Ever Feel like this????

I just finished writing a research paper on sugar, and one on milk. My brain is fried completely. I was trying to catch up on email and this was in my inbox. This would have made life easier the past few weeks. Under the desk is 4 cats and a mini bike so I can exercise while typing. The kids are finally outside playing! Yup I am tired... I sure miss you all my blogging friends.

Brain Food

I have been SO busy with my studies that I just haven't really had much time for cooking. I am working hard to finish up my current class (Macronutrients) this week. Lunch was a hodgepodge of veggies with a yogurt dressing, oranges, crackers and hummus and a leftover stuffed Pepper. (the recipe came from Tosca Reno's Eat clean diet cookbook) It was quite good and could have been a meal on it's own.(but I had to share) It's got brown rice, corn, sweet potato, onion, garlic and tomatoes. YUMMY... I sure hope to get back to regular blogging soon...

Uninvited visitor to the B and B

Yesterday as I was finishing up my workout, something on the back porch caught my eye! I couldn't believe that this little raccoon was on my back porch staring right at my kitty that was just below me looking out the back door. As the 5 of us were just looking and laughing he just sat there letting me take photos of him.

There is no way that sucker was going to get in my hot tub. (no water in it right now anyway) We were a bit concerned that he was just traveling around in the middle of the day. He didn't look very healthy. We tried to call animal control who told us that they only do dogs... Gee thanks! We saw him go into the neighbors shed and haven't seem him since, which is OK with me. I love wildlife, in the wild and behaving like they should. Not when they are contemplating my kitty being their lunch. I guess he heard how good it is visiting here......

Journey Through the World Of Books

The Journey through the world of books was the theme of an exciting program called PARP (parents as reading partners) sponsored by our school PTA. I had the pleasure of being the chairperson for the planning committee (it was a committee of two, see how important I was?) For two weeks the children were encouraged to read nightly with their parents, tales and stories from around the world and log their reading into their passports. The last night proved to be fun and rewarding for all and we were so pleased with the participation of parents, students and teachers alike. We had three guest readers, the one pictured here a retired teacher dressed up, and read stories about the Inuit people, you can see that she was sitting near her student built igloo of recycled milk cartons! The children were enthralled with the tales. We also had our principle dressed as a penguin reading stories about penguins and Arctic living, and a princess from England with her castle and fables from her land.

Two crafts were very popular among the children, above are Ariana and Nikolas getting started on their drums from Africa. It was the first stop on their journey. (each family was given a passport with write ups on the activities that night and a schedule of their events to break everyone up into smaller groups) The children really enjoyed finding the flags for each country and rotating to the next activity.

This is a shot of all the drums that the kids made. The just looked so cool all drying on the table.

The kids then tried their hands at Tinikling, from the Philippines. The learned the origination and how it came about. It was originally done with reeds with thorns and was a punishment, today it is very popular and has become a competitive choreographed sport. I was so pleased that there was so much laughter coming from the kids and parents...

They also played a game from Australia called Down, Down, Down, a throwing and catching game.

One of the most favorite activities of all was making the Ojo's de dio's AKA God's eyes. I remember making these in Girl Scouts as a kid but really didn't know there was a history behind them. "In Mexico, The central eye was made when a child was born. Each year, a bit of yarn was added until the child turned five at which point the Ojo was complete. In Bolivia, "God's Eyes" were made to be placed on an altar so that the gods could watch over the praying people and protect them. "

All in all it was a great and busy night. We had prizes at the end in the form of a drawing and certificates of participation and completion for those that earned it. What a great experience it was to be part of the planning and see how much joy it brought to so many people.

Breathing a Sigh Of Relief!!!

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming... Nikolas and I just came back from the allergist, with exception for dust mites and a very very small reaction to cats and dogs (which the doctor said not to even worry about, except that he 'shouldn't' sleep with the cats) Nikolas is food allergy FREE!!! wahoooooo!!!

Be it the regulation of his diet for the past month with probiotics or a false positive for now we are in the clear for food allergies and I am relieved that I can feed the child more than just milk, chocolate and vegetables!

On a great note, Nikolas and I got a few things done and got to go out and have a mommy and son lunch together just the two of us. We indulged ourselves with hot chocolate (which we rarely do) and had a chance to laugh and talk...

Can't even share how relieved I feel.... now I have no regrets about buying the Dyson a few months ago either... lots of vacuuming in my future!!!