As always, thank you. Your indignation over Wondertime's ending was just what I needed. I even forwarded it to all the folks there, because sometimes it feels good to wallow collectively. Your kindness is so helpful, and your words so inspiring. I will, of course, be all right.
Because I've applied for a Two-Thousand-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle Grant from the U.S. government!
Also, a Hanging Out With Birdy Grant. As soon as one of those comes through, we'll be all set!
Meanwhile, here's a new recipe over at Family.com. Remember how you wanted a school lunch recipe? That's what it is. While you're over there, you may notice my little Super Bowl recipe from yesterday; "little" is the operative word. I did not exactly go all out.
Hope you are thriving.
xo Catherine
Wow, that puzzle is really coming along!
ReplyDelete(Okay, I'm going to try the dip. It seems about perfect.)
Very sad about Wondertime. I really, really did like it very much more than most parenting magazines. And my kid LOVES dippable lunches beyond all reason, and the hummus-cracker thing is getting old, so I'm going to do this black bean dip post-haste. Whatever that means.
ReplyDeleteIs it redundant (and a little late) to say that Wondertime was literally the only parenting magazine I ever subscribed to? At least I have all the back issues with your articles and recipes!
ReplyDeleteI'm just hearing about Wondertime. Gah! I'm so sorry! Really, it was one of the few parenting mags I really liked.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is teetering on the edge of a layoff here, and for some reason it's just making us think of how much we have and how the worst that happens is not always the worst that can happen.
hmmm. I may be on the hunt for a jigsaw puzzle grant myself. Or a watching-my-boys-interpretive-dance-until-they fall-apart-laughing grant. Sigh. A good time for values clarification-- that's a favorite phrase floating between households around here right now.
ReplyDeletekeep thinking happy thoughts...and revel in that birdygrant, which I'm sure is the best spirits bailout out there.
PS I bought all the damn Wondertimes in the grocery store yesterday-- all three that were left-- as if some corporate yuck will look at my tiny town's grocery store's sales of that magazine and smack their heads in realizing what fools they were. And not to get all nasty, but those execs at Disney better not be giving themselves big ol' bonuses like the rest of stupid corporate America when they are scraping such a great venue for voices like yours.
oh, crap, I forgot to ask-- any way you could please tell me if that corn chowder I'm obsessed with freezes well? My lizzie is turning 1 (1!!!) this Saturday, and with a crazy week, I was hoping to cook a big ol' batch tomorrow and just freeze it until the weekend. Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI did! I did ask for school lunch ideas! Thank you, and thank you for revealing the Corn Chex Nachos recipe.
ReplyDeleteHa ha, you guys are nice about the puzzle! And about my grants. Hey, Kate--thanks so much for buying up Wondertime! You know, that's exactly my kind of political activism. I think it makes a difference. And freezing the corn chowder? I feel like potatoes always go watery and spongy in the freezer, so I don't have high hopes.
ReplyDeletexo
I've been following your stuff since Babycenter when I first had my son 4 and a half years ago and then my daughter two years later. I have always related to you and have loved everything you have written. (I still use the analogy of fitting my daughter's chubby toddler feet into shoes like putting a hamburger into a hotdog bun...hysterical) Sadly, two of the only magazines I subscribe to are Wondertime and Domino both ending in March...crap! I hope everyone working there lands on their feet. It really was a great magazine. I am now so happy about my obsession with keeping all of my magazines. I still have old issues of Seventeen at my mom's house circa 1990. I know I will continue to visit your blog and see what you and the fam is up to. Your writing has been a wonderful cushion for me in times of newborn days, rainy tantrum filled days, miscarriage, sick pukey nights, but it's also a reminder about how lucky we all are. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteUm, isn't Catherine still doing the food collumn at Family.com? It does suck that the magazine is ending, but everything we got at the website will still be at Family, right? If that's not true, I might jump off a bridge!
