Me in Place

Today’s post comes flying across the waters from my favorite guest blogger, Carey. Carey and her family currently live in Cork, Ireland. 

Hi, All! I’ve really had quite the adventure while living in Ireland over the past few years. The latest discovery is more about myself and how Ireland has affected me. Here is my discovery/confession- I am a butter snob! Yes I said it;  Butter Snob! It is official. Butter Snob Butter Snob Butter Snob!

I didn’t grow up eating butter, it was a rare treat. It was, after all, the age of margarine. I’ve been able to travel home to the States a few times and have tasted butter now that I am grown. Wow! There is no comparison! I was first taken aback by the color of American butter- it’s almost white, while Irish butter is a lovely warm yellow. Then there is the texture- American is a bit… well, I couldn’t eat it. So let me tell you about the Irish butter, its texture is smooth and creamy. It’s not heavy but nice like Big Bird’s feathers would be if you hugged him.  The taste… oh really, just gloriously buttery. It’s what butter should taste like.

I think part of the reason is they are grass fed cows and the grass is always -and I mean always- a shade of green. In some areas the cows outnumber the people 4 to 1.

Here is another confession- my 1st year of living here on the Emerald Isle, I ate my weight in butter! The fantastic bread here was just a tool and an excuse to eat butter. The way the Dad on A Christmas Story felt about his leg lamp? That’s how I feel about Irish butter, oh glorious butter!

Now don’t think I am slagging all things American. I love America! I am American and proud of it but this tiny green island has us beat in the butter catagory.

Just a side note: one pound of store brand butter is about 3.25 but I was so excited I got the butter pictured for 1euro! that is about $1.50. Best deal in Ireland I have found so far.

I don’t see myself as a literary critic, but I am someone who reads an average of 70 books or so a year, so I definitely have my opinion of what I like and what good writing is!

- I’ll give a short review and opinion of each, but you’ll just have to trust me that they’re good and read them yourself without too much pontificating on my part (Remember, I’m a short attention span girl.)
- I let myself down completely when I finished up my list and realized I’ve only read about 50 books this year. Whaddup?

5. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. I found this book hilarious and totally interesting; others found it disturbing and battles erupted over it all over the internet. In it, Chua describes her parenting of her two daughters. Forcing both to practice for hours and hours  -even on vacation – so that they could be perfect at playing the piano. Well-written and interesting and, dare I say it, funny.

4. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Rubin decided to tackle the task of “being happier” by turning non-concrete goals into tangible lists to follow and charts to mark. She pursued goals such as being a better mother, being a better wife, being a better friend. Loved the idea and loved that she turned it into something she could track. I totally get that.

3. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein. Okay, so it was probably my fifth time through the book, but this time? This time my kids were finally old enough to listen. I read it out loud and loved it when they referenced Gollum or the ring or Gandolf in the months to come. I read and re-read the first few sentences to them many times, and asked, “Do you get it? Do you see the beauty in those words?”  In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. ”

2. EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey. Ramsey gives excellent advice on running your own business. Do I need to say it again? Excellent advice. Read it.

1. And my top favorite book of all year, and possibly of the last ten years, was actually a volume containing two books, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image by Dr Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. Amazing, amazing books. They combine the miracle of the human body and relate it to the spiritual Body of Christ. How do the parts all work together? Why is pain a good thing? I wish I could give a proper review of this book in eloquent words…but I would fall short, no matter how much I tried. Please just give this book a chance!

Two Honorable Mentions go to:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (interesting medical and human interest story)

Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Claire Davies. This was probably the most practical book I read and also goes to prove I read any book whose title is mentioned in front of me. Must Get Help.

For a complete list of books read this year you can look HERE (although it is still a work in progress…)

What was your favorite book of this year? 

1. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Sarah McLachlan and Barenaked Ladies

2. It Snowed by Meaghan Smith

3. Soul Cake by Sting

4. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by Chris Botti

5. A Baby Changes Everything by Faith Hill (Sooo glad we’re doing this in church this year – for the last five years it’s killed me when the service ends and this hasn’t been sung – it’s the whole message!)

Bonus: Yazala Abambuti – Actually, this is “Come, Thou Fount”…but it’s on a Windham Hill Christmas CD. I’m trying to find more info about it – like, who sings it…Absolutely beautiful.

Here is my list from last year:

Being a Music Ambassador throughout all the Land, I feel it my duty to offer you delicious selections for you to search for on your cute, compliant computer.And if you have suggestions, let me know!

