Monthly Archives: October 2008

>The shoe doesn’t have to be a glass slipper to break

Posted on by
7

>The kids were starting to line up for breakfast before school. Intermediate teacher, let’s call her Ms. Conduct, noticed that Jenny and Johnny were there, but their sister Jeri (in her class) was not, so she asked.
Johnny: “She has an appointment.”
Jenny: “No she doesn’t. Mom’s going to call her in sick and say she has an appointment, but really her shoes broke. She doesn’t have any shoes to wear, so she can’t come to school.”
Jeri had been wearing the same pair of strappy sandals since the first day of school, so we weren’t surprised to hear this. But stay home for lack of shoes?
Ms. Conduct took Jenny by the hand and said, “Let’s go check this out.” They walked across the street to the rental the kids & mom shared with a relative and talked to Jeri. The story was true; she had no school shoes. Ms. Conduct, never at a loss, asked, “What size do you need?” She raided the stock of spare shoes in the gym office, brought two pair to the needy girl and asked her to choose one.
On the way to school, Jeri commented, “I’m so glad you came over. I didn’t want to ruin my perfect attendance.”

To add to the backstory: I found a spare pair of shoes for the younger Jenny earlier this year. She, too, had sandals and nothing else. The boy was a little better off.

And then….a week later, the family moved. The kids will attend another school across town.
At least they all have shoes.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>’Tis the season to think globally, act locally, and vote!

Posted on by
3

>October. Leaves are changing color, the air is crisp and cool but pleasant, and school is in full swing. Weekends mean football, leaf raking, and politics.

We made our usual trip to the downtown Farmers’ Market today. It’s nearing the end of the market season, so there were fewer vendors and fewer customers, but we still managed to find deals on local produce and products. I settled Amigo near the musical entertainment and then proceeded onward to my favorite booths. One of my favorite farmers wasn’t there any more. We’ve bought sweet corn and squash from him; maybe he’s done selling for the year. My favorite baker was there, so I bought two loaves of her bread. We picked up honey crisp apples and a bag of fresh pairs, er, pears. Husband bought a bag of very fresh cheese curds (squeak, squeak). We picked up two pumpkins and moved on to pick up Amigo.

That’s when I was distracted by a man holding campaign signs. Obama signs have been hard to get in our town. As soon as the Democrats’ office gets a shipment, they sell out. When I saw this man holding three — 3!! — Obama signs under his arm, I asked about them. He directed me to the Dems office two blocks away because they had just gotten a batch in. Husband took Amigo and the goodies back to the minivan while I hoofed it down the road to pick up my coveted signs.

The office was hopping with activity. Penny (the local candidate for state assembly) was there working with volunteers. She thanked me for the letter I’d written to the newspaper in her support and then directed me to the desk for buying signs. The harried volunteer there didn’t have change for my twenty (I’d used my smaller bills at the market), but another staffer helped her find some. The still didn’t have exact change, so I bought two signs and two buttons, knowing I could find another home for the second sign.

Sure enough, the sign ended up at the house across the street before I even had mine set in the lawn. My neighbors were on their way home from a walk and were thrilled to take it. Husband prefers a clean lawn, regardless of his voting preference. But he’s willing to indulge my political activism for a few weeks leading up to November 4th.

A matter of minutes after I’d posted my new gem, er, sign, the phone rang. It was a volunteer from Planned Parenthood making calls to support their favored candidates. I don’t remember campaigns getting this aggressive four and eight years ago. I’m getting recorded message calls from the Republicans, daily (daily!) mailings from both parties, phone bank calls from all of the Democratic candidates’ staff and/or volunteers, and personal contacts with several of the candidates themselves.

I started my day acting on my conviction to buy locally whenever possible. I ended the morning acting nationally, if not globally, by acting on my conviction to make a difference this election. I’ll vote in November. Between now and then, I’ll do whatever I can to make a difference in my own small world, and I’ll hope for the best results so that our elected officials can and make a difference in a bigger way.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Denning

Posted on by
4

>It’s not a living room by title, but we live in our den. It’s a small and cozy room, complete with television (HD, of course), and a fireplace. The “boys” watch TV, I read books and blog on my laptop, and we all have “den tailgate parties” when we’re feeling kinda Sunday, I mean when we’re watching NFL football.

Amigo, age 16, watches college football. Husband watches Survivor, Ghosthunters, and the Antiques Road Show. Me? I’m happy with Jeopardy and Green Bay Packer games.

