Sunday, February 10, 2008
Home Grown Kids - Thoughts on Another Book
I read this book on the recomendation of many parents, whose judgement and advice I respect, as part of my alternative school/homeschooling decision process. Sigh, this book just doesnt work for me. I agree with many of the ideas within the book, but I found it virtually impossible to remove their strong christian view from the "facts." Also, much of the early part of the book is devoted to the "correct" way to parent an infant, and their philosophies of scheduling and what I determin to be neglecting infants needs are in direct conflict with my gentle and more attachment style parenting. In the end I finally decided I would not finish the book because I disagreend with so much of the content; I found it hard to give much relevent weight to the information provided when I had to dissregard so much.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Contemplating a Green Business
Yea, this idea is a BIG contemplation, due to its nature, but my idea has some bennefits. Those who know me know that I am a fairly environmentaly concious person, along with other "crunchy" elements of my personality. When Lauren was a toddler I pretty much stoped using traditional cleaning products out of fear of her ingesting something. Honestly, I did not realize much difference in the cleaning ability of my baking soda, borax and vinegar concoctions. Now, 6 years later, it is all the rage. (I'm such a trend setter, huh? rolf) So ..... trying to figure out a way to bring extra money into the house and not have to leave my kids in daycare, I have been mulling over the idea of starting my own green cleaning business - I would only use non-toxic products and lots of elbow grease. The big issue here, I HATE cleaning!! But I've done it before for money, and did not hate it tooo much. Just some : )
I'd have to work out a few details, and see if there is any market for it. Thinking of trying it out on my granola friends - swap child care for house cleaning. No money changing hands, but testing my products and results and time to clean another house. I might bring it up on my granola group board soon. We'll see ......
...I never would have thought that I would be interested in starting a cleaning company. Kinda one of those physician heal thyself type situations, ya know.
I'd have to work out a few details, and see if there is any market for it. Thinking of trying it out on my granola friends - swap child care for house cleaning. No money changing hands, but testing my products and results and time to clean another house. I might bring it up on my granola group board soon. We'll see ......
...I never would have thought that I would be interested in starting a cleaning company. Kinda one of those physician heal thyself type situations, ya know.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Left For Dead - thoughts on another book
I have this facination with climbing Everest. It all started in 1996 - prior to the big storm that traped and killed 6 climbers; the one "Into Thin Air" is bassed upon. I happened to catch a TV documentary about the effects of high altitude on the brain. They were following some climbers up Everest and making them do some mental testing at varrious altitudes. They were also following some climbers who have summited Everest and other high mountains several times, especially those that climb with out supplemental oxygen. I was facinated by the subject, and the riggors of climbing Everest too.
Then, a few months later I hear about the horrible storm and accidents on Everest. I was very interested and tried to find all the related news about Everest. Being that the internet was such an infant at the time, there was not much available out there. So about a year later when I was shopping for Christmas gifts I saw the book "Into Thin Air" and purchased it with no second thoughts. I finished it in one 6hr flight across the country!
I have been following any silly reports, and even the TLC reality, over hyped, TV show about climbing Everest. Finally, I ran across more books related to the 1996 dissaster and climbing Everest in general. I am hooked.
So, I just finished Left for Dead. It is by Beck Weathers, one of the surviving members of the expidation caught on the mountain. While I did not remember his name from the orginal tale I read, I do remember him. He had surgery on his eyes to eliminate his nearsightedness, and in the high altitude the sugically altered eyes changed even more, and he became blind. (I can't imagine trying to navigate Everest without clear vision!) When Bill had his surgery, I remember teasing him that he would never be able to climb Everst now.
On to the book .... the subtitle of this book is "my journey home from everest" and therefore I expected it to contain both the events of his climb, and his recovering ... the journey being both physical and mental/emotional. The truth is, the book ended up being vastly different than I imagined. This difference was both dissapointing and interesting; I know, quite a contridiction. Turns out, Weathers does not really remember much of what happened while on Everest. He does remember and tells what happened in the events leading up to his freezing, both physically and emotionally, but many of the details contained within the book are tales he heard from others up on the mountain. I can totally understand this, as the man was basiclly frozen to death up there, and in fact I distinctly remember reading in Krakauer's Into Thin Air how Weathers was found and then left to finish dieing. Such an emotionally traumatic event, coupled with the physical trauma of freezing and high altitude/lack of oxygen, would probably be quite a catalyst to cause the brain loose those memories.
