Remote’s Fault
Posted: November 1, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Growing up we never had a TV with a “clicker.” That was what the earliest of tv remote controls was called. Some tv models had a box with real push buttons that could change the channel, that was connected to the TV with a wire. I had a friend whose family had one of these. The remote sat on a TV tray next to her Dad’s lazy boy. We also never had a lazy boy. In fact my father did not have a designated chair. I hardly remember him sitting down long enough to watch TV, unless it was football, but then my sisters and I were not watching so he had the whole sofa to himself.
People back in the day when most of us had to get up to change the channel were generally thinner. We also had far fewer TV choices so flipping through the numbers to see what was playing only took a second or two. If you didn’t find something that interested you you would just go do something else, like go outside.
Today, not only do we have a TV remote, we have a cable and a smart TV remote and a sound bar remote. Since all those things are connected to the TV I lump them together into one kind of thing to make myself feel OK about sitting on my butt when watching TV. But now life has gotten lazier. My father-in-law gave Russ a switcher remote that is attached to a lamp that is seven feet away from my bed. Now my smart phone is a remote and when I want to go to sleep I no longer have to get out of bed to turn off the non-bedside table lamp.
I know other people who have remotes for their thermostats and remotes for their outdoor lights, but is this all good for us? I feel during the Don Draper era people were thinner just because they had to get up and move around. We don’t do that anymore. Don Draper people also did not go to the gym, they just got exercise by living.
I would consider giving up my TV remote but my TV doesn’t have any buttons for me to change the channels. I cold just attach the remote to the TV so that if I ever wanted to turn it on, change the channel or mute the sound I would still get some exercise. In reality I probably would give up watching TV all together if I had to stand up every time I wanted to do something. That too might not be a bad idea.
Now if I could just find a remote to fold the laundry and clean out the dishwasher then I would be really happy, fat, but happy.
Halloween Day Off
Posted: October 31, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
It was a real holiday at our house. Carter had the day off school. Not because it is Halloween, but because it was the end of the quarter. That made things extra nice. Not much homework and a long weekend.
Russ needed Carter and me to meet him at the mall to do some mystery shopping for a client of his. That was not a hardship, shopping for insights. Then we all went to lunch together. Carter made sure to get credit for eating two meals in twenty four hours with us. It was an unusual occurrence.
Russ left us after lunch, but Carter and I continued with a little shopping. We were already at the mall and we NEVER go to the mall together. Actually I try never to go to the mall at all. I guess shopping was too strong of a word. We spent a little time in one department in one store and Carter got a few things under the “birthday is coming” umbrella.
We continued our fun girls excursion wth a stop at a cool new nail salon that must have had thirty pedicure chairs. I have never seen such a big place in my life. We just got manicures, but Carter commented that it was a really fun day. I agreed.
Carter had two friends come over to have dinner, give out candy and watch a movie. I walked to my friend Karen’s house for a Halloween dinner. I was not dressed in a costume. When I got there I discovered that my friends Christy and Lynn were also there without their husbands and not in costume so we decided we were actually in costume as sister wives. Luckily, no one asked us what we were. It was great to not have a small child hanging on me begging me to please leave to go scoop candy up. I hate trick or treating.
I got home just as a family I did not know was walking up our walkway to get candy. They were the second to last group to come to our door, before we were cleaned out. I turned the lights out in the front of the house and retreated to my bedroom, leaving Carter and her friends to watch Funny Girl. Nothing scary going on at our house. Instead of Halloween it should have been called girls day.
Is Two Weeks a Tradition?
Posted: October 30, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Last Sunday the three of us went to dinner. It was Russ’ idea as a chance to actually get to eat a meal with Carter. What, with his travel and her school, the two of them are not often in the same place at the same time. It was such a nice dinner Russ suggested we have a family meal out every Sunday until she leaves for camp and college. Carter, sensing better food options readily agreed.
This weekend Russ was up in Philly visiting his family. He made a reservation at a new restaurant and told Carter about our Sunday night plans. While he was still away she came to me about the menu. “I don’t want duck tongues for dinner,” she told me. I looked more closely at the choices and I agreed it was probably not the best place for her. Rather than end the fledgling tradition I suggested a different restaurant.
“I don’t want to hurt Daddy’s feelings,” she said.
“Daddy doesn’t care where we eat. He just wants to spend time with you.”
Daddy readily agreed to the new choice.
It was a win-win. Food that made everyone happy. Good company. Great conversation and quality time together. We may have a tradition.
I am wondering if the same dynamics would work if we were at home. Of course I am happy to cook and that way I can make things that are also good for us. Russ usually prefers my cooking over most restaurants, but not Carter. For her “restaurant food” is always better than mine.
I am not sure that time at the table would be half as long if we were at home. I feel like the pull of “other things to do,” would draw Carter away. I guess we are just going to have to keep going out. Fine with me. Russ and I will have years to eat dinner at home, but mere months with Carter.
The Loudness Continues
Posted: October 29, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Tonight I finally paid off the Christmas gift I gave my mother last year. It was a night out to dinner and to see a show at DPAC. Turned out the show she wanted to see was Fun House, but when she got here today she couldn’t remember a thing about it.
We went to a lovely dinner at Revolution. The only bad part from my mother’s point of view is that she ordered two appetizers and by the time the second one came she was already full and she could not take a doggy bag to the theater. Wasting food is not a good thing in her book.
After the yumminess, we walked down to DPAC where we waited in line to get our bags searched. It took a little longer than I thought it should because we were behind two women who had a bag that was considered too big to bring in the theater and it also contained a flask which they were told was contraband. Such tight security, who knew. I was a little concerned, not because I thought my mother had any contraband in her bag, but that they might have considered my purse too large. It was in fact bout the same size as the backpack of the woman in front of me, but it was purse shaped. Thank goodness we got through.
I enjoyed Fun House and so did my mother, though Fred it was over she told me she did not understand all of it because she was only wearing one of her hearing aids. Turns out she only needs one when she is with me since I am loud and my voice is the register she can hear. Sadly she missed some of the show, but liked it nonetheless. Given its racy nature perhaps she heard just the right amount.
She says a night out to dinner and the theater is her favorite gift. I guess not hearing doesn’t matter.
The Curse Of The Loud Laugh
Posted: October 28, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentFor my child the fact that I have an incredibly loud laugh is often cause for great embarrassment. I tend to hear the funny in things just a split second before others so my big laugh often leads the chorus. When Carter is sitting next to me I usually receive a slap on the arm with a rebuke.
Tonight we went to see her school’s fall production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, a comedy by Steve Martin. Since Carter is a senior, most of the players are kids I have watched through many fabulous productions, but tonight’s was extra good. Three principles, Thomas Benson, Jaxon Wilkerson and Ellie Dusek are in Carter’s advisory so they are used to me and I to them. Their performances were dead on, delivering the quick witted lines with perfect delivery. Chris Villani, as Picasso had me rolling with his faultless interpretation. I laughed loudly and often, but so did the rest of the audience.
After the show was over, Ellie and a number of other cast mates told me they were looking forward to this show since I would be in the audience. Apparently my reputation as a loud laugher is welcomed by the performers. “Mrs. Lange we could hear you laughing,” was repeated over and over again.
There is no bigger compliment I can give an actor that that of true heartfelt laughter, as long as funny was what they were looking for. I hope that my loud voice did not annoy any audience members, other than my daughter.
I wish that I had a loud sound to recognize the tech crew because the also were outstanding. The set was incredible, especially the lights, and everything went off without a hitch. Bravo to Campbell Hannan and Evan Ballew for their superior stage management. My loud laughs are for you too. Without you doing your job well the timing of the actors would not have been so funny.
I may be loud, but I am happy that my sincere feed back to the people on stage makes them know how much I loved their performances. Laugh loud and often, it makes everyday better.
Women in Leggings
Posted: October 27, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Tonight I went to Smitten, a downtown store for women, where my friend Sara was having a party to benefit a charity. Most of the women there were around my age and the clothes at Smitten are age appropriate for us.
As I was waiting to pay for my purchase a number of us got to talking about leggings, prompted by a sign that joked about appropriate legging over-wear. What is “over-wear” you wonder? It is the shirt or sweater you wear on top that is long enough to appropriately cover your butt in leggings.
Only sweet young things can wear leggings with a shortie top and then only in yoga class. For most of us, we need a good rear view mirror to make sure that we are not exposing something we wish we weren’t.
As I was standing in line I came up with the solution. Leggings should come with a phrase written across the bottom side of the buttocks area that reads, “if you can read this my shirt is too short” in bright neon words.
It would make pairing the right top with your leggings so much easier because you would only have to glance in a mirror at your backside, or even a big ass, no pun intended, plate glass window to see if you could read the neon words. If you couldn’t, then you would know the shirt you are wearing covers enough.
Of course this advice does not apply to the Kardashians or professional dancers, of any kind, but most of us need a DMZ line that absolutely must not be crossed. Better yet, maybe leggings should be re-thought all together. Na, that’s not going to happen.
Dana Lange Out Loud
Posted: October 26, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Introducing Dana Lange Out Loud, my new podcast from Durham Magazine. For those of you who know me you might think the name is a little redundant, but you know we could not name it Dana Lange Whispers.
My first guest is Michael Goodman who is one of the co-chairs of the education bond committee in Durham. With the election underway in North Carolina with early voting it is very important that Durham voters know about the four bonds for public schools, Durham Tech, the library system and the crown jewel, the Life and Science Museum.
Michael does a good job laying out the importance of supporting these bonds. The best bit of information he passes is is that we all need to turn over the ballot, because the bond questions are on the back.
