Super Freakonomics

I finally finished Super Freakonomics. This book and its original - Freakonomics, contain a series of economic discussion questioning everyday behavior and social phenomena. The chapters seem somewhat disjointed and some topics are far less interesting than others, but they chose mainly controversial topics that have caused me to  question my own perspectives on several issues.

The authors begin discussing the statistical chances of being injured while walking drunk. A section of the first chapter is devoted to the declining IQ of schoolteachers. Although I recoiled at this initially, the logic and data maintains. Decades ago, teaching was the primary choice of females entering the workforce, and only the brightest qualified for those positions. Today, bright women may choose careers in business, law, medicine, education, along with so many others. The pool of bright women is diluted and the quality of education has declined at the same rate. Sadly, the only chance of returning to education becoming a select field is to increase teacher salaries and make that career option competitive with other equally demanding career fields.

Another notable section discusses the car seat industry denying the release of information comparing car seats to regular seat belts for young children (not infants/toddlers). The authors have independent research conducted and find that much simpler solutions could be built into cars, but the car seat lobby will not let that happen anytime soon.

I will not dissect each chapter, but the authors continue with discussing prostitution rates, terrorism, global warming/cooling, organ donation, and problems in the medical community. Through all of these areas, the authors dispel myths while sharing feasible options and explanations of how so many of these problems can be solved.

Some of my favorite classes in college were behavioral research, sociology, and statistics. I absolutely love to look at data and reevaluate situations and opinions for fallacies and statistical error. I may do a separate post on Freakonomics after I reread it to refresh my memory, but I would not hesitate to recommend the pair. Both of these books strive to find and explain "things you always thought you knew but didn't," with a rich bibliography and reference section in each if and when you find the need to conduct some fact checking of your own.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

In a rare move, I picked up a book of pure fiction. The Lace Reader was assigned to me by my book club - an eclectic group of mothers, people in education, architecture, law, and business. And if any of those ladies haven't finished the book yet, I promise not to reveal any spoilers.

The Lace Reader tells of Towner Whitney, a young woman from an upper-class family in Salem, Massachusetts. In spite of moving to California as an adult, she is drawn back into her confusing and estranged relationship with the women of her family. All of these women are "readers" of varying degrees, that is to say the read other's minds and fortunes with the aid of holding up a piece of lace and looking through it for images.

Just as The Thunderbolt Kid made me want to visit Des Moines, The Lace Reader made me want to visit Salem, Massachusetts - even more than Iowa (go figure). The descriptions of historical homes and streets, docks and harbors are seriously affecting my decisions about future vacations.

Throughout the novel is passages from "The Lace Reader," a guide on how to make and read lace. Descriptions of bone bobbins, lace pillows, and the ceremony of cutting off the lace is described in vivid detail in these introductions to each chapter.

The storyline is intriguing if not rambling. A murder mystery, love affair, religious cult, domestic abuse, and family drama, all intertwined, make for a book that is difficult to stop reading, even during the slow parts. Without saying too much more, the ending makes the journey worthwhile.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Des Moines, Iowa in the 1950s may not sound like the most intriguing setting for a book. However, this is the hometown and era of Bill Bryson, upon which he reflects in his memoir - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.


I'm somewhat of a slow reader, and I always have more than one book going at once. This book took me a little over a month to finish, and the first half was far more intriguing than the second. I blogged about this book in late January here, The concept of photographing a year of food is fascinating. I would love for this moment to be recreated by researchers for the average American family today, but I can only imagine how disheartening it would be for nutritionists everywhere.


Bryson portrays the 1950s as happy and plastic. Cheerful yet almost too good to be true. His recollection is from  the skewed vision of his childhood. The streets of Des Moines, the department stores and historical homes, and sweet neighborhoods and grocery stores made me want to visit Des Moines, for no other reason than to find these places from the book.

However, the last half of the book features less humorous anecdotes and more emphasis on his teenage years, trying to find his dad's stash of men's magazines and cigarettes. He closes with a depressing look at Des Moines today, with most of the nostalgia from the first half of the book now bulldozed for the sake of Wal-Mart and a Travel Lodge.

The funny stories from the first half of his book have motivated me to try reading another of his - A Walk In The Woods, about his trek on the Appalachian Trail. I'll be sure to post about that one too.

