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*This is a sticky post. I plan to leave it up for a week or two. Scroll down to see the most recent posts!
I have already discussed here how a Feedreader Changed My Life. But there are lots of people for whom using a feedreader doesn’t make sense. If you don’t read blogs regularly, or don’t read many blogs but do want to read this blog regularly, an e-mail subscription is probably the way to go. All you have to do is enter your e-mail address in the box at the left on the sidebar (underneath the search button). Naturally, I will not sell or distribute your address to anyone and you are free to unsubscribe at any time.
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Who Are You Thursday Feedreaders Anyway?
I am a little obsessed with statistics about my blog. That’s part of the fun of blogging right? There are two ways in which I check statistics about my blog: through Feedburner and Google Analytics. Feedburner tells me how many subscribers I have. Instead of keeping a static list of people who have subscribed, Feedburner reports the number of subscribers I have each day. This changes because although some feedreaders request feeds from Feedburner regardless of whether the user is using her computer or reading her feeds, other feedreaders pull feeds only when the computer is turned on or the feedreader activated. This means that my subscriber numbers can go both up and down. For example, on the weekends when fewer people are using their computers, I have fewer subscribers. On weekdays, the number is fairly consistent.
So, here’s what I want to know: who are you Thursday-only Feedreader people? My Thursday Feedreader stats are consistently higher. Are there a couple of you out there who only turn your computer on on Thursdays? You are a mystery to me.
“My doll is a boy!”
This past Sunday some friends invited us over to dinner. While the adults were still talking, the children tired of eating and began to disperse to go play. Duncan wanted to go play in 4 yr old Annie’s room, but she was marooned at the table waiting for her vegetables to magically disappear. Annie’s dad explained that the only thing to play with in Annie’s room was dress-ups.
“What would you like to play with?” he said. “A sword, a football, trucks, maybe some blocks?” Duncan paused, and then answered, with a huge smile: “You know what I like to play with?” “A doll. But my doll is a boy! His name is Da-da [daw daw]!” He then ran off to play, and later we observed him pushing a big tractor around with undisguised pleasure.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Pumpkin Cheesecake bars are a good alternative to pumpkin cheesecake when you need a simpler recipe (these require no water bath and cool much faster) and have a larger crowd to feed. I’ve written this for an 8×8″ pan but it doubles well in a 9×13 pan. This recipe is based on the more traditional pumpkin cheesecake recipe in Baking Illustrated (by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated) with the shortcake crust from a cheesecake bar recipe that I found elsewhere. I also included Cook’s graham cracker crust recipe, modified to fit this pan size.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bar
Contest Reminder!
Less than a week left to enter my contest! This contest is open to everyone except Pmom and Pdad. So far the official entrants are:
1. Robin (comment)
2. Robin (subscription)
3. Julie P (comment)
4. Kacy (comment)
5. Rebecca (comment)
6. Christian F (comment)
7. zstitches (link)
8. Rachel (comment)
9. Jim F. (comment)
10. lis (comment)
11. dayna (comment)
12. liz [distinct from lis #10] (comment)
This means your chances of winning the $20 Amazon giftcard are really good! If you still wish to enter, it is possible to have up to two chances to win.
1. Make a comment on any post recent or older on this blog. The comment should not be about the contest and must be relevant to the post you are responding to. Multiple comments still earn you just one chance.
and/or
2. Subscribe to this blog in a feedreader and notify me that you have done so. E-mail me at ChocolateandGarlicatgeemail.com (do the @ and the gmail in the conventional way)
and/or
3. Link to me and notify me that you have done so.
I will use Random.org to choose the winner, January 12, 2009.
How a Feedreader Changed My Life
I like blogs. I like blogs a lot. But I have three children . . . and responsibilies. A husband . . . and responsibilities. A house . . . and responsibilities . . . or at least desires for how it should be kept up. But I still like blogs.
My problem: I have no time!
There is a solution. Well, if not a solution, then an amelioration. [Ameliorate: to make better or more tolerable.]
The feedreader.
Click to add C&G to a feedreader
The feedreader ameliorates my problem by allowing me to read more blogs in less time. It does this by pulling all my feeds into one place. A feed is the new content that a website (often a blog or a news site) makes available. On a blog, this is the new posts or the summary/teaser for those new posts (the owner of the blog chooses which). So, instead of using links, bookmarks, or favorites (or even worse, typing in the address) to go check Rarely Home Mom and then Everyday I Write the Book and then Robin’s Song and then Visual Anarchy, to see if any of them have new posts, I can check all of my favorite blogs at once.
Contest! $20 Giftcard
I am excited to announce my first contest! I am giving away a $20 giftcard to Amazon.
To win:
1. Make a comment on any of the posts on this blog–recent or ancient. The comment must be related to the post. (Comments such as “pick me” or “I want to win” are not eligible.)
and/or (you can have up to two possible chances to win)
2. Subscribe to the blog (Click subscribe on the top navigation bar and choose how you would like the feed delivered). I don’t know how to see who is subscribed (is there a way to do that?). So send an email saying that you subscribed to chocolateandgarlicatgeemail.com. (Fix the @ and the gmail so that they are normal).
I will randomly choose a winner January 12, 2009.
P.S. I told Pdad that I wanted to have this contest. He said, “Okay. . . but you know people will think that you are desperate for comments.” I replied: “Exactly!”
Today’s gratitude: 10-07-07
General:
1. I was able to listen to General Conference today, and there were several talks that should be very helpful to me–if I study and make the effort.