Yes, the presidential race is at the forefront of most of our minds, followed quickly by governor, but the bonds have a very local, long term effect on our city. Please listen to the podcast and share it with your friends and neighbors.
Click here for a link to the Podcast. Dana Lange Out Loud – Michael Goodmon. You may need SoundCloud to listen, or you can go to the Durham Magazine website and look under the More tab for podcasts. If you have suggestions for guest I would love to hear from you.
I Need Multiple Timers
Posted: October 25, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentI am a multi-tasker from way back. Seems like I get more done if I am doing more than one thing at a time, but maybe it is not always good. Sometimes when I am cooking something that takes a long time, like caramelizing 20 pounds of onions, I certainly have to do another job at the same time. I can’t stand over the pot and watch it for four hours. So then I start answering e-mail. A job that never ends and can be stopped at a moments notice so I can go stir the onions. Suddenly the phone rings, I stop writing, stop stirring, start talking and my mind forgets that I still need to go check the pot every ten minutes.
I have a watch that has a timer on it. It is probably my favorite feature, after the fact that I also get my text messages on it. If I am smart, and remember, I set the timer on my watch to remind me, “go stir the pot” every ten minutes. It is amazing to me how fast ten minutes goes by if I am doing something like writing or playing a game on my iPad. Yet if I am walking on the treadmill ten minutes takes an eternity. Regardless of what I am doing in those ten minutes, be it something engulfing or something annoying I will have totally forgotten about stirring the pot. If I did not set a reminder I am sure to burn the onions.
I don’t think, actually I know, I did not used to be that way when I was younger. I could keep many balls in the air, in my head, and not forget which one needed my attention at the precise moment. The loss of this skill is the one I think I miss the most, and perhaps it is tied with the loss of my perfect eye sight.
Today I had multiple jobs going at once. I was baking tomato pies and not all of them went in the oven at the same time. I was also roasting Brussels sprouts and cooking carrots. It turned out I needed multiple timers to keep me going. I have multiple timers, on my watch, on my oven and a stand alone old fashioned one, but every time one went off I was not sure which job it was for. I also could not leave the kitchen because I can’t hear the oven timer anyplace except right next to the oven. So maybe I miss my good hearing also. Needless to say I could not multi-task liked I would have in my youth and add one more job to the three I was working on.
Maybe I don’t need multiple timers, but fewer jobs at the same time. I do not like the idea of being less productive, but I don’t want to burn any onions.
Food Bank Dream Comes True
Posted: October 24, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
Today was the friends and family opening of the new Raleigh Headquarters of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC. It was a long term dream come true for the board and staff who have been trying to get this done for years.
The real dream is that we end hunger in our state. With that in mind the new 108,000 square foot building is being called the “hunger solutions center.” We are not just tying to give food to people who don’t have food, but we are working on ways to end the cycle of poverty that keeps people from being able to provide food for themselves and their families.
In our new building not only do we have giant freezer and coolers to keep fresh meat, produce and dairy. We have a clean room so we can repackage bulk foods. We have a teaching kitchen so we can train people how to cook real food as well as two third of an acre garden plots for teaching people how to grow food. We have a huge community space where partner agencies can use conference and training rooms. And the best space for volunteers to help us sort food.
We dreamed big and thanks to my friends on our board we have done what seemed impossible. The campaign to pay for this building is called So All May Eat. We have quietly raised $9.1 million dollars so far. Now is the time to tell the world about our campaign and get the last bit of money we need to help our community.
Tonight as the staff, their families and both old and current board members toured the new building we were astonished at how perfectly it turned out. The offices are nicer than anything the Food Bank has ever had thanks to a generous donation by Kimley-Horn and my board chair predecessor Barry Barber who gave us all their old office furniture and cubicles because they were moving offices. It may have been “used” but it looked new and beautiful to us.
The original building had once been a department store thirty years ago, then it went way down market and was an indoor flea market, with individual booths built inside. It took real vision to see that it could be renovated into a perfect Food Bank. Tonight I joked with my fellow board members that if we could end hunger we could “flip this Food Bank” and sell the newly renovated building for more than we have in it.
It was a big job, especially given that the staff not only had to work on the renovations they also simultaneously had the biggest year in Food Bank history distributing almost 65 million pounds of food. A shout out to President and CEO Peter Werbicki and Operations VP Charlie Hale who did double duty managing this project and their day jobs. I am enormously proud that I get to work with these selfless people. To reward them now we have hurricane Mathew relief that is causing us to need all the new space we have as well as still using our old building until it closes.
If you ever want a tour of what a state of the art Food Bank is, I am happy to give you one. Of course if you are interested in helping the Food Bank with a gift I will run over and get it from you. The Food Bank is the central hub that over 800 feeding agencies depends on to get food to feed people who need it. Now doing that good deed will be a more pleasurable experience.
Reverse Advent Calendar
Posted: October 23, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentMy friend Stuart Wright, from the great north land of nice people, otherwise known as Canada, sent me a wonderful idea today. It is a reverse advent calendar. Instead of opening a little door on a calendar and getting a piece of chocolate during advent you get a basket and put a non- perishable food item in the basket everyday during advent. Then on Christmas Eve you donate your advent basket to the Food Bank.
Leave it to those friendly Canadians to come up with a major improvement on the advent calendar. Who really needs any more candy or tiny presents during the holidays? I know advent calendars are mostly for children, but most of the children I know have too much as it is. If you can afford an advent calendar you can afford to do the reverse idea and teach your children what the real meaning of Christmas is.
Now I don’t want the Christians to hog this idea. No matter what your belief system is, or even non-belief you can get in on this reverse giving too. I can see playing dreidel and instead of getting some waxy bad tasting chocolate gelt, you could put a can of beans in the pot to give to the hungry. The only thing I suggest is that you don’t put in a jar of gefilte fish, not because it is not the best tasting item, but because it is a glass jar. The Food Bank does not like to accept glass jars because if they break and the contents spills on other food it all gets ruined. You can only imagine was a broken jar of gefilte fish could do to ten boxes of shredded wheat.
I am going to put a basket in my front hall, so that every time I walk past it I am reminded the meaning of the Christmas season. Anyone who visits my house will be welcome to contribute to my advent basket for the Food Bank. I am happy to fill my car and take all donations in. Of course checks make the best presents, in the advent basket or anyplace else.
Thanks for the idea Stuart!
Fall At Last
Posted: October 22, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 CommentsFinally it has gotten seasonally chilly! Last night I opened the front door to let Shay go outside and I could hear the trees swaying in the cold night breeze. It just sounded colder.
I am tired of the consistent hot weather. The reason to live in a North Carolina is to have four distinct seasons. As long as we have this governor we at least deserve a nice long fall. Fall is my favorite season and I fear we might go from a long hot summer to a long cold winter with hardly any buffer seasons.
Russ and I took Shay for a walk up at the Eno Park. It was cool enough to wear a sweatshirt, but still enjoy the sunshine. The leaves have started to fall, disguising the trail. A number of large trees have fallen across the trail, probably from hurricane Mathew. At one point Shay thought she could jump over a pair of trees and she made the vertical jump, but once she was on top of the fallen trunk she was not sure footed on the round tree. Russ came to her rescue catching her as she fell to the side.
The cool weather made the walk better for Shay too. She was not panting from exhaustion after climbing the big hill up from the river to the parking lot. Hooray for fall. Let’s keep it like this for a couple of months.
Voted!
Posted: October 21, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
The news keeps taking about this election possibly being a low voter turn out race. You couldn’t tell that from the crowd at the early voting poll I went to today. I knew it was going to take a long time when I drove up and there was a line of cars waiting to turn into the parking lot. My friend, Andy, told me she waited there yesterday for two hours. I was prepared to wait at least that long.
Turns out I only had to wait an hour, but it was quite a pleasure. I had the nicest group of people in line with me. Our conversations started very tenderly, with no one wanting to step on another’s persons toes and ended with the exchange of information on the down ballot races.
This is a historic election that I was sure would come in my life time. No, not that we would have a non-politician as a major party candidate, but that we would have a woman. Having gone to an all girls school at the height of woman’s lib I was certain that we would have a woman candidate. I actually am surprised it took us this long.
I am going to go out on a limb and disagree with the newsmakers and say that this will not be a low voter turn out race, at least in North Carolina. There is a lot at stake and I feel like the citizens are taking their civic duty seriously.
Tonight Russ texted me from his flight coming home asking if I wanted to go vote with him tomorrow. I guess he did not read my blog last night and now I feel guilty that I went without him. I was just so ready to get my vote in just in case something happens to me. I’m just sorry that Carter is a month too young to vote.
If you can vote early do it. But if you can’t, hopefully all these people voting early will make the lines not too long on Election Day. This election has been long enough.
Only 19 Days Left
Posted: October 20, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentFor the next 19 days I can’t watch any TV in real time. See, like most of you I can’t take the political ads any more. The half truths, the spin, the nastiness is ruining my mood. The local bullying ads are the worst. When an older, blond white woman calls a candidate an “odd duck” I want to strangle the copy writer who wrote this ad. If a candidate has no positive platform, record or plan to run on they just say bad stuff about their opponents.
Since civility is not going to return in this election I am just going to turn a deaf ear to it. This also means that I am going to have stop looking at Facebook. I want to continue to like my friends and it is best if we don’t know each other’s politics. I am sorry to those readers of my blog who have read and disagreed with mine. I am not going to make any more political comments, unless one of the major candidates does something so outrageous that I just can’t help myself.
