Tales from an Anonymous Mom

Sick girl and egg drop soup

2006-01-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

My daughter is sick. Pretty darn sick. This is the first time she's *really* been sick. Oh, we've had a half-day slight fever, and a cold or two, but nothing like this. But three weeks, two doctor's visits, and a hospital visit later, she's on the upswing.

She will only eat one thing. Egg drop soup. The guy at the Chinese restaurant around the corner recognizes me now.

Luckily I love egg drop soup too!

Super Suppers and Dream Dinners: A Comparison

2005-09-26T19:23:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I discovered Super Suppers. I got six meals and halved them as I made them, and we had about two weeks worth of meals.

Then I learned we also have a Dream Dinners in the vicinity. Several days ago, I went there.

Here's my opinion:

Super Suppers makes larger portions. I can easily feed my family of three on half a Supper Suppers meal, but the Dream Dinners meals are a little smaller and don't always fill us up.

The Dream Dinners meals are a little nicer but require more work to get them on the table.

Dream Dinners is very slightly more expensive, but not enough to cause me to choose Super Suppers over them.

In general, I think these kinds of convenience cooking places are a great idea. I think the prices are very reasonable given that you'd have to go out and buy a bunch of groceries if you weren't getting the meals. And it's quite a nice evening out.

What I think I will do is go back and forth between the two places for variety. They're both very good.

Mice mice mice mice mice!

2005-09-26T19:20:00.000-04:00

My husband got the nastiest old pickup truck because he has fun fixing up these types of things. Unfortunately, this truck came with a family of mice. They are running all over the driveway and into the garage!!!

I hate mice. Even little baby mice. I swear if a mouse gets into my house I'm going to lose it.

I can't believe my baby is starting preschool today

2005-09-06T09:57:00.000-04:00

Today is the day.

In about 2 hours, I will drive my daughter to a school, and leave her there. Alone. Without me. For 3 hours.

A million worries race through my mind: Will she make friends? Will she be able to sit still? Will she have an accident? Will she like it? Will she miss me?

She'll still such a baby. Only 3.

I am angry

2005-09-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

What the hell is going on? If reporters can get into the city of New Orleans, so can the federal government to get these poor displaced people some drinking water, food, medical help, sanitation, and a TRIP OUT OF THERE to somewhere safe and easier to support.

Where is everyone? Oh yeah. They're in Iraq. Helping them. Of course when Iraqis loot it's a step on the way to democracy and done out of desperation. When the people of New Orleans loot, we need to send in authorities to shoot them. How about getting them some damn water? If you can get bullets into town, you can get food and water in as well.

I am angry. I am sad. I wish we had a competent commander in chief. I wish he took this tragedy even half as seriously as the mayor of New Orleans is taking it.

The only way people can get saved in an emergency is if Halliburton or someone else associated with the administration makes a profit off it. Otherwise, people are left to die.

So much suffering

2005-08-31T12:30:00.000-04:00

Once again I find myself heartbroken about a tragedy somewhere away from where I live. I want to help - I can give money and blood - but I want to help more. I want to fix the levees. I want to carry people to high ground. I want to do things I could never do.

Here's a collection of places where we can help the people of the Gulf coast.

Tales of a potty

2005-08-29T20:25:00.000-04:00

I have bitten the bullet regarding use of the potty in this house. There will be no more diapers. My daughter is down to between zero and two accidents a day.

I didn't want to have to force the issue but preschool starts next week and I think she'd regret missing preschool more than she'll hate the serious potty training. She's a social little girl and is very excited about school.

The frustrating thing is that TWICE I have thought she was potty trained because she went for about a week with almost no accidents, and she fell back out of it.

This time is it though.

The in-laws are visiting

2005-08-13T10:14:00.000-04:00

My in-laws are visiting. We're having a lot of fun and going all sorts of fun places, but I am too busy to write about much here.

My next blog will be about the trials and tribulations of potty training. Why will my daughter not use the potty? She was doing so well and now she refuses. *sigh*

See you in a couple of weeks!

Cleaning out the basement

2005-07-31T18:54:00.000-04:00

Today my husband and I have been going through the basement getting rid of stuff. We made a pile of stuff to keep, a pile of stuff to give away, and a pile of stuff to throw away. The pile of stuff to give away is biggest.

I posted it all on Freecycle and I'm now deciding who will get what. I try to give stuff to people I'm afraid might be discriminated against by other Freecycle members from time to time. I've had a couple of people with Wiccan-inspired email addresses and another email address that includes the word "lesbian" in it. These three email addresses will get first dibs on things. I imagine there are Freecycle members out there who give stuff first to people who have Christian-inspired email addresses and give nothing to Pagan or gay Freecycle members, so I think it's fair to give stuff away in this manner.

XM radio and other gadgets

2005-07-30T19:38:00.000-04:00

Why do I love gadgets? Why do I covet them until I am able to get them?

