califmom

Wordless 2008

Happy New Year!

Things I Don't Do

• New Year's Resolutions: I think they're silly. If you want to resolve to do something, why wait for January 1st? Also, I'm lazy. I guess I could resolve to get up off my ass, but let's be realistic.
• Gyms/Working Out: I've tried, donated to them, paid people to make sure I show up at them, and I still can't do it. They don't make sense to me. You're in the gym while you pay someone else to mow your lawn and clean your house? I guess if you like the gym more than mowing the lawn or cleaning the house, that makes sense. Me? I don't like any of those things. Maybe I should pay someone to go to the gym for me.
• Coupons: With the best of intentions and a snazzy little organizer, I used to clip and sort coupons. That's about as far as it got, though. So, rather than waste my time and add more paper clutter to my world, I just skip them altogether.
• Recipes: I have an ingrained inability to follow recipes to the letter. Can't do it. It probably stems from the fact that I'm not so great at being told what to do. My favorite cookbook is one that tells me what ingredients work well together. It's the only one I use with any regularity. (Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page)
• Diets: For most of my life, I was well below the appropriate weight for my height thanks to some stellar genes. After Peanut was born, that was no longer the case. A few years later, I decided to try Weight Watchers with Hubs in a show of solidarity. After just a few weeks, I hadn't lost a pound (gained a few, in fact), and had developed an extraordinary hatred for having to obsess about every single food I encountered. That shit can make you crazy. Since I'm already crazy, I see no need to add to the pot.
• Swimming/Jogging/Cycling: There is no chance you'll catch me doing a triathlon. My bicycle has a cup holder and a wicker basket, the way God intended it. I think pools are for relaxing, not laps. And I only run when chased.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, The Flavor Bible
• Four in 10 plan to make New Year's resolutions

I Got My Xmas Wish, Too

Image via WikipediaI got what I wanted for Christmas yesterday--a hysterectomy. But, this wasn't just any hysterectomy. I had a da Vinci Robotic laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy (LSH), because I'm all about the cool gadgets and technology.

The upside to this method is that it's a robotic-assisted laparoscopic procedure. It also meant that I got to keep my cervix and ovaries, have just 5 small incisions in my abdomen, and come home today after just one night in the hospital. It probably helped that I had a great surgeon and hospital staff, too.

The surgery was supposed to start at 10am, but was delayed until 1pm. It ended up taking just over 3 hours to complete, with a portion of that time spent waiting for my bladder and kidneys to start functioning again. Then, I was off to recovery for an hour or so, before heading up to my room.

The hospital had these cool new beds that auto-level with your every move. I also had mechanical leg warmers (not their technical name) that massaged by legs to help with circulation.

Pretty cool, huh? Now, I'm still very sore, thankful for Percocet, and leaving Hubs in charge this Christmas Eve. Mrs. Claus is out of commission for the next 2 weeks.

Time for a nap. Happy Holidays to you all!

Samuel's Christmas Wish--Comes True!!!

LATE NIGHT UPDATE: As of 10pm Pacific Time, the Interwebs have made Sam's Christmas wish come true!!! You guys are Uh-May-Zing!!! So amazing that I can't help but use entirely too many exclamation points!!!!

First, you need to know that I suck at asking for help. I mean really suck. When I was 8 months pregnant with Peanut, I wanted the lawn mowed. So, I put my 18 month old in a backpack and mowed the lawn. Got to spend the evening at the hospital in pre-term labor, too. A couple weeks later, I was assembling furniture--like a wall unit kind of furniture. By myself.

More than sucking at asking for help, I suck at asking for money. In college, I called home one time in need of money. It nearly killed me. I'd rather starve than ask for help.

So, know this: What you are about to read was hard for me to write, but harder because I'd rather have enough money to solve this need myself. This need is sudden. It's unexpected. Hubs and I have contributed a large portion to the pot, but more is needed. Even if you can't give, please read the story. For Sam.

