NEED HELP!

Calling all moms!

This is embarrassing and I've been trying to deal with it on my own but all of the tips and advice I've found online aren't really helping. My skin is suuuuper dry. Like, ridiculously dry. Particularly my face and my scalp. I have dandruff. Really bad, embarrassing dandruff and no amount of medicated shampoo or deep moisturizing conditioners are helping. And my hair is falling out far more than ever before. I know that your hair falls out post-pregnancy but I can't even take a shower without clogging the drain so much the water won't empty. A 5 minute shower turns into a full bath. This is even if I comb my hair a lot before getting in.

Please help!! I'm not an unhygenic person but this is just gross. I'm tired of being worried about my hair falling out everywhere and even worse, having those nasty little flakes all over everything. What worked for you??

Oooh no...

I think I'm turning into a hippy. I'm listening to "Boston" right now while thinking about how wonderful it would be to be able to grow all of our own food. I love gardening and I love making healthy food. I also don't understand why there is so much waste (does a razor REALLY need so much packaging? Come on, use the plastic for something useful. Like, medical stuff). Don't tell my dad, but I think I'm turning into one of "those."

I guess New England got to me after all. Even though I haven't lived there full time for almost 5 years. Jenny- we can be the crazy New Englanders together!

A Clean House is a Happy House

It's no secret that I don't like clutter or messes or things to be disorganized. Yes, for me this is somewhat of a new thing. (No comments about the condo following finals and the bowl game, Erin! My room was a mess but the rest of the place had help from the other girls who WERE there.) However, I know that when a place is "lived in" it can be more difficult to keep it as clean as you might like. Is it impossible? Nope. Does it take some work and help? Sure does. I like the way that my mom approached housework growing up. At the time I didn't really care for it and as an absent-minded child/teenager, I know I didn't get it most of the time. The rules were simple, though. Put things away when you get something else out (if I was told "when you're done with it" it would never get put away. I was never 'done' with anything!), jobs need to be done before play and if you're bored, don't tell mom. She'll find something like weeding or extra cleaning jobs for you to do.

Where Craig and I are living now, there is an almost constant flow of people in and out of the house. Grandpa has lots of company and that's a great thing for him. For me, I feel like I need to have the house perfectly clean all of the time. It's not, but I try. There are a few things that we do that work for us and some things that I'm going to put in place once we have our own home.

1. Never leave dishes in the sink. In our house, you have to walk by the dishwasher to get to the sink anyway.

2. Use an "up" & "down" basket on the stairs. This comes from mom's rule to never go up the stairs empty handed. A basket just allows you to carry more at a time (fewer trips, too!)

3. Keep one central calendar. No need to have a million papers on the fridge. We like to use our google calendar but I also like having a large month one with notes for quick reference. (Grandpa's for now, our own when we have our own house.)

4. Leave a room a little cleaner when you leave it than when you entered. This could mean making a bed, putting a few clothes away or just tossing the socks in the laundry basket.

5. Have labeled laundry baskets for different loads. We have a basket for Whites, Colors (mainly socks & jeans), Colds (Craig's work clothes) and Baby clothes (we use different detergent for her.)

6. Have kids do age-appropriate things to help. I remember having a child size mop & broom set when I was little. They were red & yellow. I don't think I was actually supposed to get the mop wet but I remember enjoying thinking I was helping. Mom, did I actually help or did you just let me think so?
Sophie isn't old enough to help yet, but we talk about folding clothes and putting things away during the day. She also takes rides in laundry baskets but that's because I haven't figured out how to carry two loads of laundry and a baby yet.

7. Let the kids/spouse/whomever know that what they're doing is actually helpful and useful. When mom let me know that what I had done was both worthwhile and helpful, I was much more inclined to continue doing it.

I know every family is different and different things work for different people, but these are things that I am doing or plan to do when we're in a position to do so. What things work for your family?

All in one place!

With the events that I've been fooding lately, I figured it was about time to just put everything in one place. It's a work-in-progress and there will be more pictures and such coming as I finish events (I'm working on another wedding reception right now). As with many things, the best advertising is word-of-mouth. If you or anyone you know is in need of affordable catering, send them my way!

My new food blog can be found here.

The anti-feminist?

