Social Gracious

Cooking Oatmeal in Your Rice Cooker

If you are similar to our family at all there are days when it is pretty difficult to break out of the cereal in a box or cereal bar rut morning after morning.  Luckily, someone told me about being employed at Quaker oatmeal, where you can get hot Quaker oats at any time of the day, courtesy of the staff cafeteria.  The way they work this magic is to cook the oatmeal in giant rice cookers, brilliant!

Sure enough, throw in the oats and water as directed on the back of the Quaker box, turn on your rice cooker and wait for the beep some 20-30 minutes later and you will be the recipient of perfect oatmeal.  I do recommend making more than one serving; I usually make enough to bring it to work for myself and a friend, or for Diva and I to sit down and enjoy.

Add ins make it even yummier, cut up an apple in pieces, sprinkle some cinnamon, a little brown sugar and let all of that cook with the oatmeal in the cooker.  It will all be just right when the timer goes off.  Slice a banana, sprinkle in some chopped walnuts, cinnamon and maple syrup and you have banana bread oatmeal ready in no time.

Make sure to invest in a rice cooker with a delay timer.  This allows you to throw in your oatmeal and water the night before, select the number of hours you want the cooker to turn on in, and then go to bed.  You will awake to a delicious, healthy breakfast. 

What suggestions do you have for making fast, healthy meals for busy families?

Kids Behavior Chart Freebie

If you're anything like me, managing your children's behavior is an ebb and flow type of thing.  You are on top of your game one day and a sorry loser the next.  There are days I feel like I really know my stuff, mother of the year material, yeah, that's me.  Other days my children reduce me to a hollering, driveling meanie who is reaching for the cheap chardonnay the minute they have gone to bed. I know what I need to do, what I am supposed to do, what the right thing to do is, I hear myself sounding like a broken record, it's just sometimes I am too tired to do the right thing, affirm the positive, be firm, get on their level, send them to timeout. Sometimes it's just easier to yell at them from the kitchen or my pile of laundry or whatever chore I am doing than it is to stop what I am doing, walk over to wherever they are wreaking havoc, and properly and positively discipline them.  Instead, yelling, "DIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVVAAAAAAAAAA, EEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, whatever you are doing STOOOOOOOPPPPPPP it, and stop bothering each other or I am going to come in there and you will be SSSOOOOORRRRRRYYYYYYY."

When UberGeek and I are on our game one of the things we keep up with is a behavior chart for each of the kiddos. My mother inspects it when she visits to make sure the items on it are phrased positively. So instead of writing, "No beat downs on your sibling." My mother might phrase it, "Use hands for loving." Where you might write, "No talking back" my mom would phrase it, "Speak to adults in a positive and respectful way." She's really good at that having worked in the school system for many years.  It takes some getting used to but it does send a more positive message.

I thought I would share our simple behavior chart with you.  It's Excel based and you can change the font colors, text colors and picture for any holiday or character your child likes.  Happy holidays from me to you!

Download Behavior_Chart

Sound Proof Your Kiddos

A common complaint of many of my friends with preschool age kids is their sensitivity to noise. This can make normal activities like going to see fireworks, trips to amusement parks (key the noisy car rides), the circus and all manner of activities torture for their parents and them. Please, don't even mention thunderstorms, those totally suck. It wasn't until recently that we got our bed totally to ourselves during a thunderstorm. There was sure to be a preschooler plastered to one of us, crying their eyes out, buried under our blankets. "Is it your turn, or mine?" we would ask as the clouds outside darkened. This started when our kids were about three and seemed to mainly affect Eddie Haskell.

I am happy to announce that I have a pretty decent solution. We finally bought those noise protector earmuff thingies and watched (drumroll please) fireworks for the first time on the 4th of July! The kids are now announcing that they will be watching the fireworks at Disney. Usually we have to run out of the park willy nilly before they begin.

By the way, so far I don't have a kickback deal with Amazon so this is just a tip from me to you. I'll let you know when I get the time to set up my affiliate marketing program so you can become distrustful of me.

