Inspired and Determined

8 June 2013

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.  Due to having a laptop with a crappy keyboard, I gave up on trying to type a complete sentence, let alone a blog post.  I don’t always hit the center of the keys, so when I hit the corners of the keys, it wouldn’t register that the key had been pressed, even though it did go all the way down.  I could actually hold a key down by the corner, expecting that it would throw a letter on the screen and repeat it until I let up and nothing would show up on the screen!  I did some research, and the chicklet style keyboard (the new norm) that Toshiba uses is rated as one of the worst keyboards out there.  Forget trying to type accurately if you can’t hit the center of the keys… and even worse with long fingernails.  And now for the real subject of the day….

 

Recently, I read an article about a woman who was overweight and out of shape.  I don’t really know all the specifics like age, weight, height, etc., but the way she lost weight really inspired me.

I had been thinking about getting an elliptical for a while, and had discussed it once with my husband.  This woman purchased an elliptical, plugged it in, and could only barely operate it!  Turning the machine on put a little drag on the wheel, which was too much for her.  So she unplugged it, and even then she could only go about 45 seconds at a time.  She did this several times a day, working her way up to 5 minutes, then ten minutes.  Once she got to ten minutes, she wrote that she plugged the machine in and started all over.  It took 6 months before she could actually do a 30-minute workout.

After reading this article to my husband, we decided to find an elliptical that would hold my weight.  Do you have any idea how low the weight capacity is on most exercise equipment?  Most range from 225-275.  I won’t say how much I weigh, but I will tell you that I definitely exceed those limits!  I figured, though, that if I found the highest weight capacity that I could afford, if I’m gentle with it, maybe it will last a while.

Schwinn 420

Schwinn 420

The only one we could find in our budget was from Academy, the Schwinn 420.  The weight capacity is 300.  And while I still exceed that, it felt really sturdy in the store.  And boy did we luck out!!  The price online was $549.99.  After we got to the store and decided it was the one we wanted, the tiny (and I mean TINY – like a size zero!) girl helping us came back and told us they were out, and only the floor model was left.  We asked if we could buy and if there would be a discount.  She checked with the manager, and came back with a 15% discount!  That was a savings of $82.50!!!!  Sold!!!

And the best part is that we didn’t have to assemble it!  So we saved a bunch of time and money by buying the floor model.

So we get it home, and I give it a try.  O.M.G.  The girl who wrote that blog wasn’t kidding!  Ohhh did my legs buuuuuuuuurn!  I went about 30 seconds my time.  Then later that evening I hopped on and did about 45 seconds.  I played with keeping it at about a minute during the first week.  I have a bad knee which I’ve limped and wrapped and taped throughout the last few years, and it wasn’t used to this kind of motion.    I don’t know about other ellipticals, but this one makes you feel like you’re running.  So if you’re going slow (yep, that’s me!) then you feel like you’re running in slow motion.  And my knee just wasn’t used to that.  It popped.  It crackled.  I was scared that I was actually damaging my knee.  But I kept quiet and just pushed through it.  I’m so glad I did!  Now it still gets fatigued a little, but it’s getting stronger!

What I really like about the elliptical, is that it’s almost an impact-free workout.  I say almost, because you’re still supporting your weight.  I think the only real impact-free workout would be swimming, which only has resistance.  Anyway, on the elliptical, you are running in slow motion without your feet slamming down, causing vibration through your bones and extra stress to your joints.  I’ve tried using a treadmill before.  But my weak knee/hip/back would really start hurting since I couldn’t change pace quickly enough to make a difference.  It was also hard to change walking style without nearly falling off the treadmill.  After only half a mile, my knee, hip, and back were hurting so much that I’d have to quit.  I couldn’t seem to ever go more than that half mile either.

