Finally Smoke-Free, That's ME!
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Thursday, 12 November 2009
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Tagged - So I have to try...
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note blog with 25 random facts, habits, goals, or things about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. [if I tagged you, it's either because I thought you'd enjoy doing this too, or I wondered what your answers would be. NO problem if you don't want to do it
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1) FACT: I was tagged by itsjustlexi to do this here thingy.
2) HABIT: I check my Facebook before my email, before my Xanga.3) GOAL: to get a decent paying job that allows me to live in my own apartment before my Unemployment benefits run out. My last job was as a Corporate Executive Administrative Assistant. Just message me for a resume if you are hiring in the Chicago (Northside or downtown) area. I'm also just an hour away from Racine or Kenosha Wisconsin...
4) My code phrase for "I have to go to the bathroom" is: most of the time I'll just say that; but if I want to be more elusive, I have said: "I have to visit the smallest room in the house"5) FACT: I love buying fresh flowers with strong scents like carnations and roses or tulips, etc.
6) HABIT: I always check to see if I have my cell phone before leaving to go somewhere, even if I checked it before I left the house. I think that's cause I've misplaced it before and don't want to again.
7) GOAL: Keep my relationships with my sons and their wives alive, considerate and caring. They are great people, so it's not a real effort
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8) Where would you go on a road trip? Now that autumn is on the wane, I might try going to GA to see my sister - but a month ago I would have gone to New England :).
9) FACT: I have a crooked arm due to a break in 2005.
10) HABIT: I always sleep with a cover on, even if it's just a sheet.
11) GOAL: Die before my mind goes, lol.
12) Talent: I can design my own crocheted afghans if I have the time and money for materials.
13) FACT: I quit smoking after being addicted to cigarettes for 36 years. I no longer crave them, either. I still do miss smoking a pipe whenever I smell someone smoking Cap'n Black Gold, though...
14) HABIT: I check my bank balance online every day when I have money in it to spend, lol.
15) GOAL: I want to learn Hebrew prayers better than I do, especially the Shabbat prayers.
16) Talent: I used to use deaf sign language fluently, until my foster brother moved far away. He is legally deaf, and the reason I learned it in family classes, free of charge. I'm really rusty now; but it wouldn't take much to get it back I think.
17) FACT: Though my husband and I are Evangelical Christian believers, I was divorced after being married for 27 years, and then separated for another 3 (so total married time was 30). It was an unhealthy marriage and he found someone who could help him get out of it. It's all ok now, cause I like being single these past 9 years. I love that I have two sons from the relationship, too.
18) I like: to help people get things done. There's nothing better than helping someone move for example, if the kitchen is unpacked before I leave :).
19) FACT: I used to teach First Aid for the American Red Cross back in the 80's before I got busy with my children.
20) I can: say that I am a gratefully recovering Co-Dependent, and have been working on a growth plan for a healthier lifestyle and relationships since February of 1994. God is GOOD!
21) FACT: I have had 8 parents (2 from birth, they divorced, they remarry others, add 2 step parents, everyone is dysfunctional, so add foster parents - twice.) growing up.
22) HABIT: I make my bed as I climb out of it. I like the feeling of the body warmth as I do it :).
23) GOAL: Lose weight, somehow someday until I'm at a standard size for my height.
24) FACT: I understand enough about anatomy that when I talk with health care givers they will often ask me if I am a nurse (I'm not, nor did I ever study to be one).
25) Something I have done: I have been a domestic servant in a mansion. I really saw what wealth can do, and what it can't.Bonus: I served as a Trustee on my College Board of Trustees in 95-96. I learned a lot about how a group of people can make consensus decisions, though they may not wholly agree. I learned a lot about how people work when they serve without a religious agenda, and the experience gave me so much room to grow that I can't say enough about how it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.
Did you learn something new from this about me?
Saturday, 07 November 2009
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Holiday Memories
The holiday season is upon us, and regardless of your culture or beliefs, everyone has some family traditions about one holiday, celebration, or other special day. So, it's time to share! What special days do you celebrate? What traditions does your family hold? What is your favorite holiday? What are your favorite holiday memories? This is the writing assignment from Featured Grownups site.
