The problem with Earl
Every now and then I forget that I live in a total loony bin. Then something happens to remind me.
Sunday morning I just wanted a mug of tea. I like some fun teas, some herbal and green teas, but my hands-down fall-back favorite comfort tea is Earl Grey.
I keep my tea envelopes in these little drawers under a decorative shelf that hangs on the kitchen wall. Sunday morning I reached up to pull out an Earl Grey (in the right-hand drawer) and set it on the counter. I was checking to see if my water was hot enough when something about the silver envelope caught my eye.
Other moms might find it odd that someone had placed stickers that say POISON in big black letters on each individual Earl Grey envelope. It just served to rem
ind me I live in a loony bin.
None of the herbal or green teas had stickers, just the Earl.
"Why are there poison stickers on all the Earl Grey tea?" I asked.
I'm not sure why I always feel the need to ask. You would think I would learn not to. I do know that this time I was motivated by genuine curiosity.
My 17-year-old son Matt glanced at the envelope containing the tea bag, then back at me.
"Earl Grey is bad and I didn't want you to die," he answered, then wandered away.
Well, at least he had my best interests at heart.
Posted by: jwettschreck on 2/07/2010 at 10:45 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: dirty laundry, earl grey, poison, tea
Priorities?
Something is wrong with my oven. It has ceased to get hot. Ceased to cook.
I had Friday off work, which was so nice. I worked last weekend, and after putting in a million hours in a two week period, I was ready for a 3-day weekend. I thought I'd stay home Friday and do laundry (of course), in between cleaning and working on a project of mine.
By 10:30 a.m., I decided I needed a haircut, so I went to see my friend Cheryl at Slayton Beauty Shop. Her shop also houses the Read It Again book store, so it was a great way to spend soe off-time. Then I ran to the grocery store.
I decided I wanted to make a nice supper - a roast, mashed potatoes, broccoli, gravy and some crescent rolls. Nummy, right? It can be hard to cook nice meals when you work a million hours a week, so I thought I'd give it my all on a day off.
I popped the roast in when I got home. Within an hour the house smelled great. Shortly before Eric got home I was peeling potatoes and cutting up broccoli. Jeffrey (the dog) was dancing around my feet while I worked in the kitchen, singing along with the soundtrack from "Glee" and tossing the mutt tidbits now and then.
Eric and I chatted in the kitchen as I made gravy from roast drippings and steamed the veggies. Then I put the crescent rolls (from a tube, I'm not THAT ambitious) on a cookie sheet. I started slicing the roast, which smelled like heaven, and had everything ready to go. I was just waiting on the rolls.
Twenty minutes later, the darn things still weren't golden brown. I pumped the oven up to 400 degrees. Ten minutes later...nothing.
OK, it took me longer to figure it out than it should have, but I finally noticed the oven wasn't nearly as hot as it should be. We gave up on the rolls and ate. Good food.
Eric looked at the oven later and decided either the fuse blew or the element is fried.
This morning, Matt headed out the door to go to work, and I reminded Eric about the oven.
He acknowledged the problem, and promptly left to go ice fishing. His priority at the moment was fishing, not food.
Any guesses on how his priorities might change when he gets home tonight and there is no supper?
I guess he'll have to take me out to supper. Hmmm...not a bad plan, either!
Posted by: jwettschreck on 2/06/2010 at 2:49 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Tags: dirty laundry, element, food, justine, oven, priorities, supper
The Guide to Coming Home
Minnesota Public Radio has created a place online where returning veterans and their families can tell stories of coming home from war, and share advice and tips for reintegration.
I found this tidbit of information in the February 2010 edition of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs newsletter, and I think it is a wonderful idea. Vets returning from any deployment can have a hard time getting used to the flow of civilian life, and advice from peers could make a world of difference. Insight from family members to family members would also be useful.
I know I could have used some in the first few years as a Navy wife.
When my husband Eric was in the Navy, he would deploy for months at a time, and there was a pattern of behavior it took me several years to notice. Shortly before he left to go out to sea, we would get in an argument. Shortly after he came home, the same thing would happen.
Before a cruise, he would be focused on leaving - deciding what to pack in his sea bag, gearing up for the job he had to do, and making sure he had left things at home as prepared for his absence as he could. I wanted him focused on me and the kids for every little minute before he left. We would both be on edge, and a tiff was inevitable.
Then he’d come home. A time that was happy and blissful was also a bit sticky. After all, I had been making all the decisions in the household for the past six months (or however long the cruise lasted), then he would come home and take back his role as man of the house. I had been in charge of life, and was suddenly relegated to a lesser position, which was tough.
In the meantime, he was adjusting to being home. While happy to be back with his family, it was a huge change from the life he had been leading recently. When a sailor comes home, he wants to come home to the exact same thing he left behind all those months ago. But circumstances don’t always allow it - kids grow, routines alter, things change. Our daily lives were a mystery to him because he had been out of the loop. Simple things like a change in laundry soap brands or rearranged furniture bothered him.
