It takes a lot of low carb stuff to do it right. I've been playing with recipes and tonight made a good mug cake (though I actually did it in a 2 cup ramekin)
1Tbsp almond meal
1Tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
5 packets truvia (or similar sweetener to taste)
1Tbsp water
1Tbsp sour cream
1 egg
1/2tsp baking powder
splash of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
I topped it with peanut butter...but you could do strawberries, blueberries, or whipped cream sweetened with stevia or any number of items like a drizzle of skinny chocolate from the THM book or other low carb chocolate, or cream cheese blended with pb and dash of sweetener, or some caramel flavored greek yogurt.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Declutter: I wish it was easy, but it is not.
So I'm tryin for 40 bags in 40 days this year during lent. So instead of giving up one thing, I'm getting rid of lots of things and giving up my hoarding tendencies and need to hold on to the crazy. And Ann Marie of White House Black Shutters is going to help. Here's her blog and her FB page.
http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/40-bags-in-40-days-2014/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/40bagsin40daysofficial/
I've already purged a bit, just because I told the little girls they couldn't unpack all their Christmas toys until we got it done, so we're just about there and slowly opening some new gifts and putting them away, in a place of their own, just for them.
Let me know if you want to join me!
http://www.whitehouseblackshutters.com/40-bags-in-40-days-2014/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/40bagsin40daysofficial/
I've already purged a bit, just because I told the little girls they couldn't unpack all their Christmas toys until we got it done, so we're just about there and slowly opening some new gifts and putting them away, in a place of their own, just for them.
Let me know if you want to join me!
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Learning a new skill (sort of)
Back in Jr. High we took Home Economics (now called Family and Consumer Science). I used to cross stitch with my mother, particularly if we were going on a long trip or were on vacation or school break of some sort. We never really did anything with the stuff we made, but it was fun and kept me busy. In our class I did well in the sewing and stitching section because I had some experience already. We did learn and have to make a pillow design from french knots while in there too. But, we didn't ever use those skills afterwards.
Well, I have a child who won't wear anything "rough" or "scratchy" or "itchy."
So I'm reteaching myself with the aid of YouTube how to embroider so that her "jeggings" (knit denim) can be "cute" like her friends' jeans. I'm practicing on a hand me down skirt that she won't wear (maybe I can convince her younger sister to) and then I'm going to try to embellish her jeggings from last year to make sure I can do what I want before I attempt on new jeans/jeggings.
Well, I have a child who won't wear anything "rough" or "scratchy" or "itchy."
So I'm reteaching myself with the aid of YouTube how to embroider so that her "jeggings" (knit denim) can be "cute" like her friends' jeans. I'm practicing on a hand me down skirt that she won't wear (maybe I can convince her younger sister to) and then I'm going to try to embellish her jeggings from last year to make sure I can do what I want before I attempt on new jeans/jeggings.
Nothing fancy, but a start, still a lot to learn and patterns to download and draw, but B (younger sister) liked it and since I'm hoping she'll wear it next year, that's a good thing.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Bittersweet
My 4 year old, B, started school this week, and as much as I hate to admit it, I cried once I was home. It's funny, I don't think I was nearly as upset when the other two started school. Maybe it's just because I know this is the last one to go. I have a high schooler and a preschooler.
I actually think the thing that has me upset is the fact that my first baby is in high school! A was my preemie, she was 6 weeks early, arriving at 5lbs10oz and 18in long. She was strong and a fighter and only needed help with her body temperature and jaundice thankfully. But now she's in 9th grade, 9th grade, people! She is so smart, so strong, so compassionate, but it still scares me, she's a baby, not yet 14 starting high school. In 3 "sophomore" classes (Biology I, Geometry, and Spanish I) so she's not confined to the freshman academy like most of the 9th graders, plus since she's on the soccer team she's got athletic P.E. with upper classmen.
P's birthday is today, she's a baby 1st grader like my 9th grader is the baby of her class. I think I'm going to like her teacher and she doesn't seem to be having as hard of a time adjusting to school as I thought. Though, to be honest, the homework adjustment is a pill, she hates HAVING to do something, if I could convince her it was her idea somehow it would all be fine. Reviewing last year's words and number facts is a pain because she doesn't want to, not that she can't or struggles with it. Anyone have a clue how to make it more fun?
B is my preschooler, the baby, yet very independent. She never meets a stranger and seems to have no problems with school so far, she didn't want to tell me about the classroom rules yesterday like the note said to review, but I think that was because P was fighting her homework at the same time.
