Menopause - A Cautionary Tale

Today's post is serious.  I attempted to inject some humor into this post, but this is a serious topic that affects (or will affect) us, or someone we love.


You know, as women, we don't talk much about menopause.  We talk about childbirth, we talk about breast cancer, we walk for breast cancer, we're aware of uterine and ovarian cancer, but we don't talk much about menopause. 

I think we need to break that habit, and I'm going to start right here, right now.

I am in the beginnings of menopause right now, and let me tell you, it is a joy.

I have pimples!  God yes, pimples like I had when I was in high school.  I have rediscovered the wonders of the acne products section of the grocery store. 

My cycle is unpredictable.  It is currently varying anywhere between 21 and 36 days.  (after decades of 28 day cycles, this has been a little difficult to get used to.)  It sneaks up on me everywhere.  I keep supplies in my purse, in the trunk of my car, in the trunk of my husbands car, and a stash behind the information desk at work. 

The flow of my cycle is heavier than it's ever been before, too.  Where before it was 3-5 days, now it's 1-2 very heavy days.  I understand why so many women seek out their OB/GYNS for help with this.

Hair is growing in places it has never grown before, and it looks like man hair.  My Mom tells me it's because my female hormones are cutting back, and the male hormones are finally getting their say.  Who knows if this is true or not?

And the night sweats.  Dear God, the night sweats. You wake up at 3 in the morning, and you're as sweaty as if you've just run a marathon.

There is tons of information out there on the Internet about how to control the symptoms of menopause, so I will not go into them here.  What I am going to talk about is something that I am hearing more and more about recently - probably because most of my friends are either my age or older, and they are getting the word out about this.

We all know that at the end of menopause, our period stops.  One day, whoosh!  It's finished!  After a period of time when our cycles vary wildly from weeks to months apart, it suddenly stops, and we are relieved.

The official diagnosis of menopause is when you haven't had a period in over a year.

What we don't hear is that if, after a year, your period comes back, you need to see a doctor IMMEDIATELY.

Can I highlight that again?  If your period has been gone for a year and it starts up again, this is a BAD THING!  Don't rationalize, don't self-diagnose, get thee to a doctor NOW.

So, a year ago, a friend of mine who's period had been gone for 5 years started her period again.  She went to the doctor the same day.  3 weeks later, she had a full hysterectomy.  She had ovarian cancer.  The blood was the only clue she had that there was a cancer - and one of the most deadly cancers, because there is no early detection for it and it is so hard to find.  She was fortunate - it was still a stage 1 cancer.

Earlier this week, I went to lunch with a friend of mine, and she told me this story.  I'm going to write it down here as best as I can remember it:

She began menopause at age 49.  It had been a year since her last period.

One year later, a little after her 50th birthday, she started bleeding again.  She self-diagnosed and told herself that it was okay.  She really wasn't done with her period, so she thought nothing of it.  That was in October.

In February, she went back to her weight loss group.  She began losing weight - everywhere but in her stomach.   Her stomach seemed to harden up a little.  She was a little concerned then, but not concerned enough to check in with her doctor.

One day in early May, the pain in her stomach was so bad, her co-workers had to call an ambulance and have her taken to the hospital.  Her stomach was distended, and hard as a rock.

An MRI revealed a massive tumor inside of her stomach, centered around her ovaries.

2 weeks later, she underwent surgery to have the mass removed.  It was a 22 pound tumor that had been growing on her ovaries.  22 pounds.  Can you imagine?  That's like carrying 3 babies around inside of your stomach.  The doctor told her that the tumor looked like a bag of oranges.

The pathology from the lab came back, and she was very fortunate.  There was no cancer in the tumor.  If that had been a cancerous tumor, chances are that it would have metastasized, and we would have been crying at her funeral instead of enjoying lunch with her.

The doctor told her: make sure you tell everyone you know.  If your period stops for a year and then comes back again, see a doctor immediately.

I'm now keeping track on my kitchen calendar.  I want to make certain that I know when I've stopped, and not have some vague notion of "it's been a while".  I will keep track of when my period finally stops, so that if this ever happens to me, I will know to do something about it.

When we were having lunch last week, my friend mentioned that this is something we need to be shouting from the roof tops to all women, the same way that we shout about Breast Self Exams and Mammograms.  I am so glad I still have both of my friends here with me.  We are our own advocates.  Our doctors don't know what's going on inside of our bodies unless if we tell them.  We need to get over our inherent discomfort and shyness and share this information with everyone.

