Blessings, Darlings!
For readers who are NOT neo-pagans, Beltane is a Pagan holiday. Beltane has Celtic roots. It is unabashedly a fertility festival.
Most folks (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) celebrate it May 1st, even going so far as to call it MayDay or MayEve, if the celebrate the night before. Therein lies what I see as a problem.
This problem was pointed out to me, years ago, on the Pagan Path Yahoo group by my buddy Red Deer. He posted about how he uses local flora and fauna to determine the day of the 'cross quarter festivals' - Samhain, Imbolg, Beltane, and Lughnasadh) rather than using the Julian calendar or by using the midpoints in the astronomically determined holidays (the solstices and the equinoxes [equini????]). After all, our paleopagan ancestors did NOT use the Julian calendar, nor the Gregorian calendar. They used nature to determing High Days.
Neopagans like to think that we are all so much more tied into nature than the rest of humanity. Nice illusion, I guess. In practice, most of us look to the printed calendar to see when the dark, new and full moons are rather than watching the sky, and set our holidays by the dates on the page.
It's not even like we don't know how the paleopagans set the dates for their 'cross quarter' high days. Most of them are older ones, based on nomadic herding in Europe rather than agriculture and settled villages. Samhain was the finally harvest - that is, when folks culled the herds down to the ones they were willing to feed over the winter. Thus, it was held after all the animals and people had gotten to where they overwintered. They were out of the mountains, they might have moved somewhat south as well.
When did they leave the mountains? I'm not sure what their cue was. I'm going to make a SWAG and say that they moved following the killing frost. I don't know how long it took for them to get to where they overwintered, either. In Ireland it wouldn't have been a really long period.
There would be side effects of using nature to determine the dates of the high days. First - they were different each year. They would NOT handily fit on a calendar. Second - they would be different practically tribe-by-tribe, as different locations would have the killing frost on different days. Might Samhain practically be at Yule in some locations some years? Sure, not that it mattered - it's not like Yule is a Celtic holiday. Yes, the Beaker People (protoPicts) noted the winter solstice, but nomadic tribes like the early Celts didn't - you need, oh, stone circles and such to note astrological events. Those things came later.
So, for me, I celebrate Samhain 3 days after the killing frost in my area. The 3 days is ONLY to give me time to make food/offerings/etc, maybe fast, and do some special visualizations and such for the ritual. I'm SWAGing that the ancient ones would have had to prep, too, after they got to winter quarters. I use the 3 day rule for all the cross quarter holidays, BTW.
Imbolg is all about ewes birthing lambs. I base this on friends who raise sheep in my area who tell me when their sheep start birthing.
Beltane was traditionally held when the leaves of the hawthorn trees were the size of squirrel's ears. So you'd have to know what your local hawthorn trees looked like, and the size of your local squirrels' ears!
Lughnasadh ... well. First harvest, when the barley was ripe. It was celebrated by horse races, horse trading, games of skill. So, I either use county/state fairs in my area to note the date of this, OR if I'm feeling more Wiccan than Celtic Reconstructionist, then it's all about when my garden starts to produce zucchini and tomatoes. In Illinois the county and state fairs were a GREAT match for my garden. Here in Maryland the fairs are later in the year, so it doesn't work as well. I DO wish I knew some local barley farmers, that would rock for making my own beer as well as helping me tune into the same cues the ancient ones did.
And all of this begs the question that aniraangel and I have been discussing on Twitter - how do European customs transfer to neopagans living south of the equator? Or, even, in equitorial areas - no frost to determine Samhain if I lived in Miami!
Neopaganism is new enough (I'm leaving out the Romantic Era Mesopaganism of the 19th century for now) that I don't know if many folks have examined that. I'm wondering if Christianity is different in Oz and Brazil and Sri Lanka where the liturgical cycle is either at odds with the local conditions or if there isn't really much of a cycle at all. Has anyone examined THAT? Seems to me that the field is ripe to see if evolution of religion in those circumstances is different than it is in areas where liturgical cycle and seasonal cycle match.
As always, more questions here than answers. Y'all have any hints for me?
Catch you later!
