Boredom-Busting Jar

My kids have become too addicted to anything that requires a screen - computer, TV, Wii, etc. With summer break around the corner (3 more weeks from today - AHHH), I've decided to make a Boredom-Busting Jar full of things the kids can do besides fixate on a screen. I'll print out fun ideas on strips of paper and stuff them in a big glass jar. Then, when the kids come to me with the usual "I'm bored" statement, I'll refer them to the jar. They can pick out two or three strips and then choose which one they want to do. If they complain about that, I just might have to make a second jar full of "fun" (read with heavy sarcasm) chores, like wiping baseboards or cleaning the kitchen floor with a toothbrush!



Here are some ideas I'll include:

• Go on an alphabet hunt - find 1 thing for every letter in the alphabet.
  
• Write a letter to one of your grandparents.
• Search through a cookbook for a new recipe for us to try.
• Send an email to your former teacher, thanking her (all of my kids' teachers are women) for a great year.
• Look through family photos.
• Do a crossword puzzle.
• See how many Legos you can stack on top of each other before the tower falls over.
• Make your own word search on www.armoredpenguin.com
• Plan your "dream vacation" - where would you go? what would you do?
• Get out the world map. Spin around, close your eyes, and put your finger on the map. Look up the place your finger landed on.
• Have a dance party. 
• Call one of your grandparents and ask them what they liked to do as a kid.
• Make a collage of yummy foods with magazine pictures. First, ask Mom which magazines you can use.
• Open up a dictionary and read the definition for the 1st word for letter A, the 2nd word for letter B, the 3rd word for letter C, and so forth.
• Call a friend and ask him or her to recommend a good book. Get it from the library and read it.
• Ask Mom or Dad to borrow the camera. Make a photo essay of your room and belongings.
• Cut out a paper garden to decorate your bedroom door.
• Draw a diagram of the solar system.
• Ask Mom to help you make homemade soft pretzels.
• Grab a pail of water and a paintbrush and "paint" the driveway and sidewalk.
  
• Cut out "summer snowflakes" from colored paper.
• Print out and make paper toys from http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html
  

In looking around online, I found some great sites that had also compiled lists of things for kids to do over the summer. Check these out:

60 Ways to Leave Your Mother (Alone)

60 Things To Do

No Kids Allowed To Be Bored This Summer

Camp Russell

200+ Summertime Ideas for Bored Kids

***Do you have ideas that I can add 

to my Boredom-Busting Jar?***

Self-Portrait Tuesday

The challenge for this week is:  find your last receipt from the gas station (or if you are filling up over the weekend, make note of what you spend.) How'd you do? $35.00? $70.00? $100.00+?? What if you could take THAT amount and spend it on something for you?? To make it a little more challenging, let's just say that you can only buy ONE item, and the cost of that ONE item must be within $5.00 of what you spent at the pump.

All right, the last time I got gas was last Thursday night. The usual gas price in Albuquerque right now is $3.47. If I see gas for a good price while I'm out and about, and if my tank is less than half full, I stop and fill up the tank.  Last Thursday I found gas for $3.33 a gallon! I was down to 1/3 of a tank, so I filled up. I got 10 gallons for $34.29 --

YIKES!!!

When I learned how to drive in 1989, gas was 88 cents at the QuikTrip a mile from my house in Kansas City, Missouri.

If I could have kept that $34.29 in my bank account, I would have bought these sandals from Land's End. They cost $35.00.

TOFW - Reader's Digest Version

I keep meaning to write a huge post about my awesome experience at Time Out For Women, but I never seem to have the time. So here's my favorite picture; it sums up the whole weekend. I'm with my two best friends Leah and Traci and with the extremely funny and inspiring Mary Ellen Edmunds!

left to right:  Leah, me, Mary Ellen Edmunds, and Traci

Here are two things that Sis. Edmunds said 

that stood out to me:

"We take too many guilt trips 

and they last too long."  

"God allows us to make U-turns."

Grateful Sunday

This week I am thankful for:

HEALTH INSURANCE!

Just this week:

Shad went to the doctor for more tests. He's slightly anemic, which is rare for a man, and so they want to rule out internal bleeding. More tests in about 10 days.

I went to the dentist because I had a cavity under an old filling. They removed the old filling and put in a new one. It's sort of bothering me - I hope this doesn't end in a root canal!

Emily went to her first session of Physical Therapy Wednesday. She's been having a lot of pain in her rectus femurus muscle (at least that's what the physical therapist called it - it runs from the hip down over the upper thigh to the knee) and it is interfering with her ballet. She has exercises to do at home and a weekly appointment for at least a month. 