It is time to DVR, Stream, Netflix and just plain turn the tv off. Nothing I can see or hear is going to change who I am voting for. The constant bickering could just possible ruin my diet. So I am not going to fall victim to any election stress eating.
To justify not keeping up with the last minute changes to all the races I am going to vote tomorrow at the Eno River Unitarian Fellowship on Garrett road. I feel a sense of peace voting at the Unitarian Church, Iike perhaps we can all get along again.
It has been an ugly race, but when it is over we have to be one nation again. I am hoping for the best which only can happen if everyone participates. If anyone needs a ride to go vote I am happy to drive you. Just no excuses for not exercising your rights. Soon enough all this noise will be over and the politicians can get back to doing not as much as they should.
Lunch Lady Diet
Posted: October 19, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
I made exactly 37 quarts of Tortilla soup today, sans the tortillias. Those will be made tomorrow. 37 quarts is a lot of soup to go in the fridge at the same time. I have learned my lesson long ago about not overwhelming appliances, but I also know that food needs to be chilled quickly. What am I to do?
I eventually put quarts in a cooler with a whole bag of ice on top to get them to be refrigerator cold before going in the icebox. This is when I wish I had a blast chiller. Of course that is not a home appliance I really need that often.
I am sorry to say that all that soup was pre-spoken for so I have no extra. In fact I needed 37 quarts and that is exactly how much I made. How I figured that our I do not know.
Russ and Carter walked in the house and said, “I want that smell for dinner.” Thank goodness I had some I had made the other day as a test. It would be terrible to not feed my family while feeding all my friends’ families.
All this cooking is still the best diet. I was too tired to eat dinner and just had an apple and a piece of cheese. I need to make a large amount of food everyday so that I do away with my appetite. Maybe I should become a lunch lady. The. I also would not need. A blast chiller because the food would be consumed right after I made it.
Next up is going to be jambalaya. That is going to need chilling too!
Announcing The New Food Bank Headquarters
Posted: October 18, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
For years I have been keeping a secret. It is that the Food Bank Of Central and Eastern NC has a new headquarters. I am thrilled that I can finally shout it from the roof tops.
The Food Bank is a very frugal organization. Never wanting to spend any money on ourselves, but instead always putting money into getting food out to hungry people. As a member of the board we knew that we had out grown our old headquarters on Tar Heel drive in Raleigh years ago. At 48,000 square feet it was much too small, but we made due.
The board spent years considering all our options. Plenty of people wanted to build us a new building, but the locations were always much too far from the people who we serve and the volunteers who serve us. Location was a big issue for us. We also could not see building a fancy building. It goes against our mission.
We held out. We kept looking. We passed up big places in good locations that might be bio hazards. Then one day we got wind that the Old Raleigh Flea Market on Capital Boulevard might be willing to sell. After long negotiations with the family who owned the 108,000 square foot building on eleven acres we got it. That was just the beginning.
We started a private capital campaign and a renovation at the same time. I had to keep many secrets; that we bought the building, that we were renovating it and that I was chairing the board division of the capital campaign. If you asked me what I was doing, I might have said Food Bank stuff, but I was vague since I was really out shaking people down for pledges for our fabulous new building. I was not aloud to say anything until now and you know how hard that is for me.
Today it goes public! Couldn’t help it since the Food Bank moved last week in the midst of Mathew. It seems that whenever the Food Bank moves into a new building we also have a devastating hurricane. Moved into a new building a week before Fran, into a new branch in Greenville a week before Floyd and now this one.
We are going to need every inch of our more than double the space since what we know is that the after math of these hurricanes is a multiyear bump in the need of our services. We not only need to finish the capital campaign to pay for the building, but we need to increase our food capacity for the hurricane.
If you are interested in seeing the building, or helping the Food Bank let me know. I am happy to drive you over and give you the tour. It is an exciting place that we hope we don’t outgrow for a very long time. We do know that everyone who encounters the Food Bank, as an agency who gets from from us to a volunteer who helps sort food will enjoy it so much more in our new home.
Loss of My Second Best Sense
Posted: October 17, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
It finally happened, I lost my second best sense. For most of my life I had superior eyesight. I was 20/10 in one eye and 20/15 in the other. Most people don’t even know that you can be better than 20/20. Unlike so many of my friends in high school, I could wake up in the morning and see perfectly without having to feel around for glasses, or touch my eye to put contacts in.
My husband, whose worse sense is seeing, would say, “There are five lights ahead?” in response to my directions, “turn at the fifth light.” I could see far and in perfect focus.
Then around forty five my close up vision started to go. I could not tell which bottle was the shampoo and which was the conditioner in hotel showers. I broke down and got readers. First 1.0, followed quickly by 1.5, and a year or two later 2.5, skipping 2.0 all together. But they were just readers. No doctors’ intervention.
Then I went to a museum with my husband and I could not read the descriptions on the wall from behind the rope. I would lean over as far as the docent would allow me. I would put my reading glasses on and take them off, to no avail. My sight was gone.
Today I went to the eye doctor. Sure enough. From 20/15 to 20/25. She described it as two clicks from normal. I thought of it as the death of my superior sense. I had to pick out glasses to wear when I go to museums. I did not bother to get bifocals since the doctor told me that I did not need glasses for most things so my readers will remain my permanent necklace, but when I go to museums I will have to carry two pairs with me.
For the record, my best sense it that of taste. I can taste something and most often diagnose exactly what is in it. I am thankful that my best sense is still with me because there are no corrective measures for tastebuds.
Happy Toy Camera Day
Posted: October 16, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Since Russ left for Washington, Carter and I have been looking at old scrap books and reliving Carter’s childhood. After a while I told her I had to stop and write my blog. “No, let’s look at more photos.”
I asked Carter what I should write about today. She pulled up a list of what today’s holidays are. Turns out today isNational Cut up your credit cards while at the same time, National Department Store Day. Seems a little at odds to me. As Carter kept reading the long list of national days she came upon, National Toy Camera Day! Ta Da!
It all came full circle. I pulled out the scrap book from 2,000 when Carter was just over a year old. There it was, a page dedicated to Carter’s earliest photo taking. Before she could even talk, Carter would communicate that she wanted the camera by tapping her finger to her eye. I would hand her the little camera and she would hold it up to her eye and push the button. Her first photos were not great works of art, but of things that were at her eye level, like Russ’ foot. Happy Toy Camera Day.
The love of photography must be genetic. I easily have hundreds of thousands of photos, mostly of a Carter. Carter is well on her way to beating me in numbers of photos taken. Of course most of mine are on film and she has the advantage of all digital.
So happy Toy Camera Day. I am not sure there is even a need for toy cameras since real ones are so cheap and prevalent. What I do espouse is taking as many photos as you can and find a way to save them so you and your family can look at them often. Take photos of your cars, your living room decorated at Christmas, your grandparents at Thanksgiving.
It may not seem important at the time you are taking the picture, but someday you will look back and say, I remember that day. You may also get a big laugh about the fashions, the hair styles, or the decorating.
Fortuitous Break Down
Posted: October 16, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Yesterday was a beautiful day so I took my Morris Minor out for a drive. The fifty-two year old car needs to be driven to keep it going, but I only like to drive it in perfect weather. I picked up my friend Lee for lunch and off we went. I knew that something was not quite right while I was driving it, but it made it to lunch and back.
Today was another gorgeous day and Russ suggested we take the Morris out to a place called Road Scholars, a high end car restorer where our personal mechanic happened to work. They were having an open house and car show so we took Shay Shay, since it was an outdoor activity.
As we drove the twenty the minutes there in the Morris Minor we discussed what possible problems the car might have. The engine was louder than usual and the acceleration was dwindling, but since it barley has a sewing machine inside we knew it probably was nothing too bad.
We arrived at the car show and parked. Young men who were looking at the many Porsches they specialized in gave us the thumbs up and a “You’ve got the best in show,” shout out. We looked t the cars and eventually found Simon. He showed us the fine motor cars he usually works on. I felt proud that he liked to work on our humble little car. We discussed what might be wrong with our car and he said he would get some parts and would come get the car in the next week.
Russ, Shay and I went back to our car to head home, getting more waves as we drove off. Not one block away something went wrong with the exhaust system and we turned into a loud rolling bucket of bolts. I pulled over and Russ walked back to find Simon. He had us bring the car to the back parking lot where he promised to take good care of it and look at it soon.
We called an uber and got a ride home. If the Morris was going to break down any where it couldn’t have been at a better spot. I hope she is not intimidated being in the company of so many fine and expensive cars. The garage at home seems a little sad without the robin’s egg blue woody in it.
Tech Un-savvy
Posted: October 14, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Apparently I am unable to video record anything with my I-phone. I don’t know why this seems to be a skill that eludes me. Twice Carter has asked me to record important moments in her life and both times I have failed.
The first time was when she was in the recovery room after getting her wisdom teeth out. She wanted to know what she was like under anesthesia. For the record she was darling and funny, but I have no proof of that since I thought I was recording, when in fact I was not.
Today, Carter sent off her college application. She asked me to record the pressing of the send button so she would have record of what we hope is a very happy moment. True to my lack of skills I pushed the big red button and held my phone up for the whole five seconds then when Carter said I could cut, I pushed the red button again. That was when the recording actually started.
What I did get was another attempt at filming her where she called me a butt hole. So much for the darling funny girl under anesthesia. I can’t blame her because I am a butt hole. Why can’t I figure out how to take videos?
