Book Report

I try and make one or two trips to the Library each month.  It saves me from mindless tv watching and provides me with something to occupy my "me" time.

On top of that, I just love reading!  Words are so fascinating to me and I enjoy absorbing the wonderful (and sometimes not-so-wonderful) ways that writers string them together.

My usual MO is to go to the Library, return my previous selection then grab a few books at random.  My favorite sections are the New Book and Mystery isles.  I've also discovered the Board Books for check out and it has entertained Jack to no end!  

Given that it is now perfect snuggle-up-inside-with-a-good-book weather, I thought I would pass along some titles that have been entertaining me.  Just because I love you.

Here goes:

Gluten-Free Girl by Shaua James Ahern

I originally picked up this book because my dad has been having some weird medical issues which have been loosely tied to a wheat allergy.  I also have a cousin who has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease, the topic of this book.

I'm not sure what I expected, but whatever it was, this book was far, far better.  The author is educated and passionate about sharing her experience with the diagnoses of CD and provides a glimpse of her life as she has embraced a new, gluten-free way of living.

The way she talks about food is beautiful and makes me want to stop by her house for dinner.  The whole thing was totally inspiring and challenged a lot of the ways I view food (she has some good, if not biting, commentary on the American way of eating).

Just be warned, Shauna is so good about touting the joys of gluten-free that you might just want to jump on her ship. I am seriously considering it :-)

The Ridiculous Race by Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran 

This book is hilarious.  Really.  I was reading it in bed one night and burst out laughing.  Andy just looked at me and asked, "How can you laugh at a book?" There are some things that just can't be explained.

The premiss is that Steve and Vali (in real life they are writers for sitcoms) challenge each other to a race around the world without using airplanes. I don't think I would want to be friends with either of the authors, but i sure appreciated their sense of humor and friendly banter.  

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gates Gill

I know that there are many, many thoughts about Starbucks.  Some good, some bad.  I confess that I really love the coffee giant.  I love the weekly planner I bought at Starbucks.  I love my iced Carmel Machiatto.  I love that if my drink tastes weird or isn't what I asked for, it is not rude to ask for it to be fixed.  I love that the baristas engage in conversation.  I love a meeting place that is outside of work or home, but still feels familiar.  On top of all my warm feelings toward SB, I also am completely fascinated with their ability to become such an institution, especially in Seattle.

So when I saw this book, I picked it up immediately.  Turns out, it is not so much about Starbucks, but more about a man's journey to understanding human interaction and satisfaction in life.  

It sounds a little cheesy I guess, and maybe it is a little, but I read it during a week that I was feeling a little blue and  a little discouraged and it kind of snapped me out of it.  It is a quick read and worth the trip to the Library (that totally sounds like a Reading Rainbow sum-up, doesn't it?).

Side Story:

A few quarters ago, Andy was taking a

Children's Literature course for school.

He was supposed to go the the library and

get a book to discuss on an online forum,

but forgot.  So instead he just went to 

Reading Rainbow on the web and listened to

one of the kids read the book out loud.

Ha!

Oh Andy!

So I had pretty good luck with my non-fiction selection, but my fiction choices were all a little mediocre.

Worth Reading:

Sammy's Hill by Kristen Gore.  Very Funny.  One of my all time favorite novels.  Another laugh-out-loud title.

Patricia Brigg's "Mercy Thompson Novels" These are only worth reading if you kind of like sci-fi/fantsy books, which I admit that I do.  The first book in the series is "Moon Called."

The Next Think on My List by Jill Smolinski.  I'm usually not a big chic lit fan, but I enjoyed this one.  

Don't Bother:

The Snow Empress by Laura Joh Rowland.  Maybe one of the most poorly written historical novels I've ever read.  I kept trying to give the author the benefit of the doubt and assume that it would pick up toward the end, but it didn't.  

I've got another trip planned for this week. Do you have any suggestions for me?

He waved to ME

Okay, so I know everyone is dying to know about my clandestine appointment with Clinton Kelly.  

In my previous post, I had a few questions about how the day would go, let me address those first:

Were there guards?  No.  Unless you count the woman turing away those hopeful of catching a glimpse of C.K. but did not have a ticket.  Fortunately WE had tickets.  Also, there were women of all shapes and sizes present, though the presentation was geared toward plus-sized frames.