.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Blah
I'd post more, but I'm digging my way out of end of month business stuff and can barely see due to allergies. Dammit, I'm a DRUID (well, neo-Druid) - shouldn't I have a better relationship with oak pollen?
Monday, April 27, 2009
ZooFlu SWAGs
Again, SWAGs are 'scientific wild-ass guesses'. And 'ZooFlu' instead of 'the current varient on swine flu' because Jane on some of the survival lists I'm on named it that, because it combines genetics of influenzas from three different animals. And it rhymes.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
About two weeks ago a new influenza started moving in Mexico. It's an H1N1 influenza that started in pigs. It is spreading human to human, and appears to be very easily spread via air and surfaces. Death rate from this, in Mexico, looks to be at least 7% which is WAY higher than the typical less than 2% influenza death rate. That said, it is WAY lower than the at least 10% (and possibly 20%) death rate from the 1918 avian influenza pandemic. And as of last night no one has died of it in the US.
WHY THE ZOOFLU HAS GOTTEN SO MUCH ATTENTION
The death rate among those with this flu in Mexico is the number one reason. If it bleeds (or dies) it leads in the news media. Why it has gotten the attention of the public health community is both the high death rate in Mexico AND hitting at a warm time of year.
See, flu viri are weather sensitive. They like cold weather and low humidity. Mexico city probably has low humidity, but spring is warm enough there that a wildly spreading influenza is might darn unusual and dangerous.
Another unusual factor is that we're seeing such mortality in an H1 flu virus. In a normal flu the ones with high mortality are varients on H5 or H7's, not H1's. Pandemics have been H1's, H2's, H3's. OTOH, that might just be an artifact - microbiologists first worked to identify the pandemic viruses, so they got serotyped first.
RUMOR SLAPDOWN
Grist has an article trying to link the zoo flu with Smithfield pork production in Mexico, due to their pollution of water/air. The pollution is not likely to be a factor - viri need a live vector, especially to recombine. And insects like flies don't work for the recombitant part.
Epidemiologists and public health folks (like me, actually - I've a bachelor's degree in public health) have long expected the next pandemic to come from pigs. Not only are pigs biologically close to humans but they have long been known as a vector for influenza recombining. And that's even BEFORE the issue of factory pork raising enters the picture.
PREVENTION? TREATMENT?
Prevention - wash your hands. A lot. Don't touch your hands to your face/eyes. To be honest, I'm a prepper enough that I have N95 facial masks, too. I've not started wearing them when I go out yet.
There is no vaccine for this. Yeah, I know - we had a swine flu vaccine in 1976. But this is not your father's swine flu. It's the ZooFlu. It's not genetically the same. And, THINK - even if it had been the same, vaccines are not fine wines. They do NOT improve sitting on a shelf (or in a freezer) for 30 years.
And even tho' the fall '08 influenza vacccine covered ONE H1N1 varient, there does not appear to be cross protection.
Treatment - so far 'they' say this responds to Tamiflu and Relenza.
"REVVING UP YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM"
This is a real problem. Yes, the healthier you are the less likely you are to get anything. However if you DO get something like this, dispite nutrition/prevention/etc, there is a problem - it's the healthiest that die. What tends to kill folks who have a killer influenza is their own over responding immune system, filling their lungs with fluid, etc. It's called a cytokine storm, cytokine's being one of our body's antibodies. The healthiest bodies produce the biggest storm. This is different than what happens in a more typical flu death - there it's an elderly person who gets the flu then gets pneumonia on top of it, and the pneumonia kills 'em.
CALL TO ACTION
Wash your hands. Don't touch your face and eyes. The rest is a crapshoot.
Catch you later!
.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
About two weeks ago a new influenza started moving in Mexico. It's an H1N1 influenza that started in pigs. It is spreading human to human, and appears to be very easily spread via air and surfaces. Death rate from this, in Mexico, looks to be at least 7% which is WAY higher than the typical less than 2% influenza death rate. That said, it is WAY lower than the at least 10% (and possibly 20%) death rate from the 1918 avian influenza pandemic. And as of last night no one has died of it in the US.
