Straddling the Century Line

On Subscribing to My Local Paper

2012-01-22T12:12:00.000-05:00

We'd been talking about it for a while, subscribing to the local newspaper. We'd done it several times in the past but always canceled it when papers started piling up unread. Our desire to start using coupons in our grocery shopping convinced us to try subscribing again, which we did this week. We opted for the weekend-only delivery this time since all we really want is the coupons from the Sunday paper. Of course, I can't see having a newspaper in the house without reading it, so here I am on a Sunday reading the actual physical paper.

The first thought that always comes to me when I read the local paper is "Why didn't I know this was going on?" I like to think that following various local organizations on Facebook and Twitter is keeping me informed, but just in five minutes of flipping through the paper I found out that:

--the local school board decided NOT to close M's former middle school after all;
--John's Toy and Hobby, a well-known independent toy store, is closing after 50 years;
--the chamber of commerce is having a Dancing With the Stars-style fundraiser;
--there was a pie-tasting day at the homemakers' center in Gastonia.

I know that reading news in digital form is more convenient. However, I find that I miss out on so many events going on in the community when I stick to online news. It is too easy to zero in on particular stories and miss the incidentals. The physical act of flipping pages results in articles catching my eye that I wouldn't have even known to look for, like the Dancing for Future Stars fundraiser.

My internet use tends to crowd out every other activity, so I'm sure the papers will pile up unread again in due time. For now, however, I will enjoy reacquainting myself with my community.

Birthday Week Chez Moi

2012-01-13T12:24:00.001-05:00

This week I turned 45. I've never been one to stress about my age, but I must admit that I am beginning to feel a few twinges of melancholy about approaching 50. My grey hairs are more evident, I don't get carded at the ABC store, and new people I meet aren't as surprised as they once were when I tell them my age. Of course, the positive side of being older is that the kids are older, too. C1 and C2 will be 15 tomorrow, M will be 19 next month, and DJ will be 14 in June. I enjoy them all so much more now that I can relate to them as people with their own thoughts and ideas instead of as creatures who need to be fed and trained not to pee on the floor.

We don't have elaborate birthday celebrations in this family, and even if we did we wouldn't have this year due to the family still being in mourning over the loss of the MIL. I got Chinese food and chocolate-filled cupcakes (which the kids need to make again - yum!). C1 and C2 will be celebrating their birthday tomorrow with homemade fish & chips and onion rings, a nod to our fascination with English TV. There will also be some gaming tomorrow: Dance Central, Rock Band, and possibly some tabletop games.

As for gifts, I got an iPhone 4S from ABM. He has really been on the ball with gift-giving lately and getting me things I really want. I wasn't exactly pining away for an iPhone but for the past year or so, I've been wanting to get my hands on either an iPhone or an iPod Touch to try out. I still enjoy using my Galaxy Tab that I got last Mother's Day, but I have found it slightly frustrating that every time I hear about a cool game it shows up on iOS first. I have to wait months for it to show up on Android, if it gets ported there at all. Since we bought three of my kids and my nephew the iPod Touch for Christmas, I will also be able to experience some of the the more social games like the With Friends line from Zynga. Hopefully that will inspire me to do more posting and more reviews on this blog!

To Sir With Love

2012-01-06T10:47:00.000-05:00

A pal on Facebook posted a meme where you post a YouTube video of the song that was #1 the week of your birth. For a long time I thought it was "To Sir With Love" but that song didn't actually hit the top of the charts until November of 1967 (thanks, internet!). Still, this song and movie hold a special place in my heart. The movie was played often on Saturday afternoons back when I lived in the country with no cable TV and no internet. It, along old shows from the BBC that aired on our local PBS station, shaped my view of England and the 1960s.

I'm making resolutions, gosh darn it!

2012-01-05T14:17:00.002-05:00

In the past few years it has become fashionable to say that one does not make New Year's resolutions because they are so passe. The belief is that one gets carried away by the fresh tide of a new year and makes grandiose plans that are doomed to fail before February roll around. Well, this year I am in the mood to make a few resolutions and I am not ashamed to proclaim them!

