A: You plant a garden and have the kids grow the vegetables themselves.

This was the answer someone gave me. This completely did not work.

In March, we started this little backyard garden. Squash, early pumpkins, okra, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. I’ve tried all of these things before, with the exception of okra, and all of them have failed miserably, with the exception of tomatoes. So I had medium to low hope of this doing anything. Or, more honestly, I was glass-half-empty and full of I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing, so I planted about 25 squash plants.

This is the garden a few weeks later. I now have about 90 gabillion squash blossoms. (25 is waay too many squash plants, as any sane person will tell you…a good number: 4 or 6.) So, honestly and currently, we have approximately 150 squash blooming/growing, and I need to come up with some ways to eat squash. Because seriously.

Also, the whole idea that the kid would like vegetables because he raised them like pets? False. First of all, he’s pretty disinterested in the whole thing. He’d rather play soccer next to the garden rather than look at it. Secondly, I don’t know, it just didn’t work at all. Which brings me to the next advice I’ve received….

Q: How do you make kids like vegetables?

A: Trick them.

I’m not against tricking kids…hello Santa. Tooth Fairy. Fresh Beat Band. But I’ve tried Jessica Seinfeld’s ideas, and my kid is not easily tricked. Not much gets by him. He’s super into chili though, so this could work.

At this point we’ll need to make squash chili though.

Actually, I may try that. Also, fair warning, I may feature a lot of squash recipes here over the next month or so. Because I have 150 squash. At the same time.

Here’s Jenny’s.

The Bloggess’s Squash Recipe

I called Jenny yesterday because I know she likes squash. This is what she does:

“Cut up the squash, put a ton of butter on it, put some salt on it, microwave it for 4 minutes, put more butter and salt on it.”

It was actually quite good. Sort of like popcorn, but with vegetables.

However, this also did not work for the kid. I think I need to somehow make squash Frito Pie. The squash will be silent.

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This post is part of a partnership between myself and the Vicks brand as it launches Vick’s Nature Fusion, a new line of over-the-counter cold, cough and flu relief products. The alcohol- and gluten-free line bodyslams symptoms with a sweet and natural kick. As evidenced above, Vick’s has partnered with Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone to produce a series of videos featuring bloggers asking questions about the challenges of serving up healthy foods. And let’s keep it real, Curtis is pretty easy on the eyes and ears, so it makes YouTube completely tolerable. 

I love this photo. Me and Victor (Jenny‘s husband) laughing along with 350 others as she did her reading in Austin at Book People… right after she found out she is #1 on the NYT Best Seller list.

The whole evening was such a celebration!

These are the things I want to remember.

*Photo by Cathy Boyd

It’s kind of a lot…and it’s this weird and wonderfully dynamic thing. There’s a ton of planning involved, but we never completely know what’s going to happen until we’re in the middle of it. And that’s sort of a metaphor for life, isn’t it?

It also means, I’m not cooking at all right now.

I feel like the way that I’ve architected my current life, (accidentally or purposefully, I can’t tell) it’s very seasonal. I work when Harry’s in school…some seasons more than others…and then I don’t. When I’m working less, I’m cooking more. Amongst other things. And right now, I’m doing very little in the kitchen.

So easy stuff is working for me. If I’m anywhere near making things at home, it’s stuff like this (which is awesome):

I hope to write more about Mom 2.0 over the next week or so. Mainly because I’d like to remember what I’m thinking when I’m in the middle of it. Although, I’m promising nothing. It’s honestly just a major victory that we’re all brushing our teeth right now.

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This post is part of a partnership between myself and the Vicks brand as it launches Vick’s Nature Fusion, a new line of over-the-counter cold, cough and flu relief products. The alcohol- and gluten-free line bodyslams symptoms with a sweet and natural kick. As evidenced above, Vick’s has partnered with Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone to produce a series of videos featuring bloggers asking questions about the challenges of serving up healthy foods. And let’s keep it real, Curtis is pretty easy on the eyes and ears, so it makes YouTube completely tolerable. 

You see, right now I’m living in a state of extremes. I don’t know if it’s timing, or star alignment or what, but depending on the day, I’m either surrounded by squash in compost dirt, or I’m surrounded by traffic in the Austin school commuting jam, or I’m surrounded by interesting people in some random city. In fact, likely, all three of these things are going down in just a few hours. And it’s sort of making my head spin.

Exhibit A: The last 38 hours.

The morning was full of squash blossoms and soccer games. You know, normal.

Then we went to San Antonio to celebrate Jenny‘s book launch. And to surprise the heck out of her. That was excellent. Jenny is almost impossible to surprise…or shock…or flap (just ask CNN). It was a great time. And Karen nicely sums that up here. (Most of the above photos were taken by Karen.)

Then I woke up four hours later and flew to New York for an excellent sunday supper with some lovely ladies at Pasanella and Son.

And as I type this, on on Isabel Kallman’s gorgeous NYC terrace, watching her son ride his bike around. And I’m typing. In a minute I’m going to write a post about what to wear to the Mom 2.0 Miami White Party that happens in a two and a half weeks…although I really have no idea what I’m going to wear myself.

I also have no idea what the rest of the day is going to hold. But Jenny gets here in a few hours…so I’m sure it will be interesting (And I’ll keep you posted on that.)

The truth is, any one of these items could be a post or three. And I’m sure that will all happen sooner than later, in a few hours from now when it’s just me and the squash again.

But in the meantime, I’m trying to keep up with myself and everything going on around me.

It’s a lot to take in.

But I’m definitely not complaining. This dizzy dizzy view is pretty darn cool right now. I’ll sleep next week. Maybe.