WHY THE ZOOFLU HAS GOTTEN SO MUCH ATTENTION
The death rate among those with this flu in Mexico is the number one reason. If it bleeds (or dies) it leads in the news media. Why it has gotten the attention of the public health community is both the high death rate in Mexico AND hitting at a warm time of year.
See, flu viri are weather sensitive. They like cold weather and low humidity. Mexico city probably has low humidity, but spring is warm enough there that a wildly spreading influenza is might darn unusual and dangerous.
Another unusual factor is that we're seeing such mortality in an H1 flu virus. In a normal flu the ones with high mortality are varients on H5 or H7's, not H1's. Pandemics have been H1's, H2's, H3's. OTOH, that might just be an artifact - microbiologists first worked to identify the pandemic viruses, so they got serotyped first.
RUMOR SLAPDOWN
Grist has an article trying to link the zoo flu with Smithfield pork production in Mexico, due to their pollution of water/air. The pollution is not likely to be a factor - viri need a live vector, especially to recombine. And insects like flies don't work for the recombitant part.
Epidemiologists and public health folks (like me, actually - I've a bachelor's degree in public health) have long expected the next pandemic to come from pigs. Not only are pigs biologically close to humans but they have long been known as a vector for influenza recombining. And that's even BEFORE the issue of factory pork raising enters the picture.
PREVENTION? TREATMENT?
Prevention - wash your hands. A lot. Don't touch your hands to your face/eyes. To be honest, I'm a prepper enough that I have N95 facial masks, too. I've not started wearing them when I go out yet.
There is no vaccine for this. Yeah, I know - we had a swine flu vaccine in 1976. But this is not your father's swine flu. It's the ZooFlu. It's not genetically the same. And, THINK - even if it had been the same, vaccines are not fine wines. They do NOT improve sitting on a shelf (or in a freezer) for 30 years.
And even tho' the fall '08 influenza vacccine covered ONE H1N1 varient, there does not appear to be cross protection.
Treatment - so far 'they' say this responds to Tamiflu and Relenza.
"REVVING UP YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM"
This is a real problem. Yes, the healthier you are the less likely you are to get anything. However if you DO get something like this, dispite nutrition/prevention/etc, there is a problem - it's the healthiest that die. What tends to kill folks who have a killer influenza is their own over responding immune system, filling their lungs with fluid, etc. It's called a cytokine storm, cytokine's being one of our body's antibodies. The healthiest bodies produce the biggest storm. This is different than what happens in a more typical flu death - there it's an elderly person who gets the flu then gets pneumonia on top of it, and the pneumonia kills 'em.
CALL TO ACTION
Wash your hands. Don't touch your face and eyes. The rest is a crapshoot.
Catch you later!
.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Tao of Toast - English Muffins
Yeah, I know that 'tao' is pronounced 'dow' but I still think like the way the letters in the title look, and don't think that "The Tao of Dough" works.
I LOVE carbs. Especially with salt and fat. I'd be a happy eater with pasta and butter for breakfast, chips for lunch, and rice for dinner. I'd not FEEL particular well doing that, and given my metabolism I'd probably develop diabetes, so I don't eat that way. At least not very often. However, even my wonderful salad lunch today featured those homemade croutons and a hearty serving of kidney beans, for without those carbs I'd not have been satisfied.
My husband is well aware of the affair that carbs and I carry on, just like I'm aware of his affair with deli department barbeque loaf. He seems to understand why I find carbs to be the staff of my life. I do NOT understand his barbeque loaf thing. But I digress....
Carbs. Swoon.....
Okay, even I have to admit that not all carbs are created equal. There is at least one brand of potato chips I can buy that will sit around the house uneaten. I can face a loaf of white styrofoam bread and not bother buttering and eating it. White corn on the cob earns nothing but my distain - it only tastes sweet and I want my corn to taste, well, corny!
Breads!!!
I was raised on some pretty good bread. Mostly challah, a rich egg bread, but also on good seeded Jewish deli rye bread, traditional bagels, and kaiser rolls (layered with lots of salt corned beef). A rare and wonderful treat were the occassions that the family would have english muffins.