I’ve already made more progress with the elliptical in only a few weeks than I did with 2 months of trying to use the treadmill.  So now I’ve found a workout that gets my heart rate up, makes me sweat, and I can actually still walk when I’m done, as well as the day after!  :)

So I decided to do exactly what the other woman did, which was slowly work my way up to a full workout.  We purchased the machine on Sunday, May 19, 2013.  So we’ve had it right about 3 weeks now.  The first week was spent getting used to the motion, taking it painstakingly slow, and just staying on it for about a minute to condition my muscles.  And even after the first week, 1 minute was PLENTY.  That next weekend, I didn’t use it much.  We had a lot of family here for a funeral, and after hosting 20+ something guests that Friday night and about 30 guests on Saturday, I felt I had exercised enough for the day.  Plus my feet just wouldn’t let me stand up any longer.

Then the next week, I graduated to 2 minutes, then added either 15 or 30 seconds each day, depending on how I felt as the workout progressed.  The one thing I don’t want to do is over-do it.  If I’m too sore, then I won’t get on it tomorrow, then I will lose my initiative.  I AM DETERMINED TO LOSE WEIGHT.  Then this past week, I’ve continued to work my way up.  Wednesday night, I went 10 minutes.  Thursday night, 10.5 minutes.  Then tonight (Friday, even though it’s Saturday now) I hit 11 minutes.  I am so proud of myself!  I can’t believe I’ve come this far.  When we first bought the elliptical, I was skeptical about being able to really work up to any type of sustained workout.  Yes, I know, I was inspired by the woman I’d read about, and if she can do it, then so can I.  But when you actually get on the machine for the first time, and feel the deep intense burn in your legs, it can be very intimidating!

Changes I’ve noticed:

After that first week, as I mentioned, we had lots of family in for the funeral.  My parents came a couple of days early so we could spend some time together.  One of the days, we went walking around downtown San Antonio, and I was actually out-walking my parents and my husband.  I kept pulling ahead of them, thinking they were walking slow, yet they kept telling me to slow down and asking if I was in a hurry.  My legs had been conditioned THAT MUCH by using the elliptical for 1 minute a day for less than a week!

I’ve also noticed over the last couple of weeks that I have more stamina and energy during grocery shopping.  Between my back, hip, and knee, oh and let’s not forget plantar fasciitis in my right heel, I’m usually in some sort of pain while shopping.  But things are improving!  Even walking across the store or carrying the heavy groceries into the house doesn’t make me nearly as out of breath as it did only a month ago!

The first two weeks, I was still eating too much, plus the workouts were so short, it was more for muscle conditioning.  But this week, even at 11 minutes and less, I’ve lost a whopping 3 pounds.  Yes, I know, 3 pounds isn’t much.  But it’s a start!!   My weight has been fairly consistent over the last two years.  Every time I weighed myself, the scale read the exact same weight.  So for the scale to show a 3 pound loss IS definitely something, to me.  I can’t wait for this weight to start melting away!!

Review: Taurus TCP 738 .380

3 February 2013

Taurus 738SS

This weekend, I shot my first pistol.  For some reason, rifles and shotguns don’t bother me, but I’ve been scared – no, terrified – of pistols all my life.  When we first arrived at the gun range, the noise didn’t seem too bad – though we had a building between us and the guns to block the sound a bit.  After we checked in, an approached the pistol range, things quickly took a turn for the worse.

There were several LOUD boomsticks being shot over on the rifle range, which was set up parallel to the pistol range and about 40-50 feet away.  And even though I had my ear muffs on, it was loud enough to make me jump every time one went off.  That was it.  My anxiety went from 0 to 8 in a split second.  The ranger master called a cease-fire so we could put up our target, which allowed me a chance to walk the range and get  feel for things before walking up there with a gun.

After the all-clear was given, others went right out and started shooting.  I waited until they had all come back, so I could shoot from a closer distance.  As we walked out there, my anxiety kept creeping up.  Scared out of my wits, and with my husband standing behind me to coach me, I  aimed and took my first shot.  And then I cried.  I don’t know if I even hit the target, and don’t remember much of those first two magazines.  I could only barely see through my tears but I pushed through it.  All that anxiety came to a head, and the act of shooting triggered an emotional release that I wasn’t prepared for.