Photo: Samuel and Auntie Tree

For reasons too complicated and personal to explain here, my niece M, her husband J, and their children have to move to the Philippines. Now. It is the only way for them to remain together as a family. M's husband J has gone first, and is getting a home ready for his family's arrival on January 8th.

The original plan was for J, M, and their youngest children to go now, while their oldest son, 11-year old Samuel, would stay with his grandparents to finish the school year. But as the time of his mother's and siblings' departure has drawn closer, he has had a change of heart and doesn't want to stay behind. He's already had to be apart from his father for 5 months. It's just too much.

Having known Sam's mother since she was his age, and Sam since his arrival into this world, I cannot imagine them apart. M was just a child when she had Samuel, but has been (and still is) the most amazing mother. Once Sam entered her life, M made him her world. She finished school, worked, cared for her baby, and eventually found and fell in love with J. They became a family, and now Samuel has a father, brothers and a sister to complete his world.

The problem is that M & J weren't anticipating another plane ticket in their expenses. They thought they had until June to gather the money needed to fly M back to get Sam and return to the Philippines. Now that Sam doesn't want to be left behind, I want to do whatever I can to make sure that doesn't happen.

Enter the world of Social Media--Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and the blogosphere. My world. It's how I stay connected to friends and family in this geographically dispersed world. It's how we'll stay connected with M & J in the Philippines. It's also how we've raised some of the money needed for Sam to join his mother and siblings on their flight to their new home.

So far, we've raised just over $700 on Facebook toward the cost of Sam's ticket. That just blows me away. Every dollar makes a difference. Every. Single. One.

Our second concern is raising the money in time. As an 11 year old, he needs to fly with M (not to mention the help he is with his younger siblings). So, we're trying to raise the final $400 as quickly as possible.

If you want to contribute to Samuel's Christmas Wish, you can do so on Facebook via Wisheo or directly via Paypal either by clicking on the "Donate" link below or over on the sidebar, to the left of my picture.

And, bless you all. You guys rock!

UPDATE: Since I posted this entry this morning, your generosity has raised the contributions to $881.11. You are an amazing world, Internets. You've made me cry more than once today. Thank you.

UPDATE #2: As of this evening, you all have generously contributed enough to raise the total collected to $1,011.11. We are so close!!! You all are absolutely amazing.  I talked with M today, and she is awestruck by your generosity.

It's Official -- Bug Turned 12

Despite the many books we piled on Bug's head, he awoke yesterday morning and informed me that while he did not feel older, he felt a bit taller. He's certainly bigger than he was that first Christmas, propped up under the tree.

Traditionally, I make the kids a cake of their choosing (design and flavor). However, as they've gotten older their tastes have migrated more toward non-traditional birthday cakes. This year, Bug decided he wanted a cheesecake...and because he was feeling "generous this holiday season" (his words, I swear), it should be a store bought cheesecake. My grandmother, I'm quite certain, did at least one flip in her grave. Me? I high-fived the kid.

For his birthday dinner, Bug chose pizza delivery. Again, I gave the kid major kudos. You can't teach this kind of stuff. It has to come from within.

Now, for the birthday haul. He did well. Bug got a cool fistfull of dollars from the grandparents, which we'll be taking to the local toy store later today in hopes of adding to his Webkinz collection. God knows, you can't have enough stuffed animals from China, but at least we're buying them at a locally owned toy store. Right?

From his sister, he got a Marshmallow Shooter and a bag of miniature marshmallows. Because, if you're going to have a rapid-fire gun, it should shoot something sweet and edible. At least, that's what the dogs determined.

From Obo and Bahtah (my parents) he also scored a Fly Stick. Way cool use of static electricity that provided much entertainment getting stuck to the ceiling, us, the pets, and the Xmas tree.

From Hubs and me, he got a custom kiwi bird hoodie from Etsy and Spore, which he's installing as I type.

When I tucked my new 12 year-old into bed last night, we wound down watching a Discovery Education live-streaming high school program on Macro Economics. Why? Because he wanted to. Guess who fell asleep watching it? Not him. Seems I find the subject just as engaging as I did in college.