Family Green Report

Composter: so far, so good - no funky smells, either from the kitchen scrap bucket (my biggest worry) or from the big composter itself. I haven't brought myself to look inside since we started adding kitchen scraps though. Yikes.

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs: We've replaced all of our eight kitchen spotlights and our 14 basement can lights (at 65 watts each) with 16-watt, dimmable CF bulbs. They take a little getting used to - although they're warm-ish, soft white, they are still just slightly cooler in color than the incandescents. Also, they take a minute or so to warm up, so when you first turn on the lights they are very dim and uninviting, but within 60 seconds or so they reach full luminescence and are really quite an acceptable substitute. At $15 a pop they were quite an investment, but supposedly they last for five years or so. We'll see. We have about a zillion other recessed lights in the house so we'll be making it a project to eventually replace all or most of them. Incidnentally, if you're in the market for these (dimmable CF are a little tough to find) we bought the NEPTUN-R30-16W-Dimmable reflector bulbs from www.1000bulbs.com

May 15th is planting day!

Very interesting...I stopped by the local hardware store today because Zach and I had a few minutes to kill while waiting to pick Logan up from school and I thought Zach might enjoy looking at the nursery plants. Unlike in California, when there is never real danger of a hard frost, the nursery plants here are labeled as to their cold hardiness (e.g. many of their pansies are hardened to 20 degrees) and there was a big sign basically saying "buyer beware...last frost date is May 15 so you're taking your chances if you buy and plant frost-tender plants before then." What a nice service - I guess I don't need to buy a Farmer's Almanac after all.

Zach was a little TOO interested in the flowers, by the way, so we had to move on before he did any damage. But I'm planning a trip to the nursery in two weeks to pick up some goodies to add to my garden.

Famly adventures and fun discoveries

I guess I thought I would be drained and depressed after leaving our family and friends behind in LA for a second time, but it turns out that Jason and I seem to have gotten a recharge out of the trip. The last few days have been some of the best yet as we get more and more used to our new life here.

Thursday was spent setting up a new toy I bought for myself - my tumbling composter! It's the Cadillac of composters, because (theoretically) there's no need to fork turn it, ever, and you can add kitchen scraps continuously, with very little need for dry/brown components, and eventually it starts spitting finished compost out of the spout, with no need to close it off and wait for a month. Logan and Zach had a fine time today gathering dried leaves to help start the process, and tomorrow we'll add our first bucket of kitchen scraps. It will be an interesting experiment to see if it works or if I end up with a disgusting tub of rotting garbage. Only time will tell! But I do find that Jason's coffee grounds seem to do a good job of suppressing odors so far.

A key stress-reliever came on Thursday evening, when I finally found the right housekeeper to help me out every other week. When we first got here I was reluctant to call anyone for a while, frankly being afraid to find out how much it would cost. I finally got up the courage to call a woman who had been recommended by a friend, but the day I was supposed to meet her my friend let me know she'd had to fire her. Then I called a local service, and while the owner was super put-together and professional, the estimate was shockingly expensive. I mean shockingly. But the newest woman, Azul, comes highly recommended, also has a very professional manner and charges a lot less. So as of this Thursday I may finally begin feeling like I can keep my head above water again.

On Friday night Jason and I got out for the evening to attend a "gala" fundraiser for Logan's school. We met a few other parents, ate a lot of great appetizers and won several silent auction items, including a basket of children's' gardening tools with enough of everything, including wheel barrows, for both boys.

Jason and I were excited Saturday morning to pack the kids in the bike trailer and ride down to the Boulder County Farmers Market, which is a seasonal market that runs from April through October. The ride down was great, but we neglected to bring a containment device for Zach, who is not content to be carried in arms when there are adventures to be had. The kids were also both still a little sleep-deprived and cranky, and there aren't many veggies to be had yet - mostly plant starts and potted flowers, and lots of great stuff that we had no way to take home, so we left feeling pretty defeated. But the day turned around in the afternoon. Jason took a solo trip to the hardware store for some supplies for a project, and at my request bought me a dandelion digger (we are overrun). The family spent the remainder of the afternoon pulling weeds together, playing with the gardening tools, organizing the garage, and ending with a picnic dinner on our back lawn. While we were eating, I realized that one of our shrubs is a lilac, and then we realized that five of the tall, bare, reedy looking things I was thinking about ripping out are in fact lilacs that are just now beginning to bloom. They smell so delicious and I am just thrilled! What a fun discovery!