We went back and reloaded, then walked out for a second run, still crying, and this time my hands were shaking from muscle fatigue!  After that, we took a break so I could compose myself, and let my wrist rest.  It takes some muscle to hold a gun, handle the recoil, and reload the magazines when you’re not used to any of it.  We went back out several times, and I hit the target a few times, but then as the gun got hot, it also got really loose.  I have no idea what exactly happened, but there came a point that even at only 7 yards, I couldn’t hit the target.  I wasted an entire box of ammo (50 rounds) before I realized that the problem wasn’t me – it was the gun.

At first, we couldn’t figure out where the bullets were hitting.  Finally, my husband saw that they were hitting an old target way down below ours.  That was weird, because I was aiming for the center of our target.  So I finally lined up the sights at the top of our target, and the bullet hit below and to the right of the center.  WTH?  So I aimed at the top again, and it hit low somewhere else on the target.  So my husband tried it (to make sure I wasn’t doing something wrong, and sure enough, when he aimed at the center, the bullet hit below the target.

I’ve read a lot of mixed reviews on this particular model.  It seems split down the middle – people either really love it or really hate it.  But after my experience, I found several reviewers who had the same problems that I had.  I guess this particular gun isn’t made for continuous or range/practice shooting.

Taurus 738SS-2

 

The other problem I encountered was the back side of the gun, the space between the grip and the slide, has kind of a hard corner.  It’s not rounded enough, so after over 100 rounds, the recoil caused the gun to rub a raw spot at the base of my thumb.  During my last few shots, my top layer of skin was rubbed off.  You can see in the picture how the back of the body above the handle comes to a pointed edge before going up to the slide.

I have to say, I was extremely disappointed with our trip to the range.  I was hoping to get some good target practice in, but ended up wasting ammo with a gun that just couldn’t perform.  What stings even more is that because there’s a rush on guns and ammo, it’s hard to find anything in stock.

Piña Colada

16 December 2012

My absolute favorite drink is the Piña Colada.  Funny, though, I don’t really care for coconut!  But when you add coconut and pineapple flavors together, then BAM!  You’ve got a smooth tropical taste.  Mix it with ice and it chills me out!

 

Ingredients:

2 oz Malibu Coconut Rum
2 oz Coconut Cream
2 oz Pineapple Juice
10 pieces of ice

Using a jigger, measure each ingredient and pour into a blender over 10 pieces of ice to fill a 12-oz goblet as pictured above.  Blend the ingredients together to the consistency of a smoothie and then pour into a goblet.  For decoration you can cut a Pineapple wedge and/or insert a festively colored straw.

Doubling the serving size above will fill a 24-oz glass which is roughly the size of most regular (medium) smoothies at most restaurants.

When we found this recipe, we had no clue what coconut cream was.  We’d bought a Piña Colada set at the liquor store that had the Malibu Coconut Rum packaged with a big can of Dole Pineapple juice.  But we didn’t realize until we got home that the coconut cream was also needed.  Luckily, you don’t have to go to the liquor store to get it.  I’ve found it at Wal-Mart as well as grocery stores, in the beer/wine section.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but it’s a white plastic bottle that stands upside-down on its cap.  It would be on a shelf (not in the cooler) near other alcohol mixes.

Also, don’t let the big can of pineapple juice scare you off from making your single drink.  The rest of the juice can be poured into a pitcher and refrigerated for about a week, as long as the lid seals fairly well.  I’ve been trying to find bottled pineapple juice, but can’t find it at my regular grocery stores.  I noticed at Wal-Mart, they had either 6 or 8 packs of individual cans of pineapple juice.  I think they were 6-oz cans, maybe.  But I’ve opted to go a slightly healthier route.  I stopped by Whole Foods a couple of days ago and actually found bottled pineapple juice, with absolutely no additives.  They had one other choice, but there were a few ingredients added to it, though I can’t remember what they were.  The juice I bought has a rather lengthy expiration date, but says to use within 2 weeks of opening.  I’m sure than can be stretched to 3-4 weeks!  It’s a bit expensive – I paid just under $6 per bottle.  I may decide to go with the small individual cans in the future, but I’m liking the fact that I’m making an unhealthy drink a little healthier.

