Menu… Un-planned January 15, 2011

One of my goals for 2011 is healthier food choices. Unfortunately for me this includes actually eating some sort of meals instead of snacking sporadically, or continuously, throughout the day. I’ve discussed the way I organize my recipes here, and I’ve decided it take it a step further to help me at least take the first step to meal planning.

In a moment of genius, it came upon me to add a ‘This Week’ folder for recipes I would like to include at some point throughout the week. What I did today was browse through my recipe folder and try to choose some recipes that were pretty simple, and included foods that are currently residing somewhere in my kitchen. I then moved them into the ‘This Week’ folder so that when I needed to pull out the recipe for the preparation, it was easily accessible. I think… the benefit, besides having the recipes more easily accessible, is that if they are not tried and true, and do not meet the requirements of our taste buds, they can also be easily deleted without having to search the long list.

So without further ado, here are the selections from my virtual recipe box, for this week:

Quinoa Salad

Lentil Salad

Butternut Squash Soup

For the soup, The Manchild and I had a very similar, if not the same, soup at a local cafe here, and it was absolutely d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. And this is coming from someone who is not a lover of the soup.

Middle Eastern Garbanzo Beans With Spinach

Unfortunately, I just realized that I don’t have spinach OR yogurt available for this dish. My attempt to visit the ‘grocery’ close by was fruitless this afternoon, but I can hold off until later in the week for this one and try to score again. I’m Losing It Here is a blog that I enjoy reading regularly. Laura shares some GREAT RECIPES, participates in Food Waste Friday, and writes candidly about her adventures in becoming debt free.

I will probably attempt to make some kind of Bruschetta, Hummus, and Pineapple Fried Rice this week also.

What’s on your menu for the week?

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt! January 15, 2011

I discovered an amazing used book store at a mall we frequent on trips to the ‘big city’. I have found some really great children’s books there, even hard covers, for less than $1. The girls really love to read, and there are some books that children just have an amazing love for.

At that great book store I found a loved copy of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.

Photo credit: www.kiddley.com

When The Manchild was a little, we had this in a board book style. I had held on to it and brought it back out when the girls arrived, but as much as they liked it, they never really looooooovvvved it. Neither did The Manchild.

 

Because it is a book that I love, I picked it up and figured we would give it another go since the board book is back in the U.S. waiting for us.

 

BIG HIT! The girls love this book so much, we read it daily, every night before they go to bed, sometimes even multiple times.

 

The Popo has been actively ‘doing her homework’. Which basically means that she has a very tattered Barney letter activity book along with a newer Thomas letter activity book, and she carries them around with a pen and practices her letters. She has independently developed an interest in writing in the last month or so that I really want to foster. As much as we read already, I have been trying to spend more time reading to them both, and making an effort to make a connection between between letters and sounds and words.

 

Since they are not actively involved in any kind of preschool class here, I have trying to figure out (with my uncreative self) some ways I can incorporate learning into some fun activities for them, specifically for letters and numbers. Enter Google Queen.

 

While I was searching for some pics of the book, I came across a few web sites that had some activities and pdfs that will allow me to combine their love for this book with learning opportunities.

kiddley.com suggests a bear hunt at the zoo, and offers some other resources as well.

schoolsnet.com offers lesson plans and worksheets in pdf form.

And brighthub.com has a bear hunt activity you can do either at home or at school, inside or out.

 

I must admit to being a little embarrassed that I am a self-proclaimed Google Queen, but it had never occurred to me to use my favorite ‘web friend’ to connect children’s books with fun activities, though I have been using it recently to get some ideas on how to incorporate learning letters and sounds into every day fun activities (instead of sitting down classroom style).

Next up: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

Fierce January 9, 2011

In the last few weeks I have really noticed how fiercely independent The Baby has become. While The Popo never really went through the ‘terrible two’s', The Baby sometimes has a very severe case of it. She is adamant about what she is or is not going to wear, right down to her undies. She vehemently fights tooth and nail for her independence.

For instance, The Popo is 14 months ahead of The Baby in age, and she can surely dress herself. I’m not sure exactly when she acquired this ability, but it was just a transition she went through, and she has no issues with the task. The Baby on the other hand, I can say, sometime early this fall, started to INSIST that “ME DO IT!” She could dress herself before that point, but it was no big deal, there was never a fight, and she would wear whatever she was given. Now, on the other hand, she refuses any help other than verbal directions about putting things on so that they are not backwards.

