Monthly Archives: March 2010

03.16.10
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setting goals

Crazy Friend #1 called me the other day. “Do you want to run in the Army Ten Miler?”

Boy, do I. There is nothing better than a big race to prep for that keeps you motivated to run. One tiny problem: my foot hurts when I run. The injury goes back four years (and when you blog about things like this, you can look it up and tell a doctor the exact day it happened). I had another x-ray on the foot two weeks ago, and the doctor put me in for an MRI, so perhaps it’s something fixable. We’ll see.

I would have to register in a few weeks for the Army Ten Miler or the tickets will be all gone, so I can’t wait to see how the foot problem resolves itself. As I waffled on what to do, Crazy Friend #1 told me that Crazy Friend #2 was going to do it. Oh, the peer pressure. Of course, I agreed, and then called Crazy Friend #3 and convinced her to do it too. We’ll have to make team t-shirts. Maybe somebody can come up with a cute name: CHARM (Catholic Homeschooling Army wives who Run like Molasses)?

I counted the number of weeks to the race (more than 30), and decided to do Hal Higdon’s 8 week 5K training program, followed by his 8 week 10K training program, followed by his 10 week 15K training program. Today’s 1.5 mile run wasn’t too bad. I actually went about 1.75 miles because my foot didn’t start throbbing until then. I haven’t been able to run more than 2 miles since before Mary was born. Perhaps it will be a ten mile limp.

03.11.10
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Another reason to raise strong daughters

NJ man accused of raping, beating 5 daughters :

“I’m sure my not standing up to him didn’t help the kids.”

Ya think?

Abuse continued until she left him. I will never understand this. I can not imagine the thought processes that keep women in these situations for longer than it takes to find the front door.

03.11.10
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What’s yours is mine

Mary and her siblings ate their fast food dinner in the car between picking the girls up from ballet and driving the boys to baseball practice. Later, when I sat down to eat my very hot potato soup at home, she climbed into my lap. I picked up a small spoonful, blew on it, and offered her a taste.

“Oooo, yummy,” she said.

“Would you like a bowl of your own,” I offered, “or do you just want to sit here and eat mine?”

“Eat mine,” she said. Meaning, of course, eat mine.

03.10.10
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Fabulously Creamy Tomato Soup

Two Lents ago, I was in Kansas (and, yes, it makes me dizzy to think that was two moves ago). The chapel on post did soup dinners before stations of the cross every Friday, as many churches do, and, as it was very child friendly, we attended every week.

One Friday, I was happily gulping up one of the yummiest cream of tomato soups I had ever had. A woman sitting at my table confessed to being the cook and generously gave me the recipe. I ate it often until the cool days of spring gave way to summer when I don’t prefer to eat hot soup.

And we moved.

Last Lent, I remembered the recipe and searched high and lo to no avail. I poured through every online recipe exchange I knew of and found nothing that was remotely similar. I was disappointed, but I got over it and the recipe faded from memory.

And then we moved.

A few Fridays ago, my friend-who-lives-down-the-street-and-whose-husband-is-deployed invited us over for dinner (Bill was gone). “I have tomato soup,” she said. “It’s not YOUR tomato soup, but it’s good.”

“MY tomato soup?” I said. “What tomato soup?” I tried to think of the last time I had made tomato soup…and that had been two Lents ago…in Kansas…where I met this friend… “You mean from Kansas? You have that creamy tomato soup recipe?”

She did. She also explained that she had lost it, so she googled it and found it online. I don’t know, maybe I spelled it “to-MAH-to.”

It’s the cream cheese that makes it delicious.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, cubed

Directions:
1. In a saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender. Stir in tomatoes, soup, milk, sugar, basil, paprika and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Stir in cream cheese until melted. Serve immediately.

03.07.10
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Helping others by clicking the mouse

Via email:

Our Military Kids applied for a grant from the Pepsi Corporation called “Refresh Everything”. In 2010, Pepsi will give millions of dollars to fund good ideas that make the world a better place. Our Military Kids applied for a $50,000 grant award to provide grants to cover fees for enrichment activities for children of members of the Armed Forces who have died while serving our nation. Our Military Kids receives many requests from the families of these fallen service members, but to-date, our organization does not have the funding to award grants to these children who so richly deserve our support.

The good news is that the Our Military Kids’ idea for a grant to fund this new project has been accepted by Pepsi. Now Our Military Kids needs your help in order to receive the grant. Starting on March 1, you can go to the www.refresheverything.com site and vote for the Our Military Kids project to support the children of fallen service members. You will find the Our Military Kids’ logo, a picture of one of our grant recipients, a You Tube Video about Our Military Kids, and a description of our proposal which begins with, “I want to help children of fallen soldiers deal with the loss of their parent.”

All projects will be eligible for a public vote and the projects that receive the most votes will be awarded grants from the Pepsi Corporation. Please vote for our project and vote often. You can vote once every day during the month of March.

The children of fallen service members who died while serving our country definitely deserve our thanks and acknowledgement for their sacrifice. Our Military Kids can fund a new experience that will offer them excitement and joy. It may not take the pain of losing a loved one away, but it will assist children through the healing process. With your help we’ll be able to show them how much our nation appreciates them. Thank you for your support of the Our Military Kids program and the children of our fallen service members.

*************

My family received over $1500 from this organization last year, which went to pay for fencing and ballet for my children. Their funds are for families of deployed soldiers who serve in the National Guard and Reserves. I am pleased that they would like to include children of fallen soldiers as well.

If you go to Pepsi’s site, you have to click on the $50,000 amount to find their listing. Or you can go here for a direct link to their ballot. You can vote for 10 different organizations per day.