--Spend at least 30 minutes each night doing some chore: I have the kids handling the basics like dishes and laundry, but the infrequent tasks like cleaning out closets are not getting done. If I do a little each day, I can keep myself off the current season of "Hoarders".

--Read at least 4 books a month: This ties in with my book blog. If I don't read, I don't have anything to post. I joined the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge to help me track this. Although I feel like I am doing a lot of reading now, in reality it is composed mostly of blogs and online articles. I want to get back to reading actual books or listening to audio books. The internet helps me keep up with pop culture, but books help me exercise my brain and make me feel more well-rounded.

--Stitch at least 5 items for myself: This could be knitting, crocheting, or sewing. I never make clothing for myself and I think it is about time. ABM bought me a sewing machine last year and I have yet to put it to use. My shabby wardrobe could use a little pizzazz.

My plan is to reevaluate at the end of the month and either change or continuing with the goals I've set here. Hopefully sticking to these goals will pull me away from my Facebook game addiction and give me something to blog about!

Sometimes Pills are Good

2011-11-20T12:19:00.001-05:00

This morning I woke up in pain. My muscles were aching from the waist up and the soreness extended right down to my fingertips. It was difficult to ignore, and yet I tried. The aches are part of my MS and there is nothing I can do about it so I might as well suck it up, right?

It may sound irrational, but I try not to take medicine if I can avoid it, even over-the-counter medicine. Back when I was in high school, I used to take six Tylenol pills at a time for headaches. Nothing bad happened as a result of that, but I decided one day that I was putting too much medicine in my body and I stopped. Ever since then I've lived by the philosophy that most ailments are temporary visitors in my body and I can wait them out without medicine or trips to the doctor. That worked fine when I was dealing with colds and sprained ankles, but multiple sclerosis is on a whole other level. MS is not passing through and it is not going away. Not only that, but every day it seems to bring with it a different symptom to deal with: fatigue, pain, flu-like chills, tingling or burning in my extremities, headaches, etc. I can't always take a day off and wait the symptoms out like I would with a cold because the next day something else may be on deck. So I have to take medicine to make me more comfortable and help me function.

Back to this morning: after spending a couple miserable hours hoping the muscle aches would go away, I gave in and took some ibuprofen. Despite my neurologist's assurance that my liver is fine and that taking ibuprofen whenever I needed it wouldn't hurt anything, I'm having trouble adjusting my thought that taking more than two pills a day is bad. It makes me feel like an old lady, and it's not sexy. Still, being curled up on my bed in pain doesn't exactly paint a lovely picture, either, does it?

On Watching My Husband Grieve

2011-11-18T10:50:00.001-05:00

It has been a month since the MIL passed, and people are starting to hint to ABM that he shouldn't still be so upset. All this does is pile guilt on top of the grief he is already trying to crawl out from under. He has always been a "suck it up and drive on" type of guy. He is trying to apply that philosophy to this situation and it isn't working. His head and his heart are at war right now, and I'm the journalist on the front lines reporting back to the folks at home -- I can only observe.

Watching ABM sort out his emotions and try to get through each day is gut-wrenching. If I could touch him and absorb his pain to give him some relief, I would. Every conversation is a minefield. Talking about inconsequential subjects like who is getting voted off of "The X-Factor" seems heartless, but whenever I say anything in reference to his mum I run the risk of making him break down again. If this were a physical ailment like a broken leg, I could at least bring him dinner and make him comfortable on the couch. There isn't much I can do to soothe his broken heart.

When Your World Stops Spinning

2011-11-07T16:17:00.000-05:00

On 22 Oct 2011, after a month-long hospitalization, ABM's mother (who I referred to here as "the MIL") died from complications after her double-knee surgery. Even though we weren't the best of friends like my BFF Rabbit and her mother-in-law, we seemed to figure out our relationship in recent years and there was a lot less arguing and sniping. I came to realize that she was probably lonely with no spouse or children at home and stopped resenting her frequent presence. I like to think that she finally came to view me as an adult capable of running a household and raising decent children.

