eating stuff (the joy that is little boys)

so the other day, i was getting dressed in my room.  from the other side of the door, i kept hearing desmond announce with pride, "I lick it!  Mommy, I lick it!"

i ignored him, thinking he was chewing on one of Sirius' toys or something.

"Mmhmm, sweetie."

i came out of my room and discovered that desmond was, in fact, in the process of devouring a stick of butter.  It was over half gone and filled with teeth marks.  His grinning face was shiny and as buttery as a biscuit.

ugh.

does the story sound familiar?

maybe it's because i caught tesla doing the exact same thing when he was only 2 months older than desmond is now.

tesla, caught in the act.

i mean, i like butter.  probably the only person who likes butter more than i do is paula deen herself.  par example: the other night, silas and i went to the cheesecake factory.  they gave us a basket with two loaves of bread and 6 little packets of butter.

silas and i split the bread evenly.  he used one little foil-wrapped portion of butter for all of his bread.

i, of course, used the other five.  one for each slice!

i often like to just dip chunks of bread in softened butter, rather than spreading it on thinly.

so it's obvious where the boys got their affinity for buttery goodness.

but even i wouldn't eat a stick of butter like a popsicle.

tesla with his "purse"

the other day i was walking to the car, carrying a bunch of stuff, when i heard desmond call out, "Mommy!  I drink a water!"

i turned to find both him and tesla, face down on the cement driveway, licking up some liquid that i hope was a dirty puddle.  it could have been spilled oil or some poisonous car fluid, for all i know.

desmond and sirius

and then today, we were walking to the car again when i heard desmond say, "Mmm!  Cereal!"

i looked down to find him happily crunching on something.

i had not given him any cereal.



sometimes seems like a miracle they're still alive.






*you'll notice that it was desmond drawing my attention in each of these scenarios.  it appears tesla's learned to keep quiet by now, in order that his mischief may continue uninterrupted.

anticlimax

i was getting restless. 

maybe it's because it's october, but it feels like july.  fall is my favorite season, and each year i welcome it with open arms.  fall means crisp, cool air.  fall means baking.  fall means eating huge bags of candy corn and turning my tongue hot pink.  (did you know that's what color candy corn turns your mouth?  maybe you've never eaten an entire bag of candy corn in one day.)  fall means leaves and pumpkins and long sleeves and anticipation.

fall does not mean 100 degree afternoons.

(not complaining, just saying.)

i was itching for change, but since i'm growing out my hair* (i feel like i'm perpetually "growing out my hair"), there's only one solution.

it comes in a $10 box and smells like death by choking.

as i was applying the dye, i realized that i had not thought this through.  i hoped it wouldn't look too bad (and i sent up a few prayers to ward off orange hair).  but i was committed.  i wanted a change!

i'll let you see for yourself how it went.

before

after

 (please excuse my wide-eyed look of uncertainty in both photos)

what's that, now?

you say it looks exactly the same?

ah.

it appears that, for once, i was actually a little too conservative.  medium blonde obviously wasn't blonde enough.

now i'm enduring a mental battle of impatience ("GO GET ANOTHER BOX!  WHO'S UP FOR ROUND TWO?") versus prudence ("now remember, even though there wasn't a visible change your hair was probably damaged, and you should wait several weeks or even a few months before dousing it in chemicals again.")

who will win?  stay tuned for the next thrilling installment.

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*speaking of growing out hair, i saw this post last week and i almost booked a haircut right then and there. her hair is so cute at every stage, and the pictures decimated one of my pixie-cut obstacles (the fear of growing it out and looking like a fool for an entire year.)  one step closer to the brave world of really short hair...

homemade laundry detergent [update]

so i mentioned that i was testing out a new homemade laundry detergent.

it's a bit early to really make a judgment, but i wanted to pop in and say--so far so good!

here's the recipe i used, in case you would also like to embark on a mini adventure in frugality.

it's cooked on the stovetop, but don't be put off by that.  it's really easy.  (but be warned, if you do happen to spill borax onto your burner, it will produce a noxious smell every time you turn it on.  at this point, you will want to just buy a new burner plate.  borax-scented curry is less than appetizing.

hypothetically speaking, of course.)

silas walked into the kitchen when i was making it, and, bursting with pride, i exclaimed, "Look!  I'm making laundry detergent!"

silas peered into the pot.  "Ah," he said.  "Ye Olde Meth Lab."

as of yet, i haven't noticed any residue or streaks on our clothes (problems i have had with previous detergent attempts).  last time when i was using homemade powder detergent, there was noticeable fading.  (i have a couple black shirts that are now an uneven dark grey.)  obviously, a little more time is needed to make a full assessment.  however, for the moment, i'm happy.

missing that clean laundry smell?  it's easy to achieve, with the help of these little babies:

yes, i still write on my hands like a ninth grader.

just toss a small amount (meaning a teaspoon or two--this is strong stuff) into your load and your clothes will smell clean and fragrant.

toss a little more and your senses will be accosted with an aggressive clean laundry smell.  be judicious.  you don't want to induce vomiting.

so obviously, this addition makes your homemade detergent slightly less frugal.  however, you use such a tiny, tiny amount per load, that i don't think it's really a splurge.

my clothes smell even better than before, and i don't have to use fabric softener (which leaves an odd residue on our clothes).

if you've ever experimented with the homemade stuff, share your wisdom.

and speaking of laundry:

it's time to fold the daily loads.

over and out, loves.


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p.s.  i just found this recipe, which looks even easier.  i'm going to try it when i run out of the above.

