Who wants some lovely soap? (Giveaway: From the Blue House With Love)

I'm pretty sure I heard a collective groan (or was that inconsolable wailing?) from all across the province when Environment Canada announced recently that there is no end in sight to the cold winter temperatures we've been experiencing in this part of the world.  As if January and February haven't been brutal enough, March is expected to be colder than normal, too. Everywhere I go I see sad, disgruntled looking faces and hear people complaining about how they can't possibly endure one more day of shovelling, of coaxing uncooperative kids into snowpants, of indoor recess, of trying to navigate around the ice mountains piled up on streets and in parking lots everywhere when driving around town.  It is honestly beginning to feel as though this winter will never, ever be over.

I can't do anything about the weather, unfortunately, but I might be able to do something to make you smile during these last few days of February.  I've teamed up with Jenn of From the Blue House With Love to offer you a chance to win a sweet prize.

Jenn is a mom to two boys, a fellow blogger, and an entrepreneur who has turned her passion for making handcrafted, all-natural soaps and other body care products into a lively business.  She lovingly creates her good clean soaps, along with luxurious bath soaks, lotions, and body butters, in her "soap cave" at her home (a converted old blue barn just outside of Creemore, Ontario), using only safe and gentle ingredients.  Jenn's soaps are a favourite body care product for my family; we've tried many of her wonderful, naturally scented bars and fun kid soaps over the past couple of years, and they all leave our sensitive skin happily clean and soft.

Jenn is kindly offering one lucky reader a $30 gift certificate to use towards From the Blue House With Love products and shipping. You can enter this giveaway in two ways:

1.  Browse through Jenn's soap and body care products on her website, and then leave me a comment here or on my Facebook page telling me which one(s) you'd most like to try.

2.  Head over to From the Blue House With Love's Facebook page and "Like" it, then leave me a comment here or on my Facebook page letting me know you did.

If you do both 1. and 2., your name will be entered twice in the random draw for the gift certificate.

This giveaway is open to residents of Canada only, and closes at 7:00 pm EST this Sunday, March 2nd. Check back here on Sunday evening to find out the name of the winner!

Jenn is also providing all of my readers with a special discount of 15% off her products, valid from now through to March 7th. To receive this offer, simply enter the code "pocketfuls15" on the From the Blue House With Love checkout page when you place your order.

Winter may not be over yet, but try to keep your chin up!  Jenn's lovely soaps, lotions, and body butters will help your skin be happy until it can feel the warm sunshine on it once again.

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***

*You can also find Jenn and her handcrafted soaps at the One Of A Kind Spring Show in Toronto (Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place) from March 26th-30th.  She'll be in the little blue house in the "rising stars" section.   

Wanted: Bubble Wrap

Will stepped out the front door this morning with plans to go to school for the entire day.  (It would be his first full day back since the worsening of his concussion symptoms on Valentine's Day.)  He was feeling good and so was I; I think we were both happy to be putting the worries of the past twelve days behind us.  I watched his bright yellow toque bobbing cheerfully down the street beside his brother's green one, and then I set out to catch up on some work and errands I had put off until Will was feeling better.

At Costco later this morning, I scored a prime parking spot even though the lot was busy, and the sales associate and I shared a surprised smile when the total amount I owed came to an exact $100.  It's silly, I know, but these random details seemed like a sign of some kind to me, an indication on a sunny morning that I could breathe easily once again because all was good.   I left the store with a little spring in my step.

I was not expecting the phone call that came just after the school lunch hour.  Will was sitting in the office with ice again, having suffered another jolt to the head.  A classmate had unexpectedly tackled him in the snow, sending him tumbling, and then another boy who was also pushed had fallen on top of him.  I raced out the door in a panic to collect my youngest boy from school yet again, hoping and praying that he wasn't badly hurt.

Will was teary and anxious when I arrived moments later at the school office; I'm sure the visions of his recent head trauma and recovery were haunting him and he feared he would now be returning to those dark days again. Thankfully, this incident appears to have been a minor one, and after spending a few quiet hours at home, Will seems completely fine.  (Maybe this was the good sign I thought I sensed at Costco.)  I cannot say that my heart is completely fine yet, though.  I'm pretty sure it stopped cold for a moment when that call from the school came in, and even now it's thumping around in a frantic, unnatural way.

