Officially home: A blank canvas of a day. Of a week. Of a month.
Temptations of idle time always loom, but in the end those wasted minutes and hours come back to haunt in piles and a full sink. 'Idle time' for me is randomly surfing online, having 7 or so tabs open with 3 different search topics, a few virtual shopping carts, and an afternoon power-nap turning into a 2 hour deep sleep. It could also be as simple as 'not planning.' I can now see the days in weeks, which has really helped me. One day for cleaning, one or two or five for shopping, one for laundry, hoping to get it all done in the M-F so the S & S is for family days, and not executing neglected chores. But shopping in one day is not necessarily practical with 2 little helpers - I guess it could be if I didn't mind spending time reading labels to be sure there are no food colorings, excess salt, or too many ingredients I can't pronounce because I'm locked into a huge labyrinth of a big name grocer. Another idle trap for me: staring at 34 different kinds of pasta analyzing ingredients, nutrition facts, and unit prices and prior to shopping running into Pier 1 Imports because it happens to be next door.
Ideally, I would make it to...
Produce Junction and the weekend farmer's market for produce
Dean Green for Seafood and Chicken
Genuardi's for Beef
The Asian Dollar for odds and ends
HMart for our asian food and produce (next to the asian dollar store)
Whole Foods for goat milk and fun kid's cereal
Home Depot is self explanatory
Trader Joe's for the don't-have-to-think-about-ingredients & reasonably-priced shopping experience
BJs for paper goods, dried fruit, et al.
And all that running around doesn't seem ideal when I sit back and analyze it. Genuardi's may have me sucked in to going more often because of the Disney Channel shopping carts, where Naomi and David can be buckled in and watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. That'll give you a chance to get distracted by all the little yellow signs, shiny back to school supplies, and an opportunity to find Red #40 and monosodium glutamate on many ingredient labels.
After 3 stops today, everyone was asleep in the car as I pulled into our driveway. This yields me 2 hours of uninterrupted production. I knew I had to get some thoughts blogged before I make Ziti for dinner. Although, now I realize that I will be making 3 personalized lasagnas - Mike: spicy, sausage, & only Mozzarella cheese, David: Mild, sausage, no cheese, Naomi & I: Mild, sausage, ricotta cheese and Mozzarella. So I'll make the banana bread in a large pie plate and the bread loaf pans into little lasagnas. Hopefully I won't pull up 6 more tabs and get sucked into computer idleness.
=
Ok. Zitis are done.
One tool I have found very useful is the MyPlan made by Mom Agenda. It has a 2 page spread for the week, and blocks underneath. If I don't get to something, I noticed I am still reminded of it throughout the week, so I don't feel like I have failed, but yet have another opportunity to get it done. Also, I use a highlighter to 'cross' things off, it's very encouraging to see all that you have done in bright color, rather than a bunch of crossed out things. Instead of using the squares as spots for different members of the family, I keep a google calendar going so it automatically updates my husband's smartphone with items that are relevant to him and I keep the kids and my schedules along with a to do, to call, and grocery list in all the little squares. No more grocery list pieces of paper to be found in the bottom of the washer from having lost them. Just one little cute book to carry around with my wallet, keys and phone. I'm only going on 2 1/2 weeks with the MyPlan, so what's a habit? 3 weeks? And, the only reason I bought it was because someone had to use the potty in staples and it got wet. I believe it was legitimately my fault though. I couldn't not buy it. That's like breaking a commandment.
Oh - and if you have good ideas for how you shop for your family, by buying quality, fairly priced, and fresh foods, please share your ideas! And you have an open door to spill the beans on what makes your time "idle."
She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Prov 31:27
I think I just landed my next Scripture memory verse.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
How do you spell ?
[Charlotte is looking for a new message to write in her web]
Lamb: How about "Pig Supreme"?
Charlotte: No good. It sounds like a rich dessert.
[Templeton walks past with an apple core towards the trough, and Charlotte glares at Templeton]
Goose: How about terrific, terrific, terrific?
Charlotte: Cut that down to one terrific and it will do nicely. I think terrific might impress Zuckerman.
Wilbur: But Charlotte, I'm not terrific.
Charlotte: You're terrific as far as I am concerned.
[Templeton, while holding a piece of orange in his mouth, smacks Wilbur's face with his tail and walks off to the trough]
Charlotte: [after glaring at Templeton] Does anybody know how to spell it?
Goose: I think it's T double-E double-R double-R double-I double-F double-I double C, C, C!
Well, thank you E.B. White for making "terrific" so memorable for me.
Yesterday I had an appointment with my neurologist and his med student, and not one terrific was left out. My doctor totally followed Goose's cue to at least say it three times. If the adjective about my progress health-wise wasn't "terrific," it was "incredible."
Who am I to be able to have a reboot on my life? I'm now down to 2 mg of prednisone a day, and will hold that dose for 6 months. I haven't had a nanny for 2 months, and I actually have two mobile children now. (David just took 4-5 steps in a row today!) I only take mestinon when I feel like I need 'insurance,' about once a week. And living with a lot more gratitude and purpose than previous to this illness. I'm only giving you the hard facts, because if you check out "A Quantitative Glance" you'll notice a drastic decrease in medications and be able to quantitatively see the improvements.
