School stuff.....

The thing I hate, despise, even detest  most about the kids going back to school.....school shopping!!!  I can handle everything else, but having to take teenagers shopping for clothes and shoes really works my nerves.  I cant even remember school shopping with my mom as a kid, with the exception of two separate occasions.  One where she bought me these shoes

The ugliest shoes EVER made

I was a huge tomboy growing up (my tomboy daughter is my payback) and never wore dresses, skirts or anything girlie unless I was forced to or when I went to church (which was forced also). I would literally throw tantrums and act a complete fool anytime I had to dress up. 

One day we were school shopping and my mom decided she was going to buy me these shoes.  I cried, beg and pleaded for her not to get them.  She told me I ONLY had to wear them one time to some event (I cant recall) and yall know she had me wearing those shoes every chance she got.  I was HOT!!!!  I remember hiding in the alley and changing my shoes on the way to school because I REFUSED to be caught dead in those ugly things.  UGH!!!!  Next time I talk to my mom I'm going to have to remind her of this story.  I wonder if she recalls how mad I was and how I would catch an attitude and not talk to her for days when she would try to make me wear those dreaded things.

I remember being like 13 and up and me and my sister shopping ourselves.  My mom would just give us the money or her credit card and we'd be on our merry way.  I guess my mom didn't want to put up with the mess that I NOW put up with my kids when going shopping.   They are so flipping picky it's ridiculous.  They'll have us out there all day going from store to store to store and find one or two things and then have nerve enough to catch attitude with us when we're like it's time to start wrapping it up so we can go home.  I'm so tempted next time to just give them a limit and let them go themselves but I could really see someone coming home with a $100 pair of jeans and me being P.O-ed.  I don't know what age they'll have to be before I feel comfortable enough to allow them to just go on their own.  

Speaking of kids... girlie is starting her 1st year of high school this year.  We were nervous when we went to registration (which is really just picking up her schedule, locker and bus info) because we were told this year high school students will not be able to ride school buses because they significantly cut the number of buses due to budget cuts.  Since 6th grade she's been taking the school bus because I wasn't trying to drive 50 miles a day...gas is just too expensive right now.  Since the bus was available that was just the best option.

 This year, the idea of putting her on the city bus didn't sit well with me.  Because of the length of time it would take her to get to school on the bus she'd have to leave the house every day about 5:30am to get to school on time and ride 3 separate buses.  Um...not gonna happen.  I was thinking I'd have to bite the bullet and just drive her, then found out that we could fill out an exception form.  I was told it was on a first come first serve basis and wasn't feeling to confident because school starts this week.   I found out on Friday that they are going to allow her to ride the school bus.  HOORAY!!!  Yall have NO idea how happy I was, I think I did a little happy dance after I hung up with the woman at transportation.  That literally made my day. 

Little guys first week ended pretty good and is off to a great start.  He was a "superstar" in both of his classes today and got an award for having doing such a good job.  I'm starting to feel a little more at ease with him being at school and wasn't on edge waiting for him to get home like last week.  Lol  I still miss my baby when he's at school, but most of that worry has subsided so that's a plus. 

Alright...now that little one is in school and has an earlier bed time I'm finding myself getting tired and in bed earlier also.  Time for me to call it a night.  I hope everyone has a great week.  Back at ya soon.

Peace and Blessings!!!!

It's that time of year again.....

Getting ready.  So not a morning person. Lol

On his way for day 2

We have been awaiting the opening of another school like my little girlies school for K-5 and now that it's happened wouldn't you know it....we're not able to enroll our little guy as planned.  He did really well with home schooling last year and learned so much, but we really want him to be around other kids his age on a consistent basis.  Also since the curriculum at my daughter school is so awesome and it's such a high performing school we wanted my son to attend as well.

We live out of district so we had to put him on a waiting list which I found is pretty long.  I'm almost certain that it will be several months before we're even able to get him in.  We decided to enroll him in a school in the district that we live in because it would be easier for him to transition to a "school environment" if he did it at the start of the year as opposed to the middle or end of the year.  School started on Monday and we were SO NOT prepared to send our baby off to the wolves, but decided adjusting to school would be better if we did it this way.  He was SO excited about going so that was a definite plus.  He's still such a Mommy's baby and so used to being around me so I was really surprised and excited by his enthusiasm 

So let's go over the incidents we've had so far shall we....

We still allow little one to eat dairy, chicken and turkey because he's so picky as it is and we're happy when we can get him to eat anything at all.  However, will not allow him to eat beef or pork so we thought it best to pack his lunch to prevent him from getting something he SHOULDN'T have.

