Not the Apple Cinnamon Cream of Wheat from my youth.

I have a love of the packaged Apple Cinnamon Cream of Wheat from my youth.  It was and still is my very favorite.

I haven't been able to find it.  Not just recently.  I haven't been able to find it in years.  

Last week, we were in Amish Country.  I found a giant bag of plain Cream of Wheat.  "I can try to make it myself!"  I got to work.

I was on the hunt for dried apples.  I couldn't find those, either.  I did find freeze dried apples on the Target clearance rack yesterday.  It's kind of what I wanted anyhow.  I didn't want the squishy dried ones.  

I individually bagged 15 servings.  (I made a total of 16 servings, but had to test drive one.)

It doesn't look like the Cream of Wheat of my youth.  It's a bit more cinnamony than what I had, too.  It is still good.  

Amy's Fake Out Apple Cinnamon Cream of Wheat

1/4 cup plain cream of wheat

1 T raw sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

1 1/2 slices freeze dried apple, chopped

Dump your ingredients in a snack bag.  You'll have to figure out how much water you like.  I'm not for watery cream of wheat.  Boil your water and have at it.  

Enjoy!  

A case of the bends.

I came home and asked M if he was fiddling with the downspout.

"Um, no."

"Then you probably should come out and see this."

The downspout has filled with water that froze, it bowed the pipe away from the house so far that it actually broke away from the brackets that held it in place.  

We just have a little bit of a sway problem going on here.  

I guess that we'll add that to the repair list whenever the weather breaks.  

To all of the college students complaining that they have class during the cold spell.

From the local university where K takes swim lessons:

Closing the University because of low temperatures 

Rarely does the University close because of low temperatures alone.  

The safety of all students, faculty and staff is our primary consideration in determining if the campus should remain open. No other factors supersede that one. If we receive information that weather conditions, or any other risks, pose a significant threat to the safety of our campus community, we will act appropriately and immediately. 

We serve a different clientele than our colleagues in elementary and secondary education. Our students and employees are adults. They are capable of preparing themselves for inclement weather and for deciding if weather conditions and their own personal circumstances warrant altering their schedules because of the weather. 

Second, we offer a service for which its students pay directly. If we close, we temporarily deny that service to students – including the many who live on or near campus. So, if our observations and consultations indicate that conditions do not present an undue threat to the campus community, we are obliged to provide the service that we have promised to our students. In other words, our job is to keep the University open.

 I get it.  It's cold.

This is the e-mail we got yesterday afternoon from the Director of the Aquatics Program:

Bundle up, bring your hair dryer!  We will still have our Thursday night swim lessons as scheduled.  Stay warm, Diane

When I was in college, it was -25 F.  (That was PRIOR to the windchill being factored in.)  Kent was the ONLY school in the area NOT to close.  Did I complain?  No.  I suited up and went to class.

Did it kill me?  No.

Here's the thing, you ARE in college.  That means that you are an adult now.

You ARE in college.  Do you know how many people would love to BE in college, but can't afford it?

I was reading through the Twitter feed while I was watching my dear child swim back and forth.  College kids were complaining.

It's ridiculous.  The university isn't watching out for our safety.   

If I wasn't graduating this spring, I would go to a different college that cares about their students. 

We need to text and e-mail the professors to tell them that it is too cold for class.  If we all do it, then maybe they'll cancel on their own.

Really?  You are going to flood the e-mail and text of your professor to get them to cancel class?  :tip of the head in confusion:  Um, aren't you a big girl and big boy right now?

Suck it up.  Go to class.  Wear some more layers.  Leave more time.  Skip through from building to building like I did.  You'll survive.  Look at it as the Amazing Race, only with this one, you get a degree at the end.

Feeding the birds, travels through blizzard conditions, a trip to the pharmacy, being ID'd for shoe glue and other happenings.

The soundtrack you should be playing for this particular post would be Joseph Arthur.  :)  Just kidding.  It's just what I'm listening to while I write it.  I do highly recommend it if you haven't listened to it!  

Onward.

There have been busy weeks and days off for cold and all that.  

