Mom is Just a Nickname

I have a cold right now. I have gone through piles of tissues while trying to tame the congestion. I stare at the trash bag full of used tissues and I can’t help but feel bad for the sheer amount of them piled there. It led to me thinking of what people used to do: they had handkerchiefs, right? That led to me wondering if using handkerchiefs was a viable option for me today.

I already use cloth napkins at the dinner table rather than paper. I use kitchen towels rather than paper towels whenever possible. (There are some things I still use paper towels for, I admit it. Until I find some good rag towels, that will continue.) It’s no big deal to throw the napkins in with the tablecloth, and the kitchen towels go in with the other towels. It doesn’t add any new loads of wash to my weekly list.

I used cloth diapers on X when he was a baby and would have for J and Sullivan if I had been brave enough. I was too bewildered by the many choices at that point. From disposable diapers to cloth diapers to elimination communication the choices for dealing with infant waste are abundant. Using cloth diapers added a load or two of wash, but it was less of a drain on me than the guilt I experienced when I threw an entire bag of dirty disposable diapers into the trash can on pick-up day. Plus, I’ve worn disposable pads for my period and I know how uncomfortable they were. I’d rather wear cloth against my skin and I figured my kid would too.

Not only do I just hate the feel of disposable pads, but I hated the guilt when I throw them away. So I began looking at other options. There were some things out there that I didn’t even know existed! I mean, I knew about disposable pads and tampons. I had no idea that cloth pads existed (no idea of the variety of styles either!) and I had certainly never heard of The Keeper or other similar creations. That research was illuminating.

Going “green” is all the rage these days. Big stores offer tote bags with their logos sprawled across them as an alternative to plastic or paper. Replacing regular lightbulbs with Compact Flourescents is an easy way to be more energy efficient, which people like because it saves them money in the long run.

I try to do small things to make a difference because I believe that many small things can add up to big changes. I admit that many of my changes were made for economic reasons and not environmental ones. But, you know, when a choice can be positive in both ways, it seems like a winning combination to me!

So, I may one day give in to the urge to use hankies instead of tissues. The thought doesn’t gross me out as it might some people, so long as I have enough of them around to handle the kind of cold I’ve had the last few days! Germs are killed in the laundry, right? Did people stop using hankies because they didn’t like washing them or because they weren’t as sanitary? I wonder.

Ham….the only kind of pork I actually like. And sometimes, I don’t even like it. (Yes, yes I am an odd one.)

A few months ago, I bought an enormous ham. I’m not sure what inspired me. Were we having guests over, but then the plans fell through? I don’t think so. Oh. I think I bought it for Thanksgiving, planning a dinner at home with just the four of us. Then my parents and one of my uncles with his wife decided to come to our house for the day, and we had turkey instead.

So, anyway, this big ham. It was too much for us to eat in one sitting, so Toph and I cut it up into pieces for use in soups or casseroles or as topping on homemade pizza. This one hunk of ham has lasted us through more than 5 meals now, and there’s still another 5 meals’ worth of meat in the freezer.

My favorite thing to do with it is to add it to bean soup. Any kind of bean will do, I’m not picky. Last week, I did a black bean soup with ham. We’re still living off the leftovers at lunch time. It goes great with a fresh loaf of bread, made in our handy-dandy bread machine.

Now, I don’t measure my soup ingredients, I just toss stuff in. But here’s an idea of what I threw into the soup:

half an onion, chopped
a few cloves of garlic, minced
half a green pepper, chopped
a small zucchini, peeled and diced
a handful of baby carrots, sliced in thin medallions
one stalk of celery, chopped
most of a bag of dried black beans (i set some aside in a jar to make a mixed bean soup later), quick soaked and rinsed
some of the saved ham, thawed
some leftover ground Italian sausage, cooked
A bunch of hot water and one chicken bouillon cube

and finally one potato, skinned and cut into large chunks

The potato was to soak up the excess salt from the ham. We’ve been finding our soups very salty and I was trying to avoid that. I removed as much of the potato as I could before we ate.

The only spice/herb I added was a bay leaf. I also removed that before we ate.

I simmered it on the stove most of the afternoon, occasionally stirring and making sure it had enough liquid.

When it was almost time to eat, I threw a few handfuls of rice into the soup to cook. That helped thicken it up nicely, making it almost more of a stew.

When we eat our bean soups, we like to sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and I add a little plain yogurt to mine (you could add sour cream too). Ah, and don’t forget the hunk of bread! We’ve had a basic wheat bread with it at the first serving of the soup, and with leftovers yesterday we made Anadama bread.

Ham…find a big one on sale, cook it up and have a nice ham dinner. Take the leftovers and freeze them for use later. It really goes a distance!