Time to Make Cookies Playlist:

Accordion Bells – Leo Kottke
Another Christmas Song – Stephen Colbert
Baby, It’s Cold Outside – Lady Antebellum
Carol of the Bells – William Joseph
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen – Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan (Hey, I didn’t name their band!)
The Carols Those Kids Used to Sing – Statler Brothers (What my mom listened to while we made Christmas candy)
Go Tell It On The Mountain – Lorie Line (Oh, the memories I have of us playing this arrangement at church! Fun!)
Soul Cake – Sting (SuperBoy’s Christmas favorite currently)
The Complete Nutcracker Suite – Philip Aaberg
Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies – Harry Connick Jr
Deck the Halls – Larry Coryell
Auld Lang Syne – James Taylor

Sigh at the End of the Day:

Angels From the Realms of Glory – Barbara Higbie
Christmas is Coming – Vince Guaraldi
Christmas Time is Here – Sean Harkness (or the Vince Guaraldi one)
December Morning – Jim Brickman
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow – Chris Botti
Little Drummer Boy – Steve Erquiaga (love this one)
New England Morning – William Ackerman
Oh, Christmas Tree – Michael Ruff & Snuffy Walden
Sussex Carol – Sorry I don’t have artist’s name, but it’s Windham Hill produced
Walking In The Air – Windham Hill Christmas
Winter Wonderland – Phillippe Saisse
Yesterday’s Rain – Snuffy Walden

Singing Loud for All to Hear (In My Car):

Winter Song – Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Willie Nelson
It Snowed – Meaghan Smith (My personal Winter Season Theme Song)
Sleigh Ride – Wilson Phillips (Overproduced harmony fun!)
The First Noel – David Archuleta
Do You Hear What I Hear – Kristin Chenoweth
The Christmas Song – The Carpenters
I Need a Silent Night – Amy Grant
Dream a Dream – Charlotte Church (Pull out that Opera voice!)
O Come, O Come Emmanuel – Sugarland
Baby Changes Everything – Faith Hill
Silent Night – Sarah McLachlan

You’re Too Lazy to Download Individual Songs:

Search for anything produced by Windham Hill
Artists with great albums:
Harry Connick Jr
The Carpenters
Faith Hill
Chris Botti

I’ve lost weight this year. It wasn’t without struggle, as anyone who has lost weight would understand. I put aside the cereal, the breads, and the mindless eating of M&Ms and ate my weight in protein. I guess it worked and I’m resolved to keep going! Here are my Top 5 Favorite Foods eaten on my diet.

1. Quinoa – a complete protein (unusual for a plant food), quinoa has replaced rice in my diet. Quinoa is now sold in pretty much any grocery store, including Target, but I buy the large bag at Costco. Make it with reduced sodium chicken broth and it gains flavor. My favorite variety of quinoa is Seeds of Change Uhuni Quinoa & Whole Grain Brown Rice. It comes in ready to heat pouches – stick in the microwave for 90 seconds and you’ve got your side dish. (Trust me, when you’re battling to make the right choice in what to eat – quick cooking is a GREAT asset!) I buy these at Costco.(When you eat a rice/quinoa mix, you are getting carbs from the rice…just so you know if you’re tracking protein/carbs!)

2. Pork Tenderloin – my favorite dinner is this spiced up pork tenderloin. It’s actually a meal the whole family loves it! Serve with brown rice or quinoa and veggies and you’ve got a healthy meal. *Recipe below!

3. Planter’s Wholesome Nut Mix (just changed its name from South Beach Diet Mix) – my evening snack. Replacing mindless cereal eating with a snack of macadamias, almonds, cashews and peanuts has saved me hundreds of calories. (I have to buy this version, where the mix is in pouches, because if I buy the can of them…I eat them!)

4. Zone Chocolate Mint Bars – My morning meal and the only protein bar I like. Every morning. Zone bar and coffee. If you tell your brain enough times that “this is what I eat for breakfast”, that’s what I eat for breakfast. Or is that just my brain?

5. String Cheese – ‘Nuff said.Best varieties are found at Woodman’s. A store I hate, but will make a special visit to, just to get the smoked string cheese varieties from Wisconsin.

*Spiced Up Pork Tenderloin

2 16 oz oz pork tenderloins
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp chile powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
Olive Oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp fresh garlic, finely chopped
Tabasco sauce (optional)

Serves 8ish

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix  salt, pepper, cumin, chile powder, and cinnamon. Coat pork with spice rub.
3. Heat tablespoon of olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat and brown pork, turning, about 4 minutes.
4. Stir together brown sugar, garlic and a little Tabasco and pat on top of tenderloin. Place pork in roasting pan and cook. Because I double the recipe, it usually takes almost an hour.

This year it was all Harry Potter.

Harry, Hermione and Ginny.

And our youngest, going as a grumpy burnt marshmallow.

Goals for Week October 31st –

Physical:

1. Workout 6x
2. Find new outdoor track for 5K
3. Complete class goal – go to Zumba!

Kids:

1. Trick or treating!
2. Do Science experiments with all three
3. Begin new book: Minstrel in the Tower

Intellectual:

1. Finish EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey
2. Finish Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

Budget:

1. Coupon deals – Sunday…have finished by Monday
2. Balance checkbook for Oct
3. Pay November bills

Carrying Through:

1. Laundry
2. Meal Plan

Future Plans:

1. Start Christmas list
2. Start Christmas card idea
3. Plan 12yo’s bday!

We are just getting over our Fall Illness 2011. It was a rough one for me – as the mom. Two kids and I got sick. One kid escaped (although she’s suspiciously sniffly today) and Husband escaped. The two got bad coughs and fevers and stuffed up noses. I got a sore throat, stuffed up nose and general malaise. I love the word malaise.