ReplyDeleteI guess I will never get the subscription either. I wonder if I will get my $ back? (I won't hold my breath) I just wanted to let Kate know that I did freeze the corn chowder and it turned out fine. Just warm it up slowly. And you could always add just a touch more cream to it. (I didn't need to but in case...) Hope that helps. Shari
ReplyDeleteCatherine, you have done a fabulous job of nourishing your kids if at the ages they are now they will still willingly eat things like bean dip and all of the other fantastic foods you've mentioned here. My son turned 6 and promptly stopped eating salmon, bean patties, etc. I have finally lost my patience and I've even shown him the photos of your two kidlets cooking and eating with you, hoping that he might say, "if Ben will eat this, I will too!" I'll let you know as soon as that day arrives. until then, I'm saving each and every one of these recipes, because darn it, I'm enjoying them!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little late with this comment but I would like to take a moment to say that I am devastated, that's right DEVASTATED, over the decision to end Wondertime. I discovered Waiting for Birdy while I was pregnant and then discovered Wondertime. You and that magazine have been an important part of my life as a parent (going on 16 months) and I'm very very sad to see Wondertime go. It has been the only thoughtful, creative, user-friendly parenting magazine out there. It is neither fear-all-will-harm-your-baby style, like so many are, nor does it make me feel like less of a parent if I don't own the latest most expensive mommy gadget. Wondertime has been my favorite magazine delivered each month, and I always make time to read it cover to cover. I felt like I really gained insight and knowledge from other parents through that magazine (yummy recipes and fun crafts too!). The only conciliation is that you will still be sharing your words of wisdom with us. Though they won't be in the wonderful pages of Wondertime, at least we will still have access to you. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI think we would be friends. Or, at least, I think you'd get on nicely with my friends. Your bean dip article made me homesick! All those little details: the sigg water bottle, the pyrex in the lunchbox, the wax paper baggies, the TJ blue chips (and I'm guessing the cookies were Joe Joe's), the fact that your kids drink water. Oh and black beans. All of which are not valued here and cannot be found. I miss it all.
ReplyDeleteAnyway.
I think ribbon candy could probably never taste as good as it does in my mind.
I too will really miss Wondertime! When are they planning on letting their subscribers know?
ReplyDeleteI am glad to know I'm not the only one trying to get my kids to try new foods by showing them Ben & Birdy eating them! I am so jealous of all the different foods they eat! My children do drink water and eat fruit but they won't eat vegetables except baby carrots. They won't eat soups or casseroles. I really want to make your recipes because they sound perfect, but I'm the only one in my household that would eat them!
Oh Catherine, I finally got a chance to try the baked pancake recipe. And oh wow, fabulous. I tried to get my 2 year old (who eats nothing) to give me some of his when mine was gone, and he would not share. (I admit to stealing a bit when he wasn't looking.) And, I'll admit, I was so panicky about getting the butter in the pan quickly that I flipped it onto the oven floor and set off the smoke detectors in my house...I don't know how to work my newfangled fancy smoke alarms so one is still beeping intermittently. But it was so worth it! And I now live on your granola, loved the soy glazed tofu, and adore the corn chowder. So glad your recipes will be up on the other website!
ReplyDeleteOh butter in the oven, me too. I made the baked pancake the week you posted and dropped a big blop in the oven, we still smell the burning each time I turn on the oven. It's too cold to open the windows to ventilate while using the self cleaning oven, so we'll smell it until the spring.
ReplyDeleteI am so disappointed that Wondertime is ending. I always looked forward to your essays, the recipes and the beautiful layout and photography. What a shame!!
ReplyDeleteok, so I went to the store yesterday and looked at (read) the Redbook article. I thought about putting it down because it was similar to one you posted somewhere. (or close to it) But then your voice & Kate's voice popped into my head and made me purchase the magazine. I figured the least I could do was to purchase it and support Catherine's writting in it. Hope it helps!! Shari
ReplyDeleteCatherine, where do you get the wax paper baggies? I've been looking for a product like that, but I don't want to have to pay $$$ for shipping (not to mention the carbon emissions used to ship a box of wax paper baggies to me, which seems to defeat the purpose).
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteWe get those wax bags at Whole Foods, but we've also gotten them in the supermarket, in the wraps aisle, next to the wax paper (of course!0. They sometimes have them and sometimes don't, but they're worth asking for.
xo Catherine
Yeah, I keep trying to sign in over there, but it no longer will take my Wonder Time login, and all incarnations of any screen names I try are either invalid or not available. *shrugs* so you're stuck with me over here.
