Monday, December 31, 2018

What I Read in December 2018

It's book talk time!



I feel like my reading slump is finally over, thank goodness. It happens every now and then, and I'm always so relieved when my reading mojo fires up again. Of course, that usually means I want to read ALL THE THINGS, with no time to read them all, soooooooo....

Anyway, here's what I read in December 2018.


1. Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs, and Rituals- George Robinson

Oof, this is a hefty tome! To be honest, it's probably better left as a reference, but of course, fool that I am, I read it straight through. It's incredibly information-dense and delves deeply into a lot of heavy subjects- the sections on Talmud and mysticism were a bit beyond me, to be honest- but if you're wanting to learn more about Judaism (I enjoy learning about religion), this is definitely a book you should look into.


2. Between Gods: A Memoir- Alison Pick

Pick wasn't an adult until she learned her father was Jewish, and most of that side of the family had perished in the concentration camps of World War II. As she learned more, Judaism, which is a matrilineal religion, struck a chord with her, and she became interested in conversion in order to reclaim her heritage and take her place where her soul felt at home. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite that easy for her to convert, and this memoir covers her journey through that, along with her struggles with depression.

This was really lovely, and her frustration comes through on the page very well. She's Canadian, and Canadian Reform congregations are a little stricter in terms of conversion than American ones (which I hadn't known until I read this). I deeply enjoyed following the ups and downs of her story, and shared in her joy when she finally came home to where she needed to be.


3. Semitism: Being Jewish in the Age of Trump- Jonathan Weisman

Written before the murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pennsylvania, Weisman writes about the uptick in anti-Semitism during and after the 2016 elections. He vacillates from "It's bad" to "It's not that bad," and honestly, I'd like to see this updated, now that it's obvious that it really is that bad (I attended an interfaith memorial service at the local synagogue where family of the two brothers who were murdered attends. It was moving and heartwrenching). A Jewish friend of mine wrote in her review, "Overall, it felt a little rushed and shallow," and I agree with her.


4. Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home- Leah Lax

Oh my goodness, this was fascinating. Leah Lax grew up mostly secular and became Hasidic (ultra-Orthodox) at 16, got married a few years later to a man who was basically a stranger, and raised seven children in this lifestyle. And at some point, it was no longer a good fit, and Lax struggled to break free from the bonds she willingly wrapped around herself.

There's a lot to digest here. Lax is attracted to women, but brushes this off early on in order to try to be the person she thinks God wants her to be. Motherhood is wonderful and restrictive, amazing and mentally and physically exhausting, there's never enough time, enough money, enough attention, enough of her (which is a common complaint, I think, for many mothers, but in Hasidic life, the demands and stakes are even higher). She writes in secret, she goes back to school, she cares for her husband when he's diagnosed with cancer... I'm amazed that Lax lasted as long in a Hasidic lifestyle as she did; pretending to be something you're not and trying to squeeze yourself into a mold that doesn't quite fit can be soul-crushing, but Lax managed to come out on the other side seemingly okay, and her writing is beautiful.


5. My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew- Abigail Pogrebin

I loved this! Pogrebin decided that she needed to learn more about the holidays and threw herself into a year of observing every holiday. She studied, she learned, she attended a zillion different shuls of all levels of observance, she interviewed rabbi after rabbi after rabbi. And on the way, she came to appreciate a lot of different things about her faith (although she seemed as baffled by the counting of the Omer as I am, which made me feel better!). I very much appreciated her honesty and sense of wonder as she traversed the Jewish year, and I quite enjoyed every chapter of this book.


6. Once You Go In: A Memoir of Radical Faith- Carly Gelsinger

LOVED THIS.

Despite not growing up in a family who regularly attended church, Gelsinger joined a Pentecostal church as a teenager, in what seemed like a combination of a need to connect with God and fit into some sort of a group, but fitting in wasn't easy. The youth group was cliquish, and Gelsinger had a hard time connecting to the normal (for this church) practices of speaking in tongues and sobbing and crying on the church floor during services. She persevered, however, another example of working hard to squeeze herself into a mold not entirely shaped for her. It nearly broke her, and after her life crumbles when a wildfire destroys her house, the bottom begins to drop out and Gelsinger lets herself finds the faith that truly speaks to her heart.

Awesome, awesome book.


7. This Is Not A Love Story: A Memoir- Judy Brown

Brown (author of the phenomenal Hush, under the pen name Eishes Chayil) grew up in a Hasidic family in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, with a brother no one understood. He was 'crazy,' they said, because that was the only word they had to describe his behavior. Today, we would easily recognize his behavior as severe autism, but back then, it wasn't as widely recognized, and the entire family struggled and suffered under the strain of trying to live with a boy no one knew how to help.

This is an emotional read. Brown, as a child, is under extreme stress (at age ten, she's already deeply concerned about her marriage prospects because of her brother's condition, a not-unfounded fear if you know anything about Hasidic matchmaking traditions, and she worries that whatever is wrong with her brother is contagious), and her behavior toward her brother is pretty terrible- not her fault, no one knew what was going on, but it's occasionally tough to read. Her brother is sent away for the second time to relatives in Israel and finally receives a diagnosis of autism in 1993, and it's then that his life begins to change. Brown meets up with him after several years of intensive schooling, and he's improved so much that she's finally able to get to know him and stand in awe of who he is as a person.

Truly a fascinating, emotional story.



Morantz is a lawyer whose career has been dedicated to working against cults and abusive psychotherapists. Among the groups he's litigated against have been Jim Jones and the People's Temple (of the famed Jonestown), Synanon, Rajneeshpuram, the Moonies, est, and Scientology. Members from Synanon made an attempt on his life by placing a derattled rattlesnake in his mailbox (fortunately, he made it to the hospital in time, although he had to stay there about a week). Truly a fascinating life and career, although maybe a little too fraught with danger and drama for my tastes!

I liked this but didn't love it; the writing style felt a bit scattered to me, and a lot of the end chapter could have been cleaned up a little more, but overall it was worth the read.


I've been listening to the What Should I Read Next podcast as I fall asleep at night. It's absolutely lovely and I highly recommend it. After I finish up my current stack of library books, I'm going to delve into some fiction, I think. I have SO much nonfiction on my Goodreads Want to Read list that I've been completely neglecting fiction reading and this podcast is making me drool over so many of the books they discuss, so that's definitely a reading goal for 2019.

May your 
New Year be wonderful and full of epic reads! Happy New Year to you all! :) 

Friday, December 21, 2018

A quick update!

Hey, friends! Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate, and a lovely December to those of you who don't!

Sorry for disappearing so abruptly. If you remember, I got sick after shoveling the driveway. That set of some kind of...exhaustion flare of some sort. Every once in a while I get this fatigue that will not die, where the most I can handle doing is the bare minimum to keep my house and life going, and the rest of the time I spend either sleeping or wishing I could sleep. And that's what happened there. I'd get up in the morning, slog through the day, nap for two hours in the afternoon (and wake up still feeling like I've been hit by a truck), slog through the rest of the day, doze on the couch in the evening, and then go to bed. Lather, rinse, repeat.

