What's a Pineapple Look Like Anyway?

I'm not a big fruit and vegetable eater, never have been. But my kids are getting me to broaden my horizons. Every time they accompany me to the grocery store I end up buying something surprising. Like kiwi fruit. Or plums. Or pears.

And this past week I did one more thing I never thought I'd do; I bought a whole pineapple with the intention of cutting it up at home.

My kids begged me. I'm not kidding.

And so this weekend we tackled the pineapple.

It was fun, with both the girls watching in anticipation to see how tough the outside of the pineapple was, and how the core looks different from the more edible part. They felt the thick, tough leaves, the prickly exterior and couldn't wait to start nibbling.

It was delicious, juicier and firmer than the canned stuff I usually buy. The pieces were disappearing as quickly as I could cut them up.



Next on our list: pomegranate.

Instead of Cartoons

Who needs Phineas and Ferb when you've got an imagination like this?

A Rite of Passage

Lindsey has been asking for technology -- an iTouch, a cell phone, but one thing she hasn't been asking for is earrings. She's asked over the past few years about getting her ears pierced, about whether or not it hurts, how long it hurts, if it hurts every time to clean them or just when you get them pierced...you get the picture.

So I was surprised when a few weeks ago she asked to get her ears pierced.

A couple of her friends have gotten them pierced recently, and she decided to get over her fear of the pain to get hers done as well.

I thought about it a bit and decided she needed to make her bed every morning for a week before she could get them pierced, to show that she could take on some additional responsibility. After all, she would have to clean her ears three times a day for six weeks before taking out her starter set of earrings.

So a couple of Saturdays ago she and I headed out for the mall. She was too nervous to eat lunch beforehand and had butterflies in her stomach, she was both nervous and excited. And when I gave her the option to back out, she was committed.

And so she did it. She picked out green ones, the birthstone for May (same color I got when I had my ears pierced.)



Waiting in anticipation.

She did great and I am so proud of her. And she is diligently cleaning her ears three times, every day.

My little girl is growing up.

WW: The Toys May Change...

...but the scene remains the same.

First photo taken March 2006, second taken February 2012.

The Wrong Debate

thesocialpoets.blogspot.com

I don't really follow politics much. I should -- I'm one of those uninformed voters who should probably know more about seats and candidates before I hit the polls.

But you can't help but follow politics now, in a presidential election year. And here's what I'm learning: our politicians spend too much time worrying about campaigning and how their decisions while in office affect their chances of re-election.

Take, for example, the birth control debate.

President Obama recently backed a mandate that requires religious institutions to provide health insurance coverage to their employees for contraceptives. This is something the Catholic church is not happy about, and Obama's camp is being touted as "smart" for taking this stance which will activate young, female voters. Pollsters have found that voters across the board -- including Catholics -- support access to contraceptives.

Political analyst Charlie Cook put it this way: "If it's framed as a fight over contraception, President Obama wins and the church and opponents of the rule lose. If it is perceived as a fight over religious freedom, the church and rule opponents win and Obama loses."

Who loses in this discussion? We all do, but especially women. After all, the majority of contraceptives are ones targeting the female reproductive system.

Let's first talk about the reasons why women in this country may need contraceptives. Did you know that a woman taking oral contraceptives ("the pill") reduces her risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers by up to 70 percent? And some women use the pill along with a host of other prescriptions to control acne. Some pills are used to reduce the symptoms of PMS, an actual medical diagnosis that reduces the quality of life for the women suffering from it. You can read more about all the reasons not related to contraception why women may want to take the pill on this WebMD page.

Note that it's a medical website, not a political website.

But where are the medical experts in this fight for coverage for contraceptives? Nowhere. They have no voice. Or, if they are talking, they are not getting media coverage so Americans can be educated on this issue. What do our politicians know of medicine? Don't they have bigger things to worry about?

It's a shame that Obama's advisers have to recommend a course of action based on whether or not it's popular in the polls. How about making decisions based on what's the right thing to do? That gets lost in the election debate. They're talking about the right things for the wrong reasons.

It seems that the campaign trail gets longer and longer and starts earlier and earlier. Obama was only one year into his first term when I first heard political analysts discuss how his actions in office will impact his ability to be re-elected. How about what impact his actions have on the country? On our lives?

We need campaign reform. This is ridiculous.

Capital "T," Capital "G": The Grind

Get up. Get ready for work. Get children ready for school.

Brush little one's hair. Create ponytail/pigtail/braids.

Give hugs and kisses.

Go to work. Meetings. Phone calls. Spreadsheets. Letters. Emails. Emails. Emails.

Leave to pick up kids. Go to school #1. Looks for boots. Look at special school project at close visual range.

