Menu Monday

Alternate Title: Still at It - YUM!

Tonight we tried something new, by which I mean I looked at a recipe and thought "well, hell, I am not going to put all of that crap together, but thanks cookbook-man for the suggestion." I cut out all of the special-buy stuff and it turned out well.

I have said before that we plan our meals out a week at a time, and we cycle things in about once every five or six weeks. We have gotten much better about eating in instead of out, and that is due to the plan, completely and totally! It is a great system for us since I can look out and know what to look for at the grocery store sales, since Abby and I grocery shop before Anny is up and moving on Sunday mornings. :)

It appears that I was on a roll for about one month a long while ago about posting our Meal Plan for the week to the blog to share. Not surprised that I let it go about the time that my blogging slipped to twice monthly instead of twice weekly. We have been using our meal planning, just not blogging about it.

I am happy with last weeks plan, so I am going to share what we had then before I pull out this weeks, just for fun.

Last week:
Sunday - Pan Seared Pork Chops with Corn on the Cob
Monday - Baked Salmon, couscous and fresh green beans
Tuesday - Burgers and pasta (burgers made last month and frozen - time saver!)
Wednesday - Frozen Pizza
Thursday - Tuna Pockets (recipe here)
Friday - Kielbasa and Sauerkraut with rice
Saturday - Peanut Butter Pancakes - not good enough to share that recipe. Boo.

Abby was not excited about ANY of these meals, even the pizza, until we just sort of pushed a little harder than we should have needed to. She even raised a stink about pepperoni pizza. She is clearly four.

This week:
Sunday - Rob's Quick Steak Stir Fry
Monday - Aloha Kebabs and pasta (Recipe from Deceptively Delicious)
Tuesday - Home Made Corn Dogs (baked) (Recipe from Silly Snacks)
Wednesday - Grilled Ham and Cheese and broccoli
Thursday - Baked Cod in Bacon (from the new Jamie Oliver book) and Mashed Cauliflower (recipe here)
Friday/Saturday - Church Family Retreat Weekend! :)

That is what our plan is - what are you eating this week?

HOT DATE!

Alternate Title: Someones Gotta Have All the Fun!

On Sunday my wife and daughter are going to join another family on a trip to the local Pirate Festival. Think Renaissance Festival without the frilly clothes swords and hoochie mama's rotten fake English accents boisterous kings and queens, replaced by boisterous pirates and wenches. It's a neat idea, and we have never been, so the girls are looking forward to the trip. Without me.

I will be having a hot date without them, so it's not all a loss for me, right? I've had a kind-of standing date, on and off, for about ten years. Really cute partner, short and chubby. Always too orange, but that changes as the day goes on.

Back when I worked at camp I would just have my date at work - there were only three of us and so there was not really a chance for too much disruption. I would cordon off part of the office - usually down the hallway or, on a nice day, all of one of our retreat cabins just for me. I have never been one for PDA, so I want my own space for this kind of stuff.

Once I moved to a more "proper office" style of office closer to the city I would just take a whole day off of work for my dates. They were infrequent enough that I would use the day to catch up on other things around the house. I had plenty of days at my disposal as far as vacation/sick days, so I never worried about that stuff. Some date-days I would even just work from home at the same time, still not trying to be a distraction to others.

Now that I am a receptionist and with an organization that counts sick, vacation and holidays all in one bank it appears that my dates are going to be pinned to Sunday's for the foreseeable future. Sunday is football day in the fall, and hockey day in the spring, and my companion does not mind sports as much as my wife does. (And does not interrupt me in the midst of a last-minute touchdown drive to ask the score, which is clearly written on the screen, dear wife.) Heck, I could play video games on the TV during halftime and not hear a single peep, my date is quiet about that stuff.

Funny that I've been having this date for a decade now and I'm still not a fan of it. Kind of a ritual that I have dreaded. Have to have it, but do not want to do it. Kind of like cutting my hair, but more messy.

Want to see my partner for the day on Sunday?

That's right: My Empty Bottle!

It will not be empty for long, you can count on that. This bottle is my collector for a 24 hour urine sample.

