Sweet Baby Boys

See this little guy on the left, I'm headed to the AZ in a few hours to see him and a brand new baby, pics to come soon). The little guy on the right was not happy that I would go visit his buddy without him. He asked if he could hide in my suitcase. That would be serious double trouble.

Unplugged

Yesterday morning I caught a clip of the Today Show where they were interviewing Susan Mushart, a woman who turned off all technology for she and her teenagers for three months. I thought the idea was pretty fascinating and wondered how I would handle such an unplugging. When I got to work a little bit later I realized that I had left my phone home. Tim couldn't fully rescue because he had an appointment. So I left work, got in my car, drove 25 minutes to meet him and return to work, all to get my phone. Six months? I barely made it 60 minutes. Funny thing was, I wasn't sure which I would miss more, the phone, or the spider solitaire.

I thought I would include a little more about the book:
"Maushart wrote a book about the experience, "The Winter of our Disconnect," in which she explains:

There were lots of reasons why we pulled the plug on our electronic media . . . or, I should say, why I did, because heaven knows my children would have sooner volunteered to go without food, water, or hair products. At ages fourteen, fifteen, and eighteen, my daughters and my son don’t use media. They inhabit media. And they do so exactly as fish inhabit a pond. Gracefully. Unblinkingly. And utterly without consciousness or curiosity as to how they got there.

Her youngest daughter, age 14, was so unhappy about being thrown out of the tech fishbowl that she moved in with her father (Maushart's ex-husband) for six weeks rather than unplug. She eventually moved back in with her mom. That wasn't the only challenge, Maushart writes:

The Winter of Our Disconnect started out as a kind of purge. It ended up as so much more. Long story short: our digital detox messed with our heads, our hearts, and our homework. It changed the way we ate and the way we slept, the way we “friended,” fought, planned, and played. It altered the very taste and texture of our family life. Hell, it even altered the mouthfeel. In the end, our family’s self-imposed exile from the Information Age changed our lives indelibly—and infinitely for the better."

Just Call Me Betty

Serious, I am not sure what inspired the sudden burst of home made goodness. For Christmas I made and gave away my mom's famous granola (sorry if you weren't on the "nice" list). Anyway, it is amazing and I decided that it was cruel to keep the recipe from the world. All credit goes to Lynda aka mom.

6 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup ground flax
1 cup raw wheat germ
Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
¾ cup honey
½ cup olive oil
Mix the honey and olive oil then pour over the dry ingredients.
Spread a thin layer on a cookie sheet and bake for ½ hour at 325 degrees. The tough part is you have to stir it every ten minutes.
Once it has cooled, add craisins, raisins, etc.

My mom also uses the granola to make her version of power bars.
3 ½ cups granola
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup honey or light corn syrup
Cook sugar and syrup over medium heat until boiling.
Stir in ½ cup natural peanut butter.
Add to granola and mold into a cake pan. Cut when cool.

BTW, if you buy the ingredients at Winco in bulk it is pretty cheap to make. But beware, they don't accept credit cards. I'm serious. And they aren't even nice about it. Cash or ATM only my friends.

Remember the Pink Pants

If you thought they looked good in the Christmas morning pic, just you wait until you see them on the slopes. In accepting the award for Best Dressed, I would like to thank those who made this amazing outfit possible, TJ Maxx St. George, Jami who sacrificed and made the trip to said TJ Maxx, and of course, where would we be without Burton who designed these amazing pants.
Wanna hear a funny story about the pants: We had the pleasure of riding the lift with Jeffery, a 15 year old snowboarder. As we started up the mountain he asked if this was my first time, my first time on the lift that day, no my first time skiing ever. I laughed and said that it was definitely not my first. He said that he figured I was a newbie because my outfit was so matchy matchy. Now some people may have been offended by that, not me. I laughed and took it as a serious compliment. Whether it is running, skiing, or anything else for that matter, if you aren't blessed with serious skills, you can at least look good doing it.





Oh, the skiing? The snow was great, day was warm, and we had a fantastic time.

Chivalry is Not Dead

So this is another gym story. Trust me, they are way more entertaining than work stories. Friday I was riding the stationary bike, the best part about that is that I can catch up on all of my magazines. One of my pet peeves is all of the inserts that come in magazines, first thing I do is rip them out. I had several ads and postcards that I had dropped on the ground by my bike as well as several kleenex (if you know me well, you will understand that). An older gentleman came walking by after getting his wife situated on her bike. He's probably about 75-80, but still has a total strong man look to him. Anyway, he stopped and asked if he could pick up my trash. I gave an embarrassed laugh and told him now, of course I would clean it up when I was done. He said that I should let him be a gentleman and let him pick up my trash. Since I couldn't come up with a response to that, I let him clean up. I was slightly embarrassed, but appreciated the sweet gesture. I have been thinking a lot about him. The world would be such a better place if we all had his attitude:go out of your way to serve others and clean up any mess you can, even if they are not your responsibility.

Dinner

I really like to cook, what I don't like is deciding what to cook. I found a couple of new recipes this week that were delicious so I thought I would share. The best part is that they both were very healthy and had vegetables that I don't normally use.

Roasted Chicken and Squash
2 tea olive oil
2 chicken breasts
1/2 tea pepper
1/2 cup sliced onion
2 cups diced butternut squash
1/2-2/3 chicken broth
1/2 tea sage
Heat oven to 400, heat the oil in a skillet, season the chicken with half the pepper and some garlic salt, brown on each side for 2-3 minutes. Take the chicken out, add the onion and squash to the skillet, cook for 2 minutes, add the broth, sage and remaining pepper, return the chicken to the skillet and cook in the oven for about 15minutes until the squash is tender.
***A few tips from me. I actually made this twice last week, the second time I put too much broth and it made it a little too soupy. Go easy on the broth and make sure you have a big enough pan to spread out the squash and chicken then it will taste more roasted.
***Also, you can buy the squash at Costco already cut up, the only way to do it.
***One more plug, Tim and his brother generally don't like squash, but they both loved this recipe.

Stuffed Portobellos
I found this recipe while reading my magazines at the gym. I knew I loved portobello mushrooms but didn't think I liked brussel sprouts. Apparently it is all about how you cook them. You may have to work to find the quinoa, it took asking three people at Harmons to find a clerk who even knew what quinoa was, but so worth it. I can't believe there is so much protien in a grain. We grilled salmon to complete an amazing dinner.

I still haven't figured out how to make a link so you will have to cut and paste. Follow the link, you will thank me later.
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/stuffed-portobellos-recipe-ghk0111?click=main_sr

Does it negate any of the dinners that they were both followed up with rice crispies?

What Happened to E?

Sometimes when I drive I have really random thoughts. Today I was listening to something that talked about grades, specifically failing grades. Anyway, I was thinking about all the grades I have received over the years (all A's of course) and wondered, why A, B, C, D and F, what happened to E? Sure I get it, you want to make sure that if someone gets an "F" they know that they have failed. Couldn't we have used an "e" grade to baby step into failure. Just a thought

Overheard at the Gym

It's been awhile since I have passed along some of the gems that I hear at the gym (can I get an "A" for my creative writing?). This morning as I was getting ready, I listened to two women who for the most part were pretty uninteresting, but there were a few good points. One woman started talking about how much she loved donuts, she even had one in her locker to eat mid workout. The other listened very carefully and then said that she thinks the reason the other is so addicted to donuts has something to do with the "holes". She must have holes in her life and is missing something, clearly the reason that she loves donuts. The donut lover thought about that for a few seconds, then moved on to how excited she was to run on the treadmill because "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" was about to start. Clearly she is not the deep thinker of the duo.