While in car on way to second school hear all about the day. Pick up at school #2 begins.

Collect boots. Collect backpack and gym shoes. Bicker with sister over who gets to tell mom about her day.

Home.

Quick! Feed the dog, he looks like he's going to gnaw your arm off. Whew! Disaster averted.

Start dinner.

Look through backpacks.

Stir dinner. Add some more ingredients.

Collect mail. Throw a load of laundry in.

Set table.

Serve, eat and clear table of dinner. Transfer laundry to dryer.

Clean up kitchen while half supervising homework. Or, in today's case, make a Valentine's Day mailbox for one child.

Begin bedtime routine. Begin bedtime routine. Begin bedtime, girls! Get your butts upstairs! Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!

Fold clothes while checking in on children's progress at 2-minute intervals.

Distribute clothes to bedrooms. Read books.

Give hugs and kisses.

G'night!

And usually fall into bed myself shortly after.

6:00 am -- Get up. Get ready for work.

"Why am I so exhausted?" said one friend last week, when we broke this routine to gather for drinks. "I don't understand, I don't even DO anything!"

Capital T, Capital G. The Grind.

I think I know how Sisyphus feels.

Super Mom does not live here.

Marissa and Mommy Day

This morning Lindsey got special time with Daddy at a kid's track meet at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse. His running has inspired our kids, Lindsey especially, and she was excited to spend time with her dad doing his favorite sport.

Marissa did not want to go, and I decided that we would have some special time just she and I.

So off we went to Choo Choo Bob's, a model train store in St. Paul that I've heard about from lots of different parents. While there's lots of kids train products, they also carry many different kinds of railroad sets for the serious adult hobbyist. Need HO gauge railway? How about N gauge? All types, all sizes, they have it all.

They also had a story hour going on when we got there, and two different birthday parties, one for a 3-year-old and one for a 4-year-old. It was packed. We barely walked in the door and Marissa wanted to turn around. "This is a little kid's store!" she declared.

But we walked around a little bit and she decided it wasn't too bad, though she refused to play with the Thomas the Train set tables in the back of the store, even though I know she still loves to play with our trains when given the opportunity. Too many toddlers around,apparently.

She wanted to leave so down the street we went, to see what else was around. We ended up stopping in to a local coffee shop called Kopplin's Coffee. This is a brand new location for them, and it was hopping. It made me smile to see the local neighborhood types in there, the entrepreneurs meeting with clients on a Saturday morning and the long-time friends getting together to catch up.

Marissa had a hot chocolate and a donut muffin (a muffin that seriously tasted just like a donut!) and I had a rogue mocha. What makes a mocha rogue? The chocolate, apparently, which was a specialty 70% cocoa bean chocolate. Yum. And seriously, how cool is the froth on it? Every drink had a different design. Such a nice touch.

We headed back down the street and stopped by Sweets Bake Shop, which was now open. We picked up a little something for dessert tonight, and then peeked back in Choo Choo Bob's one last time before leaving the area. This time story hour was over, and we got to see the real model trains in action. We watched this for a bit, and then Marissa decided she wanted to go home. So we did.

She's been playing by herself for hours now, making up her imaginary worlds and dressing up. And even though she said she wanted the entire day to be "Mommy and Me" day, she's decided she just wants Marissa time for now, to play and imagine the afternoon away.

That sounds divine.

How Planned Parenthood Created an Army

Graph from Planned Parenthood 2009-2010 annual report (link below)

 What an interesting couple of days this has been in the world of fundraising.

If you hadn't heard, Susan G Komen announced on Jan 31st that, due to a new policy they implemented, they have cut funding to Planned Parenthood that pays for breast exams and screenings, to the tune of $680,000. Their new policy was that they cannot fund organizations that are under federal investigation. Guess what, Planned Parenthood is pretty much ALWAYS under investigation, thanks to one of the services they provide to their clients.

Within 24 hours, Planned Parenthood sent an email out to their supporters, asking for their assistance to fill this sudden and unplanned-for gap in funding, so they can continue to provide breast cancer screening to low-income women.

The public's first response was surprise: You mean Planned Parenthood doesn't just abort babies?

Once we all were educated that Planned Parenthood provides many more services than abortion, the collective public became outraged. How could Komen, the leader and most well-known breast cancer brand in the world, choose to cut funding to those who can least afford it? Doesn't this go against Komen's mission?

This blogger did a better job of summarizing what happened than I can; read more of it at the Nonprofit Marketing Guide blog.

The backlash in social media has been immediate and loud. Shame on Komen -- support Planned Parenthood!