Tonight she was tired. No nap this afternoon, it was getting a little past ‘normal’ bed time, and she was obviously exhausted. Enter temper tantrum. She is the first child of mine to ever throw an all out bloody-murder-screaming-flailing-arms-kicking fit.

It just amazes me how different siblings can be. My three loves are about as different as they could possibly be without coming from different ends of the world, having already adopted to the different cultures. Sometimes I wonder how the two girls can not be more alike, considering how close they are in age, in addition to the fact that I believe I maintain the same expectations from both of them; behavior/discipline wise. It just goes to show that really, we are all made with the touch of the Master’s hand, and like snowflakes, no two are ever exactly the same.

While The Popo has a very strong personality, and she is very independent, I could not use fierce to describe her. Fierce pretty much sums up The Baby in one word.

Fierce- Marked by unrestrained zeal or vehemence; furiously active or determined.

That’s my baby!

 

Yeah. It’s Like That. January 6, 2011

Last night I just could not fall asleep no matter what. I was awake until 5 am, I’m sure, before I finally hit the pillow. I set my cellphone for an alarm, but was pretty convinced when I did that that it would be a useless gesture as I was likely to sleep right through it. I was right. I was determined that I would make it to class today, on time. I was about ten minutes late. And there was no class. Surprise surprise.

I have to gather some signatures for my application for graduation, so I started that process and then decided to go wait for the dean of nursing because I had some questions. On my research. On my tuition fees that continuously increase. On my duty assignment when the other seniors begin their intense board reviews.

I spoke to our level coordinator the other day about my duty assignment. I explained that I really had two options that were preferable to me. One being go to a smaller comunity hospital with CI ‘A’, and the second, staying in the medical ward at a regional hospital with CI ‘B’. She was supposed to talk to the others involved in this process of decision making and let me know today. She was not at school. Surprise surprise.

I was informed this morning that we had a meeting for all graduating seniors regarding officer elections for graduation and I should be there. As a rule, I never go to those meetings, and I don’t plan on sticking around to partake in the commencement ceremony, so I didn’t join in the festivities. While I was waiting in the nursing office, a classmate came in and advised me that I was being called there because I was nominated as an officer. You see there are ten positions to be filled, and exactly ten people that are eligible to fill said positions based on their GPA. I asked him to please let them know that I would not be joining as I will not be here for the commencement.

 

And what’s up with me being eligible based on my GPA? Someone else mentioned to me later in the day that I was a candidate for cum laude and all I could do was give a blank stare since my GPA is lingering only slightly above 3.1 due to the wonderful grading system that they have here, which seems to be 100% subjective.

At any rate, everyone seems to be devastated that I will not be staying for commencement, but I have to say, I still have no interest in joining. This is number three for me now and it has been a long hard road living away from my loved ones, in an unknown, unfamiliar world. I know that should make all the more reason to make a big deal and go through the traditional motions, but really, I am in some kind of survival coping mode, where the only thing I can think about is finishing my requirements and getting home, to the place that I know. Yeah. It’s like that.

One.Eleven.Eleven January 1, 2011

Out with the old and in with the new.

 

This is going to be another one of those rambling posts of sorts. Just a warning.

I’ve had a lingering headache all day. I think it has something to do with not falling asleep until 5 am, then being awoken at 6 am, then again around 8 am, and every 5 minutes thereafter. When I finally mustered up the energy to open my eyes, it was around noon and I was afraid of what would be waiting for me since the girls had been up for a while and when that happens, it is never pleasant. It wasn’t too bad though. There was powdered juice all over the floor in the kitchen, some kind of chocolate crumbs all over my bed, and that was about it besides a bunch of toys strewn about. For sure it beat the last time when an almost full container of baby powder had been taken down from the high shelf and dumped all.over.their.room.

There’s not much to eat here and  I’m hungry and I have cabin fever from being stuck here for two weeks with no way out.

I’ve decided not to have any resolutions per se for the new year, but moving forward from here, after some reflection, I would like to put more priority on family time, have a healthier lifestyle, including moving to whole a whole food diet, and generally have a more positive attitude.

I have some reading I want to start AND finish.

I want to write some more. Not just here, but generally. I want to try to do more scrap booking and journaling so my children have something to remember these young days by.

OK. That’s it for now.