So, I'm reading/watching the news and reading other people's blogs and it seems most of Planet Earth is either already enjoying or preparing for a beautiful Christmas-y snowfall. (apologies if you have ice....or have had a car wreck or otherwise bad experience as a result of snow.) I am so jealous. Here in The Triangle, NC, we have had some kind of miserable soggy mess that hovers between a mist and a fog. This has been going on for days, and people are getting ill (in the southern way, meaning "cranky") and depressed. And today, our temps are in the upper 60s. Really, my Santa hat is itchy enough without bustin' a sweat!
And here's a dilemma that may be common to those of us with multiple dogs: On successive rainy days when the pups are cooped up, do you get tumbleweeds in every nook and cranny in the house? By 'tumbleweeds,' I mean clumps of dog hair, that just seems to fall off these creatures. We're vacuuming daily, even as we pray for clearing skies and the opportunity to leave the quadri-peds outdoors for even a half-day. (Note to the Pet Gestapo, we have a beautiful cedar-mulched fenced-in back yard with ample fresh water, shelter, and safe toys, regularly policed and kept clean, so our pups have quite a resort area when we put them out.)
The good news is that the misty fog actually seems to be lifting, albeit briefly. Maybe tomorrow, the pups can play outside! And the best news of all, this is my last day on the job 'til Jan. 6, 2009. I love my job; I love my co-workers, but I'll be glad to get away for awhile. D and I have not overly structured our time off this holiday. We've made random mention of playing golf with some friends; maybe cleaning out the attic, putting some junk, uh, I mean treasure, up on eBay. And we have a family trip scheduled for January 1....but 'til then, even tho' we're punctuating or down time with lots of vacuuming and cleaning, we'll be on our schedule & not someone else's!
Bring it on, and let the fog keep on lifting.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sugar Poisioning
A few widely quoted studies indicate that we Americans consume about 150 pounds of sugar a year. I think I consumed that much yesterday. But the over-indulgence was for a very good cause: By popular demand, I am attempting to re-create my mother's fudge recipe. This requires considerable tasting, right? And I made several batches, each with a slightly different ingredient list or cooking temperature. I think I hit on the right combination yesterday, but that didn't stop me from popping open the tin box at 6 a.m. today and fudging out for a pre-breakfast snack.
Scientific research notwithstanding, a bucket of sugar before sunrise almost negates the need for coffee. How sick is that???? And I packed a small snack bag for a midday fix as well, thereby ensuring a daylong ride on the blood sugar rollercoaster. Go, pancreas, go!
I hope I'm not in DTs when I meet my friends for dinner tonight, and that my insulin production can keep up with the demand, not to mention the damage all that sugar will cause to my already bulky body. Meanwhile, I'm thinking that a great resolution for 2009 is avoidance of sugar....might require a stint in rehab, but it's worth considering.
Scientific research notwithstanding, a bucket of sugar before sunrise almost negates the need for coffee. How sick is that???? And I packed a small snack bag for a midday fix as well, thereby ensuring a daylong ride on the blood sugar rollercoaster. Go, pancreas, go!
I hope I'm not in DTs when I meet my friends for dinner tonight, and that my insulin production can keep up with the demand, not to mention the damage all that sugar will cause to my already bulky body. Meanwhile, I'm thinking that a great resolution for 2009 is avoidance of sugar....might require a stint in rehab, but it's worth considering.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Frugality
I thought I would hate it, but in actuality, not so much. Along with the rest of the country, D and I are trying to be much more cost-conscious and well, frugal. Yes, we are both blessed with jobs that seem to be stable, but who knows? But there's one thing that is for certain: we're getting on up there in years, and our retirement nest egg is rapidly scrambling. We're trying to pay off our house. . . sooner rather than later. So, we're slashing and burning and trying to live a well-provisioned life, but this time, without the frills and waste. Without going into the details that are all too familiar to everyone. . .more careful and judicious habits in food shopping and errand-running are paying positive dividends. We are Costco junkies, and while there may seem to be some value in buying bagged salad by the metric ton, there's not much savings to be had when more than half of the bag turns brown & slimy after we've eaten all the salad we can eat.
This is the first year I haven't plunked down a small fortune on 'new' Christmas paper and wrapping supplies. Nope, in the interest of reducing waste and increasing savings, I've plundered the vast accumulation of holiday wrap & bags from years past, all stored in huge plastic bins stacked head high in our attic. So, if you're getting a gift from me, chances are the wrapping is vintage, dating back to ohmigod the Turn of the Century!!! Oh my....the sacrifices we make!
D has turned down the thermostat, and our standard setting now is 64 degrees. At least that's the temperature near the thermostat, in a cozy hallway right outside the kitchen on the southeastern side of our house. Now let's head over to the bathroom over on the shady northwestern side of the house, with all those exposed walls. I think I saw my breath condense in the bathroom one cold morning as I undressed for the shower. I don't mind piling on extra clothes for chores, cooking, and hanging out, but that's just not an option at shower time. We may have to rethink our frugality in that area.
And one more area: paper products. We have been scandalous in our use of paper towels to the degree that I will probably be flamed for admitting it. But honest, Officer, I don't know where they go. . .they just...disappear. Surely we aren't using them to clean, cuz we don't clean that much. More investigation is needed. Please let me know if you see any thieves walking around with rolls of Bounty stuffed in their jackets--those are probably ours.
Having said all that, we (as a family and as a society) have it so damn good! I'm whining about Christmas wrapping paper when 95% of the world worries about disease, not having enough to eat, or a roof over their heads. After another big thank you for all my many blessings, I'll shut up & move on. (hold your applause).