Within 24 hours Planned Parenthood had an army of advocates speaking out on their behalf on the social media spectrum, standing up for them and making their voices heard. Within 24 hours after Planned Parenthood's cry for help, the $680,000 gap caused by Komen's decision had almost completely filled by supporters who became donors. I suspect Planned Parenthood has a whole lot of brand new donors who have never given to them before.

The word from Komen's camp?

Silence.

Finally after 2 days had passed, Komen's PR machine began to churn, with Facebook notes, tweets and a push via traditional media to make their voice heard on their change in policy. But at this point 75% of all social media buzz was against Komen and for Planned Parenthood; they have some work to do.

Here's the best part.

I began wondering, "Hmmm...what does $680,000 mean to Planned Parenthood anyway? How big of a gap IS this?"

The answer: Not very.

Planned Parenthood's latest annual report indicates that they receive hundreds of millions of dollars in charitable income, through individual donations, grants, program service revenue and other sources. Their net assets on their most recently filed 990 are $103 million, with gross receipts of $130 million.

Let's see...$680,000 into $130 million...that's .5% of all of their funding. Yes, that's a decimal point in front of that number. That's less than 1% of their total funding.

Wow. All this, over a dollar amount that they probably could've replaced just by asking some of their other sources for a couple more bucks.

But look at what they've done. They've brought over new advocates and supporters to their cause. They've educated the public as a whole as to their mission and how they fulfill it.

I am sure that the long-term impact is that Komen will never fund Planned Parenthood again. If I were Planned Parenthood I would say that that's no big loss, considering the amount of supporters they've gained in this debacle. And Komen is already under attack and has lost walkers and donors, just as they are ramping up in their marketing for the 3-day walks which take place all over the U.S. all summer long.

Ouch.

Well played, Planned Parenthood, well played.

*NOTE: As a disclaimer, I must remind readers that these views are my own and not that of my employer, former employer, husband, dog, great-aunt's second cousin once removed. Just me. Thanks.

Golly Gee

I get very few comments on my blog. If I ever post a link to it on Facebook or Twitter, those may get comments or get re-tweeted, but few take the time to go through to my original post and comment. Except my family, of course.

I was honored to see that my recent blog post "Are We Teaching Hate?" inspired my dad to write a blog post about his own experiences growing up in Northern Michigan during a time of great change in our country.

Check it out for another perspective. And really, how many men in their mid-60's do you know who write multiple blogs and keep up with family and friends near and far via Facebook and Twitter? I'll guarantee you he'll be one of the coolest guys and best storytellers you'll ever meet.

I Smell Bacon

Did I mention before how much I love bacon?

So much so that this year my dad ordered some special meats for our family for Christmas, including some amazing flavored thick-cut bacon, and Hawaiian chicken breasts.

The Hawaiian chicken breasts are stuffed with a special ooey-gooey cheese and pineapple chunks, then wrapped in bacon. Beautiful, woven bacon that sizzles and oozes into the chicken as it bakes.

Yum.

But unfortunately, the girls hate these Hawaiian chicken breasts. They particularly hate the oozing cheese.

So, in order to have some more of these, we decided to make an equivalent of these for our girls, with none of that icky stuff that they don't like. And since Lindsey REALLY wanted to help make dinner, I decided to put her crafting skills to work, weaving bacon.

Four strips of bacon the long way, four strips cut in half, then woven together to make a mat of meat. We put the chicken breast in the middle of it, wrapped it around the chicken breast and set it on the broiling pan with the stuff ones.

400 degrees for between 50 and 60 minutes, and voila.

A little sauteed broccoli on the side, and I had four happy, filled family members.

No, I did NOT have to find a special frying pan for this recipe. And yes, I did have to cut the bacon.

Are We Teaching Hate?

My youngest daughter came home from school with a book about Martin Luther King Jr recently. Very appropriate, considering that a couple of weeks ago we celebrated his birthday.

I began reading the book to her and got a bit disturbed.

Segregation of schools. Segregation of services. Unequal access to transportation, stores, jobs. Black people being severely beaten and sprayed with water from a fire hydrant, just for wanting equal rights.

Yes, it all happened, in the all too recent past. Yes, it was a terrible time. And we should never forget that we in this country, the land of the "free," did those things as recently as one generation removed from me.

But it never even occurred to my daughter until I began reading this book to her that people with different color skin could be treated differently. She was confused by the term "black."

"Do you mean brown people, Mommy?" she asked. "Because I've never seen someone with black skin. And what about people who are dark peach or light tan? What are they?"

"They" defy classification. We all do, don't we? Let's start treating differently the people who grew up with an Italian heritage but turned out to actually be French but who are actually more Croatian than either of those heritages, shall we? Because that would be my family.

