Saturday, January 26, 2013

The punishment: Writing

K- is currently on a writing punishment.  She has been yelling and lippy for a bit now.  Christmas break was wonderful.  She was great.  We really didn't have any of that.

Then she went back to school.

Dear K-,

It is okay to have an opinion and to express it.  It is not okay to yell at me.

It is not okay to stand up and frump your butt up in the air and take off down the hall.  Doing so adds trips up and down the hall for you to have to count out to me.  We will walk up and down the hall like a civilized human.

Oh, and don't think about slamming that door.  You did that.  A couple of times.  I threatened to take the door off the hinges.  You knew I was serious and discontinued that behavior.  I'll say that was this summer and this hasn't reared its ugly head again.

Right now, you are writing:

I will stop speaking disrespectfully to my mom and dad.  I will stop yelling.  When I disobey my parents, I am disobeying God.         

You are writing that 40 times.  You did earn a 15 time reprieve by being absolutely angelic today when we took a crabby grandma (my mom) shopping.  That trip was rough for me.  Grandma is stressed about wedding details and was not the most pleasant of grandmas today.

You started out with 20 times to write this.  Each time you yelled or was disrespectful, 5 more times was added.

You got up to 55.

Your writing this is excruciating for all of us.  You are not permitted to have any privileges until this is complete.

Frankly, that is a bummer.  So far, you have caught yourself mid-yell or mid-disrespect and quickly (lightning speed) re-tuned.

I appreciate that you are learning.

Write like the wind, K-.  Mommy would like to play a game with you.

Love,

Mom

P.S.  You said that you are "writing like the wind" because you want to play a game, too.  Hopefully, this will be over tonight.  I miss having fun.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Happy birthday, Hubs!

Hubs and K- checking out Boulder Field National Natural Landmark.

We hope that you have a wonderful day!  We love you!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

I feel like Luke from Gilmore Girls.

I would love to post a "no cell phone" sign in the store, just like Luke had at his diner.  Today, a customer got a call while she was roaming around.  While she was talking to the caller, she was talking to me and wanting me to get things for her.  Then, she was giving me sign language to know to put things back, get things or Lord knows what else.

I am not an air traffic controller.  I do not have to read hand signals for my job.

I whispered, "I'll help you when you are done there."  She just talked louder to me and louder to the gentleman on the phone.  :roll of the eyes:

I understand that sometimes you have to take a call.  It's very cold out here right now, but if she walked away to another room, she could have held her conversation and had no problems.  She purchased her items, I wrapped them and she left oblivious to how rude she was.

Please, if you need help, put your phone down.

The end.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Fashion choices sometimes surprise me.

It's cold here.  I know, I know.  There is always some place colder, but when it is 5 F and the wind chill is - 11, that counts for cold for me.   Yesterday was cold, too.

We had people in and out all day.  It was a bank holiday and everyone got gussied up, wore some extra perfume (I swear that they did and my perfume sensitivity agreed) and came on in to work.  Fantastic!  We were thrilled to have them.

We had one lady, though.  She was dressed.  Oh my.  Michelle Obama would have been impressed.  She had a wonderfully fitted suit, hair not out of place, far too much perfume, but peep toe black stilettos to show off her fabulous pedicure in the snow on slick parking lot bricks.

Wow.

If it were me, I would wobble around on those things like a newborn giraffe on an ice rink.  She was steady and didn't even catch a heel between the bricks.

She was my work fashion hero yesterday.

Michelle Obama wins, though.  Her jacket was delicious.

Stay warm!

Monday, January 21, 2013

I don't think that it is bad to teach my child what a healthy portion size is.

I was reading a bit about a woman who wrote a book about her 7 year old needing to shed a few pounds and the journey she took with her to help make that happen.

It is here that I stop you and tell you that I have not read the book.

I can tell you that my daughter is tall, 4' 6 1/2", at the new age of 9.  She was born to a woman who was 5' 1" and 300 pounds.  My daughter's build is not that of a ballerina and her genetic disposition is not of a ballerina, either.  K carries a bit in her mid-section, but she is in the mid-range of normal for BMI given her height and weight.

We watch what we eat at our house.

Lately, I've been taking to teaching K what a "serving size" is.  Just like today, I bought a bag of M&M snack mix.  I normally don't do that, but PMS called and I misread the package.  I was an idiot and thought it was M&M pretzels.  Still, I showed her on the package where it said what the serving size was.  We went to the drawer, pulled out the correct measuring cup and measured it out.  I taught her that the serving that they are referring to was a level serving and not a heaping one.  She got herself an appropriately sized bowl and skipped off happy.  It had almonds, pretzels, raisins and M&M's.  I can't recall the calories, but I didn't press that with K.  What is important is to teach her what a reasonable serving size is.  I also think that it is ridiculous to think that a child shouldn't have a snack that doesn't involve some sugar.