 

Pelton Ear Muffs for kids
Pink or Blue Available Click Image to go to Amazon and purchase

Homemade Glass Window Cleaner Recipe

Homemade Glass Cleaner Recipe
Go Green Just in Time for Earth Day

This is my favorite recipe for glass cleaner, it's eco-friendly and super cheap. Plus it works better than Windex without all the chemicals. I am always looking for ways to be green without spending a fortune.

Glass Cleaner Recipe

1 cup alcohol (buy in bulk or on sale at Wally World)
1 cup water
1 tbs white vinegar

Place in your old window cleaner bottle when it gets empty and feel good about doing your part to meet your budget and save the Earth.

I'll be wearing green tomorrow and I hope you will too. Happy Earth Day!

A Barren Office

I See New Office Furniture in Our Future

 

Our old office furniture, the desk shown above, we purchased when we were living in a condo with a huge loft that we used as office space when I was in graduate school. This was about seven or eight years ago. When we moved from Williamsburg, VA to FL it all got crammed (2 bookcases, double file cabinet, desk) into a smaller room where we have felt claustrophobic ever since. Finally, Ubergeek had had enough. Off we went to the mecca of stylish yet ultra cheap home furnishings, say it with me, Ikea! It's a two hour drive to Ikea Orlando and it's worth it. They have a kids play area where they watch your kids for a whole hour while you shop in peace.

It took us an hour to select this:

 

Minus the pink chair of course. Plus we want to add a file cabinet to the back so the desk can be free standing in the middle of the room. Clean and simple. So we put our old office furniture up for sale on Craigslist. We priced it very reasonable since it is pretty old, maybe too reasonable because we were flooded with offers the same day. We thought it would take a week or two. But by the end of the day our office furniture was gone. Now our office looks like this:

 

It will look like this for a few weeks most likely, since Ikea is a two hour drive away. There are books piled everywhere, plastic tubs of office supplies and computer cords tangled like snakes on the floor. It's OK though, zen office space is coming.

How to Save Money on Your Grocery Bill and Still Eat Healthy

I think most people want to eat healthy, or if they aren't eating healthy, they want to improve their diet. I am not a dietitian, and this is not advice from a registered dietitian. If you need one of those I highly recommend Preferred Nutrition, Marilyn "George" Dahl is amazing and so is her staff. If you have a medical condition or eating disorder it is imperative that you regularly consult with a registered dietitian, ask your physician to refer you.

Most of my information is common sense and from my own experience, speaking with our pediatricians from the time our children were born, consulting with our Mayo Clinic physician and reading a lot! The first thing I will tell you is to read labels, if the product you are considering putting in your cart and feeding to your family has long, hard to pronounce names and you don't know what they are, don't eat it. Try to avoid high fructose corn syrup, white sugar, white bread, white pasta and white rice, instead look for whole grains. Never drink soda, ever, and never give it to your children. My kids won't touch the stuff; I tried to give them Sprite and ginger ale once when they were sick.  They had never had soda, were not used to so sweet a drink and carbonation, they refused to drink it. 

This includes diet soda, there are a million reasons for not drinking diet soda, even if you are diabetic, ask Marilyn at Preferred Nutrition if you want all of them. In general, it is better not to put chemicals, that are not prescribed or approved by your physician, into your body if you can avoid it. If you would like to learn more about the dangers of toxic chemicals in our bodies Devra Davis of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute does a better job of explaining it than me here.

 

So what, you might be thinking, should I drink? Water mostly, also iced tea, iced green tea, hot tea, and for a special treat have a club soda with a splash of 100% juice. Club soda/seltzer water comes in cans for travel which is handy. For kids, you can give them a choice of water, milk or juice, watering down juice and limiting it to once a day. All juice should be 100% juice, check for high fructose corn syrup. To sweeten your drinks you can use a natural sweetener low on the glycemic index, my favorite is Agave Nectar. You can also use sugar in the raw or honey, use all sweeteners very sparingly. 