I am all for teaching history lest we repeat it. But now, when diversity is so deeply ingrained in our children, are we doing ourselves a disservice by teaching that it wasn't always this way? Will my daughter look at her classmates whose skin is darker than hers and think of them differently, when she never did up to this point?

The other element that's changing is that "diversity" today is not about who is black and who is white. It is about who is Hispanic, or Muslim, or Indian or Chinese. It is about population growth in a multitude of ethnicities that most of us probably don't even know. Did you know that people of the Karen culture are the largest growing population in the Twin Cities? (Karen is pronounced Ka-REHN and is a certain culture of people who are immigrating here from Burma and Thailand.) The Twin Cities is home to the largest population of people of this culture outside of Southeast Asia. Check out their supporting organization, Karen Organization of Minnesota. What an amazing people. And guess what -- they came to this country to escape many of the same persecutions we did in the 1960's against a certain class of people as well. Ironic, huh?

So I'm not sure what to make of this. I agree that we should pass on the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. He was an incredible leader who transformed our nation. I'm just not sure that age 6 is the right time to teach that hate ran so deeply in this country at one time.

Superhero Day

Yesterday was Superhero Day at Lindsey's school. The kids were instructed to dress up like a superhero, which was defined as anyone that they look up to.

Lindsey has been pondering Superhero Day all week. She didn't know who to be, and I didn't offer any ideas.

Finally on Wednesday she asked if we had a wig of short, black, curly hair. Ummm....no?

"Darn," she said, in all seriousness, "Because I would really like to go as you."

Since she probably wouldn't fit into my clothes, she decided to go as her sister, because she admires her sister, too. Except she decided that Marissa's clothes would be too small for her.

Finally the day came, and Friday morning she is looking through her drawers. She decides to go as herself, because she likes herself just fine, too.

One Letter of Gratitude

I have the honor of being the guest blogger for a friend of mine, Missy Durant, who recently published her first book, What Matters...Gratitude.

I first met Missy through our daughters, who are the best of friends. I got to know her more personally as our daughters have grown and am humbled and amazed that so much wisdom and positivity can reside in a single person.

Missy's book chronicles her journey of writing a letter of gratitude to 50 people in 50 days. Those letters changed her life, changed her perspective on life and ignited a zeal for the things that matter most in life and began a revolution of gratitude.

She asked me to write an answer to the following question: "If I could only write one letter of gratitude to someone, who would it be and why?"

My answer is, as always, rather personal. If you want to read my response, you'll have to visit Missy's blog, What Matters the Book.

Maybe it will inspire you to write your own letter to someone who means a lot to you.

Moments That Matter

“And then…um, and then…um, and then…”

I sigh inwardly.

I am attempting to listen to my 8-year-old recount some event of her school day. Something that was apparently very funny. But it is being lost in translation.

“Okay, I’ll start at the beginning. So at lunch today…um, ok…”

I contemplate my child’s brain function. Does she suffer from some kind of attention deficient disorder? Is this the result of hours of playing Plants vs Zombies? Is this why she needs to have a piece of technology in her hands while waiting for another piece of technology to boot up?

Playing Plants vs Zombies on the iPad while waiting for Animal Jam to load on the laptop.

I nearly get up from my chair, to go do some household chore like fold laundry or empty the dishwasher, knowing she will dutifully follow me around, attempting to tell me the story of her day.

But instead, I still myself.

I look her in the eyes, something I hadn’t been doing. I had been looking down at my smartphone, checking my personal email while she tried to tell me this story. (Hmmm…I wonder where she gets this need for technology to occupy her…)

I take in her deep brown eyes as they flicker back and forth, searching for words in the air. I watch her expression as she tries to grasp those words, and I wonder if her adorable little pixie chin will stay that shape when she hit puberty and everything about her body begins to change.  I watch her gestures as she begins the story again, admiring her long fingers and the natural grace of her movements.

And then something remarkable happens.

Her eyes catch mine, and she realizes she has my full attention. She looks in my eyes and the story comes to her easily, in one fell swoop.

“At lunch today I was sitting next to my friend Ellie and Charlie was sitting across from us and then Charlie began playing with his food, and pretty soon he had made a little person out of his carrots and his pudding. But then the lunch lady saw it and told him he had to eat it, so he did. It was so funny!”

And she looks at me with expectation, waiting for me to laugh, which I do. I give her a hug and thank her for sharing her story with me.

Suddenly a story that I would have half-listened to for 20 minutes and maybe would have remembered (but probably not) has become a moment. A brief one at that, but a moment that we have shared together, and it tells me so much about my daughter.

