Today’s commute was easy.  All I can figure is that my body got plenty of rest over the winter break, while at the same time I stayed fairly active by walking, doing housework, and shoveling snow.  I didn’t once feel like I wasn’t going to make it, even with my youngest in the back seat, and on the little hill just before I get to work.

Speaking of carrying kids, Melissa Lion and I were tweeting the other day about being Hard Core Bicycling Mamas.  Melissa, I’m afraid we’re not going to cut it.  These women totally outclass us in the Hard Core department (although I don’t know whether they technically qualify as Mamas).

Now that I’m home, I am finding that my body hurts.  I could use a serious back massage.  I don’t think it’s related to cycling, though.  I think it might have more to do with working at a desk and stuff for the first time in two and a half weeks.  There’s something about hunching over a laptop that just isn’t good for the shoulders.  It’s a LAPtop!  You’re supposed to sit in the recliner with your knees up and tuck it in between your stomach and thighs, right?  Yep, I really need to work from home.

I think mindfulness is going to take a lot of re-training for my brain. Author Jon Kabat-Zinn says “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.”  It also involves using all of your senses to pay attention to what you are experiencing.

I’m not used to taking life one thing at a time; or to concentrating on my physical senses.  I keep my brain constantly busy; I read, listen to music, watch TV, or use the computer, and if I have to do something else, I usually add those other things to it.

For instance, taking a walk around the neighborhood is horribly boring.  There’s nothing to see, and nothing to do with my brain.  Music helps some.

If I have to do housework, I’m usually pushing myself through it using the computer as a reward.  It’s something annoying to be gotten through so that I can do more enjoyable things.  And so I continue to hate it, and to become depressed over having to do it, and over my not doing it well enough.

If I were practicing mindfulness while doing housework (and I’m not, at least not yet), I might concentrate on the sensations of what I’m doing; what it feels like physically to bend over and pick things up (wait, that might not be good), or to sweep floors clean.  I might pay attention to how the hardwood floor looks, and to its texture.  I might enjoy the change in how things look and feel as I clean.

I don’t know what I might experience; I haven’t bothered to notice yet.  But I suspect it might help to see the housework as a valuable experience in and of itself, rather than as an obstacle to other things.

But meanwhile, I do have a clean floor, because I promised myself a little time with the computer after I cleaned it.  Yay, me!

You should be able to find dry split peas for a dollar per pound or less. I use green, but yellow peas are good, too. If you are splitting pennies, you can use less bacon (just enough for flavoring), or do without meat altogether. I also sometimes use ham instead of bacon (if we have leftover ham), although I really like sautéing the vegetables in bacon fat.

Ingredients

6 cups chicken, turkey, or vegetable broth
1 lb. dry split peas
2 large carrots, sliced or chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
5 strips bacon (or pre-cooked crumbled bacon)
1 pinch salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. thyme leaves

Fry bacon and set aside on paper towel. Keep frying pan with bacon fat warm on stove. If using pre-cooked crumbled bacon, you can use bacon fat saved from another meal, or just use olive oil.

Using a 3-qt pot, bring broth to a boil, adding peas when it comes to a full boil. Allow to return to a boil and then turn down to simmer.

Meanwhile, turn the bacon fat up to medium/medium-high and sauté the carrots, onion, salt, pepper and thyme until onions are translucent.

Add the vegetable mix to the broth and peas. Cover and simmer for at least 45 minutes, or until peas are soft enough to break up into a mush. If the mixture seems dry, add water or broth during cooking. Add the crumbled bacon during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Serve with croutons. Makes 4-6 dinner servings.

One morning, the rear tire looked a little low, so I thought I’d better put a little extra air in before I left for work.  However, I’d been having trouble with our pump.  It had developed a crack in its hose.  I really needed to get going, though, so I decided to put a piece of tape over the crack and give it a try.

The pump ended up taking half the remaining air out of the tire, so that I could not ride it.  Oops.  I ended up on the bus.  Later, I could have either taken the bike to a gas station for air, or bought a new pump, but the first would have required me to remove the child seat from the bike in order to fit it in the car, and the second would have required money.  So I left the bike in the garage and took the bus for the rest of the week (although later in the week I also bought a 7-day bus pass, so the money thing doesn’t make a lot of sense in retrospect).

Then the snow hit, and I didn’t even want to ride my bike.  So it’s been sitting in the garage for the past month or so altogether.  This week, I finally bought a new pump, a new set of lights, and a front basket which allows me to carry things while my three-year old rides in the back.  I just need to inflate the tires and attach the lights and basket, and I should be ready to go again.  We’re in the middle of intense rain right now, of course, but I’ve got gear for that.

Enough about me.

The story on bikes since summer 2008 has been that bike businesses are doing well, because the high price of gasoline has been turning people to bicycle commuting.  However, the New York Times (who talked to Portlander and Bike Gallery owner Jay Graves) says that  businesses have seen a slow-down since the cold weather began, and some are wondering whether the cyclists will return when the weather warms up again.

The New York Times also has an interesting graph showing that bicycle unit sales actually surpassed automobile unit sales in the early 1970’s, and that they had the potential to do so in 2008 as well (data for 2008 was as yet incomplete).

Meanwhile, an Associated Press article gives us a good reason to get back into more active forms of commuting:  it lowers obesity rates!  Well, duh — but the article does give statistics comparing obesity rates in American commuters with those in countries where walking and biking rates are higher.

And finally, Peter Nierengarten of Southeast Portland writes an excellent letter to the Oregonian detailing his ideas for keeping a new I-5 bridge in Portland from increasing car commuting and urban sprawl.  Scroll down to the fourth letter, “Improve bridge, limit sprawl.”

For instance, I want to write more, write better, get published more.  But should I attach numbers to that?  An amount of money I want to earn, or a certain number of published articles?  I could, but somehow it doesn’t feel right.

