Functional again

A few weeks ago, I had the 2nd of theoretically 3 rounds of Hep A and B vaccinations for our upcoming trip to Ecuador.  And it didn't go well.  I got intensely sick with a serious migraine, terrible nausea and stomach turning plus a full night of vomiting every 20-30 minutes.  It was 5 days before I ate solid food and about 10 days before I wanted to do much of anything besides alternate between napping in bed and napping on the couch.

This week with Bill out of town, I've just had to buck up so I could get kids places and help them with school work.  Still did lots of sleeping on both the bed and the couch - even the dr.'s waiting room for a few minutes. I *never* fall asleep out in public.

Today was a new day, though.  I felt relaxed and rested when I woke up and mostly maintained that state with the help of one little power nap.  Here's proof that I'm back. Today, with little effort and much enthusiasm, I:
- ran the dishwasher twice
- ran three loads of laundry
- was clear headed and courageous enough to keep the kids home from playdates because I realized the amount of bickering and refusal to do work meant they needed more connection with me and each other
- listened to an hour of Neufeld's Anxiety course with riveted attention and didn't accidentally nap
- got out the Halloween decorations and exited the kids about taking charge of decorating the front porch
- harvested a planter box of cherry and plum tomatoes AND roasted them along side plenty of garlic
- cleaned out the cucumber box (I'm never planting pickling cucumbers again, they just don't work for me)
- ate about 10 hot wings
- took out Rosie's braids and didn't have to nap at anytime during the process

It is super nice to be functional again - for both me and my kids.  I can't wait to take on the rest of the tomatoes and the basil tomorrow.

Fancy dinner

I don't know where the child learns this stuff, but on a whim last night Theo set a very formal dinner table including 2 forks, 2 spoons and 2 knives.  I felt obliged to meet the level of fancy, so I quickly  ended up putting together a very simple 4 course meal.  The kids were delighted with the pause while I served up the next course rather than just having everything put out on the table at once.

Here was our "fancy" menu:
Salad course - tomato, cucumber, pesto salad and Indian veggie pakora
Soup course - chicken consumme with rendered duck fat
Main course - BBQ chicken on cauli-rice with delicata squash accompanied by lots of butter
Dessert course - paleo chocolate chip cookies and a cup of hot tea

Made me miss my favorite tasting menu at Rover's in Madison Park.  I think the last time I was there I was vegetarian, which just goes to show how long it has been.  I wonder if they have a paleo option.  Mmmmmm.

On Being Used Up

I've been inspired by this quote over the past few months.  It reminds me to keep focused on who I want to be, not the many tiny details that aren't working out the way I want them to in this moment.

There is the true joy of life: to be used by a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; to be thoroughly worn out before being thrown on the scrap heap; to be a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that life will not devote itself to making you happy.
            George Bernard Shaw

Political fact checking

In the days after the first of the 3 presidential debates, I noticed quite a few emails in my various communities flying around with accusations of how much Romney lied. Knowing that both of the 2 major candidates are politicians and that speaking off the cuff in a high pressure situation lends itself to exaggeration, I started wondering if maybe President Obama's truth rate really trumped Romney's by that much or if maybe it more likely matched his opponent's.

A curious fact finding search landed me at two fascinating web pages.

First is a site that asked my stance on various issues and then matched me with the best candidate: ISideWith.com  Most shocking to me was how little I actually understand about many of the issues actually at hand in this election - and despite that I was considering myself an educated voter. I've not yet delved into learning about these issues (and quite honestly may not in the next few weeks), but hopefully at least I'm a bit more humble about my true place in the world. At the end of the quiz, I was also slightly chagrined to learn that I'd never even heard of the candidate I most closely align with.  43 years old and still so much to learn about the world...

The second site I'm totally fascinated by.  Politifact.com, not surprisingly, fact checks statements by politicians and rates them with helpful and entertaining categories like true, mostly true, mostly false, flip, full flop, pants on fire.  Turns out both Romney and President Obama and their campaigns look pretty equal to me with some serious gaffs on both sides.  And I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to me to be able to easily go somewhere and figure out how the sound-bite of the day really rates.

In the end, I'm not sure any of this actually influences my voting - I still strongly hold the values I hold.  I do think these sites both help me be a better educated and engaged member of our Republic.

How about you?  Do you have any favorite political truth or clarity sites to share?

Rosie's in a music video!!

Check out how cute she is!  Our family is so proud to get to contribute to this video for an issue so close to our hearts.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' Same Love

The real problem with Gatorade

No, the real problem with Gatorade is not the high fructose corn syrup. Not the sucralose.  Not the glycerol ester of wood rosin (what???).  Not the FD&C color # of the day. Not even that it comes in blue.

The real problem is with Gatorade is that it tastes so darn good.  

This week I got really sick.  After way to many hours of throwing up, my dear hubby decided I needed something to keep me from getting dehydrated.  He provided me with a wealth of options - lovely purified water from our filter, organic lemon/maple syrup drink he made himself and a bottle of green Gatorade.

My body was wrecked, my liver was working overtime, and every 30 minutes I'd find myself waking up craving another suck out of the high-fructose, neon-colored sports bottle. Weird. I'm pretty sure the stuff is highly toxic, but maybe my body recognized its deep need for salts and chose the Gatorade to meet its most basic needs.  But I don't think so.  I think the stuff just tastes weirdly good.

Healthy enough to drive myself around town today but not really wanting to get too close to solid food or much water, I made the health-concious, responsible choice to pick up some organic, non-sugar plant based sweetened electrolyte powder.  It's great, I notice I'm feeling better with more fluids in me, and I'm not stressed about the secondary effects of what I'm putting into me.

But it sort of tastes like my 1980's memories of Crystal Light and my tongue is crying out, "Where's the Gatorade?!"

Flock of Eagles?

Tuesday on our way to Park Day with the Seattle Homeschool Group, I *swear* I saw a flock of eagles over Wallingford and 45th. I tried to take a picture, but nothing came out.

Am I crazy?  Anyone every heard of a flock of Bald Eagles?  Could they possibly be over Seattle?