Very current topic! Get it while it's hot!

I need your help with something, Internets, and rather than wait until next week (would you believe I have posts LINED UP in draft for Saturday through MONDAY? I am rocking NaHoBloPoMo!) I have to toss something up right now and then go combing through Ask Moxie shortly thereafter. (And do my boatload of work. Sigh.)

So. Ever since AJ was a tiny baby, Husband and I have differed on him, hitting. Not about our son starting a fight -- we've always told him NOT to hit other people/pets/etc. But if he gets hit first by another kid. My instruction has been to tell the other kid to Stop, and Get Away from him/her. Hubby is more along the lines of "he needs to stand up for himself -- hit 'em back."

I know that it's different for little boys (isn't it?), and Daddies want their boys to grow up tough, and I'm okay with that. *I* was never taught by my parents that hitting back is okay. Even when my cousin (a girl) would hit my sister regularly, HARD, we were not instructed that it was okay to hurt her just as much in return.

But I also don't want my kid getting beaten up, which he has been, apparently, in school lately. Some of the bigger, wilder kids do push him, and even kick him. He doesn't know what to do in reaction, and as a result he's acting out at other times of the day, throwing toys, knocking down their blocks, etc. He's clearly frustrated by the situation. He's told me he doesn't know what to do.

DH thinks we've taught him to be a pushover. Here's my response to that, sent in an email ten minutes ago:

...we have told him to be nice, and I STILL SAY that's the right thing to teach a kid. You don't teach your kid to NOT be nice. You have to lay the foundation for moral goodness and in simple terms, that equals "be nice to your friends." At the same time, you're right, I have probably hindered our being able to teach him to stand up for himself because I didn't want him to be the bully. And I completely agree with you that now he needs to know how to do that. (I don't think that before his age, you can teach kids the concept "stand up for yourself." It's too gray when they're toddlers what's real hitting/being mean, and what's just another kid losing control of his arms/legs/balance.) At age four, obviously, there are some kids who are trying to take advantage of their size [big] and of his [small]. And I don't want that to happen. I think the 1, 2, 3 approach is a good one -- Tell the person to Stop, Tell a teacher, and then "do what you gotta do."

You better believe I will be posting/asking/searching about this on the blogs....

I just want to know what you think should be done. Not a "who's right and who's wrong" commentary, but how do we navigate the tricky balance? We're having talks with the teacher today, and of course with each other, trying to come to agreement about this -- and I think we mostly are in agreement -- mostly -- I just feel like I want your experience/opinion on the matter.

7 Quick Takes, à la Jen

Head over to Conversion Diary to meet Jen. She's fab. :)

---1---

You should SEE the number of leaves in our yard. We have giant poplar and sycamore trees all over our property and DANG but they produce a mess in the fall. My dear husband plans to tackle that tomorrow (with the mulch setting on the mower), bless his soul. I'm sorry, honey. I'll keep the Gatorade coming.

---2---

I finally figured out who Kristen Stewart is. You know, the one who looks all nonplussed but is supposedly burning-hot-in-love with the vampire guy? ...The movie? The current hype-machine? Oh, if you don't know, Google it... I've been seeing the commercials and thinking she was vaguely familiar... but she's the sister from Zathura! Lisa! Somehow AJ watched that movie on TV a year or so ago, and because it had one scene with a maniacal, giant robot, he declared it "his robot movie" And then somehow it ended up in our DVD collection. Hmm. Anyway, she is LISA to me. My husband has heard me talk about how everyone's reading the Twilight series, and he doesn't understand why I'm not interested. ...I just don't get the vampire genre. (He should know that by seeing also: BLADE.) I tried to read an Anne Rice novel once and never could get into it. I saw the Tom Cruise movie... total snore.

---3---

Today I'm missing AJ's Thanksgiving Day Pre-K luncheon, and that is sucky. DH gets to go, since he works close by. In the olden days when I could work from home.... oh, sorry. I'm not going to get all negative right here on Pre-K Thanksgiving. I made my Granny's "Waldorf Salad" for AJ's contribution. It's a time-honored tradition on my Dad's side of the family... and also a bit of a family joke. I think everyone must have one of these recipes: Great-Aunt Someone's Jello Mold, Mrs. X's soupy Squash Cassrole... right? Ours is Waldorf Salad, made with apples, celery, nuts, a mayonnaise dressing, and mini-marshmallows. Yeah. My dear Uncle proudly carries on his mother's tradition and makes a big bowl of it every year, and it usually goes home with him, largely untouched. So sad. (I plan to eat a big serving this year, if just to make him feel good.) Anyway, I made it for AJ with the tiniest amount of mayo, extra marshmallows, and no celery or nuts. He did some quality assurance with me this morning and declared it GREAT. :)

