The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer

Jeremy got me the box set of all The Mummy DVDs for Christmas. Even though I had seen the first two movies, we didn't watch the third one until just now. My suggestion is that if you've never seen the movie, do not bother. I love Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, and Brendan Fraser, but the movie was unbelievably horrible. This will not be a movie I rewatch.

Women and Mothers

It seems to me lately that the subject of womanhood in society and what is expected of the modern woman has come up more and more. While I haven’t felt any pressure on either being a SAHM or a working mom, many people I know have felt this. Jeremy and I have discussed and agreed on how we are going to approach raising kids, but the subject has gotten me thinking.

Growing up, it would have seemed odd for me to encounter a stay at home mom. I’m not saying that none of my friends had parents that stayed home, but I really can’t name any. It just didn’t seem that common at least in my group of friends. Both my parents worked, and sometimes, they worked long hours and on weekends. I don’t ever remember feeling like I didn’t get to spend enough time with them or wishing that one parent didn’t work so they could stay home with us. In fact, we relished the times they were at work because it allowed us to veg out on the couch and watch TV rather than having to do homework or study. The time we did spend together as a family was good quality time doing things together. We went on plenty of vacations and really travelled the world.

Jeremy’s mom stayed home with him while he was growing up. She did all of the things that a mom does on TV. She did the carpool thing, she did the PTA thing, and she probably did the whole milk and cookies thing after school. In Jeremy’s thinking that was the norm, and he wanted that for his kids.

When we started discussing marriage long before we were ready to get married, we came upon the topic of kids. Even though I never really wanted kids, I figured that if we got married, we would eventually have kids. He really wanted one parent to stay at home be it me or him, but he thought that was important to the child’s development. He was fairly adamant about it until he got to know how good outside childcare could be. A friend and former coworker had her child in childcare while both her and her husband worked. He realized that these caretakers were actually teachers that taught and interacted with the children rather than plopping them in from of a TV all day. It was at this point he started coming around.

I know that if we were to have kids, I would in no way ever be able to stay home 24/7 and care for the kids. Being a SAHM is incredibly challenging, and I would say one of the hardest jobs out there and I salute the women who are able to accomplish this. It is not me. For one, I know I don’t have the patience to deal with a child for that long. Yes, the casual observer would think that I am great with kids and I seem to have an endless supply of patience, but usually I am around a child for no more than several hours after which I can return the child to their parents. I never have to deal with naptimes, or bedtimes or any other cranky times that afflict young children. So yes, I can roughhouse and play and be silly with the best of them because I don’t have to deal with the issues that come from having a child incredibly wound up. Secondly, I really did not obtain this much school just to stay at home with my kids. The fact is I continued my education because I wanted to have the rewarding career. In fact, I really like what I do, and I would definitely want to continue with it.

I suppose what really got me thinking was the logistics of the SAHM. I look at the life I had as a child, and I want to give my children the same opportunities that my parents afforded me. These opportunities require more than the time we spent together. There is a certain level of security I want to provide my kids as they grow. My parents always made it known that they would pay for our college education. They felt that a college degree was an absolute requirement so they were prepared to help us financially. Now, this wasn’t to say that we wouldn’t be working or getting scholarships, but money would never be an issue. To that end, we also took a lot of classes outside of school. We took summer school classes as a means to get ahead and skip classes during the school year allowing us to take more advanced classes as they came along. We also took SAT/ACT prep classes starting fro the time we were in middle school. The importance being that doing well in school does a lot to ensure your future. As kids, we were also very well travelled. We went to Asia and Europe and all over the US on family vacations. If the vacations were short and relatively inexpensive, we’d have two vacations that year. If it was a long, exotic trip, we’d only have one vacation that year, but we’d spend more time wherever we were.

