Monthly Archives: October 2008

>Muffins formerly known as Kitchen Sink

Posted on by
4

>How much does a recipe have to change before it becomes new? I looked into the refrigerator this morning, saw too many carrots and a final zucchini squash, and decided to make these. This recipe started as Kitchen Sink Muffins (courtesy of Michelle at Scribbit). With my changes it’s still recognizable, but it’s definitely different, too.

Not-so-Prosaic Mosaic Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
½ teaspoon orange peel
½ teaspoon salt
2 cup grated carrots
1 diced apple, skin on
1/2 cup raisins
½ cup crushed walnuts
½ cup grated zucchini
3 eggs or ¾ cup egg substitute
2/3 cup oil or ½ cup applesauce + ¼ cup oil
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl separately mix the next eight ingredients (carrots through vanilla extract). Stir the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing only until just combined. Pour into 18 lined or greased baking cups and bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes.

Will wheat germ work in these? I forgot to try it. A small amount of honey might be fun, too.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Fortune smiles on those who — clean?

Posted on by
4

>”Mom, the computer sounds different.”
“Maybe because the speakers are no longer muffled by piles of papers.”

Yes, we cleaned the clutter. I pulled out piles and piles of papers, sorted them into piles for each of us, and then put away all of mine. Husband found the right places for all of his. Amigo’s Camp Awards went up to his room, and La Petite had a couple of items to file, too. Most of the clutter pile was mine or Husband’s. Why do we keep all this, and why was it randomly piled behind the desktop computer? No, don’t answer that. I’m sure there’s no valid response.

In the pile I found several fortunes from fortune cookies. Again, why did I keep these? For future blog post, of course! What other reason could there be?

To Decide Not to Decide is Often a Very Wise Decision.
Oh, just what I need – an excuse to be more indecisive!

Others look up to you.
Well, I’m a short person, so it can’t mean height.

An unexpected event will bring you riches.
I remember this cookie: I taped the fortune to my computer monitor at school because it turned up the day I found out my grant had been approved.

People say you have a sharp sense and superb intellect.
Do they? I’d like to think they’re right. But then again, why am I sitting around watching baseball and writing about fortune cookies? Not the most intellectual of pursuits.

Ignorance never settles a question.
It doesn’t? Why not?

The star of riches is shining upon you.
See above. This was also taped to my monitor at school. If I’m really taking the Cookie thing seriously, it might mean we’re in for more grants. Or maybe, just maybe, it means I’ll find something worth $$ in the next pile of clutter I’m bound to attack.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Working Mother, also known as Multi-Tasker

Posted on by
3

>Or…a typical Saturday in Daisy’s life

Make coffee.
Feed rabbit.
Read paper and have breakfast.
Chase rabbit out of La Petite’s room.
Check email, Twitters, and Plurks.
Empty dishwasher.
Sort dirty laundry. Start washing laundry.
Reload dishwasher. Again (is that redundant?).
Take out compost. Pick tomatoes. Search unsuccessfully for squirrel Husband reported was lost in garden and couldn’t get out.
Find recipe; bake muffins. Contemplate posting new variation on recipe. Print carrot cake recipe; potential use for extra carrots, now that two bunnies are gone to live with La Petite at her school apartment.
Continue laundry process while cleaning kitchen while muffins are baking.
Lunch: BLTs with L & T from garden. We’ll miss this when the first major frost comes!
Remove muffins from oven. Mmmmm.
Clean kitchen (again), continue laundry cycles (still), and start schoolwork.
Browse two books scavenged from Throw Away table in lounge. Sort out and copy several usable ideas for vocabulary instruction, math centers, readers’ workshop, and more. Recycle the rest. Teaching budgets, like all state funded budgets, will get more stringent before they’re more generous. Creative scavengers spend time, but save money. Maybe I can apply that to my own life and budget as well.
Grade penmanship papers, using star stickers scavenged from Throw Away table.
Continue laundry process (still, yet, again).
Take out recycling. How many cans and bottles can we generate in half a day? No, don’t answer that.
Fill snack basket. Remind self to bake cookies or bars. Look for easy and nutritious snack recipe.
Move old recipes to new box (scavenged, of course). Recycle old cards, recipes no longer current, and good intentions.
Correct and grade vocabulary worksheets and spelling tests.
Fold a load of clean laundry: the end is in sight!
Post three more books to Paperbackswap.com and hope someone will want or need them.
Fold more underwear and socks, my least favorite load. Amigo says “Underwear! You said underwear!” I say, “Put a sock in it, Buster.”
Wonder if I should text message Husband, who took his bike to the library, and tell him it’s getting cloudy and the storm is moving in. Nah. He’ll say I was worrying too much and whining at him. Let him get wet; he won’t melt.
Check on status of washer, fill dryer, and start planning supper, all in a few moments’ time.
Make supper, feed family, clean kitchen, make soup stock for freezer (and future), take break to watch baseball team lose. Again.
Fold yet more clothes, back up Husband as he censors Amigo’s choice of tunes on YouTube, finish wiping down kitchen table.
Drop off Amigo at Homecoming dance. Do the weekly grocery shopping, this time with two to three weeks in mind because of increasingly busy work schedules. Gawk at huge bill. Wonder who eats all this?!
Go home. Put away food. Decide that the storms can move in, pandemic flu can shut down the city, and we could still feed the family.
Pick up Amigo at dance, exhausted but happy.