2. We invited Grandma C. and my sister over for dinner today. I cooked an awesome all Cook’s Illustrated meal. It was the sort of thing I never have time to do: Garlic & Chive Smashed Potatoes, Brown Sugar Glazed Acorn Squash, and Pot Roast with mushrooms and tomatoes. Each dish was delicious. I still haven’t found the Pot Roast recipe of my dreams though. I don’t think I like mushrooms and tomatoes together. I may have to go back to some sort of cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix combo. My inner Cook’s Illustrated devotee writhes at this, but their pot roast recipes just aren’t thrilling me.
Pdad:
I am grateful for Pdad because he loves our children. I am thankful that for him being a Dad doesn’t just mean earning the money, but it also means being a Dad: knowing our kids, playing with them, spending time with them. He spent a lot of time with them today.
Amelia: She plays so well with Kate. She is a great big sister. I love how much she looks forward to time with Pdad–she’s crazy about him. I was impressed with how attentively she listened to General Conference. I think she listened to most of all four sessions. You can’t get away from it in our house with all the intercom speakers booming it–but still, it was impressive. Also, she typed up a conference bingo game for all of us all of her own accord. That was impressive too.
Duncan: Today was the first day that he has put on his pajamas all by himself. We asked him to put his pajamas on, and he ran up the stairs and put them on (correctly even–if you don’t hold two pair of pajama bottoms against him) without being reminded or nagged and without even asking for help. I don’t know what accounted for the sudden burst of obedience and ability, but I am thankful. Also, his infected eyes are looking much better today. Thank goodness for health!
Kate: What a beautiful, cheerful baby. I love her kisses. I love her slightly sour milk smell. I love her desire for me. I am so thankful that I have been able to breastfeed. I am also thankful that she is beginning to eat more solid foods. I will be sad when our last day of breastfeeding arrives, but independence will be good too.
Sister: I am thankful for my sister. We had a nice conversation today. She listened to me talk about my worries about Duncan and how to handle extended family matters. She always compliments my cooking and I thrive under that kind of praise.
Should a Nursing Mother Get Extra Time?
This is a photograph of me nursing Duncan during a break in the graduation ceremonies when I received my PhD. I know something about school and I know something about nursing, so 
recent newsmedia coverage of the Harvard medical student who asked for extra time on her licensure examination caught my eye. The student, Sophie Currier, has a blog on which she makes her case and where many of her colleagues have attacked her. Is Sophie a whiner or a winner?
AP coverage initially made the case sound open and shut. Currier has to take a 9 hour exam and asked for extra time in order to pump breast milk for her 4 month old baby. The exam board turned her down. The judge rejected her request saying,
“The plaintiff may take the test and pass, notwithstanding what she considers to be unfavorable conditions. The plaintiff may delay the test, which is offered numerous times during the year, until she has finished her breast-feeding and the need to express milk.”
When I first read this I was appalled. What was that judge thinking? Unfavorable conditions? As a person who struggles with engorgement, clogged ducts and mastitis, I don’t believe that having insufficient time to pump is merely an “unfavorable condition.” It is a very big deal. Breastfeeding mothers can’t simply skip a day. I imagine there’s considerable individual variation, but at times I have had trouble just skipping 4 hours! And, supposing we forget pain and suffering, what about the importance of sustaining the milk supply? Not nursing for an extended period is not a good idea. The result is a precipitous drop in your milk supply. This is a problem that is hard to fix because when your milk supply drops, your baby still needs milk. If you feed the baby artificial baby milk or previously pumped milk, you miss the stimulation your body needs to trigger an increase in milk production.
I did not like the judge’s phrase “[when] she has finished her breast-feeding.” 1) Calling it “her breast-feeding” makes is sound as though it is merely a lifestyle choice, as if this is about what color of hair to have. But breastfeeding isn’t some kind of feel good/I’m in touch with nature thing (or at least not only), it is about the health of mother and baby. See my other post here.
2) When did the judge think she would be “finished”? Sure, plenty of women in the U.S. only breastfeed for a few weeks or months. But breastfeeding much longer is better for the mother and the baby. The World Health Organization recommends nursing to age 2. Granted, the urgency of pumping would drop off before the baby turned two. However, if our society is going to welcome women into the workforce, it is a mistake to encourage women to see progress in their careers as balanced against the opportunity to nurse their children. Ultimately, fewer women will nurse and they will nurse for shorter periods. And other women who would have been assets in the workforce will opt out in favor of their children.
The Rx Saga Continues
So today I went to Costco to get my new prescription filled. I was assured that this one will be safe for nursing since it is topical rather than oral. Finally, I can get rid of this infection. I pick up my prescription and head for the milk aisle. Oh, but what’s that? Duncan needs to go to the bathroom. We turn and head the other direction. While waiting for Duncan, I open the stapled pharmacy bag. I take the package insert out of the box and begin reading. It says the usual “Full clinical trials of difficult-to-pronounce-drug have not been done, but levels in plasma are similar to when hard-to-pronounce drug is taken orally. Due to tumorgenicity in mice and rats . . . . What? So my new more expensive, less convenient (because topical rather than oral) prescription, will have the same effect on my bloodstream (and presumably my milk) as the first prescription? The prescription with the big “DO NOT USE IF BREASTFEEDING” flap on the label?
So,
1. My infection is still untreated, and it’s almost a week later.
2. I want a new doctor.