German Dutch Baby Pancakes

This morning is a quiet one. After a week with mom, College Boy returned last evening via Greyhound bus to Drury University. I do not recommend travel by bus, at least not Greyhound. When I was a college student myself eons ago, I once made the 90-mile-trip home from the University of Alabama to Prattville on a rickety old Trailways bus. Let’s say the trip motivated me to find another way home. I think I can safely say the same for CB, who definitely picked up a couple of stories to write about. Some things never change.

CB is good company though, and I do miss him already. We watched a couple of movies, Crazy Heart (recommended with a caveat or two: It reminds me of Robert Duvall’s 1983 Tender Mercies — whose plot summary according to IMDb is: “Alcoholic former country singer Mac Sledge makes friends with a young widow and her son. The friendship enables him to find inspiration to resume his career.” Well, Duvall won an Oscar in 1984, and so did Jeff Bridges this year, and who I am to question reusing plot lines if it works. But I did ask myself what the heck moved a young thing like Maggie Gyllenhaal to shack up with a broken-down man like Bad Blake?). CB and I also watched Blind Side, and being from the South and loving football, how could we not like this one?

One night, elder son made us homemade pasta and sauce (Bolognese with pappardelle), and another night, I barbecued (a.k.a. burned up) some chicken slathered with the remaining Montgomery Inn barbecue sauce I was saving for a special occasion. The chicken was accompanied by my potato salad, which CB had requested.

On my morning off, CB and I went over to our favorite Batavia breakfast spot, Lume’s, and indulged in a Dutch Baby German pancake. If you have never had one, I recommend you try them. In these parts they are rather expensive, and I thought I’d give making them at home a try. And thus, I discovered, they are amazingly easy to make and right tasty too.

• Here’s my version with slight modifications to the recipe found at How to Make German Pancakes—Dutch Babies. I used the smaller version, which the author says serves 2 to 4. First revision: I ate the whole thing but would say it would serve 2 non-gluttonous individuals quite well.
• The eggs and milk were just out of the refrigerator. I am an impatient sort.
• Forget the business about bread flour as opposed to all-purpose flour. I can’t imagine my Dutch Baby any higher.
• I used more vanilla and skipped the cinnamon and added about a quarter cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of butter instead of 7 teaspoons, which might be the equivalent but I didn’t want to calculate differences in tablespoons and teaspoons.
• I used a well-seasoned 8-inch cast-iron skillet and would recommend a 10-inch instead simply for the reason that instead of a quarter-inch bottom, I ended up with a half-inch depth. Not bad—just might have been a tad better if it had been thinner. Be sure to follow the recipe as to getting your oven and skillet hot before adding the butter (probably ought to melt it) and then the batter. My Baby cooked in approximately 15 minutes. So, I would suggest you check on your pancake prior to 20 minutes just to be on the safe side.

Well, you can see from the photos the Baby turned out pretty pouffy. After sifting confectioner’s sugar over the Baby, I served it with lemon slices and syrup. Somehow I felt the Baby deserved an upgrade from Hungry Jack Lite syrup, but that was all I had in the house.

Happy Saturday!

Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite

No “Good night, John Boy,” at my childhood home. It was always Mom saying, “Night, night, don’t let the bedbugs bite.

I just thought it was a sweet way to close the day. Later, I realized bedbugs are real. And maybe you have had an up close and personal encounter.
But Fort Collins, Colorado, apparently does not plan to become a bedbugs mega center.
Colorado State University’s annual Great Sofa Roundup was canceled after organizers worried they might be recycling the little critters as residents hauled used sofas to a CSU parking lot instead of dumping them in alleys at the end of summer leases.

However, when I came across a toy with a bedbugs theme, I had to get it for Nicolas as I gradually build up a Gramma stash of little guy accoutrements.