What did I wear?  As usual leading up to an event, my closet's contents seemed woefully inadequate, but I told myself to get over it.  I spent much too much time lamenting my lack and far too little time celebrating what I do have.  So I wore a pair of grey tweed-ish plants (long and straight, just like Clinton and Stacy advise - thank you Value Village), an apple green wrap top that looks quite good with my red hair and a pair of metallic purple peep-toes.  It was a pretty good ensemble.  

Did I win the $500 shopping date with Clinton?  No. But he did wave to me when he was in the store.  Probably because when I saw him my face flushed and my mouth kind of went slack and my expression was both one of awe, fear and delight.  But still, Clinton Kelly waved at ME!

Also, let me clarify something.  I know that it is silly to get so invested in a tv personality.  I'm not really obsessed.  I just enjoy being dramatic about some things, What Not to Wear and Clinton happen to be a couple of the things I like to be dramatic about.  That being said, here are some of the tips that I remember...

1. Shoes ALWAYS set the mood of an outfit.
   
2. Get professionally fitted for a bra.
   
3. Have your clothes tailored.
   
4. When you find a pair of jeans that you love, buy two pairs - one to wear with flats, one to wear with heals (Of course this means that you will need to have them tailored).
   
5. When assembling an out fit mix and match: color, pattern, texture, shine.
6. T-shirts do not count as clothes.  They are only acceptable for layering, loungewear or the gym.
7. To find clothes that fit and are fabulous - you have to try A LOT on.  He said that on average the women on the show try on 20 pairs of jeans before they find one that fits.

It was really such a blast to sit and listen to a charming, well spoken and handsome man.  I especially enjoyed his information about "what you don't see" on the show and his parting comments which advocated for women to embrace their beautiful selves and stop beating themselves up for not looking like the "fake" women in advertisements.

Thank you Clinton!

One of the startling things he said was that of the 240 women that he has worked with on WNTW, only two have been able to say they are happy with their bodies.  What a sad, sad number!  I left feeling very challenged to become one of those women and spur my friends on to the same.

Women are beautiful.  We receive so many messages that say we CAN be beautiful, but those messages are all conditional. If you buy this, if you wear that, if you change this, if you...

Am I willing to be the odd-woman-out and love the shell that God has given me to inhabit while on this earth?  Am I willing to talk nicely to myself, in private and in public?  Am I willing to ruthlessly edit the messages that I receive through media - cancel magazine subscriptions and delete shows from my DVR, if that is what it takes?  Am I willing to let others compliment me and receive those kind words as truth?  Am I willing to train my thoughts to dwell on the positive and stop comparing, stop chastising, stop chasing?  I think I am.

Are you?

Accomplishment

For the record (and for Jack's grandmas who read this blog) this week has been a momentous one for Jack.

Not only has his slither-scoot-army crawl blossomed into a full fledged, if not somewhat awkward, hands-and-knees crawl, but he has a TOOTH!

I was picking him up from the Y's Childwatch and the sweet lady who was caring for him said, "And I see that he's getting a little tooth."  I played it cool, "Oh yeah!  He's growing so much!" But in my head I was thinking, "A Tooth!!!  How did you see it before me?!"  I've been faked out so many times by Jack's "teeth" that I almost didn't believe her.  But sure enough, when I stick my finger in his mouth, I feel a tooth! Wow, this is a big week for the Aichele baby!

I wish my accomplishments racked up as quickly!  My mind is pretty ambitious about what I want to do "some day" but it seems like it is going to be an awfully long wait for that day to arrive.  

For example, I would really love to be a life coach, which will require some more schooling (read, heavy investment of time and money) but as of right now, it is ambiguous if/when that will ever happen.  I love the idea of being a momprenuer (a new buzzword of the business world by the way) but am thwarted again by all the hurdles, perceived and actual, that impede that goal.  

I would like to participate in a triathlon, have rockin' hair, go on What Not To Wear...

Okay, total side note... 

Tomorrow is the day I am going to meet Clinton!

What am I going to wear?!  

How am I going to get past the guards that will try

and keep me from entering 

because I don't fit in the 14W-24W sizes?  

Will therebe guards?  

I hope so, that would be so exciting... 

Anyhow, wouldn't  you know it, just the day before 

the big rendezvous, my skin is misbehaving!  

Bad skin!  

Months and months of a radiant, blemish-free complexion

 and suddenly I'm spotted!

Oh well, life goes on.  

I'll console myself with dreams of 

what would happen if I were to win 

the drawing for a $500 shopping spree... 

*daydreamy smile*

And now back to the real stuff...

 

... invest in marriages, have the house that all the kids want to hang out at, travel the world, invest in my community, learn web design, plant a garden, live mindfully, challenge people to live more joyful lives, sell a painting... my list is long...

