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Today is Mother’s Day- woot!
I still can’t believe sometimes that I am a mom. I was putting Lil’ E’s sneakers by the door the other day while he was at the nanny’s so I could get some work in, and I had to do a double-take. Little miniature sneakers? Which belong to my son? Weird…

Yesterday I got to rent a Zipcar and bop around for some errands, which was really nice. It’s great to know the work of hauling bags of groceries on your sore shoulders, but sometimes the luxury of a vehicle is like getting a facial or something. Which I really wouldn’t know because I have never had a facial. I’ve never even had my eyebrows waxed. Amazing, I know. Just can’t justify the cost of stuff like that.

Ironically, what I CAN justify the cost of is truffles. Glorious little black mushrooms that rock my world. I finally got a 1/10th of an ounce sized truffle for $3 at the Farmer’s Market yesterday. Truffled sea salt on your popcorn- better than sex. (Okay, slight - only SLIGHT- exaggeration there.)

So what are my grand Mother’s Day plans? Well, you guessed it! Work! But first, I will point out that Hubby got up with the kiddo today, made me coffee and eggs with tandori naan (delicious bread!). He’s taking him out to the toy store today so I can work (so I might garden a little first, it is Mother’s Day after all!). Later tonight, Misty and I plan to have a light salad dinner with a bottle of Trout Trilogy 2004 Cab, a “splurge” on a $10 wine for Mother’s Day!

Hope all you other hard workin’ mamas (so if you are a female and have kids, that’s you) have a superb day!

So I come home today after biking back from church and Powell’s, where I had picked up a used copy of the old cookbook “Vegetarian Epicure“…
I’m sittin down, eating a bowl of nutritional yeast (I have a slight addiction). I read the following paragraph from the “Entertaining” section in my head with my best Martha Steward voice and nearly choke on my nutritional yeast - for some reason, I never saw this coming:

So, the two-hours-later course came to be. This may consist of a great bowl of strawberries and a pot of cream, or maybe hot chocolate on a cold night, accompanied by thin slices of the torte that couldn’t be finished earlier, or a platter of nuts and dried fruits with mulled wine. This two-hours-later course is especially recommended if grass is smoked socially at your house. If you have passed a joint around before dinner to sharpen gustatory perceptions, you most likely will pass another one after dinner, and everyone knows what that will do - the blind munchies can strike at any time.

Pescatarianism (more on Wikipedia and Pescatarian Life) is similar to Vegetarianism in that the meat of land animals (beef, pork, chicken, etc) are avoided, whereas a Pescatarian will allow for the consumption of seafood, and maybe eggs, dairy and honey as well. Perhaps more similar to Pescatarianism is the Mediterranean Diet. In the article, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition explains the following typical Mediterranean eating habits:

The diet is characterized by abundant plant foods (fruit, vegetables, breads, other forms of cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts, and seeds), fresh fruit as the typical daily dessert, olive oil as the principal source of fat, dairy products (principally cheese and yogurt), and fish and poultry consumed in low to moderate amounts, zero to four eggs consumed weekly, red meat consumed in low amounts, and wine consumed in low to moderate amounts, normally with meals.

Growing up in southern Florida, our meals fairly frequently consisted of a very similar food pyramid, one that was low in processed foods and sugary carbs, while high in fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh-caught fish (thanks to my dad, fisherman of the Gulf!) I’m sure most of us have heard about the numerous health benefits provided by healthy fats (omega’s and other essential fatty oils) found in things like olive oil and high in certain seafoods. From brain development to heart health, studies of those in the Mediterranean have shown amazing health records when compared to the typical American diet.

I have one grandmother suffering from serious heart problems, another suffering from both Alzheimers and, just found out this week, terminal colon cancer. My grandfather has struggled with high cholesterol and heart problems as well. Hubby’s grandpa battles Diabetes. Sure, we kinda assume that such things come with the inevitable advancement of our lifespan on Earth. But what seriously gets to me is the quality of life so many are living, when studies show that changes in diet and exercise early on can play a vital role in your health for years to come.

Now, please note: I’m not a band-wagon kinda girl (at least, I like to think I’m not!). I don’t usually pick one specific, rigid way of believing something and then stake my whole-hearted little flag on it. I think life demands a little more flexibility than that. That is, a life involving relating to other odd human creatures. But I have really been giving veganism/vegetarianism and the various versions thereof some intentional consideration, and at this point have “decided” that the above mentioned food lifestyle is a smart choice for me. Why?

