Child Labor is Fantastic

Do you have kids in your house who are bored? Are they perhaps a little whiny? Here is the solution for you!

Take them to the garden to help you pull out the bean plants. Then have them pull the dried pods off each plant and put them in a collection pot. Next set them up in the kitchen to open each pod and capture all the delicious black beans.

Doesn't Big Bro look happy?

Now Lil Sis wants to help too? No problem! Move the bean collecting pot to the floor to ensure that no one will fall off their chair while reaching for new pods to open. Now everyone can be part of the fun!

In no time all your beans will be neatly sorted into containers. Twenty-five feet of bean plants turned into 8 cups of delicious black beans for soup and chili!

Disclaimer: the kids actually only helped for maybe five minutes. They were responsible for producing 1/8 cup of beans...maybe.

Me According to Internet Quizzes

Have you seen everyone sharing all their quiz results on who they are from various pop culture books, tv, and movies? The quizzes were created by Zimbio.com and Buzzfeed.com and have been quite popular over the last couple months. I have taken several quizzes since January, and according to them I am:

Disney Princess: Snow White

Star Wars: Queen Amydala

Big Bang Theory: Bernadette

Willy Wonka: Charlie Bucket

Cartoon Dog: Odie

Disney Villain: Scar from Lion King

Harry Potter: Albus Dumbledore

Mythical Creature: Unicorn

Game of Thrones: Jon Snow

US President: Andrew Jackson

Middle Earth Character (LOTR): Ent the tree

City: Barcelona

Country: Lithuania

HIMYM: Robin Scherbatsky

Taking the first description from each I am: "Gentle, diplomatic, small but pack a punch, responsible, loving, intelligent, magical, hardworking, never been given handouts, chill, a little bit of everything, taken for granted, fiercely independent." Hmm, not bad.

Scar: I hadn't saved my result picture, couldn't find the image with description and couldn't handle taking it again. I'm not trying to hard my dark side, honest.

Ent

Barcelona

Lithuania

One Long Curvy Slice

I love eating clementines, those sweet and juicy fruits,

They come each December, St. Nicholas put them in our boots.

I remove the peel in swirls, in one long curvy slice,

It's hard to eat just one, three at once is really nice.

My husband is no competition, he's not one for eating fruit,

In fact, I ate the one St. Nicholas put in his boot.

Now I have two children, which means I have to share

the sweet citrus treats, or else they will glare.

This means we go through a box of clementines real fast,

having fruit all to myself is a thing of the past.

My kids eat the bulk of them now with a delightful squeal,

The only thing left to do is to teach them how to peel.

I have perfected peeling clementines over the last couple decades.

Worth 1,000 Words

My preschooler loves to take pictures and he takes them, hundreds of them, at rapid speed. This is what my camera roll looks like after he gets ahold of my smartphone. Some of his photos actually do have an interesting perspective (the 3 feet off the ground view). I like his selfies the best.

Still Adjusting to the End of Daylight Savings Time

On Sunday my FB newsfeed was flooded with witty status updates and memes about how much the end of Daylight Saving (aka "fall back") stinks when you have little kids. I, like many people, used to love gaining that extra hour of sleep. But as mommies and daddies know, kids don't know what time it is and they don't care if the clocks were changed.
 

 
We have been working all week to get the kids adjusted to the new time. After a busy Sunday, the kids were ready to go to bed at 5:00pm (old 6:00pm). It took a lot of effort to keep them up an extra hour so they wouldn't wake up well before dawn. We have been successful at slowly pushing back bedtime so they are asleep by their normal 7:30. Wake up isn't terrible...my daughter sleeps at least until 6:15 (old 7:15), and my son has generally been sleeping until he hears her stirring if not later.

The kids are not the only ones having a hard time adjusting. I am too. I am thoroughly on the kids' schedule which is set with the sun, not the clock. At 2:00 (old 3:00) the afternoon slump kicks in and I think "it's only 2? It feels like 3." Well, that, of course, is because it was 3:00 when the sun was an this approximate angle just last week. The "when will daddy be home" feeling kicks in for me at 4:00 now (formerly 5:00pm) which means 2 hours that pass very slowly until the new 6:00.