I think this is one of the really difficult parts of parenting -- the knowledge that when we send our children out into the world, there are so many things that are outside of our control, that these little people we love so much can be harmed so easily in the blink of an eye.  Many of us adults must sense this, as we make so many rules for our kids in their play these days that our generation is often accused of bubble wrapping them. As an overly cautious person by nature, I try really hard not to project my own fears onto my boys, and I often let them try things that I wouldn't be comfortable doing myself.  But I'm telling you now, when your child takes a hit to the head twice at school in less than two weeks and you watch him suffer through the after-effects of a concussion, you start to wonder as a parent what else you could be doing to keep him safe.

If anyone knows where I can acquire massive quantities of bubble wrap, I'm currently in the market for some.  And I'll take a defibrillator, too -- my heart just might need it the next time the school calls.

Quinoa Lentil Salad (gluten-free, vegan)

One recent weekday, I was doing some shopping at our favourite local health food store just before lunch time.  I was inspired by my rumbling tummy to take a peek at their freshly-made meal offerings to see if there was anything I might want to take home for a quick and easy lunch once I was finished my errands.  (If you're going to grocery shop when you're hungry, a health food store seems like the best place to do it in!) I was happy to find a very appealing looking quinoa and lentil salad peeking out from behind the glass cooler doors, so I took a container of it home, and then put together a green salad with veggies and a simple lemon vinaigrette to go with it.  My lunch was super tasty and satisfying, so much so that I wanted to be able to recreate it again on my own.  This is my homemade version of that quinoa lentil salad.

Quinoa Lentil Salad
(inspired by a similar salad from Healthy Foods & More in Waterloo)

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup uncooked green lentils, rinsed
1 large carrot, shredded
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp sunflower oil
the juice of one large lemon, freshly squeezed
1/4 tsp sea salt
pepper to taste

Cook the quinoa according to package directions.  (I brought 2 cups of water to a boil, stirred in the quinoa, reduced the heat to a simmer, cooked the quinoa for 15 minutes, covered, and then let it stand until cooled.)

Cook the lentils in a separate pot of boiling water for approximately 20 minutes, or until they are tender. Drain the lentils and rinse them under cold water to cool them.

When the quinoa and lentils are cool, place them in a large bowl along with the shredded carrot, red and yellow bell peppers, red onion, and parsley.  Stir gently until all ingredients are well combined.

To make the dressing, add the garlic, olive oil, sunflower oil, lemon juice, sea salt, and pepper to a jar with a tight fitting lid.  Shake vigorously to mix all ingredients.  Pour the dressing over the salad and stir gently to coat.

It is best if you can let this salad sit for a little while in the refrigerator before serving it, to allow the flavours to mingle.  Leftovers keep well in the fridge for a few days.

A nutritious salad like this one made in advance makes a perfect lunch for work or school -- simply pack it in a container (my favourites are Lunchbots) and you're good to go!  I hope you enjoy this combination of quinoa, lentils, fresh veggies and herbs as much as I do.

The Alligators Under the Bed

Photo Credit:  Roger Smith

There were alligators under my bed.  In the stillness of night beneath the blankets in my childhood room, I used to lie listening for the two creatures I believed were lurking silently, menacingly just below me, two beasts that had the power to snap me up at any moment if they chose to.  I imagined their frightening toothy grins, their unblinking beady eyes, and my heart would race and pound in the quiet darkness.  To soothe myself in those fearsome moments, I would remember that I knew the secret to my own safety:  if I kept the blankets hanging down evenly on both sides of the bed, the alligators would be appeased and would leave me to slumber peacefully.

I still sleep with the blankets arranged just so all around me.

Of course there weren't actually alligators under my bed.  Those figments of my imagination appeared early on in life as a symbol of what I would always fear most:  the difficulties and dangers of the world that could creep out of nowhere and threaten to swallow me whole, without me knowing how to save myself.

If only the answers were always as simple as the symmetrical arrangement of blankets on a bed.

This past week I have seen you wrestling with alligators of your own, my sweet boy, and my fear in those moments was that I wouldn't know how to help you.  Your good health was taken from you temporarily with the sudden impact of a flying ball, and you were dizzy with a lost sense of self and safety.  Your worries grew into giant sized beasts that circled around you unrelentlessly, and it must have seemed to you then that you might never escape their powerful grip.  I sensed you struggling and surrounded you with love and support, offering up the tools and tricks I've gathered over the years from my own challenging encounters, but I came to realize that ultimately it would be you who had to stare those alligators down and send them slinking away under the dark waters.   Watching you learn to do just that has made my heart ache with both sadness and pride.