I mentioned a Christmas that I don't often mention here, and it was too sad to enjoy retelling. So, let me just say that I really have mellowed with my holiday enjoyment. I once was an awful mess trying to make a perfect holiday happen which only made my family somewhat miserable. Now, I have only myself to celebrate with, and I am still figuring out what is important and what isn't, sometimes.
Part of the holiday activity with my early parenting years was going to all the parent's homes. I had 8 parents, and my husband had two. His didn't live in the same state, so all the visitations that my kids will remember has to do with my family. I'll explain as we go.
On Thanksgiving, we always used fine china and crystal or at least stoneware and glass ware for the kids. Everyone would have a chair to sit in and a place at a table. Christmas was the same way, as is Easter. Other holidays we will use the disposable stuff as much as possible! The meal was usually served at 2 pm, to allow enough time to travel, or the time for someone to go to church before they had to get their part of the meal and come to dinner. Everyone brought something for the meal, but the host family always had the turkey, dressing/stuffing, gravy and mashed potatoes. There would have to be black olives, but the desserts could be varied. In the last decade or so, there was usually pumpkin roll since my sister and I made them together before Thanksgiving. We'd always make enough to give some away as Christmas gifts, so the freezer was stuffed with 'em. She'd do the filling and I'd make the cakes. We'd both take them out of the oven as the timer told us to, and she'd do the rolling. We could both do either part, though.
Right after Thanksgiving would be Advent. The wreath would come out right after the Thanksgiving company would leave or just as we'd come home (depending on whether we hosted or guested for it that year). There would be three candles of one color, and one candle of another color and finally the white one in the middle: the Christ candle. One year we had three green and one red, but generally we did stay with the three purple, one pink and one white. I wrote about the colors and what they meant beginning here. I also mentioned how I used the wreath to keep Christmas from being such an insane time, and I still do it for the same reasons. I might do with out anything else, Christmas tree, Christmas cookies or even gifts; but I've always observed the Advent wreath devotions.
While I was married, we saved decorating the tree until Dec 15th, because that was our anniversary. It was the one thing that we could be sure to do to celebrate, so it was reserved for that day only. I would have the tree up and the lights would be on it, but no ornaments until the 15th. Then we'd deck the halls, the walls and anything else that stayed still too long, lol. I once decorated one of the kids who was sitting too still.
I have to admit something here. I tend to make a friend of the Christmas tree. I will sit down and look at it during the day and in the evening with all the other lights off in the house and only Christmas music going and I will move an ornament here or there, drape some tinsel in a better way or move some garland around until it's just right for the tree that its all placed on. Then I will sit and think over old holidays, what's happening this holiday, or just other languid thoughts about Christmas - and I'll even pray to God about the things I remember. But I will spend hours just looking at the tree with the lights on in a darkened room or during the daylight and just enjoy it. I would tell my puzzled sons who would wonder at me, that I was "making friends" with it. I think it was another way I would keep the pressure from building too much.
By Christmas Eve, the merry race was ON! Dressed nicely for pictures, we'd arrive at my first foster parents for their party. There would be a fire in the fireplace, my foster brother and sister with their families, lots of gifts and pictures and great food. My sons loved the time at Gramma and Grampa S's, since they were always child friendly and had a good sense of fun. We'd take the way home late in the evening, and tuck the kids in before hurrying to wrap final gifts for the morning. When the kids got older, we'd let them open one gift before bedtime (usually a nice robe or pajamas to have morning pictures taken in). Even later on, we'd let them open them all that evening instead of waiting, and you'll see why...
We never taught our kids the Santa thing, cause we were too poor. I didn't want my kids to think that they didn't get a very desired item because they weren't "good enough" (like my sisters and I had thought). We just told them that other families played the Santa game, and that there really WAS a man in history who did some great things for kids, but he wasn't alive anymore. This didn't always work well when we were in public :rolls eyes:. So, Christmas morning they would get up and open gifts right away. I'd try and get a breakfast served, but mostly, I was watching the clock. We had to have the kids dressed in suits and ties and in the car for a one hour drive by 1 pm, or I'd be in trouble with my stepmom for sure (that happened a few times, cause I didn't have the heart to pull my kids away from their stuff). Either before or after gifts, we'd light the Christ Candle and see the whole Advent Wreath lit up!
