I anticipate I will go with boostmobile, which is part of Sprint. They offer various plans, including the one that will probably work best for me: pay as you go — 10 cents a minute for calls; 10 cents a text. My recent Sprint bill was $40.20, and I used 191 minutes of phone time and sent 19 texts. So, with the pay as you go, I would have been charged $21. The best thing about this is if I determine that this plan doesn’t meet my needs or its costs are more than $40, I can get a new plan easily — I have no two-year contract to wait out! The time is right for change! I am ready to cut my monthy bill in half! I could save myself over $200 annually. And there are many things I could spend that money on… a nice dinner or two out, several trips to the movies, spa services, a donation to a worthwhile cause… but best of all I won’t be wasting the money because I simply didn’t take the time to do the research and get the best plan for how I use the phone. That’s pretty satisfying. There’s something about dealing with the wheeler dealers at these various cell phone companies that’s finally moving me out of my wasteful complacency. And, you know what else? I’m feeling peace with the harsh reality that i just don’t need an iphone! Sigh.

This morning I was reading a post on a blog I found out about recently from my friend Jessica. The following statement resonated with me: “What Anne’s essay has me thinking about today, though, is about the way we make time for that which we really value. In fact, I think that if we each looked back over how we have spent the last day or week, we would see, in neon animation, a graph of what it is we really honor and think is important. That’s what we make time for.  Most often, this happens instinctively, without much forethought or analysis. It simply is. We just say yes to that which we care most about. Other times, we have to actively, even fiercely guard the time for certain activities or people who are near to our hearts.”

Some time ago I remember thinking about someone who didn’t have time to work out but did watch a lot of TV, that working out just wasn’t important to this person. Yet, that isn’t the main point here; rather, what I’m thinking about is what it’s meant to value music and cello and making time for this in our lives. And, more than anything else I can think of, it has shown Alex what it takes to make something of quality. I can’t say that he has come to love practicing, but what has happened over the past five years is that practicing is simply part of everyday life. And, I think he has come to understand what practicing enables him to do. I also believe that cello has been, and will continue to be, a remarkable part of his education. What he had learned is tremendous. We’re starting our four-year-old on the cello in the fall. I can’t wait to see what the whole process will be like with him. I’m also looking forward to the opportunity to do this for the second time and to have Alex’s help.

Many years ago, a family of one of the students I was teaching gave me a signed copy of a poem called “Cello.” At that time I didn’t have a personal connection with the cello or even have much cello music in my life. But that gift now seems like some sort of prophet, some sign of things to come. Here’s that beautiful poem:

Cello

by Adam Zagajewski

Those who don’t like it say it’s

just a mutant violin

that’s been kicked out of the chorus.

Not so.

The cello has many secrets,

but it never sobs,

just sings in its low voice.

Not everything turns into song

though. Sometimes you catch

a murmur or a whisper:

I’m lonely,

I can’t sleep.

In a theater packed with kids, I listened to and watched Frazee talk about stories, especially those told in pictures, her writing and illustrating process, her dog, Rocket, and her childhood, when she realized early on that what she wanted to do was write and illustrate children’s books. The second half of her presentation focused on ALL THE WORLD, a book she illustrated and Liz Garton Scanlon wrote. She explained the choices she made for the illustrations while showing them and the photographs of the places that inspired them. I sat in the theater feeling lucky to be in the world with Marla Frazee, an artist who has dedicated her professional life to telling stories in words and pictures, stories that children clearly love and appreciate and need.

On Monday night my son Alex and I went to a concert organized by the Chicago Cello Society called, “The Singing Cello: Celebrating the Lyrical Voice of the Cello.” Twenty different cellists played short lyrical pieces. Because we were sitting in the front row, we were able to see the truly human act that playing music is. We were able to observe each cellist’s technique, how s/he breathes while playing, the type of concentration it takes to make the cello sing, and so much more. It was breathtaking to listen to such beautiful music and to witness its creation.

At the end of Monday I felt inspired and happy to be alive and able to experience the fulfillment that comes from engaging with the work of artists. This isn’t an original thought, but it was clear to me at the end of Monday and in the past couple of days as I have continued to relish and reflect on Frazee’s art and words and the cellists’ music that the arts are what will sustain us–and more: the arts are what will save us.