I am going to have to practice everyday so when the next big moment comes I can actually capture it. Hopefully it will be the reading of a college acceptance letter. For now, I want to publicly apologize to Carter for my lack of tech skills. I wish I had a video of that moment too. But the butt hole one is really much funnier so maybe it worked out exactly the way everything in our lives do, funny.
Replacements Field Trip
Posted: October 13, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
My friend Lane and I took a field trip today to Replacements, the largest seller of china, crystal and silver in the world. Since both Lane and I like china and silver it seemed like a fun place to go. When I say we like china I should clarify that Lane likes china and I have a genetic mutation that make me love china. I inherited this gene from my mother, which is funny since she does not care about food or eating, just china.
The giant warehouse and showroom house something like 12 million pieces of china according to our tour guide. I think that estimate is low based on the ten football fields we walked through with shelves twenty feet high.
After viewing a portion of the inventory I think I need to clarify my genetic mutation description. I do not have an uncontrollable irrational love of all china, just the patterns I consider to be beautiful and they are a small percentage of the china available. For the most part I have to say most of what Replacements has to replace is ugly. Now before anyone gets up in arms, just consider why most of the 12,000 china patterns they carry are discontinued in the first place.
Of course there are the gorgeous Flora Danica, museum quality plates, but then there are the ugly plates covered with roses. No comparison.
The silver was my favorite section. The incredible narrow uses of a things like the asparagus serving tray with a pierced piece to set the green spears on so that they would not sit in water and get soggy seemed beautiful, but not an everyday item. There was one big ass dog bowl that was at least 14 inches across that could be used everyday. Of course it was not listed as a dog bowl, but a center piece with four candle sticks. At just under $9,000 I guess your dog would get to stand on the table and eat their food from that silver bowl. The candle light is just a nice added touch for the dog that has everything.
I am most proud that neither Lane nor I made any snickering remarks during our tour, despite the desire to comment on the glasses that looked like Ronald Mc Donald. I can’t wait to see where our next field trip will be. The tackier the better.
Aging Microwave
Posted: October 12, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
When I was a kid we never had a microwave oven. When they first were invented they cost a crazy amount of money and were big enough to drive a VW bug inside. Since they were invented after my parents had added the third kitchen to our house there was no dedicated space to add such a large and ugly appliance to our main kitchen. The other two kitchens were hardly ever used so we certainly were not going to spend any money outfitting them.
Since I did not have a microwave during those early years that I was developing as a cook I had no interest in getting one of those new fangled machines myself. It was not until I was out of college a number of years and the prices really went down to be less than the cost of a television did I get one.
I never used a microwave to “cook” anything. It was purely to reheat leftovers, something I always had a lot of. When I met Russ he had a giant ass kenmore microwave, large enough for a 20 pound turkey. He also had a microwave cookbook, but I would bet good money it was never opened once. Probably seemed like the perfect gift to give a bachelor son.
As soon as Russ and I consolidated our households I did away with the big ass microwave since I had been brought up in a home where the kitchen was a room to look good and annoying ugly appliances were unwanted. Not that I did not have and use many appliances.
I have grown to love my microwave as the feeder of family members when I am not home. All they have to do is pick out one of the many containers of previously cooked food from the fridge and in a matter of moments they had a homemade meal.
For the last few months I have felt that our current microwave is not doing as good a job of heating so it used to. Sometimes I have to put a bowl back in a couple of times to ensure that the middle of a soup is actually hot, this despite stirring. Since I don’t buy frozen food with heating instructions I am not sure if the microwave is actually getting less effective or I am imagining it. Maybe I should buy a lean cuisine and cook it according to the package and see if it is hot and that will tell me if my machine is working. I just can’t bring myself to buy that kind of food.
I guess I will keep this microwave until an epic failure even though new ones cost barley as mush as dinner out for the three of us. If I felt like I might cook a fresh meal every night I might do away with the microwave all together, but that is too much pressure on me and then what would we do with all the leftovers in the fridge?
Help The Food Bank Help Hurricane Victims
Posted: October 11, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Hurricane Mathew may be long gone, but the flooding and devastation to eastern North Carolina is not over. Thousands of people are out of their flooded homes and the end is not in sight. Sadly this is not a first time disaster. In the past twenty years we have had hurricanes Fran and Floyd that took years to recover from.
Those people who have been flooded out are in shelters that may give them a meal today, but as soon as the water recedes those shelters close and people are left to fend for themselves. Providing food for people whose homes are destroyed is the front line to helping them survive to rebuild.
The Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC is the agency that is responsible for managing the federal and state emergency feeding programs. As we learned in previous hurricanes the programs that the Food Bank runs are needed more than ever. The good news is our Food Bank is expertly equipped to set up and run emergency feeding programs, but it takes money.
Despite the government’s dependance on the Food Bank they do not provide all the funds needed to help hurricane victims. The news about the flooding is not over. If you can help people of North Carolina through the Food Bank I personally would appreciate it. I can promise that the Food Bank is a very efficiently run agency that can turn ten dollars in cash into $100 worth of food and put it in the hands of people who need it today.
If you are able to support FBCENC in our disaster efforts:
Donate Funds: Donate online at foodbankcenc.org/matthew
Donate Food: Food donations are accepted at Food Bank distribution centers in Durham, Raleigh, New Bern, Greenville, Southern Pines and Wilmington. See the most needed items here: http://www.foodbankcenc.org/site/DocServer/Disaster
Virtual Food Drive: www.foodbankcenc.org/goto/matthew-vfd
Volunteer: At this point we are still assessing volunteer needs, please follow @FoodBankCENC on Twitter for continued updates.
If you are in need of assistance, please search our directory to find a partner agency near you. (Link: http://content.foodbankcenc.org/about/zip.asp)
Cooking Is A Good Diet
Posted: October 10, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
I’ve been cooking more than usual. Actually I’ve been cooking larger quantities than usual. It started as a bit of a joke about what I was going to do when Carter goes to college. Some friends suggested I could make their dinners when she was gone. So I started a bit early as a test.
First I made tomato pies and butternut squash soup for five families. Then four days later I made red wine vinegar chicken, rice and roasted green beans with shallots for ten families. Yesterday I made dozen butternut squash and chicken lasagnas.
Since I don’t cook with recipes I over bought the ricotta cheese for the lasagna. Not only did I over buy I also added the eggs to it in great abundance. That precipitated me to make three dozen ricotta cheesecake cupcakes, one small cheesecake and a big ricotta brown sugar bundt cake this afternoon. I texted a couple of people about the dessert offerings and have sold almost all of them in five texts. I can’t send an email out to my sales list because now I only have one small cheesecake and a few cupcakes.
Besides the obvious commerce benefits of this little experiment has been my rediscovery of my disinterest in eating the food I am cooking when I do it in bulk. It is a strange phenomena for someone who likes food as much as I do, but not one that is unfamiliar to me. When I used to cater in my youth I was excellent at sticking to my diet when I had huge parties to cook for. I wish I knew if this is a documented psychological reality or just a one off for me.
Shay has decided that she loves this food business because it means friends are coming and going constantly. She of course thinks they are here just to see her. I am not going to break her heart and tell her they actually want their dinner. I think I am going to have to keep this up until I reach my goal weight and since that never seems to happen I hope my friends don’t tire of my cooking.
Dana’s Dinners
Posted: October 9, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
Between the Donald tape, the debate, the hurricane and the devastation from the flooding I am ready to poke my eyes out. The only thing I can do in times like this is cook. So that is what I did today.
I made a dozen pans of chicken and butternut squash lasagnas for my friends to buy. In a matter of moments ten of them were claimed. I still have two left to sell.
If things keep going the way they have this past week I am going to be cooking up a storm.
No Power, No Blog
Posted: October 8, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentThanks to hurricane Mathew our power went out around six tonight. With the power went our whole communications system to the outside world. I am attempting to send this tiny message out to the world. Unsure if even this will go. Until I have power it have nothing to say!
Hurricane Names
Posted: October 7, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
As hurricane Mathew is bearing down on the southern east coast I got to wondering about the names of hurricanes. Used to be that all hurricanes were named for women. Seems very sexist to name something so deadly and unpredictable exclusively after women.
In 1978, when women’s lib was at an all time high, the World Meteorological Organization, the international hurricane naming authority, changed the protocol to include men’s names. They created a six year rotating list of names that get reused. Only if a storm is so big and bad does a name get retired permanently.
The first big hurricane I ever heard of happened well before I was born. It was hurricane Hazel and I was familiar with it because it devastated Pawleys Island. Turns out Hazel, was the second name to be retired, after Carol both in 1954. Of course most of us can name big storms that happened in our lifetime, like Katrina, Sandy, Hugo, Floyd and Fran. It is no wonder those names were retired. But when I look at the list of retired storm names I don’t recall some of them ever happening. Like in 2008 Gustav, Ike and Paloma were all retired. Never heard of those storms, of course they must have been devastating to somebody, some where.
I looked over the six year list of storm names and am happy that Dana, Russ and Carter are not included on them. This does not mean that someday they might be added to the rotation to take the place of a retired name.
Based on the list of retired names the most common first letter of the name to be retired is “I”, with Igor, Ike, Inez, Ingrid, Ione, Irene, Iris, Isabel, Isidore, and Ivan all being such bad storms that we can never repeate their names in the list of hurricanes again. This current “I” names in the six year rotation are Ian, Irma, Isaac, Imelda, Isaias and Ida. Seems like we are going to run out of names that start with “I”, both male and female and we are going to have to add dog names to the rotation.
