I have a friend, JeNan, who started a blog a few weeks ago. As I read her posts, it reminded me of what this blog was like in the beginning – before I got bogged down in political writing and trying to write things that were SEO-friendly (Search Engine Optimization). I put Google Ad-sense in my blog – hoping to make some money – and I did. Not much – but some. I would search Google “trends” and work hard to write a story on whatever topic was the hot trend at any given moment. Anything to get more traffic since Ad-Sense pays more when more people see their ads.

I learned about how to use key words in my posts so that they’d hopefully show up on the first page of Google searches. If you Google “Remarrying Ex-Spouse, ” a post I wrote 6 years ago comes up on the first page of results. I still have people leaving comments on that post. If you Google “Silence Your Rooster” TMS shows up. Even with no new posts in over a year, I still get over 200 hits each day. Apparently there are quite a few topics that will still put The Median Sib on the first page of Google results.

So I got away from the purpose and inspiration for this blog. In the beginning of The Median Sib, I wrote almost entirely about things in my life – what I was thinking about, my family, my experiences.

The Median Sib will get back to that original purpose. Starting now. If JeNan can write daily for a month, then surely I can write two or three times a week. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but I haven’t done much writing lately.

So what DO I want to write about? I’m retired now. For the first time in my adult life, I HAVE the time to write. My goal over the next week is to think about the direction I want to take in my writing. Do I want to write a children’s book? Do I want to write non-fiction? Fiction? However, I want to take JeNan’s advice and WRITE – not just think about it.

I saw a quote this morning – “Life is a roller coaster. Ride it!” I love it! And that will be one of my goals for 2011. New Years Day is a perfect time to make a new start, to write resolutions and plan for the coming year.

However, to REALLY celebrate the first day of 2011 appropriately, one must EAT appropriately. And that means the traditional Southern New Years Day meal – but with a little Carol-ism thrown in – just to make it personal. Here’s what I’ll be preparing and eating today:

Menu
Hoppin’ John

Cooked Cabbage

Cornsticks

Sweet Iced Tea

Recipes

Hoppin’ John

1 can mild tomato/jalopena mixture (RoTel) If you like things a little spicier, use regular RoTel.

2 cans black-eyed peas

1 can diced tomatoes (optional)
1/2 lb link of turkey sausage

Cut the turkey sausage into bite-size pieces – dump everything together and cook. You can serve this over rice or mix some rice in it, or eat it by itself with no rice. It’s delicious riceless or not.

Cooked Cabbage

Core a cabbage. Then chop it into small pieces. Place in a saucepan, add about 1 cup of water. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add some butter (1 or 2 Tablespoons). Bring to a boil and simmer gently until tender.

Cornbread Sticks

2 cups cornmeal MIX

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg, well-beaten

buttermilk (enough to make a good batter)

Pour into cast iron cornstick pans that have been sprayed with Pam and pre-heated in a 425 oven. The batter should sizzle when you pour it into the pans. Bake until golden brown. Serve hot. I like to crumble a cornstick or two into my hoppin’ john.

Sweet Iced Tea

4 family-size tea bags

1 gallon water
1 to 2 cups Splenda, sugar or Truvia (depending on your preference)

Put the tea bags in a 1 quart glass measuring cup, fill water and microwave on high for about 10 minutes. Let it sit (steep) for about 5 minutes. Pour into a pitcher and add the remaining water to make one gallon. Add the sweetener and stir. DELICIOUS and refreshing!

SYMBOLISM

The blackeyed peas in the Hoppin’ John symbolize coins – a sign of prosperity for the new year. May there be lots of that in 2011. The turkey sausage symbolizes my American heritage – the wild turkeys from the first Thanksgiving. For me, it also reminds me of the land where RT and I live – dozens of wild turkeys reside here. The tomatoes and jalopenas symbolize good taste and spiciness. May I never grow too old to be spicy.

The leaves of the cabbage are a symbol of folding money – currency. Again, may there be lots of that in 2011.

The corn in the cornsticks is another symbol of my American heritage. Enough corn for good health, enough oil to smooth out the rough places in life, an egg to remind me of the newness of life, and the buttermilk to remind me that the sour places in life make the good places all the more sweet. Baking the cornsticks in cast-iron pans reminds me of what the American pioneers used in their travels cross country to explore new lands.