Lost

College Boy has joined the Dharma Initiative a.k.a Fermilab, the world's leading particle physics lab. Monday was orientation and CB is amazed by the brainpower around him. With over 6,000 acres, Fermilab is a pretty incredible place environmentally too. We drove around yesterday when I picked up CB and found the buffalo herd. Nice. But we did get Lost.

Pandora Rocks

I’ve been listening to Chet Baker Radio today as I re-immerse myself in a long-tabled project. I have son Scott to thank for turning me on to Pandora. I’ve added a link so that you can check it out, but I am enjoying my Chet Baker and company as I work nearby.

The way Pandora works is that you pick an artist and they pick music they think you’ll like. You can thumbs up or down it and create your own little “radio” station. Fitting, in that Scott is taking a radio production class this semester away from Hendrix College at our excellent community college, Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove.

And a rambling afterthought. One of my favorite bloggers, Marsha, is soliciting view on whether her high school daughter should go away to college next year or stay at home and attend a community college. Of course, I chipped in my opinion, which I must confess is also rambling. Do y’all see a trend here? My conclusion was to weigh the pros and cons but of course this blogger is well ahead on that front.

Me, I never wanted to go to college anywhere but the University of Alabama. So, I never struggled with that decision. However, decades later when I wanted to learn design skills, I found the Advertising, Design & Illustration program at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn was excellent and my instructors were talented as well as great teachers.

Where was I? I am supposed to be working on a “long-tabled project” and not blogging. I told you I was rambling. Add distracted to that too

New Kid on the Block Rating Colleges

Forbes just came out with a challenge to venerable U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of colleges and universities. America’s Best Colleges ranks 569 four-year institutions out of approximately 4,000 schools in the country.

My son happens to attend Hendrix College, which ranked #97—not too shabby for a little gem of a private college half-an-hour outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. I wonder though about any methodology that uses RateMyProfessors.com for 25% of the evaluation.

Oh well, what the heck. These beauty contests are what they are—just one tool to look at in the college-selection process. If your son or daughter is beginning the process, look up some parents whose students currently attend potential schools, have your student visit the campuses and sit in on some classes.

I had a Cincinnati mom write me asking about Hendrix College and I gave her my honest opinion, and my son blasted the college’s overbooked housing situation in the e-mail he sent. Word of mouth is just as valuable as these rankings.

More later after next weekend’s sojourn to Razorback Land. College Boy will be setting up housekeeping in an apartment. Are sophomores really equipped for this level of responsibility? Ah, the worries of helicopter parents.

May the Luck of the Irish Be With You

College Boy just returned to Hendrix College yesterday after a week at home for spring break. Mostly we caught up on how he's been doing, what he does with friends, what college students watch on TV (House & Project Runway)--that kind of stuff. He applied for some summer jobs, made his dad a birthday cake and definitely caught up on his sleep. Remember how I worried he wouldn't be able to wake himself up for classes? I didn't even ask if the Sonic Boom Alarm Clock was still in use, but rest assured, his hearing-impaired roommate isn't bothered by it. Funny how things work out sometimes.

And today I post this as I head back to Chicagoland to visit. It's about an eight hour drive and I'm throwing my Chiefton's CD in the front seat for the trip. It is St. Patrick's Day after all and I feel lucky.

Focus the Nation National Teach-In

From the Hartford Courant:

With an urgency — and a sense of irreverence — reminiscent of the anti-war movement of the 1960s, a group of activists from Portland, Ore., has recruited students at more than 1,000 college campuses, K-12 schools, civic organizations, church groups and private companies to conduct a massive “teach-in” on global warming Jan. 31.

Focus the Nation, the brainchild of economics Professor Eban Goodstein of Lewis and Clark College, has energized the push for possible solutions to the problem of global warming.

