My daughter and I ran/walked a 5K at a fundraiser today. We didn’t come even close to winning, which is no shocker, but we did it! It feels good! Next year we’ll do more training so we can improve our time. I think we did better than last year so that’s something. We’ve been getting more exercise than last year too so I feel like we’re headed in the right direction.
Holy Cow: Bras and the Cat
23 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
Yesterday I purchased two bras for my daughter — her very first bras. I think we’re both a little traumatized. It’s a big deal! But we’ll be fine. It was time. She’s wearing one of them today. So far, so good.
Also yesterday morning I accidentally locked one our cats in my daughter’s closet and he was stuck in there the entire day! I’m pretty sure he was a little traumatized, but not too badly since he mostly sleeps during the day. He seems fine. I’m just glad he didn’t leave any “aromatic gift packages” in the closet. And I’m glad I didn’t mess up even more and accidentally lock my daughter in her closet and buy bras for the cat. ‘Cause, I swear, there are some days that might be possible.
Laundromat
22 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
Went to the laundromat to wash our sleeping bags after a rainy, muddy trip. Love the laundromat washers as they are not only much larger than our home washer — which would probably tear a sleeping bag to shreds — laundromat washers are also kick *sz at getting stuff clean! Some days I feel like I should just take everything there including the cats.
Planned and Unplanned Challenges: A Camp Highroad chaperone’s journal
14 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
On Tuesday, October 8th, 2013 I joined my daughter’s 6th grade class to begin our journey to Camp Highroad in Middleburg, VA. Being one of the few elementary schools to continue the tradition of a 6th-grade, 3-night trip, it felt like a rare honor. And it is! Having heard about it for years, all of the kids were excited to go and so was I!
I would shapperone a cabin of ten girls including my daughter and co-supervise another group of 16 kids during their daytime activities. I was expecting rustic cabins much like the cabins I stayed in during Girl Scout adventures or like those I experienced as a kid staying at Silver Birch Ranch in Wisconsin. As I arrived earlier than the busses of 6th graders, I dashed off to our cabin to claim my bed and scope out the surroundings in general.
The cabin looked pleasing on the outside with brown siding and a bright red door. I liked that there were shutters on the windows — not just screens. The walk to the cabin door was a bit tricky as there were many exposed tree roots making the path more like a set of jagged fun-house stairs than an even path, and I wondered why they didn’t fill in some extra soil to make it a little smoother — some of the kids could twist an ankle. I reminded myself that camp isn’t supposed to be all smooth sidewalks. Wasn’t there some study about uneven surfaces helping develop strength and balance?
Inside, the cabin was more rustic than I expected with walls of bare particle board, open rafters and a total of 12 cots situated inside with scant little room between. There was a fire extinguisher, a light switch controling two lighting fixtures, one set of electrical sockets, plus a strange metal clip of some kind.
The cots weren’t in the best shape — some solid greens and some white with stripes, some with the stains of good clean dirt, some slightly cracked from age. I hoped the girls wouldn’t be too concerned with this. Nobody will be spending much time inside the cabins anyway. I chose a cot close to the door so I could be easy to find for middle-of-the-night bathroom runs if needed. I plopped a pillow onto a cot next to mine to reserve it for my daughter. She gets homesick and having her close by is usually helpful.
When the girls arrived they chose their cots relatively quickly. The rustic appearance didn’t seem to phase them. If they were bothered, none of them said a word. I had to point out that the cot next to me was reserved for my daughter, but when she saw, she decided instead to sleep several beds down next to the wall. OK with me, but I was worried about later … Each girl had packed a sheet and they put these down on the mattress of the cot before laying out their sleeping bags. It was amazing how these small personal touches transformed the cabin from cold, wooden box to a cozy space in the forest.
More soon.
Camp Highroad
10 Oct 2013 Leave a comment
I’m a parent chaperone at Camp Highroad with my daughter’s 6th Grade class.
The Little Cooker That Could (aka The Little Pot that Could)
29 Sep 2013 Leave a comment
in Foodie, Getting Organized, Mom Stuff
For years now I have heard from both moms who work out of the home and those who don’t that slow cookers, or Crock Pots, are da-bomb. But I resisted getting one. I would not be assimilated. My thinking being that I have no room for one of those monstrosities. I already have a pot and a stove, thank you. I don’t usually like boiled chicken, etc. And I like my veg cooked with a bit of firmness left. Call me picky.
