New Blog

I have not posted for about two years now. I have missed it.

The last few years have been full of a lot of ups and downs. Life doesn't always turn out the way that we plan, but sometimes God has a new plan for us. We have to be resilient and meet the challenges of life head on.

I feel like I am in a place to blog again, but I feel a fresh start is needed. My new blog is I Am Brave, I Am Me.

Photography = Happiness

Photography makes me happy. I have not been able to do as much this year as I would like. Here are a few pictures that I have taken that make me happy.

We don't see these too often anymore, but I remember seeing them when traveling to see my great grandma when I was pint-sized.

We watched fireworks this year from atop of a 6+ foot hay bale.

Even though this water lily is not native, it was a lot of fun to photograph.

 
A goal for myself is to take time to relax through the camera lens. I prefer nature photography, but do enjoy taking pictures of the kiddos.

Do you have any goals that you are working on?

Have a great day!

The Boot of Doom Saga

It has been a while, but I'm back! We have upgraded our internet service to another provider, so posting is a lot easier. Hooray!

 

The Boot of Doom Saga: 

I have posted a bit about the boot of doom, but to simplify things here is the whole story. 

I damaged the ligaments in my ankle in early December. I had the dubious honor of wearing the "boot of doom" for 4-1/2 weeks (December - April). After 4 months of the boot, the first podiatrist gave up on me. It is pretty depressing to have a doctor actually give up on you. But thankfully the next podiatrist had me out of the boot within 2 weeks. I did have an MRI after 2 months in the boot and managed to avoid surgery.

Once I graduated from the boot, I had 6 weeks of physical therapy. I had an amazing therapist. I learned that: It can be fun to write the ABCs with your toes. Walking on your tip toes can be a challenge, until you build up your strength. And, prolonged use of a walking boot also weakens your calf muscles.

Unfortunately, I sprained it again in mid-July and went back into the boot for another 2 weeks as a precautionary measure, for a grand total of 5 months in the boot of doom. I still have swelling in my ankle, but I have been boot free for almost a month now. Hip hip hooray! 

Unfortunately the first round of uneven walking caused twisting of my spine, so I am now seeing a chiropractor. I have been going for a month so far. The chiropractor is pretty amazing and she has a very sweet office dog. Good new is that I can get out of bed now without squeaking in pain and it is getting easier to bend over to wash my hands in the bathroom sink. I have been very fortunate to find some really good medical professionals this year.

I have learned a few things from this experience: 
1) There is a device called Evenup that you attach to your good foot/shoe, it helps to balance you out so one leg is not taller than the other. The chiropractor told me about it, so I had it for the last 1-1/2 weeks of the boot. I wish that I would have known about it back in December though.
2) Avoid hickory nut husks at all times. We need to keep the driveway between the house and garage either swept or scooped of hickory nuts and sweet gum balls at all times.
3) Always wear an ankle brace when on uneven surfaces, although my last two injuries were on a paved surface. 
4) Produce bags from the grocery store are awesome way to protect the soft part of the walking boot and your foot from snow and rain.
5) Safety pins and felt shapes are a fun way to decorate a walking boot.

This experience has taught me quite a bit:
~ I have more empathy for those with mobility issues. I also pay better attention to how close I park to others in parking lots. I never had a handicap placard and there were a few times, I had to wait for another person to return to their car before I could attempt to get into my vehicle.
~ I have had to learn to rely more on others and to ask for help more often. 
~ My children have become more helpful. Pumpkin is now my laundry buddy; the washer and dryer are in the basement. Princess is my dishwasher buddy, helping me to bend over to get items. 
~ A bar stool is a wonderful item to own and it was very helpful for cooking without standing in the kitchen. 

It is my sincere goal to never wear the boot of doom again. ;-)

Task Initiation & Working Memory

I pondered over the ten spokes of executive functioning from the last post and decided to start with the chapters focusing on task initiation and working memory. Children learn at different speeds and have different strengthens and weaknesses. Princess is my procrastinator, sometimes getting her to move to another task is like herding cats. Pumpkin is stronger in this area. Working memory is the reason that I started looking into executive functioning. Pumpkin struggles with some aspects of his academic work in regards to his short-term memory. It has to be frustrating for him, so I really want to find a way to help him with his memory retention. He is a bright young man; we just need to figure out the key to unlocking the information that goes in his brain but gets trapped trying to get out. Princess is stronger in this area.

