More than 20 years ago, inspired by Earth Day 1990 and by one of my high school teachers handing out a huge amount of paper printed only on one side that was useless after a single day's activity, I designated a bin on my desk for scrap paper: full sheets of paper with one blank … Continue reading Scrap Paper Saves Money and the Environment
Month: October 2011
Cranberry Bread Without Sugar?
This is not a recipe. It is a story of a recipe that does taste very different if you forget to put in the sugar, but the result is still edible! I have made the Cranberry Orange Bread from the 1968 Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (snag this one if you see it in … Continue reading Cranberry Bread Without Sugar?
Four Weeks of Pesco-Vegetarian Dinners (early autumn)
A pesco-vegetarian is someone who eats no meat except fish. That's what we do when we're at home and most of the time when we eat in other places. Last week I explained my family's approach to menu planning, which is that I write the menu and do the weekend cooking, while Daniel cooks weeknight … Continue reading Four Weeks of Pesco-Vegetarian Dinners (early autumn)
Earth-friendly Nosebleed Care
My six-year-old son, who is slowly learning to be more independent during the night, recently told me in the morning that he had had a nosebleed in the middle of the night. I changed his pillowcase--our linen closet is in the master bedroom, so he couldn't have done that without waking us--but he had taken … Continue reading Earth-friendly Nosebleed Care
Explaining Addiction to a Young Child
You might think that addiction is a topic that wouldn't come up until children are in late elementary school, going through whatever passes for drug education in their school. You might be right. Then again, your child might ask questions at a much earlier age after noticing that someone you know or a television character … Continue reading Explaining Addiction to a Young Child
Money Management and Consequences for a First Grader
Nicholas has been getting an allowance since he turned five years old, almost two years ago. He does not get the "$1 per year of age, per week" recommended by many parenting magazines--that's crazy! I use the method my father taught me of dividing the money into Spend, Save, and Share categories: Nicholas gets 50 … Continue reading Money Management and Consequences for a First Grader
Words my three-year-old made up
Nicholas is six-and-a-half now, but I just found a post I made to a discussion board three years ago, answering the question, "Has your child invented any words?" I'm glad to see it again because I had forgotten 3 out of 5 of these! Pretendstructions. When Nicholas gets tired of his parents knowing all the … Continue reading Words my three-year-old made up
Meal Planning When I’m Not the Cook
For a few years now, I've been seeing lots of blog posts about the advantages of meal planning, i.e. figuring out what you are going to eat days or weeks in advance so you can make optimal use of your groceries and get meals on the table on time. Fine, sounds good, but everyone writing … Continue reading Meal Planning When I’m Not the Cook
An Unexpected Find in the Thrift Store
Recently, I bought at Goodwill two anthologies of Calvin and Hobbes, a comic strip I enjoy reading to my six-year-old son. When we started reading the second one, Weirdos from Another Planet, we were surprised to find the following note written in metallic gold pen inside the front cover: Dear Corey, It was really fun … Continue reading An Unexpected Find in the Thrift Store
Traffic Safety for Little Kids
We live on a quiet street, but just around the block is the main street of our neighborhood, which has lots of traffic, parallel parking along both sides, and lots of intersections where right turns on red are allowed. Only some of the intersections have traffic lights and walk signals. There are lots of useful … Continue reading Traffic Safety for Little Kids
Cauliflower leaves are edible!
Our CSA farm does not trim the outer leaves off a head of cauliflower because they help to keep the white part of the cauliflower clean until you're ready to eat it. The farm newsletter had mentioned from time to time that these leaves are edible, too, and we'd tried substituting them for kale in … Continue reading Cauliflower leaves are edible!
My grandmother got a few things done.
My paternal grandmother would be 100 years old today, if she were still alive. She died in July 1991, when I was 18. Her name was Janette, so we grandchildren called her Janmother. Janmother was an outstanding high school student but never went to college. She married just after turning 20, and at times she … Continue reading My grandmother got a few things done.
Walking to School
Happy Walk to School Day! My son and I walked to his school this morning, and his father will walk him home this afternoon. He's in first grade. Sometime during his years at this K-8 school, he'll begin walking by himself, but for now I am enjoying the walk and the time with him. We … Continue reading Walking to School
The Earthling's Handbook 