Thursday, February 23, 2012

Underdog Foods Are My Love Language (and some updates)

 As much as I'd like to write something meaningful, it's just isn't in the cards tonight.

Sidenote: Is that pagan, what I just said? The "in the cards" thing? I've never considered it before now, but I can see where it might be leading. Just give me the benefit of the doubt tonight. I'll happily return the favor.

First of all, to thank you for your steadfast encouragement and your willingness to laugh me through my trials (with, not at), I made lunch for you. There are no brussels sprouts, but there is a boatload of tuna.

Why does everyone have to hate on tuna? He can't help it if he smells funky.

Actually, not everyone's a hater. 

Calvin: What are you making, Mom?
Me: Pasta with some vegetables and tuna.
Calvin: Can I please drink the tuna juice?!

I'm not one to deprive a growing boy of his Omega 3s, gag-reflex be danged.

Ladies and man, this pasta is good. It's easy and worth it. It's healthy and bright. It's the sunshine and the rain.

Boil up some whole wheat penne. Blanch some beans and asparagus. Combine with thinly sliced red onion and thyme (I had fresh on hand, but dried always works). Whisk together 1 T white wine vinegar, 1 T olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, coarse salt and pepper. Toss it all together and enjoy if after the kids are down for naps, because these sorts of things are meant to be enjoyed in peace. Hallelujah.

Oh, I had a cara cara for desert. What are these things? The sign said they tasted like cranberry, so I was all up and over them. Upon personal review, I found them to be more grapefruity, and woefully thin-membraned.


I've enjoyed wrestling Silas to the kitchen floor twice today for his eye drops. Always, forever the drama. Then he blinks up at me like, "That's it?" and I'm all, "Tell me about it, dude." Then we do it  again ten-odd hours later.

Then this happened.

Silas: Mommy, I get tempy. I need medicine. I'm sleepy. I tired. Can u get me soft shirt?

I took his "tempy" and sure enough, 100.1. That's what I call being in tune with your body. Also? Tonight should be interesting, because if there's one thing I know, it's that Silas does not enjoy extraneous variables in his environment.

Last Silas bit: He wakes up each morning convinced I've put "boon-daids" on his eyes. "You take a boon daid off? I can't see!" Eventually his eyelashes uncrust and there he is, all handsome and sweet-smelling, not a band-aid in sight.

Calvin update: We saw his doc again today and had blood drawn again. He is looking and feeling better than ever. His neutrophil count is the lowest it has been in the history of him. The doc and I just shook our heads. We really did shake them. It's all such a mystery. But at least he's feeling better!

Me update: My arm is neither blue nor water-balloonish. It's still sore, but the kind of sore you get after a work-out. All day long I've been patting myself on the back (with my good arm) for being so committed to fisical phytness!  (I accidentally typed it that way, but I feel like there could be some important meaning behind it, so I'll leave the error on the off-chance that one of you knows how to decode these things.)

Also, I have mitral valve prolapse. (I was diagnosed as a gangly Junior High-schooler.) They did the MRI just to be nosey and to make sure everything else was behaving in there.

Just thinking about the MRI has me feeling extra-sleepy. They should really consider renting those tubes out by the hour. You can't imagine the tranquility!

So, are any of you celebrating lent? I am. I can't wait to dish.


  1. you had me at wwv/oo/lemon/salt dressing on your asparagus...glad to hear your arm hasn't fallen off yet - did they tell you to ice it? or drink lots of water?? Sounds like you should be asking for a pediatric nurse to put your IV's in/draw blood. Hope your precious kiddos regain full health soon.
    Lent - I'm reading out of "Bread and Wine", and this was in the intro: Lent is the season in which we ought to be surprised by joy. In Christ's suffering and death, resurrection and triumph - we find our truest joy. Such joy is costly, however...

  2. Wooo hooo! I have mitral valve prolapse too! Who knew? Separated at birth. I keep telling you.

    Siley over shadowed you in the post. Sorry, it had to be said.

    And C? Well glory be!

    Also, you and I should totally be antique shopping with Kristi. Plan it. I'm there.


  3. I can't even get rue the day... So write me right off for fisical phytness. Now we're totally done aren't we?? Sorry to disappoint.

    We had some serious sympathy over here today for you alls... Hunter had a 105.8. Fevers are so mean especially for mommies and their sanities.

