Month: November 2009

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Random Tuesday Thoughts: Too Much Salad!

Ed ended the weekend by telling me he’s got to eat better. On Saturday he ate his weight in Whoppers (that’s hard to do–malt balls aren’t exactly the heftiest candy). On Sunday, I made him a yolk-in-the-middle for breakfast, we stopped for burritos after church, and went to his sister’s to eat bratwurst for dinner.

Last night Ed walks into the kitchen while I’m chopping up vegetables for dinner. He looks longingly at the stove. There’s nothing there. No pots or pans. He says, “Whatcha doing?” I say, “Making dinner.” It dawns on him that we’re having salad for dinner, and he is none too pleased. I say, “I’m going to put chicken on it, and we have croutons.” Ed still pouts. “Do you want a cheese stick with your salad?” That’s better, but he is still not happy with my choice of dinner. “You said you wanted to eat better!” I retort. “Well, yeah, but I didn’t really mean it!” he says back. He is a meat and potatoes and more potatoes guy, and when I don’t supply enough carbs he tends to get a little cranky.

Crabby Bunny

I want to start cooking healthier meals, but once the cold weather starts I turn to creamy casseroles and soups. Mmmm…comfort food. Grilling in the summer makes healthy cooking a whole lot easier. I really need a few good recipes–the baked chicken breasts I made last week flopped. They were dry like the desert. Ed brags that I’m a good cook, but I haven’t been lately.

On to other randomness…I have half my kitchen windows washed. I have half my daughter’s birthday invitations filled out. I have half my Halloween decorations put away. See a trend here? Either I am easily distracted, or I have two small children who are always bugging me. Or both.

At least Ed is the crabby one this week, and not me! I think he’s coming down from his Whoppers high….

For more Random Tuesday Thoughts, visit Keely at The Un-Mom!

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A Source of Comfort

My Uncle Rolland was a tall, thin man. While I was growing up, I only saw him when our families were on vacation together. He was the type of man who wore his black dress socks and shoes with shorts. He occasionally stepped outside to smoke a cigarette with my Uncle Art. When my dad and his brothers were playing catch with a watermelon, one of them threw the watermelon at Uncle Rolland. He looked at it and didn’t flinch. It smashed on the ground at his feet. He looked at it, drink in hand, and said, “I wasn’t going to catch that!” My cousins and I thought he was hilarious. We had so much fun on those family vacations of ours.

It was during one of those vacations that I found out my uncle was sick. I was sitting by him and he waved his hand at his legs, showing me bruises. He probably said something along the lines of “These are a result of this affliction of mine.” He had been diagnosed with leukemia. That summer he and I talked about having cancer; I was going through chemotherapy and my hair was beginning to fall out. I would run my fingers through my hair and release it onto the beach. Uncle Rolland said the doctors told him he wouldn’t lose his hair to chemo, which he was about to begin.

I gained comfort on that vacation, talking with my uncle about an affliction we both had in common. We had different diseases, different treatments, but we both had cancer. Uncle Rolland endured a lot more chemotherapy than I did. I was fortunate enough to see him several more times before he was taken to his true home about a year and a half after that summer.

For all the saints who from their labors rest,
All who by faith before the world confessed,
Your name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia! Alleluia!

Text: William W. How, 1823-1897