We know that Harry will have hockey practice this coming week (WINTER IS COMING), but we don't know when yet (no-- that's not even a little bit annoying. why do you ask?). So, I think the best thing to do is make a bunch of stuff that we can eat and then eat again.
Saturday:
Costco pizza. Again. I can't quit it. (Also we had chicken sweet potato stew on Friday, and it was delicious, but the recipe is a lying liar, and 3 hours on high is NOT ENOUGH.)
Sunday:
BBQ chicken pasta salad
Roasted carrots
Pumpkin bars
Monday:
Crockpot rotisserie chicken noodle soup
Apples
Italian bread
Tuesday:
Pulled pork sliders
Slaw
Chips and dip with veggies
Wednesday:
Leftovers
Thursday:
Spaghetti and garlic bread, salad, broccoli (all of this from a jar/box)
Friday:
MOVIE NIGHT-- TACOS
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Saturday, October 13, 2018
Some favorites
I LOVE DOROTHY'S DOOR DO MUCH!!
Friday, October 12, 2018
Self Care When You're Stressed Out
Waiting for my follow-up mammogram was a stressful time for me.
On the one hand, I knew that I still had statistics on my side and I was probably OK. On the other hand, I live at the edge of a slippery slope fallacy basically all of the time anyway, so I had definitely teetered down the precipice of that chain of thinking.
I relied on the most wonderful friend in the world, whom I have known since FIRST GRADE. In first grade (and I am sure I have told this story before-- and she told it in her wedding toast to us as my maid of honors, but I digress) I met this person because our teacher left us lined up in the hall while she dashed inside the office, and I realized that I would never be able to find my way back to the classroom without her and what if she never came back? So I burst into tears. My friend introduced herself with all 3 of her names and said I didn't have to worry because she knew everything and she would take care of me. And that has basically been our friendship dynamic for the last 34 years.
She listened to me vent my fears, told me about her own experiences with the procedures, and was a source of much needed distraction on the phone and via text all week.
My advice, if you are stressed, is to rely on your best friend from first grade because someone who has known you that long will also know exactly what to say. If you lack a Katie, though, then I have a few other tips, too.
I thought only Dorothy and Cooper would want to make Halloween-themed door art, but much to my surprise/delight Harry and Jack joined right in.
Jack gave his felt pumpkin sequined acne.
Harry's had a really scary fish gape.
My kids! Inherited my art talent. (Sorry kids)
This pasta was SO GOOD I think I am going to make it for our new next door neighbors.
On the one hand, I knew that I still had statistics on my side and I was probably OK. On the other hand, I live at the edge of a slippery slope fallacy basically all of the time anyway, so I had definitely teetered down the precipice of that chain of thinking.
I relied on the most wonderful friend in the world, whom I have known since FIRST GRADE. In first grade (and I am sure I have told this story before-- and she told it in her wedding toast to us as my maid of honors, but I digress) I met this person because our teacher left us lined up in the hall while she dashed inside the office, and I realized that I would never be able to find my way back to the classroom without her and what if she never came back? So I burst into tears. My friend introduced herself with all 3 of her names and said I didn't have to worry because she knew everything and she would take care of me. And that has basically been our friendship dynamic for the last 34 years.
She listened to me vent my fears, told me about her own experiences with the procedures, and was a source of much needed distraction on the phone and via text all week.
My advice, if you are stressed, is to rely on your best friend from first grade because someone who has known you that long will also know exactly what to say. If you lack a Katie, though, then I have a few other tips, too.
Selfie in bed.
I did this literally, but I think it's also a metaphor. Basically, just steal a few moments to revel in ordinary luxury. (Also, I hung some pictures one day while the kids were in school, and I did a terrible job! Oops! Sorry, Ben!) (And! There are at least 4 holes for every frame).
Go to the movies!
I saw A Star Is Born with friends and LOVED it. But! Awkwardly! Only half of us were eating at the movie theater bar. I typically order a pizza there because it is the least caloric thing on the menu. A medium clocks in at 770 calories, and I only eat about 1/3 of a medium pizza. That, plus a glass of wine is totally reasonable, especially compared to all the other greasy fried options. Only THEY BROUGHT ME A LARGE accidentally. One friend had her own food; one is doing a Whole 30, and one doesn't at dairy or gluten. So it was aaaaaall me.
