My apologies for being so slow to notice, but tag, I'm it.
(The idea is to give one word answers to the questions. As you can imagine, creatures of brevity such as myself will undoubtedly kick ass here. Or just ramble on about the rules with unnecessary verbiage. Um.)
1. Where is your cell phone? charging
2. Where is your significant other? kitchen (making the dry ingredient mixes for our gluten-free, vegan challah!)
3. Your hair color? dark
4. Your mother? passionate
5. Your father? focused
6. Your favorite thing? I have to choose? ha. I'm out.
7. Your dream last night? dream? as in sleep?
8. Your dream/goal? joy
9.The room you’re in? study
10. Your hobby? exploring
11. Your fear? stagnation/chaos
12. Where do you want to be in six years? here
13. Where were you last night? bed (with a wee red headed boy)
14. What you’re not? low maintenance
15. One of your wish list items? vegetable garden
16. Where you grew up? um. got a map?
17. The last thing you did? redid my shabbat menu. We have guests coming!
18. What are you wearing? jeans and a sweater
19. Your T.V.? nope
20. Your pet? nope
21. Your computer? ahhh.
22. Your mood? relaxed
23. Missing someone? yes, but he's making those tedious dry ingredient mixes, so it's a pretty fair trade, no?
24. Your car? scraped and comfy, with just a select few bumper stickers...
25. Something you’re not wearing? pajamas - it's past bedtime!
26. Favorite store? craft stores (with lots of beautiful, funky wood)
27. Your Summer? educational
28. Love someone? yes. yes. yes.
29. Your favorite color? yes
30. Last time you laughed? five minutes ago
31. Last time you cried? when I needed to
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
I think I can, I think I can - I know I can
This is in response to a challenge from AidelMaidel, and my thanks to the MIL who called to warn me that I was tagged:
The Rules are simple:
You have 15 minutes and 15 minutes only. Time yourself.
No making changes once the list is completed beyond correcting spelling mistakes.
Be Honest. It's okay if it's silly or strange or weird or disconcerting.
Resist the urge to explain yourself. Wait and see what other people will ask you to explain after they read your list.
Right, then, here we go.
I can...
* bake things my kids will – and can – eat
* crochet a kipa
* read a map
* tell a story
* give a detailed medical history
* be aware of the person in front of me
* empower
* give great big enveloping hugs
* sit and wait for a child who needs a moment
* give gentle, as-you-need-it-to-be hugs
* be a fierce, loving mother
* be a fierce, loving wife
* hold grudges
* be spiteful
* be strong
* collapse
* make a Shabbat meal that feeds the body and the spirit
* make a home
* make things grow. Most of the time.
* teach children to taste things, smell things, look at things and to think about what they learn this way
* fascinate small children
* make small children laugh. Sometimes from across the room
* be calm in scary situations, and spread that calm around
* erupt
* fold a lotus blossom out of paper
* multitask
* get lost in a book
* plan complexly
* accept my realities – sometimes
* advocate
* write a column that I’m proud of
* be generous, but I can also be selfish
* organize. Anything.
* effect change
* be stubborn
* be determined
* be opinionated
* keep my mouth shut. Sometimes.
* be honest.
* shove aside a phobia to needles
* delight in my friends, but I can also need solitude
* talk to my children about difficult topics
* read medieval English
* read a medieval manuscript
* share what I know
* share my values
* make a decent latte
* make a safe haven for my children
* make the Toddles’ hurts better with a kiss
* help the Eldest heal with a hug and a listening ear (and occasionally, a needle)
* learn to make a needle a way to show love
* make a needle-stick a time for fun and companionship
* recognize an emergency and act
* help my children trust me, no matter how scary the situation
* trust my children to work with me when it counts
* run a decent committee, but I’d really rather not.
* be content in my own skin
* worry about the ways that others see me. But I try not to.
* be content with my religious practice
* want to learn more, to be more actively learning about my faith
* see my limits, but usually because they’ve smacked me in the nose
* always try.
The Rules are simple:
You have 15 minutes and 15 minutes only. Time yourself.
No making changes once the list is completed beyond correcting spelling mistakes.
Be Honest. It's okay if it's silly or strange or weird or disconcerting.
