on my soap box

I've been emailing my friend Caroline, going back and forth about art education (actually I've written a lot more because I can be so long-winded!!). It is both of our passions... to an extent. We are both finding that we're not too enthralled with academia. SO much talk about practically nothing when you take out the big words and the lofty professions by so-called academics. She is pursuing her Master's degree and I'm wishing I was. Caroline and I are on the same page... she is brilliant and has proven over the past twenty-one years that she can teach circles around anyone! I knew this when she was in college. Anyways...

It seems art education is only taken seriously these days by people IN art education. Or I should say IN college art education programs and academia. Why is this? Because Art Ed has been considered a fluff course and colleges aren't doing their job in studying how visual literacy and communication is important to our arsenal of communication in general. We are such a visual society. How is this not connecting with Educational Academics?  Because professors of Art Ed think that they need to pontificate about the next new trend... new theory... new anything and everything. This is where we, as a society, get it wrong in everything we do.

My history teacher in high school made it a point to constantly say that if we don't know history, we were doomed to repeat it. And that was a warning about the mistakes, not so much the good things in life. Though both can happen. Or not.

History of health has been painstakingly recorded yet the medical society, mostly fueled by the prescription drug companies and food conglomerates, neglects to look at the science of diet and it's effects on health and healing. Why is that?!!! It's like ignoring addition and jumping straight to calculus... which is done wrong. This is why I'm a follower of The Weston A. Price Foundation and the scientists who are looking at the data from history which is there. Weston Price did his studies during the 30's and 40's when indigenous tribes of people who still ate traditional food existed and could be studied. And he documented his studies well, especially with photography. There is so much to learn from him! And now brilliant scientists are discovering new information about the body's workings based on his foundation of studies-- that what we eat is crucial to our health. One such doctor has discovered a link between sulphur and our cells... something no one is talking about in the food industry right now. Basically we have been told to stop eating eggs, an extremely easy and excellent source of sulphur, and to put on sunscreen when our skin metabolizes sulphur by the exposure to sun and natural vitamin D... because the main medical industry doesn't understand.  Throw out the egg beaters!!!!! Enough with white egg omelets!!! Even vegetarianism... which has been proven by so many peoples over the world's history that it compromises good health. Our Western diet has seeped into all cultures today and ravaged the health of people in every land. Just look at how many people now have crowded teeth and cavities. This isn't how mankind was supposed to be. Look at all the cancer, the Autism, the ADHD, the diseases... seriously... this isn't how people were supposed to function. So sickly instead of full of health!

Academia can easily lose it's perspective of what is logical and real. I am thankful for those academics who are not afraid to study their subject in light of past knowledge. To forget about history and traditions is to make grave errors in all things. The one sure thing in life is that we have history to learn from. I hope that I can teach my own children to understand this concept so that they can make smart decisions for decades and generations to come.

Right now as I was writing to Caroline, I realized that there is no Art Education listed in the curricula of our Elementary public schools in the district. There is Music, Gym and even Library. Where did the Art go? With budget cuts, I am really hoping that it didn't get cut. If it is still there, then why are there no objectives listed? This is a major problem. Am I the one to bring it up with the Superintendent? Aren't there State Objectives that must be fulfilled for Art? If not, then I really have to wonder at the state of education today. This is a very strange world we live in.

Cute owl pattern from Purl

This IS one Big Snowy Owl!  You can find the instructions and the materials on the Purl bee. He's so cute. So is that cat in the photo. She looks like my cat Molly who was my first "child" but passed away the month before Caroline was born. Chlóe got a look at her and says she thinks SHE might look nice on the blog (yes, she's been on here before). And that SHE may want to say a few things on her own blog! Hmmmm. Not sure if I have time to be her secretary. She does keep me company every time I type. My head is swimming with two things: my awesome idea for something I'm going to try to make for etsy and all the health information that I've been reading (I got my first copy of Wise Traditions from The Weston A. Price Foundation). I am considering a degree in nutritional counseling but with all the books and information that I already can read on my own, I think going to school right now can wait a bit. Maybe I'll just follow the kids to college. ;) That way I could keep my eye on them and be a wise old owl!

favorites quotes I heard today

"Educated women in the the home? What an odd thing to deplore! What better place to have us "end up"... What more important job is there than sharing the values we are learning to cherish with the next generation of adults? What more strategic place could there be for the educated woman?"

