Category Archives: Food

Coffee, Daily Snippets, Family, Food, Running

It’s all good

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Coffee, good.
Fruity fiber smoothie, good.
Shower, good.
Sleeping in, good!
Feeling fancy, dressed up to celebrate a cousin’s high school graduation. All good.

We stained our deck, and what a chore that was! But it looks so nice. We’ll have the furniture back on it soon and I’m really excited to get back out there for my morning coffees and devotions, now that the weather is warmer.

I did zero running last week as I was trying to get caught up on so many other things. I do miss it and hope to get back out there this week, though I’ll have to squeeze it in between kids’ end of school year activities. Even if they are short runs, we’ll make it happen.

And with that brief update, I’m off again to be with the family! Good day!

Daily Snippets, Food, Friends, Running

Four miles and then some pie

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So! This morning I decided to join the kids at the bus stop (I haven’t been, because it had been cold, and I can see the bus stop from our kitchen window). While there, I was chatting with some of the other moms and one of them mentioned that she gets up at 4:30 am. She was talking about something else, I can’t remember what, I was just stuck on that little piece of information. She gets up at 4:30 am, voluntarily, and says it with a smile on her face. It’s a choice she makes. It sounds like she does it in order to have time to exercise, run or whatever, before the rest of the family is awake. I so admire that, and I’ve always sort of fantasized – yes, fantasized – about becoming a super-duper early riser like that, but I’ve never managed to make it happen. And now I could, but why? I have ALL DAY now to exercise, meditate, relax and have alone time. No real sense in getting up early now. But maybe when summer comes I’ll try it out. To get my “Me Time” in before the kids are awake. Maybe, we’ll see. It’s just a thought.

I’m still running, even post 5k. It’s just been such a good thing for my body and spirit, so I want to keep going, race or no race. I went on two shorter runs earlier this week but then today was the big run. I do intervals between slow and steady, because that’s suppose to help you build stamina without overworking your muscles. I think. Something like that, I forget now. Today I ran/walked just under 4 miles, which is my farthest distance yet! It felt really great, but when I got home I was ravished with hunger. And while digging in the fridge for leftovers to reheat, I found there were still two pieces of Ema’s homemade rhubarb pie left from last Friday. Did you know leftovers should never be kept for more than a week? So you eat it or throw it out. And throwing out a delicious homemade rhubarb pie was not even an option to consider, so of course I had to eat it. And it was soooo yummy, I have no regrets.

I’m happy it’s Friday. It appears that warmer, spring weather has finally arrived in Michigan so everyone is emerging from their cocoons. We have a busy weekend coming up, full with kids’ activities. That’s the best way to spend a weekend if you ask me. As long as you get some napping done in between 🙂

Happy Friday, y’all!

Cochlear implant, Family, Food, Kids, Miracles do happen, Motherhood, Running

Anniveraries and magic…

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May 9, 2014 I received my first cochlear implant (right ear).
May 8,2015 I received my second cochlear implant (left ear).
Both days were the Friday before Mother’s Day. Being given the gift of hearing again was a pretty awesome Mother’s Day gift.

May 6, 2016 I ran my first 5k. It was also the Friday before Mother’s Day. Running it with my son, and in the presence of beloved family and friends was an even better gift yet.

I’ve decided that the Friday before Mother’s Day will now always be an anniversary to be celebrated. Whether it’s celebrating the gift of CI hearing, or the accomplishment of running a race, or whatever, each year I will set aside time to remember, reflect upon, and be thankful for what I have been given.

But really, can I just say how amazing this weekend was? Kicking butt at the 5k Friday, then having a super chill day with the kids on Saturday, and then this morning, on Mother’s DAY, my husband and children got up early so they could make breakfast for me before church. And not just those canned cinnamon rolls you throw in the oven, which was the only thing I had requested. While the kids put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher, my selfless husband whipped up some fried eggs and perfectly cooked bacon. He had even run to the store that morning to buy orange juice. And then, after I was finished eating, they all showered me with cards and gifts and chocolate (of course).

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We finished the day with a drive to take Grandma for a late lunch at IHOP, which was super duper yummy (I can’t get enough of those Belgian waffles). We visited and had a good time, and then drove home, exhausted but happy.

Oh, and I almost forgot – to top it off, on Friday we received an offer on our house! The old house we moved out of last August, affectionately called The Cottage, is hopefully getting closer to being out of our hands, and that will be such a relief. We are crossing our fingers and praying that everything goes smoothly. We shall know more in the coming days.

This weekend was the best weekend I’ve had in I don’t remember how long. It feels almost magical, as cheesy as that sounds. And of course, by saying that I totally ruined the magic, but whatever. Have a magical night, everyone!

 

 

Daily Snippets, Family, Food, Health

A case of the Mondays? Almost.

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I tried really hard not to let Monday be the way Mondays can be, overwhelming and all. I think I did okay, despite it trying really hard to kick my butt.

I have a recurring muscle spam in my left shoulder and it was back with a vengeance today. When the pain is in full force it radiates all the way down my left arm, and it makes anything but standing up straight extremely painful. So resting was even hard to do. Go figure.

So I spent a good portion of my day trying to calm the spasm. Ice, Epsom salt baths, heating pad. Nothing has really worked, only made it somewhat tolerable.

