A look back on 2014

2014 has been an interesting year for me. 

We had the coldest winter we've had in the Mid-Atlantic region for quite some time.  While our pipes never froze, our wood stove got a work out that it hasn't gotten in quite some time!

The Common Room at the Women's Retreat

The girls in my Girl Scout Troop all earned their Gold Awards.  (Girl Scouting's highest award)

I received an award for excellence in volunteerism and leadership.

The women of our church got away for a weekend and went on a retreat together - without our families or our husbands.

We visited a lot, and I mean A LOT of colleges with daughter!  I enjoyed every single school we visited.  The kind of funny thing is that when I was looking at colleges, I was told I had to remain in state.  So, I did.  Many years later, we are letting daughter look wherever she wants at colleges.  We have looked at schools up and down the East Coast.  Ironically, her final choices are in-state schools. 

I spent a day in February lobbying in Annapolis for legislation that would impact the victims of domestic violence.  While I'm glad that domestic violence is now in the national spotlight, I am saddened by the fact that the reason it came to the forefront was the very well publicized incident between Ray Rice and his wife.

I began a new job.  Since 2009, I had been substitute teaching.  I am a certified teacher, and I'd had hopes of being hired back as a classroom teacher.  After 5 years of substituting, I finally admitted to myself that I was not going to be hired.  I had finished my MLS in 2013, with the goal of being hired as a school library media specialist.  In January, I began putting my application out to libraries throughout Maryland.  In April, I began a job - as a librarian- in an academic library.  Not quite the path I had planned on taking, perhaps a less traveled path than the one I had planned on, but I am enjoying the job and the work!  It's a challenging place to work, and I definitely use my brain every single day I'm there!

This summer saw a unique opportunity for my daughter and I to spend some quality time together.  She is taking AP 2D art this year, and her concentration is photography. She had a long list of pictures that she needed to take before she went back to school in the fall. 

We traveled all over Maryland and Virginia, taking pictures and seeing the sites that we normally ignore.  I don't know that we'll ever have another opportunity like this one again, so I enjoyed every single moment of the time that we spent together.

Husband replaced the ceramic tile floor in our hallway with laminate.  He pulled out the huge, overgrown bushes in our front yard, and he diligently worked at cutting down all of the trees and branches that fell down under the weight of the snow last winter.  We ended up with a cord of wood.  Unfortunately, it's going to have to season, so we won't actually be able to burn it until next year.

There were some pretty horrible things that happened this year. 

My son's friend, Patrick, died at the age of 19 in an accident.  So full of promise, so full of life.  The pain that his family has gone through this holiday season has broken my heart.  You can talk to them all you want, and you can be there for them, but in the end, they've lost a child, and there's nothing that is going to make that better.  That hole is going to be there forever.



My mother had a brush with death.  Her colon ruptured - not once, but twice.  She had a massive tumor, just above her rectum.  The doctors put in a stoma.  (A place where the waste leaves the body.  It's on her stomach.)  The stoma failed (it rotted, and turned black - gangrene) and had to be replaced.  A battle with pneumonia, and one with c-diff, and another one with congestive heart failure made her stay in the hospital a constant adventure.  8 weeks later, she came home.  She's very weak, but we all feel that she is better off at home than in the hospital.  No new germs to be exposed to, and she's sleeping better in her own bed than she was in the hospital.  Thankfully, her insurance covers a nurse to come in and check on her several times a week.

GET A COLONOSCOPY!!!  All of this could have been avoided with a colonoscopy....  the tumor would still have been there, but it's possible it could have been caught when it was still a polyp, and if it had progressed to the tumor stage, the surgeries could have been handled laproscopically.

Oldest son had a friend named Shannon who died last week at the age of 23 from the flu.  She was a nurse, and engaged to be married this summer.  Another tragic loss.  The funeral is this afternoon.  Another young life, full of promise, gone.

Such is life.  Full of ups and downs.  Great joys and great sorrows.  Being able to share it somewhere has been a joy.  Knowing that there are people out there who find the time to come back and read what I write gives me great joy.  You'll never know what it means to me.  Thank you for journeying through this past year with me.

Hug your children tight.  Hug your parents tight.  Let the ones you love know you love them.  Tell them frequently and often.  Enjoy the moments and opportunities you have together. 

Best wishes to us all for a prosperous, happy, and joyous new year!