~ Edith F. Hunter, "Seeing the Everyday" magazine, #14

"There is no fallibility in joy."

~ Monsignor Youtz

"Parents and children who engage in the daily processes of the home have learned to be less selfish. They are more likely to donate their time and be of service to others."

~ "Seeing the Everyday" magazine, #14

R.I.P. REM

Did we dance like that back in college when this came out? How can you not?! ;P  Turn it up!!!
(Is that Scott Hofmann in the beginning?!! HA!)

important articles by WAPF

Will Misguided Saturated Fat Beliefs Cause Weight Gain in School Children?

Weight Loss | September 21, 2011

 photo credit: glasseyes view

Parents, Beware of the Dietary Advice Served Up to Schools

By Guest Blogger, David Brown, Nutrition Education Project

In the latest bulletin of The American Heart Association, it was noted that the Arkansas Child Health Advisory Committed is updating the allowable food and beverage list for schools. The USDA dietary guidelines inform dietary advice promulgated by groups such as AHA and hence, adopted by food manufacturers, school systems and other public or private institutions. USDA 2010 guidelines recommend Americans cut back saturated fat consumption even more, which is likely the reason for these updated lists.

As I understand it, there are two reasons cited for offering low-fat beverages to school children. One is to reduce fat calories to prevent weight gain and the other is to restrict saturated fats to prevent clogged arteries.

Regarding the weight issue, a student blogger on the ASN website wrote this:

According to a cohort study of 12,829 US children aged 9 to 14 years, weight gain is associated with excess calorie intake and consumption of low fat or skim milk, but is not associated with drinking whole milk products. This finding although surprising is consistent with some animal findings. Pigs fed reduced-fat milk gain weight easily while pigs fed whole milk stay lean. Male rats fed whole milk had significantly lower concentrations of plasma triglycerides, very low-density lipoproteins and apolipoprotein B than rats fed low fat milk. The effects of whole milk on lipid profile and body composition are not well understood, but the process of removing fat from milk may in part be responsible for some of the observed effects.

Milk is an emulsion of butterfat globules and water-based fluid. Butterfat contains unique nutrients that support thyroid function and help the body develop muscle rather than fat. The butterfat properties of whole milk are different from that of low fat or skim milk, which may help to explain the effects of whole milk on body composition. Future studies should explore the mechanism by which whole milk may protect infants from gaining weight.

A recent strength training study conducted at Texas A&M University indicated that trying to reduce LDL by restricting saturated fats may not be such a good idea. Here’s an excerpt:

Riechman and colleagues examined 52 adults from ages to 60 to 69 who were in generally good health but not physically active, and none of them were participating in a training program. The study showed that after fairly vigorous workouts, participants who had gained the most muscle mass also had the highest levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, “a very unexpected result and one that surprised us.

In other recent findings researchers concluded that there is no connection between dairy fat intake and heart disease:

“Things like milk and cheese are very complex substances,” said Stella Aslibekyan, a community health graduate student at Brown University and the lead author of the study, published in advance online May 4 in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. “We looked at [heart attack risk and] dairy products in their entirety and then looked at separate components of those dairy products, including fats, and it turns out that the results are null. Perhaps the evidence is not there.”

As it turns out, when it comes to controlling cholesterol levels and LDL particle size, restricting saturated fats is not nearly as effective as adding supportive nutrition and subtracting empty calories. It may eventually be decided that the any effects saturated fats have on cholesterol are purely physiological, not pathological, and likely beneficial.

And you must be aware by now that the saturated fat debate is being revived. That’s because evidence that saturated fats do not clog arteries is finally getting publicized.

Some dietitians and health professionals recently formed a group called theHealthy Nation Coalition. I urge you to explore their website.