Yes, every time that I pee, I have to keep hold of it like it's a precious diamonds, which it is not. It's pee. Gross, gross urine. The thing that you have to wash off your hands any time they are near it - yeah, that's the stuff. I can not imagine how much worse it is for my female friends who have to do collections like this, but you can be sure that I do not envy them.

While my girls are out having fun with peg-legs and swashbucklers I will be at home with my TV, a big cup of water and an even bigger bottle of pee.

What are YOU doing this weekend?

Abby's Wishful Thinking

Alternate Title: Growing Up, In Her Head

Abby is at an age where she is latching onto things for all that they are worth, and then some. At least once a week since her birthday we have had some sort of birthday celebration in our home. Please note that she is a June baby and Anny and I share a birthday in December, so there has really been nothing, but she had such a blast at her birthday that she wants to celebrate daily. Some nights she even warns us - Daddy, tomorrow will be your pretend birthday, okay?

(She also thinks that we HAVE to move before her fifth birthday, but that's another blog post for another day...)

She is one of those funny children that has to see a movie over and over after seeing it once. We Netflixed 101 Dalmatians three weeks ago and have watched it at least once for each four legged dog in the movie, not just the spotted ones. (Okay, exaggeration, but we have watched it more times than I would care to admit, especially since she really only watches about 45 minutes of PBS a day!)

A couple of months back there was a book release party at our local Borders, may they rest in peace, for the release of the book Silverlicious. It's the latest in the Pinkalicious series and it's wonderfully illustrated, kid-and-parent funny and all around perfect for our house. It is about Pink's first tooth loss and a delay by the Tooth Fairy. I do not want to ruin plot lines (ha!) but it goes on for like a week in book terms.

Before this book Abby had never mentioned the Tooth Fairy, in part because only her cousin Ellie was dealing with the loss of teeth and she does not make a big deal out of things like that. For a week or so Abby was hopeful that she would lose a tooth or two. At age four. We hoped that would not be the case and are very glad that she finally took "when you are about six years old" and that helped stave off her need for Tooth Attention for a while.

In the last few weeks, though, the Tooth Fairy talk has picked up again. She has gone as far as asking me to transcribe a note for her to the Tooth Fairy. She is very specific in her requests, so I wanted to share:

Transcribed from my awful handwriting, it reads:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I want to keep my tooth. When I am six my tooth will come out.

Love,

Abby

She was headed out the door for a walk with Anny. I could hear her bursting to get Anny to read it, out loud, so that she knew we were all on the same page.

I think I might have a theme in mind for her sixth birthday, because at this point I am likely going to have to knock one out for her the day she turns six or there will be an epic meltdown that none of us want to be a part of!

Kidney Update - Updated!

Well, the good news is that I did not get punched in the face.

I had my first visit with my new nephrologist in Missouri, a little bit more than a year after we have moved. I told him the whole story of my life, or at least what he deemed pertinent to my health overall with a few snippets tossed in for fun.

I forgot how long it takes to get a specialist to actually show up for an appointment, but that is another post for another day. I was extremely nervous going into this appointment, but can say with manly pride that I did not cry or pass out, just had a bit of a headache from getting myself worked up.  (See previous post for details on why I was so nervous, but bottom line is I self-weened all of my medicines a year ago and have a long-term, chronic Kidney Disease called FSGS.)

When I was talking with my new doctor this morning and told him the saga of being medicine-free and needing to take that step to feel good about my self, physically and mentally, after years of being on gross medicines. I told him he was welcome to take one of two positions:

Say, hey, that's cool with me

or

Punch me in the face

I braced for a solid left hook, but it didn't come. He talked about the academics behind FSGS versus MCD (Minimal Change Disease, which is more common than my disease but usually starts at a younger age than mine did.) We talked about possible triggers and such. He looked at me and sort of took my side on the whole matter saying I had taken a "calculated risk" but had covered bases nicely with an out clause insisted on by Anny.

In other words - no harm, no foul.

Now comes the fun part - seeing how much harm I may or may not have done. I am slated for a11 blood and/or urine tests at some point in the next two weeks*. (All at once, I just have flex on when I get it done.) I did double take, twice, as he was checking things off left and right on the order sheet!

