In case you were wondering whether to stay or go next Thanksgiving, I've compiled the following synopsis of Thanksgiving travel - just a few thoughts to keep in mind:
Pros:
Free meal
Money savings by not shopping the day after
Sleep savings by not shopping the day after
Cons:
Inability to hoard leftovers for self
Cost of gas, plane tickets, etc.
Loss of sleep from travel time, unfamiliar surroundings, etc.
Unpacking afterwards
Laundry afterwards
House cold upon return
Inability to put up tree the day after Thanksgiving, thus losing at least one more day from the already too-short Christmas season
Monday, November 27, 2006
Our little girl is growing up
She must be growing by leaps and bounds, but it seems to be happening so gradually that I hardly notice the change, expect in retrospect. I think I'm at grave risk of underestimating her at this stage and letting something of her tremendous potential fall through the cracks, because she continues to amaze me with what she comprehends and grasps. I keep discovering by accident things she can do, and then reminding myself that I should be on a rampage to equip her to be independent.
I've been talking aloud to her for months now, of course, but only recently did I happen to voice an instruction, probably without any idea of her actually understanding me. She is, however, capable of understanding much more than she can say, and can follow pretty much any simple instruction by now. New instructions she picks up quickly by my speaking slowly and clearly, using at least a word or two she knows, pointing to the steps involved, and modeling the action for her. She has been picking up her toys for the past couple of weeks now, she puts away the Tupperware when she's done playing in the drawer, and she puts whatever I tell her to in the trash. (The drawback of this newfound talent is that she puts pretty much anything in the trash, so we have to keep a sharp lookout for abandoned sippy cups, shoes, and the like.)
A few days ago she went into a little coughing fit. 'Are you okay?' I asked absently, patting her gently on the back. Later that day she coughed, and then came over, patting her shoulder (which was as far back as she could reach) and saying 'Kay? Kay?' Now every time she coughs, if I do not inquire after her health quickly enough, she prompts me. Sometimes she even fakes coughs to elicit a pat on the back.
It's an exciting time. I'm glad to see her independence and confidence growing daily, and I look forward to the time (very soon, I hope) when we can begin to have intelligent conversations together. Or at least a greater degree of comprehension than we now enjoy.
I've been talking aloud to her for months now, of course, but only recently did I happen to voice an instruction, probably without any idea of her actually understanding me. She is, however, capable of understanding much more than she can say, and can follow pretty much any simple instruction by now. New instructions she picks up quickly by my speaking slowly and clearly, using at least a word or two she knows, pointing to the steps involved, and modeling the action for her. She has been picking up her toys for the past couple of weeks now, she puts away the Tupperware when she's done playing in the drawer, and she puts whatever I tell her to in the trash. (The drawback of this newfound talent is that she puts pretty much anything in the trash, so we have to keep a sharp lookout for abandoned sippy cups, shoes, and the like.)
A few days ago she went into a little coughing fit. 'Are you okay?' I asked absently, patting her gently on the back. Later that day she coughed, and then came over, patting her shoulder (which was as far back as she could reach) and saying 'Kay? Kay?' Now every time she coughs, if I do not inquire after her health quickly enough, she prompts me. Sometimes she even fakes coughs to elicit a pat on the back.
It's an exciting time. I'm glad to see her independence and confidence growing daily, and I look forward to the time (very soon, I hope) when we can begin to have intelligent conversations together. Or at least a greater degree of comprehension than we now enjoy.
Back again
We're back from Ohio for the Thanksgiving holiday, older and wiser and shorter on sleep than when we left. Our next New Year's resolution will be easy to carry out: Never travel on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving again. Traffic was so nightmarish that we decided to curtail our visit and leave a day early simply to avoid the crush on Sunday. Sorry to miss an extra day with family, but glad we were to get home in decent shape. Jane was an absolute brick the whole time, laughing and giggling to herself in the carseat for much of the trip, sleeping a little bit, and 'reading' books and cuddling toys quite a bit.
