Consistently Inconsistent

I am wildly inconsistent. My poor blog is always being neglected. I wonder if I will ever be a real blogger? Aww, who cares. I'll write when I feel like it. Maybe I will try to add more of my Facebook stuff to the page. Maybe this is a good venue to share or "repost" some of the things I do there...who knows? But I can say that I love my life right now. Consistent or not, I'm happy...I love my family and I'm thankful for my live. Now I'm going to go finish watching the 3rd Transformers and fall asleep on the couch.

Free Stuff: Dont' Be Afraid to Ask

There is a seminary in Hyde Park that recently moved. I know folks there so I asked if they had any bookshelves. They said yes, I asked how much and they said, free. I was thrilled. The first visit, we got three new bookshelves and two lateral file cabinets. It was awesome. Now I am working on getting all my books organized into them.

A couple of days later, after their big movie, we went back because I wanted another bookshelf. By then the facilities folks were pitching stuff like crazy because they needed to be out of the building the next day. I asked if there were any office chairs available. They said, it's all fair game. Crazy!!!

Sooo, we got a few things:

office chair for my office at church

leather(?) chair for guests

another lateral file

a shop vac (it may or may not be in working order but my husband knows how to fix vacuums)

a coat tree (I hope to refinish it this summer but I might just clean it up and leave it as is)

a reading lamp, black

a torchiere lamp, white

a laminating machine and the laminating sheets*

a case of paper

book ends (metal library kind)

African cloth (I don't understand either)

a tote bag

a side table

*Okay, when the laminating machine and the case of paper was still there I got worried so I double checked and it was, in fact, fair game.

That's the thing about moves. Folks get tired of moving stuff. The person who buys all the new stuff doesn't care about the old stuff and the clean up folks and the purchasers are rarely the same people. I'm not even sure if they have a conversation! Things to remember when coordinating a move for a company or family.

Things I wanted but couldn't fit in the van or my house:

cute little wooden file cabinet

nice gray couch

another black leather chair

gorgeous heavy wooden desk that I have no space for at home

a sideboard with drawers and doors

another sideboard with doors and a space for a fridge

a fridge

another bookshelf

another office chair for the home office

I would like to suggest that business and organizations, coordinate their moves with smaller, poorer business, organizations and people so that they can benefit from this phenomenal opportunity. It would leave workers and movers with less work, it would benefit people who can't afford stuff, it would make clean up easier, etc. Now that you mention it, I could make a whole business out of coordinating the "disposal, donation and sale" of items such as these. All I need is a storage unit, a truck, and a website. I'm not sure I have time for that sort of thing, honestly, but it's wildly appealing. It would feed my desire for free stuff, my love of logistics and my dream of giving away cool stuff to people in need and selling stuff to people who need a deal. That would be so cool! I could become a job creator because goodness knows, I don't have time to do something like this full time. Ooh, ooh, ooh, gonna have to pray on it!

Now about my free stuff, I'm still organizing but after I get it all together, I think my office and my house are going to be very cute and well organized.

The next time you see someone moving, and you are in the market for a few items, just ask if they have them? You might get a deal or even some FREE STUFF!

Juicing, Day 1

Sooo, I watched a movie called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and loved it. In it a very unhealthy, overweight man with an auto-immune disease decided to start juicing to detox, lose weight and get healthy. He went on a 60 day juice fast and traveled the U.S.A. sharing his story and his juice. He got super healthy, helped some other folks get healthy and now he has a website and endorsements. As I was watching it, it dawned on me that I had a juicer that I wasn't using. I purchased it last fall for $5 and it was sitting in my office doing nothing. At that point, I decided that I was going to juice.

Now it took me a few days the get going. I brought it home on Wednesday, after staff meeting, I went to the health food store (organic) and a produce mart tonight and I made my first juices. So cool!

First, I made the Mean Green Juice recipe from the movie. Here is the recipe:

6 Kale leaves

1 Cucumber

4 Celery stalks

2 Green apples

1/2 Lemon

1 piece of Ginger

I peeled the lemon before I juiced it, as instructed, and I totally forgot the cucumber. It was good. Neither my spouse or the Captain liked it and I didn't offer any to Sir. I will make this again tomorrow. Next, I offered to make a apple kiwi juice for Lewis. He accepted and the Captain suggested we include lemon and lime. So this is what we juiced:

2 apples (whatever was in the house)

1/2 lemon (organic from Sunrise Foods))

1 lime (Pete's Produce)

2 kiwi (also from Pete's)

We did that and the Captain loved it but Daddy thought it was a bit tart. So I tried it again with two apples and two kiwis. I couldn't taste the kiwi at all but the apple juice did not taste like store bought apple juice. It tasted just like apples. I thought that was really cool! I prefer that the store bought apple juice. Now the question is, how many kiwi do we need to juice to balance the apple flavor? I will try it again this weekend and let you know.

