Ten O'Clock Scholar

Called Out

2009-01-24T12:02:00.002-05:00

My daughter called me out on my sub-par diet yesterday. DH and I were talking about the value of veganism in lowering cholesterol (I keep meeting people who zapped their high cholesterol when they took up a vegan diet.) After hearing me explain my cholesterol statistics to my husband, Little Miss Six-Year-Old asked me straight out, what should I be eating? I told her I should eat lots and lots and LOTS of vegetables and some whole grains, and very very little fat and refined sugar. Answering her innocent concern made everything seem so simple. And imperative -- I want to be around to hold my grandbabies some day!

I'm taking baby steps now. The latest goal is for every meal and snack to feature a vegetable or fruit. I want my meals to be based on veggies, rather than grains (e.g. pasta) or protein. I'm not ready to go vegan yet, since some of my healthy hunger-stoppers are animal based (yogurt, skim milk, chicken, fish), but I can imagine giving up cheese. Maybe. Thanks for the wake-up call, Daughter, you're very motivating.

Tub Tunes

2009-01-13T19:29:00.003-05:00

I am inordinately proud of the new song my daughter and I came up with during tonight's bath. It is sung to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

Scrub, scrub, scrub your butt
Every single day --
Make your hiney extra shiny
Scrub that stink away!

Gramps

2009-01-10T23:51:00.005-05:00

My grandfather, John Sennhauser, was an artist, and he was pretty well recognized by the art world. He's got paintings in the Smithsonian and the Whitney among others. However, he's not on Wikipedia -- Quelle horreur! One of my current projects is to rectify this situation.

Has anyone ever posted on Wikipedia before? It's an adventure. I've got a big learning curve. On the other hand, I get to do scholarly research on Gramps, which is pretty cool.

The only problem is Wikipedia doesn't want any of the juicy stories of his life --- stories I would know but the art world wouldn't. They just want information that can be verified by reliable published sources -- damned professionalism! So maybe I'll just tell you the stories. In the meantime I'll give you this picture of him. He's holding my baby sister, Heather.

Diets, Diets Everywhere

2009-01-09T21:09:00.004-05:00

I spent a goodly amount of today, my last vacation day, comparing diets on the Internet. My conclusion is this: none of them fit right. Aside from the occasional fowl or fish, I'm not much into meat, so that makes the low-carb diets much more complicated. No Adkins or Zone diets for me. Vegetarian or vegan diets, on the other hand, get all righteous with the no meat rule, and that just bums me out. There's nothing like a can of chicken broth to pep up your lentils! I'm also wary of losing my good dietary habits by buying into a diet culture like Weight Watchers that allows/encourages megaprocessed foods like fat-free potato chips and Splenda. Furthermore, I'm broke and I don't have a ton of time for cooking.

What I need is a diet plan and cookbook that is mostly, but not completely vegetarian, includes lots of quickie menus, uses minimally processed food, and is cheap. Does this animal exist? Help me, O Internet readers! In the meantime, I'll just finish this 5-gallon tin of caramel corn. (Psyche! I finished that yesterday.)

Although none of the diets floated my boat, these two sites were the best I found for comparing various popular diets:

Consumer search: weight loss programs
Love to know.com: diet

The plan that is working best for me right now came from a women's mag I was reading at the gym --- Shape, maybe, or Self? (Sorry about the vague source citation. Bad Pam.) Anyway, it boiled down to four pieces of advice:

Eat lots of healthy food, including snacks, earlier in the day so you won't binge on junk at night.
Lose the empty calories -- sugary drinks, multiple cocktails, Cheetos, Christmas cookies, etc.
Control portions. Avoid "starving" or "stuffed."
Um...I forget the last one. It was something like, "Chill out." Get enough sleep. Find nonfood ways of managing stress.

Maybe I'll go back to the gym and read that article again. Couldn't hurt, right --- exercise + reasonable diet advice? Good luck if you too are jumping on the diet train.

Obama, Dreams from My Father

2009-01-07T00:27:00.004-05:00

I'm reading Barack Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father. It is really, really well done. The writing is clear, deep, emotional but not sentimental, and always thought provoking. Not only does he insightfully and sensitively examine race relations in the US and abroad, not only does he unflinchingly draw us into his early life, but he does it so beautifully!

I must admit that at first I was mentally giving his editor huge props for making such a good book. (I used to be an editor myself.) Dreams is well organized as a whole, and every chapter begins with a killer first line and ends with a vignette that makes you hungry for more. It is so consistently well done that eventually I just had to admit that no editor would have time to go to that level of detail. Obama, all by himself, is one talented writer.

