Bread

I wasn't particularly into the idea of bread machines when they first came out. I was baking bread by hand a couple times a week, and a young purist. Kneading by hand, that's the way to do it, especially when machines were $100 and yet ANOTHER electric kitchen appliance.

When I tasted Bean's preschool teacher's recipe, and found a bread machine for $6 at a thrift store, I reconsidered.

I'm new to bread machines, but I toss in the water and olive oil first, then everything else on top, with the yeast last. This is the first recipe I've used where I haven't had to check in mid-knead and add flour or water to regulate the consistency.

2 C water
2 TB olive oil
3 C wheat flour (She grinds winter wheat, I use coarse wheat flour)
1 C white flour (I use King Arthur 'white whole wheat' flour)
1 1/2 ts salt
1 1/2 TB sugar
1/2 C sesame seeds
1/2 C flax seeds (I do half whole flax seeds, half ground)
1/2 C nuts or sunflower seeds (I use just raw sunflower seeds)
packet of yeast (2 ts I think, if you use bulk yeast)

Handcar Regatta

We went again this year to the Great Handcar Regatta in Railroad Square in Santa Rosa. It was blazing hot and overflowing with people! Compare to the inaugural event last year, I think there was probably four times the people, vendors, and bands. Holly at Sono-Ma has a great review.

Since it was quite warm, the girls and I walked around, saw a few races, spotted Tom Waits, ate burritos, and called it a day. Phew, the heat and the crowds. But, a fun, fun event in our very own Santa Rosa.

Comments Issue - Fixed

Thanks so much to Holly for the heads up about the problem with adding a comment. The problem is - you can't add a comment! Blog Fail.

I think I messed it up when getting rid of the blogger nav bar. I messed with a bunch of the html, and need to add some of that code back. Oops. I hope to have it back up and running on Sunday. Until then, save your comments. :)

Update: Fixed it. Nice to have a programmer husband.

Quick Kitchen Craft

As much as I love to read about everyone's craft projects, I don't attempt many. A little knitting, maybe, but Z has quickly surpassed my skills after two years of handwork in school. But for my grandmother's birthday, I embroidered a little face on a scrubbie. I discovered this idea on Amida's Journey Into Unschooling blog.

She uses this kind of dish scrub, the Dobie pad, but she calls them "Doobies." Lol!

Rainbow Bookshelf

I've been looking through just about every past post of a few bookshelf blogs, and wanted to share one of my own past bookshelf projects.

I think I set this shelf up this way in early 2005, after the entire San Francisco bookstore Adobe Books was rearranged in rainbow order by artist Chris Cobb (and a team of more than a dozen volunteers).

It took the better part of a morning to arrange these books like this, but we don't really get tired of it. It's pretty easy to find what we need, as often as we grab any title of this shelf. Especially my Ina Garten cookbooks, they all have different colored spines.

Link - Chez Larsson

"The Hatch," as well call it, remains unfinished. We've gotten very good at ignoring it, it's funny, though, that when people visit it's one of the first things they notice. "What's up with the cardboard?"

Benita at Chez Larsson posted a few suggestions for a reader with a sloped window, and I think I might end up adapting one of the options for our skylight.

It might be fun to try a neat fabric for this, even though we do have to think about light and heat insulation for our application. Maybe a linen texture.

Late Summer

Link - kootoyoo

Kristy at kootoyoo made this amazing bookshelf with concrete form tubes. Genius!

Ever wonder what 5 pounds of Duplos in a washing machine sounds like?

Watch your volume before playing the video. Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Waldorf Confession: Legos

I picked up some Duplos at a yard sale this weekend, and we put them through the washing machine. It made a horrendous noise, but they're clean!

The thing is, some Waldorf people are not into plastic toys. I must confess that we have Legos. Lots of Legos. We're Lego people. I had them when I was a kid, most of the good ones we have now are my husband's. We rarely buy new sets, they have so many specialty parts, it seems like very little is actually built, and reuse options are limited. But, since 'going Waldorf' all the way three years ago, Legos are the only plastic toys we have.

