Bumper stickers

I have bumper stickers on my car. I have never considered myself a bumper sticker person; it was a side effect of being practical.

When my little Toyota Yaris was totaled, I was rather freaked out, so I decided we needed a BIG car. I couldn't do an SUV or truck, however, as I wanted something at least slightly fuel-efficient. I also figured that with super tall kids, it made sense to have something with room. So we decided on a minivan. Nice and practical.

(I have never considered myself a minivan person either. Am I in denial or in disguise?)

Except that every third person around here owns a gray minvan. Every time I went to pick up the kids from school, I'd watch them walking slowly down the line of minivans, peering in each window to see which one had me in it.

Thus, the bumper stickers. I got four and put them on the car just below the window, which makes for great line of sight. They are:

- Be the change you wish to see in the world
- Live simply so others can simply live
- There is not a blue America and a red America, there is the United States of America
- Well-behaved women seldom make history

I chose these particular bumper stickers because I liked them but also because they are fairly innocuous. They might identify me as left of center, but none of them are particulary super-political.

A few weeks ago, I was at school, and when I got back to my car, there was a note on my windshield.

It says, "COMRADE - You rock. love from the owner of the gray Odyssey you parked in front of."

Only in the midwest would such innocuous bumper stickers earn one the socialist appellation "Comrade." (Not that I mind. My views on food availability alone probably make me a socialist.)

Toilet paper

For many years now, I have had a paranoia about running out of toilet paper. We get down to about 5 rolls, and I panic and immediately run to the nearest store to buy a 24 pack of Quilted Northern. (They're double rolls, so that's actually 48.) Then I feel good.

It is ironic, then, that I somehow lost track of how much toilet paper was in the house when the blizzard came. I thought we had several rolls in the kids' bathroom. We didn't. So here we have been stuck in the house for 3 days ... and we have 1 roll of toilet paper. Just 1.

I decided to ration water and food. If we don't consume anything, there will be nothing to come out, so that 1 lone roll of toilet paper will last much longer. It seemed a perfectly resonable solution to me.

Aaron decided to go dig his car out.

Mexican Taco Casserole

I am so proud of myself when I concoct a new recipe all by myself that I have to share it! Here's a not-spicy Taco Casserole.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
minced garlic (I use lots)
1 package frozen Boca burger crumbles
1 package taco seasoning
8 oz can tomato sauce
14.5 oz can diced tomato, drained
4 oz can diced green chiles
14.5 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cheese (I used almost vegan cheese)
1/2 cup cheese
Fritos (couple  handfuls)

Toppings:
Sour cream
Avocado
Whatever else sounds good. :-)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Saute onion for couple minutes over med heat. Add Boca crumbles and cook till mostly thawed. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes longer.

Mix in taco seasoning. Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and diced green chiles. Let cook while you're opening, draining, and rinsing black beans.

Add black beans, stir, and heat through (just a couple minutes -- skip if you're in a hurry). Add 1 cup cheese and mix till blended but not too melty. (You could probably serve the casserole at this point if you want to skip the oven time.)

Place layer of Fritos in bottom of large casserole dish. Pour taco mix over chips. Top with another handful of chips, then top with 1/2 cup cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serve with all sorts of yummy toppings.

Variations: I considered making this with diced potato, sweet potato, or macaroni instead of the chips.Could also probably layer it between tortillas in the casserole. Could also substitute enchilada sauce for the tomato sauce.

Vegan Stuffing a la Yara

I managed to make a recipe all by myself! I know many of you do that every day, but for me, it is a huge accomplishment. Here it is:

1 loaf  (~ 1 pound) bread, mild flavor, crusty or toasted, torn into large pieces
Vegan margarine
1 large shallot
1-2 cups mushrooms
1-4 cloves garlic
1-1.5 Not-Chicken bouillon cubes
Dried sage (1 tbsp maybe? Not sure)

Throw a couple dollops vegan margarine in a skillet and saute the shallots till softish. Add mushrooms and saute till soft, about 6 minutes or so. Add garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes. Add more margarine at any point if it starts to look too dry in there. (This is not a low-fat recipe. Why should it be??)