Resist the urge to explain yourself. Wait and see what other people will ask you to explain after they read your list.
Right, then, here we go.
I can...
* bake things my kids will – and can – eat
* crochet a kipa
* read a map
* tell a story
* give a detailed medical history
* be aware of the person in front of me
* empower
* give great big enveloping hugs
* sit and wait for a child who needs a moment
* give gentle, as-you-need-it-to-be hugs
* be a fierce, loving mother
* be a fierce, loving wife
* hold grudges
* be spiteful
* be strong
* collapse
* make a Shabbat meal that feeds the body and the spirit
* make a home
* make things grow. Most of the time.
* teach children to taste things, smell things, look at things and to think about what they learn this way
* fascinate small children
* make small children laugh. Sometimes from across the room
* be calm in scary situations, and spread that calm around
* erupt
* fold a lotus blossom out of paper
* multitask
* get lost in a book
* plan complexly
* accept my realities – sometimes
* advocate
* write a column that I’m proud of
* be generous, but I can also be selfish
* organize. Anything.
* effect change
* be stubborn
* be determined
* be opinionated
* keep my mouth shut. Sometimes.
* be honest.
* shove aside a phobia to needles
* delight in my friends, but I can also need solitude
* talk to my children about difficult topics
* read medieval English
* read a medieval manuscript
* share what I know
* share my values
* make a decent latte
* make a safe haven for my children
* make the Toddles’ hurts better with a kiss
* help the Eldest heal with a hug and a listening ear (and occasionally, a needle)
* learn to make a needle a way to show love
* make a needle-stick a time for fun and companionship
* recognize an emergency and act
* help my children trust me, no matter how scary the situation
* trust my children to work with me when it counts
* run a decent committee, but I’d really rather not.
* be content in my own skin
* worry about the ways that others see me. But I try not to.
* be content with my religious practice
* want to learn more, to be more actively learning about my faith
* see my limits, but usually because they’ve smacked me in the nose
* always try.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
tags, facts and leaps (and recipe!)
Note: check out By the Bay's latest post. It's a recipe roundup for another gluten-free blogger, who apparently has a range of allergies. She almost has as many as one of the boys!
Should be a rich post for folks looking for dairy free, gluten free, nut free foods - myself included. Thanks, BtB.
************
So, San Diego. Or, as the Toddles says, 'go Saniego? dere Saniego?' No, hon, it's Providence.
San Diego might have been beautiful - I don't know. We saw bits on the way to and from the airport, and it was lovely. I especially liked the carved out of a hill thing they've got going there. More important, though, was the people.
I remember doing this early on in the life of the Eldest, I just stood in the room full of families and individuals dealing with bleeding disorders, and my jaw hung open. Gee, they are all like us. I did the same thing when I met another mother of a kid with food allergies. Oh, there's more like us. Each new diagnosis, each complication, plot twist and curveball made us feel more isolated, more odd, harder for the doctors to predict and manage. It sucked.
Since then, I've stopped looking for for doppelgangers, but if you ever meet another family managing bleeding disorders and allergies whose list trail down your arm, do let me know. But I relish my belonging moments where I can find them, and I kinda, sorta had one in San Diego.
There we were, the Eldest and I, tired, hungry and slightly smelly in a room full of people with bleeding disorders and quirky immune systems. If I didn't push the resemblance too hard, it worked - but most importantly, these were people who the docs didn't see coming, folks whose bodies were stubborn, different, funky. I could relate, no problem.
They were also in wheelchairs, using canes, cradling bleeding joints. I couldn't relate. We haven't had a major bleed in months, just stubborn minor bleed after minor irritating bleed. The difference is to be relished.
So, what's new in the world of inhibitors? Not so very much. Lots of desperate people and worriedly guessing doctors. Off-label uses abound, people were scrounging for ideas, talks about research were rapidly unravelling into 'well, this happens to me' or 'this is what we've seen in him.' Yes, I was part of that. I was also the annoying one who said things like, 'when you say 'normal survival study,' how would you define that?' Heh.