ReplyDeleteHoping that something fabulous and lucrative falls into your lap.
mgonzales: do you have a natural foods co-op where you live? That's where I get the waxed paper bags, as well as rolls of waxed paper, and unbleached baking parchment. My mom always used waxed paper bags in our sack lunches, and wrapped our sandwiches in sheets of it. I now do the same and it gives me such a feeling of nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteAs I said when Babycenter ended, YOU MUST GO ON OPRAH! Someone has a connection to get you there, they are lurking out here and DO IT NOW! I did not subscribe to wondertime but meant to after the request last fall (I think that is when it was, I have a five month old, my third child so time is a blur for the past year) and now am bummmed. Sounds like a good opportunity for someone to sell me all the old issues on ebay.....
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, OPRAH. You will get there if you want to be there, believe it.
BTW, I live in CA and have been to Santa Cruz. How could you ever LEAVE there? Stuck to the driveway!?? Why do humans live there? Yes, it sounds like a wonderful scene but we had a faery hunt at Griffith Park that was amazing in Jan. with the girls in matching string halter tops someone found at the Salvation Army for $3. Visit the ski areas, live in a world that is liveable.
My daughter kept asking, but WHY WOULD SOMEONE GIVE THIS UP?! I still want to go back and get the hand drawn coffee mug for Grandpa from Ashley and her brother. At first I was MAD and then I realized he was watching me from above feeling creepy about it....it will probably still be there!
OPRAH, but really, something big. You have the time to blog but WRITE ANOTHER BOOK, join one of those writing a few pages every day groups--heck I am FIGHTING THE URGE TO WRITE but I will create it for you if I have to. WRITE WRITE WRITE and THANKS duh for the reminder to buy the book for the FOUR Kindergarten out of FOUR teachers who are all AMAZING and pregnant at our cute fun school (public and in LA county, yeah, it is weird---we had a NON-snooty Daddy Daughter dance last Friday, really, it was NOT a who can outdress each other fest at all).
I could go on and on but I better go on and give you a break.
But don't get me wrong, I have PLENTY of that nonsense down the street at our preschool for our three year old which is 85% the "other" surrounding cities.
ReplyDeleteDress to the nines in your $1,000 outfit (excluding jewelry) for pick up and drop off when the nanny is not doing it for you cause you are busy trying to fashionably UNDERspend each other at the stores. Trade your brand new Lexus/Lincoln (no Hummers at least!) SUV monster truck for a Honda Odessey and are embarrassed for not being the one who started that idea!
I have no idea what I will do without my monthly dose of Wondertime.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to pick up the very first issue while filling my one-year-old's ear infection prescription. As I waited, I read the Dalai Mama article about the Zen of parenting, and the image of that dog rolling in the snowbank — unnoticed — has stayed with me. Your article was the reason I bought that first issue and immediately subscribed. And with each new issue that landed in my mailbox, I relished the remarkable, insightful writing; the thoughtful information about everything from babies to big kids; and the truly genuine quality that came through in every word.
I can't even count how many times I ran across an article about something I had just been wondering about in my own son: an explanation of why kids write letters backward, forward, and upside down; an interpretation of why kids babble in their sleep; or an exploration of kids' dreams. It's like the editors could actually hear my thoughts from across the country.
Thank God I have every issue preserved on my bookshelf. And I pray these talented folks will start up something similar and beautiful in the future.
I remember a comment you once made, Catherine, about missing simple things like doing a jigsaw puzzle when your kids were little and would have eaten the pieces. I remember you saying that you did a jigsaw puzzle when you were pregnant with Ben. Can time have really gone that fast? It doesn't seem like I read that all that long ago...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I gave a glass jar of your granola to my dad for Christmas this year. He's asked for two repeat batches already!
OMMFG! Why hasn't Disney fired their tech team and hired someone competent to run their servers???
ReplyDeleteClearly I should be blogging more to get up to date on things but my jaw just DROPPED when I got that kind little postcard informing me that Wondertime is no more but do not fear because I can get Family Fun instead. Are you kidding me???? I am so so so sad, and you, Catherine Newman, were always one of the highlights of my favorite magazine ever (really). Family Fun? No thank you. I did come across a periodical called "Brain, Child" which has similar essays as in Wondertime, but the periodical is formatted like an academic journal, which I get enough of at work. Sigh. I will now check in on the blog, and please tell The Mouse that I am very very unhappy with their decision to stop publishing Wondertime. Can't you guys go back to being some independent gig?
ReplyDeleteYeah! The puzzle is coming along. I feel sam about wondertime. They provide really amazing recipes and article for the parents. How come its ending.
ReplyDelete