Notes in the Margin: What I Learned This Week

Or, I should say: What I learned again.

Every now and then, I need to be reminded: nothing goes as planned. So plan for that.

See, I like to cut it close. From my monthly budget to the time I allow for getting ready in the morning, I like to plan each minute, each dollar.

It’s not a matter of getting a lot out of life. It’s more a matter of . . . laziness. And procrastination. If I can get ready, from shower to hair drying, in 30 minutes, then I can sleep in that much later. If I can account for every dollar of our paychecks, that gives me more money to allot for eating out and birthday gifts and clothes.

But what happens when things don’t go as planned? When Annalyn just needs her mommy to hold her for five minutes in the morning? When the car needs a repair unexpectedly?

I do this with my time in general, too. I cram my calendar so full of activity that it doesn’t leave room for spontaneous events. So, when a friend calls and says, “Hey, we’re headed to Wendy’s for dinner. Want to join us?” I have to decline. Because we’ve already got a birthday party and a concert to attend.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reminded of how this madness keeps me from experiencing good stuff, as well as brings us too close to disaster for my comfort level.

So on Sunday, after we had chosen to take an afternoon nap when Annalyn did, and we were rushing around like crazy trying to get ready for having our small group over for dinner, I took a few minutes out of my carefully timed cleaning schedule. And I sat on the (dirty) kitchen floor with Annalyn and ate a chocolate snack.

It took maybe five minutes. And it meant that I didn’t end up fixing my makeup or – really, let’s be honest – even stop sweating before our friends arrived. But hearing my little girl say, “mmmm!” and watching her eyes light up at that treat – well, it was worth it.

And it reminded me that I need to leave some room in my schedule, my budget, my life. That’s what I learned this week.

What about you? Learn anything recently? For more stuff learned, head over to Musings of a Housewife. Also, for more sweet moments, visit Chatting at the Sky.

But first, please scroll down for a big announcement. You don’t want to miss this one!

The one in which I make an announcement.

Today marks my 300th post. I did consider, on this momentous occasion, making a list of 300 Things About Me.

But I decided that was a bit much. You’re welcome.

I am here to make an announcement, however. Beginning on Monday, June 8, I’m going to hold a Bible study here on this 300-post-old blog.

Of course, by then, it will probably be a 317-post-old blog. But you know what I mean.

I’d like to invite you to join me in studying Jennifer Rothschild’s “Me, Myself & Lies: A Thought Closet Makeover.” It’s a six-week Bible study encouraging women to “clean out the junk in their thoughts and replace these hidden negative thoughts and failures with positive truths from God’s word.”

I don’t know about you, but I talk to myself a lot. And a good majority of that talk isn’t exactly positive. Sometimes it’s so bad that I would never say it out loud . . . to someone else. But I sure am willing to say it to myself, over and over and over.

So I could use some help replacing those negative thoughts with God’s truth. This study “teaches how to replace the lies you may have been telling yourself with the truth from God’s word.” I can use some of that.

Here’s a short video describing the study. (I tried to embed it here, but it didn't work for some reason.)

Each week of the study, we’ll have a live chat on my blog. For those unable to make it to the chat, I’ll have a post up for comments as well. This study is video-based, and you can download each week’s session for individual use. But if you can’t watch the video for any reason, you can still participate in the study!

June 8 is just a few weeks away, so if you’d like to participate in the study, order your book soon. And please, invite your friends to join us, too!

So, who’s up for it? Who’s with me?

Well, I guess I could just go to bed...

We've had a lot of storms around these parts lately. And apparently they knocked out our cable last week. I say "apparently," because the cable stopped working.

And our internet is through our cable.

So on Thursday night, when it wasn't fixed, despite Time Warner's assurance seven hours earlier that "we have someone out there working on it right now," I didn't have cable TV or internet.

I really wasn't quite sure what to do with myself.

No need to panic. The local ABC channel came in well enough that I could watch the season finale of Grey's.

Thank goodness. I'd have hated to have missed that cry fest.

Needless to say, when we turned on the TV and computer last night and found that all had been returned to normal, I sighed with joy. And I patted my laptop lovingly and tell it how glad I was to have it back. Just like I'd do with any old friend.

And that story most definitely does not lead into today's post or relate to it at all. But there it is anyway.

Last night we had our small group over for a BBQ. We keep joking that we might be better suited for a supper club anyway, and last night's get-together chalked up another point in that idea's favor.

