I’m trying this recipe today. I chopped up the ingredients last night and so it was a quick throw into the crock pot this morning. Hopefully our dinner will be tasty and veggie filled.
UPDATE:
Delicious! And colorful. Because that’s important.
Archive | November, 2014
breathe momma breathe
23 Nov
Being a parent is THE most stressful thing. And I have it easy. One kid. No major health issues. Normal behavior. Easy peasy. Yet still THE most stressful thing. I must be a complete wuss or something.
Kiddo had a tummy bug a couple of weekends ago. She recovered in a couple of days but seems to complain of her stomach hurting on a very regular basis lately. This Friday night, more tummy issues that were not pretty and then this afternoon she started hurting again. This time actually writhing in pain in between bits of sleep. She’d say in the most pitiful voice, “Mommy, what’s wrong with me?” and “I only want my tummy to stop hurting”, and her little face was all scrunched up with hurt and I couldn’t do anything but lay next to her and stroke her hair and hold her hand. The Accountant and I debated a trip to the ER but then she’d settle down and sleep some more. At the very least, a trip to the pediatrician is in order if this keeps up.
And of course, you can’t research your kid’s illness (or anyone’s for that matter) without reading the most horrible and worst case scenarios. I know this but I Google whatever it is anyway, therefore only making the worry exponentially worse.
I don’t know how parents of children with chronic or terminal illness do it. I remember a sermon once by a man in his 30s who has a son who is disabled and wheelchair bound. He said that people say to him and his wife all the time, “I don’t know how you do it”. His response was a candid, “you don’t have a choice, you just do it”. I have no idea what the sermon was about but that anecdote sticks with me. My kid has a stomach ache and I stress eat an entire can of ranch flavored Pringles in one sitting.
Besides parents of seriously ill children, what about parents of more than one? How do you keep them all healthy at once? How do you possibly walk around wearing multiple hearts on the outside of your body and not drive yourself directly to Straightjacket Town thinking about bullies, sickness, broken bones, car accidents, food poisoning, bad grades, peer pressure, sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll????????? Oh sure, its two or three or more times the love and cuddles but also that much more of the worries and stress. I’ll pass thanks, but major respect to those of you who are rockin’ the parenting of multiple offspring.
Now I need a paper bag to breathe into. And more Pringles.
A Stuart Smalley moment
20 NovI fell asleep at 7:30 with the kiddo, and just woke up after much tossing and turning at 10:30 and put her in her own bed. I would have just let her stay but I noticed a work email on my phone and needed to log on to email to check something. Plus, this kid kicks. Really, “needed” is not true. It would have waited until tomorrow but I was wary about this one.
I’m currently working with a pretty high profile person on a grant and I’d prepared some slides that I’ll be presenting at a meeting in a few weeks. I took the assignment and ran with it and had sent the slides to my mentor for feedback with the comment to be brutal with suggestions and any redirection. Hello Nervous Finn. I tentatively opened the attachment to see that she had made only one sentence change and one very constructive suggestion, which I will include tomorrow.
Sigh of relief and huge grin.
Which got me to thinking about how I always second guess my abilities and what I am capable of. I’m a smart cookie but one whose confidence is easily shaken and it drives me crazy. Surrounding yourself with people who believe in you is definitely helpful but not always possible and you have to prove yourself in many cases and/or fake it till ya make it. Which I can do but its usually anxiety inducing for me.
I am lucky that some bizarre alignment of the stars has recently put me back into contact with someone who, for reasons I will never know and my best guess is that I charmed her with my magnetic personality (sarcasm), believes in me and has for years. I interviewed for a job as her assistant way back when and she decided that I was “over qualified” but wanted to work with me in some way. She knew of a position elsewhere that she thought I’d be suited for and viola, we made it happen and I worked there until the funding ran out. During that time I did some ad hoc website building for her on the side and learned a lot from that experience. After the 
website work, she and I lost touch for a bit. Then I found a new job and it turns out that my mentor works with this department on a consultative level and she found out that I had since landed there. She expressed the desire to my boss that she’d like to work with me again and repeat viola – now much of my current responsibilities are working with her. Its funny how things work out sometimes.