The iced tea is symbolic of my Southern roots. Sweet iced tea is pure Southern!

There you have it! A New Year’s day feast with some traditional and some Carol-grown symbolism attached.

This morning I took a walk through the woods on the acreage around our house. Since I was walking alone, I took my cell phone and my handgun. As I walked the paths that Ron had so painstakingly made, I was thinking about the uneven ground and how I had to be careful. After awhile, I arrived back at our house. Since I was a couple minutes under my planned 30-minute walk, I decided to walk around the yard for a few minutes. As I walked on the side of the yard near the AC units, I suddenly stepped into a hole – a hole that I didn’t see because the grass covered it up. It was maybe six or seven inches deep. Wham! I immediately pitched forward, landing hard on my right wrist. My cell phone and gun both flew out of my coat pockets. The gun was in a small holster – so there wasn’t any danger of it going off. I just report how they flew out of the pockets to show the force of the fall.

My first thought was “Oh no! Did I break anything?” I used my walking pole to help me sit up and then stand. I picked up and re-pocketed my phone and gun. And then started to gingerly limp around – testing my foot and leg. My hand was a little sore – but okay. My left leg and foot – not so sure. I kept walking – limping – trying to figure out if there was any significant injuries. I called Ron. Of course, being me, I couldn’t talk to him without crying. He wanted to hurry home and take me to the emergency room. After talking for a few minutes and continuing to walk, I convinced him I was okay.

It is now an hour later. I’m sitting in my recliner, and I’m no longer sure I’m okay. I’ve wrapped ice and ace bandages around my foot and leg – and both my foot and leg are aching and throbbing. I walked to the kitchen to get some cereal (hadn’t had breakfast yet) and had a really difficult time getting there and back. Damn! I sure hope I didn’t break a bone.

So why did I title this post “Ironies”? Because I was worried about being injured on the uneven wood trails – but in our yard where I walk all the time, where there are no apparent dangers and where I never considered being injured – that’s where I fell.

55 days until I retire after over 30 years of teaching. I’ve taught 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade and 7th grade. The past six years I’ve been a reading specialist. Probably a third of my years of teaching were spent in 2nd grade. I think my favorite grade, however, was 5th grade.

And now, I’m 55 days away from the end of my formal teaching career. I am certain that I will be a teacher until the day I die – whether it’s teaching the grandkids to cook, teaching s Vacation Bible School class or tutoring to pick up some extra money.

What are my plans for retirement?
(1) Will get my pilot’s license. Yes, you read that correctly. Ron has his pilot’s license and owns a small airplane. I fly with him often, and I think it would be great for me to also have my pilot’s license and be able to do the flying occasionally. Plus, I’d feel more confident on flights if I knew that – should the need arise – I could land the plane myself.

(2) Get my house in order. I start days off with lots of energy and the go-getum to get a lot done. By the time I get home from work, I’m exhausted with only enough stamina to do whatever is necesary. Thus, there is a lot of organization that is lacking in our home. I don’t like clutter, and I am looking forward to having the time to get everything organized and in order. A place for everything, and everything in its place.

(3) Raise money for Lily’s Garden.

(4) Volunteer in some capacity to help children who are dealing with cancer.

(5) Spend more time with my granddaughters – including my new one – 2-week old Evey.

Today has been a very laid-back day. We celebrated on Christmas Eve with a dinner for everyone on our branch of the family tree. Ron and I have enjoyed a fire in the fireplace all day long. The Christmas tree lights have been shining all day. I’ve crocheted a good bit on Evey’s afghan. We drove over to Joey and Meleah’s house to feed their dog and let him out for awhile. We attempted a walk – but it was so cold and windy that we came back inside after only a few minutes. Now we’re watching the Titans being thoroughly whipped by the Chargers.

In 2009, I probably only wrote maybe 10 posts altogether. Just checked – I had 33 posts in 2009 – much more than I thought. I used to average three posts a day – and even after the first couple years of blogging, I managed to write at least one post per day. 2009 was a different kind of year, though. With Lily’s leukemia diagnosis last December, I lost any desire to blog about the things I’d spent time on previously. Politics? I had no heart for it. Education? no heart. Social issues? no heart for it either. The only thing that I really WANT to write about is the need for money to fund childhood cancer research. However, that’s like spitting in the ocean. Everyone is interested, but no one wants to talk about it or do anything about it. It’s like all these suffering children are just swept under the rug of conscious thought. Let’s donate to St. Jude and the Ronald Mcdonald House. Let’s collect toys at Christmas to take to the children’s hospital. However, funding for childhood cancers remain only a tiny percentage of the funds provided for research into adult cancers.