Meanwhile, pour 2 cups boiling water over the Not-Chicken cubes and stir till they are dissolved.

Put bread pieces in mixing bowl. Pour broth over bread and mix till saturated; add a bit of water if needed. Add mushroom mixture and stir. Sprinkle dried sage over the top and mix.

Spoon into loaf pan, cover with foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes. It will be pretty moist when it's done, and it will stick together loaf-style, not crumbly.

It is not a pretty stuffing, but it does taste yummy. Of course, you can add all the extra stuff, too, like celery, apples, nuts, etc. I prefer my stuffing mooshy. :-)

Cooking, carmelizing, craving

Did you know that when you brown pork chops, they don't turn brown, they turn white? Why call it "browning" in that case? Why not "whiting?" Anyway, when my stepmom asked me to brown the pork chops one night when I was 12 years old, I browned 'em. Not whited 'em, browned 'em. The dogs had a good dinner that night, and Tracey never asked me to cook again.

So I didn't cook for a long time, but when we became vegetarian, I discovered that if I wanted to eat tasty food, I'd have to cook. So I bought some cookbooks and cooked. I never felt I could take credit for the results cause all I did was follow instructions (I'm really good at following instructions); someone else did all the creative work.

Lately, though, I've been branching out. I've tried a few things on my own, and I've gotten brave about using a recipe as a stimulus -- rather than following it, I use it as a framework for my own creation. I've discovered that most cooking is really quite forgiving. You can play around with it and usually come up with something decent. I'm still not regularly throwing my own stuff together, but I'm getting better at trusting myself.

Here's what I've created recently that came out quite well.

Carmelized tofu
I wanted yummy tofu one night, but I didn't want to work too hard, so I went looking for a recipe. I found this one for caramelized tofu, but as I don't like cilantro and didn't have pecans and didn't want to mix it with veggies, I did it this way:

I put some olive oil in a skillet on med-high. Once it was hot, I added tofu that was cut into thin strips -- about 1" wide by 3" long by 1/4 " thick and let it get golden. I then added garlic (probably quite a bit more than the recipe calls for) and let it cook for a minute or so and then added three tablespoons brown sugar and stirred it all up. Once the sugar looked stuck onto the tofu, I took it out and we ate it and it was yummilicious! The next time I make it, though, I will press the tofu first, so it is a bit more durable. A lot of it fell apart when I stirred it after adding the sugar.

Potatoes and carrots without the roast beef
I was craving the taste of potatoes and carrots with roast beef, only without the roast beef, so I decided to try and simulate it, and it worked pretty well -- as far as I can remember, that is. I haven't had beef in about 10 years. Here are directions if you'd like to try it too:

1. Quarter several buttercream potatoes and cut baby carrots (real ones, not the slimy manufactured things you can buy in bags) into about 2-3" lengths and put that all into an 8x8" glass dish.
2. Dissolve one Not-Beef cube in one cup of boiling water (this was double-strength) and pour that over the potatoes and carrots.
   
3. Bake at either 350 or 400 degrees (cannot remember) for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours until the potatoes and carrots are soft.
4. Remove potatoes and carrots with a slotted spoon, leaving the liquid in the dish. Add about 1 tbsp flour and mix until it thickens. Pour this "gravy" over the potatoes and carrots and stir gently.

Next time, I might add some quartered sweet onions and maybe some mushrooms.

Mushroom gravy
For this one, I used this recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I love her recipes; they always come out yummy, although she sometimes uses ingredients that I simply don't have the time to hunt down. Anyway, this was the best vegan gravy I've had. It only made enough for about 2-3 people, though.