These are the things that I want to provide my kids. Yes, they’re ambitious goals, but I want to provide the basic that my parents gave me that allowed me to be the person I am today. I want my kids to have the best education available. I’ve long maintained that if we were living in a place with a bad public school system, I would send my kids to private school regardless of cost. I wouldn’t be able to do that without working. Sure there is the argument of homeschooling, but I again would be unable to do that. The purpose of education is to teach your children a broad spectrum of knowledge to prepare for their future as adults. In doing so, you’re not creating little clones but rather thoughtful people who can formulate their own views and ideals. I would be unable to teach things that I personally don’t believe in and that would be a huge disservice to my kids. I want them to go to college and I want them to be able to interact in a world where people have all sorts of different views, none of which are truly similar to mine. I want to be able to pay for college because I don’t want them to feel the financial pressure which is a leading reason for dropping out. I want to travel as a family and see the world. Not only would this be quality time spent making memories, but it is also fun and exciting to go places and see new things.

I suppose while I see the benefits of staying home to raise kids because you are the best person to do it, I don’t see how I personally would be able to. My priorities are my priorities because that was the environment in which I was raised. I commend my parents for doing such a good job and making the sacrifices they did to provide those opportunities for us. Do I wish that one parent had stayed home with us growing up? Not at all. I actually appreciate my parents more because I can see why they both worked to provide for us. I think had my mom stayed home, I wouldn’t have had as fond of memories of the family times we did spend together.

Primetime TV

Lately, there have been so many shows on TV that I am loving. The problem is, I'm totally running out of time to watch them all. I am so glad that we have a Tivo.

Snow Days

It snowed and sleeted last night. When we checked the radar, there was a big swathe of weather starting from North Texas, over the Mid-South, all the way up to Pittsburgh. It was interesting because I had never considered that the same weather front that affected us in the South would travel to where we are now. I always assumed the path wouldn't head right over us. This is interesting because Memphis weather could always be determined by a phone call to my parents in Dallas. Whatever weather they had experienced in the past day would inevitably hit Memphis. Weathermen should take note of this phenomenon. It would increase the accuracy of your predictions. Now, apparently this may hold true here as well. We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the spring and summer.

Of more note is the fact that the weather and temperature is actually colder in both Dallas and Memphis than it is here. I thought it was supposed to be colder here. I suppose the duration is longer, but I'm not say bone-chillingly cold by any means.

Okay But Not

Life's been good lately, only it's been not. It's hard to explain, but I feel a sort of lethargy that I haven't felt in a long time. It's not a physical thing, it's more mental, like I know what I need to do but I don't want to do it. I look around the apartment, and there are tons to do. Instead, I sit on my computer and play games or watch TV. I plan to do things over the weekend, and then I spend all weekend in bed with a migraine or throwing up or whatever other illness strikes. I'm beginning to think it's psychosomatic. I remember feeling like this in college. I remember the getting out of bed only to perform necessary functions and then crawling back into bed. Maybe it's the winter here and the lack of sunlight. While it's bright during the day here, it's been overcast for awhile. Maybe it is a vitamin D issue. I really need to snap out of it because I'm not me.

New Year, Part II

Happy Chinese New Year everyone. I hope the year of the ox brings peace and prosperity. I have some deeper thoughts that I'll reserve for another day as today should be all about new beginnings and happiness.

Breakfast for Dinner

That's what we did tonight for our Chinese New Year's Eve celebration. Bacon is slowly but surely growing on me. I wonder why it took so long?

That Sucked

Last night Jeremy and I went to a comedy to see Brad Williams. He was hilarious, and it was definitely worth it. On the other hand, the price I'm paying for having 2 cosmos is not. Seriously, I've had more to drink than that before with no ill effects. I've also had cosmos before, so it wasn't like this was the first ever. I on the other hand spent pretty much all day with a headache and that was after throwing up this morning. We're thinking that the drink had a special recipe with a different liquor than normal, and that's what disagreed with me.