The night I realized I was going to have to make The Decision, was the night SuperBoy was struggling to breathe. The gasping for air, the rasping breath, the crying for me to come sit with him…it’s all too much for a mom. So The Decision? Whether to take in my child for the $107 checkup to see if he needs medication or not. I am always afraid I’m going to make this choice and then be told, we can’t give him antibiotics, mom. (Like I’m some sort of antibiotic addicted mother who demands them at the first sneeze.) Or to be told, (as I once was) this child has strep – she’s been sick for two weeks, you say? Why didn’t you bring her in?

Anyway, I made The Decision, and sure enough, he had strep throat. We got the antibiotics and he was on his way to health.

Meanwhile, my own germaphobe reaction to sickness – constantly washing my hands, taking Airborne, taking vitamin C – did nothing to help me escape and down I cam with the illness. Although I’m feeling better, I’m still feeling like my brain is two miles behind everything else in the world and have had several awkward conversations where my brain just couldn’t catch up to what was going on and oh…it’s embarrassing. But, one day at a time, and here’s hoping we now get credit for Fall Illness and don’t have to suffer through Christmas Eve Sickness. We deserve that, right?

(This is SuperBoy and me during our sickness. We were going stir crazy. I bet you couldn’t tell.)

It’s been a while! Reasons:

1. I didn’t feel like it.

2. I hate when I say something on here and then suddenly my family thinks they know what’s going on with everything.

3. I was super obsessed this summer with some other stuff and just didn’t want to talk about it.

But, here I am, at my kids’ co-op classes with time on my hands and I was excited to get caught up a bit! I also just spilled coffee all down the front of me, so I figure if I quickly start typing, it will distract from my oddness, and rather, make me look professional.

A pro with coffee down the front of her.

The most important thing you need to know is that we had to put our Tempo down this summer. She was 15 years old and a good cat, but had a thyroid problem and age issues and it was just time. I was nominated as the one that could handle taking her in to get put down, but when the lady asked me a little about her, suddenly I was crying in the vet’s office. But if you can’t cry over a cat in a vet’s office, really, where can you?

The good part is that we knew this event was coming, so we decided to get a new cat in preparation for it. New cat’s name is Lhotse and she is a Himalayan. Two things: Lhotse is the name of the mountain next to Mt Everest and a Himalayan is a mix between a Persian and a Siamese. She’s friendly and follows people around everywhere and she has the weakest little meow we’ve ever heard. And we love her.

If I hear another comment about women being late and how long the man had to wait for her, I’ll puke. Here – as an example – is a list of What a Mom of an 6, 4 and 2 year old would pack for a weekend:

-Stroller
-Diapers/Pull-ups
-Diaper wipes
-Pajamas x3, plus extra for the 2 yo
-Pants x3, plus extra for the 2 yo
-Shirts x3, plus extra for the 2 yo and the 4yo
-Dresses for church x3
-Shoes for church x3
-Hair ponytail holders or barrettes
-Favorite stuffed animals x3
-Underwear x3, plus extra for the 4yo
-Snacks for the car
-Juice or water bottles x3
-Car seat for the 2yo
-Booster seat for the 4yo
-Socks x3
-Tennis shoes x3
-Sandals or flip flops
-Camera
-Phone
-Medicines (allergy, headaches, bandaids for wounds)
-Clothes for the mom
-Shoes for the mom
-Hair dryer, hairbrush, hair products
-Makeup
-Books for mom to read in the twenty minutes she can in the car
-Toothbrush x3
-Toothbrush for herself
-Toothpaste
-Cash
-Tickets
-books for kids for the car trip
-Toys for kids for car trip
-Swimsuits x3
-Swim arm bands
-Swim inner tubes

What the Dad Packs:
-Socks
-Pair of shorts
-Two shirts
-Razor
-Toothbrush
-Underwear

For forever I’ve wanted to take the kids on an adventure with Uncle Roger – it finally happened last weekend, when we went to the Illinois Train Museum. Other than the heat, it was an enjoyable experience. Made more enjoyable by the fact that I got a family one day pass, so it was free. I enjoy free. It puts less pressure on the rating-of-the-experience.

Trains everywhere. Train enthusiasts everywhere.

They had a five-car-long train set up so you could see the different compartments people would have traveled in. Here’s SuperBoy in a bunk.

Ever seen this sign before? Bet you have.

We rode on an electric bus, an electric train/trolley/something (sorry, I’m not a train enthusiast) and a Zephyr. The rides consisted of going forward two miles, then back two miles, then switch tracks…and end.

We also stopped at an exotic pet shop – just for the adventure of it. But it’s going out of business, and there weren’t many exotic pets. Except this guy. He was exotic. And hungry.

After that, we met up with Aunt Sally for dinner at Nick’s pizza. All in all, a great adventure day!