English Muffins
Oh, those wonderful nooks and crannies! They are one of my very favorite breads. And unlike most breads, they are cooked on a stove top in a pan, so you can make them while on a camping stove or over a fire. I've not tried to make them on a rocket stove, but don't think they'd work well there - they'd probably burn on the outside before cooking through on the inside.
Of course I use English Muffins for toast with butter or strawberry jam or, when I'm in THAT kind of mood, with apple butter. But they also make an incredible sandwich. Wonderful for BLT's or club sandwiches, or after Thanksgiving a turkey with greens and a bit of whole-berry cranberry sauce or a horseradish sauce.
They just rock. They rock the most when they are freshly made.
English Muffin Recipe
In the evening, as you reflect on the day gone by, take
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
Mix water, milk, sugar, and salt together. Heat 'till warm, about 115 degrees. If you buy 'normal' milk in a grocery store there is no need to scald it. If you are using raw milk, you might want to do that. But, seriously, I'd not use precious raw milk to bake with! Anyway, add to that
1 tsp dry yeast
2 cups unbleached flour
and beat really well. Cover, let it rise over night. Feel free to mix it from time to time if you'd like. The long, slow rise will give it extra flavor, in my never humble opinion.
Next morning, add 2 tbs of melted butter, and another one to two cups of flour. Cover, let it double. Flour whatever you are going to roll this out on, and splock the dough from the bowl to that surface. Roll/pat/press it out 2/3 inch thick, and cut into about 3 inch rounds. I use glasses that are a size I like. Let them double again, covered. Cook on a greased pan/griddle at medium high until browned on one side, then turn and repeat on the other side. Let them cool enough so you can handle them without burning yourself, split, eat.
I will adorn mine with butter immediately, then make a hollendaise sauce and poach an egg and top them with that.
Catch you later - I have to catch the butter dripping down my chin right now!
.
I LOVE carbs. Especially with salt and fat. I'd be a happy eater with pasta and butter for breakfast, chips for lunch, and rice for dinner. I'd not FEEL particular well doing that, and given my metabolism I'd probably develop diabetes, so I don't eat that way. At least not very often. However, even my wonderful salad lunch today featured those homemade croutons and a hearty serving of kidney beans, for without those carbs I'd not have been satisfied.
My husband is well aware of the affair that carbs and I carry on, just like I'm aware of his affair with deli department barbeque loaf. He seems to understand why I find carbs to be the staff of my life. I do NOT understand his barbeque loaf thing. But I digress....
Carbs. Swoon.....
Okay, even I have to admit that not all carbs are created equal. There is at least one brand of potato chips I can buy that will sit around the house uneaten. I can face a loaf of white styrofoam bread and not bother buttering and eating it. White corn on the cob earns nothing but my distain - it only tastes sweet and I want my corn to taste, well, corny!
Breads!!!
I was raised on some pretty good bread. Mostly challah, a rich egg bread, but also on good seeded Jewish deli rye bread, traditional bagels, and kaiser rolls (layered with lots of salt corned beef). A rare and wonderful treat were the occassions that the family would have english muffins.
English Muffins
Oh, those wonderful nooks and crannies! They are one of my very favorite breads. And unlike most breads, they are cooked on a stove top in a pan, so you can make them while on a camping stove or over a fire. I've not tried to make them on a rocket stove, but don't think they'd work well there - they'd probably burn on the outside before cooking through on the inside.
Of course I use English Muffins for toast with butter or strawberry jam or, when I'm in THAT kind of mood, with apple butter. But they also make an incredible sandwich. Wonderful for BLT's or club sandwiches, or after Thanksgiving a turkey with greens and a bit of whole-berry cranberry sauce or a horseradish sauce.
They just rock. They rock the most when they are freshly made.
English Muffin Recipe
In the evening, as you reflect on the day gone by, take
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
Mix water, milk, sugar, and salt together. Heat 'till warm, about 115 degrees. If you buy 'normal' milk in a grocery store there is no need to scald it. If you are using raw milk, you might want to do that. But, seriously, I'd not use precious raw milk to bake with! Anyway, add to that
1 tsp dry yeast
2 cups unbleached flour
and beat really well. Cover, let it rise over night. Feel free to mix it from time to time if you'd like. The long, slow rise will give it extra flavor, in my never humble opinion.