And then my daughter got sick, too.

Basically, the past two or three weeks have looked like some version of this:

No one's getting anything done here.


My daughter got slammed hard. Nasty respiratory infection with a cough that was so violent, she vomited often when she coughed, plus a double ear infection. She barely slept at all from Sunday to Thursday that week, so once again, bare minimum just to exist and keep the basics of life running.

And then I got sick AGAIN. My ears (or maybe it's my sinuses and just feels like my ears? Who knows) are totally clogged and everything sounds like it's coming through a tunnel, and I've been coughing again like crazy (when I'd almost kicked it before my daughter got sick). Kids, the adorable little germ factories that keep on giving!

Couple that with what little I've managed to do in regards to Christmas prep, and the chronic pain (the last set of injections don't seem to have helped at all) and it's just been exhausting. Give me a bit to recover from all the holiday traveling and I'll be back, I promise! :)

May you all have a lovely new year! 

Thursday, December 6, 2018

What I Read in November 2018

It's book talk time!




I still feel a little book-slumpy. Some months I can blow through 12-14 books, no problem, and other months, reading feels like a slog. I do tend to pick up with my reading after the holidays pass, so I'm definitely crossing my fingers that that happens again this year. :) It doesn't help that right now, I'm reading an incredibly information-dense book on religion. It's interesting, but slow-going because there's so much information to process- plus the book is over 500 pages. I may be reading this for a while...

Anywhere, here's what I read in November this year.


1. The Marrying of Chani Kaufman- Eve Harris

An interesting novel about the lives of a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews (I recently listened to a podcast which featured a rabbi from one of these sects; he prefers the term Haredi or Charedi, although I don't know if that's universal or if it differs between the sects). Chani is nervous over her upcoming wedding to a man with whom she's barely had a handful of conversations; Rivka, the wife of the group's rabbi, feels claustrophobic in her life. All the unknowns in Chani's future are contrasted with the twists and turns of Rivka's past that have brought her to this point, and I deeply enjoyed learning Rivka's story (which wasn't quite what I'd expected).

The reviews on Goodreads are mixed, which surprised me. I enjoyed the look into a world I wouldn't normally otherwise get to see or learn about, and some of the reviews seem unnecessarily harsh (one woman is criticizing the author for her characters wondering about bacon, which, of course, is forbidden by the Jewish kashrut laws. "They wonder about bacon," the reviewer says. "Because another culture's diet is REALLY what a curious person would think about." Uh...I find other culture's diets and dietary restrictions to be endlessly fascinating. Jewish kashrut laws? Fill me in. Seventh Day Adventists and their vegetarianism? Let's talk. Jungle tribes who have never seen a grocery store? I WANNA KNOW ABOUT IT. Seriously, I love that stuff, hence the enormous book on religion- not my own, nor has it ever been- that I'm currently reading). So this was a book I enjoyed reading, and apparently other people did too, if it was nominated for the Man Booker Prize, but apparently if you're the type of person who doesn't believe that curious people can find other cultures interesting, I guess stay away from it? :D


2. Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free- Linda Kay Klein

This is an emotionally heavy book dealing with the purity culture that sprung up in evangelical churches in the 90's. I was raised Catholic and so I never had to deal with this (although Catholicism, like any religion, comes with its own strife! And hey, see! I'm interested in the behavioral standards of another group! IT HAPPENS, GOODREADS REVIEWER!!!), but I've had my issues with purity culture for as long as I've known about it.

I won't get into the deep pain felt by Klein and the women she interviewed, but this was really, really good and I hope it finds its way to those women who would most benefit from its message.


3. Thin- Grace Bowman

The painful memoir of a woman who suffered from anorexia, the long road back from it, and the aspects of it that still creep up even though she's in recovery.

The format- sometimes it's like a novel, sometimes it's more like an essay- made it a little hard to read at times, and if you're looking for answers on how to help someone you love who struggles with an eating disorder, this probably isn't your book. But if you're wanting to examine and understand what the mindset of someone with anorexia looks like, what it feels like to be them, the anguish and constant pressure they feel to be perfect, this is a good read.


4. Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime- Ron Stallworth

The true story of a police officer who spearheaded an undercover investigation into the most notorious American hate group.

Mr. Stallworth obviously couldn't go undercover himself- he is, of course, black- so he teamed up with a partner who played him while he himself did the phone work and the behind-the-scenes research. The book suffers a little for that- it's a seriously compelling story and absolutely needs to be told, but it's hard to keep up momentum when you're not the one performing the actions and the story in which you set the ball in motion is carried out by others (and now I'm wondering if the story would have been better served by being told in third person...). I'm looking forward to seeing the movie they're making of it. :)


5. Journeys: An American Story- Mark Tisch, Mary Skafidas

A collection of essays on the wonder and vitality that immigrants bring and have always brought to America. Definitely necessary in these trying times.

I loved hearing all the stories here. I wish I knew more about my ancestors- some of them came here in the 1890's from a farm near Bergen, Norway, but that's really all I know. Many of the authors know much, much more about the family members who started their family's story in America, and it was really moving to be able to experience their joy and pain at recounting those tales. Some people came here looking for a better future; others came because they were fleeing unimaginable horror. And while we've always been a nation made up of immigrants, a nation who benefits from immigrants, our attitude toward those same immigrants has often really sucked, to put it nicely. And for far too many people, it still sucks; I've seen it firsthand and it's gross.

So read this book and learn what so many people sacrificed in order to come to the US, and hug your local immigrant, because leaving everything behind (especially to come to a place where people mock you, mock your customs, mock your language, mock your progress with English, and scream at you to go home, like they themselves did anything other than be lucky enough to benefit from their own ancestors sacrificing everything to come here) isn't easy.


6. Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist- Eli Saslow

This was a compelling read! Saslow covers the life story of Derek Black, whose father founded the internet's largest racist online community (I'm not going to dignify that community by naming it here). Derek was raised to be the movement's golden child, to inherit all the hatred and illogical, unscientific, racist claptrap that that movement pushes as fact. For years, he bought into it, stood at the forefront of the community and repeated all its garbage...until his world expanded and he started to question whether everything he'd grown up believing was a lie. (Narrator: It was, indeed, a lie.)

At times infuriating and other times hopeful, Saslow does a masterful job of portraying the slow exit of what was essentially an indoctrinated young man. He believed what he was taught until he stepped out into the wider world, and I'm ecstatic for him that he was able to move beyond the falsities his family of origin attempted to bestow upon him. May he continue to grow and and learn and question and keep fighting against the hatred he once tried to push. A fantastic book.


