I have given my husband yet another reason to think I have lost my mind. I have abandoned shampoo and conditioner. Isn't this the worst thing a girl can do? As it turns out, NO! It is called the No 'Poo Movement and it has been highlighted on a few of the blogs I read. Maybe it is being so bored with winter (please come soon spring!) and needing something new to do, but I have officially gone off the deep end and started using a mixture of baking soda and warm water (1 Tbsp to 1 cup) followed by apple cider vinegar and warm water (1 Tbsp to 1 cup) to wash and condition my hair in the shower. The crazy part is that my hair has never felt better!
I have been using organic Kiss My Face shampoo and conditioner from Whole Foods for a while, so I didn't think I needed to worry about additives. As it turns out, although there are no dangerous chemicals in this shampoo, unlike other shampoos (Pantene, Herbal Essence, etc), it still contains compounds that can weigh hair down and strip it of its natural oils. Enter something as simple as baking soda to clean the scalp and vinegar to balance pH and seal cuticles and voila! Homemade hair care. As a side note, vinegar is also a natural detangler!
For now, I am very happy (and so is my wallet). And don't worry, you don't smell like vinegar afterwards. Your hair will also remain less oily in between washes which is always a plus. It does take a few weeks to break your hair in and get all of the build up out from years of using heavy shampoos and conditioners. Hopefully by then, my husband will forget about me losing my marbles and enjoy my new 'do.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Vance turns 3!
My baby turns three tomorrow. I feel like the enormity of it has not yet settled into my brain and heart. Shouldn't I be looking back in nostalgia? Instead I am forced to be in the all important present moment because Vance is so good at keeping me in that space. That is why I need to reflect in writing. Everyday he amazes me more, and although some days I wish I could press the "fast forward to daddy getting home from work and taking you off of my hands" button on our non existent life remote, I always look forward to our cozy bedtime routine of stories and cuddles.
I still remember the day he was born, and even though my birth experience was not the powerful natural birth I had with Caroline, I am still proud of the day I became a mother. I saw, for the first time, my heart leaving my body in the form of a squirming, little human. And then I heard that wonderful cry, the cry that only newborns can make. It is not the loud, piercing cry that comes later. It is almost more muffled, more innocent, and all it means is "hold me and love me". Such a pure love. I remember seeing a tear roll down JWs face as we looked into Vance's eyes for the first time. He was perfect to us, and the only thing that we cared about in that moment.
Any hardships we had in those first few years (and there were a few) were minuscule compared to our love for him. We have such a wonderful gift in our son. He has blossomed into a goofy, imaginative child. His favorite color is, and always will be, orange. He wants to be a pirate when he grows up and could spend an entire day playing dinosaurs. Ask what his favorite birthday present is and he will tell you cake. I asked him if he knew how to swim the other day and he said "no, but I know how to make scuba divers".
He is still a baby really, with that innocent view of the world. I know each year that will fade a little more as he grows up and finds his place in the universe. My hope for him is that he can keep a little piece of it, though, because if you let it get lost in the whole "growing up" thing, life just isn't as much fun. Happy birthday Vance, my love!!!!!
I still remember the day he was born, and even though my birth experience was not the powerful natural birth I had with Caroline, I am still proud of the day I became a mother. I saw, for the first time, my heart leaving my body in the form of a squirming, little human. And then I heard that wonderful cry, the cry that only newborns can make. It is not the loud, piercing cry that comes later. It is almost more muffled, more innocent, and all it means is "hold me and love me". Such a pure love. I remember seeing a tear roll down JWs face as we looked into Vance's eyes for the first time. He was perfect to us, and the only thing that we cared about in that moment.
Any hardships we had in those first few years (and there were a few) were minuscule compared to our love for him. We have such a wonderful gift in our son. He has blossomed into a goofy, imaginative child. His favorite color is, and always will be, orange. He wants to be a pirate when he grows up and could spend an entire day playing dinosaurs. Ask what his favorite birthday present is and he will tell you cake. I asked him if he knew how to swim the other day and he said "no, but I know how to make scuba divers".
He is still a baby really, with that innocent view of the world. I know each year that will fade a little more as he grows up and finds his place in the universe. My hope for him is that he can keep a little piece of it, though, because if you let it get lost in the whole "growing up" thing, life just isn't as much fun. Happy birthday Vance, my love!!!!!
Friday, March 15, 2013
Friday Photoday
Two pictures to describe my week. Love them.
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| I found this on sale at Whole Foods, couldn't resist. |
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Ode to Spring
That globe of golden light
Brings warmth to my soul
Yes, winter is over.
Haiku? Yes. The close arrival of spring has me reflecting upon the end of winter. This past winter was huge for our family with the birth of Caroline. It was full of change and in a lot of ways we are still adjusting. I think things will finally be settling down in about 18 years.