Without those tests there was very little that he could tell me from today's visit from a kidney point of view. I do not have much swelling at all, and have not for a long time. (Certainly not compared to my friend Jenn - check hers out!) I have lost about 15 pounds over the last year, but I attribute that mostly to cutting out soda and going off of the medicine, we will see how the next year goes. He did note that my Blood Pressure is a bit high, which is not surprising considering I have been off of my meds for more than a year. (130/100 for those who care to know, and for record keeping purposes.)

When I left I was given the list of 11 tests and a "see you in a month" from the doctor. That will give me two weeks to get the tests done, two weeks for him to look them over (uh-huh, sure) and we will come back and develop a plan of attack. Right now I am open to anything and committed to doing whatever we agree is right for my long term health. I dread the idea of going back on steroids, but it has been more than ten years and maybe it's time for another kick of that. I am open to trial medication - someone has to be a guinea pig, why not me?

So, that is the story of my doctor's visit today.

*One of those is a 24 hour urine sample, and any of my friends in the Nephrotic Community can tell you how "fun" that is! Actually, he suggested setting up for a Sunday and just say "well, I'm tied to the house, darling, and have to stay home and watch football today!" Guess he does not realize that works for me on any Sunday already. :)

Kidney Lack-of-Update

This morning I am a little excited, and a lot of nervous. I am mostly hoping that I do not end up in tears by 10 am. I've been keeping a secret that is going to either pay off or blow up in my face, and I will know by lunch today.

You see, last year we moved. Yes, I've written about that a dozen times, so clearly that is not bothering me too much. I am no longer nervous about that aspect of my life, and it is not going to bring me to tears, that's for sure.

About six years ago I had a wonderful nephrologist. He is the one that I teared up with when I told him that I needed to leave his practice because 90 minutes of driving did not make sense for a 20 minute appointment any more. At that appointment he told me that he was going to ween me from the immunosuppressants that I had been on for several years already. With my departure from his practice, he was not comfortable with that plan any longer because he would not be the one monitoring me any more.

Fast forward five years and that brings us to last summer. During those five years my nephrologist in Maryland had basically kept the status quo as far as the immunosuppressants. There were other meds in and out of the regimen, but he did nothing to raise or lower the rough ones. In May (2010) when I went to see him for a regular visit it was also the visit to say "guess what, I'm moving in two months" to him. Unfortunately for me and my psyche he started our appointment by saying that he was going to ween me from my meds because it looked like my body was ready.

Then we moved and I had to find a new nephrologist on this side of the river. Oy.

It took me a month to finally get the guts to talk with Anny about weening myself from the meds. If two doctors, five years apart, felt like I was making enough progress to tell me that they would have weened me before finding out I was leaving their practice, I did not want to walk into another practice and have them stick with the norm for another five years.

She balked. A lot. Then we talked about it. A lot.

We came up with an agreement - I would ween myself from my medicine (cyclosporine if you want to look THAT up...) in agreement that I had one year to make an appointment, and if any major effects were felt by my body in ANY way, that year would truncate and make for an immediate visit to a professional.

That being said, I began to ween myself pretty much the week that we moved. I was out of work, so stress would be lower. I actually managed to lose some weight - might have been from eating better or from not taking the crazy medication that I had been on for eight years.

I wanted to feel good about myself. I realized that being tied to those meds had begun to make me feel hopeless and depressed a bit. I do not know that I could have articulated that a year ago, but looking back I can certainly peg that from here.

That brings us to today. In less than two hours I have an appointment with a new nephrologist here in St Louis. I will likely find out today how my protein (in my urine) levels are, which will be an indication of whether my "experiment" has either kept my health the same, brought about a good turn in my kidney journey, or set me back by a year.

I am hopeful but nervous. I am so filled with emotion right now that I genuinely have a fear of breaking down in tears on my way to work, no matter what the news is or plan of action becomes.

Children are Funny v2

Another three quick but cute stories about Abby!

Story One: Sharing is Caring
A few weeks ago one of my co-workers gave Abby a little heart-shaped, green "gem" ring. It is nicer than the others that we have because it adjusts down to the tiny size of her finger. Abby was so touched about the random act of kindness that she actually came home and handed me another one and said "Please take this to Miss Mary and tell her thank you!" How sweet!