 

As stated in the last post task initiation is the ability to stop what you are doing and switch gears to another activity. When we procrastinate we resist starting a new activity. The more immature we are the more we want to procrastinate. For children playing is more rewarding that taking a bath or doing school work. The author of The Everything Parent’s Guide to Children with Executive Functioning Disorder breaks this chapter into three age groups: the young child, the elementary child, and the adolescent child. For the young child, we can start teaching how to move to a new task by using “first, then” and “before, after” statements. First we put on our pants, then we put on our shirt. It is helpful to give a countdown before moving to another activity, like we are going to take a bath in 5 minutes. With my monkeys, I find it useful to say “When the numbers on the clock say 7:45, it is time to take a bath.” Pumpkin has a harder time understanding the length of 5 minutes, but a clock is a concrete tool that he can check to see how much time might be left. Take time to praise them for their successes both large and small.

The author introduces the Premack Principle for the elementary child. It builds on the “first, then” concept using the undesirable task first, followed by a desirable task. First we finish our homework, then we play on the iPad. Children may be resistant at first, but if you make a consistent routine of expectations it becomes easier over time. If you have multiple tasks to complete, offer the child the option of what order to do their work in to allow them some control over the situation. Start teaching the child simple goal setting techniques. If a book has to be read over the weekend for an assignment instead of waiting until Sunday night, read a few chunks at a time. Read a chunk on Friday night, read another chuck or two on Saturday, then finish the book on Sunday. To help with task initiation have a set homework routine. Designate a specific location free of technology and schedule a specific time. We actually did this at the beginning of the school year. I created a homework tub with all the supplies needed and it sits in the middle of the homework table. We have a snack when we walk in the door, then we start working on our homework. We are more lenient on Friday night, and break the homework load up over the weekend.  I’m going to skip commenting about the adolescent child since we are not quite there yet. One highlight in that section is ensuring that your child gets enough sleep. Sleep is critical to managing a lot of the spokes of executive functioning.

 

Working memory is the ability to hold information in your mind long enough to do something with it, also known as short-term memory. This is a biggie when it comes to academic success. Working memory is needed in following directions, taking class notes, reading comprehension, and multiple step math problems. Working memory can be broken into two groups auditory (verbal- assists in comprehension of complex directions) and visual-spatial (sight- assists in comprehension of what things should look like). Repetition is very helpful in learning to harness working memory. Ask your child repeat back the directions that they were given to ensure that they heard all of the steps. The author recommends the exercise of assigning the child three items to remember on the grocery list and have them assist you at the grocery store finding the items. Another tip is to encourage your child to write down appointments and assignments. The physical act of write information down helps with memory retention.

Seven tips are suggested for strengthening working memory. 1) Priming- Give a heads up before starting a task. “We have three chores to do before we can play outside. One we need to pick up our Legos. Two we need to pick up the pillows. Three we need to vacuum the floor. When we are done we can go outside.” 2) Rehearsal- repeat what you were told. That is kind of what I am doing with the blog postings for this book. I do a better job remembering when I write down what I learned. I usually take written notes, then type up the notes to help reinforce the information. 3) Clustering- chunk information into groups to assist in memory retention. The author suggestions memory games like- Simon, Memory, Concentration, Bop It! We did get Simon for the kids and they both seem to enjoy it. We will have to see if it makes any difference over time. 4) Mnemonics and Associations- create an acronym, poem, or song to remember what you learned. I remember learning ROY G. BIV growing up to remember the colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). For the planets we said “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas” (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto). 5) Visualizing- using multiple avenues to process information (hearing, seeing, writing, demonstrating, etc…).  The author recommends the website PBS Learning Media.  I checked it out. We may need to add it to our study arsenal. 6) Build Recall, Not Recognition- fine tuning the studying process. Flash cards are a great way to promote recall. I think that I was the index card queen in college. I had index cards everywhere, and I color coded my class notes with different colored markers. Flash cards were the key to remembering all of botanical information in the 30+ botany classes that I took. I also used a dry erase board to practice my information. We use dry erase boards with the kiddos for spelling and working out math problems. The online program Quizlet is great. We use it for Pumpkin’s memory verses, but I see a lot of promise for the future. 7) Elaborations- linking new information to information that is already known. An example:  When you see a dead tree on the ground in a forest how would you explain the purpose of leaving it where it is? The dead tree can be a hotel for bugs to live inside, but it can also be a restaurant for birds to come and feast on the bugs. The bugs, moss, and mushrooms live on and inside the dead tree. Eventually the wood will become spongy and the dead tree will turn into dirt for other another tree to grow. Understood.com also has some tips for working memory strategies.

