WMM- on business

"Whatcha Makin Monday" is a way for me to record menus and keep track of what's been tasty. I keep track of what the family is having for dinner, where we plan to eat at home five nights a week.


This week is also a bit special. I am continuing to play the Game On Diet with some friends at work, but this week I am also out of town on business. I am in Orlando for a conference. While the conference does have some meals that are catered, I don't have any faith that I will be able to eat anything that is Gluten Free. The hubby and the kid are on their own for a few days, and I don't think they will be cooking. As much as I would like to know what I will be eating this week, I don't think I will.

So here is the menu for the week.

Sunday: Unknown... traveling
Monday: Unknown...hotel food
Tuesday: Unknown... hotel food
Wednesday: Unknown... traveling
Thursday: Pizza Night
Friday: Dinner out
Saturday: Chicken Breasts and Corn
Sunday: Dinner out

This will be an unusual week. What are you making?

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Becca Fitzpatrick, Michelle Hodkin, Elana Johnson, and Moira Young- Provo Library

Review: Wings

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

 Synopsis from Goodreads:
Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.


Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.


In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I got this book as a free Nook book download. I had heard of the author being from Utah and being recommended by Stephanie Meyer of Twilight fame, so I thought I would give it a shot.

Laurel starts a new school, gets a new guy friend, and then wakes up one morning with a giant flower growing out of her back. Talk about a weird day. She eventually tells her new boyfriend and he doesn't actually mind. Along the way, she finds out what the deal is with her flower and her body. She solves a mystery and saves the day, so all's well that ends well, right?  

I honestly didn't read a single review before I read it. I don't know why, but it took me about two chapters of being completely annoyed with the story to look up the intended audience. Once I realized that it's a YA novel, I felt much more comfortable with the lack of character development and the simpleness of the narrative. Although I was comfortable with it, I didn't really love it. I don't think it was terribly captivating, but I do have to give the author props for the world she created and the faeries involved.

I am not a huge Twilight fan but I feel they translate well to an older audience. I can't say the same for this one, which is probably why it bothered me so much. The book is a quick, easy read, though, that does not require much thought. This makes it a perfect "night" book that you can read easily before bed or when you don't have to think that hard. Although I didn't really love the book, I will probably purchase the next two in the series, since they are easy reads.

Teaser Tuesday: The Predicteds

 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

"I drop the subject, and as we drive away I twist around to look back at the abandoned railroad car. I have to blink when I see him- he's standing at the edge of the field. A flash of light from the neon sign lands on him, and I see his face clearly. He looks up at the sky and then straight at me." 

 p.131, The Predicteds by Christine Seifert

Leave a comment with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here.

Whatcha Makin Monday

"Whatcha Makin Monday" is a way for me to record menus and keep track of what's been tasty. I keep track of what the family is having for dinner, where we plan to eat at home five nights a week.


This week is a bit special, since I am playing Game On Diet with some friends at work. The meals all have to be combined a certain way, so they are typically a bit more varied than I would normally eat. That's not a bad thing, just different than I normally do things.

So here is the menu for the week.

Monday: Turkey Burgers, corn on the cob, salad, lemon/lime vinegrette
Tuesday: Grilled Salmon, garlic potatoes, salad, lemon/lime vinegrette
Wednesday: GF Pizza with Chicken and Mushrooms
Thursday: Veggie stuffed chicken breast, greek spinach, and rice
Friday: Dinner out
Saturday: Vegetable Casserole
Sunday: Dinner out

It's getting to be a little too cold to grill (although the husband would disagree), so I am trying to get some grilling in while I can.

I am excited for dinner this week. What are you making?

Friday Review: Run Like a Mother

Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving--and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea

Synopsis from GoodReads:

In Run Like a Mother, authors Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea offer both inspirational advice and practical strategies to help multitasking women make running part of their busy lives.
McDowell and Shea understand the various external and internal forces in everyday life that can unintentionally keep a wife--mother--working woman from lacing up her shoes and going for a run. Because the authors are multihyphenates themselves, Run Like a Mother is driven by their own running expertise and real-world experience in ensuring that running is part of their lives.
More than a book, Run Like a Mother is essentially a down-to-earth, encouraging conversation with the reader on all things running, with the overall goal of strengthening a woman's inner athlete.
Of course, real achievement is a healthy mix of inspiration and perspiration, which is why the authors have grounded Run Like a Mother in a host of practical tips on shoes, training, racing, nutrition, and injuries, all designed to help women balance running with their professional and personal lives.


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I bought this book (the nook version) because I needed some inspiration after not being able to complete my half marathon.

For some reason, I was expecting a bit more out of this book than it delivered. I don't know why I thought it would be an instructional manual on how the two mommy/worker authors actually make running work in their lives, but I did. In short, the answer was "because it works". It didn't really answer very many running questions for me, and seemed to be geared more towards women who run, rather than women who want to run- which I think is a very important distinction. I really didn't think it was that great of an instruction-manual-type book

If I look at it from a purely narrative point of view, it was a much better book. I really enjoyed the quotes from other mothers and found the stories from the authors to be entertaining with a ring of truth that can only come from being a mother. I enjoyed the way the chapters were broken apart (in 26.2), because I felt it lent a playful air and because each chapter was just about right for a break at work.