Story Two: Meet Your New Mommy?
This afternoon Abby was wearing said adjustable ring as part of her dressing up. She was decked out in hair-clip earrings, necklaces and all! Anny asked where Abby got such a beautiful ring. Abby did not hesitate before saying "One of daddy's girlfriends at work gave it to me!"

In my defense, when we ran into Mary at the park a few weeks ago she did tell my family that I am "everyone at the office's Work Husband!" Yes, I can see how this could be confusing. Also, I can see that we need to work with Abby on what "co-worker" means so that she can use it properly!

Story Three: I Wanna Dance!
Anny and I were in the kitchen as I was cooking and she was emptying the dishwasher as Abby was playing with her Little People in the living room. The music was on, too. Anny was telling me about a co-worker that has a four year old daughter whose soccer team is in desperate need of players. We do not really want to get her into organized sports yet. She has years of that in front of her and for now we just want her goofing off in the park. That being said, we really want her to make a bunch of new friends so that we can expand our friend base at the same time. Yes, we are parents and we are sometimes selfish. :)

Anyway, as we were talking in the loud kitchen about whether to look into the soccer team a bit more or sign her up for the dancing class at the local rec center. We decided we would talk with her about it over dinner, but we were aided in a plan pretty quickly when Abby yelled "you HAVE TO sign me up for dance class, you know!" in a loving-but-very-sarcastic tone! Guess we had our answer, and she meant it!

I have another blog post bouncing around in my brain. Might get to them tonight, but probably not since we're going out dancing with Abby and a handful of other friends!

Abby's First Baseball Game!

Alternate Title: Technically, the Experiment Worked

(I am realizing that part of the reason I do not blog as often is that I include updates about Abby and myself over on Facebook. That being said, I am going to start to incorporate more of those updates here.)

From FB, on our way to the game:
Take me out to the ball game - take me out to the crowd!
Pre-bought hot dogs and soda-pop, extra fun 'cause we're going with a cop.
Yes it's root, root root for the home team, If they don't win it's expected. (sorry, but it's true!)
For it's one (gorgeous day), two (train rides too!), three (of us going)
to the old.... baaallll..... game!

Yesterday afternoon we took Abby to her first baseball game ever! The weather was great, and we were there as part of a great deal from a group of children at church who started a service organization called Kids Who Care. We got tickets and lunch for less than it would have cost us for a movie, and we got to actually hang out and not just sit and stare at a screen!

We ended up sitting a row in front of some friends from church, so we hooked up with them beforehand to ride the train together, too. Always more fun to do something like that with friends, right?

When we first arrived, and for about an hour of the game, we were in the hot sunlight. We finally convinced Abby to put a hat on and that helped bring her whining into check. I think that if she knew a little bit more about baseball she might have had more interest, but I was doing my best to keep her into the game. I think that the reason I like other sports better is that I can tell Abby "there are ten more minutes left" instead of "I have no idea kid, if this guy makes a hit this could go on for another hour!"

Before the game actually started I thought Abby might get into the game as Fredbird (the Redbird i.e. Cardinal) came out onto the field. Abby knows him through a lot of our outings to festivals and such.

Some time during the 5th inning I needed to get Abby up and moving, as she was already saying it was time to go home. We went around just a little bit and found a really awesome photo-op spot!

She actually got a bit more into the game from this vantage point - we were only a little bit closer, but there was more room for her to be up and about, and SHADE! (By the time we got back to our seats the shade was more plentiful, and I got her ice cream.)

I also got here a tiny baseball bat! She loved trying to swing it - which was okay until she started accidentally hitting people. We had to put it away right after this picture:

Busch Stadium is the cleanest I have been to, outside of the first trip down to MCI/Verizon Center when it was brand new. The trains were also exceptionally clean, though a bit confusing for us newbies. Great to have people with us that knew routes and such better than we did!

At the end of the day I asked Abby what was her favorite part of the game. Fredbird? Nope. Ice Cream? Nope, surprisingly. Her new Pink Bat? Nope. It was playing with her friend Henry. That's my girl!

Abby in the St Louis Post Dispatch!

Alternate Title: Do I really need an alternate title, Abby's in the paper?!