The best part of a BBQ at our house? Mark insists on doing most the work. He is a master griller and a baked bean connoisseur. (I'm not allowed to give you a recipe, but I'll tell you that there's bacon, onion, ketchup, mustard and brown sugar involved. Mmmmm...)

In other words, I'm not allowed to help. Vacuum and empty the dishwasher, yes. Touched the hamburger patties, no.

And who I am to argue? Check out this spread we had tonight:

For more good stuff in the kitchen, check out Balancing Beauty & Bedlam. Who grills at your house?

Saturday Review: Season Finale Week 1

And so it begins. Along with tornadoes, April showers also bring May sweeps and season finales. And after spending a day focusing on my own personal “It’s a twister!” moment, I think we’re due for something a little more lighthearted.

Unfortunately, none of this week’s season finales cooperated. Enjoy.

SPOILER ALERT: Stop here if you have not watched these shows yet. Because I will ruin them for you.

Castle: I don’t even know why I began watching this mid-season show. It’s certainly not like I needed another hour to devote to the world of TV. But the premise included a mystery novel author, and as a mystery novel reader, I couldn’t resist. And you know, it’s pretty funny. Plus, I really like the way the main character relates realistically to his family.

The finale wasn’t too dramatic. After all, we’ve only had a handful of episodes to get to know the characters and the premise. But they did manage to solve a crime, injure a semi-main character and leave us with a cliffhanger. As finales go, not bad.

Bones: I read a lot of spoilers, so I knew a few things that were coming up in this season-ender. Zack would return, Booth and Bones would get it on, and oh yeah, Booth had a little thing called a annoying plot device brain tumor. One site I read the morning after the show aired called it “Bizarro Bones,” which is just about right. I’m pretty sure – and was from the beginning – that the episode was Booth’s dream while he was in a coma. And I loved how the elements – locations, people, issues – were all there, but just slightly off. That’s how I dream, too! But the memory loss at the end? So annoying!

Grey’s Anatomy: Oh, Shonda, why do you do this to me? The drama. The intensity. The emotion. The tears. Oh, the tears.

First, the good stuff. McSteamy acting like a girl = hilarious. Arizona explaining exactly why George enlisting is “awesome” = moving. Bailey breaking down when she tells the Chief why she can’t take the peds fellowship = devastating. Christina cracking a smile and pushing out those three little words = beautiful. Justin Chambers’ acting and character development = fantastic. Derek and Meredith’s non-wedding wedding = perfect.

The bad stuff, though . . . that’s what’s going to stick with me. That ending, with Izzie and George’s lives hanging in the balance – it might be enough to do me in. As in, finally force me to walk away from this show. I didn’t think I could take any more after Denny died. It was just too much sadness on a Thursday night. But I stuck with them. And then Denny came back and, against my good sense, I stuck with this show anyway. And then . . . then! It got good again. But if they lose two main characters to tragedy like this, I’m just not sure my heart will still be in it. Or, maybe what I mean to say is that I'm not sure my heart can handle it.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Next week: How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, American Idol. And I still have to catch up on The Office.

How’s your season finale season going?

April showers bring . . . May tornadoes?

Six years ago, Mark and I had just bought our first house. The week before we were scheduled to make the big move, three friends helped us move a few boxes into the house.

We’d gone to church that morning in Lawrence, our last Sunday at the church we’d just begun to love. Then we headed to lunch.

When we got out of the car at the restaurant, we were surprised at how cool it had gotten. We felt a little underdressed in our skirts and shorts, but we figured we’d sweat soon enough moving the boxes around.

After eating lunch and unloading the cars at our new house, we took a break in our unfurnished living room. And then Mark’s phone rang.

It was his brother, who lives 20 minutes away, calling about the tornado.

What tornado, we asked.

Mark could hear sirens in the background of his brother’s call, but it was quiet in our new neighborhood. After they hung up, we decided to see what we could find out. As one of our friends went out to the car to listen to the radio for news, Mark and I just looked at each other. And then around the house. And back at each other.

We had just bought a house without a basement. With big windows in every room. In Missouri.

We didn’t even know where the crawl space was yet. And honestly, I didn’t even know what a crawl space was!

After we found a news report on the radio, we learned that we were under a tornado warning. That’s the bad one – although that day, I wasn’t quite sure which is worse, the watch or the warning.