What I love about spring is the hope that it brings. Every time I check the weather forecast, I am hopeful that the temperature has gone up one more degree (or two or three!). I walk outside and breathe in a damp, cold air and smell the mud and wet earth. I laugh as I see things uncovered in the melting snow, a glove here, the remnants of a snow man's scarf and nose there.
We watch the trees and plants expectantly, hoping their buds will soon peek through and bring us the beauty of color. My favorite spring bloom is the dogwood with its sweet, earthy, fragrant flowers. I remember walking by these trees when I was pregnant with Vance, hoping that the beautiful smell could go through my skin to my baby so that he too could enjoy it. We shed layers as well, and the cold shell we slept in all winter is broken, our hearts open once again to the warmth of the sun.
I know we have a few more weeks before it is officially the end of winter, but I can feel the changes and the optimism floating through the air. Spring!
Brings warmth to my soul
Yes, winter is over.
Haiku? Yes. The close arrival of spring has me reflecting upon the end of winter. This past winter was huge for our family with the birth of Caroline. It was full of change and in a lot of ways we are still adjusting. I think things will finally be settling down in about 18 years.
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We watch the trees and plants expectantly, hoping their buds will soon peek through and bring us the beauty of color. My favorite spring bloom is the dogwood with its sweet, earthy, fragrant flowers. I remember walking by these trees when I was pregnant with Vance, hoping that the beautiful smell could go through my skin to my baby so that he too could enjoy it. We shed layers as well, and the cold shell we slept in all winter is broken, our hearts open once again to the warmth of the sun.
I know we have a few more weeks before it is officially the end of winter, but I can feel the changes and the optimism floating through the air. Spring!
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Easy Vegetable Risotto
I love making comforting meals that feel warm and cozy but also healthy and energizing. Vegetables and whole grains are such a staple in our household. One of the coziest little dishes I can think of containing these two items is risotto. It is your basic Italian comfort food. I had a lot of produce that needed to be used and some short grain brown rice so I decided to try my hand at vegetable risotto. It turned out to be so wonderfully satisfying that I am going to post the recipe and add it to our family's list of favorites.
The key to risotto is patience, of which I have none. All of my patience tends to go into child rearing so I don't have as much by the end of the day when dinner rolls around. But I would wait happily all day for a bowl of this stuff. This risotto is as creamy as brown rice can get. True Italian risotto does use white rice but I am not a fan of it when brown rice feels so much more filling and robust. It also has all of those great nutrients still intact within the grain (i.e. whole grain).
I used the vegetables I had on hand, which happened to be onions, garlic, kale (always), mushrooms, carrots, and sundried tomatoes. I am sure that artichokes, peas, broccoli, Lima beans, etc. could also make great additions to risotto. Anything that's makes your tongue tingle when you think of it being mixed with some butter, rice, and cheese could really work.
This version is not vegetarian because I used chicken stock, as that is what I had on hand. However, you could use vegetable or even mushroom stock to make it a vegetarian meal. Furthermore, your vegan friends would love you if you omitted the butter and cheese. This would make the dish less creamy, but there may be substitutions you could look into and experiment with. I have seen a few trends lately that use ground cashews to create creamy sauces.
Vegetable Risotto
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, finely diced (think approximately 1/4-1/2 inch cubes)
8 oz mushrooms, finely diced
Olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups chicken stock (or other type of stock)
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
Salt to taste
1 bunch of kale, finely chopped
Handful of sundries tomatoes, finely chopped
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Sauté onion, carrots, and mushrooms in olive oil until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir constantly for one minute. Add rice and toast until the grains become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add white wine and allow rice to fully absorb. Now usually you would add the stock a little at a time and constantly stir the rice for a few hours. Not my idea of an easy task when you have a toddler pulling at your shirt, asking you to play. Not even an easy task if you don't have kids whining at you. Instead, I added it all at once and gently simmered the rice, which still came out super creamy and yummy!
Add stock, bay leaf, and a little salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce to a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally. If the liquid absorbs and the rice is not as creamy as you would like, add more a little at a time. Remove the bay leaf, add in the butter and stir. Add in the cheese. Serve right away! And bring a bowl over to my house while you are at it!
The key to risotto is patience, of which I have none. All of my patience tends to go into child rearing so I don't have as much by the end of the day when dinner rolls around. But I would wait happily all day for a bowl of this stuff. This risotto is as creamy as brown rice can get. True Italian risotto does use white rice but I am not a fan of it when brown rice feels so much more filling and robust. It also has all of those great nutrients still intact within the grain (i.e. whole grain).