But it's not all bad. On Monday my son woke up to sunshine which made it much easier to motivate him, and the whole family, to get up and have more time together before school and work. In the evening after the kids are asleep my husband and I normally stay up way too late. But the dark and the cold and the transition have enticed me to crawl under the covers much earlier than I normally would, so I am getting some extra sleep after all.

Pumpkins, Prizes, Smashes, Smiles

We carved the pumpkins a couple days before Halloween. I thought it would be a fun activity for my son and I but he was less impressed. He didn't want to touch the goop inside the pumpkin, but he did love pulling out the cutout shapes after I had carved them. As he did at the Pumpkin Party, he gave creative direction on what the pumpkin should look like.

 

We did make roasted pumpkin seeds, and those were a hit at least for one snack. I ended up eating most of the seeds.

As you may have already seen, I did win the Trunk or Treat prize for "most environmentally friendly." All I did was carve "Compost Me" into the back of the largest pumpkin.The judges from the fire department were going to give me the prize based solely on the fact that I had real, live pumpkins--that's how slim the competition was. So when they saw "Compost Me" I think it was a nice bonus that there actually was an environmental message. But hey! I won! The shiny new numbers on my mailbox will be courtesy of the fire department Trunk or Treat contest.

And then perhaps the most fun we had with our pumpkins came after Halloween when we smashed them. This was of course necessary so they would break down faster in our compost pile. My son definitely enjoyed it, and I did too. I smashed the biggest one before letting him to the smaller 3. Here is a video showcasing his efforts. He is a good pumpkin smasher!

My Daughter the Imp

We recently decided to have a family movie night, it was our first one really. We picked Toy Story to show our 3 year old, and of course my 1 year old daughter was with us too.

"You sure that's an ok movie for them?" my husband asked.

"Yeah, it's fine. There's the part with the boy "Sid" and the mutant toys but we can fastfoward that part." I assured him.

Not having seen the movie for perhaps 10 years I had forgotten how much the cowboy Woody says "idiot." It's definitely not a term I wanted my 3 year old to pick up, and thankfully he didn't. I also forgot how intense the movie is for kids, especially when the toys get abducted by Sid and a good portion of the movie takes place in Sid's creepy house. Oops. Parenting fail #???.

My daughter cried out and whined and said "uh oh" a lot while anxiously watching the screen. However, if I tried to hide the movie from her and distract her she would push me away and keep watching. She cried, whined, and uh-oh'ed her way through the whole thing. Then when it was over she, despite all the stress, she said and signed "MORE!"

But the movie was over and it was bedtime. My son fell asleep quickly while my daughter did headstands in her bed and tried to charm me into letting her out. Her floor nap earlier that day was seriously backfiring. So I let her come back to the living room with me and my husband to watch some of our shows. My husband made popcorn which she LOVED and also requested "MORE!" My husband melted at her cuteness and obliged (getting him to make more popcorn made me very happy too).

As he went downstairs to make popcorn I brought her to the bathroom with me. She disappeared when I was washing my hands. I ran and found her next to her brother's bed, right by his head, calling his name repeatedly trying him to wake up.

"NOOO!" I whispered shouted. "He's sleeping. Shhh. Quiet."

"Shh! Quiet." she repeated. She had never said "quiet" before. I was so proud. How could I be annoyed at such a display of personality and cuteness, and learning new words too.

After another bowl of popcorn and an episode of some PBS show, I forget which, she finally went to bed at 9:30...not for want of trying to charm me into letting her stay up even later.

Meet Our Chicken Band

Meet the members of our chicken band! The stately Alpha is the dark one in the foreground. To her right is Frieda, she and Alpha are buds, and they are our friendly chickens. Behind Frieda is Ciena, Ciena came from C.N. or "Crooked Nose" because her beak really is crooked. In the back is LBJ...which was an acronym for "Little brown" that became "Lady Bird Johnson," until we learned just how mean she can be. Then LBJ began to stand for "Little Brown Jerk." Currently, LBJ is molting which has mellowed her a bit for now.

Still we love them all. They are 2.5 year old buff orpington chickens, known for being superior egg layers.

Our chickens live in a coop built into the back corner of our barn. They have a fenced yard to protect them from our dog Pepper. We call it Chicken Fort Knox because while many of our neighbors have suffered chicken massacres due to foxes or raccoons or maybe even by a Fisher Cat (my neighbor saw a pair of the roaming around in the field across the road ), our chickens have been safe, knock on wood! It also helps that Pepper regularly patrols the grounds and leaves her scent, though we have still had a couple fox and coyote sightings when Pepper is inside.