So...Day 1. he we go to pick him up and find that they were not able to find his lunch bag and he ate a school lunch.  UGH!!!  Lucky it was chicken or I would have been HEATED.  But I know it's the first week things are going to be hectic and everyone is trying to settle into a routine.  No biggie.  His lunch bag got located by the assistant principal, who happens to be new this year, and I actually really like him at this point.

Day 2. My baby says he had a great day, but ended up getting confused and going outside with 3rd graders after lunch instead of going back to his after noon class room.  A teacher and another student helped right away to get to his class so that was great but it made me a little nervous.  The teachers don't get the kids and take them back to class, they are excused from the lunch room, line up with the kids from there class and have to walk with their group back to class.  The lines aren't real distinct so he followed the wrong group.  That's taking him some getting used to.  I'm glad the school is fairly small so that puts me at ease a bit.  Then some little boy spits on him when they're walking with their teacher in the hall to math class.  He told the little boy to stop and he wouldn't...nasty little thing!!!!  He didn't tell the teacher because in his words "we aren't supposed to talk while we're in the halls and I didn't want to get in trouble."  Aww.... my little rule follower.

Day 3.  There's obviously something going on with kids at this age where they LOVE to spit because while they were in a computer class the little girl sitting next to him started spitting on him.  He went up to the teacher to tell her when the little girl wouldn't stop and she got mad at him for not raising his hand before getting up and he starts crying.  Of course I almost want to cry because the idea of my baby being sad at school breaks my heart.  So we had a long conversation last night about raising his hand and how to handle those situations.  UGH!!!  I don't know why little kids have to be so dang nasty and that spitting really IRKS me.  THEN...at the end of the day I'm waiting to pick him up.  I see the teacher coming out with the group of kids that are in his class that don't ride the bus, but don't see my baby.  I ask her and she says that she believes he went in the bus line.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!  So I run off to where the busses are and see another teacher holding his hand and talking to him.  She explains to me that she thinks he lost his line and she was getting ready to bring him to where the kids get picked up at because he told her he wasn't a bus rider.  The good thing is if they don't have a bus tag they aren't going to put them on the bus.   I don't know why I was worried they were going to just throw my baby on a bus.  Silly me.  Lol  We had a long conversation with him about where to go and to make sure he's following his teacher and class to wait for me to pick him up.

I was initially really put off by the whole lining up thing and them just following the kids without ALWAYS being guided by a teacher, but now that I've been up to the school all week...(YES, I said all week)  I'm more comfortable because I can actually see how easy it is for the kids to move through the hallway and get where there supposed to go.   I think it's just been a little difficult because it's such a new process for him, but today he had it down and did really well.  I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that he doesn't come home today telling me that he's had any issues.  I think if there's one more incident Hubby will be ready to pull him out and go back to homeschooling.  Lol

So... before yall start thinking I'm this overbearing parent that's going to be stalking the school....I was talking to his teacher when we went for the parent/teacher meeting on Friday.  We were talking about volunteering and how much help is needed the first few weeks of school she asked if I'd be willing to help when I told her my schedule was pretty open this week.  So there you have it. 

I've got more news with the other kids, but since this ended up being so lengthy we'll save that for another post.  I will say girlie goes back next week, son #2 goes back the end of August, and step girlie goes back in September.  Where the HECK did the summer go.  I'm not ready for fall.  Boo!!!!  Lol

Alright that's it for now....have a good week and I'll be back at you all later.

Peace and Blessing!!!

Home from school and having fun!  Love this guy!!!

Crepes Cake and Caramel....oh and Fish.

Once again my craving has been satisfied, along with the rest of the families.  Lol.  After baking the cake the other day that was eatien in less than 24 hours (actually like 2 hours) I made another which came out just as good and was eaten just a quickly.  Lol  I did as planned and did a 2 layer cake this time with the bottom layer frosted with homemade caramel, the cocoa glaze then a layer of berries.  It was then topped with the cocoa glaze and more berries.  It came out much better this time and I have to say I was pretty pleased with myself, although I wont go so far as to say I'm a baking connoisseur just yet.  Lol

Cooking Caramel

Bottom Layer

Finished Cake

The caramel recipe was really simple and took all of maybe 10 minutes.  The downside is that it wasn't as smooth as I wanted it to be due to the turbinado sugar.  I don't know a workaround for this yet but I'm going to definitely find one.  You could really taste the difference much once it was put on the cake, but I'm striving for perfection here people.  Lol

I think I mentioned the other day how badly I had been wanting crepes and I found a vegan recipe HERE.  The first one that I made ended up being a little too thick for me so I added a bit more soy milk (I should have measured it..UGH) and let it chill for an extra half hour and then they came out perfect.  Who knew!!!  I just topped them with a berry compote that I made that tasted similar to a strawberry syrup and it was extremely tasty.  I'm actually wanting more today, but I'll refrain.   Lol

Finished Crepe

Berry Compote w/Crepe YUM!!

