The Invisible Door

Yesterday morning, everyone awoke feeling under the weather. I was definitely sick again, because I did not finish my 10 days of Amoxicillin, and yes, I deserve 100 lashes with a wet noodle. Frederer has a head cold and the kids have been coughing and nose-drooling ever since school started in September (well, no not really but close).

Let's just say our dear 3-year old Gorbulas is "working on adhering to boundaries". He's been on the time out step (thank you Supernanny) a good half dozen times each day for the last few days. Everyone's immune system being down doesn't help with the level of patience we have/don't have.

Saturday morning rolls around and we're all at the kitchen table for a late breakfast. Gorby is acting up, as usual, and gets sent to "the step." He continues to kick and scream so Frederer hacks up a "get up to your room!" boom from the table and Gorby screams and cries even harder. He screams all the way up the stairs, and screams from inside his room. Everyone's heads are about to explode from our illnesses and his screaming. He continues to scream and cry until he "gets control of his body" (thank you preschool).

Ruby looks at me and sighs...

and says, ever so profoundly: "You know, I wish there was a door riiiggghhhhttttt there," and points to the bottom of the staircase.

Yeah, some days I wish there was a door there too.

My Abacus and Me

I attended my first class last night!!!

I made arrangements with Frederer that he'd come home early just so I could leave early, get parking, get there early, sneak in the back, survey my other classmates/competition, etc. What a guy - he got home 45 minutes early, which gave me the opportunity to stop and get a Venti Americano with two Splendas. At 5:30pm.

Four shots of espresso....

At 5:30PM....

I figured I'd need it considering I was in a class from 6:30-9:30pm, and hey, as a matter of practice, I'm sleeping on the couch by 8:30 every night. Sadly, the espresso didn't kick in until about 10pm and I stayed up listening to Frederer snore until 2:30am. I caught up on Project Runway, Prison Break, Mythbustes, CSI:Miami and the Terminator Sarah Conner Chronicles. I finally dozed when I put in a rereun of CSI.

Sorry -- back to school! I'm just so excited to be there and I drive to campus and park in the student lot. So, my first impression of the school was..........that it's dirty and the landscape isn't kept! HA! How hilarious is that?!? I look around and think, "Hmm, I think Baylor kept their grounds a bit more tidy." I kill myself...of COURSE Baylor -- a private and well funded university that's been around since practically Columbus -- would have a beautiful campus. And, this is a community college. ANYWAY...(Gosh I'm such a snob).

I arrive at my classroom and take a seat in one of those desk-chair combos than elementary schools have! HA! It was awesome! I'm waiting to see if the desk lifts up so I can put my school box with my gluestick, my colored pencils and my ruler inside. No such luck. Sadly, it's just a desk.

I look around at my 50 classmates and most of them are working adults --20 and 30somethings. There's a few late teenagers and early 20somethings, but the average age I would guess would be 30. So far, so good.

The professor introduces himself and right out of the gate throws dry sense of humor jokes our way. Frederer has a dry sense of humor, so I pick up on it and start giggling at some of his attempts to break the ice. Everyone else just stares at him like they don't get it. Oh, come ON people! He's funny!!!! And, he's well qualified and has two PhDs -- one in cellular biology and one in business. He's been in the health care consulting business for 25 years and obviously knows his stuff in teaching Human Biology 101. So far, so good.

As we proceed thru class, I notice several differences than from when I was in school in 1990-1994:

1) We didn't have the internet or networks or websites or any kind of technology outside of a 3.5 in floppy and a word processor. I know, I know, shocking. Our textbook actually has a website you can go to, register, read the chapters online, highlight, make notes in the virtual margins, practice with their practice quizzes and tests, etc.

2) The class (the teacher's CLASS) has an actual website. We had to wait to see our grades, nervously chewing our fingernails awaiting the results only to find out in week 16 that you're getting a D and must W the class like TOMORROW before you fail it (of course, not that ever happened to ME of course....kidding! I was the worst offender when it actually came to filling out the withdrawl paperwork. I repeated several courses throughout my college career). This professor will post our grades after every exam, quiz, paper and write up so we can always track our progress. Excellent! A huge improvement over my experience last time.

