Day 3 was pretty uneventful as far as transportation went. I didn’t need to go anywhere; the only problem was when I needed to mail something and couldn’t find any stamps.  If I’d had access to the car, I might have jumped in and gone to the post office to buy stamps and put the envelope in the mail. As it was, I found a way to print the postage I needed online, and got the envelope into the mailbox before the mail carrier arrived.

Why didn’t I just bike to the post office? It’s at the bottom of a big hill. I suppose I could have biked to a different (but further away) post office, or I could have bought stamps at Fred Meyer, but that didn’t occur to me at the time. And the hill? I’m not just being lazy. I’ve never been able to get up that hill without walking my bike and half-dying.

Right now, however, I’m pondering a ride down that very hill. You see, I’m adding people to the challenge! Yes, Aaron Walker chimed in and went car-free yesterday, so that brings me to six car-free days (through this Friday). And Shetha, although she didn’t actually say “I’m joining in, match me!” is in the middle of five car-free days of her own. And I’m thinking about matching her just for the heck of it. But that means I have to take my daughter to the summer camp bus by bike on Monday. The bus stop isn’t far, but it’s at the bottom of that hill, and we’d have to take her gear (not really a big deal).

Really, I don’t see why I can’t do it. Do you?

From what we’ve seen (and there’s only one episode to go), Oliver did a great job developing relationships with people in Huntington and getting them to try cooking and eating his dishes.  He’s gotten both grade school and high school students eating healthy foods at school, although budgeting has been an issue, and one school cook in particular has been resistant to his methods.

The big question remaining is “Will this have a lasting effect?” I’m sure they’ll be addressing this in the last episode — although it’s really only been six months or so, and that’s not much time for creating or measuring lasting change.  This AP article cites a survey which says that children at the Central City school we actually buying fewer lunches after a month on Oliver’s program — they were bringing lunch from home instead.  Hopefully things have gotten better since then. The AP article also reports that the school principal has enthusiastically embraced healthy eating and has lost 20 pounds.

Although I agree that school food should be healthy, I think Oliver could have devoted more time to helping people eat healthy foods at home, too.  If parents aren’t willing and able to support healthy eating, kids aren’t going to be interested either.

Sarah Gilbert, a writer, locavore, and parent of three boys, has written about how families can eat Food Revolution-style on a budget. Her recommendations so far include eating seasonally and getting a handle on snack foods.

I’m also a fan of the Six-O-Clock Scramble, which helps me to cook healthy food with fresh ingredients, even on busy weeknights.

So how can we pass these ideas along to others? I’d love it if you’d share a link to this post (you can use the buttons below to tweet, share on Facebook, etc.), but I’m thinking about non-internet methods, too. What about teaching kitchens, like Jamie’s Kitchen in Huntington? Would people come?

Don’t forget to sign Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Petition! Our collective voice matters.

Today was the second day of 30 Days of Biking.  I rode my bike to work as usual yesterday, but not today. Today’s weather included wind (with high wind warnings), rain, hail, sunshine, and temperatures in the low 40s.  This morning was awful, and I rode the bus to work (while also missing a connection and having to wait 10 minutes without an umbrella, but whatever).

The rain held off long enough for me to pick up the girls and walk home, and then cleared up again after dinner so that we could take a short ride. And I do mean short! We just went around the block (which is actually several blocks long), maybe half a mile or so. But it counts — 30 Days of Biking doesn’t require you to commute or go car-free, just ride a bike at least once a day.

And then the setting sun blazed out when we got home.

1. Decluttering the house. We have too much stuff. We’re going to do the Clean Sweep routine and pull everything out onto the lawn to decide what to keep, toss or sell.  We won’t be redecorating, just decluttering and cleaning, one room at a time.  If we don’t get them all done, that’s OK.
2. Clearing garden space. We have a big, weedy, sandy patch in our back yard. We need to clear out the weeds and either get some soil in there or put in more raised beds and some bark dust.  Well, we might be able to at least clear out the weeds. I have a new, organic,  non-toxic spray that seems to work.
3. Planting. We planted some veggies already, and they’ve sprouted a bit. The peas and lettuce are doing well. The fava beans, carrots and green onions only have a few sprouts each. We’ve also got more space in that bed to plant, so we can start more veggie seeds for later.  We could also start some herbs in pots.
4. Reading books. We all love to read. I’m sure we can make time for that. We’ll probably visit the library at least once, too.
5. Watching movies. My husband apparently intends to watch a movie every night. This probably means non-kid-friendly movies.
6. Visiting with friends. I have plans to spend time with friends in town and with some coming from out of town.
7. Playing outside. It should be nice for at least part of the break. Our middle daughter just started playing softball, and we need to get out and throw the ball around with her and the other kids.

