Webbsontheweb.com will still work I will just keep both.

I think that this blog name explains better what my blog is about. As a family, as a mother, as a wife, as a human being… it seems like I am always on the verge of something.

Currently Mike is back in college, taking classes. We are sacrificing a great deal of time together and energy to make it so that he is able to go back to school and finish up what he needs. We are on the verge of being finished with this. As a mother with kids that are always growing and evovling I am on the verge of catching up with them and with our life…. and then something changes.

I am always catching up it seems.  As a family we are on the verge of having a schedule and a set budget in place, yet it seems to be out of reach when we finally “get” where we thought we should be.

This is actually quite ok for me. I can usually handle change well and have learned to accept that we will never “get there”. Maybe it is because “there” is unrealistic. I am not sure.  It isnt keeping up with the Joneses as much as keeping up with our own life and ourselves. So I have turned this into something positive, it means that we are always on the verge of a new breakthrough… a new world… new discoveries.

Having a growing family is like walking a tightrope sometimes, you will fall and you will shake and stumble. It will hurt and you will be scared to get back on again… but when you do it is breathtaking. The view and the feeling… you just have to learn to ride the wave and give into it.

I am anxious to see what the next chapter of parenthood includes, especially as we take on this new journey of homeschooling while having two parents that work full time.  Maybe we are insane for trying to do these things, maybe we make life more difficult for ourselves…. but I guess we will find out.

Maybe the next verge will be the verge of a nervous breakdown. Oh Pedro Almodovar, how I love thee.

Katrina: which was obviously huge to Louisiana, Houston ended up with many of the refugees of the area and saw the toll that it took on the people of the south personally. It was devastating and scary.

Rita: My in laws saw this one personally, the hurricane demolished a great deal of the Golden Triangle area between Texas and Louisiana. They were without electricity for weeks and the towns are still recovering.

Ike: We don’t like Ike. I don’t care what anyone says. There are few things scarier than a hurricane passing over your house in the middle of the night while you sleep in a closed off bedroom with your small children. The sound of a train passing over your house. The pitch black. The loss of the food and of parts of your own home. We lived through Ike and the aftermath of it almost exactly a year ago.

Because of these recent events we have learned to prepare for hurricanes when the season starts. In our location we are more likely to get hurricanes in the later part of the season, around August-October.

In the beginning of the season we buy shelf stable foods in bulk. Canned tomatoes, dried fruits and veggies, powedered milk, shelf stable juices and milk in tetrapaks. We make sure that our generators are running and that we have enough fuel for them.  We bought some water containers for storing potable water in case of emergencies and made sure that we had some water purification tablets on hand. We have a family emergency preparedness plan together and I even made sure that our company bought a little emergency kit.

This is what FEMA tells us that we need:

• Water
  • Store at least 1 gallon of water per person per day for up to 2 weeks (family of 5 needs 70 gallons).
  • “Watersafe can help you meet that requirement.”
• Food
  • At least a 3-Day supply of ready-to-eat non-perishable food for each person
  • Manual can opener for canned foods
  • Select foods that require no refrigeration, preparation or cooking and little or no water. If you must heat food, pack a can of sterno.
  • Select food items that are compact and lightweight. Avoid foods that will make you thirsty.
  • Choose salt-free crackers, whole grain cereals, and canned foods with high liquid content.
• First Aid Supplies
  • Essential medicines including:
    • Eyeglasses and contact lenses
    • Sterile adhesive bandages in assorted sizes
    • 2-inch sterile gauze pads (4-6)
    • 4-inch sterile gauze pads (4-6)
    • Hypoallergenic adhesive tape
    • Triangular bandages (3)
    • 2-inch sterile roller bandages (3 rolls)
    • 3-inch sterile roller bandages (3 rolls)
    • Scissors
    • Tweezers
    • Needle
    • Moistened towelettes
    • Antiseptic
    • Thermometer
    • Tongue blades (2)
    • Tube of petroleum jelly or other lubricant
    • Assorted sizes of safety pins
    • Cleansing agent/soap
    • Latex gloves (2 pair) Sunscreen
  • Non-prescription drugs
    • Aspirin or nonaspirin pain reliever
    • Anti-diarrhea medication
    • Antacid (for stomach upset)
    • Syrup of Ipecac (use to induce vomiting if advised by the Poison Control Center)
    • Laxative
    • Activated charcoal (use if advised by the Poison Control Center)
• Clothing, Bedding and Sanitation Supplies
  • Include at least 1 change of clothes and shoes per person
    • Jacket or coat
    • Long pants
    • Long sleeve shirt
    • Sturdy shoes or work boots
    • Hat, gloves and scarf�
    • Rain gear
    • Thermal underwear
    • Blankets or sleeping bags
    • Sunglasses
  • Sanitation
    • Toilet paper
    • Soap, liquid detergent
    • Feminine supplies
    • Personal hygiene items
    • Plastic garbage bags, ties (for personal sanitation uses)
    • Plastic bucket with tight lid
    • Disinfectant
    • Household chlorine bleach
• Tools
  • Mess kits, or paper cups, plates and plastic utensils
  • 2 coolers – one for food and one for ice
  • Emergency preparedness manual
  • Portable, battery-operated radio or television and extra batteries
  • Flashlight and extra batteries
  • Cash or traveler’s checks, change
  • Nonelectric can opener, utility knife
  • Fire extinguisher: small canister, ABC type
  • Tube tent
  • Pliers
  • Tape
  • Compass
  • Matches in a waterproof container
  • Aluminum foil
  • Plastic storage containers
  • Signal flare
  • Paper, pencil
  • Needles, thread
  • Medicine dropper
  • Shut-off wrench, to turn off household gas and water
  • Whistle
  • Plastic sheeting
  • Map of the area (for locating shelters)
• Special Items
  • For Baby
    • Formula
    • Diapers
    • Bottles
    • Pacifiers
    • Powdered milk
    • Medications
  • For Adults
    • Heart and high blood pressure medication
    • Insulin
    • Prescription drugs
    • Denture needs
    • Contact lenses and supplies
    • Extra eye glasses
    • Hearing aid batteries
      
  • Important Family Documents
    • Keep these records in a waterproof, portable container.
    • Will, insurance policies, contracts, deeds, stocks and bonds
    • Photo IDs, passports, social security cards, immunization records
    • Bank account numbers
    • Credit card account numbers and companies
    • Inventory of valuable household goods, important telephone numbers
    • Family records (birth, marriage, death certificates)
    • Photocopies of credit and identification cards
  • Cash and coins
  • Entertainment–games and books

I will admit that I am an over planner.

So tell me? What does your family do to prepare for the worst?

I over prepare everything… and that is ok. I accept myself and love myself.

So of course I have all sorts of things prepared, I even have grains and recipes for bread that dont need ovens. I am pretty sure that if the next nuclear holocaust were to come my family and I would be safe, you know like that movie “Blast from the Past” (oh man how I love Christopher Walken).

Anyways, I think that no matter where you live you have to prepare for emergencies. Be it hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, killer cockroaches, etc.  I think preperation is a big part of living green anyways so this is fine by me. I have found that we are the most wasteful when we are not ready for what is coming because we have to buy what is convenient.

The first step in this was getting a deep freeze.  We put meat, fruits, jams, nuts, dried stuff, etc. in there. It keeps for a long time and helps us stay prepared. We do not have to do huge grocery runs every week and are ready to feed our family at a moment’s notice. It also helps us avoid a lot of packaging by being able to buy things in bulk.

Home preperation is an important part of our life and it wasnt instant but I think that we are finally at a point where we can say we will be ok even if we are unable to purchase any new foods for a while.

Let’s talk. What is your family doing to prepare for the worst? Do you have any suggestions for me or anyone else?