---4---

30Rock30Rock30Rock30Rock30Rock. It's the only fun thing on television anymore. Even The Office is getting less funny to me, in comparison. (I HATE when Michael's mean to Toby. I like poor Toby.) But 30 Rock. I have the biggest TV-show-crush on that show. I want to kiss is and MARRY it.

---5---

Here's a funny little anecdote. KT is crawling, right? And she's gotten really good at it. When her Daddy gets home, she gets that motor running, to get to him as fast as she can! So cute! Well, located in that same area where DH enters the house every afternoon are Napoleon's food and water. Today I set KT up on the living room floor, turned my back for 30 seconds to start putting my lunch in a bag, and next thing you know I heard crunching. "KT!" I called, "Where are you, baby?" ...Of course. She was eating dog food. Had a piece in her mouth and didn't even look like she was going to spit it out, like she does Cheerios. Ha hahahahahahaaha no. Ew.

---6---

Anybody know if Starbucks is losing money yet? Everywhere, I read of people giving up their daily Sbux. Tightening of the belts, and all. I have, too. (Mine wasn't daily, but still.) I'm so curious if they're noticing, behind the cappucino machine.

---7---

Just about everyone at work has decided to take off the rest of this month. Our company has an assinine "use 'em or lose 'em" vacation days policy. (I, of course, used all of mine for maternity leave earlier this year.) Yesterday was skeletal crew, today looks to also be skeletal crew, and next week, I may well be the only one here at all. At least that's what it feels like. Guess I'll get to choose what music is blasting from my computer. Maybe choral. Maybe I'll sing along. It might be awesome.

L is for Love Thursday

Is there anything cuter than an alphabet lesson in jammies? (Okay, maybe it'd be cuter without the garbage can in the background...)

Happy Love Thursday, people!

A diversion

Are You There, God? It's Me, Lee. Could you possibly DIAL DOWN the sick just a little bit? It's been, let me think... I guess about 6 weeks of an unwell KT now. There was ear infection #1, then ear infection #2, probably a little teething in between, and now The Great Tummy and Cold Virus of Late '08 (never mind my own cold, it barely counts), complete with mucus drainage and the terrible horking of large volumes of warm formula ON MOMMY'S PRETTY NEW SWEATER LAST NIGHT OMG.. Oh. My... was I shouting just there? Sorry about that, God. Just... consider my request. Mkay? Thanks. Later.

************

I have been thinking that all my (4) lovely readers are probably staying occupied during this drought in my own posting by the wonderful people who've signed up for NaBloPoMo. Right? (Is anyone we know doing NaBloPoMo?) And then I was thinking, it's obviously too late for me to sign up for that gig, but I have half a month I could use to kick-start myself back into blogging gear. And I think that'd be good. I do miss having something to say. So I think I'm going to institute Na-HO-BloPoMo (Nat'l HALF-OF Blog Post Month) here on my own site and try to post once a day 'til December first. Surprise! I once declared I'd never ever sign up for something like this, and that was probably wise since this time of year is STRESS-TASTIC for me, but... never mind that. I'm going to do it, and it's going to be fun, and WHEEE! Here we go!

I'm excited about Thanksgiving, are you? Mostly because.... drumroll, please... I have made it to my goal pre-pregnancy weight! Nine months on, nine months off, just like They said! Wooo hooo! Yee-haw! I haven't been exercising the last 2 weeks (SHAME), but I also haven't been eating a lot (see above: SICK), but whatever. My scale says 1-mrfljsomething-2, and that's what I've wanted it to say since February. Now for these last ten pounds... Right after turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce and PIE. I plan to enjoy Thanksgiving in a reasonable way (sort of reasonable), and then right back on track through December.

Maryb and I were chatting about PIE last night. I love neither pumpkin nor pecan. My Aunt, however, is making both for our Thanksgiving dessert table. My Mom makes a pumpkin creme pie, which I like better, but what about the glories of cherry pie? Chocolate pie?! And also, hail our American Excess! We hardly need three pies for the group of 9 of us, two of which -- my two kids -- don't even EAT pie. The greatness of our nation, right there.