I knew that one day I would have to deal with my children losing their grandmother and I thought it would be the toughest parenting duty I would ever have to perform. It never occurred to me that the kids would be easier to handle than ABM. The kids are sad; they cried at the hospital and again at the funeral, but for the most part they seem to be leaning on their faith in God and the belief that Grandmere is in heaven and no longer suffering from the pain she was in for the last month. ABM is having a real tough time of it. Of course I know it is natural to grieve the loss of one's parent, but I've never seen someone be so stricken before. I feel like such an unfit wife; ABM has always been this strong guy who doesn't need anybody and now that he needs help I don't know what to do for him.

What makes things worse is that even though our world has stopped spinning, it is business as usual everywhere else. Right before the funeral I was reading a novel in my favorite genre -- what my kids call "large print prairie romance" -- and there was a death in the book which necessitated the women to turn down social engagements and wear black for a year. I found myself longing for a return to that custom. In today's society, most schools and employers give you three days of bereavement leave and then expect you to return to work. There is no way that ABM could do that. So many sights and sounds during the day set him off.

There are other practical matters that, while it feels callous to me, have to be addressed sooner than later. Besides the business of figuring out her personal affairs and getting those wrapped up, the MIL was our main backup -- our third parent. Case in point: on Friday, C1 stayed after school for some tutoring. ABM forgot she was doing this so he didn't keep his mobile with him and I had forgotten to charge mine. In a situation like this, C1 would normally have called Grandmere and that would have been the end of it. Luckily, ABM finally got the message before the school was locked up and ran to get C1, but this incident was a wake-up call letting us know that we can't put off building a new network of backup people.

New knitting project: Lanesplitter

2011-09-16T15:38:00.000-04:00

I'm dealing with the MIL being in hospital and pre-vacation prep, and what does my crazy brain say? "I MUST cast on a new knitting project!" None of the hibernating patterns in my closet struck my fancy as something I wanted to carry on a cruise ship with me. Also, I have become enamored of the idea of knitting myself a skirt; it seems like such a retro thing to do. So I'm casting on the Lanesplitter skirt from last year's First Fall edition of Knitty.

How this skirt is going to turn out is debatable. When checking Ravelry, I couldn't find anybody who had knit the skirt in Red Heart yarn, which is what I'm using. Oh, well -- if it turns out to be an ill-fitting disaster, I can always turn it into a pillow! I'll share progress pics soon.

Starting the School Year with a Difference

2011-08-21T14:27:00.004-04:00

For the past several years, each school year has brought tiny milestones: our favorite school principal retiring, the last day a school bus stopped in front of our house, our last kid starting middle school, etc. These were all small changes, though, compared to this year. Two days ago, we drove M up to Mars Hill College and settled her into the dorm. We are now a family of five instead of six, at least until Christmas.

People keep asking me if I miss her yet, but if you really know me then you know I'm not THAT kind of mum. I did have to restrain myself from texting her several times but it wasn't because I missed her. I wanted to hear all about what she was doing. If I am having a new experience, I either text one of my friends or tweet during the whole thing because I want to share it. This time around, however, I didn't want to come off as one of those hovering parents so I'm waiting for her to contact me. I don't think I will truly feel M's absence for a couple weeks, simply because she spent half her time at the MIL's house to be closer to school for band competitions and such.

ABM and I are still mulling over all the ways that things around here will be different now that M is at uni. There will be one less person to wake up for school in the morning, one less person to worry about at dinner time (M is such a picky eater!), and one less person helping with chores. There will also be no one to watch the ballroom competitions with me and cheer when the couples bump into each other or laugh at the overly dramatic Korean soap operas with me. M and I didn't spend a lot of time together, but we enjoyed each other's company. Being the late bloomer that she is, we didn't develop that combative relationship that teenage daughters have with their mums until about six months ago, just in time for her to push off on her own.