But when we live in this small space for too long, it gets crowded. Overloaded. Messed up. It becomes (drum roll) the Cave. It gets so full it’s hard to walk through the room!


Buttercup manages, though. I hope she can find her way out again. She managed last Christmas; I’m sure she can handle football season.

Bill Me Later sponsored this blog blast, while Parent Bloggers Network inspired bloggers to post their own versions of the Man Cave. If you have a Man Cave, complete with Cave Relics, you can enter a contest for a new and improved Man Cave by submitting photos and video here!

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>When all else fails, bake.

Posted on by
5

>I’ve been coughing so much my ribs hurt. I slept past noon Sunday, and I never sleep late. Never.
Amigo still has a sore throat from his endoscopic tests. We may have more clues to solve the mystery of the stomach pain, but for now, he’s still coping one day at a time.
A major virus hit our main desktop computer overnight. We are rebuilding from scratch, from what husband and his engineer pals call “First Birthday.” Nothing, but nothing, survived.
I spent 45 minutes cleaning up and responding to my school email — on a Sunday night!!
My world is spinning out of control.
I cope by accomplishing something simple: I bake. This time, I baked cookies. The dough was pre-made, a tub in the refrigerator from a choir fundraiser. Turn on the oven, scoop the dough onto the cookie sheets, and fifteen minutes later, voila! White chocolate macadamia nut cookies.
Bringing things down to a more elemental level helps me feel better in control. It takes the spinning world of emails and illnesses and work-family balance and lets me accomplish something worthwhile in a short period of time. Baking allows me to simplify, to slow down in a speeding world.
No recipe this time, folks. The recipe here isn’t for cookies: it’s for simplifying a complex life, taking down the stress level by focusing on a small success.
I think I’ll go have a cookie now.
Happy Love Thursday, everyone.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Pantry Raid

Posted on by
5

>That’s what Working Mother Magazine called it in their short feature on saving time. The writer suggested skipping the grocery stop and making do with the existing contents of the pantry.

It’s October. We do that all the time; I didn’t know it had a name.

Parent-teacher conferences for me, High School Homecoming for Amigo, NFL football games to work and Packer follow-up shows to produce for Husband, and this year, medical testing for Amigo, too. We don’t get to make our weekly grocery stops every weekend, so when we do, we make it count. And the afore-mentioned Pantry Raid? That happens more often than you’d think.

Leftover sloppy joe meat? Add red beans and tomatoes and make chili.
Got the grill fired up? Cook a little extra for the freezer.
One potato, a carrot, and some celery leftover? Feed the rabbit. Or maybe….skillet stew!! The results of my latest Pantry Raid:

Skillet Stew

Please note: in the spirit of a true Pantry Raid, this could include just about anything. The “recipe” is really just a guideline.

Ingredients (this time):

3 potatoes
1 stalk celery
1/4 small onion
a little garden spinach
1/4 cup frozen corn
1 can cream of mushroom soup
4 cups of water, as needed, with chicken bouillion added proportionally (Chicken stock would have been better, but it was a raid. No time to thaw.)
4-5 chicken thighs
lemon pepper and cumin to taste

Slice potatoes thin. Dice celery, onion, and spinach. Add to 2 cups water & chix flavoring in electric skillet on medium heat. Simmer until soft (about 20 minutes on low). Add cream of mushroom soup and refresh water/chix as the first evaporates. Place chicken thighs on top. turn heat to med-high. Cook covered for another 20 minutes. Add water/chix again, stir, and add corn and seasoning.
Optional: take chicken thighs out and brown them in a separate pan. Check with meat thermometer.

And if that’s not vague enough, turn the main skillet to low and keep stirring the mixture until it’s time to serve. Serve with a green salad (with garden tomatoes, of course) and zucchini bread.

After supper: make chicken stock for a delicious soup or stew later.

That’s one heck of an efficient Pantry Raid! Not only did it produce a decent supper, it yielded the starter for a future meal!

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Walk a mile — in my shoes, not your privileged pumps.

Posted on by
10

>Three young women, all coworkers, celebrated a colleague’s pregnancy by sharing their own baby stories.

“Shelly” told about finding herself pregnant at 18 in her senior year of high school. When the young couple decided to become sexually active, she looked into getting birth control. It was too late. She found out that the old wives’ tale wasn’t true: she did get pregnant the first time. She made plans to marry her boyfriend, got prenatal care, and gave birth to a lovely baby girl. The wedding plans were cancelled when she realized they were not really suited to make a lifetime commitment, and raised her daughter through toddlerhood before meeting and marrying the man who would adopt the girl as his own.