Here's what I learned: the Eldest's survival study, or how long the clotting meds last in his body, would not be considered normal by the experts I spoke to. (When you say 'expert,' what parameters are you using to establish that status?) In fact, they'd consider him to still have an active inhibitor, albeit one operating at a very, very low level - a level so low that it's indistinguishable by the available assay. So what? The clotting meds *do* work, so who cares? Well, we do. An inhibitor (antibody to the clotting protein, see here about halfway down for the definitions) that is gone is less likely to recur than an existing one is likely to spike. Great.
No drama here, though - the Man and I have suspected and argued this for years, the Man having done so far more effectively than I, by producing models of the Eldest's various survival studies and showing how the metabolism seems to be operating. By now, we have enough data points, I'd say. So it's almost a relief to have this confirmed.
Here's the really interesting bit: there is a link between inhibitors and allergies. They are different immunoglobulins (the Eldest's allergies tend to be a classic IgE, while inhibitors are usually IgG), but the hyperactive immune system is what drives them both. Obvious, no? But not to most hematologists, who don't consider the situation from a hematological-immunological perspective. Our hematologists are more classic coagulation specialists, and tend to think inside their box. Similarly, the Man and I have argued this point for some time, and met with recognition and agreement from the Eldest's allergists, but only blank confusion from his hematologists. Well, then.
Does this change anything? Um, no. It means that specialists somewhere agree with us, that we're not crazy worried parents. Except, of course, that we are - especially after the Toddles' dramatic allergic reaction tonight to... (drumroll, anyone?) tomato.
Fuck this, we're done. (How many times can I say that? What am I up to, three? four? seven?) Next Yom Kippur I want a word with the Big Guy, and it is going to be pithy. We are now up to four new allergies this month: soy, black bean, egg and tomato, with chicken and avocado hovering as Under Suspicion. To say that I'm feeling desperate and scared is to underrate the concept of desperate and scared. But then again, I just came from San Diego, so I have a pretty good idea of what desperate and scared looks like when it's done by pros.
And if I feel like this, imagine my poor Eldest-child.
**********************
Huh. My first tag, first meme. Luckily, it's a pretty simple one.
"The Rules:
each player lists 8 facts about themselves
the rules of the game appear before the facts do
the player ends by tagging 8 people, which means listing their names and then going to their blogs to tell them that they’ve been tagged, then going back and commenting on their lists."
The Facts
1. I don't reliably connect faces and names. Even with people I know, I can recognize face/voice and still blank. It's amazingly embarrassing.
2. I used to hold the New York state record for 8 and under backstroke, 25 meters. Dunno why - I've always hated backstroke - we control freaks like to know where we're going.
3. I can get lost on a grid. Reliably. Which you'd think would be helpful, but it isn't.
4. Sitting in its box, my wedding dress looks like it belongs on a Barbie. Which is really funny, since I definitely do not.
5. My personal haven is the messiest room in the house - and I'm a neat freak.
6. I own only one lipstick, and I don't know where it is. But I know where it should be.
7. My first boyfriend told me I was 'cute, but would never be beautiful.' I decided he was eye-candy but would never be smart, and dumped him.
8. I poke needles into my kid daily, but faint when someone draws blood from me.
And I'm tagging Mother in Israel, Rabot Machshavot, The Virtual Tourist, the Precision Blogger, By the Bay, author of a matza recipe that saved my butt this past Pesach (okay, so it was unrecognizeable by the time I was done with it, but still it tasted good), magid, Dakota (the lady who made me my first wrap - congrats to you, mama!), and my alter-ego. At least, as soon as LiveJournal starts working again.
*************************
just because I can't let this post turn into a drama queen, here's this:
Mama's Cranky Carrots (I leave it to you to decide who is cranky, the mama or the carrots?)
4-6 servings
1 bunch carrots, chopped very very roughly
1.5 inches fresh ginger, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed with the flat of a knife
2 Tb oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
2/3rd cup pineapple juice, more as needed
salt
pepper
Toss the oil into a pot, and turn on the flame. While it's heating up, add ginger. Let the ginger saute for 2 minutes or so before adding garlic. When garlic starts to brown, add everything else. Stir.
Cover with a lid, and lower heat to medium. Let steam for 5 minutes, then uncover and let the liquid reduce until it's almost gone, forming a glaze. Take the pot off the stove and serve.
