PSF & Project 365 #17

My pictures this week are barely edited. I got Photoshop Elements for my birthday. Yay! I can't use it. Boo! I'm trying, but I find it impossible to do the kinds of things I want to do with it. I'll keep trying, but thus far, it's a giant source of frustration!

April 23, 2010
I have these starts hanging on a tree outside, I love them.

April 24, 2010
My mom and dad got Jacob Pick Up Sticks for Christmas.
He loves them.

April 25, 2010
Funny story.
Okay, not really. Or maybe, if you like to be poor.
Someone opened a door into Rebekah's toe last Friday night.
By Sunday, she was elevating it all day and complaining about how much it hurt.
I was worried it was broken.
She was going on and on about how much it hurt.
If it had been a little toe I wouldn't have worried so much, but I thought a big toe was cause for alarm.
Finally, after hearing about it a lot, I took her to Urgent Care. Not a decision I made lightly. Just to walk into Urgent Care for us is $300.00, plus the x-rays. Still, again, I thought it was a big deal to break your big toe.
So...
they're taking her vitals. They ask her to rate her pain on a scale of 1 to 10.
The pain she had complained about all. day. long.
She said a 2.
A two.
I seriously wanted to leave right then and there.
(Or step on her toe.)
*sigh*
So...
They come. They x-ray her toe.
We wait an hour.
The doctor comes in and tells us...
wait for it...
they don't do anything for a broken toe OR a broken foot.
Learn from me people.
Her toe is not broken. Good news, I know.
$700.00 later though there's a little piece of me that would have felt better if it was.
Yes, I mean that.

April 26, 2010

One of my favorite Mother's Day gifts ever.

April 27, 2010
Caramel Brownies
Yum!

April 28, 2010
Home.

April 29, 2010
Working on my perspective shots.

Have a great week. If you have any Photoshop Elements tips, I'm all ears.


Hosted by Cecilyand Caitlin

Hosted by Chris

Works for Me Wednesday...Peace at Last

When your child is eight when your next child is born, there's not a lot of sibling rivalry. When that child is eight when your next child is born, again, there's not a lot of sibling rivalry. There. That's what works for me. I strongly advise everyone have their children eight years apart. :)

What? Doesn't work for you?

Well, wouldn't work for me either. Because as much as I love our family exactly how God designed it, he did throw in the surprise of me all-of-a-sudden being able to get pregnant quite easily, thank you very much, and instead of it taking years to get pregnant again (no, Julianna was not an afterthought, or a surprise, or even (and I really, really hate this) an accident). She was planned, we just never could have known it would happen so quickly with our history. I've definitely learned there are great things about having kids two years apart as well.

However, when you have children two years apart, sibling rivalry, big time. Go figure.

Lately, at Chez Rittenberg, there's been a lot of dissent about who gets to pick what, who gets what privilege, who chooses anything and everything. It's all about control, and each of their desperate desire for it, but what's a Mama to do? Fortunately, I've figured it out.

It's so simple, it's genius really, and best of all, it works!

We've tried taking turns whose "day" it is before, but it always led to more arguments as it was difficult to remember whose day it was. Jacob was born on July 12. Julianna was born on November 1. Awesome. Even days are now Jacob's to choose what to watch on TV while they eat breakfast (yes, we do that, shut up). Jacob sits next to me at the table on even days. Jacob gets to choose who practices piano first on even days...you get the picture? If it's even and there's a King Solomen type decision to make? Jacob gets to make it.

And then...odd days. Hallelujah! All odd days, Julianna's in charge of the tv decision, she sits next to Mommy, she chooses who practices, she picks her favorite part of the couch to sit on. (Yes, that decision used to come perilously close to ruining stories at our house every night). It's so delightfully simple, and yet so effective. I love it. They love it. It's working.

If you have more than two children who fight over every stupid little thing, or if your children were both born on the same even/odd day, sorry. I've got nothing for you. Be creative. See if you can modify the system. But, if you've got the perfect setup like we do, try it. It really works. I highly recommend it.