Appreciate cute kids things.
Like this smoothie mustache! Even though it annoys you usually when she smears food all over the place!
Break out the craft supplies!
I thought only Dorothy and Cooper would want to make Halloween-themed door art, but much to my surprise/delight Harry and Jack joined right in.
Set a fancy table and cook a YUGE dinner.
This pasta was SO GOOD I think I am going to make it for our new next door neighbors.
Finally, if you're stressed, try to live in the moment and deal just with what's immediately in front of you.
And what's immediately in front of you? Hygge all the way. (Without the xenophobic nationalism, but add one smelly dog).
Thursday, October 11, 2018
MYO Pizza D(ecorate)YO Cookie Night
The kids loooooooove movie night. So when they came home from school on Friday to the news that we were going to have movie night and plus also make our own pizzas and decorate sugar cookies, they were so excited to spend a cozy night in. I mean, it was beyond time for our first 2018 viewing of Hocus Pocus.
I made this dough and about 40 pumpkin-shaped cookies (30 for my TAs on Monday) and a huge batch of buttercream frosting (with a hint of pumpkin pie spice because YES) before they got home. That meant they got to make around 30 more cookies themselves (they truly love to roll out sugar cookies), and I had some that were edible and able to be shared.
I also prepped the pizza dough while they were at school, doubling this recipe. IT WAS TOTALLY PERFECT, by the way! You should make it.
Also! I went to Wal-Mart to buy kiddie craft supplies and found theis totally perfect sweatshirt. Thin but fleece-lined, oversized, longer in the back. TWELVE DOLLARS. Are you kidding me?? I want to go back and buy all of the colors. But I don't think I can because I hate Wal-Mart.
This face! Ha!
Look at her face here! (Doubling the recipe was almost too much for the bread machine)
Beatrix got a little floured.
They seriously love designing their pizzas.
Even the big ones.
Beatrix was a fat little Roomba after dinner, circling the kitchen floor and sucking up all of the sprinkles. I appreciate her.
I made this dough and about 40 pumpkin-shaped cookies (30 for my TAs on Monday) and a huge batch of buttercream frosting (with a hint of pumpkin pie spice because YES) before they got home. That meant they got to make around 30 more cookies themselves (they truly love to roll out sugar cookies), and I had some that were edible and able to be shared.
I also prepped the pizza dough while they were at school, doubling this recipe. IT WAS TOTALLY PERFECT, by the way! You should make it.
Also! I went to Wal-Mart to buy kiddie craft supplies and found theis totally perfect sweatshirt. Thin but fleece-lined, oversized, longer in the back. TWELVE DOLLARS. Are you kidding me?? I want to go back and buy all of the colors. But I don't think I can because I hate Wal-Mart.
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
It's breast cancer awareness month! Get a mammogram!
Heck. Get TWO mammograms and a breast ultrasound. Really treat yourself.
On October 3, I went to the doctor for my very first baseline mammogram. I snapped this pic after I awkwardly folded down the top of my dress and tied the arms around the waist and put on my lovely gown.
I thought I would post it on my Insta-stories after I got the all-clear that I was expecting to get. I mean, I just turned 40. I don't have any risk factors. I feel no lumps during my self-checks, and in the last calendar year, my GP has given me a breast exam, and so has the OB nurse practitioner I saw for my peri-menopause.
I walked out of the clinic thinking You know? That wasn't as bad as the dentist.
But then. Driving home (I WASN'T EVEN HOME YET), I got a call from my doctor's nurse telling me the mammogram showed asymmetries on both sides and I needed to come back for a diagnostic mammogram and a breast ultrasound. In 6 days.
SIX DAYS?
Do you know how long six days are when someone says diagnostic mammogram?
Six days was yesterday, and I was terrified. TERRIFIED. Especially when the mammographer casually mentioned that she was taking extra pictures of the lump on the right side. Lump! That was the first time in this situation that anyone had said the L word. I had been consoling myself for days with thoughts of "dense tissue."
