Teresa Coates: Solo Mama Moxie

Seriously? What are the odds?

Teresa — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 23:22:28 +0000

I was the filling of a three-car pile-up on I-5. In my dad’s newly repairs red truck. The same one I was driving in November when I got hit.

Spending this (finally!) sunny afternoon with an ice pack and pain meds.

Yippee times three

Teresa — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:18:07 +0000

It’s nice when there are things to be happy about.

Happy 63rd, Dad!

I got to celebrate my dad’s 63rd birthday with both my parents, my daughter, my sister and her kids. I know an awful lot of people my age who have lost one or both of their parents, so it makes events like these even more precious. Plus Nate and Samantha both got to be there, not in the hospital like they have been so often lately.

Second thing? The GuyFriend and I are patching things up, making amends and trying to craft what was actually a very good thing when it worked into something even better. The daughter and I have been moving our stuff into his place (which he kindly shifted around for us) this past week and so far, so good. I know there will be rough patches, but in all honesty, I think it’s good for all of us.

And last, I found out that my WordPress-hosted blog that I started this on was still active and therefore I hadn’t lost all my posts as I’d thought. Triple Whoop just for that one.

Life is crazy with work and sewing and kid and living. But I like it.

Gluten Free Bread, attempt #8432.

Teresa — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:28:51 +0000

So it’s been what, five years since I went gluten-free? I have to alway compare it when we returned from Vietnam, so I guess it is more like 4 1/2 years. A while. There aren’t many times when I really feel like This sucks! except when I can smell fresh, homemade bread. And then I want to sit down and cry for a while knowing that I will never have that again.

Seriously sucks.

But there’s hope and I keep trying out bread after (fake) bread, hoping to find something that tastes remotely similar. I have found that I really like Udi’sfor sandwiches, still a rare treat at something close to $5/loaf. And then there’s the Gluten Free Pantry mix that is fairly close to the real deal according to my daughter (who can still comparison taste, unlike me).

But I’d love to find a way to make it at home because, well, that’s how I am. As has been pointed out, if there is a more time-consuming way to do something, that’s what I’ll do. shrug So I’m going to try out this recipe that I found via one of my favorite fabric designers, Daisy Janie (organics, whoop!).

At last

Teresa — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:06:57 +0000

It’s been a six-year hunt for black boots I could love. I’d actually been hunting for a pair when I stumbled onto the brown Born boots that i wear so often during a trip to Boston. Since then, I have hunted and hunted. On Tuesday, I found them. Let the angels sing.

What do I want? Sweets. When do I want ‘em? Now.

Teresa — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:52:17 +0000

I’ve been craving sweets lately and I’m just gonna go ahead and blame hormones. For one thing, I think that it’s actually true about hormonal cravings. And also, I’ve been doing pretty darn good with the non-sweets-eating, even through the holiday season. So there. I think I might indulge with one or all of these:

A Spoonful of Sugar’s cupcakes look awesome and the fact that they have no flour makes them edible for me. Whoop!

And these Salted Whiskey Caramels, oh my…

Or how about Salted Caramel Brownie Fudge?

Just looking at the recipes is making me put back on those few pounds I lost, I’m sure of it. Maybe I’ll just stick with a peppermint patty instead. Or not.

P.S. I really want to make this black rice and red lentil salad, too.

Targeted

Teresa — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:02:21 +0000

Really it’s articles like this one from the Washington Post that serve to remind me why I find dating as a single mother such a scary proposition:

Vitasek [the 47-year-old child molester] often targeted financially struggling single mothers, helping them with material items and showering their sons with gifts and attention, authorities said.

Yes, I’ll continue being the financially struggling single mother for another four years, thankyouverymuch, rather than be a target for any man. Especially as my daughter gets older and the issues related to never having had a father raise their ugly head.

Truth be told though, this is one of the scariest aspects for me and has been something that nags at me whenever I meet someone new. Luckily the few (i.e. two) guys I’ve dated seriously in the last dozen years have been stellar men and never gave me the slightest worry. The GuyFriend has been magnificent with her, both a testament to his character as a man and a father (not for her, but for his own two).

Now as I look at being single for the remainder of her childhood, this article just serves to remind me why I’ve chosen to be picky and trust few. So far, it’s proven to be the right choice. Besides, I’ve got less than a handful of years to be Mom. I’m okay doing it alone. Really, she and I make a fine duo.