Next morning, add 2 tbs of melted butter, and another one to two cups of flour. Cover, let it double. Flour whatever you are going to roll this out on, and splock the dough from the bowl to that surface. Roll/pat/press it out 2/3 inch thick, and cut into about 3 inch rounds. I use glasses that are a size I like. Let them double again, covered. Cook on a greased pan/griddle at medium high until browned on one side, then turn and repeat on the other side. Let them cool enough so you can handle them without burning yourself, split, eat.
I will adorn mine with butter immediately, then make a hollendaise sauce and poach an egg and top them with that.
Catch you later - I have to catch the butter dripping down my chin right now!
.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Trouble Right Here in River City
I went to the IEEE (institute of Electrical, Electronic, Software, Hardware, and all other Engineers) National Capital Area Counsel Consultants' Network (NCAC-CN for 'short') meeting the other night. Not being an official member - nor qualified to be one - I don't usually go to these affairs. But it was part 3 of their "The Art of Consulting" series, and my DH was one of the speakers, so there I was with my flip cam, computer, tripod, etc. We need videos for our web site. These may never be appropriate, but I need practice before I even qualify as a lousy videographer.
Because I am fundamentally a nosy person, I nagged Bob early in his talk to ask how many folks - all consultants or folks who want to be consultants - to raise their hands if they already had a web site. Only about 25 percent did. Not even all of those already working as consultants have them!
WHAT?
Exactly!
Oh, we got trouble
Right here in River City
Right here in River City
With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P'
and that stands for 'pool'
That stands for pool
We surely got trouble
We surely got trouble
Right here in River City
Right here in River City
THAT was from the musical "The Music Man". Except in this case it's not River City, it's Avalon on the Potomac, and P stands for Piss Poor Performance. We've all heard that if you build a better mousetrap that the world will beat a path to your door. That's not really true - if they don't know you've built the better mousetrap or don't know where your door is, the world will beat a path to a mousetrap they know about and a door that they can find. The first place most mouse users look for ANYTHING is on the Internet.
If you don't have an Internet presence you do not exist to them. Sure, you might get some business from another engineer who knows you (maybe from attending the CN), and knows your skills complement his/hers but word-of-mouth doesn't really pay off until you already have an established business and reputation.
Even the most primative web site gives you some credibility. You will have your contact info up there, you will have information about what you do, you will have pictures of what you've built or screen shots of what you've programmed, you will have your picture, you should have a video, etc. [Monday's post about booting all 'shoulds' was about PERSONAL life shoulds, not business shoulds!] It tells people about your mousetrap and where your door is.
It's not as if a web site is expensive. GoDaddy sells sites for as low as $10 for a year, and I've had hosting at $10 per month. A cheap template and you're on the air, even if you won't be well ranked on the search engines. Get that up, and when you have slow times you can learn Search Engine Optimization and maybe learn how to use Joobla! to make a hot website.
But by all means, get on the air!
Because I am fundamentally a nosy person, I nagged Bob early in his talk to ask how many folks - all consultants or folks who want to be consultants - to raise their hands if they already had a web site. Only about 25 percent did. Not even all of those already working as consultants have them!
WHAT?
Exactly!
Oh, we got trouble
Right here in River City
Right here in River City
With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P'
and that stands for 'pool'
That stands for pool
We surely got trouble
We surely got trouble
Right here in River City
Right here in River City
THAT was from the musical "The Music Man". Except in this case it's not River City, it's Avalon on the Potomac, and P stands for Piss Poor Performance. We've all heard that if you build a better mousetrap that the world will beat a path to your door. That's not really true - if they don't know you've built the better mousetrap or don't know where your door is, the world will beat a path to a mousetrap they know about and a door that they can find. The first place most mouse users look for ANYTHING is on the Internet.
If you don't have an Internet presence you do not exist to them. Sure, you might get some business from another engineer who knows you (maybe from attending the CN), and knows your skills complement his/hers but word-of-mouth doesn't really pay off until you already have an established business and reputation.
