Put and onion on it!!!

I freakin' love my mom. For as long as I can remember, she has recommended putting onions on things- or vinegar, but this story is all about onion...

I have this really gross keloid on my knuckle from hand surgery back in 2001. I was parking, yes, parking, and grazed the nose of my car on an extended storm drain/curb which deployed my airbag and broke my right hand, resulting in a plate and six screws on the hand bone leading up to my right index finger- all for PARKING!! I like to say I have bi-polar luck: either really good or "break hand while parking" bad. So I finally make an appointment to see about removing it. My chances of having another keloid result from the removal of the first one is more than 50%, so I looked into non-surgical options in the mean time.

One of the first lines of defense is using Mederma. The main active ingredient is allium cepa extract- ONION!! All these years of my mother "putting an onion on it" and she was really a genius instead of a living wive's tale. Not that I ever doubt you, Mom, it's just funny to see your genius penetrating modern medicine.

It seems as though I'll be investing in onion stock.

Scavenging Success!!

I've been wanting a six foot folding table to sort my laundry on, but I couldn't justify buying one. When I hem and haw, I know it's just not right... yet. On my way home from getting bread this morning, I spied with my little eye a long table beside the local school dumpster. "Hmmm, " I pondered, "could that be my heart's desire?" And alas, it was!! Just the top, though, which was probably why it was by the dumpster. Still useful to a clever philly like myself, though. I popped that puppy right in the back of the van, fastened it with my ever-ready bungie cord, and brought it home to meet it's new family. It's heavy enough to sit on top of my rolling computer table (that was serving very inefficiently as my sorting table) without being able to flip off from acrobatic children (but I'm sure they will try at some point). As you can see, I can fit three nicely sorted loads of laundry on what could previouly only hold one. No more heaps on the floor. Oh, I lurves me some scavenging success!!

Chickens on the brain is better than egg on your face, but I might have some of that soon, too.

My friend has me dreaming about chickens. And eggs. As I hope I have inflicted her with guity pangs every time she discards paper and plastic, she has invaded my thoughts every time I crack an egg (which we do a lot in my happy-homemade-baking house). I think I'm going to get on the chicken wagon.

The only thing that keeps me from being completely "Yay, chickens!" is the memory of my mother telling her chicken story: She was romanced by the thought of free, effortless eggs with chickens running playfully about the yard with her children. Until, she discovered all the chicken poop everywhere and one of them pecked at my oldest sister which commenced the shooting of the chickens. I have always had this image of a poultry blood bath in the backyard in defense of her baby. Probably not the way it happened, but at the very least it gives me a bit of grounding on the idea of chickens and that it might not be as care free and wonderful as it seems.

That said, I'm a girl that likes to find out things for herself even if I, too, end up shooting chickens. I've asked the Freecycle world for scrap building supplies, and I've been stalking backyardchickens.com for coop ideas. I really like the look of this coop. It's just tidy and seems so intentional. I figure if I'm going to have chickens, I want to do them justice and give them a nice home- the nicer you treat your chickens, the nicer they will treat you.

I've even put my higher conscience to work in my sleep. Seriously. I came up with a great idea the other night to remedy the "chickens pecked my baby" problem my mother encountered: In my dream, I built a run for the chickens using 4x4 posts and wired not only the outside, but the inside of the frame work so there was a good 4" or dead space between my darling, innocent children (who wouldn't dream of taunting a chicken) and the fowl beasts. I also attached hardware cloth to the bottom of the frame before I sunk it about a foot so Mr. Fox couldn't dig under for a midnight snack. I'm pretty smart in my sleep.

I plan to gather my supplies and build a coop and run this summer for a fun project with Sterling (first summer vacation ever) and actually get the shickens, as Royal calls them, in the spring. I'm thinking 6-8 birds so I can have about a dozen eggs a week. Tasty eggs, from birds we know, cage and cruelty free, right in our back yard- either that or a whole lot of chicken in the freezer. I'm sure there will be updates on my future chicken-farmer status.

