calcium intake for children

by

Seven on a Saturday

It’s been a snowy, cold, two-days-of-school week and I am ready for the weekend. I have also been allowing myself to scan the news once per day for ten minutes, in case you want to try that technique. It keeps me moderately informed but tempers the anxiety a bit. Let’s have a little randomosity instead of thinking about The News.

  • I Am Really Terrible at Giveaways! You may or may not recall that I planned a little baking giveawayback in, oh, 2024. As with gift giving, I have lots of enthusiasm for thinking about giving and then I run out of steam with the actual giving part. Anyway, the winner of the rolling pin is Michelle G. from MG Doodle Studio! Yay! Michelle, I hope the rolling pin helps inspire many fun and delicious baking projects.
  • Fleece Lined Leggings. Due to the cold this winter, I have discovered that my threshold for walking outside is 20F. I can do it at 18F, but it takes longer for me to feel warm and my face is always numb and immobile at the end. Is there such a thing as a hooded sweatshirt that has, like, a pull-up face warmer thing? If so I would like to own one. Anyway, my favorite leggings for walking in the cold are fleece-lined leggings from Athleta. (Are we saying “athLEEta,” like “athlete” or are we saying “athLEHta” like “sweat-ah”? I say the former and my daughter is constantly correcting me with a tone like I am the most embarrassing person in the world.) After an encounter with one of the neighborhood puppies, my leggings now have a hole in the thigh. This was enough of a slight for me to tell my husband I NEEDED new leggings, but the Athleta ones were out of stock, so I bought my first ever pair of Lululemon leggings, these fleece-lined running tights. The Lulu tights are everything Nicole has been saying and more – they are comfortable, they are warm, they are fitted rather than bootcut (hard no), they stay up, which has been a big problem for me with my beloved Athleta leggings (except for the fleece ones – those do not fold up beneath my jelly roll). But… they are not quite as warm as the Athleta fleece leggings. I can wear those for hours and stay warm. I can “play” in the snow with Carla in just my jacket (also from Athleta) and those leggings and be roasty toasty the whole time. Maybe I just bought the wrong pair of Lulu fleece leggings? They also have these thermal tights… not that I can tell at all how they differ from the running tights. Or these adaptive state fleece joggers (although I look terrible in joggers, so I am resistant to these). Maybe I need to expand my search criteria? These Title 9 fleece lined tights popped up in some articles about “the best fleece lined leggings,” they don’t get great reviews on amazon, but ooooh you can buy them straight from Title 9 and they DO get great reviews there. These Arc’teryx leggings also show up on searches for high quality fleece leggings, although they are just as pricy as the Lulu option. L.L. Bean has a version of fleece leggings at a more appealing (to me) price, but the pant is mid-rise, not high-rise and it looks like a lot of sizes are sold out. I suppose for now I will continue wearing my Athleta pants, complete with hole (yes, I realize I could sew it up or patch it but those things are beyond my capacity; I am barely making it out on a walk at all please don’t give me another assignment) and the Lulu pants on slightly warmer days. 
  • Height. I kind of go around assuming all my Internet friends (that’s you, dearie) are approximately the same age and height that I am. I don’t know why this is. But recently I saw a photo of someone I’ve never met in real life, and I was shocked because she looks at LEAST 5’10”.  I am somewhere in the 5’5” to 5’7” range, myself. (In fact, I refused to be weighed at the doctor the other day which meant I was also refusing to be heighted and the medical assistant asked, “Are you 5’7”?” and I said, “Something like that” which I am only just now realizing is not a helpful comment when someone is trying to record my actual physical statistics.) Anyway, what I want to know now is: How tall are you? The likelihood that I will promptly forget and go back to thinking you are in the 5’5” to 5’7” range is high, but I’m curious.
