Tomato jam!

The morning started earlier than I had hoped.  Little J woke up at 5:23 a.m. and would not go back to sleep.  Just before 6, he and I headed downstairs for "aaah-ful and juuuu" i.e. waffles and juice.

I took advantage of the early start - once I had my coffee - and emptied, reloaded and started the dishwasher (what can I say, we got behind on dishes this week), switched the laundry and took care of Cooper.  I was ready to tackle a bigger project.  So just before 7, I fired up the laptop and opened up the recipe that had caught my eye:  Tomato Jam.

We actually bought the tomatoes on last week's Sunday without a plan, but the week got away from me, and the tomatoes I bought were probably a day away from being unusable.  I knew I had to get on with it.   Our garden this year has produced pitifully little - between the drought and our chipmunks all we've gotten has been potatoes, basil and a few cherry tomatoes -- like less than a pint.

So often at this time of year I am surrounded by bushels of tomatoes, so many that I take them for granted.  Too many to dehydrate, can and freeze... we eat them two or three times a day.  This year however, we couldn't get a tomato to grow to save our lives.  I think I appreciate them more this year -- because to get the tomatoes for jam, or sauce or whatever, I actually need to go buy them from someone who was lucky enough to get their tomato plants to produce in this hot, dry summer.

Back to the jam.  I chopped up the tomatoes and other ingredients and dropped them in the pot.  I brought it to a boil and simmered for almost four hours.  The canning process went swiftly and our prize is four jars of tomato jam.

After trying the recipe, I think I'm hooked.  This recipe tastes, to me, a bit like homemade midwestern barbeque sauce - definite taste of tomato, but pretty sweet.  In my head I was envisioning a flavor that would be much more savory, and so I think I'm going to try again and see if I can create the flavor that is in my head. 

This thought reminds me of the year I wanted pumpkin bars.  I had this flavor in my head that I could not let go of -- and couldn't seem to find in any of the recipes I tried.  I think I must have made ten or fifteen different recipes before I figured out that I wanted some sort of cross between an oatmeal bar cookie and a pumpkin cookie.  Ten or fifteen tries might not sound like a lot, especially over two months, but I was a single girl at the time... and that is a lot of bar cookies to disperse.

I have a plan for the next batch.  Now all I need are tomatoes!

(c) Lessons from Cooper

Tomato jam!

The morning started earlier than I had hoped.  Little J woke up at 5:23 a.m. and would not go back to sleep.  Just before 6, he and I headed downstairs for "aaah-ful and juuuu" i.e. waffles and juice.

I took advantage of the early start - once I had my coffee - and emptied, reloaded and started the dishwasher (what can I say, we got behind on dishes this week), switched the laundry and took care of Cooper.  I was ready to tackle a bigger project.  So just before 7, I fired up the laptop and opened up the recipe that had caught my eye:  Tomato Jam.

We actually bought the tomatoes on last week's Sunday without a plan, but the week got away from me, and the tomatoes I bought were probably a day away from being unusable.  I knew I had to get on with it.   Our garden this year has produced pitifully little - between the drought and our chipmunks all we've gotten has been potatoes, basil and a few cherry tomatoes -- like less than a pint.

So often at this time of year I am surrounded by bushels of tomatoes, so many that I take them for granted.  Too many to dehydrate, can and freeze... we eat them two or three times a day.  This year however, we couldn't get a tomato to grow to save our lives.  I think I appreciate them more this year -- because to get the tomatoes for jam, or sauce or whatever, I actually need to go buy them from someone who was lucky enough to get their tomato plants to produce in this hot, dry summer.

Back to the jam.  I chopped up the tomatoes and other ingredients and dropped them in the pot.  I brought it to a boil and simmered for almost four hours.  The canning process went swiftly and our prize is four jars of tomato jam.

After trying the recipe, I think I'm hooked.  This recipe tastes, to me, a bit like homemade midwestern barbeque sauce - definite taste of tomato, but pretty sweet.  In my head I was envisioning a flavor that would be much more savory, and so I think I'm going to try again and see if I can create the flavor that is in my head. 

This thought reminds me of the year I wanted pumpkin bars.  I had this flavor in my head that I could not let go of -- and couldn't seem to find in any of the recipes I tried.  I think I must have made ten or fifteen different recipes before I figured out that I wanted some sort of cross between an oatmeal bar cookie and a pumpkin cookie.  Ten or fifteen tries might not sound like a lot, especially over two months, but I was a single girl at the time... and that is a lot of bar cookies to disperse.

I have a plan for the next batch.  Now all I need are tomatoes!

(c) Lessons from Cooper

Pants!