There was no snow. And now we can settle back and wait for the Christmas whirl of gaiety to descend upon us, for we're not planning to go anywhere for a good long while, except to the hospital in February. Currently I'm trying to plan a Christmas party for our Sunday school class, which I do so hope comes off, because I have so many hilarious and clever ideas for the white elephant gift exchange.
There was no snow. And now we can settle back and wait for the Christmas whirl of gaiety to descend upon us, for we're not planning to go anywhere for a good long while, except to the hospital in February. Currently I'm trying to plan a Christmas party for our Sunday school class, which I do so hope comes off, because I have so many hilarious and clever ideas for the white elephant gift exchange.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Overheard this weekend
Me: Ah-choo!
Michael: Bless you.
Me(again): Ah-choo!
Michael: Bless you!
Me(shortly thereafter): Ah-choo!
Michael: Yeah, yeah. You just want attention!
Michael: Bless you.
Me(again): Ah-choo!
Michael: Bless you!
Me(shortly thereafter): Ah-choo!
Michael: Yeah, yeah. You just want attention!
Friday, November 17, 2006
In sickness and in health
We are all sick here, and seem to have been that way for a long time. It started on my part a couple of weeks ago with a scratchy throat, which I chalked up to the dry weather and turning the heat on in the house for the first time this season. But it dragged on and on, and by the time I had gone through a couple of rounds of losing my voice, Jane had a runny nose, and Michael had a bad cough, I broke down and admitted that we were all fighting a very bad cold.
The most annoying thing about it, as far as I am concerned, is the lingering tenacity of it, and not the severity, because a sore throat and occasional coughing fit do not represent the most miserable state I've ever been in. It just seems like this has lasted long enough. But my midwife told me at my checkup this week that it's not uncommon for colds to last 3 weeks or more, since pregnancy affects the immune system in random ways. At least there's a good excuse for this and we don't have to assume it's strep throat or anything dire.
Michael worked from home two days this week to rest up and recover his strength, and seems to be doing much better. Jane never had much worse than a runny nose, and that didn't seem to bother her. I am reminded of the classic A.A. Milne poem:
In spite of her sniffle
Isabel's chiffle.
Blah. I just want us to be feeling all better before we leave for Ohio next week.
The most annoying thing about it, as far as I am concerned, is the lingering tenacity of it, and not the severity, because a sore throat and occasional coughing fit do not represent the most miserable state I've ever been in. It just seems like this has lasted long enough. But my midwife told me at my checkup this week that it's not uncommon for colds to last 3 weeks or more, since pregnancy affects the immune system in random ways. At least there's a good excuse for this and we don't have to assume it's strep throat or anything dire.
Michael worked from home two days this week to rest up and recover his strength, and seems to be doing much better. Jane never had much worse than a runny nose, and that didn't seem to bother her. I am reminded of the classic A.A. Milne poem:
In spite of her sniffle
Isabel's chiffle.
Blah. I just want us to be feeling all better before we leave for Ohio next week.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Health kick update
So I'm trying not to go overboard on this regimen, while still implementing some minor changes, since I'm convinced there's always room for improvement. The current rule of thumb is nothing too sweeping, nothing too drastic, nothing too expensive, nothing too complicated, and nothing in huge quantities, in case it doesn't work out, and meantime carry on with the research.
The obvious first step is the peanut butter. I was delighted to find that the completely natural stuff is available right next to the regular stuff on the shelf at Kroger, and for not too much more. We do eat some peanut butter, but not a lot (but we really should eat more!) so for now switching to good, wholesome peanut butter will not require too much of a sacrifice. Jane likes the taste of it, and I can't tell that much of a difference.
I'm not quite ready to swear off ever eating any hydrogenated fats or high fructose corn syrup ever again, but I am definitely wary of them, and I'm going to scrupulously read labels from now on and cast a skeptical eye on anything containing them. We'd better really love the final product if we do decide to go on eating it.