My variations: I don't like the texture of shitake mushrooms, never eat them. So I used an 8 oz package of plain ol' regular button mushrooms, sliced thinly, and no cremini mushrooms, either. (I didn't want to drive to the store.) I also did not add the soy milk at the end as I was afraid it would thin it out too much.

I knew you were a star when

In Aisling's second grade class, each student gets to be "Star Student" for a week. As part of this, the student's parent(s) write(s) a letter to their kid and emails it to the teacher for her to read to the kid. This is what I wrote for Aisling.

I knew you were a star when
you were still in the womb
turning and pushing, not submitting
when I tried to move you,
and I knew you were strong.

I knew you were a star when
you were one year old and
you would pull all your books into a pile and read
even though you didn’t know the words
(and they were sometimes upside down),
and I knew you were curious.

I knew you were a star when
you were two years old and
you would concoct amazing
stories with your stuffed animals
creating your own little world,
and I knew you were imaginative.

I knew you were a star when
you were three years old and
you gave your grandmama
directions home from daycare,
and I knew you paid attention.

I knew you were a star when
you were four years old and
you couldn’t watch Elmo in Grouchland
because it made your heart hurt
to see Elmo yearn for his lost blankie,
and I knew you were compassionate.

I knew you were a star when
you were five years old and
you asked me what “suffered for his sanity”
meant in the song Starry Starry Night and
you understood my answer,
and I knew you were smart.

I knew you were a star when
you were six years old and
Daddy and Liam were trying everything
they could think of to pop a
soy-sauce baggie on the driveway and you said,
“or … you could cut it open and just
pour it on the driveway,”
and I knew you were funny.

I knew you were a star when
you were seven years old after
Grandma Mary died and
you wrote Farfar letters telling him
you missed her and
you asked about his day,
and I knew you were kind.

I knew you were a star when
I handed you my heart and promised
to love you forever and ever.

Mom

Respect and heartbreak

I went to a funeral a couple weeks ago for our rabbi's father. There was a cortege from the synagogue to the cemetery. I had never been part of one before, had only seen them occasionally. I did not know that people on the other side of the street pull over and stop when you go by.

Now, I already cry when people pull over when an ambulance or fire truck to go by. The idea that all these people are pulling together to help someone else is so beautiful, it makes me cry. I know it's the law, sure, but it doesn't matter. It's still people working together for someone they don't even know and never will know.

But in this cortege, seeing those cars pull over, I could not stop crying. (If I had been alone, I would have sobbed.) There was no reason for these people to stop. None at all. It was simply a gesture of respect, an acknowledgment that we all experience heartbreak. It was two minutes out of their day to show respect for people they did not know and never would know.

What could be more uplifting than simple, heartfelt gestures like this?

See you later, Swayze

I was surprised at how sad I felt to hear about Patrick Swayze's death. He's just an actor. And not one I particularly followed. So I was curious why I had such a poignant reaction. I think it's because he played roles that filled young women's dreams of romance. I mean, who didn't want to be Baby in Dirty Dancing? Or have someone so dedicated as in Ghost? He portrayed the modern knight in shining armor.

And, man, it was nice to watch him move.

$100 for 100 strips

I had to buy test strips for my glucose meter the other day. They were $100 for 100 strips. ?!?!?!?!

We have the money to spend on these. But what about people who don't? What do they do? Granted, test strips are not drugs that you're required to take or you die (although I know there are those cases, too), but they are required for monitoring the condition so you can change your diet and exercise as needed. And for people who have to take drugs to control their sugars, these strips are necessary to ensure they're taking the right amount over time.

The strips are not covered by insurance (at least, they're not covered by mine, which seems to be better than most), and they are $1 per strip. So every time you test your sugars, it's $1. I want to charge the company every time I get a bad strip and have to redo the test with another strip.

But that's not all . . . They expire. So if you don't use them in time, you get to throw away all those dollars.