Last weekend, we traveled out to Alliance to hand feed chickadees at a park there.  We won't be giving free press to that particular park because the people working there had the personality of wallpaper paste.  It was much like the woman we encountered when we visited the NPS Johnstown Flood Memorial.  There are few parks we will NOT visit.  The few we have marked off the list are those with people who just don't care about the people visiting and helping them TO KEEP THEIR JOB.   My husband is a public servant and just doesn't understand why people can be so very crappy in that job.  He is thankful every single day that he has the job he has.  He knows that in this day and age of technology, he's a bit of a dinosaur that can easily be replaced by an app.  (Not in our eyes because he is truly VERY good at his job.  Still . . . ) 

At any rate, we tempted the thick layers of ice, hiked about 3/4 mile into the woods and found the site.  We didn't find the human handing out seed.  There were no signs.  It wasn't obvious to figure out what was going on.  We went into a little shack that they had and we may or may not have helped ourselves to the trash can of sunflower seeds.  We went out to start with the feeding and a somewhat disheveled woman, looking much like the bird lady from Mary Poppins, came up with a reused peanut butter jar of diced peanuts.  (I really though she'd say, "Tuppence a bag!")  Instead she said, "Oh, I see you brought your own seed!"  "Kind of."  

You have to stand still with your arm out.  It seems silly, but your arm starts to hurt rather quickly.

My girl had her handful.

M was the first with a visitor.  It turns out that he would be the only one of us.  Those chickadees are quick.  Not the greatest photo, but it's all I could do!

You see, there was a boy scout troop that came in ahead of us.  Now, this isn't to say anything against boy scout troops.  The boys do great things and can truly be wonderfully behaved.  These children were not those children.  They were loud.  They were running around.  They were throwing snowballs.  They scared all of the birds away.  In fact, we moved to the bridge to try to get away from them. 

My beautiful girl here trying to be patient.  Neither she or I corner the market on patience.  

In other news, these were hand-me-downs from my girl.  They are just slightly big on me.  I just figured this might the place I state that we can no longer share shoes.  Girlie wears an 8 1/2 and I wear a 6 1/2.  These happen to be Keens that run a half size small.  With thick socks, the 7 1/2's fit my feet just fine.  Still, girlie has such big feet!

I admit that we gave up.  K and I couldn't take the snowball fighting and screaming any longer.  I looked over at her and said, "If that were me, my mom would have beat my butt."  She smirked.  The ladies standing somewhat within earshot laughed and agreed.  

Yesterday was our 18th anniversary.  We had plans to go snowshoeing at The Wilderness Center.  We packed up the snowshoes.  We headed out.  People kept talking about how cold it was supposed to be.  We had planned for that.  What we hadn't planned for was this.  

The true white out photo is on my phone.  I had to stop a few times, put my hazards on and hope that no one hit us.  This photo is the same one as below.  They would come and in a minute or so, the white out would be gone.  Still, the driving was nasty.  

Add to that that we were in -- Amish County-- home to the unmarked 90 degree turns.

Oh, yes.  The 90 degree surprise turns about wiped us out.  The road suddenly disappeared.  "Where'd the road go?"  I asked M, then suddenly I found it.  "It's a curve!"  The traction alarm was going off.  We were sliding.  I was hanging onto the steering wheel with one hand, tempted to shift into neutral with my right.  My foot was on the break, but I didn't want to slam on it and cause it to be any worse. There was one very small, low arrow on a sign in the middle of the 90 degree turn.  Um, thanks for that.  I didn't want to shift into neutral because I thought the traction control wouldn't work.  It seemed like we were sliding for minutes, but truly, it was only seconds.  The traction control kicked in and stopped our sideways slide.  We weren't head first sliding.  Oh, that would be too easy.  we were sliding sideways across the turn with my drivers door clearly where the front end of my RAV should be.  She corrected it.  She pulled us all around.  She saved us from biting the ditch.  :shakes of the head:  Wow!  We did have a nice day and I was able to buy all of my spices in bulk.  I found that my spices were old and frankly, some were dead.  

Sunday brought us negative temperature weather.  I guess it got to -12 F last night.  What are my people doing today?  Oh, they are headed to the Columbus Zoo because it is free admission day.  :shakes of the head:  They wore so many clothes that K looked like Randy from A Christmas Story.  They promised to be down there for a few hours and to head back up before the storm hits.

I have a cold.  It isn't severe, but it's enough to make me feel a little funky.  Yesterday, we were stuck going to the Big Box of Blue.  M needed his cold drug of choice-- Advil Cold & Sinus.  I pop up and asked the pharmacy tech, "Can we get some Mucinex with that?"  "You have to purchase it separately with a different ID."  I told her that I understood.  She laughed and said, "Not that you guys look like you are a problem."  "We aren't.  I promise, I really do have a cold!  Besides, my teeth aren't rotting out of my face and my skin is surprisingly clear."  "Honey, you would be buying generic in the biggest box you could and would be faking a cough."  (To note, I bought the smallest box of Mucinex that they had.)  So we suited up with our cold remedies, K and I perused the leftover Valentine's items for Easter egg stuffings.  (I watch what I buy, but the kids don't care.)

M threw some shoe glue into the basket.  We were going as a line of ducklings towards the Kleenex.  M disappeared.  It's okay, because I had to stand and patiently wait for the tissue display.