PS Yes, I'm aware that six times a year Julianna will have her day twice in a row. So far, it's working. Jacob knows that's just the way the cookie crumbles and he has to deal with it. I really, really love this system.


Check out We Are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday tips.

A Sign of the Times

Most of the time, when I hear comments like "times have changed", "our kids are going through so much more than we did", etc., I shrug it off. Kids drank when I was in school. I lost my best friend in middle school because her idea of a good time was going home everyday after school and drinking. Mine wasn't. Drugs were around when I was in school. I've been offered all sorts of things, though I always declined. Grow up in a home with a drug addict, you tend to either go down the same path, or avoid it at all costs. Thankfully, I avoided it at all costs. Kids were having sex when I was in school. The girl I knew sophomore year who had an abortion one day and was back the next as if nothing happened made a life-long impression. Parents got divorced then. There were pretty much the same problems and issues then that my kids face now.

One area that is quite a bit different is homosexuality. It was quieter then, at least in my school, my community. Subtler. I had a good friend in high school who was gay. His life was hard, probably harder because he was gay. I've been thinking a lot about him lately. Kids today are much more open about their sexuality--gay or straight. That's, in my opinion, not all bad and not all good. In our high school there are a fair amount of kids who consider themselves gay. There doesn't seem to be a stigma attached to it, they're out, they are who they are. It's out there and it's real. The kids act as though it's no big deal, but I wonder.

I worry for the kids who will get labeled as something that maybe they not really are. Once labeled as gay, I'm pretty sure that's who you will be for life, at least to all the other kids. Is that fair? Is that true?

There were two girls who were having sex in the bathroom at our high school. One happened to be 18, the other not, so the 18 year old is in a huge amount of trouble. The younger girl's father did not know his daughter was gay, he's very angry and possibly punishing the 18 year old for it. It's sad. I'm not saying what's right here, what's wrong, it's just hopelessly sad.

Rebekah has a good friend who is gay. I recently found out that this girl is gay. She's been together with her girlfriend for a long time. I like this girl a lot and knowing that she is gay is not going to change that. I will admit though it gives me pause that this girl and her girlfriend have been to our house for sleepovers. I'm sure it's fine. I'm sure nothing untoward happened, but I wouldn't allow Rebekah's heterosexual friends to have their boyfriends at sleepovers at our house. It makes me uncomfortable to think of them kissing, being physically demonstrative, in front of Rebekah. I wouldn't act 0n that uncomfortableness, I see it as my problem, but I'd by lying if I said it wasn't there.

It's hard. *sigh*

Now there's prom. A group was worked out. Everyone was excited. It's a large group, 10-12 kids. Now, one of the moms doesn't want her daughter, a good friend of Rebekah's, going in the group. I'm not clear on the reason, but I suspect it may have something to do with the couple that is made up of girls. Is homosexuality a sin? I don't know. Most of the time I don't think so, but what I do know is that the question is above my pay scale. I try not to worry too much about other people's sins or failings. I have too many of my own. I do know if my child was gay I would be sad. I'd be sad that their life was going to be that much harder. As far as society has come, there's still a long way to go. I will always love my children, being gay would certainly never change that, but I would worry for the road they'd have to travel.

Prom, the event my daughter was looking forward to with extreme excitedness, is now tarnished. Does she stay with the group and now go with her best friend? Does she go with her best friend (probably the choice her date would prefer, her best friend's date is a friend of his), knowing that another couple will also break off and go with Rebekah? It's getting at best complicated and at worst potentially ugly.

When I was in school you might have known someone was gay, but they certainly didn't date anyone, they didn't go to dances together, it wasn't front and center, in your face, you have to deal with it. It might have been easier, but in retrospect it certainly doesn't seem like it was fair. I read once the number one cause of teen suicide is homosexuality. That makes me extremely sad. I wonder if this will ever get easier?

I guess in this way life is much different, and much more complicated, than when I was in school.

