Friday List!

Sarah's List:

I love the line from this article: "When I imagined my journalism career, I never pictured myself standing shirtless in a unisex bathroom in the White House." America, you're so, so, so behind when it comes to making it easier for mamas. Remember this?

Check out this beautiful and totally bizarre Namibian slide show/fashion show. Colonization at it's best. Or weirdest. You can get the book here.

Image from here and Jim Naughten/courtesy of Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, N.Y.

JacksonPollock.org. Pretty sneaky and totally addicting.

Be sure to check out this new blog: How Babies Work: Emergent Thinking About Emergent Humans. At a party last night, I really resisted the temptation to bring up this post about animals as breast pumps.

Animals as breast pumps and vice versa. Photo by Paolo Cipriani/Hemera.

If you are between the ages of 25 to 35, I dare you not to smirk. So true, thank you Facebook. Obnoxious Friend Won't Stop Attaining Major Life Milestones.

Seriously, cool it with the achievements. From here.

Floor plans of all your fake friends' apartments.

From laughingsquid.com.

In the age of vanity sizing and internet shopping, this tool seems ridiculously practical. Find out What Size Am I according to each store.

Image from dollymix.tv.

Jill's List:

Swooning over these posters:

Buy poster here.

Haunting vintage photography.  I used to spend hours with dusty copies of my grandparents' ancient National Geographic...

Image from NatGeoFound.

Still fascinated with ultra-humans.

Ultra-althlete, Kilian Jornet from the NYTimes.

Making plans for this year's Kima Mbangu 5K Run/Walk with friends from Les Fonds pour les Femmes Congolaises again this year.  Congolese women working for Congolese women.

Ten Years in Ten Numbers.

Image from Foreign Policy.

And if you like numbers...  Numbers on the DRC.

Pili-pili eggs by J. Humphrey.
  

Dreaming of Istanbul.  Layover Summer 2013, here we come.

Gorgeous photo from Adventures of a Good Man.

A dreamy blog talking about a dreamy skincare line.  Sigh.

Image from the gorgeous Roost blog.

And. Giving my family of four hope that one day we might be able to squeeze stylishly into a teeny-tiny apartment.

Apartment tour a la Cup of Jo.

Finally.  On repeat at my house:  Low & Lucinda Williams.  Both really, truly incredible new albums. Especially the Kitchen Tapes and all those tracks by Mimi.  Go listen right now.

Image part of Lucinda Williams album art by photographer James Minchin.  See his Mad Men stuff here.

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Omelet.

Last night, I surveyed the situation and found myself with a sick husband, two hungry kids, and an empty fridge.

After some rummaging, I found the following:

• half a can of black beans
• 1 small, forgotten green pepper
• 3 good potatoes, 1 squishy potato
• 2 limp, tiny leeks
• 1 carrot
• half of a cucumber
• 36 eggs

That's right.  36 eggs.  We eat a lot of eggs and have them delivered by the flat-full every week.  They arrive covered in feathers and muck.  It's kind of great and kind of gross.

I wanted to prove that I was totally capable of single-handedly taking care of morning and evening routines at our house...even if the main cook was sequestered miserably in the back room.  I kept thinking about this radio program I used to listen to when we lived in Seattle. People would call in and report the pathetic contents of their "empty" refrigerators and a famous chef would calmly explain to them how to make a gourmet meal out of nothing.  I wanted that number.  If I emphasized that I was calling from the Congo, I would be sure to make the cut.

Image from here.

I decided there was one solution:  french fries.  When crisped up in some oil and salt, even a squishy potato can be reborn into something delicious, right?  I followed the Martha Stewart pre-soak process and got the fries going in the oven.*  I ignored the unbelievably annoying behavior that arises from post-homework, pre-dinner children.  I tried to figure out what goes with french fries.

Which brought me to the holy omelet.  A little fancier than scrambled eggs and a perfect hiding place for some slightly old cheese (hey, I cut off the moldy bits) and those two tiny leeks.  As I've repeatedly stressed, Johan is the cook in our house.  He is the one who knows things about eggs.  So, I turned to Cup of Jo for assistance.  This article, in fact.

And, now, I'm convinced that I am some sort of omelet savant.  The recipe was that good.

I mixed up the rest of the vegetable remnants from my house into some sort of black bean salad (using Smitten Kitchen - who else? - as a guide), set everything on the table, and lit some candles.  And by "candles," I mean "iPad" - on which we all watched Barbapapa.  Sometimes, it truly is okay to watch TV while you eat.  Last night being case and point.

Eating ethereal eggs + cheese + french fries while watching bizarre French cartoons with quiet, chewing children is an experience that every mother should have when her partner deserts her for a stomach virus.  I highly recommend it.

