Forest of the Plains

In all the educational parenting materials, one topic is glaringly missing - no one warns you about how often your child will get sick. I was complaining about this to a coworker and they just laughed at me. "My son had six surgeries on his ear in 10 months!" Okay, so Jacob hasn't been as sick as that. But, still! Every time Jacob gets sick (I mean barf sick, not runny nose sick) I feel shocked. Not sure why it's such a surprise since I tend to be sick a lot, but somehow I expect him to be healthy all the time.

Last week he put his tooth through his lip. This week he had a temp of 101.6 and threw up twice.

How exciting!

It's so discouraging to read about supplies being amassed at the Myanmar border, but the government is dragging its feet in letting relief workers enter the country. I went to MCC's website hoping that they would have something more positive to share about the situation. Basically, they'll accept monetary donations and will forward them on to a partner who is in Myanmar. I guess that's better than nothing...

The MCC site has a whole section on hunger. Here are some of their sobering statistics:

1. Of the 852 million people in the world who are chronically hungry, some 70 percent work in agriculture.
2. Most food in Canada and the US travels more than 2,200 kilometers (1,500 miles) from farm to table.
3. Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds.
4. In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet.
5. Undernourishment negatively affects people’s health, productivity, sense of hope and overall well-being. A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal development and contribute to mental retardation.

The more I think about the ethical ramifications of our food choices, the more I find them to be overwhelming! People around the world are rioting because of their hunger. Today my biggest food issue was deciding whether to buy chocolate or lemon berry ice cream.

Last night I finally put the tomatoes and peppers into the big garden out back. I think the black plastic looks tacky, but it is helping mulch the garden area because I didn't have the foresight to get someone to till up the dirt. At least the bricks (from our house's original chimney) have some character!




Lettuce and spinach were planted in the kitchen garden 3 weeks ago, but only one side came up, so I planted some more of that last night too. I had put the herbs in two weeks ago.




Next up: I need to buy some stand things for the tomato and pepper plants. I also still need to get parsley and melons. And maybe some cedar mulch to put over the plastic so it isn't such an eyesore.

I try very hard to not blog about work, but...

Last week, while talking to a Big Brother who had seriously let his Little Brother down, I sounded like a combination of my mother and Supernanny. Go me! I hope I can manage that again when Jacob is older and tries to pull something stupid.

This morning started out like most Monday mornings. I got Jacob ready while John got himself ready, and they headed out the door on time. Then I got myself ready, worried about what I should wear, realized I forgot to do something that would "just take a minute", and put my coat on about 20 minutes later than I should have. Then the cell phone rings.

I call people all the time on my cell, but I rarely receive calls. Especially before 8:30 on a Monday morning.

"Is this Jacob's mom? Um, this is daycare. He fell and I thought you should know about it." My first thought was to wonder why they were calling me. Jacob falls all the time. He's a toddler, after all. Usually they just fill out an incident report and tell us about it when he gets picked up.

"When he fell, his face hit a chair and his tooth went through his lip. I don't think he needs stitches, but he might. There's just a hole in his lip right now." Ah. Good that they called. How is Jacob faring?

"His lip looks pretty bad, but he's eating breakfast without any problem right now." That's our boy! Jacob certainly isn't one to let a little hole in his face interfere with food!

So, instead of heading for work, I left for daycare. Jacob got a full 20 minutes with the pediatrician. We decided against stitches because it was a "clean" puncture, there appeared to be no nerve or muscle damage, and trying to hold Jacob still enough to get stitches made all our heads spin. It was bad enough restraining Jacob so that the doctor could look inside his mouth.

Turns out that Jacob also has puss in both of his ears. Nice. I was pleased that Jacob finally wheezed in the doctor's presence; the type of wheezing that you can feel if you put your hand on his back. Usually I just have to describe the symptoms after the fact.

We left with scripts for augmentin and albuterol, smarties, and a sticker. Jacob happily went back to daycare and I finally headed for work.

Only three hours late!

I live and work in a county with a population just over 13,000. After living in Indianapolis, it's difficult to fathom that an entire county can have just 13,000 people in it! There are times when I stick out like a sore thumb in the country. Especially when I say I live in "rural Goessel" and start laughing. And no one else that lives around here laughs. (Goessel's population is about 500. You might say that living within the city limits also qualifies as "rural".)

I like to pretend that I know something about farming. I watched milking at John's uncle's dairy once. I read the ag section of the newspaper. An out-of-state relative will call and I'll volunteer the latest predictions for the wheat harvest. And I teach Jacob that farmers say, "I like green!" But in reality, I don't know anything useful about farming.