Here in Springfield, students, faculty and community and business leaders are planning a full day of events on Jan. 31 as Drury University hosts Focus the Nation: Nonpartisan Solutions to Global Warming. Drury University’s Hammons School of Architecture will be the location for discussions ranging from “The Science of Global Warming” to “What Would Jesus -- and Moses, and Buddha, and Muhammad -- Do?”, which will explore religious values in an environmental context. And "Fanning the Fire - The Common Good: Public Policies We Can Live With" will be a concluding panel discussion by top city leaders.

But Drury University is not the only local university involved with Focus the Nation. Missouri State University reportedly uses 15 tons of coal to power the campus for one hour, and according to the Focus the Nation Web site students will get a very accurate idea of what that looks like when trucks dump 15 tons of coal at the student union the day of the teach-in. I have no idea what 15 tons of coal looks like much less who will clean it all up, and I am so intrigued by this idea that I may have to stop by and see since MSU is in my neighborhood.

Note added after original post: A local source tells me MSU is supposed to have barrels of coal on campus to demonstrate how its energy upgrade of buildings is saving the university tons of money and cutting the area’s coal use. Drury is supposed to dump about 7 tons (not sure about the exact figure) to show the university’s 6-8 hour use of coal each day. This information differs from what is posted on the Focus the Nation Web site which may have been earlier plans. Please don't blame me if you go to either campus looking for all this coal and find things are different.

Hold the Ice

Let it snow! But please, hold the ice. Unfortunately, it’s too late. Nature isn’t listening. She is too busy raining on southwest and central Missouri this morning. And with temperatures hovering around freezing, we have an ice storm.

When I peek out the window, the ice-laden limbs seem to sag even lower. Treacherous streets and walks mean I’ll stay inside and prepare for College Boy’s return tomorrow. He has one more final and the first semester will be a wrap. Helicopter mom has learned much and so has CB.

Photo from last January's ice storm that hit this area, downing thousands of trees and leaving people without power for days. This storm shouldn't be nearly so bad.

A Christmas Homecoming

College Boy will be home for winter break in six days. Final papers, tests and assignments will have been completed and CB’s first semester will be history. I sense a note of anxiety in his voice when he makes those less frequent calls home. At this point, my job is to reassure him that he can do it even for the class whose professor gives “hard exams.” With advice like, “You study harder and more than you ever thought possible,” I also tell him that all I expect is that he gives it what he’s capable of doing.

I did, however, receive an unexpected phone call this morning at 8. “I’m just calling to let you know I’m up,” CB said. “My politics and terrorism final is at 8:30, and I didn’t want you to worry.” “Oh,” I replied, “I didn’t realize it was then. And I really don’t worry. I know you’ll do what it takes.”

Yes, I especially look forward to this Christmas homecoming even if it means the grocery bill will spike upwards for the next few weeks. It will be good to share the nest with him and catch up on movies and pop culture and hear all about his new life and friends.

I’m lucky and don’t think I don’t know that.

Picking a Good College

Ironically as I checked out the results from the latest National Survey of Student Engagement, College Boy called me on his cell-phone.

I disavow the overused helicopter label but will admit this son stays in touch more than his older brother did 11 years ago. That’s a Millennial trademark by the way. This year’s findings show

“Contrary to what some educators believe, students who frequently talk with the parents and follow their advice participate more frequently in educationally purposeful activities and are more satisfied with their college experience. This is also true for students with so-called ‘helicopter parents’—those who intervened with institutional officials to solve problems their student encountered on campus.”

Approximately 313,000 randomly selected first-year and senior students at 610 four-year colleges and universities in the U. S. and Canada participated in the survey.

Other findings of note: When faculty members provide guidance and feedback on projects and papers, students are more satisfied and say they benefit more in desired ways, students who study abroad report greater gains in intellectual and personal development than peers who don’t, internship or field placement is the most powerful form of senior experience and 13 percent of first-year students have parents who frequently intervene with college officials and another 25 percent had parents who did so sometimes.