Chuc mung nam moi

Teresa — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:20:10 +0000

Getting ready for Tet is always a tad overwhelming for me. I want to do far more than I am ever able to accomplish.But this year Jaymee came over early and helped me out with the cooking. She even made the Banana Flower Salad, from start to finish. And I wore my flip-flops to make it feel more like I was still in Vietnam (not–I just forgot to ever change them!).

Goodbye Grandma

Teresa — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:03:03 +0000

There are few people who have affected my life as much as this lovely woman. I met Dijuan Coates in 1985, the year I met the teenage boy who would become my husband. He would visit her, his grandmother, amid travels and then he and I would hang out, tromping through the hazelnut orchard that surrounded her house at the outskirts of Newberg. He gave me a rose from her backyard once. Then his younger brother came along to eat off the bloom. It was in that yard that years later she showed Brian and I photos of her life, of Grandpa Coates, of her boys when they were young.

Over the years, his grandma became my grandma. We divorced and have barely spoken, but Grandma Coates has been there for me and my kids the whole time, never wavering. She was kind and gentle, loving and compassionate. We rarely spoke about the divorce or her grandson. Instead she spent her time reminding me how much she loved me and the kids. How grateful that she was that I hadn’t ignored her post-divorce. What she never understood is how much I appreciated her not abandoning us.

While we were in Vietnam back in 2007, she’d had surgery and her eyes were bad. I wanted to visit, but clearly distance was an issue. I emailed my mom to see if she’d visit in my stead and she did. I will always be grateful to both women for that visit. My mom spent a couple hours catching up with her, sharing stories of our travels with Grandma, sending our love.

In Summer 2010 we were able to take a road trip to California and visited Grandma at her new home in Gilroy. We got to share an evening with her, Uncle Dennis and Aunt Jackie. having dinner as a family. I brought her photos and the kids got to see her, tell her how much we loved her still. I’d hoped to go again this past summer, but with the unemployment the cost of a trip made it impossible.

I knew Grandma for 27 years. She showed me how to love family, even when it isn’t easy. She lives on in my heart and the memories of my children who were lucky enough to know their great great-grandmother.

Grandma passed away on Monday, after a thankfully brief health crisis filled with a stroke, massive heart attack and a destructive skin infection. A memorial will be held soon.

the rare treat–gluten free pizza

Teresa — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 22:19:10 +0000

my pesto vegetable extravaganza pizza

Okay, so this is my favoritest pizza ever and it really has to do with the delicious pesto sauce. A friend of mine introduced it to me last year and I have loved it since.

Prado’s Pesto
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
5 garlic cloves, chopped and lightly toasted
small package of basil (a good handful)
salt and pepper to taste

You can use a food processor or one of those little Handy Chopper things to blend it all up, then refrigerate it for a day. This helps the flavors really blend together and make it oh-so-yummy.

I add lots of stuff to my pizza (unlike the daughter who goes with just cheese–booooring), and to this one I added:

sauteed onions
spinach leaves
fried tofu
yellow bell pepper
zucchini
roasted red peppers
kalamata olives
black olives
feta cheese
mozzarella cheese

I forgot the artichoke hearts in the fridge. Grr. Next time!

Next, we’ll try electric shock therapy.

Teresa — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:36:34 +0000

As if sticking needles in my back wasn’t fun enough, the chiropractor suggested we try a little electric stimulus for my back pain. Now that sounds awesome and all, but I still remember a dozen-plus years ago when my then-husband was playing with a little Jacob’s Ladder he’d made. It left burn-holes in his t-shirt where the electricity decided to escape via his shoulder. Yeah, not thrilled with the idea of any added electricity in my body.

not me, but a similarly hued woman

But she says electrotherapy will be good, ease the pain. Maybe, we can hope, get my back muscles to stop going into spasms that last for hours. At the possibility of that, I consented.

The why of it working for pain relief isn’t really well-documented from what I can find, but the ideas floated around are that it:

tires out the muscles so they relax,
releases endorphins, our body’s own painkiller, and/or
blocks the nerves from sending pain signals to the brain.

Now, I don’t know if it did any of that for me, really. I was completely sidetracked by the fact that my left shoulder (and eventually my right, too) was dancing on its own. Up, down, back, up, up, down, up, down, up, back, up. It was going at its own rhythm, dancing to the tune only it could hear through the electricity streaming into my back. For ten minutes. It was weird.

I want to do it again just to see if we can get my shoulders to move in sync.