A few hours later, the snow had piled up quite a bit – this is the most snow I’ve seen in my entire life! Watch the slideshow for some random recent pics. Oh, you’ll see my chicks are growing up! Their names are Cocoa (the maran), Ginger (the Gold Sex-link), and Paprika (the Rhode Island red). Cocoa has turned out to be the “sweet” one- she enjoys being handled. Paprika is curious and the leader of the bunch, also doesn’t mind being handled. Ginger, bless her heart, is a big baby and we joke about putting her outside when she won’t shut up.

it happens all the time;
people become mamas.
celebrities, love lorn teenagers, and those gals on desperate housewives.

it happened one time;
I became a mama.
two foretelling pink lines on a stick and 47 pounds of gained pain later.

“kitty cat pumpkin stickers” and “ras-strawberries”
Coup seal barking, night sweats
“Make water with your pee pee in the potty”
fall leaves fall. Now say, “rompe cabeza”. (count to ten.) “Little Ethan Wants to Play-”

“mama, don’t be sorry. I’m just fine.”

“do you think I’m a good mother?”: whispers in mama/dada’s room.
losing tempers- haunting memories of childhood- ohmygod-am-i-repeating-it?
“family sandwich” hugs and kisses, happy times though
never quite like Norman Rockwell’s pictures.

selfishness vs selflessness
busy vs boredom
pride vs resentment

…television vs radio.

Coupled, Mirrored, Splitting, Connecting, Cuddling, Squishing, Exhausting, Accelerating:

being a mama.

-Viv

Since I won’t be around much this weekend, just wanted to say Happy Easter to every one! We got a little basket today and some used children’s Easter books at Powell’s, along with some stickers. Lil’ E has been asking for things he wants in his easter basket. They include: a pear, a kiwi, an apple, a strawberry, and a yogurt.  LOL Happy to oblige!

But of course, Easter has very little to do with a big white bunny who wears a tie and drops off baskets full of toys and chocolate to good little American children. I’m trying to be a tad more aware of the Resurrection this year, and grateful for the miracle of it all. The grave is empty! It’s so beyond me, I tell ya. Where does one even begin to grasp something like that? If you’ve ever had the opportunity to go to some of the ruins where Jesus once walked, perhaps you felt some connection to this 2,000 year old narrative. I myself can recall the far more commercial and backwards “theme park” in Orlando, FL called “The Holy Land”! Yes sir, you can see the empty tomb and later eat some “Honey and Milk” ice cream. Kinda strange, if you ask me. However, being in the simulated Jerusalem, you could almost try to displace yourself to that time period and replay the good ol’ Sunday school stories in your head, this time not as a reader of a book, but maybe as a fisherman, a Samaritan, a woman at the well, a blind man, a bystander on Calvary hill, or a Pharisee at the temple. You know what I mean?

I can only imagine how it might have been, how I might have reacted, to news of that Hebrew carpenter-turned-prophet whose tomb is now empty. Knowing my cynicism, I think I might have flipped the page in the newspaper without so much as reading passed the headline of that story. “Hmmm, ‘Eyewitness accounts say Jesus, a man executed on the cross just three days ago, now has an emtpy tomb…. Reports of angel spotting just in….’ Yeeeeeeeah- I wonder how the Obama v. Clinton thing is going!? *flip, flip, flip*”

Well, there is probably no end to this rabbit trail in sight, (not uncommon, as those of you who have known me longer than 30 minutes have already noticed!). So I’ll just close by saying that this has been fun, let’s do this again sometime, and may you have a very happy Easter celebration!

Oh yes, and I thought this video was cute… it has chickens and bunnies in it, so it indirectly relates to Easter. This one has a farting rabbit and since small things amuse me, esp things that sound like farts, I’ve been laughing at it for days.

It’s funny how you can sometimes feel like the only person in the whole wide world with a particular issue.

I’ve seen plenty of other mom’s while I ride the bus, certainly, but for some reason I never expected to cross paths with them once more in cyberspace.

