The Friday training report

All those weight loss/exercise people tell you that in order to accomplish your goals you should make your progress public to keep yourself in check.

Monday: jogged 2 miles
Tuesday: I think I jogged 2 miles
Wednesday: skated 45 minutes
Thursday: pliometrics, lifted weights (upper body), HIIT 60/120 x3
Friday: Too sore.

I'm going to try and skate on Sunday.  I forgot how much it works your inner thighs.  Today I'm walking like I rode a clydesdale cross-country, or at least I feel like I am.

So the plan is to go back to derby.  I'm going to skate the remainder of the season to see if I can even physically do it anymore.  The thing that was stopping me before is my body feeling like it's tearing itself apart.  Since the pregnancy I've had problems with pretty much every joint on the right side of my body. 

There is also a plan to run a 5K in April.  I'm feeling confident now that I'm jogging 2 miles at a time.

Mama Thursday: Week 47 - Time Moves Slowly

Still no sign of a walking baby.  She has been super worn out when she comes home so that may have something to do with it.  I think the other kids are running her ragged.  I think we're in the middle of another growth spurt because this child can eat.  She ate a full cup of chickpeas last night plus two cubes of veggies plus pudding.  Plus milk at bedtime.  She started wiping her mouth on her sleeve last night.  Adorable, but messy.

She gets sweeter every day.  She has been a little clingy lately but I'm not complaining.  She's been very talkative too.  I have to get her jabbering on video soon.

She has started to cry when I drop her off at daycare.  It's killing me.  I do what I'm supposed to do: a quick hug and turn around and leave.  But it's just breaking my heart.  The daycare lady says that the crying lasts all of ten seconds after I leave but still….  I don't imagine this ever gets any easier.

We need to start planning her first birthday party.  Our house is tiny and we need neutral ground so we'll probably end up renting one of the nearby community centers with a kitchen.  It's surprisingly affordable -- $20 deposit and $5 per hour.  That's as far as I've gotten in planning.  I have no idea who to invite.

It's full of stars

In order for us to watch the USA-Canada men's hockey game last weekend we had to upgrade our Dish Network package.  Because NBC is a bag of dicks and decided to put the game on MSNBC, which was two full package levels above ours.  By the way, Dish Network, what's with giving us Fox News and no MSNBC to balance that shit out?  So now that we're paying nearly $100 a month for our idiot box I've been kind of glued to the TV.

So. Much. TV.

I barely even like TV!  I watch House and hockey and if I happen to catch some stuff on Discovery every now and again I'm happy.  But now I'm fascinated with VH1 Classic (watched a documentary about Pink Floyd the other night and a Behind the Music about Genesis last night), Discovery Health (surgery!), Encore (Fried Green Tomatoes!), and the two best channels on Sirius: 90s on 9 (90s pop) and Lithium (90s alternative and grunge).  Because every day I have to live without hearing "Things That Make You Go Hmm" and "Counting Blue Cars" is a travesty.

By the way, try watching Yo Gabba Gabba while you're drunk.  You'll think you've gone mad.

We probably won't be keeping this super ultra Dish package past the hockey season (we finally get VS) so I might as well live it up now.  Hell, if we weren't under a flight path and I could get an antenna to work we probably wouldn't even have it at all.

Mama Thursday: Week 46 - Steps

I was informed by our daycare lady yesterday that Lily had taken a couple of steps.  Of course I'm upset that work makes me miss these special moments, but I'm so proud of her!  The theory is that she saw all the other kids walking around and wanted in on that action.  We couldn't get her to do it at home but our living room is so small it's too easy for her to cruise around the furniture rather than walk.

At what point does a child go from "infant" to "toddler"?  Is it when they start walking?  That would make sense to me, but who knows.

So Lily's in daycare now.  Unfortunate circumstances caused Husband's mom to not be able to watch her anymore.  And thus we embarked on round two of finding a daycare provider.  Let me just tell you how NOT awesome this is.  Thankfully my work provides a third-party service that does the initial legwork for you.  I told them the radius, budget, and style I needed and they gave me a list.

