Enjoying the Moment

Last week we walked out of Willa's piano lesson at 5pm, and stepped out into the most spectacular, fiery sunset. Willa said "Oh, it's so beautiful! We should sit down and enjoy it for a while."

Looking around at the view...the Linn County DMV across the street, the dirty parking lot, power lines all over, I suggested perhaps we should go home and enjoy it from our own front porch.

"It might be over by then." She's so logical. She's so right. We sat down on the curb in an empty parking space and stared at the sky. I'm not sure it could have been more beautiful if we'd been on the edge of the world.

Gratefull-nesses and Upliftingness

I've been feeling a bit low this week; it seems sadnesses are all around us. Our neighbor's 25-year-old brother passed away this week, my BFF's neighbor gave birth to a beautiful still-born daughter, my cousin's daughter was diagnosed with melanoma...the list continues.

To lift myself out of this weighted funk, I'm going to share five things that are totally awesome and that I'm thankful for - I'm going to think about the little things, and know that I'm so wildly thankful and uplifted already by the big ones (healthy family, love, friends that continue to talk to me and inspire me after almost 20 years...etc)

So here's my list in no particular order; I'll try to keep this up until I realize that I'm the luckiest person in the world.

1. I'm thankful I can go out for lunch today with a friend. This covers multiple bases...it means I've got enough disposal income to spend $10 for a lunch out, I've got transportation and I've got a job that lets me have enough flexibility to leave it for an hour at lunch time. I've also got a friend that wants to lunch with me!
2. Despite often being exasperated by the details, I'm thankful that I could answer 14 questions asked by Willa on the way to school concerning the busing/transportation systems for Harding Middle School. 
3. It makes me smile that after a weekend away from me, Jamey called me 5 times yesterday. There were flimsy reasons, but really I think he just felt disconnected after being away from me for three days. First call was 10 minutes after he left the house.
4. While most of the trees outside my office window are now bare, there is one brilliant fire-red bushy tree and one golden yellow one clinging to their leaves. I can see them both together if I lean forward and look right.
5. I got the entire Sister Hazel Digital Collection (20 mp3s) as a free download from Amazon.com. I'm not a huge fan of Sister Hazel, and I wouldn't have bought the album, but I'm enjoying listening to the music at the moment, and it was FREE. I just discovered the free mp3 collection (which changes daily) on Amazon.

Posers.

Halloween 2010: Cam the Viking and Willa the Mad Scientist.
While I hate to carry on the stereo type, Willa made an awesome mad scientist!

Reflection

I've organized and am in the middle of a workshop about ePortfolios. Portfolios are all about reflection. We've been talking about how to make our students reflective...to think about what they're learning, why they're learning it and how it relates to the rest of the universe. Why don't I do that??!?!? Starting today, starting today.

Socrates said it best - "A life unexamined is not worth living."

2nd Grade

Willa started 2nd grade last week. Ms. Deb, her Kindergarten teacher, is now the teacher for 1st & 2nd Grade at Summit. Willa loved Ms. Deb in Kindergarten (everybody loves Ms. Deb). However, when I told Willa Ms. Deb was going to be her teacher, earlier this summer, she seemed less than thrilled. When I pressed her on the issue, she said "I love Ms. Deb, but I've already learned all the Kindergarten stuff and now I want to do 2nd grade stuff!"

I forget how literal her mind is. She associates Ms. Deb with Kindergarten. I explained that Ms. Deb has taught lots of other grades, and she would, indeed, be teaching Willa 2nd grade things, but I know this thought is still in Willa's head. The first night of homework, she casually commented that the homework is "kindergarten homework" (it was sequencing story problems), and she referred to her journal writing as "how we did journals in kindergarten". I suppose it does not help that Ms. Deb kept her classroom, so the kids are back in the room they had as Kindergartners.

In the combined 1st & 2nd grade, our second graders look so mature now, compared to the first graders. I do not remember thinking they looked young last year (when they were on the low end of the combined totem pole). It could be that we have some small statured first graders, or that our second graders had exceptional growth spurts over the summer (or they are just giants in nature!). Hopefully those little first graders will catch up!