Meh. (No really, it's about "Meh.")

Did you hear that "Meh" made the dictionary?

Heh. (They considered 'Heh,' too.)

Others

So I see everyone's getting in on the gratitude deal! (Not that I invented it or anything. I haven't even done it in forever.) It's a good economy for counting your blessings. I've been feeling better about things the last couple of days, and trying to be more grateful, too.

I have also been considering, in a very self-help-book kind of way, that to focus on OTHERS rather than oneself is probably a good way to get out of the self-centered funk. Another reason I've felt like blogging is too much for me at the moment -- it's keeping me too focused on ME (hello, self!). Been trying to think more of the kids, my family, and each person I see. Fellow journey-ers, all in this together, that kind of schlock thing.

So I'm glad my office is going to spearhead some social activism after all these years. I'm eager to get involved but I'm one of those terrible people who needs someone else to organize it for me. Tell me when and where, and I'll (try to) show up. Ask me to initiate the service project? You might have to wait a long time. So anyway, we're doing a food drive which is awesome. :) I'm glad to go shopping and buy some "most needed" Mac and cheese dinners. And I hope we can help with a Habitat House or something hands-on, too. They were even talking about taking a half-day to do such things sometimes, as a group. It'll be interesting (read: surprising) to see if the corporate higher-ups approve that.

We're also doing Operation Christmas Child for PSR/Sunday School. One year I was lucky enough to join a friend (an Organizer) at one of the warehouses/drop-off locations. It's an enormous charity effort, and we volunteered for a shift of sorting the boxes, stacking, I don't remember now what-all. But I was glad I did it (glad my friend planned it!). Such fun to see the inner workings of an animal that large! I enjoy putting together the shoebox gifts, and AJ seems excited about it, too, which is good -- it balances out the fact that we had him make out his own Christmas wish list tonight. Y'know, to "practice" for writing a letter to Santa. Hee. What can I say, we're victims of early holiday marketing. Victims!

A few items of note

1. Lag Liv passed the Bar! Woooo! It made me say YAY! out loud to my computer screen.
2. Paying for daycare sucks. Especially when the admins can't get their sh*t together and give us a consistent charge. How are we supposed to budget? I never quite know what I'm paying for with them, I just keep handing over lots of dollars. Today they tell me AJ's been eating breakfast since August. TODAY. ...I haven't been paying for breakfast. I've also been feeding AJ breakfast before we leave every morning. It was hard to tell him, "Honey, you can't have breakfast at school, okay? You eat your breakfast at home." Most of the other kids are eating at that time. It's just $1.05 a day, but still. The cereal and Gogurt in my pantry are not cheap, either.
   
3. Fridays are not good days for a client visiting the office AND a big sales demo/conference call. On Fridays I want to do mindless things slash NOTHING.
4. I'm becoming sensitive to the aftertaste (and duringtaste) of Splenda. It's too bad, I love using it in place of sugar and feeling virtuous and saving calories. But I made these little no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies? And they taste aspertamey. I'm trying to decide if I'll keep them or throw them out. Probably throw out.
5. My dieting efforts faltered during Halloween/PMS Week but I'm going back on the wagon today. I had been doing well and feeling good about it before all that candy entered the picture. Oh, and the oatmeal things mentioned above were supposed to be for my healthful chocolate fix - only 70 cals each.
   
6. I very much dislike what I'm being asked to do at work right now. I feel guilty about it. My feelings about it are why I'm posting little of substance right now. My emotions are swirly but it's not stuff I can talk about online.
7. Thanks be, we've been having fun PLAYING lately! Partly because AJ will play once he gets started, without more prompting from us. He's making up stories and scenes, setting up "classrooms" for his dinosaurs, mixing Transformers with Ben 10 characters, and having the bad guys eat/blow up/crash into the good guys, all on his own. Meanwhile KT baby steals his Hot Wheels cars and tries to pull up on the furniture. It's been fun. I'm excited about what to get her for Christmas (girly things like "My First Purse") but also because as a little girl myself, I always LOVED playing with my cousin's Hot Wheels.
8. I'm proud of us because so far, KT has not watched a single Baby Einstein video. She's nearly 9 months old! Of course, she watches her share of Ninja Turtles and Ben 10, but still.
   
