My Bit of Earth

In the Turnaround

"If you can't have grace in the moment, have grace in the turnaround."--Heather

I am not so good at mornings.  I'm not grouchy...well, I'm not always grouchy.  My main problem is that I love those "last five minutes" of sleep so much that I never give myself enough time.  I'm always flying out the door at the last second.  Which nearly works when Sweet Husband is around to feed and dress the Kid, but gets dicey when--as with this week--my partner-in-crime is out of town.

This morning, the Kid and I were not running super late.  We were actually right on the cusp of on-time, with ten or fifteen minutes to spare when I sat him down for breakfast.  

But then we hit trouble.  He took a bite of cereal.  And then he jabbered and talked and played with his spoon for two or three minutes.  Then he took another bite of cereal.  And then a few more minutes of non-eating activity.

I cajoled.  I removed every distraction I could.  Eventually, though, we just had to leave it, and when I impatiently pulled the plate away from him, his face melted into a puddle of trembling lips and tears.  Clearly, I was not only starving him and keeping him from his full learning potential today, but also teaching him to bolt down his food, which would undoubtedly lead to lifelong problems with obesity and an early death from related health issues....

OK, that's a little over-dramatic.  But truly, at that moment I felt like a horrible, no-good, very bad mother.

However--and this is why I led with Heather's quote--the great thing I'm discovering about this mom job is that you have to screw up really, really bad to actually get fired.  You don't get true do-overs, but you always get a chance to do better.

Tonight, we made dinner together.  I said to hell with the water bill and the kitchen floor, and let him play at washing dishes while I cooked.  We walked downtown for a cookie and put the chickens to bed and I let him bring a stick inside and bang it on the side of the bathtub.  

If you can't be the mom you want to be in the moment....

The Kid's Cookie Club: Stingily Spreading the Strawberry Jam

I almost missed strawberry season this year.  Everything is coming on so early--because of our winter-that-was-not-winter--and by the time I started to think about picking, all the local spots were picked out.  

Disgruntled at the missed opportunity for vast quantities of jam, I took a cue from Marisa and decided that if I couldn't make a big batch, a small one would have to do.  I bought a container of strawberries from the grocery store, and the Kid and I cooked it down into three tiny jars of Strawberry Vanilla Jam.  (He was a good stirrer.  Until he started flinging sugar-coated strawberries to Moe, at which point he was encouraged to find a new activity.)

While a bit soft to qualify as perfectly proper county fair jam (it's a pectin-free recipe), the flavor is amazing.  I thought the vanilla and lemon might make it a little cloying, but instead they just make the strawberries taste more like themselves.  Jar number one is already gone, and I'm desperately trying to forget about two and three so that they can be saved for fall breakfasts and Christmas pastry.

By which, you might gather, I'm being a little stingy with this stuff.  But even being stingy, I couldn't resist using some for this month's cookie club selection, these jam thumbprints.  The sugar cookie dough is ordinary; the jam makes the cookies!  If it happens to still be strawberry season in your part of the world, I highly recommend a jam-and-cookie session before time runs out! 

Growing Up Chicken

Gladys (the mama) has rejoined the laying hen world.  And--with a couple of "four egg" days this past weekend--I'm starting to feel egg-rich again.  Let the baking begin with wild abandon!

It's only right and proper, of course.  The former "babies" are starting to get big and ugly, as baby chickens do.  Letting Gladys raise them was an amazing process, but I think they're getting close to "raised", as far as Gladys and I are concerned, at least.  Gladys still mothers over them a bit, but not nearly as anxiously as she did at first.

The Indigo Girls are also growing up, although less dramatically.  They haven't been quite as seamlessly integrated into the flock--Bonnie and Joni are bullying them daily--but, aside from a tiny peck on the nose the first day, there hasn't been any blood, so I'm mostly letting them figure out the pecking order on their own.  Amy's manly looking legs are starting to concern me, but Sweet Husband thinks I'm imagining things.

Speaking of mama-hood, I had a little article published on the Sacred Pregnancy site this weekend.  Babies, marathons, chicks...they're all related somehow, right?

Just the Right Sort of Weekend

The best sort, actually.  The perfect amount of work and play, of reflection and celebration, of making and resting.  (And I think we might have our first mason bee--see that bit of mud in the hole on the right?)

Courtesy of Nice Mom (a.k.a. "Door", as inexplicably dubbed by the Kid) and Sweet Sister (a.k.a. "Mowdie"), Sweet Husband and I also had a grown-up dinner out and a night away.  The Kid got thoroughly spoiled of course--a trip to The Toy Store, ice cream, and play to his heart's content.  As for us, the meal and the company and the sleep were lovely, but watching our baby run up the sidewalk to hugs the next morning was quite nice too.  

[Confidential to Sweet Husband:  Eight years plus, honey, and I only get a little more not sick of you every day.]

Further Mulberry Discussions

Mulberry syrup and tonic water.  As I was snapping away, Moe decided to come take a sniff.

Yes, I got my mulberries--a small vat of them, from my Very Sweet Co-Worker.  Some went to make gin--which will be more purple than pink, next summer, from the looks of it.  But I cooked down about half the berries to make a super concentrated mulberry syrup.  (I followed these directions, except that I used a 1:1 ratio of berries to sugar, instead of 1:2.)  

While the syrup will shine on pancakes, it's also not bad to mix for drinking.  Apparently, a teaspoon of mulberry syrup served in a glass of water is a traditional Lebanese summer drink called "Sharab El Toot".  Not only is that a little fun to say, it's pretty darn refreshing, as well.

Here's to a lovely long weekend with lots of cool drinks!

[P.S. I've been remiss in announcing the winner of the stationery.  It's Sharm's Outlet!  I will be in touch about getting you your prize.]