Smack-Your-Forehead Moments

When I was a kid, I firmly believed that grown-ups never did anything stupid.  Where I got that idea, I don't know.  This post would be more aptly named, "Confessions of a stupid grown-up."  

I am downright AMAZED at some of the smack-your-forehead stupid things I've done during my adult years.  I've used the phrase "because I said so!" countless times when working in the church nursery, after I swore to myself I would never use the phrase "because I said so!"  I've made some other mistakes that weren't quite as comical as that one.

Sometimes I get so stubborn that the only thing distinguishing me from a three-year-old is my size.  A few weeks ago i was driving home and I felt a low coming on.  I have mastered the art of opening the outer pocket on my purse and getting the glucose tabs while driving, but that only goes so far when you've forgotten to fill up the tube and fill your purse with snacks.  (Smack-your-forehead moment #1: Leaving home without glucose tabs and LOADS of snacks when you know FULL WELL that you go low at the drop of a hat.)  There was any number of places I could have stopped to get food, but my stupid pride got in the way of considering that option.  (That would've been smack-your-forehead moment #2, since driving with low blood sugar is about as safe is driving drunk.)  I reasoned that I should be able to drive non-stop for 20 minutes as well as the next person.  I managed to get home, crawl across my apartment to the kitchen, and get the chocolate out of the fridge just in time to avoid passing out on the kitchen floor.  I recovered pretty quickly, but I felt like I'd run a marathon and I decided I would never be that stupid again.

Thankfully, I learned from the blood sugar blunder and I am much more cautious about preventing lows on the go.  Unfortunately, that hasn't made me immune to having other smack-your-forehead moments.

Today I was getting coffee with a friend.  My coffee was ring-of-fire hot.  I tried to cool it down by stirring it a bunch, but that didn't work. (Smack-your-forehead moment #3:  I decided to just take little sips.)  I was running on about five hours of sleep, so I wasn't quite all there upstairs.  If I was, I would have some up with some sort of ridiculously simple solution like, oh I don't know, getting a few ice cubes or putting a splash of ice water in the coffee.  But no, I had to keep sipping on this bonkers hot coffee.  I was too smack-your-forehead stupid to predict what was going to happen next.  And now the roof of my mouth is covered in blistering burns, and for the rest of the day, the only things i could put in my mouth without wanting to scream were ice water and yogurt.  

I'll never do that again, but by now I know better than to say I'll never do stupid things again.  I'm not a parent, and i'm definitely not a parenting expert, but I think we do kids a great disservice when we give them the impression of having it all together and never messing up.  

Book List for Grades 3-5

Here is my list for grades 3-5.  The carpal tunnel isn’t nearly as bad as when I wrote the first book list, so I was able to add descriptions for these books.

-Falcon’s Egg by Luli Gray

A fun fantasy story about a girl who finds an egg in the park.  My third grade teacher read this to my class and I fell in love with it.

-The Night Crossing by Karen Ackerman

I first came across this book when I was in fourth grade.  This is a great book for educating this age group on the Holocaust.  This book would probably be a bit frightening for younger elementary students, but for older elementary grades I’d say it strikes a good balance between expressing the danger of the situation and not being too graphic for children. 

-Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Another book that was introduced to me in fourth grade when our teacher read it to the class.  Peter Hatcher is a character that pre-teen age readers will identify with.  Told in first person, Peter gives his account of navigating through fourth grade while coping with his pesky younger brother.

-Superfudge by Judy Blume

The sequel to Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.  I remember I got it from the school library and read the whole thing in one day.  Peter takes on sixth grade and adolescence while adjusting moving and having a new baby in the house.  Fudge is now the middle child, and he’s still finding plenty of ways to get into trouble!

I know my first two book lists have been a bit on the sparse side, but I’m coming up with lots more for the older grades, so sit tight!

Redefining the concept of "diet"

 In one of my previous entries, I wrote about the importance of being connected to our food.  A huge part of eating disorder recovery was simply learning how to enjoy my food again.  When I was in the early stages of my recovery, it was simply a matter of increasing my food intake.  I had a meal plan that I was trying to stick to, but the important thing was just making sure I ate. 