At that appointment we discovered that she has flexible flat feet. When you look at the arch of her foot, it appears normal, but when she puts weight on it the arch collapses - not good. So no more flimsy shoes for her. And definitely no more flip-flops - which leads us to another doctor's visit.

Thursday night, while I was at a meeting and therefore unable to enforce the No Flip-Flops Rule, Emily decided to skip around the backyard in - you guessed it! - flip-flops. She fell and twisted her ankle. Shad checked it out because she was in a lot of pain and couldn't put any weight on that ankle. It didn't look too swollen or bruised so he iced it and sent her to bed. 

The next morning it was swollen and she couldn't walk. Thankfully we were actually able to get an appointment to see a doctor that very morning (a rare occurrence, I assure you)! The doctor agreed with us that the ankle probably wasn't broken, just sprained, but ordered x-rays just to be on the safe side. Apparently, ankle breaks don't show up on x-rays until 3-4 days after the break, once the swelling has gone down. 

In the mean time, they are treating Emily's ankle as if it were broken - she has to wear an aircast, ice it several times a day, take 3 rounds of Advil a day, and elevate her ankle as often as physically possible (she's fighting that one all the way). So we'll be visiting a podiatrist Tuesday for more x-rays and some follow-up care.

I don't even want to think what this week would have cost me if we didn't have health insurance. It cost me $100 just for the co-pays!

Some Random Facts about Me

I was tagged by Ms. Heather (Emily's former teacher) - you can check out her site here

Now I get to share 7 weird or random facts about myself. Let's see if I can stop at just 7!

1.  I can't stand the sound of people breathing! It drives me crazy. I sleep with a small fan next to my side of the bed so that I can't hear Shad breathing in his sleep. If he breathes too loud, I wake him up and make him roll over so that he's not facing me.

2.  I get carsick when other people drive, especially when Shad is the one driving.

3.  I am very anal about how the dishwasher gets loaded and the laundry gets folded. No one - and I mean NO ONE - is allowed to fold the laundry at my house except me. I'm trying to teach my family the right way to load the dishwasher, but usually I let them do it and then come back and rearrange all of the dishes so that they're just right.

4.  I. HATE. CLOTHES. SHOPPING!!!

5.  My cocker spaniel has a lot of discharge from her eyes (the vet says she has allergies). When it's all dried up, I pick it off of her eyelids.

6.  I hate to throw things away. (For example, I still have plastic portfolio sleeves from when I was in high school.) I just know I'm going to need it (whatever it is) some time in the future and then I'll have to go buy another one. I can't stand the thought of paying for something twice!

7.  I have a horrible sense of spatial relationships. I have a perpetual bruise on both of my hips from running into the corner finial on our bed. I never pick the right size storage container for leftovers. 

So now that you've decided you're glad you live far away from a crazy person like me - here's how to play, in case I tag you or if you want to do this on your blog:

1. On your post, link back to the person who tagged you - that would be me, in this case.
2. Post your assignment on your blog - seven weird or random facts.
3. Post these rules on your blog.
4. Post links to seven bloggers that you will be tagging.
5. Go to those blogs and give them a comment on their blog to let them know that you have tagged them.

I tag Kristi, Dacia, Traci, Becca, Jenn, Shelly, and Liz.

Baker to Vegas

Hey all, Shad here.  

Many of you have been asking Windy about my trip to Vegas to compete in the Baker to Vegas Relay.  Now that I have some more information, I thought I would give you all my report first hand.  

If you don't know what I am talking about, the B2V is a 120 mile relay race where law enforcement agencies from around the world send teams of 20 runners to compete.  I was one of the runners selected to represent the Albuquerque Police Department.  I ran a 6 mile leg that started around 9:30 pm just outside of Pahrump, NV.  A typical time to complete the race is about 16-18 hours.  So you can imagine, that you have runners starting legs in the afternoon and going all night long until the next day.  

Here is a picture of me back in Vegas a few hours after my run.  

One question that has come up is, "How did you do?"  That has not been the most easy question to answer because they have staggered start times and so you never know if the people you are passing are in your division or not.  As well, there are penalties that are assessed and those will change your finish time so until those are calculated in, you never really have the whole picture.  Besides, the race course is 120 miles and takes 16 hours to run, so most runners are either sleeping when the race starts or ends, so it is not like you are standing by the finish line to cheer on your team. 