7. Where's My F*cking Latte? (and Other Stories about Being an Assistant in Hollywood)- Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff

Yikes! I read this hoping to get some info out of it for something I'm writing, but these stories were a bit too out there for what I needed. Still...uh...yikes. Mostly fluff, but there are a few really sad stories in here.


8. The Skeptic and the Rabbi: Falling in Love With Faith- Judy Gruen

This was kind of neat. Gruen was raised in a not-terribly-religious household, but hey, things change, people stretch and grow and challenge themselves, and when she walks down the aisle, it's as someone who is prepared to live a strict Orthodox life, following the 613 commandments of the Torah, and this book details her journey from one point to the other.

I didn't always agree with her reasoning on certain things, and at the end, I felt as though a certain degree of judgment was coming through (there was one chapter in particular where she was discussing her modest dress and how random men would comment things like, "I wish more women dressed like you!" and "If more women dressed like you, we wouldn't have all the problems that we do!" I didn't find that as a point of pride; if someone said that to me, I'd be grossed out. I do tend to dress very modestly- not as a religious thing, it's just what I'm comfortable with- but those comments are a bit backhanded, praising the author while shaming other women, and I found her seeming pride in those compliments a bit remiss. How other women dress should be absolutely no one's concern but theirs. Wear a floor length skirt, wear a crop top; it's not my place or anyone else's to judge either. Everyone's journey is their own, and shaming others is no way to set an example), but I did enjoy reading the story of her increasing observance. I would've loved to hear more about her challenges raising her children in a tradition that she herself was not raised, but perhaps that's another book.


So that's what I read last month! I have about 200 pages or so to go in the hefty book on religion and then I'll move on to something...well, not lighter, but not as information-dense. I'm *still* dragging a bit from either that cold or who knows what else, but I'm definitely still not up to regular speed yet. :( Tomorrow should be a quiet day, so hopefully I'll get some rest and reading time.


What have you read lately?

Monday, December 3, 2018

Weekly recap: 12/2/2018

Uggggggghhhhhhh.

That's pretty much the overwhelming sound of this past week.

Seriously. It was so rotten that it's almost not worth writing up, so my apologies for the off-ness of this week. Hopefully next week will be better!!!

Let's get this show on the road!


MONDAY

If you remember last week's recap, I finished up by saying that my daughter and I were about to go outside to do our snow walk and start shoveling. Well...once I got out there, I realized how deep and how heavy the snow was, and I knew that if I didn't get to work right then, I wasn't going to get the driveway done at all. And since I was the only adult home...you see the dilemma.

So instead of going on our snow walk, my daughter played in the snow, and I started to shovel. And shovel. And shovel. And shovel.

Did I mention that I shoveled?

THREE HOURS. THREE HOURS OF SHOVELING. Do you know what that does to a person's back, especially when they already have back problems?

I do.

This is what pain looks like.


This is literally the only picture I took this week (and I had to go out and shovel MORE after this because the snowplow came by and buried us in again). And while I was shoveling, I kept having to blow my nose- at first I thought it was because of the exertion and cold weather, but it became apparent as the day went on that indeed, I was getting sick. YUCK. I was exhausted and sore after this, and after we ate lunch, I took a nap right along with my daughter.

For dinner, I took a ton of random leftover things in the fridge and freezer- sauteed vegetables, steamed sweet potatoes, chickpeas, pinto beans, leftover taco-flavored lentils, a small amount of ages-old frozen okra- and paired them with an onion, a can of tomatoes, and some seasonings, and turned it all into what I called refrigerator soup. And I'll be darned if it wasn't delicious! I cleaned the kitchen, cleaned my daughter's room, scraped the mountain of snow and ice off the car, and went to Walgreens to drop my husband's prescription off. That was when he texted me to let me know the trains were running late, so we went back home and hung out there until it was time to pick him up.

All I did that night was put away dinner and watch two episodes of Supernatural with my husband before bed.


TUESDAY

Everything. Hurt.

The right side of my back was pretty much screaming all day long. I had a nasty sore throat and a cough, and my daughter started the day out with an hour-long tantrum because I gave her what she had asked for for breakfast.

You read that right. I asked if she wanted her leftover English muffin pizza for breakfast; she said yes, and when I gave it to her, she threw a fit.

Just one of those days, you know?

I still managed to do my basement chores and filled and ran the dishwasher before dropping her off at school. I then ran to Walmart, where I needed cat food and litter and shampoo (of course I needed the heavy items on a day that I was already in terrible pain! *lolsob*). I came home to bring those items in, then picked my daughter up when it was time. I napped again during her nap, then unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, and made a batch of dough for cinnamon rolls. I reheated the leftover soup for dinner, picked my husband up (we stopped by Walgreens to pick up his prescription), and read a book from my own shelves after dinner.

I put away the leftovers and baked the cinnamon rolls. They ended up just a tad overbaked (though everyone still scarfed them down!), so I'll bake them three or four minutes less next time, although I finally realized that I think I like the idea of cinnamon rolls more than I actually like eating them. ;) Husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed.


WEDNESDAY

Everything still hurt, and the cold was definitely in full swing by this point!

I unloaded the dishwasher and spent the rest of our time looking for my daughter's two lost library books (which we didn't find, argh! Little aggravates me more than lost library books). I dropped her off at school and ran to the library those books came from, renewing them and checking out two more books for me. After that, it was off to Aldi, where I did the week's grocery shopping and ran home to put most of the groceries away. I picked up my daughter and drove home and told her to hang out for a minute while Mama went to the garage to put away the marked-down pizzas she'd bought in the garage freezer.

And then I went out to the garage.

Where I fell.

Because of course I did. 

Fortunately, it wasn't a hard fall, but it was enough to do some pulling on my bad right side, and it shook me up pretty badly. It's not the first time I've fallen; three years ago, I slipped on an icy patch while holding my daughter and went down. She was okay, because I managed to twist in a way that she didn't get hurt, but I was really sore and my elbow, which I landed on, hurt for months. This time wasn't that bad, but already being bad off, it didn't help, either.

Nevertheless, I persisted, and during naptime, I made a lovely batch of Vegan Creamy Ginger Carrot Sweet Potato Soup. I may switch out the thyme for rosemary next time, but this ended up being surprisingly good. I also threw together a batch of vegan corn muffins to go with. I don't normally serve soup this many times in a row, but it was a cold snowy week and no one minded. :) I spent the rest of the afternoon on the heating pad, while my daughter used her doctor kit on me and tried to make me feel better by piling more and more toys on top of me. It's the thought that counts, right???

When it was time, we picked my husband up and stopped by Walgreens again so he could return his Redbox movie. I dozed off in my chair at home, put dinner away, and watched two episodes of Supernatural with my husband before bed.


THURSDAY

Injection Day Part II!!!

