I've got nothin'.
I haven't blogged for days, and I am just sitting here staring at a big blank screen.
Nothing is new.
Well, except for the fact that my classes start up again tomorrow. I've had nearly 2 months off and I am a bit panicked about the things I have not gotten accomplished.
I had high hopes of what life would be like by the time Feb. 1 rolled around and I had to jump back into the classroom. Hopes such as...
a perfectly clean house...
meals stocked up in the freezer...
books read just for the pure fun of it...
scrapbooks updated...
I really have no idea where December and January rushed off to, or what in the world I have been doing with my time.
Needless to say, that list did not occur. I now have tucked my high hopes away, lowered my expectations, and have just one goal....
survival.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Junk
This mom is tired of junk.
T.I.R.E.D
My kids are packrats. They want to keep everything. It's valuable, or it's homemade, or it goes with a collection, or they just WANT it.
But right now they are downstairs with their dad, and I am de-junking.
If it resembles trash, it is trash.
If I can't identify it, it is trash.
If I step on it and it hurts, it is trash.
I hope they stay downstairs for awhile.
If they get in my line of vision, they might become trash too.
T.I.R.E.D
My kids are packrats. They want to keep everything. It's valuable, or it's homemade, or it goes with a collection, or they just WANT it.
But right now they are downstairs with their dad, and I am de-junking.
If it resembles trash, it is trash.
If I can't identify it, it is trash.
If I step on it and it hurts, it is trash.
I hope they stay downstairs for awhile.
If they get in my line of vision, they might become trash too.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
On Saturday I took my 5 year old out on his very first date with one of his favorite girls.
She meets all his qualifications:
Loves bugs.
Loves spiders.
Loves snakes.
Love lizards.
Makes him laugh.
What else is there?
Nevermind the age difference.
When she's 58 and he's 53, no one will think anything of it.
They went to The Bug Lady's Science Academy. This place is great - lots of hands-on creepy crawlies to thrill every bug/spider/animal crazed child.
I was happy to stand back and take pictures...
....and let the kids get up close and personal with the rodents. GULP.
Hairless rats are creepy....in case you ever wondered.
The best part, however, is that parents drop their kids off. And LEAVE. For three solid hours. Broke my heart.
When we arrived at noon to pick the kids up, there was a boy sitting by the front door holding a snake. It was nearly enough to keep me from going inside. Two other kids had snakes, too. One of them was this girl. I stood far back and zoomed in.
I am not wired to be okay with ferrets, snakes, rats, cockroaches, and bearded dragons all being out of their cages AT THE SAME TIME.
But these kids thought it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
And I got to be hero mom for the day. Win-win.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Yet Another Story...
....To Prove That I Should Not Spend Much Time In The Kitchen.
My husband grew up with a mom who is an amazing cook. Every single job she ever had was centered around cooking and/or baking. It is slightly intimidating.
However, my husband is incredible about the whole cooking thing. He is willing to try just about anything, will eat just about anything, and doesn't complain when there isn't anything to eat. Considering how spoiled he was with yummy food growing up, he really puts up with me rather well.
It's not that I can't cook. It's not that I don't cook. It's just that I don't really love to cook. Therefore, it is not always my top priority.
The one thing that drives me into the kitchen is the health factor of 'from scratch' foods vs. store bought, packaged, and processed food.
In a perfect world, I prefer my bread ingredients be this:
Whole Wheat Flour, water, yeast, honey, salt, coconut oil.
Instead of this:
Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Yeast, Contains 2% Or Less of The Following: Salt, Soybean Oil, Defatted Soy Flour, Mono- And Diglycerides, Calcium Propionate (A Preservative). Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Sulfate, Sugar, Ammonium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Wheat Starch, Ascorbic Acid Added As A Dough Conditioner, Calcium Peroxide, Enzymes, Azodicarbonamide, Soy Lecithin.
My perfect world does not exist often.
Today, however, my husband made a rare request. He asked for homemade bread.
Since I have been making a concerted effort to "eat clean" this year (all 12 days of it) and avoid as much processing and preservatives as possible, I said OK.
Bad move.
Idumped properly added all the ingredients into the KitchenAid and was just about ready to start the 7 minutes of kneading when...my machine broke.
The "CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNKING" meant only one thing. I would be kneading this bread by hand.
