Easter Eggs of "Spring Spheres"?

Where are those pesky eggs?

Today was the Easter egg hunt for first grade at school.At least at my kids' school, they are still Easter Eggs. This year...Who know what they will decide to call them next year. Hopefully, there won't be an issue about this but, with the way things are, you never know...

The kids had a great time. That's Megan there with her back turned, intently looking for eggs with her name on it. They are very smart at our school. Each egg has a child's name written on it. That way every child gets the same amount of eggs. No fighting over who touched it first.No "I got more than you" fights.

Megan with her basket of eggs

Megan found her eggs and was a happy camper. She got candy after all. What kid isn't happy with candy? After that, they had brunch. Lots of good food! Sausage biscuits, pigs in a blanket, casseroles, bagels, and fruit. Then, of course, there was cupcakes and carrot cake. Megan got fruit and a sausage biscuit as well as carrot cake and a cupcake. She says "Most of my food is healfy, right Momma? Except this cupcake, it's pure sugar!"

My health conscious kids, LOL. I was bit embarrassed because she said it in front of the mom that brought the cupcakes. Oh well, it  was true. 

The teachers kind of encourage you to take your kid home early on days like this. Not that I mind. It's more one on one time with one individual child. There is never enough of that to go around. Especially when they are small.

Well, it seems that the neighbor kids have all gravitated to my yard. Not a big deal. I can watch them better over here anyhow. They seem to have fun with each other. They were "tearing up the yard" across the street. They are renters and grass is a big deal in Florida. It is impossibly hard to grow. You don't want to replace it. Costs a fortune. So they are tearing up my yard, LOL. I don't care. Kids are only little once. My old people neighbors already hate MY lawn. can't get too much worse than it is. 

Kids playing Duck,Duck, Goose

Such is life for us today. How are you?

I've created a Monster

It's true, I've created a monster. Or maybe a few monsters, I don't know...

Today was eye doctor appointment day for 2 kids. I told them that I was going to go start the truck so we wouldn't have to take the bus...and they REVOLTED LIKE BIG TIME!

They wanted to walk to the public bus stop and then ride the bus across town. "We get more exercise that way, Mom!"

"It's Healfier that way too," says the other one. She still doesn't say "th" too well.

"I like to walk," chipped in the first one.

Ugh, so much for mom being lazy, I guess. I shoved my laptop in my purse (that's why i have a Dell Mini, LOL), put a smile on my face, and said, "Let's Go!"

Riding the bus is always a unique experience. You never know what kind of characters you will find on a public bus. Thankfully, its generally a normal trip for the most part. It's not a big city here, so no big city public transportation issues. No homeless old men sleeping in the back seats.(had that happen on a bus up north) no young guys with drugs offering to share either.(don't ask!)

We got to the eye doctor about an hour later. Would have been a 5 or 10 minute car ride of course. Not a big deal. They enjoyed the trip over. Almost $300 later we paid for the glasses that they picked out. Then it was off to Steak and Shake. They love to eat there. After that, we went to JoAnn Fabrics and Target. Then it was back on the bus. The return trip takes almost an hour and a half! Long bus ride!

Megan fell asleep. I nearly did too. Okay...I did...fall...asleep...until my head bobbed to my knees. ; } How embarrassing!

All in all, we had a good, albeit expensive, day. More quality time with the kiddos than I would have had while driving, that's for sure!

My monsters  uh kids love to walk. They are exercise Monsters!

I'VE CREATED MONSTERS AND I'M  PROUD OF IT!

Life Gets in the Way

I always seem to intend to blog daily but then life gets in the way of blogging. Not that I can complain much because it's just, well, life.

My blog calendar is full of these great ideas for posts. So much so that I could blog twice a day for the rest of the year and still have ideas left over. I just don't seem to sit down and write out all these elaborate posts that are already written inside my head. My head is a busy place LOL

You see, it's FCAT time here in Florida. For those of you not in Florida (lucky you) the FCAT is this be all and end all test that our kids take every year. The magic years are third grade and 10th grade. Fail the FCAT and fail the school year. No matter what your report grades were. Needless to say, my third grader has been panicking.