Vanilla-Scented Granola

4 cups old fashioned oats (I’m now making about 6-7 cups at a time)

1 cup sliced almonds/cashews/shredded coconut (I do none of these, esp because I have a peanut/tree nut allergy kid)

1/4 cup golden brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (I actually put in about 2 teaspoons)

1/3 cup oil/butter (I use butter)

1/4 cup honey

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup raisins/dried cranberries

Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 300 degrees F. [I cook it in the convection over at 275.] Grease large baking sheet. Mix first five ingredients in large bowl. Combine oil/butter, honey, and sugar in small saucepan; bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Pour hot liquid over oat mixture; stir well. Using hands, toss mixture until thoroughly mixed.

Spread granola on prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about thirty minutes. Add raisins/cranberries at last minute. Cool granola completely. (Can be made two weeks ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

This granola is perfect with plain yogurt, as the tartness complements the sweetness of the granola. You can play around with the recipe, adding different nuts, less sweetness, more cinnamon. You can also cut back on the butter by adding water to the liquid mixture. We’ve found that butter and coconut oil work best. Enjoy! [My sons like it with sliced bananas on top, and I do have to admit when I give it to them with plain yogurt, I add a little maple syrup; the comment by the recipe's author about the "tartness" and its complementary nature doesn't work for them!]

Eat your colors.

The idea that a healthy plate of food will feature several different colors is a good example of an old wives’ tale about food that turns out to be good science too. The colors of many vegetables reflect the different antioxidant phytochemicals they contain–anthocyanins, polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids. Many of these chemicals help protect against chronic diseases, but each in a slightly different way, so the best protection comes from a diet containing as many different phytochemicals as possible.

Thanks so much to all who posted comments and thanks to any readers out there!

Now, about that contest! This is also an experiment — a way to see whether anyone is out there. I will send the person who comes up with the best healthy kid snack suggestion (to be judged by me!) or the best school food story (an account of something wonderful happening in a school around food, e.g. a unit in a science class that focuses on nutrition and helps kids to understand why it matters what they put in their bodies; unit concludes with an international food festival in which kids bring in healthy foods and provide nutritional info on their offerings) a copy of Michael Pollan’s new (and very short and readable) book FOOD RULES.

To increase your interest, here’s one of the “rules” in the book: “Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not. Imitation butter–aka margarine–is the classic example. To make something like nonfat cream cheese that contains neither cream nor cheese requires an extreme degree of processing; such products should be labeled as imitations and avoided. The same rule applies to soy-based mock meats, artificial sweeteners, and fake fats and starches.”

You can have 63 more of these facts just by entering and winning this fat-free low sodium organic contest! The contest will run until Wednesday, February 17; winner announced on the 18th. Yay!

And, in case you’re wondering: the chirp persists! Yet, surprisingly, it has not inspired madness! Rather it’s as though a friendly and very consistent cricket lives in our ceiling. However, this is not a long term way to live. So, we’re giving it two weeks before moving to the as-yet-undetermined Plan B. The two weeks time frame came from calling the company who makes our smoke detectors and learning that the chirp, indicating the need for a new battery, always sounds for a minimum of seven days with their alarms. I’ve also learned that gas meters sometimes chirp. Any suggestions for Plan B are very much welcome!

Last night we continued the search, taking out the can in one of the recessed lights in the hallway and taking the vent off one of the air conditioning ducts, and we’ve concluded that the chirping might be coming from an old smoke detector that was left on the previous ceiling (inside our ceiling) when we put in central air. Putting in the central air required lowering the ceiling in the hallway. Then we went online to see whether there was any info about others with such a situation. We did find cases, nothing identical to ours, and all of them were in far newer homes with more wired technology. There was even one family that has a chirping sound in their finished basement that has been going now for four years! (They don’t hear it in the rest of the house.)

How to solve this problem? What are possible solutions? We did find the suggestion to use a stethoscope to locate the source of the sound. But once that’s done, do we tear open the ceiling? Do we wait for the battery to die completely? If so, how long will that take? Help! I was thinking that perhaps there’s a short story in this: characters all go slowly mad because of small, persistent chirping sound.