I love that song.  But this morning has begun cloudy and rainy.  So there’s a bit of relief here on the shoreline since we called it quits last night on my son’s final Famoree Camp Out as a cub scout.  My little guy will be a boy scout next year and his crossing over is MONDAY.  We were having a great time but the fire marshall’s ban on fires (another reason we’re glad about more rain) meant we were in store for a long, dark, cold night and the idea of cleaning up camp after no sleep didn’t quite thrill most of us.  Waking up to a rainy Sunday was reward for my convincing everyone to sleep in our own beds.

This year’s theme was Board Games and our pack did Candy Land.  It was so adorable and I was in awe, not only of our pack, but of the entire council’s turn out.  I’m the secretary for our school’s Home-School Association for the next two years, and our HSA Treasurer was also there for Famoree.  We’re feeling inspired for a school Family Game Night with a twist this year!

So on this rainy Sunday morning, I’ve got lots of laundry to do.  Ah, the joy of camping.

This past weekend was “Man Camp.”  It’s been a little ritual for the men in our family to venture into the woods for the opening day of Trout season for bonding and fishing.  This is the fifth year, I believe, that they’ve gone.  Since we live too close to I-95 and NYC, I love moments to be in a rural area.  It seems I’m not the only Connecticut resident dreaming of something a bit more country.  Must be why I read and re-read The Good Life.

Yep, doing one of those “food” posts today.  I’ve been reading and thinking and reading and thinking about plant-based diets.  My dad died of lung cancer (from smoking) about 14 years ago.  He’d had hodgkins prior to that but was in remission.  One of my dearest friends lost a valiant struggle against breast cancer two years ago.  Another friend I went to grad school with was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and…is in recovery.  She did not undergo chemo or radiation.  She did not have a mastectomy.  What she did have was a doctor who changed her life (in a few ways).  She headed out to Santa Rosa and underwent life altering care from John McDougall.  And it got me really, really thinking about diet and its relationship with our health.  Our son has been extremely sensitive to chemicals in food which I would not believe had I not seen an instant and amazing change when those chemicals were removed from his diet.  And, thankfully, we have an amazing pediatrician who is open to alternatives.

And I have an uncle who may also have cancer.  So I’m a little concerned, I guess you could say.  Am I really healthy?  Are my kids eating the very best food I can feed them?  And am I adding or detracting from the health of the planet?

So I watched…Forks over Knives…and Engine 2…and Vegucated.  And I stumbled upon the Post Punk Kitchen and Happy Herbivore.  And it all kind of clicked.  So right now, I’m flirting with all of this because it’s kind of a huge change in my lifestyle (not to mention my family and my feeling-cornered carnivore husband).  But today has been a great, plant-based day and I feel fantastic.  And I kinda ♥ my lunch today using stuff I had at home.

I had some McDougall soup that I’d gotten a month ago (in aseptic packaging).  There’s enough for two servings so I’ve got lunch tomorrow!  It was better than I’d expected since I’m not much of a veggie soup kinda gal.

And then there was what to put with it.  Oil’s kind of a no-no here so I was at a loss.  I usually have a big salad at lunch but we’ve only got your generic low-fat oily dressings in the fridge.  So I did a quick google and found Jane Esselstyn’s 3, 2, 1 Salad Dressing which just happens to be in the Forks Over Knives book.  So I thought, why not, I’ve got all the ingredients.  I hemmed and hawed since the recipe that I saw online called for Agave Nectar and I’ve read some not so awesome stuff about it being too sugary, mostly HFCS, etc.  And the recommendation to just use maple syrup which really freaked me out because I’m trying to track points at the same time.  But it made 1/3 of a cup of dressing and was 1 pt per serving which was the same as my not-so-healthy oil-based dressing.  Yippee!

Jane Esselstyn’s 3, 2, 1 Salad Dressing

3 Tbsp. Vinegar (I used balsamic)

2 Tbsp. Mustard (we had some yellow on hand)

1 Tbsp. Pure Maple Syrup

Put it all together and give it a good shake or whisk.  I used 1 tbsp on my salad but it was more than I needed so I think I’ll knock it down to 1/2 tbsp.

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?   Joining Ginny this week~

It’s been a lovely spring break so far – lots of cleaning!  We’re in need of a deep clean and I even turned down a trip to Hartford to focus on cleaning.  The fact that I’ve cleaned the same two rooms each day we’ll just ignore, shall we?  I’m determined to get to bedrooms today!