  • Smoothie Cupdate: One of my longings over the past couple of years has been for a travel cup for my daily smoothies. It would be so nice to drink them in the car! Or take them to meetings for the group I volunteer with in a vessel that does not imply I am guzzling alcohol at eight o’clock on a school day. (I may or may not have, in desperation, brought my smoothie in something similar to this to a recent meeting.) But I am very picky. I hate straws – HATE – so I don’t want anything with a straw. I cannot stand plastic cups. I cannot stand handwashing things. So my ideal smoothie cup would be dishwasher safe, non-plastic, straw-free. I got TWO smoothie cups for Christmas, which was such a delight! The first one is this Simple Modern affair, which comes with a straw but also comes with a “chug lid.” The second is exactly what I had in my mind’s eye when I pictured The Ideal Smoothie Cup, although it is plastic. I will have to see if it bothers me. The double-walled heavy-duty material feels less like plastic than any of the sporting-events plastic cups we have around the house, so it will probably be just fine. 
  • Speaking of Holiday Hits: A sleeper hit in our household was this last minute surprise my husband and I got Carla for Hanukkah. We were wasting time in Dick’s for a couple hours (yes) until picking up our kid from a sleepunder and he spotted a rack of sweatsuits and thought she might like one. Sure, I thought. Why not. We got her a pink Nike matching oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants. It turned out to be one of her favorite gifts of all. She’s worn it pretty much non-stop. I kind of want to get her another one. 
  • Milk Magic: I have long bemoaned Carla’s dislike of milk slash anything with protein or calcium. But I think I have finally tricked persuaded her to drink milk through the magic of Starbucks. Apparently, the sixth grade set is big on Starbucks, and some of them bring drinks to school with them. Which of course prompts my kid to want Starbucks of her own. Because I am a Mean Mom, I made a rule: you can only get Starbucks if you get a steamer. A steamer is PURE MILK. Well. Sometimes with a splash of sugary flavoring, but still: MILK. Calories and calcium and protein. So Carla complies with this rule. And, since I only allow her to get Starbucks once a month (again, Mean Mom), she has begun requesting steamers at home. My husband has a fancy Nespresso machine that makes steamers and he’ll make them for her on the weekend. On weekdays, I make her hot cocoa. The kid won’t drink chocolate milk, but warm the milk up and add cocoa powder and mini marshmallows and voila! She’s all over that. Thirteen grams of protein, thirty percent of her daily calcium, we’re completely ignoring the sugar. 
  • The Book: Sixth grade is not just about Starbucks. It is a strange new world, let me tell you. These kids are into ALL the grownup stuff. For instance, I feel like curse words have become very interesting to Carla’s friends. (I have no problem with curse words in the right context.) Another example is The Book. Carla expressed an interest in reading a few very specific books recently, so my husband and I took her to Barnes & Noble. I am never going to refuse a request to READ. (Also, The Book was not available at the library, we did look there first.) Carla made some comments that implied maybe her friends would be surprised that I would approve of this book. It had some trigger warnings for some Adult Topics, but I am wary of censoring books from my kid. (There are surely exceptions, I just haven’t come across them.) Carla read it in about a day and loved it and then she gave it to me so I could read it. Simultaneously, one of my mom friends mentioned The Book, and that kids were passing it around and reading it in the bathroom, which I find SO charming. Of all the things to sneak around doing, reading has to be the most wholesome. Anyway, I have finished The Book and it is… very adult. And I disagree with some of the messaging, for sure, but it’s rife with topics I now have an easy opening to discuss with Carla. But it made me wonder: did you have The Book when you were a tween/teen? I vaguely remember It being passed around my eighth grade classes because there was a sex scene in it. But since I was reading Scruples I wasn’t particularly fazed. 