It tells me that she has friends, girls and boys who choose to sit by her at lunch. She loves it when these friends make her laugh. Likewise, these kids probably enjoy making her laugh, and that’s a pretty good basis for a friendship when you’re in third grade.

These moments are what matter to me. And I am thankful for them.

*This post was inspired by a book written by a friend of mine called What Matters...Gratitude. If you're looking for inspiration, or an amazing, positive place to make you smile, check out her blog.

Why I'm Glad I'm Not Beyonce.

Tonight I substituted tomato sauce for tomato soup in a recipe. I also threw in some chili powder, dried minced onions and garlic powder because it called for a cup of salsa and I only had half a cup before the jar went dry. (You can sense my fine culinary skills at work here, can't you?)

"That's it!" I stated. "Someone has to go grocery shopping."

And by someone, of course, I meant me.

Every once in a while I'll go grocery shopping after the kids are in bed. I'll leave the house around 8:30 and get back between 9:30 and 9:45 loaded for bear. It's amazing how much more efficient you can be when you're not jockeying every other person who had the same idea in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.

Tonight, I thought I might not want to get myself ready for bed after I come home, I may just want to fall into bed, exhausted from the day.

So I decided to get ready for bed BEFORE I left to go grocery shopping.

I brushed my teeth. I washed my face of all traces of make up and put my nighttime facial cream on. I took out my contacts. I would've changed into jammies but I was already wearing my signature yoga pants that I put on immediately upon arriving home from work all winter long, so that was already taken care of.

And off I went to the grocery store. I am sure I was a sight. After all, we all know how soft and creamy my skin looks without make-up and how I have absolutely no blemishes at all. My hair looks awesome held back by a headband with curls hanging out in every direction. And don't get me started on how beautiful my eyes look behind my 500-power glasses. Yeah baby!

And I was so glad I wasn't Beyonce.

Beyonce can't take two steps out of any building without someone snapping a photo of her. When she was pregnant (she delivered a healthy baby girl, by the way, name of Blue Ivy Carter) people kept trying to capture pictures of her "baby bump." By the time she finally started looking slightly pregnant she was weeks away from delivering a baby.

From when Beyonce announced her pregnancy at 5 months along. Yeah, right.

Photo credit: www.juicytings.com

I, on the other hand, can leave the house, blemishes and all, naked skin, yoga pants and clunky snow clogs, and no one cares. No one at all.

I am so lucky.

Because That's the Way I've Always Done It

I love bacon.

It's ingrained in my olfactory nerves to LOVE the smell of fresh bacon. Growing up we could smell bacon cooking in our house seven days a week. It is still today a main staple of my dad's diet, though he's cut back to six days a week.

But I've always been confused by one thing.

Why do they make bacon so long when it can't lay flat in a frying pan?

And really, frying pans are round, so usually you can only lie one or two pieces flat in the middle, then if you want to get four or five pieces in the pan you have to curve them around the edges, then keep moving them around as they cook and shrink in size.

It never seemed to make much sense to me.

Over the years, if I found myself in a home goods store I would occasionally browse the cookware section for a pan specially made for frying bacon. You know, a square one, with decent-sized sides to keep the grease in. I have a stove top griddle that's square, but the edges are so short that the grease would be dripping down into the burner with the amount of bacon I cook at one time.

I never did find a bacon frying pan. Huh. Well, perhaps one day somebody will invent one. Someone came up with the PedEgg, right?

And then a month or so ago I had a good friend and our neighbor over for breakfast. I LOVE cooking breakfast for people. It's such a great, casual meal. The requirement was that they arrive in their pajamas or comfy clothes -- no getting dressed crap.

So they came down, enjoyed a cup of coffee, and watched as dish after dish was set on the table. Syrup. Butter. Scrambled eggs. Buttermilk pancakes. Sausage links. And finally, bacon.

"Wow," my friend said, "I've never seen bacon so long!"

"Really?" I said in surprise, "But that's how you buy bacon."

She shrugs. "Well, I could never get mine to fit in my pan, so I've always cut mine in half before frying it."

Oh. My. God.

I am an idiot of a colossal size. It's amazing I hold down a job.

It seriously never OCCURRED to me to cut the bacon in half. It was such a great example of how our brains (or perhaps just mine in particular) hold on to tradition; I had never even thought to question how I cook bacon.

For Christmas I received a shipment of meats from my dad, and in it was a couple of packets of maple flavored bacon. I couldn't wait to cook it up for breakfast with my family.

But first, I cut it in half. Guess what, it still tastes just as good as the long pieces.

It's not what you say, it's how you say it

"Mom," says Lindsey in a serious tone, with a grave look on her face. "I'm excited to go back to school, but there's a boy in my grade who is kind of naughty and I'm not looking forward to seeing him again."