USA TODAY has a searchable database of 257 schools organized by institution type. NSSE benchmarks are compared to the average in five categories: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences and supportive campus environment. For the first time this year, some colleges and universities are sharing this typically private information with the public.

A push for greater transparency and a growing dissatisfaction with the much-hyped U.S. News & World Report rankings are perhaps behind the willingness to go public. It’s certainly a great tool in research during the search for the right college.

Here in Springfield, Mo., Drury University’s rankings are well above average in all areas for first-year students and for seniors in all but one area. In four out of five areas, Drury’s first-year student benchmarks were at least five points higher than the average for peer institutions. And that is a rather strong indication that Drury University is providing an excellent education for her students.

And in case you were wondering, CB's college, Hendrix, fared pretty good too and is a particularly supportive campus, which is very reassuring even if one is not a helicopter parent. And I swear I am not!

Encouraging Minority Entrepreneurship

Springfield’s Drury University and St. Louis-based investment firm Edward Jones announced a new scholarship recently targeted at minority students in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas but open to students throughout the country. Drury is offering 10 $10,000 scholarships for incoming freshmen and “will change the face of the university,” according to Interim President Todd Parnell. Coupled with other institutional financial aid, it will be possible for a deserving student to have his or her tuition completely covered.

Now I know this may not seem unusual for an institution of higher education to offer diversity scholarships, but it is significant for this area of the Ozarks because there are so few non-Caucasians here. Our population here in Springfield is over 90% Caucasian.

The Edward Jones Minority Scholarship Program at Drury University will open many doors. Students who receive the scholarships will also interact with local and national business leaders through Drury’s Edward Jones Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and they’ll participate in internships and training with Edward Jones. Last year Drury’s Board Chairman John Beuerlein and his wife, Crystal, partnered with Edward Jones in donating the money to establish the Center, and Drury is fast enhancing its reputation for providing a great business education with an emphasis on preparing students to soar in today’s global economy.

I suspect many first generation college students will have a shot at a top-notch education because of this generosity and foresight. And this first generation college graduate thinks that’s a right fine thing.

Note: Check Drury's Web site for more information at http://www.drury.edu/index.cfm

photo: Emily Pitts from Edward Jones is charged with implementing the firm's inclusion initiative.

Review of Behind Happy Faces

Tomorrow is National Depression Screening Day. A few days after I participated in a bloggers’ conference call about campus mental health, a copy of Behind Happy Faces arrived at my doorstep. Written by Ross Szabo and Melanie Hall, this book is a very personal look at what happened to Szabo when he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder his senior year in high school. The authors weave other stories into the message that, despite the stigma society attaches to mental health issues, help is out there and that with treatment, there is reason for great hope.

The authors don’t sugarcoat their message though. While they point out statistics may show that “a large majority of people who seek help can see improvement in their symptoms,” they must first be willing to ask for help.

Szabo and Hall have written this book as a guide for young adults. Yet, their work is valuable for those who love and work with young people. They touch on what I believe to be the most difficult issue and offer suggestions about how to get those young people to see the need for help. Common mental disorders like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder are discussed. And Szabo describes how in his case, he fell into substance abuse to self-medicate the pain of his illness as so many other people do.

Whether it’s planning, maintenance, understanding the illness or adjusting one’s lifestyle, the authors stress “you are not your disorder.” They write: “The reason this distinction is important is because it casts a more positive outlook on your treatment. You’ll start to think of your disorder as something you can manage, not something you’re stuck with, or something that can’t be help.”

While this is a straightforward and realistic look at mental illness in young people, Szabo’s story provides much encouragement. From the low point of wanting to take his own life, he has come to terms with his illness and has an understanding of what it takes to manage the bipolar disorder. The authors promise no easy answers but they do offer advice from the mental health community and Szabo’s personal experience. Today, Szabo is Director of Youth Outreach for the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign and a popular campus speaker for CAMPUSPEAK, Inc. where he has reached thousands of young people. You might also catch him penning a post for the Huffington Post. He is a man with a mission after all.

