Random Thoughts

I am exhausted. Completely wiped out. We have had sick children in the house since the week of July 12th. That is the downside of a large family. They can never get sick all at once, they go down one or two at a time, and you have some form of the illness for weeks. But the last one is finally sick (sounds a little warped to phrase it that way!!) so I am hopeful this bugaboo will become a memory very soon.



Additionally, I worked about 50 hours last week between my two jobs, not counting commuting time, that is extra. Some of those shifts were overnight shifts. I have learned through this experience I am not really cut out to be in the workforce. Not full time. Not out of the house. I do not like it. I'm not a person I like when I have to be out of the home, I miss my children, I'm crabby.



I also drove twice, in the past two weeks to see my daughter, three hours each way, down and back in a day. That is tiring.



Now, I'm not complaining, I am grateful for the income, my husband is unemployed. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity to make extra money. I love visiting my daughter, she is so worth the effort to drive down, and being tired the day after!! I am also glad to have had time with each of my children when they were sick. But, I am tired.



I have been reading, and on some of my overnight shifts I watched movies to stay awake, so I have lots to talk about, if my energy level picks up. I believe my immune system thinks it may want to succumb to the illness of my children, just so I will stop for a day or two, but that is not an option. So my immune system and I are at odds this past week. Not sick, but not 100% either.



If you've wondered where I've been, not on FB, not visiting blogs, not on the web anywhere, I'm just tired these past two weeks.



The rest of this week I will be working (through Sunday). I will be up late tonight polishing a presentation for some local tweens (my daughter, Tiger, being one if she is well enough) about podcasting. The library director, and myself, are doing the presentation, and I feel like we are not as prepared as we ought to be. Again, exhaustion taking over my preparations.



I do have some books to talk about, and some films as well. I also have an announcement to make in the near future (how's that for a teaser). Hint: It is blog-related, and I'm pretty excited about it!!



There is one book I haven't looked at in a while, but would like to mention because one of my blog friends was talking about nutrition in her preschooler. I think I would be less exhausted if I took this book out again, I'm guessing I need to sneak a few more nutrients into my own diet! Thank you to Katherine for bringing this book to my mind today, time to open it up again!

You can buy it here, on Amazon, pretty inexpensively. I love this book. I used it when my children were preschoolers, and I think I need to pull it out again!! This book recommends family-friendly recipes, packed with sneaky nutrition tips. One that I remember was how to increase vitamin A using milkshakes, pumpkin milkshakes. That one became a favorite in our household, and The Oldest, who is a vegetarian, still uses smoothies and milkshakes to make up some nutrients.

Amazon.com Review:

Using the many tricks up her sleeve, nutritionist Evelyn Tribole can get just
about anyone to eat healthy. Hate the thought of tofu? Try her Chocolate Marble
Cheesecake, with tofu replacing some of the cream cheese. Her daughter did, and
now she's a convert. Don't want to add fiber because it sounds so bland? Try her
Dark Fudge Brownies, with puréed black beans giving each brownie as much fiber
as a slice of whole wheat bread.
With more than 100 recipes that sneak
fiber, calcium, and other nutrients into the diet, Stealth Health can turn even
the most devoted junk food junkie into a health nut. For "vegetable haters"
there's Chicken Chile Verde, which features finely chopped spinach masquerading
as green chilis. For "fruit skimpers," try the Purple Cow sMOOthie with mixed
berries and nonfat frozen yogurt. And if you're a "milk miser," drink up your
calcium in the delicious form of Home Express Coffee Latte. (Tribole came up
with these and other labels to describe nutritional problem areas, and you can
take her diagnostic quiz to find out which one fits you.)

Each of the
book's eight chapters features recipes, nutritional information, and charts
showing five ways to "sneak" healthy foods into meals. And if you still need
more convincing, Tribole weaves in the scientific evidence for the role of
nutritious foods in fighting everything from cancer to osteoporosis to heart
disease. Tribole, who has celebrity clients and has appeared on Good Morning
America, says the way to get finicky children to eat healthy is to whip up one
of her recipes without telling them the ingredients. "This approach works well
with adults, too," she writes. "The basis of Stealth Health cooking is tasting
is believing."