But when by page 110, of a 350ish page book, he was done with his account of the climb, tradegy, rescue and recovery, I was both intregued and annoyed. The rest of the book (except for 5 pages of the Epilog that skims some of his later surgeries and recovery treatments) is about his life prior to the 1996 tradegy. And I mean ALL of his life, starting from being 2-3yrs old. He goes through all these periods in his life prior to mountain climbing, and retells some pertinent memories or happenings that you are supposed to assume had a related effect on him and therefore are part of his climbing history. (at least that is how I was reading it) Then we get to his climbing obsession, and an account of each major mountain he climbed in preperation to climb Everest. We even get a brief account of his training and what he was doing wrong. All of this was kinda interesting because it really does get into his head, and some of what you would assume are similar traits for all those insane folks that are obsessed with such a dangerous sport. So in some way I was enjoying the recount of his life. But truely, I was looking for more of how he delt with the aftermath of his trauma. I wanted to know how his spirit endured, and what he learned from this experience. The lack of direct focus on this part was very dissapointing to me. But, I do keep turning much of the book over in my head and have come to the realization that, by reliving previous events, he was admitting many of his mistakes, and while not specifically mentioning what he'd do differenly, he was sharing his emotional recovery. A different approach than I had envisioned, but I guess in the end it sort of, kind of, addressed what I was expecting it to, just in a very different manner. Like I said, dissapointing and interesting all at the same time.
I did pull one very good thing out of the book. He talks about not being able to live in the moment or for the present. And until reading his account of this I guess I never truely understood what this ment. (I am too good at this) But now I believe I turely understand the concept, and when I say I do not set goals, I can explain it better. What I mean is I live more in the moment; my daily actions and life is not lived to acomplish some future goal of mine. My life is lived for today. Yes, with the knowledge of tommorow and the future, but
Then, a few months later I hear about the horrible storm and accidents on Everest. I was very interested and tried to find all the related news about Everest. Being that the internet was such an infant at the time, there was not much available out there. So about a year later when I was shopping for Christmas gifts I saw the book "Into Thin Air" and purchased it with no second thoughts. I finished it in one 6hr flight across the country!
I have been following any silly reports, and even the TLC reality, over hyped, TV show about climbing Everest. Finally, I ran across more books related to the 1996 dissaster and climbing Everest in general. I am hooked.
So, I just finished Left for Dead. It is by Beck Weathers, one of the surviving members of the expidation caught on the mountain. While I did not remember his name from the orginal tale I read, I do remember him. He had surgery on his eyes to eliminate his nearsightedness, and in the high altitude the sugically altered eyes changed even more, and he became blind. (I can't imagine trying to navigate Everest without clear vision!) When Bill had his surgery, I remember teasing him that he would never be able to climb Everst now.
On to the book .... the subtitle of this book is "my journey home from everest" and therefore I expected it to contain both the events of his climb, and his recovering ... the journey being both physical and mental/emotional. The truth is, the book ended up being vastly different than I imagined. This difference was both dissapointing and interesting; I know, quite a contridiction. Turns out, Weathers does not really remember much of what happened while on Everest. He does remember and tells what happened in the events leading up to his freezing, both physically and emotionally, but many of the details contained within the book are tales he heard from others up on the mountain. I can totally understand this, as the man was basiclly frozen to death up there, and in fact I distinctly remember reading in Krakauer's Into Thin Air how Weathers was found and then left to finish dieing. Such an emotionally traumatic event, coupled with the physical trauma of freezing and high altitude/lack of oxygen, would probably be quite a catalyst to cause the brain loose those memories.
