World Design

Living in Alamo, California, my children aren't exposed to a diversity of culture. However, JP and I make an effort to introduce them to world influences with different types of food, music, books about different cultures. Additionally, I try to intersperse different world influences into our home decor and tell them the stories when I can get them to listen:

African Wedding Baskets, the traditional gift given to brides in Zambia and Angola, sit on the table in our entry.


Two sets of Chinese Fortune Sticks, a traditional method of fortune telling, sit in the family room to be used randomly when they catch someone's interest.


A vintage Suzani, a form of Uzbek textile art that was traditionally made as a part of a woman's dowry, roams around the house and has lately found a home on JP's and my bed:


And most recently a vintage Indian Kantha, a quilt that's block printed and quilted by hand, was added to our stack of throws in the family room.


I like to think we're planting the seeds of curiosity now, and our children will grow up with open hearts and a taste for adventure that will take them around the world to see for themselves what's beyond their safe havens of California, Washington, Idaho and Arizona.

The Great Cinnamon Bun Quest of 2009

Occasionally, Suburban Zen wanders off the chosen topic of interior design for families and into the weeds on some randomly selected tangent. This is one of those times.

Early in the year, Jack came home from his best friend Jake's house one night and said "Why did I have to come home so early? Mrs. Lawrentz was making cinnamon rolls." Now I have to admit, in my head my response was

"Geez, Sheryl, you already have the most polite child in the town of Alamo, a house that's (according to Jack) a million times more fun than ours, and now you must make homemade cinnamon rolls on a weeknight? Dial it down a notch, girl. I can't keep up."

But out loud I said "Sounds yummy. Let's make some this weekend." That exchange developed into the Great Cinnamon Bun Quest of 2009. So far this year, I have made six different kinds of cinnamon rolls, looking for a recipe that's simple, delicious, and doesn't take an entire afternoon to make. For the benefit of Suburban Zen readers, here are the highlights:

Williams-Sonoma Cinnamon Roll Mix
Never did figure out what I did wrong, but the resulting product looked more like dog biscuits than cinnamon buns.

Martha Stewart's Truck Stop Cinnamon Rolls
The recipe calls for 10-13 cups of flour. Need I elaborate?

I was planning to try the Barefoot Contessa's Easy Sticky Bun recipe, but realized my definition of easy and hers were vastly different when I read that the recipe takes two days to make.

After much trial and error, I've found that the Holy Grail of cinnamon rolls is:

Buns made from Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix with two tablespoons of sugar added to it
Williams-Sonoma's Cream Cheese Frosting recipe, which I discovered when I made it for their Sweet Lemon Cupcakes and used the leftovers on my Cinnamon Rolls the next day.

Yummy indeed, and they can be made in less than an hour. Since the Great Cinnamon Bun Quest of 2009 began, I learned from Sheryl that she was making cinnamon rolls from a can that night. But her house is still way more fun than ours.

Home Gym - 2009 Edition

When I was in high school, I thought I'd be an architect when I grew up. In my art classes I drew many versions of my dream house, and even designed architectural plans and built a model for my dream house as my Senior AP Art final project. In the early design stages, my dream house always included a workout room. As I've mentioned many times in Suburban Zen, my Mom was ahead of her time, and we had a stationary bike in our basement in the 80's. I rode that bike every night, and a workout room filled with equipment seemed like the ultimate luxury to me.

Now that I am actually grown up, and can buy and furnish my dream house, we don't have a workout room, but we do have some pretty fancy equipment:

A pair of Pumas that I use to walk to the donut store most Sunday mornings with Katie.
A bike that I ride around the neighborhood, to the middle school, to the Farmer's Market, or to Lawrence's for a cheeseburger on a weekend afternoon.
A large dog that I chase around the coffee table when he steals the pillows off my sofa.
Same large dog that pulls JP around the neighborhood, simultaneously strengthening his arms and improving his cardiovascular health.
A 40 pound five year old child who still likes to be picked up occasionally.
A swimming pool in the backyard that's mostly used for floating, but now and then used for swimming laps.
A basketball hoop, two skateboards and a scooter that keep Jack as physically fit as IronMan.