2010 Meal Plan #16

For more meal plans, check out Organizing Junkie

Can I just say, Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joes are incredible. Seriously yummy. We enjoyed them, well, Mark, Rebekah and I enjoyed them. Jacob acted like I was trying to kill him and Julianna raved about how good they were then barely touched them. Not such an unusual dinner around here when I serve something new. Much, much better than my normal stand-by, Manwich.

Monday (dance): CPK's Orange Chicken Lettuce Rolls, Fried Rice, Bok Choy
Tuesday (piano, sax, jazz band): Mexican Lasagna, fruit
Wednesday (Daisies, Cub scouts, play practice, Jazz): Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salads
Thursday (jazz band concert): Spicy Orange Chicken Lo Mein, pea pods
Friday (Mark & Jacob on campout):

PSF & Project 365 #16

April 16, 2010
Jacob's science fair project.
A density experiment.
He did a great job, and had a great time.
A good Mommy moment.

April 17, 2010
Celebrating my birthday at Easton.
A pretty perfect day.

April 18, 2010
Lego boy

April 19, 2010
Birthday flowers
Aren't they pretty?

April 20, 2010
DS boy too

April 21, 2010
Lilacs. Beautiful.

April 22, 2010
Welcome back grill.
We missed you during the long, long winter.

The story of my week? Pretty much celebrating spring.
Hope it continues and hope you're having a good beginning to spring too.

Hosted by Chris

Hosted by Cecily and Mamarazzi

Jamie Oliver Food Revolution

Dear Jamie Oliver,

Thank you for your new show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. To be honest, at first, I avoided it. You see, I am overweight. I figured I didn’t need another show reprimanding me and making me feel guilty and bad about myself. Then, a friend I respect a lot wrote about your show and made me curious and I decided to check it out myself. I've been very pleasantly surprised, it was not what I thought and although I'm still making my way through the series, I had some thoughts I wanted to share.

Please, please, please be careful with your facts. Your entire message gets diluted and weakened when you rely on inaccuracies. There are enough problems with our country's school lunch program without relying on sensational, but inaccurate information.

An example. You're fond of saying chocolate milk has more sugar than your favorite soda. When I heard this repeatedly on your show I was horrified as my younger daughter drinks chocolate milk and I would never allow her to drink soda. Now, I think there's a valid argument that white milk would be a better choice, but chocolate milk does not contain more sugar than soda. Chocolate milk has 27 g of sugar, white milk has 12g. Therefore, 15g of sugar are added to chocolate milk, approximately 4 teaspoons worth. That's a lot, more than I would have thought, but no where near the 39 g of sugar, almost 10 teaspoons of sugar, in a Coke. I love the school districts that have upped white milk consumption by serving it ice cold and with paper straws, eliminating the paper cartons that tend to smell. Why not just make the point that white milk is a better choice? I might be tempted to argue that chocolate milk a child will drink is a better choice than unopened white milk in the garbage, but it's a truthful debate whichever side you're on. When you rely on inaccurate statements that sound horrifying but don't hold up, I tend to question everything you're saying. Your message is too important for that.

I completely agree that obesity is a major crisis in this country. I can not find one source that claims the next generation is in danger of dying in their 30's and 40's from it however. Again, make the points you can accurately and leave sensationalism out of it. The rising rates of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and joint degeneration should provide you with more than enough accurate information to convince people a change is direly needed.

Could you also quit telling kids to clean their plates, eat up, etc.? That kind of rhetoric is just plain wrong, old-fashioned, and potentially damaging. I encourage my kids to eat until they're satisfied. To learn to listen to their bodies. It doesn't work all the time, granted. Sometimes kids do need encouragement, especially when trying new foods, but please don't tell them they should be cleaning their plates.

