Moon

Almost an entire moon has past me by since my last post and I really don't want to let that happen again. In the meantime, the yoga class I mentioned in my last post has ended and we joyfully signed up for the fall session which begins after Labor Day. We have been having a really wonderful and relaxed summer. This week especially has been nice. We had a lovely library and park play date with our dear friends who have been traveling (you know who you are) and we are all three so happy to see the three of them again. It has been really oppressively hot off and on and we've been coming up with inside activities. Liam got a mini pack of generic Play-Doh at a birthday party and we already had some great hand-me-down Play-Doh tools so that's been a particular favorite. One of these days I'll remember to google some easy, nontoxic, cheap homemade Play-Doh recipes but until then we'll be taking our chances with the free, disturbingly flourescent lumps of moldable fun.

We're hosting a hootenanny this weekend so I'm equal parts fussing and delighting at the thought. It will also be a potluck which should be easy but I've never hosted one for that many people so I am freaking out a little on the inside. I guess it's leaking a little to the outside also. I have the place booked and 10 gallon thermoses reserved for water, iced tea, and lemonade. I found compostable plates and forks and recyclable tumblers for people who don't have reusable picnicware. I have no idea what I'm making (eek!) but I had a very good tip to provide a couple of loaves of good bread, jam, butter, honey, and maybe a nut butter for picky eaters as well as ordering a couple of those big square cut cheese pizzas to fill in the gaps if we end up with 32 plates of chocolate chip cookies and a bowl of grapes.

Does anyone have any tips on how to go about making vast quantities of lemonade and iced tea? Or maybe I'm overthinking it a little- multiply regular recipe by awholelotmore and that's all it takes?

And then there's other tiny but nevertheless panic-inducing things like- do I rent serving spoons? Tablecloths? I'm just not going to begin to think about decorating. That is so not my area and I don't have the budget for it anyway. Am I wrong or is piles of food plus hours of awesome music a sufficient recipe for fun or does there in fact need to be crepe paper involved? We'll call it minimalist environmentally friendly decor, how's that? The place we rented is really cool.

Remember those books? Those books I've been promising to review? Well, my friends. It turns out that I'm not really much of a book reviewing kind of gal. I will give you the briefest of synopses though, since I know I've just kept you hanging, clicking and reclicking my blog address for weeks on end.

Okay, here we go.

1. Frugal Raw! by Mattye Lee Thompson. Awesome book. If you have any interest at all in raw foods, this is a great resource. She is very down to earth about the reality of financing a healthy diet and is a very creative cook. It turns out that I'm not too crazy about the e-book method of reading things because, although it has its considerable environmental benefits, it's kind of annoying for a girl who likes to splatter her cookbooks or at the very least, not have to remember to charge their batteries in order to bring them into the kitchen. I can't emphasize enough, though, what a really wonderful book this is.

2. Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano. I checked this out from the library and, while I thought there were some really good tips and resources among the pages, I kept cringing at the overall attitude that I picked up from the book. The bottom line as I read it seemed to be that you can go green and also be hip and shiny and perfect looking and scoff at the hippies with their dirty canvas bags. Lots of good information though and I definitely get the feeling that the author is a kind and caring individual but that perhaps the publishing bigwigs encouraged this "scorn and belittle the hippies" attitude.

3. Heaven on Earth; A Handbook for Parents of Young Children by Sharifa Oppenheimer. Happy sigh. This was a lovely book. I checked it out from the library and I'll definitely be buying it as soon as I can scrape the pennies together. It comes from the Waldorf tradition and is rich in suggestions, routines, and ideas. I love this book and plan to buy it as a gift for my 'new mama' friends along with Amanda Blake Soule's gorgeous book The Creative Family.

4. Mommy Teach Me by Barbara Curtis Okay, internet. I'm ready to say it out loud. I'm not planning to send my kids to preschool. *Gasp* Whaaat? FiddleMama- wasn't one of your most beloved occupations that of preschool teacher? Yes, yes, it was indeed. But here's the facts. There are very few preschool programs in our area that aren't merely daycare. I am not belittling daycare. My oldest went to daycare because I believed it to be my only option at the time. But I have the luxury of having my children home with me so I'm not in need of a daycare program. The programs here that are true preschools are either too expensive, too far away (gas? gulp!), or too inflexible in their schedule. What was I talking about? Right, the book. I am definitely buying this book too because Ms. Curtis is a mother of 12 and former Montessori teacher with loads of practical and gentle ideas for providing learning experiences for young children. But what about socialization? That's what extracurricular classes, play dates, and siblings are for!

Hey- the next time I see you here, remind me to tell you about this wacky thing we're doing for the month of August that involves not spending any money other than for bills and groceries. 6 days down!