As I've said before, I don't care what choices other people make or how they choose to live their lives. That being said, what I'm about to talk about has nothing to do with the choices other women have made but just how I would feel in a similar situation. Please do me a favor and don't leave me hateful messages about how it works for you or that you enjoy the choices you've made. I hope that's true! I wish that every single person could be completely happy in the life they've chosen. This world would have a lot more going for it if that was the case.

On to my actual topic. I have a friend who introduced me to a blog written by a women who is very similar to me in several ways but in others is a polar opposite. We both love our families, we both love having clean, organized homes, we're close to the same age and we share similar religious beliefs. That's about where the similarities end. This woman believes that she must do ALL of the housework, ALL of the child care, ALL of the cooking and be the best wife, the best cook, the best crafter... everything. I read a post this morning where she was talking about her fabulous "Saturday Evening Fun!" Know what that was? Doing laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. (I'm as crazy as the next person and like to go on a marathon of laundry doing on Monday mornings and just have it over with for the week.) That's all fine and dandy, but why wasn't she out with her husband? Why wasn't he helping? And why why why was it such a big deal that her "hubby-hubs" was soooo amazing to leave his whites in one pile for her?

Again, I'm glad that this sort of life seems to work for her. Putting myself in a similar situation, well, I'm sad just thinking about it. I love that Craig and I will go out and do something (even something as simple as walking around Riverwoods) together every week. Sophie absolutely loves her daddy. To this point, he is the only one who has gotten her to have a real, full on, baby belly laugh. She loves sitting with him in bed while he's on his laptop and either watching the colors change on the screen or trying to push the buttons. It would be really sad if he wasn't involved and didn't have this sort of relationship with her. I don't do all of the dishes, all of the cleaning or all of the baby work and while we're both trying to be better at things, there is not ridiculous strain or demand to be perfect all of the time. Oh, and Craig puts his clothes in the correct laundry basket all the time. ;)

The last thing that made me sad was the fact that not only is this woman attempting to be the perfect everything but her loyal blog-followers also left comments lamenting the fact that they aren't perfect and went on to list their flaws in the house-keeping, wife-being, child-raising department. Can we all take a minute and compliment ourselves on the things we do well? Why is it such a bad thing to recognize the things that we're good at? This doesn't mean that we're better than everyone else or that we don't have room to improve but it's about time we start recognizing the things we're good at. Shall I start?

I am good at planning events.
I am good at teaching primary with Craig.
I am good at making sure we have a healthy diet.
I am getting better at time management.

Okay. Now it's your turn. What are you good at? Stop the "I don't want to brag" line. It's not bragging or being prideful to recognize that you're doing well or are good at something.

Another gig...

There are a few things I LOVE. I LOVE food. I LOVE projects. I LOVE color. I LOVE LOVE LOVE happy flowers. (Gerbera daisies happen to be my very favorite.) I am super excited because I get to, again, combine my very favorite things and cater another wedding reception. I have been given a lot of freedom to create menus (could be scary, could be amazing... I'll let you know) and I'm looking forward to creating something truly stunning. Lucky for me, the bride is using BRIGHT colors and her flowers are gerbera daisies. WOO! I'm excited to spend the next several weeks taking inspiration from a fun-loving couple, beautiful spring, creating and practicing my decorating. (Anyone need frosted treats?)

Education

I've always been taught that education is vital. Yes, our church DOES highly value and encourage the education of women. Here are a few quotes I happened to come across while doing some primary lesson research today (oddly enough, this has nothing to do with the lesson I'm working on):

“What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well.”

There must be respect for the interests of one another. There must be opportunities and encouragement for the development and expression of individual talent. Any man who denies his wife the time and the encouragement to develop her talents, denies himself and his children a blessing which could grace their homes and bless their posterity.

--President Gordon B. Hinckley

The whole gamut of human endeavor is now open to women. There is not anything that you cannot do if you will set your mind to it. I am grateful that women today are afforded the same opportunity to study for science, for the professions, and for every other facet of human knowledge. You are as entitled as are men to the Spirit of Christ, which enlightens every man and woman who comes into the world. . . You can include in the dream of the woman you would like to be a picture of one qualified to serve society and make a significant contribution to the world of which she will be a part.

