The fun continues

The boiler melted - I don't know what part it was and frankly, I don't care - and we have no heat. Well, TCBIM has no heat. I am at my mother's. Oy. He is at the house, replacing the boiler. Remember the boiler? It sat in my driveway for several months and finally got moved into the cellar, where it's sat for more months.

Being of the "Why do now what you can wait until it explodes to do later" school, TCBIM never worked on said boiler. So, old boiler shit the bed and it's roughly 19 degrees Farenheit outside during the day and colder than a witch's tit inside my house.

It's been ok-ish staying here, although the sleeping arrangements are tight, to say the least. One toddler, one baby and one grown up in a bedroom. A very tiny bedroom. The bed creaks, which wakes Boo. The Bug cries, which wakes Boo. I have a cough (and a sinus infection), which wakes Boo. You get the idea. Everyone is suffering from severe sleep deprivation. It's loads of fun.

I can't believe I'm blogging from my mother's. If she finds this blog, I'm not going to be happy.

And Kerri, I hope I can get my articles to you on time. The computer is, of course, in the room where we're sleeping, so it's difficult to get time on here. I'll do my best.

Heath insurance woe

TCBIM just called to tell me that his company is changing health insurance, effective Jan 1. What the fuck? Five fucking days notice? And guess who's not covered? O's pediatrician AND her diabetes team at Joslin. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fuck.

I do NOT want to go to Bay State. I've heard horror stories.

I hate health insurance. Hate. It.

O is going to be crushed by this. I may have to go get a full time job just to get some decent health insurance.

I am a lemming

So, I put that Technorati thing over there in my sidebar. What does it do? Is it like Bloglines? I'm confused.

No good drugs yet. I have an appointment tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to get some then. Still coughing up a lung. Both of 'em, sometimes. It really sucks.

I got a baking cookbook from my sister's girlfriend. It's by the pastry chef at Spago. Oh. My. Gawd. The stuff looks delicious, but oh, so complicated. Still. I may have to attempt some of these things. There's a recipe for Banana Chocolate Beignets that sounds delicious. I've never been much of a baker - there's too much measuring and I'm more of a toss some of this and add a dash of that kind of cook. Baking is chemistry and I was never all that good at chemistry. But I'm willing to give it a try. I have this friend, T, who works at this fancy schmancy foodie shop in Cambridge. When he and I get together, we cook. We plan out the menu weeks in advance and we don't usually do dessert, but I think the next time he comes out here, we'll attempt it.

Between this cookbook and the Les Halles one, I am one happy little girl, let me tell you. I love reading a good cookbook. It makes me tingle all over and want to go do, make something, anything. Today, I satisfied that urge with some homemade macaroni and cheese. Yummmmm.... So good.

Three a.m. blogging

Just call me Typhoid Mary. Tuburculosis Tessie. Chronic Cough Cathy. I'm fucking miserable, which is why I'm up at this ridiculour hour instead of sleeping the sleep of the just and fucking tired. Every time I put my head on the pillow, I hack up a lung. I've already woken up the baby three times and while she's always happy to have a little nosh, my boobs can't take too much of that.

So here I am. Now what? Play solitaire. Think about shit. Nothing is going on that needs to be hashed out, which is nice. Unusual, but nice. I can't find anything to complain about. Again, unusual, but nice.

O's untethered right now and I'm not liking it. I don't think she checks her blood sugars as often when she goes untethered. And I know I've been forgetting to log. Gotta start doing that again. She has an appointment at Joslin at the end of the month and I want to take along a nice stack of log sheets this time. Last time, I had a nice stack and left them sitting on the kitchen table.

Boo figured out how to climb out of her crib today. Fantastic. Guess it's time to get her to sleep in the toddler bed. She's getting so big.

My father and his wife gave the Bug some totally inappropriate toys. The stepmonster is a teacher and gets freebie books from school. That's all fine and good, give them as gifts, but jeez, do you think you could maybe NOT give the not-even-four-month-old a book that has MAGNETS in it? They also gave her a doll with itty bitty shoes and hair bows and a brush. And a Leap Frog barn thing. Stuff that is SO beyond her, it's ridiculous. Most of the stuff is even too old for the Boo, never mind a tiny baby. I was confused when I opened the gifts. It's like the thought she was four years old instead of four months. Weird stuff, man.

Oh, great. In addition to the incessant coughing, I've added non-stop sneezing to the mix. I'm SO calling the doctor and getting the good drugs tomorrow. Fuck this for a game of soldiers.