For ABM's part, he is already going through a bit of parenting withdrawal. M was a challenging student at best, so ABM is accustomed to micro-managing her schedule. I don't know what he is going to do now that he can't call teachers, set up meetings, or have weekly progress reports. I've been trying to get ABM used to the idea that he must relinquish control and let M handle things herself, but he doesn't seem to be ready for that.

I love me some Cee Lo Green

2011-08-09T12:32:00.001-04:00

Cee Lo Green's brand of R&B is different than everything else I've been hearing on the radio, and he does fun videos, as well. Plus, it IS nice of him to give Jaleel White some work :-).

Streaming Killed the Video Star?

2011-08-08T14:11:00.000-04:00

Infographic by: Wistia

My Computer-Free Day

2011-07-31T09:44:00.002-04:00

Yesterday turned out to be a computer-free day for me. I read, exercised with C2, discussed fashion with C1, and played Rock Band with M. Usually the only thing to get me away from the computer would be a power outage! I didn't even miss being on the internet, though. I had fun spending time with my teens.

The key to having more days like that is to avoid turning the computer on first thing in the morning. My routine on Saturdays is to check my email while one of the kids brings me a cup of coffee. My laptop is housed in a pocket that ABM built onto the side of my bedside table, so I usually grab the computer before I even get out of bed. There will probably still be many more days like that, because my energy level is pretty low on most weekends. However, I am making an effort to evaluate how I feel and not just lay around in bed because it is Saturday and I can. That has gotten to be a habit and I am trying to shake things up.

Ode to a Departing Friend

2011-07-11T11:04:00.002-04:00

Today is the last day that my neighbor LJ and her family will be in the house across the street. They are embarking on a great adventure: moving to Hong Kong for work reasons. Even if they decide to return to the States after the first year of her husband's contract is completed, they probably won't come back here because they have family in other parts of the country. So this is the last day that we will be seeing LJ, her husband, and their lovely kids.

Although most people find me to be at turns antisocial, moody, or sarcastic, what even my best friend Rabbit doesn't know is that I am a watery mess when it comes to goodbyes. Perhaps all those 1930s melodramas I've watched since I was a kid have trained me to cry when people leave -- I don't know. All I know is that I woke up this morning feeling weepy and sad.

My melancholy is compounded by the fact that I know LJ and her family have been much better friends to me than I have been to them. For a while, LJ's daughter was the adorable little sister that C1 never had and kept her company on many a lonely Saturday when the neighborhood teens decided they were too cool to come to our house. LJ's son was a great companion for DJ; even though he is an athlete who plays several sports, he also enjoyed playing video games and watching anime with my non-athletic son. As for me, I know that I would have indulged my broody, slightly agoraphobic tendencies during my bouts of unemployment if LJ hadn't been knocking on my door regularly to ask me a knitting question or to bring us muffins. Even as recently as last month, with all her worries about this move on her mind, LJ and her madre came over and helped ABM during M's graduation cookout when I was too fatigued to face people for one more second.

So, here's to LJ and her family. As the old Irish blessing says:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Why I hate bathing

2011-06-29T12:13:00.002-04:00

No, I don't really hate bathing but that is an eye-catching title, don't you think? Anyway, my neighbor HK posted a blog entry about how much she loves to swim. It made me think once again about my love/hate relationship with water.

I can go years without getting anywhere near a swimming pool, and on our last cruise I never even jumped in the ocean. Why? The feeling of warm water rushing over my body in a shower or floating in a large body of water is lovely, but then there is the aftermath. It may sound strange but I hate dealing with all the necessary tasks that come after being wet. Washing my hair feels good, but then there is the detangling. Taking a bath or shower is nice and of course I want to smell good, but do you know how much time it takes to towel off and moisturize a buxom gal like me? Swimming is glorious, but then I have to deal with the hair and the toweling off PLUS pulling myself out of a wet suit. If I happen to be on a cruise, I have to do all of that in a tiny cabin and quickly because we usually want to rush off to dinner or a show. Ugh!