I'm really looking forward to making these more often and of course I'll play around with the recipe, you know how I love to do that.  Lol

For dinner we ended up having Tilapia and a Porcini Mushroom Risotto.  I found the Risotto (Yes it came from a box!!!)  at Whole.Foods and was happy to find there were no animal products in it.  HOORAY! It was surprisingly tasty so I'm sure we'll be buying that more often.  I made a seasoned batter for the fish and  since we were out of Panko I ended up using these Quinoa Flakes that we had.  Hey...I work with what I got.  Lol  I don't really like frying and it's not something I do often AT ALL but I was in the mood for fried fish so I gave in and was happy with the results.  Delicous!!!

Fish frying with just a TINY bit of oil

Tilapia and Porcini Risotto

Well, now that I've made myself hungry....I'm going to go seek out some breakfast so that's a wrap!!  Enjoy the week all and I'll be back at you all later. 

Peace and Blessings!!!!!

Dinner and Dessert....

I really surprised myself this evening.  I made a fabulous dessert and dessert isn't even my forte.  I guess it's not THAT difficult if you follow a recipe, but for some reason I was always intimidated when it came to baking.  It took a few bad experiences for me to just say forget it and hang it up all together.  I'm starting to feel encouraged, especially after my husband just told me that I made the greatest dessert he's ever had and said "My tummy is doing a happy dance."  And then I just about fell out when he said he needed the Yo Gabba Gabba suit so he could dance around like Dj Lance so he could do the party in my tummy dance.  WOW!!!  Lol. 

I tried my hand at baking and used this recipe to make a chocolate cake and added a little bit of a spin to it.  I added some raspberries to the glaze and boiled it so the raspberry flavor could be absorbed in the cocoa.  I added caramel to the cake and then added fresh raspberries and blackberries.  So we had the cake with vegan vanilla ice cream and a tiny bit of mint and it was DELICIOUS!!!!.  I mean really.  The cake was pretty simple and very good.  I of course substituted the flour and the sugar for agave honey, but followed the recipe for the mix pretty much to the letter. 

I was a little disappointed because when I flipped my cake some of it stuck to the pan.  What I ended up doing was scraping out the cake the was stuck to the pan and  pressing it into a tiny dessert bowl, cutting up berries, adding some caramel and pressing another layer of cake on top and then adding chocolate sauce and ice cream.  This was a definite winner and the end product:

Cake on the bottom with caramel, strawberries and chocolate glaze

Top layer of cake with berries...

Topped with vegan vanilla ice cream and mint.  YUM!!

Funny that I would start with the dessert...Lol 

I had to satisfy my Tuna craving so we had Ahi Tuna again with a ginger and sesame sauce and my new favorite veggie asparagus.  I also had NEVER cooked polenta before and wanted some really bad so I decided to cook that.  It was actually pretty good but I felt it was a little to heavy for the fish and decided to cook a Coconut and cashew basmati rice.  It had a GREAT spiciness to it and it went really well with the tuna.  But I still wanted the polenta so I served both.  I know I know....don't even say it.  I know it was a bit much, but it was soooo good.  

I just roasted the asparagus with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Tasty!

Ready for the oven

Finished plating and fresh raspberry and blackberry lemonade

Closer pic.  It needs a garnish and something red...still great tasting though

And then the actual cake....The family crushed it.  There's like NOTHING left but crumbs. Lol.  They're all asking me to make another one tomorrow. 

Gotta work on my decorating Lol  Next time I'll strain out the berry seeds

SOOOOO GOOD!!!!! 

I think tomorrow I'll do the cake with caramel and chocolate between two layers and hope that they don't stick this time.  Oh yeah....My fast is over by the way.  It lasted all of 12 hours.  LOL.  My greed has definitely overpowered my discipline.  Oh well.  Better luck next time right.  Lol

So that's it for me people.  Hope you all are enjoying your weekend.  

Peace and Blessings till next time......

FOOD...Food..food.....

I remember now why we got rid of TV and Cable.  Up until about a month ago we haven't had cable in almost 2 years I think.  We decided to just watch movies and shows on netflix and stop spending so much of our day in front of the TV.  We decided that we'd get cable again for the summer and I'm thinking it was a mistake.

I'm hooked....

I have been once again obsessed by HGTV and my new love...The Food network.  Every time there's a commercial I'm flipping back and forth between the two channels.  Lol  I love Food network star and was thinking to myself, I'd LOVE to go on that show.  They need to do a vegan one so I don't have to worry about making meals with dairy or meat.  Lol  Probably not gonna happen.  People come up with the MOST creative meals and I find myself thinking "I'd like to try that... "  Some of it looks sooo good and the flavor combinations have my mouth watering.  I could literally sit here all day for days and watch these two channels.  Talk about addicting.