Sunday was even better...we took the kids on a hike in Chautauqua Park. Words can't do the day justice but maybe these pictures will help. The trail started through a meadow and eventually entered a shady forest and up the side of a steep hill. Logan was an absolute trooper, climbing all the way up, usually leading the way. Zach hung in there for a long time but eventually wanted to be carried, and this time we were prepared with our backpack carrier. He wasn't thrilled, but Daddy's special gorp (with M&Ms) kept him pacified. We stopped under some huge rocks for lunch, explored a cave, and eventually made our way back down, Logan literally jumping down every step. He made it to within about 200 yards of the car before his legs finally wore out, and I was happy to carry him the rest of the way. In the afternoon I got out on my own for a few hours - granted, it was a shopping run to Costco, but to me it was a little slice of heaven.

Today was great too. Zach and I stayed at Logan's class for the morning, helping the kids get started with a gardening project. After school Logan and I had our first whine-free grocery trip since we've been here, and in the afternoon the boys played together very nicely while I got some laundry and a few little projects done. When Jason finished with work we all ended up in the back yard together, composting and pulling weeds again. These may not sound like a whole lot of fun, but when we're all doing it together and everyone's content to be together they can be sublime activities.

Weather should cool off a bit over the next few days - we're even expecting possible thundershowers. Maybe a little more natural rain before we get our sprinkler system turned on for the spring season.

love to all! Jeanne

Los Angeles: a great place to visit but we wouldn't want to live there ;-)

Well, we're back from our visit to LA and we've had a few days to process and recuperate...despite the flippant headline, it was a wonderful but rather bittersweet visit, especially the second half, and was more difficult for us (well, me) than we expected. Our picture taking was woefully inadequate, but there are a few to show:

Friday April 20th: We got the kids up early and got to the airport, through security and onto our plane with zero time to spare. A relatively painless flight to LAX, then it took three hours to get to my parents' house - double our estimate due to traffic, rain, and airport inefficiency. But we had a nice afternoon with Mimi and PopPop and the kids, though keyed up from travel, behaved as well as could be expected.

Saturday April 21st: The big outing of the day was a trip to Underwood Family Farm. This farm has tons of animals to see and feed, play structures, rides, and pick-your-own veggies. I was amazed at how much produce was already ready, when here in Colorado the farmers markets are just opening with the first trickle of cool-season crops.

Sunday April 22nd: For some reason I can't remember what we did this day, but I know we went to a local park with my mom and dad at some point during this trip so it must have been today. Then I think (?) we had a nice dinner to celebrate my dad's 76th birthday (!) I know we did these things, but I'm just not 100% sure of the timing.
















Monday April 23nd: A nice morning around the house, then in the afternoon we packed up the kids, said goodbye to Mimi and PopPop and headed down to our old stomping grounds near Park la Brea. Soon after we checked in to our hotel, our dear friend and former nanny Udayangani came over to see us (who are we kidding, the kids!) and to go out for dinner with us. It was an emotional reunion and the kids were thrilled to see her. On her insistence, she stayed with them in the hotel for a few hours while we headed over to the O'Briens' house for a few hours of catching up. It was great to see them, but seeing them and sitting in their home like we'd never left brought on a rush of nostalgia and homesickness and I spent the first 10 minutes crying. It's not that I want to move back to LA - seeing the traffic and congestion reinforced our love of our new town - but I do wish I could somehow transport our neighbors and friends and community and some of the better aspects of our life from there to where we are now. Anyway, we spent a nice evening with Matt and Jill, and then came home to let Udayangani head home.

Tuesday April 24th: Jason had to work at his LA office today, so we took the kids to IHOP for breakfast first. Then Udayangani accompanied me to visit Melissa Disharoon and her kids, Tegan, Harper and Finn (again, me getting weepy on and off during my visit). At naptime we all headed over to the O'Briens' house, where I put Zach down for his nap and then Logan and Liv had a very sweet and happy reunion. They seemed to pick up right where they left off, and I got to say hi to Julie Stark and Sharon Bamber and Tamiko and Aimee Ishida, some of our old neighbors. We also peeked into our old apartment, which has been furnished for a corporate rental (three chefs who will be working at a new restaurant opening in town) and is not yet occupied. In the afternoon Marieke and Willem came by to play, and then Jason came home, and we saw some of the other neighborhood kids, and Christie came by, and Matt and Jill prepared a fabulous, delicious dinner in honor of Liv's 5th birthday. Watching the kids all play together in the yard as they used to for seemingly endless summers tugged at my heartstrings. I wonder how long it will be, if ever, before our kids have friends that close again here in Boulder. Is that a closeness you only get from knowing the kids and their parents since before you had memories? I don't know the answer and it scares me sometimes. To make matters worse, I have zero pictures from this day. I guess we were too busy living it and soaking it in to think about the camera.

