Because We Can, Can, Can*

Last year, I canned pickles. Just pickles. Maybe six quarts of bread and butters, which didn’t turn out great, and about seven quarts of garlic dills, which really, really did.

Pickles are reasonable. Pickles are pretty normal. Were I to have just done pickles again this year, I think I would’ve been fine. I would’ve been happy.

Instead, I got bit by the canning bug. Hard. Blinded by delusions of my own domesticity, I expanded my canning horizons fairly significantly this year. And now, I have a raging case of canning fatigue. Thank goodness the growing season for things amenable to hot water bath canning is pretty much over. Stop looking at me that way, Brussels sprouts. YOU JUST STOP.

Katy Perry: The Unexpected Auditory Doula

Imagine my surprise last weekend when, as I was pulling up to the Starbucks drive-thru to collect my Americano on my way to day two of doula training, I became acutely aware of the song coming at me through the radio and realized something unexpected.

Katy Perry has written an amazing labor anthem.

No, I don’t mean labor like unions and collective bargaining; I mean labor like contractions and pushing and gritting teeth and making rather novel sounds while escorting a small new human out of one’s body.

The song, if you haven’t yet guessed it, is “Roar.”

It Takes a Village to Raise a Doula

This is a post of gratitude.

In May of this year, I tried a crowdfunding experiment using the site GoFundMe. I’ve always been intrigued by Kickstarter and the like; it’s such an interesting model. You spread the investment across a broad number of people, cutting each individual’s financial risk. People get to sign on to help support causes in which they believe, or new product development of interest to them, with no more capital investment than a nice lunch or couple of books or a pair of shoes.

I figured, and then confirmed, that that same functionality was available for personal funding goals. I sat back and looked at the screen for a few minutes, thinking, “Can I do this? SHOULD I do this? Is this something I really want to try?” And then I took a deep breath and signed up.

Back in the Saddle Again

Oh, hi! Long time no write…right? Yeah, I’ve been away from blogging for quite a while, as most of you have probably, well, not noticed at all, because you have all kinds of other things to do with your time than fret about the currency of my silly little thoughts on parenting and Whole30 and whatever the hell else it was I used to write about back when I somehow was finding time to write. Except you, Mom. I know you’re always watching. I’ll be looking for the “Yay, you’re blogging again!” text message in 3…2…1…

In any case, I am making a return to this blog. I have some new stuff to write about. Can’t promise how frequently I’ll post, but, for now, it’s great to be back.

A apology to long-suffering January

Image by Ruth Sanderson

Ahh, January. Look at you. You’re so fresh and sweet. Unspoiled, innocent. Your rosy complexion and bright eyes shine out over all us hobbyist sinners, with our multitude of minor transgressions, and we cling to you, desperately, with best intentions as the clock ticks over to the new year and we down the last of our champagne. “Please help us,” we cry. “We have lost our way.”

Whole30 Day 19: A New Kind of Trip Planning

I am flying to Las Vegas on Sunday. That’s right, Vegas. The proverbial den of sin and excess (and, for my purposes, the proverbial den of the yearly symposium for my company’s content management system of choice). It will be my first trip there, and I am feeling a slight trepidation at the prospect of Vegas and Whole30. Why? I dunno. Let’s look at the facts here:

FACT: Vegas without alcohol is entirely doable. I’m sure of it. It may be inherently WRONG on several levels, but I believe it’s doable. Also, Vegas without alcohol makes one less prone to the “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” thing. Not that I’m likely to have a Vegas trip like that, anyways, but still.

Whole30 Day 18: Close Calls With Illegal Sausage

Yesterday was an unfortunate day for my husband, and almost an unfortunate day for me. It involves illegal sausage.

Throughout Whole30, we’ve occasionally purchased packages of chicken sausages to have as quick backup meals (since they’re generally fully cooked and just need heating up). To this point, I’ve done all the chicken sausage purchasing, and had discovered, through my label-reading, that chicken sausage is a tricky business. You’d think it’d be pretty safe, but did you know a lot of chicken sausage is made tastier with CHEESE? Or SUGAR? I mean, really…why in the world does a garlic chicken sausage need sugar? Answer? IT DOESN’T! WHO DO I NEED TO WHACK IN THE FACE WITH A BUNCH OF KALE?

Whole30 Day 17: All Hail the Plantain Chip!

I’m not a huge snacker when the sun is up, I’m really not. I can generally go through the entire workday with only having a piece of fruit or a beautiful cut-up red bell pepper in between meals. When snacking gets me is at night.

“Hi, I’m Caroline, and I’m a night snacker.”

“Hi Caroline.”

Anyway, I’m also not generally a “sweet” snacker; and am much more susceptible to savory treats. As those of you who are doing it well know, Whole30 presents some challenges for us savory snackers. What is there, really? Nuts, olives….um, nuts?

Whole30 Day 16: The New Cookbook is Assembled With Pins

I adore cookbooks. I really do. I could buy SO MANY COOKBOOKS. I love paging through a well-designed cookbook with devastatingly beautiful (and mouth-watering) recipes. It’s super inspiring and makes me want to do a cookup the likes of which has heretofore never been seen.

And then the moment passes. And the cookbook goes back on the shelf. And I promptly forget about it.

Whole30 Day 15: Halfway to More Awesome

Whooo-hooo! Day 15’s in the books! Halfway there! Cue the balloons! Release the confetti! Halfway there! Halfway there! Halfway there!

Um, that’s great and all, but halfway WHERE? Halfway through 30 days, sure, but is that really what I’m measuring? More and more, I think not.

More and more, I think there is no halfway point to this effort, because this isn’t really a 30 day sprint, as originally advertised. This is a lifestyle change. The 30 days is just a palatable chunk that’s not overly scary on the outside. It’s simply a doable time period in which to diligently and very intentionally change your deeply ingrained (and often deeply unhealthy) habits.