Behind Happy Faces is a book that ought to be on the bookshelf of every high school and college counselor, adviser, teacher and administrator.

Ozarks Road Trip

Last weekend was Parents Weekend at Hendrix College, which regular readers may recall is where College Boy is right now. I’m never one to turn down a road trip, especially one through the Ozarks. We passed lots of cows and horses, and I suspect deer, but they weren’t out. It’s a good thing too, because deer and cars don’t mix very well. Ditto for elk, which this part of Arkansas also has.

Conway is about a three to four hour drive depending on how much stopping you do. We do a lot. I have already found a good lunch spot, Neighbor’s Mill Café in Harrison, Arkansas. On the return trip, we stopped off and took a peek at the Buffalo River, a National River, and one of the few rivers in the Lower 48 without dams along its 135-mile course, which makes for remarkably fine canoeing.

College Boy himself seemed to be happy to see us and let us treat him to dinner Friday night before he was off to spend time with friends. However, he gave his whole Saturday to us—minus time for sleeping late and a nap. While he slept, we hit the breakfast spread put on to meet faculty where we met one of CB’s professors. She and the rest of the faculty seemed pretty neat. The campus is small, compact and lovely but getting bigger. Former Sen. Bill Bradley had just visited earlier in the week to dedicate the new Wellness Center. Complete with a rock climbing wall, wood-paneled hallways and shiny marble floors, this place is a tremendous asset, and CB has a wonderful place to work out. Oh, and CB got to meet Sen. Bradley and ask him a question when the former senator spoke to CB's class, Issues in Politics: Terrorism.


CB showed us some of his world—the library, the tiny radio station where he has a weekly show—and Dad saw his room (I decided it was better that I skip this part of the tour and trusted husband’s report, which is classified). We lunched on lasagna and met the cafeteria ladies who CB says remember to ask how he did on tests and notice when he looks tired. Thank you dear ladies.

It seems for CB now the rather small enclave of the campus is his world. And yet, I feel as if he has had thrown open wide the doors to the whole world.

Campus Mental Health Front and Center

Note: Revolution Health, the folks at a new online health resource founded by AOL co-founder Steve Case, noticed my incessant blabbering about college and invited me to join in on a bloggers’ conference call about campus mental health issues. While not strictly a health blogger by nature, I was intrigued since I have a college freshman son. I’m passing along what I found out and hope that if you are a college student, or know or love one, you’ll keep this advice in mind. And check out the new Website http://www.revolutionhealth.com for I think you’ll find a wealth of good information there and at the special section devoted to college life. Also, you can listen to the hour-long discussion.

I often ask myself when son calls, “How’s he REALLY doing?” and “Would he tell me if he wasn’t handling life or school very well?” So, like many parents whose young adult child has left the nest, I wonder, "How life’s treating my son?" Since I went to the parents’ orientation I learned his campus has plenty of resources at the counseling center and even an informal “watchdog” group, which follows students who have been identified by their professors as perhaps students who might be struggling. But parents must remain connected despite the distance and the push on the part of students to enjoy this “great moment of freedom.”

A little personal background: I watched for years as my father lived out a mostly troubled life after he returned from serving in World War II. He went from VA hospital to VA hospital and from job to job. My aunt tells me that until he left home at 16 to join the Marines, he was fine. However, by the time I came along, and he had moved our little family back to Alabama, that was no longer the case. One of the earliest memories I have is of a visit to Bryce Hospital, down a long tree-lined avenue to a stark, white-columned building. The memory stops at the door and fails to unveil just what led up to my father being placed in the state mental hospital.

Back then, people would whisper, “He had a nervous breakdown.” That’s how people explained mental illness with its secretive and mysterious disappearances. No one went away for treatment or to rehab. These were still the days of electroshock to wipe away the mind’s demons. And even though electroshock therapy has managed to shed some of the stigma (can anyone forget 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?), today it is used for cases of severe depression and in a different manner from the days after Italian Ugo Cerletti developed the idea in 1938.