Now that I’ve been in a healthy place for a few years, my food connection is deepening.  The more I get into homesteading, the more I’m learning about the miracle of food and how our bodies use it.  I’m getting to know my own body and my own nutritional needs.  I recently found out that my cholesterol is slightly elevated (it’s genetic.)  I also have a few other health conditions that I am trying to manage, at least in part, by eating healthier food.

I’m trying not to use the word “diet” in the traditional sense, because in our culture it’s so synonymous with the word “can’t.”  The general concept of a diet is a list of foods you can’t eat. If someone were to ask me if I’m “on a diet,” I suppose the technical answer would be yes.  There are some things that are either no longer a part of my diet, or are consumed in much smaller (and less frequent) amounts.  But I don’t think in terms of “can’t.”  I’m something of a go-getter when I want to be.  When I found out I have high cholesterol, my response wasn’t, “Oh great, I can’t eat this or this or this.”  I didn’t think of my diet as being restricted.  I didn’t think of it as a punishment.  I looked at it as an opportunity to find different foods that I’d enjoy eating (and maybe growing!), and that would be a bit healthier. 

I’m not saying we should never use the word “diet.”  It’s a useful word in the right context.  I just wish we could separate it from this idea of “can’t.” 

An Angry Owl Moment

 If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s getting worked up at the drop of a hat.  If I’m upset with someone, it takes every ounce of my willpower to not give them the business end of a hissyfit.  My loved ones know this all too well.

My husband and I have started referring to hissyfits as “angry owl moments,” both because we saw this video and because Esther’s ears go back like an owl if she freaks out over a loud noise. 

Side note #1: Esther is our cat, not a human child.  Just thought I would throw that in there to avoid giving new readers disturbing mental images, haha!

Side note #2: Although I am not diabetic, I do have hypoglycemic tendencies as a result of having struggled with an eating disorder, so I can identify with this video. I have no idea why the phrase “angry owl moment” works, but it does.

Okay, now that I have the side notes out of the way, I am going to share the angry owl moment I had earlier today.  I have been throwing fits over little things since I first figured out how to yell.  But now that I’m at the ripe old age of 25, my angry owl moments are much shorter and I’m laughing at myself a lot more than I used to.

Today I was really feeling the need for rest, so I’d resolved to do only the basic chores and then tuck in with a book.  Suddenly the intercom buzzed, causing Esther’s owl persona to emerge.  Now, there are a couple things you have to know about this intercom.  One, it’s so loud the deaf population of Tanzania can probably hear it.  Second of all, it’s broken in such a way that I can talk to the person at the door but all I get is static when they talk.  So if someone buzzes, I have to walk down there to find out what they want.  I didn’t see a UPS truck and I wasn’t expecting a package. So I chalked it up to young whippersnappers playing with the intercom buttons AGAIN, and decided it wasn’t worth wasting my precious energy to go outside and get barbecued.  

When Justin came home from work, he found a UPS notice on the front door.  I went into angry owl mode in a heartbeat.  Seriously?!  How can there be a UPS package without a UPS truck??  Who, besides kids, buzzes an intercom more than once?  What the heck is in this package, anyway?  I didn’t order a package!

Then we went online and found out that the package contains our new Red Cross emergency radio.  We’d ordered one ages ago and it was defective, so we asked for a replacement.  Now, after what feels like decades, apparently we’re finally getting one.  The angry owl moment continued:  Why are they only just replacing it now?  Why couldn’t they just send us one that worked in the first place and save both of us a lot of trouble??  Do they know how many storms we’ve had to go through without this thing??  Is everyone in the world completely incompetent??

At this point, Esther decided to bring me back to reality with a cold nose on my leg.  I started laughing at myself, and I couldn’t stop.  Being able to laugh at my angry owl moments is a huge milestone. 