Image from here, here, and here**.

And this morning, I know three things:

• I need to go grocery shopping.
• I'm really happy Johan has rejoined the land of the living.
• I make incredible omelets.

* I would like to note that nobody makes fries like Adam Sensamaust.  Nobody.  Even Martha Stewart.
**Read more about Barbapapa amazingness at the incredible blog, "Vintage Books My Kid Loves".

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The Mama-cation

I think there's something to be said for the mama-cation. As in the vacation that mamas take without their families. Jill and I both just got back from trips away from our families and we feel incredible.

Yes we were working, but honestly sometimes it feels oh-so-good to not be a mama. I don't think either of us would ever feel inspired to leave the country sans family, but when work requires it, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Every year before I leave, it pretty much sucks. I hate every sentimental moment. That last night you put your kids to bed. Imagining all the new words Ani will say or the gymnastics moves Charlotte will show off. "Do you remember this one? Mama, how about this one?" And every year I swear I'm never leaving them again.

But then I board the plane and it takes off...and the landing gear goes up and...ahhhh.

I read this article last year about the motherhood vacation. Once a year this woman heads out on her own and does whatever. the. heck. she. wants. Genius. She even took a photo of her bed.

I remember in extreme detail the hotel bed I slept in the first time I left 8-month-old, up-all-night, non-stop nursing Annaïs. I fell in love. With sleep. I went to bed and didn't wake up until the next morning. I think this must be the second most happiest moment a mother experiences after that moment your baby is born.

I can say this next part because Adam doesn't read Mama Congo, but there is no way, no how that I would ever let him leave me alone with our two children. I desperately love them, but they are co-conspirators to a professional degree. I have no idea how he does it for so many minutes..so many hours..so many days while I'm gone. Alone.

Sometimes Adam will go outside to put chicken on the grill and when he comes back a few minutes later all 3 of us are crying. And I give him that look of: What took you so long? Don't you ever, EVER leave me alone with these children again. In my defense, I swear they keep all their crazy in until they're with just their mother. Surely other mothers have noticed this phenomenon...

The mama-cation re-teaches you about yourself too. For example, did you know it takes me 90% less time to get ready in the morning when I am alone? The first morning I asked for my wake-up call way too early and spent 45 minutes staring at the wall, waiting to leave, thinking, "Wow, how did I do that so fast?"

It's also incredibly fulfilling to talk to your family via Skype and then when the meltdowns begin you simply say, "What? I can't hear you anymore? Everyone's screaming too loud. Okay, bye!" Click, hang-up.

From cupofjo's Would you Ever Take a Vacation By Yourself

Again, I can say all this because #1 Adam doesn't read Mama Congo and #2 during this last trip while I was away I booked us a vacation to Europe in a few weeks. Alone. Well together, but sans children. He deserves some time away from our dear girls too and solo trips out to the grill just aren't cutting it anymore.

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One Day in Accra

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Mama Vida's Batik

Mama Vida has this dress.  It's purple and obviously not made of Congolese pagne.  It's batik cloth from Ghana.  This dress is old - at least 15 years, since that's when Vida left Ghana for Congo.  It's worn.  It's been repaired often.

Yesterday, I went out to  buy Mama Vida some new batik for a new dress to remind her of Ghana.  This wasn't a plan.  The only request that I had from anyone for my trip to Ghana was "Shea Butter!"  Right before I left, Mamas Vida, NouNou, and YouYou all lobbied me to bring back as much of the stuff as possible, for everyone's beautification.  Mama Vida had obviously been extolling it's virtues.

Mama Vida said she didn't need anything.  So, I decided she needed some batik.  Which brings us to Esther.  Esther was a name of a Mama given to me as the person to go to for quality cloth.  So, a group of us in the workshop I'm attending (more on that later) called her up and she agreed to stay open late so that we could swing by after working all day.

Here I am with Mama Esther.  I obviously love having my photo taken.

The process of choosing a batik print (made by Esther) was difficult.  So, her son, Joe, helped out.  He  asked what shade and size Mama Vida was ("Is she a very fat Ghanaian? Very thin? Very short? Ah, middle sized!  Very dark? Or light?  I know this type.  You will need lots of cloth, then.") and helped me find two pieces of cloth that he said would be perfect.  We disagreed on the wild purple and green.  Agreed on the yellow.  And came to an understanding about the muted blue and red.  In the end, I chose two pieces:

We'll see which one she chooses.  Mama Esther and Joe both said they were "Nice, nice" in the same tone and cadence as Mama Vida uses when she compliments LouLou on a drawing or praises Elias for reading.  "So nice, nice."

