What I'm into: October 2011

Books I'm into:
I read A Sweet Disorder by Jacqueline Kolosov. The book is set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and is a light historical fiction that highlights how little control women had over their lives and how that was changing through the influence of women in power like Elizabeth. It was a better read than I thought it would be.

Lost Boy and I are read The Penderwicks at Point Mouette (#3) by Jeanne Birdsall. If you have never read the Penderwicks you must find them and read them! These are the only books I've read in a long time that make me laugh so hard I have to stop. It is usually Batty who makes me laugh. The story follows four sisters, ages three to thirteen (in the first book) on their summer adventures. At Point Mouette, the oldest sisters, Rosalind, isn't with them and the youngest, Batty, is five years old.

TV/Movies I'm into:
Again! I can't make this a habit or you'll never believe me when I say I don't watch TV! We discovered SesameStreet.org this month. They have 2-3 minute clips and you can watch them in playlists (there is one on the main page that changes once in a while, or you can create your own based on topics, theme, or muppet). So Baby Two Flowers gets her own computer/TV time for a few minutes each day while I'm nearby.

I've also been watching The Nine Lives of Chloe King with my teenage sis-in-law. She watches most of the episodes, but she keeps me updated and I watch bits of it with her, and occasionally a whole episode. We watch this via Netflix, which I don't have a subscription to, we borrow my bro-in-law's account... thanks D1!

Snow White is my favorite in this show!
I don't remember where I got this image...

I also started watching the new show Once Upon a Time on Hulu. The pilot was this week and I liked it! The premise is that Prince Charming and Snow White have a baby girl, but don't get to live happily ever after because the Evil Queen creates a curse that sends them all to the real world with no memory of who they really are. The baby girl, Emma, is saved from the curse (by a magical wardrobe) and grows up in the foster system. She has a baby who she puts up for adoption and who comes looking for her ten years later because he has figured out that he lives in the town where all the fairy tale characters live, under the curse. He was adopted by the Evil Queen and he wants Emma to save them. I don't think the series will go on for very long, it just doesn't seem like the kind of show that the networks will keep for more than one or two seasons. Maybe I'm pessimistic because the networks don't seem to like the kind of stories that I like.

In November
In November I'm planning to read The Dirt on Clean because I didn't finish it this month. I'm also going to read Real Moms Love to Eat by Beth Aldridge, which is due for publication in January of 2012. I'm also going to review it, so I'll tell you more about it later.

A major project in November is to get back into a regular routine. Recovering from my ear surgery derailed my groove and it always takes longer to find a groove than to lose it. Also, Christmas is coming and it is already time to mail holiday packages to missionaries (especially if they are serving in another country)! So I'm thinking about traditions and holiday preparations and my plan is to act on my plans in November instead of waiting until December!

Plans change

Sometimes, being a good mom is hard. I had a big night out planned. A Harvest Party, a Trunk-or-Treat, and a small grocery trip. I have a cute costume for Baby Two Flowers, and a car. But as I was picking up the house this afternoon - doing my nightly pick-up early since we'd be out later - I was going back and forth in my head. Baby Two Flowers threw up this morning and has seemed hot off and on throughout the day. I can tell she doesn't feel her best. What if she has a bug? If I take her out to the parties then I'm 1.) exposing lots of friends to her potential bug and 2.) putting her in an environment where she is less comfortable physically (car seat, stroller, cold air) and where it is harder for me to give her all of my attention (driving, walking, socializing), and if she really is sick then physical comfort and extra attention are two things she needs most!

I've been wanting to go to this particular Trunk-or-Treat all month. It is done by the stake* I used to live in before I had Baby Two Flowers. I really wanted to see my old friends and share my baby with them! So I kind of compromised, in my head: We would go out, but we would only spend a short amount of time at each place. I would try to keep the evening to under an hour and half. We were nearly ready when I realized that it was too early to leave so we snuggled and nursed for a little while. She had been needing to nurse, but being unwilling to hold still she hadn't gotten much mommy milk into her (mommy milk = immune boosters). She had taken a short nap early in the day and I suspected it wasn't enough. So it was no surprise that she fell asleep right when we needed to walk out the door.

This is where the good mommy part is. I could have woken her right back up, put her in the cute ladybug costume** and gone out the door. But I didn't. I let her sleep. She is still sleeping. I know she needs it more than I need to show her to my friends. There is a Trunk-or-Treat at the Elks Lodge tomorrow, and there is handing out candy at Mom's on the 31st, so I will still get to put her in the cute costume.

So far I don't feel terribly disappointed. There is something amazingly peaceful and calming about watching a baby sleep. Her tummy is going in and out with each breath; she hasn't learned how to breath incorrectly yet.  Her lips are puckered and moving as if she were still nursing. Her little legs that work so hard at the new skill of walking are relaxed and resting. All is peaceful.