--President Gordon B. Hinckley

If I had a choice of educating my daughters or my sons because of opportunity constraints, I would choose to educate my daughters. -- Brigham Young.

“(1) Formal education directly teaches health knowledge to mothers; (2) Literacy and numeracy skills acquired in school assist future mothers in diagnosing and treating child health problems; and (3) Exposure to modern society from formal schooling makes women more receptive to modern medical treatments” --Paul Glewwe, senior economist for The World Bank

In a speech to his fellow Ghanaians in the early 1900s, the visionary educator, Dr. J.E. Kwegyir Aggrey, declared, 'The surest way to keep a people down is to educate the men and neglect the women. If you educate a man you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family.'"

...

I am so glad I have a husband who not only "lets" me pursue my educational and professional goals but encourages me and does everything he can to help me achieve everything I could hope for. 

What's in a Name?

Is it really a surprise to anyone that I might have a few feminist tendencies? No? Good. Then what I'm about to say shouldn't be a surprise. My legal name is Sarah Michelle Nasson. No, I have not changed my name. No, I do not intend to. Yes, I have a husband who not only supports this choice but seems to get a bit of pleasure out of telling people that it isn't my "maiden" name, it is my only name. Just one of many reasons I love him.  I am so tired of people assuming that my name is "Peterson" just because we're married. There is nothing wrong with the name "Peterson" and this has nothing to do with him or any of his family, I prefer to be my own person and keep the name I've had since birth. I also hate being referred to as "Mrs." Know how I read that? As "mister's." I do NOT EVER want to be defined by my marital status and I don't think anyone ever should be. Furthermore, I am no ones property. Craig is allowed to tease me about that when people call me "Mrs. Peterson" only because he knows how much it bugs me and doesn't take it seriously. 


Guess what? LOTS has been written on the topic. Here are a few items of note: 


Belgium- women keep their birth name for all legal/official documents and often for private use. 
Same is true in Cambodia, China, 


Croatian laws give four possibilities: both husband and wife keeping their last names, one taking other spouse's last name, both appending other spouse's last name to their own, and both using one compound last name. (See what our blog is called? We've joked several times about just changing our name to "Nasterson.")


"Persons who keep their own surname after marriage do so for a number of reasons. Objection to the inequality of the tradition is one such reason; others simply prefer their own surname to that of their spouse's family; and some people dislike undergoing the difficulties and expenses required in a legal name change.... or a rejection of the sexist idea of being property of the husband."


In other news, Craig and I went to the temple together tonight. I love going with Craig. The temple reminds me frequently that people are not perfect and we're all trying to do our best with what we know. That being said, I was still rather irked with one of the ordinance workers tonight making a comment about a single sister (College age. My guess is recently returned missionary) who came in to help with sealings. She said she would be back when they would need help with children, left the room and one gentleman started in. He commented on the recent general conference talk where the young single adult men need to get on it and get married. However, what came next bothered me a lot. He said, "in defense of the young men," there are too many women who (shock!!) intimidate the men or are choosing to have careers. Excuse me, but I believe we have not only been told to get an education but to make plans, learn as much as we can and don't sit around waiting for marriage. I have been to so many RS firesides where we  had people encouraging us to make career goals and run after them. Oooh, that bugged me. Well, that and the fact that my recommend CLEARLY says "Nasson" and I was called "Peterson" again. By the way, has anyone else noticed that the given birth names of both parents are used in that particular activity? 

Off and running!

Aaah. I do enjoy productive weeks. Today has been pretty good so far. Kitchen is clean, floor is mopped, dishes done, beds made. Yesterday was pretty good, too. Sophie and I:

• Did ALL of the laundry
• Cleaned the bathrooms
• Tidied the kitchen
• Got pictures for her temple book
• Ordered and picked up some posters for the high school guard
• Went to costco to get a few food storage items (sort of misses the point of having them when it all gets eaten...)
• Went to walmart to return some things and get lots and lots of veggies (yum!!)
• Made a delicious dinner of soup and such (double yum... I LOVE homemade chicken noodle soup. Healthy and deeelicious).
• Ooh, and I registered for my fall classes!That's right! Not only does this mean I can audition for the BYU color guard again but I'm going back to school and going to become a teacher. I've fought it for a few years but lets be serious now. I've wanted to be a teacher ever since I was in Mrs. Chambers class in 3rd grade, my parents have encouraged it since I came to BYU as a freshman and I LOVE teaching guard at the high school. It's about time to get the dang degree & certification. Hey, this might mean I could actually get paid more. Who knows? ;) 

Monday morning.

