A week ago, I took the day off work and went to lots of doctors. Well, several doctors. Well, three.
Nothing alarming is happening, but I like to stay on top of my regular checkups. Plus I need new glasses. I’ve been wearing these for four years, and the lenses are still fine, but the color on the frame has started to chip. Let’s face it, at some point my nail polish touch-up is going to become obvious. Fortunately, I found some frames that I really like, and am getting new glasses. I’m also getting new contacts, which I gave up wearing over four years ago, when I was pregnant with Baguette and did not have the energy to put in contacts.
Apparently I have a little more energy now, not that I can tell most days. Then again, I have started wearing makeup at least 60% of the time.
Mind you, I came out of the appointments with a few referrals (apparently that pain in the ball of my foot is not going away, no matter how many years I wait), and I still have to visit the find a dentist.
I know my house is messy. I’m not a good housekeeper. I never have been, and neither was my mother. I know she would have recognized herself in Claire McCarthy’s Huffington Post piece.* Also, there’s this.
I do want my house to be clean. It’s so much more peaceful and comfortable when it is. Mr. Sandwich and I agree on this (For the record, if you come over to our house? He’s the one who cleaned it for you.) And we really want to have people over, but we’d feel so much better about it if we were more orderly.
This is our kitchen table after Mr. Sandwich has taken some stuff off of it.
And, honestly, “orderly” is key here. We have too much stuff, and we have no organization system. But there aren’t dirty dishes lying around (seriously, I feel like I am always washing dishes), and the laundry is either clean or in the hamper (Mr. Sandwich is always doing laundry). We’re neither hoarders nor a hotbed of disease.
So is your house clean? I’d probably love being there. But if it’s a mess, I’m probably cool with that, too. Because I’m not visiting you for your house, I’m visiting you because it’s fun. So if I’m not judging you, why am I judging myself? You can schedule a consultation for low maintenance draperies or in-home covering from rescomdesigns.com.
*That Dutch saying quoted in the comments? Yeah, the Dutch are a nation of people who leave their curtains open so you can peer in their windows and see how clean their houses are. My mother-in-law is Dutch. She’s the loveliest person, and yet she still can’t hide that my housekeeping pains her.
My 45th birthday is coming up, and while I don’t think that 45 is any kind of a milestone at all, I wanted a way to mark the occasion. So between now (January 8) and my birthday (February 6), I’m going to do 45 good things. I figure these can be pretty much anything that helps someone else, be the effort large or small. I’m not saying I’m going to save anyone’s life, but maybe I can make their day a little less crummy.
So here goes:
1) January 8: Bought a sandwich and a bottle of water for the homeless woman outside of Starbucks.
I’ll keep a tally on the 45 Good Things page, and will use the hashtag #45goodthings on Twitter. Want to join me?
I am totally stealing this idea from Lindsay of A Design So Vast. And as with everything, I couldn’t have done this without Mr. Sandwich–and I’m referring to getting through the year and coming up with all the items in this post.
A is for Autism Spectrum Disorder and ABA. Baguette was diagnosed in August, but really we’ve known it for a while. Her Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) finally started in November, and we’re already seeing progress–as are her regular teachers.
B is for “Bike ride!” Baguette loves riding in the bike trailer.
C is for . . .
D is for diet; Baguette is a very picky eater. Most days, we’re happy that she eats.
E is for elephants. They are Baguette’s favorite animal, and seeing one–actual, stuffed, in pictures–makes her day better.
F is for fingernails. We can only cut hers when she’s fast asleep. And we need to, because they are like daggers.
G is for “Good job!”
H is for helmet, which Baguette knows to put on before climbing into the bike trailer.
I is for insurance, which covers the ABA.
J is for jumping, which Baguette now does with enthusiasm.
K is for kicking, which she does a lot in bed.
L is for LAUSD, which provides services that we’re exploring.
M is for macaroni and cheese; Baguette eats this several times a week.
N is for napping, which Baguette does not like to do–at least, not when she’s with us.
O is for outfits, of which she has many; we are fortunate that Mr. Sandwich’s mother is a genius at shopping for used children’s clothes.
P is for pool, which is one of her favorite places in the world.
Q is for quetzal, which is the best word for q that we’ve seen in an alphabet book–and Baguette learned it with just a couple of tries.
R is for running on the grass, the very best thing to do in a park.
S is for sign language, which she just started to teach herself.
T is for tablet. Baguette loves the iPad we bought her, and uses it to play matching and sorting games, read books, sing songs, and learn the aforementioned sign language.
U is for umbrella, which Baguette would like to carry all year long, regardless of the weather.
V is for vacation. We could use more.
W is for water, which Baguette finds invigorating whether it is liquid in pool or snow on a slope.
X is for xylophone. X is always for xylophone.
