I guess it's all about America

Hmmm...I guess I knew this already. Thanks, Mandy, for the idea.

I've been sick recently, really sick. Fever, exhaustion, lying in bed and unable to teach or do much sick, for a week and a half. The kids have been awesome, taking care of me by bringing me books and fluffing my pillows (on the couch) and stroking my head and I have responded by allowing them to watch movies. A good deal all around. Andrei actually got antsy that he was missing so much school and he asked me to teach him math from the couch. He's such a great kid!

I've been reading the book Anne gave me for Christmas (thank you, Anne!!) by Barbara Kingsolver called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle--it's really great. It puts me in the mood for Spring because it is all about buying local food (and organic) and preserving varieties of vegetables and fruits by thinking outside the box and growing your own stuff which gives you more options than the "chosen for travel hardiness" varieties available from California. It also discusses what the "big corporate business" mindset means when applied to food and this involves pesticides and massive amounts of corn and soy which is turned into wonderful products such as high fructose corn syrup etc. which is of course in a lot of pre-prepared or fast foods Americans eat and which gets into the whole "overfed but undernourished Americans" discussion. Sorry, long sentences with total run-on issues but this illness has fried my brain as well as my body. I am so ready for Spring, now!! Anyway, I have been leaning more and more toward local produce recently anyway but this book does an excellent job of putting into words all of the thoughts that have been running around my head since we first started our elimination diet craze.

Reading this book has also made me think a lot more about buying American, and what that means in the big picture. I'm still figuring it out, but this ties into my thoughts on getting a larger van in the near future...can't help but buy American there, since there really aren't any other options. So count me in for being patriotic!

Balls and Vans

Dan and I went to the Winter Ball at St. Stephen's last night, which was a fund-raiser sort of thing involving dinner, dancing, and a silent auction. It was for parents and staff and friends of the school, and also for the middle and high schoolers. We got babysitters (yes it takes more than one to do my job) for the evening and I had a ton of fun! There was food and line dancing and free alcohol (something about the school not getting its liquor license in time) and dance competitions for the twist and swing dancing for which all teachers and their wives were required to participate (I have never been so grateful for the dance lessons we took right before we got married!). The pastor can actually really dance well, but even funnier was the sight of a homeschooling mom of 7 out leading the line dancing better than most of those people that get paid at those country bar/line-dancing type places. The gym was decorated in true prom style, everyone was dressed to the hilt (although I, like Jaime, opted for the warmer and less-dressed-up mode). The students came with their families, and danced with each other and with siblings and parents. The nicest thing was that people kept asking us to sit with them. I throw this in there so you all know that I am actually quite popular and not at all the geek you all so erroneously assume me to be. AND Dan and I weren't the first ones dismissed from the swing dancing contest.

Still looking for a van. I have of course decided that I want what is not possible. Ben K. can understand how this works, I am sure, since he has gone shopping with me in the past. I look around, I get this ideal in my head of what I want, I see something close to what I want but not quite, I discover that nobody actually makes exactly what I want, and I purchase nothing. Well, Dan and I have decided to see if five car seats will actually fit in our minivan, comfort or no. I drove two Sprinter vans and I hated it and everything else larger than a minivan gets about 10 miles to the gallon, so if there is any way we can keep the minivan we are going to do it.

Elena is way into buying a new van. She asked at dinner today if we were going to buy a new van tomorrow. I told her that no, we weren't. "But tomorrow afternoon, Mom?" she asked. "No," I responded firmly, "not tomorrow at all." "Oh," she said, "afternoon, then." Dan and I just looked at each other and broke out laughing. I can't wait to see what happens when she gets married.