“Lily” was in her early 20s when she found out the baby was on the way and pushed up the wedding plans already in place. Soon after her son was born, she found her husband cheating on her, realized the shotgun wedding had been a mistake, and left to raise her son on her own.

“Jenny” was in college when her birth control failed. Her boyfriend left her, and she decided to give the baby up for adoption. Nine months later, she did so.

These three young women could have opted for abortion. None did. But not all young, pregnant women have the resources, the family, the health insurance options that they did. All three worked in a low-paying field (child care) that nevertheless allowed them some crucial benefits such as health insurance and discounted child care. They lived in a city with good access to low-income housing and many support networks for families in need.

Many, many girls and young women don’t have the advantages that these three did. Many girls and young women have no options: no insurance, access to prenatal care, even housing for themselves and their children.

It is for those young and younger women that abortion needs to remain safe and legal. I fully believe that no one wants to abort, but some, very few, simply must. For those few, the law must preserve the option to control their own bodies, their own outcomes.

Governor Palin, do you hear me? Many families lack the privileges you and your daughter enjoy. The health insurance, the securely employed and supportive family members, the opportunity to continue working without discrimination for becoming pregnant. When you chose to raise your child with Down Syndrome, you knew you could handle the challenges. When your daughter Bristol became pregnant, she also enjoyed health insurance and a supportive family.

Walk a mile in the shoes of the pregnant teen who gets kicked out of her home. Walk a mile in the shoes of the mother with an illness that makes pregnancy risky for both her and the baby. Walk a mile in the shoes of the family with no insurance who can’t afford prenatal care and will have to go into debt to give birth in a hospital. Walk a mile in the shoes of the victims of domestic abuse, trying to protect their children, unable to provide for and protect another. These are the women for whom support needs to be in place. And for those without options, abortion needs to be there: safe, legal, and rare.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>next year’s resolutions

Posted on by
9

>In fall, a gardener’s thoughts turn toward the following year’s garden. Since Husband enlarged the area, I have plenty of room to play in the dirt. Plenty of room to grow a few goodies to supplement our nutritional needs and save us a few pennies on the grocery bill. But I could do a better job.

First, the layout. Think sun, Daisy. Sun. Plant the beans and the tomatoes along the north end. They grew so tall this year that anything behind them suffered.
Separate the spinach from the lettuce. Both thrived for a while, and then the spinach took over. Next year I’ll leave a barrier — my walkway (old boards from old fence) should do the trick.
New tomato supports. Now that I’ve improved the soil with several years of compost, the tomato plants are growing to five-six feet tall. If they hadn’t fallen over this year, the tomato might have resembled an NFL football player in height! (‘Tis the season. You didn’t think I’d get through an entire autumn post without mentioning football, did you?) This poor plant looks like it’s been tackled, but it held on and didn’t fumble.


Peppers did better than ever this year. I put some on pizza, in soups and stews, on salads, and more. They’re really, really good when they’re fresh.
Zucchini? Who knows. It seems to be feast or famine, and this year it was famine.
Peas, if planted south of the beans, might do fine. The greedy bean plants hogged all the sun this season.
Cauliflower didn’t grow well. Broccoli usually does. I could plant that again.
Parsley was slow to start, but then grew steadily, which made the pet rabbits happy.

Herbs need a bigger pot. They look cute in the coffee mugs, but they’d thrive with more root space and room to grow.
Next spring, I’ll have to look back at this post to remind myself how to overcome this year’s weaknesses. Then the whole cycle will begin again, with a deep sigh of satisfaction.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>I don’t recite the script in the teachers’ manual, either.

Posted on by
1

>Shortcuts. I take them all the time. In the classroom, on the road, on the computer (give me the keyboard commands and I’m faster than any mouse!), and in the kitchen.
Especially in the kitchen.

Tomato soup? I combined two recipes.

When a second batch of soup turned out a bit too bland for our tastes, we made the tomato into a base for minestrone (recipe to come, soon, I promise).

A muffin recipe with coconut, an ingredient no one but me will eat, turned into a new muffin that we all love.

I fill my crockpot more by formula and luck than by recipe.

We make planned overs as often as we leftovers; it gives us a shortcut later.

Even when I start out with a clear plan, it can change. Martha Stewart would never, ever live here.

Baking bread in the breadmaker is a shortcut. I almost feel guilty because it’s so easy. The crockpot — how would I teach and feed my family without it? One of my other favorite short cuts is starting baked potatoes in the microwave and finishing them on the grill. The cooking time is shorter, and they still get that fabulous charcoal grill taste.