There was a woman and her 9 year old daughter.  They had the entire display either blocked with the cart or the woman body blocking the rest of it as she dug through all of the boxes.  She looked up and saw me standing there.  I admit that a cold in combination with a delightful case of PMS may not have caused me to give her the loving look that our Lord would have preferred.  I think she was struck with a sick look combined with bewilderment.  "Oh, I just don't know why but I just had to dig through all of the designs!"  I reached over, grabbed the massive 4 pack and said, "Ma'am, I just need to wipe my nose."  Grant you, they are the marbly ugly Kleenex boxes, but I'm going through them so fast that it doesn't matter as long as the box doesn't empty out at the wrong time.

We went to the cash lane.  We obeyed the sign that talked about 20 items or less.  The girl flagged us and our basket over.  I was ID'd for the shoe glue.  "Are you 18?"  I laughed.  The gray streaks on the top of my head might suggest, but I told her, "I promise, we have shoes to repair.  No huffing at my house!"  She did laugh.  Just doing her job.  I get it.  She managed to somehow overcharge us for Airborne.  She caught it and charged us again.  She overcharged us by over $9.50.  She charged for 3 packages when we got 1.  Of course, I didn't find that out until we got to the car.  We schlepped everything back in.  They cheerfully refunded the money, but still . . . Rrrr.  I know, I know.  It's another reason of why I don't shop there.

K had a "snow" day on Friday for cold.  I think that they called that one too soon.  I envision another "snow" day for cold this week.  Never mind that they have today and Friday off anyhow.  I see Thursday being possible.  Who knows?

Finally, my husband handed me a bag of chocolate yesterday.  "No, really.  I bought this for you.  Please eat it.  If it runs out, I promise that I can buy you more.  Please.  Have chocolate."  Bless his heart.

Be warm!

A social media reminder. Not everyone wants their children posted on the internet.

"You know, there are pictures of your daughter on the internet."

"There shouldn't be."

I was flipping through a few of the blogs that I read regularly.  One of them has an Instagram account block on the side.  I clicked it out of curiosity.  There was a picture of all of the children on the basketball team.

Were the parents asked permission to place the children who DON'T belong to them on the internet?  I wonder.

I've been asked.  I appreciate it.  I've also declined.

I've gone into this in a few different posts in the past.  Every now and then, I think that people need to be reminded that if the photo is not of their child, they shouldn't post without permission.

I had an individual debating my internet choices for K.  "You know, if you are on the sidewalk here during the school walkathon, that is public property and I can place a picture of your child on the internet."

"No, you may not."

"It's public property."  :add sarcastic head bobble:

"My child is not on the internet for a reason.  It is not up to you to place a photo of her on there."

Our internet opinion is that K's internet story is for her to write.  It is not for me to write for her.  I do not post her face on here because of several reasons up to and including that 1. it is my right and 2. she is adopted and we chose not to.  The internet legacy lasts forever.  That follows them to every school they go to.  That follows them to every job interview they attend.  Again, it is not for me to write what will follow K all of the days of her life.

We have to issue reminders every now and then to people at school that our children might be children of a custody dispute . . . and that we simply can't post photos unless there is a written permission to print form on file.  The school has their own and the PTA has its own.

Does my child play sports?  Yes.

Have there been team photos?  Yes.

Should people print those all over?  No.

Can they?  Sure.

Should they?  No.

Don't assume a group photo is okay.  You may have known the parents for years, but do you absolutely know what their stance is?

Not everyone is using social media.

Not everyone wants to.

Let's stop to think about respecting those who don't.

Stepping off of my soapbox now.

Sheets of ice and piles of Common Core.

Do you know how the runs look for Olympic bobsled?  That's the side streets to my house right now. The road is covered in thick ice, which has thinned in some places.  I have determined that people must drive down the road in a drunken fashion because you get caught in the ruts, can't get out and you shimmy back and forth until you reach the next intersection.

Nice.

I'm convinced that Common Core is going to kill us all.  I'm just saying.  It seems that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and the kids are caught up in the middle.  I fully understand that I sound like a broken record here.  (Let it be a record and not vinyl.  I hear that those things can cause injury when broken.)

You see, K had some assignments last night.  She may or may not have a math test today.  Friday, she was told it would be Tuesday.  Monday she was told it would be Wednesday or Thursday.  Last night she was told that he didn't quite know yet.

Excuse me?

So, is the test today or tomorrow?  M prepared her in the best way he could but she was also sent home with this insane plotting homework that had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TASK ASSIGNMENT AND STUDYING FOR THE TEST!  It was busywork.  Why in the name of Jesus and all of his men would her teacher do that to her?