Happy Christmas

Twelve bags of trash
Eleven electronic toys
Ten packs of batteries
Nine nervous breakdowns
Eight boxes of Kleenex
Seven cups of tea
Six lost receipts
Five cozy fleece
Four fighting children
Three tissue sneezes
Two aching boobs
And a rapidly escalating fever.



Dear Santa,
Next year, I don't want mastitis for Christmas. I'd rather get a mop.
Thank you,
Julia

I hope everyone had a healthy, happy Christmas!

Budding Fashionista

Adorable, no? (Well, minus the scary red eye thing - I still can't get those to go away.) She let me put the little pony tail holders in her hair, even looked at herself in the mirror and said "Pretty, mama!" Her hair is at that stage where it's all over the plac and she rather resembles that infamous Nick Nolte* mug shot. I was thrilled that she let me do this because she generally hates this sort of thing.







It didn't last five minutes, though. She'd pulled them out and replaced them with this. No, it's not a sunbonnet and I'm not raising a little Laura Ingalls Wilder. Any guesses as to what it is? G'wan. Take a guess.



* Told you. Minus the whole haggard, drunk, old guy thing, they're identical. Identical, I tell ya.

Christmas Song Meme

A bunch of people have tagged me for this meme, so I guess I'd better get off my butt and do it.

My five favourite Christmas songs:

1. Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues
2. Peanuts Theme (Linus & Lucy) - Vince Guaraldi
3. A Consort Of Choral Christmas Carols - PDQ Bach
4. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft
5. Marvellous Toy - Tom Paxton

Best Christmas Song Ever.


Is anyone else surprised that Shane McGowan isn't dead yet?

Why I like my mother-in-law

Two posts! In one day! And me all sick and shit. See how much I love you guys?

This is why I like my mother-in-law. She gave me this for Christmas. It arrived today.



I love Anthony Bourdain - seriously, as in if he knocked at my door, TCBIM would be sleeping in the car. If you don't have this cookbook yet, go buy it. The introduction is hysterically funny and it's the only time I've ever, ever seen the words "sweet fuck all" between the covers of a cooking tome.

SIck

• I have such a cold. And so many blogs to read. And so little energy or inclination to do anything. It sucks.

• I finally put up the tree. It took me three hours to get the thing up and get the lights on. I was two strands from being done. Plugged the next string of lights into the ones already on the tree and blew the fuses in three strands. Three strands that I had to hunt for. I fucking HATE putting lights on the tree. Next year, I am buying a pre-lit tree. Just call me Scrooge.
  

• My apostrophe key is bringing up a Find navigation bar on the bottom of this page. I have no idea why, but it is pissing me off. Damed computers.
  

• I cut off most of my hair today. Well, not me, I paid a hairdresser to do it, but it is much shorter now. It was almost to my waist, now it is just below my shoulders.
  

• The company TCBIM works for is having their Christmas party on Thursday. Who has a Christmas party on a Thursday?? I bought some adorable peep toe black satin pumps to wear with my red Chinese tunic - the one I wore when TCBIM and I got married. With my nice new haircut and my pretty new pumps, I may actually look like a person, rather than just a mum. That will be a novelty.
  

All I want for Christmas....

Kerri already posted this on her site, but I'm putting it up, too. I can't say I've completely given up hope that there will be a cure some day, but I have always doubted that I'd see one in my lifetime. This, for some reason, has given me a glimmer of hope. Please, oh please, oh please, don't let it be misplaced.

Now, do I talk to O about this or not? I just don't know....

A Little Travellin' Music, Please

My sister and her girlfriend are moving across the country to join a commune (as you do). They're leaving at the beginning of January and driving (!!) from Massachusetts to northern California. In order to minimize the amount of posessions they're going to have to schlep with them, they've asked to not get Christmas presents this year and instead have requested cds. I'm going to burn them a boxed set of cool travelling tunes.

So what I want from you, dear internets, is a list of your five (or 10) favourite driving songs. The ones that keep you up as you're driving across the prairies. The ones that chill you out when you're stuck in rush hour traffic in an unfamiliar city. The ones that make you roll down your window and let the wind blow....oh, wait. There's one song.