IF YOUR PERIOD HAS STOPPED FOR MORE THAN A YEAR AND STARTS UP AGAIN, SEE A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY.

My Accomplishments

It seems as if most of what I've done over the past couple of weeks has been to drive my daughter back and forth to camp.  Wait.. she's been driving, and I've been white knuckling the ride over and back again.  She really wants to have her license by the end of summer.  I'm trying to be a supportive mother, and she really is a good driver, but.... wait, if you've taught teenagers of your own how to drive, you understand what I'm talking about!

My Book Blog:
I managed to make two new entries on my YA book blog.  If you're interested in such a thing, you can check it out here: http://librarynut-booksforteens.blogspot.com/.

Considering that I'm now reading more adult fiction, and some fairly interesting titles at work, I'm beginning to think I might start an adult book blog, also.  I'll might just add a book page onto this blog.  I'll have to think about it some more.

Blueberries!  The blueberries are in! We went out this afternoon and picked our own blueberries from our local pick your own place.  They are currently in the fridge.  I really want to make triple berry jam this week, I'm just waiting for the black raspberries in the back yard to come in.  They're still red, so I've got a few more days to go before they're ready!

Library;
I checked out a pile of 20 books from the library.  When the due date was coming up and I knew I wouldn't be able to return them in time, I renewed them online.  I have also put several movies on hold that I want to see.  I currently have 10 movies that I have requested, and I am anywhere from number 50-175, depending upon the movie.

I had lunch with a group of friends.  I was able to use a gift card my mother had given me to pay for my own lunch, so the price was basically free.

The weather has been nice enough this past week to keep the a/c turned off completely.  What an awesome, easy way to save some extra cash!

I've spent more time cleaning out under the stairs this week.  I threw away 10 tubes of caulk that had hardened and would never produce a bead of caulk ever again.  I also found a box of picnic supplies my mother in law left here when we bought the house from her.  I'm not sure how old things were, but I did note that the very yellowed and disgusting plastic forks (100 of them) had a price tag of 10 cents.

I've scheduled appointments with the vet for both cats next month.  They'll get a general health check, and their annual shots at that time.

We've been line drying all of our clothes outside this summer.  Most mornings, I've been managing to get everything out on the line before I leave for work.  They're nice and dry by the time I get home.  (But, if it rains, they have to stay out a little while longer!)  Oh, someone did ask me how I manage this, since I walk out the door at 7 am.  I put the clothes in the washer late at night - before I go to bed, when the energy rates are cheaper.  I get up at 5:30, shower and get dressed for work.  After I eat breakfast, I run down and grab the clothes and then hang them on the line outside before I brush my teeth, fix my hair, and head out on my way.

What have you accomplished this month?

Problems With Rice

Rice is a tricky thing.  It's so small, and seemingly innocuous. 

But a little goes such a long way.  Take 1/4 cup of dry rice, cook it, and you end up with 3/4 of a cup, cooked.

Yesterday, I had lunch with a group of friends.  We got to talking about the disasters we've had with rice over the years.  You know... those mistakes you only make once.

I thought my own experience of cooking 6 cups of dry rice (18 cups cooked) took the cake, but I was wrong.

Susan's husband had to make rice for a work event. Someone had given him a recipe, and told him to double it.  Now, the recipe called for 2 pounds of rice.  (It must have been an old recipe, because it's not often that you see recipes written in pounds anymore.)  So, he took four - yes 4- 1 pound bags of rice, added water, and put it on the stove.  Within 10 minutes, the rice had expanded enough to have pushed the lid off of the pan, and rice was beginning to pour down the sides of the pan.  Unfortunately, he had decided to take a shower while the rice was cooking.  By the time he heard the smoke detector over the noise of the running water, and run downstairs, he found that the rice had run down the side of the pan, onto the heating element and was smoldering away.  Total time from the minute he put the lid on to simmer the rice until the time he found the disaster downstairs?  12 minutes.  (There was still 8 minutes left on the timer.)

When Carol got married 50 years ago, people we still throwing rice at weddings.  She wore a strapless dress, and one of those long, waist length strapless bras.  It was a very hot and humid day.  They left the church to go to the reception, and people threw rice.  By the time she got home and took everything off that night, the rice had COOKED inside of her dress!

