Ramblings of The Geek Wife

As you know my mother died two years ago last month. I have not celebrated Mother’s Day in a while, because there hasn’t been much to celebrate. This year that has changed. This Mother’s Day I have many blessings to celebrate.

I received my Mother’s Day gift early this year. Two weeks ago my grandson Charlie (aka Junior) came back into my life. It has changed me. He is a joy to be around and has the sweetest smile that just warms your heart. I did not know what I was missing, not being able to see him, until I did. Being a grand mother is a great and wonderful thing. It is amazing how your grandchildren can capture your heart.

There will also be another grandchild added to the family soon. My oldest son and his wife are having a baby girl. She is due in August, but stay posted, we don’t have a name yet.

I also have a new nephew Mason. He was born in March. I love being an aunt to him and his older sister Elissa. They are both great kids.

My mother would want me to celebrate the blessings I have on this wonderful day. I am going to try to do just that. I miss my mother terribly and I wish she were here to share these blessings with me. But, since she is not, I will do my best to honor her by never taking for granted the blessings I have been given.

If you still have your mom, make sure she knows you love her. Life is entirely too short to not take the chance to say, “I love you mom” when you can. If you have ever lost a mother, I certainly pray for you and your family. If you are at odds with your mother please change it before it is too late to do so. May God bless you all.

thegeekwife

Everyone is looking for easy recipes, especially in the Summer months. My children used to love this meal for dinner. It was one of their favorites. I mean who doesn’t like pasta? Every one at work loved the way it smelled when I heated it up the next day at work too!

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

2 jars Alfredo sauce

1 box rotini pasta

1 bag fajita strips chicken

1 bag frozen vegetable blend (carrots, peas, corn, whatever blend you prefer)

Cajun seasoning to taste

Garlic powder

Pepper

Salt to taste

Parsley for garnish

To prepare pasta:

Place a large pot of water on the stove on HIGH. Salt the water well. This will give the pasta flavor. Bring the water to a full rolling boil. Cook the pasta until al dente, 7-8 minutes. Once it is done strain in a colander and place in a large serving bowl.

While the pasta is cooking, cut up the fajita strips of chicken into bite size pieces, and set aside. Then, take the frozen vegetables and cook them according to the directions, and set aside.

To prepare the sauce:

Place the sauce from the 2 jars of Alfredo into a pot, on medium to low heat. Then, place enough salt, pepper and cajun seasoning in the pot to taste. Then, add the chicken and the frozen vegetables. Heat on medium to low until the sauce is heated through.

Once the alfredo mixture is hot, place together in a large bowl with the pasta, and garnish with the parsley. Enjoy!

P.S. This feeds many people. You can cut the recipe down to feed your crew.

thegeekwife

In January I mentioned that I challenged myself to read 70 books. I have read eight books so far, but I am off to a really good start. I have not read as much as I would like due to a new job. However, Summer is coming and that leads to lots of reading time. Here is a list of some of the books I have read so far this year:

I weighed today and I am 8 pounds away from my first huge goal, 50 lbs lost!! I have also lost 17 inches overall! I have made major changes in my diet in the last two weeks and I am increasing my physical activity. I had to have a pain block in my back one week ago due to a fall in my home 5 weeks ago. This has prevented me from doing most of my exercise I love but I am slowly moving again. I am looking forward to resuming full exercise in 2 weeks.

My diet changes have consisted of adding more whole grain, fish and fruit to my diet. Oatmeal is now my staple breakfast and IF I eat bread it is a whole grain bread instead of wheat. I have also added granola bars as my staple snack. Now, for dinner most nights, my meats consist of lean protein, lots of fish and one night a week, steak.

My fruits consist of grapes, apples, pineapple, strawberries, and bananas. As far as vegetables, I try to eat them mostly steamed. I have found that the different varieties of flash frozen steam-in bags at the grocery store work very well for me considering the long hours I work.

I was speaking with someone yesterday at work, and they asked me what as been the most challenging of all through this journey, and I told them adjusting to a lifestyle change. That is truly what you have to learn to do, if you successfully want to lose weight, is make a lifestyle change. Eating right and exercise become part of your daily routine.