When she literally twisted my left breast like she was rolling a cinnamon roll and THEN compressed it between the machine's plates, the terror lifted, briefly, due to discomfort, so that was good.
The ultrasound tech was the same one who did Dorothy's 20-week anatomy scan and the same one who told us our 10/4 baby was no longer possible, so I was happy to see her. She's very calming and reassuring and good at her job. Within minutes, she told me that she found the lymph node on the right side and that it was, in fact, a lymph node. "Lymph node" is poetry compared to "lump." She scanned and scanned and scanned my left side and found nothing but normal tissue, and it was so wonderful that she could say all of this to me during the scan. Even though it was a hot day yesterday and the air conditioning in the clinic was broken and the room got so warm the machine shut down (after the scan was over), and I couldn't wear any deodorant for the scan, I felt better than I had felt in 6 days. When the tech left to talk to the radiologist, she told me that she'd be shocked if the doctor would have anything to say to me but "Come back next year."
And that's what she said.
And I will!
Because even though this experience was scary, it made me appreciate the power of early detection. My lumpy lymph node is not palpable. Even though friends-- including one I used to hang out with every week-- have recently had breast cancer, I was smugly sure that my statistical lack of risk factors would keep me safe. That's silly, though. Early detection saves lives, and it's easy to be the cocky grad student who is critical of pink washing and the carcinogenic industries that support breast cancer research and even the infantalizing, patriarchy-bolstering ways that women are figured as patients. But all of these things look different on the wrong side of 40 when you are in your hospital gown open in the front like a shirt they keep saying but I would never wear a shirt that looks like this. When you are standing in a room with the kind-eyed woman who is smashing your mammaries or lying on a table next to the woman who is pressing them with an ultrasound wand while she murmurs reassuring things to you. When you are waiting for the phone call or hoping you just get a form letter in the mail.
Become a tiny cog in the women's healthcare machine, and get a mammogram. Make an appointment today, why don't you? It's breast cancer awareness month, after all.
On October 3, I went to the doctor for my very first baseline mammogram. I snapped this pic after I awkwardly folded down the top of my dress and tied the arms around the waist and put on my lovely gown.
I walked out of the clinic thinking You know? That wasn't as bad as the dentist.
But then. Driving home (I WASN'T EVEN HOME YET), I got a call from my doctor's nurse telling me the mammogram showed asymmetries on both sides and I needed to come back for a diagnostic mammogram and a breast ultrasound. In 6 days.
SIX DAYS?
Do you know how long six days are when someone says diagnostic mammogram?
Six days was yesterday, and I was terrified. TERRIFIED. Especially when the mammographer casually mentioned that she was taking extra pictures of the lump on the right side. Lump! That was the first time in this situation that anyone had said the L word. I had been consoling myself for days with thoughts of "dense tissue."
When she literally twisted my left breast like she was rolling a cinnamon roll and THEN compressed it between the machine's plates, the terror lifted, briefly, due to discomfort, so that was good.
The ultrasound tech was the same one who did Dorothy's 20-week anatomy scan and the same one who told us our 10/4 baby was no longer possible, so I was happy to see her. She's very calming and reassuring and good at her job. Within minutes, she told me that she found the lymph node on the right side and that it was, in fact, a lymph node. "Lymph node" is poetry compared to "lump." She scanned and scanned and scanned my left side and found nothing but normal tissue, and it was so wonderful that she could say all of this to me during the scan. Even though it was a hot day yesterday and the air conditioning in the clinic was broken and the room got so warm the machine shut down (after the scan was over), and I couldn't wear any deodorant for the scan, I felt better than I had felt in 6 days. When the tech left to talk to the radiologist, she told me that she'd be shocked if the doctor would have anything to say to me but "Come back next year."
And that's what she said.
And I will!
