Category Archives: Kids

2024, Family, Food, gardening, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Eating it Up!

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“We need to go grocery shopping.”  “We need groceries.” ” We have to go shopping.”  These are very frequent litanies at our house.  YA occasionally cooks (and she’s fine at it) but she prefers quicker meals.  This means she doesn’t recognize foodstuffs that aren’t already “meals”.  She can open the cabinet, see a can of black beans, a can of corn and a can of Rotel tomatoes sitting next to each other and not see a meal.

In my reality, we hardly have room in the fridge, in the freezer or the cabinets for more food.  But if I say, I can make ________ from the cans in the cabinet or frozen items, she is often not interested.  So we go round and round and neither of us ever “wins”. 

She left for London last Thursday and I decided that I would spend her 12 days out of town eatting only what is in the house.  With the exception of milk, I am not going to purchase any food.  Unfortunately it’s not much of a stretch goal.

However after a few days, I realize that I’m running up against a “quirk” of mine.  My mom was born in 1932 and so her formative years were depression years and she came out of them with a “waste not, want not” attitude.  When I was growing up, we had what she lovingly called “goulash” at least once a week – any leftovers saved up and then lumped together when there was enough for a pot-ful.  I don’t remember any of them being ghastly and will admit that as an adult, I have more than once combined leftovers.

BUT, this waste not/want not that she passed to me has morphed over the years into a strong desire to “finish” things.  When I eat the last slice of bread or heat up the last helping of a dish, it makes me feel good, almost lofty.  This can unfortunately lead me to finishing things when I don’t really need to.  No need to eat three slices of bread because there are only three slices left in the bag… that kind of thing. 

While YA is gone, I’m having to balance my desire to finish things with my desire to eat only stuff that is in the house.  So far so good.   Chips/cheese/salsa.  Made a panzanella with a baguette and shaved parmesan I found in the fridge (and tomatoes and basil from the garden).  11 jars of tomato sauce for the freezer.  Ate the last English muffin from Breadsmith.  Got through the pesto pasta with tomatoes that I made right before she left.  Discovered chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers – smores.  A couple of smoothies so far using lots of frozen fruit.  I harvested the rosemary and it smelled to good that instead of freezing it all, I made a focaccia.

This is all a lot of fun so far.  We’ll see how the next week goes!

How do you feel about leftovers?

2024, Family, Food, home, Kids, Theatre

He Made Me Ice Cream

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I brought a crate of peaches to Brookings, and for some reason, I started thinking about peach ice cream. That led to the memory of a friend of mine telling me about some ice cream she had made with a special ice cream maker she had just bought-a Ninja Creami.

Well, wouldn’t you know that the Brookings Walmart had one of those, so I bought it, and Grandson and I have had the best time this week making ice cream. He assisted in making all the mixes and running the machinery. The mixes were mainly cream and flavorings, but no eggs.

The whole premise of this contraption is that you can make a small amount of ice cream quickly after the mix has been in the freezer over night. The mixes are easy and don’t need to be cooked. Then, you put the container in the machine, which sends a whirly blade into the frozen mixture and tuns it into ice cream or sorbet.

We made lemon sorbet, coffee ice cream, peach ice cream, strawberry ice cream, vanilla ice cream, and mixed berry sorbet. Grandson quickly figured out how to get the thing set up. He was so proud and happy seeing his parents eat the ice cream he had made. He said the coffee ice cream was his favorite.

I remember family members struggling with ice, salt, and noisy electric or hand cranked ice cream makers. Boy, it tasted good, though, but it was quite a production. This was easy. Too easy!

What are your favorite ice creams? Memories of ice cream making? Ever seen the musical She Loves Me?

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Solitaire

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My Boomgaarden relatives were inveterate card players. My Uncle Alvin played poker all his life, and my grandparents loved pinochle. My grandmother really liked to play Solitaire. My dad could take it or leave it. My cousins were all card players and gamblers.

I must confess that I am an obsessive Solitaire player on my phone. Grandson got a glimpse of me playing it, and so I had to teach him how to play, too. He has only miniscule screen time a week, so being on Oma’s phone, with his parent’s permission, is quite a treat for him. It sure seems a better option than most video games!

I plan to teach him Solitaire today using real cards to help him get a better feel for the game. I sure don’t want him to learn to play poker! My maternal grandmother’s family immigrated to the US because my great grandfather lost all his money playing poker! Solitaire seems pretty harmless.

What card games do you like to play? What were your family attitudes about gambling?

2024, animals, Food, Kids, State Fair, Weather

Mother Nature – 1. VS & YA – 0.

40 Comments

I’ve been to the Fair in all kinds of weather.  Granted, no snow but light rain, heavy rain, serious winds, tornado watches and heat.  Lots of heat.  In fact, last year there were five days that were 90 degrees and higher.  I was there for two of those days.  The other three days were no slouches either, temperature wise. 

