An age-old truth

The other day I saw a saying on a bulletin board 

that I just loved. It said:

"A waist is a terrible thing to mind."

Grateful Sunday

I'm grateful for finding a delicious, quick breadsticks recipe over at Chez Moi. It went perfectly with what would otherwise have been a rather boring dinner (leftovers). I'm also grateful because I LOVE Little Caesar's crazy bread and this recipe is as close as you can come to crazy bread without driving across town to Little Caesar's.

Here's the recipe, but do yourself a favor and go to Recipes Chez Moi for some other fabulous recipes.

1 1/4 c. warm water
1 T. yeast
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 - 3 1/2 c. flour (I only used 2  3/4 cups)
1/4 c. melted butter
garlic salt/parmesan cheese

Proof the yeast. Mix sugar, salt, and 2 1/2 c. flour. Add yeast mixture and stir to form dough. Add more flour if needed -- it's better to be on the stickier side. Let dough rest 10 minutes.

Put half of melted butter in a jelly roll pan. Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape and then press into pan. Brush with remaining butter. Cut dough into long strips with a pizza cutter and then, depending on how many breadsticks you need, cut your strips into halves or thirds. Sprinkle with parmesan and garlic salt. Let rest another 10 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Undermining my best intentions

I set a goal for myself several weeks ago to work on being more nurturing. I want to praise my children more. I struggled with my goal, mostly because I'd forget about it. So this week I renewed my goal and put a reminder on my bathroom mirror. I am trying to find things to praise, but my children are making that very difficult. Laura and Peter will NOT do anything that I ask them to do when I'm helping them with their homework, with chores, at meal time, at bedtime, when its time to get dressed, time to get in the car, time to breathe! They struggle with something, and then when I give them a strategy to make their struggle easier, they promptly ignore my advice. It's as if they know I'm trying to become a better person and they don't want me to, so they're doing everything in their power to make me want to kill them, instead of praise them.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*** Can you tell I'm a little frustrated as I type this? Just imagine one of those cartoon bulls with steam coming out of its ears - that's me right now! ***

Grateful Sunday

I'm grateful that Shad will not have to work graveyard or weekends starting at the end of April!

The sergeants bid for their new shifts last Monday, and Shad was able to snag a swing shift (3:00 p.m. to 11:00  p.m.) with weekends off. Shad has not had weekends off since he was a cadet in the academy -11 years ago!!!!!!!!!!!

We've Joined the Club.

You know - the exclusive club of parents who have washed their child's mouth out with soap.

Peter was angry with us this afternoon and called us "dimwits." His behavior has taken us to our wit's end, and so we opted for an old-fashioned parenting technique. He did NOT enjoy it. Only time will tell if it made a lasting impression on him.