Necessity broke me down. Working full-time out of the home (and in) plus having an active kiddo meant we sometimes ate dinner at ridiculous o’clock. We’d be one lesson or meeting away from dinner that was practically bedtime. I hate to have fast food all the time, so I started asking more questions about people’s experience with slow cookers. I looked up a few recipes online and tried them in a pot on the stove instead of a cooker, etc. Not too bad. Maybe worth trying if just for the sake of eating earlier.
I checked out the local thrift store, but for USED Crock Pots that might not even work, their prices are nuts! $20 for USED? I could get a new one for that. I purchased a pair of jeans instead. But when I saw the wee 2-Quart Rival Slow Cooker for about $10 at a local Wally World, I decided it was time to give it a try. Small enough to stow easily in a cabinet and actually fits enough protein for a good dinner plus a small amount of left overs for my little family.
http://www.amazon.com/Rival-Quart-Cooker-Crock-Tempered/dp/B007SYH7VQ/ref=pd_sim_sbs_k_6
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rival-2-Qt-Slow-Cooker-White/15556579
I could not be happier with this little pot.
I worried a lot about burnt, over-cooked food with such a small pot, or any slow cooker for that matter, but on the low setting this little critter does an excellent job cooking meat or veg all day long. Meat is tender enough to fall off the bone. Veggies aren’t cooked to mush! This part amazed me. Even the lowest flame on my stove would render veg into mush within a few hours. This little pot was really SLOW cooking. It even made yummy broth for soup later. I have been adding at least some water or similar liquid when I leave it all day. It might still burn a dish that is just meat and no liquid or something with a really thick sauce. I’ll have to test those on a weekend.
Result. I am a convert.
We’ve now had Cornish Hen, chicken tacos, pulled BBQ, soup, baked chicken, veg stew, and more!
This morning’s yumminess was steel-cut Irish oats with brown sugar, cinnamon, and gobs of fresh chopped apples. My skinny kiddo is not much of an oatmeal eater, so I had to keep my fingers crossed. But she had three servings. Smallish servings, but this is something! Recipe below.
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Slow Cooker Apples & Oats That My Daughter LIKES
3/4 C. steel-cut Irish oats
2 apples (cored and chopped, peel if you like, I peeled one of ’em)
3 T. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 T. coconut oil
1-1/2 C. water
1/2 C. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Spray inside of crock with non-stick cooking spray. Put in apples, dry ingredients, then liquid ingredients. Stir a bit. Turn cooker on Low and cook for 4 to 7 hours. At 4 hours the oats are edible but still quite chewy and the apples are cooked but firm. It’s all a lot more tender at about 7 hours. Stir before serving. This recipe makes fairly thick oats (which didn’t burn, but eventually got a brown crust at the edges). If you like your oats thinner, add more liquid.
We topped with a little extra cinnamon, brown sugar, and a thin pat of butter. Some of us poured milk over the oats too. It was all yummy! I was expecting leftovers, but we had none.
How’d that happen?
19 Jun 2013 Leave a comment
Yesterday was the last day of fifth grade for my baby! Holy crap! How did the time go by so quickly!? I’m not yet ready to call her a sixth grader, so for the summer I’m just going to say she’s taking some time off between grades.
Cats with Frickin’ Laster Beams
06 Apr 2013 Leave a comment
in Games, Mom Stuff, Uncategorized
Cats with frickin’ laster beams attached to their heads! Not actually attached to their heads more like attached to a keychain that I can hold in my hand. It’s amazing that you can get lasers on keychains these days. Well, perhaps, not that amazing. A few years ago that might have been impressive. Now, well … go to the local computer shop and you can get one on a keychain for less than $5.
Sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads! THAT’S impressive, but not ’cause the laser beams are scary. I’m sure the sharks have no idea how to use them anyway. 😉 Sharks with laser beams attached to their heads are impressive because SHARKS are impressive. And I don’t want to mess with anybody who has taken the time to strap a laser beam to a shark’s head.
But laster beams and cats. AWESOME. Our cat, Mojo, chases the dot of light like the crazy, playful cat that he is. Fletcher isn’t much impressed with the dot of light. He knows it isn’t something he can catch and chew. So he watches curiously. Not the dot, though. He watches Mojo. Fletcher knows that Mojo doesn’t know that he can’t catch the dot, and he’ll watch Mojo play just long enough to catch him completely off guard and pounce on him and chew. Laser pointer. Perfect cat toy.
© 2013 Debora Kapke
aLightningbug 