Baby Steps

Well, this last week has been a mixed bag.

It's been successful in some ways --- I was able to get all my weekday walks in and made it through five laps at the park yesterday. Today's goal: six! I filed my federal tax return on Thursday and mailed off my state return yesterday, so $638 should be winging its way to me within the next few weeks.

It's been unsuccessful in others --- I'm really struggling to find the motivation to do anything at home. I'm not having any trouble shopping, however, so I have been enjoying buying some new spring clothes to fit my new body and some new bedding to fit my new mattress. I find myself resisting the thought of having to start from scratch, but I guess there's no other way out of this hole. So I'm making a pledge right now - whatever else I do or don't do this week - to put the routine back in my morning. Remember these? These nine simple steps I adopted one at a time beginning in November 2007. They became the core of my housekeeping routine:

Open window in bedroom on arising, for free circulation of air.

Throw back bed covers, including top sheet.

Carry soiled clothing to the hamper. Hang up other clothing. Put away any personal possessions out of place in the bedroom.

Prepare and serve breakfast.

Clear away dishes and misplaced articles from dining room, after breakfast.

Operate ventilating range hood while scraping, rinsing, and stacking dishes in the dishwasher. Leave pots and pans to soak in sink.

Put away food.

Make bed.

Close bedroom window if air conditioning will be used during day.

There's no excuse in the world that feels as good to me now as I used to feel having accomplished these nine simple steps every morning of the week. Whether I'd like the extra sleep or not, my body is used to getting up at a certain time and getting things done, so I can't even truly enjoy re-setting my alarm and spending another hour in bed! I just lie there, tossing and turning, feeling stupendously unaccomplished for not getting up and doing my chores. I'm resolving, in fact, to do every one of these chores before I press "Publish Post" on these very words this morning. By the time you read this post, I'll have finished each and every one of them...

There, I've finished the first three steps. Now for a little fun. I've asked my parents over for a vintage dinner party on April 11 before they head back East for the year. It's the Sunday after Easter, but I'm planning a 1940s springtime menu complete with vintage table decorations. I've been doing a little research into Easter menus from that time period. Leaving out the meat, of course, I'm sure to be able to mix and match from these dishes to come up with a menu appropriate for my dinner party. Which one is your favorite?

Milwaukee Journal (April 18, 1943)
Broiled Ham Slice
Parsley Buttered Potatoes
Steamed Peas in Orange Cups
Fresh Fruit Salad
Baking Powder Biscuits with Honey
Cake [made with coconut and candy eggs] and Fresh Pineapple
Coffee

Better Homes and Gardens (April 1945)
Baked Ham Slice
Easter Eggs
New Potatoes and Peas in Cream
Little Green Onions
Carrot Curls
Rosy Radishes
One-a-Penny Buns
Mile-High Lemon Chiffon Pie

St. Petersburg Times (March 18, 1945)
Cream of Fresh Vegetable Soup
Celery Crisps
Chicken Loaf
Frizzled Ham Slices
Glazed Sweet Potatoes
String Beans Hollandaise
Fruit Fan Salad [segments of chilled citrus fruit, strawberries, apple slices, and raisins for garnish]
Toasted Crackers
Cheese Spread

Toledo Blade (April 16, 1946)
Orange and Grapefruit Cup
Fried Chicken
New Potatoes with Watercress
Butter
Fresh Asparagus
Endive and Hard Cooked Egg
Salad
Corn Meal Muffins
Rhubarb Cream Pie

Pittsburgh Press (April 1, 1947)
Three Fruit Cocktail [frosted peaches, grapefruit, strawberries]
The Easter Ham [garnish of peach halves]
Sweet Potato Puffs
New Asparagus
Mock Hollandaise Sauce
Molded Spring Salad
Hot Biscuit or Rolls
Preserves or Jelly
Meringue Shells with Ice Cream and Strawberries
Coffee
Candy
Sliced Nuts

Tomato Consomme
Crisp Wafers
Olives
Radish Rose
Celery
Roast Chicken with Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans with Celery
Mixed Fresh Fruit Salad
Frozen Strawberry Dessert
Coconut Frosted Cup Cakes
Coffee
Candies

Fresh Fruit Cup
Crown Roast of Lamb with Mint Apples
New Potatoes in Cream
Buttered New Potatoes or Cauliflower
Spring Vegetable Salad
Daffodil Cake a la Mode
Coffee
Salted Nuts
Candies

[Spokane] Spokesman-Review (March 18, 1948)
Fruit Cup
Baked Ham
Creamed New Potatoes and Peas
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Jellied Gingerale and Pear Salad
Relishes
Hot Cross Buns
Orange Chiffon Cake
Coffee

Southeast Missourian (April 14, 1949)
Consomme with Cut-up Vegetables
Roast Leg of Spring Lamb
Mint Sauce
Brown Gravy
Surprise Baked Potatoes
Green Peas
Buttered Asparagus
Parkerhouse Rolls
Butter or Fortified Margarine
Watercress Salad
Angel Pie with Crushed Strawberries and Pineapple
Coffee
Milk

You can definitely see some trends as to what kinds of foods were considered springlike in the 1940s, even if there was no way on God's green earth most Americans could put fresh peas, asparagus, strawberries, or pineapple on the dinner table in April! Unless you lived out West, you probably wouldn't be able to pull that kind of thing off 'til June. Most housewives would have had to rely on canned (or frozen) fruits or vegetables for an Easter menu like these. Maybe that's what these Easter dinner menus are really all about --- a taste of what's to come in a couple more months. A hint of your first harvest from the garden, even if it's weeks away and those seedlings aren't even yet in the ground!