9. We've been trying to use Baby Signs with her but she hasn't started signing back to us yet. I forget when that starts to happen.
10. She now has FIVE teeth! Two on the bottom, and three up top! It shows what little time I get to spend... exploring her mouth... because I just discovered this last night. But exploring your kid's mouth isn't necessarily quality time, I suppose. She GRINDS her teeth constantly and it drives me batty. I hate to rely on the pacifier and I dread when it's time to wean her from it, but I RELY on the pacifier.
    

Knob

The knob on my crockpot has broken off! We resorted to using needle-nose pliers this morning, because I am making this for dinner.

Pliers just Will Not Do, now that I have discovered that site, and now that I'm working outside the home 5 days/week. I need a new crockpot! Who's excited for Christmas?!

Tuesday, Tuesday!

Trader Recipe is below! (sort-of lame) Broccoli-Rice Casserole.


We did all those things on my list from last weekend, and they were all great. Trick or treating was fun! AJ stayed out 2 hours or more with his Daddy, and was excited to run up to each and every house and ring the bell (if it was his turn). It was nice for us parents to have a different neighborhood to walk around in. I was bored with our neighborhood, so we went to our friends' house. They had a great party, actually -- witches' brew punch for us, plenty of cookies and candy, and a big bowl of chili for dinner. Awe.Some.

Lunch with my friend was nice! She was super sweet and I felt bad for saying something mean about her. Our haircuts: great! Except our stylist knows us too well and Talked My Ear Off. Sometimes I don't like a stylist to Talk so much. But whatever, it was fine and at least she didn't scalp me. :)

Of course I have a new to-do list now, but things are okay this week. So far. I voted, and only had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes. I'm determined to get the house clean this week, with Hubby's help. The kids are healthy and sweet.

Last night we had the most boring dinner ever!

Ham steaks (which DH really dislikes, but eats anyway)
Green beans (from a can!)
Rice with butter, and S&P

Isn't that LAME?! But it's easy, and that's what I was going for. C'mon, it was MONDAY. I tried to think of ways to jazz up the rice, but other than Ro-Tel, which is too spicy for AJ, I couldn't come up with anything. What do you do with rice?

Here's a rice recipe I want to try (because it looks easy). From All Recipes.

INGREDIENTS
* 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli
* 1 cup cooked long-grain rice
* 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
* 1 1/2 cups cubed process American cheese

DIRECTIONS
Cook broccoli according to package directions; drain. Stir in rice and celery salt. Stir in cheese until melted. Serve immediately.

Howdy-do

I'm enjoying my "oap-meal" on this chilly morning. That's what AJ calls it. He eats it nearly every day and now, so do I! I call it "cholesterol-begone" and I'm just about sick of it already. But guess what? I'm down a pound and a half this week! So rock on, Mr. Quaker.

I really need to be calling a client about his Domain Keys and SPF record, and sending a couple of jobs over to production for some (more) color correction, but... eh. Not interested.

My babies are all dressed up and ready to participate in the Halloween parade at school (KT) and the pre-K field trip to a retirement home (AJ). They'll sing Halloween songs and everything! DH is curious what kind of candy he'll bring home from there. Ha. We made Cocoa Krispies Treats for his class party.

The big news around here is that yesterday, KT crawled for real, for the first time. :) She had become a master scooter/roller but now she has the knees coordinated. We are mobile! Amazing how an antibiotic turns her around immediately, too. She's like a different child now that she's on the mend from this cold/ear infection.

I haven't voted yet, and I'm dreading it. The lines for early voting -- I pass an early-voting place on my way to work every day -- have been out the door and around the block. People are parking a half-mile away and walking uphill to stand in those lines for hours. The thought of doing that to check one tiny box and Christmas-tree the rest of the ballot makes me want to gouge my eyes. I guess I have to, though. (I won't really Christmas-tree it.)

I'm feeling more optimistic than earlier in the week, but still a little bit in a funk. The Office and 30 Rock helped some. Things I'm looking forward to this weekend:

• obviously, trick or treating tonight in our friends' neighborhood


• going through the candy bucket after a certain someone has gone to bed


• lunch Saturday at Einstein's Bagels with a friend (I'm happier about the lunch than the friend, but still)


• haircuts for me and for AJ


• menu planning and grocery shopping (does that make me weird?)


• finishing my book... I hope


• dinner out somewhere, perhaps, if the kids are in a good mood

What about you?