And lastly, Sharon.  Her husband decided to clean out the kitchen cupboards.  He found 10 boxes of Rice A Roni that were past their expiration date and decided that he was going to run them down the garbage disposal.  Not throw them out, mind you, run them down the garbage disposal.  With hot water.  I think you might already see where this is going.  By the time he got to the tenth box, Sharon could hear him flipping the disposal on and off and on and off.  "What's going on?"  she asked.

"The disposal seems to be jammed.  Could you bring me a plunger?"

Well, no amount of plunging was going to clean 10 boxes of rice a roni out of the kitchen pipes.  It had gone down the drain, and it had expanded, and it had completely blocked the drain.

The next morning the plumber came out with his roto-rooter to clean out the pipe.

As he rotored, the rice began flying back up out of the pipe and all over the kitchen - the walls, the cabinets, and the curtains.

Rice can be a heartless bitch.

To Rescue A Cat

You know, I always thought that if a cat got stuck up a tree, you would call the fire department, and they would come, use their ladders, and pull the cat out of the tree.  Barring that option, I had secret hopes of Robert Downey Jr. coming along in his Iron Man suit and saving the cat for me... (Not to mention perhaps deciding that I was a better match for him than Pepper Potts, but that's another story.)

So, our cat got stuck up a tree.  It was a very old, tree, too.  A very tall, very old tree.  By the time we found her, she was about 50 feet up.  Every time we tried to get closer to her, or tempt her down with treats, she climbed higher.  We put out a can of tuna for her, and left the scene, hoping she would work herself down, and we went inside.

After 48 hours of her up the tree, crying piteously, we decided that we needed to get a little bit more serious.

We tried calling the fire department, but I was told that they didn't do that anymore.

I attempted to get hold of Iron Man or Batman or Superman, but none of them responded to my repeated cries for help.

So, I did what any normal person in 2014 would do.  I Googled "how to get a cat out of a tree".

If you have some time, Google search that phrase.  There are some adorable pages of advice about rescuing a cat from the tree.

We called a tree service, and were told that they'd gladly come get the cat out of the tree - for $250.

We all looked at each other, befuddled by what our next option was going to be.  My husband said "Well, you never see a dead cat in a tree."

My daughter promptly flounced off to the tree.  She put the ten foot ladder up into the tree, and climbed as high as she dared.

Standing there, she called her in her sweet little voice:  "Luna!  Luna!  Come here!  Look what I have for you!  Treats!"

Luna meowed back at her, and daughter meowed at her and called again "Luna!  Treats!"

Slowly but surely, Luna began working her way downwards... face first, walking down a branch, gently and tenderly.  She jumped from there down to a lower branch, got her footing, and then attempted another jump down.... and that is when disaster struck!

She missed the branch and started tumbling.

You know the scene in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, where Pooh's balloon breaks, and Pooh ends up tumbling down through the leaves and branches?

Yeah, that's what this looked like.  Daughter was screaming, the cat was attempting to right herself, and everytime the cat worked her feet back under her, she'd hit another batch of leaves - enough leaves to slow her descent, but not enough for her to grab onto.

And then, the disaster was over.  Luna righted herself and got her feet under her.  Husband had pulled a cushion off the sofa when daughter started up the tree, and he neatly caught Luna as she landed - feet down - on the cushion.

Luna's annual vet visit was yesterday.  She was checked over by the vet, who could find nothing wrong with her.

Luna herself was thrilled with the can of tuna and the bag of treats that was given to her upon her safe arrival back upon the ground.

She spent her first night back on the ground curled up next to daughter, with one paw stretched out, holding onto her arm all night long. 

To Repair an Ice Maker

My Dad was an engineer.  From what I understand, he was a really good engineer.  He loved to take things apart, find out how they worked, and put them back together again so that they were better than they had been before.

When Dad and my step mom (let's call her Mo) were living in Alexandria, their refrigerator/freezer had a gizmo that we'd never had on any refrigerator before: an ice maker.

This wasn't one of those ice makers that go through the door on a side by side fridge.

No, this was in one of those freezer on the top models.  The ice maker was mounted inside of the freezer, on the left side.