My perfect scenario would be to swim naked and lay on the beach to air dry. Oh, and I would need a handsome manservant to apply the moisturizer after. Since I'm fantasizing, I'd also like curly hair that dried without tangles, thank you!

The Mother's Day Index -- How Do You Stack Up?

2011-05-08T12:34:00.003-04:00

Every year some company or other (this year it was Insure.com) comes up with a Mother's Day Index. They use statistics from the US Bureau of Labor to calculate how much mothers should be paid for all the services they provide. For instance, the median salary for a cook in this country is $9.53 an hour, so if we assume mothers cook about 14 hours a week then they should be earning $6,934.20 a year just for their culinary services. This year's index suggests that it would cost $61,426 a year to hire someone else to do all that a mother does, so the mother of your children should be insured for at least that much.

I've heard of this index before but it is usually as a sound bite on the radio where they just give you the total. Thanks to the internet, when it was mentioned on CBS Sunday Morning today I could go online and see the actual breakdown including how many hours a week mothers are supposedly performing each task. I thought it would be amusing to look at how many hours I devote to these tasks and see how I stack up.

The first thing I realized right away is that the list of tasks is more appropriate for mothers of younger children. I have four teenagers in my house and they don't need me to do some of the tasks on the index, like planning activities. They have 40 hours a week down for that; in my case it wouldn't even be 40 hours a year. My kids aren't ferried to soccer or dance class, either, so driving is completely off my list. As for cooking. once my picky kids learned to use the microwave, my hours spent in the kitchen went way down. I only cook three meals a week myself; I make suggestions and ingredients available for the kids to cook the rest of the week.

Anyway, after I adjusted the hours for my lifestyle, my personal Mother's Day Index is $19,559.43 a year. I'm not sure how that makes me feel. I already know that I don't do as much as other mothers. Seeing it as a number is a little weird, though. At least it is one way for me to show people I'm not being modest when I say that having four kids doesn't work me that hard.

My Mother's Day Surprise

2011-05-08T11:25:00.002-04:00

My Mother's Day usually consists of Chinese takeaway in bed. I've always been fine with that because everyone else takes their mothers out to lunch or dinner on this day and I don't want to fight the crowds. Despite what the jewelry stores tell you, not every mother wants jewelry, either. I'm perfectly happy with good food, hugs, and cards from ABM and the kids.

However, today the family went above and beyond. They bought me a Samsung Galaxy Tab! I've been saying for months that I am extremely attracted to tablets, but I can't see us spending money on something that is essentially a toy. I guess ABM decided that I deserved some fun in my life. It has been so long since I've had a new gadget, and I've been jealous of all the people trying all the new Android apps. I thought that I would be getting a new Android phone before now, but my Palm Centro won't die.

Anyway, I am SO excited about my Mother's Day surprise that I had to share, but now it is time for me to go play with it!

Curvy Boy Gets Measured

2011-05-04T20:04:00.002-04:00

Last Friday, we took DJ to get measured for his Boston brace. The videos I saw online showed patients getting wrapped in plaster to make a mold for the brace, but apparently it isn't done that way any more. The orthotist we saw took various measurements of DJ's torso and sent them to the company in Massachusetts to be punched into a computer. Another pleasant surprise was that the brace and the visit was only $1275 as opposed to the $2-$3000 that I was expecting. ABM's insurance covers all but 10%, which is even better.

Now we are waiting for the call that the brace is here so that DJ can have it fitted and trimmed, if necessary. He still seems to be unconcerned about the whole business. The crankiness will probably kick in after a week of wearing the brace 23 hours a day. Poor kid.

My sweet, curvy boy

2011-04-21T15:01:00.002-04:00

DJ's X-ray
Originally uploaded by daniinnc2010

A couple weeks ago, I noticed DJ was slumping over as he was sitting on the edge of my bed. When I told him to sit up straight, he said he was. That prompted me to take a closer look at his back and I saw that he had a hump on the right side.

Two trips to the doctor and two sets of X-rays later, the diagnosis is scoliosis. Apparently, it is more common in girls, but of course we don't do anything normal. There is no way of knowing what caused it; 80% of scoliosis is idiopathic. The doctors speculated that it may be due to the massive growth spurt that DJ had over the past year.

