Sand Table - DIY

Like most kids, my boys like playing in the sand. However, sand boxes are usually a little bit gross to me. Maybe because they always remind me of the sandbox in my backyard growing up. The sand was more like dirt, wet most of the time and icky things often lurked in the corners. Now, when I take the kids to the park, there always seems to be a bandaid in the communal sandbox.

Using the beautiful sand table at our local kids museum as inspiration, I decided I could make a portable sand table quite easily. Two great things about the sand table are: 1) When the kids start getting bored with it I put it in the garage for a few days. When it comes back out, the kids are all excited again about the sand. 2) Most sand sold at home improvement stores is not healthy for kids to be playing in. I bought silica and quartz free sand (Sandtastik) which is more expensive, but you only need a small amount for table play.

I wanted the table to be as non-toxic as possible, made of wood, preferably unfinished. I bought an Ikea kids play table for $20 and it came with two chairs. Hey! I framed the edges out with wood ($7) and caulked the inside seams. Dumped some sand in there and... voila!

Summertime in Fall

In San Francisco, every day is fall - specifically, New England fall. Some days are quite warm, others chilly enough for a coat. Once July hits, I usually miss the real heat - the walk around all day in your bathing suit kind of heat. So sometimes we like to pretend it's a hot, humid day and mix up a batch of lemonade. I think we even put shorts on for this occasion.

AARG

The other day my 4 year old said, “Mom, you’re old, but you’re not old old. Right?”

Well, apparently AARP thinks I’m old old. On my birthday I received this in the mail.



The free travel bag is tempting, but no.

Mommy Two Pots

How do you cook for a picky 3 ½ year old, a 10 month old and two food savvy adults living in San Francisco?

I’m stuck with the task of making dinner. Although the idea of the woman of the house cooking all the family meals is fairly common to most, to me it came as a complete surprise when it applied to myself. There are a slew of logistics my husband and I talked about before having kids, but how the cooking would be accomplished was never discussed. I guess I assumed we would feed ourselves the same way we always had.

Before kids we mostly cooked together. If one of us wasn’t home, we’d wait for the other one then migrate to the tasks that suited our skills and knowledge. I often prepared a special vegetable dish, he was the meat and second side dish hand. Either of us mixed up a salad just fine.

Then presto blamo…kids, and my whole cooking and eating experience changed. With less time and less sleep, food prep was reduced to 30 minutes and eating time was pushed to the early bird hour. We couldn’t keep our eyes open long enough for the 9pm dinner of our childless years. Meals were simplified, missing ingredients ignored and cooking no longer filled a creative void.*

Even the actual process of eating has become an event we just have to get through. Our older son will not stay seated at the table. I take a bite of food and I’m scrambling after the three year old and plunking him back in his chair. Another bite of food and I’m dangling a bit of chicken in front of his mouth hoping he’ll get something close to the RDA of protein for the day. There’s some laughing and singing that goes on in this process, but there’s also a bevy of screaming, pouting and regurgitating of food. I sit on the edge of my chair, I feed the 10 month old with one hand, pick at my own food with the other hand and read an upside down book to my older son hoping he’ll stay put. Even if there were a fully shelled Maine lobster with a side of melted butter sitting in front of me, there would be very little enjoyment in eating it. At least I don’t eat standing up.

CLEAN UP

So everyone’s got something in their belly – mission accomplished. Well, not quite. I turn to face a kitchen of dirty pots and crusty food scraps. Cooking induces cleaning and for that reason I do not use more than two pots. If I have three things that need to go on the stove, one item gets cooked in a pot, set aside and then the next item goes in the pot. No washing in between. Shared flavors are good. Stir-fry is the best - it all goes in one pan.

On the menu tonight:

Grass fed steak - grilled

Russet frites**

Cucumber salad

Mixed greens

Cooking vessels used:

1 – baking sheet for frites

*I do not eat or serve processed foods. No mini toaster pizzas served here.

**Frites is a just a fancy way to say baked fries

*expect punches and bruising upon going home

What's the saying? You can never go home again? I guess it's meant to say once you've lived elsewhere and had life-changing experiences, the place you grew up will never be the same. For me, it means you can't go home again without feeling like you've been pummeled by an irate ten year old and then kicked in the shins by his younger sister. And just as you're about to make it out the screen door, a rabid terrier clenches its teeth on your foot and you can't shake it free until you’ve slithered through the plane’s hatchway, the flight has been locked down and you can look back on the place you grew up from 15,000 feet in the air. Then you’re left to ruminate over the bruises as you mumble into a plastic cup empty of its gin and tonic.

Staples

History is everywhere

This very influential figure in French history played a pivotal role in bringing pizza to the Parisians in 1515. Later in life he also became known for helping Father Christmas with his big night.