I've assured her that she'll do fine, but the pressure is incredible for a kid her age. She's only 9!!! It's as if she is taking the SAT to get into college! It's 3rd grade! Fail the FCAT in high school and you don't get a diploma until you pass it. No matter what your grade point average is.

About a month ago, some kids moved in to the house across the street. This is the first time in 10 years that we have had neighbor kids. It's always been old, cranky people. It is Florida after all. Lots of retirees in our area. My kids are enjoying the pleasures of playing tag as I type this. Being the overly cautious parent that I am, I am sitting out front watching them.

While sitting here, I realized that I kind of stagnated in developing this blog properly, so I will spend a little time tomorrow figuring out how to make it look better. I may migrate to wordpress. I don't know. I've heard good and bad about both. At the very least, I need to figure out how to add tags to my posts so that I can sort them into categories. I'm open to suggestions...


and by the way...TAG YOU"RE IT!

Are you prepared?

It's amazing how easily we can let our guard down without even realizing it. It isn't hurricane season yet here in Florida. It doesn't usually even rain in the morning here. Just the afternoons. So I was definitely caught unprepared. It was raining when I woke up. Well, not just raining but Storming BADLY. I woke to no power.

Had no idea where the flashlights were other than the ones we keep in the car and I was not about to go outside.No power meant no tv or radio reports. Which means that I did not hear about the tornado watches and warnings until an hour later. NOT GOOD.

Not good at all!

The NOAA radio that we used to have is no more. A NOAA radio, for those of you that don't know, is a weather alert radio that will activate if the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issues an alert. They have a battery backup so that they will still work if the power is out. I will be purchasing one as soon as I finish this post. 

These are a must have for anyone that may get severe weather. 

Also this morning, 4 out of 6 of the cell phones in our house were dead. Made me realize how much we take having electricity for granted. That is not a good thing to do. You never know when an emergency may arise. Like the Boy Scouts say, BE PREPARED!

This reminded me to start getting this season's hurricane kit together.Since we are in Florida and the threat of a hurricane is very real, we need to be prepared to survive on our own for at least a week with no electricity.  I thought I'd share with you what goes in our kit.

For the most part, our supplies are generally scattered throughout the house because we will mainly "shelter in place". That means stay here and wait it out. This is only advisable if you are out of the flood zone and you are NOT in a mobile. We live in a cement block home,so we are a little safer. Also a big caveat, DO NOT EXPECT EMERGENCY SERVICES OF ANY KIND! If you are in doubt, evacuate to a shelter.

The first thing that you need is food and a source of clean water. 

When you know a storm is coming, bleach your bathtub and fill it with water. Your water supply may be compromised. If nothing else, you can use that water to flush your toilets. Purchase a few gallons of water as well. You can never have too much water. We have an inground pool and I keep bleach on hand to convert that water to drinkable water just in case.

Purchase food throughout the year that is shelf stable. Cans of soup, pancake mix, boxed potatoes, a few boxes of shelf stable milk. , peanut butter, jelly. etc. anything you would put in the pantry is good.

Don't forget to have a manual can opener! Very important because, uh, duh, the electric won't work!

Now you gotta cook...

a propane stove or grill is best to have but charcoal will work as well. Make sure you use it outdoors! You do not wan't to die from carbon monoxide poisoning! It Happens! Way too often! Wait until the majority of the storm passes before you go outside to cook. Eat things like granola bars or sandwiches until then.

Since this has already gotten so long, tomorrow I will explain what you need next. 

I Like It Just Fine

It started out of necessity. His car broke down AGAIN. He needed to get to work and walking 30 miles, or whatever it is, was out of the question. So he took the SUV. "Only temporarily," he assured me. The kids still had to get to school. The bus stop is only3/4 of a mile from the house. So we walked.

 And I liked it.

 No arguing over who was sitting where. No fighting over who got in the car first. No excess energy to deal with when we got home either. I was on to something.