Although it was not what I expected, it did help me motivate myself to get back to my training for my next marathon. I would recommend it to a friend, but would include the caveat to just enjoy the book as a story.

The one thing I absolutely hated was the nook book formatting. For some reason, it did not translate well. Because the book has a section of quotes and asides in each chapter, it was hard to follow if you didn't have the luxury of turning a physical page. No fault of the authors, and it didn't influence my rating, but it was highly annoying.

The Kid- Labor and Delivery

So I am really late with this posting, but here goes:

So we decided to stay after the nurse gave me the ambien. They wanted to give me two, but my hubby intervened and so they only gave me one. I had to have an IV of fluids because I was so dehydrated. The nurse wanted to monitor me with an EFM, but agreed to monitor me intermittently. 

So once I had the ambien, I was out. Not all the way out, but I don't remember the rest of the night either. The hubs said I slept, woke up, had conversations with my mom, and listened to music, but I don't remember anything from about 4am to about 3 pm.

Apparently, there was some miscommunication between the midwife on call, and my midwife. So my midwife thought I had gone home and she didn't come in early. When she finally did come in, my labor had actually stalled and I wasn't progressing much.

The midwife broke my water, and I felt like I had wet the bed. There was lots of meconium in the fluid so there was some concern for the kid. My contractions got stronger, finally, but I was still not progressing. I kept leaking fluid and because there was so much meconium, the midwife asked if she could give me pitocin to see if she could get my labor back on track. I agreed because I knew the kid needed to make an appearance, but I still did not want an Epidural. The midwife gave me the pitocin through my iv on the lowest drip she could.

I don't remember a lot about the part of the labor. I remember moving about with the IV and talking to the hubby about the possibility of an epidural. I remember going pee ALOT. Probably because I was given so much fluid through my IV. I remember sitting on the bed for about an hour listening to Clubbed to Death on my Zune and being in a meditative type zone. I remember seeing my mom, but I don't remember talking to her for the half hour that I talked to her. I remember seeing my MIL and telling her NOT to take my picture. I remember the midwife turning up the pitocin a couple notches over the course of the day. I remember hitting the wall and still not progressing. I remember not being able to take the pain. I remember finally asking for the Epidural because I couldn't progress and I needed to.

The anesthesiologist came in. He told me to curl up tight into a ball, which sounds totally ridiculous when you have a yoga ball where your stomach is. I couldn't curl tight enough, so the hubs had to help me curl. The anesthesiologist told me to hold veeeeery still, and I remember the poke and a sickening pop. I remember the hubby's face going pale white when he heard the pop. I remember telling everyone I was going to take a nap. 

The midwife came in again to check me. I could still feel contractions, but only in half my body. I felt when the midwife checked me and she told me to keep pushing the button for my epidural. I did, but I could still feel my right side. They poked my left foot and I couldn't feel it, so they poked my right foot and I about kicked the midwife.

She decided to call the anesthesiologist back up. It took him a while, but when he finally checked the catheter in my back he found that he had pushed it in a little too far. So the block was only hitting half the nerves it needed to, which was why I could still feel all the pain in my right side. Once, he fixed the catheter, and I was finally blocked on both sides, I took another nap.

The midwife came back and checked me again. She said it was getting close to time to push, but I would probably be pushing for a while, since it was my first kid. I followed the midwife's instructions and started to crown fairly quickly. They prepped the room and me, and I pushed for about 45 minutes. I don't remember feeling a whole lot, other than some stretching.

The midwife said that his head was sideways and he wasn't fully posterior, which was probably why I didn't progress as fast. I was pushing out a lot of meconium, so they called the pediatric nurses to have them on standby.

The kid came out in another couple pushes The midwife said that his head was not the biggest part of him, it was his shoulders. She said she looked at the hubby when the kid got stuck and realized she should have expected the kid to be wide in the chest too.

Once the kid was finally out, the nurses checked him and found he was in good health. His apgar score was high. He didn't have any meconium in his lungs, which was one of the concerns. He weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs ad 12 oz and a very long 20 inches. The nurses determined he was 40 weeks and 6 days, which was why there was so much meconium. Although he was healthy, it was a good time for him to be delivered.

I delivered the placenta, but I had a whole lot of bleeding after. Turned out that it had split in half, so I still had a piece in me. I had to be scraped out and given some blood clot medication. I got cleaned up, and they wheeled me into the post delivery room. The hospital plays a lullaby every time a baby is born, so I heard the kid's as I was being wheeled to my new room.

I got into bed and we settled down for the night. I ate, and stared at the baby a while. I thought he looked like an alien, but at least he didn't have any weird bumps or a funny shaped head. I have to admit I was glad to have him out, but he was totally worth the 26 hours of labor.