This book is fascinating. I believe that there is something for everyone in this book. We are all human and none of us is perfect. I am thankful to learn a few tips that might help my kiddos. I am also thankful for the reminders of the learning styles that I have used forever and taken for granted. I have a feeling that it is going to take me a while to whittle through this book so I bought a used copy online. Hooray! My library book is due in a few days, so I will take a reading hiatus until my “new” book arrives.

Executive What?

 

As parents, we tend to have the best interest of our children at heart. We want our children to soar and experience the ups and downs of life. All children have strengths and weaknesses, joys and failures. Like all children Pumpkin has challenges to overcome, but sometimes discovering the key to that success can be like finding a needle in a haystack. I’ve read that children with ADHD and children on the spectrum can experience hiccups with executive functioning. I went to Pinterest and Understood.org to check it out. Maybe learning more about executive functioning would be beneficial to my family as we struggle with academic and social hurtles. I interlibrary loaned the book The Everything Parent’s Guide to Children with Executive Functioning Disorder by Rebecca Branstetter, PhD. (Please note: No one in our family has been diagnosed with executive functioning disorder, but I find that it is beneficial to expanding my knowledge as a parent. Building my tool arsenal helps me to help my children the best way possible.)

So, what is executive functioning? Executive functioning allows us to process our thoughts, feelings, and needs clearly. When there is an issue with executive functioning we may experience working memory problems, lack organization, lose focus, may resist change, be impulsive, manage time unwisely, lack flexibility, lose emotional self-control, or move from task to task without completion. All in all, executive functioning is important to our everyday lives. Everyone struggles with some aspect of executive functioning; for some it may be a minute hurtle, to others a gasping chasm. The good news is that we can teach ourselves to successful overcome our own individual hurtles. Executive functioning is a work in progress, the older you are the easier it is the harness your abilities. As parents we need to analysis our own executive functioning strengths and weaknesses, so we can better help our children.

Using our imagination is a good way to explain these type of complex ideas to children. Our brain is what controls our thoughts and processes. Imagine a tiny little person inside our brain, like the characters in the movie Inside Out. That tiny little person helps us to control our actions, as the author calls it “boss in your brain.” We can talk about the boss to help children understand new concepts without making them feel like they are inadequate or lacking in anyway. Another way is to link the information to something that the child knows and is familiar with. Example: “Oh no. The train is stuck on the tracks. What can we do to fix this math problem and help the train reach the station?”

The author suggests teaching executive functioning skills through modeling, repetition, and consistency. A) Monkey see, monkey do! Be a good example to your children, they will watch you and model both the right and wrong. Model the behavior you would like to see in them. If your children are losing things, help them find a “home” for each item and place it there every time. Praise them as they are learning the new routine. B) Try, try again! Don’t give up. Keep trying the activity, and eventually we will be successful. If a child is having problems with a task, help to break it into visual steps. Example: “Time to brush our teeth. Remember we talked about using toothpaste and brushing in circles around our whole mouth. Don’t forget to brush near our gums to chase all of the cavity germs away so our teeth stay healthy.” C) The wheels on the bus go round and round! Consistency is the key. Keep to your routine, if it isn’t working sit down with your child and create a routine that will work. Keep the directions short and sweet, but with a predictable sequence. Example: Bed time routine- take a bath, put on pajamas, brush your teeth, read a book with mom or dad, and go to sleep.

The term executive functioning is like a bicycle wheel that is made up of ten main spokes. Spoke 1: Task Initiation- the ability to stop what you are doing and switch gears to another activity. Spoke 2: Response Inhibition- the ability to keep oneself from acting impulsively, basically delayed gratification. Spoke 3: Focus- the ability to keep your attention on the task at hand. Spoke 4: Time Management- the ability to complete tasks within a set amount of time. Spoke 5: Working Memory- the ability to hold information in your mind long enough to do something with it. Spoke 6: Flexibility- the ability to change your plans based upon the ever changing environment around you. Spoke 7: Self Regulation- the ability to reflect on your goals and make necessary changes to achieve them. Spoke 8: Emotional Self Control- the ability to manage your emotions and reflect on your feelings without acting impulsively. Spoke 9: Task Completion- the ability to harness your energy and attention to see a task to its end. Spoke 10: Organization- the ability to keep track of items and maintaining order in your personal space.