Eventually something had to give, and a snapped comment would turn into an argument.
Several years in, understanding the cause of the altercations helped us learn how to avoid them.
I wish someone would have explained it to me (and him) earlier in our 10-year stint. When my cousin became engaged to a high school sweetheart who was Navy-bound, she and I had a long talk and I explained some of the things I had learned. She told me years later that the insight I gave her was incredibly helpful. It certainly wasn’t magic, secret information. It was just Navy life. Sharing that kind of information with peers just makes sense.
I guess that is why I think the MPR “Guide to Coming Home” is such a great idea.
I encourage veterans or anyone who has advice to offer vets coming home to go to http://minnesota.publicradio.org and take a look at the Public Insight Network. Consider adding your own 2 cents.
Even though Eric has been out of the military for almost 15 years, I’m looking forward to reading the advice from others after it is compiled. I wonder if veterans of the Korean and Vietnam conflicts will have the same suggestions as those from Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other deployment. Either way, it should make for some interesting reading.
Posted by: jwettschreck on 2/05/2010 at 4:44 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: coming home, military, public radio, reintegration, veterans
Outsmarting the men
I noticed the other day that my tube of lip balm is almost gone and it baffled me for a moment, because I can’t remember the last time that happened. Then the truth dawned on me.
The men in my life are not going to “borrow” Raspberry Lemonade Blast Blistex.
Most times I buy a tube of lip balm, I have it for a few days and then someone in the house asks to use it and I never see it again. I usually get the regular kind, not a flavored one.
It appears I have stumbled on to an ingenious method of keeping a few things to myself.
No more herbal or unscented lotion for me! From now on, I’ll buy things scented with lilies and roses. Same goes for shampoo and conditioner.
Well, I’ll buy them the unscented stuff and get the pretty ones for me.
Actually, I’ve purchased lilac shampoo before and the guys don’t seem to mind, so maybe this only works with lip balm. I’ll have to experiment with it a bit.
At least Matt’s feet finally got too big for him to grab my tennis shoes. Now if only I could figure out a way to win the up-down toilet seat war.
Posted by: jwettschreck on 2/04/2010 at 9:59 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: lip balm, men, unscented
Part of the art
I had the opportunity to be a part of art on Saturday, and I must say it was quite a hoot.
I attended the third annual ArtsLIVE People Project with the idea that I would take a few pictures, chat with a couple people and head back home. I ended up being part of the project.
The idea of the project was for people to stand on the ice in the shape of something. For 2010, a cardinal was chosen.
When I first arrived at the lot to catch the shuttle bus, people were already laughing and teasing and commenting on their per-sonal choices of red clothing items. Participants had been asked to wear red, and most took it pretty seriously.
When we arrived at Iowa Lakes Laboratory, Jane Shuttleworth, the education coordinator, was there to greet us. She was very nice and very informative. An incredibly upbeat lady.
As people (including me) headed down to the ice, we could see the cardinal design in the snow on the lake. A design had been cre-ated by artist Chad Branham, and he and some helpers had moved that design onto an open area. When I asked him how, he said it involved math. Now, math is not my strong point, but apparently it has something to do with triangulation and other complicated words. And little green cones. According to Chad, the cones were important.
First I have to tell you how we got down to the ice. It was way cool. And all downhill. There was a mess hall at the top of the bank, and to get people down the icy slope we were herded in a big Z. Well, zig-zag. It was so neat to see all of those red coats against the white snow in a ziggy-zaggy pattern down the bank to the lake.
And everyone was laughing and talking and teasing and giggling. A merrier group I’ve not seen in a long time. Granted, I normally cover crime and court and misery and stuff, so I don’t see a lot of gaiety in my job, but seriously. These people were all in great moods.
I ended up on the ice close to the tail feathers of the bird and by a group of people who had walked across the ice to join in the fun. I asked one woman where she was from, and explained that I was writing a story for the Daily Globe. Within moments, I had people all around me shouting out where they were from. 
We waved at the airplane overhead that was carrying the photographer, we talked and laughed and chatted.
When we were dismissed, we shuffled off the ice. The group that had been standing next to me decided they wanted a group photo, so they gathered in one spot.
“Hey, Globe girl!” I heard. Now, I have been called a lot of things in my time, but Globe girl is new.
Turns out they wanted me to take the photo. They all started handing me cameras, and pretty soon I had point and shoots in my pockets and hanging off my arms.
Anyway, the whole thing was so much fun. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, and I got a cup of hot cocoa after the photo shoot. I met some very kind people on the shuttle bus ride back to the parking lot, too.
OK, look at the photo. See the dark spot near the tail feather? That’s me. I wasn’t wearing red, but they mixed me in with the red group.
Posted by: jwettschreck on 2/01/2010 at 7:10 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: artslive, cardinal, globe, okoboji, winter festival