I'm really excited. I am not planning to go on a full juice fast but I am hoping that I can use juicing to fill me up so I don't eat as much junk and processed foods. I need to get drink container that seals so that I can make and take juice with me on my travels. I hope to chronicle what I am doing here to keep track of the recipes I use and the ones I create myself.

I look forward to doing this daily. Also wondering what to do with all the by product that I clean out of the juicer afterward. I wonder if it can be used for something? I'm looking that up now.

If you want more info on juicing, there is stuff all over the internet. I used myjuicecleanse.com, shout outs to them for having the Mean Green recipe and three other variations.

Walking Baby

On Sunday, Sir Lancelot walked from one couch to the other. It was so cool. He's doing more and more of that lately. It's no wonder, he's almost 1 year old. I texted my parents, my friends, my aunts and my cousins when he did that. Most of them responded. Most notably, my Dad who was taking a break from communication with me. That made me happy that he responded. And my girl, Candy, who said something to the effect of Sir Lancelot turning into a walking Texas ranger. Lord, I love my girlfriends. They tickle me so. I am so looking forward to his 1st birthday party (backyard BBQ) and baby dedication and reception at church. It's going to be a great Labor Day weekend. Go, Lance, go. Grow, Lance, grow!

I love my life.

Skincare Regimen: Day 1-2

So, I'm 40 and I really should have a skin care regimen. Not that I've never had one before but I'm rarely consistent. Rarely. But I wanted to try again. I figure if I'm going to live to be 102, I should take care of my skin. Because at 102, you don't want to look a day over 90 and 85 would be even better.

I decided to try the skin product I saw in my friend, AJ's bathroom last time I visited. She had a Neutrogena Naturals bottle on her vanity. I eyed it and decided to go buy some. So a few weeks ago, I bought the pore purifying scrub and fresh cleaning + makeup remover. I also purchased the Neutrogena pore refining toner because I get oily sometimes and my pores tend to show it. I'm also using the Aveeno Postitively Radiant Daily Moisturizer with spf 15.

Day 1: I tried the pore purifying scrub, the pore refining toner and the PRD moisturizer.

Day 2: This morning, I tried the cleanser, the toner and the PRD.

My goal is to wash cleanse and moisturize morning and night. More, if I feel oily and sweaty. I hope I can keep it up for 30 to 90 days and make it a habit. If I'm not satisfied, I'll add some anti-aging or a salicylic. I figure it will either be age or oil that will be the focus, if anything.

It's interesting that I wasn't doing much with my skin. I kind of let a lot of things go when I got married and started having children and became more budgeted. I think I got frustrated with a lot of things (time, money, organization, school, etc) and kind of stopped. i also took my skin and fitness for granted because neither have been a serious issue, up until recently(weight). I have noticed lately that I had kind of put my life on hold. I seemed to be waiting for things to get better before I did what I loved. I gave up a lot of loves for several years but now I'm trying to take better care. To be more mindful and a little less seat of my pants. I'm trying to be a grown-up, on one hand. And on the other, I'm trying to do what I enjoy. More organization, more self-care, more intentionality and more mindfulness.

So, I guess it's about way more than skincare. I'm kind of happy that I'm doing this. I'm also happy to be writing on this blog after so long.

Link Card Debacle

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/13/photo-ids-on-link-cards-f_n_848748.html?ref=fb&src=sp

So politicians in Illinois (read Republicans) are concerned about people misusing the Link Card system. They are concerned that people are trading their food card usage for money that they will, in turn, use for drugs. I believe this is a real issue but I do not think an photo will help.

A quote from HuffPost:

Aside from skepticism about the reasons behind the bill, the very notion of photo IDs on LINK cards is complicated. Food stamps are assigned to families, not individuals, and a photo ID would inhibit the ability of children or spouses to do the grocery shopping for the household. Plus, food stamps are a federal program, so the US Department of Agriculture would need to create a special exemption for Illinois to allow the state to make such a mandate, DHS spokeswoman Marielle Sainvilus explained to Illinois Statehouse News.

So I'm wondering...Since these cards are assigned to families. How many photos on the card?! Huh? Can we pick the photos? Can we put the baby on it too? How often can we change the picture? Kids grow up, ya know.