I wish I could take this $100 and buy some shoes or earrings, something that I can enjoy. Or even put it toward a family vacation -- $100 is about half of a Southwest ticket to just about anywhere from KS.

Instead, I get to buy strips.

The Purr

The other day, I did 15 minutes of yoga after my walk. I ended with shavasana (corpse pose), where you lie on your back and relax everything. (Aside: it's really cool. I can feel my energy pulsing all around me. I keep waiting for someone to tell me I'm glowing while I do it. :-) )

During my yoga time, Mushroom (my little black cat) was rubbing all over me, standing up against me -- basically doing everything she could to get my attention (and she's typically one of those aloof cats who will only deign to let her pet you). So when I did shavasana, lying there on my back, she climbed up on me and lay down on my chest, her tail at my pelvis and head at my neck.

And she was purring. Not so you could hear, but I could Feel* it in my chest. It was such a magical feeling, this rumbly purr echoing from her to me. It made me feel so connected to this other creature, so connected to life. It was wonderful.

* I did not intend to capitalize this, but decided it was appropriate.

Not so good

So it turns out I'm not so good at keeping a blog after all. :-) So now that I'm ultra busy, I'll try again. I've always been better at getting things done when I don't have time to do everything.

So why am I so busy? Because I've decided to go to nursing school! I have about a year of prereqs to finish so I started those at the local community college. All the classes are online, which is probably the only way I could do it.

So I'm taking Statistics, Anatomy and Physiology, and Human Development. Statistics is awesome. It was the class I was most afraid of as almost everyone I've talked to has said it is horrible. But I am enjoying it very much. For one, the instructor is uber-organized. We have a spreadsheet showing exactly what we should be doing each day of each week, and we can get as far ahead as we want. The math part is a bit tedious, and it really sucks when you make one stupid mistake that messes *everything* else up (I set up spreadsheets to avoid that problem), but I really like the precision of it all. Maybe I need more precision in my life. :-) And, it stretches my brain. I have to work at it ... but not so hard that I hate it.

A&P, on the other hand, I thought I would love. And I do find it incredibly interesting. However, the professor is totally uninvolved. I know what chapters the tests are over and that is it. So I am reading and memorizing ... all on my own. Fortunately, I know how to learn and I have a photographic memory. But I feel sorry for all the students who don't. There's no direction at all. Which is totally unprofessional.

As for Human Development, it's booooooorrrrrrriiiiiing. And the class doesn't make it any more interesting. Nothing more to say on that!

As for why I want to go to nursing school (cause this post isn't long enough yet!) -- I have always been fascinated by the human body. Thought about medical school a few times in my life, but something always came up to prevent it. So one day I realized that I didn't want it enough; if I did, I would have made it happen. But I do want to be involved in health care. Thus, nursing school. And as soon as I made that decision, things started falling into place. It was like the universe had agreed with me. If everything works out, I'll start in fall of 2010. And since I want to be a nurse practitioner, which will require a PhD as of 2015, I'll be in school for quite awhile. My dream would be to work with a naturopathic physician. I think. There's so much choice, I need to learn more.

Oh! And I'm taking the Jewish community conversion class, which lasts a year. But more on that later. :-)

My Neck

(Initially posted on Facebook in October)

Got the results of my MRI today. Apparently I have a congenital defect -- the C2 and C3 vertebrae are partially fused.

There is disk bulging at several points, and spurring at several places produces "slight contact with the anterior cord and deformity." There is also narrowing and some "rotational" stuff (not sure what that is).

And most interesting to me because I have NO idea what it means: The tip of my odontoid lies quite close to my clivus. (I'm writing this straight from the report. I didn't even know I had a clivus and odontoid. Certainly wouldn't have put them in my neck if someone asked where they went.) I really like that sentence, though: The tip of the odontoid lies quite close to the clivus. It tickles me.