So, I was happy to participate in the call. Expert number one: Ross Szabo, Director of Youth Outreach for the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign, went to college with a bipolar diagnosis and found self-medication with alcohol didn’t work for long. Dr. Mark Smaller, Ph.D, the second expert, is a practicing psychotherapist and Director of Analytic Service to Adolescents Project as well as Director of the Neuro-Psychoanalysis Foundation in New York and London, a graduate of the University of Chicago and on the faculty at Chicago's Institute For Psychoanalysis. There were four of us bloggers (Lena from Sex and the Ivy, Therese of Beliefnet, John, me) and the moderator, Dr. Val Jones.

Szabo’s story is compelling. In January of his senior year in high school, he tried to take his life. By the following fall, he was a freshman at American University turning to alcohol to self-medicate the pain. He ended up in the hospital getting his stomach pumped from alcohol poisoning and suffered a “massive relapse.” He withdrew from college but returned and graduated in 2002 with a degree in psychology. Today, Szabo is a motivational speaker on college campuses, reaching thousands of at-risk students with his message and efforts to remove the stigma from mental illness. He has a book coming out this fall called Behind Happy Faces. His advice for students: Have a plan. Research the college and know what the counseling center has to offer. Talk it over with your current doctor if you are under care and have a plan. Stay away from drugs and alcohol. Develop a healthy lifestyle. Have a system. Sleep. Know what’s going to work.

Dr. Smaller emphasizes that going to college for the first time is a “huge transition.” This is the time “vulnerable spots in someone’s personality” may surface. According to Dr. Smaller, “Parents and students can be in denial about the intensity of this transition.” “Some students will immerse themselves in studying for awhile” and this will work. But he stresses parents should know the warning signs that may distinguish normal angst from a full-blown depression. Here they are: trouble sleeping (not sleeping intensifies any mood), eating too much or too little, social isolation, lack of concentration and a disconnect.

How do you encourage students to seek help?
Szabo says students hear a lot about alcohol at orientation but not much about mental health. He wishes colleges would “take the model on alcohol education and apply it to mental health” and add a dose of peer-to-peer contact. “Treat it as a health issue. Students may fail to seek help because of issues of trust or self-hatred Szabo says. Other excuses may be no time. But he urges them to realize the need to move beyond this attitude.

Parents must stay connected to their kids during this initial period of freedom. Visit the school if signs of distress appear. Let them know they can call. Szabo says parents don’t know what to say and that emotions are hard for many to talk about with their kids. Parents may be “frightened and just sitting down and having a conversation is alien,”he says.

With students who come to college with mental health issues already, parents have to emphasize the nature of the transition and have a “very frank discussion” with their students. Dr. Smaller says he often stays in touch with his patients and will schedule a visit at Thanksgiving just to touch base. Szabo says it boils down to “Is that student going to be cooperative?” He says that the student may come to realize, “You know I didn’t choose this problem, and I am going to have to follow treatment.” Being compliant is a hard problem. Parents must focus on health in these situations and say, “If you stick with the treatment, you’ll be able to stay in college.”

So What Do You Do If You Think A Student Needs Help?
Friends and family can do a few things if they think a student needs help, but they can’t “fix” their friend or child according to Szabo. He says one way to break through the isolation and fear of going for help is to say, “I’ll go with you to counseling. I’ll sit in the waiting room and we can talk afterward.” According to him, “15-24 year olds have the lowest rate of seeking help.”Another suggestion is to compare the brain to another part of the body. If you had a broken arm or diabetes, you likely wouldn’t hesitate to seek help. It’s a “fight with their mind,” adds Dr. Smaller. Remind the student that with time and treatment, things will improve.