So, will I be blogging more frequently in 2010? I don’t know. This blog is too public. I have a private blog that is for only myself – where I don’t have to be concerned with censoring what I write. And I’ve written there occasionally over the past year. Maybe that’s where I’ll concentrate my efforts in 2010.

The only acceptable answer is “YES!” No doubt about that one. There are children and adults battling cancer who have compromised (or non-existent) immune systems. They call it “neutropenia.” Neutrophils rise and fall depending on the body’s reaction to chemotherapy. There’s no exact science to control it. So a child might have enough neutrophils to protect her from germs, bacteria and viruses one day – and then the next day the bottom falls out of her counts, and she’s totally unprotected. Until she goes to clinic for her weekly or monthly blood counts, she doesn’t know she’s so vulnerable and unprotected. They can wear masks and use hand sanitizer religiously but that still won’t protect them from everything.

Now just imagine that this child goes to the grocery store with her mom. In the store is someone who has the flu. Not a bad case – just a little congestion and slight fever. No big deal. The person sneezes or coughs or put his hand on a cart – and one of those flu viruses just happens to find its way to the cancer kid. It’s not likely, but it could happen. It does happen.

So the flu which was no big deal to the healthy person, ends up putting the cancer kid in the hospital. . . or worse. In the past year I know of two precious children here in Tennessee who died because they caught a stupid virus – something that a healthy person would barely notice. But for a child with a compromised immune system, it ended up deadly. It’s not just the immune system. Chemo is so hard on a child’s body. It weakens the heart and other organs. Sometimes the fight that the body must wage against a virus is more than the weakened heart can manage.

And so a child is left fighting for his/her life while the person who passed along that virus has no clue of the damage he’s done.

I’ll be getting the seasonal flu shot AND the H1N1 flu shot. What’s a couple of shots compared to the possibility – however remote – of passing along a life-threatening illness to a precious cancer kid.

I challenge you to watch this video. It is 5 minutes long. Invest five minutes to watch something that is profoundly important. Then DO something about it by following THIS LINK:

Just watch this all the way through. This is the woman that the left would have you believe is “strange” or “unqualified” or “dangerous.” The truth is that Sarah Palin is brilliant, a gifted speaker, a person who lives her beliefs, and she is exactly what the United States needs to get us back on track. With John McCain and Sarah Palin as our leaders, America will once again gain the respect of the world. The left knows this, and Palin scares the crap out of them. She betters Obama on all fronts. That’s why they’ve attacked her so ruthlessly. She shows them for the empty suits they are.

The season premiere of “The Biggest Loser: Families” was tonight. Read about the new teams – four husband/wife teams and four parent/child – and read a recap of the season premier and see a video here.

“The Biggest Loser” is one of my favorite shows, and I’m excited that the new season has started. Although RT makes fun of how the contestants cry all the time, I think the show is inspirational.

Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels, the professional trainers of “The Biggest Loser,” are ready to torture into shape a new set of contestants for the show’s premier on September 16th. This season has eight teams of two family members each – four husband/wife teams and four parent/child teams. Bob Harper is the trainer for the husband/wife teams, and Jillian Michaels will take on the parent/child teams. It’s “blood” vs. “true love” or “born into it” vs. “sworn into it.”

Alison Sweeney is the host again. I don’t know what Caroline Rhea is up to these days, but she’s been gone from “The Biggest Loser” for awhile now. The show has a new gym – a much larger one that is split down the middle with Bob having one side and Jillian the other.

I’m not the only one who loves the show. “The Biggest Loser” series is now produced in 25 countries now – and airs in over 90 countries. There are five “The Biggest Loser” books currently listed on the New York Times best-selling books. It is one of NBC’s top ranked shows.

First we’ll look at the married couples – Bob’s Group.