I take after my dad’s side of the family. We have great super dark hair that doesn’t fall out or turn grey, but we also have substantial hips and crappy whatever it is in your body that processes sugar. As a result, I shouldn’t really eat it (or drink it) and that includes bread and rice and pasta and everything else that’s right with the world.

I even attempt to give up pizza. This is a real bummer for all kinds of reasons. But I think I could do this.

Really thin crust…maybe there’s even some kind of low sugar, whole wheat crust option that’s not terrible. I need to look into that.

In the meantime, I might add pizza back into my mix. Especially if I only add topics from my backyard. That’s an interesting challenge. I’ll let you know if I slip into some kind of weird sugar coma.

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This post is part of a partnership between myself and the Vicks brand as it launches Vick’s Nature Fusion, a new line of over-the-counter cold, cough and flu relief products. The alcohol- and gluten-free line bodyslams symptoms with a sweet and natural kick. As evidenced above, Vick’s has partnered with Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone to produce a series of videos featuring bloggers asking questions about the challenges of serving up healthy foods. And let’s keep it real, Curtis is pretty easy on the eyes and ears, so it makes YouTube completely tolerable. 

And a very merry Passover to you too.

I’m sad to be missing Seder dinner at Laurie Smithwick‘s house. Because, as you may remember, I’m attempting to not eat carbs this Easter, and also mostly because I’m in Texas, not North Carolina, where this Seder dinner is occurring.

So I’m making lots of the above items (which are featured on Hitting Refresh with other low-carb Easter things.)

In related news, I asked Harry to go for a walk with me this morning. It went something like this:

Me: “Harry, want to go for a Good Friday walk with me?”

Harry: “No. I’m going to stay here and drink coffee and do taxes and blow cigarettes.”

He is six.

So that’s what’s up with us.

Hope your holiday is filled with more carbs and less cigarette blowing.

Happy Good Friday.

So I’m going to be talking a lot about this over the next weeks. For starters, we’re growing some things. A few months ago, I ordered seeds, then we planted them, and now…

We have the tomatos. We also have tons of cilantro, onions, garlic, and jalapeños.

And now, limes. Yep. They’re coming soon to a back porch near me. I’ve never been able to grow limes before, ever, and it’s so interesting to watch them grow. I had no idea.

A few weeks ago my back porch smelled like orange blossoms and lime blossoms…which is basically like a clean, fresh version of heaven. Not like the perfume Heaven at all. Sort of the opposite of that actually.

And now, just a few weeks later, fetus limes! (The oranges didn’t do anything. Maybe next year.) But I’ll keep you posted on the limes. And I will attack any animal that tries to get them. Try me, animals.

And so I realized the other day that I now have almost all the ingredients for a party.

Or a healthy snack.

Whatever I might be in the mood for that day.

Because as you can see below, cute Curtis Stone makes a case for why salsa is healthy. And he makes his a bit differently than I do (I’ve never grilled the tomatos before. I’m going to try that.) Frankly, his way looks even easier than mine. And it has less beer in it. For the sake of our health and all that’s good in the world, I’m going to try it. I’ll let you know how it goes.

As soon as my limes grow up a bit.

This post is part of a partnership between myself and the Vicks brand as it launches Vick’s Nature Fusion, a new line of over-the-counter cold, cough and flu relief products. The alcohol- and gluten-free line bodyslams symptoms with a sweet and natural kick. As evidenced above, Vick’s has partnered with Australian celebrity chef Curtis Stone to produce a series of videos featuring bloggers asking questions about the challenges of serving up healthy foods. And let’s keep it real, Curtis is pretty easy on the eyes and ears, so it makes YouTube completely tolerable. 

Also, we’re growing lots of things in the back yard. And they’re all completely legal. And full of nutrients.

I’m going to be talking about this more than usual over the next weeks.

Change is happening. I can feel it.

“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” -Karen Lamb

But then when I got home today, the yard looks like this:

The only difference: rain. That’s it. I’ve done literally nothing to make any change. It just fell from the sky.

That’s not always the case though.

The infographic was produced by Whole Living and was created by Lemon.ly. The graphic features staggering water stats that Alanna Stang (editor-in-chief) and her team discovered while putting together the April “Blue Issue” of Whole Living magazine (which also features a swell review of my friend Jenny’s new book, “Let’s Pretend this Never Happened.” Check it.  A sampling of the stats:

• ·        The average American household uses 350 gallons of water a day
• ·        Some California residents are trucking in bottled water to bathe their kids b/c they can’t access enough clean water
• ·        It takes 2,900 gallons of water to make a single pair of blue jeans
• ·        It takes 1,800 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef
• ·        Doing one load of laundry is the equivalent of flushing the toilet 35 times
• ·        It takes three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water

It’s Spring. It’s gorgeous now. Everything is good. But last Summer, after something like 118 days over 100 with no rain, I really got what it’s like to be without water. It affected the environment, the animals (who went insane and started killing each other, oh by the way), and the chemical make up and moods of every living thing in a 200 mile radius.

This lack (in a weird way) helped inspire the Camp Mighty Charity: Water initiative. Maggie thought of it, I was like oh hell yes let’s do it, and then in a snap, and as a group, we raised enough money to provide almost 1,400 people with water.

That changed me.

My own verrry minor lack of water changed me.

And I’ll never take water for granted again.

So I’ve decided to stop bathing.

Ha. I kid. But I’m making clean water my cause. (For starters, I’m giving up my birthday to help bring clean water to people in need. Want to do that too?)

A little goes a long way.

Happy World Water Day!