Blender Salad, Anyone?

I've added something new to my diet this week -- green smoothies. You see, all of my family members really like Naked juice (even my non fruit and veggie eater) but at $3.99 a bottle, well seriously, do you think I can afford that? So in my ongoing quest to easily and affordably get healthy food into our diet, I've begun making green smoothies.

My first attempt was successful. The end result was a blender full of thick green ... stuff ... that looked and smelled like smooshed up kiwis (it was actually 2 bananas, an orange, a whole lot of fresh spinach and about 2 cups of water). All but two of my family members tried it and they all liked it well enough to have more.

Years ago, I worked at Byerly's restaurant. A few of my coworkers, when bored, would experiment with making various concoctions of "blender salad." Who knew just how ahead of their time they really were?

My latest green smoothie attempt, unfortunately, will go in the record book as "combinations to avoid." It all sounded good as I was putting it in the blender ... bananas, blueberries, a peach and romaine lettuce. In fact, several of the suggested combinations of fruit/greens listed romaine lettuce. Let me tell you ... it was the color of mud. Plenty of tasty things are the color of mud - meatloaf, chocolate, iced coffee even. Cold, sweet (and thick) romaine lettuce tasting smoothie that is the color of mud ... not so tasty.

After moping for a few days, I'm ready to try again. I have lettuce, chard, beet greens and spinach in the garden ready to be picked, and a bunch of fruit in the refrigerator all waiting to be made into more blender salads green smoothies.

Building the Resume

... also known as "creating something out of nothing."

A brief background: I am a mom of 5 kids who's worked part time for over 16 years. I am 40-something college student, as well, chipping away on the bachelors degree that I "took a break from" in the late 80's. I've lived the life that has suited our family the best - raising 5 kids, parenting them how we felt was best, and homeschooling along the way. However ... none of it includes a great deal of resume building experiences. I would like to argue that being able to raise 5 kids - including twins - while simultaneously working, going to school full time, homeschooling and maintaining some sort of normalcy at home should cue any person hiring that yes, I am more than qualified for just about any job ... but I haven't figured out a way to get that down on paper without sounding a little ... unbalanced.

This coming fall, all 5 of my kids will be in school. This is a first for me - due to the age span of my kids, and homeschooling some of them, I've had one or more kids at home. Part of "the plan" of having the kids all in school full time has been that I would be seriously looking for full time employment. Which means ... building the dreaded resume.

A few weeks ago I decided to stop dreading it and, well, just get it done. Doing so involved a lot of whining, complaining, and begging for help. I literally begged absolutely everyone possible for help and advice with my resume. The task of making myself look experienced, desirable, and, of course, fabulous, all within that first summary paragraph was HARD. I'll admit here that tooting my own horn is really not one of my gifts, and shamelessly self promoting is something that doesn't come naturally.

Because I innately over analyze pretty much everything, I thought I'd share a few of the lessons that I learned here:

* No one but me seems to be impressed with interesting and unique resume templates. Keep it simple, stupid (KISS) applies here.

* Tooting your own horn without embellishing the truth is a learned skill, not necessarily a gift.

* Promoting yourself as "extremely organized and detail oriented" and then finding a typo after you've submitted your resume ... is horrifyingly shameful.

The resume is done. I've sent out a few different versions of it. Not exactly a full attack job hunt at this point. I am just a little, shall we say, timid and scared, horrified of rejection by people who pretend to be more important than I am.

But I'm working on it.

Does this ever get easier?

With a Smile on my Face

I ran into a former neighbor yesterday at the grocery store. She had just returned from a trip to Alaska, and was quickly grocery shopping for her family before they immediately headed out of town for a weekend soccer tournament. She was sharing with me about her stress level, and commented about how she only has two kids and can't handle things well, and here I am with 5 kids, doing it with a smile on my face.

A smile on my face. Really? I know I was wincing in pain, because I'd run a few miles on the treadmill after work. I know I was displeased that I'd just come from the plasma donation center, where I'd been turned away from donating because my iron was too low and my pulse was too high. I know I was distracted with wondering how I'm going to make ends meet when it seems awfully impossible right now. But smiling? I am thankful my outer expression did not match my inner one at that moment.

I'm smack in the middle of one of those seasons of learning and growth that in hindsight you know are really wonderful, but when you're in the midst of it all ... suck. I am convinced in the truth that it's all for good. I am. Even if I'm wincing and displeased and distracted. I needed a reminder yesterday to not be quite so consumed with the things that maybe don't matter quite as much as I think they do.

Some Things I Wonder About

* Why does the voice of the TCF atm have a European accent? Girl needs to learn how to speak Minnesotan.

* Why, when we can put a man on the moon, when we can clone humans, can we not fit 25 hours worth of work into a 24 hour day? Or ... just make a day 25 hours instead of 24? I prefer that things add up to multiples of 25 anyways.

* WHY THE HELL is there dirt all over my floor when I. just. cleaned. it.??

* How am I going to get to two home track meets and a home softball game today, simultaneously, with 3 little girls in tow, in the rain?

Gratitude 3.9.09

1. the hope that blogger will one day format my posts correctly

2. The kids being home from school this week

3. inspiration

4. good thrift store finds

5. great friends

Gratitude 3.3.09

Look at me, being all grateful 2 days in a row...

I am grateful for:

1. today's workout, even though I silently cursed all 45 minutes of it.

2. my job, even though this project I'm currently working on is being so much more complicated that it needs to be.

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3. (am I sounding a trifle ungrateful?)

4. the fact that I didn't give in and hit the drive-thru for lunch.

5. being done volunteering at school for another 2 weeks.

Grateful

Today, while the kids were all outside playing together, I was cooking and listening to Newton Faulkner's People Should Smile More, it dawned on me ... that I was having "a moment." Those moments that I have, inbetween the periods of anxiety and worry (there are many and they are long) where I feel content and, well, almost human.

So inspired by my old Xanga friend, Kris (who's not old. I've just known her in the blogosphere for a few years)... I'm going to be more grateful. Maybe it will help me feel almost human a little more often.

Today I'm grateful for:

1. Rob, who does the taxes, helps me with my math, puts new brakes on my van and still laughs at my jokes. All in the same day.

2. My kids getting along. Yes, there are plenty of snarky tones and "shut ups" that fly between them -- they're very normal. But having grown up getting the shit kicked out of me on a regular basis, I am more than a little grateful that they do not lay a hand on each other.

3. The tax return coming soon.

4. The hat I'm almost finished knitting -- it's such a perfect shade of green that it makes me smile.

5. My son having his best winter months ... in probably 4 years. I still cannot believe that we havn't had that great. big. huge. exhausting. struggle this year.