The catch all that caught the ice was underneath, and a sweeper bar would come across the top of the ice.  If the sweeper bar could fully extend, the ice maker would pop the ice cubes out of the tray and send them popping down into the catch all bin.  If the bar could not fully extend, then the ice cubes would remain in the tray until the bar could move all the way out.

Dad was really intrigued by the mechanisms involved in the entire process.

So, one Saturday morning, he took the entire thing apart and figured out how it worked.

He put it back together again, and he gave an extra little "tweak" to the mechanism, hoping that the sweeper bar would, instead of getting caught on one or two ice cubes, it would be able to push more of them out of it's way.  Proud of his work, Dad closed the freezer door and went outside to mow the lawn.

Now, Dad was an excellent engineer.  However, sometimes, his re-engineering of existing products didn't go quite the way he had anticipated.

Mo started making lunch, when she heard a strange sound from the freezer.  Thud, thud, thud, thud, and then the zzzzzzzzz of new water filling the ice cube tray.

Looking inside of the freezer, she noticed the ice cube tray was empty.  What had happened to the ice cubes?

Thinking that maybe it was just the sound of the tray refilling after Dad had been tinkering with it,she closed the freezer door and kept making lunch.

A while later, she heard it again.  "thud, thud, thud, thud, zzzzzzzzzz".  Curious about the thudding noise, she looked inside of the freezer.  Again, the ice cube tray was empty. 

"That's odd" she thought. 

Later that afternoon, when she heard the sweeper bar make the noise that indicate it's moving to check the ice level, she rushed to open the freezer door in order to see what was going on. And then, she saw it.

As soon as the sweeper bar was fully extended, the ice cubes shot out - and I mean SHOT OUT- of the ice cube tray, across the freezer, and hit the wall on the far right side of the freezer, where they dropped down onto the frozen vegetables.  Looking down, she saw a decent pile of ice on top of the frozen veggies.

When she and Dad sat down to dinner that night, Mo told Dad about the ice problem.

"I'll take care of it" he said.

Later that night, when Mo heard the sound of ice hitting the freezer wall again, she muttered unlawful things under her breath and walked into the kitchen, shouting at my Dad "I thought you said you were going to take care of the ice maker!"

"I did!" Dad shouted back.

She opened the door and looked inside of the freezer.  Sure enough, Dad had taken care of the ice maker.  He'd moved the catch all bin from directly under the ice maker to the right side of the freezer.  After the ice flew across the freezer and hit the far wall, it fell into the ice bin.

I swear to God this is true.  You can't make this stuff up!

Affording Pre-School

Since I talked about college yesterday, I thought I'd mention pre-school today.

As my degree is in Early Childhood Education, I do believe that early education is imperative to your child's success.

Unfortunately, so do many people looking to profit off of your desire to get your child the best start possible.

I do understand that many people work full time, and put their children in care that matches their needs.

However, how about parents who work their schedule so that one person is always at home with their children, but they still want a few hours a week of group instruction and play to help their child get accustomed to school, and to be prepared for kindergarten.

I was looking at preschools and tuition the other day and almost had a heart attack when I found a half day program for 3 year olds at an exclusive private school that "only" cost $9,000 for the year.  For 9 months of school, that's $1,000 a month.  I was thinking that with tuition that high, the student/teacher ratio must be really low, like 1/4.  Wow, was I wrong.  The ratio is 1:9.  That's one adult for every 9 kids.  That's the same ratio that every preschool has... something about state guidelines.

When my kids were little, I was a stay at home mom.  I did what I could at home to get them ready for school, and then I looked into preschool programs for them. 

With our oldest child, I found a co-op preschool.  Have you ever heard of these?  They are run by a parent board of directors.  The board hires the teacher and co-teacher.  For every single class, 2 parents are required to serve as an assistant teacher.  This means that there are always 4 adults in the classroom.  When my kids were in preschool, the co-op schools were a little less expensive than the other schools, and it gave me an opportunity to spend time with my son and his friends.

With the second and third child, I traded my experience as a teacher for a tuition break.  I taught the "Mother's Morning Out" class one day a week with the little guys while the middle child was in class.  Once a week, I'd take my daughter and 5 other little friends, and we played, read stories, and ran around for 2 1/2 hours.  I continued on as the Mother's Morning Out teacher while daughter was in pre-school. 