So, there's snow on the ground. Woo. Instead of going outside with Sophie to twirl and write more flag/baton work for the summer season and auditions, I guess I'll do all of the other things that need doing.

-Take some 4 month pictures of Sophie
-Pay the bills
-Costco trip to replace the food storage items we've used during the last few months
-Fun project with Sophie
-Guard paperwork/posters etc. for summer and fall season :D

Oh, for those who care, my team made it to state finals this year. Here is a link to their performance. By the way, the show is called "Inferno" (Craig calls it "Go to Hell"), the music is Clint Mansell's "Requiem for a Dream" and the inspiration was Dante's "Inferno."

A bit of a continuation of the previous post...

Back from lunch. (Grilled tilapia filet, some swiss cheese on a couple whole wheat crackers, glass of delicious milk and a big bowl of fresh veggies. Yum.)

Anyway, yes. I'm going to be cooking with a lot less meat and using fewer carbohydrate-heavy foods. This really shouldn't seem so radical. I am cooking for a diabetic, after all. What does this mean? Instead of using pasta, now that it's almost in season again, we'll be having more spaghetti squash. I LOVE spaghetti squash. Lots more fresh fruits and veggies will be making their way to our table as they come in season.

I'm really looking forward to making some whole-fruit popsicles, too. Since we're going to be making Sophie's baby food (no reason not to since we're already going to have the fruit & veggies around), I'll just freeze pureed whole fruit mixtures. You can spend lots of $$$ on ones at places like Whole Foods or specialty grocery stores but that's silly and we don't have one close by. :/

For those who are curious, yes, we will still be meeting our nutritional requirements. Guess what? We don't need to eat as much as we sometimes think. These are the requirements for the biggest eater of the house:

7-8 oz of whole grains
3 C of vegetables
2 C of fruit
3 C of milk/dairy
6.5 oz meat/beans/protein (or about 65g of protein,

Not really all that much. For my benefit, here's a sample menu meeting all of the above requirements:

Breakfast:
1 c oatmeal (plain)
1/2 c fresh fruit
1 slice of toast
1 c milk

Snack:
1/2 c fruit
1 oz cheese (a cheese stick is about an ounce)

Lunch:
Salad with tomatoes, lettuce, celery, carrots, spinach (2 c of veggies)
1 c grilled chicken in the salad
1 c milk
1 slice of bread (with jam, if you must)

Snack:
12 crackers
2 T peanut butter

Dinner:
4 oz Grilled salmon (on cedar planks with potlatch seasoning.mmm. Hey mom, can I come over for dinner, please?)
1 c brown rice
1 c Broiled asparagus
1 slice deeeeeelicious boule

Dessert:
Cheese cake! (Just one slice! Besides, it has about 5g of protein, vitamin A, Vitamin C and calciyum!)
1/4 c raspberries mmmmm

Some Friday morning randomness

Why is it that white pasta looks cheap to me?

Am I the only person who ends up in line at the grocery store behind an extremely overweight person buying junk food and immediately judges them?

Why do credit card, insurance etc. companies advertise that they are "green" and "friends of the environment"when they're spending money on sending dead trees through the mail that are just going to get thrown away and end up in a landfill?

How come disposable diapers aren't recycleable yet? Paper is and so is plastic. Makes sense to me that they should be. (I guess I should stop tossing Sophie's in our big blue recycle bin...)

You know you're in trouble when eating out if a menu advertises its "light selections" as being 500 calories or less. Even those ones are going to have way too many carbs and far too much sodium to support a healthy diet.

Smelly cat, it really is your fault.

Irresponsible teenagers bug me almost as much as irresponsible/ridiculous parents of said irresponsible teenagers.

In other random randomness, I'd like to have us eating less meat and far fewer carbs. Why? We eat a lot more of both than we need. And it's spring, which to me screams EAT FRUIT AND VEGGIES! (I'm sure someone reading this is thinking "you stinkin' hippy. Take a shower")

...more to come in a post-lunch post.