Other upcoming book posts include The Lace Reader (recently finished reading for the first time), Super Freakonomics (just started reading that one, but I'll be sure to write a refresher about how much I loved the first book - Freakonomics), My Life as a Guinea Pig (still in the middle of), and another entry combining a few of the Malcom Gladwell books I've read over the past few months. I would have written about those earlier, but I'm still not sure what I think about them just yet.

A Year of Food

This picture is from Life Magazine in 1951 and is an example of what the average blue collar family ate in one year. The amounts are based on Department of Agriculture statistics. The man in the picture worked for the Du Pont plant in Cleveland for $1.96 per hour. His family spent $25 per week on food.

This is the annual grocery list:

• Evaporated milk, 56 cans
• Cheese, 20 lb
• Butter, 56 lb
• Margarine, 21 lb
• Milk, 698 qts
• Peaches, 3 bu
• Grapes, 2 boxes
• Eggs, 131 doz
• Apples, 2 crates
• Oranges, 2 crates
• Cantaloupes, 1 crate
• Lemons, 1 crate
• Watermelons, 2
• Plums, 1 box
• Bananas, 1 stalk
• Peaches, 20 cans
• Cherries, 11 cans
• Frozen corn, 2 cases
• Frozen orange juice, 48 cans
• Shortening, 72 lb
• Flour, 450 lb
• Dried fruit, 8 pkg
• Sugar, 350 lb
• Pears, 15 cans
• Bread, 180 loaves
• Tomatoes, 15 baskets
• Potatoes, 690 lb
• Beans, 3 baskets
• Radishes, 1 basket
• Squash, 1 basket
• Cucumbers, 1 basket
• Beets, 3 baskets
• Ice cream, 8 ½ gal
• Lettuce, 2 crates
• Cauliflower, 1 crate
• Cabbage, 1 crate
• Carrots, 1 crate
• Celery, 1 crate
• Peas, 1 bu
• Onions, 1 sack
• Orange juice,11 cans
• Spinach, 22 cans
• Sauerkraut, 12 cans
• Cereal, 48 pkg
• Coffee, 39 lb
• Tea, 12 lb
• Ham, 144 lb
• Pork loins, 132 lb
• Saddle lamb, 15 lb
• Saddle veal, 30 lb
• Carp, 25 lb
• Salmon, 20 lb
• Chickens, 31
• Turkeys, 2
• Beef, 300 lb

This two and a half tons of food is such a clear example of hour our food choices have changed over the past sixty years. I first saw this photo in Bill Bryson's memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a comical reflection of his childhood in the 1950s. He features this picture on the first two pages of the book and refers to it as an example of how plentiful and happy most Americans were during the 1950s. From there, I researched the photograph further and found the actual list, particularly the amount of fresh produce and basic supplies and materials, fascinating. I would be interested to catalog and document the groceries we purchase for a year. I'm not sure if I would be as proud to share that list all of the time. It certainly would not include three baskets of beets, 15 pounds of saddle lamb, or 72 pounds of shortening. I still love the idea of going back to basics.

Ben has started to move into the next box of hand me downs (size 12 months), and I'm so excited about all of the new cute things he has to wear. Josh picked out this outfit for church this morning. It was a pretty big hit, but I can't believe how old he looks.

Food Rules

Michael Pollan's latest book, Food Rules, is a very quik read, and refueled my interest in nutritional anthropology and making better choices about my food. Michael Pollan wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, both of which I recommend for everyone to read. He also contributed a great deal to Food Inc., one of the best food documentaries I've seen. For those of you smirking at the idea of comparing that to all the food documentaries I've seen, I would recommend the following: Supersize Me, Food Fight, King Corn, Fast Food Nation, and The Future of Food. I know this may seem so far out there, but I honestly believe that our food choices, how, where and what we eat, can be one of the biggest shifts that Americans can make in order to solve obesity, the health care and welfare crisis, and even the increasing problems children are having in school (ADHD, behavior problems, anxiety, and poor social and emotional coping skills, etc.)