I love what you've done in England, I love that you're calling attention to problems in the American school lunch program. I'm very sad that our country has failed our children so miserably. It's ridiculous that french fries and ketchup count as vegetables. There is much wrong and definitely much to be fixed. It's horrifying that kids are not being served freshly prepared foods instead of frozen, heat to eat foods chock full of fillers, preservatives and chemicals. I bemoan the fact that my kid's school serves canned vegetables that no kid would eat instead of fresh, tasty alternatives. There's definitely a lot to criticize and a lot to work to change. May I say however that it was more than a little arrogant to show up in a town that desperately needs help determined to force your fix upon it without playing by the rules? Yes, the rules are archaic and wrong, but they're still the rules, they still need to be played by. If you can not even come in at or under budget how in the world do you expect the school system to? If you are ignorant of the FDA requirements, and neglect to meet the current nutritional standards, how do you expect the people in charge in Huntington to take you seriously and respect you? Speaking of respect, you would probably get a lot further with people if you showed them more respect, especially the people in charge who are meeting you more than halfway. How much easier would the Huntington food administrator's job have been if you had done your homework and known the standards? If the high school standard is 1 1/4 cups of fruits/vegetables per lunch, you should have not only known that, you should have delighted in it and respected it. You created a wonderful dish of stir-fried vegetables and noodles. How simple would it have been to add a small oriental salad? Instead of mocking the fact that none of the kids were taking the salad that makes up the requirement on the other line, offer them something that they will eat. You're a chef aren't you?

If kids love chicken nuggets and pizza you're not going to make great strides taking their favorite foods completely away from them. Indeed, most nutritional experts would agree there's no reason to. Why not teach the cooks how to make a healthy chicken nugget? It can definitely be done. Ditto pizza on a whole wheat crust with low-fat cheese and turkey pepperoni. If your message is that people's favorite foods are "bad" and should be eliminated, long-lasting change is not very feasible.

I think you're on the right track. I think you raise a lot of very valid and important points. I'm just disappointed that you've chosen to do it in a way that leaves critics so much room to avoid the real, and important, issues.

2010 MPM #15

Rebekah watched Food, Inc., recently in her yoga class. I'm really glad. I truly believe every adult should watch that movie. I learned a lot when I watched it, she learned a lot when she watched it, and it's definitely changing the way I shop. [sidebar: it's on Wednesday on PBS, locally it's on at 9:00 p.m.. If you haven't seen it, I highly encourage you to watch it--it really gives you a lot to think about.]

Anyway...one of the points from the movie that has really stuck with both Rebekah and me is the idea that when we grocery shop we're voting with our dollars. True that. The more I think about that the more I think about how important it is to respect that fact.

We all went to the grocery store together this weekend. That never happens. It was fun though, and eye opening. Well, we were shopping after church, we were getting hungry, it was racing ever closer to lunchtime, and we were trying to decide what to get for lunch. I've been wanting to try Pioneer Woman's sloppy joes, and I thought about getting the ingredients for that. I asked one of the employees at Walmart if the ground beef is ground at the store, no, it's shipped in from a mass producer. Potentially that means that ground beef could come from many, many animals, greatly increasing the likelihood of contamination. I will no longer be buying meat that is mass-ground at some processing plant. We talked about buying all sorts of things, vetoing all of them on health grounds. Time was passing, I finally said, let's just buy something and plan better next time. Rebekah said, "but Mom, we really are voting with our dollars, it makes a difference." She was right. Moreover, I was really proud that she was smart enough to "get it". We all happily left, a little hungrier, but glad to be sticking with our priorities. I'll go to another grocery store tomorrow to purchase pork, meat, and chicken that I can feel good about. I will no longer be buying ground beef that I don't know the source of, I will not buy chicken that is processed in questionable ways, I will do my best to make choices for my family that I feel better about. I will remember that I am voting with my grocery dollars and I will do my best to make every vote count.

Check out more Meal Plans at Organizing Junkies

Monday: Grandma's Chicken & Rice, green beans, applesauce, PW's Rosemary rolls
Tuesday (piano): PW's sloppy joes, cheesy potato casserole, carrots & celery, Midwest Living's best Chocolate Chip Cookie
Wednesday: Leftovers, pot luck
Thursday: Grilled pork chops w/smokey apple bbq sauce, baked sweet potatoes w/brown sugar nutmeg butter, brussel's sprouts, broccoli
Friday: ??