I wanted to get the house in order for me taking it easy, so I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, cleaned the kitchen, and took out the recycling. I did my basement chores, then took my daughter to school and relaxed at home until it was time to pick her up. We met my mom at home, and I fed them lunch (I wasn't allowed to eat, because of the impending anesthesia) and packed a snack bag for my daughter, and then it was off to the pain doctor. (My mom brought her iPad and they were just going to hang out in the waiting room until I was done.)

They put me to sleep for the injection into my SI joint, and I was definitely more sore after this one than I was the last, although that could be because it was my second in the series and they'd just poked me with a needle back there a few weeks ago. Hopefully I'll get some more relief out of this; I have another appointment with him in a few weeks to see how I'm doing, and we'll go from there.

At home, I rested and dozed in the chair while my mom played with my daughter. I went with her to pick my husband up when it was time (she drove, I wasn't allowed yet because, again, anesthesia), and we had an Aldi pizza for dinner (that I'd bought the day before. I'd considered throwing something in the crockpot but decided to just give myself a break, what with being sick and all). I rested and read throughout the rest of the evening and watched two episodes of Supernatural with my husband before bed.


FRIDAY

By this point, the cold was basically sucker punching me. I was a MESS. Coughing, snot, exhaustion, the whole nine yards. I gave my daughter a bath in the morning, and then we headed off to Walmart to pick up a few things, including some cough drops. She wanted to play at a library in another town, so she played while I read my library book and avoided people. I napped again during naptime (I swear, I haven't napped this much since I was pregnant!), cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher, and then we had to go to the library in our town to exchange books, where we met my husband. Dinner that night was spaghetti with jarred sauce, I finished a library book, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed.


SATURDAY

My husband was pretty awesome this day; he took my daughter to gymnastics and I spent almost the entire morning in bed, feeling like I'd been run over by a truck. I did manage to unload the dishwasher and clean the kitchen, but I spent most of the day reading a library book while my husband took my daughter to play at her cousin's house. We watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed, and I spent a good portion of the night awake coughing. :(


SUNDAY

My sister-in-law came over with her son (I don't have a fever and am not throwing up, so they were okay with my germs; my nephew is coughing as well, so it's all good, haha!), so I cleaned up the kitchen and ran the dishwasher before they arrived. The kids played, and I finally finished the mitten I started knitting for my daughter over Thanksgiving weekend (I'll put up a post of the set). 

After they left, I really wanted to read my library book, but instead I dozed during my daughter's short naptime, since that's what my body decided it wanted. My husband and daughter cleaned up her room in the search for those missing library books, and I decided to make another calm, thorough search of the downstairs, where I found those two books squished in the shelf with our own books. SUCCESS!!! 

They headed off to a playplace at a mall about 20 minutes away from us. I picked up my son from his friend's house and relaxed for a while before helping him with his Music Theory homework. My husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed.


What a crummy week, right??? I'm feeling a little better this morning. My cough quieted down a bit and I would've slept perfectly fine if it hadn't been for my cat somehow getting himself stuck in the handle of a plastic bag at 3 am. Getting him out wasn't difficult, it came right off, but I have a hard time falling back asleep if I wake up, so I was awake until after 4 am. Eesh.

My son has his big holiday choir concert this week on Thursday, so I'm looking forward to attending that (a few weeks ago at the musical, I told my mom, "The holiday concert is coming- get ready for me to get sick!" Lo and behold, here I am! I have a nasty cough for this concert EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. So frustrating, and embarrassing when I'm hacking away during a solemn song). Otherwise, I'm just hoping for a more productive week around the house- at least more productive than this week has been!

I hope your week was better than mine!!! :)

Friday, November 30, 2018

Friday thoughts 11/30/2018

Late today! It's been a SERIOUSLY off week here, due to pain stemming from several different things (more on that on Monday), my second set of SI joint injections yesterday, and a head cold that has just sent everything plummeting south. YUCK! We're supposed to have gross, rainy weather this weekend, so I'm hoping that we can all just stay in and watch movies and relax, I think I need that!

Some interesting things I found on the internet this week!


*28 Maps That Will Completely Change The Way You View Europe*

I love maps. I love demographic information. I especially love maps with detailed demographic information! Did you know that Scandinavia has the highest concentration of metal bands? (I actually did know this before I saw this map.) How does Europe do when it comes to recycling? Who has the longest school holiday? This is seriously need-to-know stuff here, people!!!

You never know when this kind of info will come in handy, so give it a look. Maybe you'll be able to win at Trivia Night, or save the game for your team in a boys-versus-girls game of Trivial Pursuit in High School by knowing of the industrial nature of Manchester, England (yes, I'm STILL proud of that!).


*Pathological Consumption Has Become So Normalised That We Scarcely Notice It*

(My computer is angry at the anglicized spelling of 'normalized' above.)

'...of the materials flowing through the consumer economy, only 1% remain in use six months after sale.'

If that doesn't horrify you, check your pulse, because I'm not sure you're actually alive. Where are we putting all of this stuff? Landfills, I know, but...ugh. The thought of all of that...stuff...being made just to be thrown away absolutely guts me. WHY? In order to feel good for a few seconds? There's no need for that, for any of it. Articles like these absolutely force me to examine and re-examine my levels of consumption over and over and over, which is definitely a good thing. It's uncomfortable and not an easy thing to do, but growth is rarely easy, and neither is change. I'll continue my path of self-examination, of making changes and buying used and making do with what I have to the best of my abilities. I realize that not everyone can do this- people with more serious medical challenges need more convenience items, for example- so that makes it all the more imperative that people like me who CAN do these things, take on that burden. And it's a burden that I definitely feel is necessary and worthy.


*Stories About Teachers Who Deeply Regret Bullying Their Students*

I love teachers. They have an incredibly difficult job, especially in today's climate of constant budget cuts that come with increased demands for testing results and fears of violence at school, and yet the vast majority of them still show up and continue to be amazing. I'm honestly not sure I could be what all those students needed me to be, and I'm so grateful to the teachers who are out there in the trenches every day.

But I think everyone has suffered a bad teacher a time or two in their lives, because there are people who just aren't great at their jobs in every profession. Whether it was the teacher who genuinely disliked kids (hello, sixth grade teacher!), the one who was great at their subject matter but awful at conveying information about it ('sup, high school chemistry teacher!), or the teacher who desperately needed a comprehensive anger management course (*stares at several staff members of my grade school, including that sixth grade teacher*), they exist, and here's a compendium of some horror stories.

I've heard some similar stories from some parent friends, and I can attest to the validity of one- my son's grade school did not allow him to keep his inhaler with him. Which makes ZERO sense. NONE. My son's asthma only flares up when he's sick, so he only needs the inhaler at that time and has time to get to the nurse, but what about the kid who has a sudden asthma attack? Is that kid supposed to just sit around and turn blue until an adult gives them permission to go to the nurse's office, and then wait for the nurse to rummage around and find that particular inhaler? (The answer is yes. You'd think that they'd be aware of the liability that poses, but apparently not, because I've had multiple friends encounter this situation in their kids' schools as well.)


