Finding the silver lining

My post this year said that I will focus on the little things - the positive little things. Today has forced me back to that. I will not judge the people that voted for amendment one. That would make me a hypocrite. I only hope that they voted with the conviction and knowledge that I did. I am celebrating the fact that I have the technology, self confidence, conviction, and a society in which I can express my opinion. Years ago in North Carolina I would not have questioned whether or not this amendment would pass, I would have just known it would. So, today I am happy in knowing that so many of the people that I hold dear had a chance. A really good chance. There was no landslide either way. This means that we ARE moving forward. I am sending out my virtual arms around my friends that know I love them. There are no leaps and bounds, just for now baby steps.

Amendment One makes me sad.

I have gone back and forth on whether or not to vocalize my opinion on Amendment One that will be up for vote in the state of NC on May 8th. Mostly because I have been uninterested in hearing responses for "the other side" for Amendment One. However, my moral stance has always been to stand up for what I believe is not necessarily right, but for what I believe is unnecessarily cruel, hurtful, or narrow minded. I believe Amendment One is unnecessarily cruel, hurtful, and narrow minded.

Most of all, Amendment One makes me sad. I am embarrassed to live in a state that has actually gotten this bill far enough along to even be up for a vote. I am sad that it has divided congregations, neighborhoods, and friends. I am devastated that my son was born into an age that still lacks tolerance for homosexuality. Guess what folks, it's here. It has been since early human existence. It exists now- in both animal and in human relationships. This is not up for debate. It is a fact.

My path in life has been so blessed. I have met people from so many races, religions, nationalities, and yes - sexual orientations. Every person that I have EVER met that is homosexual has enriched my life. Many of them have taught me how to love and embrace life in all of its fullness along the way. Others have been more quiet and thoughtful but have been such an example of loving respect of your family, friends, and peers. Two of the most respectable couples I know are gay. Through their example and partnership I have learned so much about my own marriage partnership.

Amendment One is a waste of time. North Carolina has a very serious budget issue. We have cut education to the bones. I want signs in yards that say no to more education cuts - or something else that MATTERS. I may move if Amendment One passes for utter shame for my state, fellow citizens, and for the future of my son. He will probably get a better education elsewhere anyway.

Friday Treats - fresh produce home delivery

If you live in Raleigh and are not participating in The Produce Box weekly fresh produce delivery, you are missing out!  Each Wednesday I have a box delivered to my home during the months of mid-April - mid-October/early November.  The produce is all fresh picked from local farms.  It just started last week, and I cannot wait for today's email to see what we will have as options.  Here are the basics of the program:

www.theproducebox.com

Box Prices

Standard family box (feeds 3-4) - $23

Garden Box (feeds 1-2) - $17

Fruit-Only Box - $22-26

Organic Box $26-28

-Annual enrollment fee - $18 - automatically renews and is charged each January.

-Can SKIP a box or multiple boxes without being charged.

-New! Swap out option - can "swap out" one item. 

Here are some yummy salad recipes from Southern Living to prepare for all of the fresh produce coming for the spring and summer:

http://www.southernliving.com/food/entertaining/cool-summer-salads-00400000046866/

Spring Cleaning - yeah, right.

I won't pretend that I plan to do some great spring cleaning this year.  I will not be happily beating rugs and polishing my silver.  In fact, I just hope I can vaccum before Lowe consumes a bug or two tonight.  This morning he pulled up on the toilet and then tried to get in my shower.  Daddy's response was, "No no buddy.  That's mommy's nasty bathroom."  Now that was offensive, as I had actually just cleaned the bathroom on Friday.  However, I do really hate to clean the bathroom.  Cheapy McCheaperson here also fired the cleaning crew after 2 really bad times (If I have to clean after the cleaners, I am not happy!) I do not want to hire one again because I like saving the money.  I found a couple of other blogs that address cleaning with natural products.  There is also a really long list of recommended "Spring Cleaning" to do ideas.  If you, as this gal does, have 30 hours in your day (I have only 24 - bummer) then have at it.  I will live merrily in my dusty home and enjoy my little man all weekend long.