Tuscan-y Chicken

16 December 2012

Tonight, instead of debating for half an hour over what to make for dinner, I thought of a different approach.  The two of us decided what the main meat should be, then I looked up recipes online until I found one that looked interesting, yet easy.  Our meat choices were chicken breasts or ground beef, and we chose chicken.  I then went to Mrs. Dash because there’s a ton of low-sodium, and very tasty, recipes to choose from.  I found a recipe for Tuscan Chicken, then tweaked it to match ingredients I have on hand, as well as our own taste and cooking style.

Tuscan-y Chicken

Ingredients:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Olive oil (preferably EVOO)
Mrs. Dash (I used Onion/Herb Mix)
Orange zest, or ground dehydrated oranges
Minced garlic
Lemon juice
Mushrooms (optional)
Mozzarella cheese, shredded (optional)

Pour about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan.  Add a few shakes of the Mrs. Dash seasoning, about 2 pinches of the orange zest, about a teaspoon of minced garlic and a small squirt of lemon juice.  These amounts were enough for 1 big piece of chicken and two smaller pieces.   Use more if you are cooking several pieces of chicken.

Mix well as you are pre-heating the pan on low.  Once it starts getting warm, add the chicken.  Turn the heat up to med-low.  Move the chicken around a bit to get more of the flavors on it.  Cover and cook about 3-5 minutes (depending on thickness).  Remove lid and turn chicken over.  Add mushrooms, if desired.  Make sure they fall down into the juices.  Cover and continue cooking another 3-5 minutes.

When the chicken is done, place each piece on a plate, then sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top, if desired.  If using mushrooms, arrange them on top or beside the chicken, your choice.

This was my first time cooking chicken in oil.  I usually either bake it or cook it on the stove with some sort of sauce  (like soup/water) in the pan.  I have to say though, for my first time, this came out really, really good.  The chicken was super moist and absolutely delicious!  I can’t wait to try this again, and maybe come up with different flavors.

Taco Rolls… Yum!!!

8 November 2012

One of my friends made this dish for us several years ago, but we’ve put our own spin on it.  We haven’t made it in a while, so tonight, we made these taco rolls together.

Ingredients:

Ground Beef
Taco Seasoning (if desired)
Crescent Rolls
Shredded Cheese (We use cheddar, or the Four Cheese Blend)
Can of Diced Tomatoes (optional)
Tostitos Creamy Spinach Dip

 

Preheat oven according the directions on the package of crescent rolls.   Drain the dices tomatoes, and cook them with the ground beef.  If desired, use taco seasoning in the meat.  While that’s cooking, unroll and lay out the crescent rolls on a baking sheet.  The individual ones don’t hold very much meat, so we put two together, side by side, as if to make a large piece of pizza, then pressed the edges together.  This means you’ll get 4 pieces instead of 8, but it’s up to you how large or small you want them.

 


Don’t forget to stir up the meat and tomatoes!  It’s rather handy to have a helper for this meal.  Apply a thin layer of the spinach dip to the wide ends of the crescent rolls, going about 3/4 of he way to the tip.  Now add a little bit of shredded cheese.  Don’t forget to stir the meat and tomatoes!

 

 

When the meat and tomatoes are done, strain the grease (or you’ll end up having to spoon the meat out and wait for the grease to drip out).   Spoon the meat mix onto the wide end of the crescent rolls, with the meat not going further than about half way to the tip.  Top with a little bit of cheese, then fold the tip of the crescent roll over the meat, all the way down to the pan.

 

 

Bake as directed on the crescent rolls packaging.  You can sprinkle the top of the rolls with salsa, sour cream, or cheese if you like.  Use your imagination.  It’s been suggested that the beef could be replaced with various types of sausage, venison, or ground turkey.  Try other spreads in place of the spinach dip.  But most of all, make it yours!As mentioned before, this recipe was given to me by a friend, and we’ve added our own touches.  As best as I can remember, the original recipe just had plain meat (or taco-seasoned meat) and cheese in the crescent roll, topped with sour cream after baking.