Tomorrow? I’m getting tired just thinking of it.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Earworms! There oughta be a walk for the cure.

Posted on by
1

>Earworms. They happen to the best of us. They’re contagious. They spread. And they don’t respond to antibiotics.
No, an earworm isn’t a viral infection. It’s a song that won’t go away, the song that never ends (yes it goes on and on my friends). Oh, sorry about that.
An earworm can be one you hum under your breath, a classic tune that inspires air guitar while cooking dinner, the one you whistle in the shower, or the refrain that you belt out while behind the wheel when you’re on the road again (just can’t wait to get on the road again). Oops, I did it again.
It’s the type of song that makes a mom walk over to the computer and comment, “Oh, Rod Stewart. Classic rock!” only to be told by her teenager that it’s actually Adult Contemporary.
I truly do believe that there is a song for every occasion, and for every song, an occasion. The occasion isn’t always obvious, either.
Playoff action? Take me out to the ball game!
Waking up so early it’s still dark out? Good morning, starshine!

My hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to work I go anthem? Java Jive, of course. I love the java jive and it loves me.
Don’t even get started on the Wheels on the Bus song.

Tired of working, ready to go home? It’s five o’clock somewhere!

In our home, the place where the cheesehead lives on the piano, the music varies so much you’d be amazed. When Amigo was little, he was always requesting, “Mama, sing!” Now it’ s more likely to be, “Mom, stop that, we’re in public.” But within the confines of our own four walls or even our own minivan, we sing our loud, sing out strong.
Sing of good things, not bad.
Sing of happy, not sad.
Sing, sing a song, make it simple, to last your whole life loooooooong!
Don’t worry that it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear…
because —
I love you just the way you are! (Did you really think I’d make it through a songfest like this without a little Billy Joel? Not a chance!)

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as an entry for a contest sponsored by Bush’s Beans. Remember, no matter how much you “toot” your horn (or sax or tuba), beans are really a vegetable. In this part of the world, they grow in our team colors, too.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares

>Does history repeat itself?

Posted on by
3

>I was teaching a story in the school reading textbook. The teacher’s page, full of sidebars and notes, suggested teaching the time period of this historical fiction piece.

The Great Depression: Point out the date of the letter on page 25 (August 27, 1935). Explain that this story takes place during a period known as the Great Depression, when as many as one out of four working-age people were unemployed. Many families could not afford even basic necessities. The Great Depression lasted for more than ten years. It began in 1929 and ended in the early 1940s, during World War II.

The story follows a young girl sent to live with her uncle and aunt in a faraway city while her parents seek work. As I looked out on the class, I recognized an unfortunate level of understanding in their eyes.

“As many as one out of four working-age people were unemployed….” More than half my class qualifies for free or reduced price breakfast and lunch because their families have little or no income.

“Many families could not afford even basic necessities.” I’ve provided folders, crayons, pencils and more to at least one third of my class. Only half brought in the requested box of tissues to share with the class.

“The Great Depression lasted for more than ten years.” My students are nine and ten now. Will they struggle with their families throughout their education? Will they learn what they need to in order to make their lives better? Or will they end up working dead-end jobs right out of high school or, worse yet, drop out of school?

The idea of living with relatives isn’t a foreign concept to these kids. Several are doubled up with relatives because their parents couldn’t pay the rent on a place of their own. Some are barely making it and may be evicted. The list grows for our service club’s Adopt-a-Family project even as donations decline.

It’ll take a lot more than a few Box Tops to make things right for these kids. These are the very children who need more schooling, not less. More stability, not less. Yet they’re the ones suffering the most, and they’re the ones most likely to fall further and further behind.

Share and Enjoy !

Shares