I'll have to admit that I have never been involved in anything quite like it.  Without a doubt, it was one if the most fun times I've had with APD.  

It was so unusual to get my assignment where they tell you to be dressed and go out to some location out in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night and just wait there for another runner wearing your same number to come by and hand you a baton.  

So here are the results.  Out of 242 teams from around the world, APD placed 16th overall. The division that we raced in this year had 51 teams competing and we placed 3rd in that division. I still do not have the individual results to see how long it took me to run my particular leg. Our time to run 120 miles? It was 15 hours and 06 minutes.  That breaks down to an average of 7 1/2 minutes per mile.  Considering that the course has individual legs that ascend over 1000 feet, we had 50 mph gusts of wind all night and temperatures also ranged from 93 to about 45 degrees I would have to say that I was pretty happy with the results. I'm already looking forward to next year!!! 

Book Tag

I got tagged and it's a quick tag to do, so I'm going to get it out of the way. For those of you who have tagged me and I still haven't done it - forgive me - life has been hectic!

This is what you do:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th full sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.

My book is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.



I'm reading it for book club and have really been enjoying it. Unfortunately, life has been so crazy that I haven't picked up a book (besides the scriptures) in over 10 days! I'm starting to worry I won't be able to finish the book before book club in 2 weeks, especially since I can't remember what I've already read. I'm going to have to go back and re-read the first half of the book before I can even start on the second half. I'm on page 136, so about 10 days ago I read this:

"Like you, a voluntary exile from France; like you, driven from it by its distractions, oppressions, and miseries; like you, striving to live away from it by my own exertions, and trusting in a happier future; I look only to sharing your fortunes, sharing your life and home, and being faithful to you to death."

I tag Leah, my sister Julie, my daughter Emily, Jeri, and Traci.

Self-Portrait Tuesday

The challenge for Self-Portrait Tuesday was: do you consider yourself a part of "the green generation?"

I was part of the "green generation" before the green generation became popular. My mom is from Germany (where recycling is HUGE) and she has always instilled in her kids the importance of recycling and not wasting. At our house we recycle, use both sides of every piece of paper, buy in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging we throw away, carpool when possible, and refill large water bottles instead of buying bottled water.

We live in New Mexico where everything is BROWN and for good reason - it's a desert! Due to the lack of water here, my husband and I decided to put in a synthetic lawn instead of wasting water trying to get grass to grow here.

So on the left of this picture you can see my green fake lawn and on the right you can sort of see one of the four baby trees we planted almost exactly a year ago.

Grateful Sunday

Today I am grateful for my car!

(Shad is still out of town with the camera so I grabbed this photo off InternetAutoGuide.com)

I had a lot of meetings today and put over 100 miles on my car in the past 12 hours.

Thank heavens I didn't have to walk to those meetings!

It was FABULOUS!

I'm exhausted (so this will be brief), but I just had to let you all know what a WONDERFUL time I had at Time Out For Women yesterday and today.

As you read in the previous post, I got to pick up some of the presenters from the airport. I ended up with Mary Ellen Edmunds in my car - just like I wanted! She is so much fun - the most cheerful, funny person you'll ever meet. She insisted on giving me a hug after I dropped everyone off at the hotel. She gives great hugs! I got 3 more hugs from her at various times at the Conference. I also picked up Cherie Call (whose name I mispronounced - it's pronounced Shari, not shu-Ree), S. Michael Wilcox (who I accidentally called Scott - don't know where that came from!), and Kenneth Cope (who was so super nice).

I worked the will call desk - where people could pick up their tickets.  Traci came by with a camera and took some pictures of me working. The event technically hadn't even started (the doors were still closed) and you can see I was already having fun.

If Time Out For Women comes to your town - you MUST go! You owe it to yourself to go. 

You can click here for more info.

Today is the Day!

Hooray - Time Out For Women is today!  In an hour or so, I get to pick up some of the presenters for the conference. There are two of us meeting the presenters at the airport, so I don't know who will be in my car. I hope I get to drive Mary Ellen Edmunds - she's hysterical!

This afternoon I need to be at the convention center early so that I can help take the plastic off of the free tote bags everyone gets Saturday morning. All of the volunteers get trained at 4:30 and then the doors open at 5:45! I'll be working at the will call desk - so come say hello.

If you didn't order tickets, you can still purchase them at the door. Tickets will cost:  $20 for Friday night and $55 for Saturday. (Doors open at 5:45 Friday - the event is from 6:30 - 9:30. Doors open at 8:00 a.m. Saturday - the event is from 8:45 - 3:45.)

