Little Beans Favorite Dish

I sometimes make this dish for Little Bean's lunch . It takes about 15 minutes to make and is very easy. It is actually a very simplified & modified stir fry (but no frying).

Veggies & Noodles

1/2 cup of dry noodles
1 carrot diced
1/4 cup of frozen peas
1/4 cup of frozen broccoli
1 tbs of soy sauce
1tbs of honey

Boil the noodles and vegetables together until soft; strain and cool; mix soy sauce and honey together and mix in with the vegetable and noodles.

My Micro-Managing Supervisor

Pre-Blog Definitions: Fridge DJ - -radio that magnetically sticks to your refrigerator and features lively learning songs, such as, the ABC and Old McDonald


My supervisor, wears a lopsided pony tail, has rolled up jeans and carries a Fridge DJ around with her. Why she doesn't leave it on the fridge I don't know. As the singer croons out "ABC" for the 5th time, I try to vacuum the room.

I kind of miss the days when my Supervisor, Little Bean, was afraid of the Vacuum. (Oh did I say that out loud? ....I guess not, so that doesn't make me a bad employee).

My Supervisor has to stand right in front of me when I vacuum. Which kind of makes it hard. She searches the floor with her eyes and points to small objects to assure I see them too and vacuum them up. I kindly ask her to move and she does, to stand right next to me, on my left side. Then proceeds to hug my legs. Now, how am I going to finish this task?

Now I Ponder - Why isn't there a vacuum out there, that is also a toy? A vacuum that looks like a car or horse with a seatbelt and/or handles, would work great in this situation. ....please don't answer that. I know it would be recalled as soon as it hit the market... I am just wishing.

Now my Supervisor looks up at me with her big, brown eyes and says "Hold you Mama". So I pick her up. Kind of hard to vacuum with a child on your hip, but I do and for my hard work my supervisor gives me a big sticky kiss.

Thinking back to all my work supervisors, I think Little Bean is the best one.

My favorite Sandwich Recipe

I love this sandwich! Many years ago, my Mother ate a similar sandwich out on the East coast; she made a sandwich suggestion at a local health food store in the Midwest. So, on my lunch breaks in high school I would go to the health food store and eat this sandwich. Now I just make it at home.

Let me know what you think. If you have had this sandwich before, I would like to know where?

Recipe:

1/2 peeled and thinly slice apple
2 slices of bread
Mayo
sprouts - clover or any kind you prefer (also taste good with lettuce)
2 slices of Cheese - Swiss and Cheddar are good options
1tsp-tbs Sesame seeds (optional)
1tsp-tbs raisins (optional)

Spread the mayo on the 2 slices of bread. On top of one slice, add a layer of each cheese, apple, and sprouts. Add nuts and raisins before putting the 2nd slice on top. Enjoy!

p.s. I usually eat it without the nuts and raisins.

Potty training update

I consider the Potty training over, because Little Bean understands the concept, she is just still working on meeting the expectation. Now (and it has been that way for a few weeks), I just help her go to the bathroom. She still announces "Diaper" and occasionally I chase her around for fun, but on the most part she goes when she needs to. She still has a daily accident and wakes -up on most days with a wet diaper, but continues to poop 100% in the potty. I can live with that. Yeah!

Now I ponder

You think if I sprayed on enough perfume, enough to make people's eyes water (and cover-up the no-time-to-take-a-bath stench), they won't notice I didn't comb my hair today?

Caulking Guns....Now thats a tool!

Alert! Alert! Boring Blog Ahead!