Bokashi Madness II (update)

Ha-ha!! I burried the first bucket o' bokashi compost!! Our back gardens have patchy spots of decent dirt, but mostly it's thick, wet, hard packed clay. I figured it would be nice spot to revive with a little burried compost treasure. I'll update again in a month or so with pictures when I dig up my lucious black gold!! I would have snapped some shots of the historic event, but I figured it would be nicer to look at my pretty lilacs than of a rusty shovel and my dirty feet.

If my bokashi obsession doesn't work, I at least have a really nice compost bucket out of the deal.

Pssst...

They are having a sale! Promo code (if you need it) JUNE08. This is where the best husband in the world got my birthday present. Bokashi buckets are $10 off and the bokashi compost starter is 1/2 off, only $5! Just thought I would let you all know. I do plan on making my own bokashi starter and buckets, but for now, this is a great deal for stocking up a little.

A googleplex of folded paper.

My darling five year old is into origami!! He's crazy good at it, too! I'm glad we discovered a focus for his anal retentive precision. I'm collecting origami paper for our summer project of folding one thousand paper cranes. I hate to have him nap all summer (although he very often needs one still, but then again, our whole family likes to nap) so I thought maybe a quiet task of folding a dozen or so cranes a day would be calming in lieu of slumbering. We need to go to the library and sign out Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, too. Take a break from Harry Potter. I thought it might be nice to give the cranes to the Children's Hospital when we are done (and while we are in Portland, zip over to the Children's Museum as a reward for his kindness). It's important for us to teach our children about giving back and giving hope to people that have less than we do.

Just one of those nice days.

Most people don't put "going to the dentist" in the "I get excited about..." category, but they don't have Dr. Findlen. I spent years with a really crumby dentist that I loathed to see, so not only did I stop going but I never sent my children. I am so very excited that I have a great dentist now who takes care of me and my teeth and understands that it's a big deal for mothers to get out and care for themselves. I like to call it my dental-spa. I get excited to go, and I feel relaxed when I'm there.

Since the beginning of the year, I've had seven dentist appointments to make up for the three years it's been since my last visit. I just had my last batch of fillings before my next cleaning in six months, and next week I will have my wisdom teeth removed. Last winter I had a chunk of one fall off, with subsequent chunks since, which is what prompted me to get back on the dental horse. It's pretty gross and embarrassing to have pieces of you falling off as a result of neglect. Kinda hard to ignore that blinking red sign that maybe it might be time to do a little personal maintenance.

I swear I cried every other minute my first visit with Dr. Findlen. It was the first time I had left Molly (#1) and the first time in a long time that I put my children aside to take care of myself. Everyone in that office recognized what a big deal it was, too (#2). From the receptionist to the hygienist to the doctor. No one scolded me for not flossing (#3). More than once, someone said, "Don't worry, we'll take care of you." (#4, 5, 6) They actually asked me how I felt about my teeth. Huh? That started some huge waterworks (#7) because since I've had fillings, I've been embarrassed about my mouth. My wonderful, white, straight teeth embarrassed me because they were full of black fillings. Even on the wisdom tooth that was restored, Dr. Findlen uses white. After he has filled a tooth, I can't tell which one he did. That's some good dentistry, right there.

Not only have I started taking care of my teeth again, but my children have their first cleanings!! I'm so excited. I think it's HUGE to choose my children's dentist. Things like that will have an immense impact on how they view the care of their teeth for the rest of their lives. I am thrilled to have such a friendly office care for my babies.

Top off a wonderful dentist day with some Freecycle goodies and a new consignment shop skirt for me and shirt for Molly-cakes (see pictures), and my morning was complete. It's my husband's birthday, the sun is making it's way out from behind the clouds, and my family is napping. I just don't think it could be a nicer day.