A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

Our Favorite Play Dough

There seems to have been a mix-up with our weather. We requested Spring but Mother Nature sent us more Winter. So much Winter, in fact, that the kids were sent home early from school. Since their bikes are buried under all the snow, we resorted to making play dough to keep busy. Lily mixed up a batch using our favorite recipe from an Early Childhood Family Education class that Andrew and I took years ago.

It’s really cool how the dough forms into a ball as it cooks. I like the cooked play dough method because the dough is nice and warm when you hand it over to be kneaded.

There’s something very relaxing about squeezing and shaping play dough. Lily seems to be offering Will some advice. She did do all the work, after all.

Cooked Play Dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
a few drops of food coloring or tempera paint

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until a ball forms. Knead with hands until smooth and keep tightly covered.

What Inspires You?

Today’s post at Marta Writes features Danyelle of Dandee Designs. Danyelle got me thinking about who and what inspires me.

Danyelle mentions that her go-to outfit includes TOMS. Have you heard of these shoes? The company was started by a young man named Blake Mycoskie who, after meeting hundreds of kids without shoes in Argentina, decided to do something about it. Long story short, he ended up creating a company that donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased. The first year of operation, Blake and his team went back to Argentina with 10,000 pairs of shoes. Reading that gives me chills (the good kind). Blake is a generous, energetic, fearless young man and you can read more about his adventures here.

Danyelle also says that she’s grateful that her mother taught her to serve others. She keeps the “Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?” poster from Persimmon and Pink in her home as a reminder of her mother’s lessons.

This made me think of my own mom, who is the most service-minded person I know. Throughout my childhood, I remember Mom delivering diapers and food at all hours of the night, inviting a newly-arrived Somali woman and her daughter to our home for Thanksgiving dinner, and helping displaced Hmong families set up new lives. (I still get cravings for the spring rolls and chicken wings one family made for my high school graduation open house.) She worked with people with intellectual disabilities, provided foster care for a young girl, and served on the board of our little parochial school for years.

But the story that stands out the most for me is this. We had a bus stop near our house when I was growing up. One day a young woman was standing there holding a baby none too gently. She was yelling at the child, who was about 14 months old, and shaking her. My mom, who was working in the yard, saw that the situation was escalating so she went over to talk to the girl. She very gently started a conversation about how hard parenting can be, especially when a child is teething and fussing and just won’t stop. Mom asked if it would be okay if she shared a little trick that had worked on her own teething babies. She ran into the house and came back with a frozen waffle. The baby started chomping and calmed down and Mama calmed down, too. The bus came and off they went, feeling—I think—wrapped in grace.

We all have different ways of helping in the world. Some of us put together big fundraisers. Some of us sit in school hallways listening to children read. Some bake cakes for neighbors who are having a hard time. All are important and beautiful.

How about you? Who or what inspires you to make a difference?

As we grow older and realize more clearly the limitations of human happiness, we come to see that the only real and abiding pleasure in life is to give pleasure to other people.
P. G. Wodehouse

Staying Fit

There’s a fine line between giving advice and passing on information from someone else that has helped me. So while I’m not an expert on weight loss and exercise, I’ve been lucky to have learned some things that have truly made a difference for me.

My weight-loss strategy, starting in high school when I worked at Dairy Queen the summer they introduced the Blizzard, was to gain weight then exercise like a maniac to get it off. It would stay off until life got in the way and I couldn’t keep up that level of exercise. But I’d still want to eat as though I were working out an hour or two a day.

Finally I learned two things that made a difference. The first is not to rely on exercise for weight loss. It’s much better for me to think of exercise as a way to stay toned and strong. I like the Holly Rigsby plan of 15 minutes of strength-training three times a week combined with 15 minutes of interval training three times a week. Throw in a few short Pilates and yoga DVDs, a long run or a tennis match now and then, and I have a plan I can actually stick with. If you have time to go to the gym or go for long runs, that’s great. But if you have little ones or a busy schedule, it’s nice to know you can grab some weights and get a good workout in before anyone even knows you’re missing.

The second thing that has really worked is to have a number on the scale that I don’t let myself go over. If I do go over the number, I give myself a little time to get back under. But if I stay stuck for more than a week or two, I have to start journaling what I eat. I seriously dislike doing that, so it’s a good incentive for me to eat more healthily. If a month goes by and I’m still over the number, then I have to read Skinny Bi*ch. Luckily, it’s never come to that. I don’t own the book, but I’ve skimmed through it in the bookstore and it’s really harsh. The authors say things like “if you have creamer in your coffee you’ll be fat forever.” Ouch.

My method does involve weighing myself every day. I know there are schools of thought against even owning a scale, but I do well with the visual reminder of seeing an actual number. As Shakespeare said, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” If it works do it, if it doesn’t, don’t do it. Speaking of which, dieting has never worked for me. I have never stuck to an actual eating plan for more than a couple of hours. In fact, the word “diet” makes me want to curl up with a cheesecake. Not good. I do much better with something like Michael Pollan’s mantra: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

So those are two simple things that work for me. How about you? What strategies do you have for staying fit?

They Draw and Cook

Last week we discovered that our younger son, Will, is intolerant to gluten and dairy. We have big changes to make in how we eat, but I don’t want to turn our lives upside-down any more than necessary. We are pancakes and ice cream kind of people. So, aided by some books and some good friends who are already on this path, I’m learning how to feed my family in a new way and heal Will in the process. Last night we had oven-fried frito chicken fingers and mashed potatoes. It tasted good and we all felt normal, which is what I’m after.

So I was scouting around the net this morning looking for ideas and came across an incredibly fun website called They Draw and Cook. Artists submit recipes that they’ve illustrated for you to print and enjoy. A new batch of six recipes is submitted every three days, so there’s always fresh content. (And they have a gluten-free section.) Some of the contributors are professional illustrators, but anyone—even kids—can submit a recipe.

Featured art by Christine Hale, Nate Padavick, and Katie Gamb via creaturecomforts.