I told him about my own two encounters with breastfeeding problems in public and he asked me outright why I didnt sue. Especially the time that it happened at the airport (IAH for those that want to know). He said, “not for the money Alma, but for the change… can you imagine what they do to mothers that dont know their rights like you do?”. This is a man who has never read a LLL pamphlet, does not hang out on MDC, and who really doesnt understand what being “crunchy” means… this is just a man who knows what is best for our children and does not fathom why this is such a big deal for the rest of the world to understand.

My father actually doesnt agree with a great deal of what I do. He was cautious about my homebirth (though he was present for a good while for both of my labors), he doesnt agree with non vaxxing (as someone who went to medical school in Mexico where they loooove their vaxes) and he thinks that organic is mostly horse-hockey (though my mother buys organic and we share a co-op share every week)… this is not a man who “drank the hippie kool-aide” like some would say that many of us lactivists did… he is just an educated man who doesnt understand why something so natural and beneficial is seen so dirty… this may be one of the few things that my parents and I agree on… hey, at least it’s something.

Calvin and my dad

When I started on this path of parenting I was aware that my life would change and I was aware that my schedule would now have to revolve somewhat around my children. I knew that I would miss things and cancel others because of my children. I knew that I might anger some that didnt understand that kids get sick at the last minute, they get cranky, they dont eat… kids are unpredictable and trying to make them fit into an adult world is futile. I also knew that there would be some who would truly understand that having children was like herding cats and we would find each other. I am lucky to say that I have found people who understand me and value my children and myself. People who understands that children have feelings and should be respected.

Unfortunately those people are not my parents, but I guess that is ok. We have a great family of like minded people around us.

I just wanted to say, I love you all.

The more I look into living a more ecofriendly lifestyle and the more that I try to infuse my children with the respect and love for the planet, the more that I realize that it is sort of like a religion.

We have what Thoreau called a hypaethral temple of sorts. It really isnt a true temple… and it really isnt a true church… it is just a respect, nurturing, and devotion for the world we live in. We admire what our world has become and we try to preserve it. I am very open with my children about what impact we have on our earth. Saturday morning when discussing animals and their sounds we talked about how the meat that we consume comes from animals. The dairy. The eggs.  We discussed how she should thank the animals involved and understand that they are part of our circle of life. She sees me pump for Calvin so she knows that milk can come from animals so I explained that cows, goats, sheep, etc. have similar breasts and thats how we get milk from them as well. She seems intrigued and we went further. She knows that cooking changes things because she helps me cook so much so we discussed how cooking made food and how veggies and fruits didnt need to be cooked to be eaten.  She had a few minutes where she was amazed at what things come from “moo cows” and I told her that we need to revere animals because they give so much to our life.

I know that this leans to a pantheistic view of life and that it involves worshiping animals and nature.. but I dont believe that it is exclusive of other beliefs that we may have. Maybe because of my own culture, knowing that my family stems from people who lived on ranches and had to work for their food in a way that is completely unfamiliar to most of us… I really want to make sure that my children know what food really is. Revering animals and nature comes naturally to me because I truly understand that the earth makes my life possible. While I dont worship in a church, my way of life does include being thankful for the forces that permit me to live my life the way that I do.  Sometimes that force is the sun. Other times it is the rain.  Our family adores rain. Not just in a “wow it cools down the heat here in the south”… but I allow my kids to play in it. Dance in it. Taste it. My children are not afraid of the rain and the wetness. My husband takes pictures and sits in awe studying the power of what our heavens have provided us.  We are truly thankful for it and watch its effects on our vegitation.

We try to eat locally, from farmers markets or Consumer Supported Agriculure shares… I know the man who grows the animals that end up on our plate. Our veggies arrive to us with dirt still firmly attached and I have been known to shake hands with the person whose hands tilled the soil that they grew in.  Kate knows that our family attemps to search within ourselves and our surroundings for sustenance.