One of our friends, Julia, called her parents, who lived about 5 minutes away, to make sure they were in their basement. They assured her that they were fine and mentioned that we could all come over if we wanted.

After what in retrospect seems like a lot of pointless debate, we climbed into our three cars and followed Julia to her parents’ house.

Our caravan drove at a reasonable speed, following all traffic rules and noticing that yeah, maybe the sky did look a little green.

We pulled into Julia’s parents’ driveway, parked and walked up to the door. Her dad, Alan, welcomed us, and we followed him into the living room, where we gathered around the TV. With one eye on the meteorologist on screen, we asked Alan if he thought we should go to the basement.

He said, “We’ll know when it’s time.”

Poof! At that moment, the power went out. Our hearts dropped. And we headed to the stairs.

Single file, we jogged down the steep stairs, and Alan directed us to the most inner room of the basement. Before we were all crammed into that room, though . . .

Bam! The storm hit the house. My friend Stacy screamed. We all crouched to the floor.

And then it was quiet.

We stood up and looked at each other. And then we looked out into the main room of the basement. And saw a tree, sticking through the wall.

Holding hands, hugging arms, we filed back up the stairs and walked out the garage to see the damage.

Stepping outside, we surveyed the street. And that’s when I got a little teary-eyed. A little shaky. Branches and debris were everywhere. We could barely see our cars; they were covered in tree litter.

And a huge old tree across the street had been completely uprooted and tossed across the neighbors’ yard.

Tornado damage near our house

After we collected ourselves and had exclaimed and sniffled ourselves out, we decided to go see if our basement-less house was still standing. Just as slowly as we’d traveled away from our new house, we rushed back to it.

It was untouched. We found a few pieces of insulation in the yard (not sure where they came from), but our neighborhood had not been hit. Over the next few weeks, I would realize that the exact path we took to Julia’s parents’ house was the same one the tornado took, touching down one street over from the house we went to for safe shelter.

We spent the next couple of hours trying to drive to Julia’s house and, after being turned away by the police trying to direct traffic around the vast damage, trying to get back to her parents’ house. We finally gave up trying to drive in, parked the car and walked back into the neighborhood. Then we concentrated on calling our friends and family to assure them we were fine and to make sure they were, too.

Starting as an F1 and ending as an F4, our storm was part of a series of tornadoes that swept much of the country that May. We were so blessed to be kept safe. Many, many others were not so lucky. According to Wikipedia (yes, I know, shut up), a total of 86 tornadoes touched down in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee, making May 4, 2003 one of the largest single-day outbreaks in history. Thirty-eight people were killed, and nearly 400 were injured by the tornadoes. Here’s one video, although you can find dozens more.

And that is why our next house will have a basement.

What’s the scariest storm you’ve survived?

Good thing Kinko's can print on short notice.

A few months ago, I went to Nashville for a little conference called Blissdom. And if you’ll recall, one of my biggest regrets from that weekend was my lack of business cards. Because I was the only one who didn’t have them! (Or at least it felt that way.)

So I vowed to get around to printing some cards before attending another conference. And then promptly forgot about it.

Until I posted on Facebook that I was going to another conference this weekend, and a couple friends were kind enough to say, “Hello! Do you have business cards this time?”

Oh yeah. Those things.

So, I’ve got to rustle up some bloggy business cards, and fast. Because I’m going to Chicks Who Click on Saturday.

It turns out that there’s a real-live blogging conference here in Kansas City. And thanks to the wild world of Twitter, I’m going free of charge! Thanks, @zenaweist and @Deetells!

This one-day conference is going to teach me how to be organized, how to customize my “social toolbox,” how to find that line between transparency and privacy, and oh, so much more.

So, my question for you is this: If you could attend one conference – blogging or otherwise – what would it be? And why?

Taking a shortcut on Wednesday. And Tuesday.

I love reading The Pioneer Woman’s cooking blog. The combination of delicious, down-home comfort food and fantastic photography is a thing of beauty. And it makes me hungry.

But sometimes . . . I have to admit . . . it’s a little discouraging. Because on any given day, I just cannot handle recipes with a dozen ingredients. Or fresh herbs.

So I was excited to read yesterday’s post: Monkey Bread. You know why? Because monkey bread, I have just learned, is made from canned biscuit dough.

Ah-ha!

