Recycling Revisited

Remember when you were younger and if you imagined yourself being 40 years old you may as well imagine yourself being 80...both seemed equally as far away. You lived your life carefree with little thought to the consequences of your actions.

If you spent your weekends (possibly an occasional weekday) in a smokey bar, you know what I mean. If you were going to lay out in the sun and your mother asked, "Are you wearing sunscreen?" and you said, "Well, it kinda defeats the purpose!" and then proceeded to lather yourself in baby oil, you know what I mean. If you have reheated leftovers in the microwave in a plastic container, you know what I mean. If you've gone to bed with your makeup on and without washing your face, you know what I mean. I think I've made my point.

This weekend I will turn 42 years old and 80 seems a lot closer than I ever imagined it could. All of a sudden, all those things I did without regard to the outcome are starting to catch up with me. So I've taken stock and have become more aware of the consequences my decisions have. As my grandfather used to say, "If I'd have known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."

And so, as I approach 42, I have almost completely stopped drinking. It makes me stuffed up and the next day it leaves me feeling a little blue. Life's too short. I'm also trying to exercise more often and for once it's not to lose weight or to try to fit into a dress. I'm doing it because I noticed that I actually feel better when I do. I stay out of the sun if I can and when I can't I wear at least 35 spf. I try to be conscious of how the things that I buy and how we dispose of them affect our environment...especially plastic.

So I was pleasantly surprised today when I popped into the boutique downstairs from my husband's office and saw that they had these fun retro looking bags made out of 95% recycled post consumer waste. They take recyclable plastic bottles and used grain sacks, clean and grind them, melt them into rolls of recycled plastic, weave it into durable bag fabric, print it with various graphics, and create several styles of bags. And now, thanks to my husband, I've got one as a birthday present!

Women of the Silk

It goes without saying that in our house my husband is the more avid reader. At the end of the day, I'm more apt to turn the t.v. on and he's the one who will read one of the many books he has going at any given time. I've been conscious of my habits and what affect it may have on our kids. Neither of them are likely to grab a book and read for pure enjoyment. They will read daily, but only because it's homework and they put if off as long as possible. I wonder what type of example I set.

The dilemma I have with reading is something I'm in the midst of right now. My mother-in-law loaned me an amazing book called Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama. The problem I have every so often is that I find a book I cannot put down. It makes it difficult to do anything else because all I want to do is read. Women of the Silk follows the lives of some different women who work in a silk factory in China in the 1920's-30's.
So far it has been a bit of a window into Chinese culture and history for me which is very timely. Soon my brother-in-law will be marrying a woman who was born in China and they will be having a Buddhist ceremony and a Chinese wedding banquet. It's big life events such as these that make you realize how little you know about another culture. I feel really fortunate that we are getting the opportunity to learn first hand about different ceremonies and beliefs and that our kids will get to be a part of it as well.

Breakfast in Bed

At the risk of making everyone jealous, I want to describe a new Sunday morning tradition we have started in our household. My daughter wakes my husband up and while he's in the shower, she creates a menu and nametags for herself and her stuffed animal helpers. Once my husband gets to the kitchen, they begin to cook Sunday breakfast while I remain in bed to watch my favorite news show, CBS Sunday Morning.
Soon an apron clad little girl equipped with an order pad will bring me the menu and take my breakfast order.
It reminds me of when I was a young girl and my grandparents would come to visit from Florida. I would get up early and make out a breakfast menu (with prices) and I would play restaurant with my grandfather. I served as busser, waitress, and cook and actually made his breakfast. When he was all done, I would present him with a check which he would gladly pay. If I wanted to receive a tip, however, I would have to let him pinch my butt...he said he did it to all his waitresses.

In a little bit, I hear my little waitress and her dad (the cook) approach so I sit up, straighten the bedding, and make room for the breakfast tray. Today it was homemade baked oatmeal topped with brown sugar, cherries, and cream along with delicious smoked bacon. It was divine and I devoured it all. Soon my son joined me and I moved the tray over to him and he enjoyed his breakfast in bed as well. I can't imagine a better Sunday morning.

Friends and Gratitude

I'm fortunate enough to have this amazing group of women I get together with every month. We've been meeting for almost 8 years now and I'm so proud to be a part of it.

The other evening one person was talking about a study that was done to show the best ways to handle stress (I believe it was referring to things President Obama could do.) The top two things were to continue to surround yourself with friends...don't isolate yourself and to show gratitude to those who help you. Something as simple as a handwritten card.