I got an XM radio and I LOVE it. I live in a small market area and we don't have many radio options other than inspirational, right-wing talk, and country/western. Oh and one radio station for the teens, which is what I listened to before XM.

But previous things I've *had* to have include:

iPod - still use pretty regularly.
Digital camcorder - use every so often but not often enough to warrant the purchase.
Kitchen Aid mixer - use very seldom.
Digital camera - still use, definitely worth it.
Game Cube - Why did I buy this again?

I wish there were a way to see into the future before buying gadgets. I think I'll keep using the XM radio though.

3-year-olds and bad jokes

2005-07-11T18:38:00.000-04:00

My daughter thinks she's a comedian. The only problem is that her jokes are really bad. Really really bad. Which is understandable as she's only 3.

Here's a typical joke:

"Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"Banana"

"Banana who?"

"Banana in the spooky forest!"

and a fit of giggles.

But today we had a real joke! Our first real joke! I'm so proud.

Hand extended. "Gimme five!"

I slap her hand

Hand extended higher. "Up high"

I slap her hand up high

Hand extended lower. "Down low"

I try to slap her hand down low but she pulls it away before I can

"TOO SLOW!"

Fit of giggles. From both of us.

My heart aches

2005-07-07T11:10:00.000-04:00

I'm shaking and sad and feel terrible. To the people of London and everyone personally affected by this tragedy: you are in my thoughts.

A walk to the park

2005-07-06T17:09:00.000-04:00

I'm working on getting in the habit of walking or riding my bike places.

Today I pushed my daughter in her stroller out for lunch, to the shop to buy a few (non-perishable) groceries, and then to the park. We played in the park for a couple of hours. It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed the walk.

As gas continues to get more expensive, I expect I'll have to walk or ride my bike more and more often. Eventually I'm afraid my husband will need to take my more fuel-efficient car to work every day and I'll be at home without a car all the time. I am now confident that I could be happy without a car if necessary at least until it gets snowy.

Getting crunchier

2005-07-05T20:07:00.000-04:00

I've never been the most granola-crunchy-whatever of moms. I breastfed for a good long time. We co-sleep. But, until now, I haven't been too concerned about food.

Then I saw a documentary called The Corporation that, among other things, talked about bovine growth hormones that are in dairy products. What I have read about it freaks me out. See this link if you want to be scared. I will never buy any non-organic dairy product again.

I found organic milk at the regular grocery store and bought that, but I couldn't find any organic cheese, and my daughter eats lots of cheese but doesn't drink much milk so the cheese is really a higher priority. So I headed to an organic food store and bought some cheese, some macadamia nuts, a pear, some dates, some dried apples, some 100% fruit freezer pops, and some sparkling mango juice for my daughter. Actually all of that was mainly for her. She eats pretty well already but I would love to improve her eating habits, and improve the eating habits of my family as a whole. Whole-food snacks will be a wonderful improvement over "fruit snacks" available at the grocery store.

My next task will be finding a place to buy organic meat. Organic fruits and veggies seem pretty easy to find around here. Actually organic vegetarian stuff is easy to find because it seems like most people concerned about organic food in this area are vegetarians. And now I have found my cheese! And it is fantastically yummy!

My daughter made me polish her nails

2005-07-01T17:21:00.000-04:00

How did I produce this girly child? I was such a tomboy I changed my nickname to a masculine spelling at the age of 5. I *never* wear a dress. Oh well I did get married in one but I certainly didn't polish my nails. I don't think I've *ever* polished my nails. I don't wear jewelry - not just because I'm not into it but because I have some weird sensory issue about having metal hanging against my skin and squishing me everywhere. I don't generally wear makeup. I have always been and still am a tomboy.

But now I am also a mom and my daughter is not like me. She likes to wear pink. She wants to play dress-up and have tea parties. She has recently discovered Barbie dolls. She begs me to let her wear dresses. And now she's asking to have her nails painted.

We selected glittery purple nail polish from the store. Then we made our way to the diaper aisle. She is learning to use the potty but isn't all the way there yet.

We looked over the diapers, and she said she wanted the Spider-Man diapers. "Please Mommy, PLEASE? No Dora! No Princesses! I want Spider-Man!"

Maybe she's a little like me after all.

Now she's running around naked except for a pink tutu, purple sparkly nail polish, and a Spider-Man diaper.

Goodbye Sandra Day O'Connor

2005-07-01T13:17:00.000-04:00

I was never a huge fan but it was nice to have a majority on the side of women's reproductive freedom on the Supreme Court.

I'm worried about what will happen to the women of this country. I predict not just abortions to be illegal but also many types of birth control. I have tried many many kinds of birth control, including quite a few brands and types of birth control pills, and I've found the only birth control my body can tolerate is an IUD. I predict that I won't be able to get a new one when this one needs to be replaced. We don't plan on having any more children anyway so my husband can always have a vasectomy. How much do you want to bet that men's reproductive choices will remain open to them.

