What do you notice about this breakfast of mine?

Here it is:

Does it look SWEET? 

A couple of weeks ago I was watching Good Morning America and Katie Couric was on talking about her new documentary movie which talks about the evils of sugars, as I understand it.  I don't think sugar is evil, but I have been working to reduce it in my diet and that of my family.  Katie Couric invited viewers to join her in a ten day "sugar fast" starting the next Monday and I decided to do it.  No sugar, no artificial sweeteners.

This is what I found:  there is sugar in a lot of things I like to eat.  I didn't go hard-core and scrutinize every.single.label for sugars, but if something obviously had sugar in it, such as cold breakfast cereal or commercial yogurt, it was off my menu.  No desserts, no adding a sprinkle of sugar to my oatmeal, or jam to my peanut butter sandwich.  It was quite an adjustment.

This is what changed:  I ate more carbs and fat than I usually do.  I substituted a bowl of muesli (minus the chocolate chips I love) for a bowl of ice cream.  Instead of a drizzle of syrup on my waffle, I spread on some butter.  No sugar on hot five-grain cereal?  Who cares when you can pour a bit of cream over it instead?

What didn't change:  I still feel the same.  I can't say eliminating sugar magically made my back pain go away or made my hair thick and luxurious.  However, got some new ideas for expanding my diet and how to eat things with less sugar.

So for breakfast today I'm having a chocolate chocolate chunk cookie Sophia made last night, a donut hole she bought in a package two days ago and saved one for me, and a marshmallow crispy treat I made from a Pioneer Woman recipe and saved in the freezer, waiting for the ten day fast to be completed.

You'd do the same, right?

A hidden treasure?

 

Bill had to do some plumbing yesterday and opened a wall to access the pipes.  I was watching for water drips and noticed there was something hidden in the wall.  In the picture below you can see the cavity on the left.  It looked like a paper bag and had some weight to it.  I hoped it might be something like old magazines or artifacts.

 

Here it is after I pulled it out and took it outside.  Interesting stuff, huh?  Bill and I usually put something in the wall when we do any remodeling project, even just names and dates because WE would like to uncover something like that.

 

And it turned out to be . . .

 

. . . a chunk of drywall mud, hardened for 43 years.   LOL  What a disappointment!

Does your pet make you breakfast?

You can find that saying on T-shirts and such with the implication that chickens lay eggs for you, so they "make you breakfast."  Today I decided to let my pets and my solar protection make my breakfast.

 That beautiful purple egg is actually light brown.  Doesn't it look pretty in purple though?

The grapefruit tree was probably planted when the house was new over forty years ago.  It shades most of the bedrooms from the hot southern sun--our passive solar protector.

Zippered pouches for take-home gifts

For several days I've been trying to think of what to give the children at Caroline and Elizabeth's birthday party as a little take-home gift.  I usually try to have the gift be somewhat different than what is usually given at parties.

At 5:10 this morning I woke up knowing what to make.  I went online to youtube to find a video to remind me how to make little zippered pouches.  I've seen pictures of the ones both Leigh and Marcella have made, but it's been awhile and I needed a little refresher.

I dug through my stash, trying to find fabric that could be either feminine or masculine, since we have both boys and girls coming to the party.  Also, since tomorrow is Mother's Day, I figured even if the item seemed feminine, a boy could give it to a female family member tomorrow if he wanted to.

Years ago I inherited a bunch of zippers from my grandma's house, so I knew I could find zippers for all the bags I wanted to make.  Oops, this one from 1947 (it said so on the package) isn't actually a zipper.  It's a "slide fastener."

I made eight pouches in all.  Most of them are different from each other with different linings and zippers.  All but one zipper is metal, so they were a bit of a challenge when it came to turning the ends.  It already looks like the leopard print one with the orange zipper is the hot one.

Happy 12th!

Caroline and Elizabeth have been looking forward to turning twelve for months!  Twelve means moving from Primary to Young Women at Church (children's program to teenager program) and it's a big milestone.  Also, since they have relatively late birthdays, they are some of the last 6th graders to turn twelve.

Here they are with their cake that assumes knowledge of place value:

 

 Including me behind the camera, here is the gang who celebrated their birthday with them:

Meal Plan Monday

Monday:  Impossibly Easy Vegetable Pie, carrots

Tuesday:  Chicken Chinese, rice (Sunbird seasonsings)

Wednesday:  Slow Cooker Pork Chops and Apple Chutney, sweet potatoes

Thursday:  Enchilada Soup, chips

Friday:  Pizza

I'm a deliberate tap dance learner

That sounds better than, "I'm a slow tap dance learner," doesn't it?  Here is a short, two measure foot routine that has stumped me!

If you peek in my office window, you'll see me practicing this routine while sitting in my chair, my feet barely touching the floor.  Once I get it in my head, putting it on the floor with tap shoes on will not be a problem!

Luckily for me this one is a little easier . . . .

Same thing with a little tap in between.

Here is a whole dance our class is learning this semester.  The woman you can mostly see in the vidoe is not really doing the dance right; look at the teacher in the front!



Caroline is on the honor roll!

The 6th grade teachers and the PTA put on a nice continental breakfast for the honorees this morning and invited parents to come along as well. 

The principal called each child up to receive a handshake, a certificate, a pencil, and a bumper sticker for the parents' car.

Do you like that Halloween ghost she has on her hairband?

Meal Plan Sunday

Monday:  Slow Cooker French Onion Soup with Cheesy Broiled French Bread

Tuesday:

Wednesday:  Cheeseburger potato soup

Thursday:

Friday:  Pizza

My sweet girl

Thursdays are the day the cleaning ladies come to make our house look sharp.  One of them came to me with a delighted smile on her face and asked if I had a minute to see something.  This is what she found on the desk next to Sophia's bed:

She is my child who put one of her vacation dollars into a tip jar in a small Utah mom-n-pop diner and another time offered some money to the men who delivered our refridgerator. 

:-)