Little J is getting ready to start his third wandering through fall.  Even though I didn't realize it, I have been teaching him all along that September means fall clothes.  I forgot to add in the part that if it is one hundrd degrees outside, pants should not be worn.

So Thursday the weatherman forecast a 95 degree day.  And Little J chooses to wear these cotton knit pants.  Fine.

Friday morning he insists on wearing jeans.  With a belt.  When it's going to be 100 degrees.

But what can I say?  He's happy!

On vs. Off

Big J and Little J had a staring contest of sorts this evening.  The game was called Light ON Light OFF.  Little J pushed a stool over to the light switch in the dining room.  Big J said no.  Little J said yes.  The contest was on:

ON

OFF

ON

OFF -- NOOOOO!

NOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

ON

OFF, NO! ON!

Distraction ruled the day in the end.  After I finished photgraphing the day, Little J and I started playing with legos and building towers.

(c) Lessons from Cooper

Construction

 Drove through a construction site this morning, somewhat intentionally.  Little J received a copy of the book Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site for his birthday, and is very suddenly very interested in all of those large machines.

I was rewarded for driving through construction with the big smile I saw on Little J's face as he saw the bulldozer moving dirt.  He was even excited about the not-yet-operating crane on the side of the site.

I'm one of those people that will avoid construction, traffic, and headache if at all possible.  I take a route home from downtown that is probably at least five additional miles – BUT – gets me home in the same time, or less, because I avoid construction.  I wrote the preceding sentence this morning, and then realized on my drive home that I WAS driving through construction, albeit over the Eagle Creek Bridge.  This means that while I did drive through construction, I was also simultaneously treated to one of the best views of nature the city has to offer.

Our city is set to host Superbowl 2012 – which translates in to one big construction mess in September of 2011.  From the outer belt of 465, to the downtown streets, I don't think there is a way to get from my house to my office and avoid all construction.

As much as I (quietly) complain about construction – as I'm more of an avoider of the site than a –drive-through-and-complain type person, I have to laugh at the irony.  After all, I work for a civil engineering firm.  I've spent the last five years of my life assisting various units of government acquire property for public improvement projects.  The completed project is the end-fruit of my labor, and the construction is a necessary step to get there.  So I try to keep a good attitude on construction.

What's neat though about being a mom to Little J, is that instead of just appreciating the yellow bulldozer as the on-the-way-to-the end of the fruit of my labor, and instead of seeing from my more intellectual that we have people working, contributing to the economy, (Go!Go!Go!)  I see the joy of  a little boy that suddenly sees big trucks and equipment doing stuff and he is fascinated by them.  I see his joy as a bulldozer pushes dirt, not because it brings money to his house or to the economy as a whole – but because it is cool!

And that reminds me that it is cool.  That the act of construction – putting a road where there wasn't one before, reconstructing a street so that it meets a community's needs for today and the future instead the past, building a building, putting in a trail… these aren't just part of what I do each day – they are really fascinating to watch come to life – and ultimately really fun to use.  It's also the sheer power of the equipment used.  After all, most people don't have a chance every single day to see a bulldozer pushing dirt or a crane lifting a support beam high in the air. 

Instead of thinking of the construction as an annoyance, think of it as the unique show you get to see, as development happens right before our eyes.  Who doesn't enjoy driving on a new stretch of highway, or appreciate a reconstructed road, now complete with adequate drainage and sidewalks.  As much as we take the infrastructure in our city for granted, when I think about it, I realize how grateful I am for them.

© Lessons from Cooper

Hunger Games

I finished the book Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins last night.  It's a bit of science fiction, set far in the future, in a time where North America is now a land called Panem, divided in to 12 districts.  Each year, the government requires each district to provide a boy and a girl for the Hunger Games… a "fight to the death" contest, where 23 people die and 1 lives in a cross between Survivor and that short story we read in school where men are the beings hunted.

I won't spoil the story for those of you that haven't read the book – but I will recommend it.  However, it really was not a good choice for me to finish up right before bedtime.  I kept dreaming that I was in the Hunger Games…. Only I had Little J with me, so not only did I have to keep myself alive, I had to protect Little J as well.  In the dream, he was typical Little J – talking, singing, crying – not behaviors you want to display when trying to elude people that want to hurt you.

I woke from a very restless night – every time I would wake up with Little J crying in the dream, I would go check to see if he was really crying – but he wasn't.  He was SLEEPING, unlike Mommy.  As often happens after a night of strange dreams, I wondered what it all meant – was I really just putting scenes in the book "to life," or does it go deeper than that?  Do I really feel like I am being (or have been) chased to the death?  And that I must protect Little J at all costs?

