Internet Hodgepodge--August 28

I'm linking up with Mandi at It's Come 2 This for Saturday Stumbles. Here are some ideas, recipes and posts I liked this week:

We are THAT Family linked to this great Back to School Survival Bag (from Everything Pink)--great idea!

I want to try this recipe for taco soup from Happy Sahm World.

I want to remember this post about an mp3 workout.

Here's a great list of Organizing Tools from Simple Organized Living.

Lipstick Moments at Rants from Mommyland. Great little piece of perspective.

Falafel and tzatziki recipes from Real Food Little Rock. Looks yummy.

Check out more favorite posts at It's Come 2 This. Have a great weekend!

Five Question Friday--August 27

I've been busy cleaning in anticipation of L's teachers visiting us this morning. Now the visit is over and I can trash my house and do a little blogging. I give you Five Question Friday hosted by Mama M....1. How many pets do you have?
None, I'm not a pet person. I can't even handle the (human) responsibilities I already have, I'm not willingly adding more!

2. If you could switch places with anyone in the world for one day, who would it be?
Hmmm. Maybe a college student? I loved college--no responsibilities other than to occasionally go to class or write a paper. Oh to sleep till noon--those were the days!

3. What is your favorite money saving tip?
Don't be brand-loyal. Buy the brand that's on sale or buy generic, whatever is cheapest. {At this point I'm only loyal to a few brands--Jif peanut butter, Eggo waffles (possibly a few more I can't think of right now). In those cases, I've tried other brands, I've tried generic and there's a difference. (Safeway waffles were barely edible!) I was loyal to Aunt Jemima syrup for a long time but recently switched to generic. It's not as good but it's worth the savings and getting that racist brand out of my house. Sorry, I'm rambling.}

4. What do you want your kids to be when they grow up?
Our top priority is to keep them from being lawyers (our profession)--it's awful! Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be lawyers. Otherwise, I don't care. I'd like to steer them to something that fits with their interests, something that doesn't require expensive schooling. No educational debt. Something that will likely always be in demand, like computers or nursing.

5. What is your favorite quote?
From scripture, Phil 4:13--"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

From a human, Eleanor Roosevelt--"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."

For more Q&A fun, go here.

MPT12--Tenth Grade (Performing Arts edition)

This is the 12th in a series of 15 posts recounting my childhood. (To see parts 1 through 11, click the label "MPT" in my sidebar.) Today's topic is Tenth Grade. I've been singing and dancing since I was born--I can't help it, I cannot listen passively to music. ;-) Also, I lived near Chicago so (thanks to my generous parents) I grew up going to Broadway musicals (traveling companies) downtown. So naturally I wanted to grow up and be on Broadway. Just one problem (talent notwithstanding), I'm painfully shy. When I was in 7th grade, this woman named Kimmie decided our little junior high (MM) and the other little junior high (SR) would put on a musical together and she would direct. (I think Kimmie was a mother of someone at SR, I totally don't know.) In 7th grade, the musical she put together was "The Music Man." So you'd think, what with these Broadway aspirations, I would jump at the chance to be in the show. Nope, I was too shy to audition.



In eighth grade, the musical was "Annie" and this time I worked up the guts to audition. {I have to mention here, that I loved the musical "Annie" and once my neighborhood performed the musical in our basement and as I had the best voice (of the 7 or 8 of us) I played the lead role. LOL} You could audition alone or in groups and I had my solo audition all planned but at the last minute, two friends (Jane and Jill) convinced me we should all audition together. I was a shy and awkward mess but I thought I sang pretty well. Jane got a call-back but Jill and I did not (but since this was junior high, everyone who auditions gets to be in the show). Turns out Jane got one of the lead roles--Grace. Jill and I got matching roles as maids. (My one line was "the silk, no the satin sheets I think" in the middle of the song "I think I'm gonna like it here.") At the time, I was confused and a little bitter that Jane and I had sung equally well (in my opinion), but she got the big break, but now I can appreciate that Kimmie would have seen my extreme nervousness at the audition and known better than to give me a large role. Duh!

