Naked Time!

I have a seven year-old who loves to be naked.  She revels in her nude physique.  There is nothing she loves to do more than strip down to nothing and prance around the house, hands on hips with head held high.  She admires her glorious nudity in the living room mirror, much to her brother's horrified chagrin.

Her lack of modesty clashes head-on with Jacob's aversion to anything private being displayed publicly.  He believes that naked bodies belong behind closed doors and people should pretend to never have biological needs that require them to visit the restroom.  So, I've had to institute naked time rules.  Sarah's allowed to enjoy as much naked time as she likes, so long as she confines her nudity to her bedroom or the bathroom (with the door closed, sweetie.  Keeping the door wide open isn't really having alone naked time).

I can't help admiring her pure and simple joy with her own body, though.  Sure, I don't want her to just drop trou at the shopping mall and announce to various and sundry that she's naked.  But, too soon she'll be overly concerned with her body.  Too soon, she'll stare into the mirror with a critical eye, instead of an eye pleased with its object.  Too soon girls seem to add words like diet, fat, and waistline to their vocabulary.  I want her to love her body for as long as humanly possibly.

Even at her tender age, Sarah sees herself as something as an odd-ball.  She feels alien, this blonde petite pixie living in a house full of lumbering brunette giants.  She wonders why she's tiny when the rest of us are tall.  She has no understanding that people with my color hair long for her flaxen locks.  She just sees herself as different.  Even her mind seems to work differently from ours.  The rest of us walk from one point to the next.  Sarah would rather twirl. 

I'm a mom, and its my job to worry.  I hope she never develops a hatred for her body.  I can't stand the thought of her looking in the mirror and seeing someone who's too short, lacking here, too much of something there.  I don't want her to see curly hair and long for straight (or vice-versa.  So far it looks like she's inherited my wavy hair).  I would hate for her to practice different smiles for hours, trying to find one that looks natural but feels manufactured.  Enjoy your body now, my naked lithe pixie.  You are beautiful because God made you to be beautiful.  I wish for you the blessing of knowing how beautiful you truly are, but appreciating the fact that your outer beauty is just one facet of what makes you beautiful.

Uno, Recycling, Super Mario and other Child-Induced Headaches

I started this blog with the intention of not opening it up to many people I knew in real life. That way, I could talk smack about people who were irritating me, and I wouldn't have to bother defending myself or worrying about hurting anyone's feelings. Also, I wanted freedom to vent about the aggravation of being a stay-at-home mom without a lot of judgement or people calling me out for not having any real problems. As it turns out, I don't really have a lot of mean things to say about anyone. And, I don't really care if people have poor opinions about my parenting skills. Who knew? So, I didn't write too often. Now, I'm just going to go ahead and anounce to all of my facebook friends that I have a blog. So, if that's how you found my blog, thanks for stopping by. I'll try to be nice.

All Jacob wants to do all of the time is play Super Mario Bros. When he isn't playing Super Mario Bros, he's looking for youtube videos starring Super Mario Bros, watching the Super Mario Bros Super Show on Netflix, or talking--incessantly--about Super Mario Bros. When I am so exhasted with the subject that I threaten to put the Wii in the dishwasher (a little trick I learned from the Simpsons), he will then talk about Sonic the Hedgehog or Link from The Legend of Zelda. What happened to playing outside in the summer? When I was a kid, my parents weren't responsible for entertaining me all summer long. I know it's hot outside, but we have popsicles, a water hose, and ice cold lemonade. Go play in the yard!

Please share with me your kids' ages and what (if any) chores they are responsible for. Jacob had to gather all of the dirty laundry today so I could wash it. He really resents that I don't carry my own laundry basket to the laundry room. But, my back is always sore, and I do all the washing, drying, and folding. I don't think it's too much to ask for him to carry the dirty clothes for me. Other than this chore, taking out the garbage, and cleaning up after themselves, my kids do very little. If my back is really bothering me, I make them put away their plastic dishes because I don't want to bend down to put them in the bottom cupboard. They clean their rooms once in a while.

Sarah can't carry the trashbags, so she's the official recycler. I forgot to put the trash cans out at the curb last night. At seven this morning, I heard the recycling truck, jumped out of bed, and ran outside. I was too late for the recycling, but at least I got the trash to the curb plenty early. But, now I had two full recycling bins and a week to go before the recycling truck comes around again. So, bad mommy that I am, I gave Sarah a garbage bag and instructed her to bag up all the recycling and leave it for the trash truck. She was furious with me. She actually said, "We didn't miss the recycling truck, Mom. YOU missed the recycling truck!" There were many more words screeched at such a high decibel that only the dog could really understand what she was saying. But I got the gist that I was destroying the earth and making her a party to my miscreance. She cried the entire time that I forced her to stand on the front lawn and commit such an evil deed.

On a lighter note, Chuck and I are teaching the kids to play Uno. I can't think of too many games that are so simple and still fun for adults. Although, Pass the Pigs is pretty fun, too. Maybe I'll start looking for that game if it still exists. Anyway, they're picking Uno up pretty fast, and are being pretty good sports when they lose. It's mostly just chance, and very little skill. So, they can't get too exasperated.

It's only half-way through June, but I feel like summer is slipping by. We should be at the beach or on picnics. But, wildfires are burning all over the county, so the air is thick and smoky. I guess that means the kids will be sitting around the house playing Super Mario Bros for a few more days.

Oh, hi there little blog...

I guess I've abandoned you for so very long. Were you very lonely and sad? All the other blogs get their blogger's attention, but not little old you. Don't take it personally. It's just easier to tweet or update my facebook status than to go into long arduous blogging about my life. Because, you know what? My life just isn't really all that interesting to most folks.