Oh my, it looks like we need to work on a large majority of these. I think that my biggest hiccup right now is organization- but since I have two pint-sized tornadoes in the house it is no surprise. I will have to dive into all ten spokes in regards to the kids, but as they mature each spoke will get easier. It might be better to group these into smaller posts as I work my way through the book, so look for more post to come. I am impressed with this book so far and the author has made the book very user friendly. I think that it would be an asset to have in our home library as a reference and guide.

April Goals

Whew! What a day! Here's a break down:

1) It's World Autism Awareness Day! I'm wearing the blue!

2) I went to eye doctor for a glasses recheck. The verdict: they kept my new glasses and I am getting new lenses. I was smart and took my old glasses with me, thank goodness. My old prescription was -3.75 both eyes with 0.25 prisms. The new ones that I had for the last week were -3.25 both eyes with no prisms. As of today, the new ones will be -3.75 right eye, -3.50 left eye with 0.50 prisms. We will see how this goes. I'm like a bad penny that keeps coming back. Ha ha ha ha! 

3) We have had a lot of wind today. Besides knocking over and relocating the garbage and recycle bins multiple times, we have a 40+ foot tree top (aka: widow maker) hanging horizontally over our yard from a neighboring property. We are going to give it a few days to see what happens before contacting them. Right now it is lodged on four scrawny trees. Oh joy!
 
4) We went with the kiddos to a friend's How to Train Your Dragon birthday party this afternoon. It was crazy, but fun.

5) I got to go shopping solo at a club store. I went for toilet paper and eyeglass wipes. I also came home with avocados, plums, tiny potatoes (oh, so cute!), frozen lasagna, canned fruit, kaiser buns, cranberry juice, and Pringles for the kids lunches. I had a plum and homemade chicken salad on a kaiser bun for lunch. Yum! I think we are going to have the tiny potatoes for dinner. I just need to figure out what to fix with them.

We are going to kick back and relax the rest of the day. Before I go, here are my April Goals:

Health Goals
- Eat more fruits and veggies
- Since I am limited in the exercise department, attempt to strengthen and tone my arms

House Goal
- Finish cleaning and organizing Pumpkin's room
- Organize and de-clutter at least two cabinets in the kitchen

Family Goal
- Go on a family adventure
- Have the kids each plan and help make a family meal

Self Goals
- Find a productive way to keep my sanity. ;-)
- Have a least one girls day adventure 

I leave you with a picture that I took of our pond earlier in the week. It was sunrise and the mist was rising from the water's surface. It was breathtaking!

Out Like A Lion

March was rough, but I have hope that April will be better.

 

I did not accomplish as much on my goals as I had hoped. My allergies kicked in and knocked me down for about a week, darn pine pollen. I am still rocking the boot of doom. Sixteen weeks (four months) so far. I see the doctor on Monday.

We had some serious technology problems in March. I spent over fourteen hours with tech support of three different companies. I think that the root of our problem is our internet provider and the extremely slow snail paced speed, so I am working on researching viable options. The new modem and new router that I purchased brand new is doing much better than the refurbished piece of junk that our internet provider sold us in August. My kindle is finally working again, after I had to deregister, reregister, restore factory setting (system wipe), and reregister with a tech support person because it was not able to download readable books. Finally, I thought that the laptop had been fixed, but discovered last night that Microsoft Updates is frozen at 0% again. Oh joy, more time with tech support in my future!

A positive for March . . . . . I got new glasses. My prescription has been reduced, although I am heading to the eye doc in a bit to have them retweaked. The new prescription isn’t quite right and I am having issues with my long distance vision. But I like my new frames. My previous frames I got in 2011. I try to use them through at least two doctor visits before updating them.

Goals Update

Health Goals 1) Get more sleep- I did better with the sleep before the time change. After the time change and during the days spent with tech support, I did not do so well. I was online with HP tech support until 1:30 am one morning. Ugh! When I contacted them at 9:30 pm, I thought this will only take an hour. Famous last words! Ha ha ha ha! The past few days have finally evened out in the sleep department. 2) Strengthen my ankle- Since I am still rocking the boot of doom, strengthening my ankle was not in the cards.