So I was watching Food network star and everyone was raving about one of the finalists, Mary Beth Albright's meat loaf recipe.  This was a  food that I LOVED and probably could have eatien weekly (or more) when I ate meat.  So I found the recipe and I'm going to give it a try and Veganize it.  Is Veganize a word?   Lol.  It's funny because it seems like whenever I'm trying to fast I end up wanting to try out different recipes.  I'm thinking it's probably not a good idea to fast and watch food network because I'm REALLY hungry.  Lol.  My husband is doing a raw food fast and says I'm torturing him by having him watch Giada at Home.  Lol.  He doesn't even like Mayo or raw fish but he's saying how good this sandwich looks that she's making.  Hilarious!!!  Day 1 may be a fail!!!  Lol Lets see if we make it.

Stay tuned for day 2.  Lol  Peace and Blessings.....

All about the color.....

I decided to try out a new brand of nail polish.  I usually use OPI but have a few other brands that I use every once in awhile.  I was in the store the other day and saw that Revlon had this top speed (dries in 60 seconds) nail polish with pretty bright and fun colors.  I decided to give them a try.

The nails on my hands don't grow much; they get to a certain length and chip and peal.  I've tried everything and nothing I can do, short of getting fake nails will help them grow.  I gave up on fake nails years ago.  So with my nails being so short I usually will give myself a french manicure, which I've gotten pretty good at doing, or wear clear polish.  The colors I bought were so cute and after I polished my toes I decided to do my fingernails also.  They didn't turn out so bad.  Because the color dries so quick I'll be changing the color all week.  With that being said here are the fun colors I chose:

1. Mondays Color Cherries in the Snow

2. Tuesdays Color Stormy

3. Wednesdays Color Orchid

4. Thursdays Color Orchid

5. Fridays Color Craving Coral

6. Saturdays Color Electric

7. Sundays Color Black Star

8. All the Colors

So this was my experiment with color.  I think I may start painting the nails on my hands on a regular basis now since I love most of these colors.  Now I'm wanting to go on a polish shopping rampage.  Lol  My favorites were pics 1, 2, 5, and 7.  I realize I don't really care for the pale colors so much, it doesn't go well with my skin tone and for some reason they just look a little dull to me.  The Black Star had a bit of a silver tint to it that I really loved.  I'll probably be wearing this one for the remainder of the week.  The Yellow I want to just toss in the trash and I doubt I'll ever wear it again.  It actually looked cute on my girlies hands so I'll probably just give it to her since she's decided that she now likes her nails done.  YEAY!!  Maybe she's turning the corner from tom boyishness.  Lol. 

Alright, that's it for me people. Wishing you all a happy Monday and a great week. Lol

Food of course....

It always seems that when I don't blog for a moment I'm always inspired to blog by good food. I've been craving Ahi Tuna for awhile and we haven't bought it because its always so freaking expensive.  I finally broke down and bought some yesterday for today's dinner and OH MY GOODNESS.  I need to really become a chef because I amaze even myself sometimes.

I love my fish sometimes with a little bit of sweetness to it and tried something a little different.  I'm not going to tell what I used in the event that I break down and write a cook book.  Lol   I will say that it was probably the best Tuna I've ever made.  It was perfect.

We've been doing a pretty good job cutting down on our carbohydrates.  We were overdosing on them daily multiple times a day so I have to say that I'm pretty proud of myself.  There are days where I want to just indulge in a whole loaf of bread all by myself, OD on potatoes, rice AND pasta....in the same meal.  Lol  Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit.  JUST A LITTLE.

So our dinner this evening was Ahi Tuna, Steamed broccoli, with Strawberries, Pineapple, and Nectarines.  It was actually pretty filling not to mention delicious.  I could probably eat fruit all summer long.  Often times when the weather is warm I have to eat really light because my stomach will begin to feel a little queasy.  I could probably do a soup, salad and fruit diet all summer and be cool.  I had the best cherries and cantaloupe the other day.  Aly posted a recipe for drunken melon balls on her face book page and I'm so trying these, minus the liquor of course. 

Anyway pictures of dinner......

Cooking tuna

Spices added

Finished meal

So there you have it.  Tonight's dinner.  It was so good that the little one, with his 5 year old picky self actually ate it and liked it.  He even said he'd eat some tomorrow for dinner.  We may have a new food that we can add to the few foods we can actually get him to eat.  HOORAY!!!!  Victory for Mommy.  Lol

Alright...that's it for me people.  Peace and Blessings until next time.......