Hamster wheel

Lately it feels like we're just being chewed on by this never-ending machine -- DH and I, the parents. We clock in, 5:30 am, and get to pounding out our day. Feed kids, feed dog, dress kids, dress selves, gather up stuff, forget stuff, pound, pound, pound, out the door, drive. Kids: school. Barely time to ponder on that fact, just set them down and GO, on to the next classroom. Drive, drive, drive. Fill up with gas. Work. Drive again. Dinner. TV. Drinks. Napkins. Oh, don't forget to hug the kids once in a while, or engage with them once in a while (now I'm tearing up as I type). Eat. Plead with kid to eat. Bath. Bed. Make bottles. Start over. Even the weekends sometimes feel this hurried. Even when we sit on the couch, we know it's just another half-hour until we have to go somewhere or feed someone.

Do we communicate? Yeah, but not well. I'm snippy and defensive. He's quiet. We coo at the baby and hope some of the love for her and her brother (when he's being sweet) runs off the sides and seeps into each other, too. We gripe at him for being four, and so, so trying. The hamster wheel spits us out, creaks a little back and forth while we sleep, then sucks us back in for another round, another day.

Blah-gging (Edited)

We had a busy, busy weekend. You?

Ours included the school's Fall Festival, a trip to the nursery for our pumpkin (which rolled around in the backseat of my car during the commute this morning -- greaaaat), a Publix run for essentials (formula, baby food, oatmeal, bananas, and Pop Tarts), and a Sunday School lesson in which I failed to even mention All Saints' Day, but did engage the kids with a rousing game of "Dear St. Anthony, please look around...", with a chocolate prize of course.

I'm really trying to be attentive and grateful about everything - each moment, each memory. It's a little hard. I feel like I've been in a bad mood for 3 weeks.

My feelings about blogging, especially, have been up and down all last week and over the weekend. I know we all get this way from time to time. Feeling that it's trite and narciss, narcisiss- terribly selfish to Whine Online (™! I just coined that!) when there are people in the world out there actually suffering. Feeling that I can't possibly say anything here that hasn't already been said by someone else, and better. Blah, blah, blah. (Aside: AJ has taken to saying "Blah, blah, blah," while he's performing little tasks like cleaning up, or if he's telling himself a story, and it cracks me up.) So anyway, forgive me if posting is dry around here for a while. I'm just in the funk.

We all have colds; KT baby's must be related to teething, but I'm hoping she doesn't develop her 2nd ear infection. Oog. A friend just had tubes put in his son's ears and I know that helps kids but I really don't want to have to go down that road. (See? You can tell I'm all negative right now, that I'm already diagnosing her with chronic ear infections.)

Traffic was really crappy this morning.

The Fall Festival was really fun, I think, for AJ. I forgot to say that. He and his daddy stayed for "Movie Night Under the Stars." It was too cold for that event, of course, but I know AJ had a good time. Oh, also, I was "asked out" by one of the other moms! Well, not really -- but AJ was invited to a playdate. I thought it was sweet because the mom specified that her son is an only child. Like she needed to justify asking AJ over. I was all, "You're the first person in HISTORY to invite us to a real playdate, I love you." Heh. Hope I didn't scare her away.

EDITED TO ADD: Not 30 minutes after hitting publish, I got my sorry butt up off my chair and took a 25-min walk down the long, winding drive on which sits my gray cinder-block of an office building. It was actually quite pretty (trees alongside the road, enormous blue sky above), and envigorating, what with the 20-mile-an-hour gusts we're having here today. And guess what? I felt better.

I was going to wait a whole week to post that, but I thought you should know in case you're feeling the blahs: Take a walk.

Dispatch from trenches

Several things I'm fretting over -- no good time to reflect or even type nice sentences.

Baskets to be auctioned for this weekend's Fall Festival at school. Try on and alter Halloween costumes. Iron a shirt that's been in laundry room for 2 weeks so I have something to wear tomorrow (5 days a week = need more clothes all of a sudden). Retreive winter clothes from basement and pray they fit.

Watch what I eat. Figure out when, each day, to fit in exercise. (I so don't want to have to regiment my week this way but I feel like it's the only way I'll stick to it.)

Figure out when and where to vote, early if possible. Don't want to wait 'til Nov 4th but the way it's looking with 2-hour LINES for early voting, Nov 4th might actually be a breeze. Find time to read about all the local candidates... ha, yeah right...