Fish/seafood significantly lowers risks to a variety of known illnesses, particularly cardiovascular disease. Olive oil, nuts, whole grains, and a little wine each day also prove beneficial to your health and well-being (fatty oils which lower the BAD cholesterol, flavanoids containing antioxidants, etc etc). While I did wonder about including seafood in with an Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian diet, I found that, for me, the benefits far outweigh the threat of toxins such as mercury and PCB. In this interesting article, Charles Santerre, a “foods and nutrition associate professor who specializes in chemical contaminants in food” explained what the proper intake of various seafood is:

The safest seafoods are farmed and wild salmon, along with oysters, shrimp, farm-raised channel catfish, farm-raised rainbow trout, flounder, perch, tialpia, clams, scallops and red swamp crayfish. These have the lowest level of mercury and can be eaten more than once a week. Canned tuna, crab, cod, mahi-mahi, haddock, whitefish, herring and spiny lobster have slightly higher levels of mercury and should be eaten no more than one meal per week.

Some seafood should be limited to just one meal a month: tuna steaks, red snapper, orange roughy, pollack, halibut, northern lobster, marlin, moonfish, saltwater bass, wild trout, bluefish, grouper, croaker and sablefish.

In another article, I find yet another reason my Lil’ E is such a smart young whipper-snapper:

For infants and young children, the authors found that omega-3 fatty acids from seafood likely improve early brain development; children could obtain that benefit from pregnant or nursing mothers who consumed fish.

In addition to the health reasons, there are, of course, environmental/ethical ones. I’ve written before about the “cost” that the livestock industry has on the environment, and this 12-year-old girl wrote an informative, concise article about it in the Vegetarian Times!

So, there it is, not the entire exhaustive concordance to the way-Vivian-operates-with-food, but a basic bloggy style explanation of my big, definitive “decision”.

Some pics from this last week (some gardening and playing, lots of backyard fun):

Two fun videos:

Not the best video out there, but I am too busy today!

April 21st-27th is National Turn It Off Week, which includes screen time in any form (tv, computer, games, etc.)

Will we be able to do that? I’m not going to kid myself.

As a telecommuter, the computer is my job, so I would have to have a week of vacation saved up just to pull that off! To boot, Hubby and I love movies, we’re Netflix junkies, and we value our movie bonding time. When it comes to Lil’ E, I do the best that I can. As a work-at-home mother with an only child, “Miss Lorie’s Preschool” is a lifesaver sometimes, and an educational one, at that. I swear my kid will be reading by age 3 because of that Super Why show!

I’m not even sure exactly why any one would feel like they have to defend that choice, either. There are lots of studies ready to showcase the latest negative correlation between kids and tv, but I haven’t personally seen any that include active children of stay-at-home parents, who spend more time during their day in a combination of toy play/outdoor play, reading tons of books and listening to children’s music or NPR throughout the day as well. I also think that learning to play educational computer games will only help in preparing children to enter a modern world of technology and media. Maybe that’s a fairly typical approach from a Millennial generation parent (many of whom move far away from family, are prone to micromanage, etc- which is another post for another day!)

That said, I understand and struggle with the opposite arguments. I sometimes think, what if our economy crashes and our obese American children must ration food and learn to grow their own vegetables, etc? Will the average family be able to adapt and survive if a crisis like that happened? But as far as my own family is concerned, I’m not as worried about all that. I mean, we do teach our little guy to compost and garden, to enjoy nature and the outdoors, and, by example, how to live without new furniture; without a vehicle, using our own bodies as modes of transportation (walking, biking); doing what you feel comfortable with in helping build a more sustainable world.

When I lived in Florida, your house pretty much wasn’t one until it had a tv. Playgroup moms knew what you were talking about if you referenced Backyardigans, Dora, Lazy Town, etc etc. There were no sideways glances of judgment. It’s just the culture. Maybe cause it was too damn hot outside most of the time

Not so in the Pac NW, particularly on the east side of metro Portland. I have come across plenty more tv-less families than the latter. (All that Waldorf influence?) Who knows. And like I said, I get it.

I could go into some of the things I learned in college regarding media studies and mass communication theory, but who wants to read about all that? Suffice to say, learning the history of humanity and its relation to and fear of influences (from technology, globalization and new media) forever shifted the way I saw the latest trend either for or against it. I believe innovative minds will continue to evolve and inquisitive learners will continue to search, and those of us who wish to embrace the shifts and work with them as inevitable facets of modern (postmodern?) human life will do so, while those who do not are neither right nor wrong. Whatever floats your boat, right?

On a somewhat related note, I think the importance of reading is imperative, and our family recently signed up for the Every Family Reads program with the county library. Part of the program is pledging that you will read each day, visit the library as a family at least once per week, and also hold a family reading night once each week. Another facet to the program is bi-lingual literacy, which I’m very interested in as a family of mixed ethnicities. It’s purty kewl.

Well I better end this before I go following too many rabbit trails. I’d love to hear some thoughts from you parents, (or non-parents!), how you approach screen time and the health of your kiddo(s). Maybe some of you are doing certain things differently in honor of National Turn-It-Off Week and could share your ideas?

When a MacBook air commercial comes on, I could be in the worst stinkin mood and I will start boppin my head to Yael Naim’s “New Soul” because its just so gosh darn sweet and catchy!