What to do with all that Ham

We had ham for Christmas dinner.  It was a big ham, and we've had some leftovers.

Besides sandwiches, what have we done with all of that ham?

Western Omelets
Cubed Ham
Diced Onions and Bell Peppers
Eggs
Dash of Milk
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

• Saute the ham, onions, and peppers.  When the onions turn translucent, remove from pan and set aside.  Keep the pan on the burner and keep the burner on.
• In a large bowl, crack the eggs (I use 2 for me), add a dash of milk, and whisk the eggs and milk together until light and fluffy.
• Spray the cooking pan with non-stick spray. 
• Slowly add the eggs to the pan.  Since the pan is already hot, the pan should "grab" the eggs as you add them and they should start to cook quickly.  Using a rubber spatula, pull up the edges of the eggs and allow the raw egg to flow into that portion of the pan.
• When the eggs have set, add the ham mixture and the cheese.  Very gently, fold the omelet in half as you slide the omelet out of the pan and onto a plate.

Stir Fry Rice
3 cups of rice, cooked
Diced Ham
Diced veggies - carrots, bell pepper, celery, onion, etc.
Soy Sauce

• In a skillet over med-high heat, add a chug of olive oil.
• Saute the ham and veggies in the oil until heated through.
• Add rice, stir constantly for 1 minute.
• Remove from heat, add soy sauce to taste.

Note- if you want, you can scramble an egg to add to your stir fry.  Do this first, remove the eggs, and then follow the rest of the directions.  Add the egg back in after you remove the skillet from the heat, but before you add the soy sauce.

Split Pea Soup
6 cups water
4 chicken bullion cubes
(see my recipe for bullion cubes here:http://mini-van-mom.blogspot.com/2013/06/blog-post.html)
2 cups split peas. dried
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp thyme
1 Bay leaf
1/2 tsp pepper
1 ham bone, make sure it's got meat on it.  If it doesn't have enough meat, chop up some leftover ham and add it.

• In the slow cooker, add all of the ingredients listed above.  Add the split peas, and make sure that the ham bone is snuggled down in the beans.  If the water does not completely cover the soup with two inches to spare, add more water.  For every extra cup of water, add another bullion cube.
• Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
•  Stir well before serving.

There are those awkward ends and chunks of ham that are too small for sandwiches.  What to do with those?  I diced a lot of ham and froze it in one cup servings in sandwich bags.  1 cup is a perfect size to add to most recipes.  The end of the ham, I chopped in half with the help of a butcher knife.  The ends have been frozen and added to the "stuff" for future soups.  I have bones, ends of meat, etc, that I save in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer.  I label the outside of the bag, because while it's easy to tell what kind of bones I have from the outside, it's very difficult to tell what the contents are when I pull out a frozen mass.  Chicken bones?  Beef Bones?  Two soups I approach very differently!  I actually have a section of my freezer set aside for soup "stuff'.  You know that basket that sits across the top of a chest freezer?  That's where I keep my soup stuff.

With just a little pre-planning, you can set yourself up to have things on hand in your freezer that will save you time and money down the line.  Even though you might have to remember to pull stuff out the night before, it's well worth the effort!

What did you do with your leftovers from Christmas?

This Year's Flu Strain

The flu seems to be hitting our area very hard this month.  It's a strain that is not covered by this year's flu vaccine- so if you did have the shot, don't assume you are covered, you are not.  The disturbing thing about this strain of flu is how quickly it is turning to pneumonia and killing people.

A young friend of ours, age 23,was admitted to the hospital Christmas morning. She had spiked  a fever and had a cough that she thought was "wrong".  (She was a nurse.)  She died Friday night.  Keep in mind, she first began presenting symptoms Christmas Eve around noon.  Shannon was the picture of health, a runner through high school and college.  She was a fantastic young lady who had dreams of going places, doing things, and changing the world.

I heard that last night, our hospital was so full of people with the flu who were having trouble breathing, that the wait time to be seen was 9 hours.

This year's strain is a killer, and it is our responsibility to stop the spread of this flu in it's tracks.

Signs of the Flu

• A fever of 100* or higher, and feeling feverish.  (not everyone with the flu has a fever)
• A cough and/or sore throat.
• A runny or stuffy nose.
• Headaches and/or body aches.
• Chills
• Fatigue
• Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Symptoms of the flu are more intense than those of a cold.