3) We didn't have Instant Messaging, electronic overhead projectors and thumb drives. We DID have ICQ and an Apple computer, so just ask Stephanie about the hours she and I wasted ICQ-ing other people across the country, namely some cutiepies from Rochester Institute of Technology. And, yes, it was addicting. VERY addicting. Like as addicting as online porn. I think all my grades dropped one letter with the advent of this little invention.

4) I didn't have to buy my own scantrons. HA! When he said that we needed a stack of scan trons, I thought, "Heyyyyy I remember those!" And he said we had to buy our own. HA! I guess there's no more free lunches in higher education at the community college.

5) He is encouraging us to work in teams. Teams? Wow. Before, unless it was a team project, there was no sharing, no consulting, no collaborating, no CHEATING. He's advocating that hey, if there's a write up to do, and you don't have time to do it all, give half to your teammate and you take the other half and combine them. WHAT???? Although, he did have an excellent point: in the *real* world, working in teams in very very common and everybody has to learn how to load balance and succeed as a group. But, in education? Wow, things seem to be changing quite a bit.

The uh-oh moment for me was when he had us get up and start to collect some "life metrics" that we'll track over the course of the semester: height, weight (oh crap, of course, I lied), waist size (of course, I lied), heart beats per minute and respiratory rate/breaths per minute. Thankfully, it's anonymous and we'll be comparing our group to society. I don't know what he has planned, but I'm sure it'll be exciting.

So we're off to the races and off to a good start.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Chapters 16, 17, 2, 3 and 4 to read and KNOW for next week's test!

Wordless Wednesday

Self-Control

Our daughter, Ruby, is in a small Kindergarten class of 10 students (which I love). She's got a fabulous teacher who has the patience of Job, I swear. She's got 10 very strong willed, strong personalitied children and she's done an amazing job with them. She's recommended the book You Can't Make Me (but I can be persuaded) for all the parents to read, and mine is order from Amazon as we speak.

But I just HAVE to share a story of Ruby and her little friend Justin. Justin is just the most awesome little boy in the world and I just want to squeeze him till he pops. In class, they're talking about self-control and "get control of your body" when they just flip out of their chairs, fall over in attempt to get attention, etc. So Justin does something whacky and the teacher says, "Justin where is your self-control?"

Ohhhh big mistake. Never ask a child that unless you want the REAL answer.

He proceeds to say, "Well, it's in AFRICA! And, it's very far away and I don't know when it'll be coming back."

Well, there ya have it. Self-control is in Africa. :-)

His mother is the teacher in my son's preschool class, and she goes on to explain that Justin had another episode of the lost self-control. He says, "Mom? I lost my self-control. It was under my bed and I couldn't reach it. But, I got my light saber and scooted it out and now I have my self-control back." :-)

HA! I LOVE five year olds!!!!!!

Daisy's Travels

One of my favorite things to do is travel. I wish I had an endless supply of monetary resources so I could come and go as I pleased, visit a country and then come home, take a month here, a few weeks there... but alas, I'm a working stiff like the rest of us.

I found this nifty little map and thought I'd share. But I've got work to do -- 93% more work to be exact!

Second Chances

I am beaming -- BEAMING -- at the thought of having a second chance to go back to school and try something new (and, get better grades I might add). Granted, I'm taking one measly 3 credit hour course at a community college, but I'm just so excited at the idea of doing something different. Even if this goal doesn't pan out, I'm just delighted at the prospect of something new on the horizon.

I realized that I didn't share what my new career goal is... it's NURSING! I have always loved Biology and really do care about people (despite what some people might believe). I have a caring heart and I am compassionate; I believe in the sanctity of life and I believe that every human being is created in God's image and has value. I enjoy leading teams of people and I like kids and the school environment, so (of course) being a supervisor or manager or teacher of other nurses or a school nurse would be my ultimate goal.

So, wish me luck as I start something new and challenging. Class starts next Wednesday! I received my books a couple of days ago (which cost more than the class I might add!) and I'm already diving in.

Wish me luck!