The grocery trip has to happen though. We are out of milk. Maybe I will nudge her a few times, gently. If she wakes up and seems okay, then we will go out. If not, well... it is nearly bedtime...



 *A stake is a collection of congregations of my church in a geographic area.
**I know I said she was going to be Tinker Bell, but my mom-in-law found the ladybug costume and it fits this year. The Tinker Bell wings will fit next year, and the next...

Five things I have too much of

1. paper
2. paper
3. paper
4. clothes
5. Tupperware

Pre-Op

I had a pre-op appointment this morning. Again.

I was scheduled for surgery in June. But everything fell apart the week of my pre-op appointment. Our health coverage changed and we found out there had been a mistake in the scheduling. My surgeon would show up at one facility and I would show up at another, and we had to scramble to get temporary coverage in place. After going back and forth for weeks with no surgery date, I finally decided to start the surgery process all over with our new health care providers.

So here I am again. I was eager for the surgery last time. Not for the experience, but for the fix. I am still eager, but I'm afraid to jinx it. I don't want to spend another several months saying "What? I can't hear you" and missing interesting conversations.

I feel a lot more prepared this time around. My new surgeon gave me lots and lots of information. I know, in detail, what she is going to do and how she is going to do it. I have a better understanding of what is going on my ear both before, during, and after the surgery.

So, next week I'll start saying "Could you please keep it down?" instead of "Can you please speak up?"

What I'm into: September 2011

I've been following a new-to-me blog, Sorta Crunchy, for the past few months and every month she does a post about what she's into. I kind of like it, so I thought I'd try it out. Here goes:

Projects I'm into:
I started Aby Garvey's online workshop Organizing Your Paper Clutter. I love it! I am learning how to make decisions about my paper and I'm actually sorting my backlog of paper.

I started washing my hair with baking soda toward the beginning of the month. I read about it on Simple Mom and with very little preamble decided to try it out. I think I'm through the transition phase (where your scalp gets used to not having to overproduce oil to compensate for what gets stripped off by shampoo). The result is ...different. I think I like it. My scalp feels less oily in general and that was what I was shooting for. I keep wanting to write about it, but the words haven't surfaced yet.

Books I'm into:
I read my first Shannon Hale book this month (in less than 24 hours, of course... I have very little control when it comes to fiction!). I read The Goose Girl and was very pleased. It didn't have cliche phrases or plot movement. I hardly noticed the words, or the author's voice as I read, which is very rare. My sis-in-law is reading another Shannon Hale book and I told her I have dibs on it when she's done, and before it goes back to the library.

I've also been reading The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History by Katherine Ashenburg, which I thought was about the history of housecleaning and cleaning products. It's not. It is about the history of how people bathed. So far it has been interesting, although I decided I'm going to start skimming because in the current chapter 'A Steamy Interlude' there are all sorts of dalliances happening in public baths that I don't need to know about (this is after the Roman Empire, but still a long time ago). I'm interested to see if Ashenburg addresses things like the Oil Cleansing Method later in the book, because I'm interested in trying it.

Lost Boy and I finished reading The House of Many Ways by Dianna Wynne Jones. Howl and Sophie are always fun to read.

TV/Movies I'm into:
It is odd that I should put this up my first time around because we don't watch TV and we very rarely watch movies. But Lost Boy and I watched the web mini-series 'Arc' on Hulu and got totally hooked ...except there is only one season and the episodes are all less than ten minutes, so we're done now.

Blogs I'm into:
Like I said, I've been reading Sorta Crunchy. I found it through the Simple Mom post on being shampoo free. I've really been enjoying Megan's style. She shares herself, her faith, her weakness, and her growth. Even though I only know her through her writing, I feel like her authenticity and crunchiness could rub off on me. That would be cool.

What I'll be into next month:
I'm pushing to finish The Dirt on Clean before I have to re-check it out again. I also have the first Codex Alera book checked out on Lost Boy's library card so I've got to get that read before he owes overdue fines!

A major project is Halloween costumes. Baby Two Flowers is going to be Tinker Bell. I've already thought extensively about her costume, but I'm sure I will be missing a vital piece of it on the day of the Trunk-or-Treat and have to scramble to get us there all dressed up. Also, since Lost Boy has Halloween off work I actually need to come up with something that will make him look like ... a lost boy! He maintains that he will wear his red pajamas, but I was envisioning a teddy bear hood and something with fringes (I don't know why). Guess who I'm planning to be?

An ongoing project is my Paper Clutter class. And smack dab in the middle of the month I'm having ear surgery! Yay!