If there was a way to bet on if a name was going to be retired I am certain you would win money if you bet on Mathew. This storm has already been terrible for Haiti, where they can hardly afford to live in perfect weather. I hope that the US areas affected are not that bad, but fear it is already devastating for so many. Mathew, of we go on and retire your name now, could you just go on out to sea and die?
They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To
Posted: October 6, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Tonight Russ and I went to the opening of the Art Deco car exhibition at the NC Museum of Art. It was the perfect place for these gorgeous cars which certainly were works of art. Just the colors alone were more beautiful than any car on the road today. When was the last time you saw a really beautiful green car? Even the red car was a more vibrant candy apple red than any car made today.
One of my favorites was a black and orange Peugeot that had the color scheme of a tiger. I bet that every Princeton graduate of the time would have wanted this car if they knew that it existed.
I know that cars have come a long way with safety improvements and don’t get me started on suspension, but why can’t our current cars be as beautiful as well? Today’s cars re better than the Pacer and the Vega of the seventies, but common, nothing like the Art Deco cars.
One of the fun parts of the exhibits was the displays describing all the details about the cars. The most interesting to me was the original cost of the car and what that translated to in today’s dollars. They were expensive, but not outrageous. If it cost $5,000 in the thirties is would equal $80,000 today. That is an expensive car, but not unheard of. Given what works of art they are it was money well spent. They also certainly appreciated well, especially the ones that only had a handful of that particular model made.
One funny car had what looked like a door bell as its opening mechanism for the door. It was fitting since the inside of the car had a table and side chair making it more like a rolling house than a car. Really could have been the inspiration for. Minivan.
If you love beautiful design this exhibit is worth going to. It is small, maybe a dozen cars, but so worth the trip.
Dana’s Dinners
Posted: October 5, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Apparently most of my friends do not want to cook dinner. Not that they want to go out either. Last week three friends encouraged me to make extras when I was cooking dinner and they would buy the “leftovers” to feed their family. So I whipped up tomato pies and butternut carrot soup. I made an extra serving of each and just as I finished packaging everything up a neighbor came by and got in on the deal buying the leftover of the leftovers.
That was a test to see if it was too much trouble and if people liked what I made them. No sooner had everyone received their food than I got a request from a friend who missed the introductory test. So last night I made a big batch of Red Wine Vinegar chicken with herbed rice and roasted green beans and shallots so my left out friend could buy dinner.
After I finished cooking I packaged it all up and determined that I had eight dinners for four. I asked one friend this morning, then sent a text to two others and then one at Mah Jong and before I knew it all but one was spoken for without any trouble.
My Mah Jong friends asked me if I had offered dinner to my friend Lynn. They knew that I would be in big trouble if she found out I was cooking for others and not her. Not because she needs food, but because her husband loves good food.
I called Lynn and got her full voice mail. I texted her and did not hear back. Eventually she called me. I told her about the one last meal and before I finished the sentence she was saying,
“I’ll take it.” I told her I should have called her husband because he would have paid double or even triple.
I guess I might be in the dinner supplying business. It is not going to be a regular thing. Just as the mood, my time and good fresh ingredients at the farmers market hits me. I am going to keep an email list and when I have something available I will send an email out with a description and a price. It will be first responders who will get it. I will not do special requests. I am not getting back in the catering business. This is really my cooking for fun.
If you want to have your name added to the dinner alert emails let me know. There is no delivery and I will not mail food to you far off friends. Sorry, you just have to come visit for me to feed you.
Frances’ New Book
Posted: October 4, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
I had lunch today with my friend Frances Dowell. She is my real writer friend. You might know her from her young adult fiction like Dover Coe or The Secret Language of Girls. Frances is not someone who just dabbles in writing, but is a hard working writer who puts out work constantly.
Frances has been writing for the middle school crowd for a while. Today she told me that not only has she branched out into a series of grade school chapter books, but she just published an adult fiction book. Hooray for me, I love her books but think I am past the grade school level.
Frances new novel is called Birds in the Air and it has a quilting theme. Did I say that Frances also is a fabulous quilter?
I bought the book as a kindle download, which is the fastest way to get a book these days. The best part is that since it is new and hot it is available for $2.99. That is cheaper than a greeting card.
As a needlepointer I feel that some of those handicraft skills will translate when reading about a quilter. Of course it is not a book about quilting, but instead about a woman who takes it up and all that is going on in her life.
Reading Frances’ book will be a great distraction from the world of politics. It is always inspiring to me to read the works of people I know personally. Perhaps one day I can grow up to be a writer.
When In Doubt, Add Fish Sauce
Posted: October 3, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Carter was working on her college essay today. That got her in the mood for food like she ate in Taiwan, where she went to school when she was thirteen. She asked me if I would make her hibachi vegetables for dinner which I think of as a totally American thing, but what the hell, she was asking for vegetables. While she was at basketball practice I cooked up some onions, zucchini, yellow squash and mushrooms. At the end I added minced garlic, ginger and soy sauce, per Carter’s request.
She walked in the door and tasted the mixture and declared it not Asian enough. No surprise. Does it need vinegar, she asked? I reached into my magic cabinet of flavors and pulled out the fish sauce bottle. One douse of the smelly liquid and voila, instant Asian. Carter was happy and therefore so was I.
I first learned about fish sauce from a woman in Bethesda, MD who I used to cater for. She kept a bottle of it under her sink and her husband used it in some foul smelling cocktail he would make. She told me that he had become addicted to it when he was in the war in Vietnam. She said it smelled too bad to keep in her regular pantry.
I quickly came to disagree with her that it should be kept with other food stuffs, and not Ajax and dish soap. Even though I was her caterer and came to her house with most of the food I would be serving fully prepared, she would still want to taste it all before I served it. Sure enough she would often suggest we add a douse of fish sauce to all kind of food and sure enough, she was right. It added just a hint of something exotic.
If you don’t know about fish sauce, don’t buy it at the regular grocery store where they charge a ridiculous amount of money for it. Instead go the an Asian market and buy any old brand. I get mine t the big Asian superstore, Li Ming and I think I pay something like $1.29 for a half litter. Don’t keep it with the poisons in your house. On its own it might smell like it can kill a rat, but added to food it is magic. It is salty and tangy at the same time. Please don’t take. Big sniff of it and expect to know what it tastes like. Somehow the awful smell turns into a yummy taste.
Pie For Russ’ Birthday
Posted: October 2, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
It’s Russ’ birthday today. He is not one for big parties or even big gifts. But he does like an apple pie. Given his well researched druthers he would probably like a Harris Teeter apple pie best. Since they are too big to have around due to the weight watching going on around here I made him his own tiny pie. It is a really ugly little pie. Thank goodness Russ does not have the best eye sight.
While I was at it I made five big tomato pies and ten quarts of butternut squash soup. Not for Russ’ birthday, but for my friends who want me to go into the “Dana does dinner” business. See, last week at lunch three friends said they would act as guinea pigs if I were to package the extra food I inevitably cook when I make anything. Then another friend heard about the testing option and she got in on it too.
Since I was making pie crust for tomatoes pies I just made a little extra for Russ. Poor guy, that is the way it goes. Nothing special for him. Just the stuff that falls off the truck.
After I had finished cooking the “dinners” for my friends I still had leftovers. My neighbor came by to return some borrowed butter and she ended up buying the extra from the test batch.
I calculated the money I will make from this exercise and the per hour cost after ingredients was not great. Then Russ told me to look at it another way. I would have been cooking no matter what, so in essence I am just selling the leftovers. He thinks it is all profit since it meant he got a tiny pie from the deal.
After my testers have tried this round I will decided if I should do it again. I was craving some red wine vinegar chicken and that makes great leftovers so I may be offering it for sale next week. For today I just have to go finish making food for Russ’ birthday dinner. He is not getting leftovers!
A Quarter Century of Shirts
Posted: October 1, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Twenty five years ago, when Russ and I were first engaged I discovered something about him, he just didn’t care about clothes. If he could have worn shorts and a tee shirt all the time he would have. That was frowned upon at work, but he spent as little as possible on work clothes.
In his perfectly pared down engineering way he had worked out that he only needed three button down shirts. One he would be wearing. One he would be washing and one would be hanging up to dry. This also meant that he had to go home everyday and wash a shirt.
This scenario also meant he had to iron his own shirts. Once again he engineered this process to be the least amount of work. Russ figured that with a jacket on the only parts of a shirt anyone saw were the collar, cuffs and the front placket, therefore that was the only part that need to be ironed. One rare day I was at the office with him, he got hot and took off his jacket, much to my horror to discover the wrinkled mess on the body and arms of the shirt.
I decided that this 3 shirt program had to change. One, because it cramped our time together since he always had to have time to wash a shirt and two, because I thought he was much cuter in a fully pressed shirt.
So twenty five years ago tomorrow I gave Russ ten shirts and introduced him to the Chinese laundry down the street from his house. I know this was the date because tomorrow is Russ’ birthday and it was our first together.
Russ had no trouble adapting to this new found embarrassment of shirt riches. Going to the laundry is one of his favorite chores. He has even trained Shay to love to go with him when he drops or picks up his shirts because they give her a dog bone there. Shay does not like to eat the dog bone, but she still wants to go to the laundry.
I know that I am the luckiest wife on earth because I married Russ Lange, but I am also very appreciative that he took so quickly to a larger shirt wardrobe and never expected me to take care of them. Sadly now he has so many shirts I can’t give him those for his birthday.