This did not thrill me, but did not panic me greatly, so I started the kneading process.
About a minute into it, I glanced over and saw my measuring cup of oil sitting there. Full.
At that point, I probably should have just thrown the dough in the trash and told my husband it just wasn't meant to be. But the small chance that I could still salvage homemade bread out of the deal was enough for me to attempt to knead in the oil.
By the way, 'knead in the oil' is not a well known cooking phrase for a reason.
While the bread was baking, I told my husband about the fiasco. His very sympathetic response went something like this, "You better hope this isn't the best bread you've ever made, or we'll want you to do it like that every time."
Then he walked over to the KithenAid and fixed it in about 15 seconds flat.
He's just lucky I love homemade bread too much to burn it to a crisp.
My husband grew up with a mom who is an amazing cook. Every single job she ever had was centered around cooking and/or baking. It is slightly intimidating.
However, my husband is incredible about the whole cooking thing. He is willing to try just about anything, will eat just about anything, and doesn't complain when there isn't anything to eat. Considering how spoiled he was with yummy food growing up, he really puts up with me rather well.
It's not that I can't cook. It's not that I don't cook. It's just that I don't really love to cook. Therefore, it is not always my top priority.
The one thing that drives me into the kitchen is the health factor of 'from scratch' foods vs. store bought, packaged, and processed food.
In a perfect world, I prefer my bread ingredients be this:
Whole Wheat Flour, water, yeast, honey, salt, coconut oil.
Instead of this:
Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Yeast, Contains 2% Or Less of The Following: Salt, Soybean Oil, Defatted Soy Flour, Mono- And Diglycerides, Calcium Propionate (A Preservative). Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Sulfate, Sugar, Ammonium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Wheat Starch, Ascorbic Acid Added As A Dough Conditioner, Calcium Peroxide, Enzymes, Azodicarbonamide, Soy Lecithin.
My perfect world does not exist often.
Today, however, my husband made a rare request. He asked for homemade bread.
Since I have been making a concerted effort to "eat clean" this year (all 12 days of it) and avoid as much processing and preservatives as possible, I said OK.
Bad move.
I
The "CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNKING" meant only one thing. I would be kneading this bread by hand.
This did not thrill me, but did not panic me greatly, so I started the kneading process.
About a minute into it, I glanced over and saw my measuring cup of oil sitting there. Full.
At that point, I probably should have just thrown the dough in the trash and told my husband it just wasn't meant to be. But the small chance that I could still salvage homemade bread out of the deal was enough for me to attempt to knead in the oil.
By the way, 'knead in the oil' is not a well known cooking phrase for a reason.
While the bread was baking, I told my husband about the fiasco. His very sympathetic response went something like this, "You better hope this isn't the best bread you've ever made, or we'll want you to do it like that every time."
Then he walked over to the KithenAid and fixed it in about 15 seconds flat.
He's just lucky I love homemade bread too much to burn it to a crisp.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Sentence Summary
It's been 10 days since I've posted.
I was going to do better this year.
Arg.
I guess there is still time.
Here's what is new....
Yep, that's about it.
Apparently I can keep crazy busy doing nothing new.
But, in funny news...
Yesterday in Kindergarten they were watching a video that had something to do with water and microscopes.
I have no idea why either.
Anyway...my son called out, "I think that's a paramecium!"
I was shocked.
I was proud.
I had no idea what it was.
It took me 4 tries to spell it close enough for Google to locate the word.
It is this.
I asked my son about it.
He told me the same story his teacher told me.
I was amazed.
So I asked him where in the world he learned that.
"Cat in the Hat."
Of course.
I was going to do better this year.
Arg.
I guess there is still time.
Here's what is new....
Yep, that's about it.
Apparently I can keep crazy busy doing nothing new.
But, in funny news...
Yesterday in Kindergarten they were watching a video that had something to do with water and microscopes.
I have no idea why either.
Anyway...my son called out, "I think that's a paramecium!"
I was shocked.
I was proud.
I had no idea what it was.
It took me 4 tries to spell it close enough for Google to locate the word.
It is this.
I asked my son about it.
He told me the same story his teacher told me.
I was amazed.
So I asked him where in the world he learned that.
"Cat in the Hat."
Of course.