Lately our barn is showing some potential for problems though. If a critter is smart and skinny enough it could come in through the hole in the barn facade shown below. (From the inside):

Then slither underneath the adjacent barn wall into the chicken yard in the hole shown here by the daylight shining through:

I think the chickens made that gap by pecking and scratching for bugs. From there a foreign critter could just walk in the chicken door and into the coop. They might even already be doing it and stealing eggs. Egg production is down and we're not entirely sure if it's due to fewer daylight hours from the changing seasons or a thief in the henhouse.

But, so far so good. Here's to a long, safe and healthy life for my hens. Though I would like to add some new chicks to the flock in spring. I hope the ladies will tolerate newcomers.

Santa Comes Early

My son is discovering that there are a lot of toys available for purchase in the world. He sees toy commercials on tv if I'm not diligent enough to fast forward them or turn off his show in time. He also got to play with some fun remote control cars when we were running an errand at Radio Shack. Of course he tells me I should buy him every single toy he sees and likes.

Here it is, not even Halloween yet, but when faced with a steady stream of toy requests I answered, "Well, let's make a list so you can ask Santa for those toys. If you're good maybe he will bring you some of them."
So far his list includes:

• his own camera
• a guitar
• a "building" tow truck
• mighty mega monster trucks
• fancy magnetic blocks he saw on tv

Today, while playing with his father, he wrote his own letter to Santa and put it in an envelope. Since he's just 3 he can't actually write yet, so it's just red lines on the back of an old envelope that looks like a list. My husband put a fruit sticker on it as a postage stamp, and my son insists we need to mail it.

The envelope with fruit sticker stamp

His list for Santa

 At least with the concept of Santa Claus solidified I can deflect toy requests gracefully and give him incentive to behave. I can also read him The Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear book (again) where Sister Bear learns not to make her list for Santa too long.

My Top Halloween Songs for Kids

I love marking the seasons with my kids. My 3 year old is just now getting old enough to really appreciate it. We are having a great autumn filled with colored leaves, fall art projects, pumpkins, cider, apples and cider donuts. Holidays are more fun with kids too. Halloween is still three weeks away but we have costumes planned and parties to attend. So to continue the Halloween momentum, I wanted to find some good Halloween songs for kids on YouTube. There are a lot of lame ones, so I have picked which four I thought were best to share with you.

1. Five Little Pumpkins
After watching several versions of this song on YouTube I picked this one as my favorite. The two little girls sing it clearly and do all the hand motions. They are sitting next to lit jackolanterns (very festive) and their excitement is genuine, unlike the syrupy versions of adults doing the song with the hand motions. My son loves watching other kids do things, so this is a perfect version.



2. The Skeleton Dance
This version of the Skeleton Dance is done by Super Simple Songs, my kids love their version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star so they are a trusted source. The song is animated with dancing skeletons and as they sing "the foot bone's connected to the leg bone" each bone lights up. It's another song that can get your kid moving and motioning while they sing. As cheesy as they might be, I think those types of songs are the most fun for kids.



3.  Halloween Cat 
I had never heard of this one, but it's a cute, short little rhyme with a cute video. It's got a fun slapstick ending [SPOILER ALERT] when the cat slips off the rock.



4. The Monster Mash
How could I not include this classic? It's animated with cute and friendly looking Halloween characters. Very benign, and very festive.




Like what you read?  Visit and 'Like' Mama of Ma'at on Facebook

Facebook 'Like' Etiquette

I 'like' a lot of things on Facebook (with my personal account). I 'like' things that are funny, or cute, or fascinating. I also follow a lot of environmental and climate change organizations. I 'like' a lot of petitions for action, and memes with meaningful statistics decrying environmental destruction, celebrating renewable energy growth, or calling out ridiculous policies and politicians. I 'like' the un-cute and not-funny things because I want to support those causes that I have chosen to follow. Isn't that the essence of why we post things on Facebook? Individuals post to get feedback and support for our own satisfaction and validation. Organizations post to get support, spread the word, and create buzz about their cause. Otherwise no one would ever post anything at all.

The trouble is, Facebook shows all my 'likes' to all my closest friends.