I’m still knitting away on Grey’s Mr. Pitts Socks.  I was a bit interrupted over the weekend because knitting on a battleship surrounded by 200 over-stimulated children is just plain hard.  And I had to get some reading glasses to see the stitches.  *sigh*  But I settled in nicely to knitting last night when my dear sweet husband asked me why I was working on crocheting a granny square instead of knitting his socks.  Hint taken, knitting picked up.  I need another inch of that teeny 2×2 rib before I can start on the body of the sock.  I dislike 2×2 ribbing on size 1 needles.  Just sayin’.

I did read a fantastic book over the weekend called The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri, who just happens to live a stone’s throw from me.  I ♥ this book and highly recommend you find it if you love women-centered fiction where women are strong characters in charge of their own destiny.  You won’t be disappointed.  It starts would with Eleanor who really needs to wake up and she does.  Quite well.  You won’t believe the woman she becomes, and you will love her for it.  If you click on the cover image it will take you to Goodreads and you can read other glowing praises of The Witch of Little Italy.

I haven’t picked up anything to read yet but I did have a moment of NOOK purchasing while standing in line at Six Flags New England.  Waiting to ride Cyclone + a $1.99 bestseller email from B&N = The Giver by Lois Lowry.  I think I’ll start with that later today once I finish cleaning those pesky bedrooms.  My son really enjoyed reading Lois Lowry in school last year and I am always grateful for an opportunity to catch up on some good young adult reading.  I consider that work related reading and it’s so much more enjoyable than reading dry education books.

Wow, I’m watching the footage from Boston and am literally stunned.  Now there is a report of a bomb at the JFK Library?  There are too many images and not enough information.  I’m turning it off now in favor of lighter fare while officials make sense of what’s happening there.

This weekend we were in another part of Massachusetts, camping with the cub scouts at Battleship Cove in Fall River.  The USS Massachusetts is a restored WWII battleship – floating museum, campground and big boy/little boy dream come true.  Miss M and I tagged along this year (because Mom wanted to tour the Lizzie Borden house but the other folks were too scared).  So we slept on those bunks pictured, without benefit of rolls and in really low heat.  As in I was freezing cold.  But we had lots of fun before we headed out to Six Flags New England.

After, er, battleship food, amusement park food and on-the-road food, I needed some real food.  I stopped into WholeFoods today to pick up some gluten free stuff and spied this ~

Oh my goodness – delish!

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs.  I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading?   Joining Ginny this week~

I’ve been in a bit of a knitting slump.  I’ve finished sewing up that bunny but it’s legs and feet haven’t been sewn on yet.  I ran out of steam.  Miss M hasn’t been asking for her bunny so I’m not in any great rush.  But I did want to get started on my husband’s socks.  For my last birthday he got me yarn to go in my yarn bowl with the comment, “I thought this would be good for socks.  I need new socks.”  Hint taken.  Six months later, I’ve cast on 80 little stitches on toothpicks size 1 dpns. I’ve determined I need glasses.  These stitches are tiny!

Pattern: Mr. Pitt’s Socks {Ravelry was down when I was typing this so that’s the direct link}

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Azul ♥ At least he picks good yarn!

I love my new job! but I spend five hours a day reading leveled readers with 21 second graders so I’m a little sick of staring at typed pages by the end of the day.  But I’m revisiting an old favorite and some new ones.  The old favorite is Janet Luhrs’ Simple Living Guide.  I’m perpetually feeling the need to simplify and downsize, ever since my dad passed away very suddenly from lung cancer in 2000.  The SLG just feeds my soul, I think.  The 1/2 Price Living is an interesting book.  I bought it because I’d love to be a SAHM again, although this current teaching gig is pretty awesome since I get the kids to school and pick them up each day with Friday’s free to volunteer at the kids’ school or do DAR stuff.  I did the calculator that figures how much you actually take home and it showed that, er, I bring almost all of my paycheck home.  Which we knew.  That doesn’t mean I’m good with that money (the main issue) but we have started banking all of my paychecks into savings so that’s a start.

And I’ve slowly become smitten with crochet.  It started with this blog (Jane, please come back!), then this book, and now this blog and this one.  Oh my.  More yarn, new toys to play with.  And this book, Cute and Easy Crochet, is filled with dreamy projects.  The fact that it’s written by an Englishwoman is just another plus.  It’s got crocheted bunting, for goodness sake!  Be still my heart.

And one last funny that was on Facebook this week.  Because it’s totally true!