This week on Activistas there was this post, regarding the family-friendliness of the Tri-met, Portland’s mass transportation system which includes bus, light rail and street car. I thought it was pretty interesting to read the experiences of the various moms who, like me, use the bus exclusively and how this works for moms of young children to get around town, essentially without a trunk for strollers, groceries, library books, and “stuff”.

While I realize this may not be of interest to all of you, I wanted to draw your attention to it. I mean, in the grand scheme of the country moving towards not relying so heavily on their automobiles, I can imagine this being an issue in the next 50 years. How does a family live without their vehicles? What would that look like for cities across this country and how can they plan to accommodate our little one’s and all the “stuff” that comes with them?

So something to chew on!

Any one else agree that Easter came entirely too early this year?!

I mean, once this weekend is over, we’ve got like one semi-decent holiday on July 4th and then that’s pretty much it for this year’s magic until next Halloween!

I didn’t even see it coming, to tell you the truth. The signs of Spring were all around, I even blogged about it right here at MamaNeedJava, but then every one had the flu for like two weeks and it sucked out all the lead time we had to anticipate Easter. Now its Sunday? Sunday?!

Hubby and I are really excited to go to our first Bat Mitzfah on Saturday, woo hoo! Then I’ll very likely spend Easter laying the groundwork for the chicken run, (oh the joys, the lovely day that will soon come when my kitchen does not have the distinctly musky smell of chicken sh*t. There’s a deeply reflective Easter thought for ya!) And while on the chicken subject, I so can never again bring myself to eat an animal I now call a pet. Just wrong. Their sweet little thighs… that soft warm breast… with SALT AND PEPPER?! Wrong, I tell you!

So yeah, I don’t quite know where this post is going anymore so I guess I’ll move along.

Yep, one Gold Sex-Link, one Maran, and one Rhode Island Red. I got them at two weeks old so they won’t be in the brooder (a box with heat lamp) in our kitchen for more than about 4 weeks. Yay! What should I name them???

Here’s what I’ve designed for a portable coop and run so far. It’s using the old rabbit hutch as a coop for them to lay, and then building a predator proof run from 2×4’s and wire mesh walls against it. Exciting stuff, huh?

We’ve got a great little backyard, as you can see from these photos of Lil’ E and his new bud from the “child-swap” situation, Finn. All it needs is a few chickens!

Why raise chickens in your backyard? BackyardChickens offer these reasons:

• Easy and inexpensive to maintain
• Eggs that are great tasting and nutritious
• Chemical free pest control
• Fun and friendly pets with personality (yes, you read that right)
• Free fertilizer
• Weed Control
• Uniqueness- Be the cool person in town that grows their own eggs!

For more information about raising backyard chickens, check out the following links!
BackyardChickens.com
MadCityChickens.com
Livingscape Nursery; Chicken Fest (where we got our chicks!)
Urban Agrarian blog
wiki-How; Keeping Chickens in the City
The City Chicken
My Pet Chicken

Is “going green” really just a feel good fad? Now it seems “greenwashed” is the popular term of choice. While I think its a step in the right direction to see such global awareness of “green” practices, I must admit it got a little out of hand when NBC did “green” week and pushed Seventh Generation products in just about every show.

But its not the consumers fault! Or is it? I mean at what point do we need to wise up and think about whether the choices we are making are truly good for us and the world at large? I find that lots of people like to “go green” in one sense, but halt when that choice impedes on their level of comfort. I believe the shift needs to go deeper, and thus I agree with the “greenwashed” whistle blowers. Let’s put our thinking caps on and spend a little time pondering the actual environmental impact of our daily activities, and then take “simple” steps to reduce, reuse, THEN recycle- even if that means we won’t be the “cool” green gal on the block.

Here’s Mama’s Five Signs that YOU have been greenwashed:

#1- You wear t-shirts, buttons or purses with “green” slogans which you bought from places like Walmart, the antithesis of anything local and sustainable. (Edit: Done this one myself!)

#2- You spend extra money on “green” foods like Fruitabu so you can continue adding to the local landfill, rather than eating organic fresh fruits and vegetables in the first place. (Edit: Done this one myself!)