We also hit up a little fair trade shop called Global Mamas before heading to sushi.  That's right.  Sushi.  I'm a happy person.  This trip has been mostly intense work, but the play has been quality.

But.  I'm really missing these folks:

And Johan too.  Very, very much.

Tomorrow, my plane will stop off in Togo, Nigeria, and Gabon after Ghana and before landing home in the DRCongo.  Can't wait to deliver the goods to Mama Vida and squeeze my family.

For now, I'm off to the market.

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Kinshasa on the Red Carpet

Did you see this? I finally watched the Oscars last night (I know, I know I'm a week behind. Blah, blah Argo wins). And this Congolese actress rocked some pretty great Vlisco pagne on the red carpet. She was so excited to be at the Oscars, she was the first one there. My kinda girl.
 

From thegrio.com.

Rachel Mwanza is an actress from DRC and was in the movie Rebelle (War Witch) about child soldiers. You might remember this made my list as a too-intense movie I most definitely will not be seeing. She lived for years on the street here in Kinshasa before she was in a documentary about Kinshasa street kids, aptly named Kinshasa Kids. Or as I think of it, another haunting movie I cannot handle. Félicitations Rachel!

Bonus: Check out Vlisco's celebration of Women's Month. And vote for DRC as your favorite country of inspirational women. Just think of the mamas!

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Friday List!

Sarah's List:

Looks like somebody's been reading Mama Congo. Surely this is where she found 46 Reasons My Three Year Old Might Be Freaking Out. Okay, or maybe not. But here's a good follow-up to the age-old question: Why does my kid freak out? Short answer: "If you didn’t have good communication skills or much of a frontal lobe, you’d freak the f**k out every once in a while, too."

My puzzle piece won't fit upside down!?

I just happened to find this buried deep in the news: Congo Coup Plot Foiled. Seems as if the alleged leader was Etienne Kabila, the eldest son of Laurent-Désiré Kabila who says Joseph Kabila isn't really the son of Laurent-Désiré and thus had no right to inherit the presidency from him. This claim isn't new and is a commonly held theory amongst Congolese. My informants now tell me Etienne isn't his son either. A true Congolese-Shakespearean drama. The plot thickens.

Etienne Kabila, the eldest son of Laurent-Désiré Kabila - See more at: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Parentage+Congos+president+questioned+coup+plot+foiled/8022085/story.html#sthash.FQOan5Xr.dpuf

Etienne Kabila, the eldest son of Laurent-Désiré Kabila - See more at: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Parentage+Congos+president+questioned+coup+plot+foiled/8022085/story.html#sthash.FQOan5Xr.dpuf

C'mon. Who is your son, really? Image from here.

Seems like people can't get enough of these nostalgia photos lately. And so, I bring you dearphotograph.com. Note to self: Start taking easily-reproduceable-20-years-later photos.

Image from dearphotograph.com

12 Enjoyable Names for Realtively Common Things. Funny, I always thought the "box tent" was just the previous life for my Barbie stool.

Box tent aka Barbie stool. Image from here.

Missing Adam while I'm away and these quotes reminded me of his favorite method of insult these days: "Well, it's not my favorite shirt, but it is my least favorite shirt." Or: "Well, it's not the best idea, but it is the worst idea."

From 21 Scathingly Witty Insults by Famous People

Hoping Jill reads my links and brings me back some Kingsbite from Ghana. It's not the best chocolate I've ever had, but it is the worst. (See how that works?) No really, it's not good, but would bring back oh so many memories of my favorite country on planet earth.

Jill's List:

Step One:  Take Statistics test.  Step Two: Pack for Ghana.  Though I can't really even think about my trip to Accra this Sunday until the Stats test is done and over, I did find myself wondering about the Ghananian equivalent to Tembo.  Star Beer?  If you're in the D.C. area, looks like you can get some at this place.

Image from Flickr.

We plugged this new blog on Wednesday, but will do it again today.  Check out Governance & Democracy in E. Africa if you are ever seeking a little less Mama and a little more politics.

Image from here.

Okay.  I am thinking about Ghana.  But just in an effort to not think about Statistics.  For example, this is my first opportunity to pack light in almost 7 years.  i.e. My first trip where I don't have to also pack for small children.  I'm studying up.  Like this:

Holy Organization.  Found here.  More clothing sketches here.

And thinking it would be easy if this were my carry on:

Buy bag here.

 Go, go bacteria and breastmilk.

Images from here.

And.  Dr. Seuss (it's his birthday tomorrow) on malaria:

Image from NYTimes.

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