If you struggle with angry owl moments, don’t despair.  They happen to the best of us.  The older you get, the easier it will get to laugh at yourself and move on :)

Oxygen Mask

I've been having a rough go of it these past few weeks, to put it mildly.  Between my grandmother's death in March, a nasty case of carpal tunnel, and a lot of other things I can't write about here, I'm completely burned out.  I've been promising my husband that I'll take a season of rest, and it's high time I stopped talking about it and actually did it.

Every part of my being is telling me not to do this.  It seems stupid and selfish to focus on myself with all the needs out there, especially when there are so many people who just won't step up even a little bit.  But I'm starting to realize it's a bit like the concept of oxygen masks on airplanes.  They always tell you to get your own mask in working order before helping other people with their masks.  I suppose anyone could say I don't deserve a season of rest.  I hate the word "deserve."  The word has gotten so misused and overused.  Who knows what anyone really deserves?  Maybe I don't deserve a season of rest.  But I sure as heck need one.  I've been breathing through a faulty oxygen mask for way too long.  I need to fix it before I suffocate.  

I'm not completely sure how long this season of rest is going to last, or what it's going to look like exactly.  There are a few things I'm sure about.  I need to take a "vacation" from the Etsy shop and treat the carpal tunnel.  It's gotten so bad I can hardly knit right now.  My tentative plan is to re-open the shop in August, but that might very well get pushed back a bit.  I'm definitely going to write and blog more, although the length of my blog entries might be a bit shorter until the CT is gone.  For me, writing is cathartic as opposed to stressful.  I also want to make more time to read for fun.  I really need to step back and do things I WANT to do, not just things I feel like I HAVE to do. 

(Side note: Please refrain from giving advice and suggestions for carpal tunnel treatment, however well-intentioned it may be.  I have a treatment plan lined up, with both natural and traditional methods, and I am going to stick with what I'm using.  A few people have asked me about the natural remedies I'm going to use.  I will write more about that once I've been using said remedies for awhile and can more accurately judge their effectiveness :) )

Book List for Grades 1-3

I absolutely LOVE children’s books, so I have no idea why I didn’t think of making and sharing book lists sooner.  I'm working on a few different pieces of lists for different age groups all the way up to high school.  I'll post the lists as I finish them.

Kati’s book list for Grades 1-3:

1.)  “Ramona the Pest” by Beverly Cleary

2.)  “Ramona the Brave” by Beverly Cleary

3.)  Anything by Beverly Cleary

4.)  Russel Sprouts by Joanna Hurwitz

5.)  Russel and Eliza by Joanna Hurwitz

I’m deliberately keeping this list short, partly because I could go on forever if you let me, and partly because I’m exhausted and I’m currently getting my butt handed to me by carpal tunnel syndrome.  If you have any favorites, feel free to leave them in the comments section!

Ask Kati: Headcovering and Hearing Aids

Q: Do you have any advice for fellow hearing aid wearers who want to cover?  Do the hearing aids ever cause problems?

A:  If you wear hearing aids, stay away from prayer caps.  I had a lot of issues when I wore them.  They wouldn't stay on unless I tied them.  I'd have to untie and re-tie them every time I needed to adjust my aids.  In the winter, when I wore two caps for warmth, this became an even bigger hassle.  I didn't have any problems when I switched to scarves.  I could wear two or even three and I'd still be able to pull back the fabric to adjust as necessary.  I don't wear my aids while I'm tying a scarf.  I put them on after.  If you choose to put them on, turn them off until you're done, because the scarf will sound loud! ;)

The main thing to keep in mind when wearing a scarf over hearing aids is the tightness of the fabric.  Don't wrap the scarf too tightly over your head, or it will be very difficult to pull back the fabric when you need to adjust your aids.  I've also been asked if I can comfortably have my ears out of the scarf.  It's perfectly comfortable, but on days I'm wearing glasses, it looks and feels kind of bulky, so I don't recommend having your ears out if you wear glasses. 

I imagine these tips would also work for cochlear implants.  I don't have one, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine it'd be best to put the processor on beforehand and wear the magnet under the scarf.