Another quote:

Representative Chapin Rose, a Republican from the suburbs of downstate Champaign, was the sponsor of the bill, HB 161. The legislation was originally a mandate that all LINK cards, the state-issued debit cards on which food stamp benefits are disbursed, have a photo ID of their owner.

After much amendment, it is now simply a measure requiring the Department of Human Services to consider the cost of such a mandate. But it still encountered uproar from Democratic legislators.

So are we are going to spend money on a cost analysis that could be done in two phone calls. I know the answer. The bulk production of cards is cheaper than individually personalized cards so we are looking at multiplying the cost 3 to 5 times what it normally is. Why do I know this? I asked my husband who worked in card production two years ago.

Another quote from HuffPost:

For his part, Rose claimed that the bill would save the state $750 million in fraudulent use of food stamp funds, though he provided few facts to back that claim. And he cited oft-quoted arguments about abuse of food stamps: “I don’t see what the efficacy is in handing someone the ability on a weekly basis to trade a card easily for drugs, for cash to buy drugs,” he said on the floor.

The persons sponsoring this bill obviously have no grasp on how this is actually done. Do we really think the images of a family of 4 are going to stop a "hype" (see www.urbandictionary.com , definition #5) from trading Link for cash? The answer is no. Which then causes me to wonder.. Is the strategy to spend the baby's food money on a cost analysis instead?

There is another option, spend the money for this discussion and analysis on education for children and parents, drug rehab for those who need it, more teachers, healthier school lunches, after school programs and decent grocery stores in food deserts. Heck, life skills training for parents and kids. We could do some much more and so much better than we are doing now and it wouldn't look like anyone was picking on poor people.

Stop Stressing out our Kids!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110413/ts_yblog_thelookout/hot-pink-toenailed-boy-in-j-crew-ad-sparks-controversy

Apparently, folks went crazy nuts because Jenna, J. Crew's creative director, painted her son's toe nails pink because it's his favorite color. There is drama about the "gay agenda" and all manner of crazy talk as a result. This pisses me off. Everything is not the gay agenda, the kid is not cross dressing and he's not going to be scarred for life because of a little pink enamel. She says in the ad, "Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon." And people lost their minds!!

I posted on Facebook, the following:

"People should shut up. Repeatedly. I'm exhausted by foolishness. My son's fav colors are pink and purple. What am I gonna tell him they CAN'T be his fav colors? Everything is not the gay agenda. STOP STRESSING OUT CHILDREN!"

Children choose colors because they are bright, pretty fun or whatever. I have really had to work with this since I've become a parent. My boy likes stuff because he likes it. He's only five and I'm not going to stress him out or berate him. THAT might send him to therapy way before his color choices will. When he tells kids at school about his favorite colors, they say, "Eww." Probably, because they've already been told those colors are unacceptable for boys. Stuff seems pretty cut and dry with the kids at schools sometimes. They'll find out later that it's not that simple.

In my circle of friends, we believe that we have some pretty good "gay-dar" and we actually think my son is straight but that is not really the point. If he were gay, I think I'd know by now, AND I do not think that avoiding pink nail polish would "ungay" him? I really, really don't.

Of all the things that people could point to for the "gay agenda," this was a dumb choice. Gay people will tell you what their agenda is. Use the internet and you'll find out all kinds of stuff like, no agenda, some agenda, more than one agenda, and the agenda is not about you, either. And I don't think they are using Jenna. Chill out! Of course, there are people who believe that everything should be lined up by gender. No trucks for girls but all the pink and skirts they can stand to wear. And no nail polish for boys but plenty of camo, cars and plastic weapons, and on and on but I don't think it's really that serious.

Now to be totally honest, I have never painted my sons finger nails or toe nails. And I have informed him already that some people will not understand his love for pink and purple. So, I'm guessing that I'm not as liberal as Ms Jenna but I'm not hating on her either. I tell him that so he won't be surprised by the judgement and because I hope that he will be resilient in the face of their silliness. I also want him to be proud of who he is waaay before I was.

I know I cannot guarantee that my son will have fantastic self-esteem but I can at least avoid crushing his happy and creative spirit. I can love him, I can teach him right and wrong and I can encourage his gifts. But none of that puts the usage or non-usage of nail polish on my list of major tenets of child rearing.

Poor Ms, Jenna, I'm sure people will be watching and waiting to see if that cute little boy "turns out" to be straight or gay. I'm sure if Jenna had thought about the crazies, she may have hidden his identity. I'm concerned that fools might be watching to see if they will be right. And I have a problem with that because watching other people's kids like that is just creepy.

Stop stressing out our kids. Please.