    I'm so happy your arm is surviving and that your heart is too. I don't nean that lightheartedly either. And, I hope and pray Calvin stays on the upside. I'm sure the tuna juice will help with that.

    You could totally write a cookbook... Gross food, turned good.

  4. I am scared to death of getting an MRI. Never had one before, but I am terribly claustrophobic and think it would be best to sedate me if I ever have to have one. As you said in the last post, these phobias do sneak up on you. I spent most of my life not being claustrophobic. Some time about 19 years ago, while playing with my kids, I realized that I was. They had piled sofa cushions on me and suddenly I panicked and exploded out of my confinement, with small bodies flying everywhere as I emerged. It also explains my serious aversion to being tickled (my family knows, tickle Mom and she will hurt you, duly warned). I also can't watch the rape scene in the movie with Jodie Foster, but that's another story. Wow, way more info than you were looking for? Anyway, glad to hear that Calvin is feeling better. Kudos to Silas for being in touch with his body. And you so casually mentioned the prolapse?? Should we be worried? Last note, I love tuna. Thanks, you've been a lovely audience this evening. I am here all week. :)

    1. I'm the SAME way about being tickled! We're twins. :)

      And the prolapse thing isn't generally serious. I've had it forevs!

  5. Many much lenten celebration going on over here. Can't wait to hear about yours.

  6. I look forward to your Lenten post. We are celebrating Lent over here! When I told my son I was giving up Coca Cola he nearly fell out of his chair. I think he sees it as a dubious choice.

  7. I feel like the worst christian because I don't celebrate lent. We just never did when I was growing up and now our church doesn't say anything about I don't do anything. I sort of feel like I should.

    The salad looks divine. Is that a salad? I am a huge fan of tuna. And food in general...doncha know?

    Praying of Calvin and his bandaid-ed eyes. What a sweet baby. I am glad he is yours.

  8. well. we will have to agree to disagree on the tuna. i just. i can't. love shellfish but can't stomach fish.

    but the rest? i want it.

    i have mitral valve prolapse, too! twinsies :). is that insensitive? or is ok because i actually have it so i can joke about it? oh, i don't know.

  9. umm.. i am really impressed with silas and his amazing body awareness and his cute words for things and the wrestling mental image. i once saw a cowgirl wrestle a calf in a driveway and so i think i get it.... :) i totally googled the mitral valve prolapse. since you said it's no biggie-- can i say my favorite part was that an alternate name is floppy valve syndrome? :) oh and that it is most commonly found in men over 50. :) love you FPFG. you and all your floppy valves. you make perspective and tuna look good. :)

  10. I participate in lent every year. I was listening to a Catholic station on xm, and the DJ said that one lent he did not know what to "do", or to give up. His priest told him to read Psalm 51 every day. I was bawling as I was driving down the road when he read it. I am reading it every day, and I know that each day it will have new meaning.

  11. For Lent, I've given up my computer during my daughters' awake hours. It's harder than I'd like to admit. But I'm catching up on my laundry...or, at least, my downstairs laundry. Don't ask.

    Glad things are looking up-ish.

  12. So I about threw up all over my computer when I read about drinking tuna juice. ACK! I feel like I need a mint or some Scope just thinking about it.
    For Lent (which I don't know if I have ever fully committed to observing before) I decided I am going to ADD something to my life (and hopefully the lives of others) instead of taking something out of my life for this season. Vague? yep. sorry. But I am excited to see what God is going to do in the next few weeks.

  13. is lent something we celebrate? I'm confused by lent because we never observed it as kids...what do I do? How do I do it? I feel like I should be involved!

  14. Decode I WILL!

    fisical phytness! = fiscal responsibility and you. Pretty. Photosynthesis. Ness. Ness. Nibbits. <----little sister used to say that as a child. We still don't know what it means, she is 38.

    Boon daids? Can that child be any cuter?

    So thankful that your Calvin is better. The wrestling to the floor for the eyedrops sounds REAL tiring. You must be strong. ;-)

    Finally...the fact that your recollection of getting an MRI makes you feel sleepy due to the tranquility is what makes you hilarious!

  15. make me laugh. And i'd love to spend a day with your kids. They sound and look like real hoots. And the tuna juice? Think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

  16. Oh my!! I have just read the last few posts. Wowzers, what a week. I am so glad you are home wrangling eyedrops and sharing pasta recipes.I'm sending you some Aussie sunshine to cheer up your February. Hope Calvin Stays well and the dye disappears magically.