**********************************************************************

Healthy Saturated Fats include:  Butter, Cream, Whole Milk,  Coconut Oil, Meat, Whole Eggs, Lard

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SEPTEMBER 2011 INFORMATION ALERT

IN THE NEWS: KIDS WHO DRINK RAW MILK HAVE LESS ASTHMA, ALLERGIES
A large European study has found--once again--that children who drink raw milk have less asthma and allergies. This is not big news to WAPF members, but the really big news is that the findings were publicized in a September 13, 2011 Reuters Health press release, with worldwide circulation.  Of course the article contained the usual warnings about the dangers of raw milkwhen we have no records of raw milk killing a single child, while asthma is a life-threatening disease that kills thousands of individuals each year. In the U.S., more than seven percent of adults and even more kids have asthma, causing millions of visits to emergency rooms and doctors' offices every year.
The researchers tapped into a large survey in which parents answered questions about their children's milk consumption. The researchers also collected eight hundred milk samples from the participants' households. Compared with kids who only drank store-bought milk, those who drank raw milk had a 41 percent reduction in their odds of developing asthma. They were also only about half as likely to develop hay fever--even after accounting for other factors that might be relevant. On the other hand, those who drank boiled farm milk had no less asthma than those who drank store milk.
The study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, is the first to point to the exact components in the milk that might be protective. The protective effect was linked to so-called whey proteins in the milk, such as BSA and alpha-lactalbumin."Pasteurization remains an effective tool to inactivate harmful microorganisms but may simultaneously destroy whey proteins," said a spokesperson for the study

SOURCE: bit.ly/rrHjuE Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online August 29, 2011.

Article posted at:
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USTRE78C75O20110913

DIY Doily Lamp

I originally saw this on Pinterest, then followed the links to more design please who posted about this from the original site called dos family where you can find the instructions! (Did you follow that?) I showed this to Caroline and she thought it was really great too, so I am posting it. The doily lamps remind me of some I saw at terrain that were WAY more expensive in metal... here they are affordable, especially if you already like to find vintage treasures.

Filigree Sphere Lighting from terrain

love it

Order one here.

campfires and s'mores

The weather has dropped into the middle 40's at night and we're loving the cooler temperatures! We made a campfire last evening and toasted marshmallows. And of course devoured s'mores! Even Elle was begging for graham crackers and marshmallows (though she only had one).  I think having family time like this is so important-- laughing and sharing stories. Especially during the teenage years when the kids are starting to do things on their own. They both went to the High School Football Game with friends on Friday night and had a blast. Now we're considering getting a camper in another year so we can make some more good memories before they grow up and are gone!

 Caroline took this photo with her phone which just cracked me up-- Nathaniel is being goofy and Elle looks like an alien!...

One more thing... I had a leek left so I snuck it into homemade macaroni and cheese and they loved it. They never knew it was in there! And I just baked homemade chocolate chip cookies...yum. I think cooking and baking from scratch for your kids is one of the best things a parent can do. Of course they may never leave home at this rate!  Hope you are having a good weekend too!

Potato Leek Soup that's so delicious I think I died and went to heaven

I tweeted a little earlier that I was making this soup from a recipe I got from my CSA, and wanted to see how it turned out before posting the recipe. I am slurping it up right now! (I couldn't wait for dinner.) So here it is and it's super easy!

Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter (I used one stick of organic, salted butter)

1 lb. Kielbasa sausage, sliced 1/2 inch thick (I used regular sausage because that's what I had and it still tasted good... my sausage is from organic, free-range pigs!)

2 leeks sliced (This gives it all the flavor! I got these from my CSA)

salt and pepper to taste (Celtic Sea Salt is the healthiest)

1 quart chicken broth  (I used Pacific's Organic Free-Range Chicken Broth but if you've got homemade from your last roasted chicken, then that would be better!)

1 tablespoon cornstarch

4 cups Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups heavy cream  (I used organic... if I had raw milk cream, that would be better. Don't even try to substitute 2% or Skim!)

Directions:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook leeks and Kielbasa in butter with salt and pepper until tender, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes.

2. Stir (or wisk) cornstarch into broth and pour broth into pot. Add the potatoes and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the cream, reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

*if you wish to omit the sausage, just add a full cup of butter.