Here's a few I've picked, just to get things started:

1. Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
2. Song 2 - Blur
3. Running Down A Dream - Tom Petty
4. I Drove All Night - Roy Orbison
5. One Step Beyond - Madness
6. Hit The Road, Jack - Ray Charles
7. Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC
8. California Dreamin' - The Mamas and The Papas
9. Are You Gonna Be My Girl? - Jet
10. Peaches - Presidents Of The United States Of America

Poopenheimer

The Bug hadn't pooped in 10 days and although she was peeing like a champ, she was starting to seem a bit uncomfortable; not surprising at all, really. I tried calling the doctor, but they take Friday afternoons off (lucky people). In desperation, I did what most parents do: I Googled.

After checking several reputable websites, I came to the conclusion that the best thing to do would be to give her some diluted prune juice (cue collective cries of "Ewwwwww, pruuuuuune juice!" ). I mixed one ounce of juice with two ounces of water and attempted to get her to drink it.

At first, she was enthusiastic, sucking on the bottle like it was, well, my boob. It must have taken a minute for the juice to register with her taste buds because all of a sudden, she screwed up her face and pushed the bottle right out of her mouth and glared at me. There's nothing like being glared at by a four month-old.

So I broke out the medicine dropper and spent the next couple of hours trying to coax her to drink the juice. She'd lap it up and then let half of it dribble out of her mouth. She wound up sticky, pissed off and very, very tired. I finally gave up. She got maybe an ounce into her, if that. I figured if she hadn't pooped by the morning, I'd call the doctor.

Now this is not usually a child whose poops you fail to notice. They arrive with a fanfare of farts, a gaggle of grunts and a plethora of poops. She was, until recently, a champion pooper. She seems to have morphed, however, into a stealth pooper. She sat in her exersaucer, bouncing around, smiling and happy. I picked her up to feed her and hoo boy. Poopage. Much poopage. From her thighs to the back of her neck. Ick. Of course, I stuck my hands in it when I picked her up - this is what happens when you have a stealth pooper. You're unprepared. She had an unfair advantage in the poop battle.

It's hard to wrangle a poop-covered baby. You don't want to put them against you because, ew. My clothes are already smeared with sticky hands, they don't need to have poop accessories. So I held her straight out in front of me. Poop smeared all over her head as I took the onesie off, so it was straight into the shower with her. Do you know how hard it is to hold a baby under the shower when you are fully dressed? Do you know how hard it is to wash said baby, when you're fully dresssed and the baby is slippery?

You'll be glad to hear that I didn't drop the baby, nor did I get any poop on my clothing. The exersaucer may be out of comission, though.

I feel 100% better now, mama.

The Mushroom Soup Recipe

When I made this, I didn't drain the mushrooms out, I just left them in. I may try a stick blender in it next time, to blend it in. That's if someone gets me the stick blender I want for Christmas.

This is seriously decadent soup.

Portobello & Button Mushroom Creme with Walnuts

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 pound button mushrooms, sliced
3 Portobello mushroom caps, cut into cubes
4 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Salt and pepper for seasoning

Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add button mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to soften. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Add cream and chicken broth to mushrooms and bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Cover mixture and continue to simmer for 20 minutes longer. Remove from heat and let stand covered for 20 minutes. Strain mixture, discarding mushrooms and reserving cream mixture.
3. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add Portobello mushrooms and cook until beginning to soften. Remove from heat.
4. To serve: Warm cream mixture if necessary. Divide between bowls and top with Portobello mushrooms, pecans and chives. Serve immediately.

W. W. E. P. D?

What Would Emily Post Do?

Yesterday was my mother's birthday. Since I'm broker than a broke thing, my gift to her was the meal of her choice. She chose meatloaf. Um, ok. At least it's easy.

I kind of got caught up in this idea of a retro-ish dinner, so in addition to the meatloaf and mashed potatoes, I did creamed spinach and a starter of cream of mushroom soup. This is no ordinary cream of mushroom soup, though. It'd divine, rich, buttery, nutty, yummy soup. I would have licked the bowl, except that's frowned upon.

Here's the thing, though. My friend C was at this little shindig, too. Before even tasting the soup, she poured about a teaspoon full of Tabasco sauce in it. I find this incredibly rude. I didn't make spicy cream of mushroom soup (because, ew), I made regular cream of mushroom soup. If I'd wanted it to be spicy, I would have made it so (except, y'know, ew. Again.).

She also slathered the meatloaf in barbecue sauce and Tabasco.

Am I wrong in finding this kind of offensive? I made the food the way I wanted it to taste. I can understand adding salt and pepper, once you've tasted it, but Tabasco? Barbecue sauce? TCBIM says I'm being petty.