Back to the book at hand, Pollan outlines very basic rules to follow that would accomplish all of these changes. But I will be the first to admit that food choice habits are so hard to break. Some of my favorite rules are:
#2 - Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
#7 - Avoid food products containing ingredients that a third grader could not pronounce.
#13 - Eat only foods that will eventually rot.
#22 - Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
#46 - Stop eating before you're full.
This continues on through 64 rules, each with a short explanation. This short book is a good compliment to his two longer texts which have the same general theme with much, much greater detail. I feel so strongly about this issue and I truly believe that changing what we eat can change our nation.

In related news, we just placed our seed order with Baker Creek Seeds and we have some big plans for the garden this year!



Ben is up to seven teeth, and he can stand on his own for a few seconds. He hasn't tried to take any steps yet, but he will walk all over the house on his own while pushing his train. Thanks to Tiffany for the cute monkey tags shirt!

Weekend Sewing

It's finally here! I very, very rarely purchase books for myself, but after reading about it on SouleMama's blog, I had to buy Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. It has over 40 different sewing projects with step-by-step directions and patterns included. The book features everything from household linens, women's and children's clothing, purses, and even a section on sewing basics. I am so excited to dive in and make some new things for myself and for Ben. I only hope this weekend will provide me some relaxing, sewing time somewhere in our busy schedule.

This week has been a tough one. I started back to work and even went all day Thursday without a visit from Ben during the work day. I pumped every day at work, which took a little getting used to. Today Ben stayed with me at work all day and I feel like I got nothing done. Parent night is this coming Tuesday and I don't feel ready, but I'm sure I'll pull it all together between now and then.

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Ben has been sleeping on his stomach with his butt up in the air as of lately. I think it so adorable!

Developing a Bedtime Routine

For the past few weeks, we have started a bedtime routine with Ben. We change him into a bedtime diaper and pajamas, I nurse him, and then we take turns reading him stories while sitting in my grandmother's rocking chair. Since we have started this, he has been sleeping in his crib from about 9:30 until about 7:00 in the morning! From what I've read, consistency is key. I don't want to jinx myself, but wow, this has made our lives so much easier.

He still doesn't sleep much during the day. He will take a few cat naps here and there, but he doesn't seem to be cranky or anything. I think by the time he's crawling around and moving around more, then he'll need a solid nap or two during the day, though.

We are working on building Ben's library all of the time, and here are some of our favorites from his shelf: anything Dr. Seuss (especially The Lorax), Bill Martin and Eric Carle (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Hungry Caterpillar and several more), Dooby Dooby Moo and more from that set, Miss Spider books, Are You My Mother, and several cloth, bathtub, and touch and feel books. He also has a beautiful hardback copy of Mother Goose nursery rhymes that was given to us by my students last spring.

And for later we have Everyone Poops by Teri Gomi, Where The Wild Things Are, Aesop's Fables, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Babushka Baba Yaga, Chicken Sunday, and several hundred from my classroom when he's even older.

Some on my "to buy" list are Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Gorilla, Barnyard Banter, Big Red Barn, Ten Little Ladybugs, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Pat the Bunny, Belly Button Book, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?, David books, anything about farms, and some books with baby faces. There are so many more that it's overwhelming. I found a few lists of great baby and toddler books here, here and here. I want to continue to build our library of books that teach a lesson, as I've been asked to start reading the children's story on a few Sunday's this fall. I'm always open to suggestions for new books.

"In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a parent – for a mother or father who will turn off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child. I speak to you not just as a President, but as a father, when I say that responsibility for our children’s education must begin at home. That is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. That’s an American issue." Speech by President Barack Obama to the Joint Session of Congress, Feb. 24, 2009.

First Mother's Day

This has been a year of firsts for our family, and today was my first mother's day. I wrote a note to my mom about how grateful I am for all she has done for me, which I am only beginning to understand at this point in my life.

We also bought grandma books for each of Ben's grandmothers. The books include places for to complete a family tree and memories of their childhood. On the one hand, I felt like I was giving them homework. On the other, I felt a little selfish - because I can't wait to read them myself. I know it will be a while before Ben will be interested in his grandma's favorite movies growing up or her first family vacation, but I can't think of anything I would love more to know about my own grandmothers and great-grandmothers at this point in my life. I'm sure he will feel the same way someday.