The stress of this process is almost too much to take.  We're talking about a stranger to whom you have to entrust the care of your child for the majority of her day.  This person needs to share your values, your parenting style, and has to be reasonably sane.  I mean, let's be honest, people who choose to be surrounded by a ton of kids all day are at least a little bit not quite right in the head to begin with. 

As an aside, I've noticed that all the daycare ladies I spoke to have the same strange get-right-to-the-point no-nonsense thing going on over the phone.  It's extremely hard to read them until you actually meet them.

The first lady we visited was super nice and had a nice home.  She was in the process of adopting her foster kid.  Wonderful lady.  But when we walked in the first thing we saw was a three foot tall crucifix on her wall.  Um, yikes.  We gave her the benefit of the doubt and went ahead with the interview anyway.  After all, the reference sheet said her daycare had no religious affiliation.  As we toured her home I noticed god-themed posters on the wall, a stack of Bibles, and more crosses.  Umm, no.

The second one we visited had a smaller house, but I immediately clicked with her and her husband, who helps out.  I worked up the courage to flat-out ask them if they kept things secular, and they did.  It's a tough question to ask and everyone was a little uncomfortable and almost defensive, but in the end we sort of laughed it off.  We ultimately decided to go with them.  Plus, they have the most adorable teacup chihuahua and two cats.  And a wiener dog that visits occasionally.  These are important things.

It's another hilariously late movie review

We rented A Serious Man last night.  We're big fans of the Coen brothers' movies but I want my 106 minutes back.

I get it.  It's a movie that's supposed to be about nothing.  It's about how we the audience are looking for meaning in things.

Well, yes.  That's exactly why we watch movies.  We sit down and expect something to happen.  A plot.  A beginning, a middle, an end.  A conflict, a resolution.

Add the fact that the first fifteen or so minutes of the movie was a giant non-sequitur and it's pretty much the most unfulfilling, pointless movie I've seen in years.  I'm sad that this was the follow-up to Burn After Reading. 

I was looking for a palate cleanser after watching Inglorious Basterds the other night but this just didn't do it for me.  We're watching Star Trek tonight (finally!) so at least that's a bright spot in my already crappy day.

Mama Thursday: Week 45 - Late Blog About Snot

Lily is standing on her own a whole bunch lately.  Yesterday I saw her slowly and carefully get herself to a standing position without pulling herself up on anything.  She wobbled there for a few seconds and went right back down on her butt like usual.  I'm so glad she's got her Mama's butt padding right now.  She was having some naked time yesterday after a bath and went down hard on her bare butt onto the hardwood floors.  I thought for sure she would start wailing because of the lack of a padded diaper landing but she didn't seem to notice.  Kind of like when she bonks her head on the coffee table seventeen times a day and doesn't seem to notice that either.  I'm impressed and concerned about this.

She has been rocking a pretty serious runny nose all week.  I probably shouldn't but I find it hilarious when she sneezes and all the sudden she's got two 2.5-foot-long strings of snot hanging out of both nostrils.

I totally did a mom thing the other day and just reached out with my bare hand and pulled the snot strings off of her because there wasn't a tissue nearby.  I'm so going to hold this against her someday.  "I sacrificed my hand for you!"

Tasting failure

Maybe it's just because I've been in a stressed-out funk lately but I've been feeling like a failure in the kitchen.

It started at Thanksgiving this year where I made a veggie shepherd's pie so I had something to eat that wasn't meat.  I was originally planning on making a veggie pot pie but there is someone in the family who needs to go gluten-free so I topped it with mashed potatoes instead of crust.  Nobody ate it but me.  I think my mother-in-law took a couple of bites out of courtesy.

I recently made some bread that looked good but didn't taste that great.

I made some fish tacos that would have been super awesome if it wasn't for my bad luck in getting moldy-tasting tilapia from the co-op.