I wish I could have sheltered you from ever coming face to face with those terrifying creatures, Will.  The truth of life's struggles reflected in their eyes is unsettling for children to experience.  I can offer you this reassurance, though:  I've learned that most often, facing what we fear results in us growing stronger and wiser rather than being swallowed whole.

Adversity teaches our hearts the secrets that will lead us to our own triumphs.

***

Will has had a rough week recovering from his concussion.  I am happy to report now, though, that he has shown much improvement in the last couple of days and is seeming more like himself again. These kinds of unfortunate experiences sure make us aware of how truly precious our children are.    

On Concussions and Valentine's Day

I had planned for today to write a lighthearted Valentine's Day post to share a funny little story about Will.  (One recent Saturday morning, he was downstairs getting ready to go to his Lego robotics workshop and didn't want to leave without saying goodbye to me first. But I was upstairs in the shower, so he did the best thing he could think up:  he spelled out B.Y.E. in Morse code by turning the downstairs bathroom faucet off and on in short and long bursts, hoping I'd get the message through the hot and cold water blasts I was feeling.  Now that's how to show your mom you love her!!)

I'm not feeling very lighthearted today, though, after the serious turn that things took around here this week.  On Wednesday, I got a call from the boys' school telling me that Will had been hit in the head by a ball during gym class and that he was sitting in the office with ice.  When I heard Will say he had a headache and was dizzy, I went to pick him up and brought him home with me to rest for the remainder of the day.   I started to get quite worried when he said his head felt like it was floating off his body and he mentioned that he felt like he was looking through a very fine net whenever he looked at something off in the distance, so yesterday morning we went to our doctor's office to get him assessed.  We learned that he had likely suffered a mild concussion, and were told to monitor him over the next week and come back if his symptoms didn't improve.  (In the midst of all of this seriousness and concern in the doctor's office, there was a brief moment of levity when Will described his vision disturbance in highly technical terms as if he was a scientist who specialized in ocular research, and the nurse practitioner looked at me with her jaw on the floor and asked, "How old is he?!?"  It at least appears that the concussion hasn't affected that part of his brain!).  Afterward she told us we should get in to see our optometrist that afternoon to rule out retinal detachment, because some of what Will was describing made her think that was a possibility.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared at that point, even though I put on a brave face for Will and tried to keep my mood light and cheerful.

Thankfully, Will's eyes checked out fine, and so now we're left to watch him carefully and prevent him from participating in any activity that puts him at risk of getting another head injury, until he's been symptom-free for at least a full week.  (If you know Will and appreciate his high-energy nature, you will immediately recognize that this is not going to be an easy order for him.)  It has been 48 hours full of worry and upset and disappointment for Will and for all of us, as in light of what has happened, we've had to make changes to some plans we'd been looking forward to.  These kinds of lessons about the unpredictability of life and the need for flexibility come to everyone sometime, but knowing that doesn't really make them easier to learn, does it?

What I find myself feeling today, though, in addition to all of those stressful emotions, is the sense that we are surrounded by people with good hearts who know exactly how to show love when it's needed.  I heard it in the phone call from my mom last night, who called to ask Will how he was feeling and who maybe sensed, too, that it might be a time when I needed to hear my own mom's voice.  I read it in the kind and supportive messages online from relatives and friends who heard what had happened to poor Will and were really concerned about him.  I saw it in the caring of Will's good friend at school, who sat with him in the office after the incident to keep him company while he waited for me to arrive, helped Will gather up all of his things to take home, and then offered to find Noah to tell him not to wait for Will at the end of the day.  I sensed it in the email message from Will's teacher, who reassured me that she would take good care of him today at school, and would help him to feel better about having to sit out of gym class and recess by baking a special gluten-free Valentine treat with him in the staff room during those times.  I felt it in the kind understanding of my sister-in-law Rebecca and her family, who told us that they still really wanted us to come and visit them in Ottawa this weekend, even if we couldn't go skating on the Rideau Canal and sliding down the ice slides at Winterlude as we'd been planning to for weeks.  And I appreciated it in the form of a warm cup of my favourite tea from Starbucks, which Matt popped by our house mid-morning to deliver to me because he knew I probably needed it today (this after I cancelled our lunch date together because I felt completely overwhelmed with stuff to do after being so distracted the past two days).