I hope to see you there. The past few weeks have been crazy at our house and I'm really looking forward to getting "pumped up" by the presenters.

***If you attend and have a camera, come take my picture. Shad will have the camera with him while he's out of town.***

School Projects

A few months ago (yes, I'm behind) Emily and Peter had a school project to write and illustrate a fairy tale. We "published" each story and they got to read them at an author's fair with the rest of their class.

Emily's fairy tale was about a princess whose father accidentally turned himself into a dog. The princess and her mean sisters had to go gather various items from around Europe in order to get their father back to normal. Emily is a prolific writer. Her story was the longest in the class - by double!

Peter's fairy tale was about a lonely emperor penguin in Antarctica who wanted to build himself a warm home. Every time he built a house out of ice blocks, a cruel orca whale would knock it down with his tail. Other penguins came along and helped the little emperor penguin to finally build a house that the whale couldn't reach.

Then it was on to inquiry projects. Inquiry is like science fair except your question doesn't have to be science-based. The kids each came up with a question and an experiment to answer their question. Then they had to analyze the information they had collected and make a board to use in presenting their inquiry at the school's Inquiry Fair.

Peter's inquiry was about how plugging your nose affects the taste of food. His hope was to discover that food didn't taste as strong if you plugged your nose - a strategy he could have used when forced to eat horrible food - like meat. Unfortunately, for kids at least, plugging your nose while you eat doesn't seem to take away the taste.

Emily's inquiry tried to discover which noise maker was the loudest. She tested her scream, banging two rocks together, using a homemade megaphone, a whistle and an air horn. She was trying to see which would be the most useful item to have with you if you got lost camping. Her results were pretty inconclusive - so just don't get lost!

Self-Portrait Tuesday

This week's challenge was to provide a photo for the following caption:

"What was I thinking?!?"

Our dog Felicia is not the most trustworthy of souls when it comes to people food. When I have to leave her at home alone, I normally lock her up in her kennel or, at the very least, make sure that there is no food of any kind on any table. Well, yesterday I was in a rush, so I didn't put her in her kennel and I only gave a cursory glance at the kitchen and dining tables.

Here's what I found when I returned home:

THE CRIME SCENE

In case you can't tell, this is the remains of 

a half-full big pack of Extra gum.

THE SUSPECT

Don't be fooled by those puppy dog eyes! She's a hardened criminal.

THE INTERROGATION

I'll spare you a picture of the "evidence" deposited on our back lawn this morning.

When I told my husband what our darling doggie had done, his first response was "She'll be blowing bubbles out her rear."

WHAT WAS I THINKING LEAVING HER ALONE WITH GUM ON THE TABLE?! 

Munchin' Monday

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

1 cup margarine (2 sticks)

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups quick oats

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

12 oz. pkg chocolate chips (2 cups)

1/4 cup margarine

2 teaspoon vanilla

For cookie dough – cream margarine and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients.

On stove, melt sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and margarine until combined. Take off heat and stir in vanilla.


Put 2/3 of dough into a greased 9 x 13 pan; lightly press into pan.

Spread chocolate mixture on top of cookie dough mixture.

Drop remaining dough by spoonfuls or make patties in hands to drop on top.

Bake 350 for 25-30 minutes.

In my opinion, these taste even better the next day. Enjoy!

Grateful Sunday

Today I am grateful for some random things:

• That Laura asked for seconds & thirds of green beans at dinner tonight.
  

• That when Emily threw up the other day, she threw up in a bowl - NOT on the floor!

• That the entire family appears to be over the wretched stomach flu.

• That Peter lived through an entire week of being grounded from computer games and the Wii. (We all thought it would kill him for sure.)
  

• That all of my Young Women activities are planned for the rest of the month.

• That Shayna shared her Oatmeal Fudge Bars recipe with me. (Shad's grateful for this too. He said it's his new favorite dessert.) I'll share the recipe tomorrow.
  

• That Laura, at age 4 years 11 months, is such an excellent judge of character that she can inform me, without any equivocation, that her friend Madi's mom is a much better mom than I am.

One Week to Go - TOFW

Time Out For Women is one week away! I'm so excited - it's going to be great. I'm also thrilled because I get to pick up some of the presenters from the airport Friday!

For those of you who are undecided about attending this event, I just found out that Time Out For Women won't be back in Albuquerque before Fall 2010 or Spring 2011. NOW is the time to attend because it won't be back for 2 1/2 to 3 years!

