Cucumber Harvest
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The cucumber vine has taken over my husband’s garden again. I wish I could bring myself to actually like cucumbers…
Bronte Sisters Power Dolls
By · CommentsThis is genius. Finally some action figures for smart girls!
Rethinking the food we eat
By · CommentsOutta sight, outta mind right? That’s how I’ve preferred things when it comes to the food we eat. I’d rather not know because then I don’t feel compelled to change anything. However, with kids in the home, we’ve really got to become more conscious of what they’re eating and try and keep them from the “fat curse”. I’ve been too lazy about it. Big J is almost 5 and it’s taken us this long to really get to a point where we’ve decided to need to make some changes.
What tipped us over the edge was watching Food, Inc. recently. Yeah, we don’t buy any documentary hook, line and sinker, and this one is no different, but it really caused us to think about all the fruit snacks and chicken nuggets. We’re doing our kids a disservice. I’ll let you know how it goes…
My life as a screenplay
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Recently, it was announced that Sony has bought the rights to the life story of Ree Drummond, the author of The Pioneer Woman blog and cookbook and they’re developing a movie which is to star Reese Witherspoon. I wanted to put the word out there that my life story is also available for purchase, if anyone is interested. Here is a synopsis:
Shy military brat abandons her dream of making a living singing opera in favor of the harrowing life of a computer geek and mother of two boys. Daily, she endures screaming, physical abuse, stinky hineys, green snot and blinding cuteness and manages to triumph in the end by holding onto the shreds of her sanity.
Riveting stuff people. It would make a mint at the box office.
(I would respectfully suggest that the character of Randa be played by Charlize Theron because we are soooo similar. We’re like twins. Trust me.)
The Great Wall of Sanity
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“Good fences make good neighbors.” ~ Robert Frost
As the boys get older, rides in the car have gotten more and more noisy. It’s all pretty standard stuff- grabbing toys from each other, HE’S TOUCHING ME, Little D crying because he wants out and Big J yelling at Little D for crying because he’s too noisy (oh, the irony). Obviously noise is expected, but it just got really out of hand, and I decided I’d had enough one day and cut a large piece of cardboard from a box and slid it between them. Our back seat is actually divided in two, so the cardboard fits snugly and is tall enough so the boys can’t see each other at all.
The difference the wall has made is like night and day! Since they can’t see or touch each other, they mostly just ride along quietly. I love the wall. I think I will write a letter to car-manufacturers to tell them that if they put in a wall feature into future models, that parents would snap them up.
Pushing through frustration
By · CommentsLike many reasonably bright kids, Big J is easily frustrated. VERY easily. He can see the result he wants and he thinks it should just work right away with no problem. When it doesn’t work, he grunts, groans, screams and yells in his frustration, which drives us out of our minds. Our first instinct has always been to jump in and try and make the screaming stop. Recently I’ve realized that’s the totally wrong reaction.
Big J is also naturally prone to laziness. “I can’t do it!” “I need help!” are frequently heard in our house. I can’t stand laziness in an adult and if I do nothing else, I want to train that out of him. That laziness in combination with the frustration could lead to a highly unsuccessful adult.
So, I was at a loss as to how to teach him to manage his frustration while encouraging him to be persistent. Then I realized… I was focusing so much on trying to teach him to manage his frustration because the noise he was making was so hard to listen to, that the persistence message kept getting lost. I realized I needed to forget about the frustration for a while. He’s 4 and it’s really hard to manage your emotions when you’re 4. I was circumventing the process of learning persistence by jumping all over the frustration thing. I would far rather raise a child who never learned to manage his frustration that one who never learned to persist at a task. What I need to be doing now is encouraging him to persist despite the frustration, and managing the emotional outbursts will come later. Let’s hope so anyway…
Getting some much needed exercise
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I joined a gym. I had never even considered doing such a thing until I had a conversation with a woman in McDonalds about a month ago who was telling me about the gym down the street and how it was pretty reasonable and the childcare was free so she got to enjoy some much needed “alone time”. I had a sudden epiphany. It was exactly what I needed! We need to get out of the house most days or risk going crazy, but there are few places to go in colder months. What better place to go than were they can play and run off some energy and where I can get some BADLY needed exercise? Why had I not thought of this before??!!??
So, I went right over and joined- it’s only $45 a month. Little D has a mini-panic attack when he sees the play area as he’s still in the “keep Mommy within sight at all times” stage, but he calms down eventually. Big J has to struggle not to have a fit when we leave, and the fact that he loves to go there to play will be added incentive when the newness wears off for me and I start wondering if we really need to go EVERY day. And we do need to go EVERY day, I’m telling you. I am ridiculously out of shape.
Today, as I was walking on the treadmill watching Rachael Ray talk about this new treatment where they freeze your fat cells to get rid of them (!), an instructor came by recruiting for a cycling class. I thought that sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try. It was not long before I remembered why one should not try to do an hour-long cycling class if one has not sat on a bicycle for over 5 years. It was not the pedaling. I could have done that for an hour, but after sitting on that seat for only a couple of minutes I was wishing for some of those embarrassing looking padded bicycle pants. After about 20 minutes I had to give up, and I felt totally lame walking out of the class. Not that I care all that much what people think about me… It was a fun class. I’d do it again. After I spend some quality time on the bicycles in the main room that is.
Fun on the Roller Coaster
By · CommentsThe big gift this Christmas was this Up & Down Roller Coaster
It is a great toy. I’m not a big fan of giant sized toys, but we have a very large back patio to put it on and the reviews on Amazon were all 5 star (plus they had it on sale for $30 off and free shipping). They love it!
Hard Times
By · CommentsI am just finishing The Worst Hard Time about the Dust Bowl and the people who lived through it. Can you imagine remaining in an area where dust storms like this one rolled in every week? I guess if the land was the only thing you had in the world it would be difficult to leave it.