There are some fantastic, wonderful preschools out there run by churches and synagogues.  Non-Profit programs, their fees tend to be lower than the chains that dominate the preschool scene these days.  Many of these programs are staffed by people who were classroom teachers before they had their own children, and have come back to the profession that they love at the preschool level, where teaching is still "pure".

High Schools, Community Colleges, and Colleges offer lab schools.  These amazing pre-schools are offered in the school environment as part of their Early Childhood Education Program.  The classes are run by certified teachers.  The students serve as aids, each one taking a turn at planning lessons and acting as the head teacher.  I think the final ratio in these classes runs about 1:5.  That's one teacher for every 5 kids.  Sometimes, the ratios are even lower.  Because the classes are a learning program for the students, the cost of the program is significantly lower than the other programs out there.  I began my teaching at a lab school.  We had 6 adults in the room at any given time, and 18 kids.  When you work out the numbers, that's 1 adult for every 3 kids.  I can attest to the high quality of those programs.  The students are enthusiastic, they are learning theory in the class, and applying it in the classroom.  And every single lesson plan is submitted and critiqued by the head teacher and the manager of the school before it is allowed to be carried out in the classroom. 

If you can't find a preschool program, or don't want to pay for a preschool program, there are other alternatives available.  The library runs fantastic story times for young children of all ages.  There's been a shift in library story times recently, and programs now offer early and emergent literacy training to the children and parents during the course of the play time.

Keep all of this in mind as you remember that YOU are your child's first teacher. 

YOU are the one who will make the biggest difference in your child's success in school.

YOU can help your child get ready for kindergarten without a school.

While you may find yourself sucked into the quest for the perfect preschool that will get your child into the perfect college, remember this:  your child is only young once.  Allow your child to be a child, to explore, to discover, and to play on their own.  This gift is worth so much more than the "right" preschool.  Free time to discover how the world around them works leads to an insatiable curiosity to learn more that will drive them towards success.

Don't just turn your 3 year old out into the world!  Take a walk in the woods with two magnifying glasses.  Stop every so often, look at the ground, the rocks, and tree trunks and talk about what you see.  Take a notebook along with you, and let your child draw pictures of what they find, and have them "write" something about it.  Go to the zoo, look at animals, talk about what you see, how the animals are the same, how they are different, and draw pictures about what you found.  When you come home, go to the library and check out books about some of your favorite animals that you found at the zoo and read them together.  Go outside, find some tree leaves on the ground, and take a crayon and make leaf rubbings on a sheet of paper.  Talk about the differences in the leaf shapes, the veins in the backs of the leaves, and what do those veins do?  Why are the leaves green?  Go to the library, and find out why!  You will teach your child invaluable lessons about learning, finding new information, and how to learn.

There is no "right" preschool program.  Every program has it's strengths and weaknesses.  However, I'm pretty sure you don't want to break the bank with a child who is 4 years old... this is the time when you should be investing money in a pre-paid college trust or a 504 to help your child pay for college 14 years from now.

I do believe a program of some kind is beneficial.  Take an honest look at your finances and how much you are willing to spend, and then find the best match for your child at that price. 

Pre-School should NEVER break the bank!

Student Loan Debt

There's been a lot of press recently about the rising cost of college.  I've written before about affording college.  With two kids in college, and one a Senior in high school, I've got a few ideas about how to pay for college without anyone going into debt.  I paid my own way through college, so I do have some experience in how this is done. (Bachelor's Degree in 5 years, from Virginia Tech).

But, with all of this focus on money, I think we might be missing the most important part of this conversation:

Does the degree have worth and value?

Will they be able to get a job in this field?

Would you hire someone with this degree?

Honestly, is a degree in Women's Studies that costs $240,000 worth the time and effort?
What kind of a job is someone with this degree going to find?

What about someone who gets a degree in Physics a degree from a University that specializes in Art?

How about a STEM related degree from a private university that charges $40,000 a year or more in tuition?  That's $160,000, if they finish in 4 years.

Public Colleges and Universities, as well as two year Community Colleges are the best values in education.  The key is to work towards a degree in a field that is actually hiring, and that will return some value on your investment.

Can't afford college right away?  The Career and Vo-Tech Programs at your local public high schools prepare students for the work world, giving them hands on experience and job training.  Job placement assistance is available prior to graduation, and many employers will offer tuition assistance to their employees after a period of continuous employment with their company.

