skyethebard's Profile

We primarily shop at Publix, Trader Joe's, and a huge non-chain market that calls itself a "farmer's market." The latter has almost everything our family could want...lots of organic veggies, grains, legumes, dairy items, etc. as well as specialty foods such as fresh salsas and imported olives. For meat, I try to rely on buying from a local humane ranch that attends real farmer's markets in the area, but do buy some from each of the places I go. Convenience sometimes wins *heh* We mostly buy prepared foods from TJ's these days. My toddler loves their organic crackers and their organic cheese sticks and I think their organic jams and organic frozen veggies are the best :-)

I have Amazon ship Pacific's organic cream of mushroom and organic cream of celery soups quarterly. While I usually cook from scratch, I find these cream ofs very convenient for prepping slow cooker meals to be eaten on nights that I have class until 9p. My family really loves some of the comfort foods they produce, such as chicken and dumplings and a simplified version of chicken and veggie curry (served over Basmati). I've actually enjoyed figuring out what beloved classics can be made more quickly and easily using these soups. I understand the reluctance of some to either use or eat these handy shortcuts, but I'd rather my family had a hot, almost homemade meal on a busy night than fast food *bleh*

Have you ever noticed that some folks who have -chosen- to not watch tv have no problem telling others what they should do? This occurs not just on blogs, but w/i families and circles of friends.

Many things in our lives have both a good and a bad side, each requiring balance. Families have to find that point for themselves.

If you want to discuss unhealthy inputs for our children, who don't we chat about how the American public school system is failing them? Are you ready to judge the families who send their children for 6-9 hours per day, 5 days per week anyway? I'm certainly not.

My now-16-year-old grew up with this book and his copy is a bit worse for wear. Many lovely hours were spent reading to him when he was little...

I just purchased another copy for my second son who will turn one in two days. I'm quite sure he will enjoy it every bit as much as his older brother did!

Graham crackers, actually. They are easier for little hands to deal with and really easy for big hands to shape with a sharp knife. I do mix up a batch of homemade butter cream icing, however.

This year, we decorated our wee houses with spiced drops, Skittles, Mike-and-Ikes, and mini candy canes. Much fun was had!

Like Anusha, I agree with katethegreat and tmoore.

The author's diatribe about Jolie's and Madonna's adoptions is ugly and rather presumptuous. How can anyone outside of their circles *really* know their motivations?

My son was born over 15 years ago and we chose to CD, make baby food, breastfeed, co-sleep. We did these things both because it seemed best for HIM and because I stayed home to parent which left us with an annual income of about 23K. These practices are not new. Families have been employing them for, like, ever. Food from a jar, "milk" from a canister, diapers made from plastic? These items are new.

I'll be birthing my second son next month and we plan to go the same route in baby care. Somehow I'll manage to not feel enslaved by my own choices ~snort~

My Tribe loves games. While we do not have a regular game night, several of us do host them throughout the year. Favorites seem to be Apples to Apples, Fluxx, Hoopla, and Settlers of Catan.

Some of us meet twice monthly to play Dungeons and Dragons and many of us cooperatively play video games. DDR parties are lots of fun too!

skye

As was suggested above, I would look for cast-off cabinets. Who knows, you might find enough for the entire kitchen. I'm not sure if this limited diagram helps, but if you were facing the wall in question, my design would look like this:

ceiling
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Upper cabinets to ceiling or not

---------------------------------------------------------
Open Shelving
Refrig ------------------------------------------
Open Shelving
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Refrig Long stretch of counter (also for desk top)
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Base cabinet(s) Under-Desk Area

Refrig
----------------------------------------------------------
floor

You could buy a comfy counter-height stool to use as a desk seat. It would also be a great a place to plop when you want to peruse cookbooks or chop veggies or even eat a quick snack. Good luck!