You see, we own 3 vehicles. It used to be 4. I had a van to use as back up when the SUV was not available to me. The van had a flat tire and we just didn't find the time to fix it. So we walked. Then a dead battery. We walked again. Eventually,I saw the van as a money hog. Insurance, gas, upkeep yada yada... I gave it away. Someone else could benefit from it. We really didn't need 4 vehicles with only 2 drivers in the house. We could walk...

I like the fact that we walk to and from the bus stop. It helps with the kids' energy level. They are more focused in school. They fight less. They are healthier.They fight less. It saves us money. And...they fight less.

I like that..ALOT.

Going to school can be a stressful thing for kids. Any kid actually. Not just ones that are picked on or bullied. Not just the kids that struggle in school. All kids get wound tighter than a top sometimes. That energy needs a release somewhere. I have found that walking home and talking about things on the way seems to help. They all walk at a different pace. The ones that need to talk about something with me tend to hang back a little.The others walk a bit ahead. By the time we get home, the problem is usually dealt with. They are more relaxed and can focus on other things once we get in the door.

I won't lie. Some mornings are crazy. Even crazier than if we drive to school. Some mornings the girls are brushing their hair as we walk. Forgotten things need to be just that...forgotten. No going home to get it. On occasion, someone has fallen, or stepped in puddle, or something to that effect, and gotten dirty. I still will send them to school like that. I hate to, but school is too important to miss.  The school is only 2.5 miles from the house, so we can walk all the way there if need be. Thankfully, that rarely happens. Only once last year and not at all this year (knock on wood). I can only imagine what the teachers think of me when the kids come to school on a bad day. (Sorry teachers!)

I like the cost savings of only using one vehicle so much that I now try to plan appointments to coincide with the public bus schedule. Yes, that means that dentist appointments require a longer time out of school. But the benefits far outweigh the negatives here too. All of my children can safely navigate their way across busy streets. They all are familiar with how to ride a public bus. They can read a bus schedule. They even know the importance of being somewhere on time.  After all, the bus won't wait on you, you have to wait on the bus.

We do use the small cars on rare occasions. But most of the time they just sit idly by, gathering a layer of dust.

 I like that just fine.

Lazy Girls Bread recipe

I love the smell of freshly baked bread! There is nothing else like it to make a house feel warm and cozy. I haven't made bread in quite a while but as I was wasting time surfing the blogs, I came across a few posts mentioning baking biscuits.I decided that I need to start baking bread regularly again. I dusted off my bread baking recipe just for y'all. I call it Lazy Girl Bread because, well, um, I'm lazy...LOL

The recipe that I use to make bread is so easy...It is just 4 numbers...

6-3-3-13


Thats all you need to remember to bake some delicious bread, rolls, pizza crust, cinnamon rolls whatever it is you may want.

6 cups of water     (room temp or slightly warmer)

3 tablespoons of yeast


3 tablespoons of salt ( I prefer sea salt)

13 cups of flour


Mix all of the ingredients together. NO kneading required. I prefer to use a plastic dishpan for this dough. A new one of course. Let the dough rise on the counter for a few hours and then loosely cover with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge. Cut off a piece of the dough whenever you want bread or rolls. Allow it to raise up some and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes depending on what you are making.

This dough will keep for two weeks in the fridge although I usually use it up in about a week. No need to clean your dishpan either. Just scrape down the sides and mix up more dough. The leftover bits act as sourdough starter! How easy! No wait... How Lazy!

First impressions of EASports Active 2

Well, I just finished my first workout with EASports Active 2 for XBOX 360 and I must say, I'm impressed! It was an excellent workout for this older out of shape mom. Unlike the videos that are the market today or the tv shows that are out there, you are actually accountable for doing the reps required. No skipping a few or waiting until that part is over. Gotta do em to get to the next part.

The only time that this was a problem is when it was time for the floor exercises, namely push-ups and sit -ups. The Kinect sensor just doesn't seem to read correctly. Maybe it's just me or the way we have the Kinect positioned in my house. I'm not sure. But I think that this is something that Microsoft will need to address eventually.

I love the heart monitor too. Great for instant feedback. I'm looking forward to the next 9 weeks. If you are looking for a challenging workout and don't wanna pay for a personal trainer, do the next best thing. Buy a personal trainer in a box from EASports!