This year has brought about some difficulties in dropping everyone off though. Poor A still has to ride the bus, maybe next year I can take her since the littles will be at the same school instead of across town from one another. Right now I have to leave the house at 720 to get P to school for 735, then drive into town to drop B off at 755 for prayer meeting before dismissal to class. In the afternoon B gets picked up at 240 so I can make it back to P before 305 when she gets out...we haven't figured out how soccer practice in the afternoons for A will work out because they haven't even started conditioning for some reason....oh well...
I suppose that this means that Fridays when M is home from work that will be our "date" time at lunch since we'll have no kids around this year.
I actually think the thing that has me upset is the fact that my first baby is in high school! A was my preemie, she was 6 weeks early, arriving at 5lbs10oz and 18in long. She was strong and a fighter and only needed help with her body temperature and jaundice thankfully. But now she's in 9th grade, 9th grade, people! She is so smart, so strong, so compassionate, but it still scares me, she's a baby, not yet 14 starting high school. In 3 "sophomore" classes (Biology I, Geometry, and Spanish I) so she's not confined to the freshman academy like most of the 9th graders, plus since she's on the soccer team she's got athletic P.E. with upper classmen.
P's birthday is today, she's a baby 1st grader like my 9th grader is the baby of her class. I think I'm going to like her teacher and she doesn't seem to be having as hard of a time adjusting to school as I thought. Though, to be honest, the homework adjustment is a pill, she hates HAVING to do something, if I could convince her it was her idea somehow it would all be fine. Reviewing last year's words and number facts is a pain because she doesn't want to, not that she can't or struggles with it. Anyone have a clue how to make it more fun?
B is my preschooler, the baby, yet very independent. She never meets a stranger and seems to have no problems with school so far, she didn't want to tell me about the classroom rules yesterday like the note said to review, but I think that was because P was fighting her homework at the same time.
This year has brought about some difficulties in dropping everyone off though. Poor A still has to ride the bus, maybe next year I can take her since the littles will be at the same school instead of across town from one another. Right now I have to leave the house at 720 to get P to school for 735, then drive into town to drop B off at 755 for prayer meeting before dismissal to class. In the afternoon B gets picked up at 240 so I can make it back to P before 305 when she gets out...we haven't figured out how soccer practice in the afternoons for A will work out because they haven't even started conditioning for some reason....oh well...
I suppose that this means that Fridays when M is home from work that will be our "date" time at lunch since we'll have no kids around this year.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Busy summer
It's been crazy busy around here. Too bad I haven't uploaded any picture to the computer to post. The first real week out of school was VBS, it was a blast, I taught Kindergarten art rotation. Way too much planned for the first 2 days but after that we settled in. The next week was a morning camp for P, the next week there wasn't really much planned, the following week was Centrifuge for A, so P and B got to stay with Deda a few days and M and I got to spend a few days kid-less!
Then A came back and went to Deda's to see some cousins in from Indiana, we met her up there for the 4th and had a blast, and now for the rest of the summer...I should have planned better...I don't know what to do now!
Then A came back and went to Deda's to see some cousins in from Indiana, we met her up there for the 4th and had a blast, and now for the rest of the summer...I should have planned better...I don't know what to do now!
Monday, May 4, 2015
Science in the yard!
Spring flowers are blooming, the rose will be next, but in that rose bush is a nest. A pretty "red bird" or cardinal has made her home in our climbing rose in the front yard. And the babies are hatching!!
Last week a took a bunch of pictures as we walked around talking about flowers and why some had "little pointy out thingies" that were really long and some that weren't so long. Why some flowers were big and some were small. Why were some flowers on tall vines and some on weeds in the grass.
We had some thistle seeds blow in (didn't get any pictures of those though) and talked about how flowers meant seeds and that different seeds grew in different places because that's where the wind might blow them, and how other seeds go spread.
Why did the bees and bugs get on the flowers?
Why did the birds build their nests in strange places?
Why did the bees and bugs get on the flowers?
Why did the birds build their nests in strange places?
 |
| Last week there were just eggs! |
 |
| today we're hatching babies! |
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| so tiny and ugly right now, maybe mama bird will let me get near the nest again next week to see how big they've gotten |
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Reminders (Middle School is CRAZY)
My friend Sarah wrote a blog post that made Laugh Out Loud. I guess it doesn't surprise me all that much, she was always funny, goofy, nice, smart, I could go one, but, sorry Sarah, I won't! I'm not sure that some of the people I'm still friends with through FB realize what impacts they had on me, or others when we were kids.
It's funny to me that I agree with so much of what Sarah said, because I envied her confidence at the time...confidence that she doesn't seem to remember having a lot of.
I was the skinny kid, who among many things got called "Gonzo" or "Skeletor" on the bus or the field at "recess." But I had good friends for the most part, though I should let you know that my definition of friend was far more specific than just being in classes with people, even in middle school. I still struggle with confidence, with accepting myself, with realizing that what other people think of me really doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things.