Because even though this experience was scary, it made me appreciate the power of early detection. My lumpy lymph node is not palpable. Even though friends-- including one I used to hang out with every week-- have recently had breast cancer, I was smugly sure that my statistical lack of risk factors would keep me safe. That's silly, though. Early detection saves lives, and it's easy to be the cocky grad student who is critical of pink washing and the carcinogenic industries that support breast cancer research and even the infantalizing, patriarchy-bolstering ways that women are figured as patients. But all of these things look different on the wrong side of 40 when you are in your hospital gown open in the front like a shirt they keep saying but I would never wear a shirt that looks like this. When you are standing in a room with the kind-eyed woman who is smashing your mammaries or lying on a table next to the woman who is pressing them with an ultrasound wand while she murmurs reassuring things to you. When you are waiting for the phone call or hoping you just get a form letter in the mail.
Become a tiny cog in the women's healthcare machine, and get a mammogram. Make an appointment today, why don't you? It's breast cancer awareness month, after all.
Tuesday, October 09, 2018
September Gratitude/What I Am Leaving in September
Things I am grateful for:
That last stretch of warm weather after the first chilly days have reduced the mosquito population
Apple picking with friends
Kindergarten playdates
These Trolls headphones
Things I Am Leaving in September:
I have one big happiness tumbling block I want to tackle. I have a tendency to complain about the time we spend at sporting events and how that time takes away from the time I cold be spending doing household tasks. But! This sucks! I am so lucky to have happy, healthy kids who love to play sports! And dance! And I am lucky to have the time to watch them play. So, no more complaining! (I say this as hockey season looms).
That last stretch of warm weather after the first chilly days have reduced the mosquito population
Apple picking with friends
Kindergarten playdates
These Trolls headphones
Things I Am Leaving in September:
I have one big happiness tumbling block I want to tackle. I have a tendency to complain about the time we spend at sporting events and how that time takes away from the time I cold be spending doing household tasks. But! This sucks! I am so lucky to have happy, healthy kids who love to play sports! And dance! And I am lucky to have the time to watch them play. So, no more complaining! (I say this as hockey season looms).
Monday, October 08, 2018
How long before I can stop say that I am settling in? Asking for a friend.
Here we are in OCTOBER, and I am still saying that I am settling in, whatever that means. The problem is, if I take this long to settle, it will be December before I am totally "in" my routine, and then it's time for a 5-week break and a new routine. I waste a lot of time settling, is my point.
Anybody else find this problem plagues them each semester? How do you just admit to yourself that you are in already before you've totally slaughtered your productivity?
One thing we have seemed to figure out is mornings! Jack gets up and does his 25 minutes of reading.book logging as soon as Harry goes to the bus. I pack lunches while he's reading (and do a little academic housekeeping work on my computer and 30 mins of cardio before Harry leaves), and then when Jack and Cooper go to walk the god, Dorothy and I do a quick 15 minutes of yoga. After that, it's time for breakfast/getting dressed/making beds, etc. The kids are gone by 8:15 am, and I have a little time to get dressed and get on with my day. It's pretty lovely. (Although I will have to pick up the pace a bit next semester when I teach an hour and five minutes earlier and also a day more frequently).
We even have time for violin practice in the morning!
After this lovely routine, I spend the rest of the day being surprised by all of the things on my calendar and never quite finding a work/writing rhythm. I end up devoting what turns out to be too much time to the low-hanging fruit on my daily to-do list and then the work day is over and I never did the creative stuff. And I never do that kind of work in the evenings. I do, though, enjoy a slate of tasks I can neatly check off for an hour or so everyday. The obvious solution seems to be to do the writing first, knowing I will always come back to the grading/planning/mailing piece?
(Question mark because I guess I just don't want to do this.)
Anybody else find this problem plagues them each semester? How do you just admit to yourself that you are in already before you've totally slaughtered your productivity?
One thing we have seemed to figure out is mornings! Jack gets up and does his 25 minutes of reading.book logging as soon as Harry goes to the bus. I pack lunches while he's reading (and do a little academic housekeeping work on my computer and 30 mins of cardio before Harry leaves), and then when Jack and Cooper go to walk the god, Dorothy and I do a quick 15 minutes of yoga. After that, it's time for breakfast/getting dressed/making beds, etc. The kids are gone by 8:15 am, and I have a little time to get dressed and get on with my day. It's pretty lovely. (Although I will have to pick up the pace a bit next semester when I teach an hour and five minutes earlier and also a day more frequently).
(Question mark because I guess I just don't want to do this.)
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