Welcome!

Hi! Welcome! And all the other awkward greetings!

I was going low-key crazy this week. Two kids with a stomach bug, a husband with high-pressure work commitments that kept him away for longer than normal, 117-degree temps outside, and way too much Peppa Pig pushed me over the edge, and now I am starting a newsletter. Because.

Odds are if you are already on this emailing list you know me pretty well, so I don’t really need to outline my interests, but I might share things that come up over the course of the week that were interesting or useful to me. Quotes from the kids (or Peppa), interesting articles, recipes…who knows! The possibilities are endless. And so is our friendship! (Spoken like a desperate first-grader.)

So the interest and project of this last week has been the construction of minimalist sandals. Have you watched the earthing documentary on Youtube? You should. It’s only 20 or so minutes long and quite interesting. Apparently the idea has some research behind it, and since I’m all for going barefoot (when it’s not a million degrees outside) I thought I’d do the summer equivalent and construct some earthing sandals. The basic idea is that we are charged beings (positive charge) and the earth is a negative charge, and to reduce inflammation etc., we need to connect directly with the earth (and without insulators like rubber, foam, plastic, or concrete) for at least 15 minutes a day. Or maybe it was 30 minutes. Anyway, you get the idea. So since going without shoes is not always an option, some people have started making grounding sandals with conductive materials throughout. Ours are made out of leather, but with copper rivets under the big toe and on the footbed. Mine also are designed in the fashion of huarache sandals (worn by the Tarahumara running tribe of northern Mexico and made famous in the book ‘Born to Run’) because I have dreams of running regularly again. They are almost done, I’m just waiting on one more piece of hardware to arrive! I’ll take pictures and try to include them next week.

Family news, I’ve yelled too much this week (#confessions - and yes, I know that hashtags are out of style), but I have also said sorry a lot and maybe the kids are learning forgiveness? We did have a good time yesterday morning going over our school posters and practicing letters and numbers. After we had finished I heard Loxley telling Bruce, “Say ‘t-t-turtle’.” I was so proud, but it only lasted for a second because her next prompt was, “Okay, now say ‘t-t-birthday.’” Good thing she’s got a while to practice.

And because I think about food 70-80% of my waking hours, let me tell you what we are probably going to eat today. Stanton had a work dinner last night and brought home some pizza that I’ll probably have for lunch, since the kids will probably just want PB+Js, but for dinner I think I’m going to make pasta arrabbiata - angry pasta! - because it’s super easy and it’s Stanton’s favorite kind. Some bacon, an onion, and olive oil sautéed in a pan until it’s all well cooked, then add tomato paste, salt, a little sugar, cayenne pepper, and water. And noodles. Spaghetti noodles are best, in my opinion. It’s so easy but it turns out so well and has all the flavors. Paired with a spinach salad, I think it will make a nice summer supper.

Well, that’s all for today. And don’t worry, I don’t think I’ll be writing every day. My goal is once a week!

Have a beautiful Wednesday!

-Kiera