Wednesday April 25th: Jason headed to work again this morning and the boys and I relaxed in the hotel room for a few hours. Then Mimi came down for a last visit, and to keep an eye on the kids while I got the car loaded up and checked out of the hotel. We got some lunch then stopped in to visit Logan's best friend from preschool, Penelope Goldin, and her parents Amy and Greg. Once again, the sweetness of how excited they were to see each other, and Logan's disappointment when the visit was over, was heartrending. But by the time we said goodbye to Mimi again, picked up Jason from his office and headed to the airport, Logan's spirits were lifting again and he was telling us her was excited to get home to Boulder. The kids did great on the plane - Jason and they sat together in a row and I got to sit by myself, a rare treat - and were real troopers even though we didn't make it home until late that night. A day or two of sleeping in and extra rest and they were back on track as their usual cheery selves. I am feeling better as well...still missing my friends but glad to be home, as this place really feels like home now.

Since getting back we've had some fun adventures, but those will have to wait until tomorrow, as it's 10:30 and I am really tired after a fun but exhausting weekend. Come back tomorrow night for more great pictures. Love to all!

One post before we sign off for the week - Our piano arrived!

I think one story that got lost in the 3-week gap was the saga of our attempt to shop for a piano. Jason and I have been discussing getting one because both of us have always wanted to learn to play, and we also hope it will be a good influence on the kids to have one in the house - with any luck, we'll convince one or more of them to take lessons eventually. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we decided that "this Saturday, we're going to take the family and shop for a piano." Well, the designated Saturday arrived and presented us with an ice storm - everything was coated in a thin layer of ice,including the roadways. But we persisted, loading the kids in the car and risking life and limb to drive out to the nearest piano store, in Niwot. This particular store rents out used pianos so we thought it might be a good place to start. Turns out trying to take the kids on a piano-shopping trip ranks just above furniture shopping on the list of really bad ideas. Both kids were nightmares, wanting to touch everything (of course) and making an embarrassing range of whining and crying noises to voice their boredom and dissatisfaction with the activity. So, humiliated, we eventually left the store with very little additional knowledge other than that we didn't like any of the available rentals.

After this we decided we'd have to divide and conquer, so Jason was appointed the piano-procurement czar. Along with some great advice and input from my mom, Jason did some great research and the end result is that we have a beautiful, shiny black Bohemia upright piano sitting in our family room. The boys are very interested and it will be covered with fingerprints soon enough, but we're excited.

Probably won't post for a few days here...

Just a warning to our faithful readers that we're headed out of town for a few days and it's unlikely that we'll do any blogging while we're away. But we'll take pictures and post a summary of our trip when we return. See you next week!

A big leap in culinary maturity for Logan today!

Like many children in the under-four set, Logan has gained a reputation as a bit of a picky eater (I read somewhere reputable that, in fact, 80% of parents report that their children are unusually picky eaters, which goes to show you that selective dietary preferences are really the norm). Anyway, yesterday out of the blue Logan mentioned that he was thinking about trying meatballs with tomato sauce on them. A few weeks ago he made the leap from sauceless. toppingless pizza crust to eating the rest of the pizza, so I guess he figured if he liked red sauce on that, how bad could it be on meatballs. So I promised him that tonight I would make him spaghetti with meatballs. I made a big deal about it, taking him shopping for the supplies, letting him "help" me make the meatballs, setting the table very nicely and giving him a grownup plate instead of plastic. Well, by the time dinner was ready, he wanted his meatballs and spaghetti in one bowl, with LOTS of sauce. I was skeptical, but kept it to myself and he proved me wrong. He gobbled it down and declared it his new favorite meal.

Not to be outdone, Zach also had pasta with sauce on it. He didn't eat the meatballs, but baby steps. He's a bit of a vegetarian, that one. Except that he'll eat bacon whenever he can get it.

Happy Birthday to my Dad today, too. We can't wait to visit him and Mimi in LA over the weekend.