So on Monday bringing in a forecast of 90, we weren’t too worried.  We took our fans and headed out, getting on the first bus and arriving at the fair at 7:45 a.m.  Got a cold bottle of water right away (along with a crepe and cookies….) before heading to the animal barns.  We thought it would be a good strategy to get the barns done before the day got too crazy.  This was a good strategy but after an hour or so petting cows, lambs, goats and horses in non-air conditioned barns, we were squirming.  At that point it was only 80 degrees but the humidity was 85% and you could feel every percent of that.  We were both dripping.

Walked up to the Pet Pavilion to find that the German Shorthair Pointers were not doing any of their demonstrations.  We did pet the dogs that were there and wandered about looking at a few displays but it was brutal.  I would have been willing to sit in the sun (with my fan and my baseball cap) to watch the dog dock diving, as it didn’t require any movement on my part, but YA didn’t want to.  It was nasty enough that neither of us was too interested in food and we’d filled up the water bottle three times.  YA didn’t even last through one level of the Grandstand, which she normally loves – if there was air in there, you couldn’t tell. 

I wasn’t too happy either and I didn’t want to do anything in particular enough to try to coax YA into it.  So for the first time EVER, we headed back to the bus at noon.  Didn’t even pretend that we might come back so skipped getting our hands stamped on the way back.  When the bus arrived, the folks getting off said “it’s freezing on the bus”.  I said “great”. 

When we got home we lounged in the backyard in the shade, filled up Guinevere’s little pool, soaked our feet and tried not to feel completely defeated.

What do you do when it’s hot hot hot?

2024, Family, Food, Kids, Uncategorized

Cooking With Gas

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I and my grandson are cooking up a storm while his parents are at work. Yesterday we made Marcella’s tomato sauce, another peach and blackberry crumble, banana bread, and lemon sorbet. Grandson sliced the onion, lemons, and peaches with his special, child friendly knives.

Son and DIL have a gas stove. My, do things cook fast and at much lower temperature settings on a gas stove! It makes rather alarming pops and snaps and clicks. Son and DIL don’t seem to be worried about reported health problems with such a stove. Son, who does most of the cooking in the family, loves his gas stove. I would have one if we were piped for gas. Perhaps in our new house in Luverne.

I remember that my mother was really anxious about the gas stove we had in our last house in Luverne before we moved to a new house in the country with an electric, glass topped stove. We plan to get a new stove and microwave in our current home in October. We have used and abused our current stove and microwave so that a new set will be a selling point.

Gas, electric, wood, or induction for you? Ever cooked with gas? Any good food burning stories?

2024, Family, Games, home, Kids, Media, Uncategorized

Croquet, Anyone?

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As you read this, I am on my way to South Dakota with several hundred children’s books, about a dozen Tintin comic books, pesto, home canned tomato puree, and a croquet set. The Tintin books are for my son. (Daughter will eventually get the Calvin and Hobbes three volume boxed set.) My son and daughter in law may view this as me just coming to babysit, but I see this as a way of clearing things out of the basement and garage as we get ready to move.

We played croquet about 10 years ago when our son and daughter in law were here for a visit. I think we had bought it new at that time. Grandson was not yet born. It was an impulse buy on Husband’s part. Prior to that visit, I don’t think I had played croquet for more than 40 years. I remember cutthroat games at my cousins’ farm in Magnolia, MN. There was always the possibility that Cousin Jack would club Cousin Jeff as part of their never ending conflicts and struggles for supremacy. I never got clubbed.

Our son and daughter in law have a huge back yard, so I think Grandson and I and his parents will have some croquet games during my visit. My memories of the rules and the setup of the wickets are foggy, so I will go on-line to figure out how to set up and play. I promise not to club anyone if I lose.

What outdoor games did you like to play? Any Tintin or Calvin and Hobbes fans? Any conflictual cousins?

2024, animals, books, Family, Kids, Travel, Uncategorized

Travelling Oma

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I am driving to Brookings, SD tomorrow for a week to look after my grandson while his parents work and the elementary schools haven’t yet opened and his usual child care center is closed for the week. Husband is staying home to look after the garden and the dog. He will meet us in Detroit Lakes for Labor Day weekend at a lake cabin we have rented.

I bought a crate of peaches yesterday to bring along. The local fruit man had some lovely looking freestone peaches from Utah, of all places, He usually has Washington peaches this time of year, but the orchard he goes to was busy with the apple harvest. Grandson loves to cook so we will make peach pie fillings to freeze and maybe make peach sorbet or ice cream. His parents have requested peach crisp. I am also bringing pesto and home canned tomato puree. We shall eat well.

In a continuing effort to declutter our home I am bringing all the children’s books we have to our grandson. These are books that our son and daughter had as children. Grandson and I can sort through and keep the ones he likes and discard the others. I also expect I will do leggo construction and we will visit the public library and the wonderful local children’s museum. It will be a nice break for me. I will even have a terrier to care for since Son and DIL have a Westie.