I made an Indian lentil curry.  Husband hated it.  I took out the spices one by one and asked him which ones specifically he had a problem with.  It was definitely coriander.  Right.  Check.  No more coriander in the family meals.

More and more the leftovers in the fridge don't make it to work with Husband or if I send the containers along with him they return to the sink uneaten.

Last night I made this Jamaican Vegetable Rundown.  Husband took one bite and didn't even try to hide his… OK, it was straight up disgust.  There was sighing.  There was frowning.  I don't know if he realized how much he was hurting my feelings.  "It's my own fault," he said, "I'm not helping with the meal planning."

Wow.

I'm pretty sure I'm not that bad of a cook.  Aside from some irritating ribbing from my family about my vegetarian food at family events (I don't eat bird or mammal, I'm not the only person in the world who does this, and I'm sick of hearing about it), I've never had anyone tell me that something I made was bad.  Quite the opposite, actually.

I'm feeling pretty low.

That is all.

The awesome things in my grandparents' house

My grandparents' house is probably no different than yours.  It is filled with decades' worth of the bizarre, the outdated, and the questionable.  My grandparents have always shared a campy and blue sense of humor.  Here are some of the things that capture their personalities.

 

 A few years ago my stepmom went on a kick with these antique bank things.  These are the ones my grandma has on display, presumably to terrify anyone who goes down to the basement.

Here's an example of some of the "decor" that is still clinging to the walls.  I can't decide which decade these belong to.  '60s?  '70s?  '80s?

My grandma is Polish and Swedish and never misses an opportunity for a Polak joke.

 

These are the Pick Up Stix from my youth.  And an empty generic honey bottle, which cannot be explained.

I can only presume that my parents brought these back from Korea.  It's cool that Gramma keeps these on display.

 

Gramma has a lot of Kewpie dolls.  It seems like her displayed collection has been whittled down to two.

I have no words for this.  I just don't know. 

 

Deer as decor.

I love this owl candle so much.  Now that owls are back in style Gramma is hip again.

 

Um, I don't know.

Now we're back to the deer theme.  I originally wanted Lily's bedroom to be decorated with vintage deer and owls but couldn't find enough of them to make it happen.  This is exactly the sort of thing I had in mind.  Note the clock in the background -- my parents went to Vegas in the '80s and came back with about ten of these clocks.  It's a recurring theme in my extended families' houses.

Do you remember these?  My mom at one point worked at Hardee's.  She came home with this one day and I was super pissed that she gave it to my Gramma instead of me.

This is a scary coconut.

My Gramma is the rebate queen.  She used to have an entire room filled with receipts and UPCs.  There are things like this all over her house.  Note also the Jovan White Musk, one of Gramma's favorites.  No smell reminds me of her more than this.

This is awesome and that's all there is to it.

These have been in the bathroom for longer than I have been alive.
  

No idea.

There is so much awesome on this wall.  My Gramma is a giant Minnesota Twins fan.  She rarely misses a "Twinkies" game on TV or the radio.  I remember that fish pan thing from the original cabin that used to be where the house is now.

formspring.me

Has your finger recovered from its death match with the stick blender?

I've been waiting to answer this question until I can upload a new picture but our camera's cord seems to have walked off the edge of the Earth.

My fingernail is in shreds right now. It's missing two big strips. I have no idea how the nail is going to grow back. The whole nail seems to have been wrenched in an odd direction so it's not coming straight down off my finger anymore. It's still a little sore.

Ask me anything

It's a little too close to Utah but...

I would want to live here.

Does anyone else do this?

I confirmed last night that Husband doesn't do this so I'm feeling a little crazy right now.

When I'm on public transportation, to pass the time I fantasize about what would happen if the person next to me were to try and take off of my bag and how exactly I would kick their ass. Sometimes it turns into a kung-fu movie in my head.

I'm just, you know, being prepared.