Natural Cleaning - How to clean a bathroom with lemon, vinegar, and baking soda:
http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/2012/03/spring-cleaning-natural-cleaning-tips-for-the-bathroom/

Spring Cleaning List and cleaning shortcuts/tips:
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/03/friday-fun-list-15-spring-cleaning-tips.html

Here's my tip - put out fresh flowers and nobody will notice the cobwebs!

Last night's dinner recipe - Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon, Asparagus, and Lemon Pepper Pappardelle Pasta

I love to cook, but the new little man in my life keeps me so tired that I have much less interest in tackling a big meal after I put him to bed.  So, we focus on quick, healthy meals.  I try to make dinner that takes 30 minutes or less with only a small amount of prep work. 

Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon, Asparagus, and Lemon Pepper Pappardelle Pasta 
with a lemon buerre blanc sauce (well sort of one)
(remember - my recipes do not include exact measurements - I toss things together)
1 lb Alaskan Salmon
2 lemons
1/4 stick of butter
1 cup white wine 
1 bunch asparagus
1 package Lemon Pepper Pappardelle Pasta from Trader Joe's
S&P
olive oil
 1/4 package of grape tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cover a baking sheet with tinfoil and spray with olive oil non-stick spray
Place salmon on tinfoil and drizzle with sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and olive oil
Cut 1 lemon into round slices and place on top of salmon filet
Bake in oven for 30 minutes
Follow instructions on package for pasta
Once pasta is finished, drain and then toss in a pan with 1/4 stick of butter, white wine, sea salt, and pepper.
Saute asparagus in a pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper
When asparagus is almost finished toss in grape tomotoes for about 5 minutes to warm and soften them

When ready to serve, use the rest of the lemon for juice over the pasta and salmon.  Voila!

I HEART MY iPHONE - cool shortcuts

I LOVE MY iPHONE.  There is no question that it has become a part of my life to the point that I cannot imagine not having one.  I play games, keep notes, check facebook and twitter, store contact information, write blogs (ha), check the weather, check the markets, and now as of recently read - all the time.  I use it daily to find stores, restaurants, banks, post offices, meeting locations, etc. and then instantly have it map directions to the location.  My favorite part is taking pictures and videos instantly of my family and good times with my friends.  I keep them with me and look through them all of the time, especially of the baby when I travel.  I'm pretty sure the grandparents like these pictures and videos of his day as well :)

Here are 16 shortcuts I found for you other iPhone addicts, courtesy of the NY Times.  It's a little dated but still good.

16 Tips to Take Your iPhone to the Next Level

By SAM GROBART

Published: April 27, 2011

The iPhone has been around for nearly four years. And in that time, millions of people have bought and used iPhones, swiping and tapping their way through life. Most of those people believe they know how the iPhone works.       

