Priorities

Recently I made cookies for the two cookie monsters pictured above. When I asked them why they weren't eating any of them, they responded "Oh, we thought they we were for your students, not us." Ouch! The truth hurts. I put so much effort into my classroom, I forget to do some of the special things for my own precious children. I remember a similar story some years back. I set the table one night using the good dishes, cloth napkins and fun napkin holders. The kids walked in and said, "who is coming for dinner?"

I want to do the special things for the ones I love, not just for guests or my job.

So this week I am going to try and think of something special to do with or for each of my children and for my special guy. I am going to remind myself of my priorities, and these two are at the top of the list!

I love sweets. Sweets like this hot fudge sundae I am sharing with two of my favorite girls. Sweets mean reward to me. Sweets mean special occasion. Sweets mean I am bored. Sweets mean I am trying to avoid something. Sweets mean I am happy. Sweets mean I am sad. It is any wonder I find getting this sweet thing under control so complicated?
I know all the nutritional facts. I know my father is a diabetic. I know, I know, I know BUT that doesn't seem to help. So here is what I am going to do.

1. Take it one temptation at a time

2. Plan for those snack attacks (after school)

3. Face up to what ever I am feeling; identify it..don't eat it!

4. Don't keep highly tempting food in the house

5. Track food on Lose It

so...tomorrow is pretty packed. I will put together white chicken chili in the morning before school. I will have crackers and cheese for an afternoon snack. I will have yogurt/fruit for breakfast and a cliff bar for lunch. I will have warm cider if I am hungry at night.

I have a plan....much more likely to have success with a plan!

I miss Italy

I miss Italy! Today I miss it because of the open windows. Our 3rd floor apartment in Montepulciano had huge windows that swung open. There are no screens on the windows in Italy and I could lean out the window and look at the world go by on the street below. I loved waking up in the morning to the sounds of the town getting up. I felt like I was part of a bigger world but yet nice and cozy in my own place. It was 100 degrees in Michigan yesterday, we even made the BBC news for our extreme heat. I have all the windows closed and the air conditioning on. I draw shades and blinds on the sunny sides. I am thankful for air conditioning but I miss Italy and feeling apart of the outside world!

I think the state of one's kitchen says much about a person. I followed the FlyLady method of keeping house and her number one rule is clean your kitchen sink...which of course means clean the sink of dishes and then shine the sink. At our house the state of the kitchen sink is all over the map. Sometimes is good, many times it is pityfull and many more times it is somewhere in between.

I have tried the "never go to bed with dishes in the sink" method. I got mad because I was spending my before bed minutes picking up the kid's dishes! So then I went to bugging each person to put their own dishes in the dishwasher, I would hunt them down no matter what they were doing if I found dishes sitting around. My son got the hang of it and put my daughter and myself to shame! I tried hanging a reminder note on the kitchen window..."Never leave dishes in the Sink".

Well, I am at it again. Now we are going to charge ourselves $1 anytime we leave dishes out. We have tried to think of all the ins and outs. For example, if the dishwasher is full and clean...you can either unload it or wash your dish by hand.

I was so tempted today to leave dishes in the sink because I didn't want to take the time to unload clean dishes, I wanted to catch a nap before I had to play mom's taxi. I resisted and unloaded...took all of 4 minutes!

I have to keep remembering how good it feels to walk into a kitchen that is picked up. My life seems just a little bit more in control when my kitchen is free of dirty dishes. Control what I can control because heaven knows there is so much I can't control!

Meet "my kids"

Here is a picture of "my kids"....my other kids.......not my biological children....my students!! It gets confusing when I am talking about "my kids" because people are not quite sure which ones I am talking about. In many ways they are like my own biological children, I am the right age to have given birth to them, I care about them, I think about them and what they are going thru and I help them get ready to be adults in the world. I am getting to know their individual tastes and quirks. I see an idea and one of my students will pop into mind that I know will just love it. For example: E is the artist, L loves everything to do with gems, C is my social butterfly, S loves trains, R loves movies, M loves all things disney...you get the idea.

I spend much time dreaming and scheming up ideas to help "my kids" learn to read better, add to their skills so they can navigate the world and be social. We talk, joke, read, walk to local businesses, create things, dream, wish and at the end of the day I hope they are just a little bit better prepared for the world. I hope the world is kind to them and has a place for them to thrive when they leave me.....my wish for "all of my kids"!

This was THE BEST homemade lemonade ever! I went to the Florida Keys with my "mystery man" for a few days. It was from the Grand Cafe and I would go to Key West just to eat there. I love it when we discover something so wonderful, so out of the ordinary! On this Michigan gloomy, rainy, icy, snowy, too much to do day......I am going to remember this wonderful lemonade...ahhhhh sweet!