Eek! It does start to sound like a lot. I do have ideas for how to handle it, though.

1. If we don’t finish everything, it’s OK.  If we only get two rooms decluttered, and if all we do in the backyard is spray weed-killer, that’s OK.
2. Don’t expect kids to work all day, even with the promise of a reward. Set a reasonable amount of time or a reasonable number of tasks for them to complete.
3. Balance work time and fun time; schedule a bit of both each day or alternate days. And don’t forget that work can be fun.

As a busy mom, what’s a typical day like for you?
I’m really disciplined about my time which helps me be super-productive most of the time.  After I eat breakfast, drink coffee and help kids get off to school by 8:30, I take my dogs for a walk in the woods, often with a friend (this is my prime social and exercise time) for 45 minutes to an hour.  Then I spend most of the day from 9:45 to 3:30 or 4 working while the kids are at school, with breaks for lunch, a shower, and a snack or other sanity break.

After the kids get home I try to stay off the computer and have a little time to engage with them and/or drive them or pick them up from activities (we carpool as much as possible).  I also use the afternoon time to spend at least 30 minutes on home-related stuff like dealing with the mail, cleaning off the counter and conquering items on my to do list.  By 6 or 6:30 I’m making dinner, depending on what we’re having and what the carpool schedule is like, and we usually sit down for dinner at 7:00.

After dinner and after the kids go to bed I often read and respond to personal emails for 20 minutes or so.  I try to go to bed between 10 and 11 depending on what time I need to get up the next morning.  Of course if the kids are sick or I’m travelling or anything else comes up, the schedule gets turned upside down.

How old are your kids now? Do they help with meal preparation?
Solomon turns 13 this month and Celia is 10 (she’ll be 11 in May).  These days they have a fair amount of homework and sports and music practice so they often don’t have time to help with dinner during the week.  They usually take turns setting the table, though, and if either of them is finished with all their responsibilities they like to help with dinner.  Celia likes to make salads and loves to bake, while Solomon loves to peel potatoes and other vegetables, squeeze citrus, and other hands-on tasks.  He’s also my videographer and editor for cooking videos.

Your new book (SOS! The Six-O-Clock Scramble To the Rescue: Earth-Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Dinners For Busy Families) focuses on making meals more environmentally friendly. What else would you like to tell us about the book?
I’m really excited about the new book—it comes out next month, just in time for Earth Day.  The book has new recipes (about 300 of them) and some great strategies for growing your own herbs, composting, eating sustainable seafood and more meatless meals, deciding when to buy organic, and other earth-friendly tips and suggestions.  It’s also seasonal to help you shop locally and enjoy the best flavors, and it has a fabulous seasonal fruit and vegetable chart to help you plan your meals and grocery lists.

Do you have any plans for adding breakfast and lunch menus to The Scramble?
Not at this time, but we may be adding a dinner party planning feature and we have a new app coming out soon to help people use their grocery lists and menus on their iphones and other “smart” phones.

Thank you, Aviva! SOS! The Six-O-Clock Scramble To the Rescue comes out April 13, 2010 and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com (affiliate link).  If you’re interested in trying The Scramble meal-planning service, use the promo code GLKAT4852 to get $3 off on a 6 or 12 month subscription. I don’t get anything for recommending it, and I don’t get anything if you sign up. I’m just a satisfied customer.

I waited a bit, looked out the window again, and checked the weather forecast, but the rain simply wasn’t going to stop.  I got myself together and rode off, getting just a little wet from the knees down.

It wasn’t too terrible. I picked up one child at her after-school program, and dropped her at home (the oldest was already home; she stayed home sick today, yes, she is old enough). I thought about leaving the youngest at daycare, and letting my husband pick her up. Why stay out in the rain longer than I had to?

Then I asked myself, what would super-mama-bike-o-rama-riding Sarah Gilbert do? Yeah. I’m pretty sure she would ride in the rain. So I set off again, for the daycare provider’s house, half a mile away.

I picked up a cheery girl who was thrilled to be riding on the Xtracycle with mom all by herself.  She sang “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring,” and then broke into “if all the rain drops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what a rain it would be.”

I had to sing along. We sang it all the way home, actual raindrops falling into our mouths, “Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah.”

I’m glad I didn’t miss out on that.

“Oh, no”

“What?!”