So it is clear that we like to take Abby out dancing, even more clear if you saw all of our Facebook status updates. If there is a free show we are there, especially if it is an outdoor show. This weekend we ended up at two - one massive outdoor festival and one local park-opening. Can you guess which got a picture of Abby into the St. Louis Post-Dispatch?

Since we do not get a newspaper anymore, I put out a call on Facebook and ended up with two or three copies of the newspaper above! (For a clearer image of the picture in the picture, click HERE.) Not only did she get a picture in the paper, but a huge picture at that! (The article is not great - a lot of focus on some random guy five blocks away that had to clean up trash from his yard from a person that paid $10 to park in his yard. Oh well, the picture is fun!)

The guy in the blue shirt is someone we do not know, and will likely never see again, but he and Abby had a blast dancing for a while, mostly to get a better picture for the photographer. She is used to me taking her picture, but the guy from the newspaper had a bigger camera, and was a complete stranger, so she needed some coaxing. Just as I was going to go up and get her twirling and hopping, the guy in the picture hopped up to join it.

It was completely hilarious for me - I never get to see how silly I look when I dance with her in public. Now I know how silly it looks, but I plan to keep it up!

So, here is Abby's first newspaper appearance. In this day and age that also means that she has her own "tag" on the newspaper's website. Crazy. Cool, but very crazy!

(Other things we did this weekend include the aforementioned second-concert that included climbing in and around a fire truck; some yummy ice dream at a home made candy store; a little hockey for me this evening. Next weekend will also be big - Sunday will be Abby's first baseball game! Hopeful for good weather and a Card's win!)

Daddy Daughter Dinner Picnic!

Alternate Title: Making up for a Summer in an Evening

Remember two weeks ago when I posted about how great it was that my wife and daughter were headed back to school and our "normal" routine would finally come back together? (Here it is, if you need a refresher.) Bottom line is that I was jealous of the time they got to spend together every day.

I have had some opportunities over the last few days to make up for an entire summer of jealousy in having a good chunk of Saturday and all of Monday all to myself with Abby. Saturday Anny went with the Middle Schoolers at church to help out as they volunteered at a food kitchen. Monday was a weird schedule thing with the day care who runs off of the school calendar. Though teachers had reported almost a week earlier, they were closed Monday. 

What really made up for the summer was Back-To-School night for Anny. I asked Abby in the morning what she wanted to do, and she was clear that she wanted to have a PB&J Picnic! While she played after we got home I made a couple of sandwiches and grabbed some goldfish and strawberries. We packed up the the tiniest picnic basket she could find and were off:

I suggested we drive, but mostly because I wanted to stop for dessert on the way home. I could not tell hert that was my reason. Abby had her heart set on walking to the park. I had my heart set on not walking the stroller over there and told her that if we went she would have to walk both ways, without complaint. She thought about it for a minute, then decided it was a good plan. Walking to the park we caught up about each of our days. It was nice. 

When we got to the park Abby was already pretty hungry and looking for a quick place to eat. We walked around the lake a bit until Abby found just the right place. 

It did not last for long because she needed a potty run. We packed our stuff up and headed for the potty, and closer to the playground itself. After doing-what-she-does she declared that we were going to eat the rest of our dinner ON the playground! How about no, kiddo. We found a new spot to sit and eat that was out in the grass, but close enough to see the Green Dinosaur that is half of the reason she likes Kirkwood Park. 

We sat and at the rest of our sandwiches, shared some strawberries and had some goldfish. I always seem to take more of those than we end up needing! 

(Notice that we created no trash! Thanks Camp K, for teaching Abby that we can be trash-free, even when we pack a picnic!)

We watched a men's league softball game for a few minutes before going to play on the swings and heading home. The thing I am just realizing is that she wanted to go to "The Green Dinosaur" park, but did not even ride on the green dinosaur. Funny duck.

I am proud of Abby - she planned an evening with minimal help, AND she committed to walking to the park and home without complaint, and she did just that. She carried her little basket both ways, too! I am sure we will do another picnic dinner with Anny as we get into the fall routines a bit more, but I was glad to share a special picnic with just Abby. With pictures like this one, it has become apparent that she is getting older, and quick:

I have said before and will say again, I do not want to miss a thing when it comes to my daughter growing up!