When Should You Visit the Emergency Room

Seek medical attention immediately if you experience any of the following:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Purple or blue discoloration of the lips
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Seizures
• Flu-like symptoms that improve but then return with fever and worse cough

Source for the above information: http://www.flu.gov/symptoms-treatment/symptoms/

Treating the Flu

STAY HOME

Don't go to work.  Don't go to school.  Don't go run errands, or go to the grocery store.  STAY HOME so that you don't spread this!  If you really need groceries, most grocery stores now offer home delivery.  If you need a pick up from the pharmacy, call a friend to pick it up for you and have them drop it on your porch for you.  Some pharmacies offer a drive-through pharmacy.  You can still pick up your meds, but you don't have to go into the store and risk picking up a secondary infection while your own defenses are down, or infecting other people.


Keep in mind, the flu is a viral infection, not a bacterial infection.  As a result, antibiotics will not work against the flu.  Tamiflu does work, but it must be taken within the first 48 hours of the onset of the flu.  Even then, you have to be able to find a pharmacy with Tamiflu in stock.  From what I heard yesterday, all of our pharmacies were OUT of Tamiflu.

You can treat flu symptoms without medication by:

• Getting plenty of rest
• Drinking clear fluids like water, broth, sports drinks, or electrolyte beverages to prevent becoming dehydrated
• Placing a cool, damp washcloth on your forehead, arms, and legs to reduce discomfort associated with a fever
• Putting a humidifier in your room to make breathing easier
• Gargling salt water (1:1 ratio warm water to salt) to soothe a sore throat
• Covering up with a warm blanket to calm chills

Source: http://www.flu.gov/symptoms-treatment/treatment/

Prevention

WASH YOUR HANDS.  Every time you pass a sink, wash your hands.

DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE.  Even if you did just wash your hands, don't touch your face.  The mucus membranes around your eyes and nose are a prime entry point for germs.

Be careful when touching shared surfaces.  Use a paper towel to open bathroom doors after you wash your hands.  Wipe down shared keyboards.

At the grocery store.  Yep, I wipe down my cart handles, and I pack my own groceries in my bags.  However, I also wear gloves when I shop during flu season.  Yes, it looks a little odd.  They're the magic stretchy gloves that I picked up at the store end of season several years ago.  I wear them in the store, remove them when I get in the car, and wash them when I get home.  I am a germophobe.

Sleep.  Stick to your normal sleep schedule.  Make sure you are getting 8 hours of sleep a night, and go to bed and wake up at the same time each day.

Cover your mouth when you sneeze.  Have you seen the vampire sneeze?  You sneeze into your elbow.  If you use a Kleenex, throw it away as soon as you finish blowing your nose or catching your sneeze.

Stay hydrated.  Your body is a well oiled machine, but only when you keep the fluids topped off!

Exercise.  Okay, this time of year, people head to the gym.  But stop a minute and think about it - if the flu and other viruses thrive in enclosed places, the gym might not be the place to go.  If you can, get outside and get some exercise.

Cover your mouth when you cough.  Again, the vampire cover.  If you don't have a tissue handy, use the crook of your arm to cover your cough.  Those tiny little droplets are filled with germs, and they travel a very long distance before they stop.

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/stopgerms.htm


My friends, stay healthy out there.  Do what you can to stop the spread of this strain of the flu.  If we all work together, we can stop this killer in it's tracks.

Merry Christmas!

Poinsettias in the library!

Beautiful angel sitting outside of the church sanctuary. Hark!  I hear the angels sing!

Music from our cantata. This is from my favorite song!

My mom has given me these ornaments over the years.  They are from the White House Historical Society. The barn that they are sitting in is made from wood salvaged from the barn on the family farm. 

The Christ Candle is lit!! Christ is born!

It's our Christmas tree!  There's a cat hiding under that tree, surrounded by boxes. 

Resolutions

I will be posting sporadically for the rest of this year.  My kids are home, we've got stuff going with family and friends, and I still need to get the last of the baking done.  Keeping that thought in mind, I wanted to take one last look at my resolutions for 2014.  All in all, I am pleased with the job I have done keeping my promises to myself.  I'll set another round of goals in 2015.  Keeping track of my goals publicly has done a fantastic job of keeping me honest over this past year!  I am wondering what great things I'll be able to tackle next year!