Two Days and Ten Movies

1 October 2012

When my husband goes on business trips, he’s usually only gone for a few days.  Which is good, because I really miss him while he’s gone.

So what do I do to occupy my time while he’s gone?  Chick flick mania!!  I spend 2-3 days watching a bunch of movies – some that I’ve never seen and some that I’ve seen a hundred times.

The most recent time was a Monday through Thursday deal.  Half of Monday was used to catch up on some sleep.  Having to take the hubby to the airport in the wee hours of the morning makes a girl tired and cranky.  So I went back to bed after dropping him off.  By Thursday morning, I couldn’t stand to watch any more television, so I just played on the computer while waiting for my husband’s flight to get in.

Here’s the movies I watched Monday and Tuesday:

The Help (2011) (Emma Stone)
This reminds me of The Color Purple (1985) (Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover) as it depicts how life was as a black servant/maid.  What really touched me was when one family built a separate toilet (it was either outside or under a carport?) for the colored maid to use.  They acted like it was a privilege for her to have her own bathroom, but who wants to use the equivalent of an outhouse?  Emma Stone plays an aspiring journalist who wants to write an article, which turns into a book about colored life, and how awful they were treated by the families they served.  Included were several ways the maids got back at their employers, like baking a chocolate pie, complete with her own fecal waste!  This was a comical eye-opener for sure!

How To Deal (2003) (Mandy Moore)
While I absolutely hated the haircut Mandy Moore had in this movie, it was a cute movie about teen emotions, dealing with her best friend falling in love, her sister’s engagement, and her parents’ divorce.

Christmas Story (2007)
This is a movie from Finland, that depicts an origin of Santa.  A young boy’s family died in a blizzard while taking his younger sister to the doctor.  The village was very poor, and no family could afford to take him in permanently, so they decided that each family would take him in for one year, and he would switch to a new family every Christmas day.  The boy, Nikolas, found a hobby of carving figurines out of wood.  This led to a passion of his, and each year, he’d place a new figurine, one for each child, at the door step of each of the houses he’d lived in.  He did this in the middle of the night and never really talked about it.  During his teen years, the village had gotten even poorer, and nobody could afford to take him in.  There was a man who lived several miles out of town, a wood-worker, who took an interest in Nikolas, and after seeing some of his carvings, decided to take him in and make him work for his living.  After a year of living there, and making his special figurines out of scrap wood, he talked the old man into letting him go into town to deliver them in the middle of the night.  I won’t give the rest away, but this was a really good story.  I almost turned it off after the first few minutes, because I normally don’t watch movies with voice-overs.  But I actually got hooked into this one fairly quickly!

The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) (Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges)
Gregory (Bridges) feels like sex has ruined all his previous relationships, and seeks a woman who will strictly be his companion.  He finds Rose (Streisand) who is very cautious with her love life, and they become good friends.  He actually convinces her to marry him, and be life companions.  Things get very tricky when she decides she wants the relationship to go further, and he resists.  This was a decent movie, but its target audience was probably an older crowd.  It only held my interest as something playing in the background while I was facebooking.

Revenge of the Bridesmaids (2010) (Raven-Symone, Beth Broderick)
Cute movie about a socialite’s bridal party taking revenge against her for stealing one of their boyfriends, who is the groom.  Love, hate, revenge and the creative minds of early 20-something women make for an over-the-top and sometimes exhausting film.

Jack and Jill (2011) (Adam Sandler, Katie Holmes)
I really, really, really don’t like movies where a man plays both male and female characters.  In this film, Adam Sandler plays the character of Jack, as well as Jack’s twin sister, Jill.  Jill’s character was completely unconvincing, and I couldn’t really get into the movie because of the cheesy, over-the-top over-acting that Sandler had to do for the female character.  Enough said.

Summer School (1987) (Mark Harmon, Kirstie Alley)
I don’t know how this movie eluded me during my youth – it’s exactly what I would have watched when I was a kid.  It’s so weird though, seeing a much younger Mark Harmon (I’m used to seeing him as Gibbs on NCIS) who plays a laid back high school gym teacher that’s been tasked with getting some teen goof-offs to pass the standardized English test, or else he will be fired.  This is your typical 80′s high school dreamers type of movie, and I really enjoyed it!