Economy

Everywhere you look these days, someone is saying something about the economic slowdown. The media is panicking about it and spreading fear. I think this contributes to people who have disposable income not spending. The last few months were stressful for us because Jeremy was without a job. Technically, this job is a temporary contract, but we feel pretty good that he'll get hired permanently. Thus far, this economy really hasn't affected us to any great extent. We are spending less and watching our money really carefully. We don't eat out but once a week, and we try to conserve where we can.

Yesterday, the economic issues hit home. My brother who's still in college got laid off from his internship. The company he was working for, although probably not as affected by the economy, is trying to save for the future, thus cutting jobs and laying off all their interns. This turn of events affects not only him, but my parents as well. He was using the money he was making to not only apply for residency, but he was also using it to pay for school. Now, he's going to have to scramble to find another job because apparently it isn't enough that you live there, you have to show income. It really sucks for a 20 year old whose trying to graduate. This affects my parents because now they'll have to help him out. Yes, he could get a loan, but not for this semester. He'll have to wait until next semester to get the actual money. Is the economy going to get better soon? I have no idea. I hope so, but I'm cautiously optimistic at best. I have a feeling we'll be feeling the effects of this downturn for years.

Velveeta

I need to learn to use Velveeta in soups instead of shredded Cheddar. Although I would rather use real cheese, real cheddar doesn't melt well in soups. Lesson learned. I made the cheddar broccoli soup last night, and while it tastes okay, the cheese has made the entire endeavor clumpy and the soup looks less than appetizing. The immersion blender works well though, and I would recommend it to anyone. It is a blender of sorts though, so it can get a little messy if one tries to blend soup too close to the surface. Dinner tonight will be hot soup and sandwiches.

Cooking Week 3

So being a bit under the weather this weekend, we didn't do the cooking that we had weeks prior. However, we had so many leftovers from the previous week that we managed to eat all weekend and Monday as well. This is largely thanks to Jeremy though who threw together a broccoli chicken casserole at the last minute from some chicken that we had froze. It was very good.

We did manage to go grocery shopping on Monday night, and I did cook some this week. Last night, I made spaghetti with a twist. I used ground turkey instead of ground beef, and instead of making my sauce from scratch, I bought the jar sauces. However, I added about half a jar of alfredo to the meat sauce so it would be cheesier. It was very good. A friend and former coworker of mine would get her spaghetti like this from the cafeteria at work, and it is actually really good. It's like a 6 cheese marinara without all the work.

I think I'm going to make some cheddar broccoli soup tonight to eat the rest of the week. I've never tried to make it before, but I have this nifty immersion blender that I got as a wedding present that I've never gotten a chance to use. What better opportunity than this? If it turns out well, I'll post the recipe here.

So far, our eating at home experiment has worked out rather well. Even after a long day at work, neither one of us opts for fast food because we have food ready in the fridge. It's also working well because we allow ourselves to go out to eat once a week. Generally, we'll have leftovers so it's like 2 meals that we eat that aren't home cooked, and that gets us over the cravings.

Taxes

As tax season slowly approaches, I am eagerly awaiting the thought of a large refund. 2008 returns hold potential because I was still a student, so I get the credit for that as well as Jeremy continuing to pay into UM as if he were full time even though he's just a consultant now. I mean really, is there a reason to take so much taxes that he only get $30 deposited every two weeks? Anyways, that being said, it's going to be a pain to file. Jeremy has his full time job and then consulting work after he quit. I have two jobs in Memphis and then my current job here in Pittsburgh. We're going to have to figure out how to do this since PA has a state income tax I think. I've never worked in a state with a state income tax, so that'll take some figuring out. First things first though, I need to find out if UT will be sending my forms here, and if not, who do I talk to in order to facilitate that.

Not Quite What I Imagined

I bought a ring from an online store the other day. It was on sale, and I'm glad it was. The original cost of the ring was $62. It is sterling silver, so I figured it was worth the cost. I received it in the mail today, and while it's cute and I like it, I'm glad I didn't pay $62 for it. It's tiny and looks like it could've come from one of those toy vending machines. At least it fits and I like it. I suppose that all one can ask for.