Well, that’s it for me, Internet. I hope you are staying warm and dealing with All the News as well as can be expected.

by

Things I’m Thinking About Thursday

This is the week my parents move to my state, which is extremely exciting. And yet everything – everything!!! – seems to be going wrong for them. I am so furious at the community to which they are moving, which in my opinion seems to have the viewpoint that their clients should feel LUCKY to be paying them money, and should not complain about things like borked timelines and shoddy workmanship and complete lack of transparency about EVERYTHING, because there are a bunch of people lined up and ready to take the abuse that my parents are objecting to. I really could go on and on about their experience, which has been a shitshow and I do not use that word lightly. But I can’t do anything about it, and nor can my parents who have already paid a lot of money for the privilege of being jerked around. My ONLY HOPE is that this moving-in nonsense is all the fault of the one seemingly incompetent person in charge of bringing new residents into the community, and that once my parents are finally settled they will find it to be a lovely place that doesn’t suck. 

Anyway, while my blood pressure surges with impotent rage, I thought I might type some things. 

It’s been a busy few weeks, and the next few weeks don’t seem to have a whole lot of let-up on the busyness front. But it’s very nearly all good busyness, so I’m trying to focus on that and not on the stressy feelings that I get from being so regularly busy.

Realtor Guilt: My husband and daughter and I continue to look for a new house, which is adding to the busyness because it seems like every week or two we have to drop everything to squeeze in a viewing. We are in the excellent position of not needing a new house; our house and neighborhood are wonderful. But we would all like a little more space. And that has become especially clear lately, because we have had one houseguest and will have two more in a couple of weeks and it’s sadly VERY possible that my parents may also need to stay with us instead of in their newly renovated home which was supposed to be done June 1. No, June 6. No, we really promise June 8. We have a guest room; we have two full bathrooms. This is more than many people have! It really shouldn’t be an issue to have a couple of houseguests, and yet it just feels cramped and crowded when we do. My daughter gives up her bathroom so the guests can use it, and uses our bathroom. And it’s fine, it really is, but it would also be SO NICE if we had a separate bathroom that guests could use. Plus I really, really, really want a mudroom. You know how there’s that saying that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses? In my case, a house could have the most gorgeously appointed gourmet kitchen but if it doesn’t have a proper mudroom I’m not buying. 

So we are looking for a house, but it has to be The Exact Right House for us to leave our perfectly wonderful existing home. And that means that we are being SO PICKY. Which leads to my realtor guilt. I love our realtor – she is a very brisk, efficient type of person who gets us in to see whatever we need. But I am a little worried that she secretly hates us. She never acts like it; she’s too much of a pro. But she takes us to see all these spectacular homes and then we find some little stupid thing to nitpick and I wonder if she thinks we are jerking her around. We AREN’T. We actually put an offer in on one of the first houses we had her show us, and she was so surprised that she kept saying, “I didn’t think you were that serious yet!” as we were scrambling to get pre-approved for the mortgage and find a lender and put together an offer on a Sunday night. 

This was several months ago now (and we still think about the house that got away), and we have seen probably close to 20 houses. The market is BONKERS. A house pops up on the MLS and then by the next day, it has five offers – all over asking. So if there’s any chance of getting the house we want, it feels like we have to act immediately. And our realtor is great about getting us in right away, even if that’s at night or on the weekend. I am aware that she chose this line of work, and that this is apparently what the job entails, and that at some point whatever commission she makes must make it worthwhile. But I feel SO GUILTY. 

Earlier this week, we saw a house at, like, eight in the evening. And it was GORGEOUS. The inside was perfection. The neighborhood was lovely. It had a beautiful pool and outdoor eating set up. And yet… the yard was small and not particularly private, and the lot was on a busy road and near the freeway so there was quite a lot of road noise outdoors. Plus, none of the doors seemed to want to stay open, which was odd. Like, you’d open the closet door and then it would slam closed of its own volition; the office had French doors and one was propped open with a door stop and if you opened the other door it closed by itself. THIS IS HOW PICKY WE ARE BEING. 

Anyway. I am just feeling so guilty. Not guilty enough to put an offer in on a house that we aren’t fully in love with, but guilty nonetheless. 

Skin Update: My face has been doing pretty well lately. I went to see the dermatologist and he prescribed me a) an antibiotic to take if I ever have a flare up again and b) a sulphur-based face wash. I haven’t tried the face wash yet. My dermatologist said that it smelled of sulphur while using it, but that the scent goes away once your face is dry. The pharmacist said this is a lie. The pharmacist’s wife, apparently, also has rosacea and so he has been able to give me both his professional opinion on the things I’ve tried as well as his personal experience. He says that the face wash smells revolting and that the smell lingers. “Your partner will be able to smell it,” he said, a look of revulsion on his face. How fun for all of us. 

Also on the topic of my skin, I am still not eating dairy… although I have been trying to add it back into my diet in dribs and drabs. A little half-and-half here or there… A couple of slices of pizza… A taco with a little cheese sprinkled on. I haven’t noticed any big skin differences, so I am going to keep at it. My acupuncturist says that goat and sheep milk have smaller proteins in it than cow’s milk, so I should start there. I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the pizza, with mozzarella that definitely came from a cow. I don’t really MISS dairy, except that I do like pizza and I do occasionally want some mozzarella or goat cheese in my salads. I do sometimes miss yogurt, and I guess maybe the next step is to try a smoothie with yogurt in it. 