My husband and I responded simultaneously. He turned the alarm off and went back to sleep, since he was going to work two hours late today.  I rolled over and didn’t go back to sleep; I got up, checked the news on the web, and then went in to work early.

It’s now just after 9:00 p.m.  If I go to bed now, can I get up at 5:00 again?

I’ve been a night person for as long as I can remember, but when I do manage to get a decent amount of sleep and get up in the morning, I can be very productive.  This would be a good thing for my writing.  I’ve been struggling with finding time in the evening. The girls need my attention, and that’s how it should be! Tonight, we played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and watched a little American Idol, and it was great. I want to spend time with them.

I do like to stay up late, but by the time they’ve gone to bed, I’m not at my most productive. I’m often caught in between: too tired to think but not tired enough to sleep.

So I’m heading for bed. I’ll let you know if I get up in the morning.

I think we need to do something about bedtime again. I know that having a routine is key, especially for young children. But we seem to change our routine every few months or so, either because it isn’t working or because we’ve stopped using the routine we’d intended to use.

When the girls were babies, we didn’t worry about their bedtimes much. We based their routines more around ours.  But now that they’re in school and daycare, going to bed and going to sleep is more important.

We instituted an 8:00 p.m. bedtime at first, but found that with all of us getting home around 5:30 p.m., we’d just have time to eat dinner and do homework and chores and then it would be bedtime. We didn’t have time to just be together, so we changed bedtime to 8:30 p.m.  Everyone is used to that now; we don’t have arguments about going upstairs to bed.

But we don’t really have a positive routine in place. We were reading stories for a while, but got out of the habit at some point, perhaps when we had too many evening meetings.  And, I have to admit, it’s also because we as parents can be selfish. We don’t want to go read stories if we’re in the middle of a TV show, or a blog post. We don’t want to go upstairs and come back down again.

Foolish parents.  So it’s back to the drawing board. How do we put a 10-year-old, a 7-year-old, and a 4-year-old to bed peacefully, and still have some time for ourselves?

When she turned one, we were living in California, and invited all nearby family members for a birthday party. We honestly didn’t think they’d all show up! We were glad they did, and enjoyed it, but it was a big crowd for our small apartment.

At some point we moved from adult-centric parties to kid parties. When she turned seven, we agreed to spring for a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, with the understanding that this would be the only Chuck E. Cheese party for her, ever! This was surprisingly fun and easy. We reserved a 10:00 a.m slot, which is the earliest available, and were able to have the party before the restaurant got crazy (and before I got crazy). We also did this for our middle daughter when she turned four. The youngest hasn’t had her turn yet.

We’ve also had completely homemade parties. For one, we had homemade cake and did sticker art as an activity.  Another was a slumber party for eight girls, which was a bit much for me. Eight seven- and eight-year-olds in the house means DRAMA if everyone doesn’t get along.

Other times, we’ve limited birthdays to just the family, especially when the kids are very small. For summer birthdays, it’s fun to have a family party in the park, where we can all relax, talk and watch the kids play.

This time it’s a slumber party again, but with just a few girls. In fact, we’re calling it a sleepover and not a slumber party. I think it will be very low key, and we’ll have less chance of personality conflicts.

Things are not so homemade tonight, though. It’s been a busy week of back-to-school, and I woke up this morning with a migraine. So I bought a cake and some easy, low-prep food instead of trying to do everything myself.  My dear, dear husband did most of the house cleaning, and he’s planning to just stay out of the way.

Well, they’ll be arriving any minute now — wish us luck!

What do we wear?

Me: Tights, slacks, wool socks, turtleneck, wool sweater, fleece jacket, knitted muffler, wool hat with ear flaps, knitted gloves (I feel like a character from a Richard Scarry book now).  I have a wool coat for recess duty and other non-cycling times, but it was so cold today (the high was 31) that we had indoor recess.

Kids: Two layers of clothing, top and bottom. Wool socks or tights if possible. Puffy winter coats. Knit hats under helmets, but I think they just wear their hoods when not cycling. Gloves or mittens. Scarves if they want them (puffy coats generally cover the neck).

Does it work?  Mostly. I’m glad we don’t have to go too far. Coming back tonight, my fingers were getting pretty numb. I’m planning to use an extra pair of gloves tomorrow.  After I picked the kids up at school (half a mile from home), my face got so cold it ached, and the kids were complaining about their ears falling off. I’m not inclined to start wearing a face mask, though. Things will warm up again later this week, and I can keep the lower half of my face warm under my scarf.

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Photo by Jeff Williams