It's a bakey kind of day

So chilly! We just had to stay inside and bake. Bruno and I started some bread in the morning, and when Jack got home from school we made brownies. Before you go picturing us feasting on sugar-infused baked goods 24/7, I'll just tell you that a few weeks ago we declared Friday the day of the treat. So, instead of treats being this thing that are constantly begged for (like by Lassie), we just do it once a week but we really do a whole shebang and bake or make something sweet together and Jack gets to pick. This is really working for Jack... finding the yes in the no... instead of focusing on being denied on the other days, he gets all excited about the special day to come. I want to point out the chopper he is using in the above picture... I ordered something like it from a Montessori catalog a few years ago. It's a really safe two handed chopper that kids can use really easily to get in on the chopping and the dicing. I discovered recently they actually sell these at Ace Mart, the restaurant supply store, and I was really psyched... so much cheaper of course.
Bruno and I made bread from this book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: the discovery that revolutionizes home baking. I was a full on skeptic before I bought the book, but intrigued, and who'd a thunk it, it REALLY does work. I've almost never been able to bake a loaf of bread the normal way, I've been cursed about the bread and it's just been a (hot) cross (bun) I've had to bear. But this way works, it really really works and that's a beautiful thing. And in less time than it takes to order and eat a McDonald's hamburger! OK, not really. But it is on the quick side, let's leave it at that.

Oh my gosh, I just remembered something Jack said during brownie making. I said to him, "Go ahead and stir the chocolate and the butter so they will melt together in the pan" and he said, "That's another way of saying two people like each other". "What?" I said, and he repeated, "Melt together, that's what happens when two people like each other." Wow! Quite a concept, pretty stinkin' beautiful, and just in time for Valentine's Day...

5 dangerous things you should let your children do

I was revisiting this amazing site tonight to re-watch Gever Tulley's talk on 5 dangerous things you should let your children do... he's the founder of the Tinkering School that has been such a big inspiration to me...
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design and is an annual conference which brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). This site, www.ted.com has them all archived... TALK ABOUT A TROVE OF TREASURE. Anyway, I am sniffin' around on there tonight... Just watched:
Ken Robinson , John Hodgman, and Rives... oh goodness this is the motherlode of all treasure troves... GOOD STUFF. And quite hilarious as well.
OK! I have been quite earnest enough for today. Tomorrow I plan on being irreverent, preposterous, and bilious all day long.

I just want to amend this to say that while John Hodgman and Rives are super funny and all that, I wanted to especially point out the Ken Robinson talk on How Schools Kill Creativity. I didn't want to watch that one originally because I didn't want to have to have a heart attack about how our family was doing this whole thing bass ackwards and Jack was ruined for life for sure, but the talk wasn't like that, Ken Robinson was just so funny and cool for one thing, and for another he was more making the point that creativity and creative thinking are of utmost importance, and it really provoked my thoughts. Watch it, will you, tell me what you think!

Hand slappy

I remembered this game recently and I was SO glad I did. I don't know if almost anything has informed my parenting style more than the amazing Playful Parenting class I took with Kirsten Nottleson a few years ago. One of the major things I carry with me from that class is that usually when kids are off-kilter they just really really want to re-connect with you. And I think unfortunately for us, we love to reconnect by talking, but for the littler ones it's not that easy. Eye contact, physical closeness, and laughter are super important elements that help them get back on track, and this slapping game rolls 'em all up in to one. Here's the instructions if you've never heard of it before:

Step1

Find a partner.

Step2

Face each other.

Step3

Have your partner hold out his or her hands, palms down.

Step4

Hold out your hands, palms up, about an inch below your partner's hands.

Step5

Attempt to bring your hands over and slap the tops of your partner's hands - while she tries to move them away before being slapped.

Step6

Reverse roles after slapping your partner's hands three times, and begin the game again.

I just have to say, I played this with Jack two nights ago when he was in near-tantrum mode and he has been an angel-pie ever since. OK, truthfully, we did do some wrestling too which is a HUGE help, but when you don't have the time/energy/patience, this game I think could be a little quick fix or life saver.