Business Majors Are Not the End All Be All

I was a business major.

I went to Baylor University and received my Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a major in Marketing and a minor in Management. I received this degree almost 15 years ago and it definitely got me into my first "real" job, which has lead to a FANTASTIC career in software sales and account management. Degrees are a tremendous thing to have and people with college degrees -- in most cases -- make much more money than their non-degreed counterparts. Again, typically. There are always special cases to which one can point and say, "See! You're wrong!" I know that, hence, my caveat of typically).

The BBA is a fantastic degree to have because it is (essentially) an MBA but at the Bachelor level. All of my required courses were the major classes of a Bachelor of Arts (Business major) degree. My BBA degree had all these classes plus some -- it dove that much further into the bowels of business than a BA-Business degree did. Not to say that one degree is "better" than the other -- one is just more detailed than the other. My dear friend Stephanie has a BA in Business (also from Baylor and same graduating year as me) and she's tremendously successful. Her degree has served her well, as mine has me.

The Lord must be doing a tremendous work in me, because I'm beginning to see value in other professions. Yes, I actually once held the belief that if you weren't a business major then hey, what good are ya? Unless, of course, you actually had some kind of skill: a dentist, a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a chiropractor, an engineer, a software developer, etc. I mostly poo-poo'd degrees such an English, Art History, Geology, Psychology, etc. Those disciplines are interesting but once you graduate with that degree, there's not a lot of upside for you, IMO.

But what I've found is there are wonderful careers all around us; people are gifted and suited differently and no one job is better than the other. Well, perhaps Mike Rowe would disagree with me, but I've changed my mind that business is the only avenue one should take. (Yes, sadly, I actually believed this philosophy). There are other worthy degrees and careers! Gosh, I wish I would have had this enlightenment when I was in school rather than 15 years later. I'm a slower learner, evidently.

Isn't there something you've always wished you did? Isn't there something you've regretted not trying? What makes this country so great is that it's never too late to do anything new, start something fresh or evaluate a second career option. What's truly special about this country is the freedom to do WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT TO DO within the confines of the law. There's nobody saying, "YOU will be an auto mechanic, and YOU will be a bond attorney and YOU will be a housewife." There is opportunity for those that choose it (and, for those that can afford it, which is a sad reality).

I mentioned in a previous post I'm sure I have thousands of "dead" in my wake. I can only grieve the harsh words I've spoken, the polarized opinions I've thought of as law, and the countless daggers of discouragement and doubt I've "shared" with friends and family over the years.

I see it now, because I was laughed at, made fun of, and completely discounted. In the course of conversation at a summer BBQ, I shared my desire for a second career goal with one of my husband's best friends and he laughed at me. He actually laughed and said, "YOU? Do (that)?" Ouch. I still remember to this day how it hurt my heart. But sometimes it takes this kind of experience to open one's eyes to their own behavior. I see myself as saying the exact same thing. Again, too bad I'm learning this now, in my mid-thirties instead of twenty years ago.

So with all that said, I'm going to say "Yes, me. I am going to do (that)" to my husband's friend. I'm going back to school and signed up for my first class to test the waters with this new career path. If it sticks, great. If not, fine. At least I grew out of this experience! I understand and can appreciate the value in other people's carerr choices. What works for them, their desires, their goals, their passions -- it's not like mine, and it shouldn't have to be.

Six Things Meme

The meme rules:
Link to the person that tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
Tag at least three people at the end of your post and link to their blogs.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the fun begin!

I was tagged by my dear friend Stephanie, so here goes:

1) I like the status quo; I'm not especially fond of change. Just the mere thought of evaluating new cities to which we may move or the public school vs. private school debate is enough to give me hives. Thanks to the Internet, I have information overload and I am starting to short circuit.

2) Like my friend Steph, I am a organizational recepticle freak. I have this at-the-core-of-my-being aversion to clutter, yet it is everywhere. If I had my druthers, everything from pantry shelves to dresser drawers would be labeled with my handy-dandy label maker and my home would look like nobody lived there.