I used the vegetables I had on hand, which happened to be onions, garlic, kale (always), mushrooms, carrots, and sundried tomatoes. I am sure that artichokes, peas, broccoli, Lima beans, etc. could also make great additions to risotto. Anything that's makes your tongue tingle when you think of it being mixed with some butter, rice, and cheese could really work.
This version is not vegetarian because I used chicken stock, as that is what I had on hand. However, you could use vegetable or even mushroom stock to make it a vegetarian meal. Furthermore, your vegan friends would love you if you omitted the butter and cheese. This would make the dish less creamy, but there may be substitutions you could look into and experiment with. I have seen a few trends lately that use ground cashews to create creamy sauces.
Vegetable Risotto
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, finely diced (think approximately 1/4-1/2 inch cubes)
8 oz mushrooms, finely diced
Olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups chicken stock (or other type of stock)
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
Salt to taste
1 bunch of kale, finely chopped
Handful of sundries tomatoes, finely chopped
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Sauté onion, carrots, and mushrooms in olive oil until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir constantly for one minute. Add rice and toast until the grains become translucent, about 5 minutes. Add white wine and allow rice to fully absorb. Now usually you would add the stock a little at a time and constantly stir the rice for a few hours. Not my idea of an easy task when you have a toddler pulling at your shirt, asking you to play. Not even an easy task if you don't have kids whining at you. Instead, I added it all at once and gently simmered the rice, which still came out super creamy and yummy!
Add stock, bay leaf, and a little salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce to a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally. If the liquid absorbs and the rice is not as creamy as you would like, add more a little at a time. Remove the bay leaf, add in the butter and stir. Add in the cheese. Serve right away! And bring a bowl over to my house while you are at it!
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Great Bread Experiment
Bread. I could never ever live without it. I love bread. But more specifically, I love healthy whole grain breads, which is lucky for my waistline. I have been reading a lot of labels lately and this has forced me into the kitchen to make most of our meals completely from scratch. That means I have taken up the art of baking bread.
For some reason I always thought that baking a wonderful loaf of bread was a hard task, one that only the elite chefs could pull off. My Gran used to bake bread for us when I was little. I wasn't allowed in the kitchen when she was cooking (now, as a mom of young children I know why), so I always thought her finished products to be magical in some way. It is like they appeared, carried on the wings of fairies into our kitchen. Cupcakes and breads and pancakes, oh my! I had a great imagination.
Baking bread could NOT BE EASIER. It is so rewarding and so easy that I baked three different types of bread last week alone. And that is with taking care of an infant and toddler. It isn't hard, folks, or else I wouldn't do it. My breads have five ingredients...flour, yeast, salt, sugar/honey, and water. Seriously, that is all it takes to bake bread. Now look at the label of the bread in your house. If there are more ingredients than this, it isn't bread. It is a bread-like product.
I have decided that I am going to start a bread baking experiment. I am going to bake different types of breads using different flours and sweeteners to see which one is best. And I am going to do all of the taste testing myself (maybe a little help from Vance and JW). For my first loaf, I used just white bread flour, sugar, salt, and Red Star active dry yeast. I got the recipe for French bread from the Red Star Yeast Web site. My Gran taught me that the best place to look for basic recipes was on the backs of the boxes of ingredients (flour bags, etc), which translates into the company Web sites in our generation. she told me that these recipes were always well tested, so a good place for beginners to start. I combined the ingredients and let it rise for an hour. Then I punched it down, shaped it into a French bread loaf and let it rise again for another hour or two. Then I baked it for 30 minutes. Voila! The bread I remember from childhood! Warm, crusty bread right from our own oven and smeared with a generous helping of yummy, organic butter!
For the next loaf, I used whole wheat pastry flour combined with bread flour and honey as the sweetener. Same procedure. Great product! Last weekend I made half whole wheat half white pizza dough which turned out incredibly like the real thing my husband just ate in Italy! And I topped mine with butternut squash, kale, shallots, and goat cheese. Mmmmmm. More breads to come! Maybe some rye for St Patricks Day? Check back soon, but until then go bake a loaf, it is too easy and too good!
For some reason I always thought that baking a wonderful loaf of bread was a hard task, one that only the elite chefs could pull off. My Gran used to bake bread for us when I was little. I wasn't allowed in the kitchen when she was cooking (now, as a mom of young children I know why), so I always thought her finished products to be magical in some way. It is like they appeared, carried on the wings of fairies into our kitchen. Cupcakes and breads and pancakes, oh my! I had a great imagination.
Baking bread could NOT BE EASIER. It is so rewarding and so easy that I baked three different types of bread last week alone. And that is with taking care of an infant and toddler. It isn't hard, folks, or else I wouldn't do it. My breads have five ingredients...flour, yeast, salt, sugar/honey, and water. Seriously, that is all it takes to bake bread. Now look at the label of the bread in your house. If there are more ingredients than this, it isn't bread. It is a bread-like product.