The best explanation of this collective frowning of plastic toys by the greater Waldorf community was from an Early Childhood teacher that Bean and I took parent child classes from. She explained that non natural toys are one dimensional in texture, and without depth. Natural materials have a history, as sheeps wool, as a branch.

From The Vital Role of Play in Early Childhood Education by Joan Almon:

"The presence of natural materials such as wool, cotton and silk, stones, wood and metals also filled the environment with life. These provide a healthy stimulus for the senses and the children quickly learn that things feel different and have different aromas and qualities, such as being cool or warm to the touch. Most kindergartens today are filled with plastic that is cool to the touch and does not warm up as children handle it. In addition, everything ends up feeling much the same whether it is a truck or a doll."

But we still like Legos.

Unauthorized

This "drawing table" is an unauthorized play area. That spare side table was sitting there in the way, and the children brought in small chairs when I wasn't looking. They've been camping out here and drawing for hours and hours in their sketchbooks.

I suppose if this is as far at is goes, a few notebooks and pens, I will allow it. It's not that I don't want both children to have free reign throughout the house, but I do like to be in charge of furniture placement. But how could I discourage this lovely, creative, quiet play they built for themselves?

Link - Centsational Girl

I'm loving Kate's pumpkin cluster inspiration roundup on centsationalgirl.com.

The first day of autumn in coming up this month, I'm very excited to see (and feel) the season change. I'm going to have to pile pumpkins up all over the house. Last year, I found a huge box decorative pumpkins at Costco for $4 and piled them in a planter urn by the front door.

Pool Update

We've been back in the pool the last few days, it's been quite warm. And, this blog is continuing to receive a steady stream of links to the original post.

We are still thrilled with the stock tank pool, it's surprisingly comfortable to lean against, a great size for the family, and it's hard to compare it to anything else for a great way to cool down. It's reusable, recyclable, and looks good in the back yard. We have started adding some chlorine, mostly to combat some algae. (Chlorine ended up being the main discussion in the comments in the post on Apartment Therapy.) Otherwise, no issues at all. Mostly because of insulation issues, I don't think we'll end up attempting to add a heater. A solar
fountain, though, probably.

I have gotten such great comments and feedback on this project, and so many re-posts on other sites, Ramshackle Solid, Cookie magazine's Nesting blog, and SouleMama. I hope everyone can stick around and share with me some of the upcoming projects I have planned, and our journey as a family through Waldorf education.

Still Summer

There's been a "mini heatwave" in the area, or so the newspapers are saying, so it has been feeling like summer again for the past few days.

Fall is my favorite season, I love the cold, gray days, sweaters, scarves, the leaves and early nights. But while it is still summery, we have to find the short sleeve shirts and sun hats in the closet. The chilly, chilly pool is an option again, especially today, after some time in the sun working at the school's biodynamic farm. Even I got in the pool this afternoon, whereas I usually make it in no farther than up to my knees.

Veiw from the pool

Labor Day

One nice thing about starting school before Labor Day is getting a short week at the beginning of the school year. Phew, let me catch my breath.

The children are doing well making adjustments for the new year, I'm getting back into the rhythm of driving them to school and fitting everything in. Well, not everything makes it, of course, but we work it out.

First Week of School

A few images from the first week in Z's second grade classroom. The nature table, the often used paints and brushes, and the teacher's desk. This is the first year with a bookshelf full of books in the class! New subjects and lots of work in the coming school year.

First Day of Preschool

First day at the new preschool. Bean was assigned the ladybug symbol for her chair and square. She's all set up with her inside shoes, rain clothes, and hat. They make their own snack, but Bean insisted taking a little packed lunch for after.

Welcome SouleMama (!!!) Readers

Thanks for the heads up, the stock tank pool is linked in the "loving" sidebar on soulemama.com. Probably my favorite parenting/home/Waldorf blog on the whole internet. I cannot even describe how excited I am about this. Probably something like "eeee!!! OMG OMG!"

And, I very very rarely buy new books (we're library nerds), but I just got Amanda Blake Soule's new one, Handmade Home. I think the last I bought before this was her first book, The Creative Family. Just the most beautiful projects, photos, and words.