I no longer eat the way I used to. I no longer eat fried foods, I don’t crave sweets like I used to, and I drink tons of water. If you are contemplating a weight loss journey, you have to mentally ready to accept that your life has to change. You also have to take it one day at a time. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. This has been hard and there are days I just want to splurge and eat whatever I want, and then I look at the app on my phone and see that BIG number that I have lost, and I quickly change my mind, that is power!

So, finding a way to stay motivated is important, and my app on my phone does that for me. As well, I have an amazing diet support group that keeps me motivated. I also added the weight loss ticker here on my blog to keep me honest and accountable.

I am looking forward to my next goal, 100 lbs lost which I hope to hit by the end of the year! I will keep you posted on my progress. If you are on a weight loss journey, good luck and maybe we can keep each other motivated!

thegeekwife

As you know, I have written about surviving suicide several times before. It is a very painful subject for me, because my family has experienced it more times than usual, it seems. I have mentioned before that my father, my brother, my ex-brother in-law have all committed suicide. Two weeks ago, another member of our extended family did the same.

According to S.A.V.E  ”Suicide takes the lives of 30,000 Americans every year.” This is a staggering figure.

Trying to make sense of suicide as an adult is difficult. Trying to explain suicide to your children is impossible. Trying to make them understand why multiple people in your family would do the same is incomprehensible.

You have to make them understand that nothing they could have done differently would have changed things. You have to make them understand that they are not at fault. This is not an easy task. Children often ask why their loved ones left them here if they loved them so much. Wow, it hurts when you hear questions like that.

Also, you have to make sure you understand the warning signs of depression so, that you can get your children help before they head into trouble. Depression and suicide runs in families, like mine,  and that in itself is a scary fact.

If you feel you are depressed get help immediately, do not wait. If you know someone that is depressed encourage them to get help. Symptoms of depression and its warning signs can be found here.

Suicide, like I have said before, is a very selfish act. Those that choose this path, do not think about those they leave behind. Nor do they consider the emotional, and financial mess they leave behind. For those that have survived suicide you are left to deal with not only the emotional and financial fallout, but often the social fallout as well.

Suicide still has a stigma attached to it. People do not understand it and cannot until they experience themselves. Even though depression treatment has made huge leaps and bounds over the years, it is still largely an illness not understood.

If suicide has touched your family, my heart goes out to you. It can be a horrible process and the healing can continue for many years. Just remember, time doesn’t heal all wounds, it just makes the pain easier to bear.

thegeekwife

About 8 months ago the stone in my engagement ring became loose. I took it to the jeweler, they tightened it and told me the prongs would have to eventually be replaced. Now keep in mind I had just gotten my ring in February 2009. This was Summer 2011. I am very hard on jewelry I will admit.

So, I continued to wear it but, I was very careful where I wore it, and I always took it off and put it away when I got home. Now, you may be saying to yourself, “why is she continuing to wear it if the prongs needed to be replaced?” Well, you see I could not bear to part with it even for a day to put in the jewelers to have the prongs replaced. It had been a very tough year, if you read my blog, and it was just too much for me to part with it even for a day.

Well, one day in November, we had a very busy day of errand running for our house. I am talking about all the major stores, grocery stores, etc… a full day. Well, I put on my ring and ran out the door.

We were in the very last store of the day and I happened to look down at my hand and my worst nightmares had come true! I had LOST the stone in my engagement ring! I looked at my husband and burst into tears. His first reaction was hurt and anger, because he had been telling me I was going to lose it, and I kept telling him I wasn’t that careless.

But, after he calmed down, he told me that my ring was completely insured and that we had full replacement value insurance. Thank goodness I have a very smart husband. Well, after several months of paperwork and appraisals etc….We finally got the ring back on Monday night, I was like an excited little school girl.

My husband gave my ring back to me in a very romantic way. It will never replace the sentimental stone we lost, but this stone will be here for many years to come and hopefully we can build new memories with this stone. We are going back to our engagement spot in May. We will take this stone back to where it all began and start those memories off on the right foot again.