I was not surprised to see that Obama's writing was intelligent and clear --- those characteristics are obvious enough from his public speaking. But Dreams shows a caliber of writing that I would not expect from someone with a day job. I've read a lot words in my life, and I don't see this level of accomplishment very often. You go, President O!

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-02T11:37:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year, friends and neighbors!

So did you do it? Did you make any resolutions? The Wilmington Journal (1/2/09) says that 98% of New Year's resolutions go unkept. I think we can do better than that, my dears. The key is in making the resolutions specific, time-oriented and reasonable. Not "I'm going to get more exercise," but "I'm going to do a 30-60 minute aerobic workout at least 3 days per week, every week."

The above is my exercise resolution. I've got three slots where I can schedule it, so I don't have any excuses to miss it. I thought about making a 5-day per week plan, but I've currently been managing only 2 days per week, and I wanted to make a smaller goal that I can really, truly stick to. If I master the three days/week, I'll move on from there. I'd love to add a couple days of strength training.

So what are your resolutions? Go ahead, be bold. Tell me in the comments section. If you tell your resolutions to someone else you're more likely to keep them. Here are my others:

Family: every day, between 3:00 and 8:30, take a deep breath and say a quiet thank you for having them in my life. Rationale: I tend to get the most grumpy and stressed out during those hours, and my daughter and husband have to deal with me. So unfair! I want to remain calm and patient with them. They are way more important than the things that stress me out. I will remind myself of my priorities and let go of my reactions to the lesser things in life.

Music: call a jam once a month. Explanation: usually my husband calls (arranges, organizes) the jams, and they happen about once per week. But there are several fabulous musican/friends who I'd love to play with, and if I call the jam, we can arrange it at their convenience.

Money: refinance the house by 1/31/09. (Fun! Not.) Get a job by 7/15/09. (I graduate from nursing school in May.) Make a budget that includes paying off loans and saving. (I'll have to get more specific once I've got an actual income.) Budget deadline: 2 months after job acquisition.

Health: lose my spare tire (about 10 lbs.) by summer -- 6/21/09. I just need to do the exercise above, cut out a few glasses of wine per week, and stay on top of my sweets consumption. Let's say 6 glasses of wine per week max, + 1 dessert and 2 less-than-healthy snacks/week.

Public resolutions --- I feel so naked! It's exciting. It's fun. Let's keep each other honest on this, 'K? You can ask for updates on my resolutions and I'll survey you on yours. We can set a date...spring equinox? We'll check back in then. I can't wait to hear what your resolutions are!

Xmas Shopping

2008-12-20T11:00:00.010-05:00

Nothing fills me with consumer lust like shopping for other people. Does this happen to you? You go to your favorite store to find something for your sister or your best friend or your nieces, and you find (maybe) one thing for them and eleventy-six things for yourself. And of course you're broke (you're always broke), so you can't possibly justify buying stuff for yourself...unless you try REALLY hard.

The above hat was one such purchase. (Thanks, Una, for taking the photo.) My justification? It's a gift. For me. From my daughter! She's six, so we had to use my money. (And thus I instruct my child in the ways of the world.)

So what about you? Do you do this too? Do you just lust, or do you buy? C'mon fess up to Aunty Pam!

Joy

2008-12-16T14:43:00.006-05:00

I'm so proud of my dear friend, Joy. She made joybridy.com all her ownself! I always knew she was a majestic potter, but she just never struck me as the geek type. This is a woman who knows how to quilt and can vegetables and make pie crust. She was one of the last people I knew (besides me) to get a cell phone. And here she is, designing a really beautiful site for her art.

Now, the art itself is brilliant to behold, as you can see here. She was trained at the Indiana University School of Fine Arts, but she's always had her own distinct style. She travels much of the summer, studying with other potters and giving workshops of her own. Her work is heavily influenced by natural lines and colors. And function is central as well. If you're looking for an original gift for someone, check out her work. I'd go on...but the work pictured on her site speaks for itself.

Here's something you won't learn from her site: Joy sings like an angel. We sang harmonies together in Upstart (an acappella group), and in Orquesta Son (a salsa band). So much fun! So many good times. She moved away weeks after attending the birth of my daughter. God, I miss that woman! Here's to ya, Joy!

How to Use a Neti Pot

2008-12-05T09:07:00.003-05:00

A neti pot, a.k.a. schnozz-washer, looks like a little teapot. You fill it with warm salt water, stick the spout up one nostril and tilt your head. The water will either run out your other nostril or not, depending on how congested you are. Either result is fine.

Why would any self-respecting human pour water through their nose? To clean it out, of course! Claims regarding the usefulness of the neti pot vary widely. Proponents say, "It cured my allergies! I never get sick any more! It makes my colds go away." The Medical Establishment (i.e. my nursing textbooks) say it soothes the nasal membranes, but they claim no further benefits. My husband says, "Umm...no thanks, sweetie, that's a little extreme for me." (In his head, he's probably saying "Ew, ew, ew! Woman, NO! That is not natural! Get me the brain bleach, STAT!")