  17. I hope the night was uneventful...maybe?
    Boo for mitral valve prolapse. You just have to make sure you get antibiotics in you before any invasive procedure.
    I hope this next week is event free.

  18. Lovey - a few comments: I bought a bag of Sunkist cara cara organges and was woefully disappointed. So much so, I know I will never try them again and have considered writing Sunkist to tell them that they lost me. Sometimes advertising works the opposite...because I'll always know that display in the store and keep walking.
    I'm reminded that I always turn my nose up at your tuna melt. For the record, I'm down with tuna sandwiches.
    I had my blood drawn this morning. It went well. I chatted up the pleblotomist(sp)and told her your horrible tale. Her comment: nurses don't get enough training on drawing blood.
    hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa........I was just going to comment in response to your remark about napping in those tubes that I had just read about alleged napping rooms in NYC...then I remembered where I read that! HA!

  19. So Joy has it too? Do I need to worry about you two getting over excited about our shopping trip?

    You know we are not well over here, so please stop talking about tuna juice. I have had enough gagging over the extraneous variables in my life right now.

    Dear Silas, I have a boy who is always saying "I feel weird on the inside." Do you think maybe you could interpret that for me? Thanks. Send me a bill.

    1. Check him for celiac disease- it is gluten allergy- and it does make you feel "wierd on the inside"

  20. Lent- yes. It totally snuck up on me though and I found myself drinking tea at breakfast on Ash Wednesday, not realizing it was Ash Wednesday. We always drink water only during Lent. I got on track by the end of the day though.
    I always miss going to a "traditional" church during this season though. Wednesday came and went with no ashes on my forehead, and it just never feels quite right without them.

  21. Shannan, Shannan, Bless you, Kiddo.

  22. I like tuna....I will try your new recipe! thanks girlfriend

  23. I have decided not to give up something for lent, but to do something kind and out the ordinary for someone. This will be a way to concentrate on the cross, and a way for me to die to the world, and the world to die to me.

  24. Thankfully I am 4 days post stomach bug or the remark about the tuna juice would've done me in.

    I was just wondering about the "in the cards" thing yesterday...funny. I said it to myself and then it hit me...but it never hit me when I heard it out loud from someone else.

    I have been diagnosed w/ MVP, forever ago. Glad your arm is healing. That plastic surgery could've been costly or you could've had a really cool looking arm to add to your claw hands, as you call them.

  25. I've never had a cara cara. It looks so yummy though! The color alone is gorgeous. Makes for a beautiful photo.

  26. so grateful that Calvin is feeling better....continuing to pray for him.

    love silas stories. never tire of them. :)

    cara cara oranges, or whatever they are, are DELICIOUS. I have bought two bags of ten at Trader Joes this past week, and they are almost gone. We LOVE them.

    definitely celebrating lent....wrote a post about it yesterday...

  27. okay, so geez. i just had to reread the last few posts. apparently the high fever + mega doses of meds i'n on had me all jumbled up in my comprehension. dude, makes me wonder what else i've done/said wrong.

    YOU had the MRI. CALVY was in hospital unrelated to your gangly diagnosis. got it. glad the both of you are headed back to tip top shape. prolly from all the omega 3s.

    my fav part of this whole thing {other than siley's adorableness} was your ladies and man comment.

  28. A few thoughts..
    1. Tuna juice made me throw up a little in my mouth but we vegetarians are weird that way.
    2. "In the cards" does trace back to tarot cards which are not really pagan, but more mystical. I love word origins; it's an addiction.
    3. I hope March roars in like a lion for you and holds no more medical insanity for anyone under your roof.
    4. I am not celebrating lent, but I did make some pretty kick ass veggie jambalaya for Fat Tuesday.
    5. When you say or think "blanch" do you think of Blanche DuBois from the Golden Girls? Is it sad that I didn't even have to use Google to know her last name?

    1. I should have googled! Blanche DuBois was in Streetcar, Golden Girl Blanche was Devereaux. And that's your Blanche character lesson for today. :)

  29. the boon daids cracked me up. Yes, celebrating Lent. Today has had it's fair share of penance for sure.

  30. you and anne lamott are the two writers who make me laugh out loud.

  31. Hello
    Thank You

  32. I roasted up some brussel sprouts the other day. Mmm! So good!

  33. Love tuna...funky smell and all. I should do lent just cause I know I need to giving up something. We never did it growing up so, I'm a little clueless.