What do we eat at our house? We try to eat a lot of whole foods, fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, some fish and whole grains. Several times a week we do our best to eat meatless dinners, it is less expensive, good for the planet and our bodies. When possible, we avoid processed food, but it is good in a pinch and for a treat. During the week at breakfast we often rely on processed cereals, cereal bars and frozen waffles in addition to fruit, lunch meat and cheese sticks. We try to limit snacks to fruit, yogurt, and nuts/trail mix. I always try to mix a complex carbohydrate with a protein to give the kids long lasting energy. If you are using syrup on your pancakes, waffles etc. try to use natural syrups like maple syrup; the major table brands are filled with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Be aware that many of the studies that show that high fructose corn syrup is not so bad were sponsored by the beverage industry, Mayo Clinic talks more about that on their page on HFCS. Our pediatrician has urged us to avoid HFCS since our kids began to eat. Don't forget to add some healthy fat to your diet with a few nuts and healthy oils like olive oil. 

How do we shop healthy on a budget? Here is what I buy where:

Costco (approx 1x month):

Organic Beef-3lbs $12.99 (individually packaged in 1lbs)

Aidell's Chx and Apple Sausages-no gluten, no nitrates or nitrites-$12.99 2 packages of 8 sausages

Chicken breasts-not organic, it's just too darned expensive

Loaves of bread

Polly-O string cheese

Bunny Luv organic baby carrots

Eggland's Best eggs

Coleman's nitrate/nitrite free hot dogs (sometimes they have, sometimes not) buy a lot and freeze when they do

La Croix Seltzer water

Honest Kids drinks for travel/in case lunch drink containers are dirty (Super Target has these too but they are more expensive)

Whole Foods (approx every 2 weeks):

How to keep it from becoming whole paycheck!

(their generic brand is 365, most of these are organic but some are all natural)

generic brand cereals 

Puffins Peanut Butter cereal if on sale and I have a coupon

generic brand cereal bars

generic brand toaster pastries for UberGeek only, kids don't get these

generic brand mac & chz

generic snack foods

generic organic fig newtons (also perfect snack for long runs 1/2 and full marathons)

Pirate's Booty

generic brand condiments

generic brand maple syrup

generic brand strawberry jam large jar (UberGeek says this is THE best strawberry jelly ever)

generic brand frozen cheese pizzas

generic brand frozen waffles

generic brand frozen organic french fries or tater tots

generic brand frozen organic veggies

generic brand frozen organic fruits

generic brand organic milk

Applegate Farms Stadium Style hot dogs 

Do not, I repeat, do not go in that store hungry. If you do, buy a slice of pizza and pack a sandwich for the kids. If you eat at their delicious take out bar it will tack on another $30 to your bill. See produce section at bottom. 

Walmart (approx every 2-3 weeks):

frozen veggie burgers: Boca Burgers All American Flame Grilled and Morningstar Grillers Prime

those two types of veggie burger are pretty yummy for a fast dinner with a whole grain bun, cheese, produce etc.

3lb bags of organic apples

Jones Farm all natural frozen precooked breakfast sausage links no nitrates/nitrites(taste even better than fresh, UberGeek's fave!)

frozen Kashi meals for quick lunches at work

frozen Amy's organic meals for quick lunches at work

Publix  (every week) our local grocery store:

lunch meat

whatever is on sale on The Grocery Game  buy one get one free that week

Produce: I only buy what is on sale. Kiddos come with us and indicate vegetables that they want to try and that look interesting. They know what the yellow Whole Foods sale signs look like. Oranges, bananas and apples are almost always cheap. When deciding whether to buy traditional or organic produce it can be tough. Some organic produce is very expensive. The Environmental Working Group produces a free pocket guide to the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables and the 12 least contaminated. Try to always buy the most contaminated ones organic. Also, farmer's markets often have local produce that is not certified organic but many of the growers did not use chemicals on the plants. You can also plant a tomato plant in spring, Costco had them this weekend, in pots, with tomatoes already on the vines for $10 a piece. They will certainly pay for themselves. It does mean getting creative with food that is in season and on sale but it can be fun for you and your kids. Eddie Haskell recently discovered that he really likes grilled onions and eggplants. He just saw them in the store, they were cheap and he announced that he liked onions and eggplants. Of course we have had a lot of refused food too. I always try to put one or two things on the kids' plates that I know they will eat in addition to the main dish. They won't starve but I am not running a restaurant, we serve one meal, eat it and enjoy. When you have your own kitchen you can cook what you like.  