WHEW

Did you know that you can actually have disagreements and discomfort with your friends and actually sort through it, remain connected, and move on?? I know it sounds ridiculously simple, but you probably all know that it is NOT. I think most of us were not raised to be able to sit down with a friend, co-worker, partner, child, employee, employer, whatever and kind of sift through all the feelings and come to the conclusion of , "Wow, I think what we got here is just a big old difference of opinions, nobody's right, nobody's wrong, let's work on our judgementalness together, OK? How funny that we both got so triggered! I just love being close with you, hooray!"
My women's group just finished our third tele-conference with the amazing Amy last night. We had started out with just one, wanting to kind of dust out all the cobwebby corners of our relationships and start fresh. We just kept coming back for more, and more, as we all got a little more honest and brave and realizing that there WERE lingering resentments and unsaid judgements that were really holding us back and were NOT dissipating no matter how much we wished them away.
Before each truth-telling session, as they were called, I was SO dragging my feet... would have rather done anything else in the entire world, practically, but after each I was singing in my heart and feeling a huge rush of energy. Resentments and judgements really sit in your body even if you're not aware of them most of the time and hog a whole bunch of your chi.
Amy does such an amazing job of being calm, funny, down to earth, and practical... She does such a fantastic job of making nobody wrong, and just breaking it down clear and simple to where, when it's all laid out in front of you, you wonder what the heck we were all so afraid of: "So, what you're saying, is that you really prefer doing things like this, and so-and-so really likes it when people do this, so, no wonder you were both having trouble..."
I've never done anything like this before... when I encountered trouble with friends in the past after being close for a few years, the relationship would either end or be drastically re-structured. I'm so excited to be learning how to move down through these deep limiting layers and learn how to be even closer and sustain these friendships with the women that I love so much!
AND my big intention is also that my children, OUR children, will get to grow up knowing that feelings are mentionable AND managable, and know that it's no problem whatsoever getting close and staying close to the people that they care about.

A good old fashioned exchange of mail

Sorry, these aren't very clear photos, but I just wanted to share some of this cute stuff. Jack came home from school the other day with this letter from his friend Billy and he was SO excited about it. He couldn't WAIT to write back. Billy's letter says: "Dear Jack I like dinosaurs do you like dinosaurs? If you say yes you draw a dot if you say no you draw nothing OK OK from Billy. "

Jack's reply: "Thank you Billy for the card I know like dinosaurs I like them to" (and a big dot, also, of course. Inside a heart.)

Cutes!

Behind the scenes at WHEATSVILLE!

I organized this field trip to Wheatsville and we had SO much fun. Those good people at Wheatsville really bent over backwards to acommodate us, it was so sweet. They gave us samples of apple, cheese, chocolate milk, cookie, and smoothie! One of the kids in the class is dairy free/gluten free and they totally hooked him up with chocolate soy milk and no wheat no milk brownie!

Wheatsville, how can I ever repay you? I love you. You're the best.

Some pig

Oh, Wilbur, turn your eyes away! My dear vegetarian friends, turn your eyes away also!

I just had to mention this as what is most definitely my most exceptionally unusual barters ever.

My friend called me recently, asking if she could trade me one of my classes for a leg of wild boar that her husband had just shot.
I am almost always up for a gastronomic adventure, especially if it's local and organic.
We covered it in bacon because almost anything's better with bacon, and because they suggested it on the Broken Arrow Ranch website. This is a Texas ranch out towards San Antonio I think that raises game and you can buy boar and venison from them at the farmer's market.

If you're going to eat an animal, they're a good one to eat, because they are actually an invasive species that are a big problem in Texas and bad for farmers. You can watch a two minute movie about them here.

We roasted it last night and I was really worried. I've never roasted anything that big before... it was bigger than a turkey. I was worried it would be completely inedible. And it roasted and roasted and roasted... many hours past the time when we thought it would be done, we gave up and made the kids quesadillas and tomato soup for supper and put them to bed.

But, SUCCESS!! 10:30 last night, roast boar, tasting good and plenty tender.
Anyone got anything else they'd like to trade me?