Mama Thursday: Week 44 - Swimming!

We were invited to go swimming at the pool at the U of M hospital at Riverside.  It's a therapeutic pool that's kept at 90+ degrees.  Sadly, this pool will be closing permanently this month.  There's a petition circulating to save it but I'm unable to find it online.

I had to go buy swim diapers for Lily.  I think this was the first time I've ever purchased disposable diapers.  I was nonplussed to see that there was only one brand of swim diapers at the store and they had cartoon characters on them.  I will have to see if the Linden Hills Co-Op has any reusable swim diapers.

Lily was a bit tired when we got there.  She didn't take her normal morning nap but had a short one around noon.  We got to the pool a little after 3:00 so she was due for another one.  Poor tired girl.  I found that my top half doesn't exactly fit into my swimsuit anymore so I had to wear a wifebeater over it.  Stupid boobs.

Lily alternated between being sorta cool with the pool, clinging to me for dear life, and trying to sleep on me.  She enjoyed hanging on to a swim ring while I pushed her around and thought that bouncing in the water was a lot of fun.

I was worried that she might be freaked out because she always sputters and gasps in the bathtub when water gets on her face.  There were lots of splashing kids in the pool but she did all right.  She even splashed a little herself.  She was a hit with the old ladies in the locker room.

I had to get the hell out of that locker room as fast as I could because of all the nakedness.  I was horrified that there was really nowhere for a modest person to change and almost just threw on my clothes over my wet suit, but the cold weather prevented me from doing that.  I changed as fast as I could in a corner while a naked old lady entertained Lily.  She was super nice but I just couldn't bring myself to look her in the face.

We're probably going back next Sunday.  I hope there are less naked people next time.

Foodblogging: Homemade Yogurt

I've been making yogurt.  Have you ever looked at the ingredients list and nutrition facts on the back of commercial yogurt?  For instance, Yoplait's regular fruit flavors contain 27 grams of sugar.  That's about 6.75 teaspoons of white sugar.  That's more than a teaspoon per ounce of yogurt in a 6 oz cup.  That's abhorrent.

I've been using whole milk because it tastes better and it's better for you.  I haven't gone un-homogenized only because I'm not sure I've ever seen it at the co-op.

I have a yogurt maker and it's nice to be able to have single-serving pots of yogurt in the fridge but I've also made it in pint canning jars in my oven.  Here's how:

Yogurt

Ingredients:
Whole milk* (however much will fit into your chosen containers)
6 oz container of plain yogurt (preferably organic, and must have live and active cultures.  You can also use homemade yogurt from your last batch or get a yogurt starter from a co-op or the Internet)

Procedure:
Slowly bring the milk to an almost-boil on the stove or in the microwave, stirring often.  You don't want to burn it or boil it.  Take it off the heat when it just starts to climb the pan.  Let it come back to to room temperature or just above.  Whisk in the yogurt.  I use my immersion blender for this so it's nice and smooth.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer into your containers.

Put your containers into your oven.  If you have a gas oven the pilot should be giving off enough heat.  If you have an electric oven the light should do the trick.  Leave it in there for 8-24 hours.  Less time = runnier and milder yogurt.  I like to go a full 20-24 hours for a very thick, very tart yogurt.

Chill for at least 3 hours before you eat. 

*Note: Lower fat milk and soymilk requires a different amount of time and the possible addition of milk powder; you can just Google that yourself.

I've been enjoying mine with a spoonful of strawberry preserves or plain with a drizzle of honey.  Lily likes hers with applesauce, cinnamon, and maple syrup.

If you're into Greek yogurt, line a strainer with cheesecloth, a coffee filter, or a paper towel and put it over a bowl.  Strain your yogurt in this contraption in your fridge until it's as thick as you like.  If you keep straining and squeezing out the whey you'll end up with yogurt cheese that you can use in place of cream cheese in dips and frostings.  Or just spread it on crackers or bread with jam or chutney.