So, off to my father and step moms for Christmas dinner. We'd meet my sister and her two kids there, as well as the other three younger sisters. It was always the BEST food and great fun with really thoughtful gifts from their Gramma and Grampa Sr's. As the kids got older, we'd play games after the meal and dishes were cleared up.
We'd leave there about five or six and go to my birth mother's home. That was less comfortable, but we'd meet my sister and her kids there again, and some years there were my brothers and their kids as well. So, we'd all exchange gifts and take the pictures before taking the tired kids home who were more than stuffed with all kinds of food and goodies.
The next day, December 26 was Boxing Day at a friend's home in the evening in our later years, but for the first couple of years when my firstborn was our only child, it was the day we spent with my second foster family. They moved to Colorado after that, and so that day would be their day to play with their gifts until time to go to Boxing Day and be with their other cousins (my foster sister from that family would meet us there). We'd bring a hostess gift for the hostess, but we'd save our other gifts for passing as we'd leave so we could make sure that my foster sis and her family were gifted rightly.
Then, from Dec 27 th onward, the gifts were to stay under the tree until the child wrote their thank you cards out. When they were little they could dictate them to me and make their mark. Or, I 'd have them draw a picture of them enjoying the gift. Later on, I'd let them use pre-made cards and then write a brief note. It was a good practice. That was another good reason not to tell the Santa tale. They needed to know who to thank.
New Year's wasn't ever the same thing, so it's wasn't always much of a deal. Sometimes we'd party with family or friends. Sometimes we just went to bed and slept through it all.
On Twelfth Night (Jan 6th) - ahhh! That was when we'd "Pack for Egypt"! The Advent Wreath is lit one last time with all the Candles burning. Then ALL the decorations come down and get put away at once. I might have packed up the tree ornaments the night before; but generally - all of the decorations came down on that one day. I reminded the kids that Mary and Joseph had to pack in a hurry, so we had to be calm but deliberate as we put our stuff away just like they had to pack. It helped keep them from getting upset, but sometimes the stress of it all got the best of me and their father, (pooh)! It just seemed like there was way more to put away than there was to getting it out. Of course we put it up in more than one day, too.
What are YOUR memories about the holidays like?
Sunday, 01 November 2009
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Which is it - a cold, flu or H1N1?
I found this great chart on m_elder_48's site, and I thought it was great enough to post, too. There's so much hysteria out there, we need some balance. Knowledge is power. I especially liked the tip about singing the ABC's or Happy Birthday while washing hands, so you know when you've washed them long enough. That's something any parent can teach their kids to do very easily.DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COLD, SEASONAL FLU & H1N1 SYMPTOMSSYMPTOMCOLDSEASONAL FLUH1N1FEVER Fever is rare with a cold. Fever is common with the seasonal flu. Fever is usually present with H1N1 in up to 80% of all flu cases. A temperature of 101° COUGHING A hacking, productive (mucus-producing) cough is often present with a cold. A dry and hacking cough is often present with the seasonal flu. A non-productive (non-mucus producing) cough is usually present with H1N1 (sometimes referred to as dry cough). ACHES Slight body aches and pains can be part of a cold. Moderate body aches are common with the seasonal flu. Severe aches and pains are common with H1N1. STUFFY NOSE Stuffy nose is commonly present with a cold and typically resolves spontaneously within a week. A runny nose is commonly present with the seasonal flu. Stuffy nose is not commonly present with H1N1. CHILLS Chills are uncommon with a cold. Chills are mild to moderate with the seasonal flu. 60% of people who have H1N1 experience chills. TIREDNESS Tiredness is fairly mild with a cold. Tiredness is moderate and more likely referred to as a lack of energy with the seasonal flu. Tiredness is moderate to severe with H1N1. SNEEZING Sneezing is commonly present with a cold Sneezing is common present with the seasonal flu. Sneezing is not common with H1N1. SUDDEN SYMPTOMS Cold symptoms tend to develop over a few days. Symptons tend to develop over a few days and include flushed face, loss of appetite, dizziness and/or vomiting/nausea. Symptoms usually last 4-7 days, depending on the individual. Diarrhea is common. H1N1 has a rapid onset within 3-6 hours. H1N1 hits hard and includes sudden symptoms like high fever, aches and pains. Symptoms usually last 4-7 days, depending on the individual. Diarrhea is common. HEADACHE A headache is fairly uncommon with a cold. A headache is fairly common with the seasonal flu. A headache is very common with H1N1 and present in 80% of cases. SORE THROAT Sore throat is commonly present with a cold. Sore throat is commonly present with the seasonal flu. Sore throat is not commonly present with H1N1. CHEST DISCOMFORT Chest discomfort is mild to moderate with a cold. Chest discomfort is moderate with the seasonal flu. If it turns severe seek medical attention immediately! Chest discomfort is often severe with H1N1. PREVENTION TIPS: cough & sneeze into your elbow wash hands with soap and warm water for a minimum of 15 -20 seconds. Sing your abc's or happy birthday to you use hand sanitizer when soap & water are not available avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth without washing or using hand sanitizer first
One final word, from an old favorite television show from the 70's: "Let's just be careful out there!"