Pay bills some night this week after dinner? Also, do laundry (load of towels is critical). Maybe clean a bathroom. Oh, the kids' bath toys and KT's humidifier NEED to be rinsed/sanitized. Oogh.

Figure out if we're going to fly, drive, or rent a car for our Disney trip in February '09. Figure out what parks we want to visit and how to celebrate KT baby's 1st birthday while we're there! Yipes. Had totally forgotten about this. Excited about the trip, though.

Christmas shopping, holy mike.

Finish the two Mommy Club books I'm now behind on, and get ready for my turn to host next month. (It's not really "Book Club" any more, who are we kidding?) Figure out what to serve. (Had so much nice conversation last night with my girlfriends.)

Try not to worry about... lots of stuff. Good gracious, I'm grateful for a husband who's helpful, kind, and here in town. I don't know how you guys with traveling husbands do it.

That is all.

Tuesday Trade: Useful Tips

In lieu of a recipe today (I am running out of recipes!), I thought I would share a few ideas for making things last longer.

...when I make tacos using 1 lb of ground beef: We never eat all the beef. Nor do we finish all the tiny bits of tomato that I painstakingly dice up for garnish. AND, taco shells don't reheat, so I try not to bake more than I need for that night. So I take the leftover fillings (minus lettuce) and make simple burritos to freeze -- meat, cheese, salsa, tomato. They're great to take for lunch at the office. (Tortillas are something I always keep on hand; don't you?)

...when I make a casserole: I will put 1 or 2 lunches worth in the fridge as leftovers, but who are we kidding? We're not going to eat this 4 days in a row. Make it a habit to freeze at least half of your leftovers immediately, in single-serv portions if you can. Reheat for lunch. You'll throw away less.

...when I drink Crystal Light: I always dilute mine by half, with water. We go through a metric ton of Crystal Light peach tea mix around here, and that stuff is not cheap. I feel like I can sacrifice half the flavor, no biggie, to make it last a little longer.

...when we make anything rice-y, from a box or otherwise (as we do quite often), we've started using additional plain rice to stretch it out. This also helps us feed the picky boy-child, who prefers more rice than flavor anyway, and it usually means we get 2 leftover lunches out of the meal instead of just one. OBVS I'll be making brown rice now since I Have High Cholesterol, Woe Is Me... ;)

...when we buy deli meat for sandwiches: We have to USE that stuff or it goes bad every time. We had sandwiches one night last week for dinner. I did them "roll-up" style (tortillas, again!). I just don't want to throw out that ham and turkey, which is what we've historically had to do. Sandwiches for lunch every day is okay in theory, but in practice we just don't like them enough to have them every day. But dinner sammies seem... I don't know, youthful or bohemian or something.

...when I make coffee: I've started putting just a splash of flavored creamer in, and using milk to get it to my desired creaminess. Not that milk is cheap, but it's probably cheaper than flavored creamer! Also, I don't want to throw out expensive milk, which sometimes goes bad at our house because we're not milk lovers.

This isn't for cooking, but ...when I run the dishwasher: I resist the temptation to put detergent in the "optional" open cup, too. You know, how the dishwasher has one cup with a little "door" and another cup for if you want to begin the soaping with the first rinse? Just resist! You double the life of your bottle/box of detergent. One soap cycle is plenty in a good dishwasher!

If you have any good tips like these, please share. Maybe this stuff is obvious but I think we're being much more conscientious lately.

Sorry

I'm feeling bad for getting so potty mouthed emotional in my previous post, but you guys are great, making me feel better.

But I swear, sitting there, the tech handing me a paper with my numbers written on it (because of privacy, you know, she couldn't say them out loud).... it felt like getting back an important exam with a big fat (har) D- on the top.

And one thing I could never handle in school (and am not used to) was bad grades. I know I'm not in excellent shape, I've known I was a little overweight, and that I'm genetically predisposed... but I didn't think my actual health was in "danger" yet. And high numbers before 35 feels like danger.

Anyway, it's not as terrible as I'd made it out to be, I guess. My Mom suggested fish oil capsules, I'll eat some oatmeal, get exercising (I was going to have to re-figure that schedule, anyway, for work), and get better numbers next year.

Heart-y congratulations to me. Not.

This morning is good news/bad news about my health and weight-loss efforts.

My pleasant little bathroom scale at home, at 5:49 am, told me, "Congratulations, el-e-e! You are whipping your butt into shape one little baby step at a time. Down a half-pound! Good on you! Now get out there and face your day. You're doing it the right way."