*Man Discovers Family of Mice Living In His Garden, Builds Them A Miniature Village*

Today in 'People Who Have Too Much Time On Their Hands'...

I love animals. Pets, wildlife, it doesn't matter, they're awesome. But mice? They're cute, but they can stay outside, and I'm not building them houses so they can stick around longer and eventually show up in my basement (or alive in my cat's mouth, thank you SO much, Reba...). Now, if we had a family of otters living out back, I'd be all about building them slides and knitting them little hats and booties and other ridiculous things. But these are some seriously cute pictures. ;)

And lastly...


*Shot and Forgotten*

When I was younger, probably ten or eleven, I realized the premise behind this article and was horrified at the unfairness of it all. Imagine you're out and about in some public space and someone comes in with a gun and starts shooting. People around you die, but you live. You end up needing five surgeries, you spend almost four weeks in the hospital, and now you're paralyzed from the chest down. Who pays for all those medical bills?

You.

You pay for them. All by yourself.

Welcome to America.

It doesn't matter that the medical bills from a situation like that could easily mount to seven figures, or that your home is now completely unsuitable for you (I live in a split-level house. The bathrooms are on the top and lower levels. If I needed a wheelchair and couldn't walk and we weren't able to afford a lift to get me upstairs, too bad, so sad, doesn't matter), or if you can't afford a wheelchair-accessible van with hand controls so you can drive, or if the medical bills just keep coming due to pressure sores from being wheelchair bound or more surgeries to repair the damage, or even if you can't afford a wheelchair (which are ridiculously expensive). You're responsible for the damage done to you by other people and all the life fallout it causes. Can't afford it? Try GoFundMe, or maybe try just suffering, which are the only solutions I've seen a few people offer. The other favorite is, "Well, the churches should be taking care of these things!" No one ever seems to have a good answer for, "How does a church afford to take care of a paralyzed gunshot victim, a kid with leukemia, three cases of autism, four elderly people with dementia, an old man's COPD, a child's cerebral palsy, two cases of Type 1 diabetes and multiple cases of Type 2, a woman with breast cancer, a severely premature baby..." Even just one of those things could easily wipe out the charity of a church, and if you've got several, well...

We've got to get a better system of caring for each other, because this 'every man for himself in the face of monstrous medical bills' is causing too far much suffering. Along those lines:

*Caring For Children With Severe Disabilities Financially Devastates Tennessee Families*

This is another heartbreaking article I just read this afternoon, and it fits right in with the first. I'm lucky that both of my kids are healthy, but for families who were affected by illness and disability, the results are utterly devastating, and it makes me want to scream. These families are struggling enough, and the way things are set up here just makes life harder for them. I will never, ever understand why some people are so dead-set on keeping the system that causes so much pain in place.



And that's it for today! *coughcoughcoughcoughcough* I'm pretty worn out and hoping for a nice, quiet weekend here. It's going to take until next week, at least, until I'm able to be productive again, but I have a stack of library books to keep me entertained, along with the endless fun of the internet. ;) Have a great weekend, everyone!

Monday, November 26, 2018

Weekly recap: 11/26/2018

Hoo boy, did we get walloped with a blizzard overnight! This storm seemed to come out of nowhere; all of  sudden on Saturday, my weather app went from nothing to storm watch to storm warning, finally switching to blizzard warning Sunday afternoon. The snow started just after 6 pm and it's still going as I type this at 6:30 am. Shoveling later on is going to be painful...

I hope you all had a lovely week- a lovely holiday week, if you're in the US. I'm going to do a semi-modified recap, since it wasn't a normal week here. Let's get started on that, shall we?


MONDAY


Not a bad day for pain; I had a sharp grinding sensation mid-afternoon, but yoga seemed to help with that.

Early in the morning, I stripped my daughter's bed and started the laundry. I emptied the dishwasher and refilled it, took out the trash and recycling, and then it was errand time. We drove to Menard's, where it took us a little bit to find a dryer vent cleaning kit (now to figure out how to use it!), then went across the street to the Dollar Store, where we bought blank stickers (for my son for school), a cup for my daughter, Kosher salt, and a basket to organize things in in the bathroom. Back home, I switched the laundry, tossed my daughter in the bathtub, and then sat there and went through some folders of old papers and craft patterns I'd grabbed off my craft shelf. In there was a Thanksgiving menu my son had made in Boy Scouts when he was about 6.

I don't even think he liked green beans at the time.


I did find some knitting and sewing patterns and such that may be of use, so that was nice.

After the bath, I brought my son's laundry downstairs (PEEEEYEW!), threw that in the wash, then restarted the dryer. I did my basement chores of scooping the litterbox and refilling the Air Washer, then tossed some pinto beans into the Instant Pot. I switched the laundry when the dryer was done, then put my daughter's bed back together, just in time for naptime! While she slept, I restarted the dryer and did dinner prep (rice bowls with taco-spiced zucchini/onion/garlic/peppers, pinto beans, chopped tomatoes, and steamed sweet potatoes), then cleaned up the kitchen and did a 26 minute yoga video and a 10 minute ab/core video.


Yoga with the cat, who thinks she's helping. This is not the closest she got!

I switched the laundry and looked through more craft books with my daughter, weeding out a ton that I no longer find useful, so those will go to the thrift store. We picked up my son and then headed to the library, where my daughter played and I read Piano For Dummies. My husband joined us off the train, and after dinner, I put the leftovers away, cleaned up the kitchen, and brought the laundry upstairs. I took the garbage and recycling to the road (I just realized I'm going to have to do that tonight too! That's going to be interesting, with all the snow...), did my PT exercises, and watched two episodes of Supernatural with my husband before bed.



TUESDAY

Not a bad day pain-wise.

We drove my husband to the train early in the morning. At home, I stripped our bed and threw the bedding in the washer. I folded and put away two loads of my son's laundry (if I don't do it, it just sits there and gets mixed with the dirty stuff, and then I end up needing to rewash clean stuff). I made a batch of homemade Febreeze and sprayed down my son's room (stinky teenagers! I did leave the door closed most of the day, so the cats wouldn't be bothered by the spray). I switched the laundry, swept the living room and kitchen, and then it was time to take my daughter to school.

After dropping her off, I stopped by my doctor's office for bloodwork (my doctor had put the order in last week and there was no appointment needed, they do it on a walk-in basis), then ran to Aldi and grabbed the last few things we needed for Thanksgiving and a few extras, since I wasn't grocery shopping this week. Then I ran to Mariano's, where I picked up last week's Free Friday Download (a bottle of seasoning for grilling, although I'll use it for other stuff) and a marked-down loaf of olive focaccia bread, which I enjoyed for breakfast throughout the week.

