who knew eggs could be this good

Over the years, I have thought about being a vegetarian. Serious thought about it. For sustainability and humane reasons, I would never argue that axing meat from a diet is a bad idea (other than having to endure the grief you get for it - sorry, Tim). But, I have never become a full-time veggie because I am just not sure I could give up bacon. We use it sparingly but tonight was one of the special nights I fried it up in the pan. And this is the fabulous meal the carnivores in this house inhaled. Licked the plates clean, we did. (Thanks Cookie magazine for the inspiration.)

Rigatoni Carbonara

8 slices bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
8 oz. mushrooms, cut in quarters
8 oz. rigatoni pasta (or similar shape), cooked
4 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Saute bacon and onion in big frying pan over medium high heat. When the onion is soft, add the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are soft, onion is caramelized and bacon is crisp. mmm... Whisk together eggs and parmesan. Turn the heat down to medium low and add pasta and egg mixture. Stir until pasta is well covered and egg is cooked. So, so good. (If you are not a vegetarian.)

some things I'm really loving

:: Open windows, coat-free afternoons and holding hands without mittens :: In Chicago, the arrival of early spring, which is heralded by the pussy willow tree in our backyard, brings tears to my eyes. Every single year. There is nothing like it, which is really one of the only reasons we can endure the rest of the year.

:: Fruit smoothies :: Daily my boys' picky eating habits seem to grow, even now refusing most fruit and yogurt. Before those boys disappear altogether, I decided to pull out the blender and sneak good whole foods into Jamba-Juicish beverages. It works! Every day we enjoy some yogurt-soy milk-berry-banana-honey-flax seed meal-wheat germ concoction. Added bonus: We sip from straws and pretend it's summer.

:: Homemade bread :: There's not much I find more satisfying than the process of making bread. The miracle of rising dough, the scent of baking bread and, of course, eating slices warm from the oven. I'm currently making my way through the bread recipes in More with Less. An excellent decades-old cookbook from people who really understood the meaning of green living. Cornmeal Yeast Bread just came out of the oven. And I swear, by using the dough hook on my mixer, I spent less than 20 minutes making it. It's not rocket science. And it's one of the few foods that my boys will inhale.

:: Debut album from The August :: I am totally infatuated with this band who are on their way to Nashville this week to make it big. This I know because the singer Jackie Dustin sang gigs with Andrew in Deja Vu. I'll miss hearing her folksy-bluesy-rock sound on stage but expect to hear her on the radio real soon.

:: Things to knit and sew :: This shawl and this bag and this book and this book and this book. Thank you blogging world and library. You have both been instrumental in helping me procrastinate my taxes.

:: A new blog :: Like I need another blog to visit. But this is good writing, really good writing. Funny stuff about being green, being a mom and just generally being a good human: The Green Mama. (Also, I interviewed her for a project. Very cool woman. Check her out.)

:: Baby steps :: My 22-month-old nonwalker is beginning to blossom - on his feet. Instead of collapsing his legs anytime we try to get him to stand or walk with us, he is choosing to do it - walking up and down the sidewalk, through the library and around the house, holding a hand but moving like a true biped. We will keep our neurologist appointment June 1 (yes, an eight month waiting list!) just to be sure, but I feel pretty confident he is just my snuggle, stay-put boy. An extended baby gift to a mama who's finished procreating.

:: Funny conversations :: Liam continues to crack us up on a daily basis. The thing I love most is that he has no idea how funny he is. Here's one of our latest exchanges. (It is important to know that he has been examining his clothes tags lately to see how old he's supposed to be for each item. We have been graduating from size 4 to size 5, and he has been a little confused since he is not yet five, but accepts that he is just ahead of the curve.)

Liam (examining the tag of his winter coat, which has European sizing): Oh my gosh!
Mom: What's wrong?
Liam: Look at this! It says I'm supposed to be 100. (mouth agape, completely dumbfounded) That's crazy! Before I could even wear it, I'd be dead.

wake up call

There's this NOOMA we watched in church today called Shells. In it Rob Bell tells a story about his son collecting shell shards on the beach. After a while they notice this beautiful star fish floating in the sea and his son runs out into the surf to get it. Before he reaches the starfish, he runs back onto shore. Rob encourages him and he runs back out and then back in again without the starfish. It happens again. Finally, Rob asks him why he isn't getting the starfish. Discouraged, his son answers, "Because my hands are full of shells."

Rob leaves his viewers with this statement, "You need to be able to say no because you have already said yes." In other words, don't fill your hands up with a bunch of shell pieces when you are looking for something really great. Or (my interpretation), when you have said yes to something beautiful and significant and important, you need to say no to things that diminish its value.

I am terrible at saying no. Terrible. It almost physically pains me to say it. There is so much good to be done, so much help to be offered. I can do it. I'm your girl. But I sat in my quiet pew this morning and wondered, at what price? To whom or what is my "yes," my most important task, the starfish I need to leave my hands empty for?

This afternoon I scanned through the latest Good Housekeeping and read the interview with Michael J. Fox. Toward the end of the interview he said this:

"...one of the rules I have now is whenever my kids say, 'Can you look at this?' or 'Can I ask you something?' or 'Can you come here for a minute?' no matter what I am doing, I say yes instead of saying 'Just a sec.' They never abuse the privilege, and I never once regretted it. What they took me away to do was never less important than what I was doing already."