I think what I’m searching for is a way to express how I want to live my whole life.  I don’t want to break it down into writing vs. work vs. family time vs. spiritual life vs. volunteer work, keeping each compartment separate. I want it all.  And I want it to work.

But maybe that’s not right, either.  Maybe I need to work on accepting what is, and being who I am (which does include the above things).

Maybe I do have a goal for the year.

Oscar’s mother has previously introduced him to his new caregiver, Mrs. Tutu (a hen), so that he’ll be ready. She’s also created a goodbye ritual for Oscar, with special piggie kisses.

Oscar is still sad, but Mrs. Tutu has prepared a special surprise for him: a magical trip to China! Here, they visit a panda named Chow Chow, who is about Oscar’s age. Chow Chow’s mommy is at work, too. Like Oscar, he misses his mommy. “But I always know she is coming home, and she loves to hear about all the fun things I did that day.”

And at the end of the day, Oscar’s mommy is home, too, with more piggie kisses.

This book is engaging and has a story children can relate to. Oscar has the same feelings a real child might have if a parent is beginning to work outside the home. Oscar’s mother models excellent preparatory steps which parents can take, like pre-introducing the caregiver and instituting rituals. Reading this book with your child could serve as a preparatory step as well, to help familiarize the child with what will be happening, and to let the child know that he or she is not the only one to experience these events and feelings.

I was surprised a couple of times by this book. First, I didn’t expect to see a pig talking about “bringing home the bacon,” and wasn’t too sure about that joke, but it made sense in the end. I was also surprised to find that a magical trip to China was part of the story; after all, this is not something that is likely to happen in real life! But the trip to China does show Oscar that other kids experience separation from parents, too, even in different parts of the world. After Oscar got to meet Chow Chow, I wished that he could go to more countries as well!

Perhaps author Megan Calhoun will take us to visit more countries; this is the first book in a planned series published by Silly String Media. I look forward to seeing what she has in store for us.

Megan Calhoun is both an author and the founder of Twittermoms.com, a social networking and community site for moms. She’s also the mother of two children, Oscar and Stella, to whom the book is dedicated.

I saw a counselor recently, because I have been feeling significantly worse this fall and winter. She was terrific.

“What do you do for self-care?” she asked. “When you’re starting to feel down.”

“Well, usually I’ll try to find a quiet place and time to read,” I responded.

“Oh!” she said. “So if I asked you to read a book…”

“I would read it!” I replied, nodding.

So, instead of asking me to talk things out (which I hate), she prescribed a book, and actually put it into my after-care orders. It’s called The Mindful Way through Depression. I ordered the book through Amazon, but it’s somewhere on a UPS truck right now, as far as I know (it was supposed to arrive by December 23rd, but we had a little thing called a snowpocalypse here in Portland).

I’ve been feeling so down the past couple of days that I really need to do something about it. So I’ve located the book on Google books, and I’m going to start reading it. I may be neglecting a few other things today, but if the depression is starting to take over, I think I need to devote some time to that, and find my way out of it, or perhaps through it.

Being financially strapped as well as trapped by a snowstorm (it’s very unusual to have a foot or more of snow here in Portland, Oregon), I’ve been trying to use up what we have in the pantry already. That’s a good practice anyway, but I’ve been neglecting it somewhat until recently.

Today’s dish was based around a bag of dry garbanzo beans. I bought them months ago, but never used them. I always have good intentions about using dry beans, because they are cheap and nutritious, but then I avoid them because of the soaking and cooking process. It was a lengthy process, but well worth it, and with some planning ahead, you can do it too!

Ingredients

1 lb bag of dry garbanzo beans
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion
9 baby carrots
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Dried oregano leaves
Dried basil
2-16 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 small can sliced mushrooms (or fresh sliced mushrooms if you have them)
1 cup small pasta shells

The night before (or at least 8 hours before cooking) put garbanzo beans to soak in 2 quarts of cold water. The next day, drain off the soaking water and rinse beans in a large colander. Return beans to large pot, and add 2-3 quarts of fresh water (water should be at least 1 inch above beans). Do not add salt. Bring beans to a boil, then simmer for 3 hours. Yes, 3 hours. You can shorten this to 40-50 minutes by using a pressure cooker. I do not own one. You might also be able to cook them in a crock pot all day if you work. I have not tried this yet.

When the beans are done, drain off the cooking water and rinse them again in the large colander until you see no foam. You will have a large amount of beans at this point. Put 2/3 of the beans into freezer containers (about 2 cups in each container) and freeze for later use. Put the remaining 1/3 aside for the moment.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Peel and coarsely chop the onion and add to skillet. Chop the baby carrots and add to the skillet. I disguise my carrots by chopping them very finely with a hand chopper; you could also use shredded carrots. Or, if you and/or your family are not picky, use larger chunks. If you are using fresh mushrooms, add them now, too.

Give the carrots and onions a stir, and then add salt, pepper, and herbs to taste. I do not measure. I added a large pinch of salt, and then sprinkled enough pepper, garlic powder, and oregano to lightly cover the entire contents of the pan, followed by a quick dash of basil. Sauté it all together for several minutes, until the onions are translucent . It will smell delicious!

Add tomato sauce, beans, and mushrooms. Bring to a simmer, then turn heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta shells according to package directions. Drain, and stir into sauce mixture.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese. This served my family of five, with leftovers.

Why didn’t I make a better choice?  It’s about the money.  I’d rather give them something like good arts and crafts supplies or dance classes or basketball camp.  But these didn’t fit into our ultra-slim gift budget.  Toys and games from Big Lots did.

I think we made fairly good choices, considering.  But I’m realizing that this is one reason why even poorer kids in the U.S. have so much stuff.