end of august!

So, here it is the last week of August.
We never made it to Milennium Park or the Botanic Garden or to The Shedd or any other museum downtown, either. I meant to…but getting downtown…parking, the stroller, walking all over, the crowds..sigh. perhaps in cooler weather I will feel more inclined.

Today Zibby and I harvested a lot of tomatoes, a few peppers and we delivered them to some of our neighbors in our building. It reminded me of the time my mom sent my brother and I around the neighborhood with a wagon full of extra veggies. She told us not to accept money but some of the neighbors gave us some anyway. I think we used it to go the the cement beach in naperville. I think that may have been the only time we ever went. Centennial park I think it was called. Anyway, Zibby enjoys cutting the veggies off and she also likes helping to distribute them.

My fall and winter share of Angelic Organics has started and boy howdy, its a lot of veggies. Scads of lettuce, bags of bok choi, corn out the wazoo. I pureed my booty of beets to make chocolate beet muffins again, and I made some fabulous corn cakes, both from the Farmer John cookbook. I plan to make tomato sauce this week, mango salsa (uses up all the cukes we keep getting!) and will likely have to freeze some of the choi. Wish we had more freezer space!

today zibby told us how to make strawberry popsicles. she said we need strawberries, butter, milk, and baking flouder. I think that must be a mix of flour and powder. anyway, then you mix it all up and freeze it.

Zibby is still in frequent contact with her imaginary friend, Mary. We talk about Mary alot. Also, Zibby is deeply into Hannah Montana and is often “in character” as Hannah or Miley. She is very into fashion and clothes (and is also often making sure that her clothes are breastfeeding-friendly!)

basically , zibby is a source of hilarity and joy for all of us, including herself.

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june

Here is a picture of me at work:

I love my job!
Summer officially made itself known here in Chicago. Its been storming and now its the regular hot and muggy we know so well. We’ve been hitting all the park days and beach days we can, eating fresh and delicious foods from our CSAs (community supported agriculture-we purchase shares of the farms output and pick up produce weekly, and meat monthly).

I started a yoga class and Zibby started an aerial dance class (today they used the trapeze swing!)

Zibby got kind of close to the peacock at Brookfield Zoo

and Ive been cooking up all the fresh veggies from my CSA

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INHOME and update

Next week is the INHOME conference, where I will be participating on a panel about blogging, as well as running a workshop making Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). I am excited about some of the sessions and hoping mine turn out ok

Zibby started swimming classes today. She did GREAT! That is to say, she participated and had fun. She had so much confidence and was so proud of herself afterwards, it was really nice. She is doing Spanish, Swimming, and will be starting Tumbling soon. Plus, with the nice weather, our two homeschool groups begin Park Days where we meet up at parks around the city. Even Beach Day doesnt seem that far away….

I joined a vegetable CSA, which Ive been wanting to try for a few years. Ive taken the plunge. We’ll share it with another family who lives close by, and split the box each week. Im feeling up to the challenge of the onslaught of veggies. Cmon Veggies! I will eat you! This particular CSA seems great because it helps homeless people with job training.

Ive also been doing a chicken and egg CSA , but to be honest, I think we’ll take a break from it next session. We get one poultry share, which we split with another family, as well. But we pretty much get 2-3 whole chickens each month, and while I REALLY love and appreciate making my own chicken stock, and having my own chicken schmaltz, Im tired of being the only one eating the dark meat, and never getting any light meat, and really, a whole chicken is too much for one meal, and then I have to use up the leftovers the next day or two, and frankly, its kind of a lot of work. The meat is delicious, for sure. And I truly want to support local and humane chicken raising…but sometimes I just want a boneless, skinless chicken breast. What to do….

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