Monday, January 2, 2012
New Year's Resolutions
Well, it's that time of year again.
Resolutions.
I have a love-hate relationship with New Year's Resolutions. I love the thought of something new, a chance to "start over", the hope of accomplishing a few goals. I hate it when I don't follow through.
After careful consideration, here is what I've discovered -- New Year's Resolutions could really be titled: Things I Didn't Do Very Well This Past Year. Honestly, if you started and maintained a killer exercise regiment in the past year, would you make a resolution to do that? If you lost the weight you wanted to, would that be on your list?
So instead of jumping right in to make a list of goals based on everything I have been terrible at, I am going to start with a look at the positive. What do I NOT need to make resolutions for?
I'm pretty confident I will not be making a resolution to spend more hours working. I will not resolve to be more committed to my graduate studies, and I will set no goals for additional projects to do in my spare time. Resolutions will not involve gardening, recycling, or staying up later to get everything done. I think I've also sufficiently mastered the ability to not focus too much on what foods I am consuming, to 'let the house go' for the sake of spending time with my children, and to be more relaxed about keeping up with laundry.
Yep, I've got all that covered.
So what do my New Year's Resolutions need to be?
I need to spend more time in the Word and in prayer. And, sadly, when I say "more time", that really isn't going to take much.
I need to exercise again - consistently. I did great in the fall, and then, not so much.
I need to eat right. Not just for weight loss, which is also needed, but for overall health. I have been diagnosed with or am one step away from nearly every 'polycystic __________ disease' known to man, so I have got to quit with all the refined sugar and processed foods.
I need to focus on people way before my to-do lists. If someone were to ask me, I, of course, would say people and relationships are much more important than getting things accomplished. Unfortunately, I know my actions don't always match my words.
I need a good system to keep my family working together to maintain household chores. I cannot do it alone, and I want my children to know how to handle responsibility.
And here is where I get into trouble every year.
An overwhelming number of resolutions I'd like to accomplish.
Not anymore.
This year I am narrowing it down to one resolution.
This year I resolve to do what it takes to make sure that next year's New Year's Resolution does not need to include weight loss, exercise, more devotion and prayer time, house cleaning, or relationship building.
Resolutions.
I have a love-hate relationship with New Year's Resolutions. I love the thought of something new, a chance to "start over", the hope of accomplishing a few goals. I hate it when I don't follow through.
After careful consideration, here is what I've discovered -- New Year's Resolutions could really be titled: Things I Didn't Do Very Well This Past Year. Honestly, if you started and maintained a killer exercise regiment in the past year, would you make a resolution to do that? If you lost the weight you wanted to, would that be on your list?
So instead of jumping right in to make a list of goals based on everything I have been terrible at, I am going to start with a look at the positive. What do I NOT need to make resolutions for?
I'm pretty confident I will not be making a resolution to spend more hours working. I will not resolve to be more committed to my graduate studies, and I will set no goals for additional projects to do in my spare time. Resolutions will not involve gardening, recycling, or staying up later to get everything done. I think I've also sufficiently mastered the ability to not focus too much on what foods I am consuming, to 'let the house go' for the sake of spending time with my children, and to be more relaxed about keeping up with laundry.
Yep, I've got all that covered.
So what do my New Year's Resolutions need to be?
I need to spend more time in the Word and in prayer. And, sadly, when I say "more time", that really isn't going to take much.
I need to exercise again - consistently. I did great in the fall, and then, not so much.
I need to eat right. Not just for weight loss, which is also needed, but for overall health. I have been diagnosed with or am one step away from nearly every 'polycystic __________ disease' known to man, so I have got to quit with all the refined sugar and processed foods.
I need to focus on people way before my to-do lists. If someone were to ask me, I, of course, would say people and relationships are much more important than getting things accomplished. Unfortunately, I know my actions don't always match my words.
I need a good system to keep my family working together to maintain household chores. I cannot do it alone, and I want my children to know how to handle responsibility.
And here is where I get into trouble every year.
An overwhelming number of resolutions I'd like to accomplish.
Not anymore.
This year I am narrowing it down to one resolution.
This year I resolve to do what it takes to make sure that next year's New Year's Resolution does not need to include weight loss, exercise, more devotion and prayer time, house cleaning, or relationship building.
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