Even the most primative web site gives you some credibility. You will have your contact info up there, you will have information about what you do, you will have pictures of what you've built or screen shots of what you've programmed, you will have your picture, you should have a video, etc. [Monday's post about booting all 'shoulds' was about PERSONAL life shoulds, not business shoulds!] It tells people about your mousetrap and where your door is.
It's not as if a web site is expensive. GoDaddy sells sites for as low as $10 for a year, and I've had hosting at $10 per month. A cheap template and you're on the air, even if you won't be well ranked on the search engines. Get that up, and when you have slow times you can learn Search Engine Optimization and maybe learn how to use Joobla! to make a hot website.
But by all means, get on the air!
Happy New Earth Year!
I don't believe in Earth Day. Oh, sure I accept that folks are out there celebrating it, it's the whole concept of a 'day' for it that I don't believe in. A 'Day' makes it a carnival, a day-out-of-time/normal life.
Instead, I sort of look at today as New Year's Day of the new Earth Year. A day to make resolutions and start work on them, sort of like starting a diet or whatever on January 1.
In my fantasy, folks would have done some serious preparation for this. Say, looking over their lifestyle and the environment starting on the first day of spring and deciding on goals for the next year, and researching what it would take for them to reach those goals. The goals should be measurable, as all good goals are, so that month of preparation can also include measuring the impact on the environment you now have. After all, you can't really tell if you have reduced you car miles by 20% if you don't know how many car miles you put in weekly/monthly already.
Or, since I've been nagging the husband and son, since we have 14 meals with meat a week now, if we reduce that by 20% that means changing 3 meals a week. Functionally, that means eggs for one dinner a week, meat-free soup and a salad one (or more) lunch a week, and one 'experimental' meal a week. Which will most often NOT be experimental but will be something like quesadillas or cheese and veg pizza, but could be a stir-fry with tofu or nuts. Or I could try bean burritos (son with sensory issues will eat beans, but only if mashed) or bean or cheese enchildadas.
The other thing I'm going to work on for the year is reducing food waste. Things tend to get 'lost' in the fridge, then the stuff growing in them tries to take over the kitchen. This must end. Better menu planning and control will help that.
So, sure, I'm also doing some 'one offs' during the 'earth day fortnight'. Like repairing a toilet that's running on - but it only JUST broke, so I'd be doing that immediately whenever it happened during the year. I'm working my compost heap into the garden, but, again, that's normal before planting.
But working the compost into the garden is only normal because during the ENTIRE year I work with the compost heap, adding all sorts of veggie and fruit matter into it. I can only add eggshells to the garden because I save them all year. I can't really reduce my personal car time, because I don't have much, because my son does the grocery shopping on commute to and from college. If he was willing to take the shuttle bus to college 3 days a week, I might have to walk to the store. But I can only change myself, he is in charge of changing himself. Or not. Dammit.
What are your New Earth Year Resolutions?
Instead, I sort of look at today as New Year's Day of the new Earth Year. A day to make resolutions and start work on them, sort of like starting a diet or whatever on January 1.
In my fantasy, folks would have done some serious preparation for this. Say, looking over their lifestyle and the environment starting on the first day of spring and deciding on goals for the next year, and researching what it would take for them to reach those goals. The goals should be measurable, as all good goals are, so that month of preparation can also include measuring the impact on the environment you now have. After all, you can't really tell if you have reduced you car miles by 20% if you don't know how many car miles you put in weekly/monthly already.
Or, since I've been nagging the husband and son, since we have 14 meals with meat a week now, if we reduce that by 20% that means changing 3 meals a week. Functionally, that means eggs for one dinner a week, meat-free soup and a salad one (or more) lunch a week, and one 'experimental' meal a week. Which will most often NOT be experimental but will be something like quesadillas or cheese and veg pizza, but could be a stir-fry with tofu or nuts. Or I could try bean burritos (son with sensory issues will eat beans, but only if mashed) or bean or cheese enchildadas.
The other thing I'm going to work on for the year is reducing food waste. Things tend to get 'lost' in the fridge, then the stuff growing in them tries to take over the kitchen. This must end. Better menu planning and control will help that.