House Goal 1) Clean and organize the kids’ rooms. Well. . . . this one is an epic fail. We did manage a path to Princess’s dresser. Pumpkin and I got 1/3 of his room cleaned and it has remained cleaned. We still have 2/3 to tackle. The only time we have to clean the rooms is on the weekends (none homework nights), so we have been a bit limited with the Easter holiday and when I could barely walk. We will need to continue during the month of April.

Family Goal 1) Encourage everyone to clean-up after themselves in the sunroom- We have good days and bad days with this. The “Bunny” got the kids Legos, so we have a Lego explosion right now. I have given them both gallon sized baggies to pick up their Legos before bedtime each night. Then remind them if I step on a Lego with the boot, it might break. So there is another one good plus to the boot of doom, it definitely encourages the kids to clean up more. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Self Goals 1) Take the time to capture some nature photography- I have gotten a few good shots during March. I have been a bit more limited, since it is difficult to leave paved areas. 2) Have a least one girls day adventure- Aw, man! Another month goes by without getting a chance to do something with a friend or two. Parenthood is not all it is cracked up to be at times. I will have to work harder on this one. But if texting friends to keep up counts, I have definitely rocked that one with a couple friends.

Well off to have a few adventures before write my April Goals post.

March Goals

I'm game to try new goals for a third month in a row. The nice thing about monthly goals are that each month allows me to reset and reconfigure what I would like to accomplish. Sometimes it is successful and sometimes it is more of a challenge. So, here are my March Goals:

Health Goals
- Get more sleep (7.5 to 8 hours per night)
- Strengthen my ankle

House Goal
- Clean and organize the kids’ rooms

Family Goal
- Encourage everyone (mainly the kiddos) to clean-up after themselves in the sunroom

Self Goals
- Take the time to capture some nature photography
- Have a least one girls day adventure 

The sky's the limit when it comes to setting goals. You can make them as easy or as difficult as you would like. Do you have any goals or plans for the month of March?

Leaping Forward

Today only happens once every four years. It is Leap Day! Today would be a great day for a Random Act of Kindness. I have a few ideas up my sleeves. Shhh!

We have been busy this month. We had three birthdays in February, one snow day, and a visit from out of state family.

Since it is the last day of the month, it is time for a goals update:

• Health Goals- Drinking more water and eating more veggies. I am doing so-so on drinking more water. I always forget to hydrate on a regular basis, especially when at work. I have eaten a bit more veggies in the latter half of the month, but not as much as I had hoped.
• House Goal- Continuing cleaning and organizing the great room. Unfortunately, I have not made any more progress in the great room. But the good news is that I have managed to keep the areas that I cleaned in January clear of clutter. That is definitely a step in the right direction. Yay!
• Family Goal- Reminding the family to conserve electricity. I definitely slacked on this one, and ended up turning lights off and unplugged chargers as I passed by. I will have to try this one again soon.
• Self Goals- Cooking a few new recipes & writing a letter. SUCCESS!!!!!! I have cooked four new dishes this month. I also wrote a letter to one my of husband’s relations earlier this month, then enclosed hand written thank you notes from the kiddos for unexpected birthday treats.

 Enjoy your Leap Day!

Cooking Spree

I'm on a roll! When I was on Pinterest, I found a whole treasure trove of recipes to pin. Hurray!

On Saturday, I made Snickerdoodle Apple Bread. One word: Yummy! Oh and the smell of the house while it was baking. . . . Delightful!

Snickerdoodle Apple Bread

(http://cookiesandcups.com/snickerdoodle-apple-bread/)

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 Granny Smith Apple, finely chopped

Cinnamon sugar topping
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray. Line bottoms and up the ends with a strip of parchment paper (for easy removal) and spray again. Set aside. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Set aside. In a bowl beat butter, both sugars and cinnamon for 2 minutes on medium speed with an electric mixer., scraping sides as necessary. Add in both eggs and vanilla and continue mixing until smooth, again scraping sides as necessary. Turn mixer to low and add in flour mixture and milk alternating additions, starting and ending with flour. Mix until just combined. Finally add in apples and stir until just combined and pour batter into prepared pan. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for topping and sprinkle on top of batter. Bake for 50-55 minutes until bread is set and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

(I did it again! The kids can be quite distracting while cooking. I forgot to add the cinnamon to the sugar/butter mixture. Ha ha ha! I am bound to get a recipe complete right one of these days! I didn't realize it until I was typing up the recipe. That explains why I had a 1/2 tablespoon sitting on the counter unused. Ha ha ha!) 