But dig a little deeper into the iPhone’s latest operating system, iOS 4.3 — available for the iPhone 3GS and the AT&T iPhone 4 — and there’s another layer to master. (Sorry, Android users, but that OS has so many versions and skins that a quick guide would be neither very quick nor much of a guide.) Beyond the realm of those basic iPhone controls is an advanced level of shortcuts and tweaks, some of which even hard-core users may not know exist.
DOUBLE-TAP Even while your iPhone is locked, you can access the audio controls by double-tapping on the home button when the lock screen appears. This saves you the time it takes to unlock your phone, open a music-playing app like iPod and get to the volume and track controls. This feature is not limited to Apple’s iPod app. If you are using Pandora, for example, the same technique will bring up its controls.
VOICE ACCESS If you press and hold the home button while the phone is locked, you can still access Voice Control to place a phone call (or FaceTime call) or get to any of the iPhone’s other voice commands.
TELL TIME Voice control can dial phone numbers (“dial 212-555-1212”) or people (“Dial Mom, mobile”), and it can control music (“Play music,” “Play artist Earth, Wind & Fire,” Play album “That’s the Way of the World,” “Play more songs like this,” “Shuffle,” etc).
But did you know that it can also tell you what time it is? Say “What time is it?” and your phone will say the time back to you. It may sound silly, but it comes in handy if you are rushing and do not have the time or inclination to pull out your phone. (And who wears watches anymore?)
SHORTCUT TO SEARCH Swiping to the right from your first home screen pulls up the search window, where you can pull up any contacts, apps, e-mails, calendar appointments and media that have the word you are seeking.
But the search screen is also a shortcut to Google and Wikipedia. The last two search results for any entry are always “Search the Web” and “Search Wikipedia,” saving you the time it takes to open browsers or apps.
FORCE-QUIT APPS Double-tapping the home button while your phone is unlocked reveals a panel of most recently used apps. Swiping to the left moves through the apps in reverse chronological order to aid in quick app switching. This is advanced-beginner stuff.
But serious iPhone ninjas know that pressing and holding an app icon in this panel will cause minus signs to appear beside each app. Touching an app in this state forces it to shut down, a useful move if you have an app that is running in the background and causing trouble.
MUSIC SHORTCUTS Swipe that same previously used app screen to the right and you get another shortcut to music-playing controls. If you have the latest operating system, iOS 4.3, you will also see a button that will call up controls for AirPlay, Apple’s wireless audio feature.
It is here that you also gain access to the screen rotation lock button, so you can turn on or off the iPhone’s ability to switch from portrait to landscape mode. Swipe once more to the right from this screen and the iPhone’s volume control appears.
VOLUME LOCK If you want to limit the iPhone’s volume (because it is being used by your children, for example), you can go into Settings, then iPod. Under “Volume Limit” you can adjust the maximum volume and set a code to lock the setting. This code can be different from the lock code for the entire phone, if you have set one of those.
SAVE WEB IMAGES When you’re looking at Web pages in Safari, tapping and holding any image will call up buttons that can save the image to your camera roll or copy it to the clipboard.
FIND WORDS Safari’s search bar will not only look up sites, it can also be used to find a word or phrase on a Web page. Type in your search term and scroll to the bottom of the results; the last result is always “On This Page”; tap that and you can see where that term appears on the page you are viewing.
MULTIPLE KEYBOARDS You can add keyboards in other languages. Go to Settings, then General, then Keyboard, then International Keyboards. Add as many keyboards as you like. The next time the keyboard appears, it will have a small button next to the space bar with a globe icon on it. Tapping that will cycle through the languages you have selected (the name of each language will appear on the space bar).

Tap and hold the globe icon, and a menu will pop up showing all your selected languages. You can then tap whichever one you want and jump right to that keyboard. Bonus: If you’ve downloaded an app for emojis, those little happy faces and icons, you can add it to your list of keyboards in this panel.

ACCENT MARKS In the plain-Jane United States English keyboard, tapping and holding a letter will bring up other permutations of that letter for expressing yourself with aigus and macrons. Hold down the letter “e,” for example, and you will see diacritical-marked versions of the letter “e.”

QUICK ERASE In a nod to the Etch A Sketch toy, shaking the iPhone when typing something brings up the option to undo it.

WI-FI ALOFT Since in-flight Wi-Fi is growing, but cellphones still must be disabled on planes, the iPhone’s airplane mode does not control the Wi-Fi switch. You can still get on the plane’s network without running afoul of federal regulations.

SCREEN GRAB Tapping the home and sleep buttons at the same time will save a picture of whatever is on your iPhone’s display to your camera roll.

FORWARD AND REWIND When listening to audio or watching video, you probably know that you can move through the song/movie by sliding your finger left and right across the progress bar. But if you slide your finger down and then across, you can move at different speeds, allowing you to advance or rewind with increasingly fine control.