Recently, I read about a disturbing trend in college admissions.  Programs that charge $14,000 for a one week intensive seminar on "writing the perfect college essays".  $14,000.  How does that rate against a year at the community college?  Even better, how does that compare to in state tuition at your public universities?

Personally, I think if I have to pay that much money to get my kid to write an essay to get into college, they don't belong in that college.  I've always been of the belief that my kids need to speak for themselves.  They need to be able to express themselves eloquently with the written word.  After all, isn't that what the last 12 years of mandatory K-12 education have been about?  Isn't that why we've been busting our backs, pressuring them to do homework, and encouraging them to do more, and be more? 

Just like everything in life, higher education is a choice.  As our high schoolers start looking a little more closely at colleges this summer, and applying for schools, take a very close look at the value of the program that they are attending.  Will they be able to get a job in that field when they graduate?  Will they be able to get through the program without any debt?  Is the tuition low enough that they can kick in some - or all - of the cost of their tuition and expenses?

It's time to rethink how we look at college.  The most expensive college out there isn't always the best match for your child and their career aspirations.

A Flash in the Night

When my Dad and his wife moved from Alexandria to Indiana a while back, they were planning on this being their last move.

They sold the townhouse, sold or gave away many of their earthly possessions, and then put everything else into a U-Haul van. She and my Dad drove the U-Haul out together a week before closing on the house in Virginia, signed the papers on the house in Indiana, moved their things into their new house, turned the van in, and flew back to Washington.

For that last week in the old house, they slept on an air mattress on the floor, while they cleaned and scrubbed the house to within an inch of its life before they turned it over to the new owners.

The day of paper signing came, and my step mother insisted that the plants needed to go with them. She had an extended container garden on her deck, and she wanted to take all of the containers- filled with all of their plants - with her.  Tomatoes, Zinnias, herbs, and geraniums.

So, Dad folded down the seats in the back of the jeep and put all of the plants, lock, stock, and barrel into the back of the car.  My step mother insisted that she was going to drive the Jeep, because she didn't trust him not to dump all of the plants somewhere along the way.

Dad took everything else and put it into the Buick, including the cat.  He put her cushion on the front seat next to him, the litter box on the floor in front of her, and the princess settled in for the journey to Indiana.

They left town fairly late in the afternoon, after the keys had been turned over to the new owners.

Dad was driving the Buick with the princess, and my step mother was driving the Jeep with her beloved plants.


Their plan - ridiculous as it seems in hindsight - was to drive straight through the night and avoid the traffic around the big cities - Columbus and Indianapolis - first thing in the morning.  Leaving DC a little after 2 in the afternoon, they planned on arriving at their new home at 2 in the morning.  Not really a big deal, right?

So, they headed out.

My dad has always had a lead foot, and he was soon out of sight.  He made the 12 hour trip in a little under 10 hours, stopping once for food, gas, and a bathroom.  (To this day, I can't understand HOW his bladder can go that long between stops.) 

My step mother was a little bit slower.  She stopped for coffee on the way out, and found a friend she hadn't seen in a long time while she was there.  After catching up, she left, but not early enough.
She got caught in traffic around Frederick.
She also stopped for coffee, food, and a break every couple of hours. 

Around midnight, she was still several hours out, and she decided that she was going to pull over for a while and take a nap.

She pulled off at one of the rest areas, leaned her seat all the way back, and started to doze off when suddenly - a bright light filled the car!

Startled, she opened her eyes, sat up and looked around, but she could see no one near her.

She laid her head back down and closed her eyes when  - FLASH - there it was again!  A bright yellow light, so bright that she could see it through her eyelids filled the car.  Once again, she sat up and looked around, but there were no other cars in the rest area, and nobody was in sight.

Muttering things not lawful, and more than a little freaked out, she put her head back down once again and had barely closed her eyes when -FLASH- there it was again!

This really was it.  She got up out of the car and walked around.  Nobody was in sight.  It was a beautiful country night.  The only lights were the lights around the restrooms themselves.  Not even the truckers had pulled in for the night.  They were still booking down the highway, trying to make time before they had to stop for the night.

As she walked back to her car, she saw it again - FLASH - and FLASH- again - and again!

Looking in the window of the car, she found the source of the bright flashing lights inside of the car.

Lightning bugs had made their home on the plants and in the containers she had so lovingly insisted be installed in the back of the jeep.  They were flying around inside of the car, doing their Flashdance routine now that the a/c was off and the heat of the night was coming in through the windows.

