[2010-11-12] My WOman Cave

This was a question posted on one of the mommy forums I visit regularly, and I figured it was far better to put my answer here then to post it there, especially after reading the current responses.

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What would go in your "Mom" cave?


Men have their man cave... maybe big screen TV, pool table, mini-fridge stocked with cold beverages but we all know it's MOMS who need time and a place to relax!

So if you could create a place for just you to relax ...."A mom cave" what would go in it?

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I guess I must be the weird one based off of the answers everyone else on the forums gave..


I had a WOman Cave when we lived in Illinois.  In the small house, I had one of the spare bedrooms as my place to hold all my crafty stuffs.  Once we moved into the larger house, I had a room the size of a two car garage as my personal room (it was located above the garage, hence the size).  It was such an awesome personal space.  It is just a shame that I didn't have enough time to enjoy it (as it deserved) with having a child soon after moving in, plus the economy drop that caused us to have to move out and down to Florida.

(Not my photo.  I think this is from bhg.com)

I really wish I had taken photos of my big craft room I once had.  It was so very nice.  *sigh*

The saying is true that you don't know what you got til it's gone.

I was able to have a little mini personal room at my former residence, but didn't really have gobs of time to work in there.  It was also pretty cramped, so big projects either had to be worked on in the dining room or wait until a move was possible (which it was and will be again).

Currently, my husband and I are getting a house built which should be ready by Spring.  Unintentionally (as in, we really never called them by these terms even though they truly are when you think about it), we are making sure he has a Man Cave and I have a WOman Cave. He technically will get two caves, one for his woodworking in the garage and the other is the spare bedroom which will also be his office. I am going to be perfectly content with just having one.

Mine will be a converted dining room area (since we really never do formal dinners it is a wasted room otherwise) that will have french doors to lock myself away (and to keep guests both adult and toddler sized out of my mess LOL). I will have floor to ceiling bookshelves on one side of the room to store fabrics, yarn, art supplies and books. Above the door (if it can fit there, otherwise I will try to find an area near the doors) will have a flat screen TV and a good stereo that will be able to play cassettes as well as vinyl (because I still roll that way sometimes hehe) as well as having the media center in there so I can watch any shows I want when the family doesn't want to (my tastes don't always match my husbands nor are they always suitable for young children) or when they are sleeping (I tend to work better when the house is quiet). My sewing station will definitely be there as well as my cutting table and art easel.  I will also put a comfy couch or at least a reclining chair in there so I don't always have to sit in an uncomfortable chair while I work/play).

(Not my photo.  I think this is from bhg.com)

In the house we are currently renting, my WOman Cave is all over the place.  My sewing station sits on the opposite side of my husband's workstation in his office, but I never feel OK working in there since it can get very hot in there (I don't do well in 80 degree rooms).  Right now my sewing machine sits on our dining room table with my laptop and a pair of good speakers (because if you are gonna play music through your laptop to work from, why use the dinky speakers they gave you?  Crank that puppy up!) and my cutting board is comfortably stationed close by.  When I need to pin and pin and pin (like my current sewing project for a client), I just sit in the wing back recliner and watch TV in the living room.

Granted, the design of my WOman Cave is still in the works.  Until the day comes where I can move in, I will always be dreaming of what the layout will become.  I am always checking out the DIY sites for ideas and suggestions to use the space as efficiently as I possibly can.  ;-)

Frankly, I don't know how people can function without having a place to be creative.  My father always had a personal space to tinker and my mother always had a personal space to work her craft magic.  I know my in-laws have the same, although I do not know how much they really use their spaces.  I have always tried to have one, even if it is a temporary one in a space that is not meant to be one.

It makes me wonder how many people don't have their own personal space to get away from it all.  Maybe my situation is far more uncommon then it appears.

Now having personal time, on the other hand, well... that's a whole other story... LOL

[2010-10-25] Bread. The Staple of Life

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” ~ Robert Browning

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou." ~ Omar Khayyam

Now tell me, who hates bread?  Personally, I have always loved it.  I especially love freshly made bread.  Up until three or so months ago, I was always one of those people who bought her breads at the store and rarely made it from scratch.  My, how times have changed.