Really think about what you are eating, this is part of mindful eating. If you pull up to a fast food restaurant, start to think about how the ingredients to your meal got there, the animals that produced the meat, the vegetables, who is in the kitchen preparing it, who will serve it to you. Take a good look back in the kitchen. When you receive your meal, really taste it, slow down and chew it. How does it taste? Visit the fast food place's web site and read the nutritional info for the items you ordered. This can cut back on many of your fast food trips and save you a lot of money! We are often guilty of being in a big hurry and pulling through the chic-fil-a drive through, which for fast food is the top of the crop as far as I am concerned. The kids get the small nugget meal though with fruit and white milk, I get a kids meal but can't resist the fries and the lemonade! No one is perfect but we keep on trying. 

This blog post is dedicated to Colette. I figured you might not be the only one who was wondering. Thanks for all you do for the kiddos!

Social Night at Broadway Pizzeria

 

Today the kiddos came home from their first overnight trip to Granny and Granddads. From all accounts it was a rousing success including a trip to the fair, pancakes at a restaurant and sleeping in sleeping bags. Granny and Granddad fulfilled our requirements for babysitting, they returned both children alive. On the way to drop the kids off at our house Granny and Granddad passed one of the kiddos' favorite local parks, which we call the squishy ground park, because it is paved in a squishy rubber material. It's a very nice playground with two play areas and the holy grail of playgrounds, restrooms. Eddie Haskell asked if we could please, please, please go there tonight. UberGeek and I had hoped to pack a picnic dinner, put the kids in the stroller and run up to the park down the street from us to get some exercise. Still, Eddie Haskell's eyes were pleading, his will was strong and we had missed the kiddos. We went with his plan, packing the kiddos in the grocery getter and heading to his desired park. We had a great time as expected but then it was getting late and we had to grab some dinner. We decided to head to nearby Broadway Pizzeria on Baymeadows Road. 

  We sat down at a granite topped table in the restaurant, oh how I love granite, and our server greeted us quickly. I looked over and at a table near us, a family was sitting with two dolls in doll sized table side high chairs. I walked over because I just had to know where they had purchased them. The lady of the table explained that she worked for the restaurant company and Broadway had several of them available for customers' children to use. She went on to say my daughter was welcome to bring her doll to dine table side next time. Then she asked her daughters to bring our kids over some toys and games from Broadway's enormous chest of goodies for kids. Now you are talking about a seriously family friendly restaurant. She introduced herself, and I noticed that her daughters appeared to be twins. Suddenly I was pretty sure I knew who she was. The name was familiar from my local twins club, which I'm a member of, naturally. We introduced ourselves in the flesh and it was like old home week. We have actually communicated via Yahoo email group for years. We chatted for a while about social media and how it might benefit Broadway, until I realized at some point I probably needed to order food.

We ordered our meal and then proceeded to color the kids placemats and play various games.   Then I heard someone say my name and I turned around. There was my friend TC, whom I hadn't seen since the Disney Princess Half Marathon. She and her son had come to Broadway for a mother son evening out. She said that she and her husband began their ventures to the restaurant during the days of 25 cent beer night and it later morphed into a favorite family spot for meals. She sat directly across from our table and we did our best to chat over the partition about the state of Duval public schools, our kids, when we were having the momento, beer and scrapbooking night and other similarly exciting topics. 

Our food was delivered and it was delicious, Eddie Haskell had the chicken fingers, which came with his favorite side dish, curly fries. The rest of us shared a pizza topped with ham and the signature Broadway bread, you have to ask for it. Things got quiet and some serious eating was going on, everyone enjoyed the meal. Finally we packed it up and headed home, ready to get the kiddos to bed. Fine dining post preschool playground style!

Borrow Bling Blog Week from Adorn Brides!