[recipe] crispy tofu tacos

i used to be a tofu weenie.

i thought it was bland and mushy and kind of gross.  i tried to eat it sometimes, but the most i could do with it was scramble it.  it was a poor, watery, turmeric-flavored substitute for the delight that is scrambled eggs.

people kept telling me, "you have to cook it differently!  try frying it!"

but i was afraid of frying things.

fry it?  in oil?  you must be insane.

(this was back when i was extremely calorie-conscious, which explains why i was trying to choke down flavorless tofu in the first place.  back in those dark days, i would do ridiculous things like eating measured portions of carrot sticks and saltine crackers topped with salsa.  my special breakfast treat was the "toast" i made by spraying both sides of a slice of bread with cooking spray and warming it in a nonstick pan.

it was disgusting, and tasted like the inside of a can.)

eventually, i got over my fear of fat (although i have yet to deep-fry anything), and started to branch out more.  life got a lot better.

(fat = flavor, people.)

and once i learned to press and (lightly! don't freak out!) fry tofu, meat substitutes became a lot more appealing.

allow me to demonstrate.



crispy tofu tacos

from here

1 block extra-firm tofu
3 TBS taco seasoning
1 1/2 TBS dried oregano
butter or oil for frying
your desired taco accoutrements

Drain and press your block of tofu.  I do this by placing the tofu between several layers of napkins or paper towels, and weighing it down with a cast iron pan (or some equally flat and heavy object).  You can press it for a few minutes or a few hours.  I probably did mine for about half an hour.

Heat a large pan and some butter (or oil) over medium heat.

Once tofu has been pressed, slice it into thin (about 1/2 inch) slices.  (You can also cube it, which would result in extra crispiness and flavor.  It is excellent this way.   However, if you are unenthused about flipping three dozen tiny cubes, slice it.)

Mix your taco seasoning and oregano in a small bowl.  Dredge your tofu slices or cubes in the spice mixture, and then place them into the hot pan.  Like so.

by the way, you'll notice i'm not frying the tofu in an inch of grease or anything.  i added just enough butter to keep the slices from sticking to my very old, very weathered, cast iron pan.

also, you can obviously use whatever type of oil you wish to.  i just think butter tastes good.

Cook the tofu a couple minutes on each side, or until crispy.  If your slices are big enough, you can remove them from the pan and place them onto a cooling rack so that they don't get mushy.

Serve taco style!  You can slice it into strips if your tortillas are small.  We ate ours with extra sharp cheddar, baby spinach leaves, and homemade guacamole (recipe: mash avocados with fresh lime juice and salt.  devour).

We also had a chopped cabbage salad on the side, drizzled with a delicious sweet chili dressing inspired by this one.

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and here's the recipe that made me love tofu.

preschool: counting train

so you know tesla loves to play alphabet train.  (and that he is smitten with trains in general.)

every single day, without fail, he asks to play alphabet train as soon as we put desmond to bed.

the alphabet train has been really helpful in cementing the capital vs. lowercase concept for tesla.  i hadn't really introduced the vocabulary before because i didn't want to confuse him, but now he can easily identify the capital and lowercase forms of each letter.

however, i was getting bored of playing alphabet train every day.   :)  so i decided to expand the concept.  tesla's pretty solid on his letters, but numbers are still a bit shaky.

enter the counting train!

 available in the homely thanksgiving-themed colors of brown, cream, and orange!

(we ran out of construction paper)

i  made cards with the numbers 1-20 (although we usually just use the 1-10 set, since recognizing the written numerals is a relatively new thing around here and the 11-20s just confuse him).  we practice counting and numeral recognition as we add each "car" to the train.

and still, the simple fact that i told him it's a train makes this game enthralling.

toddlers.  so easy to please.

i plan to continue the train game, adding a sight words set and possibly a set for rare color names.

let me know if you have any ideas for categories!

preschool: prewriting skills

placing coins into a slot,

threading pieces of straws onto yarn,

and stringing and sorting froot loops.

skill-building doesn't have to feel like work.   :)

preschool: homemade playdough

finally.

FINALLY the boys are old enough for playdough!

we've done it before (both homemade and storebought) with limited success.

well, limited success with the storebought.  the homemade was pretty bad.

in the past, playdough has only captured the boys' attention for about 3 minutes.  also, they ate a ton of it.

but this time, they loved it.

and, they didn't eat it.

(maybe we're actually starting to move past the "everything-must-go-in-my-mouth" compulsion.)



i gave the boys each some plastic easter egss, some lids, and some straws (full-size and cut up).

they also claimed some butter knives from the cutlery drawer.

tesla loved making playdough worms (he informed me that they were actually "trains", in accordance with his locomotive obsession) with the straws.

they both loved pressing the lids onto the playdough to make circle imprints.

(they do this a lot on the carpet with lids and pots.  making circles is thrilling.)


they were entertained for quite a while.

until an airplane flew over.

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here is the recipe we used!

playdough

from art nest

1 1/2 c of flour

3/4 c salt

1 1/2 c water

1 TBS vegetable oil

1/2 TBS cream of tartar

food coloring (amount needed to achieve desired color)

Whisk all ingredients in a saucepan over medium-low.  Once mixture is smooth, exchange the whisk for a rubber spatula or wooden spoon and continue to stir occasionally until mixture thickens and begins to form a mass.

Remove from heat and scoop mixture out onto a sheet of wax paper.  Allow to cool for a minute or two, or until cool enough to touch.  Knead for a couple minutes, and then use or store in a ziplock.

yield:  about 2 1/2 cups