I worry for my daughter when she becomes a woman. I'm trying not to think too much about that right now.

Are those back in style?

2005-06-30T16:21:00.000-04:00

I wanted to buy some new capri-length pants, and I heard an ad on the radio that a local store was having a big sidewalk sale, so away I went.

What did the sale capris look like? Remember the double-knit polyester pants that old ladies used to wear with big fat seams down the front of the pantlegs? They looked like that, but the material was thinner and a spandex/cotton blend instead of double-knit polyester. Very thin and with a lot of spandex so the world would have a lovely view of my panty line.

I bought some capris but not those! Is that look coming back in style? The seams down the leg I mean, not the panty lines. I imagine hip young things would wear thongs with them. But I am not a hip young thing.

I got one pair of cheap denim ones that were on sale, and then a pair of really nice denim ones that weren't on sale. The expensive ones fit SO well and are SO comfortable! It's like wearing a pat of butter! Uhm, but not so hot or foodish. I guess that's usually said about shoes, not pants, and with good reason. Come to think of it, isn't it kind of icky to say wearing shoes feels like wearing pats of butter too?

The internet is fixed!

2005-06-30T11:40:00.000-04:00

How irritating is it when your internet connection isn't working? It's amazing how fast you get used to dsl, isn't it? Our connection was down from dsl to a slow dial-in level for a couple of months. Luckily our (non-computer-savvy) neighbors next door have an unsecured wireless connection, so we were still able to have cable internet speeds. Is it wrong to use their internet connection without their knowledge? Should I feel guilty? Because I don't. In fact, I expect to continue to use it as a back-up if we have problems.

We use Vonage so our phone hasn't been working either. Thank goodness for cell phones!

The guy from the ISP came over today and said that they had been problem-solving something a while ago and dialed down our speed to do the testing, and then never dialed it up again when they left. This is like two months ago. They've been charging us for dsl for the past two months while we've had about a 56k connection. On the way out he says, "I won't be charging you for this service call." Thanks. How about not charging us for the past two months of internet service! How about paying our Vonage bill too?

Where do they keep the old lady ringtones?

2005-06-29T19:15:00.000-04:00

Oh my, I'm getting old.

I was at the mall yesterday avoiding the heat and saw a place that would put a ringtone on my phone. How cool, I thought! Plus, maybe I won't reach for my phone every time I hear a Nextel ringing anywhere.

I asked the young man (20s) working there what ringtones were available.

"Well you won't be interested in most of them because they're music young people like."

*sigh*

P.S. I got the theme from Rocky and Bullwinkle.

A blog, a plan, a mama, nal pag olba

2005-06-29T18:46:00.000-04:00

OK so I'm not that good at making palindromes. I'm probably not that good at blogging either. I don't even know what makes a blog good.

I'm really paranoid about my family reading anything I write. (Extended family that is. I don't care if my husband finds out.) If I can keep it anonymous, maybe it can be fun! Can I bitch and moan about my extended family? Oh yes I can because they'll never know I'm talking about them. Or they won't be able to prove it, anyway!

Now I will have to read some blogs to find out just what bloggers write about. Perhaps I will outline my day:

My daughter woke up and wanted me to wake up. I did not want to wake up, in fact I really wanted to go back to sleep and for her to go back to sleep as well. I lost.

I made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast at said daughter's request. She ate the toast and didn't eat the eggs.

We cleaned up. Well, I cleaned up and stood her on a chair next in the kitchen with a sink of soapy water and some plastic cups while I cleaned. Then I cleaned the soapy water off everything.

My husband came home for lunch. I made him a grilled cheese sandwich. He said he was still hungry. I gave him an apple. Granny Smith.

We filled the trunk with old cans and bottles and took them back to the store for deposit. Here in Michigan cans and bottles are big money - see old Seinfeld episodes for details - and we can get a pretty good chunk of change from this. Tomorrow is payday and I am trying to stay within our budget so this was the only way to get something snacky without pissing off the husband. We took the money and headed to Krispy Kreme for some donut holes. Oh sugary-coated carboholic bliss!

My daughter wanted to play outside, despite the unfortunate heat, so we filled up her kiddie pool and I sat in the middle of it on a plastic chair. That wasn't enough so I got the sprinkler going as well. A neighbor asked why she was wearing a blue swim diaper instead of a pink one. I said my husband got them, which he did. Does it matter if a girl wears a blue swim diaper? Does it matter if she's 3 years old and topless? Really she doesn't need the swim diapers anymore and I could have put her in her bathing suit but she wanted the swim diaper.

Now we are watching the Care Bears and waiting for the husband to come home.

Ah the joys of my summer years!