Donald Trump’s Potential Defense
Posted: September 30, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 3 CommentsThe following blog is satire. For those of you who love Donald Trump please don’t read it, or if you do please don’t send me any comments about it because they might reveal that you 1. Don’t know what satire is, or 2. Might not have any sense of humor at all. If you don’t like that I might comment on political figures stop reading now. I don’t write this blog for you, I write it for myself.
Donald Trump’s Potential Defense
Donald Trump went on a twitter rage starting at 3:20 this morning and kept at it for two early morning hours. Questions have arisen about what he was doing up at 3:20. Since I have a husband who is often up at those crazy hours I don’t find that so strange. But the fact that Trump himself keeps tweeting about this Miss Universe story is crazy, since he is the one keeping it alive.
His team needs to come up with some answer for these rants in the middle of the night and I think that they should blame Ambien. The insomnia drug has been blamed for people doing all kind of crazy things in their sleep, like eat entire sheet cakes or drive the wrong way down the highway.
If Trump could come out and say that something other than his own brain is to blame for the telling the American people to check out a sex tape he might win back some of the voters he lost in the debate.
Perhaps he also could blame his own weight gain on Ambien. I notice that not one news outlet has mentioned that it is a little like the kettle calling the pot black for him to call women fat pigs. I am certainly not one to ever say someone is over weight since most of my life I have been one of those women Trump would say mean things about, but come on Trump, have you looked in the mirror lately? Perhaps you are too distracted by the orange color to notice your stomach.
Maybe Trump’s wife could put some parental controls on his Twitter account. But then what fun would we have when we woke up in the morning without the crazy rantings of a self absorbed guy? I guess we are lucky that he doesn’t drive himself round because he certainly has the potential to drive the wrong direction on the highway.
When Shape Matters
Posted: September 29, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
No, this is not a blog about Donald Trump and his sexist and sizest comments about beauty queens. Instead it is about my love of “riced” cauliflower. If you have never heard of “riced” anything you have probably never been to a weight watchers meeting or read a diet blog.
Ricing is the act of cutting something, usually an innocent vegetable, into the size and shape of grains of rice. Here is the miracle of ricing cauliflower, it makes it taste like rice? Whaaat??? How can that be?
Riced cauliflower is not processed in any other way than the shape. The ingredients in riced cauliflower are one, cauliflower. So making it taste like rice is no magic of adding hydrogenated poly something, or saturated anything. It is just a trick to your brain because it is white and looks like rice. Aha! Then it must taste like rice. And it does, more than it tastes like cauliflower.
No way, you say. Cauliflower has a fairly distinctive taste. But cutting it up into tiny little pieces somehow changes the taste. Other good news is it does not change the calories. Or in the case of weight watchers, the points. Cauliflower has 0 points and one cup of rice has six. And two cups of cauliflower has 0 points and two cups of rice as 12 points. And… you get the picture.
So I’m now running for Miss Riced Cauliflower Queen. Maybe I have to be Mrs. But I am certainly promoting riced cauliflower. Trader Joe’s has it in the freezer section and the fresh veggie coolers too.
It couldn’t be easier to make. Pour it into a non-stick pan sprayed with vegetable oil spray and sauté it for a few minutes. You can add any spice you like because it is like a blank canvas, just like rice. I made a yummy shrimp and tomatoes dish that traditionally would be served over rice and the cauliflower was an even better bed. How do it do it? One will never know.
Back To My Roots
Posted: September 28, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentIn my twenties, when someone would ask me what I did for a living, my response would almost always be, “I drive and I talk.” This was the easiest explanation for my job as a mail opening and extracting machine sales engineer. Of course if the person asking was an attractive guy I might have answered that I was in “male opening and extracting.” That homophone always led to an interesting conversation.
Talking was my the skill that brought me my fortune. The acknowledgment of its power was even apparent to young children. When Carter was four or five and needed a parent to intercede on her behalf at school Russ volunteered. She rebuffed his offer with, “Daddy, I think Mommy is the better discusser.”
Somehow I got out of the talking business and got into the writing business. It was all quite by accident. But I do not write in a vacuum. My favorite part of my job is getting to interview people I feature in my column at Durham Magazine. The talking part of my job is where the real fun happens.
Last month my long time beloved editor, Andrea Griffith Cash left Durham Magazine to go work at the non-profit Chris Rosati started, Inspire Media. Andrea had been the host of the Magazine’s Podcast. Suddenly there was an opening in the talking position. As a professional discusser I am happy to announce that I am going to be taking the seat as the host of Durham Magazine’s Podcast.
My big boss, Dan Shannon, asked me to come up with a name for the Podcast. “I want you to have your name in the title,” he told me. My immediate response was, “Dana does Durham.”
“I can never unhear that,” Dan said, as I could practically her him hanging his head in unease over the phone. People much younger than me won’t necessarily understand why he felt that way.
So, I am still searching for a name and am open to suggestions. I am also interested in hearing what kind of guests or topics you might want to listen to. That is if you listen to podcasts.
The first three episodes are all tee’d up and ready to be recorded. The jury will be out on how well I do as a podcast host. If I have lost my talking skills I always have writing to fall back on. I still have my column at the Magazine and a few blog readers I have not offended.
Trump Is No Republican
Posted: September 27, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 4 CommentsOK, I watched every word of the debate. There is so much to say and so many others have already started, but I am quite surprised by what has not been said. Trump began the debate talking about “keeping businesses in America.” It is a nice idea, but really that is not what government does.
Government does not control business in America, we are a free market. Business decides for itself. Yes, trade deals and tariffs made by government affect business, but in the end each individual business makes an economic decision where to produce and sell goods. Trump himself made his shirts and ties in a China and Vietnam. It was a business decision. The workers there we cheeper than Americans. Many businesses chose to make things here because it is good for their business to be made in America.
So how in the world does Donald Trump think he can “make” businesses make things in America? That is not what Presidents do. How is it that no one seems to bring that fact up? If he were a Democrat the Republicans would be quick to point that out. Perhaps the Democrats aren’t calling him out on it because they like the idea of government being able to tell business what they can and can not do.
Trump is the opposite of a Republican. His “I promise I can do that,” whatever “that” is, sounds like bigger government. His call to replace the entire infrastructure of every bridge, highway, airport and hospital would make government “Huuuge.”
Here is the problem with Trump… I am not going to say the misogyny, bigotry, racism or ego. It’s that he is a builder businessman who has never had a boss. He wants to build things. He want to be in control and do exactly what he wants, like he always has. He is not used to compromising. Don’t let the title of his ghost written book, The Art of the Deal fool you. If he didn’t like a deal he walked away from it or refused to pay for it. That is not what the leader of America gets to do. You have to have finesse. Not a word I would use to describe the bull dozing Trump.
Plenty of people are sick of the way government has gone, but Trump is not the answer. It is the lack of politicians ability to compromise with each other that has gotten us in this state. Electing a President who is a bully is not going to fix the mess that the do nothing congress has gotten us into.
Republicans tried to change the government with the Tea Party, but aren’t those the same guys who let the government shut down for two weeks with no real plan because they couldn’t or wouldn’t pass a budget? Change for change’s sake is not the answer. Have we learned nothing about electing radical newbies? They just don’t have the experience to know how to reach across the aisle and come up with solutions that work. Electing a man who has no understanding that being President means being a servant leader is too big a risk.
The Moments Before Debate
Posted: September 26, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentIt is just half an hour until the first Presidential debate between Hilary and Donald. I feel like this is the time of innocence. Come two hours from now something will be different in America, but what I don’t know.
The new casters are guessing the viewing audience will be bigger than the super bowl. But will it make much difference? This election is so polarizing. Trump supporters will certainly say he has won and Hilary’s will do the same. I am just so interested in who those undecided voters are and what they are looking for.
I watched an ad that was run during the Johnson/Goldwater campaign of a white man sitting In a chair talking. He started off saying he was a Republican, had been his whole life, as were his father and grandfather. He said he always voted republican, but can’t do it this time. He could not support a candidate who was supported by the Ku Klux Klan. He went on to say the party made a huge mistake during its convention when they chose Goldwater. He announced he would vote for Johnson.
You could run this exact ad and replace the names Goldwater with Trump and Johnson with Clinton and the dialogue would be true today. Don’t tell me history does not repeat itself.
I am ready to watch the history that will be made tonight. Please don’t let it me a train wreck.
Goodbye Charles Osgood
Posted: September 25, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 3 Comments
Twenty years ago when Charles Kuralt retired from CBS Sunday Morning I bawled like I was a baby. Watching CBS Sunday morning had long been my tradition. I did not care for CBS news on any other day, but somehow the long format of in depth story telling they did on Sunday morning was addictive. CBS Sunday Morning is the reason I never could become an early church goer. It kills me in the summer when our church goes to one ten AM service. Thank goodness for DVR, but I still hate inturpting the viewing.
Russ quickly joined in my addiction and we would watch the show in bed every Sunday morning. Russ comforted me when Charles Kuralt left and said it all would be fine. Which it was. It took me a little while to warm up to Charles Osgood. It helped that his name was Charles.
The change in anchors did not alter my devotion to the show. I eventually came to love the new Charles as much as the old. Then today he broke my heart, just as the first did and decided at 83 it was time to retire from TV. Twenty years after I shed those tears for the Kuralt departure I found myself doing the same for Mr. Osgood.
Although he is still alive and will be broadcasting on the radio, that is not where I was used to having him. After a show all about Charles they announced that Jane Pauley would be taking over the seat. I have seen her fill in during the summer and I know she will do a good job. But I wonder if I will feel the same way about her as I have about the Charles’. Since people tend to keep this job for decades I think I have some time to grow fond of her. I wonder if I will cry when she retires too?
Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup
Posted: September 24, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 Comments
I know a lot of people say summer is a non-eating time for them because it is too hot. Summer is the opposite for me. Too hot is not a deterrent to eating. Vacations and ice cream do my summer diet in.
Fall is a better healthy eating time. Getting into a regular regime helps, but the real bonus is I think of fall as the start of the soup half of the year. There is no better way to feel full than eating a nice bowl of hot soup. Sorry gazpacho, as much as I love you, you don’t curb my appetite.
Today I looked around the kitchen to find what foods needed to be used up and I found a small butternut squash and a half a can of lite coconut milk. Perfect for soup.
Now small is not my normal regiment when it comes to cooking anything so of course I added some other ingredients to make a pot of soup.
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into small chunks
3 shallots- peeled and chopped (you can use a yellow onion in place of shallots)
2 carrots- peeled and chopped
2 cups of chicken broth
2 T. Ground coriander
2 T. fresh ginger- grated on the microplane
5 T. Light coconut milk
Zest and juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
Put the vegetables and the chicken stock in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook about fifteen minutes, until the vegetables are just soft.
Add the other ingredients and purée the mixture with a hand blender or in a blender.
Taste for salt and pepper.
This probably makes about four servings. Carter was shocked that I made such a small pot of homemade soup. She looked at it and said, “This is the right amount.” This coming from a person who does not like leftovers.
Physical Therapy First
Posted: September 23, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
A little over a month ago I woke up with a terrible back pain. It was one of those, “what did I do to myself in my sleep?” situations. Unfortunately it did not go away with my next night’s sleep,or the next or, you get the picture. I went to see my massage therapist who is more like a miracle worker. She spent the entire hour on my back and shoulder, but one hour was not enough. I went back the next week. Still no real relief. She suggested I go to see a physical therapist.
On her recommendation I went to see the people at NC center for physical therapy. The nice part about it is they are not so busy that they couldn’t see me right away and my insurance covered it without a doctor’s visit first.
I told a friend about my back and she jumped right to, “You should go to the doctor first, you could have cancer.” I was fairly certain this was a muscle issue so I chose to ignore her.
Two visits to PT and doing about ten minutes of exercises three times a day and my back is practically better. It is not perfect yet, so I am going to keep up the PT regime for a bit, but I am thrilled to not have the terrible pain I have endured for a month.
Sometimes you just don’t need to go to the doctor and look for something bigger. As my friend Stephanie always says, “When you hear hooves on the bridge don’t think zebras.”
While I was at PT I mentioned that my right knee also hurt so we have been solving that problem at the same time. It was not such a bad pain, like my back, but one I had been enduring just because I thought I was getting old. Turns out that I needed to strengthen my inner and outer thighs. Huh, who would have thought that my biggest part was my weakest.
My new motto is, “don’t suffer pain.” If it hurts try a physical therapist. It is cheaper and easier than anything else you can do for yourself.
Walking Is The Answer
Posted: September 22, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentWe have become a society much to dependent on driving. Tonight I have a meeting that is exactly one mile from my house. The person holding the meeting has limited parking and it turns out her neighbor is also having 40 guests at the same time. My friend having the meeting asked everyone to carpool. Since most of us live in the neighborhood the real request needs to be, “if you can, walk.”
If we lived in a city no one would think twice about doing anything but walk. Imagine how crazy you would seem if you hailed a cab or called an uber to go one mile. In New York City one mile is 20 North-South blocks, and those are the short blocks. Twenty blocks is nothing.
The gas crisis we have had here is affecting people getting out. Tuesday and today I went to lunch at very popular lunch spots, they both were practically empty. It was weird since you usually have to fight for a table. Both of these places are on the boulevard, close to many places of work and homes. Many people could have walked there if they wanted, but they didn’t.
When we have giant snow and ice storms plenty of people who can’t get their cars out walk to the grocery store from my neighborhood and that is in the cold and wet. Why not do it when the weather is nice? Granted carrying home a lot of bags is not that easy, but how many times do you run to the store for one or two things.
We can’t all be so busy that we can’t spend fifteen or twenty minutes to walk a mile. How much time do people spend getting ready to go to the gym, driving there, working out and driving home. If we just walked a little more to the places that are a little further you would not need to go to the gym as often, or you could eat and ice cream cone every so often.
My friend Jane says she walks so she can keep walking. Having lived with elderly parents who did not do any exercise she sees how quickly you can lose mobility from lack of use. I know that my parents living on a farm are in much better shape than they would be if they lived in a suburban setting.
So leave the car at home. Do yourself a favor and walk.
The Place Manners Still Matter
Posted: September 21, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentThis is a cautionary tale that you need to share with your loved ones, but maybe not with your enemies.
Yesterday Russ was trying to get home from San Francisco. He took the red eye from the Bay Area to JFK, arriving at five in the morning. It seems like a good idea to get one long flight in on the first leg in the hope you might sleep, but not going to JFK. He was supposed to board a plane at eight in the morning for the quick ride back to North Carolina, but sadly that plane was having trouble. Russ texted me it was a three hour delay.
They eventually got him a new plane and once they put all the passengers on it they discovered that plane needed a new air tank. That was another hour. Finally they put all the passengers back on the plane and shut the door. Russ texted me that he was in his seat and would be going.
Not so fast. A mother and her adult daughter started having a fight with another passenger to the point that the flight attendant told them she was going to call the authorizes if they did not settle down. They did not.
Russ texted, “We have to pull the plane back in the gate so the police can come on and arrest the mother.” The police did take the woman off the plane and her daughter followed even though she was not charged. More delays while they searched the hold for their luggage.
The other passengers were getting restless. Now, a young man came up to the front to complain loudly to the stewardess about the many delays. She said to him, “Don’t make me call the police on you too. It is a $75,000 fine if they have to come on the plane and you are banned from ever flying on this airline again.”
Now that is a threat! I think all passengers should know how horrible the consequences are for bad behavior. It’s not just that someone might film you and put your acting badly on YouTube. No, it’s big bucks and permanent expulsion from all flights on that airline.
So no complaining once you get on the plane. And be nice to the flight attendants. Your being able to stay on that plane is completely up to them. Bad manners don’t just get you in trouble with your grandmother, they may cost you more money than you have.
Our Gas Crisis
Posted: September 20, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
For those of you who live in North Carolina you know all about the break in the Colonial Pipeline that practically cut off the delivery of gasoline to stations in seven states. If you don’t live in one of these mostly southern states count your lucky stars that you probably have a steady supply of petrol.
Last week, when the news reported that the pipe in Alabama had an epic failure and spilled millions of gallons of gas into a state which can hardly afford such a huge environmental disaster I knew things were going to get bad. I had less than half a tank of gas so I went immediately to fill up. It was the right instinct because now, six days later gas is practically impossible to find.
Since Russ also watches the news he filled his gas sipping Smart car up and between us were were set to drive a week or more without curbing our normal activities. What did I do wrong? I forgot to tell my “I get all my news from buss feed” teenager to fill her car.
Yesterday, it finally dawned on me to alert her to what the rest of the south knew. Of course she was already on the bottom side of a quarter of a tank so she stopped at a gas station late last night on her way home from basketball practice.
Carter has one of the soon to be pulled off the road VW diesel cars. The station she stopped at had already run out of gasoline but the woman at the counter said they still had diesel. Only problem was Carter did not have her debit card. Home to get it and back to the station only to find she could only pump .2, that point two, gallons of diesel. The panic set in.
I told her that she could take one of the family fleet cars to school and I would get her car filled today, if possible. This is the type of thing your teenager loves you for.
The thought of finding diesel this morning was not something I was looking forward to since I don’t even know stations that even sell diesel. So I turned to my smart phone and downloaded the “Gas Buddy” app. I was able to filter for stations that had diesel and reported having actual fuel, as well as see what time they reported that. Voila!
I drove directly to a station that was a mile from our house and although they had bags on all the gas pumps the green diesel ones were available. I pulled in, swiped my card, filled Carter’s car and was out in five minutes. The best part is I did not have to wait in any lines since they were out of gas. For once that naughty VW paid off.
Once at home my friend Lynn called from her car that was nearing empty. I pulled up my Gas Buddy and found her a station on her way home that reported having gas. She was car 20 in line when we hung up and I bet the tanks still had enough fuel for her because she did not call me back for a second station.
Our less than popular governor came on the news this morning to say that the pipeline may be fixed by tomorrow and it will take a few days for the flow of gas to get up to North Carolina. I think he wants credit for that happening so when the citizens of our state go to the polls in two months they think about this and not HB2, but sorry I am not giving him credit for the pipe in Alabama getting fixed.
I hope that you southern readers have enough gas to do what you need to do or can use this as a major excuse to stay home. I highly recommend Gas Buddy if you need to find gas. It is out there, it just is taking more work to transport it to the stations from further away. This is not a gas crisis, but a gas delivery crisis.
Carter’s Dinner Request- Sour Beef Soup
Posted: September 19, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentSometimes I forget that I even write a daily blog. Russ is boarding a plane in San Francisco at 11:30 and texted me, “blog today?” What would I do without him to be my memory. Sorry these last few blogs have been so lame.
The good news is I made a yummy dinner at Carter’s request. Really the good news is that Carter made a request that was specific and doable. I am happy to cook anything healthy, but sometimes I get sick of thinking up what that might be. To top it off, I hate being a mind reader to figure out if my family is going to like or feel like what I come up with. So hooray Carter sent me a text request early enough in the day that I was able to act on it.