But when by page 110, of a 350ish page book, he was done with his account of the climb, tradegy, rescue and recovery, I was both intregued and annoyed. The rest of the book (except for 5 pages of the Epilog that skims some of his later surgeries and recovery treatments) is about his life prior to the 1996 tradegy. And I mean ALL of his life, starting from being 2-3yrs old. He goes through all these periods in his life prior to mountain climbing, and retells some pertinent memories or happenings that you are supposed to assume had a related effect on him and therefore are part of his climbing history. (at least that is how I was reading it) Then we get to his climbing obsession, and an account of each major mountain he climbed in preperation to climb Everest. We even get a brief account of his training and what he was doing wrong. All of this was kinda interesting because it really does get into his head, and some of what you would assume are similar traits for all those insane folks that are obsessed with such a dangerous sport. So in some way I was enjoying the recount of his life. But truely, I was looking for more of how he delt with the aftermath of his trauma. I wanted to know how his spirit endured, and what he learned from this experience. The lack of direct focus on this part was very dissapointing to me. But, I do keep turning much of the book over in my head and have come to the realization that, by reliving previous events, he was admitting many of his mistakes, and while not specifically mentioning what he'd do differenly, he was sharing his emotional recovery. A different approach than I had envisioned, but I guess in the end it sort of, kind of, addressed what I was expecting it to, just in a very different manner. Like I said, dissapointing and interesting all at the same time.
I did pull one very good thing out of the book. He talks about not being able to live in the moment or for the present. And until reading his account of this I guess I never truely understood what this ment. (I am too good at this) But now I believe I turely understand the concept, and when I say I do not set goals, I can explain it better. What I mean is I live more in the moment; my daily actions and life is not lived to acomplish some future goal of mine. My life is lived for today. Yes, with the knowledge of tommorow and the future, but
Friday, December 21, 2007
2 nights with Ralph
I feel like I've been transported back in time. I spent the last two nights up with sick kids. I am tired and I smell like puke. Just not beer and cigarette puke!
Poor kiddos, one by one they both got some weird stomach bug. I usually think this would be food poisoning, but it doesn't make sense to me, with the way it manifested. Wed. night Annika wakes me up at 1am and said she threw up in bed. She is covered in the lovely stuff and her PJs are also covered. So, quick strip the bed (funny thing is Lauren RAN to her room and shut the door; she does not want to even see the offending stuff!) throw the dirty smelly sheets in the laundry (nothing like doing laundry at 1am) and strip me and kiddo so we can wash her hair. I contemplated trying to help Annika shower without hopping in myself, but with her being tired and, well, just being Annika, I figured I'd probably be drier inside the shower than outside. Washing Annika's hair is not an easy job on a normal day, but when she is tired and cranky, it is not a pretty sight.
Finally, all showered and fresh, Annika and I are redress and hop into our (new mattress) bed. Scared that she is going to throw up again, I throw a towel down on the sheets and attempt to sleep. Not much luck; every time she moves I wake her up and ask her if she is feeling OK. Somewhere around 4am she got really mad at me and yelled, "NO! I am not going to be sick again!" Oops, guess I was hovering a bit ... but it was self-preserving hovering. My new and very expensive mattress does not need to reek of puke after only a few months!
Well, fast forward 24 hours, and suddenly it is groundhog day. Only this time Lauren is hovering over me, naked, telling me she threw up. Which is weird, because Lauren has only thrown up three times in her entire life. Up I get and strip the bed (and blankets for this one) and thankfully Bill was awake too and helped rinse the vomit off the sheets. Shower Lauren (I stayed dry this time) and put her back in bed. 15 mins. later I get an instant replay. Strip, rinse, remake bed. Lauren and I lay down in her bed together, convinced that we are almost through with this. Nice thought. The poor girls was up every 15-30mins. the rest of the night, until 9am, when our last visit with Ralph occurred.
So, today I have washed three beds - this includes covers, comforters, sheets, pillows, mattress covers, and in the case of the queen bed where Annika and Lauren were on Wed. night, one mattress scrubbed too. OK, that part is not so much like college. Just the raw eyes and smell of vomit.
The Glamorous life of a mom.....
