Updates, or something.

Henry went roller skating for the first time. I got all of last summer's strawberries canned, yay! My cuppow came, and I figured out how to make a cozy out of a sock until I can knit one up that's cute.

Construction started.

I'm trying out acupuncture, which is nice.

I'm actually drinking kombucha regularly, and soda rarely.

We are cooking, all the time.

Bret's about to go on a cruise, and it's freaking me out.

They are screaming for me, and here it goes again...

Wow.

I was cranky earlier.

Phew.

Breathe...

This morning got off to a pretty good start. Our new coffee maker is making yummy coffee -- the other one died unexpectedly. the oats I soaked cooked up in time for breakfast and oatmeal was pretty good, though I need to work on my technique. Henry wanted seconds. He settled for an apple. We made it to speech therapy on time, and Toby was pretty good in the waiting room do I got some paperwork done. The kids ate all the graham crackers I brought for their snack, but we stopped and got them apple juice and I got a little latte. I was all ready for yoga - across town, sure, but it fit the schedule and there is free child care.

And then it hit me.

I forgot my mat.

Oh crap. We are across town. We might be able to go home and get the mat, but the kids are already on the edge of freaking out about going to kids club at the gym - not stoked. Tolerating the idea.

I fumble through obnoxious screens and get the gym on the phone - "do you have yoga mats?!? I forgot mine!" the nice employee said that they do have mats upstairs, they just aren't the same size or material as the yoga may I'm used to. "So like the exercise mats for abs classes? The foam ones that are short?" yes, she says, that's the kind! I can use one of those!

Crap. Slippery, short mats don't work for crap. I could go mat-less, but I'm not sure what this class entails, and many of these gym classes would be rough with no mat.

I tell the kids my dilemma. They say, "let's go home and do yoga!" which is awesome. Until I realize that they will want to do yoga for ten minutes. I want to do it for 90 minutes.

See, last night I went to the first yoga class that I have managed to drag myself to in months. Many months. It was rad. I remembered why I try to go all the time. I found every class possible for the weeks ahead, determined to make yoga take the place of coca-cola in my life. Filling that joy, compulsion, crazy love part of my brain. Hopefully, letting sinking back into yoga shrink my ass. I'm pumped and ready.

So by the time we got home, the kids were driving me crazy in the back trying to get me to watch dances and guess which OK Go video the move comes from, breaking eyeglasses, freaking out over dropped toys, lost graham crackers, refusing water. I said, I am going to get my mat. Henry totally lost it. Got out of his seatbelt. Screamed and cried and hid from me so I couldn't put him back in his car seat. Effffffff.

Fine, no yoga class. Yoga inside. And that lasted thirty seconds.

Screaming fights over dominoes. And I Spy books. Shouting, shoving. Jumping on the couch. Throwing things across the room. Who the hell are these small crazy monkeys screeching and wrecking my house? Demanding bananas (eff you Elmo, showing snacks on your show right before lunch. Effff. You.).

I'm at the end of my rope and it's not even noon. I really, really, *really* needed yoga this morning. We have a skipped nap for Toby, a doctors appointment for Henry, and a lovely playdate late this afternoon. Breathe...

Breathe.

CSA Love. Soup love.

Being members of our beautiful CSA, Swallowtail Farm, has challenged me to use more veggies every day, and use them more creatively. I sometimes don't quite rise to the challenge, and our compost eats a lot. Sometimes, I do better, and I'm always ready to try new recipes (especially for turnips, cabbage, and radishes - right now we are swamped!).

Today was CSA pickup, which means that we only had leftovers when I was actually cooking dinner. I improvised a sweet potato/lentil soup, and I was pretty pleased with the results. I did use celery, onions, and garlic from the co-op -- Florida does, ironically, have seasonal limitations and our farm doesn't grow everything (celery - I still have never seen it growing). But, here's what I did, in case you need some inspiration to whip something up with the stuff you happen to have around.

On-The-Fly SP-L Soup

Chicken stock (from organic chicken, prepped and frozen after last roast chicken), about 4 cups-ish (6?)

3 small onions, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized bits

Red lentils, about 1 cup-ish

2 pinches coarse Celtic sea salt

2 grinds mixed peppercorn pepper

2 pinches coriander

Put everything in a nice soup pot with a lid, bring to rolling boil, bring down to a fast simmer, cover, and cook for another twenty-30 minutes. Turn down to low until ready to serve - give it a good mix and be sure to get all those lentils (which have broken down and almost be one like a creamy base) into every bowl. Served 2 adults as only dinner and 2 wee ones, who also got fresh carrots. Perfectly, no leftovers :)

Army of Love

My little gnomes ready to go spread the love to Toby's class for Valentine's on Tuesday. So much better than candy!

Dinner, Beef and Ale Stew. Afternoon Guinness.

Fantastic recipe for beef and ale stew from Jamie Oliver. I've had a crush on Mr. Oliver since I was in college and he was the naked chef... Now I just think he is rad. Stew: 3 bay leaves, 2 carrots chopped coarsely, 2 stalks celery chopped coarsely, two medium onions, chopped coarsely, 2 lugs olive oil. Preheat oven to 350. On stove, on med-high in heavy pan with lid, combine above ingredients and fry 10 minutes. Add 1.25 lbs stew beef, I heaping Tbs flour. Add one can diced tomatoes (14oz-ish) and 1.5 cans Guinness stout. Dash of sea salt, grind of pepper. Mix. Bring to boil. Cover and put in oven for 3 hours, removing lid for 15-30 minutes at end. Delicious with fresh bread. Oh, and finish that can of beer. It's your treat for cooking.

One more day of arguing...

I have been trying to get Blue Cross and Blue Shield to pay for six of Henry's OT visits at the end of 2011 and they are being truly crazy. Yesterday I had one of the most frustrating conversations ever with a guy named Bruce, who, in the end, said he needed to do more research before he could send a denial because I had convinced him to look into some things. Yeah, nice. He said "they" had emailed an explanation for denial but he didn't think it was right after talking to me.

Bruce, poor guy, is like person number ten I've gone around and around about this thing with, and they all come around. And then the claims are still not paid and u get to deal with someone new. It's awesome. But I'm right, and I won't stop bugging them.

Don't eff with a lawyer who is also mama to a special needs kid. Seriously.

And yes, I have socks.

Dear double pointed needles,
You are awesome, thanks for giving me a chance. We have a beautiful future together, BFF, ok? Mwah!
Love, V

Crafty Mama bringing it for Henry!