So, sure, I'm also doing some 'one offs' during the 'earth day fortnight'. Like repairing a toilet that's running on - but it only JUST broke, so I'd be doing that immediately whenever it happened during the year. I'm working my compost heap into the garden, but, again, that's normal before planting.
But working the compost into the garden is only normal because during the ENTIRE year I work with the compost heap, adding all sorts of veggie and fruit matter into it. I can only add eggshells to the garden because I save them all year. I can't really reduce my personal car time, because I don't have much, because my son does the grocery shopping on commute to and from college. If he was willing to take the shuttle bus to college 3 days a week, I might have to walk to the store. But I can only change myself, he is in charge of changing himself. Or not. Dammit.
What are your New Earth Year Resolutions?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Speaking of time....
Having gone over many - but not all - of the 'musts' for each day yesterday, I'm moving on to what TIME of day you're supposed do to it all.
Morning must do's
Gotta eat breakfast by 8 am for longevity. Gotta meditate before eating. Gotta exercise before eating, because doing an of 'em on a full stomach is miserable, and you gotta do exercising in the morning. Gotta do yoga before meditating (all yoga starts with hatha yogo and ends with kundalini yoga, ya know. Trust 'them', 'they' say so). Gotta exercise before showering, of course.
Gotta leave for work early enough to get to work on time. How about setting up the slow cooker so much of dinner is ready when you get home? How about putting bread in the oven, and maybe even remembering to take it out. And DO preheat the oven so the bread dough doesn't burn when you put it in....
How that works out
So - up at 5:30? Stagger to washroom for a few minutes. Do half an hour of yoga. Meditate for 20 minutes. It's now 6:30. Wake the kids, start them on their day. Do aerobics. Do weights routine. Check up on kids. It's 7:30. Shower, dress - oh, crap, it's 8, and you've not made or eaten breakfast, or made lunches. Get up at 5 am ....
The Night Before The Morning After
To have gotten the 8 hours of sleep you 'must' get, you had to be asleep by 9 the night before.
Now, you got home no earlier than 5:30, assuming no major traffic problems and only a 30 minute commute. The kids magically transported themselves home from after school care, so you didn't have to pick them up, and also magically get home the same time you do.
I love magic.
You didn't have time to put food in the slow cooker, but DID remember to defrost a chicken. Season it, put it in oven for an hour. Scrub and add some potatoes to the oven, with a skewer thru' them so they cook faster. Grab a bag of green beans from the freezer, put them in pot on stove - you'll start that when the chicken's about done. Make salads. While you do this, the kids are talking to you about the slings and arrows of their day, if you're lucky. Once the chicken is in the oven, you can see what homework they have (maybe checking against a school web site that lists the homework - my child with ADD never managed to write down assignments).
Since the kid use the kitchen table for homework, they can't really start it before dinner is done.
You slip in 20 minutes of meditation now, right?
Meditation over, turn the beans on and take the chicken out of the oven to rest. When beans are done, serve dinner.
It's 7:15 when dinner is over. Put away leftovers. Do dishes. Supervise the start of homework.
It's 7:30 - 90 minutes before you need to be asleep. Sweep kitchen. Iron/prep clothes for tomorrow. Do the other 30 minutes of aerobics.
45 minutes left 'till you need to be asleep. Pay the bills, read the paper. Supervise putting away homework in backpacks and kids getting ready for bed. Go to bed yourself. Day is done.
Did we leave anything out?
Like, for instance, talking to a non-work related adult (friend, family member)? Any evening activities, like soccer or religious ed, or tutoring? How about the real time it takes to commute if you use public transportation? You didn't grind grain into flour for bread (so much cheaper and fresher!) let alone make the bread. I guess you went thru' the mail when you paid the bills. Hey, you didn't read the kids a story at bedtime! You didn't scoop the litter box, either, or take out garbage.
Are we having fun yet? Oh - fun isn't a 'must do', apparently. OTOH, you're supposed to have regular sex, but how do you fit THAT in, all puns intended?
Feeling guilty yet?