In 9th grade, I took Freshman Acting and in 10th grade I took Sophomore Acting. At the time, I thought anyone could act. I figured we act all the time in real life--we pretend to like your new haircut, we pretend to like a gift when we don't, etc. But it was in 10th grade that I finally realized I can't act.

Freshman Acting was an easy class, we did some improv (I'd say in hindsight that I'm better at improv than line-reading), we did dramatic readings of poetry. No big deal. In Sophomore Acting, however... well, first of all, I was in class with some great actors, some of the best in my graduating class: Sandro, Erin, that other guy what's-his-name. That gave me a little perspective on my own (lack of) abilities.

The whole class would be performing the play "The Glass Menagerie" with different students in each scene. We were supposed to audition for 3 scenes, I only had the nerve to audition for two. In the end, I was cast as Laura in the smallest scene, I think I had 5 lines--and even those, I just couldn't deliver well. What the heck was I doing?! Anyway, the play went off without a hitch, but I did finally catch on that acting was not my thing and I quit the class at the semester break.

I was still very much into singing. I loved performing in choirs, no solos required! In 10th grade I was in Musettes, the sophomore girls choir. (As I mentioned last week, anyone could be in freshman or sophomore choirs without auditions. Tons of girls participated in Freshman Girls Choir' fewer participated in Musettes, I believe there were only two sections.) My director was Mr. Klinka, who wasn't the best choir director I've ever had but he was a nice guy and we had fun. It was early in the year when I switched from being a soprano to an alto (I think I had a cold on the day we were figuring out voice parts, so I didn't have my high notes)--and I fell in love with all the harmony and was an alto ever after. :-)

I don't believe I've mentioned in these piggy tales how much I hated Physical Education. In Illinois, you had to take PE every single day. (I was shocked, in college, to learn that this was not the case in other states. I met people who had PE once a week or only one trimester per year. I was so jealous!) In 9th grade, we cycled through various PE courses like swimming, running, basketball. Finally in 10th grade, I was allowed to take Dance for one semester. Anyone could take beginner dance, thereafter it was by audition. (Second semester, I had to take regular PE, I took running or whatever it was called and then never took PE again. Woohoo, it was dance forever after. Yea!)

I was in Beginner Dance with my friend Jenny and loved it. My teacher was Mrs. Gans. It was a mixture of ballet and contemporary. We learned a few foot positions, did some twirls, nothing too tough. I knew I wasn't a great dancer, but I had rhythm and was right in the middle of the pack--not the best dancer but not the worst. When we auditioned at the end of the year for Intermediate, I made it (woohoo!) but my friend Jenny did not.

At the end of sophomore year, we had auditions for next year's choirs. The choices for girls were: Girls Chorus (the default for anyone who didn't get into one of the better choirs), Choir Opera, Concert Choir, and (the best of the best) Swing Choir. I auditioned for all three and ranked Swing as my 1st choice, Cho-Op as 2nd, Concert as 3rd. And I checked the box that I only had time for one choir (although if you make it into Swing, you are expected to also be in Cho-Op or Concert).

Swing Choir was elite and small--maybe 8 girls and 8 guys. Mr. Bachmann was the director. At the beginning of that audition, we did scales and I had an icredible range that day, I kept singing higher and higher notes and even Mr. B was surprised ("you're an alto?!") and then I went to sing my prepared piece--and lost my voice! Seriously! I guess all the scales and high notes stressed my voice, because I couldn't sing anymore. Mr. B encouraged me to finish the audition another day, but for whatever reason, I never did. I don't really regret that. I tried again the next year.

Choir Opera was the class that puts on the big musical each year. If you want to be in the big musical, you have to be in Cho-Op. I still had musical-theater aspirations, so I really wanted into Cho-Op.

Oh, I'm having flashbacks! I auditioned for a few plays and musicals those first two years of high school. (Keep in mind, this was a huge school, each year there were several productions.) I never even made the call-backs. Again, what was I thinking?! LOL

To get into Cho-Op, you had to sing plus either dance or act. Which meant I needed to find a monologue. I was totally a fish out of water on this one. I got a book of monologues from the library and chose one where I was like a waitress in a diner. I'm sure it was awful, but my singing got me in.