For more information, check out this website or my other TOFW posts (see the top right corner of my blog).

You can still get tickets: $50 for Saturday only, or $65 for Friday and Saturday.

If you won't know until Friday if you can go, tickets will be available at the door (but they will cost more).

Hope you'll join us. It's going to be fabulous.

Back in the Land of the Living

It took a week, but I'm back. I had enough strength to shower AND go to the grocery store today! 

Unfortunately, now that I'm back on my feet, my kids have been knocked off of theirs. Emily woke up at 6:00 a.m. and threw up. Peter told us his stomach hurt. I made him some Eggo's for breakfast - he refused to eat them. At that point I knew he was sick - he has NEVER said no to waffles before!

I'll have to post a catch-up post later. I have to get Laura's choice for dinner - California Pizza - out of the oven. It's a Pampered Chef recipe and its real name is Tomato Basil Pizza. I made it once when Shad's step-sister Camille was visiting us from California. She loved it so much that she took the recipe home with her. Ever since then, Emily has called it California Pizza - because her aunt who lives in California makes it. I don't know why Camille gets credit, but there's no understanding a child's logic.

California Pizza

pizza dough (10 oz refrigerated dough, or homemade)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoon dried basil

1 garlic clove, pressed

2/3 cup mayonnaise

3 - 4 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced*

Roll out pizza dough on rectangle baking stone (or greased cookie sheet) to within 1-inch of edge of pan. Sprinkle dough with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. In bowl, combine 1 cup mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, and mayo. Arrange tomato slices in a single layer over mozzarella cheese on crust. Spread cheese/mayo mixture over tomatoes. Bake at 375 for 15-20 mins or until top is golden brown and bubbly.

*My kids don't like the tomatoes so I only use 2 tomatoes to cover half of the pizza. I put the cheese mixture over the dough that doesn't have tomatoes as well.

This is how it will look if you only cover half of the pizza with tomatoes.

Laura absolutely loves to cook! Today she told me that she needs this "skill" because when she grows up she's going to be "a big cooker."

Here's my favorite Thick Crust Pizza Dough recipe (Thanks Leah!):

1 1/3 cups warm water
4 teaspoons sugar
1 Tbsp yeast
3 - 4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp shortening
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon oregano (optional)

Mix water, sugar and yeast. Let sit until it begins to foam. Add flour and other ingredients. Knead. Let rise till double. Roll out on pizza stone (or greased pan.) Let rise for 5-10 mins., then cover with toppings. (For normal pizza, bake at 425 for 18-20 mins.)

Laura is choosing to watch Pinocchio tonight. Her brother and sister are doing a version of Pinocchio as a class play and so she wanted to see the movie.

Self-Portrait Tuesday

This week, the challenge is to look past the "self" in the self-portrait, and focus on what's going on behind you.

If I had eyes in the back of my head, I would see germs/bacteria/viruses coming to take me away!

Sorry, folks - no photo today. My head is about to explode.

Grateful Sunday, I mean Monday

I am grateful for my awesome husband!

His stomach flu only lasted one day (whereas today is day 4 for me and I think I'm finally starting to feel human again) and so this morning, he got up after having only slept for 3 hours (that's right - 3 hours) and did homeschooling with the kids so that I could sleep (bad night last night). He is a saint! I'm so lucky to have him.

Sick as a Dog

Shad and I have been suffering from sort of stomach bug. Thankfully, Emily was able to keep Peter and Laura entertained and fed yesterday while Shad and I laid in bed trying to overcome intense nausea. The kids benefited from my being out of commission - they got Eggo waffles for dinner last night!

Wordless Wednesday - Somebody Got a Haircut and Wants Her Belly Rubbed!

Self-Portrait Tuesday

The SPT challenge for today was to take a picture of yourself looking your best.

Yesterday, I did my hair just right and was happy with how I looked. However - I could NOT get a decent self-portrait for anything. I deleted EVERY SINGLE picture I took yesterday. I kept looking at the photos and saying "I don't really look like that, do I?!"

So, today, I had Shad take my picture. I wasn't too thrilled with his photos either. I can't seem to smile naturally and when I do smile, my tiny eyes look like they're closed. And why didn't he tell me I wasn't holding my head straight?!

I guess it all boils down to the fact that 

I am NOT photogenic. 

But here's a photo that I can live with being out in the blogging world.

And here's a fun picture of me laughing at Lelly's April Fool's Joke! 

(Although I wasn't laughing Friday when her pending "hiatus" from SPT was the final straw that threw me into a Friday Funk!)