#3- You drive a Hybrid rather than walk, bike or bus it. (Edit: Okay, I can’t afford a Hybrid, but I wanted one!)

#4- You switched from traditional household cleaners to “green” household cleaners rather than just using vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, so on, which are far less expensive, extremely effective, albiet less show-offy. (Edit: Done this one myself!)

#5- You pride yourself in all the recycling your doing, but you still don’t wash the jars and cans before tossing them into the yellow bin, ensuring that they will end up in the landfill anyhow. (Edit: Done this one myself!)

Can you think of any others? I’d love to hear your thoughts! (Edit: thoughts on other quirks of being “greenwashed”, not thoughts that showcase you hardly read this post and took the whole thing to mean that I must believe I am oh-so-much-greener-than-you.)

Hey ya’ll, caught the flu, AGAIN. I KNOW.

Started in with a high fever on Wednesday morning and I pretty much couldn’t move much for like three days. I had nothing but tea and broth the entire time and have been wrapeed in sweaters, scarfs and hats to sweat it out. What a detox, btw!

Last night Lil’ E was crouping so hard in his sleep that I thought our downstairs neighbors brought home a dog! We got him back to sleep and he slept another 3-4 hours today. I’m finally getting some energy and appetite back so I’m trying to eat a little. I plan to hot wash EVERYTHING tomorrow and try super hard to get a few hours of work in. I feel SO behind- being sick SUCKS!

On a good note, we just found out that Hubby has some insurance through the temp agency. We’ll know more later this week but we just might all be able to get check ups and dental cleanings this month- CAN YOU IMAGINE?!

Being sick SUCKS and being poor SUCKS! BUT- I’ve noticed I’ve been incredibly Debbie Downer pity party about the whole darn thing and I’ll have you know that I really, really am looking on the bright side!

Be back soon!

This week held some surprises for me, some struggles and uprooting too. I enjoy having family and friends into our home, but as we all know, it invariably can bring with it the added history, dynamics, habits, and so on. Having company or living in close proximity with family or friends is one of the hardest ways I have had to “learn” community. It can unveil covered up resentment, bitterness and grudges in ways that only a close community can. You can find yourself, as I did a lot in the last few weeks, spouting off things you never thought about first, surprising yourself at your own subconsious (?) level of downright ugliness.

If I had a dollar for all of the unforgiveness that goes on in me and in my home,  let me tell you, that tax refund would pale in comparison!

The discussion at Evergreen today was on this idea of peace, both with God and with others. Forgiveness and reconciliation were facets to peace that resonated with me in a “holy crap, you’ve tapped my prayers” kinda way. I had been learning some major junk lately about having more grace and mercy with others, and seeing how many things I thought I had forgiven that I truly had not (and all the countless things I need forgiveness for, 99% of which I am grossly oblivious too, which I also suppose needs forgiving.) It was just last night that I sat on the floor in my dark room asking for peace, and experienced a few moments, maybe whole minutes, where the room inside my mind went quiet and what I heard was this:

There is an eternity.

I didn’t expect that. It certainly wasn’t what I was praying about, on first glance. But the more that sentence sunk in (and it had to, because there were literally no other words or thoughts in my head but this, despite my best effort!), the more I realized that the pain or chaos I feel is universal, recycled, shared- and that the fact that there is an eternity some how makes this one moment where I am pleading for God to calm the storm of anger or hurt in me a little bit, well, okay. I mean, think about it. There is an eternity. An eternity to feel, to heal, to grow, to love. And- there is a God of that eternity, a God of me, who can fill all of my deepest emptiness with everything that is full.

Whether this is true to you or not, this is going on in my life.

What followed church this morning was a lovely day, a chilly but “bright, bright, bright, sunshiny day”. Even included my first Voodoo doughnut (YUM-OH!) (… and NO, if you happen to look at the menu… I did not order a cock-n-balls. That’s just nahs-tey.)

P.S. Have I mentioned lately just how much I love my family? Cause I really, really do.