It Happened

We are now a complete Honda family. Rest in peace POS car.

For Jen

In honor of Jen's visit:

Belated Goodbye to a Beautiful Voice

Joe Paterno's death is sad, I agree, but how about a little more notice for Etta James as well?

Most probably know her for the song, "At Last." A great voice and lady for sure.

Intermission

I have been temporarily sidetracked from my poverty posts by the Rosetta Stone Tagalog course I received ages ago and just now am able to run. It's awesome! And time that could be otherwise spent on the Internet has been devoted to that. What makes it more mesmerizing is the fact that E loves it too and calls it, "Da weawy fun game!" Love it. Now maybe he can learn with me! He already knows buhok, ilong, bibig and mata from earlier.

Birding

Everyone should bird. It's good for the soul. :) I saw my first wild bufflehead yesterday.

In Times Like These

Sometimes I get really tired of running so damned hard to even attempt to remain in the same place. 

Those of you who know me well know that poverty is one of my pet causes. I do what I can to help out those less fortunate than I, but at the same time, we're not in a place to make a huge impact. So my next weapon is education and understanding. Those who haven't felt the sting of abject poverty don't always understand how and why it happens. They also don't understand those at its heart. In that vein, Dresden at Creating Motherhood has begun an "In Times Like These" project that is quite fascinating. I'm so glad to have gotten the chance to participate. Head over there to read my guest post on her blog and to find out more about the project.

In the next week or so, I'm also going to be hosting posts from others related to this subject near and dear to my heart.

A Little Bit of Books

I've been sampling books on my Kindle Fire lately (post to come on its pros and cons). One of those was Chasing Rainbows by Kathleen Long. Have any of my fertility challenged homies read it? What did you think? I liked the first two chapter samples. WARNING: infant loss and infertility dealt with in those two chapters.
And secondly, am I the only one who has read all about what happens in the Hunger Games series out of fascination but is too afraid of the depressing aspects (children killing children because they have to) to read it for real? I liked the sample but am afraid to take the plunge. Please say I'm not the only dork.

Sometimes Infertility Awareness Hits those who Don't Even NEED it.

So if you've been following, you'll see that a few posts down, I introduced my sister and her new blog. This was her first exposure to my blog, and it took me a lot of gearing up to do that. Part of it is because I didn't want her to feel some of what she expressed in this beautiful letter to me. However, I do appreciate her sweetness. As Jen has said, "You didn't NEED a lesson!" So true that the people who really should learn so often don't, while the ones who are already wonderful, continue to try to grow from their experiences. 

I received this email after she read this post from all the way back in 2007:

Hey!  I browsed through your blog a little bit.  I really only looked at 2007.  I saw a post on there that about made me cry.  And I wanted to apologize, for not thinking of your feelings then.  It was the one about buying a pink dress for your baby.  I never even stopped to think how that could make you feel you know.  Its just an assumption that one has, that everyone has babies, no one stops to think of the problems that one could have in the process. And thats the way I thought of it then.  But now knowing that you felt sad because you thought you couldnt give your nephew a cousin, makes me sad, because I feel like I added pressure to you in a sense.  So I just wanted to apologize for not realizing how that must have made you feel.   Im so happy that everything you had to go through you ended up with an amazing outcome.  I love you and your little man!! 

P.S. She thought about my feelings in regard to that all the time!

Sick Sucks

Isn't it the crappiest when someone you love feels miserable? After a particularly bad coughing fit I ask E, "Are you ok?" He says, "Yeah." Than a short while later, "Mommy can wipe my eyes?" They were streaming with tears from coughing. argh.

Introducing... My SISTER!

My sister is currently a loving, wonderful SAHM. She loves her job but also would love to get back into doing some of the work that she enjoys. In that vein, she's started an event planning blog to get ideas, share ideas and use that wonderful brain of hers. (Make her share her brownie cornucopia idea and photos. You. will. die.) 