If I have learned any lesson out of this, it is to take your ring to the jewelers at the first sign of trouble no matter how big or small. Do not be afraid to be without it, because if you do not fix it, you may be without it forever.

thegeekwife

Yesterday was a beautiful day. So, I decided to leave my office for the first time in a couple of weeks, during the day, and take myself to lunch. I went into the sandwich shop close to my office and ordered a sandwich. While they were making it I requested that my sandwich be warmed. I was then informed that there was no way for them to heat my sandwich. I was floored. You are a sandwich shop and you have no means of giving the customer a choice of a warm sandwich versus a cold one? I then proceeded to ask them why and I was told “it is more convenient for us to not to have to stop and warm the sandwiches for the customer.” I was horrified. More convenient for them! What about what the customer wants or needs. There may have been a reason behind me asking for a warm sandwich other than I just don’t like cold food. This is an example of bad customer service. Evidently this company is more concerned about inconveniencing their employees than doing right by their customers.

Then, I proceeded to leave the sandwich shop, after only eating about 3/4 of my meal, to head to the cupcake place around the corner. Oh boy. I go in and the guy at the register hands me this huge menu, a two page color brochure of gorgeous cupcakes. So I stand there and peruse the menu. Finally, I choose german chocolate and champagne wedding cake, I order six of both. Only for him to say, “Those aren’t on our daily menu. We only make certain cupcakes each day. So choose from this list.” He then points to a Friday daily menu list with only about six cupcakes on it, none of which I want. Who does that? What company gives you a menu of services then says, “Oh, we only provide these on this day?” Again an example of a company that is doing what is convenient for them, not what their customer wants or needs. This is again bad customer service. I proceeded to tell him exactly how bad this procedure is for his customers and I left.

Then, at dinner last night I went to my favorite sushi place in town for a quiet meal all by myself. My husband had a meeting so I treated myself to dinner out. My waiter was a young man in his early twenties. He barely spoke two words to me after I was seated, except to ask for my order, which he acted like was an inconvenience. Then, every time I asked him for something he grunted like I was bothering him. Then, the hostess proceeded to sit a family next to me with a screaming child, without asking. I hate it when they do that. Some people prefer NOT to dine out next to families with unruly children/toddlers. I am one of them. So my solitude was over and I promptly left.

Restaurants and businesses need to cater to the desires and needs of their patrons. If it is not for their customers they would not be in business. Only doing what is convenient for them as a business will not keep them in business very long. We as customers do not care what is convenient for them. We only care about whether or not what they have meets our desires or needs. Companies will do better if they remember that.

Where I work we always put the customer first. It may be inconvenient, but that does not matter. Excellent customer service is what drives your business and maintains your customer base. Don’t you agree?

thegeekwife

I rolled over and looked at my cell phone, it said 2:30 a.m. on Monday morning.. The weatherman had said it would get bad in Birmingham around 3:00 a.m., he wasn’t far off. I switched over to my ABC 33/40 weather app to look at radar and I said to myself, “we will be going to the basement shortly”. No sooner that that thought crossed my mind, the weather siren went off and the tornado was not far away. About that time the weather radio went off, and then our local meteorologist was calling out our town to take cover.

My husband is a ham radio operator and his fellow radio operators started calling out reports of what was happening where. I knew then the tornado was way too close for comfort. We grabbed our clothes, dressing as we ran for the basement, as he was checking in as an operator in case he was needed during the storm. We get to the basement and my husband is nervous. You see, the storms in 1998 destroyed the house we now live in, with my husband still trapped inside. The April 27, 2011 storms just missed our house by 4 miles and this tornado would miss us by 7 miles. We would get lucky again.

As I watched my husband work his ham radio to see how he could help, I watched him worry that once again he would have to survive the devastation that a tornado can bring. I had never been more scared in my life. I saw the devastation after April 27, 2011 and those images continued to flash through my mind. I am reminded every day as I drive home through a town, where many people died during the 2011 tornadoes, how bad it can be. Thankfully, we dodged a bullet, per se. But, others were not so lucky. Three people died in this storm and and our hearts and prayers are with their families.