I like that scale. He's friendly.

Then I came to the office, where Concentra Medical Services is conducting Health Screenings today so that we can tell the insurance people that we're aware we ... have health. Or something. The screenings have nothing to do with much of anything, but we get a pre-determined dollar amount "knocked off our premium" if we fill in these numbers: height, weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.

I should have made up numbers. The ones I got were not friendly.

I usually skate by in the cholesterol department with a 175-ish total score. Not today.

You know what? I am going to tell you my numbers. I am going to be brave.

My LDL.... 125 (should be under 100!)
My HDL.... 38 (should be at least 50, ideally greater than 60!)
My total cholesterol... 196 (under 200 is okay)
My triglycerides... 196 (should be 50 to 150!)
My BP... somewhat high today at 124/82

GOOD G*DAMN.

I'm sorry but that is the ONLY word that comes to mind. I *NEVER* have high blood pressure. In fact, doctors are usually amazed at how GOOD my BP is. What. Thehell. I am wondering how much of this is fluke-y and how much is real. Oh, who am I kidding, it's likely all real. Some of it might be genes -- my little 92-pound grandmother had cholesterol over 200, I think -- but a lot of it is BUTTER. And CHEDDAR. And WHITE BREAD and BACON.

So. Let me just say again... Damn.

Jillian Michaels, here I come.
New supportive shoes, here I come.
5:15 am, here I effing come.
Mister Quaker Oatmeal guy, here I come.
V-8 low-sodium (gag), here I come.
Pickles and water, here I come. (little joke with my Mom)
WeightWatchers vegetable soup, here I come.
Skinny latte (tall), here I come. Once in a blue moon as a much-needed treat.

Goodbye, 1 piece of chocolate after dinner. (Okay, 2.)
Goodbye, ice cream.
Goodbye, cheddar cheese.
Goodbye, sour cream (lite).
Goodbye, Squeeze Parkay convenience.
Goodbye, cookies.
Goodbye, regular pasta.
Goodbye, loaded potato soup.
Goodbye, white rice all the time because it's economical -- too bad!

Should be loads of fun. I can't wait to get down to business. <--- (sarcasm.)

Quelque fois (Sometimes)

Jess asked yesterday, "What goes through your head sometimes?"

And I thought, The House on Southwestern.

No one will understand that but my Mom and my Sis, but I'll explain for you.

When I was about 11, my parents were considering a big move from our small town in Texas to someplace larger. It might have been Dallas -- my grandparents lived there. It ended up being Florida, but in the meantime we casually drooled over walked through a couple of houses in University Park*, right near Grandmother and Granddaddy's. There was one, on Southwestern Boulevard, that I LOVED. I guess I'd never looked at an empty, brand-new house before, with any kind of idea that I might move into it. This one had a pretty staircase in the foyer -- something our house, a ranch-style, didn't have. It had a big "multi-purpose" room upstairs, and a cedar linen closet. It had a tiny backyard, but a bright kitchen with white cabinets. I remember how the light felt in that kitchen, that day. We might have walked through it twice. I think it had just been built and therefore wasn't locked, but I may be wrong about that. I don't remember any realtor taking us there.

Anyway, images of being in this house pop into my mind all the time lately, and have done so, as long as I can remember since then. Just the tiniest, fleeting thoughts, while I'm bathing the kids, or driving to work. I don't dwell on them; I just think, "Oh, the house on Southwestern," and continue doing whatever I'm doing. It's not like I am really sad that we didn't get to move there -- I'm not. It really wasn't even a significant possibility, I don't think -- we mostly looked at houses in Dallas for fun, I think. (I remember The House on Colgate, too.) But I wonder why being in that house made such an indelible impression on my mind? What about it has caused it to stay with me all these years?

*Mom, Sis, and anyone -- have you played with Google Maps lately? Check out Street View! You can actually WALK down the street that you search. I found my own house, Grandmother's old house right there in Dallas, DH parents' house...I tried to find the actual House on S'western, but didn't see one that looked familiar. Just search any address. Super fun. Not every address has a "street view" yet, but I'm sure they're working on it!

Quelque choses (Some things)

I haven't had a good blog-thought in ages. Thank goodness for the Tuesday recipes thing and for my little job thing or I'd have been a blank page for 2 weeks straight. ENTER: The Six Random Things Meme. Woo hoo! Everybody's doing it, most recently Mandy, who tagged you, me and everyone.