03.05.10
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Sleeping on the couch

While my husband was deployed (as in, not living with me and the children for six months), I took over his job (one I thrust upon him) as Awards Chair for Billy’s Cub Scout Pack. Once a month I headed to the Scout shop and bought all the awards for all the boys in the pack and then filled out the necessary forms and cards. Once a month, things were a little extra hectic. No big deal. Organizations like Scouts rely heavily on volunteers, and that was one way we could do a big job without a daily or weekly commitment.

That pack was a very large pack and sometimes the awards were pretty expensive. I could ask the Treasurer for an advance of funds to purchase awards, or I could get reimbursed after the fact. The smart thing would be to get the money in advance, and I did once, I think. But, honestly, I never saw the guy who was the Treasurer. Nor am I really good at that sort of pre-planning. So, usually, I would use my credit card and then I would mail the receipts with a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Treasurer who would, at some point, not necessarily very quickly, mail me a check. I am fortunate in that we could afford this inefficient system. I do not recommend it, though.

One of the last things I did before we moved was put one last lingering receipt in the mail. It was for less than $50, which is not going to break my bank, but is certainly an amount worth the trouble to get returned. The check finally came in the mail today. Fine.

What gets me is not the length of time it took to get the check. No, what gets me is the message scrawled on the OUTSIDE of the envelope: “I miss you!!” (His exclamation points, not mine.)

Did I mention my husband was deployed while I did this job?

Dude, you’re blowing my cover.

Ahem. Yes. Well. That looked just peachy to my husband as you might guess. Really, what was he thinking?

03.02.10
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I, Naked

I’m not a big fan of Pull-Ups, mainly because they are expensive and, if you’re trying to train a child to use the toilet, wearing a diaper is counter-productive. However, if you’re not trying to train a child to use the toilet but she refuses to wear diapers, the cost of Pull-Ups might be worth it to avoid puddles on the floor if those pretty little princesses on the front convince her to stay covered.

My life right now is a little messy. “Mary, put on your diaper,” I’ll demand. “No, I, Naked,” she’ll respond. Well, hello, Naked.

The fact is, it is time to bite the bullet and train her. I really don’t like potty-training.

I am amused by all the resources available to help a parent decide if the child is ready to be potty-trained. We don’t wonder if it’s time to teach a child how to use a fork or spoon. We don’t ask all our friends if our child is old enough to be quiet in church. We don’t look for signs to indicate that our child is ready to use words like “please” and “thank you.” We just do it. Raising children is a process, not an event.

Experience with my kids has taught me one thing about toilet training: it is not so much the child who needs to be ready…it is the parent. Many people criticize the EC crowd by saying, “The child isn’t trained, it’s the parent who is trained.” Perhaps. I’m not jumping on the EC bandwagon, but I would like to point out that these parents are not changing diapers, right? As I find out just how quickly I can dash from the dining room table to the bathroom with a naked toddler in my arms, I fail to see how the training process isn’t parent conditioning as well, no matter the age you begin.

It would be nice if kids trained themselves. My daughter, Katie, did when she was just 2. It was great. Most kids eventually will. You might have to wait 5 or 6 years for that, though. And honestly, if diapers were socially acceptable, I think my older boys would prefer them to actually having to stop playing baseball or riding their bikes or chasing bad guys. Girls at some point prefer cleanliness. Boys, at least mine, prefer convenience.

Sometimes moms prefer convenience, too. That’s where I find myself right now. Toilet training is work, and I just don’t want more work at the moment. Or so I think. This toddler who presents me with stinky diaper in hand is surely not making my life easy. So I have put together a quiz to help myself and other moms decide if now is the time to begin training. Give yourself one point for every “yes” and a half point for every half yes.

1. Are you tired of changing diapers?

2. If you use primarily disposable diapers, are you eager add $100 a month or so to another line item in your budget? If you use primarily cloth diapers, would you like to have more hours in the week to do something other than laundry?

3. Is your child refusing to wear diapers (or screaming in agony if you force the issue)?

4. Do you have the patience of a mule? If no, can you fake it?

5. Do you have absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to go for the next week or two? If no, do you have room in your vehicle for a kid potty and five extra outfits?

6. Do you think bribing rewarding your child with candy is a good way to get results?

7. Is partial or complete nudity of the trainee socially acceptable to all members of your household? If no, do you mind doing an extra load of wet and soiled clothes every day for the next week or two or three?

8. Do you have only tile and/or wood floors in your home? If no, do you own a steam cleaner? If no, is the outdoor temperature above 70 degrees? If no, do you have the patience of a mule without faking it as well as a supply of rug cleaner?

9. Can you run 20 feet in 10 seconds at the first indication of a need to “go”?

10. Are you prepared to observe closely and to drop everything the instant you hear a whispered “potty”, see a child grab the crotch area, or notice that particular look on a child’s face?

11. Do you know the location of every public bathroom for every single store or outdoor venue you plan to attend in the next few weeks?

12. Do you own a large supply of worn towels or rags?

Scoring

Less than 4 points: If you have children, they are still infants. Please realize that kids are messy. You need to budget for a steam cleaner and save those burp cloths for many future spills.

4 – 8 points: You like the idea of having trained children, but aren’t ready to deal with the mess and inconvenience. Inevitably, you and your child will have to do this, but now is not yet the time. Work on patience, stock up on cleaning supplies and start noticing where the public toilets are.

More than 8 points: You are physically and mentally prepared to dive into potty training. It’s not going to just “happen” miraculously, so get to it already!

I scored a 10, so I think I know what I’ll be doing for the next few weeks.