Cooking Therapy

I accomplished one of my "self" goals for February- trying at least one new recipe that sounds good. 

I find cooking fun and relaxing, but I just have not had the time and fortitude to do much lately. There are two major reasons: 1) During the school year, we spend a lot of time in the evenings doing homework. If I wasn't a working mama, then I probably would have more time to prep for dinner before picking the kids up from school. As it is hubby much rather attempt to cook, than be stationed at the homework table. So we have been having quite a bit of fast food, hot dogs, cheese toasties, cereal, and pizza for dinner. I usually get a chance to cook on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. 2) I just celebrate 11 weeks with the "boot of doom" (aka walking boot). I found out in mid-February that the problem is that I seriously messed up two ligaments in my ankle. Thankfully no surgery, but more time in the boot. I go back to the foot doctor in about a week and a half. Maybe I will graduate from the boot, maybe I will be sentenced to more time. Hopefully once I graduate, I will have some PT to strengthen my ankle since it has be immobilized for an extended period. Needless to say, I have been doing a lot of sitting on a stool when attempting to cook in the kitchen.

Back to the food, I was looking around on Pinterest and found some yummy recipes. Last night I experimented with two new recipes: One Pan Greek Chicken and Garlic & Herb Cheese Bombs. Both turned out fairly well. I will probably tweak a few things next time I fix them, but definitely keepers. I have included the link to the original recipe, but have made my changes and notes to the recipes below.

One Pan Greek Chicken

(http://damndelicious.net/2015/05/30/one-pan-greek-chicken/) 

Ingredients 
1 1/2 pound small red potatoes, quartered
1 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons light olive oil
Freshly ground salt & black pepper, to taste   

For the marinade:
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1/4 cup light olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon oregano
Freshly ground, salt & black pepper, to taste

Instructions
In a gallon size ziploc bag, combine chicken, oil, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper. Marinate for 20-60 minutes, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade, discarding the marinade. While chicken is marinading, preheat over to 400 degree F. Lightly oil backing sheet or coat with nonstick spray. Place potatoes and green beans in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and paper, to taste. Top with chicken in a single layer. Place into the oven and toast until the chicken is completely cooked through, about 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately. (Note: I had about half of the amount of green beans. Unfortunately, there was not a good selection of fresh green beans at the store. I also forgot to add the oregano to the marinade.)

Garlic & Herb Cheese Bombs

 (http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/2014/08/garlic-herb-cheese-bombs.html)

Ingredients (20 bombs)
2- 7.5 ounce cans refrigerated biscuits
4 ounce Mozzarella cheese, cut into 20 cubes
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Separate biscuits. Place on cube of cheese in the center of each biscuit. Carefully wrap the biscuit dough about the cheese and seal. Place seam side down about an inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and the cheese is melted. While the biscuits bake, mix the butter, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder together and set aside. Remove the biscuits from the oven and immediately brush with butter mixture. Serve warm. (Note: Place cheese bombs on the middle rack of the oven. The bottoms get a bit crispy if on the bottom rack while cooking the chicken recipe above. No matter how long you have been cooking, you can always learning something new. Ha ha ha!)

Have you made any new recipes lately that you would like to share? 

February Goals

I have not pondered my February Goals as much as I should. I have a feeling that it is going to be a LONG month. So it may be best to go simple. In my last post I reviewed my progress on my January goals. I am hoping to be more successful this month.

Health Goals
- Drink more water.
- Eat more veggies.

House Goal
- Continue working on cleaning and organizing the south end of the the great room.

Family Goal
- Encourage the family to turn lights off when they leave a room and unplug chargers for electronics when not being used.

Self Goals
- Cook a new dish that sounds good to me.
- Write a letter or two. 

Other things on the agenda for this month- three birthdays, maybe a movie, hopefully the library, lots of homework, hot chocolate, and hopefully more healing.

Win Some, Lose Some

I have not accomplished as much as I had intended for the month of January. 