3) I love spending weekends away from my husband and kids. No offense to them, of course, but the idea of spending 72 hours away from the home, scrapbooking, shopping, eating out, going to movies, and having pedicures is one of my favorite things on earth.

4) I love to go to movies alone. Odd duck, I know.


5) I'm not gadgety; I have an mp3 player somewhere, and I think I recall my husband buying me an iPod Nano. Both are missing. I'm not adept at file sharing, movie downloading or music. I heavily rely upon my husband for these things. ;-)

6) I struggle with the idea of this blog all the time. My blog really has no "purpose" other than to give my mother semi-weekly anecdotes of what's happening with the kids, current photos, etc. I'm not a step-parent like my friend Steph; I'm not struggling with infertility like my friend Polly; I'm not into politics like my brother; I'm not a homeshooling mom like my SIL; and I'm not overly witty and humorous like my other blog links. Yet, I am opinionated and hey, opinions are like noses -- everybody's got one -- so I march on.

Alrighty -- consider yourself tagged:

Polly
Random
MileHiMama

Libran Tendencies and Closed Mindedness

Librans are continually trying to find balance in their lives. Balance between work, family, relationships, money, and spirituality. "Balance is the key" my dear friend Mags says.

Balance.

Balance.

Balance.

My husband will be the first to attest to the fact that I do not have balance. This is most evident in the strong opinions I have, not unlike the following:

1. being a business major is the only major that counts (more to come on this)
2. casseroles are just gross
3. dry camping in an RV is a poor man's version of a hotel
4. Hillary Clinton is damn near worthless as a candidate
5. Kaiser Permanente sucks as a health care provider

So...aren't you just SO EXCITED to be my friend (or God help you...family?)???? ;-)

The goal is balance. The reason I bring this up is because I've had an epiphany, or several actually, and here it is. Are you sitting down? Friends? Family? You might need to prep yourselves for this one...










My
Way
Isn't
Always
The
Right
Way

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh golly miss Molly! You heard it here folks, right from the horse's mouth. Yes, I admit it. My way isn't always the right way. Nor is it the "only way" either. Closed mindedness comes when people are not open to new thoughts or philosophies that challenge their own beliefs. And, I think I'm closed minded -- but I am changing! Just a couple of cases-in-point come to mind:

1. being a business major is the only major that counts (like I said...more to come on this)
2. casseroles are just gross
3. dry camping in an RV is a poor man's version of a hotel
4. Hillary Clinton is damn near worthless as a candidate
5. Kaiser Permanente sucks as a health care provider

Frederer and I switched insurance providers at the New Year. We are now proud card carrying members of Kaiser Permanente, which (for those of you who don't know) is the closest thing to socialized medicine we've ever known. That fact struck such a fear in me that I absolutely did NOT want to subscribe to Kaiser and for YEARS I poo-poo'd it.

My in-laws had Kaiser for years (and still do if memory serves) and raved about how wonderful it was. People either love or hate Kaiser. More people love it from what I'm finding. But of course, am I sensitive about this when I sling my insults without ever having experienced it for myself? Nope... Remember, I'm part and parcel to the Sensitivity Training for You and Yours family.

How embarrassing...to have held such a weighted opinion for so many years, which was completely unjustified. And, then to have had such a fantastic experience at Kaiser makes me hang my head in shame! My goodness, how did I get to be this way? So bloody opinionated, boisterous, loud, tactless, etc. I can only imagine the thousands of dead in my wake.

I debated titleing this post "Sanity and Commonsense Prevails" because I had TWO -- count 'em TWO -- positive, commonsense, sensible and efficient experiences at Kaiser. First, you know I've been sick for DAYS; since last Friday, so just about a week. I finally got the Kaiser cards in the mail and called the advice nurse for help with my ailment. She was actually quite helpful, and gave me great advice, saving me a trip to the doctor. She also explained about the Minor Injury Clinic and it being available to me 24-hours a day should I feel the need to come in to be seen during off hours. If I wanted an appointment with the doctor, she could make one. Great, no problem, I probably have a virus, so I'll go gargle with salt, baking soda and water and just stay home and take a bath.

While in the bath, I ask Frederer to go hunt for a flashlight so I can check out the back of my throat.