At church this morning, (we've been attending Unitarian Universalist as of recently - I'll write about that later), the reverend spoke of appreciation of all women in our lives, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, teachers, and all women who care for and about children. She also mentioned the origins of mother's day being far different from the holiday we celebrate today.

Originally activists with the woman's suffrage and peace movements honored a mother's day, but that is far from the more commercialized version celebrated today. Through conversation today I heard those disagreeing with all women be honored today when some are not mothers. Others said the concept of mother's day leaves too many women hurt, particularly those unable to have children or those who have lost a child.

I am almost certain mother's day isn't going to be removed from the calendar any time soon, so I'm not sure why this can't be a holiday to celebrate women. The reverend mentioned that next year she hopes to delve deeper into the origins of the holiday and the call for peace.

We had my parents over last night for dinner and had dinner at my in-laws today to celebrate the holiday. Josh gave me a family membership to the Dickerson Park Zoo - a perfect gift in my opinion. Not another thing to keep in the house, but twelve months of experiences. So much more valuable to me.

Ben enjoyed his mother's day as well. He rolled over again, for maybe the fourth time total. He wasn't expecting to and was so frightened that he began crying. He is holding his head up so well, smiling all of the time, and is such a big "talker."

These pictures of Ben in the huge high-chair at the table. He joined in the conversation and had a wonderful time at dinner.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

This month I got to choose the book for book club and I picked Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. No one read it but me and one other person, but we now write "book" club with quotations, as it is more of an excuse to get together and visit as opposed to discussing a book.

However, I thought this was an incredible book. Barbara Kingsolver and her family spent a year eating only locally produced food - much of which they produced on their own small farm. She details the purchase of chicks, the planting and harvesting of asparagus, and the canning of tomatoes in great detail. She even includes seasonal recipes at the end of each chapter. Her teenage daughter and her husband also write articles throughout the book on cooking and the devestating truths of the food industry (similar to Pollan's claims in Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food.)

The website accompanying this book is also fantastic. There are links to finding your own local food sources, recipes, and gardening resources.

Reading this has been so encouraging for all of the projects we have undertaken here on our own little farm. I am really excited about our first vegetable harvest, canning this summer, and I can't wait until I collect the first egg from our hens.



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By honest coincidence, Ben slept in his ducky pajamas and after nursing him this morning, I noticed we had the chicken cover on the Boppy, so I had to take a picture.

La Leche League

Today I went to my first La Leche League meeting. LLL is an international breastfeeding support group. Each meeting begins with an introduction followed by a guided discussion, then open to questions, followed by time to socialize. The discussion tonight was about toddler nutrition and everyone shared some great ideas for getting toddlers to try different types of food. It was based on The Family Nutrition Book by Dr. Sears.

During the question and answer time I asked if anyone had any experience breastfeeding with a child in the hospital or returning home after medical issues, but no one from the group had. However, one of the women already researched and sent me some articles to read about it because she wanted to make sure I had at least some of my questions answered. How awesome is that?

Beforehand I had some apprehension, believing these women might be a bit too extreme, but I was pleasantly surprised. I feel like I have more in common with them than not. I know that not everyone has a great experience with breastfeeding, but it has become a huge part of my life since Ben has been born. Being around a group of like-minded women is very encouraging.

Several of the other moms got my email address and some have already contacted me since I've been home from the meeting. I am glad I now have a new circle of people to go to with questions. There is an offshoot "baby wearing" group that I've also been invited to. I am excited to expand my circle. Moms need other moms.

Coupon deals at Walgreens and Wal-Mart 04/05 ads

Great Wal-Mart deals here, and Walgreens deals here.

Here's my loot for today.



Wal-Mart deals ($26.25 in coupons)
(go to link above or just ask for more details on which coupons I used)
2 Trial size Old Spice bodywash, FREE
Bisquick biscuit mix, FREE
Crunch N' Munch, FREE
2 Bars of Johnson's kids soap, FREE
4 Four-packs of Hawaiian Rolls, 44 cents each
2 Bottles of Kraft salad dressing, 8 cents each
2 Bags of Halls cough drops, 44 cents each
2 Bags of Sweet Tarts, 88 cents each
3 Rolls of Viva Paper Towels, 54 cents each
2 Bags of blueberry muffin mix, 33 cents each
Aveeno lotion, 97 cents
Box of Cocoa Puffs, $1.23
10 packages of Kotex, 20 cents each