I feel like I just discovered a national secret, a cooking conspiracy. Or somethin’.

All this thought about canned biscuits made me think about how many shortcuts I take in the kitchen. How many pre-made ingredients I use. How many products make my life easier when it comes time to feed myself and my family.

And you know what happens when I start thinking, right? I have to make a list. So, here you go. The top 10 cooking shortcuts that work for me:

1. Brownie mix – In some circles I’m actually well-known for one thing and one thing only. And that’s my brownies. That come from a store-brand mix. What can I say? Not everyone is destined for greatness. Like I am.
2. Muffin mix – Mark’s mom often made blueberry muffins for them when he was growing up. I’m not sure if she made them from scratch, but I’m going to guess she did. I, on the other hand, love these packets of muffin mix with these three life-giving words: Simply Add Water.
3. Pizza crust in a can – I’ve tried the pizza crust mix in a packet. It’s not the same thing. And yes, Mom, I do know how to make it from scratch, which is way cheaper. I just don’t like to do it.
4. Salsa – Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said I want to make my own salsa. And I do. But I sure haven’t done it yet. Until then, Sam’s Choice medium salsa is doing the trick.
5. Shredded cheese – I’ve noticed that some of the cooking blogs I read like to mention how much better cheese is when you grate it yourself. And I don’t disagree. I do, however, remember how much it hurts to catch your knuckles in that thing. And there’s the fact that it takes so much time. Like, minutes.
6. Spaghetti sauce – I had never considered making my own spaghetti sauce. It really seemed like an awful lot of work. But then I made this lasagna, which pretty much forced me to make my own sauce. And you know what? It wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was pretty good. But for spaghetti on a Wednesday or Friday night homemade pizza, you can’t beat Prego traditional sauce. Mmmm…yum.
7. Crescent rolls – Another favorite from Mark’s family, the canned crescent rolls are a staple around here. Thankfully, they make a reduced fat version. Because one can? Yeah, pretty much disappears around here!
8. Cinnamon rolls – Are you seeing a pattern here? I like my bread products to come from a can! Canned cinnamon rolls (again, the low-fat and store-brand version) is the easiest, most delicious “homemade” breakfast I make. It’s perfect when we have overnight company or have to take “treats” to our Sunday school class.
9. Break-apart cookie dough – It’s the ultimate in laziness, I think, but you better believe I do it. Not only do I buy pre-made cookie dough, I don’t even take the time to scoop it or slice it. Nope – just break it apart and bake. At least, I bake the ones I don’t just eat right out of the package!
10. Instant oatmeal – Time to redeem myself after all of that not-so-healthy talk. When I’m really on my weight loss game, I eat a bowl of apple and cinnamon oatmeal (two points, if you’re counting them) every morning. It takes just a few seconds, it’s delicious and it’s filling. Can’t beat that.

Unless you count the cinnamon rolls.

This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday and Works for Me Wednesday. (Hey, I actually wrote it on Tuesday but it will post on Wednesday!)

What are your shortcuts in the kitchen?

Who needs flowers?

My Mother's Day consisted mainly of sleep-related gifts. First, Mark got up with Annalyn and took her to the grocery store, so I could sleep in. Next, they came home and piled into bed with me so Annalyn could shower me with kisses and cuteness. Then, after eating a late breakfast and playing some more, Annalyn took a nap . . . and so did I.

That's right: sleeping in and a nap. I sure can't complain, can I?

After the Big Sleep of 2009, we all got ready for the day (and don't even point out that half the day was gone, thank you very much!) and headed out. I thought it would be a great day to walk around a shopping center, maybe get some ice cream.

That was before the cold front moved in and the rain started.

So it turns out we spent our afternoon at Target. Which is fun, of course. The good news is that we went to a fancy new Target with fancy new carts (See below for someone else's photo. Because of course I didn't think to take my camera on this big trip.). The bad news is that Annalyn was not interested in spending her Mother's Day in the Target store. And she made that abundantly clear.

Photo by slackermama

What? Doesn't your child demand to hold every item in the cart and then chuck them across the aisle? Just ours, huh?

Well, we all survived. And to polish off this momentous day, we played some more, went to bed late only to be awake at 4:30 a.m.

Apparently, Annalyn wants to make sure I don't get used to that fully rested feeling.

