Successes and Failures, or, An Editorial Review

1.) It's not that easy being green.
As The Becky said last week, "Al Gore's finally getting to me." Aren't we all trying to live a little greener? Here's my failure: remembering to take my dang reusable shopping bags with me to the grocery store. I have like 8 of the things. Really, they're the best. I especially love the big black ones from Smith's. They cost a buck, are totally sturdy, and can hold a ton of stuff. I use them all the time and keep several in the car. But can I somehow get it in my head to bring them into the grocery store with me? No. I can not. Perhaps I am lazy to have them just out in the car and not go get them, but when the checker is halfway done checking things and I have two grumpy kids with me, I can't find the energy within myself to pause the whole operation, drag the two kids out and back into the store for the bags. Anyway. I can't stand that my brain won't make room for the reusable shopping bag concept. I'm working on it.

Here's my success: going plastic free at home. (Minus the shopping bags.) I have to say I've always loved having a really great stash of plastic in my kitchen drawer. Plastic wrap, plastic baggies of all shapes and sizes - that kind of thing. I have experimented lately with not purchasing those items. At first it really sucked. But I'm finding with some creativity I don't have to use it anymore! I'm pretty happy about it. For one thing, I save my bread bags and produce bags for times when I really need a cover for something. I use waxed paper to store some things in, and I've just been using tupperware for storage instead. Also, I'm slowly switching out all my plastic storage for glass. This fills my heart with happiness.

2.) Angering the Food Gods
Failure: a few weeks ago I was all by myself and stopped at a great little local cafe called Pinon to have some lunch. My eye was caught by a delicious looking sandwich - crusty soft roll, yummy warm filling - it was called the sloppy lentil. Perhaps it sounds a little yucky to you, but really, it was a terrific sandwich. I have been pondering the sandwich for quite some time (see how I am?) and I just can't figure out what the flavors were. So I googled sloppy lentil and came up with what sounded about right. It's been a while since I've felt inclined to cook, and I spent a happy afternoon chopping and dicing, seasoning and stirring. What I ended up with, just in time for dinner, was a huge pot of really disgusting goop. To top it off, I had also tried a new recipe for hamburger buns, which promised to produce a batch of the most wonderful puffy, soft rolls. I ended up with 12 beige golf balls. What had I done to so anger the food gods? I don't know, but it must have been bad.

Success: After taking the kids out for stale corn dogs at Smith's (forgetting to bring my bags,) I remained in quite a funk for the rest of the evening and most of the next day until I decided I had to redeem myself. That afternoon I adjusted the roll recipe and came up with some decent buns. (Don't I wish that were true in more than one sense...) I also had a big bowl full of fresh yellow squash and tomatoes from my parents' garden. I went to my happy place: my zen meditation of what to eat. So here's what you do. Chunk up your tomatoes and squash, add several sliced carrots, some whole peeled cloves of garlic, several sprigs of rosemary, oregano and thyme, drizzle them with olive oil and salt, and roast them until everything is pretty soft, brown, caramelized...you know. Remove the herbs. Add a couple splashes of white wine (make sure it sizzles) then add some chicken broth. Blend it. Add a few tablespoons of cream. Then eat it. With cheese on top. The food gods will be appeased.

3.) Who's in charge here?
I decided that I have had enough of monkeying around with Bitty's potty training. We've had a little plastic toilet in our living room for over a year now. She just won't commit. So I decided I was going to commit for her. Okay, Bitty, no more play dates with J. until you are using the potty all day every day. (I knew J. would be the key because the other day, Bitty woke up in the morning murmuring her name. That was funny.) Well, Bitty likes to be in charge. She decided that she doesn't care if she ever plays with J. again. Actually, for the most part it has been going fairly well, though I'm sure the entire family is pretty sick of hearing me say, "Do you need to go potty?" a thousand times a day. I thought my failure had come when she had two accidents within an hour of each other, both in public places, but no, that was actually no big deal. The real failure hit when I was on the phone with The Becky discussing potty training tactics when I heard grunting coming from the back porch. Yes, there was Bitty, pooping on the porch, and giving me an absolutely dazzling grin. That was failure. Success? Well, after I made her clean it up and then we gave her a bath in a bucket on the back lawn, I put her back in panties (I swore I was done with diapers and so be it) she actually used the potty twice after that, with no promptings. I'll take any success I can get at this point.

Sorry - long post, no pics, but hey, it's a post, right?