January 4, 2021

by drplasticpicker

I had baked 4 potatoes and 2 sweet potatoes last night. The house was cold and Mr. Plastic Picker was bringing home some Rubios. We mostly try to cook at home but some days are harder than others, and when my tween daughter becomes irritated at me – I tend to give in and just order out. Over the holiday we only ordered out 3 times over two weeks. That is pretty good. Last night was one of those nights. Our kids are doing very well, and I’m inordinately proud of them. I do realize the irony of it all. I used to think I was pretty hot stuff when I was younger, Crimson University grad and all. Now in my mid 40s I was annoying my tween who is an ex-preemie, who literally was trying to read excerpts of her Ghandi book as I was watching a romance movie on Amazon Prime. Earlier in the evening she was annoyed at me because we went jogging together and I couldn’t keep up, and after about 12 minutes asked if I could walk and pick up trash and she could finish running (she runs cross country). And then the Girl Scout project that we’ve been organizing together, she spent a good amount of time organizing it for the troop and is going to present a beautiful program today. Whereas I just cut out some slides from my previous Climate Change and Clean Air talk to the UCSD PRIME HEq program, and recorded what I thought was a half-hearted talk on Pediatric Health and Clean Air.

But when I listened to the talk recorded for the troop today, it was pretty good. There were parts I used filler words and the delivery wasn’t perfect, but I actually sounded decent. I wasn’t going to spend too much time re-recording it and I realized that with life as with my environmentalist, what I have to give is enough. I am enough, and that is one thing I have to fiercely impart to my children. I am so proud of them and they both are so capable, and I can honestly admit – more evolved than their father and myself. But even for the most capable, we can’t do it all and it’s an important lesson to learn early. What you are – is enough.

Getting back to the 4 potatoes and 2 sweet potatoes. I put them in the oven last night to bake, because it takes about 40 minutes and the house was very cold. It’s one of the low waste/home-cooking projects that have become hard wired for me. We had run out of bread and crackers, and both Mr. Plastic Picker and I have to go to work today and we are trying to avoid the grocery stores when we can due to COVID-19 surging. I was also cold and thought if I bake the 4 potatoes and 2 sweet potatoes, it might also warm up the house.

During dinner I was told by our teen son who is taking AP Physics, that warming the house by turning on the oven is a fallacy. He went on about that refrigerators and ovens in order to cool and heat their respective devices, actually do the opposite to their environment. I only took the basic physics required of doctors, but I stool there as my son was prattling away about physics and how I was wrong. I just looked at him as I was standing in front of the oven and said, “but here I am warmer?” I do know what he is talking about as I vaguely remember learning that at some point. I also know that our garage that has a freezer and fridge, gets hot because of the cooling elements in tbe back of the appliances. I don’t know the physics behind it.

Anyway, this morning has been a good morning and I’m just blogging to clear some cobwebby thoughts from my brain. No matter what my son said, whether the oven warmed up the house or actually made it cooler – there are 4 baked potatoes and 2 baked sweet potatoes for the house to eat while I am at work today. The bird house I bought that is shown above, and the upcycled bird house I made that never made it on instgram has visitors every day. I know because I see them when I’m blogging in the mornings. I sat and listenend to them yesterday in the backyard. Just like I sit and listen to my children. My tween who is sometimes irritated at me. Our teen trying to explain to me the fallacy of my oven maneuver. Now I realize just like the birdseed I put in the bird feeder, they come when I put out food. As long as I hear my children’s voices and as long as I hear the songs of the backyard birds, I know there is live around me. I have hope. Does it really matter what they are saying to me?