It is very important to me that I do a good job for her and I value her opinion and expertise so much. She is one of those rare people who are brilliant at what they do and want to help others find their place and actually takes the time to help them do so. Even a minion like me.
And as I am drugged up on Benedryl I am not sure if any of this makes sense, but the minion picture is super cute so we’re gonna call it a win.
humble pie for breakfast
10 NovIts 5:00 am and entirely too quiet, too dark, and too cold for the madness that is me getting up to go for a wog (walk/jog) this morning. The argument in my head was of the classic angel vs devil variety.
My Head: Its a new day! Go wog. You’ll be glad you did.
My Bed: Its soooo warm and cozy in here, isn’t it?
My Head: Shut up. Don’t encourage her to be a lazy, albeit well rested, chunky butt.
My Bed: You could get an hours extra sleep if you stay. Sleep is important for overall well-being and happiness.
My Head: Hey, Procrastinator Polly. I know you, if you don’t do it now, you won’t do it at all.
My Bed: You can just do it after work. The snooze button is your friend.
I finally shut them both down with a brisk “don’t think, just do” mantra and went outside, purposely leaving the side door unlocked so I could get back in.
It was cold this morning y’all. (Hush, Northerners, I hear you laughing at my aversion to getting out in balmy 30 degree temps.) But I readied my ear-buds, got my app started, and set out in a most zombie-like fashion. It wasn’t pretty but it was done.
My Head: Now, to get a shower, get the kiddo ready and delivered to school. I’m actually ahead of schedule so I bet I can make a quick grocery run after dropping her off and even get to work early. I WILL WIN MONDAY, YES I WILL!
Cue LOCKED DOOR.
No worries, the lights are on. The family is obviously awake since all lights were off when I left. I’ll just knock calmly and someone will let me in.
Crickets.
No biggie, they are probably just making breakfast and can’t hear me. I’ll just knock a bit louder.
Even quieter crickets.
The only family member who comes to the door is the one without useful thumbs…the dog.
Which brings to mind the reason that I am probably locked out. I deduce that The Accountant let the dog out to pee and out of habit, locked the door when he let pup back in. An honest mistake, although an irritable one since I had texted him to tell him I was going for a morning walk/jog.
Its cool, I’ll just try knocking LOUDLY on another door.
Silence.
By now my acquired body heat from the morning’s activity has worn off and I am getting cold. And quite angry because I have since realized that The Accountant is probably partaking in a nice warm shower and can’t hear me at all, and kiddo has been taught to never open the door to anyone if mom and dad are not around. Especially not to stark-raving mad lunatics who are banging at the back doors at 5:45 in the morning.
I now begin texting The Accountant…
Semi-Reasonable Finn: Dude, I’m locked out.
I move to the front door and ring the doorbell over and over again like a complete psycho.
Furious texting ensues…
Less-Reasonable Finn: #%$&@! THAT’S IT! I’M NEVER MAKING YOU POPCORN AGAIN! @ %&#@*! DO NOT SPEAK TO ME FOR 24 HOURS, AT LEAST! @&%$!*!
Are they even in there???
Completely Lost Her Mind Finn Who Is Convinced She Is Going To Freeze To Death While Wearing A Sweaty Turned Clammy Sports Bra And Mismatched Running Socks: @ %&#@!*! You are in the shower aren’t you!?!?!? @#%&$ HOW DARE YOU BE TAKING A SHOWER WHILE THE WOMAN WHO BIRTHED YOUR ONLY DAUGHTER IS OUT HERE FREEZING HER ASS OFF BECAUSE YOU LOCKED HER OUT!!!! @&%$!*! @&%$!*! @&%$!*! HOW.DARE.YOU!!!!
