Goodness, Where Has the Month Gone?

I see that I have not posted once since my post on the first. I could claim, "I've been busy," but between us, I've just been wrung out. The Christmas holidays will do that to a body; it is a "let down" in more ways than one. All that energy, all that anticipation, and then nothing-- except maybe a cold. Being as out-of-hourglass-shape as I am, I ended up just coping day-to-day. All those carbs I loaded up on before, during & after didn't help any, either. (Well, they did help further define my lovely door-stop shape.)

Today, I pulled it together, finally. Got a whole lot of stuff cleaned up here, and cooked that broccoli I bought last week well before it went bad. (I apologize to my last two broccoli purchases, but at least I have a compost pile.) My kids love broccoli. Yea!

I like broccoli, too, and most other veggies. I've been adding sliced & sauteed spinach to my morning egg. I've been avoiding sugars & other simple carbs.

I. Just. Cannot. Eat. Quantities. Of. Simple. Carbohydrates.

There.

I'm not diabetic, amazingly, but I'm likely well on my way. I do have PCOS, which I've learned has insulin-resistance as one of its features. I do know that if I eat something all sweet or starchy, then I want more and more, then I get all lethargic. You see where I'm going with this.

No, I'm not all bacon, all the time (tempting.) Breakfast is an egg with a bit of Parmesan cheese, the spinach and a tasty spice blend; as much as I dislike store-bought tomatoes, I should add a bit as well. For lunch or dinner, I've been eating a bit too much cheese, so I'm working on reining that in (behold, the power!) Fruits are berries, kiwis, grapefruit and any apple/pear skins my daughter won't eat. Meat, of course, and green veggies. Since I do need carbohydrates, I like a small side of quinoa, or maybe another whole-berry grain. See? very reasonable, and I feel more energetic. I've been on it about a week now, but I'm only today feeling like it. That cold, you know. (We won't bring up the pink-icing birthday cake that my sister-in-law got to celebrate her & my daughter's adjacent birthdays. I will say here; I like the way red icing tastes. DLG wants a "purple castle cake" for this weekend. That's good. Purple tastes the worst.)

It's not a challenge to make a meal that we all can eat. My husband needs a low-fat diet to help keep his cholesterol and blood pressure down; he also notices his blood sugar spikes more from dense carbs like bread or beans than from sugars. The kids either eat anything or are picky; they're kids. But we all get a well balanced plate without it looking like anyone has off-limit foods. I've even been able to juggle the load of left-overs that came back (as usual) from Ft. Payne. For once the kids get a la carte.

The challenge is to keep from snacking. And bread. My, my, I do like bakery bread. (There has to be a work around for that.)

Here's to knowing better and doing better this year!

Janus on the Backpage

I have completely lifted these questions from Sarah at The Anvil Tree. Although my answers are my own, they are nowhere near as insightful as hers. Considering the Mom-a-palooza life I lead, I'll be lucky if any of my answers are at least interesting.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? NaMoBloPo! Wow, that was a hike, but I'm glad I did it, and I plan to do it again next year. A few decades of improving my homework skills and I might be ready to go back to college.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Um, did I make any resolutions? The closest thing was that 2011 would be my year to get some mental health issues for ME taken care of. In previous years, we'd concentrated the time & the budget on the other family members' heath/development issues; so now that DLG's immunizations were up-to-date, Scott's BP & HDL were under control & all of MLB's issues were at a "good place," it was my turn. Might I say, my life finally feels like it has its feet back under it with my anti-depressant. As for 2012 resolutions, I will not call them that. As I told Scott last night, I look forward to blogging more, doing more small creative projects, turning my compost pile more often and doing more yard work. And order something on-line once a month-- I need to be comfortable with this, and not approach it like defusing an atomic bomb.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope, but a bunch of folks conceived! 2012 will be the year of the babies-- and not from me. I've been busy giving away my "baby" things to my cousins.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No, but I have helped some friends mourn and hope.