I was shocked and disappointed to find out how horrible the packs of hot cocoa mix are. It doesn't even appear that they contain real chocolate! There are few winter things I savour so much as curling up with a good steaming mug of hot cocoa. I will stop the ridiculous sugar dose, however, and try to mix up my own with cocoa powder and powdered sugar (alas! How many failed cups must I drink until I discover the correct dosage? 'Ah, too sweet.' 'Oh, too chocolatey') when the urge seizes me. Meanwhile, I am delighted to discover the delights of a good cup of tea. This is something I've brewed on occasion and always enjoyed, but I haven't really ever established a habit. I intend to do so now, especially as herbal teas offer so much for pregnancy. A delicate cup of hot tea with a touch of wild honey is now becoming my daily ritual.
I really want us to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. This is one concession, however, that my budget is not quite willing to relinquish. This is the worst time of year to be thinking about buying lots of fresh produce, and most of the stuff in the grocery store wouldn't be that fresh or nutritious anyway. So I've decided that I will start sprouting things on our countertops. My mom used to do this Oregon long ago, and I always loved eating the fresh alfalfa sprouts (not to mention watching them grow! I didn't even need a chia pet!) I need to find a source for alfalfa sprout seeds, and I may even try bean sprouts if I feel that ambitious. I would love to have two or three strainers going at once, so I have a tablespoon or so of fresh sprouts to eat every day. The kids will grow up loving them because they won't know any different, and they will think that leftover turkey-cream cheese-cranberry sauce-alfalfa sprout sandwiches are perfectly normal, which I do, because I grew up eating them, whereas Michael did not.
The grand prize of the last week and a half of health food foraging came in the jams and jellies department. We had just finished a jar of blackberry jam, and when shopping for replenishment I was not surprised to find most labels listing massive quantities of artificial sweetenings and preservatives. Now jellies do require a good bit of sugar to jell, but not all that fake stuff! Even the stuff billed as natural was pretty stiffly laced with unpleasantness. So I looked up a recipe for blueberry jam, and cooked up a batch! It was so easy. Not at all daunting, nor as tedious or cumbersome as I'd remembered, stirring for hours and hours over a hot stove while melting down apple peels for the pectin or some such. We still had several ziploc bags of blueberries in our freezer from last summer's catch, which I have been hoarding (and I am determined to stop hoarding things and start enjoying them! But that's a story for another post) but decided it was time to use up. The recipe entailed:
4 cups of blueberries
1/4 cup of sugar (I was amazed at this! Most jelly recipes I remember require about one part sugar to one part fruit in order to jell!)
1/4 cup orange juice (to simplify matters I just bought an orange and squeezed it fresh)
2 packets unflavoured gelatin (nothing sinister about this, as far as I could see; as Michael said, 'pure unvarnished horse's hooves')
I spent maybe half an hour on the whole operation, and ended up with a quart jar of lovely jelled-up blueberry jam. It's very tasty, and we've been enjoying it on pancakes and English muffins for the past week now. I am definitely going to make all our jam from now on, and wish only that blackberries grew as profusely here as they did in Oregon.
The obvious first step is the peanut butter. I was delighted to find that the completely natural stuff is available right next to the regular stuff on the shelf at Kroger, and for not too much more. We do eat some peanut butter, but not a lot (but we really should eat more!) so for now switching to good, wholesome peanut butter will not require too much of a sacrifice. Jane likes the taste of it, and I can't tell that much of a difference.
I'm not quite ready to swear off ever eating any hydrogenated fats or high fructose corn syrup ever again, but I am definitely wary of them, and I'm going to scrupulously read labels from now on and cast a skeptical eye on anything containing them. We'd better really love the final product if we do decide to go on eating it.