Now that she was fully awake, she couldn't help but laugh at herself and the terror that the bugs had caused her.

She popped herself back into her car and drove the rest of the way out with her very own dancing brigade of lightning bugs announcing her arrival in her new home!

My Accomplishments

Strawberry season finally began.  Unfortunately, with our very odd weather this spring, the strawberries are difficult to find in the field and not as plentiful as usual.  We did manage to find enough to freeze - I make a triple berry jam that is to die for.  Unfortunately, the strawberries come in well before the raspberries and blueberries.  So, I take the leaves off of the strawberries and freeze them.  Once all of the berries are in, the fun of jam begins.

Celery was on sale at our grocery store again this week.  I picked up 2 pounds - sliced it, and then flash froze it on a pan.  This way, they are individually frozen.  Once they are frozen, I slide them into a big freezer bag.  When I need them for soups this fall and winter, I'll be able to pull out the exact amount that I need.

The farmer's markets around us are up and running again.  We have picked up eggs, milk, zucchini, green beans, kale, and other wonderful goodies that were just picked that morning.  I know I'm eating healthier!  I love this time of year!

Our electric company has switched us to a smart meter.  I loved my old time of use meter.  I knew when electricity cost me less, and I used it accordingly.

I have been a little slow to warm to my smart meter.  The rules seem a little different than they were with a smart meter, and the electric company has not been great about letting us know when the highest, or peak rates, are in effect.

However, over the last month, I've discovered a few nifty little features:

It has a "see my usage" function, that allows me to track my bill for the current month.

It lets me know when high demand days are coming up.  On those days, if I keep my usage low, we save extra money.  Tomorrow is going to be a high demand day.  We already have plans to turn the a/c up higher than normal during the day in order to cut costs.  I have aI f load of laundry I'm going to run first thing in the morning, and then I'm going to hang it outside before I go to work.

I planted a boatload of flowers in pots over the last month.  I love the pop of color on the porch. Instead of watering the plants with water from the faucet, I've been leaving a bucket in a corner of the shower while I shower in the morning, and once I get finished, I water the plants with it.

A while back, I bought a tote bag.  I've been sewing extra badges from the girl scouts onto it.  I finally finished sewing the last of the badges on this past week.  Since I've been the leader of the troop for the last 7 years, it's a wonderful way to look back on all that we have done together over the last few years.

I finally got back into the library habit.  We've been going once a week!  We have now watched all of the episodes of Grimm that are available on DVD, and we are now working our way through Downton Abbey.

I have begun cleaning out under the stairs going down to the basement.  It's where we store all of our camping stuff.  We sorted all of our tents, aired them out, and made certain that all of the tents have all of their pieces.  They are all in one large bin now, as are all of the sleeping bags.  I've been purchasing the big bins at the rate of one a week.  We'll be getting another bin this weekend, and our mess kits, camp stoves, and other assorted gear will be going into that bin.  I'm hoping this corrals everything that's down there, but I suspect I'm going to need at least one more bin to get it all under control.

With the start of summer vacation, daughter is beginning to work her way through her assignments for her AP classes.  One of her assignments is to disassemble something and put it back together again in a different way.  Right now, I have the mess from an old keyboard all over the living room floor.  keys, screws, and screwdrivers (10 so far, she's stripped 9 of them....)  Okay, so no money was saved there...

What have you accomplished lately?

Books, Books, and More Books

I have loved books since I was a little girl. 

Several years ago, when I began working on my Master's in Library Science, (MLiS), if you had asked anybody who has known me for any length of time, they would not have been surprised to discover that I was working around books, once again.

But, I have noticed a disturbing trend.  Books - you know - those paper bound tomes, with hard covers - are becoming an extinct species.  Reading itself, and literacy are at all time highs in this country.  e-Books - Kindles, Nooks, etc, are everywhere, and people access books on their electronic devices almost constantly.  I know I do.  I take my Kindle with me whenever we travel, as a Kindle is much lighter and easier to carry.

200 years ago, the ability to read, and the possession of books was considered to be a mark of wealth. 

Benjamin Franklin, one of the founders of this country, made his living with a printing press.  He published newspapers, and a little gem entitled "Poor Richards Almanac" which literally changed the course of history. 