Many of these things feel like they will be on hold for a while.  Some of them I've made excuses that keep me from starting.  I wonder why I do that. Whatever the reason, I don't like that I do it. The paralyzed life is one that I do NOT want to live. 

So this week I have been making strides toward accomplishing items on my list.  I spent yesterday morning at MOPS, taking the first steps to meet other moms.  I made a trip to the craft store and bought supplies to make Christmas presents.  I've cleaned my house each night before I go to bed so I can wake up with a fresh start, I even went to Zumba at the gym to practiced groovin'.

I am satisfied with what I've done.  

My greatest accomplishment today?  Getting a seven month old and a four month old to take naps simultaneously (without one peep!) and during that time, taking a shower, doing the dishes and posting a blog.  It may not be the finish line at a triathlon, but it is surely something worth celebrating!

  

Beets

Have you ever eaten a beet?

The last time I was at Trader Joe's I noticed a package of pre-peeled and steamed beets and I remembered that I had read that they're a good root to make into baby food.  So I thought, "Why not?  Jack has been a great eater so far, maybe he'll like these too."  I picked up a pack and brought it home.

Yesterday I was feeling like Jack might like to try something new... but what?  Oh yeah!  We have beets!  Woohoo!  

So I opened the package.  Have you ever even seen a steamed and peeled beet?  It looks a little like someone took a big melon scoop and pulled out a perfect sphere of canned cranberry jelly. Weird.  The color was lovely, but I was skeptical about the taste and texture.  I also realized that there was a very high possibility that Jack's clothes would be permanently stained bright pinky-red.  

It is my general policy to only feed Jack things that I am willing to eat also.  I think that might be why I opt not to buy baby food in a jar.  There is no way I would want to stick a spoonful of that in my mouth!  Anyway, in keeping with my policy I figured that I should at least try this foreign veggie.  

So I did.  

You know that little rabbit face you make when you are trying a little "bite" of something sketchy?  Your face wrinkles up and you kind of make your teeth stick out from your face so that the only thing that touches the new food is your front teeth as they scrape off the tiniest little sliver?  I made that face. 

I had to take two bites because the taste was totally unexpected.  I needed to confirm that it really did taste like... DIRT! Yep. Beets, in my experience, taste EXACTLY like dirt. 

So I did what any good mother would do.  

I mashed up the beet and added a little applesauce, hopping that the sweetness would sort of mask the dirt flavor.  I tried the mixture and discovered that mostly it just tasted like an apple covered in dirt.  

I fed it to him anyway.

I was kind of looking forward to him making a really grossed out face.  Who doesn't like to laugh at a baby when he is trying a new food?! I even had the camera at the ready to capture the moment because I knew it was going to be great.  Just to clarify, I wasn't going to make him eat it all, I was just going to have my laugh and then make him something else.  I'm not THAT mean.

But I was to be sadly disappointed.  

I offered Jack the first bite, barely able to contain my anticipation.  And... 

nothing

NOTHING!

If anything, he really liked it.  He ate a whole bowl of beets and applesauce without so much as a grimace or gag.  *shoulders droop*

The only thing I could think of was that he hasn't had a good fistful of dirt yet, so maybe he just doesn't have the association that it is a yucky taste.  Then I thought, "Great, now my kid is going to think that things that taste like dirt are supposed to be eaten!"  I'm going to have the kid who eats dirt and sand at the playground.  Oh man, what I have done?!

I guess we'll cross that sandbox bridge when we come to it.  But in the present, I still haven't gotten to see Jack make faces at his food.  He happily eats anything I give him.  Don't get me wrong, I am pretty ecstatic to have a perfect baby, but I feel deprived of the yucky face.  

I think today I'll give Jack a pickle.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Muahhh ha ha!!!!

John 10:10

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

I have confession.  In the last weeks I have fallen victim to the thief.  What has he stolen?  Joy, confidence, acceptance, energy, peace.  What has been left in the wake? Fear, guilt, anxiety, sadness, confusion.  

I was weak and I let the thief walk away with my dreams and hopes.  I barely put up a fight.  I don't think I knew what was happening until they were gone.  

The thief is a master of disguise.  In a season of life where mothers are expected to be tired, overwhelmed, distanced from spouses, and even depressed, I accepted the changes and didn't question.  I assumed they would just go away.  