Okay, I didn't plan to write this story, and I know this post is already enormous, but I have to explain how I ended up in Concert Choir. The day we were supposed to find out which choir we got into, I didn't get my results. The letters were sent to advisory and I had no letter. I was distraught, hysterical (well, I don't think I cried at school, just once I got home). I thought I would have at least made Concert Choir (no acting required). It was a crisis. I knew I wasn't the best singer, but I thought I was good enough to make it into something and I really DID NOT want to be in Girls Chorus--it's for losers. (Oh the melodrama! I hate that I was such a brat that night saying I wouldn't be in Girls Chorus, I'd rather NOT SING than be in Girls Chorus. Shame on me!)

The next day at school, all the rosters of the various choirs were posted in the music hallway. Everyone was crowded around the board and I just started frantically searching for my name--I didn't even look at what choir each list was for, I scoured them all for my name. When I found my name (which was relief in itself) I looked to see what choir it was--and it was Cho-Op! My big dream! I couldn't believe it!

I headed into Musettes and for whatever reason we were watching a movie that day with another choir class. Well all the emotions of the last 24 hours flooded over and I started crying. Mr. Smith, the director of the other class and leader of Concert Choir, noticed me crying and asked what happened. I told him how I didn't get a letter the previous day and I didn't think I'd made it into any choir, but now apparently I was in Cho-Op. He apologized, confirmed I did indeed get into Cho-Op and in fact I would've made it into Concert Choir too (what? wow!) if I'd said I could be in two choirs. He was so nice and I was so thrilled that I asked him if I could do Concert Choir too and he said he could arrange that.

Without giving too much away, my junior year I was in both Choir Opera and Concert Choir and of the two it was Concert Choir I liked the best. Mr. Smith and Concert Choir were the best things about my high school experience. So sadly this "no letter" fiasco was necessary for me to be in the choir I was meant to be in. It really was one of the worst days of my high school life. It is only in hindsight that I see the Hand Of God and that, because I had ranked Cho-Op higher, I needed this drama to get me into the right chorus. Thank you, Lord!

Okay, I think that's all for this week. Check out more sophomore tales at Mommy's Piggy Tales and tune in next week for junior year. Thanks for reading!

A Few Small Changes

Okay, yesterday I talked about how we're taking L off of wheat. (We tried the GF spaghetti tonight and everybody liked it. The kids gobbled it up!) Here are some other changes I'm working on.



I need to do something about my appearance, I'm just not happy with myself right now. (The pictures snapped of me during vacation confirm my yuckiness.) I've cut down all the food I'm willing to cut down. I've broken my Twizzler habit, but I "need" my ice cream snack at night. My meals are fine (well, I should probably watch my portions) and my 4pm snack is okay if I stop after the pretzels and maybe a couple Hershey kisses. Since I'm not willing to "diet," that leaves exercise.



Inspired by this post (hat tip to Oh Amanda) to try small steps, I'm trying to incentivize the plan I've had for a while--to walk/move for 10 minutes a day. Turn on my iPod and just dance/pace/whatever. Right now, my "plan" is to do it at 10:30am, L gets a bottle at 10:30 like clockwork, so now I just have to remember.



Okay, the incentive: I made myself a sticker chart. 10 minutes of "exercise" gets me a sticker. 10 stickers equals a dollar. So I can treat myself at the dollar store (or iTunes) or "save up" for something bigger.



I came up with this plan early last week and I've only earned 2 stickers so far. Yep, I'm going gangbusters! A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Obviously, this isn't going to drop me several dress sizes, but maybe I can fit better into the shorts I'm currently outgrowing. And it's healthy, right?



I have taped a little list to one of my kitchen cabinets reminding myself of my little goals. It says "Just for today"--so I don't get overwhelmed by big goals/projects. Right now the list has 4 things, including to exercise at 10:30. "Drink Coke only at meals"--because I can easily consume 3 cans a day, when my goal is 1.5 (half a can per meal). I'm trying to stop myself when can #1 is empty during lunch, but honestly I usually pop open another if I haven't finished eating. So now I'm really trying to stop after can #2 is empty at dinner. I allow myself to drink a few sips with my snack at 4 because I'm eating. Anyway, reducing my Coke calories also increases the amount of water I'm drinking, so that's all good.