5. What countries did you visit? None, but my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to Ireland and they brought us back some fun mementos. Likewise, MLB's Godmother and family are currently working in Trinidad/Tobago and they also went to China over the summer. I travel vicariously until we can afford passports and airfare.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A full-body, 60 minute massage.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? April 27, and the days and weeks that followed. Aside from being without power at my parents' house for just a little over a day, we were blessed to escape the tornadoes. But our hearts have been with all the others.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? My continuing success in cramming a bunch of stuff in a little house.

9. What was your biggest failure? That we have a bunch of stuff to cram in a little house.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? No, aside from the usual things I shared from my germ-catchers.

11. What was the best thing you bought? We bought a print of the War Eagle that I met while I was at Auburn. It's a beautiful pencil drawing of Tiger, and when I got the chance to pet her one evening, I just fell in love with raptors. (Second best was the set of organizing shelves that we're using in our room to help organize our son's stuff. Don't ask.)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My kids' behavior is fascinating. MLB is only getting better and better at socializing and finding his particular nitch in the world; DLG increases her vocabulary daily, and always has something amusing to say or sing.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My parents' behavior is appalling. In my unprofessional opinion, they are "self-medicating" their depressions with alcohol. They drink entirely too much, and then yell entirely too much at each other while being entirely irrational. My dad regularly stays up only to pass out in his recliner; one night he lost his balance on his way to the liquor cabinet, tripped, fell, smashed his glass, and sliced his hand open. He was too drunk and dazed to get up; the breaking glass triggered the house alarm, which woke my mom who found him and forced him to the ER for stitches. My mom discovered Bushmill's in Ireland, and has added a bit of that to her nightly droughts. I'm not kidding. My dad can empty a 1.75 L bottle (or 2 bottles) of Rebel Yell in a week, while my mom keeps up by consuming one or two "box o' wine." You can also add "disgusted" to the question's adjectives; I've stopped  having an occasional glass of wine or beer because of them. Say a prayer for them, y'all, that they quit before it kills them.

14. Where did most of your money go? The usual... mortgage, utilities, bills, food.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Auburn won the National Championship back in January. Heisman winner Cam Newton was pretty AUsome! (This fall? Eh, rebuilding year and Auburn as usual. We'll live.)

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? "Frosty the Snowman" and "Let There Be Snow." DLG is in love, and we have watched "Frosty the Snowman" and "Frosty Returns" over and over and over....

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
      a) happier or sadder? Happier!
      b) thinner or fatter? fatter
      c) richer or poorer? Richer-- but not solely in money....

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Be outside-- walking, biking, yard work or just playing with the kids. We have such great nature trails and walkways available for free, we have a Botanical Gardens membership, and even the "fee" for Monte Sano is nominal. Yep, wished I'd gotten out more.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Wasted time playing computer games. But I have ditched all of those aggravating, so-called "social" games on FB.

20. How did you spend Christmas? We spent Christmas Day at home, as is our tradition. For the first time in several years, I was able to attend a Christmas Eve service-- MLB was bribed, with a fluffy lamb, into being a shepherd in the Christmas pageant. (We wore ourselves out on the twelve days surrounding Christmas by being everywhere else.)

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Why? I fell in love with my husband years ago, and I plan to stay there.

22. What was your favorite TV program? We're weird. We don't have cable/satellite service. Being in a mountain cove limits our quality access to digital signals. Not much "live" TV beyond PBS. But we did get a Netflix subscription, so Scott and I are finally catching up on the "Monk" episodes we wished we'd watched a decade ago.

23. This question has been deleted because it’s SOOO teenage emo Xanga s***. I don't know what this was or means, but I'll be glad to leave those teenage years right were they are.

24. What was the best book you read? Any. I am a book-a-holic. A bag of M&Ms would last longer around me. I actually read the last few Harry Potter books in single weekends. Since I would lose more time reading therefore getting less done, I don't read as much as I would like to. I have no favorites among what I have read. But if I find one that stinks, by accident, I'll let you know.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Birmingham Mountain Radio on-line.