"Really?" I say cautiously, with a hundred questions swirling in my head. Does he tease her? Is he pulling her ponytail? Does he trip her in the hall? I can feel the momma bear in my chest ready to pounce. I know who this boy is: he isn't in her class but is in her grade. I see him every day at their after-school program when I pick up Lindsey. He always seems to be playing nicely with the other boys, but then those 30-second interactions can be deceiving.

"He's just not very nice," she says. "He's always saying, 'What the BLEEP!'"

"You mean he says a bad word?" I ask.

"No," Lindsey explains, "He says 'bleep.' But it still isn't very nice."

"So his actual words are 'What the BLEEP?'" I confirm.

"Yes," she says. "He's really mean."

We finally settle on the fact that it isn't what he says but the circumstances under which he says it which makes him mean in her mind. My advice to her is to avoid him, something she's apparently been pretty successful at doing up to this point anyway.

Those kids who say "bleep," though. Boy, what troublemakers.

So I Guess We Have a Nanny

I never really saw us as a "nanny" family. Sure, there was the summer of 2008, when my husband's nephew's soon-to-be wife watched our kids all day, every day, for the entire summer. But she was family, well, almost, and has truly become family since that experience. So I wouldn't really call her a nanny.

But then this fall we ran into a problem.

We missed the deadline for signing the girls up for Minneapolis KIDS, the before and after school program at their school. Lindsey made it in luckily, but Marissa only made it in for the afternoon -- the morning was booked solid and she was number 19 on the waiting list.

With their school day starting at 9:40 a.m, it wasn't possible for either of us to flex our workday enough to make this happen once our commutes were taken into account. And really, what were the chances that we would be able to find someone willing to drive to our house to watch our daughter for an hour and a half? Every day?

Well, it was our only option, so we had to give it a shot.

I placed an ad on SitterCity.com and emailed a boatload of other Lake Harriet parents, asking for recommendations or resources. I found out that a woman just a block from us runs a daycare out of her house -- who knew?! So that was definitely an option, but it would mean Marissa would have to catch the bus from her house to school.

No bus, Marissa insisted. Especially without a big sister along to help her. And really, Marissa had only recently graduated from a daycare setting where she was constantly surrounded by toddlers, I wasn't happy about putting her back into that kind of environment again.

We kept searching.

I had a couple of people bite on the ads, but once they realized it was only for an hour and a half, they weren't interested. We did get one occasional babysitter out of it for evenings and weekends, she is LOVELY. Seriously, what 29-year-old married chemist with a masters degree wants to babysit other people's children? This one does, she loves kids so much. I suspect that some day soon she'll be having her own, but she's having too much fun playing in the lab right now to take the time.

Finally I thought of Katie, a woman I had met in social media circles. We were first acquainted on Twitter, and then had met at a couple of local social media networking events. She is looking for full-time work but, like a lot of college grads, opportunities are few and far between right now. She had already babysat the girls a couple of times, and they loved her. I tweeted her.

"Katie, by chance are you taking babysitting jobs?"

"Yes I am." was the reply. And we went from there.

Katie comes to our house every morning a little before 8:00, and she drives Marissa to school about 9:15. We bought a booster seat for Katie's car so we didn't have to worry about remembering to put one in there from one of our cars every day. It gives her a steady job, but also lots of free time for applications and interviews.

We all love it.

Marissa gets special one-on-one time with an adult, something she has been deprived of moreso than Lindsey, being the second child. When we discovered two weeks into the school year that Marissa had gotten the "homework teacher," as other parents described her, homework was able to be done in the mornings, with Katie's supervision. And when she started lagging in reading skills, she got extra reading time with Katie.

But more than that, she just plain has fun. They play. They dance. They practice yoga. I find crazy, silly videos on the iPad that the two of them made together. (I would post one but don't want to embarrass Katie!)

All this time I always said that Katie babysat her. But Katie will tell you she is Marissa's nanny.

That word.

It has such connotations, doesn't it? Of wealth. Of parents too busy to bother raising their own children. Of privilege. Of spoiled children. At least, those are the connotations that have been associated in my head, thanks in part to television and the fact that I never knew anyone growing up who had a nanny.

But truly, she IS her nanny. She spends time with her every day. And now, when Marissa draws pictures of our family, there are five of us (okay, six including the dog, when she includes the dog.) Mommy, Daddy, Lindsey, Marissa, Katie and Dax (sometimes, not in the picture below).

And that's pretty cool.

P.S. If you want to read Katie's perspective on what it's like to be a nanny, she wrote a guest post just this past week on the blog Minnesota Joy. Check it out!