"No grunting" is another reminder on my kitchen list. I've developed (and passed on to my kids) a grunting (or actually growling) habit. Here's a common scenario: I check on L who's been washing his hands for a long time, "okay, dry your hands," I say and L replies "I haven't gotten soap yet." Grunt. I don't want to go through life grunting nor do I want my kids to remember me groaning all through their youth. And because L knows I'm working on my grunting habit, he can take me seriously when I ask him to stop grunting.



Finally, "L sips" is on the list. We've gotten totally off track trying to move him from bottles to straws. Time is of the essence as the school days get longer and he has to drink his formula at school or he is a crabby mess by the end of the day. Thus, the goal is to have him drink a couple ounces from a straw once per day (an activity we've nicknamed "sips"). He has a neat reward chart where a pirate moves from 1 to 10, each time he reaches 10, he gets a quarter for his piggy bank.



Back to my appearance issues, I've started wearing makeup semi-regularly. I tried this once before a few years ago but stopped because I just don't feel comfortable, I feel self-conscious and fake and like everyone can tell I'm wearing makeup. Isn't that insane? I'm 35 years old, I'm entitled, even expected, to wear makeup. So back then I was using foundation, this time I've been using tinted moisturizer in hopes it's just a little lighter, less obvious whatever. But I now find myself having the same ambivalent and self-conscious feelings. I was pondering this on the way to speech (while wearing makeup) and wondering why I'm more self-conscious wearing makeup than I am when all my zits/blotches/scars are on display (i.e. without makeup). Right now, part of my motivation is that I spent $14 on the moisturizer so I better use it! That and the SPF is good, right?

Any advice on any of these goals/issues?!

Top 10 Tuesday--Things I Bought at Whole Foods

Yesterday, the kids and I stopped at Whole Foods after speech to stock up on some Gluten Free products. L is officially (according to the patch test) allergic to wheat, but he's been tolerating a small amount of wheat (like breaded chicken nuggets) for a while now and we (okay, I) have probably become a little too liberal--he's been eating bread, waffles, pasta, pizza--and finally Hubby and I noticed some things. Hubby noticed some itching and that L sometimes said his tummy aches. I noticed his behavior went from bad listening to no listening. (I'm not saying gluten = bad behavior, but maybe wheat = discomfort = bad behavior.) In any event, Hubby and I decided it was time to cut way down on the wheat and see what happens. But then L was left with very few foods he eats (mainly Pringles and chicken and Rice Chex)--so I headed to Whole Foods to see what I could find. Here's what I bought, in fancy Top Ten List form:

1. Conte's Gluten-Free margherita pizza. As if on cue, Real Simple magazine's September issue rated frozen pizzas, including gluten-free and Conte's was the winner in that category. We had this pizza last night (me and the kids, Hubby ate leftover chicken) and I was impressed. Great cheese/sauce/garlic flavor, if it weren't for the crust it might have been my new favorite frozen pizza. The crust is made of rice. The flavor is pretty bland and the texture is almost melt-in-your-mouth (not really what I want in pizza crust) but overall, two thumbs up. Oh and both kids liked it too. It's expensive (isn't everything at Whole Foods?!) at $9 for a pizza that doesn't even feed the whole family.

2. I also got another brand of frozen pizza to try: Glutino GF duo cheese pizza. ($6 for an even smaller pizza.) We'll give that a try soon.

3. Van's GF waffles. I tried Van's apple cinnamon waffles on L a long time ago and he could tell the difference from our usual Eggos, but that was before he fell in love with maple syrup. This time I got the original flavor and drowned it in syrup and he's a big fan. Woohoo!

4. Erewhon cocoa crispy brown rice cereal. L has eaten Erewhon's crispy rice cereal for a long time, it was one of his first real foods, but he's been bored of it lately. So when I spied this chocolate version (and confirmed the absence of corn syrup), I thought it would be a good way to get both kids interested in breakfast again. And I was right, both kids love it. Score!