It seems almost too easy to be true, but I think I will try it out and see for myself.

The End of an Era

I got the news last night and while it was unexpected, I guess we could all see it coming. A restaurant that has meant a lot to me over the last 15 years closed.

My husband took me to Albanese's on Keefe for one of our first dates. We sat at a little table for two by the radiator and he told me how his grandparents would bring him there and what great memories he had. As our relationship grew, we continued to go there with friends and family enjoying the chilled red wine out of juice glasses, the three way, and fried rice balls (my personal favorite.)

It was such a part of our courtship that before our friend Sally went to Saudi Arabia, she recreated the Albanese's experience by giving us the red checked tablecloth, juice glasses, and candle as an engagement gift. Joe and Karen gave us a case of the Albanese's red wine as a wedding gift.

Somehow we must have known this good thing was coming to an end. Just this past November my husband and I went there for dinner to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. In December my brother-in-law brought his girlfriend home for Christmas and the whole family gathered for dinner at this restaurant that has meant so much to all of us. I'm glad Antonia got a chance to experience it and she's the one who took all these amazing photos to capture the evening. What we didn't know at the time was that she was also capturing the end of an era.

I Heart Mo

We're not big pet people. We don't have any and have no plans to get any (if my father-in-law is reading this...DO NOT GET US A DOG!) But last summer my sister-in-law's family got a puppy. A yorkie bichon mix named Mo. He is without a doubt the cutest little thing I've ever seen. It's perfect too because we get to enjoy him without the responsibility of owning him.

It's been fun to watch my kids (especially my son) bond with him. And it was extremely hilarious to see my almost sister-in-law try to dog whisper him at Christmas.

He definitely means something to everyone and we're so glad he came along. Apparently we're not the only ones smitten with him!

Rethink, Recycle, Reuse

Yes, I did attend the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Yes, I do own a pair of Birkenstocks (purchased while I worked at the Boot Barn on State Street circa 1988.) But I by no means consider myself a tree-hugger.

I have, however, joined the ranks of many of my contemporaries and have become more aware of the impact that the products I buy, use, and discard have on the environment. So lately, I've been trying to look at my trash differently. I've been trying to rethink uses for it and here are a couple of the ideas I came up with.

First is a notepad using cardboard from a Teddy Grahams box and paper from my printer. You know when you print something from the internet and you get 3 pages but only need the first one? Here's a good use for those extra pages.

I gave this to my daughter and she loved it!

Next, I love making magnets. There are so many cool things you can use to make them. These also make great gifts.

Let me know if you've got any other good ideas to share.

What Exactly Have I Gotten Myself Into? Literally!

I figured if I can blog, how hard can Facebook be? Where do I start?!*

At the invitation of my brother and sister, I signed up yesterday. Now I'm linked all over the place. I'm getting e-mails telling me about a post someone I don't even know made to the Facebook account of someone I barely know.

There is so much stuff going on that I can't even try to sort it out because it's incredibly overwhelming. Plus, I'm afraid if I start spending time trying to figure it out, a whole day will suddenly pass and the only thing I will have to show for it is a bunch of new friends that I didn't even think I needed.

Sweet Revenge

I hate to throw my husband under the bus (or the skate wheels as the case may be), but there are two things we've done as a family recently. Both things he entered into under protest. First we were asked by some friends to go to family skate night at a local church. An inexpensive thing we can all do together and while he really didn't want to go, one quick stop at the Club Tap and he was on board.

After a while everyone was getting the hang on being on wheels and then came the "boys only" skate. My daughter and I sat along the wall and watched the boys circling the floor. She reached out her hand for her dad to give her five when he passed by. This is where the stop at the Club Tap might have bit him in the ass. He was channeling his youth and started to put on a show for his daughter doing a foot crossing dance move. Unfortunately it threw him off balance and he landed on his butt and slid the remaining two feet to his daughter's outstretched hand where he gained his composure, slapped her five, got back on his feet and proceeded to finish the song. Meanwhile, I too had to gain my composure. I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

He was a good sport and would soon get revenge on both of us during our next family event...Family Game Night. He fought this too but how can you refuse when you are handed an actual invitation that the whole troop of Brownies filled out at their last meeting?

So bring on the Apples to Apples. How bad can it be? Of course the person who wanted to play the least ended up absolutely crushing the rest of us. The whole time I'm seething inside because that's just how stupidly competitive I am but I can't show it because I'm trying keep my daughter from having a complete meltdown herself.