But while that was the bulk of my day, I did have some positive moments. My new contact lenses came in the mail. And I made chicken noodle soup for dinner, which happens to be one of the few foods my entire family enjoys. So that made for a pleasant dinner time as we all just enjoyed the food and each other’s company. Still, we have leftovers, come on over! 🙂

Oh and my sister and I chatted our excitement about our upcoming appointment to get the matching tattoos we finally decided on after talking about for years (pardon the run-on). More on that later, and if later enough, with pictures!

Thanks for listening, folks. It means the world to me.

Daily Snippets, Disability, Domestic Engineer, Food

My exciting life

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I made a ginormous batch of potato soup for the crockpot this morning. Added all the leftover ham from Easter, diced an entire onion and threw that in. Threw in a little bit of chicken bouillon, dried parsley (which I’m convinced is just for show), and butter. It smells amazing and I can’t wait to eat it. There’s no way the four of us can eat it all, so we’ll have a lot leftover to freeze for another day. Win-win!

I’ve been working on laundry and dishes most of the morning. Those two never quit, do they? I just finished eating lunch, and now I’m left debating what to do next. More laundry, read a book, crochet, take a nap, run on the treadmill, walk the dog, watch more reruns of Parks and Recreation on Netflix… I just can’t decide. The nap is really tempting, but I know a walk or run would really boost my spirits.

This is my exciting life, folks! This is a normal day for me, and while it has taken quite some time to adjust to it, I’m finally starting to enjoy it and feel comfortable. I think this is the Acceptance part of the grief process. I am finally here, and can honestly say I am happy and really want to stay.

Oh, but that’s not what I got on the blog to talk about. Shoot. I guess I’ll have to draft that up and post it tomorrow 😉

Daily Snippets, Food

Really Ready

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Today I did something kind of funny but kind of scary at the same time. I decided to fry an egg for a late breakfast, so I put a pan on the stove and turned on the heat to start warming the pan. Then I went upstairs to get a pair of slippers because my feet were cold. While I was upstairs I found a basket of clean towels that needed folding. Of all the laundry, towels are the thing I hate folding *least*, so I thought to myself, “what the heck, might as well fold these towels while I’m up here.” As I was folding I was thinking about how cold I’ve been feeling, and remembered that we had an electric blanket stored in the hope chest near our bed. So, I decided to dig that out and give it a go, bring it downstairs to see if it still worked.

And that’s when I smelled it. It was very subtle, but I have a keen sense of smell so I pick up these things. It was a definite smell of HEAT. Oh, dear lordy I left the stove on!! In a near panic, I headed down the stairs – cautiously but quickly – to be sure there was no catastrophe (i.e. FIRE) going on the kitchen.

And thankfully, there was no fire. Not even a scorched-to-hell frying pan. Just a really hot, really lonely, really ready for the egg, frying pan. I turned the stove off, removed the pan from the hot burner, and headed back upstairs to finish with my derailed train of thought activities.

It turned out fine, but I really need to be more careful. New rule: Stay in the kitchen while I’m cooking. That, or just stick to fruit smoothies. Far less dangerous!

Deafness, Domestic Engineer, Food, Multiple Sclerosis, Visually Impaired

Why the crockpot is my new best friend

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This is not to diminish the value of my friendships with real people, because I have a lot of pretty amazing friends, but by golly, I am really loving my crockpot this year (I’ve had it a whopping 16). The internet holds a wealth of information and ideas for what you can make in these things, and I’m finding plenty of healthy, tasty meals.

But here’s why I’m really learning to love the crockpot – it allows me to work around my fatigue and still manage to feed my family. The fatigue that MS causes has really been kicking my butt hard this past month, and by 1 pm (even after a morning nap) I’m pretty slogged (not sure if that’s a word but it sounded good). By 4 or 5 pm, after getting the kids from the bus stop and handling the flurry of that excitement, I’m close to non-functioning. Which makes dinner prep rather difficult.

Case in point: It is almost 7 pm. We ate dinner already (tacos!!) but I’m feeling the munchies so I went into the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal (granola, actually). I pulled the granola from the cupboard, the milk from the fridge, and set both on the counter. I then got a bowl and poured the granola into it, and proceeded to put both the granola back in the cupboard and the milk back in the fridge.  Notice anything missing?? I walked all the way back to my bowl of granola, ready to eat, and discovered I had forgotten to pour the milk.

It’s really frustrating, feeling so… I don’t know, lacking in ability to perform simple tasks, I guess, and pretty damn powerless to change it. But I’ve been faced with lots of things, big things, that I cannot change. If I have learned anything from these big, unchangeable things, it’s that I do still have a choice. And that choice is to accept it, adapt, and move on.

The crockpot means I can prepare a delicious, healthy meal for my family early in the day, before I get fatigued. I refuse to give up and feed them frozen pizza every night. So, for what it represents and for what it allows me to do, the crockpot is my friend. The thing is old enough to drive now (a wedding gift), but I suppose using it for a ride to the store would be asking too much. We’ll just stick to food preparation for now 😉

Food, Funny story, Kids

I hate cooking

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Today my daughter stopped coloring to read a book. While that was happening, I was in the kitchen preparing potato soup for the crockpot – thoroughly *enjoying* dicing the potatoes. I was seriously relaxed through the whole process and was mildly disappointed when I ran out of potatoes.

And then I’m pretty sure I saw a pig fly just outside my kitchen window.