Hubby spent a little of his birthday money on her CD, and I just fell in love with a few songs, the following one in particular.

Reflect and enjoy!

Far Far

(lost and found- this is the macbook air commercial- when the song from the above artist comes on, I start to smile and dance )

So it was brought to my attention that ya’ll were having trouble commenting these passed few days since the redesign. If you could do me a favor and comment on this one or go comment on a recent post that you attempted in the passed few days, that would help me confirm that I have fixed the problem. Thanks!

Many of you know, (and you can just check out my postmodernity blogroll category for further proof), that I kinda have some interest in the “emergent” conversations (I use the word “conversations” because it seems that most emergent leaders/writers would rather this term… using the word “movement” or something similar strikes up the typical “you’re either on the boat or off the boat”, us v. them, bla bla bla that we just can’t seem to help doing as humans, heh?)

I use the word “kinda” because I was introduced to it while pregnant several years ago and having a kiddo to run after and a bazillion odd jobs seems to limit my time to devote to my thirst for spiritual knowledge. I now say my daily service to my family is my theology, which is either true or a cop-out. I guess you’ll never really know, will ya?

So I finally woke up in time to make it to church (late) this week, but not too late to hear the announcement that Doug Pagitt is in town this week. I haven’t actually read any of his books, mind you, (need I refer to the second paragraph’s excuse again?!), but I recognize the name from… again… “emergent conversations”.

The scoop is here. I have emailed Bob (you know- Bob. Everybody knows who Bob is.) to see if there was still a spot open for little ol’ me.

I would like to point out for all obvious reasons that I should get to come to this shindig for free. Doug and I go way back, we have a connection. I work for John Wiley & Sons, who owns Jossey-Bass, who published A Christianity Worth Believing.

Like I said, we’re practically siblings.

Ahh, but that’s okay. This sounds like it’s well worth my ten measley dollars. I’ll just deduct it as a charitable tax right off. (SO joking, sheesh!)

For a chuckle, here’s my parting gift.

UPDATE: So I went downtown to switch Lil’ E with Hubby, grabbed an overpriced Nathan’s hot dog for a super nutritious dinner, and then waited at the bus stop far too long before calling the Trimet number and tracking the schedule. The darn thing must have come early because the next bus out there was 45 minutes away! WHHAATTT? (I felt like I was in Lakeland again. ) So I gave up and headed home, figuring I would have missed half the darn thing by then. Well, shoot, ya win some ya lose some.

Okay, I debated a little about sharing the following story with you all, I really did. In the end, I have to just get it off my chest.

So after leaving my purse on the Trimet bus last Friday, I found myself goofing up again not two days later on the MAX light rail. Hubby, Lil’ E and I were on our way home from William’s birthday party on Sunday when it happened.

Lil’ E had begun to snooze on my lap, and I wasn’t far behind. Sure enough, another passenger thinks I look like the ideal Chatty Cathy to strike up a conversation with. With all the politeness I could muster, I responded to the man’s questions.

“Oh, he is two and a half”, I replied with a weary smile.

“Oh, that’s a lovely picture of your daughter,” I went on.

The passenger had a heavy set build, a business casual outfit and a OHSU badge (Oregon hospital), along with a bike helmet. That’s about as much as I can remember. He went on to tell me the heights of EVERY MAN in his daughter’s family tree because I was dumb enough to comment that she looks older than 8 in her school photo. Enough, I was thinking, how can I back out of this conversation. Why can’t I be like Hubby and be fine with just completely ignoring people!?

“Wow”, I continued to remark, gradually getting more and more obvious (I THOUGHT!) that I wanted to do just about anything but talk at the moment.

And then it happened.

“That’s crazy”, I said, with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Then I heard myself say, “And how tall is her mother?”

…

First, Hubby jerks his head sideways at me in horror.

Second, the marathon conversationalist takes on a whole new tone.

“Excuse me?!

-I’m a girl!”

…

OHMYGOD. Oh.my.gggaaaaawwwddddd.

It doesn’t even stop there. Had I retained any brain cells, I might have covered up my faux paux with something like, “Oh, sorry, I meant to say her father… heh heh… whew, it’s been a long day!”

But no. No, that’s not what I said.

“Oh, I’m sorry… I — I couldn’t tell…. your…er… hat…er”

(I still contest that there was not one defining feminine trait to this character. NOT ONE!)

I felt like I was melting. I wanted to get off at the next stop and wait for the next train, but I was frozen in my seat.

The man woman ended up shrugging it off and continued to go on and on about his her tall daughter, which only made the whole thing more awkward. I was like three feet off the bus already when he she was still calling out to me the name of the preschool his her daughter attended. I MEAN - HOLY CRAP!

I have no idea how I could have avoided this run in with the anonymously gendered passenger, but sometimes I need to keep MY BIG FAT MOUTH SHUT and let the weirdos talk to themselves.

EDIT: Thanks to the folks at www.trimetiquette.com for agreeing on just how embarrassing that was.