After watching a momversation on bread (which I am sorry I cannot give you a link to because they took the video off their YouTube channel and I am unable to find it anywhere now) it made me think about all the ingredients in the breads I was consuming and having my family eat as well.  With all those preservatives being consumed, what were they doing to our body?

So my family and I tried an experiment.

I wanted to see if making our own sandwich bread would make a difference with our bodies.  So far, I haven't really found a significant weight loss difference or anything of that matter, but I can tell you that both my husband and daughter love eating slices of my homemade bread as a snack instead of reaching for candy and sweets, which I consider that to be a big improvement.  We also noticed that we finish a loaf of homemade bread far faster then the store bought, and even though it takes an afternoon to do the whole process, the amount we pay for materials to make it are far cheaper then it is to buy the cheapest loaf of bread at the store.

I also noticed that the one time that I didn't have time to make the week's bread and instead had to buy a loaf at the store, we barely were able to get through it before it went bad.  We also all noticed the taste of it was not as enjoyable to any of us anymore.

"Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one." ~ Nikolai Berdyaev

I also like the sharing factor from making more then we need.  So far I have shared a loaf with a close friend of mine and her family, and I have recently given a loaf to my neighbors next door.

I hope to make more varieties when possible.  I have tried to make a sage bread which was quite lovely, but we always tend to fall back to the same recipe I have been using since the start of this. 

The original version of this recipe asks to let it cook in the bread machine, but I tend to not like how to crusts tastes and feels when I do it that way.  I like it in a traditional loaf pan.  I also proof the yeast before I start putting things together in my machine.

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Simple White Wheat Bread

1 1/4 cups + 2 TBL water 86⁰F
1 tsp lemon juice
2 TBL oil
3 TBL sugar
2 tsp salt
2 TBL dry milk
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine lemon juice, oil, and sugar (except for one 1tsp, which goes into a separate small bowl).
2. In a large bowl, combine salt, dry milk, bread flour, and whole wheat flour.
3. Add 1 1/4 cups of water to the wet concoction and mix, then add the 2TBL to the bowl that has the tsp of sugar in it) and mix until the sugar dissolves.  Add the dry yeast to the sugar water and watch it proof (within five minutes you will start to see foam, which means it is ready).
4. First put the wet bowl in, then the yeast water, then the dry ingredients on top (this is roughly the instructions that my machine asks to do, except they want me to put the dry yeast on the tip top of the dry ingredients, which has never gotten fluffy bread like mine does now.)  Set the bread machine to "dough" so it only mixes and not cooks, and walk away.
5. Once the machine beeps, give it one more additional hour to sit.  Once that is done, put the dough in a greased loaf pan (I have used shortening, or vegetable spray for the sides of the pan and then melted butter on top, but you can grease it any way you like.)  Cover the top of the loaf with a dry kitchen towel, and leave it for another hour.  Trust me.  Your patience will be rewarded.  ;-)
6. Once all the rising times are done, heat your oven to 375⁰, remove the towel and put the bread (still in the loaf pan) in the oven for 25 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the top.  Let it cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then take it out and let the loaf cool on a rack completely before slicing.

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Let me tell you, this bread is as soft and fluffy as those store bought brands, but it still has a heartiness about it that will help fill you up.  We used this bread to make french toast once, and it soaked up the custard mixture just as well as if you had let them sit overnight (aka Alton style).

Now don't get me wrong.  I still buy store bought breads on occasion.  We have been known to buy cinnamin raisin bread, naan, and a few Artisian types.  Maybe in the future that will soon change too once I get the hang of making them without my bread machine.

I'd like to challenge anyone that's reading this to try what my family did.  Make a loaf each week (if they last that long in your house LOL) and eat your own homemade bread for two or three weeks, then try the bread you usually buy at the store, then come back to me and tell me if you'd honestly go back to having your store bought bread.  ;-)

[2010-10-15] My Exercise History & Routine

Due to the subject matter of my last post, it is best that I explain myself a little more.

Up until the last year or so, I have not been one to exercise regularly.  That is not to say I don't get exercise, but I didn't have much of a daily routine.  To put it mildly, I am not a jogger or a runner (because that hurts a lot when you are top heavy like I am), I am not a swimmer (having hydrophobia will do that to you), and my favorite sports I have enjoyed regularly when I was younger (like High School time and beyond) was archery, weight lifting, and bowling.