Fireflies in the Garden (2008) (Ryan Reynolds, Julia Roberts)
Ryan Reynolds plays a writer, who has a very strained relationship with his father.  After his mother dies, the entire family gathers for the funeral, and your typical bickering ensues.  I found this to be a very stressful movie, where too much was said, and nobody stands up for themselves or each other.

The Deal (2005) (Christian Slater, Selma Blair)
For some reason, I just couldn’t get into this movie.  Turned it off after about 10 minutes.

The Skin I Live In (2011) (Antonio Banderas)
(subtitles)
I had a hard time getting into this movie because I don’t normally like having to read subtitles.  But this one interested me just enough.  Antonio Banderas plays a surgeon scientist, specializing in reconstructive surgery.  His daughter takes her own life after being raped, and after finding out who the boy was, he kidnaps him and locks him up in his mansion.  Over the next few years, he performs a sex change and transforms the boy’s body into a woman.

I had more to watch, but didn’t get to them.  I think the hubby will be taking another trip soon, so maybe I’ll catch a few more flicks then!

Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love.

11 September 2012

Tonight, the husband and I went out to the movies.  The Alamo Drafthouse was showing The Princess Bride quote-along.  We had so much fun!  I never knew there was a following for this movie.  I happen to find out about it, by mere chance, while surfing the web a few days ago.  I’m glad we bought our tickets online.  When the waitress took our order, I asked if the show was sold-out.  She said it wasn’t yet, but there were only about 40 seats left – but there was still over half an hour before the show started.  Right before the movie started, we played a few games, and then it was announced that the show was sold out, and this was the first time they’d sold out a quote-along show.

If you’re not familiar with the Drafthouse, it’s similar to a regular theater, except they serve food and drinks before and during the movie.  It’s really a neat concept, because then you don’t have to leave the theater to refill your drink.  They also serve an array of alcoholic beverages, including my favorite, Piña Colada.

I wish I would have thought to get my phone out and take a picture of my meal.  I ordered the Spaghetti Squash.  It came with a particular sauce, but I don’t remember what it was called.  I thought I was getting spaghetti with squash in it.  But what I really got was some sort of squash (maybe acorn squash?) that was cut into thin strands, similar to angel hair spaghetti.  Then the tomato-ey sauce, topped with a few mushrooms.  It was served with garlic toast.  It was an absolutely incredible dish!  I’m so glad I didn’t order a burger, like I’d planned.  lol

Now, I’d never been to a quote-along before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  There was an announcement at the beginning, sort of outlining what we wold be doing.  We were told there would be subtitles on the screen for us to quote.  We were given blow-up swords, a small bottle of wedding bubbles, and a small wedding bell.  Every sword fight, we swung our swords around, and even fought the people sitting next to us.  Each time the phrase “true love” was said, we’d ring our bells.  And at the end, during the wedding ceremony, we blew bubbles.

What I didn’t count on, was everybody quoting just about every single line in the movie.  I don’t think there was a single speaking part where somebody wasn’t also saying the lines.  It was really neat to see such a following and enthusiasm for this movie.  This is one of my favorite films, but I thought it was a bit more obscure.  I was blown away by how many people showed up and knew the movie, word for word.

I came home tired and with a headache, but it was so much fun!

Whatever

3 September 2012

Whatever is one of the worst words that can be used in an argument.  It ranks right up there with senseless cussing and name-calling.  Saying “whatever,” especially with an attitude, can have several meanings, and it’s up to the other person to figure out what it means – this time, and every other time it’s used.

Sometimes, “whatever” can be more innocent, as in, “I don’t care, just decide where to eat.”

Other times, however, “whatever” is more of a filler word.  What I mean is this: it’s used in place of saying how one really feels.  See how the word “whatever” can be substituted for these common thoughts:

“I don’t agree with you, but I’m not fighting you for it because there’s no use in trying to defend myself or change your mind.”

“I don’t care about this, but obviously you do, but I know if I say that, this will blow up into a huge fight.”