1) 365 Grateful.
2013 was a very stressful year for our family.  I finished graduate school, middle child graduated from college, and DH was in an accident that totaled our car. I had an abnormal mammogram screening, and there were the consultations that surrounded that mammogram.  We still have not replaced that car yet.  That is on the MUST DO list for next year!  At the end of last year, I found myself stressed out about the things that had happened, and the what might have happeneds.  I made a vow to myself to focus on the good, and the positive, and work to find that happy place - even in the midst of tribulations.  It was worth every minute.  While this year has been no less stressful than last, I have found myself searching for the positives in some pretty heinous situations in order to keep myself sane.  Negative: Mother has a colon rupture not once, but twice?  Postive: She's still here.
Negative: It took me a year to find a job after I finished grad. school, and that was only a part time job, with no benefits.  Positive:  It's a job in my field, and I'm gaining some pretty concrete skills.

2) Lose 10 pounds
I lost the original 10, and lost 12 more, for a total of 22 pounds.  For right now, I am attempting to keep those 22 pounds OFF for the holidays.  That is some serious progress!  I can't wait for the results of my blood work to come back after my check up next month!

3) Run/Walk
This was a massive fail.  I am walking, but not a lot.  Running never happened.  I will not cut this goal out next year, but I will find a way to make this goal attainable!

4) Get out of Debt
Working on it.  I even set up a fancy new spreadsheet over this past month that has helped me tremendously.  I now know where my money suckers are coming from! 

5) Finish Cleaning Out the Basement.  BWah-Ha-Ha.  I should just bring a dumpster in and dump it all.  I sent a van load full of stuff to the White Elephant sale at the church, another to Goodwill, and still another to the dump.  I also burned out the motor on my shredder.  I'm going to have to get a new shredder so I can keep going!

6) Finish Oldest Child's Quilt.  The top is finished.  I added a border to it in order to make it long enough to fit him - all 6 feet some inches of him.  I pieced out the back, and purchased the batting to go inside.  I am going to have to find a big space of floor somewhere to pin it all together soon.  I still don't think I'm going to finish this before Christmas. It would take a miracle.  Update: this quilt is currently folded away, in a bag in my closet.  I'll get back to it after the holidays.  I still need to add batting to it, and I need to pin it.  For that, I need a lot of space.  Like a church floor.  I won't have that kind of space available until after New Years.

7)  Spend More Time With my Family
With 2 kids in college, and a Senior in high school, finding time to do this is a priority.

8) Finish that Book I Keep Saying I'm Going to Write.
Done!  I began working on this in 2008, when I was still working in the public library!  Building Blocks for School Success has been released on my Lulu author site.  You can find it here:  http://tinyurl.com/l76245p.  Wow... it was a thought I had one afternoon while working the public information desk in the children's section.  Who would have thought it would take this long to research it?  The first time I finished it, Common Core was introduced, and I needed to go back and revise way more than I care to acknowledge.

9) Finish The Hallway Bathroom.  Okay, this is a post for another day.  I've found the money suckers.  I'm beginning to save money.  It makes me wonder what's going to break next?  Update:  it's been a month since I wrote this post.  Nothing has broken yet.  I'm beginning to get very concerned.

10) Get Back into my Music.  Have done.  I sing Alto, but NO SOLOS!  (Ha... I sing solo no one can hear me! hahaha!   Alto joke...)  Our church has been advertising for a flute choir. I haven't touched my flute since I was in high school.  I've been debating whether or not to even try and join.  They've set the lower age limit at 10.  I wonder what the number of years without practice will be set to?

How have you done with your resolutions over the course of 2014?   Are you ready to join me in setting and KEEPING some resolutions in 2015?

Cash vs. Plastic

Last year, three of our credit cards were compromised by various data breaches.  One was compromised twice.

As a result of this, husband and  I decided that we were going to switch to paying everything we possibly could by cash.  It's been an eye opening experience in keeping us well within our budget. 

With our credit cards, we were able to charge when we didn't have the cash on hand.  If we couldn't pay the entire balance, that was fine.  We could carry it over to the next month, and with a fee, we could pay it off later.  Unfortunately, we were tending to let that amount that we carried over from month to month grown a little bigger each month. 

That's the danger of credit cards.  Easy money, and no immediate consequences.  Sure, the bills keep getting a little higher each month, but bottom line, they allow you to fudge your finances.

