A New Blog

I found this blog on accident today for Lexington area fun: Fun 4 Kids in Lexington KY. It might have some things you and your family would enjoy.
Happy Looking!

Today I am thankful for:

1. talking with another OT that seems like she might meet our family's needs much better than the first


2. Anna's working hard on her speech activities at home


3. sleeping in

Real Food

I was browsing a parent magazine when I saw a feature on a mom that started a blog, 100 Days of Real Food, about her family's journey switching to all real food after reading one of Michael Pollan's books. I can relate to her thoughts on food because she felt like she was doing the right things, but realized that maybe she wasn't doing all she could for the health of her family. After reading through her posts I feel like I can do a few things to improve our food choices, but I'm not going all in on the challenge. I don't have the time or the desire to spend the extra money on the organic and locally raised food right now; I might this summer, but not now.

Some changes I can make:

• Triscuits (low salt) instead of crackers with lots of questionable ingredients


• Using 100% whole-wheat flour in my breads, biscuits, and pizza dough


• Trying Lara Bars for a healthy lunch or snack


• Trying some of the recipes


• Not buying anymore granola bars that Anna fills up on but don't have much nutritional value


• No artificial sweeteners


• I bought this book of healthy lunches and meals at Kohl's yesterday. I'm going to have to make Anna's lunches when she's at LHSC. She likes variety, so hopefully I'll find some things she likes.

My kind-of-real-food today (I didn't use organic produce or locally raised beef): Beef Fajita Nachos from PW. I don't know if we are going to do the nachos or just serve with brown rice and grilled peppers and onions. I'm hoping it's delicious.

Today I am thankful for:

• smoothies (I just use vanilla yogurt, frozen strawberries, and frozen peaches...yum)


• a 3-day weekend


• time in the sun


• 2 good movies this weekend: No Strings Attached and I Am Number 4


• A week's weather forecast with NO RAIN!!!

blessings

Like I said in the previous post, I was looking at PWs favorite blogs. I clicked on Nie Nies, and instantly recognized her as the young mother I saw on an Oprah several months ago. I used to DVR Oprah everyday, but as Anna has gotten older, and I'm a little farther from work, I don't have quite as much time for Oprah anymore, so I let her go, and watch endings and clips when I'm home to see it.

I think I was meant to see this one. I think things, little, big, and in-between, always happen in their time, for a purpose - sometimes we search for that purpose, sometimes it all makes sense right away. Seeing this Oprah was a little thing with a big purpose. It made sense right away. It has stuck with me since I saw it.

Nie Nie is my age (maybe a year or two younger), has a loving husband, strong faith, and 4 beautiful children. She was severely burned in an airplane crash. She said this about her time in a medically induced comma during her interview: "I was with someone who told me I could choose to live and have a hard life, you know, embarrassing at times and painful. Or, I could just stay there, and there's lots of work I could do there too. But I thought of my children and my husband, and it was easy. An easy choice." I learned more about the plane crash and her recovery here.

She suffers with pain that most of us could never imagine. She struggles with the most basic of tasks - showering, preparing lunches, bathing her children. She's thankful she gets to be with her children and husband doing those basic things - even though she is in pain.

If you watch the video of another mom that visits Nie Nie to get a wake-up call on her blessings of being a mother, you'll see that her kids want her to hug them after their baths, and she can't. She can't hug her children. I cry just thinking of the horribleness of that. My dad taught me life is not fair, but this is beyond not fair. I hurt for her.

I keep her in mind when I think, "OMG, bath time again?," or "I don't want to pack stupid lunches," or maybe, "can't dinner cook itself tonight?" Nie Nie is thankful for these moments with her family... I am blessed to be able to do these simple tasks with relatively low difficulty and no pain. I am blessed to spend this time with a wonderful husband and beautiful and sweet daughter. I am blessed to be able to hug my wonderful husband and beautiful and sweet daughter.

I have a blessed life.

I want to win

First: I talked to Anna's head teacher on the way to work the other day. She put me at ease. The new girl is in training and she has already brought some things I was talking about to her attention. The head teacher or one of my favorite girls is in charge (depending on the time of day). She also said she would talk to new girl and help her improve.
And for the past two afternoons when I picked Anna up, she was actually pleasant and not super annoying. I'm hoping and praying that the improvements continue so I know I can leave my baby without worrying about her too much. I like the things daycare exposes her to, like other children her age to play and interact with, other adults, learning experiences, that's about it at her age. My friend really likes her in-home daycare. If it's structured and offers learning experiences and I like the lady and her teenage daughters, it might be a good alternative choice that is still close to home and it costs less. I might look into it over the summer, idk.

Second: I was reading Pioneer Woman, and she had a contest where she invited people to her house to make little cute cake pastries with Bakerella. She said she was going to have more contests like that in the future. I know I don't live in or near OK, but I might just use sick days and pay for a plane ticket if I won one of her contests. She's crazy (in a good way) - I don't know if I could keep up with her (baking, cleaning, cooking, photographing, homeschooling, decorating, and the list goes on), but I would really like to see where she lives, eat her food, and make cookies in her kitchen. This is my daydream...picture of me on her blog (with makeup on and a cute outfit that I never actually bake in - maybe photoshopped with a slight tan, but not overdone) and a caption that says "This is Laura. She made kick-ass cookies. I'll invite her back sometime." I used to day dream like that about boys in high school, now I'm daydreaming about being friends with a blogger, so ridiculous.

I'm off to relax and get ready for school and round 2 of parent-teacher conferences tomorrow. I know you're jealous.

Food snob? I think not.

So earlier I was looking at Annie's Eats - I don't even remember why I went there. At some point I remembered that I opened the laptop to reserve a shelter at Shillito Park for Anna's first birthday in April. I needed to email Parks and Rec, double check that I want shelter #2 and that it is in fact available. Ok, so I had about 5 windows open on the computer - get a hold of yourself...one thing at a time, Laur.

Alright, I have emailed the proper person to get the shelter reserved; close related windows. Next...look at the blogrolls on the foodie blogs to see if there are others that I would be interested in reading and checking for recipes from time to time. I think this is maybe why I went to Annie's Eats? Well, as the Internet seems to do, one click leads to another and another. I find this hilarious sight (Food for the Thoughtless). Hilarious because of the witty, sarcastic, mean-spirited comments related to these strange people's surmised superiority because of their made-from-scratch cooking. I do like to use fresh ingredients when I can and always make my cookies from scratch, but let's face it, who has time to be a food snob all the time? What that means is that I do use things from a can, box, jar, or packet - yes I like Meijer organic black beans in a can, I do not make my own pasta, I made salsa yesterday - but it was a first, and Old El Paso reduced sodium Taco seasoning makes its way into my frying pan several times a month. I draw a line at certain things - any version of macaroni and cheese, baco bits, and taquitos to name a few.

So, Food for the Thoughtless posts this video of Sandra Lee making, wait for it... a Kwanzaa cake! It looks totally gross. Follow this link to find these food snobs crack on Sandra Lee from the Food Network, her weird ass food, and of course, her tablescapes. I may not agree with their all-homemade-all-the-time attitude, but I will add Kwanzaa cake to my list of no-way-Jose.