Bibles.  The word of God, handed down to man.  Used to be that a big, ornate family Bible was the one valuable item in the possession of many families.  People have died because they possessed one.  For the longest time, it was considered heresy for anyone except the priests to actually hold and read the word of God.  Many years ago, I was humbled by the opportunity to hold a martyr's Bible.  Covered in blood outside and in, someone died for possessing that Bible and attempting to read the word of God for him or herself, without the priest telling him what the words meant, and what he should think about those words.

Do you remember Beauty and the Beast?  Do you remember when Belle and Gaston are talking in the village square, and she tells him that she is reading a book?  What is his response?  Something along the lines of "Books are bad for women.  The next thing you know, women are getting ideas and thinking for themselves."

Alas, our world has changed. We don't value books, and the knowledge the way we used to.  We think of our books as something that we can easily dispose of or get rid of.  I can pick up books at my local Goodwill for $1.50. 

A young girl named Malala was shot in the head because she was going to school, and fighting for the right of young women to get an education and READ BOOKS.

The 200 young girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria were stolen away because they were in school.  In school, learning to read, and getting new ideas.

The next time you're out and about, take a look around.  Do you still have a bookstore in your community?  Look in your library - how much space has been taken over by computers? 

I understand that there's YouTube and articles on the Internet.  However, nothing - no not anything - beats the feeling of holding a book in your hands, and reading the words of beauty and longing that some long dead author put to paper ages ago.  It's a direct line to our past.  Me, my book, and some author, having a conversation about a series of events or sharing knowledge about how to do something in the best possible way.  Even better, when the action gets to the point where I MUST know what happens next, I can flip ahead in the book a few pages to make certain everyone is okay, and then I can flip back again.

Better yet, I never have to plug a hardback book into the wall in order to make it work.

I love the printed word.

image: www.dictionary.com
on their Facebook page.

Relay For Life

Cancer has had an impact on our family.

3 of my favorite Aunts - all of my Dads' sisters, lost their battles with Multiple Myeloma.

My mother and stepmother are both 10 year cancer survivors.

My father in law lost his battle with Pancreatic Cancer just 3 months after he was diagnosed.

My grandmother and grandmother in law both list their battles with Ovarian Cancer.

Over the years, we've lost young friends to cancer: Jennifer, age 18.  Andrew, age 16.  Cameron, age 12.  Brandon, age 4.  Sadly, the list goes on. 

Lives ended far too soon, taken by a horrifically wasting disease that eats people up from the inside out.

We decided several years ago that we would fight back.  We would find a way to help raise money for cancer research, and so we joined Relay for Life, started a team, and began raising money.

The money raised at Relay for Life goes to support cancer research and treatment.  It is making a very real difference in our understanding of how this disease begins, and how best to fight it.

Last night was our area Relay.  For 12 hours- from 7 pm to 7 am, members of your team walk continuously around the track.

The journey through the night is symbolic of the journey a cancer patient makes during treatment.  The dark and difficult hours between 1 and 3 am when only a handful of people are out on the track, plodding along.  And then, at the darkest hour?  When you are tired and exhausted?  The sun slowly begins to peek over the horizon, showing the glorious hope & promise of a new day.

I do believe that we are within ten years of big breakthroughs.  There's work on a test for pancreatic cancer - a non invasive test that would catch that deadly cancer in its earliest, and most treatable stage.  Can you imagine?  Groundbreaking research has been occurring in nutrition - and what role diet and food has to play in the progression of this disease.  New cancer therapies are constantly being found and making very real differences in the lives of people everywhere.

Much of this research is funded through fundraising efforts, and Relay for Life is one of those efforts.

For several years now, we have been participants.

Relay is a huge party.  We celebrate the survivors.  We honor the caregivers.  We remember those we've lost.  And still, we keep moving forward.  Many teams are family teams, with several generations participating.  Many are groups of friends, united by the fight or loss of a loved one.  Other teams are civic groups, churches, or businesses.  Everyone sees people they haven't seen in a year.  People catch up with each other, people reminisce, and celebrate the fact that we're making a difference.

I invite you to find out more about Relay in your community.  If you've never been, go.  Most Relays have a kids walk- a dynamic, wonderful couple of hours where the young kids get to bounce around and celebrate life.  

The most meaningful moment is the luminary lighting- when the luminaries around the track are lit in honor and memory of those who have fought the battle against cancer.