M took the math book assignment and the test studying.  I double checked the plotting assignment.

I had to walk away a few times.  The stupid assignment had at least 100 plotting points.  Rrrr.

It took me about an hour to check it.  After I checked it and admit that I fixed some errors, then she had to color it.  Rrrr x 2.

Wouldn't you want your students to be allowed the time to STUDY?

After winter break, the kids had 90 more days of school left.  Of those 90 days, 45 of them are testing days.  The remaining 45?  Those are probably freakin' test prep days.

OST.

PARCC.

MAP.

DAP.

The State of Ohio and the city that I live in needs to STOP testing the hell out of my kid and every other kid out there.  My daughter has learned NOTHING this year.  They were doing spelling up until the middle of the year.  Now that they are teaching to test, they don't have time to do spelling so they dumped it.  There have been no projects.  There have been no reports.  There has been no consistency with anything even in the land of general teaching.

5th grade will go on the books as my daughter having attended it.  She has had a small section on science in the fall, though it has a section on the OST.  The reading finally started near the end of the first grading period and that has been so swell that I can't even begin to express my anger with that.  I'll just say that gone are the days that the child has spelling, vocabulary, and constant digging into a story during the week for prep for the test at the end.  Nosiree!  Reading has boiled down to a semi-coherent multi-paragraph cold read with some insane questions at the end.  Social studies, when done, is generally just sent home as worksheets.  Health has only been worksheets and no in-class instruction whatsoever. Language used to be spelling and an occasional paper.  There is no book, so it's not like she is learning the parts of speech or anything.  Frankly, I don't know what the hell they are learning with that.  Then there is math.  The math review for the test at the end of the chapter gave a lot of things to review and very little of it was actually covered within the chapter or the text in general.

5th grade is one hot mess and it makes me mad that my child is caught in the middle.  I understand the premise of Common Core, but wished that they put more thought into place before putting it into action.

At this point, it is making our children dumber.  They aren't teaching anything of quality.  They are teaching spots of this and spots of that, but none of it actually coincides with each other making the teaching that they are doing moot.

Please go back to teaching my child.  Whatever you are doing now is not it.

Super Bowl of Shipping: Good works from small things.

On January 14th, Ames Bros. announced on the Pearl Jam site that they were selling a PJ X Amesbros VS Hunger t-shirt with all proceeds going to their local food bank.  

Official Pearl Jam Firehawk T-Shirt designed by Ames Bros for the Seattle Seahawks Kick Hunger Challenge™ 

We are proud to unveil the Official Pearl Jam Firehawk T-Shirt for the 2015 Seattle Seahawks Kick Hunger Challenge. Represent the Hawks, Pearl Jam and fight hunger in one fell swoop. This Ames Bros Classic 100% Cotton T-Shirt is super soft and lightweight for excellent fit and comfort. Look good, feel good and be the envy of every other Hawks fan on the planet. Meanwhile, you'll help kick hunger in Seattle with the profits from every shirt sold going straight to Food Lifeline.   

Remember, we're the returning champions (Super Bowl AND Kick Hunger Challenge), so be a part of history as we do it all again this season and order the shirt now. 
For more info on helping kick hunger, visit the official Seattle Seahawks Kick Hunger Challenge web page and the Food Lifeline website. Get it at Amesbros. 

I ordered it as soon as I saw it drop onto the site.  Now, I'm not usually one to do that, but I really liked the shirt and the money went to a cause near and dear to my heart-- helping the food bank in their local community.  (I've helped with the food drive at K's school for years.)

I ordered my shirt BEFORE the Seahawks went and won in the last minutes of the game.  :whew:  I would've worn it anyhow.

The shirts weren't printed until January 19th.  I knew we were cutting it close.  PJ also announced their own shirt to benefit the same cause.

Y'all, I had more faith in Ames getting my shirt to me than PJ.  Love my boys, but their shipping times are never really quite great.

In the shipping Super Bowl of Ames vs. PJ, Ames won!  My friend Dave is in Columbus.  He ordered both shirts.  His PJ 12th man shirt is sitting in shipping purgatory 10 miles from his house, but Ames came through.  Mind you, his PJ shirt mailed 3 days ahead of my Ames shirt and 6 days ahead of his Ames, and they are both in Seattle.

Here's what I got:

My shirt started the shipping process on Monday, having left Seattle on Tuesday evening.  Ames uses first class USPS and PJ uses Mail Innovations which is a joint venture between UPS and USPS.  

Mailing anything by Mail Innovations is the equivalent of putting something on a slow boat from Siberia.  That we've definitely found USPS first class wins hands down.

Go HAWKS!  :)

ETA:  At least money went to charity and it is a cool shirt!