As of July of last year I got really got sick to death of my lack of energy levels throughout the day (plus the extra pregnancy weight that I couldn't get rid of didn't help), so since there was an exercise center for anyone living in that particular community, I decided to use it.  The arrangement was for me to go at 8 am, be back by 8:30am so I had just enough time for a quick shower before my kiddo woke up.  I did this three times a week and loved it every time, no matter of the quirky people I met at the gym.  Unfortunately, my daughter started to figure out that mommy was disappearing early in the morning, and even though her grandma and grandpa were home to keep an ear on her while I was gone for that 30 minutes three times a week, she couldn't handle that I was not around and I heard about it by the time I got back.  Oh and forget about trying to go during her nap, which wasn't a problem for her, but the competition at the gym got nasty in the afternoon, which is why I always preferred to go in the morning.

Outside of attempting to do yoga in my dinky bedroom I had at the time, exercising routinely was at a stand still.  Sure I could do any number of what I wanted in the living room, so said those that I was living with, but I really couldn't deal with having anyone be in the same room with me that would be watching me if they were not exercising at the same time as I was.  It made me feel incredibly uneasy and uncomfortable, so I stopped outside of attempting yoga a few times a week.  Unfortunately the light yoga I was learning and doing is not the type that sheds the pounds, so I was at a stand still.

About a month ago, a little over a year later, I got it in my head to try exercising regularly again.  This time, I was going to try to do some things that my body wasn't really used to.  I started off with 15 minutes of yoga (with the help of Let's Yoga for the DS), and then try my best to do at least 15 minutes of heavy cardio (aka Jillian Michael's Fitness Ultimatum 2010 for the DS).  Let me tell you, the cardio kicks my ass real hard, especially since the first five minutes is me running/jogging non stop.  Dang.  I haven't gone all the way to 15 minutes yet, but I have gotten real damn close (somewhere around 13 is what I last noticed) before I felt like I was going to be sick.

I did this every day until I had my operation a month ago, then I had to take it easy for a while so I didn't rip or tear anything important.  Now that I got my doc's head nod that I can start gradually get back into my daily exercise routine, I am excited again.  Oh and when I am not doing that 30 minute workout because of time or whatnot I try to squeeze in 15 minutes of AM Yoga with Rodney Yee.  I am still of the mind I have to do it before starting my day, so if my day is pre-planned, I forgo this lengthy routine.  At least with the AM Yoga I can feel ready to start whatever my day's plans are.

With all this exercising, I am really hoping to start physically seeing results soon enough.  I know I am feeling my energy levels come back significantly for the rest of my day, so that is definitely an improvement.

[2010-10-15] ElliptiGo Will Take Me No Where...

Ok.  I promise not to speak too awfully much about exercise stuff except for the occasional description on how daily yoga and cardio is effecting me (I'm lovin' it!), but after seeing this, I just had to say something.

This is an ElliptiGo.  It is basically an elliptical and a bike had a baby and made this.  Supposedly it is supposed to be the equivalent exercise of running without the impact on your body.

My reaction to it?  ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??!?

I have a hard enough time using a regular stationary elliptical machine for under five minutes without screaming from the pain and you think I can steer a "bike" while standing up at the same time?  Freaking nutso.  My knees and thighs cried just looking at that picture.  I looked at the video on their website and my knees started to ache just from watching them.

Oh and the cost of it?  $2,199.  Even a stationary elliptical's price doesn't even come close to that over on NordicTrac (it is a little over half the price they are asking for this "bike").  Wait a minute, they have one that costs more then this bike.  Ok fine.

So is it just another passing fad?  A piece of exercise equipment for the rich, overly fit, and/or craziest who enjoy ellipticals?  Dunno.  I have yet seen anyone use a segway in public, so I am not sure how many of these I am going to see any time soon.

Knowing my luck, it will be the future of biking.  O.o

[2010-10-11] What To Write

Now that I have this new shiny blog to play with, the next question is, "What to write?"