So please welcome her by heading over to her blog if you will. This will be her first time venturing into the blog community, AND her first time reading this FCiF blog. She is just as anonymous as I am, so there won't be any identifiers. 

Her current blog title is: Inexpensive Event Planning. 

Thanks for any support you can give! She's pretty special.

Love,
FCiF

This is a Rice Spatula

Since a few of you have never seen one... They come with rice cookers (which everyone should have in my opinion). This one is my favorite as it's a heavier duty one bought at Target.
Enjoy my late 70s early 80s era counters. Someday.

Toddler croup

When is it bad enough that you should go to the doctor? When should you take them back to daycare/school?

Cranberry Roast

OK, so I had lots of cranberries left over from Thanksgiving since they had a big sale at the grocery. I love making cranberry sauce. My favorite recipe can be found here on the Pioneer Woman's site.

So basically what I did is to substitute agave nectar for her maple syrup. I think the dark or amber agave works better in this instance... more flavor. I find the light agave better for basic flavoring in teas etc.  To make the roast, I threw all those ingredients for cranberry sauce, about a cup of water, a few Tablespoons of soy sauce, black pepper to taste, and a few pinches of Italian seasoning in a crock pot along with a sirloin tip roast. Then I turned it on low for 8 hours. The end.

My husband and my guest pronounced it scrumptious, so I say it was good! You can add some corn starch and put it on high at the end to make a thicker gravy, but I didn't bother. (I'm too lazy.) I just used the plain old broth for our No Yolks noodles. I added some whole green beans and sweet potato souffle, and life was good.

A Beautiful Afternoon

Thanks Caillou

Yesterday in the dairy section of the grocery store, E suddenly said, "Those are farm fwesh eggs!"
Not sure if I heard correctly, I said, "Did you just say farm fresh?"
E: "Yes! Farm fwesh eggs!"

A Favorite Healthy Snack

I have 2 problems with food daily.
1. Finding healthy, yummy things to eat that won't make me sick. (metformin and lactose intolerance)
2. Finding higher calorie, healthy things E will eat to keep that boy NOT HUNGRY.
Something I stumbled on was to mix my non sugar peanut butter, a banana, and a healthy glob of agave nectar into a delicious gloop. Then we either eat it straight or smeared on a sandwich. Mmm wonderful with a cold glass of lactose free milk.

Things I Learned this Christmas

• Rice spatulas work as GREAT cookie dough stirrers. The dough doesn't stick as much. They're very sturdy, and it's easy to scrape the sides of the bowl.
• Pediped is actually pronounced PEE DEE ped. Huh. I don't like it.
• I think one of the reasons my cloth diapers weren't getting as clean in the washer is that my Rockin Green soap wasn't even dissolving completely in hot washes (which I hate doing. I prefer warm.) I was trying to use it up on regular clothes since the boy will no longer wear cloth, and I find it spattered all through and on top of the washer. 
• An alternative down mattress pad is lovely.
• I like my life. 
• Cranberry roast is delicious (and I don't even eat beef!). I made up my own recipe. I shall share it soon.

Letters

And in three minutes, it will be two years since I delivered you, and my life changed forever.
Always,
M

Well FLORIDA is freezing over...

I had suspicions I ovulated. I even had suspicions it was on about cycle day 14. Then I had suspicions AF was coming... about 12 days after that. And HOLY SHIT can you believe I was right?? Do you realize this gives me a 29 day cycle? And do you realize that in the last 9 years, that's only happened ONCE, and that was on Femara? (clomid and injectibles couldn't do it). Even when I conceived E, I was on about a 45 day cycle.
I am too excited for this, I swear. My theory is that the break from pregnancy and nursing broke the PCOS cycle. You'll recall that I had longish but regular cycles on no meds post partum. But then they began lengthening, blood lipids got crazy, and back on Met I went. But since I was not yet as advanced in the PCOS as I was before E, it didn't take as much to get me back on track. It's enough to make one want to reconsider the whole no more pregnancies thing... Or at least lend my ovaries to someone who could use 'em.