“I’m offended by your accusation(s), but I won’t admit that I did anything wrong.  How dare you call me out on it, too!”

“You’re just being pissy, so I’m trying my best to ignore the fact that you think there’s a problem.”

“You really want to nit-pick about that???”

This really gets to me, because it’s a person’s way of saying *something* instead of nothing at all, but not saying what they really mean.  It’s almost offensive, really, that something is brought up that one person thinks is important, and the other person just completely dismisses the problem with “whatever.”  To me, this is very disrespectful, and a cop-out.

Fine.  We’ll sweep it under the rug for now.  Sorry I disturbed you with something that you didn’t agree with, didn’t care about, were offended by, or just thought I was being pissy.  Whatever.

Kitchen Organization

28 August 2012

All this for a dish drying rack?? lol

Several months ago, I quit using my dishwasher.  It doesn’t wash well enough, so I was basically hand washing everything then putting it in the dishwasher.  What a waste of water and electricity!  I mean, I wasn’t just rinsing the dishes, I was fully washing them and they were clean enough to eat on before being placed in the dishwasher.  Why would I do that?  It turns out that if anything was left on a dish, say, a bit of grease, then the dish would be smudgy/greasy when it came out of the dishwasher.  You know how sometimes your last bite of food leaves a swipe mark on the back side of your fork?  In the dishwasher, most of it would be gone, but there would still be traces of that swipe mark.  Which means there’s still food/grease/saliva/ick on that fork!

So I decided I was tired of all the extra work of bending over to put things in, bending over to get things out, on top of the hand washing – and quit using the dishwasher.  This posed new challenges, as I only have a limited amount of counter space next to the sink for me to set the dishes out to dry.  And certain things, like bowls and glasses, need to be tilted so that air can get inside them, or else even a day later there will still be moisture inside.  Even the silverware always had water spots because the shape of the handles would actually hold the water while laying flat.

I had a plastic measuring cup that I used to lean the first plate on, then I’d stack the rest of them leaning against each other.  Then I’d wash the spatulas and silverware, and save all the glasses and cups for last so they could be leaned up on the handles of the spatulas or any other raised surface that I could stabilize them on.  Then I’d wash the pots and pans, usually laying another towel out on the counter behind me and letting them dry there.

At one point, I did use the dishwasher – as a drying rack.  But it still meant bending over a lot, and my back isn’t so great.  So I used the counter next to the sink, as well as the top rack of the dishwasher (no bending over for that one).  But then, in order to dry properly, I had to leave the dishwasher open, and I didn’t like that too much.  So back to just using the counter space.  I liked the way it was working, except for the glasses.  There were times that I had nothing to prop them up with, so I simply didn’t wash them.  Then it would bug me that even though the dishes were done, there were still dirty dishes!  I needed a new solution.

So the other day, I was in Wal Mart, and found myself in the home/kitchen area.  Then I spotted some dish drying racks.  I looked them over, and decided this was exactly what I needed.  There were slots to hold plates upright, taking less room.  There was a silverware holder so they could stand up, and the biggest feature was the plastic prongs for glasses and cups!

I brought it home, and while my husband is usually supportive of things that make my life easier, I could tell he didn’t really like this one.  The big deal for him was that he didn’t want to have to see it all the time.  Then he asked me if I could find a way to use it when I need it, then put it away when it’s not in use.  I simply answered “yes” to that question, and didn’t tell him about my plans for that.  I actually expected him to not like it – or at least not like seeing it all the time, so I already had a plan in motion, but hadn’t actually done it yet.  I could also tell that he didn’t really believe me – that I could put it away when not in use, but it was more like he didn’t want to start an argument right then.  Good thing too, because I really wanted this to be a surprise.  I find that I have much better motivation when I’m doing something as a surprise, instead of as an expectation.