I was shocked and disappointed to find out how horrible the packs of hot cocoa mix are. It doesn't even appear that they contain real chocolate! There are few winter things I savour so much as curling up with a good steaming mug of hot cocoa. I will stop the ridiculous sugar dose, however, and try to mix up my own with cocoa powder and powdered sugar (alas! How many failed cups must I drink until I discover the correct dosage? 'Ah, too sweet.' 'Oh, too chocolatey') when the urge seizes me. Meanwhile, I am delighted to discover the delights of a good cup of tea. This is something I've brewed on occasion and always enjoyed, but I haven't really ever established a habit. I intend to do so now, especially as herbal teas offer so much for pregnancy. A delicate cup of hot tea with a touch of wild honey is now becoming my daily ritual.
I really want us to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. This is one concession, however, that my budget is not quite willing to relinquish. This is the worst time of year to be thinking about buying lots of fresh produce, and most of the stuff in the grocery store wouldn't be that fresh or nutritious anyway. So I've decided that I will start sprouting things on our countertops. My mom used to do this Oregon long ago, and I always loved eating the fresh alfalfa sprouts (not to mention watching them grow! I didn't even need a chia pet!) I need to find a source for alfalfa sprout seeds, and I may even try bean sprouts if I feel that ambitious. I would love to have two or three strainers going at once, so I have a tablespoon or so of fresh sprouts to eat every day. The kids will grow up loving them because they won't know any different, and they will think that leftover turkey-cream cheese-cranberry sauce-alfalfa sprout sandwiches are perfectly normal, which I do, because I grew up eating them, whereas Michael did not.
The grand prize of the last week and a half of health food foraging came in the jams and jellies department. We had just finished a jar of blackberry jam, and when shopping for replenishment I was not surprised to find most labels listing massive quantities of artificial sweetenings and preservatives. Now jellies do require a good bit of sugar to jell, but not all that fake stuff! Even the stuff billed as natural was pretty stiffly laced with unpleasantness. So I looked up a recipe for blueberry jam, and cooked up a batch! It was so easy. Not at all daunting, nor as tedious or cumbersome as I'd remembered, stirring for hours and hours over a hot stove while melting down apple peels for the pectin or some such. We still had several ziploc bags of blueberries in our freezer from last summer's catch, which I have been hoarding (and I am determined to stop hoarding things and start enjoying them! But that's a story for another post) but decided it was time to use up. The recipe entailed:
4 cups of blueberries
1/4 cup of sugar (I was amazed at this! Most jelly recipes I remember require about one part sugar to one part fruit in order to jell!)
1/4 cup orange juice (to simplify matters I just bought an orange and squeezed it fresh)
2 packets unflavoured gelatin (nothing sinister about this, as far as I could see; as Michael said, 'pure unvarnished horse's hooves')
I spent maybe half an hour on the whole operation, and ended up with a quart jar of lovely jelled-up blueberry jam. It's very tasty, and we've been enjoying it on pancakes and English muffins for the past week now. I am definitely going to make all our jam from now on, and wish only that blackberries grew as profusely here as they did in Oregon.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
How I'm feeling today
'We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.' ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8
It's discouraging, to be sure, but I suppose it could have been worse. There have been elections much more victorious-feeling than this and others far more bleak and grim. This is about what we were all expecting, anyway, despite that valiant spark of hope that springs eternal in the heart of man.
It's discouraging, to be sure, but I suppose it could have been worse. There have been elections much more victorious-feeling than this and others far more bleak and grim. This is about what we were all expecting, anyway, despite that valiant spark of hope that springs eternal in the heart of man.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Guy Fawkes Day!
Remember, remember, the 5th of November-
Gunpowder, treason and plot;
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
~English nursery rhyme
Go out and light a bonfire! Maybe even burn a modern-day terrorist in effigy!
Gunpowder, treason and plot;
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
~English nursery rhyme
Go out and light a bonfire! Maybe even burn a modern-day terrorist in effigy!
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