The Heart of the Home ~ Occurrances in the Kitchen

What goes on in your kitchen?

In our kitchen, a lot goes on. We own a small home (1300 square feet not including a basement) and every room in it is heavily used. A few days ago, three things occurred in our kitchen that are pretty representative of our lives...

We have cut cow's milk out of our diets. Little Brother is showing off his bowl of milk-less cereal he had for breakfast this day. "Look Mommie! No milk!"

This is tough for me, the descendant of Wisconsin cheese farmers. But what we are discovering is that consumption of cow's milk seemed to have a direct link to whether or not Little Brother stayed dry at night. On the days we ran out of milk and he only had water, he was dry at night. Several friends have testified that the same is true for their children. So we went milk free. Instant results... a dry bed every night!

We still eat some dairy. But sparingly. We cannot give up cheese. We eat plain yogurt with lentils, and sour cream with chilli. We have tried soy milk and rice milk, neither of which taste particularly like milk. The work great in a smoothie though. I did find that Aldi, my favorite grocery store, is carrying organic rice AND soy milk! What a deal! So at least when we do buy it, it is organic.

Big Sis, that evening, had an ucky tummy. So I made her a cup of chamomile tea with key lime slices and sugar. She was instantly cured with a sip, while standing in the kitchen wrapped in a blankie. Amazing what a little tlc can do. I love to see my stormy-tempered little girl happy!

And DH...with his chopsticks...

Well, it all started when my mother attended a lecture on the topic of women in Islam. This was a forum where a Muslim woman explained her point of view regarding how women are treated and live in an Islamic community. She championed and defended her religion, explaining her choice to wear a head scarf as a symbol of her faith. And the she took questions from the audience.

One woman asked about Koranic references to a husband's right to beat his wife. The speaker explained her opinion, which was that the reference meant that a husband could "tap his wife with a little stick" to symbolically tell her she was out of line. Now I will not go into MY thoughts and responses to all this today. But suffice to say that when my father found out that the Koran says you can tap your wife with a stick, he immediately began sneaking up behind my mother and tapping her with his chopsticks.

You have to know my father to know that he likes to eat everything with chopsticks; salad, noodles, popcorn... And he does, on occasion, display a playful sense of humor. It makes sense that he would grab the first thing available to him- his chopsticks are stored on his chair-side TV tray, all of which enable him to watch "Weapons of War" on the History Channel while eating lunch.

In the meantime, DH thinks this is all a hoot, and approaches me with the chopsticks in our home across the street.

Boys and their sticks.