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
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Edible Eyesicles - Gotta love 'em
I have been really REALLY busy lately, and part of that is the wedding that happened at Brookfield Zoo this past weekend (Congrats Tony and Shannon!). Temps were in the mid to high 40's, so it was really chilly to be outside without coats. The wedding party bravely managed to take their walk with bare arms and backs, but once the vows began, they gratefully accepted their coats from the wedding planner's assistant. The bride toughed it out, and never wore anything on her back or arms. I found out later her dress weighed 20 lbs! She looked gorgeous in it, though. I really wish I had a decent picture of it, but sadly, I don't.
I'm also deeply into working on my Christmas gifts for my sons and their brides. I don't have much money since I am unemployed; but I do try to do something for the kids in the family as well; so I might resort to winding some of those balls as ornaments with prizes tucked inside. We'll see. I'm just thinking it's not a good idea doing that too soon after having done them; but fun is always fun - like candy.
I have Bingo to call today, and some friends to meet as we celebrate another friend's birthday, so I have to hurry and get moving! Here's a recipe that I posted on my Facebook a week ago, but I thought you all would enjoy as well.Edible EyesiclesNo Halloween party is complete without some kind of gruesome treat to serve the guests. Here is the best one I’ve seen yet!
INGREDIENTS
3.4-ounce box vanilla pudding mix
Jelly beans (we use the black ones)
LifeSavers Gummies
Plastic Easter eggs
(we use the smaller half)
2 empty egg cartons
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Make the pudding according to the directions on the box. Fit a jellybean in the center of a gummy Lifesaver and place it in one half of the plastic egg.
2. Do this for each eyeball. Fill the egg with a dollop of the pudding (so it’s the size eyeball you’d like) and place in the egg carton for support. Place in the freezer for about 3 hours.
3. You want them to be firm. To remove after they’ve set, let them rest at room temperature for about 5 minutes and then gently squeeze them out of the plastic egg. Ready for use immediately or place the eyeballs into a freezer safe dish and keep for up to 2 days before use.
Yield: 2 dozen or so eyeballsHappy Halloween
PS: the Gummi Lifesavers were the challenge for me. A friend found them at Target.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
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Halloween Goodies - **How the Kids Enjoyed Them** and IDEAS for another time!
My grandmother sent my two sisters and I something for Christmas that we thought were just balls to play with or display. There was an Indian, a pretty girl, and a puppy dog, and we divided them between us. My one sister noticed something shiny was inside of hers when it began to unwind, so our parents went ahead and unwound it to see what it was. There were five prizes in each of those balls, and we were delighted! They weren't much, but we were young enough to love the fun of finding treasure in them.
So, I wanted to do something like that for the kids in my family this year, too. However, I decided not to wait until Christmas to do it, but to go ahead and make some for Halloween, since my sister is having a birthday party for her son this weekend. She's invited all the kids to wear costumes, so it will be great to have them tell me trick or treat to get their balls.
I began with deciding what prizes would be inside of the balls that I would make. I finally found these items in dollar stores, and generally got two or more items for that $1. Nothing cost me more than 50¢ per item. There are cloth bracelets, stampers (the orange thingys), bugs that will take off once you push them backwards, candy corn packets, a sliding puzzle, and stickers. I decided to make the balls ghosts and jack o lanterns. As some of you know, I had a real hard time finding orange streamers to wrap the balls with! I went back to my one dollar store and found that they had just restocked the orange streamers, so I can make four jack o lanterns and four ghosts. I'm happy :D. It took one whole roll of white streamer to make the first one.