She wanted a beef soup with noodles. I made a sweet and sour one that I just made some noodles on the side and added to at serving time. This way I could have no noodles and they did not turn to mush in the soup.
2 lb. of pot roast cut into small chunks
2 sweet onions diced
4 cloves of garlic
2 28 oz. cans of diced tomatoes and the juice
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 T. Oregano
3 cups of beef broth
4 carrots diced
2 celery stalks diced
15 mushrooms sliced
Spray a big stock pot with Pam and put on high heat. Liberally salt and pepper the beef and place one layer in the hot pot, you will not be able to fit all the meat in at once. Brown on one side and turn the meat over and brown the other side. Set that meat aside while you do the rest.
Add the all the meat to the pot and add the onions and garlic and cook on medium high for five minutes. Add the to toes, oregano, beef broth and vinegar. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, covered for 3 hours. Remove the lid and keep cooking and add the celery, carrots, and mushrooms.
If there is not enough liquid in the pot add some water to make it as soupy as you want. Cook for another 30 mins.
In a separate pot boil some egg noodles. Place a spoonful of noodles in the bowl and laddle over the soup.
Freezes well.
Rain, Though Be It Short Lived, At Last
Posted: September 18, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentThe lush sound of rain pounding on the roof is something I have missed in the last few months. Tonight, finally, after this long stretch of drought I am rewarded with a sudden and harsh down pour. I know that it will be short lived tonight. The hard rain on the barren soil will hardly have a chance to soak it, but instead will roll off and run away to lower ground.
Perhaps this quick rain will prime the land for more rain to come tomorrow. We so desperately need the water. My yard looks like the brown prickly hair of a hedgehog. I refuse to pay to water it since I could easily spend a thousand dollars in a month and still not have green grass. Instead I chose not to waste the precious water on something so fleeting as grass. Nonetheless I am thankful for the rain.
Sadly the forecast for the week does not show many days full of rain, just Monday and perhaps a little Thursday. Whatever good this rain does will be wiped away in a day or two. For now I just want to enjoy the sweet sound the water falling from the sky makes. It is so easy to take it for granted.
Dog Self Diagnosis Diagram
Posted: September 17, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
Shay has not been well for about a week. It does not seem like anything serious. It started with some gas (sorry for the graphic nature), then lose stools, then she would be better. Last night she threw up, then she was better. We threw out her food in case that was what was making her sick. She ate, she would have some GI problems, but she never complained. She did not have a temp, she still walked and she still played. As she lay on the bed I could her her tummy gurgle in an unusual way.
Tonight she went to her basket of toys in the sun room and violently threw each one out of the basket and across the room until she found the yellow dinosaur she was looking for. I took this as a sign that she was feeling better. I know that might be reading a lot into my dog’s actions, but it is all I have to go on.
Not being able to tell me,”Mommy, I have a tummy ache,” is hard on us both. I wish that I could invent some dog picturegrams that described how she is feeling that she could go and stand on to clearly communicate how she is really feeling.
Gas, might not be a big deal, of course as long as you are not on the smelling end of it. Runny poop is bad, but as long as it is not the symptom of something worse and she can make it outside to do her business then it is fine. But is she feeling at least OK? Her eyes are clear. Her breath is good. Her nose is cold. Her breathing is fine, no limping, no whining no refusing to eat or go out, but I want her to tell me, “I’m good.”
I guess this is what I am going to have to worry about in the future when Carter leaves home. I am going to be one of those crazy pet parents. Oh, I probably already am.
Mr. Soft Hands
Posted: September 16, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
The highlight of my magazine career was my exclusive interview with Colin Firth the summer he was filming the flop of a movie, Main Street in Durham. When I got home from my start struck time with him I told Russ that the thing that surprised me the most about him were his very soft hands. The fact that he was incredibly kind and generous with his time did not surprise me at all, he was Mr. Darcy after all.
My editor at the time, Matt, went on to title my article, “Dana Lange’s Diary”. You can google it because the official Colin Firth Fan club has permanently immortalized it on the internet. All this being said, when the new Bridget Jones Baby opened today it was practically a family obligation that we go and see it. Well, for me and Carter, since Russ still holds a little grudge against Mr. soft hands.
I don’t want to give a thing away about the movie, but I will say that Carter burst into tears more than once. The best part of the movie, which stars Renee Zellweger and Colin Firth in their original roles, but also Patrick Dempsey as a competing love interest, was a line in the movie about how soft Patrick Dempsey’s hands were. Carter and I felt like it was an inside joke for us that was actually just a coincidence.
I have to say that Colin Firth still has it. No slight to Russ. I am really looking forward to the next Bridget Jones installment, Bridget Jones Chooses a Nursing Home. I’m a sucker for a Colin Firth movie and am perfectly happy to watch him sitting in a wheel chair drooling.
My Favorite Night At School
Posted: September 15, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
Tonight was Parents’ Night (notice the apostrophe for all who were there) at Carter’s school. It is my favorite night of the year because it is when we get to go an meet the teachers and hear what Carter will be studying this year. Every year this is the night that makes me want to go back to school, but not any school, to Durham Academy.
This is my fourteenth and final Parents’ Night, but by far the best one because as a senior Carter has the most flexibility in what she gets to take and who is teaching her. Going to sit in her classrooms with teachers who are smart and passionate makes me interested in classes I wouldn’t even have considered taking myself. But I practically drool over the classes I would have chosen and am incredibly jealous that my child gets to do this everyday.
Of course I am only envious of the learning and the intellectual banter. I wouldn’t even mind homework if I liked the subject, but I could do it all without the tests, or paper writing or grades.
I know that there is a lot of pressure on the kids to do well and get into college and do well, and get a job and do well. For now I hope they can appreciate the pleasure of learning. It is such a huge gift that is not available to many, especially at the level they are working at.
Parents’ Night always reminds me that we made a great decision when Carter was four years old to send her to this school. I know she is ready to move on to her next place, but When she does I hope she will look back at DA as the special place it truly is.
Super Power
Posted: September 14, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 CommentAt some point today I heard something about super powers and that got me day dreaming. I’m not talking about real super powers, like being able to lift twice your weight, or having the kind of memory that lets you recall every day of your life, but the cartoon kind of super powers, like flying without a plane, or web throwing.
Since I am not a comic book reader normally I don’t usually wonder or wish for an ability that is beyond my natural capabilities. But dreaming doesn’t hurt. My first inclination for a super power would be “consistent weight girl.” I could always be 140 pounds no matter what I ate or drank. I figured that consistent was better than being able to eat anything and not gain weight, because I could die from not eating enough then.
Then I thought deeper. Consistent weight does not get me any further ahead in life. It is a power that is only good for me, not one I could leverage. I could turn it into a job to maybe be a quality control taster for a bakery, but that would probably get very dull.
Being a crime fighter does not interest me, so being able to deflect bullets or run so fast that I could catch bad guys is not my thing. I thought about being super brilliant, but then when I consider the smartest people I know, they are not usually that fun. I certainly don’t want to have any power that makes me less fun.
I don’t want to be able to read people’s minds because I really don’t care what other people are thinking. Sorry. So what do I want?
As a natural salesman at first I thought I wanted the ability to convince people of anything. Wait, no. That could lead to all kinds of things going wrong. I could totally control all elections and I don’t need that kind of responsibility. Since the power was just to convince people, I very well might be sending people in the wrong direction, because I am not any smarter.
Then it hit me, the super power I really wish I had, that of always having good judgement. I would love to never worry if I have done the right thing at the right time, because my super power would confirm that I was on the best path. I could advise politicians and corporations of what the best road to take was. That does not mean I would come up with the plan, but given two or three options I could tell them which one was best.
Being Good Judgement Girl is never going to get me my own Saturday morning cartoon. Do they still have those anyway? Good judgement is not sexy, nor thrilling, but it sure is solid. That’s what I want, to be solid. If I had good judgement I might also always be 140 pounds because I would make wise food choices. Hey, I think I’m on to something. This super power might be more multifaceted than I thought. Wonder how I get this superpower?
The Case For Weighing In
Posted: September 13, 2016 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentI know I am in trouble with my weight when I don’t get up every morning and weigh myself. Somehow, not standing on the scale does not negate the damage I might have done the day before. Vacation weight happens not because I don’t have a scale when I am traveling, but because I give myself permission to eat vacation food. The problem is that as soon as vacations end I should, no must, come home and get right back on that scale to access the damage.
I came to Jesus a few weeks ago and knew that I needed the discipline of standing on a scale in front of someone else. So I went back to my tried and true friend Weight Watchers. As a business that is in the business of helping people lose weight, they have changed the program since the last time I got my Ph’d in weight loss. The counting points is much easier since fruit and most vegetables are zero points. The big thing they did not change is the weighing in.
I know plenty of people who say they don’t want to go and stand on the scale in front of another person. They say, “I’ll just do the online program myself.” To those people I say, “It is much harder to stay on track if you’re only answer to your self.” If you are someone who needs to lose weight you already have proven you are not successful at only answering to yourself.
Tonight was my weigh in and what I love most about having to go is that I know I am going to do everything possible to make sure that the scale goes down. Short of cutting off a limb, I am going to eat the right things, drink my water and do my exercise come hell or high water. Then knowing how hard I had to work to get that weight off I have to start all over again the next day so that the weigh in the next week can be successful.
There is no magic. Just hard work. I am good at hard work. I just want to remember how hard it is so that when I get back to my goal weight I don’t take anymore vacations from the scales. I know how good the coconut cake may taste, but I need to remember how many weeks it takes to remove the damage it does.
Less Dana, More Good 