3. Enjoy! :D

 Dicing up potatoes takes a little bit of time, but think of it this way-- it tastes way better than any soup from a can and you can be proud of yourself for making homemade! I put the sliced leeks into cold water in a dish to make sure there was no dirt or sand, then drained them in the colander. I'm not sure if I needed to, but that's what I did.

 These are the leeks and sausages cooking in the butter! The enameled pot is a dream to cook soup in!

 Adding in the chicken broth... oh the smells of the leek and the broth are heavenly themselves!

I seriously wish I could share a bowl with you! This doesn't look nearly as good as it tastes. I hope you do try it yourself!

Pinterest

Oh so technical now...  I'm trying to figure out how to set up all kinds of things on the web: my Pinterest page which is actually very cool, for one. I can make my own idea board and have the links there if I need them, which is actually a little better than an actual physical board. Plus you can do multiple boards of whatever theme you'd like. I'm sure you've seen this before but I decided it was time to try it out. I have a million ideas swimming around in my head! Now I just have to narrow them down to doable size.

I've also restarted my Twitter account. This was so I can post short links often without worrying about writing a whole post. I'll see if I continue that or not. Last time I was on it, it seemed like it wasn't necessary but businesses are using it all the time now, so I thought I'd better get back up to speed. There were a couple other media platforms too but those are just for relatives (and I'll hardly be on them anyways.) I feel like I'm on technology overload right now and I need to pull out my sketchbook and pencil to clear my head!

This week is flying by... Middle School Parent Night is tonight and next week for the High School. It's a rainy, rainy day again today so I'd rather stay in if I had my choice. I started a new class this morning at Church. It was actually a lot of fun to be in a class of people in ages ranging from mid 20's to late 80's! I love to learn from people of all ages and our class leader is wonderful. Now I have homework on top of helping the kids with theirs! I'm ready for a slower weekend and some downtime. {yawn} Hope your week is going well too!

backdoor visitors

I was sitting in the kitchen catching up on my blog reading when some little four-legged visitors showed up. First it was the little fawn who looks like Bambi, followed by another young one and the mom. I quickly grabbed my camera but these photos are not very good. The funniest thing that I realized after uploading them, is that they are checking out these little yard lights that my Dad bought us. (Click on the photo to enlarge and you'll see them!) They must see them at night and think "What is that?!!" because they light up and change colors. I'm glad we can amuse the "neighbors"!

we have no appendages

I was in the mood to crochet over the last several days, especially while weathering out the storms inside.  I pulled out this book because it's always great for a refresher on hooking, and it has Camille Engman's pattern for her bears. Of course mine always look like mice... don't ask me why. I got the one on the left done and was ready to start on the arms and legs, but I just didn't like him... poor thing. His body was sort of weird anyways and I just couldn't bring myself to finish him. While pulling out yarns, I also found the one on the right in the back of my yarn shelf! He had a leg and an arm started but obviously this never materialized. Maybe this is why I favor kokeshis. Appendages bore me. (Do not analyze this because there is no meaning to it!). The only productive thing that I actually accomplished was coming up with my own little crocheted cat toy which Chloe absolutely loves.  I have an idea for a shop theme on etsy... I started to set up my shop. I just have to figure out exactly how to go about it. But after the failure at the crocheted bear, I'm not feeling too good about my ability to create anything. I was thinking of taking a break and just doing a blanket (my wishful hoping for cooler temps soon). Creativity just comes and goes, like these continually passing storms! Hopefully there will be a little sunshine in the studio soon!

suzanne vega

I don't know if you liked Suzanne Vega as much as I did, but I just heard this song on the radio and all the good memories from college came back. This song always reminds me of the cathedral sculpture that my friend Caroline made of me for an art ed class. Now I just think the music is beautiful.

water, water, water

After we recovered from Hurricane Irene, we got hit with storms from Lee! Central PA is under a lot of water-- historical records of flooding. The kids were off of school yesterday and had a two-hour delay today. Luckily our house sits on a hill so we haven't had any water in the basement, but plenty of people around us have. Some people in Harrisburg have no power because the electric running to homes with flooding would be too dangerous. At this point, I think trading in our cars for boats would be a good idea.