Note: I have tried almond milk yogurt, which I do not like, and coconut milk yogurt, which is fine. (I cannot eat soy yogurt, so I haven’t tried it.) But I don’t like these non-dairy options enough for how many calories they have, so I’d rather skip yogurt entirely. Also, I tried almond milk sour cream and it was abominable. 

Summer Movie Watching: My daughter has a gap between the end of school and the beginning of camp, and I plan to spend our time together doing fun things like going for long walks at the dog park and watching movies. I have decided that as long as we are watching a movie together, it doesn’t count as Excess Screen Time. We have already watched Freaky Friday together, which I think went over pretty well, and Bend It Like Beckham which was both racier than I remembered and also kind of boring, and now I want all your mother-daughter movie recommendations. 

I have never seen Little Women, so that’s on my list… but I’m sort of afraid to ruin the book before Carla has a chance to read it. Maybe Thirteen Going On Thirty, which I am pretty sure we watched together several years ago; Carla has no memory of this. Another one we’ve watched together that she doesn’t remember is The Princess Bride, which I would be delighted to watch again. We watched The Labyrinth at some point in the past couple of years, but maybe that would be a good one to rewatch? I’m not as hip to more recent releases, although Carla and I did go to the theatre to see Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (it was just as well done as everyone assured me it would be). Carla loved it and wants to watch it again. 

All movies are fair game. Just please don’t suggest E.T. ; she has thankfully already seen it and that is my most-hated movie of all time, right up there with Space Camp and The NeverEnding Story. (My husband watched the latter with Carla fairly recently; I cannot get past the agonizing death of the horse.) 

I will say that my big bias against movies these days is content about sex and dating. For some reason, that’s what I find myself wanting to “shield” from Carla (although “shield” isn’t quite the right word), more so than anything else. Probably an impulse that requires more in-depth analysis, but I think on the face of it is that so many movies are so casual about sex and romantic relationships and tend to overelevate their importance. Like… Bend It Like Beckham has this whole side plot about the two soccer players both having the hots for their soccer coach. And… why? Why did that have to be a plot point? There was plenty of conflict already, between the protagonist and her parents, between her and her sister. If there had to be conflict between the two friends, why not make it about soccer? Or the protagonist’s refusal to be honest with her parents? And yes, I know that Bend It is also about how the main character’s culture plays up the importance of traditional values of femininity and marriage and wifeliness, but that was super clear without any sort of reference to shagging one’s soccer coach. (Or calling someone a bitch because she tried to kiss said soccer coach, after you specifically told her you didn’t like him!) And yet I am fine with The Princess Bride, I think? That’s a romance, and Buttercup doesn’t have a whole lot of agency if my memory is correct, but it seems different??? Maybe because the movie is an adventure, and yes, true love is the driving force and the reward, but the adventure is really what the movie IS, right? Am I remembering this correctly? 

I don’t know; like I said, I haven’t really examined this bias in any meaningful way yet. Carla is not yet ten. We’ve talked to her about the mechanics of sex and have bought her books that are frank about sex and try to be open about any and all things she’s curious about, so it’s not like sex is a big mystery. Plus, romance and love are wonderful, in fiction and in life, and make for thrilling, excruciating conflict in movies and books. But I guess I don’t love how important sex and dating are in so many movies, especially those from my youth. Maybe I am just hoping to stave off, for a few more years, that all-encompassing, dizzy, yearning feeling of boy craziness I felt from fifth grade straight through until I met my husband???

Calcium Update: Possibly you remember how I regularly freak out about Carla’s poor calcium intake? Well, we have resolved this by simply giving her Tums during the day. (This is what my father suggested a year ago and we have just now come around to it for reasons unknown.) It’s probably not ideal, and she’s probably not getting exactly as much as she needs, but it’s better than nothing. There was a blissful period of time when Carla was regularly eating yogurt. She wanted the yogurt lumps I made back when I was still eating dairy, but they ran out. So she decided to mix raspberry jam and mini chocolate chips into yogurt each morning for breakfast. Yes, I know; high in sugar. But also high in protein and calcium! She has sort of fizzed out on that fad though, but it was really nice while it lasted. 