And then it was back to school to pick my daughter up! We ran to Costco afterwards (yikes, the crowds!!!), where we bought an enormous sack of carrots (which I'll probably share with my mother), dishwasher soap, garlic, and Parmesan. At home, we put everything away, I switched the laundry, and started a batch of chickpeas in the Instant Pot. During naptime, I did a 40 minute yin yoga video, dozed on the couch for about 15 minutes, then did a faster-paced 26 minute ashtanga-inspired worked (almost too fast!). I started a batch of taco-spiced lentils in the Instant Pot, then put those and the chickpeas away when the lentils were done. I restarted the dryer, made a batch of pizza dough, cleaned up the kitchen, and realized that the answer to the question, "Why the heck am I so tired???" was that because of the bloodwork, I hadn't had any coffee yet today! I sat down in my chair with a lovely mug of coffee then. :) 

I made and cooked the pizza, then picked up my husband. After eating dinner, I ran to Kohl's. My mother and aunt had given me their Kohl's cash, $70 worth!!! I have a Kohl's right down the road; they don't have one anywhere near them, so I end up inheriting the Kohl's cash they're not able to use- my mother had mailed it to me. After about an hour and a half of browsing and trying things on, I ended up with two really nice pair of sweatpants/workout pants (I needed soft pants; wearing jeans isn't terribly comfortable for me anymore), a pair of yoga pants, a bra that actually fits, a pair of short, and a necklace. And I still had about $1.83 left! The cashier was impressed. :)

Husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed.


WEDNESDAY

Our cooking day, as my daughter called it. I had some nasty pain in the morning while sitting, which isn't normal, across my lower back and right hip. I had some tingling in my left foot while standing but not sitting, and the pain in my SI joint increased throughout the day.

The entire morning was dedicated to cooking the things I'd be bringing with to Thanksgiving dinner. Since I'm vegetarian, I need to have a main dish to bring with me, and this year I decided to forego the Tofurky (which I actually do enjoy very much) and went with a lentil shepherd's pie- I added some mushrooms to the lentils, which gives it a lovely flavor. I also prepared a layered taco dip, with taco-flavored hummus, taco-spiced lentils, salsa, Greek yogurt, cheese, and tomatoes. It was delicious and we're still eating it! And I made a batch of cheese potatoes- I think every family has some version of this. It's so unhealthy, yet so delicious, and holiday time is the only time I ever eat it, so I can't feel *too* terrible about myself for that, right???

I ran the dishwasher, switched the laundry, cleaned the kitchen, restarted the laundry, swept the floor, and did a 33 minute yoga video. I emptied and refilled the dishwasher, and then it was time to pick my husband up, early. He and my daughter played and I ended up dozing off in the chair for a bit. ;) I showered early and iced my back a good portion of the evening. I picked up my son, cast on a hat for my daughter, and watched two episodes of Supernatural with my husband before bed.


THURSDAY

Thanksgiving! We loaded up the car and drove to my mom's about an hour away, annoying my husband by playing Christmas music the whole time. Hurray for the holidays! :D

Thanksgiving is my mom's big day; she always hosts and goes all out. 

This wasn't even all of the food!

Needless to say, we all ate ourselves silly. I knit my daughter's hat while I was there and mostly finished it; I had thought it would've taken longer, but it was quick (it'll be part of a set for her for Christmas, so I'll make a separate post about it). We stopped by my dad's afterwards to visit with him and his wife. I drove home- I was the only one awake in the car!- and the pain was so bad for me at that point that I had tears in my eyes when we got home. Driving doesn't necessarily make me hurt, but if I'm already hurting, it definitely makes it worse. We watched two episodes of Supernatural before going to bed.


FRIDAY

A lazy kind of day where the pain wasn't too bad, probably because I wasn't doing much! The only place I went was in the morning, when my daughter and I ran to Walgreens. I cleaned my daughter's room, finished her hat, and cast on a pair of leg warmers. I also took a REALLY awesome nap during the afternoon, which felt really, really good.


SATURDAY

We ran to Menard's in the morning. My husband needed a few things (and brought home a few extra things!), and I stealthilly grabbed a toy that my daughter had been eyeing when we were there on Monday, a toy beauty kit. It's something she'll actually play with, so I don't mind bring that into the house (it's the cluttery stuff that I *know* she won't play with that I'm against!). We had another lazy day around the house, where I knit like crazy. We put up our Christmas tree later on in the day.

Love these two so much!!!

Finished product!

We ended up moving the tree on top of a (packed full and very heavy) Rubbermaid container and duct-taping it down like we have in past years. It's high up enough that way so that the cats are discouraged from messing with it, and you can see it better from the window like that. :) Afterwards, I helped my son out with piano a little. 


SUNDAY

I spent the morning knitting one and a half mittens. :)

The highlight of this day was visiting my husband's co-worker for his son's second birthday party. It wasn't easy getting to their place in the heart of the city, but we *finally* made it and had a lovely time. Their apartment has a gorgeous view- I wish I had a better camera to do it justice. I wouldn't want to live on the 12th floor of anything (fear of heights!), but the view is seriously nice. 

Blurry, but trust me, it was gorgeous!!!
The snow was just starting as we got home. Half an hour later, the car was COVERED, and it was full-on blizzard conditions before we went to bed. My son's school announced it was closed by just after 9 pm, and it was absolutely the right call. No need to have kids out there on the road, especially those new teenage drivers.


This morning, the view from where I sit looks like this:



I'm not sure what our totals were, but we were predicted to get around a foot and it looks pretty deep out there. I'm going to eat some breakfast and take my daughter on our traditional snow walk- every time it snows big, we go for a walk around the block. We've done this since she learned to walk and we look forward to it every time! And then I'll get to shoveling. My husband indeed had work today, so I'll have to dig the car out in time to be able to pick him up. I'm not looking forward to this; I'm already getting warning signals down my right leg, so we'll see how this goes...


This week is back to the grind! I've got a lot of work to do to get the house back in shape from our long weekend, and Thursday I have my second set of SI injections. We'll see how that goes, if I get any more relief. I'm starting to wonder if it wouldn't hurt if I had a full workup from a rheumatologist, in order to rule a few things out. If I get a chance to ask my pain doc about this, I will, but we'll see. Saturday, our town turns on the holiday lights in the park in the center of town, so we're looking forward to attending that. :)

How was your week?



Friday, November 23, 2018

See you on Monday!

Friday Thoughts will be back next week; this week I'm spending time with my family.

Enjoy your weekend, friends! :)

Monday, November 19, 2018

Weekly recap: 11/19/2018

It's getting to be holiday season, friends! American Thanksgiving is this week; I have everything I need to prepare and take to my mother's on Thursday. This has always been my favorite holiday; the food and family togetherness (and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!) brings back warm childhood memories of helping my mom prepare a meal for twenty or more people every year. I still like to show up early and help her put on the finishing touches, and my daughter might like to be put to work this year! She enjoys helping in the kitchen whenever possible.