To my husband...congratulations on your win. To the leaders of Brownie Troop 1006...the best intentions. To my therapist...we've got some things to talk about.

Musical Memories

While I was working out yesterday with my iPod shuffle on (filled mostly with old songs), I started to think of all the concerts I've actually been to. My first was Billy Idol at the State Fair while I was in high school. I still can't believe we did a pom pom routine at a football game with Rebel Yell blaring. Well, actually I can believe we did the routine, what I can't believe is that my mom never said anything about the lyrics. Quite possibly the sound system was so bad our parents had no idea what the lyrics were. More probable was that our routine was so kick ass that the spectators were mesmerized and didn't realize that in the midnight hour she cried more, more, more. For one of my senior pictures I had a bunch of items that meant something to me. My Billy Idol concert tee made the cut and surprisingly isn't the most embarassing thing in the photo.

It goes without saying that I saw the Violent Femmes at Summerfest several times. My parents did find out about the lyrics to their songs but only because my sister told them. And the other Milwaukee favorite...the BoDeans.

I've been lucky enough to see some of the big names. Guns N' Roses, Tom Petty, Peter Gabriel, John Cougar Mellencamp, Sting, Bon Jovi, U2, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, The New Cars with Todd Rundgren. There's been a smattering of others along the way. Most recently I saw Swell Season (the couple from the movie Once). Great movie. Great concert.

With all the shows I've seen I have but two regrets. The first is missing The Producers at Headliners my freshman year in Madison because I was studying for an exam. Thanks to Ken I did at least get a t-shirt. The second was U2 during the Joshua Tree tour. That one was in Minnesota and I don't remember why I didn't go.

My sister-in-law and her son just went to their first concert together...Metallica. I'll be interested to see what types of music my kids like and what concerts are in my future.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

My third grade son has started a new unit in school about poetry. Finally! I haven't saved many books from when I was a kid, but I did save my Shel Silverstein ones, Where the Sidewalk Ends being my favorite. I can remember exactly the first time I heard his poetry...Cushing Elementary, 5th grade, Mrs. Baumann. We even had a discussion on his picture on the back cover and how his foot was in the foreground. I loved that book and it inspired me to write my own poetry. It was really bad, but I was a machine and wrote rhymes about every animal. My parents gave me my own hard-covered copy for Christmas in 1979.

Now I enjoy it all over again with my kids. I pick a poem I like and they read it. Unlike many things from my childhood, these stand the test of time. In honor of Valentine's Day, here's one of my favs.

LOVE

Ricky was "L" but he's home with the flu,
Lizzie, our "O" had some homework to do,
Mitchell, "E" prob'ly got lost on the way,
So I'm all of love that could make it today.

Monk-E-Mail

It has come to my attention (thanks Jann) that there is a service through Career Builders.com in which you can send a monk-e-mail. Definitely worth checking out. Kid friendly too!

The Girl in the Picture

Do you ever see a character in a movie, or a picture in a catalog or magazine and think to yourself, "I want to be that person"? Or "I want to live the life I imagine that person lives"? It happened to me when I first saw When Harry Met Sally and I proceeded to spend the next several months in blazers and hats with a large purse strapped diagonally around my shoulder. Dani and Tina can attest to that.

It happened again last summer when my husband forwarded me this video clip from Bill Cunningham of the NY Times who writes on fashion (it took me forever to find this, so if you've got about 3 minutes...it's totally worth a look). Of course I would have loved most of the outfits that the women were wearing. I also would love to be able to walk around in high heels all the time, but I digress. The photo that really struck me is the one of the woman riding her bike in a simple dress with flat shoes. I want to be that woman. It seems so European or big city or something I'm not. I went as far as to research a new bike with basket including trade-ins on our old bikes. Not a priority right now, but maybe someday. A girl's gotta dream.

What's to Love about Valentine's Day?

I've got a lot to say on this subject, so bear with me. I can remember one Valentine's Day when I lived alone and the theater at Mayfair was in the back parking lot with two screens. That weekend I saw both movies by myself, one on Friday, and one on Saturday. As I looked around the crowded theater filled with couples, I longed to be one of them. I couldn't wait for the day when I had someone to spend Valentine's Day with. Be careful what you wish for.