I have very fond memories of the times I spent with my grandparents on their farms, and I want my grandson to have some fond memories of us, too. I am glad Husband can meet us at the lake next week.

What activities would you plan for a week with a 6 year old boy and a terrier? What are some favorite memories of your grandparents or older relatives? Ever had peaches from Utah?

2024, Family, Kids, Uncategorized

Just Relax!

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I find it ironic that today is both National Relaxation Day and National Rollercoaster Day. Neither of those things go together!

The last time I was on a rollercoaster or similar ride was almost 41 years ago on our honeymoon. We spent a week in Minneapolis-St. Paul after the wedding, which coincided with the Minnesota State Fair. Husband was insistent that we go on a ride on the midway. He chose a rather adventurous one, and, wanting to please, I agreed reluctantly to go on the ride. I hated it, I refused to scream like the others, and was pale and almost ill when the ride ended. He has never insisted that we go on any more rides together. I think the only other rides he went on were with our children.

I don’t know when I stopped liking carnival rides. I loved them as a child. I was 25 when I married, so it sure didn’t last long. As for relaxation, I am a constant worrier and pretty anxious most of the time. I can teach other people to relax, as I have done that for a living for almost as long as I have been married. People seem to like deep breathing exercises. In a pinch, holding a bag of frozen veggies also works for intense anxiety. My children both frequently thank me for passing down the Generalized Anxiety Disorder gene to them. I just smile and grab a bag of frozen corn.

What was the last carnival ride you went on? How do you relax? Who is the least anxious person you know?

2024, History, home, Kids, Uncategorized

Good Friends

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When we moved to our neighborhood in 1988, it felt as though we had moved to and outpost of the Czech Republic. The Karskys, the Knopiks, the Kovash family, and the Dvoraks all lived next door or across the street. They were all somehow related to one another. Mrs. Karsky described us as “a nice young couple with a young son” to the other neighbors, information she had got from our real estate agent. Everyone was excited when we moved in, as most of the people on the block were older and/or retired. There were no children on the block.

36 years later, we are the older people on the block happy to see new and younger faces in the neighborhood. Only the Knopiks remain as the Czech contingent. There are lots of young children, especially on our side of the street. A couple of houses south of us lives a hard working family from Zimbabwe. They have a teenager who walks back and forth past our house most days during the school year to get to the Catholic High School, as well as several younger daughters and a young son who are friends with the Hispanic family on the corner. The other day I was driving past those houses when I saw the three Hispanic little girls, their brother, and all the Zimbabwe children sitting in a row on the curb. They had exhausted themselves in the enormous jumper house that the Hispanic dad had inflated for them all to bounce around in.

We share surplus garden vegetables with the neighbors, and everyone gets along. It is so nice to see the neighborhood continue to be a haven for young families and for the more mature, longer term residents.

What was your neighborhood like to grow up in? Any “bad apples” or nice grandparent-types as neighbors? Who were your best childhood friends?

2024, Fantasy, Kids, Music, Mysteries, Songs, Theatre, Uncategorized

Prince Among Men

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My little friend next door, Minnie, loves to sing and dance.  For the past two summers she had done a summer camp at the Lundstrum Performing Arts Center; this year they presented Annie Jr (just a shorter version of Annie).  Considering that it is all untrained kids and that they get the whole thing together in two weeks, they did a great job.

This was all that Minnie talked about for two weeks.  In addition to previewing the song/dance that she was in, she regaled me with stories of how things were progressing and who was playing what part.  There were several kids who had been in Little Mermaid with her last year and although I did see the show last year, I couldn’t have told you any of the players except Minnie. 

Of course there was also the post-production discussion the day after the last performance.  I commented that the young man who played Rooster Hannigan did a nice job.  He also had a great dance solo dressed as a street Santa in the N.Y.C. song.  Minnie quickly pointed out that he had played Prince Eric in Little Mermaid.  When I said I hadn’t remembered that, she commented that he hadn’t had to do very much to be the prince.  Then she added, almost as an afterthought, that princes don’t usually have much to do. 

In her world, all her princesses and princes are represented by Disney.  As I thought about it the next few days, I realized that Disney has, for the most part, not spent too much energy on princes.  Snow White’s prince doesn’t have a name, Sleeping  Beauty’s prince does have a name (and a bit of backstory) but doesn’t have much personality.  Cinderella’s prince is also pretty non-descript.  Ariel’s prince is a little bland and definitely clueless.  Belle’s prince spends most of the movie as a beast and Tiana’s prince spends most of the movie as a frog.  Merida has three princes, all of whom are a bit… lacking.  A few princes fare a bit better in their Disney representation but clearly it’s all about the princesses. 

I’m not too worried about this unfair portrayal – I doubt that young girls and boys are too damaged by this uneven treatment.  But I also don’t believe that Barbie dolls are inherently evil either. 

If you were to be a Disney princess or prince (or villain if you prefer) for a week, who would you choose?