The good news is that DJ only has one curve. It isn't as noticeable as if he had a corresponding curve at his hips. The bad news is that it is 59 degrees, which pretty much guarantees he will have to have surgery; they start looking at surgery for anything past 40 degrees. DJ will be fitted for a brace soon. The brace doesn't correct the curve but it can prevent it from progressing further. Basically, if the curve stays the same after a few months of wearing the brace then we may be able to put off surgery until he is 17. If the curve gets worse despite the brace, then he will probably be having surgery by the end of this year.

How do we feel about all of this? Isaac is acting like it is no big whoop. Perhaps he will be a little more upset after he gets the brace, which he has to wear for 23 hours a day. According to my research, he won't have to miss too many of his normal activities. My only concern in that area is that next year is when we will be taking the kids on another cruise, and DJ spends practically all his time in the water when we go on vacation. He won't be able to do that with a brace on.

As for me, I'm about as numb as I was when I found out about my MS. When DJ was born, the first time I looked at him I had this sense of foreboding that something would be wrong with him. We made it through his failure to thrive, his rickets, his brief skin sensitivity phase, and his bout with RSV. Since I've always seen this cloud of doom hanging over his head, I'm just relieved that the diagnosis isn't something worse. I know that the brace is going to be annoying to deal with and that recovery from surgery will be painful, but the upside is that at least a surgery exists to correct scoliosis. Furthermore, the surgery has improved vastly. As recently as 10 years ago, kids had to stay home for six months with a home health aide and learn how to sit up and walk all over again. Now the recovery time is more like four weeks, with patients moving around in the first week. I thank God that my son was born in a time with medical advances such as this.

MRIs and Shots -- When will this end?

2011-04-19T21:30:00.003-04:00

It's been a year since my last set of MRIs, so I spent my morning in a metal tube. Up to this point I've had about four MRI sessions, but I've never been as anxious as I was today. After last year's mix-up -- I sat in the machine for 90 minutes only to be told a week later that I had to do it again because the scans weren't clear enough -- I was worried that I would be spending time in that tube for nothing.

Luckily, I've been hanging out in a supportive MS forum on Ravelry. The women there keep encouraging me to speak up when I deal with healthcare providers. Usually, I keep my worries to myself, but this time I told the imaging tech what happened last year. She made sure that the radiologist on duty took a look at the scans before I got off the table to make sure they were good. She also spoke to me before and after every section ("I'm done with the head", "I'm starting the neck now") which made it easier for me to gauge how long I had left. I have no natural sense of time so without some sort of touchstone, 10 minutes can feel like half an hour to me. All in all, the session went much more smoothly than I anticipated, but I'm glad I don't have to do it again for another year.

Something else I wish I could give up for another year are my Rebif shots. The auto-injector has made giving myself the shots much easier, but I still wish I could skip them altogether. It may sound crazy to some, but everything about M's senior year is stressing me out. Is she going to graduate? Will we order pictures/class ring/yearbook? How are we handling prom? Don't even ask me what college she is going to! With all the other stuff in my life, Rebif is an annoyance that I want to eliminate. I have to keep reminding myself that it would be selfish to stop taking the shots if they will prolong the amount of time I will be ambulatory and able to take care of myself. Still, the little girl in me this week is stomping her feet and shouting, "I don't wanna!"

The Use Up the Yarn Scarf in progress

2011-04-15T16:23:00.002-04:00

Scarf in progress
Originally uploaded by daniinnc2010

The skein of yarn pictured at right is Red Heart Super Saver in a color called Mexicana. It might as well be called Rainbow because I think every color of the rainbow is in there. This is not a yarn I would have purchased because I have trouble finding patterns I like for variegated yarns. It is left over from when M had yarn braids a few years ago. She didn't want just plain black so she added a few Mexicana braids into the mix. This yarn has been jumping out at me ever since then. Every time I open my stashette it begs to be used. Finally I gave in.