God love him.

He searches and searches and SEARCHES and cannot find one. Keep in mind we are parents of a preschooler and a Kindergartner. I know for a FACT that we have several Princess flashlights and several PowerRanger or Spiderman flashlights on premises, but I digress... He comes back upstairs empty handed despite the fact that we have like 18 flashlights that I find all the time when we don't need one.

I restate my request and tell him it's so I can see the back of my throat and explain the urgency (with some urgency I might add). He goes to the garage, and as God is my witness, comes back with the CAMPING FLASHLIGHT which could illuminate the entire North Bay.

He grins.

Smart ass.

I look at the back of my throat and oh golly miss molly there are white spots everywhere.

Strep?!? I have Strep?!? I haven't had strep since Junior High, where I recall being in bed for DAYS with a miserable brown blanket over the window so I could sleep during the day, watching the Price is Right back when Bob Barker had dark hair.

I call the advice nurse back and she makes an appointment for me to come in the following morning for a culture.

Greeeeeeaaaatttttt. First appointment at Socalized Medicine for U and Yours. I'll be here all flippin' day.

I'm in and out in 5 minutes. Literally. It took me longer to park and walk in than it did for me to be greeted, wait 30 seconds for her to finish what she was doing, address my issue, thank me, welcome me to Kaiser and send me on my way to drop my culture off at the lab.

So far, so good. Positive people, responsive, nice and clean facility, all the practioners had all their teeth and looked well qualified. So far, so good.

I wait the required hours for the test and I call the number. Same advice nurse hotline. I get the results in....sure enough, it's strep. She's about to call in a prescription for me and then, oops...wait a second, "Have you been seen by a doctor at all yet?" she asks.

"No, we're brand new to Kaiser, and I just picked a PCP late last night so that I could finish the enrollment in order to get advice from the Advice Nurse" I say.

"Hmmm. Well, it looks like you need to go to the Minor Injury Clinic to be seen by a doctor in order to get the prescription. Because you're a brand new patient, there are extra protocols."

"Uhh ok. What time do they close?" It's 8:10pm.

"They're open 24 hours."

"Perfect. I'm on my way."

It takes me all of about 8 minutes to get to my new doctor's office and the site of the Minor Injury Clinic. I round the corner and am physically stunned by the sheer number of people waiting to be seen. Ohhh crap. I'm gonna be here forever.

I see the receptionist, explain that the Advice Nurse Hotline said that I needed to come here to be seen by a doctor in order for him/her to release the prescription.

"Huh?" he replies. Oh geez.

I repeat my mission: The. Advice. Nurse. sent. me. here. to. be. seen. by. an. actual. doctor. in. order. to. release. the. prescription.

"Ok, fifteen dollars." Fine, no problem.

"It'll be about 2 1/2 hours" he says.

"What?!? Seriously? Is there and RN or a Physician's Assistant I can speak to?" I ask.

He goes off to find someone more qualified than himself, and I'm thinking, "Jimminy Christmas this is what people warned me about. I KNEW Kaiser was gonna suck!"

A very good looking male nurse asks me if he can help and I smile and explain my plight. I'm there for a doctor to release the prescription. He looks confused because he's never heard of this before, and he's wondering why the Advice Nurse department didn't just call it in. He says, "Well, if you need to see a doctor than it's going to be a while...we can't just bump you to the front of the line."

"Bummer," I say. "Alright...I'll be over here waiting."

I slump down and proceed to watch Mighty Joe Young along with several very cute Hispanic kids. I smile at them, and they just beam. So flippin' cute I could just squeeze 'em!

So, maybe 3 to 5 minutes go by and the cutie male nurse comes to the door again. He motions to me, leads me through the crowd, and rather loudly says, "Let's see if there's a way we can call in your prescription." Once we're safely away, he says, "OK. Nobody here understands why you have to be here, because you don't need to see a doctor; but, whatever if there are "protocols" we don't wanna rock the boat, so I'm gonna sneak you in the back door for staff only, so the doctor can take 3 minutes with you, sign it off and then you can get outta here. There's no sense in your waiting two and a half hours for a 3 minute appointment."