But, anyway...I deleted a bunch of boring old posts or posts from some times in my life that I'd rather not revisit. I think I'll start over almost fresh. I saved a few posts that I liked, but the rest are trashed.

Maybe I'll start blogging again, okay?

Food and Stuff

So, I don't want to turn this into a food blog, but I do love to cook and eat. I've been reading lots of food blogs lately, especially ones focusing on low-carb recipes. Also, I'm constantly researching low-carb recipes. Unfortunately for me, I've really been off of the wagon for a few days as far as diet and exercise go. I had two slices of fresh baked bread for dinner. I really need to get back on my diet.

Anyway, I found a really great recipe last night. I changed it considerably, since the recipe included no seasonings at all. How do people cook without spices? I like my food fairly spicy, so adjust the seasonings to your own liking. I'm used to stuffing cabbage rolls (glumpkes, as my mom calls them) with ground beef and rice and cooking them in tomato juice. This recipe is nothing like what I'm used to. Here goes:


Ground Turkey Cabbage Rolls

1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground white meat turkey
1 head of cabbage
12 baby carrots diced
2 green bell peppers diced
2 T butter
1 cup chicken broth or stock (vegetable broth might also taste good)
1 T curry (yellow, not red)
1 t garam masala
1 T garlic powder
1 t ground ginger
1 t sweet basil
2 t kosher salt
1 T fresh ground black pepper

Boil cabbage. You want it to be cooked well enough for the leaves to pull off easily, but not enough for the leaves to fall apart. Aim for about 30 minutes. Remove 12 leaves to stuff, and chop the rest of the cabbage into small pieces.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; spray bottom of casserole dish with nonstick spray.

Brown ground turkey and set aside.

Melt butter in a frying pan, and saute carrots, peppers, cabbage, and all spices until all vegetables are tender. Stir in turkey.

The filling looks good enough to eat by itself, but don't. You'll need it all. Fill the cabbage leaves and roll them up. Place cabbage rolls in casserole dish and pour chicken broth over top.


Cover with aluminum foil and bake for one hour (or until cabbage leaves are completely tender).

So good!

Veg-aversion

Jacob doesn't like vegetables. I can entice him to eat a little bit of salad if I cover it with ranch dressing, bacon bits, and croutons--lots of croutons. I can get him to eat the tops off of one or two pieces of broccoli if I promise a reward afterwards (usually ice cream, if we're at the Chinese buffet). My husband has type-2 diabetes, and I'm really concerned that our son learns to eat healthier than he does right now. I don't want him to be diabetic at 39, like his dad.
So, I've been researching ways to teach kids to like vegetables. Sarah loves 'em, but I can't seem to get Jacob on board with the whole eating veggies thing. The advice I keep reading is not at all helpful. All of these websites advise me to introduce veggies when the child is a toddler and in preschool. Well, thanks a lot. But, even if I could somehow invent a time machine to travel back to when my six year old was a toddler, your advice is still unhelpful. I always fed him vegetables as a baby and toddler. He still hates the vegetables. Thanks for nothing, internet.
Now what?

My Daughter is Four Going on Fourteen

I'm serious. The things this girl says to us, and does are completely out of the norm for a four year old...Last night she was sitting on the rocking chair backwards, rocking like a maniac. I reminded her of the time she sat backwards in the rocking chair and fell off, busting her head, and told her to turn around right. She told me no, and kept right on going. So, Daddy told her to listen to her mother, and she put her hands over her ears! Needless to say, she got to spend some time in her room. Here is a random sampling of some more Sarah rottenness:

She was in the bathroom. Chuck walked in without realizing she had been in there, apologized, and said he just needed to get some medicine. She responded, "Yeah, well I just needed some privacy."

I turned around in the van to see her picking her nose, and told her to stop because I didn't like seeing that. Her response? "Turn around and you won't have to see it."

We were in a restaraunt last week, and she was being really loud. Chuck says, "Sarah, where are you?" She answers, "Duh, Daddy. I'm right here."

I really have to stop laughing at these outbursts, but it is so hard. My mom keeps reminding me that I won't think it's so funny in a few more years...Also, she says that I'm just getting what I deserve for all of the mouth I gave her :).

Seasons Change

I am sitting in my kitchen, staring out the picture window into the backyard. As a rule, I don't care for windows that don't open, but it's a rainy day. I don't like to let the dampness into the house anyway. The rain is filling up my kids' sandbox; they left the lid off of it again.

I'm often surprised by the way the seasons get all mixed up in Florida. I mean, just last week, we had three nights in a row where the temperature was below freezing. My little orange tree is drooping, and my lemon tree lost about half of its leaves. And, yesterday? It was eighty degrees. My neighbor's peach trees are in bloom, and I spied a tiny yellow butterfly flitting around the blossoms. The dry winter has given a way to wet spring in one week? Not really, no. Tomorrow night, the low will be 35 degrees. It's all so strange to me.

And yet, our life seasons can be that way, too. I'm two years away from the dreaded forty, so I guess that puts me right on the brink of the Autumn of my years. I have half a lifetime of experience, wisdom, joy, and sorrow. I think I've seen it all, and nothing can surprise me anymore. I'm full of good advice and stern direction. The leaves seem to all be falling and crunching under my feet. And then I'll be surprised, now and again, to find a blooming in my soul--something new, something unexpected will begin to blossom.

Perhaps I'm too introspective. Discovering I like fish after years of hating it isn't really such a big deal, right? It's not like I learned a new language, or took up skydiving. And it's not even that I always want to live in the spring. I love autumn--the stiking beauty, the brilliant colors, the simplicity, the contrast. It's the season I was made for. But, every now and again, it's nice to see a daffodil pushing up through the dirt.