As I’m peering in through the window pane in between repeated mad ringing of the doorbell, I see a stark naked kiddo with a huge striped beach towel wrapped on top of her head cautiously peering around the corner. SALVATION! “Its ok, its mommy, its ok, its just mommy!” I yell at her. She tentatively approaches, unlocks the door and gives me a wary stare. I immediately worry that I’ve scared the poop out of her with all my banging and ringing and carrying on but she seems unscarred and only in need of minor therapy later in life. I explain to her that daddy locked me out and thank her for rescuing me from certain death on the mean streets of a suburban subdivision.
Then I get THE text, accompanied by mental divorce papers.
“I didn’t touch the door.”
You all know how this ends, right?
Sheepish Mommy: Kiddo, did you let the dog out?
Kiddo (looking dubious): Yeeeeeees?
Sheepish Mommy: And did you let him back in and then lock the door?
Kiddo (now looking around desperately for escape routes): Yeeeees?
Guilt-ridden Mommy: Its ok. You did exactly like you’re supposed to. Lock the door when you let the dog in and out, and do not ever open the door when mommy and daddy aren’t here. Mommy just thought your father locked me out and I got a little…antsy. Ahem.
The Accountant enters and Awkward Damage Control Wife appears, apologetic and embarrassed. The grovelling was not pretty but it was absolutely necessary after my legendary fit.
Suffice it to say, this wasn’t the best morning for positive spousal relations. You know what they say about assuming.
The Accountant and I have since repaired the damage to our relationship for the most part, although I am doomed to be reminded of these events until the day I die. But at least I won’t die of hypothermia because I plan to take a house key with me from now on.
So we made a fall wreath…
9 Nov
…and it’s kind of gaudy, but looks ok from the road. I don’t know what possessed me but a couple of weekends ago I got the urge to make something fall-ish for the front door, probably still riding momentum from our stellar Halloween decorations, and so I took to the internet for inspiration.
I found one on Pinterest (where else) that looked simple enough for novice wreath makers like myself and kiddo. The original with instructions is here. Ours looks pretty much nothing like the Pinterest one but for our first attempt, I think we did ok.
The materials were few and fairly easy to find in the local craft store (we went to Michaels).
- Fake flowers
- Straw wreath still in the plastic
- Greenery pins
- Roll of burlap
- Fall ribbon
FYI: I don’t think we saved any money by doing this ourselves. Fake foliage is expensive apparently. You’re probably better off financially to buy wreaths on clearance right after the holiday and whip ’em out next year.
For our creation you basically wrap a straw wreath with burlap and pin flowers on it. Then the hard part, wrapping and bunching and pinning more burlap in a semi-attractive way. I kind of failed at this but then we decided to add the orange ribbon as a distraction tactic because crafty crafters are crafty. The bow presented another issue as I also have no skills in this area but I finagled enough and finally called it adequate. And like I said, from a distance its a win.
Sunday, 11/09/14
9 NovThe work-week ended on a pretty positive note. The two meetings giving me ants in mah pants both turned out well enough. I went to an information session for Doctors Without Borders on Thursday. That was eye-opening and a great perspective check. They do such amazing work and shared many photos and stories from different missions. I was later irritated when someone told me they think I like the “idea” of doing something like that but not the actual doing of it. I was only taking a step to get more information about something I’m interested in. Whether I ever do anything like that or not, I can still support it and others who do it. Anywho. Love and light, love and light.
Flexibility when plans go awry has been the theme of this weekend. The original plan was to do the emPower 5K with my sister-in-law, but her grandmother had been ill and passed away. 😦 I know how tough the loss of a grandparent is and my heart goes out to her and her family. I was planning to drive home for the funeral and to see family but then kiddo began a nasty bout with a stomach virus Friday night that has lasted into Sunday. The final result was a restless (and rather gross) night and remaining in pajamas all day. Hopefully we are on the mend now and will be back to normal on Monday.
Today I’m rather meh and I’m positive its because I’ve been in PJs all weekend and haven’t done anything. Lethargy breeds lethargy. Time to move. Or bake. Preferably both.