When I make the treck to Wichita, the largest city in Kansas & about an hour away, I also stick out. Especially when it's rained recently and my car is covered with mud from our non-paved roads. Sometimes the traffic gets heavier and my brain really has to shift gears. Not that the traffic is ever like Indy's 465 rush hour with bumper to bumper traffic! But, still, in my home county you can drive for miles without seeing another car.

It's an odd way to be. Not a country bumpkin, definitely not a city slicker.

This spring marks an important milestone. I am starting a garden. In an attempt to not be overwhelmed, my garden is 10x10. I plan to plant lettuce, spinach, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and melons. I plan to put the herbs, lettuce, and spinach in the flower bed by the front porch as a "kitchen garden". Aren't I fancy?

Tonight I purchased my first installment of plants:
Red Beauty Sweet Pepper
Golden Bell Sweet Pepper
Anaheim Chili
Yellow Pear Tomato
Sweet Million (red cherry tomato)
Mountain Fresh (red slicing tomato)
Old German (heirloom streaked red & green slicing tomato)
Cinnamon Basil
Dill
Peppermint

I plan to still get parsley and melons, but the nursery didn't have them tonight.

I have several goals for this garden:
*Be able to enjoy produce that tastes "real".
*"Think globally. Act locally." (be a good citizen of the earth)
*Make sure Jacob knows that food comes from plants and animals, not from WalMart.
*Not have to endure the looks of disappointment when people ask me about my garden and I tell them I don't have one. Because if you live on 18.5 acres everyone assumes you have a garden.

I'm not sure when it's safe to plant these things and there are supposed to be thunderstorms tonight, so the plants are all on the kitchen table. Note to self: figure out when things can safely be planted.

Did I mention that I've never had a garden before? And that the two tomato plants I tried to grow 3 years ago produced 1.5 tomatoes before they died?

We'll see how this turns out!

Or, "My love-hate relationship with Zyrtec-D, Part 58".

Today I had my quarterly visit to the allergist. He is a real patient advocate and makes it a point to remember all kinds of things. For example, he actually has Jacob's birthdate memorized! And once when I was having trouble getting into another specialist, he called up a friend and got me in the next day! Because of all this, he is a stickler for detail and I think that he would be very difficult to work for. But, I'm sure glad he's my doctor!

He started me on a new nose spray. I noticed it working about 30 minutes after the first use! And I learned that I'm using the wrong type of OTC eye drops. I am NOT supposed to be using the eye drops for allergies or redness. (I am supposed to use a plain, lubricating eye drop.) Who woulda thunk it?

I shared a condensed version of all my issues with Zyrtec-D. Then he shared a little rant about the evils of insurance companies. THEN he personally called my pharmacy while I was there and fixed one of my largest issues. He gave me a script for Zyrtec-D and the pharmacy promised to give me a 30 day supply at one time, assuming they actually had Zyrtec-D in stock.

(My pharmacy says either the demand is much higher than anyone forecasted or Zyrtec-D is being purposefully undersupplied by the manufacturer. Either way, pharmacies aren't guaranteed to receive the quantity of Zyrtec-D that they order. What a nightmare!)

Yea to the doctor and the pharmacy! Now, if only he could fix the supply problem and the horrid packaging!

Since my favorite team is out of the tournament, we've become fair-weather KU fans. I've never really been against KU, just not really for them either. And their flagish colors make it difficult for me to wear any of their apparel.

We watched the game on Saturday, even watched some of the pre- and post- game shows. We were confused and amused by the "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" thing that the KU players did for CBS. Neither one of us knew what they were doing. Thanks to the power of google, I learned that we've been living in the dark. Apparently that chant is "perhaps the most distinctive cheer in all of college sports" and has been around since 1866.

Also, I can't believe how UNC just forgot to show up the first half of the game on Saturday. What an embarrassment to their team, UNC, and the tournament. A Final Four game should have been much better than it was.

I hope tonight is an opportunity to watch some good basketball!

Oh, yes, it's true! The New Kids On The Block are back together. Pull out your hot pink shirts, big bangs, and jean jackets covered with pins and buttons proclaiming your NKOTB love!

They were all the rage when I was in 6th grade. I knew most of their songs by heart. But, I just can't imagine what has possessed them to get back together so many years later. Oh, maybe they're looking to make a buck off all the women who knew all their songs by heart when they were in 6th grade? Sorry, boys. I'm spending my money on Starbucks and baby clothes.

"Jacob, Stop! We do not bang cars into the wall. That hurts the wall."

Jacob stops banging the car into the wall. He walks away from the wall and ...

"Jacob, Stop! We do not bang cars into the fridge. That hurts the refrigerator."

Jacob considers a full-blown temper tantrum, makes a few weak cries, then is happily redirected to some blocks. Mom takes a deep breath and enjoys a sarcastic laugh because Jacob did follow directions, just not in the way that Mom intended for them to be followed.