Back to work. Let's face it, my kitchen's a mess. And the last thing I feel like doing is any kind of baking or cooking in a mess. I've been stalled up on this last week's breakfast menus ever since Tuesday's called for some baking. I need to address that, but I can't do it before eating my breakfast this morning - so I'm going to shoot for something simple, but filling. How 'bout Thursday's menu:

Grapefruit Half
Poached Free-range Eggs
Toast

I've just finished steps four, five, six, and seven. It's literally the first time in weeks I've eaten a meal sitting at my kitchen table. I've still got two more steps to take, then I can publish this post and go forward with my day...

Check, and check! I'll have to share some of the decorating I've started in my bedroom in another post. For now, my bed is made. The room has been aired, but it's warm enough these days that I should be able to open the window again in a couple hours and leave it open 'til sunset. Thanks for holding my hand while I worked my way thru these chores. Clearly - even after all this time - keeping things clean and organized does not come naturally to me. Will it ever?

Vernal Equinox

Today is the first day of spring. (How did it get to be late March?) A day for new beginnings and fresh starts --- boy, do I need one! I've been working hard to get my walking routine back on track, but just about everything else in my life is still in chaos. It's monumentally tough to want to work hard when you feel so uncomfortable. My lower back aches and I'm always crampy - it's like PMS every day of the week around here - but my doctor assures me this is normal for someone recovering from a ruptured cyst. This, too, is supposed to pass.

So I forced myself to sit down at the computer this morning and plan my breakfast menus for the week ahead. That's something I used to do every Sunday and it feels good to do it again. I'll make a stop at the supermarket later today and make sure that my pantry and refrigerator are ready to go. Since I'm not yet doing any morning exercises, I've got some extra time and I'm even planning to do a little baking on Tuesday morning. There's a recipe for Pineapple Muffins in The American Woman's Cook Book (1945) I've been wanting to try. (I'll share if they turn out yummy.)

You know, it turns out I've become a bit of a snob since I started baking for myself. When I let myself indulge in whatever the heck I felt like eating over the past month, the things I indulged in rarely tasted as good as I'd expected them to. Isn't that funny? Things I remembered from before my diet as having been to die for didn't really pan out when I "treated" myself to them again. And it's not that I've become some fantastic cook, so maybe it's the ingredients. Those looooooooooooong lists of additives and preservatives just don't taste very good to me any more. Has my palate changed? I guess I've become accustomed to eating things that are simpler and fresher. That's probably a good thing in the long run, but it does make "indulging" a little harder...

Thank you all so very much for your kind comments and warm thoughts. I'm sure I'll feel more like blogging as I start to feel more and more like myself. Wishing you all a happy first day of spring!

Hello There...

Hello there, dear readers... It's Jitterbug - crawling out of the cave where she's been licking her wounds to check in with the world.

It's been a long few weeks since I last posted. The virus never resulted in dehydration, but shortly after my last post the symptoms morphed into something I thought was a bacterial infection. It actually turned out to have been an ovarian cyst which has since ruptured. Several doctors' visits + 1 CT scan + 2 courses of antibiotics + 1 ultrasound + lots of Vicodin later, I'm finally starting to feel like a human being again.

If there's anything good that's come out this, it's that I've realized how much my life before The Experiment resembled a sick person's. I had been physically healthy for years. My ulcerative colitis had been in remission for five years, yet I was still living the existence of somebody mired in illness. Buying supplies as they occurred to me. Eating catch as catch can. Opening my mail once a month or so. Clueless about how much money I had or where it was going. Moving in a fog from bed to work and back to bed again. I was forced to live like this for the past few weeks --- and it appalls me that I lost half a decade of my life to that lifestyle by choice. It was one thing during the years that I was actually dealing with illness and surgeries. Another thing entirely when the surgeries were over and my body was physically in good order. That's the toll that depression can take on somebody.

Oh, yes --- here's one more good thing. I was stuck at home so much during the last few weeks I got to watch season two of The Tudors. Drama-licious! Especially the finale. I'd never have thought I'd be weeping for the woman who got beheaded when I cheering for it one episode earlier. (Okay, the Vicodin may have been partially responsible for my mood swings.) I'm waiting for season one now so I can see what happened first. If you're on the lookout for a guilty pleasure, The Tudors might just fit the bill. And, hey, it's history. Educational, right?

So, I'm picking up the pieces. I'm not entirely comfortable yet and have two more tests to look forward to, but I want my life back. My biggest goal today is to get outdoors and walk. Slowly. 30 minutes at the park. It will have been the first time in three weeks that I've done a lick of exercise. And I'd like to slowly pick some things up around the house and start a shopping list for things I'll need from the grocery store this weekend. No heavy-duty cleaning, no stretching/toning --- just a little something normal. I promise I'll check in again soon...