Poor kiddos, one by one they both got some weird stomach bug. I usually think this would be food poisoning, but it doesn't make sense to me, with the way it manifested. Wed. night Annika wakes me up at 1am and said she threw up in bed. She is covered in the lovely stuff and her PJs are also covered. So, quick strip the bed (funny thing is Lauren RAN to her room and shut the door; she does not want to even see the offending stuff!) throw the dirty smelly sheets in the laundry (nothing like doing laundry at 1am) and strip me and kiddo so we can wash her hair. I contemplated trying to help Annika shower without hopping in myself, but with her being tired and, well, just being Annika, I figured I'd probably be drier inside the shower than outside. Washing Annika's hair is not an easy job on a normal day, but when she is tired and cranky, it is not a pretty sight.
Finally, all showered and fresh, Annika and I are redress and hop into our (new mattress) bed. Scared that she is going to throw up again, I throw a towel down on the sheets and attempt to sleep. Not much luck; every time she moves I wake her up and ask her if she is feeling OK. Somewhere around 4am she got really mad at me and yelled, "NO! I am not going to be sick again!" Oops, guess I was hovering a bit ... but it was self-preserving hovering. My new and very expensive mattress does not need to reek of puke after only a few months!
Well, fast forward 24 hours, and suddenly it is groundhog day. Only this time Lauren is hovering over me, naked, telling me she threw up. Which is weird, because Lauren has only thrown up three times in her entire life. Up I get and strip the bed (and blankets for this one) and thankfully Bill was awake too and helped rinse the vomit off the sheets. Shower Lauren (I stayed dry this time) and put her back in bed. 15 mins. later I get an instant replay. Strip, rinse, remake bed. Lauren and I lay down in her bed together, convinced that we are almost through with this. Nice thought. The poor girls was up every 15-30mins. the rest of the night, until 9am, when our last visit with Ralph occurred.
So, today I have washed three beds - this includes covers, comforters, sheets, pillows, mattress covers, and in the case of the queen bed where Annika and Lauren were on Wed. night, one mattress scrubbed too. OK, that part is not so much like college. Just the raw eyes and smell of vomit.
The Glamorous life of a mom.....
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The Crunchy Crusader
Does the Title Come with a Cape?
I was just called the Crunchy Crusader by a fellow "granola" mom. Huh. Makes me think. Yes, I did help start a group for other moms and others that are less "mainstream" than the typical neighbor. Yes, I do have some idiosyncrasies that Bill teases me about all the time. (Like how we can't buy regular peanut butter, or regular whole wheat bread because of the ingredients.) Yes I refuse to purchase single use products. (Draw the line at toilet paper, but still trying to figure out a good way around that one)
But recently I have discovered that I am much crunchier than I thought. Even others who I thought were more crunchy than I are not quite as crunchy. I am flabbergasted.
Well, let me grab my cape and go make dinner. Crunchy Crusader to the rescue.....
I was just called the Crunchy Crusader by a fellow "granola" mom. Huh. Makes me think. Yes, I did help start a group for other moms and others that are less "mainstream" than the typical neighbor. Yes, I do have some idiosyncrasies that Bill teases me about all the time. (Like how we can't buy regular peanut butter, or regular whole wheat bread because of the ingredients.) Yes I refuse to purchase single use products. (Draw the line at toilet paper, but still trying to figure out a good way around that one)
But recently I have discovered that I am much crunchier than I thought. Even others who I thought were more crunchy than I are not quite as crunchy. I am flabbergasted.
Well, let me grab my cape and go make dinner. Crunchy Crusader to the rescue.....
Friday, December 14, 2007
Bill Time
Today Nanna and Poppa have the girls; Bill and I get to shop, look for a new car, and just be together! It is always so nice to spend time alone with him. I don't think we do it enough. I try, but it is so hard to find time alone when we are awake and the kids are "sittable," as in, a good time and place for a babysitter.
Anyway, we get to spend time alone today, just being our wierd selves. Yea!!
Anyway, we get to spend time alone today, just being our wierd selves. Yea!!