RESTART If your phone is acting sluggish or buggy, do what the pros do: initiate a “hard reset” by holding down both the home and sleep buttons until the phone powers down completely and restarts with the mirrored Apple logo appearing on the display. Do not let go until you see this logo. Doing this will often solve a number of small to medium-size glitches; it’s a good idea to do it periodically if you do not regularly sync your phone.

Knowing tricks like these will not necessarily earn you a job at one of Apple’s Genius Bars. But knowing them means you will not have to go to the Genius Bar nearly as often.

Friday Treats

For years when I lived in Manhattan I called Friday, "Treat Day."  I was very diligent about eating well and cooking at home during the week, but I decided that on Fridays I would eat as much as I wanted and whatever I wanted.  This usually started with an egg and cheese croissant from the corner deli.  Oh if I could get those in Raleigh....

I'll be focusing on recipes and food ideas on Fridays to inspire some of my weekend meals.  Some healthy and some...well, not! 

I love this website for healthy ideas for breakfast and salads.  It also has great recipes for vegetarians, but don't worry - I am a carnivore.

http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/50-healthy-recipes-to-kick-off-2012/

Here are some great freezer recipes for time saving from Rachel Ray:

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/special-recipe-collections/top-20-freezable-recipes

Sick Baby, Sad Mama - Tips to help them out

Lowe is in daycare, so he is perpetually sick.  They are mostly pretty harmless colds, but the stomach bugs are the worst.  One night I just stripped us both down and got in the bath tub for him to vomit on me.  It was not my favorite day as a mother, but it was all I could do to prevent him from getting it all over the nursery.  He also just wanted to be held, so I felt that I was at least making him feel a little better.  The love of a parent really is amazing.  I just held him and was so sad for him.  It didn't make me sick too (well, until a few days later), which is amazing.  I have a very weak stomach.  Here are some ideas for helping the little ones out when they are feeling blue. 

RUNNY/STUFFY NOSE:
The nose frieda is amazing.  If you can get past the fact you are literally sucking snot out of your baby's nose, trust me - it works and is much more gentle than a bulb syringe.  This is very helpful in getting them to be able to sleep with little colds.  http://www.fridababy.com/shop/nosefrida/



HELPING SLEEP WITH COLDS:
Prop the crib up with some hardbound books that are of equal height.  This helps with drainage during the night.  Put Baby Vick's vapor rub on the soles of their feet and chest before bed.  Run a humidifier during the night.  For some reason, the Vick's really helps with coughing and stuffy nose.  Saline nose spray is also a big help. 

It is very important to keep the babies hydrated when they are sick.  Feed them bottles of formula or breastmilk in smaller doses more frequently.  Also, sometimes when babies cough it can cause them to spitup or vomit their milk back up.  If you give them smaller amounts of food (both fluid and baby food) more frequently, it helps keep it down. 

The good news is that cold season is moving past us now!  Be well!

DISCLAIMER: This is not intended to be a replacement for your physician's examination or advice.  It is simply at-home remedies that have worked for me.  Always consult your pediatrian.

Making Baby Food

After spending $80 today at Babies 'R Us on formula and baby food, I decided to try to make baby food.  I had been reading blogs and books on it, but I just had not taken the time to jump in and try.  I bought a small bag of sweet potatoes (the potatoes themselves were also very small).  Wow - it was easy.  I won't be buying baby food anymore unless I need to for convenience.  Another reason is that while I buy organic baby food, I cannot think that it is healthy for the baby to eat all jarred/boxed food.  He needs fresh food without any additives or preservatives. 

So, I poked holes all around the sweet potatoes with a fork and popped them in the microwave for 5 minutes.  Once they had cooled, I peeled off the skins, cut them in cubes, and threw them in the food processor.  I added enough water (used the Nursery water gallon jug) until I was comfortable with the consistency.  These 3 small sweet potatoes yielded three 4 ounce jars.  I boiled some Earth's Best baby food jars that I had saved to sterilize them and used a rubber spatula to put the sweet potatoes in.  I am going to buy some containers for the freezer.  For this week though, the baby will have sweet potatoes for dinner made by Mama!  Final result below

Can you hear me now?!

