Picture picture

Just recently Claire received a digital camera as a gift. It's so much fun to see her take pictures of her surroundings and mimic what she sees me doing when I take pictures. She's running around..."picture of Tonga" (our dog), "picture of Mommy", "picture of Daddy", "picture of Baby Sam", "picture of dinner", "picture of floor". The entertainment is endless. At first I though it was a bit silly for such a young child to have such an involved toy, but she loves looking at all the images she's taken on the display and the excitement mounts when we get to upload the pictures and view them on the computer. She's using her imagination and is also learning a bit about computers. I'm revising my mind. Digital cameras for kids.... good idea!

The Women's Movement

I know it's a common complaint, that the husband of the house isn't taking enough initiative and doing what's needed. I also have this complaint. Even on weeks when I am working as much or more than my husband it still falls on me to do the laundry, clean the house and other "women" tasks. That being said, even the "man" tasks often fall in my lap. It's amazing how much grumbling has to occur for garbage to get out the door.

I have to admit that I'm a bit embarrassed (although I doubt that's the right word) that I have fallen into such gender stereotypes. When I was inspired and young I never wanted to have children. I just wanted to be a successful independent single woman - not depending on anyone and with no one to depend on me. It's amazing how things change. There is not a single part of me that wants to undo any part of my life, but I guess I just hoped that we'd be that "other" family where gender roles were not part of the household hierarchy.

Other times when I give it more thought I feel that it's not that my husband expects these things of me, he's just too lazy to do them himself. He's smart enough to know that if he leaves the garbage long enough, soon my nose will dictate that I move it out of smelling range.

So - that brings me to the woman's movement. I guess I thought we were further than we actually are. The men still make more, work less, contribute when it's convenient and moderate family involvement is above and beyond. So my question is why don't we now have a Men's Movement which would entail men MOVING and getting shit done!!!

A little too much

I know I'm not the only mother out there with "mommy guilt". It's true that most, if not all, of the moms out there deal with this on a daily basis... some better than others. I work some weeks full time and others not at all so it seems that on the weeks I'm busy I feel guilty about not spending more time with my kids. I am completely rational about the financial benefit my work has, but sometimes it doesn't seem like I'm making enough to be so overwhelmed. Because I work from home, I can hear my kids upstairs having a good ole time, or even worse, having a meltdown. I have to be smart about when to interfere and when to stay focused on my work. Usually I go upstairs and end up working into the evening because I was distracted throughout the day. I tip my hat to all working moms out there. Good for you for contributing financially AND emotionally to your family. It's not always an easy balance, but the payoff is bigger than the paycheck. We are showing our children that women can be successful outside the home and independent. I hope my kids see it that way when they get older.

Quick and healthy. Does it exsist?

I'm a vegetarian as are my children and I try my best to purchase organic produce. You would think this would land me in the healthy eating category. Not necessarily. I put effort into meal planning and work to avoid frozen and prepared meals, but it still seems that I am eating way too much fats and sugars. To give an example, I was at the supermarket today working on picking out a yummy dinner we'll all enjoy. I though Mexican would work well. I bought fresh veggies and black beans for chimichangas and figured my daughter would have a quesadilla. (It's not so much that she wouldn't like the chimichangas but we spice them up enough that they are too spicy for her).

Any how, it turns out that the dinner wasn't good for us at all. Don't get me wrong... it tasted delicious, but between frying up the veggies, the cheese, sour cream and guacamole the meal was a disaster (and that's before I put the whole thing in oil to fry it).

I'm not sure where I'm going wrong. I really enjoy healthy food, but it seems with my busy life I don't get around to all the perishables before they expire, and I certainly don't have time to go to the supermarket every day when I have the brilliant dinner idea (which rarely happens anyhow).

So I guess what I'm getting at here is what am I to do? I want to eat healthy and instill good eating habits for my children, but I just don't seem to find the time everyday. I would say a good two times a week we make a very healthy and well rounded meal, but I'm not satisfied with that average.

I hope to get better at this as my children get older so they can learn to cook healthy for their children. I'm just not sure where to start.