Weekend Blogging

No posts this weekend due to circumstances beyond my control. Okay, not really entirely out of my control, but I had a busy then not so busy weekend. I worked most of Saturday, and then I spent Sunday asleep on the couch with a migraine. I am tired of the malaise I feel on weekends lately. It usually starts with a lingering headache, and it turns into something I can't get over. It's all rather annoying, and I'm glad Jeremy is so understanding when it comes to headaches.

Needless to say, all the things I was planning on doing didn't get done over the weekend. Jeremy managed to do some stuff while I was at work. That means today, we'll have to go grocery shopping and I have a ton of laundry to do. Unfortunately, today is not a holiday here, so it's work as usual.

Life Lived Normal

In the past few days, I've examined the life I live and realized just how good it is right now. The economic issues plaguing the world right now scares me a little, but the more I think about it, the luckier I feel.

Jeremy and I made some decisions awhile back that we've tried to live up to, and those decisions, while difficult, are turning out to be very beneficial for our lives. When I moved to Memphis 7 years ago to go to school and seriously work on our relationship, we made the decision that once I finished school, we would move wherever my career would take me. That agreement led to the urgency of Jeremy completely at least his bachelor's degree. When we got engaged, both our families counseled us to buy a house and settle down. We decided that we weren't ready to buy because we weren't going to stay in Memphis after we graduated. We didn't want to buy until we found a place where we would stay for at least 5 years. We decided then that if we were to ever have kids, we wouldn't consider that until we were ready to buy a house. We agreed not to take on a car note until we were both done with school and making significant money. Upon graduation, we decided to move regardless of Jeremy's job situation.

All these decisions take us to where we are today. While our decisions certainly weren't met with a lot of enthusiasm, by sticking by what we decided as a couple, we have built a life that is fairly stable and enjoyable. By finishing school, Jeremy has the ability to pick and choose what he wants to do and where he wants to work. By not buying a house in Memphis, we had the opportunity to move wherever opportunities presented itself. We didn't have to worry about selling a house in this market. We are still choosing not to buy because there's no telling how long we're here, and there's not guarantee that the market will be on an upswing when we're ready to sell. We have a car note now, but we're also lucky to be able to afford to keep the car. We're still not ready for kids, but we also have the pleasure of staying in bed on weekends when it's cold outside.

Life is good right now, and I'm thankful for everything we have. I'm also glad that no matter what, we made these decisions together, and neither one of us has any regrets about the life we're building.

Anniversaries

My parents' 30th wedding anniversary is next Tuesday. While it is not unusual for people to be married that long, in today's society where more people are getting divorced than staying together, it is quite an accomplishment. While I've never thought much about my parents' anniversary other than a phone call, we've decided to actually give them a present this year.

Thirty years seems like a long time to me, although this just means that I actually turn 30 next year which is a scary thought. I cannot believe that my 20's flew by so quickly. Next year will be a funny time for me. Not only will I turn 30, Jeremy and I will have officially been together for 10 years. Granted, we'd only be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary, but it's hard to believe that we've been together so long. I joke that we should just celebrate how long we've been together because it's a more impressive number, but if you think about it, I would have known Jeremy for a third of my life. I really can't even wrap my brain around that.

In a Groove

As we are nearing the completion of a second week of gainful employment for both Jeremy and me, we're settling into a routine. We've had a few bumps on the way, but it's been good. Jeremy drops me off in the morning, and I take the bus home in the evenings. The last few days haven't been bad. There haven't been as many people on the bus that I take, and I think that can be attributed to the beginning of school and to the fact that it's early in the week. We'll see if it's packed on Friday afternoon.

The weather is also getting a lot colder. I don't think it's unbearably cold though, even standing outside for 30 minutes waiting for the bus. We'll see how I feel when I wait for the bus in -3 degree weather at the end of the week.