Walgreens deals ($43.66 in coupons, rebates and sales)
Edge shaving gel, FREE (after register rewards)
Skintimate shaving gel, FREE (after register rewards)
2 Cans of Oust disinfectant, FREE (after mail-in rebate)
3 Boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch $1.83 each
3 Cans of Swanson Chicken Broth 68 cents each
2 Cans of Gillette shaving gel, 99 cents each
Physician's Formula Organic foundation, 99 cents (after mail-in rebate)
6 Seasonings, 50 cents each
3 Bags of potting soil, 99 cents each
2 3-packs of Schick Quarto razors, $2.40 each

I purchased $102.31 worth of products for only $32.40 (after rebates), equaling a %68 savings! Once again, I am proud of purchasing only things we need and will use. Many of these things (potting soil, foundation, a couple of the spices) were things I would have bought this week no matter what, and I am thrilled to find deals for each of them. Tomorrow we're going to try Dillons or Price Cutter because they double coupons. It takes an incredible amount of time in the store for me to do this because I don't have a great system yet, but it's getting easier.

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I've been eating dairy again for the past several days, and it's hard to say if there's any difference in Ben. Because we went a couple of days without his Zantac, he was really fussy anyway, so I can't tell if the dairy has been a factor. We were able to get our prescription refilled today and he's been a much happier baby.

I actually left him with my parents for the first time tonight. It's crazy to think I haven't left him for more than thirty minutes (with Pam, while I walked down to the DMV), since he's been born. It was good for me, though. I enjoy my book club group, albeit a very strange mix of women. I didn't read much of the book, but we spend most of the time visiting about things other than the book anyway. I got to choose our next book - Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I've started it but haven't finished it yet. I will be sure to write about it once I've finished it.

Ben received some gifts at book club too. Dody gave him the adorable "Ask Me About My Compost Pile" and "I Can't Read" onsies and the awesome socks that look like shoes. The outfit, pants and teeth ring are from another teacher friend of ours.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I just finished reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It's a fascinating book about our culture’s food choices. The first half of the book is a little dry, but builds the foundation for why our eating choices need to change. He focuses on nutrients, food myths, evils of the food and drug industries, and how food has become increasingly less "food-like" over time. In the second half of the book, he explains how we actually need to eat. His message is Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Eat food.
Pollan explains that "food" is whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, meats and other items that usually contain five or fewer ingredients. You must know what all of the ingredients are and nothing should be difficult to pronounce. He then proceeds to read the ingredients of Wonderbread and explains how far away from "bread" it actually is. Most store bought bread has so many unknown ingredients and high fructose corn syrup, that it's much more like fluffy sugar and much less like bread.

Not too much.
The author emphasizes that most products that advertise health claims should probably be avoided. Most reduced fat or fat free products are highly processed contain a great deal of synthetic products to make up for the fat loss. Pollan also reflects on the titles added to food such as free range, grass fed, and organic. Buying items from farmer's markets or locally is superior to any of these titles. Free range can mean that chickens were allowed to stand on a dirt plot for an hour or more a day. Grass fed can be applied to any cattle because they were almost all fed grass as calves. Instead, we should look for titles like "pasture raised" or "grass finished" to insure our food is the most nutritious.

Mostly plants.
Pollan is not strictly favoring or opposed to vegetarianism (read his previous book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.) However, he does favor a diet of one meat product per day and the rest fruits and vegetables. Even further than that, the plants should be mostly leaves and less seeds (flour, corn, grains and most of what we eat.) Eating in-season will also provide a more balanced diet and introduce us to foods we would not normally choose.

Some of his most profound statements from this book:

Avoid food that makes health claims.

Shake the hand of the hand that feeds you.
(In buying as much food as you can from farmers.)

Eat only food your great-grandmother would recognize as food.

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Ben is on night three of sleeping well. He sleeps from midnight to 10am waking at four and eight. That is definitely manageable for me and makes my life so much easier than the previous weeks.

Our Gumdrop pacifiers came in today too! the only kind Ben likes



Josh ordered them and didn't realize there were color choices, so we have fifteen pink ones, five orange and five blue. We're fine with that. It's still easier than driving back to the hospital for more.