Vicky and Brady (the brown team) are from Houma, Louisiana and have two children. Their four-year old daughter is already weighs 63 pounds – outweighing her 7-year old brother. Vicky and Brady came in last in the first challenge and received a two pound penalty. So they were the last to weigh-in after the first week. They must have lost more than 31 pounds altogether to stay “above the yellow line.” Vicky started off at 246, and Brady started off at 341. Vicky lost 19 pounds and Brady lost 28 pounds. Their total percentage of weight loss was 7.67. So – even with the two pound penalty – they came in first place for the week.

Philip and Amy (the red team) are from Greenville, S.C. They have an autistic son. They’re real estate agents who work together. Amy gained her excess weight after her son was born. Taking care of him took up so much energy that she would just sit and eat in the evenings. Amy started off on “The Biggest Loser” at 229 pounds, and Phil started at 331 pounds. The first weigh-in Amy lost 16 pounds and Phil lost 23 pounds for a total of 39 pounds – and a percentage of 6.96.

Ed and Heba (the orange team) are newlyweds who hope to have children in a few years and don’t want to have them when they’re so overweight. Ed is a chef who runs a catering business – and ends up eating all day long. They started out with Heba weighing 294 and Ed weighing 335. First week, Heba lost 12 pounds and Ed lost 17 pounds – for a 4.61 percentage weight loss.

Adam and Stacey (the green team) are from Washington, D.C. and have been overweight their entire lives. They work together. They started off a little cocky on the show, though – sure that they’d win and acting a little dismissive of some of the other contestants. Adam: “We are stronger than any of the other teams. One of us WILL win. I can promise you that!” Stacey started off at 221 pounds, and Adam at 340 pounds. First weigh-in, Stacey lost 9 pounds and Adam lost 19 pounds for a total percentage weight loss of 4.99.

Now let’s look at the parent/child teams – Jillian Michael’s group:

Tom and LT (Little Tom) (the gray team) form a father/son team that came in as the heaviest team. They’re from Boston, Massachusetts, and they’re both cab drivers. Their entire family is overweight – father, mother, sister, brother, uncles – anywhere from 350 to 550 pounds. LT started off at 357 pounds, and Tom started off at 314 pounds. First weigh-in, LT lost 18 pounds, and Tom lost 24 pounds, for a total percentage loss of 6.26. That’s 42 pounds lost altogether in one week.

Amy and Shellay (the purple team) are a mother-daughter team. from Detroit, Michigan. Amy, the daughter, started off at 239 pounds, and Shellay, the mother, started off at 216 pounds. Amy lost 17 pounds for the first weigh-in, and Shellay lost 12 pounds for a total percentage of 6.37.

Michelle and Renee (the pink team) are mother and daughter from Dallas, Texas, and they’ve been estranged for six years. Renee is divorced from Michelle’s father, and the divorce left some scars for Michelle. When Renee left, she took Michelle’s sisters, but Michelle stayed with her dad. She said she ate to cover up the pain of her feelings of rejection. They are hoping to become closer through “The Biggest Loser” experience. Michelle started off at 242 lbs. and Renee started at 267. First weigh-in, Michelle lost 17 pounds, and Renee lost 14 pounds for a total percentage of 6.09.

Jerry and Colleen (the yellow team) is a father-daughter team from Cleveland, Ohio. Jerry is a police sergeant who has trouble even doing his job because of his weight. The team started out at a disadvantage because Jerry has so many physical problems that he can only exercise for 30 minutes each day. So on the first challenge Colleen had to run up a mountain by herself. However, she’s a go-getter, and she won the challenge which guaranteed them immunity for the first weigh-in. Starting weight: Collen – 218, Jerry – 380. At the first weigh-in Colleen lost 10 pounds and Jerrry lost 17 pounds

So the teams go through the first week’s weigh-in and the results put two teams “below the yellow line” – two married couples. Ed and Heba (the orange team) – Adam and Stacey (the green team). Adam and Stacey should go home because of their attitude. And they do. They were laughing at the “last chance workout” and gloating about how they felt they had it in the bag. Guess they didn’t. Buh-bye, Adam and Stacey.

At the end, they showed Adam and Stacey today. Today Stacey weighs 175 pounds, and Adam weighs 286 pounds. They both looked great in their “after” photos and talked about their goals for the finale in a few months.

All in all, a good premier. The biggest problem with “The Biggest Loser” is how long they draw out the weigh-ins. It must work for them, though, considering the success of the show. Come back each week for a recap of that week’s show.

See a video of “The Biggest Loser: Families” below.