"Do I 'like' too much stuff on Facebook?" I asked my husband, "I mean, does it all show up in your feed?"

"Short answer, yes." he replied matter of factly, "but I visit your page a lot so I see everything."

Oh dear. I don't want to be that annoying Facebook friend who you end up hiding because every move I make is recorded and shared for all my friends to see. I've been told many times, "Oh, I saw that thing you posted." When really I didn't post it at all, it was just an innocent 'like' because I agreed with the organization who made the post and wanted them to know it.

Here's a novel idea Facebook, only share my activity with my friend list when I specifically 'share' them. That way if there is a petition or factoid that I simply cannot restrain myself from sharing, I can purposefully share it. To not click that 'like' button on posts that are important to me is hard to do. It feels like I have to censor myself so that I don't flood the newsfeed.

Do you 'like' a lot of posts on FB? What's your take?

And don't forget to 'like' Mama of Ma'at on FB...  :) hehe.

Bad truck!

Even without climate deniers standing in the way of concrete, sweeping actions to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, switching away from a carbon-based (ie: gas, oil, coal based) economy will take major dedication, creativity, and mass mobilization.

It is doable, don't get me wrong. We already have the tools we need. But have you ever noticed just how tied we are to fossil fuels even on a cultural level?

Even toddler/preschooler culture is rife with fossil fuels. My son loves trucks, what little kid doesn't? They are fascinating. But they also represent fossil fuels. In one episode of Dora, Dora takes her friend Firetruck to the gas station. I have watched "Mighty Machines" with my son where we saw trucks building a new gas pipeline. We have seen episodes where they blast away mountain tops to cart away rock for gravel. We have a book where trucks carry coal from a coal mine. 

Bad coal truck!

We always add "Bad truck!" when we read that page. My son does too. 

To counterbalance, my son also has this awesome windmill t-shirt that his Grandma found. He knows all about solar panels too. Well, as much as a 3 year old can know about them.

Whimsical windmill tee

And how awesome would it be if Dora's Firetruck friend was a rapid charge, plug-in electric truck? Don't tell me that's too unrealistic, have you ever seen that show?

Be the change you want to see in the world.


Like what you read?  Visit and 'Like' Mama of Ma'at on Facebook

What is Stuck to the Dog?

The kids were finally in bed when Pepper woofed to go outside. I opened the door for her and she skirted out into the cool night air. Suddenly I noticed a large light colored mass on her otherwise black tail. What the heck was it?

What is stuck to Pepper's tail?

The kids hadn't seen Pepper for a while, could they have done something? I looked from the window a little longer and realized it was a toy monster keychain.

the monster keychain

But how on earth was it attached to her tail? I joined her on the deck to investigate. She wagged her tail at me which made the toy monster fall off and reveal the culprit: a burdock or burr for short.

Burdocks in bloom

I hate burrs. They are rampant on our property despite our efforts to keep them at bay. They are large leafy weeds that sprout reasonably pretty purple flowers in the late summer/early fall. Bees and butterflies like them, and I like bees and butterflies so why not the burdock? Because they are sharp, sticky, and spiny. Before long those pretty purple flowers turn into brown, ugly balls of spikes that stick to clothes and best of all--the fur of my dog Pepper who loves exploring in the weeds hunting mice, frogs and snakes.

How burdocks usually appear

This happens to me all too often

 

Not my dog, but this frequently happens to her too.

As much as I hate burrs and their spiny, spiky flowers, did you know that they provided the inspiration for velcro? I love velcro because it allows preschoolers to put on their own sneakers and that is a wonderful thing. Thanks, burdock.

Like what you read? Visit and 'Like' Mama of Ma'at on Facebook

Poem for an Old Dishwasher

Today we got a replacement dishwasher, brand new!

Sorry, but I have to say:  it wasn't me, it was you.

I will not feel sorry, I will not feel sad.

Yes, your washing technique was really that bad.

Running empty washes with bleach to keep you moderately clean 

just didn't feel right, know what I mean?

I've waited and wished for this day to come.

Does that mean I've gotten boring? That I'm no longer young?

But with two kids to feed and lots of dishes to wash--

You just couldn't cut it, so you got the kibosh.

Your sleek replacement is here. It's quieter too.

It does its job wonderfully, making dishes look new.

Old

New

Like what you read? Visit and 'Like' Mama of Ma'at on Facebook