This topic was suggested by Parent Bloggers Network and Ore-Ida Potatoes. Idaho may produce more potatoes than Wisconsin, but I know Ore-Ida works with my state farmers as well as those out west. My daughter loves all things potato, so if I registered early enough to get a free masher, I may have to share it with her. The coupon, though, that I’ll keep.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Pre-op day ramblings

Posted on by
6

>How to approach this subject without resorting to TMI mode? Metaphors and euphemisms, that’s it. Amigo (age 16) goes to the big state children’s hospital tomorrow for tummy testing. He’s preparing today, with clear liquids and the Pre-op Cocktail designed to, well, cleanse. (Oh, geez, I’m sure the spam will be tremendous on that reference)
I could tell he was nervous because his hand shook as I handed him the first glass. He was relieved it didn’t taste too bad. With the radio set up in the bathroom, he settled in for the duration while I set the timer for 20 minutes until the next dose.
The timing here is either bad or good, but not much in between. I have a nasty cold, stuffed up head, weepy eyes, and painful sinuses. If I didn’t have to stay home with Amigo, I’d probably take a sick day of my own to rest. In short, I’m feeling lousy, in need of rest, and not sure I have the strength to help the teenager deal with his pre-op anxieties. It seems like a classic case of mom taking care of everyone else first, then falling ill herself. Even though I know better, that’s my big weakness.
In between handing Amigo his every-20-minutes glass of Pre-op Cocktail, I’m dosing myself with fluids and vitamin C. I had healthy toast (whole wheat with flaxseed) with local honey for breakfast. I’m inhaling the steam before I drink my coffee; does that count? Eventually I’ll make myself some lunch, but I don’t want to make anything that Amigo will covet, since he can’t eat real food today. Eggs and toast might fit the bill: healthy basics, comfort food, nothing too exciting. Tonight it’s tomato soup and stuffed pork chops, not his favorite either. He’ll have chicken soup (no noodles) and jello. I made two flavors; lime and orange. No strawberry or raspberry; the nurse told us anything with red dye can appear in the tests and skew the results.
Meanwhile, I’ll work in the garden and the kitchen. I have schoolwork in my bag, but it’s too nice out to waste the day indoors. I opened the windows and turned off the heat, and now I’ll harvest the rest of the spinach and a batch of tomatoes if they’re ready. The math facts papers will wait; I can correct them while Amigo’s in the O.R. and recovery.
If Amigo is up to it, he can study for the World History test he’ll miss while he’s gone. After he’s done with his, um, dumping festival, he might stretch out on the couch and read the chapter once or twice. He has an ongoing novel project in the works now, too. He can work on that at the computer, which is fairly close to the Activity Room, so to speak.
We parents, moms especially, seem prone to the thought of “I have to do something! I must make this downtime worthwhile!” I still feel a bit of guilt putting off the math papers until tomorrow. Amigo will let me know if he’s not up to studying today; why can’t I be so straightforward?
Maybe that’s the enlightenment of the day. It’s not the test results tomorrow. It’s knowing that it’s okay to let things slide at work for a little while; the papers will still be there on Saturday. I can take care of myself and my teenager today.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Who am I?

Posted on by
3

>According to this poll, I am a social liberal, an economic liberal, and best described as (drum roll) a socialist. According to them, I “…exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.” When I clicked on Famous People, my icon was very close to Barack Obama, but exactly on Hillary Clinton. According to their interpretation of political ideologies, mine was right on the edge of the socialist area, bordering on Democrat.

This was an interesting quiz in that it focused on, as they put it, “fundamental values” and “avoided the edgy party issues.”

If you’re offended by the Socialist label, please think again. Just like chocolate and coffee, all in moderation. Here’s their explanation:

For example, on the economic axis, a highly permissive system, like the American system of the early 1900s, might mean things like low taxes and increased scientific innovation. It might also result, as it did back then, in unrestricted child labor and millions of poor people with black lung. At the other end of the economic spectrum, a highly regulated system might conserve the environment, establish national health care, and eliminate poverty. But as we’ve learned from the Soviet system, extreme regulation can also lead to stagnation, sameness, and unhappiness.

In other words, balance is key. We in the U.S. of A. have high standards for government services and regulations, but we pay for those through our tax system. We are constantly looking for the perfect balance, and never quite finding it. That’s a large part of why I find all things political evolving and fascinating.

Try it yourself!

Share and Enjoy !

Shares