Note: pineapple juice smells very strong when it's boiling down. Do not fear - by the time you are done, both ginger and pineapple will have mellowed nicely.
Should be a rich post for folks looking for dairy free, gluten free, nut free foods - myself included. Thanks, BtB.
************
So, San Diego. Or, as the Toddles says, 'go Saniego? dere Saniego?' No, hon, it's Providence.
San Diego might have been beautiful - I don't know. We saw bits on the way to and from the airport, and it was lovely. I especially liked the carved out of a hill thing they've got going there. More important, though, was the people.
I remember doing this early on in the life of the Eldest, I just stood in the room full of families and individuals dealing with bleeding disorders, and my jaw hung open. Gee, they are all like us. I did the same thing when I met another mother of a kid with food allergies. Oh, there's more like us. Each new diagnosis, each complication, plot twist and curveball made us feel more isolated, more odd, harder for the doctors to predict and manage. It sucked.
Since then, I've stopped looking for for doppelgangers, but if you ever meet another family managing bleeding disorders and allergies whose list trail down your arm, do let me know. But I relish my belonging moments where I can find them, and I kinda, sorta had one in San Diego.
There we were, the Eldest and I, tired, hungry and slightly smelly in a room full of people with bleeding disorders and quirky immune systems. If I didn't push the resemblance too hard, it worked - but most importantly, these were people who the docs didn't see coming, folks whose bodies were stubborn, different, funky. I could relate, no problem.
They were also in wheelchairs, using canes, cradling bleeding joints. I couldn't relate. We haven't had a major bleed in months, just stubborn minor bleed after minor irritating bleed. The difference is to be relished.
So, what's new in the world of inhibitors? Not so very much. Lots of desperate people and worriedly guessing doctors. Off-label uses abound, people were scrounging for ideas, talks about research were rapidly unravelling into 'well, this happens to me' or 'this is what we've seen in him.' Yes, I was part of that. I was also the annoying one who said things like, 'when you say 'normal survival study,' how would you define that?' Heh.
Here's what I learned: the Eldest's survival study, or how long the clotting meds last in his body, would not be considered normal by the experts I spoke to. (When you say 'expert,' what parameters are you using to establish that status?) In fact, they'd consider him to still have an active inhibitor, albeit one operating at a very, very low level - a level so low that it's indistinguishable by the available assay. So what? The clotting meds *do* work, so who cares? Well, we do. An inhibitor (antibody to the clotting protein, see here about halfway down for the definitions) that is gone is less likely to recur than an existing one is likely to spike. Great.
No drama here, though - the Man and I have suspected and argued this for years, the Man having done so far more effectively than I, by producing models of the Eldest's various survival studies and showing how the metabolism seems to be operating. By now, we have enough data points, I'd say. So it's almost a relief to have this confirmed.
Here's the really interesting bit: there is a link between inhibitors and allergies. They are different immunoglobulins (the Eldest's allergies tend to be a classic IgE, while inhibitors are usually IgG), but the hyperactive immune system is what drives them both. Obvious, no? But not to most hematologists, who don't consider the situation from a hematological-immunological perspective. Our hematologists are more classic coagulation specialists, and tend to think inside their box. Similarly, the Man and I have argued this point for some time, and met with recognition and agreement from the Eldest's allergists, but only blank confusion from his hematologists. Well, then.
Does this change anything? Um, no. It means that specialists somewhere agree with us, that we're not crazy worried parents. Except, of course, that we are - especially after the Toddles' dramatic allergic reaction tonight to... (drumroll, anyone?) tomato.
Fuck this, we're done. (How many times can I say that? What am I up to, three? four? seven?) Next Yom Kippur I want a word with the Big Guy, and it is going to be pithy. We are now up to four new allergies this month: soy, black bean, egg and tomato, with chicken and avocado hovering as Under Suspicion. To say that I'm feeling desperate and scared is to underrate the concept of desperate and scared. But then again, I just came from San Diego, so I have a pretty good idea of what desperate and scared looks like when it's done by pros.
And if I feel like this, imagine my poor Eldest-child.
