I used to hate fresh ginger - I didn't like the spice. But over the years, it's slowly grown on me until its become an outright addiction. The other day I was really hankering for some ginger soda, so I rummaged around in the kitchen and experimented with making a quick cheaters version made with fresh ginger, simple syrup, sparkling mineral water (like San Pellegrino) and a splash of fresh lemon juice. This is so refreshing and good for everybody all the time (unless, I guess, they hate ginger or something), but would also be useful for settling an upset stomach.

For the ginger juice, I peeled and sliced a 3-4 inch piece and blended with just enough water to cover, then poured into a jar through a fine strainer (you could also use a juicer - if juicing, use half as much ginger juice while mixing your sodas.)

I made a classic simple syrup (a 1:1 ratio of cane sugar to water, bring to boil, let cool), but honey or maple syrup would probably work as substitutions.

I like to mix up a glass at a time so that it doesn't go flat, but you can certainly extrapolate and make a pitcher for a group. I like to start with about 2 tablespoons each of ginger juice and sweetener in 8 oz. of sparkling water, adjusting my ratios until it tastes good, then add a splash of fresh lemon juice and serve over ice.

1, 2, 3. By my Dad's office at work there is an old pear tree, so he brought me two big hauls (the first batch went bad before I got around to doing anything with it, woops!). They're sort of hard pears that don't exactly ripen quite right, awful for eating but great for cooking. I made pear sauce for the first time and it was downright luxurious. Just peeled and cored pear chunks, a splash of vanilla and a dash of cardamom. Cook down and puree. Delicious.

4, 5. Indy has plenty of toys, and in truth she plays with a lot of them very frequently, but sometimes when she's spent the whole morning in our hair and had a million time outs I realize that maybe she's more bored than naughty. Then it's pantry items to the rescue. Mixed dried beans (which she calls "coffee beans," very appropos I suppose since she loves to put them in her little coffee/tea cups) and quick homemade playdough.

6. This guy. He's reached that gnaw-on-every-thing-and-I-mean-everthing phase. Parents everywhere, you know what I'm talking about. I don't even necessarily think teeth are imminent, but you never know.

7. Toasting spices for homemade pho.

8, 9, 10. Wool. Pulled out a bunch of wool diaper covers a few days ago, and found some of those awful moth larvae and their holey evidence. Boo. Moved everything to the cedar chest in our room and threw a lavendar sachet on top of them. Washed and lanolized a few and (no! not blood!) dyed a few. Unsweetened kool-aid packets are basically an acid dye, so they work wonderfully on protein fibers like wool and silk. Some of Indy's wool wraps were stained with no hope of recovery, but now they're red and adorable and look good as new.