Fast-forward a couple of years to my first Valentine's Day ever in which I actually had a boyfriend (my now husband). It's like so many other things in life where you spend so much energy worrying about getting somewhere, you don't ever consider what you will do once you're there. So now I've got myself a boyfriend and it's serious, but we've only been going out for two months and I don't know what to get him. I wanted to make sure whatever I got him sent the right message. Whatever my intentions were, I learned later that my message read something like "crappy cliche gift".

It wasn't that I didn't try. I knew he drank coffee every day and I noticed that his Boston Red Sox coffee mug was so old that he couldn't wash the coffee stains out of it. So I thought a cute valentine mug that would remind him of me every time he drank coffee would be perfect. Strike 1. The reason the Red Sox mug was so stained was because he LOVED it and used it every day.

What else would you get to go with a coffee mug? Of course...coffee. But it was Valentine's Day so not any old coffee would do. I got cinnamon flavored coffee. Strike 2. What I found out later is that he doesn't do flavored coffee. Or cream or sugar.

Had I known he didn't like flavored coffee (or dressing on his salads for that matter) I most likely would not have purchased the third and final Valentine's Day gift, cologne. I think it was Calvin Klein for men and I liked the way it smelled. Strike 3. The reason he didn't wear cologne (another astute observation by me) is because it made him sneeze.

I've always thought of myself as a thoughtful and considerate gift giver and so missing the mark on every gift for my first Valentine's Day was a huge blow. What I actually felt worse about was that in return he gave me all the perfect gifts. I got a dozen roses (which some may think is cliche) but it was the first time in my life someone other than my family had given me roses. They were long-stemmed and they were beautiful. He also gave me a gift certificate to get a massage. It was a luxury I couldn't afford to give myself at the time and it was great.

While I still don't love Valentine's Day, I do enjoy sharing it with my kids. I swear, you could give them just about anything and as long as it's wrapped, they're happy. (I'm putting this to the test this year because what says you love your kids more than a pack of gym socks?) Oh, don't gasp...I'm throwing in a bunch of candy and an Alterra gift card too. As for my husband, I've learned a monkey card goes a long way!

Double Take

I was at the public library today doing some research for a project when I came upon a biography of Yves Saint Laurent. I couldn't figure out why there was a picture of Austin Scarlett from the first season of Project Runway on the cover. I mean, they are both designers but I didn't get the connection. It isn't Austin on the cover, it's a young Yves Saint Laurent and there is no connection, they are just doppelgangers.

Greetings from the Sunshine State

My mom rocks! She called me last week and said she was sending me something to help cheer me up during this cold and endless winter. I thought for sure it was a Slanket (or in some circles referred to as a Snuggie) because I'm always freezing when I'm working in the office. Much to my pleasant surprise, I received a box from Hales Groves in Vero Beach, Florida and inside were grapefruit, navel oranges, and honeybells.

The funny thing is, up until about 2 months ago, I never liked or ate grapefruit. Now I can't get enough of them. I'm totally addicted.

So thank you mother for the shot of vitamin C. Much appreciated.

Dick Schmidtisms: Volume 1

I finished reading The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan over the weekend. I really loved it. Her writing style is so simple yet eloquent and almost reads like a love story between a father and daughter. I noticed many similarities between her father and mine so this entry is dedicated to my one-of-a-kind dad.

You know when you're raised to know only one way you assume that it's the same way for everyone else? Then you get married and you're talking to your husband and you repeat some phrase you've heard a million times growing up and realize you're saying something your husband's never heard before and you sound like a 70 year old man. It didn't take me long to figure out that whenever I repeat one of my dad's zinger's, I need to preface it by saying, "As Dick Schmidt would say..."


So here are some of the Dick Schmidtisms that get the most mileage (by my dad, not me!):

1. "Shang Bah!" (He thinks it means "Great" in Chinese...we're still trying to confirm that.)
2. "Hal Doing?" (Translation: How are You Doing?)
3. In the evenings when my dad answered the phone we would cringe if a friend was calling because when they asked to speak to you, my dad would answer "Do you have an appointment?"
4. If someone asks him on the phone how he's feeling, he responds, "With my fingers."
5. Another phone favorite is to tell someone he's speaking to that they are looking well.
6. If you ask my dad if he got a haircut he might say, "No, I got all of them cut." Or he may reply, "No, I got my ears lowered."
7. If it's warm he may refer to it as "Hotter than Dutch Love."
8. If you tell him he owes you money he will tell you, "I'd rather owe it to you than cheat you out of it."

If you know my dad, you'll appreciate these. If you don't know my dad, what's not to love? And if I've missed any of your favorites, please post a comment.