the garage now calling our names. I know it was really normal very recently to can, but now I seem like the wierd one. The thing is, it's the most eco-friendly proposition ever (besides the diaper-less baby).

1. Stuff gets ripe, you pull out your jars from last year, maybe buy new lids (2 bucks)

2. Can all the food you can, pull it out throughout the year and remember your hot weekend in the kitchen. After use, clean the jar and put it back in the closet.

3. Repeat.

Almost no waste, because of course all the junk you cut off of or peel goes into the compost (to help feed your plants next year. Seriously cheap too. and way better if another farm grows the food for you, and you step in at the last minute, like I get to at Monroe!!

Check out that shot of Rowan cranking out the tomatoes for sauce, did you ever see a cuter shot?

So besides all that, i'm unsure of what i'll do with the 20 pounds of pears that are about to be ripe on the counter, but I'm pretty sure it'll end up in the slow cookers for pear sauce. The boys absolutely love it, and we can put it on their oatmeal every morning. one grain, one fruit. voila.

School started for Rowan this week, and next week, when it starts for me, then it'll get interesting. I'm always optimistic that I'll have "time" when i'm not in class, but what happens is that I run like a crazy woman trying to cram in fun and other stuff that i've ignored [like bills] and are falling by the wayside.

Today I took the luxury of going out on my road bike for the first time since I was pregnant with Milo. Yes folks, that would be just about two years... Our babysitter, Danielle was with the boys because this is when I'll normally be freaking out about school work and going to class. I felt like cheating cruising away from the house for a bike ride! I guess two years is long enough to wait.

Thankfully, my trusty gray bike has been pulling the boys around, but it's not the same I tell you. My beauty bike is far more tight and faster. George dusted her off yesterday, thank goodness. You can't be a fancy bike and dusty!

We had playgroup at our house yesterday, and that was really fun. It is surreal to watch these children growing and changing, and I feel so tender for them all. Having this group has been amazing. I should have taken pictures. I will bring the camera next time.