Hope you all have a good week. :)

PSF & Project 365 #15

April 9, 2010

Julianna's loving her American Girl Dolls.
Finally.
Thank goodness. :)

April 10, 2010
We had the best day.
There are a pair of eagles nesting near here.
We went to the local park and took a walk to try and see them.
We ended up being able to see them through a telescope,
then we were surprised to see one flying.
Lousy picture, but wonderful surprise.

After hiking 2 miles, we were starving and not in the mood for junk.
Off to Whole Foods where we all enjoyed the salad bar.
Then, Rebekah was looking for a gummy crocodile for her AP Lit project,
so it was off to the mall and Fuzziwigs. We stopped to play on the playground,
something we never do anymore.
Jacob and Julianna loved it.

Then, we were off to the library and home.
It was a really lovely day.

Oh, there was ice cream in there somewhere too.

I told you. Lovely.

April 11, 2010
We've been pretty busy around here.
It's Science Fair time again. *shudder*
Actually, setting aside my procrastination gene,
Jacob and Julianna did a great job.

Jacob's projects about density.
He had a great time, much to his surprise,
a plus in the good job Mom column.

Julianna learned how flowers get water with carnations. That one's always fun.

Rebekah thankfully had no science fair,
but a Peeps project for her AP Lit class.
She recreated a scene from Peter Pan out of Peeps.
It turned out great. She is one creative girl.

April 12, 2010
I love my grill.

April 13, 2010
She still prefers contacts, but her new glasses are pretty cute too.

April 14, 2010
Do you know how hard it is to photograph baby fish?
Very.

April 15, 2010
So, as we were putting Julianna's tennies on yesterday,
we discovered she had outgrown them. Uh-oh, bad news.
Teachers take wearing tennies very seriously around these parts.
I rushed off an email to the teachers involved begging for leniency and set out to buy new tennies. Yeah, it's me. Not that easy. First, I bought 2 pairs at Target, cheap, cute, didn't fit. All righty then, next. Julianna's been drooling over Twinkle-Toes. They were more than I wanted to spend, especially this close to summer when Crocs will be the shoe of choice, but then I remembered a Kohls gift card that's been gathering dust for a couple of months. Score! Kohls had Twinkle-Toes. Not so fast, they didn't fit. I called around found another size and we headed off to the mall. Yeah, the new ones didn't fit either.

More time than I want to think about later, she chose these at Stride Rite.

Aren't they cute?

They were very reasonable too. Whoopee!

Of course the 2 charms we went to buy to make them as cute as Twinkle-Toes set back the reasonable a bit, but that's okay, you're only 7 once.

Hosted by Chris

Hosted by Cecily and Mamarazzi

CSA, Pros, Cons...WWYD

I'm thinking of joining a CSA. I'm having a lot of reservations though. Thus, once again, I'm turning to my blog to play What Would You Do? I've found a great CSA, if I do decide to join one, this one would be fantastic, I'm sure. They follow all organic practices, they've been doing it a long time, they provide all the produce you get, everything seems good about this one.

But.

It's a lot of money. Sort of. It's around $600 for around 6 months. So I need to take $100 a month out of our food budget. That's a bit scary. Mark's income gets cut dramatically, I mean really dramatically starting in July, and when I look at our budget for August and beyond, let's just say there are big scary red numbers. Really scary. The kind that mean that every penny needs to be scrutinized and we need to be super smart about how we spend our money.

So...is a CSA a smart use of our grocery dollars or not?

Pros:

• organic produce
• picked the day we receive it--doesn't get much fresher than that
• experts agree it's good to eat local and in season, this would guarantee that
  
• supporting a local farmer and family whose farm is their only livelihood
• opportunity to attend a monthly potluck on the farm, so my kids would really know where their food comes from.
  
• opportunity to explore produce I would not normally buy and hopefully discover new things we like.
• chance to build more produce into our diets--something we all would benefit by
• chance to buy beef and pork raised the way I'd like it to be raised--pastures, no hormones, antibiotics, etc.
  