It turns out, Mike ran into my neurologist at the hospital on Tuesday evening, so he got to tell the doc all of the good news, and mention that I was excited about my appointment in the morning. Before the neurologist came into the examination room yesterday, his med student was there and asked what was going on. I gave him a brief overview, I can get it into about 4 sentences now:
I had a baby at the end of July last year, and could not walk well for several months. Then, in the evenings of November, I started slurring my words and by Thanksgiving could not eat, swallow or talk, had trouble seeing, and continued to be weak muscularly. On the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, my husband and neurologist were both on call and had me come into the ER, where mestinon immediately helped my symptoms. I progressively was held together by mestinon and prednisone, until I had a thymectomy in April, and have been weaning off of prednisone ever since, feeling great.
So let's put it in some numbers for ya:
2 mg of prednisone
1 game lost of Dominion.
2 walking children
1 new mom.
3 terrifics
2 incredibles from
1 brilliant neurologist.
6 - 8 months post-op was expected improvement time
4 months post-op now.
2 more weeks of summer
0 nannies.
10 months until a new job for hubby
8 months we may have been through our last 4 seasons here.
6 months more at 2mg
4 months until Christmas, maybe I can put up our tree this year.
2 coconut iced pre-appointment coffees with
1 happy winner husband.
How many gifts do we want to give my neurologist?
Naomi would say, "a lot and a lot and a lot."
We are so grateful for the understanding about the disease myasthenia gravis, and the wisdom of my neurologist about what to do, and how much medication and testing, and where to go for a thymectomy, and when to have it done. I reiterated how I still could not believe he was the one on call that Thanksgiving weekend, and he said, "You know, there's a famous saying, 'it was just meant to be.'" We'll leave it at that and check out where the understanding and wisdom, which some people carry, comes from.
Job 28:12-28
12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Terrific, terrific, terrific.
Incredible.
Lamb: How about "Pig Supreme"?
Charlotte: No good. It sounds like a rich dessert.
[Templeton walks past with an apple core towards the trough, and Charlotte glares at Templeton]
Goose: How about terrific, terrific, terrific?
Charlotte: Cut that down to one terrific and it will do nicely. I think terrific might impress Zuckerman.
Wilbur: But Charlotte, I'm not terrific.
Charlotte: You're terrific as far as I am concerned.
[Templeton, while holding a piece of orange in his mouth, smacks Wilbur's face with his tail and walks off to the trough]
Charlotte: [after glaring at Templeton] Does anybody know how to spell it?
Goose: I think it's T double-E double-R double-R double-I double-F double-I double C, C, C!
Well, thank you E.B. White for making "terrific" so memorable for me.
Yesterday I had an appointment with my neurologist and his med student, and not one terrific was left out. My doctor totally followed Goose's cue to at least say it three times. If the adjective about my progress health-wise wasn't "terrific," it was "incredible."
Who am I to be able to have a reboot on my life? I'm now down to 2 mg of prednisone a day, and will hold that dose for 6 months. I haven't had a nanny for 2 months, and I actually have two mobile children now. (David just took 4-5 steps in a row today!) I only take mestinon when I feel like I need 'insurance,' about once a week. And living with a lot more gratitude and purpose than previous to this illness. I'm only giving you the hard facts, because if you check out "A Quantitative Glance" you'll notice a drastic decrease in medications and be able to quantitatively see the improvements.
It turns out, Mike ran into my neurologist at the hospital on Tuesday evening, so he got to tell the doc all of the good news, and mention that I was excited about my appointment in the morning. Before the neurologist came into the examination room yesterday, his med student was there and asked what was going on. I gave him a brief overview, I can get it into about 4 sentences now:
I had a baby at the end of July last year, and could not walk well for several months. Then, in the evenings of November, I started slurring my words and by Thanksgiving could not eat, swallow or talk, had trouble seeing, and continued to be weak muscularly. On the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, my husband and neurologist were both on call and had me come into the ER, where mestinon immediately helped my symptoms. I progressively was held together by mestinon and prednisone, until I had a thymectomy in April, and have been weaning off of prednisone ever since, feeling great.
So let's put it in some numbers for ya:
2 mg of prednisone
1 game lost of Dominion.
2 walking children
1 new mom.
3 terrifics
2 incredibles from
1 brilliant neurologist.
6 - 8 months post-op was expected improvement time
4 months post-op now.
2 more weeks of summer
0 nannies.
10 months until a new job for hubby
8 months we may have been through our last 4 seasons here.
6 months more at 2mg
4 months until Christmas, maybe I can put up our tree this year.
2 coconut iced pre-appointment coffees with
1 happy winner husband.
How many gifts do we want to give my neurologist?
Naomi would say, "a lot and a lot and a lot."
We are so grateful for the understanding about the disease myasthenia gravis, and the wisdom of my neurologist about what to do, and how much medication and testing, and where to go for a thymectomy, and when to have it done. I reiterated how I still could not believe he was the one on call that Thanksgiving weekend, and he said, "You know, there's a famous saying, 'it was just meant to be.'" We'll leave it at that and check out where the understanding and wisdom, which some people carry, comes from.
Job 28:12-28
12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Terrific, terrific, terrific.
Incredible.
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