This is the first year I haven't plunked down a small fortune on 'new' Christmas paper and wrapping supplies. Nope, in the interest of reducing waste and increasing savings, I've plundered the vast accumulation of holiday wrap & bags from years past, all stored in huge plastic bins stacked head high in our attic. So, if you're getting a gift from me, chances are the wrapping is vintage, dating back to ohmigod the Turn of the Century!!! Oh my....the sacrifices we make!
D has turned down the thermostat, and our standard setting now is 64 degrees. At least that's the temperature near the thermostat, in a cozy hallway right outside the kitchen on the southeastern side of our house. Now let's head over to the bathroom over on the shady northwestern side of the house, with all those exposed walls. I think I saw my breath condense in the bathroom one cold morning as I undressed for the shower. I don't mind piling on extra clothes for chores, cooking, and hanging out, but that's just not an option at shower time. We may have to rethink our frugality in that area.
And one more area: paper products. We have been scandalous in our use of paper towels to the degree that I will probably be flamed for admitting it. But honest, Officer, I don't know where they go. . .they just...disappear. Surely we aren't using them to clean, cuz we don't clean that much. More investigation is needed. Please let me know if you see any thieves walking around with rolls of Bounty stuffed in their jackets--those are probably ours.
Having said all that, we (as a family and as a society) have it so damn good! I'm whining about Christmas wrapping paper when 95% of the world worries about disease, not having enough to eat, or a roof over their heads. After another big thank you for all my many blessings, I'll shut up & move on. (hold your applause).
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Fire up the Searchlights: Blah Blah Blahg Premiere
This is my first attempt at a blog. But there is one overarching question I have about this blogging business: who on earth really cares about what I have to say? Having blogged that, I read other people's blogs with great interest! (Rock on, Casey & Dakota!) They have lives and children and unique perspectives. I have a job, lots of dogs, and have turned into my mother.
So what's going on today? Well, the weather is extremely bizarre. Two weeks before Christmas, and the temps are warm and the skies are creepily stormy, with the forecast of possible severe weather this afternoon. Thanks, God, but we really do not need any more tornadoes this year. To go outside is to feel that prickly unsettled warmth that precedes a bad storm. I don't like it.
Though I've never been through a tornado (thank you also, God, for that blessing), I've seen the devastation and witnessed the depths of loss, as the winds destroy a lifetime's worth of possessions and memories...and all too often, life itself. As a TV reporter in Wilmington, NC, in the mid-80s, I was part of a team covering the aftermath of a band of tornadoes that tore a swath through eastern NC. The devastation was jaw-dropping. Farms and fields were soaking wet and littered with the oddest of things: a child's shoe--just one; a wet sheet of loose-leaf paper with a penciled homework assignment; a broken mixing bowl; a car seat; a guillotine-like piece of sheet metal from the soup processing factory close by. Shreds of fiberglass insulation and split lumber were everywhere downwind of what used to be neighborhoods. The air smelled of fresh lumber from broken houses and stately pine forests 1/3 of a mile wide, reduced to sticks and mulch. The families who lost everything picked through the piles of debris that used to be home, looking for a connection to the way things used to be, before the storm. Of all the possessions in a household, the most sought after are always the photographs: Everything else can be replaced. Almost everything.
When the TV cameras roll, brave firemen, paramedics, and law enforcement officers told the story in the usual factual, cut-and-dried way. But when they got to the part about finding the body of an infant in a tree, the horror of the day manifested itself in tears and sobs. Fifty seven people in SC and NC died from the band of tornadoes on March 28, 1984. Except for the tiniest, each one went to bed with some sort of plan for the following day. And we can only pray that they never knew what hit them.
Yikes! That's a negative way to start off my blogging career! But it's a good thing to turn negative thoughts into positive energy: Maybe this is one more reminder to count our blessings daily, and to never let a day go by without holding our loved ones close.
So what's going on today? Well, the weather is extremely bizarre. Two weeks before Christmas, and the temps are warm and the skies are creepily stormy, with the forecast of possible severe weather this afternoon. Thanks, God, but we really do not need any more tornadoes this year. To go outside is to feel that prickly unsettled warmth that precedes a bad storm. I don't like it.
Though I've never been through a tornado (thank you also, God, for that blessing), I've seen the devastation and witnessed the depths of loss, as the winds destroy a lifetime's worth of possessions and memories...and all too often, life itself. As a TV reporter in Wilmington, NC, in the mid-80s, I was part of a team covering the aftermath of a band of tornadoes that tore a swath through eastern NC. The devastation was jaw-dropping. Farms and fields were soaking wet and littered with the oddest of things: a child's shoe--just one; a wet sheet of loose-leaf paper with a penciled homework assignment; a broken mixing bowl; a car seat; a guillotine-like piece of sheet metal from the soup processing factory close by. Shreds of fiberglass insulation and split lumber were everywhere downwind of what used to be neighborhoods. The air smelled of fresh lumber from broken houses and stately pine forests 1/3 of a mile wide, reduced to sticks and mulch. The families who lost everything picked through the piles of debris that used to be home, looking for a connection to the way things used to be, before the storm. Of all the possessions in a household, the most sought after are always the photographs: Everything else can be replaced. Almost everything.
When the TV cameras roll, brave firemen, paramedics, and law enforcement officers told the story in the usual factual, cut-and-dried way. But when they got to the part about finding the body of an infant in a tree, the horror of the day manifested itself in tears and sobs. Fifty seven people in SC and NC died from the band of tornadoes on March 28, 1984. Except for the tiniest, each one went to bed with some sort of plan for the following day. And we can only pray that they never knew what hit them.
Yikes! That's a negative way to start off my blogging career! But it's a good thing to turn negative thoughts into positive energy: Maybe this is one more reminder to count our blessings daily, and to never let a day go by without holding our loved ones close.
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