Well, yes, I always feel like I need to protect Little J at all costs.  But the rest of it?

I've been very busy these last few weeks.  I've put in some long hours, and long days to both catch up on some things at work, and try to work ahead on a few things, so that when Big J goes back on the long days we aren't competing for the same "work hours"  and not able to balance who is taking care of Little J.   There's also been a lot of drama – not usually actually involving me, but around me, surrounding me.  People not getting along, not communicating well, not even attempting to find a common ground and realize that in the end we all pretty much want the same thing…. And before anyone starts trying to guess who I am talking about, I will just say the drama has been both at work and outside of work… so I'm not talking about any one person or situation in particular, just a general sense lately.

I've felt like this before.  Overworked.  Stressed.  Busy.  Like those around me aren't communicating well and aren't trying to.  Like everyone else is out for number one, and not thinking of all the amazing things that can be accomplished if we could all just work as a team, respect differences in opinion, in strengths and appreciate everyone for what they bring to the table.  But in those times past, I've shaken off my unease.  I've gone for a run, or headed to Zumba class.  I've had a glass – or a bottle (!) of wine with a friend.  And the next day, I've woken up and the world is as it should be.

But these days, there are limitations on what I can do to ward off stress.  And please, please, please don't suggest I meditate or some such thing.  My point is that, pregnant, I'm to the point I can't really go running anymore – it's uncomfortable.  I can go to Zumba, but my work schedule has been so crazy chaotic that I haven't made it in weeks…. And honestly, I can't see my own feet anymore – I'm not sure what my coordination and balance will be like.

So then I read this early this morning:

Positive people tend to have many similar characteristics, such as respecting everyone's contribution to a project and knowing during hard times that things will get better. They have the power to make that change happen, an understanding that their attitudes can directly affect outcomes, and a commitment to increasing positive thoughts and diminishing negative ones. Are you putting effort towards becoming a more positive person? Avoid complaining when things are turning sour, realize that the negatives and the positives in life will level out, and take responsibility for your life and actions. You are the only person responsible for your attitude--and your life

Clearly time for an attitude adjustment.  Put my efforts toward positivity and realize it will balance out.

And it worked.  I had a great afternoon!

(c) Lessons from Cooper

Little J and his things

Over the past three days, Little J has exponentially increased the number of "things" he needs at night.  He already needed his green blanket, his Elmo doll and a drink.  He added in the last two weeks "Scout" the lullaby singing dog.  Add to this, his Colts pillow pal and a nightlight.

What's even funnier is that now, instead of leaving all of this stuff in his bed, except for the green blanket which he would take everywhere if we let him, he wants to take it all over the house.

His arms aren't big enough.  Seriously.  My arms aren't big enough.

There are some battles worth having with a two year old.  I'm not sure this is one of them.  But at the same time, it is a lot of stuff to be carrying around, room to room, floor to floor.

(c) lessons from cooper

Note: I wrote this one on Tuesday 8/30/11 but didn't have a chance to post until now!

Changing all the time

Little J's newness from the last few weeks:

1. New words!  Sentences even

2.  He plays by himself, either with the blocks, or pushing his new trucks around.

3. He reads to himself, for a block of time long enough to get one chore done.

4. He suddenly needs a night light

5.  He likes to drag his blanket, his pillow, his Elmo, his scout and his other blanket with him, all over the house.  Pretty soon I'm going to get him either a bag or basket to carry it all in, since it now takes two trips to go upstairs or downstairs with all of the extra stuff.

(c) Lessons from Cooper

Growing up

In the last few months, I've written now and again about my brothers... but I haven't highlighted the youngest, M.

The last few years have been very interesting for me.  My "baby" brother has gotten married, graduated from college, had a child, found a job in his profession, gotten promoted, bought a house and had a child.  It seems like a lot of changes for a few short years.  Just a few years ago, he was a college kid without many real responsibilities.  Now he is a father, a husband, an employee and a provider for his family.  He's made all of these huge steps without a support I relied on in my twenties - our father. 

He and his wife had their daughter, B, about two months before Little J was born.  Now that they are both two, they play well together, they hug, and are generally too cute for their own good.  The nice thing about having children that are essentially the same age is that for the first time in our lives, we are going through the same experience at roughly the same time.  Most siblings that are ten years apart can't say that... the older one has hit many of the big milestones before the younger one catches up. 

So I can tell you how awesome M is and how smart.  But the things that really impress me in the last few years is how, ten years younger than I am, he has taken on many of the same responsibilities -- with apparent joy and contentment and without apparent complaint. 

Way to go M!

(c) Lessons from Cooper