But here I am.  Seven months into motherhood and discouraged.  I battle daily to find simple pleasures, to approach another load of dishes or laundry, or sometimes even Jack, without grumbling, to LIVE THIS SEASON TO THE FULL.  My thoughts turn sour at the slightest bump.  Instead of my usual optimism and confidence in God's love and provision and my ability to hear him, I assume the worst.  I assume that I am alone, unwanted and doing everything wrong.

It hurts.  It feels crushing.  I almost want to give in.

BUT I WON'T.

Jesus said he came that "they might have life, and have it to the full."  That EMILY might have life to the full.  

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 2 Corinthians 3:17

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."  Galatians 5:22,23

"... I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

I was reading in Genesis last week and came to the chapter where Abram and Lot are about to part ways.  God says to Abram, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.  All the land that you see I will give to you... Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." Genesis 13:14,17

I distinctly heard God call me to look up from where I am.  In the middle of the day, I see a dirty house, a needy baby, dinner to make, not enough time to enjoy the company of my husband... those things discourage me.  My feeble view of the future looks like more of the same for awhile, instead of the life of adventure and purpose that I crave.  

But God sees all of the north, south, east and west.  He sees it ALL.  He knows where I am now and he knows what he plans to give me.  It is going to be more than I could ever even think to ask for.  

So his challenge to me?  To Go. To walk the length and breadth of the land.  To love him each day and to flourish in the midst of diapers, in the midst of loneliness and in spite of the foggy future.  Just GO.  Live it up.  Thrive.  Set down roots of faith in him and obedience.  Keep my hands open to receive daily doses of the joy and peace that I need.  Live with gratitude and endurance.

This season, this battle, this daily fight to accept the gift of full life, is necessary to shape me for the things God has in store.  Truthfully, that knowledge doesn't really make it feel any easier, but I have to learn that my feelings aren't always going to reflect the truth of who God is and how he's working in my life.  They can be a tool, but I've been relying on them too heavily.

So now, on to the art of living.  God, please seal this truth in me.  

Courage to you friends as you look north, south, east and west and as you go claim the land God has promised you.  

Rewards

Last night Ellery came over while my mom went to her tap dance lessons (how cool is my mom?!).  Following a rousing game of football between Ellery and Andy, all four of us walked to the park.  

Once I got over my my super-sensitive, "I'm a bad mother" meltdown, it was a wonderful evening.  Look at my adorable family:

Ellery, the next football star.  Just look at that game face!

Andy had so much fun with Jack in the swing.  Blogger is refusing to let me post any more pictures, so you'll just have to imagine one that includes Andy sitting on the swing holding Jack and looking incredibly proud.  The picture also includes Andy wearing a white stocking cap that Ellery saw and immediately pointed out as "funny" and "too round," and that Jack spit up on while Andy was giving him a ride on his shoulders.  Andy was grossed out and frustrated that he had just washed that hat and I was glad that it wasn't me being puked on this time.  

The other happy news is that my muffins turned out great, which is wonderful given my tendency to fail at baked goods.  I enjoyed one (okay, two) this morning with my chai.  It is shaping up to be a good day. 

 

Permission

At 11:00 this morning I was pretty sure that I was a domestic wonder woman.  I had already been to the gym, done a load of dishes, baked whole wheat pumpkin muffins (which I have yet to taste) and made my own pumpkin spice latte to save myself $3.40. Mentally I was making plans to walk Jack to the store to pick up some fresh, crusty bread for the gourmet dinner I plan on making this evening, clean Jack's room (a project that has been on my list for... um.. about three months) and tackle the laundry.   

A beautiful autumn day can inspire like that.

However, it is now after 3:00 pm and I'm tired folks. My sink is already full of the next load of dishes which has squelched my cleaning motivation and Jack is uncommonly cranky and needy which makes it very difficult to settle into a major project. 

Sigh.  

So I've changed my plans.  

I'm just going to go with the flow.  

No one has asked me to be a domestic diva.  That is all my own ambition (and perhaps not a holy one).  

I have a sweet boy who I think would really enjoy a walk to the park and a ride on the swing.  I have a loving husband who will be home soon and will rave over whatever meal I put in front of him.  I have a house that is warm and will survive yet another day of disorder. 

So why stress?  I made muffins right? I say that is a pretty great accomplishment for the day.  

So if you are having one of those days too, where your "I'll hopefully get this done today" list is woefully un-checked, I hereby give you permission to set it aside.  Order is good.  Accomplishment is good.  But friends, let's be okay with just having fun once in a while.  

So, be free!  Frolic and delight in the simple pleasures of today.  The lists can wait until tomorrow.