Cheap Therapy

Not the entry I had originally planned on posting. That one looked more like a summary from a therapy session. This one is bad enough so I apologize. I blogged earlier that change was on the horizon. Without going into a lot of personal detail, I was not happy. I felt after years of being a wife and mother that I had slowly lost myself. I was going through the motions of my day to day routine being apathetic or doing things mediocre at best. I know it sounds cliche. If you aren't a wife and mother you might have difficulty relating to it. Also I had a year of dealing with a terminally ill mother. Much got put on hold. I'll add I'm not blaming anyone but myself. My husband is always been extremely supportive of whatever I want to do.

I'll stop whining. I am working on some answers. I've got ideas swirling in my head not ready for print. I do need to identify my interests and priorities. I only work part time. I should make the most of my days off rather than staying in, isolated, doing things around the house. I won't say I'm a loner. I have a great group of friends but if an activity isn't planned I seem to have limited face to face contact with people.

I do plan to continue writing about this whole subject. It's cheap therapy and holds me accountable.

Spring Are You Near?

The view at the end of my driveway looking down my road. There are cows though you probably can't see them.

What a winter it has been here but much worse for my NC mountain and northern friends. The snow has finally melted in my yard. Now I see there is more moss than grass. I've ordered some organic moss killer and weed & feed. I'm trying my best to avoid chemicals. Hopefully it will warm up soon and I can start my compost bin up again.

Unhealthy Living

I'm detoxing.  Not my body though it could use it but rather my house.  My husband is convinced our 1 year old memory foam type of mattress is toxic.  I haven't had any side effects from it that I know of but then again I am not as sensitive to those types of things as my husband and son.  A lot has been posted on the Internet about the issues with memory foam mattress - the chemicals in them and the fire retardants used.  I love sleeping on it but am open to an alternative.

A nearby school has been closed for months due to being unhealthy after renovations.  I am pretty convinced years ago poor conditions in the classroom led to my son's respiratory problems - ongoing pneumonia and having to be hospitalized.  He has been away from that school for a while and seems fine now.

Getting back to our house, we haven't gotten rid of the mattress yet.  My husband is sleeping on the couch (our 17 year old son thinks this is so funny) to see if he notices a difference.  I'm slowly making a few other changes as far as lessening the chemicals around.  Currently I clean surfaces with vinegar and water or very diluted lemon juice, scrub the sinks, shower and bathtub with baking soda, use Swiffer dusters instead of furniture polish and periodically steam clean the floors and other areas rather than using harsh cleaners. I'm phasing out the Clorox/Lysol wipes as I used them up. I am trying to use less but will replace them with chemical free ones.  Same goes for switching the antibiotic hand soap, dish detergent and laundry detergent for natural biodegradable alternatives. We are cooking with cast iron and stainless steel pots and pans instead of non-stick and aluminum. The kitty litter we used was very scented so I'm having Chloe do her part and try different brands out. Future projects include tearing up the family room carpet and putting down hardwood like laminate flooring.

Have the changes help or will help? I can't say for sure but I know they can't hurt.

What Day Is It?

I don't know what is up with this week. I am totally out of synch with what day it is. Monday evening I got a call from my daughter's viola teacher wanting to make sure everything was okay. I forgot her lesson and even a minute into the conversation the lightbulb still didn't go off. I've been confused at work, too. My coworker says she is having similar issues this week. Then again she is a sleep deprived mother of an infant. I have no excuse. I won't give in to getting older!
This picture has no relevance other than I made it using a glow art app when I was bored.





Anyone else enjoying the Olympics? I have great memories of our family gathered around watching them. My favorites are the old timers: Bode Miller, Apolo Ohno and Shaun White. I miss my home boy (like I use that expression a lot) Joey Cheek. He's retired.

In The Dark

I was in a bad mood yesterday.  Winter weather had set in.  So far the kids had been out of school Monday - Wednesday.  They had a 2 hour delay Thursday then an icy snow mix caused school to be closed Friday. As I was feeling sorry for myself, the power went out.  Fortunately I had just finished showering and drying my hair.  We have a well therefore no electricity means no water.  My son lasted about 10 minutes before he headed to a friend's house to play PS3. My husband was at work. By then the roads were just slushy so my daughter and I got lunch and ran some errands.  When we returned, the power had been restored.  I was not completely surprised when the power went out again later that evening after we were all back home.  We had moments of hope as it would come on for a few seconds then go out.  We sat around in gas log firelight listening to my iPod Touch with its not so great external speakers.  It finally came on for good.  Overall the outage lasted 4 hours.  It was a reminder to me about the everyday things I take for granted.

The Changing Face of Reading

In November I posted about fighting off the urge to get an iPod Touch and a Kindle.  I confess soon after I wrote that entry my husband treated me to an iPod Touch.  Despite not having the best battery life (I returned the original and replaced it with one with somewhat better battery life) I do like it.  I don't have a smart phone so the iPod with its wi-fi capability allows me to check email, the all important twitter and facebook etc.  The apps are fun.  I'm not having to open my laptop to do a few quick tasks yet I am not always connected either if I am not in a hot spot.  I realize many of you will disagree but I do think we (at least me) need to allow some time to not be constantly notified about emails, tweets, comments etc. I don't want to finally get together with a friend for lunch only to be having her look at her phone the whole time.
Okay I'm drifting here.  Getting back to the second item - the Kindle. I loaded the Kindle app on my iPod Touch.  While it's not the best reader compared to the Kindle itself, it is darn convenient especially when we got snowed in.  I am not as big a reader (of books that is) as I use to be thanks to being on the computer. I can see many advantages to the Kindle especially on our vacations. Also having a lot of books on the shelves is not us nor is it "green". We are trying to reduce.  Even if I enjoy a book I usually do not care about owning it.  However strikes go against me getting one:  1) My daughter is a huge reader.  We encourage her love of reading.  She has mentioned a Kindle too.  If anyone in our family deserves one it is her.  2) I'm a big user of our public library.  It has a decent inventory and a great online request system.  It goes back to not owning books.  Many times I will request a book I've already read and discover it again. 3) The device itself is very expensive and not multi-functional.  This argument has been brought up a lot after the iPad was released (though note the iPad with its LCD has prettier pages than the Kindle, it is not as good for the eyes). The Kindle books are reasonable priced, many below the standard $9.99.  I've gotten several good free ones for my Kindle app. Still overall it is no bargain.  4) Technology is always improving. I hate spending a lot of money then a newer, greater version is released.
I won't say "yes" or "no" to getting one in the future. For right now I just went on our library website and requested some more books.  Do any of you have an e-reader or considered getting one?

As a side note or I should say side bar - I re-established Shelfari on my blog. I'd like to continue keeping track of the books I've read.  Most of the recent ones were either downloaded to my iPod Touch Kindle app or from the library.