We've also gotten more in the habit of cooking at home. Although it is a little tiring doing a lot of cooking on the weekends, we are actually eating the food and not going out. I think it has to do with the fact that while we have restaurants conveniently around where we live, it's not the inexpensive fast food restaurants that we had before. It is unnerving how much we are spending on groceries although we are eating healthier now.

I think if we can keep up the progress we've been making in our lives, we may actually get the office unpacked and organized before too much longer.

Dinner

During the winter months, I start craving soups and roasts, warm comfort foods that can be eaten while snuggling under a throw on the couch. That being the case, we have a beef stew simmering away in a crock pot at home. I am trying to be less neurotic about leaving the crock pot on while I'm away, seeing as how it's designed to do that. Plus, ours has an automatic warming feature that shuts off once it's done cooking. It helps alleviate the worries.

I've never made beef stew before like this, so we'll see how it works. I just dumped in some stew meat, onion soup mix, cream of mushroom soup, celery, and carrots. I'll add potatoes when I get home, and I'll probably thicken the sauce by taking some of the juices and mixing it with some flour to make a gravy. Then, while the potatoes are cooking, I'll add the flour/beef broth mix into the pot and let the whole thing simmer and thicken.

I meant to get the rice all ready this morning, but we overslept and were running about 10 minutes behind. Our little rice cooker works well though so it shouldn't take but about 30 minutes to get the rice done.

Health

Lately I've been following several blogs that chronicle the ups and downs of kids diagnosed with cancer. These kids are usually under the age of 5, and many of them have since lost their fight with a disease that showed them no mercy. While I didn't know any of these families personally, each loss has left me more than a little sad.

Although I really enjoy science and research, I've never been interested in cancer research. I don't really understand why as cancer has played a huge role in my life. Maybe I've just wanted to avoid a disease that I seem to be incredibly predisposed to.

What really affects me is the fact that lately, so very many people I know or know about are not only getting diagnosed with cancer, many of them are not surviving. I think out of everyone I know, only my mom and Jeremy's stepmom have actually overcome their diagnoses. I don't know the extent of his stepmom's disease, but I know that my mom was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. The fact that she is cancer free and has been for the last 10 years is beyond amazing. This means that her risks for relapse have decreased back to that of a person whose never been diagnosed.

Other than cancer though, I now have several family members who are in not so good health, and that scares me. With all the loss we've experienced in the last year, I don't know that I'm equipped to deal with any more. It's selfish of me because I want the people I know to stay healthy so I can spend more time with them, but it's how I feel.

I suppose that this is just a part of growing up and getting older, but it suck.

Cooking Week 2

Our first week of cooking and eating at home was a success. We actually made 4 dishes that lasted all week, and we managed to finish everything as well.

Today, we're going to endeavor to do the same again. I've figured out what I'm going to make, and I'll post successes as they come. What seems to work though is making a large pot of soup that we can eat if we get too busy. It makes an easy dinner possibility and if we work late, we can just have a bowl of soup with a sandwich or a salad.

1 of 2

The Tigers' basketball team beat UCF in an ugly game. An undefeated CUSA run is still possible. They came out and played really sluggishly though, and they really need to focus and get it together.

The Carolina Panthers on the other hand choked against the Arizona Cardinals. It was so bad that I couldn't even stand to watch anymore.

New Day New Issues

I seem to be fighting off one health issue after another this week, and I'm not amused. I think the congestion/allergy problem is slowly going away, but my right eye is now apparently really red and looking very irritated. It's strange though because it's my left eye that itches, and it looks completely normal. I didn't realize how bad my right eye looked until I showed Jeremy and he made me put some eye drops in it. It doesn't itch or burn, and I don't think it feels different, but the redness continues. Maybe it's tiredness or eyestrain, and resting this weekend may help clear it up. I am tired of feeling under the weather, and I am ready to feel 100% again.