RAGBRAI 2010

Today is day two of our ride. So far, so good!

Day One: Sioux City to Storm Lake. We had an almost 70 mile day today - with over 3500 ft of elevation. Jamey and I really felt our lake of training on this day! My legs were sore and tired by the time we got to Storm Lake. Jamey commented that today's mileage probably topped what he'd ridden all year! We're doing something different this year and just going with the RAGBRAI sag. It's sort of liberating...but I really appreciate having someone find a nice location for me and having iced beverages waiting! Storm Lake was beautiful. We camped right on the lake (crowded, but scenic). The day was perfect weather-wise! I kept waiting for the humidity, but it was pleasent. Sleeping in a tent was nice, too!

Best Food: found Pizza on Wheels, twice! The first location had a line that was probably 45 minutes long; then we rode on, and found them again and waited only about five minutes. Jamey was overjoyed.

Day Two: Storm Lake to Algona. Longer mileage, but much flatter! We rode 79 miles today. Walked through the amazing grotto in West Bend. Some priest built it - first spending 10 years collecting rocks, shells and other interesting things, then spent 40 years builting them all into this grotto.

My legs are much more refreshed tonight...not really sore at all!

We saw a family with a triple-tandem, a tag-along and then a trailer (with two kids...a baby and a toddler!). I think I love my kids TOO much to do that! But it does make me think about when it will be right to take them on this ride. Jamey and I decided we'd probably do something a bit more mild, like TRAM or SAGBRAW or Tour D'Kota with them rather than RAGBRAI. This year seems particulary crowded and congested.

Best Food: monster cookies in Varinda.

Tomorrow - short day on to Clear Lake.

Summer of Food

Two books are pulling me in this week:

Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" (acquired from the Cedar Rapids Public Library) and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver.

These books are working in tandem, challenging my assumptions and thoughts about food. Even what I though was good food. In an early chapter of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" Kingsolver says we (Americans) "like the idea of vegetables" more than the actual things themselves. I find myself reading this book late into the night, and thinking about ways that I can adjust my families food consumption to follow more natural growing seasons. I am also starting to figure out how I can get more foods that are locally produced. Obviously farmer's market has gone a long way in our raw foods intake: I've totally eliminated fresh vegetables from the grocery store list. Now I'm working on fruits. We love fruit. Sure, I'm starting to get the early Muskatine melons, and local blueberries and soon we'll start seeing apples. But it's hard to resist the bananas, grapes, avocados and pears that I know travels thousands of miles to reach the Target grocer.

I'm on my second recipe in "Food Revolution". I think I'll need to buy this book myself. I want to actually get into the revolution - to get the two friends to try a recipe (who will them get two other friends...etc until we've changed the world! eradicated childhood obesity and diabetes! eliminated HFCS from our daily intake! put MacDonald's out of business!)

As for the recipes; two thumbs up for the two I've tried. We had delicious banana-cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast a few days ago. Quaker Oats is only a few miles from my house, but I love that my oatmeal contained five ingredients, all recognizable in that natural state, rather than the 26 ingredients listed on the back of my box of pre-flavored oatmeal packages.

We also had meatballs & sauce (I choose to serve on rolls with fresh mozzarella made at Acoustic Farms in Springville, IA). The meatballs were delicious - made from a combo of ground sirloin (red meat is a rare ingredient in my house) and ground pork (also picked up at farmer's market). It was the marinara that blew us away though. We have become entirely too reliant on marinara, and her relatives, from jars. While this recipe still relied on canned tomatoes, it tasted so fresh and delicious that I might not be able to open a jar for a long, long time. And since it was relatively quick, I hope I don't actually open a jar for a long, long time. I love that I walked out to my herb patch and plucked out some basil, oregano and parsley, walked back to my kitchen, rinsed the leaves and tossed them into saute. Onions and garlic were picked up at market. I made enough to keep a bit out for tonight's menu (flat bread pizza) and to freeze about a pint & a half for future use.

I haven't decided what to try next, but I'll post pictures. The marinara, with it's purple onions, red tomatoes and bright green basil was not only delicious, but beautiful!