Ice Ice Kristie

Six months before I met UberGeek I had extricated myself from a long term relationship. It was one of those relationships that just sort of dragged on without any vision for an ending or an evolution. Finally, I decided to take a position that moved me 650 miles South; I told the person I was in the relationship with that he could move here with me if he wished. He didn't wish and off I went. Occasionally when I go home to visit family we meet for a cocktail to reminisce, he remembers that I broke it off with him, in my mind it was his inertia that ended things. I was a little blue about it at the time, my mom was not, she described that boyfriend as too "vanilla", nothing really wrong with him, but nothing too special or just right for me either.

A few months later my mom came to visit me in my new town. I took her shopping down in the chi chi area of Ponte Vedra where we window shopped in great boutiques and lingered over lunch. Finally we ended up in Underwood Jeweler, a fabulous and upscale jewelry store. My mother and I drooled over the sparkly bling laid out in velvet cases. Mom said, "One day, when you meet the right person, this is the type of store he will want to come to to buy your ring when he is ready to marry you." I laughed, since the last person I dated had not wanted to spring for the cheese on my hamburgers. I couldn't imagine anyone buying me anything from such a store.

Fast forward two and a half years, it was New Years Eve and UberGeek and I were at a party at a friends house. He got down on one knee and proposed, diamond solitaire sparkler in hand, the box, which is in my unmentionables drawer now, said Underwood Jeweler. "It's internally flawless, just like you." said UberGeek. Inside I thought, wow, that's a lot to live up to. After I stopped stuttering and said yes, he said something else, "Well, that's it, I'm done with jewelry shopping, I never have to buy another piece of jewelry." I thought he was kidding. Nine years later and true to his word, I have not received so much as a genuine diamelle.

So it is that I look longingly at my friend Nadine's blog on Adorn Brides where people can rent amazing bling for social occasions or weddings. For a modest rental amount you can choose from their absolutely spectacular selection of jewelry. They will mail it to your doorstep, provide you a mailer to return it in, you keep it for a few days, wear it to your wedding or social event, pop it back in the mailer and drop it in the post! I imagine myself, at the next charity event I am invited to, with a little extra sparkle at my neck, a glimmer dangling from my ear. Maybe a sexy bauble draped just so from my wrist. I don't mention this to UberGeek, just cruise the Adorn Brides site from time to time. I figure maybe one day I'll just turn up in a drop dead gorgeous cocktail dress dripping bling and make him think I've cashed in our 401Ks. Better be sure his last Mayo physical went well first. 

I wouldn't dare do this without giving my readers a chance to win their own personal bling borrowing opportunity. You too can shimmer and sparkle even in tight times!  We’ve teamed up with my friend Nadine at Adorn Brides as part of their "Borrow Bling " Blog Week to give one lucky reader the chance to “borrow” a stunning piece of jewelry for a special day! Through Adorn Brides you can rent gorgeous pieces of fine jewelry including earrings, bracelets and coordinating sets made of genuine diamonds and pearls for your wedding or other special events, allowing you to look spectacular while remaining on a budget. The red carpet is not just for celebrities! Adorn Brides has been featured on The View, CBS’s The Early Show, and in The New York Times, Modern Bride (as #1 out of the 50 best web sites to help plan your wedding), Inside Weddings Magazine, Wedding Style Magazine, In Style Weddings.

Here’s how it Works:

1. Browse the Adornbrides.com website

2. Select your favorite piece of jewelry

3. Come back to this blog post and comment on your favorite piece of Adorn Brides jewelry and why you fancy it, get creative. I will announce the winner selected by my non partial guest judge, Dave Strupp, Marketing Communications Coordinator and Tyrant of Technology, in my Monday, March 30 post.

Winner will receive a $150.00 gift card to Adornbrides.com. All others readers: Luckily I have some connections within Adorn Brides, please use this code FLBC2003 and receive a 20% discount towards any fine jewelry rentals from Adorn Brides.

You could borrow me for free! Don't miss the chance to win our contest, see above!