Meeting Our Moving Goals, Mostly

Alternate Title: Not All for Naught

Before we moved we talked a lot about when, why and how we would move. The "when" discussion lasted for about four years before finally pulling the trigger, including a brief plan the year before to move that was called off. Few people know this, but we were one interview away from moving to Missouri instead of Maryland when we left Virginia. We are both very glad that we landed in Maryland for the time we were there, but are also very happy to be where we are now.

One of the things we did is talk about the "why" of moving a lot, and talked through goals of our move. No point in moving halfway across the country if we would be just as unhappy about parts of our life as we were if we stayed put, right? We never wrote down our goals, but in and out of the packing process and on countless road trips we would each come with an agenda to the conversation and talk through our reasons and concerns about different things.

Like any other homeowner we assumed that our sale would be "tough" (in quotes) in this economy, but we did not realize that it would be as tough (no quotes, and very bolded) as it was. When we started talking about the sale we immediately started talking about what size house we wanted - never starting at the small and working up, but starting the other way. Once we actually sold the house and lost almost as much in the sale as it would cost us to buy said big-townhouse we realized that we had to completely change our thinking.

So we did.

Some of our goals, and how we're doing so far:

Live Smaller - the house we bought was too big for our needs. Abby is an only child and we did not need to buy such a big house. Our apartment is the perfect size for our needs right now, and for a while into the future. If we need more space where we are there are townhouses to rent that would be a slight upgrade in space and buying even longer.

Pay Down Debt - our house-payoff was done in a *very* creative mix of borrowing from family, a bank and a zero-interest credit card. Our smaller living has allowed us to pay down the institutional debt in chunks this year. We will not be done at the end of this year as we had hoped, due in part to how long the credit union dragged on and we had to keep paying for several months longer than we should have. We will keep paying those and then get to the family debt (if you're reading this, family, I promise!) and, with luck and some thought-out planning, be done in the next 18 months.

Do Not Add Debt - funny, right? This should not have to be a goal after all that we went through, but when you are in a new place and unsure of things is when you tend to spend money you do not have. We were lucky to be living in someone else's house and paying practically nothing for the first four months. We did not succeed completely on this one because the transmission in both cars needed work. We are working to pay that one down, too. Aside from that, though, nothing has gone to plastic - even our two trips back to Maryland.

Live Locally - we have been Farmer's Market frequenters for a few years, but that was about all of the local-living we did on purpose. If we went out to eat we started thinking with big companies before the little ones. For a bit more than a year we have flipped that around. Our first choice is the place with the fewest locations, followed by places with their bases in the metro area. I joke that I only shop local... or Target. Our apartment is on the outskirts of Downtown Kirkwood, which is a great place for local businesses, so it's worked out great on that front too. 

Live Near Work or Play - this was because traffic sucks and back in Maryland we both had commutes and would never hang out at the mall closest to our house (Beltway Plaza - gross!). Now neither of us have commutes to work, Abby's daycare is only a five minute drive. We are close to a big mall, and only about 20 minutes from the city. We walk a lot of places, like the park or to church. Success on this one is high.

No Volunteering for a Year - well, I missed the mark on this in major ways. I made contact with Nephcure, a non-profit that works with patients with FSGS (my kidney disease), about help with finding local nephrologist suggestions and have ended up helping to get a local chapter going! At church I lasted a little bit longer than I think Anny expected - I did not volunteer for anything until just about six months after we moved which is probably what we both expected in reality. (I tend to get sucked in, willingly, to things I am passionate about at church. After the All Church Retreat last fall I was pretty much ready to sign wherever requested to help plan for the next one.)

There are still days that I with I could just pop over and have Thursday Family Dinner with my family, or days that I think "why don't we call (insert name here) and go grab dinner" before realizing that they are hundreds of miles away. We made our move for dozens of reasons, but how cool would it be to have the ability to have done both - move and bring everyone with?!

All in all I think that we're doing pretty good on meeting our reasons for moving. Still getting a feel for the place, and for the people. We have some friends, but are working to strengthen those right now. We will get there.