5. Jo-Sef GF cinnamon cookies. Another area where we've been too liberal with the wheat: dessert (cake, cookies, pie crust etc.). I let L choose from the selection of GF cookies and it took several tries to find one without corn in the ingredients. {For those of you just joining us here, L is also allergic to corn.} But Jo-Sef came through. And turns out, they're yummy. All of us enjoyed a cookie or two last night. :-)

6. DeBoles GF rice spaghetti style pasta. Spaghetti is one of L's favorite foods so it would be cruel to eat it in front of him, which means our whole family will be switching to wheat-free spaghetti. Whole Foods had a bunch of choices made from rice, quinoa or a mixture of things. I chose this rice one because some of the others had too much fiber (which angers my IBS). We'll see how it tastes....

7. Annie's rice pasta and cheddar (i.e., GF mac 'n' cheese). Sometimes L loves mac 'n' cheese, other times he says he hates it (he does this with so many foods, it's very aggravating) so I was thrilled to spot the GF version. Haven't tried it yet, but I hope it's a hit.

8. Gluten Free Pantry favorite sandwich bread mix. I asked a gluten-free facebook friend for a bread recommendation (I was thinking I'd just buy a loaf) and she said that pre-made loaves taste bad and this mix makes the best bread. Sucks that I have to make my own bread, but I did once try a GF loaf from Whole Foods and it was inedible--so I'll take her word for it and give it a try. I'm thinking even if it's only mediocre, I can turn it into french toast sticks, which L likes. We'll see.

9. Seventh Generation disinfecting wipes. This was an impulse purchase because there was a big display and I'd just read Diaper Diaries review so I thought "let's give it a try."

10. Acidophilus. This one's for me. I've been taking acidophilus since a stomach bug in January--I find it helps my IBS.

Wasn't that fun?! Head on over to Oh Amanda for more Top Ten lists!

And I'll keep you posted on how our wheat-free experiment works out.

Week in Review--August 21, 2010

Back from vacation but still two weeks "off" before school starts, it should have been a pretty easy week, just speech on Monday and Wednesday. But L's GI office called on Tuesday and offered us an appointment the next day. Thus, suddenly Wed. was going to be crazy--GI appointment at PCH (downtown Phoenix) at 10:30 am and speech in north Scottsdale at 2:00 pm. So I was hoping we'd make it home by 12:30 (allowing for an hour at the doctor's plus drive time) and leaving for speech at 1:15. In other words, it would be hell.


Normally, when something comes up like this, I tend to cancel speech, but as we'd just missed two sessions for vacation and they have a policy of dropping clients if attendance drops below 80% in 30 days--that wasn't a viable option this week.


So Wednesday comes and it was a nightmare as expected. The first IBS episode happens after we pass Dollar Tree, I take 2 Imodium and stop at my usual McDonald's bathroom. Back on the road, we hit construction and I get another episode and there's nowhere to stop before PCH, so I pop another Imodium, make it through the construction and eventually get to the hospital.


Although it felt like we waited forever (and the waiting room was packed), it wasn't even 11am by the time the doctor came in. So that was good, we made it home about 12:10, moved straight into lunch, and made it to speech, exhausted but on time.


We were like a traveling circus at the doctor's office. In the waiting room, my kids were jumping off the furniture and squealing like banshees. In the exam room, I'm trying to talk to the doctor while L and T wrestle on a chair. And I'm a mess because the whole thing gives me great (IBS-related) anxiety. Circus!


So having survived Wednesday, I promptly do nothing on Thursday or Friday, can't even manage to take us to the grocery when we run out of whole milk, I just feed T skim milk instead. Fail.


Saturday was "workday" at L's preschool. Two hours passed super-slowly as I bleached toys and cleaned a fan and generally tried to make myself useful. Never mind that I don't clean my own home, I cleaned up the preschool. Thank you, Hubby, for not pointing out that irony. Bright side--I met several nice moms from L's class.