You may just spot a life-size rubber duck.  Fear not, it’s my husband willing to don the duck costume and meander through Wal-Mart and Stop & Shop to benefit his children’s school for their biggest fundraiser.  It sums up the entire weekend, really.  Lots of fundraising.  Lots of it.

Wow, Easter came and went quickly!  I’ve been wrapped up in my new job which I ♥ ~ I missed teaching in a public school with a ton of resources and lots of fellow teachers.  I have 21 second graders from the inner city that I work with on reading.  They are awesome.  Struggling readers, to be sure, but they are trying so hard.  And I love that I work a few hours for four days a week which means I have lots of time for my own kids – and I’ve been volunteering more at their school and getting a lot done with DAR.  Realizing tonight that I didn’t have to panic over lesson plans was pretty darn nice, too, and I’m thinking of joining the Blue Mantle group at our parish that knits for the local hospitals.  Since I now have time to breathe!

We had a lovely Easter but it was cold!  My daughter’s dress arrived just in time after the original one we’d ordered was backordered.  Our son got a new tie for Easter, too.  Don’t they look adorable?  Our church was filled with flowers and the scent is still overwhelming a week later.

Dinner was a simple affair ~ ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans wrapped with bacon, and a lemon tiramisu for dessert.  Easter is the one holiday when I always feel like there is just enough food.  Thanksgiving and Christmas I always seem to go overboard but not Easter.  Of course, I’ve already gotten a start on planning next year’s meal…

And we had a ton of flowers – still do – that makes my whole house smell like the plant sales our parish used to have as a kid.  Think hyacinth and lily in every single room.  Wow.  But I love it even if my ten year old thinks he’s going to gag.

And this year, I broke down and ordered the Garden of the Good Shepherd for the kids.  I think I’ve oohed and aahed over Charlotte and Jessica‘s posts for years now and decided 2013 was the year I was going to order it.  The children so far have just enjoyed reading through it and playing with the stickers, but I think we’ll start having some special after school snacks this week.  I’ll do my very best to take pictures and actually post them.  My kids are in a “don’t take my picture and embarrass me” phase that makes it rather tricky.

I am just pleased to bits that there is no snow on the ground anywhere near me.  Well, perhaps New York but that’s still fifty miles off.  Here it feels downright spring-like and I was feeling inspired at the market today.  So I brought home two of my favorite spring plants and added them our big window in the living room.

If you click on the photo back to flickr there are some silly notes I threw on there.  I have a horrible black thumb, I’m afraid so who knows how long these lovelies will be with us.  I’m assuming I can keep them alive through Easter Sunday, at least.  You can also spy my little knit bunny back there.  He’s without legs or a face at the moment, although I just finished off the first of his two feet so I’m hopeful I’ll have him properly finished by morning.  They look nice and spring like together unlike our Easter eggs which are a bit too technicolor for me. Oh, dear.

I drove into the city this morning to fill out my new hire paperwork for this literacy coach gig I’ve got lined up for the rest of the school year. Yes, kindergarten teacher no more.  What is more thrilling is that I’m back in a public school.  I’d mentioned somewhere that I’ve taught in an Orthodox Jewish school.  Well, they don’t call themselves Orthodox but they really are.  Hasidim Orthodox.  So while most people as me why on earth they even hired a non-Jew as a teacher, I spent many years there, learning quite a bit about Judaism.  However, I really couldn’t see myself there for any period of time and combined with the horrible pay…well, you know how that goes.  So I am now working with the lowest 20% of 1-2 graders in reading.  I’m very excited – and thrilled to be in my father’s old elementary school.  Today I spent filling out paperwork and getting fingerprinted, and will start properly tomorrow.  It’s a mere twenty hours per week at the same pay I got before.  Thrilling!  So I get to be a stay-at-home mom with part time job.  Couldn’t be happier!

Instead of sitting like this as I’ve done for the past two weeks ~

I’ve finally begun to feel almost normal again and celebrated with a mad cleaning frenzy of the entire house.  Lucky we live in a little cape, I suppose.  Down came the St. Paddy’s Day decor (of which there really wasn’t much) and up went some of the Easter goodies.

The mail carrier delivered these lovely bags of Scent of Spring potpourri that my mother got me addicted to as a child.  I bought one for me and one for her.   Even in their bags the scent permeates the house – divine!

Today is Stations of the Cross at the kids’ school and they both have a part in them today.  Very excited!  We’ll be taking care of that quickly and then back later for the Fish Fry.  How can it be that Easter is nearly here?