I have done the best with my "House Goal." My goal was to cleaning and organize the south end of the great room. It was more challenging that I had anticipated and the southeast side got the most attention.  There was stuff on the desk dating back to 2013. In a few of the boxes, I found stuff from 2010 when the world seemed to crash around me. As I was going through stuff- filing, shredding, recycling, and saving- I realized why I never finished each time I started. It was hard, really hard at times. I did find some good memories, but I also found some stuff that I would have preferred hidden. The itemized bill from mom's funeral, the memorial print-out from grandpa and mom's funerals, the bill from mom and grandpa's gravestones (purchased on the same day), the booklet from grandpa's funeral, and more sympathy cards that apparently were not with the ones that I stumbled upon back in November. Even 5-1/2 years later it still is hard to process at times. 

Southeast corner- January 31

Southeast corner- January 1

My "Health Goals" basically crashed and burned, but it is not too surprising since I am still rocking the walking boot. I messed the tendons up eight weeks ago today. The boot and I have been friends for the last seven weeks. I have no idea when I might graduate. I check back with the doctor on Friday, if it still is not any better they will schedule an MRI to check for torn tendons. So needless to say, I have not met my five pound goal and I have not had the chance to strengthen or stretch my injured ankle.

My "Family Goal" has been come and go- reading more. I have done quite a bit of reading on the Kindle, but nothing notable enough to really mention. Princess and I read Piper Green and The Fairy Tree. It was a really cute story! We are looking forward to reading the second one. Pumpkin has been burying himself in Minecraft books lately.

The last goal was "Self Goal"- having a girls day adventure. Once again the boot and weather deterred me. We have had some snow, which makes it very difficult to walk with the darn boot (especially when you cannot see what is beneath the snow). The boot has made me more of a home body than normal. 

Well, I will need to mull over my February goals for a bit. Have you accomplished any goals that you set for the new year?

January Goals

I didn't do so well last year, but I am willing to try again. Each month I intend to set a few goals for myself. 

I gave up on New Year's Resolutions quite a few years ago. I find that smaller chunks are more attainable to reach.

So here are my January goals:

Health

• Strengthen and stretch my hurt ankle/foot
• Lose five pounds and maintain

Home

•  Tackle cleaning and organizing the south end of the great room

Family

•  Read more to the kids

Self

•  Have a least one girls day adventure

 

Goodbye 2015

2015 has had its ups and downs. I hope that 2016 has more ups.

Challenges

• Last school year we had a lot of homework battles. Often we were not finishing up homework until 9 or 10 o'clock at night. 
• I was sick off and on from April through August. My collapsed gallbladder was removed in August, I have felt much better. 
• I messed up a tendon in my foot earlier this month, so I have been in a walking boot for the last three weeks. I don't recommend stepping on a hickory nut husk.
• We live in the black hole of crappy internet service. We have the fastest service in our area, that is reminiscent of dial up speeds. Faster internet service is in our area, but unfortunately has not made it to our neighborhood. I might just have to start calling once a month to inquire if they have gotten around to our neighborhood yet. They are going to LOVE me.

Blessings

• Pumpkin is in 3rd grade and Princess is in 1st grade. Time sure does fly!
• Princess had a good report at the eye doctor last January. We only have to go once a year instead of every three to six months. Yay!
• Pumpkin has a wonderful teacher this school year. She has been able to cut down on the tattling in the classroom, which has resulted in better behavior on his part.
• The kids favorite movie this year is Minions. 
• Pumpkin finally passed his first spelling test of the year this month. The teacher has reassured us that he will not be held back next school year in regards to spelling.
• In the spring, I celebrated 15 years at my work place.  
• A local autism support group was started in our community. It is good to be able to talk with other parents and educators that understand.
• Princess also has a great teacher. I volunteered to help with gingerbread house decorating a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed myself, which is rare when volunteering at school. Most parents shun me when they figure out who my son is because they just don't understand and we don't advertise that he has ADHD, ASD, and SPD. They just figure that we are terrible parents that don't care because of the behaviors they see or hear about from their children.
• I cut back my hours at work to be able to pick the kids up from school. Homework battles have decreased and we are finishing our homework faster. Yay!!!!!!
• We were able to save some money back to purchase a new laptop. Our desktop that we still use is ten years old. Now more than one family member can use the computer at a time. Which is a good thing since we use SpellingCity, MobyMax, Multiplication.com and Quizlet to do homework and study.
• Pumpkin learned to ride a bike without training wheels!
• We survived the school Christmas concert without incident.
• Pumpkin was able to attend a specialized camp over the summer that focused on social skills and utilized ABA therapy. We have noticed a difference this school year. Two thumbs up!
• Princess enjoys helping great grandma make pancakes in the mornings before school.
• We went and saw our first ever Christmas Day movie. We saw the newest Star Wars movie as a family. It was good, but I am not giving anything away for those who have not seen it yet.