26. What did you want and get? Well, I didn't want it, but my mom got it for me anyway. An iPhone.

27. What did you want and not get? Crown molding. (Sorry sweetie, I know how the year has been, believe me.)

28. What was your favorite film of this year? "Captain America." It was the only new release we saw, but it is worth being called a favorite. We're working our way through the other "heroes" so we're ready for the "The Avengers" in 2012.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I don't remember, and I won't say.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Living more in the moment.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Whatever is clean and fits.

32. What kept you sane? My husband.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? "Fancy?" None; please refer back to #21.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? Still not stirred, but I'm irate with the School Board. I  also cannot believe the "clown car" Republican Presidential nominee race. Might have to re-elect Obama and hope that those other self-serving, loud-mouth, hypocritical idiots all retire or something in the next four years.

35. Who did you miss? Sandra, as always. I'm glad she her family are following their calling, but I miss them a bunch!

36. Who was the best new person you met? Just one? Rebecca.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Two kids are enough.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
     "Just put one foot in front of the other,
      And soon you'll be walking 'cross the floor.
      Just put one foot in front of the other, and
      Soon you'll be walking out the door!"
      (From the Rankin/Bass show "Santa Claus is Coming to Town")

Been Shopping

Aside from groceries, I don't go shopping much. I don't have the funds to follow my whims. I am "cursed" with children just like my brother and me (MLB, "I'm bored. When will we leave?" while DLG works on her Miracle Worker audition by "seeing" things with her hands.) I don't really have room in my house for more stuff.

But the Christmas season seems to be when even I find the time to be kid-free for buying a few trinkets for myself.

For starters, I got my hair trimmed up this past Thursday (gasp! at a six-week interval!) at Beleza, my happy place. Then, with still another hour before I picked my daughter up from MMO, I went over to the Goodwill store. Lots of fun for a ten-spot & change.

These Melamine plates will be a part of my kitchen decorating scheme. I'd like to distress my upper cabinet doors and then hang plates on them. There's a small routing on each door that will make a nice "frame," especially if I paint it blue. These plate were only 4-bits each. The two alphabet plates were sold by Crocodile Creek and feature the animal ABC by Jessica Allen. The center plate is by Oneida; it has a family of teddy bears playing on a see-saw in the forest.

A small zebra ("Ziggy") for DLG & a floppy pug ("Arf-arf") for MLB. (Pugs are his favorite.) Also, "Baa-baa" has enticed MLB to participate in this year's Christmas pageant.

Chopstix,
a wrist rest

Ooo, shiny
snowflake!

Couple more purchases, fifty cents each. Am I a big spender, or what?

Next is a quirky sweater. The name brand is "Say What?" and it fits. The neckline is shaped by a drawstring with a pom-pom at one end. I'm guessing there were once pom-poms at both ends, but now there's one. Instead of a second pom-pom, I'll use a chunky, oversized, odd button to create a loop to catch the pom-pom. Let-out fully, the neckline is either a scoop or shawl, depending on how I'd wear it on my shoulders. If I were to pull the drawstring in, it makes the neckline less open. This should be a fun sweater for a few years.

I spent another day this past week darting about getting my gift shopping done. A few things for my parents & brother, a few things for the kids & my husband, gift cards or books for a few smallish relatives. And a few things at Hallmark for me.

I ought to stop buying ornaments, but I had these toys as kid and remember them vividly. The Peanuts ornament talks about catching snowflakes on the tongue, which is exactly what my kids try to do when it snows even the tiniest flurry (or rains, for that matter.)

Target sells $1 wrapping paper rolls in retro patterns, which go well with these photo ornaments (not Hallmark, but at Jan's Hallmark,) just in case the kids don't make photo ornaments at school this year. The cookie jar is a fun freebie from when I spent $50 at Jan's one weekend. Since it's got snowmen on it, DLG will be possessive of it. She has fallen in love with Frosty the Snowman. She is very close to wearing out that DVD. I'll have to take a picture of the glass ornament when it's on the tree; it says "Joy."

There's one more purchase, but I'll let it be it's own blog. Especially if I can get a few of her other pieces....