Peace Be With You

We re actually going to to be VERY close to 70 degrees today.

We are having a very low key Christmas here.  

We went to Mass last night and I didn't spontaneously combust on the spot.
(SM loves to call me his little Pagan.)

I grew up Methodist and married SM who is Catholic.

All I had to do was get the thumbs up from the priest, (what's not to love here...Hm?) and promise to give my children a Catholic upbringing (which I had no problem with).

When asked, I describe myself as a spiritual person, not a religious one.

Men made religion not God.

And men do terrible things in the name of their faith.

So no thanks.

I'll continue on as I have been celebrating the sun, the sky, the air that I breathe and the hand that I hold.

Peace.

May it be with you and all that you hold dear.

Life - It's All About Your Perspective

I think we can all agree that Facebook can be pretty annoying. 

I love the posts that make me laugh.

And I open any video with an animal in it. 
What's not to love there.

I skip over anything too deep.  
You know the ones...

The "life quote" stuff makes me think.  

Sometimes too much.
And that makes it perfect fodder for a blog post.  Ha!

Take this post I found on my feed this week.

Now, in theory, I agree with everything written on this page.
What's not to love here?

And Kudo's to the folks that can actually make this happen.  
It's something that everyone can strive for I think. 

But I also think that a post like this can be very frustrating to people who are struggling to make ends meet.

Why does everything always seem to come back to money?

Hear me out for a moment please.  

Maybe this is just me being too practical, but if you choose to have a spouse, children, mortgage, cars, cellphones...blah blah blah...then your being a good worker becomes super important.  

Your actions provide for your family and isn't that a form of respect and love?

Why guilt people who have to work two jobs or have to travel for work and are away from their families into feeling like they are not being a good parent or spouse.

And what about those folks who truly enjoy what they do?  
Or those that dedicate their lives in service to others?

A post like this needs to be separated out, I think.

Combined, this post makes it seem like work is bad.

That "The Company" demands too much from you and misdirects you into thinking that caring about your job creates a situation where you care less for your family.

And I expect that since I know the person who posted this, that this coloring my opinion too.  The poster is a professional woman married to a professional man with a family and the choice of whether or not she wants to work is completely up to her. 

Anyway...I thought it was interesting enough to post about.

House Frau

Something happened to SM along the way this year.

He got old.

Or at least that appears to be the only reasonable explanation. 

This summer SM had his first bout with sciatica, which he recovered from only to develop a bilateral shoulder issue.  After several months of pain, SM's primary care Dr gave him a shot of cortisone in each shoulder and told him it was bursitis.

OK.

So another month or two goes by with SM still in pain and expecting things to resolve on their own like the sciatica did.  

I, being the good wife, suggested that maybe he needed to see a specialist, which got poo-pooed for another month or so until I sent my baby an email with a list of in-network Ortho Dr's and told him to pick one.

Subtle aren't I?

Anyhoo...SM does my bidding as he see's he has no choice in the matter.  The Ortho guys puts him on a ramped up anti-inflammatory and gives him exercises to do and says he'll see him around Christmas for a follow-up and decision making appointment.

IE: MRI imaging and potential surgical intervention.

SM's regular xrays show that his bones are in alignment and he has a "smidge" of arthritis in one of the joints.  

I'm pushing for the MRI to be done as it will show soft tissue damage, tears and nerve impingement.  

"You just want me to go under the knife."  SM accuses.

"You'll go under the knife with me or with the Doctor.  Pick one."  I fire back.

SM says he feels like he IS getting better but he's frustrated at how S L O W the pace seems to be. 

(Tell me about it! You think HE's frustrated?)

The Ortho Dr gave him Tramidal (for pain) and a muscle relaxer to help him get through all this and Dr Tami makes him go see a massage therapist several times a week.

Which helps.

SM has had to face a new reality.  He can't get comfortable regardless if he is in a chair or in bed, so restful sleep is a rare thing.  This makes him a bit cranky.  

I know ALL ABOUT cranky having gone through the sleepless nights and intense hotflashes of menopause.

"Just roll with it."  I advise.  "Don't get angry, just absorb it.  Sleep when you can regardless of the time of day."

"I'm becoming a House Frau."  SM complained to me the other day.  

He's been self employed for years now and does a lot of ladder work, electrical wiring, crawling through attics and crawl spaces (which no doubt created his condition.) And since he is in SO MUCH pain, he is on hiatus for now.

"I love that you're a House Frau."  I say to him giving him a hug.  "You are helping me out so much!"




Seriously.

I mean sure...He's helped out before but (like most women) the bulk of the household work typically falls on me.



Not anymore.

SM does the grocery shopping, cleans the bathrooms, vacuums, does the dishes.

He even decorated the Christmas tree.
Which is a first.
He's never done that before and I must say it's the prettiest tree we ever had.

I want him to get better of course...
But on the other hand...

Mary, Mary...

I've been a closet fan of The Great British Baking Show on BBCA for a while now.  

While Paul and the "Ready, Set, BAKE!" team are a delight, I tune in mostly for Mary Berry.

Love me some Mary!  

Just imagine having your "bake" criticized by the sweetest lady on earth.  And her British humor shines through in her critiques. 

I wouldn't want to disappoint Mary but if I did I would know that I could at least laugh about my failure. 

And now the US has lured Mary over to judge a new batch of amateur bakers on ABC's The Great American Baking Show.

Will TGABS be a hit?  

Time will tell.  

I watched the 2 hour premiere the other night and it felt a little flat.  
Was it the bakers?  
The challenges?  
I'm not sure.  

They copied the British version right down to the big white tent and rainy weather.  

RAINY WEATHER!!!

Good GOD!  

The Brits are used to baking in the rain, but us poor Americans avoid it like the plague.  No wonder the "Show Stopper" cakes looked so bad. 

But there are some stellar bakers in the batch that pulled through to make America proud.  

I could never pull anything like this off.
But it just might inspire me to try!