Liam is not even five and I cringe to think how many times I have said "Just a sec" to him or haven't even heard his question until the fifth time he asked it. There are so many good things to be doing, that can be done, that are being asked of me. But often I am pulled in a hundred different directions to do them all and I don't have any hands left to hold the starfish.

I think God is telling me today that my big "yes" needs to be right here at home. And if I can't say yes to my boys instead of "Just a sec," it's time to unload some shells.

favorite things :: button stuff

Browsing the youth nonfiction stacks of the library yesterday, I found a crafty little book called Button Girl: More Than 20 Cute-as-a-Button Projects. We brought it home, along with The Star Wars Cookbook II, a volume of poetry about bugs and other random finds that got thrown on the pile. (I heart the library. Really.)

Last night I looked through the button book and decided on a couple projects to do with Liam today. I have a big stash of buttons collected from flea markets, garage sales, my grandma, etc., and although I am not really a collector of anything (I am sure my husband would disagree), I dig my buttons. Then, this morning, I noticed that one of my favorite bloggers wrote a post on making stuff with buttons. Lest anyone who reads the SouleMama blog think I am grabbing her content, I plead innocent. It could just be that creative mamas think alike. (Although, in all honesty, I am a little in awe that I would share an idea with that super creative woman...and I am a wee bit jealous of her blue and green buttons.)


Back to our button stuff. For our main project, Liam and I cut flowers out of felt; then he chose the buttons and I sewed them on. With a magnet glued on the back, they are a very cute addition to the fridge. A nice taste of spring on a 20 degree day in March.


Before Liam lost interest in craft time, we had fun fashioning a few jewelry items. This big button necklace was his favorite. Something about superhero powers, defense against the bad guys and such. But I ask you, how could a bad guy ever have anything on this boy? I think he's just cute as a button.

the God files

Over the past few days Liam has developed an incredible fascination with God, asking me every imaginable question and squeezing a reference to God into nearly every conversation. I love his often awestruck, uninhibited, matter-of-fact queries and responses. Here is a sampling just from today.

"Mom, is God's head as big as that?" he said, pointing to a gazebo in the park.
"Um, I think it's much bigger than that."
"Awww...you have GOT to be kidding me!"

:::

Liam: "Dad, can we take the telescope out tonight and look for stars and stuff?"
Andrew: "Sorry, buddy, it's too cold tonight."
Liam: "Maybe it will get warmer."
Andrew: "No, it's not going to get warmer tonight."
Liam (incredulously): "How do you know? You're not God."

:::

"Who controls the lightning, the cops or the firemen?" Liam asked.
"No one controls the lightning."
"Well, what about the wind? Does the wind control it?"
"No. The only one who can control lightning is God."
"Oh," said Liam. "Does he use a remote?"

cleaning up at home

This morning I spent an hour at church helping to deep clean the kitchen. As I washed the back of the refrigerator and scrubbed the floor beneath it, I joked with another volunteer about how funny it was that I have never cleaned this part of my own kitchen. Other than the one time we repainted, I don't even think I have seen the back of my refrigerator. I am guessing it could use a little Lysol.

My home, even my family, plays second fiddle. It's been a gradual development. But as I scrubbed I realized that I may be off the path a bit. I am helpful, kind, going out of my way when it comes to caring for others outside my home. But I am often frustrated, exasperated and gloomy toward those within my home. Lately, Andrew has resorted to issuing a single command: "Smile." Not good. You'd think it might sink in.

It's just so easy to dump on the people we're closest to, our spouse and our kids. And, yet, they are the ones for whom we should be scrubbing the corners and lavishing the love. Instead, they get what's left. In this home, the last few days at least, it isn't much.

My friend Ann posted a wonderful, thought-provoking reading for Lent and hopefully she won't mind if I share it again. Today, I hung it in my kitchen, along with these verses from Galatians, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." I need every reminder to give my best to the people I love most, right here at home. The back of my fridge may never see a bucket and rag, but I'm working on filling that kitchen with smiles.

::

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ indwelling them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on divine order.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal Truth.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.

- William Arthur Ward
(American author, teacher and pastor, 1921-1994.)

art therapy

On Friday in DC I spent several hours in the National Gallery. As I stood in front of the Cassatts and the Degas and the Monets, I couldn't stop the tears. Here's what I decided: I need to get out more. It has been far too long since I've stepped foot in an art museum. Alone was good (very good!) but next time I want to bring Liam. So next week the two of us have a date at the Art Institute. We'll take the train, have a picnic lunch and take a little tour of the Impressionists. I can hardly wait.


Before leaving for DC, I whipped up this cute little hat for a baby shower. I am proud of it on several levels. It was the first baby hat I knit in the round. The first pompom I've ever made. And the first time I started following a pattern then changed it and did my own thing. And it worked!

The pattern I adapted is Gnomey Hat from Hello Yarn. I skipped the ear flaps, skipped a few knit rows near the top (on accident) and added the pompom. I used Felting Natural Yarn from Bernat, and I loved how it was slightly uneven and chunky. Did I mention that I'm proud of this one?

p.s. Mark, I am knitting your hat. I promise. I really am.