Y is for yelling, of which she does a lot. But she’s getting better, little by little, at using her words.
Z is for zoo. We bought a membership to the Santa Barbara Zoo, which we all enjoy. And we don’t even live in Santa Barbara.
So what did 2013 spell for you? And what does 2014 hold for all of us? Happy New Year, everyone!
Right now I feel drunk. I’m not drunk, though. I’m on Percocet, and I don’t much care for it.
On the other hand, I care even less for the pain that comes with passing a kidney stone. But every time I have to take heavy-duty painkillers, I’m very aware that pain management comes with side effects.
Bleah.
On the plus side, I’m at home, because Mr. Sandwich came to my office and took me to the ER and brought me here, where I can sit on the couch with a cuddly little dog. And that’s definitely better than how I felt a few hours ago.
But you know what? If I wanted to feel drunk, I’d probably just drink. It’s cheaper and faster than going to the ER, and I don’t have to be in acute physical pain to do it.
Another side effect is that I’m not really coherent. Exhibit A: This post.
I hope you’re all feeling better than I am. Happy Thursday, everyone!
I love shrimp. Love, love, love it. Yet for some reason, I almost never cook with it. I’m trying to change that, though, because I have come to the conclusion–quite vocally, if you check with Mr. Sandwich–that I don’t like chicken.*
So a couple of weeks ago, we bought a bag of frozen shrimp at Costco. Surprisingly, it was not enough shrimp to feed all of Los Angeles–but we will get several meals out of it. We started last night (well, the night before, because the shrimp had to thaw) with this dish.
First, I cut up some Yukon Gold potatoes into chunks and boiled them until they were cooked, at which point I drained them.
Then I deveined the shrimp (it didn’t take as long as I always imagine it will; this stage was done before the potatoes finished cooking). In a skillet, I melted about half a stick of butter and sauteed some minced garlic. You know how people say not to use the pre-minced garlic that you can buy in jars? Well, we use it anyhow. It’s easier.
Once the garlic started to brown, I added the shrimp and flipped them once after about 2 minutes. You want to be careful not to overcook them, because they can get tough. Meanwhile, I returned the potatoes to the pan and dry steamed them to remove any additional moisture. After I turned over the shrimp, I added the potatoes to the skillet and tossed everything to coat with the butter and garlic.
Then we ate it.
You might want to have some vegetables, too. That’s always a good idea.
*Except fried chicken. I still like that. Because it is fried.
Recently, some of my friends have said, “You really seem to have this meal-planning thing down. What’s your secret?”
I do not have the meal-planning thing down. My secret is that I have a child who is slightly older than their child.
I think there are a lot of us in this boat. We think, “That person over there is doing this much better than I am.” And the truth is, they’re just working with different circumstances.
One of my college friends has a daughter about two months older than Baguette. She also has an older child and a stepchild. And when her daughter was a baby, every night this friend would post on Facebook about some amazing meal she was making her family for dinner.
Now, I know her. She wasn’t doing this to brag about how much better she was at parenting. She was doing it to show that it could be done–that often when you feel overwhelmed, it’s in your head. She wasn’t boasting, she was demonstrating.
But what I couldn’t figure out was this: how was she managing it? Like me, she had a full-time job outside of the home. Like me, she had an infant. Unlike me, she had two other children. So how was she pulling off this amazing feat?
As it turns out, she has a shorter commute. Like, a lot shorter. Mine is an hour each way. Hers is more like 15 minutes.
See what I mean? Different circumstances.
And my own circumstances have changed. Looking back, I’m not really sure what I ate when Baguette was a baby. I cooked for her, but I don’t remember what I made for myself. After a while, I found that I could use the crock pot on the weekends to make a big batch of something. That counted as cooking.
I no longer use the slow cooker for oatmeal, though.
More recently, I’ve been able to use the stove a little. Last night I made shrimp with bell peppers and zucchini in Red Thai Curry Sauce, served over quinoa. I’m having leftovers for lunch.
I have no idea what’s for dinner tonight.
Again, I think there are a lot of us in this boat. So I’m starting an occasional series called “Mom-Friendly Meals.” I’m going to write about what I cook, how I choose recipes, what tools I use, how I find ingredients, and anything else that comes to mind. You can follow me on Twitter at @tragicsandwich; I’ll be using the hashtag #momfriendlymeals for these posts.
One thing to keep in mind: These are mom-friendly recipes. At our house, we all eat different things. Baguette is going through a picky stage, and while we’re trying to move her through that, I’m not going to pretend that she ate the Thai curry with me. And Mr. Sandwich has his own palate, and tends to do his own cooking. So our kitchen is very busy, but we’ve finally started eating together as a family.
Now we just have to clean off the rest of the kitchen table.