I've been fiddling with this yarn since the beginning of April. I could have just knit a basic stockinette scarf or hat, but I never make things that easy on myself. First I tried a multidirectional garter-sttich scarf but the swatch looked like one giant wrong side. Then I tried an entrelac scarf. That showed off the yarn to good advantage, but at my speed it would have taken forever to finish. I wanted something quick. This photo shows my third attempt using a pattern called Not Entirely Entrelac. it still has patches of garter stitch which I don't think looks very good on this yarn, but I am going to finish it, anyway. Either one of the kids will adopt the scarf or I will donate it.

This project is indicative of my knitting life. I get so wrapped up in trying to find the "perfect" pattern to go with the yarn I have on hand that I look back at the end of the year and realize that I didn't complete anything. I only have two finished projects for all of 2010 and there were both headbands that took me an hour each. I am determined to have more completed work at the close of 2011.

Time to eat my words

2011-03-30T20:18:00.000-04:00

Remember when I wrote that post about how much I dislike Facebook? Well, sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do in the name of being a good parent. I let my daughters start Facebook accounts this month, and I feel that I should be on Facebook myself to keep tabs on what they are doing. Despite all the hype, I think that overall the internet isn't that dangerous. Still, ABM and I would both feel better if we did all that we could to make sure the girls don't get into trouble online.

However, if you see me pop up on Facebook, don't send me a friend request. My main purpose for being on the site is to monitor what my kids are doing. With all my friends, I'd really rather correspond via email or visit your blog. The only exception is gaming -- if you like to play the games and want to challenge my high score on Bejeweled Blitz, then I will gladly be your Facebook pal!

Flotsam and Jetsam of My Life

2011-03-27T18:09:00.002-04:00

Here are a few trivial thoughts on what I've been doing this week:

--I've had three cans of beef sitting on my shelf for about a month but had no idea what to do with it. As we all know, I am not the most accomplished or intuitive cook. When I was making room on my canned goods shelf, I took a look at the labeling and it said that it could be used in spaghetti sauce. I gave it a try this evening and it worked better than I thought. The consistency is halfway between ground beef and minced beef. It would probably work pretty well in a soup, too. I'm just glad that I have a use for the other two cans.

--For once, ABM and I are almost on the same page when it comes to the house. Even though I am still not doing as much housework as HE thinks I should be doing, we are both in the mood to simplify our surroundings. While I've been purging and paring down our possessions, ABM has been renovating our bedroom. He replaced the computer desk and entertainment tower in our bedroom with more compact versions and mounted the TV on the wall. The bookshelf hutches on our bedside tables were separate pieces; he widened them, attached them permanently, and painted them black. He replaced 95% of the carpet in the house with laminate wood flooring. He even built a tall cabinet for the corner near my ensuite bathroom to house my purse and my knitting projects. There is work like this going on throughout the house.

All these changes make me feel as though I will be able to stay on top of housecleaning, even with the added challenge of fatigue. I've gotten rid of stuff that I don't need, the new furniture gives me specific spots for what I am keeping, and the smaller size of the desks gives me less space for junk to pile up. The floors in particular are a major improvement. No matter how careful we are, this family kills vacuum cleaners. We got to the point where we were slow to replace a dead vacuum cleaner because we knew that the next one was only going to last for a month. Now, I can grab a broom and sweep the whole house in no time.

--I got over my fear of spending money long enough to add a few new pieces to my wardrobe. ABM is not crazy with the amount of money I am spending on individual pieces because he focuses on quantity over quality when he buys clothes. To his credit, he is trying to adjust to the fact that I would rather buy pieces I love even if it means I have to wait a while between purchases. I think he is just sick of how shabby my wardrobe has gotten! Since I haven't bought much clothing over the past five years, I feel like I am rebuilding my closet from scratch. I've purchased bras, underwear, a pair of jeans, a pair of brown linen pants, a basic white button-down shirt, and a few t-shirts. Add those to the new sweats that ABM bought me for Christmas, and I'm feeling better about my appearance than I've felt for a while.