No one room to keep it all in, as all the rooms are filled with children. That wasn't part of my plan when I was in high school planning my dream house, but our 2009 version of the home gym works just fine.

The Last Family on Earth Without DVR

We are indeed the last family on earth without DVR. Or On Demand. Aside from a few gadgets in my life, I'm not a huge fan of non-essential technology. It always seems to create as many problems as it solves.

However, I'm finally ready to take the plunge and invest in DVR and On Demand for the simple reason that I can't find a DVD in my house when I want one. We've tried storing them alphabetically, by genre, by rating. No luck. If I want to watch a movie on a friday night, I have to resign myself to watching whatever I can find in the room I'm in.

I estimate that we've invested around $15,000 in our DVD collection over the years, and really just watch Ocean's 11, National Treasure, Iron Man (I do love Tony Stark), and Notting Hill over and over because those are the movies we can all agree on and can find.

Call the cable guy, JP. I'm ready to donate that big DVD collection to the local library and use those cupboards to store my shoes. We will no longer be the last family on earth without DVR. But sorry Jack, we will still be the last family on earth without AirSoft Guns.

School of Mom

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd do a few more posts on the subject. My Mom, for example. She was ahead of her time in lots of ways, and much more mellow than I realized when I was young and living in her house.

Mom, thanks for teaching me some valuable lessons that I use today in my house:
Let the kids use the good china, silver and crystal. What's the fun of having that stuff if you don't use it?


Life's too short to use paper napkins


Anything can be a decorative object. I'll never forget the wall of baskets in the kitchen -- and that you actually used them.


If the kids paint the walls in the garage while you're out for the evening, don't freak out. It's only the garage.


Let the kids redecorate their own rooms. I spent many Saturday afternoons moving furniture around in my room, moving things from other rooms in the house into my room, and then evaluating the results. Good practice for my chosen profession.

Casual is cool. While my friends' Moms had very fancy living rooms and dining rooms, we never did. We used every room in our house.

Now that I have a house of my own, I am just like my Mom. Casual, pretty mellow, and willing to bust out the champagne flutes on a Saturday morning if that will make my kids smile.

Love you Mom.

Happy Mother's Day

I've noticed that many of the articles I read about what to do for your Mom on Mother's Day have to do with cleaning the house:
Pick up your toys
Clean your room
Make breakfast for Mom and then do the dishes

I think that's very nice, but for one day, let's all take the day off from worrying about the house. Here's some really useful advice about what to do for your Mom on Mother's Day (Andie, Jack and Katie, listen up):
Give your Mom a hug
Paint your Mom's toes
Turn the tables and tuck Mom in at bedtime: fluff her pillows, tuck in her blankets, bring her a cup of tea, and give her a kiss
Actually answer Mom's questions about who you're crushing on and and what's going on with your best friend instead of dodging them.
Text Mom more that you text your friends today
Laugh at all of Mom's jokes today

There you have it -- a free pass from keeping the house orderly today. Furber Kids, take it and run with it!

Backpacks Everywhere

I'm looking forward to the end of the school year for many reasons:
I've volunteered for Jack's end of the year picnic, and Jack loves it when I volunteer for his activities
Andie graduates from middle school this year, and Jack graduates from elementary school
The backpacks can be put away for a while

Throughout the school year, it seems like backpacks are everywhere and my family room looks like this:

when I want it to look like this:

Not likely. The red chair in the family room has become a junk magnet, and everything related to the school day is dumped there the second the kids come home from school.

My project over the summer will be to develop a system Andie, Jack and Katie can use to pack their backpacks when they're done with their homework, tuck them away for the night and actually find them again in the morning. Whether my new system works perfectly or not, it's bound to be a vast improvement over my current system which consists of yelling in frustration at least once a week "Hey short people, come and get your crap. This chair is not your dumping ground!"