I have decided that I am going to start a bread baking experiment. I am going to bake different types of breads using different flours and sweeteners to see which one is best. And I am going to do all of the taste testing myself (maybe a little help from Vance and JW). For my first loaf, I used just white bread flour, sugar, salt, and Red Star active dry yeast. I got the recipe for French bread from the Red Star Yeast Web site. My Gran taught me that the best place to look for basic recipes was on the backs of the boxes of ingredients (flour bags, etc), which translates into the company Web sites in our generation. she told me that these recipes were always well tested, so a good place for beginners to start. I combined the ingredients and let it rise for an hour. Then I punched it down, shaped it into a French bread loaf and let it rise again for another hour or two. Then I baked it for 30 minutes. Voila! The bread I remember from childhood! Warm, crusty bread right from our own oven and smeared with a generous helping of yummy, organic butter!
For the next loaf, I used whole wheat pastry flour combined with bread flour and honey as the sweetener. Same procedure. Great product! Last weekend I made half whole wheat half white pizza dough which turned out incredibly like the real thing my husband just ate in Italy! And I topped mine with butternut squash, kale, shallots, and goat cheese. Mmmmmm. More breads to come! Maybe some rye for St Patricks Day? Check back soon, but until then go bake a loaf, it is too easy and too good!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Our choice
So. Because I do not get enough of child-rearing during the day (ha), I have taken to reading parenting books at night. What can I say, I love to read and it just so happens that my life revolves around these two little munchkins right now. I want to do things the "right" way so that my children grow into wonderful, perfect little human beings. The more I read, the more I realize that this perfection I am striving for is never possible. Ever. Because we humans are flawed by nature. Oh but haven't you heard? Flawed is the new perfect!
The book I am currently reading is called "Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children" by Sarah Napthali. This book is a wonderful addition to my "mindful parenting" shelf. One of the biggest things I have come across so far is this idea that, in any moment, we have a choice in regards to how we react to a stimulus. This idea has crossed my mind in reading and philosophizing before. Sometimes I forget about these simple ways to be more mindful and when they reappear I feel very grateful.
Knowing I have a choice in every moment is not just an idea present on planet parenthood, rather it can be used by anyone in daily life. When something happens (stimulus), pause. Take one breath before you allow yourself to react. You can either react in a negative way or a positive way. For instance, if Vance decides to do something naughty, lets say spill his milk on purpose (like he did this morning), I am presented with a choice. I can either fly off the handle and scold said child, or I can calmly tell him that what he did was wrong and take the milk away without screaming, shaming him, or getting myself worked up.
Sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us. We are human and that is okay. But there is a choice in the matter. We can step back, realize that our emotions are just external stimuli that do not control who we are, and be present. Sometimes, during meditation, we are told to imagine our thoughts and emotions as clouds passing through a sky. They are impermanent and they do not define us.
Now this doesn't mean we should suppress emotions. In her book, Ms. Napthali has many pieces of wisdom, another being that sometimes we don't have time in the present moment to go deeply into ourselves and hash out difficult emotions. However, we can always come back to our true selves and explore this later on. Meditation or quiet reflection are the perfect time for this. Now if I could just get five minutes of quiet time...
The book I am currently reading is called "Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children" by Sarah Napthali. This book is a wonderful addition to my "mindful parenting" shelf. One of the biggest things I have come across so far is this idea that, in any moment, we have a choice in regards to how we react to a stimulus. This idea has crossed my mind in reading and philosophizing before. Sometimes I forget about these simple ways to be more mindful and when they reappear I feel very grateful.
Knowing I have a choice in every moment is not just an idea present on planet parenthood, rather it can be used by anyone in daily life. When something happens (stimulus), pause. Take one breath before you allow yourself to react. You can either react in a negative way or a positive way. For instance, if Vance decides to do something naughty, lets say spill his milk on purpose (like he did this morning), I am presented with a choice. I can either fly off the handle and scold said child, or I can calmly tell him that what he did was wrong and take the milk away without screaming, shaming him, or getting myself worked up.
Sometimes we let our emotions get the best of us. We are human and that is okay. But there is a choice in the matter. We can step back, realize that our emotions are just external stimuli that do not control who we are, and be present. Sometimes, during meditation, we are told to imagine our thoughts and emotions as clouds passing through a sky. They are impermanent and they do not define us.
Now this doesn't mean we should suppress emotions. In her book, Ms. Napthali has many pieces of wisdom, another being that sometimes we don't have time in the present moment to go deeply into ourselves and hash out difficult emotions. However, we can always come back to our true selves and explore this later on. Meditation or quiet reflection are the perfect time for this. Now if I could just get five minutes of quiet time...
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