This week was a busy one; I feel like I barely had any productive downtime whatsoever. My daughter only has a month left of the fall session of preschool, and then she'll be off until February, so that'll be a nice break in all the rushing. I'm very much looking forward to that!

Let's get started on recapping my week, shall we?


MONDAY

This was about the busiest day of all this week!

I started off the day with a lot of right hip pain (I'm finding it seriously helpful to document my pain here. When a doctor asks how I've been doing, it's really nice to be able to say, "Well, this day was good, but these days were bad," so I'm going to keep this up). After doing my basement chores of scooping the litterbox and refilling the Air Washer, I took out the trash and recycling, then swept and mopped the living room floor. My daughter and I ran to the Dollar Store for bleach and a spray bottle, and then at home, I ran the empty dishwasher with a cup of bleach in the top rack. We'd been growing some...mold? fungus? Something gross, and I wanted to kill whatever it was off before wiping it all down.

While that ran, I took out the bathroom trash and cleaned off half of the kitchen table (the other half is covered in a pile of my husband's stuff; I'm not touching that!). I tidied up a little of my kitchen pantry shelves; a bunch of my husband's stuff has been piled up in front of them for ages, making them difficult for me to get to and put stuff away in. I carried the bread machine, extra bleach, and the giant stock pot downstairs to the laundry room where I store it, and I brought back up a giant overstuffed basket of clean laundry on the way back.

My daughter and I folded those two loads of laundry (she loves to help!), and then I put them away in their proper places. I grabbed the other load of dirty laundry and took that down to the laundry room, where I got it going in the washer. By this time, my back hurt pretty badly. :(

Along with helping to fold laundry, my daughter also loves to decorate our cats.

The dishwasher had stopped by then, so I sprayed the doors and bottom with a bleach/water solution and wiped away the whatever-it-was until it looked sparkly clean. I switched the laundry, took out more recycling, and during naptime, I did a gentle yoga video. Afterwards, I restarted the dryer (I REALLY need to get that dryer vent cleaning kit- the store is in a place that makes it difficult to get to during anything other than early morning hours, and I haven't had the time to get there lately) and got my PT exercises out of the way for the day. When my daughter woke up, I gave her a bath and clipped her nails, but while she was playing in the tub, I took advantage of the time and wiped down all the flat surfaces in the bathroom and scrubbed the toilet. I cleaned her entire room AGAIN (it took about 40 minutes), and then it was time to pick up my husband.

After dinner (leftovers), I cleaned up the kitchen, took the garbage and recycling to the curb, and made a batch of Rice Krispie treats. I folded and put away another two loads of laundry, ran the dishwasher, and then watched two episodes of Supernatural with my husband before bed.


TUESDAY

Oof.

Not a good day for pain. I had a deep bone ache on my right side that persisted throughout the day.

In the morning, I unloaded the dishwasher, gave my husband a ride to the train, and dropped my daughter off at school. Immediately after doing that, I stopped by the Dollar Store to pick up the dish soap that I'd forgotten the day before, ran home to plop some beans into the Instant Pot, and read my library book until it was time to pick my daughter up again.

After I scarfed down lunch, I prepared a black bean/chickpea/pinto bean and sweet potato chili in the Instant Pot, and then it was time to head off to a check-up with my spine doctor. To be honest, it was kind of a pointless appointment, as there's really nothing they can do for me. "Just keep doing what you're doing," was what I got, and then we drove the half hour back home. I helped my daughter clean up her toys and she and I farted around a bit around the house until it was time to pick up my husband.

I dozed a little in my chair after dinner, and did my PT exercises that evening before watching two episodes of Supernatural with my husband and going to bed.


WEDNESDAY

My day started when my daughter's bedside Frozen table started singing at 4 am and I had to get up and move the stuff that was pressing the button that makes it sing. GOOD MORNING!!!

Not a great day for pain here, either. I had a lot of pain all across my lower back that was a little sharper at bedtime.

I made out the grocery list and did my basement chores, cleaned up the kitchen, started the dishwasher, brought in the trash and recycling cans, took the recycling out, swept and mopped the kitchen floor and the living room, sprayed down the kitchen counters, used the Dust Buster on the stairs and the shelves where we keep our shoes, and then it was time to drop my daughter off at school. After that, I drove to Aldi, where I picked up the extra things I needed for Thanksgiving. I drove home, put the groceries away in the house and in the garage freezer, and then it was time to pick my daughter up from school.

We stopped by two other grocery stores, and I think I'm all stocked up on frozen veggies for a while. (I think. That's a little bit of the problem of having the freezer in the far back of your dark, unheated, unattached, horrifically messy garage; when it gets cold out, it's difficult to inventory). At home, I put all the other groceries away, emptied and refilled the dishwasher, and during naptime, I did a yoga video.

I ended up dozing in my chair for a little bit, as I was completely exhausted (those 4 am wake-ups aren't all that fun!), and then I made a batch of dough for Double Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies (I used enough oil for one batch and then tossed in some defrosted pumpkin from the freezer; this worked out quite nicely!). I made a cheesecake in the Instant Pot, then I cleaned the kitchen and ran the dishwasher again. I put the leftover soup and chili on the stove to warm, and then it was time to pick my husband up.

After dinner, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, wiped out the bathtub and bathroom sink, baked the cookies (the dough has to be refrigerated before cooking), scrubbed out the kitchen sink, and did my PT exercises.

I exercised; the cat watched PBS's Nature: Squirrels. No joke, she watched the entire show.


And my husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed. The cat wasn't as interested in that. ;)


THURSDAY

A pretty decent day as far as pain levels go!

I cleaned my daughter's room, started a load of laundry, cleaned off my kitchen island, vacuumed the rug under the kitchen table (somehow my mom got the vacuum to clean a lot better. I have no idea how, but I very much appreciate it!), and managed to braid my daughter's hair. I'm not great at doing hair, but I'm trying to get better and so far, it's turning out okay. She said the girls at school liked it. :)

I switched the laundry and drove her to school, and then I had to drive to the bank to cash a check that had been sitting on the kitchen island for a bit. After that, I drove to the library, where I picked up a book from interlibrary loan, and by that time, I only had about 35 minutes before it would be time to pick my daughter up again, so I settled into a comfortable chair to read and watch the snow fall. 


She enjoyed watching the snow falling too. "Snow TV," we call it. :)

During naptime, I started dinner prep on One Pot Spicy Thai Noodles. I didn't have mushrooms, but I added some red peppers and baked tofu, and I tossed some sesame oil and extra soy sauce in the seasoning. I kind of had to prepare this in parts, working on it here and there throughout the afternoon. It's super delicious and really good cold the next day, too. Highly recommended! :)
Seriously, zucchini take like FOREVER to cook. Why is that???