Hubby and the kids with cut-outs from the Star Wars movies.

What we are looking forward to

• Hubby and I are looking forward to the last season of Downton Abbey.
• I am hoping that the kids take on more chores and household responsibilities this coming year. Our biggest challenge is keeping our rooms clean.
• We are going to be an aunt and uncle again. So far we have eight nieces and nephews.
• I hope to conquer some of the clutter in the house. I may have to enlist some help.

Well, gotta go! We are having a Hobbit movie marathon this evening. Currently, we are in the midst of watching the second movie. The third movie may need to wait until tomorrow.

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

Darn. . . the frustration over posting to this little old blog is not the ancient computer, but the internet connection. 

I broke into savings last month (three days before I found out that I would need to have an unexpected surgery- collapsed gallbladder) and got a laptop on sale. The purpose was to ensure that the kids could get their school assignments done and us parents could get our stuff done too. So we now have our 9 year old Windows XP desktop and a new Windows 10 laptop. Since Microsoft just debuted its newest operating system, I was able to upgrade the laptop from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 for free. This feat unfortunately was not possible at home, instead I had to go to my husband's workplace (with permission) to use their wifi connection. I still need to save up some money to buy a Windows Office license for the laptop. The desktop has Office 2007, but I don't think that I want to install it on the laptop. Oh . . . . the best part about our new technology, I password protected it. The kids cannot use it unless hubby or I log them on. Score!!!!!!

Back to our internet woes. I called the phone company and we have the fastest internet connection in our area, which is the lowest level of service that they offer. The router has been replaced, but yet service is still dicey and sometimes non-existent. I just replaced the office power strip/ surge protector. I thought that it might be possible that the old one which the phone line ran through may have gone bad. So far we have yet to lose service, but it is still running slower than dirt. Next options will be either to re-run a phone line to the outside phone box or have our phone company visit us. Re-running the line would probably be the cheapest option, but it is definitely a pain to do. If only our house had modern phone lines instead of twisted rusting pre-WWII phone cables which are over 1/4" in diameter. The current line to the outdoor box is about 9 years old. I may have to ask hubby to scale the yew bushes and rouge poison ivy to check the outside portion of the line. 

Hopefully we can figure it out soon, it is hard to explain to Pumpkin why the internet will not work. To him it is supposed to be like water from a faucet, it should always there when you need it. Sometimes it is hard to get a few steps ahead of his literal mind. On the bright side, not as many behavior notes are coming home this school year. And he has only been to the principal's office once to have a chat after an incident with another child. The school was fair and handled the situation efficiently. The other child had to apologize to Pumpkin and both boys have some new directions to follow.

Anyone else have an older house with similar internet issues? What have you done for internet service?

Where Does Time Fly

Five month. . . Wow! I had no idea. It has been crazy around here. 

Being a parent at times is quite the chore and sometimes does not leave any extra time to unwind or blog. 

I am glad that the summer is here, but not looking forward to the upcoming school year. Homework was my nemesis last school year! I loved school growing up, but having a child that fights doing homework every step of the way is quite stressful. Maybe this coming year, it will get easier. At least a girl can dream!

Part of the reason, I have not blogged lately is we sorely need to update our computer. We bought it before Pumpkin was born, so I am sure that it is considered a dinosaur by this point. Windows XP is no longer support. Eventually we need to break down and update our dinosaur. I do have to say that it is much better than my first computer which was the dreaded Windows Me (purchased during grad school). 

Well since I am under the weather, I need to catch a few zzz's. Hope to post some pictures soon.

Beginnings and Endings

The seasons are changing! 

Woohoo!

Spring is just around the corner! 

Isn't this a beautiful sunrise?

The Canada Geese flew over just in time

for this glorious picture yesterday morning.

Winter will soon be a fading memory! 

 This picture was taken the morning of March 2. 

Prairie! What a beautiful sight!

With the heralding of spring I am looking forward to the hepatica, bloodroot, iris, tulip, trout lily, spring beauty, jack-in-the-pulpit, toothwort, violet, crocus, hyacinth, phlox treasures that await.