Smoky Eyes in a Box

On Sunday I went shopping at the Town Center all by myself. It was my treat after keeping the kiddos out of the house part of the morning and most of the afternoon. I did this so UberGeek could work on the last finishing touches of drywall touch up necessary before we can paint our master bathroom. It was pretty easy actually, the kiddos had a birthday party that started at 1, which was fantastic, including a clown and magic show and they maintained good manners throughout. I was a happy camper, I dropped the kiddos off with UberGeek after the birthday party and headed out to shop. Lately, I have been noticing everyone else's jeans. It seems they fit better than mine, have more interesting pocket designs and are just generally more attractive. I'm not saying that I wear Mom Jeans, just that mine could use an overhaul. Since the kids were born the words designer and jeans have not been linked in my vocabulary. Instead my jeans have come from Target, Gap and Ann Taylor Loft. They're fine but they pale in comparison to a really good pair of jeans, the quality of which everyone seems to be partaking of but me.

The thing keeping me from designer jeans is that I am cheap. I start to shudder when things cost more than $40.00. This cheapness set in after my kids were born with the sole exception of a pair of AG jeans I bought six weeks after they were born. I was postpartum, I had my son with me after an exhausting trip to a medical specialist, they fit and I looked less whale like in them. The saleslady could have told me they cost $500 and I would have said, fine, put them in a bag, I'll take them. They made me feel better at the moment and were cheaper than a stay in a mental hospital. But other than that I tend to make a beeline to the clearance rack at whatever store I enter. Full price Gap is upscale these days. 

Sunday though, I was determined to find quality denim. I started out at Buckle, decided that I might be too old for the store and moved on to Lucky without much luck. Finally, acting on a tip from another mom at the birthday party, I approached Anthropologie. Once inside I swooned as I usually do when I accompany my mom on her semi-annual voyages into the store. Everything there is beautiful, clothes, housewares, lingerie, everything. I told the associate I was there for jeans, preferably short inseam. He told me I was in luck because one of their designer brands of jeans had a line for short people, and that line just happened to be on sale. Cha-ching! I piled up armloads of other cute clothes and four pairs of Joe's Jeans Provocateurs and headed to the dressing room. One of the pairs was a perfect fit, and it was on sale at a price beyond my wildest dreams. I couldn't believe it and I walked up to the front counter practically on air.

After that shopping coup I was feeling lucky, so I ventured into Sephora on my way out. Recently, everyone has been doing that great smoky eye shadow look and I love it. I have no idea how to do it but I love it. My mom is always bothering me to update my makeup, completely horrified when she spots my crusty Bobbie Brown powder eyeliner pot still in my makeup bag. I bought it for my wedding, in 2000. It's a big pot of powder eyeshadow/eyeliner for heaven's sake! I have updated my makeup quite a few times since then but the eyeliner remains, my mother's nemesis. I walked into the store without much time to spare. I had half an hour before I had to be home to UberGeek and the kiddos to have dinner. I told the associate that I really like the smoky eyed look but "I don't have much time to learn how to do it, don't have time for a lot of fancy instructions today and don't want too many loose containers."  "Really," I said, "what I need is Smoky Eyes in a Box." "Oh," said the sales associate, "that's over here." You could have knocked me over with a feather, but I swear to you they make it! She steered me over to another aisle and there they were, my Smoky Eyes in a Box. Even better the whole kit was only $32! Ring me up Scotty, I'm headed home.

A Rockin Lunchbox

I pack my kids lunches most nights, or mornings, depending on how lazy I am the night before. A little over a year ago I got sick of the usual lunchbag full of smushed sandwiches, assorted plastic bags, sandwich containers and other mess. I figured that there had to be a better solution. Wouldn't you know it, the Japanese thought of it long ago, the bento box. The first place I found hints and tips for packing a better lunch was Lunch in a Box, a really cool blog about packing a bento lunch. I don't claim to be at all as creative as the author of that blog as you can see from my picture but I try.

I bought two Laptop Lunch sets with extra plastic containers so I could wash the ones I brought home. Two of them were pricey but after a year I figure I have saved that much in Ziploc bags, disposable flatware (comes with a set of flatware), and juice or milk boxes. Plus I like the idea that there is less waste since all the pieces are washable and reusable. It comes with an insulated bag to put it in and the freezer pack I send  with it is still cold when the kids get home so it must work.

I like the idea of a bento box for myself. The Lunch in a Box site has a list of resources for adult and kid bentos. So far I haven't taken the plunge and rely on a reusable lunch bag and Ziplocs, but I could be next.