Despite the difficult week we've had, I'm feeling somehow that we're fortunate this Valentine's Day. I hope each and every one of you also have the wonderful experience of knowing that you're surrounded by people who love you well.  xo

Homemade Chocolates for Valentine's Day (gluten-free, vegan cashew butter balls)

Call me sentimental, but I actually like Valentine's Day.  I've been hearing various comments this week about it being an overly commercial holiday that some would rather just ignore, but I think it's nice to have a day that reminds us to really think of and appreciate the wonderful people who are dearest to us in our lives. In our little family, we enjoy finding small but special ways to say we love each other on February 14th, and this year, I've got a yummy treat already tucked away to share with Matt, Noah, and Will:  heart shaped boxes of chocolates that I made for them myself.

The combination of chocolate and nut butter is one that makes many people happy, I think!  This recipe for cashew butter balls was inspired by one for peanut better balls by Angela Liddon of Oh She Glows;  I swapped the peanut butter for cashew butter and modified Angela's recipe in a few other ways to suit our family's needs and tastes.  I'm really looking forward to the smiles that these decadent (and healthier than most store-bought) chocolates will bring to my guys' faces later this week!

Cashew Butter Balls

1 500g jar of natural cashew butter
5 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tbsp coconut flour
a pinch of sea salt

2 85g bars of dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa), chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil

Scrape the contents of the jar of cashew butter into a mixing bowl, and stir it to blend in any oil that has separated.  Add the maple syrup, coconut flour, and sea salt to the cashew butter and mix all ingredients well. The mixture should be firm enough to roll into balls, but not too dry looking.

Roll a spoonful of the mixture in your hands to form a ball that is about one inch in diameter.  Place the ball on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, and repeat this process until all of the nut butter mixture is rolled.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil together, stirring often.  Once the chocolate mixture is melted, remove it from the heat immediately, and then coat the cashew butter balls in the chocolate by placing them on a fork one at a time and dipping them into the pot.  Remove any excess chocolate by tapping the fork on the side of the pot, and then carefully place the dipped cashew butter balls back on the baking sheet.

Once all of the nut butter balls are dipped, place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 15 minutes, or until the chocolate is firm.  Remove the pan from the freezer, and decorate the top of each cashew butter ball by drizzling a little of the leftover melted chocolate across it using a small spoon.  Return the cashew butter balls to the freezer again to firm up the drizzled chocolate.  You can use any remaining melted chocolate up by pouring it into small heart shaped candy molds and placing those in the freezer as well. Serve chocolates at room temperature (if you can wait that long!)

To present these cashew butter balls in a pretty way for Valentine's Day, place each one in a mini paper baking cup with a heart motif, and then fill a heart-shaped tin with them.  (I found some cute tins and paper liners at Bulk Barn.)

I may have sampled a few of these nutty chocolate treats before I packaged up the boys' hearts (I had to make sure they were good, right?), and I can tell you that they are melt-in-your mouth delicious.  I think you could use any kind of natural nut butter in this recipe with great results; you may just need to slightly vary the amount of coconut flour you use to thicken up the dough depending on the consistency of the nut butter you choose. Any way you make them, these homemade chocolates are sure to make your family's Valentine's Day a little sweeter!

A loyal friend

She was with us for four years before he came into our lives.  It was her that I used to hold on my lap and speak to sweetly to calm her skittish nature, her who helped me learn how to care for and nurture someone little who depended on me.

When he arrived twelve and a half years ago, filling our hearts with a love that surprised us with its intensity and made us drunk with a new kind of joy, our once quiet home echoed with the unfamiliar sounds of a crying infant first, and later, of the inquisitive exploration of a bright toddler.  Confused, she took to spending most of her days hiding in the basement whenever he was awake.  She did not know what to make of this curious creature who had taken over her spot on my lap and whose unexpected movements seemed foreign and frightening to her.  She was not sure that she liked it at all.

She came around eventually.  As he grew, he began to win her trust by showing her his kind, gentle nature: he spoke sweetly to her, bestowed soft scratches upon her head, made fun games out of giving her her favourite treats.  She learned that he was a boy who liked to lay in a warm, quiet spot to read as much as she liked to lay in a warm, quiet spot to sleep.  The two of them grew together as they grew older.

Now she greets him at the doorway of his room each morning when he rises, and at the doorway of our home each afternoon when he gets back from school.  She howls at him to get his attention, obliges him with an enthusiasm that is surprising for a sixteen-and-a-half year old cat when he invents a new way to play with her, and spends every single afternoon curled up contentedly beside him on the couch while he crafts new worlds on his laptop and enjoys the warmth of her purring body next to him.  Those who say that a dog is a boy's best friend have never seen the joy that this cat and this boy find in each other's company.

Somehow watching them sitting quietly together each afternoon makes me wish a little that I could keep them both here with me, exactly as they are now, for always.