Yay! Hallelujah! Logic, reason, compassion and efficiency prevail! This is not an every day occurance, and *gasp* surely NOT at Kaiser!!!!

He then says, "If I let you in the front door ahead of all those people -- even for something that's 3 minutes -- there' be a riot and we'd both get our heads knocked off by those people."

I spend (literally) 2 minutes with the doctor, clickety-click, he types something in the computer, it prints out and I'm on my way... back out the staff entrance and onto the onsite, 24-hour pharmacy.

Again, drove to Kaiser, done with business and back home again in less than an hour. Wow! Now, I'm eating humble pie.

As I age, I'm still learning...and I'm a slow learner evidently. Because *my* way (the way of PPOs) isn't always the RIGHT or ONLY way. I'm changing a lot -- and I have Frederer to thank for much of it. I now like casseroles (well, most of them). I now enjoy camping for what it is. I also like 5 star hotels, but I do enjoy camping. And, I will share news on the whole "business major or no major" philosophy soon.

So for my IRL friends and family, thank you for your patience with me as I broaden my horizons. Better late than never, right?

And, who knows? Maybe this year I'll vote Democrat. ;-)

Sweet Gorby

I'm sick as a dog.

I've been sick for 3 days now.

Today is the first day that I've actually showered -- keep in mind, I've probably had 4 baths each day, but actually showered with soap and shampoo? Yeah, today is the first day in 72 hours. Nice.

I've been hibernating in our master bedroom since Friday night and the kids were given strict instructions not to get close to me for fear they would get the flu (which is what I have -- not the 24 hr stomach flu, but the fever-and-achey-all-over-and-huge-headcold flu).

Gorby misses me, obviously. He was so cute Sunday morning. Poor guy has had enough of Momma being sick! While Frederer is in our room with me, probably refreshing my water glass or meds or something, Gorby sneaks downstairs and into the pantry. Now, you all know that Gorby has "issues" with the pantry -- namely he cannot stay out of it. Well, he decided that he was going to make me Banana Soup.

He gets the stool.....
He sneaks into the pantry.....
Goes to the third shelf....
Gets a box of Ramen Instant Soup......
Gets down.....
and proceeds to fill it up with sliced bananas
he's almost ready to fill it with water when.....
Daddy walks into the kitchen!

"Uhhhh watcha doin', son?" he asks.

"Making mommy some banana soup!" he grins.

MMMMM yummy. Banana Soup....chicken and ramen noodles notwithstanding.

My boy is the best!

Oh, My Colon!

If you've ever been to our home, you know I have the most AWESOME pantry on earth. Seriously.... it is the envy of many. :-) When Frederer and I were house hunting, the PANTRY was the thing that tipped the scale in this home's direction. It's bigger than most people's clothes closets. It's 3 sided and has 7 shelves each and is probably 10 feet high. It is twenty-one shelves of awesome goodness. Ahhhh yes, there are days when I just go into the pantry and shut the door and just smile and sigh. Ahhh pantry, sweet pantry.

The main reason I love my pantry is that we live in California where the term "basement" has been surgically removed from builders' hearts and minds. I know, I know, I've heard the sob stories of "oh the water table is too high." BUNK. It is not. It's a cost and a resource issue that they won't want to undertake and no talking about water tables will change my mind on this. So, the lucky ones (me!) have awesome pantries. I store our wine collections on the top shelf (the whole "cool, dry place" thing), the cleaning supplies, all the kids' craft boxes and pull out trays, placemats, napkins, tablecloths, appliances like our cute little deep fryer we break out on Super Bowl Sunday and oh, probably 8-10 shelves for food, soda, bottled water, cereal (oh, the cereal!) and such.