Home Improvements Inch Forward: One of my aspirations for the past couple of years has been to get our house trim painted. And it is DONE. Well, sort of; the person who painted the trim around the garage somehow only painted the trim that faces the driveway; the trim on the sides is not painted. Looks like he sanded the sides and just… forgot them? The painter in charge assures me he will come back, and I really believe that he believes he will… but I think the nature of the jobs he takes on means that it might be a long while before he gets back to us. For instance, he was able to do the trim the same day I reached out to him because he had another job in my neighborhood and he was waiting on the go-ahead from a larger job. Sigh. I am also hoping to have him paint the front door, which is awful and peeling. In fact, I asked him to paint the door when I asked him to paint the trim and there was some sort of misunderstanding. Anyway I hope that he eventually finishes the job. We shall see. He did our deck last year and it still looks good, so I’m hopeful. 

Birthday Angst Redux: We have finally settled on a birthday party plan for Carla, at long last, and after many permutations. It looks NOTHING like what she requested originally, but she seems happy and excited. The theme for her friend party will be succulents, because why not. (Do not ask me how we got to succulents from wolves.) I am trying to gather the courage to call my awesome local plant store to see if they can source party-favor size succulents for the guests. This is an okay thing to ask, right? I mean, I can order them online from multiple places, but I would much rather support a local business. But maybe they won’t be able to do it? Or maybe they won’t be able to do it as inexpensively as the online options? What then? Do I just spell it out up front: I am looking to spent no more than $X on Y small succulents in small pots – is that something you can do?

Also, Carla still wants a wolf theme for her family party. She wants a wolf head cake, and she drew a very detailed picture of her expectation. And look, I know my strengths and abilities and there is no way I can do something like this. Maybe I should just make the cake she wants and buy this cute topper from Etsy and hope she loves it???? I know that I could possibly call a bakery and ask them to do it, but I don’t know of any local bakeries that do this kind of detailed project and my experience with (okay, just the one) local bakery makes me reluctant to put the whole thing in their hands. Also it’s probably too late now, since I’ve been dithering about this for weeks and her birthday is IMMINENT. Please tell me there is some super! easy! way to do a wolf head that I am overlooking. Maybe I could print out a wolf head silhouette and cut a sheet cake in the shape of it and… it’s going to look awful. 

All right. That’s all I’ve got for today.

What are you thinking about this Thursday?

by

Monday Randomosity: Updates and Mediocre Photography Edition

We had our first snowfall of the season over the weekend! It started with some big, fat, gently falling snowflakes on Saturday and then by Sunday it was wet, heavy, drenching snow. While I miss the beauty of the fall — especially the gorgeous yellow tree in my backyard neighbor’s yard that leans over our hedges into our yard — the trees had long since lost their leaves anyway, so I am pretty pleased with this introduction to winter.

Since I am not doing Dinners This Week, this week (I did a double last week), I thought I would post some updates about random things.