Depression’s classic warning signs according to Dr. Smaller: sleep issues, lack of concentration, hopelessness, the attitude that things aren’t going to get better. Parents, if you hear this from your son or daughter, take heed.

College Boy Does the Laundry

“Is it ok to use that All with bleach alternative detergent on everything?” CB wondered. “Sure,” I replied with a smile. “That’s it,” he said. After I hung up, I thought I’d better tell him one more thing and called back to say, “Son, use cold water.” Veteran moms know cold water may not be as effective, but it’s a whole lot more forgiving.

This morning in a short before class call, CB shocked his mom with, “I just want to thank you for doing my laundry all those years. It’s hard.” Laughing, I replied, “Well, I am surprised to hear you thank me. That means a lot.” “Yeah, it took me three hours,” he said, “but I was able to study while I did it.”

I hope CB is learning as much in class as he is outside of it.

Sustainable Explained

At its simplest, sustainability means taking as little as possible from resources that cannot be renewed. A movement without real leaders, it seems to have the greatest resonance on college campuses, always a home for new thinking. Student groups and sessions dedicated to sustainability are flourishing. While some produce little but conversational--and political--gas, others are preaching practical solutions. At Drury University in Missouri, a campus conference on using natural resources ended with a posting of “10 simple ways to support sustainable living in the Ozarks.” Among the suggestions: Shop at local food producers. From “The Greening of America’s Campuses,” New York Times, Jan. 9, 2006

I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.
Theodore Roosevelt


I’m still getting my feet wet trying to understand just what all the “sustainability” or green movement involves and I’ll bet I’m not alone. However, with all the attention Drury University’s first Habitat for Humanity sustainable house project is getting, I’m educating myself. That’s why I included the excerpt from the Times, which seemed a simple enough explanation of “sustainability” even for me.

Drury’s 1,280 sq. ft., four bedroom, two-story Habitat house will have carpet made from 100% recyclable material, a ground-source heat pump (I had to look that one up and as I understand it, that’s geothermal energy), energy-saving windows and radiant heat in the floors.

I don’t care if you think global warming is real, natural or humankind induced or not. Going “green” and using building practices with sustainable materials makes sense in the long run. Of course, cost is a factor and must be balanced, but we can begin to make changes that will prove we can be wise stewards of God’s Green Earth. And even this morning, I found in my inbox a link to a new survey by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, “The True Costs of Green Building,” which “found that the costs of ‘green’ building are frequently overestimated – often by as much as 300%. The report notes that such misjudgment of the costs of ‘green’ construction creates barriers to more energy efficiency in the building sector.”

What can we do? Something as simple as an old-fashioned clothesline is an energy-saving device. How about recycling rainwater? Ceiling fans? And buy local. I have lost my love affair with China and her cheap products. Maybe it’s time to rethink what we put into our shopping carts and the energy it took to bring the items all the way from the Far East. But the most important thing to me is to encourage our young people to continue along this path of fresh and innovative thinking.

Sustainable and Affordable Housing

“I see life as both a gift and a responsibility. My responsibility is to use what God has given me to help his people in need.”—Millard Fuller

Anyone who has read the Sink for any length of time knows I’m about connections. As a recently transplanted Alabamian, I found that Habitat for Humanity, the wonderful organization started by an alumnus of my Alma Mater (The University of Alabama School of Law), has a chapter here in Springfield, Missouri, at Drury University. However, Drury’s chapter among others is taking Habitat and community service homebuilding to a new level. Drury’s school of architecture students designed a sustainable or “green” house. No, this isn’t a greenhouse for plants. It’s the kind of wise design for the future I wish more home builders would engage in themselves.

On Monday, during a morning of heavy rain, the Drury community took the first construction step, building prefab walls, inside an old warehouse. Despite rotten weather, some 300 strong, the volunteers included students, faculty and staff.