In between cooking, I ran the dishwasher, did a yoga video, folded a load of laundry, unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, cleaned up the kitchen, and did a 10 minute abs/core workout that always makes my abs hurt the next day (which obviously means I need to do it more often!). When it was time, we picked up my husband. I read a little of my library book, then put dinner away and cleaned up the post-dinner mess. I picked up my son at school from the field trip he'd been on, and my husband and I watched an episode of Supernatural before bed.


FRIDAY

My pain level was okay in the morning, but increased throughout the day.

I did my basement chores, loaded and ran the dishwasher, swept the living room, and then dropped my daughter off at school (Friday isn't a normal schoolday for her, but this was a makeup day from a few weeks ago). I got gas, then came home and did two short yoga videos, about 26 minutes total. I'm trying to do at least around 30 minutes on the days I can fit it in, and I'd like to add some cardio into my schedule....

I picked my daughter up from school, and at home, I registered her for the spring session of preschool and then spent some time reading about cast iron skillets in preparation for being able to use mine. I've never owned one before, so this is all new to me. I unloaded the dishwasher, organized my kitchen island, and made a Christmas gift for my mom (she doesn't read my blog, so it'll still be a surprise). And then it was off to the doctor- AGAIN!

This was just a regular yearly checkup with my family doctor. I need to schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist for an ongoing issue I've been having with my eyes, and I have to stop by the walk-in clinic for bloodwork (which I'll do on Tuesday of this week). I got my flu shot, and when we talked about my SI joint dysfunction, my doc said, "Yikes, that's really painful, and really hard to treat." Never good to hear, is it?

At home, my daughter had received some swag from the lovely folks at Nature Cat in recognition of her Nature Cat Halloween costume

Adorbs!

I'd known about this for a few weeks after they contacted me via Instagram, but I hadn't told her, so she was delighted by the surprise, and stuffed Nature Cat has gone on several adventures with her so far. Huge thanks to the people at Spiffy Pictures for the swag and the great show! 


I tried to schedule my ophthalmologist appointment, but the website wouldn't let me (HUGE exercise in frustration! I hate talking on the phone, but the website almost never seems to function), I heated an Aldi flatbread pizza, and then it was time to pick up my husband. We raced home to scarf down dinner, and then it was off to the library, where we attended a program by The Frog Lady (what she calls herself!), all about amphibians and reptiles. SUPER cool and interesting, even if snakes freak me out like no other creature. For real, I was having hot flashes during the show.

PUT THAT THING BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM OR SO HELP ME.... /Monsters Inc


This guy was cool, though. I liked him.


At home, my husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed. 


SATURDAY

Pain was moderate throughout the day.

The day started off snowy. It was a heavy, wet, slushy snow, and it fell most of the morning. It didn't cover anything for too long, but it was really pretty to watch. My daughter had gymnastics, so we did that. When we got home, she wanted to play outside, so my husband took her out and I cleaned all the things that needed to be cleaned around the house, straightening things, picking up random things that cluttered flat surfaces, cleaning up my daughter's room, using the Dust Buster on the stairs and in corners, just all those fun random things that eventually have to be done.

During naptime, I did a 40-minute yin yoga video. I really enjoy the yin yoga style, as it's slow and great for deep stretches (which I need. Apparently SI joint dysfunction is responsible for tight hamstrings, which is nice to know, because I always blamed myself for just being crappy at stretching. It's nice to know that it's not actually my fault!). My cat likes it as well. During the long pose holds, she assumes I'm furniture and hops up on me, which had me laughing. :)

Afterwards, I finished a library book and started another, and I threw together a batch of breakfast sandwiches for dinner. I did my PT exercises and swept the living room floor, and my husband and I watched two episodes of Supernatural before bed.


SUNDAY

Another day, another new hairstyle for my daughter.

She really liked this one. :)

My right hip bothered me all throughout the day. Hmph.

We went for lunch and a visit at my mother-in-law's, where I chatted and knitted my scrap yarn blanket. When we arrived home, I'd wanted to do a yoga video, but my husband took a nap, and I didn't want to close the door and lock the sleeping cat in, because the cat would throw a fit- you know cats and closed doors- so instead I ran the dishwasher and settled down to work on this post. ;) 

My sister-in-law and her son came over to hang out, and we talked over the screeching of our kiddos as they played. We had takeout from a local restaurant (mine wasn't very good!), and I picked up my son from his friend's house. He asked me for help with his Music Theory homework and I said of course. The assignment was to begin transposing a Christmas carol (changing it from one key to another), and I figured that would be no problem for him, but...I discovered why he's doing so poorly in the class. He apparently has some MAJOR gaps in his technical knowledge, gaps that I didn't think he had.

So, when my son was in sixth grade in Tennessee, he signed up for band- it was the first year that it was offered, and he was really excited. He played my old flute and he loved it, like LOVED it. This kid lived for band class, and his teacher loved him right back. Band was his thing. Seventh grade was the same, he adored it. We moved halfway through the year, and that's when the downfall happened. Up here, band starts in fourth grade, and the programs are much more intense. He was in class with kids who had been playing for years already, when he had just started the year before. To say that this killed his confidence is downplaying it. Band actively began to make him miserable, and it broke my heart to see him so unhappy over something he had loved so much. He finished out band in eighth grade and switched over to choir for high school.

Nowadays, choir is absolutely his life. He loves it, loves singing, loves music, loves the friends he's made there. He's super involved in the entire choir program and was really looking forward to taking Music Theory this year (it's all I heard about this summer). But he's struggled in the class from the beginning. I thought it was just because it was a difficult class, but after sitting down with him tonight, I realize that he's missing a TON of musical foundation knowledge. So much so that it's obvious why he's doing so poorly, and I'm ashamed that I missed it. Once I explained the basics of transposing- how and why- he got it, and he was able to write out the notes without my help. But we're going to fix this. I'm going to head off to the library sometime on Monday to grab a few basic piano theory books and start cramming his head full of that. He's in this class with kids who have been intensely studying music since they were nine (the class is for juniors and seniors), so he's got quite a bit of catching up to do, but I think I can help him get to a more level playing field. It's going to take a LOT of work, and so after I helped him, I sat down to start reading through the copy of Piano for Dummies that I bought him last year for Christmas. I highlighted some pertinent information that I thought might help him, and I'm going to go through the highlighted parts with him at a later date. We can do this. :)

I also did my PT exercises before bed.


And there's my week! Despite this being a holiday week in the US, it's actually looking to be not as busy as this one was for me, so that's nice. We'll get our Christmas tree up at some point (which means me crawling into the crawlspace, EW), after Thanksgiving, of course! I'll do a post about our tree when that happens. We've got some seriously great- and weird- ornaments on it.

To all my American readers, I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving, and for those of you outside the US, may you have a fantastic Thursday! ;) How did you do this week?