This weekend is also a time of remembrance because of 9/11. I will never forget the feeling of watching the second plane hit the towers and then hearing that there was a hijacked plane over Pennsylvania... pretty close to where we lived. Caroline and Nathaniel were in preschool and I drove quickly to get them, wondering if the rest of the day would be just as scary as the morning. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since that happened and being near NYC and having known people who worked there, it was just too close to home. We will just be appreciating the safety we have today and we are so thankful for our military and all the responders who helped during that terrible time.

Nathaniel was supposed to have his first soccer game tomorrow but I think the fields are still like sponges, if not under water! Craig is sick with a cold. I have a canning class at my CSA tomorrow afternoon, taught by a chef who decided she wanted to learn farming and has been working there this year. I'm looking forward to that! (Especially since I'm reading The Dirty Life and am in a farm mentality right now.) Hope you have a good (dry) weekend!
p.s. I have kayaking on the brain because I'm going to learn how in about a month!

wacom inkling

This is truly amazing-- I can't even imagine what will follow this technology! Of course this is going on my birthday list this fall. Being able to draw with a pen in a sketchbook and then directly transferring that sketch as a vector drawing into Illustrator or Photoshop by a click of a button, makes the whole illustration process so much quicker and simpler. I never liked working on the Wacom tablet very much when it came to line drawings so this is basically what I've been waiting for!  Thank you to my good friend for sending me this video the other day and telling me about it!!

into the woods...

 I was able to take Elle for a walk today, at the park that we went to last winter. What I love most about that park is all the evergreens... it just smells so good-- of pine needles and pine cones. I love the anticipation of autumn too. I think we will get rain all weekend again, though, so I hope we have some leaves left on the trees to change colors eventually!

Here is what I see every time I pull into the driveway... beautiful dots of color in my zinnia bed:

I wanted to share a company I found recently-- Pleasant River Soap Co. out of Maine. The soaps smell sooo good... especially this one. Listen to the ingredients: Olive, Coconut & Palm oils (SO good for your skin!), avocado oil, vitamin E, essential oils of black spruce and fir & dried dill. And the packaging immediately won me over! They have lots of other scents too...

And I got their lip balm in Lime...Avocado oil, shea butter, honey and essential oils! It is wonderful. Of course they sell more flavors of this too...

My computer was not online today which made me {slightly} frustrated, to say the least. But I did manage to spend about five hours designing labels. I'm not sure it looks as if I spent five hours but there you go. This weekend is Labor Day Weekend so everyone here is looking forward to sleeping late tomorrow morning and maybe we'll head to the Lancaster Art and Craft Show (if it doesn't rain!). It's also a big weekend-- 19 years. Time definitely flies!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

homework

Remember how much you hated homework when you were in school? Well, I've found that I'm right back in the midst of Vocabulary, French, and even Honors Algebra! And I LIKE it! Learning is so much fun when there is no pressure to learn. I can't believe this but Caroline was doing a worksheet on simplifying square roots and couldn't remember how to do it. A friend of mine found this invaluable tutoring website and I quickly reviewed square roots-- let's face it, we never use that in every day life! It was actually fun to do and I was sort of hoping she'd bring another worksheet home so I could be sneaky and figure some out. (This is coming from someone who never liked math!)  And I can't wait to review French because it's been 25 years since I was in French 2 ... it would be great to remember some of that! 

I actually did have my own homework-- the job is not dead after all and I was asked to proceed. I still have no idea if I will be doing the final design but I'm doing a favor for her because she's a friend. Whatever happens is fine with me. I am just having fun designing again. It is great to take what someone is thinking in their head and then show them how that would look visually. 

I've been reading so much informational type books lately, that I decided to pick up a novel (well, it's still a true story but a story nonetheless). Becky highly recommended The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball and she said it was a great love story, so I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into that one. Every time fall comes around, though, I want to pull this out and read it again! I'm hopeless, aren't I?! I read it several years ago on Labor Day weekend, on a plane to San Francisco and back again, and I was hooked. I love a good book in September!