Holiday Break Entertainment

For some reason, during this past holiday break my children have been playing together like best friends. I shouldn't sound so surprised, but anyone who's followed this blog knows the challenges we've had in getting these two to get along.
Yet they've been incredible lately, making up new games and entertaining each other to no end.

I give you the following examples.

I found these little buttons all over their room and the hallways upstairs. I was escorted upstairs to take the elevator. We stood outside Marissa's room and pushed the "up" button. She then opened her bedroom door, we entered and closed the door, then pushed which floor we wanted from the inside of the room. There was even a special bar to hold on to as the elevator moved us up the floors. She re-opened the door and we went into the hallway, now on the 29th floor of the building.

I hadn't realized our house was 29 stories tall.

Another time I was treated to a fashion show, compliments of the trunk of dress-up clothes that had been a birthday present for Marissa when she was 3 or 4. And the clothes are meant to fit 3 or 4 year-olds, not 6 and 8 year-olds.

I was given photographer status and escorted to my seat in the front row so I could have a clear shot of the models as they walked the runway and waved.

Finally, there are the squishies that have been resurrected from Lindsey's room. Lindsey had gotten a load of them for her birthday this past spring and promptly stored them in her room and forgot about them. Until now. Now they talk to each other, they take each other to the hospital where other squishies are given nurse and doctor status and care for the injured squishies. They are driven around by Disney princesses in a Barbie car or Dora van to their various appointments and playdates.

In the meantime, Wayne and I sit in close proximity to the action, reading or otherwise engaged, and enjoy the quiet moments of sisterly laughter and imaginary play.

How sweet it is.

Faves of 2011

Everyone else is doing it, guess I may as well jump off this bridge, too.

Top blog posts of 2011, some of which were written in 2010.

The Definition of Wild Abandon This one is tops because people keep Googling "the definition of wild abandon" and getting to this very short post. I don't think it's what they want, but it does the job in a single photo. Wild abandon? Got it.

The Less Than Ideal Workplace In which I stand on my blogbox about overcrowding in the Minneapolis Public Schools. We did eventually get approval to put an addition on. By the time it is built it will accommodate the student population of 2011, even though it will open in 2014, which has even higher projected enrollment levels. Don't get me started.

A Love Story to the End To honor the memory of my feisty and smart-ass aunt who lost her battle with cancer this past winter. I thought of her immediate family members all this holiday season, and imagine that her loss is felt all the more this time of year.

A Party of Princesses Seriously, who can resist these adorable photos of 6-year-olds in princess dresses?

Life in Even Numbers Every two years I realize how quickly the last two years flew by. At least I have pictures and a blog to record the passing of time, and reflect on it with a smile.

I Have Not Done My Patriotic Duty This one's from 2010 as well, but it seems appropriate considering we're coming into another election year. Which is worse, not voting or being an uninformed voter? I suspect that the majority of us are actually uninformed voters, based on the crud that gets covered on broadcast TV. And by the way, yes, TV is still Americans' #1 source of "news." Sad.

Reflections on Christmas

The gifts become a blur.
The wrappings are stripped away in a flurry of activity.

The boxes are tossed aside and trappings of the toys are hastily removed and discarded.

What will we remember?

Smiles.

Snuggles.

Sharing.

Playing.

Family.

The Season of Giving

I had an interesting discussion with my co-worker yesterday about teaching our children about the spirit of Christmas giving. Her kids, ages 13 and 15, were spending the 23rd out shopping with their dad, looking for the perfect gift for each other and for their mom (my co-worker).

My kids, ages 6 and 8, do not shop for each other or for us. I remember being a child and buying presents for my parents and my sister, but don't remember at what age we started doing that. I distinctly remember the year I bought my dad a hammer. I wrapped the box so carefully and it turned out gorgeous, with perfectly angled corners and a ribbon tied just so. I couldn't wait to give it to him, but as I carried it to the tree I realized it was lighter than it should be. I had forgotten to put the hammer in the box! And I didn't want to ruin my wrapping job and re-wrap it.

No worries.

On Christmas morning, I handed Dad the box to open -- he joked about how light it felt and wondered if there was a gift inside. Little did he know there wasn't! He opened it, searched in the tissue paper for a while, and then I ran upstairs and got the present out from under my bed while the family laughed. It was the most memorable gift he received that morning. (At least to me it was.)

I don't remember the shopping excursions, and in most cases I don't remember the gifts I gave others. But I remember the stories like that one which fills the years with fond memories of Christmas.

Are we depriving our children of this same joy by not teaching them yet to give to others?

Yet I feel like they already have that spirit.