I think Millard and Habitat co-founder Linda Fuller would be proud. That dream of helping families in their quest for decent, affordable homes, which started back in 1976 after a trial run in Africa, is taking a new direction with forward-thinking efforts like Drury’s Habitat chapter. Follow along with me to see the "House that Drury" builds.


Note: Can any reader impress me and tell me the name of the other famous or infamous University of Alabama School of Law grad Fuller made his millions with?

Photo used with permission and courtesy of Drury University.

First Empty Nest Weekend

Lest this blog take on too much of a college theme, I’ll be brief. Saturday, We helped some Drury University students and parents with the move-in process. Husband had to cajole me a bit as I still hadn’t recovered from son’s move in down at Hendrix College earlier in the week. However, after the sweaty morning was over, I was glad to have helped.

Our local paper, The Springfield News Leader, had a nice story Sunday on the letting go process in which we parents are engaging ourselves. And I smile now as I remember some of the items I carried the other day as I noted the sometimes bewildered and worried faces of moms and dads. I wanted to reach out and give them a big hug and tell them the folks at Drury will be there for their daughters or sons. But to one mom, I seriously doubt that iron you sent with your son will ever make it out of the box just like half the stuff I packed for Scott.

Good luck, parents, as we whip out the scissors and cut those apron strings.

Nearly Time

How did it get so late so soon?
It’s night before it’s afternoon.
December is here before it’s June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
Theodor Seuss Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss

Part Two
It’s the ah-ha moment. I get it now. For the last month there’s been this tension and at times a snarliness that puzzled me. Nothing I did seemed to be right.

CB is pulling away, reading himself for the changes ahead, readying himself as both the driver and navigator. His dad and I are merely backseat passengers now, and he is in charge of which route to take, not us.

The procrastination too, is his way, I believe, to assert that independence.

Today's the big day. I feel as if we’re off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. CB’s house, Martin is known as the men’s party dorm. Hendrix College doesn’t have a Greek system, but residence halls seem to take the place of sororities and fraternities and bind a mad assortment of personalities in at least one common identity. Martin is to CB as Gryffindor is to Harry Potter.

Hendrix doesn’t have a football team either. A t-shirt with the message “Hendrix Football—Undefeated Since 1961” is popular among some alumni. CB hopes the president’s idea to bring football back flops. CB says, “That’s one reason I didn’t want to go to Bama.” I swear that boy is mine, and he’s even been to a Bama game, but the Crimson didn’t wear off on him good enough. Anyway, Hendrix is exploring NCAA Division III football and that hardly compares to the Southeastern Conference, does it?

So good luck to the class of 2011, “The Harry Potter Generation,” and my fellow parents. I’ve got a box of Kleenex stashed in the car. I’ll let you know if I need them for the return trip home and we’ll see if I can follow more of Dr. Seuss’ wisdom: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

Shopping for College Stuff

Oh to have a daughter who loves to shop. My soon to be college freshman has inherited his mom’s anti-shopping gene. Here it is a little over two weeks until launch date, and we just made our first dorm room-shopping excursion.

Don’t panic for me all of you super organized moms and dads. We are going to recycle some leftovers from older brother—two sets of perfectly decent sheets, for example. We have a little microwave and a rug. But that leaves a whole lot of shopping. I don’t want to get down to Arkansas (Hendrix College) without more. Yes, I know they have stores, but every first year student and his or her parents will be in them, and I hate crowds as much as I hate shopping.

So, yesterday we stopped off at Target for some basic bedding items like a nice memory foam bed topper, comforter, pillows and a compact tool kit. It was fairly painless. The trick, I’ve found out, is to take son to a movie, feed him and then spring the shopping on him.

After perusing the dorm room essentials links this morning, I now realize that I'm not going to get out of spending more money--a whole lot more if I'm to believe the Rocky Mountain News which says, "In 2006, the average family of a college freshman is expected to spend $1,200 on furnishing and decorating his or her college dormitory room, according to the National Retail Federation." Yikes! And we've only just started.