Cons:

• do I really want to eat in season? I just had a terrific honeydew, certainly not in season, but absolutely delicious. Ditto the corn on the cob we had night before last.
  
• $600 is a pretty big chunk of money for us. If I spend the money on the CSA it will limit what groceries I can buy for the next 6 months--a pretty long time.
• I'm pretty picky, what if the produce we receive is not really up to the standard I'd like it to be? I like lettuce that isn't full of insect holes, etc. I like high quality produce. If I buy from a farmer's market and one farmer's produce is not up to my standard I can go on to the next stand. With a CSA, that option's eliminated.
• What if we don't like kohlrabi, beets, celeriac, kale, collards, etc? Then I'm stuck with produce we've paid for but don't really want.
• I'd still need to buy the produce we like but would not be receiving in the CSA plus all fruit we consume--we really like our summer fruit, I'd like to still have the money to do that.
• I'm not really sure that I can reduce my food budget by $100 a month from the CSA. That would be a problem.

So, anyone out there have any experience with this debate? Thoughts to share?

Updates and MPM

Thank you so much for all the prayers and good wishes. Matthew's doing better, slowly getting back to normal. Scary stuff asthma. I've always had the naive impression that if you did the treatments, took the medicine, that was the magic to keeping it in check. Scary to witness firsthand that those things are not always enough. I'll definitely keep praying that the little guy gets better and better and isn't bothered by any more episodes.

From Tracie won My Blog Spark's Stirring Up Wishes giveaway. Thanks for everyone who played along. Special Wish is definitely a wonderful organization.

We had a nice spring break. It was hectic and went by way too quickly. I've never worked over spring break before, so it definitely wasn't quite the vacation time we've enjoyed in the past, but I think the kids still had fun. I tried. In any event, it's Monday again, and we're off to the final stretch of the school year. So bittersweet knowing this is the end of Rebekah's high school career. So many wonderful things coming up for her, her last Jazz band concert, her last band contest, senior prom, a big role in the school play...the next nine weeks will surely fly by.

Here's what we'll be eating this week as we get back into our routines. For other meal plans, check out Organizing Junkie.

Monday: Chicken Kabobs, Quinoa salad
Tuesday: Macaroni & Cheese, main dish for piano teacher, side for us; meatloaf, roasted carrots, cookies
Wednesday: Salmon patties, buttered noodles, creamed peas
Thursday: Cast Iron Pan Pizza

Yup, lots of repeats from last week. The week didn't go as planned, but that's not surprising. Hopefully this week will be a little more predictable. Have a wonderful week.

Please Pray

Matthew had a really, really hard day today.
He's exhausted and sick and his asthma's acting up.

Again.

The available treatments aren't cutting it.

Please pray.

I'm praying for healing for him, hopefully without a hospital stay
and also prayers for his Mom and Dad.
So much worry. So much stress. So much to deal with.

PSF & Project 365 #14

April 2, 2010
My baby turned 18. *sob*

April 3, 2010
Daddy's teaching Jacob and Julianna to play basketball.
See all the smiles in the photo? That's awesome!

April 4, 2010
My mom

My dad and Jacob
My favorite picture of the week.
Jacob sure loves his Grandpa.

Victory at the egg hunt.

Counting loot.

Probably my favorite Easter pic.

The sorta formal Easter pic.

April 5, 2010
Indianapolis Children's Museum

It's so hands on. I love that. I also love that it's not just geared to little kids.

At the Barbie exhibit you could pretend you were a photographer...

or fashion model...

Guess which Jacob chose?
(This picture is SO going on senior slide show in 9 years.)

Niece and Uncle love. <3

You can watch a real paleontologist at work.
See the window? No glass. You can talk to them and touch too.

That's the leg bone of a duck-bill. Cool!

April 6, 2010
Future rockstar.

April 7, 2010
I love her eyes.

Unfortunately, right now they're miserable.
I don't think allergies have ever been as bad as they are this year.

Cute gratuitous picture. :)

April 8, 2010
Bedtime stories at Nana and Pop's.

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Hosted by Chris