If that's something I can teach my child at a younger age then I'm all for it. I just wish I knew how. She's getting picked on because she's smart, polite, helpful, pretty, athletic...this gets her called a "suck up" and "goody-goody" and has earned her some enemies even in her honors/pre AP courses where she's sitting with other "smart" people all day. It's earned her enemies because the teachers like her, respect her, she gets good grades, has 3 high-school credits already even though she's only just finishing 8th grade, and for some reason this makes people think that SHE thinks she's better than others...which is as far from the truth as it can get.
She struggles daily because she's worried about people she thought were her friends, but after getting nominated (along with 5 others) for Student of the Year, found out that they really weren't. They were so jealous they told her how they COULDN'T BELIEVE that SHE had been nominated of all people, that she was too immature (because she likes to laugh, tell jokes, cut up when not in class), how in the world she get it an not them (jealous much)...those simultaneous life rafts, yet sharks that Sarah mentioned. She's in a constant state of worry about who is trying to get her in trouble, who is jealous enough to try to break up her friendships and boyfriend-ship, try to get her in trouble by spreading rumors/lies, in general being nothing like what she expected of people she trusted.
To top that off, she like me, has lost some really close true friends because they've moved. I lost many too around that age, and I do remember all too well the heartache from losing the few people I was really friends, not just acquaintances, with. I suppose at least I do remember, I can help her, though sometimes I feel like I'm floundering around with it all.
She can't really control the roller coaster, and so I have to remind myself and my husband to cut her some slack, she's got a lot going on. At the same time, I have to show her that she can and will get through it. That she's stronger than she thinks she is. I think I've learned more about people and how to deal with people in a variety of situations since I had kids than I ever learned before, and I know I will continue to learn. It just stinks for her that I don't know it all now...know how to better prepare her than I do.
I don't have 3 kids in middle school (though in a few years when my younger two get there I'll have two at a time, and Sarah can come laugh at/with me then), but I do remember, and I do think that God has a great sense of humor...one we don't always give him enough credit for. He's on this ride with us, and if He didn't have a sense of humor and we couldn't see his sense of humor, the ride would be very LONG indeed...
It's funny to me that I agree with so much of what Sarah said, because I envied her confidence at the time...confidence that she doesn't seem to remember having a lot of.
I was the skinny kid, who among many things got called "Gonzo" or "Skeletor" on the bus or the field at "recess." But I had good friends for the most part, though I should let you know that my definition of friend was far more specific than just being in classes with people, even in middle school. I still struggle with confidence, with accepting myself, with realizing that what other people think of me really doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things.
If that's something I can teach my child at a younger age then I'm all for it. I just wish I knew how. She's getting picked on because she's smart, polite, helpful, pretty, athletic...this gets her called a "suck up" and "goody-goody" and has earned her some enemies even in her honors/pre AP courses where she's sitting with other "smart" people all day. It's earned her enemies because the teachers like her, respect her, she gets good grades, has 3 high-school credits already even though she's only just finishing 8th grade, and for some reason this makes people think that SHE thinks she's better than others...which is as far from the truth as it can get.
She struggles daily because she's worried about people she thought were her friends, but after getting nominated (along with 5 others) for Student of the Year, found out that they really weren't. They were so jealous they told her how they COULDN'T BELIEVE that SHE had been nominated of all people, that she was too immature (because she likes to laugh, tell jokes, cut up when not in class), how in the world she get it an not them (jealous much)...those simultaneous life rafts, yet sharks that Sarah mentioned. She's in a constant state of worry about who is trying to get her in trouble, who is jealous enough to try to break up her friendships and boyfriend-ship, try to get her in trouble by spreading rumors/lies, in general being nothing like what she expected of people she trusted.
To top that off, she like me, has lost some really close true friends because they've moved. I lost many too around that age, and I do remember all too well the heartache from losing the few people I was really friends, not just acquaintances, with. I suppose at least I do remember, I can help her, though sometimes I feel like I'm floundering around with it all.
She can't really control the roller coaster, and so I have to remind myself and my husband to cut her some slack, she's got a lot going on. At the same time, I have to show her that she can and will get through it. That she's stronger than she thinks she is. I think I've learned more about people and how to deal with people in a variety of situations since I had kids than I ever learned before, and I know I will continue to learn. It just stinks for her that I don't know it all now...know how to better prepare her than I do.
I don't have 3 kids in middle school (though in a few years when my younger two get there I'll have two at a time, and Sarah can come laugh at/with me then), but I do remember, and I do think that God has a great sense of humor...one we don't always give him enough credit for. He's on this ride with us, and if He didn't have a sense of humor and we couldn't see his sense of humor, the ride would be very LONG indeed...
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