After writing both publicly and privately for so long, you learn (most of the time the hard way) what should be appropriate or not to broadcast to the internet world.  Writing about things "in the now" publicly can get you in many forms of trouble, depending on what is happening right at that moment obviously.  Writing about things happening between my husband and I, or certain aspects about bringing up my daughter, or about issues with other family members, or negative feelings about people, or rantings/ventings, or medical procedures, or even issues with bills... all of these things can get you in heaps of trouble if they become public knowledge.  Basically, if you can't go up to a microphone and say it to a crowd of people, or say your thoughts to the person you are talking about, why the hell would you feel comfortable enough to write it in a public blog?

When I used to write publicly long ago, the most I used to sensor out was the names of people I was talking about.  Nowadays, even that isn't enough.  I don't see how the online writers I have gotten to know over the years are able to speak to freely without remorse or even without getting a chewing out for airing out dirty laundry that no one really needed to know about.  Hey, I am not trying to throw stones in a glass house.  I was guilty of the same from time to time.

Back when blogging and online journal writing was new and fresh, it seems like we all would throw caution to the wind with thoughts of, "Oh, no one will read this.  They won't figure out it is me."  My, how times have changed!  With companies always searching to find out your personal life (or the personal life of your loved ones) and feeling that what you do and what you say on the internet is a direct reflection on their company, puts even more pressure on what you say publicly... but that's another journal entry to write I suppose.

When I told my husband about this struggle I am having on what subjects are appropriate to write about, he mentioned a book he is currently reading called, "When to Speak Up and When to Shut Up" by Dr. Michael D. Sedler. Looks like I will need to take some time and read that book when he is not around. ;)

So then the question is, what do you write on a public blog?  Frankly, I am not totally sure yet.  Some subject matters have been dumped into the "inappropriate" box and will most likely be written for an audience of none.  I guess this place is going to be a learning experience in not only opening myself up, but also learning to sensor myself so as not to put myself in a difficult situation, and to find my voice at the same time.  This is gonna get interesting.

[2010-10-08] Time To Renew Oneself.

I've always blogged.  Or at least that is how it feels. 

Back in High School, my English teacher in freshman year encouraged me to write in a steno notebook about any thought, care, event, or emotion that game through my brain.  Even before her suggestion, I have found a tiny diary where I was writing about things through my grammar school life.

So basically, I've always had a journal.

Around January of 2001, I attempted to write an online article for an web site called WTF Studios.  Copyright issues came between me and the person who put himself in charge of the site, and I had my writing removed from the site and had not spoken to anyone that was a part of that group ever since.  Shortly after the incident, I met a blogger by the name of Jason Pettus.  He unintentionally helped change my views about public writing.  A day or so later, with the help of a good friend who wanted to venture into blogging as well, I joined LiveJournal.

In the past nine years I have said, "The rest is history."  Now with all the current issues happening to the website I used to call my online home, my thoughts are much more like "Time to renew oneself."  It is inevitable.  LiveJournal has become a slow, sinking ship... far slower then the Titanic was.  That is not to say I am gonna jump off of it early before it collapses.  It has been far too helpful of a tool to use and outside of the web remakes (i.e. DeadJournal, InsaneJournal, Dreamwidth, etc etc etc.) I am a little too faithful to the design, but not the new owners of the site.  I have said many times over the years that I was going to use their open source code to host mine on my own domain and just be done with them, but that is a whole lot of coding to work on and just the idea of trying to wrap my head around it makes me dizzy.  I guess that's why I am here on blogger for now.

When I first started my online journal all those years ago, the purpose was to figure out how to manage my real life (Reality) verses my online life (Digital).  Now, many years later, there isn't a separation of the two.  Either through my own doing or through the power of the internet or just because having to keep them separate all the time, I have come to realize there is no longer such a thing as separation of the two, at least for me.

Also over the years, due to too many betrayals and too many bad incidents, I started to close myself off from the public eye and turned my online journal to friends only.  Unfortunately that backfired as bad if not worse then all the incidents and betrayals that put me there.  Now in real life I am noticing that I am no longer an outgoing and outspoken as I once was, and it is starting to reflect how I manage my life.   

So unlike what the lurking trolls have said over the years, my reasoning for making a public blog isn't for a "LOOK AT ME!  LOOK AT ME" reasoning, but more to find people of similar thoughts and to try and open myself up more in the one way I know how.

Writing... journaling... blogging.... it is in my blood.  Always has been, always will be.