GI Appointment

All four guaiac cards were negative. I asked for a "big picture reality check" because hello, my son is 5 and drinks a bottle and poops in a diaper. First, she said these issues derive from a medical problem. Second, "we messed up" on behavior (her words--I think she means we didn't break the bottle habit soon enough, on her advice) but we are all grateful he never needed a tube (amen to that!). We talked about the poop issue, which she called a normal developmental stage, and told me a few tricks to try including a laxative. She didn't have any new input on the getting-through-the-school-day issue, I said we're sending a lunch box full of food plus a thermos of Neocate and he's just going to have to figure out that if he's hungry he has to either eat or drink.

The young girl in the waiting room in a wheelchair with a breathing tube gave me a "big picture reality check" too. Things could be a lot worse!

Reading

Before our vacation, I checked out 3 Jane Austen spin-offs from the library.

I started reading An Assembly Such As This thinking it was a Pride & Prejudice "sequel" but it turns out that it is a retelling of P&P from Darcy's perspective. No thanks, I won't be reading that.

Next up, a P&P sequel called Desire and Duty. I read the first page and a half and set it down because it was so poorly written.

Book #3: Jane Austen in Boca, a modern-day P&P that takes place among retirees in Florida. I loved her Jane Austen in Scarsdale (see my review here) and this time I enjoyed that she was describing the culture and manners of a society I knew nothing about. Sadly, I just couldn't get into the saga of an old folks home and I gave up. (Also, the plot departed too far from Austen for my taste.)

So I picked up Desire & Duty again. The writing style is awful, painful sometimes, but I like "hanging out" with my friends from Pride and Prejudice and the plot follows Georgiana's quest for a mate--and the book (thankfully, because the style is so lacking) is plot-driven (no analysis of culture or manners) so I can, for the most part, ignore its faults. I'm not loving it, but I'm enjoying it.

All this puts into perspective Pride & Prescience that I read last month (and partially reviewed here). When I finished the book, I was disappointed that the "solution" to the mystery involved the paranormal. Lame, I thought. Now, I think I will forgive that shortcoming because the style was the closest to Austen that I've yet read. Or at least she's readable. Anyway, I'm willing to try her next novel in the "Darcy mystery" series.

Watching

We just finished "The Last Station" starring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren as Mr. and Mrs. Leo Tolstoy (technically Count and Countess, but whatever) at the end of his life. We loved this movie! My husband is a huge Tolstoy fan, which helped because at the beginning I didn't know what was going on. (Don't worry if you don't have a Tolstoyan to watch it with, the movie explained everything a few minutes after Hubby did.) Great acting, fast-moving story that was almost a comedy at some points, fun to watch. And Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy, a little love story among the younger characters, made for many surprises. I highly recommend it (and would like to see it again, maybe even own it, so two thumbs up).

That's what I've been up to. Another school-free week ahead but it will probably be full of errands. Lots of cooking, I'll try to post my meal plan tomorrow.

Five Question Friday--August 20

1. Do you have any nicknames and if so how did it come about?

I've never had a good nickname.:-( My husband and I call each other goofy things like crazyhead and pookie. Lame, I know.

2. What is your birth order amongst your siblings?

I am the second of 4 girls. So older middle child. I've got the middle-child-Jan-Brady-syndrome for sure.

3. In a movie of your life, who would play your significant other?

This is a great question, I can't believe I haven't thought of this before, since I've known for a long time that Sandra Bullock should play me. But my husband? That's a tough one! After much thought, I've come up with Brendan Fraser. {photo credit} They have a similar build (although truth be told, Fraser is taller and Hubby is slightly heavier) and brown hair and light eyes (Hubby's are green, can't tell what Fraser's are). So there you go.

4. What is currently your favorite song?

Another tough one because so much depends on my mood. I'm going to say Train's "Hey Soul Sister" because it's current (I wouldn't want you to think I was out of date or anything)

and I can listen to it over and over.

5. Are you saving your money for anything right now? Big or small purchase?

Honestly, we don't have two cents to rub together so I'm not really saving, but I am on the lookout for a new diaper/messenger bag for everyday.

Go here for more Q&A fun. Thanks to Mama M. for hosting! :-)