What says you, oh great internets?

If anyone wants said soup recipe, let me know. It is to die for.

Dessert, you ask? Black Forest Cake. Made by moi. Also excellent, even if I do say so myself.

Moronic Talk Show Host

Have you heard this fuckwit?

I'm spitting nails.

And a.....

(For Kerri - Five GOOOOOOOOOOLD RIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGSSSS)

Today, I have recieved one Flash meter with 15 strips, one Precision Xtra meter with 300 strips (three hundred! THREE hundred! Amazing), 100 One Touch strips and 50 BD strips. No one wanted me to give their names, but you know who you are and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I have recieved so many offers of help that I find myself getting all teary-eyed about it. I can't even find the words to say thank you, to express how grateful I am, how humbled I feel by this outpouring of support (and test strips). It's overwhelming.

If any of you are ever in western Massachusetts, let me know. I'll make you dinner. And cheesecake. There will be cheesecake. The insulin's on me.

A Thousand Thank Yous Are Not Enough

Not ten minutes after I posted the last post, a woman contacted me, offering to send me test strips for O.

People amaze me. I generally don't like people en masse. I find them stressful to be around. But then some person, unknown to me until a few minutes ago, offers me an incredibly kind, helping hand and I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

She asked me not to use her name, but let me say right here, that if we ever get to meet, I shall buy her the dessert of her choice. The insulin's on me.

Six Test Strips

That's how many test strips O has left until Friday, when TCBIM gets paid. I haven't ransacked the entire diabetes cabinet for spares and I hope that I find a stray batch of One Touch or something. Otherwise I'm going to have to borrow money from my mother and I hate doing that. I hate getting lectured, I hate asking. I'm forty fucking years old. I shouldn't be in this situation.

It's amazing how quickly you can sink when you live paycheck to paycheck. We pretty much always have, but it was always two paychecks. Now it's just one, and one that is less than it was a year ago. TCBIM is starting to make more money, but it's a slow process and we're already so far behind that every penny we have is going towards bills. It's a good thing we don't have any credit cards or we'd really be screwed.

Tonight I'm taking the laptop to bed and I'm finding a job. I have to. We can't go on like this, we'll lose our house soon.

FA RA RA RA RA RA RA RA RA

Guess what two keys are missing from my keyboard

Can you figure it out?

I can't punctuate or use certain words

Or sign my name

It is making me itchy

And twitchy

And go a bit cross-eyed

My stupid fucking Mac crashed  Again

For the 87th time

And now it's snowing

Fanfuckingtastic

I need a do over on the day and it's not even 10 a m yet

The Tao of Poo

Oh, the puns.

A shitty day.
She's full of crap.
Poop happens.

Yes, ladies and jellyspoons, the inevitable finally happened. Boo stripped naked and pooped in her crib. First time. I don't think I'll be marking this one down in the old baby book. I got tub duty, TCBIM cleaned up the poopy crib. He gets major points for that one. Bleurgh.

Boo just stood there in her room, after her tub, laughing, pointing and saying "Poops, mama! Poops!"

That's my little girl. So ladylike, so dainty, so...disgusting.

Starting tomorrow, I'm duct taping her diaper on her.

My favourite kind of quiz

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

I don't know why the bar graph doesn't show up, but I'm a dedicated reader, literate good citizen and surprise, surprise, a book snob.

How slutty is it of me to remind people to go vote? Slutty, right?

diabetesoc.blogspot.com

Well, wouldja look at that?

Hey, look! I was nominated for a blog award by the Diabetes OC.
Cool, huh? I've never been nominated for anything before. So, thanksto those who nominated me. I'm all embarrassed over here. Pleased as punch, but also kind of, y'know, hiding behind my hair, blushing, stammering and giggling nervously.

So go vote. I'm up against some terrific competition and, frankly, am surprised to be nominated. I'm not just saying that to be coy or disingenuous - there really are some fantastic writers out there in the OC. I'm a little surprised to be put in the same category as them. I feel like I snuck in to the cool kids' party.

Exist

The December issue of Exist is up. Go. Read. Enjoy.
Tell me I'm a fabulous writer. G'wan.

L is for....

I don't know that I've ever mentioned my deep and abiding love for Edward Gorey. His creepy little vignettes thrill my sick soul. I have a dark and sick sense of humour at times and he fits the bill just perfectly.

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?

You will swallow some tacks. You are a little weird, maybe not so much in a good way. Buy a yellow tie and wear it on your head. Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code