This weekend I made her a toy snake, she asked for a toy snake when I gave her a choice. Instead of buying new filling or using new fabric, she helped me look through old fabric scraps that I had.. she picked out the scraps that she wanted me to use and she watched me sew her snake together by hand. We took an old pillow that was probably going to be retired soon and repurposed the innards of it for our snake. I used some smaller scraps for eyes and a tongue… and her snake was finished. It is made out of some black fabric with red flowers on it. It doesnt really look representative of any snake that you and I have seen.. but she loves it and she knows that we made it together.  We didnt have to buy a new toy at the store and we didnt have to buy anything to make it.

Kate loves yoga and understands peace and quiet time for meditation. We look within ourselves for peace and relaxation… we look at what we have on hand.

My hopes is that through living our life the way that we do our children will have a roadmap that will lead them to a true love for the earth that they live in.

Part of the definition of religion is a faith, a belief system… our religion doesnt involve prayers but it does involve music and art… we dont have scared texts but we do have the history of our earth and rituals and meditation. It doesnt have to do with the supernatural… but it is all about the natural. We give thanks and our practices are governed by our ethics and convictions. We do not have things that are divine, but many things in our world are sacred.

I find it distasteful to try and label ourselves…  but I also find it distateful when people say that to have ethics and beleifs you have to have an organized religion… I obviously dont believe that to be true.  We take what works for us from different systems and incorporate it into our lives. No organization needed. I have found that our family is happiest when it is allowed to grow and change… Michael and I have come a long way from the lives we used to lead and we will continue still to be dynamic in how we manifest our “faith”  but our beliefs remain steadfast.

Our way of life, or religion if you may… can be simply described as living in a way that shows respect for ourselves, our future, and our world…. and everything that encompasses that. However simple or complicated some may find that. It is us.

We opened gifts.

My brother in law made a basket of farmers market fruits and veggies with a basket from Ten Thousand Villages. Kate thought that the persimmons smelled funny.

He also made a beautiful “soup in a jar” with ingredients and instructions on how to make a great little soup. The presentation was beautiful… I really dont want to make it but I probably will soon.  Shake and Bake loves it too.  You can see him staring at it and wondering when he will get to have some yummy lentils and rice.

Kate got a ton of great gifts from our family. They are always so creative about what gifts to give the kids. We have serious issues with gifts with batteries and that make noises… we also hate plastic. The best gifts for us are learning and activity gifts… and this is a great one. A kaleidoscope. This little metal cylinder is going to give hours of endless entertainment and discovery for our two year old. And her parents.

She also received some puzzles…. she loves puzzles. Her little brain starts working as soon as she sees them.

I made Michael a book on Snapfish with pictures of the kid and him. It was his christmas gift from the children… it was like a love note from them to their daddy. I hope he liked it… it was made with such love.

Here is Calvin enjoying the Lambskin rug that I bought him for christmas. He loves it.. he digs his face into it and grabs onto it. I love the way it feels and it breaths really well. I bought it from Ruskovilla as well as some other things for Kate. I cant wait to get more things from this company. Their stuff is amazing.

My awesome Brother In Law gave Kate some great outdoor toys made from recycled plastic milk jugs from Green Toys.

My family is is really big into soccer. It is really kind of like the law that all Mexican families have to be into soccer… its like a religion. SO of course my daughter needs a soccer set. This will bring endless hours of entertainment and put her well on her way to being the professional soccer player that my father wants her to be. The first outfits that my parents bought her were rival soccer team uniforms for her. Each in their respective favorite team. She has around 5 of them now and so does our son. Soccer is serious business.

The Rockets outfit she is wearing my inlaws bought her. They are basketball people.  Sports are a big deal Kate. No pressure.

This sports thing is hard work. Let’s take a rest for a while ok?

The cooking started and it was a mad house. Mike and I worked and cooked together while the kids played outside with their new toys. Michael made the fruit salad which was beautiful and really good.

It had red and green cherries. Coconut chips. Bananas. Apples. Oranger. Marshmellows. Peacher. Grapes and mized nuts. Just divine and stunning to look at. The bowl the salad is in Michael gave me for Xmas this year. It is made of recycled plastics 100%. The colors are beautiful and it is responsibily made not in China.