I couple of months ago I bought a caulking gun to re-caulk around the bathtub. Since, I have never used a caulking gun or caulked before, this didn't seem all that interesting. So, all the supplies stayed in its home depot bag until yesterday. Yesterday happened to be the day I decided it needed to be done once and for all. So, I read the directions....blah,blah, blah....cut the spout, and pierce the seal...blah,blah,blah (that's all the info we need for this post). So, after preparing and taping the area, my husband and I begin to prepare the caulking gun. After a lot of effort trying to get the lid off the caulking tube, I just cut of the tip with scissors. Husband however, worked on it a minute longer and discovered you just pull it off, instead of unscrewing the lid. Duh! (side note: this says nothing about our personalities)
Next, once more using the scissors, I clipped off the tip of the tube. Now it was time to poke a hole in the seal. As we were searching for something small and sharp enough to accomplish this job, husband found on the caulking gun a "spout cutter". Oops! This caulking gun had its own tip cutter! Neat! At this point, I realized if this caulking gun has a tip cutter, it should also have a small tool to piece the seal ...and sure enough it did. This caulking gun was loaded! To me the perfect tool for the job! After all was said and done, it took a whole 2 minutes to caulk around the tub. 20-30 minutes to prepare.

Is that it?! (Well, minus the preparation)

Is it possible that home improvement and maintenance seem very intimidating until we jump into a project. I have to keep saying that as we plan our demolition and renovating of our other bathroom. We have done a few small projects in the past and it has been true so far, I just hope it continues.

By the way, the caulking gun was around $10 at Home Depot; caulk around - $3; doing it yourself - priceless.

I must have slept through that class

I took Child Development in College. However, I don't remember anything about the belly button stage. Little Bean and her friends have to show and check out each others belly buttons before they begin to play. Its kind of like when dogs meet and they sniff each others.... well you know what I mean. The other day I felt a little bad, when the toddlers met up at the swimming pool. They all had 1 piece suits and didn't know what to do. It took them awhile to warm up to each other, but not as quick as their usual belly button greetings. Interesting uh?

Well, I think I need to write a letter to Erickson and Piaget. Are they still alive?

Come to think of it, I don't remember learning about the "got to use and check out every bathroom, in each store and gas station theory" either. Its kind of like how dogs grace every yard (I got to quit comparing my children to dogs). Anyway, my older daughter went through this stage for sure. It lasted from when she was 4 years old until she was 10. .... very long stage. During this time, I got to see bathrooms, I wish I had never seen. We even were offered bathrooms at gas stations, that have signs saying "No public restrooms". That should of been my first clue.

A quick way to move on from this stage is to travel to a developing country and use the bathroom at the Zoo. They will never do it again... trust me.

Note: Make sure they are aware of smells and are disgusted by really uncleaned bathrooms . Also note: take wet wipes and a clean set of clothes for your child to change into (but clean up somewhere else). Also take a mask and gloves, if you go into the bathroom with them (you might not once you approach the building and smell and realize it wasn't the animals' cages) .
Oh, one more note: Once they move on from this stage, they move onto another interesting, just as frustrating stage that these Theorist don't mention in their text books. So, if you are afraid to move on to the next stage, don't try this method.

Alright, forget Piaget and Erickson, I am writing my own stages of development.

Fried or Burned Food Cancer Link

Isn't this blurb from a BBC news story on fried foods scary:
Women who eat crisps or chips every day may double their chances of ovarian or womb cancer, say scientists..

Well, another eyeopener about fast food habits--how I wish I didn't eat the Burger King meal last weekend, NOT. ;-)

But seriously, as a step in the right direction, it's time to do a new poll on french fries...so, please vote.

Dr. Andrew Weil had some comforting words (about the adverse effects of acrylamide) for the average Jane..

"...I don't think there's any great cause for alarm about these findings, for two reasons: One, if you're on a healthy diet, you're probably not eating a significant amount of fried foods and processed baked goods. Secondly, you have to maintain perspective about foods that cause cancer in rats. Most aren't human carcinogens. For example, substances in such foods as apples, apricots, bananas, broccoli, cabbage, cherries, and chili peppers (to name a few) have been shown to cause cancer in rodents. As you undoubtedly know, fruits and vegetables do not raise the risk of cancer among humans - they reduce it...."

Well, to sum up...all I can say is...RATS!

Now I Ponder

Why does my teen laugh when I sing, "I bet you wish your girlfriend looked hot like me..."?