I am supposed to share 6 random things about myself that I have never shared before, which is funny because I've done variations of this meme about eleventy times already. Never mind... Here you are:


1. I do that thing where I twist my body around both ways to crack my spine at least once a day, if not more. I especially like it when they tell me to do this in yoga cool-down sessions, because it makes me feel like it won't actually cause arthritis. Like it may even be GOOD for me. I also crack my toes.

2. Every "month" I get one zit. Usually a prominent place on my forehead or face. It's just delightful. This week, for some other, unknown reason, I have three. GAWD. (You're welcome!)

3. I'm definitely a design snob, having been in the design/print industry this many years. My favorite fonts are sans-serif ones like Helvetica Condensed, Arial Narrow, Gil Sans Light, Tahoma. I really dislike serif fonts. Especially on blogs. (Except on yours... On yours they're pretty.)

4. We had tuna casserole for dinner last night. Mmmm. One of my favorites.

5. Yesterday at work, I was supposed to make a phone call to someone my coworkers and I would like to meet/work with. This person is sort-of a rock star in his field (at least I think of him as one -- entrepreneur, very smart, finger on the pulse, etc.). I emailed him first, then waited and waited before I placed the call... because I was hoping my manager would leave for the day and NOT HEAR ME make the call. We all share this office space and I don't know, I just didn't want him listening in.

6. I am the "stereotypical male" in our household; I often leave my nightshirt/underwear on the floor of the bathroom after I shower and get dressed. Isn't that HORRIBLE? I was reading a blog the other day wherein the wife wrote a letter to her husband saying "COULD YOU PLEASE just pick up your underwear? Is that so hard??" ...and I was mortified. Sorry, DH. I can't BELIEVE I've done this for so long. I'll try to do better.

Tuesday Trade: more from Pancho (or someone similarly named)

I have been loving Maryb's "Pancho's Chicken." I've made it twice now. Yum! Last night I gorged myself. All within my daily calorie limit, I think, but MAN, was I full afterwards. I guess I ate slowly enough to really feel the Full.

Here's my recipe for today, and it's for the crock pot. It's from this cook book, for which I refuse to type the title here on my (perfect) blog, because it is grammatically incorrect. (FEWER!!) Also, it's not a classic "throw everything in and turn it on" crock-pot recipe. You have to use the stove. I know! THE HORRIBLE STOVE! But it's not too hard.

Tamale Casserole

1 lb. lean ground beef (sorry, Sis!)
1 c. chopped onion
1 can (14.5 oz) chunky tomatoes, drained
1 can (4 oz) diced/chopped green chiles
8 (6-inch) soft corn tortillas
2 cups (8 oz) Cheddar cheese, shredded

Brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Add tomatoes and green chiles and heat through.

Tear 4 of the tortillas into bite-size pieces and place in a sprayed slow cooker. Add half of the meat mixture; then sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat, ending with cheese. Cover and cook on LOW 2 to 2.5 hours. Makes 4 generous servings. Garnish with salsa and serve* with some sort of vegetable/salad. Seriously, you need your vegetables, people.


*I made a note in the margin: Add salt.

So, looking straight ahead

The meeting was not, as I'd feared, about my performance or about any sort of layoff. Whew. Thanks for your votes of confidence. It was about shifting my responsibilities (again) within the company, which is never really a *bad* thing, just a *different* thing. It's going to mean, in the short-term (I'm covering an additional position that Corporate won't let us fill in These Uncertain Economic Times), that I won't get to work from home anymore. Sigh. This is a bummer. Thankfully it's not a deal-breaker, since the kids are both in daycare 5 days a week already. Those 2 days at home have been a real convenience and blessing to me, allowing me to actually DO laundry or take a 15 minute vacuuming break, but they aren't critical to our family operations or bottom line. Helpful, yes. Green, yes. (Hello, company, I'll be pumping 2 more days' worth of junk into the area's smog, thanks.) Critical? I guess not. My manager says it's a temporary thing. I'm not sure I believe him on that.

I'm still ironing out a few details of how it's all going to work, and honestly, additional responsibility makes me more marketable for the next time they might call an unexpected meeting, the outcome of which might not be so good. Blah blah glass half full. We never know in this job market, and it's best to be prepared. I have mixed feelings overall, but am glad to still have a paycheck. Perhaps with this extra stuff I can more easily lobby to increase said paycheck at my next review.