So I'm going to get a CT scan next, and my doctor has referred me to a neurosurgeon. Whee. I got my MRI films today -- neat. Although I can't tell what everything is, I can see my brain. I've seen all sorts of pictures of brains, but this one is *my* brain. It's weird how that makes a difference.

But anyway, in short, this is all my parents' fault. :-)

Oh! And I found out that the itchiness that I always got when I took hydrocodone is actually an allergy to codeine and I'm not supposed to take it anymore. You know, I knew that itchiness indicated allergies -- I even took an antihistamine every time I took hydrocodone. But I guess it just never connected. Anyway, my doc says no more codeine. Darn. :-)

The Boot Saga

(Initially posted on Facebook in September)

So I found these awesome boots on Zappos. I love boots; they're all I'd wear if I could. (With clothes, that is.) These particular boots were dark cherry red patent polyurethane, knee-high (and waterproof!). Gorgeous. But did I need them? Not sure. So I put them in my cart and left them there ...

I realized about a week later when I was talking about "my" boots as if I'd already bought them that it didn't matter if I needed them. They were mine. Body, heart, and soul. So I ordered them.

Now Zappos has one of those really cool systems where they save your information so all you have to do is click "Order" and you're done. No pesky forms to fill out or credit card information to enter. You just click order, and that's it. Voila! Boots are on their way.

It would have been nice if I had realized that when I clicked that "Order" button, because as I did so, I realized that they still had my old address. No big deal, right, I have to enter my new address anyway, right?

No! Ahhhhh! Stop that internet message! Ahhhh. It went through. What to do?!?? #&^*!@%

OK, breathe. Stop panicking. (The order just went through! No pesky (or in my case, necessary) forms to fill out. No red tape. It. Just. Went. Through.) Kersplickety!

Well, that's ok, I thought. (Deep breath) The address doesn't match my credit card anymore, so they'll kick back the order and say it can't be processed and then I can enter my new information.

Fuduggit! The order went through! What to do? What to do? Oh! Look! They have a live 24/7 chat; I'll just log on there ... and wait ... and wait ... and wait some more ... until I finally get the message that something's wrong with their chat system.

Ok, not the end of the world. I'll send them an email: Dear Zappos, I just ordered some uber-cool boots, but my old address was in your system. Can you please change it to my new address (inserted here).

(Aside: as I was writing this message, I received one from Zappos saying my order had been expedited. Normally, a good thing. In this situation? Not so good.)

A very nice customer service person named Zach wrote back (very quickly too) to say that, sorry, the order had already been processed, so no, they could not change the address. (Already processed?! In twenty minutes? Who the hell do they have working for them and why aren't they working at my local Taco Bell?!?!?!) But, Zach wrote, it's no problem, just call Zach in the morning and he (or some other customer service person) can contact UPS and have UPS change the address. Easy-peasey, right?

No! After I called the next morning to get this sorted out, I received an email saying that they had upgraded my order from ground to overnight so UPS could not change the address as it was too far into the system. Ahhhhh! Normally, awesome. Now, BAD.

But, since zappos couldn't get it changed, they gave me a proactive refund. I love zappos for being so understanding, but I don't want the refund, I want my boots!! If they get returned, please send them to me! I'll even pay for shipping!

OK, only thing left to do is go by the old house (weird) and ask for my boots. As soon as I could (didn't think it would be right to go by after dark -- don't want them to think some creep is at their door), I went by there. And guess what? The day before, the new owner took them back to UPS! AHHHHH!

First, how can someone be so on top of things?! Didn't she ever hear about leaving something for two weeks until she finally got around to doing something about it? Sheesh. Second, if it were me in her situation, I would have called my realtor (after about two weeks, the standard let-something-sit-around time) and asked him to call their realtor to find out where the boots should be sent. Easy, right? Apparently, not.