Saturday Review: State of Play

Last weekend, Mark and I were treated to a date night, courtesy of some movie passes and a babysitter. I’d had the free passes since my birthday. Five months ago. So we were due for a good movie. And we had decided that the perfect movie for us to spend the passes and the date night on was Duplicity.

Unfortunately, it stopped playing in our theaters on the Wednesday before our date.

Thankfully, we’d seen previews for State of Play. After all, what good would a date night be if it began in an argument over the wisdom of using free movie passes to see a Matthew McConaughey movie?

State of Play has been called “an intelligent adult thriller about the death of newspapers.” Entertainment Weekly said, “State of Play has enough layers of insidious surprise . . . to keep even a seasoned 
political-corruption buff guessing.” And TV Guide wrote, “[B]y cleverly raising questions about print versus online media, the screenwriters manage to instill the tried-and-true political thriller with a satisfying contemporary twist. . . . [It] is the kind of thriller that starts with a bang and throws in enough twists to tie your brain in knots as the layers of deception are stripped away to pose some genuinely frightening questions.”

I agree with all of that, but I figure you probably came here to see what I thought.

First, the actors. I think there must be something wrong when Russell Crowe is more appealing to me than Ben Affleck. Perhaps I’m getting old? (Don’t answer that.) I don’t know. I’m not saying Ben is not a good actor. I thought he was just fine in this movie. But Russell was better. By far.

Yes, I’m on a first-name basis with these people. Aren’t you?

Rachel McAdams was adorable and, in my opinion though not many of the critics’, believable. I realize that I related to her character mainly because she’s like me – young(ish), a blogger, fairly new in her career and anxious to learn more and move up. But that’s enough for me. I liked her. And I liked the friendship and respect that grew between her character and Russell’s.

Other main actors in this movie were Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels. Ms. Mirren (um, no, no first name here) was lovely as usual. Robin was bland and forgettable, but she always is to me; we actually looked her up when we got home, because I just wasn’t sure she really was Jenny. And we’ve seen Forrest Gump a few hundred dozen times. Please believe me and don’t make Mark do his Forrest impressions to prove it. Jason was hilarious, and Jeff was not so hot. Or maybe it was his (Jeff’s) character. Either way, I didn’t like what he had going on.

Second, the story. State of Play was based on a 2003 BBC miniseries that was apparently well-loved. I’d never heard of it. But then again, I couldn’t find BBC on my TV if you paid me. (Nothing against the British and their TV. I just don’t watch it. We have enough addicting shows here in the U.S., thankyouverymuch!)

This movie was about a Senator whose staffer – and, it turns out, mistress – is murdered and the journalists who solve the mystery. Because the police only solve mysteries on TV, I guess. The movie is a commentary on several issues: the death of print journalism, the commercializing of the news, the corruption of our politicians, the difficulty of marriage, the scary possibilities of corporations funding – and even creating – wars.

That’s a lot to worry about at once, but the movie itself did a pretty good job of fleshing out these problems and showing us implications for each one. For me, corporately funded wars are just too scary to consider and corrupt politicians are not at all surprising anymore. So what I focused on – and what the movie focuses on, too – is the message it sends about today’s journalism.

Which brings me to . . .

Third, the message. I work in public relations. But for most of my high school years – and one short semester at college – I was determined to be a journalist. The hard-hitting, scoop-finding, world-saving type of journalist. Think CNN. Think foreign correspondent. Think Up Close & Personal. But I changed my mind, got sidetracked, ended up somewhere else.

My industry, however, works hand in hand with journalism. My colleagues and I do most of what we do with journalists in mind (for better or, sometimes, worse). So the industry is still close to my heart, and as a blogger and a PR professional, I know well the battle print journalists are fighting today.

So this issue wasn’t news to me (ha! Little pun intended.). What I did leave the movie wondering is this: are movie reporters real? What I mean is – do the stereotypical journalists exist? Did they ever? Has it ever been about “just the facts, ma’am,” or was that all just a dream, a fantasy, a built-up image of what we thought those people should be and do?

What do you think?

And finally, the bottom line. State of Play was a great movie, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a mostly serious, sometimes funny, thought-provoking and action-filled movie.

Less Than Perfect Once a Month Cooking

Just like serious coupon-clipping and consistent exercise, once a month cooking is one of those things I wish I did. But don’t.

I keep on trying, though, and some months I get further than others. Last month, I pushed myself – all for the sake of blogging.

You can read about how it turned out at Once a Month Mom.