We, like most other people, have a host of cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink.  We even have these baskets, one for each side of the cabinet, to keep things in to make it easy to retrieve them.  You just have to slide out the basket and get what you need, instead of trying to lift it over all the other bottles and try not to knock anything over.  The problem was, we’d let too much stuff get tossed in down there, and the baskets couldn’t even slide out without having to move 5 other things out of the way first.  So my plan was to go through all those bottles and throw out the old stuff and hopefully consolidate the two baskets into one, thus freeing up the other half of the cabinet for the dish rack.

And this afternoon, I did just that.  I’m sure glad I did this.  At least now I know what we actually have down there!  I got rid of a lot of nearly-empty bottles as well as some stuff that was more than 5 years old!  There were two bottles of Windex so I combined the two and tossed the empty one into the recycle bin.  I actually had 4 bottles of carpet cleaner for pet stains!  I had 2 bottles each of two different brands, so I combined them so I now have one of each.  There were two different bottles of mopping solutions, which I don’t use anymore since I got the Swiffer Wet Jet, so I threw those out.  There were a lot more bottles that were nearly empty, so those were tossed out too.

Once I was done, I washed the baskets – they were looking really grungy – and made them look brand new again.  I was successfully able to get everything I wanted to keep into one basket, so I used the other basket in the guest bathroom. Because yes, each time I reached for something in there, I was trying not to knock over everything else.  So this one project actually helped me organize two cabinets instead of just one!

Here’s the dish rack, just to the right of the sink.

 

Basket on the left, dish rack on the right.

It appears that not everything fit into the basket.  There’s a few things lined up behind the middle post.  But at least everything is accessible now – and I plan to keep it that way!  :)

Respect…

22 August 2012

Respect.  What is respect?  Do we even know why it’s so important?  Respect is on the decline these days, and it’s not just our kids – it’s the parents!

There are lots of ways to be respectful and disrespectful, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when parents freely use cuss words with their children.  ::gasp::  You hear it all the time, and you might even be guilty of a few of these:
“Get your a** in here!”
“I’m gonna beat your a**!”
“Dammit, get out of here!”
“Clean up your sh__!”
And the worst one, on my book:  ”G-D!!….”

We may not think much of it, but kids really do listen to their parents, even if they act like they don’t.  They way you talk to your kids will have a huge impact on how they treat people as they grow up.  The problem is that people who do this don’t even think there’s a problem with it.  But if you treat your kids with disrespect, don’t be surprised when they treat you, or others disrespectfully.  I’m not going to thump the Bible here, but we all know that we should treat others as we would like to be treat.

I really find it funny (or maybe odd is a better term) when I see a devout Christian (meaning, goes to church every Sunday, and almost every conversation there’s a reference to God or the Bible) who not only cusses in general, but cusses at their children.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not perfect either.  I used to have a really dirty mouth.  And I’ll admit, I do not have kids, but I tried really hard not to use foul words with other children.  And now that I’ve cleaned up my language and rarely cuss anymore, anytime I hear it from a parent to a child it just seems filthy-vulgar!!

Somebody once described cuss words as “man words.”  I didn’t like that description at first, but now I can kind of see how it fits.  Cussing is used, primarily, to describe something that no other word can describe.  It puts a much stronger emphasis than anything else can.  Compare:
“I can’t stand her!”  vs  ”I can’t stand that f’n b*tch!”
These two statements practically say the same thing, but the second one emphasizes the feelings to be much stronger. Why this comparison?  When you constantly use strong words with your kids (or anybody), one of two things will happen:  Either they will think they are never good enough, because you always speak so strongly, or they will become desensitized to it, and you end up just wasting your breath.  At this point, yelling at the kid doesn’t even phase them.  They either treat it as normal talking or (most likely) tune it out.

I just don’t see how parents can treat their children this way.  I can’t even cuss at my husband, because I love him too much.  Those words, especially when in a heated situation, only hurt the other person.  And I call that unfair fighting.  We really try hard to not throw words around when we argue.  I sometimes find myself really aggravated with my dogs, and want to cuss at them, but I just can’t.  Even though they don’t know what the words mean, I can’t say those things them because I love them too much.

I’m not saying that parents who cuss at their children don’t love them.  I know they do, but why does it seem to be so hard for them to treat their kids with love and respect?  I just don’t get it…