**********************
Huh. My first tag, first meme. Luckily, it's a pretty simple one.
"The Rules:
each player lists 8 facts about themselves
the rules of the game appear before the facts do
the player ends by tagging 8 people, which means listing their names and then going to their blogs to tell them that they’ve been tagged, then going back and commenting on their lists."
The Facts
1. I don't reliably connect faces and names. Even with people I know, I can recognize face/voice and still blank. It's amazingly embarrassing.
2. I used to hold the New York state record for 8 and under backstroke, 25 meters. Dunno why - I've always hated backstroke - we control freaks like to know where we're going.
3. I can get lost on a grid. Reliably. Which you'd think would be helpful, but it isn't.
4. Sitting in its box, my wedding dress looks like it belongs on a Barbie. Which is really funny, since I definitely do not.
5. My personal haven is the messiest room in the house - and I'm a neat freak.
6. I own only one lipstick, and I don't know where it is. But I know where it should be.
7. My first boyfriend told me I was 'cute, but would never be beautiful.' I decided he was eye-candy but would never be smart, and dumped him.
8. I poke needles into my kid daily, but faint when someone draws blood from me.
And I'm tagging Mother in Israel, Rabot Machshavot, The Virtual Tourist, the Precision Blogger, By the Bay, author of a matza recipe that saved my butt this past Pesach (okay, so it was unrecognizeable by the time I was done with it, but still it tasted good), magid, Dakota (the lady who made me my first wrap - congrats to you, mama!), and my alter-ego. At least, as soon as LiveJournal starts working again.
*************************
just because I can't let this post turn into a drama queen, here's this:
Mama's Cranky Carrots (I leave it to you to decide who is cranky, the mama or the carrots?)
4-6 servings
1 bunch carrots, chopped very very roughly
1.5 inches fresh ginger, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed with the flat of a knife
2 Tb oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
2/3rd cup pineapple juice, more as needed
salt
pepper
Toss the oil into a pot, and turn on the flame. While it's heating up, add ginger. Let the ginger saute for 2 minutes or so before adding garlic. When garlic starts to brown, add everything else. Stir.
Cover with a lid, and lower heat to medium. Let steam for 5 minutes, then uncover and let the liquid reduce until it's almost gone, forming a glaze. Take the pot off the stove and serve.
Note: pineapple juice smells very strong when it's boiling down. Do not fear - by the time you are done, both ginger and pineapple will have mellowed nicely.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
bad beta, bad!
A quick warning to my readers, especially those who write blogs themselves: having switched to Blogger Beta, I now can have those neat little indexing tags, but cannot post on non-beta blogs. A rather significant omission/oversight on my part, not to mention Blogger's!
My apologies to you all...
My apologies to you all...
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
gimme, gimme, gimme
According to Business 2.0, I should reelly, realy lern to spell chek this blog before publishig it. Because if I do, I could get people to read it, then sell ad space and earn buckets and buckets and buckets...
pardon me, we now take a break from our regularly scheduled blogging while the Mama goes and drools over her poor, battered budget. We appreciate your readership. Your readership is important to us. Thank you for waiting.
...of cash. Enough to send the kids to the Waldorf (thought I was going to say Montessori, did'ja?) religious school of choice. Hell, enough to fund a school that works according to my philosophies of religious and pedagogical practice. While I go and get a facial. And a massage. While a chef - no, wait - a landscaper - ah, no I kind of like doing those parts. Call me unfeminist, but there it is.
Here, according to the wisdom of Business 2.0, (the September 2006 issue, list by Saheli S.R. Datta) are the 7 habits of highly effective bloggers [sic].
* focus on a narrow niche.
Okay, anyone out there interested in kids, hemophilia and enough allergies to field a cricket team? To humble Jamie Oliver and Alton Brown? Do I hear crickets? Right, then. Moving on to
*set up your own blog, complete with permalinks.
Um, right. I'll just pop out and learn HTML, Dreamweaver and perhaps a wee bit o Java, shall I? (Extremely obscure Douglas Adams reference there, people. Anyone? This would be part of that niche thing, I think.) Or I could set the Eldest loose. He's been singing in his own language lately, perhaps he programs in it, too?