Every day for the past week and a half they've been coming home from school with various "treasures." Usually these treasures are of the paper kind, little love notes and drawings that they made especially for us. Marissa made a photo frame with a picture of her in it that she could not WAIT for me to open, so we didn't.

I've always told the kids that the best things they could give us are the homemade things, not something that comes from a store.

On Black Friday this year consumers spent $52.4 billion to kick off the holiday season. That's billion with a "b." Imagine the good that money could have done if we had spent it on something other than ourselves.

I think I'm okay that they aren't buying presents for others yet.

Minneapolis: Big Town with a Big Heart

I've said it before I'll say it again: I love where we live. Even as winter descends upon us and we brace ourselves for bumper-to-bumper snowy commutes, and cold that takes your breath away and freezes the hairs on your face, I love it.

Here's a great example why.

I am on the email list for the Minneapolis Police 5th Precinct. On the other end of this email list are two Crime Prevention Specialists. They work with investigating police to enlist the help of the public to solve crimes.

Yesterday they sent out an email asking for assistance in gathering evidence for a burglary suspect:

On December 13, 2011, a suspected burglar was apprehended in the 3^rd Precinct with several items of interest in his possession. One item was a camera that may have been taken in a burglary but we are unable to find a police report on this item. The camera is an Olympus Stylius. There are pictures from Vicksburg, MS of the Union Trench Matthies JJ Woods Brigade Historical Marker, one with a white male and female walking in the trench. If you are the owner of this property, please call Ofc. Goligowski at 612/673-XXXX.

Attached to this email is a document with a picture of the Vicksburg battlefield.

I'm pretty sure the police in my hometown of 7,000 people doesn't do this. Maybe they do, but if so, I would expect that of a police department serving 7,000 people, not of one that serves several hundred thousand. They aren't asking for assistance in solving a murder or an assault, but burglary, which is probably one of the lower priority crimes Minneapolis has to solve every year.

The best part was that a few hours later they had been flooded with so many calls they sent another email out to clarify:

We have been getting numerous calls from people asking if the camera we recoverd is theirs. The photos in the camera were taken in 2011, probably in March, in Vicksburg Mississippi at the Union Trench Battle field. If you weren't at that battle site, this camera is not yours.

Yep, there we go, showing our lack of reading comprehension skills as a public, and I'm sure that fielding all of those calls was frustrating. Yet the possible benefits of getting the public's help outweighed that hassle, and they had still reached out to us.

Earlier this year we were informed that the Crime Prevention Specialist positions in the 5th precinct were on the table to be cut by the city.  Budgets are tight everywhere, and Minneapolis was looking to the police department to be a part of cutting costs. The reason the 5th precinct was selected is because it is one of the safest areas of the city, and the resources in other areas are considered more critical to save.

It's kind of like saying that people who are physically fit don't need to work out. They are physically fit BECAUSE they work out, hello...

Because our two Crime Prevention Specialists have been the faces and voices of the MPD for this area, the public rallied. We showed up at budget meetings, wrote letters to the police chief and mayor and had tangible examples of all the ways the CPS positions have helped to keep this area of the city as safe as it is.

The positions were preserved, and we all got a touching email from the two people whose jobs had just been saved.

Now that's community.

Reindeer Run

This past Saturday I ran the Reindeer Run 5k with a friend who I met at Halloween. In our first meeting I discovered that she is a runner and has had her eye on the Reindeer Run as her next race. So we agreed to sign up together and dress up.

I found some Santa hats with leopard print trim -- sure, why not?

We had a lot of fun -- Lindsey's 30 mins 22 second 5k still stands as the record between her races and my own.

Our running gear was pretty tame in comparison to others. There were some who were *not* dressed up for the run.

Yes, seriously, we saw this guy. he arrived just as the race was starting. I would've too if the largest piece of my costume was my boots. It was 28 degrees at the start -- brrrr!

My Beautiful Girls

Without planning it, the girls happened to dress similarly one day, both in shades of black and gray, as had I (with the exception of a scarf to add some color.) We thought it was so funny we decided to take some pictures to document the event.

I love the headbands with similar red flowers, both of which were purchased in Tracy over Thanksgiving weekend.

They are growing up so quickly.

First Snow

We finally got our first snow of any substance this past weekend. It was supposed to be a trace, it was more like 3 inches. It began around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and didn't finish up until after midnight.

I had been down at a neighbor's house that evening, and left her home to walk back to mine around 9:30. I walked outside to find 4 or 5 neighbors outside, shoveling, walking dogs or playing in the snow. It was a festive atmosphere, yet still quiet with the hush of new fallen snow.

My photo doesn't do it justice.