Friday, December 7, 2007
What my days have become
I often wonder what happens to my days. I feel as if I should be accomplishing more than I do. OK, so I have spent some time in front of the computer that I could have spent doing something else, but I have mentally budgeted time for this activity. (Kids are all at school, therefore I give me one hour of Kay time!) Anyway, if you take out all the time I spend with the kids during the day, which granted that IS my main job and responsibility now, I still think I should be doing something besides the following time eaters:
Laundry
How can one family generate so much dirty clothing? And to be honest, if I were on top of things in the matter I'd like to be, I'd have even more laundry. (shameful grin here) I do not change our sheets every week, nor do I manage to change all the bath towels as often as I probalby should. Some people do that daily, I do it weekly, or every 10 days ... whatever comes first.
So, I do 1-2 loads a day. Can you imagine much more laundry than that? I guess if you have a large family, but we have 4 people, and two of them are small people still. Geepers, when Lauren is finally "normal" size (which will never happen to that little petite child!) and begins wearing three outfits a day, ok so she sometimes does now, but imagine how much laundry our house will generate then. Good thing she will be doing laundry by then!
Preparing food
Lauren is in school all day. Bill goes to work. Annika and I are the only ones home during the day, yet I feel as if I am constantly preparing food for one reason or another. Or shopping for food to prepare. Breakfast, OK, Bill takes care of the majority of that. But Annika usually has something to eat in the morning, and I do have to clean up after everyone. Snack. Lunch. Snack. After school snack. Dinner. And then I usually have my own snack, sans kiddos : ) after they go to bed. Really, did you count the number of times I am in the kitchen scrounging for food?? I repeat, I am not a vending machine!
Cleaning
Yea, this I do, but not as often as I should. My goal is one room a day. Not sure I really make that goal, but I do sweep and vacuum and pick up pick up pick up pick up ....
I believe in dog hair and dust bunnies as a perfectly acceptable decor theme. Need I say more?
There you have it!
My days and life have been boiled down to approximately 4 activities. Laundry, food prep, cleaning, & kid nurturing. Somewhere in there I squeeze in Bill, unfortunately it does seem like squeezing too. Shame, because he is soooo much fun to be with :) I think I used to be, but now I seem to be obsessed with the above items. sigh. Well, gotta go get Annika from school. ...and make her lunch .... and do a load of laundry ... and probably clean some ... and then make a snack .... Hey Bill - wanna go out and play?
Laundry
How can one family generate so much dirty clothing? And to be honest, if I were on top of things in the matter I'd like to be, I'd have even more laundry. (shameful grin here) I do not change our sheets every week, nor do I manage to change all the bath towels as often as I probalby should. Some people do that daily, I do it weekly, or every 10 days ... whatever comes first.
So, I do 1-2 loads a day. Can you imagine much more laundry than that? I guess if you have a large family, but we have 4 people, and two of them are small people still. Geepers, when Lauren is finally "normal" size (which will never happen to that little petite child!) and begins wearing three outfits a day, ok so she sometimes does now, but imagine how much laundry our house will generate then. Good thing she will be doing laundry by then!
Preparing food
Lauren is in school all day. Bill goes to work. Annika and I are the only ones home during the day, yet I feel as if I am constantly preparing food for one reason or another. Or shopping for food to prepare. Breakfast, OK, Bill takes care of the majority of that. But Annika usually has something to eat in the morning, and I do have to clean up after everyone. Snack. Lunch. Snack. After school snack. Dinner. And then I usually have my own snack, sans kiddos : ) after they go to bed. Really, did you count the number of times I am in the kitchen scrounging for food?? I repeat, I am not a vending machine!
Cleaning
Yea, this I do, but not as often as I should. My goal is one room a day. Not sure I really make that goal, but I do sweep and vacuum and pick up pick up pick up pick up ....
I believe in dog hair and dust bunnies as a perfectly acceptable decor theme. Need I say more?
There you have it!
My days and life have been boiled down to approximately 4 activities. Laundry, food prep, cleaning, & kid nurturing. Somewhere in there I squeeze in Bill, unfortunately it does seem like squeezing too. Shame, because he is soooo much fun to be with :) I think I used to be, but now I seem to be obsessed with the above items. sigh. Well, gotta go get Annika from school. ...and make her lunch .... and do a load of laundry ... and probably clean some ... and then make a snack .... Hey Bill - wanna go out and play?
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