My own results and those of my neti-using friend, Angela, can be classified as Pretty Dang Good. We've found neti-potting to be a good preventative measure -- like washing your hands. It doesn't make an established cold go away, but if used daily, it lessens the number of colds we get per year. Also, we've both been able to quit our daily allergy meds --- an especially useful result for me, since antihistamines makes me restless. Nothing like having to choose whether to sleep or breathe! I still use nose spray on really bad days and I still get that One Killer Cold in the fall, but the others --- the ones that would keep me snotty all winter --- either hit me last and least in my family or pass me by altogether.

Details on use: I use tap water and table salt (iodized, since we live in the Goiter Belt and need our dietary iodine). The neti pot packages sometimes say things about special salt or distilled water, but the regular stuff works fine in my experience. Please comment if you know good reasons not to do this. My thinking is: its not like your nose is sterile, for pete's sake.

I've heard a pinch of goldenseal powder can act as a disinfectant, but generally you're not disinfecting your nose, you're just washing it --- reducing the critical mass of germs and old mucus. The salt makes for an isotonic solution, keeping the water from irritating your nose. I use between 1/2 and 1/4 teaspoon. The water feels pleasantly warm, but not hot. It just has to be warm enough to fully dissolve the salt. If the salt doesn't dissolve all the way, you'll get that nasty pool-water-up-the-nose feeling. (Solution: pause, stir.)

Tilt your head so that your ear is facing the floor and your nose is facing the mirror. (What you do mean, "What mirror?" You do want to see all the goop that comes out of your nose, don't you? C'mon, you know you do!) I do one pot per nostril and blow my nose in between. If you decide to try it, or if you already use a neti pot, let me know how it goes!

Van Meets Wall

2008-12-04T23:19:00.006-05:00

Dear Kid,

I can't get you out of my head. All those "before" pictures papering the walls of your room in the nursing home --- you were a brown-eyed guitar player, a handsome bad boy. You were the guy I'd would have had a crush on if I were in high school with you. But I'm not in high school, and neither are you, any more. I'm a nursing student, and you're my unspeaking patient, your limbs knotted by spasms, your clouded eyes staring off to the right.

Why did you do it? Was it an accident? Were you trying to kill yourself? You wouldn't have anticipated this life --- pain that makes you howl and sweat every time someone moves you, a three minute struggle to move your hand to make the sign for "yes."

I hope hope hope that there's some mercy in your condition. Maybe you don't know what you've lost. Maybe you can still perceive your mom's dazzling love as she props your head up for the thousandth time.

Easy as Pie

2008-11-26T10:18:00.006-05:00

Where did that phrase come from? I've been baking for years and still can't make a decent pie crust every time! My friend Lara and I were rapping on the difficulty of making a piecrust, and her theory about the phrase was that it came from someone who was eating the pie, not making it.

My theory is different. You have to make piecrust by feel, not by measuring exact amounts. How much water you need depends on your flour, the room temperature and the humidity. Also, pie fillings tend to be forgiving with amounts. Throw in some fruit and a bunch of sugar or maybe an egg or two and -- bingo! -- you've got a pie. Cakes, on the other hand, are much pickier. If you don't have the oven hot enough or the leavening/ flour/ fat proportion right, they just don't work.

Back in the day, people learned how cook from their mothers, and they cooked more by feel than by measurement. Or if they did measure, the measures weren't standard: the amount in a tablespoon depended on the size of the spoons at your table. Even the cookbooks were written like this! The concept of standard measures didn't really catch on til Fanny Farmer published her cookbook in 1896. So up until then, it really was easier to make a pie than, say, a cake or a cream puff.

Well, that's my theory anyway.

I'd like to leave you with a fabulous piecrust recipe, but the only one I can personally guarantee is the Pillsbury crust in the refrigerated section of the supermarket. Instead, I'll link you to my new favorite pie recipe:

Pumpkin Pie from Real Pumpkin is delicious, detailed, and works out great. (You'll have to scroll down to get to the recipe.) If you don't want a lot of extra filling, change the amounts to

2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a generous 1/2 teaspoon each of cloves and allspice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
3 eggs
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 can evaporated milk

Welcome

2008-11-20T14:56:00.000-05:00

Hi, welcome to my blog. I’ve noticed, now that I’ve gotten over the stage fright that stymied my childhood, that everything is funner with an audience. Everything is also funner naked. But we won’t go into that here.

What we will go into is health, nutrition, music, fashion, family, and whatever else floats my boat on a particular day.