As I made the first one, I had a hard time figuring out how to keep the streamer from being too kinked as I went. Figuring out how to keep the ball round was part of the fun, too. Then I used glitter glue to secure the end to the top of the ball. I bought some craft foam when I went to get more streamers, so I might secure something like a disc or hair swirl made of that foam to the top so it won't unwind on accident. I used acrylic paint to make the face, since tempra paint might mess up with sticky fingers, and magic marker tends to "bleed" too much to make a neat face. You can see that I am not very talented when it comes to drawing faces, lol. My intentions are good if my abilities aren't :wink:.
Ok, so I'll go to work on these before my son arrives for dinner. The bread is warming up to raise on the stove top, and I have the soup ready to turn on once the bread smells good. If I'm good, I might talk him into painting faces for me. He's the artsy fartsy one in the family. But first, I have seven more to wind...!
**Update** My son Ben stopped by, and just as I hoped he was agreeable to helping me decorate the Trick and Treat Balls (I liked that name, cause they kinda do both, lol). I wound the crepe streamers around the goodies, and put the glue and toppers on the end of the streamers to secure them. Then I'd hand them to him and he would decorate the faces. I was thinking ghosties with the white ones, but we both thought that Mummies were more right since they were obviously wound. Aren't his faces much cuter than my first try? I had to laugh as he brought each one to me when he'd finish them. I was busily winding the next one for him to decorate so I didn't see them until he was done.
So....here they are, on the counter near the wall that follows the roof peak in my kitchen area:
So there you go! Happy Halloweeen!**How the Kids Enjoyed Them**
I showed my youngest sister (the Hostess and mother of the birthday boy) what I had and made sure there were no kids present who didn't have one (whew!). She decided to save them for when Jason (the birthday boy) began to unwrap his gifts, so that the kids would leave him alone with his stuff. What she didn't realize is what kind of competition the double unwrapping situation caused, lol. He was thanking people present for their gifts and they were distracted by his siblings or cousins as they were unwrapping their Tricky Balls. I honestly don't know who had more fun, the kids or we adults who watched them and then got to help the kids with the sliding puzzles the rest of the evening (as well as having our hands and arms stamped with their stampers). The pile of streamers on the floor became fun stuff to play with, too.
So if you were thinking of making these, I have some more ideas to offer now that I had a chance to discuss them with everyone at the party. In keeping with the Halloween theme, you can use green crepe paper and have some Frankenstein balls as well as making the white and orange ones. Instead of paint, you can use those paint pens so the work you do on the faces can dry faster, too. For other themes, we were thinking of Christmas ornament balls (a kewl stocking stuffer!), or even the faces that I remembered getting from Grandma's box back in the late 50's or early 60's. Someone said that they'd make great Easter gifts, too and our creative juices were really going at that point. Why just make them for kids? How about making some for adults, with some keychains, lanyards for work ID's, fishing items, or coupons in them? Candy is good for the grownups too if it's chocolate, lol. A nice Grandparent ball might have all the kids pictures tucked in them with the kid's autographs on the back.
So here's the materials recap for EACH ball you will need:One roll of crepe paper streamer
Prizes that will be hidden inside the ball. Make sure that only 2 of them are really largish so they can go on the inside portion, and then let the others be more soft so they can be added to make the shape of the finished ball work out better.
Paint or paint pens to make the face/decorations on it.
Craft foam for the top (make it hair, or plant leaves, or ??)
Glue to secure the end of the streamer, and the craft foam.
What other ideas do YOU have now that you have seen them and saw what my relatives came up with?
IMChurchmouse
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- Name: Dodi
- Metro:
- Birthday: 6/14/1954
- Gender: Female
- Member Since: 5/17/2005
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About Me
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I am a Christ-born survivor, Heaven bound and entering my second half century. I like it! DO NOT come to me with male bashing nasties. I will not let any insulting comments about men go by unprotested! How can women say things about men that they would bash a man for saying about a woman???? I, for one, am tired of it!! [stepping off of handy soapbox, I tuck it under my arm for the next one who needs my speech]
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