The stuffed Zucchinis were great. I scooped out the innards of the zucches and mixed the guts with cheese, sour scream, proscuitto, onions, bell peppers, and curry powder.

The ham was absolutely divine. It was a ham from Paidom meats.. as usual. Do we eat meat from anywhere else? Nope.. not really.  The glaze was a brown sugar and mustard paste… it was delcared the best ham in years.  the crust was perfect. we cooked it from almost frozen, expecting a disaster.

Another side that I made was a baked mac and cheese. I used a variation of Alton Browns recipe. Started it out with a bechamel sauce and a million pounds of cheese. The crust was of panko bread crumbs and cheese. It took a good while to make (as did everything else that I made) but it was worth it.

It was a good christmas dinner with our family and with good food. We washed a million dishes and scrubbed a dozen pots and pans but it was worth it.  I cant wait till next year.

The crust was perfect and flaky… even if it didnt brown. it stayed pale as a goth kid… still it tasted amazing and was loved by all. I think that I am going to make the pot pie a tradition for us for Christmas eve, it seems like it was a real hit. Full of veggies and really good for you. Kate even ate the green beans, broccolli, cauliflower, and carrots inside of it.. maybe she ate it because she helped me chop them? she loves eating stuff she helps prepare. I made the pot pie in my red enamel glazed cast iron pan and it turned out just perfect. I love that dish. seriously folks cast iron is worth it.

I got the recipe for this dish from the Compassionate Cookbook by PETA. The gravy is a mushroom gravy and the crust is just vegetable shortening, water, flour, and salt. It is a great recipe to throw in all of your extra veggies and you do not miss meat at all.

I was originally going to make regular pinto beans as a side… well we got home and I realized that I had NO BEANS AT ALL. This is unheard of.  We always have beans. We buy them by the mega bag load and we never run out. Beans are really some of our favorite meal.. we eat them with everything!!! So I ran around looking for a suitable replacement for beans and I found lentils.  I love them and I believe that they are totally under appreaciated in most households. They came out perfect and were a great side dish. Just add a little tomatoes, onions, maybe some curry.. and we are done.  I got this recipe from the “lets pull stuff out of my pantry” cookbook.. ok so it isnt a real cook book but it is generally how I cook.

This leads to combinations that I am sure my husband would rather forget.

My husband was in charge of the potato salad. He is every year honestly… I dare not come between that man and his potato salad recipe. It is the same recipe that his mother uses and really.. what smart woman comes between a man and his mommy? Yeah.. not one so I stand back and watch his work.

This recipe is pretty much a perfect recipe. If somehow they could incorporate booze into it, it would be completely perfect but well.. that is another post entirely.

It consists of olives, relish, eggs, potatos, mayo, mustard, and other stuff i cant remember… all I know is that there are no real measurements involved just dipping your finger into the bowl and tasting and hoping that it turned out good. Usually.. this is not a problem. It surely wasnt this time as the salad was perfect and we all ate it heartily for days.

We needed rice. Well I always need rice. Rice and I are best friends and go way back… I loves me some rice. Rice. Rice Rice. Rice with everything. Yum.

We cooked and cooked, then ate and ate and were merry.

We went to bed and waited for the next day when the presents would be opened and the Christmas dinner would be made… that was a different story all together. …

Snow.

At the time we were taking care of Aidan my BFFs almost two year old son while she was in her birthing class so we bundled the kids up and brought them outside to play in the snow for a while. The kids both ate snow off of dirty cars and liked touching and experimenting with it.

There they are, wondering what that white stuff is on the car.

It is amazing to see the snow and watch it fall like this.

I know that for some of you snow is no big deal but to us it is. We dont get snow often and our children might not get the chance to see snow in very many more years, unless we go somewhere where there is snow for christmas or something like that.

I was happy that our little part of town got some snow and that it has actually been a little cold. I remember a christmas a few years ago where we were all wearing shorts, so this having to dress up and wear jackets and hats has been a real treat for us.