That is what it sounds like this mom did.  She stated that she had her daughter eat one cupcake and not two.  That's not unreasonable.  However, again, I didn't read the book.  I'm just talking about the serving size situation.

We've downsized what plates we use.  Hubs and I use what would be classified as "salad plates."  K has a set of bowls and plates from IKEA.  Those are a perfect serving for what she needs to eat.

We've changed what we eat even more over the past year.  Whole wheat, whole grains, vegetarian, whole foods, more cooking from scratch . . . that sort of thing.  We do eat at the table.  We do talk about the important things of the day.  Some are funny.  Some are funky.  We hash it out as a family.

K and I have been talking about the evening snack.  She could snack herself to death if I let her, but after dinner, we've decided that a before bed snack is a string cheese.  She's good with that.

When school started, K was very upset because it seemed that every skirt or pair of pants she tried on didn't zip.  I felt so bad for her.  She does carry a little bit of a Buddha baby belly and anymore, the cut on pants don't exactly accommodate for her figure.  She, like her older sister, will thin out over time.  I'm not concerned about that.  I was worried about how she was seeing herself.  One day I came into her bedroom in a pair of pants I hadn't worn in a while.  Rounding the corner to 40 hasn't helped the metabolism and these pants were tight around the middle.  I came to her and said, "K, I need help zipping my jeans."  She looked up and was kind of relieved.  "Babe, you aren't the only one around here with pants that won't zip.  We'll eat even healthier and that will help us out."

Much of the time, I pack K's lunch.  Lunches have changed enough for me to allow her to get a handful a month.  (Thank you, Michelle Obama!)  Still, they have pizza once a week and I wouldn't allow K to eat it even if it didn't throw her reflux into a spin.  Pizza at our house is on multi grain crust with tomato sauce, veggies and Morningstar crumbles and a light layer of cheese.  You don't have to mop the top of my pizza.  In K's lunch I pack fresh vegetables and fresh fruits in a stainless steel bento box.  She's that kid (probably one of the few) that comes with a lunch that isn't labeled "Lunchables" on the outside.  I used to send her apple juice in her water bottle until one day she said, "Can you just send water?  That's all I want, Mom."  Um, yes.  Duh!  I send her a turkey wrap on a whole wheat tortilla.  If she has a want for pudding, I make her pudding cups.  I don't buy those shelf stable snack packs from the store.  She still loves Goldfish (or Chickadees from Target) and enjoys a stick of cheese, too.  Her class is on the last of the lunch rotation, so her teacher allows them to have a snack mid-morning.  I pack her good granola bars (Kashi or Clif generally) or a Quaker Stila fruit bar.  (I can't recall exactly what they are called.)

I've found that K is looking at calories on boxes.  She's not obsessed with it, but she'll tell me, "Mom, your cereal has 120 calories."  I'm not teaching her that, but I don't think it is harmful for her to read the side of a food box, either.

I sit and think about the family member that we have that is basically food obsessed with their children and it disturbs me.  Hubs and I talk about this family situation and he says that these children are acting out because they are hungry.  He said that if he lived in there, he'd act out, too.  (Yes, the children are fed, but very regimentedly so.  Yes.  I just made up my own word.  It is appropriate, though.)

What are your thoughts on children, serving sizes and teaching portion control?  Don't worry.  I print opinions on both sides.  Constructive criticism is a good thing.  Just be kind, please.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Weekly Menu- Week 2

Have you ever gotten to a day on your menu and said, "Meh?"  All of us ditched Saturday pizza.  We just weren't feeling it.  I had some extra eggs, a few wheat tortillas left, I picked some hash brown potatoes up at the grocery and defrosted some turkey bacon and some wheat bagels.  Voila!  Breakfast wraps and potatoes for dinner.

Here goes for this week:

Sunday/Monday:  Vegetarian wheat pasta lasagna with steamed broccoli and salad

Tuesday/Wednesday:  I'm on my own.  There will be lasagna left over for at least Tuesday.  Wednesday can be a veggie burger.

Thursday:  Toasted cheese sandwiches and soup.  (Arts and Literature Festival at school.  We need something not terribly involved.)

Friday:  It's Hubs' Birthday!  Baked Chicken with cornbread dressing, rolls, some other vegetable and salad.  Oooo!  And Jello cake!  (His favorite!)

Saturday:  Chicken sausage, a vegetable and salad.

I should add that this was the first time I've made lasagna (I haven't made many, though) without cooking the noodles.  The directions said not to cook them, though I didn't read the directions thoroughly.  The noodles still seemed stiff after cooking for the length of period specified.  When re-reading, I realized that I was to head the spaghetti sauce, which I hadn't done.  I figured that crunchy noodles needed more moisture, so on a few different occasions, I added some extra water to the top and I kept the lasagna cooking.  (Covered with foil.)  In the end, I think I may have saved it!  At least it is puffed up with a cooked noodle type consistency when poked with a toothpick.  Next time, I will cook the sauce.

Have a great week!