*Think of the blog as a database. Cite authors and publications by name, use tags, keywords, categories.
Tags? What's a tag? I do like me organization, though. Can there be nice, matching containers with pretty lids on?
* Blog frequently and regularly, if possible at least half a dozen posts before lunchtime on weekdays.
Apparently, you lot read things at lunch. Who knew? And who the hell has time to post that much? Read that much? I'm not boing boing, people. Not even one fourth of the boing boing. Of course, if I let the Eldest post, now...but he'd need to learn to spell better first. Or would he?
* Use striking images.
Naugahyde. In 98 degree heat. With dog hair. That do ya? (Again, anyone for the reference?)
*Enable comments and interact with your readers.
Hey, how you doin'? (Anyone? Anyone at all? Sigh.)
*Make friends with other bloggers.
Yup. And then we can all read each other, like one big happy fambily...hey there, jgfellow, how you doin' there, darlin'? Yup, that does seem to work.
And yet the budget is still battered. Well, jg-man, I can hear you pointing out that perhaps, perhaps, were I not to insist on getting the big hunks of broken glass out of the backyard, we'd have a slightly healthier budget.
And nowhere for the kiddo to play with that monstrous kiddie basketball hoop you hauled home, dear. And who the hell decided that a newly gut rehabbed building would be made pretty with landfill? I know it was the seventies, but still. Landfill!!? I've been picking chunks of glass out of the garden for the past two years.
Maybe I should reread that list, then, eh?
pardon me, we now take a break from our regularly scheduled blogging while the Mama goes and drools over her poor, battered budget. We appreciate your readership. Your readership is important to us. Thank you for waiting.
...of cash. Enough to send the kids to the Waldorf (thought I was going to say Montessori, did'ja?) religious school of choice. Hell, enough to fund a school that works according to my philosophies of religious and pedagogical practice. While I go and get a facial. And a massage. While a chef - no, wait - a landscaper - ah, no I kind of like doing those parts. Call me unfeminist, but there it is.
Here, according to the wisdom of Business 2.0, (the September 2006 issue, list by Saheli S.R. Datta) are the 7 habits of highly effective bloggers [sic].
* focus on a narrow niche.
Okay, anyone out there interested in kids, hemophilia and enough allergies to field a cricket team? To humble Jamie Oliver and Alton Brown? Do I hear crickets? Right, then. Moving on to
*set up your own blog, complete with permalinks.
Um, right. I'll just pop out and learn HTML, Dreamweaver and perhaps a wee bit o Java, shall I? (Extremely obscure Douglas Adams reference there, people. Anyone? This would be part of that niche thing, I think.) Or I could set the Eldest loose. He's been singing in his own language lately, perhaps he programs in it, too?
*Think of the blog as a database. Cite authors and publications by name, use tags, keywords, categories.
Tags? What's a tag? I do like me organization, though. Can there be nice, matching containers with pretty lids on?
* Blog frequently and regularly, if possible at least half a dozen posts before lunchtime on weekdays.
Apparently, you lot read things at lunch. Who knew? And who the hell has time to post that much? Read that much? I'm not boing boing, people. Not even one fourth of the boing boing. Of course, if I let the Eldest post, now...but he'd need to learn to spell better first. Or would he?
* Use striking images.
Naugahyde. In 98 degree heat. With dog hair. That do ya? (Again, anyone for the reference?)
*Enable comments and interact with your readers.
Hey, how you doin'? (Anyone? Anyone at all? Sigh.)
*Make friends with other bloggers.
Yup. And then we can all read each other, like one big happy fambily...hey there, jgfellow, how you doin' there, darlin'? Yup, that does seem to work.
And yet the budget is still battered. Well, jg-man, I can hear you pointing out that perhaps, perhaps, were I not to insist on getting the big hunks of broken glass out of the backyard, we'd have a slightly healthier budget.
And nowhere for the kiddo to play with that monstrous kiddie basketball hoop you hauled home, dear. And who the hell decided that a newly gut rehabbed building would be made pretty with landfill? I know it was the seventies, but still. Landfill!!? I've been picking chunks of glass out of the garden for the past two years.
Maybe I should reread that list, then, eh?
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