ETA: So the eye is hurting now, but the pain goes away slightly when I press hard on my sinuses. However, that exacerbates the congestion. I'm leaving early today.

Nyquil - Blessing/Curse

Has anyone noticed that after you take Nyquil, you wake up the next day really hungry? I've been hungry all day. Maybe it means I'm on the mend and it's not just a freak side effect.

For the Birds

Jeremy and I are trying to carpool in the mornings and we're still trying to work out the evenings. All I can say is, 5:30 am is still dark, not very pretty and for the birds (although Jeremy says that birds aren't even up that early). I feel like we are two very old people in that we have to go to bed fairly early now in order to wake up in time. I'm getting to work between 7:30 and 8:00 am so Jeremy can get to his work by 9. It's not a bad arrangement if not for the fact that we are now getting up at an hour when really, no normal human being gets up. This puts us in a position where we feel like we need to start our getting ready for bed routine at like 9:00 just so we're in bed by 10:30.

He gets off work at around 5:30 while I can really leave whenever. I usually stay until 5:00, so unless I want to stay an extra hour, I take the bus home. I realized that public transportation is really not for me. While I don't really want to drive to work everyday and pay for parking, I like the whole driving straight home from work. It's not too bad as there's a bus that runs directly from work to across from where we live, but it's still not something I'm used to.

Drops

So I'm afraid that my computer is acting funny. We'll see how often it happens or if it's just a dirt issue, but my keyboard started going on the fritz a little while ago. I would be typing in a text box/chat window, and all of a sudden, it would be like I hit my mouse and navigated away so I couldn't type. I've restarted the computer, and that seemed to help as it's no longer doing that.

I've accidentally dropped my laptop several times, but they weren't bad drops and I hadn't noticed any issues until now, and it's been awhile since the drops, so I'm confused. Hopefully some compressed air will clear up any further issues.

First Day

Jeremy's first day of work is today, and I think I might be more nervous than he was. I'm not nervous about the job or his ability to perform whatever it is that he needs to do, but I am nervous about how he's liking it. I really hope this is something he'll enjoy.

Taco Soup

While this isn't going to turn into a food blog, I am going to use it to catalog recipes that Jeremy and I enjoy. We're trying to cook more and eat out less, so any recipes that are easy and good will go into our monthly rotation.

Jeremy's mom made this soup while we were in Memphis, and it was very yummy. It is a good compromise between Jeremy and my beliefs on chili. He's always had chili with beans in it while I believe that a real chili does not include beans. This soup is hearty like chili but because it is not actually chili, Jeremy can have it with beans.

The recipe can be anything you have on hand, and you can add more or less of things as you have in your pantry. Also, it could be much spicier with the addition of green chilies or jalapenos, but Jeremy does not like super spicy foods, so our soup was on the mild side.

1-2 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion finely diced
2 large cans diced tomatoes
1 medium can stewed tomatoes, chopped
3 medium cans beans (kidney, pinto, chili)
1 medium can corn, drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch dressing

I sauteed the onions and the meat together and drained the meat. I left some of the fat because I used a very lean beef. Dump in seasoning packets and mix well. Add in tomatoes and beans. I drained the beans but not the tomatoes. Draining the chili beans also cut down on the spiciness. Add drained corn and simmer. I added about 2 cups of water as well because the soup was thick like chili and not so much like soup. Simmer until heated through and flavors well blended. Garnish with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Note: This makes a lot of soup. Our soup pot is a 5 quart pot, and it was completely full before we added the water.

Hello World

It is a brand spanking new year, and I apologize for not posting the last two weeks. We had a busy holiday vacation in Memphis. We got to hang out with old friends, and we got to spend some quality time with his family.

We are back in Pittsburgh now, so I am going to continue to try to blog every day. While there's probably nothing really interesting going on in my life, I am liking the act of journaling.