But, I'm grieving over my pantry today because I have to clean it out. I've decided to be friends with Dr. Mehmet Oz and he's tasked me with getting rid of anything in pantry and fridge that have any of the following in the first FIVE ingredients:

• simple sugar -- includes all brown sugar, dextrose, corn sweetener, fructose, honey, maltose, lactose, malt syrup, molassas, raw sugar and sucrose. Thank God I can keep my Splenda because that's sucralose -- not sucrose (those few added letters just saved me!)
• saturated fat -- this includes most four-legged animal fat, milk fat, butter or lard and tropical oils such as coconut
• trans fat -- ohhhh ouch, this one will be the hurt. Partially hydrogenated fats, vegetable oil blends that are hydrogenated and many cooking blends. Como se dise "No more crackers?"
• enriched flours and all flours other than 100 percent whole grain or 100 percent 100 wheat. This includes all white flour, semolina, durum wheat and any other acronyms for flour that is not whole wheat. Ummm, ok, so how am I going to make chocolate chip cookies? With 100% whole wheat flour??? And what am I going to do with the 19 boxes of cake and muffin and brownie mixes? I know!!!! I'll bake 'em and bring them to my Mother-in Law's house!!!!! Muyahhh hahahahahha I'm so evil.

At my request, I received the book You: On a Diet by Drs. Oz and Roizen. Yes, it was at my request. The challenge I will have is once I've cleaned out my pantry and said goodbye Keebler, Betty Crocker, General Mills, Kraft and Toll House, then what? I'm sure if I take stock of what we have in my pantry -- which is your standard American fare -- I'll be left with nothing but some olive oil, canned chicken broth and a stack of napkins.

My friend Terri came over yesterday and she commented they were having some kind of bean dish for dinner. Beans? Ooh. Yummy. Just dripping with sarcasm (j/k Terri!). Keep in mind, Terri is a 5'10" gorgeous brunette that's about a size 6. Frederer and I are, uh, NOT size 6's. And honestly, I don't know HOW to cook right. I know that sounds terrible, because everyone *should* know how to cook right. But, what I'm trying to say is that I grew up with certain types of dinner entrees that typically included a meat, potato and canned veggie; I know no different. My mom made great dinners (and I'm sure they were healthy by that standard) but -- I remember meatloaves, mashed potatos and corn. Not exactly filled with high fiber and nutrients. And my dad was the Fish Sticks & French Fries and Spaghetti & French Bread guy. And, when my poor mother would attempt something healthy, like baked chicken, my brother and I would just roll our eyes and say, "Can't we just have REAL chicken?" Yeah, that would be the dredged in seasoned flour and fried in 2 inches of vegetable oil type chicken.

So when I see Dr. Oz's Asian Salmon with Brown Rice Pilaf, I think, "Ohhhh, will this actually be sustainable?" Oh dear, we'll see. But, Frederer and I will give it a go.

What I (potentially) like about this program is that he just suggests eliminating 100 calories per day from our diets. THAT I can do.

It's January, and this is the time for a NEW outlook and a NEW attitude and a NEW eating regime that is sustainable. Because honestly, you are what you eat and hey, who likes a crab-ass?

Yeah, me neither.

Off I go....into my beautiful pantry. :-)

Overflowing

The were no smiles this New Year's Day,
The entire family was out of sorts I'd say.
Mama sees the post-Christmas mess and says,
"What a wreck, too much stuff and this place reaks!!"
So crabby she is, but 'tis no wonder, cuz out of heart, the mouth speaks.

I'm a crabby elf today for sure. I am sleep deprived and we're having some family pressures right now which is affecting my every cell it seems. I'm not a happy camper, and I have nothing positive to say, let alone positive, anticipatory goals for the year. Goals? Heck, I'm about the most undisciplined person I know. Wait...I AM the most undisciplined person I know!

I'm hesitant about posting, because who wants to read a crabby post? I mean, really, how do you comment? "Uhhhh hope your day gets better?" How about, "How about your year gets better" considering we're starting out pretty grimly? I apologize to my friends in blogsphere, cuz I'm just having one of those days (they seems more common these days, actually).

Honestly, it's difficult to find encouragement and solace in my faith. Matthew 12:34 says, "...For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Which does not exactly encourage me -- out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks... well, what is overflowing is criticism, sarcasm, snide comments and crabby responses. Let's hope this little phase is lunar and after Aunt Flo leaves we'll be in a better spot.

Thanks for listening to the gripe.