With the coming of the data breaches, we had a wake up call.  Our accounts were frozen while everything was worked out, and we were forced to switch to paying cash.  We'd been working towards it for a while, but then once the accounts were frozen, HEY, we had no choice anymore.

Our cards continued to accrue interest while they were frozen, though.  And the balances still needed to be paid off.

Meanwhile, we were attempting to pay cash for everything.  It's a rough switch when you go from paying credit for gas in the van to having $40 in cash to fill the van, and that might not be enough to get you back and forth to work every day during the week.  (So thankful gas prices have gone down this past month!)

So, yeah, we had frugal economies shoved down our throat a little faster than we wanted.  We had been working towards it for a while, but now we HAD to do it.

Eventually, we did work out the issues with the credit card companies.  They deleted all of the disputed charges, and sent us new credit cards.

New cards, that we could immediately start charging on - even though there were still outstanding balances on the other cards that had to be paid.

We talked it over and decided we weren't going to be sucked into the entire credit card scam again.

We've continued paying cash for everything since then.

It's been an interesting experience in cash handling & budgeting.

All of our Christmas presents were paid for with cash this year.  We set a budget and stuck to it.  I've been buying items since the beginning of November.  Several clerks in several stores have looked blankly at the cash I've handed them and asked me "What is this?"  When I reply "cash", they have had to call their store manager.  In one particularly memorable store, the manager asked if I could please pay with a credit card.  I replied no, I would not, and told her that I no longer wanted the merchandise and they could void the sale.  They then agreed to accept my cash, but I had to wait for the manager to get the change out of the safe in the office.

I've also had to teach several clerks how to count change.  It's becoming a lost art.  Because we have become so dependent upon credit transactions, many in our younger generation do not have a clue how to count change.

In the meantime, living within the very tight budget that we set after the last credit card breach, we've slowly gotten more of a cash flow- actual cash- than we've had in quite some time.  The first few weeks, we were lucky if we had $20 left over at the end of the pay cycle.  We ate a lot of soups, and a lot of beans, and cooked very creatively in order to cut our grocery bill back to the bone and free up more cash.  I honestly think we're healthier now that we're living lower on the food chain.  I'll find out for certain when I go in for my check up early next year.

Cash vs. Credit.  Living well within your means vs. living on borrowed time.

I'm a convert to the cash lifestyle.   
 

I Love Clifford, the Big Red Dog!

source: http://tinyurl.com/npc4nhu

 

 

I love Clifford.  I grew up with the Clifford books.  Emily Elizabeth was one of my favorite characters, and I loved the gentle world of Clifford and Emily, where problems were presented and solved with some thought and a little humor. Through first, second, and third grade, I would purchase a Clifford Book every time the Scholastic Book orders came home with the option for a new Clifford Book.

Eventually, I grew up and had children of my own.

When I was pregnant with my oldest child, I was teaching.  One of the Scholastic orders came through with the option of purchasing Clifford.  Clifford was the first thing that I purchased for my as yet unborn baby.  When we has just a tiny little thing, Clifford sat in his crib, watching over him.  The stuffed dog wasn't that big, but he was just about the same size as my tiny little newborn.  I have a couple of pictures of him with that stuffed dog that I am going to have to dig out and post on here. 

As the next two children came along, Clifford became one of our favorite sets of storybooks.  I could count on Clifford as a great story that would captivate their interest and keep them interested in the story.  The Clifford books were among the first books that they all read independently.

In 2000, something magical happened.  Clifford, the Big Red Dog became an addition to the PBS Kids line up.  I hadn't let my kids watch television up until this time, but... this was Clifford!  Voiced by the incomparable John Ritter, Clifford came to life in our living room every morning, sharing lessons about friendship, love, and problem solving.  Oh, how we loved Clifford, the Big Red Dog!!!

Eventually, we left Clifford behind.  And yet, my oldest still keeps his Clifford tucked into his dresser drawer.  I walked into the living room over Thanksgiving to find my kids - ages 17, 19, and 21, watching Clifford, singing along with the theme song, and reminiscing about the time they spent looking at maps, attempting to identify the mysterious Birdwell Island.

Norman Bridwell, and his characters, had a huge impact on me, my children, and countless others around the world.

He passed away last weekend at the age of 86 on Martha's Vineyard.

I will miss you and your characters, Norman Bridwell.  You had such a gentle way of teaching our kids about the world around us.  I hope that your life was truly as gentle as the one you portrayed in your books!