I love NPR.  I listen to it all the time in the car.  Some days I cannot get out of the car because of the story on the radio.  Today was one of those days.  Sarah Churman was on Dick Gordon's The Story.  She told the story of the first time that she could hear.  She then expanded on the first time she heard her little girls' voices.  (Since I cannot do this story justice, please listen to the full podcast at http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_013112_full_show.mp3/view.)  Sarah is 29 and has 2 little girls and a husband.  Her husband's mother paid for her to have an implant to give her the gift of hearing.  PLEASE SEE HER YOUTUBE VIDEO of the first time she heard sound at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsOo3jzkhYA.  I cannot imagine a more appropriate "little things" focus for my blog.  The ability to hear is something that we all take for granted every day.  Over the last two years I have also had the privilege of being involved with a non-profit, Beginnings of North Carolina (www.ncbegin.org), that supports families of children that are deaf or hard of hearing.  If you have had a child, you know the test they do in the hospital at birth regarding their hearing.  For some families, they receive the report that their son or daughter may have hearing difficulties.  This non-profit supports those families to understand and deal with this news.  Today when I picked up Lowe from school, I didn't listen to the radio again.  I simply listened to the sound of the car, the sound of my body, and the sound of my baby's coos.  It was better than any song.

Learning to be OK with "incomplete"

Do you remember in school the option for a grade or remark "incomplete?"  I do, but I never received one.  Every day I make a "to do" list - both personally and professionally.  I have a template for the daily one at the office, and I have made personalized ones for every staff member. Every person is supposed to fill it out the day before to have for the first thing the next morning.  Yet every day I leave without getting through my list.  So, it builds...and builds. 

When I get home, the unopened mail, the dirty bottles, the wrinkled clothes, and the unanswered phone calls, etc. stare me down.  They too are "incomplete!"  These little things haunt me through the night and drive me nuts during the day.  Did parenthood bring along with it less hours in the day?  My focus this year is the little things, so I am going to have to learn to be OK with things being incomplete.  I can do all I can during the day but some things will just have to get left undone.  But you know what, guess what I DID do today - I chattered nonsense with Lowe this morning.  He woke up clapping.  Lets all take from that what we should - just for waking up for a new day, we should applaud ourselves.

Goals and Resolutions...

Since I can remember, I have set goals.  Big goals.  I aimed to publish a book someday.  I did by age 21.  I wanted to live in a big, urban environment.  I lived in Manhattan for 3 years.  I hoped to have a wonderful husband and child by 30.  I married Matt at 28 and had Lowe at 30 (neat fact - I had the baby 2 years after to the day that we came home from our honeymoon).  There are more but you get the gist.  Now I am focusing on smaller goals and attempting some resolutions. I think I appreciate the little things so much more after having a child.  Lowe learned how to clap this week and you would have thought he cured cancer or won the world series the way I yelled and screamed and nearly cried.  That's the great stuff for me now.  Just a little guy applauding himself for no reason at all. 

2012 Goals

-write a blog to inspire women both personally and professionally

-read 36 books

-read to Lowe every day

-have a date night with Matt once a week

-keep the freezer stocked with homemade meals

-save at least 15% of my income

-join a church

-run a 5K

-go to New York twice

-rehire a cleaning service

-keep my car clean and clutter free

-declutter my house

-organize home office

-organize every closet in my house

-banish negative thoughts immediately

-send one handwritten note a day (week days)

-spend at least 30 minutes a day giving Lowe my undivided attention

-put service above self

-adopt a family at Christmas

-go back to South Africa for a safari with Matt

-drink 8 glasses of water a day

So there - it's in writing and out there for all to see.