Fitness: That horse must be tired of me falling off by now

2011-03-07T21:10:00.000-05:00

Yes, I climbed back up on the fitness horse today by getting up and walking on the treadmill at 6a. It is part of a training plan on Sparkpeople called the 5K Your Way Walking Plan. It is designed to take you from being able to walk 15 minutes at a time to walking a 5K at the end of five weeks. My reason for starting this plan is actually kind of silly. I was watching The Biggest Loser last week and they were doing the challenge where all the contestants walk a 5K on treadmills. Even though they are doing the walking on machines, I find it just as emotional as when I watch a movie with someone running a marathon. Right after that I saw Sparkpeople's new training plans and, being all pumped up from watching the show, I felt like I could do it. Who says that reality TV can't be a good influence?

If I stick to this plan, I will be walking my personal 5K on 09 Apr. I'll be doing it on the treadmill for two reasons. One, I don't have a decent pedometer to be able to track my progress if I walk outside. Two, I want to be able to pass out in my own home as soon as I finish! Meeting goals has never been one of my strengths, but I'm giving it a shot, anyway. Horse, get ready!

"Once-a-Month Cooking" by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg

2011-03-06T08:00:00.002-05:00

Once-a-Month Cooking: Revised and Expanded: A Proven System for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen and Enjoying Delicious, Homemade Meals Every Day by Mary-Beth Lagerborg

Genre: cookbook
On my TBR list?: No

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

If you've read any blogs about parenting or homemaking, then you've probably run into the concept of batch cooking. As far as I know, these authors are the originators; the first edition of Once-a-Month Cooking was published in 1986. The basic idea is to do one big shop for all the food items you'll need for a month, and then the next day you spend about eight hours cooking and freezing dishes. You group similar tasks together, such as browning all the ground beef and then dividing it among the different dishes that call for it. Then the rest of the month you just pull a bag out of the freezer, thaw, and cook.

I read the first version of this book years ago when I was a newlywed. I took the whole plan on faith, cooked every recipe, and hated it. Many of the recipes tasted good to me when fresh but awful when reheated. In hindsight, they probably weren't that bad, but ABM and I ate out several nights a week so I was a lot pickier about my food.

It is now 20 years later and with four kids and a job (and the lower standards that come with them!), I thought it might be time to try a newer edition of the book. Dinner has become a real sticking point around here; no one wants to cook so we all end up living on the quickest thing we can warm up, like ramen or French fries. Being able to pull something out of the freezer and heat it up sounds like a dream, no matter how it tastes. After flipping through the book, however, I could tell that most of the recipes for dishes that my kids wouldn't touch.

All is not lost, though. The benefit of this book is that is gives you the idea of what types of foods and recipes freeze well. For instance, I never thought of freezing the chicken breast in the marinade. I didn't like many of the marinade recipes in the book, but now I know that I can use my own. Also, I think for my time and budget, even the two-week plan is a bit much. I would take maybe two hours on a Saturday and do only beef recipes, then the next Saturday do only chicken recipes.

Bottom line: I would say take a look at this book for the methods, but not necessarily the recipes.

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Adapting to my energy level

2011-03-05T20:12:00.005-05:00

This was not one of my proudest moments. All I wanted today was for one of my kids to step up and volunteer to shred the chicken for dinner. This request was met with silence. The next thing I knew I had locked myself in the bathroom and was bawling my eyes out. I've tried explaining to them that I am more tired these days, but kids are kids and they have a right to expect me to be a proper mum. To them, a proper mum puts a real meal on the table every night. So after I calmed down, I went downstairs and cooked dinner myself.

I guess it is a good thing that this is the time of year when I get the urge to read books geared toward homemaking. Right now, I have books on once-a-month cooking, home improvement, and starter gardens. This isn't the first time I've tried to streamline the way I run this house, but with my MS medication making me more fatigued than usual it is even more urgent to me to make my tasks easier. I'm hoping that I will find some tips in these books that will help lessen my stress as well as the time I have to be on my feet so that I can get some more rest.