Bloggers in and out of state can make a difference. The Christian Service Mission has had a tremendous impact on our community after the tornadoes ravaged our state. You however, can make a difference! The Alabama Disaster Relief Blogging Program, for every blog post written, will donate $25 to the Christian Service Mission, to raise money for tornado disaster relief. The goal is to raise $1000 by March 1, 2012, for this great charity. Please donate your time and share your story. Let’s help get Alabama back on its feet, and give hope to those who so badly need it.

Share your story on Facebook, Twitter, wherever you feel that you can reach the most people. Let’s make a difference together.

thegeekwife

A year ago next month I wrote a post on this blog called Hiding. It talked about how I was hiding behind all of my busyness and not dealing with feelings, etc…In working to deal with all of that I decided I needed to quit hiding behind my weight. I had told myself for years I comfortable with who I was and my weight wasn’t an issue. I became comfortable being plus sized and I was o.k. with that. After the domestic violence, I used my weight as a shield of comfort and that made me feel more secure.

My relationship with food again was one of comfort. Somehow, after my mother died that all changed. I did not want to die young. I went and had a complete workup, convinced I was sick, and everything came back fine. But, my doctor said the weight has to come off, because if it doesn’t you could be. Wow, that hurt. I have always been healthy. My cholesterol has always been that of a person half my age, the same with all my other blood work. Was I going to let my weight kill me? Heck no!

So, in January of 2011 I began a weight loss campaign. My goal, to lose 25-30 pounds that year. It is slow but good progress. Did I make my goal? ABSOLUTELY! I lost 30.2 pounds  and lost 12.5 inches total last year. This year my goal is to double that. I would like to have lost all of my weight before my next high school reunion in 2014.

You see I have never been to any of my high school reunions, or high school functions, including home football games, because of my weight. I won’t even let friends from high school follow me on Facebook because of my weight. You won’t see many pictures of me in the last 25 years because of my weight. I have even skipped family reunions in the last 2 years because of my weight. I was so tiny in high school. I am not saying I want that body back, but I would like to be able to walk into a room and have people look at me for who I am not my weight.

So, you see my weight loss journey is about a lot more than weight. It is about getting back to me. Along with dealing with all the other stuff, which I have been doing an excellent job of this and last year, I am now managing to steadily lose weight too. For everyone trying to lose weight, you can do it, one pound at a time, and for me that is exactly what it is. One pound, one day at a time. Just like I work my domestic violence recover one day at a time, this I will too. Look out 2012 I own you!

thegeekwife

Last year I read 48 books which, was surprising even to me, considering I was in graduate school until June. The volume of reading I had to do for my program made casual reading next to impossible. This year I do not have that limitation so, I am hoping to be able to read 70 books. I read books of all types. I prefer thrillers, legal and murder, and I also read true crime and historical fiction. One genre you will not find on my list is romance. Here is a list of some of the books I currently have stored on my Kindle to read this year. Now, not to say I have not ordered other books, because I belong to two books clubs too.

1. Chasing Amanda by Melissa Foster
2. The Confession: A Novel by John Grisham
3.  Crossing Into Medicine Country by David Carson
4. Delirious by Daniel Palmer
5. The Ghosts of Varner Creek by Michael Weems
6. The Grove by John Rector
7. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
8. Irreparable Harm by Melissa Miller
9. The Judas Strain by James Rollins
10. The Language of the Threads by Gail Tsukiyama
11. Medical Error by Richard Mabry
12. My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse
13. No Time to Run by J.D. Trafford
14. On Gold Mountain by Lisa See
15. Our Hart, Elegy for a Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse
16. Phantom in the River by Foster Gary Wayne
17. Postcards From Nam by Uyen Nicole Duong
18. The Reversal by Michael Connelly Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman
19. Silent Tears: A Journey of Hope by Kay Bratt
20. Spirit Horses by Alan S. Evans
21. They Never Die Quietly by D.M. Annechino
22. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival by Laura Hillenbrand
23. Dream Of Joy by Lisa See

Of course this is just a partial list. I have over 123 samples of books on my Kindle I would like to read. But, I will not list all of those here. If you are curious if I have read a particular book, leave me a comment and I will give you a review of that book, if I have read it. What are some of the books you are reading this year? I am always on the look out for a good read! Enjoy your reading this year.

thegeekwife