Truth - unless you don't have to work full time you can't do all you 'must' do. We do what we can. We serve convenience foods - carry out on way to little league game, eaten in car - so the kid can get to the game and we all eat something. Because we weigh all the 'musts' and decide that having our child play a sport is more important than the home-cooked food at every meal. We gain weight, because we are not getting the amount of exercise it takes to burn off calories we don't burn at our sedentary jobs. Etc.
That, darlings, is life. Real life. Screw the 'shoulds'. Screw the 'musts'.
Catch you later!
.
Morning must do's
Gotta eat breakfast by 8 am for longevity. Gotta meditate before eating. Gotta exercise before eating, because doing an of 'em on a full stomach is miserable, and you gotta do exercising in the morning. Gotta do yoga before meditating (all yoga starts with hatha yogo and ends with kundalini yoga, ya know. Trust 'them', 'they' say so). Gotta exercise before showering, of course.
Gotta leave for work early enough to get to work on time. How about setting up the slow cooker so much of dinner is ready when you get home? How about putting bread in the oven, and maybe even remembering to take it out. And DO preheat the oven so the bread dough doesn't burn when you put it in....
How that works out
So - up at 5:30? Stagger to washroom for a few minutes. Do half an hour of yoga. Meditate for 20 minutes. It's now 6:30. Wake the kids, start them on their day. Do aerobics. Do weights routine. Check up on kids. It's 7:30. Shower, dress - oh, crap, it's 8, and you've not made or eaten breakfast, or made lunches. Get up at 5 am ....
The Night Before The Morning After
To have gotten the 8 hours of sleep you 'must' get, you had to be asleep by 9 the night before.
Now, you got home no earlier than 5:30, assuming no major traffic problems and only a 30 minute commute. The kids magically transported themselves home from after school care, so you didn't have to pick them up, and also magically get home the same time you do.
I love magic.
You didn't have time to put food in the slow cooker, but DID remember to defrost a chicken. Season it, put it in oven for an hour. Scrub and add some potatoes to the oven, with a skewer thru' them so they cook faster. Grab a bag of green beans from the freezer, put them in pot on stove - you'll start that when the chicken's about done. Make salads. While you do this, the kids are talking to you about the slings and arrows of their day, if you're lucky. Once the chicken is in the oven, you can see what homework they have (maybe checking against a school web site that lists the homework - my child with ADD never managed to write down assignments).
Since the kid use the kitchen table for homework, they can't really start it before dinner is done.
You slip in 20 minutes of meditation now, right?
Meditation over, turn the beans on and take the chicken out of the oven to rest. When beans are done, serve dinner.
It's 7:15 when dinner is over. Put away leftovers. Do dishes. Supervise the start of homework.
It's 7:30 - 90 minutes before you need to be asleep. Sweep kitchen. Iron/prep clothes for tomorrow. Do the other 30 minutes of aerobics.
45 minutes left 'till you need to be asleep. Pay the bills, read the paper. Supervise putting away homework in backpacks and kids getting ready for bed. Go to bed yourself. Day is done.
Did we leave anything out?
Like, for instance, talking to a non-work related adult (friend, family member)? Any evening activities, like soccer or religious ed, or tutoring? How about the real time it takes to commute if you use public transportation? You didn't grind grain into flour for bread (so much cheaper and fresher!) let alone make the bread. I guess you went thru' the mail when you paid the bills. Hey, you didn't read the kids a story at bedtime! You didn't scoop the litter box, either, or take out garbage.
Are we having fun yet? Oh - fun isn't a 'must do', apparently. OTOH, you're supposed to have regular sex, but how do you fit THAT in, all puns intended?
Feeling guilty yet?
Truth - unless you don't have to work full time you can't do all you 'must' do. We do what we can. We serve convenience foods - carry out on way to little league game, eaten in car - so the kid can get to the game and we all eat something. Because we weigh all the 'musts' and decide that having our child play a sport is more important than the home-cooked food at every meal. We gain weight, because we are not getting the amount of exercise it takes to burn off calories we don't burn at our sedentary jobs. Etc.
That, darlings, is life. Real life. Screw the 'shoulds'. Screw the 'musts'.
Catch you later!
.
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