  • The State of the Ceiling: The plaster expert is gone – after four days in my house instead of the originally-stated two – for good. (I am a little concerned for him, because he told me a lengthy story about how one of his other clients is sexually harassing him. It was a story that I listened to with a Very Serious face, and at the end, I told him, “I am so sorry you are being harassed.” at which point it became clear that he was telling the story in the hopes that I would think it was funny? “I guess I know what it’s like to be a woman now! Har har!” he said, and I nodded very seriously and said, “That must be an eye-opening perspective, although what an awful way to attain it.” He went back to work.) Despite his tendency to talk too much, and about subjects that made me slightly uncomfortable, he did a wonderful job on the ceiling. Here’s a little before and after for you. I’m sorry it isn’t more exciting.
Perhaps I could have made more of an effort to take these photos from the same angle.
  • Vaccines: My husband and Carla are now both boosted! (They each already got their flu shots several weeks ago.) Despite all plans to the contrary, I forgot Carla’s vaccine card at home. SIGH. What IS it with me doing that??? Her doctor gave me a little sticker to put on her card at home, so it worked out okay and I remain the only one in the universe in our family who has three vaccine cards. Carla had a very mild fever and some arm pain after her vaccine. My husband felt pretty crummy the day after his; the same thing I went through, with the skin sensitivity and the aching and the general yuckiness. No fever though. And now we are all boosted! (As are my parents, who are visiting us VERY SOON!!!! Hooray!)
  • The State of My Feet: I continue to struggle with plantar fasciitis. I got a third injection a few months ago that, like the other injections, did nothing. I continue to dabble with things that are supposed to help: wearing my brace, icing my feet, doing stretches, rolling a ball beneath my feet, trying to pick up a washcloth in the shower with my toes (they are incapable of doing this). I have purchased foot insoles and special socks. I bought a new pair of shoes. I have even tried just Powering Through, and walking even though my feet ache. Nothing is helping. No wonder; what I have trouble with is trying a variety of things that a variety of people have suggested, and doing it inconsistently and haphazardly. What I need is A Real Plan. I can follow A Plan! But I need a medical professional to tell me The Plan so I can initiate it. However, I don’t think I can go back to the podiatrist. He seems… overly invested in the injections. The person who referred me to him claims he is a miracle worker, and that he worked with her extensively to fix her own plantar fasciitis, but he hasn’t been quite as attentive to me. He just says, “Let’s try another shot.” I want him – or some other foot expert – to say, “This is what you do. Do these specific exercises in this order, daily for 15 minutes. Wear this brace every day for two hours. Buy this specific pair of shoes and wear this specific insert.” Not, “Oh, well, let’s check back in two weeks and maybe you need another injection.” Speaking of needles: a (different) friend who formerly had plantar fasciitis said that acupuncture had cured her, so I have an appointment with her acupuncturist later this month. My husband is being very supportive. I told him I am excited to try it, and he said he is excited for me. I said, “Do you think it will work?” and he said, “No.” Sigh. We’ll see.
  • Treadmill Desk: My husband bought me a treadmill desk for my birthday waaaaay back in February and I loved it. But then my plantar fasciitis kept getting worse and worse, and I stopped using it. I have every intention of getting back into the habit. Maybe when my feet are in less constant agony. (There will come a time when they are in less constant agony, yes?)
  • The State of My Skin: I read every single comment with great interest. So many great ideas, so much comforting commiseration. My best guess is that, as many readers suggested, the skin thing is a result of age and/or hormones. Which means I probably just need to tough it out. I have definitely had Skin Stuff before, usually precipitated by trying a new skincare product. But it didn’t seem to linger quite as lengthily as this most recent issue. Anyway, the action I took was to put all my faith in NGS’s comment. She said, “I have terrible eczema and I use Neutrogena wipes to clean my skin every night and don’t worry about the environmental cost because any time I’ve changed it, my skin has gone insane.” So I went back to my old, environmentally detrimental cleansing process. My skin has responded quite well. It is no longer unbearably itchy, and the only remaining problem area is a rough rectangular patch of redness between my eyebrows. This does not mean I am going to give up on trying to find a skincare routine that doesn’t involve disposable wipes. I am going to try again – looking to your comments for ideas. But for now, this has been helping to alleviate my misery.
  • Calcium: I still worry about Carla’s calcium intake, and the variety of foods she eats in general. Especially in this busy season of our lives, the majority of her diet seems to be chicken nuggets, peas, and rice, interspersed with tacos and the occasional filet of salmon. I know this isn’t the worst combination of foods, and she is still growing and thriving, but… I would like to expand her diet to include other things. She ate a bowl of snow for breakfast yesterday, but that’s not what I mean by “other things.” One of the issues, it seems, is that Carla doesn’t have a great grasp on which foods include which nutrients. Like… she’ll indicate that she thinks white rice has protein in it, or that eggs contain calcium. I’ve tried correcting her in the moment and talking to her more generally about which foods fit into which nutrient group (and I wrote some lists on our whiteboard of which foods, in which nutrient categories, would be good for breakfast), but it’s not sticking. It might be useful to find some book resources, but I’m having a hard time finding anything that doesn’t seem too young. I’ve ordered Are You What You Eat? from our library, and I might order Good Enough to Eat by Lizzy Rockwell from Amazon. We’ll see if they are useful. 
Why is it that I can never take a photo with the proper proportions so that it looks straight?!?!?!

Are there any topics I’ve raised in the past that you are burning for me to revisit? (LOL.) If there’s something I brought up awhile ago and you’re curious about the resolution, let me know in the comments or on my Ask Me Anything form and I will post about it.

It seems as though I am doing NaBloPoMo this month, which is 30 blog posts in 30 days. (Will I make it??? Only time will tell.) Details at San’s blog here.