So now, my boots are back in UPS hands and I don't know what they do with unwanted packages. So I called the local UPS store to find out. UPS store gave me the 800 number for UPS ... which turned out to be an adults-only porn line. AHHHHH! (For real) (I hung up before the warning message ended.)

Turns out UPS store guy had transposed two of the numbers. Finally got the right number and called to find out that my boots were in UPS custody and were being held until I could get there to release them ... during normal business hours, of course.

Next day, first thing, I went to UPS. Got my package. Put it in the trunk. Figured after all I went through, if they didn't fit, the rest of my day would be ruined. So I got my other errand done (returning the #6 dvd (that was left in my dvd player) from a dvd series that I had already returned (two weeks before ... note the standard two-week let-it-sit-around time) that they were going to charge me $89.99 for ... what?!?!?!?!) and had a meeting with my boss, and then went home to try on my boots.

As I opened the package (after debating whether I should eat lunch first), I wondered whether they would look as good in the flesh as they did online. What if they didn't? Could I really return them after all the fuss?

I opened the box, peeled away the paper and .... they were (are) gorgeous. Shiny, dark red. Glossy. Passionate. Just what I look for in a good pair of boots.

Now the real test ... would they fit? I first went upstairs and got a couple pairs of socks. Have to be sure, you know. And then I pulled them on.

And they fit! Wah-HAH! HA-HA!!!! HA HA HA HA!!! After all that, they fit!!!

So I now have a perfect pair of shiny, cherry red, waterproof boots to "walk all over ... you." (I'll only walk (or, rather, frolic -- one cannot merely walk in such fabulous boots as these) in puddles, actually)

Ha! This will be the start of a beautiful relationship.

Dragon Update

In a last-ditch (and reluctant -- I only did it because I felt sorry for the people who must be missing Dragon) effort to find Dragon's owners, I took him to our vet to see if he had a microchip. I figured declawed, neutered, and in great shape (clean ears!) that there was a good chance.

The vet tech at the office said that it's rare for a cat to be chipped, but when she ran the little chip reader over him, it turned out he did have one. (While she was writing down the number, he escaped and went gallumphing around the office. But then, what safer place to escape in than a vet's office?)

Unfortunately, the chip wasn't registered, so she gave me the name and number of the place that had inserted the chip. When I called them, the woman on the line had me read the number twice. Then she said, "Well, this says he's a dog." Hm. I said back to her, "No, he is most certainly not a dog." (She did not laugh. I thought it was funny. Go figure.) A moment of silence and then she says, "Well. I don't know what to do now."

So we kept the cat. Decided he was sent to us to fill the cat space left in our hearts when Mannan died.

Dragon (The Cat)

(Initially posted on Facebook in September)

So, yes, we (I) "rescued" a cat. Normally, I don't think anything of cats prowling the hood. I mean, that's normal, right? But when I saw this one, a cat I'd never seen before, trying to claw our tree, it was obvious that he was declawed.

Now, I have always been under the impression that declawed cats should be indoor cats, so I went to check him out. No tag, neutered, confirmed declawed, and in great shape. So someone must be missing him, right?

Since I've seen coyotes around here, I thought it best to bring him in for the night, and I stayed up late making a flyer. Next morning, I taped the flyer to all of the community mailboxes in our area.

And no response. He's super affectionate -- aggressively so -- he'll just throw himself (literally) in your lap, totally contemptuous of gravity. He wants to be friends with our other cats (i kept them separated for awhile but his plaintive yowling wore me down), and he's indifferent to the dogs, one of which *really* wants to play with him. (Admittedly, she *really* wants to play with everything and everyone.)

And then Aaron went and named him! If no one comes forth soon, I'm afraid we may have a third cat. Unless you want him ....

About Time

I figure it's about time I started a blog, so here goes. In order to populate it and feel less daunted by needing to populate it, I'm gonna go back through some of my more memorable (to me) emails and posts and paste them here. So you may have read much of what goes on here initially, but I hope that you will enjoy them (again).